Hi all,
Antioch Burns has been sent to the publisher after several rounds of revisions and checks and what seems like an inordinate amount of time checking for everything. Woo! Now to move on to Iron Tribune. Just wanted to let everyone know :-).
As always, look me up on Facebook and follow me on Twitter for the latest information on the Steam Empire Chronicles. I’ve more active there than here!
– Daniel
A quick look at Amazon’s author tools, and whether or not you should go with KDP Select.
By Daniel Ottalini
Hi everyone, today I’ll be talking a bit about some new author tools available for Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (Also called Amazon KDP). First, let me introduce to you….
Kindle Countdown Deals! – Essentially an easier way to manage a sale of your novel, at the cost of being able to only publish the novel on Amazon. This is a big cornerstone of their new push to make authors exclusive on their platform. What do I think? Great idea! (If only they could allow it while being on other platforms.) I think they would make more sales IF you would see that they have it cheaper on Amazon as opposed to elsewhere, rather than just being a lower price on Amazon and not shown anywhere else.
Kindle Lending Library– Want to earn free money for letting people borrow your book? This is the way to go! Alternatively, you could encourage people to buy your book, but hey, some people would rather save precious MBs on their kindle Fires I suppose. You earn a changing fee every month based on the total number of lends/borrows and the total number for the planet out of a set amount of millions of dollars. In essence, you earn a fraction of what the entire world is given, but it can end up being more than the price of the book. Good for those novellas or side novels you’re willing to sell for 99 cents, because you could end up making $2 or more off each borrow.
Free Book Promotion Tool – So, want to offer a great big promotional ‘free day’ without the hassle of having to change the price on multiple sites? Amazon’s got the tool for you. Tell them when you want it free, send people the links, and there ya go! You only get five days of this, so use them wisely!
Overall Thoughts – Amazon’s got some great tools. I read somewhere that they are willing to sell Kindle Fires and E-Readers at a loss to gather market share, and these are definite supporters of that plan. KDP Select is a great tool, but it may not be the best for you. With only one publishing platform, you limit yourself and your slice of the market.
Yes, most to many people use Amazon’s services, but not all. Barnes and Noble & the i-Store for apple may be the strongest competitors, but neither have similar promotional tools. Barnes and Noble matches the ease for uploading that Amazon has, but I have yet to figure out how to upload stuff to the iStore. (Even with directions). That being said, I encourage you to use all the platforms available. Amazon has shown a willingness to ‘change the rules’ before, and thus we should not be surprised if they do it again. If allowed to completely dominate the market, authors will be getting the shaft at the end as Amazon will be allowed to control all aspects of the payment and royalties without our ability to say no.
What do you think? Should authors go with KDP Select, or should they diversify?
BLACK FRIDAY SALE – ON NOW! CHECK OUT THE POSTING FOR MORE DETAILS!
But as they say…But Wait, There’s More!
Get my award-winning début novel, Brass Legionnaire, at 33% off! Yes, you can now get the novel that started it all for only $1.99. This weekend only, so you better move quickly! This sale is available at Amazon and Barnes & Nobel.
My thoughts on Novellas & The Self Published Author
By Daniel Ottalini
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative normally longer than a short story but shorter than a novel. A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative normally longer than a short story but shorter than a novel.
There is undeniably something instinctively attractive about novellas for the self-published or small-published author. Think of it this way, a novella is faster to type, edit, format, and requires only an ebook cover, reducing costs and time in multiple areas, even with multiple checks and reviews.
So why novellas? Well, for one thing, exposure in this industry is key. You are more likely to catch more ‘browsing’ readers with five books out, even short novellas, than with two novels out. By reading one, you have a good chance of them reading more, especially if they are well done. You charge less, so people may be more willing to take a chance, especially on a 99 cent or free loss leader than on a $3.99 100,000 word novel. And they do work exceptionally well as loss leaders, bringing in new readers who, having identified the quality of your work, are willing to lay out money for your other written works.
But are they really worth it for a beginning author to write? As a self-published author, I’m struggling with this situation. First, time spent on novellas is time NOT spent on novel number three. Second, I am having a hard time mustering the effort to finish up the last leg of Antioch Burns. Having the cover ready (wow, that came faster than I thought!) has helped, but still, this hill seems extraordinarily difficult to climb. My first novella is only doing mediocre in sales. In some ways, I attribute this to the higher cost – $1.99 – rather than the more traditional $0.99 cents. I’ve also been forced to cut back on what little promotion I do, due to some other issues. I suppose that you must be prepared to offer your novella for a reduced price, or provide some other tantalizing tid-bit for readers in addition. Now these may be more personal components in some ways, but they are, in fact, a factor for many others. Burnout, exhaustion, weak story lines, all can reduce the effectiveness of a novella.
