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Originally Posted by John T. K.
Thanks for the reply. I did not think that readers would pay attention to how much an author has published. Thank you for that perspective. This will be a learning experience for sure.
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If it was one self-contained short story going for free on Smashwords you might find people taking the chance on a new author for something to fill in their next commute. Anything larger is a commitment of time and effort, and readers can be leery of making that commitment - there is just so much coming out to choose from that they can afford to be picky, they'll find something else to read while they wait for you to show that you're serious about it.
A backlist can be important in various ways. (There are exceptions, people who make it big on their first published book, but these are rare ... and you're even less likely to do it with 30 pages.)
One way it's important is that there are many readers like myself out there, that really do look at how much someone has published. If I'm going to take a chance on a new/unknown (to me) author I want to know that if I really like them there is more to pick up. This is especially important with series/serials, I don't want to wait 15 years for the finish.
There are also many people that firmly believe (with some justification) that a writer needs to do their apprenticeship. A backlist shows you've had plenty of practice.
It's also important to your marketing. If you can get a few readers to actually read one short work of yours, you're ahead of the game, doing well, pat yourself on the back.
But, unless you have written something exceptionally memorable, if you have nothing ready for them to follow up with they are going to move on and probably forget your name, so your efforts in getting them to look will have been wasted.
And another way it's important is that you don't get to choose which of your books gains attention. If you read around you will hear about what's called the "breakout book" - it's the book that, for reasons that may remain unclear, gains enough attention to get real sales momentum. It's the sort of thing that marketing may lend a spark to but is unlikely to achieve on its own (at the scale self-publishers can do it).
Given that I have not yet gained fame and fortune (I don't want the first, I wouldn't mind the second
), I might also suggest that you could listen to all my advice and use it as a guide for "How
not to become a famous writer"
. However I can give you a more substantial source for what I've been saying.
Hugh Howey, in
My Advice to Aspiring Authors, says:
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[...]My father at the time wondered why I wasn’t spending all of my time promoting that first book. I told him I had my entire life to promote my works. I only had now to write.[...]
My father now agrees with this approach and sees the value of having a dozen titles available. This is going to sound strange, but you are MUCH better off with your 10th work exploding than your 1st work. You’ll never have quiet time to crank out quality material ever again. And when your backlist matches the growth of your first breakout, you’ll do very well for yourself. Be patient. It’s been said by many others, but I’ll repeat it here: self-publishing is a marathon, not a sprint.
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