Tag Archives: Writing

Self Publishing – $1500?

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I’ve been following Joanna Penn since she appeared on “The Self Publishing Podcast“. She’s a very interesting, thoughtful, and educated woman. She’s got her stuff together, and her books are pretty good too.

She often links to interesting articles about writing and publishing on her twitter and facebook. That is where I get a lot of my “This week in publishing” links.

Today she linked to “How Self Published Books are Made Start to Finish“.

The first thing I notice is a list of “things you should have” and one entry:

  • Money to invest in said book. I wouldn’t start this without $1,500 in the bank marked ‘I can lose this’

Who can afford to just mark $1,500 dollars as “I can lose this”?

Okay, I understand her reasoning. There are editors, book cover designers, marketing, print books, advertising… Ya, there are a LOT of things that go into writing, publishing, and selling your books. Even if you go with a simple cover design that you put together you probably need to buy a licenses for the art work, unless you have some art skills.

But… $1500?

I’ve got 8 books out now. I’ve spent a total of $400. All of that went to editing one book, “Osiren’s Tears“. Granted, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the the editing. It seemed rushed, and I know someone who could have done a better job for a little more money, but he wasn’t available then.

Editing is worth the investment. Some day, I hope, I will make enough to have everything I have already put up re-edited, and then re-published as a new, better edition. But I’m on a budget, and my budget does not include $1500 to blow.

The nice thing about going indie in ANY industry (movies, music, writing, theater, art…) is that you can invest what you have. You can outsource, barter, scrimp, save, and adjust.

Here is what you really must have for self-publishing:

  • An idea
  • Time
  • Patience
  • Persistence
  • A plan
  • A finished manuscript
  • The ability to take criticism
  • An edit
  • A cover
  • More patience
  • The willingness to ask questions.

Only two of those things might cost you some actual hard earned money, and there are ways to get around that too. Got a friend who is an artist? Suggest a trade. You’ll do something for them (babysit, cook, clean, wash their car) if they design a cover for you. Got a group of friends that like to read? Will they be your beta readers and give you some good feedback on cleaning up your prose? Writers workshops are free, and often help a lot.

Another wonderful part about indie industry is that there are a lot of people doing the same thing, and willing to help out in many ways. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, ask for help, look for tutorials on youtube, read a how to book, and ASK QUESTIONS!

Now, granted, just throwing your book up on amazon will not bring a lot of sales to you. That’s where marketing, and word of mouth comes in. But if your book is good, interesting, and well written, and you put yourself out there where people will see you, then you have a good chance of getting some readers.

Then the trick is to start the whole process over again. The more you publish, the more noticeable you will be. This is true even for really bad writing. There are some terrible books out there with awful covers, and horrible grammar. But they keep producing, and there are people who read their stuff. Go figure.

Point being… you can produce a book for the low cost of ZERO dollars. Doesn’t mean it will be good, or sell, but you can do it. 

And if it is good, or just pretty good, and you get some sales, then maybe you can start saving up for that $1500, and a proper release of a bigger project later.

A New Book, and the Next Book

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sms3mall

“Small Bites 3” is now out.

The third installment of the Small Bites dark, flash fiction stories.

And it already has one 5 star review! Awesome.

BUT! Because of this book, and how publication is gong lately, I think I am going to have to take a one week break from publishing.

The goal was to publish one book a week until I had a nice selection of books available on Amazon. I wanted each publication to be on Friday night for the weekend. Ideal would have been Thursday, so that it would be available on Friday morning.

But with everything going on, my new podcast, D&D once a week, and general family time… I need to get ahead a week in order to have the Thursday night release.

With my schedule I generally end up finishing the stories sometime around Friday night, Saturday afternoon. Then I scramble to get the formatting and everything finished, along with a few last minute edits. That means I don’t actually get to hit “PUBLISH” until about 2 am.

Because I want it out for the weekend, not just part of the weekend, I think I need to finish it that weekend, and release it the next Thursday night. That will give me time to catch up on a few things.

camera2The next one scheduled is The Camera, the second book in the Illicit Gains series.

