Author Archives: CrissyMoss

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About CrissyMoss

I've been writing as long as I can remember.

FAQ- How do I promote my book?

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Okay, you have a book. It’s up on Amazon, Kobo, and everywhere else… Now what?

Well, the best answer is… Go write another book!

No, seriously!

Here’s the deal, if you have one book and go promote it, great, people can buy that book. But, a lot of people won’t buy a book if you only have one up there. They like to sink their metaphorical teeth into their favorite authors and read LOTS of stuff from them, so if you have only one book out, and they love you, then they aren’t going to be as willing to take a chance.

Also, what if you do well with your book? Where do the readers go from their? And what if you put the first book up for free, they read it, but have no second book to buy?

It just makes sense to have more books out. The more you have, the more you can share with your readers. The more you share the more they can share.

The concept of visibility dictates that the more surface area you have, the greater the chance someone will spot you… so give yourself lots of books, and lots of feelers out there for maximum chance to be seen.

Okay… got your second, third, etc, book done? Great!

Now… go play on social networks. Meet people, comment on their threads, share your stories. DON’T PROMOTE!

Seems counter intuitive, doesn’t it? Yes, well, we are living in a counter intuitive world. How many of us skip cable, TiVo, use Netflix or anything else, just to avoid advertisement? Why would you think anyone would want to see and advert about your book if they don’t want to see a commercial in the middle of their TV show?

No, they want you to interact with them. Be funny, be interesting, join the conversation. Or produce something worth talking about. if you can do both then you are GOLDEN! People will go looking for you to see what you say if you are interesting enough. People will search out your commercials on youtube if you’re funny. They will Google your story if you’re exciting. They will post tributes, make fan fic, and generally make a joyful noise as long as you making something they care about, or you are someone they care about.

My best success hasn’t been screaming “BUY MY BOOKS!” It’s been making friends. Sharing stories. Interacting with fans. That has brought more people into my little corner of the web then anything else out there. And I am so grateful to all the friends that have made this possible.

FAQ- Editors

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FAQ- each week I’m going to pic a frequently asked question and answer it here. You will be able to find the entire FAQ on a page soon.

This weeks question:

“I finished my novel, and now I need an editor. Is it normal to get an editor lined up, and for them to take weeks, or months, to get back to me?” (paraphrased)

No, that isn’t normal. An editor should get back to you within the week unless they tell you they are going on hiatus for a while. But perhaps you are too swift to choose your editor.

Every editor I’ve worked with I’ve asked them to do a sample edit. They usually get 2000 words, go through it, and see what it’s like. That way they know if they want to work with you, and you know if you like the way they work/edit. That includes how fast they answer emails, how they respond to your work, etc.

Not every editor is going to fit your work. Some are terrible at it, but claim they are editors anyway. Others won’t like your style or subject matter. Some will just be over booked and unable to give you any help, but may not want to brush you off right away.

My advice… go find a few editors. There are several places you can look. Elance, Predators and Editors, or just Google “editor service”. Even amazon has a relatively cheep editing service for .012 cents a word through Createspace.

Do some homework on the editor you are trying to get, and **get a sample**. Most will not charge much, if anything, to do the sample. Check them out on Facebook, G+, and Twitter to see if they get any good/bad reviews through social media.

Most will ask for half up front, the rest when finished. If they ask for all of it up front then RUN! Price, in my research, has been 2 cents a word, so for 79k words that’s about $1500.

It may also be helpful to get a few people to read your manuscript before sending it to an editor. Beta-readers help you iron out the roughest bits before an actual editor gets a hold of it. Always a good idea.

Good luck.

An Author at Pax

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If you’ve been following along, I went off to Pax with a bag full of buttons, stickers and a couple books.

I decided that I’m horrible at marketing myself.

The buttons were easy. I gave them out left and right, left a few around the convention center, and then didn’t have enough to give away towards the end when they had a button exchange.

The stickers …. not so much. I gave out a couple, but I just balked.

This is just a case of me having absolutely no self confidence. I went to pull out the stickers and I started to worry… are they good enough? Are they going to be offended that I’m trying to tell them about my book? Do they think self-publishing isn’t ‘real’ publishing?

I did pull my book out and show a couple people that sounded interested in it. Showed them the cover, answered a couple questions. I even met a couple of fellow authors, and we discussed why we were self publishing instead of traditionally publishing.

I also sat in on a panel about having confidence in yourself to go pursue your dreams. A few were writers as well as their day job, and the question of “traditional vs self publishing” came up. They echoed what everyone else is seeing… A lot of traditionally published authors are jumping to self publishing because they see more of the money, and are just as instrumental in the marketing.

