The Frustrations of Self-Publishing

Hello all.
Today, please forgive me, I am going to be quite self indulgent. I will do my best to keep away from 'Oh woe's me!' and the like, but I can't make any firm promises.
So this self-publishing ebook lark. I started back in 2011 with no real idea what I was doing. I just got the first volume of Dhaka to Dakar out on kindle, and then wondered when someone was going to buy the thing. Forgot a bit about it as sales weren't forth coming and I was getting married and moving to Japan etc etc - life goes on.

2012 and I pressed on eventually with the second volume once settled here in Japan. I decided I could get SOMETHING out quicker if I released it chapter by chapter initially. And so I did that. And yes, I have a few more sales and I think it was a good idea simply because this way the titles were one-country specific, and not too broad. If someone was to search for a book, say, on Bosnia Herzegovina, my chapter on that might come up, and all the chapters were and are only 99 cents, aimed at actually making sales rather than money. And I continued on for the third book, Across Africa, which I think is easily the best of the three, the best written and the most interesting. And then combined them and put them out as volumes, and turned the first book Journey Through Asia into single chapter releases as well.

I mention the books in relevant blog posts, I hope I don't push too hard, and for a long while, apart from the very occasional facebook mention, that was all I was doing. As I was blogging very infrequently, that wasn't much in the way of publicity.

Last year in October I released Short Journeys: Ethiopia. I decided to do more writing, perhaps therapeutically more than anything else, but I included information on transport and accommodation as well as I continued the line with more Short Journeys, the most recent being Short Journeys: India.

Publicity

And this year I looked up the net for advice on how to publicise my ebooks. 2013 had a couple of good months, but to be honest I have never made more than 15 bucks in a month from my ebooks in total. So I read 'use twitter and social media', I found 'Goodreads' and have been listing my books there. When school finished I had a lot more time for this stuff, and I got into twitter, but I have to say - it's bloody exhausting! Publicising, listing in different places. As you know I've started publishing also with Payhip, which let's me keep 100% of the money made, and Lulu which doesn't, it keeps the first 99 cents as well, but it also put me on ibookstore, Nook and recently Kobo.

I made a page (and will make more) on Squidoo, my first was about India. I've connected with so many people in the last two weeks, primarily over twitter but tried to read as many blogs on travel as possible, like people's facebook pages if they like me back (I've had a lot of requests from people I started following, but any that didn't follow me back I can't even reply to!). I've thought about paying for campaigns but I'm not really sold on that. I joined tumbler but haven't started there as I don't really know what it's all about. I downloaded 'tweetdeck' (thanks to Dan Collins for that recommendation) so I could schedule tweets when I'm asleep and reach people awake on the other side of the world. I am living in Yokohama with no job other than this self publishing publicity lark (and writing) until May 9th when I return home to Australia and honestly, after just over a week here I'm a little crazy and bit depressed.

So where am I as of April 7th, 2014? How's it all going?

It's all, honestly, one big stressful ball of 'Argggggggghhhh!'.

Status of Payhip - around 6 weeks, with no sales. Maybe to be expected, it doesn't publicise your book at all and you publish in the rather boring PDF format.

Lulu. This picture says it all. I've link numerous times to Lulu and chatted about it here. I was very excited after my first sale, which took about five weeks. The graph went up. But now it's back down again. Second sale... where are you?

As for Amazon. Well, this year had been building very steadily, since December really. A few more sales each month. March I started to get into Twitter as I said. March turned out to be the best month ever in terms of total sales, I was really happy. Especially with Short Journeys. Short Journeys: Ethiopia has been the most successful book every month since it was published bar the first one I think.

A is for Amazon. But it is also for April. And despite the best of my publicity efforts, it's a week in and it's a shocker. TWO sales in a week. I've met my target 3 months running, but boy it's going to be hard with this start in April. I'm not sure what's happened. Have I over publicised? Have I reached everyone who was ever likely to buy the books in the first place? Who knows...

Reviews

One thing that's frustrating is getting reviews. I have two reviews for the Kazakhstan book, one for the Cameroon book, one for Dhaka to Dakar Book One: Journey Through Asia, and one each for the Bangladesh and Burkina Faso chapters, and that's it. All the reviews have been very positive thankfully. So, dear reader, I would ask that if you have read any of my books, and you don't mind, please do submit a review to Amazon or Goodreads, or even Lulu. They don't have to be more than a couple of sentences, and please... be kind!

