Moondancers--A Journey In Self-Publishing

I haven't blogged much lately, and usually when I do blog it's marketing tips and information for writers. Today, however, I am blogging about my new book, Moondancers. Moondancers is not only the first book in my new paranormal series, The Beautiful Creatures of Beverly Hills, it represents my initiation into self-publishing.

While I have tested the waters with a few shorter works, and a novella under my pseudonym, Sal Conte, Moondancers is my first push into taking over all my publishing and marketing. I am very excited about it, although I must tell you, launching a book all by yourself is a lot of work. I'm sure many of you reading this are already self-published and are probably saying "Tell me something I don't know." I knew it was hard, but I didn't know it would be THIS hard. But I have to tell you, while I don't have any real sales yet (today February 15th is soft launch day), I am feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment.

 I think I've written a pretty good book. I found two excellent editors to tighten it up, and help proof read it. I I designed and created my own cover (something I have absolutely no skill at) buying stock at Shutterstock and creating the finished cover in Canva. I think I did a damn good job.

 I think I've crafted a pretty good product description. My book launches on Amazon first, and within the next few weeks it will be on many other platforms. I did flirt with the idea of making it exclusive to Amazon's KDP program, but decided to see how the book fared in the world at large first. I can always circle back and make my book exclusive to Amazon at any time. For now, I can gather information on how to do a wide release. Information I will share with you.

 I've been building up my mailing list (something I blog and tweet about), and have put together a kickass launch team from my list. The launch team has been charged with making sure the book has some reviews up on launch day. As of right now I have 22 mostly 4 and 5 star reviews. I've put together a marketing plan that goes into full swing mid-March. And I started implementing the plan over the past weekend.

So, here I am world, diving in head first into the deep end of self-publishing. I've been talking the talk, now it's time for me to walk the walk. I think I'm ready. I know I will fall on my face in some areas, but as long as I'm learning and growing, I'll be okay.

Want to go moondancing with me? If you're into paranormal and romance, and you'd like to check out my book's Amazon page, and maybe even buy a copy, here's the link.  Even if you don't buy, I'd love to hear your questions and comments.

Here we go!

What Business Are You In? (Turning Pro Part II)

In my last post, I posed this question to indie authors: Are You Ready To Turn Pro?  This current post continues my challenge to authors who want to more than get published--they want to earn a living with their writing.  I will tell you as hard as it is to do, it can be done. I am a professional writer.  I have earned a good living as a pro-writer for more than twenty years.  But enough about me.  This particular post is to help you distinguish the business we're in from the business of traditional publishers. This is a key component to having a professional career--understanding the competition.

First, a short history of paperback books. While the paperback or "dime store" novel first appeared in England in the 19th Century, paperback novels began being sold here in the US in the late 1930s when Robert de Graff started the company Pocket Books.  Yep, they've been around that long.  At first nobody cared, but when paperbacks took off in the late 40s, publishers started decrying that these books with their colorful often titillating covers were damaging the publishing industry. Then the media got involved, going so far as to attack the type of person who would read a paperback novel.  This hysteria reached it's peak in 1952 when Congress got involved with the House of Representatives Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials.  The publishing industry was so concerned with the rising sales of paper novels that they tried to get them all declared pornographic.  Crazy, right?

Obviously that didn't happen.  But doesn't this hysteria sound familiar? In the 80s the movie industry claimed the advent of the VHS was going to destroy the industry.  Get it??? Innovation frightens industries not yet equipped to deal with it. I am telling this story because if you are an indie author, this debate over paper and digital books has nothing to do with you.  My advice, don't engage in it. It's not our fight. I am not here to decry the end of the paper book industry. I like paper books. I read lots of paper books. But I am in the ebook business, and engaging in this debate takes precious time away from what we should be doing--writing and selling books.  Just because a guy works for McDonalds doesn't mean he can't enjoy and In N Out burger.

Okay, let's get off the touchy subject, and talk about the business you are in versus the business the Big 5 publishers are in.  Big 5 publishers are in the homerun business.  It's no secret that one Harry Potter novel supports all the other novels that don't become hits. Big 5 publishers sign a number of authors, and publish a number of books each month in search of the homerun. When a book is in book stores for three months and the numbers (there's that word again) determine it's not going to be a homerun, the publisher abandons support of that book, putting their money behind the books that seem more promising. They are hedging their bets.  They are sitting at the roulette table spreading their money around. They know that out of the 400 books they publish this year, one of them will break out.

This is why if you've been with a traditional publisher, they either stop supporting your book, or they never support your book. Research to them indicates your book is a loser, so they cut their losses and move on.

We're not in that business.  At least, I'm not.  While I'd love to have a homerun. I don't need a homerun to survive.  They need it so they can have a profit after all the losers.  But I am sitting at the roulette table betting on ONE number.  MY OWN.  My job is to make MY number look as attractive as possible.  I don't need a homerun to earn a living.  I can live off a base hit, a double and I'm dancing in the streets, and a triple for me is bigger than a homerun for them, because I don't have to share the wealth.  What I'm saying here is publishers are not your competition.  But you do have competition, and lots of it.

So who is your competition?  Authors who write in your genre.  If you write thrillers, it's Lee Child; YA paranormal, it's Cassandra Clare; horror, it's Stephen King.  But here's the beauty of it, there are enough readers around to share.  So while James Patterson may be your competition, James Patterson readers don't only read James Patterson.  They read lots of authors.  Why not you? If you buy a Chevy you're probably not going to run out and also buy a Ford. But in our business you can! In our business, your competition can be your greatest resource.  All we need to do is hang out where our competition hangs out.  How do we do that?  That's for another post.

