Enough of worries about Amazon KU and the coming apocalypse. Let’s talk about a fun little Armageddon.
It is time for great fun and a free ebook, isn’t it? Please click the covers for your links.
The third book in the Ghosts & Demons Series, Fierce Lessons, is now available.
In your new favorite dark urban fantasy, join the Choir Invisible to save the world.
Come to fight demons in California. Stay for the very Buffy banter.
Click the image to get The End of the World As I Know It. Climb into the ride that is book two in the series and see what blows up from New York to Iowa.
Oh…but you want the first in the series, right?
You want to meet Tammy Smythe and see how the adventure begins.
5. My knee injury is fully rehabbed, so I got to cancel the MRI. I have no cane and no pain.
6. I had an epiphany and a major change in attitude and started writing a business book, in addition to the fiction addiction.
7. I’m quite a bit happier now.
8. Depending on scheduling and co-authors and whatnot, Ex Parte Press will publish seven to nine new books this year.
9. Despite all this, I’m quite relaxed.
10. (You skipped straight down here after reading the heads up, didn’t you? It’s okay. I don’t blame you.)
I’ve been promoting my graphic designer’s work for years, advertising him on my podcasts and generally acting like a happy booster. I see what he does as a useful need. We’re friends. Now we’re also business partners. I’m Alfred to his Batman, taking care of the nitty and the gritty so he can focus on creating fantastic book covers that deliver results. We’re organized, efficient and ready to serve you.
In The End of the World As I Know It, Tam Smythe is a young woman from Iowa and a warrior for the Choir Invisible. The Darkness Visible is coming for you. This is a very Buffy dark fantasy packed with swordplay, witty dialogue and lessons on surviving Armageddon. You’re going to find a lot of fun and surprises in this series.
This is the follow-up to first book in the series, The Haunting Lessons.
Are you a book blogger or reviewer who wants a review copy? Email Chazz at expartepress [AT] gmail [DOT] com. I’ll send you one.
Get a review copy for subscribing! Click this cover, go to AllThatChazz.com and subscribe for updates from Ex Parte Press. Subscribers get a complimentary ebook through Amazon. It’s Holly’s new novella, What Angels Dread, a forboding ghost story about a young actress away at college for the first time. Evil is lurking. It might even be stalking you, too.
One of the myths of independent publishing is that we go it alone. We don’t. Indie authors outsource and trade skills, collaborate, cross-promote and form partnerships. The next evolution is to form collectives and networks.
To expand our reach and range of projects, we need to think about how our varies skill sets can fit together. For instance:
♦ This summer I’ll be in a non-fiction self-help project with multiple writers. That project is headed up by my friend Shermin Kruse, author of Butterfly Stitching. Shermin is an ambitious, connected person determined to make the world a better place by organizing a team. I was shy about working with her, but who could say no to working with such heavy hitters?
♦ I’m writing a new series with a popular author. We both wanted to create another brand that was more focused. Our aspirations fit nicely, 50/50. That series will be under a new pen name for both of us. It’s exciting to experiment, and I’m finding two authors working together multiplies the energy and output. That’s a good thing, too, since we don’t plan to release any books until we have a trilogy.
♦ I just met another author with whom I hope to co-create new podcast episodes as I shift the focus of the All That Chazz podcast. (More on that another time.)
Check out the Top 100 Kindle Short from my coauthor Holly Pop.
The first book in that dark fantasy series is The Haunting Lessons.How that partnership came to be is explained at the back of the book, but the short version is, we can all do more by helping each other out, filling holes in each other’s game plan. (Hint: not everyone who writes wants to face all the complexities of publishing, even though they don’t want to find a traditional publisher, either.)
Cool cover, huh? The story is a fast-paced adventure about a girl from Iowa who, following a tragedy, discovers she has supernatural powers that lead her into more and more trouble, like swordplay, dangerous weirdness and inter-dimensional warfare.
As we face the uncertainties of the book publishing industry, remain calm and carry on. If you’re one of us, you’re going to write no matter what, whether you sell a bunch of books or very few. Relax and enjoy the writing process. There have always been ups and down in writing books and there always will be. You are not alone in your worries and aspirations.
Being a writer can be a lonely business, but it doesn’t have to be. We are not alone. We have each other.
