The Pace of Writing a Novel

One of the most common writing questions people ask me goes something like this... "How long does it take to write a novel?"

The answer to this question isn't simple.

In terms of chronological time, it generally takes me 2-3 years from concept to publication.  Of course, during that time I might have 4-5 other projects running in parallel at any given point in time.

A more precise estimate comes from looking at the various stages of a project:

Basic design: 3-4 weeks.

First Draft: 6 weeks.

Subsequent drafts (typically 1-3 of these, depending on how quickly and efficiently things come together.  Early novels took quite a few more):  4 weeks per draft.

Editor's review:  4-12 weeks, depending on the editor's workload.

Adding in the editor's notes:  1-2 weeks.

Proofreader's review:  3-8 weeks, again depending on the proofreader's workload.

Adding the proofreader's notes:  1-2 weeks

Final formatting and submission: 1 week.

Total sequential time (as if I could just go from one step to the next without a pause, which isn't how I write) is about 35 weeks.  About 8 weeks of the total represents time when I can work on other things (editor or proofreader time).  My personal work time is around 27 weeks on each novel, or roughly half a year.  I don't work this way, however.  I need the breaks between various drafts to mull over elements of the  novel's plot and the development of the characters.  So in reality, I need more than half a year to get the project completed, even if I don't have any other projects competing for my attention.

I know some authors are able to publish 4 or more novels in a year.  To complete four  novels, I would have to spend 100% of my available work time on writing.  Right now, I spend about 60%.  Even with 100% time utilization, I'd still need some significant efficiency improvements to get to a total of 4 novels in a year.

I don't plan on doing that.  Part of what appeals to me with writing is the flexibility I have to work when I want, and do other things when they become a priority.  I wouldn't give that up to increase production.

My current pace will have me releasing about two novels a year.  Some years (like 2013), I'll only manage one title.  Some years, I'll get three out.  There are plenty of projects in the pipeline to sustain this release rate for 2-3 years ahead.

Tom

Audiobook, Part 3

My audiobook version of novel LEVERAGE was just released this week through Cherry Hill Publishing.  I began this particular project a number of months ago, after the release of the audiobook version of INCENTIVIZE.  I finished up recording back in May, but it took until last week for Cherry Hill to get it released.

While it is gratifying to get another version of my novel "out there," I'm hoping for an uptick in sales over INCENTIVIZE.  After two quarters, my royalty for that audiobook has totaled less than $10. 

Yes, you read that right. 

The publisher is urging me to round up reviews for Audible, which I will begin trying to do some time this week.  His claim is the books are not being recognized because there are not enough reviews for them to hit people's screens when they search. 

I've been down this road before with the ebook and print editions.  Recruiting reviewers is hard work, and I'm somewhat loath to put in the time.  But the results without reviews are pretty clear thus far -- underwhelming. 

If anyone who reads this journal has any suggestions on promoting audiobooks, I'm all ears.  Unless the curve changes, or I run out of ideas to write new stories (unlikely!), I doubt I'll do another. 

Matchbook

Just signed my novels up for a program on Kindle Direct Publishing (i.e. Amazon) that provides electronic copies of my novels at a discounted price for anyone who purchases a print copy.   I think this is a cool idea, and a nice benefit for those people that are springing for the higher priced paperbacks that I have printed by CreateSpace.

The program is not yet live, but according the email I received, it should be in a matter of a few weeks. 

For now I've decided to price each copy at $0.99, which means that if you buy the paperback, you can get the electronic version of my book for only $1.  Will see how this works out over the coming months, and hopefully comment back here. 

What is a Corporate Thriller?

I've described my fictional work as Corporate Thrillers, but that's hardly a standard sub-genre.  When I mention the term, I usually get a blank stare.  When I google the term, I don't come up with much useful, either.

So what is a Corporate Thriller?  Here's my definition.

A Corporate Thriller, is at its most basic level, a thriller with the corporate environment as it's backdrop.

