Zachary Katz-Stein's Blog, page 10

Letting Your Characters Run Wild

Good Morning Blog Folk,

Today’s article is from the estimable author Autumn Brit. Brit accurately and amusingly describes the two different styles of plotting – planning (aka outlining meticulously) or allowing your characters to run free.

As she provocatively puts it: Do you trust your characters enough to write a novel?

Read the whole thing here

Enjoy,

Zac

Earning Every Inch; Setting Expectations Correctly and then Following Through

Almost the first thing a potential eBook author reads when he or she begins to research the subject is, “Don’t expect money to rain from the sky onto your ‘deserving’ head.”

When I read these words at the beginning of my self-publishing journey, my reaction was, “Of course! No one really expects money to just come pouring in! I know it’ll take time to build up a following and then even longer before I start making ‘real’ money.”

The Trap of “Modest” Expectations

What I didn’t realize was that, even though I didn’t expect money to “shower” upon me, I did expect it to drip – even when I wasn’t doing anything. I think to words “book royalties” were too firmly ingrained in my mind. The words conjure an image of an unshaven author in a grey bathrobe and bunny slippers rubbing the sleep from his eyes, getting a check in the mail, and then going back to keep writing his next book.

Maybe that’s really how it is with traditional publishing. I wouldn’t know. With ePublishing, however, just about every single sale I’ve made can be traced to one of my promotional efforts. “Well, that’s perfectly reasonable,” you might say, and with some justification, but think about what that implies: Whenever I’m not actively promoting my book, it’s not selling.

In tangible terms that means that at the beginning of my vacation, my book was ranked on the Kindle bestseller list between 100 and 200 thousand, it is now 532,918. Ouch.

3 Tools for Self-Promoting

So, what’s helped the most?

Here are the 3 promotional tools that have worked best for me:

1) Friends, Family, and Word of Mouth:

Obviously, this one will only take you so far. However, if you haven’t already, definitely send an email to everyone on your contacts list and ask them to send it to everyone on theirs. Probably only your mother will actually do it, but the more “word of mouth” advertising you can get the better and it starts with them.

2) Local Papers:

Research your local papers. If they have an “announcements” section, that can be a good way to get the word out.

3) Twitter:

Although by far the least efficient, I’m pretty sure that Twitter has earned me some sales from people I don’t even know. So, once you exhaust your friends and your home town, turn to the Web!

I’m still working on cross-promoting with other authors and maybe doing some local appearances. I’ll let you know how those turn out, but, until then, just remember: if you’re considering ePublishing, it’s not going to just rain – or even drip – money you don’t earn.

“The only difference between reality and fiction is that fiction needs to be credible.” ― Mark Twain

Good Morning Blog Readers,

I’m back from my vacation so it’s time to resume our regularly scheduled program!

Today’s link is from fantasy author J.S. Morin. In his article, Earth: A Failure of World-Building, Morin uses the idea behind Twain’s famous quote to sarcastically critique how the earth is a shoddily built world – from a fantasy writer’s perspective.

While it goes on a little long, the concept is really funny, clever, and an enjoyable read.

Have fun,

Zac

On Vacation in Colorado Springs! Will Return August 8th

Good Morning Blog Folk!

I’m sorry about my absence from the airwaves recently. I have been – and will continue to be – on vacation in Colorado Springs until August 8th. This means that I’ve had fairly sporadic access to internet so I couldn’t even tell you why I was gone!

Enjoy the rest of your July and early August my friends,

Zac

Book Sculpture Bringing Fantasy Books to Life

Good Morning Blog Friends,

I stumbled upon this while browsing through twitter and it was too good not to share. I don’t know who the artist is, so I can’t give them credit, but if you know just shoot me an email and I’ll update the post.

Enjoy!

Zac

A Cautionary Tale…

Used with permission from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com.

Distancing Yourself From Your Writing, via Victoria Grefer

Good Morning Blog Readers!

Today’s link is from another writing blog that I’ve really come to appreciate. In her post, Creative Writing Tip: DO create distance with your work in progress, Victoria Grefer accurately describes the bane of many writers’ existences: killing their babies.

It’s hard, after putting so much time and effort into writing a story, to cut scenes that don’t add anything and (I think) harder still to rewrite necessary scenes to have more snap. Among other tips, however, Grefer asks the pertinent question that can slip a writer’s mind when in the heat of editing: Do I want a great book or not? and would I rather recognize a problem or have a reader do it?

I found this article helpful and I hope you will as well.

Have a great day my friends,

Zac

Creating a YouTube Channel

Good Evening Blog Friends!

I’ve recently been investigating alternative means of promoting books. Someone suggested creating a YouTube channel, which sounds like a great idea to me!

