Sunday, May 24, 2020
Thursday, February 27, 2020
A Paradigm Shift?
First, let me thank the readers who have reached out over the years, many of whom I've been lucky enough to maintain a correspondence with. (For the record, all unmaintained correspondences are wholly my fault … I'm terrible at that sort of thing.) Readers generally email with the same question: when will the next book be out? More particularly, readers are usually asking when the next Eddie McCloskey book will be out.
The answer is: I don't know.
I love that series and I've got more stories to tell about Eddie, but the last couple years of self-pubbing have been absolutely brutal. For me and for many others I know. Wayyyy back in 2014 (that year seems quaint now, in 2020) when I first hit PUBLISH on The Unearthed, it felt like all you had to do was write a good book and people would find it.
Not so anymore. The indie author market has matured and continues to mature at a steeper and steeper rate.
On the whole, Amazon has been great to us indie authors. They gave us a means of putting our work out there and connecting us with voracious readers. But it's becoming becoming increasingly difficult to make a buck self-pubbing on Amazon. There are a variety of factors at play here and many arguments to be made about why, which I won't go into here, but what all this means is desperate writers (like me) are looking for new ways to reach audiences and build our (chokes on the next word) brand.
I don't know how to get noticed on Amazon anymore. Ads are hit or miss. Mailing lists aren't the Holy Grail everybody made them out to be. I've tried to "write to market" but that hasn't worked out. Genre readers prefer series--which I totally get--but if you spend a year writing a four or five book series and nobody buys it, that's a year of your life you'll never get back and you haven't made any headway in your publishing career.
I've thought about quitting more times than I'd like to count but here's the thing: all I've ever wanted to do was write novels. Sure, I've picked up other life skills along the way and had a decent corporate career for a time, but writing is why I get out of bed in the morning.
I've considered being more of a hobbyist, writing for myself, and publishing every once in a great while if the mood struck. But I don't write just for me. I write to be read. I want to give readers that otherworldly experience that is the novel, where you're transported to another time and place and meet interesting people and learn a thing or two along the way. I believe literature is important, I believe the written word is powerful. Reading should enlighten and edify. Reading should make us a more sympathetic people, a more well-rounded species. It should illuminate. It should show us the way. It should argue, it should deconstruct, it should pierce.
Anyway ...
Where does that leave things for me? My latest crazy idea: write a thriller and post it chapter-by-chapter on this blog for free, in the hopes it's good enough to build significant word-of-mouth and get me back on readers' radars. Maybe I can then self-pub that book on Amazon (a course of action other indie authors have taken in the past with great success), or maybe a production company will option it for film, or maybe it will just turn people on to my writing in general and they'll check out my other stuff.
If this sounds like a throw shit against the wall and see what sticks strategy to you, then you're not far off. But this is where I am now. I've grown tired of banging my head against the wall, wondering what makes people buy a novel and wondering why well-reviewed books don't sell or even spark much initial interest, wondering why some books launch and others don't, wondering why books of similar quality produce such shockingly disparate sales results, wondering why this ad site works for some people but not for others, driving myself crazy trying to figure it all out. Writing has always been a difficult business. And, for a brief, beautiful moment, it was a little less difficult.
That's all for now. More to come.
The answer is: I don't know.
I love that series and I've got more stories to tell about Eddie, but the last couple years of self-pubbing have been absolutely brutal. For me and for many others I know. Wayyyy back in 2014 (that year seems quaint now, in 2020) when I first hit PUBLISH on The Unearthed, it felt like all you had to do was write a good book and people would find it.
Not so anymore. The indie author market has matured and continues to mature at a steeper and steeper rate.
On the whole, Amazon has been great to us indie authors. They gave us a means of putting our work out there and connecting us with voracious readers. But it's becoming becoming increasingly difficult to make a buck self-pubbing on Amazon. There are a variety of factors at play here and many arguments to be made about why, which I won't go into here, but what all this means is desperate writers (like me) are looking for new ways to reach audiences and build our (chokes on the next word) brand.
