What I Learned From Publishing My First Book on Amazon

[sovereignminds99]

     It was during the plandemic lockdowns. People were either stuck in their homes trying to find something productive to do or stuck in their homes wasting time. I wrote a short novella within a two week span. It wasn't a work that I am proud of, although I can't beat myself up about it too bad. After all it was the first book I ever wrote.

 

    My inspiration came from watching Choices II the setup which was a movie made by DJ Paul and Juicy J of Three Six Mafia many years ago. Full of crosses, double crosses, and bloodshed, a sneaky sociopathic gang leader, a local mob boss, and a pimp from North Memphis making stangs with his robber compadre, it was a novel unlike any written before as far as I know in the Crime Fiction genre. I didn't want everything to be ultra realistic. My goal was strictly to entertain the audience. It had a small dab of humor with twists and turns that made the story stand out.

    I went to the Memphis Rap Forum on reddit and marketed the book as soon as it was done. Free downloads from amazon as long as you leave a review after you have read the book. It got over 400 free downloads, three copies sold. No reviews. I guess that was mistake number one. I gave it away instead of selling it attempting to boost the book up to the top of the ranks of best sellers in my sub niche of a sub niche trying to get the book the attention it needed. A best selling amazon author from a facebook group told me that you have to sell your book to get reviews. No one gives reviews when you give them away. Mistake number one. 

    I wrote the book as I was reading a book on how to write fiction. I never had a chance to hone my craft and I probably should have gotten the opinions of some book worms before I decided to release it. One thing I recently learned is that if you can arouse certain emotions in the reader then you have a good book. Just don't make your readers feel horrible. I asked the opinion of one cat from the Memphis Rap Forum on reddit. He told me the dialogue seemed really realistic, but the main character seems kind of arrogant. I realized the thoughts of my main character offended him instinctively. lol. Mistake number two. Offending the audience.

    I decided not to advertise the book with Amazon ads. Call it a lack of faith if you want, but who knows. Maybe it was just looking at life with realistic lenses. I tend to be real hard on myself with my creative endeavors, but I also read in a book that this was the best mentality to have if you want to be really good.

    I learned a lot about how to market the book, but I didn't gain experience in it, so I'll leave it at that. I could tell you I liked the book, but I'm weird like that. I listen to music no one else listens to anymore and shit like that, so that wouldn't matter. I guess you could say I wrote the book for me. A book that would appeal to me. No one else. Mistake number three. 

    In this world you have to view life the way it is not the way you want it to be. If you're selling something no one wants then you shouldn't be upset with anyone but yourself. Maybe I do have an audience for the book. If I do, it would be hella hard to find these people. After all most people that watch the Choices Movies that inspired the book probably aren't usually avid readers. So, basically that would be mistake number four. 
 

    The book is no longer available on Amazon, but if you really wanna peek into the story and see what it's got going on you can email me on IG and I'll send you a copy. FREE!!!!!! Or u can send me an email at sovereignminds999@gmail.com. I prefer IG because I don't check the email very often. Tell me what you think about it to if you have the time to read it. I enjoyed writing it, but for now, that's the most I can say for it. 

 

To be continued..................................................

 

This is an excerpt from my blog @ https://banned-from-earth.blogspot.com

[GenericUser837]

Junior brother, please fix your formatting.

Otherwise, good insight. Nice tips for those starting their journey.

[sovereignminds99]

Thanks. I don't know how to fix it since I copy and pasted from my blog. I guess people will have to deal with the black background on the text.

[megaautist]

On 11/7/2023 at 10:39 AM, sovereignminds99 said:

Thanks. I don't know how to fix it since I copy and pasted from my blog. I guess people will have to deal with the black background on the text.

you can fix it by pasting with ctrl+shift+v instead of ctrl+v. ctrl+v is "paste", ctrl+shift+v is "paste without formatting".