B.E. Sanderson's Blog, page 37
October 17, 2018
Write Whenever You Can
Just now on Facebook, I saw a quote from Leo Tolstoy that was something along the lines of 'writers should write first thing in the morning because that's when they're most creative'. Or that's when their minds are most receptive to creativity. Or something. I didn't copy the quote and I'm not looking it up.
Umm... No. Maybe Leo was his most creative first thing in the morning, but that might not necessarily hold true for other writers. It sure as hell doesn't hold true for me.
I love how people make blanket statements like that, never thinking that a new writer might actually take them seriously and then assume there's something wrong with them because they can't do what some famous author said they had to do.
Bleh.
Good thing I never saw that quote when I was new. I couldn't write in the morning. When I first started writing, I had a full time job and a kid. Mornings were for getting ready for work and getting her ready for school. Then, after eight hours of work, getting dinner on the table, and putting her to bed, I could write. Not long after I started writing, I got married, and I was a stay at home mom. I wrote a bit in the mornings then. It lasted about 9 months, which was when we pulled the Kid out of public school and I started homeschooling. Once I started that, there was no writing during the day. At all. We'd get done with school, Hubs would come home from work, there'd be dinner to do, and THEN I could sit down to write.
Now, when the Kid's an adult and the Hubs is retired and I can write whenever, my brain is still trained to write new words at night. I can write other times, if I have to. I guess. But I don't like it. And the words always need more editing afterward. Nighttime is the best time - FOR ME.
My point? Write when you can. Don't worry about someone else's schedule or their idea of what's the proper time for writing. Go ahead and write in the morning, if that's what works for you. Write during the day. Write on your lunch break. Write at midnight. Do what works for you.
Getting the words on the page is what's important not when you put them there.
Umm... No. Maybe Leo was his most creative first thing in the morning, but that might not necessarily hold true for other writers. It sure as hell doesn't hold true for me.
I love how people make blanket statements like that, never thinking that a new writer might actually take them seriously and then assume there's something wrong with them because they can't do what some famous author said they had to do.
Bleh.
Good thing I never saw that quote when I was new. I couldn't write in the morning. When I first started writing, I had a full time job and a kid. Mornings were for getting ready for work and getting her ready for school. Then, after eight hours of work, getting dinner on the table, and putting her to bed, I could write. Not long after I started writing, I got married, and I was a stay at home mom. I wrote a bit in the mornings then. It lasted about 9 months, which was when we pulled the Kid out of public school and I started homeschooling. Once I started that, there was no writing during the day. At all. We'd get done with school, Hubs would come home from work, there'd be dinner to do, and THEN I could sit down to write.
Now, when the Kid's an adult and the Hubs is retired and I can write whenever, my brain is still trained to write new words at night. I can write other times, if I have to. I guess. But I don't like it. And the words always need more editing afterward. Nighttime is the best time - FOR ME.
My point? Write when you can. Don't worry about someone else's schedule or their idea of what's the proper time for writing. Go ahead and write in the morning, if that's what works for you. Write during the day. Write on your lunch break. Write at midnight. Do what works for you.
Getting the words on the page is what's important not when you put them there.
October 14, 2018
Decision Made - Part Two
If you've been reading along, you know I had a couple decisions to make here. The first one was whether I would keep stumping along with a book that I just wasn't feeling. Made that one and stopped work on Ugly and the Beast. The other decision was whether to keep my reserved spot with my cover artist and what to do with it if I did.
So, over the weekend, my cover artist announced that she's booked through December of 2019. Which pretty much made the decision about what to do with my October spot for me. I'm going ahead with the cover of Ugly and the Beast, even though it isn't finished. It's either that or wait until my spring spot and then not have a spot reserved for Cinder Ugly. And while I'm behind in writing this series, I do not want to have to wait until 2020 to have a cover.
Yesterday morning, I went through the photo site, picked several poses for the Jeni model, and then picked a couple of other things I'd like to see on the cover. We'll see what she does with them.
