author life – Ridley Park

Rave Reviews

November 6, 2025November 6, 2025Posted in Book, Ridley Park, WritingTagged anti-capitalism, art vs commerce, author life, authorship, blog, book review, book reviews, book-reviews, books, creative process, fiction, hemo sapiens, humour, indie author, literary fiction, publishing, reader engagement, reading, reflections, Ridley Park, satire, Sustenance, Writing, writing community, writing motivationLeave a comment

1–2 minutes

“I’d rather get reviews than sales.”

“I’d rather get reviews than sales.”

Yes, I actually said that. Possibly whilst caffeinated.

I was chatting with a mate about book sales, and it slipped out: I’d rather get reviews than sales. Not that I’d turn down either. But priorities matter.

Priority One: Write

The first goal is to write. I wrote for years before publishing a single page. The ideas pile up in my head like unwashed dishes, and writing is how I clear the sink. I write for myself. Call it narcissism if you must – but it’s a productive narcissism.

Priority Two: Be Read

Then comes the hope of being read. A sale is not a reader. Someone might buy your book and never open it. They might read it and hate it. They might toss it into the void. I just want to know.

Last month, I gave away over a hundred copies of Sustenance. Four reviews. One was one-star – she loathed it. Good. At least I know. The other ninety-nine? A mystery. For all I know, they’re gathering digital dust on forgotten hard drives. To be fair, I’ve got thousands of neglected downloads myself, so no judgment. Still, if you did read it, I’d love to hear what you thought. Leave a review.

Priority Three: Money (the tedious bit)

I’m not a consumerist, nor a fan of money-based systems. Unfortunately, that’s the system we’ve got, so yes – I still appreciate sales. But sales without engagement are hollow victories.

Reviews (the absurd bit)

Some people email me their thoughts instead of posting reviews. Lovely, but invisible. I can’t quote a private email without looking like a fraud. I could always fake one —

“King Charles absolutely loved Hemo Sapiens”

“King Charles absolutely loved Hemo Sapiens.”

But alas, he never said that. (He should.)

Anyway… that’s all I’ve got. Back to writing.

Written by

Ridley Park

Authors Talking to Authors Whilst the Readers Are Elsewhere

August 10, 2025August 10, 2025Posted in Book, Ridley Park, WritingTagged author, author life, authors forums, book marketing, book promotion mistakes, book sales strategy, books, fiction, how to find readers, indie author tips, indie publishing, marketing for authors, reading, Writing, writing communityLeave a comment

There’s a peculiar little ecosystem out there called the author’s forum. You’ve probably seen it – digital watering holes where writers congregate to swap tips, trade war stories, and, inevitably, flog their latest magnum opus like a Victorian street hawker with a sack of dubious oysters.

Don’t get me wrong: I don’t begrudge other writers their moment in the sun. We all want our roses sniffed. But here’s the problem: I’m not looking for fellow gardeners. I’m looking for bees. Readers. Pollinators of stories. The ones who carry your words away, let them germinate somewhere else, and maybe if you’re very lucky leave a little honey in return.

Instead, these forums are like a row of market stalls where every vendor is shouting, “Buy my book!” at every other vendor. It’s a deafening loop of mutual advertising in which no one is actually in the market to buy anything. Imagine a cocktail party where everyone is giving a TED Talk at the same time. You can’t even taste the hors d’oeuvres for the noise.

Yes, there’s theoretical overlap; writers are often readers, and some might genuinely enjoy a novel by an unknown author. But the ratio is wildly off. Authors’ forums are not where most readers live. And when you do find a forum of book lovers, they’re usually busy discussing the books they’re already reading, not soliciting a cold pitch from a stranger waving around their unrecognised genius.

Bookseller and library forums? Same issue, just with a corporate gloss. They’re less like communities and more like speed dating events where every participant turns up with a PowerPoint presentation and a sales target.

I suppose it’s a rite of passage for indie authors: you wander into these places thinking you’ve found the gates to literary Shangri-La, only to discover you’ve walked into a multi-level marketing convention where everyone’s selling the same product in slightly different packaging.

So, I’ll keep my profile there, post occasionally and drop in to wave, but I know the audience I’m after isn’t there. The real trick, as ever, is finding the places where the readers live, and learning how to be interesting enough that they might actually care.

Until then, I’ll save my breath. And my roses.

Writing is Just the Tip of the Iceberg

July 20, 2025July 20, 2025Posted in Book, Ridley Park, WritingTagged author, author burnout, author life, book launch, book marketing, book promotion, books, cover design, editing, formatting, independent publishing, indie author, mental health for writers, publishing, publishing iceberg, publishing tips, sales management, self-publishing, Writing, writing iceberg, writing motivation, writing process, writing strugglesLeave a comment

I hate to be the bearer of bad news – especially if you’re still slogging through a draft of your first manuscript. You know what some people say about writing a book is the hard part.

Lies. Damned lies. That’s the frothy, twinkly nonsense parroted by people who’ve never published anything beyond a social media post, probably only a comment.

Audio: NotebookLM podcast on this topic.

Let me tell you the truth. The actual, bloodstained, coffee-fuelled truth:

Writing the book is the easy part.

It’s the visible tip of the iceberg, smugly floating above the surface, soaking up the praise and admiration. Meanwhile, everything else – the sleepless nights, the decimal-point royalty statements, the unpaid invoices to your own soul – is lurking beneath, waiting to sink your mental health like the HMS Delusion.

