louder letters

In learning all I can about self publishing, one of the rules of thumb you must abide by is that you have to have awesome covers.  Now, as someone who is barely making enough on his writing to buy a tank of gas every month, I can’t afford to drop hundreds of dollars on overly professional covers.

However, I do have two years of visual arts under my belt. And I make covers and graphics for my 9-5 from time to time.  So I have tried to tackle covers myself.  Some I like, some I don’t.

One thing about covers: many believe that the image must be gripping and the title must be large so it can be read as a thumbnail picture.  heeding this advice, I have recently updated the cover for Everything Theory: Cold Compass.

The original is below.  At the risk of maybe ruining a minor facet of the story for those that have not read the book, I will tell you now that the “compass” from the title is not an actual, physical compass.  In the book, the term is used to relate to a supernatural sort of instinct.  That’s why the compass in the cover is pale and spectral.  And since there are elements of sci-fi to the story (quite a few, actually) I tried to find a font that was both science fiction-y and unique.  The result:

Now, see below.  Basically, it’s the same approach, only I chose a much larger font.  This font, I believe, leaves the genre of the book open to interpretation. Is it horror? Is it action?  Also, notice that I swapped the importance of the title and subtitle.  I like this change and will keep it in this format from here on out for the next four books in the series.

What say you, potential buyers and lovers of cover art?  Is the second an improvement?  Or does it even matter because the cover is to vague and weak?

Note that I do have the super talented artist that did the cover for The Bleeding Room working on a new version of the covers, so this change could be all for nothing.

Opinion appreciated.  Honest ones at that.

double your pleasure, double your inevitable disdain for the 24 hour day

For about a year and a half now, ever since getting deep into the Everything Theory books, I have tried to have at least two projects running at once. Typically, this equates to writing the first or second draft of a book while editing the final draft of another. And usually something else brewing in the background as well (for the past year, this has been my zombie novel, Sleepyheads).

I’m doing the same right now.  Only I have 2 books I am actively writing on at the moment: Everything Theory, Book 3 and the untitled non-horror one.  As I write on these two, I am slowly editing and reshaping Broken Skies.  And in the process, I am realizing that it could be a much shorter book.  As of right now, it sits at 82,000 words or so.  By the time I’m done with it, I hope to have it down to a svelte 70,000.

Of course, work and life stuff does not make such a schedule easy.  That, plus the fact that I’m having a fruitful “idea season.”  This is my term for a span of time where every idea I get for new material seems like a good one.  This does not happen often; I typically only stick with 1 out of every 4 or 5 ideas that I come up with.

So in tandem with the current writing, I still have ideas, some slightly born onto the screen and some nothing more than a scribbled note, that need attention.

For those writers out there that manage to churn out consistent work while also managing a 9-5 job, I salute you.

Please tell me your secrets.

 

a month of blargh

Hey remember at the beginning of last month when I made the comment that Kindle title sales were meager?  Well, that month rounded out and finished about average (for my sales, which is still pretty low).

Now this month is taking its place.

It’s hard to dive deep into the third book in a series while you see the sales figures for the first one hardly moving at all.  Of course, with the world of Kindle, rumor has it that once you get a certain amount of books out there, that’s when the sales start really picking up.

And, as is the case with most things Kindle related, I’ll believe it when I see it.  I am strongly beginning to believe that without the ability to drop $500 – $1,000 on a great cover and a backlist of work about 5 books deep, it’s a crapshoot.

So we’ll see.  Everything Theory: Blood Routes (ET2) will be released within the next 6-8 weeks.  Broken Skies, I’m hoping, will likely come soon after that.  And beyond all that there is the super-secret touchy sorta book I am also writing in the background. But this one is likely going to make the traditional rounds to agencies etc. first.

So yes…the lack of sales is depressing, especially when seeking an escape from the 9-5 job.  But hey, the good thing to come out of it all is that in seeking out new tunes to create the ET3 playlist, I discovered these guys:

rewrites, redesigns and a sale

For a writer that has not yet “made it” but is still plagued with ideas for stories, it can sometimes be quite difficult to find the time to write.

