Christopher D. Schmitz's Blog, page 46

Blog Tour: The Remnant

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I reviewed this book a few months back when it was still in Advanced Review. It launches in a couple weeks, so check it out and signup for the free giveaway!

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[image error]One nation, without God…

           Colton Pierce apprehends Abberants—those who display symptoms of faith—and quarantines them on a remote island to ensure public safety.  Years prior, the government released a genetically-engineered super flu that destroyed the genes believed to be the biological source of spiritual experience in an effort to rid the world of terrorism. As an extractor with the Center for Theological Control, Colton is dedicated to the cause.

          But Colton’s steadfast commitment is challenged when he learns his own son has been targeted for extraction. An underground militia, the Remnant, agrees to help Colton save his son in exchange for his assistance with their plan to free the Aberrants on the island.

          Colton is faced with the most important decision of his life. Remain faithful to the CTC? Or give up everything to save his son?

William Michael Davidson lives in Long Beach, California with his wife and two daughters. A believer that “good living produces good writing,” Davidson writes early in the morning so he can get outside, exercise, spend time with people, and experience as much as possible.

A writer of speculative fiction, he enjoys stories that deal with humanity’s inherent need for redemption.

For more on Davidson and his writing, connect with him on Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, and Amazon Author’s Page.

This is a tour-wide giveaway for two (2) print copies that are available to those living in the U.S. only and one (1) eBook copy available international. The giveaway will end at 12 a.m. (EST) on Sunday, Feb. 26. You can enter to win at each stop of the tour.

◊THE REMNANT

◊by William Michael Davidson

◊Release date: February 7, 2017

◊$15.95, 6×9 Trade paperback, 242 pages

◊Science Fiction (FIC028000) / Christian Futuristic Fiction (FIC0402020)

◊Print ISBN 978-1-939844-29-3

◊eBook ISBN 978-1-939844-30-9

◊Order through Ingram, Follett, or from the publisher

◊$4.99 eBook available in all formats

THE REMNANT is available to order in eBook form at the following sites:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

iTunes

The print format of the book is available at these sites:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Chapters-Indigo

Book Depository

Foyles

Mediander

Fiction DB

Why Use Amazon Associates? Pt. 2—who wants to be a trillionaire?

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Like Gandalf once pointed out while discussing Amazon.com with his fellow author, Saruman, “There is only one lord of the ring and he does not share power.” On second thought, that was probably Stephen King to George R.R. Martin. Anyhow, Amazon is more like Voldemort. He’ll share a few things with you: Death Eater decoder rings, the back of some dude’s head, or a bathroom urinal as long as you promise not to cross the streams. You probably won’t make a cool trill… or even a million… but you could certainly make some real cash from their system—you’re not going to put them out and make more money than Amazon, but the Associates program is a way to get even more money off every book you sell when you promote your book as an Indie author. If you are an indie author you really ought to be using this program (even despite the difficulties chronicled in Pt.1).

Using Amazon Associates is kind of like filing taxes when you’re poor. If you don’t file, you are leaving money on the table. This may be my political libertarianism coming through and disdain for our tax system, but if you don’t know how taxes work here it is in a nutshell: if you are middle-class or below and have taxes withheld from every paycheck you have essentially given the government an interest-free loan which they pay back during tax time the following year. If you don’t file you are essentially “leaving money on the table.” Yes, it’s a little work, but it can really pay off.

[image error] You even get paid on “not-books” like this

Here’s a breakdown on the dollars and cents for a hypothetical book. Let’s say we can sell about 50 copies in a month: 20 paperbacks, 20 Kindle, and 10 audible, making 4.50, 3.50, and 3.00 each, respectively—you may be way lower or higher, but it’s a good starting place for many indie authors. For the sake of the argument let’s say that each sale came from a FB ad you purchased and every sale went through your affiliate link. The total is $190 profit. Let’s say it takes about 800 hits on a FB ad to make those 50 sales but you’re paying .09 per click on average (see my other blogs about setting this up). That was $72 spent on ads (you made $118! Yay!) An affiliate account gives you an advertisers commission on anything you sell: at this number it would be about 6.5% off net, which in our hypothetical book’s case is about $500 giving you an additional $32.50 which really helps offset that ad budget—it’s money left on the table that Amazon will just keep if they don’t pay that commission.

