06/05/2023 • 10:24 AM 2

Call it a Comeback

I am currently on two painkillers, an anti-inflammatory, and a plethora of other herbs and potions to keep me mobile. Insomnia and pain have plagued me. The hip replacement surgery was a success, but now the opposite hip is worse. Another surgery is coming, but in the meantime, here’s what I’ve learned about keeping up the habit of writing.

1. At first? Don’t. Pain can be so distracting that writing is too much of a chore. It’s good to know when to rest. Resting doesn’t mean you’re giving up. You may feel useless for a while. I sure have felt like I’m done and it’s all over, but I’m working my way past that.

2. Pain management requires time and patience. I am not patient, but I know the process. Ask for help. Follow instructions. Ignore the rise-and-grind culture that insists you’re lazy if you don’t push, push, push. That doesn’t apply to you right now (and probably better if it never applies). You are a healing person, not a broken machine.

3. My writing career has taken a hit, but fighters take hits all the time and keep going. Harness the power of positive expectation. Things will get better and/or more manageable.

4. Have a support network. Visits from my son just to watch TV together have cheered me immensely. A phone call, texts, or an email from a friend provide me occasions to rise to. I will complain, but I’ll do so in an entertaining fashion. As per Patton Oswalt: Horror plus time equals comedy.

5. Find distractions and joy where you can, when you can. I’ve been watching The Man from Atlantis, and my God, the bar was way too low for TV writers in the ’70s! The scripts are awful, but Patrick Duffy is blameless, the score is stirring, and the credits are solid. (That’s right. The show is so bad that I have to find worth in the font and color of the credits).

6. Once you’re through the first part of your recovery, explore whatever will prod you back to the keyboard. For me, it’s treating myself to a coffee in the morning. One rule: Can’t have that coffee without working at the keyboard. When I follow that rule, I get writing done.

7. If you can do #6, you’re ready to set a writing schedule again.

8. BIG BUT: It’s a schedule, not a shackle. Maybe you slept poorly, or you’re going through an inflammatory phase. Whatever the variable, be gentle with yourself now. You’re still recovering, so if the pain comes and you can’t concentrate, return to points #1 and #2.

9. Engage with the world beyond disease. Initially, recovery and its troubles were all I could think about. The other day I was writing, and I realized later that I hadn’t thought about my health for almost an hour straight. Last week, the longest I could go was probably twenty minutes. Osteoarthritis is not my entire personality anymore. I can talk about other things. Pain and worry aren’t taking up all my cerebral real estate.

10. Writing is one way I engage with the world. Despite the pain, I’m at Stage 9 today. I went for a limp (not a walk) in the sunshine this morning. I took my meds and bribed myself to get back to my writing desk. My favorite coffee is steaming beside me, and I’m about to disappear into my work in progress.

Good luck with your process, too, whether you’re wrestling with your WIP, your hip, or whatever other ills the flesh is heir to.

~ Rob’s writing again. His current WIP is a tale of vengeance that turns into a lifelong campaign. Read his many books from the links on his author site, AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: publishing, writing, writing advice, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, writing

04/23/2023 • 7:17 PM 5

Waiting for Dawn on the Comeback Trail

The first twenty minutes of coming back from the dead are the worst. After forty-four staples on a ten-inch wound, I’m working on my comeback.

Minor detail: I wasn’t coming back from the dead. I was returning to consciousness after major surgery. I thought I was dying, though. The last thing I remember was a surgical team member lowering a mask over my face and telling me to breathe deeply. I disappeared into nothingness, but in an instant, I was swimming back, wide awake and drowning. The pain was searing, and I was unprepared for the burn. I found out later the surgery had been difficult, but successful.

Pain. Four letters, one syllable. It’s really not a big enough word.

I’d been in the void for just over two hours, and that retreat was okay. Death doesn’t scare me. It’s the dying part that kills you. Why me? I thought. This should be happening to my many, many enemies.

“The morphine will kick in soon, but I can’t give you too much at once, or you’ll stop breathing. My job is to keep you breathing.” That was Laura, my post-op nurse and shepherd back to the land of the living. As the pain subsided, my sense of humor returned. Laura was great. I was going to be great. It was going to work out. But it’s been harder than I’d hoped.

