# Phase One (aka "Skid Row")



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

As in that song from the Little Shop of Horrors movie: _"Someone show me a way to get out of here, 'cause I constantly pray I'll get out of here."_

A fellow brilliant author had a post last month analyzing where he was as an author after two years of self publishing. It was awesome, and the first post I read as a newly minted KBoarder. (Seen here, if you're curious, it was incredibly eye-opening and reassuring to me: http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,176423.0.html) I soon discovered through days and days of reading that I am considered to be a Phase One self published author: within my first year of publishing and under 100 book sales of my first novel. Each of you who have been in this phase know full well that it S-U-C-K-S. You're trying every single method under the sun that you've heard works for other authors. You're practically throwing free copies of your book at people. You're desperately flailing your arms and trying to convince people that you're not a worthless mound of flesh and blood and your book isn't a shriveled up turd lying among the dregs of Amazon's book listings. It's the worst.

So I wanted to open a dialogue between authors who are past Phase One and authors like me who are still stuck in Phase One. I of course cannot speak for everyone so please chime in. I'm going to list what I've tried so far in my first six months and see what sort of things I might be doing wrong, and spread the word. I've poured over the FAQs and Yellow Pages and there's so much information to absorb that I thought it might be helpful to create a thread specifically about helping the newbies get past Phase One. So strap in and please contribute whatever you feel like. I'm all ears.

Disclaimer: I am not trying to be a lazy kitty cat who wants all the answers without doing the work. I've logged 15 hours on this forum so far and I will log hundreds more, but I could use a bit of guidance in this labyrinth.

1. Facebook ads. As of right now, I'm not a fan (HAHAHAHA I MADE A FUNNY DIDYA SEE IT.) My marketing guru father made a campaign that went very well (boosted me about 100 likes in a week), but none of said likes resulted in any engagement with the actual page. I tried another campaign and several "post boosts" with nothing to show for it. My biggest failure is simply getting folks to respond. I don't care about likes. I know that likes = / = sales. What I want is to get comments and shares. Thus far, I post several times a week with little to no response despite having 239 likes on the page. I'm not sure why I'm not engaging anyone, but I am more than willing to learn how to get people off the stands and into the game.

2. GoodReads Giveaway. This worked extremely well for me. I offered up three copies of my book for two weeks and I got 302 entries before the giveaway closed. Granted, that's kids' stuff compared to the giveaways of major publisher books or popular books, but for a tiny novel that no one's heard of, 300 people is pretty sweet. Thus, I will without a doubt continue with the giveaways and pass out as many hard copies as I can afford.

3. Twitter. Sigh. I have an intense love/hate relationship with Twitter. I love retweeting funny stuff and getting once-in-a-lifetime instances to chat with famous people (NATHAN FILLION TWEETED ME ONCE GUYS IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER), but in terms of it related to my writing, I feel like I shouldn't even bother. Now, talking to other authors (y'know, the two of them who actually respond to me) is really engrossing and I love it, but for the most part, I feel like 80% of the authors I follow are just spammers. Buy my book! Do it now! GET TO THE CHOPPAH. I don't like that, and so now I rarely follow other authors since my feed is already flooded with people shilling stuff. I've read articles and threads about how to connect with people via Twitter and not try to sell them stuff, but I'm still under 200 followers and not getting anywhere. I'd love some practical advice on how to make friends. I'm genuinely pretty terrible at it.

4. Blog Tours. I had a blog tour. It was affordable and really fun, but I'm on the fence about if it's useful. On the one hand, it helped spread out my reach. If you Google my name and my book, you get five solid search pages with stuff about it as opposed to the one that used to be there when I first started out. However, it's the same issue as Facebook ads. I ran a two week ad and got no sales and maybe a few likes on Facebook. The biggest benefits for me were reviews. I got a handful of them and those helped boost my rating and my number of reviews in general. Otherwise, I'm waffling on the overall worth of virtual blog tours.

5. Tumblr. Okay, I continue to not understand Tumblr because I see nothing but a sea of nerds who are constantly moaning about not getting enough women of color in action/fantasy/sci-fi novels, and about sexism in fiction, and yet no one on that website will touch any posts about my book with a 39 1/2 foot pole. I finally gave up last month and decided to only post links to my blog posts on there. Have any of you had any success marketing your book via Tumblr? I got a firm and blatant "no thanks" after several posts, and I have 300+ followers.

6. Mailing list. As I said before, I'm new here and I didn't know that mailing lists help keep one connected with readers. However, I don't know how to get people to sign up for it. Any and all suggestions would be a god-send.

7. Book Cover & Book Blurb. My book cover seems to test very well, and I had my fans vote on the cover they liked the best back when I had a project up on CrowdSpring (which I highly recommend, new authors. It was worth every penny. I love my cover.) However, I worried that my blurb was too long and lo and behold, I came here and was told it was indeed too wordy. Thus, I changed it to the short version that appears on the page now, but I still haven't seen a single sale this or last month. What even is that.

8. Keywords. I don't get keywords. I've been crawling through threads discussing them for hours and I still don't know what I'm doing wrong. Worst case scenario is that my book is an abomination against God and that's why it's not selling. Best case scenario is that people simply aren't finding it. What makes a successful set of keywords? I changed mine a couple weeks ago, but I still haven't noticed any changes. TASUKETE.

9. Collaborating with other authors. I am awful at this. I am painfully shy. It has taken every ounce of my will power to make this post, and I am still convinced I annoy people with my very existence. Thus, any advice on how to make friends with other writers would really help. I love talking about writing and fiction. I can do it for days. I just don't know where to go to meet people and how to get them to remember me for more than five seconds.

10. Worldwide distribution. I'm currently published with Amazon and Smashwords, so I'm in every available major retail channel. And I'm still not moving copies. I found out about KDP Select too late so I will most likely enter my sequel novel, due in July, in that program to try out the permafree or at least the Countdown deals methods since I hear they work pretty well. How do you guys feel about KDP Select for Phase One authors? Yea or nay or meh?

Sorry I word-barfed everywhere. Please, please, please feel free to weigh in here. I want to learn all of the things. Teach me. I am but a blank slate, sensei(s). Or if you're stuck in the same boat as me, honk your fog horn as you pass by in the night.


----------



## dgrant (Feb 5, 2014)

Did you pull Phase 1 from this thread? http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,176583.0.html

Yes, it is hard work to get out of there. I've gotten pulled aside and interrogated (though friendly! Very friendly!) by a couple trad midlist authors going hybrid over how well Peter debuted as an indie. Unfortunately, there was no silver bullet for us: it was the result of 5 years building a following on blogger before the first time we ever hit "publish."

If you break out into Phase 2 before year six, then you're ahead of us!


----------



## dkgould (Feb 18, 2013)

Still in my first year of publishing (for another month) and my first book still has yet to sell a hundred copies. Don't think it ever will actually. The second book's done much better  Just wanted to tell you that you aren't alone. I didn't think this year sucked, not even when the first book completely stalled out after ten sales for months and months. But maybe that's because I didn't really expect to sell any at all. I have three secrets for you. They aren't going to help you sell more books. But they might make you happier about it.

1. There's no time limit. We feel like there is. There's bills and the pressure of disappointing friends and family, and there's our own plans and expectations. But the job that pays those bills or makes you proud? That job is already finished. You did it. You finished the book. Gave it it's best chance. You can't make people pick it up. Products fail all the time. Sure, sometimes it's because they weren't a good idea. But lots of times it's just because people never gave it a shot or didn't even know about it. It's not the inventor's fault at all. The difference between those failed products and your book is that those products get put into a warehouse somewhere, taken out of the store. Your book doesn't. It's always there, waiting for the right reader to find it. Someday, they will.

