Real Connections (Or How to Stay Sane as a Writer)

I’ve had a lot of good advice in recent years about the benefits of social networking, and I’ve tried to do my best with blogging, guest blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, AuthorsDen, LinkedIn, and others. I’ve been to my share of writing events, held a book launch this year, co-presented a workshop on ebooks and marketing, and worked on my novels every day.

I love this life, but every once in awhile, I need to take a good hard look at things, see if I’m making the best use of my time as a writer and promoter. In other words, I give myself a reality check.

I’ve never quite been able to nail down a clear definition of what being a successful writer is, and I don’t want to waste hours doing so. It’s a personal thing that’s different for everybody. I do know that if I write every day, take my work to my critique group, and put on a positive front, that I’m probably on the right track. Most of the time it feels right, but sometimes it doesn’t, and then I start driving myself a little crazy by wondering if this is the right track at all.

Whenever this happens, I do what works best: I have coffee with a colleague or two, or three, who have similar issues or questions, and we talk it out. It’s immensely beneficial to have others listen, to help you put things in perspective.

Staying connected through social media is one thing, but the physical connections are the ones that keep me sane. It’s incredibly helpful to lay one’s cards on the table and share how publishing and marketing is really going, or not going, in our lives. Sure, social networking and virtual friends are great, but face-to-face contact, where you don’t have to smile and pretend it’s all fun and perfect and productive is often better. Sometimes the writing life kicks you to the curb through bad reviews or no reviews, low sales, nonexistent royalties, or merely unrealistic expectations. Face-to-face friends help you back on your feet and don’t expect you to smile every time you type 140 characters.

Oddly enough, shortly after I went through my recent reality check, TouchWood Editions offered a contract for my third Casey Holland mystery. Beneath the Bleak New Moon will be released in the fall of 2013. I’m very excited and happy about this. Of course, once it’s been released and I’ve completed a few weeks of promotion, I imagine another reality check will be necessary at some point. But that’s okay. They keep me sane.

Deadly Accusations

The Opposite of Dark

Fatal Encryption

Taxed to Death

Amazon selects CHILDREN OF THE FOG for a special promotion

Just over a week ago, a representative from Amazon contacted me to ask if I'd consider putting CHILDREN OF THE FOG, my bestselling supernatural suspense, in a special promotion. So after a few emails back and forth, I of course said YES. I'd be foolish not to take them up on some free advertising and exposure.

For the month of July, CHILDREN OF THE FOG is listed on the 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or Less page on Amazon, in the Deals section and under the Mysteries and Thrillers category.

So for all of July CHILDREN OF THE FOG is on sale for only $0.99 (list price: $3.99).

YOU HAVE 10 SECONDS TO MAKE A DECISION:

Let A Kidnapper Take Your Child, Or Watch Your Son Die.

Choose! 

Sadie O'Connell is a bestselling author and a proud mother. But her life is about to spiral out of control. After her six-year-old son Sam is kidnapped by a serial abductor, she nearly goes insane. But it isn't just the fear and grief that is ripping her apart. It's the guilt. Sadie is the only person who knows what the kidnapper looks like. And she can't tell a soul.

An international bestseller & Top 100 Amazon bestseller (was #4 under The Hunger Games trilogy).

Lies and Strategies in Ebook World

I came across two insightful blogs this week that reflect different thoughts on ebook publishing. Both blogs are quite candid and well worth reading. The first by Jeff Bennington discusses the lies many self-publishers believe about publishing. As an indie author, he’s the first to admit he bought into the lies until he learned otherwise.

The first lie is the belief that one's book will become a bestseller, especially if it’s critiqued, editing, and promoted sufficiently. Jeff admits that he couldn’t see the flaws in his first book and has now taken it out of circulation. 

