Comic Relief

Wow.  Has it really been almost a month since my last post?  Sorry about that.  Some day I'll get the hang of blogging.

On to my point.

There has been a rash of comic book movies in the past several years, and in truth, I love almost every one of them.  In know they are unrealistic, somewhat corny, predictable films, but I'll watch them every time.

Many writers will brag that they have been avid readers from an early age.  And not just that, they were reading high quality literature, nothing low brow.  I read Dostoevsky at the age of three.  Yeah, well good for you.

I was no slouch in the reading department, but as a young man my taste ran more toward comic books than "appropriate literature".  My parents were never distressed by this and were happy to feed my addiction as long as I agreed to keep it within a budget.  But there are many that looked down their noses at reading that sort of drivel.

But I have great memories of going to the comic book stores in town and roaming the aisles for hours.  Or during recess me and my friends would run around the playground playing X-Men.  I always wanted to be Wolverine, but my buddy Israel always claimed that persona.  I most often played the part of Beast.  We would draw our own characters, and write our own comics.

I think this was the beginning of my writing life.  It was those comics that taught me to love story telling and world-creating.  They carried me to the greater works and kindled a fire in my imagination.

So, go easy on those kids and their comic books.  They aren't all bad.

Fear is an Empty Page

I'm on the verge of starting a new novel (writing not reading).  Well, I'm actually a bit past that.  I had intended on starting a couple of weeks ago, but something got in my way . . . FEAR.

I'm not the kind of writer that uses outlines.  I lean a bit more toward free writing.  I know this causes all the outliners to gasp and shake their heads.  What about the plot holes?  The dead ends?  The run on writing?  Truth is, that's not what I'm afraid of.  Free writing comes natural to me and some of my best ideas come straight out of the blue.

What is it that scares me, then?  A blank page does.

Once I get words down on paper (more like computer screen) then my muse usually kicks in and the story unfolds on its own.  Now, that's not to say I don't hit snags that have to be fixed in the rewrites, but most often the Fear stays away.

But it's the moments just before starting, the time when you sit down to a blank page and search for the perfect opening line, that gets me.  That's when I start second guessing my muse.  Are you sure I shouldn't write this thing in first person?  Should this character live or die?  Is a mutant dragon/unicorn really necessary to my YA Police/Doctor drama with sparkly swamp creatures that teach children to do taxes?

The problem is, this new novel has a few elements that I've never tried before.  It's dystopian, it's the first in a series, and the horror aspect of the story has the capacity, if not done right, to come of as hackneyed and b-rated.

So, here I sit, procrastinating, second guessing, staring at a blank page.

If You Dream It . . .

It's no big secret that I'm a HUGE Jim Carrey fan.  I remember seeing this guy flail around on stage during his stand up, or drive me into fits of hilarity while he was on In Living Color.  Even back then, I knew he was going to be something special (like most everyone else).

Now, don't get me wrong.  I don't stalk the guy, but I do find him very interesting.  Below is an interview with Mr. Carrey.  Pay special attention to his story about the bike.  It is a wonderful testament to the power of positive thinking, and I believe it applies to all of us reaching for a dream.

My dream?  To be the self-published Stephen King.  Lofty goal, I know, but I'm putting it out there.  I'll continue to work my butt off and see what doors open to me.

Don't be afraid to speak your dreams aloud.  You never know who might be listening.

What Else Can I Say?

So, I've been considering weighing in on the DoJ's case against Apple and five of the Big Six, but there is so much out there already.  Needless to say, I am taking the DoJ's side in this, and not just because I'm a self-pubber.

There is plenty of Amazon-bashing going on, and I just don't understand it.  Yeah, they are a powerhouse, but they seem to be the only one that is working to improve both the writer's and the reader's experience.

But it's late and I spent the day digging large rocks out of my yard, so I think I'll defer this to three people that can blog circles around me.

Nathan Bransford tackles the subject in his post What Will the Book World Look Like After the DoJ Lawsuit?

Then there is the ever-vocal Joe Konrath and his post The Agency Model Sucks.

And lastly is David Gaughran's Don't Be Fooled: Big Publishing Hates Competition.

Sorry for phoning this post in, but my hands hurt and I really need to get to bed.  If these three can't convince you that the Big Six don't care about you, then there isn't much I can say that will.

Free Weekend Results

This past weekend I used the last two days of my KDP Select free days.  In my previous post I shared some helpful tips others had used to make the best of their free days.  If you are planning on signing up with KDP Select and you haven't read that post, go now.  Right now!

I came across many of those tips too late, and wasn't able to implement them, but you better believe I will with the next book.

I used the first of my five days at the end of January.  I did a moderate amount of tweeting, I did a blog post, and did an all out Facebook assault, hitting every book related page I could find.  The results:  221 free US downloads for Contemplations of Dinner and 740 free US downloads for Guarding the Healer.  I was pretty happy with that, though I didn't see very many paid sales follow behind.

I used two more days at the end of February.  I fell ill to a bad case of self-promotion remorse so I did a little tweeting, a blog post and very little on Facebook.  Self promotion can be a lot like drinking a gallon of castor oil, but it doesn't have to be that way.  If done right it can be an enjoyable experience.  I, however, didn't do it right.  The results:  23 free US downloads for Contemplations of Dinner and 346 free US downloads for Guarding the Healer.  Ouch.  And that was over two days.  That just goes to show you, if you don't care to spread the word about your books no one else will, either.

For the final two days I went all out.  I tweeted up a a storm.  I carpet-bombed Facebook.  I contacted all the places that mention free books.  I highly recommend you read my previous post and follow the links.  The results: 2,038 free US downloads for Contemplations of Dinner and 4,565 free US downloads of Guarding the Healer.  Wow! What a difference.  Contemplations topped out at #126 in the overall free rankings and hit #2 in Horror>Short Story.  Guarding the Healer topped out at #84 in overall free and stayed in the top 100 for a good while.  I've had a steady stream (albeit a small one) of paid sales and I've already received a 5 star review.

Although I'm not going to re-enroll these two books in KDP Select, I'm pretty sure that I'll be giving it another try with the next book.