Jamie Sheffield's Blog, page 19

Next Steps in Promoting a Self-Published Book

I'm working on generating a list of the best questions people ask authors about their books and about the writing process.  My plan is to use these questions to support a series of interviews that will be available both in text and video formats.


I'm planning on doing some readings from "Here Be Monsters", both in local libraries and in the outdoors, and would love to make short videos of these readings to upload to youtube and other sites that could carry them, and increase the number of eyes and ears on my book.


 I'll be approaching a series of appropriate blogs and websites and offer to write some articles for them to increase my exposure among their readers.  
These are my initial thoughts on how I can easily take my promotion to the next level... I will gratefully welcome any ideas that you would be willing to share with me.
Thanks,
Jamie

Monday Mid-Morning Malaise-Motivated Mental Meanderings

I've wanted to write a novel for most of my adult life, and last summer I was able to do it.

I spent months working with my content and copy editor (my wife, Gail) to clean the original product up, always knowing that I wanted to self-publish.

I chose to self-publish because the writing, and not the publication, of the book was (and still is) the important part of the process to me.  I also chose to self-publish so that I could keep control over my book... my story, my stylistic choices, my writing.
Two paths leading away from my manuscript, both ripe with appeal and promise... I took one.

Jamie

Tyler Cunningham Novelette on Deck!

Photo Credit Seth Jones I finished writing a novelette yesterday; it ended up roughly 14,000 words in length.

 I don't have a title for the work yet, but it picks up with Tyler Cunningham a few months after the action of "Here Be Monsters" takes place. Mickey Schwarz, Tyler's sole remaining link to his origins in NYC calls him in the middle of the night in a jam; as luck would have it, it turns out to be the sort of jam that Tyler can help with, although it involves leaving his home in the Adirondack Park (which would ordinarily be unthinkable, but for Mickey, Tyler does it without a thought).

It's a fun little piece that explores the Tyler/Mickey dynamic a bit, and gave me a chance to write about another part of New York that I love, the Syracuse area.

 I submitted the novelette to my editor yesterday afternoon, and got some initial content notes today at noon. We'll work through the story, polishing and adding and subtracting bits until it's done, and then think about copy-editing.

 I would like to have this story available in ebook format by early April.

Thanks for your continued interest in HBM and Tyler!

Jamie

 PS - I've got two more Tyler-related short works ready to write, one that takes place several years before HBM, and one that will take place early this coming summer... I would like to have them both available in ebook format before I start serious work on the next full-length novel this summer.

Thoughts about Self-Publishing

Once I had finished writing the first draft of "Here Be Monsters" last summer, it occurred to me that I would actually have a book ready to be published within the year; I started doing some serious thinking about the business and infrastructure and politics of publishing.

We've all read the nightmare stories about fantastic writers and books that were repeatedly rejected by publishers...Stephen King, Dr. Seuss, J.K. Rowling, John Grisham, Frank Herbert, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Louis L'Amour, Madeline L’Engle, and George Orwell (among lots of others).

Contrast that with books by and about Sarah Palin, Monica Lewinsky, sparkly vampires, and a thousand books that I've started and stopped because they were too bad to finish, and you can see a bit into my reasoning for avoiding the big houses.

I asked myself what a publisher does...what specifically would/could a publisher do for me?


Acquire clients/books - I could pick me and my book way easier than a publisher could, and with much less begging and and wasted time sending my book out to 30 different houses.

Planning/Editing - Again...my book was already mostly written, and I had a kickass editor lined up to help me fix it (the first draft is not easily recognizable when compared to the final product available today).

Design/Artwork - CreateSpace provides these services for free, or ala carte for those who want some help...I did not, and am comfortable with the look and feel of the book.

Copyediting - I was lucky in that I had a great editor to help with the fine polish work of the novel.  We've found about a dozen errors in roughly 78K words (which translates to about 99.99% error-free) in the first edition, and are going to release a second edition in the next month or so to remedy those.  It's worth noting here that I have not read a book in the last ten years,either indie and big-house published, that had less than a handful of errors.

Production/Distribution - CreateSpace produces the books based on my specifications, and sends it out to most any bookseller worldwide.  Computer facilitated design and print-on-demand production is a big part of the change.  CreateSpace can produce a one-copy run of a book for a few bucks, and that changes the game on a very fundamental level that cannot be ignored or glossed over.

Promotion/Marketing - This is where self-publishing fails to compare with big-house (big box?) publishing.  I have been running my own marketing and promotional campaign, and it cannot compare to what the big houses are capable of doing.


It's funny, but a little bit true...


For me, self-publishing "Here Be Monsters" was ultimately an easy choice...

I didn't write my book to make a gazillion dollars.  I wrote "Here Be Monsters" because I love writing, had a story that I wanted to tell, and loved the idea of sharing my story with friends and family and other.

