September 4, 2013
Today is another one of those days. Feeling sore all over this morning, but working to motivate myself for the next step, I accidentally stumbled on some newer Amazon reviews of my book. That was a mistake. I swore I would never get angry on this blog because I don’t want come across as petulant or self-absorbed as so many of those writer’s who have those “woe is me” posts on their blog. Sorry to do this to you, but I need to vent, if for no other reason than to show that behind every book is a human.
When I see phrases emerging in comments like “gets a little lost in”, “is let down by”, “started to get weaker”, “some tedious parts”, “predictable”, “wasn’t that original”, “hilarious” (-I didn’t even intend it as comedy-), then I wonder if I should be writing at all. I also wonder if some commenters even read most of the book, especially when you look back through their comments on other books and see cutting and pasting of their own comments to other promotional ebooks. It’s almost as if they are on a crusade. Hey Amazon, there’s a useful purpose for those reading analytics you’re collecting! Never mind verified purchase – let’s see which kindle commenters actually read the whole book.
The real damage is that the blows of those couched phrases aren’t really offset by the other, positive, more effusive comments. The reason? Because potential readers are suspicious of vague, positive reviews on Amazon, but will give more credence to negative reviewers when deciding whether to purchase or not. If the negatives outweigh the positives – that’s it – game’s over.
The one that really got me today was one that obviously came from a free KDP Select download a while ago. It makes me re-consider the wisdom of using KDP Select at all. “Good for a free download” was the summation. And so, years of planning and working, produces something whose value is – nothing. Free. That’s where the world is today folks. If it’s free … it’s “good” … because you didn’t have to pay for the bits that you would have written differently (by the way, where exactly is the book you’ve written?) No wonder aspiring indie writers’ endeavours are becoming shorter, cheaper, weaker, tedious & predictable. In a world of free, does it really pay to try anymore? Don’t bother aspiring writers – save yourselves now!
Today, I no longer want to be part of this fiasco of a world … again.
Tomorrow, I hope to feel different.
I’m going to do some programming for a while instead.
PS. One thing I notice is that the majority of negative commentators spring from UK or Europe. In the US commentators seem to be more praise-giving and enthusiastic. I guess regional psychology might influence people’s disposition toward positive or negative commenting, for what it’s worth.
Entry Filed under: Writing
September 2, 2013
This morning, as Seamus Heaney is laid to rest, I’d like to pay my humble tribute to him. We know of the deserved reputation of the man for his Nobel award winning poetry, but that doesn’t do him full service. I met him at social engagements a couple of times subsequently and what struck me was the genuine warmth he would display to you. He always had time for people. That broad smile of his was shared with everyone, even those he didn’t know yet. A kind and gentle man. His words to me have gathered a new impetus today.
Rest in peace Seamus.
Entry Filed under: Writing
August 10, 2013
Acting is a lifestyle similar to writing in many ways, not least in fickleness.
The New Doctor, Peter Capaldi, echoes something I have come to learn about writing.
“What I’ve learnt being an actor is that you’ve got to be lucky.”
But his tale also bears out the more often quoted adage – that persistence & patience are required to “make it”.
Doctor Who Peter Capaldi had no work or money eight years ago – now he has his dream job.
I am both delighted and inspired.
Entry Filed under: Observation & Musing
July 3, 2013
So several years ago I set out to write a book, in part just to see what it was like to complete one. Then I continued to discover what it was like to try and get it published. The final leg of that journey was to see what it was like to self-publish. I’ve learned a lot. Now one journey ends and I find myself considering where – or whether – next.
Along the way I received a lot of helpful advice and opinions of those in the publishing industry, and others who aspire to be*. Advice is always welcome but remember – it is up to you whether to take it or not. I find that most advice is based on the experience, bias, and aspirations of those who give. Whenever deciding on advice you have received always ask yourself: where does the advice come from? Most advice is well-meaning, but it is coloured by the giver’s worldview. It’s human nature.
I read one refreshing exception lately, with some level-headed and unbiased advice, as given by Tobias Buckell here. In short, he says most of the success stories in writing (and the consequent advice on how to succeed) are driven by the tiny percentage of writers that do succeed, that make it to the top, and therefore have the social exposure to get those gems of advice splashed far and wide, listened to, and believed. There are far, far, far more writers who have had little or no success trying to follow the same path.
The main axiom from these denizens of publishing success is that you must keep trying, that only through utmost faith in yourself, your determination, and your abilities will you succeed. Try hard enough, for long enough, without falter and you will succeed. You will achieve greatness. It makes for great copy. However, there is also a flip-side to that argument that doing the same thing over and over again, hoping for a different result is the definition of madness. Do I really want to spend my remaining years churning out novel after novel in that hope that one will “be the one”?
