The Top 5 Things Holding Authors Back

There a a lot of things holding authors back today. Every time I see statements like: “It has never been easier to self-publish” “Anyone can self-publish” “even famous authors are choosing to self-publish” and “The gateways have been opened” it makes me cringe.  But the top 5 things that I think are holding authors back are as follows:

1. Indie hype-  There is so much hype out there about indie publishing, based on the aforementioned statements. Authors are flooding the industry. More books are published every day than the population can even hope to read. And more and more authors are choosing not to submit to publishers. There are stories about how first time authors cannot be published by traditional publishers anymore, that indie publishers are getting picked up by traditional publishers, and other crazy stuff.

This all paints the picture that self-publishing is easy, it is the only option to hope to publish, and success is imminent. The truth is that any form of publishing is hard work. Do not buy into the hype!

 2. Bad Product- Thanks to the Indie hype, wannabe writers are turning out in droves and producing books as quickly as they can in hopes of making a quick buck, becoming famous, or whatever happens to motivate them. They do not think about what traditional publishers have been doing for books for years. They do not consider editing, layout, graphic design, or marketing when they make that mad dash.

Do not be so  eager to get your story out there that you do not take the necessary time to produce a thoroughly polished product. Get an editor, get a book cover worthy of being called a book cover. Look at the quality of traditionally published books and aim for that. No matter how great your story is, if you throw it out there without all the proper polish, you will never get anywhere.

 3. Competition-  Bowkers reports that in 2012, 23% of books purchased were e-books.  the number of self-published titles in 2013 jumped to more than 391,000 and that is just self-published titles. They are estimating 1,761,810 books published overall for 2012. The numbers have gone up drastically since then.

 On top of that, you are competing against movies, video games, sports, television, funny videos, stupid celebrity stunts, the internet oh... and people having a life. Stiff competition.

4. Marketing- no matter what the internet tells you, social media is not enough. The reality is that even if you have the perfect book, if you do not invest time and money into marketing it, the world will never know. You can have a horribly edited book, but if the marketing is done right it can and will sell hundreds of thousands of copies. (See 50 Shades of Gray.) You should start working on your marketing plan the day you decide to write a book. Start saving to pay for marketing, come up with marketing ideas, hire a professional marketer. Do not ignore this step! But the biggest thing holding authors back today is

5. The author’s own expectations. If you dream of being famous, rich, and writing peacefully in the woods, then the reality of e-publishing today will crush you. If you go into any aspect expecting it to be easy, then you are in the wrong line of work. From getting the story on paper, to getting the books into people’s hands; the world of being an author is hard work. If you expect anything less, walk away now. But if you cannot walk away, if you have to write the story, if you have to keep sending in your synopsis despite the pile of rejection notices, if you see 10 books sold this week and are excited that you got ten more readers rather than disappointed by the lack of sales then maybe, just maybe, the writer’s life is the life for you.

What do you feel is holding your writing back? Let me know and feel free to promote your book, blog, or social media sites in the comments below!

Writer Ramblings: Torn

I have been a little down in the dumps lately. Between being sick, feeling the pressure of job, husband, housework, family, and career (sad that comes last) everything has been taking a toll. I started some advertising campaigns for my books and have been torn by the success/ failure of the money spent. (Success being I have "amazing" click thru rates. Failure, I have a ridiculously high bounce rate and have not seen any increase in sales.)

On top of all that frustration, Fifty Shades of Grey the movie just came out. I read the first two pages of the book just to see what all the hype was about back when it first came out. All I found was writing so horrendous that I couldn't bring myself to read more even if the story had appealed to me.  How does that trash become such a huge seller and lead to an even more horrible movie that grossed $90 million it's first weekend? I can't even make a dent.

 I have been reading about marketing trying to figure out where things are going wrong. I feel like nothing helps. So to curb that depressing insight, I have been reading uplifting posts on Linkedin and I came across one that was meant to be uplifting, but left me all the more depressed. It talked about the key to success being a singular focus. putting all of my energy and focus into my goal and letting nothing stand in my way. A great message, but for me it is so depressing. I am so torn.

Torn between marketing, blogging, writing Fresh Meat, working on the sequel for The Hunters, thinking about the next book in the Clear Angel Chronicles, content creation, social media promotion, managing my ads, trying to read and promote other authors. And that is just in my career. Looking at my job, continuing education for that, keeping up my job as a mother of two teen boys, trying to be a good wife, forget about having time for friends.

Then I read a hysterical post on Alex J Cavanaugh's Ninja News. A guest post by Elizabeth Seckman about How to Become a Best Selling Author in One Week and it put everything in perspective.

Thank you, both of you, for giving me a laugh and making me feel better! I still feel torn, but that depressing article on singular focus is just a haunting memory.

Writer's Ramblings on Marketing

Before I get going on this ramble, I want you all to know that I am going to have a special post on the 14th as part of a sort of Anti-Valentine's day blog hop being done by several horror writers. Be sure to come by and check out my post, and then visit the link to the other authors posts. It is sure to be fun!

Alright, so on to the ramble of marketing. My "real job" is working for an advertising company promoting programmatic advertising. A really great tool. I actually took the job in hopes of being able to pay for my own campaign eventually. After a year, I can't quite afford the campaign. But I love talking to people about programmatic.

Image Courtesy of Death To Stock

I have started a sort of mini version of the campaign on my own, hoping to boost sales to the point where I can afford a full campaign with my company one day. I love doing content writing, like these blog posts. I love creating ads, setting up blog hops, getting reviews, doing book shows and many of the other aspects of marketing. I love engaging with readers on Goodreads, Wattpad, and figment.

But I have spent more on marketing than I have made. I spend more time on marketing than I get to spend writing. I feel like no matter what I do, it doesn't seem to be making an impact. If I am lucky, any single social media post gets 20 views. I can count the number of people reading any single blog post on one hand (Thanks mom!)  My all-time website hits are less than most companies get in a month. I've tried doing Youtube video reviews, but the time and effort just weren't worth the limited exposure. I need to do more research on making videos more efficiently.

I am a jack of many trades, and a master of none. Sometimes I wonder if the time and money I am investing in promotion is a waste. I wonder if I would be better off investing that time in my writing exclusively. I wonder if I should hire others to do the marketing for me. And yet I cannot invest such huge amounts of money without knowing if I will get better results than what I have achieved myself.

Despite getting very positive reviews for all of my books, I have not seen that those reviews have helped with sales. Despite starting ad campaigns through social media, adwords, and other sources, I have not seen an uptick in sales. Part of the problem is that I make so little on each book sale that it is hard to recoup that in marketing. Part of the problem is that a lot of the "free" media that once was available has been diverted to those willing to pay. (I am totally calling out Facebook here!!!)

It is hard to build a grass roots campaign. I need people to share and tell others about my work. But how do I inspire you to share? How do I get in front of you wonderful readers when there are so many others competing for your attention?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Are you wondering how you can help?  I know I am not the only writer struggling with this. You can help. Share your favorite authors. Help us get the word out about our books. Write a review when you read a book. Tell your social media fans what you are reading. Pin books. Retweet, share Facebook posts, share our blog posts, Tell us what you think.

Until next time,

Keep Reading!