Greg Hamerton's Blog, page 4

What's in a fantasy book cover? Taking another look at Second Sight.

When designing the second book in the Tale of the Lifesong fantasy series, I was free to do what I wanted, because I knew nobody would buy it without first buying The Riddler's Gift. So I designed it to appeal to converted fantasy fans rather than the wider readership that was intended for the first book.

It is a full-blown fantasy novel, with no attempts to make it an 'easy read'. It is darker, more layered, and much more personal.

The idea behind the design is 'learning to see the world in a different way', or through second sight. The idea is reinforced by placing the title brightly lit in the foreground, which means you have to change your focus to see Tabitha looking at you from behind the design.

So the colours (especially when printed) are darker than the first book, which help to provide contrast with the title to lift it off the page. This theme is echoed in the book, which has dark atmosphere of collapse and impending ruin to frame the delicate beauty of lifesong.

It's more personal, because Tabitha's face is closer (once you see it). The sprites are still there, but now they are flying through the gold  of order-magic.

After a while, you might see the big swan and smaller swan, that echo the goddess Ethea and her channel, Tabitha. You'll only appreciate that reference much later in the book, but that's the kind of fun you can have with a design when you're the author and there's no pressure to follow a commercial template. I could make this one my own.

After a while longer, you might see that the background has an overlay of text, which are the words of order-lore that are imposed on Tabitha and the world. The barren earth beneath helps to convey the rough, brutal quality of chaos-torn life in Oldenworld, which contrasts with the perfect, clean lines of the order-formed double-S. Okay, maybe some of these things only mean something to me, but I felt by including them in the design it would hint that there were some other things going on you might not be able to decipher (maybe if you had second sight, you'd be able to see?). Once again, I'm hoping to leave an intriguing impression, to make you 'turn the book over'.

The typography of the author name is now better, and I'll probably retain this styling in future to try establish some kind of branding. Display fonts (as used in the Riddler's Gift cover) are often overdone – this Charlemagne font does the job better than the Morpheus font ever did.

What I wish I could do, is graphic art like this Angel by Song Yuefeng. The fallen goddess and the delicate girl who mourns her is gothic, textured; beautiful. As soon as I saw it, I knew Tabitha had to see this as a dream, and I wove it into the story of Second Sight, discovering what it meant, who the goddess was, and why Tabitha had to protect her at all costs.

That single image had the power to communicate a story. In essence, both authors and artists are doing the same thing. Framing an idea, using elements in just the right place, juxtaposing light and dark, texture and form, colours and neutral areas, subjects and negative space, to communicate something beautiful.

I'm first and foremost an author, so for you to see my ideas, you have to read my books. As you do so, you build something in your mind that is more than just an image: it is alive, and it is yours, because you have participated in its creation.

That is the magic of reading.

Science fiction book review: Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

RATING: 4.5 *

Altered Carbon is a science fiction novel set in a violent 26th century. It's a technological thriller structured around a crime investigation, set on future Earth.

 

"An astonishing first novel" said the Times, and I'd go along with that. It's impossible to describe what Morgan has done in this novel without mentioning the premise, so if you don't like spoilers read the Kindle sample of Altered Carbon  which will lead you to discover the premise by Page 5.

Humankind has discovered a way to store the soul or individual consciousness digitally, and insert it into any body using the cortical 'stack'. It's not possession; these bodies or 'sleeves' are vacated, their owners are either sent to digital storage or the body is bio-engineered. So you can never really be sure who is wearing the body you see, which sets up an unsettling environment to begin with.

This allows for some inventive use of backups, downloads and file transfers, and many other consequences of the technological innovation. The game is set for spectacular cat-and-mouse, with the hired investigator Takeshi Kovacs hunted by the high-tech surveillance of the law enforcement agencies and the criminals alike. There are some guns-blazing moments of blasting through the plot, but the speed of the narrative drew me along to the next surprise and this kept the story engrossing.

Takeshi's come from another (colonised human) world, but because he's been pulled in to complete a mission set entirely on Earth, Morgan doesn't have to spend much time building fantastical unfamiliar planets and cultures. It's an overlay on the world as we know it, and this works well because the story isn't slowed down by too much world-building. But far from being simplistic, the setting is superb, because the details of advanced weaponry, sleeving facilities and altered human culture are authentic and unique; more than enough to make it feel futuristic.

