Lindsay Buroker's Blog: Lindsay Buroker, page 22

New Author Series: Novellas vs. Novels, How to Finish Your First Novel, and Pricing

I’ve had a handful of emails related to writing in this last week or two, and I thought I’d answer a couple of them here as well as in email for others who might be interested. I figure if one person is wondering, others might be too! If something helps and you’d like me to do more Q&A posts, please let me know. Comments of any kind are always welcome.

Wilson asks, “I’m putting some final touches on my first longer length work, a fantasy novella, first of a planned series. Any input or suggestions on the length? It runs around 150-160 pages right now, and I’m curious if I should forge ahead and turn it into a full-length novel, or if a series of shorter novellas will work as my first releases. Any thoughts?”

With ebooks, there aren’t any rules on length, and we’re seeing a resurgence in the long-shunned novella (it wasn’t economical to publish them before — they were too long for magazines and too short for mass market paperbacks). From an author’s point of view, the novellas are appealing since they can be written and edited more quickly than novels, and it’s also a way to keep your name out there and publish more regularly.

Personally, I’ve found that readers tend to like novels best (at least that’s what mine have told me), but I’m seeing more and more novellas in the Kindle Store (and some of them are selling very well too — Hugh Howie’s uber-seller, Wool, is a collection of novellas). If readers enjoy your work, they’re often happy to get your stories in whatever format you’re willing to write, so long as they’re priced appropriately (i.e. you might do something like 99 cents for a short story, 2.99 for a novella, and 4.99 for a novel).

I have short stories, novels, and a series of novellas out there. I think a series has power in any format. It allows you to play around with low or free pricing on the first one (wait until you have more out to worry about this), in the hopes that folks will be drawn in and want to read the others. Also, once readers become attached to a theme or set of characters, they’re more likely to buy the next one than if you write something totally different.

As for which would be better for you to write, my advice would be to tell the story you want to tell and not worry about word count. When it’s done and you’re satisfied, you can check the word count and see whether it falls into the novella (about 17,500 to 40,000 words) or novel length and then market and price accordingly. What you want to avoid is adding filler or padding the story to increase the word count. Your first instincts are often best when it comes to pacing, and readers will call you out if you’ve got extra scenes that don’t move the story forward or aren’t critical to the plot!

Claire and a couple of other folks have asked (I’m paraphrasing)… I have trouble sticking with a novel long enough to finish. How do you get past that? What happens if you’re half way through and realize your story isn’t good enough? Or you think of a new idea that’s more promising? Do you plan everything out ahead of time or do you wing it?

I always had trouble finishing stories when I got started too. I used to write 1/3rd or 1/2 of a novel, then stop working on it for a while, and somehow I never made my way back to it. Two things that helped me were to make sure I was writing about characters that were fun for me (as you can probably guess, I enjoy doing the dialogue and having the guys crack jokes), and also to force myself to keep going, even if I thought the story had started to suck. A lot of times when I went back and read what I’d written later on, I’d realized it had turned out better than I thought. And of course there’s always editing to fix the clunky stuff. If you make yourself finish projects, you eventually get into the habit of completing things, and it gets to be a lot easier.

A writing quote from Elmore Leonard that helped me was, “I try to leave out the parts that people skip.” I realized you don’t have to write the boring travel scenes or sections designed to get the characters from Point A to Point B. If you write in scenes, you can simply put in a scene break and start up again when the next important (and interesting) thing happens in the story.

As for planning, I used to just wing it, and I think that’s one of the reasons I didn’t finish things. I’d get to a certain point and not know what should happen next, so I’d wander off until I “got inspired.” (Usually that meant I started something new and forgot about the first story.) Now I do an outline before I get started, usually a basic run down of the major plot points. I often end up deviating when I’m actually writing, but I find I’m much less likely to get stuck if I know how the story is going to end before I start writing.

Related Posts:

How Sue London’s First Novel Became an Amazon Bestseller in a Couple of Weeks
Pros and Cons of Writing a Series
Short Stories vs. Short Story Collections–Which Sell Better?

How Do You Stay Excited About Marketing and Book Promotions as the Years Pass?

This Christmas will mark my three-year anniversary in the e-publishing arena. I put out my first novel, The Emperor’s Edge, in December of 2010. I did book blog tours, submitted to review sites, started this blog, started a newsletter, built a Facebook author page, and became more active on Twitter. I tried all sorts of advertising, I guest blogged on other people’s sites, and I participated in forums. I tinkered with blurbs and keywords and book covers, relentlessly trying everything other authors were talking about in order to get my book into the hands of readers who might enjoy it.

And it worked. Nothing worked spectacularly (with the possible exception of making some of my work free to stir up interest in the rest), but it all added up and little by little contributed to book sales. A year later, with four novels out and some shorter works as well, I was able to quit the day job and write full time.

Now, two years and nine months later, I have nine novels out along with additional short stories and novellas. I launched the last book in my Emperor’s Edge series in July and am working on the first book in a new contemporary fantasy series now. I’m still excited about writing — in fact I’m spending much more time on writing and editing this year than I did in the first year or two — but my blog posts on self-publishing have become sparse because putting out Books 5, 6, 7, etc. was exactly like putting out all the rest, and I’m not doing much with the marketing and promotions side of things right now.

Part of this is because I have a readership now (though we’ll see how many follow me from secondary world high fantasy to a contemporary fantasy set in Arizona!), and I can sell books by sending out a notice to my newsletter subscribers and by posting on Facebook and Twitter. That’s all I did for the release of my last book. On the one hand, it’s great to have reached this point, but on the other hand, I’m aware of how competitive things are out there and how many hungry authors are coming up, working extremely hard to promote their books. I’ve certainly seen that if I don’t do any advertising at all for a while, the downloads of the free book drop off, as well as sales of the others. Any time sales take a dip, I mull over what I could be doing besides simply writing.

So this is less of a “how to stay motivated” post and a question for you all out there. How do you stay motivated? Or do you believe that writing and publishing new work should always be the focus? (I admit that’s been my experience thus far and it’s why I’m not sure I’m doing anything wrong here, though it admittedly doesn’t give me as much new fodder for my blog!).

For me, I think the launch of a new series will be a good chance to get back into things and experiment a little to see what’s working now, in 2013. For those of you that are writers, what are you doing to stay excited about the marketing side of being an author?

Related Posts:

Trading Excerpts with Other Authors in the Back Matter of Your Ebook
How To Win Followers and Influence Readers on Wattpad
How Do You Establish a Fan Base *Before* You Launch Your Book?

How To Win Followers and Influence Readers on Wattpad

I’ve had a few folks write guests posts about Wattpad in the last year and I keep running across news stories on Wattpad authors getting picked up by publishers, so it must be the place to be right now. At the least, it’s a place where you can offer samples (or full books) of your work for free and build an audience.

I’ll say from my own experience (I have the complete Emperor’s Edge Book 1 up over there and part of Book 2) that it’s working to sell books (I’ve had Wattpad readers send me notes saying they picked up the rest of the series). As with a lot of ebook marketing strategies out there right now, it seems to favor those with series — hook them with the first book and hope they’ll go on to buy the rest when those ones aren’t available for free. I might go more into my own experiences there at some point, but I’ve got a meaty guest post for you today from an author who’s been on there longer and has a lot more page views than I have on my stories. I chat with David Alastair Hayden on Twitter, and I’ve started to think of him as the Wattpad pro! So, without further blathering, here’s his advice:

How To Win Followers and Influence Readers on Wattpad

By now most people here know that Wattpad is an online community for reading and sharing stories. It has a highly active base of readers/writers and allows them to build reading lists, vote for and comment on individual chapters, “follow” their favorite authors, and interact with other reader/writers via both public and private messages. For me, Wattpad has been a wickedly fantastic way to connect with readers, sell books, and build toward that holy grail of 1,000 true fans.

