If You Liked It, Then You Should Have Put a Review On It!

My apologies to Beyonce, but she does have a point especially in these days of books being ranked on Amazon by reviews they get. There are a lot of controversies regarding positive reviews, negative reviews and purchasing reviews. But when you're a brand new writer trying to make an impact on Amazon, what are you supposed to do?

Positive reviews on Amazon are amazing when it comes to how Amazon markets your book. You get bumped up on "what buyers looked at" type of link lists and pages. People who go to your page and see it has been reviewed dozens or hundreds of times are more likely to consider taking a chance on your book. Amazon has built a culture among authors of encouraging them to get reviews or risk being dropped into the bottom ranks of obscurity, rarely ever getting a chance to get seen by random book shoppers. Interestingly enough, there are some shoppers who immediately ignore 4 and 5 star reviews because they they have been purchased or are somehow fraudulent otherwise. The problem with this tactic is that some of those reviews are honest and once you get into 3 star territory, that is where people who don't like the book or possibly competitors will say how bad a book is to purposefully give it "bad press". Truth be told, no one pays for 3 star reviews. My personal feeling is this applies more to consumer products as opposed to books, but you can still run into an ex-significant other who may want to cream your book for the sheer joyful malice of the act.

Negative reviews are an interesting concept. Sure, an avalanche of bad reviews may keep you from getting a product, but Amazon is infamously lax in weeding out unscrupulous reviews by competitors. Just like the recent Indiana Pizzeria controversy, there can be a flood of bad things to say about the place by people who've never been there if they have an agenda to press. Alternatively, that same location has gotten a ridiculous amount of donations to support it - "they'll never have to sell pizzas again" type of support. Like the Yelp review site, it's incredibly hard to get rid of bad reviews whether deserved or not. Unfortunately, without some kind of review process, it's impossible to manage these reviews for their consistency and truthfulness.

Enter the purchased reviews! These are specifically against the Amazon terms of agreement. You cannot "pay" someone for a review. Amazon is even going to court against some of these purchase review sites. These sites have conflicting language about how they go about getting these reviews posted. Some of it states the "reviewer" will not have to actually buy the product to write the review. Other language says to send the reviewer an empty box, so they can still be a "verified buyer". In other words, these sites are using Amazon's rules and tactics against them to get around the intention of the rules. Amazon is so big, it's nearly impossible for them to sift through the billions of reviews on their site to find the ones that may be bogus. They can't review every purchase and confirm a product was actually sent or an empty box. In short, while Amazon may fight these sites in court, it's unlikely they'll be able to stop the bogus reviews from coming in from other providers. The really crazy thing? This doesn't mean the products or books purchasing these reviews are bad; they're just trying to work the system like others already have, including the larger companies that post their own bogus reviews via pseudofake accounts without ever going to an outside provider. If the big businesses are doing it, why can't the smaller businesses and independent authors?

The obvious answer is - it is dishonest. The disturbing realization is - you the consumer and the honest product providers are getting hosed by a system designed to be taken advantage of, even if it is "against Amazon policies". So, here's my challenge to you consumers and readers out there. Post reviews of the products you use and the books you read! isn't hard and is only a little time consuming, but by doing this you will reduce the demand for the fraudulent review providers. If you've bought and used the product on Amazon, post a review of the product and the company you purchased it from! Viva la revolution and all that jazz.

It is incredibly hard to get a review of your book (and even your product) from your trues readers/consumers. I know, I've tried. I realize I've sold many books, some even given away for free. I have one review for one of my two books. It's been a whole month. I've personally asked people buying from me IN PERSON to review the books. Nada. I have a single review from a friend who downloaded a free copy from Amazon during the free promo period. Don't get excited - I asked 15 friends. With that kind of response, you may be able to see why authors and companies resort to purchasing reviews. I've had people literally gush about how much they enjoyed my book...in person. Those same people will not write a review for it. I'm in a quandry. I know it's a good book, but I can't get reviews to save my life. It really is a head scratcher.

I would be totally jazzed if you bought The Adventures of Reztap and/or the prequel short story book Mishaps and Mayhem - A Primer for The Adventures of Reztap AND WROTE A REVIEW! However, I would be equally happy if you looked at the last things you purchased from Amazon and did your due diligence and wrote a short review of that product and/or company you purchased it from. Get out there and make Amazon reviews a truer reflection of the consumer experience! If you don't, you're going to continue to read purchased reviews and possibly experience a negative result from trusting them.

So what's it going to be America, United Kingdom, Australia and India? I hope you step in and make this baby your own! I'll let you know if I see any results on my end in about a month or so.

Keep on reviewing!

Regards,
Artemus

Launch!

The Adventures of Reztap has officially launched and shown up on the cover of the Publisher's Weekly Spring Catalog for 2015!

Along with the launch of the book is the launch of the Artemus Withers web site! A little tweaking here and there and it's looking pretty good. Want to go right to the book page? (You know you do!) If you sign up for the newsletter, you will get a free eBook for Mishaps and Mayhem, the short story primer for the Reztap universe. I should have this in eBook format shortly, so don't expect an immediate email, but definitely something in the next week.

Tucked in a bit of revision on book two as well. After everything I learned on the editing of book one, I've got a better handle on what I need to do with book two before it goes to the editor. At least it won't suffer the POV rewrite that book one did!

What else has been going on? A lot of marketing rigmarole has been passing through my keyboard! Blog tour articles and bios, setting up convention appearances (I'll be appearing on three panels at AggieCon 46), and trying to figure out which eBook listing services are worth it and which ones aren't. I'm still in a bit of a quandary on that one.

Launch day was a full day of web site updates, book notes from the publisher, social media updates, and web surfing to find marketing opportunities. I know this is probably one of the shortest blog posts I've done, but I'm working feverishly on getting things finalized and updated. Not sure how you get much writing done at this stage. Well, a long day turned into a long night. Now tomorrow is today and I get to do it all over again!

Happy writing, marketing, blogging, etc!

Regards,
Artemus

Runup to Reztap #1

What a crazy week! With the upcoming launch (March 9th) of book one in The Chronicles of Reztap series - The Adventures of Reztap, I've been busily engaged with proof reviews, web site construction, and setting up blog tours, convention appearances and book signings. It's all a lot of activity - more so with the missus taking off this weekend and leaving me to handle the daily activities of the household including care and feeding of two dogs and a grandson. While those activities have actually been a pleasure, they didn't leave much time for the other stuff I needed to accomplish!

