Okay, so what I really need to do, now that the trilogy remaster is underway, is to start selling it. I’ll be honest, I’ve been a bit lazy in that respect over the last couple of titles, but it’s clearly obvious that run it up the flagpole and see who salutes follows with but no one ever does.
When I first released A Division of Souls in 2015, I went the extra mile and found myself a few avenues to self-promote, and it did reasonably well for a little while. In this case, I have a few ideas that might work, or at least might push the novel where it needs to go to be seen. Perhaps utilizing Publisher’s Weekly‘s ‘Booklife’ section which focuses on self-published titles, for instance.
I suppose the worry is how much it’ll cost, but if I play my cards right and understand what avenues I’m working with, I can definitely pull of a least a small percentage of wider attention and keep it within a modest budget. Considering I’m doing this all DIY, I’ve always kept in mind that if I can take care of certain parts on my own (such as the cover layout and whatnot), then I’ll do it to save money.
In the meantime, I’m looking forward to seeing who enjoys the new and updated version!
Oh hi! Thanks for your patience! It’s been a busy couple of weeks for me for personal reasons, but I am back in Spare Oom and working hard to complete Queen Ophelia’s War, start revision on Theadia, and more. Which means I’ll be back here and blogging hopefully by next week!
And now for the news: I will be migrating my ebook platform from Smashwords to Draft2Digital! I’m hoping this will be super easy for both you and me, as D2D has acquired Smashwords and they’re doing all they can to make the migration and integration smooth and easy. I may need to do some heavy updating of my book links hither and yon, but that shouldn’t be too much of a headache.
Oh! And one of the neat things about D2D is that they’ll offer print on demand! Yes, this means that you’ll be able to acquire all of my books in print at some point in the near future! Woo! This is great news, as currently I only have the three print books in the Mendaihu Universe hanging out on Amazon where they’ve been doing absolutely bupkis for ages and I’ve been wanting to take them off that site for a while now.
So yeah…exciting things coming up in the future! See you soon!
So Diwa & Kaffi drops at the end of this week…and I’m already thinking of what I want to do next! I’m definitely feeling the positive rush that I felt when I released my previous ebooks, how having one new title out each year inspired me to keep doing what I love. Sure, taking a few years off for personal reasons was worth it (and much needed) but now that I’m back I really want to return to this schedule.
So what would I work on, you say? Would it be Theadia? Or maybe Queen Ophelia? A sequel to In My Blue World? Or something else kicking around? Or something completely new? [I mean, I do have that romcom idea as well…] Who knows? Either way, releasing this book has reminded me how much I loved self-publishing — even the hard parts like the revision and the cover layout and the formatting — I want to keep going!!
I’ve been sitting on this novel a bit too long and I think it really needs to be released. I consider it one of my best works, and weirdly enough the only reason I’m still sitting on it is because I haven’t gotten around to researching and commissioning an artist to create what I’m seeing in my head for it. [For those curious, I’ve always pictured it in a light manga style, having the same kind of mood as one of Rumiko Takahashi’s Maison Ikkoku tankobon, featuring the two mains on the cover and the other two mains on the back. I’m thinking I may do that for a later edition.]
One thing of note: serendipitously, the curved apartment building in the picture is here in San Francisco and is the exact same building that inspired the Palm building in the novel! Did not expect that to happen when I went looking for pictures yesterday!
Either way, I’m planning on finally sending this one out into the wild VERY soon. Which means I’m back to playing around with Shutterstock’s library and PicMonkey’s platform. This is by no means the final version, of course. I need to tweak a number of things, including the color of the sky and the fonts for the title and byline.
What’s been going on, anyway? I’ve been working on the Theadia rewrite when I’m not at the Day Job, mostly. On days off I’ll catch up with some personal projects, or if they line up with A’s we’ll go out for a walk or burn through our British streaming shows. [For those playing along, we’ve been on a Silent Witness kick and it’s exciting but definitely not for the squeamish.] Other than that…? Not much at all.
