M.R. Forbes's Blog, page 9
November 8, 2013
Kindle Countdown Deals. My First Experience.
November 2, 2013
Balance: 8000 copies sold!
October 21, 2013
When are 40,000 words NOT 40,000 words
September 28, 2013
Broken is Now Available!
Get it here!
My name is Landon Hamilton.
I’m the only thing keeping the universe in one piece.
I thought fighting angels and demons was a tough gig, but now I’d give anything to go back to the not-that-good, not-so-old days. There’s a new game in town,
and it’s one that is threatening to destroy everything that’s ever been created.
Oh, and my friends and I are the only ones who can stop it.
Game on.
September 27, 2013
Broken… Charity
September 26, 2013
Book Cover Experimentation
If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you’ll find a link out to the blog of Joe Konrath. Joe is an author who worked his ass off for years to publish the traditional way, until finally switching over to self-publishing, and hitting it big in a huge way. He’s the guy every self-published author wants to emulate (his success anyway), and his advice has a lot of meaning to me.
One piece of his advice that I often keep in mind (paraphrased):
“If something you’re doing isn’t working, try something else”
I launched His Dark Empire about a month ago. Compared to Balance, it’s been a little bit of a disappointment, as it hasn’t sold anywhere near the levels my first title did. Why not? I don’t know for sure. Maybe traditional fantasy isn’t in as high demand as urban? Maybe the story isn’t enticing? Maybe the book just isn’t that good?
I think the book is good, and my wife thought it was better than any of the Divine books (she doesn’t ready fantasy in general, so for her to read it through in one day says something to me). But… it’s also VERY different from Balance. I’m not sure there is too much overlap between audiences, and in some sense I’m starting from scratch.. which is fine.
There are also probably a lot of new authors out there who would love to sell 100+ books in a month. I don’t want to come off as whining, because I’m not unhappy. What I am is curious.
I see the sales as a combination of a few things:
1. Visibility
2. Intriguing blurb
3. Attention-grabbing cover
4. Strong opening (i.e. look inside the book)
As far as #1 goes, the first 30 days of a new book is the best it’s probably ever going to get.. which is why it is important to me to try to make as good of a showing as I can during that time.
#2 … I’ve struggled with this for HDE. I know what the story is, but while the pace is fast, the build is gradual. I feed you information slowly to build suspense, mystery, and intrigue. That makes the description hard, because I don’t want to give too much away.
#3 … I like my original cover but… when I see it in the ‘Customers Also Bought’ with the other covers… I don’t know that it grabs your attention. It’s so dark, I think it just gets lost in the mix.
#4 … I did my best 
As you can see, #2 and #3 are the two factors I have some control over. I’ve experimented with the blurb, and some have definitely performed better than others, but I don’t feel like I’m there yet. I’m trying version #4 out now.
Cover… now that is one area I want to test, to see if there is any kind of improvement by making it more eye-catching. I’ll post a follow up once I have some data, but in the meantime, here is the before and after:
As you can see, I lightened it up A LOT, and also gave it a burst of color(red) that hopefully will draw the eye. Finally, it’s a bit different for a Fantasy book cover (but then again, I think the first one is also)… we’ll see if that winds up being a detriment.
I have to say, I am a little concerned that men might reject it, because of the prominent use of the female head, though I’m hoping the run of blood under the ‘eye’ might sway it back into masculine coolness.
What do you think? Is the new cover an improvement? Do you think it’s too feminine, and you wouldn’t go near it?
September 21, 2013
Broken Countdown… T-Minus One Week…
Broken is finished, and ready to go. I intend to hit the ‘Publish’ button on Friday night, so those of you who like to check early and often might catch it up there before I do .
I’ll release the results of the poll from Betrayal about two weeks after that. I haven’t released them yet because I didn’t want to give away any of the plot before anybody got to read the book. That being said, I DID make use of the feedback I received, so thank you to everyone who participated.
While I’m talking about Broken, I should mention Book 4. I’ve already written 20,000 words, and I’ve been keeping a pretty strong pace. The goal is to get it out in January, but if I keep up my current torrent, it will probably come sooner than that.
What’s after Book 4, you might ask?
Book 5, of course 
I’m also considering a spin-off novel that will follow one of the other characters through an adventure or two. The more doors that I open, the more doors that appear.