This was actually my second proof review, but twice the length of the last one. I have realized even an editor couldn't catch everything especially with the mess the initial manuscript was in from the point of view rewrite that screwed it up in the first place. Add to that strange names, spellings and punctuation of alien names and you've got a mixed bag of trouble waiting to explode. Well, I exploded that bag on my publisher this week a mere three days before it was going to print with no less than two revision documents marked up. I've resolved to be a bit more meticulous with book two before it reaches an editor for their first pass. I'm reviewing it now with the grammar review and catching all the strange names that need to be consistent. The biggest takes I have from this exercise is to reduce the number of apostrophes in race and individual character's names. Hopefully, I caught everything in book one - I look forward to your letters/emails/comments telling me what I missed!

Web site build has been going at a frenzied pace this week. The initial splash page has been up for a few weeks, so upcoming events have been posted, but the meet of the web site is still to be revealed. I will tell you the newsletter signup works and everyone who signs up for the newsletter will get an eBook of Mishaps and Mayhem: A Reztap Primer, a short story book not available for sale. The only ways to get it are via the newsletter signup (get a free eBook) or when you visit me at a book signing or convention appearance (get a hard copy with purchase of book one). I reserve the right to give it away for other events, but it won't be for sale online or at a brick and mortar store.

I think the other web site content is humorous and entertaining - it's likely we won't take the full web site live until March 9th when you can actually purchase book one (right now the link goes nowhere since the book hasn't been published yet.)

I'm making my very first blog tour appearance at Bitten by Books on March 19th. It will be an interesting experience. There is a contest for a $50 Amazon gift card and a chance to ask whatever questions you might have of me in a semi-live format over the space of 24 hours. The length of the tour gives people in all time zones across the globe a chance to participate.

I've been hard at work setting up convention appearances over the next couple of months. Here are the planned events (subject to change depending on booking confirmations/available funds for traveling to/from said convention):

AggieCon (March 27-29, 2015 College Station, TX) - attending only - too close to try and setup anything else.
CyPhaCon (April 17-19, 2015 Lake Charles, LA) - dealer table
ComicPalooza (May 22-25, 2015 Houston) - applied to be a Guest, panel appearances
ApolloCon (June 19-21, 2015 Houston) - Artist's Alley table
ArmadilloCon (July 24-26, 2015 Austin) - dealer table
Sasquan (August 19-23, 2015 Spokane, WA) - this is the World Sci Fi con aka WorldCon. Will go if can afford it - they may allow a book signing.
DragonCon (September 4-7, 2015 Atlanta, GA) - applied to be a Guest, panel appearances with table.
TusCon (October 30 - Nov 1, 2015 Tucson, AZ) - will try to get a table and/or get on panels.

I know there are some book signings "in the works". I'll be honest, I'm not sure when they are, but I will keep everyone updated. I will be contacting Houston area Barnes and Noble stores and independent booksellers myself soon to set these up (or join a group event already planned).

With all of that done and some still to go, I'm finally at a point to engage in a little more writing! To all of my fellow authors out there, I hope your writing and marketing efforts are incredibly successful. To all you readers out there, get out to Amazon (or my web site) and buy a book on March 9th! Amazon reviews gratefully appreciated as well.

Regards,
Artemus

A New Reztap On The Horizon

Busy is the word of the year. From the short story book to book one and two, there were so many activities punched into January and February, it's a little dizzying. March - September are looking crazy too!

First things first - I did get signed by the publishing company (Chart House Press). What does that mean exactly? Here are the nuts and bolts:

1. Small publishing house means no advance. I'm actually very okay with that since my initial intention in summer 2014 was to pay for an editor. Well, I still get to do that. The extra umph in the relationship comes from the marketing connections, expertise and some other services surrounding the publishing of the book. From a financial standpoint, it's a very real investment of time and some money on my part, but there's additional investment from the publishing company in other aspects of this (some of which I'll point out later). In other words, I did NOT get a big advance and can now retire to a South Pacific island and enjoy the fruits of my labors. OK, I was never going to do that anyway, but you get the point.

2. What exactly am I responsible for in this relationship? Web site (www.artemuswithers.com) is one. I'm responsible for setting it up, running it, paying for it, etc. That also means I own it, so there will be no struggle to disengage it from some parent corporation that wants to keep it. I like that as well. Of course, that also means getting my own web designer, handling technical problems, working on content, etc. It's a bit more work than, say, an author page off the publisher's website - but it's completely under my control and I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to my image and content being out there.

Editing - I pay for editing fees, which I was already going to do. I'm very happy with the editor they selected (they have a stable of contracted editors they farm work out to). How is this a burden off my shoulders? I didn't have to search for an editor that would not just be good, but would also understand and maybe even appreciation a science fiction humor novel. That experience and connection with editing talent is huge! There was no two or three month long search for just the right editor - my publisher nailed it with their expertise and contacts. Believe me, when I got through with the editing process on the first book, I was so happy with the editor and the results.

Marketing - materials, knick knacks, swag, posters, table runners, and banners - all that stuff is on me. Again, I'm very okay with this. It's all under my control - I select what I want and how I want it. I have gotten suggestions from my publisher on what type of things I should be bringing to book signing, conventions, etc. There have been no directives on what I have to bring. I can spend as little or as much as I want on the process. In this aspect, I'm still very much in touch with the independent author feel, but not hanging out there without a safety net.

Cover art - This is actually a bit of a mixed bag. I've privately contracted my own cover artist to provide the art ( hats off to my Reztap cover artist Jerrica Law, a hard working recent college grad!). That gives me ownership of the images and ability to use them freely for my marketing materials, web site, whatever. My publisher does handle the lettering on the covers - title, author name, other info including the back cover blurb, info, etc. The in-house cover artist, Ida, does a fantastic job with not just the creation of the words on the cover, but also blending the front cover art to seamlessly flow to the back, picking out elements from the front to include on the back, etc. She's really a maestro at that. I've seen some of her other covers that involve the whole package, and she's a truly excellent cover artist in her own right. In the end, there's a lot of artistry going on for the covers, and I'm just responsible for paying for a single cover artist.

