Tag: self-publishing

Kickstarter Launch for Book Two

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 Things to Know about Writing Historical Fiction (Guest Post by Hazel West)

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 Fictionbutton

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:DSCN1548

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)”

New Short Story in the works

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…

ROMA AERONAUTICA

Tactical Layout of the H.M.A.S. Scioparto
Tactical Layout of the H.M.A.S. Scioparto (Absent gasbag support)

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!

Guest Post: S.M. Boyce on Sticking with It

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,is out now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.

A little hope for the road…

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 for Brass Legionnaire!

A holiday giveaway! Enter to win a signed copy of Brass Legionnaire!


Goodreads Book Giveaway

Brass Legionnaire by Daniel Ottalini

Brass Legionnaire

by Daniel Ottalini

Giveaway ends December 14, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

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!

Is advertising worth it?

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!advertising 2

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.

advertising

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?

 

New Website up and running for Copper Centurion

New Website up and Running for Copper Centurion! Check it out now!


Go ahead! You know you want to indulge yourself with some more Roman-y-Steampunky-goodness! It’s okay! I feel the same way! Click HERE now!

 

Yes, it’s okay to feel excitement. I do too.

Self-Publishing – Pricing an ebook

A brief look at how to effectively price your ebook, in both the short and long term.


Hi all,

In Today’s posting, I wanted to talk about pricing your ebook. I know that many self-published authors are engaged in a ‘race to the bottom’ of sorts in an effort to eek out as much money from a book as possible. Someone once told me that I should always price my first book at 99 cents because “why would anyone spend more on a more expensive book when there are 99 cent ones out there?”
Good question. But I would like to say that there are not many other books out there just like my book. To be sure, there are a lot of quality 99 cent books out there. There are even many quality free books out there too. But for me, I know what my own book is worth, which is my first point.

1.) Price your book for what you think people will really pay for it. Everyone wants to get the most bang for their buck, and people are always looking for deals. But at the same time, don’t forget that you get what you pay for. If you purchase a 99 cent book, you’re expecting to read a 99 cent book. I don’t expect it to be great, just average. But if I see someone charging a bit more for their book – and it has good reviews with a good amount of traffic (I like to check the ranking numbers) then I’ll check it out.
2.) You will make more money by selling fewer higher cost books than you will selling more lower price books. Amazon, in particular, gives authors 70% of the profits if their book is priced between $2.99 and $9.99. So I make roughly $2.74 off each book I sell at the 70% rate. Contrast this to the paltry 30% offered to those who sell their book at 99 cents – a meager 30 cents (roughly) per book. So a person with a 99 cent book would have to sell nine books to make almost what I make in one book. One sell is a lot easier than nine.

3.) The flip side is also true. Nine cheap sells are a lot easier than one tough(er) sell. But this is where being smart ties in. Right now I have just one book. So I’ve priced it a bit high, with the idea that eventually I can lower the price. But how can you have your book, your work of blood-sweat-tears that took you a year to write actually have a helpful price while also keeping excited readers? Create a loss leader! Make a short story or two (ten thousand words or so) and price them at 99 cents or free. You don’t need an incredible amount of editing, just some basic formatting work and cover art. People will buy the cheap one, and be drawn into your story, then purchase your more expensive novel. By the way, Lindsey Buroker is an expert on this, check out her multiple 99 cent short stories that helped her get started in the world of self-publishing.

4.) Using a loss leader – This can be especially easy if you have a series. A loss leader is simply when you offer something at free or reduced prices to get someone interested in a product. You see this all the time when credit card companies give you a baseball hat or t-shirt when you sign up for a card. They lose a (small) amount of money on the shirt, but expect to gain more when you rack up big debts on your account.

So you set up your first novel as a cheaper or free introduction to your story, and hope the reader enjoys the story enough to purchase the next installments. Bingo, the ‘free’ book leads to two or three other purchases perhaps? Maybe more if you have multiple series.

What do you guys think about price setting? Is it better to start high then go low or simply stay low? Thoughts?

Ciao!

Can Nook ever match Kindle (i.e. are Nook Sales dead?)

I consider the war of the e-readers and whether Nook is capable of surviving it’s competitors.


This article partners with my previous posting on Amazon Select.

Once upon a time, there were no e-readers.

