How true this is. I've been bothered lately by a series of wrong moves on the Independent Author path. We're Indie for a reason, most of us, and there's no rule book. No one behind a big desk in NY or LA or wherever, telling you what to do, how to do it and when to do it. It's a learning process with a curve. Some of our curves are larger than others. You have to pick up whatever knowledge you can, wherever you can...articles, classes, social media and interaction. I've spoken to many independent authors and they all have different things to say about how to do it. If we put it all in a book it would be never ending because Indies have to find the path made for them and often, it's one of their own making rather than one repetitively used.
I always feel better when I admit to mistakes even if they're to a large, particular audience. I'm going to give you a couple examples and maybe they'll trigger something for you or help you with something you're struggling with.
Prep work: Book's written, what's next? Editing and a cover. Gotta have a cover for the book when it's edited and ready so I reached out to someone, we hit it off and started hashing out ideas.
First mistake: asking lots of opinions on what's created.
Lesson: Only selectively ask for opinions on what your cover artist creates. Here's the thing, everyone's imagination is different therefore everyone's ideas on what things look like are different. I put my poor cover artist through the wringer before I figured that lesson out myself. I was genuinely surprised she didn't give me a "forget it, it's not gonna work". She knew I was new to this and had the patience of a saint.
Second mistake: She asks "How many pages are in the book, what indentations, etc.?"
Lesson: It's not just putting pretty pictures and letters together. There's a lot more to it than that. Things I had no idea, even after four conferences, that she'd need to know. Why didn't I look it up on the infinite online world? Simply because I didn't know I needed to know it.
YOU'RE PUBLISHED! GET YOUR NAME OUT THERE! PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE!
It's the only way to gain sales and get the career you want.
(Insert heavy sigh)
Unfortunately, there's stuff they don't tell you. Again, because everyone's curve is different. I released in November and it wasn't until I stumbled across a small article online about two weeks ago titled something along the line of "4 things not to do". If I can find the link again, I'll post it. I was at work at the time (on break, lower your eyebrows of surprise ;) The one that resonated the most was "don't always post your buy links, it annoys people". WHAT? But everyone said get it out there! Keep your name forefront! Now, in tiny defense, I didn't just post the links. I posted bits of the book with it BUT! I had it rolling several times a week and during the holidays, I set them up to post for me because it was a busy time. I noticed traffic for me slowed down on likes and posts but figured it was the holidays, right? Wrong. I thought about what I'd read and put two and two together.
I discovered today that I have a stats page that will tell me all about what's happening with people and my page. I've been un-liked maybe five times but figured that was more to do with the after release party stuff. Then I saw that a couple people have me hidden...that one stung a lot. Like, almost tears stung. Why? I was just doing what I was told...what everyone suggested. MORE learning curve. The article said people like to communicate and feel like they have a connection with the authors they read. Was I giving that to them? Not really. I was sharing my imagination but not so much me. I've changed that over the last two weeks and noticed a small rise in responses to my posts. People want to see you're human, that you have fun, that you have a serious side sometimes too.
So, hopefully some of those numbers will change and people will meander back. I hope that if you're new like me, that you'll learn from my mistakes and ask questions. You can ask me! I love to help people even if it's only to say "don't do what I did".
Much love and lot of hugs until next time
-Lynn
