Tuesday, June 29, 2021
Web Marketing XVI
Did my stats tonight, and it was depressing. In the com arena, all of them are steadily slipping and I'm doing virtually nothing about it. In England I'm one hot writer, but that's because I'm reading all my friend's novels and she's going through my writing patiently. While I enjoy her British style and beautifully planned out novels, I'm not really sure that good ratings in Britain will amount to much in terms of long-term interest or developing a market. One of the problems is that although I am an international kind of guy, I've worked all my life with internationals and therefore have made most of my writing USA-centric. I'm not sure most British people would want to read about, say, Iowa.
Now of course I could write about countries or people that I have experience with, and I do have a lot of international experience. This would probably work, and there's nothing stopping me. And I'm beginning to tire of the things I have, so I need new life to add into my sagging ratings, so that I can just let the rest of them slip back into the mud if that's what may happen. Let it happen; I'm doing nothing to stop it.
One ongoing mystery is Instagram. I now have an author page, leverettauthor, but virtually nothing on it. It only accepts things from my phone, so I'm not sure how this is going to work out. As an author, I don't grab much from my phone. But maybe I can get started.
It's fair to say I'm tired of spinning my wheels. I toss into a writer's lift on Twitter - sometimes I do five or six of those a day - but nothing much comes of it. It's not like putting stuff up there makes any difference to the world. The people who would buy it if they saw it - they may or may not even see it. Some people express interest. But it seems I need thousands just to get a sale. It's worn me out.
And meanwhile, life shows me that time is running out. If I don't finish my projects, I won't finish them. Will it be because I spend all my time on writer's lifts & reading others' novels? Already I'm sick of fantasy novels, making up their own world, giving me a tour of people's imaginations. I myself am being pulled toward reality - 1910, 1880, that kind of thing, and I like things real. What I want to write, eventually will be more non-fiction, probably.
But if you don't get it out there, nobody reads it.
Now of course I could write about countries or people that I have experience with, and I do have a lot of international experience. This would probably work, and there's nothing stopping me. And I'm beginning to tire of the things I have, so I need new life to add into my sagging ratings, so that I can just let the rest of them slip back into the mud if that's what may happen. Let it happen; I'm doing nothing to stop it.
One ongoing mystery is Instagram. I now have an author page, leverettauthor, but virtually nothing on it. It only accepts things from my phone, so I'm not sure how this is going to work out. As an author, I don't grab much from my phone. But maybe I can get started.
It's fair to say I'm tired of spinning my wheels. I toss into a writer's lift on Twitter - sometimes I do five or six of those a day - but nothing much comes of it. It's not like putting stuff up there makes any difference to the world. The people who would buy it if they saw it - they may or may not even see it. Some people express interest. But it seems I need thousands just to get a sale. It's worn me out.
And meanwhile, life shows me that time is running out. If I don't finish my projects, I won't finish them. Will it be because I spend all my time on writer's lifts & reading others' novels? Already I'm sick of fantasy novels, making up their own world, giving me a tour of people's imaginations. I myself am being pulled toward reality - 1910, 1880, that kind of thing, and I like things real. What I want to write, eventually will be more non-fiction, probably.
But if you don't get it out there, nobody reads it.
Thursday, June 10, 2021
tall corn state - now on ACX
Thursday, June 03, 2021
Web Marketing XV
I always come here after I do my stats at the first of the month, not that these blogs ever really amount to much. I can give a brief overview, but basically May was good. I have no idea why. Here are two possibilities: people are coming out of the pandemic and looking things up (googling them), and, people know my name now, due to my other efforts, and just happen to click based on that.
I have been spending most of my efforts on twitter, joining writer's lifts and getting my book in front of people. To little avail, based on sales and ku downloads. It's wnen I make deals with people that they actually check and/or read my work, and even then they may not keep going. I have some people who keep going - they just read my stuff. Others I about have to pull teeth. Or they deceive me, write a review without reading, or just skip it. Writers are not altogether a pious bunch.
But people out there are checking out my blogs just a little more. Now this could be because April was an all-time low. It could be a bend back to normal. but somehow, with me doing very little in terms of actual posting over the month, they showed up anyway. This was a relief.
I have a fairly steady pace and blog on twelve of them a month. On twitter I notice some people pointing people to their blogs, and I've always intended to do that, but not really gotten in a groove of doing that. So I'm mostly pointing people directly to Amazon and not making a big twitter deal out of something, like this, that I just write off the top of my head. Why do I want twitter all reading it? I don't necessarily. Like most blogs, I'm doing this mostly for my own awareness.
There are various markets out there, one being ACX, which I ignore regularly. I ignore it partly because I don't quite know how to crack it. But my new novel is there on ACX, waiting for me to approve and provide the artwork, and here I am, doing nothing, paralyzed, focused on a limited market of KU-users, big readers, twitter followers. There's a lot more than that out there. But I don't quite know how to reach them. In intimidation, I shut down and do nothing.
Well, that's no way to be. Starting tomorrow, I'll be stewing on it.
I have been spending most of my efforts on twitter, joining writer's lifts and getting my book in front of people. To little avail, based on sales and ku downloads. It's wnen I make deals with people that they actually check and/or read my work, and even then they may not keep going. I have some people who keep going - they just read my stuff. Others I about have to pull teeth. Or they deceive me, write a review without reading, or just skip it. Writers are not altogether a pious bunch.
But people out there are checking out my blogs just a little more. Now this could be because April was an all-time low. It could be a bend back to normal. but somehow, with me doing very little in terms of actual posting over the month, they showed up anyway. This was a relief.
I have a fairly steady pace and blog on twelve of them a month. On twitter I notice some people pointing people to their blogs, and I've always intended to do that, but not really gotten in a groove of doing that. So I'm mostly pointing people directly to Amazon and not making a big twitter deal out of something, like this, that I just write off the top of my head. Why do I want twitter all reading it? I don't necessarily. Like most blogs, I'm doing this mostly for my own awareness.
There are various markets out there, one being ACX, which I ignore regularly. I ignore it partly because I don't quite know how to crack it. But my new novel is there on ACX, waiting for me to approve and provide the artwork, and here I am, doing nothing, paralyzed, focused on a limited market of KU-users, big readers, twitter followers. There's a lot more than that out there. But I don't quite know how to reach them. In intimidation, I shut down and do nothing.
Well, that's no way to be. Starting tomorrow, I'll be stewing on it.