So, what business are we in?  We are in the business of identifying our competition, and hanging out where they hang out to improve our chances of making sales.  The beauty is we don't take business from anyone.  Their readers can be your readers and no one suffers.  How awesome is that?

Are you ready to turn pro?

MATH: The Hidden Key To Your Success As A Writer.

When I was a kid I hated math. It wasn’t that I was bad at math, yet still today, I shudder at the words “long division,” and please don’t say fraaaactions.  Growing up, that word was like nails on a chalk board to me.

But here’s the thing, for authors, especially independent or self-published authors, if you’ve been at this for more than a year, and you’re not yet scratching out a living, you probably need to brush up on your math skills.

“Wait a minute, E, Most indie authors don’t earn a living. Are you telling me the only reason we aren’t successful as authors is MATH?”

Yes.

Of course there are always other factors—talent being one—but math/numbers is the biggest. How many bestselling novels have you read, and said to yourself “this book is garbage?” Clearly, talent is not the key to success.  Then, what is? Luck, timing. But the only factor we can have an effect on is the numbers.

The thing is, us creative types don’t want to be sidetracked by numbers. Math is not exciting (unless you’re my brother.  He loves it). It’s exact. It’s finite. There is nothing creative about it. One and one will always equal two. There’s no creative way around it. We are turned off because it is drudgery; it is boring. But here’s the beauty in it—get your numbers right, and anyone can succeed at this. That’s a bold statement, but I am sticking with it.  ANYONE.  Talent is extra. If you have talent, you can possibly become even more successful.

Do you know the key to Warren Buffet’s success? I do. I’ve read almost all the books on him. Was he smart, yes, but he was a working guy who took the numbers seriously. Math. Now he’s one of the richest men in the world.

Here’s my story, my tale of woe that led me to math as a solution. My second and third YA/Paranormal novels, Boyfriend From Hell and Earth Angel became Amazon Children’s and YA bestsellers early in 2012. Both books were in the top 10 at the same time. The only other author in my genre with more than one book in the top 10 was Suzanne Collins with her The Hunger Games trilogy. I got lots of attention.

Like many authors, I thought I’d made it.  I sold 400-500 books every month without a promotion.  When I promoted the books I sold in the thousands. I assumed it would only get better. I remember having lunch with a (then new) thriller author. He told me he’d only sold 500 books.  I said: ‘Yeah, me, too. I’m having an off month.” He said “No. I’ve only sold 500 books total.” I thought “Hmm, maybe his book is not that good.” Cocky. 

I was doing what many indie authors were doing at the time. I’d lower my price to 99 cents and promote my books on BookBub. There’d be a spike during the promotion. I’d raise the price back to where it was before the promo, and there’d be a tail.  This is where the book continues to sell even at the regular price. The tail usually lasted two to three weeks.   And then, almost overnight, the tail went from 2-3 weeks to 2-3 days. At the same time, BookBub was growing their business. With more quality authors to draw from, I was no longer guaranteed a BookBub promo every month.

I began promoting my books on more and more sites to poorer and poorer results. By 2014 I’d gone from an author who made a living as a writer, to an author who was throwing more and more money away at bad promos with worse results.

In my life, I have been pretty good at business. This is not to brag, but I have made millions of dollars. But for some reason, the same business acumen I applied to the rest of my life was missing when I got creative.

At the end of a dismal 2014 I had a come to Jesus sitdown with myself. I asked myself a key question: “Are you ready to turn pro?” Was I ready to go from being another writer with an amateur attitude to being a serious minded professional? I knew it was going to take work—a lot of it. I also knew I had to reeducate myself.

We authors are infuriated by traditional (legacy) publishers who won’t accept our manuscripts, or when they do, they won’t promote them. Guess what?  Their dismissal of us isn’t personal (although it feels that way to us) it’s, as the Godfather would say, “It’s just business.”

 

Stop worrying about getting their approval.  They are in a different business than we are.  It’s strange, because it seems like we’re in the same business, but we are not. The business they’re in versus the business we’re in is a topic for another post. 

Here’s what I did once I decided to turn pro:

·    *   I spent the money to take four excellent marketing courses. Two of the courses were specific to books. I studied hard.

·    *   I began implementing the strategies I learned in May 2015

·    *   In May, my mailing list had 164 subscribers.  Now, it has nearly 2000 subscribers. I’m getting there.

·    *   My novel Boyfriend From Hell (first book in a series) was made free summer 2014. It had 11,000 downloads. Good. The summer of 2015 we did the same thing with much better results: over 25,000 downloads. BFH reached top 10 overall ranking in the free store, something I’d never had a sniff at before, and the #1 Teen Horror ranking. Since June, BFH is rarely out of the top 20 in teen horror. Right now BFH is ranked #12 Teen Horror with no promotion.

All of my books are selling—not great, yet. I am not in profit, but I have no big losses, either. I no longer participate in poor performing promos.  How can I tell the difference before I plunk down my money?  That’s a topic for another post.

I am (finally) building my business. As a startup, growing profits and growing your business may not be the same thing. We writers complain when we run a promo and it doesn’t turn into a profit.  How many millions did Goolge burn through before they made a profit and became… Google? All startups must spend money to grow their business. You and I aren’t only authors, we are also startup businesses. You MUST invest to grow your business. What’s the difference between spending money wisely, and throwing money away—MATH.