The second lie is that writing and editing are the hard parts. The hardest part about writing is selling one’s work. He talks about the frustration many indie authors feel after working hard to blog, tweet, and promote their books all over the place. The fact is that with hundreds of thousands of ebooks out there, probably millions now, gaining even a little attention is a major feat. Yet, many believe they can become part of that elite group who earn enough money to pay the bills, buy a house, whatever. In many ways, putting your book in the virtual world, is a lottery, folks, and while you can improve your odds by writing a wonderful, well edited book with a fantastic cover, there is no guarantee you’ll sell lots of copies. Jeff also offers cures to these misguided beliefs, which you can read at http://thewritingbomb.blogspot.ca/2012/05/common-lies-self-published-authors.html

The second blog by Lindsay Buroker discusses what it takes to become a full-time indie author. Although Lindsay’s sales have been pretty good, and she considers herself on the right track, she’s the first to caution against anyone quitting their day job. But she does offer some strategies, such as writing not only books but novellas and short stories. Taking a page from Dean Wesley Smith’s beliefs, she also believes that the more work you have out there, the more exposure, and therefore the more sales potential.

She also believes in giving away free books. When she released her third book in a series, she gave away the first and noticed a jump in sales for books two, three, and four. She also wrote that she tried the blog tours, paid advertising, and guest posts, but none of them were nearly as successful as having a free book in major stores. I guess that’s why I see so many free book offers over recent months. The bottom line is to go with what works for you. There is more interesting stuff on her blog which you can find at http://www.lindsayburoker.com/ebook-writing/what-does-it-take-to-become-a-full-time-indie-author/

I’d love to hear about your success stories with ebook publishing. What works for you? What doesn’t? For me, Twitter as been quite successful in spreading the word about giveaways and has helped spread attention about my books, although the verdict’s still out with respect to sales.

Deadly Accusations

The Opposite of Dark

Fatal Encryption

Taxed to Death

Print Still Rules

Bowker released some stats showing a 6% growth in the number of print books published in 2011 in the U.S.; the first significant growth in four years. In case you’re curious, the number of print titles published last year was 347,178. Would you be surprised to learn that the extra 6% came solely from self-published books? Without them the number of titles would have been completely flat, although, given the number of books already on the market, I’m not sure this would have been a terrible thing. Many of us won’t be able to get through a fraction of the number of books published in a single year, in our lifetime.

According to an article excerpt in The Passive Guy newsletter, most people are still reading print books, says an analyst with publishing research firm Simba Information. Based on my own anecdotal observations, I agree. Whenever I’m on planes or ferries the majority of readers are holding print books. On a recent airplane from Toronto to Vancouver, I spotted about six electronic reading devices, but many more people held paperbacks. Whenever I sell books at venues, perhaps two out of every fifty people ask if they’re available on Kindle. Sure, the ebook revolution is growing, but it hasn’t taken over yet, and won’t be this year. You can read more of the article by subscribing to the Passive Voice newsletter at www.thepassivevoice.com

Here’s another reason why print still rules. A recent Pew Center poll showed that over half of Americans aren’t aware that libraries lend out ebooks. Only 12% of Americans had borrowed an ebook last year. Aside from the lack of awareness, a little over half of those polled said the ebook they wanted to borrow wasn’t available at their library, or there was a waiting list. 18% of people said their ereaders weren’t compatible with the ebooks they wanted. Interestingly, 46% said that they’d like to borrow an ereader with the book they wanted already loaded, while only a third said they were interested in learning how to download borrowed ebooks. Clearly, there are still glitches in the ebook borrowing system, but they will be worked out over time. Meanwhile, I'm still loving both words and the freedom of choice it brings. You can read more of the article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/22/libraries-ebooks-_n_1617630.html

THE CORNER CAFE -- Another Kind of Fast Food

About four months ago, Dani Greer, the fearless leader and Drill Sergeant of the Blog Book Tours, and den mother of the Yahoo! group BBTCafe said, "Hey, kids! Let's do the show right here in the barn!"

Er, I mean, she suggested we all learn the self-publishing business by publishing an anthology. So we did.

