Scott Nicholson's Blog, page 19
September 17, 2011
The Scott Nicholson Thought Silo
I read a cool post the other day (sorry, the link is long lost in the social media slipstream) that talked about "thought silos," and how the Internet has made it possible to find the people with whom you agree. The thrust of the post was that this also tended to isolate us from challenging or oppositional views. After all, it's natural that we find the tribes that welcome us and avoid the hostile ones.
Sure, there's a price to pay, because it makes us less likely to challenge or examine our own beliefs. We see it in politics with the Red and Blue states--those rarely shift because the climate reinforces the belief systems. I'm the kind of person who likes a passionate discussion--not an argument, but an exposure to conflicting ideas. This was one of the best experiences of my newspaper career, because I was forced to understand many, many viewpoints in my coverage.
An author once said something that made perfect sense to me: People on threads and message boards don't really want to change their minds. They'd rather be validated in their opinions than examine them. Therefore, they go where they can be validated instead of to the places where they are in the minority.
Not me. I don't go to any link or post or news story unless I think I can learn something (aside from purely brain-killing fluff like my NFL addiction). Now, I usually enter a thread with a caffeine-fueled sense of self-righteous indignation, like I know how things should roll and how anyone who doesn't believe me is an idiot. But it doesn't take me long to realize that I am the idiot. Because I see information and add it to my knowledge, and sometimes that's enough to change my mind.
An author emailed me this morning saying she agreed with one of my thread posts (in which I lambasted Polly Courtney for publicly ditching her publisher on the day of the book's launch in a melodramatic snit that may well have been a publicity stunt, but was incredibly crass and petty all the same). This author commented in the thread about her agreement, but later took it down because the other posters had "jumped on her." I replied, "I never go back and engage the enemy, I just drop the bomb and fly on." You can't win. And, ultimately, you're not likely to persuade anyone anyway, because they are shouting to be right. It's like talk radio that mutes any caller that doesn't agree.
Sure, I could have posted my opinion of the Courtney snit here, and probably had half a dozen people show up and agree with me because they like me. But there might have been one person who read that other thread without responding and thought, "Yeah, you kiss and smile at the altar and save your bitching for after the divorce." It's a simple matter of grace and good manners to me, as well as a commitment to professionalism.
I can understand those who are using the incident as a chance to defend the "authorial purity" of self-publishing--largely, self-publishers will hold this position even though almost all of them would turn gleeful backflips at an offer from a big publisher. Again, it's simply self-validation (which, indeed, is largely what self-publishing is all about, from one who has committed it himself). But I also wonder if this is a pervasive indie attitude that has now become inflated to "proof" that publishers don't understand books and authors.
Look at Barry Eisler and J.A. Konrath. They talk about legitimate mistakes they believe their publishers made, and how that has affected their subsequent decisions. But while the publishers were partnering with them, they went out and hustled the books. That's professionalism. I regret some of the choices I made in traditional publishing, but I understand why the publisher made certain choices. While they were publishing me, I loved them. Now I love them like an old high school flame who never put out.
In my thought silo, I say what I believe is right, without debating the political gain or the Klout capital. I owe it to myself to do that. I owe it to the world. True, I can strive for more benevolent language, and a more accommodating platform, but too many people demean their beliefs by adding "in my humble opinion." I know some authors who are like politicians, checking the crowd's mood before issuing even the blandest pronouncement. I am a huge fan of humility, but too much of it turns the world to oatmeal.
In the Scott Nicholson thought silo, you may be right, and you may be wrong. In the Scott Nicholson thought silo, someone like Polly Courtney shouldn't whine unless she is willing to give the money back (and this holds true for every author who complains about the movie version of their book, as well). In my silo, I'll entertain your notion that Courtney had a right to be unhappy with the book cover (which she surely saw months in advance). You do get heard. Sometimes you make me a smarter person. I already know what I think I know. It's the other stuff I'm most interested in.
And my comment section is never moderated...
###
Sure, there's a price to pay, because it makes us less likely to challenge or examine our own beliefs. We see it in politics with the Red and Blue states--those rarely shift because the climate reinforces the belief systems. I'm the kind of person who likes a passionate discussion--not an argument, but an exposure to conflicting ideas. This was one of the best experiences of my newspaper career, because I was forced to understand many, many viewpoints in my coverage.
An author once said something that made perfect sense to me: People on threads and message boards don't really want to change their minds. They'd rather be validated in their opinions than examine them. Therefore, they go where they can be validated instead of to the places where they are in the minority.
Not me. I don't go to any link or post or news story unless I think I can learn something (aside from purely brain-killing fluff like my NFL addiction). Now, I usually enter a thread with a caffeine-fueled sense of self-righteous indignation, like I know how things should roll and how anyone who doesn't believe me is an idiot. But it doesn't take me long to realize that I am the idiot. Because I see information and add it to my knowledge, and sometimes that's enough to change my mind.
An author emailed me this morning saying she agreed with one of my thread posts (in which I lambasted Polly Courtney for publicly ditching her publisher on the day of the book's launch in a melodramatic snit that may well have been a publicity stunt, but was incredibly crass and petty all the same). This author commented in the thread about her agreement, but later took it down because the other posters had "jumped on her." I replied, "I never go back and engage the enemy, I just drop the bomb and fly on." You can't win. And, ultimately, you're not likely to persuade anyone anyway, because they are shouting to be right. It's like talk radio that mutes any caller that doesn't agree.
Sure, I could have posted my opinion of the Courtney snit here, and probably had half a dozen people show up and agree with me because they like me. But there might have been one person who read that other thread without responding and thought, "Yeah, you kiss and smile at the altar and save your bitching for after the divorce." It's a simple matter of grace and good manners to me, as well as a commitment to professionalism.
I can understand those who are using the incident as a chance to defend the "authorial purity" of self-publishing--largely, self-publishers will hold this position even though almost all of them would turn gleeful backflips at an offer from a big publisher. Again, it's simply self-validation (which, indeed, is largely what self-publishing is all about, from one who has committed it himself). But I also wonder if this is a pervasive indie attitude that has now become inflated to "proof" that publishers don't understand books and authors.