I’ve been in kind of a rut in terms of actually producing content to self-publish. I mean, I’ve got Diwa & Kaffi ready to go, but I really need to get off my arse and look into commissioning an artist. I’ve got a few ideas that I want to sketch out first, however. If I’m going to work with an artist, I want to work with an artist, meaning that I’m willing to give them as much prep work and rough sketches as I can so they won’t be going in blind. Besides, I know exactly what I want: a simple yet engaging cover similar to what you see on some manga/light novels. Something like Rumiko Takahashi’s Maison Ikkoku, for example. I like the idea of using blank space on purpose here, to evoke the mood that it’s very much a light novel in some respects, as well as the fact that a lot of that novel is about being up in the air. I have a few artists in mind, I’ll just need to contact them and see if they’re interested or have the time.
Speaking of Theadia, I’ve also been thinking a bit about how this novel is not quite the Epic that the Bridgetown Trilogy was, but nor is it the lighter work I published afterwards. It’s a bit of both, really. The project goal is very much typical of me: writing a space opera without the military drama, writing an epic without turning everything up to eleven, writing a political drama without falling into my own navel. I even have the tagline, which is a line that’s quoted by many in the story: If you could…would you do the right thing? The novel isn’t about being a savior, it really is about doing the right thing when given the choice between taking ownership or saying ‘not my problem’. There are no heroes here, only normal people choosing to do the right thing because no one else is, and having that in itself be heroic.
It’s been a bit of a juggle, because I definitely need to have certain characters with certain levels of intelligence, power and experience, but purposely not having them get all infodumpy or technerdy about it. [I half-joke sometimes that I’m writing an anti-Cory Doctorow novel here, because I’m choosing not to go into graphic detail about the worlds of infotech, the dark web, and living off the grid. I give just enough detail for it to make sense, because that’s all it needs. I definitely owe Becky Chambers for the inspiration for wanting to take that route.] It’s been an enjoyable ride, though, and that’s all I ask.
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So. What’s my update schedule going to be here in the days ahead? Glad you asked! I’m going to try to return to the twice-a-week that I’ve had for the last couple of years, though there may be a gap or a late entry here and there, especially when Day Jobbery takes precedence.
Glad you’re sticking around, though! See you soon!
Image courtesy of Dareka no Manazashi (Someone’s Gaze)
Lately I’ve been pondering what to do about Diwa & Kaffi. For a few years now I’ve been wanting to send it out into the world via a publisher, but now I’m having second thoughts about it. I love the story and I’m damn proud of it, but is it something that will work under a professional publisher…?
I’m not a commercial writer, that’s for sure. I’ve tried that style and it doesn’t work for me…maybe it’s still the nonconformist kid in me that’s refusing to tick all the boxes that make commercial fiction — or more to the point, the constant desire to subvert tropes and expectations and still write an enjoyable novel — that I feel more comfortable staying with DIY self-publishing. As hard as it is to self-promote and upsell my own work once it’s out in the world, the sense of pride I feel knowing that the five ebooks I have out there were all nearly completely done on my own is the best part of all.
Getting back to Diwa & Kaffi: the other day I thought about releasing it here, on Welcome to Bridgetown, posting a chapter at a time. For free…?? you ask. Why would you do this and not get paid for it? you ask. Well, that’s a very good question, and one that runs through my head all the time when I self-publish. These aren’t money makers…but whenever Smashwords has a sale and I offer them for free, I get downloads. Not many, but enough to make me happy.
Besides, I think it would be kind of fun to share this story with you in this way. Maybe brighten it up with a few sketches of characters or story locations I’ve done over the years. And maybe new ones as well — I’m thinking along the lines of those Winnie the Pooh sort of header sketches that you see in YA books sometimes. (Whether they’ll be by me is up to question, but we’ll see.)
So. I’m not entirely sure when this will start, but I’ll let you all know if and when it does.
Image courtesy of Green Apple Books, our local bookstore
I really do miss self-publishing.
