Posts in the "Lessons Learned" Category

• Prepare To Die!

  Introductions

  A writer comes to many realizations. Sometimes it’s about how best to schedule writing time, or how to be true to characters, or pacing, or all those other tools we all need but which are often boring to sit down and master. Hopefully, though, not all of a writer’s realizations are

  

  Paul Tobin

  about his or her writing. There’s a chomping lot of LIFE that needs to go into a novel, and that life needs to be raw. It has to be real. A writer needs to give a novel some teeth… because a good novel is a mirror that bites back.

  My novel, PREPARE TO DIE, was written in a mad haze of realization. I was gleefully slamming words down onto the page, letting them sort themselves out, because as any writer knows… the words are often smarter than we are. Characters and events, once given the nudge, will take matters into their own hands. I can’t guess the number of times I’ve been working on a project and I’ve referred to my outline and was well on the way to implementing the next piece of the organized skeleton when a character all but looked up from the page and said, “Sorry, Paul. There’s no way in hell I would do that. Either think of something else or, even better, hand me the keys. You’ve given me life, and I can handle this.” So, while Character A was once going to date character B, and Character Z was going to die, suddenly Character A and Character Z are stripping each other naked, and Character B has far too strong a will to die.

  But then, in this new alignment, everything suddenly makes sense. Before, it was a trudging trek, and now it’s an adventure. It’s a story.

  (more…)

  Read More...

• Two SF/Fantasy Predictions for 2012

  Lessons Learned

  Author’s note: Since my fellow bloggers changed the topic for this week from “genre trends” to “marketing lessons,” but I had already written this column, I’m posting my piece on the original topic.

  

  Genre Trends for 2012

  I’m notoriously bad at staying on top of trends in any medium.

  This is true of music, literature, art and design, technology, movies, TV…Sometimes I’m way ahead of the curve; sometimes I’m well behind it. I joined Friendster and Tribe before Facebook existed — but when I design a website, it looks like the 1996 has risen from the grave to wreak its bloody vengeance on the universe.

  Regardless, you can consider yourself guaranteed that whatever’s trendy this year, I’ve either never heard of it or I’m annoyed by it. If I ever liked it, I’ve lost interest in it, and I disapprove of people who are now into it. It doesn’t matter what trend it is; if you’re into it now, I either have no interest in discussing it with you, or I think your a mope for liking it.

  It’s nothing personal. I’m not trying to be “cool,” I’m just funny that way. So if you mention your cool proto-coalpunk corset or how you’re writing a Gothic pinot noir mystery, and I roll my eyes, you don’t have to worry that you’ve made a social faux pas. On the contrary, you’re in good company: people whose trendy obsessions I disapprove of; it’s a very large club.

  Plus, you can rest easy knowing that whatever trendy topics you’re into right now, I’ll be into it five years from now, and I may have forgotten that I ever disapproved of it.

  Then, you can feel free to pull the same shit on me. (more…)

  Read More...

• What a Wild and Crazy Ride

  Lessons Learned

  I like the list of stuff we’ve learned format everyone seems to be using, so I’m going to go with that. I think what I’d like to talk about are five changes to my life since publishing my book and five lessons I’ve learned along the way.

  1. Writing time is different than real time.

  In some ways—those not related to writing—this year has gone quickly. But man, I tell you, last December feels like three years ago. So much has happened to me on the writing front. The thing is—and if you were here for our early posts this year you’ll remember—you’ll find that it takes quite a while to break into publishing. Why? Because it takes a long time to learn the craft, it’s terribly competitive, and a host of other reasons. The point is that usually one struggles in relative obscurity for years. But when your first book comes out, you’re suddenly getting a lot of attention.

  The amount of attention you get is relative, of course. Some will receive more than others, but few will say that they receive less attention when their book comes out than they did while struggling to write short stories and work their way up the chain (or whatever it is they did during their apprenticeship).