Look at Barry Eisler and J.A. Konrath. They talk about legitimate mistakes they believe their publishers made, and how that has affected their subsequent decisions. But while the publishers were partnering with them, they went out and hustled the books. That's professionalism. I regret some of the choices I made in traditional publishing, but I understand why the publisher made certain choices. While they were publishing me, I loved them. Now I love them like an old high school flame who never put out.
In my thought silo, I say what I believe is right, without debating the political gain or the Klout capital. I owe it to myself to do that. I owe it to the world. True, I can strive for more benevolent language, and a more accommodating platform, but too many people demean their beliefs by adding "in my humble opinion." I know some authors who are like politicians, checking the crowd's mood before issuing even the blandest pronouncement. I am a huge fan of humility, but too much of it turns the world to oatmeal.
In the Scott Nicholson thought silo, you may be right, and you may be wrong. In the Scott Nicholson thought silo, someone like Polly Courtney shouldn't whine unless she is willing to give the money back (and this holds true for every author who complains about the movie version of their book, as well). In my silo, I'll entertain your notion that Courtney had a right to be unhappy with the book cover (which she surely saw months in advance). You do get heard. Sometimes you make me a smarter person. I already know what I think I know. It's the other stuff I'm most interested in.
And my comment section is never moderated...
###
September 16, 2011
Writing the Dark Half
Stephen King's fictional character Thad Beaumont in The Dark Half has a great description of what happens to a writer. So anytime you think you have writer's block (i.e., laziness), just remember all you have to do is start the mechanical act of writing and soon you will be lost in the fictional world. Of course, that entire book is an allegory not just of King's writing half, but the addictions he overcame:
"But he learned that, if he kept at it, if he simply kept pushing the words along the page, something else kicked in, something which was both wonderful and terrifying. The words as individual units began to disappear. Characters who were stilted and lifeless began to limber up, as if they had to loosen their muscles before they could begin their complicated dances. Something began to happen in his brain; he could almost feel the shape of the electrical waves there changing, losing their prissy goose-step discipline, turning into the soft, sloppy delta waves of dreaming sleep."
Another analogy I often call to mind is Hemingway's Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea, where the old man starts out rowing in the early dawn all stiff and miserable but knows he will soon row himself warm. Sometimes it really is as simple as dipping the next oar or planting the next word. Over and over.
Don't forget gift card and giveaways here for Be Nicholson's Agent:
Sat, Sept. 10: Insatiable Readers ...Nicholson's Ghost StoriesSunday, Sept. 11: Fang-tastic Books ...Ethereal MessengerTuesday, Sept. 13: Motherlode ...These Things HappenedTuesday, Sept. 13: My Reading Room ...The Skull RingThursday, Sept. 15: Bookhounds
Thursday, Sept. 15: Rex Robot Reviews ...October GirlsMonday, Sept. 16: Castle Macabre...American Horror
###
"But he learned that, if he kept at it, if he simply kept pushing the words along the page, something else kicked in, something which was both wonderful and terrifying. The words as individual units began to disappear. Characters who were stilted and lifeless began to limber up, as if they had to loosen their muscles before they could begin their complicated dances. Something began to happen in his brain; he could almost feel the shape of the electrical waves there changing, losing their prissy goose-step discipline, turning into the soft, sloppy delta waves of dreaming sleep."
Another analogy I often call to mind is Hemingway's Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea, where the old man starts out rowing in the early dawn all stiff and miserable but knows he will soon row himself warm. Sometimes it really is as simple as dipping the next oar or planting the next word. Over and over.
Don't forget gift card and giveaways here for Be Nicholson's Agent:
Sat, Sept. 10: Insatiable Readers ...Nicholson's Ghost StoriesSunday, Sept. 11: Fang-tastic Books ...Ethereal MessengerTuesday, Sept. 13: Motherlode ...These Things HappenedTuesday, Sept. 13: My Reading Room ...The Skull RingThursday, Sept. 15: Bookhounds
Thursday, Sept. 15: Rex Robot Reviews ...October GirlsMonday, Sept. 16: Castle Macabre...American Horror
###
September 9, 2011
Be Nicholson's Agent: Book Blog Giveaways
Congratulations to the winners of the $200 "Like" giveaway. This week the giveaways are moving to the supporting book blogs, and many of these blogs have been helping me since the Digital Stone Ages of 2010. Since some of the posts are still being scheduled, be sure to drop back by here if you need a break from 9/11 commemorations, football, and the demands of little people with big eyes.
Sat, Sept. 10: Insatiable Readers ...Nicholson's Ghost StoriesSunday, Sept. 11: Fang-tastic Books ...Ethereal MessengerTuesday, Sept. 13: Motherlode ...These Things HappenedTuesday, Sept. 13: My Reading Room ...The Skull RingWednesday, Sept. 14: Bookhounds
Sat, Sept. 10: Insatiable Readers ...Nicholson's Ghost StoriesSunday, Sept. 11: Fang-tastic Books ...Ethereal MessengerTuesday, Sept. 13: Motherlode ...These Things HappenedTuesday, Sept. 13: My Reading Room ...The Skull RingWednesday, Sept. 14: Bookhounds
September 1, 2011
Be Nicholson's Agent: $200 giveaway by Scott Nicholson
FIRST WEEK: LIKE ME FOR MONEY!Okay, you might be as lazy as I am. I want to give you $200, and I don't want a lot of hassle. So here's all you have to do between Sept. 1 and Sept. 8. You can do this all at once or a little at a time:
Go to the list of my books at Amazon or in the sidebar to the left, and for each book , click the little "Like" button and then share on Facebook and Twitter (takes two clicks--one click on the "Like," and then a click on the "F" and then click on the "T"). This shows your friends my books.Count the number of books you share--this is your number of entries. The more you share, the better your odds of winning.
Go to my list of books at Barnes and Noble or in the sidebar on the left. Click the Facebook "Like" and "Google+" buttons for each book , which shares that book with your Facebook and Google+ friends. Please click only on books where I am listed as author--not anthologies or people using my name. Count the number of books you share--this is your number of entries.
Add your Amazon shares to your BN.com shares. Email benicholsonsagent@yahoo.com and put in the subject line "Shares: XX," with XX being the number of your total shares. That's all you have to do except sit back and pop the bubbly.
