David R. Michael's Blog, page 46
November 1, 2010
Writing Progress Report
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, October 25, 2010.
Writing Project
Words
Monday
"Selene" brainstorming.
Tuesday
Nanowrimo brainstorming.
Wednesday
Nanowrimo brainstorming.
Thursday
Nanowrimo brainstorming.
Edited "Baptism" one last time.
Friday
Nanowrimo brainstorming.
Saturday
Nanowrimo brainstorming.
Sunday
Nanowrimo brainstorming.
Total
Marketing/Submission
Monday
Announced the release of Serene Morning & Other Tales to Guns & Magic, Facebook, KindleBoards & MobileReads.
The Summoning Fire listed on Spalding's Racket.
Tuesday
Wednesday
Sent "Afterimage" to first readers.
Thursday
Uploaded "Baptism" to AmazonDTP.
Uploaded "Baptism" to Smashwords.
Friday
Submitted a giveaway of TSF on GoodReads for next week.
Saturday
Sunday
Reading List
Draculas by J.A. Konrath, Blake Crouch, Jack Kilborn, and F. Paul Wilson.
October 29, 2010
NaNoWriMo 2010
I've spent most of this week brainstorming the novel I'm going to write for Nanowrimo 2010.
I hadn't planned on participating in Nano this year. I mean, I already signed up, as I always do, but I wasn't going to write anything for Nano. I was going to keep writing stories like I have been and posting my word count accumulated throughout the month, but that was it.
Then, this past Monday, while trying to brainstorm another short story, I decided I didn't want to write another short story. Not for a few weeks anyway. Maybe a month. Maybe two months. I wanted to write something longer. I didn't know what that would be, but I wanted to give it a shot.
And, hey, look, Nanowrimo starts next Monday.
So I've spent Tuesday through today brainstorming a Nano novel. Just now I think I got a good handle on what I'm going to do. There's still some prep work I need to do (like, you know, naming characters), but I can see, in my head, where I want to go now.
I'll have more to say about the novel after I've hammered out a few more details. All I'm willing to say now is that I'm trying something kinda new: horror-humor. Or humorous horror. Or Lovecraft Lite. Right now, the ideas I have seem like a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to spending time with them.
I'm hoping to finish the novel's first draft in November, but even if I don't, I plan to finish the novel. Unlike, say, my Nano 2007 effort (may it rest in peaceful pieces).
Also unlike past years, I won't be posting my Nano novel to the blog as I write it. Or, at least, I'm not planning to right now. I could change my mind come next week. I might post some excerpts and passages that I find amusing.
-David
October 28, 2010
"Indie" is not a Genre
Sure, Hollywood marketing and PR would like you to think "indie film" is a specific genre, but it's just not true. Most often, the only common factor between two indie films is the size of the budget (or the lack of one).
I love indie film. Even the really ridiculous indie efforts, like "Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter" (available on Netflix; if you like bad movies, you'll love this one).
A lot of indie film is horror of some sort, because it used to be a great way to get a film noticed and launch a career (or two). Ask Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell (I love the "Evil Dead" movies too).
Kevin Smith's indie effort, "Clerks", was a subversive masterpiece that managed to be modern, edgy and not horror.
There is nothing in common between "Evil Dead" and "Clerks".
In the realm of books, "indie" is even more meaningless–though there do seem to be a lot of fantasy and vampire books released by indies. Browse the authors at a place like KindleBoards and you see: science fiction, romance, paranormal romance, horror, vampires (of course), and fantasy (duh), just to name a few.
"Indie" is a distribution method. Not a sub-category of fiction (or anything else).
-David
October 26, 2010
"Indie" is not a Brand
Just wanted to say that.
Sometimes people latch onto "indie" and think that it represents something beyond an adjective describing a lack of connection to the mainstream distribution channels.
It doesn't.
Anyone can call themselves an "indie" of any sort they choose: author, filmmaker, musician, etc. There's no rules. No guild. No association. No dues to pay. And only the very loosest of communities.
"Indie" just means you're doing it (whatever "it" is) on your own. Which is gutsy and laudable. But it's not a brand.
-David
October 25, 2010
Serene Morning & Other Tales of a Little Girl – Now Available
A small collection of flash fiction and short short stories inspired by a little girl.
The Puppets Take a Bath – Three year old Serene put down her spoon and her right hand became a puppet. With her fingers together and her thumb working as the lower jaw and tongue, the puppet could talk…
Trikes and Aliens – The little girl walked up to Rala and stood there, watching him as he repaired his zip-about…
Plus 4 more!
Serene Morning & Other Tales of a Little Girl
Now available in trade paperback and ebook!
