Michael Patrick Hicks's Blog, page 80

The Ever-Growing Reading List, Part II: New Book Buy’s!

Thanks to the generosity of my parents and in-laws for my thirty-fifth birthday, I found myself flush with gift cards lately and splurged on the following:

For Fun!

 

For Research/Future Novel Purposes

Of course, I have absolutely no idea when I’ll get to all these, but there is a certain satisfaction that comes with adding to the To Be Read pile. Once I get through my current round of ARCs, and other recent acquisitions, I’ll have some tough choices to make as a reader. I’m woefully behind on my non-fiction reads, so I may try to kill two birds with one stone on that front and focus on the research titles I picked up.

On the research front, you may see a certain theme emerging topic-wise, and I’m juggling a few ideas for a future novel. I’m not sure yet if it will be stand-alone or a continuation of the DRMR series, or if the idea will even grow strong enough to become a novel. So, we’ll see, but for the moment this is where my current thoughts are leaning.

On the fun side of things, I’ve got a combination of titles I’ve had wish-listed for a while, particularly Snowblind and Vandermeer’s The Southern Reach trilogy (third one is due out in September). I came across Super thanks to Jason Gurley’s newsletter, where this book has received several honorable mentions of late.

I kind of surprised myself by not buying as many DarkFuse titles as I thought I would, although I already have a healthy back-list of titles there, and a pre-order in place for Tim Curran’s Blackout.

However, I did snag one: William Meikle’s The Hole, which has been a really strong best-seller for that publisher of late, and which pops up pretty often in Amazon’s recommendations.

Presumably, I’m done with book buying for a little while now… So, what’s on your list? Recent purchases, additions to your TBR list/pile, anything in particular that’s caught your eye? Recommendations? Sound off below!

Monday Mayday Mystery

This has been on the back of my mind all weekend, but I figured I’d save writing about it for today to cash in on alliteration.

Anyway…

From the Sometimes Real Life Is Stranger Than Fiction box:

Image from maydaymystery.org, May 5, 1998. Click the pic to head on over there.

Over the weekend, thanks to the power of Twitter, I became familiar with the surprisingly low-key Mayday Mystery. Even though this has been happening for over forty years, it wasn’t until I stumbled upon a random tweet and became introduced to the mystery, and decided to do some digging.

In the 1970s, a college newspaper at the University of Arizona began running strange full-page advertisements every year on May 1st, with smaller ads scattered throughout the year. The reporter who discovered this, Bryan Hance, set up a website to catalog the ads and began receiving regular communications, such as strange e-mails and packages (one of which includes South African currency and blue rocks!) delivered to his PO BOX, from other interested parties, who call themselves “The Freaks” and “Orphanage.”

The ads have been traced to a Tucson-area lawyer, who claims to be an intermediary for his mysterious client, but little else seems to be known beyond that. The advertisements themselves are weird and perplexing, typically involving some kind of religious history, and a promise to reveal the location of a secret safety-deposit box to whoever can unravel the mystery.

And, of course, the even larger mystery is whether or not this is all a hoax or if it’s legitimate, if the person (or persons?) behind it all is crazy-smart or crazy-insane, or both, or anything in between. It could be something, or it could be nothing. But it is, for damn sure, awfully compelling and utterly interesting. The people invested in solving it have applied everything from historical research to cryptography and image steganography. Some redditors have claim to have devoted more than a decade to this thing.

You should go check out the reddit thread devoted to this topic (and I have to say, the main page, Unsolved Mysteries, is also a worthwhile, and oftentimes frightening, time-suck), and Bryan Hance, the ex-student journalist who stumbled upon all this, has archived the materials over here.

Needless to say, it’s got my headwheels turning. So many questions, so much left unresolved. Who is behind this, and for what reason? If there even is a reason at all… One thing I am certain of, though, is that there is a story behind all of this. There has to be.

Sunday Moment of Zen: Star Wars as Guardians of the Galaxy

Michael Patrick Hicks:

Brilliant. Love Star Wars (because who doesn’t) and am really looking forward to catching Guardians in August.

Originally posted on The Man of Words:

Just hit play. I started grinning when ‘Spirit in the Sky’ started.

