You've Gotta Pay to Play

When I applied for BookBub's "New Releases for Less" promotion, I think I had it confused with their featured deal, which is nigh impossible to get accepted into. The New Releases for Less deal, however, is really simple ~ just pay $690.00. I saw the subject line of BookBub's email, announcing I'd been selected, and I was temporarily excited. I won! Unfortunately, it seems that anyone with a new release can "win". BookBub apparently thinks that only rich people with a lot of time on their hands write books. Know how many copies I'd need to sell to recoup my $690.00? (If I had $690.00?)

I mentioned yesterday that one of the promo sites noted in its FAQ's that if you can't afford to promote your book, you have no business publishing. I thought it came across as mean, but on second thought, they're right. Sure, there are self-published authors posting on Reddit who have vast subscriber lists and social media followers; people who might actually buy their books, but if you're not age 23, forget it. Also forget it if you don't write series and your series isn't fantasy. Of course, if you write romance, you don't even need to promote.

I almost created a campaign with BookSprout yesterday. Luckily, my PC was acting up, so I never got around to it. That was fortuitous. Why would I have even considered it? Sure, the price is right, but there's very little market for my genre, and even the few readers who'd claim my book would misinterpret women's fiction as romance, and thus leave bad reviews. Bad reviews have gotta be worse than no reviews, right? 

I went through a phase with Inn Dreams in which I was very high on that book, and I glibly solicited ARC readers (via Goodreads), only to find that the book apparently wasn't as good as I thought it was. That's where I find myself with Running From Herself. I like it, but I'm a terrible judge of my own work. It's impossible for me to be objective. I know it's got flaws, except what I consider flaws would be far different from what readers will find wrong with it. They'll likely dump on my MC ~ either she's too naive or too bland or too...something. They'll say the story drags. They'll say they couldn't finish it because it was too boring.

It might be fun to be on the other end of things ~ to be a reviewer who can pick apart someone else's work; nitpick; write a condescending review. Actually, it wouldn't be fun. I don't mind leaving a negative review on a book that was hyped beyond its actual quality; an author who got a big publishing advance undeservedly. I wouldn't enjoy ripping a lowly self-published author, because I know what it takes to write a novel, unless you're part of the romance writing mill. (Trust me; I've read your book previews.) I don't expect readers to understand that. They just want to be entertained in exchange for their dollar or two. By the same token, it's understandable why I'm not eager to put my book on review and yell, "Rip it to shreds!"

In the end, I'll allow (as if I have a say in it) my novel to die a lingering death. Once it's been out there for a week or two, I'll probably discount it and buy a couple of cheap promos, just to say I did all I could. But like the rest of my books, it'll eventually be forgotten (by me, because I'm the only person who'll know it exists). I used to tell myself, just wait 'til they read the next one! Except there won't be a next one this time. I'm retiring.

And so it goes.