Welcome to this week’s Open Book Blog Hop. The topic today is:
‘Would you like to be a bestseller or have a smaller, more manageable following?’
I already have a (very) small following which is totally manageable! I’ve quickly decided I’d love to become a bestseller and to be able to earn my living as an author instead of writing as a hobby and working as a medical secretary. However, there is one small stumbling block that all Indie authors have found…
Needing to find a literary agent who loves our work and who is able to send our books to one of the big 5 publishers.
There have been two ‘maybes’ over the past 7 years, but the road to becoming a bestseller is paved with rejection letters. I have enough of them to paper my two lavatories at home, and in fact rarely send any of my writing to agents anymore. Of course, landing an agent doesn’t necessarily mean that you will instantly become a bestseller, but at least you’ll have a bit of a head start.
I did try to make the leap from hobby to bestseller by taking part in writing competitions and contests for screenplays, but it seems if you travel this road you have to deduce which competitions are merely money-making schemes for the organisers and which ones are actually genuine. The big contests that are genuine more often than not require you to have been published in a known literary magazine, and these magazines are terribly picky as regards submissions.
So… perhaps it’s all down to trying to get your self-published book onto the shelves of public libraries and gain a following that way? Good luck with that then… I’ve tried that particular road and it seems the stock teams prefer to buy traditionally published books by well-known authors who undoubtedly have literary agents.
The next road to travel down is local bookshops. I’m in the process of trying that at the moment, so I’ll update you as soon as I’ve heard from the bookshop manager. I’ve also tried author signing events, which cost a lot and reap little reward.
What a game it all is – a game that we Indie authors have but a very slim chance of winning. Still… I do get a little thrill when people buy my book, and maybe over time those people that have enjoyed my work will tell others. I can but hope!
Would other blog-hoppers prefer to be bestsellers ? Click on the blue button below to find out:
Rules:
- Link your blog to this hop.
- Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
- Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
- Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
- Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
Lexxy Vorpahl said:
I definitely like the idea of best-seller but yes how does a indie author get out there exposure wise. It’s all around difficult and all the work to be done is solely yours right. Pros and cons. I do like total control over my product though.
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Stevie Turner said:
It’s very difficult to find readers, I totally agree. Traditional publishing opens doors that self-publishing doesn’t, but then again you lose that control over your manuscript.
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P.J. MacLayne said:
I’m working on attending more public events to sell books this year. Not necessarily book signings. My first event will be a comic book show. I do better selling face-to-face than on-line.
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aurorawatcherak said:
Reblogged this on aurorawatcherak.
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Stevie Turner said:
Thanks Lela.
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aurorawatcherak said:
That’s one of my planned endeavors for this year — to get at least the first book in each series up on Ingram so I can talk to the local bookstores – of which there are only two.
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Stevie Turner said:
I went out this morning into our local town of Bury St. Edmunds only to find the two bookshops I remembered have closed, and only Waterstones is left, and they don’t want to know anything about self-published authors.
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aurorawatcherak said:
We have a Barnes & Noble, which does let self-published authors in under very strict circumstances. We also have a Christian bookstore (again very strict entry rules). And we have a used bookstore that will take new books. Anchorage, however, 400 miles away and the next big city, has more and I’m told you can get your book in there if you pound on some doors. But I haven’t actually done the work. I’d rather write or go hiking.
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Stevie Turner said:
I like hiking too. As regards bookstores, I suppose they’re all closing because people are mainly downloading books onto e-readers?
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Chris Hall said:
Try, try and try again. I’m still trying 🙂
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Stevie Turner said:
Good advice!
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jenanita01 said:
Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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Stevie Turner said:
Thanks for re-blogging!
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jenanita01 said:
Six weeks into the new year and I cannot get any kind of organisation going, so not much chance of becoming anything other than a nervous wreck!
This could be the week that everything makes sense AND moves forward…
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Stevie Turner said:
Keep at it – you’ll get there…
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jenanita01 said:
Since I wrote that this morning, I have assembled parts of a cool plan…
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Stevie Turner said:
Sounds intriguing…
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richarddeescifi said:
Yes, that’s the way it is. I’ve tried most of the things you have, with the same results. My latest idea is audiobooks. We’ll see how that goes.
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Stevie Turner said:
Good luck with it. I’ve already been down that road. I’ve sold 303 audiobooks over a period of about 5 years. Not wonderful, but better than nothing.
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robertawrites235681907 said:
Thanks for sharing this information, Stevie. You certainly seem to have done all the right things and know how it all works, unlike me who has not even tried to find an agent or submit to a big publisher. I am worried they will try to clip my wings when it comes to content and style.
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Stevie Turner said:
I think it’s not so bad to self-publish actually. You have total control over your work.
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robertawrites235681907 said:
Yes, that is the great freedom of self publishing.
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