Learning from mistakes

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,532 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

o    #48 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Drama > United States
o    #87 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Drama > United States

So what I worked on this weekend was getting my book ready to print in Createspace.  I am really taking my time with this process, though. 


There have been two reviews (one on Amazon, one on Goodreads) that said my book needed "editing help".  It bothers me because they're right.  This is a criticism that not only affected the readers' impression, rating and enjoyment of my book, it will also affect future sales.  I'm also beginning to wonder if the returns I've had (four this month) have to do with this quality issue. 

I've gone through about five revisions in the past two weeks, so the latest versions should be "clean", but the poor reviews are there to stay.  Hardest to take?  The fact that this is 100% my fault, and that it was 100% avoidable.

Rule #1:  Don't consider a book finished if you are still adding or changing scenes. 

This causes careless editing because you assume you've already gone over everything and begin relying solely on Spellchecker.  For example, I can come up with a great (new) line for my character and forget that she had said something similar in a previous page, or I'll end up adding an extra quote mark because I inserted this line in the middle of existing dialogue.   You know how the only way to tell when popcorn is done is when there are two seconds between pops?  I'm going to apply the same rule to my next book:  it's only done when I can go over the whole book (twice) and not want to make a single change.


Rule #2:  Pay attention to feedback. 
Before self publishing, I received a few responses from my query letters from traditional publishers.   One editor wrote back and helpfully suggested that I go over my manuscript again because she saw a lot of mistakes in it.  In that particular case, I realized that I had converted to PDF, an earlier draft of my book.  But this should have told me that I had lost track of which version I had actually been editing, and that there were serious problems in my manuscript---which to an editor is anyting over one mistake, and to a reader anything over two.

Rule #3:  Daily word counts are not my friend. 

Let me correct that:  word counts are my friend, because they have made the difference between the 10-12 unfinished manuscripts that I have and "Fame".   However, when you force yourself to write 2700 words a day, (in order to finish a 50,000 word novel in a month) there are going to be days when what you are writing is just filler and should be deleted.  There is also the tendency to throw yourself across the finish line like a marathoner when you've reached Day 30, regardless of where you are in the story.  One reviewer said my story ended abruptly.  She was right, and that's the reason.


There's a reason why this topic is my second post:  rushing something to print has been my biggest mistake (so far) in this process, and it's something that can't be undone.

Marketing "Fame, Love, and other Lessons"

The story so far, pun intended:

On June 21, 2012 I self-published my contemporary romance novel, "Fame, Love, and other Lessons" on Kindle Select Publishing (KDP).

Miraculously, two people purchased it that first week.  I call it a miracle now, because now I know just how unlikely it is for someone to buy a book from a self published unknown author.  But back then, I just thought it was a typical, if slightly disappointing, book launch.  If you build it, they will come and all that. 

So, more out of due diligence than any sense of panic, I began reading about book marketing, and a week after going live, I launched a one-day promo of my book.  After obsessively checking the download reports every fifteen minutes, I finished the day with 239 downloads, ranking somewhere in the #100,000 of Kindle books.

Still, I remained optimistic that with these 239 new readers, my book would somehow begin spreading through word of mouth.   This didn't happen.  At the end of the month, my book was burning up the charts at the #270,000 (approximately) range.  I finished the month with 4 sales, 1 refund, the 239 downloads, and zero reviews.

I was now beginning to get an appreciation of just how many books were available.  Especially after I began reading the Kindle community boards.  I thought most people had a background similar to mine:  I've written most of my life, I studied Writing in college, and I've attended conferences, seminars and read just about every book on Writing that the local libraries had.  The book that I uploaded was the result of years honing the craft.  Unfortunately, with the availability of self-publishing, there were no editors, no filters, no barriers and the market was (is) flooded with works from anyone with access to a word processor.

I say this without judgement, but only as a writer who must now compete with millions of people vying for a spot on the virtual bookshelf.  I am confident that the market weeds bad writers out, and that really good books will rise to the top.  I've seen it happen, and meanwhile, I'm grateful that I no longer have to send out query letters asking for the privilege of sending a one page synopsis to some editor's slush pile.   So, viva Amazon, hooray for the free market, and all that. 

But with so much competition at the bottom, how can I stand out?

I began to read even more about book marketing.  I realized that I would have to have some reviews and likes in order to improve my ranking.  I began looking at successful books similar to mine and discovered I was in the wrong category.   I joined FB groups, and signed up for any indie marketing community boards I could find.  I read through a LOT of the Kindle community boards (http://forums.kindledirectpublishing.com/kdpforums/forumindex.jspa) and the Amazon Kindle forum (http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle).

One of the things that came up over and over again was the need to spell check, edit, re-edit, and re-edit some more.  Apparently, nothing shouted "amateur" more than a book riddled with typos and errors.  I went through my book again, and even though I thought I HAD gone through the book (running it through spell check on Word and reading through my favorite parts is apparently not enough), I was embarassed to find several, a lot of mistakes.  I corrected these and uploaded a new version.  

Now, in my own defense, I have to say that none of the rants that the people on the community board indulged in applied to me.  Unlike the writers held up for scorn by the author's community, I knew the difference between "your" and "you're", "there" and "their" and mastered simple English phrases like "could have" when others wrote "could of".   No, my mistakes were caused by carelessness and rewrites.   I left words out, or didn't delete new sections completely.  Because of this, I assumed my mistakes would be minimal.  Unfortunately, I was wrong, but this mistake deserves a post of its own.

Anyway, I scheduled two more free days on Amazon for July.  I sent out notices to anyone offering free listings of Kindle promos, changed the category of my novel from Fiction à Drama instead of Fiction à Romance, and managed to get several likes and two reviews before my two free days on July 22nd.

The result was dramatic.  By the time I woke up on the 22nd, "Fame, Love and other Lessons" had received over 1000 downloads and was on the bestseller charts in its category.  Later on in the day, it eventually reached #1 in it's category (for free Kindle books), where it remained until the next day.  I was giddy with excitement and took screen shots of my book on the top of the list.

When the promo ended, my book had been downloaded 7500 times.

So…this is a blog about what happens next.  I'm going to figure it out as I go along, but since there are so many people (like me) who are doing the same thing, I thought I'd keep a journal about what I was doing, and the results of my efforts.

I hope you enjoy this blog, and that it can be helpful in your own efforts.