Survey Analysis is up

[ameliasmith]

Aug 10, 2015 17:43:26 GMT -5 scdaffron said:

I agree. I've read about so many people who had big success right out of the gate and pretty much said, "I have no idea what I did" or "I got lucky." Until later, when they decide they are brilliant, share their brilliance all over KBoards for a little while, and then finally proclaim that are now "ready" to sell a course for $5000 where they'll be happy to sell their secrets to the rest of us.

Oh yes. People who say "I worked hard!" and think it's all down to that. I'm sure hard work helps, but I sure haven't signed up for any of those courses. Also, I think that the kindle gold rush days, when free downloads could push you up the main sales charts, were a lot more forgiving of flaws, and helped some people get established who might not have made it so big or so fast if they were starting out now.

Aug 10, 2015 19:06:17 GMT -5 Daniel said:

Now, see, I read Amelia's comment the other way. I thought she was talking about the authors who have tons of books but DON'T have success. And that the reason they don't have success is because they may not be doing things right.

Yes, this is what I meant, sort of.

I don't think that releasing tons of books guarantees success, and I don't think doing everything right guarantees success. I also don't think releasing tons of books AND doing everything right guarantees success, although I believe it increases the odds.

I also agree with this, but based on the comments/remarks people left in the survey (and looking at certain extremely prolific people on KBoards), I'm starting to think that most of the people who don't have at least some success after 10+ books have major flaws in their writing, covers/metadata, or are just not promoting at all. And yeah, I'm pretty sure you can do everything right and still tank, but each additional good book gives you another good shot at crawling out of this $0-100 income bracket, right?

Aug 10, 2015 23:34:43 GMT -5 lou said:

And yet my bad homemade covers for Gray are doing fine for me so far, and they were meant to be a stopgap measure only. (I was driven to do my own after having bad experiences with artists on the first book and being unable to find something right among premades.) So now I wonder, hmm, have I been giving out bad advice all along? Is there perhaps some appeal to an amateur--but not outright ridiculous--cover? Like readers hope they're finding a hidden gem...? Or is that every other PA novel looks much the same and mine at least looks different? I haven't figured it out. I don't know if anyone can figure it out. You might argue that these books would do much better with a great $500 cover, and maybe you're right, but there's really no way to run that experiment from the beginning to see if that would have been true. (Unless you have some quantum-universe-jumping doohicky you've been hiding away and can lend me.) I was intending to upgrade them, and now I'm half-afraid to because it's working okay like this. Oh, and the title really sucks, too, and I know it. So go figger. Why am I making a living wage at this after just a year? Why, despite all I've done "wrong?"

Sorry if I rambled off topic, amelia, but I really do puzzle over this, nearly every day. I am saying "I have no idea what I did" and "I didn't follow all the rules" and "I got lucky," and I mean it. I really appreciate your trying to quantify what makes for success in your blog post.

There is an element of luck, but here's what I see on your page. You did not do everything wrong. Your covers are clearly amateur, but your writing is solid enough and you open with a lot of action and tension. You're in good categories, small enough to gain visibility. You put out four books in just over a year, and they're in the same genre. The people who are consistently not selling at all probably have multiple problems, like putting out fewer than two books a year (that would be me, so far), being totally unreadable (or even just very weak on plot -- possibly me, too), or not promoting.

I'd say, based on my numbers, that although some authors might get traction in three years, five years and ten books is probably a more realistic target.

Becca: I missed that SM Reine thread, and I'd say, as a reader, that there are bad books. From a commercial standpoint, some great books never make headway, and from a literary standpoint some great commercial successes are just garbage, but plenty of books fall flat on both fronts. Writing and finishing any book is a major accomplishment for most people, but it's even harder to get everything right, and it's so subtle sometimes, at least to the writer who is standing much too close to the work.

Accounting. I could get into accounting.