Scott F. Falkner's Blog, page 2

TFOC EDITS COMPLETE

Just a quick post to mention that I’ve finished the Author Preferred edits on The Feast of Catchville. The plan was to release the book in October, but the way things are going – knock on wood – it looks like we may be able to do it earlier than that.

The book now goes to art for a redesigned package for the new print and ebook editions. It’ll be strange seeing the book without that familiar green and orange cover. The new artwork is a bit more “outdoorsy” and does a much better job of capturing that trapped in a snowstorm claustrophobia.

I’ll also be writing up a new afterword for the book in the coming days. It’ll entail the history of the book, as well as its impetus. As I stated earlier, the end of The Feast of Catchville will also introduce the first chapter from the newly revised Swaybuck.

I think that’s all for now, other than I invite you to watch this fun series on “Searching for Steve Ditko.” Lots of things here that I did not know about the co-creator of Spiderman. Fascinating.

E-BOOK ROLE PLAYING

Right. So I promised I’d chime in with my understanding of the role that e-books play in current publishing models:

As I stated in my last post – when I refer to an “e-book,” I’m referring to the Kindle version, and since I’ve not had a thousand hate emails complaining that the Kobo and Nook should be included, I guess we all agree.

Most Kindle books run between $.99 and $2.99. 70% of that price, minus a “delivery” fee (in most cases coming out to about $.15 – it depends on the size of your file) charged by Amazon, is what the author/publisher retain in the end. Now, you might be thinking that selling a book for $.99 and making back roughly .$54 isn’t a very good return on investment.

In some ways you’d be right. It’s not a very good return. However, think about it this way.

Reader ‘A’ – we’ll call her the “casual reader,” has never read any books by a certain Mid to Low List Author. However, in browsing the types of books she likes, she comes across a novel by that certain Mid to Low List Author that has a dozen or more five star reviews behind it….

The print version of that book is $9.99. If she buys that book, the author may see as much as two to three dollars back in profits.

However, what is the likeliehood of her buying that book for ten bucks if she’s never read the author before, and there are different, cheaper choices available that might be just as good?

That’s right. The chances aren’t good that she’ll buy it.

On the flip side, if Reader ‘A’ is searching for the kinds of books she likes and she comes across a certain Mid to Low List Author’s book backed by positive reviews that’s less than a dollar? A book that she can have electronically delivered in the next five minutes?

The chances are much higher that she’ll take a chance.

My mindset, and the mindset of my new publishing venture, is that we’ll offer Kindle versions of our titles for the lowest possible price – usually $.99 – so that everyone can be easily enticed to give us a try. Seventy percent of $.99 is a hell of a lot more money than seventy percent of nothing.

At the same time, we’ll offer all the titles in print so that those of you who truly enjoy my books, or those of you that just really, really prefer print titles, are able to get a copy. Also, if the opportunity arises, print books will allow you to get a personalized copy.

At this point in my career, it’s most important to get as many copies of my titles into the hands of as many readers as possible. If I can make a small profit while doing it, well, that’s just money in the bank.

I think the general degradation of the small presses has been caused in no small part by the desire to “get rich quick” on untested authors. Small presses should remain small in the sense that they don’t really have the ability to foster and kindle the careers of more than a handfull of young authors at any one time. Once they’ve brought on board the absolute best authors they can find, authors that they believe in, authors that they know are doing important work, then they should stand behind those authors and do just what I stated above – getting those authors into the hands of as many readers as possible.

Only then, when the readership comes to the same realization that the publisher already has, that the author is very much worth reading, that the author is mandatory reading, then and only then can and should the prices be eked up so everyone can enjoy a larger profit margin.

My philosophy of course. Take it or leave it.

Here’s a great Q&A with Joss Whedon from Nerd HQ 2012.

NOT HALF-COCKED AND NO KOBO

Yesterday I mentioned that I’d have some information for you about what’s coming up a la new releases, as well as some ideas about e-books and their role in my new publishing venture. For right now, let’s just all agree that when I talk about ebooks I’m talking about Kindle books. With the impending deconstruction of the Nook platform, and the relative obscurity of the Kobo e-reader, (and I’ll eat those words right now if an army of Kobo users inundates me with hate mail in the next 24 hours,) in my mind the Kindle is going to be the go-to e-reader of choice.

Everyone on the same page? Good.

