I’ve been saying for years that the pressure on traditionally published authors to do most of the work themselves will reach the point where it’ll start overlapping with self-publishing. So I figured it was time to put my money (or my work, at least), where my mouth is. 1/
I’ve self-published before. The first time was long before my first books, with a comic called Twisted I got printed way back in the olden days, pre-internet. I didn’t continue it because I didn’t know enough much about selling and the illustration work started picking up. 2/
Years later, I released the novella, The Vile Desire to Scream free online – though only on my website – to promote the Wildenstern Saga, my Irish steampunk books. There was some decent pick-up on it, and interestingly, the PDF did much better than the epub file back then. 3/
When Open Road Media released a bunch of my books in the US, I did two more novellas, The Need for Fear and Spoil the Kill, and Open Road published all three alongside the novels. But the self-publishing environment has changed completely in the last ten years . . 4/
. . . What with keywords and subtitles and categories within categories and a market flooded with generated text. And in a fine piece of irony, the Evil Empire offers the best options, the greatest reach and the *biggest cut for authors* (publishers take note). So yes, I’m going with Amazon. 5/
And the FIRST thing I found out is that the book can’t even be found in search unless it’s *selling enough* which is a GREAT Catch 22 situation. People can't find it if it doesn't sell, but you can't sell if people can't find it if they don't have the link: 7/
www.amazon.com/dp/B0D8TF3Z3W
Anyway, I wanted to try a narrative device I haven’t seen used anywhere before, I wanted to do some dark, slightly head-melting science fiction and I’ve never actually illustrated the cover for one of my novels. 8/
It's been an interesting process, so I might do a blog about it.
Here’s the blurb for Cut Off at the Throat:
A girl named Billy is recording this story onto a chip in her head. On an isolated island in the middle of the Atlantic, a building is destroyed in an explosion. 9/
It was the headquarters and school for a community made up of sixteen privileged teenagers and twenty-eight adult guardians. The building also held their food stores. They have lost contact with the mainland and their supply ship is weeks late. 10/
Like Billy, every student has one of these microchips implanted in their brains. Its main purpose is to control what the teenagers can and can’t talk about. One of the things they can’t talk about is why they’re all on the island. 11/
It becomes clear that there is an enemy amongst them. As suspicion and desperation grow and order begins to break down, Billy and her friend Skip carry out their own investigation to uncover the identity of the saboteur. 12/
They get ever close to the truth, even as we learn the community’s strange purpose . . . though it may all have come too late.
Please check out the book (it’s only €2.80 or $3 – LESS than a cup of coffee!), spread the word and even better, leave a review! 13/
But it feels like even publishing traditionally, you're doing that anyway? I mean, there's some support, obviously, but that support costs you most of the income from the book.
Oh yeah, I was including traditional publishing in that. It feels like you still have flog every single copy yourself, because the publisher's "marketing" is going to be feeble & misdirected (author is Girl so let's promote this epic fantasy on obscure amateur romance blog), or non-existent.
I think the small and very small presses are often doing better at marketing than the big ones, simply by knowing what the book actually is; they're also working in tandem with their authors, hand-selling every copy. Which is exhausting for everyone.
'Feeble' is the perfect word here.
I particularly love how they ask you, "how would you publicise this book?"
They aren't sitting down with you, so there's no back-and-forth. This is a form you fill that, after completed, goes in a black hole.
I've had different experiences with different publishers (I've worked with a LOT of publishers), but it normally boils down to; they don't have much of a marketing budget so it's mostly up to you. I remember signing with a big firm and their PR people asked me for a list of useful contacts.
Interestingly, that's exactly what I've been doing for last 10 years. Literally taking my books to a market stall and selling them face to face. My pitches are polished and slick and I have made a living from it... but I'm getting tired of this and am now looking for new product with wider reach...
