Brian Harmon's Blog, page 6

Why Indie?

Why do I self-publish?  Why set my work adrift in the uncertain seas of the independent author market when I could hand it over to a traditional publishing company?  Why do I single-handedly shoulder the sometimes overwhelming burden of managing every detail of my book's existence, from copyediting to publicity?  People tell me, "You're work is amazing!  You're too good an author to do all that work yourself!" …well, okay, so nobody's ever actually said that to me…  

…not in precisely those words…  …but it would be nice if someone did… 



Admittedly, I've had some difficulty finding publishers and agents to handle The Temple of the Blind.  I've collected quite a few rejection letters.  The book's size was probably an issue.  Clocking in at over 300,000 words, it's a hefty manuscript.  Another issue was likely that the story failed to conform to well-known formulas.  It is not, for example, a murder mystery staring a quirky, lovable and relatable sleuth surrounded by a delightfully eccentric myriad of suspects.  It is not a tale of a spunky and quick-thinking hero forced to match wits with a sadistic and brilliant killer in order to survive.  I never picked up any popular book and said to myself, "I'm going to write something that will appeal greatly to this book's fans."  As a result, I don't have a convenient, preexisting fan base that would appeal to a potential publisher.

I did not, however, choose independent publishing because I gave up on traditional publishing.  My decision was not a last resort.  For one thing, I haven't collected nearly enough rejections to convince me that the book is not good enough.  I still think that I'm a good writer…even if readers of my blog and Facebook page and Twitterings still haven't taken my not-so-subtle hints and showered me with embarrassing praise as yet…  I simply haven't found that agent or editor who sees the potential in the work that I do.  If I feel bad when I look at the number of rejections I've accumulated, it is because I should have gathered many more than I have. 

My failure was that I was afraid to let go of it.  I'd heard so many horror stories about new authors being taken in by publishing scams that I was reluctant to trust anyone.  And even the reputable publishing companies rarely lived up to the expectations of a bright-eyed new author.  All the articles I'd read about publishing seemed to have the same underlying message:  Don't get your hopes up.  First, I should expect rejections.  Many, many rejections.  Mountains of rejections.  Seriously, a whole, freaking heap, more than you can even imagine, boxes stacked to the ceiling, warehouses full of rejections.  Okay.  Got it.  I expected rejections.  I embraced rejection, faced it head-on.  I even wanted to get a big red stamp that said REJECTED so that I could stamp each envelope before I filed them away with the others, but my wife wouldn't let me.  Something about retaining "optimism" toward my work…  I thought I was being optimistic.  To me, it was about viewing every rejection as a stepping stone toward getting published.

Secondly, there's what happens once you finally do get published.  New authors have no control over their books.  Contrary to popular belief, a publishing contract does not throw open the doors to all your hopes and dreams.  Even if I make it through the gauntlet of editors and agents and somehow get my book made, I retain absolutely no say in what they do with it.  I might hate the cover, for example.  And I certainly shouldn't expect to see my book on every shelf.  I'm not going to be distributed as widely as the big name authors.  Not even remotely.  Hardly at all, in fact.  They're not going to advertise your book for you.  Why would they?  They could use that money to advertise an author they already know makes them money.  And really, wouldn't you do the same? 

You have to go out on your own and sell your book.  You have to convince the bookstores to carry it.  You have to convince readers to give your book a chance, even though they've never heard of you before.  You'll spend a lot of your own time and money, likely only to see your book out of print in a few short years and nothing left to show for it.  Unless you bought something nice with that cash advance…like a big TV…then I guess you'll still have that…but you don't have anything else…

Depressing, isn't it?  I thought so.  But by independently publishing, I get to be my own publisher.  I get to control it all, from distribution to cover design to deciding how long it remains up for sale.  And I was going to have to do all that marketing work anyway.  True, I don't get a fat cash advance (no big TV for me) and I don't have access to a trained copyeditor to review my work for difficult-to-find errors, which means my book ends up less perfect than it otherwise might have.  (Potentially embarrassing!)  But these days I can put my work out there with virtually no overhead costs. 

