Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
-John Donne
In loving memory of my father-in-law, Max Edward Campbell, Jr. May 25, 1956 - August 30, 2002. Ten years gone, but never forgotten.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Looking Forward
This blog is approaching its sixth anniversary, and as I look back at
the sad number of post that have accumulated here, I see for certain
that I have no idea what I'm doing . . . at least blog wise.
The reason I started this blog six years ago was that I had a novel that I wanted to shop around, and like so many authors out there, I was deluged with advice on how to land a top agent. I was told that I needed to sell several short stories to the top magazines to prove my writing ability and that if I wanted to land an agent I needed to have a following already established. Blogging was the way to go to accomplish that.
And I swallowed it hook line and sinker.
Then, in early 2011 I decided to give up my exhausting search for an agent and self publish. I'm not bad mouthing the traditional path. It's fine if that's your choice. It was just no longer the right choice for me. I'll go into those reasons some other time.
It's been a little over a year since I published my novel Guarding the Healer. You hear all these stories about self published writers skyrocketing to thousands of sales a month within the first year of going indie. I am not one of those writers.
My sales are lackluster and the income my writing brings in monthly isn't even enough to buy my family a single meal. Did I make a mistake self publishing?
In a word . . . no.
Don't get me wrong, I've made plenty of mistakes, but self publishing isn't one.
I think one of the major places I've messed up in self publishing is that I'm reaching out to the wrong people. I joined Kindle Boards, found several writing groups on Facebook, most of my Twitter followers are other writers.
Now, while I do love hanging out (virtually or in real life) with other writers, they are not my key demographic. I write fiction. Mostly dark paranormal fiction. Writers are great readers, there's no doubt about that, but they have their own works and agendas. I can't read all of their work and they certainly don't have the time to read mine.
The people I need to reach are readers. Plain ol' don't-write-squat, everyday average Joe/Joanna Reader. If you look at it from a business standpoint they are known as the fat part of the bell curve.
Have I figured out how to reach readers yet?
No. But I have some ideas.
First of all, I'm going to change this blog up a bit. But I'll tell you more about that next time.
The reason I started this blog six years ago was that I had a novel that I wanted to shop around, and like so many authors out there, I was deluged with advice on how to land a top agent. I was told that I needed to sell several short stories to the top magazines to prove my writing ability and that if I wanted to land an agent I needed to have a following already established. Blogging was the way to go to accomplish that.
And I swallowed it hook line and sinker.
Then, in early 2011 I decided to give up my exhausting search for an agent and self publish. I'm not bad mouthing the traditional path. It's fine if that's your choice. It was just no longer the right choice for me. I'll go into those reasons some other time.
It's been a little over a year since I published my novel Guarding the Healer. You hear all these stories about self published writers skyrocketing to thousands of sales a month within the first year of going indie. I am not one of those writers.
My sales are lackluster and the income my writing brings in monthly isn't even enough to buy my family a single meal. Did I make a mistake self publishing?
In a word . . . no.
Don't get me wrong, I've made plenty of mistakes, but self publishing isn't one.
I think one of the major places I've messed up in self publishing is that I'm reaching out to the wrong people. I joined Kindle Boards, found several writing groups on Facebook, most of my Twitter followers are other writers.
Now, while I do love hanging out (virtually or in real life) with other writers, they are not my key demographic. I write fiction. Mostly dark paranormal fiction. Writers are great readers, there's no doubt about that, but they have their own works and agendas. I can't read all of their work and they certainly don't have the time to read mine.
The people I need to reach are readers. Plain ol' don't-write-squat, everyday average Joe/Joanna Reader. If you look at it from a business standpoint they are known as the fat part of the bell curve.
Have I figured out how to reach readers yet?
No. But I have some ideas.
First of all, I'm going to change this blog up a bit. But I'll tell you more about that next time.
Saturday, August 04, 2012
Predatory Animals is Live
I'm happy to announce that my latest novel, Predatory Animals, is now Live.You can pick up a digital copy at Amazon, Kobo and Smashwords. It should be available anytime on Barnes & Noble, but they seem to be taking their own sweet time.