I had no idea that this review existed for six months on Amazon for my Burkina Faso chapter of Dhaka to Dakar, it's really very kind.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent travel journal account of Burkina Faso September 1, 2013

By Penny L. Parker

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this book, especially given its modest cost and production efforts. The photos are great and were easy to view in my Kindle Paperwhite. The author has an engaging writing style. I was trying to do some research on Burkina Faso as a country for human rights reporting purposes. This book gave me a very good anecdotal coverage of the people and countryside. I was especially intrigued to hear of the author's ability to use Internet cafes everywhere he went, which helped me establish in my human rights reporting that Internet access is possible in the country, even if it is one of the poorest and most technology-challenged countries in the world.

Thanks for your time today in my little self indulgence. Three places you can find my books -

Andrew Boland at Goodreads
Links to Amazon, every book listed, some videos also linked to certain books.

Andrew Boland at Amazon - Author page
All my books are released on Amazon first.

Andrew Boland at Lulu - Author Spotlight

Normal service will resume shortly! May the journey never end.
 

Culture Shock Part Two: First Experiences in West Africa

Grim reality of Accra

When I went to India, I was a very green traveller. It was my first solo trip, the first time I had travelled alone. When I went to West Africa in 2006, I couldn’t claim the same. I had been to India three times, I had visited Bangladesh twice and been through Pakistan and Iran to get to Europe by land. So, I felt I had the necessary experience to deal with whatever Africa could throw at me.

I was wrong. I arrived in Accra, Ghana, with the plan to make it overland via a number of countries to Senegal. I planned to go through Togo, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali on the way. But I was to immediately face culture shock in Accra, and the plans would flux and change and revert back to the original whilst I was in West Africa in 2006.

I was immediately struck with culture shock. In fact, on my way to Ghana I had already felt misgivings about going to this part of the world. Strange perhaps, because I had spent years researching and planning and imagining the good and the bad, the challenges and the adventures I would face there. I was, admittedly, worried that my peanut allergy was going to be a big problem, it’s a common ingredient in cooking in West Africa, but I had learnt how to deal with it by then. Or so I thought.

Life in Accra

When I arrived at Accra airport, I was a little surprised that despite an extremely long runway, the airport was very small. I was in sub-Saharan Africa for the first time! I flipped from panicky to excited and back again. I took a taxi into town, and with a little time, he found the Date Hotel. This place was a bit of an institution in Accra, there aren’t that many budget options so here was a place for less than 20 bucks and I took a room there.

Whilst the staff were really friendly, and the outdoor bar was nice, the rooms were poor to say the least. I was sharing with mice, the bathrooms barely functioned and the fans were loud. For a night or two it was ok, but I was there for quite a while.

Room at the Date hotel

The atmosphere in coastal Ghana is a little oppressive thanks to the humidity. It was well into the 90s (percent) and so very difficult to deal with, and for the first week or two I panicked at pretty much every meal I had worried that there might be peanuts inside. I was not coping well. I couldn’t get a handle on Accra – the way it was laid out, where I was, it seemed to be really big but flat. On top of that the only foreigners at my hotel were aid workers, and they were all too happy to pay for Nigerian hookers who were also staying at the hotel.

And the hookers were nice really, to chat with. And I should have expected something along those lines but well, it was all new to me and combined with quite a bit of poverty in parts, and the madness of the place (despite not being anywhere near as mad as India), and the fact that I felt completely on my own – no other backpackers around that I could see, well this flipped me out somewhat and I spent a couple of days with no-one to talk to much and certain that I was way out of my depth.

Cape Coast.

I eventually, after four days, moved on to Cape Coast, a quite pretty town down the… coast. I arrived at a cheaper, nicer, far cleaner guesthouse, and met a Canadian who on the spot was happy to see a backpacker and invited me that day to join her and her mother going to some tree houses in the jungle. I was very happy suddenly, I felt things were on the turn. I accepted, only for an hour or less later to be told that the mother had vetoed the idea as she wanted to spend alone time with her daughter. Well, feelings reversed again.