View original

The Ever-Growing Reading List

I’ve been accumulating a nice collection of eBook ARCs lately, one of which was Jason Gurley’s fantastic Eleanor, which I read and reviewed here. It releases on June 27 and is available for pre-order. And, if you preorder, let Jason know and he’ll send you a beautiful bonus: The Eleanor Sketches. Gurley has already racked up 90 5-star reviews, and let me tell you, they are dead-on. It’s a great, great read. Up next on my reading docket are the following:

I’ve already started in on Othella, and I think you’re going to want to check this one out. It’ll be releasing soon, so keep an eye out for it and check out Therin’s blog for updates.

J.S. Collyer‘s publisher, Dagda Publishing, recently launched a crowdfunding campaign to support her debut sci-fi novel and reached their goal in a single day, which is very good news for everyone! There’s still 40 days left to their campaign, so please go check it out. For five bucks, you can pre-order ZERO or throw in a little more and claim some of the other leftover goodies.

The Heretic is another one I’ve been looking forward to. I found out about this title from Lucas over at Kboards.com and he was generous enough to send a copy out to all of his mailing list subscribers. So, go sign up for that and check out the details on his book here.

Over on the always-expanding TBR front: I picked up the new Veronica Mars eBook, The Thousand Dollar Tan-Line, which follows hot on the heels of the recently released movie (sitting near the top of my to-watch list, once I finish up season two and three…). The Kindle copy is currently on sale for only $2.99, so why the hell not?

I’ve also been on a bit of a DarkFuse kick. This small independent publishing house puts out some terrific, top-notch horror and dark fiction. They’re one of the very few publishers that I really get excited about (even though I only just recently discovered them…). There looks to be a large, talented pool of authors here, with a lot of exciting projects, and I’m hoping to soon dig into their work, both new and old. I recently picked up Alan Leverone’s Mr. Midnight, which was on sale not too long ago, When We Fall by Peter Giglio, as well as Tim Curran’s Deadlock. Curran’s Blackout also sounds really, really promising, and comes out in August. I’m hugely looking forward to that one! I promised myself to find time to explore this author’s back-list after reading Dead Sea last year; wicked, terrific fun, that one.

So, what are you reading and what’s in your TBR pile? What books have caught your interest lately?

Angry Robot Closes Two Imprints

On Friday, June 20, Angry Robot Books announced that they were shuttering their Strange Chemistry (YA) and Exhibit A (crime/mystery) imprints due to “market saturation.” They go on to say that, effective immediately, neither imprint will publish any further titles.

It’s a sad affair, of course, for the writer’s with those imprints, such as Scott Lynch and Richard Parker, who have enjoyed a lot of critical and creative success under Exhibit A. One writer I’ve been following, thanks to his work with LitReactor, is Rob W Hart, who got hit hard today with the news that his two book deal dissolved entirely. Hopefully NEW YORKED finds a new home, and I’d encourage you all to check out Rob’s novella, THE LAST SAFE PLACE.

As a whole, Angry Robot has a pretty strong output, and some of my current favorites (like Chuck Wendig and Chris F. Holm) are with that publisher. Although Angry Robot says their core imprint is “robust” and that they are increasing their monthly output to three titles, I have to echo Scalzi’s sentiments about why reversion clauses are so damn important.

There’s a lot of heated back and forth between indies and traditional publishers, and which path is safest. Really, though, no path is “safe.” There is a no “guarantee.” If you sign with a traditional publishing house or imprint, you risk them closing down operations entirely and putting your work out of print, particularly if you have a crappy contract that lacks reversion clauses. What do you do when your publisher owns the rights to your work, but fails to exist?

With self-publishing, you retain control of your work forever. You produced it, you own it. But it’s not a safer path, business-wise. Yeah, you own it forever and nobody can really take that away from you, and you never risk it going out of print. The risk, instead, is that you never get noticed. That you sink time and money into this particular avenue and fail to ever make a return. Either way, you’re gambling with your work. Although, one could certainly argue that with going indie, you still have the chance of eventually being discovered, especially if you stick with it long enough to grow a significant body of work. That would be harder to do with your volumes of work tied up at a publishing house that has gone out of business, a publishing house that you’ve given all of your rights away to, and which will now be forever out of print.

Don’t think of publishing in any form as a safer path. Think of it as a lesser of two evils.

Those of you have read some previous posts may have seen me talk about Angry Robot Books recently. I love their output. I have no idea what they’re contracts are like, but based on the quality of their authors, if I were to ever pursue a traditional path, I’d seriously consider signing with them. Which is why I put CONVERGENCE into their open door submission period back in October 2013.

