Darius Jones's Blog: A Writer Begins - Posts Tagged "the-library-of-lost-books"
My New Novel
My first novel has just been published. It's on the Amazon Kindle store here.
It's also on Goodreads: The Library of Lost Books
Please take the time to leave a review. And a big thank you to all of you who have already got it and are reading it.
,D
The FAQs of Life
I don’t have a Kindle, can I still buy it?
Yes, all you have to do is download the Kindle app. It works with any PC, Mac, iPad, or any other device on the planet.
I have a Nook. Can I buy it on Barnes & Noble?
Not yet. I have decided to enroll the book in Amazon’s KDP for promotional purposes. In doing so, you agree not to publish the work anywhere else online for 3 months. When this period is over, I will post the book to the Nook store.
How and where can I leave a review?
You can leave a review on the Amazon page or on Goodreads.
How do you feel about people leaving reviews?
Great. Right now, a review is more important than even buying the book. Reviews will pique people’s interest and drive more readers to the book. Also, positive or negative, a review is the only way—besides practice—one can improve as a writer.
Do you plan to write more stuff?
I already have. Right now, I’m working on a series of short stories. I have already finished one and am shopping it around to magazines. I will post any major breakthroughs or defeats here.
This looks fun. Can I publish my own novel online?
Yes. E-publishing is the biggest breakthrough in publishing in a long time. It will make publishing a much more transparent, democratic process. The only challenge is that the author must be editor, publisher and agent rolled into one. I still have not mastered these arts.
That being said, you retain complete creative control and work to your own deadlines. But the greatest challenge is in creating a compelling manuscript that is polished. It’s the same old standard, but now with much less interaction from publishing industry middlemen. Which is both good and bad.
Would you recommend publishing your first novel online?
It depends. In my case, yes. On the other hand, if you were a more established writer and had built up a portfolio of short stories or had done time in a prominent workshop or creative writing program, you might want to shop around the manuscript to publishing houses first. They would be much more open to considering a manuscript from someone with such a background. In my case, I knew I didn’t have those things and my chances of getting published via the normal route were slim. I opted to write what I liked, skip the whole novel submittal process and do it myself.
I’m very happy with the result.
So, now that you’re a writer, you must be rich. How much in royalties have you made?
$0.
Sorry to disappoint, but I haven’t seen a single royalty check yet. You must have a minimum in sales of $10 before Amazon or Barnes and Noble sends you a check. You get between 35-40% royalties on each sale. I sold about 15 copies of my first story, the Truck Stop, which I choose to sell at $0.99. You can do the math, but it doesn’t add up to $10. Especially, when you divide it between two publishing houses.
But, as has often been said, good writing is its own reward.
,Darius
A 400-Download Day
I was skeptical of the program which lets you promote your book for free for five days if you commit to sell it exclusively through Amazon (at least in digital format). So far, it’s turned out to be a good deal.
My new novel, The Library of Lost Books, was downloaded by 423 people in one day last week during a special KDP promotion on Amazon. Here’s how it broke down across their stores:
US 358 downloads
United Kingdom 51 downloads
Germany 12 downloads
France 2 downloads
Of course, the book was FREE, but I still can’t believe it. In fact, for about an hour or so in the afternoon, it was in the Top 100 in the Amazon Kindle “Free” store in both genres I submitted it under: Literary Fiction and Fantasy Fiction.
Crazy. I was hoping to get the novel to 50 people total, over the book’s launch and lifetime. Now, it’s closer to 500. It peaked at 1,212 in the Kindle Free store which doesn’t sound impressive, until you realize that the store has a million titles. We’re talking almost the top one-tenth of one percent, if I’m doing the math right (and as a writer, I’m usually not). Needless to say it was great seeing my book up there with War and Peace, even if it was only for a day.
Now, the key is getting all you busy people out there to write reviews. I want to make this as easy as possible. You can post yours on the Amazon Kindle page for the book or here on Goodreads. A review doesn't have to be long, just a star rating and a few words.
Also, don’t forget to “Friend” or “Fan” me on Goodreads or Facebook.
And thanks to all of you out there that were brave enough to click on a book from an independent author you’ve never heard of before and give him a shot. I can’t thank all of you have bought or downloaded my book enough. You really made my day.
