I interview the gun-toting, root’n & toot’n, bestselling action and adventure author Wayne Stinnett
Thought I’d switch it up. Was intending on interviewing only sci-fi fantasy authors, but instead (insert pointless reasons). It’s my blog, and I do what I want to, dooo what I want to, you would do it too if it happened toooo yoooouuuu.
Ok, enough nonsense. At attention, folks, because we have a bona fide marine in the house, and he’s brought his guns along, making the crew nervous (my cat). Wayne Stinnett is the author of the bestselling action & adventure Jesse McDermitt series, and he’s about to undertake the toughest assignment given to man—answering my stupid questions.
Thanks for being here, Wayne. Have a seat on the, uh, vinyl cushion there. Sorry for the rips and stains. I promise I don’t have bed bugs. So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how commanding is your presence when you walk into a room? Do you make people nervous with a thousand yard stare?
Thanks, Sever. Though I write action/adventure for a living, I’m a long time sci-fi fan. Was really saddened to hear about Leonard Nimoy yesterday. Know how you can tell which one in the Enterprise landing party is gonna get killed? It’s the guy in the red shirt. First off it’s Marine, not marine. One is a title, that once earned can never be taken away. The other is anything in sea water, which a lot of times can be Marines. I’m not a very big guy, so my physical presence is often ignored. If I need to get their attention, though, I have my ways.
If I were to trespass onto your property, how quickly would I get gunned down? Describe the encounter.
The perimeter is booby trapped, you won’t get on the property. If, however, you manage to slip past the claymores, punji pits and bouncing Bettys, you’d be silently greeted by a 110 pound wolf/chow hybrid. My scope is zeroed at two hundred meters and the bang stick under it is accurate to eight hundred. Trust me, there’s nothing here worth the effort.
*Takes careful notes.* All right, cancelling operation free-the-chicken-coop. You hunt rabbit and deer. Explain yourself to the tree-huggers in the crowd.
Rabbits are a waste of ammo, not enough meat and ammo is expensive. Imagine the deer population if there weren’t any hunters. They’d thrive and reproduce like crazy right? Until they reach the tipping point, when the food supply can’t support the population. Then only the strongest would survive, while the weaker ones die a slow death of starvation. Not very pretty. Hunters are our first line of conservationists. We have bag limits which are governed by current population and strictly enforced. Now, if I really want to piss off the tree-huggers, I’ll show up at their rallies in my gas guzzling pickup with a 460 cubic inch engine that gets 9 miles per gallon. Hey, if their Prius breaks down, I can put it in the bed. I’d just have to put the deer carcass in their trunk though.
Ever surreptitiously slip your kill into them pesky vegetarian dinners?
That would necessitate my dining with them. I’ve met one or two, pasty skinned, weak vegetarians, smelling of patchouli. No room at my table.
What’s your favorite weapon? Is it under your pillow?
Hmmm, that’s difficult to answer. Each has its own place. For long range shooting, I like the Remington 700, it’s a real nail driver. Under my shirt is a Sig Sauer P226 semi-auto for personal protection. For home protection, you can’t do better than a pump action shotgun. The sound of a shell being chambered will usually clear the house of home invaders. When the zombie apocalypse (that’s what I call a government takeover) happens, my AR15 with multiple 30 round magazines will always be close by. By far, the most deadly weapon in my arsenal rests on TOP of my pillow.
Let’s get serious for a moment. What are you proud of?
All kidding aside? Okay. Gotcha. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. I’m proud of a lot of things, but my family ranks at the very top. My wife and I have four great kids and four of the cutest grand-kids. Without their support, I never would have published my first book, let alone six. I’m also very proud of having served in the greatest military the world has ever known. The camaraderie shared between warriors isn’t akin to anything else. When a man says, “I got your back” it really means something. He’s saying he’ll lay down his life if need be.
Is there anything in life you’d like to do over again?
