Michael R. Hicks's Blog, page 21

Adjusting To Being A Full-Time Author – Part 4

In the final edition of this miniseries, let’s talk about keeping yourself from becoming a recluse, along with taking some time out to chillax.

Socializing

Everyone’s going to have their own reaction to this aspect of things, but it’s still something I’m trying to come to grips with. While we didn’t spend time outside of work on the social circuit, I felt like the people I worked with at my old day job were like my second family. Many days, their camaraderie was the only thing that kept me from going cuckoo.

When I left the agency, in some ways it was like leaving home, leaving my other family behind. While it was great staying home with my wife (and amazingly enough, we have no problem being together all day) and the boys, I no longer had those folks to kibbutz with. Sure, I have a lot of interaction with folks online, but it wasn’t the same. My work family worked hard and played hard together, and it’s one of the things about my old job that I do truly miss.

Now, a lot of folks have social groups they hang out with outside of work, and that’s great – no problemo! But for those of us who don’t (yes, I’m an introverted nerd – sorry!), it’s a big part of the transition you’ll need to make that I was totally unprepared for. It’s very easy to just sit at home staring at the computer all day. I know that for some that may sound like heaven, but it’s another case of being careful what you wish for. There have actually been some days when I suddenly realized, just before bedtime, that I hadn’t set foot out the door, even just to take a quick walk around the local park or something.

I wrote and originally published this back in 2012, well before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic began. In the pandemic era, the socialization issue is a lot more complicated due to safety factors. But the main point of this post remains: if you’re someone who enjoys socializing, you need to find an outlet for it, even if it’s in online groups, forums, Zoom, etc.

The bottom line is just this: if you don’t have much social engagement outside of work (and you’re someone who needs socializing; not everyone does!) and you’re planning to take the plunge into writing full-time, do yourself a huge favor and line up some social circles ahead of time. They can also act as a support group for when you hit the rough spots that inevitably will come.

Taking Time Out

On the opposite end of self-discipline is to make sure that you take some time out to just chill. During the low months from September through November 2012 after my amazing summer sales fell of a cliff, I was whipping myself to death trying to get the next book out. What I was actually doing was pissing off my muse, killing my long-term productivity, and, at the same time, working on a project that wasn’t optimal from a marketing perspective. I wasn’t thinking clearly.

It was time to take a deep breath, back off, and regroup. I took a little time off just to think and relax a little, and that allowed me to refocus.

On a daily basis, don’t work yourself to death. Yes, you have to be disciplined, but if you’re not enjoying yourself, what’s the point? I normally start my work day at around 6 AM. I work (usually catching up on social media – it’s nice to be able to call that “work”, isn’t it?) through breakfast, then I try to get in an hour or so of exercise. After that it’s back to the grindstone. I catch up on social media stuff while eating lunch, then sometimes I take a snooze. Why? Because I can! Then it’s back to work.

Now, “work” typically stops at dinner time, which is usually 5:30 or 6:00 PM. Then we go watch a movie, read, blast away at people on the game console, or whatever. There are, however, days when I’m on a roll with writing. When that happens, I just keep writing. If words are spilling out of you, DON’T STOP. Don’t ever stop that flow when you’re on a roll, unless it’s for things you just can’t get out of doing.

But the important thing is to do whatever you like to do to give your mind and body a break. Remember, you’re in this for the long-term, not just a quick sprint, so pace yourself!

Links to the other posts in this series:

Part1: Health Insurance CoveragePart 2: Keep The Faith, But Don’t Count On Next Month’s IncomePart 3: The Virtue of Self-DisciplinePart 4: Socializing and Taking Time Out

The post Adjusting To Being A Full-Time Author – Part 4 appeared first on Michael R. Hicks.

Adjusting To Being A Full-Time Author – Part 4

In the final edition of this miniseries, let's talk about keeping yourself from becoming a recluse, along with taking some time out to chillax…

Socializing

Everyone's going to have their own reaction to this aspect of things, but it's still something I'm trying to come to grips with. The people that I worked with at NSA were like my second family. Many days, their camaraderie was the only thing that kept me from going cuckoo.

When I left the agency, in some ways it was like leaving home, leaving my other family behind. While it was great staying home with my wife (and amazingly enough, we have no problem being together all day) and the boys, I no longer had those folks to kibbutz with. Sure, I have a lot of friends – real friends, not just acquaintances – online, but it's not the same. We worked hard and we played hard together, and it's one of the things about my old job that I do truly miss.

Now, a lot of folks have social groups they hang out with outside of work, and that's great – no problemo! But for those of us who don't (yes, I'm an introverted nerd – sorry!), it's a big part of the transition you'll need to make that I was totally unprepared for. It's very easy to just sit at home staring at the computer all day. I know that for some that may sound like heaven, but it's another case of being careful what you wish for. There have actually been some days when I suddenly realized, just before bedtime, that I hadn't set foot out the door, even just to take a quick walk around the local park or something.