I don't know how to get noticed on Amazon anymore. Ads are hit or miss. Mailing lists aren't the Holy Grail everybody made them out to be. I've tried to "write to market" but that hasn't worked out. Genre readers prefer series--which I totally get--but if you spend a year writing a four or five book series and nobody buys it, that's a year of your life you'll never get back and you haven't made any headway in your publishing career.
I've thought about quitting more times than I'd like to count but here's the thing: all I've ever wanted to do was write novels. Sure, I've picked up other life skills along the way and had a decent corporate career for a time, but writing is why I get out of bed in the morning.
I've considered being more of a hobbyist, writing for myself, and publishing every once in a great while if the mood struck. But I don't write just for me. I write to be read. I want to give readers that otherworldly experience that is the novel, where you're transported to another time and place and meet interesting people and learn a thing or two along the way. I believe literature is important, I believe the written word is powerful. Reading should enlighten and edify. Reading should make us a more sympathetic people, a more well-rounded species. It should illuminate. It should show us the way. It should argue, it should deconstruct, it should pierce.
Anyway ...
Where does that leave things for me? My latest crazy idea: write a thriller and post it chapter-by-chapter on this blog for free, in the hopes it's good enough to build significant word-of-mouth and get me back on readers' radars. Maybe I can then self-pub that book on Amazon (a course of action other indie authors have taken in the past with great success), or maybe a production company will option it for film, or maybe it will just turn people on to my writing in general and they'll check out my other stuff.
If this sounds like a throw shit against the wall and see what sticks strategy to you, then you're not far off. But this is where I am now. I've grown tired of banging my head against the wall, wondering what makes people buy a novel and wondering why well-reviewed books don't sell or even spark much initial interest, wondering why some books launch and others don't, wondering why books of similar quality produce such shockingly disparate sales results, wondering why this ad site works for some people but not for others, driving myself crazy trying to figure it all out. Writing has always been a difficult business. And, for a brief, beautiful moment, it was a little less difficult.
That's all for now. More to come.
Thursday, August 1, 2019
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
If You're A Parent Read This ... Or Don't Read This
TL;DR … Go buy The Chain by Adrian McKinty. It's the best thriller I've read in years.
… About ten years ago, my wife looked up from the used hardback she was reading and smiled. "You'd like this. You should read it."
"What is it?"
"It's a crime novel by this guy from Northern Ireland. It's really good. You should read it."
My perpetually failing eyesight was in the grips of that ceaseless entropy. Meaning, I squinted my eyes and took in the cover. There was a gun, an ashtray, a cigarette, an arm of presumably a man. The title was small but the font looked serious.
"Dead I …"
"Dead I Well May Be," my wife said. "It's great. You'll love it."
Most husbands don't listen to their wives. Most wives don't listen to their husbands. But this was one of those rare instances where I bucked the trend. After all, my wife and I have similar tastes, I love noir fiction and film, and I'm always looking for somebody new to read.
As it turns out, I loved the book because Dead I Well May Be is a f***ing masterpiece. Darkly humorous, brooding, thoughtful, intense, it's one of those rare books that was both plot- and character-driven. I had a new favorite, and contemporary, author: Adrian McKinty. I absorbed it in a couple days, then moved on to the two sequels. Inside of two weeks (I'm a glacially slow reader, so that's fast for me), I'd inhaled this troika of crime novels starring Michael Forsyte, the Renaissance man's anti-hero/protagonist.
They say the ultimate compliment one can pay to an author is to actually read their book. That's not true at all. I've finished many books I should have quit early on. The ultimate compliment you can ever pay an author is to REread them and tell others about them.
And that's what I did. Over the years, I've probably read DIWMB five or six times cover-to-cover. It's also one I'll "just open" when I can't decide what new book I want to try, stopping at a random passage and reading for a few minutes before bed. It's like comfort prose.
I'm not one for recommending books, either. Reading a novel is quite a time commitment, especially if you're slow like me. Tastes in movies are broader, I feel, while tastes in books are much more nuanced. I don't mind suggesting somebody check out the latest Marvel flick, because hey, it's only two hours and most people will find something to like about it, but no effing way will I recommend novels or authors lightly.
