Keith Robinson's Blog, page 2

How I'm going to publish 15 books in seven months

Happy New Year! It's been a while since I posted. I've been very busy with work and haven't even had a chance to start writing my next book. But I have continued to binge-watch Doctor Who!

This weekend, I'll be at Chattacon. This is a nerdy sci-fi and fantasy convention for nerdy nerds like me (ie, the cool people). I left it too late to get a proper table, but the Chattanooga Writers' Guild are kindly allowing me to share their table. I'll just take a few books tonight (Friday), but I'll probably monopolize the whole table with my 22 books on Saturday. If you're local to Chattanooga, TN, then maybe I'll see you there!

So, the Doctor Who stuff first...

I'm now about to start Peter Capaldi's third season. Binge-watching like this makes it easier to see the highs and lows of the show. Most recently, I enjoyed Into the Dalek, Time Heist, Listen, and Mummy on the Orient Express. Capaldi's first episode, Deep Breath, had a very cool Jules Verne-style android with half a face missing so we could see his whirring gears and cogs.

Kill the Moon was a very silly idea (the moon is in fact a giant egg about to hatch) but they very nearly had me convinced, and the scene of the moon hatching and breaking apart in the daytime sky was quite well done. But then they ruined it. "Oh, look, there's a new moon!" Yes, apparently, the creature laid another egg before floating off into deep space. It was the same size moon as the previous one, which begs so many questions. For instance, "How can a creature that just hatched from a moon-sized egg immediately lay another egg the same size?"... and, "What kind of creature lays an egg straight after it's born?" and so on. That kind of throwaway resolution is incredibly sloppy writing.

I really liked the opening episode of the second season, The Magician's Apprentice, where Davros gets to regenerate courtesy of the Doctor. Opening his eyes for the first time in the show's history was brilliant. I've always enjoyed watching Davros and the Doctor talking. It reminds me a little of Luke Skywalker and his scenes with the Emperor.

But most of the second season has been kind of boring and silly. The zygon double-episode story was dull apart from the Doctor's long speech scene, and the episode with the sandmen was just awful. Heaven Sent was great, and the follow-up Hell Bent was a weird mix, with an enjoyable glimpse of an old-style TARDIS, but mostly a big old mess. In this one the Doctor admitted he'd "gone too far," and ironically that's pretty much what the writers did with this whole hybrid and Gallifrey and Clara Oswald thing. (I like Clara; I just felt she stayed a few episodes too long.)

Shockingly, I only have one more season to watch (plus Christmas specials) before I come full circle to the Jodie Whittaker Doctor, who isn't yet free on Amazon Prime. I've see her episodes already, but I'd like to see them again for the sake of completedness. I do have the special anniversary biopic movie to watch, though; I really enjoyed An Adventure in Space and Time the first time I saw it.

Now, speaking of adventures in space and time... (see what I did there?)

Serializing my sci-fi Sleep Writer books

The title of this post claims I'll publish 15 books in seven months. How can this be possible when my "norm" is three books a year? Well, it's possible because, for some time now, I've been hankering to write "short reads." On Amazon, a short read is a book that's less than 100 pages, so about half or a third of the length of a normal book. This is exactly what I want for my Sleep Writer stories. With those books, I can make a story last a full novel, but I find it's better to tell a shorter story and then move on to another. Warp Giants, the fourth book, contains three linked novellas, and I think it works well.

With that in mind, I have six novellas lined up (80 pages each, like in Warp Giants). I plan to publish them one by one every few weeks. They'll be separate from the main books, a series called "Sleep Writer Journal" – available on Kindle Unlimited and published regularly. When I have three of them done, I'll put them together into a book, and that would be Book 5 of the main Sleep Writer series. And so on.

This got me thinking. Why not start off by splitting up my current books as well? I could split the first book in half and publish those two "novellas" as Parts 1 and 2 of the Sleep Writer Journal, and so on. It would look something like this:

From Book 1, Sleep Writer
1. Into the Wormhole
2. The Cosmic Ark

From Book 2, Robot Blood
3. Nanobot Warriors
4. Deadly Backlash

From Book 3, Caleb's World
5. Lurkers in the Tunnels
6. The Place of Make-Believe

From Book 4, Warp Giants
7. The Flying Saucer
8. Day of the Mind Swap
9. Extinction Event

Some of these are working titles, but you get the idea. Luckily, all the books split quite nicely at suitable places, and I can always adjust the text slightly so it reads better at the start or end. Since these are already written, I can put these out in quick succession starting February 1st. The second part will be out on February 15th. And so on.

While these are publishing every couple of weeks, I'll be busy writing new stuff. I already have Parts 10-15 planned out, and while each is a standalone story, they will end with a little nudge toward the next. I'll eventually catch up to myself, at which point I might put out a new one every three or four weeks.

I'm super excited about this. I've been wanting to write in a more "serialized" manner for a long time. Writing full-length books is great and all, and I'll continue to do so for Island of Fog, but Sleep Writer will be serialized first and then turned into books as I go along. So in that sense there's no difference in the output -- it's just that individual parts of Sleep Writer will be available earlier.

But what's each novella worth? Maybe not as much as you think...

This is like writing a "season" of Doctor Who. Each story is standalone but perhaps with an arcing thread that links two or three novellas together. Serialized fiction has been around a long time (Charles Dickens, for instance), and there seems to have been a shift toward it lately, though for different reasons. I've read accounts of how authors are frustrated with the readers' expectation of low-priced books, and I understand that fully; after all, it seems people are happy to spend $3.00 on a coffee (or even as a fee in an ATM machine) but often balk at paying that for a book, short or otherwise. Amazon sees a 100-page short read as something to be read in two hours. Isn't that worth $2.99?

I've seen cases where authors are charging $4.99 for an even shorter piece, and readers are enjoying the "one-a-month" availability. Some complain, of course. Personally, I would never try to charge more than $2.99 for a novella when one of my full novels cost $3.99 or $4.99.

At this price point, the author takes 70%. But if the book is priced below $2.99, then the author only takes 35%. So, for a $0.99 book, the author's royalty is basically 35 cents. For this reason, pricing a book at $0.99 is NOT a light choice. Consider:

List price is $2.98 = royalty is $1.05
List price is $2.99 = royalty is $2.09

What a huge difference that penny makes!

I'm not sure yet what my novellas will be priced at. Certainly no more than $2.99. Maybe $1.99 so that two parts will be the same price as one book? I'd only get $1.39 in total rather than $2.09, but I'd gain Kindle Unlimited readers, which will more than make up for it.

What are YOUR thoughts about book pricing? Do you have self-imposed limits for unknown authors? Do you care how much a book is if it's an author you know and enjoy and have full expectations of a good read? Still, what would be your limit? I understand the "sweet spot" for higher-priced books is $4.99. I've also heard that $0.99 books can seem "too cheap" and probably not worth the bother (in other words, you get what you pay for).

Any thoughts about my serialized fiction idea and price points would be much appreciated. Thank you!

Post a review for Island of Fog Box Set 1-3 and help make the next Box Set free!

Would you like Island of Fog Books 4-10 for free over the next couple of months?

This isn't a competition. I just need a favor in return -- a small favor from each of you that will make a massive difference to me (and therefore to you).

I'm talking about reviews.

The individual books already have plenty of reviews between them, each with an overall 4.5+ star rating. I'm very happy with that. But although the Island of Fog Box Sets contain the same books, Amazon sees them as different products, so I have to start from scratch with reviews. The first box set has just 5 reviews in the US right now. The first 4 were very nice, giving me an overall rating of 5 stars. You can't get better than that!

Then someone posted this:

Clearly, this is someone who likes the books enough to buy a paperback edition for her daughter as a Christmas present. But she accidentally bought the Kindle box set instead of a paperback -- a mistake on her part, and nothing to do with the stories or the product she received. Maybe she got her refund and bought the paperback in the end, but her review is still there.

This review caused the overall rating for that Box Set to drop from 5 stars to 3.8 stars:

When there's only 5 reviews in total, the impact of one negative review is huge.

Now, I don't have a problem with negative reviews per se. It just bothers me a little bit when people leave poor ratings for the wrong reasons. I realize reviews can be for a variety of things, so if a book is damaged in transit or formatted poorly or something like that, then a negative review is warranted. But to penalize the author because of a purchasing error just seems wrong. What do you think?