For example, the delay in Antioch Burns is actually a good thing at this point. This is the first I’m sharing with you, but the novella will be delayed until Spring, 2014. My publisher has some personal things to attend too, and currently I’m not quite happy with the novella. But this is good. Why? Because I can add that extra tid-bit into the novella, like the first chapter of Iron Tribune. Yes, exciting, isn’t it? Already, this is getting me into the mood.
So in the end, what’s my final opinion? Novellas are great, if you can commit to them and pump them out completely. In some ways, the smartest self-published author waits to publish book one until they have novella one or even book two. Just a thought, as I certainly didn’t begin that way.
What do you think? Novellas & Novels together? Novellas first? Or are they a waste of time?
Copper Centurion is up for an EPIC award! Read more inside this blog post!
Good Morning to all my wonderful readers, and Happy Monday! At least, it’s happy for me, because I am very proud to announce that Copper Centurion is up for an Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition eBook Award. My first novel, Brass Legionnaire, won an EPIC award in the spring of 2013. I am extremely pumped for this nomination, especially as the judges are other authors and publishers.
I have always been hesitant about entering many competitions, as sometimes I doubt that it is entirely worth it. But I have to say that I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I took the trip to Portland this last spring to attend the conference and learned a lot. I think such conferences are a wonderful way for self-published authors to network, learn, and share their ideas and knowledge! I heartily recommend everyone go to at least one at some point in their lives! Be sure to visit the EPIC website to learn more about their goals and mission.
Daniel Ottalini – Copper Centurion (Click here to see the full award category and Finalist listing!)
How to use video games as ‘research’ for your alternate history or historical fiction novel (or just for fun!). Check it out!
By Daniel Ottalini
Every great writer takes influence and ideas from their surroundings. Nature, society, repression, upheaval, relationships, food – they all play a role in building or creating art and literature. Need Proof? (See War and Peace). For writers of Alternate History, Steampunk, or alternative worlds, where is our guidance, our focus, our tree of knowledge?Certainly, the great author Jules Verne, the enthusiastic enlightenment (and darker side) of the English Victorian era, the rugged styling of the American Wild West, all play a part. But within those come predictable, static ideas in some ways, a lack of new frontiers. I have heard complaints before, even written about them, about Steampunk being so West centric that it excludes such an incredible variety of other cultures. How can you, as an author, delve deeper into the ‘what ifs?’ and create a storyline of you own?
Simple. Lead that culture (technologically and metaphorically speaking, of course), through one of these thought provoking and challenging video games. Some of which you’ve heard, and others you may not have.
In Personal Favorite Order
Total War: Rome 2
Sid Meier’s Civilization V
Europa Universalis IV
Crusader Kings II
So what to learn from all of these? Sometimes, the best stories or ideas come by accident. Video Games, with their advanced computer programming, provide a companion to your own imagination and creativity. Even in my own novella, Roma Aeronautica, I used some ideas or concepts from video games such as Assassins Creed and even board games! So keep your eyes open, and your author’s senses tingling.
Ciao!
For my self-published friends: What exactly is your book worth?
Hi everyone,
Sorry for the lack of postings/tweets/facebook messages, I’ve been stuck without my main computer! It died about two weeks ago and I’m still in limbo with it. I could replace the hard drive, but at this point, It may make more sense to simply get a new computer. Not sure yet.
Anywho, onto my main post.
As self-published authors, we are always facing the latest push to devalue our work. The average pricing for an ebook dropped roughly 50% this last year, according to a recent study. (I’ll find the source, but heard it on the radio!) So even the main stream publishers are facing pressure to reduce the price of their work. Understandably, there is pressure on self-published authors to get our work in ‘under the wire’ so to speak, at a reduced price, because hey, everyone likes a deal, right?
Consider what goes into making a book: Time + Money + Effort = Finished Product. You spend hours writing, revising, fixing a novel. Then you probably spend money sending it to someone else to be edited, revised, tweaked. You spend money on getting good cover art because, hey, people DO judge a book by it’s cover. You put in effort to promote, to network, to do all the legwork yourself or with only a few volunteers.