Want to know how I turned my business around?  How I am on track to making a profit in 2016, and breaking into the $100,000 club by 2018? Here’s a better question: are you ready to turn pro?  Then, join me. For now, just follow the blog here, and I will share what I’ve learned—what works, and why it works. I will post again in a week or so.  Remember, I am a working writer. If you have questions, ask them here, and I will answer them as quickly as I can.  If you discover this post six months or a year from now, and you have a question, it is never too late to ask.  I’d like to keep you from making many of the mistakes I did.

Stop being a writer who says “I’m just happy being published.” No, you’re not. Don’t you want to earn a living with your writing?  Let me know if you are ready to turn pro.

Sal Conte Rides Again!

As some of you know, when I was in college (a long, long time ago, but that's a story for another day) I wrote two horror novels I was lucky enough to get published. The books turned out to be horror classics: Child's Play and The Power.  The books were published by Dorchester Publishing under their Leisure paperback imprint.  I wrote the books under the pseudonym Sal Conte. After college, Sal went into retirement (or as he likes to say, I tried to kill him) and I got on with my career of writing for television.

But as Sal also likes to say "You can't keep a dead man down," and Sal is now back with new horrific thrills for you. Sal has released a brand new short story: Because We Told Her To. The early reviews are in and it seems Sal hasn't lost a step.  One reviewer called the new story CREEPTASTIC! another said: This story will leave you with chills down your spine.

Help me celebrate the return of Sal Conte by popping over to the story's Amazon page, reading the  five star reviews and grabbing a copy for yourself.  It's less than a buck, 99cents.  You can do that here: Because We Told Her To

I know some of you need a bit more persuading before plunking down your hard earned cash.  No problem, I've recorded a short audio excerpt from the book to entice you further.  Give a listen, and if that doesn't win you over, you've got no soul.



Seriously, if you like good horror, you'll soon be warning all your horror-loving friends to look out for The Twitter Sisters.  Go on, now.  Give a listen and then grab your copy.  I thank you, and Sal Conte does, too.

Happy Endings

I’m a sucker for a happy ending.  When Harry Met Sally, Pretty Woman, Silver Linings Playbook, are among my all-time favorite movies.  I think we’re all suckers for happy endings because we all like to know that no matter how bad things can be they can always work out in the end. 

But there’s a darker side of me, a side I don’t like to tap into very often.  That side says no matter how hard you try, no matter how good your intentions, things are going to go to crap in the end.  This darker side of me is author, Sal Conte.  Like me, Sal is a good yarn spinner, with a good sense of humor, but that’s where the comparisons end.  Sal is one dark SOB.

Sal has a new short story coming out on April 3^rd, and I’m beating the drum for you to come out and support him.  Thousands upon thousands of you have read and enjoyed The Falling Angels Saga.  Boyfriend From Hell alone had more than 10,000 downloads last year.  That’s awesome and I appreciate it, but today I’m asking you to support the dark side of my brain—Sal Conte.  The new story, Because We Told Her To, is only 99 cents and from what my beta readers are telling me, it’s one helluva read.  Worth every penny. If you’re a fan of mine, please become a fan of Sal Conte as well.

I even recorded an audio excerpt to entice you over to the book's Amazon Page.  You can listen to the excerpt here:

Unlike in Silver Linings Playbook, Sal can’t promise you a happy ending.  But he can promise you a satisfying read.  In some ways that’s even better because it’s a promise he can keep.

Peace.

Creating Engaging Characters

When I read many of the self-published novels that proliferate today’s literary landscape, one glaring flaw that jumps out at me is the lack of character development.  Many newbie authors spend much of their time on the plot not realizing that plot should always be secondary to character.  Plot, to me, is like a car, while character is the driver.  You need the driver to get the car where you want it to go--where you want to go.  It’s the driver’s choices that make the trip pleasurable or harrowing.  The car is just the vehicle.

 

I noted for a fantasy writer recently that in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings, it isn’t elves, and orcs and ring wraiths that make the story so engaging—it’s Frodo’s moral dilemma, or what I call his moral conundrum that propels the story forward.  When Frodo comes to realize the responsibility he’s been entrusted with the ring, he doesn’t want it.  It’s the weight of this and how he handles this and other responsibilities that really moves the story along.  It’s not the plot, but the characters choices that makes The Lord of The Rings so engaging.

In Stephen King’s The Shining, Jack Torrance surmises his family (wife, Wendy and son, Danny) are the reason he’s in the position he’s in—a broke, struggling, alcoholic writer.  Taking the job at the Overlook is Jack’s desire to fix his life, but his secret belief that his family is the reason for his woes (his conundrum) eats at him until it finally brings him down. Yes, Danny’s ability to see ghosts who might harm him scares the hell out of us, but it’s his father’s moral conundrum that propels the story along.

If you’re a newbie writer, or even a seasoned vet who may have forgotten, characters and their choices are the key to creating engaging work. It’s great having a Ferrari (plot) but without a good driver (character) it’s just another car.

My Brother, My Muse

Yesterday I talked with my older brother on the phone.  We talk just about every Sunday.  He and his family live in Virginia, while I live here in Southern Cal.  3000 miles has not kept us from remaining close. Growing up in New York City, my brother was an awesome big brother--annoying as hell much of the time, yet there was something solid about him that helped keep me grounded.  Yes, "solid" is the best word I can use to describe him.  You always knew what you got with my big brother.  He unashamedly marched to the beat of his own drummer.  When we were at the age where no one wanted to stick out for fear of being made fun of, my brother stuck out.   When all the kids wore Converse or Pro-Keds he wore what kids laughingly called skips.

