Wednesday, November 6, 2019

The Best Thing to Help Yourself

I'm in a weird position in that I basically had to start over with my career this year. My sales gradually fell from 2014 through 2018 simply because I was lucky if I got one book out a year. When I did manage to publish, it was at random times during the year.

I can honestly say there are two things that work in getting reader eyeballs on your stories:

1) A new release triggers interest in all our other works.

2) Publish on a consistent and manageable schedule.

New releases doesn't mean a new novel every month. Put out a single short story or a novella in between bigger novels. If your schedule is too tight for new work, publish an anthology of previous short works, or a collection from a series.

When I say publish on a consistent schedule, post your publishing schedule for the year in a public place, like your website, and stick to it. You don't have to release a something every month.

And now, some of you are freaking. "But, but, SUZAN! You published nearly every month in 2019!"

Yeah, I did. Because I WROTE a good chunk of those books during the chaos of 2014-18, including during my stint with breast cancer. So it was a matter of finishing and/or polishing the new works this year.

And shit still happened in happened. A Matter of Death was supposed to come out in June. However, my father passed away in May, and I knew the novel wasn't going to be ready because my headspace wasn't there. So if something major happens, cut yourself a break and don't beat yourself up over it. Let your readers know there will be a delay, and why if you're comfortable enough.

You'll find readers can be very patient when it comes to reader life rolls as long as they know what's going on.

Will I be releasing eight stories in 2020? That's what I've been trying to figure out  over the last couple of weeks.

There's a couple of Justice Thalia short stories I've written. Do I release them singly, or do I write a couple more and release them as an anthology? Some readers want new Anthea novels, Others want new HERO books. There's a little paranormal mystery series I've been toying with. It's a spin-off of Bloodlines that has been nagging at me for several years.

So you see, I've got to figure out how I'm doing all of this. And that doesn't include a fun, one-off side project I really want to write, even though it probably won't sell a damn.

Back to my original point, release new content, release it consistently, and let your readers know when to expect it. And as always, YMMV.

2 comments:

  1. A writer I know who's very successful with military romances publishes a short story every month -- free to read on his blog for a week or two, simultaneously up for purchase at the various vendors. Then after a year, he collects all 12 stories into an anthology, in electronic and paper.

    He reports that readers who prefer individual shorts and readers who prefer collections are separate, for the most part. Both sell well for him. Doing both seems to be the best course, although I probably wouldn't publish a single short story that was less than, like, 3500 words minimum, maybe 4000.

    So it might be worth the time and effort to release the Justice shorts individually, and then as a collection, so you catch both audiences.

    Angie

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    1. Hah! I'm lucky to keep my shorts under 10K! But I know what you mean.

      I'm just tossing around some ideas. Nothing's set in stone except my Jan. and Feb. 2020 releases.

      But the big thing I've noticed is readers just want to know when the next book comes out.

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