David R. Michael's Blog, page 25

Writing Progress Report

 
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, May 30, 2011.
 








Writing Project


Words




Monday


HoE2 plot tweaking.







Tuesday


HoE2


1011




Wednesday








Thursday








Friday








Saturday








Sunday


















Total



1011




 








Publishing/Marketing




Monday





Tuesday





Wednesday





Thursday


Updated stories posted in "Free Fiction" category on the blog to have "Free Fiction" in the post title.




Friday





Saturday





Sunday





 
Reading List

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay.
Hazard by Gardiner Harris.

 
Related Posts:
9 Months of Indie PublishingNow Available – "Insanity"Now Available – "Effie Two-Five"

9 Months of Indie Publishing – Ebook Pricing Addendum

My post from Wednesday disclosed my sales numbers over my first 9 months of indie publishing. Today's post talks about my evolving ebook pricing strategy.
 
When I released my first ebook, "Nostalgia", I priced it at $1.29. I came to this number based on the word count. I had come up with a word-count-based scale for short stories that looked workable to me at the time. Something like $.99 for anything up to 5000 words, and then increasing by $.10 per 1000 words. Or something like that.
 
That scheme lasted about a month. Then, with no sales of "Nostalgia", and a sudden urge to standardize pricing, I changed "Nostalgia" to $.99 and I've used that for short stories ever since. Regardless of word count. My available short stories range from 2000 words to 8500 words. They're all $.99. They've all sold at least one copy.
 

The Summoning Fire was my first indie published novel. There was (and still is) lots of chatter on the Web and forums about pricing ebook novels at $.99. But to me, that's the "discount bin" price. I avoid the discount bin as much as I can. $2.99 was another popular price, since it's the minimum price you can set on Amazon and still get a 70% royalty. (Some people seem to believe $2.99 is somehow "magic". I don't think that. I believe in simple math.) But $2.99 still seemed a bit low for a novel. From what I could see, $2.99 was doing well for novellas in the 20,000-word range and there were (and still are) lots of novels, indie and otherwise, doing well at higher prices. So I opted for $3.99. I also used $3.99 as the ebook price when I released The Girl Who Ran With Horses in late November 2010.
 
In March 2011, though, seeing that my unit sales of both The Summoning Fire and The Girl Who Ran With Horses were hardly impressive, I upped both ebooks to $4.99. Two-and-a-half months later, Horse Girl's sales have remained steady with a slight upward trend. TSF's sales have also remained steady–but not in as positive a fashion. So, the $4.99 price increase didn't hurt Horse Girl, but didn't help TSF (so far).
 
When I released The Door to the Sky in March 2011, I chose $2.99 for the price. Primarily because the novel is short. Only about 35,000 words. I added a bonus short story (about one of the main characters in the novel) to bring the total word-count of the ebook up to 41,000 words. So far, The Door to the Sky has sold only a few copies, but I don't think that's because of the price. I'm pretty sure it's the blurb and just the odd nature of the book itself. Not just the atypical nature of the story being told, but also the "mosaic" approach I used when structuring it.
 
I priced my first collections of stories at $.99 because they were on the shorter side. Nasty, Brutish & Short Short, with 13 flash fiction stories, came to just over 10,000 words. Serene Morning & Other Tales of a Little Girl has only 4 short short stories, with a total word-count of about 3600. The more recent collections have all weighed in at over 20,000 total words, so I priced them at $2.99. When I get the omnibus collection ready, since it will have about 70,000 words total, I plan to price it like the novels: $4.99.
 

 
Here is my current Ebook Pricing Plan:

$0.99 – Short story (or a small collection of flash fiction,
$1.99 – Long short story or short collections (10K-20K words) (unused so far)
$2.99 – Collections, short novels (20K – 50K words)
$4.99 – Novels, collections (>50K words)

 
Of course, all of this is subject to change. Evolution never sleeps.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
9 Months of Indie PublishingI Like PublishingWhy I Keep Bringing That Up…

9 Months of Indie Publishing

 
I uploaded my first indie-published ebook, the short story "Nostalgia", in September 2010. Since then, I've released 3 novels, 5 collections of short stories, and 9 more short stories.
 