I tried to enjoy my time at Cape Coast, but I couldn’t connect to the other couple of backpackers. I went back to Accra, deciding possibly to skip Benin, Togo and Niger and go to Burkina Faso through to Mali and Senegal, quickly to, and get out to the UK where I was headed next. BUT back in Accra I met an Australian and we hung out for a couple of days. We saw the museum and a few other things around Accra, and like that, suddenly things were not so bad.

Market in Niamey, Niger.

Kindness in Miger.

He had been to the three countries I was considering cutting from the itinerary and in the end I decided to go there – I had a visa that covered them all anyway. And I moved on to Togo, which was strange, and Benin which was good although I had a bad moment where I lost it. Niger was again confronting with extreme, in your face poverty, but that was balanced by meeting a local with very little that offered me a bed for couple of nights. A warm and generous soul. I never forget these people. I had bought an electric stove because I wanted to cook to get around my peanuts fear, but then never used it. I gave it to this kind man.

Then, Burkina Faso. I had slept a night outside at a bus station in Niger as the buses leave at around 4am for longer distances, and to be honest it was fine if not a sensible thing to do. The bus took me to the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou. At the guesthouse there I met some backpackers and we had a fun day around the town, and when I moved on to Banfora, well, I was feeling finally that I had conquered my misgivings about the place.

Happy times in Ouagadougou.

So then I caught malaria. Well, probably from a bite I received sleeping outside at the bus station in Niger to be honest. It takes a little time to manifest. Then the doctor gave me Larium, which induced panic attacks. I was suddenly in hell. The initial treatment did not cure the malaria either. I had a guy in Banfora who took me on a tour around to see things who kept turning up at my hotel asking me for money, and eventually I left Banfora, still sick and panicky, to get away from him.

I still remember when the malaria came on. I was hanging with a couple from the Czech Republic. We watched a drum performance which was really cool and I felt very happy about that. I was really digging Burkina Faso. We went out for dinner and I had a really nice steak. Then to an outdoor restaurant/bar and were sitting around a table having a beer and I started coughing. Very quickly I had a temperature and in the space of 30-60 minutes I felt really sick. I went to hospital and was diagnosed with malaria.

Drumming performance in Banfora.

The hospital provided its own culture shock. Just a flat bed, not sheets, no nurses, and a doctor who couldn’t find my veins. He used a plastic glove and wrapped it around my arm, and then got the other patient in the room to assist. The toilet was locked at night and I had to drag my drip and myself outside to piss on the wall. To say it was basic is an understatement, but they did have clean needles and the medication which is something, right?

I spiralled from there, still sick I went to Bobo-Dioulosso. I got angry and stressed when suddenly I couldn’t change money at a bank. It can be difficult in some places in West Africa, they ask for receipts and other things. In Ouagadougou again I was taken to another hospital which dealt with westerners thanks to a kind soul I met on the bus, and there I received, finally, proper treatment.

This trip to West Africa ended in ignominy, and I returned home to Australia in my only aborted trip. Was that all ‘culture shock’, no certainly not. Some of it was bad luck, much was in my own mind but I did learn that you have to be in the right mental place to travel, especially if you are going somewhere special. I would returned to the region in 2007 and see Mali and Senegal, I went with a friend this time – a very good idea if you go to Africa. Do it with a friend, it really does help.

For more on my time in West Africa, the third book to the Dhaka to Dakar adventure covers Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal. It’s available on Kindle.

Dhaka to Dakar Book Three: Across Africa

You can also find the individual chapters on Amazon.

Next Sunday I will talk more in Part Three of ‘Culture Shock’!

May the journey never end! 

Ten Thousand Strong - Eight Years of Memories

Hi folks
I was going to do a short retrospective blog a couple of weeks back when this blog passed 10,000 page views, but other stuff seemed more important at the time. But today, it's time to look back a little.
I started this blog at the end of 2005, in fact I had one post in December 2005, not long before I took off on my ill fated 2006 journey to West Africa. 10,000 hits since then isn't really so many, I know, it took just over eight years. So what's that? 3 views a day? Well that's pretty sucky screw you guys, I'm...