Currently, I have a healthy 1.1 million reads on Wattpad for The Storm Dragon’s Heart and over 900 followers. That doesn’t make me the biggest name on Wattpad, but it certainly ain’t too shabby either. For a fantasy adventure book aimed at the lower end of the YA market, I’d say my numbers are excellent. But I didn’t earn readers and convert them to buyers by accident, or by simply spinning a good yarn.

I used a system.

My Wattpad Technique

Step 1) Post Regularly

I post one chapter each week, every week. Choose a day, let everyone know (see author notes below), and stick to it. The reason for this is two fold.

Once readers find and become fans of your work they will know when to come looking for more. They will descend in mass on your newest chapter and the burst of reads, votes, and comments will shoot your book up the hotlist for your genre. This will give you increased visibility similar to that of appearing on a bestseller list on Amazon. As I released the later chapters of The Storm Dragon’s Heart, the first book in my Storm Phase series, each one would rocket me into the Fantasy Top 5 and the Teen Top 50.

Also, Wattpaders are avid readers and they will consume your latest literary offering far faster than you would imagine possible. Because they want it now, all of it. So, if they know when to expect your newest post, it will dampen the urge to make impatient comments.

A Note on Timing: While posting The Storm Dragon’s Heart, I experimented with different times and days. I found that the best time to post chapters for maximum impact on visibility was on Friday or Saturday.

Step 2: Post Lots

On Wattpad, “reads” is the number of times any particular post has been viewed. So if your book has 10 chapters and each chapter has been read 10 times then your book has 100 reads. Readers can also vote on posts. Votes work and are tallied similarly, except where reads are passively gained as people open up a chapter, votes must be intentionally activated.

Obviously, the more chapters your book has the more opportunities you have to gather reads and votes. The more reads and votes you have the more visible your book will be on the site and the more new readers are likely to discover it. If you don’t write short chapters already, then I strongly advise that you break the book up by scenes. In fact, the wriggling of hooked readers on Wattpad affirmed my belief in short chapters for building tension and keeping the virtual pages flipping.

The Storm Dragon’s Heart has 54 chapters out of 85k words. That’s a huge plus because one hooked reader will give me 54 reads by the end. This is a distinct advantage. Make the chapters worth it and be prepared for the pestering of readers desperate for more story.

Short chapters is also a great way to turn impatient readers into book buyers. Book 2: Lair of the Deadly Twelve has 70 chapters and I am posting one each week. But both it and Book 3: The Forbidden Library are already available for purchase on Amazon and the other booksellers. Readers who just can’t wait will go ahead and buy the book.

Step 3) Link to Your Book

When you post or edit a chapter, there is a spot to add tags and such, like keywords on KDP. If you click on the “Advanced” tab in that section it will let you add pictures and videos and and external link. This external link is where you can enter the link to your book on Amazon. It is very simple to do but not obvious. It doesn’t have to be an Amazon link. It could go to B&N or your book’s page on your website. If you do link to Amazon, the link will say “Amazon.”

That link is insufficient. It’s a tiny link. No one will see it. No one will click it. Trust me on this. Despite having that link from the beginning, I had readers message me over and over telling me my book was wonderful and that I really should get it published. I got tired of answering this and had a little stroke of genius. (See Step 4.)

You can and should post active links to all your sales pages in your Wattpad profile. But you cannot put links in the chapters you post. Wattpad will automatically strip them. You can put a direct link as a comment though. So when readers ask you where they can get your book or suggest that you get it published (and they will, no matter how clear you make it that the book is available for purchase) feel free to respond with a link.

Step 4) Add Author’s Notes

At the start of each chapter I put the following note:

You can buy this book and the rest of the STORM PHASE series at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, iBooks, and Smashwords.

And at the end of each chapter I put this note for a finished book:

You can buy this book and the rest of the STORM PHASE series at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, iBooks, and Smashwords. You can sign up for my newsletter, follow me on Twitter, or like my Facebook page. For more information, see dahayden.com. Your support is appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Or I will put this end note for an ongoing book:

I will post one chapter each week, but there are 70 chapters, so this may take a while. If you just can’t wait, you can buy the complete book and the rest of the STORM PHASE series at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, iBooks, and Smashwords.

You can sign up for my newsletter, follow me on Twitter, or like my Facebook page. For more information, see my website dahayden.com. Your support is appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Once I added the notes and started peaking into the Top 10 on Fantasy, I started getting steady sales. And it was pretty obvious that Wattpad was the cause. As I would release each new chapter and the book popped onto those popularity lists, I got an immediate bump in sales on Amazon and other booksellers.

Of course, once the book was nearly finished, this boost trickled off. Readers could see the end in sight and were more patient. I’d estimate that before Book 2: Lair of the Deadly Twelve debuted, I generated about 200 sales off of Wattpad for The Storm Dragon’s Heart which was priced then at $5.99. (At the time my sales were in a huge slump. Not having a sequel to the first book in a series can do that.) Now, I’m getting steady follow-through sales on Book 2: Lair of the Deadly Twelve and Book 3: The Forbidden Library as well from impatient readers who don’t want to wait two years to get the rest of the story. It has become impossible to judge how many, but I’d say quite a few. Storm Phase Book 2 actually outsells Book 1 on Kobo and iBooks.

Step 5) Be Sociable

Wattpad offers loads of opportunities to interact with people and promote yourself. Some people have had success with the forums, sometimes called clubs, and such. I wouldn’t know. There is, however, one thing you definitely should do on Wattpad. It doesn’t even take much time or energy.

Reply to all the comments on your chapters. Be friendly. It only takes a few minutes each week. If someone posts a rude comment to one of your chapters, you can delete the comment. I had one over-eager young fan who sometimes got too aggressive and needed moderating. Eventually my fans started reporting his comments and I didn’t have to do anything anymore.

At the bottom of your profile page is your message board. Readers can post messages just like they were posting comments on a chapter. And you can respond in kind. Or, if you click the checkbox that says “broadcast to followers” under the message box, that message will be sent to all of your followers. Depending on how they have their notifications set up, you message will appear on their Wattpad newsfeed and be sent directly to their email. This is a great way to announce new projects just like you would with a newsletter. Beside that checkbox is a button that lets you post the message to Facebook as well.

Step 6) Get Featured

The only promotion I have done on Wattpad is participating in their  Writer Partnership Program which allows select authors to “feature” their completed book on the site. Being “featured” brings in a mass of readers through the advertising exposure by the powers-that-be on Wattpad. Your book will appear on the “Featured” page in the discovery section of the site and on the rather ubiquitous “Books You Might Enjoy” banner. They also allow you to write a guest post for their blog.

There are two ways to get “featured” on Wattpad. You can simply post your entire book and then ask to be. This is the path I most often see indie authors take. If I had known it existed when I first started on Wattpad, this is probably what I would have done, too. I’m glad I didn’t. That’s not to say that you can’t or won’t get results with this method, you will.

But by posting a chapter a week, I slowly built up a list of followers before the Writer Partnership Program contacted me. It allowed me to cleverly time up my “featured” promotion with the release of Book 2: Lair of the Deadly Twelve. My numbers exploded. Waiting to tap that Wattpad promotion helped me reach a much broader fan base than I would have if I had used it earlier. I saw the same huge spike in readers others see after being “featured” but that was on top of my original followers.

And that’s it!

Ok, I lied. Wattpad is a big, complicated social network. So as you wade in, there are a couple of other things you should note and or consider.

Sequels

Most published authors put up sample chapters to the sequel as an excerpt and leave it there. If you do this, I strongly advise marking it as an excerpt in the title so no one will be mistaken.

I’ve chosen, however, to serialize Book 2: Lair of the Deadly Twelve as well. It won’t all be posted on Wattpad until early 2014. Barring the unforeseen, Book 4 and possibly Book 5 will be out by then and dedicated readers will have to soldier on or dive into their lunch/latte/iTunes money. Will I post Book 3 on Wattpad? I have no idea. I’ll figure that out when I get there.