As a child and later teenager, Borders was always my favorite book store. I’ll admit that I cried a little when they went out of business. Granted the writing had been on the wall for a while. Borders was slow to enter the e-reader market, had over saturated the country with more stores than were practical (I mean, there were at least six in my county alone!) and simply failed to embrace the digital era as fast as it’s competitors. So I was forced to find another favorite book store to take the place that Borders had in my heart.

Enter Barnes and Noble. Although for years I had only traveled to their store to use gift cards (and a rewards program I had to pay for? Please, I was broke!), I found myself willingly visiting their stores more and more often. They were also the only book store in town. With B&N’s willingness to innovate and it’s prime position as largest US bookseller, one would think that victory was almost assured.

Wrong. Amazon’s Kindle has dominated the market, with Apple’s iPad tussling with the more limited Nook eReaders. This last year, B&N reported an 11% drop in it’s Nook revenue – both from the sale of tablets and the sales of books. Why is this happening? Costs, costs, and costs. With brick and mortar stores, B&N has a necessarily larger bottom line that it must maintain. Second, it’s tablets lag behind the Kindle Fire or Apple’s iPad in performance and flexibility. While Nook Color does has similar capabilities, and has received excellent reviews, it’s sister tablets have given B&N a hefty amount of trouble. Oh, and remember that price-fixing case that the Justice Department got involved in? Yea, good old B&N was involved in that too.

So how does this impact you, the ebook writer/reader?

Nook and Kindle
Nook and Kindle (Photo credit: evilgenius)

1.) As a writer, my sales on B&N website have been… well, flat. I mean, hovering around zero. I’ve sold maybe two dozen books there in about four months of selling. I’m sold that many on Amazon in a weekend. Is it worth it to keep open that possible purchasing stream? Or does it make more sense to go with KDP Select? (I’m just happy I’ve got a few good reviews on there, so at least my novel looks good!)

2.) As a reader, I was tempted to purchase a nook, especially because you can get books from the library as rentals on them (Pretty cool!), but in the end I got an iPad because I wanted more versatility. If I had known more about nook’s similarities, I would have considered it as well. But it just isn’t out there!

3.) As both, I wonder what would happen if Amazon came to truly dominate, rather than just overpower, it’s rivals? Would we see increased prices with dominance, coupled with reduced royalty rates? Would federal regulators step in to stop one company from controlling the majority of sales of the written word in the US?

Last, there is some good news for Nook. Microsoft just pumped a hefty chunk of change into it’s operation, for minority rights and the creation of a new operating system for nook tablets in college bookstores. Also, their expansion into the U.K. market will hopefully bring them some much needed new customers. One hopes that this will eventually expand to more European markets as well. Personally, I think B&N would be best served by trying to enter China BEFORE Amazon can get Kindle there. I mean, only a few hundred million people would be interested.

Will this be enough for Nook to hold off the heavyweights? Time will tell, but personally, I’m not betting on them yet.

Who wants their book reviewed?


Greetings all!

Most of you probably don’t know this, but if you go WAYYYYY back in Modern Papyrus’ history you’ll find a bunch of book reviews. Why? Because I love books! (Still do!) However, now that I’m a self published author, I’ve realized how hard it can be to get decent book reviews nowadays.

So I figured I’d start offering book reviews to self-published authors for free (for now – if I get a million people asking me to do it, maybe I’ll charge money – like a ‘buy me lunch or else’ type thing? Good idea? No, you say? Darn)

But there is a catch. I don’t have a million hours of free time. So at this time, it’s open to the FIRST FIVE PEOPLE who contact me about getting a review. To contact me, you simply click the contact button at the top of the page. First five by time stamp win! Everyone else… maybe next time!

What do I get? Content for the blog, and readers that come to me to see the reviews of your book because you’ve done your homework and promoted your book, right? Oh you didn’t? Click here to start that now while I read your book!

What do you get? I thought this would be obvious. An honest review that I’ll willingly post on Amazon and Nook and Goodreads should you request it. Plus, maybe this will lead to collaboration and author interviews and all that fun jazz.

I’m open to any fiction that’s not romantic or erotica. If your book has romance in it but is more action or adventure or whatnot, then sure, I’ll check it out. I’ll make the final call, but I’m pretty open to most other book types.

Ready… Set… Go!

UPDATE: As of July 15th, I have two books lined up. I’d love to get five done. So keep emailing me people!