An Update

Toiling along, fighting the good fight. 

I've decided to re-release Turning Springs between now and the end of the year.  The technology has gotten better and allows for bookmarked chapter headings.  It will allow for a few marketing changes as well.  Start over.  Almost clean slate.  I'm planning on releasing it in tandem with a hard copy (print on demand) through WordClay.  (Buy one, get the other free, maybe?  Haven't decided.) I'll need some time to stir up the marketing plan, but I hope to have all that done in the 1st quarter of 2012.

The short project is going well.  I'm writing the second to last chapter on Wednesday.  I'll probably serialize it a chapter at a time in this blog, but I'll offer it as a full download for a price on Smashwords.  That's the plan, anyway.  I don't have a timeline, but it should be through revisions and test readings in 2012 as well.

The long project is going especially well.  I've got my crazy-as-an-outhouse-rat antagonist, so now I'm set.  It'll take a while, but I'm hoping things ease up so I can finish it mid-2012.

Busy, busy, busy.  Thanks for reading!

The Update for August 24, 2011

After a tumultuous ten days (whoo, boy, was it!), I'm back to report some real progress on a number of fronts.

I rediscovered in the Long Project work that beginnings are not always hard.  I expected problems visualizing the scene, as I really hadn't "seen" it in my head (scenes of my work tend to go though my head like movie trailers; it's how I roll, especially early in the process). The notes I had taken were enough to manage and I blocked the first scene of the work at surprising speed and dexterity, complete with OS and OHS moments.  Now I see it all right, including lighting and costumes and I can hardly get it out of my head.  I'll be filling in some of the supporting notework next time (useful in the rest of the work, so I don't have to watch for detail slip-ups in editing) and it's on to the next scene.  I'm especially pleased about this as it's a sort-of rescue of a work that has been manifesting itself in fits and starts since November of 2009.  I knew the project was important (both to myself and the Turning Springs world) and kept hacking away at it until it became what I wanted it to be.  Don't give up; change it until it becomes what you wanted.  Here endeth the lesson.

The Short Project progresses apace, and I'll be working now in the last part of scene five.  I can see the end of the tunnel there.  I'm having a lot of fun with this project.  Though I don't write in dialect for foreign English speakers, I try to portray the words and rhythm of the language that a foreign speaker might use.  Throwing in bits of the native language helps, too, which is why I took some time to research Swedish while writing.  When dealing with familiar accents, that works, but if I was to make up a nationality, I'm not sure how I'd proceed.  Probably the same way.  Solutions do present themselves to the things that require doing, it seems.  Hmm.  Guess the lesson wasn't quite over.  Eth.

I'll close this update with the Marketing that I've been doing for Turning Springs.  I've enlisted help from my wife for ad placement (thankyouthankyouthankyou), which will help a lot.  Primarily, I've been working on a re-release/re-edit of the book to be issued at the beginning of September.  How close to the beginning is anyone's guess, but that's what I'm shooting for.  I don't plan any sweeping changes, just a few word choices, closing a hole or two, and adding a bookmarked table of contents (a feature not available at Smashwords dot com for the first release).  I'll then use that version to issue a print copy (!) through WordClay.  That will take me a bit of time, so, in the meantime, I've got a few ideas for a coupon-for-review program.  Do a review, get a discount on the next book.  Don't know how I'll work that, but I'll make it work somehow.

In the process of re-editing Turning Springs, I have to re-read it, of course, something I haven't done since I finished it over a year ago.  It's been a surprisingly positive experience, a reminder that the reason why I'm selling this is because it's a good story with captivating characters and exciting situations.  Not just worth buying but worth the work to sell it.  Don't forget to re-read your finished work every so often; it restores your faith in your abilities during periods of flagging sales and indifferent response.

Okay, now I'm done.  Eth.

E-book? Why an E-book?

Who knew?

I first encountered Smashwords.com about a year ago. At the time, I thought it was an interesting concept. Anyone could submit something they had written to them and the site would publish it electronically, whether it be your effort at the Great American Novel or your non-fiction book about how squirrels are trying to take over the world. No paper was involved. You could charge whatever you wanted or nothing at all and the site would take fifteen percent of your sales if you had any. I looked at it as a big garage sale for literary works, but nothing I was going to attempt seriously. I wouldn't have a problem getting an agent or a publisher. And really, who reads on their computers?

I'll give you a minute to look up the answer. On your Kindle. Or your Nook. Or your netbook. Or your iPhone.

I knew, I just didn't know it

Smashwords hasn't changed their philosophy very much since then. What they have done is expanded the reach of their material. About a dozen formats are available for download and they are affiliated with many e-book publishers such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon. But what really sold me into working with them was a very simple concept that I totally ignored from the beginning.

I don't like most of the stuff on the best seller lists. And I don't read it. Why would anyone at one of those companies whose job it is to populate those lists think that what I was writing was worth their time? They wouldn't, because it's not what sells well for them.

And now that I do....

It occurred to me that selling directly to the people who like what I like was the answer. And Smashwords appears to be an excellent way to do that. With all their different formats and their acceptance of popular payment methods such as Paypal, and print-on-demand possibilities from their affiliate WordClay, this looks like a winner. Of course, I'll have to do all my own marketing and advertising, but I'd have to do a lot of that with a publisher anyway. I'm kind of stoked about it, to tell the truth. Who knew?

Have you bought anything from Smashwords.com? Are you going to? What was your impression of the quality of the work there?