I also have a complete posting of my adult fantasy novel Wrath of the White Tigress on Wattpad, and I’m serializing Chains of a Dark Goddess which is in the same series. I don’t think Wattpad has boosted or harmed the sales of those two books because …

Rated R Books

If your book is Rated R it will not appear on the charts and will, apparently, be difficult to find by searching. It also won’t be eligible to become featured. This cripples the promotion of such books and is why Wrath of White Tigress has far, far fewer reads than The Storm Dragon’s Heart. It’s not just because YA is a stronger category. You will, of course, find books with Rated R material that are not marked as such, but I do things the right way because … Well, you can’t be evil all the time, can you? I think Captain America taught me that. Well, he probably said something along the lines of “do the right thing” and “be a good person,” but I have my own interpretations.

Peer-to-Peer Critique

There is a lot of fan fiction on Wattpad. A whole lot. If you don’t know who One Direction is already, you will find out. (A boy band. I’d give you analogies, but doing so would reveal my true age.) Teens writing fiction for other teens, especially fanfic, can succeed (get TONS of votes, reads, and fans) with subpar writing because they’re writing things their peers will like and enthusiastically support. Peers support their peers, and they critique them. The interactions between peers are very different than those on publishable writing. You cannot and should not compare your numbers to the numbers for books like this. You might, however, want to check out these books to see what teens are into if you write YA.

The Real Reason to Use Wattpad

But here’s the one thing you must accept: Most Wattpad readers are not going to buy your books. It’s just not going to happen for myriad reasons. I’ve had readers with low incomes thank me for posting quality fiction for free (for this I’ve been blessed by the names of strange gods). I have many young readers, too, who maybe don’t have the money or allowance, or live in nations where wealth isn’t so plentiful. I had one reader tell me that he was planning to buy my books after he finished saving up for a guitar. The hope is that they will share their love of my work with friends who do have money to spend on books with boy wizards, Asian settings, fetches that turn into diaries, and cat-girl ninjas.

Many Wattpadders who buy my books message me to let me know they’re supporting me, which is touching, and I always thank them profusely. I have a few fans who’ve bought my books yet still drop by to vote on new chapters and leave me comments on what they liked in the chapter. You really cannot get that kind of feedback anywhere else. I have had dark days brightened by my Wattpad fans and their enthusiasm. The comments on the chapters they love, the begging for more chapters when they know I’m only giving one each week, pestering me because I forgot to post … these are things I cherish.

Related Posts:

How to Connect with Readers Using Wattpad
How Do You Establish a Fan Base *Before* You Launch Your Book?
Trading Excerpts with Other Authors in the Back Matter of Your Ebook

A Full-time Indie Author Answers Your Questions: Part 1

I’ve gotten a lot of nice email since Forged in Blood II came out, but I’m woefully behind in my responses. A lot of them are related to my books, but because of this blog, I often get questions related to self-publishing and book promotion too. I thought I’d try to whack two birds with one stone (if you’d seen me throw, you’d be snickering at this notion) and share some of my answers here. Then the next time someone emails with one of these questions, I can point them to this post. (If you have any questions of your own, feel free to leave them in the comments below.)

Lindsay, I found your old post on earnings (here: March 2011 or here: “What Does It Take to Become a Full-Time Author?”) and was wondering how you’re doing now. It’s been a while since you posted sales numbers. Are you able to make a living writing now?

The short answer is yes. Because I’m writing quite a bit and publishing frequently (three novels and a novella this year), my earnings have continued to grow. My sales per individual books aren’t necessarily any better than they were a year or even two years ago, but I’ve managed to keep them fairly steady (about 400 sales per novel per month at Amazon, with another 100+ from other stores). Naturally the sales on a new release are higher and will be so for a few months, but it’s the steady sales of one’s back list that keep the income up between releases. For that, I credit my perma-free Book 1, the occasional advertising stint, and word-of-mouth recommendations from my awesome readers. For more details, check out my post on “How Do You Keep Your Book Sales Momentum Going Over the Months and Years?“.

As I often point out, I’m a mid-list author who writes books that appeal to a specific audience (those who enjoy female protagonists and an action-heavy mix of swords & sorcery and steampunk). You don’t have to chase the hottest genre or write for mass appeal to make a living as an indie author; you do have to write well enough to appeal to the people who enjoy your niche, and you do have to publish regularly to keep your name out there, especially when you’re first building up your fan base.

I don’t think I’ll be sharing exact sales/earnings numbers anymore, because my readers would probably stop sending me chocolates if they knew, but I’m making more now as an author than I used to in my day job. I’m sure sales would drop off a lot if I slowed down with the writing and publishing, but I enjoy telling stories, and I feel like quite the slacker on days where I don’t knock out any words.

I appreciate the time people like you and JA Konrath take to update your blog and offer advice to new authors, but you guys already have a fan base. I don’t know how helpful your advice is to those who are starting out new today.

I got a kick out of this comment, because the person mentioned me and JA Konrath in the same sentence. He was a big author earning six figures a month when I got started, and I’m not in his league, but I get the gist of the comment. And here’s my response:

Bull.

Trust me, I get it. When I published my first book in December of 2010, Amanda Hocking had made her bazillions, JA Konrath was raking it in, and Michael J. Sullivan was about to make a big deal with Orbit. Even though I’d just gotten my first Kindle, I realized I was coming into the game late. The 99-cent price point wasn’t working the magic it apparently had six months earlier, and there was more competition in the Kindle Store than when Hocking and the others first uploaded their ebooks. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but the whole idea of self-publishing appealed to me so much more than playing Agent Hunt and Wait, so I got started anyway. I sold about 30 ebooks that first month, most to people I’d begged or bribed to pick up a copy. A year later, I had four novels out, along with some short stories and novellas, and I’d hit my first goal (1,000 ebook sales in a month). I was starting to think I could make this my full-time job.

For those of you starting now, the tricks that worked six months ago don’t work now, and there’s a ton of competition in the Kindle Store. Sound familiar? That’s because it is. But I promise you that the same core things I did to gradually build a fan base still work. I never used KDP Select or any tricks to get ahead (it’s not because I’m above that sort of thing — it’s just that I wasn’t willing to go exclusive with Amazon, and none of the iffy gimmicks seemed wise to pursue to one who wants to make a career out of this).

My core marketing philosophy has been to give away stuff for free (on Podiobooks, on Wattpad, on Smashwords, on Amazon, and anywhere else I could), to make sure the free stuff is an obvious lead-in to my other books (AKA a Book 1 in a series), and to promote the freebies through advertising, guest blog posts/interviews, and social media. If you’re trying this and it’s not working, get some outside advice on your cover art, blurb, and novels. And keep writing. I published Book 3 in my series before I really started gaining some traction.

If you need more inspiration (and marketing ideas), check out the interviews I’ve done with folks who published for the first time this year (2013) and sold tons of books right out of the starting gates:

How Leeland Artra Is Rocking the Amazon Sales Charts with His First Book
How Sue London’s First Novel Became an Amazon Bestseller in a Couple of Weeks

It can happen. Not everyone is going to hit it big with their first book (most won’t), but I know that a lot of the people who are starting this year will be making a full-time income by 2015 or 2016. You can be one of those people, or you can take a defeatist attitude that it’s too late now to jump in.

How many ebooks do you have to sell a month to make a living?

How much you need to “make a living” is a different number for everybody. If you’re single without any debt and live in an inexpensive part of the country, it’s not going to be a very big number. If you’re married with children and want to support a spouse while you live in a coastal metropolis, it’s a different story.

You can do the numbers for yourself pretty easily though. For ebooks at 2.99 and above, you earn about 70% at Amazon (it’s less at Barnes & Noble and more at Smashwords). So 1,000 ebooks a month at 2.05 gets you a little over $2,000. Sell your books for $4.95 and you’ll make more than $3,000. Get up to 3,000 ebook sales a month, and now you’re talking.

