So, I put a chapter of “The Sniper” up on Royal Road about a week ago. And shortly afterward I received a rejection from them because the story was also on Amazon and this website (OCF) and I had to prove to them that both those copies belonged to me. They wanted me to add in my Amazon Jake Barter author page that I was putting the story up on Royal Road. So, I had to figure out how to do that and whether this would cause a bad reaction by Amazon. After all, Amazon sells my book for money and Royal Road lets people read it for free. Well, the day before yesterday I tried putting up the statement about Royal Road but the author page rejected the edit. It turns out that I couldn’t use Royal Road’s actual internet address on Amazon but I could just use the name of the site. And then I had to prove that OCF was my website by a similar message and then, voila! They put the first chapter of my book up on their site and so far, nine people have read it. Well, that not much. But I figure it’ll be fun to see if I can get much interest on that site.
Apparently, Gen Z frequents the site to read fan fic called “Lit RPG.” Now, my book is neither fan fic nor Lit RPG. So, it’s not certain that I will find an audience there. But I’m interested in testing the waters. I also put it up at BookFunnel and the good folks over at Whatfinger were kind enough to put up a link to that site and I got 14 e-mail addresses of people who downloaded the book there. So, a little at a time I’m getting more visibility for the book. I’m at 187 sales on Amazon and I’ve accumulated 34 ratings and 29 reviews with a cumulative rating of 4.7 and some very nice reviews that were definitely encouraging.
Once the experiments on Royal Road and BookFunnel have run their course I intend to put the book on KDP Select which requires the book to be exclusively on Amazon for at least 90 days. Supposedly the low-cost barrier to reading on this program will attract the maximum number of “eyeballs” to the story and I’m very curious to see how that effects sales. And I’m not particularly hoping to make a lot more money that way but rather I’m hoping for much more exposure.
So, the great book publishing experiment grinds on. My hopes for international fortune and fame have been dashed on the sharp rocks of harsh reality. My dream of movie studio executives battling each other in front of the Compound to see whose blockbuster offer would land the movie rights to this timeless masterpiece has gone up in smoke. At this point I’m negotiating with the Dunwich Middle School to have the sixth grade put on a one act play version of Chapter 1. Is this how Heinlein got started? How, the mighty hath fallen.
Read Heinlein’s The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. In it he warns of the Writer’s Disease, and how it can have devastating effects on the victim, and their friends and family. Also he warns that you may find yourself writing under a plethora of pen names for everything from technical publications to confessions magazines before you finally, if ever, make THE BIG SALE.
Good luck. I loved the book, and bought hard copy and electrons!
Thanks Ed for your kind words (and dollars!). If you have the time I’d love to see your honest review up on Amazon. And please be completely honest. My favorite reviews so far have been this that mixed praise with honest criticism. The book is definitely not for everyone. The latest review had this line which I agreed with, “That said, readers looking for deep character introspection or a heavy focus on romance might find this a bit lean. This is very much a mission‑driven, high‑stakes thriller rather than a slow, literary character study.” I think that specificity does me… Read more »