Michael R. Hicks's Blog, page 24

The Next Book: Let's Take a Trip Back In Time

A lot of people have been asking me what the next book is going to be about, so I'm going to give you a little inkling. I don't have a title for it yet, so right now it's just "the next book."

So here's a blurb to give you an idea where we're going next. There's a lot more to the story, of course, so take this as the start of a ride on another roller-coaster…

The date is June 6, 2004. The place is southern England, at a former Royal Air Force base. Amidst the celebration of the 60th Anniversary of D-Day, a group of men board a C-47 transport aircraft. Playing the role of American paratroopers, they're looking forward to reenacting the historic airborne assault before thousands of eager onlookers, parachuting into the fields not far from Sainte-Mère-Église, just as their grandfathers and great-grandfathers did sixty years before.

All is as it should be, except for an enigmatic elderly woman in black, who begs their leader to wear a charm around his neck and whispers, "You must save them."

As the plane crosses the English Channel, the clear skies turn gray. Enfolded in an eerie storm, gray turns to black as the plane is shaken in the turbulence. Flashes light up the sky beyond the plane's windows, accompanied by thunderous booms that drown out the roar of the straining engines.

What the men see and hear isn't lightning, but the detonation of antiaircraft artillery. Where there should be daylight and clear skies, there is a moonlit night filled with other aircraft, some of them wreathed in flames, silhouetted by thousands of exploding antiaircraft shells and bright streams of tracers.

The plane is hit, the pilots killed. Burning and out of control, the C-47 plunges toward the ground, leaving the men on board no option but to leap into the terrifying darkness.

But reaching the ground alive is the least of their worries. For this is June 6, 1944. It's D-Day, and they're jumping straight into Hell…

View more on Michael R. Hicks's website »

2 likes · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on October 12, 2011 14:48

My Foray Into Making AudioBooks

I've been asked by a number of readers if my books were ever going to be available as audiobooks. The short answer is "yes". Getting there, though, has been an interesting journey so far!

While my book sales have freed me from my former day job (I hope permanently!), I'm still not at the point where I feel I can afford to pay a pro to do the voiceovers. Maybe someday I'll be able to hire James Earl Jones, but I suspect that's not going to be any time real soon!

And, like many things (other than electrical and plumbing stuff, which I never mess with!), I'm sort of a do-it-yourselfer. Partly because I'm cheap, but mainly because doing something myself is always a great learning process. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Do the thing, and you will have the power…as long as it doesn't involve electricity, plumbing, or power tools."

Being a gadget addict, I was initially focused on the gear. It's always about the gear, right? At least until you know better. Anyway, I had a Blue Snowball microphone I'd gotten a while back, and I made a couple of test reads of passages from IN HER NAME: EMPIRE, which I'll be offering as a free audiobook when it's done, here in my junk-room-turned-office.

Okay, I'm not an acoustic genius, but I could tell the audio quality in this room sucked. So, I looked around a bit for potential solutions. I didn't want to build a sound booth, so I settled on the Porta-Booth Pro, which is also something I can take with us when we go out in the RV (actually, the latter is the main reason I got it).

I set the thing up in my closet upstairs, plugged my Snowball into my MacBook Air, brought up EMPIRE in the Kindle app of my iPad (yes, yes, I'm a cheap gadget freak – go figure!), and off we went with a chunk of chapter 1.

That's when I discovered what's REALLY important in a story told through audio: HOW it's told. How you present it to the audience. The first take sucked. I was just reading in a monotone, same cadence throughout. I could've been reading the phone book, and it would've been just as interesting (or not).

So, after taking the advice of some friends (thanks, Celia and Spyros!) and reading up on voiceovers a bit so I had half a clue about what I should be doing, I took a couple more shots at it. I was much happier with the third take. I forced myself to slow down, emphasize pauses, add inflection, change volume, and tried to "get into character" more. No, I'm not going to say it's anywhere near what a pro voiceover artist could do (because, my friend, it truly IS an art!), but it won't put you to sleep in the first two paragraphs, either!