These I do. McKinty's fictional world is one of violence, metaphor, existential philosophy, and a morbid wit. His prose is terse, crisp, lyrical, and intense. It's like being punched by poetry.
TL;DR … Go read The Chain by Adrian McKinty.
I came across DIWMB and McKinty not long after I had started taking this writing thing seriously. I hadn't yet found my voice (and many would argue I still haven't found it, or my niche, but that's a topic for another blog). To my incredulous joy, I found out that McKinty had a blog where he actually responded thoughtfully to every single comment left. I was soon a regular, and not surprisingly, his books and blog attracted a diverse, interesting crowd of people. Having that kind of down-to-earth access to a quality writer was a dream come true. (McKinty's blog was hacked more than once throughout the years, and so these days the blog is on lock-down. Gone are the early Blogger days where he was safely able to engage with his rabidly loyal audience.)
McKinty moved on from the Michael Forsyte series, published a few standalones, and then began a new series featuring Sean Duffy, a Catholic cop living in 80s Northern Ireland, serving on a police force that is 99% Protestant. Talk about conflict. The Duffy books are wonderful, full of personal touches that you can tell come straight from McKinty's personal history.
McKinty's career, at least from my starry-eyed and admittedly naïve viewpoint, seemed wonderful. He accumulated awards more quickly than I amassed rejections from publishers. Every time I checked his blog, it seemed his latest release or the prior release or the book before that one was short- or long-listed for this, that and the other thing. He was in stores. He knew other big-time writers. There was often talk, or suggestion, of a film possibly getting made. His books were translated into 20 different languages. I thought he had made it.
Turns out, he hadn't. He was REALLY struggling. Though garnering an obscene amount of critical acclaim, McKinty was stuck in mid-list hell, the purgatory that many excellent authors find themselves in, where critics recognize the merit of their work, but where they don't earn a living wage. This same man who had won award after award for his crime fiction, was eventually evicted from his home and had resorted to tending bar and driving for Uber to make ends meet.
What happened next is absolutely amazing and is proof that truth is stranger than fiction. All you have to do right now is Google Adrian McKinty The Chain, and a ton of articles will pop up in the search about what went down. It makes for a Hollywood Ending, almost too good to be true.
(SPOILER ALERT - IN CASE YOU DIDN'T JUST GOOGLE)
Don Winslow, a critically acclaimed and commercially successful author in his right, knew McKinty and sympathized with his situation, having been in the very same place years before. Winslow connected his agent Shane Salerno, who is in the running for Best Literary Agent Ever, with McKinty. By then, though, McKinty had already given up the idea of writing for a living and had planned on going back to work. Salerno, however, pressed him and pressed him and McKinty pitched his idea for a thriller set in America. The rest now is history. The Chain was born.
Fast forward. The Chain is out in stores now. After years of writing excellent books and almost quitting several times, McKinty finally has a bona fide hit on his hands. There is a 7-figure movie deal in the works. I can't tell you how happy I am about this. I consider myself one of the lucky (and far too few) people who was reading him before this, back when he was writing great books that weren't selling like they should have. I occasionally emailed him to see what was up and ask for advice, and he was always quick to respond and very helpful.
So finally, let's talk about The Chain. What's all the hub-bub, bub, you're probably saying. Well, there's a good goddamned reason Jimmy Fallon is talking about it.
The Chain is a high concept, unrelenting thriller that will scare parents and would-be-parents absolutely shitless. The story opens with the kidnapping of a young girl. Her mother is contacted minutes later. She must pay a ransom and then kidnap someone else's child. Only when she does this, and the parents of the child she kidnaps have done the same thing, will she see her daughter again. And thus The Chain grows, more and more people sucked into a nightmare world where they must do the unthinkable to save the life of their own.
The Chain is 350 pages and you don't get to take a breath till around page 200. But it isn't much of a breather, because the second half of the book picks up speed just as quickly as the opening. This is the first novel in years (and one of only a handful) that I've finished in less than a day, and like I've noted several times above, I'm a sllllloooooowwwww reader.
