Another teaser for Shadowlith: Book One of the Umbral Blade

So I hate reading poorly written fight scenes in fantasy books. Whenever my characters fight, I try to make it as realistic as possible. Here's how you write a concussion:

 

Holt caught a glimpse of a flanged mace heading right for the side of head, breaking his momentary confusion and forcing him to fall to the ground to avoid being killed in a single blow. The edge of the mace caught his helmet with a loud crash, instantly disorienting him and replacing all the sounds of battle with a harsh, screeching ring in his ears.

Luckily, his attacker overbalanced in the assault, and Holt wasn’t simply obliterated by a second blow from the fearsome weapon. Clutching his stolen axe like a cane, Holt pulled himself to his feet and tried to steady the spinning world. He felt drunk, overwhelmingly drunk, and a wave of nausea crept into the back of his throat as he failed to get his bearings perfectly straight.

The mace-wielder turned back, a wide grin splayed across his unarmored face. He slapped the head of his weapon in his open palm, and Holt saw a few streaks of blood rub off on the man’s skin.

The captain tore his helm from his head and tossed it aside. The fresh air seemed to calm his roiling stomach, but only by a fraction. When he looked ahead, he could barely focus. Everything was blurry around the edges. The man came forward again, swinging his heavy mace from left to right. Holt raised his axe to block, and the mace head shattered his weapon’s shaft into a hundred splinters.

“Now you die!” the attacker bellowed. The man’s teeth were yellow and jagged, and his breath smelled like vomit.

Holt stifled a chuckle when he realized it was his breath that carried the pungent stench of stomach acid, not his attacker’s. Still spinning helplessly in his own mind, he tumbled back to the ground unarmed, heaving the contents of his gut across the stones at his feet.

The captain fell onto his side with a sullen whimper, waiting for the killing blow to quickly bring an end to his scrambled senses. After a few seconds, he realized it likely wasn’t going to happen.

He wanted to open his eyes, to see what fate had befallen his attacker, but he knew it would be useless. Even with his eyes shut, all he saw was a shifting field of slowly spinning color blotches that made him scream in agony. The screaming brought on another round of painful vomiting, and then everything finally, mercifully, went black.

A trip to Iron Wind Metals!

I had a pretty cool experience today. The tabletop miniatures game I write for invited me up to their factory to sign some rulebooks being mailed out this week which feature stories I've written to help develop the lore of their world. (For more, check out this blog post or you can head over to the short stories tab to read the lore). 

Thankfully, the great guys at Iron Wind Metals were kind enough to give me a tour of the place and let me take some cool, behind-the-scenes pictures. Here it is!

Getting all the figures together for a shipment this week. Most of the figures on the table here are bee cavalry (yes, cavalry riders on bees!), treants, a winged beast, and some armored bears. They look awesome.

Getting all the figures together for a shipment this week. Most of the figures on the table here are bee cavalry (yes, cavalry riders on bees!), treants, a winged beast, and some armored bears. They look awesome.

A big bin of hero figures. The orange disc are silicon molds used to make those figures, and the brown boxes to the side are older figures which have since been discontinued. Above the box, you can see some of the design concepts on a clipboard.

A big bin of hero figures. The orange disc are silicon molds used to make those figures, and the brown boxes to the side are older figures which have since been discontinued. Above the box, you can see some of the design concepts on a clipboard.

Some resin molds used for casting figures.

Some resin molds used for casting figures.

Shelf after shelf of finished miniatures waiting to be shipped. Thousands of different models, hundreds of each.

Shelf after shelf of finished miniatures waiting to be shipped. Thousands of different models, hundreds of each.

These discs are silicon molds used to make the pewter figures. Iron Wind Metals has been around since the 70s, so they have a ridiculous amount of these molds.

These discs are silicon molds used to make the pewter figures. Iron Wind Metals has been around since the 70s, so they have a ridiculous amount of these molds.

These shelves are full of 'master molds' which are like the blueprints for making miniatures. A lot of them are used to the make the miniatures used in Chaos Wars!

These shelves are full of 'master molds' which are like the blueprints for making miniatures. A lot of them are used to the make the miniatures used in Chaos Wars!

The inside of a silicon mold. So much detail! These things are really cool.

The inside of a silicon mold. So much detail! These things are really cool.

This mold makes wings for dragons. It was at the active pouring station where I got to see some weapons poured into molds and made before my very eyes. It was awesome!

This mold makes wings for dragons. It was at the active pouring station where I got to see some weapons poured into molds and made before my very eyes. It was awesome!

Stacks of pewter ingots waiting to become fantasy miniatures. Each one weighs about 15 pounds and can craft about 100 individual figures.

Stacks of pewter ingots waiting to become fantasy miniatures. Each one weighs about 15 pounds and can craft about 100 individual figures.

Some finished miniatures, expertly painted and on display.

Some finished miniatures, expertly painted and on display.

The T-Rex is my favorite.

The T-Rex is my favorite.

Goblins!

Goblins!

These dragon riders are really cool.

These dragon riders are really cool.

That thing is sick!

That thing is sick!

A limited edition dragon.

A limited edition dragon.

More cool dragons.