That can seem like a ton of ebooks when you’re getting started, and it is if you only have one title out. It’s less daunting when you start thinking in terms of having 10 or 20 ebooks out, and if you want to make a career out of this, that’s probably where you’ll be eventually.

But as far as feeling like you’ve “made it” and you’re ready to quit your day job, it’s more important to cultivate your 1,000 true fans than have a good sales month here or there (as many who’ve been there can tell you, success can be fleeting if it came as a fluke and you didn’t take advantage of it by turning casual readers into true fans). When you have a certain number of people who will buy anything you publish, that’s when you can start to feel secure in your continued ability to write for a living. Publishing tends to be a cyclical business, but when you start to know that a book release is good for X sales, then you can predict what your income will look like for the next and beyond.

That’s enough for this post. Any comments or questions you’d like to see addressed in the future? Please chime in below!

Related Posts:

Indie Writing and Traditional Storytelling with Alan Dean
Self-Publishing Basics: Focus on One Book Series or Start Multiple Series?
How Do You Establish a Fan Base *Before* You Launch Your Book?

Tips for Getting a Movie Deal as an Independent Author (with Lisa Grace)

It seems that most authors love the idea of seeing their books on the big screen — and the extra income from selling book rights to a movie producer doesn’t hurt either. But is a possibility as an independent author? Sure, you say, sell enough books and they’ll come knocking on your door, but do you have to sell zillions and become as famous as Amanda Hocking or Hugh Howey before someone approaches you?

Well, it happened to indie author Lisa Grace. She not only sold the rights to her books, but the first one is in production now. She’s here today to give some tips for those authors who’re hoping to see their characters being played by their favorite actors.

Getting a Movie Deal as an Independent Author with Lisa Grace

Can you tell us about what made you decide to self-publish and the events that led up to the movie deal?

Thanks Lindsay for having me as a guest on your blog. I decided I would self publish on May 23rd, 2011 as an ebook after getting some interest from an agent who said he would shop around my book. Seven months later he tells me he was too busy with other clients and never got around to approaching anyone, but he thought it was good and he didn’t want me taking it to someone else. Luckily, I’d been writing book 2 in the meantime. So I self published them as ebooks only seven weeks apart. I made it to #1 on the Amazon sub genre lists for teen horror in the Kindle store, which is where two movie producers saw. it. It was bumped to #2 by the 1983 book , A Woman in Black which was being made into a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe, AKA Harry Potter.

Movie producers do look at the best seller genre lists to find books that interest them. I went with the one I felt offered the best chance of getting the movie made. Motion Picture Pro Studios.

A few months later they sent me the contract, I hired an entertainment lawyer, and a few months after that, I had signed an option agreement for the first two books in my series. Angel in the Shadows, Book 1 is currently free at all major ebook retailers if your readers want to check it out. Motion Picture Pro Studios “exercised” the option, and the project is currently in development.

I think people assume you have to be a mega-seller to attract these guys. Do you mind sharing how many books you were selling at the time? Or perhaps how visible your books were (Top XX at Amazon?)?

Being at the top in your genre is important. They have to feel passionate about the project, and feel it will translate well to film. I’m very much a mid lister. I’ve made it to #13 in the free ranks back in the days when you could move 12,000 a day outside the romance genre. I’m not sure that’s as easy to do now. I slid in fairly high to the paid ranks coming off of free, but never stayed on op top of all Kindle books for very long. At that time, the only place my ebooks were available was on Amazon. I only opened distribution this year in December 2012, to more book stores.

Do producers always find your book on their own and come to you, or are you aware of any ways a moderately successful indie author can get in contact with them and suggest their title?

Producers are like book agents. They get pitched to all the time. They want to find projects on their own, and do. After all, it has to be something they feel passionate about. Shoot. I wish I could get them to be interested in all my books! I’d love to have everything I write optioned for a movie, but that isn’t likely to happen.

Every deal I know about, it’s been either a book agent pitching it to a director (who will read it first) or the producer reading the book and loving it.

You seem to have gained quite a bit of insight into how and why books get picked up. What genres or types of stories are more likely to attract producers?

It depends on what the producers like. Some skip around different genres, some stick with one. They’re just people who know what they like and what they can do with a project. Your best bet is to write a good book that makes it to the top of its genre so those who might be interested find it and read it. Also, some authors do have producers coming back to them again and again, because they’re writing books that will translate well to film.

In your guest post, you suggested writing, “A Simple Story in Seventy to One Hundred Scenes.” Can you talk a little about that for my audience here?

There are certain authors who get their books optioned all the time, because they write books that will translate well to film. By the way, you won’t be hearing from them, because they’ve got a wonderful second income coming in from optioning their stuff, and they don’t want you moving in on their market. I’ve heard from many of them privately.

One idea that helps is the “man in the box” type of writing, where scenes are set in one location. It makes a movie cheaper to shoot. Most movies are not huge blockbusters, and costs are a consideration.

Write a novel that can be broken down into seventy to one hundred scenes. Most movies are only going to be between an hour and half to two hours. There is a market for selling movies to TV and cable, after commercial release, and if your story takes longer to tell, your chances of getting a deal decrease. These suggestions come directly from producers (the money people with all the power, they sign the checks) that I’ve had discussions with.

You’ll get authors and scriptwriters who aren’t selling their stuff who disagree (I know because I’ve heard from them too), but I think I’ll listen to the ones signing the checks and so do the authors who are getting one book after the other optioned.

If there’s any parting advice you’d like to share, please feel free to do so.

Write the best book you can. Then write the next one. “See” your books as a movie in your head. Do think about costs when planning out settings. For instance, setting a book on a sinking cruise ship is a lot more expensive than setting it in a forest.

Watch movies in your genre (not block busters, but those with budgets of 2mil to 25mil) and take them apart scene by scene, so you get an idea of what a novel would need to include to translate well. I’d also suggest praying as it can’t hurt. Enjoy the journey because even if your book is optioned, it may never make it into development, and if it makes it into development, it may not make into pre-production. Movie making is a loooong process, so once you sign your option, kiss your baby goodbye, and start working on the next one.

~

Visit Lisa and check out all of her books on her website, or hop over to Amazon or Smashwords to grab copies.

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Forged in Blood II (The Final Emperor’s Edge Book) Is Available

The last novel in The Emperor’s Edge story line is ready to go. I’ve posted the first couple of chapters and the cover art here, in case you’d like a preview, but if you want to pick it up right now, it’s available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and Kobo (Apple coming soon).

Thank you all for coming with me on this journey. I hope you’ll enjoy the last part of the team’s adventures and will find the ending satisfying. That said, there’s a link to a poll at the end of the book. Please let me know if you want to see more from these characters in the future.

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How Fanfiction Made Me a Better Author with Carolynn Gockel

In the Emperor’s Edge world, I’ve sent the final manuscript in the series off to the editor. It should be ready to publish by the end of July. In the blog world, I haven’t been getting many posts up. So, what’s new? Today, though, I have something for you, a guest poster to talk to you about a topic I don’t know much about: fan fiction and using it to improve your writing skills and build a readership.

50 Shades of Spock/Uhura: How fanfiction made me (an accidental) a better author

My name is Carolynn Gockel. I write stories about myths, modern and ancient.  I got my start writing fanfiction. And I am not ashamed.

The word fanfiction generally conjures one of a few reactions in people. The first is, “What is that?” The second is, “Like 50 Shades of Gray? Like porn?” And lastly, “Errr…isn’t fanfiction just really, really bad?”

To the first, fanfiction is stories written about other stories–whether movies, tv shows, books or comics, games, and occasionally real-life people.

As to the second, is it porn? Errr…a lot of it is, yes.

