Gregg, What else can I say but: if we were all the same it would be a boring world.
It was interesting to read of your experience with giving away a book for free. Even though I didn't manage to give many books away, those few did generate a handful of sales of the subsequent books in the series (I suppose having a series can be helpful when trying this approach).
I'm not so delusional as to think cream must always rise to the top (and it's certainly not the only thing that does
). It seems very likely that excellent books have gone unnoticed long before the glut of self-publishing on the Internet.
I've heard the "If you're not writing to be read (sales), you're keeping a journal." suggestion before, but that overlooks a few things. Yes, if all we wanted to do was write, we could skip all the hard editing/cover/blurb stuff and just write (and some days that's really tempting). But undertaking the work required to publish means you probably hope to be read, however ...
Not everything we write is publishable. (Well, not in the world according to me
). We're always learning and sometimes we make mistakes. If it doesn't work for me then I'm not inflicting it on anyone else. We shouldn't expect that every time we put pixels to screen we will produce a masterpiece.
Not everything we publish will sell, some just never find an audience for a variety of reasons.
Everyone has different expectations. I am being read, but only by a very small audience. They seem to like it. That, and satisfying my own cravings to write, has been enough for me - so far.
Everyone weighs costs and benefits differently. Yes, I'd really like to be read more widely, but I have to weigh that against what I'm willing to put into marketing. I've been happy to do the work needed to produce what I think is a good quality end result (I'm not claiming perfection), but I can do most of that from here in my hermit cave. Actually going out into the wilds beyond the cave is something I have trouble pushing myself to do. (And my few attempts to do it before now have not been encouraging - as Homer Simpson would say, "if at first you don't succeed - give up."
)
Time/patience. I am published and the books are out there (along with the truth and other mythological creatures). So they're not selling much yet, they might. And if they don't sell this year maybe I'll become an overnight success in another 10 years when I have more books out and one or more of them start to garner attention for one reason or another. Or, maybe, I will eventually get out of my cave and start shouting a bit louder. And even if none of that happens, they are published and at some point (hopefully in the far distant future) will enter the public domain ... who knows, maybe they'll become a book kids are forced to read in school. That'll learn 'em!
In the meantime, I'll keep writing and publishing as much as my time and inclination allows.
None of this is trying to advise others to take my wait-and-see approach to marketing. It's lazy, that's all. I don't want to expend my time and effort that way, I'd rather write.