Dale’s Comments (group member since Sep 15, 2017)

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

Having reviewed the helpful information provided here and done some research and dealt with more medical annoyances, I now have a blog tour in the works with Goddess Fish.

My original post arose from the expectation that I could organize a tour myself. Not having a lot of money to throw around, I was trying to avoid paying someone else to do what I could do myself. But It doesn't look like that is at all easy to do anymore, and may be almost impossible to do effectively.

I've requested the standard book tour package, 10 stops over 2 weeks starting February 18th. We'll see how it goes.

I'll have a few other things going on ahead of that time, including a character interview Denise is planning to post with my main detective, Rick Peller and (I hope) a guest post on writing flash fiction at Indies Unlimited. If anyone here has a blog and could use an author interview, character interview, guest post, photos of me making funny faces, etc., please let me know. I'll be happy to give you some content.

Thanks!

Angel wrote: "My computer has been down for five weeks. I was just able to get back on the internet today and catch up with everyone. My computer is old and I can't afford another one. Six years to be exact and ..."

That's always fun. My laptop battery won't charge, either, so I have to keep it plugged in all the time when it's turned on. If I leave it unplugged for about 2 or 3 minutes, it shuts itself off. But I've always been able to get it running by plugging it in. Anyway, glad you're back in business.

My next Howard County blog post: Where History Meets Dinosaurs and Horses. Please share. If you think it's worth anybody's time, please encourage email signups, too. Thank you!

Carole wrote: "So, now if your book gets too much traffic- it's no good. A note from our friends at Amazon- I guess the book stirred too much interest- might have made a sale and that's 'unacceptable'?"

The policy actually makes sense. Whether or not it was correctly applied to Michael's book is possibly another matter. It would depend on what the keywords were and how well they relate to the book's genre and subject.

I could probably boost my search results by comparing myself to Stephen King and suggesting my novels are reminiscent of 50 Shades of Gray, but that would be grossly inappropriate given our respective genres (and probably other things). ;-) I'm sure you're not doing anything so outrageously inappropriate, of course, but likely there are some blurry lines that you inadvertently got tangled up in.

Theodore wrote: "Their Giveaways should be called Ripaways..."

It's hard to control, though, even when you try. I've listed my three mysteries on BookGobbler for giveaways. In their model, you can register for a giveaway, and if you get a book you're supposed to post an honest review of it. If you don't, they don't let you receive any more books. Sounds pretty good, right? I gave away 10 e-copies of The Fibonacci Murders and got 3 reviews for it, and 7 e-copies of True Death and got 2 reviews for it. They tell me that's a highly successful giveaway.

I've also offered 3 print copies of each, which have been raffled. I received the names and addresses of the winners yesterday so I can send them the books. I hope the recipients review them, but what's to stop them from turning around and reselling the books? Nothing. The only thing is, they might not get a second crack at it on BookGobbler, but there are no-brainer ways around that, too. Just get use a different email address, and register with a fictitious name and your brother-in-law's mailing address...

Theodore wrote: "Yikes, I hope everything is okay, Dale. There are better ways to open the New Year!!! Fingers crossed that things get better."

Yeah, it definitely wasn't the way we wanted to spend the evening, but so far things are (relatively) okay. She was diagnosed with a double whammy of afib and Lupus a couple of months ago. I think in another month or so they should have the meds adjusted pretty well, but it's an ongoing process and not a lot of fun for either her or her family.

I wanted to write something for the salt flats photo, but didn't get to a concrete idea. Next week I'll have something, as my writer's workshop is Monday, and I've been starting that with the IU prompt for a warm-up. Everyone seems to enjoy doing it and one guy (aside from me) has even posted his story a couple of times.

Alexis wrote: "Anyone ever feel like that? How did you gather yourself?"

I'm going to be a little different here. First, to answer your questions:

1. Yes. I felt like that for 10 years, during which time it kept me from writing any fiction at all.

2. I got over it, eventually, after 10 years, by just doing it. I got an idea and I started writing and I wrote a bit every day (well, not every day but most days) until it was done. And then the revisions started, and I kept going and got some other ideas and wrote them down, and now I have two works published, one soon to be released, one more searching for an agent, and two more being written. I found that once I put everything else aside and just wrote because I wanted to write, it more or less came together all by itself.