Earlier this month, a representative of Angry Robot Books asked to see the full manuscript but by then it was too late. For them, at least. In the intervening time, I’d self-published CONVERGENCE, which took it out of the loop for consideration by Angry Robot.

Maybe that wasn’t such a bad choice. I don’t know. But, I do know that I have not, for even a single second, regretted my choice to self-publish. Now, if I had sent them CONVERGENCE in full earlier this month, I’d suddenly be looking a lot more worried about signing with them were they to have made me an offer. While Angry Robot claims to still be “robust,” would we really expect them to announce otherwise?

As some other writer’s have opined, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Self-publishing is not the be-all, end-all to getting your work out there, and there are other options to consider, should you feel them worthwhile in your own particular scenario. Be sure to do your due diligence, and research accordingly. But know that publishing, in any way, shape, or form, is not for the risk averse. There’s all kinds of risks regardless of which path you take. What varies is the amount and degree of risk involved.

My heart goes out to the authors affected by the closure of these imprints. It’s a sad day for them, and I am sorry to hear of the loss of both Exhibit A and Strange Chemistry; I know I have several works from those writers in my TBR pile. Hopefully the writer’s there had solid, fair contracts and will be able to keep control of their work and do as they see fit. Time will tell, I suppose. In the meantime, I wish them the best and hope that they continue to produce terrific work.

Review: SEVERED

About SEVERED

When an unknown virus is unleashed on London, it turns everyone in its path into violent, zombie-like killing machines, leaving their souls separated and floating away to form a giant halo above the capital. Flesh and spirit, dead and alive, they are both. They are severed.

As a beleaguered government brings in scientists to work on an antidote, the problems become even more complex. The virus spreads. The mayhem grows. There’s no solution in sight and time is running out.

Enter Stephen Hobbs, a hard-drinking, womanizing academic with a violent past of his own. Due to his special skill set and experience, he is enlisted to figure out what the virus is and how to stop it. Despite his own demons, Hobbs may very well be humanity’s last chance to survive becoming…SEVERED.

About the Author

Gary Fry has a first-class degree and a PhD in psychology, though his first love is literature. He lives in Dracula’s Whitby, literally around the corner from where Bram Stoker was staying while thinking about that legendary character. He has been writing seriously for about 10 years, despite dabbling with prose since his teens. His first sale was rather a grand one: a short story, ‘Both And’, to Ramsey Campbell for inclusion in the international anthology Gathering the Bones.

Gary has had a number of books published, including short story collections, novellas and novels. His first collection included an introduction by Ramsey Campbell in which Gary was described as a “master”. All these books reflect Gary’s predilection for page-turning narratives, complex thematic development, and compelling characterisation.

Gary has a deep interest in psychology and philosophy; indeed, related concerns inform his fiction. He likes to think that every facet of his thought can be strung together by reading his assorted pieces, each adding to the whole — a ‘vision’, if you like, and if that doesn’t sound too pretentious. But he’s never been one to flinch away from ambition.

Website: http://www.gary-fry.com/

My Thoughts

Let me just say this straight away: covers are damn important. In fact, it was the above cover that first drew me to Severed. The imagery of London amidst some pretty severe looking phenomena hooked me instantly. Bonus points to the designer for reminding me of an awesome little sci-fi/horror cult flick from the 80s called Lifeforce, too!

[Pardon the derailment here but the film Lifeforce is based on Colin Wilson's book The Space Vampires, which I haven't read. But, the movie's climax involves some trippy special effects as the space vampires start sucking up the souls of Londoners and turns the city into a festival of chaotic derangement, and only NASA pilot, played by Steve Railsback, can stop them! Scream Factory recently released a wonderful remastered edition of the movie, so go check it out. I think once you've seen it, you'll recognize why Fry's book, of which I'm supposed to be talking about, drew my eye. OK, back to the review of the actual work I had intended writing about...]

In Severed, Christmas is drawing near when the horror strikes. People are turning savage, and a strange mist – the souls of those afflicted – is filling the sky. The minds and bodies of those infected are becoming severed, splitting them in half, “rendering one side divine and angelic, and the other mean and murderous,” as one character theorizes. The substance at the root of the pandemic is named Agent Descartes, after the French philosopher who posited the separate existence of mind and body. Requiring a more metaphysical cure to this oddity, the British government turns to Professor Stephen Hobbs, an exuberant, overbearing, larger-than-life sort who very nearly tumbles into parody while fancying himself a lecturer in the Indiana Jones vein after having worked undercover with drug cartels and human traffickers for his sociological studies and exposes on human behavior.