Production - The writing (and integration of editing notes). The initial writing of a book is a fun thing. I've found even the subsequent second and third drafts are fun in discovering new and better ways of getting my meaning across. As I'm a new author, my publisher (Chart House Press) wanted a small sample f my writing to send to the booksellers they have relationships with to let them know what kind of book they'd be getting if they pre-ordered book one (which isn't quite available yet). I was tasked to write a book of short stories from the Reztap universe. I found myself pressed up against my deadline with only 6,000 words done and I had to deliver 25,000. I managed to push out what I thought was okay work in about the space of a week. I literally wrote over 5,000 words one of those days. It was really impressive, in my humble opinion. But that is that heart of what I do - I'm the writer. No one else will be performing that task for me. Now I have several quality short stories to expand my readers' understanding of the universe I've created. Reviewing the marked up transcripts from the editor was actually refreshing. Instead of hunting through the pages trying to find out what I'd done wrong, a very knowledgeable editor (thank you Erika Wisdom!) painstakingly went through everything and delivered a word document highlighting all my writing sins along with some recommendations on how to repair the damage. Post editor, it's up to me to make changes, incorporate their suggestions and/or correct them as I see fit. My writing has improved tenfold from the experience.

Social media - that's pretty much on me, but the publisher does their share as well. My Twitter feed, Facebook posts and blog content right here are all my responsibility and under my control. Obviously, while I'm busy writing, the social media content gets neglected, so there's an interesting balance going on just with my media foot print.

Personal appearances - well, it's pretty obvious no one else can or should appear as me. Book signings, convention appearances and blog tours are all on me. The appearance part anyway.

3. What does the publisher bring to the table?

A lot more than you might think at first. I did mention some of what they do above (cover art layout, lettering, and selecting an appropriate editor), but there is much more on their plate. Things I really didn't think about before.

Publication - copy editor, book formatting, and all the technical details that go into registering books, listing books, and submitting books to booksellers. With my self-published books I did most of this myself, but not as well as I've seen my publisher do it.

Marketing - identifying marketing opportunities and listing on their own social media. This is all stuff I don't have to do (some of the marketing I should be doing to expand that arm, though). An add for The Adventures of Reztap will be appearing in the Spring edition of Publishers Weekly catalog - you know, that silly little thing all the booksellers look through to decide what they're going to stock on their shelves. Do you know how to get an add in there? Did you even think about the catalog before you read this? 

Events - this is really a big one that I simple don't have the expertise, or time, to setup. I'm attending a small convention here in Katy with about one hundred fellow authors called the Houston Author Bash. It's not the first one, but I'd never heard of it before. That brings to mind how many other chances to press the flesh, so to speak, I haven't been doing as a self-published author? Don't get me wrong, there are self-published authors at this event as well, but I simply had no idea about the event or how to register. All taken care of by my publisher.

That's just one of many events being setup by my publisher. There's a book launch party next week, blog tours and book signings in the upcoming months, all of which my publisher is handling for me. I just have to show up and put in my time, sell books and meet some wonderful readers. Not having to set all of this up frees me up to actually write/edit. I can't even imagine the time it would take for me to figure out what and where to appear, set it up, and pay fees where appropriate. I don't have to do any of that (although, I will be discussing some upcoming conventions that may not be on my publisher's radar and I might indeed have to setup myself).

Social media - My name is on the Chart House Press web site. When they mention their authors and what the authors are doing, what books are coming out and what events they will appear at. This also flows to their Facebook site and Twitter feed.

Reach - this is kind of all encompassing, but it's a true measure of the value of a publisher over self-publishing. They know people (booksellers, fellow writers, other industry people, readers, reviewers, etc.) that I simply don't. Through those connections, my work is spread out across a much broader spectrum than I could initially manage on my own. I don't want to knock self-publishing - there are a great many authors who are very successful at it, but just as many who aren't because they don't know how to expand that reach beyond a small circle of friends and acquaintances.

Validation - someone in the writing business read my book, evaluated it, and decided it was worthwhile to publish. They're not just publishing my book - they're putting their name on it too. I'm humbled, honored and thrilled all at the same time. I get to call myself a published author. That's a gateway not many writers get to pass through.

Mechanics and know-how - there are so many things going on behind the scenes. There are things I haven't even contemplated that are going on in pursuit of my book being a success.

4. The last two months have been a whirlwind of activity. I written a short story book (Mishaps and Mayhem), incorporated edits for book one (The Adventures of Reztap), worked with my web designer on clearing technical hurdles to get my web site up and running, and juggled social media and event planning duties (planning my attendance and all the marketing pieces that go with that). I just got done approving the proof for Mishaps and Mayhem and ordered a bunch of them to have for next week's Houston Authors Bash (please come if you can - Mishaps and Mayhem only available at in-person events, you can't order it online or buy it from a bookstore).

The next four months will be incredibly busy too. Book one comes out March 9th, 2015 (I still have to approve the proof for that). Book two (Reztap and the Quest for the Insane Moth) will come out in early May 2015. I'll have to incorporate the edits, approve the cover art, and then approve the proof of book two. I have to WRITE book three. It is convention season - there are so many conventions to attend, Book signings, blog book tours, etc. I anticipate being busy each weekend through the end of September!

So, the real crazy time begins. I will do my best to keep things updated on the blog, but visiting my web site once it's fully operational will be the best way to keep up on events and appearances.

Keep writing and reading!

Regards,

Artemus

The Future of Reztap is at Hand!

A little update on the recent happenings with The Adventures of Reztap and subsequent books:

I was looking for an actual editor (other than myself, who didn't do such a great job) to edit my first self-published novel, The Adventures of Reztap. Several people enjoyed reading it, but a few of my writer friends mentioned there were some bad editing errors. Lesson learned - don't edit your own stuff. There are multiple benefits from getting an editor, the primary ones are your work is 99% free of editing errors and the books are then eligible to be covered by large book reviewers (who will not review a book unless it has been professionally edited).

I had self-published my first book mostly to learn the ins and outs of self-publishing. I think I've learned many valuable lessons and felt ready to get book one professionally edited as well as book two (which I finished at the beginning of October). So, I contacted a person I knew thru my wife who was a freelance editor. My reason for going local was to get someone close who I could meet with if needed. I also had a good feeling knowing what this editor had done in the past, so I was pretty comfortable going with her. I thought it was good to try to hire locally as well.

I contacted the editor. She talked to me for about twenty minutes about the book before I sent it to her. Turns out, she was no longer doing freelance editing. She was now Director of Publishing at a small press here locally and their company would be interested in looking at my book and possibly publishing it. My initial thoughts on a traditional publisher were that it was a shot in the foot financially for a writer. Traditional publishers offer a 15% royalty on average for writers on book sales. She mentioned they did higher royalties and I was immediately interested. I haven't seen a contract offer yet, but it's still much better at first glance than a traditional publisher. It may be she's referring to ebook royalties and not print, but the royalties she mentioned sounded inline with the ones you get from Amazon and the ebook aggregators who publish to Apple and Barnes & Noble. I knew this since I'd already self published to both and those were the rates.

