C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

12/16/2012 • 4:18 PM 16

My Year in Indie Publishing: Lessons learned

Just released! Paranormal, crime, weirdness and murdering Delusion.

Hundreds of mugs of coffee and almond milk later…where am I now? I quit my part-time job to work at writing full-time. It’s been one year, one month and sixteen days. Today, a look back on the first year of Ex Parte Press and lessons learned:

1. I published Self-help for Stoners and Sex, Death & Mind Control first, just before I quit. I went with Bookbaby as the intermediary on those two. In hindsight, not the best choice. To change absolutely anything costs. I should have gone more DIY up front so I’d have more flexibility with those titles. (Also, their responses to my requests for information have been very slow.) Unless things improve with BB, I will pull them eventually and republish without the intermediation.

2. I published some short stories through Smashwords. Smashwords hasn’t paid off, though I think it will the more I publish through that platform. I hurt myself early on with a bad DIY cover. Short stories are a tough sell, but my collections sell better. (Oh, hey! Just published the definitive collection: Murders Among Dead Trees, which is two previous ebooks plus much more, bonus commentary and a sneak peek. More about that later. Nice cover, huh? No more DIY covers for me! My graphics guy and go-to dude is Kit Foster. Check his portfolio.)

3. In the first few months of the year, I wrote a lot but worked on promotion too much, too soon. I should have allocated my time to get more books done and worry about promotion less on the front end. Writing more books and expanding your bookshelf is the only sure way of grabbing more eyeballs in the long run.

“You will laugh your ass off!” ~ Author of Cybrgrrl, Maxwell Cynn

4. In May, in a simulcast across North America, I gave director Kevin Smith an autographed copy of Self-help for Stoners. It now resides in his bathroom. Though I got onstage, I was still too shy about promoting myself and hampered the opportunity by getting offstage too quick. The follow-up press release campaign was a waste of money and time. The appearance on Smodco’s podcast was a better stab at being a publicity monster, but due to a mistake that wasn’t mine, that effort, too, was hobbled because it aired at the very end of the Valentine’s Day podcast. Personally, it was a very positive thing. Professionally, less so. (When I see Self-help for Stoners stats go up, I have to wonder if that’s a delayed positive outcome, though.)

5. I had a disappointing falling out with a publisher in June. Everything was peachy until the promised money didn’t arrive on the timetable agreed upon. I relearned a lesson I should have picked up by now: Don’t work with angry people (and, when they are uncommunicative, that doesn’t mean all’s well.) Good luck to them. I remain righteous.

“Worthy of Elmore Leonard with shades of Thomas Harris…”

6. By June I’d published another collection, The Dangerous Kind & Other Stories. In July, Bigger Than Jesus, my first crime novel, was ready.

I later discovered that TDK &OS had production issues. I think Scrivener used an earlier draft it shouldn’t have. As soon as I found out about it, we went into whirlwind mode, corrected the text and published a new edition of The Dangerous Kind & Other Stories. (Nonetheless, sales plummeted on that title. Nuts.)

I found some things I want to change in the paperback of Bigger Than Jesus, though the same problems didn’t appear in the ebook. Scrivener is a great program, but there’s still quite a learning curve. Next problem, finding an equally great and affordable program for editing print books. Formatting print books in Scrivener is too hard (at least for me.)

7. I podcast Bigger Than Jesus through the summer, a chapter at a time. The podcast continues to grow and the last episode of 2012 (airing this week) will be #62. I’m pleased with it, but my mistake was to focus too much on marketing the first book. I’d named the podcast Self-help for Stoners (reasoning that at least I’d have an identifiable and easily entertained audience.) I later switched it to the All That Chazz podcast because my author site is AllThatChazz.com and the new title reflects the variety of whimsies I offer. The podcast has listeners worldwide, but I’m still most popular with the beautiful stoners of California.

A quick-moving plot with lots of surprises and a clear-eyed examination of addiction.

8. By September, Higher Than Jesus, the second in the Hit Man Series was ready. I need to get more reviews, but the feedback tells me I’m on the right track (i.e. clever twists and reversals, even more funny dialogue, less swearing, more sex.) There’s a prejudice among some authors that a book has to take a long time to write for it to be any good. I don’t agree, if it’s the right book and the right writer. That’s one of the many points I argued in…

9. Crack the Indie Author Code and Write Your Book: Aspire to Inspire released this fall. I drew on years of experience from working in traditional publishing and I’d been writing about writing for years. It was going to be one book, but that proved too big and overwhelming. I made it into two books. Boiled down from more than 1,000 posts on this blog, I revised, revamped and added bonus and updated material. I need more sales and reviews, of course, but in the long-term, these two are a score on the non-fiction side of Ex Parte Press. I’m sure there will be more books in the Writing and Publishing Series in 2014.

