Brian Kittrell's Blog

So, I’ve been away from the blog for a bit, and the best explanation I can offer is that it was best to spend any writing energy I could muster on the fiction work instead of burning time here. That goes hand in hand with not having many updates to post or much to say that anyone visiting didn’t already know. So, I’ve focused on the books, and lately, I’ve been able to get a lot more e-ink on e-paper, as it were.

I’ll leave it at that for now because I’ve got a bit more story to put down before I quit for the day. But I wanted to check in. Until next time.

It’s a question that often comes up from fans and other writers. “Why do you offer any of your books for free?” I usually give my answers when the question comes up, but one curious reader asked me several questions lately, and I figured that they might make for a good posting on the subject. So here we are.

Free books have flooded the marketplace lately, from Amazon to Barnes and Noble, from iTunes to Kobo. Independent author-publishers are beginning to see the value of offering a book or two for free to readers, but not many understand why. Some writers are afraid that it will cause the marketplace to deflate, that all of these free books will hide the ones for sale, and the sky will fall.

There are more books for sale now than there have ever been in the history of writing, and these books can be had on demand. Order a book, and in the flash of an eye, the book is on your reading device and ready for consumption. Sometimes, the price tag is free. But should authors be terrified of this concept?

To understand it, you must look at the two prevailing business models in the book industry, specifically on the book creation side of the marketplace. You have very large houses interested in publishing bestselling books, and you have independent author-publishers (or self-publishers, as we’re often called) who want to go it alone. Large houses have big bank accounts and vast advertising budgets? What tools do independent authors have at their disposal? Usually, I can promise you, it isn’t a huge budget.

So, enter the concept of the free book. Free books give readers a chance to sample an author’s writing style, plotting abilities, characters, and world without a commitment of cash. If a reader doesn’t like a book, the only thing that is wasted is a little time. This is conceptually different from the previous prevailing model of: buy the book, read the book, don’t like the book, and discard the book. The free model keeps the cash in the readers’ pockets and gives them a choice of whether they will continue to read an author’s books or not.

And so, let us get into the interview questions.

 

Reader: So, you offer some of your books for free. What’s the reason?

Brian: I want to give readers a nice, long sample of my writing style, ability, and characters. I don’t like paying for things I ultimately hate, and I don’t like seeing people buy things that they end up regretting. Books are one of those unique things that you can’t tell if you’re going to like it or not until you get into the pages. Samples on retail websites aren’t always enough, so I offer a whole book–start to finish–to try out before you buy anything in my series.

 

Reader: Free books can get a lot of bad/negative reviews. Does that happen to yours? Does it bother you?

Brian: It happens. Does it bother me? Not at all. Given enough exposure to enough people, any book will get negative reviews, no matter how good the plot or characters, no matter how well-written. It’s going to happen. And when my free books get bad reviews, it doesn’t hurt my feelings. It might have in the past–some reviewers can be especially hateful and mean about it–but since it was a free book, I can be happy for them. They didn’t have to spend money on a book (or go through a refunding process for a book) that they ended up hating. If they choose to review it, that’s their choice. And it’s also other readers’ choice to decide whether they’ll give it a shot or not. Thankfully, the process has worked quite well; hundreds of readers a month and thousands of readers a year are discovering they they love my books. And that’s what it’s all about.

 

Reader: Some authors say that free books are killing the industry. What’s your take?

Brian: I say that it’s nonsense. All industries must adapt to changes. That’s just a fact of life. What troubles the publishing industry has are often due to its unwillingness to get with the new trends. Instead of complaining about the negative points of free books, why not try offering a short story or a novel for free to get in on the benefits it can bring? I can tell you one thing: free books are here to stay. Many authors are seeing a benefit to offering a selection of titles at no cost, and they’re not going to give up that boost.

 

Reader: Do free books devalue an author’s work?

Brian: Not if it causes sell-through in the rest of their titles. The whole point is to get people reading your work. An unread book devalues an author’s work more than any read book can.

 

Reader: What if a book gets a lot of free downloads, but the author’s non-free stuff gets no action?

Brian: When a writer comes to me and says, “I have a book set to free, but it’s not generating any sales,” then my first reaction is that the writer might need to take a step back and look at any issues their books might have. If you’re getting a lot of downloads and no one is going on to buy the others, price could be a factor. Formatting could be an issue. Editing and proofreading may not be up to par. Download your own book to a device through the marketplace and see if you notice any problems. Look at the book from the viewpoint of a reader. Ask other writers to do the same–in private. See what you can come up with as a solution.

