As many of you know, I'm a pretty devoted reader of J.A. Konrath's blog. He's the writer whose experimentation with e-publishing drove me to try it myself. What success I've had, I attribute to the things I learned from him. I know how to read my sales, know to change things when needed, and a hundred little things. Most important, I know how to learn from my mistakes and keep my eyes open.
Writing is a process, and it's also a business. Today I'm beginning a path that is unfamiliar but exciting. I may be making a mistake, but if so I'll treat it like any other experience and grow because of it.
Two important changes will be going on. The first is that very soon, the prices on all my work will be going up. I'm not one to gouge, and I will never charge anything like $9.99 for my work, but the available evidence right now suggests that my price point of $2.99 for my books (and $3.99 for the combined first two LWtD books that make up Year One) is too low. The facts and research seem to suggest that a higher price will bring more sales than I currently make, and the higher royalty means extra income.
This is a business decision. As is the second portion of my news: I'm taking Year One and the two individual books that comprise it, With Spring Comes the Fall and The Bitter Seasons, off sale on the Nook. Those books will be gone from the Barnes and Noble store within the next several days.
The reason is simple: Amazon is offering publishers a chance to enroll in an exclusivity deal that will give us a chance to do more with our work. I will, for example, be able to offer my work for free for up to five days during a 90-day period. I'll also have my books available as part of the Kindle lending library. It's a complicated situation to explain, but what you need to know as my readers is pretty simple.
I'm not abandoning you! I simply have some options with Amazon that I want to explore. Powerful tools to get my name out there. I don't like having to pull my work from the Nook, not that all of it will be gone, but the math is pretty simple. I make about 95% of my income from the Kindle. This new program will give me the chance to get my name into more people's reading lists, which will help me toward my goal of writing full time.
I'm trying it for the initial 90 day period. If it works out, I may continue my enrollment. If it doesn't, I won't. I'm not keen on leaving the small but dedicated group of readers on the Nook high and dry, but the good news is that it's only my old stuff that is being pulled. Newer works will still be available, including Beautiful and book three of LWtD, The Hungry Land. And it's likely this won't be a permanent thing.
If I get to the point where I've built a self-sustaining following and can write full time, I'll probably drop the program. I'm not holding my breath for that.
Basically, that's the deal. I'm sorry for any of my fans who use the Nook and promote me heavily there. Your support means the world to me, it really does. I hope none of you are upset by this. I have a chance to use some new tricks to market myself, and I think you're all reasonable enough to understand that I have to consider the long term here.
I'll probably be doing many updates over the next weeks and months once I get into the program and see how it does. I'll certainly be doing promotions once I can set up days where my work will be free. Come on back and check me out to see how it's working. Readers may be interested to see inside my world a bit. Writers may find some of their curiosity about how the new Kindle Select program works sated.
It's bound to be interesting.
If you have questions, comments, or concerns, consider this an open thread. The comments are open to you!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Zombie Apocalypse Mambo
My sales have started to pick up the last six weeks. I'm nowhere near getting rich or even being able to write full-time, but I'm happy to see the improvement with the holidays approaching. A big, big part of this, I hope, is the renewed interest in zombie stories thanks to AMC's TV adaptation of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead.
Most of you know me as the guy who writes Living With the Dead, my fictional, real-time blog set in the zombie apocalypse and free to read at Livingwiththedead.net. Not to plug my work too shamelessly, but collections of the blog are available on the Kindle and Nook for purchase if you've got a hankering to take the blog with you in an easily readable format and like supporting indie authors.
I've talked in a few of the collections and in various other places about how The Walking Dead (the comic, not the show) was a huge part of my original inspiration to create and continue LWtD. I, like Robert Kirkman, wanted to explore a world beyond the two hours of a zombie movie. For me, that meant going into incredible, minute detail about daily life and living in the zombie apocalypse, to a degree that even Kirkman doesn't match in his comic.
I'm not saying I'm doing it better. That's not what writing is about. I'm telling my own story in a different format, one that lends itself to going into much greater detail than a comic can. Most people reading a comic are going to put the issue down in disgust of someone talks for a few paragraphs about how to zombie-proof a window.
But dammit, knowing how to keep zombies from breaking in through a window is important to us zombie nerds. How many times have we seen some person standing next to a thin pane of glass, only to have a rotting, skeletal hand smash through it to pull them into certain death? It's a crying shame.
As my friends and I watch the new season of TWD on AMC, we chat about the various elements of the story we like and don't like, and what characters we love and hate. I, being a person who has done serious damage to their brain over the last two years by having to constantly see the world in apocalypse terms, have a slightly different viewpoint.
When Daryl Dixon goes out killing (because the word 'Hunting' implies the possibility of failure. Daryl never fails to kill.) he's always so badass. He's got his trusty crossbow, his impressively sleeveless shirts, and an attitude that just fucking DARES a zombie to come at him. You want some, dead guy? Huh?
While I love Daryl and pray daily that the producers don't kill him off (which seems likely--someone that awesome is doomed. It's zombie movie 101) I still can't help but look at him as kind of a stupid guy. I mean, yes, he has mad hunting-since-I-was-a-lad country boy skills, he can track, he is a crack shot...
But dude. Sleeveless shirt. Jeans. ONE FREAKING WEAPON. No armor, no backup weapon like a machete or hatchet. Relying solely on his wits and observational skills to keep him alive.
Of course, I'm being overly critical. I love the show with a heart bigger than the Grinch's after he realizes the error of his ways. It's just that spending so much time writing as realistic methods as I'm capable of figuring out to stay alive in the zombie apocalypse has made me look at literally everything from the perspective of the fictional me I write as.
So when I watch TWD or Night of the Living Dead or 28 Days later, it's sort of like watching them while actually living in a world overrun by the dead.
I'm a nerd, I know. Just an interesting thought I wanted to share.
Oh, and just in case you've read this and are still wondering:
The best way to secure the standard window in a home from zombie intrusion is to cut pieces of plywood to fit both the interior and exterior sides. The thicker, the better. Using L-brackets and masonry screws (if your house is brick like mine), attach the plywood to the frame of the window, inside and out. Using this as a base, add layers of plywood to the originals until both sides are flush with the walls. On the inside of the house, cut a much larger piece of plywood to cover the whole thing, then nail it into the two by fours that surround the window under the drywall. Lots and lots of nails. On the exterior, use a piece of sheet metal to cover the entire window, with at least six inches overlapping onto the brick wall all the way around. Use a drill bit made to cut metal to put holes in it, then run masonry screws into the wall, securing the sheet metal.
It'll be easier for the zombies to knock down the bricks than come in that window, I assure you.
Most of you know me as the guy who writes Living With the Dead, my fictional, real-time blog set in the zombie apocalypse and free to read at Livingwiththedead.net. Not to plug my work too shamelessly, but collections of the blog are available on the Kindle and Nook for purchase if you've got a hankering to take the blog with you in an easily readable format and like supporting indie authors.
I've talked in a few of the collections and in various other places about how The Walking Dead (the comic, not the show) was a huge part of my original inspiration to create and continue LWtD. I, like Robert Kirkman, wanted to explore a world beyond the two hours of a zombie movie. For me, that meant going into incredible, minute detail about daily life and living in the zombie apocalypse, to a degree that even Kirkman doesn't match in his comic.
I'm not saying I'm doing it better. That's not what writing is about. I'm telling my own story in a different format, one that lends itself to going into much greater detail than a comic can. Most people reading a comic are going to put the issue down in disgust of someone talks for a few paragraphs about how to zombie-proof a window.
But dammit, knowing how to keep zombies from breaking in through a window is important to us zombie nerds. How many times have we seen some person standing next to a thin pane of glass, only to have a rotting, skeletal hand smash through it to pull them into certain death? It's a crying shame.
As my friends and I watch the new season of TWD on AMC, we chat about the various elements of the story we like and don't like, and what characters we love and hate. I, being a person who has done serious damage to their brain over the last two years by having to constantly see the world in apocalypse terms, have a slightly different viewpoint.
When Daryl Dixon goes out killing (because the word 'Hunting' implies the possibility of failure. Daryl never fails to kill.) he's always so badass. He's got his trusty crossbow, his impressively sleeveless shirts, and an attitude that just fucking DARES a zombie to come at him. You want some, dead guy? Huh?
While I love Daryl and pray daily that the producers don't kill him off (which seems likely--someone that awesome is doomed. It's zombie movie 101) I still can't help but look at him as kind of a stupid guy. I mean, yes, he has mad hunting-since-I-was-a-lad country boy skills, he can track, he is a crack shot...
But dude. Sleeveless shirt. Jeans. ONE FREAKING WEAPON. No armor, no backup weapon like a machete or hatchet. Relying solely on his wits and observational skills to keep him alive.
Of course, I'm being overly critical. I love the show with a heart bigger than the Grinch's after he realizes the error of his ways. It's just that spending so much time writing as realistic methods as I'm capable of figuring out to stay alive in the zombie apocalypse has made me look at literally everything from the perspective of the fictional me I write as.
So when I watch TWD or Night of the Living Dead or 28 Days later, it's sort of like watching them while actually living in a world overrun by the dead.
I'm a nerd, I know. Just an interesting thought I wanted to share.
Oh, and just in case you've read this and are still wondering:
The best way to secure the standard window in a home from zombie intrusion is to cut pieces of plywood to fit both the interior and exterior sides. The thicker, the better. Using L-brackets and masonry screws (if your house is brick like mine), attach the plywood to the frame of the window, inside and out. Using this as a base, add layers of plywood to the originals until both sides are flush with the walls. On the inside of the house, cut a much larger piece of plywood to cover the whole thing, then nail it into the two by fours that surround the window under the drywall. Lots and lots of nails. On the exterior, use a piece of sheet metal to cover the entire window, with at least six inches overlapping onto the brick wall all the way around. Use a drill bit made to cut metal to put holes in it, then run masonry screws into the wall, securing the sheet metal.
It'll be easier for the zombies to knock down the bricks than come in that window, I assure you.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Being Generous
My brother-in-law shared an interesting article with me today. You can read it here if you'd like, but I'll cover the salient points.
What it boils down to is this: author James Crawford was selling an eBook on the Kindle store as well as several other electronic storefronts, and Amazon may have made an error that potentially cost him thousands of dollars. You see, his book, which sold on the Kindle for $5.99, was marked down by Amazon's automated system to free. This happened because their system uses an algorithm that crawls the web for the same content, then matches the price. The problem was that Mr. Crawford was only giving away a three chapter sample for free, not the whole book. In the time his book was being given away, it was downloaded more than six thousand times.
Now, the book being free likely caused this incredibly high number. I'm not saying Amazon isn't at fault for this error, but he probably doesn't have a legal leg to stand on due to the user agreements we agree to as publishers. I had a similar (but much less severe) problem last year. If I were him, I'd be happy for the huge burst of publicity and name recognition from so many downloads. My larger issue with this story was actually referenced in the article as more of a side note--Mr. Crawford only takes a 35% royalty on his book, refusing the 70% option because he doesn't want to be forced to allow people to lend his books.
Yes, you read that correctly. He's forgoing half his profits because he doesn't want anyone to lend his eBook to someone else. This is absurdly illogical to me. I know over the years I've bought dozens if not hundreds of books based on being lent the first book or two in a series. I know for a fact through talking to my readers that many of them had the first book in Living With the Dead lent to them, then went on to buy the rest of the series.
Hell, for that matter, I give it away for free. Living With the Dead is free to read online, and again I know from fan discussion that even daily readers will buy the books for several reasons. To support me, someone who gives it away for free, or to have a handy copy on their phone or Kindle to peruse at their leisure. I'm sure there are other factors, but the result is what matters: I sell more books because I give it away.
Lending is a great way to get new fans. I don't get why this guy is against it, but my own experience tells me that his logic, whatever it may be, is faulty on this.
The other thing that this article made me remember was that I've wanted to do a post on this blog for a while about an option self-publishers like me don't have on Kindle or Nook.
I'd love to be able to make my books free to download on their stores. Right now, that's not an option. 99 cents is the lowest I can go. LWtD has three volumes out now, and one special edition that collects volumes one and two and contains a TON of bonus material. I'd love to give the first one away for free, to have the option to do it at will. If I had 6,000 downloads of book one as a free title, and even half that number of purchases of the other volumes combined as a result in one month, I could do this full time. Those numbers wouldn't just make me a Professional Writer (all caps, even) but would note a HUGE increase in my income. 3,000 sales in a month would average out to at least $6,000, and that's probably a lowball figure.
There are a lot of ins and outs to learn being your own publisher, but then there are just as many you have to know even with a book deal and an agent. I deal with my distributors directly, and I have to understand how they operate, what their rules are, and be vigilant in order to keep myself from inadvertently losing out or having what happened to Mr. Crawford happen to me. As I continue to spread my work out to different areas, get more name recognition, and try to improve my sales, it behooves me to know the industry as well as possible.
Which leads me to wonder why such a powerful marketing tool as being able to give away books isn't available to indie writer/publishers like me. The large houses can do it. It's not as though reading is a zero-sum game. I encourage people to read the authors I like, many of whom are fellow indies like Joseph Paul Haines, Annetta Ribken, and Lori Whitwam--all of them friends, but not what I would call direct competitors. People read books, and I don't know any dedicated reader who will turn down one book for another. It's a win-win. Letting us give away books on the Kindle or Nook would cost Amazon and Barnes and Noble a little money in transmission costs, but the potential gains in sales of other works or even those works when put back into the paid category FAR outweigh them. People who read my stuff are very likely to read the books those folks I linked above have written, because I include links to them in my eBooks. I suggest them, people buy their books, and everyone makes money.
Wow. Long rant is long. Anyone have thoughts on this? Feel free to chime in below in the comments. I'm curious what all of you think.
What it boils down to is this: author James Crawford was selling an eBook on the Kindle store as well as several other electronic storefronts, and Amazon may have made an error that potentially cost him thousands of dollars. You see, his book, which sold on the Kindle for $5.99, was marked down by Amazon's automated system to free. This happened because their system uses an algorithm that crawls the web for the same content, then matches the price. The problem was that Mr. Crawford was only giving away a three chapter sample for free, not the whole book. In the time his book was being given away, it was downloaded more than six thousand times.
Now, the book being free likely caused this incredibly high number. I'm not saying Amazon isn't at fault for this error, but he probably doesn't have a legal leg to stand on due to the user agreements we agree to as publishers. I had a similar (but much less severe) problem last year. If I were him, I'd be happy for the huge burst of publicity and name recognition from so many downloads. My larger issue with this story was actually referenced in the article as more of a side note--Mr. Crawford only takes a 35% royalty on his book, refusing the 70% option because he doesn't want to be forced to allow people to lend his books.
Yes, you read that correctly. He's forgoing half his profits because he doesn't want anyone to lend his eBook to someone else. This is absurdly illogical to me. I know over the years I've bought dozens if not hundreds of books based on being lent the first book or two in a series. I know for a fact through talking to my readers that many of them had the first book in Living With the Dead lent to them, then went on to buy the rest of the series.
