by john | Aug 20, 2011 | Business of publishing, Real Life
So if you watch my Facebook page (and really, you don’t? How dare you actually have other people you might be interested in!) you’ve seen the new covers for the Black Knight Chronicles Books. If you don’t, here they are.
These were all created by the grossly talented Carl Graves at Extended Imagery, and I couldn’t be happier with them. Carl was exceptionally professional, and the end results are amazing.
But why did I redo covers on two books that were selling pretty well?
I’m glad you asked, even if I did have to prompt you. When I did the Heroes Con in June, I had print copies of all my books out on the table. As people would walk by, if they looked like my target demographic, I’d try to hand them a postcard.
Sometimes this went well, sometimes not. But nobody punched me, so in the end it was okay.
But once thing I realized is that people were more likely to pick up Back in Black than Hard Day’s Knight, and I didn’t really understand why. Then I took a good look at the covers.
This is the original cover for Hard Day’s Knight. It’s a very nice cover, looks great in print, and is EXACTLY what I asked my designer to provide for me. Right down to which side of the building the moon is on.
But it says nothing about vampires, or horror, or supernatural beasties. And if you’re writing a book about supernatural beasties, and you’re going to steal a Beatles song for the title, you need to give a reader a clue what the book is about. And this cover does not do that. At all. So people who might buy a book just because there’s a cool monster on the cover, will be passing this one right on by.
The cover for Back in Black was better, but as time went on I became less enamored with the 3d troll I had on the cover. It all started to look more like a video game box than a book cover to me, so when Knight Moves was ready to go, I contacted Carl and we re-did the first two books while we were working on the third one. I’m exceptionally happy with how they turned out, and the titles and my name are now legible in a much smaller size, so they can be read in a thumbnail on the Amazon or Barnes & Noble site. And that’s really important. Especially the name thing. Because people buy books from people they’ve read before, and name recognition is immensely valuable in this business.
So that’s why I redid the covers for my best-selling books, to try to grab all the market share I could! And something is helping, because this has been an awesome sale week! Knight Moves is outselling Hard Day’s Knight at times, and that’s awesome! The book will break 500 total sales this weekend, making it my fastest to that number by a long mile. If things keep going, we’ll hit another record month, which is good, because after buying three new book covers, Daddy’s got a credit card to pay off!
Y’all have a good weekend, I’ll be sleeping late, performing The Irish Curse at night, and drinking too much.
On a serious note – my heart and prayers go out to those injured and killed in the collapse of stages at the Sugarland show and the Belgian Pop Festival. I don’t have any good words except to say that I hope my industry will band together and do everything we know how to do to make sure this NEVER happens again. These were preventable tragedies – NEVER AGAIN.
by john | Aug 20, 2011 | Appearances, Business of publishing, Travel, Vampires, Writing
Well folks, here we are a hair more than two weeks after the release of Knight Moves, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. The new book has already broken 500 copies sold, a figure that’s unheard of for me in the first month (or several) of a book’s release, and with a promo blitz going on this weekend thanks to The Bookish Snob, I think we’ll see that carry through the rest of the month. So here I’ve got a few announcements and a couple of updates for all of you.
Firstly, for the folks who still love paper books – yes, Knight Moves will be available in print. The proof copy has shipped, and if history is any indicator, it should get here Monday or Tuesday. I’ll look over the proof and try to get some copies in hand for Dragon*Con. I won’t have many with me, unless this THING happens that I’m trying to schedule. If the THING goes off, then I’ll probably get 40 copies or so to tote with me. Watch this space for more info on the THING.
But if you’d like a signed copy, and live in the US, you can order yours here. Just click the PayPal button and let me know who to inscribe the book to, and I’ll send it right along. NOTE – books will not ship until after the Labor Day holiday. But $15 will cover shipping and a signed copy of the book. If you live in the Charlotte area, and want to pick the book up, you can click the pick up option. You can do the same thing if you want to pre-order a copy for Dragon*Con (this would really help me know how many books to carry).
As always, the book will be available for $10 from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and wherever books are sold. I’ll also be doing a signing in October at The Last Word, a cool used bookstore here in Charlotte, so hopefully some of you folks will come out and say hello to me then.
