I have been writing and trying to market and promote my work for a long time.
Note, I said “Trying”.
Despite the amount of time and effort I’ve put in to getting my work in front of people and increase my profile, I still feel like I have no idea. Really. No idea at all.
I started by writing the best book I could. People have reacted favorably to it. People have asked for more. I have more coming out in August.
Maybe that will help. Honestly, I don’t know.
I have a new, collaborated series coming out later this year. That might help expand my audience too. Again, not sure. Only time will tell.
Then there is the blogging, podcasting, Tweeting and Wattpad submissions I’m doing. I know each one of those resonant with some people. Is it helping?
???
Perhaps the only thing I can do is everything I’m doing now, plus look for more opportunities in the future. That and keep writing new stories. Maybe then, someday, with a lot of patience I might find something that tips the scale to where I’m the next phenom.
Or, at least, talented mid-lister.
I can sympathize as I’ve spent most of the year writing and submitting short stories to improve my bibliography and name recognition for the novels I am trying to sell or writing.
Looks like you are putting the effort into building an audience and getting your name out there. I think it’s a matter of right time, right place once you have a quality work.
Even then, there’s no guarantee you won’t be a flash in the pan.
Brings me back to a question that’s been plaguing me recently. How do you measure success in writing/publishing?
I actually have several success measures for writing/publishing. My first was getting an actual sale. Then I moved to a novel sale followed by actually having the book in my hand. Then getting the second book in a series published (almost there – August will be the official achievement of that level). Then a sale of a second series (hit that – just waiting for the book to be edited/published).
I tend to do these things in baby steps because there are so many steps to getting where I want to be. To simply set a success measure of being #1 on Amazon or a New York Times Best Seller is too big. It would be too easy to get discouraged and give up.
It’s definitely a stepwise process. My very first goal was completing a novel. Then it became publishing one in a way that paid me. I was determined not to spend money vanity publishing. These goals were achieved a few years ago.
After a couple of failed attempts at selling two novels in the last two years, I set a goal of publishing short stories to see if it was the material or my writing level that was keep me from selling.
My publication sales this year are for royalties and/or exposure and largely in electronic format only.
But I’m still left with the question of whether my stories are any good. In the back of my mind, there’s always this out of thinking that if I can’t write well than I shouldn’t invest so much time into it.
I’ve tried not writing, but that never lasts for very long. It’s the difficulty in selling novels to a primarily print market that’s been making me question whether it’s worth the investment of time and energy given my current writing abilities.
Fortunately, I can see improvements in my writing. But I also see how far I have to go compared to big five print published authors. This subject is going to be a topic for an upcoming blog post. So it’s been on my mind.
I certainly can understand that doubt. I have it all the time myself despite having sold three novels. The big ego-eater right now for me is the pending launch of Mik Murdoch: The Power Within. I’ve had so many positive comments about the first book that I hope and pray the second will measure up.
Don’t give up on your novels and definitely don’t give up on your writing. There are stories that you will want to tell that need the novel-length. Write them when you get those ideas and the improvement will come. As the saying goes and continues to be true, you can’t edit a blank page. My very first novel wasn’t fantastic in the first iteration. It is considerably better now. Is it good enough to publish? I think it is close. It just took a lot of polishing to get it there.