First of all, what’s coming up. In the past when I’ve done these sort of posts I’ve kind of gone off half-cocked and told you about the next nine books I’ve wanted to do at the time. This time we’re going to reel it in a bit and I’ll just tell you about the things that are in active process of being completed.

First up is a novella called Hell and Back. I use the term ‘novella’ with a grain of salt. Officially, a novella as defined as being between 17,500 and 40 thousand words. Hell and Back will come in right around 20k, which almost makes me think of it more as a novelette than a novella. Whatever you want to call it, I’m about seventeen thousand words into it. This one would be tagged as fantasy with some highly horrific elements. I’m looking at a late November release date with both e-book and print editions available.

Next up is the highly anticipated Author’s Preferred Edition of The Feast of Catchville. I’m currently editing the final text for this one, and have scheduled it for an October, 2013 release in both e-book and print. This Author’s Preferred Edition, (or APE) will feature certain edits I’ve always wanted to make to the text since it originally came out, a new introduction by the author, a new cover, and a sample chapter of Swaybuck.

We’ll be releasing Author Preferred Editions of my first seven books in both print and e-book about every three months – so that puts the Swaybuck APE version out about February of 2014. We’ll also offer the three Delving books in a brand new Delving collection – the complete Delving story in one large volume sometime next year.

But once again, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Hey – that was quite a bit of info, and I think we’ll hold off on my thoughts concerning the role of the e-book in the new publishing industry until tomorrow. I like to give you something to look forward to.

In the meantime, if you haven’t watched this David Lynch docu-film yet, it’s totally worth your time.

WHERE I AM

Hey Kids.

We've recently updated the website, www.scottfalkner.com, and the new format enables me to blog there exclusively. Therefore, I won't be utilizing the Daily Cave any longer.

Come check out the new site.

Thanx,
Scott

SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN

Tomorrow I'll be speaking to students taking a Wisconsin Literature class at an area high school. Two of my books, "The Feast of Catchville" and "Swaybuck" are part of the class curriculum, and as such they've asked me to come as a guest speaker.

In going over some notes from previous times I've done this sort of thing, I was rediscovering just how Wild West the profession of "AUTHOR" has become over the last few years. It was only a few months ago that e-books outsold paperbacks on Amazon for the very first time in history.

This is huge, folks.

I'm one of the "old timers" who never, ever thought anything big would come of those new fangled e-reading devices. (Kinda like that whole internet fad.) But apparently I couldn't have been more wrong. Ebooks are on the rise, and as such, more books than ever are going to be available to the reading public.

Is that a good thing?

No.

And yes.

As old Ben would say, "It all depends on your point of view."

No, it won't be a good thing because anyone with a limited head for tech will be able to "publish" their writing on their own independent "imprints" with minimal effort and have it as accessible as reputable works.

Yes, it'll be a good thing because anyone with a limited head for tech will be able to "publish" their writing on their own independent "imprints" with minimal effort and have it as accessible as reputable works.

I recently listened to a series of discussions with Rod Serling in which he spoke at length about writers and writing. In one of them, he spoke about young writers not wallowing through years of "paying dues" if what they had to say was important, well thought out, well executed, and interesting. Too many times writers were being looked at as inexperienced because they hadn't cut their teeth on a hundred short story sales to magazine markets.

I disagree with what Rod was saying there.

And I agree with him.

Clearly, it's nice to think that we, as writers, really did have something unique and interesting to say in our first books, and that what we did have to say was worthy of being read by anyone who was interested. At the same time, perhaps many of us were saved from embarrassment by the very fact that what we wrote the first time out wasn't deemed worthy of being read by any and all by those that guard the keys to "being read": editors, publishers, et al.

Magazine markets.

Now there's an interesting prospect.

There once was a time when a writer could tap his fingers raw and make thirty or forty bucks a week writing three or four stories for the magazine market, and that thirty or forty bucks a week was enough for rent on a room, a little food, some smokes, some drinks, and some typewriter ribbon.

Fast forward to the twenty-first century.

The rates for the work haven't changed much, but the cost of living has. I do not know of a writer that started out in the last decade that could afford to live on writing alone when they started out. The economics of it just don't work. The digital revolution hasn't changed the economic viability of short stories - in fact, by and far, the majority of online "zines" are strangely called "for the love" markets, in that they won't pay you a dime, but boy oh boy, your story will be in pixelized "print" - the internet equivalent of Broadway's "up in lights." These days, you'd do better to start your own website and post your stories there, something more and more writers are realizing is easily within their capability.

