The first thing I want to say is that I have found a shady line separating "indie" from the rest of the world; while I am indie, 100% indie, because I pay for absolutely nothing, very few writers are as absolutist as I am, especially when it comes to cover art, proofreading, and marketing. When I find a number of writers out there peddling their books on the read-marketing sites, I tend to think of them as indie, but in many cases they are not completely indie, and in fact even people who get publishing houses to peddle their books still have to go out and peddle their own quite a bit.
On the sites I inhabit there is a recent flood of very good Indian writers. Their books are well edited and interesting and among the best I have read, and as a result I tend to choose them often. They are choosing me, as it turns out, for entirely different reasons probably, but I'm proud to say my books are being read over there on amazon.co.in, and hopefully they are enjoying them.
The first thing it shows is that AI or Google Translate or whatever you call it, or whatever they use, is quite good going from Hindi to English, although I'm sure also that many Indian writers are simply fluent in English right off the bat due to their education or training or whatever. In other words, I'm not totally clear on whether they are relatively fluent in American/universl English or whether they have had some help from a machine, but in any case these are pretty good novels with no typos and not even Britishisms or Indianisms that would be unrecognizable to us Americans. I am interested in going the other way - making my American work available in Hindi - but I would have no way of assuring myself that the translated version was good, without friends picking through it and reminding me. Perhaps these writers have those friends. Perhaps even they are paying someone - it's not unheard of.
In this country paying someone to go over it with a fine tooth comb is quite expensive and it is simply unavailable to a wide swath of indie writers just because of price alone. And so, we have this problem where "indie" to some people means rough, not-proofread, full of errors, etc. and lots of times it is. There are still, by the way, some fantastic books that are full of errors so I want to point out that reading a lot of indie (as I do) means you never quite know what to expect and also that there is a wide variety and definitely plenty of diamonds in the rough so to speak.
The main thing it shows me is that writers and readers will quickly become more worldly. It is definitely in my best interest to get AI to help me translate all my books into as many languages as possible, and simply figure out the method to assure myself that they will be of the quality I want, even in the language they've been translated into. As a 30-year ESL/EFL professional I can't bear the thought of my books being sloppy in that regard even though I know that in lots of places there's quite a wide tolerance for a few errors and everyone knows enough English to know where a lot of those errors come from. So I could conceivably put my books into these languages and just wing it, or find out what the things are that AI has trouble with, and this would be quite interesting, but soon enough even this won't be necessary. AI will just get it right the first time, every time.
And that might make the literary world a mite more boring.
Friday, July 17, 2026
Monday, February 23, 2026
General report
The first thing I want to say is that I know a lot of really excellent indie writers, and I had fully planned on featuring them here, and showing off what I know as well as what they do, but it really hasn't panned out that way. I haven't had time to consistently update this blog. So I apologize for that, but at the same time want to share a little of what I know.
The self-publishing revolution really did turn the book world upside down in many ways, and I feel it, being totally indie, every time I rub up against that other world. They are not happy that people can simply publish quality work by themselves, and it doesn't take long before they let me know. But I have the advantage of not needing to make a living from what I'm doing, being a retired teacher and all, and not needing much except a good place to sit, so I'm going to keep cranking away at what I'm doing and staying up on the indie world which I find fascinating. It's kind of like ESL (which I taught for thirty years) in that every single person brings a unique set of skills and circumstances to the table, so that even if they produce what I consider flawed work (as I was quite used to with ESL) there is still a lot of value in catching what they are saying and appreciating the choices they made it bringing it to you.
This is one reason I do so much of what I call read-marketing - reading others' work so that others will read mine - because I like having a wide range of experience with different kinds of books, and also, by the way, I'm just retiring and its nice to just sit down and read. But, getting better at choosing what I know I'll like, and still feeling a little pressure to give some 4s just so I don't look like a dupe - well, this is the kind of problem I want to have. As a teacher of thirty plus years I can tell you that the problem you want is when everyone does it right and you still have to separate out the best from the pretty good. My other problem is that I read so much that I often find it difficult to put it all down and just write. My wife used to say she hated bad writing because it made it harder for her to write; I don't find that, really, but just find it makes me want to less. A good book is giving me so much of what I get writing: its own world, the challenges of different ways of saying things, etc. I get started reading in the morning and want to just keep reading and drinking coffee until I'm called away (btw I get called away often, having thirteen kids, so that's another excuse to just read, it's interruptable as opposed to writing, during which I get mad if I'm interrupted....
One of my big challenges will be to tell you a little about what I've found. I'm especially interested in things that may have been taught in writing programs yet tend to be over-used or poorly used, as if people seem to think they have to use it to prove they've mastered modern writing. One of these is Multiple POV, which, if you back off of it and ask yourself "does this really help this book?" or "is there a real benefit to seeing this situation from different points of view?" often the answer is, well, maybe ambiguous is a polite way of putting it. Are all books Multiple POV now? A lot of them are. Maybe it will be the new standard.
