Letter to a writer who is losing confidence

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by ScalyFreak

More likely a standard search feature or tag cloud function on the torrent site where that reader found the book

Ah, torrent fairies, then. I shoot those on sight.

[kennyc]

Laser or Sonic Screwdriver?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Laser or Sonic Screwdriver?

Boomstick.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by ApK

Boomstick.

That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by ApK

Would not a similar search on a legitimate book store site yield similar results?

Probably, but I assumed it would be harder to get the book free there.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

And how would that have happened, exactly? Is an ebook fairy involved?

Well in your case, it happened because you put them on your website for free and someone bundled them up with thousands of other scifi books they'd acquired from somewhere and then put them all on a pirate site.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

And how would that have happened, exactly? Is an ebook fairy involved?

I am not defending this practice, but I know many people to use torrent and other sites to sample things before they buy them. They would in this case read your book, and if they like it buy it (or send you money directly), and if not delete it. The people that do this do it with anything can can be distributed via a torrent: Software, movies, music, and etc. This is more common then you would think.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

I am not defending this practice, but I know many people to use torrent and other sites to sample things before they buy them. They would in this case read your book, and if they like it buy it (or send you money directly), and if not delete it. The people that do this do it with anything can can be distributed via a torrent: Software, movies, music, and etc. This is more common then you would think.

It may be common, but I don't consider it right or honest; and I'd bet my house that the number of entertainment products that are enjoyed and NOT paid for would fill the Atlantic. I don't condone it, nor do I think much of anyone who does it.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Well in your case, it happened because you put them on your website for free and someone bundled them up with thousands of other scifi books they'd acquired from somewhere and then put them all on a pirate site.

I'm not talking about free samples; obviously I don't mind people downloading free material. We're talking about products people are intended to pay for, and you know it.

[hrosvit]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.

Gimme some sugar, Baby.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

I'm not talking about free samples; obviously I don't mind people downloading free material. We're talking about products people are intended to pay for, and you know it.

Until you get famous enough for people to search for your ebooks by name it's not worth stressing out over. Anyone who chances over it by accident while looking for something else was never going to buy it anyway.

[VydorScope]

Mark Cook (that his name, right? ) said it best when he said that piracy was not the biggest problem for the independent author, it was anonymity. I think there is a lot of truth in that.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Until you get famous enough for people to search for your ebooks by name it's not worth stressing out over. Anyone who chances over it by accident while looking for something else was never going to buy it anyway.

Really? You've never tried a new author without stealing from him first?

I've paid (small amounts) to several names I'd never heard of but for stumbling over them on the web, including Steve, for that matter.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Mark Cook (that his name, right? ) said it best when he said that piracy was not the biggest problem for the independent author, it was anonymity. I think there is a lot of truth in that.

Ha! That's gotta be the fourth person I've heard that quote attributed to... maybe you're thinking of Smashwords' Mark Coker?

Originally Posted by ApK

Really? You've never tried a new author without stealing from him first?

I've paid (small amounts) to several names I'd never heard of but for stumbling over them on the web, including Steve, for that matter.

As have I... and without stealing them first. I've found most of my independent author reads by word of mouth, though that method has not served me well at all (despite offering my ebooks in all the ways readers like 'em). Good reviews and ratings likewise haven't driven sales.

To an extent, I can blame the subject matter (serious science fiction is being heavily overshadowed by Star Wars-type space battle sci-fi, and all SF is being overshadowed by romance and urban fantasy) and the prevailing publisher-driven attitude (to wit: Indie authors suck), as well as the above-mentioned lack of word of mouth from satisfied readers to their friends... but let's face it, all that blaming only goes so far.

Sooner or later, a carpenter who's good at making chairs looks around his shop, sees a roomful of unsold chairs... and realizes it's time to stop making chairs. That's not to say he has to give up on chair-making; but he needs to stop and figure out how to sell the chairs he's got first. Once that problem is solved, he can go back to making new chairs... or find something else to make.

This is where I am right now (and have been for about 2 years now): Trying to figure out how to sell the stories I've already written, before I write any more. Whether or not I'll write another novel is fully dependent on my success in marketing myself.

And getting back to the OP, I think this is something every writer should consider when deciding if this field is right for them. In hindsight, I should probably have never started writing, since I've never been a good self-promoter, nor do I have a horde of friends to support me and my work. I wish someone had explained it to me, so I might have gone into some more worthwhile activity and spared myself the hassle of writing.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by ApK

Really? You've never tried a new author without stealing from him first?

If stealing includes library and second hand purchases, I would struggle to think of anyone in my entire life, to be honest. These days, most of my new-writer reading is from people giving them away on Amazon, and most of those get discarded long before I reach what would have been the end of the sample anyway.

Too much to read, not enough time to read it in for anything else. That, I think, is the main problem for anyone new trying to sell books, assuming they can string a coherent sentence together. Everyone already has more books than they will ever read.