A free book isn’t a get-rich-quick method, either. A book without exposure, promotion, or some kind of marketing will remain obscure and unknown, regardless of its price tag.

 

Reader: Lastly, how big of an impact do you think your free books had on your own success?

Brian: I wouldn’t have had any of the success that I’ve enjoyed without placing some of my stuff out there for free. It’s just that simple. ‘Massive’ isn’t a big enough word to describe the impact.

This weekend, I had the pleasure of heading up to Greenville, MS, for the annual Delta Paranormal Project Conference and Paranormal Investigations (or, as commonly called, ‘ghost hunts’). I got into town late Friday night, a result of a little lack of planning and hungry bellies (of my traveling partner and me) in Vicksburg, MS, but I went to the meet and greet and had a blast anyway. I could make a whole series of posts on how to prepare for conferences and conventions, which I may do and post to New Age Writer, but I digress.

After a few adult beverages, I returned to the hotel for a some shuteye, and off I went to Kepler’s off of Highway 82 for the conference portion of the event. The only thing that I didn’t like about the conference was the fact that Greenville had no less than eight competing events in town the same weekend, and one of them was a blues festival. As I related to some friends afterward: ghost hunting has become mainstream, but you’re not going to beat out a blues festival, especially when they have huge names attached to it. Since most of Delta Paranormal Project’s (DPP) interest comes from the local residents in and around Greenville, we were a lot slower than we thought we would be. However, this was good for the other arm of my business, formatting for print and ebook, since there were several other writers at the conference looking to improve their workflows. And I never scoff at the potential for a business relationship down the road; networking is a wonderful thing.

As you can see from the picture below, I also got a little writing done on the fourth book in the fantasy world of Bloodmyr, which is presently entitled “A War of Magic.” The title could change between now and publication, so don’t plug that into your search trackers or anything like that just yet. And yes, I would love to give you a release date, but I don’t do that anymore; I think pushing back or missing dates is more irritating than not knowing in the first place. But, as always, once I know for sure, I’ll tell you.

When the conference concluded, we broke for supper, and then we all met at the Greenville Armory building for the paranormal investigations. Now, I went to this event with a completely open mind. I didn’t judge anyone or put anyone’s beliefs down. That’s really the only way you can approach something like this, to watch and observe and make your own conclusions.

We had an investigation at the armory, the Democrat, the old firehouse–now a museum–and the E.E. Bass Performing Arts Center. The most interesting experiences were at the armory and the old firehouse. Before I talk about the investigations, a couple of things should be stated:

Paranormal investigators attempt to add science into the process of investigation.
As a result, they have special tools to measure increase/decreases in electromagnetic activity, along with sensitive thermometers and other gadgets.
Rooms are measured for static EMF activity and ambient temperature, in order to have a base reading from which to derive activity. (Bursts of EMF activity and sudden, dramatic changes in room temperature are noted as possible paranormal activity for further investigation later.) They also carry sensitive audio equipment which is processed after the investigation.

So, with that in mind, let’s keep rolling. The firehouse is said to be haunted due to a fire which killed several of the men on duty at the time. I don’t have any of the supporting information about this event because I didn’t have anything to take notes with at the time, and unfortunately, it’s difficult to find anything about Mississippi history online. And just try searching for information on haunted firehouses in October; the Halloween events are overloading the search results.

We went into the upstairs of the building, and to make a long story short, there were several spikes of electromagnetic activity in the room after questions were asked aloud. Does this indicate the presence of ghosts? Not necessarily. I was rather impressed with the team on this aspect; they tried very hard to debunk every spike of EMF, every noise, and every other strange occurrence in the room. It was nothing like the show Ghost Hunters or any of the others, which seem more about the entertainment than anything else. These people wanted to find the truth, whatever form it took, instead of trying to spook, scare, or entertain any of the people there.

After the firehouse, we went to the armory. And there, we had several abnormal EMF readings and some strange audio. One of our investigators asked, “What is your name?”, and a man’s voice said, “Bill”, on the speaker. Does this mean that a ghost named Bill was in the room communicating with us? It may or it may not; just like police investigators, real paranormal investigators don’t put too much faith into the evidence they find until it’s been processed and analyzed, gone through the full debunking process, and so forth. Once every logical and natural test has been put to the evidence, they see if it stands up. If it hasn’t been debunked, it is placed in the pile of evidence of paranormal activity, and each piece of solid evidence is analyzed together. It is a meticulous process, and given that we may not understand everything about the universe or the afterlife (really, we’ve barely scratched the surface on either), I was impressed with the process, the scrutiny of the evidence, and the professionalism that the team had to finding the truth, whatever it was.

