Kevin L. O'Brien's Blog: Songs of the Seanchaí, page 49

My Wattpad Experience

When I decided to begin self-publishing, I discovered a website called Wattpad that allowed people to post their writing for other people to read. An author and self-publisher I know uses it to display his own work, and I thought it would be a good way for me to build a readership in preparation for when I started publishing.

I may have been wrong; I'm not sure.

In the beginning, each story that I posted received a fair number of reads (Wattpad records when someone reads a posted work, but not who); anywhere from 12 to 22, depending upon the subject matter. But then they dropped off, first below 10 and now below 5. More recently I consider myself lucky if a story gets more than the "1" read it acquires after I post it.

(I don't know what that means. It's either a program glitch, or the site moderators review every posted work to make sure it complies with the Terms of Service. I have noted, however, that sometimes the program acts as if it counts my viewing of my own works as a "read". It shouldn't, but apparently it does.)

There are, however, two exceptions. Almost from that start I began posting stories from one of my planned collections: Strange & Unnatural Tales . I did so because I include excerpts from two of its stories with each of my published ebooks, and I wanted to have them available for people to read if they wanted to.

I post a new story from the collection every third day; I'm now a little more than half-way through. They seem to be popular, because each time I post the next story the collection jumps anywhere from 10 to 20 new reads; right now it stands at 415 reads. Based on that, I decided to post selections from a novel I'm working on, The Dream Trials . That also seems to be popular; it currently stands at 150 reads.

On top of this, I only have 3 followers. Granted, it hasn't even been 2 months since I started my account, but I would think that out of all the people who continue to read my stories at least a couple would have chosen to follow me so they could stay informed of my latest postings.

Meanwhile, I discovered another site that promised to be better than Wattpads, called Goodreads. Though primarily a database of published books, it also allows authors to promote their works. They can not only create an info and display page, but also create a blog, sell books, advertise, offer sample excerpts, and post free works as on Wattpad.

Except for the fact that Goodreads doesn't tell me whenever someone reads one of my posted free stories, I am beginning to question whether I even need a Wattpad account at all. Especially since two of my Wattpad followers are now Goodreads friends, and I seem to be making better progress on Goodreads.

Even so, Wattpad does seem to be a very successful and popular platform.

For the time being, I will continue to keep my account open. I have started excerpts from another unfinished story, The Hardboiled Eile . If that proves to be as popular as SUT and Dream Trials, I may dedicate Wattpad to posting works-in-progress, excerpts, and background material rather than finished stories. If, however, by the end of the year I have not gained anymore followers, I will probably just close the account altogether.

Next eBook: Dark Vengeance

The next story in my schedule to be published through Smashwords will be:

Dark Vengeance

Medb hErenn has found respite with a tribe in the Pacific Northwest of North America, which has adopted her as one of its own. Yet a malign force seeks revenge for an old wrong, and has sent against her a power greater than her own. Now she must figure out how to deal with it, without her adopted people becoming unwitting casualties.

This will be the first ebook that I will sell, with a price of $0.99. It will be interesting to see how it performs compared to the free ebooks, but hopefully some of my readers will take a chance on it.

Dieselpunk Novel Background

I am currently working on an idea for a Team Girl Alternative Reality story set in a dieselpunk version of the Interwar world.

As part of my development, I wrote a background scenario that explains how the reality of the story came about, as well as describing the world situation of that reality.

Read it here.

The Hardboiled Eile (work-in-progress)

I have started posting another work-in-progress novel on Wattpad.

The Adventure of the Hardboiled Eile

So How's It Going?

Smashwords makes it very clear that most writers sell very few copies of their ebooks, so I had no illusions when I started of being a success. In fact, I would count myself lucky if I got more than one download for each book. I expected it would take time to build up "sales", especially by word of mouth, since I suck at marketing.

Seriously. If I was good at marketing, I would be doing that for a living instead of trying to become a self-supporting writer.

That was three weeks ago. I have since published 4 free ebooks. How is my "career" working out?

It is still too early to see how well No Torrent Like Greed will ultimately perform, but after a day there have been 33 downloads.

It's the other three that are more significant. Their collective performance has been encouraging, for three reasons.

First, on the day they were each published, they peaked at a higher number of downloads than I expected:

13 for Barbarians R Us

42 for Masie's Mind , and

37 for Feline Savior .

Second, downloads have been holding more or less steady since each was published. Current totals are:

Barbarians R Us -- 48
Masie's Mind -- 115
Feline Savior -- 88

Third, with each new published ebooks, downloads of previous ebooks spike for a short time.

