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Posts Tagged ‘Learning’

Lessons Learned About Pre-Orders and a Sale

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »

My pre-order for THE VOICE OF PROPHECY is only about a week old. I’m sure I’ll learn more before I’m done, but here’s what I’ve learned so far:

  1. ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????The week before Thanksgiving may not be the best time to start a pre-order. Things started off pretty well and then dropped over Thanksgiving, Black Friday, etc. There are signs they may be picking up again, now. Nevertheless, next time I’ll plan around a period with fewer distractions.
  2. Next time, I’ll also allow myself more time. That wasn’t practical this time. I’d already set the release date before Amazon even made pre-orders possible. Getting a book ready to publish just takes a certain amount of time. I’m feeling a bit stressed right now because I have to get the final edits done by Friday or miss Amazon’s deadline. The reason for a deadline ten days before the release when a release without pre-order can be published within 24 hours are best known to Amazon.
  3. Next time, I’ll also allow myself more time to prepare for some ads. I really haven’t had the time to pursue that as I should. Also, this is a really tough time of year to get into the ad queue in most places. The spots are already taken. In fact, next time, I’d like to have the final version ready when I put it up for pre-order so I can concentrate on getting an ad or two.

Sale:

However, I have got one free promotion going. THE SHAMAN’S CURSE will be part of Clean Indie Reads Christmas Sale starting tomorrow. Check it out. There’ll be a lot of books for very good prices.

For one week, the price will go back down to $0.99, the same as the pre-order price for THE VOICE OF PROPHECY.

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Deadlines

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , on November 16, 2014| Leave a Comment »

This week I was reminded of a quote I heard a long time ago.

A worried investor once asked J. P. Morgan for investment advice, saying that his portfolio was keeping him up at night. Morgan’s response was “Sell down to the sleeping point.”

Well, that’s what I’m doing with my purely internal deadlines for THE VOICE OF PROPHECY.

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????I have every confidence that I’ll have it ready by December 15. That’s the important date and it hasn’t changed. But if I was still trying to put this up for pre-order tomorrw, I wouldn’t be sleeping. (And that just might impact my ability to finish it to my satisfaction. I don’t write as fast or as well when I’m tired.)

Partly, this is due to the rules surrounding pre-orders on Amazon. Specifically, you can’t upload new versions within ten days of the release date. That makes the deadline for having everything as perfect as I can make it December 4th, not just to finish revising and polishing the story, but to get all the formatting done, and to have a polished excerpt from Book 3 to include. (Without pre-order, I’d normally be uploading my final version on the 13th or 14th.)

A lot of it is to do with my own tendency to get a little compulsive about deadlines.

Now, I’m still planning to use pre-order and I very likely will have everything done well before the 4th. But, I’ll have a lot better chance of doing that if I’m not making myself crazy with a pre-order deadline. And as soon as I have it ready, I’ll put it up for pre-order.

Lesson: Next time, I need to plan much farther ahead for a pre-order. Amazon only made pre-orders available for self-publishers after I’d already set the release date for THE IGNORED PROPHECY. I just didn’t really have the time to set myself up for it. I’ll be better able to take it into account with the next one.

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Blurbs

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 9, 2014| Leave a Comment »

First, let me say that the release of THE VOICE OF PROPHECY is still scheduled for December 15th.

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Second, I know I said that I was targeting November 17th for the pre-order. That may not happen for a couple of reasons.

  1. I’m still assessing what information I can gather about Amazon’s pre-order system. I notice that people who generally know a lot more about how these things work than I do have chosen shorter pre-order periods. There’s a reason for this. (Maybe more than one.) It has to do with the way Amazon helps with the discoverability of some books. This was a huge factor for me with THE SHAMAN’S CURSE, and I don’t want to screw it up with this one.????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????The thing is, Amazon has several lists. One of them–the Hot New Releases–is only available for thirty days. As far as I can tell, that could expire before the book is ever released if I start the pre-order to early. I’m not sure about that, though. I may have to contact Amazon for a final answer. It wasn’t in their FAQs.
  2. The second reason is more practical. Before I can expect anyone to order it, I need to have a good blurb. And, like everything to do with a sequel, that’s harder than it was for the first book. Trying to balance enough information, potentially for people who didn’t read THE SHAMAN’S CURSE, with an enticing peek at this story. Well, let’s just say I may not have that by the 17th. I’m leaning toward this:

When the two kinds of magic combine, unexpected things happen.