More on this later; really there's no rush. You can see that I can be very casual about this stuff; no purpose getting out there making a flashy blog (I've seen a few good ones) surveying the books out there, if I can't be consistent, thorough, and prolific, i.e. consistently deliver you good stuff. I'm struggling enough with that in my main output, the books I'm trying to write. I have them lined up; I've been stuck on one for quite a while; and things like this blog have fallen by the wayside as I just do what I have to, and try to manage thirteen kids, the grown ones of which tend to be the biggest of the problems. It's a crazy world. But my revenge is, I'm the one who ends up documenting it.
The self-publishing revolution really did turn the book world upside down in many ways, and I feel it, being totally indie, every time I rub up against that other world. They are not happy that people can simply publish quality work by themselves, and it doesn't take long before they let me know. But I have the advantage of not needing to make a living from what I'm doing, being a retired teacher and all, and not needing much except a good place to sit, so I'm going to keep cranking away at what I'm doing and staying up on the indie world which I find fascinating. It's kind of like ESL (which I taught for thirty years) in that every single person brings a unique set of skills and circumstances to the table, so that even if they produce what I consider flawed work (as I was quite used to with ESL) there is still a lot of value in catching what they are saying and appreciating the choices they made it bringing it to you.
This is one reason I do so much of what I call read-marketing - reading others' work so that others will read mine - because I like having a wide range of experience with different kinds of books, and also, by the way, I'm just retiring and its nice to just sit down and read. But, getting better at choosing what I know I'll like, and still feeling a little pressure to give some 4s just so I don't look like a dupe - well, this is the kind of problem I want to have. As a teacher of thirty plus years I can tell you that the problem you want is when everyone does it right and you still have to separate out the best from the pretty good. My other problem is that I read so much that I often find it difficult to put it all down and just write. My wife used to say she hated bad writing because it made it harder for her to write; I don't find that, really, but just find it makes me want to less. A good book is giving me so much of what I get writing: its own world, the challenges of different ways of saying things, etc. I get started reading in the morning and want to just keep reading and drinking coffee until I'm called away (btw I get called away often, having thirteen kids, so that's another excuse to just read, it's interruptable as opposed to writing, during which I get mad if I'm interrupted....
One of my big challenges will be to tell you a little about what I've found. I'm especially interested in things that may have been taught in writing programs yet tend to be over-used or poorly used, as if people seem to think they have to use it to prove they've mastered modern writing. One of these is Multiple POV, which, if you back off of it and ask yourself "does this really help this book?" or "is there a real benefit to seeing this situation from different points of view?" often the answer is, well, maybe ambiguous is a polite way of putting it. Are all books Multiple POV now? A lot of them are. Maybe it will be the new standard.
More on this later; really there's no rush. You can see that I can be very casual about this stuff; no purpose getting out there making a flashy blog (I've seen a few good ones) surveying the books out there, if I can't be consistent, thorough, and prolific, i.e. consistently deliver you good stuff. I'm struggling enough with that in my main output, the books I'm trying to write. I have them lined up; I've been stuck on one for quite a while; and things like this blog have fallen by the wayside as I just do what I have to, and try to manage thirteen kids, the grown ones of which tend to be the biggest of the problems. It's a crazy world. But my revenge is, I'm the one who ends up documenting it.
Monday, December 29, 2025
AI Detection
The Navajo always wove an error into each quilt or rug they made. They reasoned that if God was perfect, people being perfect was an insult to God as it was pretending to be like God. An error would therefore be the mark of humanity.
In the same way, AI detection software is finding that if an indie author has good proofreading, or access to it, that author's grammatically perfect production is "AI-generated" which could be said as "70% AI-generated" or "70% likely to be AI-generated" with the number before the percentage varying wildly depending on time of day, or which program, or whatever; it's somewhat random according to most accounts. While the vast majority of observers consider such numbers and this software in general to be a total fraud, meaningless and utterly useless, some writers are actually concerned that if software identifies your writing as potentially AI generated, that can be bad for you, so you should do whatever you have to to prevent that or redirect the software. But what to do? Make bad grammar? Unusual grammar? Make up your own words? Good question.
One obvious solution comes from the Navajo. Just slip a little imperfection in there. If a typo makes it clearly not AI-generated, make a typo. Better yet, put the same typo in every paragraph, or even every sentence. Make your own distinctive typo (for example, always spell "the" as "th") so that the reader is regularly if not constantly reminded that a real person generated this sentence.
Now I find this soluution fascinating, yet I haven't done it yet. That's partly because I haven't published anything since I became aware of this problem. When I do, I always tell Amazon that AI did not generate any of my work (although I am a little unsure of the definition of AI when it comes to the pop art I use on my covers). But telling Amazon, I figure, is meaningless. So is putting a clear statement in the front of the book that says A real person wrote this book. AI could generate this statement; AI could publish everything I do. Why would it be worried about telling the truth? It simply does as you tell it.
Back to my solution: every author inserts a flaw into his/her work, ddeliberately, as a kind of signature. The "AI detection" which trips up on anything, as long as it's good grammar and proofread, now clearly recognizes your work as. "not AI." Not even a sentence of it? Do you have to put a flaw into every sentence?
Here's a world where typos are not errors, but rather an urgent attempt by real people to coommunicate to other real people. It's a wild world, isn't it?