More cool dragons.

And the best part of the whole trip, getting a chance to see my story in the rulebook before it ships!

Lina Arias is something of the champion of this edition of Chaos Wars. The daughter of Estria's king, she threw away her birthright in order to make a name for herself - as a vampire, a summoner, and a necromancer. 

Lina Arias is something of the champion of this edition of Chaos Wars. The daughter of Estria's king, she threw away her birthright in order to make a name for herself - as a vampire, a summoner, and a necromancer. 

I hope you enjoyed the Iron Wind Metals factory tour! It was a pretty cool experience I'll always remember. 

Getting paid in interesting ways!

When you don't get paid in cash...

So a while back I began writing short stories for Ral Partha's Chaos Wars miniatures game. You can check them out here. When I started writing the series of background stories (which has been a ton of fun), I agreed to do it for free. I would get some free publicity, and the minis game would get some cool lore to spice up their world. In my mind, that's a pretty fine deal.

But then I got a package in the mail yesterday.

The fine folks at Iron Wind Metals, the company who makes the Chaos Wars game, sent me an entire army of goblins (always my favorite!) and a couple special edition figures to go with them! That's awesome!

The full contents of the package.

The full contents of the package.

This figure, the Vampire Queen, is an awesome one I had the honor of writing. She's a badass.

This figure, the Vampire Queen, is an awesome one I had the honor of writing. She's a badass.

Back in the day, I used to play a decent amount of Warhammer 40,000. I also played a few other miniatures games, so I know how to paint models. I'm not incredibly good at it by any means, but I'm going to paint a couple of these guys and see what happens. 

In the meantime, I plan on writing another short story for Ral Partha which uses the awesome spider figure they sent me. Look for that story to go up in a week or so!

Shadowlith Update - Progress!

So if you read my last blog entry, you know I'm pretty excited about the new magic system I conjured up in the car one day. Well, here's the update:

Shadowlith (still a working title) has officially become my next expected full length release. I'm currently about 30% through writing the novel and I (realistically) hope to finish the first draft by the end of January, 2017. So, to give everyone a little taste, here is an unedited excerpt:




*****

Alster nearly fell to the ground. The shade from the archive, or whatever it truly was, stood in the doorway to the record room, a towering black menace of twisting shadows.

A host of incomprehensible screams poured from Elsey’s mouth as she tried to scramble away. Her feet tangled as she jumped, and she hit the ground hard, but the lantern did not go out. The closest horse kicked at its stall door, rousing some of the other creatures from their sleep.

The shade moved directly over Elsey, filling up almost every inch of the darkness between the lantern’s partial light.

Suddenly exploding in a flurry of action, Alster did the only thing he could think to do. He ripped Alistair’s dagger from his belt and lunged, losing his balance completely. In the small hallway of the stable, his accuracy with the blade was irrelevant. As he fell, Alster gripped the dagger as tightly as he could and simply held it above his head, letting his momentum do the work for him.

Alster didn’t fully understand what he heard when he crashed into the ground. The shade yelled, the voice a mix of shock and pain, and then evaporated, leaving behind a cool mist like a cloud of fog.

As quickly as it had begun, the stable was once again calm, though the horse behind Alster seemed intent on breaking its stall to escape.

When Alster pushed himself up to his knees, he felt something tingle inside his stolen gauntlets. It felt warm and comforting, whatever the sensation was, and Alster found himself grinning from ear to ear. With one hand against the doorframe for balance, Alster stood up fully and brushed the dirt from his clothes.

Mixed with the flickering lantern light, a soft reg glow emanated from the filigree on Alster’s gauntlets. He turned his hands over in wonder, half of his mind expecting some dazzling display of magic and the other half not believing his own eyes.

“Did you see that?” Alster whispered.

Elsey collected herself and righted the lantern, though her body shook with fear.

“I think I killed the shade,” Alster said, never taking his eyes from the gauntlets. After a few more seconds, the red light faded and the gauntlets returned to their mundane state.

Deep in Alster’s chest, he felt something begin to stir. He felt stronger. He felt more alive than he ever had before. His grip on the dagger tightened, and he thought he felt the newfound energy pulse within his very bones.

“I,” Alster began, but he didn’t know how to describe what took place within his ribcage. “I think… I consumed the shade,” he said after a moment.

“What?”


“I think I drank it,” Alster said. “You know the feeling when it is cold so you drink something warm and the heat spreads from your chest through your whole body?”

Elsey nodded, her eyes wide with some emotion Alster could not pinpoint.

“The dagger killed the shade,” Alster continued. He slide the weapon back into his belt and unclenched his hand, relaxing the muscles of his arm. “When the shade was dead, I drank it,” he concluded.

“On purpose?”

 

A new fantasy series!

A new fantasy series?

Maybe... Maybe...

So I had an idea while driving from Tennessee back to Kentucky this Labor Day. I've been thinking of ways to incorporate new and exciting magic systems into my fantasy writing and well, I might have it figured out. 

