Heeby-Jeebies

I promised I would cover the entire process while I was going through it, so I’ll expand on that a bit today.  But first, what’s new…

I’m on the last chapter.  Yay!  My football teams sucks, (The Browns,) season over.  I know, don’t laugh.  It’s not funny, it’s just sad.  My dog Romeo is an attention whore and sometime’s I stop writing to oblige.  Okay, I do it a lot.  

Romeo, the attention whore

I know that sounds like procrastination, but I don’t see it that way.  My little breaks are mind refreshers.  I write when I have something to write, and when I turn from the page, it’s usually because I need a break.  Playing with my dog, getting a cup of coffee, or surfing the net are all fine distractions.  I also like a good game of solitaire to relax my mind.  So little breaks are perfectly fine, IMHO, the main key is ass planting.  Plant your ass in the chair and write, and don’t worry about the little breaks.

Another HUGE part of the process is marketing. 

Marketing.  The very word gives me the heeby-jeebies.  But I’ve decided that it is so important, that it is the most important part of the process next to the actual writing of the book.

As you may or may not know, when I started writing GERM LINE: REVOLUTION, my intent was to self-publish electronically.  It still is, though I am open to other avenues as well.  But I wanted to run this as an experiment for myself to see if it could become a viable source of income.  In other words, can I sell books on the internet and earn money? 

That’s the big question here.  Can I earn money?  I already believe I can write, or I wouldn’t be doing it, so is it viable as a business concern?

Like any business concern you need a product, plus relationships with vendors, employees and customers, and if you’re smart, effective marketing efforts.  Since we live in the digital age and this is a digital venture, my product and relationships and marketing efforts will, for the most part, be digital as well.

When I started the process, research revealed that I should begin marketing right away, so I designed a cover, (digitally of course).  That was my very first marketing move.  After all, the cover is the face of the franchise at this point.  The cover is what people will see first, and (hopefully) remember when they see it again.

There are a lot of cover designers out there, so suffice it to say you can get a cover made easily and relatively cheaply or even better, free.  Just do a search for “free book cover design” and companies like www.covercreator.net or www.diybookcovers.com will pop up.  You will need to decide if a template or particular stock photo appeals to your vision of the book.  Take your time, look around, the rest is easy.  If none of that works for you, you can hire to have it done, fairly inexpensively.  

I wanted free, and I couldn’t fine a template or photo that tripped my trigger, so I designed my own.  If you’re handy with Photoshop, or know someone who is, you can too.  The three dimensional version was done on a free template, and I created the background and married the cover to the template by first altering the perspective.  There are also plenty of companies that will allow you to make 3D versions, just google search “3d book cover template”.  

The intent of my design is to visually highlight the subject matter of genetic manipulation, as well as to convey the sense of a “Frankenstein” approach to building a perfect human.  Does it work?  Would you read the book based on the cover?  You tell me.

Germ Line: The Cover

The next step in building my self-publishing empire involved designing a logo and coming up with a name for my publishing company.  More on that later.  (Since I’m still in the free stage, the company hasn’t officially launched yet, so it’s all hush-hush for now.)

After that, I created a Facebook page, and began writing this blog.  I also began promoting the blog on Facebook and Twitter.  Hopefully, you are aware of all this.  If not, I’m doing something wrong.

I should note here that I have spent and will continue to spend hours scouring the web for ways to market frugally.  After all, with zero sales, my marketing budget is an appropriate percentage.  (To give credit where credit is due, and repay in some small way, I will attempt to provide you with the names and websites of those most useful, helpful and effective as they come up.)

One thing I did make sure to do was download the free ebook, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER BY Carolyn Howard-Johnson.  Sorry I’m not sure it’s still free but I advise getting it.  Buy it if necessary.  Lots, and lots of good information there. The Frugal Book Promoter

Marketing is tough.  Being heard above the noise it the hardest part.  Making an impression is even harder.  If you’ve read my last post, you know that the viewership numbers are sketchy at best. 

[Update: The counter I installed on the page after I wrote about it shows a current total of 2200+ views.  You can see it for yourself down at the bottom.  Also, the “real” Paige View count has gone up significantly since I began promoting it more aggressively.  And, I finally have a comment!  I held a contest for the first comment and our contest winner was Delali!  Congratulations on being the winner!]

Since I’m nearing the end of the first draft, I realized I need to amp up my Twitter presence in the hope of amping up interest in the book.  I began tweeting more vigorously and frequently, started following more relevant people, and my “Follows” have more than doubled.  From 79 to over 200, (There has also been a corresponding jump in blog page views, if you believe the counter,) and I’ve had several retweets and have been added to a handful of lists: DS_Scriggler/writers, IScriggle/scifi-and-fantasy-authors, sheaoliver/writing-about-scifi1, ppcorcoran/science-fiction1, ndrewHinkinson/writing, IndBk/writers.   Very cool!