Facebook Fan Pages, and Edgerank
SUMMARY: Facebook is only reaching 16%… I don’t want anyone to be left out, so I’ll be posting updates to this blog from now on.
I had originally set up my Facebook fan page in order to send news out to everyone interested in a medium that would be as easy for you to consume. I figured almost everyone has Facebook, right? (Truth: I don’t use Facebook on a personal level).
I posted a poll. I posted updates. I posted fun things that I thought might be enjoyed.
Then I learned about Edgerank.
What is Edgerank, you ask? It’s Facebook’s way of making money from fan pages. The simplest explanation is that when you post something to your page, approximately 16% of the people who have liked it see your post, unless you use a little ‘Boost Post’ button. That button will send it out to more people’s news feeds. That button isn’t free .
I don’t blame Facebook for wanting to make money. The amount of data they move around is intense, and expensive, and they have shareholders to please. I blame myself for not being more educated in how it all works, and to be honest, I’ve started testing limited advertising of my books through their ad system, and it’s been performing pretty well (I’ll have a more detailed post on that once my experiments are complete).
The solution then is to adapt, and so I’m going to. I want to reach as many of you as want to be reached. I want you to be able to communicate your thoughts and ideas and say whatever you want to say (as long as it isn’t vulgur). To that end, I’m going to shift my updates over here, to my blog. It’s a central repository where you can all pick up whatever bits of information YOU want. Whether it is just ‘how many words of book X have you written?’ or ‘hey Michael, Balance was great but the ending sucked.’
I’ll post the links to the blog on the Facebook page, and to Twitter, and here are instructions on how to use RSS if you aren’t familiar with it:
1. Pick an RSS reader. I use Feedly. It’s free, and I think it’s awesome.
2. I put all my writing related stuff under ‘writing’ as one of the categories, so, if you’re using Feedly, you can click on the ‘Add Content’ button in the top left, and then paste this link in:
http://mrforbes.com/blog/category/writing/feed/
That way, it’ll push new posts to you. If you have other authors you like to follow… I think most of them have blogs, and you can do the same thing for them too.
September 3, 2013
His Dark Empire
On Friday, I released my newest creation. Titled His Dark Empire, it’s a ‘traditional’ fantasy, with its own world similar to, but separate from our own.
Here’s the description:
For over four hundred years he has ruled with absolute power. For over four hundred years he has gone unseen, a terror that none have witnessed, but all fear. There is no history of a time before his time. There is no hope of a world after him.
Eryn is cursed. Silas is a drunk. Neither is threatening. Both are a threat. One is wanted for being what she is. The other is wanted for being who he was.
With a magical power that Eryn can barely control, and a mysterious past that Silas cannot unlock, can these two unlikely people do what armies could not?
Can they put an end to his dark Empire?
You can get it on Amazon here: http://amzn.to/1e0T0tz
August 17, 2013
Six Months as Self-Published Author
I published my first novel, Balance, to Amazon on January 27, 20013. I was really nervous at the time, in fact my wife took a video of me making an apprehensive face and hitting the ‘publish’ button in fear.
It can be a little nerve-wracking to put yourself out into the public eye, and to open up your hard work and nearly lifelong dream to the scrutiny of total strangers. As a software developer, I’m used to having my work out where people see it, touch it, and interact with it every day… they just don’t know that my hand was one of the hands that made their experience possible.
I sold 3 books in the month of January. I don’t know who the first 3 people to buy the book were, but I’ll always remember the first time I looked at my Amazon sales report, and there was a number > 0 in the sales column. Wow!
I told myself when I published Balance, that if I made enough money to pay for my lunch, I’d be really happy. You can imagine how I might be feeling today, 6 months later, when I’m making enough money to pay for my rent. And for my car. And for my water, trash, electric, and student loan bills.
Pretty happy.
As of July 1, which is very close to 6 months from the day I hit the ‘publish’ button for the first time, I’ve made over $25,000, on 2 titles (with two more coming in the next two months).
If you’re a self-published author, or hope to be. Let the above inspire you. The money is there for people who write compelling stories.
So, how did I do it?
Here’s my take.
TAKE THE PLUNGE
Really, none of the other tidbits of advice mean anything, if you don’t hit the ‘publish’ button. Other than having to grow a thick skin, and running the risk of not finding incredible success immediately (it may take you two or three, or thirty titles)… you have nothing to lose. Hugh Howey self-published a bunch of books before Wool.
