Today should have been a happy day. A day of joy and celebration. So what’s stopping me from doing a jig?
Today is the 21st March, the fortieth anniversary of the killings of Toten Herzen. A heinous crime that created a myth and ultimately revived the career of journalist Rob Wallet.
It’s the perfect day to release a new novel in the TotenUniverse. There Will Be Blood is out. It can be bought HERE, and read about HERE.
But today is also a line drawn in the sand. No more promoting, no more marketing, no more twisting and turning trying to find the key to discoverability. And to be honest it feels like a weight from around the neck has been released.
The series will continue, the next novel The Fine Art of Necromancy, was started at the weekend. I haven’t given up on writing, but I have given up on the self-publishing game. I’ve watched too many people waste good money after bad, read too much advise that’s not worth a bean.
I like writing. I’d like to earn a living from it. What I don’t want is the frustrating half-way house where authors pour their money into other people’s back pockets and get snake oil promises of upsales and click throughs.
Creativity is what it’s all about and that process will continue. In some form or other.
The Opening Sentence 
Congratulations on the release of your new book. I’ll be honest and say I haven’t read any of them, but that’s because I couldn’t work out whether what you were writing was ‘fan fic’ about a real band I’d never heard of or fiction, and if fiction then what kind of fiction. 😦
I apologise if this is hurtful, I truly don’t mean it to be. I’m in the same boat re marketing and promotion, except that my problem is a case of not finding the right niche for my sci-fi/fantasy. And luck. We all seem to be hostage to luck.
Anyway, I’m glad you intend to keep writing, and apologies again if I’ve offended. 😦
LikeLike
You haven’t said anything offensive. It’s always been my intention with these novels to mix fact with fiction so that people weren’t entirely certain which bits were real and which were made up.
For the record Toten Herzen are fictitious, although a couple of years ago they were ranked amongst the top 50000 music acts in the world by ReverbNation (out of 3.5 million)! The books are paranormal dark comedies centred on vampirism and witchcraft.
And I get what you’re saying about niches. It’s difficult to pitch a novel that doesn’t sit comfortably in a nice pre-defined category. But then the unexpected is always more entertaining than the predictable.
LikeLike
Oh…wait. Stop that! How can Toten Herzen be both fictitious and a ranked music act? Does that mean there once was a band called Toten Herzen? So confused. 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s what I call fictitious plausibility! You can make ‘friends’ on ReverbNation (like Facebook or following on Twitter) and the individual band members were quite popular and had a lot of friend requests. On Twitter the lead singer was ignored by the Dalai Lama.
People didn’t know there were dark goings on behind the scenes; ie me. And that is the central mystery running through the novels: is the band real or is it a front for something more sinister?
LikeLike
Oh…okay, but a bit Orson Welles-ian.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that it’s screenplays that are the way forward. They’re harder to write, but I don’t think the competition is as fierce as in the self-published book world. One of my screenplays is now an official selection in the Depth of Field International Film Festival. I think screenplays have more of a chance of getting noticed.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Back in the day when the BBC Writer’s Room accepted speculative scripts I sent in a couple and thoroughly enjoyed writing in that format. The first Toten Herzen novel was almost written as a script until I was persuaded to write a novel instead.
Congratulations on the selection of your script. I hope it gets a prize or an award. It’s a challenging format, but very rewarding to complete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They still accept scripts two or three times a year on their ‘Opportunities’ page. I tend to submit now via FilmFreeway; there are more opportunities there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I might look into that. Sounds interesting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Definitely do keep up the writing! I’ve not cracked the online promotion conundrum either. There has to be a way, although I suspect luck has a certain part to play.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Luck is certainly a big factor and is usually the key to something going viral. I think for sustainable success access to the mainstream press outlets is still a closed door to self-publishing writers.
I don’t plan to stop writing, it’s the promoting I give up on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Media access for trad published authors isn’t easy either – I am in such a struggle right now (via my publishers) – the problem being that there are far more books than available media outlets/review pages. Even if there’s good media coverage, it’s often luck as to a book working, unless it’s something topical and controversial. Or a cookbook (they always seem to sell, certainly here in NZ).
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know it’s tough for everybody in the current market. We are in a seismic change. I think there’s a perception that a published author has extra tools in the bag in the form of agent and publisher, but I know even that’s no guarantee of exposure these days.
Maybe I should write about a vampire celebrity chef. . . .
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope you don’t give up on publishing your writing, even if you’re not keen on the promotion part.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The publishing will continue. Even a tiny reading audience is better than leaving things in a drawer or on the hard drive.
I have spent a lot of time reading advice and the efforts of other authors, wasted tons of paper making notes on what to do to get the word out. It’s that time and effort that can be better spent on other things . . . like living!
When the TotenUniverse is done I’ll start on the next big thing. I wan’t to get back to making music too.
LikeLike