A busy week on the writing front. Infinite Diamond continues to sell at a decent rate, and I'm getting reviews back which is a first for me. I like reviews because it means somebody out there has taken the time to read my work. All the feedback I've had to date has been constructive and largely very positive. It's really good to know people are getting the feel I intended for work - fast paced, exciting and fun. It's easy to think it's right in your head but when someone comes along and confirms it independently it makes a huge difference. So if you have left a review, and you read this, this is for you: thank you very much.
Aside from Infinite Diamond, I've also relaunched Satisfaction: A Sociopathic Romance. This book hasn't sold anywhere near as well as Infinite Diamond, and I think the reason is that I haven't been able to find the market for it. Although I believe it's a good story and people will enjoy it, it doesn't sit anywhere as neatly as Infinite Diamond. That book is a clear sci-fi action adventure, and it's easy to market. Satisfaction is... well, it's a bit of everything: drama, suspense, comedy, romance, thriller... how do you pitch that?
The other issue with Satisfaction is that it has, or had, a lot of graphic sex and crude language. This alienated it from a large section of potential readers, but for the people who like that kind of thing, it wasn't graphic enough. I've read some 'erotica'. Wow. It's an interesting genre and definitely not one I'm aiming for, and Satisfaction really does not fit into it. So in a purely cynical move, I've excised the most graphic content and toned down a lot of the crudity. There's still cursing in there, but it's now more appropriate and purely contextual. I'm also pitching it as a contemporary romance. It will be interesting to see what this does for sales over the next few weeks.
Looking ahead, I have my final completed manuscript GhostWalker which I'm currently reviewing. This should be ready for publication by the end of the month. Once I have that out, I'll have three novels and three short stories published. Considering that until I got married I never let anybody read anything I wrote, this is pretty remarkable for me. Even if my writing career goes nowhere, I have at least achieved something with my life and nothing will ever change that.
Thanks as always
- Paul
Showing posts with label science fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science fiction. Show all posts
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Saturday, June 29, 2013
More needly things
My last post was a moan about self publishing and what an utter pain in the arse it is trying to get reviews of your work. My theory is, and I might be completely wrong here, that reviews equal sales, and good reviews equal great sales. Getting those reviews is proving really hard, though.
The promotion for my second published novel Infinite Diamond ended last night, and I've looked at the figures in comparison to my first novel Satisfaction.
INFINITE DIAMOND
pre-promotion sales: 1 :: reviews: 0
promotional (free copies) sales: 472 :: reviews: 0
post-promotional sales (so far): 0 :: reviews: 0
SATISFACTION
pre-promotion sales: 1 :: reviews: 0
promotional (free copies) sales: 333 :: reviews: 0
post-promotional sales (so far): 0 :: reviews: 0
So I can see that I shifted a few more copies of Infinite Diamond than Satisfaction over the same period, but not enough to say that it's all that different. And in terms of reviews and sales, there's no difference at all. I can't even say giving away free copies is worth it because it doesn't seem to generate sales. I guess I can wait a month or so and see what happens but at the moment I'm a bit baffled. Of course, one possibility is that my books are just a load of boring crap that nobody wants to read. To my mind, that's the most obvious explanation.
I'll keep checking back on my sales (or lack thereof) over the next few months while I prepare my next novel Ghostwalker for publication. Maybe something will happen. I'll probably lose all control of my bladder if it does.
Thanks as always,
- Paul
INFINITE DIAMOND (sci-fi action adventure novel)
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DK2E94S
Amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DK2E94S
Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/4332151
The promotion for my second published novel Infinite Diamond ended last night, and I've looked at the figures in comparison to my first novel Satisfaction.