Here's the pitch: this new fantasy series will surround characters who are 'Shadowliths' - gifted with the ability from birth (or perhaps learned as well) to consciously take the form of their shadow and go about doing things. Fantasy things. I like this magic system for a few reasons. Firstly, it makes an interesting circumstance arise: the caster can only control his / her shadow during the daylight. The night does not provide enough light to make substantial shadows after all. Putting such an ominous feeling magic system into a new fantasy setting where they only have power in the day seems oddly refreshing to me. I'd expect a shadow-based fantasy magic to be more powerful at night, not less.

Secondly, I like the idea of the shadowlith going into a stupor while controlling the shadow. A lot of fantasy worlds (DnD, WoW, etc.) feature absurdly powerful wizards casting spells until they run out of strength, energy, favor, mana, etc. Until their spell power is fully drained, they are basically immortal. I'd love to see casters made incredibly vulnerable by their art. That could be a great twist on a fantasy staple which I have personally never read before.

So did I try it yet? Of course! I've officially begun work on a side-project fantasy book (or maybe novella, who knows?) which I tentatively call: "The Shadowlith" - cheesy title but I'll probably change it. 

Maybe I'll have something ready for the publisher in the next 6 months, but it isn't likely. I'd bet this idea won't be fully fleshed out until the fall / winter of 2017.

New fantasy short stories for Ral Partha's Chaos Wars!

Through a great stroke of luck, I managed to score the booth next to the fine folks from Iron Wind Metals at CincyCon this year. They make all sorts of cool miniatures games and their flagship line, Chaos Wars, is an awesome fantasy setting complete with goblins, centaurs, undead, wizards, dwarves, orcs, lizardmen, and pretty much everything else you could imagine. After a few hours, I knew I had to make a few stories for them. Every great miniatures game has a rule book full of flavor and backstories for your favorite characters - commonly called 'fluff' - and I am now that writer for Ral Partha's Chaos Wars. 

Check out the first two installments of the Chaos Wars "Chronicles of Estria" series:

Author SWAG!!!!

Villainous Halloween Market 2023

Bookmarks

Business Cards

Stickers

Once you have all your swag under control, check out the Marketing Series for tips and tricks on picking the right conventions and selling!

I get all my table swag from Easy Canvas, UPrinting, and Vista Print. It just depends which company is having the best sale at the time, but they’re all virtually the same. I have gotten some posters from Staples too.

Have your own author swag? Post it in the comments!

Social Media for Authors

BUT HOW DO I TWEETS?

I can't tell you how many older authors I've met who have no clue how to use social media. Many of them simply forgo the entire process and never create accounts. Just take the time to learn your platforms. Any social media platform can be learned in a day or less.

I MADE THE TWITTERS, WHERE ARE MY SALES?

Tweeting about your book constantly is about as good as placing pop-up ads with flashing lights in comic sans on your website. In other words, it actually makes people hate you. Do not do that.

SO WHAT DO I DO?

Firstly, you should use social media. Get on Facebook (make an author page), make a Goodreads account as an author, and get a Twitter. Instagram is great for a few genres as well, namely poetry and romance. Obviously, more platforms can't really hurt if you use them correctly, so make accounts pretty much everywhere. Figure out where your typical fan hangs out on social media, and master that platform.

Once you have your platforms under control, there are programs out there to help you streamline them and link them together so one post goes everywhere, increasing visibility. HootSuite is a decent one I know a lot of people use. Check it out. And I’m sure there are more. Use whichever service suits you the best.

Now that you have the basics under control, what do you post? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't spam your book every chance you get. What authors want to gain from social media is this: visibility, recognition, and impressions. How often have you taken a picture of a billboard outside and posted it to your Facebook? I really hope the answer is never or very close to never. So when you tweet / post things that are just billboards for your books, no one interacts with them. No one shares those. You don't make impressions or gain visibility. In fact, you alienate people. No one likes ads. Ever notice any sidebar or header ads on this website? Nope. I hate ads too.

CONTENT!

Firstly, and you'll see this advice everywhere, be yourself. Post things you are interested in. See a cool article on your favorite sports team? Share it. Have a music video you love? Share it too. Have a wealth of funny jokes rotting in your brain? Tweet them out. Are you good at cosplay? Post your pictures all around. No one wants to feel like you are trying to get them to buy something, even if you are. What authors should focus on is developing a following related to their book ventures, but not directly tied to it. 

How do you do that? It actually isn't that hard. Make posts relative to your content area. Do you write horror? Tweet your favorite horror movies. Tweet articles about horror. Tweet horror art. Build up a following of people interested in your genre, and then when those people find out you've written a book, they will be interested because they already respect you as an online entity.

Do you write fantasy? The same thing applies. Make posts about fantasy you enjoy. Share awesome fantasy art from all over the web. Grow your followers through your passion.

BUT WHEN DO I SIPHON THEIR BANK ACCOUNTS?

Once you have an established base of people who enjoy certain content from you, tweet about your book only when it is relevant. Don't just post a static link to your Amazon page. That harkens back to a bad billboard. What is relevant? Post when you have a sale. Post when you have a contest running on your website. Tweet new concept art for an upcoming book cover. That kind of thing. Don't just spam people with your links when nothing special is going on or you'll erode the base you worked hard to build. 

