Guest Post: Casey Wyatt

Thinking Outside of the Box

Frankie – thank you for having me as a guest on your blog and for allowing me the opportunity to share my experience.   My journey to publication has been fairly short.  I sold two novels in 2011, the first year I began actively submitting.

I wrote Mystic Ink as my NaNoWriMo novel in 2010. In 2011, I polished it up and began entering it into contests. I pitched it to editors at CT Fiction in May and received several requests for the full manuscript. One publisher read the book, liked it, but passed due to marketing concerns. I also had one of the big 6 interested as well.  Then I waited, and waited, then waited some more.

In the meantime, I wrote another book – The Undead Space Initiative.  I knew the book didn’t fit into any conventional publishing genre. It’s a book about a vampire stripper who has to escape to Mars!  The dilemma – how do I pitch it?  As paranormal romance? Sci-fi romance? Urban Fantasy? Bigger publishers want books in clearly defined genres. So I had to think outside of the box and target publishers who were open to cross genre books which led me to digital first publishers.

So, later that summer, I sent out Mystic Ink and my other completed novel:  Ascension.  I still needed to edit The Undead Space Initiative, so I held onto it. Right away, I got full manuscript requests for both books.

By fall 2011, Soul Mate Publishing offered to buy Mystic Ink.  I suppose I could have waited close to a year for a response from the traditional publisher, but why? Publishing is a business and I wanted my book in readers’ hands. Keeping the book out there for a year or more meant that no one would be reading it! I’m a story teller and I have a lot more stories left to write.

My other rationale – If I was going to be expected to do all my own marketing and promotion anyway, I might as well try an e-publisher. Their publication turn-around times are much shorter and they generally don’t want the rights to your story forever.

In November, I sold The Undead Space Initiative to Pink Petal Books. I almost sold Ascension too, but it wasn’t meant to be. Not yet. I haven’t given up on the book. It’s back out for submission.

My focus right now is promoting Mystic Ink and working on my next book – Devil’s Advocate.  And I’ll need to revise The Undead Space Initiative.  2012 is going to be busy!

I haven’t ruled out pitching to traditional publishers and I hope to have my latest WIP in shape by May for CT Fiction Fest 2012. Someday, I may consider Indie publishing too.

All paths are viable options for me!

Thanks for much for having me as a guest.

I’d love to hear from your visitors about their publication experiences. And from readers- does the publisher (traditional vs. electronic) or format (print versus e-reader) matter to you? Or is it all about the story?

Visit Casey on the web: www.caseywyatt.com  or at http://secretsof7scribes.wordpress.com/. You can also find Casey on Facebook and Twitter (@CaseyWyatt1). Mystic Ink can be found at www.soulmatepublishing.com and at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Mystic Ink Blurb:

The last thing Nix, a Sea Nymph, wants to see behind the dumpster near her tattoo shop is another dead mortal. She also doesn’t want to hear Hades piss and moan about how the souls of the dead aren’t making it to the Underworld. And Nix certainly doesn’t want to be attracted to supernatural police agent, Calder Quinne when he comes to investigate. All Nix really wants is to run her tattoo shop in peace and quiet. Hey, we don’t always get what we want, now do we?

Mystic Ink Excerpt:

Nix, thoughts still swirling in her mind, headed toward the side door. After she unlocked the deadbolt, her eyes automatically went to the dumpster. Nothing. Thank the Gods. Her sigh of relief was quickly sucked back in. A dark shape further down the alley caught her eye. Maybe it was a heap of clothes or a bag of garbage. Whatever it was, it was lying near the entrance of the Underworld Gate. The Gate was invisible to all eyes, except Guardians—like her, Hades, and Charon. Whoever or whatever was back there couldn’t have known how close they were to the Underworld.

“Hell. Now what?” Please, be trash that some rude asshole left in my alley.

Rather than kick it with her foot, she decided to be more prudent and find something long to use as a poker. While grabbing a shop broom inside, she registered how quiet the place was. Of course, Basil wasn’t there. He was still with Jason.

Back in the alley, Nix slowly approached, straining for a better look. The pile was inside the building’s shadow. The closer she got, the more the lump resembled a body. She cursed. “Oh, come on! Why does this keep happening?”

Broom at the ready, she gave it jab. The mass was solid and there was no crinkle of plastic. So much for the garbage bag theory. Man, she did not want to have to call the police. At the rate she was going, they would probably arrest her just on principle.

Stupid mound.

She lifted the broom, ready to strike. An arm sprouted from the pile and shot up, stopping the handle from falling.

Nix barked, “What the hell?”

