I.H. Laking's Blog, page 12

3 Things I’ve Learnt About Self Publishing.

Recently I wrote a short reflection on what I’ve learnt as a writer so far, and today I wanted to focus on the other side of my writing coin: Self Publishing. I won’t go about everything I’ve learnt, but here are a few tips that I think are cool.

1. Self Publishing is super easy.

Yes, would you believe it? I was amazed by how easy it was for me jump on to Kind Direct Publishing and get started. This has been a good and bad. It’s good because it’s simple. It’s bad because it’s tempting to put something out there before it’s ready.

2. Building a Twitter following is reasonably simple. But there’s a catch.

I had 20 followers a month ago. Now I’m almost at 600. How? Well it turns out there are heaps of authors on Twitter just dying to connect and cheer each other on. I’ve found heaps of like-minded people who’ve been happy to follow me. The catch? If you follow the same path as me, you’re most likely not looking to sell your book to other authors, and a lot of authors on Twitter just tweet about their books. So your newsfeed may become… interesting. Does spamming other authors with your books work? Well, I’ve tweeted a little bit about my books (quietly) and I haven’t had a single purchase via Twitter that I know of yet… but you never know! I just just know that I’m not about to start tweeting about my AMAZING 5 STAR BOOKZ all the time.

3. Actually getting people to start buying your books is the tough part.

People won’t just buy your book because it’s on Amazon. They need social proof (reviews), a compelling cover (blah blah blah book by its cover) and a compelling price point. I still haven’t got that perfect mix, but I’m on my way. The cover for The Vanishing Villa was designed via Artcorgi, and has helped shift a few more units for me – well worth paying for.

So those are just a few of the things I’ve learnt so far. I’m realistic about how many books I’ll sell at the moment, and I’m keeping my attention on finishing the final novella in the Inspector Ambrose series. It’s a blast taking this journey. Can’t wait to see where it leads to next.

Unless “next” is desperately tweeting about why you should buy my book. Then count me out!

Mansfield Manor: The Beginning of the End.

It’s almost complete!

My storyline of first murder mystery is nearing its climax, which is a fantastic feeling. The main issue I have now is making sure that I’ve bought all of the characters into the story effectively, and kept a consistent narrative around the murder. This afternoon I’m focusing on a couple of scenes that I skimmed through, and finishing the story off well.

It’s nice to be approaching the end of the initial creative process. This story is going to be both the longest and (in my opinion) the most complex Inspector Ambrose story yet, and it’s been taxing to weave all the twists I’ve wanted through the narrative.

With a little luck, it’ll be first draft complete by the dinnertime. Cross your fingers; I know my draft-writing is your number 1 priority!

In somewhat related news, The Vanishing Villa got a smashing 4-star review this week! You check it out here.

Mansfield Manor: How a story grows and develops.

I’m now into my third week of writing for my first draft of The Murder at Mansfield Manor, and it’s been real.

My first murder mystery has developed quite differently from my last story, where I found myself having to retrace my steps a lot during the drafting process. This time, I’ve found that initial planning has helped me to keep my focus clear and my purpose central in each plot point. The process so far:

- Develop the story goal, motivations, and new characters.

- Write a simple plot outline.

- Draw a ridiculously poor map of Mansfield Manor and the surrounding area.

- Attempt to put a few scenes together

- Revisit the map, test plot for any issues.

- Write the first draft.

The process has resulted in 16,500 words to date, with a solid plot line. I’ve jumped forward to write a few extra bits when I’ve felt particularly inspired, but otherwise it’s been a matter of linear story progression, with some extra elements getting pulled in along the way.

The great thing about the Inspector Ambrose stories is that each one has introduced a new element of the world he inhabits: Mrs Milliard’s Mech has Mechs(!), The Vanishing Villa introduces a very important villain (I haven’t actually told anyone that before…) and Mansfield Manor ties in the Eastern Empire.

So this story has grown and developed naturally, but each of the Inspector Ambrose stories is slowly building a wider world, layer by layer.

Here’s to first draft completion in the coming days!

Mansfield Manor: 10,000 Words of Murder Mystery Goodness.

Whew!

It’s been an epic few days for writing, and tonight I took a bit of time out to plot another story, before having a crack and getting The Murder at Mansfield Manor over 10,000 words.

Now that I’ve written the actual murder, the story is gathering pace. It’s going to need editing for pacing, but it’s great having everything down. I also found myself completely changing the aspects of one character in the middle of a scene – just because it felt natural, and will make much more sense in the story’s context.

Mansfield Manor is set during The Freeze, so I’m making every effort to paint the venue as warm and inviting, despite the sinister happenings that are taking place. The hardest part will be keeping the word count down now – I’m fairly certain it’s heading over 20,000 words at this rate.