Thankfully, Hobbs brusqueness never manages to overbalance the horror nor risks diluting the material to the point silliness. Even better, the academic oddball actually begins to warm on the reader, particularly when thrust before government officials and finds himself warmly in his environment, albeit a bit drunkenly. For his part, Fry never settles too firmly on one single character, dispersing the narrative among a handful of Londoners and quick character sketches for the victims on either side of the viral outbreak. We only get brief glimpses into the lives on display, which prevents the work from having a lot of deeply felt characterization. The focus is more keenly centered on a quickly paced apocalypse, and Fry certainly does that quite well.

One particular problem I had with the book came early on, when separate characters all arrived at the same peculiar word choice to describe the sudden horror. It struck me as unusual, and more than a bit unlikely, that all of those who came into contact with these new-age zombies would independently choose to call them “severed.” Nobody was able to come up with another name, or think them merely “separated” or as just zombies and ghosts? A minor caveat, but a bit too coincidental and repetitious for the book’s opening chapters. My annoyance lessened dramatically as the book progressed and the phrase grew into a sort of popular, media-borne affectation, but it made for a rocky start.

However, I rather enjoyed Fry’s depiction of London in the throes of chaos, as the anarchy grew to a fiery, almost-apocalyptic frenzy. The philosophical twist to his zombie tale is wild and a much appreciated spin on what could have easily been a run-of-the-mill pathogen story. Not too many horror stories turn to French philosophers for their gory crises and this deftness added a unique bit of existential weight to the proceedings that helped lift the story to the next level.

While Fry has crafted an intellectual, philosophical work of horror, he failed to plumb the emotional depths of his characters as deeply as he could, particularly with Hobbs, who, as a child, witnessed his father’s murder at the hands of his mother’s illicit lover. As a result, Hobbs carries some terrific scars that have shaped his adult persona, but Fry never really goes deeper than the superficial, settling merely for the idea of trauma. Both Hobbs and Fry refuse to look any deeper at the damage such an event has wrought, to the detriment of the reader. And although the topic of this event is broached on more than on occasion, it’s never really explored until very near the end, leaving little room for additional development or personal growth.

Ultimately, Severed is a bit of a mixed-bag. Readers won’t find much to become emotionally attached to, although the philosophical underpinnings are rewarding enough and the pages turn quickly. One might also be struck by the metaphorical analogs Fry summons by setting his zombie tale firmly in the post-recession present with talk of a too-easy financial collapse, the severance of London’s populace, and a blood-thirsty rogue military commander. If Romero’s Dawn of the Dead was an indictment of American consumerism, then Severed may very well be Fry’s financial collapse equivalent. Despite a few bumps and a couple of sticking points, Severed is certainly an enjoyable read, albeit a slightly unsatisfying one in the end.

The Five Year Plan, Part III

If you’re joining this series already in progress, check out Part I and Part II.

Yesterday, I talked a bit about my business goals and operating in a deficit for the first few years. Obviously, it’s not ideal, but these plans are fluid and built on, what I hope, are realistic expectations. I wouldn’t have a very good business plan to say, as a virtual unknown, that I’m going to sell eight million copies by November and then fail marvelously. No, I think modest achievement is the best route in these early, leaner years of development. Besides, like I said, the plan is fluid and open to readjustment as needed. Additionally, all those sunk costs are a one-time deal. Once the book or short stories earn out, it’s all profit after that. Remember, e-books are forever and the more work you can get out there, the more eyes you’ll attract. And who doesn’t love finding a new author and discovering their copious amounts of prior work? So, an initial deficit is OK because you’re looking on capitalizing the investment at a later date. Of course, if you can get an immediate return, all the better, but let’s not to be too delusional simply for the sake of practicality.

Today we’re going to look at the second half of my five-year plan, focusing on production schedule and writing plans, target audience, and goals beyond the initial five years.

And, of course, if you have any suggestions feel free to comment below.

 

Production Schedule and Writing Plans

For the first draft of EMERGENCE, I committed to a 1,000 word minimum per day, for a minimum of five days per week. Often, I was able to beat this daily writing goal, and in less than three months I produced an 86,000 word first draft.

