Fencing Academy, a commercial retrospective

TL;DR -- Thanks for your support, FA was a success so far, I'm going to keep writing, I like feedback, there's a lot of challenges ahead of me.

A week after the publication of Fencing Academy, I feel I've been abandoned at some strange crossroads, each path heading in some dangerous yet wonderful direction. The one I am staring down leads to being a full-time writer. That is a delirious dream of mine; my screen name, Another Wannabe, pretty much embodied my self-assessment of becoming a professional.

The dream is still a little far off for me to be comfortable with. My book sold well for a first-time author (hitting Amazon ranking #20,000 or so) but unless I consistently perform that well, it's not really enough to live on, but it's a taste enough to keep going down the path, even if it's rocky for some time to come!

But here's an important fact to underline: anyone who takes this path never does it alone. In a plot twist worthy of M. Night Shyalaman: that means you. Yes you, take your hand out of your pants for a second, I'm being serious. It's not just about buying a book -- you could have bought a copy, told your friends to buy one, wrote up an Amazon review (BERST BERK EVAR!!!) and then, I dunno, cosplayed Lyza Dunwall (in drag, let's be honest!) and you would have made a great contribution -- but even people who read this blog casually still contribute. It's a grain of rice in the scheme of things, sure, but to paraphrase the Disney classic Mulan: even that can tip the balance!

So, to everyone who reads this blog, and especially to those who bought the book, and especially to those who took the time to write a review, this is a bit of a love letter to you. Figuratively, of course. I don't actually love love you, that'd be creepy. But really, honestly, thank you.

Here are the things I learned:

#1: Feedback is more valuable than money.

You need the latter to live, but you live for the former. If I had to pick between having a sale and getting a review, my heart says hands down the review, but my head says I need the sale to eat! It doesn't even matter that the review was good or bad -- any thoughtful examination that's fair or even critical is encouraging, it says this person took me seriously enough to take my work seriously. That's a great compliment even if I did otherwise sux ballz.

Posting on Literotica was a great way to get feedback. I miss it a little, I'm definitely going to write there more, not just to promote my commercial work but to get that ego stroke that everyone needs.

Finally, I've noticed something odd. I always thought that people were quicker to give feedback than pay for things, which is certainly true for me. Apparently it's the complete opposite! Only a tiny minority of those who bought the book actually wrote a review, just as only a fraction of the people who read this blog write comments. I think anyone who does anyone on the net wonders, "Who are these shadow people who look at all my stuff but don't say anything?" If you are a mysterious shadow person, inquiring minds want to know what you think!

#2: Managing expectations is really hard.

This naked ape is an optimist. Even after consciously telling myself, "Okay, really, you'll do well if you even sell 1,000 copies over a year," it did nothing to deflate wild fantasies of being #1 New York Times Best Seller. It's always good to aim high, but the risk is when you don't hit that bulls eye you chalk things up as a failure. Fencing Academy was, commercially, a success for what it was: a niche book by a first-time author, at a time where we're all drowning in self-published 23-page "novels" that cost almost as much. I'm happy with how it went, but only after some convincing.

(On a side-note, I now understand the annoyance with hack-writers. It's a little frustrating that your labor of love is as commercially viable as someone else's cynical cash-in!)

If I was Ash Ketchum before, entering this world with nothing but naive expectations of immediate success, I feel now I'm reentering the arena as Maximus Decimus Meridius, armed with a steely gaze and a fuller appreciation of how much hard work is front of me. Literal blood, sweat and tears were shed to make Fencing Academy a reality and there's going to be more to come!

In closing

I really hope you guys continue following me. Knowing even a handful of people are interested is incredibly encouraging, and I'll definitely need support/eyeballs if I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing far into the future. So... thanks!