Maybe there's some confusion as to whether this is the print or Kindle edition...

The image for this Kindle book shows three 3D book covers that look like paperbacks. But frankly, ALL box sets on Amazon contain 3D images of the books even when they don't exist in reality. I questioned a large group of writers about this a while back, saying, "Isn't it misleading showing what look like print editions in a box set when they're really just ebooks?" However, literally everyone agreed that "studies suggest readers prefer to see 3D book covers in box sets" and that those kinds of images tend to sell more.

Maybe you'll tell me otherwise?

As a customer I'm usually very careful when I make my purchases, and I don't think I would ever mistake a Kindle book for a printed edition -- and besides, the box set shows THREE books, not one.

Anyway, since this negative review was posted, I've noticed a definite drop in sales, proving that reviews matter.

So, I'd like to ask all of you who have read and enjoyed Island of Fog to pop along to Amazon and post a review and rating on the Box Set. Your review is valid as long as you've read at least one of the books in that set. "Verified purchase" or not, readers will understand.

Click one of these links to go straight to the review page:

Amazon USAmazon UKAmazon CAAmazon AUAmazon IN

(Note: You can only leave reviews if you're logged into Amazon and meet their minimum order history. Naturally they want to make sure reviewers are verifiable Amazon customers.)

Remember, your review doesn't have to be more than a sentence or two. Quick and simple is fine.

So where do free Island of Fog books come into this?

Great question! Okay, so maybe you've downloaded and read Book 1 but not read Books 2 and 3. Or maybe you've read all three. Either way, you're qualified to review the first box set. This is where you can get the second box set for free.

Amazon doesn't allow authors to directly reward people for leaving reviews, and buying reviews is definitely against policy. But there's nothing to stop me from suggesting that if I can get 20 reviews of Island of Fog Box Set 1-3 in the next week, I'll be very tempted indeed to make the second box set free in time for Christmas.

So:

The goal: 20 reviews for Box Set 1-3 by December 15Result: Box Set 4-5 will be free shortly afterward

After that, the same deal -- pour the reviews on for Box Set 4-5, and the third box set might just become available for free... and so on..

If you want to help, please go along to Amazon now. And email me afterward to let me know so I can identify which reviewer is you and thank you personally.

I appreciate you all!

Doctor Who, anyone?

I've been binge-watching Doctor Who lately. Whether you're a fan or not, you can't deny its imagination! I've been a fan since I was kid, but the earliest episode I remember was the start of Tom Baker's run in December 1974. I was five years old at the time. I have vivid memories of many of those Tom Baker serials, including this terrifying giant robot:

Hmm. Well, maybe not so terrifying anymore. Very slightly comical, in fact. Now, I could go on about those old days -- the first meeting with Davros, the terrifying Hand of Fear, the even more terrifying Krynoid plant monsters that hatch from pods (pre-dating the Alien movies) -- but I'll just say quickly that "classic" Doctor Who ran from 1963 until its sad demise in 1989. It returned in 1996 as a TV movie, then died again.

Then, in 2005, it burst back onto the screens with Christopher Eccleston and a far healthier BBC Budget. I've seen every episode of Doctor Who ever, but this was the first time I'd seen it living up to its potential on modern screens. Let's face it -- after Star Wars in 1977, the BBC budget just didn't work anymore.

After thirteen male actors in the role, now the Doctor is a WOMAN! And she's great!

Even though I've watched every episode there ever was, I wanted to go back and binge-watch all these "modern" stories since 2005 so I could remind myself of the good, the bad and the ugly.

I could probably pick three excellent episodes from each season so far, and three utterly awful ones, with the rest simply being fun. I never much cared for the Eccleston Doctor, and even less so now. He's just goofy-looking with those over-the-top smiles. And he doesn't really do anything. He spends a lot of time explaining what's happening and then stands back while others deal with it.

His companion Rose, on the other hand, is awesome, stealing the show pretty much all the way through. David Tennant is awesome too, and in the second season the Doctor finally gets to share the limelight with her. And then Rose leaves at the end of the second season, leaving us with Martha Jones in the third season, who's just... meh.

But let's not forget Donna Noble, played by the fabulous Catherine Tate. She shows up in the Christmas Special at the start of the second season. It was hard to watch her at first because, well, she's the comic genius of The Catherine Tate Show... but she really makes an impact in that Christmas episode. No wonder she returns later in the series!

But I'm not there yet. I'm currently halfway through the third season and have just watched a Dalek become the first Human-Dalek. Yes, well, okay. Look, I'm a huge fan of the show, but that doesn't mean I can't see how silly it can be. The word "naff" springs to mind quite frequently. But the show as a whole is way too much fun not to watch, and there are some really GREAT episodes along with the "okay" and "meh" ones.

A quick rundown so far:

Season One Favorites in Order

The Empty Child -- Atmospheric war-time story with creepy hospital patients "wearing" gas masks. Lots to enjoy in this first part of a story. And Captain Jack makes his first appearance! (The Doctor doesn't do much.) Dalek -- The first Dalek story since the old days, and the BBC finally had the budget to show us everything a Dalek could be. All the classic questions were answered, like "What's the plunger for?" and "What are all the spots for?" and "What if you approach a Dalek from behind?" and "How does a Dalek get up the stairs?" It was brilliant. In fact, pretty much all the solitary Dalek stories to date have been great, whereas stories with millions of the buggers are usually just meh. The Unquiet Dead -- A great Charles Dickens story with an awesome ghostly presence. The old woman stalking toward the camera with her face lit up in a ghostly blue is still a scene to remember.

An honorable mention to Bad Wolf, which started out a bit meh in the Big Brother house but soon became a really breathless episode where Rose apparently dies twice!

But on the downside for Season One, there's the Slitheen. And the less said about them, the better. OMG. (Covers face not in fright but in shame.)

Let's move on.

Season Two Favorites in Order

The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit -- Yes, I know it's two episodes, but it's two parts of one story, and it's fantastic. Solid, serious sci-fi, and the Satan beast is better than most I've ever seen on TV. It's like, "Wait, is this really Doctor Who I'm watching?" The Ood were a bit naff, but I forgive them. The Girl in the Fireplace -- Some clever ideas here. I like that the Doctor, who arrives on a spaceship in the 51st century, steps through a strange fireplace and meets a little girl in her bedroom in the 18th century, then returns a few moments later to find that same girl is all grown up into Madame de Pompadour. This episode was apparently inspired by Audrey Niffenegger's excellent novel The Time-Traveler's Wife. It also reminds me of Amy Pond's first episode later in the show. Tooth & Claw -- A surprisingly decent werewolf story, and set in Queen Victoria days at a creepy mansion. Rose continually asks the queen if she's amused -- or more to the point, not amused.

I find it amazing that this season has a two-part Cyberman story and a two-part Cyberman/Dalek story! For me, that's too much. Anytime they do massive armies of Cybermen and Daleks with the destruction of the planet at stake... it's just always a bit boring to me. I like the much smaller personal stories. The Doctor doesn't always have to save the entire universe from destruction.

As I said, I'm currently halfway through Season Three and will continue this somewhat shallow analysis later -- if you're interested.

I'll finish for now by saying that Doctor Who has always inspired me. Forget how naff things can be sometimes. This is a Timelord who travels around in a blue box! When I started my Sleep Writer series, I always wanted something that could take our heroes anywhere, possibly across time and other dimensions as well. Liam, Ant, and Madison can literally step from Earth onto the surface of another planet millions of light years away. Or they can remain on Earth and deal with alien incursions or other weird stuff. It's just flexible and fun!

I have Sleep Writer Book 5 mapped out. More on that in another post...

Death Storm (Island of Fog Legacies #5) is published!

Today sees the release of Death Storm, the fifth Island of Fog Legacies book. This fantasy series is growing pretty fast, and I have Book 6 lined up for 2019. But right now, let's focus on the latest installment, the sorry tale of a disgruntled faun who decides New Earth would be preferable without humans in it, so conjures up a gigantic storm capable of evolving humans into something better. In this case, better means gnomes, elves, centaurs, goblins, and so on.

On Amazon Now:
US | UK | Canada | Australia
Also on Nook, Kobo, and Apple

If you've read this book already and liked it, would you be kind enough to follow the links to my Amazon page and leave a review? That would be awesome! Thank you.

