Xavier Edwards's Blog, page 10

Finding the Words

My books are my babies, so you would think that when it came time to tell the world about them I would have something that left no doubt as to the awesomeness of each of my books.
A book’s description is one of the most important elements of getting a reader’s initial attention but, when I’ve gone back to look at what I’ve put out, what I’ve managed to put down for the book descriptions has been flat -- at best.
By the time I get the book edited, checked, and finally published, I seem to run out of energy and the book listing seems to be a poor reflection of what it is the book carries within.
In the same vein, a book’s cover is also one of a reader’s first impressions of a book, if not the first. While I do have a bit of a common theme going on with my covers, I think there is more that can be done to attract a reader’s attention.
I’ll be hopefully adjusting some things on different sites over the next few weeks to see whether they have any effect on reader interest, and should also be doing something with my site, as well (as previously promised...)
Once I sort all of that out, I think I’ll be going back and reviewing my marketing approaches and what I’m planning on doing. There has to be a better solution than what I’m doing, but it certainly isn’t down the path of the huckster.
As to the state of my next book, I’m just waiting on the editor to get back to me, and then it’s off for proofing and then release. I’m hoping that’s only a few weeks away as it’s quite an enjoyable read.

Pushing On

I’m currently patiently waiting for my editors to finish working on my latest book. Then, it will be another couple of weeks for my proof reading pool to go through it, and then I can release it.
While I’m waiting for all of that, I am pressing on with writing the next story -- the problem being in finding the time and energy to sit down and write as life kicks into overdrive.
There isn’t much more than that at the moment. Waiting and writing. Writing and waiting. I know the next book is going to be enjoyable, I just need to have the patience to allow it to get through the publishing process so that everyone else can enjoy it.

Off To The Editors

I finally got sick of waiting around while the little things otherwise known as life got in the way of me packaging up my novella and sending it off to my editors. So I did what all authors should do, packaged it up and sent it off. It was quite a liberating feeling to do so and it wasn’t until after that I realised I’d been stressing out trying to get it ready for the editor.
My normal Alpha reader wasn’t able to read this particular story prior to it being sent to the editor, so I sent a rough copy off to a number of my proof readers to show them what an unpolished manuscript looks like.
I wasn’t expecting much of a response from them, but to have the overwhelming response being very positive, it is very gratifying. To have many then clamouring for more of the story was a little bit of a surprise (I was planning to do something, but it’s now really been pushed forward in time).

Coming To a Boil

With the various delays and stoppages over the last few weeks, I was beginning to wonder when my next story would be ready for the editors and, from there, when it would be ready for publishing.
With the writing that’s been going on lately, the ready date seems to keep moving out. That’s not a bad thing, especially as the story has morphed wonderfully from a rather anaemic little short, to something far more substantial. If I look at how much I have been able to write when I have sat down to write, and then look at that across the number of days I have been writing on it, then my average daily word count is actually pretty good.
So, dear readers, the reason why not much is being said at the moment, is that the next story keeps growing and developing into something that will be wonderful when it is finally ready.
As to when that will be, I can’t really say, but it doesn’t look that far away, knowing where I am in the overall arc of the story.

Going Slow

Things were feeling weird over the weekend and I sat down to look at the last time I had written anything. I was amazed to see that it had been almost a week since I had the opportunity to write. I didn’t even notice that I hadn’t been writing, and I certainly didn’t notice that the time had flown by. I still felt that I had only written something the night before...
At least now I’ve recognised it and, with the available time, will be writing again shortly. Other than that, there’s not much to report, other than July’s weird sales pattern seems to be settling out and my normal sales patterns are coming back in.

