Weird Westerns discussion

Hey guys. In order to cut down on us boring the readers with our author talk, I have made this Author thread for us to talk shop in. If it's anything to do directly with writing rather than reading let's post it here and save the other chat thread for topics everyone can participate in and enjoy.

True enough. Literary magicians never reveal the secrets of their tricks.

I write words.

Oops, I spilled the beans.

Ashe wrote: "I write words.

Oops, I spilled the beans."

Seriously, you would not believe how many people believe that IS magic. I think it comes from equal parts mistaking hard work, practice and skill at art or a craft as super powers, and the fact that more than half of Americans never pick up a book again after high school. Poof! Writing words = magic tricks.

It's funny you say that Philip, because I've noticed so many people are like "YOU WROTE A BOOK? WOW! THIS GUY WROTE A BOOK EVERYONE!" and to me its like, well yeah so have millions of other people lol. So I agree with you, some people do act like it's magic or something.

Yeah, I've gotten very similar things said to me. Okay, it's more like "Wow, you wrote a book? I don't know how you DO that, man", then their eyes glaze over.

I use to get that a lot as a wee Ashe because I drew constantly (and had life not conspired against me, I'd still be an artist). I'd get that old line, "I can't even draw a stick figure!"

And hey, it IS a kind of magic. I'm still amazed that I wrote a book. I've got a proof copy sitting next to me and I'm still just like "wow, I did this."

I use to get that a lot as a wee Ashe because I drew constantly (and had life not conspired against me, I'd still be an artist). I'd get that old line, "I can't even draw a stick figure!"

And hey, it IS a kind of magic. I'm still amazed that I wrote a book. I've got a proof copy sitting next to me and I'm still just like "wow, I did this."

There's nothing quite like getting that first proof in hand. Of course, mine was loaded with typos and errors and such, but still, like you said, to actually hold it and say "I did this." It's pretty amazing.

I won't say the book's perfect but I think it's a damn good start to a career. I worked hard and I combed through it. I'm proud.

I always have people saying "oh my god you your a published author and you have how many books?" To them Its like I discovered electricity or came up with sliced bread..nope average schmo just like you. It always feels nice to hear though.

So I've noticed something about the Weird Westerns on Amazon...most of them are free. When you type in "Weird Western" you get the top ranked and rated books within the genre and most are in fact free for Kindle.

What does this mean? Well from a reader standpoint this is great because you can get a lot of good westerns to read for absolutely nothing and if you don't like it no big deal. It also means if your a big Weird Western fan like most of us are you can go on a bit of a spree and get a couple books. Finally, quite a few are short reads which probably translates to why they are free but again this is good because you pick up a good titled western and you don't spend much time in reading it.

From an author standpoint it makes me a bit nervous. I mean why would anyone purchase my book for $2.99 when they can pick up others in the same genre for free? I'm not really nervous but it does make me realize that when I make my book free for free days that it will likely show up in the same list and the competition is quite interesting.

We all love free. Even if we'll never actually use the free thing, we're more likely to get it and not use it than ignore free.

Hey all, I thought I'd talk a bit about a short but interesting conversation I had with an author in another group. Some of you here may read this and say to yourselves "Duh, Phil, of course that's how you do it!", others may not. In either case I hope everyone can take something way from what I have to say. But first, I'd like to start with a small story.
It's coming up on three years since I decided to start publishing the collection of ideas in my head as stories for public consumption, and in that time, while I expected things to be an uphill climb, the mostly deafening silence I've received has made me rethink my choice to take the author plunge many times. I've read a dozen or more books on how to sell books, how to attract readers, etc etc. They all generally say the same things and are great reads if you have non-fiction for sale, but they have nothing to say for fiction authors. I've joined many groups here on Goodreads, Facebook, heck, I even tried to get into Reddit - ultimately learning three things: first, generally these groups are not helpful and riddled with drama; second, many times dozens of other people have come to these groups before hawking their books and have poisoned the well against new authors trying to do things the right way and that one voice can very easily be lost in the cacophony; and third, some of these groups are very hostile to newcomers and that I don't have the time or patience for that malarkey. Long story short, while it's great to know the metrics of how to sell, all of these things fail to address one major thing: how does a new author actually talk to people? How do they network? And I remained frustrated.
Now, I told you that story to tell you this one.
I'm part of a group on Facebook started by author Pat Flynn; the group is chock full of people trying to get rich quick selling non-fiction books along the lines of "7 Signs to Know That Broccoli Can Cure the Common Cold" and other such things. There is a tiny enclave of fiction authors and we're marginalized within the group, sadly. Well, one of those authors, Rebecca Howard, was planning to put out an ebook about the very thing that has been frustrating me for so long... but she decided to scrap the book when commentors began to get overly aggressive demanding she divulge links lists of sites, exact things she said to get people to buy, places they can go and spam their crap. But she was nice enough to point out some key things to me about trying to be a career writer, both online and offline: that networking is the key. And that she didn't build her critical fanbase online. She did it by making one sale at a time, in person, working first in her community, going to events and conventions and making writer friends (with the caveat that they may not support you - she mentioned to me that she has writer friends that the New York Times compared to Hemingway, and looked down on her self-published ghost stories). Networking is important, and the best networking is making a human connection in person, for when you are selling your book, you are in part selling who you are as a person (this is hard for me as IRL I'm not prone to being gregarious or displaying my personality in public arenas, but I have to start doing it). I'd wished I known this sooner, maybe I wouldn't have been frustrated for so long!
So everyone, learn from my mistake: selling more books and networking begins in your own backyard, not online!

