My count is up to eight furry-forward novels written, and to date I've had a few editor run-throughs by a friend on... most of them, but that's honestly it.
The problem I find with a lot of people is simply the time aspect. It's one thing to read a book in your off-time, it's another to DISECT it. That requires a vastly different time-budgeting skill-set that, bluntly, most people simply don't have

Dissecting it is what editors are for. Most authors are happy with a read and a few comments.

Lord knows I always appreciate comments, but its still an issue of reading for entertainment, or at the least to pass the time, and reading as an effort to GIVE those comments. It changes the whole dynamic and purpose, and that, I feel, is where many of the authors you've dealt with have hit their stumbling blocks. They want to get something without giving something back

and there is the exact problem most of us have... well said...

Vix

I have to say that apropo of nothing it's really, really good to see you post. I've been having my own furry author issues, but they all center around editing (and not wanting to give you a boring and/or badly written book to read). Sent off an email to the effect of what's been going on on my end.

I hope my own beta-reading of your final Griffin Ranger novel was helpful in at least some small way. Believe me, if I had the pull, I'd probably be pitching it as a great adult anime series. Especially that last book has the feel of great anime or manga.

I am kind of disappointed that the traded reviews didn't work among the furries. I am usually not one to seek out furry literature, but I have consulted your reviews for pieces that might be worth reading. I have no clue other than offering cash, to push that return rate up.

This is part of the reason I stopped publishing on Fur Affinity. It got to the point that when I wrote something for the Thursday Prompt, people would pimp their own work and ignore mine. I guess I'm such a poor writer that it pained them to read my stuff.

I still have your ebook.

I keep staring at it. It should be as easy as just finishing the thing and putting up a review. Your review of my book was really generous and I keep worrying that I don't have as many good things to say. I don't have BAD things to say, but there's that weird nagging anxiety in the back of my head that if I just give your book three stars when you gave mine five I'd be an utter asshole.

Probably not as much as not finishing it though. I'll make myself do it tomorrow.

I bought the audiobook version

It would be disingenuous to give it 5 stars if you think it deserves three. Do what you think best. It's not like I didn't ask for it, and I genuinely did enjoy your book. I also read Anidroid, which (hopefully) I'll get around to reviewing for Furry Book Reviews. I did have problems with some plot elements in that, but there was some stuff I liked, too, so it won't be a negative review.

Any place where we can follow you for the writing?

Just here. I have a few examples in my gallery, and I post announcements when stuff is available in my journal.

I have been struggling to review EVERY book I've read (even if I didn't finish, stating why I didn't), and with the ambitious but ridiculous stated goal of mine to read at least 2 books/day average for this year, most of that is going to be the children's/YA books I end up filling free libraries with afterward. So yours are definitely on the list... I just, you know, lack energy to devote myself to longer form books (the majority of what I end up getting due to they're abundant in the dollar store and I want to put SOMETHING back in the free libraries). Definitely leaving (mostly good!) reviews of furry content from the fandom, too, not just My Little Pony or Dragon Wings.

I've been struggling with getting any useful feedback at all. If I'm doing something in my stories that annoys my readers, I'd sure like to know about it. Not saying I'd change it, but it would be nice to know what's mainly causing the cerebral hemorrhages amongst my readers.
What the heck, you're a pro writer: If you'll review a story of mine that you've already seen (Love in the Arena, Meat on Her Bones, Kill them All, Children of their Fathers, whichever-), I'll do one of yours, of your choice. What say?

By e-mail, if possible: I'm not always on FA.

I definitely know that feeling. I struggle to get any kind of feedback at all. So far, the closest I've gotten to feedback other than "Perfect, I felt myself lifted up on a golden shaft of light into Heaven itself" (I exaggerate, of course) has been:
* A friend who claimed characters were one-dimensional and poorly written, and then 15 minutes later gushed about how great and deep the character based on him (a cameo included as a way to try to entice him into reading) was. I wrote that character exactly the same way I write all the others.
* A couple of people who complain the idea of a former human willingly being a pet (after being turned into a nonanthro dragon) "majorly creeps them out" and so can't get past the first couple chapters, even though a major thread in the book is exploring what that means and what her reasons are for asking for it. Honestly, if that kind of thing elicits that kind of reaction, maybe don't read a series that says directly at the start that it's the story of a dragon named Princess who is the pet of a mage.

I've certainly been struggling to balance writing with everything else competing for time. Got pulled into the La-Mulana game series again, after finding out there's a randomizer, and also recently discovered the series "The Nature of Predators". I've also got several books sitting on my shelf that I keep telling myself I'll read. I'd say energy is a more constrained resource than time, however, thanks to my health conditions. Really, I'd love to get back up to the "2-3 chapters per week" pace I was doing, instead of the "2-3 weeks per chapter" pace I've been failing to uphold lately. ~_~

I saw Griffon Ranger recommended just now, and it certainly sounds interesting, so I plan to add that to my list as soon as I can. ^_^

The one takeaway from this discussion is how important publicity and promotion is. An author can't expect to put their work out there without a word and expect people to read it on their own. How successful a furry book is seems proportional to how relentlessly the author plugs it.

I certainly plug my work just about everywhere, and I have a hard time not talking about it at the slightest provocation, but I always worry I come across as tasteless advertisement. There's a fine line between "crass and shameless self-promotion" and just "enthusiastically rambling about something that excites you", but I'm too introverted to know where that is, so I just hope for the best. I just also don't really have a lot of "reach", with my lack of social presence.

It's hard to get proper numbers, but a generous estimate says I have in the neighborhood of 50-100 actual readers, some of which only follow one series, but with quite a bit of overlap. Only about 5-10 actually ever comment/interact, though. Maybe once I'm publishing outside of FurAffinity, I'll gain more traction.

I haven't actually published my work in any paid form, though I'll likely start working on self-publishing with Amazon at some point. My current plan is that after I finish "Princess Tells Her Story" Book 3, I'll rewrite Book 1 (since it's very episodic and rough, as I wasn't actually planning to continue a series and worried each chapter would be the last thing I ever posted, and the "recap" at the beginning of each chapter quickly grates on anyone reading it from the beginning), at which point it should be in much better shape for publishing. Of course, cover art is one obstacle on that path, but who knows where I'll stand at that time.

Perhaps if Book 1 goes well enough, I can use the resources to then publish books 2 and 3, as well as start publishing "Exodimensional Hoofbun Flopsy" books 1 and 2 (since I'll probably have finished Book 2 by that point). If Princess goes really well (which I know it won't), then as a pipe dream, I could look into a comic book adaptation of Flopsy, since it's basically "a comic book in text form". Or if my health ever improved, as a super-duper pipe dream, I could even try to make the Metroidvania game that I was kicking around designs for before recycling the ideas into the story series.

"Modern Major Yinglet" probably won't be published in book form, ever. Being fanfiction, or at least using someone else's species, I wouldn't be comfortable trying to sell it. I also have no idea what Valsalia's stance on that would be. (I think he's had no problem with things like yinglet VR Avatars being sold, but I've never asked since I have no plans.) It's also more "slice-of-life" instead of having arcs that separate into books, really. Compound that with one or two people wanting to make their own fanfiction/companion stories to it, and I'd feel just awful trying to sell it.

One of the biggest hurdles would be trying to sell something that's already available online. I don't like the idea of removing stuff people have already had access to, especially with the adage of "Once it's posted on the internet, it's there forever", and I also don't really want to paywall people who are fans of my work. Since I'm not seeking to make a living off of this, I could leave it up and have the books be considered "A way to help support the author". It's a tricky subject.