But what about being a paid Author? you ask. How does that happen? How do you achieve that? How can I make enough money to live on simply by writing and selling stories?

Good question.

And the answer goes something like this: Be original. You write fantasy stories? So do a hundred thousand other people. You need to set yourself apart from the get go... and I don't just mean on paper. I'm talking about image. I'm talking about creating, maintaining and selling a BRAND. Sounds crass, don't it? Oh, don't get me wrong, your writing has to be on the money, so to speak. You've gotta have some talent and be able to spin a grand yarn.

But there's more to it than that.

You can no longer be an introvert and a succesful writer in the twenty-first century.

Let me say that again in case you weren't listening, You can no longer be an introvert and a successful writer in the twenty-first century.

You HAVE to be out there selling your BRAND. And when I say "out there" - I mean literally and digitally. You need to attend Conventions and book signings and lectures, and when you do, YOU NEED TO MAKE THE MOST OF THEM. People must, must, must remember who you were and what you do. People must remember that you had a spark, that there was something special, something unique about you. How you do this is entirely up to you, but you have to do it. You must have an INTENSE, DAILY web presence. You must frequent the places that your readers frequent. You must blog. You must tweet. You must make yourself known in a huge way to the masses.

Consistently.

There's a reason that there are endless MacDonalds and Coke commercials: Everpresence. You are constantly in the mind of your consumers. You are there whenever they need you.

Admittedly, all of the above is a tall order and not for the faint of heart, but it's all true. I haven't accomplished it by a long shot. I've found that there are other things in life that I wish to do beyond writing, and as such, I'm perfectly fine with not making a living at it. My goals are such that I want to write the stories that I want to write, and leave it at that. I hope many, many future generations enjoy them, and that I'll briefly be able to infect their minds and affect the way they think about things. That will be good enough for me.

At any rate, back to my original point. The profession of Writing is truly in a "Wild West" phase at present. The advent of the Ipad and tablet computers have already infected children's books to the point where the reader can push certain buttons while reading the story to activate all sorts of fun and educational "accessories." It will not be long before these sorts of things infect the adult e-book market, eventually blending the reading experience with the auditory, and the auditory with the cinematic. A blending of formerly multiple professions into possibly a solitary one.

Exciting and adventurous, both.

And scary.

The world is moving faster than ever. I hope the young can keep up, for I'm not certain that I'll be able to.

Best of luck.

STILL HERE

Question: How do you know that you haven't written a blog post in a long, long time?

Answer: You forget the password to get into your blog posts.

I haven't gone through and read the last few posts I'd written, but I'm sure that they'd all do some apologizing for not posting in a very long time, and then go on to promise more frequent posts.

Let's not fall into that trap again, shall we.

I'm currently sitting in my blissfully quiet office listening to the wind howling outside the window. We've been treated to a few days of well above normal temperatures, and tomorrow we're dropping back down into the mid-twenties - normal temps for mid-February in Northern Wisconsin.

Let's start with what I've been reading.

Over Christmas, I received "The Complete Sherlock Holmes" and Volume II of Neil Gaiman's "Absolute Sandman."

I'm loathe to admit that I've never read any of Arthur Conan Doyle's famous mysteries before now. I'd always intended to, but just never got around to it. Then, shortly before Christmas, I was listening to an interview with Harlan Ellison, in which, on an Ellison-esque rant on religion, he happened to mention A.C.D.'s collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, claiming that if ANYone wanted to be smart, all they had to do was read the stories, and understand what Doyle was telling you about observation and inference. I thought to myself, "hey, you could stand to be a bit smarter," and here we are.

I'm about halfway through the Holmes stories and have enjoyed them immensely. Certainly, I've learned much, but what really surprised me about the tales is how much fun they are. Sherlock Holmes is a hoot, as is Watson in his role as straight man. The book is good fun, and I can highly recommend it before I've even finished it.