First off Philip thanks for sharing your thoughts. Yes, your right about two things, most places tell you how to promote non-fiction books and the best place to promote is online. The issue? There's way more fiction authors then there is non-fiction and promoting in person is not easy and in fact quite challenging and intimidating.

"promoting in person is not easy and in fact quite challenging and intimidating."

Yeah Justin, especially when you press the book against their face and go "hehehehe" like you do LOL

That is interesting, though, Philip, thanks for sharing.

Agreed, Justin. Another factor to consider about promoting in person, in my case particularly but others suffer it as well, is finances. Not everyone has the available funds to go to every show (should shows be available in your area; they are not in mine) or can get the time off of work if they have a day job. So it definitely affects the ability to network.

hi all. Apologies for my prolonged absence. life had been an absolute b*tch! ...
Thanks to Philip for your insight.very helpful.
re networking in person, try doing this in New Zealand. There is only 1 event per year and geared entirely toward gamers and movies. There is nothing re authors or books. Also NZ had NO HISTORY relent to the old West. It kinda makes face to face networking impossible.

Maybe it's just my view from how long I've spent on the net. Not just years but sheer hours. I've met every single one of my best friends (and my partner) online. That's not to say that meat-space networking isn't important, it absolutely is, never you doubt it but with technology today, I think you have to find a balance.

Cons are obviously a whole other beast given that yeah, most of us are too damn broke to get to the ones we need to for professional reasons. I was hoping to do Weird West Fest this year but that is impossible at this point and I missed out on World Horror Con last month despite being 2 hours away from Atlanta.

I guess too, "own backyard" doesn't work for me because I have moved way too much and moved twice while writing A Demon in the Desert. My backyard is the internet.

But, this is also very US-centric as Christopher's experiences in New Zealand are pretty clear. I'd imagine it's pretty similar in other countries as well. And that's to say nothing of writers with severe social anxiety.

Ashe, you make a good point in your opening line. Not everyone has had the same sort of experiences online as I have, which have been few by way of interacting with other people (this group is the most active I've ever been); barring of course that it's how I met my wife. My wife, however is very active online, as are friends of mine, having made lots of good friends. And yes, I've been chastised before for not making more online friends - which is a bloody weird statement in and of itself if you ask me, but okay. In my case though it hasn't worked for me and that's just the truth of it.

And my current "own backyard" is an isolated group of dying towns located roughly between New York City and Philadelphia, each about two hours north or south. There's very little for a writer here, unless you want to write about high school football or the history of coal mining. The the definition of "backward" may have to be stretched to nearest big settlement. Or if the net works for you, then use it. I expect though in the coming month when I get started on the third book in the my trilogy ("Green Witch Legacy" as the title) the bulk of it will be written in Albuquerque and I'm going to be hitting up a lot of meet-up groups and a new set of gamers to network with, along with just plain ol' meeting new folks. I have guarded hopes.

Oh man, I would never berate anyone for how they make friends, that's just beyond mean. You make friends the most comfortable way you can. Same goes for networking and anything really. Lots of "writer advice" stuff includes blogging but if you're not into blogging, it's not gonna help you. You do require SOME online presence (at least some way to regularly update people, so facebook tends to suffice) but there's so much that gets called required that isn't.

Good luck, bud! I hope that will be a big step up.

Thanks for your comments Ashe and Philip. ... For me, on line social networking is my only option. .. In saying that, in definitely not a blogger. heck, I'm lucky to have 1 Facebook post a week. And in person, my since of humour is kinda twisted. so for now, my books will go nowhere. But that's okay. .. As soon as I so expressing my views on the death penalty, ill make more friends in person. And once I learn to to tolerate fb for more than 2 min at a time, I'm sure I'll be fine. ...... I'm rambling while waiting at the fish and chip shop. .... I can feel my arteries clog just standing in the queue.

in other news, I've finished revising my novella (Cailean the cross eyed cowboy) and sent it for pet review (bata reading) a couple weeks back. .... But I'm reluctant to move forward with it. It's a humerus story written according to my twisted humour. Most people would find this offensive. I'm also aware that, as my first sorry to be published, it is not at a quality that I ultimately strive to achieve. (The next is already better). so what I'm getting at is that I'm concerned that by publishing this, I may vary a shadow over my name.
What are your views?
Should I publish under another name?