An author on a social media marketing panel I took part in once said only 25% of your tweets should be related to your books. I would argue to make it somewhere around 10%. People simply don't want to see that kind of thing. Think about it this way: if you were a reader in your genre, what kind of stuff would you like to see from an author? Not ads, that’s for certain.

SHOULD I REVIEW OTHER BOOKS ON GOODREADS?

This one gets a lot of debate. Posting reviews is something every reader should do, author or not. But what if you hated a book? A lot of people say to not post negative reviews as an author. That’s generally good advice. Getting into a flame war with another author cannot win you any sales. On the reverse, to me, posting only good reviews is disingenuous. It feels fake and flaky. I have opinions and I have no problems backing them up. But again, that's my style. That image might not work for everyone. I won’t shy away from leaving a bad review on a book from a major publisher, but if the book is indie, I typically won’t go below 3 stars. If I feel it deserves less, I simply do not review it.

This post isn't meant to be an end-all guide to social media, just what I've learned over the years. Have your own advice? Post it in the comments. I'd love to see more / other perspectives.

Looking for your next favorite book? Click here.

Ethan Fox - mystery extraordinaire!

Firstly, thanks for doing an interview! Tell us a little about yourself and your book, The Scissors and the Sword.

The Scissors and the Sword arose from my own experiences living in both Japan and the UK - both island nations, with proud histories, superstitions and quirks. I've always felt that the two nations have much more in common than most people realise.

The story is an urban fantasy. The main character, a scene-of-crime officer, investigates a murder that provides her an "in" to a world of the supernatural that she would never have previously believed existed. I don't want to say too much more for fear of spoiling the plot, but I hope people will enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Your bio states that you're into anime and gaming. What makes your favorite anime series so good? Do any of those elements find their way into your writing?

The book draws on a series I've always loved, Rurouni Kenshin. Kenshin isn't particularly supernatural, but it has a main character who lives almost to spite the expectations placed upon him (he's an assassin who now refuses to kill people).

In many stories, samurai characters follow a stereotype. They are honorable, strong and fearless. This often extends to how foreigners perceive the Japanese people in real life (stoic, unfeeling, driven by loyalty and familial honor) - naturally this is an outdated stereotype. Beneath that exterior, they're a people who are as kind, emotional and passionate as anyone else.

I wanted a samurai character who was impetuous, and driven by his feelings - and this would not be his "downfall". Instead, it's part of who he is. It's part of what makes him strong.


Do you play any games with a dark atmosphere of mystery similar to your book?

Strangely enough, for a novelist, I'm a peculiar sort of gamer. I prefer games with an arcadey feel, with short play-durations. I'm a big fan of fighting games, for instance, or Nintendo's recent Splatoon for WiiU.

I occasionally get into an RPG, or the latest Resident Evil or Silent Hill, but I always come back to bright, colourful experiences with fast gameplay.




There can be huge disconnects between writing a mystery movie script and writing a mystery book. How do you capture suspense without the aid of background music, lighting, and other theatrical elements?

I'm a big believer in the scene>sequel approach for novel writing; namely that you divide all of your plot threads into scenes that represent either an action or reaction.

Action scenes tend to involve a very pro-active movement on parts of the characters, and usually end with a discovery or a disaster.

Reaction scenes tend to involve the characters reflecting on a prior experience, and using their new knowledge to form a decision.

When you have three plot threads, you can quite easily go "Action A > Reaction B > Action C > Reaction A > Action B" etc., jostling back and forth. This means the reader is always waiting to hear the result of another thread.

This is only a small part of the picture, but I think it's a good example.

What do you have planned next in terms of writing? Any sequel?

The Scissors and the Sword is intended to be part of a series. I intend to write & publish book 2 before the end of 2016, and make a start on book 3.


Which famous writer, if any, compares best to your writing style? Is there any particular style of voice you try to showcase?

Readers have, in the past, compared my work to Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher. That being said, I don't think this is necessarily about my writing style or "voice", but rather because they are giants in the Urban Fantasy field.

One reader compared my work to Rumiko Takahashi, particularly Inuyasha, which was interesting to hear.

I don't consciously try to emulate any particular author, though naturally, like all writers, I'm a product of what I personally have read.


As a self-published author, is there anything you would do differently if you could? What is the best advice you could give to an aspiring author?

The best advice I could give is to make mistakes - at least, don't be hesitant. Writing and publishing are both complex and you're going to make many mis-steps on the way. It's difficult, but you need to strive through those or you're never going to get anywhere. I spent several years worrying about this, when really I should've got started in 2011.


Lastly, where can we find your work? 

My work can be found in many places:

Details about The Scissors and the Sword:

http://by-ethan-fox.com/TheScissorsAndTheSword


Amazon: http://getbook.at/TSATS

Twitter: https://twitter.com/By_Ethan_Fox

Tumblr and blog: http://by-ethan-fox.com

Mailing List: http://by-ethan-fox.com/mailinglist

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ByEthanFox/

Self Publishing, Small Press, Traditional - How to decide...

So you've written your first book. What now?

 

I had no idea what to do when I finally finished my first manuscript. I knew self publishing existed, but I really thought it involved owning a physical book press and printer to make the actual books myself. The only other option I knew was traditional publication through a major house.

