Peter Laurent's Blog, page 2
July 4, 2013
Announcing "Scout's Honour"
Introducing my new novella, Scout's Honour, continuing the story of The Covert Academy as a bridge between the sequel!
Scout's Honour follows a new protagonist, Jayson Georgiou, who also featured as a background character in the first book, now on his own adventure.
The story weaves in and out of events from the first book to explain a few leftover questions, sets up all new mysteries to come, and is action-packed with new and returning characters.
The eBook comes out on Amazon on July 10th 2013, and will be free for the first 24 hours.
The paperback will also be available on July 10th from the CreateSpace store and should be linked to Amazon within a week.
UPDATE: Out now! Grab a copy here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DUK9LPC
I hope you enjoy it!
-Petes
Scout's Honour follows a new protagonist, Jayson Georgiou, who also featured as a background character in the first book, now on his own adventure.
The story weaves in and out of events from the first book to explain a few leftover questions, sets up all new mysteries to come, and is action-packed with new and returning characters.
The eBook comes out on Amazon on July 10th 2013, and will be free for the first 24 hours.
The paperback will also be available on July 10th from the CreateSpace store and should be linked to Amazon within a week.
UPDATE: Out now! Grab a copy here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DUK9LPC
I hope you enjoy it!
-Petes
May 22, 2013
Pete's First Author Interview, by Ryan Schneider
Ahoy-hoy, I did an interview over on Ryan Schneider's glitzy and glamorous author blog!
It consists of 10 fascinating questions with 10 witty and interesting answers, if I do say so myself...
Check it out here: http://authorryanschneider.blogspot.c...
It consists of 10 fascinating questions with 10 witty and interesting answers, if I do say so myself...
Check it out here: http://authorryanschneider.blogspot.c...
May 19, 2013
Book Advertising - My Results
Hi there, as promised here are my thoughts on advertising strategies for your baby er, book. I hope this can help some of the relatively unknown gems hiding out there!
First of all, there is no way to know for sure how many "clicks" your online ads get will turn into actual sales.
It seems that word of mouth is and always will be king when it comes to books (which is another reason why reviews are so helpful).
But it can't help to raise awareness of its existence a little bit, while I'm busy writing!
I've got three campaigns going for The Covert Academy at the moment. One on Goodreads, one on Project Wonderful and one on Google Adwords.
All three use a prepay system, you pay what you want then define the price per click or how often the ad is shown (though Adwords has the option to just spend forever).
The basic DIY option on Goodreads is simple and clean. It ties in nicely with word of mouth too, because if someone sees your ad, and adds the book to their shelf, then their friends can see that too.
However Goodreads uses an algorithm based on how many clicks you get a day to decide how often to show your ad. It ends up with days or weeks when you get little visibility and not much you can do about it, but when you do get a few clicks your ad can skyrocket. I noticed the most sales on those days in the last couple of months.
Project Wonderful works on a similar system to Goodreads, with a nice clean interface, except you have slightly more options. You can have an ad with an image of anything you choose, not just a book cover. PW uses a bidding system where you bid for how often your ad is shown rather than the number of clicks. Consequently I get a lot of clicks on these ads, but far fewer people will be buyers since the range of websites available to advertise on is quite limited for books.
Finally, Google Adwords is the most in-depth and complicated option. I have gotten the highest "Click-through-rate" on here than any other. Adwords targets your ads very specifically to customers. However it is the most expensive option (rarely shows your ad if you pay less the $5 a day).
Overall I would stick with Goodreads advertising, at least you know that every "view" and "click" is aimed at someone interested in books in general!
A small update regarding my writing progress: I've done 20,000 words for book 2 but have hardly scratched the surface of my plot summary. So it's either going to be a very long book or I need to cut out a lot of filler maybe.
I'm also writing a short story based on a background character from The Covert Academy, which will weave in and out of the story of the novel and hopefully bridge the two novels without being required reading, if that makes sense. I'm aiming to get this out in early June!
Thanks for reading, I hope that info helped someone!
-Petes
First of all, there is no way to know for sure how many "clicks" your online ads get will turn into actual sales.
It seems that word of mouth is and always will be king when it comes to books (which is another reason why reviews are so helpful).
But it can't help to raise awareness of its existence a little bit, while I'm busy writing!
