Cover Art for Copper Centurion is out! Check it out and learn more about the progress of my kickstarter campaign!
Happy Long Weekend everyone!
Hopefully people are out enjoying their long weekend, but if you are stuck at home (or, like me, poor, grading work, and stuck at home) then take a moment to check out the cover for Copper Centurion. I’m really excited to be bringing this to you. Those of you who look closely may spot some clues to some parts of the story! But I’m not giving any more clues!
What is Kickstarter, and how does it work?
Hi all,
Hopefully by now, you’ve had a chance to check out my latest Kickstarter project and hopefully support me in my bid to publish Copper Centurion, the 2nd book of the Steam Empire Chronicles. I had quite a few people ask me in the last few days exactly what Kickstarter was! So prepare for a whirlwind tour of Kickstarter Nation.
What is Kickstarter?
Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative and awesome projects. This means that people looking to get a start in creating or producing something will find a home among the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, who support projects on kickstarter.
From the Kickstarter Website –
Everything on Kickstarter must be a project. A project has a clear goal, like making an album, a book, or a work of art. A project will eventually be completed, and something will be produced by it.
So what is the catch? Two actually. The first catch is that each project must be funded fully or beyond. So if you ask for $500 dollars, and only get $499, you get no money, zip, zilch, nadda. Which is good and bad. It doesn’t leave ‘partial’ projects hanging in limbo as creators try to secure other fundraising sources. The second catch is that each project creator must build reward tiers for each level of sponsorship. Pledge ten dollars to my project? You get a copy of both Brass Legionnaire and Copper Centurion ebooks. So in return for your money upfront, I give you a copy of what I’m working on (or have already finished). The rewards go up as the money goes up. I’ve seen people offer major characters in video games as rewards, names for product lines, given producer credit on albums, etc. 
The only limits are pretty obvious – no weapons, no bribing (money for money or coupons for money) along with other banned substances. Kickstarter has more information, but really, be creative! My favorite tiers are the two highest because the rewards are the coolest! If you pledge $100, you get to create and name a character in Iron Tribune, my next full-length novel, and you can even choose his/her death. Of course, if you want something even cooler, you’ll pledge $250, which nets you all that plus a Roman Helmet. A legit helmet, not something you find in the dollar store.
But I digress. So rewards are the bread and butter of Kickstarter, but how to get rewards?! You must make your project cool. Kickstarter recommends making a video to promote your project. I plan on doing this, but the weather and light have not been cooperative, argh! But it also helps to have a social network out in advance – twitter, facebook fanpage, or email listserv. Alternatively, you can hit up friends and family to support to.
So there you have it – create your project, tell people why you need their hard earned money, then create your reward tiers, promote and voila! Hopefully a fully funded project. Oh, did I mention the time limit? 45-60 days max! And you must deliver on your rewards. Oh, and Amazon takes 5% of the money doled out in processing fees. So be aware, but then continue on! If there’s anything I learned, it is to start small – ask for $250 to help you get illustrations for your novel. Then see where it takes you!
Have any of you used Kickstarter? How did you like it? Were you successful?
Ciao!
A new Kickstarter Campaign has been launched for Copper Centurion! Take a moment to read more and consider contributing to my second novel!
Greetings everyone!
It is with great excitement that I launch my second Kickstarter campaign, aimed at helping me fund book two of the Steam Empire Series, Copper Centurion. There’s some awesome rewards up for contributing, and I’ve really thought hard about what people would like to see from me as a reward.
To be blunt, at first I really did not want to use Kickstarter. I’d gotten help on the first novel, and wanted to really pay off all my followers by doing it all on my own. But the truth is, I need your help. A lot has changed in the past year for me, and the funding from Kickstarter will truly help improve the overall design, formatting, and feel of the novel. The cover art is already in progress, as is the editing, so the timing here is critical.
The funding will help defray the costs of editing, formatting, artwork. With Kickstarter money, I can add more illustrations and maps to the final novel. I can also focus my time on typing up short stories for the rewards! With my last book, I raised about half the cost of the novel through Kickstarter. I’ve lowered it to just 1/3 this go around. So take a moment to consider a donation. The campaign runs through February 10th, so check it out!
Thanks again so much for your continued support. I truly appreciate it. You have helped me bring my dream to life, so thanks, for everything.
