So my book is done, what’s next? Another Post…

Well, so here we are. Book done, selling on the various platforms…what’s next. Here’s a little advice, don’t spend all day checking sales and worrying about every little thing you missed before you published. That’ll just drive you nuts! And that little comma splice or two, or twenty, AAUUGGHH!

OK, even with editing you’re gonna find mistakes. Hell, even the big guns have errors. Assuming of course that you did have the book proofread and edited by someone (or several someone’s) that knew what they were doing there’s probably still gonna be a mistake or two. Let’s be clear here, get the book edited, at least to the point that one can read it. Nothing drives me crazier than being unable to read the book due to errors. I’m not just talking about spelling and punctuation, formatting errors occur as well. Read the style guides! Both Amazon and Smashwords publish guides that will help you along. There’s plenty of other resources on the web as well. So once that’s done it’s easy to correct an error in an ebook because you can simply change it and upload the new version.

Once that’s done you gotta let go. I don’t mean to forget about it. Do some marketing at a level you can afford and check on sales now and then to plan other events or strategies. But at some point you have to quit worrying about the damn thing and get to writing the next one. Because that’s what writers do..they write!

So you may notice that I don’t post as often as some bloggers do. There’s a reason for that…I don’t have much free time to write lately so I have to make a choice. Do I blog, tweet, etc…or do I write. I’m kinda trying to do the writing thing. So I’ll post as I am able. I hope that’s cool with you because if I spend too much time up here, I’ll never get that second book finished.

Thanks for visiting!

 

Anniversary sale

Well, Karen and I have been married 32 years this week (and a wonderful 32 years at that!). As a way to share the happiness, I’m dropping the price of Return of the High Fae to .99 on Amazon through Saturday night. Hey, any excuse for a sale, right?

UPDATE!!! – SALE IS OVER!

A special thanks to those that purchased the book at such a great price!

So my book is done, what’s next?

So my self publishing journey continues. Sales are ok, at least for an unknown author’s first book. Return of the High Fae seems to sell at least a book a day, on average, and often more. As to the second book, it’s still untitled but i’m moving along on it. The basic story line will continue a short time after the end of the first book. We’ll follow Robert as he continues his journey in the world of the Fae. My goal is to have it out before Christmas of this year, I’m going to do my best to reach that goal.

Along those lines let’s continue that self publishing discussion (i’m going to skip ahead a few). Your book is written, self pubbed on the major retailers, Amazon, B&N, iTunes, so what’s your next hurdle? Marketing…and it’s a tough one. So here you have this wonderful book that is ready to sell but no one knows it’s out there. If I had been traditionally published, someone would probably have sunk some big money in advertising and marketing. But as an independent author, you’re left to own resources.

You’re not in too bad of shape for the first 30 days or so. You see, when it’s first published, you’ll be on that magical “newly published, first 30 day list.” When you’re new on ________ (fill in the source), people can find you. But after that 30 days, unless of course you have a runaway best seller, you can become hard to find. As I write this, there are 1,558,232 eBooks in the Kindle store. AAUUGGHHH, yep, and I’m sure that number will go up, and up, and up…. So where do we go from here. Now my numbers fluctuate (as do everyone’s), but I’m usually between 30k and 200K, so that puts me at 2.5% – 12% in ranking at any given time. Sounds great, but I’m not selling a ton of books here, even if I seem to be hanging in. And if we factor in the number of paper books (over 21,000,000) oh, oh, there’s over 41 million books available via the Amazon store. We are a small fish in a BIG POND!

If you have a little bit of money, you can try some banner advertising and book of the day promotions. They seem to jump start your sales. As far as social media goes, there are some good Facebook book groups that push out a lot of books, and they always need sponsors. As for Twitter, I don’t seem to have any luck there based on when sales occur but you need to get the book out there. So why not tweet it? If money’s an issue, look to free book reviews and trading posts with other authors.

As to traditional methods, such as book fairs and signing events, I’m not sure that the few I’ve done have sold any online books, but I do get a few physical books sold at each event. Make sure to send a press release to your local paper, if there’s still one out there. They may only post one book review a week but get in the queue!

Is there a point to all this? I’ll simply say this, it’s a tough world out there. But you can’t give up. If you’ve written a good book, keep pushing! Remember the words of the captain of the NSEA Protector, “Never give up, never surrender!”

Character Matters

I did a spot on Diantha Kent, one of the characters from my book, on Cara Michaels blog for her “Character Matters” pages. The point is to introduce the character and explain something that defines them and made them the way they are. I decided to let her tell the story herself. I hope you enjoy it:

Who: Diantha Kent – once known as the Pythia, or more commonly, the Oracle at Delphi

What: First encountered as an old woman, Robert returned to her a necklace containing the “eye of the dragon” which, although she was granted the power of long life, restored her youth and beauty.