In case some readers expect more progress, Morgan reinforces his vision by stating that the Earth culture is 'conservative and traditional', not nearly as progressive as the settler-culture that has evolved on distant worlds. Which is what you'd expect. The political power games and manipulations are entirely human and therefore very believable.

It's an adult read, there's foul language, sex and violence aplenty, but it seldom seems gratuitous because it's true to character – Takeshi's a hard-hitting hard-living assassin with titanium balls. There's a sex scene which is burned into my mind with its convincing ecstasy, despite the fact that it's based around the point of view of someone who feels a slight psychological loathing for the object of their lust. I have a feeling that Morgan twisted it that way just for the added challenge of playing body against mind.

The story arc and ending was satisfying, if engineered for maximum cinematic effect, which made it surprising when it went cold in the epilogue. Given the brilliance of the many turns and double-crosses, I was expecting a twist in the tail, but Morgan goes for the blank realism of moving on in the unglamorised world of partial immortality. It also reminds us that we haven't seen Takeshi's real face once and we know very little about his 'real' life. So I'm left with something to reflect upon.

It's an inventive SF novel with a persistent mood.

It will make an extremely exciting film. Apparently Joel Silver (producer of the Matrix) has bought the rights: this would be a combination of the Matrix, James Bond and Bladerunner. With the leanness that comes from script adaptation, this could become an incredibly hard-hitting ubercool cult classic.

If you're into fantasy, Richard Morgan has just released The Cold Commands, sequel to The Steel Remains, which is probably worth a look if you're into a clever take on the genre with raw characterisation, political intrigue and gritty violence. As SFX says "Joe Abercrombie without the arched eyebrow ".

Indie fantasy authors to watch: DANIEL ARENSON

Daniel Arenson is an author living in Canada. He is best known for his "Song of Dragons" fantasy series and his novel "Eye of the Wizard". He chatted to me about obsessions, inspirational fantasy art … and dragons.

ON THE PAST

Was there one book that made you want to be a writer?

Probably "Dragons of Winter Twilight", the first fantasy novel I read. I was eleven years old. I started writing fantasy stories after reading that one.

"Writing to the Point" by Algis Budrys was a huge influence as well.

Was writing a planned career, or are you a writer despite what you were told?

I write because I can't stop. More than a career, it's an obsession.

What has it cost to get to where you are today (money, time, opportunities)?

Time. I have many ideas for books, and only so much time to write them all. The main challenge in my career has been finding time to write all these novels!

ON WRITING

How do you manage to live 'in this world' and in 'the other world' you're creating?

"This… world….?"

How long does it take to produce something like Blood of Requiem?

I write quickly, but I spend a lot of time editing. A book like "Blood of Requiem" takes about 100 hours to write, but might take 300 hours (or more) to polish. Then it goes off to my beta readers and my editor.

ON FANTASY

Dragons. They used to be the enemy; now their incredibly cool. What's your take, and how do you make a myth come to life?

In "Song of Dragons", I wanted to give dragons a new twist. Instead of classic dragons, I wrote about humans who can turn into dragons at will. There are many stories about werewolves, but I've never heard of weredragons before, and I wanted to tell their story. They are definitely the good guys in "Song of Dragons"; the villains are the humans who demonize and hunt them.

Series or standalone: you've done both. Which do you prefer writing, and which is more popular?

I began writing standalones when I was published at Five Star Publishing. It's a bit tougher to write a series when you're dealing with publishing contracts; you don't know if the first book would be a success, if your publisher would buy the second, etc.

When Kindle became popular, I began writing "Song of Dragons", a fantasy series. I don't have to worry about the realities of print publishing anymore. Writing a series is great; it lets me create more complex story arcs. After I release the third "Song of Dragons" novel, I plan to write a sequel to my standalone novel "Eye of the Wizard", and turn that into a series too.

ON PUBLISHING

You're currently riding the wave of the ebook bestseller lists. Can you outline your progress?

To be fair, I'm not on the general ebook bestsellers lists, but I do appear on the Epic Fantasy lists. There's really no secret handshake. I didn't promote my books in any unusual way. I simply try to keep improving with every book, and keep writing new epic fantasy stories that readers will enjoy.