The other book I'm reading - (I've been bouncing back and forth between the two as they're both collections) - is Volume II of the Absolute version of Neil Gaiman's "Sandman." I was lucky enough to receive Volume I a few years ago, and again, it was the first time I'd ever ventured into the Sandman series. (Am I one of the only people in the world to come to Gaiman through the novels BEFORE the comics?) The Sandman is, of course, simply amazing. It's one of those things that even when you're in the midst of reading it for the first time, you realize you're reading something special. Something like a masterwork. At any rate, it's good fun, and I also pleasured myself by re-reading the first volume before starting this one. Amazing stories. Amazing mythos. Good times.

Now then, what are we writing these days?

The same thing I've been working on for what seems like the last few years.

"Delving: Culminations" is the toughest book I've ever had to write. A big reason for that is self imposed pressure, I suppose. I'm very proud of the first two Delving books, and as such I want to make absolutely sure that the final chapter of the trilogy holds up to the standard set in place by the first two.

I'd actually written almost the entire book in 2008 when I came to the conclusion that that version of the book didn't measure up to the rest of the series. I toyed with the idea of taking snippets of the book and rearranging them, but then thought that that would be cheating myself and you out of a good story. Instead, I trashed the whole thing and started fresh.

And then the hard drive crashed, and yours truly was too idiotic to have things backed up...

But let's not speak of bad memories. Lessons were learned - the hard way - and we do things differently now.

The book is going well. The characters you and I know so well are doing some surprising things. A certain Mr. Graff shows up in a big way, fresh from the pages of "Exile: The Collected Helman Graff." It's going to be a great book. It's due in late spring, and I'm hoping Stone Garden will be able to release it this summer.

What else...

Oh, I'm in the process of starting a company, but as this blog centers on the writing stuff, we'll veer away from that part of my life for the moment.

At any rate, I'm here. And that's a good thing. I had a pretty good scare involving a brain scan and some vision loss not too long ago, but maybe we'll save that story for next time.

"Exile" for Kindle

"Exile: The Collected Helman Graff" is now available for the Kindle from Amazon.com.

"Exile..." contains ten short stories featuring Helman Graff, a character popularized in my first book, "The Feast of Catchville." Each one of the stories features illustrations by Nate Fehlauer, and all of those illustrations are included in the Kindle version.

I've been told that more of my books will be available for the Kindle very soon, and I'll of course give you a heads up when that time comes.

Here's the link for the Kindle version of "Exile..."
http://www.amazon.com/Exile-Collected-Helman-Graff-ebook/dp/B004A156JA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1288753628&sr=8-2

ALL HALLOW'S READ

Recently some guy named Neil Gaiman came up with a great idea that I've taken a definite shine to, and it's cool enough that I'd like to pass it along to you as well.

The idea is simple. Gaiman's named it "All Hallow's Read," and all it entails is giving your friends and family members a scary book on Halloween.

You know, as the years progress and my library size increases, it never ceases to amaze me how I can always encounter a new horror novel that I've never, ever heard of each time I go to a great book store, a thrift shop, a garage sale, or what have you. With that in mind, no matter how well read in the topic your friends or relatives might be, there's always something out there that they haven't read. Guaranteed.

Of course, it's almost more fun when it comes to your friends and family members that aren't all that well versed in the genre. Herein lies the perfect opportunity to present them with the cream of the crop, the must reads, the books that will assure them little to no sleep on the last night before November reigns.

So, whatever your situation presents you with, All Hallow's Read sounds like a kickass way to celebrate Halloween. Kudos Neil for coming up with it. I'm celebrating, and I hope you will too!

Here's a link to Neil's original idea: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2010/10/modest-proposal-that-doesnt-actually.html

Twenty-Two Years and Counting

All right, let's go back a ways. Let's go back twenty-two years to when I was an innocent fifteen-year old. Someone, and for the life of me I can't remember exactly who, borrowed me a cassette tape called "Garage Days Re-revisited" by a band called Metallica.

Up to that point, my musical tastes had been largely banal. Nick at Nite told me that the Monkees were pretty "swell" - and I loved listening to them. I'd dipped my toes into the Bon Jovi and Guns N' Roses well a bit too, but I wasn't hea...

WGO or 9ML!!!!

So we'll title this one either "What's Going ON?" or "Nine Months Later..." - either one would work.

I see in the last post I was giving a laundry list of reasons why I wasn't blogging more. I suppose I could do that again, or I could just blog.

So what's going on? In the writing world, I continue to work on the final Delving book. Beyond that, well, everything is up in the air. There were a few other projects on deck, though whether or not they'll get written is really something TBD - that's t...