Some books take an instant to write. Other books take forever.
There have been many instances in the past when I had to give myself an ultimatum: I NEED to finish Book Y by X amount of time because of (insert important reason here).
When this happens---
Scenario 1: I create an outline and manage to follow it to the letter by keeping my demonic inner critic on a loose. I worry about the speed in which I've been able to finish the book, but because the story feels "right" to me and I can't think of any other way to write it - ah, f*ck it, que sera, sera. 
The book is published, and it becomes one of my bestsellers.
Scenario 2: I create an outline, attempt to follow it but quit halfway and trash the first draft because I keep worrying about what others think.  So I go back to square one and write something completely new - something that I'm sure will please EVERYONE (reader, non-readers, critics, fellow writers, I do mean everyone).
The book is published and voilà -
It's a flop. > . <  

The amount of time it takes to write a book that sells is NOT my main point here. Let's be very clear with that. For me, the moral lesson here - and it's something even I myself unfortunately forget at times - is to write what you'll enjoy as a reader as well.
How much time it takes you to do that is immaterial.
Also, forget about your inner critic. I honestly believe 99% of the time it's not objective, and it's just your insecurities speaking. If you feel you absolutely must listen to it, then do so when you're done writing the book but not while writing it. 
As long as you're writing something you love - you're good. :)

For those familiar with my release schedule, you may have noticed that I tend to release books fairly quickly. Granted, my books only fall in the 30-60K range usually so either novella or category length, but still. I frequently release more than one book/month, and I've been lucky enough that most of those books are capable of making people cry (I say lucky because I'm in the business of making people, well, cry).
Anyway, I've been in this business for just less than 5 years but I've already come to the point where I've stopped counting the number of books I've written. That's why I'm always stumped whenever a blogger asks for an interview, and one of the first things they ask is how many books I've written. Oh, and people who find out what I do for living (this job is mostly an open secret) ask me the same question, too.
Point is, I should at least take the time to know, right? But I don't because I'm too busy writing the next one. And every time I'm writing the next one I almost always have several paralyzing moments in which I ask myself - DO I STILL HAVE IT IN ME?
Because I've already written so many books, so I feel like I've already used up my lifetime's supply of tearjerker stories. And of course when I start thinking this I end up falling in the same rabbit hole, and the self-inflicted torture begins. I panic, I even end up literally hyperventilating. Oh no, it's the end. My next story will be a bust.
That's EXACTLY what happened to me after I released Love You Again and immediately moved on to my next WIP. I was quietly but seriously panicking on how Malik would turn out. My greatest worry: I won't even get my readers to shed a single tear.
But I kept writing.
Mostly because one: I can't afford not to since it's what pays the bills, and two: because, well, what else is there for me to do? And besides, I hate quitting.
So I kept on it.
And you know what happened?
I ended up bawling (i.e.,serious ugly crying) almost the whole day, and I wasn't even done with the prologue.
Amazing, right?
I'm sure people will be able to draw all kinds of conclusions and moral lessons from this, and that's fine. For me, it's simply this: ups and downs in your writing life are normal. It won't ever go away no matter how successful you become or how many books you've written. That's just the way it is, so deal with it and keep writing.

Back when I first started indie publishing (late 2013 I think), things were really still good for self-pubbers like me. You didn't need to spend on marketing much, and algos for also-boughts et al were pretty straightforward.
Then KU entered the picture. It was a semi-huge blow to my income and after much futile resistance, I finally decided to establish a secret KU pen name and gave it a try. Unfortunately, I only got to enjoy two months or so of success when KU was revamped. TBH I can't even remember now what exactly changed. All I know is that the methodsc which used to work no longer work.
Fast forward to present, and my income is now down to 15 - 20% of what it used to be. Which is crazy, if you think of it, since I have more books out now compared to before. So technically, I should be earning more, right?!
But I'm not and that, my friends, is why I sometimes find myself literally and secretly having panic / anxiety attacks when I think of my career. I wonder if I'm able to sustain my writing pace, if I'm able to earn enough for everyone depending on me, if I'll always have readers...
But then I think of Stephen King. He's been writing for forty years, and I love how Hollywood seems to have recently rediscovered their passion for his work. YAY for more adaptations! I clearly remember when people were less than supportive of those adaptations, but you never hear King getting affected by what's being said or hinting about quitting because of it.
And then I think of my own career. I feel like I've been writing forever, but actually it's only been 4 years since I've started self-pubbing. King has been releasing books for times ten of that. And you never or at least I've never heard him whine about the industry. I guess it's because he's too busy writing...as I should be. 🤣🤣🤣