I will add up the shares on Sept. 9, then randomly select a $100 winner, a $50 winner, and five $10 winners, paid in your choice of Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift cards. I'm going to trust you, because who wants to waste time verifying, even though I could probably track you down on Facebook or Twitter? If I get lots of emails but don't ever see the books popping up on Facebook or Twitter, then I will never trust humans again...(oh, how many times have I said that?)
I think that's simple enough. If you have any problems, email me or comment below. Thanks for helping, and be sure to check out the Be Nicholson's Agent support blogs for other giveaways and events.
EVENT BLOGS
Kindle Obsessed ...Liquid FearRex Robot Reviews ...October GirlsWendy's Minding Spot ...Speed Dating with the DeadBewitched Bookworms ...DisintegrationFictitious Musings ...Crime BeatMy Reading Room ...The Skull RingWhat Book Is That? ...Burial to FollowJoJo's Book Corner ...Transparent LoversVvb32 Reads ...Zombie BitsBooked Up (UK) ...Creative SpiritCandace's Book Blog ...The Red ChurchCurling Up By The Fire ...Ghost BoxParajunkee's View ...The Harvest Jenn's Bookshelves ...Drummer Boy
Book Faery ...Flowers
Great Minds Think Aloud ...Gateway Drug
Fang-tastic Books ...Ethereal Messenger Motherlode ...These Things Happened
I Smell Sheep ...Head Cases
Insatiable Readers ...Nicholson's Ghost Stories
Kindle on the Cheap...The First
The Top Shelf...AshesCastle Macabre...American Horror Earths Book Nook...CurtainsKindle in the Wind...As I Die Lying
###
Go to the list of my books at Amazon or in the sidebar to the left, and for each book , click the little "Like" button and then share on Facebook and Twitter (takes two clicks--one click on the "Like," and then a click on the "F" and then click on the "T"). This shows your friends my books.Count the number of books you share--this is your number of entries. The more you share, the better your odds of winning.
Go to my list of books at Barnes and Noble or in the sidebar on the left. Click the Facebook "Like" and "Google+" buttons for each book , which shares that book with your Facebook and Google+ friends. Please click only on books where I am listed as author--not anthologies or people using my name. Count the number of books you share--this is your number of entries.
Add your Amazon shares to your BN.com shares. Email benicholsonsagent@yahoo.com and put in the subject line "Shares: XX," with XX being the number of your total shares. That's all you have to do except sit back and pop the bubbly.
I will add up the shares on Sept. 9, then randomly select a $100 winner, a $50 winner, and five $10 winners, paid in your choice of Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift cards. I'm going to trust you, because who wants to waste time verifying, even though I could probably track you down on Facebook or Twitter? If I get lots of emails but don't ever see the books popping up on Facebook or Twitter, then I will never trust humans again...(oh, how many times have I said that?)
I think that's simple enough. If you have any problems, email me or comment below. Thanks for helping, and be sure to check out the Be Nicholson's Agent support blogs for other giveaways and events.
EVENT BLOGS
Kindle Obsessed ...Liquid FearRex Robot Reviews ...October GirlsWendy's Minding Spot ...Speed Dating with the DeadBewitched Bookworms ...DisintegrationFictitious Musings ...Crime BeatMy Reading Room ...The Skull RingWhat Book Is That? ...Burial to FollowJoJo's Book Corner ...Transparent LoversVvb32 Reads ...Zombie BitsBooked Up (UK) ...Creative SpiritCandace's Book Blog ...The Red ChurchCurling Up By The Fire ...Ghost BoxParajunkee's View ...The Harvest Jenn's Bookshelves ...Drummer Boy
Book Faery ...Flowers
Great Minds Think Aloud ...Gateway Drug
Fang-tastic Books ...Ethereal Messenger Motherlode ...These Things Happened
I Smell Sheep ...Head Cases
Insatiable Readers ...Nicholson's Ghost Stories
Kindle on the Cheap...The First
The Top Shelf...AshesCastle Macabre...American Horror Earths Book Nook...CurtainsKindle in the Wind...As I Die Lying
###
August 31, 2011
Gerard de Marigny: The Watchman of Ephraim
(Gerard is a talented writer but also an innovative, hard-working guy who believes i his message--and is smart about it! I am proud to have influenced him a little, along with other writers. We are all in a learning process, and we all can improve, which is something I learn again every day. Here's Gerard...)
What I've learned from Dean Wesley Smith, John Locke, and Scott Nicholson
Here are three writers from whom I've learned so much – Dean Wesley Smith, John Locke, and Scott Nicholson. An eclectic bunch, no doubt.
Let me give you a breakdown of what I've learned from each, but first, I want to thank all three for their bodies of work and for their advice and support. They are each an inspiration to me as they should be inspirations to all new writers.
Dean Wesley Smith – Dean taught me first and taught me the most about self-publishing. He destroyed the myths I held about legacy publishing and showed me a step-by-step, cost effective way to self-publish. More than that, he drilled into my head that it takes more than one published work per year to become a successful writer.
I remember falling off my chair when I read an article by him where he stated that a fiction writer should write three to four novel-lengths per year. Another newbie writer left a sardonic comment saying, "That's impossible Dean, have YOU ever written four per year?" To which he replied, "Actually, over the last 25 years, I've averaged over four per year." That's a man I'd follow over a hill!
When I finished my debut novel in January, I was so excited I wrote to Dean to tell him. His reply to me was, "That's great, now write another!"
I love that man … and Dean, #2 will be out in September and #3 in December … thanks brutha!
John Locke – I only came across John fairly recently when I saw a few bloggers promoting his _How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months!_. I bought it, read it, and decided that the man knows his stuff when it comes to marketing! I can tell you this; the day after I read John's book and implemented his advice - I IMMEDIATELY saw my sales numbers more than double, and my sales revenue jumped by a factor of 5! I wrote him to thank him and he replied that he's there for me anytime. That's not special to me though. John Locke replies to every email written to him. I admire him a lot for that too!
Scott Nicholson – I saved Scott for last because – well – I wanted to thank him especially for giving me the opportunity to write this piece and have it appear on his site – thanks Scott! He doesn't know this but I've learned a lot from him too. For one – I learned about how to launch a blog tour. Actually, I learned the particulars from another writer-friend of mine, Jeff Bennington, but Jeff learned it from Scott!
