Thanks. At first I thought your comment was in reference to a fortune cookie fortune that I mentioned in part one, but didn't pick up on. (I just ran out of space; I'll have to come back to it some other time).
I really don't spend too much time worrying about subscriber numbers, but I do have to keep evaluating what's working vs what's not working in terms of generating interest. To be honest I'm kind of stumped, and I really don't know how I can have a successful book launch without a large & engaged readership. But I guess I'm just going to have to finish the few hundred tasks ahead of me and just see what happens.
As a friend of mine told be when we were grad students at Purdue, back when dinosaurs walked the earth, 'ain't no good standing there looking at it, John. Hold your nose & climb in!"
It's been over a year since I was tossed into the self-publishing waters with Weird Fiction Quarterly, and while we've largely nailed down the production aspects of self-publishing (give me a ring if you would like to chat about getting your work into the various markets - I spent a good part of April on this), our challenge now is finding and engaging with an audience that actually purchases what we're producing. We've gotten nothing but praise for our latest Folk Horror installment, but sales do not reflect that. (To be fair, I was ALSO slow getting the ebook versions out after print was available.)
I've been talking with some other indie publishers in similar straits and I think we're looking at pooling resources and cooperating to identify the kinds of quirky bookstores around the country that would be good candidates for having customers that dig what we're doing and growing organically from there, instead of trying to find success in the flood of other stuff (esp. in the age of AI authorship) saturating the general market. Happy to loop you in once we have something worth looping you into.
I'd also be careful about extrapolating too much about what Substack subscriber numbers say about future success selling books. Substack and books are two very different information products with very different audiences. I've bought books from authors I've not interacted with on Substack (didn't like or comment their posts) and I've yet to purchase books from authors I have interacted with, preferring to consume their writing in smaller chunks. I'm sure that having a large audience helps get the word out when the book is available, but I'm not sure that a small Substack audience says something in the other direction.
Thank you for this thoughtful & helpful suggestion. In these days of tsunamis of AI-generated schlock, enshittified search engines, review sites like Goodreads increasingly useless, the Amazon hegemon still rampant, and the once-glorious Twitter now basically radioactive, finding that audience/distribution sweet spot for indies like you & me is harder than it ever was. I would be happy to chat with you offline about all of this stuff, and please remind me to tell you about In Formation.
I largely keep the mindset that it's probably a good thing I started publishing when everything seems to be a wreck, as there's really no place to go but up.
And should the world start to make more sense again, the lessons learned during this period will be valuable moving forward. Kind of like how the Great Depression gave rise to America's Greatest Generation.
I think it's going to be bumpy for a while, as everyone continues to reorient themselves after the pandemic and the end of easy money provided by Zero Interest Rate policies. Just hold on and keep building up a library of good work.
It took Melville a year and a half to write Moby Dick, in his early 30s, with three young kids and a small farm to manage. He had a fairly structured routine that put emphasis on writing in the mornings, walking in the afternoon and reading and socializing in the evening. He revised constantly, indicating perhaps that he was harvesting the grown fruits he had been planting. He had the advantage of youth, means, and only a limited store, comparatively, of reading and entertainments. Try something new, maybe? Like not starting at the beginning but picking something from mid-stream and put some shoulder into writing and arranging paragraphs. Might help to fall into the groove. You’ve done this before.
Thank you for your kind comment and considerate advice. Of course Melville was a sui generis genius and I am not, but that, actually, does not bear on your advice.
Alas most of my thrashing does not relate to the process of writing (although some of course does). It mostly relates to publishing — as I'm a self-publisher, it falls all in my lap. I know exactly what needs to be done, and, had I the money to hire people to do the work for me, under my direction, I believe that my mental speedbumps to actual writing would dematerialize.
I won't go on here about the myriad decisions that must be made, and work that must be done, if one is to be a successful self-publishing novelist of biodigital technopotheosis, as I aspire to be, with one's various books available in various languages and in various formats (e.g. print, ebook, audiobook), on various platforms (e.g. Amazon, Kobo, Apple, Overdrive, Barnes & Noble, independent bookstores, Audible, Chirp, etc, not to mention directly from me, the author/publisher) can be a bit overwhelming at times. Especially for us squirrel-brains.
But, exactly as you so kindly said, Richard, I have done it before (although the 'it' in those days was a lot less complex than it is in 2024). I really do have every confidence that I will succeed. But as Frank Zappa said, introducing a number to be played by his band for recording a performance that was to appear on his phenomenal album "Roxy and Elsewhere,": (Frank Zappa speaking here):" This is it. This has got to be the one with *all* the right notes. And this is a hard one to play."
My brother says “perfection offends the Buddha.” I can DM you some organized ideas for a business plan that might help provide a bump by having something to shoot holes in.
Thank you. I love your brother's comment. Let's talk no more of this now, as my next five days are overbooked, but perhaps next week -- maybe over the 4th? I may take you up on your kind offer.
Chinese cookie comments meant to be helpful, though they may not seem so ...
Add a scene suffused with guilty pleasure that gets your book banned in Boston. Or Alabama.
Time spent writing (and rewriting) is productive of good results. Time spent worrying about the number of subscribers produces only anxiety.