  So for me, this was one of the biggest changes: the simple attention that comes with a published novel. I like to think I’m relatively humble. I don’t particularly like talking about myself—I find it hard to hawk my wares, as it were—and I become somewhat uncomfortable, especially in person, if someone talks about my work too much.

  Mind you, this doesn’t mean I’m not gratified to hear positive reviews. I’m immensely gratified. But adjusting to the fact that people are reading your stuff and talking about it is … a challenge.

  I know. Cry me a river.

  2. The work of a published author never ends.

  Some of the attention for the book came from the mere publication of it. It shows up in catalogs, on various “upcoming” lists, and so on. But I also worked hard to get the word out. In some ways it’s felt like the things I’ve done haven’t mattered. Like an interview or a guest post is up one day and gone the next. But these things have a building effect. In the words of my agent, the exposure is like the drops that slowly build the stalagmite. In other words: my brand awareness is building.

  As a small aside, some writers cringe at the notion of a brand, but it’s impossible to escape. Slowly, over time, the readership will build a certain view of you based on your works and your online presence. You’d be wise to help them form the right one.

  (more…)

  Read More...

• Five Facts Found in Fantasy/Science Fiction

  Lessons Learned

  I usually spend my time looking forward, making resolutions, planning my next adventure.   Reflection is not typically part of my repertoire.  Taking a minute to ponder what the last twelve months taught is nice, though.

  My experiences as a debut author were much the same as other debut authors.  In addition to all that, this year I was exposed to quite a bit more of the genre than I ever knew existed and I positively gorged myself on books.  Since I’d like to believe there was a point to it other than wallowing in shameless book gluttony, here are some lessons I’ve learned as a reader of science fiction/fantasy:
  

  
  1)  Science fiction and fantasy teach philosophy and culture.

  This is not news to most readers.  In fact, there are books and college courses taught about that.  You can learn all about it here. Clive Thomas thinks sci-fi is the last bastion of philosophical writing. In Cameron Hurley’s God’s War, the reader is immersed in a futuristic Muslim society in which the entire civilization is locked in a sectarian battle. Likewise, Brad Beaulieu’s The Winds of Kalakovo draws deeply on Russian culture to create its fantasy world. When I read them, I was not only  immersed in the story but I also felt that I had gained insight into a culture I have little to no familiarity with.

  2)  Read outside your bubble.

  Just like your Internet filter bubble only feeds you links of news it thinks you might like or shows you sites whose opinions and viewpoints that match yours, you can get in a reading bubble.  That is all well and good.  It can help you more easily finds things you will like, but you aren’t going to get your mind blown by stuff inside your bubble.  There’s good stuff out there that you might not know about if you don’t philosophically turn off your filters or physically log out of your Amazon account. For example, you might not think that Jeff Burk’s  Super Giant Monster Time! (Choose Your Own Mind-Fuck Fest #3) is necessarily your cup of tea, but you’d be missing out on some seriously outside-the-box funny. Horizons = broadened.  (more…)

  Read More...

• Hindsight 20/20

  Lessons Learned

  Now that the year is on its deathbed, taking its last few holly-scented draughts of air, I look back at my debut year and am well pleased. I learned a few things about myself, about the industry, and about how to conduct myself (or not conduct myself) professionally. Broke a few eggs. Made a few messy (yet delicious!) omelets.

  The main thing I take from this year regarding publishing is this – if something doesn’t seem right to you, you’ve got to fight for your book, and your vision of the book, even though it might offend people. Because it’s YOUR book. (more…)

  Read More...

• 10 Things I Learned About the Publishing Biz The Year My First Novel Was Published

  Lessons Learned

  This year, after writing and submitting stories and manuscripts for 15 years, 10 years since attending Clarion, 9 year since I went to my first SF convention, 7 years after I started blogging, and 3 years after my first book acceptance… my first book was published. Followed six months later by the second.

  It was a strange thing to happen, after so many years of just… well, work. And because it had been such a long road getting there, it felt like it happened all at once. Sometimes my head spins just thinking about it.

