Jason Brant's Blog, page 12

Day 65 – Book Trailers

I don’t use them. At least, I haven’t yet.

The main reason is that I don’t think they sell books. I’m sure the best of the best have moved a few copies, but overall… I doubt most trailers do anything.

I am curious about dabbling though. Nothing extravagant, but something simple for social media. Then again, my time is probably better spent on something else.

This trailer for Miriam Black by Chuck Wendig actually makes me want to read it. Oddly enough… I never did get around to buying it. Maybe it didn’t work after all.

 

Goddamn, is that a lot of work though. I’m kicking around simpler ideas, but I dunno.

This post was worthless, haha. I can’t do much more today because I’m in the middle of a marathon editing session on SBIG. Hoping to release this puppy tomorrow.

Today, I wrote 1515 words in book six in The Hunger.

See ya tomorrow.

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Day 64 – Creating Paperbacks

Until recently, I used to manually create my paperbacks using Word documents. It was a real pain in the ass. I freaking hated it. It would take me most of the day to get it done. I’m not even going to post links to templates for the process, because it sucks that much. They didn’t look that good either.

Nowadays, I use Vellum to create my paperbacks. It’s done automatically, based on the formatting I use for my ebooks. It’s dead simple, fast, and… expensive. The program is overpriced for a lot of people. And it’s Apple only. Lame. Fortunately, I have an old Macbook Air that I can use for the formatting.

I don’t recommend Vellum to new authors, because it can be difficult to recoup that cost. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time on formatting though, this is the option for you. They look much better than the manual job I was doing too.

A free option is to upload your manuscript to Draft2Digital. They have a great formatting section on their website that can spit out good-looking print and ebooks. I’ve used it several times and have always been happy with the output. I recommend this to most people who don’t want to shell out the cash for Vellum. Draft2Digital is also an outstanding ebook distributor that I use and love. Check ’em out.

When it comes to publishing these things, I’m at a bit of a crossroads. I used to publish my paperbacks through Createspace, which is an Amazon company, but that option has been folded into KDP Print. This is the best way to get your books on Amazon. It’s simple, fast, and you get a decent royalty rate, depending on your pricing.

KDP Print has an Extended Distribution option, which allows bookstores to order your work for their customers. Sounds great, right? It isn’t. A lot of bookstores refuse to do business with Amazon, which means they won’t stock independent authors like me. Because I’ve always used Createspace, now KDP Print, my books haven’t been available to people who shop in physical stores.

Nook Press, owned by B&N, now has its own print-on-demand service for paperbacks. They’re limited to US distribution. I have one paperback, Ruined, published through their system. It wasn’t that difficult, but I’m not sure it’s worthwhile either. I have yet to sell a copy of it there.

IngramSpark is an interesting option. They’re the best way to make your work available in bookstores. They allow for discounting and returns, which are huge for convincing stores to stock your books. Lots of good stuff.

But it has a few problems. First, you have to pay $50 to publish a print book there. That sucks. The process is also more complex than going through KDP Print. Those two reasons are why I haven’t used their service yet.

But that might change. I’m interested in increasing my income with regards to print, and IngramSpark seems like the best way to do that. I’m curious how many people have used them and what their experiences have been. I’m thinking about trying it after I finish the next two books in The Hunger.

Today, I wrote 1138 words in my untitled fifth book in The Hunger. More to come.

See ya tomorrow.

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Day 63 – Signed Paperbacks

I’ve kicked around the idea of selling signed paperbacks through my website. It’s something I’d love to offer people, but it’s also a project I don’t want to spend a ton of time on. If I end up doing it, I’ll probably ship books out every Friday, that way I’m not spending each day sitting in the Post Office. That place drives me nuts.

The biggest sticking point so far, is the implementation on my website. I could go the full monty and add a shopping cart to the site that takes credit and debit cars. That seems like a lot of work though, for something that won’t make me all that much money. It might be the easiest to manage, for readers and for myself.

Dunno. I’m open to suggestions.