Hell, for that matter, I give it away for free. Living With the Dead is free to read online, and again I know from fan discussion that even daily readers will buy the books for several reasons. To support me, someone who gives it away for free, or to have a handy copy on their phone or Kindle to peruse at their leisure. I'm sure there are other factors, but the result is what matters: I sell more books because I give it away.
Lending is a great way to get new fans. I don't get why this guy is against it, but my own experience tells me that his logic, whatever it may be, is faulty on this.
The other thing that this article made me remember was that I've wanted to do a post on this blog for a while about an option self-publishers like me don't have on Kindle or Nook.
I'd love to be able to make my books free to download on their stores. Right now, that's not an option. 99 cents is the lowest I can go. LWtD has three volumes out now, and one special edition that collects volumes one and two and contains a TON of bonus material. I'd love to give the first one away for free, to have the option to do it at will. If I had 6,000 downloads of book one as a free title, and even half that number of purchases of the other volumes combined as a result in one month, I could do this full time. Those numbers wouldn't just make me a Professional Writer (all caps, even) but would note a HUGE increase in my income. 3,000 sales in a month would average out to at least $6,000, and that's probably a lowball figure.
There are a lot of ins and outs to learn being your own publisher, but then there are just as many you have to know even with a book deal and an agent. I deal with my distributors directly, and I have to understand how they operate, what their rules are, and be vigilant in order to keep myself from inadvertently losing out or having what happened to Mr. Crawford happen to me. As I continue to spread my work out to different areas, get more name recognition, and try to improve my sales, it behooves me to know the industry as well as possible.
Which leads me to wonder why such a powerful marketing tool as being able to give away books isn't available to indie writer/publishers like me. The large houses can do it. It's not as though reading is a zero-sum game. I encourage people to read the authors I like, many of whom are fellow indies like Joseph Paul Haines, Annetta Ribken, and Lori Whitwam--all of them friends, but not what I would call direct competitors. People read books, and I don't know any dedicated reader who will turn down one book for another. It's a win-win. Letting us give away books on the Kindle or Nook would cost Amazon and Barnes and Noble a little money in transmission costs, but the potential gains in sales of other works or even those works when put back into the paid category FAR outweigh them. People who read my stuff are very likely to read the books those folks I linked above have written, because I include links to them in my eBooks. I suggest them, people buy their books, and everyone makes money.
Wow. Long rant is long. Anyone have thoughts on this? Feel free to chime in below in the comments. I'm curious what all of you think.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Workloads and Hiatus
I have to admit, it feels pretty good to be back in the saddle. I haven't written anything on here in a while. It's nice to be able to jot thoughts down without having to worry about plot, character development, and all the rest. Writing a real blog instead of something with a structure is a release I don't have a lot of time for. In other words: Hi there. You look nice. Been working out? I missed you terribly.
I've been doing some math lately, and I found out that I put out a LOT of words per year. Most authors, from what I understand, do about 200,000 annually. That's about two medium length novels or one really large book. That's an average, of course. Some authors, like Brandon Sanderson, do a hell of a lot more. Others, like Patrick Rothfuss, average less. It's all individual to the person doing the typing.
I do 200k a year with Living With the Dead alone. I didn't realize until I started looking over the word counts of the things I write that I put out so much volume. This year, the books I've written and compilations of the blog (including the WIP draft of the sequel to Beautiful) total over 300,000 words, and I've got three months left in the year.
In addition to that, I'm starting to write for Slacker Heroes, an excellent geek website that will surely one day dominate the interwebs. I've also started on a project I've been wanting to do for a long time, which is a political/personal view blog called A Modern Liberal. I'm happy for those of you who don't share my political viewpoints to read it. In fact, I hope for it. The site doesn't exist to argue with anyone, but more to explain my point of view through facts. I'd love to get a discussion going, so others can see that not all Liberals are alike. My viewpoints span the spectrum of the political world.
I've had a lot going on in my personal life as well, most of which is uninteresting to anyone but me. I will say that I'm eager to see some book sales this holiday season given some recent bad news at work. I'm hoping you, my fans, will help with that as much as you can.
I always intend on writing more blogs on here, but with working a full time job and writing way more than most full time authors do, I have little time for it. I want more than anything to write for a living. I've hardened myself over the last two years to write a lot in a short time. Imagine what I could do with those extra forty hours a week...
This post can serve as a helpful way to spread the word. Here are links to my books on the Kindle and the Nook:
Kindle:
Beautiful, a novel of love, sex, adventure, magic, vampires, and unicorn obsession.
Living With the Dead: With Spring Comes The Fall The first six months of my zombie epic.
Living With the Dead: The Bitter Seasons The second six months of LWtD
Living With the Dead: The Hungry Land The third installment of LWtD
Living With the Dead: Year One This is a collection that pulls together "With Spring Comes The Fall and The Bitter Seasons into one book. It also contains a ton of bonus material including five short stories set in the LWtD universe and a novella. Also, some background stuff on the series from me.
Nook:
Beautiful
LWtD: With Spring Comes The Fall
LWtD: The Bitter Seasons
LWtD: The Hungry Land (No Link yet, this one is taking a while to get through B&N's vetting process. Probably ready in a day or so)
LWtD: Year One
I've lost track of how many times I've said this over the last year (a lot), but I'm sorry my posts come so infrequently. When I get full-time, I'll have the freedom to do a lot more.
I am going to finally do a post about Amanda Hocking. I've had that idea on the backburner for a while for several reasons which I'll discuss in the post. I think I'll have it rolled out by Friday. It's going to be an interesting one, so make sure you check it out.
My best efforts from here on out not to take another hiatus. No promises, just strong intentions.
I've been doing some math lately, and I found out that I put out a LOT of words per year. Most authors, from what I understand, do about 200,000 annually. That's about two medium length novels or one really large book. That's an average, of course. Some authors, like Brandon Sanderson, do a hell of a lot more. Others, like Patrick Rothfuss, average less. It's all individual to the person doing the typing.
I do 200k a year with Living With the Dead alone. I didn't realize until I started looking over the word counts of the things I write that I put out so much volume. This year, the books I've written and compilations of the blog (including the WIP draft of the sequel to Beautiful) total over 300,000 words, and I've got three months left in the year.
In addition to that, I'm starting to write for Slacker Heroes, an excellent geek website that will surely one day dominate the interwebs. I've also started on a project I've been wanting to do for a long time, which is a political/personal view blog called A Modern Liberal. I'm happy for those of you who don't share my political viewpoints to read it. In fact, I hope for it. The site doesn't exist to argue with anyone, but more to explain my point of view through facts. I'd love to get a discussion going, so others can see that not all Liberals are alike. My viewpoints span the spectrum of the political world.
I've had a lot going on in my personal life as well, most of which is uninteresting to anyone but me. I will say that I'm eager to see some book sales this holiday season given some recent bad news at work. I'm hoping you, my fans, will help with that as much as you can.
I always intend on writing more blogs on here, but with working a full time job and writing way more than most full time authors do, I have little time for it. I want more than anything to write for a living. I've hardened myself over the last two years to write a lot in a short time. Imagine what I could do with those extra forty hours a week...
This post can serve as a helpful way to spread the word. Here are links to my books on the Kindle and the Nook:
Kindle:
Beautiful, a novel of love, sex, adventure, magic, vampires, and unicorn obsession.
Living With the Dead: With Spring Comes The Fall The first six months of my zombie epic.
Living With the Dead: The Bitter Seasons The second six months of LWtD
Living With the Dead: The Hungry Land The third installment of LWtD
Living With the Dead: Year One This is a collection that pulls together "With Spring Comes The Fall and The Bitter Seasons into one book. It also contains a ton of bonus material including five short stories set in the LWtD universe and a novella. Also, some background stuff on the series from me.
Nook:
Beautiful
LWtD: With Spring Comes The Fall
LWtD: The Bitter Seasons
LWtD: The Hungry Land (No Link yet, this one is taking a while to get through B&N's vetting process. Probably ready in a day or so)
LWtD: Year One
I've lost track of how many times I've said this over the last year (a lot), but I'm sorry my posts come so infrequently. When I get full-time, I'll have the freedom to do a lot more.
I am going to finally do a post about Amanda Hocking. I've had that idea on the backburner for a while for several reasons which I'll discuss in the post. I think I'll have it rolled out by Friday. It's going to be an interesting one, so make sure you check it out.
My best efforts from here on out not to take another hiatus. No promises, just strong intentions.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Living With the Dead: The Hungry Land (Volume Three)
Hey, all. Just wanted to throw a link out there for LWtD's latest eBook collection. For now it's just on Amazon, but I'll be updating the links on the right of the blog and on the top in the next few days when I get it up on the Nook as well. I'll be pushing my work pretty hard the next few months, so any help is, as always, welcome and appreciated. If you'd like to grab the new volume, here's the link:
I'll have a thumbnail added soon, and I'll keep pushing the book on here as well, and I'll be updating soon. More new content on here in the very near future. I promise.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Rothfuss VS Sanderson: Author Death Match
...Okay, not really.
I've waxed poetic about Patrick Rothfuss many times on here, which may or may not be a good thing for me as an indie writer. After all, maybe I should be tooting my own horn a little more to drum up sales (which are still very slow) but I just can't help myself. Rothfuss is amazing.
However, I've been lax in talking about my other favorite author, which is the talented and lovely Brandon Sanderson. I say lovely not because of his physical features, which are perfectly nice, but because he's a Mormon. Yes, that's my reason. Stereotypes can be positive ones, and I've yet to meet a member of his faith that isn't an absolutely wonderful person.
Fair warning:
Spoilers Ahead.
If you haven't read anything by either of these men, then I suggest closing out the browser page and crying soulfully in a corner for a few minutes. Then, get back online, go to Amazon, buy my newest book, Beautiful, then buy Patrick Rothfuss' first book, The Name of the Wind, THEN go buy Sanderson's first book (which is a standalone title), Elantris. Spend the next few days/weeks enjoying all of them. Thank me when you're done.
On to the meat of this post, then. I'll be talking about the works of both men, as well as my own, in the context of the Craft of writing, and the joys of reading.
So:
My wife introduced me to both of these guys. I read The Name of the Wind right after she did, and I was blown away. Rothfuss has a way of making the characters he writes seem real and vibrant in a way no author I've ever read before has managed. The story is a simple one in premise, a retired legendary hero telling the true story of his life. The execution is far more complex and powerful, and every word of the book and its sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, is laid purposefully with every other to create a tapestry of story. The books are simultaneously poetic and crafted with moving prose, yet down to earth and easy to relate to.
Pat has a way of making every scene and line count. It's engrossing to an embarrassing degree--I've read WMF at least four times since it came out in March, and TNOTW more times than I can count since it came out years ago. Pat's worldbuilding is solid and interesting, but Kvothe, the main character, overshadows the carefully designed cultures woven through the books. That's fine with me, since those cultures are viewed through the lens of Kvothe's own experience. These books are the best thing I've read in a long, long time, and not just in the Epic Fantasy category.
But let's not forget Mr. Sanderson, either. My wife bugged me forever to read his Mistborn trilogy, and ironically I started with the standalone Elantris. Which I read in two days. Then the entire Mistborn trilogy. Then The Way of Kings. Then Warbreaker.
All in about a week and a half. I read fast when I have good books in hand, and these are freaking amazing.
Here's a thing about reading in general (and which helped me gain perspective as a writer) that reading Brandon's works taught me: you don't have to like even a majority of a book to LOVE the book. That's why I'm posting about both of these authors here: they exemplify that truth to me.
I'll explain:
There is only one scene between both of Rothfuss' books I don't really care for. The rest, to me, is so consistently good and interesting that I hang on every word every time I read them. The same isn't true for Sanderson. That isn't to say I think he's an inferior writer to Pat, only that certain parts of his style just don't appeal to me as much.
Take Brandon's work on The Wheel of Time, for example. I've read both of his WOT books several times each, and like the volumes written by Robert Jordan before them, there are large chunks that just don't survive a second reading. I skip them. I think a lot of people do. You can only read about Rand wanting to feel human again, or how hard his emotions have become, or how sad he is, so many times before your brain rebels and threatens to go on strike if you keep at it. That may be a Jordan thing, though, and Brandon is doing his best to meet the expectations of the readers.
So...Elantris has some parts that I have to slog through on a re-read. Really dry stuff not directly related to the main story that's far more vivid and interesting. Sounds super-critical, I know, but it really isn't intended to be. See, Brandon is an amazing writer. He's got great technical skills, an imagination that's almost scary, and worldbuilding skills that are huge and follow a complex logic I can't even grasp.
Rothfuss and Sanderson are two amazing writers who, in my mind, are at an equal level of talent and skill. Patrick focuses on telling an epic story in a personal way, colored by the voice of the main character. Brandon paints huge, sweeping vistas of imagery, creates new systems of magic for every series, and builds cultures with practiced ease. More, he ties all of his main series of books together with an overarching cosmology that connects each world together into a universe-scale epic.
Think 'The Dark Tower' by Stephen King, but WAY bigger, and you're close.
The Way of Kings, Brandon's latest novel (not counting The Wheel of Time, which aren't *technically* his novels) is what has brought on this deluge of words from me. I've been re-reading it for the fifth or sixth time, and there are so many elements I love about it I could almost write a book of my own. The characters are interesting, and better than any others he's ever written. His prose is cleaner and more stylized than his other books. The magic systems aren't as pronounced (at least so far in the series) as with his other books, which I really like. (MAJOR SPOILER!) In fact, the thing I like best about TWOK is watching the main character, Kaladin, learn how to access and control his Surgebinding (which is a cool freaking name) powers even as he deals with the horrors of being a slave.
TWOK manages to tell a story on an epic scale previously untouched while making you care about and sympathize with the characters. One literary device that has always pissed me off (and insulted me as a reader) is the idea that the bad guy is just the bad guy and has no more than that one dimension. Sadeas, asshat that he is throughout the book, is believable, and the best sort of antagonist--one who acts for what he sees as good and moral reasons.
There are SO many small touches that make TWOK good, that make me feel something, that it's become one of my all-time favorite books. I love how the mythology of it helps connect all of Brandon's books together, and how perfectly balanced the realistic depictions of the characters' lives are against the universe-shaking struggle going on behind the scenes.
And to my point--there are sections of the book I skip when I re-read it. Some characters that only appear in the interlude sections aren't important or interesting to me now that I know what their purpose was or how their section went. On re-reads, they just don't resonate the way they did on the first go round. Even some portions of Shallan's story are skippable, and definitely some of the more purely political scenes involving Dalinar. I get why they're there (to advance the political elements of the plot, which are important but sometimes boring) but again, I don't need to read them a second time.
Boy, that sounds really critical. It is, I guess, but I LOVE this book despite all that. The vast majority of it is spectacular, and I learned by reading it several times that it's possible to treasure the whole thing without loving every part of it. Sanderson and Rothfuss don't need my approval, after all. They've got piles of acclaim, sales, and money that prove their talents.
I think, though, that what I'm saying is important for several reasons. One is that even while I dislike the dryer elements of Brandon's books, overall I adore his style and will buy everything he writes because of that. I think he's amazing, and I would never give him a bad review. That's because I (unlike many people who review books on Amazon) recognize the inherent truth of being a reader: he didn't write this book for me.
