Michael R. Miller's Blog, page 4

Amazon May Madness – Worth it?

During May this year, The Dragon’s Blade was put on a promotional Amazon sale for the first time. This was a major experiment and one of the main reasons I turned to Acorn Independent Press when publishing the book. Normally large scale promotional deals are not available for self-published authors. In fact, outside the Kindle Countdown Deal and Bookbub, few come to mind, but please correct me if I am wrong.

So how does it work? Well, Acorn are treated by Amazon as a ‘white gloved’ account holder. White gloved accounts most commonly refer to agents who publish their clients’ novels directly to Amazon. The idea is that there is already a quality check barrier in place by the agent, or in this case, by Acorn, and so Amazon offers the chance to apply for sales much like larger publishers.

When an opportunity to apply came up, we submitted The Dragon’s Blade and thankfully were successful in getting into the UK May Madness sale. Amazon reduced the book from £3.99 to £0.99 for 21 days and began promoting it as part of the sale. Although I am not sure exactly how Amazon went about promoting the sale, whatever they did worked, as book sales spiked in ways they never would have if left alone.

So let’s look at some numbers. Prior to the start of the sale I had 479 adds on Goodreads and my highest climb in the UK Kindle store was perhaps #50 in certain categories and around #3,000 in the overall store. After the sale I had 650 adds on Goodreads and my rankings peaked in the top 5 in my categories and #187 in the overall store. But rankings are tricky things. The actual number of books sold was just under 900.

Selling that many books – in one month and in the UK alone – is definitely something to be pleased about. But this was diminished somewhat by the reality that the book was up for 99p, which works out as only 41p for me. This is still far more than you would make by reducing the price of the book yourself, however. Normally a book priced at 99p falls into the Amazon’s 35% royalty rate, whereas if it is discounted as part of a selected deal you still retain the 70% royalty rate regardless of the discounted price. All in all I made about £369 from the sale or roughly the equivalent of 185 sales at regular price. In cold financial terms the sale wasn’t able to recuperate the money I have given Acorn from their small cut in the total sales since publication last year. However, whether you go traditional or indie, getting exposure as a new author is insanely hard. Those 900 sales in such a short space of time will boost visibility, the number of reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and hopefully spread more word of mouth. Prior to the sale I had 38 reviews on Amazon UK and now I have 50.

If you are wondering whether reviews are actually useful then I’m here to tell you, they are. As an example, in order to submit to this UK May Madness sale a book had to have a minimum of 25 reviews on Amazon. Though this may seem like a low figure, in reality so few books even make this mark that it is actually very fair. It’s tough out there folks. I’ve also read that other Amazon algorithms only kick in once you reach 50 reviews; others claim you need 70 or more for that. Regardless, reviews are essential for the life of a book. If it doesn’t reach certain numbers then Amazon won’t notice it and the book will become buried. If you want to help out new authors, I cannot stress enough how important it is to review and rate a book on Amazon and Goodreads if you enjoyed it.

Was the experiment a success then? Absolutely. It has helped ease my mind about keeping the book under Acorn’s distribution and with any luck we can continue to get into new promotions and gather even more readers. If you’re a self-published author or considering it, you may want to investigate whether indie presses can offer similar deals. You may also find it worthwhile and beneficial.

For the sake of fairness, I should note that such Amazon promotions require you to be Amazon exclusive to submit and stay exclusive for 90 days after the sale. This is Amazon throwing their weight around a little but for me it has been worth it. I could count the number Kobo sales on my hand before that.

Book Signing – Announcement

I’m very excited to let the world know about my first book signing event. It will take place at Queens Park Books in London on the 15th of June. So if you are in the London area do come along. There will be food, drink, readings, books and me! Do ask me all the difficult questions you can think of.

 

That’s 15th of June at Queens Park Books from 6:45 – 9pm

Address: 87 Salusbury Rd, Brent NW6 6

Amazon May Madness Sale – The Great Experiment

Just a note to let everyone know that The Dragon’s Blade: The Reborn King will be in Amazon’s May Madness sale in the UK and only £0.99 until the 22nd of May.

I plan to write up a longer post after the sale is over looking at what impact it it has and whether these things can be considered worth it for someone in my position i.e. an essentially unknown debut indie author. There will be numbers and stuff.