Let's ask the author (that's me!) a few questions...

Is this is a sequel to Forest of Souls from the Island of Fog series?

Well, yes and no. This new one does follow on nicely as a sequel set twenty years later. In Forest of Souls, the faun carried out some pretty serious experimentation that left the town of Carter shaken. But the faun is not done with her scheming, and now the next generation of shapeshifters has to pick up from where their parents left off. So yes, it can be read like a sequel.

Obviously I have to read Forest of Souls first though, right?

Actually, no. You can read them in either order. Each novel stands alone, and one doesn't "spoil" the other. So you could read Death Storm first, then jump back twenty years to see how it all came about, kind of like reading a prequel.

But what do you mean "yes and no"? Is Death Storm a sequel or not?

Yes, but it also reads just fine on its own. In fact, it works even if you haven't read any of the Fog books from either series. It's a great place to jump in to the shapeshifters' world; this book hints at a few previous adventures and fills in just enough for the reader to be reasonably informed without feeling swamped and confused.

If Forest of Souls and Death Storm contain the same evil villain carrying out the same evil plot, isn't it just a rehash of the same idea?

Wow, that's harsh. But no, not at all. In Forest of Souls, the faun merely experiments (which is pretty terrifying and even heartbreaking for Hal and his shapeshifter friends). In Death Storm, the faun goes all out, and the results are catastrophic. They are two totally different stories with a similar threat.

Yeah... but is it any good?

Sigh. I think I prefer being interviewed by someone who is not me. Well, since you asked, here's an early review:

"I had the pleasure to beta read this book and I've got to say that this is my favourite of the series so far. Once again Keith Robinson has managed to craft another cleverly written story, develop the characters to keep them believable and engage the readers to the point where you've got no other option but to keep turning the pages. There are many reasons why you'll love Death Storm, you'll get to meet new and old characters, learn about new creatures and find yourself immersed in a magical world where you'll experience all kind of emotions, and yes, I can promise you that laughing out loud will be one of them."

And another:

"Keith Robinson's latest, Death Storm, delivers more adventures of the next generation of shapeshifters. I adore the fresh approach in this Legacies series. Travis and Melinda face a grave task and perform heroically. This book ties into a threat introduced in book ten of the Island of Fog series, but stands on its own quite well. Elements I like are the sheer number and variety of magical creatures on display and the creatures Travis and Melinda shift into are fun and clever, with each gaining abilities critical for the narrative. Robinson's talent with creating a convincing and vibrant magical world is a treat. He sprinkles in such lovely Easter eggs throughout his books and weaves in references to other events and incidents from both the Island of Fog series and the Legacies series that rewards his longtime fans and will impress his new followers."

You mentioned something recently about an author who missed his pre-order deadline and was penalized for it. What the heck were you going on about?

Oh yes! Okay, so when you set up a book for pre-order on Amazon, you have to specify a release date (usually at least a month ahead) and upload something that serves as a placeholder for your book. Some authors set up the pre-order so far in advance that they haven't yet got a first draft written, with the expectation they'll finish everything and upload the final version before the release date. In my case, I had most of the first draft written when I first set it up, and that's what I uploaded.

But I started thinking: What would happen if I was in an accident and ended up in a coma for four years like that guy in Stephen King's The Dead Zone? Would those who pre-ordered end up with an unfinished book?

In short, yes they would. With that in mind, I wrote a bit at the front of the partial draft stating it was an unfinished manuscript and adding, "If you're reading this, then something has gone wrong..." Basically, I reassured the reader that, although what they have in their hot little hands is not the final book, the problem will be resolved as soon as possible -- assuming I'm not dead.

When I finished the full first draft, I uploaded it to Amazon right away. When I completed a thorough edit, I uploaded that as well. And I kept uploading as I went along. Each time I uploaded a newer version, I relaxed a little bit more, knowing the readers who had pre-ordered would be getting something worthwhile and not some unfinished mess.

Amazon sets a deadline for uploading the final book, and that deadline is three days before the release date. In my case, I had until midnight on November 11 to upload the absolute finished book in time for the November 15 release. And I made use of that time. On November 9-10, I read the entire book once more and found a few things to fix or improve. And on November 11, I uploaded it one last time. Then I was done.

I read about an author who missed his deadline. He just got busy and never finished the book. Literally half a book was released, and he tried to assure those who had pre-ordered that he'd get to the rest as soon as possible. Naturally, readers complained to Amazon, and Amazon banned the author from using the pre-order feature for a year. That almost seems like a lenient sentence, but it was pretty damning for the author, especially with the negative reviews he recevied. The author delivered eventually.

This was an extreme case where an author fell far short of his goals. It's one thing to miss the deadline and have a few typos slip through, but to only produce half a book? Hmm.

And didn't you say an author actually died before he completed his book?

Yes, although this wasn't a pre-order, so it's not quite the same thing. Dying before finishing a book (or a series) happens more than you might think. Robert Jordan is a famous example. He wrote 11 books in the Wheel of Time series, and had a 12th and final book partially written before he died. His wife chose Brandon Sanderson to complete the novel for the fans, but when Sanderson perused the material, he decided there was far too much to fit into one volume, so he split it into three. Thus, the Wheel of Time series became 14 books in all.

The specific author I was thinking of had a similar situation where he never got to finish the last book. I really wish I could remember the author's name; it's been bugging me, but I've searched and searched to no avail. Anyway, he died before finishing the series, and because he had such a great fanbase of devoted readers, the author's brother stepped in to piece the story together. He took his time and produced something he hoped the fans would be happy with -- and they were. Some said it wasn't quite as good as it should be, but it was definitely a worthy end to the series and a great tribute to the much-loved author.

So are you going to write the final books in each of your series just in case?

Whoa. Uh, well, no... I mean... I could do that, but I think that would be a little like inviting the Grim Reaper in for tea. It's an interesting idea, though. If I were so paranoid as to need a backup plan in case I popped my clogs at any moment, it would be pretty smart to write "the final book" in each series and make sure to wrap things up. But honestly, if I were to shuffle off this mortal coil and meet my maker today, I don't think it would be a problem for my readers because my books are (these days) pretty much self-contained. The overall series arc is not so pronounced that I'd need to write a book just to see it through to the end.

So no, I'm not going to write "final books" for each series. Stop being so morbid.

Okay, so assuming you're not pushing up daises in 2019 -- what's next?

I don't have a title for the next Legacies book, but I'm close to a title for Island of Fog Book 11, and I know exactly what it's about. As I said at the end of Forest of Souls:

Hal and his friends take a ride on the back of a gigantic turtle on a quest to find the fabled edge of the world. They discover the legend is true, that Earth really does end at the horizon, and ships really can sail over the edge. But it's not all death and destruction. Instead, the shapeshifters find something quite breathtaking and are sorely tempted to stay forever...

I'm SO excited about this one. I'm excited about each one I write, but the "edge of the world" concept is something I've always loved. It's just so ridiculous. New Earth is a magical land, but nobody has yet visited any other part of the world. In Mountain of Whispers, Hal looks through nine different "holes" and sees various parts of the world -- but he's peering through into Old Earth, which of course is spherical. New Earth is special. Everyone just assumes there are other contintents across the ocean, but Miss Simone and everyone else is in for a huge surprise.

Well, that's all for now!

About time.

Shut up.

A mild obsession with talking dragons in my fantasy books

Dragons have been a part of my life since before I was married 22 years ago. In fact, I actually made a dragon and used it on our wedding cake instead of the usual bride and groom figures. The same dragon was featured in our wedding invitations. Yes, my wife and I are nerds of the highest order.

That dragon -- a cartoon character I created -- was imaginatively named Snap. I used to draw him everywhere, and then one day I started on a full-fledged comic strip like you might find in the "funnies" section of a newspaper. I was a huge Calvin and Hobbes fan, and Bill Watterson's artwork inspired me. You'll see a vague resemblance in the way I draw huge trees with shadow under them... but I'm nowhere near as good as Bill Watterson.

By the way, two of my favorite quotes come from Calvin and Hobbes. The first is deep and profound:

The surest sign of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe is that it hasn't tried to contact us.

The second is for procrastinators:

I've nearly started!

Most people quote the likes of Karl Marx and Einstein. I quote Calvin and Hobbes. I told you I was a nerd, didn't I?

