Growing Up Indie, Part VI: Hindsights

Given a few of my posts, followers of this blog probably think my attitude toward self-publishing looks something like this:

Not true, although I wouldn’t blame you for jumping to that conclusion, given my plaints about promotion and the pressure to produce.  Be those as they may, my attitude toward self-publishing actually looks more like this:

(Except my glasses are rimless, my eyes are hazel, I have gray hair, and my shoes aren’t nearly as cool.)  I don’t hate self-publishing—and have no plans to quit—I’m simply not cut out for everything DYI entails.  This I learned through experience, the best (if not always the kindest) teacher.

Today I would like to share some hard-won hindsights, which are sort of like insights, except they usually show up too late to do you any real good.  So pay attention and maybe you’ll spare yourself some grief.  Please note that the following pointers assume you’ve written a good book, had it beta read and edited, and have it properly formatted.  If you haven’t done that, stop reading right now.  (Or save this post until you catch up.)

• Hindisght #1:  Get your author platform down.  I already wrote about this, and you can find that post here.  For the moment, suffice it to say, If you were in a footrace, your author platform would be, “On your mark!”  You can’t win, if you don’t start at the right place.
• Hindsight #2:  There’s no such thing as a free lunch.  You need a budget.  Not talking Daddy Warbucks here, just enough to pay for some great cover art (not as expensive as you think), an editor, the occasional ad, membership in a few key professional organizations, and maybe a course to fill the knowledge gaps, something like they offer at Fostering Success.
• Hindsight #3:  You need a plan.  How are you going to launch your book?  Think “build-up,” people, and maintaining “the big Mo.”  You need to get readers excited BEFORE you put your book out there.  Tease them with excerpts.  A cover reveal. A few advance copies.
• Hindsight #4:  Know thyself.  If tips, helpful websites, blog tours, and social media platforms were raindrops, your ark would already be afloat. Maybe writing is your full-time job, and you can afford to write all morning and promote all afternoon.  Or maybe you’re a pink bunny with a big bass drum and energy to burn.  The point is, you need to be honest with yourself.  How much can you handle?  If the answer is, “Not all that much,” then pick your spots.  Services like Bublish (free) and Ebook Booster (not free, but the next thing to it, and well worth the expense) can take a major load off.  You’ll find links to these and a few other nifty resources on my website.
• Hindsight #5:  Expectations are  your enemy.  (This hindsight is also known as, “Don’t fall for the hype.”)  Once you put your book out there, trust me, you’re gonna discover a whole new obsession:  numbers.  How many sales?  How many free downloads?  How many reviews?  How many good reviews?  Word to the wise:  Keep watching the numbers, and you will flat drive yourself nuts!  Remember:  Once in a blue moon, a book hits Amazon and takes off … but only suckers count on a blue moon.  This stuff takes time.

There’s probably more I could tell you, but at my age, you can only hold so many thoughts at once.  Besides, I gotta save something for future blogs ….

Growing Up Indie, Part V: Dance Like Nobody’s Watching

“I’m looking forward to the next installment!”  What greater compliment can a reviewer pay an author?  I mean, I ask you!  Feedback like that makes me want to chain myself to the keyboard and pound out the next novel in a week.  (Okay, maybe two weeks, on account of I have that pesky day job.)  And why not?  The next installment is a already full-blown tale in my head, just begging to be told.  And, brother, it’s a corker!

So I sit down, rub my hands together like Van Cliburn warming up for “Moonlight Sonata,” lay my fingers on the home row, and … nothing happens.  Not.  One.  Damn.  Thing.  For months.

Writer’s block, you say?  Nah.  Writer’s block would be a step up.

I’ve tried all the usual remedies—leisurely walks with my dog, Molly; ice cream; red wine; ice cream; free writing; ice cream; wearing my jersey inside out.  Fail, fail, fail, fail, fail, fail, and, oh yeah, I don’t have a jersey.  Meanwhile, the “agent” perched on my shoulder harps on the dire consequences of “failure to publish in a consistent, timely manner” and points to fellow authors on Facebook—Ten thousand words today!—sneering, “Why can’t you be like her?”

Have I been tense and unhappy?  Do I feel pressured bordering on desperate?  You could say that.  You could also call Katrina a stiff breeze.