There, I said it. Back when I self-released A Division of Souls, I had the vaguest of ideas of what I was doing and mostly trusting my own instincts and relying on my own interpretations of how self-publishing works. I loved the idea of releasing my own books like I was selling my new punk single in Maximumrocknroll. I loved the idea of self-producing it — the editing, the cover art selection and layout — and trusting that I was doing a pretty good job of it. I loved creating and ordering those freebie cards that I could give out during local conventions. I may not have made any significant amounts of money, but I’m okay with that.
Why did it fall by the wayside? Well, a lot of personal stuff happened. The Former Day Job’s killing off of working remotely severely damaged whatever writing time I had. There was the idea of sending Diwa & Kaffi out to agents and publishers that got put on hold because of the pandemic that went on for far too long. Then I took a lot of time off to make some seriously overdue personal changes in my life.
I kept writing, though.
And because of that, I have multiple books waiting to see the light of day: Diwa & Kaffi is completed and ready to be seen by the big bad world. Queen Ophelia and Theadia are almost done. And I’m already thinking of what to work on next.
Which is all fine, but how to re-approach that avenue? I could keep up with what I’m doing, but there’s only so far I can go by just putting it out there. I need to relearn how to promote myself, what I can afford and what I can do on my own. I need to find more avenues to get my stories out there. I still want to aim for the goal of at least one title released per year, so that’s not the problem I need to focus on most. It’s bringing attention to the title. And I’ve read so many different things about how to do it that I’ve come to a temporary conclusion: no one really knows the One True Way towards self-publishing success, because there isn’t one. It’s not so much about following someone else’s directions as it is finding the version that works for you. I’m yet to find that version myself, but I’m still willing to take the time to search for it. Eventually I’ll find that version that fits me best.
In the meantime, I’m going to stick with what’s worked with me so far as a stable platform, and what I’ve enjoyed the most about it: writing the novels, doing the post-production, and putting it out there in the world for everyone to enjoy.
I really need to get myself back in the habit of reading more genre fiction again. I mean, not that I’ve been wasting my time at night — my music bio backlog is considerably smaller now — but I’m thinking that I really need to start reading more SF/F. I’ve been kind of avoiding it over the past few years, to be honest. I didn’t plan on it, it just happened that way. I don’t think it’s negatively impacted my genre writing to any serious degree, but it wouldn’t hurt to return to the source again.
One thing I’ve been meaning to do for a while is read more ebooks, and in particular, more indie publications. The other day I decided I was finally going to make good on that by downloading titles from B&N and elsewhere. Most of these are quite cheap and, like my Bridgetown Trilogy, the first book in a series is often free!
You know what I also haven’t done in ages? Self-publishing! I’ve been thinking about it a lot this past year, since I’ve been focused on submitting Diwa & Kaffi. I truly do miss the DIY aspect of it — creating covers, toying with photo editing software, making postcard freebies, and all that — and I’d love to return to that. I’m thinking in 2021 I may in fact do so, especially if I can get one or two of my stories prepped and ready to go. I especially would love to take my photography a lot more seriously again. I do have a creator’s account with Shutterstock that’s currently not doing anything, so perhaps it’s high time I reactivate that as well.
I suppose these two things could be the start of my New Year’s Plans. Sure, why not? I mean, I can start working on a lot of this whenever I like; no reason I actually need to wait until the first of January. [In fact, the other day I jumpstarted the ebook buying and spent $6 on four books and one book bundle!] I have most of what I need to make it all happen, so all I need to do is take the next steps.
Let’s make this happen. Pandemic or not, time to make it all happen.
First of all: If you’re here visiting for the first time after downloading any of the books in the Bridgetown Trilogy from Smashwords during its July book sale, hello and thank you! I’m thrilled that you wanted to check my books out! I hope you enjoy them! And by all means, if you like them, please post a review on GoodReads! That will make this writer very happy indeed. 😀
SO! I’m sure some of you out there are wondering…why did this weirdo, who spent far too many years writing this damn trilogy, give it away in e-book form for free a few years after he FINALLY released it?
