Rachael Eyre's Blog - Posts Tagged "ebooks"
What I've Learned About Self Publishing
It's coming up for three years since I first embarked upon the crazy venture of self publishing. Here, in no apparent order, are the lessons I've learned.
People will be snobbish
Something you'll discover early on: when some people hear the words "self publishing," they'll hear "vanity publishing", and nothing will convince them otherwise. If you decide to self publish, you have to do it for the right reasons. If you think you're not ready or your writing isn't good enough, I urge you to reconsider.
I know exactly why I self published. I'd repeatedly been told that although my plots and writing were fine, my inclusion of LGBT characters meant my books were "niche", with the oft heard phrase, "If you made them straight ..." I researched lesbian publishing houses but the books always gave the impression of having been knocked up by a dirty old man in his shed, the typical cover showing an orgasmic blonde straddling a butch brunette's face.
I knew this mindset was wrong. There was a market for my kind of story, and I was determined to find it. The success of self published authors like Kiki Archer has proved that the Kindle is the natural home for lesbian books.
It won't make a fortune
If the media condescends to mention self publishing, it's always in the same breath as multi million bestsellers like Amanda Hocking or E L James. This may give fledgling writers the impression that it's a cakewalk. Quick reality check: your average traditionally published author earns around £11,000 a year. Your average self published author, having far fewer resources, will inevitably make less.
Some of the guides I've read have been astonishingly cavalier, recommending that writers jack in their day jobs and promote their book 24/7. Unless you're Bruce Wayne or a stay at home parent, this isn't an option for most people. In my experience, your earnings from your ebook will be a supplement to your main income rather than a living.
Use social media
Some writers regard social media with a mixture of distaste and suspicion, arguing that the greats managed perfectly well without it. Time to get real: if your novel only exists as an ebook, it's your number one resource. It won't survive without it.
Traditionally published authors have marketing teams working on their behalf. When you're self printed, you're your publicist, and you have to make every piece of communication count. Don't rest on your laurels. You need to use a variety of platforms; you should at the very least be on Facebook and Twitter, and I strongly advise having a presence on Goodreads as well. Don't make all your posts sales oriented; just as you wouldn't buy from someone who pursued you down the street, hitting you on the head with a hammer, no one will succumb to heavy handed techniques. Take part on writer and reader forums and make friends. If people get to like you, you'll have allies and potential readers.
Blog!
Blogging is an essential part of a writer's utility belt, whatever the cynics might think. It's the most versatile way to communicate with your audience, whether it's discussing tricks of the trade or commenting on news stories. The best thing about it is you can update as little or often as you wish, and cover whatever you like. Like participating on forums, it allows readers to see the real you.
You can't guess what people will like
A truth readers might not realise: every writer firmly believes their latest book is their best. And since they're human, they're bound to have favourites. They might hate one book because it reminds them of their ex, might like another because they had a ball writing it.
This doesn't translate to sales. The Revenge of Rose Grubb is a very personal book, and I think it's better than The Governess, but it lags far behind the older book in terms of popularity. Like anything else, a book can capture readers' imaginations or be in the right place at the right time; a genre might drop in or out of fashion. You can't guess if a book will be a bestseller - and if you deliberately write to tick boxes, you'll end up with a shallow, derivative work.
Don't get disheartened
There's a human tendency to expect instant results - and to feel like a failure when they're not forthcoming. If you're the kind of person who checks their sales every few hours or cries over a bad review, self publishing may not be for you.
Writing is one of the most personal occupations there is. It hurts when a stranger criticises your creation. But if you genuinely want to make writing your career, you'll have to keep on going. Just as a salesperson can't lock themselves in the toilet and refuse to come out, you can't let a bad experience put you off.
Ultimately the pros outweigh the cons. I've had enjoyable chats with readers about certain plot points and received reviews that made me walk on air. One reviewer found Grubb after the search term "lesbian" yielded pages of tasteless threesome fics; while it wasn't quite what she had been looking for, she couldn't put it down. That put a huge dopey smile on my face.
People will be snobbish
Something you'll discover early on: when some people hear the words "self publishing," they'll hear "vanity publishing", and nothing will convince them otherwise. If you decide to self publish, you have to do it for the right reasons. If you think you're not ready or your writing isn't good enough, I urge you to reconsider.
