Salmonella Dub – For the Love Of It (not the version I was thinking of, but it will do)
Why do you write?
When I published my post the other say, somewhat jokingly bemoaning my as yet undiscoveredness, I did get a couple of reminders that we should be writing because we love it, not in order to get famous or (heaven forbid) rich.
Well, I just want to take a moment to be honest… Continue Reading…
Guess what.
My book was published at the end of January and I’m not famous yet.
I know!
Seriously, though, I’m sure we all know by now that selling books comes down to more than a matter of having a book out there. First and foremost, it has to be a good book. If you would like it to sell well, it also has to find wide appeal (and sign a movie deal). Now, that sort of thing is hard to predict. It’s a matter of giving the world what it wants when it wants it. You can’t guess this based on what’s been selling. By the time you finish your book, the world will very likely have moved on. So we come back to the good old: Write what you want to read and hope. It’s all about hope.
There is one thing that will help your book sell (once you’ve already written a good one): word-of-mouth.
But how do you get it Continue Reading…
So, I was reading this blog post by Kristen Lamb, and I got to thinking what a good exercise it would be to ask my own characters the questions near the bottom of the post. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve spent a whole book and nearly a half with these guys, I know them pretty well. But, do you know how easy it is to just carry on thinking you know your characters without really stopping to think? I’ll tell you… really, really easy.
The questions are (paraphrased):
Now, the last three questions are more “story” questions that are derived from the first two, which are “character” questions. The last three only develop real impact once the first two are answered.
I asked the questions of Llew and Jonas. Llew didn’t surprise me much. Jonas shouldn’t have. And yet, Continue Reading…
Free! on a Goodreads Giveaway
Share and share alike they say. So I guess it’s my turn to share my experiences of a Goodreads Giveaway, just in case it helps those who come after me…
Well, first things first. Before I ran my giveaway, I checked out this page. It gives a nice blow-by-blow run down of giveaway results, showing you how different blurb styles and run times can affect the outcome of a giveaway. Reading this page can help you decide the ideal length of giveaway for you, and to write the most successful giveaway plug you can (e.g. Rather than the back-cover copy – which people can find easily enough – include reviews!).
I would like to add one caveat: Giveaway entries do not equal eventual sales, nor do additions to Goodreads shelves. While I was well aware of this, I was still surprised by other aspects of the giveaway.
If you’ve ever entered a Goodreads giveaway, you’ll know that when you do, there is a checkbox, already ticked, to add the book to your to-read list. Great. If you’re hoping to win a free copy then presumably you want to read the book! Well, yes, perhaps…
Check out my final numbers to see what you think:
People requesting: 1320
People who have it on their shelves Continue Reading…
Hey all.
So this week was the Healer’s Touch release day (the 31st). Pretty exciting times. Strange times, though. Everyone starts asking, “How are the sales going?”. My answer? “I don’t know”. I mean, I can guess, but really I have no idea. I have no way to check each and every sales channel and find out numbers and combine them to know anything… So, I don’t know.
Plus, unlike the big publishers that start getting reviews and building excitement months (sometimes a year or so) in advance, we didn’t do that. We’ve been hunting reviews in the weeks leading up to the release, but reviewers are pretty busy and some flat out won’t look at Indie Authors/Small Publishers. So, it’s a steep climb. It’s a “Hurry up and wait”… You put the book out there, and then you wait for it to take off… hopefully… (o: But you don’t sit back. You keep looking for someone to review it, and other ways to let people know it exists. That’s the big thing. No matter how good a book is, how are you going to sell it if people don’t know about it? So, each and every person who says “I read this book and it was awesome”, I love you.
Anyway, I felt like getting away from Books. I wanted to share a contrast I’ve noticed. I mean, I’ve seen this coming… Continue Reading…
I wrote this article for last month’s “Coffee Shop for the Fantasy Society” Newsletter (aka “Dragon Scroll”) and just thought I’d put it up here, just in case it turns out to be helpful to anyone. Perhaps it will strike up a discussion, who knows?
Here goes…
* * *
So. You’ve finally finished that manuscript. You’ve worked on it long and hard hours. You’ve studied the craft of writing a novel and applied it every which way to your amazing story. You’ve developed amazing characters that everyone will love … Well, maybe not everyone. Let’s be real here. This is real life. Everyone is different. Not everyone is going to like what you’ve written. But a good many will if you do have that great story and wonderful characters. How do you create those? Well, I can’t tell you that. There is a huge range of advice out there. But I still think there is a certain je ne c’est que about the characters I have totally fallen in love with.