I followed Scott on his last blog tour and found that you can be a prolific writer but still maintain your zaniness (Scott's got the BEST hat collection of any writer – I can tell just from published photos of him). The man also puts me to shame. He launched a 90-date blog tour while continuing to write at a frenetic pace. In comparison, my blog tour has 45 dates. I'm only halfway in as I write this and I'm already seeing dead people. Then again, I think seeing dead people may be a normal day at the office for Scott.
Scott befriended me in the kindest way. He emailed me some encouraging words about _The Watchman of Ephraim_ and allowed me to place a link to it in two of his novels – _Liquid Fear_ and _The Skull Ring_.
I'm especially inspired by Scott every day, when I track my Amazon rankings in two of my genres – thrillers and political thrillers and see his novels peppered throughout, starting at the top of each ranking.
As far as prose and personalities go, Dean, John, and Scott are quite different but they have each helped me and inspired me a great deal. What these three successful and prolific writers taught me the most can be boiled down to this …
To be a successful fiction writer you have to write well, write a lot … and let 'em know you've written it! Now rinse and repeat.
Author BioGerard de Marigny is the author of the geopolitical thriller, _The Watchman of Ephraim_, Book 1 of THE Cris De Niro series. The sequel, _Signs of War_ is scheduled for release in September 2011.
Gerard de Marigny resides in the beautiful foothills of Las Vegas, NV with his wife Lisa and his four sons. When not bending an arm with friends at the local pub, he's putting to paper the stories and characters that are alive in his mind.
Author/Publisher SitesAuthor's Website: www.GerarddeMarigny.comAuthor's Blog: SelfPubber's Pub
Social Networking SitesFacebook Page: www.Facebook.com/GerarddeMTwitter: www.twitter.com/GerarddeMarignyGoodreads: www.goodreads.com/gerard_demarignyLinkedIn: www.LinkedIn.com/in/GerarddeMarignyMySpace: www.MySpace.com/GerarddeMarigny
Buy LinksAmazon: Gerard de Marigny BooksBarnes & Noble: Gerard de Marigny BooksSmashwords (all eBook formats): _The Watchman of Ephraim_Personalized, signed copies are available at the author's website: www.GerarddeMarigny.com (all transactions secure via PayPal) ###
What I've learned from Dean Wesley Smith, John Locke, and Scott Nicholson
Here are three writers from whom I've learned so much – Dean Wesley Smith, John Locke, and Scott Nicholson. An eclectic bunch, no doubt.Let me give you a breakdown of what I've learned from each, but first, I want to thank all three for their bodies of work and for their advice and support. They are each an inspiration to me as they should be inspirations to all new writers.
Dean Wesley Smith – Dean taught me first and taught me the most about self-publishing. He destroyed the myths I held about legacy publishing and showed me a step-by-step, cost effective way to self-publish. More than that, he drilled into my head that it takes more than one published work per year to become a successful writer.
I remember falling off my chair when I read an article by him where he stated that a fiction writer should write three to four novel-lengths per year. Another newbie writer left a sardonic comment saying, "That's impossible Dean, have YOU ever written four per year?" To which he replied, "Actually, over the last 25 years, I've averaged over four per year." That's a man I'd follow over a hill!
When I finished my debut novel in January, I was so excited I wrote to Dean to tell him. His reply to me was, "That's great, now write another!"
I love that man … and Dean, #2 will be out in September and #3 in December … thanks brutha!
John Locke – I only came across John fairly recently when I saw a few bloggers promoting his _How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months!_. I bought it, read it, and decided that the man knows his stuff when it comes to marketing! I can tell you this; the day after I read John's book and implemented his advice - I IMMEDIATELY saw my sales numbers more than double, and my sales revenue jumped by a factor of 5! I wrote him to thank him and he replied that he's there for me anytime. That's not special to me though. John Locke replies to every email written to him. I admire him a lot for that too!Scott Nicholson – I saved Scott for last because – well – I wanted to thank him especially for giving me the opportunity to write this piece and have it appear on his site – thanks Scott! He doesn't know this but I've learned a lot from him too. For one – I learned about how to launch a blog tour. Actually, I learned the particulars from another writer-friend of mine, Jeff Bennington, but Jeff learned it from Scott!
I followed Scott on his last blog tour and found that you can be a prolific writer but still maintain your zaniness (Scott's got the BEST hat collection of any writer – I can tell just from published photos of him). The man also puts me to shame. He launched a 90-date blog tour while continuing to write at a frenetic pace. In comparison, my blog tour has 45 dates. I'm only halfway in as I write this and I'm already seeing dead people. Then again, I think seeing dead people may be a normal day at the office for Scott.
Scott befriended me in the kindest way. He emailed me some encouraging words about _The Watchman of Ephraim_ and allowed me to place a link to it in two of his novels – _Liquid Fear_ and _The Skull Ring_.
I'm especially inspired by Scott every day, when I track my Amazon rankings in two of my genres – thrillers and political thrillers and see his novels peppered throughout, starting at the top of each ranking.
As far as prose and personalities go, Dean, John, and Scott are quite different but they have each helped me and inspired me a great deal. What these three successful and prolific writers taught me the most can be boiled down to this …
To be a successful fiction writer you have to write well, write a lot … and let 'em know you've written it! Now rinse and repeat.
Author BioGerard de Marigny is the author of the geopolitical thriller, _The Watchman of Ephraim_, Book 1 of THE Cris De Niro series. The sequel, _Signs of War_ is scheduled for release in September 2011.
Gerard de Marigny resides in the beautiful foothills of Las Vegas, NV with his wife Lisa and his four sons. When not bending an arm with friends at the local pub, he's putting to paper the stories and characters that are alive in his mind.