Now, they're not one of the big six traditional publishing houses, so it stands to reason they've got their eye on how to compete in today's market and offer an attractive package to savvy writers. Honestly, a 50% run on a print book is worth the investment if they're going to edit my book as well. I don't know how they would manage a 70% royalty to the writer on a printed title, though. There's more overhead with printing, even on a print on demand (POD) basis that would make that a very tight margin for a publisher, so I'm kind of guessing I won't quite be getting that. With a typical POD basis, I was looking at getting maybe 30% of the cover price. CreateSpace (a division of Amazon) gives a 37% royalty on books purchased thru Amazon (where most sales would likely come from) and a 57% royalty on print titles thru the CreateSpace estore. I'm thinking for a smaller publisher than CreateSpace, a 50-70% royalty would be a little high. Then again, maybe I'm wrong and they've really been able to bring down the actual physical costs of printing a hard copy of a book. But really, I think she meant ebook rates and not print rates. I need to see a contract to be sure, but if nothing else, something better than 15% is going to peak my interest.

The thing I'm chomping at the bit about is speed, of course. It's been a little over five weeks since I submitted book one to the publisher. I know, that sounds like a reasonable enough time to get an answer, but consider what route I would go thru with a traditional publisher. First, I would submit the book. The soonest I would get a reply from a large publishing house would be six to eight weeks, although it could reasonably take several months longer...and that's just to get what would likely be a rejection slip on what would be a 15% royalty (max) if they published. I've actually got the ear of the Director of Publishing. She doesn't mind hearing from me once a week and giving me an update on progress. I simply would not get that thru a traditional publisher - in fact, I'd probably be dependent on my agent for all correspondence and negotiations with the publisher. Well, I don't have an agent, so I'm already skipping one piece of the process with a direct line to the publisher. Of course, the biggest factor in all of this is I was just looking to pay someone to edit my book for me; getting an offer to have it published (and hopefully get some kind of advance on it), well, I can only say it sounds like something I've dreamed of since I was in high school. I think I can wait a few weeks to see how this all plays out.

In the mean time, I finished my second book in the series (also submitted that to the editor) and compiled a short list of the future books I have planned in the series also with a short synopsis of each book. One of the things that had interested her in my initial conversation was my intentions to write sequels. I think they're looking for regular writers who produce often. I'm only too happy to oblige! Of course, if they pass on publishing, I'm really not out too much except a little bit of time. I have another local contact I can hire to edit the books and still self publish if it comes to that. The bonafide credentials of being a published writer (as opposed to self published) has its advantages though, so I'm hopefully it will work out.

Have to be honest here. I've also been pursuing a copywriting business venture, but I've been rethinking the whole thing since I've really gotten back into writing. I think I may just have to let it go. It's a shame, especially since I've put quite a bit of money into it, but the more I heard from my copywriting guru, the more it sounded to me like I should be writing novels and screenplays as opposed to doing copywriting. I'm going to take that gamble and run with it for a few months and see if it gets me where I want to go. I'm only a small advance from a publisher away from convincing the family to let me give it a shot! Copywriting business is still an option, but I'm putting it on hold right now. Kind of feel this is my best opportunity to pursue a real future in writing. Best I grab it while I can.

Felling optimistic. Hope you are too.

Artemus

Intriguing

Here it is, almost two months after I've pulled the eBook from circulation, and I've received notification of an eBook sale of The Adventures of Reztap. OK, maybe that doesn't sound strange to you, but consider this - it is through Amazon where the eBook isn't even listed on my Dashboard of books! Evidently, it really is difficult to remove a publication from the internet once it's been posted there in one form or another.

For those keeping track (I think there are about five of you, maybe?), I've been writing both the sequel and revising the original. Neither of those very fast, I might add. I have other projects I'm working on as well, and all of them seem to have suffered the same fate. Just not concentrating as well as I used to on writing. Maybe it's the new grandson that is distracting me more than anything else.

So, back to concentration and focus. Would that writing were a full-time occupation for me, it would be easier to justify the number of hours required. As it is, it's still a part-time endeavor. The full-time job still occupies a vast chunk of time - 11.5 hours a day including commute if there is no overtime. Finances being what they are, there is also the part-time job which consumes an additional chunk of time on the weekends. Time left over for writing is very sparse. I have less of it now than I did this same time last year. Not a positive prospect to be sure.

However, now I have an additional array of tools at my disposal. During lunch time, I can easily access my writing documents and add a little here and a little there. That could be another 2.5 hours of writing a week. It's not the best, but it's better than a kick in the pants. Given the circumstances at home with the new grandson, it may actually behoove me to devote a couple of hours away from the house to writing rather than try to cram it in with the distractions there. I'm going to try a four-hour window every weekend and see what I can accomplish away from the home office.

Enough musings! I hope your own personal pursuits are more fruitful than mine have been of late.

Regards,
Artemus

eBook Pulled

As some of you may have realized from the publication of The Adventures of Reztap, it has been an exercise in marketing for a self-published book. I've learned many things in the last nine months. I'd like to share them below:

1. People will complain about price, no matter what it is, and changing it to something lower will not affect sales. In fact, it's more likely to impact them.

2. A professionally edited book has more avenues to be marketed. There are some book reviews sites that will not review a book unless it has been professionally edited. Anything that reduces your opportunity for exposure is bad, especially if you don't have a large marketing budget to advertise but depend on the reviews of others to get the word out about your book.

3. Many have commented that the book was not long enough. It was not even something I'd considered when I published it, but people have an expectation for a book that it be a certain length. I think my book was about 75% of the length people expected.

4. Word of mouth is hard to build. Many of the successes you've seen in the self-publishing world (those books that got picked up by a large publisher) built a large fan following before ever being published. A lead time of one to three years would go a long way to building an audience for the book ahead of it being published.

5. Many self-publishers have a dedicated web site to the book (or books) and you can buy the eBook or hard copy through a link directly on the site (not many actually sell it directly, but point to a major retailer's web site for the book).

6. Pushing the book at conventions requires a lot of pre-planning and an outlay of money for a table to hawk your wares. I don't think there's anything wrong with this, but I was definitely not prepared for the financial outlays, especially just to push a single book.

7. The act of publishing the book and eBook is actually fairly easy now with the tools available on the internet.

8. Marketing is NOT easy.

9. Actual publishers want a built-in audience for your book - it is a plus when approaching a publisher and sometimes a requirement. Catch-22 - if you already have a built-in audience, why do you need a publisher? You can get additional exposure through the publishers web site, promotion through retail outlets, and prestige that gets reviewers to look at your book and review without you even asking. Ok, maybe you still have to ask, but it's easier to get them to do it when they see it was published by a major publisher.

