Josh Handrich's Blog, page 5
September 9, 2012
Let's rate different marketing methods
With a month left until my debut novel Kingdom of Rage comes out, I've been obsessing about how to market it outside of my little circle of friends and coworkers. My top choices are:
1. Before it comes out, do a "Launch My Book" campaign where people take a photo of themselves with the three words written in a creative way, the winner receives a free signed copy of the book plus a $50 iTunes gift card.
2. After the book is for sale, people take a photo of themselves reading the book, and some gift for the winner.
3. Do a book signing, create a press kit, etc.
4. I'd like to throw a party of sorts in my hometown, with food and the works.
Or, I could do all of the above. Nothing I've said so far is new, however, there isn't much out there about what works and what does not.
People have the attention span of a flea. I blog and update FB on a weekly basis, but I never receive any comments or feedback. I don't want to waste my time doing things and spend money if the turnout is poor. I'm living paycheck to paycheck and cannot afford to buy food and books that just sit idle.
So, how do you get people involved and excited?
I'm not at all afraid of public speaking and I put 100% of my effort into things that I care about.
Thoughts?
1. Before it comes out, do a "Launch My Book" campaign where people take a photo of themselves with the three words written in a creative way, the winner receives a free signed copy of the book plus a $50 iTunes gift card.
2. After the book is for sale, people take a photo of themselves reading the book, and some gift for the winner.
3. Do a book signing, create a press kit, etc.
4. I'd like to throw a party of sorts in my hometown, with food and the works.
Or, I could do all of the above. Nothing I've said so far is new, however, there isn't much out there about what works and what does not.
People have the attention span of a flea. I blog and update FB on a weekly basis, but I never receive any comments or feedback. I don't want to waste my time doing things and spend money if the turnout is poor. I'm living paycheck to paycheck and cannot afford to buy food and books that just sit idle.
So, how do you get people involved and excited?
I'm not at all afraid of public speaking and I put 100% of my effort into things that I care about.
Thoughts?
September 4, 2012
Ooh-rah!
No, I'm not a Marine, but after writing Kingdom of Rage I have a newfound respect for the men and women that protect and serve our country. After interviewing soldiers about their experiences in the Middle East, I've come to realize how important it is to have a strong military. If it wasn't for their experiences I wouldn't have been able to show you what life and the culture is like in the military. I learned about everything from the proper way to salute, the ranking system, which military bases are where and what they're used for, and for details like whether or not they have facial hair. Details are everything.
The research, outlining, and planning of the novel took months. When I read, I'm fascinated by the detailed descriptions of a nuclear bomb (however fake or not), the physics of a bullet flying through the air, and the intricacies of a well-thought out scheme.
Anyone can puts words on paper and tell you a story. But what makes it compelling? What will have you talking about it with friends days after you've finished it? The story has to strike an emotional nerve. It gets your juices flowing. It makes you hate the bad guy so much that you want to shoot him with your own gun.
Both of my beta-readers—people who read the story and give you an opinion on plot, character development, etc—said that Kingdom is ten times better than my last work, Raw Vengeance. I was extra vigilante to make sure each character was believable and had depth. No one wants to read about stereotypical, cardboard-like people. John, my uncle, says he was impressed by how complex the plot was, the technical details were spot-on, and the twists last all the way until the end. Nancy, my toughest critic, had the same things to say and they both liked it overall.
What's next? I'm planning a series of promotions to help launch the book. If you have ideas on what would make this book take off, shoot me an e-mail. The professional edit should be done by the end of September, with a launch date somewhere around a month before the Presidential election.
To all the soldiers out there: Thank you.
The research, outlining, and planning of the novel took months. When I read, I'm fascinated by the detailed descriptions of a nuclear bomb (however fake or not), the physics of a bullet flying through the air, and the intricacies of a well-thought out scheme.
Anyone can puts words on paper and tell you a story. But what makes it compelling? What will have you talking about it with friends days after you've finished it? The story has to strike an emotional nerve. It gets your juices flowing. It makes you hate the bad guy so much that you want to shoot him with your own gun.
Both of my beta-readers—people who read the story and give you an opinion on plot, character development, etc—said that Kingdom is ten times better than my last work, Raw Vengeance. I was extra vigilante to make sure each character was believable and had depth. No one wants to read about stereotypical, cardboard-like people. John, my uncle, says he was impressed by how complex the plot was, the technical details were spot-on, and the twists last all the way until the end. Nancy, my toughest critic, had the same things to say and they both liked it overall.