So do I self publish because I think it's the only way my work will ever see print?  Absolutely not.  Do I do it to stick my middle finger to big publishing?  Well…  No.  No I don't.  I mean…  No.  Definitely not.  …Okay, maybe a little.  But no.  Not really.  There's still a place for big publishing.  And I'm sure someday I'll sign one of those contracts.  (Big TV?)  But I'm not bothering myself at this time to seek publishers or agents.  For now, I'm focusing on building my name. 

So until the rest of the world discovers my titles, I'll just have to keep working and occasionally stop to bask in all that praise from all you adoring fans… 

…You guys aren't very good at taking hints, you know.

Just Me and My Boy

Earlier this month, my five-year-old started kindergarten.  For her, it means longer school days, longer school weeks and more responsibility than she faced last year in 4k.  For me, it means that she's away from home seven hours a day, Monday through Friday.  That's thirty-five hours with only my three-year-old.  Just think how much writing I can get done with so much time!  No fighting.  No playing rough.  No working together to get the cat down off the bookshelf.  With only half the distraction, I should be able to get twice the work done on my next book…or so I thought…

Sometimes it really does work like I'd hoped.  Sometimes it's quiet.  Sometimes he plays by himself with his toys.  Yesterday, he saw me typing on my laptop, so he went and fetched his little toy laptop and pulled up a chair at the table beside me and began banging away at it.  One day last week, I was working on a scene that I just wasn't sure about, so I started at the top of the page and read it aloud to myself to see how it sounded.  About halfway down the page, he appeared beside my chair.  I reached the end of the scene, satisfied with how it sounded, and he said, "Thank you, Daddy.  Thank you for reading your book to me."  These moments are truly priceless.  And with my wife teaching an extra class this semester, I'm spending more time alone with my son than ever before and more than ever before, I love being a stay-at-home dad. 

But life has a way of balancing things out, doesn't it?  More often than not, I find it impossible to concentrate on my work because he no longer has his sister to entertain him and he wants my attention, often for far longer than I have the stamina to last.  And when I'm finally able to convince him to go and play with his toys, I'm quickly reminded of how incredibly annoying a great many of his toys are.  Between the tambourine (thanks so much, Uncle Gary) and the harmonica (you too, Grandma) and his talking Star Wars Clone Troopers helmet (…okay so I was the one who got him that…seemed like a good idea at the time…) I simply can't form coherent thoughts. 

Now I find myself constantly struggling to balance work with parenting.  For this, nap times have been a blessing, but they're starting to get shorter and I'm not sure how long he'll be willing to take naps.  Of course, if I turn on the television, he'll sit and watch quietly, sometimes for a considerably long time, but I don't like to rely on the television.  It's not a babysitter and I've never believed in using it as one…no matter how much I may want to…  The remaining option is to keep looking for things to keep him busy when I want to be writing.  Not too long ago, I brought out some Play-Doh and let him play with it while I worked.  Except for having to stop every few minutes to acknowledge his newest creation, it was quite successful in keeping him entertained…but what a mess!  I'm still finding that stuff!  I don't even know how it found its way into the bathroom...  And I didn't realize this before, but if you leave Play-Doh stuck to a hardwood floor overnight, you'll need a putty knife to clean it up.  Oh, and for any new parents out there who still care to try this, be sure to clean it up before lunch.  Don't just move it aside so he can continue playing with it when he's done eating.  It will somehow find its way onto his plate and he won't like it on his peanut butter sandwich.  Alternately, I suppose I could probably keep him busy with crayons for a while…but every time I do that, one of them vanishes…and a new work of art usually appears mysteriously somewhere in the house within a few days.  I remain somewhat skeptical about the eyewitness testimony accusing the cat. 

