Michael Formichelli's Blog: Nero's Niche, page 21

J2000:4505.8125

J2000: 4505.8125
(May 3, 2012)

Publishing Time - The Final Decision

So I came to the point in the publishing process I was dreading.

My finger hovered over my mouse, the arrow on the screen pointed at the "Save and Publish" button.
I gritted my teeth, and clicked "Save for Later" instead.

Why?

I was torn about pricing my first published novel, Blood Siren.

The question was:
Do I go with the majority opinion, and publish at the $0.99 (USD) rate suggested to new authors, or a different, perhaps higher price?

The theory behind the $0.99 price is that "anyone will buy anything for a buck," and it's a good way to get a following.  Also, who is going to pay $3.99 or more to explore a new author?  The author could really suck after all, and then the reader would be left with a sour taste in her mouth and an empty feeling in her wallet.

I've read a lot about the pricing question over the last few weeks from a variety of author blogs and marketing advice books.

There is a counter argument, and it is best framed by the saying:

"What is my (the author's) time worth?"

It can take more than a year, more than a few in some cases, to put a book together and smooth out all the rough edges.  Between plot continuity, grammar, spelling, and most importantly, storytelling, quality writing is a huge time investment.  It's paid for with time spent away from family, friends, and hobbies.  The writing process can mean tough choices and a lot of guilt, too.

When you have a spouse, lover, or roommate who loves spending time with you, writing is a sacrifice for them as well.  They do it because they love you, because they want to see you shine and be happy, but that only cushions the blow to both of you.  They feel your absence, and you feel guilty for choosing your project over being together.  When you write, as every author knows, you are spending more than your own time on your work.

So what does this all add up to?  Is $0.99 a fair payment for all of this?

Some authors I've read say no, but the vast majority say yes to $0.99 or pricing like it -at least for the first book or two.  The truth of the matter may be that your work is worth more than $0.99 per download, but this seems like a narrow view to me.  My gut instinct tells me that it is a fair price given that I will probably have more readers, and therefore more sales, at $0.99 to make up for the supposed "loss" of revenue if I set a higher price.

An expanded reader base means more people talking, tweeting, blogging, and Facebooking about that cool new book they just read.  If I did my job as an author and submerged the reader in a fantastic world, if I was able to put that feeling of "wow, that was a good book" in a reader's mind, then maybe that $0.99 price will translate into a continued and larger readership as time goes on.  That's something I very much want, because I've already got a draft of the sequel to Blood Siren completed and more books in mind waiting to hammer out on digital paper.

$0.99 for my first novel seems like a win for the reader, and a win for me, too.

I hope you'll agree.



(Blood Siren Book One will be available soon on Amazon.com!)

On Writing Alien Species

One of the most fun aspects of writing for me is creating new alien species.
It's one of the handful of times during my writing process that I actually get to use my biology major (and feel like all of those years spent paying for college weren't totally in vain).

I'm not sure how other people do it, but for me I like to hunt up the strangest animals the Earth has produced, and then think about how I can take something neat about them to incorporate into a new alien being.  Sometimes focusing on one aspect of a real creature can lead to the creation of a whole species and culture.

For example, I think about methanogens- that's microscopic organisms that can live in and around volcanoes.  They have something called di-sulfide bridges in their DNA which prevents it from flying apart under extreme temperatures.  I think about that and then start scribbling down notes (I have to use pen and paper for this, just a quirk of mine):

-High heat tolerance
-Volcanic planet origin?  Volcanic region of a planet?
-Body form would reflect a land evolved animal (3 jointed limbs for running or climbing, would probably have a snout or muzzle of some kind...)
-Food around volcanoes would be microscopic organisms on or in the rock like lichen, oh wait, there are oases around Hawaiian volcanoes... species could be tree-evolved after all (like us)... etc.

And so on.  I tend to follow the principle that society and culture follow from body form for creating a species' psychology, philosophy, and other non-physical aspects.  Do brutal surroundings create a brutal species or one that is highly tolerant of adversity?

Sometimes it helps to look up human groups that live in similar environments and take aspects of their cultures to incorporate into the new alien one.

No mater what I do, though, I like to have one hard rule:  Be as realistic as possible.

Realistic you ask?  How can I be realistic when dreaming up things that never were?