Everyone has regrets. I often catch myself wishing I’d stayed in the Corps for a full thirty year ride. But if I had, odds are I wouldn’t have my kids today. One thing for certain, if I could change just one thing, I’d go back to ’88 and tell the younger me, “Don’t you dare quit writing!” It took me twenty-five years to try again and now I’m living what I call a dream. For 13 years, I was gone most of the time, hauling freight all over the country and talking to my family over the phone. Now, I can kneel by my daughter’s bed and pray with her, take her to school and pick her up every day, and sleep in my own bed with my wife.
How would you describe the Jesse McDermitt series to a new reader in the genre?
I wish they’d break up action/adventure into two separate genres. The complaint I most often receive comes from action junkies, saying that my books don’t have enough action. I call my books Caribbean Adventure sea stories. True, there’s not cover to cover action. What I try to convey to the reader is the essence of living, working, laughing and loving in what most would call paradise, the Florida Keys. My books are full of every day stuff that folks in the Keys both suffer and enjoy. Plenty of water, a few laughs and some romance, but mostly it’s the Conch spirit I try to convey. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Conch. That’s a birthright that only those born in Monroe County, Florida can claim. I’m a waterman and have lived and worked in the Keys, as well as Mexico, the Bahamas and the Lesser Antilles. I’ve earned a living from the sea. I spent a year in Jamaica one weekend, but that’s a whole different story.
What type of person is NOT going to enjoy your books? How do you stop them from reading? With a cattle prod?
The aforementioned action junkies, primarily. There’s a very laid back, island lifestyle in what I write, but in the end there will be guns and explosions. Oh, and in the case of the last two books, an exotically beautiful and hypersexual woman. Sorry, had to throw that in there. I’ve had romance fans read my books and like them. Same with mystery and thriller fans. One salty old retired Marine Sergeant Major wrote to me and said he finished Fallen Palm while sitting in a tree stand with a high powered rifle across his lap, but had to climb down because his eyes were sweating too much to see down the shooting lane. Marines don’t cry, our eyeballs sweat. Greatest compliment I ever had, right there.
Why did you start writing? Was it a dare?
Actually, it was boredom. In the late eighties I was working as an estimator for a construction company. I wrote a few computer programs to speed up the process and wound up with more time than work. Since I was salaried, I was required to stay the whole day, so I started making up stories and typing them up on the company computer, storing them on a floppy disk. I thought they were great, but judging from the 47 rejection letters from publishers and agents, I was in the minority. A few years ago, my wife found a hand written part of a manuscript and told me it was good. She encouraged me to take up that long dormant dream of being a writer and try again. So I dug out the floppies and searched the internet for an antique computer I could bring the stories up on. With her encouragement I started writing again. She’s been a wealth of inspiration and motivation. And quite a few ideas, as well.
You’ve been around the publishing block. Give us blundering noobs the top four mistakes new authors make.
Not everyone is going to like your work, you’re going to get some one stars. Accept it before you hit that publish button.
Your first book’s not going to be a million seller. Sure it’s happened, but the odds are so astronomical as to be zero. Don’t dwell on it, keep writing.
Don’t waste time, money and energy trying to get people to read that first book. Your friends and family will, but the reading public want more. See #2.
Creative minds don’t like numbers. They’re restricting. Learn how. Once you have a couple or three books published you’re going to have to market them. No way around it. Learn how to advertise and market your work, start a mailing list before the first one’s published. That’s the single best marketing tool you’ll have.
What do you think the next year in publishing will look like?
If I knew the answer to that one, it’s a sure bet that I wouldn’t share it. I really think more and more traditionally published authors will regain the rights to their books and self-publish. They’ll still be able to charge more, being household names, but they’ll keep a lot more themselves.
Name one publishing argument you’re sick of hearing.