Recording and editing was pretty straightforward (keeping in mind, again, that I'm a rank amateur). I recorded the audio in Garageband and just let it run while I was reading. When I made a goof, I just hit the "P" key to insert a marker in the timeline, then I backed up a sentence and started again. That made the recording session go very quickly, and made editing easy: I just went to the markers, trimmed out the bad, spliced in the good, made sure there weren't any obvious gaps or other oddities, and off we go.

The one big problem I encountered was hiss. From what I've read, it looks like this is an artifact of a cheap microphone (the Blue Snowball is around $100; many pro microphones are thousands of dollars) combined with a direct USB connection, and without any sort of preamp. I was able to eliminate most of it by playing around with the tons of filters in Garageband (that right there was a whole day of entertainment!), but I'll probably wind up getting better gear. I don't have thousands of dollars to spend, but I'll see what I can find, and I'm always open to suggestions!

If you like, here's the . Also, feel free to subscribe to the podcast so you'll get new chapters as I add them, and pass it on to any of your friends who like audio books or podcasts.

The bottom line, though, is that I really started to enjoy it. I thought it was going to be a chore, but after I started getting into it a bit and let my hair down, so to speak, it was a lot of fun.

Eventually, all my books will be available through Audible.com and other audiobook retailers. I hope to have EMPIRE done by the end of this month.

View more on Michael R. Hicks's website »

1 like · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on October 10, 2011 04:42

Kindle Weekend Sale for the Thriller Season Of The Harvest – $0.99

You Are What You Eat!

It's the weekend, you've got your paycheck, and you're looking for something to keep you entertained while you're avoiding yard work or cleaning out the closet, right?

If that's you (and you know it is – don't deny it), why don't you pop over to the Kindle store (Amazon US or Amazon UK – when the price updates) and snag yourself a copy of Season Of The Harvest for a buck? Technically, at $0.99 it's less than a buck, discounted from it's usual wallet-womping price of $2.99.

With sixty-eight 4- and 5-star reviews out of eighty-one (the rest included eight 3-star reviews, and a total of five reviewers thought it sucked, but what do they know, right?) on Amazon US and ten 5-star reviews out of ten on Amazon UK (I love you guys & gals!), it's sort of hard to go wrong, isn't it?

So stop worrying over a buck and take the plunge into an action-packed adventure. Even if you hate it, it'll be better than mowing the lawn! So check it out on Amazon US and Amazon UK, read the reviews, and go have fun reading!

Oh, and do me a favor, would ya? See those buttons to the left there that say "Tweet", "Like", and so on? Please click on those – it helps prevent warts. Honest!

Last but not least, and then I'll shut up: if you get, or already own, a copy of Season Of The Harvest, send me an email and I'll send you an autographed digital copy of the cover. Just make sure to tell me if there's anything special you want me to write, like "To John, My Most Favorite Llama EVER!". And yes, yes, my scrawled autograph is absolutely free, just because I like you!

View more on Michael R. Hicks's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on October 07, 2011 11:51

A Humble Thank You To Steve Jobs

Many people are mourning the recent passing of Steve Jobs, and for many reasons. I never knew him personally, of course; like most folks, I imagine, I knew him only as the head of Apple. I have to confess that I didn't even realize he founded Pixar, among his many other accomplishments.

Ironically, I'd never heard him speak, or bothered to watch any of the recordings of his many speeches and presentations until after his death. My wife, Jan, played a video on YouTube of his commencement address at Stanford in 2005 that was making the rounds on Facebook after the news of his passing had come out. I'd like you to listen to it, then I'll continue on:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

His speech would have been inspirational under any circumstances, but for me it was particularly timely.

You see, after I released SEASON OF THE HARVEST in February 2011, I enjoyed a spectacular explosion in sales. And "spectacular" is no exaggeration: my royalties went from a few hundred dollars a month to $30,000 each in June and July.

Since then, however, sales have tapered off dramatically, with September royalties roughly a third of what they were over the summer months. Is that still a lot of money? Heck, yeah!

