Self-Publishing

Everything is Back on Track!

New books are live. More books are coming.

The Devil Left Him is up on sale on Amazon. I just did the official announcement on Periscope.

That should have showed up on Facebook as well. I explain that the book is available, and go into a little bit about why I wrote it: a literary experiment on the Divine Character Problem. I talk about Luke Skywalker for a minute, and then can’t figure out how to turn the broadcast off, because it’s my second one.

nailed-it-4

I’m going to publish it on iBooks as well, probably with an alternative title. I’m also doing an Amazon Ad campaign for it, to see how that does. All in all, very exciting. I conceived this and brought it to market in about a year, while working on other projects as well, and holding down a full-time job and taking care of a family. I think I can improve that time, but the future is a tease, always arriving different than expected.

Next up: getting the next issue of Unnamed Journal up. Then publishing Last Tomorrow and Void. I should be getting back on track with The Sword as well.

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That’s Three Novellas Done, Gang.

devil-1last-tomorrowVoid3

I just put the most satisfying words – THE END – an author ever composes onto Void. The last three chapters will be available in their entirety in the next issue of Unnamed Journal.

Which means I’ve finished almost a week ahead of my June 1st deadline.

Which means I’ve hit all my deadlines this year – with time to spare. In January I had none novellas finished. Now I have three.

So now what?

First, these need to be revised, and then published. On Kindle certainly, and with paperback versions as well.

I’ll probably go back and revise them in order of composition – Devil, Last Tomorrow, then Void.

So let me set myself some more arbitrary deadlines:

  • The Devil Left Him – Let’s say June 23rd. That ought to be plenty of time. I don’t think this one needs that much revision.
  • The Party at the Last Tomorrow – I’m going to give myself more time with this one. It’s kind of half-baked at this point. We’re going for July 28th.
  • Void – I don’t know that Void is going to need much work. I’m going to give myself three weeks. August 18th.

While I’m doing this, I will be working on a full-length novel. It’s the Civil War novel I’ve already started, working title The Sword. If I can get it done over the summer, I’ll be pretty pleased with myself.

Watch this space.

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Unnamed Journal 7 – Available for Free on Joomag.

Edit: Link was displaying messy code. Fixed now.

Unnamed Journal, a magazine I have been known to write for, is now in its second year. It’s been available in print from POD houses, Blurb and Lulu, and in digital form on Amazon. For the new year, they’ve switched gears, going to online magazine publisher Joomag.

The thing Joomag lets magazine publishers do is offer subscriptions. Amazon floated this idea for a little while for self-published magazines, but closed it. You can still subscribe to magazines on Amazon, but they’re from established players only. So it goes.

Right now, the editors of Unnamed Journal are offering their subscriptions for free. So when you click the cover pic below, you go to joomag.com and you can have the next issue, and subsequent issues, at no cost to you.

unnamed

Enjoy.

The previous year’s issues are now collected in the Year 1 Omnibus on Amazon. There’s lot’s of good stuff in there.

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A Message I Think Many of Us Self-Published Could Use.

At the end of a re-posted Sarah Hoyt Human Wave “manifesto”

You shall not spend your life explaining why your not-boring is better than your fellow writers not-boring.  Instead you will shut up and write.

 preach

There is nothing lamer, sadder, and more pathetic that author-on-author hate. Does anyone imagine that J.K. Rowling gives one tu’penny fark how many people slag Harry Potter? Of course not, which is why I stopped hating on them years ago. I still haven’t read them, because I don’t care, but good for her. Seriously. Another person’s success is not my failure, no matter how mystifying I find things.

I have never published anything that sold in quantities I want. That’s, well, it’s not okay, but whining about it accomplishes what? Grumping about people who didn’t like my work accomplishes what?

Aside from making you an entitled ninny and pseudo-aristocrat, I mean?

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Authors: Social Media Will Not Bring You an Audience.

It will help you keep an audience when you’ve got one.

That’s not what this post at Book Designer starts to say, but that’s what they end up concluding. The lede is buried here:

Your key to more followers isn’t posting more frequently or having more conversations. Nor is it constantly checking your feeds to see who said what.

A readership develops because they have something to value and talk about. The best way to accomplish that is to give them more fiction. Writing good stories, as always, should remain your top priority.

Good storytelling will lead to a fan base, and then social media will start returning results. You’ll see more links, retweets, and likes. Your voice will start circulating and your reach will expand.

Joel has even proposed not significantly investing in blogging until you have a readership. I think that makes a lot of sense.

Suggestion: Work on your craft, refine your voice, polish and publish. That’s what matters most. The better your writing, the better social media will work.

I’ve been operating under the If You Build It, They Will Come idea since I started self-publishing. I’m glad to hear that I’m not out of my mind.

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