Sunday, August 23, 2015

The Caterpillar of Destiny

Seek and ye shall find

It was almost exactly a year ago when I set off on a journey in Scandinavia that led to the creation of my book The Path to Odin’s Lake. A year’s not much time and I’m surprised that I managed to get it written and published in that timeframe. I decided to go down the route of self-publishing for a number of reasons. First and foremost was because the book itself didn’t particularly lend itself to any genre. When people ask me what kind of book it is I jokingly tell them it’s a “peak oil spiritual travelogue”. 

So you see what I mean …

I have had some limited experience with publishing in the past, and once worked as a freelance book editor, so I know the mountain writers have to climb just in order to get noticed. But the business model is changing fast and for good reason.

Not only do many publishers and lit agents mess you around and have increasingly difficult stipulations, authors complain that the burden of promoting their labour of love rests squarely on their own shoulders. Isn’t that supposed to be the job of the publisher (remind me again why they take a hefty fee)? I’ve been down this road before with a previous book I wrote. The publisher requested so many changes to the manuscript that I spent almost a year re-writing it - three times. And then, when it was done, they simply dropped it, saying that their catalogue was full up and the person who commissioned it had left the company. All that work for nothing!

Furthermore, somewhere, in the loft, I’ve got around 300 printed rejection letters from agents and publishers  for various weird tales and book projects I’ve written over the last fifteen years. There was, I estimated, an approximately zero percent chance of finding a publisher for The Path to Odin's Lake, so I decided to save myself some time and effort.

I'm not complaining but perhaps you can see why having weighed up the options I decided to take advantage of the new possibilities opened up by self-publishing. Not only do you get complete control over your own book but, due to print-on-demand, you literally press a button and it’s published. Bingo!

Of course, there are downsides. It’s 100% down to you to promote your book, and you find yourself somewhat at the mercy of Amazon, who will change the retail price to a penny if you aren’t careful. Production costs are paid for by the author, and many self-published books run the risk of disappearing into the ether without selling a single copy.

I’m quite proud of my book but it took some considerable up-front payments to birth it. I spent about three months writing and re-writing it and I got an artist friend in Spain to design the cover. A professional copy editor needed paying, and then you have to pay Amazon for author copies. I sent around 20 review copies to people, bloggers and organisations around the world (some of whom asked for them and some who didn’t – all of which seem to have disappeared into a black hole without so much as an acknowledgement). All in all I sunk about £1,000 into the project, plus about 300 hours of writing work and another hundred or so running the social media gauntlet in an attempt to promote it.  

Once the book was ‘out there’ a strange thing began to happen. For a start - it being something of a radical truth book dealing with peak energy, civilizational collapse and the journey of the soul – I wasn’t entirely sure what family and friends would think of it. To be honest, I was quite worried – if they didn’t already think I was loopy they certainly would now. And with good reason, it turns out. Some people rushed out to buy it, then sent me pictures of it having turned up in the mail … and then never spoke to me again. A couple of people 'unfriended' me on social media, and one person told me that I might be better off ‘not thinking so much’. I can just imagine the conversations they may have had with their partners: “You remember that bloke Jason – you know, the editor who quit his job and moved to Cornwall? Well, he’s gone completely bonkers. He ran off into a forest in Sweden and ate a load of magic mushrooms, was last seen talking to caterpillars and birds and swimming naked around a lake ranting about Norse gods.”

My old newspaper, The Copenhagen Post (much diminished) duly obliged with the meme: I took magic mushrooms, confesses former Copenhagen Posteditor. (Note – not so much of a confession as an overt promotion).

A few other local newspapers begrudgingly agreed to mention the book too, including Denmark and Sweden’s The Local, which would only promote it on the condition that I give career advice to its readers (me??? !!!) - and only succeeded in bringing out the haters.

Anyway, once I was over this hump of negativity then another thing started to happen. I began to get messages. These were from people who had read my unusual peak oil spiritual travelogue. Usually they had just turned the last page and felt compelled to contact me. These are a few of the messages I received (with names removed to keep them private):

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Jason - I sat and read your book for 5 hours!!! I just couldn't put it down. I want to get one copy sign by you if possible, to give it to a scientist friend of ours … You are costing us a fortune , my husband's bought two of the books you've mentioned in your book!!! By the way, he also read your book and loved it!!! I have nearly finished and I have enjoyed it very much. We want to get some more and give it as Christmas presents.

***

Voicemail: “Hi Jason, I just finished reading your book and I had to call you. I just wanted to say it was absolutely amazing … seriously the best book I’ve read all year and I’m not just saying that. I honestly couldn’t put it down … was reading it all night. I’m going to make XXX read it too. I just wanted to tell you that. Well done you.”

***

Hi Jason,

Just finished your book - really enjoyed it. I liked the style and pace of it, and wholeheartedly agree with the conclusions you come to in the end.. Esp liked the short passage on trees. I write a little my self so I get that it's a shit load of work too, so big respect - it must be a real pleasure to see it in print. Hopefully you'll get some good reviews.

***

Dear Jason,

I finished your new book about a week ago and just wanted to write to you to thank you for writing it and making it available. I have been following your blog for a few years now and as blog's go I feel I know you much better than you would obviously know a complete stranger off the internet … Wishing you all the best from a chilly Australia.

