Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion
III. Goodreads Readers
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Why don't more people read Self-published authors?
A.W. wrote: "Unfortunately there are some SPAs who publish far too early. It's not that they need good editors, they need to self edit, run spellchecker and have some critique partners go through the MS chapter by chapter *before* there is any point in engaging an editor."Amen to that, A.W.
The editor shouldn't get a rough draft.
Many authors read their ms aloud to family members and are surprised at the number of things they catch by doing that. I'd suggest having someone else read it to the author to see if it sounds like he/she thinks it's supposed to. Read-alouds really highlight missing or improper punctuation when done by someone who doesn't know what the author *meant* to write.
Martyn wrote: "Oh, I post negative reviews under my own name. If any author wants to take me to task on the criticism I bestow on them, perhaps they shouldn't have published a rough draft instead of a polished manuscript..."Some authors were saying they don't like to leave less than 3* reviews because they worry that the SPA author will retaliate by attacking the reviewer's own book (without having read it). I was suggesting that if that's the concern, then an author should think about reviewing under a name different than their author name. I just find it annoying when people refuse to leave "bad" reviews. It skews things for the people who actually care about what they pick up.
Reviews have to be honest. That's the whole point! What's the point in reviewing a book if you're just going to make it sound amazing, even if you didn't enjoy it? I review with two types of readers in mind, I review books received by authors with the intention of helping the authors get noticed a little more, and writing things that I didn't like in order to help them improve. Every author has room for improvement, whether you're an indie author or J.K. Rowling!
I also review more popular mainstream books so other readers can get a bit more of an insight about the book, and so they can make their mind up about whether they want to read the book or not too! Also so I can just put down my thoughts about the book, in the hopes that someone will agree (or even disagree) to start up a debate/discussion.
Everyone likes book discussions right?
Yep so check out my blog to see the type of reviews I write for both self-published authors and traditionally published authors
http://originalbooker.blogspot.co.uk/
A well balanced argument Annie. A review should be creatively constructive. Not just the bad, but also the good to benefit both the reader and author.
V.K. wrote: "Some authors were saying they don't like to leave less than 3* reviews because they worry that the SPA author will retaliate by attacking the reviewer's own book (without having read it)."Well, if you check my books, you'll find that the reviews of my books are 3-5 stars, but that my average is low because people give me 1-star ratings without reading me. That can be because they don't want my books to be recommended to them by GR's algorithms or because they don't like what say in my reviews or in the forums.
Doesn't matter much to me, since I assume that most people will check out the reviews and disregard the low ratings.
Linda wrote: "Maybe I'm too hard-nosed about it, but I believe the only way the quality of "indie" books is going to improve is if enough of the SPAs get bad reviews"You could put it another way - the only way more of the better SPAs will get their books read is if the bad ones are given bad reviews, so the better ones stand out from them. There are far too many rubbish books getting 5* reviews, and it isn't helping anyone in the long term (not even those getting them, since they aren't learning anything from the experience, and other people will soon see through them if they do read them).
Speaking personally, I don't expect 5* reviews straight off from my first book. If people do enjoy it that much, great, but if they don't, so be it. I know not everyone is going to enjoy the way I write, and that's fine (hopefully some will, of course!) - I'm always suspicious of people book, especially SP books, that have nothing but 5* reviews anyway!
As for stilted dialogue, I would suggest that anyone writing any dialogue should always make sure that they say it out loud, as if they were 'delivering lines'! I suspect some people don't, but things just don't sound the same in your head as when you try to deliver them. Also a good idea, I think, to read some good plays, and even try some acting if you can, to get a feel for what 'works' and what doesn't in terms of things people would/could actually say.
Linda wrote: "Because maybe, just maybe, if their books were well written, people would read them."I agree with you about the huge amount of bad books being published because publishing is just too damn easy, but I don't agree with you that a well-written book will find an audience. Success has nothing to do with quality writing, but marketing.
And marketing is incredibly difficult. Many authors will opt for the trade publishing route because 'the publisher will market the book'. Ehm, no, they won't, unless you already established your own platform. New authors are expected to be great at social media to build buzz themselves. The marketing budget with publishers is geared toward the best sellers, and publishers are only interested in commercial appeal.
That's one reason why I enjoy self-published books, because the authors often care more about story than commercial appeal.