I know I shouldn’t have been so nervous to hand out the stickers. I could have put a sticky on the book and said “free book” and put it on a table. I could have had more confidence in myself. But I’m a work in progress.

Next year I’ll do better.
Till then… want some stickers?

Pax Prime 2013

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2013-08-30 11.08.31 Got back from Pax last night around midnight, and I am exhausted. And… I’m going back tomorrow, and the next day.

I’m actually glad I took a day off from all the hub bub at Pax. It’s so much fun, but I think four straight days would have killed me. It’s just too much.

On the plus side, I met a lot of cool people, traded buttons, gave out a few buttons to people who I talked about my book to. I never actually got to give out a copy of my book, but I’ll have a two more days to do so.

I also played a lot of games, and got to test drive the Oculus Rift. Hint: I suggest you be sitting, leaning up against a wall, or strapped into an Omni Treadmill for this thing. I could not feel anything, not even the floor under my feet really, and when the me in the video game left the surface of the ground, or walked THROUGH trees, I got a little queazy.

However, playing a plat-former on the Oculus was kind of cool. I could look to the left and right, see down the tunnels, but I didn’t lose perspective of where I was. I could feel the desk, and the ground, and even though I was looking into the virtual world of the plat-former, I did not get queazy like I did in the 3D environment.

My friends and I agree… Oculus + Omni + Noise canceling headphones + Horror Survival = FUCKING AWESOME SCARY TIME!

For more pictures you can check out my G+ post. And expect more on Tuesday!

Around the Web

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“Around the Web” has taken a new path. I use to gather a bunch of articles I found interesting and just share them here. But now… I have a whole podcast to share and talk about them on!

So, here are a couple things we did not get to, and a couple that came up this morning:
Literary agent wish list.

6 things only writers understand (I found this list hitting really close to home.)

How to write action that won’t show you’ve never thrown a punch.

And here is the show. A lot of great info this show, and some awesome websites.

Keeping up the word count

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I tweeted this morning that I’d written 12,000 words this month. That’s 500 a day, on average. Some days I did more, some days I did none, but over the average it’s 500 words.

spreadThe one thing that keeps me writing (almost) every day is my spread sheet.

Each day I add the words I’ve written, and what project I wrote on. Each day I add little pink highlights if that number is zero. I hate those zeros. I also keep blog and writing separate, but I do track both. And both show up on my graph at the end of the month (writing in blue, blog in red.)

The trouble with a “zero” day isn’t that I got a zero, it’s that the next day I don’t write as much. And if I have two “zero’s” in a row I have to struggle all that much more to get some words out.

I actually started this about February. That’s when I realized I was struggling, and I needed more accountability to myself. Something I had in spades during NaNoWriMo, but lacked afterward. I no longer had that nifty little graph showing my progress, or the bar creeping forward saying weather or not I “won”. So, I decided to make my own graph.

It took a few tries to figure out exactly what I should have on my graph. As you can see there is an “edited” column that rarely gets anything put into it. I’ve edited quite a bit this month because I am rewriting sections of “Rage War” in between writing “Forgotten Ones” and finishing up a short story. But I never really think about the edited pages, I just want to track what I’ve written.

I’ve also forgotten to add my word counts for a couple of days. Every time that happens I am extremely disappointed n myself. This has become an incredibly important part of my writing. It’s tracking my growth and accomplishments as I move forward.

Soon after figuring out my own graph I discovered “The Magic Spreadsheet” from Mur Lafferty. I really like her version, and how it gives you points for each day you reach your goal, but I’ll stick with mine for now. However, maybe some of you would like to try it out.

Whatever method you use, the best advice I can offer is just to try new things. Find out what works for you. I know authors who keep a writing journal in paper, and jot down a note every day. I know others who blast it out on twitter, o reddit. Still others keep writing journals on a blog. But I do know that it won’t hurt for you to try to keep track and figure out what you are really doing.

I would love to add time of day to this… but my scheduled doesn’t allow that right now. It’s too chaotic. Chalk that up to a dream for the future.

Enter to Win!

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Don’t you just love that phrase? Enter to win a trip to Greece, concert tickets, or a flat screen TV!

Well, I can’t give away anything like that, but I can give away copies of “Small Bites: The Complete Collection”.

All you have to do to win a print copy is go to Story Cartel, download a free mobi or PDF, and write a review. You’ll get an entry. I will probably throw in a couple extra goodies for the winners, too.

So, free ebook, and possibly a free print book with an extra surprise? Where’s the downside?

Go check it out on Story Cartel!

Better Access

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I am trying to find better ways to provide access to my books. So, how about Etsy?

