I got tagged by fellow author and my favorite cover artist T. K. Toppin to participate in this blog hop about writing processes and what it
takes to shape and produce a book. And now, on to the questions...
What am I working on?
Currently, I'm working on the fourth Aston West in-the-series novel, tentatively entitled Resurrection. But life wouldn't be all that exciting if I didn't have my hand in a dozen other projects at the same time. So, I'm also working on several new short stories to put into my next Aston West Triple-Shot. And on top of that, I've been working toward completion of another Aston West novella, Fallen. Outside of my series work, I've been teaming up with Lyndon Perry toward the completion of two more books in a series of novellas featuring orphan Max McCannor (with the first, Escape, just published). And I've been toying around with the idea of some other non-sci-fi titles. Busy busy!
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I often hear from folks who tell me they don't ordinarily enjoy science fiction, but they love my stories. I imagine that has to do with the focus on characters and not on the science. Additionally, I think my lead character Aston is not what your first choice for a hero would be. He doesn't fit the stereotype of the (as my favorite label from the "Firefly" series indicates) "big d*** hero" like most in the genre do. He's the everyman who just happens to get into more than his fair share of tricky situations, and I think that resonates with more than a few readers who like to think that they, too, could be in the same boat.
How does your writing process work?
It varies, depending on what I'm working on. For longer works like novellas and novels, I usually develop a plot outline first (at least with my Aston West series, since most of my major characters have already been developed...for stuff outside of the series, I have to put together some character sheets beforehand). Sometimes I start directly with the plot outline. Other times, I start with index cards. Either way, I come up with a multitude of scenes I need to have happen in the story, and in a rough sequence. That's not to say that the process won't diverge from the plan along the way, but I always like to have a good idea of where I'm going so that I don't get lost in the jungle that is the writing process. Once I have the game plan, I just start writing, referencing back to my plot outline as needed.
For my short stories, I usually come up with the same type of scene list/plot outline, but it usually only takes up a single sheet of notebook paper. Then, the writing begins.
After the first draft is done, I wait a while and then get right back into editing over and over until I pull the trigger on publication.
And now it's time to tag someone else, so my co-author in the Max McCannor series Lyndon Perry, you're up!
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
24 March 2014
16 April 2013
Piling on the Projects
So, how many projects should a writer take on at one time? A writer
could write on a project until it's completely finished, and then move
on to the next project. But how long will it take to complete? If it
takes you three years to write and finish a novel, that's a lot of time
between releases. Readers forget, publishing trends change, and what you
may have been successful with back then may not work now.
But what if you work multiple projects...how many can you write on at once, and still expect to complete in a timely fashion? On the flip side, if you can finish projects on a staggered schedule, you can release intermediate projects while readers wait for your next novel.
As an example, my first novella Heroes Die Young came out in 2008, after being accepted the year before. In that year between signing the contract and release, I began writing short stories and getting them published. In the span of that year, I had two short stories published in Ray Gun Revival, giving readers a glimpse of what they'd see with the upcoming novella.
But at the same time, I was also finishing up my second novel Friends in Deed. That one was accepted and then published in 2010. In the meantime, I continued writing short stories, and had several of them published along the way. At the same time, I was also working on two other projects, my novella Seeker and my novel The Cure. And somewhere in there, I also started and finished the third Aston novel Death Brings Victory.
And so on and so forth...I always have at least two or three projects going on at the same time. Currently, I'm working on the fourth Aston novel Resurrection, another novella Fallen, and a screenplay for Heroes Die Young. In my opinion, multiple projects at the same time are the only way to keep your brand fresh in the minds of readers and fans. If not, people will read your work, and most likely forget about you by the time you have another novel come out (assuming you can't write a complete novel from start to finish in the course of 3-6 months).
But what do all of you think?
But what if you work multiple projects...how many can you write on at once, and still expect to complete in a timely fashion? On the flip side, if you can finish projects on a staggered schedule, you can release intermediate projects while readers wait for your next novel.
As an example, my first novella Heroes Die Young came out in 2008, after being accepted the year before. In that year between signing the contract and release, I began writing short stories and getting them published. In the span of that year, I had two short stories published in Ray Gun Revival, giving readers a glimpse of what they'd see with the upcoming novella.
But at the same time, I was also finishing up my second novel Friends in Deed. That one was accepted and then published in 2010. In the meantime, I continued writing short stories, and had several of them published along the way. At the same time, I was also working on two other projects, my novella Seeker and my novel The Cure. And somewhere in there, I also started and finished the third Aston novel Death Brings Victory.
And so on and so forth...I always have at least two or three projects going on at the same time. Currently, I'm working on the fourth Aston novel Resurrection, another novella Fallen, and a screenplay for Heroes Die Young. In my opinion, multiple projects at the same time are the only way to keep your brand fresh in the minds of readers and fans. If not, people will read your work, and most likely forget about you by the time you have another novel come out (assuming you can't write a complete novel from start to finish in the course of 3-6 months).
But what do all of you think?
02 April 2013
Finding One's Calling
With each passing day, I find myself less and less motivated to write. It could be any number of things going on in life, both professionally and personally. It could be none of the above, and just general malaise about writing and publishing. Sales (or the general lack thereof) haven't really helped my motivation any. And of course, it's a vicious cycle that churns...not writing prevents new titles which eliminates the possibility of additional sales, which then stifles motivation, which keeps a person from writing.
That said, I've spent the past several days working on a screenplay version of Heroes Die Young. It's been great to get back to the old tales of Aston from yesteryear. And to be perfectly honest, my mind has always come up with all of my short stories and novels in terms of quick, action sequences with characters that jump off the page (in my humble opinion). I guess that's why I find it so easy to write in screenplay format.
So, then, maybe the question I should be asking is whether or not writing novels is truly my calling...or perhaps I've been wasting over half my life in that pursuit when I should have been taking a different path. One never truly knows, I suppose......
That said, I've spent the past several days working on a screenplay version of Heroes Die Young. It's been great to get back to the old tales of Aston from yesteryear. And to be perfectly honest, my mind has always come up with all of my short stories and novels in terms of quick, action sequences with characters that jump off the page (in my humble opinion). I guess that's why I find it so easy to write in screenplay format.
So, then, maybe the question I should be asking is whether or not writing novels is truly my calling...or perhaps I've been wasting over half my life in that pursuit when I should have been taking a different path. One never truly knows, I suppose......
05 March 2013
An End of an Era
After nearly five years of my old website (with some even telling me that it looked like it was made in the 90s...oddly enough, the 90s were when I first got on the internet and started writing HTML), it was time for a change...so I've converted my blog here into a pseudo-site. Hopefully this will mean I'll be creating more posts on a more frequent basis. Be sure to wander around and let me know if you find any issues that slipped through the cracks (and not to worry, all of your old links should still be functional...).
02 January 2013
The Next Big Thing - Round 2
I actually did one of these "Next Big Thing" blogs back in October (where I was mentioning my new in-work novel Resurrection), but since I was tagged for another by Lee S King, and since I just came up with a new novella idea New Year's Eve, I figure I'll go ahead and give it another go with that one.
The rules of the blog hop:
The female lead, in my mind, resembles Ursula Andress of Dr. No (007) fame...but again, since we can't go back in time, I'll have to settle for someone modern. Maybe Heather Locklear...
The villain would probably be good as Mickey Rourke, but only if he could resemble his character from The Expendables.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Aston West lands on a technologically-simple planet where he's considered a deity, but must try to protect his new-found followers from a group of pirates bent on exploiting them.
If the question is between these two, I'd go with self-published. If the question is meant to be self-published or submitted to a publisher, the jury is out, but I'm still leaning toward the same end.
I've only put together character sheets and a rough plot summary at this point. Once I get started, I'm hoping that everything moves quickly. Since I'm shooting for a novella-length piece, I'm hoping that it will take me about three or four months for the first draft.
I'm sure if I thought hard enough, I'd come up with a suitable comparison. At the moment, I can't think of anything that similar.
2012 had been a rough year, output-wise. I guess that when New Year's Eve came around, I decided it was high time to get some stuff done this coming year.
I'm once again toying with the idea of bringing romance into this story...we'll see how it goes, but...
That, and the fact that the villain is someone who readers of my short stories will remember from a pair of my pieces ("Obedience" and "Profit and Loss").
And now it's my chance to inflict some pain...er, pass the baton (I decided to spare those who I tagged in the previous edition):
The rules of the blog hop:
- Mention who tagged you, and link to their post.
- Give the rules.
- Answer the ten questions below.
- Link to several more people.
1) What is the title of your next book?
I haven't come up with an official title for this latest novella, and actually I haven't even started brainstorming potential titles. So right now it's being saved off under "New Novella" - but if I had to come up with some thoughts off the cuff, I'd probably go with Silver and Gold, The Sacrifice or perhaps The Fall.2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
I'm a plotter, and while I was over in India back in February, I was generating plenty of notebook paper sheets with scribbled notes of potential ideas. Two of the sheets ended up merged, and New Year's Eve, I started putting fingers to keyboard and came up with a general plot summary and character sheets.3) What genre does your book fall under?