I anticipated most post-op issues. My main problem is sleep. I can’t get enough of it, and I must sleep on my back for six weeks. The sedatives help a bit. At least I’m not watching reruns of Kung Fu at 3 a.m. anymore. I’m bingeing Justified and Fresh Off the Boat, but that’s a daytime distraction while I perform my remedial exercises. I’m off the narcotics, but I must admit arthritis really fucked me up. I’m feeling old and useless. You don’t fight a disease like this. That’s the wrong metaphor. Instead, I’m hobbling away from it. Using a walker and a cane, I’m putting distance from Decrepit Me. I’m nostalgic for the days when I could kick opponents in the jaw, but eventually I’ll walk normally. Surgery makes a pretty X-ray. Activity makes it a moving picture. I’m looking forward to returning to boxing.

Rehab is a full-time job.

My surgeon performed the vivisection and engineering expertly. I am a cyborg, renewed by titanium, cobalt, and polyethylene. My physiotherapist is endlessly encouraging. She sees a stationary bike in my near future. Though my progress is incremental, I’m retraining my body and improving daily. We set up a recovery room with assistive devices at home. My wife, She Who Must Be Obeyed, is a doctor. However, through this ordeal, she’s been doing double duty as my nurse. She’s also proved herself a saint.

That first twenty minutes haunts me, though.

I dwell on my mortality too much. My sense of time is still messed up. I’m morbid and more emotional than usual. I didn’t have claustrophobia before. Getting tangled in the sheets triggers me now. A week after surgery, I felt panic mount as it took me too long to find the neck hole in a hoodie. Even as I dismissed the problem as ridiculous, my lizard brain was fired up and ready to flail. Sometimes it feels like there isn’t enough oxygen in the room.

There are many milestones on the Comeback Trail, and I am not a patient patient. Anxiety and depression are common after major surgery, and I had those issues even before I went under the buzz saw. Last week I wrote my first work email, details on a book doctoring job. Typing up a few paragraphs of instructions wiped me out for the day.

I hope to get back to writing my next novel soon, but I had my first shower since the surgery only yesterday. I still want to record my audiobooks, but that’s a little further down the Comeback Trail just now. I must stop for the night. Darkness comes for us all, and I am waiting for the dawn. My surgery date was March 31. This post is the most I’ve written since March 30.

~ I am the cyborg writer of award-winning science fiction and killer crime thrillers. Find all books by Robert Chazz Chute on my author site, AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: publishing, writing, arthritis, books, hip replacement, hip replacement surgery, osteoarthritis, publishing, recovery from hip replacement, Robert Chazz Chute, writer, writing

02/21/2023 • 10:10 PM 3

Publishing’s Numbers Game

When I think of traditional publishing, I think of the traps some fall into. I worked in trad pub in Toronto for five years. The reality did not match my dreams.A few examples of bear traps come to mind. Some of these math equations will feel terrible. That’s why we have to be aware and beware. Eyes open, here we go:

1. Agents may only take on one or two new clients each year, and not every client they take will go on to be published. Some reject queries reasonably quickly. Getting to yes can take a long time. It’s a step, and that’s all it is until contracts are signed.

When submitting to agents, qualify them first by checking out their genres of interest, who they represent, and their track record with authors. Reputations are easy to search out these days. Vet their social media and do a vibe check. Then send out a lot of queries and manuscripts (if requested). This will require patience.

Or you can publish on your own, which requires perseverance and entrepreneurship, but a little less patience.

Bonus points: The uninitiated imagine that self-publishing means you’re flying solo. In actuality, you’ll probably outsource a lot of the work, and many of those same freelance editors and graphic designers have worked for established publishing houses. Also, even if you’re published traditionally, you’ll still be stuck doing most of the marketing yourself. Either way, you’re in business and have to think like a businessperson.

2. When I was a youngling, I moaned that publishers’ advertising dollars went to authors who didn’t need the extra promotion. Why do they still advertise Coke, right? To stay on top, lodged in your frontal lobe, that’s why. Advertising an unknown author takes much more juice to move the needle. Stephen King is an easier sell and means more money in the bank.

No longer a youngling, I get it. When I advertise, I spend my few dollars on the books that already do well. This Plague of Days had 691 reviews this morning. With the power of that social proof, it’s easier to sell than my other books that are just as good or better, but have a fraction of the track record that lights up readers. My hope is that I’ll gain true fans who will read my other work after TPOD grabs them.

3. Further to point 2, some authors resent the success of books they consider inferior. There was quite a hullabaloo when Sarah Palin’s book was flying off shelves. Thousands of aspirants asked, “Why is there so much ado about that crap when people could be buying my treasure, 107 Haikus About Pandas at the Kosher Deli?” That gets the publishing business twisted though. It’s not solely about merit. It’s about what will sell. Whatever the dubious merits of the work of her ghostwriters, the sales of those books about the former governor of Alaska funded dozens of advances that went to the authors of failed books.

