Future Fears

02/24/2013

6 Comments

 
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Every month, Being Human gets sales. Not a ton, but a modest amount. All the while Snapshots sits there languishing. Alone. Forgotten. Well, I haven't forgotten it. My point is, it's not getting many sales, if any, each month. A few times I have wondered if it's the cover or the synopsis  but I think both are great. The synopsis does tell you what the story is about, it just breaks every rule doing so. But those aren't the reasons why it's not selling. The main reasons Snapshots doesn't get a lot of love is because I haven't been pushing it. Why is very obvious.

I'm afraid.

Snapshots' release didn't go very smoothly. I had unmentionable typos and the blog tour had a lot of hiccups. At one point, I kicked the proof paperback across the room in frustation and anger. I gave it and another proof copy to a friend and told her she could burn them for all I cared. I didn't want to look at the book. All the excitement I had for release day turned black.
Those moments continue to haunt me. I'm afraid of another typo, bad blog tour or a slew of low reviews. During the release blog tour, I had two participants switch from reviews to promos because they didn't like the story. Doubt stays my hand when I consider sites that offer promotion. I'm not ready to handle another disaster after the last one made me loath my own book. I think I actually concerned a writing buddy that I was going to delete Snapshots and pretend it never existed.

How do I get over this fear?


PS: See the lovely badge Marie Landry made me? It matches the blog. I'm going to put it in all my newsletters. =D


PPS: I still have a few days left in my big giveaway. HINT-not-being-subtle-at-all-HINT.
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Comments

MB Mulhall link
02/26/2013 12:26pm

I think a lot of us find we have preferences over things we've written and much of that comes not only from our love of the story but the reaction it's gotten. I enjoyed Snapshots and all the little issues you had with the launch didn't matter to me. Shit happens. It's happened to me too.

I say just let it ride. It's out there and people will find it. I'm surprised when I get ND sales over ToaC because like you and Snapshots, I don't push it as much. You've got it on your blog, attached to other works. If people enjoy your stuff they'll likely come back for it.

I wouldn't worry so much and just continue on with the new stuff.

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Patricia Lynne link
02/28/2013 6:12pm

Well, you're my friend so of course the evil typos didn't deter you, but a complete stranger would have probably been turned off. =P

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Marie Landry link
02/27/2013 9:15pm

I sometimes feel that way about Blue Sky Days. I was - and am - incredibly proud of it, but the negative reviews basically all have the same issue and that haunts me. I know the story could be better, I know the things that need to be fixed, but I'm afraid to take the time to do it, and then rerelease it and go through the promo process again. I think it might happen someday but for now I feel like I should concentrate on new things. I think you sort of have to get into a mindset that it's a good story that people will want to read but first they need to KNOW about it, which means you have to promote it, despite your fear. That, and keep writing, put more stuff out there and then your back catalog of work will get more notice.

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Patricia Lynne link
02/28/2013 6:14pm

I've thought on occasion about if I would ever pull a story to fix a few things, but I don't think I would. While ebooks make it easy to fix things, I think I'd stick with fixing typos. I know I've grown as a writer since I published Being Human, but the story is published, and to me, that means final. Others may feel different though.

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Cherie Reich link
02/28/2013 3:39pm

I wish I knew how you could get over this fear. I have the same thing going on with my Gravity trilogy. So many times I've considered just deleting it all and forgetting it ever existed. But then I remember that some books take more time to build an audience, and that's okay. And it's never as bad as we think it is too. :)

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Patricia Lynne link
02/28/2013 6:15pm

I think if I just force myself to do some promo I could start getting my audience built for the book. It's just that first, scary jump I have to do that's holding me back.

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