2. Stop equating your book with your self-worth. I have to remind myself of this one a LOT. You can write the most beautiful piece of literature in the history of the English language. It doesn't automatically make you into a good person. I'll never forget the day I found out that Roald Dahl, the idol of my childhood, was a self proclaimed anti-semite. You can also write the most awful, terrible piece of trash in the history of histories (although Douglas Adams says someone in Redbridge beat you to it) and it will not mean you are an evil, worthless person. I am 99.99 percent sure that you did not write the most awful, terrible piece of trash in the history of histories, by the way, but even if you did, and proudly admitted it, you are not a "worthless mound of flesh and blood." I promise. So stop thinking that. _You are not your book._ It might feel like it while you are writing it, while you are pouring what you think is your heart and soul into it, but it isn't true. At it's very, very best, your book is a memory of who you were at the time. At it's worst it is a distorted, unconnected reflection. _You are not your book._
Don't let its reviews, its sales, its rankings, its anything persuade you otherwise. That way lies madness. Because the very kindest review, the best rank, or massive sales will never, ever be enough to even come close to what you, kyokominamino, are worth as a human being. All right, the power of mantra is in threes, so say it with me: _You are not your book._

3. Even if you never, ever learn anything else from this board, you should learn this at least: other authors are human beings just like you. They struggled just like you. They asked the same (or similar) questions, they made the same mistakes, they were just as shy (some of them anyway). Don't feel like you're an annoyance. That's crazy talk. You are no worse and no better than anybody else here. You're just unproven. Think of yourself as a ball at the top of a hill. You are filled with potential energy. Some of these other folks, they are partway down the hill burning their kinetic energy. Some of them are approaching their max velocity. But they are all still just balls rolling down a hill. Maybe you'll go farther than anyone, you never know. Believe that you deserve to be friends with people because you are a good person, not because of how successful (or unsuccessful) you happen to be. Would you drop one of your real life friends because they lost their job or couldn't make their mortgage payment this month? Of course not. You make friends just by being your own sweet self, not by writing bestsellers  And no matter whether your goals are monetary or popularity or whatever- good friends can only help.

There's my unsolicited, overly mushy advice that I try to take myself with varying degrees of success. I'm sure there's lots of other people who will jump on here and offer you practical advice. Some of it will work. Some of it won't. But if you take some of the pressure off yourself, it won't be as difficult to keep on trying- and I think that's what is most important if you want to be successful. Keep on trying. And if it never happens, remember YOU ARE NOT YOUR BOOK.


----------



## Danielle Monsch (Aug 21, 2011)

That was definitely a fantastic blog and had me looking at my own career trajectory in a new way.

As for your question, in your case my response to you would be *Write More Books*. And I hope that response doesn't make it sound like I'm pshaw-ing your very excellent post and valid questions. But with only one book, you are not giving readers a lot to work with. Of course, that isn't the only answer to discoverability - there are many authors with several books out who are still wrestling with that problem. But until you've put out a few more books, you won't know if that will solve your problem or not. 

I wouldn't worry about any of the rest of the items you've talked about until you have 3-5 books out in your series. Definitely don't do free before then. As was brought up in the blog you originally referenced, it won't do you any good at this stage of your career anyway.


----------



## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

I hesitate to post this, because it took me 10 years to "break out" which I didn't really, but I did move from *going nowhere* to *going somewhere.* So I didn't use the following, because no one was then and I didn't know to do it. It's nothing startling because now EVERYONE knows it works, but here we go: Write a ton of stuff and get it out, make it either a proper series (best way) or make it based in the same world with different characters, but make it linked. Get at least three out and make number one permafree. Send the permafree off to all the free sites and get reviews. Get 15 or more GOOD reviews and badger ENT and Bookbub regularly until you get in. AND all the time keep writing more and releasing.

See? Obvious right? If you don't want to wait 6-10 years to get 10 titles out (me) then you have to work your arse off and get good books out quickly to give your fans somewhere to follow you. One title no matter how good won't do it. Five standalone probably won't either. You need GOOD stuff out all linked in some way and at least three in a series and preferably four or five. It's a lot of work, but there are authors who have released a book a month, or two every three months by killing themselves at the keyboard working every hour god gave them. It's doable. You CAN get known in short time (not Hugh Howey known and famous) but middle of the road making a living kind of deal like other here at Kboards by working your arse off.


----------



## psychotick (Jan 26, 2012)

Hi,

To go from phase one on I did none of the things in your list. I just wrote more books. That is in fact my entire marketing strategy.

Cheers, Greg.


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

dkgould said:


> Still in my first year of publishing (for another month) and my first book still has yet to sell a hundred copies. Don't think it ever will actually. The second book's done much better  Just wanted to tell you that you aren't alone. I didn't think this year sucked, not even when the first book completely stalled out after ten sales for months and months. But maybe that's because I didn't really expect to sell any at all. I have three secrets for you. They aren't going to help you sell more books. But they might make you happier about it.
> 
> 1. There's no time limit. We feel like there is. There's bills and the pressure of disappointing friends and family, and there's our own plans and expectations. But the job that pays those bills or makes you proud? That job is already finished. You did it. You finished the book. Gave it it's best chance. You can't make people pick it up. Products fail all the time. Sure, sometimes it's because they weren't a good idea. But lots of times it's just because people never gave it a shot or didn't even know about it. It's not the inventor's fault at all. The difference between those failed products and your book is that those products get put into a warehouse somewhere, taken out of the store. Your book doesn't. It's always there, waiting for the right reader to find it. Someday, they will.
> 
> ...


I feel like saying a million things to you, but I think it might be overwhelming, so...thank you. This was so sweet and heartfelt that it made me tear up a bit. Practical smactical, this helped me more than you'll ever know. Thank you. <3


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

markecooper said:


> I hesitate to post this, because it took me 10 years to "break out" which I didn't really, but I did move from *going nowhere* to *going somewhere.* So I didn't use the following, because no one was then and I didn't know to do it. It's nothing startling because now EVERYONE knows it works, but here we go: Write a ton of stuff and get it out, make it either a proper series (best way) or make it based in the same world with different characters, but make it linked. Get at least three out and make number one permafree. Send the permafree off to all the free sites and get reviews. Get 15 or more GOOD reviews and badger ENT and Bookbub regularly until you get in. AND all the time keep writing more and releasing.
> 
> See? Obvious right? If you don't want to wait 6-10 years to get 10 titles out (me) then you have to work your arse off and get good books out quickly to give your fans somewhere to follow you. One title no matter how good won't do it. Five standalone probably won't either. You need GOOD stuff out all linked in some way and at least three in a series and preferably four or five. It's a lot of work, but there are authors who have released a book a month, or two every three months by killing themselves at the keyboard working every hour god gave them. It's doable. You CAN get known in short time (not Hugh Howey known and famous) but middle of the road making a living kind of deal like other here at Kboards by working your arse off.


I think this is perhaps the scariest thing I've learned as a newbie--pumping out books quickly. I was under the impression that a novel per year was good, but it sounds like I should be aiming for two. The second and third books in my trilogy are written, and I've started a short story collection that will be done by the end of the month and released in April at the latest. However, how does this bode for the average author's career? How many books should I write and release per year? That I don't know. I still have a day job and so a novel a year worked because it gave me enough time to plot and rework and edit. What do you think, as a much more established author?

Thanks for the reply!


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

Danielle Monsch said:


> That was definitely a fantastic blog and had me looking at my own career trajectory in a new way.
> 
> As for your question, in your case my response to you would be *Write More Books*. And I hope that response doesn't make it sound like I'm pshaw-ing your very excellent post and valid questions. But with only one book, you are not giving readers a lot to work with. Of course, that isn't the only answer to discoverability - there are many authors with several books out who are still wrestling with that problem. But until you've put out a few more books, you won't know if that will solve your problem or not.
> 
> I wouldn't worry about any of the rest of the items you've talked about until you have 3-5 books out in your series. Definitely don't do free before then. As was brought up in the blog you originally referenced, it won't do you any good at this stage of your career anyway.


Yeah, that seems to be the most common theme that I never knew until I arrived here--more books gives you more chances to catch someone's eye. Well, I'm certainly working on it. I'm going to release a short story collection in a few months and then the second novel in the series in July. I was just hoping to get some traction in the meantime while I work on getting those two ready for publication.

Thanks for weighing in!