Keep Spreading the Word,
,Darius
PS I’ll give the last word to the musicians. Why is it that they’re so often better at capturing emotions than us writers?
Velvet Morning by the Verve. Live at Wigan, 1998.
The Book in the Mirror
A book is like a man—clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will be a page like a wet and mangy mongrel, and for every looping flight a tap on the wing and a reminder that wax cannot hold the feathers firm too near the sun.He really nails it with that imagery. My new novel The Library of Lost Books, is no exception to this rule. For every winged flight of fancy there was a mangy mongrel. In fact, in some passages, mangy dogs with wings come to mind.
But, after all, it was my first novel, a sort of “learning” novel. It allowed me to understand characters, plot, tone, pacing and how they work and play out in a longer piece. It was an insightful and moving experience to see how the characters and the novel took on a life of their own. A life that would not always follow the dictates of its creator.
It’s funny how Steinbeck talks about a book, being similar to or having the likeness of a man. Jose Luis Borges’s work is a recurring theme in my novel. The Argentine was obsessed with mirrors and their supposed malicious powers. Somehow, I imagine old Steinbeck staring at a mirror and just seeing his book inside it, instead of his own face. I think he would see the shabby, careworn parts of the tome clearly, but would miss the finer features, the better parts of it.
What writer hasn't seen himself, but his book, when he looks in the mirror?
At any rate, I’ve never read the book this quote refers to, East of Eden. But I think it would be a fun experiment to read a chapter from his diary of the book and then read a chapter of the book and see how faithful he is to his daily plan for the book. Recently, a friend of mine said he didn’t care much for East of Eden. Which might just be my friend’s bad taste or might indicate that it’s a bad idea to keep a diary of a book as you write it. Sometimes, it's good not to over-think things.
For the source of the quote, see the original letter here on Letters of Note.
And for those of you out there who are STILL paying attention, check the blog this weekend.
My New Novel Is Free This Weekend
My new novel, The Library of Lost Books, is free this weekend—-August 4 and 5—-on the Amazon Kindle store.
Enjoy and please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads.
Darius Jones
A 300-Download Weekend
US 271 downloads
United Kingdom 39 downloads
Germany 14 downloads
Total 324 downloads
At first, I was a bit disappointed. I had about over 400 downloads in one day during my first giveaway on July 18. So, I was hoping to get about 400-800 downloads for the 2-days weekend giveaway. But, in retrospect, I think that was asking too much. I think the earlier adopter/downloaders have already seen the book, so it has lost a bit of its “wow factor.” And it was a nice summer weekend and the Olympics were on. So, maybe not the best timing.
One thing that doesn’t fit with this theory is that Germany actually had more downloads than previously. Maybe vegging out and watching the Olympics isn’t as popular in Germany?
Anyway, finishing the math for all 3 KDP Giveaway days, we get:
Aug. 4 -5 Total 324 downloads
July 18 Total 423 downloads
Sales to Date 27 copies
Grand Total 774
The upshot of all this is that I feel confident enough to admit that my goal since my first KDP giveaway on The Library of Lost Books has been to get 1,000 downloads and 29 sales for the book, over the book’s entire lifetime. (If you sell your book at .99 cents, 29 sales is the magic number you need to get a $10 royalty check. Amazon won't send you a check until you hit the $10 mark). And that’s what I told myself all weekend long: “Don’t forget your original goal.”
It’s still my goal and I hope to reach it soon. With a little luck I’ll get there before my KDP 3-month run is up on Oct. 10. I will keep you all posted.
Thanks to all of you for buying/downloading. Keeping checking the blog for future giveaways and news and...
Keep Spreading the Word,
Darius
PS Here’s your musical treat.
This was playing on my Pandora station as I periodically (limited to once every 4 hours) checked my stats on the Amazon Kindle store this weekend.
My First Fee
I’ve now exceeded my goal of selling 29 copies of my first novel, The Library of Lost Books. That was the magic number I had to reach to get $10 in royalties (29 books x $0.99 list price x 35% royalty = $10.05) and get my first royalty check from Amazon. For those of you who are following this blog for the numbers, I’ve sold 40 copies of Library so far. This does NOT include: books returned for a refund, books downloaded during free giveaways or borrows. Those 40 are all cash sales.
