1. Hit 90 yesterday. That lovely Fresno summer is right around the corner!
2. The reason it seems like the status bars haven't moved is because the weather has been so nice I've been doing a bit of hand writing away from the laptop. Every other year I get the fancy and pump out some pages this way. Of course now I have 20+ handwritten pages to type into the computer eventually...
3. Down to two and a half scenes left to write for the KH half and like 4 for Vicky's. As expected, lots of conversations and funny moments, not a whole lot of earth shattering plot.
4. Avengers comes out this week, yay!
5. Loving the crap out of the new God of War. A sizable chunk of the worldbuilding for the King Henry Tapes comes from Norse mythology so leading Kratos around killing the shit out of some dark elves in Alfhiem and chatting up the World Serpent is pretty awesome.
6. Finally watched Altered Carbon. Was overall very good and would recommend. Although some of the changes they made to the plot were quite odd, I have to admit, and the last few episodes got super melodramatic. At the very least, it's just awesome that there's a TV series for Altered Carbon of all novels, that's the world we live in now.
7. Trying to stay away from the net and focus on writing mostly. Especially from reviews. If I could just completely ignore them my mental health would be so much better. Am quite a lot more cynical about them than when I started with all that naivety years and years ago. So, if you email me and I take a week to respond, that's probably why.
8. Seems like you're vastly picking Option A for FM7, so may the cliffhanger be on your own heads!
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Monday, April 23, 2018
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Real Talk on FM7
As some know, I considered splitting FM6 in two due to its size. The reality of the marketplace is that more releases = better, and bigger books = largely punished. If you study which authors dominate the sales charts, it's the ones who put out a 200-300 page book every other month, even every month. Push that product, make sure you're constantly on the new release lists, etc.
I'm not saying I'd ever go that far or even could, but splitting FM6 into two was probably the smartest economic move, even if the mid story cliffhanger would have been annoying for some. (It would have split when KH grabbed Ceinwyn and teleported to the Geo Realm so...yeah, just a little cliffhanger...) In the end, I decided not to and instead just raised the price by a dollar.
In retrospect, probably a huge mistake. Not only did I lose out on the multiple new release bumps, I also still undervalued my work. The only way Amazon actually rewards large novels is that they changed Amazon Unlimited payouts to be per page. As such you can get an idea on how Amazon values output. I priced FM6 at $4.99, earning a 70% royalty around $3.40. Conversely, Amazon paid me a whole $7 each time someone borrowed and read the book. According to Amazon, I should have split the book in two AND charged a dollar extra for each, or split it into three parts at my original price.
Now, the be fair, sometimes that goes into my favor. FM6.5, I get $2 for each sale, while borrow-wise I don't even make $1.50 on it, so as Amazon sees it, I'm slightly overcharging. Of course if I was only after the money I wouldn't be a man writing a male character in a genre dominated by women writing female characters, or have a rated-r character VERY not fit for broadcast television at that. But, as much as I hate that it can't all be about the story, business is part of it and these are the facts.
There's also the smaller point of print on demand to consider. Anyone who has picked up a print copy of FM6 knows it is stretching the laws of pyshics and that it can be used as a blunt weapon to kill skeleton warriors. Splitting in two would save you lot on arm injuries.
So, all of these are reasons why FM7 likely will be split into two. It sucks, it does, but...my bad for wanting to write epic stories that really dig into character motivations and who knew two timelines could get so difficult...right?
To me, the most important aspect is the new release list problem. New releases mean new fans and I want as many people enjoying King Henry as possible. Money is nice and all, but that's what's most important to me. FM6 struggled massively on that front, I'd like to correct that.
The question I'm working through is: how should FM7 be split? There are two options.
Option A: Straight down the middle. The books would release as The Runaway Rumble and the Most Obvious Trap. Each would contain 4 chapters of school story and about 12 chapters of mainline. There's a natural cut off point in the story. Plenty happens in each haf although I admit part 2 will be one of the craziest books I've ever written. You would hopefully get the first part around a year from now and part 2 later in 2019.
Option B: Split school and mainline. School would come first, released as The War to End All Wars. Maybe even this year. Next year, The Runaway Rumble would release as the first school story-less FM book. My biggest fear with this option is that those who don't visit the blog or keep up to date with whats going on will see that FM7 tag, buy it, and be extremely pissed to only be getting a school focused book.
So that's where we stand. As always I try to be completely open about my process, both ups and downs. I feel authors hiding progress or roadblocks from fans leads to resentment and VERY UGLY situations. In addition to keeping you informed, please go ahead and give your thoughts if you'd like.
Just don't riot, okay?
I'm not saying I'd ever go that far or even could, but splitting FM6 into two was probably the smartest economic move, even if the mid story cliffhanger would have been annoying for some. (It would have split when KH grabbed Ceinwyn and teleported to the Geo Realm so...yeah, just a little cliffhanger...) In the end, I decided not to and instead just raised the price by a dollar.
In retrospect, probably a huge mistake. Not only did I lose out on the multiple new release bumps, I also still undervalued my work. The only way Amazon actually rewards large novels is that they changed Amazon Unlimited payouts to be per page. As such you can get an idea on how Amazon values output. I priced FM6 at $4.99, earning a 70% royalty around $3.40. Conversely, Amazon paid me a whole $7 each time someone borrowed and read the book. According to Amazon, I should have split the book in two AND charged a dollar extra for each, or split it into three parts at my original price.