Self-published books lack quality. I’m so sick of hearing that I could punch a wall. Sure, since anyone can upload their stuff and publish it, there are quite a lot of low quality works out there. It doesn’t mean that every indie’s books are crap. There are a lot of very fine writers who look at traditional publishing and then look at doing it themselves and they see that they can make just as much per book as the big guys, but keep the price so much lower for their readers. There’s a lot of traditionally published work out there that isn’t worth a crap too.
Punchable face. Name one. Explanation optional.
Michael Koslowski. I mean, have you seen this guys face? And the venomous spew that comes out of it? At first I was angry over some of the things he said. Sure I read his blog, so do you, I bet. But, you know what? That blog is his only claim to fame. I looked on Amazon for his work and he has written a few books. I think his highest ranked book is in the 200,000 range. He’s nothing more than a hack who couldn’t cut it as a traditional author and rather than get off his butt and do it himself, he ridicules those that do. Loser!
What’s next for you?
One of my favorite south Florida writers is about to release his 22nd novel in a very successful traditionally published series and not long ago he released his first book in a spinoff series. It’s a great story and he’s now followed it up with two more equally awesome books. I want to do that. My dad always told me, “Look at what successful people do and do that.” So, in writing my last book, I set the stage for one of four characters to be the main character in a new series. I finally decided on which one last week. While I’m writing the 7th book in the Jesse McDermitt Caribbean Adventure Series, I’m slowly developing the first book in the Charity Styles series. Charity is a minor character in four of my six books and in this new series she will become a covert assassin, responsible only to her own moral convictions and controlled (somewhat) by a very highly placed American government official. I’ve actually finished the first chapter. While I’m putting all my efforts into the new McDermitt book, as you well know, you can get burnt out pretty easy. So, I switch over and write a couple hundred words to the other book, in essence writing two at the same time. I figure that by the time “Fallen Honor” comes out in June, I’ll be more than halfway through “Merciless Charity”. How’s that for a juxtapositional title? I hope to finish Merciless Charity in July. Then I’ll be taking a couple of months off to move and start building a new house near the ocean. The old man is returning to the sea.
Semper Fi,
Wayne Stinnett
Author of the Jesse McDermitt series
www.waynestinnett.com
www.waynestinnett.com
Doing an iama on reddit r/fantasy today.
Thought I’d invite you to swing by and say hi / ask a question :)
Hi! I’m Sever Bronny, Author of The Arinthian Line series (your typical teen fantasy trope) from Fantasy
Riven (The Arinthian Line, #2) COVER REVEAL
Coming very soon …
Augum, Bridget and Leera want only to study new spells and make their legendary mentor proud. But when she unexpectedly departs on a crucial quest, they run afoul of a devious old witch and are forced to make a hasty getaway–straight into the hands of a notorious maniac known as the Blade of Sorrows.
Prisoners of the Blade and his sadistic apprentice, the trio must face their greatest challenge yet: escape using nothing but an ancient spell with some nasty side effects. But more than their lives are at stake, for an entire kingdom’s hopes rest with their mentor–and she’s heading for a deadly trap.
RIVEN is the second book in the Arinthian Line series. To get word of a 24 hour release window when you can purchase it for only 99 cents, subscribe here.
Arcane (The Arinthian Line, book 1) available here.
Book 1 and 2 side-by-side:
Just a photo of a creepy, abandoned house.
This was on reddit today. It’s attributed to this artist.
I interview the enigmatic CN Crawford
Thank you for coming over to this blog. Sorry for the mess, been bit of a dump around here lately. Uh, have a seat between the ferns. So, what’s with the parrot?
We have a bird thing going. Book three is going to have some pirates, and probably some parrot familiars. It’s like the old adage says, “put a bird on it.”
That video. lol. So the CN in C.N. Crawford is two people apparently. Explain why you’re not crazy.
Either there are actually two of us, or it’s just me in a yellowed wedding dress with a moldering rat-eaten cake screaming into a dead garden about a husband. I’m not going to tell you which of these is true.