Anyway, back to Snap the Dragon. So I drew a comic strip, then photocopied, folded, and stapled it. My very first book! You can see that comic book here...

Click to view, then zoom in and read from left to right

I should add that the sentiment of the unfolding story (a dragon pining for his love!) reflected my real-life situation where I lived in England and my future wife lived in America. Long story short: We were pen pals, wrote for five years, finally met, got engaged, and then had to wait until we got our ducks in a row before she could join me in England. We were married shortly after, lived in England for five years, then moved to America in 2001.

Sometime before moving to the USA, I wrote a novel. I'd started novels before, but this was the first I'd actually finished. I was super-proud of my effort. I still have it, unpublished of course; it's called The Secret of Gromble Gorge, and it's a fantasy for middle-graders about a girl named Rebecca Tinklepott who discovers she has a frightening power. Think Stephen King's Carrie. Anyway, she bumps into a dragon and realizes she alone can communicate with it. I called the dragon Snap in this novel -- her witty name for him.

The story isn't bad. If I rewrote it today, I would of course ditch the name Snap, but I would probably ditch the dragon as well and make him something else, perhaps a griffin, just to be different.

There are some nice ideas in the book, including a chasm stretching from east to west, where the sea pours in at each end of the land. I admit the chasm idea came from Piers Anthony's Magic of Xanth series. However, in this book, when you fall into the chasm, you fall for a long time and eventually slow down until you're merely floating in a weightless void. This is the halfway point, where up is down and down is up. Those with wings can fly on through to the other side -- the underside -- because the world is flat, and the chasm goes all the way through. It's a great book for flat-world theorists. I was going to write a Book 2 following Rebecca's adventures on the "underside," but it never happened.

Here's an excerpt. The Word document suggests this was last edited on April 10th, 2005, but I actually wrote it a few years earlier than that...

The Secret of Gromble Gorge
      "Now go!" the witch shouted, pointing urgently towards the chasm's edge. Rebecca repeated the instruction to Snap, but he needed no translation -- he took a few paces towards the chasm and leapt over the edge, seemingly with complete and utter faith in his new wings.
      They plummeted. Rebecca screamed. Snap whooped, his wings beating furiously and Rebecca hanging on grimly as the whoosh of air threatened to flap her out of her perch. The noise of the sea increased, now joined by the rushing of air through her bristles, the beating of Snap's wings, and his yells of excitement. It seemed that they were plummeting for ages, downwards towards churning, rushing water that tumbled into the mist, and beyond the mist the blackness of the chasm. For a moment Rebecca thought that they might fall straight into the churning water, but those fears were replaced by fears that they would miss the water after all and plummet straight into the misty blackness, to be lost forever. But then she felt a shift in direction, and her stomach dropped. She felt herself plastered to her perch, getting heavier and heavier, as Snap began to level out. He seemed to be getting used to the way his wings were supposed to work, and while he was not beating quite so furiously, he was angling them a little differently and beginning to glide.
      Stunned, Rebecca watched as they dropped below sea level. From this angle she could see a mountain of water, churning and frothing and steaming between the two walls of the chasm. Now the mists that always hung around the so-called bottom of the chasm blurred her view, and then she could see nothing but patches of gray. How was Snap going to be able to see where he was going? she wondered in fright. He might smash straight into the opposite side of the chasm! But Snap seemed more in control now, gently beating his wings in a thoughtful, more technical way that his previous frantic effort. He was mastering the art of flight.
      The mist suddenly puffed out of existence. They had dropped below it! Snap was now leveling out and their descent was slowing, but they were still moving at an amazing pace, flying -- or at least gliding -- along the chasm. Rebecca began to breathe more easily. Perhaps this madness wasn't going to be the doom she feared. She looked up, amazed to see the mists above her, with daylight showing through some distance above. The chasm stretched out head of them, two dark walls of meandering rock topped with puffs of mist. Rebecca peered down over Snap's shoulder -- and frowned.
      "Snap!" she called loudly, suddenly realizing that the roar of water was already far behind them and that the only sound now was the rush of air of her face and the steady beating of Snap's wings.

Hey, look, that's not bad for a first novel! One day I'll take another look at this old book and see what, if anything, I can salvage from it. It would be a total rewrite, but I do like the overall structure and most of the ideas.

It was after this book that I started Island of Fog. And there's that dragon again. You could say that Abigail plays the part of Rebecca; in fact, Abigail was originally going to be named Rebecca for that reason. The story is totally different, though. Many years later, I wrote Sinister Roots and used something similar to the chasm idea, where you fall into the earth and eventually slow until you're floating in a void...

I'm amused to find that Rebecca is a shapeshifter. She can turn into a... hedgehog! Yes, indeed. Hey, vampires turn into bats and nobody scoffs, so what's wrong with a girl turning into a hedgehog? I used to sign everything with a hedgehog doodle; it was my thing back in the day.

And speaking of our shapeshifting heroes, I've now finished my edit of Book 5 of the Island of Fog Legacies, Death Storm, which is due for release later in November. It's available right now on pre-order at a lower price than normal.

If anyone wants to beta read it, just email me at keith@unearthlytales.com and I'll shoot you a private copy before the end of October. No obligations or anything -- my hope is that you'll read it, make note of any typos, mention anything that needs mentioning, let me know what you thought, perhaps even review it on Amazon when it's released (which would be awesome and very helpful).

Or just pre-order it now to get the final, polished book when it's released on November 15th.

I also plan to release Death Storm as a double box set alongside Forest of Souls. That should be right around the same time.

Until then, I'm already thinking about my next project...

Middle-grade fantasy books with an Island of Fog theme

Which middle-grade fantasy books have you read that remind you of Island of Fog in some way? I was going through some of my reviews and finding quite a few references to other books and series, such as "a bit like Narnia" and "better than Percy Jackson" and "kind of like Harry Potter" and so on. Also, "City of Ember meets Lost" and "a cross between The Island of Dr. Moreau and the Twilight Zone."

Anyway, it got me looking on Amazon for other books that might be similar. In the process, I came across some neat parallels. I knew some of these already, but others are a surprise. And one is downright hilarious. Let's get stuck in...

The Shadows (The Books of Elsewhere)

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I came across The Books of Elsewhere by Jacqueline West and immediately thought, "Oh. Why didn't I think of that?" Those who have read my books will know that Hal and his friends call the unseen place beyond the fog "Out There," while the place that Miss Simone comes from is "Elsewhere" (and later "New Earth"). If I had thought to brand the books, I might have latched onto Elsewhere and used that. It's strange for me to see that series title. It's like... "Hey, that's mine!"

The Books of Elsewhere #1, The Shadows...When eleven-year-old Olive and her parents move into the crumbling mansion on Linden Street and find it filled with mysterious paintings, Olive knows the place is creepy -- but it isn't until she encounters its three talking cats that she realizes there's something darkly magical afoot. Then Olive finds a pair of antique spectacles in a dusty drawer and discovers the most peculiar thing yet: She can travel inside the house's spooky paintings to a world that's strangely quiet... and eerily sinister. But in entering Elsewhere, Olive has been ensnared in a mystery darker and more dangerous than she could have imagined, confronting a power that wants to be rid of her by any means necessary. With only the cats and an unusual boy she meets in Elsewhere on her side, it's up to Olive to save the house from the shadows, before the lights go out for good.

The Universes Inside the Lighthouse (Balky Point Adventures)

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It has alternate dimensions! And a lighthouse! This is quite obviously a fantastic read. The Universes Inside the Lighthouse is, not surprisingly, about portals inside a lighthouse leading to other dimensions. Okay, so in the Island of Fog books, the portals are not inside the lighthouse, but there's a portal right outside the lighthouse, and a couple more elsewhere on the island. But I couldn't help thinking of my books when I came across this series, and I thought it deserved a mention here.

Balky Point Adventures #1, The Universes Inside the Lighthouse...When Emma notices something unusual in the lighthouse lobby, she has no idea that unraveling this mystery will be just the beginning of an adventure that will take her and her friends to distant planets, throughout time and the multiverse, and to a place where everything is possible. Together with her twin brother Charlie, an identical Charlie from a parallel Earth, mysterious Eve, enchanting Ben, and unconventional but endearing scientist Dr. Waldo, can Emma chase down Vik, a man under the influence of an entity called The Void, before he destroys all the universes? Inspired by the timeless wonder and fantasy of A Wrinkle in Time, with just a dash of Doctor Who, Pam Stucky has created a smart and unforgettable story of adventure, curiosity, and the humanity of all beings -- even aliens.

