K.M. Frontain's Blog, page 6
September 27, 2013
Short interruption of availability on Nook
Illuminated manuscript, Hours of Catherine of Cleves.
There will be a short interruption of availability of The Soulstone Chronicles on Nook (Barnes and Noble) for the next few weeks. I am transferring the distribution of the series from Lulu to Smashwords starting September.
Something is not right over at Lulu. I had a sales die off on iTunes starting January or February of this year while Lulu managed the distribution. I have a sales pattern and it’s been fairly solid over the past five to six years. A certain percentage of people pick up the freebies and continue purchasing the series. Back in January, that pattern changed for iTunes. I was seeing downloads of freebies, but never any sales. Near the beginning of August, the same thing happened with Nook, except it flatlined entirely, no sign of free downloads or purchases. And that is just not the pattern. Six solid years of a pattern does not disappear in a month without a person raising eyebrows.
So after querying this and getting some info on report dates from Nook to Lulu, I have decided to pull distribution.
I did this for the series with regards to iTunes already. I had to wait a few months for Smashwords to report the sales on iTunes, but it returned. The sales pattern is back. Smashwords wins. It gets distribution of the series from now on.
September 26, 2013
My tweets
September 24, 2013
My tweets
September 23, 2013
My tweets
And she went kerflump
Wee update. Health can contribute to or detract from creativity. I have always used writing to ignore chronic pain, but writing doesn’t help so much when the issue is an inability to concentrate. This last year, it has been very hard for me to concentrate. And now I know why. I have an iron deficiency.
The condition very likely commenced before last summer, but this summer I experienced most of the symptoms. I complained of various ailments to the intern during my annual check up. Looking back at that conversation, there they were: many of the symptoms of iron deficiency anemia. I am missing a few symptoms (very few) and fortunately did not pass out at any time, though I have come close. My blog title refers to the overall floppy, floompy flat feeling that comes with this thing. I just got no drive.
I joked to my kids that I skipped the end result of dead. They didn’t think I was that funny. Ah, well.
Oddly, the first few days on iron supplements have left me exhausted. It’s as if the condition is going backwards.
Oh, I should preface that last para with the fact that I have been suffering from insomnia despite chronic fatigue. Both are symptoms of the anemia. Insomnia is not a symptom I would have guessed if I were asked to list any.
Anyhow, I am three days on supplements and going back up the scale to feeling exhausted and sleepy rather than bug-eyed fatigued and sleepless, if that makes sense. I am hoping for the elusive “concentration” to come back. I spent the summer doing physical creation (crafts) because writing was pretty much not happening, what with the slumpy mental fog that comes with this condition.
But now I know what the kerflump was all about. I hope to get better soon.
September 11, 2013
My tweets
September 10, 2013
My tweets
September 4, 2013
My tweets
September 3, 2013
When will the next book be published?
The two answers.
First: this series is huge. My main concern at this point is matching up details, making sure all of them fit together between books in the series. This takes time. It takes multiple read-throughs and re-checks. It means lists, which I hate, and it means re-reading every section for how concisely I conveyed a hint for a new plot detail or how I wrapped up an old one. Honestly, I can't give a set publication date without screwing my series over. I'd rather make sure the volumes are as correct for detail as I can get them than publish later books in a rush, even if this means delaying a publication for a year or more.
I started writing the series a little more than ten years ago. Twelve books are out. That's not bad really. Getting a novel written and perfected to the best of ones skill is hard work. But this isn't a single book. It's a series.That's even harder. If the next novel doesn't feel right to me, if it feels like a rush job, I'll never be happy with it. So no set publishing date. Sorry. I tried setting one, and it just doesn't work for me. I'd rather withhold a novel than put it on the market too soon as a total piece of crap.
Second answer: Motivation. I'm a fragile human like you, not a machine. Encouragement keeps me going. Lack of it bludgeons me down. When that happens, I go do other stuff that doesn't hurt. That's what I'm doing now. Other stuff. Stuff off line. Stuff that has very little to do with writing.
If you go look at my author page on Nook, you'll see some random reivews that look like someone posted anonymously to troll me. I don't think this person read the series. Three one star reviews by a troll who demands how to get a hold of the author. Well, the answer to that is he doesn't. This author doesn't want to talk to him.