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

dgrant said:


> Did you pull Phase 1 from this thread? http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,176583.0.html
> 
> Yes, it is hard work to get out of there. I've gotten pulled aside and interrogated (though friendly! Very friendly!) by a couple trad midlist authors going hybrid over how well Peter debuted as an indie. Unfortunately, there was no silver bullet for us: it was the result of 5 years building a following on blogger before the first time we ever hit "publish."
> 
> If you break out into Phase 2 before year six, then you're ahead of us!


Indeed I did! That one was also very helpful.

I dream of having a following. I didn't get in this game for money or chicks. I'd just really love to hang out with people and talk about nerdy stuff, related to my book or otherwise. It'd be nice if there was a magic bullet, though.

Thanks for stopping by!


----------



## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

Bless your heart. I always admire writers who are brave enough to put themselves out there and be honest about their fears and foibles. I can never do that, for some reason, so I applaud you for doing so.

Don't think that you are an annoyance. You're actually very helpful in sharing what you are doing, and asking for help from others who might have done something different. Newbies can take heart in that, so thank you.

I agree with the poster who says to write more books. That isn't the silver bullet, of course, but it gives you more to work with. Writing in a series and making the first book permafree is a good strategy for most, so, obviously, with one book, you can't take advantage of that. I don't even know how I would market one book. 

At any rate, we've all been there, where you are. Most of us have been, anyhow. Some bolt out of the gate, and others have more of a slow build. I definitely have been the slow build sort, and my sales fluctuate a lot still. So, keep heart, keep writing and you'll climb into Phase 2. Keep on keeping on.


----------



## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

Chin up... Fingers down. Get those books published! I PM'd you...


----------



## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Well, first of all, congrats on your book and your upcoming releases! 

My situation: I'm out of Phase 1, I guess, since I've had a book out for two years and have sold more than 100 copies of it, but I doubt I've moved into Phase 2, yet, whatever that might be, exactly. Let's say I'm the Phase 1.2 author. 

Here's the plan I'm following: http://www.kboards.com/index.php?/topic,124433.0/

Unlike the actual creator of this plan, who is a person of great discipline and talent, I'm following it at the pace of a geriatric snail, just poking along as best I can. Since this is my approach, I don't worry too much about the kinds of marketing you mentioned in your OP. Instead, my first priority has been to get my book into the hands of as many readers as possible. It's never sold terribly well (about 1200 total), so I've mostly given it away. Fortunately, I had the help of Select back in 2012, when that tool was more powerful. Now that I'm finally close to bringing out book 2, I've set book 1 permafree. About 41,000 copies are in circulation.

Of course, not all these have been read, since people hoard free books, but enough have that I've been able to pursue the purpose behind the numbers, which is building a mailing list. The list is for new releases only. I don't do newsletters. Sign-ups have run at about 0.75% of sales/downloads. (Reviews have run at about 0.25% of downloads.) How likely are early mailing-list signer-uppers to buy a sequel two years later? Dunno. Probably not very. But, again, you gotta work with what you're able to do. On the bright side, I haven't "pushed" the list at all. I don't offer any incentive to sign up -- no free short story or whatever. Also, people have to come to my website to sign up, which is, I think, a somewhat higher bar than an automated sign-up through MailChimp. So all the folks on there are people who were fairly highly motivated to sign up. When book 2 comes out, I'll email the list and offer them the new book at $.99. Hopefully a lot of them will purchase it, pushing it up the new releases list. Its visibility on that list will attract new readers, who will find no bar to entering the series at book 2 because book 1 is free. Hopefully Book 1 will get a boost on the free lists, feeding book 2. Ideally, I'll be able to do some promotion of book 1, too. That's how the plan looks, anyway.

What marketing I do is more along the lines of cultivating megafans: I use Fb, where I can interact with readers who seek me out there. I get fairly good engagement because, as with the mailing list, I haven't pushed the membership. It's mostly organic, and therefore small but truly interested. My Fb posts feed through to Twitter, but I spend very little time there. Twitter is quite time-consuming to use well, and as a slow writer, I don't think that's the best use of the time I have. So I'm "passively present" there, as with Goodreads and Shelfari and my website. I've let my blog go quiet for now, since it's time-consuming too. So, I do very little marketing.

I wasn't that way at first. At first I dove in with both feet. Didn't do much good and really distracted me from book 2. In the end, I just chose the forms of engagement that I actually enjoy and stuck with those. I'd like to get back to blogging one of these days, but not 'til book 2 is done.

Not sure if that was helpful or not, but there you have it. Best of luck! As people say, it's a marathon, not a sprint, so hang in there.


----------



## R M Nicholls (Feb 4, 2014)

Thank you for posting this - I'm brand new too, with exactly the same questions and struggles. In fact I wept all over my long-suffering husband last night along the lines of: 'It's no good, I'll never be a writer! I'm a [swearword] cautionary tale!' [incoherent sobs]. This was triggered by a postbox full of bills that we'll struggle to pay...

Here is the advice that he gave me. He's not a writer, but he's been a professional creative for the past twenty years and this advice really helped me to pull myself together. This is quoting him - personally, I know nothing 

_1. Write more books, in a series that link together. You need to create a brand. Don't get caught up in thinking about marketing yet. Just be sure of what your brand is and then create lots of product within that brand for people to buy. Then market it. You need product before you do too much marketing - but be sure of what your brand is when you are creating your product.

2. You can't afford self-pity if you want to be creative for a living (note from me - this may sound harsh, but was said with love, and I think he's bang on on this one). He said that he has really awful days and then he goes in the next day and is asked to come up with three brilliant ideas within half an hour, and that if he was caught up in self-pity he just wouldn't be able to do it. In his words: "Move the [swearword] on, babe, you've got to move on from that stuff. Get back to your desk, create something else, you're not a tortured artist, it's a job, get on with it."

3. Concentrate on the quality of the work itself, not on other people's perceptions of the work. Be ruthless with yourself about whether your work is of the quality you aspire to and whether you can make it better. Be completely unconcerned by other people's approval of it. If you build your self-worth around other people's approval you will get hurt. If you build your self-worth around whether you created something you personally can be proud of, even if you buried it in a box and never let another person read it, then you will get better at your job. 
_
This really helped me last night. People say it's tough at the top. Well, it's a lot tougher down here, I'm pretty sure of that.

Thank you so much to those in Phases 2, 3, 4, etc who share their experience and wisdom on here. I've learned so much just from a couple of weeks of lurking. You are amazing, I doff my cap in your general direction.

<holds out hand to fellow traveller kyokominamino> We'll get there. Just got to keep getting those words down. Speaking of which, back to the saltmines  third draft of Book Two in the series...


----------



## William Stacey (Jul 7, 2012)

kyokominamino said:


> Indeed I did! That one was also very helpful.
> 
> I dream of having a following. I didn't get in this game for money or chicks. I'd just really love to hang out with people and talk about nerdy stuff, related to my book or otherwise. It'd be nice if there was a magic bullet, though.
> 
> Thanks for stopping by!


I'm totally cool with hanging out and talking nerdy stuff; it's the reason I still drop by KB occasionally. All too often, though, it's only about marketing (which I do realize is important, it's just not as much fun and there are tons of marketing books out there).

Writing is lonely and hard and so often it just feels like we're banging away uselessly. We're not, and I have to believe that if you keep showing up and keep putting in the work, you get better.

For me, while I do want to move a lot of books and support my family with my writing, I know that's going to take a long time and a lot more consistent work--and a lot more books out there than the one I presently have. So be it. If it was easy everyone would do it (wait a minute, everyone _is_ doing it).

At any rate, the biggest motivator for me is to see how good I can get at this craft before I die. The second biggest motivator is connecting with readers. I got my first fan email a while back, and it was the coolest thing ever.

Hang in there; this is a lifelong run, not a sprint. You're certainly not alone.


----------



## Mark E. Cooper (May 29, 2011)

kyokominamino said:


> I think this is perhaps the scariest thing I've learned as a newbie--pumping out books quickly. I was under the impression that a novel per year was good, but it sounds like I should be aiming for two. The second and third books in my trilogy are written, and I've started a short story collection that will be done by the end of the month and released in April at the latest. However, how does this bode for the average author's career? How many books should I write and release per year? That I don't know. I still have a day job and so a novel a year worked because it gave me enough time to plot and rework and edit. What do you think, as a much more established author?
> 
> Thanks for the reply!