As to the question of quality, I don’t like to think of most fanfiction as bad; I like to think of it as immature. Most of the authors are in their teens or early twenties. They don’t have a lot of experience with life, let alone with writing. But it’s not bad that they are trying to explore life and writing through fanfiction…even if the result is sometimes “immature” porn.

Get to the part where it made you a better author!

Right. Well, first, understand I’m not someone who ever thought I’d want to write fiction. It happened by accident. I was captivated by the romance of Spock/Uhura in Star Trek 2009. I loved how it tweaked the notion of destiny. I liked how it combined one of my favorite genres, sci-fi, with just a little more romance than usual. Trolling the intertubes for Spock/Uhura, I first discovered fanfiction. I found some amazing stories that didn’t fit the description of porn or immature writing.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find enough stories to sate my appetite. So I started writing my own. It was a game at first. Just as most fanfiction authors are young, so is the audience. I wondered if a story that showed Spock and Uhura behaving in a professional manner, rather than gobsmacked on the bridge, could ever get traction. So I typed a short story up one evening, posted it, and waited. Almost to my surprise, the reviews I got were great. And then I wondered what else I could get away with. Specifically, if a story that snuck big philosophical ideas into a romance aimed at a general audience–most of them young–could ever get traction. (‘Cause big philosophical ideas don’t seem to get me much traction in casual conversation).

I wrote Descartes Error, a Spock/Uhura fanfiction that took its name from Antonio Damasio’s Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. Despite being a bit rambling, in the fanfiction world it was a hit.

I was hooked. I discovered I loved poking fun at our modern myths, and I loved playing with big ideas: philosophical, scientific, psychological and political in the context of a story that could be action packed, emotionally moving, and fun.

In the end I wrote more than 50 novels, novellas, and short stories. In the process I made fans, and more importantly, made fans who enjoyed my work but could be honest and critical. They helped me keep my characters true and my stories humming along. As deep and as meaningful as I’d like my work to be, the last thing I want is to be boring.

Big deal! You could have gotten that from a writers group

Well, maybe. I would argue that my work which combines action, romance, fantasy and science fiction might have been hard to find a writers group for. By writing fanfiction in my chosen genres–sci-fi and fantasy–I was able to meet like minds.

But there is one thing that writing and posting fanfiction can get me that a writers group can’t– stats. That’s right. Numbers, Baby!

I can see how many people are reading my stories, what stories they’re reading, what chapters in the stories perked their interests, and when I let them down. I can tell which stories are well read, but aren’t getting a lot of reviews. Different fandoms (i.e. fan followings, such as for Star Trek reboot, Star Trek TOS, Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc) are more responsive than others. This is important when making the transition from fanfiction to original fiction. People who don’t review still buy stories.

Click on the image for some more blow by blow analysis of a recent “novel” I wrote for the “Thor” fandom, called Blue.

Stats don’t just let me see the mind of other authors, they let me see the minds of everyone.

Fanfiction is my sandbox

Fanfiction is a great place to see just how far you can push ideas in your stories and how you can maintain your readers’ interest. It is great place to test out plot devices you may encounter while writing original fiction.

What fanfiction is not

Fanfiction is not the best way to market your original fiction. I’ve gotten perhaps 100 solid customers from my fanfiction writing, and about six editors whose opinions I trust. But most people reading fanfiction are reading it because there is a world they are interested in exploring. They aren’t interested in your world. (A bit of advice: if you write for different fandoms you’ll pick up readers in each genre who will like your writing so much they’ll “follow” you into fandoms they don’t care about–those readers will read your original stories with gusto. If you are going to write fanfiction, writing a variety of different story types in a variety of different fandoms is best).

Still, as a fun, inexpensive way to gain experience writing, without leaving your house, it is great.

The outer limits of fanfiction

When I started writing fanfiction I was preoccupied with ideas of love and logic. Spock/Uhura was perfect for that. But that perfection began to break down when I was interested in exploring other types of love beyond romantic. My first original short story, Murphy’s Star explored logic and other types of love.

Another issue with fanfiction is that the fandom you write for has expectations in their fiction. Most fanfiction audiences are female.  They may like action in their movies and books, but they’ve already gotten that from the source material. In their fanfiction they’re usually looking for an exploration of romances that were not the focus in the plot of the original story. I like a little more action with my romance, and that can be a harder sell. (Which isn’t to say it can’t be done!)

Finally, writing for a fandom, you’re confined by the characters and situations in that fandom. After a while it becomes too restricting.

These reasons are why, after approximately 3 years, every fanfiction author who has been writing consistently goes professional–whether through traditional publishing or self-publishing.

After love and logic I became enamored with chaos–probably because I have children. At first I played in Marvel’s universe with Loki, “God” of chaos, but Marvel’s Loki is an emotional wreck with daddy issues. He is supposed to be the embodiment of chaos…I think chaos is much more than that, and I also think chaos can be wonderful.

My latest original fiction series, I Bring the Fire, is based on Norse Mythology’s Loki. It is a romp through the realms, antiquity and the modern era, and a wink at myths ancient and new. It’s also, covertly, a celebration of chaos.

One last thing fanfiction taught me

If you keep writing, you will get better. And each time you stretch your wings–or fingers–to try a new genre, you’ll pick up more readers. I Bring the Fire hasn’t let me quit my day job, but my fans love it, and I love writing it. I don’t know that I’ll ever be a best selling author–I’m too quirky–action, adventure, fantasy, romance, humor and Rhyle’s refutation of Descartes’ mind body dualism with a dash of quantum physics on the side? It’s not Twilight. But if I keep at it, I’ll find more and more like minded quirky readers.

About the (Accidental) Author

C. Gockel makes a living designing and coding. The first book in her series, I Bring the Fire is available FREE at: Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Apple. Her short story, Murphy’s Star, is available here: Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble. She can be found on Tumblr and writes as Startrekfanwriter on fanfiction.net.

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Is Using a Free Ebook Still a Viable Strategy for Increasing Overall Sales on Amazon?

Before Christmas of 2011, I made the first book in my Emperor’s Edge series free at Amazon (by setting it to free at Smashwords, Kobo, and other stores that allow the practice, which in turn can cause Amazon to “price match” an ebook to free), and it was shortly after that that I was able to quit the day job and start writing full time. Lots of people who wouldn’t have otherwise tried a new author (and a self-published one at that) downloaded the free Book 1 and went on to buy other books in the series. My sales had been respectable before, especially for someone who’d only been in the biz for a year, but this gave them a nice boost that persisted over the following months.

Shortly after that, Amazon came out with its KDP Select program, one that gave authors some perks if they were willing to make their ebooks exclusive to the Kindle Store. Among other things, those authors could make their books free for up to 5 days out of the quarter, allowing them to buy advertising and run other promotions to get lots of folks to download the books during the free days. A big number of downloads tended to help sales (paid sales) when the book returned to its usual price, because these downloads were counted as sales (or partial sales) and gave the book a boost on the popularity charts. As you might imagine, there were suddenly a lot of free ebooks available on Amazon.

This made more competition for those of us who had used the back door (price-matching) method to list our ebooks as permanently free, but it didn’t effect my bottom line much. I could run the same promotions and buy the same advertising that the KDP Select folks did.

All the free ebooks resulted in something of a backlash from Amazon though. They’ve taken some measures of late to make freebies less visible in the store, perhaps because they don’t make anything on those downloads.

Top 100 “Free” Charts Less Visible

For quite a while, Amazon was showing the Top 100 free ebooks in any given category side-by-side with the Top 100 non-free ebooks. This meant that if I ran a promotion for my Book 1, and it reached the Top 10 free in epic fantasy, it would appear right alongside all those G.R.R. Martin books dominating the paid charts.

