Hi folks,
Just a reminder that this is the last day to enter my giveaway for signed copies of Emperor’s Edge and Dark Currents. I’ll do the official drawing (the part where I close my eyes, spin around, and point to a random entrant) tonight and contact the winners this weekend.
Thanks for reading!
In my Self-publishing Adventures post on Monday, I wondered aloud (well, on the screen) what people thought I should blog about here (since I’ve moved most of the self-publishing stuff to a new site). There were several requests for tidbits about my books and characters (in other words, my characters are way more interesting than I am, but I already knew that :D).
More than one person has hinted about cut scenes or extras, so…why not?
This was a conversation between Amaranthe and Sicarius that took place shortly before they left for the mountains in Dark Currents. Since they didn’t get back to the city until the epilogue, I ended up cutting this thread and most of the references to Rockjaw, a fellow I was working in as a disreputable ally.
* * *
“Rockjaw mentioned something about you that I wasn’t aware of,” Amaranthe said.
Sicarius said nothing. She wondered if he had an inkling of what she meant to bring up.
“Apparently the word is out amongst our demimonde that you’re available for the assassination of Emperor Sespian, should someone want to hire you.”
Again he said nothing.
“I assume this is so you can easily find and kill people who are planning Sespian’s demise. Naturally, they’d want to hire the best, so they’d go to you first. At which point…” She dragged a finger across her throat. “While I can understand your reasoning, the emperor has an intelligence network, doesn’t he? He’s sure to hear about this. It won’t endear you to him, and it’ll make our mission — our goal of expiation — harder.”
Sicarius’s expression had gone from unreadable to unfriendly. He did not want to discuss this. After what had happened the last time she probed into his personal affairs, she could understand that, but surely his plan had a few flaws. She had to say so, or what kind of comrade would she be?
“I know I’m not the wisest person you know, or even the wisest person in this room, but I think your choice may possibly need…the teeniest bit of reconsideration.”
“Really.”
“What happens when you get hired?” Amaranthe asked.
“I kill the hirer.”
“Right, so what happens when you’ve killed several people?”
“Nothing yet.”
“You mean you’ve already…?”
Amaranthe interpreted his silence as an affirmative. She could not blame him for killing someone who plotted to kill Sespian, but… “Eventually it’ll get out that you’re not doing the job people are hiring you for, and folks will wonder why you’re protecting Sespian. Maybe they’ll pry. Maybe they’re trade notes and put things together, realize he could be used as a lever against you. Maybe your actions have already given them enough to talk about.”
“Maybe not everybody talks as much as you,” Sicarius said coolly.
Amaranthe looked away, stung. She was giving too much of a lecture. He didn’t appreciate it. Or her wagging tongue.
Fine. She had voiced her concerns. He could consider them, or not.
She headed for the door.
Sicarius caught her with a hand to the shoulder. Amaranthe braced herself, fearing further chastisement, but his grip was gentle, not firm. “Speaking of this discomfits me.” His tone sounded vaguely apologetic.
She eyed him over her shoulder. “Is that supposed to be an apology? For snapping at me even though I’m only questioning you because I care?”
His eyes softened. “And because you’re nosy.”
“You’re horrendous at apologies.”
“Yes.”
* * *
Thanks for reading! I’ll post some teaser chapters for Book 3 at the end of the month.
Just before Christmas in 2010, I e-published my first novel, The Emperor’s Edge. Encrypted and a short story collection followed. Next came Flash Gold, a novella I never would have written if I’d been thinking of getting published under the traditional paradigm. 18,000-word stories just don’t sell. But with ebooks…there are no rules on length. (For more on that, see previous posts How Does Short Fiction Sell in Ebook Form? and Novellas and Short Stories–Ebooks Not Just for Novels.)
In June, I published Dark Currents, a novel-length sequel to The Emperor’s Edge, and in August, I published Hunted, a followup to Flash Gold. I just finished a major editing pass of the third EE book, Deadly Games, and I’m hoping to get that out by the end of November.
Looking back, it seems like I’ve been doing a heck of a lot of writing and publishing! I did have Encrypted, Emperor’s Edge, and the short story collections finished before I thought of turning to self-publishing, but I’ve still done two full-length novels and two novellas this year. In other words, I’m writing a lot more than I was before self-publishing. Before that, I was on-again-off-again with my writing (EE was five or six years in the making, with larges gaps in the middle where I wandered off to play games like World of Warcraft instead of doing any writing at all, ahem). What’s changed?