Part of what makes Patrick and Brandon SUCH good writers is that they have written the stories they want to tell. I read a review of Wise Man's Fear right after it came out that was 1/5 stars and highly negative. The entire thing was a rant about how pissed the reader was that the story didn't go in the direction she wanted. Nothing about the style or prose of the book. She pointed out how much she loved the first one, but could barely get through WMF because the story didn't unfold the way she expected it to.
That's the difference. I respect the hell out of both of these guys. Pat's books appeal to me in every way, Brandon's almost as much but not quite. That says nothing about him as an author, only that my preferences as a reader aren't quite in sync with him. And that's fine! Really!
As a writer, I'm thrilled to have made this realization. It's a bitch trying to overcome bad reviews and hearing people complain about parts of your work. Knowing that I won't and can't please everyone is tough, but now it's easier to deal with.
I can handle people who don't enjoy my work. I think Pat and Brandon are seasoned enough to have managed that years ago. If I can write something that appeals to many, who may not like some parts but love the whole, I will be satisfied. Because I, like my two author heroes, write what I want. What I enjoy. I tell a story that excites me and appeals to me, and that's the best way to create.
Ok. Done now. None of this came out precisely the way I wanted, but it's a quarter to six in the morning. For those of you that scrolled down here because this was too long to read, let me sum up:
Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson. Both are amazing authors, nice guys, and deserve all the praise they get and more. One appeals to me a bit more, because of ME, not them. Readers should be more aware before they post hateful shit about books that took years to write, gallons of sweat, and many sleepless nights trying to get it just right.
Now, go buy their books (and mine, if you wanna) and enjoy them.
I've waxed poetic about Patrick Rothfuss many times on here, which may or may not be a good thing for me as an indie writer. After all, maybe I should be tooting my own horn a little more to drum up sales (which are still very slow) but I just can't help myself. Rothfuss is amazing.
However, I've been lax in talking about my other favorite author, which is the talented and lovely Brandon Sanderson. I say lovely not because of his physical features, which are perfectly nice, but because he's a Mormon. Yes, that's my reason. Stereotypes can be positive ones, and I've yet to meet a member of his faith that isn't an absolutely wonderful person.
Fair warning:
Spoilers Ahead.
If you haven't read anything by either of these men, then I suggest closing out the browser page and crying soulfully in a corner for a few minutes. Then, get back online, go to Amazon, buy my newest book, Beautiful, then buy Patrick Rothfuss' first book, The Name of the Wind, THEN go buy Sanderson's first book (which is a standalone title), Elantris. Spend the next few days/weeks enjoying all of them. Thank me when you're done.
On to the meat of this post, then. I'll be talking about the works of both men, as well as my own, in the context of the Craft of writing, and the joys of reading.
So:
My wife introduced me to both of these guys. I read The Name of the Wind right after she did, and I was blown away. Rothfuss has a way of making the characters he writes seem real and vibrant in a way no author I've ever read before has managed. The story is a simple one in premise, a retired legendary hero telling the true story of his life. The execution is far more complex and powerful, and every word of the book and its sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, is laid purposefully with every other to create a tapestry of story. The books are simultaneously poetic and crafted with moving prose, yet down to earth and easy to relate to.
Pat has a way of making every scene and line count. It's engrossing to an embarrassing degree--I've read WMF at least four times since it came out in March, and TNOTW more times than I can count since it came out years ago. Pat's worldbuilding is solid and interesting, but Kvothe, the main character, overshadows the carefully designed cultures woven through the books. That's fine with me, since those cultures are viewed through the lens of Kvothe's own experience. These books are the best thing I've read in a long, long time, and not just in the Epic Fantasy category.
But let's not forget Mr. Sanderson, either. My wife bugged me forever to read his Mistborn trilogy, and ironically I started with the standalone Elantris. Which I read in two days. Then the entire Mistborn trilogy. Then The Way of Kings. Then Warbreaker.
All in about a week and a half. I read fast when I have good books in hand, and these are freaking amazing.
Here's a thing about reading in general (and which helped me gain perspective as a writer) that reading Brandon's works taught me: you don't have to like even a majority of a book to LOVE the book. That's why I'm posting about both of these authors here: they exemplify that truth to me.
I'll explain:
There is only one scene between both of Rothfuss' books I don't really care for. The rest, to me, is so consistently good and interesting that I hang on every word every time I read them. The same isn't true for Sanderson. That isn't to say I think he's an inferior writer to Pat, only that certain parts of his style just don't appeal to me as much.
Take Brandon's work on The Wheel of Time, for example. I've read both of his WOT books several times each, and like the volumes written by Robert Jordan before them, there are large chunks that just don't survive a second reading. I skip them. I think a lot of people do. You can only read about Rand wanting to feel human again, or how hard his emotions have become, or how sad he is, so many times before your brain rebels and threatens to go on strike if you keep at it. That may be a Jordan thing, though, and Brandon is doing his best to meet the expectations of the readers.
So...Elantris has some parts that I have to slog through on a re-read. Really dry stuff not directly related to the main story that's far more vivid and interesting. Sounds super-critical, I know, but it really isn't intended to be. See, Brandon is an amazing writer. He's got great technical skills, an imagination that's almost scary, and worldbuilding skills that are huge and follow a complex logic I can't even grasp.
Rothfuss and Sanderson are two amazing writers who, in my mind, are at an equal level of talent and skill. Patrick focuses on telling an epic story in a personal way, colored by the voice of the main character. Brandon paints huge, sweeping vistas of imagery, creates new systems of magic for every series, and builds cultures with practiced ease. More, he ties all of his main series of books together with an overarching cosmology that connects each world together into a universe-scale epic.
Think 'The Dark Tower' by Stephen King, but WAY bigger, and you're close.
The Way of Kings, Brandon's latest novel (not counting The Wheel of Time, which aren't *technically* his novels) is what has brought on this deluge of words from me. I've been re-reading it for the fifth or sixth time, and there are so many elements I love about it I could almost write a book of my own. The characters are interesting, and better than any others he's ever written. His prose is cleaner and more stylized than his other books. The magic systems aren't as pronounced (at least so far in the series) as with his other books, which I really like. (MAJOR SPOILER!) In fact, the thing I like best about TWOK is watching the main character, Kaladin, learn how to access and control his Surgebinding (which is a cool freaking name) powers even as he deals with the horrors of being a slave.
TWOK manages to tell a story on an epic scale previously untouched while making you care about and sympathize with the characters. One literary device that has always pissed me off (and insulted me as a reader) is the idea that the bad guy is just the bad guy and has no more than that one dimension. Sadeas, asshat that he is throughout the book, is believable, and the best sort of antagonist--one who acts for what he sees as good and moral reasons.
There are SO many small touches that make TWOK good, that make me feel something, that it's become one of my all-time favorite books. I love how the mythology of it helps connect all of Brandon's books together, and how perfectly balanced the realistic depictions of the characters' lives are against the universe-shaking struggle going on behind the scenes.
And to my point--there are sections of the book I skip when I re-read it. Some characters that only appear in the interlude sections aren't important or interesting to me now that I know what their purpose was or how their section went. On re-reads, they just don't resonate the way they did on the first go round. Even some portions of Shallan's story are skippable, and definitely some of the more purely political scenes involving Dalinar. I get why they're there (to advance the political elements of the plot, which are important but sometimes boring) but again, I don't need to read them a second time.
Boy, that sounds really critical. It is, I guess, but I LOVE this book despite all that. The vast majority of it is spectacular, and I learned by reading it several times that it's possible to treasure the whole thing without loving every part of it. Sanderson and Rothfuss don't need my approval, after all. They've got piles of acclaim, sales, and money that prove their talents.
I think, though, that what I'm saying is important for several reasons. One is that even while I dislike the dryer elements of Brandon's books, overall I adore his style and will buy everything he writes because of that. I think he's amazing, and I would never give him a bad review. That's because I (unlike many people who review books on Amazon) recognize the inherent truth of being a reader: he didn't write this book for me.
Part of what makes Patrick and Brandon SUCH good writers is that they have written the stories they want to tell. I read a review of Wise Man's Fear right after it came out that was 1/5 stars and highly negative. The entire thing was a rant about how pissed the reader was that the story didn't go in the direction she wanted. Nothing about the style or prose of the book. She pointed out how much she loved the first one, but could barely get through WMF because the story didn't unfold the way she expected it to.
That's the difference. I respect the hell out of both of these guys. Pat's books appeal to me in every way, Brandon's almost as much but not quite. That says nothing about him as an author, only that my preferences as a reader aren't quite in sync with him. And that's fine! Really!
As a writer, I'm thrilled to have made this realization. It's a bitch trying to overcome bad reviews and hearing people complain about parts of your work. Knowing that I won't and can't please everyone is tough, but now it's easier to deal with.
I can handle people who don't enjoy my work. I think Pat and Brandon are seasoned enough to have managed that years ago. If I can write something that appeals to many, who may not like some parts but love the whole, I will be satisfied. Because I, like my two author heroes, write what I want. What I enjoy. I tell a story that excites me and appeals to me, and that's the best way to create.
Ok. Done now. None of this came out precisely the way I wanted, but it's a quarter to six in the morning. For those of you that scrolled down here because this was too long to read, let me sum up:
Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson. Both are amazing authors, nice guys, and deserve all the praise they get and more. One appeals to me a bit more, because of ME, not them. Readers should be more aware before they post hateful shit about books that took years to write, gallons of sweat, and many sleepless nights trying to get it just right.
Now, go buy their books (and mine, if you wanna) and enjoy them.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
"Beautiful" Release Liveblog!
Ok, here's where I'll be tracking the stats for the release of "Beautiful"! I'll be updating for as long as I can stay awake as we try to rush the book up the charts on the Kindle store.
Release begins at 4, right now it's...
3:48 PM:
Beautiful is at 11 copies sold, though I think the reporting feature on my Author dashboard isn't catching up with reality just yet....
Sales: 11
Rank: 14, 842
Jess says the book is #3 on the paranormal fantasy/vampires list, but I can't find it....
4:09 PM:
Sales: 12
Rank: 16,198
Unless amazon has done some major overhauls on how things work, we won't see a rank change until sometime after 5. That might be different, actually, because it changed mid-hour today already, so I'll keep an eye on it. Anyone that finds my book in the top 100 of any list, please post a comment here or on my wall on facebook. I can't seem to find the one my wife told me about.
4:42 PM:
Just a quick update, as amazon is failing me in my hour of need: sales figures are NOT updating in real time. Confirmed by the fact that at least half a dozen people have bought it and told me they did, yet the sales haven't showed up yet.
5:12 PM
Sales: 16
Rank: 16,198 (no update yet)
Sales reports trickling in slowly, still not showing up in real time. On the upside, this link shows that right now, I'm #1 in recently popular books tagged with "Paranormal Fantasy--Vampires". Admittedly a small group, but I'll take what I can get. Much like winning arguments in a marriage...
5:23 PM
Amazon's system is really laggy, as my rank dropped just now to 17,452. I assume that it will update correctly next hour, and we'll see a huge jump in that number, probably under the 10,000 mark. Hopefully better. It WOULD be today that the system has to work so hard, right?
6:10 PM
Sales: 23 (Doubt this is accurate, though)
Rank: 17,452 (not updated)
Well, I was hoping for more functionality from Amazon, but Saturday is a big night sales-wise for them. Hopefully as the flurry of people buying eBooks dies down tonight we'll see some more accurate numbers. Will update as soon as the sales rank does.
6:35 PM
Sales: 23 (unchanged)
Rank: 15,109 (This is wrong)
The rank system isn't working properly. Sales aren't being registered there as they should be. I'll keep an eye out, but I doubt at this point that my rank and sales are accurate in the least.
7:17 PM
Sales: 24
Rank: 15,109 (unchanged. Again.)
Nothing really new to report. Watching to see when the rank changes. I don't expect it to go much lower unless the system recognizes more of my sales.
7:25 PM
Rank is now at 13,411. Anyone who hasn't grabbed the book yet, let's keep the momentum going!
8:13 PM
Sales: 26
Rank: 13,411 Looks like the rank is updating around half past the hour, so we'll see how it goes...
8:26 PM
Sales: 27
Rank: 4,827 !!!!!! AND I'm in the top 100 contemporary fantasy books! I know you're gonna say "pics or it didn't happen", so....
9:12 PM
Sales: 28
Rank: 4,827 in paid Kindle Store, 90 in contemporary fantasy
I'm anxious to see how the rankings look when they update. I'm thrilled to have gotten this far, and I hope the momentum lasts!
9:21 pm
No new sales, but I have one review (4/5 stars, YAY!) and....
Rank: 4,371 in paid store, 78 in contemporary fantasy
I'm realistic enough to know that without some new sales, this is likely the peak position Beautiful will reach tonight. Here's hoping the sales updates are even slower than I initially thought so more will show up.
10:10 PM
Sales: 29
Rank: 3,925 in paid kindle store. #71 kindle contemporary fantasy, #99 in contemporary fantasy for ALL BOOKS on amazon! WOOOOOHOOOOO (again)!
11:18 PM
Sales: 30
Rank: 4,340 in paid store, #78 contemporary fantasy on kindle.
I've seen one purchase that won't have gone into this, so unless more pop up between now and midnight I'm calling it a night. If some more people buy the book I'll try to keep on even if it means passing out on my laptop...
12:36 AM
Sales: 33
Rank: 4,480 in paid store, #82 in kindle contemporary fantasy
I'm going to go to the next update at least, since sales have happened in the last forty minutes. I'd like to see if we can hit a high point before I slump over unconscious.
1:14 AM
Sales: 34
Rank: 4,937 in paid store, #94 in kindle contemporary fiction
Not a bad night. I assume the numbers will jump a bit after two since they obviously didn't fall into this update, but I don't think I'll be awake to see it. I'll check back in when I wake up, but overall I'm pleased. We cracked the top 4000 and got on a top 100 list. Good times.
7:42 AM
Sales: 35
Rank: 5,382 in paid store
I'll be keeping an eye out off and on until 4 when the event ends, but I don't expect miracles. The metadata for the book isn't fully functional yet, which means it isn't showing up as a suggested sale anywhere at the moment. That will probably take a few days.
2:18 PM
Sales: 37
Rank: 7,040 in paid store
With just less than two hours to go for the event, I've got two sales that came as a bit of a surprise after a slow morning. I'll keep an eye on the numbers, and I'm already planning another one of these donation drive events not too far down the road. There are some interesting things going on behind the scenes that could be very fun...
3:14 PM
Sales: 37
Rank: 7,638
Looks like we're on the tail end of our rush efforts. I'll give another update after the 4:00ish numbers come out.
Ok, no more sales since the last update! That's it for this promotion for charity, and the release day for Beautiful is officially done! Thanks to all of you who followed the blog, bought the book, or just cheered me on. You all rock!
Release begins at 4, right now it's...
3:48 PM:
Beautiful is at 11 copies sold, though I think the reporting feature on my Author dashboard isn't catching up with reality just yet....
Sales: 11
Rank: 14, 842
Jess says the book is #3 on the paranormal fantasy/vampires list, but I can't find it....