I would love to have my own "office hours" for my writing, where I can lock myself in my office and compose and edit my manuscripts in peace and without interruption...but that's not going to happen as long as I still have a child at home during the day.  But on the plus side, I still have a child at home during the day.  I'd sure miss those little visits I get when I'm working and someone wants to give me a hug and a kiss… 

Kind of makes it all worth it.

Making The Naughty List

Sex!  Have I offended you?  If so, I sincerely apologize.  And also:  SEX!  BOOBIES!  PENIS! 

…There.  Now that the easily offended and prudish have been frightened away, the rest of us can have a mature and responsible discussion on the topic of sex in fiction and the psychology of sexual attraction and intercourse as it applies to the various characters and their evolution within the pages. 

…And that should have chased off all the pervies who just showed up because they saw the word "sex."  Now on to today's real discussion.

I do not write young adult any more than I write paranormal romance.  I sometimes write about young adults…although mostly older teens.  My series, The Temple of the Blind (notice how I shamelessly plug this title into my blog posts whenever I see an opportunity?  Sorry about that.), is populated primarily with young college students.  I also sometimes write stories that are perfectly appropriate for young adults to read.  My short story, "From Such Small Things" is a creepy ghost story, but contains no sexual or overly violent elements and I don't think it is anything any teenager shouldn't be able to pick up and read—although I'll leave those kinds of decisions solely to the parents out there.  However, much of my work, including The Temple of the Blind (did it again, sorry) and many of my shorter works, contains ample elements of sex and/or violence, sometimes graphically.  This is not necessarily because I set out to write a sexual or violent tale.  I don't write erotica and I don't write splatterpunk.  But I also never force my stories into any kind of predetermined package.  I begin the story, sometimes without even knowing the ending, and then let it take me where it will.  I let the characters evolve naturally.  I let the events of the plot unfold as I go.  Sometimes, it surprises me. 

After the release of my first novel, The Box, I was faced with distributing it to all the people I know.  Including my mother…  (Awkward!)  Overall, I've gotten nothing but good feedback on it (the trouble seems to be getting people to buy it in the first place), but a few people have found it difficult to look past the adult content in the book.  "It was good," they'll tell me, "but a little graphic…  But it's good!  …but it's a little graphic…"  And they're right.  It is a bit graphic.  In chapter eight, the characters discover something that turns their sexual desires against them and they find themselves unable to maintain control.  I don't sugar-coat it.  The camera doesn't pan away.  I don't cut to another scene.  I drag the reader all the way into it, forcing it onto him the way it was forced upon the characters.  My intention was never to blatantly make the story more graphic, but rather to immerse the reader in the wild emotions of the scene.  It's shocking!  It's embarrassing!  Oh, the awkwardness!  What have they done?  How will they deal with it?  You can't believe that just happened!  If you're blushing when you read this chapter and glancing around to see if anyone might somehow be able to tell what you're reading, then the story has had exactly the effect on you I intended.  Because this is also what the characters feel when the scene is over. 

As a result of what happens in this scene, the characters lose their clothes and end up traversing the frightening, dark, labyrinthine setting naked, compounding the awkwardness of what happened between them and the vulnerability of their situation.  It was something of an experiment in character development.  And I was very happy with the result.  So happy, in fact, that I revisited the idea later in book three, with a larger group of characters, and carried it forward.  (Don't worry.  My books won't always be about naked people.  I promise.) 

If you happen to be the type of person who is offended by graphic material in a book, I do apologize.  But this is my blog, not yours, so…SEX!  Seriously, though, nobody's making your read it, so just don't get mad at me okay?  Don't make me say "penis' again.  (Isn't that a funny word?  What's even funnier is how angry my wife gets when I say it while she's trying to record an answering machine message!)  For the rest of you, I hope you'll enjoy my work for what it's meant to be.  The adventures in my tales are like the adventures in your life:  you simply don't know what might happen at any given time.  Sometimes it's the things that shock you that are most memorable. 

