Sunday, May 02, 2021
selling a novel
OK let's face it - "web marketing" is no longer the most appropriate title for what I'm talking about. I'm in a slightly reflective mood so I am going to summarize where I've been and hopefully it will clarify where I'm going.
About a month before I finished my novel, I looked at my short story ratings - I had nine collections of short stories, that I cared a lot about - and noticed that they were in the fives and sixes. That is, five million, six million. They weren't going anywhere on kindle, and weren't going in paperback either. Well, no wonder, it's not like I'd been doing any marketing; these blogs are pretty sleepy, and I knew they didn't work all that well in any case. So I decided, whatever else I do, I'm going to put my heart into marketing for a while, so that when my novel comes out, I'll have a clue how to get someone to read it.
A fairly good record of my journey is below, in the posts entitled "Web Marketing;" there are many of them, and they show that I have tried many things. Now, my novel has come out, and it sold, a little to my friends and family, and a little to those I had met on Facebook and Twitter. Very few, I think, from Twitter - it seems you meet a lot of people there, and talk there, but those people don't always turn to Amazon and buy something, or even download it.
I got my "page reads" up to where I at least make my money back that I've spent on kindle unlimited. That is, the best thing I do is read others' work while they are reading mine. And it's an incredible lift to know that someone is reading and enjoying your work. Not just family, who will after all be stuck with you forever and therefore might as well be familiar with what you do. But rather, other authors, writers in other genres, people who have their eye on the scene like I do. When they recognize my collection - I now have about thirty books published - they make an assessment that is important to me. So I have made progress that way.
So now my ratings are in the ones and twos for the most part - that is, one million, two million. The papaerback ones are as abysmal as ever. But I've become more focused on the kindle ones, and trying to get people with kindle unlimited, or people who buy kindle versions - to click. If they have ku, it's free, they should be able to at least try one. And yet, often they don't. I make an incredible amount of noise on Facebook and Twitter, and it's died again to silence. But ones and twos are better than fives and sixes.
So, this noise I make - posting blurbs about my novel or my stories, constantly, at every opportunity - it's time to back off of that. It doesn't work after a while. the market is saturated. If I find someone who is willing to read, yes, I'm there, because I also am willing to read. To me that's a fair deal. But I feel like I'm yammering into the noise factory here, and everyone is spinning wheels.
more later
About a month before I finished my novel, I looked at my short story ratings - I had nine collections of short stories, that I cared a lot about - and noticed that they were in the fives and sixes. That is, five million, six million. They weren't going anywhere on kindle, and weren't going in paperback either. Well, no wonder, it's not like I'd been doing any marketing; these blogs are pretty sleepy, and I knew they didn't work all that well in any case. So I decided, whatever else I do, I'm going to put my heart into marketing for a while, so that when my novel comes out, I'll have a clue how to get someone to read it.
A fairly good record of my journey is below, in the posts entitled "Web Marketing;" there are many of them, and they show that I have tried many things. Now, my novel has come out, and it sold, a little to my friends and family, and a little to those I had met on Facebook and Twitter. Very few, I think, from Twitter - it seems you meet a lot of people there, and talk there, but those people don't always turn to Amazon and buy something, or even download it.
I got my "page reads" up to where I at least make my money back that I've spent on kindle unlimited. That is, the best thing I do is read others' work while they are reading mine. And it's an incredible lift to know that someone is reading and enjoying your work. Not just family, who will after all be stuck with you forever and therefore might as well be familiar with what you do. But rather, other authors, writers in other genres, people who have their eye on the scene like I do. When they recognize my collection - I now have about thirty books published - they make an assessment that is important to me. So I have made progress that way.
So now my ratings are in the ones and twos for the most part - that is, one million, two million. The papaerback ones are as abysmal as ever. But I've become more focused on the kindle ones, and trying to get people with kindle unlimited, or people who buy kindle versions - to click. If they have ku, it's free, they should be able to at least try one. And yet, often they don't. I make an incredible amount of noise on Facebook and Twitter, and it's died again to silence. But ones and twos are better than fives and sixes.
So, this noise I make - posting blurbs about my novel or my stories, constantly, at every opportunity - it's time to back off of that. It doesn't work after a while. the market is saturated. If I find someone who is willing to read, yes, I'm there, because I also am willing to read. To me that's a fair deal. But I feel like I'm yammering into the noise factory here, and everyone is spinning wheels.
more later