How much promotion work was required to get there?

I used to promote a lot — I'd spend hours on Facebook, Twitter, Kindleboards, and other places. But I quickly realized that this was taking away too much writing time. Today, I'm still active on Facebook, but I try to spend most of my time writing new books instead of promoting the old ones.

You have some really professional covers. How did you select the designs, and do you have cover artists you can recommend?

I'm a big fan of fantasy art. Growing up, my heroes were fantasy artists such as Larry Elmore, Fred Fields, Jeff Easley, Brom, Brian Froud, and many others. I started writing fantasy because I wanted to invent stories that "feel" like that kind of artwork. To me, a great piece of art isn't just a pretty image; it tells an entire story.

I still enjoy browsing websites such as DeviantArt and discovering new talent. I found my current artists simply by browsing artwork websites.

ON THE FUTURE

How far away is full-time writing for you, and would you choose to write full time?

I do have a "real" job too (I'm a software developer), but most of my income currently comes from ebooks. In the future, I might choose to scale back software development until I write full time, but we'll see.

What's next for Daniel Arenson?

This winter, I plan to release "Light of Requiem", the third "Song of Dragons" novel. Keep an eye out for it! After that, I plan to write a sequel for "Eye of the Wizard", and then possibly a fourth "Song of Dragons" novel.

Thanks, Daniel for taking the time to offer some insight into your writing success!

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Support an indie fantasy author by visiting Daniel's website.

or help his dragons rule the roost on Amazon Kindle by checking out his latest titles below

   

 

 

What's in a fantasy book cover? Puzzling out the pixels for The Riddler's Gift.

I'm a fantasy fan, and so have a strong idea of what appeals to fantasy readers. Although the blurb must show there's an interesting concept, I only pick it up or click on the link because the cover caught my eye. A poor cover turns me off an interesting book, or at least pushes it down the wishlist to the point I might forget to buy it.

Good covers sell books. But when it comes to making a cover from scratch, I discovered it's not easy.

There's a thing called a 'graphic designer'. Now you might think I'm being a bit melodramatic about it, but I never considered it as a serious profession. Until I tried it myself, and then I really understood the need for artists who can communicate ideas visually. As a writer, you get pretty good at communicating things in written form. When your words are replaced with a swatch of RGB, there's a different kind of thinking required.

When I finished my fantasy novel The Riddler's Gift, I knew what the story was about; I could tell you in 250,000 words. But in one image?

The best I could find was a photo I'd snapped on honeymoon in New Zealand. Here's a prototype book cover.

It's not bad for my purposes: it shows a jagged division between dark and light (the main themes of the book) and the idea of glorious sky (the song?) sweeping over a high place (Eyri). The ridge line is what I'd expect things to look like along the edge of the kingdom. But it's a bit static. There's that idea problem. The design doesn't communicate anything, it's just scenery.

Fantasy is an intensely visual genre. The worlds of fantasy authors like Tolkien and Le Guin appeal to me visually, I love a good sweeping descriptive adventure. The Lord of the Rings movie was a visual feast. Fantasy RPGs like Warcraft and Oblivion threatened to turn me into a gaming junkie. It's the things we get to imagine in these worlds that are so stimulating. So epic scenery isn't bad, but I knew I needed to share the idea of the book in the design somehow.

After enlisting the services of a design friend, we couldn't settle on something that worked. Maybe it was a dialogue I didn't know how to hold. Make it less 'anime', less 'dungeons and dragons' and more 'cool SF' isn't very helpful guidance. He left me with the useful background image and some typography, for which I'm grateful. So what do we have in the end?

There's still a glimpse of those high peaks and a lot of space to hint at the new vistas, but now Tabitha is placed in the picture, and hopefully the design illustrates her dilemma: as magic dances up from her palm, the dark threat swoops down from the sky; drawn by her light and beauty.

Her face is lit, which helps to bring her to the front of the design and create some depth relative to the birds. Sprites of magic dance up, hinting at the uplifting theme, to balance the darkness that frames the story, and to give it some movement in a visual triangle … up to the Riddler's, across to the R, down with the dark birds again.

The dark and the light is the primary axis of magic system in the first Tale of the Lifesong, so it was important to keep the colours limited to light, dark, and one colour.