With every single novel I write, there comes a point when I look at it and think that some part of it (at least) isn't good enough. Every single time. This isn't uncommon or unexpected. It's part of the process. Most if not all writers feel that way. You just have to learn to not let that feeling stop you. Instead, put it to work for you. Ask why something isn't good enough and what can be done to fix it. Don't stop with, "This isn't good enough!" Make it the starting point for concrete action.

Ray Bradbury famously had a writer character in one of his novels say, "Throw up in the typewriter every morning. Clean it up every noon." That's basically it. Get the story down first. Of course it's not going to be perfect--or sometimes even very good--the first time. That's what revisions are for. And more revisions and more revisions. And that's before you go to an editor! One writer I recently interviewed on my blog said he did 17 drafts of his first novel before he thought it was ready to go.

Writing is hard work, see. But if you have to do it, then you have to do it, and maybe sometimes it won't seem so hard while you're doing it, because you love doing it and you just have to do it.

I read in the long ago that a writer needs to write one million words before they're actually good at writing. The number isn't important. The concept is. Like any complex job, it takes a lot of practice and experience before you can do it really well.

Take me for example. I wrote short stories for probably 20 years (with a lot of savage input from my wife, who is also my editor), then wrote an almost-novel (it wasn't quite long enough to be a novel), then wrote four novels, and by then I was starting to get feedback from editors to whom I've submitted. They never give feedback unless they see promise in a writer; they don't have the time. So getting feedback meant I was getting somewhere!

Just when I thought I might be about to make a sale, I ran afoul of a con artist disguised as an agent. That's what led to my 10 year dry spell. Since restarting, I've written four novels and I only now feel that I'm as good as or maybe a little better than I was when I stopped. It's just like exercise. Do it consistently for long enough and you'll be in good shape. Stop doing it and you'll get flabby again, and then it will take more time to get back into shape.

So yes, writing is hard work and takes a lot of practice to do well. From what I've seen, most indies publish way too soon, before they've collected the rejection slips (so to speak) that make them better writers. But here's the thing, which I've already said: if you have to write, then you have to write, no matter how hard it is or how long it takes.

So just write. And write. And write some more. And don't let that inner critic silence you. Put it to work for you. Ask it what the problem is and how it would fix the problem. And then fix it and keep on going.

In spite of being long-winded, I hope this helps. ;-)

Congratulations again, Ted. I didn't see your latest yet. Unfortunately I spent New Year's Eve in the emergency room again with my wife (everything is relatively okay now) so didn't more than glance at the prompt.

I'm trying to "sell" them a guest post on writing flash fiction, though. If they take it, I'll let everyone know. It might even help Amy get started. ;-)

Carole wrote: "Hey guys- list some of the jobs you've done over the years."

As a high school student, I was a Boy Scout summer camp counselor for two years. After that, I worked three positions at Motorola (one a very boring assembly job, one a warehouse job, and one janitorial). I was with them for about 2 years all told. After that I was hired by NCR as a mainframe computer operator, which I did for one year before moving into programming, and I've been doing that ever since (over 37 years now).

On the side, I run a small publishing company and of course I write.

Carole wrote: " we have to find a way to make lemonade and I think we have to proactively find ways to make our books known."

I read an interview (I think) some months back by an SF author who had achieved some success. He wasn't an indie author, but he said what he did, and what he recommends other authors do, is:

1. Write a really good book. (The remaining steps don't work if you haven't.)

2. Attend literary conventions for your genre.

3. Talk to people and give away free copies of your book.

4. Rinse and repeat with subsequent books until you have a following.

The point here, he said, is to connect directly with likely readers of your books. Of course this isn't easy or cheap (he said he applied his advances to stocking up on books to give away). But eventually, if you did #1 correctly, people will start to know your name and be interested in buying the next book you release.

To what extent that kind of thing can be done via social media and other online venues, I don't know. It's probably easier to get somebody to accept a free book when you're handing them a copy than it is to ask them to go somewhere and download it. If you're not hovering over their shoulder waiting, they might not do it. ;-)

If they are making such a change, it's not yet reflected in their published guidelines. The last news stories I can find about restrictions on non-verified purchases are from about a year ago, when the currently stated policy went into effect. If a change was immanent, I imagine they would have announced it. If they haven't announced it, it may be something someone is thinking about, but probably nothing that's about to happen. (It takes time to implement such a change, after all.) And it could just be the rumor mill in action.

Chrys wrote: "Dale, you might like my urban fantasy 'Penny White' series. The first book is 99p on Kindle, and the second is free for another three days."