Thrillers tend to favor action over a more cerebral exploration of the novel's theme.  The storyline tends to move from one sequence of actions to another, without huge breaks that delve into relationships, inner thoughts, or a search for deeper meaning.  In my view, a thriller tend to be a bit superficial, but even in the most action-oriented thrillers, there are some nuggets of truth to be found about the human condition.  Thrillers can involve elements of mystery as well -- my stories wouldn't be as fun to read without a little misdirection and a few surprise plot twists.  While an element of mystery isn't a requirement in a thriller, most of my novels include it.

A Corporate Thriller, almost by definition, involves a corporation.  Many people work in Corporations, and corporate environs are the home of many strange, interesting, and even stereotypical behaviors.  Classical thrillers often involve paranormal events, spies, governments, or the like.  Corporate Thrillers utilize the environment of large corporations as their setting, and usually some aspect of corporate life is an integral part of the story itself.  To write a realistic Corporate Thriller requires an intimate understanding of how corporations work, how leaders function, and how things get done (or don't).  Having read a significant number of novels that pose as Corporate Thrillers, it is quickly obvious to me when the author doesn't have the research or experience to make the corporate environment feel "real" to an insider.

My Corporate Thrillers go beyond just this category definition in a few ways.  

1. I've already mentioned the mystery element I try to include in each novel, along with it's associated mis-direction and surprise twists.  
2. The second element that makes my Corporate Thrillers a bit different, is there are no "evil" Corporations in them.  Evil individuals?  For sure.  Evil corporations don't exist in my experience.  When a corporation gets into trouble, it's invariably because of the actions of people employed there, not because the entity itself is somehow evil.
3. I strive to make the corporations (fictional, of course) in my novels realistic and believable.  I can rely on thirty years of experience in Corporate America, including positions very close to the top, to make sure they feel real.
4. I don't buy into the evil CEO thing -- at least not in the conventional sense.  In my experience, no CEO knows what they are doing is wrong, but goes ahead and does it anyway.  In my novels, the CEOs (or other key business leaders) -- if they are even involved in the crime about which the story revolves -- rationalize what they are doing as "right for the shareholders", even though it might also be self-serving.  CEOs in my novels are much more likely to cover up a problem, than to be engaged in causing it.
5. I don't believe in rainbow-unicorn-pretty pony party endings.  In the real world, innocents get hurt and the bad guys sometimes get away with their schemes.  If you're expecting the guy to always get the girl, and the bad guys to always die or go to jail, you're likely to be disappointed with my novels.
6. There's always an underlying theme to the novels which should strike a cord with those who have served long sentences in Corporations, for example:

• • Leverage -- those in leadership positions can easily convince themselves they are doing the right thing, even as they're happily strolling down the slippery slope.
  • Incentivize -- even when things look hopeless, there are kind souls in the world who will extend aid.  Among conspirators, however, there can be no trust.
  • Deliverables -- money isn't the only thing which motivates corporate battles, so does pride and a need for control.
  • Heir Apparent -- an enviroment of ambiguity and uncertainty can create unintended motives and consequences.
  • Empowered -- given the right incentives and penalties, even a good person can be turned to the dark side.
  • Pursuing Other Opportunities -- a secret shared by more than one person is no longer a secret.  Everyne's perceptions shape their interpretation of the reality around them.

Hopefully, this helps to define the sub-category, and give readers a better idea of what they might find when reading my work.