Grab Crack the Indie Author Code here.

So what was learned? This is Item #9. By now, you’ve no doubt noticed there’s always a kick in the teeth. I learned that when you farm out editing work to an unfamiliar editor who misses deadlines and doesn’t get back to you, don’t be surprised when you’re disappointed. When the manuscript finally arrived, she’d made four or five corrections toward the end (perhaps trying to make me think she’d read the whole thing.) That set production back two months so all that editing had to be accomplished by someone else. A costly delay.

10. Anxious to publish, I had plans for two more books in 2012. I wanted to get on with revising the big book: my ambitious, dystopian, coming-of-age thriller. I also began writing the third in the Hit Man Series, Hollywood Jesus.

More tips and tricks to steer your authorship.

Then I learned the most important lesson yet: Balance. My work schedule caused problems with my health. Family obligations were ignored. You can work nineteen and twenty-hour days. I don’t recommend it for long. I slowed a little and took more time with Murders Among Dead Trees. I got stuck on a couple of the stories and needed to take my time to make them better. The short, “Another Narrow Escape”, flowed out all at once and came easily. Others needed tinkering. I took the time I needed and Murders Among Dead Trees is just out. That’s the last of my short story collections. People buy novels and series much more, so that’s what I will write.

I’ll release the next books in early 2013…but I’ll be more flexible about what “early” means. I’ll also wrestle with the kids more.

So, as 2012 draws to a close, I have eight books up on Amazon (that by February will mostly be available across all platforms, not just Amazon.) ChazzWrites.com is a finalist among the best self-publishing blogs of 2012. This morning, Roger Colby from Writing is Hard Work (say that a little louder, Candy! It sure is hard work!) nominated me for Blog of the Year. John the Aussie never misses an opportunity to hit the “like” button on my posts. The books on writing and publishing will help a lot of people and the Hit Man Series will distract many from their pain and doom as they enjoy hilarious and hardboiled revenge fantasies. Today, I’ve never been more poor, but I don’t think I’ve been happier.

What did I do right in 2012? I wrote every day and consistently. Then I rewrote. I got Dave Jackson to help me with my podcast and I got Kit Foster to design my covers. I asked for help when I realized I couldn’t do it all. I gathered allies and made a lot of friends through this blog. This is good. This is what beginning again looks like. It’s only my first year in indie publishing, not the last.

Never mind the Mayans. Year Two starts now. Tally-freakin’-ho!

Marketing Your Books: #11 is really harsh. Sorry. (chazzwrites.com)
Book promotion: Don’t trust the ferryman Part 1 (chazzwrites.com)
1 cool video, 1 true story, 2 books of non-fiction & 5 books of fun lies (allthatchazz.com)
Bigger Than Jesus: Descent (allthatchazz.com)
Setting writing and exercise goals that work (chazzwrites.com)
Book Marketing: World Literary Cafe Tweet Teams and how to tweet more effectively (chazzwrites.com)
Ta-da! Motivation, Inspiration & Information for Writers (chazzwrites.com)

Filed under: publishing, allthatchazz.com, begin again, Crack the Indie Author Code, Hit Man Series, indie author, indie publishing, Kevin Smith, Murders Among Dead Trees, publishing, self-help, self-publishing, Smashwords, starting fresh, writing, writing advice

11/28/2012 • 12:54 PM 1

This post from David Gaughran from Let’s Get Digital is equal parts enlightening and depressing. It also reinforces the idea that we gave Penguin and Simon and Schuster too much credit. Read on! ~ Chazz

Filed under: publishing, Author Solutions, Penguin, Penguin Group, publishing, self-publishing, Simon & Schuster

11/26/2012 • 2:14 PM 2

#NaNoWriMo: You can’t murder Miss Marple

Free to you Nov. 26 – 30, 2012

There’s an essential difference between a book that stands alone and a book in a series. In a one-off, anything can happen. In particular, you can kill off your protagonist. You’d be very unhappy with an Agatha Christie novel that ended with the gory strangulation of that sweet Miss Marple using piano wire. (What is it about piano wire that we always associate with strangulation? Was there a sale? Home Depot has lots of wire, but none in the category of “Piano”. Barbed wire would be meaner and razor wire would be more efficient. Yes, I spend too much time thinking about these issues.)

