Why I blog

Why do I blog?

A number of people haven't asked me this question  Actually, no one has.  But I've decided to answer the question as though they had.

The answer is . . . . actually, I'm not going to tell you until the end of this post.  That way, you have to read everything until you get to the bottom . . . or you could just scroll down and get the answer . . . Never mind.  I'll just tell you now and you can read from that point on or not.  Up to you.

I do it because the emo bunnies make me blog like a puppetmaster makes his puppets dance.

That's right.  The emo bunnies are in control.  You are surprised, I know.

Evolution of a blog.

I started this blog because I was told that it was an important tool to market books.  Actually, I was told that I should start my own website for my books.  That sounded like a lot more work.  I really should start my own website still.  However, I've done more research since that time and discovered it really is a lot of work.  My time is limited and I'd rather spend it writing books, so I settled for a blog.

I named it "The World of Ryallon" because that's where my fantasy novels take place.

Speaking of marketing, feel free to try out my books, if you haven't already. :)  The emo bunnies recommend my Stories for Demented Children.

              

The blog has developed over time though.  I don't use it to market near as much as I should.  Instead, I use it to talk about stuff on the rare occasion that I actually feel like talking about anything.  A lot of my posts are random musings about life and things I think about.  Most of them are probably a good indication that I lack sanity.

I also write tutorials for other writers.  These include details on how to write, edit, market and various other details involved in self-publishing.  Much of these tutorials are part of my journey and sharing the things I've learned along the way.  Hopefully the advice is helpful to those who follow.

I still use it as a marketing tool.  Most of the posts are updates as to what I'm writing and how things are going overall.  I post sneak peak chapters every now and then, which my fans really like.

How the blog is doing.

It's actually doing pretty well.  I don't post often enough, but it gets a lot of views.  The details of my books interest my fans.  I occasionally get new readers who discover my work after reading my posts.  And the emo bunnies are . . . well, they're still miserable, but that's just how they roll.

My first post was may 13th, 2011.  Since then, I've published 124 posts and had over 200,000 views.  My most popular post is "How to make a clickable table of contents in Microsoft Word" with over 100,000 views.  Yeah, that's right.  Over half of my views have been for a tutorial on Word.

In Conclusion

I've been doing this for 4 years now and intend to continue for as long as I'm writing.  I'm sure things will evolve more over time.  We shall see where the journey takes us.

All my best,

John H. Carroll
and the emo bunnies.

The steps to becoming a rich Indie Author

I have discovered the necessary steps for Indie Authors to become rich! 

Keep in mind that I am not currently rich (I keep failing at step #5), so this is just theory.  That said, I've been self-published for over a year now and have achieved small success.  I've also paid close attention to how others have succeeded.  In about 2-4 years, I will honestly be able to support myself with my writing (maybe sooner if step #5 happens)

1.  Write something and publish it.

This is the obvious statement.  Write something and submit it to Amazon, Smashwords, or wherever you like.  The more places it's published, the more likely it is to get noticed.

Now, if you go straight to step #5, it doesn't even have to be good (It pains me to tell you that)  I've seen books that have been published with a couple of pictures taken from a cell phone and a caption.  It's ridiculous.  I beg of you to write something worth reading.


2.  Make it interesting.

This is my favorite part; a strength of mine.  It's even more important than step #3 although maybe not as important as step #4.  I like it better than step #4 though.  (Nothing is as important as step #5.  You can even skip step #1 and win the lottery if you have step #5, although you have to write something to be a rich Indie Author)

Writing an interesting story will draw people in and if one person tells others that it's interesting, you'll sell more.  People are more likely to buy your next books too.

Write something fascinating.  Take the reader on a journey into a new world.  Make the reader stay up all night and call in sick to work the next day because they want to find out what happens in the end!


3.  Make it good.

This is an odd statement, isn't it?  Good is different than interesting.  There are well-written books out there that have every word spelled correctly and punctuation precisely placed . . . and they're insanely boring to anyone with even the slightest imagination.

However, it's difficult to read an interesting story if the words are all spelled incorrectly.


4.  Get as many people as you can to notice it.

AKA - Marketing and social networking.  That's right.  Facebook, twitter, blogs, review sites, your mother (If she buys the book, it's a sale.  Don't underestimate how difficult this can be. If you do step #2, she may tell her bridge club.)

