# Redefining 'Sucks'



## David Gordon Burke (Dec 5, 2013)

There truly is no greater black hole of misery and expectation than the world of indie Ebook publishing.  There are more obstacles and hoops to jump through than one can ever imagine.  There is more grunt work to be done and so many distractions that eventually one ends up doing everything EXCEPT writing.  

I couldn't be luckier in this regard since my day job requires NOTHING from me.  I get paid for doing ZERO.  So my down time between Zilch and Zippo is spent doing all the nasty chores related to promo and production and formatting and enrolling and Smashwords and a US EIN number and PayPal and my blog and Facebook and Youtube book promo vids and Kindle Mojo and Goodreads and designing my web page and getting my covers designed and creating graphics for my books and the list goes on and on and on.  Somewhere in there I manage to research and copy paste a bit of info for my next novel.  

Nights I write.  I put in about 2 hours (these days) since I am in the edit phase of my current WIP.  

For about an hour a day I read tutorials and other info about the indie ebook revolution.

Nights I read a bit of writing manuals before I go to bed.  

So far this whopping load of work has netted me the grand sum of $3.15.  
My second title has sold a whopping NO copies after 3 weeks.  That one goes under the heading 'Experiments in marketing / demographics that FAILED miserably.'  

(insert sound of hundreds of writers deleting their current WIPs and turning on the Television as their dreams of fame and fortune crash and burn HERE)

So why the hell do it?  
Reason one - because I was meant to be a writer - the education system and my parents kicked the snot out of what wasn't a dream but merely an EVIDENT REALITY to a 6 year old kid.  (Thanks for that BTW Mutchmore Public School Ottawa, Ontario)  

Reason two - cause I don't do it for the money and because I believe that most writers are going to bail at the 6 month to one year point.  I figure it's a 5 year curve before you are even a blip on the radar.  Also, all the extras aren't going to get you as far a writing good stories.  The (reasonable) success will come to those who are patient and work hard at their craft.

Disenheartening?  Depressing?  Disillusioned?  You and every other indie writer trying to break in.
Here's another way to look at it.  

I was trying to open up the Smashwords avenue of sales.  (I am not a fan of their interface 'MeatGrinder' software that takes your word doc and makes it unreadable)  I uploaded my book and got a message 'Your book is No.  87 in the cue'  So at any moment there are about 90 to 100 books being uploaded to Smashwords.  Wow.  And they aren't even the POPULAR site?  Yikes!

Finally, and without letting the cat out of the bag - everyone needs a plan.  What is yours?  Don't have a plan?  Good luck with that.  
My plan is to keep at it with one eye towards my computer screen and another eye on the trends.  
I recently read a book that supported the idea of writing 'Erotica' as the BEST route to success on AMAZON.  
If it turns out after a certain time has elapsed, that I have to prostitute myself to make any headway in this endeavor, I'll bail and dust off my guitar and look for a 'rock n roll band, that needs a helpin' hand.'  

David Gordon Burke


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## Gavrushka (Dec 5, 2013)

DGB, I am glad you're going to stick with it. I think any route to success in this industry is a long and winding road with many pitfalls, but tenacity is going to be a staff you can lean on as you travel forwards.

I've been writing for four years (I was convinced it was three... damn, I lost a year somewhere) - and in those four years I've submitted to an elite agent (same one) twice. - Rejected. - The thing is, and I am sure it was the same with you, a day arrived when I realised how much more I had to learn about the art of writing. - I've three and a half novels written, but they'll all be rewritten when the day comes I feel I've the ability to relate those stories in a way that will please others...

You're a rare type on a forum such as this, and I think you should be applauded. - You're as happy to share your dismay, as you are your enthusiasm. - I think that many of us feel the need to hide our fear of failure due to insecurities - I know I've numbered amongst that group.

AND you're $3.15 ahead of most of the other members of this site, including me, and I am sure you will stretch that lead considerably before such as I move into a position where I can challenge.

Best of luck.


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## David Gordon Burke (Dec 5, 2013)

Well, I try to let the negative vibe slide off my back.  In the end, tenacity is probably one of the most important virtues.

Having a back-up plan doesn't hurt either.  If I'm not where I want to be in 5 years, I hope to have figured this thing out by then (between novels that is.)
DGB


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## David Gordon Burke (Dec 5, 2013)

Following the train of thought of this thread - If at first you don't succeed, better do some Market Analysis.  
This page gives a breakdown of what is selling.

http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/mid/1508/articleId/578/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/Default.aspx

So, maybe my third will get a better result.  There will be crime, mystery, suspense and a touch of romance in it.  Without getting out of my 'niche' of animals and dogs.  

David Gordon Burke


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## Staff Deployment (Dec 5, 2013)

David Gordon Burke said:


> http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/mid/1508/articleId/578/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/Default.aspx



That's from nearly four years ago, has many potential errors and data-skews (as they rightfully disclosed) and it's all presented unintuitively and misleadingly. There's not much anyone could reasonably expect to glean from this data, unfortunately. They are a bad marketing company!



David Gordon Burke said:


> So, maybe my third will get a better result.  There will be crime, mystery, suspense and a touch of romance in it.  Without getting out of my 'niche' of animals and dogs.



There's your problem! It's too hard to define your book. Also you can't read the words on the cover -- you might want to fix that. The black text blends into the dog.


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## movieman (Dec 5, 2013)

David Gordon Burke said:


> There is more grunt work to be done and so many distractions that eventually one ends up doing everything EXCEPT writing.