I used to think that not following your outline to the letter means you lack discipline. But yes I do know better now, and I've stopped beating myself up every time I'm unable to stick to the plan.
I also used to think deviating from your outline would mean more time wasted or at least taking the longer route to finishing your novel. But again I know better now. Admittedly, I sometimes find myself stubbornly rewriting a scene several times just because I want to follow my outline, but then I realize in hindsight that's how I end up wasting precious time in the first place.
IF it doesn't work, it doesn't work, and as with any relationship that doesn't work out, you just have to make a quick, clean break and move on.

There were other rules (and perks!) as well, but I'm not sure if they were specifically for Melody Anne's KW books or KW in general, like---

• They encourage you to write between X and Y number of words, in order to have your book priced at $1.99. It's supposedly the sweet spot for KW books, but if you write beyond Y number of words, Amazon would have to adjust your pricing.
• Another thing I'm not sure about is that we (the first batch of authors writing for a new Kindle World) also received a cash bonus and it was a nice sum of money!!!

I didn't expect that at all. So imagine how thrilled I was, especially once I saw the amount converted to PHP (more zeroes, you know, haha!). But anyway, back to KW. I know some of you are thinking this is just basically a pat-on-the-back post, but it's not I promise. It's good news for both YOU and ​ME---

 Well, anyway (sorry for getting off track >.<). Back to KW. Our April books launched on the 28th if I'm not mistaken (but we uploaded on the 26th), and the thing with KW is that you don't ​actually get to see the number of books you sold until the month after (e.g. I only found out about my May sales on the first day of July), and it will show up on your AuthorCentral account rather than your KDP dashboard.
I didn't expect much from my April sales since we only had a few days, but I was also secretly and quietly hoping it won't be small change since Devoured has been my best-ranking book for 2016 so far. And well, the bottom line: April sales were much, much better than I expected, with Devoured selling as many copies as my best-selling books on their first days of release. This is rare IME because Devoured's characters obviously have nothing to do with my Greek billionaires, and I also didn't do that much promotion for it prior to its release. 
As for Devoured's May sales, well, let's just say it BLEW MY MIND, and is basically equivalent to 20% of my total income for the month. ONE BOOK, and it represents 1/5 of my monthly income, with no marketing from me. I have, like, thirty or so books and yet one book makes up for 20% of my sales for May! Imagine! 
But wait. 
There's more. ;)
Yesterday, I was randomly checking my Amazon rankings on my phone, and I was totally surprised when I saw this---

This was at three in the morning and at first I was thinking, maybe my phone was loading an old page, probably because I didn't clear my browser's cache or whatever. You see, I also checked Devoured's ranking the other day and it was ranking somewhere between 4k to 6k if I remember correctly and down to #12 or #13 on KW's bestseller list. So you can understand my surprise. Anyway, just to make sure I'm not imagining things, I switched to my laptop and checked Devoured's ranking again.
And hey, it really IS #1. 

That was 3AM and at that time, Devoured ranked #1781. Now at 1430h, it's #2 on KW's bestseller list, BUT the book's overall rank actually improved.