Vatar overcame his tribe’s superstitions to accept his own magic. That doesn’t mean he’s prepared to tell them about it. He’d rather keep that secret forever. Especially when unprecedented things start to happen that even the experts in magic can’t explain.

Even more when a mysterious voice only he can hear starts volunteering information Vatar can’t possible know.

After enduring an Ordeal to prove he wasn’t possessed by an Evil Spirit, Vatar now thinks he may be after all. Or losing his mind. Or cursed. It’s enough to make him want to give up on magic altogether.

But he’s going to need all his wits—and all the magic he can muster—to defeat those who want to use him and his magic for their own ends.

But that’s not right yet. For one thing, the word “magic” is used five times in as many paragraphs. For another, it lacks enough specifics to grab a new reader. And third, some of hte references are probably confusing for someone who hasn’t read the first book.

Oh, and I also have to whip a couple of chapters from the first draft of Book 3 (probably to be titled BEYOND THE PROPHECY) into shape to include as an excerpt.

Yeah, nobody said this part was going to be easy.

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The Key

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 15, 2014| 2 Comments »

As I start on the revisions to THE VOICE OF PROPHECY,

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I stumbled on this series of posts about character arc and suddenly the whole thing becomes clear. It gave me the key to some issues I was wrestling with. I now know what needs to be emphasized.

The linked articles outline a version of the three-act structure which actually breaks the character arc into four parts. Coincidentally, DUAL MAGICS is a four-book series and fits this structure remarkably well.

I love serendipity. Moving forward with more confidence now.

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Kindle Select and Other Things

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 14, 2014| Leave a Comment »

So, I’ve taken the step. THE SHAMAN’S CURSE is now exclusively on Amazon and enrolled in Kindle Select.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????If you’re not a writer, what this means for you is that it’s now available for borrowing by Amazon Prime members and available free to members of Kindle Unlimited.

Normally, I like to make my books available in as many different places and as many different formats as possible. However, for whatever reason (and some of it baffles me), TSC has sold approximately 1000 times better on Amazon than everywhere else combined. (My normal distribution is more like 60% Amazon, 40% everywhere else.) So, if I was ever going to try Kindle Select, this seemed like the one to do it with.

Kindle Select offers several advantages:

  1. Higher royalty rates in some markets
  2. Kindle Countdown Deals and Free Days
  3. Inclusion in the Kindle Lending Library
  4. And, most important right now, Kindle Unlimited

It’s only been a few days, but I have to say that so far the experiment has been a success. Sales have held fairly steady (maybe just a tiny drop) and the addition of “borrows” either through KOLL or KU has really helped bump TSC back up the Amazon best-seller charts.

Meantime, I’ve been trying to survive work during a vicious heat wave which is only going to get worse. I’m a crossing guard by day (which leaves me plenty of time to write), so I stand out on a corner wearing a uniform that is not what I would choose for this weather (black polyester pants!), and walk almost constantly taking children and parents safely across a street that can get really crazy at times. There is no shade to speak of on my corner. A heat wave right at the beginning of the school year, before I get a chance to get re-accustomed to the routine, is rough going, but I still do really love the job–and the hours.

Also, I’m still working on my new writing space. This weekend, it’s been about turning a closet into a book case (more or less). Here’s yesterday’s progress:

Digital Camera

Those lower shelves that are crammed full–those are all fantasy books. And that’s not all of them. Science fiction is up on the right and history books (yeah, I’m a history nerd) are on the left.

For those of you who are wondering, the second book in the DUAL MAGICS series, THE IGNORED PROPHECY is on schedule for release in December. And I’m progressing, slowly, on the third book, currently titled BEYOND THE PROPHECY.

I do want to share this terrific post by Sarah Negovetich on what to do to still be productive, even when the writing isn’t flowing.

 

 

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Advertizing and Other Things

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I haven’t done much–well, any–advertizing up ’til now. My first-ever ad runs tomorrow on Fussy Librarian. It’ll be for THE SHAMAN’S CURSE.

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In honor of that ad, I’ll be dropping the price to $0.99 for the day.

So, we shall see. I hope it’ll give the sales a bump that lasts more than a day. They’re certainly not bad now, but they could be just a bit better. My goal is to try to keep sales of the first book in the series up as I prepare the second book, THE IGNORED PROPHECY, for publication in December.