Well you see, I DID do the book a year from 2000 because that was just how it was then. Before kindle, I was doing POD paperbacks and before that I was doing the begging agents and publishers thing. Trad used to be (still is??) one book a year and that was entirely normal. Now if you really want to keep in the public eye a release every 3 months is the deal. IF you can do that and maintain quality, you WILL get known. Again, not famous, but known by your fans. They won't forget you releasing at that pace, and that is a big part of what it takes to keep going.

Lat year I released two 100k novels in my series and I was very relieved to get those out, but even so my fans were not happy with the delay. This year I aim for 3 but only one in my series, which again will NOT go down well, but I don't want to write myself dry in my sci-fi. It takes me a long time to think of what I want to write. Luckily I have four series and enjoy switching genres.


----------



## Sapphire (Apr 24, 2012)

_"Foghorn honking in the night as we pass."_
I keep inching forward though and leaving my faint wake in the water. I know I need to write faster, but haven't conquered that yet. I know I need to market more, but haven't conquered that yet either. I keep inching forward, and inch by inch I see a little progress. I love writing. I highly doubt I will ever be a mega-seller, but I have hopes and dreams of maybe being a mid-lister someday. Right now I have to be satisfied with being a tiny blip on the radar.
_Honk! Honk!_


----------



## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

My two cents in bold:



kyokominamino said:


> 1. Facebook ads. *You've got one book. I wouldn't spend money or time on Facebook ads, or ads anywhere, except for maybe Bookbub.*
> 
> 2. GoodReads Giveaway. *How many reviews have you gotten from this? There are groups where you can give copies away in return for reviews, just be sure to follow the rules exactly.*
> 
> ...


I'm probably a Phase 0, since I unpublished my work so I could basically start over. I had some sales, but I went through a rough period in my life, and flaked out. I've been studying and writing for more than 40 years, and being a writer was always my dream job. Thanks to self-publishing, I have a chance to get my writing out without having to spend years knocking at trad publishers' doors (that shy thing popping up), though it takes nerve to put my work out in front of people. It just seems different, somehow.

Writing more than one book a year is great, if you can do it, but I still believe the "slower" writer can have a career. Do what's best for you, keep learning, keep trying.


----------



## The 13th Doctor (May 31, 2012)

I'd say I'm a Phase 0/1. I have over 460 paid sales but that's since August 2011 and covering currently 20 books (though none are novel-length - the biggest is 33K, most are around 15K and I have a couple shorter books than that). 8 in my own name, 5 in one pen name, and 7 in the other pen name.

It's only in the past few months I've stepped up the marketing. Only baby steps, though. I do the odd Kindle Discovery Day as it's affordable for me, at $15 (which works out around £9). I don't have enough reviews/money to get onto BookBub, though never say never... Also, I'm a bit of a shy, introvert person around strangers so I find it difficult to post "Squee, who's super excited about my new book release?" and try and whip up interest in my work. Not that there's anything wrong with people who can do that. I think it's great and envy them.

My major problem is 'Ooh Shiny' syndrome. I have at least two unfinished stories in my writing folder that I'm sure would sell well, but they're still in the first draft stage. I've promised myself not to start any new stories/series until I finish the ones I'm still working on.


----------



## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

No sales yet, so I'm not even a sperm swimming up the gutter trying to Skid Row yet.


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

anniejocoby said:


> Bless your heart. I always admire writers who are brave enough to put themselves out there and be honest about their fears and foibles. I can never do that, for some reason, so I applaud you for doing so.
> 
> Don't think that you are an annoyance. You're actually very helpful in sharing what you are doing, and asking for help from others who might have done something different. Newbies can take heart in that, so thank you.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the encouragement! I really appreciate it.


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

Becca Mills said:


> Well, first of all, congrats on your book and your upcoming releases!
> 
> My situation: I'm out of Phase 1, I guess, since I've had a book out for two years and have sold more than 100 copies of it, but I doubt I've moved into Phase 2, yet, whatever that might be, exactly. Let's say I'm the Phase 1.2 author.
> 
> ...


I still need help with the mailing list. I got an account with Mailchimp, but in terms of my website, I don't know how to set up a subscription system. I found a plug in that's supposed to do it and I activated it, but I don't know why it won't show up on the website. I also went back and added a note at the end of my eBooks to sign up for it, but since no one's bought the book, it's pretty useless. Still combing through the Kboards for help on that front.

What's been your experience with Shelfari? I signed up, but I haven't heard or seen anyone using it regularly so I don't know if I should bother.

I try to blog each week, but I also feel like it's kind of a black hole situation as well. No one's reading it so that's why I'm just doing a post a week.

Thanks for contributing!


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

R M Nicholls said:


> Thank you for posting this - I'm brand new too, with exactly the same questions and struggles. In fact I wept all over my long-suffering husband last night along the lines of: 'It's no good, I'll never be a writer! I'm a [swearword] cautionary tale!' [incoherent sobs]. This was triggered by a postbox full of bills that we'll struggle to pay...
> 
> Here is the advice that he gave me. He's not a writer, but he's been a professional creative for the past twenty years and this advice really helped me to pull myself together. This is quoting him - personally, I know nothing
> 
> ...


Wow, that's some really grounded advice. Hold on to that guy. He's a winner. Thanks!


----------



## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

This was amazing to read.. not only entertaining (ya'all must be writers) but so encouraging. I just want to thank every one of you!! As a newbie I have a lot to learn, and this was a very good start.


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

Sheila_Guthrie said:


> My two cents in bold:
> 
> I'm probably a Phase 0, since I unpublished my work so I could basically start over. I had some sales, but I went through a rough period in my life, and flaked out. I've been studying and writing for more than 40 years, and being a writer was always my dream job. Thanks to self-publishing, I have a chance to get my writing out without having to spend years knocking at trad publishers' doors (that shy thing popping up), though it takes nerve to put my work out in front of people. It just seems different, somehow.
> 
> Writing more than one book a year is great, if you can do it, but I still believe the "slower" writer can have a career. Do what's best for you, keep learning, keep trying.


1. Yeah, I learned that stupid expensive lesson way too late. I'm just going to leave that alone.

2. The giveaway itself hasn't gotten me reviews. The blog tour did, but the reason the giveaway helped is the people who added The Black Parade on their To Read shelf, which makes it look like people are interested and that can help encourage others to give it a try in the future.

3. I'm down to using it a couple times a day and under 30 minutes each time unless I'm livetweeting one of my shows. I think I won't seriously revisit it until I'm somewhat established. (Ha! It was seriously my proudest moment. I ran around the house screaming after it happened for 15 minutes.)

4. I should also mention the host also set up a book giveaway, which got a good amount of entries and it was also free books to readers. I'm leaning towards it's more helpful than hurtful, but that's subjective.

5. Hehehehehehe. No one gets Tumblr until you've been consistently using it for about a month. Basically, you just look for stuff you love (music, photos, but mainly TV shows/movies) and share them with your followers. It doesn't make sense at first but when you get used to it and find really funny people to follow, you'll love it.

6. I need to go find that post. I'm signed up with Mailchimp, but I don't know how to get people to sign up so far. The FB post is still a ghost town so it's not going to do much until either I get some FB engagement or sell some books, it's not doing me any good.

7. Yeah, that's why I ended up revising the book blurb. I think my cover is doing its job so far, but I do have a back up cover I can purchase if people start telling me it's crappy.

8. Thanks for the rec!

9. If this post is any indication, I might just be okay. Everyone's been so nice to me in this thread so far.

10. That seems to be the general consensus. I think I'll drop my first book and the short story collection (when it comes out) to a buck each and see if that helps pick things up. I'm also planning to do the short story just as an eBook and through KDP Select rather than Smashwords.

Aw, don't be so modest. You sound like you're doing well. And based on what I'm hearing, I think I might start pushing for a novel and a short story collection or novella each year to help get some momentum. Thanks for your commentary.