There's a slightly magenta sky to represent the shift to an altered reality. The clouds communicate brooding tension, an imminent storm. The whole idea is to leave an intriguing impression. Would you 'turn the book over'? Does it work for you?

Puzzling out a cover design is a rewarding challenge. I'm under no illusions that it's a perfect artwork, but it communicates the mood and genre, and an idea of the story. Hopefully, this attracts the right kind of readers, who will enjoy that tale.

Bargain Kindle fantasy books (and other genres too!)

Pixel of Ink is a fantastic site to get daily hints of where to look for bargain Kindle books. I've snapped up many free or bargain ebooks while they were on promotion. Today, it's my turn, as my fantasy novel The Riddler's Gift is featured on Pixel of Ink

Fantasy with dragons: epic game trailer for SKYRIM

Two days until release day for The Elder Scrolls V: SKYRIM. I'm not a gamer, but this looks good enough to crash the work plans and subvert my reality with a frenzy of late night fantasy questing. This trailer says it all: an absolutely stunning 5 star trailer, don't you think? Having dipped my toes into Oblivion (the previous game in the series), I'd say everyone who is into fantasy has to get this game on release day, and disappear into the ghostly glare of the screen portal … I know what I'm doing this winter!

The official website: http://www.elderscrolls.com/

Indie fantasy authors to watch: Michael G. Manning

MICHAEL G. MANNING is a fantasy author and pharmacist living in Huntsville, TX. He is best known for his two books, Mageborn: The Blacksmith's Son and the sequel, Mageborn: The Line of Illeniel. He's recently blasted into the Top 100 Kindle books (all titles) with both, putting him firmly in the Top 10 Fantasy Bestsellers. He talked to me about the origins of his story, keeping in touch with reality, and overnight success.

ON THE PAST

Had you wanted to be an author before completing your first manuscript, or has releasing your first book made you want to be successful at it?

My earliest career goal was to be a mad scientist (around age five). I developed a desire to write books when I got heavily into Science Fiction and Fantasy books around the age of twelve.

What drew you to writing about the son of a blacksmith? Wouldn't a more obvious choice for you have been 'the Alchemist's son'?

I hadn't thought about it like that, but you're right. The ideas for the book came from some unknown space inside my mind, but the background and setting for the main character were created as parallels to my own life and upbringing. My father was a mechanic and a welder, he built things and watching him taught me a lot about the world. I was adopted also, and unlike the rest of my family I had a penchant for books, science, philosophy etc… My parents were very accepting of my differences but I always felt a bit strange.

Mordecai echoed that, the son of a wizard raised by a blacksmith. I wasn't deliberately trying to make Mordecai into my image but he definitely borrowed a lot from my life experiences.

ON WRITING

You have a full time job as a pharmacist. How do you manage to live 'in this world' and in 'the other world' you're creating?

One of my favorite expressions is this, "I don't mind being in touch with reality… as long as I don't have to live there." I don't remember if I heard that somewhere or if I made it up long ago, but it definitely suits me. I work is a pharmacist, which is quite different than my fantasy life, but somehow over the years I have adapted my working life to my inner life.

When I first started, at my current job, I worked as a regular pharmacist. Over time I had ideas regarding how we worked and how we could improve upon it; my boss was flexible and decided to give me room to try out those ideas. Now I spend my time as a troubleshooter, programmer and database administrator. I have no formal training in any of those things but I've always just learned whatever I needed as I went.

You wrote the two books incredibly fast. Is this the result of detailed planning and structuring beforehand, are you gifted with an ability to structure things on the fly, or do you leave things rough-and-ready to retain the raw force of your writing without labouring over the editing?

I didn't have any plan when I began. I was out of books to read and I couldn't find anything I was interested in. So I started enumerating the elements I was looking for in a book, and after an hour I had a list. I just decided to try and write it myself.

As far as 'structuring things on the fly'… well I guess that pretty well describes me. I did create an outline for each book before I started, but the outlines only took up a page or two. I had to stop at points and create background material and notes on various things but the books pretty much wrote themselves as I went.

