It's 9AM

What is the State of Your Business

Chris Lowry

Aug 16, 2023

I’ve been reformatting the Battlefield Z series for upload to all platforms and had to rework Bluegrass Zombie.

The formatting wasn’t translating, no matter what I did.

So I had to do it by hand.

Basically go in after each period (.) and add a space, and retype the open quotation marks. (“)

I tried find and replace, but it wouldn’t work.

I know the reason why.

Because Word from 2003 doesn’t like talking to Word 2007.

And Word 10, won’t upload on my laptop.

Which is just one example of how going wide is working.

I’ve been adding all of the BZ series to:

Kobo

Barnes and Noble

Apple

OverDrive

And more.

All of the books, really.

Expanding distribution channels to reach more people, and including some audio outside of Youtube.

Apple, for example.

My thought was B and N would be my second largest channel after Amazon, which I’m still off for now.

But it’s Apple.

Weird.

Other things I’m learning about the state of this particular piece of the publishing business?

Youtube skews 80% male and they like SCI FI.

While Substack skews 65% female who likes Urban Fantasy and some Thrillers.

Amazon was 60/40 female to male, but I don’t have enough to tell me what’s going on with other channels yet.

But the men who’ve left reviews like the Battlefield Z series because of the Dad.

And the women who’ve left reviews or reached out to me via email liked the Battlefield Z series because of the Dad.

And my favorite quote about it is, “It’s not about zombies.”

Never have truer words been spoken.

Which brings me to updating all the wide channels and making sure there’s one link so no matter how anyone likes to read it can get their copy.

And adding it to my own platform on Payhip.

Someone suggested making sure it was on Gumroad too, which surprised me, but I’ll add it, so more people might find it.

It’s funny the things that inspire you or motivate you.

Like Substack. I like when people upgrade their subscription because it makes me feel like the hours spent each day working on it, and thinking about it are worth it.

Or deciding which story to work on next, not based on what I want to write, but based on what sells.

It’s one thing to write what you love and hope for an audience, it’s quite another to try to turn it into a thriving business.

Which is totally my fault.

Because I did write so many different genres and story types, and then shared all of them, it really skewed my numbers.

I do know that people don’t respond as well to AI voiceovers on Youtube telling the longer stories, so we’ll stop doing that and save up to go back to real narrators.

That means a longer wait between titles.

I got a little excited because Twitter, now X, and Tik Tok were offering up some opportunities to expand their reach.

The idea was to create and write an original series for each platform.

That might still happen, but based on the numbers, it’s going to be a little later.

I did get an invitation on Patreon to Beta test their digital store, which offers one more outlet to reach people.

But like most of the platforms, except Amazon, the expectation is to bring new people into their ecosystems.

I guess I’m left wondering about our eco system, what we’ve created together?

That’s my biggest concern with linking you to Medium or Apple or Patreon or any other place.

It’s a fine line between offering the easiest path I can find for the greatest number of folks so they can get the stories they want, and being everywhere all at once.

And everywhere all at once is a great strategy from a marketing perspective.

In fact, if you own a small business you should email me to consult on how and what you should be doing with the everywhere all at once strategy.

A quick sum up so I can get this to you.

You can buy these books direct in the list below.

You can get your books on other platforms outside of Amazon now, and we’re adding more each day.

You can listen to the books on Youtube here, and more are coming.

If you liked the Shadowboxer series, hit me up on Patreon and join the community there for free chapters, bonus content and to see what’s going on.

If you like classic sci fi and military sci fi stories, hit SUBSCRIBE on Youtube for original action tales that you won’t want to miss.

If you like Old Magic, the Marshal of Magic and Ware the Cats of War, stay tuned for updates coming soon.

And if you like new thoughts about old memories and want to show your support for what we’re doing, upgrade on Substack to a monthly or annual subscription for free books, bonus content and more.

Books by Chris Lowry

The Battlefield Z Series

Bluegrass Zombie

Everglades Zombie