This last is particularly interesting, because it tells me my decisions to publish individual stories and to publish on a weekly schedule is working, the former serendipitously, the latter as planned. It also tells me that had I gone ahead and published my 4 planned story collections as I intended, I might have garnered some good "sales", but eventually they would have dropped off to 0 unless I could crank out new stories on a regular basis, and I would have lost my momentum.

On my present schedule, I can maintain and build my momentum, and hopefully a year from now I will be doing fairly well.

Yes, the numbers are paltry compared to traditional sales, but they are way better than I expected them to be, and I am making better progress than I expected.

I am well pleased, for the time being.

Overview -- Part 3

Continued from Part 2

So.

I have my stories, and I have a way to publish them. What do I do next?

To begin with, based on advice given me, I have decided to use Smashwords as my primary distributor. It will give me access to all major retailers except Amazon. For that, I will have to republish my ebooks separately through Kindle Direct.

I have also decided to offer some of my books for free, for two reasons.

One -- Marketing research compiled by Smashwords and others has shown that offering free stories, or free copies for a limited period of time, or the first book of a series for free, or the first few chapters of a book for free, can generate more long-term sales than not offering free stuff. And frankly, free books outperform sale books.

Two -- While I believe all my stories are good enough for publication, frankly I'm not sure all are good enough to sell. If that sounds irrational, think of it like this:

While good writing and marketing helps, what really sells books is reader loyalty. Reader loyalty is built up by offering good stories they like. If a reader pays for a story that he ends up not liking very well, he will be less likely to buy another story by the same author. But if he reads a free story that is so-so but enjoyable, he is more likely to take the risk of purchasing another story. It's not that, in the former case, he felt cheated, but rather that he doesn't want to waste his money on another read that won't interest him. Whereas in the second case, his interest is sufficiently piqued that he is willing to take a chance with his money.

The point is, I would rather give a so-so story away, in the hopes that a reader may come to like my characters or my style, even if the story didn't grab him, than have his regret at the loss of his money stigmatize his desire to read more. It's a matter of reader loyalty.

However, out of my 50 finished stories, there are only 13 that I plan to give away, and I have published 4 of those already. The rest will be scattered amongst the sale books, as a kind of occasional treat.

Meanwhile, I will use Smashwords to distribute the free books to Kobo, but I will publish the sale books through Kobo Writing Life separately to take advantage of special promotions that Kobo offers.

Next I need a schedule. Based on research by Smashwords, having additional books to purchase or download helps to increase overall sales, and not just arithmetically (one book, one sale). Readers who are able to buy other titles are more likely to become fans, and thereby buy new titles as they become available. It can actually become something of a geometric progression, especially if he tells others how good your books are.

Based on that, I originally intended to divide my 50 stories up into 4 story collections and publish them all at once. That would then give me time to complete more stories and two or three novels. That would also take advantage of another piece of research that shows that, all else being equal, the longer the book, the better it sells, because people want to get a bigger bang for their buck.

However, I needed to complete an additional story for one collection, and as often happens when I'm pressured, I hit writer's block. (Writer's block is not normally a problem for me, because if I get stymied on one story, I just switch to another.) I could have published the other three right away, but I had decided to increase the lengths of two of them with more stories, none of which were finished. That left only one, and I didn't want to publish just one.

I solved my dilemma by deciding to publish the stories I had first, then I could publish the collections later. That meant sacrificing length for multiple titles, but I decided to risk it.

It was tempting to publish a bunch right away, or publish a new story every day or every other day, but 50 stories wouldn't last very long at that rate. However, I didn't want to publish only once a month, or even twice, or once every two months or every quarter. That seemed too long, and I feared I might lose my momentum after each publication.

So I decided on a once a week schedule. That will allow me to publish continuously for virtually an entire year, giving me time to complete more stories. At the same time, hopefully people wouldn't forget about me before the next book was published.

Besides, my artist friend can only do one cover a week. Any faster would be inhuman.

Finally, I had to decide what to charge for my sales books.

More research --

Yes, it exists.

-- shows that most Smashwords writers charge $4.99 or less. Mostly because the highest unit sales volumes are achieved at $0.99, $2.99, and $3.99. Above 5, sales volumes drop off dramatically. However, $2.99, $3.99, and $4.99 produce the greatest earnings.

But what about $1.99?