 

World Building – A General Insight

I was very pleased to be invited to guest blog for Bookwraith Reviews on the topic of World Building in fantasy. You can go read the full post here.

The London Book Fair – Is It Worth Going? Some Thoughts For Writers.

Last week the London Book Fair (LBF) dominated the twitter feeds of anyone in the UK connected to, or interested in, the publishing industry. As I live in London I felt it would be foolish to not trot along, despite knowing full well that this is not an event designed for authors.

I want to make that very clear at the outset. The LBF is not really for authors or writers, nor does it advertise itself as such. I was going out of interest and had the chance to meet up with some other authors and meet some new people whilst there. As a new author with a book still only months old, there wasn’t too much for me to do but it was worth the trip for one of the three days.

However, I worry that many aspiring writers make the journey in high spirits, hoping to land an agent or speak to that dream editor. This really isn’t the place to do that. The agents and editors are busy in back to back meetings. The networking events are potentially a chance to play meet and greet, but likely anyone you would want to make contact with will be busy there too, chasing their own agenda and won’t like being hounded by you. Even if you did say hi, they’ll likely forget about it. Their mind and notebooks will be bursting at the seams. All in all, it would be best to pursue them in the usual way.

If this wasn’t your intention, and you thought the LBF might be a great place to learn more about publishing, be it traditional or independent, well, let me caution you there too. The sheer scale of the event makes it daunting enough, and may leave you feeling more like a tourist looking on the glorious Harper Collins, Penguin or Hachette pavilions, filled with activity but you can’t get close. There are no handy guides or leaflets to break it all down and inform you how it all works. But why would there be? As I said, it’s not meant for authors.

The Author HQ section showed this. It was small, cramped, and placed well away from the main thrum of the fair. Besides the toilets actually. It’s a shame and it would be more encouraging to aspiring writers coming along if more of an effort was made or at least if the content was more informative.

A lot of the talks were pretty wide and vague discussions. Some were even quite disheartening, truth be told. Yes, we know this writing business is a HARD gig. Just writing the first draft can be akin to birthing a hippo and then, as parents say, the hard part really begins in raising it. If you are going the indie route you need to hunt down good cover designers, editors, proof-readers and typesetters. Acquiring traditional agents and editors from publishing houses is its own beast. Then, trying to sell and get the attention of readers is arguably even harder. We get that. At least I feel anyone who is serious about doing this gets it. And if you are serious would you not wish for more in depth talks?

Talk about the percentage breakdowns, talk about how kindle unlimited works, talk about how printers like Ingram link to Gardeners who link to bookstores. Give tips on when it’s best to apply for Bookbub promotions. Talk about what is a realistic volume to expect in your sales; that way people won’t have unrealistic expectations and may not feel so downhearted when thousands of people don’t suddenly rush to buy it. Talk about the best way to contact reviewers, what works and what doesn’t, in a meaningful way, not just ‘you have to spend time contacting them’. It’s all well and good to talk about the ‘mind-set’ required, yet I feel it doesn’t actually inform anyone.

In writing this, I feel that anyone who is serious about publishing, be it traditionally or independently, will already be doing their research. Thus I’m not sure who would benefit from more in depth talks at the LBF, unless they got very niche and specialised but then they wouldn’t have broad appeal. The Indie Fringe which ran online for the first time this year had much more specific information which would benefit any author.

All in all the LBF is what it is and that is a rights fair first and foremost. It shouldn’t change or expand to accommodate writers unless there is a strong desire to do so properly. I do wonder though whether the half-hearted attempts should be dropped altogether, so that hundreds, possibly thousands of aspiring writers do not pay good money, take days off work, spend exuberant rates for coffee whilst there to ultimately get very little.

I’m not writing this as some kind of anti-LBF rant. Writers and fans get the chance to shine at nearly every other convention or festival. The editors and agents deserve to have theirs and it is primarily about doing business. So if you are a fledging writer, just be aware and know what it’s all about. I’d hate to think that anyone who attends leaves feeling worse than when they went in.

The London Book Fair – Is It Worth It Going? Some Thoughts For Writers.

Last week the London Book Fair (LBF) dominated the twitter feeds of anyone in the UK connected to, or interested in, the publishing industry. As I live in London I felt it would be foolish to not trot along, despite knowing full well that this is not an event designed for authors.