In the same way, AI detection software is finding that if an indie author has good proofreading, or access to it, that author's grammatically perfect production is "AI-generated" which could be said as "70% AI-generated" or "70% likely to be AI-generated" with the number before the percentage varying wildly depending on time of day, or which program, or whatever; it's somewhat random according to most accounts. While the vast majority of observers consider such numbers and this software in general to be a total fraud, meaningless and utterly useless, some writers are actually concerned that if software identifies your writing as potentially AI generated, that can be bad for you, so you should do whatever you have to to prevent that or redirect the software. But what to do? Make bad grammar? Unusual grammar? Make up your own words? Good question.
One obvious solution comes from the Navajo. Just slip a little imperfection in there. If a typo makes it clearly not AI-generated, make a typo. Better yet, put the same typo in every paragraph, or even every sentence. Make your own distinctive typo (for example, always spell "the" as "th") so that the reader is regularly if not constantly reminded that a real person generated this sentence.
Now I find this soluution fascinating, yet I haven't done it yet. That's partly because I haven't published anything since I became aware of this problem. When I do, I always tell Amazon that AI did not generate any of my work (although I am a little unsure of the definition of AI when it comes to the pop art I use on my covers). But telling Amazon, I figure, is meaningless. So is putting a clear statement in the front of the book that says A real person wrote this book. AI could generate this statement; AI could publish everything I do. Why would it be worried about telling the truth? It simply does as you tell it.
Back to my solution: every author inserts a flaw into his/her work, ddeliberately, as a kind of signature. The "AI detection" which trips up on anything, as long as it's good grammar and proofread, now clearly recognizes your work as. "not AI." Not even a sentence of it? Do you have to put a flaw into every sentence?
Here's a world where typos are not errors, but rather an urgent attempt by real people to coommunicate to other real people. It's a wild world, isn't it?
Monday, November 3, 2025
Saturday, September 27, 2025
White Elephant
Friday, September 12, 2025
Be Our Guest
Same book, new cover
Be Our Guest: A retelling of Beauty and the Beast
I can now say that it's part of a set of three, all retellings of Beauty and the Beast; second one's done and coming soon.
Paperback $7.39, kindle $2.99, free on ku
https://www.amazon.com/Be-Our-Guest-retelling-Beauty/dp/B0FM82CSKX
Be Our Guest: A retelling of Beauty and the Beast
I can now say that it's part of a set of three, all retellings of Beauty and the Beast; second one's done and coming soon.
Paperback $7.39, kindle $2.99, free on ku
https://www.amazon.com/Be-Our-Guest-retelling-Beauty/dp/B0FM82CSKX
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Be Our Guest
A retelling of Beauty and the Beast
Now available on Amazon:
Paperback $7.39 + shipping
Kindle $2.99
Free on Kindle Unlimited
(prices can change)
This tale was written to be part of the Global Beasts Series, in which every book features a different country. This one is set in Thailand, against the government shutdown of Tiger Temple, a famous tourist theme park in Kanchanaburi. It's a tale as old as time, but it can be seen in many ways, with a wide variety of characters. The original tale was written in 1740, and this one brings the original to light against the traditional ideas of karma, reincarnation, and animism that have been in Thailand since before Buddhism ever arrived.
Sunday, April 27, 2025
Spy Novels
The fascists are taking over your country. The president is having judges arrested, sending citizens off to death camps in foreign countries, without due process, pulling international students out of their classrooms to either be sent off to the death camps, or to just go home, promises broken. What do you do?
I'll tell you what I do. I read spy novels from Nazi Germany. It somehow is the only thing I can do. I can't seem to write my fairy-tale book, or my family-history book, or my Texas Quaker novel. I just can't get into them when the country is going down in flames.
And furthermore, after having seen all the big social-media boys up on stage with him, I have trouble even putting things on social media that say "go to Amazon" or "go check out my Facebook page." It's lke I want nothing to do with them. Does that make any sense?
Ah but I will read a good spy novel, and I found some really good ones. Nazi Germany wasn't the same, quite, as what we're dealing with, but it's close. The sending off to camps of innocent people because of their race. An abuse of police power. The turning of state machinery into the spying on dissenters and brown people. It's close enough.
Here's what I've found:
books by Kate Quinn:
1. The Rose Code
2. The Alice Network
books by Richard Wake:
1. Vienna at Nightfall
2. Spies of Zurich
3. The Lyon Resistance
4. The Limoges Dilemma
Now I will say this. All six books are excellent. There are more in the Richard Wake series; it's just that I've only read the first four. Quinn focuses more on women and their role in the war, but she also has done a lot of research and that really shows through in her books; these two are the only ones I've found that are directly spy-novels. Wake, on the other hand, seems to be able to write spy novels 'til the sun goes down. So, I'll read them.
Fives for all six of them. They calm my nerves in troubled times.
I'll tell you what I do. I read spy novels from Nazi Germany. It somehow is the only thing I can do. I can't seem to write my fairy-tale book, or my family-history book, or my Texas Quaker novel. I just can't get into them when the country is going down in flames.
And furthermore, after having seen all the big social-media boys up on stage with him, I have trouble even putting things on social media that say "go to Amazon" or "go check out my Facebook page." It's lke I want nothing to do with them. Does that make any sense?