Future first drafts should abide by that same standard. I will allow the work to “rest” for a period of three to four weeks, in order to fully divest myself from the work and re-approach it with a cleaner perspective as I work on the second draft.

Depending on the nature of my first-pass edits as I build toward a finalized second draft, I estimate a period of two to three months between the start of second round edits and submission to a professional editing service, such as Red Adept for novel-length work.

I began working on EMERGENCE in February 2014 and finished near the end of April. What I had not counted on was the production of my short story, CONSUMPTION, the writing and editing of which occupied the first week of June. I had begun editing EMERGENCE in the latter half of May, but paused for the entire period I was singly invested in my short story. As a result, I’ve had to alter my production schedule for my second novel as follows:

June – August 2014: second pass edits and development of the second draft of EMERGENCE
July 1, 2014: submit second draft of CONSUMPTION for content edit and incorporation of edits
August 2014: cover design for CONSUMPTION
August 2014: proofread of CONSUMPTION
September 15, 2014: Submit second draft of EMERGENCE to Red Adept
No later than October 2014: Submit CONSUMPTION for formatting development
October 2014: Release CONSUMPTION
October – December 2014: Review edits and incorporate changes for EMERGENCE
January 2015 – Line Edits for EMERGENCE
February 2015 – Cover design for EMERGENCE
March 2015 – Release EMERGENCE
April 2015 – Begin first draft of MUCKRAKER

This production schedule is a combination of hard and soft dates, with some built-in flexibility. It’s entirely possible that I will be able to complete the suggested content edits prior to the end of 2014 and begin line edits sooner than January 2015. The release of EMERGENCE in March 2015, nearly a full year after the release of its predecessor, CONVERGENCE, is a very realistic goal. Depending on the fluidity of my workflow during this period, it’s possible that my next novel will release sooner than March 2015. And, once all of the editing work is done, I’ll be able to focus fully on my third novel. April 2015 is sort of a last-gasp guesstimate, but I actually expect to be able to begin writing it sooner, rather than later. This timeline can be updated accordingly, as needed.

Targeted Audience

By targeting readers of speculative fiction, I expect to build a wider fan-base than I would by focusing on single-niche market. CONVERGENCE, for instance, is (I think) more of a mystery/thriller/espionage read that just happens to have some science fiction elements in it. I think it has a very contemporary feel to it, and is grounded in a familiar landscape. EMERGENCE continues this presentation, but is geared toward drawing in fast-paced action-thriller readers. Both function entirely under the auspices of speculative fiction.

Horror readers and dark fiction fans are the natural target audience for CONSUMPTION. Again, though, it falls nicely in the speculative fiction category. I think there is plenty of overlap in the sci-fi/horror/thriller genre that my body of work, when taken as a whole, should be able to garner some attention and a devoted readership.

Planned Marketing and Promotion

The first year is fairly conservative. As of June 2014, marketing efforts have been geared toward Twitter and Facebook. An eBookSoda promotion was purchased for cheap ($5), but failed to draw in any sales. I suspect there were a number of factors playing into the lack of success – few reviews available, a lack of promotional price (I kept the price at $3.99, treating the eBookSoda more as an announcement tool than a sale advertisement), and a lack of awareness surrounding my identity as an author.

If another eBookSoda promotion can be secured, I plan on purchasing an e-mail ad blast for the release of CONSUMPTION, which, I think, at a price of $0.99 will make blind-purchasing easier to swallow. Time will tell, of course.

Initially, I will be relying on the books themselves to promote my work. After three or four years, I will begin playing with price adjustments, and hopefully enough positive reviews will have accumulated to consider a BookBub advertisement.

The release of MUCKRAKER would be an ideal time to experiment with cheaper sale prices on both CONVERGENCE and EMERGENCE, in an effort to build up awareness of the forthcoming release.

Web Plan

Having established an official author site, the key will be in maintaining the site’s blog with regular updates and news of forthcoming releases. I expect that platform to be the central stopping point for readers. Of course, I can also be connected with on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

News release announcements will also be made through my mailing list, once that becomes a viable option and I have a healthy number of subscribers to merit its use. My mailing list is still in its infancy, but I fully expect it to grow with future releases. Also, I did not have a mailing list prior to publishing CONVERGENCE, which, in hindsight, was a mistake. I’ll be able to readily advertise the mailing list to buyers of future works and will seriously consider reformatting CONVERGENCE at a future date to incorporate updated links, as well as excerpts of other available works.

