by john | Sep 7, 2011 | Book Spotlight, Writing
Welcome to Insanity.
Welcome to the State of Insanity. Several people have asked about my books, and have wondered where the idea of Brodie came from. I thought I would take a minute to explain him, if you would indulge me. I believe that every character ever invented is — at some level — a reality of the author. Even the most vile villains exist deep in the core of the author, just expounded by a thousand-fold by the time they reach the paper.
For me, Brodie is a real part of who I am. He’s the shy introvert in me that would rather read a book than turn on the TV. He’s the kid in me who was bullied in grade school; that part deep inside that’s wounded and doesn’t want to come out. We all have that emotion deep inside of us, somewhere. Sure, we’ve shoved him back down so far that we’ve forgotten the pain, but he’s there. It’s a black hole that seems to attract all of our craziest thoughts of depression, anger, hate and loneliness.
In my first novel, Death Has a Name, my goal was to create a character that was actually insane. Certifiable, even. In fact, he had been institutionalized three times for his schizophrenia over the course of his life thus far.
Of course, I had to do research to determine what “insane” looked like. It can take on so many different forms, but the one common thread always seemed to be that the person in the midst of the event believes it — to the very core of his being — to be true. Which of course sent me down a very long, rhetorical, in-depth soul-search of “what is true?” Have you ever tried to answer that question? You should, but before you do, I would suggest taking the alcohol and other mind-altering substances out of your house. That is a question that can only be answered when looking through a very specific, well-focused lens. More on that lens in another post, maybe. That topic is so deep, that it may take five or six posts to even scratch the surface.
So, this damaged character needed a name, and I named him Brodie. John Wayne wasn’t named John Wayne when he was born. He was Marion Robert Morrison. Marion? Really? Several very smart people in charge of Marion’s career decided that Marion wasn’t “manly” enough for the roles he was to play. They knew that the name can really define the persona, so they chose John Wayne for his stage name. In that same light, but in the absolute reverse situation, I named my character Brodie. It’s an odd name, and — like Marion — it isn’t exactly the most strapping name I’ve ever heard. For this character, the name was a great fit for someone on the edge of reality and daily had his lunch money ripped from his shaking hands.
As I began writing the book, I realized that if I put the reader in Brodie’s head, then they, too, would be on the edge of reality. If that happened, the book would quickly spin out of control. After all, if you are in the head of someone who is insane, where is reality? Anything is true, and everything is in question. It would be like launching a jet plane, blacking out all the windows, and disabling the horizon device. No, Brodie needed someone to ground him and keep the reader pointed in the right direction. Enter Phil Dawson.
Phil is Brodie’s best friend. He is also the device I used to introduce the plot, and keep it moving on the straight-and-narrow. Brodie is the train, but Phil is the train tracks. Together, they make up one complete persona, and help the reader see the big picture. Phil can see only the case at hand, but Brodie can see only the paranormal manifestations. Through both sets of eyes, the reader can see everything.
In the end, the reader must discover whether or not Brodie is truly insane, or if he is just blighted with a curse that makes him appear to be insane. And that is the fun of the story. What if you could see things that other people swore didn’t exist? And what if these “non-existent” entities told you about things that have happened or have yet to happen? Would you be crazy? Or would everyone else in the world be deficient, leaving you as superior?
Brodie progresses a little from the first novel, and finds a love interest (something very foreign to him!) in the second novel, Thaloc Has a Body. But in the end, he’s still broken and fragile, and has to deal with The Truth that haunts his every move.
And that, my friends, was the thought process behind the creation of the mysterious Brodie Wade. I hope you’ve learned a bit about me as a person as you read Brodie’s story. It is, in fact, a hyperbole of that broken inner part of each of us. At least, that’s The Truth that I believe to the core of my being.
–Jerry
by john | Sep 6, 2011 | Business of publishing, Writing
So this weekend I landed a deal with a traditional publisher.
Yep, you read that right. Regardless of my statements about the logic of self-publishing (which I still stand by, as you’ll see later) I have sold large portions of The Black Knight Chronicles to Bell Bridge Books, an up and coming small press with an eye toward the future and a savvy marketing plan.
Why would I do this, you ask? My wife and I had a long talk about the possibility and the decision came down to a couple of things. One, having a publisher behind me will mean that I can work with an excellent editor with a long history of developing writers and making them better. My experience with Red Adept editing was awesome, and I will continue to use them on my self-pubbed stuff, but the developmental editing that a publisher brings to a project is something that doesn’t really exist right now in the indie market.
Also, they made me a sweetheart deal. I’m not going to go into much detail about that here, but I’m still free to self-pub some of my work, I still control parts of the Black Knight series, and their royalty structure is pretty badass.