Ah but I will read a good spy novel, and I found some really good ones. Nazi Germany wasn't the same, quite, as what we're dealing with, but it's close. The sending off to camps of innocent people because of their race. An abuse of police power. The turning of state machinery into the spying on dissenters and brown people. It's close enough.
Here's what I've found:
books by Kate Quinn:
1. The Rose Code
2. The Alice Network
books by Richard Wake:
1. Vienna at Nightfall
2. Spies of Zurich
3. The Lyon Resistance
4. The Limoges Dilemma
Now I will say this. All six books are excellent. There are more in the Richard Wake series; it's just that I've only read the first four. Quinn focuses more on women and their role in the war, but she also has done a lot of research and that really shows through in her books; these two are the only ones I've found that are directly spy-novels. Wake, on the other hand, seems to be able to write spy novels 'til the sun goes down. So, I'll read them.
Fives for all six of them. They calm my nerves in troubled times.
Monday, March 3, 2025
Ever since I saw those social-media titans lined up together, with their buddies, new rulers of the non-free world, I've been unable, in good conscience, to post things that lead people to Amazon. I've had trouble even posting routine things on Facebook, though that's more social; that's where friends of my generation all are.
But if I abandon Amazon (go wide, they call it), what is there for me? I'm actually not giving up all that much, as I wasn't making a fortune on Amazon, and the payouts for people actually reading your KU work are miserably small. But the advantage of working through Createspace (Amazon subsidiary) has always been the ability to order just one, or maybe two books. If they make five in preparation for you to order more, it's on them. Some of my early books are actually one-offs - that is, I made one, bought one, changed the cover, and made another. And it cost me what, all of a few bucks?
No sooner did I start investigating competitors to Createspace (people who promise they'll print, on order, whatever you want), than I started getting offers from millions of them. That's right, Facebook knew instantly what I was thinking, and tipped off all these printing companies which were pretty quick on the draw. The thing that bothers me is, they don't make it clear you can make just one. Or, make it clear how much just making one would be.
I've reached the point where, if I'm selling anything, I want to give my buyers the option to not go through Amazon. They may, like me, have an aversion to supporting techno-Russia, and if they do, I'm all with them. But I don't quite know how to go about it. I obviously need a website that links to other sources besides Amazon.
That little hurdle has proven to be a little overwhelming. I'm exhausted. We have a personal situation. I need to make real money, not invest many hours into this kind of operation. It may be time to admit defeat, and just kick back a little. I am, after all, turning seventy-one.
But if I abandon Amazon (go wide, they call it), what is there for me? I'm actually not giving up all that much, as I wasn't making a fortune on Amazon, and the payouts for people actually reading your KU work are miserably small. But the advantage of working through Createspace (Amazon subsidiary) has always been the ability to order just one, or maybe two books. If they make five in preparation for you to order more, it's on them. Some of my early books are actually one-offs - that is, I made one, bought one, changed the cover, and made another. And it cost me what, all of a few bucks?
No sooner did I start investigating competitors to Createspace (people who promise they'll print, on order, whatever you want), than I started getting offers from millions of them. That's right, Facebook knew instantly what I was thinking, and tipped off all these printing companies which were pretty quick on the draw. The thing that bothers me is, they don't make it clear you can make just one. Or, make it clear how much just making one would be.
I've reached the point where, if I'm selling anything, I want to give my buyers the option to not go through Amazon. They may, like me, have an aversion to supporting techno-Russia, and if they do, I'm all with them. But I don't quite know how to go about it. I obviously need a website that links to other sources besides Amazon.
That little hurdle has proven to be a little overwhelming. I'm exhausted. We have a personal situation. I need to make real money, not invest many hours into this kind of operation. It may be time to admit defeat, and just kick back a little. I am, after all, turning seventy-one.
Monday, December 2, 2024
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Furever Friends Anthology
Proud to be part of this anthology, a large book of many different stories, all romance, intended to help shelters deal with an influx of pets. Here's the information:
Furever Friends A Collection of Stories
Coming from Wycked Minds Publishing
Releasing November 30th! Get yours now, and let's help our furry, feathered, and scaled friends affected by the hurricanes that tore through the Southeast!
🐶🐱🦎🦜
When disaster strikes, not only humans are affected. Our four-legged companions are as well. Sadly, many get left behind, and rescues and shelters scramble to save them before it's too late.
This anthology is packed full of stories about animals who have been rescued and given a second chance at life! Each story is uniquely different as is each author.
All proceeds for this anthology go to Best Friends, a non-profit animal rescue that has mobilized to help animal shelters in the Southeast that have been affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
https://books2read.com/ForeverFriendsAntho
🐶🐱🦎🦜
#comingsoon #preorder #bookpreorder #charityanthology #charityanthologies #hurricanesheleneandmilton #disasterrelief #recoveryeffort #fundraisers #romanceanthologies #romancecollections #fureverfriends #helpourfurryfeatheredscaledfriends #bestfriendsrescue #operationfureverfriends #helene #milton
Friday, November 15, 2024
Have a Magical Day
$4.79 + shipping, Amazon paperback
$1.99 on kindle
free on kindle unlimited
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Dogs of Love
"Dogs of Love" was the name of one of my bands many years ago - we played bluegrass and really only had a gig or two at the American Legion. Its leader was a guy who painted houses for a living (I helped him) and told me, "there are really only three colors, farmhouse white, International Red and John Deere Green."