I've got three campaigns going for The Covert Academy at the moment. One on Goodreads, one on Project Wonderful and one on Google Adwords.
All three use a prepay system, you pay what you want then define the price per click or how often the ad is shown (though Adwords has the option to just spend forever).
The basic DIY option on Goodreads is simple and clean. It ties in nicely with word of mouth too, because if someone sees your ad, and adds the book to their shelf, then their friends can see that too.
However Goodreads uses an algorithm based on how many clicks you get a day to decide how often to show your ad. It ends up with days or weeks when you get little visibility and not much you can do about it, but when you do get a few clicks your ad can skyrocket. I noticed the most sales on those days in the last couple of months.
Project Wonderful works on a similar system to Goodreads, with a nice clean interface, except you have slightly more options. You can have an ad with an image of anything you choose, not just a book cover. PW uses a bidding system where you bid for how often your ad is shown rather than the number of clicks. Consequently I get a lot of clicks on these ads, but far fewer people will be buyers since the range of websites available to advertise on is quite limited for books.
Finally, Google Adwords is the most in-depth and complicated option. I have gotten the highest "Click-through-rate" on here than any other. Adwords targets your ads very specifically to customers. However it is the most expensive option (rarely shows your ad if you pay less the $5 a day).
Overall I would stick with Goodreads advertising, at least you know that every "view" and "click" is aimed at someone interested in books in general!
A small update regarding my writing progress: I've done 20,000 words for book 2 but have hardly scratched the surface of my plot summary. So it's either going to be a very long book or I need to cut out a lot of filler maybe.
I'm also writing a short story based on a background character from The Covert Academy, which will weave in and out of the story of the novel and hopefully bridge the two novels without being required reading, if that makes sense. I'm aiming to get this out in early June!
Thanks for reading, I hope that info helped someone!
-Petes
April 23, 2013
Coming to More Stores in May, and Other News
Hello people,
A few points of interest for this post...
First, I've written a little over 11,000 words on book 2 so far. I'm going somewhat slower than last time but I think it is working out for the best because the quality has greatly improved, in my humble opinion!
I've taken in all feedback from reviewers and non-reviewers alike, and have learned a lot, so thank you.
I am still aiming for an August-October release window. Hang in there ;)
Second, The Covert Academy will be free for the last time on Amazon this Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th April (PST).
So it will be your last chance to grab a free copy, because I've decided not to renew the 90 day KDP Select exclusive period and instead try out publishing it on the other online stores.
I've read a lot of people's blog posts about publishing on stores such as B+N, Sony, Apple etc. and it seems many indies do not find the same level of success as they do on Amazon. However, the market for books is growing for devices such as tablets plus I do not like being reliant on only one gatekeeper.
So I plan to publish through the aggregator service BookTango which will distribute my book to all the other major publishers. In addition to Amazon, you can expect to see The Covert Academy on iBooks (via iTunes), Nook Book Store, Sony Reader Store, Kobo Books, Scribd and Google Books in early May.
While Smashwords is the popular choice, they take a percentage of your royalties whereas BookTango do not.
The only advantage I see Smashwords offering is an instant royalty payment through Paypal (I have to wait for a paper cheque from Amazon since I live in New Zealand). But then again, Paypal also takes a percentage!
BookTango looks like the way to go for me.
I want to thank anyone who had contacted me directly, and apologise if I don't get round to reading your book. A surprising number of indie authors ask this! I guess it is a good way to get well written reviews. I would instead suggest asking bloggers for reviews, though they get more requests, they also read far more books.
My head is buried in the world of my own writing right now, so I'm reading very little at the moment. I have no idea how some people can read other author's books and write theirs at the same time!
Hmm what else... oh there was an iPhone game I did the artwork for last year that is supposed to be coming out fairly soon (though they did say that last year!). It's called Wild Gang-Indoor Soccer, and it should be a fun cartoony little game.
Keep an eye out for it ;)
Cheers,
-Petes
A few points of interest for this post...
First, I've written a little over 11,000 words on book 2 so far. I'm going somewhat slower than last time but I think it is working out for the best because the quality has greatly improved, in my humble opinion!
I've taken in all feedback from reviewers and non-reviewers alike, and have learned a lot, so thank you.
I am still aiming for an August-October release window. Hang in there ;)
Second, The Covert Academy will be free for the last time on Amazon this Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th April (PST).