I have been able to do this through self-publishing without wearing out my shoes or going broke paying postage to bring/send my book to major and minor publishing houses, begging them to take my work.

Neither did I have to spend a ton of money getting my work to market...I paid $25 for the broader distribution option with CreateSpace, and that's about it (not counting my time)...my book can be purchased in most countries on the planet (and I bet that it could be sent in ebook form to the ISS).


I am proud to have self-published my book, and can't see doing anything differently the next time around...I'm finishing up a novelette in the next week or so, have a couple of other short pieces on deck, and am already working on the next novel, which will be written this summer.

I think that the old ways of publishing are mostly dead, and the remaining dinosaurs are lumbering along based almost entirely on inertia and a proud past.  The mystique and tweediness and snobbery have to go, and they have to start working for the readers and writers again if they want to remain relevant beyond the next few years.  The holdout houses don't want the readers and writers of the world to pay any attention to the man behind the curtain, but more and more people are figuring out that old-school publishers are more carnie than wizard.


Thanks,

Jamie

AuthorGraph - Signed Copies for Kindle Users!

Since the day that I published "Here Be Monsters" nearly two months ago, I have commiserated with Kindle users about my inability to sign copies of my book for them...no more.

I found out about AuthorGraph from an author friend of mine, and it sounds like a neat idea to fill a need in the ebook market.  People can visit the AuthorGraph website, find an ebook by a favorite author, and send a request for a "signed copy.

What you get is an electronic document that can be stored in your ereader, along with the ebook.  You can get just the author's signature, or ask for an "inscription" as well.  In order for it to work, you will need to follow a few simple directions to set up your Kindle (or other ereader device) to receive the electronic signature and inscription file (I was able to do it in about a minute for my Kindle on the amazon website).

From my end, it couldn't have been easier.  I entered some info about "Here Be Monsters", along with some contact information about myself, and the AuthorGraph website takes care of everything else.

You can follow THIS LINK or click on the button below:


I'll be posting the button above on the sidebar of my website's front page.
I think that it's a really neat idea, and I can't wait to send my first AuthorGraph!
Thanks,
Jamie

Tyler's in Australia!

I noticed a comment about "Here Be Monsters" on GoodReads.com the other day, and wanted to reply to the reader.  She commented, as have a couple of other people, that the language and grammar of the book were at times distracting her as she read, and wondered if my editor had missed these issues or if I had ignored my editor (although she stated it much more politely than I've just done).

I sent her a message through GoodReads thanking her for reading the book, explaining that my editor and I had talked a great deal about the language and grammatical structure of the book, but that I had held fast in the use of the (admittedly sometimes annoying) tangled and forked thought process of the protagonist, Tyler Cunningham.

I went a step further, and apologized for any impact that this device had on her enjoyment of the book.  I wrote the book for me, but if that was the end of the story, it would not have been published (and a copy never would have ended up in her hands in Sydney, Australia!)...I want readers of "Here Be Monsters" to enjoy what they read.  It serves me nothing to have a book that remains true to my vision, but is so off-putting to readers that they choose not to finish it.

I heard back from her this morning, and she related that she is enjoying the book more, and noticing the particular device that had bothered her (in her case, the "/" backslash) less as she got further into the book.  It made me ridiculously happy both to hear back from her (a reader in AUSTRALIA!) and to hear that was enjoying the book.

I've been learning about Tyler and bookwriting and my readers and myself everyday during the process of writing, and editing and publishing and getting feedback.

The relationship between author and protagonist is very interesting to me.  I know some things about Tyler that my readers do not...details that I wrote down when planning the book that never made it into the book.  My readers know things about Tyler that I did not know...he has been diagnosed by many as being on the ASD, although some argue that his odd upbringing and the events of 9/11 have shaped him more than his genes.  In writing and planning the short pieces that I'm working on this winter, I'm finding out more about Tyler from him, as he goes about his business and it comes out in word-form on my laptop screen.

The relationship between readers of "Here Be Monsters" and me is interesting to me in ways that I couldn't know about 2 months ago.  I had a vision of the book, Tyler came out of my head in a slightly different way, and readers have a third, slightly different, view of the world that Tyler explores in HBM.  Perception is reality, and the lens through which you read a book determines the reality of that book.  I had always thought that I read a book, and that it was the same book that my wife or students or parents or friends read...but it's not.  The book is different for each reader, in much the same way that the world is different for each person who explores it.

Most of all, though, I just think it's cool that someone in Australia is reading my book!

Thanks,

Jamie

Thoughts on Libraries...

Libraries are Magic!
 