Though Sherlock Holmes went over the falls because Conan Doyle was sick of writing his “mere entertainments”, Sherlock survived in the end. It’s generally bad form to take a reader in hand and walk them through an intriguing story only to kill off the protagonist. It often makes the reader feel they’ve invested a lot of time and energy into a hero or heroine for naught. Kill off the intrepid heroine and, unless you follow her into an amazing Afterlife, readers will feel cheated of the victory they expected. Exceptions exist, but downer endings without some larger goal achieved easily go sour. Be careful about killing off the good guy.

When you write a series, character is even more important than usual because no matter what pressure cookers you throw your protagonist into, the reader is pretty sure he or she will come out reasonably okay in the end and uncooked. Character is key. Sacrifices are demanded. Red shirts are required. Captain Kirk was responsible for the deaths of many of the Enterprise Crew. Everybody would be much safer if they stayed home on Earth, but, whether we’re writers, appreciative readers or just out of Starfleet Academy and beaming down to the planet in Come-Eat-My-Face Red, “Risk is our business.”

Click the image to get Higher Than Jesus

The trick is to get the reader invested in your protagonist’s goals, make them real and ensure they are sympathetic. For example, my hit man, Jesus Diaz, is an orphan with a history of childhood abuse. That’s explored in the first book in the series, Bigger Than Jesus. In Higher Than Jesus, he’s dealing with moral issues around what he does for a living while battling Vicodin addiction and some bad guys who are much worse than he. He’s also in love again and out to save the future Mrs. Diaz. Despite everything against him, Jesus is also a funny guy and the deeper the trouble, the funnier he is. That’s his key to multiple books.

Somebody asked me if my inspiration for that quirk was Spider-Man. I used to collect comics and yes, Spider-man is, as they used to say in the Silver Age of comics, “a real cut-up”. However, I first discovered the power of the funny in myself when I encountered a guy with a knife intent on slicing me up. My fear fuelled something in me and I was never as hilarious as when I was sure I was about to die. It was under the controlled conditions of an Operating Room, but still…

Click for suspense and hilarious frivolity in Self-help for Stoners.

~Robert Chazz Chute is the author of crime novels, two books about writing and publishing and several books of suspense, including Self-help for Stoners. He has hugged the man who inspired the book, director Kevin Smith of Silent Bob fame, but it was a man-hug. Self-help for Stoners is in Kevin Smith’s bathroom for reading when the whim strikes. Hear the podcast and consume the muted glory that is his author site at AllThatChazz.com.

Filed under: publishing, Agatha Christie, book, Crack the Indie Author Code, ebook, funny, Jesus Diaz, Kevin Smith, Miss Marple, Protagonist, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, Sherlock Holmes, Spider-Man, Starfleet Academy, writer, writing, writing a series

11/25/2012 • 5:26 PM 6

#NaNoWriMo: 50,000 words isn’t the end. Learn from my mistake.

Free to you Nov. 26 – 30, 2012

Crack the Indie Author Code is free to you as an ebook, Monday to Friday, Nov. 26 – Nov 30 at midnight. As National Novel Writing Month draws to a close this week, please consider picking up the book and its follow-up, Write Your Book: Aspire to Inspire. Both books are packed with information and inspiration for what lies ahead, no matter where you are in your writing and publishing journey. That’s the ad, but there’s more you need to know. Learn from my mistake: Don’t stop there.

Some say there are too many books. I’m a huge fan of choice, so I say there are too many books still in drawers and forgotten on thumb drives after NaNoWriMo is complete. Sure, let it sit in a drawer so you can be realistic when you get back to it. (Have a rest and relearn your children’s names.) However, please don’t let your trip to publication end at 50,000 words.

I believe many of the books that languish after NaNoWriMo can be salvaged with revisions and editing. Okay, maybe not all of them, but many. NaNoWriMo is a fun challenge to begin the process, like a hard swim in the ocean. In braving the waves and heading straight out to sea, you complete 50,000 words or more. That’s certainly an achievement, but it’s not the finish line. You have to swim back and make it to shore. Otherwise, all your hard work is written on water.

An incomplete manuscript niggles, doesn’t it? I know. I have several manuscripts waiting for me. I wrote for years before I began writing full-time, so I built a bank of manuscripts to return to. It’s easier to keep your head in the game when you see one manuscript through to completion. Those big books I’ve written are awfully intimidating when I go back to them to tinker. I’m afraid to lose the thread. It helps my process to be in media res, not just for the characters but for me as I write and rewrite. I will get to those books, of course. I’ll immerse myself again and get back into it, but at first it sure feels like trying to do the butterfly stroke after a long absence from swim practice. I’m always most excited about the newest project, so those books, as worthy as they will be, get pushed farther back in the drawer.