This exposure I’m receiving in such a short period of time is fantastic, invaluable, and I cannot thank enough the individuals responsible.  I also need to give a shout out to the fine folks at www.scriggler.com and www.HappyMeBooks.com for helping me get the word out.  They’ve been promoting GERM LINE: REVOLUTION since they started reading my tweets.  Very cool.  I also want to mention www.EdgeKorp.com, @KKAllen_Author, @TBRList, @ReadersGazette, @CowboySciFiBot and anyone I may have missed for their retweets.  Much, much appreciated!  (I wish I could figure out how to like a retweet notification.  Help?)  Also, a major thank you to David at www.askdavid.com he offered and I took advantage of the ability to tweet to his 44,000+ followers.  He gave me free tweets, so thank you very much, David!  Awesome offer!

I started using www.Hootsuite.com to schedule my Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn posts.  It happens while I’m at work, and their free platform allows me to work with three social media sites.

My interest at this point, (beyond getting my numbers up,) is in establishing real, viable long term relationships with individuals and companies that can help promote the book effectively and economically, free whenever possible.  I’ve starting building a network of companies and individuals.  More on that later, it’s still in the very early stages, so stay tuned.  

I have listed the blog on Daypop & Popdex for what that may be worth.  I really have no idea.

Even though marketing and promotions are ongoing, I know I will eventually need to spend money to do this thing right.  Free promotion is great, and I hope to utilize that type of generosity whenever possible.  But there will be hard costs such as editing, formatting, printing, (I need at least a few hard copies,) publishing, and advertising & marketing.  I’m thinking I need a Kickstarter project to fund the launch.  So don’t say I didn’t warn you.

So that’s where I am.  I’ve just begun Marketing in the grand scheme of things, but I have begun.  There is much, much more to do as it’s a never ending process.  Right now, my focus is on perpetuating the book’s presence and continuing to write.  Finish.  Then rewrite.  I’m a ways down the road from actual publishing, but I won’t publish until both the book, my release campaign are ready to launch and I have funding in place.  And as of now, I’m not completely sure what that all entails.  I do know that I need a lot more people interested first.  It hasn’t costed a dime, so far, but I know it will.  So that is the question, isn’t it.  Can I make money, beyond the costs?

I’m very interested in reading your thoughts on all this, perhaps share your experiences or point out what I’m doing right and/or wrong.  TIA!

Rules & Readership

If this is your first visit, the journey starts with In The Beginning.

I am always amazed by how much time passes between posts.  It's mind boggling.  It does not seem possible that three months have elapsed.  But they have.  And now I’m thinking, “Christ, I'm three months closer to death than the last time I posted.”  

Morbid?  Maybe.  It’s not meant to be.  It’s simply a fact.  When you’re on the north side of fifty you think about shit like that.  You also realize every day is a blessing.

So, sorry I haven’t been here sooner. I've been busy being blessed.

When I started this blog I had no illusions or expectations about readership.  I had some doubt as to whether anyone would ever read it, ever.  So imagine my surprise when I logged onto the blog site and checked my stats and discovered that, according to my Stats page, I’ve had 1,197 page views since I started writing this blog.  That seems like a lot.  Because when I go to my Posts page, it shows that I have a total of 33 view counts.  

Someone is lying.

On my Stats page I can see that 981 (or 81%) page views have been done on Firefox, 1004 page views (or 84%) have been done on the Windows operating system, and 877 of the 1197 page views have come from China.  236 from the United States, 16 from the Ukraine, 13 from France, 11 from Russia, 10 from Switzerland, 7 each from Germany and Turkey, and 4 each are from the UK and India.

In other words, it seems that while I’ve had a disproportionally large number of views from China, the Brits and Indians couldn’t give two shits.   Of course it could be one Brit and single Indian national visiting my blog four times each.  Or two twice, or whatever.  Or, it could actually be one Brit who travels to India (or visa versa) and has visited my blog four times in each country.  

So now I wonder about Turkey and Germany.  Is it one German and one Turk viewing seven times each or is it possibly a lonesome traveler visiting the site fourteen times, seven times in each country?

Is it eleven Russians?  Or one Russian eleven times.  

I’m thinking it definitely has to be more than one Chinese viewer, right?  Unless it’s a single crazy, obsessed, Chinese stalker viewer—

You know what?  It doesn’t mater.  What matter’s is, I’ve had a viewer.  Someone has read what I have written.  That’s all that matters.  If I have touched the heart and/or mind of a single crazy, obsessed, Chinese stalker viewer, then I’ve done my job.

Back to the question at hand: Has my blog had 1197 page views with a shitload of Chinese readers and maybe a couple Indian readers, or have I only had 33 views of mostly friends and family as it illustrates on my Posts page?  According to my Posts page, only one reader read my last post.  I’m pretty sure that was my wife.  (I love you, baby!)

By the way, we celebrated our one year anniversary in September.  Talk about time flying.  Holy shit!  The year flew by.  We also had new windows put in our house last month.  Holy shit!  Was that expensive.  But it needed to be done and now we can check it off our list… once it’s actually paid for in five years.  Home owning is not for the faint of heart.  (As my bride is happy to remind me, we could’ve bought a condo.)  But I digress.  

