Rowan’s Comments (group member since Aug 29, 2010)

Rowan’s comments from the ANZ Authors group.

Soma wrote: "Do you have any tips Naomi on getting the word out?"

EEP - this is a hard one, and I'm nowhere near being an expert.

I put my first (10000 word) ebook out free of charge on as many quality sites and platforms as I could find. Feedbooks and Smashwords were the primary sites. I started a twitter account which advertised a range of free online fiction, including ebooks and webfiction. I joined MobileRead forums, put it in my signature, got chatting with people. Once it was available in Barnes and Noble, I mentioned it on NookBoards. But I suspect the two biggest factors in its favour have been a passing title-resemblance to Charlaine Harris books and a catchy description. *shrug* The first was accidental, the second was a hard slog.

The Amazon forums - in particular the Kindle forum - are fraught with grumpy people and lack of features, BUT if you go to http://www.amazon.com/tag/kindle/ref=... and look for a thread called 'Al's Place', you'll find some chatty people who'll buy and read almost anything if they like the author.

Shayne wrote: "I'm now making a modest amount of money out of my books, and that's actually a pleasant surprise rather than something that was part of the plan."

Not at all a surprise to me. Well-written and exceptionally well-edited, from what I've seen so far. :-)

I also kept my book short, though not as short as yours. The standard for travel books seems to be 300 pages, but I find my interest wanes at about 250pages, so that was my target for Dragon Bones."

*nods* Makes sense - aim at a market you know is there! :-) It's not out yet, is it? Have you had much pre-publishing interest from readers? Do you think it'll appeal more to people planning to go to Bhutan in the near future or the armchair travellers?

You're right, short books are far from being a new concept! :-) I guess they're just a lot more cost-efficient in electronic format.

Funnily enough, I don't tend to go for shorter fiction books, I like mine long and meaty. A lot of people DO like short ones, however - makes sense that the slower a person reads, the more likely they'll want a shorter book.

LOL - you never know, Graham... ;-) So, are the print rights worldwide/all languages? (feel free to NOT answer questions where you'd prefer, folks)

I suppose I should weigh in here.

I have two 'books' out so far.

Both are well under 'novel' size - DEAD(ish), my first, is 10k words; Maisy May, my second, is 30k words. That's Reason No 1 that they're self-published.

I don't like fitting in a box, and that's Reason No 2 that I've self-published. I can't imagine DEAD(ish) - or the others coming in that series - being taken up by a publisher without a LOT of hype behind them. Large amounts of swearing, objectionable themes, determined Aussie spelling and slang, all sorts. And frankly - by that time I wouldn't NEED a publisher, would I? Maisy May is more mainstream, but at its size and with its subject matter and target audience, I strongly suspect it wouldn't be taken up unless I was already a popular author.

Reason No 3 I'm self-publishing - I couldn't be bothered with the bad side of traditional publishing.

And finally, Reason No 4 - I honestly think ebooks are going to get really big fairly soon, and I wanted in on the ground floor. Print is a secondary concern, in the long term. What I think matters is getting out books that older folk can read on their ebook readers and younger folk can read on their iphones. And when it comes to phone-reading, short IS good.

So there you are. My theory of self-epublishing, or indie authoring, whatever you want to call it. I don't think it's for everyone - editing is a (bleep), organising beta readers can feel like herding sheep, and as for formatting... eek!!! But I already do most of that in my day job, so it's not a huge problem for me.

Oh, one more thing that you might find interesting - as I find willing translators, my work's going into other languages. Greek first, perhaps Dutch following, and I'd love to find someone to translate into Chinese.

Thanks Murray. Do you have the electronic rights, or will BB be e-publishing it too?

This should be an interesting area to explore...

Do you publish through an Australian publisher? Overseas? Both?

Paper books, ebooks, both?

Big publisher, small publisher, DIY/indie?

I haven't been keeping this group going well at all, lately. I had a tummy bug. You don't want details, do you?? :-) Please make yourself at home. I'll start some discussions soon, but feel free to start your own, too.

What is this, a 'Who's Older' competition??? :-D OK, OK, y'all win. I'm a whippersnapper.

Gillian, have you thought about putting your travel book up on Smashwords/Kindle store in ebook form?

PS. And send out an invitation to people you think might be interested, please!

Thanks for joining, folks! :-) I need to sleep, now - but make yourselves at home. I've tried to add at least a couple of books to the bookshelf from every author who's become a member. Feel free to add your own, if you can. Use the group-author tag, please.

I'm new to this whole creating-a-Goodreads-group thing. So feel free to make some suggestions... from 'can we change the godawful group avatar' to 'why don't we do X?'

Something I'm particularly interested in is coordinating sale and/or giveaway events - eg. An Australia/Waitangi Day Book Sale or a Hot Christmas Giveaway. Ideas always welcome.

Vicki wrote: "P.S. Is there goingt to be a bookshelf for members' books."

Yes!

(phew, that was an easy one!)

OI! I resemble that remark!! :-D

Welcome! Please come in and introduce yourself. Are you a writer? A reader? Both? What do you write or read?

I'm Naomi. I'm 34, I live in Ipswich (QLD), and I write. Technical manuals by day, fiction by night and on the train. I have purple hair (this week) and I love Katharine Kerr's Deverry series with a passion. I also love Piers Anthony's Xanth books and Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. In the few small hours not taken up with working, writing, parenting, reading and sleeping, I like to play Munchkin and Killer Bunnies.

I've written and published two actual books so far. The first, DEAD(ish), is an adult horror-comedy that could take place anywhere. The second, Maisy May, is YA fiction set in Bathurst NSW.

My books are available in ebook format only at the moment. Not because I detest paper books, but because they're too short to make a decent book. So far, anyhow. Once all 3 Maisy May books are out, I'll add the three together in a paperback.

Did I mention that I'm usually terrible at writing introductions? :-D