Growing Pains of An Indie-Author

I'm still trying to navigate this overwhelming new world of marketing for writers, especially self-published writers like me.  There's so much to do that I have to keep a notebook and jot down all the notes, all the websites, all the tips that everyone else swears will work to promote your book - turns out I'm such a visual-kinesthetic learner that I have to actually jot down, scribble, sketch the ideas on paper before it makes its mark a bit more permanently than just plain reading or watching some how-to video on Youtube.   And while my notes are constantly growing, the toughest part will be the execution of these tips successfully.

And in the process of the execution, there will be mistakes.  And because I'm easily distracted, there will be lots of mistakes.

Take Loving Ashe for example, which is going through a re-release party of sorts in mid-November, when the paperback version will be released.

When I first published Loving Ashe, it was to no fanfare at all. Why? Probably just excitement, but part of the reason was that I wanted to gather reader reviews on sites such as Amazon and Goodreads, even Smashwords.  Then barely one month after publication, I made the decision (as an experiment) to have the book exclusive to a Amazon's Kindle Direct Select or KDP for 90 days.  I figured, I'd see if that would help increase my sales.  It's also part of the Kindle Unlimited lending library.

With only one month left to go in the 3-month term, I've un-checked the box that says "Automatically renew this book to KDP in another 90 days..." because while there are sales, right now 1 book per day and sometimes 2, when I went to check my Smashwords dashboard, I found out that I made more money selling Loving Ashe on iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and even Scribd in less than a month than I have on Amazon.

And I also hate having all my eggs in one basket.

There are also many people who refuse to buy from Amazon, and from among my bodywork clients alone, I've counted 6 people alone.  That's 6 sales I would have lost - and am losing - while my book remains solely on Amazon.

So starting November 10th, Loving Ashe will be back up on Smashwords and made available to other retailers like iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, though I think Scribd is out of the running if Loving Ashe is categorized under Romance since they've pulled out romance books from their library. Turns out, romance readers were driving their company model to the ground - they were gobbling up more books in a month than was financially feasible.  I'm actually a Scribd subscriber and one who barely has enough time to read any of the books that I've earmarked in my library. Most of the books I read on Scribd happens to be Charles Bukowski's poetry - go figure.

Anyway, so if you haven't yet gotten your copy of Loving Ashe because you refuse to buy it from Amazon, which is the only place you can get it right now, don't despair.  November 11 (hey, that's 11/11!) is the date it will go back up to all the other online retailers and I'll be doing a happy dance then, too.  Now my only problem is figuring out how to get the paperback available from sites other than Amazon.  But then you can always buy that from me :)

Date Night - A Short Story Collection

For me, writing short stories is a way to tease out the muses, new characters who come out of the cracks of my psyche. It’s a way to get to know them, to figure out the things they want to say. It’s an exploration of sorts - of new people, ideas, situations and their consequences, even sex (without having to write a full-length novella with sex in every chapter - though there’s nothing wrong with that). It’s a product of sitting too long in airports and standing in line at the coffee shop as a couple argues in the corner in silence, their eyes doing all the talking. Or even the lack of exchanges between peopleIt’s many things, and at the same time not so many.

After all, they say that all stories have been told, with the only differences in the telling. I don’t even know if these stories connect. Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. But if they have one thing in common, it’s falling in love, being in love, or starting over after falling out of love.

Date Night is my latest collection of short stories (five in this collection) which is now available from Amazon. These are stories between people who are just getting to know each other, or couples who’ve known each other too long, yet there’s something still there - love, passion, trust.

Loving Ashe

A booty call. A stuck elevator. A chance to move on. 

Three years after her ex-boyfriend dumped her for his Hollywood dream, barista Riley Eames' life has been on hold, plagued by questions only he can answer. So when he asks for a late-night meeting, Riley agrees, only to find herself stuck in the hotel elevator with dashing British actor, Ashe Hunter, who's in town to promote his latest movie.

 But even as sparks fly between them, it's going to take more than a celebrity romance to get Riley's life moving again, not when the answers she's been seeking finally come - and with disastrous results.

Amazon