Game of Thrones
Well, over the Christmas break, I've been catching up. I've started watching Season 5 of Game of Thrones. I'm six episodes in at the moment. I DO like the series. It's gritty, brutal and unforgiving. It also has some very human characters who you can empathise with.
I've been telling myself for a long time I ought to start reading the books. When I was in Smith's just after Christmas I saw the first book on sale for £4. I thought, what the hell - why not? I'm nearly finished The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro and I haven't really taken on a monster read since 'The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. I never read the sequel to that - World Without End because after 'Pillars' I was a bit 'Ken Follett'd out'.
The interesting thing about A Game of Thrones is the first book is about 1000 pages. Looking at the trim size and my own page counts, I'd estimate that the first book of George R.R. Martin series is actually about the same length as my entire 5 book series.
I'll be honest, though I like self-publishing I'd really like to move to the hybrid model and end up in a position where I publish most of my work through the traditional routes. I'd also like to write a longer, more complex series like Game of Thrones, maybe even set in a post-Deathsworn Arc Torea. However would anyone publish it?
I tend to think a journeyman author, dumping a manuscript as long as 'Game of Thrones' on an agent's desk and explaining it's the FIRST book of a SEVEN book series would be laughed at best.
Let's be honest it would have zero chance of being picked up - even if it was amazing.
This leaves me in a situation where ultimately if I want to go trad pub, I probably need to write a specific book. What book? It should probably be a stand-alone novel, which is 85,000 - 120,000 words long MAX. It should probably leave the ending open for an optional sequel but not be a book 1 in a series.
To write this sort of book probably requires a different approach than 'The Deathsworn Arc' it probably needs a degree of planning. Martin spent a long time meticulously planning aspects of Game of Thrones, then altered his plans as he wrote. He calls himself a 'gardener' when asked what sort of writer he is. Neither a planner, nor pantser but something in between.
At the moment I'm bogged down writing scripts for film as part of A363 Advanced Creative Writing. I also don't want to continue Deathsworn Arc until I've had more detailed feedback on book 5. I know what needs to happen, but I'm at a point where I'm thinking, do I try and wrap up the series in one big book? Or spread the ending over two or three titles?
I know some of my readers LIKE my writing, but want to see what else I've got besides Deathsworn Arc. Maybe I should take a break and write something submit to an agent? I sold well over 200 books in December 2017. If the rising trend continues and I can submit a manuscript to an agent at a time when my stats are looking particularly good... Well, that might just stand in my favour. In some ways you might ask why I want to begin publishing through an agent or publisher.
It isn't a financial consideration. I don't think being trad published automatically means you'll earn more. I think in many cases it can mean you earn less. No, I think for me at least, it's a matter of wanting what all writers want - READERS!
I recently took The Last Dragon Slayer out of perma-free. I was getting over 1000 downloads a month, but not that many sales of book 2. I've always suspected this is simply down to people downloading it because it's free, then forgetting about it. Since I've made it a paid book I've sold triple figures of book 1 in only half a month! I've also already had a great month for the rest of the series.
Was going perma-free a bad idea? I don't think it was. At least not at the time. At the moment though I don't think it's the way forward. I sold more books in 2016 than 2017. I did that by giving away tons and tons of copies of book 1. When I sit back and look at the figures though, it was disheartening. I sold a lot of books, but I had a read-through rate of less than 5%. My read-through of rate of books 2 - 3 was over 75%. That's too much of a discrepancy and really proves my suspicion that most people who downloaded perma-free book one will probably never read it.
It's a tough game, writing and publishing. You have to stick at it. And you have to analyse how your books are selling and what's working or not, then be prepared to change your strategy. If you want to make a go of it, you've really got to be prepared to wear a lot of hats.
That's the attraction of trad pub of course. But that's not to say it'll be easy, or that you'll instantly sell a ton of books. It'll still take time. I think ultimately if you want to make a success of your writing career your goals have to be to write more, writer better and to always be prepared to look at your marketing strategy.
Oh, hopefully 'The Temple of the Mad God will have it's paperback edition out this month!
Happy New Year everyone, and happy reading and writing!
Martyn
I've been telling myself for a long time I ought to start reading the books. When I was in Smith's just after Christmas I saw the first book on sale for £4. I thought, what the hell - why not? I'm nearly finished The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro and I haven't really taken on a monster read since 'The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. I never read the sequel to that - World Without End because after 'Pillars' I was a bit 'Ken Follett'd out'.