I remember one time, back in the day, when sneakers were either black or white, my brother got a pair of red sneaks.  You couldn't help but notice them.  Kids may have laughed at my brother--I may have even laughed at him--but never to his face.  No one made fun of my brother. No one!  He received much respect for not being goaded or ridiculed into backing down from the things he liked. I was amazed at how comfortable he was in his own skin back then.  That comfort helped shape me, helped teach me not to be ashamed.  I don't know where Leonard Adolphus Van Lowe got it from, but I'm glad he had it.

A.D., the at times sinister, ghostly character in my up-coming novel, The Secrets of Love and Death was written with my brother in mind.  A.D., the first two letters of my brother's middle name. The book in some ways is a love letter to him.  Growing up, my brother was among my best friends. Over the next few weeks, I'll be talking more and more about him and about the new book.  I had a wonderful childhood because of him, and in the new book I hope to share some of that feeling with you. It is a romantic horror story, so I'll just be sharing SOME of that feeling, as my main goal is to keep you entertained. The cover art is currently being designed.  I will keep you posted about that as well.   I also have an audio clip I plan to share with you soon.

I hope you'll stay tuned for my journey to the publication of my next novel, The Secrets of Love and Death.

Peace.

What's In A Name? We Shall Soon Find Out

In Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, Juliet says "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." In the scene, Juliet is telling Romeo not to be hung up on names.  That may be true if you're a Capulet who has fallen in love with a Montague.  However, in titling your book, the name you choose can waylay your good efforts before they have a chance to get any recognition.  I'm not saying your title is the key to your book's success.  But just like professional looking artwork, and a snappy book blurb, your title is an important tool in getting your book sampled.  Titles may not matter to some people, but unless you already have a large following, your title is an important marketing tool.

I'm saying this now because after much haranguing over title ideas, my good friend and publisher (Chris Meeks of White Whisker Books) and I have settled on a title for my latest book.  I think it's a good title.  I think it's a very good title.  I'd come up with it over a year ago, but not for this book.  I had been sitting on it to use in my Hollyweird series.  I'm not great at coming up with titles, so when I do come up with a good one, I save it, even if I don't have a work to go with it just yet.

I don't think very many indie authors spend enough time on titling their works.  I see many new books with the same title as three or four other books--some in the same genre.  To me, this is a no-no. Unless your book is part of an ongoing series, I think it should have a unique title.  If you're not sure if your title is unique, just type your prospective title into Amazon.  If you see it's already been used, and used in the past few years, I think you should move on. I didn't know this back when I wrote Never Slow Dance With A Zombie.  I was new to the game, but I knew I wanted a fun, interesting title.  It took me over a year to come up with that title, and when the publisher (Tor) heard it, they new it was perfect. Many readers have told me the title alone has prompted them to pick up the book. Occasionally, I've seen in reviews, where readers have said they didn't like the book.  At least I got them to try it.  After that it's out of my hands.

Another thing about that title is if you go to Amazon and type in the words Never Slow.. my title will pop up.  There's nothing even close.  The title is not only provocative.  It's unique.  A year after my second YA novel, Boyfriend From Hell came out, another book with the same title came out. I was so upset, but there was noting I could do about it, aside from complain to my publisher. Even though I was first to market with the title, you cannot copyright a title. Fortunately, since my book is the most popular with the title, it shows up first. My advice to authors is to spend more time coming up with unique and provocative titles.  It may take more time to bring your book to market, but I think it's time well spent.

And now for the title of my new book. It was formerly called The Memory Giver.  I liked the title, but I had my suspicions it wouldn't stick.  It was unique, but not provocative enough. The new title is. Drum roll, please: The Secrets of Love and Death.  I hope you like it.  It's dead-on perfect for my new book, a romantic-horror-thriller.  And if you type it into Amazon, nothing comes up.  At least, not yet.  Is it a good title??? We'll soon find out.

If you'd like to read a little bit of the book (the fully edited version will be out summer, 2015), several chapters are available now on Wattpad under the old title, The Memory Giver.  Just click on the link.  I hope you enjoyed this post, I hope you like my title, and I hope you'll give my latest book a try. Thanks.  Peace.

Keep Reading-Keep Writing!

Happy New Year!

I can't believe the year is coming to an end already. For many of us on the author end of the business this year saw diminishing returns for our work.  Meaning, many authors I know made less on their writing this year than in previous years.  If you're a reader, this has been a banner year, with the quality of self and indie published works increasing dramatically along with some great books brought out by the Big 5 publishers.  There's lots of good reading to be had.

I had an awesome year.  And, yes, I made less this year than in previous years, however, I wrote what I feel is my best book yet--The Memory Giver, a romantic/horror tale featuring two young lovers. I can't say I'm going to knock down any doors with this book, but I'm very proud of it nonetheless. The new book is still in editorial and will be out (hopefully) early next year, but 16 chapters are available free right now on my Wattpad page.  If you'd like to end the year (or start 2015) with a solid romantic/horror read click here: THE MEMORY GIVER.  I also dipped my toe ever-so-gently into self publishing with the December 24th publication of my funny, snarky novella I Want You Back! This is just a start for me.  At some point I plan to dive into self-publishing whole hog.  Look for more shorter works from me and my horror writing alter ego, Sal Conte, in 2015. For now, my longer works will continue to be published traditionally.

