11k downloads and crickets – Poll
Apologies for diverging from the main subject, and I know some of you really get the hump when I do this, but rest assured, I will be creating a new on-topic post by the end of the month. (As a reminder, there are no ads on this site)
I learned something this morning that is troubling me. Last summer I created a post around a novel that I had been working on for a few years…actually it was intended to be a series. I uploaded the first 3 chapters of the latest draft, and asked people to let me know what they thought. I had a small number of positive comments, and 1 negative comment. I decided there wasn’t enough interest in it for me to invest hundreds more hours and dollars on finishing this draft and getting it edited.
Today I was going through last years stats which were the best yet, with quarter of a million views and 40k unique visitors (thank you!), then I noticed the downloads. To date there have been over 11,000 downloads of the novel sample! Now I know I asked people to comment, but either it was so embarrassingly bad, or it’s possible people are lazy, or didn’t notice my request to send comments. Anyway, to get final closure on this matter, I decided to create a poll which is much easier to respond to than sending a comment or message. Please only answer this poll if you read the sample chapters, or started reading them and thought they were so bad you stopped (here is the link if you wish to download again or for the first time: CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FIRST 3 CHAPTERS
If you answered yes to the above question, and the novel was 60,000 words (say 300 pages), what would you define as reasonably priced? (unless I am approached by an agent or publisher, I would self publish which is much more expensive per copy and the cost per copy would be at least $6 – ebook is a minimum of $3 on Amazon, with them gobbling the lion’s share)
AwareofAware 
I would get it 10 euro paperback as I rather paperback over ebook and I cheap so would pay a tenner rather than 15.
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Thanks Z. I agree, that’s about the sweet spot. I would never pay more than that for a paperback. I read ebooks, and from my perspective they are far more profitable. My last novel I sold over 10,000 copies, which was nice, and goes loads of fan mail and reviews. Also paid for a new PC and nice piece of artwork 🙂 Paperbacks at 10 Europe’s I might make a euro a copy.
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That a tidy sum 😀
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The hourly rate is awful though. I took a year off to write that book, barely made a few thousand dollars!
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That more difficult
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Hi, I keep trying to vote but get the following message: Server error. Please try again. If I could have voted it would be Yes to the first question and ebook up to $10 for the second question. Thanks.
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Hi Anna, thanks for the feedback. Haven’t heard form you for a while.I know y were positive back in the summer. Wonder why the server isn’t working. It is very weird how 11,000 people downloaded it, even 1000 in January. It doesn’t make sense. It is ultimately about the WEF etc…maybe they are on to me!!!
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Hi Ben, I’m still hopeful your book will come out but understand why you need to figure out if there is enough interest. The number of downloads is a great sign though and hopefully the poll gives you good results too. I haven’t posted much lately but still read the blog regularly. What happens after death is still the most important question life has to offer from my pov. Take care and keep up the great work!
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Hi Ben
Just the preprint for aware 2
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4246760
You may wish to put it on another thread
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Thanks. On it, but not much more than the presentation at first glance
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Ben, have you any interest in adapting one, or both, into screenplays for film?
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I would love to, but connections are everything.
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Ben, quick question (mean no offense by it). Just started reading and noticed it’s double-spaced. Why? Is this a creative choice?
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I write it like that for editing and for agents (not that I bother sending it to them), but good point. Didn’t think to put it back to normal.
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