Measuring Success

Firstly, my next story is ticking along nicely, and I am hoping that it will be with my editors in the next week. I know that there are many readers out there who are hanging out for me to get my next story published, so there is some hope for them.
One of the more interesting things I read recently was the statement that July is traditionally a slow month for book sales. Looking at my primary distribution channels, I can kind of see where they’re coming from, with a very flat month going on at the moment. Looking at some of the smaller channels, and they’re ticking over quite nicely. In fact, July is looking like being the best month on record for a couple of them.
My free books have also taken off this month. In a couple of channels, I am watching the free copies being downloaded constantly. Some of these titles, which have been out for a while, picked up their downloads from out of nowhere, but they are being sustained, which is nice. Now I wait to see how many (if any) transition to becoming readers of my other books.
Trying to measure a purely electronic distribution against a combination of electronic and physical doesn’t always work out, but with the recent discussion about JK Rowling’s new pen name, it was the quoted number of sales that were of interest. For a book that was supposedly so highly rated / such a good seller, the number of titles sold prior to JK Rowling’s name association was less than just one of my free titles achieved. I was surprised that the number was so low (I have read about what the average number of book sales for a title is, so I do know what it could be).
Irrespective of anything else, it did give me some added perspective on how to measure my relative performance in the market, especially on days when I wonder why I don’t seem to be getting much traction in the market.
Finally, my website is probably going to change significantly in the next month or so -- making it more user friendly and easier for my readers to reach out to me and find out more about me and my books.

Burning Fever

I have found some time to sit and write recently, which is always nice. What I had thought was going to be a re-worked idea that had been sitting three-quarters complete for some months has taken on a life of its own – something that I wasn’t quite expecting.
It means that the next release won’t be in the same timeframe that I thought it was going to be, but it does mean that when I finally get the release ready, it is going to be something far greater than what I originally thought.
July here in Australia can be bitterly cold, especially in the Southern half of the country. The bitter cold also seems to bring the sickness with it, and I have been knocked over by a surprise cold / flu. Huge amounts of sleep are nice, but it’s not doing a lot for the cold / flu, and it’s not helping with my writing.
The products of a fevered mind can be very interesting. If only there was a way to bottle what came out of the mind in those situations. At least I am remembering enough of it to add to future stories. That, and trying to get the rest in that I need to get over this illness and back into writing.
Another piece of July Fever is a blog hop I am taking part in with Sofia Grey. Look for my post towards the end of the month.

Just A Query

Even though I’ve been publishing my works for a little more than a year now, I haven’t actually been looking all that hard for a publisher or agent to have me on their books. I’ve looked half-heartedly a few times, and gotten close to drafting query letters a couple more times, but they always ended up unsent.
In one or two cases it was due to procrastination but, in the majority of cases, I didn’t like the blanket terms that were identified via website or email. I know that few are set up to handle someone who is already publishing their own work, but it seems like hardly anyone has moved to embrace authors who are approaching from that direction (at least not without some rather interesting terms).
There are also a couple of queries that I am saving up until I am writing works long enough to warrant publishing through those routes.
In the meantime, I stumbled across a publisher whose terms were actually quite attractive for the situation that I am in. That they are something of a major publishing house is another benefit as well. After some due diligence and some thinking about what to do next, off went the query.
So now, it’s a matter of waiting and seeing. I’ll continue to write and publish my works, but perhaps there might be some new opportunities opening up in the near future.
Only time will tell, but it will be a fun wait.

A Special Workout Released

[image error] So, now that I managed to sort things out long enough to publish the updated version of “Cardio Session”, I have released my next title, “A Special Workout”.
If “Cardio Session” was the standalone short, “A Special Workout” is the rest of the novella that builds the next little part of Cathy and Scott’s relationship together.
A country girl that’s just moved up to the city, Cathy’s missing out on a social life thanks to work. Her gym visits are keeping reality in check, even if they’re more often late at night than at a civilsed hour.
Cathy hasn’t completely missed out on a social life, thanks to Scott, one of the other gym regulars. A welcome piece of eyecandy in an otherwise bland environment, Scott allows Cathy to escape things for a while. There is more than just exercise that can make you hot and sweaty at night in a gym.
Formally, “A Special Workout” isn’t actually published until July 1st but, with all the time taken for the publishing and review process, it will actually be the first by the time it goes live.
Also, I have a little bit of interesting news being banked up for later on in the week, so keep your eyes peeled for that to appear.

Finally Free

I have now released an updated version of “Cardio Session” across all major retail sites. I’m still waiting for it to clear the validation process on a couple of them, but it is now ready on many of them. The book page has been updated to reflect the sites it is available on, right now. Best of all, it’s completely free!
The larger book, which will encompass “Cardio Session” as its first part, will be available prior to the fourth of July holiday in the US. As part of the editing and proofing process on the larger book, it was discovered that there were a few places that the original version of the book could be improved and it has resulted in a much stronger title available for all readers.
If you haven’t had a chance to read “Cardio Session” yet, why not pick up a copy for free and see what it is all about?