That’s out to beta readers now for feedback on things like plot and pacing. Meanwhile, I’m trying to get the third book, possibly to be titled Beyond the Prophecy, started. Slow going at the beginning, but that’s fairly normal. Even though I know the characters thoroughly by this time, and have dozen or so paragraphs of an outline, I still have to find my way into this story. (That’s a pretty long outline for me. I’m a discovery writer at heart.)

Oh, and work starts again tomorrow.

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Reviews

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 17, 2014| 4 Comments »

Based on David Gaughran’s LET’S GET VISIBLE, I tried something different with THE SHAMAN’S CURSE–a direct request for requests along with a link to the book’s page on Amazon. It’s working.

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In a little over a month, I’ve gotten more reviews on THE SHAMAN’S CURSE than on any other of my books. And most of them are overwhelmingly positive–which never fails to make my day.

That’s not all it does. It serves as validation for other potential purchasers, of course. It also means that as sales inevitably start to slow some marketing paths will be open to me that otherwise wouldn’t.

That’s one bit of marketing that definitely works. And, best of all, it’s free for all concerned. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to leave a review–especially on indie books.

In spite of massive interruptions over the last few days, I’m making good progress on the third draft of THE IGNORED PROPHECY, sequel to THE SHAMAN’S CURSE.

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Maps

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , on August 6, 2014| 2 Comments »

Well, as I get ready to start the next round of revisions on THE IGNORED PROPHECY, I went ahead on bought some mapping software to see if I can provide an actual map with the next book in the series. THE IGNORED PROPHECY is the first sequel to THE SHAMAN’S CURSE.

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I chose Campaign Cartographer as the most likely software. Unsurprisingly, the learning curve is pretty steep. I’ve managed to produce something close to what I want. Here’s my first effort.

Dual Magics CC Map

And the same map in black and white:

Dual Magics BW Map

I’ll probably have to start over again. I’m not happy with the lakes or the mountains. But it’s definitely better than the hand-drawn map I had before. Like writing, this isn’t the sort of thing you should expect to get right the first time.

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It’s Working

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , on July 20, 2014| 6 Comments »

Well, my marketing plan for THE SHAMAN’S CURSE seems to be working.

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As of this moment, I’ve sold 253 copies, just on Amazon. That’s since it launched on July 7th. It’s hit Amazon’s popularity lists, as you can see below.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,727 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

It’s doing even better on the Hot New Releases lists, where it’s #14 in Sword and Sorcery, #15 in Epic Fantasy, and #11 in Coming of Age. All that goes to getting more people to just see it and know it’s out there. I don’t think it hurts that the cover is different from those around it, either.

TSC Placement

I’ve already gotten three reviews, too.

This won’t last, of course. When the price goes up on August 1st, I expect a drop. But it’s sure been fun checking in on how it’s doing.

I have a much better idea of how to do this in the future now. And I owe most of it to reading LET’S GET VISIBLE. Highly recommended.

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What’s Up Wednesday

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , on July 16, 2014| 14 Comments »

It’s Wednesday. Time for What’s Up Wednesday, a blog hop created by Jaime and Erin Funk to help writers connect.

WUW BadgeWHAT I’M READING

I did go ahead and start re-reading THE HOBBIT. They’re just about to leave Lake-Town and go confront Smaug. I’m also reading THE SONGS OF CHAOS by Morgan Alreth. (I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.)

WHAT I’M WRITING

Still working on the rewrite of THE IGNORED PROPHECY, sequel to THE SHAMAN’S CURSE. I’m just a couple of chapters from the climax now. I hope to finish this draft next week and then go play with some other characters for a little while and let this draft cool.

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

Seeing the words “THE END” up ahead. That always feels good.

Also finding my latest release, THE SHAMAN’S CURSE, at #24 in Hot New Releases for Sword and Sorcery ebooks and #35 for Epic Fantasy on Amazon.

WHAT ELSE I’VE BEEN UP TO

A lot of my non-writing time has gone into trying to find ways to promote THE SHAMAN’S CURSE. Looks like that’s starting to pay off.

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And I’m still dealing with trying to bring some kind of order around here and sort out things for the estate sale. It is utterly amazing what four generations of congenital pack rats can accumulate. I found a set of cast iron cobblers’ lasts–and I have no idea where those came from.

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