What's next? I'm planning a series of promotions to help launch the book. If you have ideas on what would make this book take off, shoot me an e-mail. The professional edit should be done by the end of September, with a launch date somewhere around a month before the Presidential election.
To all the soldiers out there: Thank you.
August 1, 2012
Life imitates art—or does it? My thoughts on the Aurora tragedy, gun control, and how it relates to what I write
I kill people. Okay, let me elaborate on the last statement: Since I write thrillers, I routinely devise ways of killing people. Killing someone off in a novel is, I hate to say it, what keeps readers interested. Call it some morbid fascination. It’s like work—people love to read about work even though we all complain about it. It’s one of those weird quirks of human nature.
Back to killing. Frequently, I have to murder a character to keep the story exciting. I’ve had to ask medical professionals if the way I describe someone being killed is accurate. I try to be as vivid as I can with words without having too much of a gross-out factor.
In my latest novel, Kingdom of Rage, I show scenes of torture, and someone murdering another person just because they can. It’s a way of showing how evil someone can be. I also show the consequences of what happens when greed and the desire for power is great enough to topple a nation.
Reading a book is supposed to be a way for all of us to escape. To get away from it all. To forget our problems. And that’s what people were doing when they went to see the latest Batman movie.
At 4:00 a.m., the morning of the horrific massacre in Aurora, Colorado, I happened to turn on the news as I was preparing to go to work. ABC News broke in with a live feed from a local affiliate. The initial count was 20 people dead with many more injured. I sat transfixed for another twenty minutes.
The thought of a terrorist shooting up a theatre isn’t something new. In Brad Thor’s Full Black a Muslim extremist blows himself up inside of a crowded theatre. Is this a case of life imitating art? Tom Clancy blew up a stadium filled with sports fans in The Sum of All Fears.
And guess what—I feel guilty because when I read Full Black I thought to myself I can out-do him. I can make a story of destruction so horrific and thrilling it’ll freak people out. People will eat it up. Look at Batman Dark Night Rises—loved the movie, by the way—the antagonist, Mr. Bane, is excellent as the would-be terrorist trying to tear down Gotham City with an atom bomb. The movie was expected to gross over 500 million, but had plateaued around 400.
Within hours of the shooting in Aurora, politicians, blowhards, and ordinary citizens alike were making accusation about the need for stricter gun control, movie cops, etc. You name it; people were vying for control of the gun issue. Facebook lit up with messages of pro-gun support. I read these posts and news reports and thought These guys need to see the big picture. Gun nuts were so afraid of people attacking their guns that they felt a need to make a preemptive strike. Guess what folks: Take a deep breather because you and your bazooka are not the problem. And your government knows this, despite your paranoia.
To my friends with guns: No one is going to take away your precious guns. Not Obama, not congress, not a single politician. I’ve had this discussion with pro-gun people before. I agree with them wholeheartedly that 99.9% of gun owners are law-abiding citizens. It’s the less than 1% I’m worried about.
What do we know and how do we solve the problem of mass killings? I’m not a criminal justice expert but people need to see where the problem really is. It’s a broken mental health system. I’ve spoken to many religious conservatives who believe that depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder are a figment of our imagination. This stance is utterly naïve and bullshit. They prefer to put their head in the sand and say mental disorders don’t exist than to treat the problem head-on. How many more people have to die before we take this seriously?
I’ve personally visited the parking lot where Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot and six others were killed. Could the killing have been prevented? How do you lock someone up who is crazy but hasn’t made a specific threat? You can’t incarcerate someone just because they are nuts (half my family would be in jail otherwise).
As I sit here writing this, I have news of my own: The first edit is done and the first hard copies of Kingdom of Rage are going out this afternoon to get a first-hand look from readers. I’m excited and nervous about putting something I’ve worked on for over two years into the hands of others.
My goal is to launch the book around September 11th, which is fitting because the novel deals with the after-effects of the attacks. I can hardly wait.
Life imitates art—or does it?
I kill people. Okay, let me elaborate on the last statement: Since I write thrillers, I routinely devise ways of killing people. Killing someone off in a novel is, I hate to say it, what keeps readers interested. Call it some morbid fascination. It’s like work—people love to read about work even though we all complain about it. It’s one of those weird quirks of human nature.
Back to killing. Frequently, I have to murder a character to keep the story exciting. I’ve had to ask medical professionals if the way I describe someone being killed is accurate. I try to be as vivid as I can with words without having too much of a gross-out factor.
