Michael Selden's Blog, page 10
June 9, 2016
Cover Reveal for I AM
The Science Fiction Book I AM should be released within the next week
An Excerpt is available here: http://michaelselden.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/I-AM-Final-Sample.pdf
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May 16, 2016
THE BOY WHO RAN Kindle Discount
https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Ran-Mi...
THE BOY WHO RAN Kindle Discount
https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Ran-Mi...
April 29, 2016
A Discussion of The Balance on Internet Radio
On April 27, 2016 I was a guest on Book Bytes to discuss THE BALANCE.
This link accesses a recording of my interview with Suzanne Lieurance on Book Bytes:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/…/an-interview-with-author-mic…
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April 21, 2016
Virtual Book Tour—THE BALANCE
The National Center for Writing for Children is having a virtual book tour for THE BALANCE, including 5 days of posts on the book and writing and publishing and an Internet radio interview.
Details can be found here:
http://writingforchildrencenter.com/1885/follow-along-virtual-tour-balance-michael-selden/
Day 1: Author and book overview
http://www.virtual-book-tours.com/42/balance-michael-selden/
Day 2: The Writing Life
http://workingwriterscoach.com/7124/writing-life-author-michael-selden/
Day 3: How teachers might use my books as part of a unit
Day 4: Writing and Publishing Tips
http://www.workingwritersclub.com/12498/blog/the-balance-by-michael-selden/
Day 5: A Discussion of Marketing Concepts (To be posted Friday April 22)
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April 9, 2016
Thoughts on Backstory and World Building
This made me think about the degree of world building and backstory I threaded through the early parts of the book. It's always a challenge—or perhaps more a question—how much do you put up front and how much do you hold back and allow the reader to be lost for a while?
With The Balance—especially since it will take 3 books to tell the story—I erred on the side of early disclosure. Naturally this makes the book a bit harder to get into, but I felt the now-knowledggable reader might enjoy the story more. I'm questioning my decision now, but the book isn't going to change. The good news is that I don't plan on repeating backstory in the second book. I'll pick up where we left off, and simply weave in the three chapters I cut from book 1 as a flashback to bring the experienced reader up to date.
Originally, the book had 150K words. There was a LOT of backstory, including the history of the land, the geography and geology, the economy, and a discussion of what the Council was up to. In the end I cut most of that out and the book settled at 109K words. My fear, however, is that the book challenges readers a little up front, and that this may be a barrier to actually getting deeply into the book in the first place. Of my Beta readers, only 1 complained about too much technical info, and I did cut it back some. The editors (and there were 4 all told) seemed to enjoy the lead in.
I've actually plotted book 2 out in some detail. The story will contain 4 threads with the main plots elements of each broken into chapters. I've also developed a skeleton plot for book 3. I know what happens, but hadn't broken each thread out yet.
April 7, 2016
Don’t Write Because You Want or Need Money
Like acting, writing is not a real way to make money, so if you’re writing because you think you’ll make a living at it, don’t.
I was reading an article on acting recently and on how most actors will never make enough money to even support their acting expenses, let alone paying their rent. It’s much the same way for writing. While it seems as though it costs nothing to write a book, publishing a passable or good book and then marketing it takes money.
Besides the free time consumed (time where you’s do better with a minimum wage job), you need to make sure you have the tools to write and communicate, you’ll need to factor in the costs of editors, proof readers, book interior design, cover design, production of books to give away, marketing / advertising expenses, an enormous amount time to manage the marketing, mailing costs, contest fees and book fair fees, and the cost of driving to independent book stores, carrying inventory for consignment sales, it keeps going . . .
There are millions of books published every year—yes, millions. Of these fewer than 1% of them will ever sell even 1000 copies, and if yours was one of those lucky few, your profit from these 1000 copies won’t even pay for one of the expenses I listed above. You’d need to be in that rarified atmosphere where your book sells many thousands to actually make a living.
If you write, write because it’s what you love to do, and if by some miracle you make a few dollars—maybe enough for a meal at a fast food place , or maybe an actual living—then count your lucky stars.
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April 6, 2016
I AM On Track to be Released by Summer 2016
The manuscript for I AM was sent to beta readers in early March and then on to the main editor (John Hudspith) in England on April 1. I anticipate that the editor will be finished by the end of April and that the book will move onto the interior designer for layout (Jamie Kerry) in early May. Scott Bryan Wilson has agreed to do the proof reading (another editorial step) in May, and while this is under way, Jamie will be designing the cover of the book, using the image licensed from Wendy Gedack. I’ll be making small revisions (as necessary) along the way.
Writing I AM has been a pleasant experience that started in late 2012 or very early 2013. I set the story aside to finish and publish both The Boy Who Ran and The Balance. If everything goes well, the book in both paperback and Kindle formats will be out by mid-June, published by Woodland Park Press LLC.
In the meantime, I’ve begun a more detailed plot for The Balance (Part 2), and plan to write this in parallel with DISOBEDIENCE over the next year.
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March 25, 2016
THE BOY WHO RAN Audio Book Now Available
The Audio Edition of “The Boy Who Ran” (IPPY 2014 Gold Medal Novel) was released on March 25 and is available from Audible, Amazon, and iTunes
The audio edition has been revised and is narrated by Lyssa Browne (Cedar House Audio). Lyssa has performed for other audio books, video games, and film.
A sample audio clip can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Boy-Who-Ran/dp/B01DE62HGQ
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March 17, 2016
The Balance—The Wastelands and the Wilderness moved up in the queue
I inadvertently started thinking about and writing parts of The Balance Part 2, subtitled “The Wastelands and the Wilderness” these past two days. Individual scenes started coming in and I decided to capture what I was seeing while it was fresh. That’s how much of my writing happens—I visualize the places and see the story unfolding, like watching a movie, and write down what happens.
I’ve had the basic story plotted out for a while. I like to say I see the shape of the forest but not where all the trees are. But I just spend an evening detailing the plot, not chapter-by-chapter, but thread-by-thread. The Balance Part 2 will begin with a significant event that drives the rest of the story and soon divides into four separate threads, including the primary one. I worked out a lot of details tonight but a few remain with less resolution for now.
I still plan to travel to southern France late this summer to continue research on the book DISOBEDIENCE, but may either work both books in parallel (I did this with The Boy Who Ran and The Balance), or complete The Balance Part 2 first.
On other news, The Audio Book for The Boy Who Ran should be out by April 1 and the novel I AM should be published on time late this spring.
M
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