If you've never heard of Adrian McKinty before, consider yourself lucky. He's a gifted writer I'm sure you'll like, The Chain is one of those breakout beach reads everybody will be talking about, and the best part is he's got two fantastic series and a bunch of standalones already out there.
… About ten years ago, my wife looked up from the used hardback she was reading and smiled. "You'd like this. You should read it."
"What is it?"
"It's a crime novel by this guy from Northern Ireland. It's really good. You should read it."
My perpetually failing eyesight was in the grips of that ceaseless entropy. Meaning, I squinted my eyes and took in the cover. There was a gun, an ashtray, a cigarette, an arm of presumably a man. The title was small but the font looked serious.
"Dead I …"
"Dead I Well May Be," my wife said. "It's great. You'll love it."
Most husbands don't listen to their wives. Most wives don't listen to their husbands. But this was one of those rare instances where I bucked the trend. After all, my wife and I have similar tastes, I love noir fiction and film, and I'm always looking for somebody new to read.
As it turns out, I loved the book because Dead I Well May Be is a f***ing masterpiece. Darkly humorous, brooding, thoughtful, intense, it's one of those rare books that was both plot- and character-driven. I had a new favorite, and contemporary, author: Adrian McKinty. I absorbed it in a couple days, then moved on to the two sequels. Inside of two weeks (I'm a glacially slow reader, so that's fast for me), I'd inhaled this troika of crime novels starring Michael Forsyte, the Renaissance man's anti-hero/protagonist.
They say the ultimate compliment one can pay to an author is to actually read their book. That's not true at all. I've finished many books I should have quit early on. The ultimate compliment you can ever pay an author is to REread them and tell others about them.
And that's what I did. Over the years, I've probably read DIWMB five or six times cover-to-cover. It's also one I'll "just open" when I can't decide what new book I want to try, stopping at a random passage and reading for a few minutes before bed. It's like comfort prose.
I'm not one for recommending books, either. Reading a novel is quite a time commitment, especially if you're slow like me. Tastes in movies are broader, I feel, while tastes in books are much more nuanced. I don't mind suggesting somebody check out the latest Marvel flick, because hey, it's only two hours and most people will find something to like about it, but no effing way will I recommend novels or authors lightly.
These I do. McKinty's fictional world is one of violence, metaphor, existential philosophy, and a morbid wit. His prose is terse, crisp, lyrical, and intense. It's like being punched by poetry.
TL;DR … Go read The Chain by Adrian McKinty.
I came across DIWMB and McKinty not long after I had started taking this writing thing seriously. I hadn't yet found my voice (and many would argue I still haven't found it, or my niche, but that's a topic for another blog). To my incredulous joy, I found out that McKinty had a blog where he actually responded thoughtfully to every single comment left. I was soon a regular, and not surprisingly, his books and blog attracted a diverse, interesting crowd of people. Having that kind of down-to-earth access to a quality writer was a dream come true. (McKinty's blog was hacked more than once throughout the years, and so these days the blog is on lock-down. Gone are the early Blogger days where he was safely able to engage with his rabidly loyal audience.)
McKinty moved on from the Michael Forsyte series, published a few standalones, and then began a new series featuring Sean Duffy, a Catholic cop living in 80s Northern Ireland, serving on a police force that is 99% Protestant. Talk about conflict. The Duffy books are wonderful, full of personal touches that you can tell come straight from McKinty's personal history.
McKinty's career, at least from my starry-eyed and admittedly naïve viewpoint, seemed wonderful. He accumulated awards more quickly than I amassed rejections from publishers. Every time I checked his blog, it seemed his latest release or the prior release or the book before that one was short- or long-listed for this, that and the other thing. He was in stores. He knew other big-time writers. There was often talk, or suggestion, of a film possibly getting made. His books were translated into 20 different languages. I thought he had made it.
Turns out, he hadn't. He was REALLY struggling. Though garnering an obscene amount of critical acclaim, McKinty was stuck in mid-list hell, the purgatory that many excellent authors find themselves in, where critics recognize the merit of their work, but where they don't earn a living wage. This same man who had won award after award for his crime fiction, was eventually evicted from his home and had resorted to tending bar and driving for Uber to make ends meet.
