So, September

I intend to be published by September.

That's 4 months away, and technically my book isn't finished. You couldn't do that through a TradPub house.

September is important to me. I start my HND in September (I'm going back to college to study making movies. I was working in a warehouse for years and lost my job ((Thank Gods)) in January. I hated that job).

I turn 28 in September. I've set a goal of being published at 27. It's a good age and I have a weird fondness for odd numbers.

But I'm not fixated on September. The book will go when it's ready, and if that means November so be it. I think it might mean July; we'll just have to wait and see.

My deadline is very important to me. You see, left to my own devices, I have a tendency to procrastinate like fuck. (That's not what I'm doing just now. Don't be silly. I'm building my platform!)

So September; a deadline, but not a hard deadline. The book will go when it's ready.

My to-do list:

• write new chapter for book
• write short story set in book universe and publish for free
• re-write 2 chapters
• research and re-write 1 chapter
• revise, reduce word count
• get someone to crit book
• decide on a cover design
• do cover design (beg my artisty friend for cover design aid?)
• get professional author photo
• research all the businessy crap like working from home, tax returns, etc
• market my book
• format my book
• publish my book
• keep marketing my book
• write another book
• publish my book in print

So, not a lot, then.

;)

10 self publishing questions

In a brilliant bit of marketing Nathan Bransford has posted 10 questions to ask yourself before you self publish.

Why is it a brilliant piece of marketing? Simple, really - people who frequent agent's blogs are desperate for some way to get published, traditionally published. He knew that the majority of people would instantly dismiss the idea of self-publishing.

If you want to know why they dismissed the idea, Zoe Winters blogged about the real source of self-publishing stigma.

Anyway, I thought I'd have a go at the 10 questions, see how I do.

Here goes:

Have you taken the time to research both the self-publishing and traditional publishing routes?

Yes. I've wanted to self-publish since 2005. I know all about Smashwords, Lightning Source, going straight to Kindle, and I've spoken extensively with others who have done this. I've also researched traditional publishing, and regularly read
Nathan Bransford's and Kirstin Nelson's blogs.


Does your book appeal to a wide audience, or a niche?

Well it's a steampunk sword and sorcery adventure so I guess a large niche.

Question 3 is "if you tried to find an agent..." but I never tried.


Do you know which self publishing model you want to follow?

Yes. Due to monetary constraints I will publish by ebook, then when I have enough money coming in I will buy my ten ISBNs from Nielson. Then I'll publish through Lightning Source.

Can you afford to lose any money you plan to spend?

If everything goes to plan I won't be spending any money.

Do you have a plan for copyediting, cover design, ISBNs, etc?

E-books don't need ISBNs. Cover design will be done nearer the time, I'm researching the Hell out of it (I've just read so much info on typography that you wouldn't believe. And when you look at other, published books, the word placements become so obvious). Copy editing will be my kryptonite, but I'm active on a Runboard writing forum, and Kelly Armstrong's Otherworld OWG, and if I have to I'll join critters or something.

Or I'll do someone's book if they do mine.

Do you have a marketing plan?

Absolutely. It hinges on me being published by August/September. It's still being worked on, but there will be money-off vouchers, special offers, competitions, and a few other things I'm not mentioning yet.

Do you have a plan for your next book?

Of course I do, just because I intend to DIY doesn't mean I'm not a real writer.

Do you have a healthy amount of self-esteem and an entrepreneurial spirit?

Yes, and oh yes I certainly do.

10. Are we having fun yet?

Oh yes, I love all this. The danger, the excitement. Okay, maybe not danger; but it is exciting, like being on the edge of something awesome, the edge of the future. I feel like an explorer in new territory, a pioneer in new technology. The world's a-changing, baby. You're either going to change the world or let it change you, and I've always hated being told what to do.

Maybe it's my film student background (I'm going to do an HND in television this September) and maybe it's because I'm Scottish (for such a small country we have loads of entrepreuners and often lead the world in innovation), but I love the idea of being Indie, whether it's Indie films, music or writing.

What about you? How did you score?

Nerves

I've wanted to self-publish since 2005. At the time I hung around a lot on Scribes, a forum at Runboard. I'm not linking to it because it's gone now. I mentioned there that I wanted to self publish, and I was shot down by so many voices.

Under their advice, I decided to concentrate on "real" publishing. My book died and has to date not been resurrected.

A guy called Alan Baxter joined Scribes, and he went on to self-publish. His books are out under his own imprint, Blade Red Press. He was doing all the things I'd wanted to do, using all the ideas I'd come up with on my own.

I thought about self-publishing again.