Now I have until February (or was it March?) to figure out what the hell CU is going to be about so I have ideas to send to Jessica.
Life was so much easier when she wasn't so popular. I didn't have these scheduling problems when she did the Once Upon a Djinn series. Ugh.
On the other hand, my cover artist is so good, she's in high demand. Yay.
On the bright side, looking at photos for UatB kinda makes me want to start writing it again. Too bad I have the edits for Unequal to focus on right now. Maybe I'll make finishing the damn book my NaNoWriMo project.
:shrug:
So, over the weekend, my cover artist announced that she's booked through December of 2019. Which pretty much made the decision about what to do with my October spot for me. I'm going ahead with the cover of Ugly and the Beast, even though it isn't finished. It's either that or wait until my spring spot and then not have a spot reserved for Cinder Ugly. And while I'm behind in writing this series, I do not want to have to wait until 2020 to have a cover.
Yesterday morning, I went through the photo site, picked several poses for the Jeni model, and then picked a couple of other things I'd like to see on the cover. We'll see what she does with them.
Now I have until February (or was it March?) to figure out what the hell CU is going to be about so I have ideas to send to Jessica.
Life was so much easier when she wasn't so popular. I didn't have these scheduling problems when she did the Once Upon a Djinn series. Ugh.
On the other hand, my cover artist is so good, she's in high demand. Yay.
On the bright side, looking at photos for UatB kinda makes me want to start writing it again. Too bad I have the edits for Unequal to focus on right now. Maybe I'll make finishing the damn book my NaNoWriMo project.
:shrug:
October 12, 2018
Writerly Depression
Always on the lookout for ways to boost sales, I read Amazon Decoded by David Gaughran this week. If you're not familiar with Gaughran, he also wrote Let's Get Digital and Let's Get Visible - two books that were instrumental in my self-publishing decisions early on.
Now, you can only get Amazon Decoded if you subscribe to his newsletter, but the newsletter is chock full of useful into, so it's a good idea anyway. Plus you get this book. I reviewed it on Goodreads. If you're interested in that, you can see the review over there or you can wait and see it on my Reading Update over on The Writing Spectacle tomorrow.
It's a good book. It was also depressing as hell for me. Because I am not anywhere near where I want to be. He's talking about sales way above anything I've ever gotten. And ranks I don't know if I will ever hit. And he's talking about them as if they were old hat. Not for me, man.
He's also talking about ads I am not in a position to pay for. I mean, you gotta spend money to make money. But you gotta HAVE money to spend money to make money. Know what I mean?
I don't even want to think about how many spreadsheets I have to do to scrape together $500 for an ad. One ad. That may or may not pay for itself? Ugh. Not happening any time soon.
Still, the book gave me some ideas. I'll give them a try and see how things go. Maybe I'll be better prepared with Unequal launches in... well, whenever it launches later this year.
I do have an ad going live today with Authors' Billboard. I have low expectations. But it's a $6 ad, so maybe I can break even. Fingers crossed.
On a side note, I saw an author complaining that they only got 50 sales on launch day for their new book. I kinda hated them a little right then. Then I hated myself a little because I don't know what I'm doing wrong. What can I say, it's been a week for the writerly depression to rear its ugly head. Which is why I've been spending a lot of time in the gardens instead of at the keyboard.
Now, you can only get Amazon Decoded if you subscribe to his newsletter, but the newsletter is chock full of useful into, so it's a good idea anyway. Plus you get this book. I reviewed it on Goodreads. If you're interested in that, you can see the review over there or you can wait and see it on my Reading Update over on The Writing Spectacle tomorrow.
It's a good book. It was also depressing as hell for me. Because I am not anywhere near where I want to be. He's talking about sales way above anything I've ever gotten. And ranks I don't know if I will ever hit. And he's talking about them as if they were old hat. Not for me, man.
He's also talking about ads I am not in a position to pay for. I mean, you gotta spend money to make money. But you gotta HAVE money to spend money to make money. Know what I mean?