You may not like the math, but that’s the publishing industry. Throw more spaghetti at the wall. Eat what sticks.

4. Production pays. Standalone books don’t tend to do as well financially as books in series. The more books you have, the more spaghetti is thrown, the more chances you have at success. Book One leads readers to Book Two, and so on. Wait too long to publish and readers and the Amazon algos forget who you are. Being prolific pays.

Some believe that writing faster leads to less quality. Possibly, but not necessarily. Lots of sci-fi and noir classics emerged from the pulp speed scene. Don’t judge other writers (or yourself) by how fast you write. That is not a prime variable. It’s about as relevant as where you write and what you’re wearing.

5. More about agents: Fifteen percent is still standard. They get paid that commission for selling your work to publishers and 15% of anything else you sell thereafter. They say they’ll negotiate and maybe they can around the edges. Any publisher I ever worked with claimed all their contracts were boilerplate, inviolate, and eternal, possibly fashioned by alien lawyers on the sun.

But not everything is as it seems, either. Here’s a secret: Many publishers declare they do not accept unsolicited submissions and only deal with agents. By outsourcing the vetting process and refusing to read over-the-transom manuscripts, they save time which, rather famously, is money. Many of those publishers are liars. Despite their protestations, they do, in fact, read unsolicited manuscripts. Editorial assistants or freelancers sift through the piles mining for gems. I supplemented my income that way. For fifty bucks a script, I read the slush and made recommendations. One was great, but not appropriate for that publisher. I recommended one manuscript for publication in a year and a half. Yes, your odds are not great, but that’s the biz. We don’t hear about all the lottery losers in the newspaper, only the few lottery winners.

Bonus secret: Publishers prefer dealing with agents. A publisher solicited submissions from me and strongly suggested an agent he knew. “I have an intellectual property lawyer, thanks,” I said. He could not articulate why I would need an agent at that point. The lovely thing about IP lawyers is, as Stephen King pointed out, you only have to pay them once, not 15% forever. There is a place for agents, but that need depends more on the individual author’s mindset and circumstances.

6. My dad, a great success in business, said something that offended me. “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” It bothered me because he’s not wrong. My friend Peter is a shipping magnate who is the most gregarious person I know. His superpower is that he’s genuinely interested in people. He makes connections with them and helps solve their problems.

Translate this power to the book world: The hosts of the Slate Political Gabfest often promote books. The authors they push always seem to be close friends, past employees, or even relatives. There are many unsung literary giants among us, but because they aren’t connected (or making connections) their songs will die unheard. If you want to sell more books, you’re going to have to get to know more people. Dare to pitch to podcasts. Put yourself out there. Send your books out to reviewers. Interact with fellow authors and your fans and don’t let your mailing list go cold. Promote others, not just yourself.

As a lifelong introvert bordering on agoraphobe who occasionally pretends to be an extrovert, this admission pains me, but there it is. We aren’t only artists. We’re in business, too. Be a friendly bear, not a bad bear.

7. Exercise: Calculate and maximize income. Calculate and cut down on expenses. What’s left for coffee and dog food?

That outgo is probably greater than the income. Almost all authors require a day job to survive. Unless you already have money or other financial support, your odds of making enough to live strictly by writing are in lottery territory. (See point 5.)

Given all the long timelines, hurdles, and restrictions of traditional publishing, you may have a better shot at working as a full-time writer as an independent (i.e. self-publisher). An independent author can put out more books in a single year, for instance. (See my spaghetti commentary above.)

Trad publishers often limit you to one publication per year. This has less to do with quality and more to do with meeting budgets and longer logistical timelines. Self-publishers can feed their fandom more often, and fed fans are happier fans. A self-publisher can be more spry and flexible. Locked into a trad contract, your manuscript may not reach a bookstore shelf for a year or three. Payments are very staggered, and the accounting is rarely transparent. Horror stories about agents abound. Sometimes publishers go under and orphan stables of writers. Unscrupulous practices can happen that leave authors adrift.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t go for a trad contract or go hybrid. The trad publisher’s advantage is a distribution system with bookstores. The self-publisher’s advantage is flexibility in marketing and control. Your path forward will largely depend on what and how much you’re willing to do.

8. I make more money when someone buys my hardcovers, but most of my income comes in via KDP. Signings and consignment sales at local bookstores are fun, but it’s the weakest money-making strategy unless you’re traveling around the country in a bus with a band. Ebooks and audiobooks are where it’s at for volume sales. When your product is as inexpensive as ebooks, your profit comes from a very tight margin. If paying bills is your goal, you have to sell in volume.

