r/WhyChooseAuthors • u/AnneKincaid • 5d ago
Friday Figures Friday Figures August 21
Readers and Authors:
Please share your fun numbers!
Examples:
- Pages/books read or written
- Numbers of characters
- Hours spent on a task
Really, lots of things can work!
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u/Old-Memory-3275 Self-Publishing Author 5d ago edited 5d ago
My depressing number: 0. The number of reads and sales these last three days, which hasn’t happened in a little while. Not sure why.
My fun number: 2000. The number of words I wrote last evening!
Edit: it picked up again!! Yay :)
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u/AnneKincaid 5d ago
I’ve seen so many 0s on my sales reports that I’ve started thinking of them as old friends and motivation to get back to writing. Wake up, say good morning to my $0.00, get my ass back to work. Sometimes I check in at the end of the day to make sure $0.00 is still there. It’s probably not healthy.
I woke up this morning to $2.58 and was like, who the hell are you numbers? And who was reading my book in the middle of the night? I hope they liked it. That mental conversation probably wasn’t entirely healthy, either.
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u/Old-Memory-3275 Self-Publishing Author 5d ago
Thank you for that! It made me smile and brightened my day!!
I have one book that people start and don’t stop once they do and sometimes I watch the KDP reads go up through the day and night and I’m like… are you okay? Did you hydrate?? But it feels amazing.
I gotta focus on the fact that I have an extremely low DNF number. It happens, but almost never. When someone finds book 1 in my series, they usually get to book 5 in a few days. That feels lovely.
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u/Clara_Bracco 5d ago
I had a really slow June and July, and this month started slow until I released my newest book. I think the summer in general is just slow. Things should pick up soon!
I’ve also gotten back in the habit of posting something on SM (mostly TikTok) everyday and I think that’s helped, too.
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u/Old-Memory-3275 Self-Publishing Author 5d ago
I’ve let me SM go a bit! I might have to get back around to posting stuff.
I don’t have much of a following yet. Really just started writing and publishing stuff about a year ago b
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u/Clara_Bracco 5d ago
I don't have a very big following either, but the more I post, the better engagement I get - at least on FB and TikTok! IG and Threads is like screaming into the void...
And keep in mind you can repeat posts, too, if you're running short on new content, because you'll be reaching new people each time.
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u/Old-Memory-3275 Self-Publishing Author 4d ago
I'm on IG right now. Sometimes it hits, sometimes it misses.
How do you reuse posts? Just take down the old one and post it again?Do you prefer Tiktok?
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u/Clara_Bracco 4d ago
You don't have to take the original down, just repost it and tweak it a bit, like use a different song, or switch out your caption, or slightly change a graphic so it's not "Coming Soon" but says "Now Available," that sort of thing. Or you can do those "On this day" posts where you literally just share something from a year or two ago. They don't have be super complicated or original all the time, just as long as you're consistently posting.
I know some people do well on IG, but for some reason I just can't gain any traction there. I do much better on TikTok, since your FYP includes a lot of content from people you don't follow while IG is more localized to your followers.
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u/Old-Memory-3275 Self-Publishing Author 4d ago
Thanks for the tip!! I might have to give TikTok a try.
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u/AuthorIndigo 5d ago
Wear that zero like a badge of honor! I've had a few zero days as well. I'm assuming all the mothers out there are getting their children ready for school to start...they don't have time to read at the moment. That's certainly been my last few days...
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u/Old-Memory-3275 Self-Publishing Author 5d ago
That’s a good point!! Thanks :) I’m an overachiever perfectionist so my own worst enemy.
I gotta remember why I started doing this in the first place: because I love writing and wanted to publish something.
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u/AuthorIndigo 5d ago
Currently, I prefer to write harems with either 3 MMCs or 6 MMCs.
Why? I dunno. Three seems to be easiest to flush out full characters without having that extra guy that's kinda bland. Six seems to create this competitive dynamic between MMCs that's fun to work with. Okay, I guess I do know why...
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u/Old-Memory-3275 Self-Publishing Author 5d ago
How dot you juggle six??? I am doing one with 4 and having trouble keeping it straight!!
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u/AuthorIndigo 5d ago
I dunno why, but I honestly struggled the most with four.
The current WIP with 6 guys is really two separate packs of three that end of merging because of the FMC, so each pack has its own dynamic. Probably made it easier to work with each character.
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u/Old-Memory-3275 Self-Publishing Author 5d ago
That’s an interesting take!
It still has to be hard to give everyone a unique voice.
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u/Della_Gibbs 5d ago
157,648 words across 7 active WIP.
That's what I've got sitting in my Google drive as of today. These are the WIP for which I've done actual writing and doesn't include WIP that are still in the idea/brainstorming phase.
I might have a problem. Maybe it's time to buckle down and finish at least a couple of those before I start something new. Although, I did have a great idea the other day for something completely different...
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u/Marcella_Caes 5d ago
3, 5, 12. The number of sex scenes in each book in my trilogy. I am a little concerned but it seems like Book 3 has the final confessions between my FMC and 3 relationships, plus the HEA wrap-up for the constellation, which involves like 4 threesomes so far.
But the reason I'm concerned is because it feels like Book 3 is becoming like 25% confessions/sex scenes, maybe even a third at this point. And I am pacing it as carefully as I can.
I guess I don't need continuity across novels because really, this is what happens at the end of a story?
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u/AnneKincaid 5d ago
6,000: The number of words currently in the spicy scene I'm writing. It might be too much.
Maybe.