So it will be your last chance to grab a free copy, because I've decided not to renew the 90 day KDP Select exclusive period and instead try out publishing it on the other online stores.
I've read a lot of people's blog posts about publishing on stores such as B+N, Sony, Apple etc. and it seems many indies do not find the same level of success as they do on Amazon. However, the market for books is growing for devices such as tablets plus I do not like being reliant on only one gatekeeper.
So I plan to publish through the aggregator service BookTango which will distribute my book to all the other major publishers. In addition to Amazon, you can expect to see The Covert Academy on iBooks (via iTunes), Nook Book Store, Sony Reader Store, Kobo Books, Scribd and Google Books in early May.
While Smashwords is the popular choice, they take a percentage of your royalties whereas BookTango do not.
The only advantage I see Smashwords offering is an instant royalty payment through Paypal (I have to wait for a paper cheque from Amazon since I live in New Zealand). But then again, Paypal also takes a percentage!
BookTango looks like the way to go for me.
I want to thank anyone who had contacted me directly, and apologise if I don't get round to reading your book. A surprising number of indie authors ask this! I guess it is a good way to get well written reviews. I would instead suggest asking bloggers for reviews, though they get more requests, they also read far more books.
My head is buried in the world of my own writing right now, so I'm reading very little at the moment. I have no idea how some people can read other author's books and write theirs at the same time!
Hmm what else... oh there was an iPhone game I did the artwork for last year that is supposed to be coming out fairly soon (though they did say that last year!). It's called Wild Gang-Indoor Soccer, and it should be a fun cartoony little game.
Keep an eye out for it ;)
Cheers,
-Petes
March 17, 2013
#amwriting
The Covert Academy reached #78 Overall and #1 SciFi Adventure on Amazon in the last freebie sale.
Fantastic to see so many people interested in reading it, thank you!
Double thanks to those who took the extra time to write a review.
I'll be writing Book 2 full-time over the next few months, which means writing these blog posts less often.
You can still follow what I'm up to on the Twitter machine, I'm @petes117.
Say hi and I'll follow back :)
Cheers,
-Petes
Fantastic to see so many people interested in reading it, thank you!
Double thanks to those who took the extra time to write a review.
I'll be writing Book 2 full-time over the next few months, which means writing these blog posts less often.
You can still follow what I'm up to on the Twitter machine, I'm @petes117.
Say hi and I'll follow back :)
Cheers,
-Petes
March 1, 2013
Fully Sick
Hey there fine people who read this. I was planning to make a start on Book 2 this week, but I came down with a very nasty cold on Tuesday. Woe is me and all that.
I think I'm finally on the mend so hopefully I'll be able to get going with some writing on Monday. Yay!
I read a few writing blogs on writersdigest.com this week, and was amazed to find at least two or three blogs written by authors who incorrectly wrote "less" instead of "fewer" (i.e. less words). But I won't name names.
I'm not perfect myself, having got "its" and "it's" wrong throughout The Covert Academy. One reviewer who didn't read the book (just the sample I assume) pointed this out in a review on Amazon.
I've since fixed the "its/it's" mistakes. I'm not sure anyone else even noticed.
Well, now we know...
Making mistakes is only human, and on a blog it's fine (though it doesn't instill me with confidence in the author).
What galls me is people being able to review books they haven't read, like a few people who have "reviewed" my book on Amazon US and UK.
I'm also told that some hateful reviews are written by jealous authors seeking to sabotage their fellow authors' work! What sort of sick mind would do that?
There is no way to trace these people, but it is apparently a fairly common occurence.
Amazon's review system is broken. Indie books live or die based on customer reviews.
They could easily fix it by:
*Forcing customers to buy the book to be able to review it. This would help weed out spammers.
*Increasing the minimum number of words for a review from 20 to, say, 100. This would help weed out reviews from the authors' friends and family.
*Abandoning the 5 star rating system entirely, or not making this number visible to the public. This would force customers to judge books based on the content of the reviews (and the book itself), rather than an average numerical rating.
*Perhaps only allow star-ratings from well known reviewers such as those in the top 10,000 on Amazon or other editorial reviewers.
Any other ideas?
I hope I don't sound bitter, I'm really not at all.
My book is doing better than I could have dreamed, and I am incredibly grateful to the people who write honest reviews, whether they are full of praise, criticisms or both.