I don't even want to think about how many spreadsheets I have to do to scrape together $500 for an ad. One ad. That may or may not pay for itself? Ugh. Not happening any time soon.
Still, the book gave me some ideas. I'll give them a try and see how things go. Maybe I'll be better prepared with Unequal launches in... well, whenever it launches later this year.
I do have an ad going live today with Authors' Billboard. I have low expectations. But it's a $6 ad, so maybe I can break even. Fingers crossed.
On a side note, I saw an author complaining that they only got 50 sales on launch day for their new book. I kinda hated them a little right then. Then I hated myself a little because I don't know what I'm doing wrong. What can I say, it's been a week for the writerly depression to rear its ugly head. Which is why I've been spending a lot of time in the gardens instead of at the keyboard.
October 9, 2018
Sales Sales Sales
I know my regular visitors have probably already read Project Hermes, but in case anyone else stops by, PH is on sale today through next Tuesday night. 99c or 99p, depending on which part of the world you're in. That's a $4 savings here in the US, so get it while you can.
There will also be sales for Sleeping Ugly and Blink of an I in the near future. SU will be on sale the 24th through Devil's Night (the 30th). BOIA will be on sale November 7th thru the night of the 13th. I'll post about it again when those times come around.
For those of you who aren't familiar with Project Hermes (used to be titled Blood Flow), it's a political suspense with a medical twist (or a medical suspense with a political twist). Here's the blurb:
It's the little things that kill
The highest levels of the government believe Project Hermes is the best way to control America’s immigration problem. A simple microchip carrying a citizen’s information will allow officials to sort out who belongs—and who doesn’t. Harmless.
Unless the chip carries more than just information.
Agent Miranda Kruz of the Terrorism Task Force has reason to believe something is very wrong with Project Hermes. People are dying and the clues all point to a microchip implant. But Randi’s superiors don’t want anything or anyone interfering with their pet project. They’re threatening her job, her loved ones, and her life to keep her from revealing their secret. With the help of medical examiner, Vic Hammond, and electronics engineer, Jack Davis, Randi has to uncover the truth and make it public before anyone else is targeted for death.
Locating the madmen behind these executions will be hard enough—stopping them might just be impossible.
And here's the cover:
Feel free to share the sale around. It's a meaty book, but from what I've been told, it's a fast read. Enjoy!
There will also be sales for Sleeping Ugly and Blink of an I in the near future. SU will be on sale the 24th through Devil's Night (the 30th). BOIA will be on sale November 7th thru the night of the 13th. I'll post about it again when those times come around.
For those of you who aren't familiar with Project Hermes (used to be titled Blood Flow), it's a political suspense with a medical twist (or a medical suspense with a political twist). Here's the blurb:
It's the little things that kill
The highest levels of the government believe Project Hermes is the best way to control America’s immigration problem. A simple microchip carrying a citizen’s information will allow officials to sort out who belongs—and who doesn’t. Harmless.
Unless the chip carries more than just information.
Agent Miranda Kruz of the Terrorism Task Force has reason to believe something is very wrong with Project Hermes. People are dying and the clues all point to a microchip implant. But Randi’s superiors don’t want anything or anyone interfering with their pet project. They’re threatening her job, her loved ones, and her life to keep her from revealing their secret. With the help of medical examiner, Vic Hammond, and electronics engineer, Jack Davis, Randi has to uncover the truth and make it public before anyone else is targeted for death.
Locating the madmen behind these executions will be hard enough—stopping them might just be impossible.
And here's the cover:
Feel free to share the sale around. It's a meaty book, but from what I've been told, it's a fast read. Enjoy!
October 7, 2018
Cover Reveal
I've been working on the cover for Unequal on and off. Saturday I made a concerted effort to get it done. I'm pretty pleased with the results. But we all know how I've been pleased with my covers before only to have them bomb.
