Cole Blooded has been my first publishing failure - blog
Added 2019-09-08 09:34:26 +0000 UTC*Going to post this on Facebook, too*
*This is kind of a transparent blog post to type out some of my reflections. This is meant to show you guys what it's like to be a professional author during the times when I'm not announcing a new release or working on something new. This post is a reflection of my thought processes while looking at spreadsheets and monitoring royalties. The business side of writing can be brutal*
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Dang this has been a rough month. Cole Blooded is going to be my worst release of all time by a long shot, like, no question.
At this point, I won't even come /close/ to breaking even with what I put into it, like art, advertising etc. I actually just pmed Outspan Foster that if he wants to pause work on the audio book for it, he can, no hard feelings.
And yes, I know that this month was a bad one to release. We had labor day weekend, people going back to school, folks coming home after spending money on conventions, Will Wight dropping a preorder, Michael-Scott Earle opening his store, etc etc etc.
This was a bad time of the year to launch a new book anyway, but all these other things have kind of spun into a perfect storm that haven't helped matters. Granted, a really awesome new book, or a sequel to a really awesome new book would probably still do okay, but apparently Cole Blooded just hasn't interested readers enough to give it a shot.
As an author (especially an indie author), people buying a new book a few months after it launches are nice, but if they don't buy it and review it within the first 2 or 3 weeks, it won't engage the Amazon algorithms and people in the store won't even see it.
To reiterate, authors like me need readers to buy a book right after it launches and review it ASAP. This is why we YELL YELL YELL online, or encourage readers to share releases, or spend money on Amazon and Facebook to spread the news of new releases coming out, then stop most of that sort of thing about 2-3 weeks later.
Normally, an author like me with a following can get these Amazon algorithms moving just based on the following that I already have. This time around, my gamble didn't pay off, though, through a mix of circumstances this month (and this time being bad to release books anyway), and maybe because the book just didn't interest or appeal to readers for whatever reason.
This is not a pity party--I'm working on my anthology short story, Delvers 4, First Song 2, and Asgard Awakening, which I know will help pay the bills. 2019 hasn't been a great year for me as a writer, but I'm not going to have to quit and go back to the corporate world yet...hopefully ever.
However, this is an FYI that anyone waiting for SOO 2 is probably gonna have to wait longer. Sorry. I was hoping to write some more SOO this year, but right now I don't think I can justify it.
Like Cole Blooded, SOO was a shorter book, and I'm not sure it'd really sell well if I were to write a sequel right now. In order to spend the time to write it (especially since I'm slow), I need to have money rolling in so I can make sure I can pay the bills and not worry about tomorrow.
Being an indie writer is fun sometimes, but when it comes to this advertising spend, ROI, dollars and cents stuff, this is a job like any other. To be perfectly honest, part of my current lame year is my fault, because I enjoy pushing my craft, taking risks, and experimenting. What I /should/ have been doing the last 16 months is writing Delvers book after Delvers book.
I feel satisfied with my decisions, though--both for artistic integrity, and to be blunt, because I'm a much better writer now. My craft has improved a ton, especially through writing Nora.
Now I can give my core readers even better books in the future, and I'm excited about that.
Delvers 4 is gonna be absolutely lit, I know everyone will love it. It just sucks to know that not every new project is going to hit or resonate with fans.
Oh well. We can't have ups unless we have downs, right?
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*Note: Please don't feel sorry for me and go out to buy Cole Blooded unless you genuinely want to read it. That was not the purpose of this post. At this point, the launch has done so badly that I doubt anything will save it. It is what it is.
All I can actually ask is that if you read Cole Blooded, or are going to, please leave a review. That will actually help a lot. (Amazon shares books in their store in part based on how many reviews they get)
I want to entertain people with fun stories, not beg for success. If Cole Blooded didn't interest you, hopefully one of my next books will.
That said, as member of my Patreon, you guys can help steer me in the right direction with new projects. This is the place to do it.
Other than my series I already have out, the only new one I might launch before ending some of the others would be a cultivation/Xianxia series with Outspan.
I know some of you liked the dream I wrote out a few months ago. It'd be something like that. :)
-BC
Comments
I hear you. All I can say is that I really believe Delvers 4 will be worth the wait. I'll have another chapter up soon.
Blaise Corvin
2019-09-30 02:49:24 +0000 UTCyou seem to know that delvers llc is how to make money. i found you with delvers, i read nora, and first song, and i liked them but every time one of those came out and not delvers 4 it kinda feels like you neglect what got you fans in the first place. keep doing these side projects but give that main a little love get 4 out start 5 release a side project after 4 then 5 then side
2019-09-30 02:07:08 +0000 UTCI read Cole Blooded up to my reaction of "Fortnite with Dolos orbs" meh. BC did seem excited about it, I assume that's a working title
Carl Gherardi
2019-09-19 18:58:39 +0000 UTCHe did. That's how the book ended was that everyone just assumed instead of listening carefully and thinking critically.
Blaise Corvin
2019-09-12 13:42:02 +0000 UTCWould it have been better if Dolos had given a group a chance? Limiting it to one person makes the choice extremely stark.
Oliver
2019-09-12 12:47:14 +0000 UTCI’m finding that a lot of LitRPG has gotten very monotonous and I’m starting shy away from the new stuff as a result. I really enjoy your Delvers Universe because you only use game mechanics to define the magic system and progression, then you set out to tell a real story that’s not very game like. Like a lot of other commenters, I found CB to be a miss pretty early on mostly because the whole battle royal thing doesn’t lend itself to a non-game like story and the ending is usually predictable.