I'm going to end this post by sharing a post from author, Bob Mayer with you: 16 Thoughts for Authors/Publishing for 2015.  I feel all authors should read this post. While the piece is aimed at authors, readers also need to know what to expect in the new year.

Happy New Year, everyone.  It's an honor and a pleasure being a writer.  I'm so lucky that my job is sharing stories with you. I look forward to a fabulous 2015. and I wish the same for readers and authors alike. Peace.

It's Not As Deep As I Thought It Was

I've finally done it.  After eight years, seven novels, three publishers, many rejections,  and much hand wringing, I've decided to dip my toe ever so gently into the swirling waters of self-publishing. If you've read any of my posts for indie authors you'd think I was a self-publishing machine.  Think again. This is a first for me and it is daunting.  The thing I feared the most turned out to be the easiest.  I'd heard nightmarish tales of the difficulties in uploading a book to Amazon.  I heard you needed to know how to write code.  I heard you needed a converting program.

After downloading a program to convert my ms file to mobi (the format needed for Kindle) and failing at achieving a satisfactory book to share with the public, I decided to just start the process of signing up to be an author on Amazon while I searched for another, more user friendly, mobi converter program.  I went to Amazon KDP and filled out all the forms--easy, added my tax info--easy, uploaded the cover--easy (I'd had a cover designed months ago), and arrived at the section where it says 'upload your book.'  I tried uploading the pdf  I'd prepared for the converter program. I got a message saying Amazon didn't accept pdfs.  It listed the accepted formats and low and behold, one of them was Word document.   What the??? What about all that very technical converting I needed to do?

Here's where it gets really strange: Throwing caution to the wind, I loaded the doc, waited for it to successfully upload.  Once the ms was loaded successfully Amazon asked if I'd like to see what it would look like in several different Kindle formats. I held my breath and started with Kindle Fire--perfect.  I scrolled my ebook through all the various formats and while some weren't so perfect, all looked pretty darn good.

Amazon then asked was I ready to publish. "No," I thought. "I'm doing something wrong.  It can't be this easy."  Yet after a few days of searching the internet and a conversation with my publisher, I discovered it can be that easy.

So here I am, friends, dipping my toe into the waters.  The ebook I'm publishing is a funny, snarky novella I wrote after the publication of Never Slow Dance With A Zombie called I Want You Back!  I'd been sitting on it for years.  Earlier this year, I polished it again, sent it out for an edit, and here we are. It's available for presale at $2.99 here: I Want You Back!  Why not pop on over and admire my Amazon page, but DO NOT BUY IT because I'm offering the same ebook here free: E's Website. You heard right, I'm giving the ebook away and I'd rather you try it for free than buy it.

Not to toot my own horn, but some of my books have been Amazon ebook bestsellers, and not in some obscure category, either.  And I've been nominated for the prestigious ALA (American Library Association) Award, so I'm no slouch. I even wrote a short film that was nominated for an Academy Award, seriously, the Academy Award--you know, the show that's on TV every year. But I digress. The free ebook is my way of getting newer readers to try my work. All I want in return is that you sign up for my newsletter for special fans.

Please take a moment to click on the link above, and stop by my wbesite where you can hear more about the ebook & newsletter, and sign-up to receive it in time to read during the holidays.

Now that I know how easy self-publishing can be, you will be seeing more shorter works from me published by me.  My longer works will still be published by White Whisker Books--for now.  I've dipped my toe into the self-publishing waters and they're not as deep as I thought they'd be. If you're considering self-publishing, do not hesitate as long as I did.  It's not as scary as it seems. Go for it!

If you'd like a short, funny, paranormal read, head on over to my website and give I Want You Back! a try.

Keep reading- Keep Writing!

Hachette, Twitter and You

This morning I read in Publishers Weekly that Hachette, the big 5 publisher, was going to start using Twitter to promote their books. Wondering if this was part of the fallout of the much talked about Hachette vs Amazon battle waged mostly in the media, I anxiously read the article.  After all, many of us use Twitter to promote our books.  I wanted to know what Hachette was going to do that I wasn't doing.  In the article, Hachette announced they were going to partner with Gumroad on an e-commerce venture. Who the heck is Gumroad?

I spent a chunk of the morning doing some research, searching for some sage words on who Gumroad was and why Gumroad was a platform we indie authors should be using.  What I discovered was a very informative article on Gumroad's blog by developer Nathan Barry.  In the piece, Barry touted that he'd sold over $355,759 in books using Gumroad.  You know that got my attention.  Click HERE to read the entire piece, but stay with me for a few minutes before you do.

Barry threw me for a loop when he said he didn't use Amazon to sell his books.  Here's what he said:

Before writing books I made all my product revenue from selling iPhone apps on the App Store. Each day I would look at the previous days sales numbers. Unfortunately that’s all they were: numbers. I would be informed “You sold x copies of this app in these countries.” That’s it.
Without customer information I had no way of contacting any of my users. That meant notification about updates, asking for feedback, and any other contact had to be done through custom code through the app—something I hadn’t taken the time to build.
That’s when it really hit me: the people who bought my app weren’t my customers, they were Apple’s. Apple was just giving me a little bit of money from each purchase, but not the customer.
I often get asked why I, as a full-time author, don’t sell my books on Amazon or the iBooks store. The biggest reason is the lack of customer information. I want to sell directly to my customers so that I can email them to ask how they like it, know who is buying it and where, and be able to build on that relationship to make my next book launch more successful than the last.