In my latest novel, Kingdom of Rage, I show scenes of torture, and someone murdering another person just because they can. It’s a way of showing how evil someone can be. I also show the consequences of what happens when greed and the desire for power is great enough to topple a nation.
Reading a book is supposed to be a way for all of us to escape. To get away from it all. To forget our problems. And that’s what people were doing when they went to see the latest Batman movie.
At 4:00 a.m., the morning of the horrific massacre in Aurora, Colorado, I happened to turn on the news as I was preparing to go to work. ABC News broke in with a live feed from a local affiliate. The initial count was 20 people dead with many more injured. I sat transfixed for another twenty minutes.
The thought of a terrorist shooting up a theatre isn’t something new. In Brad Thor’s Full Black a Muslim extremist blows himself up inside of a crowded theatre. Is this a case of life imitating art? Tom Clancy blew up a stadium filled with sports fans in The Sum of All Fears.
And guess what—I feel guilty because when I read Full Black I thought to myself I can out-do him. I can make a story of destruction so horrific and thrilling it’ll freak people out. People will eat it up. Look at Batman Dark Night Rises—loved the movie, by the way—the antagonist, Mr. Bale, is excellent as the would-be terrorist trying to tear down Gotham City with an atom bomb. The movie was expected to gross over 500 million, but had plateaued around 400.
Within hours of the shooting in Aurora, politicians, blowhards, and ordinary citizens alike were making accusation about the need for stricter gun control, movie cops, etc. You name it; people were vying for control of the gun issue. Facebook lit up with messages of pro-gun support. I read these posts and news reports and thought These guys need to see the big picture. Gun nuts were so afraid of people attacking their guns that they felt a need to make a preemptive strike. Guess what folks: Take a deep breather because you and your bazooka are not the problem. And your government knows this, despite your paranoia.
To my friends with guns: No one is going to take away your precious guns. Not Obama, not congress, not a single politician. I’ve had this discussion with pro-gun people before. I agree with them wholeheartedly that 99.9% of gun owners are law-abiding citizens. It’s the less than 1% I’m worried about.
What do we know and how do we solve the problem of mass killings? I’m not a criminal justice expert but people need to see where the problem really is. It’s a broken mental health system. I’ve spoken to many religious conservatives who believe that depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder are a figment of our imagination. This stance is utterly naïve and bullshit. They prefer to put their head in the sand and say mental disorders don’t exist than to treat the problem head-on. How many more people have to die before we take this seriously?
I’ve personally visited the parking lot where Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot and six others were killed. Could the killing have been prevented? How do you lock someone up who is crazy but hasn’t made a specific threat? You can’t incarcerate someone just because they are nuts (half my family would be in jail otherwise).
As I sit here writing this, I have news of my own: The first edit is done and the first hard copies of Kingdom of Rage are going out this afternoon to get a first-hand look from readers. I’m excited and nervous about putting something I’ve worked on for over two years into the hands of others.
My goal is to launch the book around September 11th, which is fitting because the novel deals with the after-effects of the attacks. I can hardly wait.
June 12, 2012
Editing is a bitch
I've had a hard copy of Kingdom of Rage for over a month just sitting there waiting to be combed through. It's not really sitting there, more like it's teasing me. There's potentially many dollars to be made off of the finished product but the process of editing is tedious, fatiguing, and even downright maddening. Sure, it's a challenge to an extent but as is the creative process, it's never perfect.
Since I fly big (I use that term loosely) airplanes full-time it's hard to just sit down and work on a project that may never pay off in the end. Roughly five hundred copies of Raw Vengeance are floating around, but how much revenue has it brought in? About $15. Sigh. Keep on trucking I tell myself.
It's a beautiful day out. Shall I go outside and play as if I'm seven years old? Sounds fun. Or, should I try to be the next Hemingway and work diligently until the project is finished? That's a tough one. How about somewhere in between so I don't piss my wife off with my irritability? And such is life.
Since I fly big (I use that term loosely) airplanes full-time it's hard to just sit down and work on a project that may never pay off in the end. Roughly five hundred copies of Raw Vengeance are floating around, but how much revenue has it brought in? About $15. Sigh. Keep on trucking I tell myself.
It's a beautiful day out. Shall I go outside and play as if I'm seven years old? Sounds fun. Or, should I try to be the next Hemingway and work diligently until the project is finished? That's a tough one. How about somewhere in between so I don't piss my wife off with my irritability? And such is life.