4:09 PM:
Sales: 12
Rank: 16,198
Unless amazon has done some major overhauls on how things work, we won't see a rank change until sometime after 5. That might be different, actually, because it changed mid-hour today already, so I'll keep an eye on it. Anyone that finds my book in the top 100 of any list, please post a comment here or on my wall on facebook. I can't seem to find the one my wife told me about.
4:42 PM:
Just a quick update, as amazon is failing me in my hour of need: sales figures are NOT updating in real time. Confirmed by the fact that at least half a dozen people have bought it and told me they did, yet the sales haven't showed up yet.
5:12 PM
Sales: 16
Rank: 16,198 (no update yet)
Sales reports trickling in slowly, still not showing up in real time. On the upside, this link shows that right now, I'm #1 in recently popular books tagged with "Paranormal Fantasy--Vampires". Admittedly a small group, but I'll take what I can get. Much like winning arguments in a marriage...
5:23 PM
Amazon's system is really laggy, as my rank dropped just now to 17,452. I assume that it will update correctly next hour, and we'll see a huge jump in that number, probably under the 10,000 mark. Hopefully better. It WOULD be today that the system has to work so hard, right?
6:10 PM
Sales: 23 (Doubt this is accurate, though)
Rank: 17,452 (not updated)
Well, I was hoping for more functionality from Amazon, but Saturday is a big night sales-wise for them. Hopefully as the flurry of people buying eBooks dies down tonight we'll see some more accurate numbers. Will update as soon as the sales rank does.
6:35 PM
Sales: 23 (unchanged)
Rank: 15,109 (This is wrong)
The rank system isn't working properly. Sales aren't being registered there as they should be. I'll keep an eye out, but I doubt at this point that my rank and sales are accurate in the least.
7:17 PM
Sales: 24
Rank: 15,109 (unchanged. Again.)
Nothing really new to report. Watching to see when the rank changes. I don't expect it to go much lower unless the system recognizes more of my sales.
7:25 PM
Rank is now at 13,411. Anyone who hasn't grabbed the book yet, let's keep the momentum going!
8:13 PM
Sales: 26
Rank: 13,411 Looks like the rank is updating around half past the hour, so we'll see how it goes...
8:26 PM
Sales: 27
Rank: 4,827 !!!!!! AND I'm in the top 100 contemporary fantasy books! I know you're gonna say "pics or it didn't happen", so....
9:12 PM
Sales: 28
Rank: 4,827 in paid Kindle Store, 90 in contemporary fantasy
I'm anxious to see how the rankings look when they update. I'm thrilled to have gotten this far, and I hope the momentum lasts!
9:21 pm
No new sales, but I have one review (4/5 stars, YAY!) and....
Rank: 4,371 in paid store, 78 in contemporary fantasy
I'm realistic enough to know that without some new sales, this is likely the peak position Beautiful will reach tonight. Here's hoping the sales updates are even slower than I initially thought so more will show up.
10:10 PM
Sales: 29
Rank: 3,925 in paid kindle store. #71 kindle contemporary fantasy, #99 in contemporary fantasy for ALL BOOKS on amazon! WOOOOOHOOOOO (again)!
11:18 PM
Sales: 30
Rank: 4,340 in paid store, #78 contemporary fantasy on kindle.
I've seen one purchase that won't have gone into this, so unless more pop up between now and midnight I'm calling it a night. If some more people buy the book I'll try to keep on even if it means passing out on my laptop...
12:36 AM
Sales: 33
Rank: 4,480 in paid store, #82 in kindle contemporary fantasy
I'm going to go to the next update at least, since sales have happened in the last forty minutes. I'd like to see if we can hit a high point before I slump over unconscious.
1:14 AM
Sales: 34
Rank: 4,937 in paid store, #94 in kindle contemporary fiction
Not a bad night. I assume the numbers will jump a bit after two since they obviously didn't fall into this update, but I don't think I'll be awake to see it. I'll check back in when I wake up, but overall I'm pleased. We cracked the top 4000 and got on a top 100 list. Good times.
7:42 AM
Sales: 35
Rank: 5,382 in paid store
I'll be keeping an eye out off and on until 4 when the event ends, but I don't expect miracles. The metadata for the book isn't fully functional yet, which means it isn't showing up as a suggested sale anywhere at the moment. That will probably take a few days.
2:18 PM
Sales: 37
Rank: 7,040 in paid store
With just less than two hours to go for the event, I've got two sales that came as a bit of a surprise after a slow morning. I'll keep an eye on the numbers, and I'm already planning another one of these donation drive events not too far down the road. There are some interesting things going on behind the scenes that could be very fun...
3:14 PM
Sales: 37
Rank: 7,638
Looks like we're on the tail end of our rush efforts. I'll give another update after the 4:00ish numbers come out.
Ok, no more sales since the last update! That's it for this promotion for charity, and the release day for Beautiful is officially done! Thanks to all of you who followed the blog, bought the book, or just cheered me on. You all rock!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
July 23rd: "Beautiful" Release = Worldbuilders Fundraiser
Official release day and time is Saturday, July 23rd at 4:00PM EST. Our Kindle rush efforts are aimed to get as many people as possible to purchase at that time, so read the whole post for every bit of info!
I'll be liveblogging from JoshuaGuess.com from that point until I fall asleep from sheer exhaustion, and I'll be tweeting as often as I can. You can follow me @JoshuaGuess.
This is the official post for the release of my new novel, "Beautiful". If you haven't noticed by the URL, I'm Joshua Guess. Thanks for visiting my author blog!
Purchase Links:
Buy it on the Amazon Kindle
Or on the Barnes and Noble Nook
The Smashwords version, which gets distributed across a number of platforms, can be found right here.
Just so I don't bore you too much, I'll give the nitty gritty, and then you can read on if you like:
"Beautiful" will be released on the Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords on July 23rd. I'm organizing an event on Facebook and across Twitter for it, which can be found here.
For 24 hours, from 4 pm on Saturday July 23rd until 4 pm Sunday, July 24th, every single penny I make from the sale of this book will be donated to Patrick Rothfuss' charity drive for Heifer International, Worldbuilders. You may know who Mr. Rothfuss is: Fantasy superstar, literary genius, and beard aficionado.
So I'm going to be pushing my book as hard as I can for two reasons: to run my own little fundraiser for Worldbuilders, a cause I believe in enough to donate not just a day's worth of income, but 10% of what I make from writing year-round. The other is to hopefully build enough momentum that "Beautiful" will gain a larger presence on Amazon and the rest, enough to really get my career going.
That's the blurb. If you're interested, then I hope you clicked on the link to the Facebook event above. If you'd like some more info, please keep on reading.
What is "Beautiful"?
First and foremost, it'll be $2.99. That's important.
I've had a hard time coming up with a description that fits. If I say that it's a book about vampires, your mind will leap to other books of that type. You'll have a preconceived notion. If I say it's about love, magic, sex, violence, the sheer wonder of creation, or pissed-off unicorns, the same problem exists. So let me put it to you in the only way that makes sense to me, which is a short description.
Dan Harrod is an average guy, happily toiling to pay the bills. He's married and in love, and like most guys he'd like to sleep with his boss, Gabrielle. Life is safe and quiet for Dan until he's suddenly ripped away from the careful routine he'd wrapped around himself.
Suddenly thrust into a hidden world of magic, Dan finds himself in the middle of a war between vampires that's been raging longer than human civilization. In a desperate bid to safeguard the lives of his friends and family, Dan will make hard choices and take desperate actions.
This little blurb is sort of interesting, but it doesn't quite give the whole feel. "Beautiful" is written in Dan's own voice, which is snarky and sarcastic. This book is a modern fantasy, a paranormal tale told by a main character that knows the genre. Imagine if you were suddenly faced with the truth that magic was real, along with vampires, werewolves, faeries, dragons, and yes, even unicorns.
You'd be scared and filled with awe, but I bet you'd also make fun of it a little.
That's this book. That's this story. It's an action/adventure filled with constant humor, occasional sex, and dotted with happy little trees of introspection and reflection. It's a lot of things, much like life itself.
I think you'll like it.
Oh, and if it helps you can think of it sort of like the Dresden Files but with more sex and less angst.
Why the charity drive for Worldbuilders?
Well, for two reasons. One is that I genuinely love the work Mr. Rothfuss does for Heifer, which provides a variety of sustainable living options for people in need at home and abroad. So much so that I retain 10% of all my writing income to donate when the Worldbuilders drive comes up.
The other reason is that I hope that people on the fence about the book might be swayed toward purchasing it if they know that some of the money will go to charity. In the case of release day for "Beautiful", I'm choosing to give everything for the first day because I think this book is going to take off, and I think the readers who have supported me so far deserve to see a little extra. I can't give them gifts directly, so I will donate some extra in their names.
And obviously, if 10% causes some people to buy the book, 100% might make a larger number do so. I'm happy to help in any way I can, but this is also a career for me, one that I hope to work at full-time before the end of next year. A lot of folks buying this book on day one increases the chance that I'll get some long term sales going.
The end game
Ideally, I'd like to see this book as the stepping stone to writing full time. If I can do that, I will be able to dedicate so much more time to working on my books and stories. Not having to work a full-time job means that I'd be able to crank out a huge volume of material. More books from me=more works sold=more money donated. It's a win/win.
I love to tell stories. I love writing characters and doing things to them, terrible and kind in equal measure. I think "Beautiful" is a strong book and will help me realize that goal. With your help, I can be on my way.
I'll be liveblogging from JoshuaGuess.com from that point until I fall asleep from sheer exhaustion, and I'll be tweeting as often as I can. You can follow me @JoshuaGuess.
This is the official post for the release of my new novel, "Beautiful". If you haven't noticed by the URL, I'm Joshua Guess. Thanks for visiting my author blog!
Purchase Links:
Buy it on the Amazon Kindle
Or on the Barnes and Noble Nook
The Smashwords version, which gets distributed across a number of platforms, can be found right here.
Just so I don't bore you too much, I'll give the nitty gritty, and then you can read on if you like:
"Beautiful" will be released on the Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords on July 23rd. I'm organizing an event on Facebook and across Twitter for it, which can be found here.
For 24 hours, from 4 pm on Saturday July 23rd until 4 pm Sunday, July 24th, every single penny I make from the sale of this book will be donated to Patrick Rothfuss' charity drive for Heifer International, Worldbuilders. You may know who Mr. Rothfuss is: Fantasy superstar, literary genius, and beard aficionado.
So I'm going to be pushing my book as hard as I can for two reasons: to run my own little fundraiser for Worldbuilders, a cause I believe in enough to donate not just a day's worth of income, but 10% of what I make from writing year-round. The other is to hopefully build enough momentum that "Beautiful" will gain a larger presence on Amazon and the rest, enough to really get my career going.
That's the blurb. If you're interested, then I hope you clicked on the link to the Facebook event above. If you'd like some more info, please keep on reading.
What is "Beautiful"?
First and foremost, it'll be $2.99. That's important.
I've had a hard time coming up with a description that fits. If I say that it's a book about vampires, your mind will leap to other books of that type. You'll have a preconceived notion. If I say it's about love, magic, sex, violence, the sheer wonder of creation, or pissed-off unicorns, the same problem exists. So let me put it to you in the only way that makes sense to me, which is a short description.
Dan Harrod is an average guy, happily toiling to pay the bills. He's married and in love, and like most guys he'd like to sleep with his boss, Gabrielle. Life is safe and quiet for Dan until he's suddenly ripped away from the careful routine he'd wrapped around himself.
Suddenly thrust into a hidden world of magic, Dan finds himself in the middle of a war between vampires that's been raging longer than human civilization. In a desperate bid to safeguard the lives of his friends and family, Dan will make hard choices and take desperate actions.
This little blurb is sort of interesting, but it doesn't quite give the whole feel. "Beautiful" is written in Dan's own voice, which is snarky and sarcastic. This book is a modern fantasy, a paranormal tale told by a main character that knows the genre. Imagine if you were suddenly faced with the truth that magic was real, along with vampires, werewolves, faeries, dragons, and yes, even unicorns.
You'd be scared and filled with awe, but I bet you'd also make fun of it a little.
That's this book. That's this story. It's an action/adventure filled with constant humor, occasional sex, and dotted with happy little trees of introspection and reflection. It's a lot of things, much like life itself.
I think you'll like it.
Oh, and if it helps you can think of it sort of like the Dresden Files but with more sex and less angst.
Why the charity drive for Worldbuilders?
Well, for two reasons. One is that I genuinely love the work Mr. Rothfuss does for Heifer, which provides a variety of sustainable living options for people in need at home and abroad. So much so that I retain 10% of all my writing income to donate when the Worldbuilders drive comes up.
The other reason is that I hope that people on the fence about the book might be swayed toward purchasing it if they know that some of the money will go to charity. In the case of release day for "Beautiful", I'm choosing to give everything for the first day because I think this book is going to take off, and I think the readers who have supported me so far deserve to see a little extra. I can't give them gifts directly, so I will donate some extra in their names.
And obviously, if 10% causes some people to buy the book, 100% might make a larger number do so. I'm happy to help in any way I can, but this is also a career for me, one that I hope to work at full-time before the end of next year. A lot of folks buying this book on day one increases the chance that I'll get some long term sales going.
The end game
Ideally, I'd like to see this book as the stepping stone to writing full time. If I can do that, I will be able to dedicate so much more time to working on my books and stories. Not having to work a full-time job means that I'd be able to crank out a huge volume of material. More books from me=more works sold=more money donated. It's a win/win.
I love to tell stories. I love writing characters and doing things to them, terrible and kind in equal measure. I think "Beautiful" is a strong book and will help me realize that goal. With your help, I can be on my way.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
"Beautiful" News
I had intended this post to be the first in a series of analyses on Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss. I've been playing with the idea of comparing these guys, two of my favorite authors, for quite a while. I'm going to get to that soon, likely next week. There's a good reason for the delay, as well as delaying my post about Amanda Hocking.
That reason: I've finished "Beautiful", and I want to talk about it.
First, when I say I've finished it, I mean that I've gotten the body of the text done and I'm midway through an edit and revision. I know a lot of authors edit and edit and editediteditedit until their brains start to cook inside their own heads. I also know that other authors will do huge revisions that add this or that, and for them that works. Not me. I have a pretty clear idea of what I want the story to be, and tinkering with anything too large changes the tone of my work for the worse. I function and write best when I can streamline and make better what I have, and add or alter small things as I go.
That being said, "Beautiful" is essentially done. I've got to finish the edit I'm on and send it out to the Beta readers, after which I will spend a few days working on the issues they find, correcting and further smoothing as I go.
Part of why I don't think this book is going to take a lot more work is because of the strange metamorphosis it went through even as I was writing it. I want to talk about it, since I'm proud as a new father but lacking the requisite vomit stains all over me, so sit down, buckle up, and bask in the stupid happiness that was the six month process of writing "Beautiful".
ORIGIN (all caps makes it neat-o)
I started writing this book as a joke. My boss on the weekend shift where I work as a nurse aide found out I was a writer and pestered me to write something for her. Well, I say pestered but it was all in good fun, really. Gabrielle told me that I should write a story about her, and I (being the classy man that I am) told her that if I did, it would have to be erotica. She laughed and dared me to do it, so I started to write.