Now, as we all know, there are no atheists in foxholes.  That being the case, I decided to discuss my verbal constipation with the Man Upstairs.  And we were chatting, by which I mean I was whining about how I would probably never be able to write again, and how that would just about kill me, and oh, by the way, what am I supposed to do with these two (no, make that three) books in my head?

And I said, with great consternation, “How come writing was more fun before I self-published?”

And He said, “Bingo!”

And I said, “Huh?”

But, you know, I finally got it—well, maybe—one of the biggest dangers of self-publishing, at least for me:  Writing starts to become business and stops being fun.  I lose the sheer delight of my art, the joy of painting with words, as in ….

The tseet-tseet of the blood-red cardinal in my back yard.  Molly’s liquid-brown eyes.  The hollow ache of loss, rain drumming on a tin roof, the way the air tastes in that blue hour before dawn.

Know what’s really funny?  I’ll probably never use those phrases in a novel.  Can’t say for sure, of course, but chances are.  Still ….

I do love to paint.  Love, as Michener said, “the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotion.”

So I’m putting the novel on the shelf for a while … maybe a long while.  Gonna taste some words, paint small, and rediscover the joy.

I’m gonna dance like nobody’s watching.

Then, we’ll see.

Growing Up Indie, Part IV: Friends, Indeed

What do you do when ….

1. You’re an indie author.
2. You despise marketing.
3. You don’t have the creative energy to write and tweet and FB and go blog-touring.
4. You’ve sworn off intense social marketing, but ….
5. You want folks to hear about (and buy) your books?

Well, if you’re me, you look for a few talented friends to help you out.  I’ll be posting about the friends I’ve found from time to time, and I’ve created a “Friends, Indeed” page on my website dedicated to them.  Because they deserve recognition, and they have my thanks.

So.  Let’s get started.  Today’s “Friend, Indeed” is Bublish.  I ♥ Bublish, because this unique service not only offers you a way to craft eye-catching book promos (including excerpts), but it allows you to tweet and Facebook them right from the site!  For … FREE!  I recently interviewed Bublish founder, Kathy Meis.  Here’s what she had to say:

Me:  What specific service(s) do you provide? Please differentiate between paid/free services, but list all.

Kathy:  Bublish is a social book discovery platform that helps writers share their stories and readers discover new books and authors they’ll love. It is free for both writers and readers. The heart of the platform is the book bubble. Here’s what one looks like (click on image to enlarge):

Authors can manage up to 30 books with multiple book bubbles from their Bublish Author Dashboard in order to create and share their bubbles across multiple social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, email, etc.) as well as on bublish.com. The “secret sauce” of Bublish is the ability of the author to tell the story behind their story in the book bubble’s Author Insight. This is a powerful way to connect with new readers. In the future, there will be additional premium, paid accounts for authors and publishers. However, our free accounts will always remain free. We currently make money through the affiliate sales of books.

Me:  What prompted you to create this service?

Kathy:  I have been a writer and editor my entire life. I have watched the economics change drastically in publishing, not always in favor of creators. It is our mission at Bublish to provide writers with a powerful tool to find their audience and engage with readers in a way that will help them stand out in a crowded, noisy online book marketplace. Because the price of books has come down in the Digital Age, authors will need to sell more books over time to compensate. This will require authors to build a loyal following of readers who can support them throughout their writing careers. Bublish will provide the type of manageable, effective tools (like book bubbles) that will enable authors to engage authentically and effectively with their readers on a regular basis.

Me:  How many hours a week (approximately) do you spend on it?

Kathy:  Bublish is a full-time pursuit.

Me:  Any statistics you want to share?

Kathy:  We currently have about a thousand authors on the platform and grow steadily each month through word-of-mouth marketing. Some of our authors have had their work viewed hundreds and even thousands of times on Bublish. Our prototype won the prestigious People’s Choice Award at O’Reilly’s Tools of Change publishing conference in 2012. We were invited by the International Digital Publishing Forum to launch Bublish at last year’s Ignite BEA at Book Expo America. Writers all over the world now use Bublish to share their stories with readers.

Me:  How/when/why should an author contact you?