May 12, 2012
Major Dilemma
My novella, Raw Vengeance, has received positive feedback but some readers feel like it needs to be expanded into a full-length novel. I'm torn being leaving it as is or spending the next year tweaking it. As it sits, it's 35K words and has sold roughly 50 copies since debuting in December of 2011 (should I panic or rejoice since this is my first foray into writing fiction?).
Originally, RV was slated as a test run to see if I could write a story, develop a cover, and earn modest sales—I've always termed it "testing the waters". Readers love the premise but feel that my protagonist needs more development.
Part of me wants to run on to the next big story idea but the other says I need to polish the product I have. I don't like the idea of missing sales due to lack of titles available. Admittedly, I'm a slow and methodical writer.
Another big problem is lack of sales. RV is hovering around 450,000 on Amazon even after I adjusted the blurb and cover. It was even on Victorine's site but didn't get any sales.
To put this into a time perspective, I'm in the editing stage of a full-length novel of the second book in the series. I wouldn't be able to get to RV until later this Summer. Should I take RV on and expand or take it out to the pasture with a pistol? Thoughts?
Originally, RV was slated as a test run to see if I could write a story, develop a cover, and earn modest sales—I've always termed it "testing the waters". Readers love the premise but feel that my protagonist needs more development.
Part of me wants to run on to the next big story idea but the other says I need to polish the product I have. I don't like the idea of missing sales due to lack of titles available. Admittedly, I'm a slow and methodical writer.
Another big problem is lack of sales. RV is hovering around 450,000 on Amazon even after I adjusted the blurb and cover. It was even on Victorine's site but didn't get any sales.
To put this into a time perspective, I'm in the editing stage of a full-length novel of the second book in the series. I wouldn't be able to get to RV until later this Summer. Should I take RV on and expand or take it out to the pasture with a pistol? Thoughts?
April 28, 2012
Pacey, my writing buddy, part II
Since it seems like more people are interested in pics of Pacey than of reading about my foray into writing, I figured it was time to post some more of him. The problem is there's a plethora of photos so it makes it difficult to decide which ones to use. Then I had my "ah-hah!" moment. A few months ago I was writing as usual and of course, Pacey wanted to sit on my lap. He scoped out a warm place and waited until just the right moment to move in.
He's a persistent bastard and won't give in until he's purrfectly snug (pardon my lame attempt at humor).
And for whatever reason, I kept making mistakes and it took me much longer than usual to write my normal amount. The culprit:
And folks say dog people can't appreciate cats. 
He's a persistent bastard and won't give in until he's purrfectly snug (pardon my lame attempt at humor).
And for whatever reason, I kept making mistakes and it took me much longer than usual to write my normal amount. The culprit:
And folks say dog people can't appreciate cats.
April 27, 2012
Cover is updated for Raw Vengeance
I figure, why not update the cover since I found fancier fonts better suited for book covers? The look is more professional looking and stands out much better than the old one.
April 20, 2012
Can I get a HELL YEAH?!!!
Can I get a HELL YEAH?!!! The first draft of Kingdom of Rage is done. It took over two years of planning, writing, and hair-pulling to accomplish.
The hardest part is next: editing and proofing. In a few weeks I'll need 2-5 people to volunteer their time and help me edit the manuscript. All that is involved is reading, taking a few notes, and finding flaws in characters, plot holes, flow, etc. If you'd be interested let me know and I'll ship you a hard copy free of charge. If you volunteer, I'll mention your name in the credits.
If all goes well, this full-length novel will be available on Amazon, B&N, iTunes, and in hard copy.
The hardest part is next: editing and proofing. In a few weeks I'll need 2-5 people to volunteer their time and help me edit the manuscript. All that is involved is reading, taking a few notes, and finding flaws in characters, plot holes, flow, etc. If you'd be interested let me know and I'll ship you a hard copy free of charge. If you volunteer, I'll mention your name in the credits.
If all goes well, this full-length novel will be available on Amazon, B&N, iTunes, and in hard copy.
April 18, 2012
A cover that makes sense
KoR has seen more than a dozen different covers in the last month. One would look good and then I'd run it by wife and ask, "What do you think?" She shrugs. On to cover number two...and so on. It's been going like this and I'm on the verge of saying "f*%k it" and going with a professional designer. But why should I let them have the fun when I can do a quality cover for free? So, here it goes...