Lately, Amazon has made a small change that requires a person to click “Top 100 Free” in a given category to be taken to that section. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but this has resulted in a lot fewer downloads for me (and for other authors I’ve talked to who have perma-free titles). You’ve basically got a situation where the only people who are going to find your free ebook are the ones specifically looking for free ebooks (who might not be the best candidates to go on to buy other books you’ve written), whereas before I’d guess you got a lot of people from both sides of the fence. Even those who don’t mind paying $5-$10 for an ebook might try a freebie with good reviews, if they happen to see it.

As far as overall books sales go, I’m still doing fine (I have more books out in my series now, and the other books must appear often enough around Amazon that people find their way to the first book, even if they’re not scouring the free charts), but I’ve heard from other authors who are lamenting the lowered visibility, because their overall sales have taken a big hit.

Free Ebooks Don’t Appear in Also-Boughts of Non-Free Books

You guys can correct me if I’m wrong on this one, but I seem to remember a time when free and non-free books could appear in the also-boughts for any given book. I haven’t seen that for some time. If you look at The Emperor’s Edge (my freebie) on Amazon, you’ll see that all of my non-free ebooks appear in the also-boughts, but if you look at the second book in the series, you won’t see Book 1 anywhere in the also-boughts, even though people obviously would have “purchased” the first before buying the others.

What this means is that it’s entirely possible for the average person to never stumble across your ebook on Amazon, no matter how highly rated or how often it’s been downloaded, because it’s free. Only people who go looking for free ebooks have a chance at finding it.

Well, you think, these changes just mean you’ll have to work harder to drive more people to your free book; you can’t depend on Amazon helping you sell it. Unfortunately, it’s gotten harder to find places to promote freebies too.

Fewer Advertising Opportunities for Free Ebooks

There used to be a lot of sites that promoted these bargain books, and you could get a lot of downloads by buying an ad with such-and-such blog or email newsletter.

Earlier this year, Amazon made a change to its affiliate program, basically telling people that if a lot of their revenue came via click-throughs on free ebooks, their income would be forfeit for the month. A number of the big sites have made changes because of this, and there aren’t as many places to promote your freebie.

Also, those KDP Select post-free sales boosts I mentioned? The reason so many people started trying short bursts of free? To use gaming terminology, they’ve been nerfed. (I never joined KDP Select so can’t say I experienced them first hand anyway, but I’ve heard from many people that they’re not seeing bumps of any kind any more.)

So… Should we Ditch Free on Amazon? Or Can It Still be Effective?

It’s hard to say yes or no here. You’ll ultimately get more people checking out your work if there’s no cost to try it, but if they can’t find your book, it might not matter.

Personally, I am still getting downloads to my Book 1 on Amazon, but it’s hard to know how much of that is from people surfing through the free lists and how much is a result of the visibility of my other titles. I honestly don’t know if I’d do better or worse by simply making the first book a deal (say 99 cents) instead of free. I’m not planning to change the price on EE1, so I won’t find out any time soon (free still helps me out in all the other stores out there, and I personally like having a freebie that I can direct people to), at least not with this series. Because of all these changes, I am, however, planning on a 99-cent Book 1 for the next series. That will give me a chance to compare.

What are your thoughts on using free ebooks to drive sales at Amazon for other titles? Has the ship sailed? Or is it still a good idea?

 

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How Can You Sell More Books Through Your Blog?

A lot of authors start blogs because of a vague notion that they should, that it’s part of “building a platform” and that it can help sell more books. Is it? Can it? Sure, though, for fiction authors in particular, one can argue that it might be more efficient (and financially rewarding) to put that time into writing more books instead.

Buuut, let’s assume you’re going to blog. How can you make sure your blog is doing everything it can to help you sell books? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Monitor which sales come through your blog in the first place

If you don’t know, you’re simply guessing as to your blog’s effectiveness. It’s true that Amazon and the other book sellers aren’t going to make this easy by telling you which sales originated from clicks on your blog, but if you sign up for the various affiliate programs out there and use those links, you can see how many sales come from your site each day (and you might make a few dollars from other things people buy at the same time, eh?).

You can also use services such as Bit.ly to see how many times certain links on your site are being clicked. If a lot of people are clicking through to an excerpt but nobody’s buying the book… you might want to choose a better excerpt. For WordPress users, you can go a step further and install the Pretty Link plugin. This lets you make trackable links, similarly to Bit.ly, but the links will appear to originate from your domain name. (People can be wary about clicking bit.ly links because they can’t tell where it’ll take them.)

2. Put the sales links to your books in a prominent place on every page of your blog

In other words, make them part of the menu. Use the cover art as well as text links and make the cover art clickable (since the earliest day of the web, we’ve been trained to click on pictures, so it’s an utter waste if clicking on your cover art only takes a person to a larger version of your cover art — or doesn’t do anything at all). Since Amazon is the biggest online store and accounts for the majority of my ebook sales, I make my cover links point to Amazon, but you could also point them to an excerpt on your own site (one that includes links to all the stores).

By having your sales links on every page, you can catch the eye of someone who surfs in via the search engines and lands on a post you did two years ago. It also ensures that people who want to jump right to downloading a sample of your book (or even buying it) can do so without hunting around your site. I can’t tell you how often I’ve simply said, “Forget it,” after clicking through about three layers of an author’s site and still not finding the Amazon link for the book. I also recommend that you not waste someone’s time by sending them to Bookbuzzer or some third party widget site. Your links should go right to the store where the reader has his/her credit card information stored.

3. When appropriate, link to your books from within your blog posts

If you’re lucky enough to get people to subscribe to your blog, remember that they may be reading your updates from a third-party RSS feed aggregator. That means they’ll only see the blog post, none of the stuff in the menu. Linking to the book right in the post lets them easily click to its excerpt or sales page.

Also, there are still scraper sites out there that will steal your content and post it as their own. These sites usually steal verbatim, links included. It’s unlikely they’re getting much traffic, but just in case someone stumbles across you that way, it’ll help to have a link back to your blog or to your book sales page in the content.

4. Increase traffic to your blog

This is the answer to a lot of questions, including, “Why aren’t I selling any books from my blog?” There are encyclopedias devoted to the subject, but the basics are:

Write content that’s useful for people (it should answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” for your visitor).
Work on getting more links to your site, via other blogs, social media sites, etc. The more links there are pointing to your site, the more weight Google will give it, and the more traffic you’ll receive from people’s searches. Of course, visitors can also surf in from the sites that are linking to you as well.

5. Make sure you’re writing for your target audience

Yea, yea, this blog is mostly about self-publishing instead of about fantasy or steampunk or the books my target audience reads, but I’ve found that there’s enough overlap (lots of writers are readers too) that I sell quite a few books via my blog. It also happens to be what I’m interested in (more so than reviewing new fantasy books or something of that ilk), so it’s working for me. That said, I also include excerpts from upcoming releases, do interviews with characters, and post snippets from cut scenes now and then. And it works for me.

My warning here is that you’re probably not going to get as many sales from writing about something unrelated to your books as you would if your books and your blog were closely linked.

What about personal blogs? Stories about the adventures of your kids and your dogs? Can they sell books? If you think you have a Dave Barry-like gift for making entertaining observations about the real world, these could certainly attract people and get them enthusiastic enough about your writing style to buy books. That said, you’ll probably find it easier to get links from other sites and increase traffic to your own by posting articles that are genuinely useful for people. In most cases when you see popular personal blogs by authors, they’re popular because the person had already become something of a celebrity from his/her books before jumping onto the blog bandwagon.

So, there you go, five ways to sell more books through your blog. Do you have any other suggestions for the authors in the house?

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New Old Short Story — Degrees of Delusion

I know you guys are patiently waiting for the Emperor’s Edge finale, and I did send the manuscript off to my beta readers, so things are moving right along. In the meantime, if you’re curious to read something I wrote about ten years ago (yes, before Amaranthe existed even in my mind!), I decided to dig out an old story that I once sold to a small (read: itty bitty) press for a mercenary-themed anthology. Alas, the press bit it before the book was published (and the authors were paid), and my story never saw the light of day.