But back to that manuscript. Are you going to send it out to agents? Unsolicited to publishers? Or are you going to self-publish? Self-publishing? Great. Self-pubbing is really taking off. And you can Continue Reading…
A Night to Remember: Part Six (by Simon Petrie)
Part One of this story can be found here. Part Two is here. Part Three is here. Part Four is here. Part Five is here. An updated list of extant parts can be found here.
- – -
The one positive aspect, Gordon decided, was that Claudia Iyzowt was still alive. Albeit for a given value of ‘alive’ that involved the short, grey-haired heiress’s apparent sedation and confinement, by the medium of a set of depressingly secure-looking straps, to a disconcertingly medical-looking and unnervingly technological trolley with an unnecessarily extensive collection of blade- and sensor-wielding robotic limbs poised thirty centimetres or so above Claudia’s.
The negative aspects Continue Reading…
I was starting to feel it had been a while since I posted here, but I see it’s only been 5 days. That’s not terrible, is it? I mean, you guys don’t miss me that much when I’m gone, right? You’re allowed to, I guess. I suppose it would be flattering. But it was also be, like, responsibility, or something … urgh. OK, don’t miss me. But do come visit. Let’s make it like we’re old friends – we don’t have to talk everyday, and when we do chat, it’s like we’ve never missed a beat. Yeah … I like that.
Righty. So, you guys know I have been writing a story, now titled “Healer’s Touch”, for several years now. It’s taken that long because over the course of shaping the story itself, I was also learning the craft of writing, through my involvement with ‘sites like WDC, or through reading and trying out the advice offered by Larry Brooks (I honestly believe that applying his story-structure to my story has been close to the single most significant thing I’ve done for it) and Janice Hardy.
So, this is a wee “this is where I’m at” post …
In a recent post I mentioned that I had struck up some back-and-forth with a small publisher. Well, right now I am sitting on a contractual offer … Continue Reading…
Hello, my peeps!
So, I thought I’d keep you up to date with the goings on … well, somewhat, anyway.
First up, I’m looking forward to finding out the outcome of the Contest I entered at the end of July. In all honesty, I don’t expect to have come anywhere, but the results being out means I can move on with things.
It’s good to get away from the computer now and then – these guys certainly appreciate it.
It’s been a strangely tough time of late. Of course, first up, I rushed my manuscript finished for that contest. I put it away for a few days and set to work on the next book. But, working on that book got me thinking of things that could do with being tweaked in the first book, so, of course, I couldn’t leave it alone … So, I tweaked, and then I went on to editing.
And then there was this Cover Contest on offer, too. Of course, I figured that since a publishing contract was a very slim possibility from the Manuscript Contest that I may as well enter this so that, if I were lucky enough to win it, I’d have a cover lined up for when I go Indie.
And then there were the AMP Scholarships opening up. I did it last year, but I know that application was a bit wishy-washy. This year I have more of an idea of what I needed and why, so I filled in an application and even submitted it. The closing date was Friday (NZ Time).
It’s an odd feeling to me, to be putting all these things out there … I mean, the most likely outcome is that I’d get nothing from from any of them, and that would be OK. But, because I did enter, there is that small chance that something in my manuscript happens to grab the judge (even if I have since improved it … oops) and I win a critique. That would be cool. That’s the one prize I don’t see interfering with anything else. But, what if he offered publication and I won a free cover? I’d feel bad, when someone else could have won that prize. And, if I win a free cover–a fee which I’ve built into my Scholarship application–would I feel OK if I then got money from that scholarship that I no longer needed Continue Reading…
Yes, I know that “translates” to “Why are you, genre?”, but I still claim it makes sense …
O, Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore Art Thou Romeo? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Shut up (pouty look).
Seriously, though. How does one decide exactly what genre their story fits into? Do you just know? Do you know before you begin – making sure to include all the tropes of that genre? Do you do extensive market research, sharing your work with readers and asking their thoughts? Do you put it out there and see what label attracts the best reviews (on the notion that if you’re attracting the right readers, they’ll be more likely to like it)?
Yes, of course this come back to me … It’s all about me! (Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha … ah … ha!). Anyway.
Where was I? Right, yes, back to Healer’s Touch and the subsequent Weapons of War stories. I’ve been calling it a Steampunk story from the beginning. But I keep coming across people even more into the Steampunk genre (or sub-genre, if you like) than I, and I begin to feel like a bit of a fraud. Thing is, though, it is set in Victorian-like times (though on a Victorian New Zealand-like and Victorian US-like world). Wild West, if you like – I know I do (o: Continue Reading…
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C.N. Lesley writes fantasy and science fiction books
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