Well, a couple of things. I always dreaded the idea of querying agents (and stalking them into the bathroom at writing conventions to pitch my story to them from the next stall over…), so I didn’t bother. E-publishing isn’t easy, exactly, but its barriers are ones that I didn’t mind. Learning how to get an ebook online and promote it were more my cup of tea (I’ve been making a living online, one way or another, since 2003).
So, as a self-publisher, I was able to get my first book out. As for what’s prompted me to write so much this last year, there were a couple of things. First, it’s the difference between nobody reading your work and lots of people reading it (and asking for more, thank you, good readers). Also, I have to admit it’s motivating when you’re actually making money from your writing.
Ah, yes, the numbers…
I always waffle back and forth on whether I want to talk about this stuff or not, but I know folks are curious. There may be a point when I decide not to, but since I’m still making less than my teacher buddies, I don’t think it’s too uncouth.
Though I’m not a bestseller (and with my quirky sense of what’s amusing and what isn’t, probably never will be), I’ve been fortunate to find some success, even though I ignore many of the book promotion tactics that don’t fit my personality (see my post on: book promotion tips for hardcore introverts).
Since I released Dark Currents in June, I’ve been selling more than 2,000 ebooks a month, and I’ve steadily broken the $2,500/mo mark. August was my best month to date with earnings bumping into the $3,000 range, though sales dropped in September (about $2,500 again).
Amazon made one of my short story collections free in August, and I believe that’s what gave me a boost there (authors interested in trying this, see my video on How to Get Your Ebook Listed for Free at Amazon / Barnes & Noble), albeit a temporary one.
Some of you guys may be thinking I’d make more if I charged more for my ebooks. Maybe so (though I’m sure I’d sell fewer copies, so who knows if things would even out), but it’s a crummy economy all around, and, for now, I prefer to keep my ebooks affordable, rather than experimenting a lot with price. My highest priced ebook is Dark Currents at $3.99. I have the same philosophy with print publishing, and I made my paperbacks as inexpensive as I could without losing money.
So, what’s next?
As I mentioned, the third Emperor’s Edge book should be out next month. I’ve heard from many authors that their sales tend to increase across the series as they get more books out in the sequence. I know that was the case when I released the second book, and it’s also been true for the Flash Gold novellas. It’ll be interesting to watch. I admit, I’m always a tad jealous when other indie authors come onto the scene with one or two books and start out selling thousands of copies a month (of one title) right off the bat (I’ve yet to break 1,000 a month with any particular book).
As far as blogging goes, some of you know that I was writing a lot about self-publishing and book promotion here (sharing the things I was learning along the way), and I recently decided to break that off and start a self-publishing blog. I figured people who find this site and want to contact me about my books might not be particularly interested in those topics.
Of course, that’s left me not entirely sure what to blog about over here. If you have any thoughts or suggestions for topics, let me know. Of course, I’ll chat up my books now and then (if you’re reading this, and it’s not yet October 7th, you can still win signed paperback copies of Emperor’s Edge and Dark Currents), and you’ll probably get some travel talk as I’ve been selling off most of my stuff so I can go on some extended trips. (One of the perks of being an author/blogger is that you can work from anywhere in the world.)
But as for the rest, I guess I’ll figure it out as I go along.
If you like listening to audiobooks, but you don’t like paying for them (hey, they’re pricy, I understand!), you can find a wealth of listening material over at Podiobooks.com.
These are independently published audiobooks. (They’re called podiobooks, because they get published, an episode or two at a time, and can be downloaded on iTunes and other podcast-friendly sites.)
With the help of my friends over at DarkFire Productions, I started publishing The Emperor’s Edge podiobook last month (it’s up to chapter 9, right now, and if you subscribe, you’ll get a new chapter delivered to your iPod or other mp3 player each week). So, that’s one free fantasy audiobook for you to try out.
But there are lots of others, too, including many that are already completed (so you can listen at your own pace and don’t have to wait patiently for authors to upload new chapters).
