Darius Jones's Blog: A Writer Begins, page 31

My Book Launch, 6 Months Later

It’s been six solid months since I launched The Library of Lost Books. I want to use this post to look back and review the stats, but also to look forward.

I’m collecting the stats on my book launch so that aspiring writers out there can get a feel of what to expect when they publish an e-book. I’ve found it difficult to find hard data myself, so I hope this fills that gap.

First, I’m sure some books did better than mine and I’m sure others didn’t do as well. I hope my stats just add one more...

Grab bag: A Rejection, Nook and Duotrope

And I’m back.

After a nice visit out to California, I’m back in the saddle for another year of writing fiction. Today’s post is a grab bag of updates and musings. I’ll take them on one by one.

SF Story Rejection
My science fiction short story finally got rejected by Analog. The story was held up for quite awhile as they had some management changes over at the mag. But hey, it was a form rejection from the Editor with some useful, though boilerplate, tips for what they’re looking for. So what did I do? Dusted off the story, queued it up and sent it to the next magazine on my list for Sci Fi markets. However, I am thinking I will try some horror mags next (that is, after the next rejection) as the piece is on the border between both genres. (One of Analog’s tips was that they won’t consider stories where the science is incidental or peripheral. My story is set in a future world, but the science fiction takes a back seat). If you have suggestions for markets, let me know. It’s my 3rd rejection for the piece and I’m eager to get it out there. I also submitted another fantasy piece to Daily Science Fiction and will let you know what happens.

Why Nook Sucks
Don’t get me wrong, Barnes and Noble has created a great device. But the news this past week that Nook is not doing so well wasn’t a big shock.

First, I look at it as a writer. Amazon lets me self-promote with easy tools on it website. It lets me giveaway my book for FREE five days for every 3-month period. I’ve given away over 1,000 copies of The Library of Lost Books using their KDP Select program. They let me put in as many books as I want, which encourages me to write more. And I can make my book eligible for “borrowing” which at $2 for each borrow, adds up.

Last I checked Nook has nothing like this. Instead under the header for “marketing” it has useful tips on how to self-promote your book. Not exactly what I was looking for.

I’ve also heard from users that the Nook website can be frustrating when you want to buy something and that the customer service isn’t the best. I don’t know about you, but  I’ve never had those problems with Amazon.

In the end, I hope B&N uses this as an opportunity to change their game plan, focus on digital and self-publishing and get the Nook back on track. The last thing I want to do is be a creative negotiating with a monopoly. B&N could start by offering a KDP Select-like program that would let you giveaway a limited amount of books. It’s just the sort of thing that would get me to post my books on their shelves again.

Why Duotrope Rocks
Finally, this  brings us to Duotrope, the friend of every writer trying to publish short stories.

The website used to be 100% free and based on donations (I sent them a donation in 2012). They switched to a pay model January 1. At $50/year or $5/month it seems a little steep to me, but on the other hand you do get some great content:

- Detailed listings for magazines and publishers in almost every genre imaginable.
- Data for magazines like average acceptance rates, average response times, etc.
- You can input your story’s exact parameters (science fiction horror, 7,000 words, paying markets only) and the site will spit out a listing of mags looking for just that. Duotrope’s  Killer App!

So, I sucked it up and paid the $50. It’s well worth it for those serious about submitting a lot of stories.

Alright, that’s your post for this week. Hope you writers out there found it useful. I’ll see you next time.

,DJ

The Hangover Special – Giveaway

Happy New Year, everybody. As you recuperate today, stop by the Kindle store. I’m doing a dual giveaway January 1 only, featuring The Truck Stop and The Library of Lost Books.

I know you might not feel like reading today, but at least it’s fairly painless to click the download button.

Enjoy,

Darius

Writing Through

This was going to be a retrospective blog post of my first year as a (self) published author. But events have changed that. Instead I’d like to blog today about dedication. 

Recently, my novel, The Library of Lost Books, received it first really bad review. I mean really bad. The reviewer did make some points I thought weren’t quite fair, but he/she also made some pretty salient points. And perhaps that’s why it really stung.

But I’m not letting it phase me. I’ve got to stay focused, plugged in and writing. It’s just like old man Epictetus said (Discourses, Book III, Chapter XXV):

…even if we have renounced the contest, no one restrains us from renewing it, nor need we wait for another four years for the return of another Olympiad; but recollecting and recovering yourself, and returning with the same zeal, you may renew it immediately; and even if you should again yield, you may again begin; and if you once get the victory, you become like one who has never yielded.

There was a time when I would let such feedback stop me. I would stop writing that week. Reassess. Rethink things. One week of introspection would become two. Finally, I would try writing again. After the break, I would be rusty naturally, the writing would be worse, stilted. It wouldn’t flow. I would review what I had written that day before getting 1,000 words up on the screen. More self-criticism would seep in and I would stop writing for the day. Then, it would be three weeks in a row without writing. I might jumpstart my psyche out of it again on week 3, but probably not. Instead I would go into a writing pause of months, maybe even years.