I know exactly why I self published. I'd repeatedly been told that although my plots and writing were fine, my inclusion of LGBT characters meant my books were "niche", with the oft heard phrase, "If you made them straight ..." I researched lesbian publishing houses but the books always gave the impression of having been knocked up by a dirty old man in his shed, the typical cover showing an orgasmic blonde straddling a butch brunette's face.
I knew this mindset was wrong. There was a market for my kind of story, and I was determined to find it. The success of self published authors like Kiki Archer has proved that the Kindle is the natural home for lesbian books.
It won't make a fortune
If the media condescends to mention self publishing, it's always in the same breath as multi million bestsellers like Amanda Hocking or E L James. This may give fledgling writers the impression that it's a cakewalk. Quick reality check: your average traditionally published author earns around £11,000 a year. Your average self published author, having far fewer resources, will inevitably make less.
Some of the guides I've read have been astonishingly cavalier, recommending that writers jack in their day jobs and promote their book 24/7. Unless you're Bruce Wayne or a stay at home parent, this isn't an option for most people. In my experience, your earnings from your ebook will be a supplement to your main income rather than a living.
Use social media
Some writers regard social media with a mixture of distaste and suspicion, arguing that the greats managed perfectly well without it. Time to get real: if your novel only exists as an ebook, it's your number one resource. It won't survive without it.
Traditionally published authors have marketing teams working on their behalf. When you're self printed, you're your publicist, and you have to make every piece of communication count. Don't rest on your laurels. You need to use a variety of platforms; you should at the very least be on Facebook and Twitter, and I strongly advise having a presence on Goodreads as well. Don't make all your posts sales oriented; just as you wouldn't buy from someone who pursued you down the street, hitting you on the head with a hammer, no one will succumb to heavy handed techniques. Take part on writer and reader forums and make friends. If people get to like you, you'll have allies and potential readers.
Blog!
Blogging is an essential part of a writer's utility belt, whatever the cynics might think. It's the most versatile way to communicate with your audience, whether it's discussing tricks of the trade or commenting on news stories. The best thing about it is you can update as little or often as you wish, and cover whatever you like. Like participating on forums, it allows readers to see the real you.
You can't guess what people will like
A truth readers might not realise: every writer firmly believes their latest book is their best. And since they're human, they're bound to have favourites. They might hate one book because it reminds them of their ex, might like another because they had a ball writing it.
This doesn't translate to sales. The Revenge of Rose Grubb is a very personal book, and I think it's better than The Governess, but it lags far behind the older book in terms of popularity. Like anything else, a book can capture readers' imaginations or be in the right place at the right time; a genre might drop in or out of fashion. You can't guess if a book will be a bestseller - and if you deliberately write to tick boxes, you'll end up with a shallow, derivative work.
Don't get disheartened
There's a human tendency to expect instant results - and to feel like a failure when they're not forthcoming. If you're the kind of person who checks their sales every few hours or cries over a bad review, self publishing may not be for you.
Writing is one of the most personal occupations there is. It hurts when a stranger criticises your creation. But if you genuinely want to make writing your career, you'll have to keep on going. Just as a salesperson can't lock themselves in the toilet and refuse to come out, you can't let a bad experience put you off.
Ultimately the pros outweigh the cons. I've had enjoyable chats with readers about certain plot points and received reviews that made me walk on air. One reviewer found Grubb after the search term "lesbian" yielded pages of tasteless threesome fics; while it wasn't quite what she had been looking for, she couldn't put it down. That put a huge dopey smile on my face.
In Praise of Kindles
Kindles are the bee's knees. The cat's pyjamas. The dog's bollocks (sorry, why is that considered positive again?) There are few things in life that give me a bigger buzz than curling up with a brand new ebook, scrolling and clicking on my early model Kindle. (It must be coming up for six years old now).
This wasn't always the case. While not a technophobe exactly, I eyed them with suspicion - pretty much how Caxton's contemporaries must've reacted to his boast his product was "hot off the press." How could this souped up calculator* replace the experience of reading a print book? The crispness of the pages, the smell of the ink, the sensation of holding one in your hand or hugging it to your chest - I'd felt a kinship with books for as long as I could remember.
Like most of my possessions, it was secondhand. My other half had moved onto the latest model, so - having heard many a diatribe against them - tentatively gave me her cast off. I reasoned that if I hated it I could always donate it to EBay.
Segue to a falling in love montage. I took my new companion everywhere - on my break, with a cake, on a train, out in Spain. I acquainted myself with its wonderful parts. It could browse the Net (sadly discontinued). It could recite your book a la Professor Hawking. Best of all, you had the world's largest bookstore at your finger tips, the ebooks affordably priced! What's not to like?
