The Indie Author Experiment · Day 14

Scammers, Reels & Apparently I Build Cathedrals Now

Hello rebels.

Today I’m posting very late again because your powered-by-Coke-Zero rebel has been busy.

With what?

Well… you will see at the end of this post.

So yes. First you have to read me.
Indie Author Website Growth

I Posted Again. The Website Moved Again.

Yesterday I came back, posted, shared, existed on the internet again — and the numbers moved with me.

Especially the website.

This is exactly why I wanted this indie author marketing experiment to last longer than a few days.

One isolated day tells me very little. Patterns are much more interesting.

33 Website Views ↑ 26.9%
18 Visitors ↑ 125%
11 Facebook Referrals ↑ about 1,000%
#1 Most-Read Post I Disappeared. My Content Didn’t.
Apparently Facebook woke from the dead and became the strongest visible referrer of the day.

Grandpa Facebook stretched his knees, adjusted his glasses and decided he still has something to contribute.

Fine by me.

Readers also moved beyond that one article into the homepage, Journal, ARC pages, Before October Ends, the podcast and the Italian and Portuguese areas of the site.

That part matters to me.

The website is starting to behave less like a collection of isolated pages and more like an actual ecosystem.

One page leads to another. One post leads somewhere else. A reader enters through one door and occasionally opens another.

And this time the website reached people in Slovakia, the United States, Sweden and Brazil.

Sweden continues to appear quietly in my statistics like a mysterious Scandinavian ghost.

And Brazil — my breath of happiness and joy. ❤️

Social Media Discovery

The Numbers I Care About Are Changing.

I’m becoming less interested in staring at every single number every platform gives me.

There is one question I care about much more:

Are people who do not already know Lupe Farkas seeing Lupe Farkas?
29.5% Instagram Views From Non-Followers

Almost a third of the views came from people who do not follow me.

The content is leaving my existing circle.

Go, little post. Wander.

80% LinkedIn Impressions Outside My Network

Now this one I really like.

LinkedIn is showing my content beyond people who already know me.

If the goal is discovery, that is exactly the direction I want.

Meanwhile, In My Inbox

Apparently Everybody Knows How to Make Me a Bestseller.

But rebels…

Gosh.

I am getting so tired of the endless parade of people who have apparently discovered the secret formula for making unknown authors rich, famous and bestselling.

And by tremendous coincidence, all I have to do is pay them first.

Tumblr
One “specialized beta reader” offering paid services without presenting any visible proof of qualifications in the pitch.
LinkedIn
Three messages offering variations of the classic “we can make you a bestseller” miracle.
Email
One especially ambitious person promising that I could become a millionaire.
Bonus Round
Two more extremely clever book-launch strategists who apparently diagnosed my entire author career from the internet.
Visibility attracts readers.
Visibility also attracts people who would very much like the writer’s money.

I was chatting with another author I’m becoming quite friendly with and she is tired of exactly the same thing.

I’m honestly considering writing to LinkedIn about the amount of unsolicited author-marketing messages arriving there.

But tomorrow is recording day.

Which means this circus is going on Imperfect Rebel.

I may even read some of these absolute masterpieces out loud — identifying details removed, obviously — because at this point my inbox has become its own entertainment genre.

We are going to have a very, very long laugh.

Imperfect Rebel Podcast

Old Episodes Are Still Working.

The podcast is teaching me the same thing the website is teaching me.

Publishing something does not mean its useful life ends tomorrow.

+33.3% Ramen, Existential Crises & 85 Minutes

The episode continues to outperform the comparison shown in my podcast analytics.

+40.4% I Wrote a Book. Somehow I Became…

Another older episode continuing to find listeners after publication.

Current average consumption time: 26 minutes and 6 seconds.

Every episode becomes another door.

Every review becomes another door.

Every Journal post becomes another door.

Eventually there are enough doors that you no longer know exactly which one somebody used to find you.

That is starting to become the interesting part.

Tomorrow’s Experiment

Books Sold: Zero. So Naturally We Attempt the Viral Reel.

Yes.

Books sold today: zero.

A pristine, untouched, collector’s-edition zero.

So tomorrow I start another little experiment.

Reels. TikTok. Instagram. Stories.

Will it work?

Who knows?

That is exactly why we are going to try.

Tomorrow Morning · Somewhere in Slovakia
FOR THE POWER OF COKE ZERO…
I’VE GOT THE VIRAL REEL.

TAN TANTAN TAN… LUPE FARKAS.

Yes.

That was the transformation music playing in my head.

If you remember He-Man and She-Ra, you understood the assignment.

Tomorrow morning I will get up, get ready, point my phone dramatically toward the heavens and invoke the sacred Power of Coke Zero.

I’ll probably tell you on Wednesday whether the internet surrendered.

Either way:

We try. We watch. We learn. We go again.

ARC Reader Life
The reading pile is alive.

I also have many, many ARCs waiting for me.

I am sleeping approximately the amount required to remain technically classified as a mammal.

But I am having so much fun.

I love the books I’m reading.

I love discovering authors.

And tomorrow I’ll be posting new reviews too.

Busy? Yes.

Happy? Also yes.

Exhibit 7 · Day 14

And Now You Can See What Kept Me Busy.

I told you something was waiting at the end of this post.

Apparently…

I build cathedrals now.

Five hours. One cathedral. Seven nights remain.

I am not explaining this one.

Click.

The Chosen gothic cathedral artwork by Lupe Farkas, Exhibit 7 from The Indie Author Experiment Day 14
Exhibit 7 · Click the cathedral to enter The Chosen
Enter the new world.
Have fun.
Lupe Farkas
The Indie Author Experiment · Day 14
Author · Professional ARC Reader · Imperfect Rebel

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