The broom clattered to the ground.

A dark figure rose up. The set of the shoulders, the short black hair . . . it was awfully familiar. “Cal?”

“Nix,” he said, his voice strained and tired. His arm extended, propping his body against the brick wall.

“If this is your idea of a joke, it’s not funny.” When he didn’t respond, Nix came up behind him and placed her hand on his back. “Are you—”

The words choked off. There was something wrong. Really wrong. His energy, the essence of his life, was out of whack. Like he was missing . . .

She put her hand up to her mouth, swallowing dread as he turned to face her. “Cal, where’s your soul?”

****

Thanks, Casey, for sharing your journey with us! Be sure to check out Casey’s website where you can learn more about the inspiration for Mystic Ink.

No Guts, No Glory

I came across this blog post, and I want all my followers to read it. It’s titled, “Stop Sabotaging Your Own Success,” and it was just what I needed to read today.  I can imagine returning to it often to keep me focused.

I particularly like the answer to the question: how do we define ourselves? We are not just the sum of what we have done so far, but also who we aspire to be. We must not sell ourselves short, or stop before we have begun.

Failure is not (usually) fatal, and really, despite the saying, no one died from embarrassment. Going for it is so much more exciting than not trying.

 

Eye Candy

I’m not feeling particularly insightful today, so I thought I’d share a great pic with you.

This fellow is how I picture one of the male protags in a future MMF project which I finally got a handle on. (Do you think he looks like an elf?) I can’t wait to share it with you, but I’ll have to while I finish FIRSTBORN (or whatever I wind up calling it).

 

One Step

This is a great message. I’ve implemented it many times, but I seem to need to hear it on a regular basis.

One Step. It’s all it takes to begin to change your life. You have to follow it with another step, and then another, but it’s a law of physics: Bodies in motion tend to remain in motion. Once you take the first step–at anything–taking the next one is easier.

A little less than a year ago I took the first step of contacting a cover artist and an editor. Now I’m preparing my third manuscript for publication and having a blast.

A saying has been running through my head a lot lately:  “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll only get what you’ve already got.” Otherwise stated: “The definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Take a step. Do something different. Enjoy.

 

The Great Social Media Flim-Flam

The Great Social Media Flim-Flam. I’ve been wondering about this myself. It seems self-evident that getting your book reviewed will result in more people reading your book, which will result in an increase of “word-of-mouth” recommendations (the most effective form of promotion). Readers have to know your book exists in order to find it right? That’s where social media comes in, right? Maybe not.

Read this post by Susan Kiernan-Lewis. It might change your mind.

What’s In A Name? (Or A Title?)

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

I’m a little over a third of the way through the first draft of FIRSTBORN. As I wrote in an earlier post, I’m trying out Rachel Aaron’s suggestions to improve my productivity. Now that the holidays are past, and my tree is finally down, I’ve been working on FIRSTBORN. My output has improved, but it still wouldn’t impress anyone. My progress has been good enough though, that I’ve been thinking about what comes after I finish: publication. And I think I ought to change the title.

I surveyed Amazon, and there are a ton of books already with “Firstborn” in the title. “Scion,” too (the sequel to FIRSTBORN). I want titles that convey suspense and romance. We did some brainstorming, and the favorites of my critique group were: BETRAYED BY TRUST, and BOUND BY TRUST. The only problem: when I checked them out on Amazon, there were several similar titles. An alternate, SEDUCED BY TRUST, has no overlap, but doesn’t have the lovely alliteration.

This is a dilemma faced by every author and publisher with books sold online. It’s important to title a book so that it will be easy to find, and will entice the reader to look a little closer. You don’t want your book to be #18  on page three of twenty identically titled books. Ideally, the title will also have something to do with what the story is about. And, of course, even if you come up with an original title, there’s no guarantee that a book published next week won’t duplicate it. Titles can’t be copyrighted, after all.

Here’s a very rough blurb for the first book:

It’s 1979. To save an Elemental Spirit from slavery, Marianne seduces the scion of the powerful family he’s bound to. But the Trust she works for wants more than her loyalty. They want her son. And they won’t let Marianne, or the man who loves her, get in their way.

And for the second book:

Thirty years ago, Evan was conceived through seduction and betrayal. Now he’s inherited what was meant for another man: an Elemental Guardian. Two powerful organizations are in pursuit, and the woman he loves works for one of them.

So I invite you to make suggestions. If you come up with a title different from those above, that I decide to use, I’ll send you a free copy of the book when it comes out.