The bottom line is just this: if you don't have much social engagement outside of work and you're planning to take the plunge into writing full-time, do yourself a huge favor and line up some social circles ahead of time. They can also act as a support group for when you hit the rough spots that inevitably will come.

Taking Time Out

On the opposite end of self-discipline is to make sure that you take some time out to just chill. During the low months from September through November, I was whipping myself to death trying to get the next book out. What I was actually doing was killing my long-term productivity and, at the same time, working on a project that wasn't optimal from a marketing perspective. I wasn't thinking clearly.

It was time to take a deep breath, back off, and regroup. I took a little time off just to think and relax a little, and that allowed me to refocus.

On a daily basis, don't work yourself to death. Yes, you have to be disciplined, but if you're not enjoying yourself, what's the point? I normally start my work day at around 6 AM. I work (usually catching up on Twitter – it's nice to be able to call that "work", isn't it?) through breakfast, then I try to get in an hour or so of exercise. After that it's back to the grindstone. I catch up on social media stuff while eating lunch, then sometimes I take a snooze. Why? Because I can! Then it's back to work.

Now, "work" typically stops at dinner time, which is usually 5:30 or 6:00 PM. Then we go watch a movie, read, blast away at people on the PS3, or whatever. There are, however, days when I'm on a roll. When that happens, I just keep writing.

But the important thing is to do whatever you like to do to give your mind and body a break. Remember, you're in this for the long-term, not just a quick sprint, so pace yourself!

Any Questions?

I hope you found this useful in some way. I know there's a lot I probably didn't cover, so if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. You can contact me by email, Twitter, or Facebook any time…

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Adjusting To Being A Full-Time Author – Part 3

In part 3 of this little series, let's talk a bit about keeping yourself on track!

The Virtue of Self-Discipline

Our day jobs provide (or inflict upon) us some degree of structure. Some people have jobs that are very flexible in many ways, others not so much. But as a general rule, we're expected to show up a certain amount of time and do or produce something for our pay. Bosses are there to yell at us if we don't.

When you shift over to writing full-time, just as with many other self-owned businesses, that boss goes away. Poof. You can now do just about anything you want, as long as it's legal. Don't feel like rolling out of bed until noon? No problem! Just want to wear PJs and bunny slippers all day? You can do that.

Writing? Well, yeah, I do need to get back to work on that book, but I feel like playing Call of Duty on the PS3 today. All day. And all night. I'll do some writing later. Oh, wait, somebody just mentioned me on Twitter. Or maybe someone posted something on a forum that has you all fired up, and you spent half a dozen hours during the day voicing your opinion. The fact that you just wrote as many words as you usually need for a chapter in your latest book escapes you…

You can see where I'm going, right? When you start working at home for the first time, your enemies will become the distractions that (presumably) you were largely insulated from while at your day job. It's up to you to build an insulating layer and give yourself enough structure to be successful. And, at least in the beginning, you may have to be absolutely merciless on yourself to develop success-oriented habits.

Make no mistake: being a self-published author, with your royalties as your primary or sole source of income, can be scary. It's all on you. Your creativity. Your ability to market your work. Your ability to run a business. There are times when you have to be ruthless on yourself, when you can't let yourself go to bed until you've finished that next chapter or you'll blow your self-imposed deadline. Or maybe you'll run out of money.

So, one of the first things you have to do is establish whatever structure and self-discipline will help you achieve success. Set office hours when you'll be available to communicate with folks on-line or on the phone, or can have meetings in person. Fence off certain hours for writing, and nothing short of a family emergency is to interrupt that time (you're at work, remember?). Set daily goals for productivity, and deadlines for reaching milestones in your writing. Then hold yourself to them.

I'll confess that I'm still struggling with this. I have a goal of writing 3,000 words a day (including new text on my next novel, blogs, etc.). Some days I make it, some I don't. Keeping myself accountable to that goal is often dicey, but it's one that I keep hammering away on. Because if I don't focus on improving over time, my chances of long-term success dwindle significantly. There are some days when I just don't feel like writing. But that's okay, because there's always something else you can be doing, as long as it furthers your business of being an author.

In our next and final installment, we'll talk a bit about Socializing and Taking Time Out…

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Adjusting To Being A Full-Time Author – Part 2

In this second installment of my musings about moving from a full-time day job to writing for a living, let's take a look at some of the financial issues you need to be aware of in the rapidly evolving industry of self-publishing…

Keep The Faith, But Don't Count On Next Month's Income

Between February and August 2011, I made a ton of money, around $105,000, from my book royalties. Not like the big authors, but more than the "modest car payment" amount I'd been making before from month to month. I had stars in my eyes and money burning a big hole in my pocket. We already had some hefty financial obligations (I'd been a well-paid federal employee, remember, and had the payments to go with it), and made some financial decisions based on "projections" that, in hindsight, maybe weren't such a good idea.

