Writing and Publishing: My Truth About The Self-Published World

Hello.

My name is Claudia Silva and I’m an author.

I’m an author because I write books. I’ve written many, many books. I have ideas about books that I’ve yet to write, too.

I began writing books because I discovered reading was like watching a movie, only ten times better. I discovered, rather late I might add, that with books, you could get better special effects in your head than in any movie.

Once I discovered that, I wanted to create my own mental movies.

That’s why I write.

I started writing when I was around sixteen years old. I wasn’t any good at it. I am not great at it now, but I have grown. I have grown because I’m a reader and I practice writing. Many, many stories I have written. Short and long.

Before 2017, only a select few read my stories. That is… one person read my stories. And that was all. And that was fine.

Then, one day, someone told me I should publish. Then someone else suggested it. And another. Of course, these people had no idea what it meant to publish. They had no idea how big the market is or how difficult it is to get in that market. They told me to do it, anyway. I thought, why not? What did I have to lose?

And so I did. I published. I have written many stories in this universe I created and I started by publishing the first book. The origin story. I thought up a cover and revised and edited and proofread. All on my own. No soEven though I don’t like reviewing and editing and proofread it, I did it anyway. I created my own cover, uploaded the files on Amazon and clicked the “publish” button.

Was it a mistake? I don’t see it as a mistake.

What it was, was an eye-opener.

No one downloaded my story after I published it. No one bought it. In a world where billions surf the web, not one soul cared about my story enough to buy it for $3.99. No one gave me a chance. Heck, I wouldn’t have given me a chance. I was (and still am) a nobody. How could I ever think someone would care about my stories? And $3.99? What was I thinking?

I didn’t give up.

I began to research how things worked. Soon I found the more time passed with zero sales, the more my stories began to sank in the void of Amazon ranking. In my desperation, I enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. It didn’t work. Still no read. Not one single page. And sales? Even worse!

So,  I thought to offer my book for free. At the time, Pronoun offered the free option for Amazon, and I took it. I delisted from KDP (and Unlimited after the window ended) and started wide through Pronoun.

Pronoun ceased to exist, so I went to Draft2Digital, instead. This time, I asked that my book be listed free, and Amazon listened.

When book two was ready, I once more delisted it from D2D and republished through KDP to be able to have a series page. Amazon has been very supportive, I admit. They agreed to make it free, and they agreed to create a series page. No problem.

In 18 months, my first book has been downloaded about 2,000 times. Out of those downloads, I have had seven reviews. Four and five star reviews. At least I can’t complain about that. Five of those reviews are on amazon.com… the other two in the Canadian Amazon. Not many, but considering my book is in serious need of an editor and my description isn’t great (I have rewritten it 3 times), I think it’s not bad.

When I read I needed to have more than one book to be noticed, I compiled, revised, and edited my short stories and published them. Nope. They were dead immediately. No one cared to download them, either. Oh, and reviews were mixed. I delisted the book from EVERYWHERE.

My adventures didn’t end there.

Then I read I needed to have a social media presence. I created an author page on Facebook and an author Twitter account and a blog. Later, also an Instagram account. No one really likes my posts. No one really reads my blog. The few followers I get on Instagram come to me for my ballerina drawings I post. That’s all. My Facebook followers are mostly friends and family. They get excited for me, some repost. I like them.

Twitter? Oblivion. I guess I’m not an interesting person. I did manage over 1,000 followers somehow… they are precious to me. Perhaps the author’s personality has something to do with their success? I am not a popular person. I live my life happily and I write my books because I like to and I honestly don’t know how to make people follow me on social media. I’m not witty enough, perhaps.

I do it anyway.

There were other things I read I needed to do.

They said I needed to have a newsletter… I still don’t have one. I don’t know how to get one or manage one or what to write on it. It stresses me out so much. Maybe one day, when my series is all out and I have more confidence.

They said I needed to have a professional editor look at my story… I still don’t have the money to spend on that. I did spend over $100 on a software to help me self-edit. Prowriting Aid. I will use it with book one first, then book three (so it can be released on time) and then book 2 while I work on book 4.

They said I needed to spend on good quality, original covers… I don’t have money for it. I use an artist from Fiverr… although then I have people tell me not to use Fiverr and that I’m doing things wrong and I will get in trouble and I will be brand tainting and… *sigh* I need to start somewhere and I don’t have the ability to produce good covers.

They said I needed to pay for marketing. This one I have done, or more like, I’m doing now. Just starting. Not that much, though. I don’t have money for it. I have spend around $400 in my books when my budget was zero (in everything, not just marketing). Now I’m spending about $40 in AMS ads and other advertising a month. Yes. A month! That’s about $500 a year. And, do I get any of my money back? Nope. Not really. People still don’t care about giving me a chance. And again, why would they? I’m still a nobody. I have no great reviews of my books… or just a few. Or maybe it’s that my I need more editing or that the first chapter of my first book is slow or… ok. I’m rambling now.

Let’s move on.

Let’s see, they say I need to have a better blurb, better ads, better keywords. I read and I research and I try to get my books out there, but some times I feel like nothing is working.

Get in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited, they say. It’s better for unknown authors. Maybe for some, but not for me. No one even takes a chance when those books are free to them. I am still doing something wrong, I know it. Change book one’s chapter one? Change the descriptions? Change the covers? Change the titles? Spend more on advertising? Get more reviews? How?

Then others say it’s the genre… Where do I begin?

I don’t want to write romance or those other books that sell more if it’s not what I want to write. I want to write what I want to write. I want to write the stories that keep me up at night and if they aren’t let out, then something will happen.

So, there’s that.

Is my dream to live from my books? Sure! Will it ever happen? I doubt it. I have a job that pays me and lets me write. And that’s what I’m going to do. Write. It’s my hobby. Sure, I’ll revise and edit and proofread, but only because at least I want my stories to look as good as I can make them just in case someone picks them up. I love that I published. I love that my books have cool covers. I love having an author page and a series page and a Goodreads page. Is that wrong?

Will I pay money for advertisements? I think I have to. Just so my stories at least appear on the top of the list to let people see them, even if they don’t buy them or download them or read them.

I don’t have a lot of money, but I will make it count. If everything goes according to plan, I’d have published a six book series in the next two years. Plus, four independent short stories… and maybe 4 short stories about the series… and then I can start with my other series… and the short stories that go with that series… and the individual books that are stand alone.

I have great plans, see?

For my sanity, I need to stop thinking that one day people will magically start reading my books, because, in reality… there is no reason I can think someone magically will find out how amazing my stories are. I need to put them up there… that’s how this works.

So there, I’ve written it. My truth about the self-published world. Do you have a similar story?

Maybe you do. Or maybe you make a lot of money.

I know there are so many good authors out there. Most much better than me. They all struggled at some point, I’m sure. Some got agents, some don’t. Most have GREAT ideas and GREAT writing styles and GREAT media presence and GREAT books. Go buy their books. People’s imaginations are amazing and you’re missing out just because they don’t do Twitter or Facebook or have the great cover or the great blurb or the right keywords or enough money to spend on an editor.

Some things just don’t make sense. This one is one of those things.

cheers