:P

Ok know I am incredibly grateful for the support of everyone over the years who has followed my blog.

Since my first post, I have visited -

Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Jordan, the UAE, Ethiopia, Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, the UK, Mali, Senegal, France, Germany, Vietnam, China, Laos, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Luxembourg, Cameroon, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Japan. Whew. I think that's all of them. Nope - Georgia! How could I forget Georgia? That's 31 countries! And I've blogged about and probably from each one.

The 2006 trip didn't go to plan. I got malaria and then disappeared from the blog under the misapprehension that no-one was reading it and subsequently freaked people out. I am still sorry about that one. This is my 273rd post. Recently I've noticed a lot of readers from the US have been tuning into the blog - so hello! And now a quick rundown of my travels since I started the blog.

January 2006 - My first trip to West Africa started in Ghana. I did not cope well.

February 2006 - I moved through to Burkina Faso. Just as I was feeling on top of travelling again, I got malaria.

October 2007 - It was time to travel again, I started with the Baltic countries - this is Tallinn, beautiful Tallinn.

November 2007 - Mali, with friends, an amazing experience back in West Africa. I had to returned first to Burkina Faso to cross to Mali by land because the main airport in Mali was closed for runway repairs. 

November 2007 - I made it to Dakar, Senegal, a place that was to finish my dream of going from Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Dakar, Senegal.

October 2009, Dubai, UAE. Yes it's 40 plus outside, but inside a mall you can go to the snow!

A challenge met and conquered - trekking the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia, November 2009

Big trip time again, and not long after March 11, I landed in Japan in 2011 as part of the trip where I was mesmerised by lights, karaoke, warm toilet seats and cosplay!

June 2011 - the sun beat down on me in Uzbekistan, but I was still taken by the beauty of this place as I explored Central Asia.

July 2011 - The UK. I got my geek on and met some of the legends of Doctor Who.

 September - December 2011 - I lived and worked in Georgia, teaching English and falling in love with a wonderful country. This is the capital, Tbilisi. 

January 2013 - Sri Lanka. I climbed a big rock and had my wallet stolen. 

And that's where I am today. Well, I'm in Japan actually. But things can change, and the journeying continues. Stay tuned to this blog for more! and Thank you all!

Top Ten Countries - Number 8: Mali

The Dogon Escarpment.

Now, we are up to number 8. Mali is an amazing country located in West Africa. Land-locked, dry, terrorist activity in the north in recent years, it has had its issues that’s for sure. In fact, when I went there back in 2007 it had its issues – my flight was cancelled a few days before because they had decided to close the airport for a week to re-seal the runway! I can assure you that that is the only time I have encountered that particular problem.

I flew into Ouagadougou, the capital of neighbouring Burkina Faso, and made my way to Mali by land. I had a little less than two weeks there, I had left a couple of days later because of the new flights, and

Rooftop sleeping, Dogon Country. 

lost 2 days crossing to Mali, but I still managed to pack in a lot in those 12-ish days.

After crossing into Mali, I went with three charming people (two I met on the crossing) to Dogon country. We overnighted in the town of Banfora, before begin a trek in one of the most remarkable, remote places on Earth. The Dogon Escarpment is sort of like a big rock, well it’s a big cliff really. It goes on for 150 kilometres, and is up to 500 metres high.

It’s a popular trekking spot in this part of the world. Trekkers walk in the mornings and late afternoon to avoid the searing heat – I was there in November and it was over 40 each day at the peak. There are villages on the lower plains and on top of the escarpment, the trek goes through quite a few, and you stay at one on the lower plain the first night, atop it the second. We slept on a rooftop looking at the sky. Now THAT was brilliant!  As was seeing village life in the villages. Although there is a dependency on the trekkers and the tourist dollar, they still function a lot as they have done for hundreds of years. The only lighting is from car batteries.

pounding millet in a Dogon village.

Climbing the escarpment was a challenge, but not as hard as I had expected. On top we visited a village and saw a local school, being mobbed by children. This is only the simplest of possible summaries for this 3-day trek. Three of the best days of my life.

Boat, Mopti.