And if this discussion has aroused your curiosity at all, feel free to check out The Box, book one of The Temple of the Blind, available at Amazon, Smashwords and Barnes and Noble.  (Okay, even I found that one rather shameless…) 

Who Am I?

Today I found myself thinking about my identity as an author.  Who am I?  I mean, clearly I know who I am.  I'm the guy who fits all my clothes…uh…most of the time…  But who am I to all the readers out there? 

I tend to introduce myself as a horror writer.  But what does that mean, exactly?  Horror isn't a very well defined genre.  Some have even suggested that it is not really a genre at all, but merely the emotion that certain stories instill, regardless of the genre.  There is an especially fine line between horror and science fiction.  For example, how do you differentiate between a horror story about a giant, gelatinous monster devouring the terrified residents of a small New England town and a science fiction story about a giant, gelatinous monster from space devouring the terrified residents of a small New England town?  When an old voodoo witch doctor uses his evil magic to bring the dead to life and set them upon an unsuspecting metropolis, it is a horror story, but when the dead are reanimated by a potent virus and then set upon an unsuspecting metropolis, it becomes science fiction.  Also consider that when an army of diminutive, warty goblins swarm a magnificent, medieval castle, it can only be a fantasy tale, but what if those same creatures were set upon an expensive New York high-rise?  Confusing isn't it? 

My work is predominantly supernatural, but perhaps not paranormal.  What is the difference?  Well…I really don't have a damn clue.  I always thought they were the same thing, honestly.  But when I look for works tagged "paranormal," I often find myself neck-deep in moody, lovesick vampires, jealous werewolves and lamenting ghosts.  I'm not sure if either word better describes what I write, but I know for a fact that I do not write "paranormal romance" and I try to segregate my work from those titles.  That's certainly not to say that my work contains no romance, but it is rarely the true focus of the plot.  I like to focus much more on the horror and suspense elements.  I like to write about creatures and monsters and ghosts and how the characters deal with these things.  I especially like to create my own horrors.  I don't write about vampires.  Nor do I write about werewolves.  I find them a little overused and difficult to make my own. 

I do use the occasional zombie, however.  After all, these were the creatures that most frightened me when I was young.  There was something simply awful about the hopelessness of an unstoppable army of zombies.  I'll never forget my first terrifying zombie infestation.  It was several years ago now, on an otherwise ordinary day.  I walked up to the pharmacy at Kmart and gave pause as I realized how eerily quiet it was.  Everything behind the window was dark.  Nothing was stirring.  Then the pharmacist came back from lunch and took down his little "back in one hour" sign.  Instantly, they appeared, shuffling toward me, slowly hobbling from every aisle, swarming!  I barely made it out of there alive!  My wife will tell you I'm exaggerating, but I'm telling you that was scary!  I mean, sure, they weren't quite dead yet, but they were damn close enough for me!  I can still hear the walkers clacking on the tile floor as they shambled closer and closer…

But that was a long time ago.  The nightmares have subsided.  A little. 

My work is generally set in the present day and usually in the American Midwest, especially Missouri and Wisconsin, where I have lived my entire life.  But I am not averse to traveling anywhere the story may take me, especially alternate worlds.  In fact, I'm quite fond of creating my own universes.  I have a number of them already built in my notes as well as in my head.  Many of my upcoming titles will contain elements of these other worlds. 

I won't tell you that I will never venture into fantasy or science fiction or any other genre.  I won't promise anything, for that matter, because you simply never know when a great idea may strike me or where that idea may lead.  I don't always control my stories, after all.  In fact, I often find myself on the same ride as the reader, holding on to every word without a clue where it may lead me.  More than once I have surprised myself.  

Does any of this help define me?  Does any of it tell the reader who I am?  Perhaps it does, a little.  If anything, it might tell the reader what he can expect from my work.  But if you really want to know who I am, you'll just have to keep reading.

