David R. Michael's Blog, page 30

March Was Fun – Mostly

 
I started March with 7 ebooks (2 novels, 3 collections, and 2 short stories), and finished it with 13 (+1 novel, +5 short stories). I don't plan quite as many new releases for April (+1 collection, +2 short stories), but the month is young yet. Also, I launched Four Crows Landing in March. So I stayed busy in March. I even wrote quite a bit in GoSH1.
 
March sales, so far, are on par with February. Which is good in that they didn't get worse. I say "so far" because the resellers Smashwords distributes through often take a month or more to fully report all the sales in a given month. For example, at the end of March, there were new sales reported that happened in January and February. So it could be May or June before the March numbers are final.
 
My ebook assembly line is getting smoother and faster. Nothing like lots of practice to get better at something, and I had lots of practice in March.
 
All that said, March was an emotional roller coaster. Up, down, swoop, swipe, dip, toss, turn, throw, catch, bump, slump, dump … No crashing, though. Which is good. Crashing is never good.
 
I'm getting a much better understanding of why authors, and artists in general, develop drinking problems.
 
So now it's April. I'm hoping it's fun too. I can see the roller coaster waiting for me…
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
Doubling DownRecent Lessons Learned (or at least Noted)I Have Big Plans for 2011

My Short Story Challenge 2011 Judges Feedback

 
Today I got the judges feedback from my Short Story Challenge 2011 submission, "Secondhand Coffin".
 
"Secondhand Coffin" by David Michael
 
WHAT THE JUDGE(S) LIKED ABOUT YOUR SCRIPT – …………This is very close to a classic revenge-based ghost story. The writing is smooth and well done, and the voice is also well developed. I also like the back story about the rug—and the fact that, for a change, we don't know WHY this woman was murdered, but we get the sense she absolutely didn't deserve it…….Grisly details in this story are very effective. The protagonist evokes feelings of empathy from the reader. …………………………………………………  
 
WHAT THE JUDGES FEEL NEEDS WORK – …………I found myself very confused about what was going on in this story, and I think it's because there are a few too many details. One of the things that can be done to make this work better is to streamline it—for example, she died wrapped in a rug that had been doused in cement, and I think she's beneath a building (that section in there is brilliant, by the way, how she tries not to think about what kind of building it is and the people coming and going from it), but then there is this whole business about the coffin and the undertaker and all of that. I was completely confused about where we were. In addition, there's confusion in the end about the ghost being out of the corpse, and is the corpse attacking these men or is the ghost? I'd like to see the writer work on these confusing issues and streamline things. Perhaps it's not a funeral home, but the bottom of a pit over which a building is to be placed, and she's wrapped in this rug and the two henchmen are working to bury her in the building's foundation…….The story is initially confusing regarding Lacey and the corpse. ………………………………………………
 
 
OK. I can draw a couple of conclusions from this feedback.
 
First, there were two judges. And one of them is more wordy than the other.
 
Second, I think I can assume that I didn't place in the contest because I confused both judges. I may have a "well developed" voice and might have provided "very effective" "grisly details", but note the "very confused … completely confused" and "initially confusing" comments.
 
I will keep their comments in mind–as well as the feedback I accumulated from other readers and contest participants–when I get the story ready for ebook publication. I expect to release it as a short story ebook later this month.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
SSC Judges Feedback (A Few Months Later)Short Story Challenge 2008 1st Round ResultsVision First, Then Audience

Writing Progress Report

 
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, March 28, 2011.
 




 


Writing Project


Words




Monday


GoSH1
Line edited "The Perfect Hiding Place".
Created base ebook doc for "The Perfect Hiding Place".
Created "The Perfect Hiding Place" ebook doc for KDP, Smashwords, & PubIt.


3163




Tuesday


GoSH1


567




Wednesday


GoSH1
Edited "Evanescent".


200




Thursday


GoSH1
Lined edited "Evanescent".
Created base ebook doc for "Evanescent".
Created "Evanescent" ebook doc for KDP, Smashwords, & PubIt.


1313




Friday


GoSH1


3053




Saturday


GoSH1


1003




Sunday


GoSH1


703




 








Total



10002




 




 


Publishing/Marketing




Monday


Uploaded "The Perfect Hiding Place" to KDP, Smashwords, & PubIt.




Tuesday


Announced "The Perfect Hiding Place" to G&M, FB, 4CL.




Wednesday


Updated TSF blurb on KDP, PubIt & Smashwords.




Thursday


Uploaded "Evanescent" to KDP, Smashwords, & PubIt.




Friday





Saturday


Submitted "Time: A Love Story" to Book Brouhaha blog.




Sunday


Announced "Evanescent" on G&M, FB, 4CL.




 
Reading List

True Evil by Greg Isles.
Burden Kansas by Alan Ryker.
The Bellhound: Four Tales of Modern Magic by Camille LaGuire.

