by john | May 27, 2011 | Real Life, Writing
And I’m not sure where it went. Well, part of it went down the road to Atlanta, where I hired a new Project Manager for work. He seems to be fitting in fairly well so far, but the job has a tremendous learning curve, so it’ll be a year or two before he really has all his sea legs. Fortunately I have another really good PM down there right now, and he will serve as an excellent teacher.
Broke the 2,000 book mark for the first time this month, so that was really exciting. When I started the month my goal was 1,800, which would have been a 25% increase over last month. I nailed that with more than a week to go, blew through 2,000 early this week, and then Amazon’s servers crashed. Seems that offering the new Lady Gaga album for 99 cents overloaded the Amazon servers. A lot. Hell, I don’t blame the bargain hunters, I even bought a copy at that price! But the sales reporting from Amazon’s publishing arm was a little goofy for a couple of days, so my numbers may not be 100% accurate. For a day or so I wandered around thinking “Is this how traditionally published authors feel all the time? With no idea how many units they’re moving? How odd.” It seems to have recovered, and with a little luck and a decent holiday weekend push, I might just crack 2,500 total books sold this week, a full 500 books over my highest hopes for the month.
I’ve also made some serious progress on Knight Moves, which is a relief after having the project stalled for some weeks. I think I’ll have it wrapped up by the end of June, but having hard copies in hand early July is not going to happen. I really want to take a little more time with the editing and polishing of this book, to try and make it as good as it can possibly be before I release it. That may mean an August release, and if that’s the case, then I’ll live with it. That will still put four novels on the streets in one year, which isn’t bad no matter how you shake it.
Last night I was the guest of the Hickory Jaycees for a cool evening of beer, brats and talking about writing. They fed me, covered my gas money, bought a few books and had some good questions. The event was a lot of fun, and profitable, so I hope that more things like that are in the offing in the future.
Next week is the Heroes Con! I have a booth, so come stop by. I’ll be signing stuff, selling stuff and maybe even have some giveaways!
by john | May 23, 2011 | Writing
There’s been a great discussion over the past few days over at Magical Words, which is a group blog by some fantastic writers. Because I can’t stay out of a good debate, I’ve been sticking my nose in the comments. One of the best things about this series of posts is not just that everyone involved has some type of experience, from NYT bestsellers to multiple short story sales, to dozens of novels, to my little couple of years on the front lines of self-publishing. I’m by far the least experienced writer in the comments, but there’s a lot to be learned just by hanging out at that site on a regular basis. The other great thing about this discussion is that everyone has remained civil, unlike a lot of internet discussions on these topics. Everyone has shown a lot of mutual respect, and that’s kinda key when talking to other people in the field. Even if you disagree with someone, there’s no need to be nasty. And who knows, the person you’re a dick to on the internet today might be the same person you’re on panel with next summer!
One thing that I posted, that I want to be really clear on, is that I’m not anti-traditional publishing. If a big publishing house wanted to pay me a pile of money, I’d sell the rights to my books so fast it would make your head spin. But the doors of those publishing houses are buttoned up pretty tight, and I haven’t ever made any progress getting my knocking heard. So I self-published, and thanks to all of you and all of your friends, I’m making some decent coin doing it. If that causes NYC to take notice and come calling, that’s very cool. I’d love the chance to go through the process and work with a good editor and make my books the best they can possibly be. If it doesn’t happen, that’s cool too. I’ll maintain all creative control and pocket a larger share of smaller overall sales.
My overall point is that I’m keeping as many options open as I can. I hope that by self-publishing my work so far that I haven’t closed any doors, but if I have, so be it. If NYC wants to come calling, I’ll happily listen. If not, I’ll happily sell books on my own. But if you are interested in other people’s opinions on this topic, go check out Magical Words and the comments from the past few days.
by john | May 22, 2011 | Return to Eden, Writing
So once upon a time I promised to post sections of a work in progress, posted one bit and then forgot about it. Well, I didn’t really forget, more like the world took me in another direction for a few weeks, but I’m back now, so here’s the next little piece of Return to Eden. Let me know what you think!And thanks to everyone who’s discovered me through the blog tour, it’s exhausting running all over the internets, my feet are killing me, but it’s very worthwhile so far. The first installment can be found here, if you’re late to the party.