What does this mean for the future of The Adventures of Reztap? I've pulled the book because it does need to go to a professional editor. I thought I did a bang up job editing it, and many normal readers may only notice one or two errors, but it is riddled with errors mostly due to a rewrite from third person to first person. I missed point of view changes in many places, even after three very thorough editing reviews.

I figured if I'm going to send it to a professional editor, I might as well address additional issues with the book. Length being the primary one. I will be adding an epilogue and an appendix with information about the universe according to Reztap. Where appropriate, I may add some passages and information within the story itself, but it will remain the same overall story. I won't introduce any major plot changes or anything like that. As I'm halfway through writing the sequel, I have a better insight into areas where I may be able to expand the original story where it makes sense to.

For now, the hard copy of the first edition of The Adventures of Reztap is still available from Barnes & Noble, Amazon/Createspace, and The Book Patch. I will likely leave them there for now.

I will continue to write the sequel and the third book in the series. After making changes to the first book and completing the next two books, I will approach some major publishers to see if there's interest in publishing the books.

As a complement to the books, I will be investing in a dedicated web site to the books and intend on putting blog posts and short stories with the characters on there, as well as some book reviews of other authors. I hope I can build a decent audience over the space of a year or two and bring the world back to readers. Until then, grab a first edition hard copy if you can. I'll probably pull those after a few months as well.

Thank you for your support and attention!

Artemus Withers

P.S. Keep tuned to this blog for updates on the aforementioned web site, sequel(s) progress and other news.

Price - Not Such a Factor in Sales

It's been an interesting discovery. Perhaps it was the lack of pushing the product or maybe it just doesn't matter, but when I dropped the eBook pricing for The Adventures of Reztap to $2.99 I didn't sell a single one. Whereas, in my inital push to get the book out there, I had priced it at $4.99. I sold several at that price, but perhaps that was because of the newness of the book. I really can't say.

I do believe that my marketing leaves much to be desired. It would not appear the price of the book means one wit to whether or not someone will actually purchase it. History suggests if someone has been reached, noticed the book, was interested in that subject and willing to pay a fair price for it then there is a sale. I don't know how else to quantify the results.

I will leave the eBook at $2.99 through the holiday shopping period. After that I will raise it once again to $4.99. It will be interesting to see what the results of this post will be before and after the price is raised.

For your ease of purchasing frenzy which I'm certain will occur after this post, I'm putting the links to both the hard copy and eBook of The Adventures of Reztap below:

Kobo
Amazon (Kindle eBook & paperback)
Diesel
Sony
Barnes and Noble (Nook eBook & paperback)
Apple (iTunes)
Smashwords

Happy purchasing! Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/WinterSolstice/etc.

Artemus

Tracking the Oiled Ferret (Sales)

With all this discussion about pricing and effects on sales, a sobering thought entered my befuddled brain. These are barely real-time statistics I am referencing for my conclusions.

Amazon and Smashwords are relatively on-time with their notifications of sales and how much that will put in my account. I recently received a nice little sum of money from both of them for sales in May and June. That was the end of the second quarter.

The next payments, no matter how many I sell, won't com until the end of October. I can still track sales for those two sites, but the long-term result is still a quarterly payment.

The real challenge will be tracking the sales for the Premium Distribution channel. All those web sites report sales roughly quarterly. My fancy little price change for testing won't yield any measurable results for those channels until October. That's a very long waiting game.

Advice to the other self-publishers out there - just be ready for a long game - this is not a quick one-handed poker challenge, it's a long yacht voyage around the world.

We'll table the discussion of where the book ranks in sales for another day.
Artemus

The Paradigm Shift - eBook Pricing

I've seen many articles relating to how to price eBooks. I've had feedback on how The Adventures of Reztap eBook is priced ($4.99) where the paperback is $12.95. That is about a 62% discount - which seems to be in line with other pricing I've seen.

On the high side, there has been some discussion about $9.99 being the average price for a fiction eBook. I would venture that is also an average couple of more pages than my mdoest entry at 180 pages. Still, I don't think there are an average 360 pages to all those fiction eBooks, so the pricing still seems more than fair from that standpoint.

However, I have also seen articles and stories about pricing the eBook at $2.99. This is the minimum pricing at which the author can still get a 70% royalty on Amazon, so I think that is whre this bottom line pricing figure has emerged from. If you go below $2.99, your royalty drops to 35%. On Amazon, you can't price below $0.99. You can get free eBooks onto Amazon by offering them free elsewhere (like Smashwords) and Amazon finds out and "price matches" your eBook. But that's not a tried and true method; it's just what I've heard. If you enter the KDP Select program, that is a zero cost for your eBook for Prime members, while the author gets a piece of a $600,000 pie - really only about $2 per book checkout by the Prime member.

In the interest of testing, I'm going to drop my eBook to $2.99 on Amazon and Smashwords. This first book is all about discovering what works and what doesn't. It may take a while for the price change to filter out to the other platforms that get the digital eBook from Samashwords (Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Diesel, etc.) I will let you, my intrepid companions on this ePublishing adventure, know what the outcome of the price change is. Be warned, the price changes set may not take effect for a few days - I've already taken steps to change the prices - for instance, now the eBook is unavailable on Amazon until they review the eBook again, a process which could take up to 48 hours.

Other strategies include giving the first book in a series away free to drive sales of other books in the series. Unfortunately, the other books in my series have yet to be written/published, so it doesn't so much apply to me at this time. In a year, that will be a different story and a different blog post.

Happy Pricing!
Artemus

You can download The Adventures of Reztap from Amazon, Smashwords, iTunes (look in iBooks on iPhone or iPad), Barnes and Noble, Kobo and Diesel.

iTunes - Finally!

It is with great fanfare that I announce The Adventures of Reztap is finally available on iTunes! It was a long wait (longer than I aniticpated), but I'm happy it's finally there.

For those wondering exactly how long the wait was, here is the timeline of events for you to reference for your own eBook publishing adventures:

5/12/2012 - eBook first published to Smashwords. Immediately enrolled in Premium channel, but takes a while for approval.
5/30/2012 - Premium status approved. At this point, it is up to the distributors to pick up the electronic data to publish the eBook on their sites.
5/31/2012 - Kobo picks up the data from Smashwords.
6/2/2012 - Opted out of Amazon (Kindle & CreateSpace) since I would be publishing directly there.
6/5/2012 - Diesel picks up the data from Smashwords.
6/19/2012 - Baker & Taylor picks up the data from Smashwords.
6/21/2012 - Sony picks up the data from Smashwords.
7/13/2012 - Barnes and Noble picks up the data from Smashwords.
7/21/2012 - Apple picks up the data from Smashwords.

