C.J. Carella's Blog: C.J. Carella's Casa Del Geek, page 5

Changing My Mind

So I'm about twenty thousand words into Acts of Piracy, and I realize that fitting the events of that novel (which follows the adventures of a gang of misfits and their bizarre ship in the world of the Warp Marines) into the current storyline would work a lot better later in the timeline.
Which is my way of saying that I'm putting that book on hold and starting work on Advance to Contact, Warp Marine Corps Book Three. So I'm back to wading knee-deep in alien blood and other fun stuff, as things begin to take a sinister turn.

No Price Too High Is Out

And it's finally done. The sequel to Decisively Engaged is available for the Kindle (print and Audible versions will follow shortly).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HHA41UU

Many thanks to everyone for your patience. I hope it was worth the wait.

Still Not Done :(

I really wanted to have No Price Too High (Book Two of the Warp Marine Corps series) out this month. It was already late (my original plan had been to publish the novel at the end of March), but as I look at the work that remains to do, there's no way it's coming out in May. So June it is.

I could go on about all the reasons why the book isn't late, but that'd be just making excuses. The good news is, the book is back on track, I'm on the last third of the final draft, and after that it's editing and proofreading.

Thanks to everyone who wrote asking about the book, knowing you're interested in following the story makes me more motivated to get this done as quickly as possible while still releasing a quality work.

My next post will be, barring some catastrophe, the release announcement of the book.

Decisively Engaged on Audible

The audio version of Decisively Engaged has been approved by Amazon and is out on sale at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Decisively-Enga...

This is the first time I've done this, so I'm pretty curious as to how it will turn out. I'm not a big fan of listening to books (I find I get distracted and stop paying attention after a while), so I'm not the best judge about an audio book's quality, but I think narrator Guy Williams did a great job with all the different voices and narrative tones in the story.

On other news, still hard at work on No Price Too High, the next book in the series. April is the release date at this point.

Plans for 2016

So far it's been a crazy year, barely one month in. Between the success of Decisively Engaged and scoring a Book Bub promotion for Armageddon Girl, it was a scarily-successful month. As always, I'm very grateful to all the readers who made this possible, as well as all the fellow writers whose advice and support helped me be a better storyteller, marketer and promoter.

I'm making some changes to my writing schedule. I'm not sure if the sequel to Armageddon Girl I was planning is the right book for the series, so I'm putting it on hold for now while I think things through. So instead I'm currently working on DE's sequel, No Price Too High, which I hope to release in late March/early April. After that, I think I will work on a series set in the same space opera universe, but from a different perspective (something along the lines of Firefly instead of Battlestar Galactica, as it were). Hoping I'll have a better feel for the next book in the New Olympus series after that.

And if things keep going at this rate, I will be writing full time (I'm already putting in about as many hours as I physically can, but quitting my other job will free more time for marketing and things like blogging or tweeting - joy).

Very excited about this year!

Road to a Top Seller

As I write this, Decisively Engaged is hovering near the #100 spot on the Paid in Kindle Store. The book is at the top of several Amazon book categories, including Military Science Fiction and Space Opera. Now, that doesn't make it a "best-seller" by any means - the traditional way to earn the title is to sell 25,000 hardcover copies in a week, and I haven't sold a single hardcover (don't have any to sell) or even many trade paperbacks (less than enough to fill a backpack, honestly). All my sales have been on ebooks, and during a promotional sale at the bargain-basement price of $0.99. So I'm not about to light my Cuban cigars with hundred-dollar bills (or buy any kind of cigar for that matter, although I currently might be able to afford a regular smoking habit if were so inclined).

But enough humble-bragging. I'm a bit flabbergasted that the book got this far this fast. As an indie writer without any support beyond what I can pay for myself (which ain't all that much), I'd never expected to even get past the 1,000-rank on Amazon's lists. But given how much help I've gotten from other indies, fellow writers (traditional and independent) and other great folk, I felt I should describe the steps I took in publishing this book, in the hopes that others may be able to do as well or better.

Just to be clear, I'm not claiming any particular insight on selling books; everything I did is stuff I learned from easily-available sources (David Gaughran's books in particular). And I must credit pure dumb luck for the book's sales success. For all I know the only reason it did so well was a dearth of new releases in the genre on the day the book came out. What I list below is what I did; it may work for everyone, it may have had no effect on the results.

(Warning: what follows is a bunch of indie publishing "inside baseball," unlikely to be of much interest to the general reader.)

The Basics: I wrote the best book I could, had a group of beta readers take an ax to it (they were a huge help), had it edited and proofread, and bought a nice cover for it. In the end, what's on the pages is what matters.