I didn't get very far, because I'm not an erotica reader. I had no idea where to go, so I put it to the side. At the same time, I'd been working on an idea for a vampire novel, or at least a modern fantasy that heavily featured them. Somewhere down the line, I combined the two ideas, dropped the genre "erotica" as it was too confining for what I wanted to do, and "Beautiful" was born.
A SLOW START
January was supposed to be when I buckled down and did the majority of the writing for this book. I thought I could do it, since I'd consistently put in 1,000 words or better a day on my first novel. Again, this didn't work out, since most of that month I was really, really sick. I got a little down and soured a little on the project. Gabrielle started asking me about it repeatedly, and slowly I began pecking away at my laptop. A hundred words here, five hundred there. Slow but steady.
THE BLOOM
I guess this part is the most important. Where "Beautiful" had begun as a simple idea, over the first few months of writing it I discovered that I had way too many ideas to fit into the 100,000 word novel I'd planned. As time wore on and I really got into writing the characters, I created more and more canon to eventually draw on. I don't want to give anything away, so I won't be specific here. I will only say that what began as an idea for a novel of 100k words bloomed into enough material for a series of six books. I've actually got ideas that can go past that, but I have solid outlines for the second and third books in the series, and rough outlines for books four through six.
I felt like a lot of pressure had been lifted from me when I decided to expand the series, so I cut a lot of the material I'd wanted to put at the end of book 1, taking it down to a respectable 80,000 words. That's where I am right now.
SO...WHAT IS IT ABOUT?!
"Beautiful" started out as erotica, then added vampire and other supernatural elements, then...I don't know how to explain this very well, because in some ways I don't really understand what happened. Somewhere along the way, as I was writing the main character, Dan, who is based very closely on me, his wife, Anna, who is basically my own wife, and Gabrielle, who is based on my boss, "Beautiful" became something else. Something different.
The original tone and direction of the novel changed. I didn't focus on sex or action as much as I thought I was going to, opting instead to take a more relaxed and informal tone. The story is told in Dan's voice, with his snarky remarks and observations about the world around him thrown in. Imagine if your best friend who was kind of a smartass suddenly found out that there was this whole amazing world of magic hidden just below the surface. Imagine he's telling you the story first hand.
The thing that I really enjoyed about writing this book was just letting go and writing for the sheer enjoyment of it. I didn't worry about sentence structure or timing, nor the other hundred little things I usually fret about. I wrote for fun and to tell a rousing tale of love, sex, violence and hope. Like life itself, this story has all of them, plus a HUGE dose of humor as the narrator alternately makes fun of and celebrates the magical world around him.
I don't know if this makes sense to you, but I hope so. This book was written from my heart in a way that I've never managed before. The style, very personal and honest, is something like my zombie blog, Living With the Dead. It's funnier, and faster paced, and....
I'll stop here. I don't know what the recipe for success as an author is. As time goes by, I think that the only sure way to succeed at first is just pure luck. I don't know that my love for this book means that I'm insanely egotistical, though I fully admit to the possibility.
I'm not saying it's a masterpiece of prose and technical skill. It isn't. It's good, really good, from what I can tell, but I don't love this book for that reason. Painters can have all the technical skill in the world and in the end without creativity and talent, they will never be famous or renowned. Certainly not loved.
No, the reason I love this book is very simple, and maybe only something that other writers might get. I love "Beautiful" so much because whether or not anyone else ever reads it, I enjoyed it immensely. I had fun writing it, and I had fun reading it. I don't know if one word of it will say anything profound or important to anyone else, but I'm satisfied with my creation because it speaks to me. It says many things that have long been in my heart.
"Beautiful" is fun. It's really funny. It's sweet in places, nerve-wracking in others. It has moments of sex and awkwardness, with everything in between. I tried so hard to put the little things in there, the hundred tiny bits that make life interesting and real to us. I wanted to honestly portray what I thought Dan, the main character, would be going through. I think I succeeded. For me, anyway, it works.
This book is lighthearted and fun, but hopefully with a bit more depth than this post leads you to believe. I'm really not an egomaniac, I swear. I'm just thrilled to be finished with the first leg of this journey, and excited to move on to the next step.
Hey, who knows: other people might like it too.
That reason: I've finished "Beautiful", and I want to talk about it.
First, when I say I've finished it, I mean that I've gotten the body of the text done and I'm midway through an edit and revision. I know a lot of authors edit and edit and editediteditedit until their brains start to cook inside their own heads. I also know that other authors will do huge revisions that add this or that, and for them that works. Not me. I have a pretty clear idea of what I want the story to be, and tinkering with anything too large changes the tone of my work for the worse. I function and write best when I can streamline and make better what I have, and add or alter small things as I go.
That being said, "Beautiful" is essentially done. I've got to finish the edit I'm on and send it out to the Beta readers, after which I will spend a few days working on the issues they find, correcting and further smoothing as I go.
Part of why I don't think this book is going to take a lot more work is because of the strange metamorphosis it went through even as I was writing it. I want to talk about it, since I'm proud as a new father but lacking the requisite vomit stains all over me, so sit down, buckle up, and bask in the stupid happiness that was the six month process of writing "Beautiful".
ORIGIN (all caps makes it neat-o)
I started writing this book as a joke. My boss on the weekend shift where I work as a nurse aide found out I was a writer and pestered me to write something for her. Well, I say pestered but it was all in good fun, really. Gabrielle told me that I should write a story about her, and I (being the classy man that I am) told her that if I did, it would have to be erotica. She laughed and dared me to do it, so I started to write.
I didn't get very far, because I'm not an erotica reader. I had no idea where to go, so I put it to the side. At the same time, I'd been working on an idea for a vampire novel, or at least a modern fantasy that heavily featured them. Somewhere down the line, I combined the two ideas, dropped the genre "erotica" as it was too confining for what I wanted to do, and "Beautiful" was born.
A SLOW START
January was supposed to be when I buckled down and did the majority of the writing for this book. I thought I could do it, since I'd consistently put in 1,000 words or better a day on my first novel. Again, this didn't work out, since most of that month I was really, really sick. I got a little down and soured a little on the project. Gabrielle started asking me about it repeatedly, and slowly I began pecking away at my laptop. A hundred words here, five hundred there. Slow but steady.
THE BLOOM
I guess this part is the most important. Where "Beautiful" had begun as a simple idea, over the first few months of writing it I discovered that I had way too many ideas to fit into the 100,000 word novel I'd planned. As time wore on and I really got into writing the characters, I created more and more canon to eventually draw on. I don't want to give anything away, so I won't be specific here. I will only say that what began as an idea for a novel of 100k words bloomed into enough material for a series of six books. I've actually got ideas that can go past that, but I have solid outlines for the second and third books in the series, and rough outlines for books four through six.
I felt like a lot of pressure had been lifted from me when I decided to expand the series, so I cut a lot of the material I'd wanted to put at the end of book 1, taking it down to a respectable 80,000 words. That's where I am right now.
SO...WHAT IS IT ABOUT?!
"Beautiful" started out as erotica, then added vampire and other supernatural elements, then...I don't know how to explain this very well, because in some ways I don't really understand what happened. Somewhere along the way, as I was writing the main character, Dan, who is based very closely on me, his wife, Anna, who is basically my own wife, and Gabrielle, who is based on my boss, "Beautiful" became something else. Something different.
The original tone and direction of the novel changed. I didn't focus on sex or action as much as I thought I was going to, opting instead to take a more relaxed and informal tone. The story is told in Dan's voice, with his snarky remarks and observations about the world around him thrown in. Imagine if your best friend who was kind of a smartass suddenly found out that there was this whole amazing world of magic hidden just below the surface. Imagine he's telling you the story first hand.
The thing that I really enjoyed about writing this book was just letting go and writing for the sheer enjoyment of it. I didn't worry about sentence structure or timing, nor the other hundred little things I usually fret about. I wrote for fun and to tell a rousing tale of love, sex, violence and hope. Like life itself, this story has all of them, plus a HUGE dose of humor as the narrator alternately makes fun of and celebrates the magical world around him.
I don't know if this makes sense to you, but I hope so. This book was written from my heart in a way that I've never managed before. The style, very personal and honest, is something like my zombie blog, Living With the Dead. It's funnier, and faster paced, and....
I'll stop here. I don't know what the recipe for success as an author is. As time goes by, I think that the only sure way to succeed at first is just pure luck. I don't know that my love for this book means that I'm insanely egotistical, though I fully admit to the possibility.
I'm not saying it's a masterpiece of prose and technical skill. It isn't. It's good, really good, from what I can tell, but I don't love this book for that reason. Painters can have all the technical skill in the world and in the end without creativity and talent, they will never be famous or renowned. Certainly not loved.
No, the reason I love this book is very simple, and maybe only something that other writers might get. I love "Beautiful" so much because whether or not anyone else ever reads it, I enjoyed it immensely. I had fun writing it, and I had fun reading it. I don't know if one word of it will say anything profound or important to anyone else, but I'm satisfied with my creation because it speaks to me. It says many things that have long been in my heart.
"Beautiful" is fun. It's really funny. It's sweet in places, nerve-wracking in others. It has moments of sex and awkwardness, with everything in between. I tried so hard to put the little things in there, the hundred tiny bits that make life interesting and real to us. I wanted to honestly portray what I thought Dan, the main character, would be going through. I think I succeeded. For me, anyway, it works.
This book is lighthearted and fun, but hopefully with a bit more depth than this post leads you to believe. I'm really not an egomaniac, I swear. I'm just thrilled to be finished with the first leg of this journey, and excited to move on to the next step.
Hey, who knows: other people might like it too.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Soon
I'm going to have news for you soon, as well as several new posts that are going to be done one after another concerning my thoughts and outlook on many things. I want to take a look at two of my favorite authors and what their contrasting and differing styles mean to me. I want to talk about the self-publishing wunderkid Amanda Hocking and how she's affecting the world of self-publishing and other sundries.
I want to do many things here, but honestly I've been working my ass off at finishing "Beautiful" as well as at my actual job. I'm hoping to finish the book before Wednesday night. So...looks like new blogs will be going up here very soon. Probably starting this coming weekend. It's gonna be fun, so stay tuned.
I want to do many things here, but honestly I've been working my ass off at finishing "Beautiful" as well as at my actual job. I'm hoping to finish the book before Wednesday night. So...looks like new blogs will be going up here very soon. Probably starting this coming weekend. It's gonna be fun, so stay tuned.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
For the Kvothe fans
Hey there, fans of the Kvothe page! I'm Josh Guess, the guy who created it. Some of you know this already, some of you may not. This post is just for you guys.
This is the second one of these posts here on my author blog that I've written because of you. This one serves two purposes: the first is to give a little back, since all of you have been so supportive of the Kvothe page. I made it to help out Worldbuilders, and if the most recent auction is any indication, it's doing the job.
So, in that spirit, I'm going to give you all something for free: the first collection of my (almost) daily blog set in the zombie apocalypse. Living With the Dead: With Spring Comes The Fall is the first six months of the blog collected into an eBook. Yes, the blog is free to read online, but a lot of people like having the collections handy to peruse at their leisure. Some of them like helping to support an indie writer. Some like both.
So, I'm going to give away this eBook to you. If you've got a Kindle or a Kindle app on your phone, tablet, or computer, and you like free stuff, then all you have to do is send an email to SimplyKvothe@gmail.com and request a copy. Put "Free eBook" in the subject line, and I will gift you a copy from my private email address.
There's no catch, no strings attached. Just free stuff.
However, I will be letting your requests build up for a bit before I send out the gift emails. I'm going to send all of them out in one big bunch, because honestly it will help my sales rankings (and hopefully other sales as a result) to have several of you accept your gift copies in a short period of time.
I will be accepting email requests for the next week. Next Sunday, the 22nd, I will send out your gift copies. I hope that many of you download them that day. You will get free stuff, which you all deserve, and hopefully I'll get a sales bump. Since I give 10% of my royalties to Worldbuilders, that serves my goal of helping out Patrick Rothfuss's charitable works as well.
Thanks, all of you, for just being awesome. You make pretending to be Kvothe a satisfying and fun experience, and your willingness to help others blows me away.
This is the second one of these posts here on my author blog that I've written because of you. This one serves two purposes: the first is to give a little back, since all of you have been so supportive of the Kvothe page. I made it to help out Worldbuilders, and if the most recent auction is any indication, it's doing the job.
So, in that spirit, I'm going to give you all something for free: the first collection of my (almost) daily blog set in the zombie apocalypse. Living With the Dead: With Spring Comes The Fall is the first six months of the blog collected into an eBook. Yes, the blog is free to read online, but a lot of people like having the collections handy to peruse at their leisure. Some of them like helping to support an indie writer. Some like both.
So, I'm going to give away this eBook to you. If you've got a Kindle or a Kindle app on your phone, tablet, or computer, and you like free stuff, then all you have to do is send an email to SimplyKvothe@gmail.com and request a copy. Put "Free eBook" in the subject line, and I will gift you a copy from my private email address.
There's no catch, no strings attached. Just free stuff.
However, I will be letting your requests build up for a bit before I send out the gift emails. I'm going to send all of them out in one big bunch, because honestly it will help my sales rankings (and hopefully other sales as a result) to have several of you accept your gift copies in a short period of time.
I will be accepting email requests for the next week. Next Sunday, the 22nd, I will send out your gift copies. I hope that many of you download them that day. You will get free stuff, which you all deserve, and hopefully I'll get a sales bump. Since I give 10% of my royalties to Worldbuilders, that serves my goal of helping out Patrick Rothfuss's charitable works as well.
Thanks, all of you, for just being awesome. You make pretending to be Kvothe a satisfying and fun experience, and your willingness to help others blows me away.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Quiet Times
You know, I don't write on this blog (which serves as my official website) nearly as often as I should. Part of the reason for this is because I have a lot of other things going on, and frankly, there just aren't that many of you reading it. Not that I don't want to provide some updates and content for my fans, but honestly, there just isn't a lot going on in my world that's worth writing to you about.
For example, my sales have flattened out. There will always be a fluctuation in sales, and right now I've got nothing exciting to tell on that front. I'm hoping that when I finish "Beautiful", that will change. It's a book written for a more popular genre, so if I'm lucky I will see a nice bump in sales. Given the total lack of success of my debut novel, I'm not holding my breath. I will hope, but not expect.
"Beautiful" is coming along, but very slowly. My original plan to write the main body of the book in less than two months was foolishly optimistic. I know that authors like Stephen King have said that unless you can dedicate four hours to writing every day, you might not have the dedication it takes to do it full time.
With all due respect to Mr. King (and I am a big fan of him as a person and as an author), he doesn't work a full time job other than writing. I do, and it sucks. I come home mentally and physically exhausted every day, and my days off are just periods of recuperation between bouts of work. Because of this, as well as being ill for the majority of January of this year, my work is coming along very slowly. "Beautiful is just about halfway finished and is clocking in at about 42,000 words. I'd intended it to be at around 100,000 when finished, but the story just doesn't need that much wordage.