Science-Fiction Space Opera (toying with the idea of how to make it incorporate some steampunk as well)4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Plenty of folks who'd be good as Aston...I used to say Nathan Fillion, but I saw him the other day in "Castle" and since I can't go back in time for his "Firefly" look, I'll have to come up with someone else...perhaps Viggo Mortensen or Matt Damon.The female lead, in my mind, resembles Ursula Andress of Dr. No (007) fame...but again, since we can't go back in time, I'll have to settle for someone modern. Maybe Heather Locklear...
The villain would probably be good as Mickey Rourke, but only if he could resemble his character from The Expendables.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Aston West lands on a technologically-simple planet where he's considered a deity, but must try to protect his new-found followers from a group of pirates bent on exploiting them.
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
If the question is between these two, I'd go with self-published. If the question is meant to be self-published or submitted to a publisher, the jury is out, but I'm still leaning toward the same end.
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
I've only put together character sheets and a rough plot summary at this point. Once I get started, I'm hoping that everything moves quickly. Since I'm shooting for a novella-length piece, I'm hoping that it will take me about three or four months for the first draft.
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I'm sure if I thought hard enough, I'd come up with a suitable comparison. At the moment, I can't think of anything that similar.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
2012 had been a rough year, output-wise. I guess that when New Year's Eve came around, I decided it was high time to get some stuff done this coming year.
10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
I'm once again toying with the idea of bringing romance into this story...we'll see how it goes, but...
That, and the fact that the villain is someone who readers of my short stories will remember from a pair of my pieces ("Obedience" and "Profit and Loss").
And now it's my chance to inflict some pain...er, pass the baton (I decided to spare those who I tagged in the previous edition):
14 October 2012
Friends and Family
What seems like ages ago, I was signed with a (I found the truth out later) scam publisher, a story which I had detailed some time ago. Fortunately, I'd gotten free of their clutches, but one of the things I remember from those days was a constant insistence (by folks trying to convince this publishers' authors that the publisher was a scammer, which turned out to be true, but anywho...) that print-on-demand publishers such as this one would only sell 75 copies of any title, and this was only to friends in family.
Now, I've gone into details over sales figures many times, most recently in July. Some of the books are new, and still gathering steam (I hope), but I don't buy into the 75-copy ceiling...never have, never will.
One other thing they used to repeat over and over was that print-on-demand publishers would only ever be able to sell to friends and family. Now, this one hits close to home...
As you know, I've ventured into the self-publishing realm, which by and large utilizes print-on-demand as well. I do have sales (that exceed the 75-copy ceiling, but it seems like most of these have come from the dreaded friends and family category (I throw acquaintances I've met through social media into the friends category, regardless of how close a friend they may or may not be). I still have yet to find a way to expand past this group, to where the books basically sell themselves. I watch others, and this seems to happen with great easy. So, is it because their books are so much better than mine? Do they know of some miraculous promotional technique that I'm not using?
Unfortunately, finding new friends is exhausting...and finding more family usually requires a decade or more until children are old enough to read my books. So, here I sit, trying to find a way to overcome an old proclamation, by folks who were dead-on about a scam publisher, but who may be half-right on the self-publishing revolution as well. So, if you have thoughts on the matter, feel free to share them.
And in the meantime, check out my books.
Now, I've gone into details over sales figures many times, most recently in July. Some of the books are new, and still gathering steam (I hope), but I don't buy into the 75-copy ceiling...never have, never will.
One other thing they used to repeat over and over was that print-on-demand publishers would only ever be able to sell to friends and family. Now, this one hits close to home...
As you know, I've ventured into the self-publishing realm, which by and large utilizes print-on-demand as well. I do have sales (that exceed the 75-copy ceiling, but it seems like most of these have come from the dreaded friends and family category (I throw acquaintances I've met through social media into the friends category, regardless of how close a friend they may or may not be). I still have yet to find a way to expand past this group, to where the books basically sell themselves. I watch others, and this seems to happen with great easy. So, is it because their books are so much better than mine? Do they know of some miraculous promotional technique that I'm not using?
Unfortunately, finding new friends is exhausting...and finding more family usually requires a decade or more until children are old enough to read my books. So, here I sit, trying to find a way to overcome an old proclamation, by folks who were dead-on about a scam publisher, but who may be half-right on the self-publishing revolution as well. So, if you have thoughts on the matter, feel free to share them.
And in the meantime, check out my books.
03 September 2012
Exclusivity: An Author's Arrogance
I've been noticing a trend throughout the Internet that I wanted to ramble about today...it has to do with establishing exclusivity for one's books with particular online retailers. In this case, it's the big boy on the block, Amazon.
Now, exclusivity isn't always a bad thing. Perhaps it's doing quite well for you as an author (though it hasn't seemed all that great to me, but that's another blog post I'm planning for the future).
The trouble is when you, as an author, began to exhibit signs of arrogance when it comes to your titles being exclusive, and this is the trend I've been seeing. One particular celebrity I follow on Twitter (and who, ironically enough, gave a blog review to one of my books in the far distant past) is notorious for this with his two e-book titles. I constantly see him tweeting responses to fans. They ask him if his books are available anywhere besides Amazon, and he just keeps telling them that there's a free Kindle app...get that and read the books.
Now, I don't have a business degree...but I always thought that the "customer is always right" (some examples not withstanding). If I, as someone who is trying to sell books to readers (the customer) continue to get requests for the book to be available at all of these other retail outlets, I'd think that it would behoove me greatly to start putting it up there. It's not all that difficult to do with sites like Smashwords, and apparently, there would be a ready-made market for the books on these other sites.
I personally would like to read these two titles from this celebrity, but I own a Nook. Certainly, I can get the free Kindle App on my netbook, but the entire point behind an e-reader is the convenience of downloading the book and reading it on the device. Why would I want to circumvent the device I already own, when the author could just as easily upload the book to the other stores?
Now, I did upload my latest Triple-Shot as an Amazon exclusive (through the KDP Select program), as a test to see if it made any difference in the amount of downloads I received from readers. Though I do plan a follow-up post later on the statistics involved, my personal experience has not been positive. So, come October 16, my book will be sent off to the other online stores for consumption...
And who knows? Perhaps with a celebrity, the money was just too good to pass up the exclusivity...but myself, I don't see how alienating your potential readers makes good business sense.
Now, exclusivity isn't always a bad thing. Perhaps it's doing quite well for you as an author (though it hasn't seemed all that great to me, but that's another blog post I'm planning for the future).
The trouble is when you, as an author, began to exhibit signs of arrogance when it comes to your titles being exclusive, and this is the trend I've been seeing. One particular celebrity I follow on Twitter (and who, ironically enough, gave a blog review to one of my books in the far distant past) is notorious for this with his two e-book titles. I constantly see him tweeting responses to fans. They ask him if his books are available anywhere besides Amazon, and he just keeps telling them that there's a free Kindle app...get that and read the books.
Now, I don't have a business degree...but I always thought that the "customer is always right" (some examples not withstanding). If I, as someone who is trying to sell books to readers (the customer) continue to get requests for the book to be available at all of these other retail outlets, I'd think that it would behoove me greatly to start putting it up there. It's not all that difficult to do with sites like Smashwords, and apparently, there would be a ready-made market for the books on these other sites.
I personally would like to read these two titles from this celebrity, but I own a Nook. Certainly, I can get the free Kindle App on my netbook, but the entire point behind an e-reader is the convenience of downloading the book and reading it on the device. Why would I want to circumvent the device I already own, when the author could just as easily upload the book to the other stores?
Now, I did upload my latest Triple-Shot as an Amazon exclusive (through the KDP Select program), as a test to see if it made any difference in the amount of downloads I received from readers. Though I do plan a follow-up post later on the statistics involved, my personal experience has not been positive. So, come October 16, my book will be sent off to the other online stores for consumption...
And who knows? Perhaps with a celebrity, the money was just too good to pass up the exclusivity...but myself, I don't see how alienating your potential readers makes good business sense.
08 August 2012
Crossroads
I find myself at a crossroads...and maybe this is what a mid-life crisis feels like?
Over half of my life has been spent as a writer. That's a long time, for (though more than some, still) little to show for it. How long does a person continue to do the same thing over and over again, and expect a different result to take place? How does a person enact change after doing the same thing over and over again? Do you completely remove yourself from the field, and find something else to do?
Yet, giving it up really isn't all that much of an option, either. I do have a small group of core fans (mostly friends I know or those I count as relatives) who enjoy what I write, and I get enjoyment out of giving them new material. This isn't even counting the fact that I've considered myself a writer for so long that I'm not sure what I'd be if I wasn't...
Maybe I should just buy myself a sports car...
Over half of my life has been spent as a writer. That's a long time, for (though more than some, still) little to show for it. How long does a person continue to do the same thing over and over again, and expect a different result to take place? How does a person enact change after doing the same thing over and over again? Do you completely remove yourself from the field, and find something else to do?