Many good books are drowning in the ocean of crap that is flooding the market, and because the authors are not professional marketeers, they probably won't make it to the Golden Coast.
I've been writing for over two decades and publishing for little over a year. Those who read my books enjoy them, but it's a struggle just to get people to sample the books, to get exposure. Every year, more than half a million new titles are published, so it's difficult to get noticed.
All I can hope for is that word-of-mouth will built until it reaches critical mass. All I can do is stay true to my own vision and write the books I'd want to read.
To answer the original post question, I believe the volume of books published is overwhelming. It is somewhere around 40K books per month. Since the vast majority of readers still prefer "print" and the vast majority of ebook sales goes to traditional well-known authors, there just aren't enough readers to read everything that is written.In terms of reviews, I think the best we can say is that every review is in part subjective. One readers five star is another's three star. A reviewer will focus on what they believe is "important." That may be grammar, or plot, or characters, or vocabulary usage.
If a writer chooses to write in a small segment genre - such as horror - they face the additional challenge of an even smaller subset of readers. Conversely, writing is a popular genre, like mystery, means writers are competing with a large volume of competition.
Marketing, timing, and luck all play a pivotal role in success. I don't anticipate being a best-seller, so instead I work to be the best-writer that I can be.
Just a general and somewhat off topic question. What if "we" as group decided to make 10 authors best-sellers? Think about how easy that is to achieve if you are willing to put aside your own desire to be on that list and support 10 people. Buy their books, promote the heck out of them, blog about them and generally spend six months toting them as "must read." Imagine how that could change the industry if ten well-written unknown authors received that type of attention. Sort of crowd funding the best-seller list.
Adding 365th comment. I feel lucky:-) I like Raymond's proposition of crowd-promoting the 10 best unknown SP authors. The trick would be: how do you pick the 'top 10'? Reminds me of a sequence in "Coffee with Aristotle" where pure democracy is frowned upon because no one takes full ownership and waits for the next person to fulfill a task - thus only waiting to reap fruits from the hard work of the 'rest of the crowd'.
On the topic: I do not think discussing here will make better writers out of anyone of us. If you truly aspire to be a bestseller, you would've done it long time ago - because your prodigy would've been seen and brought to light by some brilliant publisher.
For the rest of us amateurs. even if you were an exception that only realized your potential now, only writing good prose's and sentences and books will help.
At the sake of repeating others, no marketing tool can turn a bad work of art into a bestseller.
So let's get back to our desks and start to learn to write better, engaging, scintillating stories. Shall we?:-)
Raymond wrote: "Just a general and somewhat off topic question. What if "we" as group decided to make 10 authors best-sellers?...Buy their books, promote the heck out of them, blog about them and generally spend six months toting them as "must read.""That's actually not too crazy an idea. I'm not an author, but when I read a book I like, I do blog about it, I leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads, and I tell my friends on Facebook why I liked it (and why they should like it too, since I obviously have impeccable taste).
I'd be happy to help with the blogging end of things, even though I don't think all that many people read my blog. It's hard to tell with Blogger, since so many spam-bots show false "hits" on my posts. If I didn't have it already established, I would switch it to Wordpress.
On the topic of this whole marketing vs good writing... earlier this year an unknown author put out his debut novel with a large publishing house. The author was Robert Galbraith, the book "The Cuckoo's Nest". This well written mystery sold a grand total of 500 books.Then the author's real name was leaked... and in the space of 1 week I believe that little mystery sold something like 150,000 books. If quality of writing was everything, the book would have been a best seller when it was first published not AFTER the fact JK wrote it was leaked.
A.W. I agree with what you've just said! But everyone has to start somewhere, even the biggest authors had troubles in the beginning, not every author can blow up and become a book goddess like JK but with persistence, good writing and knowledge about the industry, more people could 'blow up'. I've read a lot of books from self-published authors and not one of them have actually been up to the great standard that the famous authors are able to write. Needless to say I won't give up and I'm sure I will find a book that is really good.
I'm not going to pretend that I know the pros and cons of using a traditional publisher but most authors who've made it big used traditional publishers so let's not pretend that they do have a big input in making a book be great.
I do think there are a lot of book that are really under appreciated and should be super famous because they're fabulous (both traditionally and self published) but this world is no utopia.