But with respect to writing, writer's block is really the dogs of love. We love writing yet here I am every day doing everything but. It's related to my schedule. I work nights, fall asleep immediately when done, and need to chill seriously in the morning when I wake up. It takes me several cups of coffee. I give people rides, make more coffee, waste some time, like I just got out of work. By late morning I'm ready to get started.
But then all these other responsibilities come into view. If I could clear the deck at seven or eight and say, "writing hour!" I could probably have some uninterrupted minutes at the keyboard. By eleven there's no such thing as uninterrupted, interrupted is the air I breathe. I end up, through the noon hour, eating and doing things that are "interruptable."
Another day goes by, maybe another week, nnothing written. I'm about done with a story, and with a book of stories, and even have a novel mostly written. No luck finishing any of them. It's not a lack of ideas - the ideas are still coming. It's lack of ability to pick up the big computer (the word one) and finish.
I'm dying for a win here. It's the dogs, the dogs of love.
But with respect to writing, writer's block is really the dogs of love. We love writing yet here I am every day doing everything but. It's related to my schedule. I work nights, fall asleep immediately when done, and need to chill seriously in the morning when I wake up. It takes me several cups of coffee. I give people rides, make more coffee, waste some time, like I just got out of work. By late morning I'm ready to get started.
But then all these other responsibilities come into view. If I could clear the deck at seven or eight and say, "writing hour!" I could probably have some uninterrupted minutes at the keyboard. By eleven there's no such thing as uninterrupted, interrupted is the air I breathe. I end up, through the noon hour, eating and doing things that are "interruptable."
Another day goes by, maybe another week, nnothing written. I'm about done with a story, and with a book of stories, and even have a novel mostly written. No luck finishing any of them. It's not a lack of ideas - the ideas are still coming. It's lack of ability to pick up the big computer (the word one) and finish.
I'm dying for a win here. It's the dogs, the dogs of love.
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Great review
for Prairie Leveretts
from a blog I love and trust!
https://booksthatmakeyouthink2.co.uk/2024/09/11/prairie-leveretts-thomas-leverett/
from a blog I love and trust!
https://booksthatmakeyouthink2.co.uk/2024/09/11/prairie-leveretts-thomas-leverett/
Thursday, August 8, 2024
I rely heavily on pictures - I'm a pop artist - but I am presently unable to upload pictures onto blogger.
As I usually do, I go to google to find out what other people do when they are in the same situation. I get a blank pop-up when I try to upload a picture. There's nothing I can do with that pop-up. I have a computer full of pictures and no way to put them up there.
The first advice is to clear your cache and cookies. Well, I did that, that always feels good, but, no effect. Still get a blank. I also downloaded Chrome (needed to do that anyway) and tried to do it on Chrome. Still no luck.
One person said it went away after a few days. Is that what I have to do? Just wait and be patient?
On Facebook, I'm scattering my pop art all over the place. One site after another. I kind of enjoy it because, whether I sell books or not, at least I've spread art around a little. In this case I'm actually giving books away; they're free. I'm hoping to get a few takers. If you're reading this, try e pluribus haiku 2018, 2017, and 2016. They're free until Tuesday.
But I can't put any of the pictures here. Blogger has blocked me, for some reason. Words are ok. Pictures, no.
As I usually do, I go to google to find out what other people do when they are in the same situation. I get a blank pop-up when I try to upload a picture. There's nothing I can do with that pop-up. I have a computer full of pictures and no way to put them up there.
The first advice is to clear your cache and cookies. Well, I did that, that always feels good, but, no effect. Still get a blank. I also downloaded Chrome (needed to do that anyway) and tried to do it on Chrome. Still no luck.
One person said it went away after a few days. Is that what I have to do? Just wait and be patient?
On Facebook, I'm scattering my pop art all over the place. One site after another. I kind of enjoy it because, whether I sell books or not, at least I've spread art around a little. In this case I'm actually giving books away; they're free. I'm hoping to get a few takers. If you're reading this, try e pluribus haiku 2018, 2017, and 2016. They're free until Tuesday.
But I can't put any of the pictures here. Blogger has blocked me, for some reason. Words are ok. Pictures, no.
Friday, July 26, 2024
read marketing
In the past I've been an advocate of read marketing. Go out and read lots of indie work and get lots of random other indie writers to read yours, I would say. For one thing, as writers, they're fairly discriminating readers, and can give good advice when you ask. For another, any reader is a good reader who will ultimately, or may ultimately, tell other readers you're there and point people in your direction.
But here are the downsides of it, which have been weighing quite heavily on me. It's not that I'm ready to drop $50 or $100 on Amazon ads, though I might; I've just lost my enthusiasm for reading thoroughly through all these indie books. First, you don't get enough in terms of other readers to make it worthwhile. Your book sits in this site as a comment, and lots of people see it, like a free ad, but only one person reads it and that person may actually cheat or not care a whit about it. Readers who want to read your book are much better than readers who, like me, are just doing it to pick up a few readers themselves.