Pricing Thrillers

I recently finished an extensive review of pricing and profit generation for my novels, and was somewhat surprised by the results.​

Over the last two years, I have had my offered my various novels for sale at three price points -- $9.90, $4,99 and $2.99.​

By measuring the profits per day generated by each title, I've been able to draw the following conclusions:​

1. ​During the initial introduction of a new title, it is best to skim price.  This is because those most devoted to my work are willing to pay a higher price to get the novel sooner rather than later.  For the first 4-6 months the title should be priced at $9.90.
2. During all other times, pricing at $2.99 a copy produces the highest per day profit.  After the initial introductory period, the price should immediately be moved back to $2.99 per copy.
3. Since Amazon "price matches," I am experimenting with setting the price on Smashwords, and letting Amazon present it as a "List of $9.90, and a discounted price of $2.99."  I'm hoping this will communicate a higher value to the novel than simply setting the price at $2.99 on Amazon.​  Not sure how I will evaluate this, however.
4. I still need to explore prices under $2.99.  Since these lower prices will all come at a lower commission (30% versus 70%), I would need to see a very substantial increase in sales to offset the lower price.  Nevertheless, I plan to experiment with $1.99 and $0.99 over the coming months.​

With four novels in the market, and hopefully a fifth coming later this year, I'm hoping to use some creative pricing to improve discoverability.  Will update later with any new insights.

Help! I Need More Logo Advice.

In my last post, I presented my "writing logo" which is intended to be a part of my overall efforts to brand my work.  The basic idea was to create an image that had a "thriller" image, and also pulled in the "Corporate" theme in my novels.  The proposed logo did just that by utilizing the first letter of my last name, and two knives to make a macro "dollar sign" symbol.  At the end of that post, I asked what people thought.​

I received one response here on the website, and several more via Twitter, Facebook, and Email.  As a result, I produced a number of variations on the basic theme of the original logo, and would like more feedback.​

Most of the original notes praised the overall concept, and then offered recommendations on how to make it better.  These ranged from a more "sinister" looking font, a "fill" that made the "S" pop a bit more, to some repositioning on the knives.  One person suggested that perhaps the "S" should snake around the knives, which I thought was a cool idea, but after a couple frustrating hours I determined that I couldn't make that happen (although I'm sure it would be simple for someone with more graphic design skill than your's truly).

I adopted the knife repositioning advice in all the samples below (except the original design, which you can probably spot based on this comment).  There are ten different fonts, I would love to hear what your #1 and/or #2 favorites are.  Below that, I've presented five "fills" for the font.  If you think your favorite font would be enhanced by any of the "fills," please note it.  Clearly, some fills work better with specific fonts, but you'll just have to use your imagination, as I wasn't willing to produce samples of all the possible permutations.​

Please comment, email, or otherwise let me know what you think!​

Branding and Logo

I'll be the first to admit, I'm not particularly savvy when it comes to branding and brand management.​

But I do check out blogs and advice of other (usually more successful) authors.  One recent piece of advice that stuck, came from Bob Mayer, the author of more than fifty military thriller and scifi novels (his work is quite entertaining, and worth a try).  He recommended that authors develop some kind of trademark or logo that you can attach to your books.  This, along with maintaining a common look/theme in your covers, helps to define your "brand."​

In other words, make my novels all look like a "Tom Spears Corporate Thriller."  In fact, ​make each of the novels easily identifiable as one.  Doing this was why I recently decided I needed to replace the cover for "Leverage."

To accomplish my branding objectives, I first tried to characterize my work.  What is it that I'm supplying my readers?  What makes it a Tom Spears Corporate Thriller?  I came up with the following commonalities:​

• An exciting, adventurous story featuring criminal behavior of some type (often murder) set in a corporate backdrop.
• Characters that you'll cheer for, and possibly a few you'll hate.
• ​No silly corporate conspiracy plots.  In my stories, bad acts are committed by one or, at most, a few individuals.  Corporate guilt usually consists of failing to have proper controls in place or, at the extreme, covering up embarrassments.
• Plenty of plot surprises and twists.  I hate predictability, and I believe my readers appreciate a surprise.
• No guarantees the good guys will win in the end.  And even if they do win, they usually pay a steep price.​

​Logo:  Tom Spears Corporate Thriller Novels

With these guidelines in mind, I set out to develop the logo to the right.  I actually created this myself, using a public/free "Knife" and arranging the logo as you see it at the right.  I painted the "blood" on the tip of one blade using a graphics program.​

The "S" represents "Spears", and also forms a portion of the overall "dollar sign" symbolizing greed/corporate profits/the underlying driver.  The weapons symbolize the violent, criminal behaviors that ​are the focus of the plots of the various novels.  The "bloody tip" represents the fact that people get hurt, killed, and the good guys don't necessarily win.

