William Amerman's Blog - Posts Tagged "sky1"
Holy Crap!
I just got word back from one of the toughest reviewers I've come across that she's finished Sky1 - Foundation. And the part that inspired the title of this blog entry? She freaking rated it 5 stars on Amazon, Goodreads and 4.5 stars on her personal blog.
So why does this inspire such wonderment in me? Validation. Validation that years of work and pretty damned massive editorial expenses and cover design expenses and effort were all worth it.
Because she's not just tough, but seems fair and discerning as well. Yeah, easy for me to say now after she's rated the book so high. But If she doesn't like a book, she doesn't hesitate to rate it poorly. If she likes a book, she rates it well. She seems to read voraciously and I've started to use her book ratings to help me find new stuff to read because her tastes seem to mirror my own.
Some of my fellow writers have accused her of being overly harsh when reviewing their own works. Admittedly, I'm not able to be completely objective, but to me it seems like these writers just don't want to hear anything but praise. I plan to send my next book her way as well, and if she has issues or complaints then I'll take those as areas to explore for improvement. Her one issue with this book was my use of the words immigration vs. emigration, which is right on the money. I struggled with when to use each one for months, then hoped that my ace editor would sort it out. Which, I think she did, but there is some ambiguity in when to use each one. Either way, her comment is right on the mark.
Anyway, she just made my Sunday. Here's a link to her bookslike blog (I hope it's okay to post that here)
http://misanthropicreader.booklikes.c...
So why does this inspire such wonderment in me? Validation. Validation that years of work and pretty damned massive editorial expenses and cover design expenses and effort were all worth it.
Because she's not just tough, but seems fair and discerning as well. Yeah, easy for me to say now after she's rated the book so high. But If she doesn't like a book, she doesn't hesitate to rate it poorly. If she likes a book, she rates it well. She seems to read voraciously and I've started to use her book ratings to help me find new stuff to read because her tastes seem to mirror my own.
Some of my fellow writers have accused her of being overly harsh when reviewing their own works. Admittedly, I'm not able to be completely objective, but to me it seems like these writers just don't want to hear anything but praise. I plan to send my next book her way as well, and if she has issues or complaints then I'll take those as areas to explore for improvement. Her one issue with this book was my use of the words immigration vs. emigration, which is right on the money. I struggled with when to use each one for months, then hoped that my ace editor would sort it out. Which, I think she did, but there is some ambiguity in when to use each one. Either way, her comment is right on the mark.
Anyway, she just made my Sunday. Here's a link to her bookslike blog (I hope it's okay to post that here)
http://misanthropicreader.booklikes.c...
Sale on Sky1
Oh, and in preparation for entry into the KDP Select program, I've put Sky1 on sale for $3.99 for the foreseeable future.
Bookbub, you evil bastard
No, I'm not railing against Bookbub because they refused my request for the second time to list Sky1 with them. The 'problem' with Bookbub is that they vet the books they send out in their daily notice. They vet them for popularity and quality. This means that they only send me notice of two to four books per day. However, over the last couple of weeks, at least every other day I get a notice for a book with an intriguing premise. I go to Amazon, fire up the book sample, and then buy the book. Every book that I've done this for has ended up being a book that I enjoy.
Why am I railing against a process that provides me quality books on sale for $.99 or $1.99? Because I'm developing a backlog of books that is going to take me over a month to get through. This means that I definitely read more than I have in years. But if I keep reading so much, it leaves less time for the writing.
Oh, and Bookbub? Get with it and accept Sky1 for your program! It just surpassed 20 reviews on Amazon--15 five star, 4 four star and 1 two star reviews. We'll be sending it to you for reconsideration in two weeks. If anyone reading this has read it and wouldn't mind leaving a review, it would help my chances.
Why am I railing against a process that provides me quality books on sale for $.99 or $1.99? Because I'm developing a backlog of books that is going to take me over a month to get through. This means that I definitely read more than I have in years. But if I keep reading so much, it leaves less time for the writing.
Oh, and Bookbub? Get with it and accept Sky1 for your program! It just surpassed 20 reviews on Amazon--15 five star, 4 four star and 1 two star reviews. We'll be sending it to you for reconsideration in two weeks. If anyone reading this has read it and wouldn't mind leaving a review, it would help my chances.
I'm in!
Wow. After eleven straight rejections over 18 months, Bookbub has finally agreed to give me a spot in their daily newsletter. On December 19th, Sky1 will go out as a .99 sale to, um, 1.6 million people. Yeah, slightly terrifying. I've had to resist the urge to do an entire rewrite of Sky1! It's fine. It's good. But it was so many years ago that I wrote it, that I know I'm a better writer now and would like to inject some of that "better" writing into it.
However, the reviews have always been good and the editing is crisp, so that sucker will have to stand on its own. The blurb, however, will be completely overhauled.
Audio-book is in the works, but unfortunately I didn't start that until last week and the narrator needs more than just a couple weeks to produce it.
And Sky4, the behemoth that won't end, continues to amass a personal record word count. Up to 125k words and probably 15k from being done. At least my readers won't feel cheated out of buying a book that's over too soon!
However, the reviews have always been good and the editing is crisp, so that sucker will have to stand on its own. The blurb, however, will be completely overhauled.
Audio-book is in the works, but unfortunately I didn't start that until last week and the narrator needs more than just a couple weeks to produce it.
And Sky4, the behemoth that won't end, continues to amass a personal record word count. Up to 125k words and probably 15k from being done. At least my readers won't feel cheated out of buying a book that's over too soon!
