Today's blog post comes to us from David Estes, an author who has proven that Indies can overcome the challenges of the market and create successful writing careers for themselves. If you have not yet read any of David's books, check them out. I just finished my first one (David's new release, Brew) and I am now officially a *fangirl*. Enter to win a free copy in the giveaway below. - Kate
Beating the Odds
by David Estes
Due to the explosion of ebooks and the destruction of
publishing barriers, there are now literally thousands of Indie authors all
screaming at the top of their lungs that their books are worth reading. That’s
pretty daunting if you’re trying to make your book(s) stand out amongst the crowd.
When I started seriously writing four years ago, I was CLUELESS as to what I
was really getting into. And yet, somehow, some way, I’ve managed to “make it”
after a zillion mistakes, a lot of hard work, and plenty of good old-fashioned
luck. Although I don’t pretend to have all the answers or the magic bullet for
success, here’s my story along with a few tips that have helped me get from
bored full-time accountant who liked to write stories to full-time Indie author.
Roll back the tape of my life. I hated being an accountant.
Desperately hated it. Long hours, high stress, corporate politics. So I quit my
job and switched to another desk job that I’d heard would be less hours and
less stress. I had two weeks off in between, and my Aussie wife asked what I was
going to do with my break. “Uh, sit on the beach?” I said. She gave me that
raised-eyebrow look and said, “Why don’t you start writing that book you always
talk about?”
Although the thought of even looking at my laptop during my
vacation gave me a stomachache, I listened to her pointed advice. I did it. I
started writing. She hasn’t been able to get me to stop since. In four years
I’ve written twenty books and published sixteen of them. Two years in I was
able to quit my boring day job to pursue my dreams: I became a full-time fiction
writer.
My first trilogy was a huge success, right? Um, no. Not even
close. When I published The Evolution Trilogy (a unique non-religious spin on
angels and demons) a year after I started working on it, I was ready. Ready for
success. Ready for a big payoff from all my hard work. I’d been reading about
Amanda Hocking’s success as an Indie author and I said, “Hey, why not me?”
Well, because my writing wasn’t good enough. My book idea was awesome and
unique and had huge potential, but my writing was amateurish, sloppy, and in
desperate need of a good editor. While I wouldn’t say The Evolution Trilogy
bombed (it has sold 3,000 books in 4 years), it didn’t come anywhere near my
expectations, and it most definitely wasn’t paying any real bills. The reviews
were mediocre at best, which was a major reality check. Writing wasn’t as easy
as I thought it would be. At first I was heartbroken. Thousands of hours of
hard work down the drain. All that hope dashed on the rocky coastline of failure.
I didn’t have what it takes—never would.
SCREW. THAT.
I’m the type of person that hates failure. I don’t like
losing, especially at something that I love. And I LOVE writing. That’s a major key to success as an Indie author. If your goals (like mine were) are to make
millions and be rich and famous, then you’re in the wrong business. Most of
us will make a few bucks here and there, and a lucky few will be able to scrape
out a living. Even fewer still (the Amanda Hocking’s, Elle Casey’s and Hugh Howey’s
of the world) will hit it big. Right now I’m in the middle category—scraping
out a living. I’m not complaining, I’d rather scrape out a living as a writer
than be earning six digits a year in some job I hate. I’m happy.
My second series was the one that allowed me to quit my day
job. Originally I planned another trilogy, but eventually the project turned
into a 7-book epic series that combined two separate trilogies, The
Dwellers Saga and The
Country Saga, in a 7th book that brought characters and
plotlines together. So far it’s sold in excess of 30,000 copies in just over
two years.
That brings me to
another key for success: Building your backlist. Unless you’re extremely lucky
and far more talented than me, writing one book a year like most traditionally
published authors simply won’t cut it as an Indie. I wrote and published
the 7 books in the Dwellers/Country Saga in 20 months. By that point I’d
written 1 million words in three years. There are a few good reasons for
writing and publishing like a fiend. One, practice is the only way to get
better. By having a crazy-aggressive writing schedule you’ll force yourself to
improve. Two, every new reader multiplies your potential sales. Suddenly a new
reader doesn’t mean just one sale. It means a potential sale for every single
one of your books, particularly if your books are in a series. It also means
you can magnify the impact of giving away free copies of your books. I’ll
pretty much give away an ebook of The
Moon Dwellers to anyone who wants one. Why? Because if they like it, they
might buy the other SIX books in the series! Quick side note: the BEST way to give away free ebooks is buy making
your book free on Kindle through Amazon’s KDP Select program. The BEST way to
advertise that is via BookBub, which seems extremely expensive but which is
WELL worth the money. As an example, I advertised The Moon Dwellers for
FREE on BookBub and had 30,000+ downloads in three days. Then I did Fire
Country a month later and had 27,000+ downloads. Obviously, I made zero
royalties from these downloads, but sales of the sequels took off, and I had
four straight months of 2,000+ full price sales. These months changed my life.