Tonight, January 15th 2015, at 10 PM EST, tune in to the Self-publishing Roundtable. I’m a guest and we’ll be talking about KU, new strategies and what the future holds for us in 2015. It’s interactive so you can chime in in the chat.
The podcast is all about independent authors helping independent authors. Please do drop in. I’ll be opening up about my approach to the obstacles ahead, what doesn’t work for me and what’s helpful.
Cheers!
~ Chazz
Check out my collaboration with Holly Pop. It’s a little This Plague of Days and a little Buffy. Enjoy!
Do you ever feel like you’re reaching for success and someone is slapping your hand? Does every Monday feel like Thwart Day?
I just had one of those days that drains energy. I read a review from a guy who apparently thinks I believe in the supernatural because I often write about it. (Fiction, people! Fiction!) A cop stopped me today. He was unnecessarily dickish. That put me in a dark mood. I haven’t been feeling great so I had to go for some medical tests. A nurse was in a panic over my paperwork and apparently trying to panic me, too. I’ve got a big birthday coming up which I’m not excited about. I feel pressure. Sometimes, despite my big plans, it seems time is running out and the news for indie authors seems to be all whoa and woe at the moment.
Therefore, it’s not time to give up.
It’s time to put the hammer down (because I was thinking of doing terrible things with that hammer) and remember what’s working. To review:
I got this letter today:
“This Plague of Days, Omnibus Edition was awarded an Honorable Mention for Writer’s Digest’s Self-Published e-Book Awards in Genre.”
Whoo. Also? Hoo!
Check out the Top 100 Kindle Short from my coauthor Holly Pop
I’m collaborating with several authors and a publisher in 2015. The first was Holly (Pop) Papandreas, author of Ouija.
We wrote The Haunting Lessons. In this fun and dark fantasy, a girl from Iowa discovers she has amazing capabilities. The world is a richer and more dangerous place than she ever imagined. Parts of it may remind you of This Plague of Days, but the tone is lighter and the pace is lightning quick. Don’t miss out on 81 lessons to survive Armageddon. I like you and I want you to live.
Just released for Christmas reading!
My friend and author of Butterfly Stitching, Sher Kruse, has invited me to participate in a non-fiction anthology.
More on that in 2015.
I’ll be contributing to a horror anthology for a publisher and working with another author friend of mine on a secret book project to take paranormal readers by storm. I also have big plans for several books in the Ghosts and Demons Series, a big standalone book and more Hit Man books.
It’s been a big building year for me. I put together six books in 2014, so Mom and Dad will have to take back those accusations that I’m too lazy to live.
It’s so fun and gritty and fast, I’m very happy with Hollywood Jesus, the third adventure in the Hit Man Series. The John Leguizamo joke alone makes it for me!
“Perhaps the most underrated crime novel of all time.” ~ Robert Chazz Chute
And, maybe best of all, I wrote my criminal autobiography!
That’s one adorable bear holding that bloody knife.
And I’m part of the Horror Within Box Set with some very heavy hitters in horror fiction.
In other words, it’s been a productive year. It seems I have a lot to live for, after all. I can’t wait to get more of my ebooks into print, too. So stay busy. It will keep you out of trouble. Works for me. When you’re feeling down, write another book. That’s what I do. I’m all nerves a lot of the time, obviously. Writing soothes me and keep me from acting on impulses to hammer things.
Writing works that way for many people. Writing or reading, I hope you find escape, as I do, in imagination. Merry Christmas.
If you had mixed feelings about 2014, let’s make 2015 better, hm?
Graphic designers make a big difference to readers and the success of authors. A snarky writer once told me I was a hack, too concerned about the look of my book covers. Once.
Everyone else knows, yes, of course we do indeed judge books by their covers.
You can say it shouldn’t matter all you want, but beautiful people and beautiful things get more attention. I won’t find out if you have a great personality and keen intelligence if, when I spot you from across the room, you appear to be surrounded by flies because you’ve rubbed dog feces in your hair. That’s life. That’s science.
Kit is my friend and ally. He helps to make my existence matter. He’s helping me get my message out, subliminal and subtextual. It’s that important. All my books are about escaping who I was. They’re about all of us rising to the higher potential of what we could be. Everything I write is about making our existence — yours and mine — matter. Book covers are the come hither stare that lets me into your brain, to play in the Mindfield, to turn the words, to entertain, laugh and think. That’s what it means and why Art matters.
