Dhewco's Diary

Glad to hear you are still moving forward. Step by step (or was it Bird by Bird?) In any case, I hope you can manage with all of the various factors. $800 dollars for a repair you weren't expecting. Ouch.

Part of what makes this thread valuable is you show your struggles. Many writers have similar issues, but don't share them. For what it's worth, I'm always cheering for you to make it to your next goal.

Still here, man. Still rooting for you. Don't have much to say, at this point it's up to you.

Dhewco said:

Weird question for the peanut gallery...I have, after over a month of nothing....one page read. One.

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One of two things could have happened:

1. Someone could have borrowed it, opened it to make sure it downloaded correctly, and then saved it to read later.

2. You could be a victim of either the "page flip" bug or the "endpoint" bug. In both cases, someone could read the entire book but you only get credited for one or a few pages.

I can't say, but I would guess it just wasn't their cup of tea. Or maybe they opened the book by accident and didn't even read the page. You have no way of knowing, so try not take it personally.

I try to analyze these things too though. Then I have to laugh at myself because the numbers are so small. You really can't make a generalization based on this one thing. The only thing you know for sure is that someone was interested enough to download your book and open it to page 1. (Which is way better than obscurity at the bottom of the Amazon slush pile.)

Dhewco said:

Those more experienced people...were you ever over-analytical about these things? How long before you stopped? LOL.

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I've found that increasing sales is the best cure for obsessions.

Serial returners still bug me, but I don't obsess about them like I used to. KDP (or any other self-publishing venue) is far from perfect, but the more sales you have, the more inclined you are to overlook its flaws.

Dhewco said:

Something is bugging me. I have been hard pressed finding energy to write my sequel. However, my critique group wanted some of another work I've been sharing from time to time. There was a problem. I'd quit writing on this other work when I decided to focus on the sequel. I hadn't even considered writing more.

I sat down to write it...and the words came fast. I wrote almost 3000 words in less than two hours. That's more than I'd written on my sequel despite opening up the document and staring at the screen on two or three daily attempts. Has this happened to anyone else? "Just do it" doesn't seem to work. LOL.

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Sometimes the book you're supposed to write isn't the book you want to write. Right now, I'm trying an experiment myself. Today, I wrote 2,000 words in one book and 1,600 in another. The first book is the final book in a trilogy. The second one is the first book in another series, and it's been sitting around in my head for too long. I want to start working on it.

From what I've heard, many writers have to build some momentum with a backlist before they start selling a lot. That's part of the reason I waited until I had two series completely written before publishing anything. That way, I can build up a backlist pretty quickly over the next year. I doubt I can keep up that pace indefinitely, but hopefully it'll help me get some traction.

I also think building up more of a social media presence will be helpful. I've had a fair number of people I know online pre-order my book. That's pretty exciting.

Good luck-- hope it all works out for you.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you need more books out to really gain traction, but take what I say with a grain of salt, as I'm not exactly a successful self-pubber yet! I wouldn't worry too much about sales on your first book, just focus on the second book, then the third and so on.

The advice I've heard is not to go permafree until you have at LEAST three books in a series, or at least three books for them to read period - but again, I have no idea how effective that is. I don't plan on doing any permafree books, but plans may change.

I might drop my first book to 99c, at least for a time, when I release the second in the series.

RaiscaraAvalon said:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you need more books out to really gain traction, but take what I say with a grain of salt, as I'm not exactly a successful self-pubber yet! I wouldn't worry too much about sales on your first book, just focus on the second book, then the third and so on.

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The magic number changes all the time, but somewhere between 3 and 6 books is where people start seeing bursts of growth. I don't think permafree is worth it until 3 or 4 books, but I will drop the price to 99¢ every few months when sales become stagnant.

With only one book, I wouldn't worry too much about advertising either. Readers seem to hesitant about authors with one book. Some won't even touch a series unless it's complete. Too many have been burned by incomplete series or never ending series that end up more like cash grabs and less story driven.

I'd concentrate on the sequel. Keep the goodwill of the few fans. There will be time for other projects.

I don't think you'd lose much by trying a wide approach. At this point you're not growing much with Amazon and Kindle Select. A shift might do some good.

Worst case; nothing happens for a while, and you can shift back at your leisure once you conclude the experiment.

Dhewco said:

Thought I'd update with a question...

While I'm still writing the sequel, I was wondering if...when the sequel's ready...whether I should go wide on the first book? Is it too late to go wide? It's been in Select almost since publication in March 2016. Would it serve any purpose or help drive people to the sequel? What does the peanut gallery think?

David

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It's never too late to go wide, but I'm not sure it'll do much in all honesty. (This from someone who just moved a romance title that was selling well while in KU to wide and has seen one sale at all on that title since doing so a week ago.) I'd instead recommend that when you launch book 2 you do promo on book 1 at the same time to drive some KU borrows. Maybe a free run or a 99 cent promo.

You could also try it now, see what happens, and then make the call about going back into KU or staying wide when book 2 is ready. But without promo you're not likely to see much happen wide.

Dhewco said:

Thought I'd update with a question...

While I'm still writing the sequel, I was wondering if...when the sequel's ready...whether I should go wide on the first book? Is it too late to go wide? It's been in Select almost since publication in March 2016. Would it serve any purpose or help drive people to the sequel? What does the peanut gallery think?

David

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I'm a big advocate of going wide, but with two books, it really won't make much difference either way. It does take a long time (a year or more) to build a following on the other channels, compared to Amazon. If you do go wide, make sure you give it enough time (and promotion--you have to work even harder at that to reach readers) before you jump back into the devil's contract with Select.