My latest novel, Fester Descent, has been out for a little over three months now, and the results have been, shall we say, a little underwhelming. One of the reasons was the poor coincidence of the launch date: February 28, the same day that Dear Leader launched the little “excursion” in the Middle East (or whatever he’s calling it today).
So that was a problem – or at least provided me with a convenient excuse. To be honest, there were warning signs before then. With Laughingstock, I discovered a site called BookSirens, which is a service that provides free advance copies to readers, who are then supposed to provide reviews. That was great, as I had a number of positive previews before the book even went on sale. I was hoping for a similar result with the new book, but alas it was not to be. Only one person signed up on BookSirens, and he was a friend (and I don’t think he’s left a review yet, either).
Then the book launched, and the sales were abysmal. I didn’t even have as poor a launch with my very first book, Jackrabbit. Of course, that had a more clear-cut gangster/true crime genre that resulted in an easily-accessed readership. My subsequent novels have been a little murkier in the genre department. Are they crime fiction? Dark humor? Something else entirely? It’s easy to go down a rabbit hole trying to classify books that don’t really have a clear-cut genre.
I also had some problems with my mailing list. I found out – a bit too late – that all of the emails I was sending to my mailing list that had a Gmail account were getting bounced.
And I also began second-guessing myself. Was it the cover? It wasn’t a world-beater, but it seemed OK, I did, however, use a cut-rate cover designer – and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that in America you get what you pay for. If you’re lucky.
Was is the AI-generated blurbs? Perhaps, but I thought they were pretty good. My general attitude towards AI is that it is best used to combat other AI – that is, to develop text that will twig Amazon’s algorithms and lead potential readers to the book. Hm, doesn’t seem to be happening.
Then there’s the inevitable self-doubt (and the accompanying self-pity): maybe I’m just a shitty writer. I’d like to think that I don’t have illusions in this department. I’m not spending my evenings assembling a trophy case for the inevitable Pulitzer. But I’d like to think that I get a little better with every novel I publish. By that (perhaps faulty) logic, Fester Descent should have been at least a little more popular than Laughingstock. But it wasn’t. So maybe I don’t get better each time. If that’s the case, I’m faced with two options: pack it in or keep trudging. I choose the latter – screw it, I have a great idea for a sequel to Laughingstock, and it’s already in process.
My writing is a labor of love. I love seeing the stories unspool in front of my eyes, even when I had no idea what the characters was planning on doing. I love building what I think of as Festerworld, with its wild and wooly cast of characters, pop culture items, publications and places. I sure ain’t in in for the money; I never make up in royalties what I lay out for professional editing, cover artists, u.s.w. I just wanted to tell a story and have people enjoy it. Maybe even enough to read it more than once. That’s my idea of a successful book: one that people keep coming back to. I probably haven’t gotten there yet, but I intend to keep trying.
I’ve almost exhausted my deep well of self-pity, but there’s one more thing I want to whine about: reviews. Book reviews, especially on Amazon, will make or break an indie writer. Amazon jiggers the rankings based on how many reviews a book has. If a book has 25 or more reviews, it gets boosted in the Amazon search algorithms. I’m sure that there are even better boosts for more reviews, but 25 is the only one that seems a realistic goal for the nonce.
Getting some folks to leave a review can be like pulling teeth. Some people don’t like Amazon, and that’s understandable. Some folks don’t realize that you can leave a review on Amazon without having bought the book there. Then there’s the people whom I’ve given a free copy in exchange for a review who punk out and never leave it. Rum show, people, very rum indeed.
OK, I think I’ve blown a sufficient amount of bile from my system to continue on my WIP, working title Gemini 13. I’ll keep plugging, and as always, my sincerest gratitude for your support.
