Adrian Stephens's Blog, page 2

#8 - The Making (or Remaking) of Heroes

I had spent a fair amount of time considering what I was going to write about for my next blog. I had put on the backburner my idea to solve world hunger and world peace using a jigsaw, two jars of peanut butter and a rubber mallet. I mean, world peace and world hunger…they could wait a few more weeks, right? I had even considered talking about why Bill Murray would so much rather star in my version of Ghostbusters III than the one being pitched to him currently (either way Bill, please do Ghostbusters III ).

So, I had all but decided on providing some insight as to how and why I write (sorry JK, you’ll have to wait a while longer), when I stumbled upon a topic of greater importance. No, this one couldn’t wait.

I was at lunch today with a friend of mine, and we were discussing our usual plethora of random topics…our weekends, football (I’m a Rams fan, he the Eagles), baseball (I’m a Cardinals fan, he the Phillies)…when we stumbled onto the topic of television shows we have enjoyed over the years. He was a big Seinfeld fan, while I preferred Friends and Cheers . At that point, we hit the point of this blog; the all-time show that had the biggest potential, yet disappointed badly. We were in agreement that Heroes was just that beast. My friend, Terry, and I like to have friendly banter, and often times we find ourselves on different ends of a given topic. On this day, not only did we agree that Heroes had a great premise, that it started very strong and that neither of us were around for the end because it strayed too far from what made it great, but we agreed on what to do about it.

What Terry and I decided was, Heroes needed a do over. Not a reboot per se. No this isn’t Spiderman , Superman or The Incredible Hulk . We don’t want to pretend that the original didn’t exist at all. We were pretty fond of the actors. We just want to pretend that the series didn’t happen…the way it did. Here is what I proposed (and he agreed):

1. NBC needs to re-launch Heroes . They need to bring all of the characters from the first season back.

2. Claire should be in college, but still be a cheerleader (sorry ladies, the guy part of us definitely liked the cheerleader thing).

3. The first episode should be almost identical to the original first episode, but change a few things. The viewers can enjoy spotting the discrepancies.

4. Each episode would veer further from the original series until, at the end of the first season, it would now be a completely different show with its own identity.

5. They should be careful not to introduce a bunch of new characters. Further develop the ones they have in the first season. Give them significance. There were a lot of characters. NBC will have plenty of episodes to develop them before they need to introduce more.

6. Don’t kill off characters and bring the same actor back as somebody else. Especially not several times.

At this point, Terry and I had concluded our lunch. Terry and I had agreed on more points at one sitting than we probably ever had before, or will again. The two of us agreed…it was practically a consensus. Terry was ready to present it to NBC. I thought we should get a little more input, so I thought I would present it to you, the readers. Please, let us know what you think. Let’s do this!

For my next blog, I will be giving some insight into my next novel. I’ll have it up within the week. If you would like to check out my first novel, In My Shoes , click here . Until next time!

#7 - Power of the People

It seems that everywhere you go these days, there are reviews available to tell you about the product or service you are getting ready to buy. Some people are great about leaving reviews on their favorite websites for every product or service they buy. For those who do, some are actually sought out and specifically asked to comment on a company's product or service.

For most of us, I think, we just aren't really in the habit of leaving reviews. They take time, after all, and plenty of other people already do it, right?

I admit, that I have many times had that outlook on leaving reviews. When I'm buying a product, I will take the time to read many reviews, both good and bad, to try and gauge if someone is trying to be unbiased in their review, or if they may be looking at things from a slightly skewed viewpoint.

Think back, though. If you are not one who usually takes the time to leave reviews, what was the reason for doing it in those times where you did? Was the product exceptionally bad, or maybe not even bad, but just didn't meet your expectations? Maybe it was just SO good, you really thought you should share. It seems that more people are willing to get on and leave reviews when they are dissatisfied with a product or service than if they just thought it was good.

As an author/publisher, I have become increasingly aware of how important it is to leave reviews. Maybe not on EVERY item you ever buy, but at least the big purchases, or the things that are important to you. Chances are, if you belong to the Goodreads community, you truly care about reading books. I would also guess that you have taken the time to read many of the reviews left on this website. But, do you leave reviews when you have finished a book, good or bad? Maybe not? It's certainly not a requirement. I'm certainly not going to hold it against you (I know you were worried), but I would ask you to think about it.

Books like Harry Potter, Twilight and Hunger Games are not starving for reviews. Those books have done so well, chances are someone has told you to read them, and you either will or won't based on their recommendation. You aren't going to read through 200,000 reviews.

Other books really do need those reviews, good, bad and even in between. Really, even just giving it a star rating, or writing a very short blurb gives others the opportunity to see what you thought and make their own opinion on whether to buy it.

If you think a book is great, I would ask you to please let people know…for the author's sake who worked so hard on it. If you think a book is terrible, please let people know...for the readers' sake, so maybe they can decide to skip it. Either way, a thoughtful opinion is important, and really can make a difference! For small time authors, it may be the difference in whether the even continue writing. Something to think about. Thanks for reading!