Serene Morning & Other Tales Edition
Price
Trade paperback (Amazon)
$6.99
Kindle edition (Amazon)
$0.99
Ebook (Smashwords)
$0.99
Writing Progress Report
Writing progress report for the week starting Monday, October 18, 2010.
Writing Project
Words
Monday
"Evanescent"
1510
Tuesday
"Evanescent"
874
Wednesday
Thursday
"Evanescent"
1502
Friday
"Evanescent" (first draft complete)
Edited "Baptism", tested Serenity Software's "Editor" for proofreading and copyediting.
1449
Saturday
Formatted Horse Girl for POD.
Sunday
Finished formatting Horse Girl for POD (pending cover art).
Total
5336
Marketing/Submission
Monday
Posted "The Dragon Hunts" to the blog.
Leslie Wright at Blogcritics gives The Summoning Fire 4 stars.
Sent review requests to thenewpodlerreviews, rambles, novelcritic.
Tuesday
Wednesday
Posted "Trikes and Aliens" to the blog.
Uploaded Serene Morning to Smashwords.
Uploaded Serene Morning to AmazonDTP.
Sent review requests to bookseriesreviews.
Thursday
Sent review requests to caramellunacy, alexiasbooksandsuch, bittenbybooks.
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
"Until Death Do Us Part" appeared on Zombiepalooza.
Reading List
October 24, 2010
October 22, 2010
Found a Useful Editing Tool Today
Editor from Serenity Software (http://www.serenity-software.com/)
(As the guy who came up with the oh-so-original name "The Journal", I can't really complain about someone naming their software "Editor".)
Editor is copyediting and proofreading software.
It's ugly. It's way past ugly.
But it works.
I gave Editor a test run today, letting it have a go at my story, "Baptism".
I had Editor save its output to a couple text files so I could open them in a much friendlier UI than what the software itself provides. I used TextPad (a text editor). That way I could have the "draft" version of the story text with its numbered sentences open beside Editor's "usage" report. Then I pulled up the work-in-progress entry for the story in The Journal. It was a lot of open windows, but it was workable. I reviewed the points of contention brought up by Editor (like, oh, look, a sentence fragment; didn't see that coming), and if I thought Editor had a good point, I edited the story (not so much on the sentence fragments, though).
Editor knows more about the English language and English usage than I do. It didn't take me long to realize that.
And I decided after just this one go-round that Editor is now part of my finishing process. For just $55, it's a bargain.
-David
October 21, 2010
My Marketing Efforts Thus Far
On 28 September I announced the release of my horror/urban fantasy novel, The Summoning Fire. And I haven't stopped talking about it since then.
My marketing efforts so far have been:
Announcing the novel on forums and online communities like KindleBoards and MobileReads.
Becoming active in those same forums and communities (in a good way, not just shilling).
Submitting requests for reviews to book bloggers and reviewers.
Creating a Facebook fan page for my writing.
Managing my Amazon Author page.
Doing more blog posts here at Guns & Magic.
Linking from other ebooks as I release them.
And so on.
It's been more work than I expected. For example, I counted up earlier this week and found that I had sent out 75 book review requests. I've sent out a couple since then, and I'm sure I'll be sending out more.
It's all good practice, though, because when I release my second novel in the next month or so I'll get to do it all over again.
An aspect of the marketing effort that I hadn't fully considered before I launched was my own branding. The Summoning Fire is, I've been assured by multiple readers, horror. My next book due out will be Young Adult/magical realism (of a sort). The two books are diametrically opposed almost. People who read and enjoy The Summoning Fire might like the next book, but the reverse is unlikely. I could be mistaken, but while I will let my 8 year old daughter read the next novel (I wrote the book for my 13 year old niece [who is no longer 13, BTW] and I expect that is the target audience in general), she won't get to read The Summoning Fire for a long, long time.
I posted about how I'm not worrying about confusing the market a couple weeks ago, but, really, I do kinda worry about it. On the other hand, I'm curious how it will all turn out.
So, yes, worried, but no, not really doing anything about it.I'm reaching the end of the "standard indie author playbook", which could be a good thing. By the time something is in the playbook, it's usually far less effective than it used to be. I need to sit down and come up with new ways to market The Summoning Fire (and my other work), ways that haven't already been done over and over.
It's still too early in the marketing effort to talk about results (AKA "sales"), but there has been some movement. I've had 2 good reviews so far, and there are more reviews in the works. I have a short story appearing soon over at the Zombiepalooza, and that should help some, as well (both the book and the blog). And I'll be posting more stories here and releasing new ebooks as I go.
Marketing is seldom One Big Thing that makes all the difference. It's a Whole Bunch of Little Things that (hopefully) reinforce each other and become more than the sum of the parts.
-David
