Jessica Russell's Blog - Posts Tagged "self-publish"
Stop the Shouting
Just a short hit and run tonight. We hate to see it and it’s unfortunate when it happens, but we all know it’s a fact of life. Sometimes writers are the worst group of people when it comes to encouraging fellow writers. Why do we feel compelled to fight about everything?
We fight about whether an author should traditionally publish versus self publish, we argue about who the best publishers are, we argue about the best way to go about advertising and networking, and we defend our positions as if winning the argument is a life or death situation. It’s one of those weird occurrences that no matter how hard you think, you can’t come up with any reason why it should be happening. Bottom line is, it shouldn’t.
We should be encouraging each other, sharing each other’s links, and–Oh My!–actually reviewing each other’s books instead of getting envious every time another writer gets more reviews than we do. So state your reasons, defend your position, if you feel you must, and offer your thoughts and insights on the many different factors in our lives as writers, but don’t act like it’s the end of the world if someone disagrees. In this day and age of anger and hatred, it’s important to just be able to talk to each other without feeling like you have to change everybody’s mind.
The bottom line is, you can’t change anybody’s mind. And nobody ever changes yours either. We all do what we do for a reason, so let’s just respect each other’s choices and stop the shouting!
We fight about whether an author should traditionally publish versus self publish, we argue about who the best publishers are, we argue about the best way to go about advertising and networking, and we defend our positions as if winning the argument is a life or death situation. It’s one of those weird occurrences that no matter how hard you think, you can’t come up with any reason why it should be happening. Bottom line is, it shouldn’t.
We should be encouraging each other, sharing each other’s links, and–Oh My!–actually reviewing each other’s books instead of getting envious every time another writer gets more reviews than we do. So state your reasons, defend your position, if you feel you must, and offer your thoughts and insights on the many different factors in our lives as writers, but don’t act like it’s the end of the world if someone disagrees. In this day and age of anger and hatred, it’s important to just be able to talk to each other without feeling like you have to change everybody’s mind.
The bottom line is, you can’t change anybody’s mind. And nobody ever changes yours either. We all do what we do for a reason, so let’s just respect each other’s choices and stop the shouting!
DON'T DO IT!
I know I have visited the subject before, but I have to do it again because I am absolutely aghast at the sheer number of writers who self publish or were published through a small press and then IMMEDIATELY begin to devalue their work by sending free copies of their book hither and yon to anyone and everyone in order to get a review. This does not get you anywhere!
Yes, reviews are important. And it takes a while to get them. There have also been some interesting business models to come along that seemed like they would produce legitimate reviews, but end up being disastrous. However, regardless of the many different things you might try, the worst thing you can POSSIBLY do is shove your books at people for free in exchange for reviews. This is equivalent to going down to a local tattoo shop and having "Desperate" stamped on your forehead. It's demeaning. PERIOD.
It's the tendency of every new writer to do this, because the author is thinking "okay, my book is out there now. If I get a few good reviews, I'll start selling a bunch of copies."
That's just not how it works.
I have 40 reviews on Amazon. It's technically 55, but I was caught in the crossfire of several of Amazon's infamous "review purges" (where they allow software to determine that this review and that review is "fake" and delete them.) Nevertheless, at the moment, I'm sitting at a net of 40 reviews. I also have quite a few sales. The majority of the sales did NOT come from the reviews. They came from MARKETING the book. And all the reviews that are on Amazon are from people who PURCHASED the book. So there is living proof that you do NOT have to give your book away to get reviews. If you do proper marketing, and encourage the people who VALUED YOUR BOOK ENOUGH TO BUY IT to also leave a review, the reviews will eventually take care of themselves.
Focus on advertising, because ultimately, ADVERTISING is the ONLY way to get your book into the hands of the people you most want to reach, which is readers with a true interest in your genre, and who are willing to pay for it like everyone else.