And they’re a great bunch of people, too. They’re very friendly and have never met a stranger.

If I’m able to go to the conference next year–which I understand will be in Mobile (or possibly Gulfport)–I’m going to do everything I can to attend.

I’m finishing up my preparations fo heading to Greenville, MS, to participate in the Delta Paranormal Fest tomorrow. I know it’s a smaller event, but it any of the fans from Arkansas, Louisiana, or Mississippi would like me to sign their book, bring it with you for the conference.

I’ll be going along with some professional ghost hunters on Saturday night to some sites around Greenville, also. This should be quite interesting indeed.

All right. Some updates now that I’ve settled in. I have gotten an iPad and a wireless keyboard, linked everything up through Google Docs, and now I’m “technologically advanced,” I suppose. With everything linked up, I can work on any device I have and the updates carry over automatically to everything else.

I have left my job as a dispatcher and have decided not to go back to another 911 center on a full-time basis. So, I’m a full-time writer and publisher now. It’s scary (if you consider sitting for hours, staring into space, wondering if the world will suddenly explode with enough pressure on the side of your skull scary). It’s exciting. It’s the weirdest feeling I’ve ever had in my life. It’s simultaneously the most terrifying and most satisfying possibility: working for myself, writing books, and seeing what people end up thinking about them.

As a result of these two developments, I hope that books will come faster than they have. Can I promise it? Of course not; the last couple of weeks have seen my writing productivity lower than they have been in a while. Lots of things happening at work and my eventual resignation (on very good terms and because of scheduling difficulties, don’t worry), and then the sitting and staring part. I’ve become an expert at the patterns of paint splashed on the walls of my living room. But fret not. Now, I have no choice other than to finish all of those works-in-progress that I’ve neglected or otherwise didn’t have much time for. Now, it would seem, I have all the time in the world.

But, I do have to ask everyone for a little help. I would encourage all of the people who have enjoyed my books to spread the word, to mention them to a friend and fellow lover of fantasy (or zombies, or science fiction), and ask them to download the free sample. Don’t spam, of course; that’s not what I want. But if you know someone who might be a good match for Laedron, Nadene, or Dylan (and, soon, Kristof, the vampire), let them know about it. As always, thank you to all of the fans for being awesome.

I am still in the process of getting everything moved, switched, and configured, but the main website is back up. For now, my email accounts for the @latenitebooks.com domain will be down. Apologies to all affected by this issue. They should be back in working order tomorrow morning.

More to follow.

Take the world we live in and add a device which can cure virtually any disease. This is the story of the near-future world of Cure and how Panacea I, a revolutionary medical device, came into being.

The Panacea Device is placed into the very capable hands of marketing executive Dylan Cross. The device, a robot smaller than a human cell, seems to be the answer to most of humanity’s social and economic problems. Without the need for expensive health care and without the existence of terminal illness, what sort of world could we make?

Innovation is not without its problems, and to what lengths might men go to control the secrets of the panacea, the cure, the future?

A Cure is coming soon. Look for it at your favorite retailer in March!

Of all of the questions tossed around in the publishing world, this one, “Is self-publishing valid?”, is posed quite often in any number of writing groups, critique circles, and halls of publishing houses. Often, we are given the views of people who started in traditional publishing and later went to self-publishing. That is all well and good for authors who had already established a readership, for obscurity is the biggest enemy of any writer. However, the viewpoint from someone who chose to start in self-publishing–and who has subsequently succeeded at it–is hardly ever seen. Here, I present that viewpoint as an author who has sold tens of thousands of copies of books and who, for now, brings in enough income to be a full-time writer.

I’m not a full-time writer, despite the fact that I could be, and that brings me to my first point. Sales volume is an unpredictable factor in any business, and when you have a mortgage, a wife, and two children, your desire to maintain a steady paycheck–something that will always pay, like clockwork–is rather high. For now, I must maintain security instead of freedom, no matter how much Benjamin Franklin might have objected to such a sentiment.

