# How do you define an author as "well-known"



## sunaynaprasad (Apr 1, 2018)

Despite endless promotion of my stories, having social media pages with hundreds of followers and fans, and a cinematic book trailer at an LA theater for 2 weeks, my books are still hardly selling. I've discovered that most people don't want to buy books from unknown authors because they don't want to waste their money.
But I have also discovered a couple of click-baiting sites where my first book received a few thousand downloads. I researched myself on Google and other places where people have heard of me as a writer, and I'm guessing that's about 8,000 to 10,0000 people.
However, that doesn't seem like enough for people to want to be interested in my material. The cinematic book trailer did not trigger even one sale. I checked on a site called Novelrank that tracks book sales. Could it be because I self-published, and because of that, many people don't think my stuff is legitimate, even though all the reviews, including the positive ones, are 100% legitimate and honest?
I am actually trying to get an unrelated book traditionally published. And I do want to enter some contests, even if the chances of me winning just third place are slim. I've also researched marketing strategies that work, and I've done pretty much all of them. They barely worked, at most.
Then I found some info on how you should build a fan base before you publish, and I kind of wished I've done that. But I could write other content and receive attention on that.
Do traditionally published authors also struggle to sell because they're too unknown? I actually like reading stories from authors I've never heard of because I like to discover new writers.
But what is your feedback on my approaches? Thanks.


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## Plasticweld (Apr 1, 2018)

I had a good friend named Peter Parnall who recently passed away, who I would consider a well known author and artist.  He had over 80 books published.  He was one of the hardest working writers I know who spent countless hours giving talks and promoting himself.  He was always selling and always on stage when you met him. He courted his fans and was Mr. Personality when it came to speaking engagements or any other type of social function.


I would say that being self published has something to do with it as no one else is beating your drum for you.   The other writer I personally knew who I considered well known was Bill Caldwell also from Maine.  He wrote for the local newspaper and was equally as active as Pete when it  came to public speaking.


Is there a local paper or magazine you can write for?  Are there any classes you might help teach?  Are your books something that can be promoted by speaking at a local school to either people who are interested in the subject matter or your ability to write.  


I am convinced those that are good at selling books are experts at selling themselves first.


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## Blackstone (Apr 1, 2018)

sunaynaprasad said:


> Despite endless promotion of my stories, having social media pages with hundreds of followers and fans, and a cinematic book trailer at an LA theater for 2 weeks, my books are still hardly selling. I've discovered that most people don't want to buy books from unknown authors because they don't want to waste their money.
> But I have also discovered a couple of click-baiting sites where my first book received a few thousand downloads. I researched myself on Google and other places where people have heard of me as a writer, and I'm guessing that's about 8,000 to 10,0000 people.
> However, that doesn't seem like enough for people to want to be interested in my material. The cinematic book trailer did not trigger even one sale. I checked on a site called Novelrank that tracks book sales. Could it be because I self-published, and because of that, many people don't think my stuff is legitimate, even though all the reviews, including the positive ones, are 100% legitimate and honest?
> I am actually trying to get an unrelated book traditionally published. And I do want to enter some contests, even if the chances of me winning just third place are slim. I've also researched marketing strategies that work, and I've done pretty much all of them. They barely worked, at most.
> ...



The unfortunate truth is that the rise in self-publishing has created a degree of cynicism among readers that means hundreds of books get essentially ignored.. I know that, you know that, so the question is what to do about it.

I have more experience with traditional publishing, however I do know many self-published writers, one or two of whom have outsold me. I cannot resent that. Ultimately they work harder than I do at the business aspect. They are good writers, too, I guess.

One of the gentlemen I know who has achieved good sales on the SP market  - let's call him Bob - worked ruthlessly on social media. However just tweeting a lot wasn't the answer, it was targeted. He would network with other self-published writers and essentially operate on a "scratch mine, scratch yours" arrangement with them.

 Ultimately the reviews helped but what really helped was that his writing was good enough that in a fairly short space of time he no longer needed to beg for attention, these guys were actually promoting his work (through word of mouth mainly) of their own accord.