Yet, giving it up really isn't all that much of an option, either. I do have a small group of core fans (mostly friends I know or those I count as relatives) who enjoy what I write, and I get enjoyment out of giving them new material. This isn't even counting the fact that I've considered myself a writer for so long that I'm not sure what I'd be if I wasn't...
Maybe I should just buy myself a sports car...
27 June 2012
Experiment (Just Don't Inhale)
This blog post actually got its inspiration from a recent comment on my Facebook fan page...thanks go out to Robert Pollock!
Anyway, everyone knows that the writing business can be rife with disappointment and despair...and if you haven't figured that out, you need to dig a little deeper in your research. Fear not! Situations that disappoint one day are simply circumstances you can turn around to your advantage. All it takes is a "can do" attitude...
The most famous example of my own is my novella Seeker. I'm certain most of you have heard this story at some point or another during my travels around the 'net, but just in case you haven't, I'll share it again. This novella actually came about from a call for anthology submissions from a fairly large romance publisher online. I had about three or four months to write the thing, and took the entire time to get a piece put together for submission. Sadly, it didn't have the level of romance (read: wasn't steamy enough) they were looking for, so they passed. Now, I could have tossed in the towel at that point, and wondered what I was thinking in trying to write romance. Instead, I decided to try something else. I kept up with revising the piece and toning down the level of steam I had put in. If I'd been thinking at the time, I should have kept some of those old drafts so that I could post "deleted scenes" later, but unfortunately, I was considering it as part of my short story line, which I never keep old drafts of. But in any case, I finally polished it up, found a cover artist and put it up for sale on my own. Which, as you may have read, has started me along this wondrous new world of self-publishing.
Long story short, I took a rejection and made something great (another publication and learning about a new avenue of publishing) out of it.
So, as I mentioned, Robert made a comment on my fan page which churned my memory to bring back thoughts of a failed attempt at pulling together an Aston West comic book series. I had someone pulling together the parties involved (including the one with the money to make it happen), an artist was in the loop, and I had put together a pair of "scripts" for the comic (the first being an adaptation of "Little White Truths" and the second was a brand new story specific to the comic). Unfortunately, nothing came out of the deal in the end...so again, I could have just sulked off in disgust and self-pity. But I decided to make something out of that second story. I'd created it specifically for the comic series, but since that had gone nowhere, I went ahead and pulled it together as a short story. That story then went on to earn me money through a short story publication over at ResAliens, and another publication that I'll announce sometime later.
Again, I took a failure and made something out of it.
So, if you ever come across a situation where you've been trampled or beat upon, take my advice and make something happen from it...and I'd love to hear your own examples, if you have one you're willing to share.
Anyway, everyone knows that the writing business can be rife with disappointment and despair...and if you haven't figured that out, you need to dig a little deeper in your research. Fear not! Situations that disappoint one day are simply circumstances you can turn around to your advantage. All it takes is a "can do" attitude...
The most famous example of my own is my novella Seeker. I'm certain most of you have heard this story at some point or another during my travels around the 'net, but just in case you haven't, I'll share it again. This novella actually came about from a call for anthology submissions from a fairly large romance publisher online. I had about three or four months to write the thing, and took the entire time to get a piece put together for submission. Sadly, it didn't have the level of romance (read: wasn't steamy enough) they were looking for, so they passed. Now, I could have tossed in the towel at that point, and wondered what I was thinking in trying to write romance. Instead, I decided to try something else. I kept up with revising the piece and toning down the level of steam I had put in. If I'd been thinking at the time, I should have kept some of those old drafts so that I could post "deleted scenes" later, but unfortunately, I was considering it as part of my short story line, which I never keep old drafts of. But in any case, I finally polished it up, found a cover artist and put it up for sale on my own. Which, as you may have read, has started me along this wondrous new world of self-publishing.
Long story short, I took a rejection and made something great (another publication and learning about a new avenue of publishing) out of it.
So, as I mentioned, Robert made a comment on my fan page which churned my memory to bring back thoughts of a failed attempt at pulling together an Aston West comic book series. I had someone pulling together the parties involved (including the one with the money to make it happen), an artist was in the loop, and I had put together a pair of "scripts" for the comic (the first being an adaptation of "Little White Truths" and the second was a brand new story specific to the comic). Unfortunately, nothing came out of the deal in the end...so again, I could have just sulked off in disgust and self-pity. But I decided to make something out of that second story. I'd created it specifically for the comic series, but since that had gone nowhere, I went ahead and pulled it together as a short story. That story then went on to earn me money through a short story publication over at ResAliens, and another publication that I'll announce sometime later.
Again, I took a failure and made something out of it.
So, if you ever come across a situation where you've been trampled or beat upon, take my advice and make something happen from it...and I'd love to hear your own examples, if you have one you're willing to share.
20 June 2012
Storytelling 101
Having written several short stories and novels, I imagine I have a good idea of what comprises a story. Many others think the same thing, regardless of their level of writing proficiency. All you need to a story is a beginning, middle, and an end, right?
Perhaps on the basic level, yes. In practice, though, not every story that has a beginning, middle, and end will be worth reading.
So, what else is there?
In a nutshell, a story is all about the characters, their goals, and the obstacles they have to overcome to get there. As an example, I'll use my second novel, Friends in Deed (and for those who don't want spoilers, close your eyes until we reach the end of this post)..
This story is about a character (Aston West).
Now, to work on Aston's goals requires us to dive into some additional details. More so with novels than with short stories (which in general are going to be too short to add too many goals into), your character is going to need a major goal spanning the entire book. But in the meantime, Aston is also going to need some smaller goals that pop up throughout the book. Without these intermediate goals, the reader is going to get bored and when that happens, they tend to set books down and not pick them back up (better known as the author's death knell).
Aston's major goal here is to escape from the Cassus twins. This goal starts off very early in the book, spans the entire story and once it happens, it's time for The End.
As far as minor goals, there are several that pop up throughout the book. Some are larger than others, and some are quickly solved. Some are goals that he sets for himself, and others are ones imposed upon him by others. For example, Elijah Cassus (one of the main antagonists) forces Aston to help mount a rescue from the prison planet they once both inhabited. This goal takes place during the first portion of the book (I won't bother going into what the goal is for the second part of the book, to avoid spoiling it all for you). As another example of a slightly smaller goal, a native of the planet captures them all and he needs to convince their (mentally ill) captor into releasing them.
Within these minor goals, you can somewhat see where we're going in terms of setting up obstacles that your character needs to overcome.
Aston needs to escape from the Cassus twins (major goal), but Elijah forces him to help mount a rescue by threatening to turn him in for a mandatory death penalty for past crimes. He can't easily mount an escape without overcoming this threat, so he's going to have to figure out a way to negate this threat.
Aston has to mount a rescue from the prison planet (minor goal). Many obstacles began throwing themselves in his path to prevent him achieving this goal. First off, he and the team leader are at odds with each other (conflict). Then, they discover that the team member they want to rescue has been captured by some of the planet's inhabitants. After they overcome this obstacle, the team's ship is destroyed by the planet's overseers and they end up captured by the mentally ill inmate (setting up another minor goal to achieve). Once they achieve this goal, they have to find a way to make it off the planet (another obstacle to achieving the original minor goal of having a successful rescue).
So, as you can see, goals and their obstacles can (and should often) overlap each other. This is part of what makes an interesting story that people want to read. So, to recap, take one of your stories/novels and ask yourself the following questions:
Who is my main character?
What do they want to achieve? What is their major goal for the book/story?
What's standing in their way of achieving this goal?
(in the case of novels, also ask the following)
What else happens during the story that my main character is going to have to address? What are their minor goals?
What's standing in their way of achieving these minor goals?
(and this doesn't even begin to dive into all of your minor characters and what their goals and obstacles might be...another blog post entirely)
If you're having trouble answering any of these questions, I wholeheartedly suggest that you start brainstorming answers and begin rewrites to incorporate them. Your story/novel will be greatly improved for it...
Perhaps on the basic level, yes. In practice, though, not every story that has a beginning, middle, and end will be worth reading.
So, what else is there?
In a nutshell, a story is all about the characters, their goals, and the obstacles they have to overcome to get there. As an example, I'll use my second novel, Friends in Deed (and for those who don't want spoilers, close your eyes until we reach the end of this post)..
This story is about a character (Aston West).
Now, to work on Aston's goals requires us to dive into some additional details. More so with novels than with short stories (which in general are going to be too short to add too many goals into), your character is going to need a major goal spanning the entire book. But in the meantime, Aston is also going to need some smaller goals that pop up throughout the book. Without these intermediate goals, the reader is going to get bored and when that happens, they tend to set books down and not pick them back up (better known as the author's death knell).
Aston's major goal here is to escape from the Cassus twins. This goal starts off very early in the book, spans the entire story and once it happens, it's time for The End.
As far as minor goals, there are several that pop up throughout the book. Some are larger than others, and some are quickly solved. Some are goals that he sets for himself, and others are ones imposed upon him by others. For example, Elijah Cassus (one of the main antagonists) forces Aston to help mount a rescue from the prison planet they once both inhabited. This goal takes place during the first portion of the book (I won't bother going into what the goal is for the second part of the book, to avoid spoiling it all for you). As another example of a slightly smaller goal, a native of the planet captures them all and he needs to convince their (mentally ill) captor into releasing them.
