I just read one of J.A. Konrath's blogs, in which he shares some sales data from his books and ebooks. Inspirational stuff, on the one hand.
Said blog, along with other observations I've been making, have highlighted two changes I need to make if I want to improve my own sales:
1) This one hurts, but it looks like I need to put Virtual Pulp #2 back on the backburner's backburner, and concentrate exclusively on novels. As much as I want to spearhead a revival of pulp adventure magazines, readers are just not as interested in shorter-than-novel-length fiction. It's not as profitable, and I'm in a spot now where I need to maximize profits for whatever I invest my time and effort in. As I write this, I'm working with Amazon to bring Virtual Pulp #1 to paperback. Sadly, I don't know when or if I can sacrifice the time needed to continue the series in either ebook or paperback.
2) I need to get more novels published, to have a wider presence and increase my chances of having my work discovered by readers in my target audience(s). This is the very thing I want to do, truth be told. At any given time, I have at least a dozen story ideas fighting for consumption of my creative energy and I'm going crazy for want of typing the words. But the struggle for my family's economic survival has me occupationally trapped. I work 12-16 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week, and have no shortage of fires to put out when I get an alleged day off. What I've been doing is paring down my sack time to be productive when I should be sleeping...but lately all that time has gone to marketing, not to writing. My marketing efforts have eked out some modest results--enough that I hesitate to neglect it to pursue what's really in my heart (writing).
So I'm caught in a web of Catch-22s, it seems. I know something needs to change. I just don't know how it can.
OK, maybe I am whining a little bit.
Hey Hank,
ReplyDeleteI think virtual pulp is a pretty sweet idea. The solution may be for you to be the editor in chief and publish a variety of works from numerous authors (insert shameless self indulgence here) so you have the time to work on your novels while also helping revive the genre with the magazine. Just an idea.
Yikes--sorry it took so long for me to publish/reply to this comment. I didn't realize it was waiting for me (I'm still not familiar with blogspot too much).
ReplyDeleteBut yeah--that's a great idea. I know, because I've had it myself. ;-) So by all means, if someone would like to contribute to Virtual Pulp #2 or future editions...send me some pulpy fiction!
That would truly be a dream job.