Long-Term Goals

The first and foremost of my long-term goals is to make my independent author-publisher production a viable business, with a sufficient annual income, enough to allow me to quit my full-time day job and concentrate on my writing career.

I am approaching these first five years with an eye toward this business as a part-time endeavor, but a full-time passion. As these goals stretch beyond 2018, I would expect to have a demanding readership that relies on me for quality stories, and for the multiplication effect to take a firm hold in both sales and earnings, as well as audience.

So, my primary long-term goal is to make an additional $50K annually, with repeated success, prior to leaving my full-time job and focusing exclusively on writing and promoting my works. By 2020, and even further beyond, 2025, I should have a nice enough catalog of works to draw in more new readers, and have the flexibility to test a greater number of promotions.

So, there’s the plan!

Now, of course, the big question: how successful will I be? Only time will tell, naturally, but at least I have a stronger methodology in place and established goals to reach and parameters to work within. I’ll also be able to conduct routine reviews of these goals over the next few years and chart my progress. If I am successful, I can then make the necessary adjustments in goals. If I’m not successful, I’ll need to take a long, hard look at the plan, figure out where the failings occurred, and set a corrective course and re-plan.

The Five Year Plan, Part II

[For previous entry, see The Five Year Plan, Part I]

Yesterday, I introduced my need for a Five Year Plan, in the vein of Denise Grover’s three-part business plan and Susan Kaye Quinn’s longer-term strategy for managing your own independent publishing business. Go check out the previous post, linked to above, for the links to their articles.

Over the next two posts, I’ll be talking about my own Five Year Plan and briefly discussing my goals, financial plans, production schedule, pricing philosophy, and long-term goals. Hopefully other authors can find this helpful, and if you have any suggestions, concerns, comments, please sound off below!

Here we go!

 

Goal

My goal is two-fold:

1)      Present the public with solid, high-quality reads in multiple genres, under the overarching umbrella of “speculative fiction” (this is, fiction built around a “what if” conceit). My first two novel-length works, CONVERGENCE, and its follow-up EMERGENCE, will both be character-driven, science fiction thrillers. They are in the vein of works by Barry Eisler and Lee Child, with a dash of William Gibson high-tech “tomorrow’s future” technology. Future works may include horror, high-tech political thrillers, and additional novels that expand upon the world-building established in CONVERGENCE and EMERGENCE (collectively known as the DRMR series).

2)      Whereas the first goal is entirely driven by creative forces, the second goal deals with financial success in the arena of indie publishing. I fully expect to operate at a loss on the first two novels, as I will be an unknown name not in only the larger scope of publishing, but within the smaller community of independent author-publishers. Sales-wise, my first-year goals are quite small, bordering on non-existent, but reflect an increase with the publication of subsequent novels over the next five years.

Year One – 2014               100 sales

Year Two – 2015               500 sales

Year Three – 2016            1000 sales

Year Four – 2017              2000 sales

Year Five – 2018               3000 sales

These sales goals are quite modest, and I am not expecting to make a substantial enough living on my independently published work to supplant the income of my full-time day job. However, they are also completely fluid – target goals may be reached ahead of time and allow for readjusted goals as necessary.

Products

CONVERGENCE (sci-fi/thriller) – published (Feb. 21, 2014)
CONSUMPTION (horror, short story) – expected release Fall 2014
EMERGENCE (sci-fi/action-thriller) – expected release 2015
MUCKRAKER (political-crime thriller/mystery/suspense) – 2016
Third DRMR novel or horror novel – 2017

Pricing Strategy

This pricing strategy is meant to reflect the consumer demand, willingness, and perception of eBook prices, particularly in the realm of indie author-publishing. EBooks are cheaper, quicker, and easier to produce. Current etailer platforms allow for 50-70% royalties at higher price points (typically, $2.99 or above).

I believe that $3.99 is a very reasonable price point for a novel-length work that has been professionally edited and formatted. By keeping the price below the $5 threshold, buyers may be likelier to impulse purchase, and perhaps even buy more work in a single sale (binge-purchasing) as my catalog/backlist grows.