(NOTE: I didn't *write* all that between now and then. I can be prolific, but I'm not superhuman.:-) )
 
My biggest (and most consistent) seller so far is The Girl Who Ran With Horses, followed (distantly) by The Summoning Fire, and then Nasty, Brutish & Short Short.
 
That said, my biggest seller, which I still call "Horse Girl", only (finally) crossed the 100-copies-sold marker in May.
 
Here are my sales numbers for all books as of 1 June 2011:
 




Total Books Sold


214












Novels







The Summoning Fire


31




The Girl Who Ran With Horses


111




The Door to the Sky


4












Collections







Nasty, Brutish & Short Short


18




Serene Morning & Other Tales


7




Demon Candy


4




The World Wears Thin


1




Brain Freeze & Other Stories


1












Short Stories







Nostalgia


9




Baptism


9




Curtain Call


2




Insanity


5




A Fine Mess


4




The Perfect Hiding Place


2




Evanescent


2




Sweet Tooth


2




Effie Two-Five


1




Secondhand Coffin


1




 
In general, being available longer means more total sales for a title. You really see this with the short stories. You can spot which ones have been out the longest. However, "Nostalgia" went 4 months before having its first sale, and Horse Girl came out two months later than The Summoning Fire.
 
Break-down by month and type of book:
 








Short Stories


Collections


Novels


Total




2010-09


0


1


6


7




2010-10


0


6


10


16




2010-11


1


5


7


13




2010-12


2


0


37


39






















2011-01


4


2


30


36




2011-02


7


7


13


27




2011-03


8


4


17


29




2011-04


7


3


12


22




2011-05


8


3


14


25




 
NOTE: The March, April & May numbers aren't "final". April & May will both improve as Smashwords's sluggish reporting continues to trickle forth data. I'm reasonably certain that everything *before* March is set and won't change.
 
I don't know that I have any lessons to impart.
 
My review queries for The Summoning Fire netted me about 10 reviews (and cost me quite a few more free copies than that), but never had any measurable effect on sales. My review queries for Horse Girl netted me fewer reviews, but–and this is a big but–sales for Horse Girl started *before* any reviews were posted, and have been about a consistent dozen or so per month since February (after selling 60 copies its first 2 months). I haven't done review queries for anything released since then. Which might account for Demon Candy's (no reviews) and The Door to the Sky's (1 review) poor performance. Or might not. I never requested reviews for Nasty, Brutish & Short Short either. Or any of the short stories.
 
The simple truth is: I'm still largely invisible as a fiction author. Until that changes, not much changes.
 
With each book or story I put out, I become a shade less invisible. How much less varies by the book or story. At least the effect is (mostly) cumulative so each new book gets to build on the ones already out there.
 
I have 2 novels that will come out over the summer. One of them (GoSH1) will probably help bolster sales of Horse Girl. The other (Gunwitch) might bolster sales of either The Summoning Fire or The Door to the Sky. Or maybe I'm wrong both counts.
 
I guess we'll see.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
Now Available – "The Perfect Hiding Place"Now Available – "Insanity"Now Available – THE DOOR TO THE SKY

Intimidating Myself

 
Back in January, I cranked out 30,000 words in 2 weeks–10 days, actually, since I didn't write on the weekends.
 
Which sounds great, but–
 
How did I do that? How do I do it again (for longer this time)?
 
Does it even make sense to intimidate yourself?
 
These are the Deep Questions I ponder as I look forward into June…
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
Not Exactly How I Planned It…My 2010 Writing GoalsSigils Update and Existential Artist Personality Bullsh*t

Writing Progress Report

 
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, May 23, 2011.
 








Writing Project


Words




Monday


HoE2 plotting. Finished draft outline.







Tuesday


HoE2


2065




Wednesday








Thursday


HoE2


555




Friday








Saturday








Sunday


















Total



2620




YTD Total: 137058 (12942 words behind)
 








Publishing/Marketing




Monday


Created catalog pages on 4CL for BF&OS, NBSS, DC, and TWWT.




Tuesday





Wednesday





Thursday





Friday





Saturday





Sunday





 
Reading List

Asimov's Science Fiction, July 2011

 
Related Posts:
Now Available – "Insanity"Now Available – "Effie Two-Five"Now Available – "The Perfect Hiding Place"

Well, Fine…

 
…I was going to be all "indie" today. That is, do what I want to do. Take the day, more or less, "off".
 