Buy My Book!

I think all of this marketing stuff is starting to get to me. I'm obsessed with my book sales lately. I want so badly for my books to be successful, and I don't know how to create more exposure. Everywhere I go, all I want to talk about is my book and how I can earn more readers. I want to tell everyone I see to buy my book. I feel like I'm slowly transforming into some kind of bookselling vampire. Instead of bloodlust I have saleslust. "Look at that guy in that fancy car over there. I'll bet he can afford to buy a book. Maybe I should follow him. See where he's going. Stalk him into a dark alley somewhere and pounce!"

No. I control it. It doesn't control me.

I'm so preoccupied that I can't help but look around everywhere I go and wonder if any of the people I see would like my book. If only they'd try it, I think. If only they'd open it up and read the first few pages…I'm sure they'd be hooked. I only need to find a way to convince them…to transform them into my loyal fans… The world is suddenly filled with unwitting victims…I mean…potential customers…who just need a little...encouragement. "Look how bored our waiter looks… I bet he'd like to hear about a good book. What about that guy at the next table? Or the woman he's with? The hostess? Probably not those ladies in the corner…they're like eighty…the sex scene in chapter eight would probably kill them…"

I'm not sure if I can continue to restrain myself. The kid at the checkout lane asks me if I'd like paper or plastic and I want to scream, "Buy my book!" But I control myself. I contain it. The woman at the post office asks me if I want insurance on that package. In my head I scream, "Buy my book! Buy it!" Aloud, I simply say, "No thank you." I went to the library yesterday… Oh god… All those readers...everywhere I looked…reading…right there in front of me… I couldn't control myself. "Buy my book! Buy it! You'll love it! It's good! Just read my reviews!" Luckily, nobody heard me because I was only whispering. (It was a library, after all.) I then decided I should probably escort myself out of the building before I embarrassed myself.

This will never do. I need to focus. I need to come up with some new ideas. I've tried simply spreading the word, but that just isn't enough. On Facebook, I recently started posting small excerpts from my first novel each day, in hopes that someone might become interested and check it out…but so far I haven't attracted any responses. Clearly, I need to get creative. I need something that will grab everyone's attention. Maybe if I put together some compelling poster-style art, it would make people pause and consider my work. Or I could make a video trailer. If I do it right, maybe that will get people's attention. In what could be perceived as my most shameless act of self-promotion ever, I taught my five-year-old daughter to say, "Please read my daddy's book!" She's actually quite good at it. She's so proud of this talent, in fact, that the moment she lays eyes on my book, she will immediately snatch it out of your hands, step back and shout her lines. I've been threatening to put her on You-Tube for weeks now…

For now, I'll get back to work. I have things to do. (Must repress the hunger…) I need to brainstorm. September is right around the corner and that means October is imminent. I'm hoping the Halloween season will bring me more opportunities to show everyone that I'm someone worth reading.

…But in the meantime, there's always this:

One Month Old!

Dark Things Rising has been online for one whole month now!  This is my seventh post and I have a staggering four followers…  Okay, so maybe staggering isn't the right word.  But that's four more followers than somebody who doesn't have a blog!  Right…? 

Well, regardless, I'd like to thank all of you who have joined me this past month, including those of you who have chosen not to follow me but still swing by to see what I have to say.  I hope I've entertained you and that I may continue to do so for many more months to come.  I also hope you'll buy my books, but that's beside the point. 

For the future, I've been thinking about how I can better engage with fans here on this blog.  For example, I'm considering holding a contest of some sort and perhaps giving away copies of my brand new paperback.  As my readers, what do you think?  What would you like to see from this blog?  I'd love to hear any thoughts you might have.