For a while I yoyoed between the two, never realizing that every time I considered "real" publishing my books would die. I've written this book with the goal of self-publishing from the start. The book is the story I want to tell.

I have a character no mainstream publisher will touch: a 72 year old woman dying from consumption. Which might not be a problem if this wasn't a sword and sorcery styled story. But it is. Actually, genre is my second problem. My book is sword and sorcery, in a steampunk alternate Edwardian London. I've taken to calling it a steam and sorcery book. Publishers tend to get nervous when you go around inventing your own genre.

And for a third thing, I love designing covers. Okay, so I can't draw, but I'm handy with a digital camera and I'm learning my way around photoshop.

But the main reason is this... with a self-publishing goal in mind I've written more than I ever managed before. The very idea of sending out to publishers makes me feel ill, and not with nerves. Well, yes, nerves - but not rejection nerves. Trust me, I know how good my writing is. It makes me feel ill with mismanagement nerves. Publishers still have their heads in the past. It wouldn't take much to shake up the publishing world, to make things happen.

But publishers are too interested in their profit margins. It keeps being parroted over the net, publishing is a business. Well, writing is an artform. And without writers, there would be no need for publishers.

I went way off on a tangent there, did you see that? Cool.

Anonymous Independent Author

Hello, hi, how are you?

Well, I'm Chris and I'm an anonymous independent author, or I will be soon. See, I decided (like, years ago) that I want to self publish.

I know, I know - it's always the same reaction. How dare I suggest self-publishing as a genuine, reasonable, inexpensive, realistic alternative to the traditional way of doing things?

Um, because it is...

Oh, it's not always been so, I get that. There was a time when it was possible to bankrupt yourself just getting your book out there. I know that. But that's not my plan. I intend to do this with a budget of about a £5er, tops.

Yes, let the laughter roll in.

I'm serious.

This blog is going to detail the run up to my self-publishing adventure, and the aftermath, and will also feature my writing. I'll be setting up a free website soon, too, so I'll link to there. I'll link to everywhere that has any information on self-publishing, and I'll let you know exactly what I do and how it all works out for me.
It may all end in tears.

Probably not, though.

Even if it isn't a fantastic success story, I doubt it will make me cry.

And finally, why... do you know some publishing houses offer a £5000 advance for the rights to a novel for 50 years in all formats worldwide? Now partly that's due to the credit crunch and partly it's because of e-books. But my problem isn't the money, it's the "all formats, worldwide, for 50 years" part. If I hate my publisher, then what? I'll get my book back when I'm 77?

Yeeha, I'll be doing a lot with it when I'm nearly 80, won't I?

Probably not, no.

Okay, so not 50 years, that's a bit extreme. But seven years, fifty years, it doesn't really matter how long it is. 1 year is too long.

I want control. Over everything. I don't want to end up with a crap cover (it happens a lot) and I don't want to have to change the ending of my novel (I'm not one for happy endings. I like heroes to be martyrs. Publisher's don't).

So, yes, I'm self-publishing. I don't think it will make me rich, but I do think it will make me happy.

Of course, I'm happy as I am, too. I'm quite lucky that way.

Idiots on the Loose - a rant

Steampunk World Presents... some fool commented this...

Anonymous said...

One problem - did you have to use the airship with the nazi symbols? Looks like a covert nazi website. Surely you can photoshop that out. Now I am thinking steam punk is some sort of covert nazi society.

27 January 2010 18:26

Okay, first this is called a swastika, not a Nazi symbol.  Is there a difference?  Well, yes, swastika's have been used since Neolithic times.  They are still used today, mainly in India, but also in many Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism.

But in the image above it is portrayed as a Nazi symbol.

Did I have to use it?
No, but it was the coolest free image I could find.

Can I photoshop it?
No, because not everyone has photoshop.

Looks like a covert Nazi website.
Umm, why?  The image above shows an airship with a Nazi swastika on it FLEEING New York.  I always had the impression the Nazi's had just had their asses handed to them by the yanks.  Further, if this was a Nazi website why the Hell would it be covert?  Why would I keep things like that secret?

If I was a Nazi, I'd be in your face.  It's where Nazis tend to be.  I'd be registered on a Nazi website directory, like this one.  I'd have pictures of Hitler up.  I'd be going on and on about those Jewish ass-oles.  If I was a Nazi, you would have no doubt of it.  I don't see why Nazi's would keep things secret.  They want to change the world.  What do you want?

  Now I'm thinking
No, you're not.  Your coming on my blog and puking your crud on my screen.  If you were thinking you wouldn't have posted such a stream of idiotic trash and I wouldn't be here impotently wishing for Nazi stomping boots to give you a curb stomp with.

