The race is about to start, and I’m about to sit down and relax. It’s been a long week and after the time change this morning, I’m still not functioning as awesomely as I should be.
In case you haven’t been paying attention, I had a new release earlier this week. Book Two in my Bad Boys of Racing Series…Grinding Gears. I hope you’ll give Alli and Jason a chance. Reading Stick Shift, Book One in the series, is, well, yes, necessary. Because those characters all show up in Grinding Gears and they’ll all show up in Book Three, Under Caution, which will be out in a few months.
It’s a fun series and I’m glad I was badgered by several readers to write it. (You know who you are and you know how much I love you for it).
I have made a few changes on my website this week, as well. I’ve added a pop-up for Newsletter sign-ups and I’ve added a Share bar on the right side. These were big adjustments for me. They’re call to action add-ons and they make me nervous. Will my readers like them or be annoyed by them? Will my readers roll their eyes and walk away? Will new visitors to the site sign up or just run as fast as they can somewhere else? Right now, the reaction is okay. There’ve been a few new adds to the Newsletter list and I’m so happy about that.
I’ve also started sending out an RSS Newsletter when I post something new on the blog. I’m trying for that whole consistency thing… posting regularly, and just generally talking to you, my readers about what’s going on, what I’m liking, what I’m wanting to share with you. There’ve been a few unsubscribes from those RSS feed Newsletters, but overall, no one seems to be bothered.
Changes like this are difficult for me, but I want to sell more books. I want to find more readers. I want to engage more with those who enjoy my books and who spend time writing to me, reading me, sharing themselves with me. Because honestly, y’all… If I don’t figure out how to do this… I don’t know. I’ll always write. I have always written… But, it’s getting harder and harder to make this work.
We’re not supposed to compare ourselves and I usually do a pretty good job of this, but lately, I’ll be the first to admit, it’s something I’m having pay more attention to, something I’m trying not to let take over.
They say you have to work hard and you won’t make it your first time out. They lie. I’ve seen so many debut books lately that sell way more than I ever have, with all my books combined. In self publishing, anything is possible. I really do believe that. But a lot of times it comes down to money (how much do you have to spend and what hoops are you willing to jump through), and who you know, who is going to pimp you, who is going to promote you to everyone they know.
Business has always been this way. The field of play is not level. We want it to be. We hope it will be. But it’s not…
I see exclusion happening between bestsellers and non… More so over the last few years as so many writers have made bestsellers lists for the first time. It’s no longer the elusive, exclusive club it used to be, but at the same time, it’s more of one. I watch when people look for and align themselves with others… I watch when they specifically seek out bestsellers. I still write, I still put out books, I still seek out how to do better and improve. What I don’t do? Is change myself, change my writing to fit the trends. I guess that’s where I’m going wrong.
We talk about this community being open about helping others, and there are some amazing and wonderful authors out there doing just that. Then there are others that if you don’t have the right credentials, they’ll never give you the time of day.
This has been kind of a downer post and I apologize for that. It was not my intent. However, when all my drivers, every week, crash…? I think I’m an unlucky charm. 😉 Although, I watched some golf this week too, and that always makes me smile. Seriously, I need to write a golf series.
I hope all of you had a great week and that the upcoming days will be good to you. If you’ve read Grinding Gears, thank you, and please consider leaving a review for it. Below you’ll find the cover and the Buy Links for Book One, Stick Shift.
~lissa