So what's the third option most people never hear of? Small press. A small press like mine, Hydra Publications, tries to combine the best aspects of traditional publishing with the best aspects of self publishing. Of course, not all small presses are the same, but I can speak from experience about a dozen or more small presses I know and how the business is generally run. Here's what I know from a few short years in the industry and heavy involvement with my own press:

Self Publishing pros and cons: When you do it all yourself, you need to spend a lot of money. Editing can cost anywhere from $250 - $3000, a cover can run from $20 to $1000, formatting will set you back a hundred or more, and that is just to get your work ready for publication. First and foremost, the downside to self publishing for most people is the cost. It can also be time consuming, but pretty much everything in the writing business is. Once you've got everything paid for and your book is ready for sale, you need to do all of your marketing yourself. While that isn't difficult, it could be expensive. Buying tables at conventions, buying all your own marketing material (i.e. bookmarks, posters, banners, cards, artwork, audiobook production, etc.), travel expenses, online advertising, the list goes on and on. For most self published authors, I tell them to have at least a few thousand dollars saved to drop on their expenses in the first year. That should cover all the basics of pre-sale preparedness and cover initial marketing costs. (These costs include the obvious like covers, editing, formatting, etc. and also cover the often-overlooked costs of marketing, first couple hundred paperbacks, a dozen or so tables at conventions, bookmarks, a banner, and other promo items.) The benefits of self publishing? Control, control, control. You make every single decision. For many people, that is the deciding factor hands down. You pick your cover art. You pick your fonts and formatting. You pick your marketing and event schedule. Period. 100% control is given to the author. Again, that takes a lot of time away from writing, but if you want your books to make money like a full time job, they need to be your full time job.

Traditional Publishing pros and cons: With a big publishing house, you don't have the primary benefit of self publishing: control. The house gets your editors, covers, promo material, etc. Furthermore, big houses are notoriously difficult to get into without a nepotistic connection. Even finding an agent can be brutally difficult for many. The pros? Obviously, it comes down to money. You are nearly guaranteed to make more money with this option than any other, especially if you are just starting out and don't have a following. Huge distribution means your books go to all the major retail outlets.

Small Press Publication: With a small press, you get the benefits of control with the benefits of marketing and support like a traditional press. Have your own cover artist or don't want to use the artist employed by your press? No problem. You might have to then pay for it, or at least part of the art, but typically small presses have no problems paying your own artist if they do quality work. The same is true for editing and proofing. If you don't want to use the people already hired by the press, that's fine. You get the control to decide. Again, that might mean out-of-pocket expenses, but many small presses will at least offer to pay your editor the same they normally pay their own. The best advantage of small presses comes in the form of networking and marketing. If you've read my Marketing Series, you know that selling live at conventions is crucial to the indie author's success. Small presses typically buy several tables at conventions and invite their authors to come sell / sign at no expense to the author. Typically, even my food is covered by the press. Plus, you get the community offered by the small press. I've met some of my best friends through my press and we all help each other out every chance we get. Someone finds a promo strategy that works? They tell everyone in the press. Want to bundle your books together to offer a sale? Just ask and the press will facilitate it.

Can a small press get you the distribution of a traditional press? In short, no. But a small press offers one thing that self publishing does not: legitimacy. The average reader (sadly) doesn't respect self published works very much. It can be a detriment at conventions and when trying to get into real stores. Here is a story I've heard pretty often: A self published author gets accepted by B&N. They have to supply 10,000 copies of their book to be sold in stores nationwide. Yay! They spend $15,000 (probably getting a business loan) on book production and mail the books out on their own dime. Guess what? B&N doesn't market for you. If you don't have a BIG following already, your book will rot on their shelves. And since B&N has your books on consignment, they don't pay you until the books sell. So when they don't sell in a year, you have to cover the shipping cost to get all of your books back into your garage. And you are now literally bankrupt. I've met people who have told their similar stories at conventions and literary events, often ending in tears because they lost everything due to B&N's consignment scheme.

So how do you get into bookstores without being traditionally published? Here is where the small press comes in. Small press owners typically go to the store manager personally, pitch the book, and offer to do a book signing / selling event in their store with a few authors, giving the store a cut of each sale. Pretty much every manager is going to take that deal, especially if the books are available through B&N online. Once you set up and sell in the store, offer to sell the remaining stock to B&N at the industry standard 55%, not consignment. Many accept. Obviously, it then comes down to marketing (leaving bookmarks, displays at the cash register, etc.) to actually sell the books from the shelves, but you've already sold them. You transfer the risk to B&N, not yourself. Sadly, approaching stores like B&N with a self published book will usually get you turned down simply due to the stigma. The small press legitimacy gets you in the door. As your book sells and your brand expands, you can approach more and more stores, employ the same method, and before you know it, your books are being ordered by stores in states you've never been to. It grows slowly, but your distribution does grow.

Check out Nef House Publishing—my #1 recommended small press!

Caveat: Don’t make getting into a brick and mortar store one of your goals unless you have good reason. The profit margin is terrible. Also never leave your books anywhere on consignment. You absorb all the risk, provide no incentive for the store to sell your book, actually give the store a disincentive to sell your book, and you make less per sale. Consignment is a horrible option.

