It’s starting to feel like all I’ve done this year is promotion.

You’ve seen a lot of promotion here on the blog. There’s been more behind the scenes. Partly this is because I’ve got a new novel coming out in June, and if I don’t promote it, no one will. But it’s also because I feel like I’ve reached a do-or-die point in my career.

I returned to writing at the end of 2010/early 2011. My plan was to reissue my backlist and start producing new work. I gave myself two years to make something happen. After two years I thought I detected signs of progress and I extended my deadline to five years. Then six. Now I’m on year seven, but sales on most of my books are still bumping along the bottom of the graph. I’m not exaggerating this. It’s a good month for Limit of Vision if I sell five copies.

I’ve tried to follow the standard advice — “The best promotion you can do is to write the next book” — and yes, I’ve had brief spurts of success, but never sustained success. I think it’s partly because I don’t write fast enough — successful indie writers are able to write and publish several novels a year — and also because I don’t write in the popular subgenres. A look at Amazon shows that classic sci-fi space adventure and sci-fi romance are both HUGELY popular, but my interests are elsewhere.

I do think there are more readers out there who would enjoy my work if they knew about it — so I’m trying to connect with them.

I know all the promotion has to be annoying to my long-time readers and for that I apologize. But I’d like to make this work. I’d like to keep writing. And realistically, I need more readers for that. I need to see decent sales on my forthcoming novel — or what is the point?

So I hope you’ll put up with me through these promotional ventures.

If you’d like to help out, consider posting reviews of the books you’ve enjoyed at Amazon or Goodreads or both. Or suggest them to friends. Many of you already do this. Thank you! Word-of-mouth really does matter.

These days, a lot of writers are trying out Patreon and some are having success with it. I’d really prefer that you just buy my books if you haven’t done so already. That’s the heart of it. And thank you for sticking with me.

Posted on: Thursday, April 27th, 2017 at 9:34 am
Categories: Promotion, Writing Life.