There is a line that should be drawn in
the sand. A limit to where you will go with whatever you are
endeavoring to do. That is the school of thought. A wise man knows
when to give up. Others say do not give up until defeat is academic.
Others say to fight until there is no more strength in you to fight.
When it comes to self publishing, which one is the right choice?
What is it that you want to succeed at when you
are self published? I can say for one, or rather in my case, and I
believe is the case of others, that I would like to sell copies of my
book. I would like to sell enough to at least afford to publish my
second and then my third book. I would like to build a fan base, from
out of thin air, and cultivate it like a beloved field of vegetation.
To fawn over it, feed it, water it, provide it with as much light as
possible. As this field produces, I would like to reap its benefits,
to live off the land to become one with my fans.
Yes, I think that many of us have my
dream, my desire and that is the yardstick that we measure our
success. So what if our yardstick falls short of the mark? What if
your first, most enthusiastic effort reaps no benefits? What if your
dream of a vibrant farm, yielding rich produce does not come to
fruition?
That's where I stand now with my first
book, Cover of Darkness. It's foundering after a year after
publication. It's not selling, it's not moving. It's a grand sailing
ship in the middle of the doldrums, a lifeless sail, a wind-less sea.
It went well in the beginning, the first month, the first two, three,
there were sales. One here, one there. There was positive motion, but
as the months wore on, there was less and less. I pushed the
envelope. I found reviewers, reached out to them to review my book
and to put it on Amazon. I did a blog tour, where I gave a great many
people notice that my book was out there. I applied to an endorsement
company, who read books and gives their endorsement. I threw up the
full sails, pulled the anchor, centered the rudder. I did everything
that I could think of.
I would like to think that I pushed the
envelope. I would like to think that I did everything I could. It was as if I
did nothing. I had some sales, and then none. And it stayed none. And
it is none.
Now the question is: where do I go from
here?
Well, the answer is obvious if you are
true to yourself. Be yourself. To thine own self be true, and it must
follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any
man, William Shakespeare. I cannot play false to any man, or rather,
my fans, wherever they may be. So I have to be true to myself. And
what am I, first and foremost? A writer.
I write. I write just because there are
stories in my head that need a voice and need to be put down on paper.
I've been writing all my life. Since I was a child, I was a writer, I
studied, I learned and so, here I am, at a crossroads in my life,
where I am just standing and wondering, what to do now, and the
answer is academic. Write.
I'm not a marketing genius, but I am a
fast learner. One of the self-publishers that I've read had a similar
experience. That of having the first of her books falter. The sales
were very weak if at all. So she published a second and a third book,
and the more books she published, the more they moved. It appeared to
her that people were drawn to a series of stories. They seemed to be
attracted by full stories, with rich characters and deep story-lines,
broad character arcs. They seem to like an abundant story, and not so
much drops in a bucket.
Further, it took her mind off of just one book, just one savior, and as time progressed, the first book, like a snowball rolling downhill, gained slow momentum and built over EIGHT years to over 200,000 in sales. Patience, it appears, is the winning virtue.
To be true to myself then, I must write
and continue to publish. I must continue to go on and come out with as
many books as I can, because, honestly, there is no expiration date
on self-published books. They don't have the short shelf life of
traditionally published books. The first day that it comes out is the
same as the three hundred and sixty fifth day. The book can take off
any day. A year later, two years later. As it sits on the electronic
bookshelves the world over it doesn't give up. It waits patiently for
someone to press 'Add to Cart'. And with that thought, if it doesn't give up,
if it is going to stay in the fray until it has no strength left to
fight, then so will I.
I'm going to push the second book out,
and ride it on the coattails of the first. Maybe raising a second
sail on the ship will cause some motion.
Either case, either way, I'm going to
write more and publish more. I don't see myself as stopping, and so,
I don't see myself as failing. To me, this is just one, tactical,
logical move after another.
If I am a sailor, I'll sail. If I am a
farmer, I'll farm. And if I am a writer....
Gregory