I want to make that very clear at the outset. The LBF is not really for authors or writers, nor does it advertise itself as such. I was going out of interest and had the chance to meet up with some other authors and meet some new people whilst there. As a new author with a book still only months old, there wasn’t too much for me to do but it was worth the trip for one of the three days.

However, I worry that many aspiring writers make the journey in high spirits, hoping to land an agent or speak to that dream editor. This really isn’t the place to do that. The agents and editors are busy in back to back meetings. The networking events are potentially a chance to play meet and greet, but likely anyone you would want to make contact with will be busy there too, chasing their own agenda and won’t like being hounded by you. Even if you did say hi, they’ll likely forget about it. Their mind and notebooks will be bursting at the seams. All in all, it would be best to pursue them in the usual way.

If this wasn’t your intention, and you thought the LBF might be a great place to learn more about publishing, be it traditional or independent, well, let me caution you there too. The sheer scale of the event makes it daunting enough, and may leave you feeling more like a tourist looking on the glorious Harper Collins, Penguin or Hachette pavilions, filled with activity but you can’t get close. There are no handy guides or leaflets to break it all down and inform you how it all works. But why would there be? As I said, it’s not meant for authors.

The Author HQ section showed this. It was small, cramped, and placed well away from the main thrum of the fair. Besides the toilets actually. It’s a shame and it would be more encouraging to aspiring writers coming along if more of an effort was made or at least if the content was more informative.

A lot of the talks were pretty wide and vague discussions. Some were even quite disheartening, truth be told. Yes, we know this writing business is a HARD gig. Just writing the first draft can be akin to birthing a hippo and then, as parents say, the hard part really begins in raising it. If you are going the indie route you need to hunt down good cover designers, editors, proof-readers and typesetters. Acquiring traditional agents and editors from publishing houses is its own beast. Then, trying to sell and get the attention of readers is arguably even harder. We get that. At least I feel anyone who is serious about doing this gets it. And if you are serious would you not wish for more in depth talks?

Talk about the percentage breakdowns, talk about how kindle unlimited works, talk about how printers like Ingram link to Gardeners who link to bookstores. Give tips on when it’s best to apply for Bookbub promotions. Talk about what is a realistic volume to expect in your sales; that way people won’t have unrealistic expectations and may not feel so downhearted when thousands of people don’t suddenly rush to buy it. Talk about the best way to contact reviewers, what works and what doesn’t, in a meaningful way, not just ‘you have to spend time contacting them’. It’s all well and good to talk about the ‘mind-set’ required, yet I feel it doesn’t actually inform anyone.

In writing this, I feel that anyone who is serious about publishing, be it traditionally or independently, will already be doing their research. Thus I’m not sure who would benefit from more in depth talks at the LBF, unless they got very niche and specialised but then they wouldn’t have broad appeal. The Indie Fringe which ran online for the first time this year had much more specific information which would benefit any author.

All in all the LBF is what it is and that is a rights fair first and foremost. It shouldn’t change or expand to accommodate writers unless there is a strong desire to do so properly. I do wonder though whether the half-hearted attempts should be dropped altogether, so that hundreds, possibly thousands of aspiring writers do not pay good money, take days off work, spend exuberant rates for coffee whilst there to ultimately get very little.

I’m not writing this as some kind of anti-LBF rant. Writers and fans get the chance to shine at nearly every other convention or festival. The editors and agents deserve to have theirs and it is primarily about doing business. So if you are a fledging writer, just be aware and know what it’s all about. I’d hate to think that anyone who attends leaves feeling worse than when they went in.

Bringing Balance – The Unifying Star Wars Theory

Since watching The Force Awakens (TFA), I have been mulling over this idea in my head. Likely many others have touched on it, but I wanted to throw my two cents worth in.

Essentially I will be arguing that, contrary to how it appears at face value, Anakin did not fail or reject his destiny in destroying the Jedi in Revenge of the Sith, only to be ‘redeemed’ later by killing Palpatine. Anakin in fact fulfilled his role perfectly as required by the Force, the very thing which we are told created him. This was all an effort by the Force to balance itself out, and this continues to be the underlying mover of events in the new trilogy. I’ll also let you know what I think the answer to all this might be.

