Thanks for posting Lisa. I read through that entire thread with interest.
It seems you need to be writing prolifically for 2-3 years, and develop a following, to get anywhere. It also helps having somewhere like here, where you can gain a following, kickstart sales and reviews etc, and give your books more exposure than the average person is going to get.
The same principles should apply to getting not just recognition for authors, but for lush publishing too. We need to be putting out 15-20 titles per year, for several years, in order to start gaining traction.
It was interesting to read about which niches were better than others. I guess the easiest way would be to go through the top seller lists, noting down which genre each title was in, popular keywords / themes etc, and write to suit the demands of the market. It kind of takes the romance out of it all though! I am sure this information is out there already, someone will have done the homework, and be willing to share.
I have noticed, even in the last year, that Amazon has been absolutely flooded with erotica titles. The 50 Shades factor I guess.
To get any kind of foothold in there, you'd probably need all the planets to align:
- Write quality titles, lots of them.
- Write for specific niches, which are popular, stick with them (that thread mentioned the "clumping" habits of ebook readers).
- Writing a series means readers are more likely to repeat buy.
- Network as much as you can, on places like Facebook / Twitter / Review sites, even on here.
It's a hard slog, writing the stories is only the beginning of the journey!
Have you been playing in photoshop again?
It's like the old joke:
Q. How do you make $1m in publishing?
A. Start with $2m.
Thanks Alan, I've signed the petition, tweeted and posted it on FB.
Absolutely ridiculous. I can't see it happening to be honest (It isn't April 1st is it? This has got to be a joke, surely).