In stopping and starting, I’ve lost energy, time and money. Please learn from my mistake and see NaNoWriMo through to its logical conclusion. Keep swimming.

UPDATES

When I wrote Crack the Indie Author Code, there was a Big Six. Now, with the merger of Penguin and Random House, it’s the Big Five. As

Find tons of tips and inspiration here.

I wrote Write Your Book: Aspire to Inspire, Kindlegraph was the tool to autograph ebooks. Now authors can write inscriptions across publishing platforms using the update, Authorgraph. I mention these two updates not just because I want you to know the latest. I mention it because I published those two books on writing and publishing very recently. Publishing’s landscape is changing so fast, even ebooks updating before anyone can click the “Publish” button. Bookmark ChazzWrites, hit follow and keep coming back for the latest.

Speaking of the latest on changes in the publishing industry, you will certainly want to hear: the latest episode of the podcast, On The Media, from NPR. It’s called Adapt or Die. It’s an excellent summation about the year in publishing. Topics include: The myth of piracy, Amazon versus everyone, getting around Amazon, knockoff books, the bookstore battle over the Tim Ferris’s The 4-Hour Chef and the future of the industry.

~ Robert Chazz Chute was a martial artist when his life was still ruled by macho BS. He writes about writing and publishing, suspense and escape while making jokes to distract readers from the existential abyss that will consume us all. He likes puppies. See his author page and listen to his podcast at AllThatChazz.com.

#NaNoWriMo:The mission is simple. We are not. (chazzwrites.com)
NaNoWriMo: My crucial mistake (chazzwrites.com)

Filed under: publishing, Aspire to inspire, Big 5, Big 6, book, Crack the Indie Author Code, E-book, how publishing is changing, incomplete manuscript, Literature, merger, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, NPR, On the Media, Penguin, publishing, Random House, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, Write Your Book, Writer Resources, writers, writing, writing guides

11/14/2012 • 10:24 PM 0

Tucker Max’s strategy to triple his royalties

Check out this link on Huffington Post Books in which Tucker Max, the author of I Hope They Serve Bell in Hell (et al), details his strategy to make much more money than the ordinary bear, or author. Instead of going for a book deal, he explains how he entered an arrangement where the publisher could do the one thing he couldn’t do on his own (and what they do best): Distribute his books to bookstores.

You’ll notice he insists that he’s definitely not self-publishing and doesn’t want that stinky stigma touching him. (Please note: He’s definitely self-publishing.) What’s different is getting the contract for distribution, rather than publication. The publisher is printing his next book, but he’ll absorb all front end costs with freelancers.)

Tucker Max is a clever guy who knows how to seize an opportunity. As he notes, this deal isn’t for small fish. However, I suspect this may be the future for many authors and the fate of many publishers. Learn at the link and see what you think. ~ Chazz

(I changed the title from how HuffPo had it. That headline reeked of so much late night infomercial cheese that I’m sure some passed over the article, which has some good and interesting points.)

Filed under: publishing, book, book distribution, Business, distribution, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, publishing, Publishing and Printing, self-publishing, Tucker Max

11/12/2012 • 11:56 PM 1

Authors & Publishers: How to make a media kit Part 1

My hardboiled crime thriller Higher Than Jesus is available now. Please click it to get it.

Some crazies have already put up their Christmas lights so, ready or not, prime book selling season is here. One of the easiest things you can do to promote your books is a press kit. Start with local media to get the ball rolling. (If you want a sample of my catalogue and press release so you can see how I handled it, go to my author page at AllThatChazz.com and I’ll be glad to email you my most recent press kit.)

**Before you mail anything out, consider these variables for your press kit:**

1. If you have one book for sale, look for some angle and detail to pitch in the press release. Non-fiction with a local angle is the easiest sell. Non-fiction by a local author is a little less attractive, but saleable. Fiction can be the hardest pitch, but the smaller the newspaper, the easier it is. If you have multiple books, focus your press release pitch on one angle but send them a catalogue. Your press release materials can be repurposed to sell to customers through your website or at conferences and author events.