For some inexplicable reason, that appears to be a black hole. It produces the lowest sales volume below $6 and it yields the lowest earnings, even compared to books sold at $10 or higher.

Technically, I won't know what would be the best price until I try it and see how sales track. However, my current thinking is to price the individual stories at $0.99 and the collections and novels at $2.99.

I can always change it later, if the numbers warrant it.

Overview -- Part 2

Continued from Part 1

So.

Just how the frigging hell do I go about getting self-published?

Fortunately, half the battle is already won. I have over 50 completed stories that I believe are good enough to publish; a couple of dozen stories close enough to completion to finish in short order; and several dozen stories in various stages of completion. On top of that, I have something like six novels I've been working on as well, two of which are near completion.

So I have plenty of stories I can publish, and that's crucial: obviously, without stories, you can't publish.

But how do I publish them?

There is an online service called Smashwords that can convert DOC files into several formats:

EPUB -- for Apple iPads and iBooks, Sony Readers, Kobo Readers, Nook, and others

MOBI -- for Kindle, Windows PCs, and many handheld devices

PDF -- for handheld e-readers, PDAs, and computers

LRF -- for older Sony Readers

PDB -- for Palm Pilot devices, PalmOS, Symbian OS, Windows Mobile Pocket PC/Smartphone, desktop Windows, and Macintosh

HTML -- for web browsers

RTF -- for word processors

and Plain Text

Once created, the files in these formats are made available for immediate sale or download on Smashwords.

The formats that look and work the best are EPUB, MOBI, and PDF. LRF is next, but it does not permit the use of links to external URLs. PDB is not as good, and it does not support any form of linking whatsoever. HTML and RTF look and work as well as EPUB and MOBI, but require special programs to be read. The plain text file has no formatting. The more sophisticated formats can handle images as well. You can select which formats Smashwords will produce when you publish.

The service is free; in fact, I cannot find any hidden fees. Even the basic manuals, including detailed how-to books on marketing, are free.

These format files are only available on the Smashwords site. However, they have an additional service called the Premium Catalog which is also free. eBooks listed in the catalog are distributed to online retail outlets such as:

Apple iBookstores, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, WH Smith, Livraria Cultura in Brazil, the Diesel eBook Store, eBooks Eros, Baker & Taylor (Blio and the Axis360 library service), Page Foundry (operates retail sites Inktera.com and Versent.com; operates Android ebook store apps for Cricket Wireless and Asus), Stanza, Aldiko, Word-Player, FBReader, and Inkmesh

Smashwords has a number of rather strict requirements to get into the catalog. Among them are:

** the manuscripts must conform to the Smashwords formatting style guide and terms of service;

** they must have copyright pages;

** the books must have professional titles and descriptions;

** they must be complete works, not samples or works-in-progress;

** they must have covers, which have their own requirements (a professional cover is only reasonable, in that a good cover is an effective marketing tool in and of itself);

** they must have ISBNs (especially if you want your book offered by Apple, Sony, and Kobo)

Additionally, as a courtesy, the books cannot contain links to specific retailers (though linking to the Smashwords author page is permitted). The reason is natural: since the book is distributed to many different retailers, they don't want to see links to their competitors. Also, you should at least select EPUB publication, because that has become the industry standard (except for Amazon), and the majority of modern readers use EPUB.

Smashwords can provide a free ISBN for your book. That will make Smashwords your publisher, but you still retain all rights to your work.

None of these requirements are particularly onerous, and Smashwords provides a detailed style guide and manual free of charge that will walk you through the process of preparing your manuscript step by step. As long as you follow the guide carefully, you should have no problem. I have the added advantage that I am trained as a graphic designer, so I can create my own covers (with the help of an artist friend, Lon Ryden, who provides the artwork while I do the layout and typography), but Smashwords can provide a list of low-cost freelance cover designers free of charge.

I should point out that Smashwords is not a vanity press, or even a POD service like Lulu. In addition to charging no fees for any part of its service, Smashwords pays 85% of net sales through the Smashwords store and 60% of the list price through retailers.

I should also point out that ebooks can be published through Kobo Writing Life and Kindle Direct.

Continued in Part 3

Overview -- Part 1

I've been somewhat lax about keeping up with my blog entries, except for a few minor posts. My only excuse is that I've been busy preparing manuscripts for publication, but I am largely caught up with that, so I should be able to post more regularly.

In this post I would like to say a bit more about myself, but also to explain my plans for my writing.

