Adara VS Jan 25: Sales, Selling Direct & Audio

This isn't my usual vlog style update, but more of a blog entry/newsletter. Things have been hectic during January, and my chronic conditions and fatigue have pushed me to my limits, so I figured why not fall back on using my words?

Sales Success

This time last year I was one month away from releasing my debut novel Drawing Red. I was deep in the trenches of final proofreading and advertising. Eleven months on, I'm celebrating more than 200 sales! Highlights have been copies in local libraries and secondary schools, as well as in more far flung places such as the US, Australia and Taiwan!

Writing & Events

In writing news, I rearranged and solidified my notes for the ending of Drawing Red's sequel. The first draft has taken over a year to write, namely due to fatigue and some themes hitting a bit too close to home for comfort. However, I was asked to take part in the AuthorTube/Booktube Less Than 1k Subscriber Marathon organised by Sam Wicker, a week long relay of writing sprints, as a host of 2 sessions. Thanks to that I'm two chapters away from finishing my draft. You can find these on my YouTube channel.

Goals

When I have a bit more energy I would like to return to streaming live writing sprints again, along with my pngtuber avatar and some lo-fi.

Due to ongoing pressures raiding my spoons, writing will be taking a backseat for now, though the itch to write again is growing. Self-care, rest, and getting through each day are my top priorities.

Social Media Updates

I like to keep my social media use solely focused on writing and author business. Following the marathon I have done very little writing, so I put up notices that I would not be updating my platforms frequently. I've turned into a lurker for the time being.

I have also realised how fickle these platforms can be. With the ‘Tik-Tok’ ban looming, I decided to delete my account and I do not miss it.

Also, whenever Elon Musk makes any sort of controversial move, there is a notable exodus of writers and authors from X. I have lost approx 500 followers and counting since he took over the platform, instead watching them migrate to BlueSky and Threads. This has caused me to spread myself thin, and only contribute shallowly to conversations.

In light of these things, I will be looking more into blogging, and potentially changing this into a newsletter. I looked at Substack, but was baffled by how easy it was to create multiple accounts under the same email address, which led to a fair bit of confusion!

Sasldly, I have taken the step to block DMs from unverified users on X, as I was being bombarded daily by AI chatbots and fake ‘book promoters’.

I have also resurrected my Discord account which lay dormant for approx 4 years after setting it up, taking one look, then running for the hills!

Selling Directly

In keeping with my theme of owning and controlling my platform more centrally, I am also looking into how to sell books directly from my website, using software like PayHip. This would be for ebooks, and one day audio-books.

Website Update

My Thanks and AI Policy page of my website was reviewed and updated this month. I have also changed the cookies pop-up prompt, and fixed the header image on some pages.

Audiobook Progress

This has been pinned on my board of author goals for a long time, especially as someone with chronic fatigue who listens to stories for accessibility reasons.

I am attempting to raise funds to commission a human narrator to produce a high quality audiobook version of Drawing Red later this year.

While we wait for that to happen (I am on a shoe-string budget so it’s taking a while) I am highly aware that readers who rely on audio to read still do not have access to Drawing Red. With this in mind, I have started work on an AI production to fill the gap.

The process has been eye-opening, unnessarily complicated, and each option had drawbacks, not least regarding including listener quality and availability. Many stores demand you use their own AI narration tools for your audibook e.g. Apple, Amazon and Google. This would mean choosing a single platform or producing muliple versions of the same product, which would cost readers money and potentially confuse them, even if it did offer choice. I would also be out of pocket for all of those ISBN numbers.

I looked into the third party platform Elevenlabs, alongside GooglePlayBooks. I found Elevenlabs to be superior quality by leagues, however I would be severely limited to where I could publish the book, being primarily direct via my own website. It would also cost money to produce, which would detract from my budget for hiring a human.

GooglePlayBooks offered a free solution that would be available via Google Play and Spotify, however the quality is not as high. I am only a handful of chapters into this production, and progress on this too has stalled while I deal with a rocky patch and life hurling things my way. There’s also an outlier possibility that if things continue to stall my work then the human audiobook could become a reality faster than the AI version, rendering finishing this project redundant.

Call for Book Reviews

If you have made it to the end of this blog entry, you deserve a gold star! And speaking of which, despite having sold over 200 copies of Drawing Red, I still lack reviews. If you have read the book, please review it on your favourite platforms and stores. Even a star rating and a few words will help greatly!

Thanks for reading!

Until next time, I'm wishing you happy reading and writing.

Adara x