It's now #1140! On its THIRD month. This is AMAZING. Compare it to Prince of Darkness 1, for instance, which was released end of May and now ranks around 13k. When I Love, also released end of May and the last book of my stepbrother trilogy, ranks around...lemme check...10k (yesterday it was 8k), but keep in mind that Book 1 is currently free from Friday to Sunday, hence Book 3's improved rankings for the weekend (previous to Book 1 being free, it was down to 21k or so if I remember correctly). 
AND THIS, MY FRIENDS, IS THE MOST IMPORTANT REASON WHY I THINK (imho!!!) KINDLE WORLDS IS WORTH GIVING A SHOT.
Amazon is a for-profit business and as such there's nothing wrong about Amazon looking after its own interests. That said, KW books are one of those interests and that's why I believe Devoured gets to enjoy nice boosts once in a while. Don't get me wrong. Amazon is NOT manipulating sales or rankings. But what it CAN LEGALLY DO is make the book more visible using its own ad spaces on its own website to promote Devoured and other books Amazon published, which they also technically own. 
Now...one of the major reasons why I wanted to give KW a try was because I believed Melody Anne's fans could also like my books since we write the same stuff. I was hoping that if they liked Devoured enough, they'd give my other books a try. 
Two months after, I'm not sure if I did actually end up getting new readers (my post-Devoured sales for other books, new and backlist, remained pretty much the same) BUT it's still a win-win situation since what I did get instead was nice sales from Devoured and, as evinced by July 1's rankings, I can also be assured of the fact that once in a while the Amazon gods would remember Devoured and give it a nice boost. Considering how much I'm still struggling with increasing visibility for my backlist, having one book less to worry about is more than good enough for me! :D

So...I've been self-publishing since late 2013 (I started 2012 with a small publisher) and it's now 2016. A LOT has changed since then, not just qualitatively but quantitatively, too.
​Just to give you an idea of how much things have changed, I wrote this post back in Dec. 2013.
Basically, I did a quick search on "romance bundle" on Amazon, and I got 799 results. If you do that now, you will get 40,588 results. So you see just how much digital publishing (especially the indie aspect) has grown? 
If you click this link, you'll be able to see just how many ebooks there are on the Kindle store.  As of time of writing (05.27.2016), Kindle Store offers a little less than 4.5M ebooks. Crazy, right? That's the number of books people have to choose from each day.
BUT you don't need to think of them as your competition, though. At least I don't. My way of thinking is - you can't ever write as fast as your readers can read, which is why I'm always happy to recommend other books to them. At least they're still reading. At least they're still in "our" world. As far as I'm concerned, my "real" competition is other forms of entertainment (e.g. TV, movies, music, etc.) although honestly, I don't try to compete with those things, too. I have so many stories I want to share and need to write that I don't even have time to think about competing. All I care about is writing the best story I can for every release. 
But I digress.
Back in 2013, there was this chart I used (data provided by authors from the forum I'm a part of) that gave me a good idea of how many copies a book had to sell per day to achieve a particular rank on Amazon. It wasn't 100% accurate but it was reliable enough.

My new book When I Love peaked on Amazon at #591. That's great, and I am thankful about it.
Back in 2013, however, I would have probably ranked somewhere between #200 and #270, maybe even in the 1XX range.
But like I said, it's different now. 
1. There are more books in the market. So even though your book's selling more or even the same number of copies each day, other authors may be selling more copies than you, which is why your ranking isn't as good as it was before.
2. You need to factor in pages read. Ever since Kindle Unlimited launched, I've given up monitoring sales ranking. I just don't know how to compute pages read, and I haven't yet heard of anyone who's been able to even come close to any kind of reliable formula (even if it's based on estimates) for this.
When I Hurt, for instance, is 110 pages long.
If 440 pages of the book were read (doesn't matter how many readers since Amazon is all about page count), then you could also read that as 4 copies sold, right?
Back in 2013, let's say that this would give me a ranking of #20.
Let's adjust this for 2016, and since there are more books now, I should have a ranking of anywhere between #30 to #40 (we're playing it really safe with this estimate).  After all, this is what happened to When I Love (to recap: it's Top 600 now, but three years ago, it would have been Top 300 easily).
BUT GUESS WHAT? The ranking of When I Hurt today is #10! 
3. Just because a book has better ranking than yours doesn't mean it's earning more. I've mentioned this time and time again, but I think it bears repeating. $.99 books only offer 35% royalties to authors while books priced $2.99 above earn 70% royalties. Of course, this doesn't mean I have anything against 99c books. Not at all. At the end of the day, pricing is just one of the 4 P's of marketing, and it just so happens that 99c pricing isn't part of my marketing plan. 