A.W. wrote: "On the topic of this whole marketing vs good writing... earlier this year an unknown author put out his debut novel with a large publishing house. The author was Robert Galbraith, the book "The Cuc..."I think that's less a case of marketing, good or otherwise, and more just an author having a fan base. People probably weren't willing to risk their time and money on an unknown author, or even knew about it, but then they find out it's actually an author they do like. Naturally, people are going to buy it.
TinaNicole (Le Book Nikita) wrote: "A.W. wrote: "On the topic of this whole marketing vs good writing... earlier this year an unknown author put out his debut novel with a large publishing house. The author was Robert Galbraith, the ..."I'm more interested in how new self-pubbed authors go about getting a fanbase than anything else right now.
Linda wrote: "I respectfully have to disagree. There may be a few, a very few, truly crappy books that succeed solely on the basis of marketing, but even the marginal ones are minimally competent."Minimally competent? I do not equate competent writing with quality writing. Nor do I equate technical facility with quality writing. Not even 'writing well' is quality writing. Quality writing transports you confidently into other worlds. Quality writing makes you think about what you read.
I agree with you that a well-written book will be easier to market than a crappy book, but does that mean that you can stop at merely writing 'well'? If you just want commercial success, well, yes. Ask Dan Brown, E.L. James, and Stephenie Meyer.
If we're talking about 'success', the book has to appeal to the masses in a way like Twilight and Fifty Shades. Do you consider Twilight 'quality writing' or merely 'competent'? I've read books that have far more quality writing that have less success, sometimes dramatically so, and I'm willing to wager that had nothing to do with the quality of the writing, but with the lack of marketing, or the inability to create a buzz.
If you compare the sales of The Da Vinci Code (80 million copies sold) with The Kite Runner (10 million sold), you can see the difference marketing and creating a buzz makes in comparison to quality of writing with regards to commercial success.
People don't read books like Fifty Shades because the writing is high quality, but because they want to join in the conversation around the office water cooler. The 'buzz' sold the book, not the quality of writing.
I'm not saying that as an excuse to settle for inferior writing. Like you, I think quality writing matters. I work on my craft continuously, I take care to polish my work beyond mere competence before I publish. But I don't assume that just because my writing surpasses the quality of many midlist authors* that the quality of my writing will bring me success.
*I self-publish not because I cannot get a publisher. I rejected several publishers because they offered stranglehold contracts against low advances. The current state of publishing is too uncertain to sign away the rights to my work for a pittance in return for 'validation' by a publisher. And the contracts still put most of the burden of promoting myself on my own shoulders, so I wouldn't be better off than I am now.
IMO, it's a combination of a lot of things. A well-written book with a good story.
Marketing.
Word of mouth.
And a butt load of luck and timing.
Linda wrote: "Martyn wrote: "Success has nothing to do with quality writing, but marketing. ..."I respectfully have to disagree. There may be a few, a very few, truly crappy books that succeed solely on the..."
[Edited to repair faulty brake between brain and fingers]
To address the original intent of this thread, I rarely read SPAs’ work specifically because so little is worth reading. The books are poorly conceived and executed, badly edited—if edited at all—and uninteresting or vaguely plagiaristic. I've tried reading book after substandard book, and the best I can say is that they were free. In fact, I'm at the point at which I've vowed I'll never buy another indie's book because of my unmitigated disappointment in them.
I've read the samples of best-selling indies' work and am aghast that they've sold so many copies. This schlock is what's popular? Opinion and taste notwithstanding, are people no longer aware of what constitutes good writing or pleases a reader's palate? And yes, excellent grammar is part of good writing. It is, in fact, the backbone of good writing.
Writing quality matters—a great deal.
TinaNicole (Le Book Nikita) wrote: "IMO, it's a combination of a lot of things. A well-written book with a good story.
Marketing.
Word of mouth.
And a butt load of luck and timing."
Don't forget the cover. Any author who has the energy to make it through the publishing process has my respect. (I'm crumbling like pie.)
