Sirens Three Months Later

Over three months have passed since I published my debut sci-fi novel, Sirens. In the time that has elapsed, I have learned quite a few new things about the indie author space and about myself as a writer.

Mainly, over the past few months, I have watched as all of the self-publishing blog posts and TikToks came to life, confirming what I had been seeing throughout the publishing process; it soon became undeniable that self-publishing is very hard and nearly endless work.

I guess a better way of explaining it is by saying that marketing your own novel is a difficult and often fruitless process. I’m learning that hours of work and promotion are lucky to lead to even a single sale. And while I had assumed this might be a possibility, the reality of it is certainly different than simply hearing about it.

It’s hard to cut through the noise to meet your target audience. And even when you are successful in that respect, it is another challenge entirely to convince potential readers to actually spend their hard-earned money on buying your novel. And then you have to hope that they give it a serious go and spend hours of their free time sitting down and reading it. Even after that, you have to hope or try to convince them that it is worth a (hopefully positive) review if they finish it.

This is not to say that I haven’t been successful in a lot of respects or that I am not grateful for what I have accomplished so far. I have sold more copies already than I had ever expected to at this point, but it is still disheartening and somewhat confusing to watch the sales dip and trickle in now.

I am not here to complain, though; I merely want to underscore that this phase of self-publishing is a relentless endeavor. Your effort directly correlates to your sales. Especially in self-publishing, you are solely responsible for the successes and failures of your book. Most days, this idea is motivating, but sometimes it can be so exhausting it makes me want to throw my hands up.

One reassuring tidbit I’ve learned, however, is that traditional publishing more often than not also requires authors to market in almost the same way. Of course, they have teams making connections and scheduling book tours, but in the age of social media, it is up to authors to maintain an attractive social presence as well.

So, in a way, it’s good to know that the vast majority of authors—traditional and indie alike—are struggling together.

I don’t want to sound discouraging either. I will continue to market Sirens because not only do I know that it’s a good book, but I also sometimes enjoy the challenge of it all. I frequently wonder nowadays what I did before I dedicated at least 30 minutes of my day to Sirens social content. How did I possibly spend my time?

These days, as the high I experienced from publishing my debut novel wears off, I spend the vast majority of my time creating marketing content, as well as working on my next book—a contemporary domestic fiction story—which I am hoping will come out this year. So, yes, while the struggle is hard, time-consuming, and exhausting, I don’t think I would want to give it up any time soon.

And any time I receive a review on Sirens, it makes all of those hours of stress worth it. Hearing people’s interpretations of the novel is the most rewarding experience ever.

I believe in my fast-paced sci-fi book, and I know that it has a lot to say about technology and societal views on sex. The hard part is simply getting other people to see the value in Sirens too.