Every disributor listed here has a schedule for picking up data within a week of its availability on Smashwords - obviously the schedule is a very loose guideline to which they don't adhere very closely. The nice thing is it gives an approximation of when (AFTER picking up the data) you can expect to see the eBook available on the web site and they've been pretty accurate. While it took forever for iTunes to pick up the data for the eBook, it was finally available today (7/26/2012) less than the two weeks it said it might take.

So when distributing through Smashwords, you can anticipate (but not guarantee) that your work will be available with two months of enlisting in the Premium Distribution Channels.

I don't know how other aggregators work, but I look forward to hearing tales of your adventures here soon.

Happy iTuning,
Artemus

Book Two Teaser - Sort of...

I began writing the sequel to The Adventures of Reztap. The new book will be titled Reztap and the Quest for the Insane Moth. If you've read the first book, the title makes sense. If you haven't, well it sure is a curiosity isn't it?

Onto the teaser as promised! I completed the outline for Reztap and the Quest for the Insane Moth a couple weeks ago. The outline has been marinating and cooking in my brain while I've been engaged in other pursuits that have nothing to do with writing. On a business trip this week, I finally delved into the world of Tar and Gorth again and completed chapter one and am just starting the writing of chapter two. What I have completed (via the outline) are the chapter headings for the book - some of these were quite interesting in the first book, and I tried to keep them that way for the second. So, you're only real preview of the book before I finish writing it and go through the edit process is presented below.

Chapter 1 – How’d that get there?

Chapter 2 – Moth Bawls

Chapter 3 – Why Rimtikians are so Pissy

Chapter 4 – Witless Protection

Chapter 5 – Hell Hath No Fury

Chapter 6 – The Unattainable Bargain

Chapter 7 – Between a Scarf and a Hard Place

Chapter 8 – Dilo the Traitor

Chapter 9 – No Place Like Home

Chapter 10 – Past Tense

Chapter 11 – That Rock is Hard to Swallow

Chapter 12 – Gorth Takes a Vacation

Chapter 13 – Nothing as Profitable as War

Chapter 14 – Mental Fatigue

Chapter 15 – Magnetic Personalities

Chapter 16 – Scarfing down the next Mission

Of course, only part of this makes any sense if you've read the first book and probably makes no sense whatsoever if you haven't. So get out there and read book one! Book two is on the way, I promise!

Slaving away in a digital graphite mine,

Artemus

Successes & Delays

First I'll start with Smashwords (http://www.smashwords.com/) - the eBook starting place for my adventure. The inital eBook publishing process was relatively painless. Sure there were some growing pains with formatting and what not, but it was not too bad. Someone with my persnicketiness was boudn to work just fine with fine attention to detail.

The path to many online retailers can only be found through an eBook "aggregator" like Smashwords. You do this by listing your eBook through the Premium Distribution Channel for sites like Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Sony, Kobo, and Diesel. Most of these have gone pretty smoothly, but not all. There have been delays based mostly on the way those sites do business. I put The Adventures of Reztap online through the channel on May 12, 2012. Here is where they stand at the various retailers:

Sony (shipped on June 21st) - should appear two weeks after it is shipped. Why it took five weeks to ship, I don't know. Says it ships every Thursday or Friday.

Barnes & Noble (hasn't shipped yet) - Should appear within a few days of shipment. Says it ships every Thursday or Friday.

Kobo (shipped May 31st - on the site now!) - Should appear within a few days of shipment. Says it ships daily.

Amazon (opted out - it has been put directly on KDP)

Apple (shipped June 26th) - Ships multiple times per day. Manual review will take take weeks or longer before listing on iTunes.

Diesel (shipped June 5th - on the site now!) - Says it ships every Thursday or Friday.

Page Foundry (shipped June 13th) - not sure how to get to this. It's a relatively new add-on to the Premium service.

Baker-Taylor (shipped June 19th) - Says it ships every Thursday or Friday. This is where libraries order from. Not sure exactly how that works.

On Amazon (kdp.amazon.com), I uploaded everything (having to reformat both the book and cover), but it was authorized, cleared and listed within 48 hours.

So directly to Smashwords and Amazon, the process was fairly quick. The slow churn through the distribution channels is frighteningly turtlish. I've been marketing a book people can't get to yet on iTunes (they've asked) or Barnes & Noble's Nook for over a month. That's two of the three premium eBook platforms out there.

Lesson learned - don't believe everything you read about how fast an aggregator will get your book on the other web sites. I think theere was some delay on Smashwords part this time, but I've heard delay horror stories after the bbok has shipped, especially to Apple. that's a bit of a bummer, but this is all about the learning process, right?

Keep writing, mi amigos!

Regards.
Artemus

What Works To Sell Books? (June 2012 Sales)

Jumping the gun a little bit on June Sales of The Adventures of Reztap, I have gotten a nice bump the last week. Total book (and eBook) sales for June is 17 so far (I don't imagine it will get much higher before the end of the month). Here's a breakdown of how the sales have gone:


6 paperbacks by hand (ordered from Amazon by me - not included in Amazon's sales figures)
5 paperbacks from Amazon
1 eBook for the Kindle (via Amazon's Kindle Digital Publishing)
5 eBooks on Smashwords

Obviously with 17 sales I'm not exactly rolling in the dough. Just the same. it's a nice start and some fellow writers have inquired as to what I've done to get those sales. As I'm doing my best to be transparent with this process for other authors to learn from, here are some details including monetary figures.

Business cards: In late May, I ordered 250 business cards with the book cover on one side and two web sites and a coupon code on the other about where to order the book from. These were originally ordered to be hand out at Comicpalooza here in Houston, but through part of the learning process, I realized I hadn't ordered far enough ahead and the cards arrived several days after the convention ended. I did hand out a small spattering of homemade marketing materials, but they were done at the last minute and hardly had the look of any professionalism to them; I also left out pertinent information like the name of the book. Ahh well.The business cards have been distributed to friends, family and a few comic book and trading card retailers in the Houston area. Have they been a success? Well, no one has used the coupon code on the back of the card, so I can't really tell - someone may have ordered a paperback or the eBook directly from Amazon using the information, but the coupon code is not valid for those sites.