Make it look professional:
A book cover that stands out is a must. People do judge most books by their cover, and if there is nothing interesting about yours… you’re taking away one of the best marketing tools you have.Need an example? Take a look at these screenshots, of covers for novels by J.A. Konrath and Michael Sullivan. Both are very popular and successful indie authors
.
What do you notice about them? That you notice them. Huge fonts, strong use of color. They attract the reader’s eye, and help them zero in on their row on the web page.
A good description:
Descriptions are hard. My opinion on them – don’t give the whole story away. Keep it short and simple. Use it to lead the reader to the ‘look inside the book’ sample. Tell the reader what it is that makes your book about post-apocalyptic earth different from everyone else’s, and therefor compelling.
A good opening:
Make sure when the reader opens your sample, what they read sets the tone for the rest of the story. If you’ve ever written short stories.. the first sentence of a short story is vital, because you only have a sentence or a paragraph to capture your audience. The same thing goes for the first chapter of a book. I tend to wonder if Balance might have done better, if my opening had been stronger. I have a lot of reviews that say ‘I wasn’t sure about this book based on the sample’. I don’t consider that a good thing.
A good story:
Even if your prose isn’t top notch, the story is what gets people to tell their friends about it, and keep them coming back for more of your writing. If your story makes the reader feel something, you’re doing it right.
Be available
This is especially important if you are writing a series. Make it easy for your readers to reach out to you, so they know when your next book is coming out. Social media can be rough to manage, because it moves fast, but most users are on Facebook and Twitter, not Facebook or Twitter. I recommend picking one, and focusing efforts there. I use Facebook, because the pace of Twitter was just too fast for me to keep up. I also have a mailing list, with a direct link to it at the end of my books. One click, type in your e-mail address, and that’s it. Keep it simple.
Bookbub/ BookBlast/ BookGorilla
I was going to call this ‘marketing’, but to be honest, the only real win I’ve had with marketing has been through Bookbub. You can read my post on that here. The other two are similar, though not as large and as popular. I haven’t tried them, but Joe Konrath was happy with BookBlast.
Read Lindsey Buroker and Joe Konrath’s blogs.. they’re linked in the right column.
Some other things I’ve learned (IMO, YMMV):
$2.99 is costing you money (unless you like that price for reasons beyond a hope for increased sales).
I’ve shifted my books between $2.99 and $3.99. I never saw anything that suggested I moved any more books at the lower price. In fact, a couple of times sales went DOWN. I don’t attribute that to price, I attribute that to regular fluctuation, but the point is , it didn’t go UP. I think $3.99 is the sweet spot for most titles. If you are established, you can go higher, if you want. It’s tempting for sure, but I always paid ~$5 for paperbacks when I was a kid, so $3.99-$4.99 just feels right to me. (I spent a lot of paperboy money on books… remember paperboys? Do they still have those? )
Spamming stuff about your books is not helpful
Having a huge promotion and want to tweet about it? Great! Want to tweet about it every 10 minutes? Eh… If you want to be thought of in the same category as penis enlargement e-mails, go for it. Otherwise, you’re just like the boy who cried wolf.
Category hopping is not helpful
I’ve seen a lot of people mention moving their books to different categories on Amazon to hang in on the top 100… I haven’t seen any proof this does anything for sales. Have you? Tell me about it in the comments.
Posting stuff about your books on message boards: not helpful
It takes more time, and rarely leads to many views or sales
Marketing: Book deal email lists are good. Everything else, not so much
You can spend a lot of money on banner ads, social media blasts, etc… Take that money and invest it in a nice cover, or a new laptop, or something else that will actually help you write more. Otherwise, you’re mostly just throwing it away. Why do e-mail lists work? Because they’re opt-in, and they’re targeted. Those readers have shown an active interest in seeing your title in their inbox.
Spend your time Writing
When you aren’t actively writing a story, think of yourself as a business. Don’t make any decision that doesn’t add words to your novel without considering the return on the investment. How much time will it take, and how many sales do you think it will add. You’ll find that you end up doing a lot less than you originally thought you would, because the only thing that is guaranteed to increase sales is to put out more titles. If you love writing, that should be easy.
Do you have any other tips, questions, or thoughts on the above? Want to know more about actual numbers? Let me know in the comments.
