After-Party (1-10-24)
A recent thread I interacted with a bit on both Instagram & Threads has to do with some of the struggles independent authors face when it comes to self-promoting.
During the last year & a half, I've grappled with coming out of my shell enough to even consider sharing my writing in any way other than a naive "Here's my novel." In retrospect, I did all right with researching various marketing strategies, creating ads, deciding which platforms to use, settling on a budget, tracking all the hoopla, & above all, keeping true to myself as best I could in the eye of the whirlwind of my own design.
But the real challenge for me was the after-party, so to speak.
My original expectation was that a few people might actually read & review Pearl Fields & the Oregon Meltdown, plain & simple. I did all right with that baseline expectation till things started moving in what appeared to be a more engaged direction. At that point, I caught myself thinking that a few positive reviews, nearly a thousand readers signing up for my Goodreads Giveaway (100 winners), & hundreds of visitors/views on my author site might mean some leveling up on my part was in order.
A year later, gauging from the stats on a couple independent author sites & in a few reliable books, my sales & exposure have been in the average range for a self-published writer in my situation & with my resources. Toss in the novel's quirky narrator & layout (a supplemental testimony for a military judge recorded in a jail cell), & the results have been more than satisfactory for me.
However, as some indie authors on Instagram & Threads have pointed out, it's tough coping with the sneaking suspicion that the results might have been more dramatic had I done more or gone in this direction or signed with this promotional outfit, yada yada.
And now that I'm about to launch my companion novel on a new-to-me venue (Kindle Vella), I wonder what lessons I'll be able to apply. Aside from embracing the notion of serialization, one of the reasons I'm drawn to that particular platform is the potential for interaction with readers & the de-emphasis on advertising. I'll update this website & post on Instagram et al. to announce the launching & release dates, but the amount of promotion will pale in comparison to its predecessor.
Then a month after the 43rd & final episode is released, I'll decide how much time, energy, & money to invest in promoting that new novel when it launches on the Kindle Store.
Never a dull moment in the life of a self-driven, self-publishing author.
Drew
Drew Faraday
Pearl Fields and the Oregon Meltdown
During the last year & a half, I've grappled with coming out of my shell enough to even consider sharing my writing in any way other than a naive "Here's my novel." In retrospect, I did all right with researching various marketing strategies, creating ads, deciding which platforms to use, settling on a budget, tracking all the hoopla, & above all, keeping true to myself as best I could in the eye of the whirlwind of my own design.
But the real challenge for me was the after-party, so to speak.
My original expectation was that a few people might actually read & review Pearl Fields & the Oregon Meltdown, plain & simple. I did all right with that baseline expectation till things started moving in what appeared to be a more engaged direction. At that point, I caught myself thinking that a few positive reviews, nearly a thousand readers signing up for my Goodreads Giveaway (100 winners), & hundreds of visitors/views on my author site might mean some leveling up on my part was in order.
A year later, gauging from the stats on a couple independent author sites & in a few reliable books, my sales & exposure have been in the average range for a self-published writer in my situation & with my resources. Toss in the novel's quirky narrator & layout (a supplemental testimony for a military judge recorded in a jail cell), & the results have been more than satisfactory for me.
However, as some indie authors on Instagram & Threads have pointed out, it's tough coping with the sneaking suspicion that the results might have been more dramatic had I done more or gone in this direction or signed with this promotional outfit, yada yada.
And now that I'm about to launch my companion novel on a new-to-me venue (Kindle Vella), I wonder what lessons I'll be able to apply. Aside from embracing the notion of serialization, one of the reasons I'm drawn to that particular platform is the potential for interaction with readers & the de-emphasis on advertising. I'll update this website & post on Instagram et al. to announce the launching & release dates, but the amount of promotion will pale in comparison to its predecessor.
Then a month after the 43rd & final episode is released, I'll decide how much time, energy, & money to invest in promoting that new novel when it launches on the Kindle Store.
Never a dull moment in the life of a self-driven, self-publishing author.
Drew
Drew Faraday
Pearl Fields and the Oregon Meltdown
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