When: current time period

Where: Southern Nevada

Diantha was born to a wealthy family in ancient Greece. Raised from childhood to serve the temple at Delphi, she became the Oracle at the age of 23. Because of her beauty, she was favored by the god Apollo, who gifted her long life and beauty. The gift of long life was unconditional, but youth and beauty were dependent on the power of the necklace. When the gods disappeared, she wandered the Earth. She eventually came to America, where she worked in carnivals and brothels. There, the necklace was stolen from her by a jealous lover.

Without the power of the dragon’s eye, her beauty faded and she became an old woman. Fearing reprisal for its loss, she eventually hid out in the Las Vegas area, finally ending up in a nearby city tending to prostitutes in a legal brothel.

Share an event, good or bad, that has defined your life:

You’re kidding, right? I mean, come on, where do I begin? OK, look, I know my Lord, uh, sorry, I mean, Robert, still doesn’t trust me completely, but he’s coming around.

I guess I’ll start with what was happening before I met him. You have to understand that I’d been hiding a long time. Trust me, just because you can’t die doesn’t mean you have it easy. There are a lot of things much worse than death. Remind me once to tell you about the inquisition, sorry, didn’t mean to get side tracked.

Anyway, I had it good. Wealthy parents, Oracle at Delphi, youth and beauty, long life, worshippers at my feet. I mean kings prostrated themselves before me, and the gifts, incredible. I could have, and do, anything. Then there was Apollo, now there was a god. His gift of the necklace was priceless, and believe me, nobody messes with you when you had Apollo for a lover and protector. The point is, life was good. And then everything stopped. The gods were fighting each other, you see.

Suddenly, it all ended. I spent the next two thousand or so years going from place to place. I had seen some of the battles, one god against another. I mean if someone wanted to get back at Apollo, I was fair game. Things were a lot crueler then as well. They would destroy everything and everyone that worshiped their opponents. Temples were razed, followers killed, and not easily, either. Lion pits, burning alive, torture was a sport during those times. Hah, water boarding, child’s play to a Greek or Roman where I come from.

Anyway, you get the picture, I was scared. And it was tough being a woman during those times, even worse if you were beautiful. See what covering yourself in dung to keep from being raped does for your disposition. It still happened, so I kept moving. When I finally came to America in the late 1800′s I was doing fairly well. But even then people were different. I had to keep moving from place to place. People can be very cruel when you don’t age and they do, witches and all that. So, I wound up staying with, what would you call them, freaks, I guess. It was much easier to hide among them then in, ‘proper,’ places. So you can see how I might be a tad, I don’t know, jaded.

Then I lost the necklace. When you’re young and beautiful you can at least find a warm bed for the night. Not so easy when you’re an old hag, I slept in a lot of dirty alleys. I finally wound up as a masseuse, taking care of prostitutes in the Vegas area. At least they were kind. When things got rough there I moved to Pahrump, where it was legal.

Now, you have to remember that I was still running. I had no idea what happened to the Gods until Robert came. I’d had a few run in’s with the Fae, trust me, they’re not all like him. So when he showed up at my trailer, how was I to know he was the good guy? I’m still sorry for the knife incident, even now. But I was used to Gods like Apollo; sure he was kind, most of the time. But they didn’t treat women like they do these days. Anger him and a beating wasn’t out of the question. That was just normal behavior in those days.

So now I’m dealing with Robert. What does he expect? Just because he trusts the dwarves and all those other Fae doesn’t mean I’m supposed to just ignore what I know. I lived in those times, and the High Fae part. He can do anything he wants, but he doesn’t. It’s like he has this ethical code or something. I know he doesn’t always trust my advice, but, he needs someone like me to watch his ass.

It’s a fun series so check out her blog for more entries!

Why I self published

It seems like there is a war going on out there, self publishing vs traditional publishing, and nothing in between. Why is this happening? The easiest explanation is that technology has reached the point where the consumer can now deal directly with the author, via one of the many conduits where books can be listed for sale. It’s the same as shopping. I buy a lot of stuff online, and not just from the big guns. Sure, I buy at Amazon, but I also deal with many small mom and pop locations as well. I know, I know, be wary, everyone on the Internet wants to steal your credit card. Truth is, I research the sites I buy from just as I do the physical stores. But I digress, this is supposed to be a post on self publishing.