After I had fully faced what it meant that literary agents and publishers were only interested in books that would sell not just hundreds, but thousands of copies, I decided that I owed it to my story, which had taken me twenty six years to write, not to leave it as a manuscript lying in my room, never to be read or judged by anyone, but to publish it as a paperback book through a Print on Demand company, and I am very glad I did. Unlike many writers on Goodreads, I do not hope to make any money out of my book, I would just like some people to read it and, hopefully, enjoy doing so. I think Virginia Woolf and her husband, Leonard Woolf, had the right idea. They set up their own publishing house, Hogarth Press, mainly to publish the novels of Virginia Woolf, to free her, no doubt, from the trials of approaching literary agents and publishers, to save her from their interference and possible rejection. I think if you remember that each reader of your book is a person with a name, face, likes, dislikes, friends and family, and not just a number, you might remember how wonderful it is that a complete stranger has read and, hopefully, enjoyed reading your work at all. Those writers who grumble about not making enough money from their works should try to forget the frustration and pain of it all sometimes, and try to remember the wonder.
Denzel wrote: "TinaNicole (Le Book Nikita) wrote: "IMO, it's a combination of a lot of things. A well-written book with a good story.
Marketing.
Word of mouth.
And a butt load of luck and timing."
Don't for..."
Yes, of course. Kickass cover. Six pack abs are always a good seller. 8 packs are better. ;-)
I know it sucks to hear this but reading has become trendy. The people that are buying the most right now are not very discerning. They don't know if the writing is bad so it's not a factor. They don't want a new and original idea. They want the stories they've already read. The characters they understand and are comfortable with.
That's it. Sad, but true.
It really depends on the quality of the book. I get frustrated with self-published authors who don't edit. It shows a total lack of respect for readers, and damages people's impression of the independent industry.That said, for all the good books, I run a fortnightly review podcast, Indie and More. This alternates weekly with an interview and news podcast, Literature Emergency Broadcast. If you're interested, you can find more here: http://annequegmalchien.com/writing/
The stigma against self-published work is gradually changing. But it's on the independent authors to make sure it changes. We won't do that by producing low quality work.
TinaNicole (Le Book Nikita) wrote: "Denzel wrote: "TinaNicole (Le Book Nikita) wrote: "IMO, it's a combination of a lot of things. A well-written book with a good story.
Marketing.
Word of mouth.
And a butt load of luck and timi..."
Well, I've got no problem with people getting into reading for that reason. Sooner or later they're going to get more experience on what good writing is and then they move away from the shlock. On an unrelated note, I really just think new self-pubbed authors just need a place to go. Somewhere readers will go specifically to experiment and read new authors. From that feedback the author can grow and produce more since he/she will be gaining fans and knowledge at the same time.
Philip wrote: "After I had fully faced what it meant that literary agents and publishers were only interested in books that would sell not just hundreds, but thousands of copies, I decided that I owed it to my st..."I’m like you, Phillip. My first reviewer was a stranger, and I thought his review was wonderful, both the good and the bad. I don’t care whether I ever make a red cent off my books. Just that one review made it all worthwhile.
Martyn wrote: "I think it's even more important that authors stop thinking about publishing their half-baked ideas and take them back to the oven. Join a critique circle or writer's group and have critical eyes go over your manuscript before you press the 'publish' button. I agree. I can overlook a few editing mistakes. Even the best novels have those. But the plot holes large enough to drive a tank through, or the continuity issues that bounce around worst than a trampoline... those are when self pubs fail.
Investment in a critique group is a must for all authors, I think. But crucial for any wanting to self publish. The best thing is that there are so many free critique groups available online. It's a real shame when authors simply refuse to utilize such an important tool.
C.M.J. wrote: "I've read the samples of best-selling indies' work and am aghast that they've sold so many copies. This schlock is what's popular?"Have you seen the music charts lately....or ever?! How about 'X-Factor'?!
'Best-selling' (and there are innumerable claims about being 'best-selling' among SPAs, most of them more than a little dubious!) and 'popular' have never been indications of 'quality', let along individual taste. Reviews aren't much better, and there again the music industry is no different - reviews are written from all kinds of perspectives, and for all kinds of reasons, (and by all kinds of idiots!) so shouldn't really be trusted too much. And that's just the 'published' music industry and mainstream, let alone the self-publishers, indies, unsigned bands and small labels.
Ultimately, the only way to find out if something is any good, or whether you like it, is to try it out. Obviously it's easier with music than with a book, but there are the samples on kindle books to help, for example.
