S.A. Stephenson's Blog, page 4

News for February 2018

February has zipped by in a hot minute and has been full with life events and thankfully some book stuff as well.

Book News

The second edition of Rogue was published a week or so ago, this version includes some extensive edits and rewrites due to how I want the story to evolve. I began writing Redux, and found that I wasn’t writing the best story I could because of storylines that had been laid out in the first book. Rather than abandoning it, I decided to go back and rework and now have a better position to start from. I hope it proves fruitful and I’m glad to now have a book out there that I’m proud of and have learned a few lessons along the way.

Personal Update

Last month I made the decision to move back to the UK after living in New Zealand for just over five years. As you can imagine, moving hemisphere’s has its challenges but I’m meeting them head on and will have everything ready for next month. While there will be inevitably things that I miss about Auckland, I’m looking forward to being based back in Yorkshire. I intend to try and get to as many writing events as possible and rebuild a life in a country that I’ve been away from for so long.

Book Recommendation

My reading has slowed down a lot lately and I need to get back into it. In January I did finish reading J.F. Penn‘s End of Days novel, and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good thriller.

Podcast of the month

I’ve recently really been enjoying the News Quiz Extra podcast from BBC Radio 4, it’s a fantastic blend of political humour and very tight jokes, if you like comedy podcasts, be sure to check it out.

And that’s it, I’m going to aim for monthly updates on here so be sure to check back next month to see what I’ve been up to and more recommendations.

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Career writing vs Hobby writing

Slow progress, is still progress

Today I listened to Sterling and Stone’s podcast on strategies for mid-list authors, however, what I gained from it was invaluable to the point where I wanted to write a response.

In the indie community, there’s a lot of talk of writing to market, marketing strategies and how to earn the most from your books. There are some stellar writers who can write a book a month, there are some earning six figures from their writing and there’s a growing number can make a living from their writing. But what this podcast episode highlighted for me was focussing on where you are on your writer’s journey. I recommend putting on the kettle, getting comfy and checking it out here, before reading the rest of this post. Don’t worry I’ll wait…

…you’re back? Great, hi! How are you? So now that you’ve caught up, what struck me about this episode of SPP is that it hit the nail on the head for me. I am a writer and an author but at the moment this is a hobby. I still have a 40 hour a weekday job that takes up a lot of my time and energy, but it’s something to be grateful for; it allows for social connections, I can pay my bills and fund my author dreams, and for now, that’s enough. I don’t think I’m in a place in my life where I would want to write full time and that’s for a number of reasons – the most important being that I live on my own and have a limited social circle here in Auckland, who all work day jobs. If I work for myself then I fear I’d lose the social connection that a career brings. Also, writing for me is fun and creative, it’s something to enjoy and if I turn it into a job and all about money, sales and book rankings then is there much joy in that? Yes, it’s good when you sell a book and are in a top 100 list but what if that’s not every day, is writing then a bad thing? No, because that’s the marketing side of writing, rather than the actual writing itself.

For me what I love about writing, is that I can create something from nothing, I can invent characters, places, situations and drama. I can create stories that I want to read and haven’t been able to find out there and if they’re any good, then I can get them to the point where I can share them with others to enjoy. My ‘why’ with writing has been to bring more LGBTQ+ characters into literature and help them become more mainstream and make queer literature accessible for everyone to enjoy. At the end of the day, I write characters and books that feature (at least in this case) lesbian heroes because I want more lesbian heroes in the world and change some of the negative connotation that can come with lesbianism (thanks, adult entertainment industry!). If I become focused on writing to market, and the sales and the figures, then history would suggest taking the queerness out of my stories because straight characters tend to sell better (this may not always be the case but generally speaking it’s an easier sell).

My intention is to put storytelling first

I’m in the process of producing two further books in my series and I imagine those are the only two books that I’ll publish this year, and that’s great! Three books in technically one year of publishing, while working full time (based on a September to September calendar) is a huge accomplishment. I will do some work on marketing when all three books are out but I want to focus on craft and becoming a great storyteller, rather than a great marketer who can cobble together an okay story. There are some who are masters at both but in finding balance, my intention is to put storytelling first.