  Here’s what I learned from this wild year of author firsts:

  1. Going to Clarion, conventions, blogging, and networking with other writers is totally worth your time. You can write a great book all you want, but unless you can get the word out, you’re sunk. It helps to have people who are willing to give you space to speak about it on other sites, or who have already heard of you. If you read my long road to publication, you’ll find it littered with nudges and good words and recommendations and coincidences that involved connecting with people who knew somebody… who influenced somebody… who called somebody. Not only that, but you may also find people generous enough to read and critique your early stuff. This is vital to writing a good book. Which leads us to…
  2. You better have written a good book. It doesn’t matter who you know if what you write is crap. Even your best friend isn’t going to put their rep on the line by pushing a book off on other people that’s total crap. If you’re still writing total crap, none of this will make any difference.
  3. Having an agent really is worth it. If you have a day job, and a life outside of writing, then handling the long submission and negotiating process involved in pitching to big publishers will give you hives. And if, as happened with my book, there are contractual hiccups along the way, you don’t want to have to be the one screaming at everybody on the phone. And having a good agent gives you a lot of cred that you otherwise wouldn’t have gotten from the Big Guys.
  4. Marketing your book is exhausting. It is probably the toughest part of the job. I knew I wouldn’t have a ton of help with this from my publisher, and there was a lot of legwork involved. A lot of cold pitches to folks. A lot of “saying yes” to everything. Though I was ready for the physical work of this, I didn’t realize just how much mental energy it was going to take out of me. If you know when your release date is, you should take some time off the day job and/or ensure you have a lighter workload during this time. Plan for your book release the same way you would for any other work project, allotting the proper resources.
  5.  Figure out where to invest your time. Speaking of marketing, shotgun marketing doesn’t do anybody any favors. It will just make you more tired. Figure out where your audience is, and what venues you show up in that get results. Either in mentions/retweets, clicks, or actual sales numbers. Sign up for Amazon Associates and track clicks that way. Even if people don’t immediately buy, it gives you an idea of whether or not the people you want to reach are reading/viewing the venue you show up in. This will save you a lot of time and wasted effort.
  6. Your family may be a lot more awesome and supportive than you think. What I write is pretty weird, so I was surprised my family came out so enthusiastically for these books. My dad even went so far as to build it into a performance promotion for the restaurants he oversees operations for. And more than a few wait staff and waiting rooms on the West coast ended up getting free copies. My mom has spammed every publication in Southwest Washington with the news – twice.
  7. Know what you need to break even. When you’ve got your first book out, it’s good to know what your print run was and how many books you need to sell to earn out your advance. Not necessarily because you can do anything about it, but because it will make you more realistic in your expectations for success. Knowing what “success” actually looked like was good for me. It ensured that me, my agent, and my publisher were on the same page.
  8. Bookscan is a piece of crap. This is a free service through Amazon (you have to pay for it elsewhere), which is the only reason it’s a good price. Don’t rely on it to give you accurate book sales. All it can do is tell you the overall trend in your sales – sales are up relative to this week over this week, or down this week over this week. Don’t use them to plan your pity party.
  9. Know when to fold. I am just a meatbag. I cannot do ALL THE THINGS. Especially not if I want to spend time actually writing books. I planned a three month marketing calendar for each book, which turned out to be too much for me. Eight weeks is what I can do. Devoting more than that and keeping up with the day job and writing the next book proved… maddening.
  10. The hardest stuff is yet to come. I always thought that publishing my book would be the hard part. After that, I figured I’d have proven myself. I could just write books and get recognized as a pro and tra-la. But it doesn’t work that way. Pro careers end. Sometimes spectacularly, but most often with a whimper. Poor sales, generally. Or just poor publishing decisions. Or bad luck. It happens. Careers fizzle. Or are relaunched. And with every new book, you are issued a new set of challenges, and a new chance at succeeding or failing. Books fail all the time. Careers implode. Everything you worked half your life for can be gone in a second. Because, of course, novel writing isn’t like leveling up in a video game. It’s more like a fitness regime. You have to work out every day. Maybe hire pros to help. You have to explore new routines, get new trainers, and above all you have to work at it – every day. It’s never over. Never done. You’re on the treadmill now, and you sink or swim not only on everything that has come before, but everything you’re doing now.

