David R. Michael's Blog, page 31
April 3, 2011
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"
March 31, 2011
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
March 29, 2011
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
March 28, 2011
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
March 25, 2011
Now Available – "A Fine Mess"
"A Fine Mess" – A new science fiction short story by David Michael!Kenneth is the best gatherer among the survivors. Only a few can gather Strings, the floating, Frayed remnants of what was once the edible vegetation of the world. Which is why there are a lot fewer people now than Kenneth remembers when he was younger. He might be only ten, but even Kenneth knows that if you can't catch Strings, you can't eat. And if you can't eat, you starve and you die… (2300-word short story)
"A Fine Mess" Edition
Price
Kindle edition (Amazon)
$.99
Nook edition (Barnes & Noble)
$.99
Ebook (Smashwords)
$.99
Related Posts:
Now Available – "Insanity"Now Available – "Curtain Call"Now Available – THE DOOR TO THE SKY
March 24, 2011
THE GIRL WHO RAN WITH HORSES given 5 Stars at Juniper Grove!
Jaidis Shaw at Juniper Grove gives The Girl Who Ran With Horses 5 stars!The Girl Who Ran With Horses is a book not only about coming to terms with normal teenage insecurities but about accepting who you are, even if that means you can talk to horses…
…The Girl Who Runs With Horses is a delightful young adult book and one that I will gladly allow my daughter to read. Well, after she learns to read of course
Read the whole review here…
Related Posts:
THE SUMMONING FIRE Gets 4 Stars from Juniper GroveTHE GIRL WHO RAN WITH HORSES Gets 4.5 Stars from MotherLodeTHE GIRL WHO RAN WITH HORSES Gets 5 Stars from Book Babe!
If a Million Indies Self-Publish a Million Really Bad Novels…
…no one is going to force you to read them.
Just sayin'.
Fortunately, this also holds true for thousands of not-indie publishers not-self-publishing hundreds of thousands of mediocre books every year.
So we can all breathe easier.
-David
Related Posts:
I Have Big Plans for 2011Why I Choose to be an Indie AuthorWriting First, Then Publishing
