"I don't want to be rich, only to know my books are being read and enjoyed... I can't even give them away free!"
My Indie Author Diaries continues this week, covering May 2024 in my 'success journal' that isn't really about success but progress. If you haven't already read Part One: Complaining About the Stuff I Hate About Being an Author, you can read that here to see what this series is all about. Basically, I'm opening up my real-life* day-to-day journal for all things writing and publishing, and sharing some helpful insights to make new and struggling authors feel less... alone.
I hope it helps you (or at the very least entertains you!). Perhaps you can prepare for or completely avoid the mistakes I made.
*Yes, these entries are real, but I've edited out some of the more personal and private information for obvious reasons. I hope you understand! I will also not mention the names of people, companies, or shops I've encountered in a negative way. It's only my experience, so it would be unfair of me to name them when others may have had a fantastic experience.
After a less-than-impressive April, I started my journal on May 4th 2024 and I must say here, openly, that May the 4th was NOT with me as I'm sure you read last week. But, after laying everything out on the page and 'dumping' my thoughts, I found some clarity and motivation to continue through my struggles. I still wanted to burn everything I'd ever written feeling a bit sorry for myself (as all writers do... right?), but I could see a plan forming—there was a path out of self-publishing Hell appearing before me.
05/05/2024 20:48pm- this second entry helped me to form a path through the list of problems I'd noted on the 4th. It solidified how journaling would act as my guide, because it was already allowing me to form pathways and new ideas towards solutions.
I decided I wanted to give away my Noah Finn & the Art of Suicide audiobook codes, but how
Amazon ads were appearing in places I didn't realise they would.
I gave in to AI temptation and created some interesting images for The Chronicles of Pandora.
"I messaged [a group of people I know] today and offered my Noah Finn audiobooks for free. Nobody wanted one."
Audiobook Codes - Does Anyone Really Listen to Audio?
After offering free audiobook codes to a group of people I know (who I thought might support me if it didn't involve a cost) and not getting any response whatsoever, I felt a little broken when it came to giving things away, and confused as to where my real support truly sat. I asked myself, if I can't give my book away for free then how can I expect anyone to pay for it? Surely, there had to be a simpler and less icky (and soul-destroying!) way to offer audiobooks for free in exchange for nothing but honest reviews to, hopefully, boost the interest and entice some sales for my efforts. Maybe these people just didn't like being messaged by me, or they were busy and forgot, or they didn't want to be the first to grab a freebie in a group chat... who knows?
On paper, my idea to promote it sounded reasonable and like a great plan of action:
Offer audiobook in exchange for an email subscription to my website = free audiobook code is sent to individual user at no expense to either of us = reader hopefully enjoys listening to the book on Spotify = reader leaves a review of the audiobook = review looks good on Amazon (or whatever other platform they decide to leave their comments on) = this, in turn, promotes the other formats.
Oh, how foolish was I! Turns out, giving individual unique codes away for free (and limiting the number of codes overall, plus the number of times they can be claimed and for how long) is not as easy as you would expect it to be with technology these days. I spent several hours researching and contacting customer services over the next few days to see if there was a way I simply wasn't seeing.
As it wasn't immediately an option for auto-responses within the platform I use (red tape number one), I decided to try a workaround, but that particular option limited the characters in the codes I have (mine were MUCH longer, due to no fault of my own as I wasn't the one generating them - red tape number two). It got me thinking if I could somehow 'sell' the code at a zero cost through my online store, so instead of being emailed the redeemable Spotify code they would receive a unique code to purchase an audiobook on my store for free, and then be emailed the code as a means to deliver it. This was red tape number three as (though technically I wouldn't be selling the code, merely giving it away but through a shop) doing it through my online store, I feared, would break a rule set out by the audiobook distributor I use. Also, there didn't seem a way to do this again through my provider to create a code to give an item away (like a 100% discount, effectively) so that was red tape number four.
I gave up. Can you blame me? I later discovered a way to promote those free audiobook codes that did not involve technology anyway, and I'll share it later in the series.
"There has GOT to be a way to do this on [platform], surely? Ideally, I wanted it automating. Maybe I can offer Elemental Ascension (EA) free instead in e-pub form for any readers subscribing and beg for reviews of that edition? Though, it would open EA up to plagiarism, but I guess so does uploading to [review site]?"
Notice my use of the word 'beg'. Yes, that's how it feels sometimes.
Tempted by AI & Creating a Giveaway
"I think AI is good for some things in this industry and not others. For example, my scene-setting images for characters and locations, and I have today created 6 free colouring pages for email subscribers..."
If you're not already subscribed and you want to see what AI created with the parameters I set using a fantastic bit of online design at Kittl (I love Kittl and would recommend it), pop your email address into my home page and you'll be sent those 6 A4 sheets to have a look at. Honestly, I was impressed (or I wouldn't have sent them out)! Two of them can be seen below:
Despite being really impressed with my little self for creating such amazing freebies and visuals for my series, one particular Facebook troll (later in my journal) completely slashed my confidence with cruel and personal comments about the first book in the series, To See A World. So, I limited the edition including any kind of AI and re-released it. More on that later, too.