Long term, yes I want to build a brand and have a good range of books available to readers. But I want to be proud of every single book I put out, and I want it to be true to me, think of it like a campfire, I want people to come round my campfire because of the experience they’ll have when they’re there. If they get told a crappy story, then they’ll go find someone else’s campfire. Make your campfire something people will want to bring hot cocoa, blankets and marshmallows to and I’m pretty sure that’ll be way more satisfying than someone who showed up and left within 30 seconds.

If I have limited time writing because of my day job then I want to be writing the story my heart wants to tell. I’m happy considering this is a hobby that I might make some money from and help build my credibility as a storyteller. As for the indie community, they’re such a great bunch, and I hope that while we continue to learn tactics and how to sell books, I hope we always circle back to how to tell a great story and build a campfire around our books, because that lasts longer than a short-term sales spike and feeds our soul and creativity for much longer.

Where are you on your writing journey? Do you write for yourself or to market? And if you listened to the episode, what was your takeaway?

Happy writing!

Traditional vs Independant Publishing

With the arrival of the Kindle 10 years ago, no one could quite predict how this would change the landscape of publishing. 10 years ago the only route to getting your book out there was through a traditional publishing deal, or vanity press, which was pretty much frowned upon by everyone. Sell your own book? Sell out, shill, it won’t be any good, were the cries of literary folk who couldn’t believe the notion that someone would have the gall to publish their own work and they were rightly so. Back then there weren’t the services that there are now available to independent publishers. That being said, there’s still some debate over which is the right path. Ultimately it’s every writer’s own decision, as long as a quality product is being produced then it shouldn’t matter if it came from a big publishing house, or an indie one.

So when I was making my own decision on which route to take, I took a lot into consideration and here’s where I fell on the spectrum.

 

Traditional Publishing

This had been my goal from being a young girl, from the moment I learnt that people wrote books, I wanted to write one and get it out in the world. The pursuit of this started seriously as a teenager, and I researched¹ how to get my work published almost obsessively. I taught myself the art of writing a query letter, finding agents who represent your genre and learnt what I could about the realities of publishing and the timelines involved. Back then, I was all in. Admittedly, I dreamt of fame, being on the New York Times bestseller list, and being a household name. My ‘why’ was very different. But, I did write a query letter that was good enough for an agent to ask to see my manuscript and had a flurry of excitement buzzing around me for days as I waited for a reply.

By pursuing traditional publishing as a teenager and in my early twenties, I learnt to take rejection pretty well and it became something that would be a great life skill. We’re not always going to get what we want and it’s up to us how we respond. When I received my first ever rejection letter it felt like an accomplishment, that I was finally a struggling writer. What I didn’t realise though was that there were so many struggling writers trying to get a traditional publishing deal, that there were so many out there competing for agent’s time that no matter how good you could write, if it didn’t land on the right desk, at the right time, your book was never going to see the light of day.

Safe to say I never got a traditional deal, I’m not a household name, nor have I hit the NYT bestseller list. Two of those things I’m okay with², now that I’m older I no longer wish for fame, or the golden seal of approval by a gatekeeper. I simply want to write a well-told story that captures an audience and create my own success. It’s a long road, but these days, you can get a traditional deal and still have to do all of your own marketing, and if you don’t earn out your advance, then it’s unlikely you’ll get another deal. There’s also a long turn around time to getting your book published, I read it can take up to two years and I’m not someone who wants to take that amount of time.