----------



## Josh St. John (Feb 3, 2012)

Totally has nothing to do with what you really wrote about, but I'm listening to the Little Shop of Horrors soundtrack (decided to give the new Broadway cast a try... not a fan...) and JUST finished listening to this song before coming to the KBoards.  Too funny.


----------



## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

kyokominamino said:


> I still need help with the mailing list. I got an account with Mailchimp, but in terms of my website, I don't know how to set up a subscription system. I found a plug in that's supposed to do it and I activated it, but I don't know why it won't show up on the website. I also went back and added a note at the end of my eBooks to sign up for it, but since no one's bought the book, it's pretty useless. Still combing through the Kboards for help on that front.
> 
> What's been your experience with Shelfari? I signed up, but I haven't heard or seen anyone using it regularly so I don't know if I should bother.
> 
> ...


My pleasure. 

Mailing list: I'd suggest really privileging the solicitation in your back matter. Make it fun and include an assurance that you will not spam them or give their email address away. Mine looks like this:



> *About the Author
> *
> Becca Mills teaches literature and writing at a small liberal arts college in the northeastern U.S. She has loved fantasy since, at age seven, she listened to her father read Tolkien aloud.
> 
> ...


The words "Facebook," "website," and "mailing list" are hot links. (And obviously, my second novel was *not* forthcoming in Spring 2013 after all ... sigh.)

As for the sign-up form, you can put a simple email form on your web site (that's what I do ... you can check it out via the link in my sig) or set it up on MailChimp. Wherever you put the form, that link should go with your solicitation. With my set-up, I get an email when someone registers. I respond, thanking them, and then add the info to MailChimp myself. If I ever hit it big and starting building a list in the thousands, I'd automate it through MailChimp, but when you're getting 1-5 sign-ups/week, doing it by hand is manageable.

My book didn't sell readily either, so I gave it away. That's always an option, though some people prefer not to do that.

Shelfari -- I'd suggest checking out your book page for half an hour some day and then just leaving it alone. I don't think the platform has that many users.

Blogging takes a while to build a following. I'd suggest doing it on a regular schedule *if* you enjoy it for its own sake. It's best if you can orient your blog's topic toward something readers of your genre might be interested in. If the blog only attracts other authors, that sort of defeats the purposes of using it promotionally. That was a mistake I made early on.


----------



## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

As a phase 0/1 myself, I'm really enjoying this thread.

Mailing lists are a frustrating experience. I get posts saying one person joined, and then a post saying that another person unsubscribed.

I have a total of 17 people on my list - and one is my husband, for test purposes, and one is probably my mother. And I have the link to get on my mailing list in my sig here, in my email sig, and right at the end of each book.


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

Josh St. John said:


> Totally has nothing to do with what you really wrote about, but I'm listening to the Little Shop of Horrors soundtrack (decided to give the new Broadway cast a try... not a fan...) and JUST finished listening to this song before coming to the KBoards. Too funny.


And I watched "Dentist" earlier today on Youtube. It's seriously my all time favorite musical. You can't go wrong with that movie. Great minds!


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

Becca Mills said:


> My pleasure.
> 
> Mailing list: I'd suggest really privileging the solicitation in your back matter. Make it fun and include an assurance that you will not spam them or give their email address away. Mine looks like this:
> 
> ...


I think I saw something on the MailChimp for Beginners thread about them providing you with a link that gets readers signed up? Is that correct? If so, I need to go back on there. For now, I told people to send requests to an email to sign up, but I guess that's too much effort. I'm off tomorrow so I'll get back to work trying to configure it. Thanks for your help!


----------



## Christa Wick (Nov 1, 2012)

Your cover doesn't meet genre expectations. Cannot tell it is paranormal/paranormal romance looking at it. Also, since you haven't sold a lot of copies yet, consider a retitle from The Black Parade to (Her?) Dark Parade or something else. 

You're spending way too much time promoting one book with no visible return on investment when that time could be spent writing and releasing more books. Sounds like you have two more ready to go -- so why aren't they out?

Releases don't have to be novels. They can be shorts and novellas, too. Three hundred page novels are relatively new as a standard length. Go back to earlier print periods before MMPB and you'll see that. Heck, I think even in the golden days of the pulp era, books were printed in the 20k - 40k range. Think at the end of next year when you spent an hour a day on FB promoting 10 titles instead of today when that same hour is spent promoting 1 title. You've got more content to talk about and more chances to give someone what they're looking for.

Also, don't spent all that marketing time talking about your book. I don't even do 20/80 (book versus everything else). Go and look at the FB timeline of high selling authors and you'll find cat videos, daily foibles, life observations, oh hey I have a new book coming out, more cat videos... And what you can't see easily is the even bigger sea of comments on other peoples posts (which are about, yep, cat videos, man titty, daily foibles, memes, etc.).


----------



## Christa Wick (Nov 1, 2012)

One of the reviews says Black Parade is 3 separate stories in one book. If that means story one ends on page 100 (eg) and #2 on page 200 (eg) and the last 147 pages are #3 -- consider splitting them up AND keeping a collected version. You can make installment 1 perma-free or .99, the other two 2.99 each and the bundle for 4.99 (if you have #1 perma-free) or 5.99. Maybe the book wouldn't work broken up, but if there are distinct separations, as the review suggests, it sounds like this one could be broken up.


----------



## kathrynoh (Oct 17, 2012)

I'm not big seller but thought I'd add my thoughts.

Have you thought about running a short 99 cent promo for your book?  There are a few threads on here that list a bunch of places you can promo your 99 cent book for nothing and you can try some paid promo if you have the budget for it.  You don't need to use Select to do a short promo, just reset your price and add a line at the beginning of your book description, eg. "On sale for 99 cents until xx/xx/xx".

I'd only do that on Amazon because some of the channels through Smashwords are very slow in making price changes.  That means when you try to raise the price on Amazon at the end of the promo, you'll get message saying you can't because it's cheaper elsewhere.

The main advantage to doing this when you have no other books out is to get you on 'also boughts' - you know when you look at a book on Amazon and it says "people who bought this book also bought..."  That will increase your visibility a heap.

Although, as Krista said, putting book 1 out as a perma-free would help a lot more, I'd think.  Alternatively, if you are putting together a short story collection, release one now as a perma-free stand alone to get people reading your stuff.


----------



## Indecisive (Jun 17, 2013)

I've been publishing for a little over a year and have sold a little over a hundred copies. I have one mailing list sign up. I am nowhere near phase 2. I would second a lot of things already mentioned in this thread.



R M Nicholls said:


> 3. Concentrate on the quality of the work itself, not on other people's perceptions of the work. Be ruthless with yourself about whether your work is of the quality you aspire to and whether you can make it better. Be completely unconcerned by other people's approval of it. If you build your self-worth around other people's approval you will get hurt. If you build your self-worth around whether you created something you personally can be proud of, even if you buried it in a box and never let another person read it, then you will get better at your job.


This is a fine sentiment, but so, so much easier said than done. 
Here's the realization that finally made me able (last week!) to take the advice above:



dkgould said:


> 1. There's no time limit. We feel like there is.


I even posted a blog post about it the other day: http://ameliasmith.net/2014/02/on-never-giving-up/


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

kathrynoh said:


> I'm not big seller but thought I'd add my thoughts.
> 
> Have you thought about running a short 99 cent promo for your book? There are a few threads on here that list a bunch of places you can promo your 99 cent book for nothing and you can try some paid promo if you have the budget for it. You don't need to use Select to do a short promo, just reset your price and add a line at the beginning of your book description, eg. "On sale for 99 cents until xx/xx/xx".
> 
> ...


That's actually what I was planning on doing when I release the short story collection. I'm going to set the short stories at permafree while also running it through KDP Select and drop TBP down to just a dollar. When the second novel comes out this summer, I'll make them both permafree and see if that increases my discoverability.

And yeah, Smashwords is seriously a headache when it comes to changing anything about the book. That's why the short story will just be an Amazon release. It's not worth all that trouble for something that's going to be free. Hell, it won't even have a paperback version on sale since, as of right now, it's going to be around 100 pages long and maybe 30,000-40,000 words.