I’m an outlier and a freak of nature in the publishing business. I’ve been working, writing, and publishing for a bit over two years, and I have sold more books than I would’ve ever expected. My first month, I made barely enough to cover my cell phone bill, and I was absolutely excited about that. I didn’t think it was possible for a high school graduate to write, publish, and earn on stories that hadn’t passed through the ivory towers and Ye Olde Halls of Publishing Mastery in New York. I was just a guy sitting behind a keyboard pounding out a story, and my fans were people just looking for something to read.

What began as a short story written for fun turned into a novel-length horror story, which I published in November, 2010. After releasing the third book, I pulled them all and decided to think about what I wanted to do with them. By then, I had written the first in my fantasy series, The Circle of Sorcerers, and my skill, knowledge, and craft had improved considerably. I don’t recommend that people go back and rewrite already-published books, but those really needed the work. I wasn’t ready then, but people somehow still enjoyed the stories and downloaded and purchased them by the thousands.

So, you couldn’t get a contract with New York?

Hey, stop being so judgmental! Contracts are only signed between those who are seeking them, and I am guilty of not seeking one. When I started writing, I wasn’t concerned with selling my books; I was just telling a story that I enjoyed in a way that I liked, careless of what anyone else might’ve thought. I didn’t care because I didn’t intend on selling any of it. Then, some folks told me that they enjoyed them, so I decided to try them out. I worked through them, edited them, hired proofreaders, and so on, and went to market. Would it have been possible five or ten years ago? Probably not. But Amazon’s KDP, Barnes & Noble PubIt!, Smashwords, and the rest of the distributors made it easier for me, a nobody, to put out a book and deliver it into the hands of eager readers.

Thus, I’m one of the people who circumvented New York, not one who tried to get in and failed. I submitted a query letter to an agent after I released my third book just to see what it was like, and afterward, I shrugged and started writing my fantasy series.

So, you would recommend this for everyone?

I would recommend self-publishing to those who have a lot of patience, a lot of courage, and a lot of will and resolve to work hard for little reward, at least in the beginning. Publishing is a tough business. Yes, I’m succeeding, but the road to this point was fraught with obstacles and hardships. It’s put my marriage to the test. It’s put me at my wit’s end a number of times. I’ve rode the natural high of the upswings and hit the bottom of the pit in the downswings. But I can tell you that I was glad to make the trip. It has paid off.

I don’t guarantee that it will pay off for anyone else. As the old wisdom says, write a good book, work hard on it, get an editor, proof it, and promote the heck out of it. During that process, start on the second. Then the third. Write the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh. And now, I’m writing my eighth with plans for a few dozen more over the next ten years. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. If you want to get rich quick and you have the skills, lots of authors need people with strong technical abilities, like formatting, cover art, editing, and proofreading. Above all else, be professional and run your business like a business.

What have you done to be successful?

The question should be: what haven’t you done to be successful? I’ve tried nearly everything. Review in the local paper? Check. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit? Check. Giving away copies for review? Check. Guest posts, book bloggers, advertising, publicity, promotion, and the rest? Check, check, check.

Does luck play into it? A little bit, but not in the way you might think. Luck is the blamed cause when the unprepared reaches astounding levels of success. Some who reach those levels of success don’t know why or how they did it, but only that they did. The luck comes into play when the lucky cannot find any other likely cause. I’m not saying that it’s not a valid explanation, but I am saying that those who only claim to be lucky simply cannot spot the reason. There is a reason, and here are a few of the possibilities:

Readers spreading word of mouth.
Good reviews in the marketplace.
Good reviews in high traffic areas (of the Internet, media, or wherever).

And the next natural question is, “How do we get those things?” The only formula that works, time and time again, is:

Produce a good book. Focus on entertaining people, provoking thought, provoking emotion, and provoking a reaction.
Make the people, places, and experiences in the book feel alive.
Edit and proof until it shines. Those itching, burning problems you recognize in the manuscript will be noticed by others. (Fix everything that you see.)
Get a good cover. Professional covers sell books.
Find a promotion method you like. If you enjoy Facebook, set up a fan page. If you like making podcasts, get on YouTube or distribute podcasts relative to your subject. Like blogging? Get WordPress or Blogger. (And even if you don’t like blogging, get a website. It’s like an online business card.) If you hate Facebook or Twitter, don’t use them. People have bought books for years even if they couldn’t connect with their favorite authors in a nanosecond. It’s okay. It’s not mandatory, and a tool that isn’t used is only going to waste your time.
Write the next book in between Tweets, Facebook posts, blogs, and podcasts. Move to step one and repeat.