2. Research your media targets and be aware of deadlines. It’s already way too late for magazines, though some small arts newspapers that focus on the local scene may still have room for a piece about you before Christmas. Read the newspaper, community newspaper or magazine first. Aiming at individuals and likely targets works much better than bombing everyone everywhere.

From this research, be selective. For instance, aiming your press release and a friendly cover letter at a columnist who covers unique business enterprises and people in your city might be more effective than hitting up the editor for the arts section. Don’t just go for the book review editor (for whom a press release now is way too late for Christmas no matter how small the venue.)

3. Don’t overlook radio stations. They’re media, too. College radio stations are often easier to get into and provide diverse programming options to a reading audience. Also consider podcasts. They hit a worldwide audience but have fewer barriers to entry if you choose to send a friendly email off to the right one.

Television is unlikely unless you’ve got very specific material that fits the show, like a unique and very visual pitch to a TV producer at “Breakfast Television” on City TV in Toronto. Newspapers and magazines are a shotgun blast to opportunity. Getting into TV or national markets in radio requires a rifle scope, a cookbook or a picture book about fashions for dogs. Watch a lot of that stuff to see if you could fit in somewhere. Be a celebrity first. That helps immensely.

4. Send your media kit to one person and be familiar with their work. Get the name of the arts and entertainment reporter, for instance, and send the email directly to his or her email. Don’t send multiple emails to the same media venue. That can create chaos, resentment and blood blisters on your genitals.

In some smaller newspaper operations that use freelancers, it may not be apparent which individuals are assigned particular beats. If so, select the appropriate assignment editor from the publication’s masthead and address your cover letter to him or her. Don’t send it to one of those general addresses that start info@somerandomnewspaper.net or inquiries@couldn’tbebothered.com. Again, it’s best to have picked up and read an issue or two before sending out anything.

5. Tie your press release to some larger event if appropriate. For instance, if you’ve written a book about consumerism, I’d tie the press release to Black Friday right now. Always look for this opportunity to give the story traction for the reporter. They’re looking for an angle and they want you to give it to them in the press release. Remember, you have to sell the angle to the reporter because they have to sell the idea to a jaded and depressed editor who has heard it all and hates it all.

6. Write your press release as if it’s the story you want to see in the paper. e.g. “When you supply ready-made quotes, you’re making the reporter’s job easier and giving coverage of your story a better shot,” Chute said. “When I was a newspaper reporter, I still checked out all the facts stated in the press release but the document was often a strong springboard for the articles I wrote.”

7. Show some personality in your cover letter. It’s probably going to run in the Arts section, right? So why write the cover letter as if you’re a humorless conglomerate’s soulless flack trying to put an oil spill in a happy light?

I’m angling for an author profile so to get the interview — as opposed to a straight news story — I’m striving to hit a certain tone that matches my books. Here’s the opening paragraph to my cover letter for my media kit:

The book publishing revolution is here in London and it’s going to make a big boom. I thought we should talk about my plans for world domination before I give my ninja monkey clone assassins the launch codes.

That got their attention. Here’s the slightly more serious follow-up paragraph:

In the attachments you’ll find the media kit for Ex Parte Press and my press release. The short story is that I quit my day job to form a publishing company a year ago. Ex Parte Press lords its power over one client: Me. I now have seven books for sale on Amazon in digital and paperback. I write hardboiled suspense, publishing advice and some very quirky self-help. For more on me, you can also check out my websites: ChazzWrites.com and AllThatChazz.com. You should be warned that I ply reporters and spies alike with bad coffee.

Obviously, if you’ve written a business book about successful investing in ostrich farms, you’d be more serious. I’d go with a few bullet points on why the future is in ostrich farming. The headline would read, “Investors are losing money by sticking their heads in the sand,” which, by the way, is a persistent myth about ostriches. Even with most serious topics, write a catchy headline even if you play the rest of the press release straight. They won’t use your headline, but you still need to be catchy.

For the rest of my tips on building a killer press kit to sell more books, achieve celebrity and host huge orgies with a distinctly Roman theme, see the rest at AllThatChazz.com.

Or overcome your better judgment and buy all the books by Robert Chazz Chute here.

Filed under: publishing, advertising, allthatchazz.com, Amazon, books, Business, ebooks, for immediate release, media release, Press kit, Press release, Public relations, publishing, research, self-publishing

11/09/2012 • 12:45 PM 1

#NaNoWriMo: Tools to get you back on track & stay inspired

Right about now, if you’re doing National Novel Writing Month, you’re feeling a little tired and you have two complaints: Where do I take my story from here and how can I better manage my time to meet my writing goals?