Christin drove into the parking lot at West Asheville High School, and parked the truck at the far end of the lot, as usual. It didn’t take too many mornings of being mocked by Cindy Monihan and her gaggle of bleached-blonde cheerleaders and wannabes for the Kinseys to decide it was easier to walk a few more steps up to the school each morning than deal with the popular kids. Of course, it didn’t matter where they parked, they still had to run the gauntlet of the beautiful people to get into the school, and that was as fun as your average dentist’s visit.
“Oh look, everyone, the Kinsey twins have decided to grace us with their pollution once again,” announced Cindy, who wielded her new Prius like a weapon against Christin’s gas-guzzling truck.
“Not twins, bimbo, but if you weren’t too vain to wear your glasses you’d see that,” muttered Matt as they walked into the school, heads lowered against the disapproving glances of Cindy’s psuedo-environmentalist friends. They cared about the planet because it was the latest flavor, not because they had any great connection to Mother Earth.
Since Matt had his head down, he never saw the chest he ran into, but it didn’t take anyone nearly as bright as the younger Kinsey to realize that Brian Regan, Cindy’s boyfriend, had heard his mumbled insult.
“What did you say, asswipe?” The much larger boy said to Matt, who had bounced off his chest like a superball.
“I said we’re not twins.”
“What else did you say, butt-munch?” Brian gave Matt a shove, spinning him into another of his friends. By now most of the starting offensive line for the football team had formed a circle around Matt, grinning and handing their letter jackets to their girlfriends just in case there was bleeding.
Matt’s temper flared white-hot, and he lost control of his mouth, as he was wont to do in these, or really any, situations. “I said, if your bimbo girlfriend would put on her glasses once in a while, she could see past the end of her makeup mirror.” Christin groaned quietly, hoping her mother had paid for the health insurance this month, because it looked like Matt was going to be needing another trip to urgent care.
“Hold the little chump,” Brian said to his buddies. They instantly grabbed Matt’s arms, but left his legs alone, which cost Brian dearly when he stepped in to deliver Matt’s punishment. The smaller boy was no football bruiser, but two years of varsity cross country had given him plenty of lower-body muscle, and the kick he landed on Brian’s groin was as good as any field goal the team had made all season. Regan dropped like a sack of well-manicured potatoes, and his buddies relaxed their grip on Matt’s arms just enough for him to wrestle his way free and bolt into the school building, his sister hot on his heels. The first bell was just ringing as they made their way inside, laughing hysterically.
“That was great, little bro. Meet you for lunch?” Christin asked.
“Yeah, if I can avoid the goon squad.” Matt gave his sister a high five and they headed off to their morning classes, for the last time.
by john | May 20, 2011 | Real Life, Writing
Because I need one. It’s been kind of a rough week at work and I’m looking forward to a weekend of doing other stuff that isn’t working. My goals for the weekend –
1) Get a buzz tonight. I have beer, Vicodin and muscle relaxers thanks to a tweaked back and a doctor’s visit earlier this week. I think this one is a lock.
2) Get a haircut. I am turning into a shaggy beast and need to do something about it. Last Friday I found my beard trimmer after about a month’s absence, so I was able to tame the face-fur, now it’s time for a topside trim. My hair isn’t really that long, except for some mulletish tendencies curling around my collar, but it’s really thick, and with the thermometer reading past 80 it gets a little sweaty. And really, who needs that?
3) Write 5,000 words on Knight Moves. I did about 1,500 words this week, but that’s it. And if I’m going to make the publication deadline for The Really Cool Thing That Might Happen in July That I Can’t Talk About Yet, I need to get my ass in gear. Plus sales are going very well right now and I don’t want to lose any momentum.
4) Make sure I have all of next week’s Guest Blogs done for my blog tour. This is turning out to be a little more work than I expected, but I’m getting some great feedback, and having a good time.
Here are some cool things that have happened while I’ve been elsewhere –
Hard Day’s Knight got a couple of great reviews from Black Lagoon Reviews and A Chick Who Reads. Both reviewers gave it 5 out of 5, so I was really pleased with that!
Hard Day’s Knight broke 1,000 copies sold for the month! May is my biggest sales month ever, and it doesn’t look like things are slowing down, so that’s exciting (and all the more reason to get Book #3 out!)