The reason I'm sharing this is because for a time I was really REALLY bummed over my book's rankings. I felt like my career was over (but then again, if you've been reading my posts for some time, you probably know that I always worry about this hehe). It was only when I consciously took a step back and spent actual time crunching numbers that I realized that it wasn't the case at all.
Originally, I believed that poor new release rankings = decreased popularity = income drop, but it's not the case at all. My new releases are doing fine, if I compare it to the number of copies I sell on release day. 
After doing more number crunching, it turns out that reduced organic visibility = decrease in backlist sales = income drop.
By organic I mean the way your book remains visible to readers even without the help of paid advertising. This is usually due to having your book show up on also-boughts and bestseller lists. Unfortunately, there's been talk on how the algorithms for also-boughts have changed. There's also been talk on how Amazon's been more proactive when it comes to advertising their own books (like those enrolled in Kindle Unlimited, Kindle World, and those that they publish like Montlake titles).
Whether these are true or not doesn't matter that much to me, though. They're outside my control anyway. The only thing that I - we - should focus on is doing what we can to keep our backlist alive. 
In the past, it used to be that making Book 1 in your series permafree was good enough.
Now, I'm sorry to say that it's no longer so. 
BUT...it's not all bad news.
I'll be experimenting with some stuff that other authors have had great luck with. So we'll see. Hopefully I'll have more helpful news to share next time. Fingers crossed!

You might want to read the latest / February 2016 report from Author Earnings. Again, this is not to say that indie is better than trad pub in any way. Nope, nope, nope - we are never going down that road. In the end, each has its pros and cons, and it's up to you to determine which path to publishing is best for you. 

It’s been a while since I last wrote here, so sorry for that. My only excuse: I got really busy doing things AND worrying about doing things. (insert appropriate emoticon here)
In those days – weeks – though, I did think of blogging from time to time, and whenever I do, I’ve always tried putting myself in your shoes – you, being whoever happens to have stumbled upon my blog.
I think my website is one of the first-page links that comes up when you Google for ‘self-publishing’ in Philippines or Filipinos so I guess that’s my starting point. If you’re here because you’re considering self-publishing, I’ve written several beginner-friendly posts about this. Just click on the "self-publishing" listed under Categories (right sidebar), and hopefully you find one or two things useful.
I’ll try to come up with more self-publishing 101 posts, but please continue with your own research as well. That’s how I started, too. No one really spoon-fed me knowledge about self-publishing, but I also learned early on to outsource what I can afford to outsource. In hindsight, I also believe that not being spoon-fed was a good thing because it taught me to persevere. So don’t worry if things seem too daunting – just keep at it. Continue with what worked, try another alternative for what didn't. Your journey to self-publishing can be shorter or longer, but either way you'll get to your destination as long as you keep moving forward.

As for my own writing journey, I recently came across this post by the Christina Dodd. I remember a high school classmate recommending her to me – or was it in grade school? I can't be sure entirely, all I remember is that she's been around forever. (Please don’t think that’s a dig at her age. Rather, I think the longevity of her career is spectacularly awesome, and I can only hope to achieve even a fraction of her accomplishments.)
 Anyway, there was a part that really struck me--- 

