My Art Is My Business –

Most of my posts are mainly for readers to enjoy, so bear with me while I digress.  Hopefully, you’ll find this peek behind the curtain of a mystery writer’s business interesting; and for many of you who are writers, informative.

In a perfect world artists would create their art for all to experience, end of story.  However, last time I checked, this world is far from perfect.  Alas …

Living in this society at this time requires money, and lots of it.  Unless, of course,  you’re satisfied with dumpster diving and sleeping in alleys.  Those of us with higher aspirations need to be competent at the business of writing, as well as the craft.  This has never been more so than in today’s rapidly changing publishing industry.

Sharing –

Recently, while “sharing” (don’tcha  just love the SM buzz words, all warm and fuzzy) with fellow author Bobbie Cole I was asked about my “experience” with my Facebook Page.

I posted the following  to the Orangeberry Book Tours FB Group:

“Hi Bobbie,

In response to your question on my author’s Facebook page, “opinion or experience”:

I monitor statistics on all my business activities, including all social media posts: Likes, Follows, responses, comments, etc.  And, as best as I can determine, their relationship to book sales.

Of the social media platforms on which we are active, Twitter, Goodreads, Google + and Facebook, the FB Page is by far the worst performer. And I find this disconcerting, as the posts to the FB Page and the G+ Page are essentially the same in both timing and content.

The FB Page Likes rarely increase. Almost all increases in Likes came from promoting the page through FB (at a price, of course.) Additionally, we’ve lost big chunks of Likes overnight—one time, 1100, and just last Sunday, 100.  This continues to be a mystery as it does NOT show up in FB’s analytics. When I messaged their Help line, I did NOT hear back.

Based on this experience, I can tell you that our FB Page has been the lowest return on investment, in terms of both time and ad dollars.

That said, when it comes to book sales, NONE of the social media platforms produce any significant amount, in and of themselves (as far I can tell.) Historically, our sales come from individual marketing promotions, such as: free events through outside vendors, blog tours, Google AdWord display ads and Amazon, itself.

Let me know if you have any questions or would like more info. I’m happy to help when I can.”

The Business of Writing –

As you may be aware, I’m dedicated to my art and pursue it with a passion.  This demands that I operate as any successful business should.  Over the years I’ve watched “purists” rail against the “business” side of art as crass commercialism.  A rare few got lucky, getting a big break from a big publisher.  Most wallow in obscurity, convinced their art will be “discovered” and are still waiting for that big break.  I simply don’t have that kind of time and I’m convinced it’s up to me to make it happen.

If you’re interested in more on the subject, one of the better blogs I’ve seen on the business of writing is Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s blog, “Business Rusch.”

If you have an experience or an opinion you’d care to “share,”  I look forward to responding to your comments.

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For those of you more interested in entertainment, check out the book trailer for my paranormal mystery “Dark Side of Sunset Pointe.”

And in keeping with my business practices, my blatant self-promotion as a mystery writer follows:

Dark Side of Sunset Pointe – A Lance Underphal Mystery is available in e-book & paperback on Amazon.

For more on Michael Allan Scott and the Lance Underphal mystery series, go to michaelallanscott.com

Creative Commons Attribution: Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to Michael Allan Scott and a clickable link back to this page.