Why did I self publish. It’s easy for some big name author to say that … “The hard work is taking the rejection, learning the lessons, and mastering the craft over a period of time.” But the real world is somewhat different. Although I never submitted my novel to any publishing houses or agents the truth is I’ve been rejected plenty of times. My short stories never saw the light of a page, and I took that into consideration when I decided to self publish “Return of the High Fae.” Now here’s the part I want to mention, It’s not that I got rejected that pushed me into self publishing, I expected that. It’s the fact that I’d have spent years trying to get someone to look at my book. That’s right, years.

First, many major houses won’t even talk to you without an agent. Those that do want you to submit your manuscript and wait six months to a year for any reply, and oh yeah, most won’t take a submission that you may have out to others. Then there’s agents. Sure I did some research, didn’t get any responses and many weren’t taking new, unheard, of authors. So I decided that if I wanted to get my book out before I died I’d probably have to do it myself. So that’s what I did.

As to avoiding all the hard work and taking the easy way out, BULLSHIT! This book was over three years in the making. Now, I’m not saying that the actual book took three years to get written, I’m saying that I learned that it wasn’t as easy as I thought. I tossed out several versions and learned from my mistakes, each time starting from scratch. I worked with critique partners, dragged my laptop with me when I was travelling so I could get a few words in after work and before bed, broke out my old English books and spent time relearning things I’d long since forgotten, or at least I hope I did. That’s what it took to get to the stage to write the book that a few of you may have in your hands. If you don’t believe me, ask my wife how many nights I spent at the computer working on this project. I’m lucky she still talks to me.

Hey, do I look like Tolstoy? Is this the greatest book ever written? Will I be the next Charlaine Harris or J. K. Rowling? Probably not, I doubt I could wear their shoes, especially since I’m a size fourteen, but based on feedback, it’s still a damn good book that I’m proud of.

Is self publishing easy, not exactly. But with venues such as Amazon and Smashwords many an author’s words will reach a reader, and that, if nothing else, is a good thing.

I’ll share more self publishing adventures in the months to come.

Promos, Promos, Promos

No, it’s not some secret word in ancient Greek. I have a few promotions going on over the next few months and will be dropping the price of Return of the High Fae on Amazon during these times. One is scheduled for Tuesday, August 28rd. Just wanted to post it on the blog so visitors would get a heads up.

The hardest thing is that it takes them a while to make the change even after I update it on the console so I’m not sure when it will kick in. But I wanted y’all to know it was coming. Thanks for visiting and come back now and again. I’ve got a few things planned for the series that you might find interesting.

Since I have a few promotions going on over the next few weeks, I’ll keep the sales price up for now. Check back often as I will post a heads up for any future promotions as well.

…and the beat goes on!

I finally polished up the book description on Amazon and Smashwords. It should migrate to iTunes and B&N Nook soon. Here it is for your review:

Ex-Cop turned Private Investigator Robert Hoskins always enjoyed the stories his grandmother had told him as a child, stories of the Dryad that lived in the tree, the Faeries in the garden, and the magical world that was created in his imagination. He always enjoyed them; he just never thought that they were true. Robert’s childhood world of magic becomes real when a chance encounter with a local casino mob boss introduces him to the world he was born into, the world that was hidden from him, the world of the Fae. But he’s not easily convinced.

From disbelief to acceptance, Robert encounters a variety of mythical beings. From Faeries and Norse legends to the Oracle at Delphi, from Mermaids to Werewolves to everything in between, Robert’s world has definitely changed. While his path through that world appears chosen he soon learns that the beings that reside in the world of his grandmother’s stories aren’t that much different than those of the mortal world. Good and evil still battle one another and it’s time to take sides.

What should Robert do when the world around him stops making sense? When he has to find out from a Dwarf that his dog is descended from Fae hunting dogs. When he knows that corporations and even the mob don’t run Vegas, it’s the Fae. When the prettiest girls he meets are over 3,000 years old and some of them drink blood. And that stripper, is she really a Faery? Let’s not even go there. What should Robert do when he learns that strength in his new world is measured in magic, and he doesn’t have a clue how to wield it?

Do Demons, Gods, Elves, and Faeries really exist? Are Vampires truly the children of Lilith? Robert didn’t believe it at first either.

Thanks to some help from friend Don Cinco, an updated web page is in the works as well.

Book signing event…

Paseo Verde Library August 18th – Henderson, Nevada – The following authors will be there signing books and chatting with readers between 2:30 and 4:30 pm – in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the library, and an end to the summer adult reading program for the year – ‘Under the Covers’

More authors may be added – updated list closer to the event.

Come and join us!

Shannan Albright, Siobhan Muir, Johanna Riley, CR Moss, Laura Hunsaker, Katie Salidas, Tom Keller, Joyce Brennan, Beverly Preston and RM Sotera.

Courtesy of RM Sotera