You’ll notice I’m not talking a lot about advances. That’s because the advance is pretty small. I’m not buying a car with my advance, but I can buy more than a cheeseburger, too. I not only don’t mind this, I kinda like it. One of the questions I asked Deb Dixon, the publisher, at Fandom Fest was “what percentage of your authors earn out?” The answer was 100%. I understand that keeping advances low is one way to do that. And frankly, I’d rather have royalty checks every few months than an advance check that I’ll never earn out. So I didn’t go into this discussion looking for much of an advance, and got more than I was looking for. Our negotiations went very well, and I read over and agreed to the deal memo today. So now their lawyers will draft a contract, I’ll read it, consult with an IP attorney, and get them the first book under contract.
I still intend to publish a couple of books each year on my own, mostly because a publisher can’t publish books as quickly as I can write them. So there will be plenty of Black Knight stories to come, along with plenty of new material. I’m really excited about this opportunity to reach a broader audience, and to make my books the best they can be, and make me the best writer I can be. I think this is a good step along the road.
Thanks for coming with me.
by john | Aug 31, 2011 | Travel
Or just feel like the night before? I’m so ridiculously excited about going to Dragon*Con tomorrow that it’s like a kid at Christmas. This is kind of a big deal for me, and I don’t really get wound up about much anymore. Not that I’m all that blase by nature, but anymore I really have been there and done that. I mean, in my work life I’ve worked for some of the biggest names in entertainment and seen their foibles. I know that big rock stars put their pants on one leg at a time. I’ve done the comic con stuff and seen the biggest creators in the world, and it’s really not a big deal.
But what is a big deal is that now I feel almost like I belong there with these folks. I’m not a guest, or even a participating artist, but I’m still a peer to these folks. We all sit down in front of a keyboard in our underpants and try to spin magic out of thin air. Okay, I usually wear pants when I write, but anyway, you get my point. I really feel like a new chapter in my life is opening up right f’n now, and this is kinda the beginning of it. Yeah, I’m a little more than a year into this writer’s journey thing, but this is my first BIG con. So I’m excited, and anxious, and nervous, probably more like a kid going to his first day of high school than a kid at Christmas.
The last time I was this excited about going anywhere was right before I headed down to Greenville for Brad-o-ween, way back in 2005. Six years and a couple weeks ago I walked up on Brad’s lawn and met some folks who have gone on to become my best friends in the world, even if I do see some of them only once a year. From that grew trips to Vegas, legendary benders involving drinking beer from buckets, and bonds that are stronger than any of us would have dreamed of back then. If this weekend goes half as well, it will be a remarkable success. I do have a little bit of an edge going to Dragon that I didn’t have going to Brad-o-ween – I actually already know a few people that will be in Atlanta this weekend. And Suzy will be with me, which makes any trip better.
And I’m guaranteed a parking spot at the Marriott, ’cause I’m Platinum. That’s right, I’m a Marriott Elite, bitches. That’s how I roll. I live the glamorous life, spending at least three months out of every year sleeping in hotels. But at least I get a parking spot, even if my cats don’t recognize me. I’ll be posting updates throughout the weekend on Twitter, so you can follow me (@johnhartness) there if you’re interested in me geeking out over shaking Stan Lee’s hand or something like that.
by john | Aug 29, 2011 | Travel, Writing
So this weekend I got off my ass and got back to work. This time the project was Return to Eden, the apocalyptic YA fantasy novel I’ve been working on for what seems like forever. I figured out what some of the problems were with the book, and started to address them. One of the key issues was too many characters – I had something like nine principal characters in the thing, and no way to focus on any one of them! Since I always thought the book’s protagonist was the one teenage girl, I went through the first seven chapters or so this weekend and chopped out a bunch of characters. So now instead of five kids running from their high school together, there are three. And instead of them picking up five more people through the first half of the book, they’ll pick up three. And a couple of those will be really secondary, so I can focus the narrative more on Christin and her feelings about the situations they find themselves in.
I’m no Martin or Jordan, so cutting a bunch of characters lets me focus more on the lean type of storytelling that I prefer. And since I really want to get into this girl’s head (albeit from third person), trimming extraneous people from the team will be good for that as well. I realized once I finished the first draft that I didn’t have a novel, I had the first year of an X-Men comic, and that wasn’t what I was going for. This time. I’ll be spending the rest of the month working on rewrites for this book, hopefully finishing it up by October 1. I’ve got a bunch of description to add into the book as well as a bunch more people to cut, so it’s going to keep me pretty busy.
Sales are continuing to go up and up. I think the combination of new covers and a new Black Knight novel are working together to really drive things. August is my best month ever for sales, and everyone on KindleBoards says that August is the worst month of the year. That makes me hopeful for the rest of the year, which I’m loving since I won’t have any new releases until the end of the year at the earliest.
I’m heading to Dragon Con on Thursday, so if you’re in the area, look me up. You know how to find me, and if not, look on Twitter or Facebook.
by john | Aug 26, 2011 | Appearances, Business of publishing, Writing
So here’s what’s up in the Hartness-land on a Friday.
