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Monday, August 6, 2012

THE NOVEL IS ALWAYS DYING_THAT'S HOW IT STAYS ALIVE.




Siv Maria wrote a great comment that I thought deserved a post all its own:


Siv Maria:

Interesting post.

I have trouble understanding all of these facts. I don't understand why writing a book and publishing it should be so complicated.

Roland:

The Publishing Industry is in flux. Agents are loathe to take on anyone who is not a "sure thing" (translation: writing a book similar to a bestseller : HUNGER GAMES, TWILIGHT, HARRY POTTER, ANITA BLAKE, 50 SHADES OF GREY.)

Same reluctance goes for Publishers.

Writers sometimes spend years vainly knocking on the door of agents and publishers to get their books into the mainstream.


Siv Maria:

My book is almost finished and I have no idea what to do with it once it is done.

Roland:

ePulishing may be a good route for you to follow. But as with any endeavor, you must do it as best you can. How?

Joe Konath (a successful eAuthor had some great ideas):
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2012/07/zero-sum.html:

"Some ebooks won't be read.

But quality does seem to eventually find an audience.

Maybe not to smashing success, but authors don't need smashing success. They need 100 sales a day at $2.99 to live very well.

What do you need to do to reach that 100 sales a day?


1. Write good stories. As many and as fast as you can.

They should be edited, proofed, and well formatted I use
www.52novels.com for formatting, and they do better work than any of the Big 6. The more you have out there, the better you'll do.


2. Make sure you have a great product description and a professional cover.

Joe Konath's cover artist, Carl Graves, has 24 new covers on sale on his website for $200 each. A bunch of them are awesome, and $200 is a great deal (he charges Joe $500).

Check them out, first come first serve, at
http://extendedimagery.com/predesignedcovers.html.

Our friend, Jeremy, from RETRO-ZOMBIE also does covers. $75. How cool is that?

http://izombielover.blogspot.com/

3. Find the sweet spot between price and quantity sold,

where you make the most profit. Currently Joe is at $3.99 for novels, $2.99 for novellas (over 10k words) and story collections, and 99 cents for short stories. But this isn't set in stone.


4. Experiment with different ways to promote.

Some things I've tried to varying degrees of success are giving away free ebooks to get reviews, announcing sales on ebook websites, having sales, making titles free for a limited time, partnering with different platforms, and guest blogging.


What don't I bother with?


1. Advertising.

It doesn't work on me, so I don't use it on other people. That's a cardinal rule of mine. I only use something or believe it works if I do it as a consumer.


2. Social media.

Occasional tweets of Facebook announcements are fine. At most, once a week. Maybe once a day if you have a new release, but end it after a few days. Otherwise people get sick of you.


3. Publicity.

I've already blogged that getting my name in the press doesn't lead to sales. You probably don't need a publicist.


4. Spamming.

Joe has a newsletter, and uses it a few times a year. He doesn't use it everytime he uploads something new to Kindle. And he doesn't pimp his work on other peoples' blog or forums unless invited to do so, or there's a section for it.

So Siv:

Don't Be Afraid. Yes, the future will be different. Yes, things will change. But there will always be a need for storytellers, and if you hold onto your rights, you'll be in a good position to exploit those rights no matter what the future holds.


Siv Maria:

Also I have read many of your books out of order. I really wish you would tell us readers which book follows the next. I think you have tried but it still is confusing...Maybe I am just stupid.

Roland:

No way are you stupid! I have just written so many books over 3 years that there are a few of them out there!

The BATMAN of my linked universe is SAMUEL MCCORD. He is the lynch pin of my literary world.