Maybe it's because I'm still feeling a bit sick. Hopefully I'm back in full writing mode next week!
Cheers,
-Petes
I think I'm finally on the mend so hopefully I'll be able to get going with some writing on Monday. Yay!
I read a few writing blogs on writersdigest.com this week, and was amazed to find at least two or three blogs written by authors who incorrectly wrote "less" instead of "fewer" (i.e. less words). But I won't name names.
I'm not perfect myself, having got "its" and "it's" wrong throughout The Covert Academy. One reviewer who didn't read the book (just the sample I assume) pointed this out in a review on Amazon.
I've since fixed the "its/it's" mistakes. I'm not sure anyone else even noticed.
Well, now we know...
Making mistakes is only human, and on a blog it's fine (though it doesn't instill me with confidence in the author).
What galls me is people being able to review books they haven't read, like a few people who have "reviewed" my book on Amazon US and UK.
I'm also told that some hateful reviews are written by jealous authors seeking to sabotage their fellow authors' work! What sort of sick mind would do that?
There is no way to trace these people, but it is apparently a fairly common occurence.
Amazon's review system is broken. Indie books live or die based on customer reviews.
They could easily fix it by:
*Forcing customers to buy the book to be able to review it. This would help weed out spammers.
*Increasing the minimum number of words for a review from 20 to, say, 100. This would help weed out reviews from the authors' friends and family.
*Abandoning the 5 star rating system entirely, or not making this number visible to the public. This would force customers to judge books based on the content of the reviews (and the book itself), rather than an average numerical rating.
*Perhaps only allow star-ratings from well known reviewers such as those in the top 10,000 on Amazon or other editorial reviewers.
Any other ideas?
I hope I don't sound bitter, I'm really not at all.
My book is doing better than I could have dreamed, and I am incredibly grateful to the people who write honest reviews, whether they are full of praise, criticisms or both.
Maybe it's because I'm still feeling a bit sick. Hopefully I'm back in full writing mode next week!
Cheers,
-Petes
February 18, 2013
Book 2 Update - The Covert Academy series
Yep. "Book 2". That's the title for now!
I have several proper titles I'm still deciding between.
Titles are tricky, but oh so important.
The original title of The Covert Academy was in fact "Hyperacuity", until about 3 weeks before publishing.
The purpose of that name was a bit obscure, and the series was always going to be called The Covert Academy anyway, so I thought why not just call the first book by the series' name?
And now I think it's much more suitable.
I am making progress with Book 2. First I organised and updated my notes for Book 1 as a refresher, then wrote several pages worth for new characters, plot twists, locations and more, for Book 2.
Today I have been writing out a much more detailed plot summary, which will help guide me while writing the bulk of the text in the coming months.
I am going into more detail with my notes this time around, since Book 2 must sync up perfectly, continuity-wise, with Books 1 & 3.
Though I do want to also leave room for spontaneous creativity while writing.
I am aiming to have Book 2 done and published before Christmas 2013 or earlier if possible, but that is a very tentative estimate. I may well end up writing a longer book this time, since several people have commented on how the pacing felt very fast in Book 1. That was intentional, I like fast-paced books. It's a tricky balancing act, Book 1 was over 65,000 words, but maybe my writing could stand to be fleshed out more in a longer format novel.
We'll see!
Cheers,
-Petes
I have several proper titles I'm still deciding between.
Titles are tricky, but oh so important.
The original title of The Covert Academy was in fact "Hyperacuity", until about 3 weeks before publishing.
The purpose of that name was a bit obscure, and the series was always going to be called The Covert Academy anyway, so I thought why not just call the first book by the series' name?
And now I think it's much more suitable.
I am making progress with Book 2. First I organised and updated my notes for Book 1 as a refresher, then wrote several pages worth for new characters, plot twists, locations and more, for Book 2.
Today I have been writing out a much more detailed plot summary, which will help guide me while writing the bulk of the text in the coming months.
I am going into more detail with my notes this time around, since Book 2 must sync up perfectly, continuity-wise, with Books 1 & 3.
Though I do want to also leave room for spontaneous creativity while writing.
I am aiming to have Book 2 done and published before Christmas 2013 or earlier if possible, but that is a very tentative estimate. I may well end up writing a longer book this time, since several people have commented on how the pacing felt very fast in Book 1. That was intentional, I like fast-paced books. It's a tricky balancing act, Book 1 was over 65,000 words, but maybe my writing could stand to be fleshed out more in a longer format novel.