But it's Memorial Day weekend. There's nothing "indie" about being lazy on Memorial Day weekend.
 
Damn it! I was going to take the day off–the whole weekend off–*ANYWAY*. Really. I was. Because I'm *INDIE*. Not because someone was paying me to stay home from work.
 
You know what? Screw it. I'm going to WORK on Monday. While the universe of non-indies goes to the mall or grills burgers in their backyard. You watch me. See if I don't.
 
I'm an indie, damn it.
 
Have a great weekend!
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
"Indie" is not a Genre"Indie" is not a BrandFor Those of You New to Indie Web-Based Retail…

And We're Off!

 
HoE2 is underway with a first day of just over 2000 words.
 
After only 97 new words last week–and 27000 words put on the shelf–I have some catching up to do.
 
If I can get HoE2 at least mostly done before Junebug arrives, I'll consider it a Good Thing.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
Scenic PlottingA Sigils Progress ReportNano – Day 5

Scenic Plotting

 
I'm still working on the outline for my next project. I'm almost done. I might even finish it today.
 
The project name is HoE2. You can say it as an acronym ("Aych-Oh-Eee-Too"), or pronounce it one of a couple different ways ("Hoe-Two", or "Hoes"). Your choice. The 2 is kind of a giveaway about it being a sequel or a companion novel or something like that. The HoE is also a kind of obvious acronym, I think. But then, I've read everything I've written… I will neither confirm nor deny anything. But, yeah, you're guess is probably right.
 
I took a somewhat more scenic (and organic) approach to building the story for HoE2. I started with the setting and the main character, both of which I was quite familiar with, then built the story from there. In the process I remembered a couple of action movies that I enjoyed and decided to borrow at least a few of their tropes. That got me to the point of a high-level story. 14-15 sentences that described the major movements of the story. From that list, I started creating a list of scenes. I'm letting the scenes morph the initial structure, so where I've ended up is not where I started.
Every pass through the story I get a bit closer to the end, and I see new details that I need to fill in. I'm hoping the next pass will get me to the end of the outline. Of course, the *real* "final pass" will be the actual writing. And, yes, the story will change in that pass too. I'm looking forward to that. It's kinda fun to compare where I thought I was going with where I ended up.
 
In some ways, my process with this outline feels very different from plotting other stories (like how I plotted GoSH1 or, especially, The Summoning Fire). But it's probably just another evolutionary step. A further mingling of both top-down and bottom-up approaches.
 
One part of this process that I've been focusing on is making my scenes/chapters have cliffhanger endings. Not always full-on cliffhangers, but a point of suspense. A hook to pull you into the next chapter. My first deliberate attempts at this are in GoSH1, mostly in the second half of the book. For HoE2 I decided to try for it with every chapter, beginning to end.
 
I'm curious how it will turn out.
 
Back to the story!
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
I Count WordsHow Blue Got Her Name (in THE DOOR TO THE SKY)Planning (Almost) Finished

Writing Progress Report

 
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, May 16, 2011.
 








Writing Project


Words




Monday


Sigils
Edited Gunwitch chapter 8, 9, 10.


97




Tuesday


GoSH2 brainstorming.
HoE2 brainstorming.
Edited Gunwitch chapter 11, 12.







Wednesday


Threads Reboot brainstorming.
Created NBSS 1.1 base ebook doc.
Created NBSS 1.1 ebook doc for KDP, PubIt, & Smashwords.
Edited Gunwitch chapter 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 (edit complete).







Thursday


HoE2 brainstorming.
F25C1 brainstorming.







Friday


HoE2 plotting.







Saturday


HoE2 plotting.







Sunday


HoE2 plotting.

















Total



97




 








Publishing/Marketing




Monday


Announced BF&OS on blog, FB, 4CL.
Added "Effie Two-Five" and "Secondhand Coffin" to short story promo thread on KB, NB, and MR.




Tuesday





Wednesday


Uploaded NBSS 1.1 to KDP, PubIt, Smashwords.
Updated NBSS promo thread on KB, MR, & NB.
Sent Gunwitch to first readers.




