Ellis’s Comments (group member since Apr 17, 2017)

Ellis’s comments from the Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie group.

Goals
1. Finish "A Child of Great Promise" by end of year. Finished means drafted well enough to submit to a publisher.

2. Send new issue of Altearth Chronicle to my subscribers in December.

3. Take "Goblins at the Gates" wide in January (currently KDP Select).

4. If rejected at publisher, get "A Child of Great Promise" ready for self-publish by March.

5. Start research for "The Falconer".

Thanks, CeDany. I shall have to edit your review, though, because you got one thing wrong.

Ellis is a guy. :)

I just got the finals on the cover art, so I'm just about ready to tread that road myself. Urgh.

Thanks so much, CeDany! I sent the copy to you a minute ago.

I have a fantasy novel about to be self-published and would like to hand out some ARCs to anyone interested. Where is the appropriate place to make such requests, either in this group or elsewhere? I have found forums for beta readers, but I'm past that point now; looking for reviewers.

Those are all good ideas. I've used a slightly different one: put my characters in a room. Specifically, I try to take secondary characters and have them encounter each other outside the main character. They might share a drink, experience an encounter or crisis (a secondary one), argue politics or religion ... the main thing is to open things up. Too often, secondary characters seem to exist only in relation to the main character, serving only the plot. This makes them feel shallow. It doesn't have to be just two--it can be three or four of them.

Aislinn, a year is not really long at all. Think more like five to ten years. And $2,500 is not much money. I know, I know! It's a lot when you don't have it! I totally get that.

When I talk about what it costs to hire cover art, editor, marketing and the rest, people say gosh isn't that a lot of money. Yes it is. But as hobbies go, it's pretty cheap. Cheaper than a boat, for example. Cheaper than an RV. Cheaper, even, than model railroads or collecting comic books.

I don't regard the money spent as going into a hole. It's just money I've spent. I could have gone to Vegas or Disneyland. I've spent five times that to go to Europe. None of that money has been wasted (well, maybe Vegas).

I have to write. I've been writing my whole life. If I spend some money on that writing, that's pretty much fine by me. I figure out how much I'm willing to spend and I spend it and I don't look back. Plus, I have actual books!

I'm retired. I can afford to be a little philosophical. If I were thirty and trying to make a living at it, I'd be less patient. But I do think that choosing to spend, say, $3000 a year on the project is an okay choice (assuming I have that!). The time isn't wasted. The money isn't wasted.

All this advice is based on the assumption that you're going to keep writing anyway, because the prospect of not writing is worse. I've always held that if a person *can* stop writing, they should. Or at least they shouldn't fret over the decision.

I'm not sure what this warning is about. The link goes to a FB thread that does not reference anything in particular but just condemns book piracy, which is fine though not helpful.

I looked around at All Author. It looks like a small-time operation, but they do have a whole page dedicated to anti-piracy
https://allauthor.com/ebook-protection/
Now, that could all be scam, but searching on allauthor+scam and allauthor+review did not turn up anything fishy. Nor did I see any of the obvious warning signs of a scam site.

I wonder if Melanie might provide some specifics to help us out here.

Have you tried this?
https://word.tips.net/T001678_Changin...

Also, note that book was the "first book in The Origin Mystery, a trilogy that has sold over two million copies in the US, has been translated into 23 languages, and is in development to be a major motion picture. " So it's all three together that come to two million. Still not shabby.

The fact that the book has been translated and optioned means the book itself is strong. Those teeming masses yearning to be noticed are made up of a great deal of very poor books. Rule One still applies: first write a good book.

I'm sure Mr Riddle put up a chunk of money, but I don't think I'm going to blame Amazon for his success or for my lack of same. He chose to write a thriller in a popular genre. I choose to write off-beat alternate historical fantasy, and not all the money in the world is going to sell two million copies.

Echoing what Theodore said. My inspector says "Unable to load image" which usually means the path is wrong, but may also be a matter of rights. Again, ask your web admin.

>A beetle can't write a book.

But a cockroach can, even without thumbs, opposable or otherwise. One did. His name was archie. He had to write everything in lower case because he couldn't hold down the Shift key. But wotthehell and toujours gai.

Don Marquis is always worth another visit.

I hate that my concentration is so easily broken. I picture my creativity as Dug the dog in the movie Up.

Squirrel!

I want my Muse to be a long-distance runner, with steely eyes and ropes for muscles. Alas, she's more like a Southern belle who swoons when overheated, agitated, or simply for effect.

I would, but I excel at interrupting myself, when all others fail. Including posting at Goodreads! There is today's editing. It's to my left, all marked up and read for revision. And here I am, artfully dodging, stealing time from myself. I do, however, manage pale-skinned and hunched over quite well.

I don't have a time of day. What I do know, and it sounds like others here are saying the same thing, is that interruptions kill creativity. It doesn't matter whether the interruption comes from outside or is self-inflicted, it's the writing equivalent of taking your eye off the ball. When it happens, I can't just pick up again. I need to step out of the box, take a few practice swings, get my head back into the moment again. Let those interruptions pile up, and I'm done for the day.

Good thread. I agree wrt editors. I'm thinking of using a draft rather than a final version to send off to prospective editors for their free evaluation. If they do not jump all over "just" and "suddenly" and "now" then they don't pass the test.

Goal for next few days: write a new opening for WIP, A Child of Great Promise. I need to set her more firmly in her world before I throw her off the edge.

Got it. Thx.

Thanks, Nat. Random grabbing is what I've been doing. Who knows, maybe I'll wind up returning to that, and my Marketing Wednesdays will turn out to be just another random grab!

Alex wrote: "Ellis wrote: "My goal is to figure out how to work marketing into my routine. Right now I have five writing days a week. I'm thinking of marking one of those days off for marketing--by which I mean..."

Thanks, Alex. How I wish I could manage a whole day, but I cannot. I could divide my four hours, but am I reading you correctly? You are suggesting that I cut my writing time in half, devoting an entire 50% to marketing? I mean, I realize that effort is serious, but I already write slow, plus I'm old, and I've got too many novels to write!

Now I think of it, I'll add to my original question. What percentage of your time do you spend on writing versus marketing?