In general the world of authors is not a world of on-the-up honest dealers. I've found that I have a number of reviews that were written by people who most likely didn't read my book, because if they did they would have found something better to say than a conglomeration of everything else anyone said, or a rewriting of the blurb in their own words. I don't need either of those things, though of course I appreciate the 5. And if all of my reviews are like that that not only casts into doubt the 5 average, but simply makes it appear that nobody in the reading audience actually took the time to read it; that doesn't help me at all. The other side, I guess, is those who say, "it's ok but it's not my genre," which is a kind of pointless comment though most likely true, in most cases. Who needs to go out working for such reviews? LIfe is short, and I'd rather people just fall upon my books, read what they want, and review when and what they want. It's a little more random that way, but far more genuine.
Because time has become precious, I've backed off considerably on this system. We authors can and should support each other because we are careful, discriminating readers and we know the craft. If we say things right (and that is, after all, our jobs) we can be very helpful. What we need, I think, is to always consistently do it on our own terms. I'm not quite sure what I mean by that. But one should be able to develop a market in some better way than page by page. It's got to be possible.
But here are the downsides of it, which have been weighing quite heavily on me. It's not that I'm ready to drop $50 or $100 on Amazon ads, though I might; I've just lost my enthusiasm for reading thoroughly through all these indie books. First, you don't get enough in terms of other readers to make it worthwhile. Your book sits in this site as a comment, and lots of people see it, like a free ad, but only one person reads it and that person may actually cheat or not care a whit about it. Readers who want to read your book are much better than readers who, like me, are just doing it to pick up a few readers themselves.
In general the world of authors is not a world of on-the-up honest dealers. I've found that I have a number of reviews that were written by people who most likely didn't read my book, because if they did they would have found something better to say than a conglomeration of everything else anyone said, or a rewriting of the blurb in their own words. I don't need either of those things, though of course I appreciate the 5. And if all of my reviews are like that that not only casts into doubt the 5 average, but simply makes it appear that nobody in the reading audience actually took the time to read it; that doesn't help me at all. The other side, I guess, is those who say, "it's ok but it's not my genre," which is a kind of pointless comment though most likely true, in most cases. Who needs to go out working for such reviews? LIfe is short, and I'd rather people just fall upon my books, read what they want, and review when and what they want. It's a little more random that way, but far more genuine.
Because time has become precious, I've backed off considerably on this system. We authors can and should support each other because we are careful, discriminating readers and we know the craft. If we say things right (and that is, after all, our jobs) we can be very helpful. What we need, I think, is to always consistently do it on our own terms. I'm not quite sure what I mean by that. But one should be able to develop a market in some better way than page by page. It's got to be possible.
Saturday, June 22, 2024
Indiest of indie
I'm not the best of indie. If I was, my books would be selling off the shelves even as I've sat here, distracted by other life matters, and unable to keep up my relentless self-marketing, pounding my own drum. No, I get distracted, I have ten kids and three more kind of hanging on, and I have to do other stuff, and my ratings reach their little plateau, the one they hit when nothing has been happening, and I get a truer idea of my self-worth.
I do, however, have a lot to be proud of. I have thirty titles on the market (about to remove three), with more coming, albeit gradually. I have done everything myself: proofreading, covers, marketing, dealing with Amazon. That's why I call myself 100% indie. I literally pay nobody to do any of this crap for me. And it wears on me a little. Times like now, I'm a little tired. I haven't published anything since fall. The other work I've been doing has sapped my creativity and attention span to the point that I'm not sure I can sit and write a novel like I used to be able to. I'm determined not to do it until I have a solid plan anyway, and I have about five started without a solid plan, but that's what happens when you don't have a plan. You get into it, you have characters, they do stuff, it gets interesting, then it gets mired in lack of plan. Or at least that's what happens to me.
For a while I was chatting with marketers. They are absolutely relentless, wanting to be your friend and collaborate with you to make sure your books reach the worldwide market they are intended for. For all I know, some of these folks could be effective. One of them promised me a whole crew of at least twelve "GoFundMe" experts; from Nigeria, their whole focus is to use their internet skills to somehow siphon some real money off unsuspecting victims back here in the land of milk and honey. This is what I'm sure they'd do for me in the marketing realm too. I'm not biting. My computer keyboard broke and I had trouble making a, s, 1, ! and a few others. I used it as an excuse to stop talking to them. I just don't need it. They didn't really want to be 'friends' anyway.
Broken keyboard and all, I took a break. But now, I'm coming back, in some form or another. More soon!
I do, however, have a lot to be proud of. I have thirty titles on the market (about to remove three), with more coming, albeit gradually. I have done everything myself: proofreading, covers, marketing, dealing with Amazon. That's why I call myself 100% indie. I literally pay nobody to do any of this crap for me. And it wears on me a little. Times like now, I'm a little tired. I haven't published anything since fall. The other work I've been doing has sapped my creativity and attention span to the point that I'm not sure I can sit and write a novel like I used to be able to. I'm determined not to do it until I have a solid plan anyway, and I have about five started without a solid plan, but that's what happens when you don't have a plan. You get into it, you have characters, they do stuff, it gets interesting, then it gets mired in lack of plan. Or at least that's what happens to me.