You might have tried BookBub. You might have been rejected multiple times. I
was too. They are extremely selective, which is also what makes them so
valuable. Keep trying. Continue to build your reviews on Amazon. If you can get
over 100 with a decent average rating, that’ll give you a chance at being
accepted by BookBub. Don’t give up!
So you’re probably thinking the Dwellers Saga was an instant
success, right? Try again. My third year as an Indie was decent, far better
than I ever could have expected. Although I wasn’t making enough to live on, my
wife and I had savings and we decided to quit our jobs to make a go of my
dream, with her as my editor. A big risk, but that’s what life is anyway: one
massive risk. My writing was improving, and I wasn’t going it alone anymore. I’d learned the hard lesson that good
writing takes work. It also takes serious criticism from serious critics. I
started using a beta reading team, and I stopped brushing negative feedback
aside as “Just one person’s opinion.” I realized my writing sort of sucked and
that I needed to learn how to improve it. I focused on every single
sentence, every single chapter. Making them tighter. Making them better. I read
books on writing, like Stephen King’s On
Writing and Donald Maas’s Writing the
Breakout Novel. I improved with each book, and my readers noticed. They
appreciated my efforts. They were fully along for the ride.
Partway through the third year I started a Goodreads fan
group. Right off the bat I had 300 members. Woohoo!! I was ecstatic. Over the
moon. Six months later I was churning out the sequels to The Moon Dwellers and
I still had around 300 members. What? I couldn’t understand why my membership
wasn’t growing. The Dwellers Saga was getting great reviews, but my fan group
was dead. No activity. No interest. I decided to change things up. My biggest problem was that I made the
group all about me. And who was I? Nobody. Just another person who writes
books, another tree in the forest. So I changed things up. I made the group all
about books. My books, someone else’s books, reading in general. Anything was
fair game. It became a place where anyone could hang out and talk about their
interests, passions, and experiences. The group started growing and now has
more than 2,600 members, many of whom have never, and may never, read my books,
which is perfectly fine by me, so long as they read other books. You see, it’s NOT all about you as a
writer. It’s about READERS. The more readers we have, the more readers enjoy
reading, the better it is for everyone. Become part of a book community, not for the purpose of selling your
books, but because you love books like all the other people. I recommend
Goodreads, but there are many others out there. Take it seriously. Participate
in discussions. Make friends. Don’t spam about your book. Readers will realize
you’re a valuable member of the community and they’ll click on your profile and
discover you’re an author and get EXCITED about that fact and potentially try
your books. I’ve had numerous people message me on Goodreads to say they’ve
been my friend for over a year and never knew I was an author, but loved all
the book recommendations I gave them (books that weren’t mine!). In most cases
they said they’d give my books a shot.
Year four. The best year. Part luck. Part hard work. Part
good timing. The Dwellers Saga was listed as one of 15
Series to Read if you Enjoyed The Hunger Games on Buzzfeed. Sales shot up.
A couple movie inquiries came in, as well as a TV inquiry (nothing has panned
out so far, but it’s still cool!). An agent contacted me and eventually signed
me. I wrote another trilogy, Brew,
and although it had interest from publishers including a purchase offer, my
agent and I decided to sign on with Amazon White Glove. Brew, and its sequel, Boil,
hit the top ten on genre bestseller lists almost immediately. I stopped eating
away at our savings and started paying bills with my royalties—ALL our bills.
It could happen to you, but don’t expect it to. Expect to have to fight for every reader. Treat every reader like your
ONLY reader. Be generous with your free books, especially the first book in a
series. Never stop writing. Never. Do it because you love it and good things
will follow.
Never give up.
For more specific
Indie Author Advice from David Estes, check out his dedicated author advice
page on his blog here: http://davidestesbooks.blogspot.com/search/label/advice
Also, David Estes loves connecting with fellow Indie authors
as well as readers, feel free to contact him on one of
his favorite social networking sites:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Davidestesbooks
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