The past two weeks have seen very scant writing hours on my end.  I did manage to finalize Everything Theory: Blood Routes.  It is now out with beta readers and I am working to have the cover for book 1 redesigned, as I find that I like it less and less every time I see it.

I have also revived a trunk novel (another great thing about self publishing) and am trying to breathe new life into it.  Remember Broken Skies?  Yup…that thing just won’t die.  Only I think if it ever sees the light of day, it will be under a new title.

Lastly, due to my vague sense of accomplishment in wrapping up ET2, I have placed Book One, Cold Compass, on sale for the rest of this week.  You can now pick it up for just $0.99 for your Kindle.  But it’s only for this week…so if you haven’t picked it up yet, now is the time to do it!

pushing poetry

Just a quick post to go over a few exciting developments.

In the past week, things have been finalized for the I Know What I Saw: Poems of the Unexplained anthology.  It will be released through Needfire Press and I believe will be available sometime in July.  This one is going to be an e-book only first, with potential for paperback release depending on demand.  So please help spread the word any way you can!

Lastly, paperwork and editing for my second poetry collection, Sleepmaps, is also being finalized right now. Not sure what sort of date this one has to it, as that’s still being worked out.  Maybe September or October.

And that’s all out of me for now.  I’ll try not to stay away so long between posts next time.

“nut up or shut up”

Sorry…I love that phrase and don’t believe I have ever had the opportunity to use it.

But it is quite fitting of my writing life these past 3 weeks.  This is the first period in my writing-life where I am actually putting off the writing of something and making excuses for myself in doing so.  The truth of the matter is that the project I’ve mentioned a few times…the non-horror and rather personal novel…is making me nervous.

I’m enjoying the process of writing it, but I think I am realizing that I’ve never put quote this amount of thought and personal demons/motivations into a story.  As a result of shying away from continual progress on this, my other writing is suffering as well.

While on vacation, I had planned to write at least 1,500 words every night…if not more. (Hey, sometimes when the words come, you can’t stop them).  But I didn’t even manage 1,500 words over the course of the entire week.

I am planning on using today’s lunch break as the tipping point.  I am going to write a bit on this novel even if I don’t feel like it.  In terms of this project, it is indeed time to nut up or shut up.  60 pages in and I already know the skeleton of the story and am closely tied to the primary characters.  It is looking to be a rather long and uncomfortable book (as a writer and, hopefully, for the readers).

It’s been occupying my head for the past three weeks.  It wants to be written. This is simply one of those cases where I have distanced myself from it for a bit because I think, deep down, I believe it has the potential to be the best writing I have ever done…and it’s not horror.  And that terrifies me.

Ironic, yes?

off the grid

Some of you may have noticed that I have been off the grid for the past week or so.  No net, no writing, no work.  Of course, it all resumes as normal next week.

The time away has been quite nice.  And the family and I have been in great company as evidenced below.

WIP Wednesday (for the sake of accountability)

I feel like I absolutely have to do a WIP Wednesday post this week simply because I am really starting to over-tax myself.  Many pots on the stove, irons in the fire and what have you.

First, there is the progress to the Everything Theory books.  Book 2 is done.  I’ll be tapping beta readers shortly.  In the meantime, I’m only about 9,000 words into Book 3 but have mapped out the entire book.  The mapping has brought up an issue I’ll be asking everyone’s opinions on in the coming days.

There is then a novella type story I am writing, tentatively titled Four Walls, that has a beginning that is quite promising, but I can’t come up with a suitable climax to bring it to a close.

Sleepyheads, my odd post-apocalyptic zombie novel has reared its head again. 23,000 words in, and it refuses to stay quiet for more than a few weeks.  The problem with this novel is that it can’t decide if it wants to be a 120,000-ish word monster or more reasonable 70,000 or so.

Lastly, there is the project I refuse to blog openly about in fear of jinxing it.  It is a very personal project, a very different sort of book from anything else I have ever tried to write.  It is going well, but slow.

And that’s about it.  How are the w(h)ipping posts treating you?