u/MiraWendam

I'm pretty young. I write standalone sci-fi thrillers with no interconnection. Only one book out, a cyberpunk thriller. It came out end of October. It is in KU, so I can't reach out to bloggers, etc, anymore to give them a free copy. Can't see myself ever writing a series. I'm (incredibly) short on £££, but I'm trying my best. I make my own covers. I do my own (extremely thorough) editing—I've got a whole checklist for this. This all takes around maybe... eight months?

Website is up. Can't pay for a domain right now, so I'm using Wix's free version. Definitely going to get one as soon as I have a stable income. No social media aside from Reddit. I don't think it's necessary. Email newsletter has been up since last year. I've got a Goodreads, a Storygraph, an Amazon account.

I did my very first newsletter swap in March on StoryOrigin, so that's one thing off my bingo, but I just can't spend ~£9 every month to do them.

I haven't been promoting my book a lot, so I've only had eight sales this year. My goal is fifty for this single book so I at least reach ninety (or thereabouts) copies sold, but I don't care much if I hit it. I know a single book won't turn me a quick profit. Got this from my "author journal": initial sales are usually slow, but they build reputation, audience, trust—setting stage for gradual, lasting success over time.

What I'm basically trying to get at—and I feel like I've rambled here—is I'm unsure of what I should now be working towards. Reviews and ratings on all platforms haven't hit double digits. I know I can't make readers review or rate, but it'd be damn nice to not see the number change once in a blue moon.

Goals I'm thinking of working towards are:

- Enter sites like Freebooksy, Bookbub now?

(I'll have to research on how to do a priced-down promo for my book as I know free books net free downloads but don't turn them into reviews, ratings, or even readers.)

- Facebook for ARCs? Do I need to "warm up" my account or can I just post in groups from the get-go? No idea how FB works, so research is needed. Is FB good for indie authors or what? How was your experience? I don't want an Instagram again due to a personal reason.

- 10-15 / 20 Amazon reviews across all marketplaces. Doable?

- 50 newsletter subscribers - currently at 26. Free reader magnet, a short sci-fi thriller.

I'm pretty busy trying to find ARC readers, sorting out the paperback and ebook for my next book's release, so there's that.

Going to keep this short. I'm pretty young. I write standalone sci-fi thrillers with no interconnection. Only one book out, a cyberpunk thriller. It came out end of October. It is in KU, so I can't reach out to bloggers, etc, anymore to give them a free copy. Can't see myself ever writing a series. I'm (incredibly) short on £££, but I'm trying my best. I make my own covers. I do my own (extremely thorough) editing—I've got a whole checklist for this. This all takes around a year.

Website is up. Can't pay for a domain right now, so I'm using Wix's free version. Definitely going to get one as soon as I have a stable income. No social media aside from Reddit. I don't think it's necessary. Email newsletter has been up since last year. I've got a Goodreads, a Storygraph, an Amazon account.

I did my very first newsletter swap in March on StoryOrigin, so that's one thing off my bingo, but I just can't spend ~£9 every month to do them.

I haven't been promoting my book a lot, so I've only had eight sales this year. My goal is fifty for this single book so I at least reach ninety (or thereabouts) copies sold, but I don't care much if I hit it. I know a single book won't turn me a quick profit. Got this from my "author journal": initial sales are usually slow, but they build reputation, audience, trust—setting stage for gradual, lasting success over time.

What I'm basically trying to get at—and I feel like I've rambled here—is I'm unsure of what I should now be working towards. Reviews and ratings on all platforms haven't hit double digits. I know I can't make readers review or rate, but it'd be damn nice to see the number change once in a blue moon.

Goals I'm thinking of working towards:

- Enter sites like Freebooksy, Bookbub now?

(I'll have to research on how to do a priced-down promo for my book as I know free books net free downloads but don't turn them into reviews, ratings, or even readers.)

- Facebook for ARCs? Do I need to "warm up" my account or can I just post in groups from the get-go? No idea how FB works, so research is needed. Is FB good for indie authors or what? How was your experience? I don't want an Instagram again due to a personal reason.

- 20 Amazon reviews across all marketplaces. Doable?

- 30 newsletter subscribers - currently at 26. Free reader magnet, a short sci-fi thriller.

I'm pretty busy trying to find ARC readers, sorting out the paperback and ebook for my next book's release, so there's that. Am I doing well? I suppose I'd also like some encouragement!

Even the main character(s). An author can introduce someone in vivid detail, but the moment I turn the page, my mind just lets go of it.

It’s not that I can’t understand descriptions. If an author says “green trousers” or “aquiline nose,” I can picture those details in isolation fine, but unless the book constantly reinforces what a character looks like as a whole, I can’t seem to hold onto a complete image of them.

I can read well. I can follow the plot, the dialogue, all of that lands. But in my mind, there’s no actual figure attached to any of it. No face, no consistent body, nothing solid. I read the name on the page and that's what I see. Barbara in New Times Roman. Chad in Palatino. Marcus in Cochin. Greg in Comic Sans. But they're phantoms. When it comes to faces, voices, builds, even a minute later, all gone.

Weird part is that this doesn’t happen when I’m writing. As an author, I have no trouble with my own characters. I can picture them, describe them, work with them. When I’m reading, though, nothing sticks in the same way. I read books like I'm watching a movie (I find this easier to do, for some reason) but there's really no "actors".

It's a little frustrating.