By realistic I mean being creative without violating any of the rules by which our universe operates -mostly.  Every now and then I like to throw in something that we think of as impossible just for fun.  However, I make this the exception rather than the rule.  I want my readers to be fully engaged in the story as I like to be in creating it.  Anything that would throw them out of that and make them think, "ugh, that's just dumb" is an anathema to me.

I put a lot of research into my work to make the odds of that happening as small as possible.  That is part of the fun of writing science fiction.  I get to read about a bunch of different fields like astronomy, anthropology, and chemistry.  I know it might sound a bit boastful, but science fiction is one of the few genres that gets to draw on the sum total of human knowledge.

To me, that's just the coolest and most fun thing about it, and I guess that's why I enjoy writing it so much.

Ah, the Anticipation

One of the games I'm very much looking forward to this year is XCOM Enemy Unknown.

The game is a remake and update of XCOM UFO Defense game from the 1990's.  I loved that game and played it repeatedly during my college years.  What made it so addictive was its ability to engage me on multiple levels.  Turn based strategic combat, resource gathering, and structure/asset building features are all aspects of my favorite games, and the old XCOM was no different.  I admit I'm a total sucker for games like Sid Meyer's Civilization or Blizzard's Starcraft where I get to sate both my creative urges and blood lusts.  XCOM gave me something of what those other games did, but added the intensity of on the ground style combat to the mix which really raised the level of excitement.

As the game progressed I found myself growing attached to characters despite the limited interaction through dossier style screens and direct control during the 3D strategy sequences.  I even had a favorite computer generated soldier, Wolfgang.  I recall returning to my last save a few times when he got killed.  My friends and I would often play together, naming the troops after ourselves and taking bets on how long our digital avatars would last before biting it.  Grim, but it was good fun too.

The old game let you micro-manage your teams in their fight against the invading aliens.  You could equip them with specialized gear and develop their team roles as the game progressed.  Different combinations of specialized troops led to a different feel for every battle sequence.  This was another highly addictive feature that looks like it's been preserved in the new game.

I've got my fingers crossed that it lives up to and goes beyond the "cool factor" of its predecessor.

You can find the official website here.

Below is the gameplay trailer for the new game, XCOM Enemy Unknown:
(Videos Courtesy YouTube)




And for the truly dedicated, an interview with the game's lead designer, Jake Solomon.

Blood Siren Announcement!

Artwork and Design by Jerry Minor 2012

I'm very excited to say that I've taken yet another step down the road to publishing my book!
Above is the cover for my upcoming novel, Blood Siren Book One.  The novel is the first in a space opera series.  I plan on making it available for sale within the next few months and I'll have a better idea of a release date soon.

Here's the description:


It is the 25th century C.E.

Cylus Keltan wants nothing more than to stay out of the poisoned bed of greed and politics, but as the last heir to a financial empire spanning hundreds of star systems no one wants to let him be alone.  When a close friend throws himself from a mile-high window, Cylus is forced back into the world he swore never to return to.  With the help of the cyborg investigator, Nero Graves, he uncovers a plot to cripple the government and deploy an alien super plague with the potential to kill billions known only as "Siren."
Can they discover the link between his friend's death and Siren before it's too late?


Check back here and on my facebook page for updates!  You can also follow me on Twitter!

My Review of Revan

Review of Revan, by Drew Karpyrshyn

Overall Revan was an okay book. Although I read on Mr. Karpyrshyn's twitter feed that the end was disliked, I didn't mind it as much as some people did. The last few battles were a little flat, and Mr. Karpyrshyn's interpretation of Revan didn't entirely sit well with me.


I also didn't particularly care for the amount of characters from the Knights of the Old Republic game that got sidelined. It's always frustrating to see a beloved character get a minor appearance and then be ignored. The book definitely would have benefited from having at least one other companion be directly involved in events. As it stands, Revan felt too short and under-developed.


The book raised some interesting questions for the SW The Old Republic game plot line. Unlike Mr. Karpyrshyn's previous Star Wars work, like the Darth Baen series, Revan is obviously written as a supplement to the SWTOR game and doesn't really stand up well on its own. If you don't play the game, this work will feel a bit hollow.


Revan definitely wasn't Mr. Karpyrshyn's best book.