Unsocial Networking

A few months ago, when I first started my independent publishing adventure, I scoured the web for all the information I could find on the subject.  I've learned a lot since then simply by reading online articles and forums.  But what stood out immediately was the necessity for good marketing.  Good marketing, as it turns out, is synonymous with success.  Virtually no one gets a free ride these days.  Whether you publish traditionally or set out bravely on your own, as I have, if you want your books to be read, you have to dedicate your own time and resources into this magical thing called "marketing."  Unfortunately, I've discovered that I lack a natural talent for marketing.  This apparently glaring defect in my personality appears to be at least partially rooted in my private and rather introverted nature.  (In other words, I'm bashful.)

I am not an outgoing person by any means.  I don't crave attention.  I don't need to be surrounded by people to be happy.  In fact, I actually have a little bit of a crowd phobia.  I become extremely anxious when I'm surrounded by too many people.  And I'm extremely self-conscious about every little thing I say and do.  I even write these blog posts in MS Word and make my wife read them for me before I post them on this blog!  (I really don't know what I'd do without her.)  But if I want to be successful, I can't just sit and wait for my fans to find me, no matter how good my work is.  I need to get out there and find them.  I need to engage them.  I need to talk to them.  I need to win them.  …but I'm not very good at that. 

Social networking is the most important tool in marketing, according to most of the articles I've read.  By the time my first book becomes available, I'm supposed to already have a well-developed social network, consisting, presumably, of a great number of friends and family who will all launch into a frothing frenzy of excitement when I announce the release of my brand new ebook and beat and claw each other to be the first to buy it.  Furthermore, after having obtained the ebook, and of course having neglected everything important in their lives in order to immediately read it from front to back, they will then enthusiastically tell everyone who will listen how wonderful the book is.  Those they tell will in turn race out to get the book, giddy with excitement, read it immediately and tell everyone they know and so on, driving my ebook ever-upward through the bestsellers lists.  I would quickly become famous and fabulously wealthy and everyone would want to be my friend and compliment me on my new shoes.  The reality, of course, is quite different. 

I began by starting a website, a sort of online base of operations, and then a Facebook account.  I didn't have a Facebook account before I published my first book because…well, because I didn't really care to have one.  I didn't see the point.  It simply did not interest me.  As a result, I did not have the immediate attention of hundreds of friends when I made my first official announcement that Book One of The Temple of the Blind was now available as an ebook.  I did, however, have the attention of a few of my friends and family, who I just knew would trip over themselves with girlish glee upon hearing my bold and earth-shattering announcement.  Or at the very least would bombard me with congratulatory replies and beg me for more information…or maybe even just click that little "like" button under the post.  What I actually received was practically nothing. 

It's not that nobody cared.  Quite the opposite.  I've discovered that people I never expected to care in the least have been reading my posts with interest.  They're simply not bothered to respond to or "like" every post.  And this is fine.  I have no problem with it.  I'm not bothered to respond to or "like" everyone else's posts, either.  But at the time, I was admittedly a little disheartened.  I could see my sales reports, and I was not selling as many books as I had friends and family, after all.  But I realized soon enough that my decision to publish my books in electronic format was a deterrent.  I did not realize how few of them even knew that they could purchase the book without owning an expensive ereader.  And even if they knew, I would be the first to agree that a laptop is not the most enjoyable tool for reading an entire book.  (I don't have an ereader yet, either…  Shh, don't tell anyone!) 

The worst part about it all was that I'd really hoped that the social networking would kind of run itself.  (Naïve, I know, but you can't blame me for wishing!)  Where are all those giddy fans I was talking about?  It's been, like, four months now!  Shouldn't I have my own Wikipedia page by now?  (I know I can just make one myself, but that just wouldn't be as meaningful, now would it?)  I didn't honestly believe that it would be enough to drive my sales into record breaking stats, but I did think that perhaps it would be a good solid foundation from which to build my marketing strategy. 

