A.L. Noble's Blog

Over the past month, I have learned a lot about self-publishing. However, I still have so much to figure out. I've read page after page about advertising, tweaking my book, tweaking my page, writing a blog, starting my second book, what genres sell best, when to do free ebook promotions, when to tweet, when to post, when to blog, how often to do all of these things...the list goes on and on. There have not been any "aha" moments where I felt I had read something that would magically catapult me into the coveted #1 spot in my category, but rather many small moments of me reading thoughts by other authors just like me who are also trying to figure it out. All I can say with certainty after all of this "research" is, this is hard. I have stared at my computer for hours on end, constantly clicking refresh until my "numbers" have reflected whatever marginalized figure I had in my head that would appease me for a brief moment. Throughout it all, I have started to not only resent the process, but to actually hate it. I began writing so I could pursue an art form I love, and all of this other hullabaloo is morphing that love into a pointy-toothed, eight-eyed monster lurking under my bed.
That being said, I have decided to scale back and see what happens. I need to get back to what drew me to this in the first place, writing awesome novels. Don't get me wrong, I understand the necessity of marketing and self-promotion, but it just feels icky. I have become the thing I loathe most-a salesman.
As many intelligent people before me have said, what is supposed to happen will happen.
Sweet nightmares,
A.L. Noble