Thursday





Friday


Updated Door Sky promo thread on KB, MR, & NB.
Created NBSS promo thread on B&R.




Saturday





Sunday


Signed up for Twitter: @GunsAndMagic




 
Reading List

The (Mis)behavior of Markets: A Fractal View of Risk, Ruin, and Reward by Benoit B. Mandelbrot and Richard L. Hudson.

 
Related Posts:
Now Available – "Secondhand Coffin"Now Available – "Effie Two-Five"Now Available – "Insanity"

Free Fiction – "Deadline's Curve"

Here's a free flash fiction story for your Sunday. A few notes about the story follow it.
 
Deadline's Curve
by David Michael
 
Author winced as he heard the first squeal of the tires around the twist in the story line, then the clank! … clank! … clank! of the plot.
 
The motor of the story had purred along for over 40,000 words. A few times the engine light had come on, as if the story tension had become lower than expected, but it had always gone off again a few seconds later. Overall, a smooth ride.
 
Until that one plot point, until the twist that propelled the story towards its climax.
 
After that point, the clanking got louder and louder. The engine light reversed itself, sometimes flickering off, but remaining steadily lit most of the time. Tension skyrocketed and plummeted from one page to the next. The engine temperature gauge climbed higher, creeping closer to the dangerous red line. The story sometimes smoothed out as it ran on to the end, but never for very long. And even in the smoother parts, the noise of the story cogs and rotors rubbing against each other was distracting. Annoying even.
 
Author sighed and put the manuscript down. Were there any more mechanics in town he could take the story to for a critique–and get it back before the publisher's deadline?
 
His friends, shade-tree critiquers all, though one or two with some real skill, had poured over the manuscript at his request. Those sessions had netted him some suggestions for tightening here, lubricating there, adjusting this, moving that from one place to another. Some of those suggestions had even been good ones, extending the "purrs along" distance from 30,000 words to 40,000.
 
But always that one plot point, always the horrible clanking.
 
The story had to turn there, or it could never reach the ending. But as soon as the turn was made, the clanking started up. The story kept gamely cruising forward, but the manuscript felt like it was pulling itself apart.
 
The deadline Author faced kept coming at him, full speed, threatening to pull him apart.
 
A so-called professional had kept the manuscript for a week. Running the story through his computer, going through it word by word, calling with updates as he did so. In the end, though, the professional had returned the manuscript to Author, saying only, "I took this thing apart and put it back together. I think you'll like the results."
 
But the clanking had still been there, right at the halfway point of the story.
 
"I don't hear it," the professional said when Author took the story back in. "Sounds fine to me."
 
The next professional had pronounced the story DOA. There was nothing he could do short of a total rewrite and rebuild. Which he was willing to do for a fee–a much bigger fee. If Author really loved his story, this professional said, then Author should let him proceed. Author demurred.
 
One more time through, Author decided. He picked up the manuscript again.
 
He liked reading the beginning of the story. The story started with a satisfying roar, hit its stride, pulled into the stretch and seemed good to go for thousands of words yet, maybe even past 100,000 words. The characters, the setting, everything in time and in touch, well lubed and fitted, where they should be.
 
He stopped reading before he reached the crucial turn, before the squeal and the clanking could kill his buzz. He sat there and relished the feeling for a while, that wonderful feeling of having written something he knew was good. Finally, though, he could not put it off any longer.
 
He started reading. He risked a small smile, one last bit of reveling in the wonderful purring of the story. Then he stepped on the gas and headed for the curve.
 
Maybe this time he would see a way to take the turn that wouldn't be so damaging. But even if he didn't, he would have to send the manuscript in.
 
Copyright © 2006 by David Michael.
 
Story Notes: I wrote this story during A Short Story a Day. I had forgotten all about "Deadline's Curve" until I was poking around in my September 2006 archives, looking for notes about The Door to the Sky. I remembered Camille's recent post, "Alphabet Soup – A Fable for Writers", and thought I would share my own little writer-writing fable-type creation. I hope you enjoyed it.


PS If you enjoyed "Deadline's Curve", you might also like "When Writers Attack".
 
Related Posts:
"It's a Story"Short Story Ebook TipMy Flash Fiction "Time: A Love Story" on Book Brouhaha