Because in September, a month after I left NSA, sales took a nosedive after Amazon (which is where I get over 95% of my royalties) apparently changed some of its algorithms. The royalties for that month were about $7,000. Yes, that's a lot of money to a lot of people, but in terms of our existing financial commitments, that was not good at all. Even if Amazon hadn't changed anything, eventually your bestsellers are going to drop off the list. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any books in the top 100 except King, Koontz, and Patterson, right?

Another thing to keep in mind is that your royalty payments from Amazon and other retailers don't have any tax withheld. So don't forget that little gotcha. I'd also strongly recommend that, at least for your first year, you find a good tax consultant. You'll be able to write off a lot of expenses for your business, but you'll also have to pay some other things, like self-employment tax. A consultant can help you wade through all that stuff.

The silver lining, such as it was, is that Amazon pays on a net 60 basis. This means that the royalties you make in a given month are actually paid to you two months later. Some people complain about that, but to me that's a financial safety net. If your royalties in a particular month suck, you've got two months to prepare for the hit. And that's what we did, battening down our financial hatches and stocking up on mac & cheese for dinner.

But the hit didn't end with low royalties in September: October and November were even worse. I was seriously contemplating going back to work (probably as a contractor working for the government, as we'd all starve to death by the time NSA's hiring process churned me back into the fold) and was getting really agitated and depressed. Sure, it wasn't like we were out of money or were going to starve. But after three months of this, I was getting really discouraged.

After a lot of soul-searching and talking to my wife, I decided I was just going to persevere. As I mentioned, it's not like we didn't have any money, at least until April when the taxes would come due. I just had to keep the faith and push through.

Sure enough, sales turned back up in December. It wasn't the kind of windfall we'd experienced over the summer, but were about double what we'd made in the slow months. And this month, January 2012, has been even better. Okay, I told myself. I can do this. Chugga-chugga.

That brings me to the moral of this part of our little story. If I had things to do over, the very first thing I'd do with my royalties when they took off is save the money away. Build a big-ass financial cushion (post-tax, remember). I'd put away enough post-tax money to keep us afloat without eating mac & cheese every night for at least six months.

Why six months? Because if you're writing full-time, you should be able to produce at least one new book in that time, and quite possibly two, along with short stories, etc. So, if your current list tanks, you'll still be able to eat while you're working on that new book.

Note that if you think you can only write one book a year full-time, you're probably going to need supplemental income unless you really strike it rich (which is a factor of luck, not planning, unless you've already got a large, established readership). This business is literally a publish or perish affair, and survival favors those who are more productive.

Another thing: I wouldn't seriously consider leaving your day job to write full-time until you have a backlist of at least half a dozen titles. You may have a whopper of a bestseller like SEASON OF THE HARVEST was early on, but what goes up will inevitably come down. It's only a question of hang time on the charts. But if you have a bunch of books in your list, they'll sit there and quietly continue to earn money, even if they're not on the bestseller lists anymore, and each new book you put out will pull in more income.

But do NOT base your expectations on the current performance of any single book, or you will likely find yourself jumping off the diving board into an empty pool.

The other thing is just to keep the faith. It's hard. But as Thomas Edison once said, "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." Just build a healthy money reserve before you strike out on your own, be smart, and then write your butt off.

In part 3 we'll cover The Virtue of Self-Discipline…

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Adjusting To Being A Full-Time Author – Part 1

I've had a number of folks ask me about my experiences in transitioning from a career day job to working as a full-time author, so I thought I'd give you some of my impressions here, for what they may be worth. I'm breaking this up into four parts and this, of course, is part 1.

Now, keep in mind that I'm speaking from the perspective of a self-published author who's now supporting his family entirely on those royalties. So some things may apply more or less to you, depending on your situation (e.g., you have a second income, etc.).

As a quick recap, I was a career government employee working for the National Security Agency (NSA) for twenty-five years, and was a GG-15 (the highest grade on the regular pay scale) when I decided to leap into writing full-time after SEASON OF THE HARVEST was published in February 2011. That was literally the turning point for me, because sales of that book took off and took my previously published books with it. The money that I made during the summer of 2011 from my book royalties convinced me that I'd be an idiot not to pursue it full-time, and so I resigned from NSA in mid-August.

Six months have passed since then, which actually comes as a bit of a shock: it seems like I just left work yesterday! Anyway, here are some impressions I'd like to pass on in hopes they may help someone else down the line who's at the threshold of taking this particular leap of faith.

Health Insurance Coverage

You probably weren't expecting this, were you? The reason I wanted to talk about this is that it was a huge issue for us in transitioning from a federal plan to a "regular" health plan, because it's something I don't believe people should be without (the FUBAR'd health care system notwithstanding), but depending on your situation, this is a potential show-stopper for becoming self-employed.

