Showing posts with label POD. Show all posts

Okay,so I've been gone for over a month! Sorry, I don't plan my vacations so i can't alert people when i decide to take one.  I knew the holidays were going to make me too frazzled to concentrate on my writing, so I decided to take that month off that Steven King suggested in his book "On Writing".  Now when I do the final edit I can decide if the story is going the way I wanted it to, and edit it with new eyes. I also got a job blogging for someone else so that takes up a lot of time as well. Still, the ball is rolling and i'm ready to get this book out there!

Plus, I got someone to draw a pic of one of my characters, VEGAS! LOL! I think it's cute, not exactly how i pictured him, but I love other peoples interpretations of my characters. Just the kind of boost I needed to get me motivated and get my story out there.

 What sweet early Christmas gift for me! Ohh, and sample chapters of the book are coming soon!

Okay, the truth is there's a little secret about my work that i've been keeping. I was going to explain myself eventually...after I felt like I was really a success at this self publishing thing.

The secret is that I actually did have an agent that was interested in this work. A very big agent (in the YA  fantasy world anyway). Now, he asked for a copy of my manuscript, but I guess I didn't feel the work was ready to send it to him yet. Then by the time I felt it was ready, I had gotten all swept up into the idea of self publishing. Even though a lot of people were telling me I was crazy for it.

And I did feel crazy for doing this up until a few days ago. I mean, who the hell doesn't jump at the chance to work with an agent? Only a moron right?
Imagine if I fail at this self publishing thing. OMIGAWD! I gave up the chance to work with a real AGENT! What a failure!

Except, the more blogs I read, the more I talk to other authors in and out of the industry, the more unspectacular the whole traditionally publishing route sounds to me. And at this point no matter what happens, I know I wouldn't be happy publishing traditionally. Why? Because I know my personality and I am not the type who can tolerate suits telling me what "art" is. There are suits and there ate artist. Suits know marketing, they know distribution channels, they know other suits, but ART? No.

Now, I get it. To be a rich, super successful writer you need marketing, you need suits. So rather then deal with suits I've restructured my goals, career wise, a little. My dream is no longer to be a multi-millionaire. My dream is to be one of the best writers ever. Not "the best that I can be", the best writer, PERIOD.

A suit isn't going to help me accomplish that goal. A suit is going to kick my book into shape so that it sells lots and lots of copies. An editor? Yes, they definately help. An agent? Hmmmm.... Publisher? Not really.

I'm putting this out now rather then when I become a "successful indie writer", because a successful indie writer is someone who sells more then 100 copies of their book. Call me conceited, but I'm pretty sure I can sell more than 100 copies of my awesomeness :) . So, I'm going to say that I'm successful enough to be sure about the path I'm on.



Another thing about the agent that contacted me. He has an author in his stable ("stable" i don't know what else to call them)who is very successful. I see her books everywhere, that's why I got weak in the knees when this particular agent seemed intrested. I went to this authors website and a read an except of her book..hmmm what can i say. I was not impressed. A little chigrined may be better wording for it. But at the time it was cool to me. I mean if he liked her book he would certainly LOVE mine. Better chances for me right? And maybe that was true, maybe it wasn't. But now looking back on that, it just proves my point that suits know marketing. They don't know art. The fact is you can sell ANYTHING if you market it, just right.

So, knowing that fact. I thinks to myself "If a suit can pretend to know art, maybe a writer can pretend to know marketing". Marketing is an ART in a way, isn't it? Yes, there is an art to it. Red paint here, in this portrait, bring out this emotions, expresses this idea. A finely worded ad, placed here, will get me X amount sales. Check stats to see if my message is reaching the public. HAZAH! My bank account will show that my art is relevant! AHAHA!

Everyone always uses the music industry as an example so im going to do it to. Industry music today SUCKS. Everyone knows it. The stuff on the radio is crap and you have to be drugged up to stand to listen to it. That's probably why so many American teenagers are hocked up on anti depressants and ADHD drugs.

Just sayin'.

Industry music sucks butt. And why is that? Because suits don't know shit about art. They'd rather brainwash the public into buying nonsense because it's easier and less risky for them. You can't tell for sure how real art will catch people, because all emotions aren't the type that lead people to buy stuff. And the emotions that lead people to buy stuff are the only emotions suits care about.

The suits jobs just keeps getting easier, they don't have to put any work into an artist anymore. Computerized voices and the artist are already trained to follow orders by the time they reach that level.

Now I will admit, industry books aren't anywhere near as bad as industry music. There are some pretty good industry books out there. But the devil is in the process and how the authors get treated. The writer has already cleaned and polished the book by the time an agent reads it. The writer has done all the hard work, yet gets somewhere between 5-8% of the profits. Is that fair? Doesn't seem it to me. If it seems fair to you then by all means go for it.