Conventions: The Comicpalooza convention was fun, but without the proper marketing materials in hand, I miserably failed to take advantage of the opportunity. It was a great learning experience and I'm looking into doing a book signing at the ArmadilloCon coming up at the end of July. Of course, I need to contact those folks - I may already be too late to get my name on the program. I will learn about how long a lead time I need for it for next year, when I hope to have two or more books available. Again, this year is a learning experience.

Book Giveaways: I did a book giveaway on Good Reads web site (www.goodreads.com). Four books just shipped today to the winners. DId it result in an increase in sales? Really too early to tell. Honestly, that has been the most difficult part of the process -seeing what tactic works and what doesn't. I have to believe it's been positive for word of mouth, though - over 500 people signed up for the giveaway, none of whom had heard of the book before the giveaway. That is exposure to new potential readers and that's always a good thing. I've gotten one person on the Good Reads web site to rate the book already and 60+ people added the title to their "To Read" list. I'm also writing a blog on the site to invite readers to discuss the book and answer any book or self-publishing questions they might have. This is a potentially huge platform to reach readers and interact with them, build a following for the book and, more importantly, get my name out there.

Hand Sales: OK, this may be a fluke in the numbers. I attended a 50th wedding anniversary for my in-laws and sold all six books to family - two people only and they bought extra copies to distribute to local libraries they support as well. Fluke or not, book sales are book sales. The family members who did buy them from me chided me for not letting the larger gathering a day before know I had books on hand to sell and only handed out cards for where they could order it. Don't discount the value of a family - they can be great advocates for your book, telling their friends about it and generally disseminating your book out there with their friends and you could get a snowball effect. It's especially good if the book is good, which I've had primarily positive reviews about.

Social Networks: While I've had some success driving people on Facebook and possibly Twitter to this blog, I'm not of the opinion that it has generated any sales. However, getting people to this blog and possibly growing a blog readership are good things. There is always the potential that people will read this blog, find value in it, and be genuinely curious about the book too. A future reader is still a reader and I welcome them all! I have been a little concerned that my "pushing" of the book via social networks is viewed as annoying by many people. I'm really not sure how effective it is - it could potentially be turning people off, but then would they have been readers anyway? Hard to say. I'm trying not to use the platforms as sales pitch only. I know I wouldn't like to see nothing but sales pitches on them!

Other Marketing: Is this al the marketing there is? No, I'm about to embark on pursuing book reviews (and possible book giveaways) with several blogging sites through Bloggerdise; this is a blogging source site for bloggers looking for things to review, people to interview and things to giveaway. It's both rewarding for their followers and for me, getting my name and book out there in front of more readers.

I think the conventions will be a nice platform to show of my wares as well, but I don't ever want to be in the position where I need to make money off the convention to make it worth my while. I will only attend conventions I'm truly interesting in participating in from an attendee standpoint. Will there be future conventions that invite me? I hope so and I'll be glad to attend them as long as I have some kind of forum to expose my book to - perhaps do a reading and/or book signing, be on a convention panel, and maybe even be a guest of the convention. Big dreams, I know. I don't expect anything like that too soon. That really will be a future course.

Book signings at book stores is a possible future path as well. I'm aware of this, but haven't really researched how to do it. This is still a part-time endeavor for me, so I'm under no illusions that I'll hit every marketing opportunity.

Press releases are another avenue I haven't pursued. I'm really just not sure how to do this and is it worth my time to pursue it? I may just not find time to attack this.

The Future is Bright: I have put a lot of time into the writing for the first book and I'm under a tighter deadline to produce the second book. I've only just started writing it. I am committed to this being a future career path if it will produce just enough for me to live on. I'm not at the point where I'm willing to swap jobs yet. I still need my normal job to pay the bills and, as they say, support my writing habit.

The Numbers: Enough jabbering - what have I spent so far and how much have I made? The costs are greatly outweighing the returns, but the future returns could easily turn that around. Here are the numbers so far (with the total 17 sales in the plus column):

Business cards: $54.11
Publishing costs (ISBN purchase - $50, proof purchase for The Book Patch - $9.51 including S/H): $59.51
Shipping costs for book giveaway: $32.40
Purchase of books for hand sales: $71.20
Convention attendance and parking: about $50

Total costs: $267.22

Hand sales: $80
Amazon eBook sales: $3.49
Amazon paperback sales: $24.30
The Book Patch paperback sales: $9.61
Smashwords eBook sales: $18.50

Total Sales: $135.90

Analysis: There are a lot of costs that won't repeat here (like ISBN purchases) and there are also things that will reoccur depending on what I'm doing (convention attendance), but most of this is startup marketing costs. I don't know if next months sales will be outstanding, but I will probably need to get more paperbacks on hand for the convention - especially since I'm pretty sure none of the booksellers there will have any in their inventory. I didn't expect to break even the first month, so I'm not concerned about these figures. Heck, they're more optimistic than I thought they'd be. If there are sustained sales by additional cost-free marketing and word of mouth, I will be showing a profit for my efforts within a few months. However, it will have to hit viral hit proportions for me to consider it a new career. We're not there yet...but we could be within a few years!

Regards,
Artemus

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Having a book giveaway today (6/15/12) thru Wednesday (6/20/12) - enter the giveaway at the Goodreads web site (http://www.goodreads.com/) - here is a widget to enter that contest that hopefully works!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Adventures of Reztap

by Artemus Withers

Giveaway ends June 20, 2012.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Book Patch Paperback in hand!

My first look at the paperback edition from Thee Book Patch is imy hands. It is a quality book, so i don't mind recommending it to anyone interested in getting it.

Now that I have it in hand, I will be making a few revisions - I would recommend holding off on ordering until next week. I like to have a little more white space on the page given the size of the book, so I will be editing the margins a bit. The cover looks great and the words on white paper inside are easy to read. I already have a few cosmetic corrections I was holding off on making until I saw the book in my hand. Now that I have, I will make the changes and this will be completely ready to go.

How are sales so far? Not counting any purchases I have made to get copies in my hand, here is the breakdown so far:

The Book Patch: 1 copy (to a reader in Dallas, TX)
Smashwords: 4 eBook copies (that is all eBook outlets except Amazon)
Amazon: None so far as I can tell.

It sounds kind of weak, doesn't it? But really, I'm not shy about this - I'm still trying to see what works in book marketing and what doesn't. Why not share that information with you, my loyal blog readers? So there it is. Hopefully, some of the seeds of marketing I've sown so far will take root and flower, but there is so much more in the future out there to try. I'm not at all demoralized by the numbers. Honestly, they're better than I thought they would be at this point - no press release, book review, or inclusion on any readling list. those are my next targets. Business card handouts haven't really resulted in any sales - or at least, no one is using the code for the discount on the Smashwords web site. Everything else so far has been posts on Twitter and Facebook, which is really a random advertisement adn not targeted at any specific audience of people who I think would want to read the book. Not surprised it hasn't had much impact on sales.