I feel like this all the time. No exaggeration. ALL THE TIME. Even with all the stories I've written, even after all the sweet messages I've had from readers, I still feel this and honestly it’s what more often than not which cripples me and prevents me from finishing a book. Generating ideas isn’t hard. It’s whether I can execute them the way I want – and the way readers deserve – that hinders me.
Thankfully, though, I've come to learn that it's just a phase. I'm not sure if you call it writer's block because when I see that as being unable to write at all. But I do get to write. I just don't think it's good enough. 
Mm.
Maybe that's writer's block, after all.
Anyway, it's a phase that I do overcome eventually, and when I do it always turns out that time away from my manuscript did me good. Like with Prince of Darkness for instance. I struggled with writing it for a really long time. It's actually the first time that the original, handwritten draft for this (literally penned years ago, like many of my stories were) didn't work. I ended up writing various versions of the story, but none of them worked either. Eventually I was forced to set the story aside.
This month, however, I finally got back to working on it and the words just flowed. And the more I write, the more I was convinced it was the story I wanted for POD. Of course, the real test would come when I release this book to the wild. We'll see then if the readers agree with me.

While other books take forever to write (Hello POD), others seem to finish themselves on their own. This was the case with Devoured, which was my book for the Kindle Worlds launch of Melody Anne's Billionaire Universe last month. Surprisingly, it's still at #1 in Kindle Worlds: Romance - the longest time any book of mine's maintained any kind of #1 spot in rankings. So I'm pretty happy about that but if you ask me if I expected it - NOPE. 
And that's why I'm sharing it with you guys. Since there's no really telling how a book would do until you release it, there's also no point worrying yourself to death while writing it. You'll have a harder time finishing it that way (like I inevitably do, when I let the doubts get to me). Worse comes to worst, you might not even finish it at all...WHEN YOU CAN. It's just a matter of shutting down the side of your brain that keeps entertaining doubts. 
I always say this to those asking me for advice about writing, but really, it also applies to mid-career writers like you and me.
When you write just keep your eyes on the prize.
Repeat after me.
Eyes on the prize.
Eyes on the prize. 
​Eyes on the prize. 
And you'll be done before you know it.

If you follow me on Instagram, you'd know that I'm currently obsessed with bookstagramming. I'm pretty sure that's not an official word yet, but people who do it would know what I mean. Basically, it means taking pretty pictures of books. There are different ways to take such photos, but one of the more frequently seen styles used for bookstagramming is flat lay. Basically (oh, wow, I've used this twice now but hey, this piece isn't something I'm selling so let's just keep it that way so everything feels natural :P), it's taking a bird's eye view of your subject, and I don't know about you but it took me a loooooooong time to figure the ins and outs of it.
I still don't consider myself an expert and if you think that's false modesty, well you can just compare my photos to those of (my inspirations) New Leaf Writer,  Folded Pages Distillery (awesome handle, right?!), and Betty Books, and you'll know. I am no expert (but yes, naturally, I hope to be really good at it one day).
I have good and bad days flatlaying, and usually during my off days it's like nothing comes together no matter what I do. In my good days, though, I can easily envision the layout in my mind and when I start doing it, everything comes together.
Anyway, I actually wrote a post like this in my personal blog but I thought I should also share it here, in case you're interested in using this as your de-stressing technique. I often say I'm de-stressing, and basically that's the time when my mind's too concerned about things it's not supposed to be concerned about (i.e. what my readers would think about my WIP). It's not that I don't care about my readers - of course I do, duh - but there's a RIGHT way to care.
If you worry about readers saying you're a shitty writer and how embarrassed you'd feel, then that's just pride talking. I hope you get what I mean. 
Well, anyway, those are the moments when I need to de-stress and look to bookstagramming for relief. I sucked at it big time at the start, but not so much now and I'm going to share with you a couple of tips and tricks I've discovered in my (ongoing) flatlay journey.

I've mentioned a couple already above, but you can look for your own sources of inspiration just by checking out #bookstagram on IG. You'll notice a couple of similarities, like the fact that they often use a white plain background and candles - there are a lot of books-and-candles posts. The same things may or may not work for you - you just need to experiment and find your own "style".

One of the reasons why I had a hard time with bookstagramming at the start was because I hadn't been able to find the perfect lighting for it. Natural lighting is best, but if not then look for a place in your home that would allow you to take top-view shots without casting shadows. Once I found that perfect spot in our home, everything was a loooot easier. It will be the same for you, too!