Expect it on July 6th.

And to get any of my books, including a paper back version of “Osiren’s Tears”, check out my Amazon Page.

My New Podcast!

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I’ve actually been thinking of how to add audio or video podcasts to my blog. I’m rather afraid of speaking in public though, so doing it on my own didn’t seem very appealing.

Enter the snazzy group of guys who follow Self Publishing Podcast, and Story Telling Podcast and they decided to do their own podcast, and invited me to join.

We will be discussing the two podcasts we all follow, and anything else interesting in the publishing world. News, articles, controversy, etc.

No idea how this is going to work, or if it will go smoothly. I don’t really care, it sounds fun.

So, look for our new podcast this friday. I will post a link, and embed a video.

Published! AGAIN!

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The Ring

 

My new title, The Ring, is a paranormal thriller. Just under 3000 words. It is 99 cents for the weekend and will be going up to $2.99 on Tuesday. (I’m giving it a couple extra days since I had technical issues and it didn’t actually get published until this morning. It will be available on both Amazon, and Kobo sometime later today.

The Ring is a modern, paranormal, fantasy, and is the first in a five book series. Each book will focus on one of the items, and some of the things that happen because of them.

I suppose it is a lot like “Warehouse 13”, the old “Friday the 13th” tv series, or “The Room” tv series. One item, one shenanigan, and a close. I might have to write more then five episodes if people like it.

Next week “Small Bites 3” will be out. I am hoping to have all four small bites, and the accompanying “Small Bites 1-4” book out by the end of the month.

The only thing that worries me, just a little bit, is that eventually I’m going to run out of half finished stories, and this once a week publishing is going to slow down. I guess I just need to learn to write faster.

I also ordered, and received, some stickers for my book covers. Once I got the book covers in my hand I realized just how much I loved them all. I’ll be giving some out at PAX, so if you’re there let me know.

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Move over! I’m coming through!

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Early a friend tweeted a link to this article, in which Joe Abercrombie (a traditionally published writer) said self publishing is too much work. He doesn’t want to publish, he wants to write.

Yep. He’s right. Self publishing is a LOT of work. There are covers, editors, formating, and months and months of writing with little return.

But it’s worth it!

For centuries art has been funneled through publishers of one sort or another. Book publishers, music producers, game developers, TV executives, art curators… you name it! There was a gate keeper set in front of your goal that you had to get through.

It’s like a lottery. Someone wins, and a whole hell of a lot of people lose.

And publishing, like any lottery, wasn’t dependent solely on talent or content. It was also marketability, how much money they could make off you, and sometimes your ability to stroke their ego.

Guess what? It isn’t a lottery anymore. The gate keepers are starting to notice wholes crashing through the walls, bypassing the gate they so carefully erected.

Indie game designers have produced, sold, and created major hits among gamers. Like Limbo, Journey, Minecraft, and Bastion. Games that skyrocketed past all the game publishers, earning millions.

Indie authors, like Hugh Howie, and Amanda Hocking proved you don’t need a publisher to make it big. They refused to give their rights away for someone else to make money off their talent, and they succeeded.

In film we now see some amazing special effects, animations, dramas, and story telling available right on youtube. For free. Netflix is offering some of them, like the Guild, streaming. Theaters are playing others, like Plurality, as ‘pre movie vignettes’. Others will follow suit. Indie films will get longer, and better, and eventually be available along side everything else.

Musicians, like Maclemore, are hitting the top charts without signing their life and their music over to some producer.

Even physical objects, and hand made goods. You can go to Etsy and by something directly from designers, artists, and makers. Or you can download designs from Thingaverse and print them on your 3D printer.

Publishers… the gate keepers who so carefully erected that wall so they could decided what was published, and who succeed, are starting to see that their wall looks more like swiss cheese then brick.

The status quo use to be that people produced things, and the person who sold it and distributed it, was the one who made the most profit off it.

I see a future where the person who designed, created, wrote, painted, filmed, or made an object…. they will be the one who makes the most profit off their IP. They made it. They should.