First off, I'm a writer. That may sound patronizing, but I've been writing for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories is writing stories in first grade. I used to write my own non-fiction reference "books" (individual pages in a report cover); I even did my own artwork. However, I started writing seriously, for publication, around about age 20.

Now, 35 years later, I've decided to try self-publishing, in part based on the advice of a number of authors and editors I know.

My reasons are too numerous for one post, but primarily, I'm getting a bit fed up with the traditional approach.

I've been writing and submitting for 35 years. You would think that, in all that time, I would have been professionally published at least once, but I haven't. I truly do not understand why. Yes, some unkind colleagues on the HWA discussion board had once suggested "that should tell you something". Another said, "Enough said." Their implication was that I was a hack, and I should stop submitting and wasting the valuable time of the editors that I subject to my dreck.

Pardon me if I take that assessment with a very large grain of salt.

These were the same people who claimed there was only one way to write successfully; that adverbs and said-bookisms were the hallmarks of fanboy wannabe amateurs; that someone who sells 3000 words at 5 cents a word is a professional, but someone who sells 300,000 words at 4 cents a word is not; that editors "talk to one another", and if you caused trouble they would tell each other about it (implying that your career would be ruined)....

And so on. It reminds me of the kind of bullying and intimidation women writers report receiving from their male colleagues. I may by an Old White Male, but that grants me no immunity from professional and personal attacks from other writers with prejudicial axes to grind. So, at the risk of sounding condescending, I know how they feel.

The best I can come up with is that I started too late. By that I mean, I read and hear about writers who sold their first stories when they were 17, or who found an editor willing to take a chance on a story rejected by others, even though it wasn't as polished as it should be, but they all seem to take place "before my time". Then there are the tales of editors recommending to the writer specific editors of other markets he could submit to, but they also seemed to have stopped doing that just before I started submitting.

Not to mention that editors pretty much stopped giving advice in their rejection letters at about that time as well.

Whatever the reason, the traditional approach has not worked for me. So, I can either give up and just write for myself, and post my stories on a personal website, or I can try self-publishing.

(In fact, I HAD given up. Something else that HWA members had told me was that no true professional writer would ever consider self-publishing, unless he was a "Big Name", in which case he could break any rule he wants. Only amateur fanboy wannabe hacks with no talent would self-publish. At that time they may have been right, and I bought into that fiction, but just this year I learned that it was no longer true.)

That doesn't mean I won't still try to get published in print. For the past six years I have submitted two stories a year to Sword & Sorceress, and I will probably continue that, hoping one day one will finally be accepted. And just recently I submitted a horror story to an anthology edited to Ellen Datlow, even though I have a better chance of being zapped by an errant comet from out of the Oort Cloud than getting in.

Don't get me wrong: I really believe my stories were/are good enough to be published in S&S or Ms. Datlow's anthology; I wouldn't have submitted them if I didn't. But confidence is ultimately useless; it's the editor's opinion that counts in the end.

As such, for the time being, I will be concentrating on self-publishing ebooks, and see where that leads me.

Continued in Part 2

Official Author Website

I have finally created an official author's website.

Songs of the Seanchai

It's rather plain at present; just a quick and dirty design to get it up so people don't see a "Site Cannot Be Found" error message. For now, it features images of covers of published and soon to be published ebooks, a link to Smashwords so people can download the published ebooks, and links to my social network sites: Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, and DeviantArt.

However, future updates will include descriptions of the books, larger images of the cover artwork, links to retail sites offering my books, access to my Goodreads blog, excerpts of works in progress, and more.

As well as a general improvement in the design of the site.

For now, if you want a single "clearinghouse" for books and information, feel free to bookmark this site. It will only get better.

Thank you.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. I have no dearth of topics to discuss, so I may post fairly frequently. Though most of what I plan to write about concerns my stories, particularly the background information I have collected to give them greater verisimilitude, I will post on other subjects, some of them controversial. I have strong feelings on religion, politics, science, and writing, and I am not afraid to voice them. I welcome comments, criticism, and dissent, but I will not tolerate abuse.

And no, that is not "code" for disagreement. I have no problem with statements like, "Your vocabulary is infantile, your characters flat, and your writing barbaric." That at least gives us a starting point for discussion. However, I will delete comments like, "You are a pinko commie liberal/fascist ultraright wingnut/thuggish elitist statist/fanboy wannabe hack!"

You get the idea. I prefer not to get personal; I would rather argue rationally and logically.

Thank you for your consideration.