Tag: self-publishing

I Will Be Bad at Marketing

March 4, 2016 / JennyDetroit / 0 Comments

In my twenties, I used to belong to a forum called Tolkien Online. This was when the Peter Jackson LOTR movies were going strong. I had read LOTR twice while in college and became a total fangirl. My love for fantasy literature had been rekindled (see my life’s story for more on that).

I loved Tolkien Online. There were vibrant discussions of LOTR movies, intelligent discussions of Tolkien’s books, threads for debates about religion and philosophy, even a thread dedicated to reciting Grateful Dead lyrics. I spent incredible amounts of time on Tolkien Online.

But then college ended, I got more enmeshed in the Classic Movie Blogosphere (not sure if that’s a proper noun or not, but it feels like it should be), and I fell out of the habit of posting to message boards.

Eventually, real adulthood happened (aka, my 30s), and I fell out of the habit of posting comments on my favorite movie blogs too. Basically, I didn’t have time to read a hundred comments a day and write something witty in response to them. I had a job. I had a family. I sorta, kinda, completely stopped being an active online presence in other people’s playgrounds. (I never gave up blogging, though. That would be absurd.)

But now that I’m getting ready to publish my first book, I feel like I have to drum up some interest for the book on the interwebz. I have to “find my readers” and “gain an audience” and “market,” and I don’t want to be sleazy about it, I don’t want to just pop into some comments section and blab randomly about my book, or post annoying “Look at me!” posts on a forum where I’m a total noob. I want to make myself part of the community. I want to show that I’m not just a saleslady for my product. I want to be genuine.

So I joined two fantasy literature forums (I won’t say which ones). I didn’t post right away. I spent time reading the different threads and getting to know the lay of the land. And every time I came close to posting something, every time I thought that maybe I’d found the place where I wanted to jump in… I didn’t. I’d hit “reply” and get ready to type. And then… nothing.

I started beating myself up about it: You’ve got to get going! Your book is coming out in June! Establish relationships, build an audience! Make yourself part of these online communities! What are you waiting for? Just do it!

And yet, despite my self-badgerings, I still couldn’t do it.

I’m not in my twenties anymore. I’m not the message board gal I used to be.

It’s not where my head is.

It’s not where my voice is.

It’s not that I think message boards suck or anything. For many people, they are still awesome ways to connect.

But they’re just not for me. I can’t explain why, but I just don’t have anything to add to the conversations on these forums.

My blog is enough. I can ramble into the abyss all I want here.

My books are enough. I can express myself and communicate my ideas through them.

I don’t feel the need to be a commenter. I don’t have the drive to belong to a forum.

And I know this is a liability. I know that for a completely unknown author who doesn’t even have anyone reading her blog, I need to get my name out there. And yet… I’m not feeling it.

I’m more than ready to keyword-ninja my way through the Amazon algorithms, and I’m more than ready to pay for advertising. I’m doing Tim Grahl’s pre-launch strategies as best I can. But I don’t think I can be a full-time forum poster. I don’t think I can start reading a dozen blogs again just so I can get my “name” known in the comments.

If this means career suicide, I guess I’m fine with putting my head in the oven.

And the reason is that even if I did force myself to comment and post on different forums, my heart wouldn’t be in it. I’d be faking. I’d be as disingenuous as the sleaze-oids who post about their books on Twitter every five seconds. If I’m gonna go on Twitter, it’s gonna be so I can retweet awesome pictures of old movie stars. It’s not gonna be to hock my books.

Maybe I’ll do more on GoodReads. That feels more like “me.” If nothing else, I’ll try reviewing some books on there (which I’ve been meaning to do since forever).

But whatever I may do in my as-of-yet-non-existent career in self-publishing, I don’t want to be untrue to myself. I can’t fake things.

And if that means I’ll be bad at marketing, so be it.

Maybe I’ll find another way.

“Lightning in the Black Bottle” Conclusion (Post-NaNo)

December 11, 2015 / JennyDetroit / 0 Comments

This story was originally written as part of NaNoWriMo 2015. To read the complete story, go to the MISCELLANY section of this website.

The Heron said nothing, and Jack had a wicked feeling that the stories weren’t true. This bird wasn’t anything special, just a strange creature that lived alone in an old forest. But then the Heron croaked and it was a terrible broken sound. It rolled its yellow eyes back into its head.

“Avalon Summer” Part 2 (Post-NaNo)

December 10, 2015 / JennyDetroit / 0 Comments

“You okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re bleeding.” He looked really concerned, like he knew me and cared.

“It doesn’t really hurt.” I wasn’t interested in letting him see me all bloodied and bruised. I wasn’t interested in letting him see me at all. What happened to just being able to forget about him? I had no escape.