#6 - Traditional Publishing vs. Self-Publishing

We all value our time. We have so precious little of it to spend doing what we want to do, that none of us want to feel like we’ve wasted it. For us readers, as much as some of us seem to devour everything in sight, we still don’t want to spend our time on a book with a poorly developed plot, weak characters, or worse, such poor editing that we can’t stay in the story long enough to find out if the book is even any good. Because our time is so precious, we don’t want to waste it on a self-published novel, right?

Not necessarily, although there was a time when I admittedly would have thought the same thing. It is easy for us to come to the conclusion that, if an author is self-published, it can only be because they couldn’t get picked up by a traditional publisher, right? I can’t speak for everyone, but in my case I can say that theory is wrong. Could I be picked up by a traditional publisher? I can’t honestly answer that, because I never tried.

All I can speak for is my own situation, but I would be more than happy to share my story with you. I’ll save how I came about writing In My Shoes for another day, and focus on the publishing decision today. I was about halfway through my first novel when I decided I should have a plan for how to get my book out there. I began with researching book publishers. That didn’t look so promising. After a while, I started researching agents. For the most part, both the publishers and the agents had a theme; it was apparent to me that most of the publishers and agents felt inundated with material. Everyone thinks they can write and they all send their work in to be the next big author. The publishers and agents, for the most part, have taken the stance that wannabe authors can feel free to send in their manuscripts, and they will go to the bottom of the slush pile. Someday, somebody just might open it, and if they like what they see, they may read a few pages. If that grabs them, they may read a little more. For those select few who make the cut, they will contact you, and a year (or two) later, your book may just get published.

Reading that was pretty discouraging. At that point, I decided I should at least consider publishing the novel myself. I mean, I am very detail oriented, thorough, and I was confident that I could learn the process and publish my book myself. What I found was, though I could do it myself, it was going to be very costly. Not that I didn’t expect costs, but I didn’t realize how much. It’s just not cost effective to print 100 books at a time. In order to make a profit, you have to buy in bulk, and even at a discounted rate, bulk purchasing means bulk dollars spent. In addition to the cost of the book printing, there are the costs of the ISBN numbers and business licenses, to name a few. Everything had a cost. Meanwhile, I kept writing. I knew that regardless, I was going to finish my novel and I was going to get it out there, one way or another.

As the end of my novel neared, I began doing more research. I had been leaning fairly heavily on going through the process of trying to get traditionally published. I figured I had spent a year writing it, so what did it matter if it took a while to get published? It would cost me significantly less to send out manuscripts to all of the publishers.

Almost exactly one year later, I had reached the end. The book was done, and I was satisfied I had a good book. Not an okay book. A good book. One that people would pick up and enjoy. Was it Harry Potter? No. Was it Hunger Games? No. It may never be a best seller, but I felt it was good. I still hadn’t decided on traditional or self-publishing, but I knew that, after a year of hard work, I wasn’t going to send it anywhere without it being as flawless as possible. So, I found a team of editors, qualified and willing to edit my book and tell me everything they thought was wrong with the book. It took six more months for editing. First, I edited the book as thoroughly as possible. Then I printed copies for each of my editors to mark up as they saw fit. Once I had all of the copies back, I made the corrections and took some of the suggestions into consideration. Once I was done, I edited the entire book again. The book was edited several times, at different levels, until I was confident that the book was ready (and yet I still have found a few errors). By the time I had the book ready, I had decided to undertake publishing the book myself. I had saved enough money to get my first printing, I could keep control over the final product and I had done enough research to realize I could do this.

One month later, In My Shoes was available on Kindle. Two months after that, it was available in hardcover at Amazon and on my website. Now, the book is available in all major digital formats, and the hardcover is available at a few select locations, with more to come.

I could write all day about Traditional vs. Self-Publishing, because as a self-published author, I have become increasingly aware of the connotation attached to the term. There are some who choose to read primarily self-published novels and some who don’t care where the book comes from. Most people still seem to prefer traditional authors because they feel there is a quality that comes from the screening process. I would agree with that in a lot of cases. But ask yourself, have you never read a bad book from a traditional publishing house? Have you never read a traditionally published book that was poorly edited? I can tell you, I’ve read a great series, a best-selling series, and each of the four books had significant, blaring mistakes.

If you are still with me (thank you by the way), you are probably asking, “Is there a point to this rant, Adrian?” Yes, there is. Thank you for asking! My point is this; there are plenty of things to judge a book by, whether it be the cover, the synopsis, the preview chapters, or the ratings of other customers who have read and reviewed it. No longer will I judge a book solely by the fact that it took a different route to the stores. I would ask you to do the same.

#5 - The Greatest Thing

Over the last few months, I've had a few people ask me what the greatest thing is about having my novel, In My Shoes, published. It's a great question, but the answer is by no means an easy one.

As I am still quite new to this published author thing, there are many experiences I have enjoyed. The day I received my first proof…my words organized, edited, printed and bound, was amazing! To see a year and a half of my hard work that close to completion at that point, was exhilarating. When my first shipment of books arrived, I couldn't help thinking of George McFly opening his first box of books in Back to the Future. A sense of accomplishment.