WITH HEART TO HEAR Excerpt

Available at Amazon and B&N

I finally put up an excerpt of WITH HEART TO HEAR, my erotic Victorian fairytale. (Click on the EXCERPTS tab above.)

I absolutely love the cover Rae Monet did for this short (11K words).

The seeds of this story are from a dream that a friend told me about. She gave me permission to use it as a jumping off point, but by the time I finished, it bore little resemblance to the original inspiration.

Here’s a bit about WITH HEART TO HEAR:

An erotic beauty and the beast tale.

Elise Craft is a well bred Victorian spinster who, at the advanced age of twenty-eight, would rather study the flora and fauna of England than indulge in the social games of the ton. Then, on a trip to the lake country of Cumbria, she makes an exotic and erotic discovery on the border between everyday England and Faerie. She will never see the world the same again . . .

Define Yourself

I have a button (one of those round ones, with a pin on the back, and words on the front) that says, “Among animals it’s eat or be eaten, among humans it’s define, or be defined.” Marketers and politicians have known this to be true for as long as their professions have existed. It’s time for writers to recognize this as well.

By defining the terms you control the discussion.When it comes to your career, you should be the one defining the terms. Dean Wesley Smith wrote a recent post that touched on this. His post was mostly about how indie writers should take the long view, and regard the time they spend building their career as an investment. That, like a biweekly contribution to a retirement fund, the time devoted to writing will only gradually yield growth. This is important for impatient people like me to remember. The message: just keep writing and over time, with the magic of compound interest (in your books) success will grow. He defined writing as an investment.

But Dean also defines other terms. He says:

In the last article in this series, I went on about the difference between an “Author” and a “Writer.”

And in indie publishing, the difference can really, really be seen, with the “Authors” doing nothing but promoting “their book” while the “Writers” just get out to readers what they have written and then move on to writing new stories.

And let me repeat something I said:  It is the “Authors” who are going on and on about what indie “Writers” MUST DO.

And then Dean goes on to say what he thinks writers must do. (Write. A lot.)  My point is not to say “gotcha” to Dean, my point is that he has defined what he believes works, and he is following that path. Part of that path is sharing his definitions with the world, just like the “authors” he defined are doing.

As we must all do for ourselves. We don’t have to share it with the world, but we must figure out our own way amid the clamoring voices that are trying to tell us the “right” way to get our books written and in the hands of readers. We should not accept what an author, or agent, or even a publisher says without critical thought. We must ask ourselves if what they’re asking, or telling us to do, fits with what our vision is for our future. Of course, that means we have to have a vision for our future, even if that vision changes over time.

I sympathize with the desire to find out “the secret” to success. We had that desire in a different form, when we wanted to know how to best phrase our query letters and synopses, so a publisher would buy our latest effort. Now we indies have substituted the desire to know which review blogs to submit to, whether we should use professionally designed covers, and how to manipulate Amazon to get a better ranking and more sales.

The community of writers, and the indie community in particular, is one of the most supportive I’ve ever belonged to. Everyone I’ve talked to is willing to share how they do what they’re doing and give advice. I’ve learned a tremendous amount from authors who generously shared their experience with me.

The problem is, the advice from one source often conflicts with what the next person says. And because the indie environment is so new, there isn’t much available in the way of cold, hard facts. We’re all flying by the seat of our pants, even the ones who sound very sure of themselves. And even if they’re right about something today, next year the market will have changed.

One thing I know “for sure.” It’s that it is possible to stand still waiting to be certain that a particular path is the best. And while you’re waiting, you’re not moving forward. Try something. Don’t wait for “best.” Go with “good for now.” Define your path. It doesn’t have to look like anybody else’s. You can change direction later if you want. Most mistakes aren’t fatal, and all of them can teach. (And keep records so you’ll know if what you’re doing is working.)

How is all this affecting what I’m doing? Well, I have another button. It says, “If you’re going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance.”

Honestly, I’m just dancing as fast as I can. I’m getting my finished work out, and writing new stuff. I’m having a blast doing it, too. I don’t have much time for more than that. As I said in my last post, I may turn more of my attention to promotion when I have a number of titles for sale, but not until then. And I use the words “author” and “writer” interchangably.

 

My Self-Publishing Journey: Planning 2012

I’m a big believer in making lists and having a plan. I don’t always follow the plan exactly, but I’ve got one.

It’s good, essential even, to have dreams, but you have to have a plan for how you’re going to get there, or you’re likely to flounder around without making much progress. I believe in setting goals which are measurable and within my control to achieve. I start with the big goal, then break it down into smaller steps as I get closer. As the saying goes, life is what happens while you’re making other plans, so I like to keep my plan loose until I’m almost ready to implement the next step. You might call it “just in time” management. I don’t see the benefit of nailing down every detail far in advance, when circumstances might change.