What happened next is absolutely amazing and is proof that truth is stranger than fiction. All you have to do right now is Google Adrian McKinty The Chain, and a ton of articles will pop up in the search about what went down. It makes for a Hollywood Ending, almost too good to be true.
(SPOILER ALERT - IN CASE YOU DIDN'T JUST GOOGLE)
Don Winslow, a critically acclaimed and commercially successful author in his right, knew McKinty and sympathized with his situation, having been in the very same place years before. Winslow connected his agent Shane Salerno, who is in the running for Best Literary Agent Ever, with McKinty. By then, though, McKinty had already given up the idea of writing for a living and had planned on going back to work. Salerno, however, pressed him and pressed him and McKinty pitched his idea for a thriller set in America. The rest now is history. The Chain was born.
Fast forward. The Chain is out in stores now. After years of writing excellent books and almost quitting several times, McKinty finally has a bona fide hit on his hands. There is a 7-figure movie deal in the works. I can't tell you how happy I am about this. I consider myself one of the lucky (and far too few) people who was reading him before this, back when he was writing great books that weren't selling like they should have. I occasionally emailed him to see what was up and ask for advice, and he was always quick to respond and very helpful.
So finally, let's talk about The Chain. What's all the hub-bub, bub, you're probably saying. Well, there's a good goddamned reason Jimmy Fallon is talking about it.
The Chain is a high concept, unrelenting thriller that will scare parents and would-be-parents absolutely shitless. The story opens with the kidnapping of a young girl. Her mother is contacted minutes later. She must pay a ransom and then kidnap someone else's child. Only when she does this, and the parents of the child she kidnaps have done the same thing, will she see her daughter again. And thus The Chain grows, more and more people sucked into a nightmare world where they must do the unthinkable to save the life of their own.
The Chain is 350 pages and you don't get to take a breath till around page 200. But it isn't much of a breather, because the second half of the book picks up speed just as quickly as the opening. This is the first novel in years (and one of only a handful) that I've finished in less than a day, and like I've noted several times above, I'm a sllllloooooowwwww reader.
If you've never heard of Adrian McKinty before, consider yourself lucky. He's a gifted writer I'm sure you'll like, The Chain is one of those breakout beach reads everybody will be talking about, and the best part is he's got two fantastic series and a bunch of standalones already out there.
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Sunday, December 10, 2017
New Indie Authors: Beware of The Guru
An important change of pace for this blog. Consider this a public service announcement to new and newish writers, or anybody for that matter even thinking about writing a book.
There are a lot of how-to books out there about writing. Some are better than others. I haven't read one in ages - I've discovered over the years that you can find all the advice you need for free online. Even better, read a lot of fiction and pay attention as you read. Take out your favorite book, outline it, diagram the character arcs, see how it works. Go through it several times, each time with an eye toward something different: how does the author introduce a new character, how does the author describe setting, how does the author make this person sympathetic ... etc. This makes for the world's best homework ever. You'll love it. And you'll learn a lot by rolling your sleeves up like that.
But, if you really want to shell out a few bucks on how-to books, pick the ones written by authors who have sold a metric shit ton of books recently. If you've never heard of the author in question but are still eyeing their how-to book, go to Amazon and check out their fiction. Make sure they write in genres you write or intend to write in. This is important. There are a lot of universal "rules" to telling a story, but the best advice tends to be genre-specific. You can do certain things in romance that you cannot do in thrillers; there are certain things you should do with mysteries but not in sci-fi; etc. And, last but not least, double-check their fiction to see how well it is selling. Amazon lists sales ranks for every book on its site. Again, you want to find an author that is selling well right now. I cannot stress this enough. The indie publishing landscape changes significantly every 6 months or so. Strategies that worked for indie authors 5 years ago no longer work well, if at all.
That's how to pick a good how-to book on writing.
Moving on to gurus ...
Don't give them a dime of your money.
Just.
Don't.