At NSA, I was covered by one of the federal government plans (the same as our friendly neighborhood congress-persons have). We paid about $400 a month for family coverage, while Uncle Sam (through your generous tax donations) paid another $800, for a total of right around $1200 a month for a state Blue Cross HMO. We had copays of $20 or so for office visits and whatever the formulary cost was for prescriptions (which were generally very cheap), and that was it – no deductible, no coinsurance. It didn't matter if we went to the doc for a sniffle or if I needed a brain transplant, and there were all sorts of other bells and whistles. In short, for $400 a month and a few twenties now and again, our family didn't have to worry at all about health care coverage. Best of all, the providers couldn't drop us, screw us over on preexisting conditions (if we'd had any) or jack up our rates. They can't do that for people covered under a federal plan. Sweet.

When my wife and I started seriously looking at me leaving NSA, I had to research alternative health care plans, the kind that "regular people" not working for the fed have. Holy crap. All I can say is that anyone who says we don't need massive health care reform in this country is certifiably insane. I'm not making a political statement, just stating a fact.

After weeding through all the bazillion different plan options, which on the surface give the impression of offering choice, but compared to what I was used to only differed in the degree to which I was going to get screwed, I finally settled on one that had a premium of $600 a month and had a $2700 per person ($5400 family) annual deductible and no coinsurance. Just to compare those two, our federal plan cost us maybe a total of $5,000 a year for everything. Just the premium on the new plan is over $7000, and we could get stiffed over $12,000 if we had enough to eat up the family deductible. Yummy.

Of course, the insurance company didn't want to cover me for 10 months for something they deemed was a preexisting condition, even though it hadn't been an issue for over two years. So I had to sign a waiver for that, stating that the insurer wasn't responsible for anything related to that condition for 10 months. Anything for that had to come out of my own pocket. Nice. Then, of course, they can later on "reevaluate" our coverage and raise our rates, etc. Welcome to the Matrix.

So, health care is a huge potential cost that you may or may not already have in your financial calculus. If you have a serious condition, you simply may not be able to afford insurance on your own.

Next up: Keep The Faith, But Don't Count On Next Month's Income…

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Adjusting To Being A Full-Time Author – Part 1

I’ve had a number of folks ask me about my experiences in transitioning from a career day job to working as a full-time author, so I thought I’d give you some of my impressions here, for what they may be worth. I’m breaking this up into four parts and this, of course, is part 1.

Now, keep in mind that I’m speaking from the perspective of a self-published author who’s now supporting his family entirely on those royalties [Note: this was in 2011]. So some things may apply more or less to you, depending on your situation (e.g., you have a second income, etc.).

As a quick recap, I was a career government employee working for the National Security Agency (NSA) for twenty-five years, and was a GG-15 (the highest grade on the regular pay scale) when I decided to leap into writing full-time after Season Of The Harvest was published in February 2011. That was literally the turning point for me, because sales of that book took off and my previously published books went with it. The money that I made during the summer of 2011 from my book royalties convinced me that I’d be an idiot not to pursue it full-time, and so I resigned from NSA in mid-August.

Six months have passed since then, which actually comes as a bit of a shock: it seems like I just left work yesterday! Anyway, here are some impressions I’d like to pass on in hopes they may help someone else down the line who’s at the threshold of taking this particular leap of faith.

Health Insurance Coverage

You probably weren’t expecting this, were you? The reason I wanted to talk about this is that it was a huge issue for us in transitioning from a federal plan to a “regular” health plan, because it’s something I don’t believe people should be without (the FUBAR’d health care system notwithstanding), but depending on your situation, this is a potential show-stopper for becoming self-employed.

At NSA, I was covered by one of the federal government plans (the same as our friendly neighborhood congress-persons have). We paid about $400 a month for family coverage, while Uncle Sam (through your generous tax donations) paid another $800, for a total of right around $1200 a month for a state Blue Cross HMO. We had copays of $20 or so for office visits and whatever the formulary cost was for prescriptions (which were generally very cheap), and that was it – no deductible, no coinsurance. It didn’t matter if we went to the doc for a sniffle or if I needed a brain transplant, and there were all sorts of other bells and whistles. In short, for $400 a month and a few twenties now and again, our family didn’t have to worry at all about health care coverage. Best of all, the providers couldn’t drop us, screw us over on preexisting conditions (if we’d had any) or jack up our rates. They can’t do that for people covered under a federal plan. Sweet.