Carpe Diem,Daniel
Ten Rules to follow when Writing Historical Fiction – A Guest Post by Author Hazel West
Hi all,
As part of her blog tour for her new novel, By Blood or By Bond, Author Hazel West is joining us to talk briefly about the world of Historical Fiction, something similar (but not the same) as my personal favorite genre – alternate history. Plus, I’m a sucker for a good Roman History novel. Enjoy!
Ten (Unnoficial) Things You Should Know About Writing Historical Fiction
1. First off, it’s fiction. That means you can bend the truth a little bit if you want to. So if you can’t find that info you need, make it up. Or add a little alternate history or steampunk if you want.
2. The awesome things you have the chance to try out. Think of it: reenacting epic battles in your back yard (scaring the neighbors), playing around with swords, (and don’t forget jousting with your bicycle and a broom handle!) trying Roman recipes, a medieval feast, or having a traditional posh English tea. The possibilities are endless.
3. You get to write about all your favorite historical figures if you so choose! Think of it: your words in the mouth of such as George Washington, or Hannibal! Okay, that might be a daunting thing at times, but if you just go for it, I find it works out a lot better.
4. You’ll get to clear the library out of all the books on your topic, thus making everyone else very annoyed, probably. Just remember not to hurt your back carrying them all out of the library.
5. Read some historical novels about the same time period. No, not to copy other author’s work (that’s plagiarism!), but to get a feel for how things are described or how you might go about it. Smells, sounds, sights, of the time period. Also, it’s a good excuse to get a few fun reads in while you’re supposed to be doing research.
6. If possible, check out the historical sights you are writing about. If this isn’t possible, then watching documentaries or travel videos works too. Just don’t put too much faith in Hollywood, because most of the time historical films are NOT filmed on site.
7. Okay, I won’t lie, you’re probably going to butt heads with people who say your books aren’t accurate. If this happens, direct them to Number One.
8. You’ll have to do copious amounts of research. There’s going to be a lot of every day things you won’t know about when writing historical fiction. Obviously, your medieval peasant can’t just pop open a package of Poptarts for breakfast, and if you think they can, you have a lot of research to do. 30% of writing historical fiction is coming up with a story and characters, the other 70% is research, research, and more research! Do not neglect it, even if you don’t use it all.
9. As with every novel, you are going to have to do multiple edits and possibly even re-writes. But with historical fiction, comes the further fact checking. Maybe if you’re lucky, you can find a fellow writer or reader who knows a lot about your book subject too to read it over for you and tell you if everything is good and historically sound (within reason, that is). If they complain about that crucial, irreplaceable part of your book not being accurate, remember to refer them, once again, to Number One.
10. As with every book, Have Fun! Historical fiction is probably the most fun genre to research next to mystery writing (unless you do historical mysteries, of course!). I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve come up with while researching for one book and finding other things that would make fantastic novels. It might be harder work than writing something from your own time period, but I guarantee you, it’s an adventure all on it’s own and very rewarding in the end!
About the Author:
Hazel West lives in Florida where she spend a good bit of time writing historical fiction about brave men and women who have graced the pages of history, trying to bring more light to their legacies so readers of all ages will enjoy them.
Hazel’s favorite things/hobbies: Writing obviously, listening to and playing Irish and Scottish folk music, practicing with all eras and types of historical weaponry, GOOD COFFEE, reading of course, dark (dark) chocolate, sketching/painting, hats, scarves and boots, collecting little old-fashioned things of all kinds, buying books, and don’t forget dressing in period clothing!
You can find Hazel on her Blog, via twitter @artfulscribbler, or on Goodreads
Click onward to read a description and teaser of Hazel’s new novel, By Blood or By Bond.
Continue reading “Ten Things to Know about Writing Historical Fiction (Guest Post by Hazel West)”
A new novella is in the works!
Hi all,
Just wanted to share some exciting information with you! In case you had missed it, I mentioned on my Facebook page that I was busy writing up a new idea for a novella set in the Steam Empire Chronicles world.
In fact, I’ve already started writing it.
“But didn’t you just finish a novel? Aren’t you going to take a break?”
Well yes, but I was honestly bored right now before the holidays, having just managed to finish up my last graduate work. Now that I am officially MORE educated than before, and making a nice, paltry sum of money more from the day job, I no longer need to worry about writing multiple papers on a weekly basis. Thus more free time.