Think of it this way: Your doctor makes decent money, but she can only see one person at a time. That limits her income. As a foundational strategy, selling to the masses by leveraging advertising makes more sense. Selling one-to-one, a piece at a time, is a time suck.

This fact does not undercut Point 6, by the way. You still need to make and keep connections with individuals. Expand your network so you have more friends and allies to toot your horn and broadcast your genius. While on this social whirl of fun and frolic, your reach grows organically. Being social can be draining, but not so difficult or as pricey as making sense of Facebook’s sales dashboards.

It’s good for your heart to make friends, anyway, but as for business? Endemic recently won a fourth book award, the North Street Book Prize. On the days Winning Writers touted the book on social media, my sales spiked.

Bonus tip: If you do decide to put on a signing at a bookstore, be a delight to the store staff. They’ll be there long after you leave and they make recommendations to customers and can restock your book. That’s where the real power of selling by hand lies.

9. The more you hate, the less you make. I realized recently that I complain too much. I’m angry much of the time. Even when I’m not pissed off, I’m sometimes perceived that way. I’ve got one of those faces. Therefore, I’m on a mission: Be more positive more days of the year.

Producing and selling art of any kind is among the most iffy of financial enterprises. People I admire have the trait of optimism. I want to be more like them. The right mindset is required to be any kind of entrepreneur, and complaining too much ain’t it. My TikToks are relentlessly positive. I’m genuinely happy to interact with my fan group, and I show them a lot of love. My novels may be dark, but selling happily sells more. Be a happy warrior.

Writing and publishing is a tough business, but I am not complaining.

~ I’m Robert Chazz Chute. See links to all my apocalyptic epics and killer crime thrillers on my author site AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: publishing, agents, book marketing, how to sell more books, intellectual property lawyers, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, traditional publishing versus self-publishing, writing

02/15/2023 • 9:46 AM 11

The Truth Will Get Out

My novel, Endemic, had a tough launch. To put it simply, Amazon screwed me over, and truthfully, that disappointment set me back quite a bit both financially and creatively. I haven’t been nearly as productive since. However, I am not reiterating or relitigating the past today. Today, I have something to celebrate.

The book has since won a Literary Titan Award and took first place in science fiction at both the Hollywood Book Fesitval and the New York Book Festival.

And now, another win!

The North Street Book Prize just announced the winners and Endemic took first in genre fiction! That’s a big one. Taste all that delicious validation!

Here’s the North Street Book Prize blurb for Endemic:

Genre Fiction winner Robert Chazz Chute’s Endemic gives the post-apocalyptic plague novel a fresh twist with a neurodivergent female book editor as an unlikely action hero. New York City is in ruins after a strange disease caused brain damage among most of the population. Can Ovid Fairweather save the day with her hydroponic gardening skills and hypervigilance from an abusive childhood? Count on it.

If you’ve encountered marketing obstacles (and who hasn’t?) persevere and be patient. The truth will get out. Your work can find an audience, even if it doesn’t happen right away.

I was disappointed. I retreated. I felt bad for a long time, but I am not done.

~ I am Robert Chazz Chute. Find links to all my apocalyptic epics and killer crime thrillers at my author site, AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: awards, Endemic, publishing, award-winning books, books, Endemic, Hollywood Book Festival, keep writing, Literary Titan Award, New York Book Festival, North Street Book Prize, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, science fiction novels, self-publishing, writer, writing

01/04/2023 • 8:27 PM 3

This was written by a human being

Publishing is always changing in big and small ways. There used to be a Big Six, then there was a Big Five in publishing. Now there’s a Big Four. Hot genres cool. Cold genres heat up and occasionally new genres are created. Amazon sales pages have changed for books, and in my opinion not for the better. You’ve no doubt heard that a big revolution is afoot. Artificial Intelligence is about to replace a lot of people. Maybe even you.

There’s a divide in the writing community right now over the emergence of recently improved artificial intelligence. ChatGPT, Jasper, and others can upgrade your book marketing copy. AI reconfigures and composes existing art to fulfill the parameters you plug into its engine. Artificial voices are improving to the point where some authors may choose machines over voice actors for their audiobooks. At least one person (probably many more) has already created fiction using ChatGPT. Things are changing, and we’re not ready for it,

Whenever any new technology emerges, there’s a painful transition. When cell phones came out, there was a panic over the brain tumors they could theoretically produce. That didn’t happen, of course, but in that case the volume of complaints during the the introduction of was much louder than the reality. There are valid concerns around copyright and current job roles becoming outmoded. I mean, real talk, if machines write thousands and thousands of novels faster than I can, I won’t be pleased. I think I better prepare myself for not being pleased.

