Hello, can you hear me, do you read my blog posts? Is anybody out there?
Do you read my blog posts?
This is a genuine question from a writer who has just about given up on her dreams. I will never stop writing. But I might stop publishing the stuff that I write. Because it seems to me that nobody cares, and I don’t mean that in a stroppy, arrogant way (well, maybe a little bit). I mean that I have spent almost ten years putting content on my blogs, building a mailing list, publishing novels and short stories, and trying desperately to encourage people to read them, and I have received barely any response. There is no marked improvement in stats, or any kind of measurable data for my blogs.
My books aren’t selling. All the online courses I completed, and all the tools and actions that I implemented to make it better have made no overall improvement. I am lucky if I sell three books per month if I am brutally honest. Such is the life of an indie author. And I know that I am a good writer. I am a bloody good writer. I just didn’t do things the right way. I chose the wrong college course, the wrong university degree, the wrong place to live. I don’t know. Somewhere along the line, I didn’t do what I should have done that would have enabled me to work in the industry, and to be paid for my work. Now I feel lost, and very alone. I don’t want pity, and I don’t want sympathy. I just want my audience. Where are you guys?
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SpookyMrsGreen 
As good as the internet is for accessibility and connection, I have met many creative talented people who constantly struggle to “make something” a living etc of their craft… Be them authors, artists, musicians, dancers… I feel that with the rise of Youtube, social media, pinterest… People are spoiled! Overwhelmed and over stimulated with so many forms of creativity to hand that, I find, it can make most people expect to receive these creative goods for free… Saving photography/ art online, downloading music free from Youtube instead of buying it from the creators, (I’m ashamed to say that I have done this myself!)… It can be very difficult. Saying that there are the odd people who navigate their way through this creative storm… Everything happens at the right time and everything is for a reason ;)… Don’t give up on your writing craft if you love it and it is from the heart, but perhaps seek balance and remove the pressure and expectation from yourself… 3> Emily xxx
Thank you, Emily, and you are correct. I need to take a step back, and I will not give up on the writing, don’t you worry! 🙂
*waves frantically* I love reading your blog and have loved your books. You have a talent for writing and I know you feel discouraged. It’s hard in this day and age to make a dent. Trust me, even the big 5 authors struggle with this. Don’t give up on your dreams! Keep writing!
Thank you, Mrs N, that means a lot. I really do appreciate your support, and I will battle the demons as I navigate through a low ebb. The writing will never stop! 🙂
All indies have days when they’re discouraged, but I’ll tell you what makes me feel better. I published a book (you’ve published way more) and in today’s niche markets a book that sits on the shelf today suddenly gets discovered and then they fly off the shelves. You’ve already done the hard stuff. You wrote the book. You’ve made a blog. You have connections in the literary world near you. I recently started a “whisper campaign” leaving my card with a picture of my cover and my book website at random locations (at restaurants, my hairdresser, etc.). But take heart–lots of people say they want to write a book and you did! More than once! Don’t give up–your audience it out there.
Thank you. Maybe I should start a whisper campaign, sounds fun! I think part of my struggle comes from the fact that I can’t get my physical books into most bookshops. Yes, they are online in digital format in lots of places, but the main bookshops are not interested, and that got me down. I will never give up the fight, even if I do feel beaten down at the moment.
I feel your pain with you. I’m jumping for joy over here today, because my royalty check is $24 this month. LOL Hence the part time job to pay the bills, which then takes away from writing time and energy. It’s a vicious cycle. I decided to try some free library talks – one hour presentations with book sales. The first one I sold 1 book. One last week – 9 people, but no sales. Big sigh….
I wish I had a magic answer I could private message you!
Hang in there! And don’t stop writing!
I don’t think there is a magic answer, more’s the pity. Well done you for getting so much in royalties, I haven’t received that in years! My audience must be very scattered, because I have tried all sorts of local talks, presentations and events with no response. Perhaps I should do an international book tour – if only I could get someone to sponsor me! 😉
Even with the low turn outs, I’m still putting out a flyer to local libraries etc for 2019 talks. We’ll see a year from now if I continue. At least it gives me something to put in my newsletters LOL
Hey, I was just in that same boat today.Hang in there. If you want some help building and networking or whatnot, want to collab? I do some fairytale art if you think art would help you along. I dunno. I’m just about having to entirely rebuild/rebrand my authorship so starting over from scratch and i’m honestly very depressed (clinically) but from the standpoint of being struggling myself I want to help you. Want some bookmarks designed or something? I just… if there’s something that you think would help you, hit me up?
Hi Michael, thanks very much for your support. Perhaps we can start with some cross networking and see how it goes? I think that’s our problem, finding the right people that will share news about our work in the right places. I often feel that I am simply sending content out into the void, and then I see other authors with hundreds of retweets, Facebook shares and more. I just don’t see what I’m doing wrong! You are welcome to email me and we can take it from there if you like: spookymrsgreen@outlook.com
I will email you shortly 🙂 and yeah, i totally feel you on the whole ‘sending stuff out into the void’ thing.That’s really what it feels like.
Being in the same position, I know exactly how you feel! I’m coming to the conclusion that paid advertising is the only answer – I’ve heard advertising on Amazon can generate more sales.
I think you are correct. Now I need to secure a part-time job that can pay for the advertising!
I see you’ve got some great replies above. I read all your blogs and enjoy them. If it helps at all, you do get retweets on the Soulfully Connecting Twitter account. As someone said above, the market is saturated and I have heard so many people saying the same thing. Everyone seems to be jumping up and down trying to get noticed. My suggestion is to continue doing what you love, do the very best you can, but let go of expectations if you can. Just do it for the love of it and you never can tell where it will lead. 🙂 Good luck.
Thank you, Sue. It’s not so much the expectation as it is the work involved. I would rather use my time elsewhere and learn which jobs I can stop doing if they are not bringing the desired result. I do appreciate your continued support 🙂
I understand. Your time is definitely at a premium with 2 young children too. I take stock every now and again too to see what no longer works. I am sure your excellent intuition will guide you as to what to do next. 🙂
I empathise with your feelings Catherine and you have some excellent comments above. Never forget that you do not know how many people draw inspiration from your bouncy, bubbly enthusiasm and pursuit of your dream…. even if you don’t see those people revealing themselves in terms of likes and retweets and comments. Yes maybe there’s some soul-searching to do and some new avenues to explore… but keep writing and believing; that creative spark is the most precious thing, and yoiu must nurture it, whatever else you do.
Thank you, Sheila! 🙂
Instagram and Twitter are great places to share. Use Hootsuite.com free plan to send links in one go. Also, you may look into Books Butterfly and other promotion sites x
Thank you. I do use all of those tools but probably not enough to make the kind of impact I need. It is a tricky business!