(Quite honestly, this is a good match for my Sleep Writer series as well!)

There's Something Out There (Creepover)

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There's Something Out There is an obvious candidate for this list of Island of Fog companion reads. I mean, look at the title! This is exactly what Hal and his friends keep going on about. "I still don't get it," Hal said. "If that's true, it doesn't explain why we're here. Why are the adults hiding on this island, cut off from the rest of the world? And why has no one from Out There ever come to visit?" This particular volume, from the 22-book Creepover series, contains a harpy, too. Or at least that's how I see it:

Creepover #5, There's Something Out There...An overnight campout sets the stage for a monstrous scare! Jenna Walker has always been fascinated by the legend of the Marked Monster, the scarred half-bird, half-beast creature that is said to roam the forests around her hometown. Is the Marked Monster real or is it just the stuff of myth? Jenna decides to find out once and for all with a campout at her house where she and her friends can search for the legendary beast. But as Jenna starts to learn more about the Marked Monster, she realizes that this legend might be more than just myth, and more sinister than she ever could have imagined. Will Jenna meet the Marked Monster face to face and will she be marked for life?

The Gathering Storm (The Hidden World of Changers)

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The Gathering Storm is Book 1 from a series called The Hidden World of Changers. I spent ages trying to think of another word I could use instead of shapeshifters, but this is one possibility I missed out on. I like how the series is branded with the Changers logo at the top. I thought about doing that with my series, something like The Shapeshifters from the Island of Fog... although that's a bit long. Maybe Island of Fog Shifters? Or Island of Shifters? Or just Shifters? Haha! Well, anyway, you'll find the description of the first book pretty familiar to my own books...

The Hidden World of Changers #1, The Gathering Storm...When four middle schoolers discover that they can transform into mythological animals, they become part of a powerful, hidden world -- the world of Changers -- in this wild new urban fantasy series. Mack, Fiona, Darren, and Gabriella aren't exactly friends at their middle school -- in fact, they couldn't have anything less in common. But when they start developing powers, including the ability to transform into mythological animals, they find out that they are Changers, a magical line of shapeshifters that history has forgotten. But there's little time for questions. A powerful warlock is racing toward their town, destroying everything in his wake. Can Mack, Fiona, Darren, and Gabriella harness their newfound powers in time to save their home? Can they even stop arguing before the last bell?

And now so not-so-middle-grade and not-very-fantasy books that I couldn't pass up...

Children of the Fog

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Okay, so Children of the Fog isn't really suited to the middle-grade audience, but I had to mention it because... well, there's children in the fog. Actually, my wife came up with this as a series title a long, long time ago, and I thought, "Hmm, yes, that sounds like a possibility," and so I went to see if it had been used anywhere, and this is the book I found. Bah!

Children of the Fog...Sadie O'Connell is a bestselling author and a proud mother. But her life is about to spiral out of control. After her six-year-old son Sam is kidnapped by a serial abductor, she nearly goes insane. It isn't just the fear and grief that is ripping her apart. It's the guilt. Sadie is the only person who knows what the kidnapper looks like. And she can't tell a soul. For if she does, her son will be sent back to her in "little bloody pieces." When Sadie's unfaithful husband stumbles across her drawing of the kidnapper, he sets into play a series of horrific events that sends her hurtling over the edge. Sadie's descent into alcoholism leads to strange apparitions and a face-to-face encounter with the monster who abducted her son -- a man known only as... The Fog.

It's worth adding that my original version of Island of Fog, way back when I was writing it, was called Island of Mist, and instead of Miss Simone, I had a creey man named Mr. Mist. (Cool alliteration, right?) I seem to recall I changed it to Fog because someone remarked that it reminded them of The Mists of Avalon... even though there's no similarity at all except for the mist.

Black Woods

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Still in dark and sinister territory, Black Woods is an obvious contender for this page. I mean, Black Woods! This is the forbidden place Hal and Robbie explore in the very first chapter of the very first book. It's where young Thomas went missing. It's where the fog billows out of a hole in the ground. Of course I have to mention this book here.

Black Woods...Avid mushroom hunters and volunteers with the local Search and Rescue Department, Laura and Julie, who are in their sixties, remember that first encounter in the woods years ago. Four young men, who are fun by nature, travel to the woods with high hopes of a hunt they won't forget. A call to the Search and Rescue Department will bring them shockingly together in the... Black Woods.

Mushroom hunters! That might explain a few things. Imagine if Hal and Robbie found some magic mushrooms and sat down to munch on them. What if they're still there now, spacing out and "seeing" all manner of weird and exotic creatures from myth and legend. The entire series, as well as the follow-up series and companion books, could all be one big psychedelic dream. "Far out, man!" Robbie said with a grin. Hal leaned forward, his eyes wide. "Dude, I see faeries..."

And finally...

I won't go so far as to include the biography of real-life legend Nina Simone even though What Happened, Miss Simone? is something many people in the village of Carter are accustomed to asking.

Speaking of the village, I'll bet Queen Bee told her Swarm to Get Carter in Book 5, Roads of Madness. And I'm sure you've all heard the excellent Royals song by Lorde, which of course is all about the Queen Bee in my books, but I bet you weren't aware of the Queen Bee middle-school graphic novels.

If you think those last few were a bit of stretch... well, that's where shapeshifters' magical non-stretch smart clothes come in! Yes, there's an entire book dedicated to those enchanted garments and more. I suggest you buy it immediately -- it doesn't cost much, as you'll see: Smart Clothes and Wearable Technology.

Can you think of any more Fog-related books?

Finding mythical monsters to put in my books

I'm having a blast writing Death Storm, the latest book in the Island of Fog Legacies series. It's got more monsters than you can shake a stick at!

If you've read Forest of Souls, which was Book 10 in the Island of Fog series, you'll have some idea what this cross-series sequel is all about and why it features a pretty wide assortment of mythical creatures. I don't think I've had so many different species since Castle of Spells.

Now, granted, most of the characters you'll meet in this book are "intelligent" in that they walk, talk, and think like the sort of people who might co-exist with humans -- goblins, elves, centaurs, dryads, the naga, and that sort of thing. But there are plenty we haven't really met yet. In Castle of Spells, we bumped into a gnome, pixie, brownie, minotaur, cyclops, and others. All these could be considered "equals." Some are less intelligent than others, but we won't judge them for it.

In Unicorn Hunters, Travis met a whole load of others. Two of my favorites were the cherufe and the empusa vampire. The cherufe showed up in Haunted Fortress, and the empusa will play a role in Death Storm.

But wait a minute -- the empusa is not your typical vampire...

I was writing a scene last night featuring the empusa (pronounced "empoosah," plural empusae). This vampiric creature from Greek legend is credited by some as being the source of all vampire stories, though other vampire stories existed before hers in other parts of the world. She's described as a demon-phantom who drains the blood of innocent men while they sleep, and as usual, legends get a bit mixed up, and the empusa was later called (or confused with) the lamia, which is another vampiric creature I wrote about in Castle of Spells. The empusa is also called the succubus in medieval history.

I like to keep all these different creatures separate. The empusa, lamia, and succubus are all different as far as I'm concerned. In my books, the empusa is a fanged woman with goat legs whose hair bursts into flames when she's angry or frustrated. The lamia is a catlike creature with a woman's head, a serpent's tail, and a generally silver, scaly, reptilian body. As for the succubus... I haven't written about her yet, and probably never will. She's a phantom creature that steals into a sleeping man's room at night and... well, I'd have to come up with a less "adult" version!

The empusa is described as having one leg made of either brass, copper, or bronze depending on what you read. (Other stories say she has multiple feet, "one of bronze, one a donkey's foot, one an ox's, one a goat's, and one human." I think that's going too far. Come on, Ancient Greeks, get a grip.)

Anyway, I deliberately avoided a metal leg when I wrote of the empusa in Unicorn Hunters. That one clearly had two normal goat legs with which to leap enormous heights. But the one in Death Storm... well, I won't give it away, but this is what I love about writing fantasy. I can interpret old legends exactly as I wish and make them "my own." One day, my take on these creatures will become part of Wikipedia along with Robert Graves in the "Modern Interpretations" section, or even just listed with Rudyard Kipling's Tomlinson, Goethe's Faust, and Rick Riordan's The Battle of the Labyrinth.