I could always add a Paypal button to each book page, which would make the implementation on my site dead simple. Doing it that way could add some difficulty to the ordering process for readers. They might have to include their address in Paypal notes. Or not, I dunno. I’ve never actually sold anything through them before.

What I’m saying is… I need any and all advice on this front. Plz help.

I did zero writing today, to my shame. I did podcast and work on other stuff, but didn’t get back to book 6. Tomorrow is a big one. Gonna get a few thousand words in.

See ya tomorrow.

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Day 62 – To The Editor

Decayed is finally in my editor’s hands. I spent the morning finishing up the notes The Tall One gave me on the book, then finally passed all 90k words along. Once I get it back, it’ll take me a day or two to finish going through her edits. After that it’s off to my proofreaders, then the beta readers.

Then it’s formatting, uploading, etc.

The real work begins soon.

In the meantime, I’ll be finishing my classes on Bookbub ads, then getting them started for Devoured and The Hunger Omnibus Edition. The hope is to push them enough that Amazon gives the entire series a bump when Decayed hits. I’m also planning to release book 6 very quickly after Decayed. Less than two months is the goal. That should give the series another bump that will hopefully take it through the rest of the year.

I also solidified my cover ideas with my artist. Hopefully I’ll have something to share soon.

Didn’t get any writing done with book 6 today, but I’ll be back in the saddle tomorrow. My standing desk should arrive too, so I’ll get to assemble that.

See ya tomorrow.

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Day 61 – The Tall One’s Notes

The Tall One has finished going over Decayed (The Hunger #5). There are a lot of notes. A TON of notes. I’ve spent the day going through them and making changes to the manuscript. I’ll finish this tomorrow and pass it off to my editor. Then it’s back to book 6. We’re making some serious progress now.

What did you accomplish today?

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Day 60 – Patreon for Authors

Author income can vary wildly from month to month, year to year. Hell, week to week, depending on the promotions and book releases scheduled. It can be a tricky thing, because we all have bills to pay, mortgages, car insurance to begrudgingly cover. It can be worse when you’re writing in a small genre like horror. If you want to make a lot of money, you should hitch your wagon to a much bigger horse.

I don’t have health insurance. Neither does my wife.

The monthly costs are too high for the shitty coverage we could get. And we get fined by the government because we can’t afford it. Fun times. I’d really like to have it for The Tall One at the very least.

Both my dogs are getting old and very expensive. Covering their medical bills costs more than mine. Having a consistent, monthly income would be a nice way to pay for some of this crap.

That’s where Patreon makes sense. An author can see exactly how much they’re going to consistently bring in if they use it. So why don’t I have one? Because I think most of the Patreon campaigns authors have suck. I have seen some really good ones, but they’re definitely the exception, not the rule.

I don’t want to feel like I’m ripping people off. When I sell someone a book, I get a few bucks, and they get an (hopefully) entertaining read. It’s a fair trade and I love it. When it comes to Patreon, the costs add up over time for the reader and I’m not sure they’re getting good value for that money.

If an author is releasing a chapter a month of a book for a $1/month Patreon subscription, that ends up being a shitload of money for a finished novel by the end of it. You could have $20+ into an ebook copy you could get for $5 when it’s finished. It just doesn’t feel right to me.

That doesn’t mean I’m opposed to the idea of it, I just want to make sure I’m providing value to my audience at all times. I have kicked around a few concepts for something like this, but obviously haven’t implemented them yet.

I like the idea of releasing a short story a month for $1. I’m sure there would be more expensive tiers, though I don’t know for what yet. Maybe signed copies of the story or my novels. Dunno.

The problem with that is short stories don’t sell worth a damn. Would a story a month for a buck, plus my entire back catalog of shorts, entice enough people to make it worth my time? I don’t want to start something like that, so that I could have a reliable monthly income, only to find it’s a waste of good writing time.

Honestly, I’m conflicted on the whole thing. If you have suggestions, for or against, what rewards should be at higher tiers, or anything else, then please post them. Giving people fun stories while getting help taking care of my little furballs sounds great in theory. In practice, I just don’t know.

