You know what they say about a little bit of knowledge? Yeah. I’ve been playing in that little pond – to be honest, part of what held me back in writing (beyond the obvious) was that I never wanted to play the game of politics (and I don’t mean here national or even regional politics, though in publishing they were part of it, but just work-politics) and glad handing that was necessary to play the game at the tycoon level.
Mostly I wanted to write, which has certain limitations. This meant I never did anything like fly out to meet the editor and when I went there and met the editor by accident, I wasn’t ready to talk up my work (the truth is I never am. I need to spend some time working on my blurbs, honestly.)
Being a natural born hermit, I preferred staying home and typing to going to NYC and meeting people.
However, indie is a different game, and being involved with both Goldport Press and Naked Reader Press, I find it my duty to investigate how to get the widest possible distro for our books.
So I took Dean Wesley Smith’s promotion class…
Oh, wally, wally, wally….
I knew a lot of it, of course, such as get the best possible presentation for your book: covers, text, etc. And there were things I knew at the level I was playing the game, such as that a cover has to suggest what’s inside, whether it is an accurate representation or not.
But there are things that are wholly new territory. Like, the fact that it still pays to promote to the book trade, i.e. to have your book mentioned, at least under “books received” in the trade journals. Because there are a lot of new bookstores – indie – that order from that. So you have to send arcs out for reviews. (I know the author of Wool sent out earcs.)
What this means? It means that both Goldport and NR will have to consider some books for “major promotion.” Which will include arcs printed and sent to the trades.
But here’s the question – what is a major book?
It doesn’t pay to do it with all books. This is the old trade, and you don’t want them to feel they’re flooded.
So – some books.
Some of it easy. When I finish the next Austen-with-fantasy – A Flaw in Her Magic – Goldport will just bring it out, text and electronic. It’s a little thing, just a fun romance in a tiny niche.
In the same way, when I finish The Brave and the Free, should I not send it to Baen – I don’t know, okay. On one hand I want to try SF on my own, on the other maybe I’ll save that for shorter works, on yet the other hand (I an haz three hands) it’s a profoundly ODD book, and I’m not sure Baen would even want it. – it gets the arcs, and the big book treatment.
But what about stuff like Witchfinder? It was serialized on my blog, and because it took me so long to write, and it’s so odd even for my work, I can’t tell if it’s any good. It’s not a “big book” in traditional terms, just an historical adventure romp with magic.
So, should I delay the release six months and send out arcs? Or should I just bring it out, paper and e and not bother?
What to do, what to do?
A little knowledge gets me in big trouble.
Mad Genius Club 
34 responses to “What to Do, What to DO?”
[…] UPDATE: Different post over at Mad Genius Club. […]
If there’s a bunch of stuff coming out in a– how often is the list published?– time, find the strongest ones you can of the widest selection and promote those. If there’s still too many, try selecting the first books. If there’s still too many, delay publishing.
If there’s not a lot coming out, then promote the strong stuff that’s second time out, or interestingly niche.
No, the point is it’s still an expense for the PRESS and a big delay, and my question is… is Witchfinder “big” enough to hit the market well enough to justify it. (I see I explained myself very badly.)
Or I didn’t understand well, either way….
Why does there have to be a delay? Couldn’t you put it up and send it out for reviews? Is there a rule against it?
Because you want it to be “new release” and give bookstores time to order and stock. They work on a six month lead time.
So you want to send out earcs 6 months before the “release date” for reviews?
yeah, and perhaps a mention that it exists in the trades. Maybe.
It’s too bad that you can’t use “cross-genre” as a selling point like we use “interdisciplinary” as a selling point in macadamia (yes, it’s all nuts). Fantasy, romance, missing heirs, dastardly deeds, and an excess of port and whatever else Jon’s been drinking . . . it sounds like Gilbert and Sullivan, sort of.
yes, it’s mostly a ripping adventure yarn, but I wonder how much that (still) fetches in the old haunts.
We’ve been talking a lot about how that is missing. It could well slake the thirst of many.
Witchfinder is odd?
Reads odd to me. Is it? I mean, I have to rely on readers.
I don’t think so. But then you have some of my stuff.
I think that after the revision it is not so odd. Before – it was kinda twitchy, because of the problems inherent in the format. It gets a little busy in the last third, but I suppose that’s not too unusual.
No. But my relationship is odd, in the sense I can’t step back and measure it.
I’m not an author, so I don’t promote and have no expertise whatsoever. That said, I think, even in the e-arcs for review having a list of “also by this author” and “if you liked this, you may like this” for the other authors Naked Reader publishes would be a good idea. If the reviewer likes the one book they may be inspired to look for more, possibly even give a passing mention that there are related books available, and if there isn’t an immediate way to find more it can get forgotten. This has happened to me as a reader more times than I can count. I read an author’s sample or short. Go “That was good, can I get it on Smashwords or Kobo?’ Oh, not for another month?” and then when the month is up, have completely forgotten who the author was.
Reviewers are readers, at least to start with, or they wouldn’t get a job reading books.
Please please send Brave and Free to Baen!
You can compare it to Wrede’s Mairelon books, and to Diana Wynne Jones’ crossworld adventures. Or not.
I rather like DWJ’s.
Duainfey? Steve Miller and Sharon Lee. That’s a regency/magic thing, too. I don’t know how well the two books did (the other was Longeye) but Baen published those.
You can also compare it to Wrede & Stevermer’s “Sorcery and Cecelia”. I note that S&C was originally published in a *TINY* print run. And then was out of print for over a decade. It was nearly impossible to buy in the used market — I saw used copies in so-so condition sell for nearly $1000! Yes — SELL FOR, not listed at!
When it was eventually reprinted, it did well enough to spawn two (or was it three) sequels which also sold quite decently. Giving those books as comparisons should position Witchfinder quite nicely for readers who want to know something about what to expect.
I would like to second Suburbanbanshee’s recommendation.
I’d like to quietly request more distilled knowledge from the class with DWS. Not in a position to take something like that, for now, but would love an overview of the things you found most striking/informative.
I’ve been reading Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s backlog on writing and the industry, haven’t made it over to his blog as of yet. Trying to cram all the info I can in the time I can.
Eamon, I’d start with DWS’s sacred cows series, then go from there. I’m just wrapping up one of his courses and the best part was learning what to look for – good things and less good things.
It’s on the to-do list, but I haven’t gotten to it. Probably should bump it up the list…
Learning what to look for in suppliers of services?
Mine was the “pitches and blurbs” class – marketing, how to boil down story without giving away plot, how to catch readers’ and editors’ attention quickly, that sort of thing.
I’ve taken that. I still suck at them. I think part of the issue is that I leave them for last, after I do all the conversion, and by that time I’m EXHAUSTED.
(Waving at Sarah who’s in the same DWS class with me…)
Sarah, are your indie books in bookstores? Are they priced for it via the distributors?
No. I don’t have them in paper yet. I’m still working on that.
Two quick thoughts. First, you know how to do a decision matrix, right? Alternatives down the side, at least plus/minus/interesting columns, and fill in the blocks. When I teach this in courses, I usually advise that after you do that, you should still do what feels best to you — sometimes we need to throw the logical alternative out the window! It’s still a good way to organize your thinking, though.
Second, you might consider Witchfinder a probe for the series — you’ll have Rogue Magic following, right? So how do you get the most information out of this step?
I also need to put up the old MBE books, which means I need to go over them with a fine tooth comb and de-pc them.
I read every tale in the recent free + unfree theme pack. I’ll buy more from some of the authors. Another (not Baen) imprint that I can trust? I’ll buy it on spec if you can absolutely promise it’s.. unsfwa.