Interesting, huh? Over this past year it has become more and more obvious to me that my email list is going to be my greatest selling tool.  It isn't yet.  I'm working on it.  If you're an author, this blog post is yet another reason for you to continue to not only build, but cultivate the readers your email list.  There was a time when I held contests just to get names onto my list.  I don't do that anymore.  The names on my list are harder to come by now because they are mostly readers I have sought out because they have read and enjoyed one or more of my books.  I want to have a relationship with these people. These readers are already fans, and if I do things right, most of them will stay with me and become lifelong fans.

As authors we often feel this is our journey.  We feel it's a solitary journey, but we're wrong in feeling that way. It's a shared journey between us and our readers, but it's shared only if we open up to them.

That's it from me for today.  Food for thought. Read Nathan Barry's blog post, decide if Gumroad is for you, and think of ways to organically grow your email list.

Keep Reading--Keep Writing!

A Dose of Perspective For The Holidays

I've been thinking a lot about being an author--indie or otherwise--lately.  As authors we are often looking for new ways to market our books in the hopes of reaching Best Seller status, or at least to sell more books than we're currently selling.  There's nothing wrong with that.

This year, for the holidays, I decided to offer up a large dose of perspective for myself and possibly  for those of you who are reading this and in need of some.  You know who you are.  If you're not sure--read on.

 Here's why I'm in need of perspective: My career as an author began back in 2009 with my novel Never Slow Dance With A Zombie (Tor-teen).  The book had a nice bit of success right out of the gate.  It became a Scholastic Book of The Month Club selection with an initial order of 25,000 copies.  It went on to sell many thousands more copies and was nominated for a prestigious ALA Award.  I followed this up with indie published (White Whisker Books) Boyfriend From Hell and Earth Angel.  Both books were instant Amazon ebook bestsellers, topping the children's-YA ebook list.  The only other author with more than one book in the top 10 at that time was Suzanne Collins with her The Hunger Games trilogy.  I was living the dream. Shortly after, my series was optioned by Hollywood for a TV show or movie.

I was feeling good about myself, but somewhere along the way I lost perspective.  I forgot why I became an author in the first place.  When my next novel, The Zombie Always Knocks Twice (Imajin books) didn't sell well I became distraught.  Then the next book (the third in The Falling Angels Saga)  Heaven Sent, came out of the box like gangbusters and then tapered off. No more 25,000 book initial orders. No more Best Seller list.  And no TV show or movie. I blamed it on my marketing, I blamed it on the market, I blamed it on all the other indie authors who were stealing my eyeballs.  The truth is, there's no blame here.  These things happen.  Some books catch on and others don't.  Some books you think aren't worth the paper (or trilobytes) they're written on become million sellers, and other books you think are worthy (like your own, maybe) struggle to sell 500 copies. Bad mouthing the success of others while bemoaning your lack of success is a trip down misery lane, and one not worth taking.  Don't do it.  It doesn't help.  All you can do is keep writing.

Let's rejoice in the fact that others are having success.  And keep writing.  When I was a salesman and people asked how could I do it, knock on doors day-after-day, I always replied "It's a numbers game.  If I knock on so many doors, I'm going to get in; if I make so many presentations, I'm going to make a sale." What we do is a numbers game as well.  So keep writing, and remember why you started writing in the first place. I started writing because I loved it.  I still do.  I love storytelling and I love sharing my work with an audience no matter how small.  Back in the day, that audience consisted only of my mother, my brother and my friends.  I didn't think 'this audience is too small.' I loved that they enjoyed my stories.  Now, thanks to Amazon, I have readers around the world.  I don't have a million readers, but that's okay.  I'll just write another book, and if I still don't have a million readers, that's okay, too. I'm grateful for the readers I do have, and for the ability to do what I LOVE without a gatekeeper telling me I can't.

I have a new book coming out some time next year, and while I'd love for it to do well, I've stopped worrying about it.  I will market my books as best as I can, and keep writing.  So, this holiday season, as you begin marketing your books for the big Christmas rush, be like me and keep in mind why we started doing this in the first place.  If you're anything like me, you're writing because you love it.  Don't look at what others have and allow it to steal your joy.  Our joy comes from what we do.  While I'm writing this for you to read, I'm writing it for me, too, to look at from time-to-time when I start losing perspective again. I'm going to end this piece with a story written by Aesop.  The Dog And His Shadow


A DOG, crossing a bridge over a stream with a piece of flesh in his mouth, saw his own shadow in the water and took it for that of another Dog, with a piece of meat double his own in size. He immediately let go of his own, and fiercely attacked the other Dog to get his larger piece from him. He thus lost both: that which he grasped at in the water, because it was a shadow; and his own, because the stream swept it away.

I wish you happiness and great selling for the holidays.  Don't grasp at shadows. Let's root for everyone's success and not just our own.  And let's keep perspective. I hope you enjoyed this piece. If you have a comment or story you'd like to share with me (success story or not) I'd love to hear it. And most importantly, Keep Writing!

Happy Holidays. Peace.

Adventures In Genre-Bending

No! I didn't say gender-bending.

My genre-bending adventure is about to begin.  I just turned the second edit/pass of my latest novel into my publisher, White Whisker Books.  I'm calling this my genre-bending adventure because it was apparent early on in the writing process that this book was not going to fit squarely into any one hole.