Well, to answer that one for myself, let me add some advice of my own, garnered from my own actual experience. It is advice I have not seen posted anywhere else.
Firstly, what few will tell you, is that you can do everything that seems right to try and get published, follow all the how-to guides of writing and submitting and PR, putting in all the hard work, and still you could just have no luck. That’s right – luck. There are no “rules” on how to rig that particular game that pervades all of life. Many successful writers may just have had the right story at the right time to the right agent. Or perhaps they just had the right contacts in life that gave them the advantage of skipping the queue. It’s not sour grapes on my part, honestly. It is truth. I once had the right book to the right agent … at precisely the wrong time. And there’s nothing I could have done about that. It was just bad luck. That is life.
So try again – maybe I will be more lucky next time. There’s the rub. It would take another 6 to 12 months to create a new novel. That would be another year of my life given over to this flippant quest. Is it worth it? No. Because another thing I learned along the way is that a first novel would probably earn an eye-wateringly small amount of money. It would take another couple of novels after that to approach minimum wage, and even that isn’t guaranteed because the publishing industry is so awash with competition and the ubiquitous commoditising race-to-the-bottom price mentality that is slowly destroying every creative industry in the world that I can’t see myself jumping on-board.
My writing began as a hobby. To continue to enjoy it, I will keep it a hobby. If some serendipitous luck strikes me because of something I write, great! But I won’t spend the rest of my life standing in a field holding a lightning rod.
I have learned that there is a deeper aspect to my writing, that just doesn’t fit well with commercial fiction, so I’ve started a different blog solely to address that part of me – the most rewarding part. In time, it might make a good eBook itself.
I learned that I am better at dialogue than prose and that my writing is very visual. Those facts combine to confirm something I have always suspected – that I would be a better screenwriter than novelist anyway. I’m writing a screenplay and enjoying it immensely.
One day I might put down the first words of one of the other books sitting in my head – the next installment of the Geniform legacy, or the prescient cybercrime novel Zero Day, or the as yet untitled YA book about the alternative dimension. So many ideas in just one head; and so little time gifted to it.
So I’ve started on a new journey. For now, writing a script is refreshingly quick, and burns up less time to get to the next roll of the dice. When it’s done, I’ll sent it around to a few places. I might be lucky; I might not. It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m just writing out of pure enjoyment and curiosity … you know … just to see what it’s like.
(*) I am sad to see the Litopia Writers’ Colony is now defunct. It was a unique and very helpful resource for budding authors.
Entry Filed under: Publishing Industry
April 27, 2012
It’s been a while.
The last few months have seen a resurgence of my back pain, as bad as it first was. To cut a long story short, I’ve opted for surgery this time, and I go under the knife next week. Spine surgery is never something to be undertaken lightly, but everyone’s case is different and unique.
To books. Being laid-up gave me the opportunity to catch up on some things. One of those things was to advance the promotion of Broken Evolution, to cross those last things off the indie-author’s to-do list.
Firstly, I set about getting some reviews from real readers - readers I don’t know and who have no vested interest in sparing my feelings. Friends and family and fellow authors are all well and good, but they will veer towards encouragement. I had the niggling sensation that I never really knew what I had with Broken Evolution and that I would have to get real at some point to find out. I would have to get actual reader reviews. The result: average. Broken Evolution is not brilliant; it’s not a disaster either. It’s an ok read. And I’m convinced now that “well-written” in a review is a euphemism. Anyone who has ever used it or received it will know what that means! However, I have learned from them all, and could carry what I’ve learned through to my writing in future.
The second goal was to get the novel into as many readers hands as possible, to start building a readership. Here’s what I’ve learned. Paperback is a waste of time for an Indie author. EBook is the only way to go to start with. Amazon have the indie author market sewn up. With the introduction of KDP Select, it is the only reliable way of pushing your eBook up in the search results and differentiating it from the millions (and counting) of eBooks just sitting in the Amazon catalogue. If you’re an unknown author, 99 cent eBooks do actually work to get some sales (better sales than at 2.99). Free is even better (assuming you are more interesting in starting a readership than making money. If your goal is to make money out of it - start something else). With the latest ebook price fixing ruling, it seems certain that Amazon now set the terms of indie publishing (and even trade publishing) and for many years to come. Indie authors will need to be familiar with Amazon’s rules of the game - albeit the visible rules only.