Editing has been a problem for me. Although I am fairly easy going, I have very strong opinions on grammar and writing style. The books are mostly self-edited because of that. It's a task I find tedious but because of my perfectionism 'during' the writing not a lot has to be done afterwards. However as I'm sure you know, no one is perfect, and my blind spots in editing are apparent. I have had some excellent assistance from a few of my more 'technical' readers but in the future I hope to afford more professional help.

A 400-page manuscript completed in a month! Are there some pharmaceuticals you can recommend to writers ?

There are, but they wouldn't let me have them either… so I had to make do with caffeine. I know almost nothing about how professional writers are trained. I've never been to a writer's workshop and my only technical training was freshman and sophomore English in college. I suspect that my method is very different than most, but I have no way of knowing.

I just sit down and write, but that's not to say it is easy. I have distractions and moments where I am unsure what to do… but I just bull through them. While I was writing the first two books I spent all of my spare time on them, five to six hours each evening and twenty hours or so on the weekends. That resulted in the first being done in about four weeks and the second book took nearly eight weeks.

ON FANTASY

Classic fantasy has been done to death. How is your take different, or don't you try to be?

That's a rather sore point with me. I've heard that regarding every topic imaginable, but I don't think it is relevant. Every story involving people revolves around the same themes that motivate and interest us, love, conflict, death, and the struggle to rise above our limitations. Those key things have been with us in all of our stories since the first storyteller began entertaining his friends and family around a campfire.

Back to the question, I'm not trying to create something 'original' or 'ground-breaking'. I am writing purely to entertain, so I as I sit at the desk I try to imagine a story I would enjoy reading. If someone decides someday that I've done something new or original that would be nice but it really isn't my objective.

ON PUBLISHING

You seem to have appeared out of nowhere, with only a facebook page and a goodreads profile. Boom! Straight into the Top 100 on the Kindle Bestseller Lists within a few months. No website, no blogging, no twittering or publicity campaign. Are you truly the mythical 'overnight success' or is there more to the story?

I didn't really expect to be successful, but I was determined to try. I think there are three key factors that made a large impact here. The first was my family and friends, particularly my wife. I have a large network of friends, coworkers, family, and more. When I began telling them they started the word of mouth campaign for me. My wife in particular is well known on several forums and she used her social capital to 'sell' me to her friends.

The second factor is the book itself. It has to be a good read or no amount of marketing will work.

The last factor is something I didn't consider but which has worked in my favor. The book has to fill a particular 'need' within its market. As I mentioned before, I had run out of books to read that fit my criteria for a fun read. Clearly there were other people that wanted the same thing. I have read many masterpieces that didn't interest me. If I had tried to write an opus or create something radically different I probably would not have enjoyed this much success. I was writing to please myself, and apparently that fits a fair sized demographic.

ON THE FUTURE

How far away is full-time writing for you, and would you choose to write full time?

That depends upon my ability to keep writing stories in a timely manner. I hope to keep writing at a pace of about three books a year. Assuming I can do that and maintain the interest of my readers I will probably switch to being a full time writer in about a year.

My only regret is that I love my current job as well, it gives me a lot of freedom to be creative in different ways and I love my coworkers. It would be nice if they would let me keep using my desk at work so I could see everyone while working on my books, but I doubt that will happen.

What's next for Michael G. Manning?

I have no idea. My life is a great mystery to me and I'm still waiting in suspense to see what will happen next. I plan to continue writing though. I can only hope that none of the 'excitement' that has cursed my character's lives appears in my own.

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Indie fantasy authors to watch: K.C. MAY

There's a new breed of author on the frontlist: the indie. Now it has to be said, significant sales earn respect, and I'm as guilty of making this snap judgement as the next man.

In the bad old days, self-published authors had limited access to the market, and so limited sales, which meant on the whole, they were laughed off as vanity publishers regardless of their literary merit.

When Lulu and Createspace offered POD technology to the masses, self-pubbed authors became slightly more visible, but still uncompetitive on price. It just meant you didn't lose so much money on printing books that didn't sell.

But digital books have removed the restrictions and levelled the battlefield, and lo and behold, some of those indie authors that the 'industry' overlooked are gathering masses of fans to their standards, and clouting the big name authors, even without the benefit of marketing departments and publisher connections.

This makes it doubly impressive that they are visible in the melee; not just visible, but leading the charge.