I’ve had one quarter of being a publisher as well as a writer. If sales continue at the current pace, I’ll break even in 22 months. My dream is that the pace of my sales will increase as I continue to bring out more books, but I have no direct control over that. What I do have control over is how much I charge for my work, and how much I spend on the various components of publishing. I also have control over how much time I spend on free social media promoting my work. I don’t have control over whether time spent on social media converts to sales.

So how am I going allocate my time and money in 2012?

• The majority of my time will be spent writing, revising, and publishing two books. I’m currently preparing a backlist novel, DANGEROUS TALENTS, for publishing. DT should be out by May. I’m also writing FIRSTBORN, a tie-in novel in the Celestial Affairs universe that LIGHTBRINGER began. I plan to release FIRSTBORN in the fall. Then I’ll either begin work on GUARDIAN, the next Celestial Affairs novel, or prepare FORBIDDEN TALENTS for publishing in 2013. I will not plan another Christmas release as I did in 2011.
• I’ll continue to use social media to let the world know that I, and my books exist. I’ll blog a little less frequently, and tweet a little more. I’ll look into guest blogging so I can reach a new audience.
• I’ll send review requests to blogs that discuss the kinds of books I write.
• I’ll make personal appearances at events I enjoy: The Amore and More talks at the Pima County Library, the Tucson Festival of Books, and TusCon Science Fiction Convention.
• I’ll send postcards to book events advertising my books. I’m not sure how immediately effective this kind of advertising is, but at least it has the benefit of being targeted to readers. In direct mail campaigns a 1% conversion rate is pretty standard. With a targeted campaign it might be as high as 3%. Hmm. Now that I’m doing the math, that’s not a good return on investment. I may rethink how I implement this.
• I will research less expensive alternatives to certain production tasks, like cover design.
• I’ll research inexpensive advertising opportunities to implement once Castle Rock Publishing has three titles for sale.
• I’ll stay flexible and keep my eyes open so I can take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves.

Mostly this year, my focus is going to be on making my work available for sale. My long range plan is to release a minimum of two books a year. I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

 

My Self-Publishing Journey: Q1 Numbers

Happy New Year!

I promised a while ago that I’d share with you how the numbers are adding up for me on the self-publishing journey. I think it’s WAY too early in the journey to draw any conclusions about potential success. As Dean Wesley Smith observed in this post, it takes time to build a self-publishing business. But I also know that before I started, I’d have loved to know what to expect at the beginning. So here’s how things are going for me. Remember, your mileage will vary.

On the small press front, VEILED MIRROR  came out on August 25th in paper, and on September 21st in digital on the Wild Rose Press website and Nook. It didn’t become available for Kindle until mid October. I don’t know how many copies, in which formats, were sold from the Wild Rose Press site, but now that the holidays are past, I’ll be contacting them for that info. Royalties through the end of December: $26.37. Six additional copies were sold by hand, or on commission by Mysterious Galaxy Books at TusCon for additional income of $12.80

LIGHTBRINGER came out in digital format for Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords in mid October, and in paper early November. It was listed on All Romance Ebooks in late November. Digital sales from all sources are 19, for an income of $46.74. I sold 12 paper copies from various venues, including Mysterious Galaxy for an income of $53.32.

WITH HEART TO HEAR, an erotic fairytale short, was released on December 22nd in digital format only. I sold 16 copies on Kindle and Nook in the last ten days of the year. There was a glitch (now fixed) with the listing on All Romance Ebooks which resulted in no sales. I haven’t put it up on Smashwords yet. 2011 income from WHTH: $6.40.

Grand total from all sources for 2011: $145.58

It’s important to understand what effort has been made to encourage these sales, too. During this time I’ve given 16 books to reviewers, family, and friends. I see this as an investment in word of mouth. It’s already paying off in reviews. I have continued blogging twice a week (with my blog linked to facebook, linked in, and twitter) but very little other social media activity. I spoke at my local RWA chapter, TusCon, and at World Fantasy Convention.

These numbers will look pitiful to those accustomed to the traditional publishing pattern of sales in the thousands right after release, which then trail off over the next few months. As I understand it, the sales pattern is exactly opposite with self-publishing, with the number of units sold per month increasing over time, especially as new books are released. That being said, I’ll need to expand my exposure if I want that to be true.

Next time I’ll write about how I plan to grow my self-publishing empire.