I first saw this yesterday courtesy of the talented Kaye George who posted the news that Duotrope will start charging January 1, 2013. You can choose to either pay $5.00 a month or $50 for a year of access. They also will now have some gift certificates at various lengths to choose from.
I certainly understand why they will now be charging. Don't blame them a bit.
I probably will not make the leap because for me $50 (the better rate) is a huge investment in a service that frequently has incorrect information.
Beyond that fact, the plain truth of it is, I am not writing my own fiction anymore. Sales of Mind Slices have been seriously disappointing with maybe one out of ten actually following through on promises to buy the book. All together with all the various platforms added together, near as I can tell I have sold a whopping 14 copies with six very positive reviews. I knew it would not set the word on fire, but I did hope for a better deal than this.
Right now, when I am not working on yet another letter to the insurance company or government agency trying to fix one error after another, the only thing I am doing is working on reviews. Something I am seriously considering ending since so many people seem to feel reviews don't matter, are fake, etc. I originally went into reviewing because I wanted to make a name for myself to make it easier to bypass the slush pile with my own fiction as well as get a paying reviewer gig in the local paper where they constantly ran error filled reviews. That was more than a decade ago.
In the meantime, life happened to us in often very ugly ways. The last two years have been brutal and this past year was epically bad. I already don't like Fridays with a 13 in them and an entire year ending in 13 just can't be good. We have serious problems here, just in what I have shared on this blog, and they extend far beyond what I say in public. I really don't want to be 18 again, but, being an adult seriously continues to suck in massive ways.
Life happened to the markets as well with the ongoing collapse of the newspaper industry, the rise of Amazon where anyone can write anything and call it a review, etc. The results are such that my local paper only runs three or four reviews max from always the same people and seems to be heading into a death spiral that will result in an online only edition like many other papers across the country. Magazines that still are open and run reviews are firmly closed to new reviewers.I don't see either situation changing on any level.
As I said this morning to Sandi--I'm 51. At some point it is time to quit banging my head off the walls.
The week ahead is an ugly one. I will update when I can.
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6 comments:
Kevin, this is sad news. Mind Slices is a very good book and you are a very good writer. Just know that you are not alone in having miserable sales - there are a lot of us out here!
I do hope that after a rest you will continue reviewing. The world without a Kevin Tipple review would be a sad thing indeed.
My experience is also that follow through on purchases is lower than what one might hope for, but it's the nature of the game, I think. Having more than one item out there, helps.
I understand how the landscape of reviews has changed, and it is getting harder and harder to sift through for valid reviews, and people sometimes just turn jaded toward any and all of them.
Hope your week goes better than you anticipate.
I think having more than one item does help sales. I do have one other and that sold nothing at all in the last quarter according to the publisher.
It has changed drastically and continues to evolve. I'm biased to think reviews matter so I am probably not a good judge of all this.
I hope so too, Terry. In the best case scenario she would be cancer free and not need surgery. That is probably way too much to hope for.
Thank you, Susan. I think everyone would be fine without a "Kevin Tipple review" but I do sincerely appreciate the thought and the support.
I too have found that people will say, "Wow--as soon as your book comes out, I'll be the first to buy it." Liars! (No, REALLY.) Then they'll hedge: "I meant when it's out for the Kindle/Nook/Bozo E-Reader!" So now I have Kindle copies and what am I seeing? Disappointing.
When I first published my fantasy novels, people said that they didn't read fantasy, but you betcha when I did some mysteries they would get them. Guess what?
I don't know if it's the economy or if they were just being "nice" to say that stuff.
The more promo you do on Facebook, the worse off you are, I'll venture to say. People don't want to see you asking for sales. I do NOT know the answer. I do not know how to promote my books. It's a terrible dilemma that we share.
I do think your reviews are respected and appreciated. They know you on Dorothy-L, and that's certainly something. I'd like to see more people thanking you. I'll take a moment to thank you for doing the reviews. It helps readers and authors both!
I purposely made it as cheap as possible and widely available to get around those issues, Shalanna. I knew it would not explode sales wise,m but I thought it would do a little better.
And thank you, Shalanna.
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