My discussion will focus only on what we know from the films. I believe some of the animated series are also considered canon now, but as I’ve not watched them I can’t take them into account. This shouldn’t affect the conclusion of this theory however. I will be working under the assumption that Supreme Leader Snoke from TFA is either the person who trained Palpatine (i.e. Darth Plagueis) or was trained by Palpatine at some point. It doesn’t seem plausible that such an old and presumably powerful force wielder just popped up on his own between The Return of the Jedi and TFA. At the very least, Snoke has been present all through the timeline of episodes 1-7 even if he has no direct connection to Palpatine. You’ll see why I work under this assumption later.

The Prophecy – The Jedi Got It All Wrong

It will come as no surprise that the Jedi got everything wrong. The prophecy said the chosen one would bring balance to the force – yet Anakin killed them all. This has been seen by many as an anti-prophecy story, where the chosen one fails to live up to expectations. But although the Jedi were very wrong, it wasn’t for thinking the chosen one would bring balance. That much they seemed to get right. What they got disastrously wrong, I think, is believing that ‘bringing balance’ means eliminating everyone with the opposite point of view from themselves i.e. the Sith. If you destroy every person on the other side, that is not balance; it’s actually extremely unbalanced.

If we use the crude metaphor of thinking of the Force being on a set of weighing scales, then at the beginning of The Phantom Menace there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of Jedi on one side and only two Sith on the other. That’s not balanced. By the end of Revenge of the Sith it would seem there are two on either side: Palpatine and Vadar for the Sith, Yoda and Obi Wan for the Jedi. That would mean balance, job done right? Well not if the assumption is correct that Snoke is kicking around somewhere. That would mean three for the Sith and only two for the Jedi, swinging the ‘balance’ over to the dark side, if only slightly.

Fast forward now to the end of Return of the Jedi. At face value, this is how the weighing scales would stand. Palpatine is killed at the hands of Vadar/Anakin who then dies shortly afterwards, leaving Luke as the only force wielder left in the galaxy. Essentially, Sith zero and Jedi one. Again, not balanced. However, if we take Snoke into account, at the end of the original trilogy we are left with one Sith and one Jedi. Perfect balance. Hence the close of the story.

Or so we thought…

The Force As An Active Element

I’m going to take a pause here to talk about the Force (as we know it in the films). It’s often easy to just think of the Force as some unlimited mystical magic that apparently some people can tap into and others can’t. It would appear to be just a reservoir of power or energy, a bit like a strange telekinetic oil well somewhere out in the galaxy that individuals draw from. But that’s not really the case. I think it’s something more.

As painful as it is for many to remember, in Episode 1, Qui-gon Jinn mentions to Anakin that the Force has a ‘will’ which is heard through listening to the midichlorians – you can refresh your memories with the video here (skip to 1:10 or so). If the Force has a ‘will’ that suggests it has desires and goals and speaks to force wielders in order to carry them out. I think this occurs most noticeably in the form of visions.

In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke sees Han, Leia and the gang being held prisoner at Cloud City, and ends up attempting a rescue mission as a consequence. It could be argued that Luke simply sees this because his thoughts are wandering to his friends. However, I think it could be that the Force actively showed Luke this in order to influence his actions. Seeing visions isn’t a consistent thing within the films, however, and it isn’t clear how this happens. Yoda, the most powerful Jedi master, can only say of Anakin’s future that it is ‘clouded’. If visions from the Force could be accessed with training then surely Yoda of all Jedi would be able to see the fate which awaited them. It would seem Yoda is prevented from fully seeing the future in order to stop him clamping down on Anakin’s training. In contrast, Qui-gon Jinn is absolutely convinced that Anakin is the chosen one and must be trained. He’s actually quite zealous about it, going against the Jedi Council’s wishes. Why would Qui-gon have a greater ability to see the future than Yoda unless the Force was allowing him to see it, or showing him it? Now we are not told or shown what Qui-gon sees when he refers to Anakin’s future but it would not appear to be ‘clouded’ as far as Qui-gon is concerned. If anything it is crystal clear to him. Then there is Palpatine who does not see that Anakin will ultimately kill him.