Author/Publisher SitesAuthor's Website: www.GerarddeMarigny.comAuthor's Blog: SelfPubber's Pub
Social Networking SitesFacebook Page: www.Facebook.com/GerarddeMTwitter: www.twitter.com/GerarddeMarignyGoodreads: www.goodreads.com/gerard_demarignyLinkedIn: www.LinkedIn.com/in/GerarddeMarignyMySpace: www.MySpace.com/GerarddeMarigny
Buy LinksAmazon: Gerard de Marigny BooksBarnes & Noble: Gerard de Marigny BooksSmashwords (all eBook formats): _The Watchman of Ephraim_Personalized, signed copies are available at the author's website: www.GerarddeMarigny.com (all transactions secure via PayPal) ###
August 30, 2011
Amazon @author Beta Test for cool new Kindle feature
I'm one of a handful of lucky guinea pigs (Ted Dekker, James Rollins, Susan Orlean, more) beta testing a new Amazon feature. Basically, Amazon is exploring ways to connect readers with writers and other readers, both on the Amazon author pages and in the Kindle itself. You can ask authors a question and readers can chime in on the conversation, too. I see tons of potential for this--essentially building a Goodreads-type playground right on the Kindle!
Amazon explains it better than I can: http://amazon.com/atauthor
You can also drop by my Amazon Author Central page and ask a question directly. I am right now brainstorming a way to use the new feature in my Be Nicholson's Agent event, with a neat giveaway there.
###
Amazon explains it better than I can: http://amazon.com/atauthor
You can also drop by my Amazon Author Central page and ask a question directly. I am right now brainstorming a way to use the new feature in my Be Nicholson's Agent event, with a neat giveaway there.
###
August 27, 2011
Scott Nicholson's Be Nicholson's Agent giveaway
It's almost September, and you know what that means...autumnal splendor, Labor Day, football, and Be Nicholson's Agent. In the old days, agents sold books to publishers and got 15 percent. Now readers sell books to other readers. I want you to be my agent and spread the word about my books. And I'm giving you 15 percent of my ebook earnings this month.
Here are the participating blogs and the books they are repping. The money will be given away as gift cards to Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner's choice for each event). The best way to follow is to sign up for my newsletter scottsinnercircle-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. I will also make daily postings here, on Facebook, and on Twitter about each day's giveaway.These blogs will also be hosting events and giveaways during the month (and they are cool blogs anyway, so why not follow them?)
Kindle Obsessed ...Liquid FearRex Robot Reviews ...October GirlsWendy's Minding Spot ...Speed Dating with the DeadBewitched Bookworms ...DisintegrationFictitious Musings ...Crime BeatMy Reading Room ...The Skull RingWhat Book Is That? ...Burial to FollowJoJo's Book Corner ...Transparent LoversVvb32 Reads ...Zombie BitsBooked Up (UK) ...Creative SpiritCandace's Book Blog ...The Red ChurchCurling Up By The Fire ...Ghost BoxParajunkee's View ...Forever Never Ends Jenn's Bookshelves ...Drummer Boy
Book Faery ...Flowers
Great Minds Think Aloud ...Gateway Drug
Fang-tastic Books ...Ethereal Messenger Motherlode ...These Things Happened
I Smell Sheep ...Head Cases
Insatiable Readers ...Nicholson's Ghost Stories
Kindle on the Cheap...The First
The Top Shelf...Ashes
Castle Macabre...American Horror
The first giveaway will be on Sept. 1 to spread the word about the contest: $10 giveaways to tweet, $10 for Facebook post, $10 to a random newsletter subscriber. Help me kick it off big and help me give you more money!
If you want to be on Team Scott and get some "promotion internship" as well as a book listing in one of my books (for authors," email me at benicholsonsagent@yahoo.com. Let's rock.
Here are the participating blogs and the books they are repping. The money will be given away as gift cards to Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner's choice for each event). The best way to follow is to sign up for my newsletter scottsinnercircle-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. I will also make daily postings here, on Facebook, and on Twitter about each day's giveaway.These blogs will also be hosting events and giveaways during the month (and they are cool blogs anyway, so why not follow them?)
Kindle Obsessed ...Liquid FearRex Robot Reviews ...October GirlsWendy's Minding Spot ...Speed Dating with the DeadBewitched Bookworms ...DisintegrationFictitious Musings ...Crime BeatMy Reading Room ...The Skull RingWhat Book Is That? ...Burial to FollowJoJo's Book Corner ...Transparent LoversVvb32 Reads ...Zombie BitsBooked Up (UK) ...Creative SpiritCandace's Book Blog ...The Red ChurchCurling Up By The Fire ...Ghost BoxParajunkee's View ...Forever Never Ends Jenn's Bookshelves ...Drummer Boy
Book Faery ...Flowers
Great Minds Think Aloud ...Gateway Drug
Fang-tastic Books ...Ethereal Messenger Motherlode ...These Things Happened
I Smell Sheep ...Head Cases
Insatiable Readers ...Nicholson's Ghost Stories
Kindle on the Cheap...The First
The Top Shelf...Ashes
Castle Macabre...American Horror
The first giveaway will be on Sept. 1 to spread the word about the contest: $10 giveaways to tweet, $10 for Facebook post, $10 to a random newsletter subscriber. Help me kick it off big and help me give you more money!
If you want to be on Team Scott and get some "promotion internship" as well as a book listing in one of my books (for authors," email me at benicholsonsagent@yahoo.com. Let's rock.
August 24, 2011
E-book Covers: Anatomy of Changing My Mind
(Note: Be sure to get on board with Be Nicholson's Agent to get some of my book revenues in September!)My novel The Red Church, the first one I ever published and then self-published, was an easy one--it did well in paperback and has done well in ebook. The title was mine, and the publisher stuck with it, and I liked the title later, too. It was a title I could live with.
Last year, when I got back the rights to The Harvest, it was a title selected by the publisher that I didn't really like, although in retrospect I can appreciate the publisher's goal of trying to develop a brand. The title had been used for other books, was a bit ordinary and non-evocative for my tastes. In other words, the title by itself did not really declare genre, tone, or intended audience. However, I actually liked the original cover the best out of my six Kensington paperbacks, with the cool hillbilly vibe and the green glow.However, being arrogant, I decided I could do better, so I re-imagined the book, going after a science fiction audience. Neil Jackson of Ghostwriter did the new cover and I went with my title "Forever Never Ends," which is one I'd used early on, along with "Metabolism." I thought it would expand my audience, but I think all it did was get lost in space. The cover is professional enough, but not really reflective of the story, and not a little grungy as many Scott products are.