Anyway, here it is:
I'm not sure if it screams 'dystopian', but unless I think of something better, I'm running with it. It's got Rue (the MC), a hospital bed, and a utilitarian structure.
And I might change the cover of Blink of an I again to kind of be in keeping with this other dystopian. Not sure about that yet. I still kinda like the abstract indigo of Blink's cover. :shrug:
Anyway, Unequal should be out by the end of November, early December at the latest. :fingers crossed:
Yes, I know. 'Unequal' isn't a word. But it's a word they use to describe anyone who doesn't fit into the 'equal' mold in this future I've envisioned . They label you Unequal, and you get disappeared. Rue is Unequal.
I haven't done the blurb yet. My brain space isn't ready to do that yet. And besides, the assignment isn't due. ;o)
Anyway, here it is:
I'm not sure if it screams 'dystopian', but unless I think of something better, I'm running with it. It's got Rue (the MC), a hospital bed, and a utilitarian structure. And I might change the cover of Blink of an I again to kind of be in keeping with this other dystopian. Not sure about that yet. I still kinda like the abstract indigo of Blink's cover. :shrug:
Anyway, Unequal should be out by the end of November, early December at the latest. :fingers crossed:
Yes, I know. 'Unequal' isn't a word. But it's a word they use to describe anyone who doesn't fit into the 'equal' mold in this future I've envisioned . They label you Unequal, and you get disappeared. Rue is Unequal.
I haven't done the blurb yet. My brain space isn't ready to do that yet. And besides, the assignment isn't due. ;o)
October 4, 2018
I Suck At This
The other day I had someone ask me which of my books I'd recommend to someone who'd never read any of my books. You know, which one should they start with?
Argh.
I hate that question because I am really bad at answering it. Which of my books would I recommend to a first time reader? Gah.
I don't know. I don't know what any given person would like to read.
One would assume the easy answer would be Dying Embers, because it's my first book and why not have people start at the beginning, right? Except I don't know if the person in question likes suspense. Or revenge. Or female MCs. Or female villains. What if I recommend a title and the person hates the premise behind that particular title? Then it would be a total let down and my recommendation would be the cause.
If I'm out in public and face-to-face with the person, I can hand them a bookmark and we can talk about what they like to read. If it's online, it's sort of... Gah.
This is why I was never any good at telemarketing. If I can't show the product and put it in a customer's hands, demonstrate its awesomeness, I can't sell it. I mean, I love all my books and I want everyone to read them all, but all readers are not eclectic like me. I'll read any genre, pretty much. But other people generally stick to one genre or two. So how do I know which book to recommend?
Ugh.
My answer was ultimately to say 'it depends' and then offer them Dying Embers and list the other genres of the books I've written with a link to my author page so they could go check out the offerings for themselves. Not sure what they did after that. I hope I didn't chase them away with my waffling.
This was all so much easier when I sold screwdrivers. Slotted or Philip's Head? And how long? And how skinny? Magnetic? Want the whole set? They're ergonomic, doncha know. How many can I put you down for?
Even better when they were looking for resistors or capacitors. They already knew all the parameters they needed. All I had to do was show why mine were better than the competitor's and write the freakin' order.
Double ugh.
What do you do when someone asks you to recommend a book?
Argh.
I hate that question because I am really bad at answering it. Which of my books would I recommend to a first time reader? Gah.
I don't know. I don't know what any given person would like to read.
One would assume the easy answer would be Dying Embers, because it's my first book and why not have people start at the beginning, right? Except I don't know if the person in question likes suspense. Or revenge. Or female MCs. Or female villains. What if I recommend a title and the person hates the premise behind that particular title? Then it would be a total let down and my recommendation would be the cause.
If I'm out in public and face-to-face with the person, I can hand them a bookmark and we can talk about what they like to read. If it's online, it's sort of... Gah.
This is why I was never any good at telemarketing. If I can't show the product and put it in a customer's hands, demonstrate its awesomeness, I can't sell it. I mean, I love all my books and I want everyone to read them all, but all readers are not eclectic like me. I'll read any genre, pretty much. But other people generally stick to one genre or two. So how do I know which book to recommend?