Since you’re not crazy, why is there a knife in both your hands? I don’t do interviews like this.
It’s for your own good. There’s a better place for you than this world. Or at least better than Canada.
*Whistles Canadian anthem* Since you’re definitely not crazy or murderous, tell us what roles each of you serve in writing the book. Nick started working on the book, with the idea that it would be about a witch-boy traveling from a magical world into ours. It began with a crow flying to a creepy old school in Boston. I started doing some world-building, which was very history-focused since that’s my main interest. Then I started taking over the writing of the story. Apart from a few scenes that Nick started, mostly I would write a draft, and Nick would go over it after. The plot came out of discussions between the two of us.I’m gradually taking over almost all of this series, but Nick has another series in the back of his mind, which I’m excited about. He’s an evolutionary biologist, and he’s working on an idea for a thriller about a genetic researcher who uncovers a supernatural conspiracy.
How violent is your working relationship? If it’s not violent, can you make something juicy up? This is practically Jerry Springer here. I mean, look at the raving loons in the audience.
It was pretty tame for the writing, but making crafts for our giveaway was awful. There were super-glued hands, tables getting bumped, bubbles in the resin… It was brutal. Sometimes Nick still wakes up in a cold sweat, shouting, “So many microbeads glued to my fingers!” Never make crafts with a loved one. Just don’t.
No crafts with the wife. Got it. So I bought and read The Witching Elm and really enjoyed it, particularly how Toby and Fiona grew on me as the story went along. It’s a best seller in the occult subgenre, with excellent reviews. How does it feel seeing your baby do so well?
It feels great! It’s hard sending it out into the world, but I’ve really enjoyed reading people’s responses. I especially love when people home in on my favorite things about the book, which are the humor and the creepiness.
How would you describe your book to a new reader in the genre?
One of the blog reviewers described it as “what we would have had if Joss Whedon wrote Harry Potter,” which might be my favorite description, since I love Joss Whedon. A few other people have noted comparisons to the show Sleepy Hollow. I haven’t see the show yet, but I think it also draws on morbid American history in its world-building.
Speaking of Potter, if Toby [lead protagonist] got in a fight with Harry, who’d win?
Toby would eat him alive, assuming he had his pike. Toby’s often missing his pike, though he will gain access to weapons in the sequels. As a psychologist, the phallic reference is not lost on me.
What type of person is NOT going to enjoy your book?
Someone who’s dead inside. Or I guess, someone who doesn’t like dark fantasy.
The story is set in Boston. Give me two lines in a Boston accent.
We’re evacuatin the youngest philawsiphas. You three ah goin to Boston fuh safety, to Mathah Academy. Now get me a spuckie and take a dudley, ya haw-mongas.*
*(That last line is not in the book, and is in a deep boston accent decipherable only to the inititiated).
Why do you write? I think both Nick and I need a creative outlet for surreal ideas and concepts, or our weirdness will start to come out in other ways. And writing is much less rage-inducing than crafts. I’ve got a set of questions I ask all authors: If you became very rich, what would a typical day look like for you?
My son would wake me up at 7, and then I’d pound a few cups of coffee. The nanny would come to play with my toddler while Nick and I sat around making up stories about tree gods and witches. It would look very much like a day now, except Nick would be home, and we’d have a nanny, and our light switches would work.
What’s been your greatest challenge in life? For me it was probably moving to London when I was 21 with only $500 in the bank. I stayed there for over 8 years, and for at least a few of those I was on minimum wage in a very expensive city.
And of course first few sleepless months after having our baby were a challenge for both of us.
How much of you is in that werewolf character?–just kidding, that question was asked of Chris Fox, who wrote some book about werewolves.
Chris Fox actually based the werewolf character entirely on me. Little known fact.
What do you hate most about the publishing process?
There is a lot of multi-tasking involved, and sometimes you feel like you just want to focus on one thing at a time. You end up juggling social-media, learning new software, finding cover designers, getting feedback–all while trying to keep the focus on writing the next book. But the varied tasks definitely keep things interesting.