Perhaps I'm a traitor to my former bibliophile self, but nowadays I prefer to read on my Kindle. Yes, it's gone eccentric in its dotage. It jams, goes blank, leaves me to stare at portraits of Famous Authors (Zombie Emily Dickinson is terrifying). The formatting in the cheaper classics leaves a lot to be desired. I accept that one day I'll have to give it a Viking funeral. But think of the pluses!
If you're on your Kindle, nobody knows what you're reading, hence the boom in erotica and LGBT titles. You won't get people spoiling the ending or using it as a pretext to chat you up. (Wannabe Romeos, don't interrupt a girl's reading time unless you want the book inserted in you). When you go on holiday, you don't have to lug a library around but have your whole collection to choose from. You have access to fantastic indie books you'd never hear of otherwise.
You can change the font size, meaning that squinting at tiny old print or dropping half a ton of book on your nose is a thing of the past. If a book isn't to your liking, you can exile it to your Archives rather than fob it off on charity shops or assorted relatives. Above all, if you borrow a Kindle book it won't be dog eared, covered in dubious stains or littered with distracting margin notes ('OMG, this happened to me!' doodled over Wuthering Heights). You can rest easily knowing that if there's gubbins on the cover or a crack in the screen, it's your own personalised grot.
Prophets of doom like to scaremonger and say it's a death knell for the traditional book. I don't see why they can't co-exist, and continue to do so for years to come.
*I don't have anything against calculators, by the way. I lose the ability to count once I've run out of fingers and toes.
This wasn't always the case. While not a technophobe exactly, I eyed them with suspicion - pretty much how Caxton's contemporaries must've reacted to his boast his product was "hot off the press." How could this souped up calculator* replace the experience of reading a print book? The crispness of the pages, the smell of the ink, the sensation of holding one in your hand or hugging it to your chest - I'd felt a kinship with books for as long as I could remember.
Like most of my possessions, it was secondhand. My other half had moved onto the latest model, so - having heard many a diatribe against them - tentatively gave me her cast off. I reasoned that if I hated it I could always donate it to EBay.
Segue to a falling in love montage. I took my new companion everywhere - on my break, with a cake, on a train, out in Spain. I acquainted myself with its wonderful parts. It could browse the Net (sadly discontinued). It could recite your book a la Professor Hawking. Best of all, you had the world's largest bookstore at your finger tips, the ebooks affordably priced! What's not to like?
Perhaps I'm a traitor to my former bibliophile self, but nowadays I prefer to read on my Kindle. Yes, it's gone eccentric in its dotage. It jams, goes blank, leaves me to stare at portraits of Famous Authors (Zombie Emily Dickinson is terrifying). The formatting in the cheaper classics leaves a lot to be desired. I accept that one day I'll have to give it a Viking funeral. But think of the pluses!
If you're on your Kindle, nobody knows what you're reading, hence the boom in erotica and LGBT titles. You won't get people spoiling the ending or using it as a pretext to chat you up. (Wannabe Romeos, don't interrupt a girl's reading time unless you want the book inserted in you). When you go on holiday, you don't have to lug a library around but have your whole collection to choose from. You have access to fantastic indie books you'd never hear of otherwise.
You can change the font size, meaning that squinting at tiny old print or dropping half a ton of book on your nose is a thing of the past. If a book isn't to your liking, you can exile it to your Archives rather than fob it off on charity shops or assorted relatives. Above all, if you borrow a Kindle book it won't be dog eared, covered in dubious stains or littered with distracting margin notes ('OMG, this happened to me!' doodled over Wuthering Heights). You can rest easily knowing that if there's gubbins on the cover or a crack in the screen, it's your own personalised grot.
Prophets of doom like to scaremonger and say it's a death knell for the traditional book. I don't see why they can't co-exist, and continue to do so for years to come.
*I don't have anything against calculators, by the way. I lose the ability to count once I've run out of fingers and toes.
Why I Wrote Hello Satan
I’ve always liked stories set in Hell. Blame Dante. According to him, all gay people are bound for the seventh circle, and do a great deal of sprinting on burning sands. I reasoned that as a girl who liked girls, I had a one way ticket. Whenever I did the Bleep test at school, I was convinced I was there already.
