Things have changed via many websites (Amazon, B&N, and others). Last September was a huge eye opener for me for many reasons. First and foremost I realized just how fickle algorithms can be, along with a lot of other things like content overload.
What’s content overload you ask? Well it’s pretty simple…too much content, ebooks, for customers to wade through. Did you know that Amazon alone has over 1.5 million ebooks? Did you also know that over 30,000 titles are added daily? Um, yeah…like I said, content overload.
Content overload makes it hard for authors like me who have great stories (or so my fans tell me), but just can’t seem to get the content in front of the customer. It’s kinda like going to a concert where the crowd is swarming with fans, you being one of them. You’re dying to be seen, to catch the eye of that rock star whose gonna pick you out of the crowd and sing you that special song, but you can’t seem to make it to the front of the masses!
You’ve done everything right. You wore the perfect outfit, your hair and makeup is the best it’s ever been, but your assigned seat is at the back of the stadium. You’re agile, determined and fight your way forward, but when you glance up you realized you’ve only gotten halfway. While halfway is still good, it’s not great. That band will never see you because there are so many others still standing in the way.
You don’t give up, fight against the swarm again, and make it three quarters of the way. But something happens, the crowd begins to shift and sway and you’re being bounced around like a paddle ball gone wild. Before you know it you’re back to that halfway point.
You become frustrated, confused how you got back here. You start to doubt your goals and wonder if they were ever attainable in the first place. But then something magical starts to happen…your friends pick you up. They know your goal and they stay close, but start to whisper. The whisper starts to grow, and like the parting of the red sea before you know it you’re back to that three quarters mark!
You perk back up, determination set anew and you push on…
A whisper is all it takes. A share, a comment, the passing of a card/bookmark/sticker, or the sharing of a printed book. I can advertise all I want to, scream it from the mountain tops, but only my friends/fans will hear because my reach is limited. But if you talk about it, if you scream it from the mountain tops, your friends will hear it. And if your friends talk about it, if they scream it from the mountain tops, their friends will hear them…
It only takes a trickle, to turn into a stream. A stream to turn into a river, and a river to lead to the ocean. I want to hit that ocean with you behind me cheering me on. I want to keep writing stories for you…
Sharing is caring, and here’s the numbers to prove it. A week ago my ratings were in the 150,000+, today it’s 13,000.