But before I sign on with anyone, I want to see if maybe I might be as good at playing a suit as the suits are at playing artist. Gotta be brave, gotta be bold and sometimes do things that are a little crazy.

I've been spending a lot of time gearing up for the release of my e-book, but now I think I'm having a change of plans.



See, I have been totally jazzed about this becoming an Indie author thing. I'm getting swept up in the indie revolution, but really I have been stressing myself out to the point that this was becoming less fun and more of a drag. The biggest problem was my book just wouldn't be finished. Every time I think it's finished, it just didn't feel finished. There were some characters who I wanted to get into more, some scenes I wanted to add in and for some reason I couldn't wait for the second book to do it. It just didn't feel, RIGHT.

And believe me, I've been trying for a VERY long time to get this done. But recently I realized that there is just something about this story that cannot be contained in a standard 300+ page novel. It's not working, So, recently, I was on J.A. Konraths blog and someone dropped a post about creating a series of short 20,000 page (approximately) novels and placing them on Amazon.

At first I rejected that idea for this book because I've worked SOOOOO hard getting it to be a proper novel. It would have felt like all my hard work would be going down the drain if I changed the format now. Also, it's kind of scary because it's a new method of producing books online. Someone suggested the idea but I don't think anyone has actually done it before…or at least…they haven't done it and become commercially successful at it. So, even though I have found some wonderful Self-Publishing/ebook guru's like Zoe Winters, Deana Zhollis and J.A. Konrath, producing a series for release on the web is sort of new ground. Would fans really buy the books every week that they were released? How long would I be able to produce the books for one series before I move on to the next? A lot of questions and I'd have little guidance or a road map. I'd be learning through trial and error.

Another problem, releasing an e-book series on kindle would definitely make me a not-really-real writer according to the industry supporters. Self-publishing your own e-book makes you less than the industry writers, but self-publishing mini novelettes would be perceived as being even less then self-published authors who produce full length books. Why? I guess the further you drift away from the conventional rules of publishing the less of a "writer" you become. It would also probably kill my chances of ever being picked up by a big traditional publisher, but I have no interested in going with the big houses anymore. So I say: onward march! Part of the joy of going indy is I have room to experiment. I plan on turning the little novelettes into novels anyway, but I want to experiment with this new idea and see how it works. I own the rights to my story and characters so I can do whatever I want with them J 


 
I got a message from Deana recently. She tried to post something to my blog but it wouldn't go through. I just tried myself and yeah, something is wrong with the posting option. ARGH! I apologize to anyone who was trying to post a message but couldn't. I just moved this blog from wordpress and now I'm debating moving back. I found this great website written by a twelve year old and he gives some great tips for maximizing your blog for hits. I tried just one of his suggestions and yeah I've been getting a ton of hits to this blog lately. I can't implement some of his suggestions though because I think they are specifically for WP blogs. Now I'm trying to decide if I'm going to buy a domain name with WP or get my own hosting/website package.

Anyway, back to work. I'm redoing the first seven or so chapters of my book to make it a mini novel. Be back soon with more nerdy, writer goodness!

So, I was going to make a nice long post about getting distracted...but I haven't for a while because I figured "this writing in my blog thing is a distraction", so I've been delaying it and engaging in other distracting activities instead.

I learned something last night though, when I spent a few hours ours playing "City of Wonder" on facebook, feeling guilty the whole time because I should have been editing my book. There's a difference between "getting distracted" and needing a break. I felt great after I finished playing the game and was excited about getting back to work. Today, while I was at dialysis (I have severe kidney problems), I was watching a movie while adding some new parts to my book. It felt weird because that's the kind of writing I use to do when I was a teenager and in college. Serious writers do not sit in front of their television sets with their very serious novels trying to add in some extra chapters. I was totally distracted, but somehow, I produced some good writing. Yeah, come to think of it, my writing WAS a lot better back when I wasn't stressing over it.

I think maybe I've been --too--focused on this project. Being ambitious and going hard for your dreams is good, but there's some days when it seems every waking moment is focused on my story, and that's really too much.

I knew this starting your own business thing was going to be a journey with a lot of lessons learned. Glad this one was a nice, sweet, lesson that didn't cost me anything in my bottom line. It's alright to chill a little and have some fun. If nothing else, a relaxed mind makes my writing a better.

My hubby's asleep early so I'm going to go play with some more face book apps and then get back to work for a few hours :)

 
As expected, I can't decide on a pen name. I had a good one in mind but now I don't know if I like it anymore. Too androgynous maybe.