Royalty Breakdown: self publishing offers the best. Period. You don't pay a middle man so no one has their hand in your wallet. Small presses offer the middle ground. You have to pay the press a portion of your royalties, but if you negotiate your contract well  / find a press with a good royalty rate, it turns out very well. Traditional publishing pays very little (I've seen as little as 6 cents per copy sold) but does it on a HUGE scale, often outweighing the small percentage of royalties. 

 

Conclusion: this is nowhere near a comprehensive list of pros and cons. Media rights, translation projects, and all sorts of other things come into play as well. Personally, if you can get accepted by a traditional press, DO IT. But if not, go for a small press. Small presses give you the best combination of both options.

No matter which route you choose, make sure you do your homework first. Know exactly why you are going with your choice. Is the unlimited control offered by self publishing enough to outweigh the initial costs? Is the host of free benefits offered by a small press the deciding factor, even if it means perhaps getting slightly different formatting than you had in mind? Make an educated decision based on your personal goals. My advice should not be taken as definitive. Everything here is simply my opinion after a few years of success in the industry. 

Looking for your next favorite book? Click here.

Special Announcement! Goblin Wars artwork now for sale!

Looking for that special piece of wall art to bring a room together? Looking for a gift for the strange cousin who loves fantasy?

Check it out!

 

It looks a little washed out since I'm a terrible photographer.

It looks a little washed out since I'm a terrible photographer.

Here is the high quality version. It looks stunning on the canvas - I'm just bad at taking pictures.

The Great Myth of Genre

Genre

I've seen tons of online discussions (looking at you, reddit...) pitting genres against each other in terms of sales and profitability.

Consistently, the thing I hear most is this: romance and erotica sell.

Is that true? Can anyone write a romance or erotica story, take a picture of some fit guy's chest for a cover, post it to Amazon, and buy a new Mercedes with their first royalty check? Obviously, the answer to this should be a resounding: NO.

So why do people all over the internet seem to think certain genres are gold mines and others are dusty broom closets full of dead manuscripts?

In bookstores, genre certainly plays a huge part. If 15 of the 100 shelves are full of erotica and romance while only a single shelf in the back holds mystery, guess what? More people will buy romance and erotica. But none of that stuff pertains to the indie author. (If you want to read more about big press numbers in sales, read this awesome article.)

What does genre mean in the indie world?

As an exclusively small-press published author, I live (or die...) in the indie book world. That means attending conventions 30 weekends a year, cold selling my books to people who have never heard my name before, and keeping my travel expenses low by surviving exclusively on Taco Bell. Needless to say, I have a lot of experience in indie books and I know tons of successful and failed indie authors. So here is what I've come to know about genre in the world of indie books: 

Genre means nothing.

Of course, we all have our anecdotes of someone who published in a big genre and saw instant success, and we have anecdotes of the opposite scenario as well. When it comes to selling books as an indie author, finding your audience is everything. If you write paranormal western romance, find conventions geared toward that kind of thing. Yes, they do exist. No, I have not been to one. Yet...

For an unknown indie author without a following (I'm talking less than 10 Twitter followers, no name online whatsoever kind of obscurity) already built up by something else, marketing and quality of product determine success, not genre. Publishing an incredible book is obviously step 1, but marketing that book well and finding an audience are steps 2 - 100. You can write in the most obscure genres out there and if you find your audience, you will sell copies. Similarly, you can write in a very saturated market and have an incredible book go unnoticed. 

When you sit down and finally identify your genre label, you need to then figure out where your audience lives. If you write paranormal western romance, find western conventions. Find blogs about western topics. Go to a UFO convention. Find a reviewer with 15k Twitter minions who loves alien romance stories. Is your main character a cool gunsmith-turned-vigilante-hero type? Try a gunsmith-themed blog for an interview. You can't look for the 6 people who might exist and are in need of your specific book, the handful of people who sit at their desk and Google 'paranormal western romance' every 15 minutes in hopes of finding some incredible new author. You need to look for the thousands of people somewhat interested in your themes and topics and then convince them that your book will fill a deep longing void in their hearts.

Basically, the indie author isn't bound or encouraged by any particular genre. The discussion should not be about genre saturation or genre growth in sales at all. The discussion needs to be on marketing. If you find your audience and have a decent product, genre is irrelevant.

Looking for your next favorite book? Click here.

Some humble advice for convention organizers...

Conventions!

For many indie authors, conventions are our lifeblood. Without selling our books at local comicons and other such events, we wouldn't be making enough money to keep producing books.

As an author and huge fan of conventions, I've been to tons of them. Some massive, some tiny, some new, some established, and everything in between. I've pretty much seen it all.

But one thing has been a constant of many conventions, especially the smaller ones, which makes little sense:

TOO MUCH PROGRAMMING

What do I mean? Too many panels, too many discussions, too many contests, movie screenings, gaming hours, celebrity meet & greets, etc.

But Stu, isn't that why many fans go to conventions? Why of course it is. The programming brings in fans from around the country. Especially the celebrity stuff.

