I am disappoint (book sales)

[Broomstick]

@elbows

Yeah, but there is sometimes a good reason why publishers don’t involve the writer in the book cover process. Because the publisher actually knows the market better. Kaylovespurple has a very valid point.

He has a point, but as you say choosing covers is often more about market than the book. In which case someone choosing a book based on the cover art is still going to be disappointed.

[iiandyiiii]

For what it’s worth, I spent a lot of time and money with the artist for the cover. I remain very pleased with the artwork – I thought the ‘transition’ between real world and fantasy world was captured very well. And I thought (and still think) it would be a fun picture to look at.

But obviously my tastes aren’t the tastes of every potential reader, and it’s very possible I was wrong. I appreciate the feedback from everyone.

[Maserschmidt]

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen “By [author’s name]” on a novel’s cover.

I haven’t downloaded the sample, but will do so!

[iiandyiiii]

@Maserschmidt

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen “By [author’s name]” on a novel’s cover.

I haven’t downloaded the sample, but will do so!

Thanks, I hope you enjoy it!

[MsWhatsit]

I read the sample bit and I thought most of Kaylovespurple’s comments were on point, if a bit harshly worded. You don’t need to start off with a massive fight scene or anything, but you do need to start with something that grabs the reader’s interest. I’ll admit I skimmed past the opening Wiki section. To me that felt a bit as if JRR Tolkien had tried to start off Lord of the Rings with a passage from the Silmarillion.

And yes, Seb is a character with an uninteresting life, but it’s the writer’s job to make that life interesting to the reader. After the first couple chapters, I wasn’t terribly interested in flipping the pages to find out what came next.

But. I think this book holds promise, the underlying story is interesting, and the writing is not terrible. It could use a lot of polishing. I think the suggestion to get an editor or join some kind of feedback group is a good one.

As for the cover, eh, don’t really care about that too much. I barely look at the covers of digital downloads.

[Gray_Ghost]

[quote=“iiandyiiii, post:12, topic:717912”]

For Amazon, unfortunately you have to sign up for their Kindle Direct, which means I have to remove it from all the other online retailers in order to do one for free. I have done a couple of giveaway contests on Goodreads, with a lot of interest (but I don’t know how much interest turned into sales)…

…This is probably a good idea – I have a few short story ideas in my head, and at some point I’ll try to get them down on the computer.

CSB. Do you even write, bro?

But seriously, does your Amazon contract prohibit you from having your own blog or site, where readers can find short samples (all the way up to short stories/novellas) of your material? The reason I ask is one of the things that turned me onto Charles Stross’s stuff were the short stories of his that I found at his blog and elsewhere. I’d heard of him before that, like I’ve heard that you were a published, professional author, but what convinced me to actually buy his material (and pay rabid, if not obsessive attention to news for upcoming releases) were the amazing freebies.

You can use your site to interact with your readers as well, though I’m told that doing so can be a big trap for aspiring authors: they get addicted to the instant feedback and nearly universal praise from the blog, and so pay more attention to the blog than their work. I know that this place, minus the universal praise part, has a similar dynamic for me.

But now that I know which books you’ve written, I’ll see if my library can snag a copy.

EDIT: I feel like an idiot, but where is the free sample mentioned elsewhere in the thread? Thanks.

[iiandyiiii]

@MsWhatsit

I read the sample bit and I thought most of Kaylovespurple’s comments were on point, if a bit harshly worded. You don’t need to start off with a massive fight scene or anything, but you do need to start with something that grabs the reader’s interest. I’ll admit I skimmed past the opening Wiki section. To me that felt a bit as if JRR Tolkien had tried to start off Lord of the Rings with a passage from the Silmarillion.

And yes, Seb is a character with an uninteresting life, but it’s the writer’s job to make that life interesting to the reader. After the first couple chapters, I wasn’t terribly interested in flipping the pages to find out what came next.

But. I think this book holds promise, the underlying story is interesting, and the writing is not terrible. It could use a lot of polishing. I think the suggestion to get an editor or join some kind of feedback group is a good one.

As for the cover, eh, don’t really care about that too much. I barely look at the covers of digital downloads.

Thanks for giving it a chance, and thanks for the feedback.