I said before that there are no free rides, and this is a good example of exactly what I was talking about, even if I did dare to expect more than I deserved.  After all, the key to successful social networking is…well, to be social and to actually network.  I'm working on both of those things.  For instance, I'm on Twitter, where I have a whopping four followers as I write this.  (I can tell you're impressed.)  Right now, I'm mostly just making announcements there, so I guess it's not the most interesting place to be.  I hope to make it more entertaining in the near future, so maybe it'll become something people will actually want to follow.  I've also signed up for Linkedin …although I still don't have a clue how to use it yet…  I'm also on a number of author forums, but again, I'm not the best at jumping into conversations.  And forums are finicky places anyway.  I'm admittedly a little intimidated by most forums, but that's an entirely different post, and I've rambled on far too long for one day already. 

The lesson here is that it pays to be outgoing.  If you can go out there with a smile on your face and engage people, you can win readers almost anywhere.  Whether it's in a coffee shop or on an online forum, it pays to simply strike up a conversation with whomever you run into.  

Of course, there's always that delicate balance between being engaging and being the creepy guy who keeps trying to tell you about his books…  I really don't want to be that guy!  You'll tell me if I start to be that guy, won't you?

DIY

When it comes to my titles, I do it all.  I'm not only the author, but also the editor, the formatter, and the cover designer.  I'm even the photographer for the book covers.  And I do all my own marketing.  I'll also claim the title of caterer, since I rarely finish a project without having to get up and fix one or both of the kids a snack.  I swear they're hungry all the freakin' time this summer!  Must be going through a major growth spurt…  Anyway, I don't have the luxury of hiring expensive professionals and I don't have an extensive circle of friends who are all experienced writers themselves.  There's no one to reach out to when my work needs edited.  I don't have a friend who's a librarian or a sister who's an English professor or an Uncle who's a magazine editor.  I have only myself to rely on.  How does this compare me to other authors?  Does it make me better?  Probably not.  Does it make me less deserving of my readers?  I certainly hope not. 

The upside to doing everything yourself is the accomplishment of it all, the bragging rights.  I get a good feeling when I tell someone that I not only wrote the book but also shot and designed the cover myself.  The downside, of course, is that I spend more time on all these other things and less time writing.  I want to just sit and lose myself in my storytelling, but I have to juggle all these things.  I need to be thinking about the next book cover and formatting the next print edition and posting updates on forums and creating a public personality on Facebook and Twitter.  And let's not forget that my first and most important job is a stay-at-home dad…and nap time only lasts so long.  And never mind that they just had lunch, they're so hungry! 

Seriously?  How many peanut butter sandwiches can two kids eat?  …Okay!  Fine!  I'm getting up!  …Again!

A Paperback In My Hands

My first novel is finally available in print!  Holding it feels awesome.  I can't wait to show it off.  The Box is available now at https://www.createspace.com/3634851 and should be available on Amazon soon. 

Next item on my list is book two in print!  Gilbert House is already formatted and ready to go, but I have to build the cover from scratch.  In the meantime, I'll be working on formatting book three for its print release and diving headlong into a whole new dimension of marketing.  It's not just digital anymore, and getting my physical book on physical shelves is going to require a lot of legwork.  I'm sure I'll have plenty to blog about in the coming weeks. 

I'll post updates here when I have something to announce, so check back often! 

Fitting it in

I can imagine that most, if not all, writers have their individual hang-ups, those little things that nag at them, that keep them coming back over and over again, tweaking, fussing, stressing…cussing…  The review process is first on that list.  We writers are never satisfied.  There's always one more word that can be changed, one more tiny improvement.  But there are other things, too, that keep drawing us back, that we're always convinced isn't quite good enough.  One of mine is the summary. 

The book summary is always one of the most time-consuming and frustrating steps in publishing for me.  Like the book cover and the sample chapters, it's one of the most important tools for drawing in readers, and I continue to scrutinize over it long after the ebook goes on sale.  It's especially hard when it comes to a story like The Temple of the Blind, which combines elements of multiple genres. 