Things have changed a lot since then, of course, as I’m reposting this in 2024. Having said that, I retired on a Federal health care plan that provides family coverage at a cost to us of about $650 a month, a $700 annual deductible, and nominal fees. Our plan also covers us in all 50 states and overseas. And yes, EVERYONE should have coverage at least this good – or better. We should have universal health care, but that’s another conversation. – MRH/27 November 2024

When my wife and I started seriously looking at me leaving NSA, I had to research alternative health care plans, the kind that “regular people” not working for the fed have. Holy crap. All I can say is that anyone who says we don’t need massive health care reform in this country is certifiably insane. I’m not making a political statement, just stating a fact.

After weeding through all the bazillion different plan options, which on the surface give the impression of offering choice, but compared to what I was used to only differed in the degree to which I was going to get screwed, I finally settled on one that had a premium of $600 a month and had a $2700 per person ($5400 family) annual deductible and no coinsurance. Just to compare those two, our federal plan cost us maybe a total of $5,000 a year for everything. Just the premium on the new plan is over $7000, and we could get stiffed over $12,000 if we had enough to eat up the family deductible. Yummy.

Of course, the insurance company didn’t want to cover me for 10 months for something they deemed was a preexisting condition, even though it hadn’t been an issue for over two years. So I had to sign a waiver for that, stating that the insurer wasn’t responsible for anything related to that condition for 10 months. Anything for that had to come out of my own pocket. Nice. Then, of course, they can later on “reevaluate” our coverage and raise our rates, etc. Welcome to the Matrix.

So, health care is a huge potential cost that you may or may not already have in your financial calculus. If you have a serious condition, you simply may not be able to afford insurance on your own.

Again, things have changed since I wrote this, but the point remains: if you can’t get or afford decent health insurance, you may well remain shackled to your day job unless your royalties are quite substantial. – MRH/27 November 2024

The post Adjusting To Being A Full-Time Author – Part 1 appeared first on Michael R. Hicks.

Win An Autographed Copy of IN HER NAME

I wanted to let you know about a little contest I'm holding through my Facebook page. You don't have to buy anything, just post a photo!

Here's the deal. Take a photo of you holding one of my books, or get a shot of your Kindle, Nook, phone, or laptop clearly showing the book's title somewhere – have some fun with it! – and post it to my Facebook page (and hopefully you'll hit the "like" button, too). That's it!

If you don't happen to own any of my books, you don't have to buy one to play this little game. Just grab a free ebook reader app (like the Amazon Kindle or Barnes & Noble Nook) for your PC, Mac, or smart phone and grab a free sample of any of my books, or snag a free copy of EMPIRE from my web site. Then snap a pic of your screen with the book displayed, post it on my Facebook page and you're in!

The prize is an autographed copy of the print edition of the IN HER NAME trilogy. This edition of the book has the original cover I created when it was first published in 2008, but this version is about to go out of print: I'm going to be updating the cover to the same one sported by the ebook, and no more of these original covers will ever be printed (I'll also add that there are VERY few autographed copies of this edition floating around out there).

I'll be running the contest through next Wednesday, 25 January, and will announce the winner, chosen by random selection, on Thursday the 26th. You can post more than one pic if you like, but I'll only enter your name once into the drawing (and yes, fans outside the U.S. will be eligible to win).

Hope to see you on Facebook!

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Let's Reboot The National System!

Look, I'm not a "conspiracy theory" kind of guy, but I really have to wonder what the heck we're doing to ourselves with some of the legislation that's being passed nowadays here in the good old US of A, like the NDAA and the Enemy Expatriation Act, SOPA, PIPA, and others, with and without acronyms. Then we have the whole health care mess, campaign finance shenanigans, etc., etc. You can probably think of a dozen things that are wrong right off the top of your head. And fewer and fewer things seem to be going right.

That got me to thinking: what if we could – peacefully – rewrite our "national operating system" and reboot the whole thing? Bump the Occupy movement up a few hundred notches and rebuild our national source code, taking into account what we know from experience does and doesn't work? Maybe get back to that whole "of the people, by the people, and for the people" concept that Lincoln spoke of in his Gettysburg Address.

Okay, I know this isn't really practical, but it's a fun idea to play with. And who knows? Maybe some little island nation with fifty-three citizens might run with it.

On the other hand…why not? And we don't have to limit the idea to just the United States. Arguably one of the best computer operating systems ever devised is Linux, developed by many people across the world and available in many different flavors. What if we did the same thing to build a core "NationOS" that could be customized to meet particular needs?

"It's too complicated!" Well, it's hard for me to imagine something more intrinsically complicated than a powerful computer operating system like Linux. I'm sure there are, but nothing immediately comes to mind.

"There's no way a bunch of different people could put something like that together." I dunno. Our founding fathers did a great job, but we perverted the system they developed. I sort of look at our Constitution as the first Mac. It wasn't the first democracy or people-centric government, but it was the first that had the bits and pieces that gave America such huge potential.

But we've taken what was a great concept and turned it into a societal analog of Windows Vista, a bloated, inefficient resource hog that many (I daresay most) hated to use.