Short stories or novellas will be priced cheaply, between $0.99 – $1.99, depending on page count or word length. Ideally, these short stories would help to act as a gateway to longer works and capitalize on impulse purchases for readers of both short stories and cheap reads.

Financial Plan

The plan is to release at least one novel per year. Accounting for current finances, this appears to be a realistic goal. As my backlist of available titles grows, I expect sales to increase in correlation to a widening fan-base.

The first year will operate in the red. The expenses for editing (content and line edits, as well as proofreading), design work, and formatting were around $1500. Priced at $3.99, with a 70% return in royalty earning, I would need to sell roughly 555 novels to break even. Given that I am a virtual unknown with zero name or brand recognition, I’ve set a goal of making 100 sales in 2014, which (based solely on eBook sales) would generate an income of only $270.

I am counting on a multiplier effect to take hold within two to three years, allowing me to break even on my expenses by the third year. Fourth year income should offset production costs entirely, and allow for a positive net income by fifth year sales.

For future novels, I expect to spend $1500 – $2000 in production costs, but will work to reduce cost wherever possible. However, editing and cover design should are premium expenditures and there should not be any corner-cutting in those areas of necessity. For shorter stories or novellas, if CONSUMPTION is any sort of benchmark, I can produce equivalent products for under $500, depending on cost of editing and proofreading. The use of high quality pre-made covers, should I be able to find one that is sufficiently in synch with the story itself, can also be relied upon and help diminish the cost required to but the book to market.

 

Tomorrow, I’ll wrap up the discussion of my plan, so check back for part three in the a.m.

The Five Year Plan, Part I

Last week, I hit my thirty-fifth year on this rock.

One of my big life goals was to be a published author. I’d carried this dream around with me for at least half of all my years, if not longer, and I think this desire really solidified during a high school creative writing course under the guidance of Lisa Hunt. In some ways, I think she was my first fan and first really vocal supporter. I remember penning a series of detective fiction short stories over the course of five assignments, and I put a little “to be concluded” at the end of the fourth story. As we approached that final assignment, she returned our stories and mine had a big smiley face next to my end note with a “Yay!” [I prefer to think that this 'yay' was regarding the resolution of a growing theme that developed across the series and that she was genuinely happy about my work, and not the more pessimistic view of "yay, I never have to slog through another one of these stupid, piece of shit "stories" he turns in...."]

Those short stories have disappeared in the intervening years, but the fundamentals of story-telling that Mrs. Hunt instilled in me have remained. In fact, a short time after finishing that creative writing course, I returned to those detectives to produce my first novel. This was before self-publishing was any sort of viable option, so I did what all other writers of the early 2000s HAD to do and sent that book out to a number of literary agents. I then waited, and waited, and waited, then spent sporadic amounts of time rolling around in rejection letters or being duly ignored. (Mostly the latter.)

It’s probably for the best that I’ve lost that novel with the passage of time, along with many of those short stories. Looking back on it, the work strikes me as immature, although I think the core idea was sound and there might even be enough fodder to someday return to if it has merit.

But, this post isn’t really about looking back, even though I often find my own post-birthday reminisces to be about all the things I haven’t done, the things left unaccomplished, the failures I’ve collected rather than the successes I should be proud of. But that’s a whole other ball of wax.

Now that I’m a little bit older and probably none-to-only-a-little-bit the wiser for it, it’s high time I tried something different by looking ahead. Mostly because I did get to fulfill one of my big ambitions, which was to be a published author. Shortly after 2014 rolled around, I released CONVERGENCE, and went from writer to author-publisher. Which now means, I need a plan.

If the goal was to be published before I hit 35, then I nailed it with little time to spare. But what comes next? What do I need to do by the time I hit 40? Or 45?

Writing is its own pursuit, and that’s fine and noble. However, being an author, and, I think, particularly when being an author-publisher where one individual has to wear multiple hats, a bit more is needed.

Being an author-publisher means running your writing operation as a business, and businesses need, yup, you guessed it, business plans. I need to forecast, I need to set goals, I need to work my ass off to hit my own self-defined levels of success. Success comes in a couple different ways – there’s financial success and creative success – and I need to weigh which is more important at this time, in the immediate, and figure out how one type of success can lead to the other over the next few years.

Hence, my Five Year Plan.