So why limit it? Well, we don't need to cut it back much. But here are some of the complaints I've made and heard over the years of attending conventions:

  • Panels with large interest overlapping (common concern at big conventions)
  • Panels drawing 0 audience members because other panels take it all at the same time
  • People waiting in line for hours to get an autograph and missing programming
  • Vendors complaining about people always being consumed by programming and not making it to the vendor hall. This is a huge complaint.

A few conventions I have attended have also had poor floor plans. Hosting all of the panels / contests, etc in a room adjacent to the vendor hall means many people never even see the vendor hall. That's an issue.

How do we fix it? I have an idea I've tossed around to a few vendors and organizers over the years: make a vendor hour an event in the programming.

Make from 7pm - 8pm (or whenever, just not in the morning) a vendor hall hour. No programming, no contests, no dances (yes, some conventions have dances), no celebrity sessions, no screenings, nothing but vendor hall time for an hour. 

Vendors could offer promotions during that time, sales, free stuff with purchases, all that jazz. It gets people to enter the vendor hall, probably spend some money, and see things they might not otherwise see if their day is full of programming. It also lets people grab some dinner (depending on timing) which is never a bad thing.

Just some food for thought.

Interview with horror aficionado C. Bryan Brown, author of Necromancer and They Are Among Us.

C. Bryan Brown, thank you for doing an interview. Firstly, take us through your bibliography. How did Necromancer start and what led you in the direction of Vampires for They Are Among Us?

Hey, Stu, thanks for having me!

Necromancer started, technically, many years ago when I was in high school. I used to play AD&D (2nd Edition, for all you new-fangled d20 people) with my brother, cousin, and grandmother. Necromancer is, in a lot of ways, an homage to that era of my life and to my grandmother. She always played a wizard, fancying herself a female version of Gandalf. But we told stories together, the four of us, and those stories were about warriors and wizards and orcs and trolls and all their lovers and I ported all that into the modern time, changed it to be as realistic as I could possibly make magic, and went from there. As a bonus answer, the original story draft for Necromancer had Bobby as the main character, not Torrin.

They Are Among Us is a lot simpler; I love classic monsters. Vampires and werewolves are my two favorites. I have a werewolf book in me, I’m just not ready to write it yet. And for most horror fans, bloody, killer vampires aren’t as easy to come by as they used to be. The lion’s share of vampire fiction falls into the urban fantasy and paranormal romance genres. So that coupled with the fact that I had a story and world building idea in my head, I ran with it.

 

Have you always been a fan of horror? In different media, how does horror change? What are the differences between horror film and horror literature?

I suppose so, yes. I don’t remember ever not being around horror. My mother was a big, big fan of the gore movies in the 80s. As a matter of fact, she still loves her gore, but also pretty much any horror movie in general she’d watch. She was also an avid reader, or so she says. I only ever remember seeing her with Stephen King books. One true fact… when I was 10 or 11, my mother dragged me out of bed to watch the original “A Nightmare on Elm Street” because it scared her and she didn’t want to watch alone. Been hooked since, really.

I think horror changes to suit the media it’s presented in. To your question about the differences between horror film and horror literature, specifically, film is bringing horror to life and, in most cases, leaving very little to the imagination anymore. Classic example – Kubrick’s “The Shining” didn’t feature the topiary animals at the end because the FX at the time sucked and it didn’t look real. They can do that now (and have), so if it can be written, it can pretty much be filmed, and for me, once you take it out of the reader’s imagination and put a face on it, it loses power. There are some films that have come out recently that don’t show the horrors and rely more on the watcher’s imagination and these are good. A wonderful example is the film “The Babadook.” The ending has at least two interpretations that I’ve heard.

And that’s what makes horror literature so much more in my opinion. The ability to just sketch a picture or a scene and let the reader do the work, let them scare themselves. Their imagination produces monsters much scarier than any FX company can and so you’re able to delve into psychology of your themes with a soft, deft touch. There’s no need to over describe every detail because the reader is doing it for you. You can tell them a monster has a three inch horn, but they’re going to see a six or seven inches of darkened ivory waiting to impale them when the turn the next page.

 

When did you begin writing? What was the impetus that made you finally start putting words on a page with a specific goal?

I guess I started around 14 or 15, though it wasn’t serious. My sister pissed me off and I filled notebooks with a story about monsters killing The New Kids on the Block.

I kept writing after that, though most of it was for AD&D and online gaming stories back when dial-up was still cool. I was one of those CompuServe and AOL kids in the late 80s. It was just a whole lot of fun, but in my early 20s (which was the mid 90s), the gaming scene changed and the collaborative writing kind of fell away. People got prickly and way to attached to their characters, so stories were then written by one person for their character. Sometimes you’d add in another person or two, but mostly not. You could still game in chat rooms and things like that, but the forum boards, where the real writing was done, became a solo act. A few years later, I quit gaming online, and starting writing my first real stories.

In 2001 and 2002, I got my first publications, but then in late 2002, my wife had our first son and I stopped writing until he made it into kindergarten in 2008. I started writing again and then sold my next story a couple years later in 2010 to Post Mortem Press.

 

What’s next for your writing? Is there a specific direction you want your work to take?