Ask yourself this, though - would you assume that a song in the charts must be 'good', and that therefore the album it comes from must be 'good' without listening to it? Of course not. Does the fact that alot of the music played on mainstream radio is obviously rubbish mean that there's no decent music out there? Of course not. Does a band being unsigned, or an artist self-releasing mean that the music must be rubbish? Nope. There is good stuff out there, but it has to be looked for, and there's no really substitute for doing the groundwork yourself to find what is good and what you want.
Of course, many people just don't know that, or don't think about it, and that's no different for music either!
Annie wrote: "Everyone likes book discussions right?Yep so check out my blog to see the type of reviews I write for both self-published authors and traditionally published authors
http://originalbooker.blogspot.co.uk/
Love them! Whenever I see someone has started a discussion about one of my books, I am right there. I've also been known to start several discussions about books in the past.
I'll certainly be checking out your reviews.
Denzel wrote: I really just think new self-pubbed authors just need a place to go. Somewhere readers will go specifically to experiment and read new authors."Much easier said than done, unfortunately. Many authors will happily take the time to try to engage with potential readers on websites and so on (or in person at events), but the unfortunate reality is that many readers won't take the time to engage with them at all. There's plenty of places out there in webland intended for readers and writers to get together, but most of them are almost completely full of writers just talking to each other, because relatively few readers want to join such places.
There just don't seem to be that many 'experimental readers' around who want to go into things that far, rather than just hitting random books they like the look of on Amazon (or whatever) and giving them a go on the off chance.
T. wrote: "Denzel wrote: I really just think new self-pubbed authors just need a place to go. Somewhere readers will go specifically to experiment and read new authors."Much easier said than done, unfortunat..."
That is an unfortunate truth. Readers seem to be more wary than ever now, too. Since anyone can publish and people who aren't taking the time to prepare themselves are doing it, it seems readers would just rather not waste the time.
As a SPA myself, I'm seeing the difficultly with trying to get my books noticed, but I'm convinced it is only a matter of time. Years ago a thought of this crazy idea for a science fiction/fantasy book where a mad scientist uses modern technology to bring back the age of dragons. As I flushed out the story, I realized I needed a hero. Not just any hero, but one that would be able to fight off the worst dragon in an attempt to save the world. This lead me to creating my first novel, JUST A BOY.
JUST A BOY goes back 4000 years to the time of dragons and magic to tell the story of a human boy that stands up to magic. JUST A BOY creates an entire world of magic that flows into the present day.
I tried to to find agent to help publish my novel, but was unsuccessful. One of the reason I was having trouble was that I have no experience as a writer.
Since the world I created spreads across time and has a vast number of characters, I decided to try the self publishing route in order to get some experience as a writer. But instead of publishing JUST A BOY, I wrote 5 short stories, all of which are about 20,000 words.
I have a team of friends that help make sure my books are well edited so I don't publish anything with holes in the story or that have a ton of typos.
The first book I published, AGE OF HUMANITY: SMALL VICTORIES, is about a girl named Samantha Jackson. Sam grew up in a gang controlled neighborhood and made her way through law school and eventually to the FBI. When she is investigating a silver smuggling operation, she becomes targeted by an assassin and finds herself in the fight of her life against an enemy she can't beat.
My second book, AGE OF HUMANITY: BORN HUNTER, goes back to the the 1970's, where Drew Singer is part of an organization that hunts and kills things only found in nightmares. All his life Drew has faced the worst demons, until he finds himself facing a creature that even he is afraid of.
I plan on publishing the next three of these short books over the next couple of months as they get edited and ready to release. EYE OF THE BULLET will be ready in December, followed by I AM A GHOST in February and THE DOCTOR in April.
My question to everyone is how do I get my books noticed without having a marketing budget? All I have now is a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/thedaverudden.
Please excuse any typos and grammar errors in this post. I am an inspiring author and not a very good editor.
Philip wrote: "After I had fully faced what it meant that literary agents and publishers were only interested in books that would sell not just hundreds, but thousands of copies, I decided that I owed it to my st..."Very well put. I couldn't have said it better myself.
