Author: A.C. Flory

Soft-Selling Books in the Digital Age

hard selling eBooks I’m an Indie author, with only a shaky grip on the whole concept of Marketing, however I recently stumbled across something that really resonated with me as a reader:

‘We are all competing for clock share. First our work has to be worth our audience’s time; only then can we talk about trying to get some of their money.’ – Tom Simon, Clock share: Writers vs. the competition, February 2, 2015

The context for this comment was a discussion about pricing, and the value of ‘free’, or to be more exact, the devaluing of free.

The commenters were indicative of the two opposing camps on this issue: those who believe that we should not devalue our books by putting them up for free, and those who believe that free is merely one more tool in the quest for visibility. Continue reading “Soft-Selling Books in the Digital Age”

Is Your Writing Bloated?

quillOne of the hallmarks of being a pantster is that we like to be surprised – by the plot, and our own characters. We love the sense of excitement, and adventure, that comes from not knowing what’s around the next bend.

Sadly, not all surprises are pleasant. One of the big drawbacks of being a free-wheeling, I-don’t-know-what-happens-next type of writer is that we often write ourselves into a corner, or so far off track that the original story becomes lost. Or sometimes <<shock horror>> we just end up with …bloat. Continue reading “Is Your Writing Bloated?”

Blocked or Bored?

AC Flory1
AC Flory

The very first article I ever wrote for Indies Unlimited was a tongue-in-cheek look at writer’s block. Sadly, it wasn’t as funny as I would have liked because I don’t really ‘do’ funny. This time around I’m just going to speak from the heart.

“I have had writer’s block for close to a year, and it was horrible.”

Don’t get me wrong, I have written screeds of words this last year – assignments, articles, blog posts etc – but my creative writing has been stalled. Every now and then I’d get a rush of inspiration, but it never lasted more than a day, and then I’d be back, staring at a blinking cursor that would not move. Continue reading “Blocked or Bored?”

Anonymity – the dark side of social media

disguiseAs authors, we all know that discoverability is the up side of social media. If we manage to harness the massive power of the social networks, and the positive word-of-mouth recommendations they generate, we have a better chance of being read. And, of course, once we have a readership, we also have a better chance of actually earning some money from our work.

But what happens when the buzz on social media turns sour?

I’m not talking about the odd, poor review here. Those definitely call for a dignified turning of the other cheek. What I am talking about are those hate campaigns in which a flood of virulent, 1-star reviews suddenly appear out of nowhere. Continue reading “Anonymity – the dark side of social media”