Today, I wrote 1136 words in the untitled sixth book in The Hunger series. That brings the total to 8609. I’m starting to make some decent headway. More importantly, I’m extremely happy with what I’ve written so far. This is an intense one.

See ya tomorrow.

 

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Day 59 – Updating My Office

I’ve mentioned before about how I’m considering renting an office space. Having a place to go each day would probably be a big boon to my productivity. It would also be a huge detriment to my bank account. Because of that, I’m changing some things around in my home office to see if I can achieve more at the house.

That process started today. The first thing I did was purchase a motorized standing desk. Sitting down constantly for the past fifteen years hasn’t done me any good. I’m hoping to split my writing and advertising times between sitting and standing. With any luck, moving around a bit more will keep me from getting so damn tired around the middle of the day. It will arrive on Tuesday, so I might have it for Final Guys that night, depending on how late it gets here.

Podcasting while standing is intriguing. We’ll see.

I also bought an air conditioning unit for the window of my office. During the summer, the heat in that room gets insane, particularly if I’ve spent the entire day in there with a computer or two running. If skin has a boiling point, I’m probably approaching it in there during the dregs of July.

Unfortunately, when I’m running an air conditioner and my video editing PC at the same time, the breakers in my house complain. Gonna have to get an electrician in here for some upgrades. $$$. But that will keep me from having to move my desktop PC to the basement during the summer. Having a year round space I can go in, and close the door to minimize distractions, should make a difference in the time I devote to writing.

Or it’ll just be a big waste of money.

I’ll let you know on here.

I’m also removing a futon that takes up too much space, buying a recliner to write/nap in, and throwing out some clutter. Will any of this help? Probably not, but it’ll make me enjoy the space more. I dunno. I’m going to drink beer.

This morning, I wrote 1042 words in the untitled sixth book in The Hunger. I have company arriving in about five minutes, so that’s all the output for today.

See ya tomorrow.

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Day 58 – Just a Writing Day

Lots of non-writing stuff today that I don’t want to spill the beans about. Really didn’t want to write, but sat down around 7 PM to get some quick words down. 1332 words and that was a wrap.

That puts me at a total of 6431. Finishing this book in a month isn’t looking good, haha. And I have another long day of non-writing ahead. Woohoo.

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Day 57 – Podcasting and Writing

I struggled to get any words down today. Just one of those mornings, and afternoons, where the story doesn’t want to present itself. Gotta push through days like this though. I still managed 1200 words, so I can’t complain too much. This blog really has made a big difference in keeping me accountable and making me work, even when I don’t want to.

I guess you all are my bosses now.

For the past two weeks, I’ve been getting up earlier in the morning to workout before I start writing. It’s going well, even though I’m in terrible shape. It’s giving me more energy through the day, which is great.

Because it’s Wednesday, I posted the new Final Guys episode where we review the outstanding Midsommar. Must see horror movie of the year so far.

 

I’m also tinkering with Bookbub Ads again, after not messing with it the past few days. I’ll start some trials with Devoured soon. I’ll probably post the results here to let everyone know how it goes.

That’s pretty much it for the day. See ya tomorrow.

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Final Guys #112 – Spider-Man: Far From Home

 

The Marvel train keeps rolling with Spider-Man: Far From Home. With Sony involved, is it even possible for two Spider-Man movies in a row to be decent? Or does the webslinger fall flat on his face?

Our weekly horror reviews are Child’s Play (2019), The Undertaker, Black Mirror, Annabelle Comes Home, Chopping Mall, Polaroid, One Cut of the Dead, The Terminator, T2: Judgement Day, and Creature by Hunter Shea.

Get free books and stories by signing up for Jason’s Newsletter or Hunter’s Shea’s Dark Hunter Newsletter.

The Final Guys: The Final Word in Horror–A horror podcast hosted by Jason Brant, Jack Campisi and Hunter Shea.

Also available on iTunes – Stitcher – Google Play – TuneIn

 

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*Anything rented or purchased through the links above gives a small percentage to Final Guys which helps pay for our beer and poor movie choices.

 

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