No more.

When I get bad criticism now, I take it in cautiously. The process goes something like this:

1. Read the criticism.

2. Determine whether the criticism is Destructive or Constructive. Destructive criticism has tell-tale signs. It involves personal attacks and/or highly emotive language. Such as: “This writer is clearly ignorant of the subject matter and the weak characterization and cliché plot twists only make matters worse.” Honestly, there’s really not much I can do with that, even if I wanted to. Constructive criticism sounds more like this: “the plotting was weak,” “I lost interest near the end,” or “there were too many typographical errors.” This is fine and I can use it to improve my work.

3. If it’s destructive criticism, I stop reading it and try to forget about it. There’s no point in dwelling on or responding to negative attacks.

4. If it’s constructive criticism I think about it. I analyze what they’ve said and determine whether they have a point. Sometimes, they do.

5. I pay attention to whether multiple readers have the same criticism. This always gives their thoughts weight. For example, in The Library of Lost Books, a number of people said that the middle was slow and broke the plot arch. The fact that three different readers said this without being prompted, tends to make me think they were right and that I could have incorporated that section into the plot arch better or at least reduced its length. 

6.  If the constructive critics have a salient point, I try to incorporate that into my writing. That is IF I feel that it jells with where I want to go as an artist. I’m not going to start writing like James Joyce (who I really don’t care for) just because someone thinks that it would improve my work. But, in the future I do intend to  make sure the midpoint of my novel carries the action and tension forward, so that I don’t lose readers’ interest.

I like to think I’ve developed a more mature reaction to negative criticism. Most importantly, I don’t let it derail or stop my writing routine. I just show up to work and write each Sunday as much as I can. And more and more, I am able to separate the wheat from the chaff, the constructive criticism from the destructive, and incorporate that back into my writing.

It took a lot of writing and sharing with friends and strangers and listening to what they had to say to get here. Sometimes, it hurt. I can’t claim it didn’t. But now I’m used to it. And I can usually figure out if criticism is coming from a bad, dark place or a good place. I let the dark stuff roll off my back and I learn from the good criticism. It’s that sort of response that is slowly helping me become a better writer.

Until next time…keep reading, keep writing,

D

PS. There is a happy ending to this story. I stayed focused. I did my editing and pre-writing on Sunday just like I planned and didn’t let negative voices derail me.

Writing through a Lull

Time for a report on my writing projects.

It turns out that things can not move forward swiftly all the time, especially when publishers, magazines and editors get involved. That’s why I haven’t published anything since The Library of Lost Books in July. But although the editors haven’t green lighted anything yet, I’ve kept writing and wanted to share where my projects are at.

-I am still waiting to hear back on a SciFi short story. I sent it to a magazine that’s undergoing some management changes, so it’s been held up for some time. This has been frustrating, but it’s a good story and a really good mag, so I’m willing to be patient and see what happens.
-I have a fantasy short (7,500 words) story pretty much done and ready to submit.
-I have finished draft one of a historical fiction novella (18,000  words). It’s not speculative history (i.e., the Nazis developed the atomic bomb and won WWII), but a fictionalized retelling of a familiar story. I’m excited about this one, as it’s my first foray into historical fiction.

To sum up, although there’s a lull on the publishing side, the writing side is moving forward. Which is just the way one of my heroes, Epictetus, would have liked it. 

I hope to write more about Epictetus, but the central idea of all his work was that excellence (arête, see Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Plutarch’s Lives, etc. for the ancient Greek concept) comes not through outwards signs and awards, but through doing our best. The universe’s role is to play itself out, to continue to function according to the laws of Logos (what we might call Reason) and Fate (what we might call Chance). The individual’s role is to play his part bravely and well, no matter what the universe throws his way. To be the best soldier, the best wrestler, the best doctor, the best trumpet player, the best friend, the best father that one can be (with the caveat that each person and creature does the best with the body and abilities they were endowed with by nature). As Epictetus put it (Discourses, Book II, Chapter 5):

Therefore Socrates well understood playing at ball... And what was the ball he had to play with? Life, chains, exile, a draught of poison, separation from a wife, and leaving his children orphans. These were what he had to play with; and yet he did play, and threw the ball with address. Thus we should be careful as to the play, but indifferent as to the ball.

So, the ball may not be dropping my way,  but I’m going to keep playing the game. The short story will be off to magazines soon. And the novella should follow fairly soon thereafter—whether a publisher picks it up or I have to publish it on Kindle myself.

As always. Keep playing, keep pushing. Keep reading, keep writing. Until next time.

My Novel and a Story Are Free Today

As you travel home or to a family or friend’s place, stop by the Kindle store today. My (fantasy) novel, The Library of Lost Books and my (weird western?) short story, The Truck Stop are both FREE today, November 21.

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

On the theme of giving thanks, here’s a vid.

The Verve, Lucky Man.

