I’ve been busy this month, writing my fourth volume of Montana history, something you’re probably not that interested in, so I won’t waste a lot of your time talking about it.
What do I want to waste your time with? Well, I’m not real sure…not a whole lot actually.
I’m pretty mellow, but I will tell you a few things that are bothering me.
What do I want to waste your time with? Well, I’m not real sure…not a whole lot actually.
I’m pretty mellow, but I will tell you a few things that are bothering me.
eBook Covers
One is eBook covers. I don’t have the best in the world, but people sure come to this site looking for them.
That Top 10 eBook Cover Design Sites article I’ve got from last October really pulls ‘em in. Unfortunately it doesn’t really equate sales for the book I wrote about that particular subject.
I’m fine with that…I’ve accepted it if you will – just another book that won’t sell that much (trust me, I have worse).
One thing that I do find, oh…rather amusing, if you will…is that eBook cover designers come to that article and leave a comment thinking that they’ll get some advice from me.
Now, I think we both know that they’re coming here to get a linkback to their own site from the SEO power of that article. I don’t really care that much and if you look at the comments you can see I’ve said as much and that these comments have been showing up for some time.
It’s that, well…take a look at my eBook covers…do I know a lot? Some are pretty shitty, as you can see from this great article on my book The Hirelings on this site called Lousy Book Covers.
So that’s just why I don’t understand comments asking me to judge book covers…I’m not that good at it and I’ll admit it. You’ll see what I’m talking about in a week or so when I put out my next short novel, Lightning. The cover isn’t that good, and I think the main reason is that I’m a cheap bastard.
Yep, I don’t spend hardly nothing on my eBook covers, and it shows. That cover for The Hirelings? I think I spent $30 on the image and another $10 to $15 getting a better layout and font setup than I’d originally gotten. Some authors might lose that out of their pocket on their morning commute and not even notice.
I don’t have much else to say on that. So what else is bothering me? Well, let me think a minute.
That Top 10 eBook Cover Design Sites article I’ve got from last October really pulls ‘em in. Unfortunately it doesn’t really equate sales for the book I wrote about that particular subject.
I’m fine with that…I’ve accepted it if you will – just another book that won’t sell that much (trust me, I have worse).
One thing that I do find, oh…rather amusing, if you will…is that eBook cover designers come to that article and leave a comment thinking that they’ll get some advice from me.
Now, I think we both know that they’re coming here to get a linkback to their own site from the SEO power of that article. I don’t really care that much and if you look at the comments you can see I’ve said as much and that these comments have been showing up for some time.
It’s that, well…take a look at my eBook covers…do I know a lot? Some are pretty shitty, as you can see from this great article on my book The Hirelings on this site called Lousy Book Covers.
So that’s just why I don’t understand comments asking me to judge book covers…I’m not that good at it and I’ll admit it. You’ll see what I’m talking about in a week or so when I put out my next short novel, Lightning. The cover isn’t that good, and I think the main reason is that I’m a cheap bastard.
Yep, I don’t spend hardly nothing on my eBook covers, and it shows. That cover for The Hirelings? I think I spent $30 on the image and another $10 to $15 getting a better layout and font setup than I’d originally gotten. Some authors might lose that out of their pocket on their morning commute and not even notice.
I don’t have much else to say on that. So what else is bothering me? Well, let me think a minute.
Selling Books
Alright, authors that think they’re going to sell books, but they’re not.
Maybe that’s what that whole Lousy Book Covers site is all about, but when I’m going through my Google+ groups looking for interesting stuff I’ll often see authors that…well, they were where I was when I didn’t know anything (and that was long before The Hirelings).
That gets us to something else, and something I think many authors have a problem with, and that’s knowing what not to do but doing it anyways, perhaps with the belief that they’ll get away with it.
I dunno. Deep thoughts tonight when I should be sending my bi-monthly email to my growing email list. I actually didn’t get a whole helluva lot of subscribers based on my free Google+ book for authors and bloggers, but I think that’s kind of a good thing. Anyone with an email list might know why.
Maybe that’s what that whole Lousy Book Covers site is all about, but when I’m going through my Google+ groups looking for interesting stuff I’ll often see authors that…well, they were where I was when I didn’t know anything (and that was long before The Hirelings).
That gets us to something else, and something I think many authors have a problem with, and that’s knowing what not to do but doing it anyways, perhaps with the belief that they’ll get away with it.
I dunno. Deep thoughts tonight when I should be sending my bi-monthly email to my growing email list. I actually didn’t get a whole helluva lot of subscribers based on my free Google+ book for authors and bloggers, but I think that’s kind of a good thing. Anyone with an email list might know why.
BookBub, the Forgotten
Anyways, what else is there on this Friday night. Hmm, let’s see…alright, how about BookBub.
I ran into this interesting article on the Passive Voice today about BookBub+, or using your BookBub add to catapult to an even higher level than the…higher level.
Hey, I’m not really sure what’s going on – I’ve been rejected by BookBub 17 times.
Now, truth be told, about 4 to 5 of those rejections were through my own incompetence. It could be argued that all 17 rejections were through my own incompetence, but I know those ones in particular didn’t meet the length requirements.
So let’s just be conservative and say I’ve had 12 BookBub rejections. I know how to get over a BookBub rejection, and honestly, I’ve become numb to them. Maybe it helps to not submit book requests much, but I do feel I’ve reached a higher level of eBook marketing consciousness, one that allows me to snub my nose at marketing, or at least at the rejection emails I pile up.