With most “trunk” stories from back in the day, I don’t have any interest in foisting them on the unsuspecting public, but, years later, I still like this one (even if the Glen Cook “Black Company” influence is rather obvious!). So… I asked Shelley over at Holloway House to proof read it and had Glendon over at Streetlight Graphics muster up a cover, and I’m putting it out there on my own.

“Degrees of Delusion” is a long short story (no, that’s not an oxymoron — really!), coming in just under 10,000 words (I distinctly remember having to snip, snip a lot to get it below that requirement for the anthology), and is priced at 99 cents (unless you’re subscribed to my newsletter, in which case you’ve already received a coupon to grab it free from Smashwords). The story isn’t related to any of my other published works, but you can find my usual humor and adventure in there, as always.

If you want to give it a try, here’s the blurb and an excerpt:

Degrees of Delusion

Amazon | Kobo | Smashwords (Barnes & Noble and Apple coming soon)

Blurb

After being publicly shamed and kicked out of the imperial service academy, Fortis chose to serve in the only other way possible: as a mercenary.

Working far from the boundaries of his homeland, he never thought he’d have anything to do with the empire again… until a powerful wizard hires the company to destroy an imperial outpost. Fortis must choose between betraying his captain and comrades or firing on the very men he once dreamed of joining.

Excerpt

The cannonball slammed into the water three feet from the bow of our clipper. The deck rocked. The black powder I was pouring missed the muzzle of my rifle and trickled onto my hand. I cursed.

Barefoot sailors scurried past, grumbling as they tripped over the soldiers crowding the deck. They would stop complaining once we closed to grappling range and the company became useful—if we closed. The pirate ship seemed content to lob cannonballs from a distance.

Musket and pistol shots began peppering the air. Too much water separated us; their accuracy would be horrendous.

A shot thudded into the railing above my head. Wood splintered like bone cracking. I reminded myself luck counted for as much as accuracy. Being shot at was a familiar experience, but it set my heart galloping regardless. I cursed again and flicked shards of wood from my hair.

“Why so grouchy, Fortis?” Akari chirped from my side. She is one of only three women in the company, tough enough to march from dawn to dusk with sixty pounds on her back. And crazy enough to love this sort of thing.

I issued my best glower, alas somewhat diminished by the sawdust trickling into my eyes. “Our mission isn’t supposed to start until we get to the island.” I pulled a ball out of my ammo pouch. “I shouldn’t be fighting pirates. I’m an engineer. I studied at—”

“The Academy,” Akari interrupted, “the most competitive school in the empire where you were trained to be an officer in the Imperial Army. Really, Fortis. The way you work your education into every conversation is shameless.”

“I, er—” I cleared my throat. “That’s Corporal Fortis now, remember? You’re not supposed to be dressing me down.”

“Forgive me, Corporal.” Akari’s dark eyes twinkled. “You never did explain why they kicked you out.” She was loading her own weapons, a musket and two pistols. Her black-skinned hands moved with swift competence.

I peeked over the rail. Our merchant ship was closing with the pirate ship, but had not reached a range worth shooting across. I preferred not to take a shot until I knew I could hit.

“I had a relationship with another cadet. We kept it quiet, since they don’t approve of that sort of thing. But then we got stupid. There was an incident on a parade field that was supposed to be empty, but wasn’t….” I caught Akari’s smirk, scowled, and rushed the rest, “Anyway, I did it to myself. Drunk and horny make an unadvisable combination.”

“Four years at the highly vaunted Imperial Academy and you couldn’t figure that out without the benefit of an audience?”

“It was five years, and—”

Another cannonball rocked the ship—closer this time. How long until the pirates had our range down? And why did we only have one cannon while they had a bank of four on each side? Cursed second-rate merchant ship.

“Corporal Fortis!” The captain’s bark cut through the chaos like a musket ball through smoke. “Get over here.”

I gave Akari a good luck pat on the shoulder, then scampered across the deck, hunching to keep my head out of the line of fire. I darted up the stairs to the forecastle. The captain crouched against the rail nearest the pirate ship, his scarred, hulking form reminiscent of a thug rather than an officer. Lieutenant Jorres squatted at his side.

My grousing forgotten, I slumped down beside them and glanced back and forth, eager to be part of whatever plan they had.

“That thing loaded?” The captain jerked a thumb at my rifle.

“Yes, sir.”

“Show us you’re worth your pay, Corporal.”

“Any particular target?” Unfortunately, the siding of the pirate ship protected the men at the cannons.

“The officers,” Lieutenant Jorres said, even as the captain said, “The sail.”

“The sail?” Jorres asked.

I caught on. Our cannons had torn through the rigging of the middle sail on their main mast, and it hung by a couple of ropes.

I concentrated on the rise and fall of the ship, sighted, and fired. The pan flashed and smoke bled from the muzzle. My ball sliced through the target. The captain handed me his rifle, and I aimed at another rope. Hit. I wiped sweaty palms on my trousers, then repeated the motion with Jorres’s weapon. The heavy sail crumpled to their deck, burying half the scurrying crew and temporarily smothering two out of the four cannons.

“Nice shooting,” the captain said.

“Huh.” Lieutenant Jorres chortled. “That was almost as fine as watching a woman’s dress drop to the floor.” He thumped me on the back. “Not that you’ve seen that.”

“Oh, I’ve seen you in your dress, sir.” I flashed a smile.

He clenched his jaw, and the tendons in his thick neck leaped to attention.

“Cocky git, isn’t he?” the captain asked.

“Yes,” Jorres growled. “Don’t know why you promoted him, sir. Just because he can shoot doesn’t mean he can lead.”

“We’ll see.”

A cannonball sailed over the deck, reminding us we still had work to do. The captain handed me his reloaded rifle and told me to pick off anyone giving orders. We started a routine, the captain and Jorres loading, me firing. With grim satisfaction, I watched the distant figures pitch over. Given a choice between killing or subduing, I’d prefer the latter, but if the captain wanted someone dead, I would make him dead. The others respect the captain because he’s big and tough; I respect him because he beats me four out of five games at Strat-tics. Either way, we jump to obey his orders.

Around the deck, our men formed knots and followed our example. While the pirates struggled to push their errant sail out of the way, our ammo tore through their cadre. Smoke hazed the air and stung my eyes, but I kept firing.

The pirates gave up. They slunk away having never closed to boarding range.

The sailors cheered and whooped. Our men yawned and feigned boredom. We’re professionals, after all.

The captain gathered Lieutenant Jorres and his senior non-coms. They had been planning our mission before the pirates’ appearance. I raised hopeful eyebrows.

“Yeah,” the captain told me. “You can join us.”

We gathered around a crate. Four pistols pinned the corners of a map against the wind.

“Here’s the situation,” the captain said. “The desert’s wizard-rulers have formed an alliance. Again.”

We chuckled. Nothing new there.

“This time, they’re planning to take on the empire.”

We sobered. That was new.

“We’re leading the first attack, taking the imperial outpost on Kershan Island.”

I cleared my throat. “Sir…the empire? Those wizards don’t have a chance. The emperor matches their power, and he’s got more troops, superior resources and organization.” I grew up in the empire. How could I attack an outpost manned by the army I had been trained to serve in? “Should we be considering this?”

Lieutenant Jorres scowled at me. “It’s the job. You don’t question it, you just do it.”

Surprisingly, the captain’s eyes were more sympathetic. I don’t know his past, but he has my bronze skin and black hair, and the vestiges of an imperial accent.

“There wasn’t a choice,” he said.

“Oh.” That meant we had been drafted by some wizard who could arrange our deaths quite easily if we did not comply.

“Our orders are to capture the outpost and hold it for two weeks. That’s it. After that, our employer will arrive with his own troops. They’ll be responsible for repelling further imperial attacks.”

“After we handle the dangerous part,” a sergeant grumbled.