So what do you think?​

Tom

Podcast Interview

I gave my first podcast interview yesterday to John Byk at 2012Writers Alive earlier this week.  We talked a bit about HEIR APPARENT, my latest novel, which was released on 3/2/2013, its linkage to DELIVERABLES, and some about the main character in both novels -- Joel Smith.

You can listen to the interview by clicking on the link above.

Given all the practice I've recently had in speaking and moderating my voice for recordings (Audiobook of INCENTIVIZE being the biggest source of this, although I am currently in the process of producing an Audiobook of LEVERAGE), I found the interview to be easy and enjoyable.

I also covered some details about the inspiration of HEIR APPARENT, which readers might find interesting.

In other writing news, DELIVERABLES failed to make it into the third round of the ABNA contest -- alas, a disappointment.  Next year I'll be trying again with HEIR APPARENT, which I think is a bit more traditional as a thriller, and also written a tiny bit better.  Hope springs eternal!

Also, at the end of February, NAVIGATING CORPORATE POLITICS became the first of my books to pass breakeven.  Of course, I think some of the reason for this is that its costs were substantially lower than the novels, all of whom utilized a professional editor.  There may be a lesson in there somewhere -- when you drive the capital investment up in a book, the breakeven sales volume goes up as well.  Perhaps the quality improvement is not enough to offset the higher breakeven?  Perhaps I could get 90% of the editing quality through other resources?  Definitely an idea worthy of consideration as I continue to develop EMPOWERED, which should be the next novel to be published.

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) Contest

I'm not a huge fan of writing contests, having only entered a few over my relatively short writing career, but one I haven't missed is the ABNA.

I was quite pleased this year to see that instead of the two categories that have been used for submissions in the past (Young Adult, and Fiction), this year there were five categories -- including one for Mystery/Thrillers, a decent fit for my writing.

I just checked the lists of those novels passing on to the second round, and was gratified to see DELIVERABLES, my entry for this year, made the cut.

My first year entering the contest, I submitted LEVERAGE.  It made it to round 3.  The last two years, LEVERAGE only made round 2.  I'm quite hopeful that DELIVERABLES, despite being a little out of the mainstream of Thriller writing (it is, after all, a Corporate Thriller, focusing on wrongdoing in a business context), will reach round 3 as well.  It is identified by most of my readers as their favorite of my novels.

Next year, I should have HEIR APPARENT, a more conventional thriller, ready for the contest.  I have high hopes for that work, but for now, all my hopes are riding on DELIVERABLES.

So now I'll just sit by for the next month, twiddling my thumbs and hoping for an entry into the next stage.  Or maybe not.

So many stories to tell, so little time....

Latest and Greatest

Lots happening on the writing front --

My audiobook of INCENTIVIZE is available.  I listened to about half of it in my car, and while tolerating my own recorded voice was a little challenging at first, I was quite happy with the way the book came out.

I finished an editing pass on PURSUING OTHER OPPORTUNITIES, the sequel to LEVERAGE.  While I think the book will require one more pass, it is pretty close to ready to go.  I'm hoping to put this book into overdrive, and have it released sometime this year.

HEIR APPARENT is with my copyeditors, and one has already responded.  The cover is ready to go, so as soon as I get the second editors comments, incorporate them, and then format the document in the various forms needed for ebook distribution, it will ready to publish.  I estimate 2-4 weeks at this point.