Here are a few popular fantasy novels over at Podiobooks:
Heart of the Ronin by Travis Heermann (historical fantasy)
Thirteenth-century Japan is a dangerous place, even in a time of peace. Capricious gods, shape-changing animals, and bloodthirsty demons are as real and unpleasant as a gang of vicious bandits. From the wilderness emerges a young, idealistic warrior with his father’s mysterious sword on his hip, a wise, sarcastic dog at his side, and a yearning in his heart to find a worthy master. He dreams only of being samurai. Little does he suspect the agony and glory that await him when his dreams come true….
Union of Renegades: The Rys Chronicles Book I by Tracy Falbe (epic fantasy)
Dreibrand Veta has killed for his country. At the frontlines of imperial expansion, he seeks to rebuild the fortune of his noble family. In his daring travels he encounters the rys, a race far more powerful than the human empire that bred him. Dreibrand cannot defy the rys Queen Onja nor defend his companion, Miranda, and her children from the wicked tyrant Queen. Desperate for help…
Shadowmagic by John Lenahan (YA fantasy)
A rip roaring fun fantasy adventure novel by John Lenahan very loosely based on Irish mythology where every chapter ends on the edge of a cliff (or at least a high curb.) Join Conor as he grapples with typical teenage problems like, how to deal with a father’s high expectations, how to survive in the world on your own and how to woo a beautiful girl – that wants you dead. Shadowmagic a podcast novel for young adults from 12 to 112.
Max Quick 1: The Pocket and the Pendant by Mark Jeffrey (YA fantasy)
When time mysteriously stops, young Max Quick must travel across America to find the source of this ‘temporal disaster’… Along the way, he and his companions encounter ancient mysteries, quantum Books, and clues to the riddle of stopped Time. But the more Max learns, the more it seems that his own true identity is not what he once believed…
Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword by Tee Morris
It is The Era of Prohibition, where crime runs rampant in the streets and a city divided into territories serves as the ultimate prize.
Somewhere in this Underworld of Chicago, an enchanted weapon holds the key to ending The Gangland Wars. In the wake of The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, only one is man enough to stand up against Al Capone…
…a four-foot-one dwarf named Billibub Baddings.
Legon Awakening by Nicholas Taylor
Join Legon and his sister, Sasha, search to understand their true heritage, confused at the possibility that of being part human and part elf. Surrounded by elves, the newly introduced Iumenta race, Dragons and Humans; Legon and Sasha’s lives are filled with adventure and fantasy on their search for answers as they begin an epic journey of discovery; not to mention the incredible battle scenes which will be surely to capture your imagination…
The Secret World Chronicle, Book One: Invasion by Mercedes Lackey and Steve Libbey
Emerging mysteriously during World War II, metahumans became icons of the best – and worst – humanity had to offer. Yet sixty years later, the world still suffers from war, greed and madness. Worse, man’s nadir of systematic cruelty returns with bizarre new weapons. The metahumans of Earth must find a way to defeat this powerful foe and discover what lurks behind the scenes – a secret world hidden from our own. Mercedes Lackey, one of fantasy’s most beloved voices, and new talent Steve Libbey bring you a podcast series that catapults the classic superhero into the 21st century.
As you may know, I’m giving away copies of The Emperor’s Edge and Dark Currents right here on the blog (drawing on Friday the 7th), but there’s another signed paperback copy of EE up for grabs over at Goodreads, so you may want to enter there too:
This morning someone asked me where she could purchase a Kindle and, with a somewhat blank look, I said, “At Amazon of course.”
But she wanted to know where she could pick one up and play with it and buy it in person. So I peeked around, and here are a few stores that carry the Kindle:
That said, you don’t have to pay tax or shipping (if you select the slower shipping option) if you order online through Amazon. Also your device will come already registered to your Amazon account.
The customer service is good if you order online, and there are no lines to stand in for returns or problems. When I ordered my Kindle, it came DOA, so I called Amazon up, and they shipped a new one out pronto (it came about two days later).
Which Kindle should you buy?
As I write this blog post, you have three options (five if you include the cheaper with-advertising models) The most popular Kindles are the 6-inch-screen wifi model and the 6-inch-screen 3G model (which includes wifi). I have the latter model myself. At first, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever use the 3G feature (meaning you can download books and get on the Kindle’s internet browser anywhere that you can get on a cell phone), but I can’t count the number of times I’ve downloaded new books from places without wifi. Road trips (don’t worry, if I’m reading in the car, I’m the passenger, not the driver!) are the main spot.