We'll see!
Cheers,
-Petes
February 14, 2013
Constructive Criticisms
One of my wonderful reviewers contacted me today. They asked why another author would write a book and then blog about expecting to sit back to wait for the money to roll in, then get upset when receiving this reviewer's honest 3 star review.
I thought my response to the reviewer might interest some of you...
(edited for relevance)
I have no issues with wanting to make money out of writing, I definitely want to make enough to support myself and be able to write full-time. But writing with the sole intention of making money is the wrong way to work. The most important thing, above all else, is that the reader enjoys your book, whether it's entertaining, educational, or an erotic thrill, making money is a by-product of reader enjoyment.
So when I read a book, and I see a typo or clunky sentence, it diminishes my enjoyment of that book. I can forgive maybe 3-4 errors for an indie author, a bit more if the rest of the story holds up (strong characters, plot etc.)
A traditionally published author has no excuse and must have zero mistakes.
That's why I proofed my book at least 6-7 times. Then after I published it on Amazon, I read it again and found maybe 10 punctuation mistakes and fixed them (within a few days of the initial publication date, before the freebie sale). So maybe even I was a little hasty, but at least I went back and fixed it up as soon as possible. It's something I wanted to be proud of.
If an author is lazy and publish their 1st or 2nd draft, readers will not enjoy their poorly edited books, won't recommend it to friends and/or give negative reviews. Money can't buy good reviews, they are worth more than that.
Good reviews aren't just 5 star reviews. If a reviewer gives 2, 3 or 4 stars, but mentions what they liked and didn't like, possibly even suggest improvements, that is just as valuable as a 5 star review.
Authors should not be unhappy with 3 star reviews if they actually cared about improving their writing.
Besides, many readers ignore the 1 and 5 star reviews because they assume they are biased, and only read the 2, 3, 4 star reviews for honest opinions. I would be fine having 2-3 star reviews as long as it was honest and said how the book could have been better, or why it was not good enough for 4-5 stars.
Personally I think the whole "star-rating" system is broken and Amazon should abandon it. Readers should be forced to read reviews instead of tallying up an average star rating to make decisions on what to buy.
Maybe it's because I come from an animation background, which is even more cut-throat than writing, I became used to taking criticism, and kept an eye out for what people will pick up on that would need fixing.
It can be heart-breaking when you have spent months of your life pouring your soul into your work, only to be told it is no good.
I was lucky to have received mostly good reviews on my animation, honest feedback that critiqued and ultimately ended up improving it. The same applies to writing. You can't learn without making mistakes.
Then again, not every reviewer knows what they are talking about, and sometimes you have to stick to your guns. It's just that it is important to keep an open mind.
There are over 1.5 million ebooks on Amazon, and since they do not check for quality, you can imagine how many books are rubbish and not selling at all. That's where honest reviews are needed, positive and negative ones.
Whew that's quite the rant I wrote!
Well I'd better get back to it, book two isn't going to write itself haha!
Cheers,
-Petes
I thought my response to the reviewer might interest some of you...
(edited for relevance)
I have no issues with wanting to make money out of writing, I definitely want to make enough to support myself and be able to write full-time. But writing with the sole intention of making money is the wrong way to work. The most important thing, above all else, is that the reader enjoys your book, whether it's entertaining, educational, or an erotic thrill, making money is a by-product of reader enjoyment.
So when I read a book, and I see a typo or clunky sentence, it diminishes my enjoyment of that book. I can forgive maybe 3-4 errors for an indie author, a bit more if the rest of the story holds up (strong characters, plot etc.)
A traditionally published author has no excuse and must have zero mistakes.
That's why I proofed my book at least 6-7 times. Then after I published it on Amazon, I read it again and found maybe 10 punctuation mistakes and fixed them (within a few days of the initial publication date, before the freebie sale). So maybe even I was a little hasty, but at least I went back and fixed it up as soon as possible. It's something I wanted to be proud of.
If an author is lazy and publish their 1st or 2nd draft, readers will not enjoy their poorly edited books, won't recommend it to friends and/or give negative reviews. Money can't buy good reviews, they are worth more than that.