For now, I now have a novel read by thousands of readers - what any starting author needs.
It’s been a ride. On the other side of recovery I’ll decide whether it’s a ride I should return to. Chronic pain alters you. It drags your spirit down. Concentration is lost. Motivation becomes a struggle. Motivating to write is hard even at the best of times; this isn’t the best of times. You teeter on the edge of depression - and the view from there is ghastly, let me tell you. Pain is very personal journey that can not be shared. Only those who have experienced severe unremitting pain understand. I can only hope mine is now near an end.
Raw, but real.
Entry Filed under: Indie-Publishing
November 25, 2011
While the Euro hurtles towards collapse, there is hope for the world, in the form of … Justin Bieber.
The Telegraph’s Debt Crisis Blog reveals
“Analysts are getting good vibes from the packed-out stores in the States - particularly vendors of Justin Bieber apparel and Twilight merchandise.”
Who could have forseen such a day!
Entry Filed under: Observation & Musing
November 3, 2011
It’s NaNoWriMo month and I’m using the opportunity it provides to complete the first draft of my WIP (work in progress). Only two days in and I discover a published book with the same name I was going to use for my latest - Zero Day. Not only that, but it’s in a similiar domain (cybercrime and zero day exploits) … and it has a forward by Bill Gates. Top that!
It got me thinking about originality. I inhabit the software industry with its endemic start-up culture. The water-cooler conversations are always about cool ideas for a new web site or business. It is almost a religion in this business - the cult of originality. It can become tyrannical. That same tyranny to be original seems to be a driver in “high-concept” thrillers too. It is said (I can’t remember who) that for every original idea you think you have, there are at least 3 people in the world having the same idea. Some will be in better position to pursue that idea, or further along with it than you. For example, tablet PCs have been around for years. The idea was in even Star Trek (and probably earlier than that). But it took the convergence of Steve Jobs to bring the idea to its time with the iPad. Now they are everywhere.
Then there is the school of thought that says there are no really original ideas in the world anyway - it’s all been done before. If we followed it to its logical conclusion, we would never do anything at all!
So does the discovery of a potentially similar book de-rail me?
No.
There is also the school of thought that you can do something others are doing, but you should do it in your own unique way. We are all standing on the shoulders of giants. Don’t let the tyranny of orginality topple you. As they often say on Litopia, you can’t protect ideas, only the expression of ideas. So I won’t be reading any cybercrime novels for a while, just in case!
I have always asserted that authors can only write the books they can write. Authors are the amalgam of all the ideas, philosophies, experiences, and people that have influenced them in their lives. There lies the originality and the uniqueness. It is a writer’s style, and the way he or she combines story elements and plots that makes the work unique. I want to complete my own draft this month. I want to write those scenes in my mind on the steps in Odessa, and that pivotal character piece in the Karelian forests, and that closing scene in the streets of Seattle (whose charms I first discovered last year).
I noticed the same thing even happened to Mr. Russinovich - a novel just published after his by David Baldacci with the same name Zero Day! At least I can change my title. (By the way guys - I have the domain zerodaynovel.com registered if you want it!)
Congratulations to them both. I know that writing and publishing a book is a major achievement.
In truth, we write because of our creative drive, our characters, our own imaginative worlds … and for the fun of it. There’s nothing like it!
Entry Filed under: Writing
August 9, 2011
I’ve heard political and economic commentators say that this global economic depression could lead to another World War, just as the previous depression did. Who would be the powers in such a scenario - China, the USA, Europe? Only if they have any funds left to rage a costly war!
Recently, I started to think that we might have it all wrong. The third World War may already have begun.
Unlike the last World War, it won’t be a war between nation states. It is a war within states. A global civil war. It may be a war unlike any we have seen before. All facilitated by modern social networks. Civilians rebelling against the stringencies and austerity imposed on them by their governments.
“The Arab Spring” in the middle-east. Civil unrest in Greece. London riots today. Where next?
Entry Filed under: Politics
December 3, 2010
I’ve noticed a new phrase in the daily lexicon of Irish people. It’s one that I haven’t heard around this land in a long time, until this week - “the kindness of strangers.”
Snow drifts and financial storms happen for a reason. Trouble brings people together.
Entry Filed under: Observation & Musing
September 1, 2010
Broken Evolution is now finally published in paperback and ebook. Publication feels more like relief than victory after such a long journey to get here. A long-overdue holiday is calling me too — just a few days away.
After I get back the REAL work begins – promoting it! And then a first draft of the next novel. Busy, busy.
See you in a couple of weeks!
Entry Filed under: Writing