Predatory Animals isn't available in print, yet, but it will be soon. I promise.
IN THE TOWN OF SHADELAND, PEOPLE ARE VANISHING.
After suffering a near-death accident, Casper Brown awakens with a strange new connection to three stray dogs recently adopted by his family. Casper’s nights are filled with dreams of the dogs’ activities; at times he can even see through their eyes. And what he witnesses has him worried for his family’s safety.
AN ENIGMATIC EVIL IS HIDING, WAITING TO STRIKE.
The Pummels are the most beloved family in town. Though their wealth, philanthropy, and charisma form a cloud of mystery about them, their work with the town’s exotic cat rescue center has captured the heart of the people. But the Pummels are guarding a secret. One they will kill to keep quiet.
ITS HUNGER IS INSATIABLE.
Shadeland is a town of shadows, where hunters hide in plain sight and prey scurry about unaware. But a new predator has been unleashed. One unlike any this world has seen.
ITS SURVIVAL IS OUR DOOM.
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
A Teaser and Some Secrets
I've been working really hard lately
trying to get Predatory Animals ready for publication. Because of that, I
haven't been paying near enough attention to this blog. I was hoping to
have P.A. go live tomorrow, but I'm still sifting through, searching for those
tiny errors that escape you the first hundred times you read through the
manuscript. As a bit of a teaser, here is the description I plan on using
for P.A.
IN THE TOWN OF SHADELAND, PEOPLE ARE
VANISHING.
After suffering a near-death accident,
Casper Brown awakens with a strange new connection to three stray dogs recently
adopted by his family. Casper’s nights are filled with dreams of the
dogs’ activities; at times he can even see through their eyes. And what
he witnesses has him worried for his family’s safety.
AN ENIGMATIC EVIL IS HIDING, WAITING TO
STRIKE.
The Pummels are the most beloved family
in town. Though their wealth, philanthropy, and charisma form a cloud of
mystery about them, their work with the town’s exotic cat rescue center has
captured the heart of the people. But the Pummels are guarding a
secret. One they will kill to keep quiet.
ITS HUNGER IS INSATIABLE.
Shadeland is a town of shadows, where
hunters hide in plain sight and prey scurry about unaware. But a new
predator has been unleashed. One unlike any this world has seen.
ITS SURVIVAL IS OUR DOOM.
This has very little to do with
Predatory Animals, but I have a thing for conspiracy theories and secret
government installations, so I've added a fun little video.
Enjoy.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Cheap, Easy and Quick. Oh No!
It's been almost a month since I last blogged. I've been immersed in
trying to get Predatory Animals ready for publication.
Since my family has come upon some hard financial times, it has put a bit of strain on my venture as a self publishing author. Those pesky upfront charges are small when weighed against the life of your e-book, but when weighed against your empty pocket book, it makes it a little harder to swallow.
When I published Guarding the Healer I subbed out some of the work, willing to part with the money to speed things along. The talented Barry Napier created my cover art and I had the wonderful Rob and Amy Siders of 52Novels do both the digital and print formatting.
It was well worth the money I spent.
But then the family budget ran dry and one of the first things to suffer was my writing business. That was okay. I didn't begrudge it. That's just life. Heat and food are more important than publishing my stories.
But I didn't want to stop, so I improvised.
With Contemplations of Dinner I scraped up the money for a cover. It's not the best in the world, but good for the money I spent. I searched online and found a way to create a mobi and ePub file and then sent it out in the world. I blogged about the process I used.
I want to make something very clear. DON'T USE THIS PROCESS!
Yes it was cheap. Yes it was easy. Yes it was quick.
But when have you ever known these three things to create something great?
Oh sure, it'll create a passable e-book. But for indie authors reaching for the top, striving to outshine traditional books, passable just isn't good enough.
A smart man learns from his mistakes, but a wise man learns from the mistakes of others. I'm on my way to being smart. I hope you're on your way to being wise.
