Okay, I have officially concluded my first week as self-published author.
Let's just say it's... different than living in my traditionally published persona.
For one thing, it's a struggle to get anyone to Follow me on Twitter. I'm basically a nobody, which is both cool and terrifying. I would normally think twice about using "WTF" in my header, even though it's an authentic representation of who I am. That's because my "other" self would be thinking about all my sweet teen readers, their moms, and whether or not I was going to piss someone off.
So it's kind of cool to be able to speak my mind.
Also, I spent a few days not really knowing WHAT I was supposed to do to get the word out, especially given my desire to keep this name separate from my other one. I don't really know how to be a self-published author, and I'm learning as I go.
On the other hand, I've sold exactly five books. Yes, five. Not exactly a stellar showing, and this is with a regular presence on the Kindleboards (including the tag exchange) and a semi-assertive attempt at reaching out on Twitter. Although, now that I put it that way, that's not exactly aggressive marketing.
;)
In my defense, I'm under ridiculous deadline pressure to fulfill my traditional publishing contract and prepare a new book for submission, so it's a huge juggling act.
I spent last week reaching out to a few bloggers known to review self-published YA and have a few people who have expressed interest in reviewing either Phoebe... Fabulous! or The Good Deed Diaries. Maybe that will help!
I also decided to give Facebook Ads a try. I've used them in the past for my other work but have never been able to determine if they really make a difference. This is kind of cool, because I have access to my numbers in real time. So far I've spent about $30 to have my two ads shown to (I'm paying for impressions instead of clicks) approximately 120,000 people in the demographic I chose.
Sales over that three-day time period; 1.
So... yeah. Not a winning proposition so far, but I'm going to let it play out for the next week or so and see if there's a measurable difference. I'll let you know what I find out!
Aloha!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to let ya know that I understand exactly what you're going through. Best I can say is hang in there and keep promoting your work through forums. For example, I've just signed up to a bunch of horror movie forums. My plan is to write a bunch of review posts and hope that people see my linked-signature, lol.
But yeah, I just started, and the whole thing is a wtf situation. Take care!
Thanks, Raymund! That's a great idea. I'll check out your site now, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my loooonely blog!
Julia
🔜
ReplyDeleteQ: What am I gonna do in 7th Heaven for
centillions X centillions of eons of alt.reality
with UFU wanna, ya stunning wildflower?
A: the flight of ‘the Rawwkuss’ (my starship
where Captain -bb9 I am); 111 killillionish
parsecs across the universe; love/serve you
on board; picking-up stowaways who think
their subtle maneuver goes without notice
and, finally, touching-down on the HUUUGE
home world of KodexxII where we can learn-
to-play ‘NachoCheeseDude’ and ‘O!Wah!Hoo!’
(et al). Be a sheer surplus, exponential eternity!
So let’s meet@RongWay café Upstairs for
some beers/savvy pretzels in the starry sky.
We’ll schmooze, cool shoes??
Cya soon, ya suave dynamite...
DunnoFyoo deleted my 2nd post on
ReplyDeleteyore own or F blogger did pleasantly.
Now I’ll VitSee wot cometh, me lassy.
PS: what I’ll doXtra cuz I ❤️ you:
...feeding you baklava, kiwi/tiny
oranges, cotton-candy-delicacies,
deliciousNutritious cinnamon bunnies;
exploriNgroovn, rrrrasssl’Nlovin,
nekk’Ndancin all over-the-rrrockin’
galaxy or aboard my 1,500ft-groovy/
time-travel/scavenger-hunt/party-
hardy, dyno!mite!starship! bizarre;
A-L-L kindsa movies which you can
direct/star in A-L-L over-the-universe:
we can certainly teach Aikido/Jujitsu to
those wild natives in their far-out-zip code;
xonillions X googleplexplex X oemnillions
MOE! adventures, Curly, waiting for U.S.
if we’d put Msr. Almighty God, esq. first.