The commission is already built in to Amazon’s pay structure. Our hypothetical book in the above scenario is retailing at $15 and costs about $4 purchase as the author via Createspace. You’re making $4.50 and it costs about $4 to make, so what about the other $5.50? they’ve built into their profit margin at least an extra buck and half into that commission setup (Amazon Associates cap the ratio at 8.5% provided you sell and ship 3,131 items or more per month.)

[image error] Yes. It actually exists. It’s probably awful, but if you buy it I get $0.12

I know that I hate spending money with no or little return and it always makes it difficult for me to venture my hard earned money to pay for internet ads. Here’s something to help you breathe easier. Let’s say someone clicks our ad for hypothetical book and isn’t really into it but sees on the product listing, “Customers who viewed this item also viewed…” and they decide instead to purchase Fifty Shades of Gandalf for $25 (because I assume that book would really necessitate being read in hardcover.)

Your Associate’s account will record a $25 sale but you won’t get commission on it until it’s paid for and ships. Let’s say our hypothetical customer (an aging Kindergarten teacher with a vanilla marriage and a sketchy past—she really know which states do thorough background checks before giving out either teaching or bounty hunter licenses,) doesn’t check out just yet. She leaves the browser open and decides her husband (his name is Jack and he’s got his own history: as a high-stakes Magic the Gathering player who really needs to win the pot at a back-room game at Wizardcon or else he loses the house!) could really use a Black Lotus proxy card for another $15. That would also go on as another purchase from you. (I know, you can’t buy proxies on Amazon, but I didn’t want the scenario to be too realistic.)

The nice thing about the Associate link tag is that you get credit for all of the purchases made within that browsing session. A customer you sent to Amazon might not buy your book, but get distracted and decide to do some regular shopping and you earn a percentage off of those items!

It may be new territory for you as a writer, but indie authors have to be their own sales staff, promo team, and wear a million other hats as well. Take some time to learn the system and work it to your advantage. It’s in your best interest. It may feel like you’re betraying your call as a writer to spend a bunch of time on other non-writing aspects of being an indie author, but as Chuck Sambuchino says in his writing conferences, “It’s called getting paid.” Sometimes we do what we must in order to do what we want, and this is something you can add to an existing promotion structure to make it pay off just a little more.

Don’t leave your money on the table. Someone else is bound to keep it.

 

 

Review: The Awakening – Dragon Knight Chronicles book 1

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So much about this book reminded me of the Eragon series, although it is perhaps a slightly easier read than Paolini. That’s partly because the world building is a little less intense… not that Wichland’s world is somehow lesser, but the writing feels more approachable—as if the author were more mindful of his audience (which feels YA and would be appropriate for some MG readers). I might be comparing it to Eragon more, though, for the plentiful use of familiar tropes, than for the type of world (and inclusion of dragons, etc.) although there is certainly a parallel there, too.

I was pleasantly surprised by the tightness of the writing and although there are a few moments of “as you know bob” those are fleeting and not a huge concern provided they don’t wax overly passive and these didn’t drop me out of the narrative… they are also to be expected in a world with so much history but written in a book that’s so short… weighing in at only 120 pages I didn’t really expect the end when I arrived (I had the ebook and so didn’t have a tactile reminder of the length.) I normally have a bone to pick indie authors who put “book 1 in an epic series with an interesting hook” on the cover page (usually because of the rarity of those arcs being completed) but I think it’s appropriate in Dragon Knight Chronicles—it certainly needs a follow-up, especially given how it ends, and Wichland signals to his readers that it’s underway by including an advanced snippet of book 2.