Notice that the first four points are about making your book stand out? Yes, that is the most important thing. All of the promotion and advertising in the world can’t sell fecal matter in a to-go box. Well, the kind of advertising that a self-publisher can pull off won’t do it.

To conclude, it’s all about the little things.

A kilogram of matter is made up of one thousand grams of the same matter. In other words, a thousand little things put together can equal one big thing. For those new to publishing, this idea is critical to casting off the veil of obscurity. It takes more time, but doing lots of little things can pay off the same as one big thing, or even more. For instance:

One Book Review on the New York TimesViewed by millions of people, the NY Times review could rocket you into the spotlight. Of course, the entry requirements are quite steep, and the chance of getting there is slim.

One Thousand Book Blogger Reviews

Each blog might pull in a small readership, from a few dozen to a few hundred, but the exposure adds up. With 1000 guest posts/book reviews spread across the Internet, you could be exposed to thousands–perhaps tens or hundreds of thousands–of people, and book bloggers are friendly, approachable, and more accepting of self-publishers. Check submission guidelines prior to submitting, of course.

Every little bit counts. Until next time.

I’ve placed the publishing services on indefinite hold for new clients. It was just taking too much time away from my own projects. I have to focus on my own stuff before I can worry about doing formatting for others. So, until further notice (probably March or so), the publishing services branch of my company will be on extended hold.

Also wasn’t able to get anyone trained for the assistant formatter position, so that has been a factor in the decision to hold the service. Just not enough time in the day to watch all of my own pots, let alone somebody else’s casserole.

Past clients can contact me about new work, and any work currently in the pipeline will be finished during this week (12/3/12-12/10/12) so everyone already in will be ready to go by Christmas.

Today, I read an article from Huffington Post posting the question: Are Self-Publishing Authors Killing the Publishing Industry?

The fact that the author of the article is a self-published writing is a little… I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

So, let’s get to it:

Huffington Post article writers post the content for free. It doesn’t get much more devaluing on the written word than that, right?$0.99 books are probably worth their price. This used to be a price point that people used to gain an audience, and for those finding success, it is used by a loss leader by those with higher-priced items down the line. It is also common to use the price point for shorter works.The work is worth what the market will bear. Apparently, Huffington Post believes that news and commentary is worth $0.00. My local newspaper thinks that the sum total of its weekly Sunday issue is worth $1.50. People read both.

The article also quotes the Guardian, which said, “Despite the splash caused by self-publishing superstars such as Amanda Hocking and EL James, the average amount earned by DIY authors last year was just $10,000 (£6,375) – and half made less than $500.”

I don’t know about you, but $10,000 is a lot of money, especially in this economy. One of the main reasons I got into writing and publishing was to add to my income, not replace it. My books have tripled my income this year while my salary has remained the same, which would be way beyond my expectations. But if it hadn’t, the extra money helps when raising two kids, paying all of the bills that simply won’t go away, and every once in a while, doing something fun for myself.

Even $500 is decent money. It’s not going to be something you can retire on, but maybe it is enough to tip the balance in your favor. Maybe that extra $500 is enough to pay for the rental car for your vacation next summer. Maybe it is enough to bail you out of a mortgage payment that’s overdue. Maybe it will put clothes on your kid’s back or your own. Or maybe you can go out on a few dates with your significant other.

If $0.99 is your plan, then it’s your plan. It doesn’t devalue writing. The big publishers prove that readers are still willing to pay $10 or more for an eBook if it’s from an author they really like. (No, don’t worry; I won’t be boosting my prices anywhere near that high for a single fiction book.) It’s about the writer, not the word count or the price per sentence.

I do have common ground with the article’s writer, though. Writing isn’t a get rich quick scheme. It takes a lot of work, and it is as hard and tough a business as anything else. Another thing we agree upon is:

And lastly, nasty reviews from other authors with the sole purpose of driving down customer ratings.

Yes, that is a problem. A severe, industry-wide problem? Anonymity makes it difficult to tell, but it’s been proven before. Unfortunate and sad every time. But, the green monster has been seen in every industry; jealousy is a personal issue, and people that try to destroy others might be surprised how much they could accomplish if they focused on their own work instead.

Until next time.