NAVIGATING CORPORATE POLITICS is now making money.  I've been keeping extensive records on costs and sales for each title, and this title is the first one to break even.  I think there are several reasons for this.  Because I didn't use a paid outside editor on this book, development costs were low.  The number of titles competing in the "Corporate Politics" space is fairly low, so if you're interested in the subject, my book has less competition.  The cover price is lower than my fiction (the work is shorter), which may attract more buyers.  Overall, this title is my second most popular (LEVERAGE being the most popular), and is currently selling more per month than any of my other titles.

Going forward, I next want to design a new novel that will be a sequel to PURSUING OTHER OPPORTUNITIES, the third and final book in a Carson/Chin trilogy.  I also have another book, SYNERGY, outlined, and I want to do a first draft.  And there there's EMPOWERED, which is in second draft right now, and in a couple of months could be caught up to the same level of completeness as POO.

The only question is -- which project next?

Ah, so little time, and so many options...

Audiobook Part 2

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I negotiated an agreement with Cherry Hills Publishing to produce an Audiobook version of INCENTIVIZE.

Unfortunately, neither the economics nor the control of pricing are as simple to manage with this approach as they are with self-published paper and ebooks.  In an effort to increase the percentage I earn, I opted to narrate the novel myself.  This necessitated the purchase of a few items (audio recording software -- I selected "Propaganda," which has been extremely easy for both recording and editing, and a good quality USB microphone  -- here I picked the "Blue Yeti" mic), and the setting up of an "audio studio" in the spare room over our garage.  Cherry Hills provided a mic stand, and a sound barrier to help reduce echo.

Then I began recording the book.

I learned by making a number of mistakes along the way.  The first of which was to record five chapters without getting a sound check by the Cherry Hills engineers.  Those first five chapters had a technical problem, and couldn't be used.  I lost about ten hours of work there, but learned a few valuable lessons in the process.

Other than that, the process has been pretty smooth sailing.  A few lessons for the next time (if there is one) would include the following....

1. Plan a minimum of an hour per 10 page chapter.  It took me about 20 minutes to record each one on average, and another 40 to edit out the "do-overs," coughs, excessively long gaps, and the like.
2. This is intense.  The most I could manage to do in any given day was three chapters.  Space it out -- the entire project is a marathon, and you'll need endurance.
3. Make a list of voices and accents.  I found this to be important particularly with the minor characters, especially those making several short appearances in the novel.  By the time a minor character re-entered the story, I often couldn't remember what "voice" I'd used for their dialog.  That had me perpetually going back into the already completed files and listening to remind myself how to speak that character's dialog -- a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack.
4. Try to avoid heavy accents.  While it's easy to write in characters with accents, it isn't necessarily easy to speak that way.  I found myself struggling a few times with this problem.
5. Practicing before recording is not necessary, and it isn't necessary to get the reading perfect.  I found myself repeatedly stopping and re-reading a sentence or even a paragraph during the "take," rather than practicing the chapters ahead of time, and trying to get it perfect.  This turned out to be much more time efficient, as I could easily cut the bad material out of the final product.

While the project was interesting, and I learned a lot by doing it, I need a break before attempting another novel.  And the audio recordings could only be done at the time of day that is my most productive for writing new material -- a definite reduction in my writing productivity.

Next time, I'll have to consider whether I'm willing to share some of the revenue with a professional narrator.

Audio

I've recently been exploring the idea of recording one of my novels on audio, hoping to add another market where I might be able to connect with consumers of my fictional work.  Since the target market for my novels are professionals and managers with experience in larger corporations -- a place where I spent many years -- I was thinking about one of the main things holding people in this segment back from reading, a lack of time.

Back when I was still in a corporate job, I couldn't count the number of times I had a manager mention to me that they rarely read for pleasure.  The number one reason they offered for this was their busy and hectic schedules.  But almost everyone commutes to work, and I've been thinking that perhaps I could persuade some of my non-pleasure-reading acquaintances to try an audio book.