Around Mali there is a lot to see as well. In the region no countries has as many highlights as Mali. Taking a boat on the Bani River at Mopti. Not just the Bani river, it's at the convergance of two big rivers - the Bani and the Niger. A special place, a big riverside town, lovely spot, was one highlight, but the only place to rival the beauty of the Dogon country is Djenne.

Djenne street.

Famous for the biggest mud-brick structure in the world, most of the island town is made from mud. It’s an amazing place to spend a day, with passageways, beautiful houses and more. The mosque there is crowning glory of this town, a UNESCO-protected site, rising up in the middle. Today tourists are not allowed inside, but from outside it is still breath-taking. To get to the town you have to get your taxi onto a boat to get across the river. That’s part of the fun too!

The amazing mosque at Djenne.

Segou and the Niger River.

Segou is another pleasant river-side town in Mali. I only spent a day there, a very brief day, but life on the Niger River was a buzz, as were the donkeys and it seemed like a very pleasant town. We walked along the river in the afternoon as the sun beat down and saw the life-blood of this whole region of Africa – that’s the Niger river which stretches through many countries.

Bamako at night.

The last stop was Bamako, the capital city, a sort of sprawling ‘splat’ on the map in some ways. Capital cities are rarely a highlight in Africa, and Bamako didn’t reverse this trend, however it still was an interesting and lively place. If you want some decent food, or to do proper souvenir shopping or visit the best markets Mali has to offer, you come to Bamako. Or indeed, if you need a flight in or out of the country! It’s worth two days.

Young artisan at the Artisans' mmarket, Bamako

And so that’s my experience of Mali. Be aware that earlier this year there were major issues in the north and Timbuktu – oh yes, if you’ve ever wondered where Timbuktu was, wonder no longer, it’s in the north of Mali! Well the French Army was fighting there earlier this year, fighting terrorists and extremists who had taken over the place. Mali is a wonderful place, but, good idea to check the safety situation before you go!

So far the top ten has had two countries in Europe, and one in Africa. Next time we journey to another continent. Which one will it be?

10 – Slovakia

9 – Romania

8 – Mali

7 - ????

Kindle Writings on Mali:

Dhaka to Dakar  -Chapter Nineteen: Mali

Dhaka to Dakar: Book Three - Across Africa

Dogon trekking, Across the universe

Here I am in Mopti, Mali. I am sorry for the lack of recent postings but it just hasn`t been possible.
A week ago I left Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and took a bus to Ouigouyah in the north. My friend Paul and I met a couple of Irish girls and we teamed up to visit the Dogon country, along with Timbuctu this countrys premier tourist attraction.
The Dogon Escarpment stretches for some 150 kms, basically a large long cliff. Tribes live both below and above this escarpment. We found a guide, and from Bankass in Mali we set about trekking some of this area.
Starting at a village called Kani-Kombelai were walked along the bottom of the escarpment to villages Ende and Teli. We slept on the rooves under the stars and enjoyed the hospitality offerred; even though there was no electricity and the food was basic.
The next day we climbed the escarpment to Begnimato. Its all very rural but the scenery is just breathtaking. Ok; so they have coke for sale. The heat is bad so a coolish drink never goes astray. Much of the village life hasnt changed much for ages.
Another rooftop night, and then we were driven to Bandiagara the next day. Then yesterday to Mopti.
Paul and myself took a trip on the Bani river yesterday which was great; then today we did a day trip to the town of Djenne where the worlds biggest mud-brick structure, an amazing mosque, stands. We were guided around there for a while, another amazing place. tomorrow its onto a town called Segou....

Silly Keyboards in Burkina Faso

So I am here in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso Again. It was quite the plane journey - or series of, as my mate Paul and myself flew London to Casablanca to Niamey to Ouaga. And here we are, after arriving at 2.40AM.
It is around 37 degrees celcius here, sop that`s a dramatic shock to the system. The place is still familiar, and I have a throat infection too so again i am here and not feeling the best. It is a weird feeling to be here... as nice as the place is for Africa if they could just knock five degrees off the temperature I would be very grateful. A bit eerie after the way I left last time.... still; Im up for the challenge.

Off towards Mali tomorrow by bus, hoping for some decent sleep tonight. And the keyboard... Id forgotten just how bad it was, keys moved all over the place. I am planning my revenge on the man who invented this keyboard.