When I went through a brief phase of creating new covers for some of my books, mostly because I recognized how small "book covers" are in the digital era, I played around with a more mysterious, feminine cover and even dabbled in changing to "Metabolism: Forever Never Ends." (In fact, this is the version currently out there in Smashwords, Kobo, Apple, and Sony).Despite one or two surges over the past year, the book remains my poorest-selling novel. As a science-fiction, alien-infection B-movie zombie type of pulp thriller, it probably isn't as broadly appealing as my thriller and ghost stories, yet some weirdos like it best of all my work. I need to find more of those weirdos. So I went back to the original title and a new cover, shaping the new presentation with input from my peeps Vicki Tyley, Guido Henkel, Moses Siregar, Joseph Nassise, Shaun Jeffrey, and David H. Burton.
I will probably work on the author font a little more, but I like weighting the entire imagery to the left, creating a sense of unease with the look space. The Harvest may well stay a niche proposition, but I feel a little better about it now and it fits in with the others. The great thing about the digital age is that these changes are made rather easily, and most consumers are prevented from accidentally buying the book a second time. (I simply overwrote the Forever Never End pages at Amazon and BN and I don't even know if I will bother changing the Smashwords version). The downside is that Amazon now limits the number of keywords to seven, so the price of revision was losing a couple dozen keywords there. We'll see if the change offsets the costs.It's the age of experimentation, now more than ever. Or maybe it was a case of reinventing a wheel that was already round and rolling pretty well. But when you have nothing to lose, why not experiment?
###
The Harvest (under any title) is available for $2.99 at Amazon US, Amazon UK, BN.com, Kobo, and iTunes/iPad/iPhone
***
August 20, 2011
Be Nicholson's Agent! Win 15 percent of my money
I've announced this a little but it's time to get serious. In traditional publishing, an agent earns 15 percent for selling a book to a publisher. I think my readers who help sell my books to other readers also deserve 15 percent.
So, in September, I am giving away 15 percent of my ebook revenues in the form of gift cards to Amazon and BN.com, as well as prizes to supporting blogs. It's simple. Watch this blog for different ways you can enter, simply by spreading the word about my books.
Each one of my books also has a blog serving as its rep, with guest posts, events, and special giveaways at those blogs. There will be other ways to win gift cards, too. No complicated, seven-step keys to entry. Each giveaway will be for one specific action. And this is one to tell your friends about, because the bigger it gets, the more I give away. And in this economy, who doesn't like free money?
I am also looking for core volunteers to serve on Team Scott and help out with the promotion. In return, you get inside tips on marketing and, for authors, a 50-word listing of your book in one of my books for three months. Plus you're still eligible for all the giveaways. Email benicholsonsagent AT yahoo.com to volunteer for Team Scott.
The best way to stay clued in for giveaways is to follow this blog, sign up for my newsletter at scottsinnercircle-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, and follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Google+. Big, fun, and easy, just like me. Be Nicholson's Agent and we all win.
###
So, in September, I am giving away 15 percent of my ebook revenues in the form of gift cards to Amazon and BN.com, as well as prizes to supporting blogs. It's simple. Watch this blog for different ways you can enter, simply by spreading the word about my books.
Each one of my books also has a blog serving as its rep, with guest posts, events, and special giveaways at those blogs. There will be other ways to win gift cards, too. No complicated, seven-step keys to entry. Each giveaway will be for one specific action. And this is one to tell your friends about, because the bigger it gets, the more I give away. And in this economy, who doesn't like free money?
I am also looking for core volunteers to serve on Team Scott and help out with the promotion. In return, you get inside tips on marketing and, for authors, a 50-word listing of your book in one of my books for three months. Plus you're still eligible for all the giveaways. Email benicholsonsagent AT yahoo.com to volunteer for Team Scott.
The best way to stay clued in for giveaways is to follow this blog, sign up for my newsletter at scottsinnercircle-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, and follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Google+. Big, fun, and easy, just like me. Be Nicholson's Agent and we all win.
###
August 18, 2011
Sugar & Spice - The Story Behind The Story
It's just over a year now since the Saffina Desforges Partnership began. And what a year!
It's been a roller-coaster ride so improbable that if we used it as the plot for a novel it would be rejected as unbelievable.
An unknown name (actually two writers collaborating via email from different continents, that met for only the third time just this month) with a novel some of the UK's top agents branded as "unsellable" and "the last taboo" (not to mention, at 120,000 words, too long).
This was the summer of 2010. Of course we'd heard of Konrath and Hocking and the way things were going across the pond in the States, but in the UK the Kindle-UK site had only just been launched, and seeing as no-one actually owned a Kindle in the UK it all seemed pretty pointless.
Besides, we'd been brought up on the dogma that self-publishing was vanity publishing. So we pitched to agents and followed the rules and guidelines, jumping through ridiculous hoops just to get the opening chapters read. Then jumping through more hoops on those few occasions where we got to the next stage.
And when the rejections started coming back we faced the big question all new novelists have to confront: How can professional agents be wrong? They're the "experts" in this business, after all.
Sure, you can ignore the "thanks, but no thanks" slips. No writer can learn anything from a form rejection.
But if the top agents say it's too long, it must be too long. If they there's too many POVs, there must be too many POVs. If they say the storyline is "unsellable," then at what stage does a writer face the truth? Maybe we are just deluded wannabes, and in reality can't string a sentence together for toffee.
But I'd been a creative writing tutor for more years than I care to admit. I'd written for TV, radio and theater, and freelanced as a journalist and travel write. Whatever the requisite number of words is to have under your belt before you can supposedly write a good novel, I had long surpassed that number.
That said, writing a novel is a whole different ball game from writing for theater, or running off a short article about an exotic island in the sun. And I had taken what I believed were the best aspects of theater (dialogue driven) and TV (visual imagery without long descriptive prose; switching between short scenes rather than lengthy chapters; fast paced action interspersed with short breaks of relaxed writing).
On top of this we has Saffi herself, bringing to bear her own unique style. A raw, edgy writer still new enough at the game not to be over-burdened with pointless rules created by the gatekeepers.
The thing is, we knew Sugar & Spice was not the same as the other crime-thrillers out there. But as readers we wanted to read something different from the plodding police procedurals and stereotype serial killer novels that turned up time and time again in the book-stores. So we threw away the rule book and wrote something different.