My first steps down this path was considering a company called Podiobooks -- a serialized, author driven supplier of audio materials.  In the Podiobook model, the author purchases the hardware and software necessary to produce their own recordings, and then does the reading and editing themselves.  Books are loaded into the Podiobook website a chapter or two at a time, and subscribers receive them as "podcasts" on their listening devices. The recordings are ostensibly free, but they do request a "free will" donation, and a large portion of that donation reverts back to the author.

I decided to try a sample book from the site, and found the process to be fairly confusing.  I managed to get the first two installments of one book to download onto my phone, and I listened to them in the car.  Then nothing showed up.  Between the confusion, bugs, and the "free will donation" aspect, I was feeling somewhat discouraged about the whole thing.

Around this same time, I was approached by Cherry Hills Publishing to do an audiobook of INCENTIVIZE.  We are currently discussing particulars of a deal now.  They distribute through Audible for online purchases, and also produce physical media for sale at various audiobook outlets.  I'm hoping this will ultimately result in another way for me to connect with the market, and as a secondary source of revenue.

New Covers, Free Giveaways

Just ran my second "FREE" giveaway on Amazon -- part of the "Amazon select" program.  LEVERAGE was the featured book, and I used three of my available five "Free" days.

Last time I did this (DELIVERABLES in June), I ran the promotion for five days straight and noticed quite a fall-off in activity during the last few days.  This time, I decided to try for two splashes by staggering the give-aways.

The DELIVERABLES promo produced 340 free books given away over five days -- a total of 68 ebooks a day.  While it was nice, hardly inspirational.

The LEVERAGE promotion produced 1,248 free books given away over three days -- 416 ebooks per day!  That's six times more per day than in the original promo.

Since the promo ended (two days), LEVERAGE has climbed to about 25,000th in the Amazon sales list (I know that doesn't sound very high, but it had been sitting around 500,000th.) and has had 8 Amazon Prime borrows -- that would have been more than a month's worth prior to running the Promo.

I think I'll call this one a success.  Next up is a free promotion for NAVIGATING CORPORATE POLITICS.  I doubt it will have the same level of interest as my fictional works, but maybe it will catch on among my Linkedin contacts.  We'll see.  That promo runs the 17th and 18th of September.

In other news, the new cover is here for NCP, and I love it.  I'll show them here in sequence (old, then new), and you can compare for yourself.

No question about which of these is more eye-catching!

Design Blues

Has it really been three weeks since I posted an update to this blog?  Surprises me completely.

A lot has happened over the last three weeks.

I was able to get Navigating Corporate Politics, my "how to" book for budding corporate professionals and managers, published -- albeit, with an improvised cover.  You can find information on ordering the book on this page:  Navigating Corporate Politics.  An improved cover will eventually be in the offing, but I didn't want to hold up production of the book any longer.

The theory behind this particular book is to use it as a feeder to get business types interested in my writing, and hopefully draw them into my novels.  It will be interesting to see how that theory plays out over time.

I've also been working on the design for "Supply Chain."  This novel is a bit different in it's genesis, at least compared to my other fiction.  The other books were inspired by a core plot idea -- a murder of a coworker, an auditor threatening local management, an employe duped by a man posing as a CIA agent.  The stories grew like a weed out of that kernal, and eventually filled out an entire novel.

"Supply Chain" started as a theme -- I wanted to write a novel about how corporations might be indirectly support human trafficking.  It began with zero plot.  So to develop the story, I've read account after account of trafficking victims, as well as researched how those who oppose trafficking do their work.  Eventually, drawing a thriller story out of that research has happened, but it was definitely slower and hard work than beginning with the plot idea -- something for me to consider when designing future novels.