In my recent post about the Kindle Fantasy Bestseller List I spotted KC MAY raising her banner proudly in the top ten. She was kind enough to tell me the inside story about being a successful indie fantasy author.

KC MAY is a traditionally born author living in her own little fantasy world. She is best known for having curly hair and rottweilers and playing video games.

ON THE PAST
Do you hear voices?

No, but I have voices. I talk to myself as my dog and cat, and as my characters, especially when I'm alone. When I'm in the car, I pretend to sing along to music as I talk to myself, so that people don't think I'm too strange.

What led you into this crazy profession?

I'm not sure. I decided one day that I should try writing down the stories that were inside me. My husband talked me into submitting the first novel to publishers, and while I was waiting for the rejection slips, I wrote another book. And another. And another…

ON WRITING

Speculative fiction takes a lot of 'world-building' brainpower. How long does it take you to 'switch' into your imagined world, and do you have any tricks for shoe-horning your writing hour(s) into your working day?

For stories like the Kinshield Saga, the alternate world is as comfy as an old pair of jeans. I have no problems switching into it on short notice. In fact, I switched in and out of it five times while writing this sentence. New worlds take quite a bit of time to imagine because there's just so much detail I have to envision and figure out.

ON FANTASY

In this age of high-tech science and reason, how do you build a credible magic system?

That's always tough because we don't want to copy what someone else has done, yet *someone* has already done whatever I think up! The trick is to make it my own — to customize my best idea so that it doesn't seem like someone else's magic system.

ON SCIENCE FICTION

With fantasy you explore a world; with scifi: a universe. How did you keep it all in your head?

For me, fantasy is actually harder because the world is completely made up. I use world generators to plan out a continent, then have to figure out where on the planet it is and come up with weather systems, wildlife, and so on. Science fiction might be more difficult if I wrote off-world stories, but I prefer to write near-future stories that take place on earth. I only have to think about the technology and the "future history" based on some event that has happened or could happen. The rest is already done for me.

ON PUBLISHING

You're currently riding the wave of the ebook bestseller lists. Can you outline your progress?

For the first nine months or so, I did all the usual promotional things — jumped on every new review blog to get reviews, did give-aways, tweeted and Facebooked, etc. but my sales didn't really start increasing until a few things happened:

- I put The Kinshield Legacy on sale for 99c on April 1. Sales started picking up.

- On April 8, it was featured on Pixel of Ink. Sales went from 4-5 per day to 15-25 per day.

- Game of Thrones aired on HBO on April 17. (My book isn't that similar, but it's in the same genre.) Sales went from 15-25 per day to 25-40 per day.

- On May 7, it was featured on Ereader News Today. Sales went from 25-40 per day to 50-70 per day.

Then things really began to take off. The Kinshield Legacy sold over 2000 copies in May, over 4600 in June, almost 6000 in July, 7700 for August… The sequel, The Wayfarer King, came out August 3, and it sold 6300 copies its first month. By the end of September, I'd sold over 50,000 books.

How much promotion work was required to get there?

I'm not all that sure promotion helps, but I guess it depends on how you define promotion. I submitted my books to review blogs and cheap ebook sites (Pixel of Ink, Ereader News Today, Daily Cheap Reads, etc), and I'm a frequent contributor on the Amazon Kindle fan page on Facebook. Those are the only forms of promotion that work for me. Some use Twitter effectively, but I haven't got that quite figured out yet.

You recently got some really professional covers done. What sort of investment is that for an author, and was it worth it?

A good cover costs roughly $300 and up, though you can get decent covers for $200-300. I'm going to pay upwards of $1200 for the cover of my next science fiction novel. Custom covers are worth it if they attract readers and make them read the blurb. If a cover doesn't do that much, then it's a failure, regardless of its cost.

ON THE FUTURE

How far away is full-time writing for you, and would you choose to write full time?

I can't really speculate on how far away it is. My day job provides health insurance! One day, I do hope to write full time, though I'm not planning to make the leap anytime soon.

What's next for KC May?

My readers tell me they'd like another Kinshield novel. I left the door cracked open in The Wayfarer King, so I'll tell the story of what happens to Cirang. There's more to the mystery of why King Arek did what he did, too. After that, I've got a science fiction novel in mind in which I'll explore our ability to communicate with dolphins.