 
It's just like me to worry about silly little details like that. I think it's a Virgo thing. Some of us can be nit-picky and a perfectionist about certain things. It's taking me a while to learn things don't have to be perfect all the time, sometimes you just have to get it DONE. I'm trying to use that same logic when it comes to my book. If I waited till it was PERFECT it would never come out. I have to get it done.

 
I'm driving myself bat shit with all this editing. It's that perfectionist-ism (okay, I don't know the word for it) that is going to be the death of me and this project.

 
Alright, each chapter has to be relevant to the story. Each chapter has to be clear and add something to the bigger picture. Each chapter should be as short as possible. What's this characters motivation? What kind of emotional response will people have to this scene? Then I get side tracked by all the little details...change the story this way...change the story again to fit the other changes I made...then it's just me ripping my hair out in front of my laptop. I ain't got no more damn hair left.

 
I do have other books I'd like to write, plenty others. Today, I sat down and wrote the titles or general ideas of the books I'd like to write and launch after American Sorcery School. I had about 20 altogether, including a few series. I figure that's enough work for about 10 years, no? If I put out 2 books a year, which sounds like a comfortable pace, in 10 years my self pubbed books should have built me a pretty sturdy living.

 
In another 10 years I'll be 41. 20 books should be generating enough income for me to live off of and who knows what can happen in 10 years. Maybe I have a few really good years where I can manage more than 2 a year. Maybe one book or a series gets picked up for a movie or television show. You never know.
Either way, if I can keep a steady work pace, I should be able to say that I am making a living as a writer by the time I'm 41. If my books sell poorly, it would be because I'm not marketing myself properly and I would guess within ten years I would have gotten the jist of marketing. Either way it's going to be a wonderful feeling. Having a career that I fashioned and that I am totally in control of.

 
I never had "career plan" before that was so…so....simple? A career plan where I am actually as excited about the PROCESS and the WORK as I am excited about the MONEY and the TITLE. Honestly, I am more excited about the process and the work, because I know financially I am probably going to have it tough for the first few years while I build my career. I'm ready and I have my mind set and I'm going to give this all I've got.

 
There's a little more to the plan though, but I'm astounded by just how basic it is at the core. I mean if I had done this ten years ago…

 

 
If no one's noticed I put a new resources for writers page up.

 
http://allfiredup123.blogspot.com/p/places-to-list-your-blog.html


 
I'm still hard at work. Editing, editing, editing. GRRRRR!!! It's a labor of love. The day I have my book launched I'm going to have to run to the beauty salon and get a weave, or all the bald spots on my head plastered over or something…sigh…

 

Hey, I'm scouring the net to find some help for writers, especially when it comes to advertising our books. Whenever I come across some interesting info, links, ideas, I'll make a page about it and hang it up for all of us to share.

The first page is a list of places where you can post ads for free. Might want to take advantage of these things and see if it makes a difference when it comes to hits for your site!

http://allfiredup123.blogspot.com/p/resources-for-writers-list-of-free-ad.html

This has to be a quick one because I'm going nuts trying to get all this work done. My to-do list has the ability to regenerate itself; as soon as I cross one task off, two more task appear in it's place like a demonic alien hydra! eeeek!!! -_-;;.

Updates?--Okay, I figured out why it's so expensive to POD my book. My book was too long. I just butchered the thing in half o_O;; WTF?! That act nearly made me quit life. After all the blood, sweat and tears (okay, no actual blood... but definitely tears demmit) to get my story to work and get it where it made sense, I had to DELETE nearly half the book, which means I practically have to rework the entire thing over again. ARRRGGHH *smoke shoots out of ears*!!!

Also, typing my book up innocently in Microsoft word I had no idea that 360 in whatever setting I was using (the "I-think-I'm-a-real-writer-setting?") translated to 466 pages in the ready for print template. At about $0.015 a page, my book would have been waaaaay too expensive.

Kill your darlings, Kill your darlings. Isn't that what Stephen King was talking about in "On writing"?
Well, my darling is dead and hopefully it will be born again, better and stronger. Actually it is...once you hit the delete button on about 10 chapters and realize that there is still a good story there...a more focused one...Yeah, you really didn't need that 10 chapters anyway and it was just mindless--though entertaining--filler.

I got the Lightning Source Application. **EXCITING**

It's long. I'm about halfway done with it. I'm at the part where they are asking me for banking info and I figure now was the best time for me to go open that business checking account so I can use that.

I've been struggling for a while deciding whether or not to use a pen name and I finally decided to go with a pen name. Why not? Having a secret identity is sexy :)


So my small business account will be opened under my pen name (if I can.. well see)
What else? Editing insanity. Lightning Source. Pen Name. Business Account. Oh and I still have the husband/son/life/and work thing. YESH! Better to be busy then bored though and I'm definitely not bored.

Alright, enough out of me for now...I got work to do!