  So spend your time wisely.

  Read More...

• Marketing and Promotion. Uggh.

  Lessons Learned

  Sorry about yesterday. I’m still recovering from an illness. Bleh.

  Anyway, marketing and promotion is probably my least favorite subject when it comes to all things book-related. Marketing in general feels dishonest and manipulative. It’s about people doing their utmost to control the uncontrolable. It’s desperation for some magic pattern that makes something sell no matter what, all the time, every time. Marketing will get a bad book read. We’ve all seen it. It won’t help a bad book in the long run, however. Eventually, people do see that the Emperor’s snazzy new clothes don’t exist. Mostly, I feel a writer’s job is to write the best book they can. If the publicist says one should do something, by all means, do it, but a writer’s first job is to write. Never lose sight of that.

  That said, promotion and marketing are a necessary evil — even I’ll admit that. The important thing, from what I’ve seen, is getting the book reviewed at high-traffic sites. (Courtney names a few.) To be frank, I haven’t paid much attention to what works and what doesn’t. Again, it’s not my main concern. I enjoy conventions. I feel they’re worthwhile. I enjoy podcast interviews too. Blog posts are fun, but they do take a lot of time away from the current project. Talking to booksellers is the main thing I’d add. Booksellers are your friend. Get a bookseller to promote your book and it’s a deal-changer. It’s the most sucessful form of word of mouth there is. (In internet-world, successful reviewers are booksellers, btw.) Oh, and big regional newspapers have been helpful too, believe it or not, particularly if they’ve an online presence. GoodReads? I’d have to go with ‘ish’ because well… there are no established rules for reviewing. People don’t even have to have read the book. And it carries just as much weight as the person who bothered to read the book. So, go figure.

  Are there things I’d have done differently? I’m not sure. Since I don’t feel I control whether or not my book gets read… I don’t feel anything I do has that much effect. Sure, I could’ve approached the whole thing from a more marketing-saavy angle, but I’m pretty sure I’d have hated myself for it. [shrug] My second book is coming out soon. Maybe I’ll feel differently once that happens. We’ll see. But based on my experience with the first book? I’ll leave you with this: a writer’s job is to write to the best of their ability. All else is extra.

  Read More...

• The Black Art of Debut Novel Promotion

  Lessons Learned

  So it’s December and my debut novel The Whitefire Crossing has been out for about 6 months now. Long enough to make me an expert ready to dole out sage advice on the ins and outs of debut authorhood, right? ….Right? HAHAHAHA. Sheesh, if a writing career is like climbing Everest, I haven’t even made it yet through the Khumbu Icefall to Camp I.

  But that said, I know how eager I’ve been to read other authors’ experiences, especially their travels through the foggy no-man’s-land of marketing and promotion. Especially posts like David Louis Edelman’s How I Promoted My Book.  Specific accounts that discuss what they did to promote, how they felt it worked, and what they’d do differently next time.

  In my case, I’ll also discuss the time factor. Because marketing doesn’t have to cost you money, but it does cost you time. Serious time. I’d heard people say as much, and I thought I’d factored that in when I decided what I’d do and what I wouldn’t…but, yeah. Turns out I underestimated the time I’d need to write guest posts, interviews, etc by a good order of magnitude. Honestly, my biggest suggestion to a future debut author is this: if you have a day job and/or other demands on your time besides writing, then don’t plan to do any writing other than marketing/promo stuff for the 3 months surrounding your book’s release. (The month before, the month of, and the month after.) You’ll be much happier and saner if you don’t have to stress over the trade-off between writing your next book and promotional efforts for the current one.   (Yes, yes, I know, what a pipe dream.  But hey, some people can probably plan well enough to pull that off.)

  Okay, on to the list.  Note that here I’m just talking things I did myself, not things Night Shade did for me. (more…)

  Read More...