But that downward trend started to really challenge my faith. Had I made a mistake leaving my comfy but mind-numbing day job at NSA? What if sales keep dropping? Am I going to have to go out and get another day job to make ends meet? Was this whole thing with incredible sales over the summer just a fluke, a cruel joke?

It was really worrying me, what we might be facing if the downward trend in sales continued. We certainly have enough to get by for a fair while, but it was like a dark cloud over me that I just couldn't shake.

Then I watched the video you just saw, and felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I realized that the royalties I made over the summer were simply the catalyst for a new phase of my life. I would have been a fool NOT to take the chance and leave my cushy job where I was stagnating, and had been for years. Writing and communicating is my passion and what I really love. Maybe I'll never be making the sort of money that some other authors are (although I still plan to try!). Maybe I'll have to go out and get a job to keep enough food on the table when things are really tight. Maybe we'll have to eat a lot of peanut butter sandwiches for a while if push comes to shove.

But that's okay. Because after hearing Steve's words, the stories of the things he both endured and accomplished, I've come to the realization that I'm right where I'm supposed to be. The drop in sales? I don't know if they'll go up or down, but that drop wiped the stars out of my eyes and made me hungry again. And that's a good thing.

Thank you, Steve.

View more on Michael R. Hicks's website »

3 likes · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on October 06, 2011 08:35

Making the Most of Twitter with Tweet Adder – Overview

Tweet Adder is probably THE most effective tool (in my opinion) to help build your Twitter community, whether you're an author, businessperson, or wannabe celebrity looking for your audience. This is a video tutorial giving a quick overview of the application, with later tutorials covering the various functions in more detail.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLbqM9-W_gY

Learn more about Tweet Adder by clicking here…

View more on Michael R. Hicks's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on October 05, 2011 13:49

In Her Name: Dead Soul Now Available For Nook

DEAD SOUL is now available for the Nook! And just like with the Amazon release, the first person who emails me with proof or purchase gets a $10 gift certificate. How can you pass that up?

So, if you have a Nook and enjoy good science fiction, !

View more on Michael R. Hicks's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on October 03, 2011 17:29

IN HER NAME: DEAD SOUL Is Coming…Now!

It's done. I just hit the publish button for DEAD SOUL at the Amazon Kindle store and Barnes & Noble, and will be getting it out for Smashwords, iBooks, Sony, and Kobo shortly (sorry folks, ebooks only – print will come later). I don't have links to the pages yet, but they should be up between now and tomorrow, so it's sort of like an Easter egg hunt!

Just for fun, the first person to email me their purchase order from Amazon will get a $10 gift certificate, and ditto for the first lucky Nook fan. I'll make a separate announcement for Smashwords when that file's ready.

And as a quick reminder, this version of the ebook will have a LIMITED TIME autographed cover image. Once I replace the signed cover with the orignal "plain" one, that's it. There will never be any more. So get 'em while they're hot!

View more on Michael R. Hicks's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on October 03, 2011 08:12

Liking, Sharing, Tagging, and Reviewing Your Favorite Books on Amazon – A Video Tutorial

I'm not Steven Spielberg or anything, but I put this little tutorial video together to show you how easy it is to not only write a quick review for a book on Amazon, but also to like, share, and tag it to make it easier for other readers to find. This is a HUGE help to your favorite authors, and only takes you a minute or so to do!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnaS6a8m-lo

View more on Michael R. Hicks's website »

1 like · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on September 28, 2011 15:25

In Her Name: Dead Soul Digital Collector's Edition

DEAD SOUL, the sixth book of the IN HER NAME series, is on track for release in early October! The book will be available in the Amazon Kindle store, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords right away; distribution to iBooks, Kobo, and other ebook retailers will follow, and I hope to have a print version available by November.

With the release of DEAD SOUL, I'm going to be doing something a little different for the ebook versions, just for fun: for a limited time, the cover image included with the book file will bear the autograph of yours truly. Is that the same as having an autographed print copy? I don't know, but I thought it was sort of a cool idea and, well, what the heck!