“Okay,” he said.

“I’m sorry I crashed into you.” What else could I say? I was on the verge of a total word explosion, ready to start asking him all kinds of questions, inviting him over to go swimming, inviting him over to play or watch a movie or have my grandma make us lunch. Thankfully, I realized the oncoming avalanche before it wastoo late. Before I could start rambling, incoherent and desperate, I hopped back onto my bike.

Books I’m Reading (to help with my writing)

November 15, 2014 / JennyDetroit / 0 Comments

I have to say, I’ve been inspired lately. Mostly due to my husband’s belief that I can be a professional fiction writer, as well as to the Christmas gift he got me last year: a Kindle. Before the success of ebooks, I thought the only way I could be a published novelist was to get an agent, get a publishing contract, and have my book published by a traditional publisher. I had considered self-publishing in the past, but those were in the dark days before ebooks, and the fear of paying for a print run and having stacks of unopened boxes of books in my garage hung like a specter over the whole enterprise.

But seeing the success of ebook authors in recent years has me reevaluating self-publishing.

So with my new Kindle, I started downloading a bunch of books. I started off downloading public domain books that were either free or super-cheap (A Princess of Mars and The Worm Ouroboros being two of my favorites). But then I started getting books about self-publishing, about making a living writing ebooks, and the whole crazy dream of me being a fiction author started to seem possible.

These are the books that have inspired me or that continue to inspire me. These are the ones I’m reading right now or that I’ve read in the last few months:

Write. Publish. Repeat. by Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant, with David Wright

This one kinda started it all. It made self-publishing seem possible; it laid out a plan. It also gave me a nice kick in the pants to sit down and start cranking out words. I am not prolific. It takes me a long time to finish rough drafts of stories, scripts, novels. It takes me even longer to revise (I often rewrite entire drafts from scratch). So reading how Platt, Truant, and Wright have cranked out millions of words in the last few years has lit a fire under me to crank out the words at a faster pace. If I want to have a career writing books, I have to write a lot of books.

Writer Dad by Sean Platt

This one was suggested after my purchase of Write. Publish. Repeat., and since I liked the previous book, I thought I’d check out this other one. Though less nuts and bolts/nitty-gritty about the process of self-publishing, this book was just as inspiring. Basically, Platt decided to make writing his full-time career and Writer Dad is the story of how he did it. Again, it’s inspiring and helps me focus on achieving my goals as a writer.

Write Your Novel from the Middle by James Scott Bell

I have Bell’s book, Plot and Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish, and I really like it. I’m not particularly good at plotting (I’m more of a character and dialogue person), so his techniques have been helpful. It’s also just a good “writing guide” in general, with nice exercises for keeping momentum going and hitting your word count goals.

I’ve also taken a screenwriting class with Mr. Bell, and he was fantastic. So I was predisposed to like Write Your Novel from the Middle. And it’s an interesting approach to plotting and one that I’ve been using in my latest novel, 13 Treasures of Britain. It’s a short book but it has a lot of great advice.

Make Art, Make Money by Elizabeth Hyde Stevens

This is not a book about writing; however, it is a book about being an artist and making money from your art. It’s also a fascinating career biography of Jim Henson, a man who is one of my personal heroes. Stevens’s basic thesis is that Jim Henson was an artist who didn’t sacrifice his art in order to make money. I enjoyed her analysis of Henson’s career, and I found her suggestions to be overall helpful and even sometimes inspirational. Again, this book is meant for artist-entrepreneurs who need to see that their dreams are possible.

Let’s Get Digital by David Gaughran

This is a how-to for self-publishing digitally, but it’s also an interesting analysis of the publishing world. I didn’t realize how messed-up some things are in the traditional publishing industry (for instance, authors’ royalty rates for ebooks from traditional publishers is a lot lower than I thought it would be). The book is a how-to self-publish, but also a why-to self-publish. I really like Gaughran’s ability to explain technical things; I feel like I can manage to upload my manuscript and do all of the technical/business things necessary to launch my books. It’s laid-out nicely too, making it easy to find whatever info I need for a specific task.

(N.B.: Write. Publish. Repeat. and Let’s Get Digital can be purchased as part of a boxed set along with How to Market a Book by Joanna Penn. The boxed set is called the Indie Author Power Pack, which is on sale right now for $0.99. It’s a fantastic deal for those who are interested.)

The best part about all of these ebooks (besides their wealth of information), is that they were not expensive. I’m still astounded by how much ebooks from the big publishers cost. Those who self-publish seem to have a much better handle on how much an ebook is really worth. So for not a lot of cash, I’ve been able to expand my knowledge about self-publishing and get inspiration for my art with these books.