Ugh.
My answer was ultimately to say 'it depends' and then offer them Dying Embers and list the other genres of the books I've written with a link to my author page so they could go check out the offerings for themselves. Not sure what they did after that. I hope I didn't chase them away with my waffling.
This was all so much easier when I sold screwdrivers. Slotted or Philip's Head? And how long? And how skinny? Magnetic? Want the whole set? They're ergonomic, doncha know. How many can I put you down for?
Even better when they were looking for resistors or capacitors. They already knew all the parameters they needed. All I had to do was show why mine were better than the competitor's and write the freakin' order.
Double ugh.
What do you do when someone asks you to recommend a book?
October 2, 2018
Decisions, Decisions
Okay, so it's now October and this book that I should've finished writing in June is giving me fits. And I've got a decision I need to make pretty soon.
Do I keep plugging ahead with a book that obviously does not want to be written right now or do I set it aside and work on something else?
Which leads to a secondary question: Do I 1) use the spot I have with my cover artist for UatB anyway and hope I have something to publish early next year, 2) use the spot I have with my cover artist to let her do Unequal, or 3) do I let the spot slide?
Neither decision is an easy one. I so don't want to disappoint readers who are expecting a sequel to Sleeping Ugly sooner rather than later. Then again, I so don't want to disappoint readers by throwing out a piece of crap (which is what UatB is shaping up to be at the moment). And I definitely don't want to lose my spot with my cover artist who has become highly sought after and therefore super busy. I have another scheduled spot with her in February, but that's a long way off and what if UatB breaks free... Argh.
But I'm also not inclined to spend money on something I don't need at the moment.
Now, I'm not asking you to answer these questions for me. I'm just throwing them out there to maybe help me make a decision. Because sometimes writing stuff here does that. And, you know, it's out here in case anyone else is in a similar quandary and is looking for a sense that they're not alone. That sort of thing.
Of course, it doesn't help that SU is not the overnight sensation I'd hoped it would be which makes it harder for me to justify all this effort and expense on a sequel. Blerg. But having sequels helps sell the first book... or something...
Ah the life of a writer. It's fun! Yeah, yeah... fun... that's the ticket.
What are you having fun with right now? Facing any big decisions?
Do I keep plugging ahead with a book that obviously does not want to be written right now or do I set it aside and work on something else?
Which leads to a secondary question: Do I 1) use the spot I have with my cover artist for UatB anyway and hope I have something to publish early next year, 2) use the spot I have with my cover artist to let her do Unequal, or 3) do I let the spot slide?
Neither decision is an easy one. I so don't want to disappoint readers who are expecting a sequel to Sleeping Ugly sooner rather than later. Then again, I so don't want to disappoint readers by throwing out a piece of crap (which is what UatB is shaping up to be at the moment). And I definitely don't want to lose my spot with my cover artist who has become highly sought after and therefore super busy. I have another scheduled spot with her in February, but that's a long way off and what if UatB breaks free... Argh.
But I'm also not inclined to spend money on something I don't need at the moment.
Now, I'm not asking you to answer these questions for me. I'm just throwing them out there to maybe help me make a decision. Because sometimes writing stuff here does that. And, you know, it's out here in case anyone else is in a similar quandary and is looking for a sense that they're not alone. That sort of thing.
Of course, it doesn't help that SU is not the overnight sensation I'd hoped it would be which makes it harder for me to justify all this effort and expense on a sequel. Blerg. But having sequels helps sell the first book... or something...
Ah the life of a writer. It's fun! Yeah, yeah... fun... that's the ticket.
What are you having fun with right now? Facing any big decisions?
September 30, 2018
Dialogue Issues? Read It Out Loud
I started a book Saturday night. As you know from Friday's post, I'd been looking for a suspense to read. I thought I found one. The premise was awesome, the few reviews it had were mostly five-star, and the live look in was pretty good, so I laid down my $2.99.