This is a topic I’ve been thinking about since hearing Denise Grover’s interview on the Self-Publishing Roundtable podcast in April. Grover wrote a three-part business plan (part One, Two, Three), which is collected, along with a number of other valuable business tips for indie writers at The Writer’s Guide to E-Publishing. Also, a very timely tweet popped up not long ago on the topic of planning from Indie Author News and Susan Kaye Quinn’s guest post on thinking long-term in the realm of indie publishing. Quinn is the author of INDIE AUTHOR SURVIVAL GUIDE, and the Mindjack trilogy. And I’m pretty sure she gets all the credit for inventing Bollypunk with her The Dharian Affairs trilogy.

In order to figure out how to build my own five-year plan, I turned to both of her very helpful posts, as well. First up was this excerpt from her INDIE AUTHOR SURVIVAL GUIDE, as well as Grover’s own five-year plan and how she created it.

While I’ve recognized the indie publishing gambit as a self-starter business on its own, I have been a bit lazy in carrying out the full implementation of what it means, exactly. My efforts have been limited, and little of it committed to paper or word processor. I keep track of the one-time expenses, monthly net profit, and monthly net sales of my one book across its various outlets in an Excel spreadsheet, and that’s about it currently. Whatever little bit of long-range planning there is rests rather uneasily in my head, which makes setting benchmarks goals and measuring success a rather iffy proposition.

The importance of having a plan in place, rather than winging it, crystallized a bit further earlier this month. Back in Oct. 2013, I had submitted the manuscript of CONVERGENCE to Angry Robot, during their two month open door period. After growing decidedly impatient at the continual delays in decision from the Harper Voyager open sub period, I never expected to hear from ARB. Until, in early June, I did. Angry Robot requested the full manuscript, a rather surprising, if not short-lived, bit of excitement. Now, let me say for the record here, Angry Robot Books is hands-down one of my absolute, drop-dead favorite publishers. They really seem to have their act together, and their cadre of authors that I follow all seem to be really happy with them. If there was one publisher I’d really be enthusiastic about signing with, it would be Angry Robot. Getting an offer to review the full manuscript was no small thing, so I was truly delighted at their reaching out to me and responding well to my effort. However, not wanting to mislead them or risk damaging things later on down the road, I explained that I had already self-published the book. Any chances of having it published by ARB and joining the ranks of Lauren Beukes, Chuck Wendig, Chris F. Holm, Michael Boatman, and Adam Christopher quickly evaporated, but I do have a solid contact now for future works, should I want to pursue a traditional path with them later. And that’s really freaking awesome, I think!

Also evaporated – the chance to have any books in this series published by ARB alongside CONVERGENCE. Which means, no editor, no cover designer, and no marketing or publicity for any past or future DRMR novels. While they expressed a desire to see any future work not in the DRMR series (and I’ll certainly consider them, once I approach those future ideas), as far as this brand of books go, I’m on my own. And it’s simply not enough to stay the course and do what I’ve been doing.

When I set out with publishing CONVERGENCE, the intent was to stick with self-publishing for the long hall. Nothing has changed in that regard, although there is certainly potential to grow into more of a hybrid-author model, rather than purely independent. And with CONSUMPTION on the docket for a fall release, and EMERGENCE dropping in 2015, I really need to sit down and examine the state of affairs of this thing I do.

So, the plan. Much needed.

And I’ll be talking about it some more tomorrow, so check back then!

UPDATE: Part II is now live.

Where to Find Me

Facebook has become a bit of a headache lately, with the service opting to focus more heavily on filtered feed content, advertising, and promoting paid posts over basic updates and content.

As such, I started dabbling a little bit with Google+ recently and figured it might be a good time to post a comprehensive list of all the various ways you can find me online. It’s always nice to hear from readers, so hopefully those of you out there will connect and engage.

You can find me here at this blog, obviously: http://michaelpatrickhicks.com. You can subscribe to the site or follow by e-mail over on the right. Feel free to check out previous blog posts in the archives and drop a line in the comments at the bottom. There is also a Contact button in the upper menu that you can reach me at. In the future, I expect to be making greater use of my mailing list, so feel free to sign up on the upper right-hand side, or by clicking here.

On Google+ http://plus.google.com/u/0/118298043352697628891/posts

Twitter: http://twitter.com/MikeH5856

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7909523.Michael_Patrick_Hicks

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authormichaelpatrickhicks

Anyone of these options is a great way to stay up to date, and I’ll have some big announcements on future works in the coming months that you won’t want to miss!