And if you visit my Amazon book pages, you will see some very lovely reviews, but you will also see some nasty ones by people who equate the horror elements in my novels with some sort of moral lapse on my part. These reviewers take two paras or so of a huge novel and destroy the credibility of an entire series over twelve novels long. You think that doesn't hurt? It not only hurts, it boggles my mind that anyone could read the horror fiction sections and take them for anything other than horror (whether supernatural, physical or psychological). That they could equate the horror elements with approval of physical and emotional abuse sickens me.
As much as many authors--a lot of them new on the Indie publishing scene compared to me and acting like they know more than I do, but they don't--as much as they like to say authors should develop a thick skin, that's a lot of bull. No one every develops a thick skin about their art. They just hide it when they get hurt. They go whine privately to someone at home. They try to lick their mental wounds and then just sort of bleed for days or months.
Most blog posts will say not to respond to the bad reviews. Fine. Tried that. But hiding how I feel hasn't help me the least damned bit, really. I acknowledge before you all that I am feeling hurt and I don't have any motivation to work on my stories just now. Eventually I will, but until then, I'm doing stuff that has nothing to do with writing. I have wounds and need to heal. I also have another massive headache right now, so I'm being fairly blunt about how I feel too.
So let's talk about bandages. For artists, bandages are positive reviews. And there's even a sort of liniment called artist support, things like telling other people about the author's books. And yes, I've politely asked readers to leave reviews for my series. I've done it almost every time someone asks for the next book in the series. After twelve books, no review? Someone asks for the 13th, and no review for the series?
Some readers have left wonderful reviews, and I thank them. These readers are gold. They're the absolute best. They've saved my mental butt, some of them. I am grateful for all the positive reviews. But I am an independent author. I have no publisher support because I am the publisher. I'm the editor, the author, the everything. I get tired. I get sick. I get run down. I lose my motivation. Honestly, every time someone asks me when the next book is coming out, I gotta ask, "Why didn't this person leave a positive review of the series on Bound in Stone 1 to help me keep going?"
Now some people reading this post will get all bitchy and say, "Well, she got paid for all the books that person read. The reader owes her nothing further."
Yeah. True. This independent author is owed nothing further. She doesn't need anything but money, yeah, because that's the only reason why she writes. (Sarcasm.)
If that was true, I'd have published as much crap as I could as quickly as possibly since 2005. I wouldn't have free novels, and I wouldn't have kept my prices as low as they are for the size of the novels I publish.
Yes, money helps. But I don't get much. Not enough to pay a professional cover artist yet, which is what I'd like to put some money on if I ever get enough to spare.
What money I do get helps my family. I paid for car repairs this summer. Yeah, the book income covered that. That was a new event for me, enough money to pay for an important family expense. Being Amazon published sure helped this year. Wish I'd figured out how to make an e-book a few years earlier.
But no, I do not publish in the expectation I will get a shit load of money. I know I am unlikely to become a bazillionaire. I'm happy to get what money I do get. Yes, it would be nice to get more, but money isn't why I write, obviously, or I would have given up on this series not long after publishing the first of my novels, because for the amount of work I put into it over the past ten years, I get paid a miniscule sliver of minimum wage. So anyone thinking I'm being a bitch because I want money isn't seeing the reality. I work hard for just about nothing. I've worked hard for a long time.
So what keeps me going after a few too many crappy reviews and any other negative crap that shows up on my author doorstep?
Not much keeps me going. I just stop going. I go elsewhere until I'm ready to come back. No motivation, no product. It's that simple.
What really helps me continue writing is encouragement. What helps is readers letting people know they liked my stories and why. Publicly! On Amazon. On Smashwords. On Nook. That' what helps. I am not a forum lurker who spams my stories to all and sundry at the first available opportunity. I don't like doing that. Word of mouth is still the means any book gets attention, and on line, that means good reviews.
So yeah. I'm done my little whine. I'll take my headache off to the kitchen for more painkillers that won't work, and maybe tomorrow I'll be more Zen about writing. Until then, I'll be doing stuff that isn't painful to think about.