And then there are gnomes...

Gnomes are a funny lot. You immediately think of colorful ornaments in the garden -- blue coats, red pants, big white beards, happy smiles on their faces, that sort of thing. The real legend is, of course, is a little different. They date back to the sixteenth century or so, and apart from being "very reluctant to interact with humans," they are also "able to move through solid earth as easily as humans move through air." I've found both these traits to be accurate among the gnomes I interviewed for roles in my books.

But it's hard to get an accurate description when they're described so differently by so many modern writers:

L. Frank Baum, in his Land of Oz, described gnomes as ugly, hot-tempered, round-bodied, and with spindly limbs. They had long beards and wild hair, and they lived underground.Tolkien wrote them as tall, beautiful, and "the most gifted and technologically minded of his elvish races." They lived in underground cities.C.S. Lewis depicted gnomes, or Earthmen, with "a wide variety of physical features and skin colors." They lived in the Underland.J.K. Rowling wrote them with "heads that look like potatoes on small stubby bodies" and were generally "considered harmless but mischievous and may bite with sharp teeth." They lived in the gardens of witches and wizards.Terry Brooks described them as "tribal and warlike," and easily subverted to an evil cause.

Lots to chew on there. It seems they live underground more than in gardens, but honestly, I like the idea of them being partial to gardens. Tolkien may have described them as tall and beautiful, but I think short and fat is more likely. Not just short and fat, though. The spindly arms and legs kind of appeals to me. That's how I see them -- short, rotund people with thin arms and legs. As for wild hair and flowing white beards... I don't think that's necessary, but there's no reason why some can't have the traditional bushy beard, right?

One thing I added to my gnome characters in Castle of Spells, Forest of Souls, and now Death Storm is the oversized head, which they keep banging on walls when stressed. That's entirely my own design, and I have a good reason for it, as will be explained. Again, this is just my take on them, but that's my right as an author.

Mentioning different creatures in passing can be tricky. In Castle of Spells, when I briefly described a brownie as "a thin creature the size of a small boy with large ears and long black hair," I have to make sure to stick to that when I mention one in a later book. And by golly I do. I'm always very careful about that sort of thing. There are brownies in Death Storm too, but I haven't gone into detail about them yet. I will if I find a suitable scene to do so, but otherwise I'll save them for another book.

What would YOU like to see featured in the Island of Fog world?

Finally, I wanted to asked all you Island of Fog readers which creature you want to see given some screen time? I'm about two-thirds through Death Storm, and there's still time to throw in some extra creatures if they're suitable. I hereby invite you to offer one suggestion each -- something that hasn't yet been featured in detail in my books, and something that is at least reasonably humanlike and could live alongside people as neighbors (so no griffins or krakens).

Maybe I can squeeze your suggestions in. :-)

Finding mythical monsters to put in my books

I'm having a blast writing Death Storm, the latest book in the Island of Fog Legacies series. It's got more monsters than you can shake a stick at!

If you've read Forest of Souls, which was Book 10 in the Island of Fog series, you'll have some idea what this cross-series sequel is all about and why it features a pretty wide assortment of mythical creatures. I don't think I've had so many different species since Castle of Spells.

Now, granted, most of the characters you'll meet in this book are "intelligent" in that they walk, talk, and think like the sort of people who might co-exist with humans -- goblins, elves, centaurs, dryads, the naga, and that sort of thing. But there are plenty we haven't really met yet. In Castle of Spells, we bumped into a gnome, pixie, brownie, minotaur, cyclops, and others. All these could be considered "equals." Some are less intelligent than others, but we won't judge them for it.

In Unicorn Hunters, Travis met a whole load of others. Two of my favorites were the cherufe and the empusa vampire. The cherufe showed up in Haunted Fortress, and the empusa will play a role in Death Storm.

But wait a minute -- the empusa is not your typical vampire...

I was writing a scene last night featuring the empusa (pronounced "empoosah," plural empusae). This vampiric creature from Greek legend is credited by some as being the source of all vampire stories, though other vampire stories existed before hers in other parts of the world. She's described as a demon-phantom who drains the blood of innocent men while they sleep, and as usual, legends get a bit mixed up, and the empusa was later called (or confused with) the lamia, which is another vampiric creature I wrote about in Castle of Spells. The empusa is also called the succubus in medieval history.

I like to keep all these different creatures separate. The empusa, lamia, and succubus are all different as far as I'm concerned. In my books, the empusa is a fanged woman with goat legs whose hair bursts into flames when she's angry or frustrated. The lamia is a catlike creature with a woman's head, a serpent's tail, and a generally silver, scaly, reptilian body. As for the succubus... I haven't written about her yet, and probably never will. She's a phantom creature that steals into a sleeping man's room at night and... well, I'd have to come up with a less "adult" version!

The empusa is described as having one leg made of either brass, copper, or bronze depending on what you read. (Other stories say she has multiple feet, "one of bronze, one a donkey's foot, one an ox's, one a goat's, and one human." I think that's going too far. Come on, Ancient Greeks, get a grip.)

Anyway, I deliberately avoided a metal leg when I wrote of the empusa in Unicorn Hunters. That one clearly had two normal goat legs with which to leap enormous heights. But the one in Death Storm... well, I won't give it away, but this is what I love about writing fantasy. I can interpret old legends exactly as I wish and make them "my own." One day, my take on these creatures will become part of Wikipedia along with Robert Graves in the "Modern Interpretations" section, or even just listed with Rudyard Kipling's Tomlinson, Goethe's Faust, and Rick Riordan's The Battle of the Labyrinth.

And then there are gnomes...

Gnomes are a funny lot. You immediately think of colorful ornaments in the garden -- blue coats, red pants, big white beards, happy smiles on their faces, that sort of thing. The real legend is, of course, is a little different. They date back to the sixteenth century or so, and apart from being "very reluctant to interact with humans," they are also "able to move through solid earth as easily as humans move through air." I've found both these traits to be accurate among the gnomes I interviewed for roles in my books.

But it's hard to get an accurate description when they're described so differently by so many modern writers:

L. Frank Baum, in his Land of Oz, described gnomes as ugly, hot-tempered, round-bodied, and with spindly limbs. They had long beards and wild hair, and they lived underground.Tolkien wrote them as tall, beautiful, and "the most gifted and technologically minded of his elvish races." They lived in underground cities.C.S. Lewis depicted gnomes, or Earthmen, with "a wide variety of physical features and skin colors." They lived in the Underland.J.K. Rowling wrote them with "heads that look like potatoes on small stubby bodies" and were generally "considered harmless but mischievous and may bite with sharp teeth." They lived in the gardens of witches and wizards.Terry Brooks described them as "tribal and warlike," and easily subverted to an evil cause.

Lots to chew on there. It seems they live underground more than in gardens, but honestly, I like the idea of them being partial to gardens. Tolkien may have described them as tall and beautiful, but I think short and fat is more likely. Not just short and fat, though. The spindly arms and legs kind of appeals to me. That's how I see them -- short, rotund people with thin arms and legs. As for wild hair and flowing white beards... I don't think that's necessary, but there's no reason why some can't have the traditional bushy beard, right?

One thing I added to my gnome characters in Castle of Spells, Forest of Souls, and now Death Storm is the oversized head, which they keep banging on walls when stressed. That's entirely my own design, and I have a good reason for it, as will be explained. Again, this is just my take on them, but that's my right as an author.

Mentioning different creatures in passing can be tricky. In Castle of Spells, when I briefly described a brownie as "a thin creature the size of a small boy with large ears and long black hair," I have to make sure to stick to that when I mention one in a later book. And by golly I do. I'm always very careful about that sort of thing. There are brownies in Death Storm too, but I haven't gone into detail about them yet. I will if I find a suitable scene to do so, but otherwise I'll save them for another book.

What would YOU like to see featured in the Island of Fog world?

Finally, I wanted to asked all you Island of Fog readers which creature you want to see given some screen time? I'm about two-thirds through Death Storm, and there's still time to throw in some extra creatures if they're suitable. I hereby invite you to offer one suggestion each -- something that hasn't yet been featured in detail in my books, and something that is at least reasonably humanlike and could live alongside people as neighbors (so no griffins or krakens).

