Writing Tip #22 - Learn from Mistakes

 It’s always a good idea to learn from mistakes. Often, it keeps you from repeating bad and possibly costly decisions. The mistakes don’t even have to be yours! This is great, because it means that you don’t have to go through the embarrassment and possible cost of a mistake.

The self-publishing community is still comparatively small, or at least the part that wants to make a living from their writing is. That means there are a lot of mistakes to be made and not too many people to make them. Therefore, wasting time making the same mistakes as everyone else means that there is less time to make new mistakes. 

Stay with me. I promise to get to the point.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is that those in the self-publishing community are friendly. There are some playful rivalries, but at the end of the day, no one wants to see anyone fail at a dream. So, self-published writers are very open about mistakes, very willing to share the nitty gritty of their story. Because when you share a mistake, it becomes a lesson, something that can help other writers to grow.

Let’s be honest here. Writing is hard. I’ve now published two books and made approximately thirty dollars (rounded up because I don’t know the number off the top of my head). It gets easier when we can help each other and learn from our mistakes and share those mistakes so other people can learn.

On that note, I have a mistake I’ve made and regretted. Some of you might know what I’m talking about, but I’ll tell the story for those of you who don’t.

Last year (2020) I published a book through a publishing company called Friesenpress. At the time, I was super happy with the services they provided, mostly because they did a lot of the formatting and things like that, which I wasn’t really confident with.

Over the last year, I’ve become more and more angry with Friesenpress, for several reasons. First of all, I cannot have any copies of my own book. I requested both a print copy and an ebook, but was told that I would have to purchase those.

In order for the discount that I get from them as an author to be worth it, I have to buy and store at least 100 books. The whole reason I went with a print on demand service was to avoid this problem. 

Another issue is pricing. I cannot change the price of my book, as if I do, there is a fee. Any changes I make have a few attached, and if I want the formatted copy (for printing reasons, if I were to go to another company) there is a charge for that. There is even a charge to get them to take down my book, so I can switch to a different company. It was an all around disappointing experience.

Speaking of my book, if anyone reading would like a copy of Unidentified, send me an email (scribbler.collective@gmail.com) and I will send a free ebook for you. This is my way of protesting against the disparity between what Friesenpress promised and what was delivered.

Also, our new book, Screenshot, is available on Apple Books, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble, as well as several other booksellers. It’s on sale until July 4th, with a chance of that being extended indefinitely.

Writing Tip #21 - Promotions

 I feel like I might have talked about this before, but there are certain marketing strategies that can help your book sell. These strategies might seem a little counter intuitive at first, but trust me, they can be useful.

One is called loss-leaders. You publish your first, maybe even the second, and make the book free. Bear with me. I know that you’ve spent lots of time on this and all you want to do is make a living. But charging for your first book will get you some buyers, but not nearly as many as you could get. Here’s why. People will take a chance on a new author if the book isn’t all that expensive. Free books are even more enticing. Give your readers a reason to pick up the book, so make the cover interesting, have a good description, the whole deal. And then sweeten that by making the book very cheap, or even free. If your writing is interesting and you keep them going, they are more likely to want the next book. This one can be sold at a discounted price, or even free. By the third book, your reader should be hooked.

If you don’t have a series, it’s still a good idea to do this. If a reader reads one of your books and likes it, they’re more likely to buy another from you.

Another option is promotional. Make the free book a promotion, for a limited time. Bundle your books together for a discounted price. As long as your readers are saving money, they will be more likely to at least try your books.

That’s all for the writing tip, but I have some personal news. We in the Scribbler Collective have published again, the compilation that I’ve been promising. Jillian opted to call it Screenshot, and it’s available on Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and several other booksellers. It’s currently only available as an ebook, but Amazon will soon follow, and then it will be out in print. Here’s a link, if you’re interested: https://books2read.com/u/3LRZPw. As I suggest in this post, the book is $0.99 USD and will go up to $4.99 USD on July 4th. Depending on several personal factors, I might just make this a permanent thing, but we’ll see.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this and have a good week!

The city

 Water dripped from everything. Constant rain meant Deluge was always flooded, a modern Venice, even after the original Venice had been swallowed by the ocean. Historians had even referred to the event as a new Atlantis, a crisis that drowned an entire city.

Here, though, it was different. Deluge celebrated the rain, using boats to navigate the flooded streets. Filters kept litter and garbage out of the water, so it was safe enough for children to swim in. On the few sunny days, people gathered on the roof of their house, waiting for the moment the clouds parted. They loved the sun, but they loved the rain too.

Like the seasons, the weather each day brought was celebrated. Umbrellas were a fashion statement. No one would be caught dead without one, and children and adults would often carry individual pieces of artwork, all decorated with beautiful, whimsical designs.

You could tell how much a person made by the style of their umbrella. The rich carried covers made of gold fabric, spun by master artisans. The poor used cheap cloth, waterproofing them with candle wax and melted plastics. Decorating them with love and care.

But class wasn’t important. Often, a rich man would share an umbrella with a member of the poor, listening to stories of struggle and hardship, stories that helped him understand what he’d never experienced. In return, the poor man would be fed and clothed, his ragged umbrella carefully washed and repaired, sometimes replaced with one that was higher quality.

This was a city where the rich listened to the poor, listened to the cries that came from below them. A city where the helpless were protected. A city that was a fountain of not equality, but something better. A city of brotherhood.

Apologies!

Hey everyone! Just a few updates for you today. First of all, I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but that’s because things are really coming down to the wire. Screenshot comes out on Monday, so we’re all rather busy with getting our stories to Jillian. I’ll post links after I receive them.

Other news, Jillian is working hard on her series. Last I heard, she is going to republish book 1 and publish books two and three as a single book. Of course, I don’t really know for sure.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Have a good week!