Within these minor goals, you can somewhat see where we're going in terms of setting up obstacles that your character needs to overcome.
Aston needs to escape from the Cassus twins (major goal), but Elijah forces him to help mount a rescue by threatening to turn him in for a mandatory death penalty for past crimes. He can't easily mount an escape without overcoming this threat, so he's going to have to figure out a way to negate this threat.
Aston has to mount a rescue from the prison planet (minor goal). Many obstacles began throwing themselves in his path to prevent him achieving this goal. First off, he and the team leader are at odds with each other (conflict). Then, they discover that the team member they want to rescue has been captured by some of the planet's inhabitants. After they overcome this obstacle, the team's ship is destroyed by the planet's overseers and they end up captured by the mentally ill inmate (setting up another minor goal to achieve). Once they achieve this goal, they have to find a way to make it off the planet (another obstacle to achieving the original minor goal of having a successful rescue).
So, as you can see, goals and their obstacles can (and should often) overlap each other. This is part of what makes an interesting story that people want to read. So, to recap, take one of your stories/novels and ask yourself the following questions:
Who is my main character?
What do they want to achieve? What is their major goal for the book/story?
What's standing in their way of achieving this goal?
(in the case of novels, also ask the following)
What else happens during the story that my main character is going to have to address? What are their minor goals?
What's standing in their way of achieving these minor goals?
(and this doesn't even begin to dive into all of your minor characters and what their goals and obstacles might be...another blog post entirely)
If you're having trouble answering any of these questions, I wholeheartedly suggest that you start brainstorming answers and begin rewrites to incorporate them. Your story/novel will be greatly improved for it...
16 May 2012
Associate Yourself
I'm here to discuss some of the finer points on the business side of writing. So, if you're sitting there with your hand across your forehead saying, "I labor at writing for the artistic expression aspects" maybe you should go back and read some of my SFFS snippets from past weeks while we proceed. Otherwise, let's go!
I'm not sure how many of you out there are aware, but Amazon has this nifty program, Amazon Associates. In a nutshell, you post some extra code in your links to Amazon pages, and if someone follows your link and buys something at Amazon, you get a slight commission (based on a sliding scale based on how many sales your links lead to, on a directly proportional basis -- the more sales you get, the higher your percentage for the month).
Now, I can't guarantee this, but I can assume that most authors out there are providing links to their books on Amazon off your websites and blogs. Why are you giving up on free money? Copy and paste the code they provide in place of your original, and start earning a commission.
I can also assume that most of you help out your various author friends by plugging their books as well. Why are you giving up on free money? Copy and paste the code they provide in place of your original, and start earning a commission.
Once you're logged in, Amazon Associates also has a nifty toolbar at the top of your browser window (as opposed to those nasty toolbars that Yahoo and Google surreptitiously add to your browser menu bars, this one is only visible on Amazon pages). You can easily post a link (while on a book's page) to your Twitter or Facebook page, and promote your books (and those of your friends) the same way you have been. Except up to this point, you've likely been giving up on free money.
(Are you seeing the running theme here yet?)
And the great thing is, the link you provide is the entry point for a user. As long as they buy ANYTHING in the same shopping session after following one of your links, their purchase counts toward your commissions. I can't name the number of times I've seen commissions for books I don't even know about, simply by someone following my links and buying another product. Talk about your free money.
This isn't even counting the recent experience where someone followed one of my links and purchased a Kindle Fire. Free money...
Now I should mention here that B&N also has a version of an associates program, which I am a part of (again, free money for doing what I already was before...promoting my books and others). However, as a point of comparison, I find the Amazon Associates program a far better and easier one. B&N makes you sign up with some sort of third-party vendor, and even then, their interface isn't as intuitive (no toolbar to easily create links directly from a page). But, like I said, free money is free money, so I wouldn't discourage you from signing up...just realize that one is going to be a lot easier to use than the other.
Writing is a business, and so is promotion. Stop giving up on free money and sign up for your own Amazon Associates account today. If anyone has any thoughts or comments on this, feel free to let me know!
I'm not sure how many of you out there are aware, but Amazon has this nifty program, Amazon Associates. In a nutshell, you post some extra code in your links to Amazon pages, and if someone follows your link and buys something at Amazon, you get a slight commission (based on a sliding scale based on how many sales your links lead to, on a directly proportional basis -- the more sales you get, the higher your percentage for the month).
Now, I can't guarantee this, but I can assume that most authors out there are providing links to their books on Amazon off your websites and blogs. Why are you giving up on free money? Copy and paste the code they provide in place of your original, and start earning a commission.
I can also assume that most of you help out your various author friends by plugging their books as well. Why are you giving up on free money? Copy and paste the code they provide in place of your original, and start earning a commission.
Once you're logged in, Amazon Associates also has a nifty toolbar at the top of your browser window (as opposed to those nasty toolbars that Yahoo and Google surreptitiously add to your browser menu bars, this one is only visible on Amazon pages). You can easily post a link (while on a book's page) to your Twitter or Facebook page, and promote your books (and those of your friends) the same way you have been. Except up to this point, you've likely been giving up on free money.
(Are you seeing the running theme here yet?)
And the great thing is, the link you provide is the entry point for a user. As long as they buy ANYTHING in the same shopping session after following one of your links, their purchase counts toward your commissions. I can't name the number of times I've seen commissions for books I don't even know about, simply by someone following my links and buying another product. Talk about your free money.
This isn't even counting the recent experience where someone followed one of my links and purchased a Kindle Fire. Free money...
Now I should mention here that B&N also has a version of an associates program, which I am a part of (again, free money for doing what I already was before...promoting my books and others). However, as a point of comparison, I find the Amazon Associates program a far better and easier one. B&N makes you sign up with some sort of third-party vendor, and even then, their interface isn't as intuitive (no toolbar to easily create links directly from a page). But, like I said, free money is free money, so I wouldn't discourage you from signing up...just realize that one is going to be a lot easier to use than the other.
Writing is a business, and so is promotion. Stop giving up on free money and sign up for your own Amazon Associates account today. If anyone has any thoughts or comments on this, feel free to let me know!
07 March 2012
Why Self-Publishing? (Part 3 of 3)
Welcome to the third and final installment of my discussion on self-publishing. If you haven't already taken the time to read the first two posts (discussing how I got into self-publishing and the pitfalls of this route), be sure to go back and check them out here and here. And now, the benefits of self-publishing.
The Benefits (as I see them)
Higher royalties by cutting out the middle man. Many e-publishers and small presses (major publishers can sometimes be worse) will offer a 30-50% royalty on “net” (the amount they take in). Self-publishers can often make 35-75% (depending on various factors) off “gross” (or the sale price of the book). And with the e-publisher or small press, the “net” they receive is quite often the same amount you would have made yourself. For a $5 e-book, a 75% royalty would be $3.75. If you self-published, this entire amount would be yours. If you were signed with a publisher (ignoring those who also have to split another 15% with an agent), you’d potential make only 30% of this, or $1.13 for each copy. In essence, you’d have to sell three times as many books just to equal the same amount of money earned.
Total control over the product you’re selling. In self-publishing, because you take on all of the different roles (writer, editor, publisher, etc.), you have the final say on every aspect of the process. Don’t like the cover art? Change it. Want to reduce the price to spur sales? You set the book at whatever price you want, at any time you choose. Want to give away free copies to potential reviewers? You don’t have to wait for someone else to decide whether it’s worth the time or not.
Adapt your material whenever you want. With a regular publisher, once you’ve given your final edits, that’s it. If you find a glaring typo (or a major fact flub) that makes you cringe every time someone brings it up, you have no recourse. With self-publishing (mostly with e-books), you upload a new version, and it’s fixed. If you experience low sales, and think your book’s description may be to blame, you can punch it up and re-load to the online stores.
Getting your work to the public faster. Publishers can often take a full year or two to get a book from contract to the public. When self-publishing, you set the timetable. If you want to have your new book come out this year, and you put all the parts in place, you can do it. Heck, I was able to self-publish my novella Seeker, my novel The Cure, and a small three-story collection all in the course of a year (along with the publication of my eleven-story collection Dead or Alive from another publisher). My last Aston novel came out in January 2010, and if I choose to go with a small press, I could be another year or more before publication. Or I could choose to self-publish and have it out in a month (or less).
Conclusions
Ultimately, each author will have to make their own decision on how to proceed. It’s truly all about your goals, and how to achieve them. My personal recommendation to everyone, if you’re considering going into self-publishing, is to get some experience in publishing to make sure your books are at a level which publishers believe can sell. Learn what it takes to produce a book, get in tune with the technical aspects of editing and formatting a book, and learn all you can about marketing your book in today’s world. And if you’ve done all that, and still want to invest the time (and potentially money, depending on how much you’re doing yourself), decide for yourself whether it will be worth it to reach your goals.