Denzel wrote: "I'm more interested in how new self-pubbed authors go about getting a fanbase than anything else right now."When you're new, you work your butt off. That's how. You blog, social media, work fairs and festivals and farmer's markets. You give books away as gifts or prizes. You talk, talk, talk about your book.
I'm not talking about friends and family. You discuss it everywhere, carry copies everywhere you go to give away. You donate to libraries and host free readings. Never let there be a lull where someone says, "I'll go to your website/Amazon/Smashwords and pick that up later."
You do all the traditional things, and then you try to think outside the box and go nontraditional. Some things will work; others won't. You'll spend endless hours sorting through it all.
And in the mean time? You'll keep writing, editing, receiving reviews and critiques. You keep learning and putting more work out there.
Don't rush your work. That's not what I'm saying. What I mean is that it is easier to entice readers when you show an established line. No one wants to fall in love with an author's voice to find out they have nothing else to read. It's frustrating.
The most three most important things I've learned about building a fan-base are: 1) Build relationships with my fans. They are real people, not just buyers. 2) Learn. Re-educating oneself in writing is a constant. You must evolve, better your writing, or have your work die. 3) Never let an interested party pause before they have a copy of your work in their mitts.
T. wrote: "Does a band being unsigned, or an artist self-releasing mean that the music must be rubbish? Nope. There is good stuff out there, but it has to be looked for, and there's no really substitute for doing the groundwork yourself to find what is good and what you want." I agree. There is alot of 'schlock' (Great word so I'll use it) out there. Indie writers have to prove themselves over and over again. All the while, they have to handling the marketing, build themselves a platform and then defend their place. But it is doable. Writers must prove themselves 'good'. As readers we must also seek out those that truly are.
Dave wrote: "My question to everyone is how do I get my books noticed without having a marketing budget? All I have now is a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/thedaverudden. "You can do much with free marketing. But you will have to pay for some in order to build your base.
For instance, I purchase copies of my books and simply give them away to interested parties I meet. The occassional intrigued co-worker, my doctor who is interested, libraries and book clubs... They've all received free books from me. Paid for out of my pocket.
That doesn't even count the swag, paid advertising, booth fees... The list goes on.
Free advertising is a portion of marketing. But it is a small portion.
Thanks B.C. I will start looking for those opportunities.
B.C. wrote: "Denzel wrote: "I'm more interested in how new self-pubbed authors go about getting a fanbase than anything else right now."When you're new, you work your butt off. That's how. You blog, social me..."
I never really thought about it like that. =/
Lynda wrote: "A.W. wrote: "Unfortunately there are some SPAs who publish far too early. It's not that they need good editors, they need to self edit, run spellchecker and have some critique partners go through t..."That is one of my favorite ways of avoiding OMG and WTF kind of errors. In one of my recent releases, I had my wife reading it out loud and I almost argued with her because it did not say what it was supposed to.
Now as for spell checkers and grammar checkers, most of them suck. I like to confuse mine by using "its." It tells me, no matter how it is spelled, it is used incorrectly. As a matter of fact, I think it would go into spasms if it could.
Martyn wrote: "Linda wrote: "I respectfully have to disagree. There may be a few, a very few, truly crappy books that succeed solely on the basis of marketing, but even the marginal ones are minimally competent."..."Martyn,
Don't forget that once you sign the contract with the publisher they have an exclusive option (not guarantee) to publish the book. That is usually 5-10 years (according to most boilerplate). I don't want my book to sit on someone's desk for years for a pittance and not even get published.
J.T.
Several people here have mentioned that they sent out hundreds of review requests and only get a few people to respond.I'm a top reviewer on Amazon and get deluged with review requests every day. Probably 90% of them I immediately dismiss and activate my auto-response giving advice on how to fix the marketing. Why?
* The material is riddled with typos
* The write-up doesn't provide any information about their book. The author wants me to go to their website to research them.
* The write-up is all about "ME! ME! ME!" and deluges me with their life history.
* They send large attachments before even asking what format I want.
* They send a huge cover image which is clearly made in Microsoft Paint. Yes, people do judge books by their covers. If an author can't invest the time to make a good quality cover, I have little hope for the book's content.
It's amazing how many authors can't create a reasonable quality query letter to cross that first hurdle. I'm not even asking for perfection. Just something that shows thought.