I can help. First, here’s a link to my guest post on Masquerade Crew today. This excerpt from my book, Crack the Indie Author Code, is an easy, fun and genuinely intuitive exercise that will turbocharge your NaNoWriMo efforts and make your manuscript fresh. I call the strategy my Trio approach to story creation. You’ll love it and your readers will, too.

And now your free time management tool: The SlimTimer. I found it through The Nerdist Way by Chris Hardwick. (With all those Star Wars jokes and references in my books, you must have guessed my nerd secret, huh?) This tool will help you track your activities and find time. Only what is measured can be improved. Measure your day with this timer. Then make time you didn’t know you had, get back on track and stay on track.

Crack the Indie Author Code is Book One. Write Your Book: Aspire to Inspire is Book Two in my series on writing and publishing. For fresh inspiration, I offer this uber cool image to motivate you to persist with writing your book so you, too, can have a cool ad like this!

Click the image to get Higher Than Jesus

Often when we think of graphic designers, we only think about book covers. Kit Foster from KitFosterDesign.com sent me this ad this morning. I’m using the white variation above in the Orangeberry book tour. Pretty cool, huh? Kit is not only an author and the sponsor of the All That Chazz podcast, he’s also an amazing designer. He does book covers, web banners, Quote Art and much more. If you have a podcast, you need art. If you need an ad, check out Kit’s portfolio and go get help. Great images grab eyeballs.

Graphic designers can do more than just book covers. Kit is a great consultant. For instance, it was he who suggested that I add a tag line to my covers using the ten commandments to reflect some aspect of the plots through the series. In Bigger Than Jesus, it was “Thou shalt not steal.” In Higher Than Jesus, it’s “Thou shalt not kill.” In the next book, Hollywood Jesus, it’s “Thou shalt not covet.” That tweak added a lot to the look and tone I wanted to achieve. Tweak your covers. Don’t let them lie there, weak and ugly.

I’m so excited about how my books are turning out (which explains how linktastic I am today), I want you to be excited about your books, too. Go write one.

#NaNoWriMo Tip: How to blast out of the gate (chazzwrites.com)
#NaNoWriMo: The key tip to write a much better book (chazzwrites.com)
NaNoWriMo: My crucial mistake (chazzwrites.com)
Bigger Than Jesus: Descent (allthatchazz.com)
The Gambler (allthatchazz.com)
The Ultimate Liar (allthatchazz.com)
Ta-da! Motivation, Inspiration & Information for Writers (chazzwrites.com)
Branding: The change I made (chazzwrites.com)
Tools of the Trade: Things go awry (allthatchazz.com)

Filed under: publishing, All That Chazz, Aspire to inspire, Bigger than Jesus, book covers, book promotion, Chris Hardwick, Crack the Indie Author Code, ebook, Graphic design, guest post, higher than jesus, Kit Foster, Kit Foster Design, Literature, Masquerade Crew, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, novel in a month, Podcast, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publsihing, SlimTimer, time management tool, writer, Writers Resources, writing, writing advice, writing tips, writing tools

11/05/2012 • 8:41 PM 7

Amazon Overboard: Further thoughts

Crack the Indie Author Code and Write Your Book: Aspire to Inspire both have bonus offers of free ebooks. Buy two books and you get four! Just released, so no reviews yet, but any second now….any second…Amazon’s doing what?! I’ve gotta sit down on a stump and think about this!

Publishing blogs will be burning up about Amazon’s new review policy tonight. Here’s my soothing balm: I think the idea of clamping down on authors reviewing their “competition” is so nuts, somebody on Amazon’s end will step in and say, “Sorry! Never mind. It was Todd’s first day and he locked himself on the bridge and took the helm and we almost crashed into that small moon.”

(Everybody all together now: “That’s no moon!”)

This is such a classic overcorrection to the comparatively minor problem of sock puppetry that I have to believe cooler, smarter heads will prevail. This is Amazon. They’re smart! (“…right?” said a small, nervous voice.)

In case they aren’t smart about this issue, here are my thoughts and predictions for what might happen if they don’t break past the locked door to the bridge and wrestle Ensign Todd to the deck.

1. Following this logic, if Steven King were to step out of a pillar of literary white light, lay his sword upon my shoulders and give The

Steven King! Click here! Small-town terrors and psychological mayhem in Maine.

