Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
Indeed. We tried swimming in publisher-house waters, but for what they pay for an entire book, we could barely do a chapter. That's hyperbole, of course--but not by much.
I'm not sure I'd call it "ridiculous." I'm constantly surprised at the phenomenon of fans wanting personal contact with authors. I mean, sure, if I was already in a bookstore, and one of my fave authors happened to be there, great, I'd probably grab a signature, or something, but get all stalk-ery, on a website? Meh.
Nonetheless--it's obviously something that works. Indy authors that cultivate that type of relationship, create mailing lists, send out announcements and the like seem to have better sales than those that don't.
FWIW.
Hitch
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Some indie authors even hold contests to name characters and advise on other stuff.
They actively engage their readers.
But then, there is the flip side to that one.
Some authors will cull their mailing list if the reader does not actively click a link to their website or if it appears the reader isn't looking at it. Some people use mail previewers.
Now the funniest one that ever happened to me was an author got upset because I left a comment on a review at Amazon so he kicked me off his mailing list.
Oh well, his loss.