But that’s only half the goal. My other, bigger goal is to get the book into the hands of 1,000 readers. I’m close to this as well, I think I’m at about 790 right now. These 1,000 readers will include people who buy the book, borrow the book in Amazon's Lending Library and those who download it during a free giveaway. I’m hoping to reach this bigger goal by Oct. 10 my last day for Library on KDP Select. Again, I’ll keep you posted.
In honor of this milestone, I’d like to highlight the source of the title for today’s post: a short story by Isaac Babel.
The story, “My First Fee,” begins with one of my favorite first lines.
To be in Tiflis in spring, to be twenty years old, and not to be loved—is a terrible thing.
Of course, lucky Isaac’s “first fee” was a bit different than mine, being non-monetary compensation, and perhaps sweeter. But as for me, I’ll just take the cash.
Well that about wraps up today’s post, I’ve got to do some real writing today. Thanks to all my friends and fans for buying a copy and, as always…
Keep Spreading the Word,
Darius
Postscript. My first fee will take Amazon some 3 months to deliver (60 days after the calendar month in which the royalties are accrued). Strangely, in this day of automated and instant everything, authors still have to wait a long time for their checks to arrive.
My New Book Is Free this Tuesday
In the meantime, it’s still just 99 cents. And how can you go wrong with that?
Enjoy and please leave a review on Amazon or here on Goodreads.
,Darius Jones
The Greatest Lost Books of All Time
In my book, The Library of Lost Books, I imagined a library where all the great lost books re-emerged to be looked over by a select group of librarians. When the idea first hit me it got me to thinking: what are the greatest lost books of all time? Of those tomes that went missing, those that were destroyed by fire, water or time—which ones would we most want to have back?
Of course, everyone would have their own list. The Smithsonian has compiled its own list here which has some pretty compelling choices.
In response, here’s the first part of my top 10 list (with #1 being the book I most wish we still had) of lost books. I make a note of those books which make a cameo appearance in The Library of Lost Books.
10. The Roman Sibylline Books.
Some might place this as number one. It is, of course, an almost wholly legendary topic, but probably contains a shred of historic truth.
The Sibylline Books were nine books of the Cumaean Sibyl, the high priestess resident at the Greek colony of Cumae, near modern Naples, Italy. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, wished to purchase the books from the sibyl and make them his own. But he equivocated, thinking the price too high. No neophyte to tough bargaining, the sibyl burnt three of the books in the presence of the king. She once more asked for the fee. Lucius refused again, arguing he would not pay the original price for only six books. The sibyl burnt away three more of the books without batting an eye. She asked for the original fee again. Lucius relented, paid the fee and saved the last three books.
The remaining books were moved to the Temple of Jupiter, the Magnificent in Rome and as late as 363 AD (after Christianity had emerged) the emperor Julian the Apostate was consulted them in order to determine whether marching against the restive Persian Empire would be auspicious and end in glory. The books said yes, supporting the emperor’s invasion, but it led to his untimely death. Shortly after that, the Roman Empire entered a period of terminal decline, paganism decayed and the remaining three books were lost and the temple was abandoned to time.
Some might ask why I’m rating the Sibylline Books so low. The reason is that I feel they would contain a good amount of stock recitation and gibberish. I feel it might tell us a bit about Etruscan paganism, but would contain little of historical or cultural value. It simply would not be a good read.
The Sibylline Books do not appear in my book, The Library of Lost Books. However, the character of Hypatia in the book is a pastiche of the sibyl and the historical Hypatia. I wanted a character that was a powerful witch with a literary bent. A Sibylline Hypatia fit the bill.
9. The French Revolution: A History. Part one, draft one. Thomas Carlyle.
I include this book not so much for what a loss it was or how much I would have liked to read it, but to the story of how the book was lost.
As a writer you end up collecting quite a few manuscripts from friends asking for a read and critique. I’m always careful to handle the manuscripts with care and return them to the writer friend in one piece. But that’s not what happened when Thomas Carlyle gave his good friend, John Stuart Mill, THE ONLY COPY of his masterpiece, The French Revolution: A History.