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The 'free digital attack' for new fantasy authors

When you're just starting out as a new fantasy author, publishing can seem like approaching a dark pit guarded by monsters. The harder you try the bigger the monsters become. As an author and small publisher I get approached regularly for help. Here's a real email that might represent your state of mind:

Good Day,

My name is Jessie and I have completed and edited my first fantasy manuscript. Well, the manuscript was edited by someone else. I also had someone proof read it and they found two spelling errors in the entire ms.

What I would like to know is do you assist story tellers in publishing their manuscripts? Do you offer helpful advice and contacts? Clearly being a first time writer I would need assistance in this here new waters. I have read what you have to say on your web page and quite honestly it scares me into a coma. It has taken me a long time to search the murky depths of my eccentric little soul to find what it is I want to do for the rest of my days and I can honestly say that story telling is it.

I believe my manuscript is good enough to be read by others and I cannot wait to get book 2, in the planned trilogy, finished. What would your advice be and who would you recommend I send my manuscript to? As you do admit that publishing fantasy novels is kind of difficult!

Kind Regards

Jessie K

Hello Jessie

I know exactly how you feel, but sorry, there's no easy road in.

I don't provide mentoring or publishing support because I can't afford to. What's on my author website on How to find a fantasy publisher is the best overview I can offer. With the state of play right now, I'd say you need to get your hands dirty and consider the 'free digital attack' method for new authors.

 

THE FREE DIGITAL ATTACK

 

After writing your book, write a 25,000 word standalone PREQUEL that will get people hooked on the world/idea/main character. Think of it as a written book trailer. Edit it, check it, polish it. Pay a book designer to make a cover image. 
Put it on Amazon Kindle for $0.99 and on Smashwords for FREE (yes, $0.00). That should pull the Amazon price down below its minimum to $0.00 (it price matches). 
Put the main manuscript (with a second cover image) on Kindle and Smashwords for $0.99. 
Google for review blogs and get some reviews. Join Goodreads as an author. Actively promote your work (there are many blogs with advice for self-publishing/promotion). That's your market research. If the freebie+book don't get lots of downloads, the concept you're labouring over is unpopular. So stop right there and work on ANOTHER fantasy book, a different world, or your writing itself. I'm trying to save you from a long time of working on the wrong series, or wasting time chasing the 1 in a million publishing contract. You first need to really know what kind of fantasy thousands of people are interested in reading now. 
Rinse and repeat. Having many titles helps your digital sales. If any title hits the bestseller lists (Top 20 in Fantasy, say) then price it at $2.99-$5.99 (at 70% royalty) and finally you can begin making a little money, and more importantly, you raise the expectations of quality. But first it must be discovered by enough people to be well-ranked and reviewed. Hence the free digital attack.

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If you can't face doing all that yourself, you'll need to find a small publisher who will. Go very slowly and carefully through the web, considering only publishers who encourage submissions and list authors who vouch for their publisher, because in this space be dragons. I don't know who to recommend as I don't use any of them. But they do exist.

If you get 20,000 Kindle sales or so for any one title, you can pitch the manuscript to the list of fantasy agents I have on my site. Big publishers are your only real chance at getting a printed fantasy book successfully into the market. Digital sales won't jeopardise your chance of a contract. They are hard proof of demand.

That's a basic game plan with the state of the market today. Of course there are variations, and new methods that develop all the time (it's digital, it moves fast). There are thousands of authors doing this. It will take time to build awareness of your writing, but great writing will rise to the top. The good news for us is that digital reading is exploding, so there are more readers looking for ebooks.

As authors we're all in this together.

Good luck,

Greg Hamerton

Kindle fantasy novel on promotion

I want to get onto the Kindle bestseller list for fantasy before Christmas, so the digital version of The Riddler's Gift has just gone on promotion at $0.99.

If you're wondering what to get for that shiny new Kindle … hop over to Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Many ebooks in that price range are shorter – being an 'epic fantasy' of 252,000 words (650 pages in print) it's a lot of pixel for your pound (digital for your dollar and byte for your baht).

So tell your friends and take advantage of the special while The Riddler's Gift is on promotion. I'm excited about the surge of interest in ebooks because it allows stories to spread around the world so quickly, with minimal effort. Which gives me more time to write!