Note that I said "societal" and not "government" analog. It's easy to blame "the government" for everything, but one of the reasons things are so screwed up now is because of us. Me. You. We the people. The people who are in that sprawling entity known as "the government" aren't any different than the people who aren't. We're all part of the system, we're all part of the problem. And we're all part of the solution.

"Nobody can build a perfect system!" I agree completely. We're human, and we're inherently screwed up in a lot of ways, and anything we create is going to reflect our own flaws. But we can build a better system. We know now a great deal more about every aspect of our society – and this goes for every nation, not just the United States – than did those who founded it. We could build a much better mousetrap.

"We can't modify what's in place. We're stuck with what we have." Really? Every bit of legislation passed by Congress and signed by the president changes our national operating system. And more and more of those changes here in America are bypassing chunks of the "core code" of our Constitution. Would the founding fathers approve? Would they even recognize what our system has become? I don't know. Maybe they wouldn't be surprised at all. Just sad. But we can modify what we have. We do every day. But maybe we should change the focus of those changes, and instead of adding more patches to our national version of Windows Vista, reformat the hard drive and install something new that maybe our forebears would be proud of.

"Well, who's going to decide on what goes in it?" We do. You and me. How the devil did a bunch of people write Linux? Or Joomla? Or any of the other open source products out there? Heck, how did the guys who signed the United States Constitution do it? That couldn't have been easy. But they – both groups, then and now – did it somehow. Maybe they had thumb-wrestling contests to sort out their disagreements. Or maybe they just worked as a group, evaluated each element to determine what they thought would work the best, and tried to set their personal differences aside. I don't know. But the point is that they did it. We can't go back and ask the founding fathers for pointers, but maybe we should ask those Linux guys to see how they did it.

Yeah, I know, it's a stupid idea. Dumb. But how many times have you heard or read something on the news, or something has happened in your life because of "the system," and you just wished there was a Control + Alt + Delete sequence you could push to reboot the whole darn thing?

Many people, it seems to me, have forgotten how powerful we really are. And I don't mean in terms of military strength, or money, or any other typical measure of a nation's power. I'm talking about the power to dream (we just celebrated a holiday in honor of a man who had an incredibly powerful dream, didn't we?), and the power to make those dreams come true. It's not easy, and it doesn't happen overnight. But there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that this nation – let alone our nation, together with others – cannot do if we really set our minds to it.

So, there's my idea. NationOS. Open source. Open platform. Who's ready to write some code??

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Dealing With Social Media Trolls

One of the unpleasant things that comes up periodically when skinny-dipping in the great social media sea is dealing with trolls. You know, the people who fling inflammatory or unkind things around, or – not to put too fine a point on it – are just jerks. They are generally few and far between in the greater social media population, but you eventually will encounter them. Here's how I handle these beasties.

The first thing NOT to do is engage them. Don't get into a pissing contest with these people, because you're just wasting your time, and at worst you can become a troll yourself. Unless you're a social worker doing some pro-bono work, just…don't…do it.

Instead, if somebody starts flinging poo in your direction on Twitter, for example, don't hesitate to just block them (blocking means that you can no longer see their tweets, and they can no longer see yours). I don't even bother engaging folks like that before I hit the block button. A lot of folks seem reluctant to do that, and instead feel compelled to spend valuable time trying to win the troll to their point of view or engage them in a substantive discussion. If that's what you want to do, that's fine. Good luck.

As for me, I don't have the time or patience for people who are negative, vengeful, foul-mouthed, etc. For me, Twitter is both a business tool and a social forum where I've made quite a few real friends, but I value my time and the time of those with whom I interact. Trolls don't. Simply put, I'd rather spend my time with nice people than someone who wants to drag me down.

The principle is the same on other platforms like Facebook. You can unfriend people who are driving you nuts (although there are other reasons you might choose to unfriend people that aren't "negative") or, if they're really obnoxious, block them.

Trolls aren't always overtly or initially obnoxious. Some are probably nice people (maybe), but are what I would characterize as "unacceptably high maintenance." I hooked up with someone on Twitter and Google+ who seemed nice at first, but after a while became a real nuisance "know it all" who was really driving up my blood pressure. After putting up with this for a while, I came to the realization that I'd had to put up with people like that now and again during my career at the National Security Agency because I didn't have a choice. In social media, I do. Block. Block. Block. My relief was palpable.

If you're using Twitter (or Facebook) for business, as I do, you'll also encounter folks who aren't necessarily trolls, but can sometimes come across that way. For example, some get frustrated with promotional tweets and are happy to flame you, either nicely or not. If the person brings this up in a civil manner, I'll take the time to explain that it's an essential part of marketing for my business, and nicely point out that if it really bothers them, I won't be at all offended if they unfollow me. I also maintain a separate "promo-free" Twitter account that they can follow instead. But if someone just flames me about it…I just push the block button. Better for me, better for them.

