Piracy or Free Publicity

I attended a panel on writing and one thing stuck in my mind. When asked about the issue of piracy and the ease of copying on the internet, someone replied that as an author, he wasn't concerned with piracy as much as obscurity. Especially for those who haven't 'made' it yet, the small amount of money that is made is peanuts compared with the 'free' publicity.

The idea is to build a fan base first. Once people find they love your work, they will be much more inclined to buy your other books. Readers as a group, tend to be loyal to the authors they love. They will shell out the money in order to read more from that author.

Remember that Name

What names are these?

I'm glad you asked...

John Locke, Amanda Hocking...I'm sure you've heard of them, the self-publishing phenoms.

Now we have also have J.A. Konrath, a mystery writer who has sold 400,000 digital copies of his self-published books, and our newest success story, Darcy Chan, whose manuscript, after being rejected by 100 publishers and agents as too risky, braved the self-publishing maze and published it herself on Amazon. After a $1000 marketing and PR campaign, including a hefty $575 review from Kirkus, and strategically pricing her book at 99 cents, hoping to build an audience, she has now sold over 400,000 ebooks and is attracting interest from movie producers and audio-book publishers.

In the Ether: A Passive Aggressive Writing Tale by Jennifer Steen

So, I've come across lots of different kinds of writers in my stint, and one of the main stumbling blocks that I find many writers have is either a lack of confidence...or too much confidence. How do we find the balance? How do we realistically evaluate when a piece of fiction is ready for publication? Well, that's the golden question. I can attempt to answer that by telling you a little story.

Proposal of Cover for The Rebels - Feedback Much Appreciated

Now that The Rebels is almost finished the first draft, I've been thinking of cover ideas. Something striking, yet simple. This is my first attempt. I would love some feedback before I send it to the cover artist.

Status of the Empire: Writing Follies

Have you ever had the feeling that you've forgotten something? You're packing for a long trip and something nibbles at the back of your mind, some tiny something that you know you've missed?

I have been working on chapter 1 of The Rebels. For the last three weeks.

Don't get me wrong. I haven't been suffering from writer's block. The amount of effort I've put into it has been as much as I would in a normal writing week. Which is quite a lot.

I've written, revised, edited, moved around like puzzle pieces in search of a home, and each version smells sweeter than the last, but that little niggling goblin was still hacking pieces out of my brain, trying to get my attention.

The action was explosive. Like a rollercoaster ride complete with minor ordinance. The heart; Adrian's heart finally shone through in glorious color.

Descriptions, usually the bane of my writing existence, were splashed with artistic, if not brilliance, but at least acceptably recognizable shapes.

But there was still something missing.

In the Ether: Of Publishing and Cabbages and Kings

As an author trying to break into the business, sales tracking is an important activity and one that can be encouraging or, I'm afraid in most cases, extremely depressing.

Face it, for every published writer out there, there are very few who even make a part-time living out of it. Most of us give up and satisfy ourselves that we, at least, are (that magical word) 'published.' To be fair, even being published is a gargantuan feat, and I'm not talking about being self-published.

In the Ether: Being Writer, Part 3 - One Writer's Journey into Marketing and Publicity

Well, as promised, here is my convoluted journey through the marketing and publicity jungle.

What works and what does not work?

I just finished reading John Locke's book. Yes, I'm one of the hopeful fools who added to his success story. Do I feel gyped? Well, like all things, it depends on your point of view.

There isn't anything in the book that people don't already know, that is if you've taken the time to explore on your own and understand the tools available. It does give a validation, of sorts, that all of this commonsense advice is worth a damn. And in the end, that's the rub. It's fine to be given theories, but we want concrete examples of someone who actually went and did it in this brave new world of social media and publishing. Well, John Locke did.

In the Ether: Being Writer, Part 2 - Small Presses

There are a lot of writers out there, even more wanna-be writers breaking into the business and just as many avenues of advice on how to be a successful writer. I'm not talking about the craft of writing for which there are plenty of reference sites; I am referring to the suggestions on how to lift your book from the realms of obscurity.

Not that I'm that successful at it. I've had some minor successes and lots of…let's call them learning opportunities. Hopefully this will help someone out there who is navigating a different part of the maze. What could it hurt? The more pieces of the puzzle we have, the clearer the picture.

In the Ether: Being Writer, Part 1

Like the eternal question, 'what does it mean to be human?' today's blog is about a less eternal but no less fascinating, at least for me, question, what does it mean to be an author at a time when the industry is undergoing such upheaval?

There is no publishing industry crystal ball we can look into to tell us how it will take shape. One thing is for sure, there will be winners and losers. That's the nature of the game. Adapt or sink into the oblivion of a footnote in history.