I didn't 'look in' far enough. When I started the book, everything was fine. Then I got farther in where there was actual dialogue. OMG, so bad.
Ugh, I tried to recreate a sample of the bad dialogue this morning, but I couldn't do it. It was so wooden, my brain was revolting against it. And I refuse to copy the exact verbiage here. Just trust me on it when I say it was bad.
Do the world a favor when you're writing dialogue, folks. Read it out loud. You should be able to hear whether it's the way people actually talk. Think about conversations you've had. And if you're a hermit, go somewhere public and listen to other people until you have an idea of how a conversation should flow. Restaurants and coffee shops are awesome for this.
Once you've done this, go back and read through the dialogue you've written. Does it sound natural?
Personally, I write a lot of my stuff - including this blog - in a conversational tone. So I've got a lot of practice. Plus, my thought processes are like a running conversation in my head. And I still make mistakes. That's what an editor is for. She catches me when I've written crappy dialogue.
And yes, there may be a time when you have a character who actually is wooden. It could add flavor to the scene. But they can't all be wooden. And the wooden character cannot be your MC. Bleh.
The dialogue had other flaws, as well. I'm pretty sure the author didn't have a firm grasp on using the Enter key between sentences in the dialogue. One character talks and then the other character talks and then the first character talks... all in one paragraph. "Sort of like this," said Mary. "And it was really bad," said John. "But worse than this." "I can see what you mean," said Mary. "When it all jams together it's kind of hard to tell who's talking." "Exactly."
Gah. Typing that hurt my brain. Almost as much as reading it probably hurt yours.
Dialogue shouldn't be that hard - to write or to read. Like I said, the key to it is reading it out loud. And if you do and you're still not sure, read it out loud to another human being. If at any point you find yourself thinking 'People don't talk that way', then you need to change it.
Now, you might find yourself wanting to argue, saying 'but I write Fantasy' or SF or historical or whatever. The words of your world may be different, but the conversational flow should probably be about the same. Because no matter what world you're writing, your readers are HERE. Their brains will tell them whether the people of Ogreville or Epsilon Twelve or Jolly Ol' England are speaking naturally or coming off as wooden. You don't want readers to decide your dialogue isn't worth slogging through. Right?
Just my opinion, of course. I know I put that book down and I won't be buying any more of that author's novels. Which is really too bad. Again, they all sound interesting, but I can't afford to waste any more of my money on the chance he fixed the problem in the other two. (And this was his second book. I can't imagine how bad his first book was.)
Do you read your dialogue out loud? I used to do it all the time. Now, I only do it if I'm reading over a scene and it doesn't feel right. Nine times out of ten, it doesn't feel right because the dialogue is off.
But maybe that's just me. What do you think?
I didn't 'look in' far enough. When I started the book, everything was fine. Then I got farther in where there was actual dialogue. OMG, so bad.
Ugh, I tried to recreate a sample of the bad dialogue this morning, but I couldn't do it. It was so wooden, my brain was revolting against it. And I refuse to copy the exact verbiage here. Just trust me on it when I say it was bad.
Do the world a favor when you're writing dialogue, folks. Read it out loud. You should be able to hear whether it's the way people actually talk. Think about conversations you've had. And if you're a hermit, go somewhere public and listen to other people until you have an idea of how a conversation should flow. Restaurants and coffee shops are awesome for this.
Once you've done this, go back and read through the dialogue you've written. Does it sound natural?
Personally, I write a lot of my stuff - including this blog - in a conversational tone. So I've got a lot of practice. Plus, my thought processes are like a running conversation in my head. And I still make mistakes. That's what an editor is for. She catches me when I've written crappy dialogue.
And yes, there may be a time when you have a character who actually is wooden. It could add flavor to the scene. But they can't all be wooden. And the wooden character cannot be your MC. Bleh.
