Busy (Best-Selling!) Beaver, Part 5: Luck of the Sun Gods

Hello World,

This is Part 5 in my ongoing series explaining my experiences going from a relatively unknown writing schmuck to an Amazon best-selling author. Today's post is about the little bit of luck that comes after I worked my ass off networking with other authors. To find out what that's all about, scroll back to my Jan. 3rd post and work your way forward.

I don't know where I heard/ read the phrase "Diligence is the mother of good luck," but I've come to respect it greatly. This past December, I came to believe in it.

After reaching out to some 500+ authors to make connections on Facebook, several dozen did more than just like my page in return... they started chatting with me as well. Those conversations were much like you might expect: Thanks were abundant, Questions were common, and the FeelGoods were constant.

It was at this point my proverbial snowball was officially rolling downhill. 

But it was slow. Just a few feet from the top.

It had yet to gain size or speed.

This went on for several weeks and, to be honest, continues now, more than a month later. As much as people are idiots (see previous post), people are also pretty cool, and I was digging the world of new writers I had immersed myself into.

Then one day I saw a book description on one of those pages and made a comment of appreciation to the author. Said author (I'll call him/her "Chris" to protect his/her identity), commented back in kind, and perhaps because we were kindred spirits in genres, we began to chat. I don't know what sun gods led me in Chris's direction, but I suspect it may have been the god of working one's ass off. ;)

Look. 

Do you see the snowball? 

It's really rolling now, and it's picking up speed.

Somewhere in that conversation we got to talking about sales of our book and it was abundantly clear Chris was out of my league. He/she was making hundreds of sales every day and had profited roughly $15,000 in the past 12 months. Not exactly quitting one's day job, but it was light years beyond the 3 grand I'd made over the past 4 years. I asked if there was some kind of secret, and to my surprise Chris more or less hinted that there was. He/She invited me to join a relatively small but closed (secret) writing group on Facebook and also shared a couple of good places to do some advertising.

Did you see the snowball gain in size just then? 

I certainly did. 

:)

There's much more to say about both, but in a nutshell, what Chris did was open the door to possibilities for me. I'd always known that to make money you need to spend money, but I'd always assumed it was more money than I would reasonably have.

I
was
wrong.

Tune in next time to find out where I advertised & how much I paid. In the meantime, why not strike up a conversation with a fellow like-minded human? There's a better-than-average chance they know something you don't, and vice versa.

Gratifying yours,
-K

ps: Writing Accomplished Since Last Post: No new words, but I did revise a particularly tough set of pages on my current book. I spent about 3 hours on the first five paragraphs alone. Yes, I really do work that slowly sometimes. But, yes, I really feel proud (NOT guilty!) of what I produce when I get the chance to do it.

Busy (Best-Selling!) Beaver, Part 4: The Last of LinkedIn

Hello World, 

This is Part 4 in my ongoing series explaining my experiences going from a relatively unknown writing schmuck to an Amazon best-selling author. Today's post is about the ugly, annoying, nasty side of LinkedIn. Also why people are idiots. This is the third (and final) post about my LinkedIn experience, so if you haven't yet read the first one, you should probably scroll down & start with the Jan. 4th blatherings.

I don't mean to bad-mouth LinkedIn, BTW. And I don't want you to think I've abandoned it. In fact, just the opposite is true. I've become more active on LinkedIn since my excursions began. 

And yet...

So there I was, at the very top of this crazy post that had 18 months of running commentary and over 3,700 comments... and I had just promised myself to scroll through them ALL and connect with all those authors. 

The first page wasn't so bad. People were saying it was a great idea & posting their Facebook links. Every once in a while someone would mention: 'Hey John" or "Hey Jennifer, your link is broken." Nice stuff, you understand? But LinkedIn doesn't have the tag feature that Facebook has, so many of these comments were clearly going unnoticed. 

By the third or fourth page, people were starting to have small conversations with each other. Things like how to get the link working or explanations that they'd already "liked" that person from some other venue. Again, still pretty nice. But it was kind of annoying because it took my computer a good 5 or 10 seconds to load the next 5 comments, and many of them weren't even links to people's Facebook pages. 

Then, I saw the first re-post. Someone got smart enough to realize that some people were working bottom-to-top instead of top-to-bottom and probably would never reach the top. So if they re-posted their link, it would be at the bottom (the most recent comment) and far more likely to get noticed. 

Talk about a snowball rolling downhill, it instantly became uber-popular. 

All of a sudden, every fifth link was a re-post. And it quickly became really annoying b/c my computer took another 5 or 10 seconds to load the relevant Facebook page... only to discover, yup, I already 'liked' that person. Thanks for wasting my time. 

Then it turned into every third link. Then two or three in a row started cropping up. It wasn't long before I'd scroll through whole pages and only see one or two genuinely new authors to connect with. I was starting to recognize their pictures, which helped in not bothering to re-click their links, but in addition the occasional conversations from earlier were also starting to take on a life of their own. I was going from annoyed to frustrated.