Yes, reviews are important. And it takes a while to get them. There have also been some interesting business models to come along that seemed like they would produce legitimate reviews, but end up being disastrous. However, regardless of the many different things you might try, the worst thing you can POSSIBLY do is shove your books at people for free in exchange for reviews. This is equivalent to going down to a local tattoo shop and having "Desperate" stamped on your forehead. It's demeaning. PERIOD.
It's the tendency of every new writer to do this, because the author is thinking "okay, my book is out there now. If I get a few good reviews, I'll start selling a bunch of copies."
That's just not how it works.
I have 40 reviews on Amazon. It's technically 55, but I was caught in the crossfire of several of Amazon's infamous "review purges" (where they allow software to determine that this review and that review is "fake" and delete them.) Nevertheless, at the moment, I'm sitting at a net of 40 reviews. I also have quite a few sales. The majority of the sales did NOT come from the reviews. They came from MARKETING the book. And all the reviews that are on Amazon are from people who PURCHASED the book. So there is living proof that you do NOT have to give your book away to get reviews. If you do proper marketing, and encourage the people who VALUED YOUR BOOK ENOUGH TO BUY IT to also leave a review, the reviews will eventually take care of themselves.
Focus on advertising, because ultimately, ADVERTISING is the ONLY way to get your book into the hands of the people you most want to reach, which is readers with a true interest in your genre, and who are willing to pay for it like everyone else.
Do What’s Right for You
It never ceases to amaze me the things people like to fight about. I have seen so many writers getting into heated arguments with each other over what I refer to as the “dumbest things.” One topic is self-publishing versus traditional publishing. In a nutshell, who cares? One person may self-publish, another person may wait to become traditionally published, which may or may not ever happen, but regardless of which option anyone takes, why is it something to fight about?
There are valid reasons for wanting to do each type of publishing, those reasons are typically highly personal. Sometimes people who are very young argue about it and say that self-publishing is a waste of time and money. Well, when you’re 21, that may be true. If you’re 51 or 61, you may not want to wait any longer. So sometimes age plays into the decision.
Additionally, sometimes writers simply don’t want an editor somewhere completely rewriting their whole story. This happens a lot. Editors used to simply look for errors, uncover plot holes, or challenge the writer if things didn’t make sense. These days, a lot of editors essentially rewrite the author’s story, in which case the writer may choose to self-publishing order to keep control of the novel and make sure that the work being published is THEIR work. Editors are not ALWAYS right. They’re invaluable, but they’re not infallible.
A person may want to self publish simply to get the ball rolling because they don’t plan to make writing novels a career, it’s just something they do on the side. In that case, why wait and go through the agony of sending out query letter after query letter only to be ignored, which is what happens 90% of time. At any rate, there’s great reasons for doing both traditional publishing and there’s great reasons for opting for self-publishing, but no matter what, it is definitely nothing to fight about. Authors should spend more time perfecting their craft and less time telling other authors what to do. Make sense? Write on!
There are valid reasons for wanting to do each type of publishing, those reasons are typically highly personal. Sometimes people who are very young argue about it and say that self-publishing is a waste of time and money. Well, when you’re 21, that may be true. If you’re 51 or 61, you may not want to wait any longer. So sometimes age plays into the decision.
Additionally, sometimes writers simply don’t want an editor somewhere completely rewriting their whole story. This happens a lot. Editors used to simply look for errors, uncover plot holes, or challenge the writer if things didn’t make sense. These days, a lot of editors essentially rewrite the author’s story, in which case the writer may choose to self-publishing order to keep control of the novel and make sure that the work being published is THEIR work. Editors are not ALWAYS right. They’re invaluable, but they’re not infallible.
A person may want to self publish simply to get the ball rolling because they don’t plan to make writing novels a career, it’s just something they do on the side. In that case, why wait and go through the agony of sending out query letter after query letter only to be ignored, which is what happens 90% of time. At any rate, there’s great reasons for doing both traditional publishing and there’s great reasons for opting for self-publishing, but no matter what, it is definitely nothing to fight about. Authors should spend more time perfecting their craft and less time telling other authors what to do. Make sense? Write on!