What do you love about indie publishing?
I love the flexibility. For example, a couple of the reviewers were confused by the first few pages, so we were able to clarify things and re-upload the book really quickly.
What advice would you give to someone thinking of publishing their book independently?
My main advice is to find a way to get as much feedback as possible for the first books, and listen to people’s input. There’s a lot of advice out there to just “write write write,” and there’s a lot of focus on word counts and cranking out books. I would counter to say–at least for a first book–take your time, and make sure you’re getting it right. Don’t try to edit it yourself, even if you’re an editor, and don’t design your own cover. Unless you’re a designer. If you’re totally broke there are still ways around these things.
What are you going to to do after you’ve won your second pulitzer?
Do they give pulitzers for books? Shows how much I know. I thought it was a newspaper thing. Well anyway I’d definitely insert it into every possible sentence for the rest of my life. “As a two-time pulitzer winner, I would like a fish sandwich with fries.”
Punchable face. Name one. Explanation optional.
Dapper Laughs, a British “cheeky chappie” “entertainer.” I would also like to punch the phrase “cheeky chappie” in the face. 
Ask yourself a question and answer it.
Best book you’ve read in the past year? I have yet to read Arcane, so I’m going to go with Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantell, which is a fantastic historical fiction book about Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry VIII’s advisors. I love the Tudor-era books.
C.N. Crawford is not one person but two. Christine (C) grew up in the historic town of Lexington, and has a lifelong interest in New England folklore – with a particular fondness for creepy old cemeteries. Nick (N) spent his childhood reading fantasy and science fiction further north during Vermont’s long winters. Together they work to incorporate real historical events and figures into contemporary urban fantasy novels.
Sneak peek at map for Riven (The Arinthian Line, #2)
Just a reminder that only subscribers to my mailing list will get the 24 hour “soft launch” window, when the book will be 99 cents. You can subscribe here.
Three quick notes regarding Riven (The Arinthian Line, book 2)
1) First off, thank you to everyone who bought Arcane (The Arinthian Line, book 1), it’s done extremely well, better than I ever hoped, and continues to be a top 10 Amazon bestseller in its fantasy genre.
2) I’m accepting applications to my Advance Review Team, details here. Spots are limited, but if you get in, there’s some cool bonuses (read the new releases before everyone else does, get them for free, even score some limited edition, personalized swag).
3) Riven (The Arinthian Line, book 2) is scheduled to be released sometime at the end of this month, but only subscribers to my mailing list will get the 24 hour “soft launch” window, when the book will be 99 cents. You can subscribe here.
Epic Fantasy Adventure Book ARCANE Now Released
At long last, I can declare my book published, my dear friends!
Warlocks before their time …
Fourteen-year-old Augum and friends Bridget and Leera dream of becoming warlocks. But with a kingdom in total chaos, it will take courage, sacrifice, and an iron will to make that dream come true
The Lord of the Legion, a vicious tyrant, has overthrown the king in a relentless and murderous quest for seven mythic artifacts–and Augum’s mentor, the legendary Anna Atticus Stone, possesses one. While Augum struggles with demons from a painful childhood, a betrayal puts him, his friends, and his mentor through a harrowing ordeal that threatens to destroy them all … and change the course of history.
Arcane, the debut novel in the fantasy adventure series The Arinthian Line, follows three friends as they navigate an ancient abandoned castle, endure grueling training, challenge old mysteries, and learn that a bond forged in tragedy might just be the only thing to save them from a ruthless enemy.
——
The paperback is 349 pages and you can buy it and the ebook from Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/author/severbronny
If you want to get a notice of the other book releases in the series, subscribe to my mailing list here:http://eepurl.com/HIxzX
My Goodreads page:
https://www.goodreads.com/severbronny
It’s been a long and challenging road to get this thing published. My goal is to have most if not all of the series published next year. The hardest part is over, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support.