Thanks for the advice!


----------



## ElHawk (Aug 13, 2012)

Kyoko -- I only just saw this thread.  I'm not in the big-huge-times yet, but I'm definitely beyond Phase 1, so maybe I can share some advice with you that will help you out.

First of all, I complete agree with DK Gould on all the points he or she made (sorry, DK...not sure of your pronoun.   )  I'd print that post out, highlight a bunch of it, and stick it up on your wall.  All great stuff to keep in mind.

So on to whatever advice I can offer you:

A big part of what helped my books sell well is the fact that I had the necessary supply to meet some unmet demand.  I mostly write historical fiction, which tends to be extremely trend-heavy in terms of era or geographic location.  While most of the historical fiction world sees new releases of English royal court dramas (for example) all the people who want, say, fiction set in South America are left hanging for a few years.  If a particular niche of historical fiction has gone without any new releases for a very long time, readers really start wishing for something new in that niche.  I lucked out, and happened to have a book all ready to go that fit into a niche that was sorely wanting, so it got a lot of reader support.

I happened into this by pure luck, but after closely observing my genre, I think it's possible to monitor social chatter about one's genre and detect where supply-demand discrepancies exist, and move quickly to fill them (because indies can move much faster than tradpub authors right now.)  I'd recommend that you keep a very close eye on communities that actively discuss the genres you most like to write and read.  Watch for repetition of comments about how readers wish they could find a new book that has X, Y, or Z features, then write that book and publish it.  

Most of all, though, remember that we all start out on the bottom rung and climb our way up.  Nobody (or virtually nobody) just explodes out of the gate with huge success.  For nearly all authors, it takes multiple books, lots of work, and tons of careful study of the market and of reader preference and behavior.  Keep working at it -- you'll get there!


----------



## hitext (Jan 16, 2014)

kyokominamino said:


> I didn't get in this game for money or chicks.


oh, wait...am I doing this wrong?


----------



## Tim_A (May 25, 2013)

Phase 1 in the UK, but phase 0 in the US - just can't get Americans interested in my stuff at all. (well, a couple of anglophiles, but that's about it). Still get ignored by the promo sites, cos they only care about US sales. (170 sales globally + a dozen or so "by hand" p/backs after 9 months, so it's not a total barf; it just feels that way, since my last sale was back in January!)

I tried the "write book 2 quickly" tactic, but it turns out that fast and good are mutually exclusive where I'm concerned, and so that's turned into "write book 2 again.", meaning even longer delays. Ho hum.

I put out a couple of related shorts in an attempt to recoup a bit of visibility, but they just sank like a stone with barely even a ripple. (1 sale of each in the US to my anglophile fan...)


----------



## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

Finally in phase 1 whooohooo! lol


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

SunshineOnMe said:


> Finally in phase 1 whooohooo! lol


*honks fog horn as you pass by* =D


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

hitext said:


> oh, wait...am I doing this wrong?


Of course not. But chicks come later in the game. Don't you watch Castle?


----------



## dkgould (Feb 18, 2013)

Just dragging this thread up to check in with you Kyokominamino.  Hope you are feeling better this month.  Officially passed my one year anniversary, and I'm still here   And definitely still in Phase 1.  But I didn't want you to think we forgot about you or make you feel lonely.  Hope things are looking up!


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

dkgould said:


> Just dragging this thread up to check in with you Kyokominamino. Hope you are feeling better this month. Officially passed my one year anniversary, and I'm still here  And definitely still in Phase 1. But I didn't want you to think we forgot about you or make you feel lonely. Hope things are looking up!


Better isn't quite the right word, but I am more productive. I'm over halfway done with my short story collection and I'm trying to get the eBook cover made in the meantime. The second book in my sequel is also being edited by a pro, so I've got two manuscripts going at once. My head feels like it's going to explode. Still praying that the second book's release will get me out of Skid Row.

Thanks for checking on me! You're so sweet! <3


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

I'm back! So to speak.

I thought I'd dredge up this thread real quick to give you guys an update as I try to dig my way out of Skid Row.

-I wrote a short story collection, The Deadly Seven, that compliments my first novel and will be a .99 cent tie-in that I pray will generate interest in the series. It's going to be free on release day, *May 9th*, and I'm currently running a Goodreads giveaway to help get it on people's To Be Read shelves and hopefully encourage people to actually read it once it comes out. (Seen here: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/88760-the-deadly-seven) 
-I've submitted its first Free Day promotion to Pixel of Ink and Deal Seeking Mom. I tried to get Free eBooks Net to work, but it kept telling me there was already another author with my pen name and so it wouldn't go through. I kind of Rage Quit it for now. Sadly, the collection is too short to submit to Book Bub, so I will be submitting the sequel novel, She Who Fights Monsters, when it comes out in July. I have other places I will try and submit it to as well based on a compilation list a KBoarder posted. 
-I have a list of Twitters I will blast the book out to on release day
-I have a handful of friends who have ARCs and will (hopefully) post reviews this week to help reassure potential readers
-I have scheduled a week-long virtual blog tour, but sadly, I couldn't book anything sooner than May 26th
-I have created a Facebook Virtual Launch Party where I'll basically be throwing free copies left and right to hopefully garner some interest, and the Paranormal Reads page said she'd be willing to share the post on their page. (Event seen here: https://www.facebook.com/events/246373468898771/)
-I plan to sign up for Book Discovery Day with Kboards
-I plan on posting a free chapter of TDS on my blog and blasting it out via Twitter/Facebook

*Is there anything else that I can do on Release Day to help get the word out?* I'm game for anything as it turns out I'm off from work this Friday.

Thank you again for all your previous suggestions. I've absorbed as much as I could and I hope things will take a turn for the better this week.

P.S. Is it normal that I can't even get a 1/10th of the people who have liked the Facebook page to engage in anything I do, or am I just a despicable human being? Because that seems to be a general problem with my page that won't turn around, no matter what I try.

P.S.S. Here's the cover, as brilliant designed by Cagnes. Please don't say it sucks because I will cry because I had it designed based on what KBoarders told me was normal for the PNR genre:


----------



## EC (Aug 20, 2013)

Beautiful cover -


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

EC said:


> Beautiful cover -


Thanks! All credit to Cagnes and Katie Litchfield, who designed Michael's wings. ^_^


----------



## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

You're doing everything right so far! I get very little engagement on my Facebook unless I post something personal about myself, my youngest son or my life... Readers will respond to that, usually.

You need to try to hit every possible free site you can...it will take hours to submit, but well worth it! That's the #1 thing you should be doing right now, IMHO. 

The cover is absolutely gorgeous!!  

Start a Pinterest board and name the board, "The Deadly Seven." Pin the cover and any images that might portray a scene in the book ( you can search for scenes on Pinterest). Put a hotlink directly to your Amazon Author page where they can find both books. Be sure to 'tag' the pin with the title, your author name, angels, sin, and any other word people might search on that pertains to your book.

Good luck! 

~L.L.


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

L.L. Akers said:


> You're doing everything right so far! I get very little engagement on my Facebook unless I post something personal about myself, my youngest son or my life... Readers will respond to that, usually.
> 
> You need to try to hit every possible free site you can...it will take hours to submit, but well worth it! That's the #1 thing you should be doing right now, IMHO.
> 
> ...


Thanks! That does make me feel better.

Yep, I've already submitted to five free promo websites and I've got plenty more to go. It is time consuming, but I'm hoping it'll work.

I don't have a Pinterest account, but I might have a friend or two who do. I can ask them if they'd be willing to give me a short tutorial or could post something for me since I don't know anything about the site. Social media still makes my head hurt. The only things I can work properly are Tumblr and Twitter, and Tumblr's useless for marketing my book.


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

Anwen Stiles said:


> Oooh! That's a beautiful cover you've got there. And I'm not just saying that so you won't cry.
> 
> As for engagement on Facebook, it's all screwed up now since not everyone who liked your page will see your posts -- unless you pony up the bucks (and don't do it, by the way, because it's not worth it). I'm not having anything to do with Facebook anymore.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much!

