Time To Breathe

The novel has been out for a few months now. I have sold more than 20 copies, and given away 170. Now that there are people out there reading the book, it's time for me to let it go.

Blowing It! is not the kind of book you can shout out to the world about. It has a very small potential audience of people interested in balloons sexually, or interested in people who are interested in balloons. So it's basically time for me to let the book take on a life of its own, whatever that life might be.

I'll be here to fulfill orders if needed, and I am now going to dive in and correct all those typographical errors I alluded to earlier (I would have sooner, but my only printed copy of the book was with my wife, who has finally finished reading it).

And then I'll let it go, go on to other book projects that I can tell anyone and everyone that I wrote, and that may have larger readerships, though only time will tell.

Perhaps Blowing It! will catch on widely enough in fetish circles to make me think about going back to do the sequel. Perhaps not. But I'm still very happy that I wrote the book and went through the self-publishing process. I've learned a lot.

And if you are one of the almost-200 people who have read the book, I hope that I have created something that was worth your time, and that you'll eventually find a way to let me know.

And, straight from the heart, I want to say "thank you."

Interesting Stuff I Find

As I said in my last post, I look around every now and then to see if my book is getting any wider exposure. And I notice interesting things. Like the fact that the book is listed in a couple of sites carrying textbooks. Hmm. Wonder what class my book would be used for? A little specific (and for that matter fictional) for Human Sexuality, I would think. And my ego isn't big enough to think that my book would form any part of a writing class.

Another thing is that several of the pages that show my book for sale have sharing buttons for the various social media. Now, I have a Twitter account for myself as fetish author, but Blowing It! does not have, for example, its own Facebook page, and is unlikely to anytime in the future. I think of Facebook as a place for people to be themselves with their real friends, and not so much a place to share their most intimate secrets (although from some of the posts I see, others might have a different opinion).

In any case, if you come across the book and hit the Facebook Like button, be forewarned that whatever you are liking has nothing to do with me.

Of course, as I have written before, promoting a pseudonymously written erotic novel is not easy, and so anything you can do to share with someone who might also be interested is much appreciated. But I don't expect you to go so far as to out yourself on Facebook. 

Need Some Advice

I want people to be able to buy "Blowing It!" in a more private way. You know, not have a telltale charge show up on a credit card statement and have a significant other ask questions.

I'm considering using PayPal and making an ePub version of the book available via email. Do you think PayPal is private enough? Is there some other method that's both secure and private? I could also offer a print copy of the book, although if it was ordered through me, I would have to charge about $4 extra to cover the additional shipping step (and I wouldn't be able to offer that option outside the US).

I'd really like to make more people comfortable buying this book. I know that, although erotic fiction (like erotic images and video) in general is now more widely acceptable, fetish fiction is still a much more private sphere of many people's lives. I'd appreciate any advice on how I can make buying this book a little easier.

Learning To Promote

Now that I've written a book, if I want to sell it, I have to: (1) tell enough people that it exists, and (2) convince them that it is worth parting with four or eight bucks to obtain and however much of their life it takes them to read it.

Promoting a fetish book that's written under a pseudonym is an interesting challenge. Since my friends don't know about my fetish, and probably don't know anyone else with a balloon fetish (or at least they don't know that they know anyone), I can't well go to my Facebook page and announce the book to the world (although I often feel like it; it's so exciting that it's really hard to keep quiet).

I've had, as of this writing, nearly 1,000 page hits here at the blog, but only 9 copies of the book sold (all though Amazon.com, and all but one a Kindle edition). That's about a 1% turnover rate, which isn't horrible, but isn't exactly going to make my little book a blockbuster either.

Not that it needs to be, but I would be happy if more people were interested in reading it.

I've created a page at a book review site called Ask David. I don't yet know whether it will bring any business my way; it takes up to three weeks for the page to be created. It looks like a pretty busy place, though, so I'm hopeful.

I did get my very first review on Amazon.com (Thanks Carlos!): five stars, and a glowing review. But it won't do me any good unless a potential reader sees it. So, the other eight of you who bought the book, can you do me a favor and review and rate it? I appreciate it.

And if any of you are Amazon.com affiliates, and really like the book, and have a fetish-related site or blog (my, that's a lot of ifs, isn't it), I'd love you to include an affiliate link to the book. After all, you'll make a little money, too, if I do.

And one more favor (I ask a lot, don't I?): if you see the book mentioned anywhere besides this blog or Amazon.com, would you drop me a line and let me know? My address is balloonfetishauthor@gmail.com. If you forget to write in down, it's also in the Afterword of the book.

Hint, hint.