It's official, I'm a published author, at least if e-books count. It's a strange feeling because on the one hand, self-publishing is now just about the easiest thing in the world, anyone can do it with anything. It's really not a big deal. On the other hand, I've been holding on to some of these stories for years, and it's nice to finally have them out there to share, and to even get compensated for doing so.
The hardest part for me was the artwork, and I didn't even do that, @vincentnijman did. I was really worried about finding artwork that represented the kind of work that I do. I am not exactly artistically inclined in the are of visuals, and there aren't many people who can really synch up their art with my imagination. For a long time, I was hoping to work with @william-syrus, but he isn't really active on Hive anymore and I have no idea how to get in touch with him. I would still love to work with him some day.
One reason the art was so hard is that I wanted to find someone who actually appreciated my work, not someone who I was just paying. Of course I paid, but I wanted it to be someone who felt passionate about. When you hear the best movie soundtracks, you know the composer was in love with the movie and cared enough to give their best. Same with good album covers.
"Ah! Vincent! He's ready for it!" I thought.
And that was the hardest hurdle to overcome, the answer standing right in front of me in one of my closest Hive friends. Someone who understands me very well and who I trust, and someone I know I can work with, at least when we are both in the mood. We went back and forth with ideas and critique about 5 or 6 times before he showed me something I fell in love with. I think it's his best work yet, and I'm sure he will overshadow it with his upcoming HyperZensitivasaurus books.
Next was editing. The chapters of part 1 have been ready for years so that was easy, just a quick final edit. Then I had to reformat a few times to get a good sync with Draft2Digital's automated formatting. And then I made an "About the author" as well as an "Get in touch with I+Everything at Hive" as well as an ad for Natural Medicine.
And that's all there was to it. It was up for pre-order a few hours later.
Self-Publishing is easy, but self-promotion....that's a whole other beast. I thought that if I made a heartfelt post and put it on facebook that I'd get a bunch of likes from all my IRL friends. Whenever I see my friends release an album, they always get 100-200 likes. Thanks to the algorithms, I don't think anyone saw it. 5 likes? I have something like 1200 friends on there, half of which are probably active.
Luckily, I do have real friends, IRL and on Hive. When I mentioned it in individual chats, almost everyone was interested and it seems like a lot of them bought it. I hope they read it, I hope they love it and I hope they make reviews of it! Without any reviews it'll be hard to reach more people. I get it. I don't review anything, but this really helps me, so if you take the time to read my book and you like it, please let the world know.
How to promote from here...I'm not really sure. I may be able to find 100-200 readers through just telling everyone about it, but what about beyond that? I mean, I'm not complaining here, if 200 people read my book, I'm already thrilled. But If 200,000 read it...that sounds even more thrilling.
I'm slowly researching different ways to promote but want to make sure the methods fit. I am not in a hurry because this is just part 1 and I plan to release a physical copy of 1+2 before part 3 comes out. In any case, word of mouth is probably the best method there is for me, and that all depends on friends reading it and liking it, so my future may be in your hands. A review and good rating will go a long way for me ;-)
I was pleasantly surprised to see rankings on my Amazon page. #238,070 in the entire Kindle store!? Well it's not #1 but I'll take it! That's some nice gamification right there, Now I feel motivated to try and get it in the top 200,000. More excitingly, it is ranked:
#355 in City Life Fiction (Books)
#605 in Metaphysical Fiction
#712 in City Life Fiction (Kindle Store)
Now I know there aren't many books that fit into the category of Metaphysical fiction, and probably fewer that actually use that label, but I'm excited. I'm just a few places away from #600. #355 in City life fiction? Really now? Can I make it to top 200 in these categories? I'm not a competitive person in general, but when I think of it like a game, I want to win!
Something I realized last year though, the most fun thing about self promotion is getting back in touch with people. I've messaged a lot of friends I haven't talked to in a year with the intention of showing them my book but ended up having hour long conversations. I'm lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life even if they are all scattered around.
I feel so good that people are reading this. It's really motivating me to keep them coming.
Anyways, Confessions of the Damaged 1.1 is available at Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Scribd, Thalia, Bolde, and A&R. If you are a Hive user and send me a photo of your receipt on discord, I'll send you a present :-)
🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎
🎬Self Help For Trolls
🎸I + Everything
📕 Confessions of the Damaged
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