One Question I Dare Not Answer...

So, what does a self-published writer do once their work is put out there and they are in the middle of writing yet another work of fiction? This is the question I have been confronted with, unfortunately.

What can I say? My novel, DeGeneration, has taken a beating since I started publishing my novella, The Beautiful People, and the first part of the series, The Proposal: Book One. I have started a website to promote my book, along with this blog, joined Twitter and also talked about it on my Facebook page. I troll the web, including both the boards at Amazon and CreateSpace, looking for ideas on how to get the word out; once I have done all this (plus my homework for uni), I rarely have time to write a paragraph or two.

I was writing solidly a good sixty pages or so every week before I decided to publish this book I have been sitting on for so many years. The problem is, unlike The Beautiful People series, which is finished and takes place in a familiar environment and country, DeGeneration takes place (almost) completely in Western Europe. The characters are speaking languages other than English (though the book is being written in English, my native tongue) and there are lots of French and German phrases thrown in. It means I have to be in a whole other mindset as well; The Beautiful People series is light and airy (Britney Spears if you like a musical alliteration) to the dark, brooding of DeGeneration (think of the seriousness of an artist like U2 or Sade).

I am finding it very difficult to drift between these two frames of mind and because of this conundrum, I am not getting much done on my novel. This is serious for me because I live to write. I absolutely enjoy the whole stringing together of characters and plots; spinning a web of complex stories. I am not capable of doing this at the moment due to the whole improbability that the current series I have on offer might be a failure. What's more, even if it is a success, will those readers follow me down a darker path or will I have to make a whole new set of readers because I'll lose them due to the change of course?

I believe I am just being silly as these are questions I don't have to ask myself at this time. I am not even mildly successful (I only have three followers on Twitter) and I can't expect my friends to buy my book just because I wrote it. What if they aren't interested in the storyline at all? These might be the same friends who will find DeGeneration amazing and original. I will just have to wait and see how all of this plays out... and in my mind, that is the hardest part.