Strikingly, in Revenge of the Sith, Anakin has repeated dreams about Padme dying. This leads to his fear of losing her which pushes him towards Palpatine’s promise of preventing the ones he loves from dying. It could just be a typical story device, where the character is the one who causes their future to come true because they take action to try and prevent it. Still, could it not be that the Force showed Anakin this in order to push him in the direction it wished?

I doubt Rey was present for this either

Finally, in TFA, Rey is given a series of visions about the past when she comes across Luke’s old lightsaber. Some of these are not even directly related to her or her own childhood, as I’m guessing she wasn’t present in that rainy scene where Kylo is killing off the Jedi students. I think Rey’s visions strongly show that the Force actively decides when to influence people via visions, as Rey is not trained in the Force and has the visions involuntary. This variation in how visions in the Force work suggest to me that the Force itself is actively revealing or manipulating information for certain people in order to fulfil its goal.

So the Force is actively trying to balance itself and manipulates people and events in order to reach its goal. I don’t think the Force is a thinking thing, not conscious, but I think it is active.

The biggest piece of evidence of this comes in the form of Anakin’s birth. Anakin is considered to have been conceived by the Force. In essence, it seems the Force simply created Anakin. This is why he is the chosen one. The Jedi assume the ‘chosen one’ would be made for them to defeat the Sith. But if balance is what the Force is trying to reach then it actually created the perfect person to carry out rebalancing the scales. An extremely powerful force wielder with enough emotional volatility to be tempted by and fall to the dark side.

(I know that Lucas was basically shoe horning in the virgin birth which he considered vital to complete his heroes’ journey. But this is just a theory so keep going.)

Tying Everything Together – The Force Awakens

So, if we assume that the Force is actively trying to maintain balance in itself and that Snoke was always around in some capacity, then at the end of Return of the Jedi the scales are evenly balanced. Sadly things don’t stay that way for long.

We find out that Luke begins to train a new generation of Jedi. If he had managed to succeed this would tip the balance of the scales heavily towards the Jedi again. Yet Luke is thwarted because one of his students, Ben Solo, falls to Snoke’s manipulations and becomes Kylo Ren. Presumably Kylo kills his fellow Jedi in training, leaving the scales balanced at Sith two, Jedi one.

Indeed, the very title of the seventh film has some meaning in this. The Force is awakening and acting again because of the continued imbalance. Until the emergence of Kylo Ren, it had been in a balanced, peaceful, possibly dormant state.

I mentioned earlier that Rey is sent visions which help push her to discovering her own connection to the Force and I believe the Force was selective in what it sent Rey. After all, the visions definitely elbow her into thinking that Kylo Ren is evil and that she should associate herself more with Luke and the Jedi. By the end of TFA it would appear we are back at a balance of two Sith and two Jedi.

Conclusion – Beyond The Force Awakens

Now, if this is really all true, then it surely can’t go on forever? Every time there is an imbalance, the Force seems to move events to rebalance itself – but causes untold death and destruction in doing so. Without Force wielders being aware of this, Jedi will continue to try to train more Jedi, the Sith will react in some way to it and both will try to wipe each other out.

But what if the Force could be completely balanced in a single force wielder? What if both the light side and the dark side could meet in one person, who understands the dangers that adhering to an extreme set of beliefs yields. I can think of one character who might already fit the bill.

What if the Force could find balance in Kylo Ren?

At the end of episode VIX, could Kylo Ren be the last man standing, with knowledge of the flaws of both the Sith and the Jedi, and make the choice to be neither but to remain grey; in the middle, both light and dark. In doing so, he would bring balance to the Force.

Thanks For Reading

This theory is just something fun to think about. I am in no way suggesting that 40 years ago Lucas considered this, nor do I think Abrams had this in mind either. A few assumptions have to be made but, when they are, it actually works out quite neatly. It would be a nice way for all the films to be tied together in one long overarching theme.

 

As an author I am probably thinking way too heavily on this, but I thought I’d share it and hopefully it can spark a little discussion. This theory was also posted to reddit.

First Official Events – Library Talks!

It is a nervous thing, talking to a room full of people. Fifteen minutes can seem like a long time, never mind a full hour. Then imagine the people you are talking to are fifty school kids aged 11 to 12. Quite nerve-racking indeed.