Dangerous Kind & Other Stories his blessing, Amazon wouldn’t want a share in my ensuing windfall? (I choose that book because, hey, comparisons have been made and, ahem, Steve, if you’re reading this…)

Okay, that’s not going to happen, but the principle strikes at the heart of the problem. If Steven King — or any other writer who springs to mind — says a book is good, that recommendation is given more weight in the real world, not less. We’re writers and we’re serious. We might know a little something about craft. I wrote two guides to writing and publishing and used to work in traditional publishing. For that reason, I should get less of a voice and opportunity to exercise free speech? To put it less eruditely but more succinctly: Um…huh?!

2. She Who Must Be Obeyed pointed out that the Oscars would have to be closed down by this policy’s logic. In that group, only directors can vote for directors and cinematographers vote for cinematographers. No one questions their moral fortitude and how honest their opinions are. Amazon’s giving me less credit for honesty than Hollywood people?! Again: What?!

If the core issue is trust — and we do want to trust that the review system works despite some evidence to the contrary — that trust is tested in two directions, not one.

3. Amazon’s great at a lot of things. If they keep this review policy, they will give their competitors a chance to be good at something at which Amazon, at present, suckeths. It doesn’t help that the policy is an insult aimed right at us. Most people can be trusted to write an honest review. My fear is that this move enables a lot of bad reviewers (who happen not to be authors) to go rogue and unchecked. Without balance, we all fall down.

4. I’m concerned that there’s a bunch of fear cropping up around this issue. As someone on Twitter told me today, it doesn’t help that they threaten to pull the book down if you argue with them. In dealing with artists, authors and content providers, threats are a tactical error. We’re all adults here, so let’s take this as an opportunity to solve problems. I’ve already been told, not unkindly, that I should watch what I say for fear of punishment. JA Konrath has mentioned that he’s got so many reviews, he’s above the fray. I have few enough, I’m beneath it. Take me down and I’ll get more publicity from the capricious attack.

5. The Law of Unintended Consequences is one of my favorite laws. It rules throughout my plots. In fact, as Konrath has pointed out, it’s this bitch of a law that got us into this mess. If this policy stands I predict:

A. Fewer reviews on Amazon. Well, d’uh. If they just take them down, why bother?

B. Bad reviews stay up, depressing our star ratings. What many readers suspicious of reviews don’t understand is how incredibly difficult it is to get any reviews at all. That’s especially frustrating because many sites won’t help us promote our books until we have at least 10 reviews that yield a ranking above four stars. Put up another barrier to our livelihood and hopes and dreams and you get…

C. More paid reviews will rear up from clever, shady companies who will get around the system. Put desperate authors in a game they can’t win and more will cheat (only this time they’ll feel justified instead of furtive.)

D. Reviews will matter less than they do now. Many would say “even” less, and I repeat my oft-repeated plea: Read the sample and base your buying decisions on that, please.

E. Competitors and book review sites and book bloggers will rise higher as this policy change makes reviews less relevant. In many cases, authors will have to pay for those reviews, too, just to get to the head of the line.

Sigh. Okay…it’s off my chest. Now what?

My suggestions:

Sign the Change.org petition asking Amazon to please stop taking down reviews arbitrarily.

Get back to NaNoWriMo and have some fun being awesome.

Get back to reading something great and review it.

By the time you do so, this mess will probably be sorted out and Todd will be safely stowed in the brig.

*Geek test: Yes, I’m aware I mixed allusions to Star Trek and Star Wars in this post. Climb down off my back. It was a joke.

Free to download Nov 5 to Nov 9, 2012. Grab it now!

FRESH UPDATE: My crime novel, Bigger Than Jesus just reached #1 in Hardboiled and #9 in Action/Adventure. That’s an example of something Amazon does very well. Click it to grab it free until November 9!

Joe Konrath: Amazon Deleted My Reviews (huffingtonpost.com)
Amazon removes book reviews by fellow authors (guardian.co.uk)
Has Amazon gone way overboard with its new review policy? (chazzwrites.com)
Fake Reviews Be Gone…But at What Cost? (kellielarsenmurphy.com)
Disappearing Amazon Reviews (laurenwaters.net)
Don’t Let Your Amazon Reviews Be Deleted (joannegphillips.wordpress.com)

Filed under: publishing, Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Amazon reviews, Author, books, change.org, indie authors, petition, publishing, review policy, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, Star Trek, Steven King, The Dangerous Kind & Other Stories, The Law of Unintended Consequences, Unintended Consequences

11/01/2012 • 10:32 PM 3

My crucial brain hack to win #NaNoWriMo

There’s a trick I use for problem-solving, plot twists, brainstorming and inspiration that really works. (I blogged about it long ago, but it’s so powerful, it bears repeating and you probably haven’t seen it.) This writing tip will be especially useful to you if you’re a pantser, but plotters can use it, too.