Now, some folks will point out legitimate concerns that you should consider, so don't just blow off anybody and everybody who has something critical to say. And always, always be nice in your responses, even if the person has tossed a real fireball at you. You can never go wrong by sticking to the moral high ground in your public discussions, and these discussions can be very public!

And that brings me to the real bottom line. As you're reaching out to other folks on social media, be it for business or to make friends, stick with people who are looking "forward and upward" and giving out positive vibes to their social media circle, and do the same for them. Leave the trolls behind.

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Amazon's KDP Select: Update

I wrote a post about Amazon's new KDP Select program a bit earlier, and am here to report my initial results.

I initially decided to put and SEASON OF THE HARVEST into the program because their sales had really fallen off, and I wanted to see if KDP Select would perk them up a bit. Just to recap, KDP Select gives authors the chance to both offer Kindle books enrolled in the program free on Amazon (for promotion), and also pays them a share of a fund for titles that are borrowed through the Kindle Owners Lending Library. The upside for folks who own Kindle devices and are Amazon Prime members is that you can borrow these books free.

The catch is that books in KDP Select are exclusive to Amazon for the Kindle, so for the 90 days (which can be extended) that the book is enrolled, folks who have Nooks, Sony readers, etc., won't be able to buy them.

Now, let me explain my strategy, then we'll look at the results.

The first part is to use the 5 "free" giveaway days (out of 90) that I can use to offer the books free. While some folks have questioned my sanity for giving out freebies at all, one of the best things I've been able to do is offer free copies of EMPIRE to entice readers to buy my other books.

The question is, would this work in a surgical manner on Amazon by having them on sale for just a day or three at a time?

My hope in offering them as freebies would be to create a "draft effect" for when the book(s) went back to paid status, helping to push the title up in the paid rankings. I didn't expect a lot in terms of hang time, but where HARVEST was, in the 20,000 range, anything would be better than nothing.

IN HER NAME: FIRST CONTACT

This book was floating around 9,000 or so in the Kindle paid rankings, and I put it on "free" from 14 through 16 December. I just chose those dates at random. Here's a look at what happened:

Week Ending 10 December:

Paid copies sold: 46

Week ending 17 December:

Days free: 14-16 December

Free copies sold: 1,096

Paid copies sold: 60

Week Ending 24 December:

Paid copies sold: 169

Week Ending 31 December:

Paid copies sold: 130

So, not bad. Sales volume roughly tripled for at least the two weeks after the freebie days, pushing FIRST CONTACT up into the 2,000s in the paid rankings. On top of that, it's had around 50 Amazon Prime borrows, which we authors now get paid for.

SEASON OF THE HARVEST

Not to put too fine a point on it, SEASON OF THE HARVEST completely fell off the apple cart after its meteoric rise from its release in February through amazing sales through summer. But starting in September, sales went…poof. It went from a ranking of around 300-400 overall in the Kindle store through summer to kerplunking to the mid-20,000 rankings most of the time from September onward. Nothing I did – focusing more on promotion, dropping and raising the price, etc. – seemed to have much effect. And sales in the other channels (B&N, Sony, etc.) didn't amount to much, either.

So let's see what happened with this little KDP Select experiment:

Week ending 17 December:

Paid copies sold: 24

Week Ending 24 December:

Days free: 21-23 December

Free copies sold: 15,577

Paid copies sold: 163

Week Ending 31 December:

Paid copies sold: 1,433

My first comment when I saw the numbers was, "Holy crap!" HARVEST went as high as the 20s in the free category, and jumped into the top 100 in the paid category when it went out of freebie status. And even now, a week after it returned to paid status, it's still at 1,200 overall in the store. Again, not tons of hang time at the top, but certainly better than being down in the tens of thousands. On top of the direct sales, there were also around 600 Amazon Prime borrows, which ain't bad at all!

IN HER NAME (Omnibus edition)

After that, I took a gander at the and decided to put it into KDP Select, as well. Like HARVEST, it had really fallen off the apple cart, although not quite as far. This book had been almost rock solid at 400 in the Kindle store through the entire summer. Then, like SEASON OF THE HARVEST, it went kerplunk.

For the first free round, I chose to give it away on 30 and 31 December, right before New Year's. Let's look at the results:

Week ending 17 December:

Paid copies sold: 116

Week Ending 24 December:

Paid copies sold: 94

Week Ending 31 December:

Days free: 30-31 December

Free copies sold: 10,465

Paid copies sold: 460

At this point, I don't know how well IN HER NAME will do, how much of a push it will get in the sales rankings, although it's sold 107 copies in the first 10 hours of 2011. I suspect sales today – 1 January – may be slow because half the world is comatose from New Year's celebrations, but we'll see. On the other hand, even if the main benefit was the 460 copies sold for the week ending 31 December, that's still four times the previous weekly sales rates. Can't complain about that.