Fortunately, the publishing side becomes faster the more you do it. I've reached the point where I write the book in right format for the print on demand version, then run a script that takes five seconds to turn that into an e-book to upload to Amazon. Smashwords is more painful because of the format their Meatgrinder expects, but I've been releasing in KDP Select for the 90 day period so by the end of that I've fixed any issues and can just convert the book once for Smashwords.



> So far this whopping load of work has netted me the grand sum of $3.15.
> My second title has sold a whopping NO copies after 3 weeks.  That one goes under the heading 'Experiments in marketing / demographics that FAILED miserably.'



Keep it up. The last short story I released (actually, an old one I cleaned up) has made about $1 in the month since I released it. The one before that made $200 in the first month. There's nothing I can see that explains the huge difference.



> I was trying to open up the Smashwords avenue of sales.  (I am not a fan of their interface 'MeatGrinder' software that takes your word doc and makes it unreadable)  I uploaded my book and got a message 'Your book is No.  87 in the cue'  So at any moment there are about 90 to 100 books being uploaded to Smashwords.  Wow.  And they aren't even the POPULAR site?  Yikes!



You should note that people often take several tries to get through the Meatgrinder. Plus, it's more commonly 3-4 books in the queue, so you hit it at a busy period, or when their server was having problems.



> Finally, and without letting the cat out of the bag - everyone needs a plan.  What is yours?



Write more. Write better. Keep writing.


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## David Gordon Burke (Dec 6, 2013)

Staff Deployment said:


> There's your problem! It's too hard to define your book. Also you can't read the words on the cover -- you might want to fix that. The black text blends into the dog.



This opinion is overall a matter of choice.  There is the minnow in the ocean vs. the big fish small pond theory.  Dog books compared to say mystery or YAPR or erotica (apparently the BEST genre these days for sales) are obviously bigger markets but .... the competition is steep.  Then again, how many copies did Marley and Me sell?  I'll stick with what I do for the moment.  Plan to branch out.

As for the cover - the version that you see here on WF is a lower quality graphic than the original.  On Amazon you can clearly read the MAIN title.  As for the .... 'Life Lessons from an Unremarkable Dog' part?  How important do you figure that to be?  

David Gordon Burke


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## bookmasta (Dec 7, 2013)

Self publishing is hard to break into because, as mentioned above, its a challenge to gain recognition as an author an often takes a lot of time, patience, and planning. Of course, I still have those friends who think that being a writer leads to a book contract and a movie later on...If only they knew the truth. For publishing, I use Createspace. They have just about everything besides a hardcover option which costs around $99 to buy. When I start releasing my works for both physical copies and on Kindle, I don't know if I will go very far in promoting besides a website. I suppose the solace in knowing that my that my books will be out there will be good enough.


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## Tatham (Dec 7, 2013)

Congratulations on your $3.15. That's plenty more than what most of us have earned, not that I care about money myself. Write because you enjoy it. If it makes money and plenty of it then even better. I'm currently waiting to hear back from agents and it's probably a phase I'd call disheartening, checking your inbox only to find junk. But I have faith in my work and I'll keep trying.


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## Dmarcotte (Jan 29, 2014)

Don't Give Up!!! I have published 15 Ebooks in the last 3 years (all of them non-fiction) 5 of them actually sell. Yep I wrote 10 books that have never sold a copy at all. But I thought they were good ideas and I wrote them.

I know from personal experience that if you want people to 'discover' your book getting reviews on the various platforms (Amazon etc) is key. A book that has positive reviews moves up the search ranks and may end up on page 1. In my case if someone is looking for science experiments for kids my book is actually on page 1, because other people have posted reviews. If someone searches homework help my book doesn't even show up as it has never gotten a review. 

It is also a good idea to narrow your categories - not just romance, but historical romance for example - so that you target readers who really might be interested in your work. 

If you don't have a blog I would recommend that as well as a way to market in the long term and interact with your fans. It doesn't have to be complex, but you can showcase more of your writing for those that like to know what they are buying before they make the purchase and you can presell upcoming books too.

Good Luck and keep writing.


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## David Gordon Burke (Jan 29, 2014)

Here's a big jump start.  I went the KDP Select route with my book Ingles al Poder de Tres which is to teach Spanish speakers how to speak English.  This is that 'free' download and exclusive to Amazon for 90 day business plan.  Since the book took a lot of formatting and graphics, it didn't turn out too well under the Smashwords' formatting requirements so I pulled it there anyway.

Checking my reports over the 5 day 'free' period I was pleased to see that about 600 copies got downloaded for free world-wide.  Ok, I thought, no money for me but a good indication as to what happens.  Now I just need to get something (a throw-away book) written to do this with in English.  I have a few tutorials in the works that will be 99 cent wonders so that's my next plan.

But wait, it gets better.  I was just looking at my sales reports and it turns out that aside from the 600 or so books that I gave away, I have also SOLD another 75 copies in the last week or so.  Coinsidence?  Who knows?  I'm extatic.  

My English Tutorials - The Taco Bible and Passport to Spanish just got moved to the priority list.  And both my other books 'Lobo' and 'A Rose by Any Other Name' have started to move a bit as well.  
*Pinky*: Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?
*Brain*: The same thing we do every night, Pinky - try to take over the world!

David Gordon Burke


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## The Tourist (Jan 29, 2014)

David, perhaps you should quit mentoring me to write, and I should apprentice you to rub stuff with a wet rock.  Oh, your hands will be chapped from the water and your fingernails blackened from the swarf, but there is a profit.

I'll have you saying things like, _"The distal taper was bad the entire length of the blank, the choil looked like the clown cut it with a crotchet hook, and the shinogi was a "road" to nowhere..."
_

...but...

Even if you polish only one knife per day you'll be able to eat something from the 'protein' family!


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