Is This Good?

 

I just read a Substack post from traditionally published author Amy Tan, who spent $44,000 on her book launch and earned $3.00. Don't worry--she still sold 33,000 copies, mainly through free media. Imagine having tens of thousands of dollars to blow on marketing a book! I feel bad for wasting tens of dollars. 

Publishing is not a poor person's game. Another post by 72 Degrees North likens traditional publishing to "self-harm gambling". He fails to mention the self-harm that self-publishers inflict on themselves, but self-publishing is not the focus of his blog. The comparison still applies, though.

I'm not averse to gambling. I actually enjoy it; well, I used to when I had some disposable income. Now I avoid gambling, except for the occasional $1.00 lottery ticket. But gambling on selling books is almost impossible to reject if one wants any chance in hell of moving copies. How many self-published books have made money without a scintilla of advertising? It's not impossible. Lifetime, I've sold a total of 25 copies of all the books I never bothered to promote, even a little bit. Organic discovery, people! 🤣

Now I dole out my pennies judiciously. Which leads me to my Storygraph giveaway. It cost me $60.00 to run, and I wouldn't have tried it except for the fact that it was something new to me. I'd already tried virtually everything else. My giveaway ended yesterday, and out of the 100 winners, only nine people have not yet downloaded the book. I'm shocked! Compare that to the 30 copies I offered via a LibraryThing giveaway, when only five winners bothered to claim their prize. Of course, downloading doesn't equal reading, but at least maybe 91 people's intentions are good. 

$60.00 to give away books for free? Well, at this point even an ego boost is appreciated. Yes, I worry that of those who choose to read their free copy, many will come away disappointed. A lot of them will probably DNF. It's a weirdly structured story, and it doesn't get to the "good part" until maybe a quarter of the way through. "Good part" is relative. I like my tale, but I had to structure the blurb in a way that would entice people to give it a chance, so I highlighted the Nashville aspect, while not completely ignoring the scenes that lead up to it.

It's possible that I may get a few reviews out of the deal. That's all I can hope for. 

Still better than spending $44,000.