You might think that revising my total down by almost 20k words means that I'm cutting out a lot of story. In one way, that's true--I've gone from enough material to fill one novel to enough for six. Easily six. It's possible that I could write many more than that, but I have the first three planned out in decent detail, and the three after loosely planned in broad strokes. I'm pretty excited about it.
If I could take a year off from working full time, I would be able to write so much more. I think I could crank out a novel every few months, and that's while still writing Living With the Dead every day. I've got so many things I want to work on.
If I only had the time! That's what I'd ask the wizard for, were I to find myself in Oz.
For example, my sales have flattened out. There will always be a fluctuation in sales, and right now I've got nothing exciting to tell on that front. I'm hoping that when I finish "Beautiful", that will change. It's a book written for a more popular genre, so if I'm lucky I will see a nice bump in sales. Given the total lack of success of my debut novel, I'm not holding my breath. I will hope, but not expect.
"Beautiful" is coming along, but very slowly. My original plan to write the main body of the book in less than two months was foolishly optimistic. I know that authors like Stephen King have said that unless you can dedicate four hours to writing every day, you might not have the dedication it takes to do it full time.
With all due respect to Mr. King (and I am a big fan of him as a person and as an author), he doesn't work a full time job other than writing. I do, and it sucks. I come home mentally and physically exhausted every day, and my days off are just periods of recuperation between bouts of work. Because of this, as well as being ill for the majority of January of this year, my work is coming along very slowly. "Beautiful is just about halfway finished and is clocking in at about 42,000 words. I'd intended it to be at around 100,000 when finished, but the story just doesn't need that much wordage.
You might think that revising my total down by almost 20k words means that I'm cutting out a lot of story. In one way, that's true--I've gone from enough material to fill one novel to enough for six. Easily six. It's possible that I could write many more than that, but I have the first three planned out in decent detail, and the three after loosely planned in broad strokes. I'm pretty excited about it.
If I could take a year off from working full time, I would be able to write so much more. I think I could crank out a novel every few months, and that's while still writing Living With the Dead every day. I've got so many things I want to work on.
If I only had the time! That's what I'd ask the wizard for, were I to find myself in Oz.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Back In the Saddle
I've been away from this blog for a while now, mainly due to a constant and pervasive exhaustion pretty much every minute that I'm awake. This morning I'm feeling a little bit better, so I decided to take a few minutes that throw some updates at you.
An interesting one is that I've started a fan page on Facebook, where I take on the role of Kvothe, the main character from Patrick Rothfuss's books. It's fun, and I (or rather, he) have (has) a little over 300 fans as of this writing. I did it for fun and as a way to organize some fundraising for Mr. Rothfuss' Worldbuilders drive later this year, and the fans seem to like it. You can check it out here.
Because of the above mentioned exhaustion, work on my current novel has ground to a halt. I've gotten very little done on it lately, and that annoys me. I'm so distracted by the overwhelming urge to sleep all the time that gathering my wits about me enough to write well is very hard. It's about all I can manage to work on Living With the Dead, and after I get done posting there most days I feel like I've just finished doing calculus for an hour. Maybe I should see a doctor...
...because I have been very encouraged by my recent sales. I expect April to be a lot slower than March was, but March was another milestone month for me. I broke the $1000 mark in sales for the first time, and broke the 400 copies sold mark as well, which I've been close to for a while. Unless I get a big surge in sales this month, it's looking like I won't do quite that well for April, but that's OK. I know that there will be peaks and valleys, and I just hope that enough of my readers will still be waiting patiently when I finally get done with my current work in progress.
The book I'm working on right now, my vampire novel tentatively titled "Beautiful", feels like some of my best work. Not necessarily in depth, but for sheer entertainment value. Not that I consider the book shallow by any means; I don't. I've just made a real effort to avoid the philosophizing that most of my other work is so heavy on and focus on making the characters deal more with what's going on around them.
On thing about Beautiful that I can say for sure: it's funny as hell. That wasn't my intention at the start of the story, but since I'm taking a similar approach to the characters as I do with Living With the Dead, and basing them off of me and the people I know, funny stuff just tends to creep in. I started reading over a bit of the story the other day, and it made me laugh. Which is a good sign, since I'm the one that wrote it.
That's about all I have for right now, everyone. If you do check out the Kvothe page on Facebook, make sure to "like" it if you're interesting in some daily laughs by yours truly, and want to keep an eye out for a few neat fundraising things I'll be doing over the next several months.
For example:
In the next few days (as soon as I can find it), I will be auctioning off a signed hardback copy of "The Walking Dead" deluxe edition volume one. Series creator and writer Robert Kirkman even drew a little zombie inside the cover. All proceeds from the auction will go to Worldbuilders later this year. I'll be auctioning off some other stuff throughout the year as well.
One thing I plan on doing soon is offering a BIG giveaway of some of my eBooks to anyone that wants them, with a few caveats: one is that anyone who wants a free copy when I do this promotion has to promise to download it on a certain day. I'm hoping that if enough people do that, it will give my sales rank a nice boost on Amazon, which frankly I need right now. The other neat part is that if a certain number of people request their free copies, I will donate a certain amount of extra money to Worldbuilders this year. I don't have it set in stone just yet, but we'll say for every ten copies requested, I'll donate an extra five bucks. Something like that.
I'll post details when the time comes, along with an email address that people can send their requests to. Until then, I'll do my best to keep you all updated.
An interesting one is that I've started a fan page on Facebook, where I take on the role of Kvothe, the main character from Patrick Rothfuss's books. It's fun, and I (or rather, he) have (has) a little over 300 fans as of this writing. I did it for fun and as a way to organize some fundraising for Mr. Rothfuss' Worldbuilders drive later this year, and the fans seem to like it. You can check it out here.
Because of the above mentioned exhaustion, work on my current novel has ground to a halt. I've gotten very little done on it lately, and that annoys me. I'm so distracted by the overwhelming urge to sleep all the time that gathering my wits about me enough to write well is very hard. It's about all I can manage to work on Living With the Dead, and after I get done posting there most days I feel like I've just finished doing calculus for an hour. Maybe I should see a doctor...
...because I have been very encouraged by my recent sales. I expect April to be a lot slower than March was, but March was another milestone month for me. I broke the $1000 mark in sales for the first time, and broke the 400 copies sold mark as well, which I've been close to for a while. Unless I get a big surge in sales this month, it's looking like I won't do quite that well for April, but that's OK. I know that there will be peaks and valleys, and I just hope that enough of my readers will still be waiting patiently when I finally get done with my current work in progress.
The book I'm working on right now, my vampire novel tentatively titled "Beautiful", feels like some of my best work. Not necessarily in depth, but for sheer entertainment value. Not that I consider the book shallow by any means; I don't. I've just made a real effort to avoid the philosophizing that most of my other work is so heavy on and focus on making the characters deal more with what's going on around them.
On thing about Beautiful that I can say for sure: it's funny as hell. That wasn't my intention at the start of the story, but since I'm taking a similar approach to the characters as I do with Living With the Dead, and basing them off of me and the people I know, funny stuff just tends to creep in. I started reading over a bit of the story the other day, and it made me laugh. Which is a good sign, since I'm the one that wrote it.
That's about all I have for right now, everyone. If you do check out the Kvothe page on Facebook, make sure to "like" it if you're interesting in some daily laughs by yours truly, and want to keep an eye out for a few neat fundraising things I'll be doing over the next several months.
For example:
In the next few days (as soon as I can find it), I will be auctioning off a signed hardback copy of "The Walking Dead" deluxe edition volume one. Series creator and writer Robert Kirkman even drew a little zombie inside the cover. All proceeds from the auction will go to Worldbuilders later this year. I'll be auctioning off some other stuff throughout the year as well.
One thing I plan on doing soon is offering a BIG giveaway of some of my eBooks to anyone that wants them, with a few caveats: one is that anyone who wants a free copy when I do this promotion has to promise to download it on a certain day. I'm hoping that if enough people do that, it will give my sales rank a nice boost on Amazon, which frankly I need right now. The other neat part is that if a certain number of people request their free copies, I will donate a certain amount of extra money to Worldbuilders this year. I don't have it set in stone just yet, but we'll say for every ten copies requested, I'll donate an extra five bucks. Something like that.
I'll post details when the time comes, along with an email address that people can send their requests to. Until then, I'll do my best to keep you all updated.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Geeking out: Patrick Rothfuss
So, for those of you paying attention, you know I'm a huge Fan of Patrick Rothfuss. He's the guy that wrote what I consider to be the best fantasy novel ever written, The Name of the Wind. It's also tied with To Kill a Mockingbird as my favorite book of all time. I've bought so many copies for people as gifts that I'm pretty sure I've paid off a good chunk of his mortgage.
I like him for more than just his writing, though his talent with words and story leaves me dumbfounded. A big part of why I became a fan of the man himself is because I started to follow his blog, and got to know him through his writing there. Adding to that, I was there and donated with him during his first Worldbuilders charity drive, an annual fundraiser for Heifer International. I'd never heard of Heifer before, and he introduced me to them. They're an amazing organization that provides long term solutions for food and commerce to people in need, both at home and abroad.
An author with a singular talent, a platform on the internet to converse with his fans that he used to be open and honest with them instead of just pushing his work, and a philanthropist who shares my concern for the well being of the less fortunate. Yes, that's the kind of guy I want to look up to.
Imagine the nerdgasm I had when I found out he was going to be a mere thirty miles away on Friday, March 11? His tour for The Wise Man's Fear was coming through Lexington. I had to be there. Simply no other option.
It took some effort, and working extra in trade, but I managed to get off work to go. My lovely wife went with me, and we met up with a friend (and made some new ones.) The event itself was pretty huge--some estimates put the crowd at about 400, though I think that might have been a bit of an overestimation. At least 200, maybe 300. Whatever the number, it was a lot of people to cram into Joseph-Beth. We had four first edition hardbacks of The Wise Man's Fear to get signed, and we were there for a very, very long time.
Mr. Rothfuss himself was an excellent and funny speaker. He told us hilarious stories about how weird it is for him to be treated like a rock star. He read a column from The College Survival Guide, which he wrote for ten years while attending (and then teaching) college in Wisconsin. He told us an adorable and really funny story about his son. He was comfortable with us, treated us with real respect, and in every way seemed happy to be there.
He also introduced the crowd to Jonathan Coulton, a geeky sinder-songwriter that he loves. He did this by singing, at the crowd's request, an acapella version of Coulton's "I Crush Everything", a sadly sweet song about a self-loathing giant squid.
Yes, you read that right. And he sang it well and loud, his voice was beautiful.
Here's a live version by Mr. Coulton.
In return, Mr. Rothfuss led us all in singing the first two verses of "You Are My Sunshine", and then pointed out that if you pay attention to the words, it's really not a happy song. I admit that I never really did, nor did I know the song apart from the chorus.
The best part for me was sitting with him, talking to him for that brief minute, and getting my picture taken. He knew who I was when I introduced myself (he and I have sent a couple emails back and forth, one of which he posted on his blog back in August, with a link to Living With the Dead in it) and damn it, he even gave me a chocolate-covered fortune cookie.
The best part, in the end, was that I got to see first hand the reality of the amazing success he's had, which he completely deserves. Being there with the huge crowd of people seemed to bring him real joy, and knowing that we were so rabid in our support of him seemed to wipe away some of the fatigue the grueling schedule of his book tour was grinding into him.
It felt a lot less like a book signing, and a lot more like hanging out with a friend. Patrick Rothfuss could have made a career as a public speaker, a comedian, a lecturer, his talent with a crowd is so good. Instead, he decided to teach, and write, and hope to become published, which he did. And then became a NYT #1 bestseller. So many other options that would have fit his talents, but he chose to tell stories.
I, for one, am thankful for that.
I like him for more than just his writing, though his talent with words and story leaves me dumbfounded. A big part of why I became a fan of the man himself is because I started to follow his blog, and got to know him through his writing there. Adding to that, I was there and donated with him during his first Worldbuilders charity drive, an annual fundraiser for Heifer International. I'd never heard of Heifer before, and he introduced me to them. They're an amazing organization that provides long term solutions for food and commerce to people in need, both at home and abroad.
An author with a singular talent, a platform on the internet to converse with his fans that he used to be open and honest with them instead of just pushing his work, and a philanthropist who shares my concern for the well being of the less fortunate. Yes, that's the kind of guy I want to look up to.
Imagine the nerdgasm I had when I found out he was going to be a mere thirty miles away on Friday, March 11? His tour for The Wise Man's Fear was coming through Lexington. I had to be there. Simply no other option.
It took some effort, and working extra in trade, but I managed to get off work to go. My lovely wife went with me, and we met up with a friend (and made some new ones.) The event itself was pretty huge--some estimates put the crowd at about 400, though I think that might have been a bit of an overestimation. At least 200, maybe 300. Whatever the number, it was a lot of people to cram into Joseph-Beth. We had four first edition hardbacks of The Wise Man's Fear to get signed, and we were there for a very, very long time.
Mr. Rothfuss himself was an excellent and funny speaker. He told us hilarious stories about how weird it is for him to be treated like a rock star. He read a column from The College Survival Guide, which he wrote for ten years while attending (and then teaching) college in Wisconsin. He told us an adorable and really funny story about his son. He was comfortable with us, treated us with real respect, and in every way seemed happy to be there.
He also introduced the crowd to Jonathan Coulton, a geeky sinder-songwriter that he loves. He did this by singing, at the crowd's request, an acapella version of Coulton's "I Crush Everything", a sadly sweet song about a self-loathing giant squid.
Yes, you read that right. And he sang it well and loud, his voice was beautiful.
Here's a live version by Mr. Coulton.
In return, Mr. Rothfuss led us all in singing the first two verses of "You Are My Sunshine", and then pointed out that if you pay attention to the words, it's really not a happy song. I admit that I never really did, nor did I know the song apart from the chorus.
The best part for me was sitting with him, talking to him for that brief minute, and getting my picture taken. He knew who I was when I introduced myself (he and I have sent a couple emails back and forth, one of which he posted on his blog back in August, with a link to Living With the Dead in it) and damn it, he even gave me a chocolate-covered fortune cookie.
The best part, in the end, was that I got to see first hand the reality of the amazing success he's had, which he completely deserves. Being there with the huge crowd of people seemed to bring him real joy, and knowing that we were so rabid in our support of him seemed to wipe away some of the fatigue the grueling schedule of his book tour was grinding into him.
It felt a lot less like a book signing, and a lot more like hanging out with a friend. Patrick Rothfuss could have made a career as a public speaker, a comedian, a lecturer, his talent with a crowd is so good. Instead, he decided to teach, and write, and hope to become published, which he did. And then became a NYT #1 bestseller. So many other options that would have fit his talents, but he chose to tell stories.
I, for one, am thankful for that.
 |
| Joshua Guess (left) and Patrick Rothfuss, March 2011 |
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Sales for new books: One week in (and other sundries)
So, as many of the five of you that read this blog at present may be aware, I released two new works on the Kindle store and the Nook a week ago. This morning at three O'clock marked seven full days of sales, and I'd like to share the facts and figures with you to see how this month has been shaping up so far. Please keep a few things in mind as you read--1) I'm using only the sales of my books that are $2.99 or more to figure books sold per day, though I am including the income from my .99c titles in any dollar amounts I mention. Similarly, I'm only using the total money earned from Barnes and Noble, and am not including the number of books I've sold through the Nook anywhere in here. Yes, that brings my averages down slightly, but the weird accounting stuff on B&N's dashboard means the only thing I can be sure of is how much money I've made. With that in mind...