Just how do I fit the scope of a story with this many elements into such a small package and make it sound like something people want to read?  At what point do you lose a potential reader simply because the plot comes off too complicated in the description?  Alternately, what can be omitted without oversimplifying the plot and taking away elements that might draw a reader in?  I've written and rewritten the summary for book one of The Temple of the Blind more times than I can remember.  And yet, I can't help but feel that I'm just not capturing as many readers as I can. 

This is not to say that my books are complicated.  They do possess a certain complexity, but that doesn't mean that they are hard to read.  I'm simply not sure what the best selling points are.  Would more people be drawn to the creepy atmosphere of the settings or to the story's slow, gripping suspense?  Would I sell more books advertising the perilous journey faced by my characters or the gripping sexual tension between them?  Will I draw more readers with the engrossing mysteries woven throughout the plot or with the otherworldly things the characters discover along the way?  I don't know what my readers are going to like best because they simply haven't told me yet.  I haven't received very much feedback as I write this.  I've been told that it's scary.  I've been told that it's suspenseful, that it's a page-turner.  But what did they like best?  What left the biggest impression on them?  To what popular work might they compare it?  To what author would they compare me?  These are the things I want to hear, things that will help me find the people who will love what I write as much as I do.  For example, I'd like to think that fans of Stephen King's Dark Tower series might enjoy it, as The Temple of the Blind is similarly dark and fantastic and epic, but is that a bit pompous of me?  I mean he's Stephen King.  And it's not like the two are all that alike.  That's simply the series that comes to mind when I try to think of something to compare it to.  I think they can both be classified as dark adventures, a kind of melding between epic fantasy and horror.  Alternately, one of my five-star reviews for The Box on Amazon compared it to "Lost" for its mysterious elements.  Having not watched "Lost" (not because I wasn't interested but out of a fear that I would become frustrated with perpetually unanswered questions), I probably wouldn't have considered that.  I hope to hear more things like this from readers.  I hope that this blog might be an excellent place for fans to find me and help me narrow down the best strategies for marketing my series by letting me know what drew them in and what helped them decide to pick it up and read it.  Because, let's face it, when you first begin publishing your work, your target audience is…well…everyone.  Because who wouldn't want to read your brilliant work?  But nobody likes every book. 

It all comes down to efficiency.  I have to find a balance between being brief and being thorough.  In the shortest phrasing I can come up with off the top of my head, I suppose that The Box is the story of a young man (Albert) who finds a mysterious box and ends up going on a fantastic adventure.  But he doesn't go on the adventure alone.  Brandy joins him.  But who is Brandy?  I don't have the luxury of referring to her simply as his girlfriend or his best friend or his ex, something that everyone will immediately relate to without further explanation.  She's his lab partner.  From his Chemistry class.  He barely knows her, but he'd definitely like to get to know her better.  So how does she get involved with all this if she's basically a stranger to him?  The shortest answer is that she finds the key to Albert's box.  With her help, Albert can deduce what the box is and where to go next.  It's these little details that confound me.  The book's whole element of romance is wrapped up in this setup, as Albert finds himself with the opportunity to impress a girl he already likes.  I expect there are more than a few readers who would be attracted by this particular detail, and yet, do I have room for it?  I still have to point out that their adventure begins in the university campus' steam tunnels, which leads them into the city's enormous and overly-complex tunnel system long rumored to be haunted.  Or is that too much information.  It sets the mood wonderfully, but the story doesn't really dwell upon the rumored paranormal activity of the city's underground.  The real adventure begins when they discover the strange labyrinth hidden at the bottom of these tunnels, but just to get here, I've already rambled on for the length of this hefty paragraph. 

Hopefully, over time and through trial and error and perhaps with some healthy feedback from fans, these summaries will become easier and less time consuming to write.  Or perhaps I'll take a page from some other authors I've read about on various forums and simply find someone else to write the damn things so I can get back to writing the books themselves.