For a while I was chatting with marketers. They are absolutely relentless, wanting to be your friend and collaborate with you to make sure your books reach the worldwide market they are intended for. For all I know, some of these folks could be effective. One of them promised me a whole crew of at least twelve "GoFundMe" experts; from Nigeria, their whole focus is to use their internet skills to somehow siphon some real money off unsuspecting victims back here in the land of milk and honey. This is what I'm sure they'd do for me in the marketing realm too. I'm not biting. My computer keyboard broke and I had trouble making a, s, 1, ! and a few others. I used it as an excuse to stop talking to them. I just don't need it. They didn't really want to be 'friends' anyway.
Broken keyboard and all, I took a break. But now, I'm coming back, in some form or another. More soon!
Thursday, February 29, 2024
change of direction
I have always had the luxury of being able to write whatever I've wanted to write. That's because I worked for over thirty years as as teacher, and my wife was chair of two different university departments, so we had plenty of reliable income.
But times change. Well into retirement, we have found that the last of our ten children have required more than the usual push and we're sitting on the precipice where what we worked for is rapidly shrinking. So I may have to change the direction of my writing toward making money. And this, as writers know, could mean trouble.
Fortunately I can see, from my rapidly-gained perspective on the indie book world, what works and what doesn't. The main question is whether I can bring myself to do it. I have other ways of making money which I will use, and I could just keep my retirement hobby as a hobby and continue to write what i want.
I look at my ratings, which are much better in the kindle column than the paperback column, and I realize that most of what I've got has come through the hard work of read-marketing. I read yours, somebody reads mine. I've learned a lot that way and gptten as my main audience other writers who want to be read the same way. But now I've become impatient with that - too slow. Life is too short to read anything unless you really want to in the first place. But I'm continuing with it for a while just because of habit and because basically, it's a fun way to spend time when you can so easily be distracted, and I have plenty of that time. I am, basically, retired. I have to face the reality that it could be all over at any minute.
But it's not, and as long as I'm around, you'll be seeing something.
But times change. Well into retirement, we have found that the last of our ten children have required more than the usual push and we're sitting on the precipice where what we worked for is rapidly shrinking. So I may have to change the direction of my writing toward making money. And this, as writers know, could mean trouble.
Fortunately I can see, from my rapidly-gained perspective on the indie book world, what works and what doesn't. The main question is whether I can bring myself to do it. I have other ways of making money which I will use, and I could just keep my retirement hobby as a hobby and continue to write what i want.
I look at my ratings, which are much better in the kindle column than the paperback column, and I realize that most of what I've got has come through the hard work of read-marketing. I read yours, somebody reads mine. I've learned a lot that way and gptten as my main audience other writers who want to be read the same way. But now I've become impatient with that - too slow. Life is too short to read anything unless you really want to in the first place. But I'm continuing with it for a while just because of habit and because basically, it's a fun way to spend time when you can so easily be distracted, and I have plenty of that time. I am, basically, retired. I have to face the reality that it could be all over at any minute.
But it's not, and as long as I'm around, you'll be seeing something.
Sunday, January 21, 2024
Finding Your Audience
Laura Lyndhurst. Finding Your Audience, Books that make you think blog.
I love Laura Lyndhurst's novels, and now she has a blog that is for indie writers like us. I can guarantee all her work but this one is one of my favorites; it made me laugh and I remember it days afterward.
In a way I recommend it because she has made a blog that I originally intended this one to be like. I wanted an edgy way to communicate to indie writers and I wanted to be on top of the trends and things that are happening in the world of self-publishing. But I have to limit my scope and do what I can do and I've realized that what she's doing, and what I intended to do, is a huge amount of work. I'm not sure I'm up to it in this stage of my life.
Another reason I highlight this post is that it speaks to my biggest problem. If you think about it globally, being a successful writer is finding the people who will get the most out of your writing and pass the word along to others. This post offers an interesting take on the dilemma. I think you have to look at a problem from many different angles in order to truly find the best way of tackling it. This post is an inspirational way of tackling the problem.
For us indie writers, it's not easy to get out there in the faces of people who might read our work. We are not like the big publishers who seem to have a built-in handle on where those people are. But actually I don't even believe my own stereotypes here, because in my heart I think that we can find them, and that to some degree the publishing industry is as much in the dark as we are when it comes to going to the places (tiktok? reddit?) where our potential audiences might be hanging around.
I highly recommend Laura Lyndhurst's blog and anything she writes. I have found her to be highly professional and her blog is an example of high quality in general. It's something for me to aspire to, as well as admire.
I love Laura Lyndhurst's novels, and now she has a blog that is for indie writers like us. I can guarantee all her work but this one is one of my favorites; it made me laugh and I remember it days afterward.
In a way I recommend it because she has made a blog that I originally intended this one to be like. I wanted an edgy way to communicate to indie writers and I wanted to be on top of the trends and things that are happening in the world of self-publishing. But I have to limit my scope and do what I can do and I've realized that what she's doing, and what I intended to do, is a huge amount of work. I'm not sure I'm up to it in this stage of my life.