Independent Publishing

As I started to learn more about the independent publishing route³ a few years ago, it became an avenue that peaked my interest. I could pursue my dream of getting books out into the world without having a gatekeeper stopping me. I started the road to self-publishing back in 2011, when I published a historical romance novel. It sold 100 copies, but it was terrible. It got some good reviews sure, but needed a lot of story development work, a way better cover and proper editing. This was back in the days though when the number of services available to indie authors wasn’t around. In the end, I unpublished the work and subsequently didn’t write for four years. When I returned to writing, I found that I was trying to write that book I’d published four years prior but my heart wasn’t in it. Then it was through podcasts, that I found my new path. Experts in the field were talking about how genre fiction sells more than literary, that a series of books is a good way to find an audience and as I listened, I found myself excited again at the idea of pursuing science-fiction as a genre, something I’d been obsessed with since a child. You see, I had thought that I could only be a real writer if I wrote literary fiction and was going after the literary prizes and that somehow that would validate me as a writer. Instead, I changed my ‘why’ and decided that it was time to write something that not only I found fun, but was commercial. And so I decided with joyful abandon to turn my back on the idea of being traditionally published and am pursuing the independent route.

Now there’s no denying that there are authors who are a hybrid of the two, that they are both traditional and independently published and I can see how this would work on certain projects. I also have to admit, that it’s pretty cool seeing books by Hugh Howey and Andy Weir in bookstores, novels that started out as indie now being made available to a mass audience.

In conclusion…

There’s no right or wrong route to getting into publishing, it’s purely down to the writer and what she wants to gain from her pursuit. There are many pros and cons to both sides and neither is right or wrong. As long as good books are getting out in the world, this is all that matters at the end of the day.

¹ Research is always key, the blog PubRants, was one that helped me immensely and continues to be a great source of information

² I still hope to one day hit the NYT list

³ The site, thecreativepenn.com was invaluable in my education about self-publishing, and always worth checking out.

Book 2 and Creativity

As my creative life has settled back into somewhat normal since the launch of Rogue, I’ve begun working on book 2 in the series. As of now, I’m at 25,000 words and have been utilising both Scrivener and Storyshop to write. Book 2 has been an interesting process, very different to writing Rogue but I think I’m finally finding my groove with it. My current hope is that I can release book 2 in April 2018, and the final book around October 2018.

I’m going to be going on a blog tour this week, thanks to Lola’s blog tours who has organised 21 hosts to help spread the word of book one.  Find out more here

I’ve also launched a Creative Consultant and Virtual Assistance service which can be found here and have started to get a couple of clients through.

And finally, I’ve created a sub-blog for this site. I’ve been wanting a way of documenting my creative journey, from the first book to who knows where, and have something to look back on so I can see how far my writing will go. I’ve always liked personal blogs and so have created one here

I’ll try and keep this updated, heck maybe even get the newsletter going, but until I have something of note to share, just know I’m busy working behind the scenes getting more books out for y’all.

Peace Out!

Launch Week

Rogue is officially out on Amazon and it’s made for an interesting week. The book was scheduled for release on Tuesday when I was flying back from the Gold Coast, so while I was waiting for airport transfers I was tracking UK and US time anticipating the release. The first release happened UK time while I was at Gold Coast Airport, so cue some subdued joy (so people didn’t think I was weird!) as I was in the departure terminal. Then as I was waiting for my bags in Auckland airport, then it was released in the US and officially out worldwide.

Thanks to the people who pre-ordered the book charted on some of the Amazon top 100 lists, including LGBT Sci-Fi (Amazon US) – where it’s still charted in the top 100. It also hit the Genetic Engineering List in America which surprised me. What was also cool was in the Australian store, the book debuted in the top 20 for dystopian fiction, alongside George Orwell….George frikkin Orwell!!

Safe to say it’s been a crazy week but while I am planning on doing monthly sales breakdowns, I thought it would be interesting for other indie authors to see how many sales I was able to make based on having no platform, list and just starting out.

Sales breakdown:

Paperbacks: 4

eBook: 34

KENP reads: 2,696 (this is the amount of page reads the book has had as part of the Kindle Unlimited programme)

When I’ve released book three, I intend to go wide with this series, but for now, it will remain exclusive to Amazon and so far it’s going well.

Next month I’m planning on organising a blog tour and expand on marketing but for now, I’m enjoying the start of this journey and knuckling down on writing book 2.

 

It’s release month!

Rogue is officially out this month. It’s been a long journey to get to this point and has given me an appreciation for the amount of time authors put into their work.

Rogue will be available exclusively on Amazon and available in ebook and paperback.