So here it is, for posterity and pity:

Post-Writing Gauntlet: The Real Job Begins

1. Editing (Five Times, If You’re Lucky)

Developmental editing – “Is your plot a plot or a pile of wet spaghetti?”
Line editing – Making your sentences less embarrassing.
Copyediting – Catching your consistent misuse of ‘affect’ and ‘effect’.
Proofreading – The last defence against the typo apocalypse.
Beta feedback – Friends who suddenly vanish when asked to read a draft.

2. Formatting and Typesetting

Print vs digital layouts. Word crimes meet paragraph crimes.
EPUBs that break for fun.
That one widow on page 243 you didn’t notice until the proof copy arrived.

3. Cover Design

DIY, Fiverr roulette, or mortgage your cat to hire a professional.
Matching tone, genre conventions, and market expectations.
Spelling your own name correctly. (Don’t laugh, it happens.)

4. ISBNs and Metadata Hell

ISBN purchases (if you’re not relying on Amazon’s identifiers).
Title, subtitle, BISAC categories, keywords, blurbs, author bio — all rewritten seventeen times.

5. Publishing Platform Setup

Kindle Direct Publishing, IngramSpark, Kobo, Draft2Digital, Smashwords — pick your poison.
Print proofs, bleed settings, trim sizes, the baffling difference between matte and gloss.

6. Marketing (a.k.a. Screaming Into the Void)

Author website & blog (SEO: your new religion).
Social media presence — the façade of charm over existential dread.
Newsletter with a totally non-spammy freebie opt-in.
Ads: Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, Google. Burn money to test the water temperature.

7. Book Launch

ARCs, blog tours, launch events, or at least pretending you’re doing those things.
Coordinating reviews before anyone has read the damn thing.
Press kits and media outreach — basically shouting “LOOK AT ME” with tact.

8. Ongoing Sales Maintenance

Price promos, countdown deals, boxed sets, bundling — keep flogging the corpse.
Monitoring sales dashboards like a Victorian ghost watches the wallpaper peel.
Adjusting metadata because one reviewer didn’t understand it was satire.

9. Audiobook Production (If You Hate Money)

Narrator auditions, contracts, studio time.
Alternatively, read it yourself and discover your own voice is intolerable.
Or muddle through with an AI speech companion. Hullo, ElevenLabs.
Distribution through ACX or Findaway, both of which will pay you in dry leaves.

10. Accounting and Legal Fuss

Tracking royalties across platforms.
Filing taxes as an “author-publisher-entrepreneur-marketer-entity”.
Copyright registration, contracts, intellectual property trolls under the bridge.

11. Dealing With Readers

Responding to fan mail (both lovely and deranged).
Ignoring 1-star reviews that say “not what I expected, didn’t read it”.
Navigating book clubs who want a discount because they’re “doing you a favour”.

12. Mental Health and Motivation

Impostor syndrome, burnout, elation, despair — the writer’s buffet.
Rewriting your author bio weekly because you don’t know who you are anymore.

Optional Add-Ons (for masochists)

Translations and foreign rights – Because English isn’t the only language in which you can fail to sell books.
Merchandise – T-shirts nobody buys, mugs that mock your financial situation.
Public speaking / readings – Summon the courage to read your sex scenes aloud in a room of pensioners.

**Image**: *Publishing iceberg poster in all its glory*.

The Loneliest Table in the Room

July 13, 2025July 13, 2025Posted in Book, WritingTagged author fears, author life, author resilience, book signing, books, creative courage, debut author, empty event, fiction, introvert writer, literary events, Moore to Lyfe, motivation for writers, publishing reality, reading, self-publishing, Tamika Ford, Writing, writing journeyLeave a comment

What if you scheduled a book signing… and no one showed?

I’ve had that thought more than once. The kind of creeping doubt that slinks in just after you order the bookmarks and rehearse your elevator pitch in the mirror.

It happened to Tamika Ford.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18niMMYv3C

I don’t know this woman, but this post appeared in my feed:

First book signing

I showed up. I sat at the table. Books neatly stacked, pen ready, heart open — and no one came.

At first, it stung. But then I realized… I’m still proud. Proud that I created something from my story. Proud that I had the courage to show up, even when the seats were empty.

Every table won’t be full. Every event won’t be packed. But every moment is a seed. And I’m still planting.

www.mooretolyfe.net

I don’t know Tamika personally. This post just floated into my feed. But her candour caught me off guard—because I’ve imagined the same thing.

Audio: NotebookLM Podcast on this topic.

A book signing. It sounds like the natural next step. A rite of passage. Something authors do. I’m an introvert, but I’ve taught lecture halls full of glazed-over undergrads and stood before execs who paid me not to bore them. Public speaking doesn’t rattle me.

But the idea of speaking to an empty room? That’s different.

As a professor, the audience is compulsory. As a consultant, the client paid to listen. But a signing? That’s a gamble. No RSVP, no guaranteed bodies. Just hope in paperback.

I’ve published three books, with two more on the way. There are still a few manuscripts in editorial purgatory and some non-fiction titles pacing impatiently backstage. No wonder people hire publicists. It’s a circus, and some days, you don’t even get the monkey.

Tamika said, “At first, it stung.” And how could it not?

She’d already written the book. That’s the real accomplishment. She could have been proud before the signing, without the signing. But she showed up. That’s the part that wrecks me a bit.

She probably rehearsed the scene in her head. Smiling, shaking hands. Someone saying, “I loved this part.” A moment of affirmation.

Instead: silence. Stale air and the slow tick of a wall clock.

And yet there she is in the photo—beaming. She shared the moment not to seek pity but to offer calibration for anyone planting seeds of their own.

May her next event be packed. May strangers pick up her book and find something that speaks to them. Failing that, may they at least buy the damn thing.

Either way, she’s already won.