What we hadn't realized then was that the gatekeepers don't want different. They want safe. What could be less safe than a novel exploring the innermost workings of the pedophile mind? It became clear the gatekeepers did not want it. And if the gatekeepers don't want it, the readers don't get the option. Therefore it doesn't sell, proving the gatekeepers were right.
As 2010 drew to a close we watched, more curious than envious, as fellow Brit indie writers tested the Kindle waters. Not least Lexi Revellian, whose feel-good thriller Remix had already sold 10,000 by the time we joined the e-show. Remix was the first e-book I bought, and I was totally impressed by the professionalism that shone through. I'd been led to believe (as had we all) that e-books were just self-published rubbish (the "tsunami of crap" as Konrath so elegantly puts it), so Lexi's book was a revelation.
Of course it was a totally different story from the dark and sinister insights into the mind of a child-killer that defines Sugar & Spice. The agents' words about our novel being "the last taboo" and "unsellable" kept coming back to haunt us.
But in November 2010 we finally slipped in into the murky waters of the Kindle ocean, where it pretty much sank without trace. We were determined not to give it any artificial boost by getting friends and relatives to buy it and review it, so we told no-one it was there. And for three months we sold nothing apart from the two copies we bought ourselves to see how it looked.
Meanwhile Saffi and I beavered away at other scripts. But half-heartedly. Were we wasting our time? We were still querying agents while Sugar & Spice was on Kindle, but the rejections were still coming back. We had no idea what to work on next. Should we stick with crime thrillers, given Sugar & Spice was so unwanted? Was it the subject matter that was the problem? Or our writing style? Or our non-existent marketing? We had no idea.
Marketing was one option we could toy with, so we started new blogs and began some promotional efforts. Our promotion story, a fairy-tale on itself, can be found over on Kristen Lamb's blog.
Somewhere along the line we started actually selling. Not many. Units became tens. Tens became the first hundred. Had a hundred people really bought our unsellable book? Were we about to get a hundred negative reviews saying they'd been robbed? Were the gatekeepers right?
At this same time another British agent came back positive saying they loved the sample. We sent the full script and a month later they came back saying their reader loved the full book. Would we give them exclusive consideration? We explained we had the e-book on Kindle and had actually sold a few, but they were welcome to exclusively consider the book. Why not? We were hardly expecting a big New York agent to come calling instead. We were fiction novelists, not total fantasists.
It took three months from first contact with that agent to them coming back with their decision. On reflection, despite the glowing review from their own reader, they didn't think it was commercially viable. That's agent-talk for unsellable.
Well thanks, guys. Funny how your own reader thought otherwise. That was three months on exclusive, raising our hopes, stopping us querying other agents, wasted.
Were we disappointed? Well no, actually.
Because in the three months that agent played their agents' games we had actually been selling. The unsellable story that had just, yet again, been rejected as commercially unviable, was now at #2 in the Kindle UK chart. The second best-selling e-book in the UK!
In the time that professional agent had our book under exclusive consideration, only to say it was unsellable, we had sold fifty thousand e-books. We hadn't the heart to tell her.
And the next thing we knew we had one of the biggest agents in New York on the phone wanting to represent us.
Bizarrely, three months, on we still haven't signed with that NY agent or any other. One thing we've learned is that there are good agents, bad agents and indifferent agents. And that the worst thing any writer could do would be to sign up with the first agency that comes along, just because they are "an agent."
The publishing world of 2009-10 is a different planet from the publishing world of 2011, and a writer, if they still need an agent at all, needs one who is living on Planet Publishing 2011-12, not Planet Last Year.
Which brings us to where we are now.
The big "New York agent" (we can't name names at this stage, but they are BIG!) who came knocking for Sugar & Spice bizarrely decided it was "too long", despite a then proven track record of 50,000 sales. They decided they liked our next book, then unfinished, but told us we should not e-publish. Let them have it exclusively for three months.
Yeah, right. Once bitten…
One of the true joys of being indie is sending rejection letters to agents.
That's not to say we're anti-agent – in fact we're still talking to several. We're under no illusions that a good agent, who understands the new publishing world, can help reach markets currently beyond us. But we engage with agents now on equal terms, not as starry-eyed wannabes signing on the dotted line.
Our debut novel, the unsellable story by the unknown writing duo that tackled the last taboo in crime fiction, has now sold close to 100,000 copies without an agent or publisher in sight. It's hit #2 in the Kindle-UK chart on three separate occasions, with over 100 five-star reviews, and has just broken into the top twenty on the Waterstone's e-chart (Waterstone's is the UK's equivalent of B&N).
As fiction writers we necessarily spend half our lives living in fantasy worlds. But when it comes to real life, you just couldn't make it up.
This past week we launched the first of our new crime thriller series, Rose Red Book 1: Snow White. This time we e-publish first and go direct to the only gatekeepers that matter: our readers.
+ + + + +
Sugar & Spice is available on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Spice-con...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sugar-Spice-c...
Sugar & Spice US Edition (American English spellings. US locations. Same great story!) is available on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Spice-bes...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sugar-Spice-b...
Rose Red Book 1: Snow White is available from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-White-crim...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Snow-White-cr...
It's been a roller-coaster ride so improbable that if we used it as the plot for a novel it would be rejected as unbelievable.
An unknown name (actually two writers collaborating via email from different continents, that met for only the third time just this month) with a novel some of the UK's top agents branded as "unsellable" and "the last taboo" (not to mention, at 120,000 words, too long).
This was the summer of 2010. Of course we'd heard of Konrath and Hocking and the way things were going across the pond in the States, but in the UK the Kindle-UK site had only just been launched, and seeing as no-one actually owned a Kindle in the UK it all seemed pretty pointless.
Besides, we'd been brought up on the dogma that self-publishing was vanity publishing. So we pitched to agents and followed the rules and guidelines, jumping through ridiculous hoops just to get the opening chapters read. Then jumping through more hoops on those few occasions where we got to the next stage.
And when the rejections started coming back we faced the big question all new novelists have to confront: How can professional agents be wrong? They're the "experts" in this business, after all.
Sure, you can ignore the "thanks, but no thanks" slips. No writer can learn anything from a form rejection.
But if the top agents say it's too long, it must be too long. If they there's too many POVs, there must be too many POVs. If they say the storyline is "unsellable," then at what stage does a writer face the truth? Maybe we are just deluded wannabes, and in reality can't string a sentence together for toffee.