Although I often see plain white backgrounds used in bookstagrams and I have given this a try, I don't really find it all that inspiring and exciting to work with. Actually, it's a struggle for me, and I've just learned to accept that plain-white backgrounds don't suit my personality. It's too...elegant, and I am far from being elegant IRL. Maybe this is just me (with regard to the process), but it's what I feel.
Another thing I've noticed is that maps are also a frequent background choice for bookstagrams, and when I gave this a try, I was very much surprised that it worked extremely well for me. So yay for that!
P.S. The map I use for my bookstagram posts (seen in the photos below) is something I got for free from the Kyoto train station (hehehe). ​

It's what makes choosing props for your posts easier, but I don't think it's always necessary. Color can be a theme, or in this case, I displayed books in the same collection but I also wanted to highlight two titles because they both had a scientific theme going on (titles are self-explanatory, yes?). So with that in mind, there were certain props that were no-brainers and which I knew would go perfectly well with these books. 
Ruler, compass, pen, and that silver thing on the lower right - I have no idea what it is, actually. It's my boyfriend's but when I saw it I knew right away it had to be in my photo, hahaha! Everything feels, err, brainy, right? 
Oh, and when you have more than one book in your photo, you may need to use a bookend / book stopper (if you see flashes of pink peeking out in my photos, that's it).

Added a couple more geeky things or at least something with the same feel.

• Normally, I use my more colorful pens (metallic) but those felt too girly for this photo so I opted for something more 'serious'. 
• Added more stuff from my boyfriend, and I still have no idea what they are.
• The sticker sheet and Little Prince notebook are examples of props that have the same "feel" but have nothing to do with the theme, haha! Or they just feel right to me at least. :P 

Now, the lower left corner feels a bit too empty to me so I added graphing paper to this part. 
Sometimes, I take a "peek" at the layout to check spatial arrangement between props. Basically, I hold my phone over the entire set and look through it, then move objects here and there until they're spaced properly.

I've decided to flip the notebook over and show its back cover instead becauseI felt "The Little Prince" was too distracting. I think it worked better this way, right? And if you've been wondering about the glaringly empty space in the middle, well, that's the spot I reserve for my cup of coffee, hehe. 
Warning: You should do all of these preparations prior to having your coffee made. Because if you do it the other way around, your coffee will taste blah by the time you're done. >.< Trust me. I speak from experience. :D That or AT makes coffee more quickly than I can bookstagram. DAMMIT.

Something you rarely see with bookstagrams are behind the scenes photos. I mean, what kind of work gets into those photos? Don't you ever wonder about that? I know I do, all the time, especially with photos that have SO MANY PROPS!
​Well, here's what happens when I bookstagram.

And believe me, I've been really methodical already with my choice of props. When my thoughts are all over the place (which they often are), it looks more like a disaster zone like the photo below---

 Now, I used to be really fond of filters for bookstagramming but because most people seem to prefer otherwise I've stopped using it and instead started playing around with the built-in editing options of IG. So far, I really find tools to sharpen / brighten the photo really useful. I also like playing with levels for warmth / structure / fade / highlight, depending on what the photo needs. 
Here's the before / after of my first non-filter photo.

Too vivid, eh?
Here's another one, which is one of my faves because it's my first attempt, using a white background (although obviously it's not completely white, I still used a patterned background for a portion of the photo).

Layout changed a bit, too, but more than that, with the help of editing, I made the white background brighten up a lot, which I really liked. Another thing I realized with this particular bookstagram is how it's essential for your backgrounds to blend with each other when you're using more than one. The red background really didn't do it for me. 
With a wood background...

To compare the two, here are bookstagram posts styled by my cover designer CT. 