Quentin wrote: "It's funny you say that Philip, because I've noticed so many people are like "YOU WROTE A BOOK? WOW! THIS GUY WROTE A BOOK EVERYONE!" and to me its like, well yeah so have millions of other people ..."

A big piece of it is that a lot of people want to write a book, say they want to write a book, but don't put the time and effort in to doing it, and so they look on people who actually do write and finish something as something unusual.

Which I guess it is, in some ways. Sitting alone in a room and making stuff up and finishing a story is a pursuit not a lot of people are suited for, especially given how many potential distractions are out there nowadays.

You gotta be a special kind of disturbed to write, finish, and then release a novel.

If you write, you're already a weirdo. Embrace it!

Ashe wrote: "You gotta be a special kind of disturbed to write, finish, and then release a novel."

And I have several! I mean, wait, what?

I've had so many people tell me they write but don't think they could ever write a novel as it's too much work. They also will say they don't think their work is good enough and read it to me and I think it's definitely good and novel worthy or worth publishing.

I didn't think I could publish a novel, in fact it was 5th on my list of things to do and I ended up doing it.

I think a lot of people are intimidated by it for whatever reason they think it's a huge task to accomplish but it's really not.

Quentin, your disturbed mind is well established. :P

Ashe wrote: "Quentin, your disturbed mind is well established. :P"

Then my work is done! lol

@Justin, I know what you mean, I've read novels people have started but never finished that were pretty good, but I gyess starting is much easier than finishing.

Hey folks, sorry for the absence. Life got busy--my wife brought our son into the world near the end of September, and I've been spending the last month taking care of them and writing in the spare time. The first two novella-length episodes of my weird western series are nearly complete and I'll be releasing the first one soon. I'm planning to do sort of a soft release of it and announce it at a cheap price to a few select places, including you good folks, and then bumping up the price and going official live with it. Hope to have it all in place by the end of the week.

Hope you all have been doing well.

Anyone working on any new weird westerns? I've been thinking about submitting my story that got rejected a few months back some place else.

Workin on Grimluk 2 but nothin else really.

P&P3 comes out tomorrow, and I'm working on the revisions to #4, due out late January.

All I do is work on weird westerns!

Hi all! I just joined up. My name' Curtis and I'm the author of the Devoured, which is a western /cosmic horror novel set just after the Civil War. I thought it might be cool to network with some authors that share the same interests.

Curtis wrote: "Hi all! I just joined up. My name' Curtis and I'm the author of the Devoured, which is a western /cosmic horror novel set just after the Civil War. I thought it might be cool to network with some a..."

Welcome to the group Curtis! Your book sounds pretty interesting. I'm always interested in anything Civil War whether it's pre, during or post. Best of luck to you.

Good news! My weird western short story "The Blood Creek Gold Rush" just got accepted into an anthology called "Riders on the Frontier". I'm really excited and glad my waiting to shop my story paid off. I'm also going to be in four other anthologies though this is the only weird western one I submitted.

congrats Justin! sounds like things are going well for you!

Congrats dude.

Congratulations, Justin!

Thanks Guys!

I guess I never checked in here. I'm Kyra, and one of the things I write is high fantasy set in a world inspired by the Old West. So you have wizards and magic and that sort of thing, in a different world, but in a frontier land with cowboys and gunslingers and saloons.

I just finished a six-book series set in that world, and I've also got the first draft of book 1 in a follow-up series and today I started the draft of book 2. This morning I did some research on range wars in the old west, and the idea gelled in my head so I started writing.

A great resource I've found for research and story ideas is the Legends of America website: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/
If you're not familiar with it, be sure to check it out.

Hi guys! I've been lost in the wilderness lately, working on a gigantic trad pub series. Almost done, so starting mid-year I can work on the Ghost Marshal trilogy again, hopefully get book 2 out by Christmas. Just for kicks, I put Ghost Marshal book 1 up for a free Amazon Kindle promotion. It lasts three days, starting tomorrow (4-16 through 4-18). Download your copies while they're hot! Tell your friends!

http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Marshal-T...

Hope you've all had a productive winter and spring. I've been watching from afar, itching to get back to the Weird West.

Hey, John! Was wondering why you'd gone so quiet. Hope the big work has gone well.

Hey, Ash, good to hear from you! Yeah, I've been hitting the keyboard pretty hard the past nine months. Should end around mid-July, 260,000 words later. Big children's book assignment. Pays the bills, but I'm dying to get back to the adventures of Jessie and Wild Bill. :)

Sounds good, man. Hopefully you can slip back in where you left off. :)

another book i've got to add to the list. been wanting to get more into weird westerns as of late. it interests me

Well, after it's first promo day, "Ghost Marshal" is sitting at #11 in the Western genre free list. Jeesh, didn't expect that.

There sure are a lot of "romance" westerns on the list. Maybe the "Ghost Marshal" books need more sexytime...

Sexy time always sells more. But is it worth it lol