This is the situation I found myself in recently when I held an event at my local library while I was home for the holidays. Once I got started I was SO GLAD to have done it. The kids were really enthusiastic. They had some tricky questions for me and seemed to respond to my readings. I also talked a little about the craft with them. A whiteboard was at hand to allow me to scribble up some tips on writing. Hopefully some of them were able to take something away from it, as, looking back, I can never remember being taught creative writing at school. There were also some cool group photos, as you can see.

The next day I did a slightly more in depth discussion for an adult group. I was taken aback when a couple of notepads were pulled out. People were actually jotting down what I was saying. This was somewhat surreal. It was also an incentive to think carefully on what I said. I’m still in this odd stage where my book is out but not many people are aware of it or me. I hadn’t appreciated at all that people might actually take what I say seriously. Yet, I had a tiny glimpse of what it must be like for a well-known author. People do hang on your words. I’ve done it to several of my own favourites. It seems vital then, to me, that you should be optimistic, encouraging, insightful and genuine in your approach to such things. You really should give back where you can.

After it was over, one woman in the audience approached me to say she was impressed at how little I talked about myself. I’ve heard it said that writers must be vain in some manner. How else do you have any belief that people will enjoy your work? Whether this is completely true or not, my small audience’s reaction is good real life evidence that people will be far more engaged with you if you aren’t just self-promoting non-stop. It is obvious advice for the social media sphere but useful nonetheless to see some results in the real world.

Overall I had a damned good time. I could not have asked for a better first experience in holding events as a young author.

Thanks is due to the librarian Jacqui Dunbar for organising these events.

YOUR FIRST BOOK LAUNCH: WHAT NOT TO DO – Guest Post by Tom Toner

Today I have a guest post from Tom Toner, author of The Promise of the Child. I met Tom at the Super Relaxed Fantasy Club and it turns out that we published very close to each other date wise. I asked him about his experience and this was his rather candid response below. I thought it would be nice to share the experience. It’s certainly good to hear that I’m not alone in feeling clueless at times. Over to Tom…

One of the strangest things about my debut week was that it wasn’t actually my debut week. I’d clean forgotten (along with almost everyone I know, I think) that my first novel, The Promise of the Child, had already been published and available to buy for almost two months by the time I’d signed my first sale copy. Promise came out in the US in September this year, released on a relatively small scale by my excellent but equally small publisher Nightshade, and I tended only to remember this when people asked me what I did for a living, or – for some peculiar reason – in the shower. What I do remember, however, is never imagining there would be a launch for it. Not once.

I think this is because I didn’t know anything about the industry: I assumed only well known authors did signings and launches and events, because only well known authors would have the required amount of fans to make those events worthwhile. Debuts, I thought, were quietly slotted onto the bookshelves of a few shops or thrown around experimentally in the hope that a few might stick. So when I sat down for the signing and noticed not one but two water bottles on the table next to my sharpie (sealed and everything), I was actually a little blown away.

And I really mean that. It’s little things like those couple of water bottles that continually surprise me. What was entirely unexpected when writing the novel was the notion that people would care, that they’d want me to hang around at public events, or speak about things other than the work itself. When I recently went up to Manchester for Gollanczfest (Gollancz’s wonderful yearly event), I was amazed to find they’d given me a hotel room containing two double beds and a phone in the loo (reading that back, I’d like to stress that only the phone was in the toilet). Obviously, because I’d never had an employer provide me with anything more than free toast and a manky red fleece (Tesco), I jumped up and down on both of the beds like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone for a good minute or so, wildly excited at what the grownups had accidentally left me with.

I had such a great time because I’ve always managed to keep my expectations very, very low. I probably enjoy in-flight meals so much for precisely the same reason. Like every writer that didn’t explode out of the womb with a book contract, you know what it’s like not to be published, not to receive any attention at all. Therefore the minute anything, and I mean anything happens (someone taking an interest in your book, an event that you’ve been specifically invited to, free tea or coffee or a SANDWICH, god forbid even a review*), you tend to hit the roof with excitement. As with everything in life, I suppose, put what’s happening into context and you realise it’s extraordinary.