As I was finishing up my manuscript of Predatory Animals, I had a game plan running in the back of my mind as to how I was going to get it ready for publication. Though it put me behind my target publication date, I saved the cash for a cover artist. I have absolutely no graphic design skills, nor the time to learn any, so this was a must. This time I went with Dustin Ashe of Indy Armada. Dustin is great to work with, and I love his covers. I also decided an editor was a must. This time Barry Napier agreed to edit the book (he's a triple+ threat).
But what about the formatting?
I really wanted to work with 52Novels again, but the money just wasn't there. So, I figured I'd go the cheap, easy, quick route again.
Thank goodness, somewhere along the way I picked up a great e-book titled Let's Get Digital by David Gaughran. Man o' man am I glad I did.
There is a lot of great information in this book, but the part that caught my eye was the section on formatting. Mr. Gaughran said something that really hit home for me. He states:
"There are no shortcuts! You might hear of shortcuts and think I was unaware of them. But if you try, for example, just to export an e-reader ready file from your manuscript in Microsoft Word, you are asking for trouble. Trust me.
You might also hear about programs such as MobiPocket Creator, which can produce a Kindle-ready file straight from your Word file. You might hear of people who did this and said their formatting was perfect. You might even be one of those people. However, this approach can result in problems with your formatting that you may be unaware of."
Yikes! That's exactly what I did for Contemplations and what I was planning to do for Predatory Animals. But if there were no shortcuts and I couldn't afford professional help, what door was left open to me? He goes on to say:
"You are going to have to get into some HTML; there is no avoiding it. If you are smart enough to write a book, you are smart enough to do this. Don’t fret. It’s not that bad if you take your time and follow the instructions exactly."
This was what I was afraid of. I'm not a very tech-savvy person, and I know (or knew) zilch about HTML. But I took a deep breath, read through David Gaughran's explanations, then under his advice read Guido Henkel's nine part blog post about formatting.
It didn't sound so bad. Henkel's explanations seemed easy to follow. What did I have to lose?
And you know what? It really wasn't that bad. Henkel is a MAC user, whereas I use PC so there was a bit of translation needed. I got snagged once, but I sent David Gaughran an email and he responded within the hour.
That is one of the things that continues to impress me about indie authors. The willingness to help each other out. David has his own writerly things going on. He didn't have to take the time to help some unknown person halfway around the world. But he did. And fast. He walked me through a few things and got me right back on track.
It took me about a day to complete formatting Predatory Animals, but considering I thought it would take me a week, I was well pleased. And the final product looks so much better than the cheap, easy and quick version. And another thing, I actually enjoyed it. I like to work with my hands, to build things, whether it be a deck, a garden, a marine aquarium or a book. I also like learning a new skill and being able to handle a problem on my own.
Now, I'm not discounting using a professional. There is something very comforting about handing that off to someone else so you can focus elsewhere. I loved working with Rob and Amy at 52Novels. I will most likely seek their help again. If you have the money to pay someone to format for you, I suggest you look them up. But if you like or need to format yourself, that's fine too. The goal is to have a professional looking book. It doesn't matter how you get there, as long as you get there.
So the choice is yours. But if you decide to format for yourself, don't go the cheap, easy and quick path. Take the plunge and get your hands dirty. I promise you'll be fine. If I can do it, anyone can.
Since my family has come upon some hard financial times, it has put a bit of strain on my venture as a self publishing author. Those pesky upfront charges are small when weighed against the life of your e-book, but when weighed against your empty pocket book, it makes it a little harder to swallow.
When I published Guarding the Healer I subbed out some of the work, willing to part with the money to speed things along. The talented Barry Napier created my cover art and I had the wonderful Rob and Amy Siders of 52Novels do both the digital and print formatting.
It was well worth the money I spent.
But then the family budget ran dry and one of the first things to suffer was my writing business. That was okay. I didn't begrudge it. That's just life. Heat and food are more important than publishing my stories.