I bought a Kindle. Yes, I’ve been reading on my iPad for a year and change, but I finally broke down and bought the $114 Kindle with special offers. The offers aren’t intrusive, they only show up on the screensavers and book listing page, and they don’t bother me at all. What amazes me about the device is how damn tiny and lightweight it is, and how good the image quality is. It fits in a jeans back pocket, and weighs next to nothing, so I love it so far. I’ll keep you posted on when I sit on it because I forget it’s in my back pocket, which I’m sure will be sooner rather than later.
And in an update-style thing – Hard Day’s Knight is now sitting at #7 on the Amazon Top 100 for Occult Horror! It’s been hanging around the Top 10 of this particular list for a month or so now, but 7 is the highest it’s ever been! And an overall Amazon sales ranking of #818 in Kindle Books is another record I’m pretty happy with!
by john | May 18, 2011 | Theatre, Writing
Rent is up, and it’s fantastic. If you’re in the Charlotte area anytime in the next two weeks, and can get a ticket (several performances are already sold out), you should come see this show. It’s one of the best casts I’ve worked with, very even from ensemble to leads, and the voices are amazing! They have a ton of energy, a ton of devotion to the show, and they leave everything they’ve got out on the stage every night. They hold nothing back, which is fantastic. It might be tough this Saturday night when they have two shows, but for everything else, it’s awesome! I’ll link to some photos and videos eventually, I was really happy with the way the show turned out, and a couple of folks have said that it’s probably the best thing they’ve seen me do.
I tend to agree, I think this is the best show I’ve ever lit. I’ve done well over a hundred shows, from musicals to straight plays, comedy to drama, and this one tops them all. There was one moment last week when I watched a scene unfold, the song finished up and I thought “I don’t know if I can do that any better.” Which is why I’m quitting.
I’m retiring as a lighting designer, at least for the near future. I’ve done what I can do in this market, with the available resources, and this is a great show to end my run on. Now this might end up being a Ric Flair-type retirement, that happens every couple of years until I die, but if I don’t ever do another show, I can be very happy with the body of work I’ve presented to the world. And with RENT being a show that I wanted to do for more than a decade, it’s fitting to call it done with this one.
Because I have this other career that is taking off. You know, the one that you are probably here to read about. The one that has me toodling around the internets for the next couple of weeks checking in at different blogs all over the place, doing interviews and guest posts and giveaways, oh my! So the tour continues, and today I’m over at Urban Fantasy Investigations giving an interview, so swing by and say hello!
by john | May 11, 2011 | Real Life, Travel, Writing
The Virtual Road, that is. Next week kicks off my blog tour with Bookish Snob Promotions, so here’s a rundown on where I’ll be and what you can expect when I’m there.
May 16 – I’ll be doing a Guest Post over at Black Lagoon Reviews
May 17 – I’ll be doing a Guest Post at Karissa’s Book Review, along with a chance for folks to win a signed copy of Hard Day’s Knight!
May 18 – The fine folks at Urban Fantasy Investigations have done an interview with me.
May 19 – Another Guest Post, this one at My Bookish Ways
May 20 – A Guest Post at A Chick Who Reads
May 21 – Interview at Paranormal Opinion with another signed book to give away!
May 22 – I’ll be interviewed at Reality Bites
You can keep up with me on Twitter or Facebook, where I’ll update the tour daily, and you can always find info here or at Bookish Snob Promotions. Please come over and check out these guest posts and interviews, where I get a lot more into the writing process than I typically do here on my rambling blog. And please go support Belinda over at The Bookish Snob, who’s putting this whole thing together for me.
There hasn’t been much progress on Knight Moves, because I’ve been working on RENT and getting ready for the SC Book Festival, both of which are this weekend. Also, Suzy is in a different play, which also opens tomorrow night. So it’s been a little nuts around the Hartness household. But everything calms down for a couple of weeks after Monday, so that’ll help out with my productivity. And my sleep :).
So please come visit me on tour, and if you’re anywhere near Columbia, SC this weekend, come visit me in Real Life. The Book Festival is free and features a big pile of authors, including me, Sam Morton, Faith Hunter and Kalayna Price.