Happy to be home in Charlotte after working out of our Atlanta office this week. Yes, not all of us self-published authors are superstars who sit around chatting and posting monkey videos online, some of us still have day jobs. But you can fix that by buying more books (and more and more of you have been, so thanks!). So yeah, I got home yesterday and hung out at home last night watching my Panthers suck against the Bungles and catching up on Season 2 of Glee (don’t judge). I think the Panthers could be better this season than last (can’t be much worse!), but they need to start Derek Anderson for at least a little while and let Newton get his confidence and skills more NFL-ready. The kid isn’t ready, and in a win-now league he could get wrecked by a bad start. I hope not, but it could happen. Look at last year with Jimmy Clausen, or David Carr, or Jamarcus Russel (ok, probably a bad example there, but you get my point). Newton will be an amazing player someday, but today ain’t that day.
I’ll be playing a little poker this evening, and I’ve really missed hanging with the guys and flinging cards around. Hopefully I can recoup some of my nasty losses from a few weeks ago, or at least hold my own.
Book sales have been great – the release of Knight Moves has gone better than I had ever hoped. To date the new book has sold over 800 copies, which is way better than my hope of 500 in the first month, so I’m ecstatic about that. It’ll unfortunately be a while before I get back to the Black Knight boys, because I have at least two other books to knock out before I get to Volume 4. But I’m amazingly pleased with the first month sales of the book, especially since everyone tells me August is the slowest month for e-book sales. So I’m really interested to see what happens in the fall!
Next week I’ll be in Atlanta for Dragon*Con, which I’m very excited about. There are a few people I’ll be autograph-stalking, including James Marsters and Stan Lee. And I just saw that they added Bill Sienkiewicz, who was one of my favorite artists back in his New Mutants days. I’ll also be going to a bunch of panels, readings and parties. If you’re there and want to hook up, hit me up via a Twitter DM (@johnhartness). That’ll probably be the best way to find me.
Once I’m done with Dragon, it’s on revisions of Return to Eden: Genesis. I think I’ve figured out the big problem with the book, now I just need to make myself sit down and do the edits. It’s a huge change/rewrite, so I’ve gotta make myself remember how to eat an elephant – one bite at a time. That’ll probably take the rest of September, then I hope to have it out by November 1. When it’s out I’ll spend November and December working on Copycat, then get to Black Knight Vol. 4 the beginning of 2012. That’s unless a shiny object catches my eye, of course :).
by john | Aug 24, 2011 | Business of publishing, The Chosen, Writing
So I’m working on a redesign of the cover for The Chosen. I think the cover I have is okay, but similar to the old covers for the Black Knight books, it doesn’t really tell a prospective reader what the book is about. So for those of you out there who have read the book, what images do you associate with it? What kinds of things do you think would make a good cover? I can’t offer much for your help (unless you want to design the cover for me, in which case let’s talk money), but you’ll have my undying gratitude.
Here’s what I have –
Pros – The title font is good, and it’s BIG. That needs to stay. It’s a striking color combination, the red background with the yellow letters. I like that and think it grabs the eye.
Cons – It says nothing about angels, devils, Adam, Eve, fantasy literature or anything like that. Angel fiction is very marketable, and obviously fantasy lit is as well, but nobody looking at this cover would have any idea what the book is about. That needs to change.
So help me out here, folks. Let me know what the book says to you – what images stick with you from the book?
Someday I’ll get back to actually, you know, writing again, but I’ve got a bunch of stuff going on trying to maximize my promotional stuff right now. I hope to have the second draft of Return to Eden:Genesis done by October 1. Especially since I just booked another design gig that’s going to lock up most of my free time in October, so if that book stands a prayer of getting out this year, I’d better step on it.
by john | Aug 23, 2011 | Business of publishing, Vampires
Well, we’re almost three weeks in from the release of Knight Moves, and I’ve been amazed by the outpouring of support for the book. So far, we’ve sold 667 copies, far exceeding my hopes for the first month. I had hoped for 500 copies in the first month, and we blew through that number! In comparison, there has only been one month ever that Back in Black sold more than 650 copies, so I couldn’t be happier.
Obviously, with two new products released this month (I also tossed a new short story, called Black Magic Woman out there) this will be my best sales month ever. Last month was my first month over 3,000 books sold, and we have a chance to crack 4,000 for the month of August! It’s a close race, and I’ll need some help to get there, but I’ve done some limited paid promotion this month, so hopefully we can reach another milestone!
Speaking of promotion, I spent very little cash promoting this month. I paid for a Release Blitz with The Bookish Snob Promotions, which got the blurb on a dozen different websites for $20. Then I got a spotlight on Two Ends of the Pen for $10, and jumped on that. Everything else has been from my Facebook and Twitter folks, and you good people here. So a huge thanks to all of you for making the first month of the new book a rousing success!
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.