Obstacles loom for the quick adoption of a non-human workforce putting art together. Currently, if you use AI art for your book covers, you are not able to claim copyright on that cover. You don’t possess the license from the amalgam of images the AI draws from. The AI is compositing, not originating. All that said, the toothpaste is already squeezed out of the tube and it’s not going back in. We’re going to have to adapt in several ways.

In the classroom, for instance, kids will have to write essays in class (if that’s what you still want). Let them go home, and ChatGPT and its alternatives will be penning those essays on The Great Gatsby. A voice actor I follow on TikTok said her solution to machines reading audiobooks is to emphasize the emotional core of her work. She’s not just a reader. Acting is her job. She is confident she can out-act any machine and she’s not afraid of the competition. Also, it should be noted that dedicated audiobook readers not only look for audiobooks by certain authors. Some voice actors have a following who listen to whatever they read. That’s leverage the machines don’t have, at least not yet.

Something that is often lost in the debate is that plenty of authors do not have the budget to pay to create audiobooks with a human voice. My solution is to go the DIY route with my audiobooks. That option is not accessible to everyone. Some will reject any non-human participation in the creation of their art. For others, using a machine reader mimicking he human voice feels like a necessity.

I’ve tested ChatGPT to optimize my marketing copy. Yes, it needed a little editing afterward, but not much. Revamping my marketing copy for so many books and paying a smug consultant exorbitant fees would be prohibitively expensive.

If readers and listeners are okay with it, and production costs less, AI art creation will increase in acceptance. We can dig in our heels and resist the future, but in the long term it feels like trying to hold back the tide with a teacup. I’m not telling you to surrender and go all in on Skynet. I am suggesting that it would be wise to figure out how to up your game and adapt to a changing landscape in the meantime.

As this sticky taffy get pulled, you will see some books published with a notation that reads something like: No machine intelligence was involved in the creation of the art on the cover of this book, nor were any used in the creation of the narrative. This novel was written by a human being.

~ I am Robert Chazz Chute. Read my novels, some of which tell of machine intelligence taking everything all the way the fuck over, at AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: publishing, artificial intelligence, audiobooks, books, ChatGPT, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, writing

01/02/2023 • 12:46 PM 2

Make Your Writing Life Easier in 2023

Figured out your writing and publishing goals for 2023 yet? No pressure, but I do have a helpful suggestion.

I have often recommended the 20Booksto50K Facebook group. If you have a question, search for it first. They’re a big group so the admins are not tolerant of repetition. There is an excellent chance that answers to your questions are already to be found in the group’s collective wisdom. I’ve used it to evaluate the ROI potential of book promotion services, for instance.

But wait! There’s more!

Are you a visual learner? They have plenty of video lectures, too. Whether you’re looking to learn more about the craft, cover design, book marketing, or anything else about making better books and earning more writing income, watch lectures from their live conferences on their YouTube channel.

No need to leave the house! I love not leaving the house.

Peruse their video offerings on YouTube here.

And have a happy New Year.

~ Looking for killer crime thrillers or apocalypses featuring zombies, vampires, robots, aliens, and a whole heckin’ heapin’ spoonful of human complexity? Of course, you are. Find all my books on my author site, AllThatChazz.com. Cheers!

Filed under: publishing, 20Booksto50K, book marketing, marketing advice, publishing advice, Robert Chazz Chute, successful self-publishing, the writing life, writing advice

11/28/2022 • 11:59 AM 3

To Tweet or Not to Tweet? That is the Question.

Yesterday I mentioned ReaderScout.com to keep an eye on price drops Amazon may put on your books without you knowing. Today, I have useful alternatives for book marketing, graphics, and social media.

Goodreads can be good, but it would be a lot better with less drama. You probably already know the upsides and downsides of GR’s rep. Though it’s owned by Amazon, it still has its old clunky user interface. Infamous for harsh reviews, bullying, and lack of moderation, it’s not always a fun place to hang out. Authors get called out for bad behavior (good), but not so with readers behaving badly (less good). It’s a site best suited for avid readers. I admit, it’s a huge platform that can be useful. However, authors must tread very carefully. It’s all eggshells and landmines over there.