Okay, tell you what. You can give them your money if they guarantee you a specific ROI and offer your money back if you don't realize that ROI within a defined timeframe. And that's only if they can demonstrate a proven recent sales track record to you, with hard data. If there's someone out there offering those terms, then shit, tell me who they are and I'll sign up too.
But I'm pretty sure there's nobody out there doing that.
DO NOT pay anybody to "help" you write a book. Especially if they're going to charge you thousands of dollars to do so.
Don't do it.
You can pay someone for cover art. There is a steep, steep learning curve to book cover design. You can learn that as you go, but in the interim it's okay to shell out a few hundred dollars on a cover - because a good one will help sell your book and a bad one will turn readers away before they even get to the book description.
You can also pay someone to edit. The learning curve here isn't as steep compared to cover design, but still this helps. A good editor will save you a lot of grief.
But whatever you do, don't pay someone to be your mentor, your Obi-Wan, your guru, your whatever the fuck the shark wants to call himself or herself.
Why?
Let me put it this way. If someone claims they can help you write a bestseller, then why the hell aren't they just writing a bestseller themselves? They can pocket all the cash and not have to worry about dealing with clients whining to them about their book not selling as well as advertised.
Why else?
Whatever they're going to tell you, you can find online for free. You can find for yourself reading your favorite, bestselling authors. You can find for yourself in good how-to books. I'm overstating this, but essentially: nobody can make someone else a bestseller. Back in the day, NY publishing houses paid their staffs a lot of money to help authors along, to grow writers, to make them into bestsellers, and even these experts got it wrong more often than they got it right.
Historically, authors have been preyed upon by gurus and treated miserably by publishing houses with ridiculously lopsided contracts. Amazon came along and shook things up, making the playing field a bit more level.
But the gurus are still out there. It pisses me off to no end because most of these gurus are, or used to be, authors.
They should know better. They should remember what it was like for them. To be new and eager and bursting with energy, looking for someone--anyone--to give them the One Big Secret to Publishing.
They should remember how difficult they had it. They should remember how newbs are soft targets. How easily someone with starry eyes can be duped. It's predatory, it's dirty business, it's a fecking disgrace if you ask me if you are purposely targeting newb authors and promising them things you know you likely can't deliver upon and charging a small fortune.
Beware the gurus.
Especially if they're asking for thousands of dollars to help you along. Just don't do it.
In fairness, I am painting in pretty broad strokes here but my wider point stands: beware of the guru. If you're at all tempted to give someone money to be your writing coach or mentor, demand to see their recent sales records before you fork any of your hard-earned cash over. Seriously, you need to see hard data. Demand to see the last 6 months of their fiction royalties. If they won't share that with you, run--don't walk--to the nearest exit.
That is all.
There are a lot of how-to books out there about writing. Some are better than others. I haven't read one in ages - I've discovered over the years that you can find all the advice you need for free online. Even better, read a lot of fiction and pay attention as you read. Take out your favorite book, outline it, diagram the character arcs, see how it works. Go through it several times, each time with an eye toward something different: how does the author introduce a new character, how does the author describe setting, how does the author make this person sympathetic ... etc. This makes for the world's best homework ever. You'll love it. And you'll learn a lot by rolling your sleeves up like that.
But, if you really want to shell out a few bucks on how-to books, pick the ones written by authors who have sold a metric shit ton of books recently. If you've never heard of the author in question but are still eyeing their how-to book, go to Amazon and check out their fiction. Make sure they write in genres you write or intend to write in. This is important. There are a lot of universal "rules" to telling a story, but the best advice tends to be genre-specific. You can do certain things in romance that you cannot do in thrillers; there are certain things you should do with mysteries but not in sci-fi; etc. And, last but not least, double-check their fiction to see how well it is selling. Amazon lists sales ranks for every book on its site. Again, you want to find an author that is selling well right now. I cannot stress this enough. The indie publishing landscape changes significantly every 6 months or so. Strategies that worked for indie authors 5 years ago no longer work well, if at all.
That's how to pick a good how-to book on writing.
Moving on to gurus ...
Don't give them a dime of your money.
Just.
Don't.