Anywho, to get to the point. The new story will be called…
Indeed, tremble in excitement oh vast ranks of readers! It shall be exciting, and will feature one of my personal favorite characters (along with many a reader, which makes me laugh), Captain Rufus Tiverii Alexandros, master and commander of the great ship H.M.A.S. Scioparto. But Roma Aeronautica will take place far before his forays into air legions and the events of the Brittenburg Rebellion and Nortland Expedition.
And I’ve already spilled too much! Be on the look out for more information, coming soon. Theoretically, I could get this novella (really more a glorified short story, I’m aiming for 15k words or less) done by February.
Time to get to work I suppose!
Ciao!
Enjoy this Guest Posting by author S.M. Bryce about the holidays, her latest book, and hanging in there when everything seems to overwhelm you.
Without further ado, here is author S.M. Boyce sharing a nice message for this holiday season. Boyce’s new novel, Treason: Book Two of the Grimoire Trilogy,
With the holidays fast approaching and the cold already here, I wanted to give you a little hope to help you through scraping the ice off your front windshield.
It’s easy to lose hope, especially in the winter: it’s dark most of the time and cold all day long. It’s easy to forget how wonderful you are, or what you bring to the table. I think we all push ourselves too hard nowadays—we’re striving to achieve, to be better, to succeed in something before we die. We sometimes lose track of the why. Why bother?
It’s in those spiraling moments that we need a trampoline—something bouncy and a little soft. Sometimes, we’re just not strong enough on our own to remember what makes life so beautiful, or precious, or funny as all hell. So we need some help.
The trampoline can be a person. It can be the teddy bear no one knows you still have. It can be a solo hike through a forest, or an hour spent looking at adorable pictures of cats. It can be an evening laughing over dinner with a good friend.
Trampolines—and the hope that comes with them—are everywhere.
I’m analytical. So when I’m low, I write a list. It’s just for me. It’s a list of everything I’m good at doing. Things I know I can do well. It ranges from the big to the small, and it’s just for me. I’m not allowed to be modest when I write it, because that can turn into self-deprecation that makes me start to spiral again. But here’s the truth: we’re all amazing at something. A lot of us are amazing at several somethings, and it’s easy to forget. It’s easy to lose hope in ourselves and forget to love who and what we are. And if we can’t love ourselves, we can’t love anyone.
Treat yourself today, whether you’re low or not. Write a list of everything you can do well, whether you have a sweet laugh or can pick up socks with your toes. You don’t have to be the best in the world at it, but you’re good. Works for me. Write it down.
There’s always hope. Sometimes, we just need help remembering where we left it. Hold on tight. You’ll get through the low spots. And love yourself, damn it. You’re awesome.
About Boyce
Boyce is a fantasy and paranormal fiction author who likes sarcasm and cookies. You can find her books on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Daniel: I’ve also attached an excerpt of Treason below, just click and you’ll go through to it! Enjoy, and thanks for reading!
Continue reading “Guest Post: S.M. Boyce on Sticking with It”
A holiday giveaway! Enter to win a signed copy of Brass Legionnaire!
Giveaway ends December 14, 2012.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
I’m feeling generous, so take advantage of this chance to win a signed, paperback copy of Brass Legionnaire! Contests ends this Friday, December 14th!
Google Adwords, Facebook, Goodreads, Oh my! The choices and effectiveness of Advertising your ebook.
Happy Holidays everyone! Only about three weeks left till Christmas, and let me tell you, things are only getting busier from here on out!
Today’s post is all about Advertising. More specifically, the types available to authors (on a relatively cheap basis) and whether or not it’s worth it. I’m going to give each type of advertisement a ranking. $ for affordability and stars for effectiveness. Ideally, you want a type that is low cost and high effectiveness, that is, purchases per click!
Opttion 1: Google Adwords: $ (Three Stars)
What you need: Google Account and a CC
How it works: Essentially, you are creating a text or picture advertisement to run alongside Google’s search results or on any google page. So for my Brass Legionnaire, if you typed in the word “Steampunk” you might see my advertisement pop up. The caveat is that you tend to pay by the click. You also need to pick good target words and hope that your book is a match for people doing that search The more you are willing to pay by the click, the more likely you are to get yours seen. But then the more expensive your advertisement campaign becomes.
I tend to run my ‘offers’ for clicks between $1.00 and $1.50 per day. That way, I can pop in fifty dollars and then let it run for a while. Have I seen a huge jump in sales? Not necessarily, but I have seen rather consistent clicking the advertisement, as well as rather consistent sales since I’ve started. Now I cannot individually target this as the factor in all honesty, but I am considering letting it stop at the end of this cycle and seeing what happens to my numbers.