What Does It All Mean?

First, your mileage is going to vary. I used a lot of social media "push" to get the word out about the freebies, especially for HARVEST and IN HER NAME (Omnibus), which I think was key to getting those books moving up the free charts.

But how high they'll go depends on a lot of things, most of which are out of the author's control. And how much of a push a book will get when it goes back to paid status is hard to tell. These three books did well on this round, but that's not a guarantee that they'll perform the same way next time. I've heard other authors who said they got no leverage at all from the freebies, and some who got a lot. I think the key thing is the promo push to get the word out to as many people as possible before and during the time a book's in freebie status. Like everything else, no one can get your book, even if it's free, if they don't know about it.

Second, it seems (not surprisingly, I suppose) that the best giveaway periods will likely coincide with major shopping days or holiday events. While it's comparing apples to oranges to an extent, HARVEST and IN HER NAME (Omnibus), which were both put in free status in good "shopping windows", did much better than FIRST CONTACT, which I just made free at a randomly chosen time.

The bottom line for me, though, is that KDP Select had a very positive effect on my Amazon sales over what I suspect will be a three week (give or take) window: the first week will be the initial peak after the freebie period, followed by two successive weeks of elevated but declining sales until the book reaches its previous equilibrium zone.

Were I to do this all over again, here's how I'd structure it:

- Map out good potential shopping days in the 90 day enrollment period.

- Divide up your 5 free days into 2, 2, and 1 freebie sales periods. I decided that 3 days was probably too long: the free rankings will tend to fade after the second day, and you want to spread these freebie "pulses" out over the three months your book is in the program.

- PUSH HARD (but politely!) on social media with teasers a day or so before the freebie dates, and then during the free sales. Don't be obnoxious about it, but focus like a laser and politely ask for RTs from your tweeps.

- Get the word out about Amazon Prime and the Kindle Owners' Lending Library. You'll get paid for every book a reader borrows, and it's free for them. Everybody wins on this one!

The Business Case for KDP Select

Authors who are considering KDP Select have to carefully weigh the pros and cons of offering titles exclusively through Amazon for 90 days (or more, if you extend), because you'll be cutting off readers who use other electronic media (Nook, Sony, etc.) during that time. Remember, though, that other media – print, audiobooks, etc. – aren't affected.

I've heard some folks say that KDP Select is "bad" because you're limiting your exposure, cutting off potential readers, etc. That's all true…to an extent. But what it really comes down to is making a business decision, and every author is going to be in a different situation, juggling different variables. So don't let anyone tell you that KDP Select is bad, good, or otherwise. Determine that for yourself.

In my case, Amazon Kindle sales account for over 90% of my royalties. Looking at KDP Select, there was a very clear business case to run a trial with two titles that were on the wane. Based on the results, particularly with SEASON OF THE HARVEST, there was a very clear business case to enroll IN HER NAME (Omnibus) in the program to try and boost its paid sales in similar fashion. Not to put too fine a point on it, the royalties from HARVEST in the week after it was free is more than I would expect to make from all other sales channels combined for a period of five months.

Considering the exposure aspect, over 25,000 freebies made their way into the hands of thousands of new readers, many of whom will go on to buy my other books. And that's just in the period of a few days in a single month. Again, your mileage will vary, and not every author, or every book by a given author, is going to have spectacular results.

To give you a comparison, ALL sales through other retail channels (ebooks only) for 2011 came to just over 7,000 copies (about 5,000 of which were through Barnes & Noble for Nook), most of which were free copies of EMPIRE. Hmmm.

Now, I have no intention of giving up on sales to non-Kindle users, because I don't like to have all my eggs in one basket, and my sales on B&N and other channels have been slowly growing. So my big-picture strategy at this point is this:

- Consider books that are suffering lackluster sales for KDP Select to kick them in the butt.

- For my IN HER NAME series, I plan to alternate books in the program so that readers can still get the whole story on other platforms. For example, right now I have the omnibus in KDP Select, but the standalone novels it contains – EMPIRE, CONFEDERATION, and FINAL BATTLE – are all still available for other platforms. FIRST CONTACT is in KDP Select, but THE LAST WAR (FIRST CONTACT, LEGEND OF THE SWORD, and DEAD SOUL) is available for other platforms. So I'm able to take advantage of KDP Select, but am not cutting anybody who doesn't have a Kindle out of the series.

- Rotate titles in and out of KDP Select in such a way as to try and capture the best shopping periods of the year. So, while SEASON OF THE HARVEST isn't currently available for anything but Kindle, it will be again in mid-March.

- Emphasize the Kindle Owners' Lending Library (Amazon Prime + Kindle device) aspect! Remember, authors get paid now for borrows, and these books are free for readers. WIN!

So, that's the scoop so far on my experience with KDP Select. Now go have a Happy New Year!

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