Thanks, I'll have a look!

Thanks, folks. I'll keep digging, but I'm finding it a frustrating experience. I started with a list of 50 possible blogs. Out of those, maybe 5 look like actual possibilities, nearly half are no longer accepting queries, and none of them want the author to suggest a date to post reviews. First come, first served or "in a few months" seems to be the rule of thumb. Maybe I've been looking under all the wrong rocks, of course, but Googling anything in the book world about mysteries yields several tons of results. It's among the more popular genres. Which I guess is a mixed blessing for a mystery writer. ;-)

Carole wrote: "Love missing remnants"

Yep, I saw your review. I thought the blurb sounded interesting, too.

I'm opening myself up to be mobbed here, but I'd like to read and review a few titles by group members. Reviews would be posted on GR, Amazon, and my blog.

I'm mostly interested in SF, mystery, and some fantasy. I can go a bit further afield but I'm not into romance, horror, vampires and zombies, or horribly romantic vampires and zombies. ;-) Also, due to $$$$ in medical bills, I need cheap copies. I don't mind paying a dollar or two here and there, but cheap or free would be appreciated. (If I'm violating any rules by saying that, please let me know and I'll unsay it.)

If I can get my hands on Amy's Missing Remnants I'll start with that. (I've sent you a message, Amy.)

To avoid cluttering this thread, please send me private messages if you'd like to request a review. Thanks!

Or merely dying?

I've been following the very helpful advice I've received here in preparation for release of my next mystery novel, Ice on the Bay. (Thank you, folks!) I have an ARC ready for distribution and have put the book on pre-sale at Amazon. I will be setting it up for pre-sale on my publisher's site, too, so people can pre-order the book in all formats. (B&N doesn't seem to offer this feature.) My planned release date is 2/26/2018.

I've also been researching potential reviewers for a blog tour, but I've run into a not entirely unexpected problem: a great many of them don't do blog tours anymore. Some explicitly state this, and others won't guarantee any particular time frame for posting a review. Some are so swamped with requests that they won't promise a review at all, while others have stopped taking requests altogether. Some only take requests through publicists and publishers or through specific services.

Basically, it seems impossible to schedule a blog tour. In 2014 Publisher's Weekly did an article on the subject which suggested starting to plan for the tour 3 months in advance, while a resource they linked to said to query bloggers 3 weeks in advance. That seems awfully tight to me. I don't think one can have much success in setting up a tour unless one can query bloggers 4 to 6 months in advance, and even then it's dicey because so few bloggers seem willing to commit to a time frame.

My thought at this point is a 2-pronged attack. First, go to people who already know me or my work and ask for reviews. I can request them be done before the release date if possible, but not press for that. A review after release is better than no review at all. Second, submit to a number of bloggers who are open to mysteries by indie authors and ask them for a review without stipulating when (although letting them know the release date). I'm pretty sure that most reviewers will reject any request that asks for a review on or by a specific date, especially one that is less than two months away.

I'd be interested in thoughts anyone has on any of this, or in hearing the experience of anyone who has recently (say, in the last 6 months) tried to set up a blog tour. Thanks!

Epub and Kindle ARC versions of Ice on the Bay are now ready to go! I'll be contacting people directly to arrange reviews or author interviews, but if anyone here reviews books on their blog and would like a copy, please let me know.

And yes, I know, it's Christmas Eve, so why was I even working on this? Well . . . because I had the time, because I'm a Baha'i and only indirectly celebrate Christmas, and because (strangely enough) the first scene in the book is a crime that takes place on Christmas Eve, so it's sort of weirdly appropriate that I just happened to complete the ARC edition on Christmas Eve. Go figure...

Here's my next post. This one is about William R. Dudley and his SF tale The Janus Enigma.

Happy holidays to all! (Did I say that already? I can't remember...)

I've been doing a series of posts on Howard County, Maryland, the setting for my mystery novels. I don't remember if I've posted links to them here previously. (Life is so chaotic right now I'm not even sure what month I'm on. Shortly I won't know what year it is, either!)

Anyway, here's the latest: The Edge of the County. If interested, you can find the older ones by going back through recent posts. Share if you wish. I wouldn't mind. ;-)

By the by, I've been terrible at sharing other people's posts lately. I want to do something on my blog and FB/Twitter to help other bloggers here and with luck will get organized enough to do that. Just wanted you to know I'll try to pay it as I can. Thank you!