I don’t do a helluva lot of marketing. Maybe $50 a month. Alright, I do some Goodreads giveaways, but those aren’t that costly…my last was about $25. But I still get sales each month. Last month I got 90 and the month before that 72.
Now, those numbers might be laughable to some of you – the morning subway commuter-types – and for others those numbers might be something you salivate over while looking at late-night spreadsheets, you know, the ones you only look at after the wife’s gone to bed.
For me it’s just the result of a lot of nothing, or pretty much close to it. I suppose you could say putting a book or more out each month is something, but for many eBook marketing professionals that doesn’t really count.
That’s fine, like I said, I’ve reached that higher level of eBook consciousness that says ‘I don’t give a damn what you’re doing or what other authors say or even what a lot of readers think…I’m getting up each day and doing stuff.’
I think many of you are saying the same thing, and perhaps your stuff is better than mine or worse or sells more or gets worse reviews or has more likes or shows off an expensive cover. That’s fine.
Well, what else is there tonight. I’m in a pretty mellow mood, in case I haven’t mentioned that, which I did, but I don’t really edit these posts too much.
I ran into this interesting article on the Passive Voice today about BookBub+, or using your BookBub add to catapult to an even higher level than the…higher level.
Hey, I’m not really sure what’s going on – I’ve been rejected by BookBub 17 times.
Now, truth be told, about 4 to 5 of those rejections were through my own incompetence. It could be argued that all 17 rejections were through my own incompetence, but I know those ones in particular didn’t meet the length requirements.
So let’s just be conservative and say I’ve had 12 BookBub rejections. I know how to get over a BookBub rejection, and honestly, I’ve become numb to them. Maybe it helps to not submit book requests much, but I do feel I’ve reached a higher level of eBook marketing consciousness, one that allows me to snub my nose at marketing, or at least at the rejection emails I pile up.
I don’t do a helluva lot of marketing. Maybe $50 a month. Alright, I do some Goodreads giveaways, but those aren’t that costly…my last was about $25. But I still get sales each month. Last month I got 90 and the month before that 72.
Now, those numbers might be laughable to some of you – the morning subway commuter-types – and for others those numbers might be something you salivate over while looking at late-night spreadsheets, you know, the ones you only look at after the wife’s gone to bed.
For me it’s just the result of a lot of nothing, or pretty much close to it. I suppose you could say putting a book or more out each month is something, but for many eBook marketing professionals that doesn’t really count.
That’s fine, like I said, I’ve reached that higher level of eBook consciousness that says ‘I don’t give a damn what you’re doing or what other authors say or even what a lot of readers think…I’m getting up each day and doing stuff.’
I think many of you are saying the same thing, and perhaps your stuff is better than mine or worse or sells more or gets worse reviews or has more likes or shows off an expensive cover. That’s fine.
Well, what else is there tonight. I’m in a pretty mellow mood, in case I haven’t mentioned that, which I did, but I don’t really edit these posts too much.
Writing Fast
Alright, there’s another thing…stream of consciousness typing and writing quickly.
People email me and ask how I can write more than 100,000 words each month every month all year and last year and…shit, how’s it done?
Well, you’ve got to get into that stream of consciousness writing where you’re writing the words as they come to you in your head. That’s why I have longer sentences.
I can do this because I do this everyday. Getting paid to do it helps, but I did it before then, and that’s how I got good at it. I’ve noticed in the past few months I’ve gotten a lot better.
I don’t let red show on the screen. I fix mistakes as they happen. I…ah hell, I don’t know what I do. You start to use other areas of your brain and you’re not writing you’re seeing. You see what you write as it happens and it goes on the screen. Your hands start to hurt.
I was writing the first part of Lightning and my right hand started to hurt something fierce. I did 2,300 words in one sitting and that was about what you read in that post in Free Fiction Friday, not a whole lot different from what I pounded out stream-of-consciousness. That post’s been clicked-on 218 times this month, making it one of my most popular short fiction exercises yet.
That’s what they are, exercises. This was one, coming in at 1226 words and taking 29 minutes to write in one go, was one example.
Thanks for reading, and check out when I ran with the bulls in Spain just for the hell of it.
People email me and ask how I can write more than 100,000 words each month every month all year and last year and…shit, how’s it done?
Well, you’ve got to get into that stream of consciousness writing where you’re writing the words as they come to you in your head. That’s why I have longer sentences.
I can do this because I do this everyday. Getting paid to do it helps, but I did it before then, and that’s how I got good at it. I’ve noticed in the past few months I’ve gotten a lot better.
I don’t let red show on the screen. I fix mistakes as they happen. I…ah hell, I don’t know what I do. You start to use other areas of your brain and you’re not writing you’re seeing. You see what you write as it happens and it goes on the screen. Your hands start to hurt.
I was writing the first part of Lightning and my right hand started to hurt something fierce. I did 2,300 words in one sitting and that was about what you read in that post in Free Fiction Friday, not a whole lot different from what I pounded out stream-of-consciousness. That post’s been clicked-on 218 times this month, making it one of my most popular short fiction exercises yet.
That’s what they are, exercises. This was one, coming in at 1226 words and taking 29 minutes to write in one go, was one example.
Thanks for reading, and check out when I ran with the bulls in Spain just for the hell of it.
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