It's worth remembering the old business philosophy that it is far easier to get a repeat sale than an entirely new one. One thing that helped Bob was that he is prolific, releasing at least one new book a year - good books too (mostly). This keeps his existing readership engaged with his work. It also provides an element of authenticity to him as a writer. Consider when you walk into a store the psychological impact of an understocked shelf. I'm not saying that writers who don't publish much cannot achieve notoriety or that one should churn out garbage for the sake of it, but its these details that can have an effect on your customers' perception of you. Perhaps rather than dwell for months on a single under-performing book the best option would be to put it behind you and move on to the next.


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## sunaynaprasad (Apr 1, 2018)

Great ideas, guys. By the way, the books have received about two hundred reviews on Amazon combined. I started tweeting some of my blog posts tonight. Before I would just share them with my friends. But now I am considering publishing some flash fiction pieces on the blog within the same genre and/or target audience.


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## Bayview (Apr 2, 2018)

How did you get the Amazon reviews? There _does_ seem to be a dichotomy between your sales rank and your number of reviews.

In terms of your questions - I self-publish and work with publishers, and it's hard to get attention in both fields, but I think it's MUCH harder to get attention when you're self-published. The books I self-publish in my main genre under my main pen name generally sell worse than my books with publishers... maybe half as many sales? maybe a third as many? But when I self-publish in a different genre under a different pen name, I struggle to get ANY sales. Like, I'm still in the double-digits! So it seems like the name I've built by working with publishers does carry over at least partly.

Now, I do hardly any promo on my own. So my books with publishers are about the only ones that ever get that kind of attention. Probably a factor!


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## sunaynaprasad (Apr 2, 2018)

My reviews are mostly from review services. But they are all services that only guarantee honest and unbiased opinions. Even a number of the positive reviews pointed out some flaws.


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## Blackstone (Apr 4, 2018)

sunaynaprasad said:


> My reviews are mostly from review services. But they are all services that only guarantee honest and unbiased opinions. Even a number of the positive reviews pointed out some flaws.



It still doesn't make sense to me, as Bayview alluded, that you could be receiving more reviews than sales unless the reviews are fake or receiving copies of your book that are outside Amazon's sales numbers. Where are the people reviewing you as part of the service getting the book from? Did you give the review service a copy to share, is that how it works?

It sounds like you are an honest actor so it isn't a slight on you, but from where I am sitting I'd be very skeptical this review service is providing honest reviews. As mentioned before, if these are not real opinions the promotional impact of having 133 of them review your book isn't going to really boost your sales. You would be better off giving it away for free.


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## senecaone (Apr 4, 2018)

I'll go with the simple answer: Walk around for a week in various demographic areas and ask random strangers: "Have you heard of so-and-so?".

0-5% No answers means most of us, or someone regularly published in academia or some other niche
6-20% Yes is a regularly published author addressing general themes, both fiction and non.
21-80% Yes is someone very well known.
81-100% Yes is a sage of the ages.

You can quibble about ranges and definitions, but you get the basic idea, I hope.


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## sunaynaprasad (Apr 4, 2018)

The services are not paid reviews since that is against Amazon policies. While some did cost money, they would review your books whether they'd enjoyed it or not. Some copies were given away for free, though. I check review companies to make sure they are legitimate and only provide honest unbiased opinions. The same companies where I got positive reviews I also got some neutral and negative reviews from.


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## Bayview (Apr 4, 2018)

sunaynaprasad said:


> The services are not paid reviews since that is against Amazon policies. While some did cost money, they would review your books whether they'd enjoyed it or not. Some copies were given away for free, though. I check review companies to make sure they are legitimate and only provide honest unbiased opinions. The same companies where I got positive reviews I also got some neutral and negative reviews from.



I'm not following this business model. I mean, if some of the reviews cost money, then... some of the reviews, at least, are paid reviews, right?

But for the other ones, that didn't cost money - how are they making a profit?

And in terms of checking to be sure their reviews are unbiased... how do you do that? I looked at the people behind the reviews that show up at the top of your reviews, and only Randall had any other reviews visible. He gave five stars to every product but one on his page. How did you check the companies to be sure they were legit?


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## sunaynaprasad (Apr 4, 2018)

I read the company's faqs and they all say that they only guarentee honest reviews. Some of the reviews came from blog tours and they're the same story.


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