And for my friends across the pond – I know you currently can’t get my books in print outside the US. I would love for that to change at some point, but I don’t really know how. So if you’d like to see my stuff over there, tell your friendly neighborhood bookstore to pressure the publishers to buy my international rights. Or stop by North Carolina on your next intercontinental vacation. We’ve got good sweet tea!
by john | Aug 19, 2011 | Uncategorized
Today we welcome T.L. Haddix, promoting her new book, Shadows from the Grave. You can pick it up at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Welcome, readers, to Leroy, Indiana – the quintessential small Midwest town with a twist. Step inside and see just how dangerous small-town living can be. Shadows from the Grave is the third installment in the Leroy’s Sins Series, stand-alone Romantic Suspense novels that center around the fictional Ohio-River town of Leroy, Indiana. All the books are available in both e-book and printed format. Here’s a little hint of what’s inside:
When it comes to murder, the past is never really dead…
For ten years, Chase Hudson has carried the weight of his college girlfriend’s unsolved murder on his shoulders. When a ghost from the past comes calling, Chase’s friends and family become the targets of a serial killer who’ll stop at nothing to make Chase suffer. Can Chase convince the authorities of his innocence in time to catch the real killer?
Annie Jameson-Tucker has been burned more than once. Afraid to get her heart broken again, she is careful to keep her lovers at a distance… until Chase Hudson manages to slip inside her walls. Will she let him stay, or will her insecurities destroy their chance at happiness?
This book came about as rather a surprise to me, the author. There are times when characters will stand up and demand attention as I’m writing, and the conception of this book was much like that. I had planned an entirely different book as the third for this series, but by the end of the second book, Under the Moon’s Shadow, it was very apparent Chase’s story had to be told first.
In each book, there is usually a character who stands out, who is my favorite. As much as I like Chase and Annie, I have to say that I think a secondary character is my favorite from this book. His name is Murphy, and he’s Chase’s cat. He’s a very needy little guy, and has serious separation anxiety issues. Murphy came about a couple of ways – Chase needed someone, and I didn’t want that someone to be a romantic interest off the top of the book. I wanted to add someone who could contribute an endearing, quirky attitude to the story without being overtly ‘cute’. As my books aren’t sweet, happy romances, and as I’m not a naturally funny comedian, quirky seemed to fit better. Murphy is definitely that. He gets into trouble that most two-year-old children can’t accomplish, and he drives Chase crazy in the process.
The character of Murphy himself is based on a real-life Murphy, who is an eight-pound fawn ‘kitten’ owned by our former veterinarian. He’s a very alpha cat, despite his size, and is definitely in charge of the household. When Dr. G shared some of her Murphy’s exploits with us, I knew that I had to include him in a book. He’s not the kind of cat one would want for a first-time cat owner, and that’s exactly why I ‘gave’ him to Chase. The real Murphy steals food from countertops and plays “Chase me!”, steals keys, glasses, licks mold off of plants to get high, and generally keeps his mom on her toes. How could I resist that sort of personality?
Even though ‘my’ Murphy doesn’t catch any bad guys or solve any mysteries, he’s still an integral part of the story. He humanizes Chase, provides comedic relief during heavier scenes, and hopefully his antics will ring true with cat owners, helping them connect to the story. One thing I’ve tried to make sure I do with my books, my hallmark, if you will, is that ninety-nine percent of readers who pick them up and read them can relate to someone or something in the books. For me as a reader, that is a quality that I look for. If I can’t connect to the story, I can’t become invested in it, and my enjoyment of the reading diminishes. I want to provide that connection to my readers, and I think characters like Murphy help me do it.
T. L. Haddix is the author of the Leroy’s Sins Series, stand-alone Romantic Suspense novels which are available in both print and e-book form at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other fine online retailers. She lives in northeastern Ohio with her husband and three cat-children, and is hard at work on the next installment of the Leroy’s Sins series. You can contact her at www.tlhaddix.com, through www.facebook.com/tlhaddix or at www.twitter.com/tlhaddix.
by john | Aug 18, 2011 | Business of publishing
Blame Kris Rusch and her excellent blog for this post. Kris writes one of the best business of writing blogs out there, and if you desire a career in this business and aren’t reading her stuff, you’re probably missing opportunities. But anyway, that’s irrelevant here, except that she mentioned Yog’s Law in a recent post, and it inspired this rant. So…sorry about that
Yog’s Law, simply put, states that “money flows to the writer.” Traditional publishing companies and writers use this anthem to decry shady business practices by vanity presses and unethical agents, and in those cases it is very valid. If an agent charges a “reading fee” to look at your manuscript, they’re not a real agent, they’re a scam artist getting paid to read books. Agents get paid to sell books. When you make money, your agent makes money. Same as a sports agent or an actor’s agent. None of these people get a thin dime if their client isn’t working. That’s one reason agents have more than one client — so they don’t starve!
And the statement used to be just as valid in the publishing world. Unscrupulous vanity presses trying to pass themselves off as legitimate publishers would come up with fees for all sorts of things that publishers typically do for their authors for free, like editing, layout, formatting, cover art, etc. These are red flags when dealing with a publisher – if they want you to pay for these things, and you’re an author, then you’re not dealing with a publisher, you’re dealing with a crook.