Early results - ad convergence
To get as much momentum as possible, I placed ads for Sky1 - Foundation at .99 with Kindle Nation, eReader News in addition to the superhuge Bookbub ad.
Woke up this morning about 6am and checked sales. Nothing. 30 mins later a blip. Something must have gone live. Not bookbub, but one of the other two. Checked five mins later and the total had doubled. Wow. Now, in the past 45 minutes sales are already almost even with the entire year's worth of sales for this book. And this is just the warm-up.
Ok. Yes. A bit of gloating. But my God writing is a solitary effort. Years of being locked away, writing, re-writing. Creating worlds in my mind. Characters who I've lived with so long they feel like friends I used to know. So taking a moment of true appreciation feels warranted.
So now I can go deal with the soccer parents today (re: previous post). Life is not dull!
Woke up this morning about 6am and checked sales. Nothing. 30 mins later a blip. Something must have gone live. Not bookbub, but one of the other two. Checked five mins later and the total had doubled. Wow. Now, in the past 45 minutes sales are already almost even with the entire year's worth of sales for this book. And this is just the warm-up.
Ok. Yes. A bit of gloating. But my God writing is a solitary effort. Years of being locked away, writing, re-writing. Creating worlds in my mind. Characters who I've lived with so long they feel like friends I used to know. So taking a moment of true appreciation feels warranted.
So now I can go deal with the soccer parents today (re: previous post). Life is not dull!
Bookbub - mid-early results
Ok, the anticipation and (internal) hype was not misplaced about the bookbub ad. My goodness, that sales line has never been so vertical.
More importantly? The boys won our last game of the season at U11 boys soccer this morning against the club we were with last year. Before the game, I talked to the boys about the importance of leaving a legacy, how it had been an honor to coach them for six years. We did a cheer for each of the three team names we'd had during those years (they outgrew Silver Rhinos and Iron Men). Then took the field and won a close game 1-0.
After the game, I gave a season recap to the parents, emphasizing how well we'd done (won the league, a tournament and came in 3rd State Cup), despite the mom who thinks we did so poorly that she wants us to disband or me to be "fired" because we didn't win every game.
Then, while everyone left the field,I climbed up on the levee and watched the river for a while with tears in my eyes. It has been a long and rewarding road and an honor to help teach young boys become young men. I'm sure this sense of loss will leave me in good time.
More importantly? The boys won our last game of the season at U11 boys soccer this morning against the club we were with last year. Before the game, I talked to the boys about the importance of leaving a legacy, how it had been an honor to coach them for six years. We did a cheer for each of the three team names we'd had during those years (they outgrew Silver Rhinos and Iron Men). Then took the field and won a close game 1-0.
After the game, I gave a season recap to the parents, emphasizing how well we'd done (won the league, a tournament and came in 3rd State Cup), despite the mom who thinks we did so poorly that she wants us to disband or me to be "fired" because we didn't win every game.
Then, while everyone left the field,I climbed up on the levee and watched the river for a while with tears in my eyes. It has been a long and rewarding road and an honor to help teach young boys become young men. I'm sure this sense of loss will leave me in good time.
Back to work
Why am I munching cereal with earplugs (try it sometime and tell me if it isn't an interesting experience), sitting in front of my laptop?
It's because I've found that the damn "Update Report" button is MUCH more attractive (think cocaine or chocolate cake) than the 101 keyboard keys waiting to be pressed in combinations that will spit out new fiction.
While the boys play in the other room as loud and noisy as they normally are, I'm buckling down. Gearing up for the final push to complete Sky4 - [name TBD]. After gaining over a thousand new readers in 24 hours, the urgency and pressure to finish the 4th book is like nothing I've ever known. I picture this huge new crowd racing through the first book. Then on to the second. Then hopefully on to the third and if I imagine that takes a few weeks, I'd like to be able to provide them the fourth book to fall into immediately after the third.
The fourth book resumes where the first one left off and begins to get to the part of this story where we find out why the World was created, who created it and what lies in store for the World and its people in the near future. It's over-sized right now--about 130k words that will be about 145k when finished, but then hopefully pared back to 130k after 1st and 2nd edits. Which is almost enough for two books, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Off to it and thank you to everyone who helped propel Sky1 - Foundation to the best-seller charts on Amazon (#1 in Post Apocalyptic Fiction), on the front page best-seller list at Barnes and Noble (right next to Star Wars and The Martian....what a feeling that is!).
It's because I've found that the damn "Update Report" button is MUCH more attractive (think cocaine or chocolate cake) than the 101 keyboard keys waiting to be pressed in combinations that will spit out new fiction.
While the boys play in the other room as loud and noisy as they normally are, I'm buckling down. Gearing up for the final push to complete Sky4 - [name TBD]. After gaining over a thousand new readers in 24 hours, the urgency and pressure to finish the 4th book is like nothing I've ever known. I picture this huge new crowd racing through the first book. Then on to the second. Then hopefully on to the third and if I imagine that takes a few weeks, I'd like to be able to provide them the fourth book to fall into immediately after the third.
The fourth book resumes where the first one left off and begins to get to the part of this story where we find out why the World was created, who created it and what lies in store for the World and its people in the near future. It's over-sized right now--about 130k words that will be about 145k when finished, but then hopefully pared back to 130k after 1st and 2nd edits. Which is almost enough for two books, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Off to it and thank you to everyone who helped propel Sky1 - Foundation to the best-seller charts on Amazon (#1 in Post Apocalyptic Fiction), on the front page best-seller list at Barnes and Noble (right next to Star Wars and The Martian....what a feeling that is!).