I’m currently working on the start of book 2 in this series, which I’m aiming to release in February 2018. Book 3 will hopefully be released late 2018.

And while I was on the train this morning as the rain fell heavily outside, I got an idea for the next series. One thing I love about writing is the arrival of new ideas at unexpected moments and bringing them to life.

For now though, I’m excited for people to start Evie and Kit’s journey. Make sure you pre-order by the 19th!

Book Two Begins

I’m in the in-between stages of writing, with wrapping up book one and realising that a book never feels truly done and now starting the first draft of book two. It feels strange going back to first draft writing after being in edit mode for a number of months. It’s also strange writing the second book in a series when everything’s more established and the story is continuing. I am also making the transition between writer and indie author, and the two are very different. Writer for me is the creative process, the imagining of worlds and of characters and stories, for me it’s the ultimate fun part of being a creative. The indie author side is the business end of writing, which I am finding intriguing but wanting to balance with the writing side.

Since putting Rogue on pre-order I’ve had 8 sales, and it entered the top 100 in the Amazon LGBT Sci-Fi charts, peaking at #55. As part of learning Amazon and selling on the platform, I’m curious to see how these categories work and what works well for my series. Ultimately it’s dystopian but there are so many more elements to it. I’ve had a number of requests as well for paperbacks which I found surprising, as a predominately digital consumer of books I understand the appeal of paperbacks, particularly if you know the person who’s written it but it wasn’t something I was expecting. I’ve ordered a proof from Createspace and still working on the formatting, I’m looking at Ingram Spark as a way of creating the paperback in the hopes of getting it into Book Depository which is more consumer friendly for those who live in Australia and New Zealand.

Finally, I’m also working on building websites, a sub-section of this site is all about the Convergence Series and I will be adding to it as I go. There are lots of best practices when it comes to author sites however, I’m always keen to try my own thing and see if it works. I’ve more ideas than time at the moment, but such is the life of a creative.

Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative place where no one else has ever been.

In a world of edits

I think I’ve lost count of the number of edits I’m on now, but the good news is I’m nearing the end! I have the book being read by a friend and soon it will go out to an editor but at this rate, I’m on track for my September deadline and I couldn’t be happier.

Writing is proving t fun and provides a place to escape to. I’ve also finalised my cover design which I can’t wait to share.

Reading Goals: 2017

In 2015, I set a goal of reading 30 books which I managed to meet. In 2016, I didn’t want to track my reading, rather I just wanted to enjoy books without having to track my reading, so I only have a guess that I managed to read around 20 in 2016.

For 2017, I think the same principle is going to apply with not setting a specific book goal but rather concentrate more on what I’m reading and consuming, so here are some goals I’ve set myself:

1. Listen to all my audible purchases. I have 57 titles in my library and have listened to 28 out of those titles. Some of the others I’ve started, but the narrator didn’t do it for me so it’s been left abandoned.

2. Read more diversely. I read NW by Zadie Smith in 2015 and liked reading something that was outside my normal reading bubble. This year I’d like to tackle work by such authors as Chimananda Ngozi Adichie, Marlon James and more literary works. I have a love for language that can be found in literary novels  and I’m keen to find new voices.

3. Read more genre. I’ve recently gotten into science fiction, given I’m writing a sci-fi book at the moment. I’ve mainly been watching a lot of sci-fi films (thank you Netflix!) but I want to move this into books as well to know how the good books are written well. I purchased Arrival from Whitcoull’s over the holidays, after loving the film it’d be great to see how it originally appeared in text.

4. Non-fiction. With listening to more podcasts this year, I’ve gotten more into non-fiction work, this has primarily been in writing fiction as well as personal development. I enjoy the Great Courses that Audible offers, (the last one I listened to was a 12 hour lecture series on science fiction!) and some more niche non-fiction that’s out there. I’m keen to discover more good books that add value, rather than take time unnecessarily.

And that’s it! Reading is a great past-time and with books being available now in more different formats it’s easier to get into books and find something that you enjoy.

Leave a comment and tell me your reading goals for this year. Want to read my writing goals for this year? Check out this post!