My review of WIRED FOR STORY, a book on how to hook readers from the first sentence.
All right, wow. There are four seminal books that have made major impacts on my writing, in the following order:
1. Self Editing for the Fiction Writer by Renni Browne and Dave King.
2. A Writer’s Guide to Fiction by Elizabeth Lyon.
3. On Writing by Stephen King.
4. The Elements of Style by Strunk and White.
But it is, without a shadow of a doubt, Wired for Story that takes the top spot now. Cron has artfully and articulately worded what I, as the writer, have been searching for: just how to write a good story. Not how to flower my language, not how to edit, not the mechanics of writing, but exactly how to consciously write a story that interests the reader.
Can I understate how important this book should be in a writer’s arsenal? *Expletive* NO! It’s written with a clear voice, a voice comfortably familiar with the art of the story. Cron’s experience in writing for film and TV shines through with her ability to efficiently get her points across without the muddle. Her use of neuropsychologists combined with select quotes from known word-brain surgeons like Hemingway buttress the foundation, but it is the upper floors of this structure that yield the greatest fruit.
What exactly makes a story interesting? Check. Exactly when to start one in the character’s life? Check. How to write a quick yet nuanced character biography while leaving out the unnecessary drivel? Check. Differentiate between the banal and the important in a scene; description overuse; narration and exposition errors; conflict and resolution misfires and solutions …
Check, check, and checkmate. And on and on it goes, until by the last page you feel like a cyborg perfectly outfitted for war.
My one minor gripe? A few too many grand questions (specifically, but not exclusive to, the end of the chapters summaries), that left me feeling overwhelmed. I prefer things I can answer, not questions that have infinite possibilities and leave my brain trying to find answers to them even though I’ve moved on already. It’s a pitfall I commonly find in How-to books though, one almost impossible to leave out. A side effect of these questions is one has the tendency to re-read the paragraph again and again in some vain hope one will understand the scope and significance of the question.
But what Cron does best is hammer across what is important. She shatters myth after myth (eg: A story is what the plot is about. WRONG. It’s about how the plot affects the characters!). She concisely explains what loses readers, but rewards you with how to capture them. This isn’t one of those books that only points out the flaws, leaving you groping for guidance like a child without a parent. It is satisfying and comprehensible, a panther of a read written by a master in her craft–and there are few storytelling masters that truly share their secrets in a way the layman can understand.
I wrote six detailed pages of notes. Six. I pre-empted the wear those notes are going to receive in my writer’s binder by applying those O-ring reinforcements to the holes in the paper, for I plan on studying those notes like an eager freshman in medical school.
My final thought? The writers who have read this book will have a superior advantage over those that have not. Period.
Wired for Story on Amazon
A note: I first posted this review on the book’s Goodreads page.
The Arinthian Line fantasy series book one cover reveal! #fantasy #rpg
At long last, after over three years of work, I can reveal the cover to Arcane: The Arinthian Line, book 1.
Warlocks before their time…
Fourteen-year-old Augum and friends Bridget and Leera dream of becoming warlocks. But with a kingdom in total chaos, it will take courage, sacrifice, and an iron will to make that dream come true.
The Lord of the Legion, a vicious tyrant, has overthrown the king in a relentless and murderous quest for seven mythic artifacts—and Augum’s mentor, the legendary Anna Atticus Stone, possesses one. While Augum struggles with demons from a painful childhood, a betrayal puts him, his friends, and his mentor through a harrowing ordeal that threatens to destroy them all … and change the course of history.
Arcane, the debut novel in the fantasy adventure series The Arinthian Line, follows three friends as they navigate an ancient abandoned castle, endure grueling training, challenge old mysteries, and learn that a bond forged in tragedy might just be the only thing to save them from a ruthless enemy.
97,000 words. Approximately 275 pages on electronic media, 409 on print.