Oh, boy, I just remembered you're right. My Dad talked to me about this, how they're manipulating who sees what post and when for free. Sigh. It's such a Catch 22. To market your book, you need money. To have money, you need to sell copies. Ugh. Who designed this system? Satan or Cthulhu?

As far as categories, I tried Fiction--> Romance --> Paranormal and Fiction --> Fantasy --> Paranormal, but I am thinking of revising it to something more niche so I might be able to crack the Top 500 novels on the release day for promos.

Thank you for the advice and the encouragement!


----------



## kathrynoh (Oct 17, 2012)

TBH I don't know if social media is that helpful for selling books.  You can get caught up in trying to get more follows for your twitter or pinterest or whatever instead of focusing on selling the book.  I know I can feel like I'm doing book marketing but it really just boils down to mucking around on the internet.


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

Anwen Stiles said:


> Those sound like good main categories. Now ask yourself about the sub-categories. Sub-cats comprise the more niche bestseller lists that you might break into. You don't select these sub-cats on the the publishing page. Instead, you use keywords to get them to activate on your book. For instance, if you put yourself in the main Romance category like you mention above, then a lot of sub-categories become available to you through the use of the appropriate keywords. Use keywords like "angel," "devil," "new adult," etc. (whatever might apply), and your book will now be listed in the accompanying sub-categories. If you also select the Sci-Fi/Fantasy/paranormal main category you mention above, there are plenty more sub-cats you can access through the use of keywords. There is a help topic on this at Amazon. You can find it by searching "selecting browse categories" on the main help page of the KDP dashboard (click "help" in the upper right).


I am so terrible at keywords. This time around, I've entered: paranormal romance, angels, demons, interracial couple, urban fantasy, seven deadly sins, and Michael the archangel. These are my initial choices, but I'm going to run them past my Dad the marketing guru when we meet up tomorrow. I did read Amazon's explanation for keywords, but I still haven't been able to find my first novel since it's not selling, so it sits at the very bottom of the paranormal genre books. I'm dropping its price down to .99 cents in hopes that it might encourage some buys and I'm going to promote it through some bargain book sites.

Thanks for your help!


----------



## cagnes (Oct 13, 2009)

Did you see this thread Kyo? Sounds like a good inexpensive way to promote. BTW, the owner posted an upgrade offer on page 2.

Need a cheap place to advertise with few/no stars? This one worked for me-


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

cagnes said:


> Did you see this thread Kyo? Sounds like a good inexpensive way to promote. BTW, the owner posted an upgrade offer on page 2.
> 
> Need a cheap place to advertise with few/no stars? This one worked for me-


I did! I have it bookmarked and I'm going to contact him tomorrow, as a matter of fact. Great minds. :3


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

Anwen Stiles said:


> Did you know that the famous seven keywords are actually seven keyword phrases? It appears you do, in a way, but you can use far, far more words than you've got listed there. The limit is around 400 characters in total. You can have keyword phrases that are eight or ten words long, and every single one of the those words counts in the search, or you can just make one really huge keyword phrase. In my experience, it doesn't matter if you break them up into the seven or not. Some have said they have to separate out certain keywords to make the sub-categories kick in, but that I haven't had that problem.
> 
> I always add the following keywords for all my books (readers often tack these words onto the ends of search terms, and if you don't have the word in your list, your title won't show up in the search results): books, series, novels, kindle, story, stories, romance, new, release, ebook. If the book is on sale, I put "sale" in the keyword phrases. If it's free, then "free" goes in the list. Imagine if someone searched "new kindle angels and demons books sale." If you don't have all those words in your keywords (except for "and"), then your book won't be returned in the search.
> 
> ...


Wow, thanks for clarifying. I didn't realize the keywords could be used like that and with those kinds of results. I'll definitely take it into consideration, especially the bit about "sale" since I think a lot of people would search that way.


----------



## meh (Apr 18, 2013)

Another Phase 1 writer here. I've sold just over 100 copies of my first book, next to nothing of my second book, and a handful of short stories. I'm not a fast writer either so I'm trying to do the short story/novella/story pack idea to get material out at least a few times a year. It's hard. Also very little of my stuff is linked yet. My latest book is the first of a series and I'm madly trying to write the second. So I feel your pain. 

I'm hitting my two year anniversary this month into self-publishing (my first six months it was only short stories) and while I have a pretty good Twitter and blog following, I don't really see that translating into sales. The lack of sales of my second book is the most annoying; I had over 1000 entries in the Goodreads Giveaways. But sales are totally stalled. The only good thing is that I have over ten reviews two months after its release. Currently it's in KDP Select, which I'll probably keep for 90 more days to do a freebie promotion. Then it will go to Smashwords, etc. By the way, even if you currently offer a book through Smashwords, you can unpublish it there and enroll in KDP Select to try it out. I did that with my first book. I also tried doing a 99 cent promotion without Select on that book which resulted in 65 sales in one day. So there are different things you can try. 

I have one little nit with your newest cover. I think the image does reflect the genre, so that's good. I'd suggest making that title a bit larger if you can, so that it's clearer in thumbnail. I know my own covers aren't perfect, but if you look at the truly professional ones, that's one thing I notice. 

It's nice to have other Phase 1 writers to chat with as we work on building our product line!


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

judygoodwin said:


> Another Phase 1 writer here. I've sold just over 100 copies of my first book, next to nothing of my second book, and a handful of short stories. I'm not a fast writer either so I'm trying to do the short story/novella/story pack idea to get material out at least a few times a year. It's hard. Also very little of my stuff is linked yet. My latest book is the first of a series and I'm madly trying to write the second. So I feel your pain.
> 
> I'm hitting my two year anniversary this month into self-publishing (my first six months it was only short stories) and while I have a pretty good Twitter and blog following, I don't really see that translating into sales. The lack of sales of my second book is the most annoying; I had over 1000 entries in the Goodreads Giveaways. But sales are totally stalled. The only good thing is that I have over ten reviews two months after its release. Currently it's in KDP Select, which I'll probably keep for 90 more days to do a freebie promotion. Then it will go to Smashwords, etc. By the way, even if you currently offer a book through Smashwords, you can unpublish it there and enroll in KDP Select to try it out. I did that with my first book. I also tried doing a 99 cent promotion without Select on that book which resulted in 65 sales in one day. So there are different things you can try.
> 
> ...


Congrats on selling 100 copies!

I've put my first novel on sale for .99 cents, but I won't be officially announcing it until the 9th when my next book launches. I'm praying it will encourage readers to get both books at the same time, since The Deadly Seven will be free and The Black Parade will be just a dollar. Also going to poke the keywords and see if that helps.

Thanks for the suggestion and good luck with your future books. It's a long road, so navigate it carefully. Check back in with us on your progess, too. It's good to encourage one another.


----------



## SpringfieldMH (Feb 2, 2013)

Here's my hunch, based on looking at my own situation (still grinding on my first book, in pretty much complete ignorance)...

Regardless of whatever else you decide to do, write more books, at whatever speed is right for you.
Because by the end of writing the next book(s) and the experiences and learning involved and the time that takes (and the continuing changes the field will be going through), things will be different, in ways that you cannot now accurately anticipate or predict. Both in terms of your skills and experience and the market.
Your skills, perspective, speed, sales, reader base, etc. will be different and better.

You cannot know now what you will know then. So get busy getting to then. When you get there, reassess and repeat.


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

SpringfieldMH said:


> Here's my hunch, based on looking at my own situation (still grinding on my first book, in pretty much complete ignorance)...
> 
> Regardless of whatever else you decide to do, write more books, at whatever speed is right for you.
> Because by the end of writing the next book(s) and the experiences and learning involved and the time that takes (and the continuing changes the field will be going through), things will be different, in ways that you cannot now accurately anticipate or predict. Both in terms of your skills and experience and the market.
> ...


Already got my second novel ready for publication in July and the third one should be out spring 2015. Sales may suck, but I am rolling the ball on the books themselves. Thanks for the encouragement.


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

Hey, guys! I thought I'd dig up this thread just to give you an update on how I'm doing, as I just wrote my one-year anniversary blog post. The link is here (http://shewhowritesmonsters.com/hindsight-is-2020-my-first-year-in-self-publishing/), but for the sake of convenience, I'm posting it below so you don't have to open another tab. I'm just nice like that.