 
Related Posts:
Now Available – "The Perfect Hiding Place"Now Available – "Evanescent"Now Available – "Insanity"

A Case Study in Asking Advice of Amateurs

Guido Henkel has a guest post on J.A. Konrath's blog today. In summary, Guido had posted earlier in the year about his series of ebooks that were not selling at the rate he expected, in spite of very creative and extensive marketing efforts. That earlier post generated a *shitload* (my word, not his) of advice on how he could, surely, improve his ebook package, his Web presence, and, of course, his sales.
 
None of it, though, has seemed to work. And don't call me Shirley.
 
It's a long post, but interesting. The comments are painful to read, though, so be warned.
 
The comments are painful because people can't *not* give advice, even when they've just read a piece that demonstrates quite clearly that their advice is probably useless. Almost certainly useless.
 
If you ask people for advice, they will give it. Gladly. Freely. Even if they have approaching zero qualifications, expertise or equivalent experience in the arena for which advice was requested. Then they will be pissed off if you don't take their advice, but that's another topic.
 
Storytelling is one of the oldest professions of humanity, probably invented shortly after a member of the second profession was caught by his wife leaving the hut of a member of the oldest profession.
 
In spite of millennia of practice, no one can predict why one story will become a classic and another story is forgotten almost immediately. Just because ebooks seem to be new (they aren't, BTW) doesn't change that they are still stories and subject to the same oddly random factors that have always affected stories–and pretty much any other form of artistic expression.
 
Why does one ebook sell enough to make its author a millionaire, while another ebook (possibly by the *same* author) drop like a stone never to be heard from again?
 
We don't know. None of us know. But that won't stop us from thinking we know *something* that might have made a difference–and feeling *compelled* to share it.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
THE SUMMONING FIRE Listed on Joe Konrath's BlogShort Story Ebook CoversMy Marketing Efforts Thus Far

Now Available – "Evanescent"

 
"Evanescent" – A new slipstream short story by David Michael!
 
She's the girl you meet every year for the first time. She has red-gold hair, sky-blue eyes, and just a splash of freckles across her cheeks. She's as young as you are, or as old. She dances in the rain and splashes in the puddles. She jumps in the leaves and spins with the wind. She steps out of the fog to smile at you, then disappears before you can ask her name… (5400-word short story)
 




"Evanescent" Edition


Price




Kindle edition (Amazon)


$.99




Nook edition (Barnes & Noble)


$.99




Ebook (Smashwords)


$.99




 
Related Posts:
Now Available – "Insanity"Now Available – "The Perfect Hiding Place"Now Available – "A Fine Mess"

The Patience to Do Nothing

 
When you plant a tree, or, hell, most plants, the worst thing you can do is hover over the poor thing and try to rush its growth. The tree, the flower, the cucumbers, they're all going to grow. All you really have to do is make sure the soil is good, the water is adequate, and no nuclear bombs (or packs of hungry bunnies) come to roost near by.
 
The seed will germinate, the roots will take hold, and the leaves will unfold. Your best course of action is to just sit back and wait.
 
Which is, yeah, the hard part.
 
Because you don't want to wait. You want to *do* something. You want to force feed plant food and fertilizer to the poor thing and maybe hook up a bicycle pump.
 
You want to line up those 60 post hole diggers to get your post hole dug in 1 second. You want all 9 women ready to go so your baby is born in 1 month instead of 9 (or 40 women, if you're in a hurry and want the baby in less than a week).
 
Some things just take time. Like having a baby. Or digging a post hole. Or growing an 80-foot oak tree in your backyard. You can't rush them, and any attempt to rush them will *not* work out the way you want. Or just won't work. Period.
 
Sometimes, the best thing you can do is nothing. Nothing at all.
 
You water the tree. You keep the beavers away. You trim the deadwood off when that becomes an issue. The rest of the time, you just leave it the hell alone.
 
You focus on what you can do and have the patience to let that be all you do.
 
-David
 
PS I was reading last night and one of the characters in the book quoted the Tao Te Ching: "Do you have the patience to do nothing?" The novel is so-so at best, but that quoted question really resonated with me and I've been pondering it ever since. This post is part of that pondering process.
 
Related Posts:
Nanogeons and NragonsI Really Should Have Known BetterYeah, What Dean Said

Now Available – "The Perfect Hiding Place"

 
"The Perfect Hiding Place" – A new slipstream short story by David Michael!
 
The house next door has been sold and the new neighbors are moving in. Do you think they're religious? They seem to have a lot of kids. Do you think they're hiding something? They look ethnic. Do you think they might be worth robbing? No, obviously, they can't be *monkeys*… (5500-word short story)
 




"The Perfect Hiding Place" Edition


Price




Kindle edition (Amazon)


$.99




Nook edition (Barnes & Noble)


$.99




Ebook (Smashwords)


$.99




 
Related Posts:
Now Available – "Insanity"Now Available – "A Fine Mess"Now Available – THE DOOR TO THE SKY

Surprisingly Freeing; or So That's What They Mean by "Natural Length"

 
Today, as I was planning my next few novels to write (GoSH1 is just past 45,000 words now, and I should finish it before the end of next week), I kept looking at one of my partially-developed ideas from 2010. I had shelved this idea when I had realized that it would not work at "normal novel length". That is, the idea would not work at 90,000 words or more. Even 70,000 words seemed likely to stretch the idea past the breaking point (AKA, "the boring point").
 