You can write the best book in the world, but if nobody knows about it, it won't sell.  I won't belabor this point.  Indie Authors have been agonizing over this to no end.


5.  Get super lucky.

And here we get to the key, the one step that the writer doesn't have full control over. The degree to which you do the other steps is the degree to which you influence this one.

I've written and published 4 novels, 1 novella and 8 short stories (step #1).  I have reviews that tell me that my stories are definitely interesting (step #2) and many that tell me they are well-written (step #3).  There have been a few reviews that compare me to a teenager who should be failing English Lit. but I'm constantly trying to improve with each writing (step #6), And I'm letting people know about my books (step #4) so . . .

However, I have not gotten super lucky.  And yes, I'm saying super lucky.  I've been slightly fortunate here and there, but not super lucky.  To sell a million books, your work has to be noticed by the right people at the right time.  Those people have to like it and tell everyone else.  Then everyone else has to take an interest in it.

If you want to become a rich Indie Author, you need to write and publish a book and then get super lucky.  Everything else is optional.




6.  Repeat steps 1-4.

Okay, so step #5 isn't happening for you.  Do it again.  That's right.  Write another story and publish it.  I highly recommend applying steps #2 and #3.  Too many people right now are trying to skip straight to #5 after doing #1.  They put out a bunch of crap, making the rest of us look bad.

If you do steps #1, #2, #3, #4 and #6, then after a while you'll have a steady, income producing list of books.  Get enough good, interesting books out there then you can make a living off of it even if you're not rich.

In Conclusion

As I said, I'm not rich (yet), but I have been actively doing all the steps except #5.  As a result, I'm starting to supplement my income nicely.  If I write two or three interesting, good books per year, I'll be supporting myself before long.

All my best,

John H. Carroll

The hats an Indie Author wears

This is about all the hats an Indie Author has to wear when self-publishing.  I would like to note that it's very important to have the emo bunnies do these positions, because trying to do them by oneself could lead to insanity.

Writer

This is your job.  Don't worry about any of the rest.  Let the emo bunnies take care of it.

Emo Bunny in charge

This is the bunny that makes certain all the other emo bunnies are doing their jobs; the CEmO, the Executive Director Bunny, the President Bunny.  However, this emo bunny usually spends all his time on the golf course eating the grass, so he doesn't count.

Emo Bunny Editor

This is the bunny that makes certain the story is good.  She is responsible for the flow of the story and cuts things that don't add to the main plot.

Emo Bunny Copy Editor

This is the bunny that makes certain every word is spelled correctly and is in the right place.  This emo bunny tends to take a lot of naps and loses focus often when working for Indie Authors.

Emo Bunny Publisher

This is the bunny responsible for getting files formatted and uploaded to Smashwords, Amazon, B&N, Apple, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, Scribd, Wattpad . . . and numerous others.  It's very important that everything be done exactly right here, so have Emo Bunny Resources put your least depressed bunny in charge of this.

Emo Bunny Marketer

By far the busiest job.  It's best to have numerous bunnies to work on this.  They won't talk to each other much unless it's about how much they like rainy days.  They post new releases to forums, Getfreeebooks.com, Ereader News Today, Breakthrough Bookstore, Goodreads, Book Junkies Library, etc . . . Due to so many bunnies working on this, things usually get missed.

 

    

 

Emo Bunny PR Agent

Very similar to the marketer, but this one handles emails, facebook, twitter and everyday conversations on forums that aren't about the books.  These bunnies should be cute because they're trying to get people to like the writer.  Luckily, emo bunnies are even cuter than normal bunnies.

Emo Bunny Accountant

This is a very boring job for most bunnies working for Indie Authors not named Amanda Hocking, making it the most sought after.  Even though it deals with complicated numbers and even taxes, there's usually not enough revenue to stress over anything.  Of course that never stops an emo bunny from stressing.

Emo Bunny Resources

This is the equivalent of Human Resources.  But since Indie Authors can't afford humans, we have to settle for emo bunnies.  This office is responsible for keeping track of them.  It's usually unstaffed due to lack of interest.

Conclusion

It's a really bad idea for an author to try to take on all of these tasks alone.  Publishing houses have large staffs of humans to do all of it.  If you can't afford humans, get minions.  My minions just happen to be emo bunnies.  I advise against getting ducks because they're noisy, obnoxious and they nip.