I’ve just signed up for bookwyrm. Upon further research, there are many more sites available for readers to find and track books and authors they enjoy. Here’s a link to a comprehensive article at Rigorous Themes. Though many of these sites aren’t as well known, there are readers there. It might serve you to be a bigger fish in a smaller, friendlier pond.
If you’re writing for profit, you need to market your books. Personally, I’m fed up with Facebook and Amazon ads, so let’s talk TikTok. Many authors are flocking to TikTok in hopes of getting traction on #booktok. It’s a great platform in many ways and I just love, love, love seeing so many people who love, love, love fiction! You may notice, however, that much of #booktok is about the same books over and over again. If you break through, it’s fantastic.

I’m using TikTok wrong in that my page is not just for readers, but also for other writers. It’s best to stick to a theme, but I just can’t shut up about writing and book publishing, In addition to talking about my books and recommending other books, I’m often on #writertok and #writingcommunity. I frequently pontificate on stuff on topics I could be covering here. I know that, but video is fun and I reach more people daily using video than I do with blog posts.

Find me on TikTok @therealchazzchute. It’s this blog, but shorter, faster, pithier, and with my sexy, sultry tones. (Sorry about the face.)
What else can you do to market your books? Graphics for your ads, blogs, and extra content, bien sur! But how do you do that? Photoshop used to be a gimme on Apple computers, but they took that away and now it’s expensive. Bookbrush can be useful, but it’s not cheap, especially if you opt for the escalated options with more deliverables. Here are your Bookbrush pricing options:

There’s the free and paid version of Canva and Picmonkey. Of these, for ease of use, Canva is my favorite.

However, if you’re marketing aggressively and want a free graphics option with the muscle of Photoshop, check out PhotoPea. The deliverables are powerful, and did I mention it’s free? It’s free. Free is our friend.

4. And finally, you know we have to talk about it. To tweet or not to tweet? That is the question.

Elon Musk has proven he’s no Tony Stark. He’s Phony Stark. His takeover of Twitter has been ham-handed and I don’t think I need to go into details on those facts. I’m still on Twitter because I’m familiar with the user interface and I’ve built a little following there. It’s still where a lot of people are for as long as it lasts. Perhaps when it goes into receivership, someone else will take it over and unfuck it. In the meantime, where else can we go in case Twitter breaks?

Alternatives to the Sick Bird

I’ve signed up on Mastodon and Counter Social. My first reaction is that this open-source software is not ready for prime time. It’s bewildering at first glance. Second and third glances, too. Several people have complained that they unwittingly started more than one account before they settled in. Honestly, I’m still not comfortable with either platform.

There’s also the time issue. I’m all for spending those in-between moments on social media that would otherwise be wasted. I’m not for wasting time on social media. Add more platforms and you’re spreading yourself thinner.

To let people know about my latest book promotion, I found myself posting on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Mastodon, Counter Social, and Facebook. For a marketing push, that’s acceptable to me. For everyday use, though? I’d prefer to have fewer platforms to manage. Better to let them fight it out and go with the one that dominates. Until the conqueror takes the battlefield, we’re stuck in a kind of limbo. Setting up a new social media account can be exciting until you realize how hard it is to start all over again building a following.

When all’s said and done, we will go where we find value and where the people are. That’s why you’re still on Facebook. At least there we get birthday reminders, and that’s great value!

P.S. Moments after uploading this post, I found out about BeReal. It feels like Now on TikTok. This whirlwind of new platforms is exhausting. Read the BeReal breakdown on Huff P o.

~ I’m Robert Chazz Chute. Check out my killer crime thrillers and apocalyptic epics on my author site, AllThatChazz.com. (And TikTok! Platform of the future today! I’m @therealchazzchute.)

Filed under: book marketing, publishing, #booktok, #writingcommunity, alternatives to twitter, Amazon, book marketing, book marketing advice, bookbrush, bookwyrm, canva, counter social, elon musk, Facebook, Goodreads, mastodon, photopea, photoshop, picmonkey, readerscout, rigorous themes, Should I stay on Twitter, TikTok, Twitter, twitter's demise, writing community

11/27/2022 • 1:57 PM 4

When a book deal takes you by surprise

When you run a promotion, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on your paperback prices. Amazon might be giving readers a deal you want to know about. The problem? It’s unpredictable and they won’t tell you they’re doing it, so we’re missing out on promoting the deal to readers.

Here’s the story

I ran a couple of promotions this week.

1. Through Book funnel: For the rest of today, you can pick up my bestseller This Plague of Days, Season One for just 99 cents! A bunch of other books are on offer, as well. Have a look!