Okay, tell you what. You can give them your money if they guarantee you a specific ROI and offer your money back if you don't realize that ROI within a defined timeframe. And that's only if they can demonstrate a proven recent sales track record to you, with hard data. If there's someone out there offering those terms, then shit, tell me who they are and I'll sign up too.
But I'm pretty sure there's nobody out there doing that.
DO NOT pay anybody to "help" you write a book. Especially if they're going to charge you thousands of dollars to do so.
Don't do it.
You can pay someone for cover art. There is a steep, steep learning curve to book cover design. You can learn that as you go, but in the interim it's okay to shell out a few hundred dollars on a cover - because a good one will help sell your book and a bad one will turn readers away before they even get to the book description.
You can also pay someone to edit. The learning curve here isn't as steep compared to cover design, but still this helps. A good editor will save you a lot of grief.
But whatever you do, don't pay someone to be your mentor, your Obi-Wan, your guru, your whatever the fuck the shark wants to call himself or herself.
Why?
Let me put it this way. If someone claims they can help you write a bestseller, then why the hell aren't they just writing a bestseller themselves? They can pocket all the cash and not have to worry about dealing with clients whining to them about their book not selling as well as advertised.
Why else?
Whatever they're going to tell you, you can find online for free. You can find for yourself reading your favorite, bestselling authors. You can find for yourself in good how-to books. I'm overstating this, but essentially: nobody can make someone else a bestseller. Back in the day, NY publishing houses paid their staffs a lot of money to help authors along, to grow writers, to make them into bestsellers, and even these experts got it wrong more often than they got it right.
Historically, authors have been preyed upon by gurus and treated miserably by publishing houses with ridiculously lopsided contracts. Amazon came along and shook things up, making the playing field a bit more level.
But the gurus are still out there. It pisses me off to no end because most of these gurus are, or used to be, authors.
They should know better. They should remember what it was like for them. To be new and eager and bursting with energy, looking for someone--anyone--to give them the One Big Secret to Publishing.
They should remember how difficult they had it. They should remember how newbs are soft targets. How easily someone with starry eyes can be duped. It's predatory, it's dirty business, it's a fecking disgrace if you ask me if you are purposely targeting newb authors and promising them things you know you likely can't deliver upon and charging a small fortune.
Beware the gurus.
Especially if they're asking for thousands of dollars to help you along. Just don't do it.
In fairness, I am painting in pretty broad strokes here but my wider point stands: beware of the guru. If you're at all tempted to give someone money to be your writing coach or mentor, demand to see their recent sales records before you fork any of your hard-earned cash over. Seriously, you need to see hard data. Demand to see the last 6 months of their fiction royalties. If they won't share that with you, run--don't walk--to the nearest exit.
That is all.
Thursday, November 30, 2017
NANO UPDATE
Wyetgerd's Ax is up to 72K. I wanted to finish the first draft before month's end, but that ain't happening. I started NANO a week late, Thanksgiving week was basically a wash, and administrative issues have eaten up more of my time recently than planned.
Still, I've gotten 72K. With a big day today, I might stretch that to 80K for the month of November which is nothing to scoff at. I'm at the 75% mark and can see the rest of the book, so it's just a matter of sitting down and getting it all out as quickly as possible. Wyetgerd's Ax will end up around the 100K mark which is a good length for this kind of book. As always, I'm thinking about a sequel.
I'm going to switch gears in December. There is a thriller I'd like to write and I'd like to begin The Bastard's Gambit as well. We'll see. Right now I have to focus on closing out this project so it doesn't bleed too much into December.
Still, I've gotten 72K. With a big day today, I might stretch that to 80K for the month of November which is nothing to scoff at. I'm at the 75% mark and can see the rest of the book, so it's just a matter of sitting down and getting it all out as quickly as possible. Wyetgerd's Ax will end up around the 100K mark which is a good length for this kind of book. As always, I'm thinking about a sequel.
I'm going to switch gears in December. There is a thriller I'd like to write and I'd like to begin The Bastard's Gambit as well. We'll see. Right now I have to focus on closing out this project so it doesn't bleed too much into December.
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