If you prefer a larger, tablet-sized model with a bigger screen (9.7″ display), you can get the Kindle DX; it also comes with wifi and 3G capabilities. It costs quite a bit more, though, and I personally think the screen on the 6″-model is fine. I’m a glasses-wearing geek, and I just increase the font size if I want to read without my glasses on.
Right now, the 6-inch wifi Kindle is the cheapest option at $139, and the 3G model is $189. The DX is a hefty $379.
Ah, but wait. What about those with-advertising models I mentioned?
Yes, you can get cheaper Kindles if you’re willing to put up with ads. You can save $50 and get the Kindle 3G that includes “Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers” for $139 ($50 off). The cheapest option altogether is the Kindle Wi-Fi with “Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers”. That one comes in at $114, thus saving you $25.
I haven’t seen one of the Kindles with ads personally, but here’s a blurb on what all that entails:
“Special offers and sponsored screensavers display on the Kindle screensaver and on the bottom of the home screen—they don’t interrupt reading…” They send coupons related to Amazon products and ebooks, and they say, “Our goal is to display sponsored screensavers that you want to see.” You can vote on prospective screensavers via the Amazon AdMash Kindle app (though the app itself doesn’t seem to be a big hit with owners).
The models with advertising weren’t around when I bought my Kindle, but I’m sure I would have avoided them. It doesn’t seem like much of a discount for something you’ll use every day and have for years, but the people who have purchased the cheaper Kindles don’t seem to mind the ads.
Here are a few comments from a forum post at Amazon where someone was asking owners to chime in on whether the ads were a pain or not:
“You see the special offers as a screen saver when you put your Kindle to sleep. You also see them at the bottom of the home page where all of your book titles are listed. They never appear while you are reading. That is, they are NOT popup ads. I feel that they are not a problem at all. To me it was well worth the $50 savings.”
“I have a K3 G3 SO and a K3 WiFi and I much prefer the ads on the So than the Dead Authors on WiFi. Same price $139.”
“I actually really like the offers because they have some great savings on things from amazon.com and even some good deals for e-books! I think it is definitely worth saving the $50!”
“I jumped on the humor book for $1, if the ads continue to offer great things like that then I’ll be thrilled I picked this version. I chose it initially because I’m a broke med school student, now I’m thinking the benefit will be greater than the $50 I saved.”
What are your thoughts, Kindle-owning readers? Did you buy a model with ads, or did you choose to spend more to avoid that feature?
Every now and then, someone asks me why I self-published. I addressed this somewhat in my “3 Reasons I’m Glad I Chose Self-Publishing” post, but I thought I’d try to explain why it’s not just me and why this movement is so popular right now. I welcome other authors’ (or readers’) thoughts, so please leave comments below.
Why Self-Publishing Is So Popular Right Now
1. For the first time, self-publishing (specifically e-publishing) makes sense from a monetary standpoint.
Ten years ago, anyone who self-published had to drop thousands of dollars to print a run of their books, books they then had to store in the garage and sell by hand. Who did that? Not many. Though I remember reading The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living a few years ago and being inspired. Not because I was going to do what this guy had done (a lot of work that involved going out and actually talking to people — as y’all know from my “Book Promotion Tips for Hardcore Introverts” post, that’s not my forte) but because someone was making it as a self-publisher. But it seemed like you not only had to work very hard, but you had to sell non-fiction, ideally in a specific niche not addressed well by mainstream publishers.
Fast forward a few years. Now we had LuLu and a couple of other companies offering print-on-demand publishing. This meant you didn’t have to order all those boxes of books for the garage. A book was only created when someone ordered it. The costs to get into POD publishing were low (as with ebooks, you’d want to pay for cover art and editing, but the respectable publishers didn’t charge a fortune for the actual service), but it was still hard to sell books. Why? You couldn’t price them competitively. Traditionally published paperbacks were running $6 or $7, and you’d be lucky to list yours for less than $10 (same goes for today, by the way; my paperbacks are $11.99, and that’s the lowest I could make them without losing money on sales).