Given what I’m able to discern, (and hey, I will be the first to admit that I may be misinterpreting the data,) I have to ask, “Hey Google Blog dudes, exactly what is going on?  What good are stats and analytics if there is a 3600% +/- margin of error?”  

I don’t expect them to answer.   Bottom line?  I don’t think I’ll be approached by sponsors any time soon.

I do have good news.  I’m almost done.  Yup, almost done with the first draft of the book.  I have been working solidly and steadily whenever I have time, and I just started the final chapter.  There will be an epilog.  Take that, rule makers.  (More about this later.)

Overall I’m pleased with the work so far.  I expect it to get better as I go through it again and again.  I’m also happy about the length.  The MS should be about 70,000 words when I finish the first draft.  That’s more than I thought it would have, considering it’s a conversion from the 18,000 word screenplay.  I was concerned that I wouldn’t have enough material for a novel.  When it’s all said and done, I hope to have an 80,000 +/- word manuscript.  

On a technical note, research (Google search) seems to produce the prevalent opinion that the 80,000 page range is the number publishers and editors prefer to publish for a first time author.

I’m extremely excited to start the rewrite/edit phase.  I don’t know that I’ll be doing much rewriting.  That will need to be determined later.  I am concerned about plot holes and logic lapses.  (I’m always concerned about plot holes and logic lapses.) I will definitely be editing, polishing and paring to make it tight and, hopefully, better.  I will also be fleshing it out, expanding on the characters and (again, hopefully) breathing more life into them.  And producing said 80,000 +/- word manuscript.  Which seems to be the “Rule of length for new writers”.

Since this book is destined to be self-published, length may not matter.  But if by some miraculous intercession a major publisher considers publishing Germ Line: Revolution, I want it to be the correct length. 

There are a lot of rules in writing.  I don’t pretend to know them all, but over the years I’ve learned some things and come up with some rules of my own.  In the interest of full disclosure, the act of considering my own rules was inspired by an excellent article entitled Ten Rules For Writing Fiction on theguardian.com.  Inspired by this article, I started thinking about my own rules for writing, and here they are:

My Ten Rules Of Writing

1) Write.  If you’re not writing you’re not a writer.  Talking about it isn’t writing.  Writing is.  So write.

2) Inject humor whenever possible.  Humor is universal and can help the reader identify with a character or situation.  Don’t force it or use it inappropriately, but if it fits, don’t be afraid to use it.

3) Enjoy the process.  It is a process, a long one.  From initial idea, through the actual writing, through preliminary editing and rewrites, through the editorial process with your editor, through those rewrites, through marketing and sales, it is a long process, so you better enjoy it.

4) Don’t talk about what you’re writing.  It’s okay to discuss in general terms, like I’m writing a book about whatever, but don’t discuss details, plot points or progress.  Doing so locks you into preconceived notions and writing must be fluid and open to change. (I also believe it steals creative energy from the project, but I may be insane.) 

5) Finish your projects.

6) Use proper grammar, spelling and formatting.  If you don’t know what that is, find out.

7) Always write on a computer.  Some writers will tell you that you should only write with pen (or pencil) and paper.  I say that’s just plain stupid.  Someone will have to transcribe it into digital form eventually anyway, so you might as well start out that way.  Besides, it makes it MUCH easier to spell check, edit, and play with words, sentences and paragraphs.  Try this: Grab a pen and some paper.  Write five sentences.  Now take the third sentence and make it the first.  Now take out any unnecessary words and spell check all the words that are left, correct those and rewrite the paragraph perfectly.  Now try it with a computer.  That’s right, you don’t have to rewrite the paragraph perfectly, it’s already done.  And it took like a fiftieth the amount of time.  Enough said.

8) Always back up your work.  Always.  Twice preferably.  Once on a hard drive and once in the cloud.  Google, Box.net, iCloud, whatever.  Just make sure your can always access copies of your work if your computer goes to shit.  And they do eventually.  Almost always.

9) Hire an editor.  He or she knows things you don’t.  There allowed to be brutally honest, that’s what they’re paid for.  Your wife, husband, sister, friend, fuck buddy won’t be.  They will tell you that you’re great.  But you’re not, and you know it, and you want to sell your work, so don’t fuck around.  Hire an editor.

10) Don’t worry about using or not using adverbs, similes, metaphors, clichés or profanity.  If they work, use them.  If they sound stupid or get in the way, get rid of them.  Other writers who tell you how to write want you to write like they do.  Write like you do.  That means discovering your own voice.  Whatever it is.  Discover it, and don’t worry about all that other silly shit.  Eventually it will blossom like a rose.  You’ll be hunky-dory.  A fucking veritable writing machine.  With a voice.

So that’s it for this post., and yes, this blog is probably a violation of rule #4, but if I were to have a rule #11, it would be: Don't be afraid to break the rules.  Rules are meant to be broken, as they say.  Just be aware that breaking them is more effective if it's intentional and you are aware of the infraction in the first place, and you have a good reason for breaking it. 

As always your questions and comments are welcomed and encouraged.  If nothing else, type in what country you’re from.  

I'm starting to collect readers for the first polished draft.  If you're interested in being one and don't mind providing feedback, let me know.