The dialogue had other flaws, as well. I'm pretty sure the author didn't have a firm grasp on using the Enter key between sentences in the dialogue. One character talks and then the other character talks and then the first character talks... all in one paragraph. "Sort of like this," said Mary. "And it was really bad," said John. "But worse than this." "I can see what you mean," said Mary. "When it all jams together it's kind of hard to tell who's talking." "Exactly."
Gah. Typing that hurt my brain. Almost as much as reading it probably hurt yours.
Dialogue shouldn't be that hard - to write or to read. Like I said, the key to it is reading it out loud. And if you do and you're still not sure, read it out loud to another human being. If at any point you find yourself thinking 'People don't talk that way', then you need to change it.
Now, you might find yourself wanting to argue, saying 'but I write Fantasy' or SF or historical or whatever. The words of your world may be different, but the conversational flow should probably be about the same. Because no matter what world you're writing, your readers are HERE. Their brains will tell them whether the people of Ogreville or Epsilon Twelve or Jolly Ol' England are speaking naturally or coming off as wooden. You don't want readers to decide your dialogue isn't worth slogging through. Right?
Just my opinion, of course. I know I put that book down and I won't be buying any more of that author's novels. Which is really too bad. Again, they all sound interesting, but I can't afford to waste any more of my money on the chance he fixed the problem in the other two. (And this was his second book. I can't imagine how bad his first book was.)
Do you read your dialogue out loud? I used to do it all the time. Now, I only do it if I'm reading over a scene and it doesn't feel right. Nine times out of ten, it doesn't feel right because the dialogue is off.
But maybe that's just me. What do you think?
September 27, 2018
Observations While Searching for Books
I spent part of my time this week looking for something to read on Kindle. I wanted a suspense, preferably free, that met my parameters (low reviews, new-to-me). The Top lists of Free weren't giving me what I wanted, so I tried searching the 'Zon. And I learned some interesting things...
When you search 'free' on Amazon, it pops up all the Kindle Unlimited books. Which are only free if you're a subscriber, so that doesn't do me a damn bit of good. (And they aren't really free, folks, they're included in your subscription price.) So I sorted by price from low to high. It was still throwing KU books in there, but I got some actually free books that time.
A bunch of authors are doing this thing where readers get the first six or ten or whatever chapters FREE. Which isn't a whole book, it's a teaser for a whole book. As a reader, I do not approve of this. As a writer, I can totally see how that might be a good marketing thing, but I feel like it would just piss readers off. With the 'look inside' feature, readers can get a whole bunch of chapters free for every book. Listing the first x-number of chapters as a separate entity feels like a bait and switch to me. :shrug:
Other authors are doing this thing where the whole book is split into 'parts'. The first part is free, and the other parts you have to pay for. I got caught on one of these a while back. I downloaded it and got into it before I realized it was only a first part. It was a good first part, but the idea irritated me sufficiently as to make me not buy the other two parts. Isn't that how drug dealers sell their junk? Give customers a taste and once they're hooked, you've got them. I don't respond well to those sales tactics.
Another thing I noticed was books by authors I've never heard of with an obscene number of reviews. The smell test tells me something's off. Big Name Bestseller only has 500 reviews, but Joe Schmoe self-publishes and has 3000 reviews? Umm. No. It makes me wonder how much Joe paid for those reviews and it makes me think few of them are real.
I still haven't found any books to download. For now, I'll read paperbacks and keep looking for the elusive 'right book'.
Those are my observations and opinions. What are yours?
Oh, and speaking of searching for a good book to read, both Wish in One Hand and In Deep Wish are on sale today only. 99c each.
When you search 'free' on Amazon, it pops up all the Kindle Unlimited books. Which are only free if you're a subscriber, so that doesn't do me a damn bit of good. (And they aren't really free, folks, they're included in your subscription price.) So I sorted by price from low to high. It was still throwing KU books in there, but I got some actually free books that time.