That’s the why. A book cover with solid art is part of the how.
This isn’t a story about getting away from Amazon. It’s about sales page management, and you need to be aware, sales pages are not something you can just “set and forget.” You have to keep an eye on them for glitches. A glitch just happened to me.
Naturally, after those early strategies failed, I contacted Amazon. They said they’d get back to me within 24 hours. If this had been my first rodeo, I would have pooped kittens. However, they generally get back faster than that and, in this case, I had the fastest response I’ve ever had.
The email assured me there was a “slight glitch” that deleted the book from my sales page. Maybe a slight glitch to them, but I just launched! My interviews are appearing across various blogs promoting my latest books. It was a big deal to me. The email further assured me that the problem would be corrected within “one to three days.”
One to three days?
Vomit.
No, not really. Like I said, this ain’t my first time on a horse. Those emails always allow a long time for their fixes, but the Amazonian techs have, invariably, acted much faster than that. And so it was. This Plague of Days, Omnibus Editionfeaturing the complete three seasons of the apocalyptic saga with the autistic protagonist trying to save the world? We’re back, baby!
They fixed it within a couple of hours. I have it on good authority other sales platforms don’t swoop in to fix problems nearly so quickly.
Check your pages and make sure all your books are there from time to time.
Further thoughts on sales pages and serialization
After I brought out Season 3 in my series, I had a problem. The sales page looked cluttered and my work is not displayed in the order I’d prefer for greatest sales advantage. What to do? I skipped calling on Thor since he doesn’t show up unless I dress up as a hot chick. (I’m still carrying some winter weight and can’t sell the hotpants.) I sent another email to Amazon:
Could I, perhaps, edit my sales page to make it less cluttered and show my wares to greatest advantage?
The reply was, for now, a polite no. My Amazon contact did agree that mine was actually a good idea and they would pass the suggestion up the line. Currently, the order of book display is based on sales figures. Self-help for Stoners has been on sale longest, so it’s up top. That’s not the problem. Serial episodes are.
My Serialization Problem.
Season One of This Plague of Days was released as one book, but also as five episodes (and each episode’s price was 99 cents.) My Season One episodes sat there, clogging the page and confusing customers.
I came up with a solution that fit my longer game plan.
I unpublished the five episodes from the first book and set the price for Season One at just 99 cents.
This presents several advantages:
1. At 99 cents, Season One is a low barrier to entry into the series.
2. It gives readers a break on price.
3. It promotes my visibility and my other books. Sales are up, author rank is up.
4. It avoids (I hope) angry reviews from people mistakenly purchasing Episode IV and V at 99 cents each when they could have had all of Season One (which contains all five episodes) for one incredibly low price. It’s couch change, yes, but some reviewers go nuclear over such things and outrage is rarely expressed with a sense of proportionality. Angry? Burn down somebody’s house! Mildly annoyed? Burn down somebody’s house! See what I mean?
A note about the trouble with serialization.
Serialization certainly has its advantages and helped Season One and Season Two get more attention. However, no matter how much you might explain it and lay it out in the descriptions and vary the cover art, some readers seem determined to confuse Seasons and Episodes despite a lifetime of watching television. Quick to click, I guess.
I’m very sensitive to criticism (so yes, wow! I know! I am in the wrong business!) Anyway, the last thing I want is for readers to be confused or feel ripped off. That’s another reason Season Three is one huge book instead of broken into episodes. Serialization put me on the map, but the Law of Diminishing Returns has kicked in.
I still have episodes of Season Two on Amazon obstructing the view on my sales page. It is, as it has always been, cheaper to buy the season than to buy the episodes. I can’t let it go at 99 cents, though, so those episodes are going to stay up for a long time. Until Amazon changes its policy and allows me to control title placement, they stay and Season Two is priced as low as I will make it. When I do get control, the eps will go to the back of the sales page. I could just unpublish them, but I don’t want to leave the few who just bought Season 2, Episode III in the lurch.
How long is long enough to wait for those readers to catch up and complete their S2 episode purchases? A year? Two? I don’t know.
C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m 