Maybe I can squeeze your suggestions in. :-)

P.S. -- Another quick mention of two ebook giveaways happening right now. One is closing in the next few days, so go take a look while you can!

Folklore & Fables Fantasy Group Giveaway (103 free books -- ends September 10th) Other Worlds Science Fiction & Fantasy Giveaway (51 free books)

(A brand new fantasy giveaway starts on September 13th, so stay tuned for that!)

Working hard to hardly work

The dream is to work hard now so that I can goof off for the rest of my life. Easier said than done!

I've spent the past two months delving deep into the world of marketing. After 9+ years of avoiding getting my hands dirty, I thought it was probably time to step up my game. For a long time, I've been one of those authors who just wants to write, with the hope that my books will sell themselves. Sadly, that's even more of a fantasy than the genre I write for.

I started out with Island of Fog in paperback format only, as you can see in this ancient picture of me opening my very first shipment of books. This was back in 2009. I did book signings and talks at libraries and schools, and I was "quite well known" locally in that respect. That kick-started my writing career (okay, hobby). Eventually I was dragged kicking and screaming into the ebook world. "Oh, go on then," I said, "I'll make a Kindle version if you really, really prefer that..." (all spoken with a distasteful curl to my lip).

If you're interested, you can read more about my very first proof copy and my first delivery of books in these old blog posts.

How things have changed. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of my sales today are ebooks, but I still sell paperbacks. I still have that "local connection" where parents want me to sign a print copy for their child. The libraries want print copies. Print copies are essential for book signing events and sci-fi/fantasy conventions. And of course they look really nice on my shelf.

As for marketing... (yawn)

I've done a lot of free and paid promos over the years. The basic plan is to offer Book 1 for free in the hope that the reader will take a chance and read it, then fall hopelessly in love with the story and buy every other book in the series. So, giving away the first book for free is a great idea.

Usually, a bunch of free promos might equate to one paid promo, and a paid promo might yield a few hundred downloads. Then there's BookBub, the titan of all promo services. Nothing can touch them in terms of sheer volume of readers. The first promo I did with BookBub cost maybe $60, and Island of Fog was downloaded 11,600 times. I've had several similar promos since, each with 5000-6000 downloads. The last one I did, about a year ago, resulted in a staggering 43,000 downloads... for $88. Money well spent.

So why don't I just use BookBub all the time? Because a) you can't promote the same book more than twice a year, and b) that's assuming your book is accepted at all. Island of Fog has been rejected as many times as it's been accepted. Many, many authors still have not had their first BookBub promo. It's fair to say that a BookBub promo is like the Midas touch, launching your book to the top of Amazon's Kindle lists and turning it to gold for a while. It can put your book on the map, and usually it stays there.

(Yes, yes, I know the legendary King Midas was around long before Amazon, or indeed Kindle, but you know what I mean.)

If authors could use BookBub all the time, readers would be so jaded by the same books showing up that the system wouldn't be anywhere near as effective. So, we authors have to hope for an occasional BookBub while making ends meet in other ways.

Besides, free downloads aren't the complete answer to everything.

Overall, Island of Fog has been downloaded roughly 175,000 times. But does that translate to 175,000 sales of Book 2 and Book 3 and so on? Nope. If so, I would have made... hmm, let's see... yes, 5.4 million dollars. I haven't quite made that much because, in reality, only about 2% of free-book downloaders "convert" to sales of other books in the series, either because they never found time to read the first one or they just didn't like it. 2% is about 3,500 people, and that's probably close to accurate -- in fact, I've sold 4,680 copies of Labyrinth of Fire in total, plus all the other books. Pretty stark difference, right? Yep, 2% is pretty miserable.

(It's worth noting that the 43,000 downloads last year made almost no impact on sales whatsoever. Strange but true.)

Hence why I've been delving deeper into marketing the past two months.

I bought a training course for one proven method that many people swear by. I found that I knew much of it already, either because I'd learned these methods elsewhere or they just seemed logical -- but it still helped to see these methods validated by experts and expanded on.

In my old office job decades ago, I used to train staff about repetitive strain injury (RSI) using computers, and I'd have to show people how to avoid WRULDs in the office. (Go on, guess; the answer is coming up.) The point is, when I developed severe backache one time, I suffered for six months before finally seeing a doctor and a specialist, and I discovered the solution was to practice exactly what I'd been preaching -- raising my screen so I was forced to sit more upright, raising my chair a little, doing some basic stretches, etc. Within days, my back was better. All it took was believing in what I already knew, and actually doing it myself. So, so stupid.

Seeing these marketing experts demonstrate what they were doing to make tons of money made me think, "Oh, I kinda knew that already... but all right, I'll try it." I learned quite a few neat tricks, and learned a few things I was doing wrong, and I think I can move forward now with a better understanding of what works and what doesn't. But mostly I learned there's no "magic button" that will skyrocket my sales and earn me a fortune. I either work harder at promoting my books in endless social networks, or I get smarter at marketing with paid ads.

Meanwhile, the one thing experts agree on is this: Build your reader list. Nurture your readers. Don't be "salesy" with them. Don't try to sell your books all the time. Give them stuff. Make it about what you can do for them. Build a relationship, make them eager to see your emails arriving from time to time, offer them an interesting five-minute read or something else of value. Give, give, give, then maybe ask for a sale, then give, give, give...

As a reader myself, and someone who subscribes to various mailing lists, this advice is good. But man, it makes me wonder how I'm doing with my own emails. Only you can tell me that. Not many readers leave comments, but hardly anyone unsubscribes either. What about indifference, though?

Lately I've been dabbling with ads on Amazon, Facebook, and BookBub.

A BookBub ad is not the same as a BookBub featured promo that I was talking about earlier. Ads on all three platforms function roughly the same way -- you create an ad, throw some money at it, and wait to see if anything converts to sales, and if so, do those sales outweigh the spend?

I've decided Facebook is the easiest to get results with and by far the most powerful. You may have seen this one going around:

I have different versions of this -- same image, and mostly the same copy, with just the first part changed. This one is for dystopian fiction in general. In the other versions, the first quote is from readers who compared Island of Fog to Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia, and Percy Jackson. Each ad targets that particular niche.

The book is free, so obviously I'm not trying to make profit here. Instead, I'm trying to gain subscribers. Some of you reading this post arrived here in this exact way, and I hope you agree it was worth it!

I've had a tiny bit of success with Amazon, and even where there's no sale or the book is free, it has to be good to have my ads constantly showing up on Amazon book search results, right? Awareness campaigns, that sort of thing:

But even better would be to make actual profit from ads. Books are so dang cheap, though. How do you compete in a saturated market, with high costs per click, when the sale of even a $4.99 book yields no more than $3.50 royalty? For me, the answer is to advertise box sets, which naturally have a higher price tag. Here's a box set on Amazon:

Still no dice, though. Amazon ads just aren't working very well for me. Many authors swear by them, but they say you need literally thousands of keywords, hundreds of ads, and dozens of hours to make it work well.

The BookBub ad system is the nicest to work with, but I'm still trying to make them profitable. It's good to target a certain niche of readers and tailor the ad copy accordingly:

Still, getting conversions and making profit is hard.

So here's another idea:

The first targets an audience by genre, but the second targets those who recently bought Sleep Writer through a BookBub featured promo a few months ago (resulting in thousands of downloads and a lot of recommendations). Not only is this bundle set a great deal for readers, but one sale pays for a LOT of clicks. The ad goes to my Gumroad landing page where readers can buy the series directly and very easily with credit card or PayPal, no fuss. It's a really sweet system.

Of course, the obvious problem is convincing readers to turn over $30 of their hard-money. Fans of the series will know it's a great deal, but try telling that to newcomers! So it's still a number-crunching game. How many clicks will it take to make a sale? Time will tell.

So that's it for now. I'll keep plugging away while writing my books and doing my home-based website design day job. I'm happy to say I'm no longer filling in with carpentry/construction work; I'm now back at home full time and earning what I need to earn to pay the bills and be comfortable -- but not as much as I'd like to earn.

Maybe I should return Steven Spielberg's call and take him up on that movie deal...?

