Alex Laybourne's Blog, page 60
January 30, 2013
Where oh Where has my Marketing Gone Where oh Where can it be?
It has almost been one month since Highway to Hell hit the shelves, and as of yet I am still to get together a marketing scheme for it. I send out the odd tweet or Facebook link, but that it is about it. For the rest, my plans have kind of stalled. This is not through choice, or because I don’t want to sell books, but rather for a number of reasons that I am sure every writer can relate to.
I have no money to invest in a marketing campaign, I cannot pay for any advertising, and it would seem that every book reviewer I look to approach is either only accepting hard-copy, which I cannot afford to send out – and don’t currently have - or are closed to submissions. I have searched around, and sent out press releases like a mad man in the first week, but never heard anything back, so the level of their success is unknown.
Another thing that holds me back is that I just don’t know what I am doing. I get overwhelmed by the whole marketing concept. I just don’t know what to do, or how to sell myself. This is something that I have to work on as I am sure all writers do, but once again, as with so many things, it comes down to time and money. Every internet search I run tell the same things, plus the majority are written with the focus being on a non-fiction book.
Everybody seems to be lyrical about the power of Facebook and Twitter when it comes to selling books, but me, I don’t see it. I have as good as stopped using twitter because the only thing you see is a constant stream of self promotion. The number of conversations you see has drastically decreased over the last 12 months and I don’t like it.
Living in a Non-English speaking country, and a small coastal town to boot, I have lost a lot of personal promotional opportunities. No interviews or paper articles, etc. will help because there is no real gain there. OK, maybe in the big cities like The Hague or Amsterdam, but I don’t have the money to pay for the gas or train to get me there in the weekend to do anything like that.
Blog tours are another thing, and while I have sent out several requests, the response was less than great, however, that being said, I had a run of guest posts a week or so ago, appearing on ‘foreign’ ground I think it was seven days in a row. What was the net gain from this?
ZERO!
I gained no new blog followers, and didn’t sell a single copy of my book. I haven’t sold a copy – as far as I can tell from Amazon rankings – in over two weeks. Am I doing everything possible to sell books? No. Am I doing everything within my means in terms of knowledge, time and budget? Pretty much.
- So
Why we head back to the drawing board, and come up with a new approach.
I only have one published title out there, that isn’t much. I have the second Highway novel schedule for a June release, and if the wonderful people at MayDecember like the short stories I have sent them, I hope to have 3 eBooks and one collective eBook and Paperback set of short stories coming out around August time. However, that is still not enough.
More titles means more exposure. One fan likes a story, searches and tries something else. This is far easier to accomplish with more than one title available. So, here is my plan.
Novellas! I am in the middle of writing a 9 novella zombie series, that looks not at the zombies themselves but where they came from, what caused it. Each novella looks at a different survivors perspective as they are flying – being evacuated – away from the UK and to the ‘safety’ of the mainland.
Each novella will be around 11,000 words and will answer some questions, and pose ones that will be answered by the following character. In the end, all of the answers, will pull together to form the central answer to the question of How, When, Where and Why, the dead rose. The twist, there is always a twist, will come through in the final installment. That I will not even hint at.
The plan is to write and release these as soon as possible. I am writing one a week at the moment, and keeping my wonderful editor very busy. The cover art for all nine is done, and ready to be used.
I also have another 6 novella set that will see Robin Hood in a world of Monsters and Mutants, rescuing the classic Disney Princesses while continuing to thwart the Sheriff of Nottingham who lives in a walled city, controlling the survivors like a true dictator.
The details for this are yet to be ironed out, but with eBooks, and paperback (if I decide to self publish, I can turn a profit on the paperbacks by selling them for $3.99 (the individual novellas)) I could have as many as 35-40 different things out by the end of the year. Of course, that is a big ask, and will depend largely on whether I self pub it all, self pub the novellas and look to find someone willing to publish the compendiums, etc.
I am talking to three different publishers about the possibilities, so that is exciting.
My theory being, if I get enough titles out there, my marketing options will also expand. I might be wrong, but at least I am focusing on selling books by doing what I enjoy and understand… writing them. It also gives me the time to read up and learn more about marketing. I am not going to stop trying to sell Highway to Hell, far from it, but I am going to start playing to my strengths while I master my weakness, rather than allowing myself to be consumed by it and lose focus across the board.
Pondering the Profound
At the start of the year I was firing out post after post of what I thought were good articles, and the response to them was awesome. For the first two weeks of the year may daily average was more than doubled, tripled on some days, but then… slowly things trickled away.
Not just the visitors, but the posts too. I have three of four great posts sitting in draft, but I cannot find the time to sit down and write them. They will be longer posts, and have a lot of points to make. As such, I end up posting nothing.
Why?
Partly because I have been too focused on writing, well, not too focused, because that isn’t possible, but more focused on writing than on blogging. Yeah, that sounds better.
Secondly it is because I want this blog to mean something, and in that regard I find myself avoiding small and simple posts, as this one will no doubt turn into, in favor of the profound.
Not every post I make needs to be profound and leave people discussing it for … minutes… weeks after reading it.
At the same time I don’t want to just post about anything simply because I want to write something. Even as I am writing this I am wondering what side of the line this post falls… oh well, it is written now, no point in deleting it.
I could always open it up to you, my most loyal of readers. A poll to be precise about what I should write about. What topics would be preferred etc. Last year I had a lot of posts with just pictures and random things in it, and while they were rather successful, it was the fact that they succeeded that pissed me off the most, if you see where I am coming from.
So, a poll… I haven’t done one of these before, so let’s give it a try shall we.