1.) RITES OF PASSAGE {1853}

2.) ADRIFT IN THE TIME STREAM {Sequel to RITES set in 1853 as well}

3.) FRENCH QUARTER NOCTURNE {2005 - Victor is missing since in THREE SPIRIT KNIGHT (YET TO BE PUBLISHED)

he followed Sam into Hell, wiping all traces of himself from reality for a time.}

4.) CREOLE KNIGHTS {Sequel to FRENCH QUARTER NOCTURNE set in 2005}

5.) THE LEGEND OF VICTOR STANDISH {Set in 2005 just prior to FRENCH QUARTER NOCTURNE}

6.) UNDER A VOODOO MOON {Sequel to LEGEND set both in 2005 and 1834}

7.) THE RIVAL {Sequel to VOODOO MOON starting in 1998 going to 2005 and flinging poor Victor & Alice back to 1834

and ending with Victor on the last night of ancient Troy -- the poor guy should get frequent flyer miles!}

8.) END OF DAYS {Sequel to THE RIVAL, set in 2005, bringing all my heroes together to fight Ragnarok in the French Quarter --

told through the eyes of Alice Wentworth.}

9.) BURNT OFFERINGS {Set in 2005 after the events of END OF DAYS starring Lucanus and 3 tales of Samuel McCord.}

10.) CALL ME TOMBS {Set just prior to END OF DAYS, starring the Lakota heyoka, Toomey Starks and his hellhound, Puppy.}

11.) THE LAST SHAMAN {Set in November 2012, starring the Lakota shaman, Wolf Howl, who burned up the pages in END OF DAYS.}

12.) THE LAST FAE {Set in 1936 and 2001, starring Fallen, the last Sidhe, who was a major character in RITES and ADRIFT.}

13.) LOVE LIKE DEATH {Set in 2002, starring Fallen, Kirika, and Blake Adamson, the clone of The Nazarene.}

14.) THE PATH BACK TO DAWN {Set in 2003, sequel to LOVE LIKE DEATH}

15.) BLACK ROSES IN AVALON {Set in 2003, sequel to THE PATH BACK TO DAWN}

16.) LAST EXIT TO BABYLON {Set in 2004, sequel to BLACK ROSES IN AVALON and ending in Hell -- what can I say Fallen, Kirika, and Blake led those kinds of lives.}

17.) THE BEAR WITH TWO SHADOWS {Set just after ADRIFT IN THE TIME STREAM, starring Hibbs the bear with 2 shadows, Estanatlehi, and others who star in END OF DAYS.}

18.) LET THE WIND BLOW THROUGH YOU {Set in the present, starring Luke Winters the defrocked psychologist who goes to his home town to try to save the soul of the dying love of his life, a woman who rules the crime in an unnamed state.}

19.) BLOOD WILL TELL {Set in 2001, with a rare blood courier, Luke Winters (I liked the name! LOL) battling an alien invasion of intelligent blood!}

20.) GHOST WRITERS IN THE SKY {The ghosts of MARK TWAIN, HEMINGWAY, FAULKNER, RAYMOND CHANDLER,

BRUCE LEE, ALFRED HITCHCOCK, WINSTON CHURCHILL, ROGER ZELAZNY, TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, ROBERT E. HOWARD, JOHN D. MACDONALD, and others teach all of us how to write.

Oh, and my ghost cat, Gypsy, gets into the act, too.}

THIS JUST IN:
AMAZON lists THE BEAR WITH TWO SHADOWS at #20; END OF DAYS at #25, & BLACK ROSES IN AVALON at #26 in their TUATHA de DANANN listings! Nice news.
:-)

17 comments:

  1. Siv asked the right question - what order do the books falls.

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  2. i love this post... i just thought i would throw in i do ebook/book covers for $75.00... i design what you want, wink.

    i enjoyed the back and forth, i felt i am walking away a smarter person.

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  3. Alex:
    I tried to answer Siv's excellent question.
    They should be read in the order I listed them here. Except for GHOST WRITERS IN THE SKY which is basically a HOW TO WRITER BETTER manual done by my ghost friends ...

    edited by my ghost cat, Gypsy -- Oh, and Robert Frost and H P LOVECRAFT turn up in it as well!

    Jeremy:
    I will edit my post to include you how about that! I have the back of all my friends!

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  4. Jeremy:
    There! I have put you into the post. I had to hurry and get it done because I am on call as a rare blood courier, so the night might call to me at any time. I feel like BATMAN! :-)

    I am happy you walked away feeling as if you had more perspective and data on self-publishing ... from your blog you seem quite expert as it is! Thanks for following, Roland

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  5. Alex:
    It just occurred to me that I wrote the Victor novel so they could be read LEGEND to END OF DAYS without having read Sam's adventures.