The interesting thing about A Game of Thrones is the first book is about 1000 pages. Looking at the trim size and my own page counts, I'd estimate that the first book of George R.R. Martin series is actually about the same length as my entire 5 book series.
I'll be honest, though I like self-publishing I'd really like to move to the hybrid model and end up in a position where I publish most of my work through the traditional routes. I'd also like to write a longer, more complex series like Game of Thrones, maybe even set in a post-Deathsworn Arc Torea. However would anyone publish it?
I tend to think a journeyman author, dumping a manuscript as long as 'Game of Thrones' on an agent's desk and explaining it's the FIRST book of a SEVEN book series would be laughed at best.
Let's be honest it would have zero chance of being picked up - even if it was amazing.
This leaves me in a situation where ultimately if I want to go trad pub, I probably need to write a specific book. What book? It should probably be a stand-alone novel, which is 85,000 - 120,000 words long MAX. It should probably leave the ending open for an optional sequel but not be a book 1 in a series.
To write this sort of book probably requires a different approach than 'The Deathsworn Arc' it probably needs a degree of planning. Martin spent a long time meticulously planning aspects of Game of Thrones, then altered his plans as he wrote. He calls himself a 'gardener' when asked what sort of writer he is. Neither a planner, nor pantser but something in between.
At the moment I'm bogged down writing scripts for film as part of A363 Advanced Creative Writing. I also don't want to continue Deathsworn Arc until I've had more detailed feedback on book 5. I know what needs to happen, but I'm at a point where I'm thinking, do I try and wrap up the series in one big book? Or spread the ending over two or three titles?
I know some of my readers LIKE my writing, but want to see what else I've got besides Deathsworn Arc. Maybe I should take a break and write something submit to an agent? I sold well over 200 books in December 2017. If the rising trend continues and I can submit a manuscript to an agent at a time when my stats are looking particularly good... Well, that might just stand in my favour. In some ways you might ask why I want to begin publishing through an agent or publisher.
It isn't a financial consideration. I don't think being trad published automatically means you'll earn more. I think in many cases it can mean you earn less. No, I think for me at least, it's a matter of wanting what all writers want - READERS!
I recently took The Last Dragon Slayer out of perma-free. I was getting over 1000 downloads a month, but not that many sales of book 2. I've always suspected this is simply down to people downloading it because it's free, then forgetting about it. Since I've made it a paid book I've sold triple figures of book 1 in only half a month! I've also already had a great month for the rest of the series.
Was going perma-free a bad idea? I don't think it was. At least not at the time. At the moment though I don't think it's the way forward. I sold more books in 2016 than 2017. I did that by giving away tons and tons of copies of book 1. When I sit back and look at the figures though, it was disheartening. I sold a lot of books, but I had a read-through rate of less than 5%. My read-through of rate of books 2 - 3 was over 75%. That's too much of a discrepancy and really proves my suspicion that most people who downloaded perma-free book one will probably never read it.
It's a tough game, writing and publishing. You have to stick at it. And you have to analyse how your books are selling and what's working or not, then be prepared to change your strategy. If you want to make a go of it, you've really got to be prepared to wear a lot of hats.
That's the attraction of trad pub of course. But that's not to say it'll be easy, or that you'll instantly sell a ton of books. It'll still take time. I think ultimately if you want to make a success of your writing career your goals have to be to write more, writer better and to always be prepared to look at your marketing strategy.
Oh, hopefully 'The Temple of the Mad God will have it's paperback edition out this month!
Happy New Year everyone, and happy reading and writing!
Martyn
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Leila wrote: "Thank you for your interesting message Martyn bringing us up to date with your thoughts. I'm reading 'The Temple of the Mad God' at the moment. I'm so pleased to find the paper back is coming out s..."Thanks Leila! I uploaded the files for book 5 today. I need to check the proof then hopefully they'll be on sale within days!
Martyn
That is great Martyn. I'll keep an eye out for it whilst reading it on my PC.Leila
Your books are so worth reading with fascinating characters in depth and contrasting characters running alongside the plot. In the same way as 'Game of Thrones' which I read as they came out... they can't be skimmed through. I wouldn't want to either.
I am sure you are correct in assuming a free first book can so often mean that readers grab it because it's free then never read it. I've done it myself. It's so easy to forget about books on a kindle, whereas paper books can be seen and not so likely to be forgotten about. I have all yours on my bookshelves and the quality paper and attractive covers make them so worth the money.
Happy New Year and keep writing.
Leila