The first seven sales days of March, I have sold:
69 copies of Living With the Dead: With Spring Comes The Fall (Months 1-6)
38 copies of Living With the Dead: The Bitter Seasons (Months 7-12)
52 copies of Living With the Dead: Year One (Months 1-12, plus bonus material)
I crunched the numbers as best I could, factored in what foreign sales (which means a lower royalty rate) I could, and here is the result:
Seven days of sales have made me $406.46. That averages out to $58.07 per day, and 22.7 books sold per day. Compare that to February, where for the entire month I made $819.70, averaged $29.27 per day, and sold 14.1 books per day. That's a huge improvement, though I expect it to go down over the next few weeks.
Part of that is because of the initial surge as we tried to push the new stuff up the charts, which netted sales of $96.66 on the first day. I might actually be wrong about the averages going down, because just a few minutes ago the metadata on my new stuff (bitter seasons and year one) went live. This means that customers won't just be searching for them anymore, but will now also see them displayed on pages of other eBooks, ones that people who bought my books also purchased. I've talked about metadata before, so I won't get into that. Suffice it to say that the rest of the month will be very interesting, and I will post updates where appropriate.
Now, I'm going to get on my high horse again. I've mentioned many times that I save 10% of my royalties (gross) to donate to Worldbuilders, the charity drive that's run by fantasy author (and superstar, both in fantasy and in the world of beards) Patrick Rothfuss. What I haven't gone into detail about is Mr. Rothfuss's body of work, which I desperately want to do. So...
I first read "The Name of the Wind", his first novel, in mid 2008. My wife had purchased it on one of our trips to the bookstore, where we always spend way too much money. TNOTW is an AMAZING book, seriously one of the best pieces of writing I've ever come across. At first, I wasn't interested in reading it. I'm terrible about picking up new stuff, new authors. I couldn't be happier that I was eventually browbeaten into reading the book--Kvothe is one of the most complex, human, and just straight out awesome characters ever created. The tone of the book, the loving care with which each word is chosen and fit into the almost lyrical rhythm of the story, is perfect. I've bought many hardcover copies for others as gifts, and at least as many paperbacks.
So, in short, read it. Go on, right now. I'll wait.
...Done? OK, now go out and buy "The Wise Man's Fear", the sequel to TNOTW. I'm halfway through my second reading of it, and it's equally amazing for totally different reasons. The writing is still great, but after my first read through, I felt an odd disquiet. I tried to figure out what it was that wasn't meshing for me, what wasn't working. Eventually I came to realize that it wasn't the book that was wrong; it was me. I had read through the story expecting it to be the first book, but that's not the case. I can't tell too much about either of them, because I don't want to ruin the story, so let me write a paragraph about each to whet your curiosity.
In TNOTW, we meet Kvothe; Hero to many, villain to some, and legendary figure across the known world. We see three stories twined into one--the legend that grew from his (mis)adventures, the man he has become in the present...and the real story behind his life. The truth of his deeds, honest and raw, told in the voice of the hero himself. I'm trying not to copy the jacket quote from the book here, which was what led me to read it in the end...so here's a link to it: My Name is Kvothe...
If the first book is about the birth of the hero and many of his clever triumphs, then TWMF is about his coming to grips with reality and the harsh repercussions of his decisions. The clever writing was what threw me off at first, making me expect more of the same. However, where the first book creates potential for Kvothe as a character, the second shows how he meets it. I really, really can't say much more, but trust me...If you go into this book with an open mind and simply look at book one as history and canon, you WILL see the brilliance of it, the skill with which the author created a tone that fit the story even better than the first book.
OK, I'm done gushing now. Go to amazon's Patrick Rothfuss page and buy his books! Also, check out his shopping enabled Wikipedia page, which I didn't even know existed, and read about him. He's a neat guy.
The first seven sales days of March, I have sold:
69 copies of Living With the Dead: With Spring Comes The Fall (Months 1-6)
38 copies of Living With the Dead: The Bitter Seasons (Months 7-12)
52 copies of Living With the Dead: Year One (Months 1-12, plus bonus material)
I crunched the numbers as best I could, factored in what foreign sales (which means a lower royalty rate) I could, and here is the result:
Seven days of sales have made me $406.46. That averages out to $58.07 per day, and 22.7 books sold per day. Compare that to February, where for the entire month I made $819.70, averaged $29.27 per day, and sold 14.1 books per day. That's a huge improvement, though I expect it to go down over the next few weeks.
Part of that is because of the initial surge as we tried to push the new stuff up the charts, which netted sales of $96.66 on the first day. I might actually be wrong about the averages going down, because just a few minutes ago the metadata on my new stuff (bitter seasons and year one) went live. This means that customers won't just be searching for them anymore, but will now also see them displayed on pages of other eBooks, ones that people who bought my books also purchased. I've talked about metadata before, so I won't get into that. Suffice it to say that the rest of the month will be very interesting, and I will post updates where appropriate.
Now, I'm going to get on my high horse again. I've mentioned many times that I save 10% of my royalties (gross) to donate to Worldbuilders, the charity drive that's run by fantasy author (and superstar, both in fantasy and in the world of beards) Patrick Rothfuss. What I haven't gone into detail about is Mr. Rothfuss's body of work, which I desperately want to do. So...
I first read "The Name of the Wind", his first novel, in mid 2008. My wife had purchased it on one of our trips to the bookstore, where we always spend way too much money. TNOTW is an AMAZING book, seriously one of the best pieces of writing I've ever come across. At first, I wasn't interested in reading it. I'm terrible about picking up new stuff, new authors. I couldn't be happier that I was eventually browbeaten into reading the book--Kvothe is one of the most complex, human, and just straight out awesome characters ever created. The tone of the book, the loving care with which each word is chosen and fit into the almost lyrical rhythm of the story, is perfect. I've bought many hardcover copies for others as gifts, and at least as many paperbacks.
So, in short, read it. Go on, right now. I'll wait.
...Done? OK, now go out and buy "The Wise Man's Fear", the sequel to TNOTW. I'm halfway through my second reading of it, and it's equally amazing for totally different reasons. The writing is still great, but after my first read through, I felt an odd disquiet. I tried to figure out what it was that wasn't meshing for me, what wasn't working. Eventually I came to realize that it wasn't the book that was wrong; it was me. I had read through the story expecting it to be the first book, but that's not the case. I can't tell too much about either of them, because I don't want to ruin the story, so let me write a paragraph about each to whet your curiosity.
In TNOTW, we meet Kvothe; Hero to many, villain to some, and legendary figure across the known world. We see three stories twined into one--the legend that grew from his (mis)adventures, the man he has become in the present...and the real story behind his life. The truth of his deeds, honest and raw, told in the voice of the hero himself. I'm trying not to copy the jacket quote from the book here, which was what led me to read it in the end...so here's a link to it: My Name is Kvothe...
If the first book is about the birth of the hero and many of his clever triumphs, then TWMF is about his coming to grips with reality and the harsh repercussions of his decisions. The clever writing was what threw me off at first, making me expect more of the same. However, where the first book creates potential for Kvothe as a character, the second shows how he meets it. I really, really can't say much more, but trust me...If you go into this book with an open mind and simply look at book one as history and canon, you WILL see the brilliance of it, the skill with which the author created a tone that fit the story even better than the first book.
OK, I'm done gushing now. Go to amazon's Patrick Rothfuss page and buy his books! Also, check out his shopping enabled Wikipedia page, which I didn't even know existed, and read about him. He's a neat guy.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
New Releases!
Crossposted on Living With the Dead!
Above, you see the link and brand new cover design for the first six month collection of LWtD, available on the kindle store since October. You may remember that 10% of all my royalties will go to Worldbuilders, the charity drive run by Patrick Rothfuss (whose new novel, "The Wise Man's Fear" came out today as well) for Heifer International, an awesome and completely transparent charity that helps provide sustainable food and resources at home and abroad. Basically it helps people who need food raise livestock that produce food and renewable resources, like milk, eggs, wool, etc. This ebook has been doing well, and I'm hoping that the following do the same.
The above is "The Bitter Seasons", the second six month collection of LWtD. Just like the first collection, it's available for a mere $2.99, and clocks in at an impressive 130,000 words--the length of the average fantasy novel.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is "Year One". This brings together all of year one, "With Spring Comes The Fall" as well as "The Bitter Seasons" into a single, gigantic ebook. The best part is that it's 4.99, which saves you a dollar off the price of buying each one individually. That's not all, though! This volume has a ton of bonus material, which includes:
Three short stories by the author, Joshua Guess (that's me!)
"Rollin' in the Deep", a short story by Annetta Ribken
"If you're bitten by zombies, you're off the guest list", a short story by Rachel Ayers
"Monsters Unmasked: A Living With The Dead Novella", by Lori Whitwam
And an essay by the author (me, again) on the creation of the blog and the inspiration that keeps it going.
You'd be hard pressed to find a medium-length paperback for five bucks, and this massive beast is 258,000 words all together, which is about the size of the average Stephen King novel. It's a great deal, so if you like helping new authors, like supporting an awesome charity, and want to carry the story around with you, please check it out and buy!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
One More Week!
***A reminder that 10% of ALL royalties I make from ALL sales of my work on both the Kindle and NOOK will go to Patrick Rothfuss's fundraiser for Heifer International at the end of 2011. Heifer is an excellent organization that helps people at home and abroad build sustainable food supplies and manage resources, and are totally open financially with the public. Buying my books will help fund that charity drive, but even if you don't want to purchase my work, I can't suggest strongly enough that you check out Heifer for yourself and chip in if you can. They do good things.***
I'm a bad Josh for not updating as often as I promised to on this blog. But now is the time, because in about a week, I will be putting out new stuff on the Kindle and Nook.
So, for those of you who want the long version: On March 1, I will be pushing the "Publish" button on the Kindle and Nook versions of "Living With the Dead: The Bitter Seasons", which is the next installment of the bi-yearly LWtD collections. This collection will pull together September of 2010 through February of 2011, the second half of "year one" of the zombie apocalypse. It will be priced at $2.99, the same as the first six months, Living With the Dead: With Spring Comes The Fall. I will note that both of these collections are full book-length, the first one clocks in at just over 100,000 words, which is about the average size of your standard thriller. Together they will come close or exceed the 200,000 word mark, which is about the size of a small Stephen King novel.
I sure hope you're still reading, because as I mentioned in a previous post, I'm also collecting both of those book-sized volumes into one massive fire-breathing monster of an eBook. This collection will have the whole first year in it, creatively titled "Living With the Dead: Year One". Both of the six month volumes will be included, as well as a bit of behind the scenes stuff about the process of writing a serialized story, and how LWtD is supported by readers and inspired by them. The best part about this collection is yet to come....
See, I've made some friends in the last few months, as well as having reconnected with some old ones. Several people, along with myself, have written short stories to be included in "Year One". Annetta Ribken, Lori Whitwam (while this link is to her author page, I strongly suggest checking out the "blogs" link and at least reading her blog "Fermented Fur", it's amazing, funny, sad, hopeful...and moving. I cried with her when she lost her dog, Ozark.) and Rachel Ayers (whose other website, Near and Far, is a great webcomic and should be heaped with praise) have all contributed to the short stories that will be included in "Year One". There is a possibility that a few other people may as well, possibly folks who have written blog posts on LWtD before, but time is growing short...
So--"Year One" will be the whole first two volumes--$2.99 each--plus some behind the scenes words from me, plus at least six short stories set in the LWtD universe. That's a lot of words. A lot of story. You're likely saying to yourself right now, "This must cost at LEAST one trillion dollars."
But you'd be wrong. Oh, so wrong. This collection will be offered for $4.99. That's a dollar off what you would pay if you bought each six month collection by themselves. AND you get all the extra stuff, the bonus material. I'd say that's a pretty good deal.
Now, I realize that some of you have already purchased "With Spring Comes The Fall" and might be a little miffed at the choices here. Some of you will want to read the extra stuff that comes in Year One, but not want to pay for something that, in part, you already own. So here's what I suggest.
If you just want to get the blog collections and don't care about the bonus materials, then just buy "The Bitter Seasons".
If you REALLY want the bonus material and don't mind shelling out a few bucks, then buy "Year One"
If you DO mind shelling out those few bucks, already have "With Spring Comes The Fall" and can't decide between the options for whatever reason, then I suggest that you just buy "The Bitter Seasons". While the bonus content is only available in "Year One" for now, there is always a possibility that it will become available by itself at a later time. That's something I would have to talk to the other authors about, but if there were demand for it, I would make the effort.
Oh, and here's what the cover for "Year One" is going to look like...
Nifty, eh? This is courtesy of my friend and sometime collaborator, Courtney Hahn, who commissioned it as a Christmas gift for me. Which introduced me to my new cover artist, Rosie Coleman, who is a young lady with an amazing talent and a bright future. Rosie did the above image as well as the cover for my debut novel, Bound to Silence.
On a related note, my vampire novel isn't going to be released with the new LWtD stuff. I've suffered a lot of setbacks, the least of which was being incredibly sick for most of January. Progress has been good lately, and I'm really hoping to release it in the next few months.
And lastly...
I'm thrilled beyond words that LWtD has had the level of success it has seen on the Kindle and Nook. I'm not making huge money, but it's enough that it gives me hope that one day in the foreseeable future, I could be doing this full time. That being said, each and every one of you are always free to read the blog in its original format--online and free, updated almost every single day. Many of you already do, and still purchase the eBook versions to have a convenient copy of the blog to tote around and read at your leisure, or just to show support for a writer you like. I just want you all to know that your support means the world to me, however you choose to show it.
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy next week's new stuff!
I'm a bad Josh for not updating as often as I promised to on this blog. But now is the time, because in about a week, I will be putting out new stuff on the Kindle and Nook.
So, for those of you who want the long version: On March 1, I will be pushing the "Publish" button on the Kindle and Nook versions of "Living With the Dead: The Bitter Seasons", which is the next installment of the bi-yearly LWtD collections. This collection will pull together September of 2010 through February of 2011, the second half of "year one" of the zombie apocalypse. It will be priced at $2.99, the same as the first six months, Living With the Dead: With Spring Comes The Fall. I will note that both of these collections are full book-length, the first one clocks in at just over 100,000 words, which is about the average size of your standard thriller. Together they will come close or exceed the 200,000 word mark, which is about the size of a small Stephen King novel.
I sure hope you're still reading, because as I mentioned in a previous post, I'm also collecting both of those book-sized volumes into one massive fire-breathing monster of an eBook. This collection will have the whole first year in it, creatively titled "Living With the Dead: Year One". Both of the six month volumes will be included, as well as a bit of behind the scenes stuff about the process of writing a serialized story, and how LWtD is supported by readers and inspired by them. The best part about this collection is yet to come....
