It is crazy to go from working on the book for two years to having your work in the world being read.
Despite all the setbacks and challenges, getting to publication has been well worth it in terms of the sense of fulfillment. I wish everyone the best of luck in their writing journeys 😄
—Age of the Titan
So it's been 102 days since my debut launch, and this is a bit of an update (raw facts).
Just an FYI, I am doing this because I want to guide new authors with some DO's and DO NOTs (basically shit I wish someone told me before I started), but first let me tell you all what I've achieved so far.
Time for some stats (from Jan 26 - May 8):
Total sales online (Amazon and IngramSpark channels) - 989
Total sales offline (local bookstores in AU and the US) - 550
Total: 1,539 books.
Achievements to date:
Became an Amazon bestseller in the Horror Suspense and Ghost Thriller categories (not #1, but top 50. Highest I got was #12, which was Horror Suspense).
James Rollins endorsement: Yes, that's right, he read it, reviewed it, and gave me a blurb.
Mind you, he never made a Goodreads review. He sold over 20 million copies of his books, and 1041 (my book) was his first ever Goodreads review.
Andy Weir: No, he didn't read it, but he did reply to my email and tell me he would get to it. He was busy with his movie launch (Project Hail Mary) and his toddler. Doesn't matter, the fact that he replied was super awesome, man!
My strategy (basically shit I did with my ADHD brain):
I sent over 300 free books (physical books) to big TikTokers (TikTok book influencers).
I sent over 100 free audiobook promos to TikTok followers.
I grew my followers on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.
I created a 1041 ad challenge on TikTok that gained over 40k views on TikTok across all competitors accounts and that includes the hashtag 1041book. (You can find my TikTok (@Davidgulasiauthor); the video is there.)
MY ADVICE!
DO NOT THINK, "I'm an indie author, so I'm going to talk about my stress of not selling books online."
Keep your pride, and if no sales come through, don't try and get people to feel sorry for you to gain likes and comments, because they do not lead to sales.... (you can still try this to see if it works, but many people fail doing this).
(Don't be that person that makes content for the sake of making content.)
DO NOT ignore other indie authors and be jealous of them; instead, you should be working with them to promote each other's books. IT WORKS! It is also great to grow your network like that.
DO NOT go to other people's videos and endlessly promote your books in their comments sections UNLESS they asked to see your book.
DO NOT use AI for your cover and social media posts. It's not going to help you. I UNDERSTAND that AI is something that we cannot control, and it's free, BUT remember lots and lots of people do not like it. I'm just saying, you do you, but I hired a guy on Fiverr to do my book cover, and he recorded the process while designing it, and it cost me $100 USD.
As an indie author/booktoker, only 2 authors have reached out and offered to send me their books, that's it. (That's not good. Indie authors should be hustling, not just sitting back waiting for money to land in your lap.)
DO
Reach out to more people.
DO
Engage with followers.
DO
Spend time and a little bit of coin to build a site and grow your website database.
DO
Keep writing. Do not stop. Make another book, and another, and another (if you can, of course).
DO
Use Amazon and get on Kindle Unlimited!!!! (I can't stress enough on this point.)
I made a database of people and connected with all of them. (Shit part is you need money for that. It has cost me more than 3.5k USD to date... no bullshit, that's a lot of fucking money. My wife has absolutely no clue I spent that much on this shit lol, so please shhhh.)
If you don't have the money, then you can send people your e-books instead, but you need to hustle, hustle, hustle....
My book's hype is still out there, but who the hell knows, it might die out before I release book 2.... doesn't really matter. (What I am trying to say is do not care about progress, just keep pumping away.)
Honestly, I just want to get this information out there. I feel like there is a lot of BS on here about self-publishing, I just wanna be real.
By the way, the book I wrote is called 1041: Not All Highways End.
If you have any questions, guys, I'll be more than happy to answer them. I'm not a professional author, so I'm not coming on here trying to pretend like my book is massive or something, I'm just sharing my experience.