(By the way, for those dying to know the answer, WRULDs is work-related upper limb disorder: sitting at a computer for a long time, the screen so low you're hunched over, your chair so low your forearms are angled upward, that sort of thing.)

Working hard to hardly work

The dream is to work hard now so that I can goof off for the rest of my life. Easier said than done!

I've spent the past two months delving deep into the world of marketing. After 9+ years of avoiding getting my hands dirty, I thought it was probably time to step up my game. For a long time, I've been one of those authors who just wants to write, with the hope that my books will sell themselves. Sadly, that's even more of a fantasy than the genre I write for.

I started out with Island of Fog in paperback format only, as you can see in this ancient picture of me opening my very first shipment of books. This was back in 2009. I did book signings and talks at libraries and schools, and I was "quite well known" locally in that respect. That kick-started my writing career (okay, hobby). Eventually I was dragged kicking and screaming into the ebook world. "Oh, go on then," I said, "I'll make a Kindle version if you really, really prefer that..." (all spoken with a distasteful curl to my lip).

If you're interested, you can read more about my very first proof copy and my first delivery of books in these old blog posts.

How things have changed. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of my sales today are ebooks, but I still sell paperbacks. I still have that "local connection" where parents want me to sign a print copy for their child. The libraries want print copies. Print copies are essential for book signing events and sci-fi/fantasy conventions. And of course they look really nice on my shelf.

As for marketing... (yawn)

I've done a lot of free and paid promos over the years. The basic plan is to offer Book 1 for free in the hope that the reader will take a chance and read it, then fall hopelessly in love with the story and buy every other book in the series. So, giving away the first book for free is a great idea.

Usually, a bunch of free promos might equate to one paid promo, and a paid promo might yield a few hundred downloads. Then there's BookBub, the titan of all promo services. Nothing can touch them in terms of sheer volume of readers. The first promo I did with BookBub cost maybe $60, and Island of Fog was downloaded 11,600 times. I've had several similar promos since, each with 5000-6000 downloads. The last one I did, about a year ago, resulted in a staggering 43,000 downloads... for $88. Money well spent.

So why don't I just use BookBub all the time? Because a) you can't promote the same book more than twice a year, and b) that's assuming your book is accepted at all. Island of Fog has been rejected as many times as it's been accepted. Many, many authors still have not had their first BookBub promo. It's fair to say that a BookBub promo is like the Midas touch, launching your book to the top of Amazon's Kindle lists and turning it to gold for a while. It can put your book on the map, and usually it stays there.

(Yes, yes, I know the legendary King Midas was around long before Amazon, or indeed Kindle, but you know what I mean.)

If authors could use BookBub all the time, readers would be so jaded by the same books showing up that the system wouldn't be anywhere near as effective. So, we authors have to hope for an occasional BookBub while making ends meet in other ways.

Besides, free downloads aren't the complete answer to everything.

Overall, Island of Fog has been downloaded roughly 175,000 times. But does that translate to 175,000 sales of Book 2 and Book 3 and so on? Nope. If so, I would have made... hmm, let's see... yes, 5.4 million dollars. I haven't quite made that much because, in reality, only about 2% of free-book downloaders "convert" to sales of other books in the series, either because they never found time to read the first one or they just didn't like it. 2% is about 3,500 people, and that's probably close to accurate -- in fact, I've sold 4,680 copies of Labyrinth of Fire in total, plus all the other books. Pretty stark difference, right? Yep, 2% is pretty miserable.

(It's worth noting that the 43,000 downloads last year made almost no impact on sales whatsoever. Strange but true.)

Hence why I've been delving deeper into marketing the past two months.

I bought a training course for one proven method that many people swear by. I found that I knew much of it already, either because I'd learned these methods elsewhere or they just seemed logical -- but it still helped to see these methods validated by experts and expanded on.

In my old office job decades ago, I used to train staff about repetitive strain injury (RSI) using computers, and I'd have to show people how to avoid WRULDs in the office. (Go on, guess; the answer is coming up.) The point is, when I developed severe backache one time, I suffered for six months before finally seeing a doctor and a specialist, and I discovered the solution was to practice exactly what I'd been preaching -- raising my screen so I was forced to sit more upright, raising my chair a little, doing some basic stretches, etc. Within days, my back was better. All it took was believing in what I already knew, and actually doing it myself. So, so stupid.

Seeing these marketing experts demonstrate what they were doing to make tons of money made me think, "Oh, I kinda knew that already... but all right, I'll try it." I learned quite a few neat tricks, and learned a few things I was doing wrong, and I think I can move forward now with a better understanding of what works and what doesn't. But mostly I learned there's no "magic button" that will skyrocket my sales and earn me a fortune. I either work harder at promoting my books in endless social networks, or I get smarter at marketing with paid ads.

Meanwhile, the one thing experts agree on is this: Build your reader list. Nurture your readers. Don't be "salesy" with them. Don't try to sell your books all the time. Give them stuff. Make it about what you can do for them. Build a relationship, make them eager to see your emails arriving from time to time, offer them an interesting five-minute read or something else of value. Give, give, give, then maybe ask for a sale, then give, give, give...

As a reader myself, and someone who subscribes to various mailing lists, this advice is good. But man, it makes me wonder how I'm doing with my own emails. Only you can tell me that. Not many readers leave comments, but hardly anyone unsubscribes either. What about indifference, though?

Speaking of giving... I'd like to mention again the two ebook giveaways happening right now:

Folklore & Fables Fantasy Group Giveaway (104 free books) Other Worlds Science Fiction & Fantasy Giveaway (51 free books)

See? I'm giving. :-)

Lately I've been dabbling with ads on Amazon, Facebook, and BookBub.

A BookBub ad is not the same as a BookBub featured promo that I was talking about earlier. Ads on all three platforms function roughly the same way -- you create an ad, throw some money at it, and wait to see if anything converts to sales, and if so, do those sales outweigh the spend?

I've decided Facebook is the easiest to get results with and by far the most powerful. You may have seen this one going around:

I have different versions of this -- same image, and mostly the same copy, with just the first part changed. This one is for dystopian fiction in general. In the other versions, the first quote is from readers who compared Island of Fog to Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia, and Percy Jackson. Each ad targets that particular niche.

The book is free, so obviously I'm not trying to make profit here. Instead, I'm trying to gain subscribers. Some of you reading this post arrived here in this exact way, and I hope you agree it was worth it!

I've had a tiny bit of success with Amazon, and even where there's no sale or the book is free, it has to be good to have my ads constantly showing up on Amazon book search results, right? Awareness campaigns, that sort of thing:

But even better would be to make actual profit from ads. Books are so dang cheap, though. How do you compete in a saturated market, with high costs per click, when the sale of even a $4.99 book yields no more than $3.50 royalty? For me, the answer is to advertise box sets, which naturally have a higher price tag. Here's a box set on Amazon:

Still no dice, though. Amazon ads just aren't working very well for me. Many authors swear by them, but they say you need literally thousands of keywords, hundreds of ads, and dozens of hours to make it work well.

The BookBub ad system is the nicest to work with, but I'm still trying to make them profitable. It's good to target a certain niche of readers and tailor the ad copy accordingly:

Still, getting conversions and making profit is hard.

So here's another idea:

The first targets an audience by genre, but the second targets those who recently bought Sleep Writer through a BookBub featured promo a few months ago (resulting in thousands of downloads and a lot of recommendations). Not only is this bundle set a great deal for readers, but one sale pays for a LOT of clicks. The ad goes to my Gumroad landing page where readers can buy the series directly and very easily with credit card or PayPal, no fuss. It's a really sweet system.

Of course, the obvious problem is convincing readers to turn over $30 of their hard-money. Fans of the series will know it's a great deal, but try telling that to newcomers! So it's still a number-crunching game. How many clicks will it take to make a sale? Time will tell.

So that's it for now. I'll keep plugging away while writing my books and doing my home-based website design day job. I'm happy to say I'm no longer filling in with carpentry/construction work; I'm now back at home full time and earning what I need to earn to pay the bills and be comfortable -- but not as much as I'd like to earn.

Maybe I should return Steven Spielberg's call and take him up on that movie deal...?

(By the way, for those dying to know the answer, WRULDs is work-related upper limb disorder: sitting at a computer for a long time, the screen so low you're hunched over, your chair so low your forearms are angled upward, that sort of thing.)