Suddenly these side conversations were turning from "Hey, here's how I can help you," into "Hey jerk, why do you need to be a screen-hog? Let the est of us play too, ok?!" (Alright, it wasn't quite that bad, but definite tones of anger and jealousy were evident). 

By the end of my first night scrolling through 18 months of comments, I had made it through 8 months and was nevertheless feeling pretty good. I'd already begun to see my Facebook numbers increase, and two or three people were even chatting with me in private messages. Very nice people, on the whole. Very interesting. But it had been an exhausting 6 or 7 hours, and I needed sleep. 

The next night I jumped in with gusto, intent on finishing the whole thing and getting "caught up!" as many people were frequently posting. I had only 10 to go. I could do that. 

No. I couldn't. You couldn't either.

As time went on, it seemed, each month collected more and more comments, most of them useless or re-posts. I did spend another 6 or 7 hours that night, but I only got through another FOUR months. And what was worse, I was starting to notice how many people had no idea what they were doing. (The idiots I've alluded to several times). 

These people could't get their links to work (just copy from the page's entry bar and paste it here... how hard is that?) 

These people couldn't find somebody's name on their list of likes so clearly they MUST be lying about actually clicking a little button so why not bitch about THAT for another 2 and half weeks? 

And when it was pointed out that a Facebook "like" coming from a page (ie: your author page) rather than your personal account (ie: your real name) for some reason doesn't contribute to Facebook's LIKE-COUNT, it got even MORE complicated. Some people apologized, but most just complained, whined, and argued. This wasn't what I had wanted to get into. I just wanted to network with other authors. 

Yada yada yada, you get the point. 

Day three... repeat of day two. 

Day four... repeat of day three. 

Except I still wasn't done because I was making more and more connections on Facebook and having more and more nice/fun/interesting private conversations (one of which was actually pretty awesome... more on that next time), which of course was taking more and more time away from my progress through the LinkedIn post. 

I think I finished on Day 6 in an eyes-blurred, balls-to-the-wall, 10-hour marathon that took me through the night and well into the weekend. 

Yay for me. I had done it, and my Facebook numbers, connections, and general status as an author was growing. 

It was a bit disappointing for yet another reason, though, because I'd probably only gotten a return of half the people I'd taken the time to 'like' and send a polite private message to. 

*humph* 

Oh well, perhaps they're busy this week. I'll probably hear from them in a few days. 

This turned out to be partially true. Many more did straggle in over the next week or two, and even today I'm still getting the occasional person (more than a month later, mind you) who is responding to the message I sent back in mid-December. But a solid third of the people I connected with have still unequivocally ignored me. 

*grrrrr*

I was tired. I was frustrated. And even worse, I was feeling pretty guilty that I hadn't done a bit of writing in a whole week... 

[Ever notice how that 'guilty' thing keeps coming up? It's almost like there's a theme here.]

... and all in favor of basic marketing. Ug. Is that what the life of the modern day author is going to be all about? 

Answer: Yes. Yes it is. You don't have to do it all at one time like I did, but unless your name is Rowling, Grisham, King, or Steele, you're going to be doing your own marketing as a writer. 

There's one more thing I want to tease...er, tell you about. By the time I got done with all this, I had gotten to thinking that there must be a better way to do it all.  And there is.  I know because I invented it.  

:D

But next time I think I'll tell you about that one awesome private conversation I had that ended up changing everything. Of all the hours and all the frustrations I'd done, I would do them all again if I gained only ONE connection, but it turned out to be as useful as this one.

Satisfyingly yours,

-K.

ps: Words written since last week: Astonishingly, yes, I actually wrote new words!! More than 1300, in fact. I've been revising my newest novel lately, and most of the time all I'm doing is deleting/ changing/ & moving. But yesterday I happened to come across a section that needed a new character. So I wrote new words! Go me! (He's nasty, too. Exactly the kind of guy who would troll LinkedIn feeds to annoy people. Actually, come to think of it, he's much worse than that). 

Busy (Best-Selling!) Beaver, Part 3: More LinkedIn

Hello World, 

This is Part 3 in my ongoing series explaining my experiences going from a relatively unknown writing schmuck to an Amazon best-selling author. Today's post is about more of my experiences on the social networking site, LinkedIn. This is the second post about LinkedIn, so if you haven't yet read the first one, you should probably scroll down & start with last week's blatherings.

...So when I saw all those comments (over 3,700 you'll recall), I was quickly discouraged. There was NO WAY I was going to go through all of those!  Instead, I did what most everybody else did: I posted my own comment with my own link to my own Facebook page, and closed my LinkedIn tab, hoping for the best. 

I was amazed at how quickly I gained more fans. Within two days I had gone from 422 to 450. By December 10th (only a week later) I had crossed 500... a number I had once thought was at least a year in the future. It was the biggest surge since I'd launched my author profile. This was great! 

My proverbial snowball was thus at a precarious position. 

It could easily sit there forever filled with potential, and sadly never move. 

....or...

The gentlest of winds could nudge it downhill.