If the idea appeals to you as well here a link that’ll show you how to do it: Creating a YouTube Channel

Enjoy!

Zac

4.5 Things to Avoid When Finding a Day Job as a Writer

After college I had a plan. I was going to commit myself to my writing and work odd jobs to support myself however I could until my writing did. In fact, that’s what this entire blog is about.

Well, in the last seven months I have had seven jobs, six of which have all taken place in the last two months – after I moved out of my mother’s house – and it’s been pretty rough. I don’t want to give you the wrong impression: my determination hasn’t changed. The world hasn’t crushed my youthful dreams. What has changed is my understanding of what “supporting myself however I can,” actually means.

Here are a few of the lessons that I think my fellow moonlight artists might find useful:

1: If an interviewer asks you, “What’s the hardest job you’ve ever done,” don’t take the job.

In the spring of 2013 I was looking for a job in Ohio. My plan was to move to Columbus for the summer, working, and living with my girlfriend, and then we’d move at the end of the summer. I had a romantic notion that I wanted to work with my body, outside, so that I would be mentally fresh to continue my writing after work.

Before we continue let me make one thing clear: when you’re physically exhausted, mental exhaustion tends to follow. Fatigue is fatigue and manual labor is not necessarily the key to an artistic life.

Anyway, I found a job as an exterior house painter and I accepted the job, despite the interviewer asking me the fatal question.

I ended up working one day in nearly 100 degree weather, under a blazing sun, on a shaky three story ladder, reaching above my head to paint trim in a moderate wind. The shift lasted twelve hours and I honestly thought I might die, but that brings me to lesson number two.

2: If you do accept the job, give your body a week to adjust to the strain (even if you think you’re going to die)

In my mind’s eye I saw myself falling backward off the ladder, or getting heat stroke and passing out. By the end of the first day I felt like a survivor…which was ridiculous.

I almost cried on my way in to work on the second day, drove most the way there, and then lost my nerve and quit.

This, I think, was at least as big a mistake as accepting such a demanding job in the first place (if not a bigger mistake). I half knew it at the time, but came up with many reasons why quitting would be the right thing to do and then it was done.

Still, if you’re ever in the same situation, heed the good advice that I did not: stick it out at least a week.

3: If you do quit your job, don’t lose your composure and simply accept the first job offered to you

So, there I was, jobless, the whole summer before me and in a real panic. I knew then that it had been a mistake to quit after a single day of painting. I felt stupid, embarrassed, and fearful.

I began the job search again, frantically this time. I sent out emails to everything from dishwasher positions and cleaning services to web design internships and blog article writing companies.

The first place to offer me a job was in sales, and I accepted it.

4: Don’t take a job in sales

This may not be entirely fair. I’m sure there are plenty of writers out there who would enjoy a sales job, and, if that’s you, great.

However, this article assumes that you want to be devoting most of your time and energy to writing (or other passions) – that your job is just that, a job and not a career because here’s the thing: most jobs in sales are careers. They take a lot of time and energy input in the beginning, and then pay more and more as you begin actually selling things.

As a writer (or other artist) though, what you need (and what I needed) was a job where you clocked in, worked a certain number of hours and then got paid in proportion to the number of hours invested. If this is your day job and you want to follow your passion at night, those nights need to be devoted to your passion and not spent working extra hours to make sure your day job is a success.

Needless to say, my sales job didn’t work out.

4.5: Only take week or two week long gigs if you’re pretty sure that you can’t find something steadier.

I put this as only half a rule because of the caveat. I’ve been working one and two week gigs for most of the summer, and it’s been fine. I’ve gotten by and many of these gigs I really wouldn’t have wanted to do for more than a week or two anyway.

However, I also have had unproductive weeks where I simply didn’t make as much money as I needed to and am coming out of this summer below my goal of $1000 in the bank for my upcoming move.

Use your best judgement on this ones, my friends. If you’re pretty sure you can get a steady job, hold out for it, otherwise, it’s okay to just get by.

What the future holds

In this end, this summer has been a very educational experience. I’ve made mistakes – a long train of mistakes actually – but I’ve also learned some valuable lessons, which I hope you will find useful.

I still don’t know where I’m going or what the future holds, but I’m getting there. I’m figuring it out day by day.

5 Reasons to Write with Scrivener, via Karen Prince

Good Nooning Blog Friends!

Today’s link is a great video by a twitter friend of mine. In this video Karen Prince shows why Scrivener is a far superior way to write than using Microsoft Word, especially for novelists. Although I’m still a Word user, this video may have converted me. Check it out!

Have a great day!

Zac