But I'd been a creative writing tutor for more years than I care to admit. I'd written for TV, radio and theater, and freelanced as a journalist and travel write. Whatever the requisite number of words is to have under your belt before you can supposedly write a good novel, I had long surpassed that number.
That said, writing a novel is a whole different ball game from writing for theater, or running off a short article about an exotic island in the sun. And I had taken what I believed were the best aspects of theater (dialogue driven) and TV (visual imagery without long descriptive prose; switching between short scenes rather than lengthy chapters; fast paced action interspersed with short breaks of relaxed writing).
On top of this we has Saffi herself, bringing to bear her own unique style. A raw, edgy writer still new enough at the game not to be over-burdened with pointless rules created by the gatekeepers.
The thing is, we knew Sugar & Spice was not the same as the other crime-thrillers out there. But as readers we wanted to read something different from the plodding police procedurals and stereotype serial killer novels that turned up time and time again in the book-stores. So we threw away the rule book and wrote something different.
What we hadn't realized then was that the gatekeepers don't want different. They want safe. What could be less safe than a novel exploring the innermost workings of the pedophile mind? It became clear the gatekeepers did not want it. And if the gatekeepers don't want it, the readers don't get the option. Therefore it doesn't sell, proving the gatekeepers were right.
As 2010 drew to a close we watched, more curious than envious, as fellow Brit indie writers tested the Kindle waters. Not least Lexi Revellian, whose feel-good thriller Remix had already sold 10,000 by the time we joined the e-show. Remix was the first e-book I bought, and I was totally impressed by the professionalism that shone through. I'd been led to believe (as had we all) that e-books were just self-published rubbish (the "tsunami of crap" as Konrath so elegantly puts it), so Lexi's book was a revelation.
Of course it was a totally different story from the dark and sinister insights into the mind of a child-killer that defines Sugar & Spice. The agents' words about our novel being "the last taboo" and "unsellable" kept coming back to haunt us.
But in November 2010 we finally slipped in into the murky waters of the Kindle ocean, where it pretty much sank without trace. We were determined not to give it any artificial boost by getting friends and relatives to buy it and review it, so we told no-one it was there. And for three months we sold nothing apart from the two copies we bought ourselves to see how it looked.
Meanwhile Saffi and I beavered away at other scripts. But half-heartedly. Were we wasting our time? We were still querying agents while Sugar & Spice was on Kindle, but the rejections were still coming back. We had no idea what to work on next. Should we stick with crime thrillers, given Sugar & Spice was so unwanted? Was it the subject matter that was the problem? Or our writing style? Or our non-existent marketing? We had no idea.
Marketing was one option we could toy with, so we started new blogs and began some promotional efforts. Our promotion story, a fairy-tale on itself, can be found over on Kristen Lamb's blog.
Somewhere along the line we started actually selling. Not many. Units became tens. Tens became the first hundred. Had a hundred people really bought our unsellable book? Were we about to get a hundred negative reviews saying they'd been robbed? Were the gatekeepers right?
At this same time another British agent came back positive saying they loved the sample. We sent the full script and a month later they came back saying their reader loved the full book. Would we give them exclusive consideration? We explained we had the e-book on Kindle and had actually sold a few, but they were welcome to exclusively consider the book. Why not? We were hardly expecting a big New York agent to come calling instead. We were fiction novelists, not total fantasists.
It took three months from first contact with that agent to them coming back with their decision. On reflection, despite the glowing review from their own reader, they didn't think it was commercially viable. That's agent-talk for unsellable.
Well thanks, guys. Funny how your own reader thought otherwise. That was three months on exclusive, raising our hopes, stopping us querying other agents, wasted.
Were we disappointed? Well no, actually.
Because in the three months that agent played their agents' games we had actually been selling. The unsellable story that had just, yet again, been rejected as commercially unviable, was now at #2 in the Kindle UK chart. The second best-selling e-book in the UK!
In the time that professional agent had our book under exclusive consideration, only to say it was unsellable, we had sold fifty thousand e-books. We hadn't the heart to tell her.
And the next thing we knew we had one of the biggest agents in New York on the phone wanting to represent us.
Bizarrely, three months, on we still haven't signed with that NY agent or any other. One thing we've learned is that there are good agents, bad agents and indifferent agents. And that the worst thing any writer could do would be to sign up with the first agency that comes along, just because they are "an agent."
The publishing world of 2009-10 is a different planet from the publishing world of 2011, and a writer, if they still need an agent at all, needs one who is living on Planet Publishing 2011-12, not Planet Last Year.
Which brings us to where we are now.
The big "New York agent" (we can't name names at this stage, but they are BIG!) who came knocking for Sugar & Spice bizarrely decided it was "too long", despite a then proven track record of 50,000 sales. They decided they liked our next book, then unfinished, but told us we should not e-publish. Let them have it exclusively for three months.
Yeah, right. Once bitten…
One of the true joys of being indie is sending rejection letters to agents.
That's not to say we're anti-agent – in fact we're still talking to several. We're under no illusions that a good agent, who understands the new publishing world, can help reach markets currently beyond us. But we engage with agents now on equal terms, not as starry-eyed wannabes signing on the dotted line.
Our debut novel, the unsellable story by the unknown writing duo that tackled the last taboo in crime fiction, has now sold close to 100,000 copies without an agent or publisher in sight. It's hit #2 in the Kindle-UK chart on three separate occasions, with over 100 five-star reviews, and has just broken into the top twenty on the Waterstone's e-chart (Waterstone's is the UK's equivalent of B&N).
As fiction writers we necessarily spend half our lives living in fantasy worlds. But when it comes to real life, you just couldn't make it up.
This past week we launched the first of our new crime thriller series, Rose Red Book 1: Snow White. This time we e-publish first and go direct to the only gatekeepers that matter: our readers.
+ + + + +
Sugar & Spice is available on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Spice-con...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sugar-Spice-c...
Sugar & Spice US Edition (American English spellings. US locations. Same great story!) is available on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Spice-bes...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sugar-Spice-b...
Rose Red Book 1: Snow White is available from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.com/Snow-White-crim...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Snow-White-cr...