So, too, with sales. It’s easy to forget how high you’ve climbed just by getting the damn book finished, but, when you remember, sales don’t seem to matter so much anymore. I’m in that strange limbo country where there are no figures available to trouble me yet, but my greatest worry – truthfully – is that I’ll let down the people that went out on a limb for me; my editor, my agent and my publishers. It’s very easy (as I’ve found) to shrink away all bashful and shrug off the publicity – and in many other avenues of life that’s a perfectly fine response – but there’s more than one person counting on the sale of my work now. So, not long after signing my contract, I realised I had to be a professional, dammit, and take every opportunity I could.

This resolve, however, brought me ever closer to one of my major fears – the understanding that the more I advertised it, the more likely it would be that people I knew would find out about – and possibly even read – my book. To be clear: I know a lot of folks who feel either indifference or downright loathing towards SF novels. If they didn’t think I was a bloody idiot before (and quite a few did), then they probably would now. As the big day drew closer I found myself growing more and more anxious, more convinced by the hour that I hadn’t polished it thoroughly, hadn’t made it accessible enough for the non-readers that wanted a copy. I was very happy being published in a country where I know comparatively few people, as if I was writing only for proper SF fans. With a sudden horror it occurred to me, too, that my children – should I have any – would probably pick the book up at some point to see what their embarrassing dad had written when he was younger. I really didn’t like that thought, and short of doing a George Lucas (tampering with the material and releasing new editions every ten or twenty years, which is a tempting idea) I understood I had absolutely no choice, if I really wanted to be an author, but to forget about it.

THE LAUNCH

To start with I got some advice. I asked an old, grizzled staple of book launches, the marvelous author Jon Wallace, who told me everything I needed to know and what to expect. Then I overdid it. I booked a particularly large venue and spent far too much on a drinks budget, which meant I had to invite a lot of the very nice people who just didn’t give a flying fuck about science fiction. I was terrified.

My one piece of advice for the new author would be to treat the launch like any of the book’s other production processes, most of which would have happened in absolute solitude. Getting the novel from a single idea to (in my case) a 160,000-word manuscript was a private struggle – until my agent came along there was basically nobody else involved. Sitting at the signing table, I took a moment to look at the book as it lay in my hands and remember what I’d been through to get it there, and after that I felt completely fine.

By the end of the night I couldn’t work out what had worried me so much. Sure, some of the non-SF fans made faces as they examined the blurb, but I didn’t mind. It’s an eccentric book, I’m told, even for the genre, and getting them to try it without prejudice would be damn near impossible. They’d paid for it, after all: it was theirs to like, or not like, as they pleased – but no longer mine to take back.

The next day I took a very hungover walk to the nearest Waterstones, thinking on all this. After a bit of searching I found a copy cuddling in right next to a huge row of Tolkien books. Another outcome I’d never imagined. I wondered then why more authors don’t change their names to something middle of the shelf, just at eye level. I had a little look at it for a while, examining the cover and slotting it back in to get a view of how it seemed on the shelf, and was pleased. Do that for any more than two minutes and there’s something certifiably wrong with you, though, so I left, sort of happy, and that was that.

*Unless, of course, the review’s a bad one, then it’s like having poo thrown at you by an angry chimpanzee.

You can check out Tom’s work over on at amazon here and follow him on twitter @Tom_Toner – maybe you’ll even catch a glimpse of a copy the next time you’re browsing Waterstones.

First visit to the Super Relaxed Fantasy Club

It was a hellishly busy November what with the book coming out, multiple visitors, birthdays and picking up some part-time work but things are settling down now. Although the month was extremely busy, one of the highlights had to be my first experience of the Super Relaxed Fantasy Club (SRFC).

I first found out about the group whilst at FantasyCon. They meet once a month at a very swish rooftop bar in London. There are readings from authors and lots of good chat over beer and wine. This is the link to the facebook page for anyone interested in finding out more.

It is an amazing get together for writers at all levels and includes editors, agents and some lovely people from Waterstones as well. Basically if you are an aspiring fantasy writer then there is no better group in London to take part in. It is also very relaxed, as you might have guessed.

Readings on the night were from debut author Tom Toner, reading from his Promise of the Child, and Elizabeth May, reading from a secret as-yet-unknown work in progress. Both were great by the way.

Looking forward to the next one and maybe I’ll see you there.