Lisa
Lisa wrote: "Several people here have mentioned that they sent out hundreds of review requests and only get a few people to respond.I'm a top reviewer on Amazon and get deluged with review requests every day...."
These all seem like common sense things that should be dealt with.
Lisa and others bring up excellent points. I believe, although its not popular to say, writing a book is art, but selling one is a business. To be successful there are many components to be addressed from blurbs to book cover and editing to marketing. The list is long and sometimes tiresome. But being self published doesn't mean an author can skip any of the steps a traditional publishers takes. The truth is that an author needs about 2 grand to launch his or her product...minus the savings of " we'll I have a friend." Anything short of the required steps is the difference between running a coffee stand and being Starbucks. If I had made the true required list in advance I probably would have stuck with posting we series chapters lol.
Lisa wrote: "Several people here have mentioned that they sent out hundreds of review requests and only get a few people to respond.I'm a top reviewer on Amazon and get deluged with review requests every day...."
Lisa it is difficult to create a good cover when you don't have the money to pay for an artist. I thought one of the benefits of finding an agent and/or a publisher was to help out with details such as cover design.
Denzel - I imagine it's much like all the self-help books out there on time management, doing better at work, and so on. Yes, so much of it is common sense. Then why don't people do these things? Somehow things that are "common sense" are just not thought of by people.
I have an author I work with who weaves beautiful stories - but they are riddled with typos. He doesn't "see" the issues. To him they don't matter. His audience, of course, does care :). So I clean his books up. I get his story into a more reasonable shape. It helps his message get out. To him, though, it's not important.
So we all have different things we pay attention to him. In his case I suppose he's lucky he has me as a friend. If I wasn't doing this for him, his books would probably have far fewer readers, and he'd be sad. But I don't think it'd occur to him why he wasn't getting the sales. He'd think the world just wasn't interested in his topic area.
Lisa
It's funny. I've created free of charge several covers for authors, because I personally thought theirs was tacky. Only one has ever refused my kind offer (Silly person).I've also used my own time to format their books properly, because when I get it, I can't read it...it's so badly formatted.
Why do I do this...I have no idea except that it gives me a break, just trying to help. Trying to get some karma. I sure need it. For all my helping others, I get nothing but pain in return.
Incidentally, anyone here got a crappy cover they need revamping? Free! Because despite what people think, I am a nice guy.
Dave - You could equally say that it's hard to pay for an editor without money. But that would be the same thing as saying it's hard to be a photographer without a camera. Or it's hard to be an ebook creator without a computer. There are some things which are essential to the process. Yes, it costs money - and that's part of the process.
It would be like someone who wanted to make amethyst bead jewelry - but didn't want to pay for amethyst beads. If you enter into a project, you have to map out the requirements and figure out how you're going to pay for them.
So you go on Craigslist, sell services you can do, sell excess things in the house, and even offer to barter services for a high quality cover creator. You do what it takes, if you really care about making the project work.
I've worked with many authors over the years. Often they are happily paying for coffee and eating out and other "excess" things but then skimping on what is essential for their book to succeed. Then there are other authors who trim their excess spending to the bone and can afford stunning covers - and quickly get a steady income stream as a result.
It's all about your planning.
Lisa
Dave -Also, I'll add on the topic of publishers, that I've worked with publishers on some of my books. The covers they choose can be AWFUL and you end up going with your own cover designer anyway. I had to do that with one series of mine. I ended up using that same cover designer for my medieval books because she was so amazing - and the sales reflect her talented results. A well done cover can absolutely make or break a book.
So don't think a publisher is a "fix" in any way, in regards to covers.
Lisa
Dave wrote: "Lisa it is difficult to create a good cover when you don't have the money to pay for an artist. I thought one of the benefits of finding an agent and/or a publisher was to help out with details such as cover design. "Who cares?
Seriously, Dave, why should I, a customer/reader, care about that? So if you don't get trad published you're excused from those things and expect me [customers] to excuse that, too.
Why?
Harrison wrote: "It's funny. I've created free of charge several covers for authors, because I personally thought theirs was tacky. Only one has ever refused my kind offer (Silly person).I've also used my own tim..."
That's damn decent of you. Nice to know that not everyone on the internet is a complete douche.
Reed don't believe it- I heard Harrison makes those free book covers out of kittens lol
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