I received the book for free in exchange for an honest review.

You can check it out on Amazon by clicking here

State of Writing

I feel like I haven’t done much all week–even though I know that’s not the case. I have stuff making me upset. I want to complain. I won’t.

Just going to drink coffee and pray for sunshine, this week.

Why Use Amazon Associates? Pt. 1—my trip on the strugglebus.

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I’ve discovered that most of struggles in writing comes from love-hate relationships with services, systems, and programs run by others… relationships soured by misunderstanding. At least, that’s the norm—and usually it’s my fault. Not always, but more often than not. I recently floundered my way through the Amazon Associates program—got kicked out for a third time—and then realized two things. 1. How to fix the hiccups and 2. Indies really need to take advantage of this program. I’ll break it down.

As mentioned, I got kicked out of the program multiple times. The first one is no big deal—it’s an old account I had opened with them back when the program first started in the early 00s and I was doing occasional reviews on my early website (I’m talking about 12-14 years ago.) Obviously it lapsed into inactivity over a decade ago and I’d never made any money off it—plus the account terms and conditions had changed significantly. It really has no bearing on the topic accept to point out that it caused some confusion since all the old account info is still there and never goes away; Amazon archives it for tax purposes—even closed accounts. Watch out for that in case you’ve got an old account with them and make sure you’re logged into the right account.

Okay, so moving forward, here’s how I got kicked out the next couple times. I wanted to monetize my website (well, kind of.) I wanted to put up a dedicated book store on my Author’s Website where I carried my titles through an online cart-based system. There are a number of pay-for services, but I wanted something automated where I wouldn’t have to carry any stock and orders would be shipped and processed by Createspace, Amazon, etc. Nothing really fit my needs (I wanted to sell via Createspace since the commissions are waaaay higher than Amazon) that was free but the Astore system came close enough. (On my Createspace note: their “storefront” sucks. It’s atrocious. I’ve looked at it a million ways but there is no free alternative—they make it bad on purpose, knowing that authors will send shoppers to amazon instead. It’s that unappealing.) So I signed up for a new account, put in a few hours to build links, and put my Astore into my website. 3 months later my account is killed by Amazon citing inactivity—if you don’t make a sale they shut you down. The account cannot be reinstated. I was a little miffed that there was no warning, but I did know that there was a 3 month period going into it. My bad, though a warning really would’ve been nice—I mean, Amazon is a pretty big outfit, you’d think their fancy algorithms could find some time to say, “Dear Human, in a few days we will close your account unless you feed me those delicious internet hits.” Whatever. Account closure and a few hours lost.

Second verse, same as the first. I made a new account, this time I put more attention and effort into it (I even made sure to complete all of the IRS reporting info) and was a little excited because Christmas was coming, my book sales had been increasing, and I realized that I’d really been using the program wrong. I do Facebook ads pretty regularly and had never set my links to be affiliate ones (links I’d make money off of) from the ads. I went through and changed all my advert links after building them through my affiliate account. I was excited and wanted to check them and see the affiliate tracking program at work and so I used my own affiliate links to purchase a few books as Christmas gifts.

WORD TO THE WISE: Don’t do that. I was basically just testing it out, but those fancy Skynet Algorithms flagged me for account violations. Apparently they find accepting your money from a product from an ad that you paid to place on their behalf to be an egregious violation. (Truthfully I understand why they don’t want you to do that, but it shouldn’t be cause for immediate account cancellation! I’d spent hours and hours rebuilding links and advertisements!) In case you didn’t know, Amazon is very Third-Reich about you participating in their programs… but that’s probably because it’s run by the heartless tin-man and all its employees have had their souls removed by Cybermen in order to improve efficiency and absolute adherence to their rule of law. Especially Corey.

[image error]“Amazon support, life didn’t work out like I wanted. How can I pretend to help?”