The book will be released sometime this month. To receive an email of release and how to get yourself a copy, sign up here.
If you would like a free pre-release advanced copy in exchange for a fair review, email me at severbronny[insert at symbol here]gmail.com
Thank you kindly for your support, your advice, your friendship.
With warm regards,
Sever
For the self-publishers in the crowd: just updated the #self-pub and #indiepub checklist
Forgive the hashtags in the title (I know, I know!), but this blog is synced with twitter and I’m not in the mood to make a second twitter post. Anyway, I just did a massive update to my self-publishing checklist, which is extensively researched and real-time.
I’m close, guys, real close. This is really going to happen! Just over a month to go; I’m so excited I could barely sleep last night. It’s all coming together nicely.
Some new things on the list: I decided to do print-on-demand with createspace, choosing the 5″ X 8″ template with cream paper and a glossy cover. The book is 416 pages in this format (!), which I am strangely very happy about (it is, after all, fantasy!). It was a big pain in the ass to format the book properly, but next time it’ll be easy because I’ll know what to expect (in fact, I urge all authors who are thinking of using createspace to use one of their templates when starting a new book in Word!).
You’ll also notice that there’s a three month window after the release of book 1 in what’s called KDP select. I’ve chosen to enroll the first book in this Amazon exclusive program as an experiment. The downside is that I won’t be releasing the book to any other distribution source (kobo, smashwords, etc) until after that three month exclusivity window expires. Which means, for my fellow Canadians without a kindle, a second release date (Mar 1).
Now I’m off to draft the hard copy spine and cover via createspace – wish me luck! :)
Sever
The horribly obsessive need to be perfect. How do you balance doing a good job and obsessing over your work?
How do you do it? How do you balance doing a good job and obsessing over your work?
It astounds me how much my need to be perfect holds me back. If I could only let go, give myself permission to be average, to make mistakes, I think a tremendous weight would lift.
If anyone’s reading this, do you have any tips?
My Open Source Low Budget Self Publishing Author Marketing Campaign
I’m fine-tuning a low budget marketing campaign for Arcane, my debut fantasy-adventure novel from The Arinthian Line series. The aim is rather simple: gather 50 core people that enjoy the book enough to talk about it.
This is a fluid list as I come up with more / better ideas, and will take into account suggestions from others.
What I have so far, in order:
- Cover + blurb reveal on kboards (with release date?)
- Cover + blurb reveal on facebook / twitter / myspace / my music website / this blog / my email list (with release date?)
- Post a 50 page sample (at end of sample give link to buy rest of book – if logistically possible, give discount for buyer)
- Announce release date on all relevant social media (and update gravitar / widgets / connect blog to google+, etc. The key is uniformity of message.)
- Respectfully solicit reviews on Goodreads / Amazon / twitter / LibraryThing / relevant blogs (emailing a free copy of book). Or maybe just email the book and not ask for reviews; if it happens, it happens. Choose either Goodreads or Librarything (I don’t have energy for both).
- Find influencers (regular people, not industry pros) in my genre and give them a free copy to read. Look for ordinary people who can’t help but tweet about their favorite fantasy books. [EG: Search for “fantasy reader” on twitter and add them]
- Politely ask other Fantasy authors to contribute an endorsement tagline
- Reddit: Been a redditor for 2 years. Only post to r/fantasy after months of spending time there, and only then — so this is a maybe right now, depending on time constraints. For anyone else even thinking about posting on reddit, read THIS first. I’ve witnessed plenty of crash and burns, so tread at your own risk.
- Small Blog tour (maybe 2-4 a month). It has been suggested I do more. (Oh, and I still have to learn exactly how to do a blog tour, hehe).
- Print business cards of book and give them out like candy
- Go to this board and ask these guys where to get the word out. It’s a java based irc applet, but those guys know fantasy.
- Paid advertising: ENT, BookBlast, KindleBooks, Bookbub (with enough reviews that is).