Amazon KDP Select: I've pretty much gone all-in with Amazon from the beginning. Whether that's wise on the long term is debatable. Short term, I'd be literally many thousands of dollars poorer if I hadn't. Kindle Unlimited in its current incarnation is a huge boon to independent writers. It provides us with a $12 million-a-month sub-market (and those are payouts to authors, which is equivalent to a good $60 million a month in trad pub sales) whose subscribers are far more likely to give a new author a chance.

Marketing Plan: During its first 30 days of release, your book has the opportunity to appear in your genre(s)'s Hot New Release List. The number of copies sold to get to the HNRL is generally lower than what is required to make it to the regular Best-Seller List. In my experience, if you can make it to the Top 20 (the first page in those listings), you get hundreds or even thousands of eyeballs on your (hopefully attractive) cover, which may lead to clicks, peeks into your sample section, and sales. My goal was to generate enough sustained sales to put my book in the Hot New Release List for my genres.

To get there, I used all the tools at my disposal: a mailing list, built over the course of about a year; a Facebook page, two years in the making; people who've come to enjoy my work who I communicate with in assorted internet forums. That gave me a core readership of 50-100 people who'd buy my book within 72 hours. Depending on how those sales are clustered, that might be enough for a sales rank of 10,000-5,000 on Amazon's best-selling list, which might be enough to get a book on the Top 20 or Top 40 list of the appropriate genre (to get listed on the appropriate genre, btw, you need to play the Amazon keyword game; Google it).

That's usually not enough, especially in a competitive genre like Mil-SF. I put the book up for a promotional price $0.99 and spent $120 on Facebook ads and three promotional services (Awersomegang, Betty Book Freak and Bknights). I spread the promotions over several days rather than use them all at once, because a one-day jump in the charts is usually dismissed by Amazon as a freak occurrence, and the book is banished from the lists too quickly to make a lasting impression.

That's about it. I got some nice early reviews from my core fans, which helped, and rose enough in the ranks for Amazon to start doing marketing for me (listing the book on the "Also Bought" displays below popular books in the genre, for example).

Honestly, my expectation was to make it to the low thousands in rank (on my best month, Armageddon Girl reached a rank of 2,200 or so. In my wildest dreams, I thought the book might top off at #500 or something equally ridiculous. Which means you never know, and sometimes an unexpected surprise can be good (not something that happens often in my experience).

Later tonight the book's price will go up to $3.99. Maybe that means it will disappear from the charts in a few days (I'm hoping for a few weeks). Regardless of what happens next, I managed to make more money than any previous month (the Kindle Unlimited borrows alone have generated something like a 30-fold return on my investment in 14 days) and got to see my name and mug listed next to some giants of Science Fiction, for a couple of days at least, and that is a pretty awesome feeling.

I'll be writing more, that's certain. I may even quit my day job. And I owe it all to my cherished readers and all the people who've helped me along the way. Thank you.

A Good Start to 2016

I (just) managed to publish four books on 2015. The fourth book (Decisively Engaged) is the start of a new series, military science fiction. After having mixed success with my horror series (and by mixed, I mean "sold one tenth what Armageddon Girl did"), I was a bit nervous about trying my hand in a new genre.

Well, so far so good. Decisively Engaged's had my strongest debut so far, and is currently in the top twenty of several Amazon best-seller lists. Not a bad way to start the year.

My resolutions for 2016 are to write and publish six novels. I'm beginning work on the fifth book of the New Olympus Saga, The Many-Worlds Odyssey. After that, I'll work on the sequel to Decisively Engaged, No Price Too High. It's going to be a busy year,

I'm deeply grateful to all my readers, who have made all of this possible, I hope my new books will continue to entertain them.

Two Years In Review

Two years ago, I pressed the “Save and Publish” button on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing page and sent out my first novel into the world. I figured I’d lay out some thoughts about my journey so far and where I’m may be heading next.

The story so far: I’ve written and pubbed six novels, a short story collection and a novelette, and am currently working on my seventh novel. I’ve tried my luck in two different genres so far (alternative history/superheroes and action/horror) and will be branching out into a third (military science fiction) with my current novel. My first novel has generated some $6,000 in income so far (not counting the Kickstarter funds I raised), which may be less than it would have made if published through mainstream channels, but from what I hear about how new authors are getting treated by publishing houses, is rather unlikely. I definitely wouldn’t have released three sequels in the ensuing two years, which doubled my earnings so far.