This afternoon, though, I realized the story could work at 40,000 words. This is short for a novel, but–who cares?
 
I'm excited. I wanted to write this story. It's what I think of as a cool experiment, something that should be a lot of fun to write (and maybe a lot of fun to read). Not exactly "cross-genre", but a blending of two concepts that I wanted to explore. Since I no longer have to force the experiment to be a 90,000-word novel to make it available to readers, since there is (now, once again) a market for shorter novels, I can take this idea back off the shelf and not have to worry about stretching it into something it was never meant to be.
 
When this really clicked for me, though, this wonderful new freedom, was when I realized that even for a different project, one that I expect will be a more normal 80,000 to 90,000 words, that if it comes in shorter than that–who cares?
 
Amazon uses the tagline "Stories at the Natural Length" for their Kindle Singles. They're mostly referring to short stories of various lengths, but–who cares?
 
I already knew I could write a story or novel to whatever length I wanted. Today, though, it finally became real.
 
I can write my stories, my way.
 
I just love that.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
Writing Short Stories Considered UsefulNaNoWriMo 2007 Post MortemNaNoWriMo 2010

I Count Words

 
I set my goals and track my progress in my writing projects by the number of words written. Which is obvious to anyone who has seen any of my weekly "Writing Progress Reports".
 
Since 2002, I've tried a handful of different ways to set goals and monitor my progress. Among them:

Time spent – spend N minutes/hours each day writing
Chapter/story – write an entire chapter or story in a day
Word count

 
The only one that's worked consistently for me is word count.
 
Time spent almost works, so long as I also track word counts. Then I can be sure I'm not just yardgazing out my back window while the clock ticks. But if I have to count words anyway, why not just skip the time part and count words?
 
During the A Short Story a Day project, I wrote both The Summoning Fire and The Door to the Sky one complete chapter every day until they were finished. For The Door to the Sky, most of the chapters were only 2000 words, so one chapter each day was quite workable. Then I wrote The Summoning Fire, which had chapters that were upwards of 4000 words. 4000-word chapters take a big chunk out of a day. For The Girl Who Ran With Horses, which I started a couple months after finishing The Summoning Fire, I shifted from one chapter a day to a set word count again. Which was good, as chapters in that book ranged up to over 8000 words.
 
I also stopped trying to finish short stories the same day I started them after ASSAD. That way I could stretch a bit, and have longer stories in the 5000- to 10000-word range.
 
Some people have mentioned setting scene-based writing goals. I've not tried that per se. Possibly because I don't really think of a story as a collection of scenes (no matter that all those how-to-write books and lectures have tried to convince me otherwise). That's not how I build stories (I think I tend to structure more along the lines of revelations and decisions, and less in terms of set piece scenes; I haven't analyzed the process too much), so it feels uncomfortable to approach my writing goals that way.
 
Which leaves me with word counting.
 
When I focus on writing X number of words each day, whatever X might be, I get my writing done. I can even make a good guess as to how long it will take me to finish the current writing project.
 
2002 was only 9 years ago. I expect to still be writing 9 years from now, and longer. In the years to come, I'll probably try out other writing goals and progress tracking. I like experimenting and sometimes feel an urge to be different. Odds are, though, in 9 years, or 18 years, or however long, when you ask me about my writing, I bet I'll still be counting words.
 
-David
 
Related Posts:
Nano – ThoughtsStill Planning, But Also WritingDo I Count Every Word? You Bet Your Sweet Bippy

Writing Progress Report

 
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, March 21, 2011.
 








Writing Project


Words




Monday








Tuesday


GoSH1
Line edited "A Fine Mess".
Created base ebook doc for "A Fine Mess".
Created "A Fine Mess" ebook doc for KDP, Smashwords, & PubIt.


2507




Wednesday


GoSH1


2857




Thursday


GoSH1
Edited "The Perfect Hiding Place".


900




Friday


GoSH1


2044




Saturday


GoSH1


657




Sunday


GoSH1


469














Total



9434




 








Marketing/Submission




Monday





Tuesday


Updated Door Sky promo thread on KB, MR, NB.
Uploaded "A Fine Mess" to KDP, PubIt, & Smashwords.




Wednesday





Thursday





Friday


Announced "A Fine Mess" to G&M, 4CL, FB, KB, MR, NB.




Saturday





Sunday





 
Reading List

My Work is Not Yet Done by Thomas Ligotti.
Among the Missing by Dan Chaon.

 
Related Posts:
Now Available – "A Fine Mess"Now Available – "Insanity"Now Available – THE DOOR TO THE SKY