A Few Publishing-Related Revelations

When it comes to self-publishing, I believe I've tried everything there is to try. If the price is reasonable, I'm willing to give anything a shot to find out whether it works or doesn't. Frankly, most things don't work.

I suppose I'm a unicorn, because my genre isn't very popular, and the majority of my books are novellas, which makes two strikes against me. I've accepted that; my writing isn't going to change, except that after many years, I'm finally writing another full-length novel.

It's not that no one buys women's fiction; there is a market for it, but I think women readers want something they can lose themselves in (which accounts for romance's popularity, apparently). Trying to convince a potential reader that they can get lost in a novella is an uphill battle, though. And I get it ~ once you're invested in a book's characters, you want more, but suddenly the story is over. That's a risk I've taken, and it's hardly been successful. I'm very careful to add "a novella" to my covers so people know what they're getting. I'm certainly not out to trick anyone, and I price my books accordingly. If few people want to read a novella, so be it.

Novellas are the primary reason I've never done much marketing. It strikes me as silly to spend twenty dollars on a small-market ad for a book that's priced at a dollar (which I've since raised to $1.99, by the way, because I've learned that under-pricing a book tells the world it's worthless). But even at $1.99, the ROI just isn't there. The few occasions when I have dived into marketing, my results were terrible. With Inn Dreams I did an ad blast, meaning I promo'd on a bunch of small sites and even created my first Amazon ad. That's money I'll never get back. But, you know, sometimes you have to try things.

Some of the other things that don't work (for me): ARCs, social media, newsletters. That kind of leaves nothing.

Free things that sort of work:

A good blurb

I currently have a free Amazon promotion running for Bad Blood. After the first day, there have been zero downloads. I think its blurb is a turn-off. At some point I'll revise it, but that's moot right now, because nothing can be changed while a free promotion is running. I should have made it clear when I wrote the blurb that the villain is deranged. The way it is currently, it sounds like a "mean brother" is trying to kill his sister for no reason. I can see where people might recoil from that. 

Add new content to my author site

I don't know how it works, but it does make a difference in views whenever I add new content to my website, specifically in the blog section. I still get very little traffic, but seeing a slight bump the day after I wrote a little something on my blog can't be just a coincidence. I would keep doing it if I had anything additional to add, but that's pretty rare. All I know is, it works. I'm still thinking of creating one or two book trailers to embed, but that's a big time drain, and one thing I'm very short on is time.

 

And that's it. 

If after today, I've still moved no copies of Bad Blood, I'm going to cancel the promotion. I realize that no one but me sees the stats, but it's still embarrassing. They do see the blurb, though, and I don't want a reputation as some freaky writer with a brother hangup. (I actually like both my brothers.)

So, fellow authors, if you're like me and have little market for your genre, number one, make sure your book's blurb soars. If you've got an author website, don't let it go dormant. 

Sorry, that's all I've got.