*Hindsight is 20/20: My First Year as a Self-Published Author*

"What's it like to be a self-published author?"

Boy, that's a loaded question if I ever saw one. Someone on KBoards asked a similar question, "What was your first year of publication like?" and I answered with the following .gif:










I'd say that's probably the most accurate account for most self-published authors who went into the publishing and writing industry as blindly as I did. They say that life is a rat race. Self-publishing is a rat race where every wrong turn means you get electrocuted and when you do find a scrap of cheese, you have to fight all the other rats in a switch blade match to the death. Okay, maybe not that bad, but close enough.

I suppose most of these types of posts always begin with the author bragging about the number of books they've sold. I can't really do that. There's not much to brag about. I'm not making it rain on hookers and blow. I've only actually been making a profit off my work since April, and even then, it's only been enough to buy me dinner every once in a while. But for the sake of advice, let me give you some estimated numbers via BookTrackr for all three of my books, which includes two novels and a short story collection.

Copies Sold: 653
Free Copies Sold: 4,978
Reviews: 58
Books Borrowed/Lent: 25
Money Earned Since 1st Publication Date: $383

See? Nothing to brag about here. I hate seeing blog posts where the author goes on and on about the thousands of readers they have and all the money they've made like it's the most boring, regular thing in the world. Millionaire bestselling Richard Castle-esque authors are NOT the norm. Most of us struggle and struggle hard with getting anywhere within a year of publication. But that's not what the mass media wants to tell you. That's not what Writer's Digest wants to tell you. That's not what millions of authors on Twitter want to tell you. They want you to believe we're all J.K. Rowling and it's easy as pie to poop out a bestselling series and walk on water with your fancy hair blowing in the wind because you are an author in the modern world.










I've had to claw and scratch for literally every single copy I've sold of any of my three books. I've invested what a very unimpressed H&R Block accountant estimated to be nearly $800 in creating, writing, marketing, and advertising my novels, all for a paltry $383, some of which has yet to be paid to me since Amazon only pays you at the end of every month. I've asked every available source I could get for help, and I'm still failing to make sales and gain readers. This is the ugly, seedy part of the business that no one wants to talk about because it sucks. Being a self-published author sucks. Don't let anyone convince you of otherwise. You are a lone wolf, zipping through the forest trying to find your next meal because them rabbit suckers are fast and you have more than enough competition. Actually, now that I think about it, self-publishing is basically the equivalent of being Wile E. Coyote.

That being said, it's also pretty great sometimes.

For example, one of the things they don't tell you is that it actually doesn't take a hell of a lot to be able to use the title "Amazon Bestselling Author." If you choose your category carefully, market to just the right people, and get a little support on your various social media, you can actually make it to the Top 100 Amazon in only a couple hundred free sales. It's a permanent status bump. You can advertise it on anything you wish. Make a coffee mug. Rent a giant billboard and plaster it on there. Run out into the streets and spin your arms like Maria and shout it to random strangers until the cops come. I fully admit that I have a couple dozen screenshots of my books in the Top 10 Amazon Bestselling Novel categories because it is one of those rewards that has nothing to do with money and is just for me. Because, for me, it's not about that. It's about something that I care deeply about being put into the hands of readers. That's my only goal. I want to connect with people.

If you've read this far into the blog post, you can gather that I'm pretty awkward. I don't know how to talk to people or explain things without using nerdy references or weird comparisons. But the one thing I can do-the one thing I was put on this earth to do correctly-is write stories. Even though this career path sucks, I am still doing what I love every day: telling stories. Sure, not everyone cares, and not everyone will like my stories, but I am still moving inch by crawling inch towards that end goal of being discovered by the many readers of the world. I squealed like a little girl when I saw that a handful of people in the UK have bought my books. I still bounce up and down on my bed when I get the very rare kind, detailed review. I take a shameful selfie with the paperback copies of my novel when they finally arrive, fresh off the printing press. I dollop copious amounts of affection on anyone kind enough to talk to me on Twitter about anything even vaguely related to writing.

Overall, I'd have to say self-publishing is the best worst thing I've ever done.

And so, with that in mind, here's what I've learned so far:
-Don't bother with Facebook ads. They are a money pit and a waste of time.
-KBoards is the kingdom of heaven in terms of advice on self-published marketing.
-Social media is a time-suck and should be used sparingly.
-Goodreads is a great place to meet readers and help build, organize, and grow your own library as well as helping you slip into other people's libraries.
-Bookbub is just as much a gatekeeper as literary agents in the traditional publishing world. 
-There is no answer to the "self-publishing vs. traditional publishing" debate. We're in this together. Don't fight. Just discuss your differences and try not to step on each other's toes. 
-Amazon is awesome, but it's like a giant Great Dane in a field of puppies. Snuggle up against it for warmth, but make sure you have an evacuation plan in case it goes rogue.
-Go with your instincts, but also realize that you're going to be wrong a lot. Listen to other people who know more than you, and obey whenever possible if you think they're right. Chances are, it'll help you more than you ever know.
-Always be gracious to anyone who takes the time out to speak to you, offer perspective, or shows interest in your work. Word may spread and benefit you in the future.
-Blog tours are useful for SEO links to your book, and not much else.
-Mailing lists apparently only work if you are Jesus.
-Book covers are hard to find and expensive to get, but the right ones are worth their weight in gold.
-Editing is the Britta of the writing process, but you have to deal with it anyway.
-Readers are fickle and unpredictable and there is nothing you can do about it. You can write shit or a masterpiece and they will never agree as to which one your book actually is.
-Your extended family is never going to care about your work like you do. They can't, unless they are writers themselves. Don't be offended. Just accept it and move on. 
-Chuck Wendig was right. It takes as long as it takes to make it. Don't compare your lack of success to other author's success, even though it's tempting. 
-Write your butt off. And then keep writing.

Here's to another year of self-publishing. I'm going to make it if it kills me. Just gotta knock a little harder next time.

-Kyoko M.


----------



## bluwulf (Feb 1, 2014)

Good post!  When I started reading - I was afraid you were giving up.  I'm glad you aren't.  You have a gift.  Some people it just takes time.  You have learned a lot in this past year.

Get busy on that next series!


----------



## Silly Writer (Jul 15, 2013)

~claps hands~

Love your post. Love you. 
You are going to be one of the few who make it, girl... This time next year, I predict you'll look back at your first year and shake your head with a smile on your face.


----------



## anniejocoby (Aug 11, 2013)

You'll get there with perseverance. Butt in chair, hand on keyboard. Get some more books out there. It takes awhile a lot of books to get traction, so don't give up!


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

bluwulf said:


> Good post! When I started reading - I was afraid you were giving up. I'm glad you aren't. You have a gift. Some people it just takes time. You have learned a lot in this past year.
> 
> Get busy on that next series!


Nevah! The world can keep beating me down by not buying my books, but I don't care. I am the weed that always grows back. Bestselling novelist or bust! I'm too stupid to quit!

Thanks for the encouragement! I've already got another series started and I'm hoping to finish the first book by the end of the year.


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

L.L. Akers said:


> ~claps hands~
> 
> Love your post. Love you.
> You are going to be one of the few who make it, girl... This time next year, I predict you'll look back at your first year and shake your head with a smile on your face.


Awwww, you are too kind. Thanks for the sweet words. Let's hope a year from now I can look down from my crazy Richard-Castle-style loft and laugh at my struggles. Cheers!


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

anniejocoby said:


> You'll get there with perseverance. Butt in chair, hand on keyboard. Get some more books out there. It takes awhile a lot of books to get traction, so don't give up!


I'd never dream of quitting. This is my calling. I am She Who Writes Monsters. I just have to keep writing and banging on the door until it opens. Thanks for the kind words!


----------



## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

Wonderful post and Congratulations on your one year. You're an extremely talented writer!


----------



## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

SunshineOnMe said:


> Wonderful post and Congratulations on your one year. You're an extremely talented writer!


Thank you so much!


----------