But the world is different now. I say that a lot, because we’re living in the flippin’ future, people! Seriously, my cell phone has more computing power than the machines that put men on the moon! So the world is different, and the usual laws don’t always apply in the same ways.
Or do they?
Does Yog’s Law still apply just as firmly as it used to?
Yes. But in the case of a self-published author it’s important to understand that sometimes the PUBLISHER has to spend money so that the WRITER can make money.
And those people often inhabit the same body. That’s where the wicket gets all sticky. As a self-published author, or even someone just reading about and paying attention to self-publishing, you need to understand that there are times when you wear the writer hat, and times when you wear the publisher hat. When I’m ripping apart Return to Eden: Genesis next month, I’ll be wearing my writer hat. When I just paid a guy to redo all the covers for my Black Knight Chronicles books, I was wearing my publisher hat.
Yes, money should flow towards the writer. But sometimes the publisher has to pay for things. And those two roles may be fulfilled by the same person. So whenever you hear someone toss around “money flows towards the writer” just understand that they haven’t thought through the fact that sometimes you’re the writer, collecting the coins, and sometimes you’re the publisher, spending them.
by john | Aug 16, 2011 | Business of publishing
Yeah, I know it’s redundant, get over it. Here’s my point – if there’s one thing to be gained by pursuing traditional publishing, and I think there’s more than one, but that’s beside the point – if there is only one thing to be gained by pursuing traditional publishing, a thick skin is certainly it. I’ve recently seen several self-published authors either go batshit crazy at a bad review and flame the world, or make some stupid comment on a message board, get hammered for it and then storm off in a huff (or in tears).
I really have only one thing to say to those folks – life’s tough, wear a cup.
No, really. Life is hard, and art is hard. And putting yourself out there for public consumption isn’t just opening yourself up for criticism, it’s inviting crticisim. It’s begging for it!. Trust me, I’ve spent the last two decades (and more, but I might be a little touchy about just how old I am given my recent anniversary of my first trip around the sun) putting myself out there in the public eye. And I’ve gotten hammered for it. And sometimes I’ve gotten accolades for it. And then I’ve gotten hammered for it again.
But I chose this life. I chose to be an actor. I chose to be a writer that publishes. I chose to have a blog with my friggin’ name on it. I don’t write under a pseudonym. I don’t blog under an alias anymore. I stand in front of everyone, me, one fat redneck writing about fairies and vampires and things that go BUMP in the night. And I read too many comics, drink too much and fart too loudly in public. And I write about all of it on the internet. And sometimes I say stupid things in a workshop and hurt someone’s feelings. And sometimes I say too much on a topic and people get mad at me. And sometimes I just look stupid.
And it’s all my fault and I fucking deal with it.
But that seems to be lacking in some of my self-published brethren and sistren – the ability to take the consequences of their actions. Not all of them, mind you. The more professional authors behave, well, as professionals. I know, shocking, right? It’s probably not a surprise that some of them are the people who sell a shit-ton of books. Because they approach everything with the same level of professionalism, from book covers and editing to behavior on message boards.
So I posit that going through the years of rejection typical in the traditional publishing world does a few things for writers that self-publishing does not. First, it builds up a thicker dermis. After dozens of people tell you that your work isn’t good enough, or marketable enough or whatever, you either give up or you toughen up. And either way, you don’t get your panties in a twist about a bad review. Because either you’ve quit before anyone ever reviews the drivel that you put out there, or you’ve toughened up enough to take it.
And there is inherent in that first thing another thing that traditional publishing does for us – weeds out the pansies. Now I like pansies – in a vase. But I don’t like them cluttering up my kindle, or my iPad, or my bookshelf. If you aren’t tough enough to handle a bad review, or someone calling you out on your bullshit on a message board, then be Emily friggin’ Dickinson and put all your crap in a trunk to be released after your death. Because I don’t have time for you.
But if you’re willing to own your mistakes, if you’re willing to take your lumps and get right back up, if you’re willing to say “My bad. I fucked the pooch on that one,” then I’m right here with you. I’ll link arms with you as we skip down the yellow brick road of fuckups together, and I’ll help you up when you fall on your face. I might even loan you a hanky.
</rant> Thanks, I feel better. And I’m sure I’ve hurt someone’s feelings with this rant. And I’m sure there are people out there saying “but but but I don’t do that!”
If that’s your first reaction – then obviously you do.
More updates from the first month of Knight Moves coming soon, and I’ve got a special guest post coming this week, too!
This is the original cover for Hard Day’s Knight. It’s a very nice cover, looks great in print, and is EXACTLY what I asked my designer to provide for me. Right down to which side of the building the moon is on.