Good reviews aren't just 5 star reviews. If a reviewer gives 2, 3 or 4 stars, but mentions what they liked and didn't like, possibly even suggest improvements, that is just as valuable as a 5 star review.
Authors should not be unhappy with 3 star reviews if they actually cared about improving their writing.
Besides, many readers ignore the 1 and 5 star reviews because they assume they are biased, and only read the 2, 3, 4 star reviews for honest opinions. I would be fine having 2-3 star reviews as long as it was honest and said how the book could have been better, or why it was not good enough for 4-5 stars.
Personally I think the whole "star-rating" system is broken and Amazon should abandon it. Readers should be forced to read reviews instead of tallying up an average star rating to make decisions on what to buy.
Maybe it's because I come from an animation background, which is even more cut-throat than writing, I became used to taking criticism, and kept an eye out for what people will pick up on that would need fixing.
It can be heart-breaking when you have spent months of your life pouring your soul into your work, only to be told it is no good.
I was lucky to have received mostly good reviews on my animation, honest feedback that critiqued and ultimately ended up improving it. The same applies to writing. You can't learn without making mistakes.
Then again, not every reviewer knows what they are talking about, and sometimes you have to stick to your guns. It's just that it is important to keep an open mind.
There are over 1.5 million ebooks on Amazon, and since they do not check for quality, you can imagine how many books are rubbish and not selling at all. That's where honest reviews are needed, positive and negative ones.
Whew that's quite the rant I wrote!
Well I'd better get back to it, book two isn't going to write itself haha!
Cheers,
-Petes
February 12, 2013
Inspiration, homages and a Progress Update
Enough about the marketing already!
Ok.
I don't know if anyone is interested, but throughout The Covert Academy, there a quite a few little winks and nods to other popular media.
It's like those sayings, "Stealing from one person is plagiarism, stealing from many is research," and "If you're going to steal, steal from the best."
That's not to say I've ripped off other people's work. It has merely inspired me to write my own.
However I can not resist including homages in my book to some of them.
(Very minor spoilers below)
There are a couple obvious ones, such as: invisibility (Harry Potter's cloak, the One Ring from LOTR etc.)
the super suits (Halo, Crysis, Iron Man and many many others)
Then there are many smaller homages, like Joshua saying "I'm making this up as I go." That is a reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark.
How about "assuming direct control," which is from Mass Effect.
There are more, can you spot them?
I am a product of my media consumption like many others. My all-time favourite book and movie is The Lord of the Rings. I'm a huge geek!
It's not just media that is inspiring though. I traveled to Chicago in 2010 and seeing the layout of the city inspired me to set much of the book there.
I enjoy reading about futuristic technology. The Nyctalopia is very loosely based on the HyperSoar by Preston Carter from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. I can't remember where I first heard about it but the concept has always fascinated me.
(Minor spoilers over)
As for book two, I haven't started yet! Yes, this blog is a great way to procrastinate.
I've been going over my notes from early 2012. They are way out of date, and much has changed since writing the first one. The core ideas are still there, but it has gotten much more complex.
At the moment I'm updating old character bios and writing new ones for new characters.
It's exciting. Part 2 of a trilogy is often my favourite.
Time to get back into it!
Cheers,
-Petes
Ok.
I don't know if anyone is interested, but throughout The Covert Academy, there a quite a few little winks and nods to other popular media.
It's like those sayings, "Stealing from one person is plagiarism, stealing from many is research," and "If you're going to steal, steal from the best."
That's not to say I've ripped off other people's work. It has merely inspired me to write my own.
However I can not resist including homages in my book to some of them.
(Very minor spoilers below)
There are a couple obvious ones, such as: invisibility (Harry Potter's cloak, the One Ring from LOTR etc.)
the super suits (Halo, Crysis, Iron Man and many many others)
Then there are many smaller homages, like Joshua saying "I'm making this up as I go." That is a reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark.
How about "assuming direct control," which is from Mass Effect.
There are more, can you spot them?
I am a product of my media consumption like many others. My all-time favourite book and movie is The Lord of the Rings. I'm a huge geek!
It's not just media that is inspiring though. I traveled to Chicago in 2010 and seeing the layout of the city inspired me to set much of the book there.
I enjoy reading about futuristic technology. The Nyctalopia is very loosely based on the HyperSoar by Preston Carter from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. I can't remember where I first heard about it but the concept has always fascinated me.