The nudge in question came when I noticed I was getting some personal messages on facebook. These were all from authors saying they'd found my page through the LinkedIn thread, and would I mind liking their author page in return?  I'm always happy to support and encourage other artists, so even though most of them were not my style of writing I was more than happy to do so. Besides, I thought, It's only fair, right? And who knows, maybe some of them will share some other good writing and marketing ideas. 

I was right on both counts. But that 'other good ideas' part didn't come till later. 

In the meantime I realized that these people who sent me personal messages were getting a lot more exposure. Why? Because they took the time and effort to ask for it... in other words, they worked their ASSES off! It was then I made my decision. 

I was going to go through ALL of those old comments, dammit! I was going to connect with EVERY single author on that list, and every one of them would get my polite, personal message with a link to my page. 

And so it was that the snowball was not so much nudged but thrust down that proverbial hill. 

It took me 6 days and more than 50 website hours, but there was an explosion of activity on my Facebook page. People were liking my pictures, visiting my first couple of blog posts, and commenting about my books. I crossed 600 fans only 2 days later, and I remember joking with my wife that I might actually get to 750 by New Year's Day. Oh how wrong I was. On Christmas day my Facebook author page stood at 888. WHAT!? This was more than double the fans I had started with less than a month earlier. 

By the time the holidays were in full swing, I was exhausted, elated, and unfortunately frustrated. Frustrated? you ask. Good grief, why?  Well, there's one more post I'll need to write about that. For now, let's just say that my LinkedIn experience also had an ugly, annoying, nasty side to it too. 

As I mentioned once before, people are idiots. Still, it was worth the effort.

Appreciatively yours, 
-K.  

ps: Words written since last post: None on paper (or on screen), but I did do some serious thinking and I'm happy to report I had minor breakthrough about one of my major concerns for my "Man Hunt" sequel. I'm very happy about it & I'm looking forward to getting it into the story. 

Busy (Best-Selling!) Beaver, Part 2: LinkedIn

Hello World,

This is Part 2 in my ongoing series of posts explaining my experiences going from a relatively unknown writing schmuck to an Amazon bestselling author. Today's post is about my experience on the social networking site, LinkedIn. This happens to be a long (and important) explanation, so I'm only going to tell you the first half today. (I must stick to my promise to keep these posts relatively short).


:)

I joined LinkedIn a couple of months ago at the advice of a writing friend. I was very slow in using it at first, linking only with people I already knew in real life. But soon enough I decided if I wanted to market myself I needed to reach out and make more connections.

I went on a brief search for other authors and gained a few more connections. Then I learned there were groups that posted useful articles & conversations, so I sought out and joined several writing groups. I occasionally read these posts, but for the most part I kept promising myself to look into them more closely when I got the time.

Little did I know I was actively sculpting the proverbial snowball.

Then one day in early December (yes, just 1 month ago) I found and joined a group called "Book Marketing Group", and almost immediately I got an email saying there was a new comment on one of the posts. The original post was entitled "If you have a Facebook author page, share your link here and we can connect!" Well, I had had a facebook author page for well over a year, and I'd pretty much topped out on the friends/ family who were willing to become my fans, so I thought, Sure! Sounds good to me.

I clicked on it, and the proverbial snowball had been placed at the top of the hill. 

The new comment was an author posting their facebook link. I clicked it, liked her page, wrote her a nice little note on her board in the hopes that she'd like me back, and then went back to the original post to see if there were many more authors I could connect with.

There were.

Over 3,700 comments were in that thread, and the original post had been made more than 18 months earlier.

It was at this point that the snowball was nudged gently toward the edge of the hill. 

What did I do? What were the results? How did this lead to my becoming a bestselling author? Sorry, you'll just have to stay tuned. Click the subscribe button to make sure you don't miss my next post. (Teaser: I didn't sleep much, I got great results, and people are idiots).

Teasingly yours,
-K

ps: Words written since last post: Zero for fiction, but I did fill out an interview questionnaire which I hope will be published very soon. :D

Busy (Best-selling!) Beaver, Part 1

Hello World.
I haven't posted in three whole weeks, which of course I feel very guilty about. But I've been extremely active outside of the blogosphere, and these actions have lead directly to landing my debut novel onto two different Amazon Bestsellers lists!

[pause to bask in imaginary applause from my millions of adoring fans]

Want to know what I did? Well click that subscribe button over there on the right and strap in. Though I'll be the first to attest that I'm no expert, I definitely learned a lot, and I'm happy to share. But my experiences over the past few weeks have also generated too much info to stick on one blog post, so I've decided to break it into several topics of discussion for my upcoming posts, hence the "Part 1" in the title.

But you need something to get you started so I'll give you this... I can summarize what happened in these 3 basic steps:

1) I worked my ASS off*
2) I was rewarded by the sun gods with a little bit of luck
3) I CONTINUED working my ass off

I guess my message of the day would be that you get out of life exactly what you put into it, and that goes for being a writer too. 

Elatedly & Exhaustedly (is that even a word? I'm too tired to look it up) yours,
-K.

Ps: Words written since last post: Zero in fiction, but many thousands in marketing.

*ass-working details coming soon.