News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #114…
Alternative to Smashwords. Several author friends have suggested an alternative to Smashwords, Draft2Digital. Smashwords is a retailer that also distributes to the iStore (Apple), B&N, Kobo, and many other online retailers. So does Draft2Digital. The only advantage I can see for the latter is that they’ll also produce a Create Space paper book; Smashwords doesn’t. (There’s some indication that Draft2Digital is quicker to adjust promo prices—Smashwords just blames their retailers—but I don’t care about that.) It’s a coin toss (made infamous in the Iowa caucuses). I’d still like to see an ebook outfit that would take my MS Word document, turn it into an ebook, and then market it and sell it. I’d be willing to give up more royalties to do just that (marketing experts all want their money up front!). I guess that’s something that lies between indie and traditional publishing (the latter takes too much in royalties, of course). Anyone know of an outfit like that? Drop me an email if you do…or comment below this post.
Rogue Planet. You’ve read the excerpt (see the category “Pre-Release Excerpts” if you haven’t. Here’s the blurb, just to remind you:
“Hidden away from near-Earth planets in remote spiral arms of the Galaxy are Human worlds that have lost contact with more progressive worlds and reverted to strange and primitive customs and traditions, their leaders using religion, superstition, and imported technologies to rule in tyranny. Survey ships explored and catalogued these planets as suitable for future colonization centuries earlier, but groups with a special interest in ensuring a homogeneous and often despotic society didn’t bother applying for permission to colonize.”
“Following the ITUIP (Interstellar Trade Union of Independent Planets) Protocol, ships were restricted to observe and maintain a hands-off policy for these rogue planets, even when there was great temptation to intervene. Eden, where a theocracy rules with an iron fist, is such a planet. A group of rebels struggles to end the oppressive regime to forge a new future.”
Set in the same universe as the “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy” and the Dr. Carlos stories, this saga, mixing the best of hard sci-fi and swashbuckling fantasy, once again explores the never-ending battle between good and evil so prominent in my works.
This novel will be released as soon as possible (for the delay, see why below). Reviewers who want a free copy in return for an honest review, drop me an email at steve@stevenmmoore.com–I’ll add you to my list.
Midas bombs. The second edition of The Midas Bomb (#1 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series”) is now officially a flop, even though it’s reasonably priced compared to the first Infinity edition and was completely rewritten and reedited—a waste of time and money obviously. This makes me rethink the project of producing a second edition of Survivors of the Chaos (also Infinity, and #1 in the “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy”), even though it’s related to Rogue Planet (see above). (More on rethinking projects below.) Book sales are flat, but maybe readers are wondering what was wrong with the first edition? Nothing! I’m just trying to be consistent in bringing you good and interesting entertainment at a reasonable price.
Gaia and the Goliaths. This is #7 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series.” It might be the last, but I’m saving the best for the last! It’s another thrill ride as C&C solve an environmental mystery. Some of the “family affairs” from the previous novel are resolved, but, like all my books, you can read this as a stand-alone—you don’t have to read all previous books in the series to jump on the C&C train. Now scheduled for 2017 (see why below).
Projects reconsidered. As I’ve said many times in this newsletter and on this blog, I take book royalties and use them to produce the next book and maintain this website (I’m behind on updating my list of book covers, for example). None of this is very expensive when compared to the waste in Washington D.C., of course, but it’s depressing for this old storyteller who wants to entertain readers. So, I’m paring back. I had planned two projects for 2016 and one for 2017 (all three novels are close to being finished), but I can only afford to produce one in 2016.
Rogue Planet will be available as an ebook in all formats and as a pbook (Create Space) ASAP in 2016—and that will be it for the year. I’ll save Gaia and the Goliaths (#7 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series”) for 2017. You can speed this process up, of course, by buying my books. They’re exciting, quality entertainment at reasonable prices, but if you don’t want to read them, I’ll slow down the process of producing them—I have to do that for budgetary reasons. (I NEVER have writer’s block!)