Justin
2019-09-11 20:48:57 +0000 UTCOh I should probably also note that since ALL the chapters were released on Patreon, there wasn’t a point to me buying it since I didn’t enjoy it. I might a book I’m not totally into if I’m invested enough, but def not one that I’ve already finished and know I’m not interested in at all. If I were you I would never release at LEAST the last fourth of your books anywhere before publishing date!
Drew Risch
2019-09-09 23:34:26 +0000 UTCI gotta say I’m sorry it didn’t do well for you but after the first couple of chapters I lost interest in this one. I love everything else you’ve released but this one I couldn’t enjoy for some reason.
Jonathan Campbell
2019-09-09 04:50:07 +0000 UTCI think the reasons I didn’t like or buy CB were 1. Because it’s a battle royal, we know that the main character is going to win. There’s only one way to win a battle royal. Yes, it’s about the journey, not the destination, the the journey is also locked in when it comes to a battle royal - you have to kill everyone, one way or another. I could (and did) read only the first few and the last few chapters and got the whole story, essentially. Since all these characters will die (except 1), there’s no attachment. And 2. We already have characters we want to see about in the delvers universe, and idk why (maybe because of reason 1) but I just wasn’t interested in someone new right now.
Drew Risch
2019-09-09 00:31:08 +0000 UTCJust wasn't my cup of tea. I'm reading less and less in the litrpg genre outside of a handful of series I want to finish. It was a phase, I read a lot, and now it's over.. I really liked the Nora books even if I disagree with the direction plot is taking her in Delvers. And yeah, Delvers is where it's at.
School work
2019-09-08 17:43:49 +0000 UTCThanks for the feedback
Blaise Corvin
2019-09-08 16:55:47 +0000 UTCYou definitely didn't have to do that, but I really appreciate your support. Thank you
Blaise Corvin
2019-09-08 16:55:18 +0000 UTCWell, picked it up in KU, only got a couple of chapters in before I gave up. Didn't feel it was up to your usual quality of dialog and plot - sorry. Looking forward to the next Delvers and Asgard books - those are well done. I felt that the Nora books were necessary and a hard subject, very good but not "fun'.
Ben Sevier
2019-09-08 16:46:29 +0000 UTCI really think it was the genre more than anything. I buy/read everything you put out, but I just can't do battle royale. Knowing ahead of time that almost all of the characters I'm reading about are going to die and/or kill each other is just a no-go, especially with an author of your caliber. I *know* you're going to write great characters I will care about, and I can't divorce myself from the story enough for the whole ride to not be an incredible downer. However, I'm moving up a tier here, so I'll at least help offset it. ;-)
Dennis Erwin
2019-09-08 15:16:43 +0000 UTCWell, I also didn’t get it in my Amazon notice until yesterday. I have you set to “followed” but I rarely get notices about your releases until well after they have already been read by yours truly. I am sorry it was such a dud for you.
Ashlazaria
2019-09-08 14:51:03 +0000 UTCLike I said in the post, a lot of it was circumstances, I think. Some of it was a failure on my part. As competition gets greater, as it has been this month, a new launch of a brand new series just has to be that much more on point. Of course, I could always blame Amazon, and they are somewhat to blame--they control the algorithm and how stuff gets shared. But even my facebook ads haven't done very well. All I can do is learn from the experience and be thankful I didn't screw up a Delvers LLC or First Song launch...lol
Blaise Corvin
2019-09-08 14:47:33 +0000 UTCI'll be honest--whether there is an audio book at this point is kind of up in the air. If the book doesn't start selling better, it'll be up to whether Outspan Foster wants to keep taking a chance on it (he's doing the narration).
Blaise Corvin
2019-09-08 14:44:47 +0000 UTCWow. That is surprising. I enjoyed the book (and left a review). It was an interesting spin. Nothing was overly surprising, but it was a fun read. Then again, not much of yours is out that I have not enjoyed.
Ashlazaria
2019-09-08 13:50:06 +0000 UTCDolos has only been slightly revealed to us readers, but he seems to be a researcher first and foremost. So, is it arrogance that leads him to his regard for most mortals? Could it be a developed method? The most EFFICIENT way to collect and set subjects toward a desired path. One that has proven the most generally effective over millennia. Perhaps jostling them towards anger or irreverence saves a great deal of fuss. Interesting.
Joshua Graybill
2019-09-08 13:42:54 +0000 UTCI’ve been making my way through it this morning. Man am I glad that I didn’t skip ahead to where I left off in the early release chapters! Revisiting the intro is changing my expectations of this entire world.
Joshua Graybill
2019-09-08 13:34:40 +0000 UTCI plan on picking up Cole as a audiobook if it does come out as one... That's how I ingest all of your books.
Matt Whitlow
2019-09-08 13:24:01 +0000 UTCNora still helped me pay the bills, just not get ahead. Cole Blooded has been a black hole that some money went into and will never come out. The experiment was hardly scientific, but I will probably never pay that much for overhead on a release ever again. The goal was to give a longshot story every chance to succeed, but it kind of bit me in the ass.
Blaise Corvin
2019-09-08 10:01:50 +0000 UTCI already posted my reaction to Cole elsewhere. I for one was glad you wrote Nora even though I could FEEL that you were getting discouraged by the numbers for THAT one. But I wasn't a huge fan of Battle Royale either. If you want to read a REALLY early version of the idea try "Tunnel in the Sky" by Heinlein.
Daniel Sifrit
2019-09-08 09:55:20 +0000 UTC