Kathy:  Authors can contact us at info@bublish.com. We’re here to answer questions and support Bublish authors as fully as possible. We also do numerous weekly events to promote Bublish authors: Our weekly 12-hour #SampleSunday Marathon on Twitter, The Bublish Floating Bookstore on Mondays, live weekly chats with authors, publishers, publicists and agents on Twitter and Facebook on Thursdays at 3pm ET, #featurefriday in which we spotlight the writing life of a beta bublisher as well as other events associated with holidays or particular book genres.

Me:  Tell us a little about yourself—e.g., favorite genres/authors, hobbies, goals, pets, etc.

Kathy:  I love to read. As I tell my friends, I like my reading difficult and my movies light. I read a lot of nonfiction these days, but then I go through a fiction fit. I like to read stories that are character driven, and am also drawn to books set in foreign countries and written about foreign cultures. I also read often with my youngest daughter, which exposes me to some wonderful children’s literature.

Me:  Anything you would like to say to authors? Readers?

Kathy:  We welcome all writers and readers to the bublish community. We’re here to support our growing family of writers and readers and help you connect with each other around great content. We hope you’ll come see what we’re all about!

Homepage:  http://www.bublish.com
Blog: 
http://bublish.com/blog/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/bublishme
Pinterest: 
https://www.pinterest.com/bublish

Google+:
https://plus.google.com/b/106672408688515739740/106672408688515739740/posts

Twitter:  @BublishMe and @katmeis
Hashtags:  #bublish #bookbubbles #bookbubble

Note:  Future Friends, Indeed will be featured on my website!

Growing Up Indie, Part III: Out of the Frying Pan

You know those moments when you throw up your hands and mutter, “I don’t care about conventional wisdom, I’m gonna do this my way?”

I’m there.

I became an indie author last July, and I love it.  Please remember that:  I.  Love.  It.  Love getting my books out there, love getting feedback from readers/reviewers, love knowing I have control.

I do not … I repeat, not … love promoting.

Lord knows, there are droves of really smart people out there who can tell you the hows and whys and wherefores of marketing your book.  There are tools to help and websites to help and courses to help even more.  Facebook groups.  Twitter folk.  Trust me, there’s no shortage of knowledgeable, willing mentors.

To them, I say, “Thank you.  For your graciousness, your time, your patience, your willingness, and the advice I did take.  But from now on … count me out.”

Count me out, as in, no more frenetic/clever social media marketing campaigns. As in, I might try guest blogging—when/if I have time and something to say—but blog TOURS? Not happening.

I’m on the far side of 60 years old, and I have books to write. If they’re good books, the word will spread. (You know, like, “If you build it, they will come.”) Probably glacially, maybe not in my lifetime, but them’s the breaks.

Does believing people will find my books make me a Pollyanna? Quite possibly. Are smarter, more talented, more experienced, much more successful authors reading this and making with the, “Tsk, tsk?” No doubt.

But I know my own capabilities. I don’t have the energy to build marketing momentum AND tell stories. I love to tell stories. I detest marketing.

So, this is me, leaping out of the social media frying pan into the fire of probable anonymity (not to mention penury).

I came to this party to write. And, brother, that’s what I’m gonna do.

►End of rant◄

Growing Up Indie, Part II: Carts & Horses

At my age, hindsight is the only sight that’s 20/20.  And as I approach the on-ramp to 62 towing decades of the stuff, I’m fueled by a burning desire to preach “the gospel of what I learned the hard way.”  My kids just tune me out and make their own mistakes.  If you want to do the same, stop reading right now.  I’ll never know, and you won’t have to make that face at me.

Still here?  Okay, let’s talk carts and horses.  As in, which comes first?  Easy, right?  I mean, come on, nobody with a single working gray cell would put the cart first.  Unless, of course, you can’t tell your cart from your horse.

See, that was my problem.  I thought the book was the horse.  Get that filly up on Amazon, and let ‘er buck!  Yeeehaaw!  (As we say in Texas.)

Ooops.

Now I know better.  The horse, my friends, is your author platform—your brand, your identity, your web presence.  Without that horse to pull it, your cart won’t go anywhere but downhill.  And gravity never made a bestseller out of anybody.