I was a little miffed at this point and went to the helpline/chat for associates where I met a Dalek named Corey who was useless to me. Their helpline was rubbish and Corey was downright rude (I saved the chatlog) and he dripped of condescension. He was a jerk and kept sending me to the TOS and even claimed to have read every TOS agreement he ever entered and in great detail—so he’s either a robot or a liar. Anyway, he told me that I listed my social network sites on my Associates application and when I got flagged for giving Amazon my money to see how the nuts and bolts of it worked their internet gremlins found that I didn’t have “enough” followers on social media to list it. I lost hours of work because I had a Facebook account… which is pretty much par for the course if you have a Facebook account.

 

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Review: Finding Molly

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I have a certain fondness for comics—both traditional superheroes as well as graphic novels. Those with any affinity for the format knows that there is so much more to it than mere ka-pow, action, and fisticuffs. There is an art to the pacing—to telling the story in frames and boxes instead of paragraphs. Finding Molly: An Adventure in Catsitting does the job superbly well. I especially appreciated the art style which didn’t feel the need to give everybody six-pack abs and one-size fits all CW body types. There’s also a sense of continuity through the panels as the number of bandaids from kitty scratches accumulates and the MCs relationships develop. The content is certainly relatable and has a great YA feel (although, again, not the CW kind churned out by every media company expecting that everyone is involved in some sort of complicated multi-directional love tryst,) and the relationships are both realistic and also engaging. Molly struggles with all the trials and insecurities that any young adult does and she has a sense of character that makes you want to root for her as sort of an Everyman. I don’t have any qualms about recommending this one (even if I’m not typically the guy who pushes “cat stories.”) I’m not even a cat person, but I’m telling you to pick this one up.

You can check it out on Amazon by clicking HERE

State of Writing

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I felt productive on all fronts–even if it wasn’t largely visible in any particular areas. I had a phone call with publishing company that was interested in John in the John… it doesn’t mean anything in particular except that they do have some interest and have editors looking at it. I have a revised draft of it about 1/4 completed and I’m looking into some copublishing options as well in case I don’t have any strong leads by summer.

I’m also getting excited to write Wolves of the Tesseract Book 2: Through the Darque Gate of Koth (I finally nailed down a title.) The outline is completed and I wrote like six pages of storyline notes, descriptions, etc. to help sculpt and guide the book.

I laid some groundwork for marketing ideas, too. Collected about 200 email addresses from indie bookstores and set a few calendar items for the future (a signing at Barnes & Nobles, added a small comicon in Minneapolis, and applied for another big event I’m hoping to attend with books).

17 Tips to Have a Bigger Year as an Author

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Just as 2016 came to a close my publisher for Wolf of the Tesseract (Black Rose Writing)  posted some advice for those authors who might be making New Year’s resolutions this coming year. It’s largely collected advice I’ve seen floating around in various places online, but that doesn’t make each item any less important. If you want to have a better year as a writer and care about building a platform, getting sales up, or want to be more visible in the marketplace than pick a couple of these to add to your regular routine–or pick a few to get better at!

No matter how good your book may be, if you’re not getting the recognition you deserve, your potential sales may end up sitting on a shelf collecting dust. To follow are 17 tips for gaining greater recognition to help generate activity and improve sales for your book. Take every opportunity to claim your title as an expert in your field and 2017 may just be a banner year for you and your book!

1) Brand your Facebook cover photo. Include images of any awards you may have won. According to BookBub 69% of readers use Facebook to find information about their favorite author and 88% follow their favorite author on Facebook.

2) Create a discussion on Quora. Get involved. Ask questions, engage users, don’t make it all about pitching your book. Use keywords in your post title and content to increase promotional returns.

3) Have experience with public speaking? Give a talk at an event. Pitch your subject to a writers’ conference, such as The Great American Book Festival.