The Benefits (as I see them)
Higher royalties by cutting out the middle man. Many e-publishers and small presses (major publishers can sometimes be worse) will offer a 30-50% royalty on “net” (the amount they take in). Self-publishers can often make 35-75% (depending on various factors) off “gross” (or the sale price of the book). And with the e-publisher or small press, the “net” they receive is quite often the same amount you would have made yourself. For a $5 e-book, a 75% royalty would be $3.75. If you self-published, this entire amount would be yours. If you were signed with a publisher (ignoring those who also have to split another 15% with an agent), you’d potential make only 30% of this, or $1.13 for each copy. In essence, you’d have to sell three times as many books just to equal the same amount of money earned.
Total control over the product you’re selling. In self-publishing, because you take on all of the different roles (writer, editor, publisher, etc.), you have the final say on every aspect of the process. Don’t like the cover art? Change it. Want to reduce the price to spur sales? You set the book at whatever price you want, at any time you choose. Want to give away free copies to potential reviewers? You don’t have to wait for someone else to decide whether it’s worth the time or not.
Adapt your material whenever you want. With a regular publisher, once you’ve given your final edits, that’s it. If you find a glaring typo (or a major fact flub) that makes you cringe every time someone brings it up, you have no recourse. With self-publishing (mostly with e-books), you upload a new version, and it’s fixed. If you experience low sales, and think your book’s description may be to blame, you can punch it up and re-load to the online stores.
Getting your work to the public faster. Publishers can often take a full year or two to get a book from contract to the public. When self-publishing, you set the timetable. If you want to have your new book come out this year, and you put all the parts in place, you can do it. Heck, I was able to self-publish my novella Seeker, my novel The Cure, and a small three-story collection all in the course of a year (along with the publication of my eleven-story collection Dead or Alive from another publisher). My last Aston novel came out in January 2010, and if I choose to go with a small press, I could be another year or more before publication. Or I could choose to self-publish and have it out in a month (or less).
Conclusions
Ultimately, each author will have to make their own decision on how to proceed. It’s truly all about your goals, and how to achieve them. My personal recommendation to everyone, if you’re considering going into self-publishing, is to get some experience in publishing to make sure your books are at a level which publishers believe can sell. Learn what it takes to produce a book, get in tune with the technical aspects of editing and formatting a book, and learn all you can about marketing your book in today’s world. And if you’ve done all that, and still want to invest the time (and potentially money, depending on how much you’re doing yourself), decide for yourself whether it will be worth it to reach your goals.
29 February 2012
Why Self-Publishing? (Part 2 of 3)
Welcome to the second installment of my discussion on self-publishing. If you haven't seen the first, which covered how I got to this point, be sure to check it out. And in today's segment, I'll discuss some of the pitfalls I see with self-publishing.
Pitfalls of Self-Publishing
One must know what they’re doing, in all aspects of the business. Whether it be writing a story that will sell, or having an intimate knowledge of editing, formatting, and promoting, you’re going to be the only one involved in every aspect of the publishing process. If you don’t already have these, I’d recommend either continuing down the “traditional” route, or working on improvement in these areas.
It will be costly if you aren’t. Certainly, if you don’t have the traits described above, you can proceed without them, but expect your book to suffer in the marketplace, costing you sales (or rather, repeat sales on future books). You can also hire those who have these traits, but it can get a bit pricey when you enlist the services of an editor, a formatting guru, marketing specialist, promoter and publicist.
If you’re looking for bookstore placement, odds are against it. Although e-books certainly won’t be stocked by a brick-and-mortar store, many have corporate rules which also prevent print-on-demand (the most popular form of printing for the self-publisher) titles from being stocked. There’s the possibility that you may be able to get in on a consignment offer (splitting the price 60/40 with the store), but even then, your book may or may not even be easily visible to crowds. Other printing methods do exist, but all can get into the high costs previously mentioned.
The time investment required. As mentioned, you’re going to be taking on the roles not only of writer, but of editor, publisher, and promoter. Like or not, all of this takes an enormous amount of time to do properly. If you have a day job meant to pay the bills, or small children who require your attention, your days are going to get filled and fast.
The stigma (and there still is one). Although there are many out there who profess that self-publishing is the wave of the future, just as many still consider it a way for “hacks” to bypass the system. Sadly, there are many authors out there who don’t do an adequate job in editing their book or acquiring decent cover art, and in this game, the sins of the few spread out onto the many. There will be those out there who decry anything self-published as unworthy of publication. The goal is to convince enough people that your work is different.
Make sure to turn in next week for the final installment of this series, where I'll go over the benefits of self-publishing. And again, feel free to leave comments...I'll be sure to respond to them all when I return.
Pitfalls of Self-Publishing
One must know what they’re doing, in all aspects of the business. Whether it be writing a story that will sell, or having an intimate knowledge of editing, formatting, and promoting, you’re going to be the only one involved in every aspect of the publishing process. If you don’t already have these, I’d recommend either continuing down the “traditional” route, or working on improvement in these areas.
It will be costly if you aren’t. Certainly, if you don’t have the traits described above, you can proceed without them, but expect your book to suffer in the marketplace, costing you sales (or rather, repeat sales on future books). You can also hire those who have these traits, but it can get a bit pricey when you enlist the services of an editor, a formatting guru, marketing specialist, promoter and publicist.
If you’re looking for bookstore placement, odds are against it. Although e-books certainly won’t be stocked by a brick-and-mortar store, many have corporate rules which also prevent print-on-demand (the most popular form of printing for the self-publisher) titles from being stocked. There’s the possibility that you may be able to get in on a consignment offer (splitting the price 60/40 with the store), but even then, your book may or may not even be easily visible to crowds. Other printing methods do exist, but all can get into the high costs previously mentioned.
The time investment required. As mentioned, you’re going to be taking on the roles not only of writer, but of editor, publisher, and promoter. Like or not, all of this takes an enormous amount of time to do properly. If you have a day job meant to pay the bills, or small children who require your attention, your days are going to get filled and fast.
The stigma (and there still is one). Although there are many out there who profess that self-publishing is the wave of the future, just as many still consider it a way for “hacks” to bypass the system. Sadly, there are many authors out there who don’t do an adequate job in editing their book or acquiring decent cover art, and in this game, the sins of the few spread out onto the many. There will be those out there who decry anything self-published as unworthy of publication. The goal is to convince enough people that your work is different.
Make sure to turn in next week for the final installment of this series, where I'll go over the benefits of self-publishing. And again, feel free to leave comments...I'll be sure to respond to them all when I return.
22 February 2012
Why Self-Publishing? (Part 1 of 3)
As I'm going to be away from the internet for a few weeks, I've decided to schedule some posts for folks to read in my absence. Go ahead and comment...I'll respond as soon as I'm able. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this post, the first of three discussing my take on self-publishing.
A little about my story
If I’m honest about it, I’ve been seriously writing for the last twenty years or so. Sadly, my first experience with “publishing” was a disaster, and soiled me on the idea of finding another publisher for several years (but thankfully, it didn’t keep me from writing more books). Then I was propositioned about moving that first book over to a small press publisher who primarily focused on e-books (as well as some print titles). I had some familiarity with those running the company, so I took the opportunity and my first book (Heroes Die Young) and then my second (Friends in Deed) were both published.
Along the way, I’d also gotten into short stories, having several published in various online magazines. One of the magazine publishers was also starting up a small press, and approached me about doing a collection of short stories. Jumping on the opportunity, my first collection (Dead or Alive) was published.
The Disturbance (or, how I started self-publishing in the first place)
I follow many blogs online, and one of them is Joe Konrath, a successful mid-list author who first decried self-publishing, until he soured on the publishing establishment. Once he converted, he began professing that any author who wasn’t self-publishing was a fool (and going into the multitude of reasons why). It was an interesting theory, but my mind was entrenched in the idea that going that route was for those who couldn’t hack it in the real world.
Back in the fall of 2010, I’d written a small novella for a submission call (for space opera, right up my alley) by a fairly popular romance e-publisher (not up my alley, by the way), which garnered a rejection (not the level of romance they were hoping for). So, I had this novella on my computer and was debating what to do with it. I’d enjoyed the story, and wanted to see it published, but was a bit concerned what sort of price point my other publishers would place on it (I’ve always been a bit antsy about pricing, likely stemming from my first sour experience in publishing).
So, I decided to try out self-publishing for Seeker, figuring it was a good throwaway novel if things turned out poorly. But lo and behold, I was selling about the same number of copies of this one as I was with my small press titles. I was hooked, and ended up self-publishing a full-length novel I’d created in 2011, The Cure (this one, I also went ahead and created a print-on-demand version of).
Tune in next week, for the second installment of the series!
A little about my story
If I’m honest about it, I’ve been seriously writing for the last twenty years or so. Sadly, my first experience with “publishing” was a disaster, and soiled me on the idea of finding another publisher for several years (but thankfully, it didn’t keep me from writing more books). Then I was propositioned about moving that first book over to a small press publisher who primarily focused on e-books (as well as some print titles). I had some familiarity with those running the company, so I took the opportunity and my first book (Heroes Die Young) and then my second (Friends in Deed) were both published.