There's a lot more to come - stay posted for the next marketing steps so I can share a little about the successes and no-so-successes on that front.

Regards,
Artemus

Amazon Exclusive - July thru September 2012

I will be taking advantage of the Kindle Lending Library in July 2012 thru September 2012. The agreement means exclusive digital rights for that period to Amazon for eBook distribution of The Adventures of Reztap.

So what does that me to you, my incredibly large and attentive audience? It means for those three months, you will only be able to view or buy the eBook version of the book through Amazon. It does not affect the print version, so you can still by that from either Amazon or The Book Patch.

It will temporarily prevent the eBook from being distributed to any other outlet. I will be accomplishing this by "unpublishing" the book from the Smashwords site which will effectively remove it from distribution on all other web sites.

You may be asking yourself why I'm doing this. Well, I want to see what it will mean to me financially to have the eBook available in the Lending Library for that exclusive period. How much of a share of the money allocated to that venture will I receive in that amount of time? Will it be advantageous to me or will it be a drag on sales? Will people be coming to purchase the eBook from Smashwords/iTunes/Nook/Kobo/Diesel only to find it missing?

This is all an experiment for me to find ut what distribution methods are best. I need to know if having it in the Lending Library is a plus or minus so I can determine if I want to do that with future books. Will it increase4 the exposure of the title to the world out there, or will it be an obtrusive restriction? I can't know until I try it. This experiment will influence the template of future releases. Will the second eBook in the series debut to only the Amazon Lending Library? It all depends on how much of a following it gets due to the Lending Library. It may be a complete and total non-starter. I just have to try it and find out.

If you are NOT a Kindle owner, then I would suggest getting the eBook from the other web sites without delay - at the end of June it will be gone for three months. Here again are the sites that feature the eBook for sale:

Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/The-Adventures-Reztap-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B008A80EZU/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339342602&sr=1-2&keywords=Reztap

Smashwords (multiple version of the eBook like PDF, HTML, RTF, text and more): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/161674

Kobo eReader: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Adventures-of-Reztap/book-Bl_-PAnCY0WzqlZXrblDbg/page1.html?s=-szyCdU67EKdKJPgbbXw1Q&r=1

Diesel eBooks: http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/item/SW00000161674/Withers-Artemus-The-Adventures-of-Reztap/1.html

Still pending shipping/review/approval: iTunes (for the iPhone and iPad), Barnes & Noble (for the Nook)


Of course, you can always get the paperback print version at:


Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Adventures-Reztap-Chronicles-Volume/dp/1477589228/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339342602&sr=1-1&keywords=Reztap


The Book Patch: http://www.thebookpatch.com/BookStoreResults.aspx?search=Reztap&ddl=any (Note: needs a slight adjustment to the print version for formatting issues - that is planned this week.)


I look forward to any comments and thoughts you might have on this direction.


Regards,
Artemus

Amazon Update!

Amazon has published both the paperback and Kindle versions of The Adventures of Reztap now. You can search Amazon's web site for Reztap now and see a link to both versions! How about a quick recap of where you can get the book now?

Amazon paperback: http://www.amazon.com/The-Adventures-Reztap-Chronicles-Volume/dp/1477589228/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339342602&sr=1-1&keywords=Reztap

Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/The-Adventures-Reztap-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B008A80EZU/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339342602&sr=1-2&keywords=Reztap

Print version at The Book Patch: http://www.thebookpatch.com/BookStoreResults.aspx?search=Reztap&ddl=any (Note: needs a slight adjustment to the print version for formatting issues - that is planned this week.)

Smashwords (multiple version of the eBook like PDF, HTML, RTF, text and more): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/161674

Kobo eReader: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Adventures-of-Reztap/book-Bl_-PAnCY0WzqlZXrblDbg/page1.html?s=-szyCdU67EKdKJPgbbXw1Q&r=1

Diesel eBooks: http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/item/SW00000161674/Withers-Artemus-The-Adventures-of-Reztap/1.html

Still pending shipping/review/approval: iTunes (for the iPhone and iPad), Barnes & Noble (for the Nook)

The good news - I don't have any other places to put the books/eBooks, so I've completed my distribution part of the journey (OK, still have a small correction to make to The Book Patch print version). Marketing is another matter. I will be exploring the different channels of marketing and publicity to find out which is most effective.

The bad news - Well, not really bad, but still - I need to continue the marketing/publicity, and work on the next book. Sure, it sounds easy when I put it like that. Writing is definitely enjoyable for me. The editing, not so much. Marketing and publicity are unknowns - I might enjoy it more next time around when I've discovered what works so I'm not wasting time & money on avenues that don't.

More to do!

Regards,
Artemus

Proof is in the Pudding

I received my proof today from Amazon (CreateSpace) and I am glad I looked through it. Mind you, there weren't glaring grammatical errors or anything. Well, I don't think there were - after the editing marathon I went through earlier, I just don't have the stomach to go through a real editing session again.

I did find separators being right justified that should be centered. I also found several last sentences in chapters with just a few words strung across the page to fully justify; the addition of a carriage return before the section break took care of those. I even adjusted a word at the end that had a font two sizes too big. I realized as I went through all this that I was not just being a perfectionist, but I was bringing the book to a state where the reader would not be drawn out of the story by a glaring visual disturbance. Much in the same way as a grammatical edit keeps the viewer from getting jarred from the story because of a misspelled word or a funky sentence structure, so too this step in the process was an effort by the author to engage and treat the reader to something wonderful.

The proofing process is more about making things not be there than the writing process is about putting things in. I hope I've taken away enough and left just the right amount in. Here's to interior literary design!

Regards,
Artemus

Amazon Delay

Through no fault of Amazon's, there will be a delay in the print version of The Adventures of Reztap there. I received the PDF proof of the book and noticed at least one error. Unfortunately, I'm unable to complete te corrections until this weekend.

Didn't want anyone getting promised something they could not get yet. Bear with me as I work through this process and make sure the launch of the print version is right. Your alternative is to get the book from The Book Patch, where it is currently available in a print version. The error I saw is in this version.

Even though it's just cosmetic, it reminds me there is never a perfect creation out there. It won't affect the story one bit. Perhaps in the end, it should be left alone as a reminder that life isn't perfect, but even with it's imperfections it is worthwhile and enjoyable. Wouldn't it be great if more people thought that?

Regards,
Artemus