Yes, I did have a crazy ADHD overspending stupid strategy. HOWEVER, the book is messed up lol. I wrote it because I was cursed by the numbers 1041 my entire life. It's extremely visceral, gory, scary, and messed up. I guess the fact that so many people reacted to my book is a good thing, so that's probably got something to do with it. Also, because I look like a hairy Teletubby, I'm not exactly a good-looking dude that's great on camera, yet I'm still out here lol.
I really want more indie authors to do well. I'm sure there are heaps of you here that have done much better than me.
I really, really hope you all succeed, guys!
hey everyone just wanted you all to know that o have published my first book of poetry. I have put so much effort into it. I don’t know how to promote it better. but I’ll share it’s link here. hope you all like it.
Songs for Universe: A book of poetry
Cuando era adolescente, creía que mi destino era el arte. Estudié literatura y fotografía, hice algunos trabajos de modelo y actué en un par de pequeñas obras de teatro. Mi realidad actual es completamente diferente: trabajo en la cocina de un restaurante y lo que más hago durante el día es pelar patatas. Mi mayor aspiración es que el chef renuncie algún día para poder ocupar su lugar.
Hace unos años, escribí una novela que me parecía muy profunda. Gasté mucho dinero en la edición y la portada, pero sobre todo invertí muchísimo tiempo. Me llevó años escribirla. La subí a Amazon, pero nadie la descargó. Estaba convencida de que la novela era buena (quizás más de lo que realmente era), pero no vendí ni un solo ejemplar.
Un día me harté. Dije: «Si eso es lo que quieren, les voy a dar exactamente lo que piden».
Escribí Criada para el multimillonario en menos de 5 meses. No invertí ni un centavo: ni en la portada ni en la edición profesional (seguro que le faltan comas y puntos). Está llena de escenas absurdas y personajes totalmente clichés: el millonario que se enamora de su empleada mexicana y la esposa trofeo adicta a la cirugía plástica y a las pastillas. (En serio, mi abuela ya veía esa basura en las telenovelas de las 4 de la tarde). Para asegurarme de que fuera realmente mala, incluso añadí un conflicto con la mafia rusa y un niño con orejas enormes al que llaman Dumbo.
La novela es pura basura. Está llena de exageraciones, parodias, escenas absurdas y locura tóxica. ¿Pero saben qué? La puse gratis durante dos días y la gente la descargó. Ahora no sé si sentirme orgullosa o avergonzada.
Si quieres ver el resultado de mi crisis existencial, el libro está en Kindle Unlimited. Léelo bajo tu propia responsabilidad. (FREE TODAY)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GZQ396ZB
PD: Si no te gusta… pues qué se le va a hacer. Mañana volveré a pelar patatas como cualquier otro mortal.
My amazing wife just released her preorder campaign, and her publisher put her at a large uphill battle with a lofty goal. the packages feature some REALLY COOL and interesting perks, as well as tickets for her NYC release party! My wife is a High School Teacher, Mother, and soon to be Doctor, following her dream for community outreach. She has written these poems from her heart, over the last 6 years, and we would LOVE your support.
Please click below and check out her info. Purchase if you can, donate if you'd like, but even a share with friends would mean the ABSOLUTE WORLD. Thank you all! hopefully you like it!
(I know the rules are for self promotion, but I'm her husband, and she's not on Reddit. I have full permission to post on her behalf)
So this is my new project that im working on
Like title says a different genre and different story here i have no one to give feedback about that
Read my story on webnovel and let me know your tbh opinions on that
Synopsis of my story :
Every night at midnight, the world resets.
For everyone else, it’s just another day.
For Magnus Fero, it isn’t.
As small changes begin to carry over between resets,
Magnus realizes the loop isn’t perfect and something is reacting to what he does.
The more he pushes, the more unstable everything becomes.
Now, he’s no longer just trying to understand what’s happening.
He’s trying to survive it.
It will be a professional mind-bending story and i promise you it'll keep you thrilled throughout the time
Do visit and read this, i dont need views i need honest readers and their perspectives of my story
See ya