That leads me into the Kindle era, 2009 and beyond. After the initial production costs (cover art, editing, and formatting — much of which authors on a shoestring budget can do on their own), ebooks cost nothing to produce. While some authors will argue vehemently that pricing ebooks at 99 cents is stupid, you can make money that way. I make a few hundred from Emperor’s Edge every month, even though it’s only 99 cents. Obviously, the higher priced Encrypted and Dark Currents make me more (though I sell fewer copies), but I like giving people a way to sample my work for a low price.
But, I digress. The point here is that self-publishing, thanks to the e-reader revolution, finally makes financial sense. Not only does it make sense, but I’d argue that it’s the way to go if you’re hoping to earn full-time pay (or at least a helpful part-time income) as an author right now.
No, not everybody is going to become a full-time author by e-publishing, but if you can get a few books out and if you can reach “midlist” status, you’ll be making $X,XXX a month. I’ve interviewed people making $XX,XXX a month. For most of us, e-publishing will never be a road to riches, but if you’re willing to market (and you have to do this these days even if you publish traditionally) you’ll probably make more as an independent author than you will with a traditional publisher. This is because you currently earn about 70% on every ebook sale.
And…let’s face it: most of us were never going to make it going the traditional route anyway. I know that sounds negative, but the odds say it’s true. As indies, we at least get a chance. We get to let the readers decide if our work is good enough. If it is, and they buy more, you might just have a career ahead of you.
I’m going to list a couple more reasons why self-publishing is popular right now, but you better believe the dream of quitting the day job to write full-time motivates a lot of folks.
2. You don’t have to write what’s popular or what’s easily placed in such-and-such genre.
Before I decided to go indie, I used to read literary agent Kristen Nelson’s Pub Rants from time to time. I even took a query-letter-writing webinar from her (it was a good class, and she’s a very nice lady). Every now and then, she’d go to some conference or meeting and write up a blog post about what editors were lusting after just then. This was “what’s hot,” and they were looking to buy stories in X genre.
You could hear the gears grinding as wheels turned behind the eyeballs of a thousand blog-readers. Heck, forget the epic fantasy novel I’m passionate about; I’m writing the next such-and-such-genre bestseller, so I’ll have a chance at landing a publisher! (No, Ms. Nelson doesn’t encourage writers to do this, but you know that’s what many people are thinking. I’ve thought it, even if I never acted on it)
While I’m sure lots of authors have made it following their passions, it’d be a shame to put one’s passion aside out of a belief that writing “what’s hot” will be more likely to lead to a contract and that it might be the only way to achieve one’s dream. One of my favorite Lois McMaster Bujold books has a line that goes, “Some prices are just too high, no matter how much you may want the prize. The one thing you can’t trade for your heart’s desire is your heart.”
My point here is that you don’t have to try and write what’s popular if you self-publish. Enough indies are making it in obscure genres to prove there’s a market for a lot of stuff that isn’t “what’s hot.” Because of that 70% royalty on ebooks, there’s no need to be a blockbuster hit to make decent money as an indie. (If you haven’t heard of Chris Anderson’s Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, it’s an interesting read, and, if you’re an independent artist, you’ll probably find it encouraging).
3. The media is recognizing self-publishers
While self-publishing will probably always come with a stigma (too many poorly edited books out there by folks who haven’t put in enough time to improve their craft), the success stories are creating a cult coolness for the movement.
Several independent authors have sold more than a million ebooks over in the Kindle Store and many more have been picked up by mainstream publishers for six-figure deals. Thanks to a few newspapers (but mostly the blogosphere), these stories have taken off and been spread far and wide.
There’s all sorts of talk about agents and publishers starting to use the Kindle bestsellers list to shop for clients. Self-publishing is the new slushpile, some say.
I don’t know how much of that is true, but it’s arguable that the very fact that self-publishing does come with a stigma means that if you can make it this way, you can make it any way.
At the very least, it’s starting to be trendy to self-publish.
If you’re a writer, thinking of going this route, check out some of my posts at Savvy Self-Publishing (I’m starting from the beginning over there and writing up the basic how-tos on getting started and promotion).
* * *
There are more reasons to dig self-publishing (speed to market, ability to set price, ability to make revisions down the road, real-time sales reporting, etc.), but I thought I’d leave some things for a future chat.
Do you have thoughts on the matter? Did you chose to self-publish, or would you? If you’re a reader, do you find yourself giving more indies a try these days, or is there too much muck out there to wade through for your tastes?
