Clark Nielsen for the Win

Of all the controversial lines in my China book, the one that’s raised the most hoopla was a joke I made about the content of the book being online for free in the form of this blog. Unfortunately, people have taken that line too seriously and assumed I really did just copy and paste from blog to book. I feel a disclaimer is in order: the book and blog are very different animals. There is a lot in one that isn’t in the other, and the areas where they do overlap are handled in different ways. To avoid further confusion, though, I’ve gone ahead and taken the line out entirely.

Now that that’s said, I’m quitting the blog. This isn’t in retaliation to the accusations above but is, instead, something I’ve been mulling over for quite a while and am finally ready to act on. Updating this blog stopped being fun early last year as I’ve struggled to post once or twice a month on anything I could think of related to China or immigration. Alas, my site statistics have continued to plummet from their all-time high of only 2,800 visitors/month, and that was back in 2010 when I was at the peak of regularly writing. Those numbers are hard to get excited about when you’ve been doing this for four years without any monetary gain.

I love to write, though, and will continue to do so in other endeavors (like my latest e-book, 24 Crazy Dreams). I will also leave this blog up and still respond to comments and questions. There is good information here I would hate to throw away. If/when I am ever able to travel abroad again, I may start updating the blog again, too, or I might decide to stay mum about that until the next, inevitable “Yes Name of Country” book comes out. Thank you to those who have supported me over the years, but I ran out of things to say a long time ago, and I’m ready to stop talking.

I have two self-published, China-related books on the market: one a short e-book “guide” published in April 2011, the other a paperback novel (and e-book) published in July 2011. Now that they’ve been out for a while, I wanted to publicly assess how they’ve been doing. Well… I haven’t been able to quit my day job, but sales have at least covered all of my publishing and marketing expenses.

The teaching guide, for instance, has consistently sold 10-12 copies every month since its release and has appeared on a few “things to get before traveling to China” lists. Actual feedback has been scarce, however, except for the occasional complaint that the book is too small. Apparently, people don’t like paying $1 for something that has the words “quick guide” in its title and advertises itself as a 6,500 word handbook that doesn’t end up being a full-length novel. Go figure.

I’m actually a little worried A Quick Guide to Teaching’s presence is hurting sales of Yes China!, since readers may buy the former, thinking they are getting something more akin to the latter but at a steal of a price, then walking away disgruntled. The two books were supposed to stand alone (and possibly complement each other). I doubt everyone else sees it that way.

But Yes China! has still been doing okay. It was originally pushing only 4-6 e-books and 1 paperback every month. Then things picked up in November and December when it sold upwards of 10 e-books and 8 paperbacks per month. For a while, I was thinking the paperback market was dead, so it’s cool to see paperback sales finally competing with e-book sales.

There are a handful of reviews on Amazon for the book, but only a few third-party websites have officially reviewed it, including Seeing Red in China, Books and Novels to Read, Lost Laowai, and Mark’s China Blog. It’s a lot harder to get someone to review a book as opposed to a movie or game, and many of the active China bloggers out there don’t typically cover non-political, tongue-in-cheek teacher stories.

That said, reception of the book has been fairly divided. The emphasis on teaching, the humor, and the disjointed order of events were all conscious choices but have been met with as much praise as they have criticism. These features were my way of separating Yes China! from the multitude of other “American in China” stories, with Peter Hessler’s trilogy being the biggest competition. But when it comes to China, maybe readers don’t want different.

I’m not taking that to mean there is no market for silly travelogues, though. Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods and even David Sedaris’s Me Talk Pretty One Day were both big inspirations when writing Yes China!, and people who enjoy those kind of half travel books should find something to like here. If I write another “Yes Country” book, though, it looks like I’ll have to cut down on the self-referential jokes and talking about whatever work I’m doing there. In this case, it was teaching, and most people felt those chapters were the weakest parts.