Apparently, John wasn’t home when the book arrived. Instead his capable maid intercepted the manuscript, mistook it for trash and burned it.
I imagine after a vigorous interrogation of the maid and a frantic search of the trash and the fireplace, John decided to go over to his friend Thomas’s house to have a chat. I would have to guess it went something like this. (For the tone of the dialogue, see this scene from Young Frankenstein).
JOHN: Ah, Tom! There you are!
THOMAS: Well, it is my house. Whom do you expect to meet?"
J: Quite right. Anyway…How have you been?
T: Good…Did you get a chance to read my book yet?
J: [in mock cluelessness:] The book?
T: Yes, the one I sent. On the French Revolution?
J: Oh, yes! That book.
T: Well? Did you read it?
J: Read it? Well…
T: What?
J: I…
T: What is it?…Is it bad?
J: No, no. I’m sure it’s excellent. It’s just...
T: [with growing dread:] What…?
[Cut to a scene of a provincial English countryside with a small cottage in the distance. We hear a man’s scream roll across the countryside from the cottage. We return to an interior shot of the cottage:]
JOHN [concerned:] I’m sorry, Tom.
THOMAS [incredulously:] Sorry!? Sorry!? You knew it was the only copy. It was my masterpiece!
[JOHN raises his hands and shrugs pathetically.]
…or something like that. Carlyle went on to write the second and third parts before writing part 1 from memory. But it just goes to show you: Always back up your work!
8. Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
Here’s one for all you Old Testament buffs out there. I recently read the Book of Kings, and despite some thick prose it was a great read. It’s got battles, slave girls, pagan priests, massacres, bear attacks, chariots of fire in the sky. It’s got Elijah, Ahab and Jezebel. What more could you ask for?
But one annoying fact kept getting me. Just as you were getting some good, juicy details about one of the Israelite kings and how he screwed up, you get something like this:
'What else is there to say of such things? For behold, is it not told in the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
On almost every page just as things really start getting good, up comes that phrase again:
For behold, is it not told in the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
Soon, I started to cry out each time I came to the phrase.
“No! No, it is not told!”
And you guessed it, the Chronicles of both kingdoms are lost. It’s not quite clear how they disappeared, at least from the research I’ve done, though I’m guessing this had something to do with it. I’d like to know if any of you out there in Internet-land knows.
At any rate, it would be nice to have the rich historical detail in those Chronicles back.
7. The Arzhang
This is probably the most obscure one on my list. Even the Wikipedia article on it is sparse. It’s also the only picture book on the list.
But it was illustrated by the prophet Mani, founder of a Gnostic sect, who was also a renowned painter. Apparently, it was also written by him. I find the Manicheans fascinating with their blend of Zoroastrian, Buddhist and Christian teachings. It would have been nice to have one more primary sources for this obscure religion.
But the greatest loss here is the paintings of Mani himself and it would be intriguing to see how Mani’s style differed and influenced later medieval Persian miniature painting.
6. The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, draft 1. T.E. Lawrence.
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This is not necessarily a great loss, but like number 9 above is more famous for the way it was lost rather than its contents.
It appears Lawrence lost the manuscript when he misplaced his briefcase while changing trains at Reading railway station. Despite a national book-hunt, the briefcase was never found. Luckily, the determined Lawrence was able to write most of the book from memory! Quite a feat when you consider it was supposed to be 250,000 words (a very long novel). So, in the end, I’d like to think that we still have most of the book, that’s why this one didn’t quite crack my top 5.
In The Library of Lost Books, Darius finds The Seven Pillars, draft 1. It is the second book he opens in the library after opening The Poor Man and the Lady by Thomas Hardy. Reading station is also a scene in the book which is used to explain how misplaced (as opposed to destroyed) books make their way to the Library.
Those are the first five of my greatest lost books. After a vacation I will return, to finish off the list with my top 5 lost books of all time.
…Vacation? Did someone say, “vacation”? That’s right. I’m taking the rest of September off. I’ve earned it. I’ll return to writing and this blog in October. See you then. Thanks for a great launch of “Library.”
,Darius
My New Novel is Free Today
It may be the last time I offer it for free, so download it while you can.
Enjoy!
Darius Jones
A Writer Begins
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