Take Our Poll
January 29, 2013
Jack Bunny Bam Bam; Eric S. Brown Reaches a new High
I have read a few of Eric S. Browns other pieces, and could not wait to get my hands on this story. The cover alone had me enthralled. A green rabbit hitman with a less than honorable past. What is there not to be excited about.
The book is a fantastic read that I just couldn’t put down. I enjoyed it so much that I read it twice… yes, twice, once after another, in the same day.
The action starts with the first word and continues until the very last, with the green bunny, Jack, dealing out death in all manner of ways as a means of introduction. The phrase shoot first ask questions later would surely appear on his family crest.
The story is set in a world that is not here, not the world we know at least. Real Storms have wiped out the stars and changed the shape of the world. The worst change was the introduction of the Weepers. Undead souls whose grief at their existence is so great, their tears will turn any living thing they touch into one of them; a Weeper.
Jack, through not means of his own willing finds himself on the front line of a war with the Weepers, while simultaneously fighting off backstabbing former employers, and a trifecta of crime lords all intent on using him to their advantage, while wanting him dead a the same time.
Despite his less than Saintly past, and his apparent eagerness to kill, there is something about Jack that will grab you and have you rooting for him every step of the way.
Eric S. Brown has one a remarkable job in creating an ass kicking tought as nails anti-hero out of a bunny rabbit. There is even some tongue in cheek humor when it comes to back room dealings and carrot exchanges.
This is one of the finest stories I have read in a long time, and I desperately hope that the author will pen more Jack adventures, whether in short form or in a longer tale, or as part of an interwoven storyline. Could you see Jack taking down Bigfoot and Zombies… I certainly can.
I know that in a review you are supposed to be fair and balanced, to mention the good and the bad, but sometimes, you come across something that has no bad. But ok, in the name of review fairness, there was one letter missing off a word in the middle somewhere. That’s it. This book is for lack of a more fitting description… Fantastic.
January 26, 2013
Self-Publishers Aren't Killing The Industry, They're Saving It
Reblogged from David Gaughran:
There's a lot of talk at the moment that cheap books are destroying the industry.
In traditional publishing circles especially, fingers are being pointed at self-publishers (and their chief enablers, Amazon), who stand accused of encouraging a race to the bottom, of devaluing books, and training readers to pay ever-cheaper amounts - making the whole book business unsustainable.
Today, I have a guest post from Ed Robertson - author of…
Very interesting article on indie publishing.
I Heart Digital Novellas
Reblogged from Crunchy Dragon:
HarperTeen (a.k.a. where I work) announced a new digital short-fiction imprint today, an event that inspired me to sit down and write a post I've been mulling over for a while. It's about--you guessed it--digital short fiction. I have some Thoughts.
The first thought is, I love this trend. I've said facetiously that I love seeing the word "novella" back in the limelight, which is true; but I also love seeing the form itself become more mainstream.
Has short fiction found its home?
REBLOG: 25 Things You Should Know About Writing Horror
I found this post over at terribleminds.com the home of fellow author Chuck Wending, and wanted to share it with you.
1. At The Heart Of Every Tale, A Squirming Knot Of Worms
Every story is, in its tiny way, a horror story. Horror is about fear and tragedy, and whether or not one is capable of overcoming those things. It’s not all about severed heads or blood-glutton vampires. It’s an existential thing, a tragic thing, and somewhere in every story this dark heart beats. You feel horror when John McClane sees he’s got to cross over a floor of broken glass in his bare feet. We feel the fear of Harry and Sally, a fear that they’re going to ruin what they have by getting too close or by not getting too close, a fear that’s multiplied by knowing you’re growing older and have nobody to love you. In the Snooki book, we experience revulsion as we see Snooki bed countless bodybuilders and gym-sluts, her alien syphilis fast degrading their bodies until soon she can use their marrowless bones as straws with which to slurp up her latest Windex-colored drink. *insert Hannibal Lecter noise here*
Read the rest of the post here
What's the difference between Indie and self-publishing?
Reblogged from Tahlia Newland, author:
When I first started to look into the alternatives to mainstream publishing, one of the first things I asked was, what is the difference between Indie publishing and self publishing? The answers I got indicated that most people thought that with the changes in the last few years these two terms now refer to pretty much the same thing, but though the lines are decidedly blurry in some respects, such an idea is hardly fair to the original Indie publishers, who are clearly not self-publishers.
Food for thought on a Saturday afternoon
January 25, 2013
8 Things I Learned From Stephen King's "On Writing"
1. Don't make a conscious effort to improve your vocabulary. One of the worst things you can do is dress up your words because you think you should use longer ones, shameful of your shorter words. Usually the first thing that pops up in your head is right.
2. Elements of Style is a very useful book. Avoid the passive tense.
We have all learned something from the master over the years.
January 24, 2013
Bialog Guestpost featuring Alex Laybourne
Hell’s Highway is a Bumpy Ride
Alex Laybourne
When I sat down and finally started writing Highway to Hell, it was after several years and close to 100,000 words of false starts, discarded plans and screwed up theories. I knew the novel I wanted to write, but could not for the life of me get it on paper.
The thinking behind it originally was one man, being taken through the eighteen levels of Hell, a concept I borrowed from Buddhist mythology.
Hell is one bumpy Highway
January 22, 2013
Nine Questions with... Alex Laybourne
Reblogged from The FlipSide of Julianne:
Today I am joined by the fantastic author Alex Laybourne. Welcome Alex, why don’t you take a moment and introduce yourself to the captive audience that you now have before you.
I was born and raised in England, in a coastal town called Lowestoft, but I relocated to The Netherlands in 2006 just before my first child was born. Now, 6 years and 4 children later I am still here.
What's that, a chance to learn even more about me... check out my answers to Julianne Snow's nine questions.