Amazon Ads in Weird Places
I noticed that evening, after re-running some Amazon ads to try yet again to get my book noticed, that they were appearing in a few places on product pages for other novels. I found this fascinating and immediately made a list of any I'd seen:
Beneath the menu bar at the top of the page
Beneath the description mid-way down
Beneath the buy column on the right
In 'products related', a scroll bar showing you similar items to the one you were viewing
In 'based on recent reviews', a scroll bar showing you items based on what you've looked at recently.
Beneath the review button on the bottom left.
I then made note of the authors appearing on my product page and which books Amazon ads were running in those places. I did a bit of research into each of them and their similarities to my story or my cover or my target audience. It turns out, the author dominating those was a USA Today Bestselling Author, which made me sigh (and not with relief). How could I compete with 'bids' for Amazon ads against an author who was probably already doing really well (based on reviews and the number of books she had, she definitely was!) and how could I afford to out-bid somebody like that for the spots I wanted? This created another dilemma, but a dilemma I could potentially logic my way around if I did enough research.
I'd recommend doing this type of research though and perhaps before you attempt an ad of your own. It's worth the time.
I didn't write again until the 7th...
07/05/2024 (no time) - the review platform I was trying let me down, and some red flags were beginning to pop up. I resorted to using the Facebook groups I often scrolled through to 'promote' my novel in hopes of finding some reviewers that way.
I had to report 2 reviews and this was the beginning of some suspicions.
I posted about my book in 20 Facebook groups that allow self-promotion.
Two days later, I was really beginning to hate technology, and loving my journal more than anything because of how it comforted me, involved only me (not scammers!), and couldn't write fake reviews of my book in seconds. Oh, how I wish we could all just revert to typewriters sometimes. Any one else?
Reporting 2 Fake Reviews
The review platform I found and did research on, previously mentioned, I had high hopes for. Here was a platform where authors could help other authors to increase their reviews with genuine comments and star ratings. Perhaps I'm naive, but my understanding seemed to differ to some, though not all, others. I'm a busy bee, so I could only read short books or offer feedback on things like journals and poetry. I didn't pretend to be able to read massive fantasy sagas or complex sci-fi novels. But for the smaller books I did manage to read, I made lots of notes in a notebook and then formed a review I though the author would appreciate.
It didn't take me long to discover some of the reviews I was receiving were sounding... similar. And I soon realised that when you upload your book, you have to detail things about it and tick some boxes to help others choose your book but sadly, some seemed to just select the book (claiming the credits for it to get reviews back for themselves) and then use the information you had given in an attempt to entice the right readers to form a quick, lifeless comment or two. This, I believe, is where the problem lies!
I reported two very similar reviews which may as well have cut and pasted what I'd written at a later date (shortly before I gave up trying and cancelled my subscription completely) and the below was the entry from the 7th:
"Basically, one gave the wrong character name and so it is obviously either a typo or a false review. I got a refund of credits back and they took the reviewer's away until they'd fixed it. I also had to report one that says it's a great series despite there only being one book out at the moment. False... or a typo? Who knows! The customer service continues to amaze me. So, I will probably have to wait longer for a response with it being down right now."
What I would advise, for anyone wanting to give sites like this a try, is to give the bare minimum information. Genre, target audience and the blurb from the back only. That way, you're more likely to find the readers you want and need, who will read cover-to-cover and play fair. The more information you share up-front, the more you are giving somebody to type into an AI engine.
Facebook Groups, Here I Come!
I read on a social media post that you can find interested readers and reviewers in groups on Facebook, which I'd done in the past but not for many years. It seems the best places for promo are now TikTok and Instagram.
But, I decided why not? It's important to check the guidelines and rules so they definitely allow 'self-promotion'. Personally, I think posting that you're in search of honest reviewers, bloggers etc is not self-promotion but asking for help. Self-promotion to me is 'buy my book'. But... I'm not in charge of these things. [shrugs shoulders]
I created and edited a post about the book I thought sounded interesting, using my hook (see part one) and selected 20 Facebook groups I was either already in or that allowed self-promo to share my 'in search of' post. Out of all 20 posts, I think maybe 1 or 2 people responded with a like. I got endless scammers and spammers wanting to 'talk to me about my book', only to send me an unwanted message asking me for money for various 'services'. Lots had fake profile pictures, and one (which I did engage with out of interest to see just what they wanted) offered me a service then told me they didn't actually have a website. Despite their photo being a professional headshot in a suit and full makeup, and the claims to have helped X number of authors, this had me giggling.
After doing that, I was mostly frustrated and exhausted from trying to deflect scammers, and not at all proud of myself for the promotional work I had attempted. I found zero reviewers from this, and I don't think I got even one download or sale.
In my opinion? A waste of time.
From these two days, my journal taught me how to be suspicious and how to see the red flags in things that appeared too good to be true (because they were). it also helped massively with Amazon ads research!
Over the next few weeks I'll keep going through my journal's content to see how I managed to overcome a bunch more issues, documenting some amazing things that helped my progress, and some events I thoroughly enjoyed over the past few months.
I hope this content helps you as an author to feel seen too; you're not the only one out there getting stuck and frustrated. You should know there is plenty of good intermingled with these struggles and they are worth the wait. Please stick with me for the 3rd instalment in this series coming soon, especially if you have ever been on the receiving end of a truly horrible review.
Rach x
Comments