On the other hand, my foray into horror fiction was a bit of a disaster. Shadowfall: Las Vegas and its sequel have sold a tenth as much as my first series. Maybe it was the title, or the cover, or the writing style; maybe most fans who enjoyed my supers tales weren’t willing to explore a darker territory with me. Whatever the reason, the first half of 2015 saw my writing income decline dramatically. Important lesson there: no guarantees in this biz. I’m probably going to write a third book in the series, but not for a while.

Another lesson I’ve learned: covers make a difference. After a year and change coasting on horrible home-made covers, I splurged on some professionally-done replacements, and my sales have soared, undoing some of the damage from the first half of 2015. If you’re considering self-publishing, do yourself a favor and spend some money in developing a professional-looking, formatted and edited book. It’s not 2011 anymore, and readers will balk at something that looks amateurish.
On the creative side, I’m writing a lot faster than I did when starting out. Armageddon Girl took some nine months from start to first draft. Book Four on that series took me seventeen days (it was a shorter book, 70K words versus 120K, but still). I’m hoping to write 5-6 novels in 2016.

Business-wise, I’m sticking with Amazon as my distributor. I’ve explored alternative avenues and they’ve all been far inferior in every respect. I’m particularly impressed with the Kindle Unlimited program, which in the last couple of months has accounted for half or more of my writing income. If that changes, I’ll make changes accordingly, of course.

All in all, I’m pretty happy. I’m doing something I love and it’s becoming a major source of income, which shows there is an audience who enjoys what I write. I think things are only going to get better.

After my current project (Decisively Engaged) is done, I’ll work on the fifth New Olympus novel (The Many-Worlds Odyssey). After that, either a sequel to Decisively Engaged (if initial sales warrant it) or the first book of a new series and genre (something along the lines of the Nightside novels by Simon R. Green). I have basic outlines for nine novels sitting on my Writing Folder, and ideas for another dozen or so (by the way, people who want to sell me ideas, don’t bother: I think of a new novel idea just before every meal of the day. Ideas are cheap; getting them written down is the hard part).

It’s been a great trip so far. Thank you to all my readers for making it possible, and I hope I’ll keep you entertained for many years to come.

The Ragnarok Alternative & What's Next

The Ragnarok Alternative, the fourth book of the New Olympus Saga, is available for the Kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016...

It came out shorter than the previous three books (75,000 words versus 120,000 on average). The main reason is that I focused on the main characters and left out anything that didn't touch on the main plot. The multitude of POV characters had been a major complaint in reviews and e-mails, which led me to this change. Hopefully all you faithful readers will still find the novel worth of your time.

Going forward: the next project will be a military sci-fi novel, which I'm hoping to have out before the end of the year. After that, I'm thinking of a new paranormal fantasy series, although I may try to submit it to a traditional publisher first, just to try to widen my audience.

Next month marks the second year mark since my first publication. If I'm not to absorbed writing fiction, I'll try to post a year(s) in review blog.

How I Wrote a Novel in 17 Days

I typed the most lovely words in the English language earlier tonight: THE END.

The novel in question: The Ragnarok Alternative, the fourth book of the New Olympus Saga that started with Armageddon Girl. It's going to be shorter than the previous novels - the first draft came in at under 70K words; by the time I'm done with revisions and additions, it'll clock in at 80-90K words, versus 120K for the three earlier novels. This is because, based on readers' feedback, I focused on the main characters and tossed most subplots by the wayside.

Regardless of the smaller size, 17 days for a novel is a record for me, and one that may have some important effects on my life. Instead of struggling to produce three novels a year, I might be able to write five or six instead (allowing time for editing, revisions and so on). This means a chance to try different genres while still supporting my previous works, without risking reducing my income.

So, how did i manage to do it? Among other things, I followed the advice in Rachel Aaron's book:
http://www.amazon.com/2k-10k-Writing-...
I won't spoil the book here: it's short and to the point and definitely worth the $0.99. I didn't make it to 10K words a day (except for one 14K day) but my daily production did improve dramatically.

The most important factors:

I started writing with a plan in mind, after visualizing the scene I was about to work on. That kept me focused.

If a particular scene wasn't enjoyable to write, I discarded it (that's straight from Ms. Aaron's book). If it's not fun to write, it's not going to be fun to read. Figure out a way around the scene and move on.

Those two things alone were a huge help. I've usually been a burst writer, going from 3-5K words for a day or two, to less than a thousand for two or three days, and so on. The low productivity days outnumbered the others by a factor of three or more. This time I did the bulk of the work in ten days, averaging over four thousand words a day, day in and day out. The new system seems to be sustainable, although I won't find out until I write the next novel.

So those are my words of wisdom, after finishing my sixth novel (Issac Asimov has nothing to worry about). Take them for what they're worth, considering the source.