You can tweet.  You can Facebook.  You can blog yourself blue in the face, but unless you weave all those elements into a tapestry that says, “This is who I am, and this is why you should read my books,” you might as well spit in the ocean.  ‘Cuz Amazon’s an ocean, and (unless you’re Robert Crais or Tess Gerritsen or James Patterson) you’re a drop.  Maybe a plump drop, but a drop all the same.

So here I sit with my barn door open, belatedly trying to coral the horse.  First, I had to admit I blew it.  Like, “Hi, my name is Kathy, and I put my cart before my horse.”  Then I looked for somebody to tell me how the heck to get it right.  I needed some experts.

I found them at Fostering Success.  Not a free service, but a reasonably priced one, and so far, worth every blessed penny.  There are other resources offering information for free, but I was overwhelmed when I tried to plow through a hundred or so, plus, I’d had some interaction with the Fostering Folks before and knew they had good stuff to say.

Make no mistake, I’m not saying they’re the resource for you.  In my book they’re top notch, but budgets are a fact of life, and yours may not support paid advice.  So do the research.  Check out the websites of your favorite authors and take notes.  Join indie author groups like the World Literary Cafe, the Independent Author Network, and the Independent Author Index.  Ask fellow authors to critique your site, your Twitter page, whatever.  There are plenty of resources to help you discover your brand, develop it, and get it out there.

Do it.  Start today.

‘Cuz nothing beats a good horse.

Growing Up Indie, Part I: Reviews

“Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

I remember Kansas.  Kansas was 1997, and I had just published two romances with Bantam’s Loveswept line.  Kansas was traditional publishing with agents and editors and books with paper pages and professional reviewers who worked for newspapers or magazines like Romantic Times.  Back there in Kansas, your average reader had no way to say yea or nay—aside from word of mouth, which, as we all know, is limited to the number of ears you can bend.  Kansas, my friends, was black and white when it came to reviews.  You knew exactly whom you were dealing with … for better or worse.

A bit more than six months ago, I jumped the rainbow and landed in Oz—otherwise known as The Land of Self-Publishing—embarking on a magical mystery tour where every day is an adventure.  Where every– and anyone is a reviewer, and word-of-mouth is multiplied ten-thousandfold.

If you’re an old-timey author like me, you’re like, “Whoa.”

Now, the only thing I want to say to reviewers is this:  Thank you.  Whether you gave my books one star or five, you read them.  You took the time to review or rate.  I appreciate that, no lie.  So, I’m not going whine about, fume over, judge, castigate, or otherwise deprecate your efforts.  How ungrateful would that be?  I mean, hey, I’ve learned a lot from you.  Like ….

• It’s not personal.  Truth is, not everyone will like my stories, no matter how skillfully written.  The relationship between a reader and an author is intensely subjective.  I either connect with you, or I don’t.  I could name ten bestselling authors and not a few literary giants I simply can’t read.  Not because their books stink, but because their books don’t speak to me.  (This is why Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar or Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird are often rated three-stars on Goodreads.)
• Negative reviewers are sometimes right.  Yes, I read them.  No, it’s not pleasant.  But every once in a while I stop pouting long enough to admit a comment rings true.  Know it or not, that reviewer has helped me improve my writing and kept me from making the same mistake in my next novel.
• I can’t let myself live or die by reviews.  They can’t even be my main focus.  My main focus is writing, and taking reviews too much to heart will kill my art.  I’ll either wind up writing to get positive reviews or to avoid negative ones, and that’s the best way I know to end up with cardboard characters and a cotton-candy story.

Thankfully, the majority of my reviews are 3 stars and above—Amanda’s Eyes has a 4.4-star average on Amazon, 3.55-star average on Goodreads—but even when they’re aren’t, I’m learning to cope.  So don’t expect Hershey’s stock to go up on my account.  I don’t need nearly as much chocolate as I used to.

The Essential Thing

I love this quote from Marc Chagall.  Could just as easily be said about the writer’s art.  Am I right?

The essential thing is art, painting, a painting different from the painting everyone does.

But what sort?  Will God, or somebody else, give me the power to breathe into my canvases my sigh, the sigh of prayer and of sadness, the sigh of salvation, of re-birth?  ~Marc Chagall, My Life