I received a curious inquiry just yesterday, from a fiction colleague I’ve known for some time.
As we hadn’t spoken for some time, we exchanged some pleasantries before he got to the real reason for his call. He wanted to know why there’d been no new novel from me in 2024. As Doors was released in October 2023, he’d expected to see something new from me before the year’s end.
I couldn’t answer him immediately. Up to that very moment I’d intended to go on producing fiction. I thought of it as my calling, despite its difficulty and my lack of readership. So I had to think it over, and I told him so.
Well, this morning I have the answer. You see, this past week the esteemed Hans G. Schantz has been holding yet another Based Book Sale. Those sales have been my only promotional vehicle for a long time now. The sale ends today. Total sales of all nineteen of my books this past week: two.
That’s not enough to persuade me to continue, especially as Doors, despite being priced at only $2.99 for its first year of availability, and only $0.99 since October 2024, has sold a grand total of 55 copies.
$2.99 is pretty damned cheap for a full-length novel. $0.99 is remainder-table pricing… if eBooks could be “remaindered,” anyway. So plainly, my stuff doesn’t sell. It’s clear that it lacks something… or that I do.
As I said, I’d planned to continue. I have a novel under construction: Dreams of Days Forsaken. Yes, it’s another Onteora County tale, though I’d intended several national and international motifs. I had hopes for it. I even bought a cover for it, which I shall reveal to you here:
That story has been stuck at about 25,000 words for several months. I can’t bring myself to look at it. I haven’t wanted to admit to myself that my zeal is gone.
So as matters stand today, I don’t expect to produce any more novel-length fiction. The return on investment just isn’t there — and for those who don’t know me well, I don’t mean a financial return. While this might disappoint the few readers I have, I can’t continue to pour out my diminishing energies for the five or six dozen of you who enjoy my stories sufficiently to purchase them at bargain-basement prices.
And about that fiction colleague who called me? He didn’t intend to read Dreams of Days Forsaken. He hasn’t read any of my previous ones, either. I think that was the deciding factor.
Sorry, Gentle Readers.
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Sorry to hear it. Not terribly surprising, though. Not all that long ago, it was commonplace to see people reading books on their lunch break, or on mass transit, or at the park, or curled up on the couch. I carry an e-reader with me most of the time because there’s plenty of opportunities to read a few pages at a time. But as I look around, I’m usually the only one. Oh, they have their noses in devices, sure, but for cat videos or memes or Angry Birds or quick notes on anti-social media.
I just only need so many copies of each book. My wife and daughter have different tastes than I, so I just end up buying 2 copies, one for me, one for my son. And I agree the two of us are not enough to make a living on.
Kind of a sad commentary on society.
I have a house full of Bibliophiles, I guess… Me, my wife, and all 3 kids read, although none of them as voraciously as me and the wifey – of course she only reads bodice rippers, and although she might enjoy ‘Priestesses’ she also only reads hard copy “I like to feel the book in my hands, and smell the pages!”. Speaking for myself, I have all of your books that I know of, but I don’t have many friends that read.
Onteora county books are OK, but I wish that you would revisit Hope and the Spoonerites – just sayin’.
Writing is hard, GOTCHA, BTDTHTs,, and if anyone wants to think otherwise, try running a blog on a daily basis,,, There is little to NO financial ROI; quite the opposite. I made only enough on the sales of my two efforts, to ‘break even’ on my purchases (writing and editiing programs, like Vellum or Scrivner)
It is a labor of love and there are times where such reach a point of no return.
I understand. I have read only your Spoonerite books and loved them enough to re-read them mulitple times (sorry Fran, the others just haven’t peaked my interest/tastes/whatever.) Your writing isn’t the problem, your style isn’t the problem. As commentor Steve mentions above, the days of books are currently behind us, and I don’t see them returning without a failure of large infrastructure/mass media. So few have the wherewithal to read the instructons on their new toy, let alone a 500000 word tome. One only needs watch new movies, where the action is non-stop, back to back, with a plot written on a napkin using a sharpie: ‘Save the Cat, win admiration’ type plots. Heck, even the movie industry is failing over the 15 minute shorts available on Utoob,,,(not just that, but certainly one of the points of infection killing the industry.)