Either is great. You just need to find which works better for you. With messy layouts, you need LOTS of props, and theme is even more important. With the latter, you need to play around with spacing, and since you're working with fewer props, everything you add to the photo matters. :D
And that's it! Hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it (which was as relaxing as bookstagramming itself actually haha). If you have questions, just let me know! ;) I love talking about this, OBVIOUSLY! :D

So, for #authorlifemonth (basically a photo challenge for Instagram), Day 22 asked me to post a photo of a dedication page (I'm assuming mine). And it just struck me then, how different things are now, compared to how it was when I was still dreaming of getting published.
Used to be, when I'm feeling frustrated or when I'm feeling particularly hopeful about my prospects for getting published, I'd create a new document and it would just be for - guess what - my future dedication page. 
I'd spend countless minutes agonizing every word. I want it to be short but sweet but I always end up with a list that spans the entire page. One day, I recall telling myself. One day, this would be reality.
Fast forward years later (over a decade at least)---
And here I am, and almost all of my books do not have dedication pages. >.< The only time I remember I have to do it is for print books, and that's only because I have this list from Tania Arpa (check her out, she does covers and format books and stuff). Well, it's not actually a list per se, but more like guidelines sent over by email and one of it was about dedication / acknowledgments. If not for that reminder, I wouldn't have even remembered to write one. I always remember to thank readers at the end of each story, but other than that...
I guess it's not just a big a thing as it used to be. And it's not that I'm not thankful. I am. 
The people I need to thank, like my parents and loved ones - I do it every day, in person.
The people I work with, like my editor and cover artist, I thank them every time we complete a project. 
I thank them every time, and I mean it every single instance I utter those words.
So why don't I create those acknowledgment pages?
I guess because...I no longer need the sense of validation it used to give me, when I was still unpublished. Back then, acknowledgment pages weren't just about thanking the people around me. Rather, and I'm being completely honest here (but please also keep in mind that this is just me, and YOU can have different ideas and feelings about it) - acknowledgment pages were more like something ONLY A PUBLISHED AUTHOR HAS THE PRIVILEGE of doing.
And that's why I wanted to do it.
That's it.
Now, even after writing this post, I'd like to think that I'll change and start writing acknowledgment pages again, just so I can show my thanks to the people who helped me behind the scenes but honestly?
I doubt I'd remember doing it.
I'd like to think that instead of wanting me to thank them on every single book, these people appreciate the fact that I'll always have their backs, that I'm so genuinely grateful for how much they've helped me that if they ever need me - I will be there for them.
I hope these people know that.
And yeah, I know this isn't a lesson that will benefit aspiring authors but I thought I should share it nonetheless. Not sure why, just thought I should. :)

So...an example of a syllogistic fallacy:

Major premise: I (a successful author) sell X number of books each day.
Minor premise: Only less than 5 authors are able to sell X number of books each day.
Conclusion: Everyone besides those 5 authors are not successful because they don't sell X number of books each day.

In a way, you can even consider this as a false dichotomy because it's making you presume that if you don't sell X number of books each day, you are AUTOMATICALLY UNSUCCESSFUL.
There's also the fact that the definition of success is subjective. If we're to agree to certain parameters to define success then those parameters need to be specified so that people would at least know whether they'd like to set the same standards for themselves.
So anyway, now that I got that off my chest, you can search for a certain article about Meredith Wild as a phenomenal indie success and after reading that you can search for a blog post that says only those less than forty authors who were able to duplicate Ms. W's achievements may be considered successful.
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Fallacy alert: If you read the blog post, you'll see that an assumption was made about AMZ's statement being true because they're, well, Amazon (appeal to authority). Nothing against AMZ naturally, but it's illogical to assume that everything AMZ says will always be true just because they're Amazon. Then again, this is a moot point since the blog post took AMZ's statement out of context.

Please keep in mind that I'm actually technically better off if I don't talk about this. If I allow other writers to be discouraged then hey, MORE MONEY FOR ME since fewer authors will be writing new books, so more readers may take their chances on my books.
YAY, right?
Not.
We writers are not in competition with each other. Readers will always read books faster than we can write them so I'm all for keeping readers occupied with other people's work while I slave away on my next book. Let's take turns entertaining readers, yes?
And that's my final say on the topic. <3