I started out with two ideas.  I wanted to do something about my older brother in which my older brother was a ghost.  No, my older brother is not dead, but growing up he was someone I very much looked up to, and I wanted to write about that from a young boy's perspective, a young boy needing to finish growing up without the steady hand of a brother he looked up to.  I also knew I wanted to do something like The Green Mile.  What I mean by that is, I didn't want to hit horror over the head.  I wanted my book to be more wonder--John Coffey in The Green Mile--than horror.  To this, I added a delightful romance that winds up driving the entire story.  Oh yes, and there's a monster. So I've got a thirteen year-old boy (genre, YA), a ghost with a special power (genre, Supernatural), a sweet romance (genre, Romance), the last 100 pages are a thrill ride (genre, Thriller), oh, and the monster (genre, Horror).

For the past few months I've called it a romantic-horror-thriller.  I like that, however, the first editor called it a paranormal coming of age story.  Sheesh! Confusing.

The truth is, these labels only matter in marketing.  You want to make sure your book gets into the hands of folks who will appreciate it.  If someone is looking for pure horror they may give my book a bad review.  Reviews are all important, and early reviews are the most important, so I want to make sure the book is appealing to the right crowd early on.

I did a little research on my favorite genre-bending novel, The Time Traveler's Wife (Sci-fi/ romance), and discovered most publisher's didn't want to touch the book because it was difficult to pigeon-hole.  That didn't keep it from becoming a bestseller as well as a movie. On Goodreads, I did notice from the reviews that many of the reviewers were fans of romantic novels.

Of course, The Time Traveler's Wife is about adults and my book is about teenagers. Young love might not be as appealing as adult love.  At any rate, now that I've turned it in, I't's got me thinking. Also, while I love the Wattpad cover (the book premiered last June as a Wattpad WIP. Click on the link to check it out) it's probably the wrong cover for romance and supernatural.  What do you think?  Does it matter?  I should probably come up with a new title, too, huh?  My publisher already suggested that.  What do you think?

I welcome comments from anyone, whether you've written a genre-bender or not.  I'd love to hear from readers as well as writers.  If you have a moment, please leave your thoughts. 

Anyway, here we go.  I'll keep you posted as I lumber toward publication.

Keep Reading- Keep Writing!

Guest Post from Sal Conte on Turning Up The Horror in Your Stories

This is a guest post written by my horror writing alter ego, Sal Conte (featured in photo).

I’ve been noticing a trend among less seasoned writers of scary stories.  Too many of them are in a hurry to show you how scary they can be.  They’re anxious to get to the horror. I understand this quite well.  As writers of scary stuff, the horror is our favorite part.  But allow me to drop a little knowledge I received from one Stephen King.  It was something I read a long time ago in his book Danse Macabre.  I need to paraphrase here because, like I said, I read it a long time ago, before my brain cells were destroyed by wine, women, and the ravages of time. 

Here’s what he said: To make something really scary, you need to slowly build the world the horror takes place in.  You build your world out of the ordinary, the mundane. It’s a world that the reader recognizes.  It’s very much like his own world. Then, into this very ordinary world comes the spooky stuff.

At the risk of using my own work as an example, in my current Work In Progress on Wattpad entitled, The Memory Giver, I spend quite a bit of time in the prologue talking about young Marty’s sister leaving him at home alone for the first time.  We hear a little bit about Marty’s absentee father, that the family was recently homeless, and that Allison, his sister, is desperate to have a friend.  All normal stuff.  It’s into this very recognizable world that I introduce my reader to a glimpse of horror.

Readers on Wattpad have been responding big time to this story, so I must be doing something right.  It’s because I took my time in world building before I (as Stephen King said in Danse Macabre) brought the monster out of the closet (his words, not mine). So when writing tales of horror, take your time in world building before you introduce the scary stuff. Do this well enough, and you just may be the next great scary story teller.

 If you’d like to have a look at the prologue of our horror WIP on Wattpad, go HERE.  It’s free. 

Your Pal,

Sal

Thanks, E, for sharing the spotlight with me. 

Your Novel To The Screen Part Deaux

A few weeks back I posted here about a recent phenomenon in Hollywood where novelists are now being allowed to write the screenplays of their novels.  In the past, this was unheard of as Hollywood always hired one of their own--often to disastrous results. In the earlier post I encouraged writers to take a look at screenwriting and into adapting their own novels for the screen.  You can find that earlier post HERE. Today I'm going to post briefly on what to do once you have a polished screen adaptation of your novel in your hands.

This is the hard part because there are no set rules to follow on breaking into Hollywood.  But there are three roads I want to tell you about to start you on your journey.  The first are services like Ink Tip who connect producers with screenplays.  Before writing this post I did a bit of research on Ink Tip and found a few bad reviews.  So buyer beware. As a producer, I have used Ink Tip and found them to be quite professional. I also found this very informative THREAD where a writer asks about Ink Tip and gets some very good advice for writers looking to break in. Please check it out.

The second place to get your screenplays noticed is through contests like Script Pipeline.  I've never submitted to them and don't know anyone who has, so I'm not endorsing them here, but when I looked them up they seemed reputable.  But again, buyer beware.  Do your own research. There are  lots of contests and lots of scam artists out there.  Take your time in finding one you think works for you.

The third and final way to go are agents.  A good agent is hard to find, hard to reach, and even harder to get to represent you.  Here is an interview with some of Hollywood's top literary agents who represent books: TOP AGENTS.  You may not be able to get to one of them, but if you read this at least you'll know who they are and what they're looking for. That's a good place to start.