@Gray_Ghost

CSB. Do you even write, bro?

But seriously, does your Amazon contract prohibit you from having your own blog or site, where readers can find short samples (all the way up to short stories/novellas) of your material? The reason I ask is one of the things that turned me onto Charles Stross’s stuff were the short stories of his that I found at his blog and elsewhere. I’d heard of him before that, like I’ve heard that you were a published, professional author, but what convinced me to actually buy his material (and pay rabid, if not obsessive attention to news for upcoming releases) were the amazing freebies.

You can use your site to interact with your readers as well, though I’m told that doing so can be a big trap for aspiring authors: they get addicted to the instant feedback and nearly universal praise from the blog, and so pay more attention to the blog than their work. I know that this place, minus the universal praise part, has a similar dynamic for me.

But now that I know which books you’ve written, I’ll see if my library can snag a copy.

EDIT: I feel like an idiot, but where is the free sample mentioned elsewhere in the thread? Thanks.

These are good ideas – thanks. I’m a bit reluctant to focus on my website/blog because I don’t find that stuff much fun… but maybe I should start!

As far as the free sample, you can get it on the Amazon page for my book (the “Try it free; Send sample now” button on the right ).

[CalMeacham]

@iiandyiiii

My second book (it’s been out for about 7 weeks) hasn’t caught on like I hoped it would. I’ve mostly marketed (if you could call it that) on social media and various message boards (including this one!). The first book didn’t catch on in terms of sales either, but I thought this second one was a lot better and would be much more attractive to potential readers (fantasy-satire and homage to the genre in general and a very popular series in particular).

So I’m a little sad and frustrated. Still writing a third book, though. I resolve to continue to write, even if no one buys my books.

My condolences. I’ve got the two books out, have written a third I can’t find a publisher for, and all but one chapter of a fourth, for which I’ve been trying to find an agent.

Even allowing a 90% discount from what I thought being published would be like, this is spectacularly unexciting and unrewarding. After all these years, I think I’ve generated enough profit to pay a month’s mortgage.

But you keep writing because:

1.) You like it
2.) Who knows? Maybe the next one will hit it big.
3.) Writing is a disease, and you can’t help yourself.

[iiandyiiii]

@CalMeacham

My condolences. I’ve got the two books out, have written a third I can’t find a publisher for, and all but one chapter of a fourth, for which I’ve been trying to find an agent.

Even allowing a 90% discount from what I thought being published would be like, this is spectacularly unexciting and unrewarding. After all these years, I think I’ve generated enough profit to pay a month’s mortgage.

But you keep writing because:

1.) You like it
2.) Who knows? Maybe the next one will hit it big.
3.) Writing is a disease, and you can’t help yourself.

Yep. I’m gonna write, period. I like it a lot, and I think I’m getting better with each book. I’d love to be able to make a career of it, but if I don’t, then I guess in 20 or 30 years I’ll be a retired veteran and government employee with a dozen or two indie novels to my name. And that doesn’t sound so bad… as long as a few people gained pleasure from reading what I put so much effort into, then it’s entirely worth it.

[MsWhatsit]

Dude, I write fanfiction, so at least you’re doing better than me. Seriously.

[Sattua]

For what it’s worth, if you enroll all your books in Amazon KDP Select, and sign them up to be automatically re-enrolled, Amazon will bump you up in their advertising metrics when the second 90-day period begins. I sold more books in that one quarter (before I took my books out of KDP Select to try out this first-hit-for-free approach) than in the other three quarters combined.

Like others, I strongly recommend you submit yourself to criticism from people who (1) know the industry and (2) don’t care about your feelings. There is no faster way to grow as a writer. Absolute Write’s message board is a great place to get torn into pieces so you can heal stronger.

[iiandyiiii]

@Sattua

For what it’s worth, if you enroll all your books in Amazon KDP Select, and sign them up to be automatically re-enrolled, Amazon will bump you up in their advertising metrics when the second 90-day period begins. I sold more books in that one quarter (before I took my books out of KDP Select to try out this first-hit-for-free approach) than in the other three quarters combined.