Of course you can’t have Hell without its ruler and emcee, Satan. He was an important secondary character in Out of Place, the rock opera I wrote as a Paradise Lost loving kid. He features as Avi in The Revenge of Rose Grubb. He’s the big picture villain of Book 666, having far more impact on our heroines’ lives than God, who is rumoured to be senile. This wasn’t even a conscious decision on my part. If you write supernatural fantasy, the Devil’s bound to show up eventually.
I’m fascinated by the many questions the Prince of Darkness raises. He’s both the supreme sinner and punisher of human sinners. Why would you rebel against God, a futile action if ever there was one? If God is all powerful, why would Satan exist - and why wouldn’t He smite him once his treachery was known?
There’s a confrontation between Satan and the Adversary, aka God, at the end of Book 666. It introduces them as estranged parent and child, and how their entire conflict stems from that. I loved writing this scene but didn’t expect to see them again. I had several other book ideas lined up.
Then the attack on the Capitol happened. America could easily have fallen to fascism that day; it gives you chills just thinking about it. I had to write it out of my system - and somehow it transformed into the War in Heaven. Who would be a better first person narrator than Satan himself, trying to make himself both the misunderstood antihero and victim of a conspiracy?
It wasn’t intended as a prequel to Book 666, but I’d spent so long with that world and characters, it seemed pointless to start over. It also meant I could explore the God/Satan, mother/child relationship in more depth, and how they can never truly hate or destroy the other. Add ‘Junior,’ the infuriating little brother, to the mix, and you’ve a family dynamic anyone can identify with.
Above all: I wanted it to be funny. When I started writing the book, we were in the second year of the pandemic, and burnt out. Everything I watched or read seemed to relate to coronavirus in some way, and it was the last thing I wanted to think about. My previous story ideas foundered, but a black comedy about angels and demons? Why the heck not?
Every piece of research got thrown in. The sexy statues by the Geefs brothers are real, believe it or not; likewise Martin Luther’s inkpot and Dr Dee accidentally conjuring Satan in a library (in Manchester, no less). There was folklore so crazy and out there, I had to use it. Kitta Grau, the human antagonist, stars in numerous Swedish legends where she beats the Devil. There are even church murals where he gives her the famous slippers on the end of a ten foot pole!
I had a blast writing Hello Satan. I hope you enjoy reading it.
Of course you can’t have Hell without its ruler and emcee, Satan. He was an important secondary character in Out of Place, the rock opera I wrote as a Paradise Lost loving kid. He features as Avi in The Revenge of Rose Grubb. He’s the big picture villain of Book 666, having far more impact on our heroines’ lives than God, who is rumoured to be senile. This wasn’t even a conscious decision on my part. If you write supernatural fantasy, the Devil’s bound to show up eventually.
I’m fascinated by the many questions the Prince of Darkness raises. He’s both the supreme sinner and punisher of human sinners. Why would you rebel against God, a futile action if ever there was one? If God is all powerful, why would Satan exist - and why wouldn’t He smite him once his treachery was known?
There’s a confrontation between Satan and the Adversary, aka God, at the end of Book 666. It introduces them as estranged parent and child, and how their entire conflict stems from that. I loved writing this scene but didn’t expect to see them again. I had several other book ideas lined up.
Then the attack on the Capitol happened. America could easily have fallen to fascism that day; it gives you chills just thinking about it. I had to write it out of my system - and somehow it transformed into the War in Heaven. Who would be a better first person narrator than Satan himself, trying to make himself both the misunderstood antihero and victim of a conspiracy?
It wasn’t intended as a prequel to Book 666, but I’d spent so long with that world and characters, it seemed pointless to start over. It also meant I could explore the God/Satan, mother/child relationship in more depth, and how they can never truly hate or destroy the other. Add ‘Junior,’ the infuriating little brother, to the mix, and you’ve a family dynamic anyone can identify with.
Above all: I wanted it to be funny. When I started writing the book, we were in the second year of the pandemic, and burnt out. Everything I watched or read seemed to relate to coronavirus in some way, and it was the last thing I wanted to think about. My previous story ideas foundered, but a black comedy about angels and demons? Why the heck not?
Every piece of research got thrown in. The sexy statues by the Geefs brothers are real, believe it or not; likewise Martin Luther’s inkpot and Dr Dee accidentally conjuring Satan in a library (in Manchester, no less). There was folklore so crazy and out there, I had to use it. Kitta Grau, the human antagonist, stars in numerous Swedish legends where she beats the Devil. There are even church murals where he gives her the famous slippers on the end of a ten foot pole!
I had a blast writing Hello Satan. I hope you enjoy reading it.
