2018 In Review

2018 is just about over.  For me, it represented the start of the next chapter in the Verdan Chronicles. It all started somewhere between 1980 and 1982.  I had a story in my head.  It took place on a world in my head.  And it was lived by dozens of characters in my head.  In 2017 I completed the story that began all those years ago.  But a few things happened along the way.  While the high level story never changed from what I originally envisioned, there were still several twists and turns along the way that seemed both natural and surprising.  I fell in love with my characters and I enjoyed writing.  Others expressed interest in what wrote, so I published it and the feedback I got was generally very positive.  Was it possible I wrote something others could enjoy?  Well, unless people were being generous and kind without knowing me, their feedback was encouraging.  That was very important.  It kept me motivated to “get my books out there”.

So, let’s recap.  In 2018 I decided there was an extended story worth telling.  I came up with an outline and committed to doing three more books.  It was an up and down year from the perspective of having time.  I originally hoped to publish volume 10 by year end, but I can say as of today that I’ve finished my final draft and have engaged Lulu to begin the publishing process.  I expect the book to be published in a January/February timeframe.

So where do the Verdan Chronicles stand as of today?

• Books published – 9
• The Fourth Age ratings – 12 (ratings out of 5 stars, 7-5s, 3-4s, 1-3, 1-1)
• Other volume ratings – 3 (rating breakdown out of 5 stars, 3-5s)
• 2018 # of books sold – 86 (down from 88 in 2017)
• 2018 revenue earned – $126.10 (up from ($97.66 in 2017)
• 2018 publishing expenses - $1025.00
• 2018 marketing expenses – $911.68 (Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, Illustration)
• The Fourth Age Amazon kindle sales rankings as of 12/16/18 – 374,385 out of 4,125,948; 23,612 in Sci Fi/Fantasy out of 166,982
• Facebook Page Likes/Page Follows – 618 likes/624 follows

So, what does that all mean?  It means if I wanted writing to be my profession, I’ve totally gone about this the wrong way and would starve to death.  It means while not everyone thinks my story is worth reading, most people who give it a shot generally like it.  It means I’ve sold more books than 90% of the other authors whose books are available on Amazon, which also means most authors are not able to support themselves just through writing. I’m in good company. But at the end of the day, I still enjoy my story and I still enjoy writing.  And if the next 1000 reviews are negative, I still have a dozen that are good, and those are the ones that keep me sharing my story, writing blogs and updating people through Facebook.  And I have the one review that matters the most…my own.  I love my story.  If I didn’t, I’d never be able to get through the half dozen or more rereads and drafts that I do for each one.  Editing is not always fun, but it is necessary.

So here we are.  Do I have any regrets?  Nope, not really.  If I had tried a more traditional approach which would have required more discipline on the first book and working tirelessly to secure a literary agent so that person could push my books to publishing houses.  I’m certain it would have meant discussions around possibly altering aspects of my story to make it more “marketable”, because if you want to make money, that is your #1 priority.  If you can’t market the book, you can’t make money.  And if you can’t make money, then no publisher or agent is going to support you.  Publishing is a business.  For me, writing was a creative process, I never thought of it as a business.  I wanted to make my book unique.  But in the few seminars I attended I was constantly reminded that in order to sell my book I had to explain what other books it was like.  Publishers need that to know how to market it.  That’s what I was told.  In reality, I could compare my books to about a dozen or more other stories.  But just picking a couple was nearly impossible. I wasn’t trying to write a derivative of someone else’s work.  I was writing my story. With a million or more other authors out there, that makes for a lot of stories, many of them worth reading.

So that's where the book and my head are at this Christmas Eve.  Do I hope more people read my story?  Sure.  Do I hope they like it?  Absolutely.  But with all the choices people have, it takes a combination of luck, hard work, a good support network and a sound approach.  It can happen, but count the number of authors you've even heard of.  Is it anywhere near 4 million?  Is it near 400?  So yeah, a sound approach gives you your best shot, but even that is far from a guarantee.  It really comes down to readers and whether they believe in it.  Are they willing to recommend it?  If you get enough people like that, then anything can happen.  That's the real magic.

Next up...2019.