Good times all round!

The Vanishing Villa: New Cover is Live!

What a fantastic result.

The Vanishing Villa’s new cover features a scene from the heart of the story, with Ambrose, Percy and a Dwarf Mech. I love how the cover illustration captures the feel of the moment, and the way that Louie Zong from Artcorgi captured what I asked for.

It’s weird seeing a character coming to life in an illustration when they’ve only ever lived in your imagination, but immensely satisfying as well. In short, I’m stoked and hope that this cover will encourage more people to dive into the world of Inspector Ambrose and the Empire.

I’ve got a long way to go: my experience as a writer so far.

It’s been a wild few months.

Around June this year, I decided to try my hand writing fiction. I had been writing my blog for the past few months, but an idea for a short story had been milling around in my head for quite some time. With my wife away for the weekend, I decided to put my head down and smash it out over the course of two and a half days. This resulted in a detective story that ran to about 10,000 words, which I’ve self-published on Amazon. I’ve also written two other stories since then.

The thing is, I thought I knew quite a bit about writing when I started out. As I’ve gone on, I’ve realised a few things:

1. I love writing fiction.

This might seem like it’s not a big deal, but I’ve been writing blogs and political analysis for years. I wish I’d given fiction a shot earlier.

2. Editing is a large part of the work.

It’s not enough to just write a great story. Refining it takes a lot of time and concentration. When you’ve written a story, it’s like a rough diamond; you gotta polish that thing for a long time to get it just right.

3. I’ve got a long way to go.

I’m learning to be more concise. I’m figuring out ways to tie my stories together better. I’m reading more books to expand my understanding of what makes a great story. All of these things highlight to me how little I know, and how far I’ve still got to go.

So that’s where I’m at. I’m currently 6,500 words into my final story in my detective series, and it’s looking like it’ll be the longest yet – but also the best. I’m loving this journey, even though I feel I’ve only taken my first few steps.

Mansfield Manor: The Drafting Process.

My latest short story continues to take shape.

The Murder at Mansfield Manor is taking a long time to start – and that’s because I’m determined to get the foundations right before I get into my storytelling.

The main issue I encountered with my previous story, The Vanishing Villa, was a lack of clarity around the exact order of events, and how they should play out. This time, in order to avoid the hard toil that came with major edits and rewrites, I’m starting with the basics:

A full list of characters, motivations, goals
A story flow, including key events and parallel happenings
A map

Yes, a map. I sat down last night to write and realised that without a clear map of the manor, I would be forever changing things. So I pulled out some paper and sketched the manor in all its glory. It took me an hour, but it was totally worth it – I now have a clear idea of where everything is taking place.

This has cleared the way to continue writing the story with clarity and punch. I’ve already clocked in almost 5,000 words, so the next few weeks should yield the full tale along with all its twists and turns.

Updates & a Great Day on Amazon!

Today was surprisingly productive!

I spent this afternoon doing a thorough second edit of The Vanishing Villa for style and clarity. I shaved around 300 words off the manuscript, and there are certain points of the story that flow better now.

I also got a bit more work done on Mansfield Manor, but the more I work on it, the longer it seems like it’s going to be in order to tell the full story. But we’ll see.

And as a side note, it was my best ever day for sales today. Woohoo! Now back to writing!

Mansfield Manor: First Look & 2500 Words.

The Murder at Mansfield Manor is beginning to take shape. Tonight I finessed my timeline, and then dug in to write 2,500 words. It’s definitely looking likely that this story will run to 20,000 words at this rate. I’m happy with the way things have started out, and now it’s about getting in to writing over the coming weeks.

Since things have started coming together well, here’s part of a preamble scene for the story. I like how it flows, but please be aware that it may not make it to the final edit. Enjoy!

The Murder at Mansfield Manor.

Free EBooks & First Milestones

It’s now three days into the free promotion period for The Vanishing Villa, and over 150 people have downloaded a free copy. I’m happy with how things have gone, it’s awesome to know that somewhere out there, someone is (hopefully) reading and (potentially) enjoying one of my stories. Feel free to grab a copy – it won’t be free again for a long time!

And if you, oh anonymous internet reader, felt inclined to also review your free copy of The Vanishing Villa, or tweet about it, or whatever, I would be eternally grateful!

While The Vanishing Villa has been rocking on the Amazon store, I’ve set about planning and writing for the final short story, and based on how things are going, it’ll end up a similar length to the second story – I’m banking on around 20,000 words. At the moment I’m 1,500 in and the scene is slowly being set. This story will be quite different from the first two in terms of characters, but I won’t give away too much just yet!

Here’s to a successful final period for The Vanishing Villa giveaway, and a smooth journey writing the final story.