But once that limited time is up, I'll be replacing the autographed cover with the regular one, and that'll be it. There won't be any more of the digitally signed versions, ever.

So grab your digital collector's edition of when it comes out!

View more on Michael R. Hicks's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on September 26, 2011 05:44

Print Books or Ebooks: Where Do You Stand?

I did a post recently giving my cracked crystal ball look at the publishing industry, and after some spirited discussions on Twitter about what the future of print books might be, I decided to follow up on that post by taking a microscopic look at the issue from the perspective of my own sales and how it's been affecting my business decisions.

So, let's set the stage by taking a look at my sales for July, which has been the peak month so far this year. Here's how it looks:

Sales Channel
Copies Sold
Price Range
Royalties Earned

Lightning Source (print)
40
$9.95-$16.95
$102.62

CreateSpace (print)
50
$9.95
$83.50

Kindle Store (ebooks)
21,186
$0.00-$5.99
$32,877.00

Other eBooks
360
$0.00-$5.99
$700.00*

* Note that the sales reporting for the other ebook channels I have via Smashwords aren't as timely or accurate as the Kindle store, so these figures are approximate.

Now, you don't have to be a statistical genius to see what's going on in this table. Forgetting the copies sold for the ebooks, which in this month included a ton of free versions of IN HER NAME: EMPIRE, and just looking at the bottom line dollar figures, the "other" ebook sales channels did at least three times better than my total print sales, while Kindle sales were almost 170 times more.

"Well, hey, you just focused on the ebook market and left the print book lovers in the cold, you swine!"

I'll certainly confess to slanting things more at the Kindle market, in particular, as it's the biggest ebook market, but I wasn't ignoring everything else. Oddly enough, looking back at my sales before they started taking off in February, the ratio of earnings between my ebook and print sales was still drastically tilted in the favor of ebook sales on what I estimate to be a 25:1 ratio, if not higher. So, it's not like I ever put my print books under a black cloth and hid them. In fact, I even dropped the prices on them after my ebook sales started taking off (note: I'll also confess here that I can't add: my royalties for the print books are higher than $1.00 a piece, but maybe as much as $1.70 – I can't do math!). Yes, I sold more after that, but not exactly enough to retire on.

This brings us to the ongoing discussion "out there" about the future of print books.

Let me make it clear that I don't believe print books (and by that, I really mean novels more than anything else) are going to just disappear overnight, or even in the next fifty years. There is going to be a continued market for print books for the foreseeable future. There are lots of people who love physical books and have no intention of giving them up. I think that's great and I love you guys & gals!

However, the inescapable reality is that the print market is rapidly diminishing. Again, you don't have to be an industry expert to see that. B. Dalton – gone. Borders – gone. Books-a-Million has suffered losses every quarter so far this year. Barnes & Noble isn't doing great, but hopefully will hang on. If it survives, it'll largely be due to the success of the Nook, and because there won't be much other "big store" competition, especially if Books-a-Million eventually goes down the tubes. And on Amazon, Kindle book sales continue to outstrip print sales by a growing margin, and the Kindle is penetrating more markets outside the U.S.

With their retail outlets dying, how are the legacy print publishers are going to survive? Answer: they won't, unless they can adapt to the new paradigm.

As for me, I've really been questioning whether I should keep making print editions of my books. If you look at the numbers I had for July (other months are roughly the same proportionally), it's sort of hard to get past how much the ebook segment is bringing in compared to print sales. From the business point of view, is it really worth the bother?

After a great deal of thought I've come to the conclusion that it is. But not because of some of the silly arguments people have been making in support of print books (for some examples, see this article on Big Think). It's because even if the print editions are only bringing in $200 a month or whatever, that's still $2400 a year, which in our area is good for a mortgage payment with a bit left over. To me, that's an argument that actually makes sense.

View more on Michael R. Hicks's website »

Like • 2 comments • flag

Published on September 23, 2011 04:00