> The quality of your work and the value of your work have nothing to do with anything. All those years that Google told us that if you wanted to be heard, just publish good content. It was bullshit. Humans don't work that way. We are a social species and we consume based on social cues.
People believe what they want to believe, and I think you've already made up your mind. From my view, however, you are just going to limit your success with such beliefs, and worse, the cynicism will drain your enthusiasm and energy.
If you want to be heard, the answer is simple: make something that's interesting to people. I know a ton of very talented chiptune artists who are struggling. Why? Well, would you buy a chiptune album? People spend too much time in their own private universes and forget what other people are looking for. I'm not saying you shouldn't make chiptune or mathcore or whatever, but you have to be realistic about it, especially if you want to make money.
And look, I'll be honest -- not trying to be mean here, really -- but I'm not at all surprised your book isn't generating interest. My first reaction to "Info-Ops" is that it's super dry and technical, not to mention I have no idea what it means. So right off the bat I have a bad gut reaction. Did you not get any second opinions about this title? And $40 for an e-book... well, I admittedly don't know anything about pricing books, but if an e-book is too expensive then people will just pirate it, no?
Thank you for your comment. I consider it negative, but that's a good thing! I love negative feedback.
I don't want to get into a slug-fest over the work. After all, you don't even know what it is. You just know what you saw. So really all we could talk about is first impressions.
I would like, however to take issue with your thesis. If you want to be heard, the answer is simple: make something that's interesting to people.
It is necessary to make something that's interesting to people, but it is not sufficient to do so. That was my entire point. The interesting and valuable part is table stakes.
Price? I'd give it away for free. I'm not trying to sell the most books. I'm trying to help the most people. Price is an indicator of commitment. If I get a lot of people paying the money and blowing it off? I might raise the price. If people pirate it? I want it to make a difference.
There are a lot of people who want to sell two-dollar self-help books and such. Wonderful market. That's just not my game.
Finally, you have to consider that a landing page, if you're honest, isn't just to sell books. One of the most important things you can do is turn away people that might be wasting their money. I know that goes against all that is good and holy on HN, but really. I don't want people reading it that are wasting their time. That's awful.
So it's all good. Thank you for the first impressions. I haven't really already decided about much of anything aside from there's a lot of work left to do -- and that considering as much work as I've been through so far, that pisses me off somewhat. So what? I've been angry before. It sounds like a lot of work has to do with the landing page. Cool. Time to get started.
ADD: You know, there is a huge hunk of money spent every year on books that have great first impressions -- and don't make a positive difference in people's lives. Billions. So coming at this from "But your first impression sucks!" is kinda backwards, at least the way I see it. You want value, then creativity and interest, then honesty .... somewhere down the line you work on turning people on with a web page.
> I don't want to get into a slug-fest over the work.
That wasn't my intention at all. I just thought I'd share my first impression because, as a newcomer to your work, I probably see it much differently than you do.
I read through your whole post, and -- sorry, this is going to be another first impression, made over the internet, so take it with a grain of salt -- you seem to be very emotionally involved with your work. I would be, too, if I spent that much time on something. I think you would benefit from seeking advice from an unbiased third party. I don't know who that would be -- a publisher? an agent? I know nothing about the book world.
> Finally, you have to consider that a landing page, if you're honest, isn't just to sell books. One of the most important things you can do is turn away people that might be wasting their money. I know that goes against all that is good and holy on HN, but really. I don't want people reading it that are wasting their time. That's awful.
I think a good, professional publisher (or whoever) would berate you for saying this. How can you possibly know who will benefit from your work and who won't ahead of time? I also don't like deceptive advertising but I think you can make your work attractive while also being honest and true to yourself.
For the record, I share a lot of your frustrations with regards to generating publicity. I really resonated with this:
> Creating something does not immediately cause good feedback to happen. Just the opposite. Now the _real_ work begins: getting people to listen. And that's usually a long, difficult, demoralizing slog. You suck it up and move on.