We wrote stories, Dani and Helen Ginger edited them, Bodie Parkhurst of Magic Dog Press did the cover, Bob Sanchez taught us how to format for Kindle and Dani made it so.

The result is called THE CORNER CAFE.

Now it's available for Kindle for $0.99. Ain't it purty? We enrolled it in Amazon's KDP Select program for 90 days. That means it can't be published electronically anywhere else, it's free to borrow for KDP Select subscribers, and we can make it free for everybody for 5 days during the 90-day enrollment. We could continue the enrollment for unlimited numbers of 90-day stretches, with 5 free days each 90 days, but we won't.

Next month, I'm going to walk us through formatting for Smashwords, and then we'll put it up there, formatted for multiple e-readers. It'll be free at Smashwords, and we want it to be free at Amazon, as well; we aren't doing this for the money, but for the experience.

Nobody wants the headache of doing bookkeeping for distributing the income, so any money the anthology earns will be given to charity.

My story, by the way, is "The Catfish Enchantment". If you've read my story collection THE KING OF CHEROKEE CREEK, you'll know the characters in "The Catfish Enchantment".

Now we're three-fourths of the way through a month-long Blog Book Tour for the anthology. From spark of inspiration to promo burn-out in a few short months. That's fast.

The tour stop today is at Straight from Hel. Hop on over and see what's on the menu!

Marian Allen
Fantasies, mysteries, comedies, recipes

Has the Indie Author's Time Truly Come?

I came across an interesting blog by novelist Jon F. Merz this week, where he wrote (and apparently has written) a lot about the changing tide in publishing. You’ve heard it before: traditional publishers are losing their stronghold on publishing and many still refuse to accept that self-publishing is working well for a number of authors. He believes publishers are still spewing a load of BS about the importance of traditional publishing because of better editing and marketing, etc. Merz wrote that of his first four books published by Kensington, only one was edited. He also wrote that the national TV, radio, and print campaign he understood would be forthcoming never happened. Needless to say, he’s now a champion of self-publishing, stating that complete control over one’s publishing career is better, as are the royalties (70% vs. 17.5% his publisher paid). Merz believes this is truly the time of what he calls the Authorpreneur.

An Authorpreneur, he says, is someone who embraces technology that puts them in charge of their own destiny. They study the industry and position themselves to take advantage. They work continuously at their craft and adopt many hats, including editing and formatting, hiring cover designers, and marketing, etc. Merz ends the piece by saying it’s the time of the Authorpreneur and it’s about time, too. http://jonfmerz.net/blog/

Well, maybe, but maybe not. Not all traditional publishers drop the ball as badly as his did. My publisher edited both of my books. They sent out many advanced review copies, which resulted in reviews I could never hope to gain as a self-publisher. They also have my books distributed through the Chapters chain, something self-publishers cannot do thanks to chain's policies.

Secondly, many of the authors who’ve left traditional publishing to celebrate the control self-publishing offers had already developed a readership, largely due to better distribution and access to reviews self-publishers would kill for. Would people like Konrath and Dean Wesley Smith be selling as many copies today if they were just releasing their first titles now, as self-publishers?

Third, and here’s my main point: a lot of self-published authors don’t want to be Authorpreneurs, aren’t keeping abreast of industry changes, and don’t view writing and publishing as a business. I don’t want to speculate on the percentage of self-published authors who have no interest in working that hard, but I’m guessing that it’s pretty high. Despite technology, ease of publishing, and access to potential readers, it’s not that much easier to sell a book, especially in large numbers, as a self-publisher than as a traditionally published author. Just ask the authors (indie and traditionally published) on Kindleboards who share their stats, good and bad.

The bottom line is that, sure, for many lucky, excellent, or marketing savvy authors, self-publishing’s time has come, but there are plenty of others who are watching from the sidelines, their single copy in hand, wondering how they managed to miss the boat, and whether they should really care. After all, there’s always another book to write, another chance at fame and fortune.