When I received my first review, and then later my first 5 star review, the realization that there are people out there, who I don't even know, and they liked my book…pride was my feeling.

But the 'Greatest Thing'...the one single moment, to this point, that I feel was above all of these, didn't even occur around an event. There was no specific symbol to mark this thing. Not a signing or an encounter. I can't even tell you now where I was when it occurred to me for the first time. So what, you ask, could this moment possibly be? When I realized that, at any given moment, of any given day, from here to eternity, while I'm sitting down to read a bit of whatever is the latest on my bookshelf, someone out there could be sitting down to read MY book...for me so far, that is the 'Greatest Thing.' Thanks for reading!

#4 - UK, AU Contest Winners

Congratulations to the latest contest winners! Goodreads has picked the latest winners, and they are:

Heather G. - Hereford, Great Britain

Zoe S. - Adelaide, Australia


Book contests have closed for the United States, Canada, UK and Australia. If you would like to see your country represented in a book giveaway, send me a message!

#3 - Giveaway Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the Goodreads giveaway! Five copies of In My Shoes were given away to contestants chosen by Goodreads. They are:

Kris C. ~ Texas, United States
Tessa P. ~ Nova Scotia, Canada
Robin C. ~ Ontario, Canada
Lisa J. ~ Maryland, United States
Alexandria R. ~ New York, United States

This giveaway was open to the United States, Canada, UK and Australia. Since no winners were selected from the UK or Australia, I have opened individual giveaways for those two countries, ending 06/26/11. Good luck to you all, and thank you to everyone who entered!

#2 - Where's the Sequel?

Before I get too far into this, I just want to say that I am not at all opposed to sequels. There have been some exceptional sequels of both novels and movies over time. In fact, my favorite novel to date is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a sixth sequel. As for movies…I loved four of the five Star Wars sequels, and though most of my friends didn’t like it much, I thought Phantom Menace was pretty good too.

In the movie industry, sequels act a little bit differently than for novels. When a great movie is made, sequels can ride the money train until people get bored. We hope those in charge will spare us because, let’s face it, if we loved the original, we just can’t help showing for what will follow. If it’s bad, many of us won’t go see the third. But, many of us will, praying that they took more care with the third, that they’re not just trying to cash in. We want it to be good. The movie exposure is all over the place. Commercials will promise that this one is the best yet. Rarely will they be right.

With novels, the opposite is often true. Even with a big publisher, getting the word out on a great new novel doesn’t guarantee people are going to find it and love it. There are millions of books. In fact, many times it’s the second, third or fourth in a series that finally gets the series noticed. I see lots of novels these days that say they are the first in a series. Many authors seem to gear themselves for writing a series when they’re starting their first novel. My question is…aren’t they worried about diluting their product? Sacrificing the quality of one exceptional novel to make it into a mediocre series?

I admit...In My Shoes, my first novel, was written to allow for a sequel. That said, I didn't really intend to write a sequel. No really. Honest. I left it so the reader could take what they wanted from it.

Several readers, friends and strangers, have asked me if I intend to write a sequel to In My Shoes. Initially, my response was no. At the moment, my response is...I'm not sure. I am less adamant than I was at first. I always had some idea of how I would want to develop a sequel, and there is some worthy material, in my humble opinion. The problem is, can I make it worthy of following the first? I am very proud of how In My Shoes came out. I don't intend to write a sequel to it, or any other novel, if I don't feel I can make it as good or better than the first. I think the readers deserve that. As a reader myself, that's what I expect from a series.

#1 - A Case of Mistaken Identity

Everyone's heard the saying, "no publicity is bad publicity." In my case, that may not be true. In business, owners are always looking for a way to find their niche, because a niche provides a market where no others (or few others) can compete.

As an author, having my book fall into a niche would seem great. I have been very fortunate to find progressing sales on several websites where my book is for sale. Looking at my sales rank on Amazon, my ranking has been steady over the last few months it's been available.

Amazon is great because it has lots of information that potential buyers can use to determine whether it is right for them. One of the resources available is a 'Customers Who Purchased This Book also Bought' section. In looking at the In My Shoes for Kindle page, there are plenty of pages of 'other' books customers purchased. The problem is, most of the books are adult themed transgender books.

Though I can see how In My Shoes loosely fits into this category, it really is a book that can be more compared to a cross-gender Freaky Friday than anything else. My book is intended to be appropriate for a teenage as well as adult audience, where many of the 'other' books seem definitely geared towards adults only. The little feedback I have received from this niche market tells me that though it's a little more "Puritanical" than what they are used to, they still seem to enjoy the story.

So, you may be wondering why I would turn away a market that is eager to buy my book. It's not so much that I am trying to turn away any market...it's more that I want people to understand what they are looking at. I don't want my targeted market to turn away before they even read it, because they think it's not appropriate for them or their teenage son or daughter. I'm sure as time goes on, there will be a better variety of books displayed on Amazon's page. Until that time, I can only hope that people read the synopsis, read the reviews and make their decision on that basis.In My Shoes