Copyright is broken. DMC is bulky, and intrusive. Publishers are more interested in the bottom line then the creators they say they serve. We’ve known this for a while, and now we have ways to combat it.

Move over publishers, I’m coming through.
If all that’s standing in my way is a little hard work, then I’m rolling up my sleeves, and I’m doing it.

Around the Web

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It’s been a while since I did an “Around the Web” post, so I thought I should catch up.

In the news this week, the biggest thing is the protests in Turkey. Huge protests, with thousands of people marching against the police. There are amazing pictures coming out of Turkey, and a lot of chatter on Reddit from people who are actually there, and what is going on.

I hope they make some headway…

Now, for the rest of the news.

Hugh Howie talks about indie authors who make a living writing.

Hugh Howie also plugged an Anne Rice video on “how to be a writer.” Hint: Go WRITE!

Neil Gaiman talks about the book that made him.

Neil Gaiman’s speach, “Make Good Art”, is now in a book form.

George R.R. Martin wrote 250k words for The World of Ice and Fire.

An Anne McCaffery tribute book will be out soon.

John Green claims Penguin to be the most effective publishing house for YA.

And non writing related…

An old video of a 7-11 at 2am from back in the 80’s. I forgot people use to smoke inside stores.

For a moment of levity, Tim Burton inspired Pokemon.

Someone did a minecraft world simulation, 1:1500 scale.

 

Sales and Confidence

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When I first started publishing I was a little worried. Worried no one would like it, worried I would make a bad name for myself, worried I’d never sale one… etc. etc.

But it’s actually going better then I thought it would. Sure, I’ve only had 22 sales, and 48 freebies… but that’s 60+ people that read my book.

What’s even better, I have only 4 and 5 star reviews. That makes me think I’m on the right track, even if it is a slow track.

sms2mall

On that note… I’ll be putting out Small Bites 2 next week. Now that I have some momentum I want to keep that going. I am working on several projects at once so that I will (hopefully) be able to publish something new every Friday for a while.

Books will come out as 99 cents for the first weekend, and then go up, except the Small Bites series. They will stay 99 cents as they are really short.

Then, once all the Small Bites are out, I will stick them up as one set for 2.99 (which gets you one book for free). And I will also be working to put out a big book of all my short stories eventually. No idea what I will price it at yet.

But for right now… Small Bites 2, and we’ll worry about everything else later.

Screw the Circumstances!

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The circumstance dictates that my life should be a failure.

No, wait, I’m not done.

I am 36. Divorced. I have three teenagers. I work a low paying, dead end job with no opportunities for advancement. Two years of college but no degree. Very little job experience. And I’m broken from years of abuse.

Circumstances dictate that I should be a failure. Never get anywhere, never accomplish anything, and die alone. The little old lady with a house full of cats. (Sorry, apartment, I make too little to get a house.) Too many kids, and too much baggage for any sane person to take a chance on.

Well, screw the circumstances!

Your life, and your situation do not dictate who you are, or where you are going, unless you let them. We are not the sum of the experiences we are dealt, rather we are the sum of how we deal with those circumstances.

There have been men who hiked to the top of everest despite not having feet. Women who made families, and raised children despite lack of legs. People who won contest, performed great feats of strength, painted, sculpted, created, and THRIVED despite the circumstances of their life.

What’s your excuse?

I have a lot of circumstances, but they don’t define me. I am using my time, energy, and passion to pursue the one thing that I have always loved, and always wanted to do.
I write.

I am turning my circumstances into useful things. Using the past, the baggage, and the brokenness, as springboards for stories. Using my job as time to think through plots while I sweep floors. Enjoying my family, and building a new life.

Life isn’t always easy. But the truth is… the trees that are sheltered, that never stand up to the winds… those are the weakest trees in the forest.

Don’t let circumstances get you down. Use them. Grow. Stand firm against the wind. Lean on friends and family if you need to, and prune away the rough bits. But above all else, don’t let the circumstances dictate your life.