Along the way, I’d also gotten into short stories, having several published in various online magazines. One of the magazine publishers was also starting up a small press, and approached me about doing a collection of short stories. Jumping on the opportunity, my first collection (Dead or Alive) was published.
The Disturbance (or, how I started self-publishing in the first place)
I follow many blogs online, and one of them is Joe Konrath, a successful mid-list author who first decried self-publishing, until he soured on the publishing establishment. Once he converted, he began professing that any author who wasn’t self-publishing was a fool (and going into the multitude of reasons why). It was an interesting theory, but my mind was entrenched in the idea that going that route was for those who couldn’t hack it in the real world.
Back in the fall of 2010, I’d written a small novella for a submission call (for space opera, right up my alley) by a fairly popular romance e-publisher (not up my alley, by the way), which garnered a rejection (not the level of romance they were hoping for). So, I had this novella on my computer and was debating what to do with it. I’d enjoyed the story, and wanted to see it published, but was a bit concerned what sort of price point my other publishers would place on it (I’ve always been a bit antsy about pricing, likely stemming from my first sour experience in publishing).
So, I decided to try out self-publishing for Seeker, figuring it was a good throwaway novel if things turned out poorly. But lo and behold, I was selling about the same number of copies of this one as I was with my small press titles. I was hooked, and ended up self-publishing a full-length novel I’d created in 2011, The Cure (this one, I also went ahead and created a print-on-demand version of).
Tune in next week, for the second installment of the series!
13 February 2012
Cliffhanging
No, nothing here about climbing mountains or extreme sports...but something that authors (new and experienced) should keep in mind when putting together their manuscripts. Readers are getting shorter attention spans with every passing day, and as such, it's going to become more important to toss in those ever important cliffhangers (usually at the end of your chapters).
What makes an effective cliffhanger?
The old adage is whatever it takes to get the reader to turn the page to the next chapter. That's a little vague. So, I'd like to propose that your characters should be facing one of the following:
-Impending Death: Nothing gets a reader engaged in the story more than wondering how their favorite character is going to escape death (let's face it, unless you're ending a series, or going for a major plot twist, you're likely not going to kill that character off). Don't do it too much, as then people will start losing interest...but a well-placed death-defying escape now and again keeps things moving and lets people root for your main character.
Author's note: I use this often in most of my novels.
-A Major Fact Just (or about to be) Revealed: This has to be of great significance to the plot, or it simply will not work. In the case of ending the chapter on a reveal about to happen, you also need to do the reveal shortly after, or your readers are going to be let down (the "about-to-be" reveal is a contract with your reader, and you need to pay it in full. One other point about this...sometimes, if you've pulled the reader along a few chapters (using other techniques along the way), it can make the reveal that much more satisfying.
In my novel Friends in Deed (which is currently 99 cents over at Amazon for the rest of the month), I use this at the end of a chapter in which (after Aston wondering what the twins really want) I reveal their true intentions (and its a doozie).
-An Act the Reader Has Been Waiting For: Although not as effective (in my opinion) as the other two listed here, the sense of satisfaction the reader achieves can be used to get that page turned. If they're happy (make it really good!), there's a higher chance they'll be willing to keep moving toward your next cliffhanger.
Author's note: I use one of these quite well in my next novel...I don't want to give it away, so I'll leave it at that.
-Another Piece For the Puzzle: Not nearly as effective as the others above, this can still be useful if you're trying not to overuse your other techniques. In essence, you can lay another piece in front of the reader, so that they can work through the mystery in their mind. Unfortunately, the setup for this cliffhanger can take a while, so it also runs the risk of cutting off your reader's interest.
Author's note: I use this from time to time, including when I introduce one of the main antagonists in my novel, The Cure, and the character reveals that she's been spying on the main character, and isn't against the idea of killing her (sprinkling a little implied "Impending Death" doesn't hurt).
Are there any other cliffhangers that you're particularly fond of (either reading or using)?
What makes an effective cliffhanger?
The old adage is whatever it takes to get the reader to turn the page to the next chapter. That's a little vague. So, I'd like to propose that your characters should be facing one of the following:
-Impending Death: Nothing gets a reader engaged in the story more than wondering how their favorite character is going to escape death (let's face it, unless you're ending a series, or going for a major plot twist, you're likely not going to kill that character off). Don't do it too much, as then people will start losing interest...but a well-placed death-defying escape now and again keeps things moving and lets people root for your main character.
Author's note: I use this often in most of my novels.
-A Major Fact Just (or about to be) Revealed: This has to be of great significance to the plot, or it simply will not work. In the case of ending the chapter on a reveal about to happen, you also need to do the reveal shortly after, or your readers are going to be let down (the "about-to-be" reveal is a contract with your reader, and you need to pay it in full. One other point about this...sometimes, if you've pulled the reader along a few chapters (using other techniques along the way), it can make the reveal that much more satisfying.
In my novel Friends in Deed (which is currently 99 cents over at Amazon for the rest of the month), I use this at the end of a chapter in which (after Aston wondering what the twins really want) I reveal their true intentions (and its a doozie).
-An Act the Reader Has Been Waiting For: Although not as effective (in my opinion) as the other two listed here, the sense of satisfaction the reader achieves can be used to get that page turned. If they're happy (make it really good!), there's a higher chance they'll be willing to keep moving toward your next cliffhanger.
Author's note: I use one of these quite well in my next novel...I don't want to give it away, so I'll leave it at that.
-Another Piece For the Puzzle: Not nearly as effective as the others above, this can still be useful if you're trying not to overuse your other techniques. In essence, you can lay another piece in front of the reader, so that they can work through the mystery in their mind. Unfortunately, the setup for this cliffhanger can take a while, so it also runs the risk of cutting off your reader's interest.
Author's note: I use this from time to time, including when I introduce one of the main antagonists in my novel, The Cure, and the character reveals that she's been spying on the main character, and isn't against the idea of killing her (sprinkling a little implied "Impending Death" doesn't hurt).
Are there any other cliffhangers that you're particularly fond of (either reading or using)?
08 February 2012
Sales Update - February 2012
It's been a little over three months since my last update on sales figures, so I figured now would be as good a time as any to give a little update. To recap those figures, here are the stats from that previous post (as of October 30):
Heroes Die Young (released September 2008) had sold a total of 231 copies (print and e-book total), for an average of around 73 copies per year.
Friends in Deed (released January 2010) had sold a total of 65 copies (print and e-book total), for an average of around 33 copies per year.
Seeker (released December 2010) had sold around 42 copies (e-book only).
Dead or Alive (released in print, February 2011) had sold 19 copies. An e-book version was not available.
The Cure (released in e-book, July 2011; in print, September 2011) had sold 2 print copies and 11 e-books.
And now for the new stats:
Heroes Die Young has now sold a total of 260 copies (print and e-book total). This includes copies that were previously sold, but not yet paid for by the vendor (such as Amazon), so 29 copies have passed through the system in the last three months. I have not yet received my royalty statement for the 4th quarter of 2011, but am expecting it soon, so any copies appearing there will be included in the next update.
Friends in Deed has now sold a total of 66 copies (print and e-book total). Same comments about the upcoming royalty statement. There may have been a discrepancy on the past update, as I've sold 6 copies since then...but the 66 copies is correct.
Seeker has now sold around 50 copies (99-cent e-book only), so about 8 copies have sold over the past three months.
Dead or Alive has now sold 22 print copies (3 copies over the past three months). An e-book version was made available in July 2011 over at Smashwords (Kindle version came out in January 2012), and has sold 6 copies (an estimate based on sales ranking numbers...with four of these for the Kindle in the past month).
The Cure has now sold 29 copies (print and e-book total), so 16 copies have sold in the past three months. One side note to this is that I recently dropped the price to 99 cents, and my sales in January and February so far (at least through Smashwords) have been the same number as my sales were in the first six months at the $2.99 level.
As mentioned in the last update, I went ahead and put out my first Triple-Shot collection in November 2011 for a 99-cent price point. Since that time, 8 reported copies have sold.
Now for the analysis:
First, in conversations with others, they aren't entirely sure why some of these numbers are so low. Other books seem to do far better, even though they aren't written as well. This could be for lack of sufficient marketing, a matter that I've previously mentioned is being corrected.
As I mentioned about The Cure, sales drastically increased when I dropped the price to 99 cents. Although the royalty figures decreased accordingly, I believe these prices will need to stick around until such time as my sales figures improve. All of my self-published titles have been priced at this level now, but once my new title (Death Brings the Victory) is released, I'll have a decision to make regarding that price point. Since it already has a base with fans of Aston, it may sustain itself at a higher price. Time will tell.
In the past three months, I've sold 76 books for a total of just over 25 books a month all-inclusive (counting all titles). This backs up the assertion that many have made before, in that putting out additional titles helps boost sales figures. So, if you're spending all of your time trying to promote one book while neglecting your next book in the process, you're doing it wrong. Promote, yes, but if you don't have a new book coming down the pipeline, you're only hurting yourself.