Face it: You, the self-published (or small-published) author works incredibly hard for your money. Why should you not ask people to pay for your work? And not just a pittance either. $0.99? for a full length novel?
If you spent $1,000 crafting your novel, and you sell it for 99 cents, using Amazon’s algorithm (i.e – 35% of each sale is yours), you would have to sell 2800 copies of your novel just to break even. Before any advertising & such. I once heard a quote somewhere that said the vast majority of self-published authors never sell more than 50 books.
Sell your novel for 1.99, you make 66 cents each book – you’ve cut the number of books needed to break even down to 1500. Already you’re doing a lot better. Up it to $2.99, and now you’re making 70% of each sale, 2.09 – now you only need to sell 478 novels sold.
If you truly think your work is only worth 99 cents, then sell it for that amount. Sometimes people ask me why my novella isn’t 99 cents. Because I don’t think it is worth that. Will I reduce the price in the future? Maybe. It is a short novella. But true fans will buy your work, regardless of whether it is 99 cents or 1.99 or 2.99. A true fan will not ignore your work because it costs a dollar more. Then it is simply someone who is out looking for 99 cent books, not someone looking for you.
So what is the point of this? Readers believe that everything should be cheap or free. But quality has a price. If you want readers to come to you because of the quality of your work, price it accordingly.
Thanks for letting me rant 🙂
Here’s what some other people have said…
Win a copy of Roma Aeronautica!
Hi Everyone!
If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on Roma Aeronautica, now is the time! I’ve just started a competition for all my loyal readers! If you can figure out how to access the new novella page on my website, Brasslegionnaire.com, you’ll find a key word! Be one of the first five people to message me about it (Or tweet, fb post, etc) and you’ll win a free copy!
It’s pretty easy, so why wouldn’t you go for it?
Ciao!
My new Novella, Roma Aeronautica, is out today! Click to get a quick synopsis and learn where to purchase this fast paced coming-of-age story.
Hi everyone! I hope your summer is going well, mine is so far, when it isn’t full of work! I am excited to announce that my new novella, Roma Aeronautica, is available for purchase on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble (and will be up on Smashwords for iPad owners/etc., as soon as possible!). Roma Aeronautica takes place in the same world as the Steam Empire Chronicles, and would be described as a character prequel.
Should you go with just an Author Blog or both a Blog and Book Website? My take on this tricky question for self-published authors.
Greetings all!
A close friend of mine is in the process of publishing her novel. She asked me whether or not she should create a separate book website similar to mine, to go with her author/personal blog. It’s a great question that I wanted to share with you, my loyal readers.
Pros of Going with a Book Blog and Website
1.) If you ever plan to write about a different series/world/genre, it helps to differentiate. For example, lets say I suddenly decided to write about paranormal fantasy. Most people reading this blog wouldn’t be extremely interested. But I could continue to update my book website with small tidbits and bonus features. Alternatively, I could create a book website just for my new series, and keep this current blog focused on alternate history and steampunk (A much better idea).
2.) Flexibility – different sites offer different capabilities. Some require a lot of money to really stretch the boundaries, or a personal web designer. I also like having a separate site because I can send people to the Wix site via mobile or through my business cards. It looks professional and is topic specific – focusing on the novel, not on self-publishing as a whole.
3.) Fan Support – A book website with a forum can allow fans to discuss and present their ideas on that site, and allow you to monitor your readers’ ideas and input, without having to sift through different areas.
Cons of Going with a Book Blog and Website
1.) Time – You have to make and upkeep two separate sites. My Wix site is still waiting to be updated with Roma Aeronautica’s information. That’s on the agenda for this weekend.
2.) Money – You have to pay to host two websites. Or alternatively, deal with annoying free ads and such. It depends on your own choices too. brasslegionnaire.com is a lot more professional sounding than wix.brasslegionnaire.com after all.
3.) Separation of readers – This is a possibility if you have multiple blogs. You can separate your readership and reduce traffic to each site individually. That being said, you can also allow specific segments of your readership to ignore parts that they don’t care about, and focus more on what they enjoy and like!
So looking back, what would I recommend?
Well, personally, seeing as how I already have two sites and plan on building the world of the Steam Empire Chronicles to include ten different stories, I think a separate site for them is great! Especially when I plan on creating an additional series or world.
Would I recommend two sites to a beginner? Absolutely not. If you want to blog, then you should focus on creating a blog and building that audience faithfully and consistently. Small steps are easier to take, rather than big leaps.
What do you think? One or two sites? More?
Modern Papyrus 