***

Hi Jason … finished reading your book last night … really enjoyed it … excellent read. I think it’s a really amazing achievement and I’m a bit in awe! xx


***

Obviously, it’s very gratifying and hugely satisfying to get such nice messages from readers. And it’s also quite heart-warming to see that it has several five star reviews on Amazon. Still, it’s an uphill struggle to get the message out about it and as it stands I’m going to be seriously out of pocket unless it is more widely read. So that’s why I’m asking you to buy a copy, if you haven’t already done so, or if you have, consider buying one for a friend whom you think might like it. It’s available as both a paperback and an ebook. Once I have recouped the costs of writing the book I will shut up about it and focus on my next one.

I’m sure you will enjoy at least parts of The Path to Odin’s Lake - either that or you will hate me and never want to speak to me again. But at the very least you’ll get to find out who the Caterpillar of Destiny is.




17 comments:

  1. Hi Jason. One thought is that perhaps there is a significant overlap between your potential audience/readership and those that prefer not to give their money to Amazon. I'm not sure what you have to agree to with Amazon to publish your book there but it may be worthwhile setting up alternatives although i realize that is further commitment and time. The book was tremendous and I'll continue to recommend it to friends.

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    1. Thanks - maybe you are right (some people have asked if they can get it from somewhere other than Amazon). The answer is "Yes". Any bookshop or library can order it, and I've also put an ebook version on Smashwords:

      https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/535580

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  2. Jason,
    Yes, Amazon is evil, but I bough my copy of your book from them anyway.
    One thing you might tell your friends that liked your book is to go on Amazon and paste their favorable emails into the review box that Amazon provides you with. And tell them to give you five stars. I read an article somewhere about a guy who had a business generating favorable reviews for authors for a fee.
    I think the article also said that nothing but five star reviews count. People seem to feel that anything less than five stars means that there is something wrong with the book and they will stay away from it. Amazon reviews are not so much reviews as letters of recommendation.
    I reviewed a book on Amazon that a friend of mine wrote. Had the book been written by some person I didn't know I probably would have given it 3 or 4 stars, but since the book was written by a friend, I gave it 5 stars. For one thing, I didn't want to alienate him, for another, it seems that since anything less than five stars drives away potential customers, it would have been better not to write a review at all than one with less than five stars.
    I don't know if Amazon reviews actually drive sales of self-published books. In your case, I see that you are still at two reviews, the same number as when you first published the book. I don't know if having five reviews or maybe even ten would make a difference, but it surely can't hurt.
    Other than that, reaching out to friends as you are doing is probably as good a tactic as any.

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    1. Hi Wolfgang, a lot of people of conscience will not touch Amazon with a bargepole - there lies the rub. But at this stage they basically control the market. IMO they will self-destruct in time, as all empires do.

      A few people wrote reviews (on both the .com site and the .co.uk - but maybe in the US the .co.uk reviews do not show up). I read somewhere that the more reviews you get, the more the book goes up in the rankings. The more it goes up in the rankings the greater chance of it appearing in the 'You might also like' bar. It's all about getting a leg-up so that the algorithm notices you. In other words, a modest level of sales can propel a book into being 'noticed'.

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  3. Hi Jason,

    It is actually quite chilly down here at the moment and a cloud and drizzle has settled on the farm all day long. It’s better than a bushfire though!

    Well done for getting a paperback copy too and I will purchase one. I'm in the dark ages a bit down here on a techno front and have no additional tolerance for anymore screen time than I already read. But a book, you can handle and savoir and read on the train into the big smoke or at a cafe, and they don't beep or have the batteries run flat - or even crash for some unknown reason.

    I wish you the best with your self-publication of this book and thanks for the update. I will give you some feedback about your story, down the track a bit when I’ve read it.

    Cheers

    Chris

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    1. Thanks Chris - can't ask for more than that!

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    2. Oh yeah, just remembered to ask. Do you do direct sales? Cheers. Chris

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    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    4. Oh no - major fail!!! I have put down the wrong email address above. The email address for my Paypal account is foxwoodsman@yahoo.co.uk

      Sorry about that!!!

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  4. Jason, did you see the post by Dmitry a few weeks/months back in which he says he is creating a book publishing company that will give a better deal to the authors?

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    1. Yes, I saw that. I'm a bit sceptical, but thanks for reminding me.

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  5. Hi Jason,
    Do you still have signed copies? If so, I'd like to buy one. How much should I add for postage to Luxembourg?
    Madeline

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    1. Hi Madeline. Yes - I do have some signed copies available, although there are only a few left. I'm asking £10 each - plus £5.15 for p & p. In euros that'd be €20.39 - but let's say €20.00

      Do you do Paypal? My Paypal email is foxwoodsman@yahoo.co.uk

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    2. Dear Jason,
      Right, I shall paypal you the price straight after I've read your latest blog entry.

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    3. Dear Jason, do you have any copies left of your book? I would like to buy another one, and rather from you directly than from Amazon.
      Regards,
      Madeline

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  6. I just started reading the sample and will order the rest as ebook later today. Must go out to the gardens first. I know if I order it right now I will not stop reading for some hours.

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I'll try to reply to comments as time permits.