See, I've made some friends in the last few months, as well as having reconnected with some old ones. Several people, along with myself, have written short stories to be included in "Year One". Annetta Ribken, Lori Whitwam (while this link is to her author page, I strongly suggest checking out the "blogs" link and at least reading her blog "Fermented Fur", it's amazing, funny, sad, hopeful...and moving. I cried with her when she lost her dog, Ozark.) and Rachel Ayers (whose other website, Near and Far, is a great webcomic and should be heaped with praise) have all contributed to the short stories that will be included in "Year One". There is a possibility that a few other people may as well, possibly folks who have written blog posts on LWtD before, but time is growing short...
So--"Year One" will be the whole first two volumes--$2.99 each--plus some behind the scenes words from me, plus at least six short stories set in the LWtD universe. That's a lot of words. A lot of story. You're likely saying to yourself right now, "This must cost at LEAST one trillion dollars."
But you'd be wrong. Oh, so wrong. This collection will be offered for $4.99. That's a dollar off what you would pay if you bought each six month collection by themselves. AND you get all the extra stuff, the bonus material. I'd say that's a pretty good deal.
Now, I realize that some of you have already purchased "With Spring Comes The Fall" and might be a little miffed at the choices here. Some of you will want to read the extra stuff that comes in Year One, but not want to pay for something that, in part, you already own. So here's what I suggest.
If you just want to get the blog collections and don't care about the bonus materials, then just buy "The Bitter Seasons".
If you REALLY want the bonus material and don't mind shelling out a few bucks, then buy "Year One"
If you DO mind shelling out those few bucks, already have "With Spring Comes The Fall" and can't decide between the options for whatever reason, then I suggest that you just buy "The Bitter Seasons". While the bonus content is only available in "Year One" for now, there is always a possibility that it will become available by itself at a later time. That's something I would have to talk to the other authors about, but if there were demand for it, I would make the effort.
Oh, and here's what the cover for "Year One" is going to look like...
On a related note, my vampire novel isn't going to be released with the new LWtD stuff. I've suffered a lot of setbacks, the least of which was being incredibly sick for most of January. Progress has been good lately, and I'm really hoping to release it in the next few months.
And lastly...
I'm thrilled beyond words that LWtD has had the level of success it has seen on the Kindle and Nook. I'm not making huge money, but it's enough that it gives me hope that one day in the foreseeable future, I could be doing this full time. That being said, each and every one of you are always free to read the blog in its original format--online and free, updated almost every single day. Many of you already do, and still purchase the eBook versions to have a convenient copy of the blog to tote around and read at your leisure, or just to show support for a writer you like. I just want you all to know that your support means the world to me, however you choose to show it.
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy next week's new stuff!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
That's what I get for bragging...
Sooooooooo.....
Several weeks ago I went nuts because I finally got into the top 3000 on the kindle store. I was really, really proud of that. That was on the night of January 19 through the morning of January 20. That period of time, that 24 hours, was my best selling single day. I was super excited.
Then, amazon changed things on me. The switch from DTP (digital text platform) over to KDP (kindle direct publishing) didn't seem to do much at first. On the twenty first, as other people were reporting problems with their accounts, from information vanishing off the pages of their long-published kindle books to the kindle converter not working and thus not letting them upload their works, I went to dinner with my wife. It was her birthday.
While I was there, Living With the Dead: With Spring Comes The Fall got booted from the kindle store and went into draft mode. Draft mode means it wasn't on sale at all. Totally unavailable. I know for an absolute fact that I didn't do that. Amazon swears they didn't. They also told me that the switch to KDP didn't do it. Mysterious universe, isn't it?
At any rate, I won't go into the hellish twelve days that followed in the detail my angry brain wants to. Suffice it to say that every problem I could possibly have had with that book, I did have. When I republished it, all of the metadata was gone--meaning that it wasn't being recognized on its own page, nor was it being shown on the pages of other books, which is a big part of how readers find your work on the kindle store. It was almost two weeks of utter frustration as my data came and went.
I was at 288 sales when all of that started, and at the rate I was going, I should have beat 400. I probably would have done better than that, really, since my sales momentum was building up nicely. I should have beat a thousand dollars, but I didn't. I got close to 900, which I am certainly not complaining about. I'm thrilled with what I accomplished last month, and the payday that will be coming in seven weeks or so.
My point is that I was on the path to much larger sales, the numbers and momentum were there to show it. Then amazon killed that momentum, purely by accident I'm sure, and wouldn't even own up to it. I sent out email after email, and through the process of trying to get some help with the plethora of issues that cropped up, came to realize a few things.
While the kindle is clearly the biggest success amazon has ever had, and while it makes them literally about a billion dollars (if not more), they just aren't as focused on support for the authors who stock it with titles. I won't go into the horrors of trying to get an honest response or any help at all here--this isn't a rant solely about amazon, for one very important reason.
With Spring Comes The Fall is back on the store, and has been for the last five days. Its data is fully integrated again, and it is selling. In fact, from 3am on the fourth until 3am this morning (which is how I measure my sales days) was my best selling day ever. Which is weird, because there wasn't nearly the same buildup as there was last month. But I'll take it.
The kindle store is still a great and easy way to publish. It's useful as hell for an indie like me, and for the most part it works well. I get paid regularly, My books' pages look good, and for the most part it's stable.
But now I've seen how bad it can get. I've heard horror stories from other authors that make my woes look like absolutely nothing. I've gazed into the abyss that is seller support, KDP "support" (I put that in quotes because while it exists in name, it does not actually exist in practice), and the false promise of a response "within 24 hours". I feel like the abyss gazed also into me...
So I take every day of selling, be it good or bad, with a grain of salt. I know now that at any moment for no reason at all, my work can be bumped off the store. Leaving me, the author, with no choice but to lose a day of sales by resubmitting it, which takes 24 hours. Then it's purchasable again. Still a less painful and faster option than hoping blindly that tech support will fix it. I promise you, no matter what the problem--they won't. Nor will they reply in any reasonable time frame.
I still respect amazon for how amazing their platform is, and for what it is doing to revolutionize the publishing machine. I just don't give them credit for doing all they can to support us, the ones who populate their super-profitable store with goods. You might have noticed that I haven't capitalized "kindle" or "amazon" in this post. That's intentional. Not to thumb my nose at them, but because they've lost that sense of scope and power in my mind that made them a bigger concept. God gets caps, Hope gets them. Freedom, even.
I used to feel this amazing love for amazon, for providing me with the platform I needed to build my career without middlemen. I still appreciate that platform, but in my mind I see the company for what it really is, uncolored by my excitement and optimism--just another big corporation interested in making money. Which is fine--that's what business is for.
I guess the rose tint was knocked off my glasses, and I'm pretty thankful for that. Better it happen now than later, and from here on out I can manage my relationship with amazon as it should be--a business relationship that is as emotionless as the servers that feed out my book. I shouldn't expect them to cater to me, one single writer toiling away in obscurity, nor should they expect me to stick just with them for distribution of my work when it's obvious there are other options I can explore in addition to them.
Sounds like a bad divorce or something, sorry. I just hated having my dream dangled so closely in front of my face, just to have it snatched away. I'm better now. /Rant over.
More to come on Monday: a happier post that will have some details about my forthcoming works due out in early March! It's gonna be exciting!
Several weeks ago I went nuts because I finally got into the top 3000 on the kindle store. I was really, really proud of that. That was on the night of January 19 through the morning of January 20. That period of time, that 24 hours, was my best selling single day. I was super excited.
Then, amazon changed things on me. The switch from DTP (digital text platform) over to KDP (kindle direct publishing) didn't seem to do much at first. On the twenty first, as other people were reporting problems with their accounts, from information vanishing off the pages of their long-published kindle books to the kindle converter not working and thus not letting them upload their works, I went to dinner with my wife. It was her birthday.
While I was there, Living With the Dead: With Spring Comes The Fall got booted from the kindle store and went into draft mode. Draft mode means it wasn't on sale at all. Totally unavailable. I know for an absolute fact that I didn't do that. Amazon swears they didn't. They also told me that the switch to KDP didn't do it. Mysterious universe, isn't it?
At any rate, I won't go into the hellish twelve days that followed in the detail my angry brain wants to. Suffice it to say that every problem I could possibly have had with that book, I did have. When I republished it, all of the metadata was gone--meaning that it wasn't being recognized on its own page, nor was it being shown on the pages of other books, which is a big part of how readers find your work on the kindle store. It was almost two weeks of utter frustration as my data came and went.
I was at 288 sales when all of that started, and at the rate I was going, I should have beat 400. I probably would have done better than that, really, since my sales momentum was building up nicely. I should have beat a thousand dollars, but I didn't. I got close to 900, which I am certainly not complaining about. I'm thrilled with what I accomplished last month, and the payday that will be coming in seven weeks or so.
My point is that I was on the path to much larger sales, the numbers and momentum were there to show it. Then amazon killed that momentum, purely by accident I'm sure, and wouldn't even own up to it. I sent out email after email, and through the process of trying to get some help with the plethora of issues that cropped up, came to realize a few things.
While the kindle is clearly the biggest success amazon has ever had, and while it makes them literally about a billion dollars (if not more), they just aren't as focused on support for the authors who stock it with titles. I won't go into the horrors of trying to get an honest response or any help at all here--this isn't a rant solely about amazon, for one very important reason.
With Spring Comes The Fall is back on the store, and has been for the last five days. Its data is fully integrated again, and it is selling. In fact, from 3am on the fourth until 3am this morning (which is how I measure my sales days) was my best selling day ever. Which is weird, because there wasn't nearly the same buildup as there was last month. But I'll take it.
The kindle store is still a great and easy way to publish. It's useful as hell for an indie like me, and for the most part it works well. I get paid regularly, My books' pages look good, and for the most part it's stable.
But now I've seen how bad it can get. I've heard horror stories from other authors that make my woes look like absolutely nothing. I've gazed into the abyss that is seller support, KDP "support" (I put that in quotes because while it exists in name, it does not actually exist in practice), and the false promise of a response "within 24 hours". I feel like the abyss gazed also into me...
So I take every day of selling, be it good or bad, with a grain of salt. I know now that at any moment for no reason at all, my work can be bumped off the store. Leaving me, the author, with no choice but to lose a day of sales by resubmitting it, which takes 24 hours. Then it's purchasable again. Still a less painful and faster option than hoping blindly that tech support will fix it. I promise you, no matter what the problem--they won't. Nor will they reply in any reasonable time frame.
I still respect amazon for how amazing their platform is, and for what it is doing to revolutionize the publishing machine. I just don't give them credit for doing all they can to support us, the ones who populate their super-profitable store with goods. You might have noticed that I haven't capitalized "kindle" or "amazon" in this post. That's intentional. Not to thumb my nose at them, but because they've lost that sense of scope and power in my mind that made them a bigger concept. God gets caps, Hope gets them. Freedom, even.
I used to feel this amazing love for amazon, for providing me with the platform I needed to build my career without middlemen. I still appreciate that platform, but in my mind I see the company for what it really is, uncolored by my excitement and optimism--just another big corporation interested in making money. Which is fine--that's what business is for.
I guess the rose tint was knocked off my glasses, and I'm pretty thankful for that. Better it happen now than later, and from here on out I can manage my relationship with amazon as it should be--a business relationship that is as emotionless as the servers that feed out my book. I shouldn't expect them to cater to me, one single writer toiling away in obscurity, nor should they expect me to stick just with them for distribution of my work when it's obvious there are other options I can explore in addition to them.
Sounds like a bad divorce or something, sorry. I just hated having my dream dangled so closely in front of my face, just to have it snatched away. I'm better now. /Rant over.
More to come on Monday: a happier post that will have some details about my forthcoming works due out in early March! It's gonna be exciting!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Totally Bragging
Ok, I don't want to toot my own horn, but I'm going to out of sheer disbelieving happiness.
Very early this morning, Living With the Dead: With Spring Comes The Fall FINALLY broke into the top 3000 on the Kindle store. This has been a goal for me since day one. I've come so close so many times, and at today it finally happened. I've had a nice rush of sales, and the money is certainly going to be a good thing. There are so many other reasons this makes me happy...
One is that this book is on three top 100 lists. Here's a pic:
You can see that between noon and one pm, I am at 2,696. I'm so psyched about this there literally aren't words to describe how happy I am. What's more, the two kindle top 100 lists I'm on for categories are great too...
Very early this morning, Living With the Dead: With Spring Comes The Fall FINALLY broke into the top 3000 on the Kindle store. This has been a goal for me since day one. I've come so close so many times, and at today it finally happened. I've had a nice rush of sales, and the money is certainly going to be a good thing. There are so many other reasons this makes me happy...
One is that this book is on three top 100 lists. Here's a pic:
Now, this is the one taken this morning. It's pretty awesome. But...not as good as the one I took just after noon. You'll see that the early morning one has me at rank 2,950 or so...at noon, however...
So...on the Sci/fi list I'm up there with Edgar Rice Burroughs, Phillip K. Dick and (I almost had a heart attack) Douglas FREAKING Adams! It's completely surreal to me that I could be listed near those amazingly talented and frankly classic writers. I'm not comparing myself to them, or to anyone on that top 100 list. They are my heroes, and I am shocked but thrilled to be among them.
On the contemporary fantasy top 100, LWtD is rubbing elbows with the likes of Charlaine Harris, Laurel K. Hamilton, and Jim Butcher. I'm actually higher up on the list at the moment than several of Mr. Butcher's Dresden Files novels, which is amazing to me. I'm a huge fan of Jim Butcher, and I think he's one of the best writers of any kind of fiction out there right now. I am honored to be on the same list with him. I'm also ahead of Laurel K. Hamilton, at least one of her books, which I consider a small but personal triumph. I'm not a big fan of her work, but she IS insanely popular, so I count that an honor as well.
I hope that in my excitement and zeal, I haven't made you think that I am saying anything especially amazing about my work, or knocking anyone that I mentioned above. I'm just so happy that enough people like my work to make this possible, and shocked at the amount of success I've reached in so short a time. I'm an indie writer. I'm not a professional like those mentioned above. They have years of practice in the craft, and I don't. I have gotten supremely lucky to have the fan base that I do, and in no way am I saying that I am better than anyone. I'm just happy to be among them, for whatever length of time I am lucky enough to be so.
I wouldn't be making a point of saying any of that about the authors I mentioned, but I'm still working on building a career and I don't want people getting the wrong idea. When I say "I'm beating several of Jim Butcher's novels" I'm not sticking my tongue out and giving him a raspberry. He's making a mint from his books (and justifiably--they're great stuff) and I think every one of his novels is on the top 100 list for contemporary fantasy, and they stay there. I'm just trying to get across how psyched I am to be in his company, much less ahead of a few of his books for a while.
Ok, done with that whole rant. I'm going to go try and burn off some of the energy this has put into my tired body so I can sleep enough to manage to work tonight. Thanks to every one of you that bought my blog collection, or read the blog, or told a friend about it, or just offered a kind word. This is all on you, not me. YOU made this a reality for me, and I can never thank you enough. In return, I will keep on working, improving my skills in the hope that one day I am as good as Butcher, Hamilton, Harris, Burroughs, Dick, and Adams. It makes me happy that you, my readers, like my work enough to put me past this goal. I'll keep on working for you!
Totally not bragging, though.
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