Hopefully I'll do a little more analysis about these figures (specifically, the comparison between sales figures for each book) in an upcoming post. In the meantime, I hope they were useful to you in your search for a publisher, agent, small press or for helping you decide whether to go into self-publishing.
Heroes Die Young (released September 2008) had sold a total of 231 copies (print and e-book total), for an average of around 73 copies per year.
Friends in Deed (released January 2010) had sold a total of 65 copies (print and e-book total), for an average of around 33 copies per year.
Seeker (released December 2010) had sold around 42 copies (e-book only).
Dead or Alive (released in print, February 2011) had sold 19 copies. An e-book version was not available.
The Cure (released in e-book, July 2011; in print, September 2011) had sold 2 print copies and 11 e-books.
And now for the new stats:
Heroes Die Young has now sold a total of 260 copies (print and e-book total). This includes copies that were previously sold, but not yet paid for by the vendor (such as Amazon), so 29 copies have passed through the system in the last three months. I have not yet received my royalty statement for the 4th quarter of 2011, but am expecting it soon, so any copies appearing there will be included in the next update.
Friends in Deed has now sold a total of 66 copies (print and e-book total). Same comments about the upcoming royalty statement. There may have been a discrepancy on the past update, as I've sold 6 copies since then...but the 66 copies is correct.
Seeker has now sold around 50 copies (99-cent e-book only), so about 8 copies have sold over the past three months.
Dead or Alive has now sold 22 print copies (3 copies over the past three months). An e-book version was made available in July 2011 over at Smashwords (Kindle version came out in January 2012), and has sold 6 copies (an estimate based on sales ranking numbers...with four of these for the Kindle in the past month).
The Cure has now sold 29 copies (print and e-book total), so 16 copies have sold in the past three months. One side note to this is that I recently dropped the price to 99 cents, and my sales in January and February so far (at least through Smashwords) have been the same number as my sales were in the first six months at the $2.99 level.
As mentioned in the last update, I went ahead and put out my first Triple-Shot collection in November 2011 for a 99-cent price point. Since that time, 8 reported copies have sold.
Now for the analysis:
First, in conversations with others, they aren't entirely sure why some of these numbers are so low. Other books seem to do far better, even though they aren't written as well. This could be for lack of sufficient marketing, a matter that I've previously mentioned is being corrected.
As I mentioned about The Cure, sales drastically increased when I dropped the price to 99 cents. Although the royalty figures decreased accordingly, I believe these prices will need to stick around until such time as my sales figures improve. All of my self-published titles have been priced at this level now, but once my new title (Death Brings the Victory) is released, I'll have a decision to make regarding that price point. Since it already has a base with fans of Aston, it may sustain itself at a higher price. Time will tell.
In the past three months, I've sold 76 books for a total of just over 25 books a month all-inclusive (counting all titles). This backs up the assertion that many have made before, in that putting out additional titles helps boost sales figures. So, if you're spending all of your time trying to promote one book while neglecting your next book in the process, you're doing it wrong. Promote, yes, but if you don't have a new book coming down the pipeline, you're only hurting yourself.
Hopefully I'll do a little more analysis about these figures (specifically, the comparison between sales figures for each book) in an upcoming post. In the meantime, I hope they were useful to you in your search for a publisher, agent, small press or for helping you decide whether to go into self-publishing.
23 January 2012
Where Do I Find the Time?
One of the most common issues I hear about from new writers (and I've been known to make the claim myself from time to time) is that they just don't have the time to get any writing done. Now, I could go down the same path as others, and mention that all the time spent online checking Twitter and Facebook and e-mail, or catching up on all your favorite TV shows would be better served for writing instead. But that would be more like the pot calling the kettle black. All of those things are fun and entertainment, and preventing yourself from doing them is going to be like taking all of the sweets out of the house when you're on a diet. Sure, it will help for a while, but then you're going to start sneaking away to get your fix.
So, instead, let's look at some ideas for how to find a little more writing time in the same 24 hours of a day:
- Extending the length of your regular day: This depends on whether you're a morning person or a night person, but if you regularly get up at six in the morning, set your alarm for five instead (for morning people). If you regularly go to bed at ten, stay up another hour (for night people). Although an extra hour may not seem like a lot, it will tend to add up over time. Assume that a person could write 500 words in an hour, that's 3500 words a week, and in 20 weeks (5 months), you'd have yourself a 70,000-word novel.
- Utilize time spent waiting to get some writing done: Rather than just sitting around and waiting, do some writing instead. This has a wide range of applications. How much time do you figure you spend waiting in a day? At the doctor's office, at the mechanic's, at a sit-down restaurant, in airports. Although one isn't going to have every one of these on every day of the week (we hope), this is all part of a strategy to find every moment possible. Besides, a doctor's office alone may give you an hour. Plus, if you eventually get published, people will undoubtedly ask you during these waits what you're working on, which can lead to you accomplishing some self-promotion at the same time as you're writing new material.
- Utilize time you're unable to do anything else: This is somewhat along the same lines as the previous idea, but is meant to utilize time that isn't considered "waiting." Think about the time you spend in traffic (if you're not driving). Unless you suffer from motion sickness, there could be hours spent just sitting there which could be used for writing. What if you're dragged to an event for your spouse's family? Certainly, some interaction will be required, but often times, you can huddle off in a corner and spend your time writing. This can also lead to questions from family members, and thus, more self-promotion efforts...
Definitely, these ideas should help give a little more time to your day...and if you have other ideas, feel free to share them. And of course, comments and criticisms are always welcome. And if you didn't already catch my short story "Sweet Embrace", you can still check it out for free.
So, instead, let's look at some ideas for how to find a little more writing time in the same 24 hours of a day:
- Extending the length of your regular day: This depends on whether you're a morning person or a night person, but if you regularly get up at six in the morning, set your alarm for five instead (for morning people). If you regularly go to bed at ten, stay up another hour (for night people). Although an extra hour may not seem like a lot, it will tend to add up over time. Assume that a person could write 500 words in an hour, that's 3500 words a week, and in 20 weeks (5 months), you'd have yourself a 70,000-word novel.
- Utilize time spent waiting to get some writing done: Rather than just sitting around and waiting, do some writing instead. This has a wide range of applications. How much time do you figure you spend waiting in a day? At the doctor's office, at the mechanic's, at a sit-down restaurant, in airports. Although one isn't going to have every one of these on every day of the week (we hope), this is all part of a strategy to find every moment possible. Besides, a doctor's office alone may give you an hour. Plus, if you eventually get published, people will undoubtedly ask you during these waits what you're working on, which can lead to you accomplishing some self-promotion at the same time as you're writing new material.
- Utilize time you're unable to do anything else: This is somewhat along the same lines as the previous idea, but is meant to utilize time that isn't considered "waiting." Think about the time you spend in traffic (if you're not driving). Unless you suffer from motion sickness, there could be hours spent just sitting there which could be used for writing. What if you're dragged to an event for your spouse's family? Certainly, some interaction will be required, but often times, you can huddle off in a corner and spend your time writing. This can also lead to questions from family members, and thus, more self-promotion efforts...
Definitely, these ideas should help give a little more time to your day...and if you have other ideas, feel free to share them. And of course, comments and criticisms are always welcome. And if you didn't already catch my short story "Sweet Embrace", you can still check it out for free.
16 January 2012
Never Stop Learning as a Writer
As I believe I mentioned (perhaps it was on my fan page), I've been taking writing classes for the past couple of weeks, and will do so for several more weeks. Now, you may be asking yourself, with four novels, and multiple short stories published, why would he need to take classes on writing? The answer is simple: Until I reach a point in my career where I can just say "I think I'd like to write another book" and publishers start a bidding war over my un-started novel (or every reader on the planet pre-orders without me writing a word), then I need to keep learning about the craft. And even then, the world will be ever-changing, and there will be new things to learn about the business and craft of writing.
Other things to keep in mind:
- I've gone over my sales numbers previously. Needless to say, they can use a lot of improvement. Part of that is going to be from my ongoing conversations with a marketing strategist, as I mentioned before. But some of that may be related to my writing (despite those who tell me how great it is). So, the classes also serve to help me find out how I could improve. This is something all writers should be striving for, to improve their writing.
- We can all use training in alternate ways of doing things we've done all along. For example, I've always plotted out my stories from beginning to end (even if they don't always follow the plan), and have done this many ways. In our most recent class, a new method (to me, at least) was given for the plot progression which I plan on utilizing in the future, to see how well it work.
So, to recap, authors should always continue to keep learning throughout their career. I hope that you take this advice to hear, and I'd be interested to hear from everyone (via the comments) something they've learned about (either the craft or the business of) writing recently.
Other things to keep in mind:
- I've gone over my sales numbers previously. Needless to say, they can use a lot of improvement. Part of that is going to be from my ongoing conversations with a marketing strategist, as I mentioned before. But some of that may be related to my writing (despite those who tell me how great it is). So, the classes also serve to help me find out how I could improve. This is something all writers should be striving for, to improve their writing.