A Sampling of Lovecraftian Phrases

Just finished reading The Colour Out of Space by Lovecraft. I had never read Lovecraft until a couple of years ago when I read The Call of Cthulhu and The Dunwich Horror. Neither one really grabbed me. But I can’t say the same of The Colour.

It’s what might be called a mash up of horror and science fiction, as much Lovecraftian lore is, but I found this one much more gripping and well-paced. It features an alien being at once more intelligent and less conscious, less self-aware, than man. This ancient “stony messenger from the stars” comes to earth via a meteorite. 

As a writer, I’m a dreadfully slow reader. I should have read the story by Halloween and already posted something. But no, I have to analyze, underline, read and reread. I have to go into the whole damn thing as a fricking writer, not a reader. So it takes awhile.

But in my analysis of his style (yes, I do this sort of thing), one thing stood out: word choice. The Colour Out of Space is full of great phrases that show you what is happening with visceral immediacy. Here’s just a small sampling of phrases:

blasted heath
faint miasmal odour
sinister stars
ragged pit
superstitious rustics
loathsome changes [love this one!]
studied malevolence
detestably sticky noise
unclean species of suction
fitful moonbeams
demoniac tint
tense godless calm
luminous amorphousness
deep skyey voids

And here are some verbs that really show you the action:

scraped
whispered
shivered
gouged
hissed
spattered
“creeping and creeping and waiting”

Lovecraft’s finding just the right word is all the more impressive because he did it before the electronic thesauri we have today. Which like spell checkers, probably just makes writers unduly lazy. 

What’s my plan to avoid this technologically-induced trap? I’m going to tack those words to my wall in my writing lab (next to the Kalashnikov quote) just as a reminder. A reminder to work the (electronic and wetware) thesauri to death as I go through my second, third and fourth drafts. A reminder to get the most out of a verb, adverb or phrase so that it paints a picture for the reader. You know, the old adage: “Show, don’t tell.”

And really with the electronic thesaurus in Word, what excuse does any writer have to not use just the right word? Think of poor Lovecraft rifling through his analog thesauri or scratching his head trying to think of just the right verb. It’s harder work, but in the end, it makes a quality product.

That’s about all for now. Be sure to check out this great Lovecraft website. It has his stories in electronic format, photos, a bio and much more. It also has the  most fantastic name for a Usenet group I’ve ever heard: “The Shadow over Usenet.” I know I’ll be there more, because I just became his newest fan.

Until next time, keep reading, keep writing.

Vote for The Library of Lost Books in the Goodreads Choice Awards

Voting has started for the 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards.  Please stop in and vote for The Library of Lost Books in the FICTION category. The book cover is not there, but you can cast a write-in vote by typing in the title of the book. Make sure to vote in the fiction category so that all votes end up in the same place.

And yes, after writing the book, much thought and looking at the book covers in the fantasy category, I decided that The Library of Lost Books is better off in the FICTION category. Again, just look at the book covers. And then look at my cover again:

If you’ve read just a little of Library, you’ll understand.

The Goodreads Choice Awards is the chance for you, the reader, to decide which books win. So every vote means a lot to me. Thanks everybody and see you next time.  

The Truck Stop Hits the Road

There were 94 downloads of my story, The Truck Stop, this weekend from the Kindle store during my giveaway. 88 in the U.S., five in the U.K. and one from Germany.

Not too bad for a short story giveaway that I didn’t promote too heavily. Thanks for stopping by and downloading. And please leave a short review when you get a few minutes.

And in case you missed your chance, you can still download it for 99 cents. Until next time…

My First Short Story Is Free This Weekend

My short story, The Truck Stop, is free this weekend on Amazon’s Kindle store. Some have called it a “Weird Western.” But I just call it literary fiction.

It’s about Thomas, his friend Trish and the last truck stop in Orange County, California. It was a story that incubated in my head for about seven years…And then…I heard this song and everything fell into place.

I kept playing the song over and over on my PC and in my own head, and then I realized it was the atmosphere I had always wanted in my story. So, I just sat down and wrote the opening paragraph, but with the mood and tone of that song laid in. The rest of the story (which I had tucked away for years in my head) just flowed from there.

This was written and published (via the miracle of wireless, thanks, Nikola et al) from Lafayette Square in beautiful Savannah, Georgia. The vibe down there added something to the story because it didn’t end where I intended it to. Instead, as I sat there, I decided to change the ending and have Thomas just take a walk after most of the action had ended. I’m glad I did because it I think it adds something to the story. I think it adds quite a bit, in fact.

But see what you think. As you hunker down for Sandy or get back from your Halloween party, download the piece and read it. At about 4,000 words, it’s a typical length for a short story.

And one last thing, the song playing over the speaker system in The Truck Stop became “Dancing with the Women at the Bar.” It was that final, small detail that really tied the story together. Or am I wrong?

Hope you enjoy it.

(The story is free October 27 and October 28 on Amazon’s Kindle store, just to be exact.)