What’s next is to continue the vampire trilogy and finish it, plus continue to work on some other things I have on the stove that involve dark urban fantasy and more straight-line fantasy.

I’ll have some audio stories coming soon, which I’m really excited about, and I can’t say much more than that yet.

And no, I don’t have a specific direction for my work. I’m not trying to point my career or my style in any specific direction other than producing better words than I did the last time I sat down to write them. As long as each book is better than the last, and readers are entertained and maybe enlightened a little bit, I think I’ve succeeded.


Which writers do you aspire to be like, if any? Which writers give you the best inspiration?

I want to be like the working writers, the ones who get to do this full time. And by that I’m not talking the level of fame held by Stephen King, Dean Koontz, or JK Rowling (though, seriously, I wouldn’t say no to it), but if I could replace my corporate salary with writing income, I’d be golden. And since I don’t really know the salaries of my writing peers, I can’t give any definite names.

The writers that give me the best inspiration are my direct peers. You, Violet Patterson, Tim McWhorter, Brad Carter, and all of us writing in the small press arena. I think it’s a great place to be, and I think we’re writing in a critical time, not only in the industry, but also in the world. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, doing this with anyone else (except maybe Stephen King, you know…) but who I’m doing it with. And that is inspiration enough to keep writing, keep getting better, and to forge forward.


If Necromancer could be made into a horror movie, who would you want to direct it and why? Who would be cast as the main characters?

Oh man, that’s a hard question to answer. Necromancer is definitely dark, and while it has its horrific moments, I’m not sure I’d qualify it as a horror novel. That said, I’ve been super impressed with Antoine Fuqua’s movies over the years, and specifically, handling Torrin’s characterization would be paramount. But he did a hell of a job with Training Day.

As far as casting goes, that’s a little simpler for me. I’d give the role of Torrin to Kevin McKidd, Bobby would be played by Bradley Cooper, and I’d totally have Kevin Spacey do David Hale. I used to think Warwick Davis would be good for the Salamander, but after Game of Thrones, I’m down for Peter Dinklage. Mercury is a little younger, just under 30, and I could see Joseph Gordon-Levitt pulling him off. I suppose that leaves Mildred and Kara… Kathy Bates and Kate Winslet, respectively.


What makes horror so appealing to horror fans? Why do we like to be scared?

I think in the context of movies and literature, horror makes us feel alive, yet in the back of our heads, we know we’re safe. Nothing bad is going to happen to us, it’s going to happen to the characters in the book or on the television. Hell, I love to watch people getting killed in the movies or write about it in my books, and there’s a great sense of excitement when a movie or book gets my heart pumping, and my ears attuned to the slightest noise in my dark basement or very quiet house. But I know I can flip on a light, or turn off the slasher flick, and that’s it, it’s all over until I want it again. It’s appealing because we’re in control.

But you put me in even a mild car accident, and I’m not chomping to have another. It’s not an adrenaline rush, but rather too close for comfort. Uncontrolled fear, as in the kind I don’t actively give myself, isn’t for me.

Of course, there are those that will jump off a cliff with nothing but a shoestring and a prayer to keep them safe, so what do I really know?


In Necromancer, much of the horror comes from very realistic situations such as failing relationships set over the supernatural backdrop. How does realistic horror stack up against supernatural / fantastic horror? How do you find a balance between the real and the impossible?

For me, realistic horror is far more terrifying than anything else. The thought of losing my sons or my wife to violence, or failing them to the point where our lives are broken, is what really scares me as a human being. One of the scariest films I’ve seen in the last five years is “Compliance” and, worst part, is it’s based on true events.

And for me, it’s not so much as finding the balance between the real and the impossible, but using the impossible to exacerbate the real, make it worse than it is, and ratchet up the suspense. Let’s face it, most people (myself included) see obstacles and problems and we have a tendency to overstate their seriousness. You’ve heard the “woe is me” testimonials, and have probably given one or two in your life. That’s what the supernatural is for me. It’s that obstacle that really isn’t overstated, that thing the character can really cry pity over, and it threatens to make his real problems all that much worse. And, just like with us, that’s what it continues to be, until the character turns the corner and sees the opportunities, the solutions, and moves forward, which is what most people do after a little self-pity.


Lastly, where can we find your stuff and when is your next anticipated release?

My stuff is everywhere! People can catch me on my blog, or on the Facebook at cbryanbrown, or even Twitter @cbryanbrown. I’m up on Goodreads, too, if people are inclined to see me over there. I attend more than my fair share of conventions and events. My schedule for those is up on my blog as well. All the proper linkages are below and I encourage people to stalk me by commenting on blog posts, my Facebook page, or tweeting me.

My next release should be this year, though I don’t have an exact date… my short story, “An Unfettered Life” was picked up for the Hydra Publications Dystopian Anthology and hopefully my next novel, At Dawn They Sleep, will be out next year. That’s the second book in The Blood War Trilogy and it follows They Are Among Us.

Thanks again for having me! I appreciate the opportunity to run off at the mouth!

Blog: http://cbryanbrown.net

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cbryanbrown

Twitter: @cbryanbrown

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4027709.C_Bryan_Brown