(Minor spoilers over)
As for book two, I haven't started yet! Yes, this blog is a great way to procrastinate.
I've been going over my notes from early 2012. They are way out of date, and much has changed since writing the first one. The core ideas are still there, but it has gotten much more complex.
At the moment I'm updating old character bios and writing new ones for new characters.
It's exciting. Part 2 of a trilogy is often my favourite.
Time to get back into it!
Cheers,
-Petes
February 10, 2013
The Battle for Reviews
After a stunning few days following the free promotion, The Covert Academy soared up the Amazon charts to #5 in SciFi Adventure as a paid title, and #2 in the UK.
Incredible, especially considering how few reviews I currently have. It has since dropped down to #79 (US) and #12 (UK).
Reviews are the MOST important resource for an author. Without reviews, you don't get noticed.
I suspect the strength of my sales so far have come from the momentum of the freebie day at the start of last week, and (hopefully) a compelling synopsis and book cover on the store page.
As a debut author, it is much harder to get reviewed. Forget traditional reviewers like TV, radio, and newspapers, on or offline. Not a chance, not that I expected it, even in New Zealand.
Yet even book bloggers geared towards indie publishers rarely responded. Of the 30-40 requests I sent, maybe 6 replied, and of them, only 2 agreed to review it. And one of them won't get to it until 2014!
The sad fact is that there are hundreds of thousands of books and not enough book bloggers to weed out the rubbish. They are all inundated with books "to-be-read". Fair enough, I can't expect preferential treatment.
I've posted in forums offering freebies for reviews... no responses there.
So how to get reviews as a debut author?
The trick is to scour books on Amazon similar to your own, and contact the people reviewing them. People without blogs, who review fewer books (with a few exceptions). Yet they too have clout within the reviewing community, which is valuable to any author.
Finding them on Amazon is incredibly time consuming, far more than searching for bloggers. Only a minority display their contact details. This likely worked to my advantage. How many authors would go to the trouble?
After several hours, I have lined up 7 reviewers. The first should hopefully be posted in just a few days.
Of course, the battle isn't won by that point.
Once I've got at least 10 reviews (fingers crossed for positive ones) I will schedule another freebie day a few weeks in advance. With more reviews, I can sign up to the larger ebook newsletters (such as Pixel of Ink) to get the book in front of more eyeballs.
That's the battle plan.
Of course, it all hinges on whether the book is any good!
But no one will know until it gets reviewed.
Cheers,
-Petes
Incredible, especially considering how few reviews I currently have. It has since dropped down to #79 (US) and #12 (UK).
Reviews are the MOST important resource for an author. Without reviews, you don't get noticed.
I suspect the strength of my sales so far have come from the momentum of the freebie day at the start of last week, and (hopefully) a compelling synopsis and book cover on the store page.
As a debut author, it is much harder to get reviewed. Forget traditional reviewers like TV, radio, and newspapers, on or offline. Not a chance, not that I expected it, even in New Zealand.
Yet even book bloggers geared towards indie publishers rarely responded. Of the 30-40 requests I sent, maybe 6 replied, and of them, only 2 agreed to review it. And one of them won't get to it until 2014!
The sad fact is that there are hundreds of thousands of books and not enough book bloggers to weed out the rubbish. They are all inundated with books "to-be-read". Fair enough, I can't expect preferential treatment.
I've posted in forums offering freebies for reviews... no responses there.
So how to get reviews as a debut author?
The trick is to scour books on Amazon similar to your own, and contact the people reviewing them. People without blogs, who review fewer books (with a few exceptions). Yet they too have clout within the reviewing community, which is valuable to any author.
Finding them on Amazon is incredibly time consuming, far more than searching for bloggers. Only a minority display their contact details. This likely worked to my advantage. How many authors would go to the trouble?
After several hours, I have lined up 7 reviewers. The first should hopefully be posted in just a few days.
Of course, the battle isn't won by that point.
Once I've got at least 10 reviews (fingers crossed for positive ones) I will schedule another freebie day a few weeks in advance. With more reviews, I can sign up to the larger ebook newsletters (such as Pixel of Ink) to get the book in front of more eyeballs.
That's the battle plan.
Of course, it all hinges on whether the book is any good!
But no one will know until it gets reviewed.
Cheers,
-Petes