As things stand currently, I'm a few days away from wrapping up the design work on "Supply Chain" and am considering what to work on next.  My preference would be to do one last editing pass on "Heir Apparent"and then pass it along to my editor, Eric Dalen.  But that relies on an outside reader finishing up the book, and offering her comments first.  Without that in hand, I'm not sure what I'll pursue next....

Finding Errors

I hate finding errors in my writing -- particularly when the work is already published.

Yet it is amazing how many seem to survive multiple editing and proofreading passes, and end up in the "finished" manuscript.

I'm discovering that these "late discovered" errors really fall into three categories -- ones that readers tend to skip over (like a missing word), ones that some or all of the proofreaders don't agree on (I find this mostly with commas -- there being some disagreement among amateur grammarians as to when the comma is required and when it is optional), and new errors I introduced in some prior editing activity.

I'm reminded of an old boss who used to say that, "...with complex software programs, there comes a time when 'fixing' an error creates more danger of causing new problems than the offsetting value created by repairing the issue."  Since the parts of a novel aren't inter-woven in the same way as software, this observation is probably less true.  But when you've got a product with 100,000 elements (words) in it, it is pretty easy to screw something up by accident while trying to "fix" something else.

While I hate finding the errors, I appreciate that correcting them creates a better quality product, so in the end, I'm happy to do the work.

This weekend, a friend submitted seven pages of errors found in INCENTIVIZE.  Admittedly, INCENTIVIZE is possibly the least carefully proofread of the three published novels, but I was still shocked at the number of items present.  I spent a couple of hours making the changes this morning -- a tedious task, made more so by the fact that I need to change four different versions of the file (Paperback, Smashwords, Nook and Kindle).

Now that it is finished, and new versions have been submitted, however, I'm basking in the glow of an improved product, and wondering how other authors feel about this same thing...?

Off to Proofing

I sent "Navigating Corporate Politics" off to the proof readers today, and am hoping to have it published by the end of the summer.

I'll have to decide what to do for a cover soon.  I hate paying to have one developed, but I'm not sure I can put something adequate together with the Cover Designer tool on CreateSpace.

The book is a text on Corporate Politics and presents a theoretical framework as well as techniques and examples for how to survive and thrive in large corporations.  The book was an outgrowth of a white paper and series of blog posts on the subject.

The book is quite short -- coming in at 135 pages and 27,000 words.  This is about 1/3 the size of my novels, but is in keeping with my expectations for a business book, which should be mostly meat, and light on the repetition and rehashing.

My plan is to get this published quickly, getting it out in the next two months.  I need to investigate pricing, but my inclination is to price it low due to the lack of weight.  That might not be wise for a business book, however, and bears further investigation.

I will definitely try this book in the Kindle Select Program, much as I did with Deliverables, taking full advantage of the opportunity to promote it for free.

So now, off to figure out a strategy for the cover.

Free Deliverables Promotion

In an effort to keep exploring marketing options, I enrolled Deliverables, my latest novel, in the Kindle Select Program.  For those of you unfamiliar with the program, with Kindle Select you agree to market the electronic version of your novel exclusively on Amazon for ninety days.  It becomes a borrowable book for Amazon Prime members, and every borrow gives you a share of a monthly amount as budgeted by Amazon.  It also gives you an opportunity to promote the book for free for (5) days during the 90 day period.

This was an experiment -- one which I was interested in for several reasons.  1.) I had just released Incentivize a few weeks earlier, and didn't particularly want Deliverables competing for attention in the minds of my friends.  I could stick Deliverables without promotional efforts in the Kindle Select program, and just see what happened.  2.)  Amazon is my biggest source of sales, anyway.  Second is CreateSpace and various outlets for the paper copies of the books.  B&N is a distant third, and all other electronic outlets put together are barely selling one copy a month -- in other words, it wasn't a big risk.  3.) I was interested in the idea of running a FREE promotion, just to see what it would do.

