Learning | Meredith Mansfield, Author

Posts Tagged ‘Learning’

Promotion Results

Posted in writing, tagged boxed sets, e-publishing, events, fantasy, Learning, marketing, revisions, sales, sequels, series, writing on May 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »

So, last week’s promotion was the first time I’d tried a free promotion. Here are the results:

For THE SHAMAN’S CURSE:

I gave away 914 copies, including books in two markets I’d never “sold” to before–Italy and Japan. Now, if only a quarter of those continue on to buy THE VOICE OF PROPHECY, BEYOND THE PROPHECY, and (eventually) WAR OF MAGIC, that will have been well worth it. Especially if they go on to leave reviews.

I’ll have a better idea how well this worked by the middle of next month, when the royalty report for May comes out. Of course, that won’t be complete. I’ve certainly downloaded a free book–or two–and not gotten around to reading it immediately.

BY SWORD, TALE, OR MAGIC didn’t fare quite as well, even at three books for $0.99.

Only 15 sales. Still, hopefully those are new readers of my work. Hopefully they’ll go on to read some of my other books. Or at least leave a review. BSToM doesn’t have any reviews, yet. (Which may be part of the reason it didn’t sell better.)

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Timelines

Posted in writing, tagged e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Learning, sequels, series, writing on January 31, 2016| 3 Comments »

The bigger–and longer–a story gets the more it needs a timeline to help the author keep things straight. At least, I certainly need a timeline.

In WAR OF MAGIC, the fourth book in the DUAL MAGICS series, I’m currently writing in Year 9 of the story.

WarOfMagic7

I started this timeline way back with the first book. It helps me keep track of how old each of the characters is–especially the characters who get less focus in the story. It also helps me figure out how long ago a particular event happened from the characters’ perspective. Don’t want to say something happened five years ago when it was only three. Some reader somewhere will call you on that.

As I work towards the climax of WAR OF MAGIC–and the series–I’ve started to realize I’m going to need another timeline for just the few months leading up to the big battle. The exact time of year–specifically how early or late it is in the summer–is going to matter. And work in how long it takes to get between certain places on foot or on horseback, which will also matter.

This is not something I need right now, while I’m writing the first draft. I wouldn’t go back and change things to fit the timeline right now anyway. In the second or third draft, chapters or scenes can easily be moved around to where they need to be, possibly with just a little revision. That’s when I’m going to need to lay out this detailed timeline.

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Cover Art Issues

Posted in writing, tagged Cover Art, critiques, e-publishing, fantasy, Learning, marketing, sequels, series, writing on November 22, 2015| 4 Comments »

I’ve started wrestling with the cover art for WAR OF MAGIC. I’ve had the image finalized for quite a while.

WarMagicBlank

It’s very nearly perfect, but there’s just one problem with it. All the other books in the series use white text. And white just doesn’t show up well on this background.

So I’ve been experimenting with options.

I tried black text. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t show up real well, either.

WarOfMagic1

(This one isn’t finished, of course. It still needs the “Dual Magics Book 4” somewhere. Most of these do.)

I tried to use solid bands.

WarOfMagic2

This works, but it has the disadvantage that I’d probably have to change all the other covers to match–and I like them better as they are.

I tried a mix.

WarOfMagic3

I tried clearing part of the background.

WarOfMagic4

And I tried a drop shadow.

WarOfMagic5

So far, most of the people I’ve asked like the bands best. But I don’t.

Well, we’ll see.

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Reading Your Own Works as a Reader

Posted in writing, tagged boxed sets, e-publishing, fantasy, Learning, Reading, rewrites, writing on November 4, 2015| 2 Comments »

It’s an interesting experience. I’ve had something like it when I started the rewrite of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE.

But that was something I’d first written at the beginning of my writer’s journey. A story I still wanted to tell, but had told badly the first time I tried. That was an experience in realizing just how bad those first efforts were.

After publishing the boxed set of young adult fantasies, BY SWORD, TALE, OR MAGIC, I started reading them.

At first, I thought it was an in-depth format check. But I’ve found I got sucked into my own stories–and I know how they’re going to end if anyone does. Not to say I haven’t found things I’d do differently if I wrote that story today.

Probably the biggest one is scenes I clearly remember, but didn’t remember cutting from the finished novel. Most were rightly cut. There’s always some of that in the editing of any story. Others I can’t recall why I cut. Probably trying to fit within some externally dictated length. A few, I wish I hadn’t cut. That’s an interesting perspective to carry with me into my next set of revisions.

A useful experience. And affirming. All writers need that from time to time.

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Boxed Sets

Posted in writing, tagged Cover Art, e-publishing, fantasy, Learning, marketing, Multiple Projects, paranormal romance, Romance, sequels, series, writing, Young Adult on September 30, 2015| Leave a Comment »

BookBub Partners put out a very interesting post on boxed sets this week. It’s made me think.

There’s already, sort of, a boxed set of the first two books in the Chimeria series:

It probably needs a new cover–or, well, at least to have this cover made to look more like a real boxed set. (There are sites to help you do that.)

I’ve always intended to do a boxed set of the Dual Magics series after I finish it. This post has made me think a little harder about exactly how I’m going to go about that.

I had never before considered the ideas of a boxed set of the first books in different series (which wouldn’t work anyway until I have another series or two out) or of doing a boxed set of unrelated stand alone novels, like my three YA stories–FIRE AND EARTH, THE BARD’S GIFT, and DAUGHTER OF THE DISGRACED KING. That . . . sounds kind of interesting, actually.

There’s always another angle to think about. That’s part of what keeps this indie author thing interesting.