Steampunk is some sort of covert Nazi society
Only because your an idiot!

The Next Stage

I sent an email to my last beta reader yesterday.  I received one back today.  They are finished, and I'll get some info back in a few days.  Which means I know have to do lots of research (I didn't to start because I prefer to concentrate on the story).  So watch this space for links.  Lots of links. 

Theories in the church

There are those in the steampunk community who dress in 19th century fashions, talk with
19th accents and words, and have the impeccable manners of Victorian aristocracy.  These types of people long for the days of yore when everything in the world was more passionate and extreme than today. 

One of the most extreme things was the attitude of the Christian Church which, in retrospect, seems to have been a bubbling cauldron of thoughts and ideas.  It went into the century old and set in its ways, and came out of the century fractured. 

Yes, fractured.  I can think of nowhere to so adequately describe the splits of thoughts throughout the Church.  Today we're looking at one of these splits: creationism.

Out of the 19th century we have  Young Age Creationism.  This is the idea that life was created sometime after Homer devised both Illiad and Odyssey.  This rubbishes claims of "old age" and says there is a global scientific conspiracy against YAC. 

To which scientists make little reply, claiming only that you don't say bye-bye when you flush the toilet bowl.  Personally I don't know either way, but religion breeds animosity.

On the other side of the fence are the Old Earth Creationists, but this isn't a single theory, it's several.  There's GAP creationism, which thinks that all life was wiped out on an old earth, and the earth was sterilised.  Then 10, 000 years ago God recreated all life.  This viewpoint came out of the Victorian era and was made popular in the 1909 Scofield Reference Bible.

William Buckland, 12 March 1784, 15 August 1856

A member of the Royal Society, twice President of the Geological Society of London, a member of the clergy, find everything you could ever want here.

And I know this post isn't up to my usual standards.  That's kinda tough, I'm still wired for xmas.

And the Pope knew then the Church was doomed...

The Vicky era (as I've decided to affectionately term 1800 - 1900, in every country in the world) was a time of great worry for the Christian clergy.  Everyone knows of Darwin now, but he wasn't the only threat.  Men like geologist Charles Lyell, the strongest opponent of the Diluvial position, argued strongly against the Church's statement of facts. 

Charles Lyell was born in Scotland, and moved to London to become a barrister.  He couldn't because of poor eyesight.  There is more information on him at Wikipedia: Charles Lyell.  Then there was the guy who published the Theory of Natural Selection.  No, it's not Charles Darwin. It was Alfred Russel Wallace, whose publication prompted Darwin to publish his own paper.

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck believed in evolution.  He thought men came from orang-outangs.  William Buckland proved that Kirkdale Cave was a prehistoric Hyena den and found elephant and hippopotamus bones.  In Yorkshire. Buckland was also a member of the clergy.

So, with all this science abounding, its no wonder the clergy began to shake in its foundations, shakes which reverberated right up through the church.  And that's when the Pope knew the Church was doomed...

Or at least, that's modern theory.  In fact, 47% of Americans believe the world is no more than 10,000 years old and that sometime in those 10, 000 years, Man was created looking as he does now.  The Church wasn't that worried.  Indeed it had its own internal problems with Young Creationists and the Old Earth Theorists. 

Next History Post (Next Tuesday, I'm sticking to post planning) will look at Church attitudes to these theories at the time, with more information on Buckland - he's fascinating.

 And I'll use the desktop so I can include pictures, yay!

Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, 150th Anniversary Edition is available at Amazon, for $6.95, if you're interested.  If not, I doubt the world will end.



Who's your favourite Victorian scientist?

1. Darwin
2. Lyell
3. Buckland
4. John Snow
5. Professor Challenger
6. Dr Moreau
7. Dr Jekyll
8. Dr Frankenstein
9. Lamarck
10. Huxley

Let me know...

What is steampunk?

Steampunk is a vast, wide-ranging sub-culture.  People might just dip their toes in, such as playing a tabletop steampunk RPG; or they might wade in, playing steampunk LARP games once a month.  They could doggie paddle in, dressing up for certain events, or they could scuba dive - wearing steampunk clothing throughout their daily lives. 

And I have no idea where all those weird watery metaphors came from, but never mind. 

When it comes to fiction we bring problem upon problem on ourselves.  If steampunk is aesthetic then its all about appearance.  So what is the genre?  Well, actually, steampunk could be horror or it could be romance or retro science fiction (the way things could have been) or even fantasy. 

And the themes are even wider. 

Then what keeps steampunk together - what labels it as steampunk?  Well, for the steam part of it, there must be a society placed some time after the start of the Industrial Revolution, but before the use of electricity became widespread.  This can be on an alternate Earth or in a completely imaginary world.