I wrote Bigger Than Jesus and Higher Than Jesus (each over 60-some thousand words in about a month for the first drafts) using the hypnogogic state. I wrote these thrillers chapter by chapter, covering at least a couple of thousand words a day. Most nights I went to bed not knowing what adventures and twists my hit man, Jesus Diaz, would face in the morning.

If you’ve read the books, you know it’s always something surprising. Things go well and things go awry (mostly awry) in clever, unexpected ways. Getting into the hypnogogic state is not hypnosis per se, but this technique does access a state of mind that’s particularly useful for writers, especially during National Novel Writing Month where you need a lot of cool ideas in a short time.

To access the hypnogogic state for greater creativity:

STEP 1: Just before I go to sleep, I plant the seed. What question do I want answered in the morning? (e.g. What will happen to my Cuban hit man in the next chapter? How will he get off that cliff he’s hanging from?)

STEP 2: Go to sleep. No light in the bedroom, no TV. Beds are for sex and sleeping and that’s all. Turn your clock face away so the big glowing red numbers don’t taunt you. Avoid stimulants, alcohol and exercise late in the day. The magnesium in mineral water can help you relax, but don’t drink so much you’re up peeing all night. Do whatever you normally do to achieve a good night’s sleep.

STEP 3: Wake up slow. It’s far preferable if you do not wake to an alarm clock. The time between sleeping and waking is a precious time and you want to prolong it. (That’s what all that great stuff in Step 2 is about, so you don’t need to wake to alarm bells.)

In that time between sleeping, dreaming and waking? That is where you will access your creative genius and, as you slowly swim up to consciousness, ask yourself: What’s the answer? The answer will come to you in that special, relaxed state.

Sounds too simple doesn’t it? It works for me every night and every morning.

~For more writing tips, inspiration and motivation for your journey from keyboard to publishing, pick up Crack the Indie Author Code and Write Your Book: Aspire to Inspire by Robert Chazz Chute. Chazz — a former newspaper journalist, magazine columnist and insider in traditional publishing — now has seven books for sale.

NaNoWriMo: My crucial mistake (chazzwrites.com)

Filed under: publishing, Book Writing, books, brain hack, brainstorming, creativity, ebooks, hypnogogic state, indie author, inspiration, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, publishing, Robert Chazz Chute, self-publishing, writer, Writer Resources, writing, writing advice, writing tips

10/31/2012 • 5:23 PM 9

Ta-da! Motivation, Inspiration & Information for Writers

Whether you’re about to throw yourself into the teeth of National Novel Writing Month or every month feels like a NaNoWriMo frenzy, I have two new books (in pixels and paper) to keep your writing and publishing flow: Crack the Indie Author Code and Write Your Book: Aspire to Inspire. Boiled down from over 1,000 posts on this blog, I’ve edited again, added bonus writing and publishing tips plus new content that’s never been seen on ChazzWrites.

Need more? How about free ebooks? When you sign up for my newsletter at AllThatChazz.com, you automatically get a shout out on the All That Chazz podcast and a plug for your website. However, there’s a new and different cross-promotion you can’t get anywhere else. Sign up for the newsletter, answer a qualifying question in the back of the books, and you get a coupon to receive a free ebook of suspense. Complete the easy giveaway instructions and you get the podcast plug, and/or Sex, Death & Mind Control and/or Self-help for Stoners! If writing and publishing books aren’t for you, there’s a similar offer in the back of Higher Than Jesus, the next instalment of The Hit man Series. (#1 was Bigger than Jesus.)

Jump in for the hardboiled fun. Higher Than Jesus promises a little less swearing, snappy dialogue and jokes, more sex, more twists and more clever violence. My Cuban hit man is embroiled in a conspiracy around an arms deal in Chicago that has dire ramifications for the entire United States. It’s a classic tale of Bad versus Evil.

LATEST PODCAST: The Halloween edition of the All That Chazz Podcast is up with a reading of “The Way Out is Through”, a chapter of Bigger Than Jesus. Hear the podcast at the AllThatChazz author site.

~ Robert Chazz Chute is the author of Bigger Than Jesus, Higher Than Jesus, The Dangerous Kind & Other Stories, Self-help for Stoners, Crack the Indie Author Code, Write Your Book: Aspire to Inspire, and Sex, Death & Mind Control (for fun and profit).