Trying harder
I'm realizing that I've got a lot of work to do. Being an indie author is all about engaging with my audience. People need to remember I'm here. I don't have a marketing department, beyond the guy looking at me in the mirror. People wonder how indie authors find success, well it comes from hard work and dedication. I'm proof that occasional work and just talking about it doesn't get you anywhere.
My friend Andrea Pearson is a great example. She's been an indie author for a while now and she's found a great deal of success. It hasn't been easy, but she's done well for herself. And this success has come despite difficult challenges in her life.
Where does that leave me? Well first off it leaves me in her dust. Secondly it actually gives me the road map that I need to follow. Now she and I write in different genres, so I'll have to tweak parts of the process, but for the most part it's the same. I have to have a presence on the web, via this blog, via social media and so on. There is work to be done beyond just writing good books.
The difficult part of it for me is finding people interested in my particular genre/genres. The joy, at least for me, of being an indie author is I don't have to conform to a publisher/editor. However this freedom comes with a cost. Hero Unit is a hybrid genre series. I've come to accept the fact that the primary genre is crime novel. Boil it down and my characters are police officers solving crimes. They just also happen to have superpowers, and the criminals have superpowers. From what I can tell there are people out there who will read superhero crime novels. My challenge is finding and engaging with them.
The problem is, I'm not very good at it. Part of the problem is how long it takes me to write a single book. As a reader I'm not a fan of waiting years between novels, unless they are lengthy. Volume three of Hero Unit might hit 70K words.
Going hand in hand with that is the fact that I'm inconsistent. My last post here was in September, I can't remember the last time I posted on my Facebook page, or sent out a tweet, or posted on Instagram. Then there's Goodreads, Amazon and Bookbub, all places I could set up profiles and engage with readers, but I don't.
I'll be honest, part of it comes from a form of laziness. I say "My time is better spent writing". Really I'm afraid of criticism. Negative feedback kills me. I've written about why, so I won't retread that here, but I'm realizing that is one of my huge stumbling blocks. That and a fear of failure.
Now that it's the new year, yes I know it's February already, I'm working on working harder. Learning how to be a better marketer of myself is the first step.
My friend Andrea Pearson is a great example. She's been an indie author for a while now and she's found a great deal of success. It hasn't been easy, but she's done well for herself. And this success has come despite difficult challenges in her life.
Where does that leave me? Well first off it leaves me in her dust. Secondly it actually gives me the road map that I need to follow. Now she and I write in different genres, so I'll have to tweak parts of the process, but for the most part it's the same. I have to have a presence on the web, via this blog, via social media and so on. There is work to be done beyond just writing good books.
The difficult part of it for me is finding people interested in my particular genre/genres. The joy, at least for me, of being an indie author is I don't have to conform to a publisher/editor. However this freedom comes with a cost. Hero Unit is a hybrid genre series. I've come to accept the fact that the primary genre is crime novel. Boil it down and my characters are police officers solving crimes. They just also happen to have superpowers, and the criminals have superpowers. From what I can tell there are people out there who will read superhero crime novels. My challenge is finding and engaging with them.
The problem is, I'm not very good at it. Part of the problem is how long it takes me to write a single book. As a reader I'm not a fan of waiting years between novels, unless they are lengthy. Volume three of Hero Unit might hit 70K words.
Going hand in hand with that is the fact that I'm inconsistent. My last post here was in September, I can't remember the last time I posted on my Facebook page, or sent out a tweet, or posted on Instagram. Then there's Goodreads, Amazon and Bookbub, all places I could set up profiles and engage with readers, but I don't.
I'll be honest, part of it comes from a form of laziness. I say "My time is better spent writing". Really I'm afraid of criticism. Negative feedback kills me. I've written about why, so I won't retread that here, but I'm realizing that is one of my huge stumbling blocks. That and a fear of failure.
Now that it's the new year, yes I know it's February already, I'm working on working harder. Learning how to be a better marketer of myself is the first step.
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