    You really don't need to read Sam's 1853 adventures to enjoy and understand NOCTURNE and KNIGHTS. It just adds perspective and depth to the stories.

    My solo heroes: THE BEAR WITH 2 SHADOWS, THE LAST SHAMAN, CALL ME TOMBS, BLOOD WILL TELL can be read in any order.

    THE FALLEN/BLAKE ADAMSON SAGA should be read from THE LAST FAE to LOVE LIKE DEATH, PATH BACK TO DAWN, to BLACK ROSES IN AVALON to LAST EXIT TO BABYLON.

    GHOST WRITERS IN THE SKY can be read any old time. Although my ghost cat, Gypsy, would like you to read it NOW! Never get a ghost feline mad. LOL.

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  6. This sounds like sound advice, Roland. I'll take it to heart - Angela Brown and I are doing a paranormal self-pub tour in October and we're in the planning mode. I'll probably be emailing you about that soon....

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  7. Gwen:
    I'm interested, of course. October is my birth month. A birthday present to myself. LOL.

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  8. Thank you Roland. So you are a October child as well. I should have known that. I have to go read your books again in the right order, which is no problem since I love them anyways. As far as the publishing advice goes I am still confused. I have no problem with the art work since I and two of my children are artists. So the question remains...Do I self publish or send my baby to the wolves? Thank you for a great post though, it opened my mind towards things I had not thought of.

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  9. Oh by the way....Why does every one get my name wrong?

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  10. Siv, Isn't your name Siv Maria? Is Marie the incorrect part?

    I didn't even notice the difference until you asked the question. See how our eyes skim words?

    Enjoyed the interview and congrats on the story.

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  11. Siv MariA:
    Oops! (Hangs head in shame) Sorry. Thanks for being understanding. I blame the ghost of my cat!

    You have all my books? I am humbled now especially getting your middle name wrong!

    I don't know the publishing community in Norway. Perhaps it would be best to submit to them first.

    Self-Publishing gives you greater control over both title and cover art which are essential in grabbing reader interest. You do not have such a long wait for your book to be published either.

    On the other hand, the formatting, distribution, and marketing headaches are mostly taken care of by a main stream publisher. I would lean to self-publishing though in today's market.

    D.G.
    Yes, my eyes skimmed or zigged when they should have zagged. Darn them! :-) Happy you enjoyed the post!

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  12. I am publishing one series myself, and pursuing traditional publishing with the help of an agent.

    I would say that one size doesn't fit all, and so you should try every route open to you.

    There has never been a better time to take ownership of your own writing.

    The important thing to remember is BE PROFESSIONAL.

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  13. thank you for the shout out and update... it's funny i have two books now and a third on the way... i love art/design and will never be able to sell folks to buy my books of art/words. i never was really that good in english, but always had the passion to write. i have written a few horror styled stories, that will never see the light of day [longer story]...

    it's a great feeling that with the wave a technology shift, so many talented people... hell even not talented people can share their words, thoughts and art with the world.

    you don't need an agent, the hopes that someday you get discovered. my goal at this stage is just not be forgotten, i want to leave my mark for someone to enjoy or not...

    i think i went off topic a little, i am just so happy we can share the who we are. it's great to meet people who share the same passion.

    thank you again, all the best!

    jeremy

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  14. Donna:
    BE PROFESSIONAL is great advice. Self-publication is good for writing a series since the readers don't have to wait at least a year in between books.

    The original STAR TREK series took off in syndication when people could see the characters daily.

    Jeremy:
    The reader will determine if we can sell or not. Look at John Locke, not exactly Shakespeare!

    I was happy to point people your way. That is what we in the blogverse do: have the back of our fellow strugglers in the trenches.

    It was good to get to know the you that you are a little better. High sales to both of us! Roland

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  15. FANTASTIC! Congrats Roland!

    Thanks for all the info in this post. This will help so many of us when we are ready to e-publsh.

    GOOD LUCK, SIV!

    I still don't know how you managed to write so much in such a short period of time. More power to you, buddy.

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  17. Michael:
    As I drive my lonely, dark rural routes at night, I keep alert by plotting my novels. Although I am a bit winded muse-wise! May the rest of this year be better for you and all of us!!

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