However, I don't think that viewing this as long, difficult, or demoralizing is productive or even rational reaction to have, which is why I'm working on trying to see this differently, myself.
I believe you're reading this as much more negative and confrontative than it was meant to be. The post was about how there was an emotional journey to creating great things. My comment simply relayed a personal experience that agreed with the tweet. That's it. It's an emotional journey. Creating things of value can be deeply emotional.
More to the point, recognize the sucky parts and continue on anyway.
"I think you would benefit from seeking advice from an unbiased third party." -- sure thing. I've ran more than 50 beta readers through the book. And I plan on seeking editing services. A trusted third-party is always a good thing. Why wouldn't it be?
"How can you possibly know who will benefit from your work and who won't ahead of time?" Well you can't, which is why you use beta readers. I know my work. I know my work helps people. And I know the people I help would also be helped from this book. That's just a starting place, mind you, but it's a pretty strong one. Then, and only then, do you start looking at tone, product-market fit and the rest of it.
I decided not to go the professional publishing route, even though I probably could have made it work. Why? Because I am purposefully doing this upside-down. That doesn't mean a professional publisher or editor wouldn't be great. Self-publishing is a ton of work. But so is ditch-digging. So is anything of this nature.
Yes, I can certainly make my work attractive while also being honest. I have work to do. Yay!
The purpose of the tweet was to tell people that there's an emotional trough you have to go through. That was also my purpose. It's normal -- and whether you need to get angry, happy, sad, or whatnot to make your way through it, it's quite an emotional ride! Don't lie to yourself about what's ahead and prepare yourself.
> I believe you're reading this as much more negative and confrontative than it was meant to be.
Absolutely not. I found your posts really interesting, it's a perspective I hadn't considered and you articulate it well. And no confrontation was intended from my end.
> Don't lie to yourself about what's ahead and prepare yourself.
"What's ahead" is unpredictable and unknown. You should certainly be prepared, but just avoid self-fulfilling prophecies like saying "it's difficult" etc. That can also put some people off of ever creating anything in the first place.
I'm so tired of fluffy, easy, popsci books. Give me dry and technical any day. Info-Ops grabbed my attention, at least. There's always a market somewhere.
(On a related note, I'm trying to learn more about sales and marketing. Every book I've seen recommended so far has been written like a lowest-common-denominator self-help manual, even the supposed classics. I am taking recommendations if anyone has any, especially for books that describe the history and development of each field in detail. Preferably available as an audiobook).
I disagree that having doubts and/or bad impressions alone have a causal relationship to 'limiting success' for countless reasons. (1) success is over-determined and we can't identify such specific causal relationships to it. (2) plenty of people are successful for airing doubts and bad impressions. (3) plenty of people that aren't successful for airing these things, also still display a capacity for having and airing them. I'm interested to see what happens with Musks's Pravduh.com
I don't think should be a reason to stop creative expression. I never had much interest in reading others' poetry but for about a year and a half I found it to be a tremendous boon to my own self-exploration and personal growth. An outlet is an outlet :)
People believe what they want to believe, and I think you've already made up your mind. From my view, however, you are just going to limit your success with such beliefs, and worse, the cynicism will drain your enthusiasm and energy.
If you want to be heard, the answer is simple: make something that's interesting to people. I know a ton of very talented chiptune artists who are struggling. Why? Well, would you buy a chiptune album? People spend too much time in their own private universes and forget what other people are looking for. I'm not saying you shouldn't make chiptune or mathcore or whatever, but you have to be realistic about it, especially if you want to make money.
And look, I'll be honest -- not trying to be mean here, really -- but I'm not at all surprised your book isn't generating interest. My first reaction to "Info-Ops" is that it's super dry and technical, not to mention I have no idea what it means. So right off the bat I have a bad gut reaction. Did you not get any second opinions about this title? And $40 for an e-book... well, I admittedly don't know anything about pricing books, but if an e-book is too expensive then people will just pirate it, no?