I too am suffering for much the same reason. I want to finish the sequel to my second book, but it sits in limbo on the harddrive of my Mac, untouched in 6 months. I keep saying that my reason is due to ‘reality is stranger than fiction’, but reality is, the story died in me and I can’t find reason to revive it.
I haven’t any encouraging words here. Maybe talk to Sarah Hoyt and her group of Huns, ( I would, but I am such a greenhorn at the novel business, and I have my other skills that DO PAY,,,,),,,,
One day your books will be ‘discovered’ as the truly wonderful and deep works that they are, you just need to hang on long enough………..
I’m truly sorry to hear this Francis. God bless you for the many hours of thoughtful entertainment you have given me. John H
Sorry to hear it. I have nearly stopped reading, so it’s not surprising that you have nearly stopped writing, except these essays. I have read every book you’ve written, in Kindle version, on my iPhone. You rock!
Francis;
3rd attempt to send this. Stripped to the bone: Is there ANYWHERE (including direct check sent to you) where Doors can be purchased in non-Kindle format. EPUB, preferably, but any format besides Kindle, which will not work with my Calibre library and bookreader.
Thanks and regards,
Tim Turner
FWIW, I’ve read 9 of your books, and considered “For the Love of God” excellent. As for “Doors”, I’m more into religion and sci-fi and humor than romance.
But I feel your pain. I once had my 15 minutes of fame as a tech writer, but decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. I later wrote a blog for several years that never took off in popularity, so eventually archived it. Now I just enjoy commenting, as in this note.
A door closes. A window opens.
This comes exactly at a moment when I have been wrestling with the “editors” at Amazon over producing my own book, The Lost Era Transcripts. The level of incompetence I’ve had to deal with is an absolute disgrace. And, I’ve invested no small amount of money in this venture, money that I have very little hope of recovering through book sales. Even so, I did not begin the work for the pupose of getting rich. But that’s another story entirely.
On a similar level, I’m coming to the realization that my artwork is probably never going to earn me a penny. I work in stone, producing what I would call, “old fashioned Modern art.” I create finely crafted works, and I do it ‘old school’ without power tools. They are abstracts, yes, but everything is begun and completed with an eye to creating a thing of grace, and beauty. I don’t just pile up broken chunks of rock, and call it art. I have a drawer full of ribbons from juried shows. People quite regularly tell me that my stuff should sell for big money, if only I could display in the “right” uptown venue. I’ve been at it since 1993, and I’ve sold exactly two pieces, both to friends, and both for only a token payment. Now we have a houseful of fancy carved stones. Visitors ooh, and ahh, and tell me my stuff should sell… It hasn’t happened yet.
I have three more fine chunks of rock sitting in the garage, but the last thing we need around here is another sculpture.
JWM
I must be one of your most ardent fans, I’ve purchased all of your books. I’ve enjoyed all of them, some more than others admittedly, but I wouldn’t give any of them away. “Love in The Time of Cinema” is my favorite so far, though I don’t generally care for romance stories, followed closely by “The Warm Lands”. Great stuff, and I would have left Glowing reviews had Amazon allowed me to. I missed the release of “Doors” somehow, But I bought it just now, and I’m thinking I’ll like it, too.
I’ll miss you literary endeavors in the future, but I still have the “Torch”, my first stop on the web every morning. Be well…
Like others on this thread, I’m sorry to hear this but not surprised. Writing is what I am best at but I no longer write, either. My primary care doc asked me at our last appointment (while probing what he worriedly calls my “inertia”) whether I still write. My reply just sort of burst out without my having given it a thought: “nobody reads.” He nodded sadly as if to say, “I can’t argue with that.”
As in your case, Fran, I’m proud of my one complete novel and my hand full of short stories. (And as an aside thank you so much, again, for your praise, support, and promotion of those.) In years past I had made much progress in a sequel and a prequel to The Lowlands of Heaven, and two or three other unrelated novels, but somewhere along the way the writer in me died.
While I’m sorry to hear of your decision I am in no way surprised. As another reader said above, you remain my first stop in the morning on my daily blog tour. I hope to enjoy and learn from your cultural and political analysis for many years to come.
Sorry about the disappointing results, Francis, on the most recent Based Book Sale. I have most of your titles in the Everyday Sale which is clearly not getting many eyeballs compared to the quarterly one-week-only sales. I’ll be looking for ways to try to boost traffic and interest.