My five free days started the 15th of June, and ended the 19th.  I gave away 271 copies of Deliverables, which is more than I've sold of Leverage over the last nine months.  This should give me an opportunity to reach some new readers, and hopefully turn them on to my other books.

Early results suggest that it's already working -- sales of Leverage and Incentivize are about double in the second half of June compared to the first half.

Now I'm considering pulling Leverage and enrolling it in Kindle Select for three months, just to see what happens...

Novel Endings

I don't like pat endings.  Predictability is an enemy, and I try to fight against it in each of my stories.  If you're expecting a "pretty pony party" (borrowing a phrase from Lemony Snickett) at the end, then don't read my novels.

So how do I handle endings when I want to preserve characters for a potential serial, rather than just killing them off in a "surprise" ending?

I'm struggling with this.  A bit.  Right now I'm working on PURSUING OTHER OPPORTUNITIES, and am sorely tempted to kill off one of the two heros (one of whom is already showing definite "bad guy" tendancies.  But I'd also like to preserve those two characters for one more tale -- hence, a quandry.

Of course, avoiding a pretty pony party, doesn't mean the main characters have to die -- I get that.  But then they shouldn't get what they want, at least not all of it.  And there needs to be a few additional twists to the tale that seem to come out of left field to spice things up.

So here's a confession -- I love misleading readers.  And while there tend to be multiple misdirections in most of my books, there are also clues that, if not ignored, will take the reader in the right direction, too.  As a reader, you have a chance to "figure it out", but I'd be disappointed if many people successfully did so.

In my stories, sometimes the identity of the "real" bad guy is a surprise.  Sometimes the bad guys win.  Sometimes the good guys are corrupted and go bad.  And sometimes the good guys do get what they want -- at least a part of it.  But never all of it.

Just like in real life.

Here are a few examples:

In LEVERAGE, the identity of the bad guy is a suprirse.  In INCENTIVIZE, at least one of the bad guys "wins."  In EMPOWERED, the good guy is corrupted.  In DELIVERABLES, again, the identity of the bad guy comes out of left field.

So if you're looking for that pretty pony party ending, better stay away from my novels.  If you enjoy a cynical hard edge of reality, however, give one a try and see if it leaves you surprised.

Does it pay to advertise your book? -- Part 3

A new campaign.

I took the first six days of May as my benchmark sales run rate, and started a new campaign with a new set of ads.  This campaign is a bit different:

There are three ads, each with it's own landing page.

Ad number one uses "Thriller" key words, and lands on a specially designed page on my website.

Ad number two uses "Suspense" keywords, and lands on Smashwords with a 40% off coupon.

Ad number three uses "Mystery" keywords, and lands on the Amazon Deliverables page.  There is a "free" offer for the book for Amazon Prime members.

I also priced the ads at $0.30 max price.  That will be much more economical than the last campaign.

I'll post an update later when the campaign has made more progress.

Does it pay to advertise your book? -- Part 2

So, here's how the campaign shaped up.

Spending on Google Ads $100.67

Clicks 168 over 10 days

Cost per click $0.60

Total sales using the offered 40% discount on Smashwords -- zero.

Sales above the normal rate during the ten days $64.

On the surface you'd have to say it looks like, under the best case scenario, the ads don't pay off.  But there are a few other observations I have.  When I reduced my maximum $/click offer to $0.50, I still spent my full $10 budget per day, meaning for the first six and a half days, I overpaid (and received better placements, however).  I also noted that no one used the discount I set up on Smashwords, meaning my landing page was not at all effective at converting interest into sales.  And no question about it (at least in my mind), having multiple titles out there for readers to choose from will help also.

So, here's my thoughts.  I'm going to let things settle down for two weeks, then run another campaign.  This time, I'll have a specially designed page on my website for the landing page -- one specifically designed to easily move buyers into one of the normal purchasing channels.  And I'll start the maximum $/click at 0.40, and see if I can still spend the $10 per day.

Once phase two of the experiment is over, I'll report the results here.