Like others, I strongly recommend you submit yourself to criticism from people who (1) know the industry and (2) don’t care about your feelings. There is no faster way to grow as a writer. Absolute Write’s message board is a great place to get torn into pieces so you can heal stronger.

Thanks for the advice – I’ll look into both of your suggestions.

[grayhairedmomma]

For me the cover does two things: 1) it pretty clearly communicates the basic idea of the story, except I thought it might be a time-travel story instead of being pulled into a fictional world; and 2) the style of the art says to me that this is either a young-adult novel, or a “popcorn” book - and that impression tells me not to expect the writing to be very good.

I almost gave up at the poorly written summary, but pressed on in the vain hope that everything my experience has taught me was wrong in this case. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. The first two preview pages read like an elementary school book report. There is no way with this combination of cover, summary and preview that I would ever buy your book. I’m not telling you this to be a jerk, just to say you’ve got to improve the first 3(!) impressions that you’re giving people about your book. The rest of it could be brilliant but I’ll never know, and worse, you’ll never have my money or positive review.

With all that said, good luck to you. I admire that you’ve had the courage to write and put it out in the world.

[iiandyiiii]

Thanks for the feedback.

[zut]

@Sattua

Like others, I strongly recommend you submit yourself to criticism from people who (1) know the industry and (2) don’t care about your feelings. There is no faster way to grow as a writer. Absolute Write’s message board is a great place to get torn into pieces so you can heal stronger.

Yeah, this - I learned quite a lot from hanging around Absolute Write and participating in critiques. Critters is another online group you could check out, or build your own if you have contacts. Writing is a craft. Self-editing is a skill that takes time and practice to develop. There’s no better practice than participating in a critique group. You learn how and why other people would tweak your work, and exactly what your strengths and weaknesses are. It also forces you to articulate exactly what you like and don’t like about someone else’s work (which can be useful when you realize you’re doing exactly the same thing ).

Different people get different benefits from critiques, of course, but I suggest you consider it. You’re better than 90% of the writers out there, but you’re not better than 99.9%, which is where you want to be. It’s easier to get there with objective input.

[iiandyiiii]

@zut

Yeah, this - I learned quite a lot from hanging around Absolute Write and participating in critiques. Critters is another online group you could check out, or build your own if you have contacts. Writing is a craft. Self-editing is a skill that takes time and practice to develop. There’s no better practice than participating in a critique group. You learn how and why other people would tweak your work, and exactly what your strengths and weaknesses are. It also forces you to articulate exactly what you like and don’t like about someone else’s work (which can be useful when you realize you’re doing exactly the same thing ).

Different people get different benefits from critiques, of course, but I suggest you consider it. You’re better than 90% of the writers out there, but you’re not better than 99.9%, which is where you want to be. It’s easier to get there with objective input.

Thanks for the advice. I will check out Absolute Write and look into joining a critique group.

I really appreciate all the input, even the criticism. And thanks to everyone who gave my book a chance, even if it didn’t work for you.

[even_sven]

I took one look at the cover and thought “Nope, not for me.” It’s not a genre I typically read, so take that with as big of a grain of salt as you like. But the cover to me read as one of the books you see in the “free” bin at the used book store.

I think the art is probably fine, if a bit literal. But the art and that font conveyed “self-published, unedited, probably fanfic level” to me.

[iiandyiiii]

@even_sven

I took one look at the cover and thought “Nope, not for me.” It’s not a genre I typically read, so take that with as big of a grain of salt as you like. But the cover to me read as one of the books you see in the “free” bin at the used book store.

I think the art is probably fine, if a bit literal. But the art and that font conveyed “self-published, unedited, probably fanfic level” to me.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Amateur_Barbarian]

@iiandyiiii

So I’m a little sad and frustrated. Still writing a third book, though. I resolve to continue to write, even if no one buys my books.

Sorry to hear it. I stopped writing fiction over 20 years ago, and writing general commercial a decade later. Without the platform of something like a university or the devoted attention of an established publisher, book-writing is best done to scratch one’s itch and nothing more.

There are other ways to communicate and publish these days, but they’re very much small-scale unless you catch a major Trending™.

[Fool_in_the_Rain]

Bought both.

Just curious, why the author name change from the first book to the other?