- Go to the Kboards Tips & FAQ and carefully read and implement all points.
- Possibly do a small print run of 50-100 copies and hold a physical book launch in ONE local store and invite ALL my goo friends. I could offer said bookstore exclusivity to sell it in town. (Opinions?)
- RELEASE THE BOOK! (oh God, what do I do for release day — get drunk?)
- You may post one thread about your book, in the Book Bazaar board (again, kboards). You can use that thread to introduce your book, include a brief review, etc.
– Price: $2.99 for a 98,000 word ebook (and when three in series are released, make 1st one perma free)
– Should there be the demand, release a print book and an audio book (will use funds from sales).
The Russell Blake rule: After release, spend 75% of my time writing book four in the series, 25% on marketing.
That 25% will consist of the following:
- 90-95% of the time tweeting about my indie publishing journey / things I’ve learned / fantasy / writing how-to’s / advice columns / advice blogs; the remain 5%-10% on my personal book and blog. Tweets scheduled using Hootsuite (I love that app!).
- Blog tour / commenting on other blogs I find interesting
- Be a little more social on facebook (sigh … I hates FB)
- Post photos of the writing life in all it’s glory (don’t read into that you)
- Be creative — come up with a video for book (and if you haven’t seen my last video for my music, it’s HERE)
- Build email list, only emailing for releases
- Blog Once a month (I’m a convert of slow blogging, as introduced to me by Anne R. Allen in this post).
So did I miss something? Have a trick to add to this list? Let me know! And of course, use what you like for your own campaign :)
Thanks to the following for throwing in ideas for this specific post:
Cindy Johnson
Kathryn OHalloran
Pamela Kelley
Joe Nobody
jtbullet
Sandra K. Williams
Why It’s Important to Follow Your Dreams on a Daily Basis
“This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time.”
— Quote from the movie Fight Club
I often scroll through an ocean of blog and article links looking for quality content, content I can grow by and use practically. Time is precious online, especially because we’re so easily distracted. All it takes is for one of those links to strike the right interest chord and there goes ten minutes of your time. Sometimes that interesting link leads to another, or to a video, and next thing you know, an hour has flashed by.
Scientists have discovered that we get a miniature heroin-like dose of joy from clicking links and reading articles. Infotainment is actually that addictive. And therein lies the crux, for amongst this sea of cerebral masturbation one must separate out what is valuable and what is useless. Working from home poses these challenges; we must discipline ourselves to skip those things that hamper our goals.
So what are your goals? Do you want to own a house, have kids, work in a certain career? Do you want to work from home, have a wife or husband, or travel the world? Do you want to make a certain amount of money a year? What is success to you? What do you want to spend time on?
The hours add up quickly. Our daily micro judgements on what we spend time on become valuable. The framework for making those judgements becomes valuable. At work, we are paid hourly for our time. Everything we own is on loan, paid for with time. We give it all back in the end; we can’t take anything past death. Time is the new currency.
Now apply that to following your dreams. Imagine your time is worth, say, $20 an hour. If you spent four hours surfing the internet looking at infotainment, you spend $80 of your time doing so. Now here’s the question: did you gain back $80 worth of knowledge from that surfing?
These are just ideas in productivity. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have any fun — no, what I’m saying is we must be conscious of the daily micro decisions that add up the grandiosity that is our life (and learning to relax and enjoy ourselves is another skill beyond the scope of this blog post).
And that’s why it’s so critical to follow our dreams on a daily basis. Step by step, word by word, link by link, we build the lives we want. The lucky ones do it consciously; assert greater control over their micro decisions; choose progress over lethargy.
Imagine getting paid for doing things we love. Imagine finding love in what we already do. I believe that, if we are conscious of our daily micro decisions, these things just … happen, yet they happen slowly. Only when we pause and look back can we appreciate how far we have come.
Time is precious. What you are doing this moment is your life; who you are right now.