There is all this boring badinage about publishing, the publishing industry, the future of publishing, the death of print at the hands digital, pricing, fonts, pulp versus literature, genre, cross-genre, formulaic writing, (my absolute favorite). (See Harlequin guidelines, etc.) Then reviews, paid for, traded, sock puppet, fake, positive, negative, etc. Three years ago this was fascinating. Now it is old news.
I published on KDP. I had some terrific download figures. I got beta readers for free. It was fun. I hated promotion. I stopped it. So, of course, I dropped off the map. I have screen shots of when my very first was number one free, when my second one was number nine paid and featured on some Amazon "also liked" next to John Sanford. Now I bore myself to sleep at night trying to figure out how to make a single paragraph transition in a book that is finished in my head -- imagining the witty promos I will do when I release it. I play Candy Crush a lot. Can barely read something from my "must read" pile.
I think authors might want validation more than they want to tell stories. I had a few reviews so validating, showing the reader got me, it seems enough for me. Maybe I am rationalizing, but it seems like I don't care so much. Then I will spend an evening spewing four thousand words and loving every single one of them.
I have to dig through so much detritus to get to something I love. (Just do it!)
