Day 347: Indie publishing; advertising
I was going to work this morning, but it ended up being too distracting for me to work because I had an appointment right after lunch and I kept watching the clock. It makes me realize I really do need to practice intense concentration and focus so that I can just turn it on for however long I set a timer. That way I can efficiently work for a short period of time if I have other things to do that day.
I met up with an author friend for the first time. We know each other online and I found out she lives nearby me, so we met for boba. It was the first time I’ve driven in over a year! It’s because my husband and I usually drive together if there’s something I need to do outside of the house. He arranges to do errands when he drives me somewhere, to save on gas and time.
It was really fun talking to another writer. I haven’t done that in over a year! I haven’t had boba tea in that long, too! Life felt kind of normal for a change.
It was really fun to talk about self-publishing and traditional publishing. I’ve been out of the trad pub loop for several years, but she asked about my experience and I told her about it. I’m actually really glad I was first traditionally published, because I had to hone my craft to a certain level before I was even considered by an editor or an agent, and when I got my contracts, I was able to work with professional developmental editors, which was a great experience for me. The majority of indie authors I know don’t use a developmental editor because, frankly, they’re incredibly expensive. But they were mandatory when working with a traditional publisher (plus I wasn’t the one paying them), and so I was able to learn a lot. I learned a lot about writing to the reader and to the market and about consistent characterization. Also, in working with an exacting professional, I was forced to pay close attention to story structure and make sure my pacing and structure were up to standard.
I’m still very glad I switched to indie publishing, because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to have my books translated into Japanese. And even though the process of creating self-published Japanese ebooks and print books has been incredibly difficult, I’m still very glad I have this product that I can give to non-Christian Japanese women to introduce them to Christ and maybe give them a bit more spiritual hope in their lives if they’re in a hard place. I know this is what God wants me to do.
I also have found that especially since getting IBS, I need to reduce the stress in my life, and indie publishing enables me to get rid of the stress of a deadline (most of the time). That’s made a huge difference in my stress levels. Also, since I have control over my release schedule, the procedure for release, and my marketing, I can schedule things so that my releases are lower stress, too. My marketing has also been minimal and low-key, at least for now. Later when I have more books available, or maybe when I release my first box set, I’ll be able to look into learning about advertising. I am free to not do social media marketing that I don’t want to do and which would fracture my writing time.
I can’t afford a developmental editor, but I also feel confident enough in my structure and in the psychology of my characters (putting my degree to good use) to feel I’m okay without one. I rely on my proofreader, who finds all kinds of little mistakes I miss and notes where my writing is confusing, so I have at least one other set of eyes going over my manuscript.
We also talked about marketing. We discussed how difficult advertising is. I haven’t taken the time to learn how to do advertising on Amazon or Facebook, but I know my Facebook ads in the past did not break even, so I’m pretty sure I need to learn. However, I’ve heard from other indie authors that the automatic targeting setting on Amazon ads has still enabled them to make money, so I was thinking I might try that. I will look at how the three books in my Regency have fared on average. When they release, I have a modest surge of sales, and then the sales die off, but I’m still making a little bit of money. I think I can take the average amount each book makes per day (on the days after that first surge of sales from the release date), and use that for my maximum daily bid. That way I know I won’t be losing money on the ads, I’ll just break even. I think I’ll try it and see if it makes a difference in my sales or KU page reads. I might get new readers.
Anyway, after coming back from meeting with her, now my IBS is starting to bother me, so I think I’ll take it easy the rest of the day. I don’t know if I could switch off my marketing mindset right now, anyway, since we talked a lot about marketing.
***
Ended up taking it easy today because of my IBS. Tomorrow I’ll either do some marketing work like setting up next month’s newsletter, or I’ll start reading the Regencies again.
I met up with an author friend for the first time. We know each other online and I found out she lives nearby me, so we met for boba. It was the first time I’ve driven in over a year! It’s because my husband and I usually drive together if there’s something I need to do outside of the house. He arranges to do errands when he drives me somewhere, to save on gas and time.
It was really fun talking to another writer. I haven’t done that in over a year! I haven’t had boba tea in that long, too! Life felt kind of normal for a change.
It was really fun to talk about self-publishing and traditional publishing. I’ve been out of the trad pub loop for several years, but she asked about my experience and I told her about it. I’m actually really glad I was first traditionally published, because I had to hone my craft to a certain level before I was even considered by an editor or an agent, and when I got my contracts, I was able to work with professional developmental editors, which was a great experience for me. The majority of indie authors I know don’t use a developmental editor because, frankly, they’re incredibly expensive. But they were mandatory when working with a traditional publisher (plus I wasn’t the one paying them), and so I was able to learn a lot. I learned a lot about writing to the reader and to the market and about consistent characterization. Also, in working with an exacting professional, I was forced to pay close attention to story structure and make sure my pacing and structure were up to standard.
I’m still very glad I switched to indie publishing, because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to have my books translated into Japanese. And even though the process of creating self-published Japanese ebooks and print books has been incredibly difficult, I’m still very glad I have this product that I can give to non-Christian Japanese women to introduce them to Christ and maybe give them a bit more spiritual hope in their lives if they’re in a hard place. I know this is what God wants me to do.
I also have found that especially since getting IBS, I need to reduce the stress in my life, and indie publishing enables me to get rid of the stress of a deadline (most of the time). That’s made a huge difference in my stress levels. Also, since I have control over my release schedule, the procedure for release, and my marketing, I can schedule things so that my releases are lower stress, too. My marketing has also been minimal and low-key, at least for now. Later when I have more books available, or maybe when I release my first box set, I’ll be able to look into learning about advertising. I am free to not do social media marketing that I don’t want to do and which would fracture my writing time.
I can’t afford a developmental editor, but I also feel confident enough in my structure and in the psychology of my characters (putting my degree to good use) to feel I’m okay without one. I rely on my proofreader, who finds all kinds of little mistakes I miss and notes where my writing is confusing, so I have at least one other set of eyes going over my manuscript.
We also talked about marketing. We discussed how difficult advertising is. I haven’t taken the time to learn how to do advertising on Amazon or Facebook, but I know my Facebook ads in the past did not break even, so I’m pretty sure I need to learn. However, I’ve heard from other indie authors that the automatic targeting setting on Amazon ads has still enabled them to make money, so I was thinking I might try that. I will look at how the three books in my Regency have fared on average. When they release, I have a modest surge of sales, and then the sales die off, but I’m still making a little bit of money. I think I can take the average amount each book makes per day (on the days after that first surge of sales from the release date), and use that for my maximum daily bid. That way I know I won’t be losing money on the ads, I’ll just break even. I think I’ll try it and see if it makes a difference in my sales or KU page reads. I might get new readers.
Anyway, after coming back from meeting with her, now my IBS is starting to bother me, so I think I’ll take it easy the rest of the day. I don’t know if I could switch off my marketing mindset right now, anyway, since we talked a lot about marketing.
***
Ended up taking it easy today because of my IBS. Tomorrow I’ll either do some marketing work like setting up next month’s newsletter, or I’ll start reading the Regencies again.
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