Upon the Wings of Greater Things
The creative endeavours of Starla Huchton
Glad to see you guys are still with me! Today, in this little series on the cost/recoup of indie writing, we’re tackling covers. If you’re not sure what this is about, I’d suggest going back to the introduction of this series, and following up with the one I published last week.
So I introduced this series a little over a week ago, and I’m coming back to you with some preliminary data from my cost/recoup survey. Keep in mind that I’m pulling from a relatively small cross-section of the publishing writer population, so I don’t have access to huge amounts of data. For that, you should look up the Author Earnings Report headed by Hugh Howey, or look at findings from Digital Book World’s articles on past surveys they’ve conducted (they’re in the midst of collecting survey data again for those interested). I did take the DBW survey this morning, and after answering the questions, I was able to get a look at the collected responses, so I’ll include some of that here.
The last week I’ve had a Facebook feed filled with authors responding to/venting about complaints they’ve received in reviews or emails from readers. To add to that, I’ve gotten many messages or questions over the last year asking about why I write and advice for someone just starting out.
I think I’ve come up with a way to address some of these things, but I can’t do it all in one post. So, I’m going to start a little series of helpful (I hope) blog posts talking about things people should know before diving into this business (or looking down on indie authors).
Wanna hear something cool? Shadows on Snow is still ranking, 10 days after release, in three different categories on Amazon. While that’s not long-term results, it’s a big thing for me. To date, my new releases have gotten a big bump on release day, then tend to fall away after three days or so. Yay for progress!
But that’s not really what this post is about, although it is related. How? I’m getting there.
I’m firmly convinced that the only reason this book has done so much is because of the people around me that have supported, shared, or otherwise helped out with Shadows on Snow. Today, I’m going to talk about that a little.
No, not THAT ‘F’ word.
The ‘F’ word that I’m talking about is one that appears in my Facebook and Twitter feeds every single day. It’s a word that polarizes, one that invokes revulsion and sometimes disturbingly violent behavior. It’s a word that makes people uncomfortable. It’s a powerful word. It’s a scary word.
It’s here! It’s here! OMG it’s release day!
Lots of awesome stuff is happening today. Ebooks are magically appearing on Kindles everywhere. The big Release Day Celebration is going to be a blast. And, of course, it’s blog tour time!
All of my writerly friends have struggled with this topic at some point in their careers: the dreaded blurb creation.
As readers, we look at these book descriptions on the back flap or on the Amazon listing and tend not to give them much thought. They either pull us in, or they don’t. But as a writer who is used to using tens of thousands of words to tell a story, condensing that story down into 200 words or less is a major struggle. If you’re one of those people that know how very real that struggle is, this post is for you.
Today has been set aside to remember a lost friend. In August 2014, I was informed that Patrick (PG) Holyfield, an author and podcaster I had the great privilege of knowing, was losing a very, very brief battle with cancer that I hadn’t known he’d been fighting.
Today, I happily hand over the blog spotlight to Ms. Delphina Henley. She has an announcement and is incredibly excited to share!
Unless You Can Be A Unicorn Cover Reveal [Read more…]