I remember the feel and smell and wonder of entering the Main Branch of the New York Public Library for the first time as a boy.  That book-y smell still gets to me on a cellular level every time I enter a library or used bookstore (books that have been handled and loved smell different than new books in a bookstore).  The feeling that there were a nearly infinite number of fantastic books to read blew me away as a youngster, and still does today.



Kids learn to have fun with books in libraries...to explore the shelves in search of the perfect one to borrow...to crash on a beanbag chair or the scratchy library-carpet for a while and read while Mom or Dad finds something three stacks over...to listen to an author or other lover of books read with feeling you hadn't imagined possible.


I have supported libraries all of my life, in word and deed, cash and votes, and am constantly borrowing books from the libraries in my life (the school I work for, the town library, and the NYPL).  I was excited to bring my son Ben to the library for his first visit when he was tiny, and can still remember the way he looked as he realized that he could read any/all of those books...blissfully overwhelmed!


It's because of all of this, this feeling that I have, that I'm a friend of my libraries (and libraries in general), that I was surprised to find that I don't agree with what seems to be an accepted tenet of library canon...

The party line would appear to be that loaning out books does not deprive authors of sales.

This seems a ridiculous proposition to me.

I borrow lots of books from my libraries, in both print and ebook format.  After I read them, I return (or delete) them.  If I want to read them again, I'll borrow them again. I don't buy books that I borrow from the library.  It may be that I'm different from most library users, but I'd want to see some compelling evidence before I believed it.

I love libraries, and think that they're a wonderful resource; I feel that way even after publishing my first novel.

I can accept that some money is being taken out of my pocket for some greater good, but have trouble being told that it isn't being taken.

Jamie


   

Valentine's Day Poem

Just because the day is crass and commercial doesn't mean that you have to be...

Jamie

Book Clubs

Last night a local Adirondack book club discussed my book, "Here Be Monsters".

This group is comprised of about 10 women who live and work in the Tri-Lakes, and meet once a month (with food and drink) to discuss a book that they've spent the last month reading. They read all sorts of books, mostly fiction, and last month they read my book. This had me feeling proud and excited and nervous...all at once.

A part of me wishes that I could have been a fly on the wall at their gathering, but I did get a pretty detailed report from a friend who's a member/participant in the club. They enjoyed the book, and had a fun time reading and talking about it amongst themselves. I got some useful feedback about my voice and characters and pacing and structure. I also heard about a couple of errors that they found in the book (which I regret, although I haven't read a totally "clean" book in the last 5 years).

The most amazing thing for me was knowing that a smart group of people, all of them with a deep love for reading (or snacks and company), appreciated and enjoyed my book even when compared with the other books that they've been reading in recent months/years. They read great books by great authors, and "Here Be Monsters" could sit at the grown-up table with the other "real" books.

A part of me has been protecting me from the slings and arrows of worry or doubt about my writing with a shield comprised mostly of arrogance and ego, with a thin veneer of disdain for those who would dare to judge (negatively, positive judgments are OK) me and/or my novel (completely unfair, but it got me through some initial worries), but the positive feedback from this book club (even more than the good reviews from Amazon and GoodReads) has helped me get comfortable with the fact that I've written a good book.

The most important thing to me is that people enjoy "Here Be Monsters", and want more of the same...this is important to me because I like making people happy, and because I love writing.

 I'm working on a couple of short Tyler Cunningham pieces right now, and am in the early stages of planning the next novel (using feedback from reviews and this book club to hopefully improve the storytelling), and I look forward to sharing more of my writing as time goes by.

I'm a lucky and happy and grateful man, getting to do something that I love, being generally lauded for it, and even making a little money while I'm at it.

Thanks,

Jamie

Yesterday's Book Signing

This is not what my book signing for "Here Be Monsters" was like yesterday.  I signed and sold 7 copies of my book, and talked to maybe twice that many people about my book and/or writing. 

I still consider it a success.  There had to be a "first" one of these events, and this was a nice way to do it.  The Community Store in Saranac Lake is a local treasure, and the people working there were friendly and helpful.  I tried out a couple of different approaches to interacting with people who came in to shop.  If I had to guess, I would say that my sales accounted for half the business that the store did during the time that I was there...it was a pretty slow morning all around.

I brought more books than I needed, but that's not a problem.  I had water and altoids and plenty of pens (who knew, but with 7 sales, 2 pens walked away).  I varied my level of contact and friendliness with people entering the store, but noticed no significant difference in how they reacted to the table and the books and to me.  Some people would avoid eye-contact and skirt the table (and me) by a wide margin, while others made a bee-line to the books and me. 

I had more fun than I would have thought, not being the kind of guy who enjoys circulating at a party, talking with stangers.  The people who approached me were interested in the book and/or the writing process, and it gave us some common ground to establish a rapport.

The next biggie for me is a reading, which may be coming up in a few months if things work out...time for more research!

Thanks,

Jamie