2. The other was through Freebooksy. (AFTER Life, Inferno is set to free until the end of the day.)

The first promotion did not trigger an Amazon algo to drop the price of the massive paperback. However, the AFTER Life Omnibus, which at 600+ pages, is normally priced at $24.99, was dropped all the way down to under $7!

What a great deal for Christmas gifts, right? I could have promoted it more had I known, but I only just stumbled upon what Amazon was doing. Note to the uninitiated: This is a very good thing. Readers get an amazing deal, but the author still gets paid royalties based on the regular price!

There’s probably some software out there that can track such unannounced price drops for authors so we can take advantage of these promotional opportunities. I’ve asked my mastermind group. Let me know if you have a workable solution.

~ I’m Robert Chazz Chute. Check out all my sci-fi, horror, and crime fiction on my author site, AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: book marketing, publishing, After life, Amazon price drops, book marketing, book promotions, bookfunnel, freebooksy, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, This Plague of Days

11/07/2022 • 12:24 PM 1

Keep a Wary Eye on Your Sales Pages

I got an ugly and unhelpful surprise this morning. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you.

It used to be that you could go to Author Central on Amazon to check for your latest reviews. I am encouraging you to check your book’s sales pages regularly because, sadly, Amazon is not reliable. Pardon my tone, but my wife is ill, and I’m concerned about that. I’m feeling not so great, either, so my frustration is compounded by seeming to be thwarted at every turn and told to suck it up. (More on that bit of shit further down this post.)

**For anyone who has been pushed around. Against those who do the pushing.**

The First Assault

Regular readers here may recall that Amazon sabotaged the launch of my award-winning novel, Endemic. I couldn’t advertise it at all (for reasons unknown) in the first critical weeks after its release. I am so proud of that book, and to see its wings get clipped before it could fly was incredibly frustrating. I soldiered on, but yes, I’m bitter. It’s difficult enough to get any novel air and attention without unwarranted obstacles along the path.

Since that shaky start, Endemic has won first place in science fiction at both the Hollywood and New York Book Festivals. It also garnered a Literary Titan award. I know the novel is in the running for the North Street Book Prize since they let me know it’s in the semi-finals. In other words, this one is particularly important to me (and to my bottom line.) Book sales have tanked generally, so Endemic is the central weight-bearing pillar of my tiny castle.

And Now, This

This morning, on a whim, I had a peek at my Amazon author page. It looked fine until I clicked on reviews to take a deeper look. I guess I was looking for a little ego boost. Instead, I got an itch I could not scratch. The reviews for Endemic from the United States were not about Endemic. They were happy reviews of a vacuum cleaner!

That does not help me. (Curses ensued, several quite imaginative and not fit for general consumption.)

I contacted Amazon immediately, of course. While I checked my other books for linking errors, the kind gentleman on the help desk did some research. He couldn’t fix the problem himself manually, so it was elevated to the tech division. He hoped my little marketing disaster would be rectified within five days. I’m not blaming him. He did all he could within a system that could use more organization.

Amazon has been making big changes lately. From adding Goodreads ratings, to categorization limits and snafus, to their new Top Picks feature, maybe they are moving too fast. When any system gets too big, there are bound to be logistics errors and smelly clogs in the plumbing.

Shots Fired

There is another annoyance when legitimate problems such as these arise. Some folks will insist your concerns are illegitimate and gloss over your lived experience. Some who fancy themselves leaders and book marketing experts have a filthy habit of putting a happy face on anything and everything Amazon does to us. They tell you to just write another book, relax, and ignore your crumbling sales data. They suggest that the Zon can do no wrong and everything they do is customer-focused. Uh, nope! Don’t pee on me and tell me it’s raining (and nutritious, to boot!)

It is undeniable that Amazon has done a lot right compared to other book sales platforms. I’m concerned those smart moves may be confined to history. Just because they’re the top sales platform doesn’t make me any less screwed today. If they are immune to criticism when they mess up, it’s like saying cops have all the power so they can do no wrong.

Whenever an author dares to cry foul because their income is taking a direct hit, they get gaslit by those who are comfortable with such chaos. By comfortable, I mean they are privileged enough to have more of a cash cushion. Hint: Some of those knobs aren’t necessarily sanguine about your troubles because they’re making a boodle off their books. They’re selling services to the indie community instead of writing fiction. Their compassion deficit is as deep as their pockets. Don’t listen to people who are too comfortable with your pain. You are not a whiner. You’re bleeding and need a tourniquet and a kind word.