And there must be punk - that hint of rebellion.  I like to apply the same dystopian elements to steampunk as you are likely to find in a cyberpunk novel.  A lot of people see the past as some sort of golden age (especially Victorian Britain).  Forget about your Jules Verne and read some Dickens.  It really sucked to be poor in those days.

The really cool thing about steampunk is that it is so open to personal interpretation.  So, what's your interpretation?

A Post Plan

I have been posting sporadically, so in time for the New Year I have decided to set a blog timetable up.
If I post on

Monday it will always be writing advice
Tuesday shall be the day for historical articles re: the Victorians and Edwardians
Wednesday will see me review a steampunk website, of some kind or other
Thursdays will be when I dedicate some time to a new feature - either the finding of (and discussing of) an RPG or adopting an existing RPG to be steampunk. 
Fridays will bring reviews of books, films, and so on (though they won't all be steampunk)

Weekends are free for anything. 

I'm not saying I'm going to post every day, but the days I do post I will aim to keep to my posting plan.

Writing Blogs You Should Read

beckys writing blog

writer unboxed

Where Backstory was...

Where Backstory is now

incurable disease of writing

Emerging Writers Network

Seriously, becoming a writer

Winning

IF.....

IF you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, ' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

That was If by Rudyard Kipling, and rather apt it is, too.
As I approach the end of this year, another year of nothing, I can see and feel great changes in the next one. It's almost like a disturbance in the force!


But I can be the things in this poem. I can keep my head whilst the world screams "Recession!"
I trust myself, but even randomly generated adverts seem to be advising me to another course of action. I know why so many doubt me, too - what makes what I have so different, so special?

I am impatient, but by taking my time and doing things right I will reap the rewards.
I have a dream, but I am realistic. Same with my thoughts... I know the nature of reality.


This year I'm going to risk it all on a throw of the dice, and if I lose, then so be it.

I won't lose.

Finished

I finished a draft of my novel.

And that's all for today

The End is Nigh

Or so the scare mongerers would have you believe. Are the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse really riding down the Winds of Change towards their distant goal of Paper Eradication? I'm all for saving the Trees. I'm very Environmental (and not just because its "cool"). Yes, I quoted cool, thusly proving how gloriously uncool I am.

Is the death of the Printing Press on the horizon? Will the future of books be electronic data exchange.
Em, no.

I could be completely wrong, but I don't think I am. The Kindle could be the best thing since monkeys invented the wheel, but I doubt it.

Books are lovely. Gadgetry is not.

The Publishing World fears the Publication of Dan Brown's next multi-million pound making wad of toilet paper will change the publishing world forever, because it is being published in paper and electronic formats on the same day.

So, the Pros and Cons of both formats. Well, you don't need to leave the house to download an electronic book. Or to collect your parcel from Amazon. So, that's 1-1.

Well, you can take your book in the train. Your kindle, too. 2-2. You can take your book on the aeroplane... does anyone know if kindle's are allowed. I'm being serious, here. I haven't heard, but you're not allowed mobiles, right? Or is that just during take off and landing? I'm not sure.

Anyway... you can take your book to the seaside. Your kindle, too, if you don't mind getting sand inside it.
You can take your book in the bath. I wouldn't recommend it with a kindle.

You only need to pay for the book. You need to pay for the kindle and the e-book.
A shelf of books in your home can be a lovely thing. A kindle isn't.

You can loan a book out, and still read a different book. If you loan your kindle out, you loan all your e-books out.

The bookshop staff won't come to your house and rip pages out of your book.

Books are kicking the kindle's ass here.

Right then, so much for the pro's and con's. Next we can look at the AUDIENCE FACTOR.

The people who make up most of the Dan Brown reading group are the sometimes. They might read on Holiday. They might read in the Sun. But they don't really read often enough to consider buying a kindle. These are the people who buy books because everyone else says they're fantastic.


Finally, we should probably consider Piracy.


Piracy is difficult when you hold a book in your hands. Someone would need to steal a pre-print copy and then PRINT IT on a printing press. Because we all have them in our spare rooms. Yeah, right.

Pirating a computer file is easy enough.

Finally, we (the book buying public) have a choice and in the end it comes down to this. Books are comfortable, stylish, simple to use, don't hurt your eyes and, in most other ways, are just BETTER.

That was harsh

I have just deleted a post saying I'm not posting anymore. How fickle am I? My novel was getting hard. Every word was being slowly bled out of my fingertips. I hated writing. It was killing me.

It still is, but the blog isn't. I have things I want to post, things I want to say.

Watch this space.