I notice some people do not like to use Amazon, or Kobo, so I needed to provide other avenues for people to find my books. So the first book to be put up on Etsy as a PDF and a Mobi file is Small Bites: The Complete Collection.

The listing will provide the download for you automatically. It is also slightly cheaper then Amazon, and is DRM free.

I would really appreciate it if others would share this so that more people will learn about my books.

Right now, I am in the middle of finishing “Forgotten One”, an urban fantasy about the goddesses of Fate working to save the world from half dead gods trying to retain their power.

And also, you can get Small Bites: The Complete Collection on amazon, too.

Throw Them in Jail!

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mtrainerMt. Rainier stood in the distance, clearly visible in the blue skies. Something rare in Seattle.

My Gregg holding a 6.5 foot sword on display/sale at one of the stalls.

My Gregg holding a 6.5 foot sword on display/sale at one of the stalls.

It was a beautiful day for a ren-fair. People in corsets and long skirts, wielding swords, and axes as we wandered from stall to stall. Leather tankards, bottles, armor and deep friend turkey legs lining the stall. Jousting, and getting knighted by the queen.

Oh, and a jail cell. We couldn’t resist.

2013-08-18 14.12.41They let us put all the children in the cell, and shoot some pictures.

Nine kids, in a little bit cell. With a rat. (It was a plastic rat).

Such a wonderful day… I’m exhausted. I think I’ll go read tonight, and write tomorrow.

Just Throw Me To The Wolves, Why Don’t You!

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I had a rather uncomfortable discussion with my boyfriend this morning. And I’m going to share it, because it isn’t about our personal relationship (sorry if that disappoints you, but really, go watch a soap opera) it was a conversation about my writing career, and what I want out of it. And more importantly, what I’m willing to do to get what I want.

He asked me “why are you afraid to promote yourself?”

And he’s right. I’m terrified. I called a library and asked for information on getting my book into the library system, and they never called back. So I never called them back either. And why? Cause I was terrified.

“What’s the worst they can do?” he asked me. “Say no?”

And really, it isn’t “no” that scares me. I could care less if people tell me no. People have told me no all of my life and I did it anyway. No, it wasn’t the “no” that scared me.

It was the asking.

How do you explain to other people that you are afraid to ask for anything from anyone. Even if I were starving and broke, unable to buy a loaf of bread, I would rather go pick up soda bottles and turn them in for a few measly coins so I could buy a banana, then ever ask another person for anything.

I have a very clear memory of going to my great-grandmothers house with my parents when I was about 6 years old, and asking my mom if I could ask great-gran for some pie. She made said it was rude. You never asked for anything in someone else’s home, except water. If they wanted to give you something that was fine, but you never, EVER, under any circumstances, asked for something.

The other day we were at our friends house, and one of them was heading out the door to get food. I’d mentioned that I was hungry to my boyfriend, but neither of us had cash on us. It was like pulling teeth to get me to just ask our friend, who was offering, to buy me a sandwich. It’s was just $3 for a sandwich, and he was offering, but I was so embarrassed. What the heck is wrong with me?

So today, when Gregg asked me what I was afraid of… He’s right, I need to figure this out.

I don’t have any problem posting on my blog, twitter, or Facebook about a new book. The fact is that I am an author, and anyone who chooses to follow me on social media knows that I’m an author, and should expect me to say something. But I’ve been thinking of handing my book over to the teller at the bank who asked about my book a couple months ago. I’ve gone to the bank several times, book in hand. And I leave it in the car every time, too shy to actually hand it over.

Why?

I have this intrinsic belief that I should be seen, and not heard. A belief stemming from years of reinforcement with my parents, and later with a husband who treated me the same way.

And it wasn’t even that they thought “a woman’s place was in the kitchen” or some ridiculous thing like that. It was me. They thought I should be quiet. And that thought was constantly reinforced with criticism and chiding. Sometimes angry yelling to shut up, go away, leave me alone…. Even while other women were encouraged to speak their mind around me. Just not me.

So here I am with this fear of speaking up. Of being heard. And I’m an author. An author who by definition must speak up and be heard. And if I ever want to get my books noticed, to get myself noticed, I have to speak up. I have to be heard.

To be fair… I have improved so much over the last few years. I never would have considered publishing a book of short stories just last year. I never would have considered doing a podcast, but today I am doing yet another one, and I am HAPPY to do it. I speak up. I talk over people to make myself heard sometimes. I tell the guys to shut up and let me talk… and I am happy for it. I enjoy it. It’s worth it.

So why is it still so hard to say “I wrote a book, here it is. Read it if you like.” ?