So? What Now?

I’m not going to slap on a shit-eating grin and enthuse, “Don’t worry, be happy!” You can’t trust that all you have to do is wait and they’ll fix any problems. You have to remain vigilant to alert them to problems. The central premise of this blog has always been to track the ups and downs of writing and publishing without the bullshit, so here’s my honest advice:

Check your book pages to make sure the listings are correct. Check again regularly. You can’t set it and forget it because the Amazon platform has become too technically complex to be trusted. Or maybe get into the vacuum cleaner business. They seem to have a bunch of happy customers.

~ Oh, and please do check out Endemic. I’m so pleased with this novel because, beyond the apocalyptic scenario, it’s about people who don’t fit in, how they change and how they don’t. The dedication reads: “For anyone who has ever been pushed around. Against those who do the pushing.” That seems especially appropriate this morning. Listings and links for all my books are on my author page at AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: Amazon, publishing, Amazon, books, Endemic, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, writers, writing

10/25/2022 • 10:52 AM 3

Amazon Confusion Continues

Many authors have discovered that their author pages are not displaying their full catalogue. Oddly, it’s not actually clear to everyone what’s going on, including the people you talk to at the Zon. From Amazon, I heard directly that they are working on it as a glitch. However, dive into a writing group or two and you’ll find that some of us are receiving a very different message: It’s not a glitch. It’s by design. Mixed signals are frustrating. Beta test? New normal? Mistake? Well, I definitely think it’s a mistake, and today I’ll detail why and what you might do about it.

What some of us are told is that the new algorithm shows Amazon customers an author sales page tailored to their browsing history. For instance, if you’ve read my apocalyptic stuff like This Plague of Days, you could go to my author page and only my other apocalyptic stuff would be served up: Endemic, AFTER Life, Citizen Second Class, Robot Planet, Our Alien Hours, Our Zombie Hours and Amid Mortal Words. You would not see any of my other work on my author page. Following this new modus operandi, there is no place to see my full catalogue on Amazon. You would not see all my crime thrillers. To get links to my full backlist, you’d have to go to my author site.

There are no doubt a lot of authors who have not looked at their author page lately. I habitually check for new reviews through Author Central and monitor sales using Book Report. Again, if you haven’t seen what’s happening on your author page, it’s a good idea to have a look.

To be clear, the books have not disappeared completely from the platform. However, to find them all, you’d have to search by title or by my name. (Searching by author name alone often serves up a mix that is not on point.)

In short: Visibility is down, discoverability is hampered, and your backlist sales are hobbled.

If they stick with this new algo, only a determined fan, not a casual browser, would go to the trouble to find all my stuff easily. There’s a ribbon across the top, but in my experience, readers go down the author page, they don’t click across multiple times. That’s just how people have been programmed to read, and the more a customer has to click, the less shopping they do.

How do I know this fiddling is bad for authors and readers?

I can see the failure of this strategy in my falling book sales. It’s down to a dribble. That’s the key factor for me. Like everyone else, I’ve got bills to pay and I’m more worrier than warrior.

The frustrating detail is that Amazon is such a vast company that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. You know, that cute cliche that actually hints at brain damage? From Amazon, after about 48 hours, I received an email to say it’s a glitch and they are working on it. “Our technical teams are aware of this problem and we’re working toward a resolution as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, other authors are hearing a different story as detailed above. One author spoke to a supervisor who told her (a) they are getting a lot of negative feedback, (b) they tried this before and it didn’t work, and (c) they may reverse course.

Amazon’s priority has always been to optimize the customer experience. I understand that and don’t have a problem with it. The other book sales platforms could learn a thing or two from Amazon’s customer focus. However, this is a case where what’s good for readers is better for authors, too. Maybe we’ll go back to what worked better. Maybe we won’t. While they work that out, my focus will be to try to mitigate the damage no matter what they do.

That’s for another post on another day. For now, please buy my stuff and check on your stuff. If your author page does not display all your wares, let Amazon Central Customer Support know you’re not altogether pleased. Check your income, too. Moving the system with data points will be more effective than an emotional appeal.

Also, please be kind with whomever you correspond. It’s not their fault. The root of this endeavor lies somewhere deep in the Hell Realm where misguided accountants’ avarice and programmers’ warped aspirations intersect to whisper dark incantations over bubbling cauldrons of code slurry.

~ I am Robert Chazz Chute, a frustrated multiple award-winning writer with a heart of gold and not enough money. Find all my books on my author site AllThatChazz.com.