Thanks. At first I thought your comment was in reference to a fortune cookie fortune that I mentioned in part one, but didn't pick up on. (I just ran out of space; I'll have to come back to it some other time).
I really don't spend too much time worrying about subscriber numbers, but I do have to keep evaluating what's working vs what's not working in terms of generating interest. To be honest I'm kind of stumped, and I really don't know how I can have a successful book launch without a large & engaged readership. But I guess I'm just going to have to finish the few hundred tasks ahead of me and just see what happens.
As a friend of mine told be when we were grad students at Purdue, back when dinosaurs walked the earth, 'ain't no good standing there looking at it, John. Hold your nose & climb in!"
Good luck!
It's been over a year since I was tossed into the self-publishing waters with Weird Fiction Quarterly, and while we've largely nailed down the production aspects of self-publishing (give me a ring if you would like to chat about getting your work into the various markets - I spent a good part of April on this), our challenge now is finding and engaging with an audience that actually purchases what we're producing. We've gotten nothing but praise for our latest Folk Horror installment, but sales do not reflect that. (To be fair, I was ALSO slow getting the ebook versions out after print was available.)
I've been talking with some other indie publishers in similar straits and I think we're looking at pooling resources and cooperating to identify the kinds of quirky bookstores around the country that would be good candidates for having customers that dig what we're doing and growing organically from there, instead of trying to find success in the flood of other stuff (esp. in the age of AI authorship) saturating the general market. Happy to loop you in once we have something worth looping you into.
I'd also be careful about extrapolating too much about what Substack subscriber numbers say about future success selling books. Substack and books are two very different information products with very different audiences. I've bought books from authors I've not interacted with on Substack (didn't like or comment their posts) and I've yet to purchase books from authors I have interacted with, preferring to consume their writing in smaller chunks. I'm sure that having a large audience helps get the word out when the book is available, but I'm not sure that a small Substack audience says something in the other direction.
Thank you for this thoughtful & helpful suggestion. In these days of tsunamis of AI-generated schlock, enshittified search engines, review sites like Goodreads increasingly useless, the Amazon hegemon still rampant, and the once-glorious Twitter now basically radioactive, finding that audience/distribution sweet spot for indies like you & me is harder than it ever was. I would be happy to chat with you offline about all of this stuff, and please remind me to tell you about In Formation.
I largely keep the mindset that it's probably a good thing I started publishing when everything seems to be a wreck, as there's really no place to go but up.
And should the world start to make more sense again, the lessons learned during this period will be valuable moving forward. Kind of like how the Great Depression gave rise to America's Greatest Generation.
I think it's going to be bumpy for a while, as everyone continues to reorient themselves after the pandemic and the end of easy money provided by Zero Interest Rate policies. Just hold on and keep building up a library of good work.
One word response to all my fave author's works: intertextuality
1. I've seen that word many times but only just now looked up its meaning. So thank you, and I am flattered.
2. Stay tuned for a SFIO post called 'intertextuality' at some future, but, I hope, not too distant future, time.
It took Melville a year and a half to write Moby Dick, in his early 30s, with three young kids and a small farm to manage. He had a fairly structured routine that put emphasis on writing in the mornings, walking in the afternoon and reading and socializing in the evening. He revised constantly, indicating perhaps that he was harvesting the grown fruits he had been planting. He had the advantage of youth, means, and only a limited store, comparatively, of reading and entertainments. Try something new, maybe? Like not starting at the beginning but picking something from mid-stream and put some shoulder into writing and arranging paragraphs. Might help to fall into the groove. You’ve done this before.
Richard,
Thank you for your kind comment and considerate advice. Of course Melville was a sui generis genius and I am not, but that, actually, does not bear on your advice.
Alas most of my thrashing does not relate to the process of writing (although some of course does). It mostly relates to publishing — as I'm a self-publisher, it falls all in my lap. I know exactly what needs to be done, and, had I the money to hire people to do the work for me, under my direction, I believe that my mental speedbumps to actual writing would dematerialize.
I won't go on here about the myriad decisions that must be made, and work that must be done, if one is to be a successful self-publishing novelist of biodigital technopotheosis, as I aspire to be, with one's various books available in various languages and in various formats (e.g. print, ebook, audiobook), on various platforms (e.g. Amazon, Kobo, Apple, Overdrive, Barnes & Noble, independent bookstores, Audible, Chirp, etc, not to mention directly from me, the author/publisher) can be a bit overwhelming at times. Especially for us squirrel-brains.
But, exactly as you so kindly said, Richard, I have done it before (although the 'it' in those days was a lot less complex than it is in 2024). I really do have every confidence that I will succeed. But as Frank Zappa said, introducing a number to be played by his band for recording a performance that was to appear on his phenomenal album "Roxy and Elsewhere,": (Frank Zappa speaking here):" This is it. This has got to be the one with *all* the right notes. And this is a hard one to play."
My brother says “perfection offends the Buddha.” I can DM you some organized ideas for a business plan that might help provide a bump by having something to shoot holes in.
Thank you. I love your brother's comment. Let's talk no more of this now, as my next five days are overbooked, but perhaps next week -- maybe over the 4th? I may take you up on your kind offer.
Sure. I'm always up for playing target for this kind of exercise and be shot full of holes. I always learn a lot.