But I didn't want to stop, so I improvised.
With Contemplations of Dinner I scraped up the money for a cover. It's not the best in the world, but good for the money I spent. I searched online and found a way to create a mobi and ePub file and then sent it out in the world. I blogged about the process I used.
I want to make something very clear. DON'T USE THIS PROCESS!
Yes it was cheap. Yes it was easy. Yes it was quick.
But when have you ever known these three things to create something great?
Oh sure, it'll create a passable e-book. But for indie authors reaching for the top, striving to outshine traditional books, passable just isn't good enough.
A smart man learns from his mistakes, but a wise man learns from the mistakes of others. I'm on my way to being smart. I hope you're on your way to being wise.
As I was finishing up my manuscript of Predatory Animals, I had a game plan running in the back of my mind as to how I was going to get it ready for publication. Though it put me behind my target publication date, I saved the cash for a cover artist. I have absolutely no graphic design skills, nor the time to learn any, so this was a must. This time I went with Dustin Ashe of Indy Armada. Dustin is great to work with, and I love his covers. I also decided an editor was a must. This time Barry Napier agreed to edit the book (he's a triple+ threat).
But what about the formatting?
I really wanted to work with 52Novels again, but the money just wasn't there. So, I figured I'd go the cheap, easy, quick route again.
Thank goodness, somewhere along the way I picked up a great e-book titled Let's Get Digital by David Gaughran. Man o' man am I glad I did.
There is a lot of great information in this book, but the part that caught my eye was the section on formatting. Mr. Gaughran said something that really hit home for me. He states:
"There are no shortcuts! You might hear of shortcuts and think I was unaware of them. But if you try, for example, just to export an e-reader ready file from your manuscript in Microsoft Word, you are asking for trouble. Trust me.
You might also hear about programs such as MobiPocket Creator, which can produce a Kindle-ready file straight from your Word file. You might hear of people who did this and said their formatting was perfect. You might even be one of those people. However, this approach can result in problems with your formatting that you may be unaware of."
Yikes! That's exactly what I did for Contemplations and what I was planning to do for Predatory Animals. But if there were no shortcuts and I couldn't afford professional help, what door was left open to me? He goes on to say:
"You are going to have to get into some HTML; there is no avoiding it. If you are smart enough to write a book, you are smart enough to do this. Don’t fret. It’s not that bad if you take your time and follow the instructions exactly."
This was what I was afraid of. I'm not a very tech-savvy person, and I know (or knew) zilch about HTML. But I took a deep breath, read through David Gaughran's explanations, then under his advice read Guido Henkel's nine part blog post about formatting.
It didn't sound so bad. Henkel's explanations seemed easy to follow. What did I have to lose?
And you know what? It really wasn't that bad. Henkel is a MAC user, whereas I use PC so there was a bit of translation needed. I got snagged once, but I sent David Gaughran an email and he responded within the hour.
That is one of the things that continues to impress me about indie authors. The willingness to help each other out. David has his own writerly things going on. He didn't have to take the time to help some unknown person halfway around the world. But he did. And fast. He walked me through a few things and got me right back on track.
It took me about a day to complete formatting Predatory Animals, but considering I thought it would take me a week, I was well pleased. And the final product looks so much better than the cheap, easy and quick version. And another thing, I actually enjoyed it. I like to work with my hands, to build things, whether it be a deck, a garden, a marine aquarium or a book. I also like learning a new skill and being able to handle a problem on my own.
Now, I'm not discounting using a professional. There is something very comforting about handing that off to someone else so you can focus elsewhere. I loved working with Rob and Amy at 52Novels. I will most likely seek their help again. If you have the money to pay someone to format for you, I suggest you look them up. But if you like or need to format yourself, that's fine too. The goal is to have a professional looking book. It doesn't matter how you get there, as long as you get there.
So the choice is yours. But if you decide to format for yourself, don't go the cheap, easy and quick path. Take the plunge and get your hands dirty. I promise you'll be fine. If I can do it, anyone can.
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