INFINITE DIAMOND
pre-promotion sales: 1 :: reviews: 0
promotional (free copies) sales: 472 :: reviews: 0
post-promotional sales (so far): 0 :: reviews: 0
SATISFACTION
pre-promotion sales: 1 :: reviews: 0
promotional (free copies) sales: 333 :: reviews: 0
post-promotional sales (so far): 0 :: reviews: 0
So I can see that I shifted a few more copies of Infinite Diamond than Satisfaction over the same period, but not enough to say that it's all that different. And in terms of reviews and sales, there's no difference at all. I can't even say giving away free copies is worth it because it doesn't seem to generate sales. I guess I can wait a month or so and see what happens but at the moment I'm a bit baffled. Of course, one possibility is that my books are just a load of boring crap that nobody wants to read. To my mind, that's the most obvious explanation.
I'll keep checking back on my sales (or lack thereof) over the next few months while I prepare my next novel Ghostwalker for publication. Maybe something will happen. I'll probably lose all control of my bladder if it does.
Thanks as always,
- Paul
INFINITE DIAMOND (sci-fi action adventure novel)
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DK2E94S
Amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DK2E94S
Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/4332151
Monday, June 3, 2013
Shameless, unadulterated plugging
I haven't done much in the way of writing for a few months. I've been busy with my photography, which has been going very well, and I haven't had any time to sit down and put pen to paper (or more accurately, fingers to keys).
Last week I published my third short story, Stormfront. This one is a small slice of space opera, and it is so far my most successful story. I have no idea why. I don't know if it's a popular genre, if it's being listed in the right category or if it's got an interesting cover. Whatever the reason, it's selling faster than anything else I've written.
To date all the stories I've published have been unrelated and, for the most part, from different genres. I do tend to lean more towards sci-fi. I can't help it; it's what I like. The upcoming novels I have ready to sell are a thriller and a sci-fi action adventure. I can't publish them until I have them proofread and I can't do that without paying for the service. I need to shift about 1,000 copies of my stories to fund any more novels. I really like the stories and I want to publish them. It's just going to take some time.
So in order to push my work, I'm listing the links to all my stories, both on Amazon and Smashwords. The first half of all the stories are available for free; if you want to know how they finish, it will cost you 99c for each. That's it.
SATISFACTION (confessional adult thriller, novel - definitely not for kids!)
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/280265
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B7WJPEW
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00B7WJPEW
STORMFRONT (sci-fi short story, space opera)
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/320088
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D4ROJGW
Amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00D4ROJGW
TRICKSTER (confessional short story)
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/281171
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B97R4BQ
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00B97R4BQ
TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES (sci-fi short story)
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/282269
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BB2EVVU
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BB2EVVU
Please do check these out, and if you like them, let me know. If you hate them, let me know too. I can take it.
- Paul
Last week I published my third short story, Stormfront. This one is a small slice of space opera, and it is so far my most successful story. I have no idea why. I don't know if it's a popular genre, if it's being listed in the right category or if it's got an interesting cover. Whatever the reason, it's selling faster than anything else I've written.
To date all the stories I've published have been unrelated and, for the most part, from different genres. I do tend to lean more towards sci-fi. I can't help it; it's what I like. The upcoming novels I have ready to sell are a thriller and a sci-fi action adventure. I can't publish them until I have them proofread and I can't do that without paying for the service. I need to shift about 1,000 copies of my stories to fund any more novels. I really like the stories and I want to publish them. It's just going to take some time.
So in order to push my work, I'm listing the links to all my stories, both on Amazon and Smashwords. The first half of all the stories are available for free; if you want to know how they finish, it will cost you 99c for each. That's it.
SATISFACTION (confessional adult thriller, novel - definitely not for kids!)
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/280265
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B7WJPEW
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00B7WJPEW
STORMFRONT (sci-fi short story, space opera)
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/320088
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D4ROJGW
Amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00D4ROJGW
TRICKSTER (confessional short story)
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/281171
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B97R4BQ
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00B97R4BQ
TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES (sci-fi short story)
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/282269
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BB2EVVU
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BB2EVVU
Please do check these out, and if you like them, let me know. If you hate them, let me know too. I can take it.
- Paul
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