- We can all use training in alternate ways of doing things we've done all along. For example, I've always plotted out my stories from beginning to end (even if they don't always follow the plan), and have done this many ways. In our most recent class, a new method (to me, at least) was given for the plot progression which I plan on utilizing in the future, to see how well it work.
So, to recap, authors should always continue to keep learning throughout their career. I hope that you take this advice to hear, and I'd be interested to hear from everyone (via the comments) something they've learned about (either the craft or the business of) writing recently.
13 January 2012
Surround Yourself with Successful Authors
So, continuing along the line of posting my writer's tips, I'd like to put forth an opinion of mine and fish for a little feedback.
As a writer, it's ultimately your choice as to how you fare in the end. Yes, yes, I know...those looking for an agent are dependent on an agent actually accepting them, and of course, publication with a major publisher...
But all of these things are end goals, and getting there is what you have control over.
So, one thing I would highly encourage any writer truly wishing to reach their goals is to surround themselves with successful writers they know. Hang out with them, seek out their feedback on issues you're facing, and take their advice to heart. Now, it depends on the amount of success an author has (most of us aren't going to be sitting down for tea and conversation with J.K. Rowling, for example), but I've found that most authors enjoy hanging out with other authors, even if they've gotten a measure of success.
The alternatives are where I see many authors go awry. They often like hanging out with other writers who aren't serious about their craft, and then wonder why they don't end up progressing in their own journey. These writers are those who spend twenty years working on their grand masterpiece of a novel, or have started thirty different novels and have never gotten past the third chapter, or constantly show up to writer's meetings without ever having written anything to share (no offense to anyone who may be bearing witness to those, and reading this post).
But if you're serious about a career as a writer, this is not where you want to get your motivation and your advice. You want to hang out with those who've gotten contracts, those who have publications under their belt, and those who have reached the level of success you wish to attain. Because ultimately, those are the ones who know the path to get there and can lead you across the Red Sea, Moses-style.
Listen to what they have to say. Take their advice on your writing, and apply what you learn. Above all else, surround yourself with as many of these successful authors as you can stand...because it's ultimately about increasing your chances of reaching that same level with your writing.
As always, comments, criticisms, and general discussions are more than welcome!
As a writer, it's ultimately your choice as to how you fare in the end. Yes, yes, I know...those looking for an agent are dependent on an agent actually accepting them, and of course, publication with a major publisher...
But all of these things are end goals, and getting there is what you have control over.
So, one thing I would highly encourage any writer truly wishing to reach their goals is to surround themselves with successful writers they know. Hang out with them, seek out their feedback on issues you're facing, and take their advice to heart. Now, it depends on the amount of success an author has (most of us aren't going to be sitting down for tea and conversation with J.K. Rowling, for example), but I've found that most authors enjoy hanging out with other authors, even if they've gotten a measure of success.
The alternatives are where I see many authors go awry. They often like hanging out with other writers who aren't serious about their craft, and then wonder why they don't end up progressing in their own journey. These writers are those who spend twenty years working on their grand masterpiece of a novel, or have started thirty different novels and have never gotten past the third chapter, or constantly show up to writer's meetings without ever having written anything to share (no offense to anyone who may be bearing witness to those, and reading this post).
But if you're serious about a career as a writer, this is not where you want to get your motivation and your advice. You want to hang out with those who've gotten contracts, those who have publications under their belt, and those who have reached the level of success you wish to attain. Because ultimately, those are the ones who know the path to get there and can lead you across the Red Sea, Moses-style.
Listen to what they have to say. Take their advice on your writing, and apply what you learn. Above all else, surround yourself with as many of these successful authors as you can stand...because it's ultimately about increasing your chances of reaching that same level with your writing.
As always, comments, criticisms, and general discussions are more than welcome!
11 January 2012
What Makes a Bad Book Terrible?
Reading along over at (frequent commenter to the blog) Angie Lofthouse's blog post "What Makes a Great Book Great?" yesterday, I couldn't help but be inspired to write a companion piece, thus my post today.
Having read several great books, I've also read a lot of stinkers. Not to get into a self-published versus small press versus major publisher debate, but many of these have come from the two former categories. And as I foresee the trend to be for more and more authors to begin venturing into those realms, it's going to be important to have your book stand above the pack.
So, what drives a book to be so terrible that it never gets off the ground with readers?
1. Poor editing: Yes, this is a bit of a generality, but it deserves to be said. Books absolutely HAVE to be edited, there is no getting around it. And like it or not, there are a lot of authors out there who don't want to spend the money to get their books edited. Which is perfectly fine, if you have a significant background in editing, and have plenty of honest beta readers, and can look your own work over with a highly critical eye.
That's a lot of ifs, by the way. So, make certain you're not just taking the cheap way out by eliminating an external editor.
And if you do get with a small press, make certain your editor is doing you justice. If they give you back your manuscript with a few spelling and error corrections throughout, then perhaps it's time to start looking for a new publishing home.
2. Major errors with points of view: Nothing is going to drive a reader more crazy than a book that goes back and forth between first and third person, not sticking with the character's point of view you've chosen (head-hopping), or lacing everything with a load of author intrusion. Not to say that it can't be done, because it can, but you definitely need to know what you're doing.
The best advice I had was reading a book on POV, in which they likened it to watching a film. First person is all seen from your main character's point of view, and you can only see what they do from the camera, with that character narrating as they go. Same goes for third person, but the camera isn't being held by any particular character. Thinking of this analogy reminds you that you're not going to be able to tell things to the reader which they can't see from the camera's vantage point (author intrusion).
3. Playing a game of red-light/green-light with the reader: People like fairly consistent flow through their reading. No one likes to be going along and then all of the sudden, the author tells them to "STOP!" This could happen in any number of ways, including making large jumps in the timeline of the story that make the reader stop to figure out where they've just been taken to, and what happened in between then and now. If you find yourself trying to fit a huge timeline into a single novel, perhaps it's time to ask yourself whether it can be condensed into a smaller timeline, and whether more continuity could be had.
There's also the problem of being in the middle of a scene while you're trying to get your bearings, and then the author decides now is the best time to go into a bunch of infodumps, which bring the reader's enjoyment of a story to a screeching halt. Avoid these at all costs. Readers like to find things out about the characters and the worlds you've built, but just like when we take cold and flu medicine, we don't like large doses at once. Sprinkle it around a little, spread the joy, and you'll find people still get the same amount of information, but love every minute of it.
I could go further (and maybe I might for a later post), but for now, I'll let everyone digest this information for now...and as always, I do love comments, criticisms, and other interactions, so feel free!
Having read several great books, I've also read a lot of stinkers. Not to get into a self-published versus small press versus major publisher debate, but many of these have come from the two former categories. And as I foresee the trend to be for more and more authors to begin venturing into those realms, it's going to be important to have your book stand above the pack.
So, what drives a book to be so terrible that it never gets off the ground with readers?
1. Poor editing: Yes, this is a bit of a generality, but it deserves to be said. Books absolutely HAVE to be edited, there is no getting around it. And like it or not, there are a lot of authors out there who don't want to spend the money to get their books edited. Which is perfectly fine, if you have a significant background in editing, and have plenty of honest beta readers, and can look your own work over with a highly critical eye.
That's a lot of ifs, by the way. So, make certain you're not just taking the cheap way out by eliminating an external editor.
And if you do get with a small press, make certain your editor is doing you justice. If they give you back your manuscript with a few spelling and error corrections throughout, then perhaps it's time to start looking for a new publishing home.
2. Major errors with points of view: Nothing is going to drive a reader more crazy than a book that goes back and forth between first and third person, not sticking with the character's point of view you've chosen (head-hopping), or lacing everything with a load of author intrusion. Not to say that it can't be done, because it can, but you definitely need to know what you're doing.
The best advice I had was reading a book on POV, in which they likened it to watching a film. First person is all seen from your main character's point of view, and you can only see what they do from the camera, with that character narrating as they go. Same goes for third person, but the camera isn't being held by any particular character. Thinking of this analogy reminds you that you're not going to be able to tell things to the reader which they can't see from the camera's vantage point (author intrusion).
3. Playing a game of red-light/green-light with the reader: People like fairly consistent flow through their reading. No one likes to be going along and then all of the sudden, the author tells them to "STOP!" This could happen in any number of ways, including making large jumps in the timeline of the story that make the reader stop to figure out where they've just been taken to, and what happened in between then and now. If you find yourself trying to fit a huge timeline into a single novel, perhaps it's time to ask yourself whether it can be condensed into a smaller timeline, and whether more continuity could be had.
There's also the problem of being in the middle of a scene while you're trying to get your bearings, and then the author decides now is the best time to go into a bunch of infodumps, which bring the reader's enjoyment of a story to a screeching halt. Avoid these at all costs. Readers like to find things out about the characters and the worlds you've built, but just like when we take cold and flu medicine, we don't like large doses at once. Sprinkle it around a little, spread the joy, and you'll find people still get the same amount of information, but love every minute of it.
I could go further (and maybe I might for a later post), but for now, I'll let everyone digest this information for now...and as always, I do love comments, criticisms, and other interactions, so feel free!
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