Kevin Hardman's Blog, page 21
May 5, 2013
The Value of Pen Names
I recently saw the funny commercial below, in which a young couple discover that the plumber fixing their sink is also the guy who did their taxes. As you can imagine, it leaves them feeling a little queasy - like walking into the doctor's office and suddenly realizing the physician you're talking to is also the guy who changed your oil at the mechanic's shop.
What this commercial clearly shows is that we rarely expect people to have expertise in more than one area, and the public rarely embraces them when they try to go outside the boundaries that have been drawn for them (e.g., no one wants to see Garth Brooks singing rock). The same seems to hold true for writers. While there are a select few who can seemingly navigate all waters in the field of literature (Michael Crichton is one who comes to mind), we usually expect authors to stick to what they know. For most of us, that means writing in a single genre (or related genres, which might include variations on a theme - such as going from "romance" to "mystery and romance").
Bearing all this in mind, it's not surprising that many writers - even established authors - will sometimes use pen names. Of course, that's not the only reason. Many writers are afraid of the backlash from fans when they write in another genre. ("Why's she writing this sci-fi stuff instead of sticking to romance novels?") Or they may be concerned that if the book does poorly it will damage their brand. Or they may not want their real name attached because of the subject matter - like erotica! :>)
Personally, I think that the writer's work needs to be judged on its own merits, not in regards to whether the author has published in that genre before. Who knows? We might all have a little Michael Crichton in us.
What this commercial clearly shows is that we rarely expect people to have expertise in more than one area, and the public rarely embraces them when they try to go outside the boundaries that have been drawn for them (e.g., no one wants to see Garth Brooks singing rock). The same seems to hold true for writers. While there are a select few who can seemingly navigate all waters in the field of literature (Michael Crichton is one who comes to mind), we usually expect authors to stick to what they know. For most of us, that means writing in a single genre (or related genres, which might include variations on a theme - such as going from "romance" to "mystery and romance").
Bearing all this in mind, it's not surprising that many writers - even established authors - will sometimes use pen names. Of course, that's not the only reason. Many writers are afraid of the backlash from fans when they write in another genre. ("Why's she writing this sci-fi stuff instead of sticking to romance novels?") Or they may be concerned that if the book does poorly it will damage their brand. Or they may not want their real name attached because of the subject matter - like erotica! :>)
Personally, I think that the writer's work needs to be judged on its own merits, not in regards to whether the author has published in that genre before. Who knows? We might all have a little Michael Crichton in us.
April 30, 2013
Early Book Sales
Sales at the moment are nothing to brag about. Nevertheless, I was super-excited to see my rank at something like 92,000 after the first paperback copy of "
Sensation
" was bought on Amazon a few weeks back. Of course, it fell rather quickly (I was back in six figures within a matter of hours), but it was still a blast to have some digits attached to my work. I'm still hoping to get the Kindle edition uploaded this week, although a few purchases has brought my current rank for the paperback to roughly 94,000.
As to " Warden ," the Kindle edition has sold a couple of copies and rose as high as about 81,000 but has now retreated to around 177,000. The paperback version is currently sitting around #260,000. Also, I've enrolled Warden as part of the KDP Select program, so I've got to settle on some dates for my free promotion.
All in all, I'm pleased with the progress I've made thus far.
As to " Warden ," the Kindle edition has sold a couple of copies and rose as high as about 81,000 but has now retreated to around 177,000. The paperback version is currently sitting around #260,000. Also, I've enrolled Warden as part of the KDP Select program, so I've got to settle on some dates for my free promotion.
All in all, I'm pleased with the progress I've made thus far.
April 27, 2013
Houston, We Have Lift Off!
Finally, I think I've got this blog in halfway decent form. Now I can start talking about things that matter - like writing.
Right now I just finished publishing the first book in my " Warden " series on Createspace. I published my superhero novel " Sensation " there a few weeks ago. I expect to have the ebook version of both up within a week. In fact, I'm tempted to load them on every available platform and see how they do. At the same time, however, I keep hearing great things about KDP Select, and I'd like to let these two books dip their toes in those waters.
I suppose I could try the other platforms for a week or two in order to get a feel for how the books are received, and maybe switch to Select after that. Anyway, it's all still very much in the air, but it will be interesting to experiment with a lot of this in an effort to find the sweet spot.
Right now I just finished publishing the first book in my " Warden " series on Createspace. I published my superhero novel " Sensation " there a few weeks ago. I expect to have the ebook version of both up within a week. In fact, I'm tempted to load them on every available platform and see how they do. At the same time, however, I keep hearing great things about KDP Select, and I'd like to let these two books dip their toes in those waters.
I suppose I could try the other platforms for a week or two in order to get a feel for how the books are received, and maybe switch to Select after that. Anyway, it's all still very much in the air, but it will be interesting to experiment with a lot of this in an effort to find the sweet spot.
It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp...
Okay, I'm not really a pimp (although it felt good to work the name of an Oscar-winning song into the title of my first post). I'm just a regular schmoe trying to establish himself as a novelist - but I'm having trouble right out the gate. No, not with writing - with trying to get this blog up to up and running. Every time I think I've got my arms around this thing, something else wriggles loose. If it's not the template, it's the layout; if it's not the layout, it's the background; if it's not the background, it's the widgets, and so on...
Anyway, I guess it's a lot like writing in that sometimes you just have to keep tweaking things until you're satisfied. I'm about 95% of the way there; there's just one thing at the moment that's driving me batty, but I'm hoping to sort it out soon. Wish me luck!
Anyway, I guess it's a lot like writing in that sometimes you just have to keep tweaking things until you're satisfied. I'm about 95% of the way there; there's just one thing at the moment that's driving me batty, but I'm hoping to sort it out soon. Wish me luck!