A bunch of authors are doing this thing where readers get the first six or ten or whatever chapters FREE. Which isn't a whole book, it's a teaser for a whole book. As a reader, I do not approve of this. As a writer, I can totally see how that might be a good marketing thing, but I feel like it would just piss readers off. With the 'look inside' feature, readers can get a whole bunch of chapters free for every book. Listing the first x-number of chapters as a separate entity feels like a bait and switch to me. :shrug:
Other authors are doing this thing where the whole book is split into 'parts'. The first part is free, and the other parts you have to pay for. I got caught on one of these a while back. I downloaded it and got into it before I realized it was only a first part. It was a good first part, but the idea irritated me sufficiently as to make me not buy the other two parts. Isn't that how drug dealers sell their junk? Give customers a taste and once they're hooked, you've got them. I don't respond well to those sales tactics.
Another thing I noticed was books by authors I've never heard of with an obscene number of reviews. The smell test tells me something's off. Big Name Bestseller only has 500 reviews, but Joe Schmoe self-publishes and has 3000 reviews? Umm. No. It makes me wonder how much Joe paid for those reviews and it makes me think few of them are real.
I still haven't found any books to download. For now, I'll read paperbacks and keep looking for the elusive 'right book'.
Those are my observations and opinions. What are yours?
Oh, and speaking of searching for a good book to read, both Wish in One Hand and In Deep Wish are on sale today only. 99c each.
September 26, 2018
Stuff and Junk
I last night's writing ended on a plot twist and I have no idea where I'm going next with this. Which is why I stopped writing last night. Ah, the joys of flying by the seat of your pants. I wonder what today's writing session will bring.
This book is currently a hot mess. Woohoo.
I'm having a flash sale on Friday. Wish in One Hand and In Deep Wish will both be on sale for 99c/ 99p here and in the UK. A $3 discount for 24 hours only. I won't be advertising this because I just thought of it yesterday, but I will be splashing it around FB and Twitter. Both books were approaching the end of their 90 days with no Countdown Deals, so rather than waste those opportunities, I thought I'd take advantage of them. We'll see if anything happens.
My sales are sucking hard this month. I blame lack of advertising. I really need to do something about that next month.
I went through a period of 'I don't wanna do this anymore' earlier this week. It lasted a couple hours. Then I got over it and got back to work.
While I was updating the back matter of In Deep Wish, I found a glaring typo in the last line of the book. Not sure how I missed it with as many times as I've been over that book, but there it was. I killed it and the freshly uploaded version no longer has that flaw. It said 'I've have' instead of 'I'd have'. I still have to update the paperback version. Blerg.
I wish Amazon would let us do Kindle Countdown Deals for other countries. I actually had someone in Australia mention this in the comments of one of my posts to a FB group. I felt really bad that I couldn't give her the discount, too.
Well, time for more coffee. Got any stuff or junk to talk about this morning?
This book is currently a hot mess. Woohoo.
I'm having a flash sale on Friday. Wish in One Hand and In Deep Wish will both be on sale for 99c/ 99p here and in the UK. A $3 discount for 24 hours only. I won't be advertising this because I just thought of it yesterday, but I will be splashing it around FB and Twitter. Both books were approaching the end of their 90 days with no Countdown Deals, so rather than waste those opportunities, I thought I'd take advantage of them. We'll see if anything happens.
My sales are sucking hard this month. I blame lack of advertising. I really need to do something about that next month.
I went through a period of 'I don't wanna do this anymore' earlier this week. It lasted a couple hours. Then I got over it and got back to work.
While I was updating the back matter of In Deep Wish, I found a glaring typo in the last line of the book. Not sure how I missed it with as many times as I've been over that book, but there it was. I killed it and the freshly uploaded version no longer has that flaw. It said 'I've have' instead of 'I'd have'. I still have to update the paperback version. Blerg.
I wish Amazon would let us do Kindle Countdown Deals for other countries. I actually had someone in Australia mention this in the comments of one of my posts to a FB group. I felt really bad that I couldn't give her the discount, too.
Well, time for more coffee. Got any stuff or junk to talk about this morning?