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Slow Start

Posted in writing, tagged e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Learning, Multiple Projects, revisions, sequels, series, writing on August 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Okay, so this week I’ve mostly been trying to get back into the first draft of the fourth book in the DUAL MAGICS series, likely to be titled WAR OF MAGIC or possibly WAR MAGIC. Maybe WARRIOR OF MAGIC. (But maybe not any of those if I get a better idea. Titles are hard.)

I posted before about the necessary shift in mind set from editing to writing a first draft. The first draft is just to get the story down. I’m not supposed to worry about whether I’ve got the right word or even whether a sentence is awkward. Or whether I’ve put in enough description or too little. Or whether, at the start of the fourth book, readers have enough of a re-introduction to the characters and setting. And a million other things that I worry very much about when I’m revising or editing. Which, of course, is what I was most recently doing–revising and editing the final draft of BEYOND THE PROPHECY.

I’ve had more trouble than usual getting started again with this story–and it’s because I made a mistake.

When I stopped work on this first draft to do the final revision and polishing edit on BEYOND THE PROPHECY, I didn’t stop when I had a good vision of what would happen in the next chapter, as I should have. No, I stopped at a place where I had to make a time jump (over some boring bits) and I had only a vague idea of what came immediately next. That was a very bad idea. It made it doubly hard to start building some momentum.

I have to keep reminding myself that this draft doesn’t have to be good–or even complete–so long as it gets the story down so I can fix it.

I have–finally–gotten one chapter down. (Though even then, I had to just put a note in saying “More here” and move past a spot that had me stopped for a day.)

Now, I’m going to start getting away from the planning and more into that war promised in the (probable) title. Hopefully, that should let me build up some momentum.

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Cover Art Update

Posted in writing, tagged Cover Art, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Learning, marketing, writing, Young Adult on August 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

While I’m trying to transition my brain back into first-draft mode, I updated the cover of FIRE AND EARTH. Admit it, the old cover was kind of boring:

The new version is more dramatic:

It’s one of the great things about e-publishing that it’s so easy to change a cover.

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Transitioning Back to First Draft Mode

Posted in writing, tagged e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Learning, marketing, Multiple Projects, sequels, series, writing on August 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

BEYOND THE PROPHECY is all set.

Final draft uploaded for pre-order. Print files formatted and the proof ordered. (The print version will go live as soon as I’ve checked the proof and made any adjustments necessary.) I also have to get busy setting up some promotions and maybe trying to get a few early reviews.

So, now it’s time to transition back from revisions and edits to the first draft of Book 4 (likely to be titled either WAR OF MAGIC or MAGIC’S WARRIOR). This will be the last book of the DUAL MAGICS series.

This transition always takes a few days because it’s a complete shift in thinking. I have to stop worrying whether that’s the precisely right word. Even stop worrying about getting the details right. The first draft is to get the story down. Nothing else.

It always takes me a few days to make that shift. Right now, I’m reading through what I’ve already written (while BEYOND THE PROPHECY was with my beta readers). That’s necessary, but the temptation to edit and revise is still strong.

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Epiphany

Posted in writing, tagged conflict, critiques, e-publishing, fantasy, Learning, revisions, sequels, series, writing on July 22, 2015| Leave a Comment »

So, last time I blogged about the last sticky revisions to BEYOND THE PROPHECY. The ones I left until last because I needed to think about them more.

Probably the hardest of those–and the one I was likely to leave to last–was a very general note on the whole middle of the story. A large part of what’s going on there is actually setting up for the conflict in the fourth (and final) book of the series. But that meant that it largely lost sight of the main conflict of this story. Things were happening, often exciting things, but they didn’t seem to further the story. And as a consequence it felt weak, sort of meandering.

But I need those things to happen. This is one of the problems with wiriting middle books in a series. And it was going to be the hardest thing to fix in this manuscript.

Then, on Monday, I listened to the latest episode of the Writing Excuses podcast. Which just happened to be about middles and characters needing to fail (even if they succeed at something smaller) during the middle. And the light broke through. That sometimes happens when my subconscious is worrying at a problem for me (while I take care of the easier revisions) and then I run across just the thing that proves to be the key to the solution.

I’m likely going to listen to that podcast again–maybe more than once. But the key is this. Yes, my characters have to step aside to deal with this other problem before it gets out of hand. (It will, anyway, of course, but not until the next book.) Yes, but by doing that, something else has to go wrong in the main conflict because they weren’t there to stop it.

I need to work it so that when we come to the climax, the situation is worse than it would have been (not necessarily a lot worse than it already is, though) if they had made different choices. Even though their choices weren’t wrong.

It’s going to take a bit of reworking, but it will make the story so much stronger.

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New Covers

Posted in writing, tagged Cover Art, critiques, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, Goals, Learning, marketing, Multiple Projects, revisions, sequels, series, writing on June 28, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I have a new cover for “Becoming Lioness” now. It looks more like it belongs with the series and might even give a reader the idea that it’s a fantasy story.

For reference, the old cover looked like this:

“Modgud Gold” has proven to be more difficult. But, thanks to some helpful internet friends, I think I finally have a direction to go.

Meanwhile, progress on the still-untitled Book 4 of the DUAL MAGICS series continues. Though, by next week I expect I’ll be ready to set it aside for a short time while I take care of revisions and polishing edits on BEYOND THE PROPHECY so I can publish that in September.

And, I’ve started writing out a concept for another story. Like I don’t already have several in the pipeline. But you’ve got to write down the ideas when they come to you or risk losing them. And nobody wants that.

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