Another reason I highlight this post is that it speaks to my biggest problem. If you think about it globally, being a successful writer is finding the people who will get the most out of your writing and pass the word along to others. This post offers an interesting take on the dilemma. I think you have to look at a problem from many different angles in order to truly find the best way of tackling it. This post is an inspirational way of tackling the problem.
For us indie writers, it's not easy to get out there in the faces of people who might read our work. We are not like the big publishers who seem to have a built-in handle on where those people are. But actually I don't even believe my own stereotypes here, because in my heart I think that we can find them, and that to some degree the publishing industry is as much in the dark as we are when it comes to going to the places (tiktok? reddit?) where our potential audiences might be hanging around.
I highly recommend Laura Lyndhurst's blog and anything she writes. I have found her to be highly professional and her blog is an example of high quality in general. It's something for me to aspire to, as well as admire.
Thursday, December 21, 2023
Promotion
`Here are some interesting facts from my own perspective. I've been seriously marketing my books (~30 of them) for a couple of years now.
Recently I dropped a book promo on every single facebook site I could find that would allow it. My book, Harvardinates, looks different from most of the books out there, but may have a limited audience: people who like history, religion, or education, or some combination of these. Results were dismal. Mostly what I got was about a dozen women shooting me a dm that said, "Hello, how are you?" Most of these probably were marketers. In fact, when I looked into their profiles (often they were pretty), they were marketers. Apparently marketers no longer present themselves as marketers, at least not right away.
There was an unusual proliferation of sites, which led me to believe that I hadn't even found them all. Last time, I'd found about 30; this time, more than 70. Often I had to join them and wait for admins to check me out. These sites, I think, are experiencing a lot of spam these days. I think there are bots out there that simply drop a shoe ad on every single site that opens. But the point is, no shortage of places to advertise. Still, results were dismal.
What's up with that? My conclusion is that book readers are not looking at these sites for new things to read. I don't know where they are looking, but some "Readers and Writers" is not the place. As far as I can tell, I was virtually wasting my effort.
I am similarly prolific on Twitter - and it's similarly pointless. I've bombarded Twitter with ads, and every possible hashtag - #harvard, #harvardalumni, #history, #biography, etc. Nothing. I've dropped them on sometimes four or five writers lifts in a night - nothing.
Some people say Amazon ads work, or that Facebook ads work. Maybe so. The kinds of free places I go don't work, and it makes me wonder what a "promoter" does that does any good. Do they know something I don't? Would they lead me and my money toward one of these places where the readers do hang out? I doubt it. I think they're just like me, out there flailing around, kicking up piles of dust, all for virtually nothing.
I don't want to sound too discouraged. I have a good book - it's not my fault if nobody knows that yet, or if people who care about Harvard/Puritans/Colonial times are just not out there scrolling through promo sites. It's already, by the way, very late in the season. Most of the book sales were back in late November, and I actually got a few. My peppering all these sites was probably too little too late, in terms of the real money that's out there for books sitting there waiting for people to buy them. The best thing I can do is learn my lesson, and do better next time!
Recently I dropped a book promo on every single facebook site I could find that would allow it. My book, Harvardinates, looks different from most of the books out there, but may have a limited audience: people who like history, religion, or education, or some combination of these. Results were dismal. Mostly what I got was about a dozen women shooting me a dm that said, "Hello, how are you?" Most of these probably were marketers. In fact, when I looked into their profiles (often they were pretty), they were marketers. Apparently marketers no longer present themselves as marketers, at least not right away.
There was an unusual proliferation of sites, which led me to believe that I hadn't even found them all. Last time, I'd found about 30; this time, more than 70. Often I had to join them and wait for admins to check me out. These sites, I think, are experiencing a lot of spam these days. I think there are bots out there that simply drop a shoe ad on every single site that opens. But the point is, no shortage of places to advertise. Still, results were dismal.
What's up with that? My conclusion is that book readers are not looking at these sites for new things to read. I don't know where they are looking, but some "Readers and Writers" is not the place. As far as I can tell, I was virtually wasting my effort.
I am similarly prolific on Twitter - and it's similarly pointless. I've bombarded Twitter with ads, and every possible hashtag - #harvard, #harvardalumni, #history, #biography, etc. Nothing. I've dropped them on sometimes four or five writers lifts in a night - nothing.
Some people say Amazon ads work, or that Facebook ads work. Maybe so. The kinds of free places I go don't work, and it makes me wonder what a "promoter" does that does any good. Do they know something I don't? Would they lead me and my money toward one of these places where the readers do hang out? I doubt it. I think they're just like me, out there flailing around, kicking up piles of dust, all for virtually nothing.
I don't want to sound too discouraged. I have a good book - it's not my fault if nobody knows that yet, or if people who care about Harvard/Puritans/Colonial times are just not out there scrolling through promo sites. It's already, by the way, very late in the season. Most of the book sales were back in late November, and I actually got a few. My peppering all these sites was probably too little too late, in terms of the real money that's out there for books sitting there waiting for people to buy them. The best thing I can do is learn my lesson, and do better next time!
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The Navajo always wove an error into each quilt or rug they made. They reasoned that if God was perfect, people being perfect was an insult ...
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"Dogs of Love" was the name of one of my bands many years ago - we played bluegrass and really only had a gig or two at the Americ...