The captain spread his hand, palm up as if to say, “That’s what we do.” He prodded the map. “The outpost faces a harbor on the western side of Kershan Island. We’re coming in from the southeast.” He circumnavigated the egg-shaped land mass with a callused finger. “There aren’t many beaches. The closest we can put ashore is here,” he stabbed a border along the southern edge of the island, “and march the rest of the way. With the rugged terrain, it’ll take a week to get to the outpost.”

“Why can’t we sail directly there?” someone asked.

“The harbor is shallow. Ships have to anchor in the depths, out of cannon range, then send their cargo in on longboats. We only have four boats. Would you care to port three hundred men back and forth while imperial soldiers fire on us?”

“No, sir.”

“Could we sneak in at night?” Lieutenant Jorres asked.

Aware of my background, the captain glanced at me. I confirmed his doubt with a headshake.

“The Imperial Army is not infallible,” the captain said, “but it is competent. The harbor will be watched day and night.”

“Marching it is,” Jorres sighed.

The captain’s eyes crinkled. He probably looked forward to a rigorous march after a week at sea.

“A small advance party,” the captain said, “will stay onboard. The ship will drop them off at the outpost. We’ve brought cases of alcohol. Our men will pose as traders. While they’re selling their wares, they’ll also be figuring a way to eliminate the sentries and let us through the gate at midnight on…” he traced the route of their march, “let’s say the seventh night.”

“Will we be killing all the soldiers stationed there?” I asked.

“There’s a four-cell jail block in the bottom of the headquarters building and that’s it. We can hardly let four hundred imperial soldiers wander free on their parole.”

I nodded glumly and reminded myself these people had ousted me from their army; I owed them no allegiance.

“The outpost is walled and guarded by cannons,” the captain continued. “They outnumber us, so it’s imperative we have surprise on our side.”

“Who do you have in mind for the advance party?” Jorres asked.

“Fortis.”

“Eh?” I said eloquently.

The captain’s eyebrows rose. “Do you want to lead it?”

Usually, I enjoy missions that require thinking rather than blowing things up. But could I do it this time? When it meant betraying my homeland?

The captain was watching me, eyes unreadable. He is difficult to know. I have seen him face down tyrants, beat unbeatable odds, and make us believe we can do the impossible. Among a company of mostly illiterate thugs, he owns a collection of books ranging from military strategy and history to philosophy and poetry. I want very much to know him better, to earn his trust and respect, to be more than a subordinate. Perhaps this was my chance.

“Yes, sir,” I said, then shrugged as if the matter concerned me little. “If it’ll get me out of a march, I’m your man.”

“Seven days, Fortis,” the captain reiterated. “I want the gate open for us on the seventh night.”

 

* * *

 

The sun peered over the forest and drove away lingering shadows in the harbor. The outpost loomed above the beach, walled and imposing. On all sides, the grass had been shorn away, leaving only finger-length stubble, too short to hide encroaching invaders. Similarly, the fat evergreens beyond the grass had been cleared for a mile in each direction.

Before we had rowed halfway to the dock, a squad of soldiers appeared, wearing imperial black with gold piping. They carried muskets and knives, and watched our approach with alert eyes.

Despite the cool morning breeze, sweat dribbled down my back. I rubbed the two-days’ growth on my chin, wondering if it made me look like a civilian or like a soldier trying to look like a civilian.

Akari, rowing at my side, portrayed calm I did not feel. Fang and Archer—one a hunter of men, one a hunter of animals, both renowned for their stealth—rowed a second longboat. The Gorelli twins, skilled fighters, sat one each in the bows. Sailors accompanied us to row their boats back after we unloaded. Then the ship would disappear, leaving us alone among enemies.

I leaned close to Akari. “Make sure you don’t get caught anywhere without one of us with you.”

“Why?”

“There’re hundreds of soldiers stationed here, and if I recall correctly, their assignments last a year. Families aren’t allowed, so unless there are some female traders, you may be the only woman on the island. That’s a little… tempting.”

She lifted her chin. “I can take care of myself.”

“Maybe so, but why chance drawing unwanted attention by setting yourself up for a fight when you can avoid it altogether?”

Akari acknowledged the wisdom with a clipped nod, then she smiled a bit. “Thanks for choosing me for this mission.”

“Sure.”

“I don’t get to do this sort of thing very often. Most of the company sees the women as liabilities, no matter how many times we prove otherwise.”

Did she realize I was just as prejudiced, only I condemned people based on their intelligence rather than sex? Maybe it didn’t matter to her, since my judgments came out in her favor.

Quietly, she added, “Sometimes you get so used to proving yourself that you forget to be yourself.”

“Mm. Quite.”

Our boats bumped against the dock. A soldier with corporal’s rank stepped forward, carrying a clipboard and pen.

“Morning, Corporal,” I said.

His eyes widened. Had I messed up already? Would a civilian merchant know a soldier’s rank from the pin at his collar? I hid my unease by gesturing for my comrades to tie the boats.

“State your purpose,” the corporal said, after I hopped onto the smooth wooden planks of the dock.

“Merchants, here to sell our cargo.”

“Which is?”

“Alcohol. Various spirits to please a variety of tastes.”

The squad of soldiers brightened and began chattering amongst themselves. The corporal waved them to silence.

“Anything else?”

“Just our baggage.”

The corporal scribbled on his pad, then told us to unload. Once we had crates and gear on the dock, his men searched us and our belongings. I clasped my hands behind my back to keep from wringing them. The company had kept our military-issue gear, powder, and firearms, but I worried the imperials would find something we had overlooked. They seemed more interested in our cargo than our belongings, though. They poked at bottles and casks, musing about samples, though under the corporal’s stern eye, none of their hands strayed. I wished they would stray, give me some excuse to dislike them. It’s always easier to kill miscreants than people just doing their jobs.

The soldiers apparently found nothing suspicious in our cargo, though they raised their eyebrows at the number of knives they discovered stashed on Fang. I threw him an exasperated look when the eighth blade, an ugly serrated thing, clunked to the dock.

“Extensive armory,” the corporal commented.

“He’s my bodyguard,” I said.

The corporal let us keep one knife each and had his men confiscate the rest. He said we could pick them up before we shipped out. We did not complain.

The corporal handed me the clipboard. “Sign here.”

I hesitated. My father still lived in the empire—I did not want my exploits here to make trouble for him—so I scrawled the name of a cadet who had died during training exercises my third summer at the Academy. Two thousand miles away, it seemed unlikely anyone would have heard of him here, and it was a name I would have no trouble remembering.

The corporal sent his men marching up the beach, then told me, “Watch out for your woman.”

“Trouble with that sort of thing here?”

“Has been in the past.” As an afterthought, he added, “Watch out for yourself as well.”

“What?”

He snorted. “You’re prettier than she is.”

Before I could think of a reply, he clomped after his men. The Gorelli brothers chortled at this proclamation. Even my dour hunters looked amused.

“Oh, be quiet,” I said. “Let’s get this stuff up the beach.”

Akari elbowed me and grinned. “Make sure you don’t get caught anywhere alone.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The interior of the outpost had the same fastidious, martial feel as the exterior. The familiar scent of lye soap trickled from an open door. It would not be a military base without someone somewhere cleaning.

Three other visiting merchants had stalls in the small marketplace. A gaggle of off-duty soldiers gathered outside our booth before we finished unpacking. I left my comrades to set up, then grabbed Fang and went to rent rooms. Every man we passed wore imperial blacks and carried weapons. Every man we passed would have killed us if he knew our thoughts. No reason to be nervous.

When we returned, even more soldiers loitered. Akari threw me a worried look. I opened my mouth to inquire, but a strong arm clamped onto my shoulder.

“You Henaer Absillon?” a sergeant asked, naming the pseudonym I had signed on the clipboard.

“Yes.”

“You’re under arrest.”

* * *

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