Alternatives. What are my cost centers? I pay to maintain this website; I outsource professional formatting and cover art; and I pay for advertising, especially when a new release comes out. Like I said, there’s not much cost there. What are my alternatives? I can just give away books on this website. Weir started his great trajectory with The Martian by doing just that. I resist. Wouldn’t know how to do it anyway. (There’s probably a way to provide downloads, but I don’t know it.)
Authors do this all the time, on their websites, Amazon, and elsewhere. They can call it marketing, but I call it not valuing their hard work. Do readers know what it takes to write a book? It’s not just the fun of spinning a good yarn (assuming the author is writing fiction). I spend a lot more time doing other stuff—begging for reviews; bloviating on social media, including blog posts here (a lot of that IS fun but time consuming); organizing ad campaigns; editing, proofing, and so forth. Indie isn’t easy. Traditional publishing isn’t either, unless you’re a NY Times bestselling author (whatever that means).
But readers rule. Products come to market all the time. A few enjoy success; most flop. Consumers determine their success. Books are no different in that sense. But no one gives products away, so I won’t give away my books. Even if one of my books is a success like The Martian (whatever that means) or the hula hoop, I still won’t give books away. Don’t look for that policy to change, ever.
In libris libertas…
February 29th, 2016 at 12:24 pm
Sorry to hear that THE MIDAS BOMB didn’t do better. I get confused…is it the first of the C and C series or another series?
I guess we can be like Dean Wesley Smith and price our short stories at $2.99 or higher, and all of our ebooks at $7.99 or even higher, but the truth is that most readers don’t care about how much work we put into our books. We have to price them in their wheelhouse. Your books seem to me to be very competitively priced, mostly at $3.99, IIRC.
It’s a marketing thing. You’ve got tons of books out there, but there has to be a way to increase visibility. I know you’ve said many times that you don’t want to do a newsletter, but have you considered compiling a mailing list? Making the first book of a series free? Using that book as a way to get email addresses of people who want to read your works? I don’t have enough books out to where I can get sales from doing something like that. I recently read one that I got for free called READER MAGNETS by Nick Stephenson (www.amazon.com/Reader-Magnets-Platform-Marketing-Authors-ebook/dp/B00PCKIJ4C) (still free) where he talks about how to do the mailchimp thing. You have enough books that if you can get them to read the series you have written, you should be able to do a lot better. You’re an excellent writer and a very good storyteller, and your works are original and they are in a relatively hot genre, I think.
February 29th, 2016 at 12:24 pm
my comment went into the spam because of the link I included to a free ebook, I’m sure.
February 29th, 2016 at 1:19 pm
Hi Scott,
Actually, it went to trash. I don’t think it was the link. It’s entirely random. My apologies. Someday some kind WP guru will explain to me why this happens.
I tried giveaways and Kindle countdown deals. Nothing seems to work. (I’ll talk more about that on Friday.) I’ll be pushing my series with each post this week. I have yet to find a publicity person who will push an entire series. Managing all this is becoming a real headache.
I write a newsletter…online, as part of my blog. I hate email newsletters and consider them spam for the most part. Given that opinion, I don’t want to pester anyone with mine. I’ve also read that email newsletters are passe now. It’s all about social media? I don’t think so. It’s all about readers telling other readers that they’ve read a great book, whether personally or on the internet. How to start that snowball down the hill is the problem. Sometimes it solves itself, as in the case of The Martian. We’ll see how it goes…always an adventure.
r/Steve
February 29th, 2016 at 3:44 pm
I wouldn’t do a newsletter per se, but I’m considering trying to build an email list to inform them of new releases and promotions. That would be pretty much all I would do with it. The thing is that if people sign up for that sort of notification, then it wouldn’t be spammy to give them the information they signed up to receive. Anyway, I would still check out the book, see what he has to say.
March 1st, 2016 at 8:10 am
Scott,
That’s a different wrinkle. I suspect that some enticement has to be offered. And, in my case, I might need two lists, one for mystery, suspense, and thriller books, the other for sci-fi books (of course, some books would correspond to both lists). I’d have to change my policy–unless a person is a steady internet friend, I don’t keep her or his email around. I suppose I could do that for names on the lists and keep the lists on my backup drives, generally not accessible to my laptop. (Yeah, I’m paranoid about security, my own and others.) Something to think about.
r/Steve