I started working in Hollywood in the 80s.  I didn't know anyone when I got here, didn't have a soul to give me a leg up.  I knocked on doors--lots of them--and eventually someone answered. In the mean time, I was writing and rewriting and polishing my material.  If you're sincerely interested in breaking in and seeing your book on the screen, I suggest you do the same.

Hollywood has a ravenous appetite for books, and in today's market many novelists are adapting their own works for the screen.  New writers are being discovered everyday. The next one could be you. Often the books Hollywood chooses are not bestsellers, so don't let that be a deterrent.  If you'd like to see your book on the screen, start down that road now: Writing, refining, researching and knocking on doors.

Keep Reading-Keep Writing!

The Engine That Could--Your Mailing List

Those who know me know I’ve been on the 'build your email list' bandwagon for some time now.  As the market becomes more cluttered with indie writers writing more and more books, the marketing of our books is going to get harder and harder. Our mailing lists of go-to readers is what can keep us in the game.  As I discovered over the past few years, building this potent list is not easy.  It won’t happen overnight.  I’ve been at it for over a year now and my list is still quite small.  My mailing list, however, is like the little engine that could. 

I think I can,

I think I can,

I know I can,

I KNOW I can!

My mailing list is not very deep, but it is powerful.  Here’s a recent story that demonstrates the power of my list.  I’d been posting chapters of my latest WIP, The Memory Giver, on Wattpad all summer long.  In early September, to my delightful surprise, the book was featured by Wattpad and (like with Amazon) I noticed I had a ranking.  Just like with Amazon, the lower your ranking the more visible your book becomes to new readers.  The goal, like on Amazon, is to get to #1. The day my book appeared on the list it ranked just above #500 in horror. Because of the feature, the ranking began to drop. One day it got as low as #18. 

With Amazon your ranking is based on sales, but since Wattpad is free, I couldn’t determine what affected my ranking. I did some research and discovered to improve your ranking readers must “star” the chapters they read if they like them.  The more stars you can get in a short period of time, the lower your ranking becomes.

After the first two weeks of my feature my ranking began to climb. It was still pretty good, hovering just under 100, but I wondered if my fans on my mailing list could help get the ranking down and keep it down a little longer.  So on Sunday October 19^th, I emailed my frans on my list and told them I was looking for beta readers for my latest work and what I needed them to do to become one--read the chapters on Wattpad and star the ones they enjoyed.  They acted swiftly.  On October 21^st The Memory Giver dropped to #14 on the list.  Today, two days later, it’s still #15. 

I have a regular mailing list with 100s of names, but it’s just a list because I didn't realize how important my list could be when I started it. A little over a year ago I started another list, my special list. I only have a handful of followers on my special list, but look at the power they pack.  Imagine if I had hundreds or thousands of these types of followers.  I’ve now rededicated myself to adding quality names to my special list.  Eventually, I’ll phase out the other list. Imagine if we each had 10,000 loyal followers who bought everything we wrote; we’d be doing pretty well, wouldn't we?  Getting there is not going to happen overnight.  You need to build a list of frans (friend + fan = fran) who listen when you talk to them. You do this one name (one fran) at a time.

By the way, I sent a similar email to those on my regular list.  Two people (out of 400) responded. That list will definitely be phased out. We don’t just want names on our mailing lists, we want friends who we can talk to.  Like I said, building this list won’t be easy, but in a year or two, it will be worth it.  So start now to build your mailing list of special frans one name at a time.

In a future post I’ll tell you how I'm going about building my special list.  In the meantime, if you’d like to read chapters of the (as of today) #15 horror novel on Wattpad, The Memory Giver (it’s free) Go here: THE MEMORY GIVER.   If you do stop by, please remember to “star” the chapters you enjoyed.  Thank you.

Keep Reading-Keep Writing!

It's Time To Adapt Your Novel For The Screen

There’s a new phenomenon sweeping the Hollywood landscape. Authors are being allowed to adapt their own works for the screen.  For most of my career this has not been the norm.  Typically, the studio would purchase the rights to your book and then bring in a screenwriter or two to “adapt” it—often to disastrous results, definitely to unnerving results for the author.  Just ask Stephen King about The Lawnmower Man.

Recently, however, there seems to be a change in the air.  Authors are being allowed to write the screenplays for their works, and some of the results have been stunning: Gillian Flynn wrote the movie adaptation of her novel, Gone Girl, Dennis Lehane adapted his short story The Drop, and Johnathan Tropper wrote This Is Where I Leave You.  All three movies have received good notices from the critics. 

With these successes, Hollywood  will be more open to authors penning their novels for the screen. So what are you waiting for? Now is the perfect time for independent authors to start working on their screenplays.

As an author who’s spent most of my career writing for TV and film, I can tell you writing a screenplay is a very different animal than writing a novel.  Animal?  Heck, it might not even be considered the same species.  If you haven’t written for the screen before it’s going to take some training, but if you’re a self-published or independent author, chances are you’re no stranger to training and learning new skills.

Take a screenwriting class, or buy a book on screenwriting.  There are lots of good books on screenwriting out there.  I trained so long ago I don’t want to steer you wrong on what to read so ask around.  I will tell you Linda Seeger’s Making A Good Script Great was a good book for me, and helped me immensely with the writing and rewrite of the Academy Award nominated short film, Cadillac Dreams. 

You know you’ve always wanted to see your book on the screen.  It’s time to get to work on your screenplay.  In a future post I’ll give you a few tips on what to do once your screenplay has been completed. 

Happy Reading – Happy Writing

You can read more about Flynn, Lehane and Tropper in this Variety article.