I'm sure most of you recall this trilogy that I finished last year. For me there was some important things in those books. There were a few things that I slipped in there that had actually happened in real life (either to me, or people I knew well) that I filed the serial numbers off so no one would know. I also got to pay a little respect to my (admittedly small) American Indian heritage, and take advantage of the tremendous amount of experience I have from back when I worked DOD and was in the USAF before that.
So when the trilogy died, I was kind of down about it. Sales on the first book were good, the second one was so-so, but everyone was telling me that they wouldn't buy #2 until #3 was done.
So of course #3 tanked. Honestly I was sorry I wasted the time writing it, because all it really did was lose me money and got me depressed with the horrendous sale, (less than a thousand copies).
This year it's been selling at about the same rate as the first two now currently are. Once I get settled in Texas (we move in less than 48 hours, yes I'm counting the minutes - California has just gone horribly ....wrong) I hope to find the time to combine them all into just one big book so I can do the same with the audiobook. Hopefully that'll help the sales.
But the reason I'm writing this is I came across a review on facebook by someone who loved the trilogy so much, he not only told everyone to go out and buy it, but he compared me very favorably to Robert Heinlein. That really blew my mind. Yes, I think it's a good book, of course I do, I wrote it after all. But to be compared favorably to one of my favorite authors of all time? (The other is Roger Zelazny btw, read 'Lord of Light' if you ever get the chance - a little dated, but still a great story).
Now, I don't expect a flood of people to suddenly go and read the trilogy, but it's heartwarming to me that someone loved it that much. It really made my day for a story that I actually was starting to regret writing, because of how much I lost income wise by doing it.
I know the drive to gauge and judge the success of your work by its' sales, but you really shouldn't. There are a lot of reasons why something that is amazing can go unnoticed, while something stupid gets all the "success" without any of the work. But, over the long run, a good story will hold up. A good story has a repeating chance to capture the attention of people, to captivate, and to cultivate that. I have seen authors write dozens of books and only later, years after they've finished a series, have it blow up into a success because it caught the winds right that day. You are a storyteller. A tradition that goes back to the birth of the campfire. Be a storyteller no matter how many come to sit that one night, because stories change people. For people, stories are everything. Change enough people and the money will follow.
ReplyDeleteI’ll admit to being a bit mystified why these books didn’t do better - I quite enjoyed them and hope you can pull the reboot off. Good luck on that, and on your move. I’ve been trying my best to convince my wife that we should plan a move to Texas, too, post retirement if not before.
ReplyDeleteI liked it, I thought the world was fun and imaginative, but I think I remember finding the series hard to get into, the first few chapters of the first book were very off putting. The tone lightened up a lot after that but the first few chapters almost made me stop reading coz I went in expecting something and getting something else. It's not bad just wasnt what I expected. I recommend your portal series and when ppl ask how your other books are I say valens is fun, the space cats one is interesting and days of future past is imaginative. It's not the first book I recommend ppl but if someone asks me how it is I'll say pick it up and read it ^^.
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