4) Start a podcast or reach out to see if you can participate on someone else’s podcast. The more exposure the better. Take every opportunity to reach out to others who may benefit from your expertise.

5) Submit your book as an award contender. According to BookBub, including an author’s awards in their blurbs increases clicks an average of 6.7%. Try for established and reputable award programs such as Literary Classics Book Awards or the CLC Top Honors Awards

6) Comment on relevant threads in Facebook groups or on other people’s threads to help build your reputation as an expert.

7) Write an in-depth blog post on a topic related to or covered in your book, then reference and link to your book within the post as well as at the end as part of your bio.

8) Contribute advice and ideas to a LinkedIn group. Make sure your profile includes a link where people can purchase your book.

9) Write a press release for PRWeb. It’s a great way to get some backlinks to your site and it may even generate some press interest!

10) Use discussion forums on your book’s topic including places like yahoo answers. Doing this will get you in front of people who want to know what you know. Make sure you provide a link to your author page.

11) Sign up as a HARO source (HARO: Help a Reporter Out) and be seen as an expert in your field.

12) Become active on HubPages and publish relevant content that will establish you as an expert in your field while providing greater exposure for you and your book. Be sure to include a link to your site.

13) Post free content or excerpts from your book on Scribd. (You may also sell your book on this site.)

14) Create short presentations about topics related to your book and put them on SlideShare.

15) Share your knowledge. Have you learned a special technique for promoting your book? Offer an article for submission with Author.Pub

16) Offer speaking topics at local schools. Teacher’s will appreciate the break and students will be thrilled to meet an author in person. Whenever possible, tie this in to the subject or theme of your book.

17) Make a series of videos for YouTube related to your book content. With nonfiction books you can include a series of how-to videos. For fiction books, you can do this by including thematic topics.

Whatever you do, resolve to make 2017 the best year yet for you and your book. By presenting yourself as an expert in your field you will establish greater credibility while increasing your exposure. Here’s to making it great in 2017!

Review: Wizard’s Key

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Wizard’s Key by Mitch Reinhardt and I found it well written and interesting. Geoff is a student whose dad is an archeologist, but his home has a bunch of stuff in it making it more like that place where they stashed the Ark of the Covenant at the end of the first Indiana Jones movie. It seemed a little like a YA version of Warehouse 13 goes to school.

Geoff, plus friends Jane and Sawyer, (ok, Sawyer is more of Geoff’s school bully) wind up thrust into a magical adventure with the expected tropes and bestiary. Friendships are forged and dangers are overcome in a world that feels something like Harry Potter (for writing feel/age level and appeal) adventures through Golaria (the world feels grander and more expansive than Rowling’s wizard/muggle dichotomy).

Oh, and it’s called the Darkwolf Saga for a reason. If you don’t like werewolf books, steer clear—but it’s much more HP: Prisoner of Azkaban than it is Twilight… I’m saying that’s a good thing—although I love almost any werewolf story (on that note, check out the wolves in my own dark fantasy saga, The Kakos Realm.) I’m looking forward to the next three planned stories in the story arc.

You can check out the book at Amazon by clicking here

State of Writing

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My wife got a puppy like 8 days ago. I live in a dog toilet, now. But that’s ok. This too shall pass.

I worked hard to do some advert reset/redesigning, etc. I also finished third draft of One Star and submitted to Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. I think it would be a perfect fit. Fiction-wise I also continued to work on my notes for Wolves of the Tesseract#2 and I tweaked my writing schedule for the year. Kakos Realm #4 may be pushed back a year–I’m just feeling stronger about The Hidden Rings of Myrddin the Cambion… I will probably write all 5 books over a span of like 16 months (estimating about 40-60 word YA/upper MG level).

I didn’t write any fiction this week, but I wrote like 5 blogs that I scheduled ahead of time and networked with some other authors online.

This week? Planning for more of the same. Still fleshing out my goals for 2017 and deciding which major bullet point is next on my to-do list.