a transparent look behind the scenes, and a favor
I get phone calls all the time from a particular segment of telemarketers who prey on self published authors. Many (most?) of them are scams, and even those that aren’t are part of a game I don’t want to play. (More on that in a minute.)
Because of that, I’m pretty impatient with them when they call.
“Hello, Mrs. Guerra? Shannon Guerra?” they ask, always with an accent. “How are you today?” This is the sure sign of schmoozing ahead, and I’m getting to be such a jerk about it.
“Hi, I’m great, what are you selling?” I answered, because it’s always the same thing and I’m never interested and I’ve always got eighteen other things I’d rather do than to listen to someone’s pitch on the phone – especially when they’re usually just trying to rip people off.
“Ah…” he laughed awkwardly, “Um, actually, I wanted to talk to you about your book, Risk the Ocean. That’s your book, correct?”
Now, this is different because they always call about Upside Down, and only once have they ever mentioned a different book.
“Yes. Have you read it?” I asked. These guys never read the book before calling me.
“No, uh, I haven’t, but I have copies of some of your other books here and my team thinks this one, Risk the Ocean, could do really well with our program...can, uh, can I tell you some things about your book?”
“Probably not, since you haven’t read it.” I know, SO MEAN. But geez, these people are always calling and scamming.
“Uh, well, my team has read it, and they have some wonderful things to say. For one, they said…” and he goes on to list six powerful, deeply insightful descriptions of how Risk the Ocean speaks to people in their dark places, how it encourages faith using solid theology instead of religious platitudes, how it brings comfort to adoptive families without sugar coating anything, on and on and on.
And now I’m listening, astounded, because these people really have read the book and they really do recognize the work I’m trying to do. They’re not just blowing smoke in my face.
Still, they assume that self-published writers will do (and pay) anything to get published by a traditional publisher. But I’m not interested. And no, I don’t want my book made into a movie, either.
“But you want it to sell, right?” he asks. “And this book only has one review on Amazon. With only one review, Amazon is not going to show it to their customers, and without them showing it to their customers, the people who need this book will not be able to find it unless they happen to already know about it…”
I know all this already, and it’s no fun being reminded. This is the game and I don’t want to play. And when he finally admits the cost of the service his company offers – which is to get many, many reviews for books so algorithms can no longer ignore them – it’s out of our budget anyway.
“Can I pray for you, though?” I ask, somewhat repentant over how short I was with him earlier.
“Really? Oh, wow...yes. I mean, no one has ever asked to pray for me before, I would love that.” So I prayed and asked the Lord to move in his life, giving him wisdom and favor. I prayed specifically over his work and his decisions and told him how much the Lord loves him and is watching over those things, and mentioned a few things the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that were more specific to his life. It was just normal prayer, but I often forget how abnormal it is to so many. I think he was weeping on the other end of the phone.
“You do not know what that means to me...you could have no idea how I needed that, and how that was so...it was exactly what I’ve been needing.” He opened up about being new at his job, and the hard season he was in. “No stranger has ever prayed for me before. Wow. I just...I can’t...that was better than making a sale.”
It’s amazing to me that so many people are hungry and eager to feel God’s love, and the only reason they miss it is because we, as God’s people, neglect to share His love with them. But when we do, it makes such a huge difference.
So that was the bright side. (Scammers, by the way, rarely let you pray for them. They usually hang up on you.) But the other things he said kept running through my mind and I was so discouraged the rest of the day: No one sees our books. Our work is good, important, powerful, worth seeing, but it’s not getting noticed.
And I thought of this quote: “Forgiveness is the fragrance a flower leaves on the foot that crushes it.” And the young man did nothing wrong, there was nothing to forgive, but I did feel crushed. Because I don’t want to play the game.
I despise it all: the formulas, the tactics, the disingenuity. I don’t want to pay for readers, reviews, or attention, but that is how selling books works. Generally, you a) have to either follow all the rules, trends, and formulas for popularity’s sake (which is the traditional publishing route), or as a self publisher, you b) pay for all the publicity, reviews, and hype.
Preferably, to be the most successful, you do both. And I don’t want to do either. They feel wrong, and I’d rather not play at all.
A couple months ago we talked about pouring water on the fire, trusting God to show up and deliver when the tension you’re sitting in looks unresolvable and impossible. And that is what writing has been like over the last few years, since we left major social media platforms. We felt called away, not wanting to partner or depend on entities that not only censored and shadowbanned us, but also funded and promoted illegal activity like child trafficking and election interference. So we left and started from scratch, all momentum brought to a shrieking halt. That was about two years ago.
And we’ve felt many of the same things about Amazon. We haven’t promoted our recent books there, and we haven’t really encouraged reviews there. Obviously, this is complicated by the popular belief that no one can sell books without Amazon, and maybe that’s true.
Maybe it’s true that you can only do this by capitulating to the system, the algorithms, the trends, and the formulas. Maybe it’s true that you can only do this by partnering with companies who are on the wrong side of most things in our culture, and you can only get noticed if you pay enough money to get people to look. For the most part, that’s how people sell books and it’s also how those books actually land on bestseller lists.
So for the last few years we’ve been trying to find a third way. It’s been hard. And that phone call was eye opening. I haven’t emphasized reviews for the last few years, and as a result, our books have few of them – and the guy was right, Risk the Ocean only has one, which is from one of you. (Bless you.)
It seems like important writing and work should speak for itself and grow organically. And it does, because that’s how we’ve grown, but not enough to keep from being buried by those who are playing the game, pulling all the levers and putting their coins in. Grassroots efforts so far have not kept up with what the system does for everyone else. In a way, I’m okay with that – I don’t want to be everyone else. But I don’t want to buried either.
I’m writing all this at the risk of misunderstanding and judgment, which is why I’m only sending it to certain subscribers. You are my top readers who are mature enough to not get judgey or offended over dumb stuff, or send hate mail if I challenge legalism or share a meme about Trump (true story, been there, hated that). Most of the people on my list are genuinely wonderful friends and readers, but there is the occasional wacko who will take the slightest bit of vulnerable sharing as license to critique, preach, lecture, or condemn. And I just can’t even with those guys right now. ;)
I’m not in this to be famous or build a mega platform. If I were, I would’ve just kept selling homemade chocolate (which practically sells itself and is remarkably effective at funding kids’ summer camps). We are in this to build the Kingdom, and to help those in it grow in wholeness, maturity, and peace. But we are also in this to put food on the table.
So here’s my request, and my attempt to find a third way that is still true to mission:
When you have a few minutes, would you please leave a rating or short review (one sentence is great) on Amazon and/or Goodreads on my books that you have read and loved? The links for each book are at the bottom of this email.
I hate asking. I’m sure you have eighteen other things you’d rather do than go on the computer and write a few thoughts down, but if you are willing, I would appreciate it immensely.
I hope it will make a difference. I hope it will put our books in front of more people who need them. And at the very least, I hope it will keep both mercenary and well-meaning telemarketers from constantly calling, asking nosy questions about the business side of what we do, and making condescending, discouraging, and expensive offers to help us.
I appreciate your support and partnership in this more than I can express.
Thanks,
Shannon
Here are the links to each book (and if you’ve read Vince’s, his are included as well). If you want to leave reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, you can copy/paste the same review to both platforms.
I love the part about your prayer with the telemarketer so so much.
For all we know that may end up being connected to something that results in you having the most crowns to lay at Jesus’ feet.