The Annoyance of Being Self-Published

Arrrrgh.

So, I've gotten 4 books now published through Create Space. In general, it was a pretty painless process, though there were some color problems to which CS replied, "Sorry, we don't guarantee color."

Rrrrr.

I created an author page on Facebook. Apparently you get a prize for getting 30 likes. No problem. I have over 100 "friends" on my main account.  So, I make an appeal to them, and get 9. So, I wait. Some people don't get on very often right?  Nothing. I post it again and get up to something like 15. So, I pay Facebook to put it the notice at the top of my friends lists. And, drumroll please: After 3 weeks, I get up to 28.  One of them by me and another by a very kind gentleman who I don't even know. Just today I checked again and my beautiful niece, Becky, has brought me to 29, and I got a message from Facebook that told me my paid promotion got one response - From my mother.

Grrrr.

I grabbed a book on fiverr.com which claimed to have 5 steps to get your book to #1 on the Kindle free list. The advice seems pretty sound. The first step is to pay to have your book advertised on BookBub which is an email list that boasts a million subscribers. Awesome. So, I try to buy an ad from them.  Their answer reads like a standard form letter from an agent:

Thanks for submitting an order with BookBub. Unfortunately, the editorial team has not selected your book for a listing at this time.

In order to preserve a consistent experience for our subscribers, BookBub employs an editorial team to review all listing submissions and approve those they feel are the best fit for the daily deal email...

!@#$!@#$. The whole reason to go self-published is to avoid this crap. I can't even buy an ad?

ARRRGGHHH.

So, I collect my cool and submit another of my books.  ...And get the same answer. @#$@Q#$@!

Now, I'm going to visit about 100 free book and review sites to see what I can get from there.

Oh happy, happy, joy, joy.