Good question indeed. I have a few answers for you:
Some time ago I put A Division of Souls up for free and kept it free, as a way to bring people into the Mendaihu Universe. This by far has been my most regular seller, for obvious reasons. It’s the enticement product. It’s the register endcap. It’s the book that says ‘hey, check this out’ and ‘if you like this, there’s two more sequels’. I regularly get at least a few downloads a month for this one.
The Persistence of Memories and The Balance of Light are at an already reasonably low price of $2.99 each. I think of this as an analogue to mid-price cds you find at record stores…back catalog titles that are no longer consistent sellers, but are consistently available at an affordable price. Again, this is part of the ‘long game’ process, and it’s actually worked to my expectations. I might not get a big payout, but I’ll get at least one or two purchases every month or so.
The sale is only for one month, and I know there are readers out there who, like me, get involved in a series and want to either buy the entire thing in one go, or at least be able to find and download them easily. And everyone loves free things, right?
It introduces new readers to my work. Though I only got a few purchases since it was released, I did get a bit of interest in Meet the Lidwells, with a few sample downloads. That right there is a learning experience; perhaps it’s that they weren’t interested in the story I had to say there, or perhaps the formatting wasn’t to their liking, or maybe it’s just not a book that many are interested in. I’m okay with that; it’s not a science fiction novel, but a straight fiction novel in the format of a music biography. It’s up to me to work on new promotional avenues for that one.
I haven’t yet looked at the stats for July as a whole, but from the email notifications I’ve received, between all three books I’ve gotten a good few dozen downloads and even more sample downloads. Not bad at all.
In the meantime, I’ve put the url for this blog both on the books and on the freebie cards I’ve made. [That’s the front of the freebie card for the trilogy above.] I’ve been doing my best keeping this particular blog on a timely and expected schedule — and crossposted to Twitter and Facebook at that — and that has helped me gain new readers as well. I spread out my freebie cards at all the conventions I’ve gone to as well. All in all, from what little I’ve done so far for promotion, I’ve gotten a hell of a lot more response than I ever thought I would, so that’s saying something. I can only imagine what the response would be once I restart the email list and start upping my promotion game!
So yeah, I’d say even though I didn’t earn a single penny this month, I got a lot of new readers, and I think that’s pretty damn cool.
I feel the same way when I get a Smashwords Purchase Notification in my Inbox.
It’s been a little over a year since I released The Balance of Light, the third book in the Bridgetown Trilogy, and about three months since I released Meet the Lidwells. The sales for all of them have been rather slow and dribbling, but I’m okay with that. They’re still out there, available to anyone who wants them, and they’re not going anywhere anytime soon.
In fact, since I’ve registered all the books into a month-long summer sale over at Smashwords (If you haven’t gotten them, WELL WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?), I’ve gotten an uptick of downloads, especially for the entire trilogy. Which makes me quite happy indeed! {If you just recently bought them and are visiting my blog for the first time, thank you and Hi There!)
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m playing the Long Game with my books. By this, I mean that I’m not looking for or expecting a large wave of purchases in a short amount of time, but a small but consistent wave over a much longer period. This makes more sense to me, because my aim as a self-published writer was never to become a Huge Bestselling Author (although let’s be honest, that would be nice). It’s about having a nice long and varied backlist that people can check out whenever they like. By the end of this year I’ll have five books on that backlist, with one, possibly two more coming in 2019. I figure in ten years I’ll have a nice fat catalog that potential readers can check out.
Granted, I’ve essentially traded a big payout for longevity, but I’m down with that. In my own fanciful imagination, I’d like to think that ten years down the road I’ll still be getting the occasional purchase notification on A Division of Souls, especially once the next book(s) in the Mendaihu Universe surface.
And it doesn’t hurt that I’ll have a nice lift in sales every few months or so when I hand my postcards out at conventions or sign up for a sales event at Smashwords. And whenever I give myself a bit of a sales nudge online now and again, I’ll get a brief lift there as well. I admit I’d like to do better at the self-promotion, but I’m glad to say what I’ve done so far does work for me.
It’s still a learning process, but I’m glad that it’s going in the right direction!
Welcome to Bridgetown 