Option 2: Goodreads (Or other book website/blog) $ (Three and a half stars)
Goodreads and other web blogs are great places to run your book ad. After all, you’re specifically targeting the group of ‘readers’ that you want. I’m not going to run an ad on a Women’s artwork website, I’m going to run it on one that likes to focus on Sci-Fi, fantasy, or history! Thus it is a tiny bit more effective, and if you are on Goodreads, you can see how some information on people clicking on your link. You can make the link go outside the site (and on other blogs) but for goodreads they encourage you to link to your own site on the page. I’m not sure which is better, as I have very limited experience with this site (only 4 days worth of ads.)
Option 3: Facebook $ Two Stars
So you’ve got a facebook account? Do you have a facebook page? Great, then you can run ads! Similar to the way that Google Adwords works, you create an ad then provide a link. Similar to Goodreads, you can link to an external site or to your own facebook group page. I was town between making a Steam Empire Chronicles page and an Author Page. In the end I went for an Author page, figuring that it would be all encompassing should I ever write more books (Which I plan to). Pop in some money, assign a target demographic, and off you go. Was this effective in getting me sales? Probably only a bare few. But it DID get me a much wider target base. Before the ad, I had roughly 20 ‘likes’ on my page. My ad has been running since Thanksgiving, and I’m up to about 55 or so. That seems pretty good to me. And they are people I don’t know! Even better! You have to go into this realizing that you aren’t out to make sales now, more so to build community involvement and interest.
Other advertising service: $-$$$ (three-four stars)
Bookbub and several other advertising services for self-published authors have sprung up like weeds around the proverbial well of writing. In many cases, the services can be overpriced or poorly targeted. Some specific ones are useful, but require that you discount your book in order to purchase an ad slot, and even then they can deny you. So if you’re looking for a specific time to do an advertisement, you’d be out of luck, as I was when I wanted to run Black Friday ads. However, in retrospect I’m sort of glad I didn’t spend $200 on the advertisement. I’m not sure I would have made it back.
Some other information: When I published with Wix, I got $30 free at Google Adwords and $50 free on Facebook for advertisements. Thus, I’ve only paid about $75 (out of my pocket) in advertisement costs total since my book was published. 2/3 of that was to Google. So as you can see, lots of choices, but be careful where you put your money!
Where do you guys advertise that makes the greatest bang for your buck? Or do you eschew advertisements altogether?
Amazon KDP Glitch Causes Author’s payment options to change! Read more inside.
Hi all, this will be a short post! As a heads up to my fellow authors, please go and check your Amazon KDP settings for payment. This is a glitch in the system, but Amazon has not fixed it. So go to your account on KDP and make sure that your payment option is not set to check and is instead set to ETF. Thanks to Indie Book Spot for breaking this story. You can read the original story here.
By the way, don’t forget that Brass Legionnaire is on sale this weekend for half price! Check it out on Amazon and Barnes and Noble
Brass Legionnaire has been nominated for an eBook Award from the Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition. Read the post to find out more!
Happy Thanksgiving! I have a lot to be thankful for! First and foremost, I just learned that my debut novel, Brass Legionnaire, is a finalist in the Action & Adventure Category for the 2013 eBook Awards. The eBook Awards are done by the Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition, and is one of the very first awards for e-publishing. You can learn more about them here.
It’s a great honor to even be considered for the award. Honestly, when I submitted my novel, I truly never even thought it was going to make it. And at first, I wondered if it was going to be one of those ‘you applied and paid a small entrance fee, and guess what? Everyone’s a winner!’
But it isn’t. I’m one of the top three in an entire category, going up against two other more veteran authors with many books and novels out, including last year’s winner of the same category. Oof!
But like I said, I’m so overwhelmingly excited just to be mentioned. And I’ve decided I’ll be going to EPICon (The annual conference/awards gala) this year just to see what it’s like to be a published author at an event where everyone is involved with publishing in one way or another. The even is in March, so I’ll be able to update you then on what happened!
Plus, I can still hold out hope for an award! And I already know I’ll be submitting Copper Centurion this upcoming year. As always, it never hurts to have a second string in your bow.
Happy Thanksgiving! Be sure to eat well and help the cook clean up!
Modern Papyrus 