Now, the be fair, sometimes that goes into my favor. FM6.5, I get $2 for each sale, while borrow-wise I don't even make $1.50 on it, so as Amazon sees it, I'm slightly overcharging. Of course if I was only after the money I wouldn't be a man writing a male character in a genre dominated by women writing female characters, or have a rated-r character VERY not fit for broadcast television at that. But, as much as I hate that it can't all be about the story, business is part of it and these are the facts.
There's also the smaller point of print on demand to consider. Anyone who has picked up a print copy of FM6 knows it is stretching the laws of pyshics and that it can be used as a blunt weapon to kill skeleton warriors. Splitting in two would save you lot on arm injuries.
So, all of these are reasons why FM7 likely will be split into two. It sucks, it does, but...my bad for wanting to write epic stories that really dig into character motivations and who knew two timelines could get so difficult...right?
To me, the most important aspect is the new release list problem. New releases mean new fans and I want as many people enjoying King Henry as possible. Money is nice and all, but that's what's most important to me. FM6 struggled massively on that front, I'd like to correct that.
The question I'm working through is: how should FM7 be split? There are two options.
Option A: Straight down the middle. The books would release as The Runaway Rumble and the Most Obvious Trap. Each would contain 4 chapters of school story and about 12 chapters of mainline. There's a natural cut off point in the story. Plenty happens in each haf although I admit part 2 will be one of the craziest books I've ever written. You would hopefully get the first part around a year from now and part 2 later in 2019.
Option B: Split school and mainline. School would come first, released as The War to End All Wars. Maybe even this year. Next year, The Runaway Rumble would release as the first school story-less FM book. My biggest fear with this option is that those who don't visit the blog or keep up to date with whats going on will see that FM7 tag, buy it, and be extremely pissed to only be getting a school focused book.
So that's where we stand. As always I try to be completely open about my process, both ups and downs. I feel authors hiding progress or roadblocks from fans leads to resentment and VERY UGLY situations. In addition to keeping you informed, please go ahead and give your thoughts if you'd like.
Just don't riot, okay?
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Quick Notes: the Aftermath
1. So I sold more copies on April 2nd than I did on release day. Were you fans broke, waiting for the kids to get lost, or did reading a KH book on Easter weekend just seem too sacrilegious for you? Answers, please!
2. General reaction to FM6.5 is about where I thought it would be. Few people don't like Tyson's whinging (you think it's bad reading it, you should try writing it! So polite! So many qualifers! ACK!), most are digging Eva, and the majority are happy enough that it was at worst worth the $2.99. Not the best KH book ever, but...a nice taste to hold you off to the FM7 feast, I hope. And come on, that ending kicked your ass!
3. Just a reminder: FM6 was insane, topping it will likely take a miracle. I'm going to try with FM7 but...well, hold on to your butts.
4. Speaking of FM7, I started working on it finally, yay! Working on the school story, 5k of work in the bag. We skipped a whole year from Pent to just a couple days before the start of the last year, so there's some catch up in there on what probably would have been some of the most boring school stories if I'd actually written them. Namely the relationship with Eva (pretty sure we've covered this just a little bit) and KH stealing and barting for the materials to make his first artifact. Which if you are a good fan you should know is...?
5. Also working on an edit of Glassbreaker Goes Home. When I started these I much more gravitated to it over Assault, so the 25k I had was all written before I figured everything out with FM6.5. For one, the original version of FM6.5 had no Isabel in it. Crazy thought reading it now, right? That was all added in the second rewrite. Before that it was meant to be Teresa Garcia who stuck around out of vengeance and well... Let that be a lesson to aspiring writers: anything can and will change from draft to draft. So don't be afraid if the first one sucks, it's kind of supposed to!
So, yeah, having to solidify some of the thoughts on the assault in FM6.75 now, and other stuff...like I expect there might be a KH rant about babies coming up...
6. I like FM6.75 so much better than 6.5...oh, I'm horrible father playing favorites, yes I am. It's all character stuff! So good! No yucky action scenes! Just KH and Val and Susan and...there's like a 40 page conversation between Vicky and Moira Welf and I love it so much! Probably not a surprise since one of my favorite scenes I've ever written is the Ceinwyn vs KH argument at the end of FM4.
7. Oh, more FM7 news I forgot about! I took the time to come up with the entire list for all of Ultra Class 2015 this go around. Bit of a spoiler, but Student-Advisor Price has lots of work to do. 30 new characters! Well, 28, you should know two of them already if you read FM5.5. I'll try to post the list soonish, although you still have months of waiting, you poor babies...
8. You will surely recognize some of the last names...
9. This month is looking great. Avengers! God of War! Hearthstone expansion! Tons of writing from RR? I hope so!
10. Generally my goal at this point in a release is to disappear, even lock the WiFi in a drawer if I have to. Thanks to everyone who writes reviews, but man those things tear me up, even the good ones. Never have a job that can be rated by the general public, so stressful!
11. So...writing...I'm gonna get back at it!
2. General reaction to FM6.5 is about where I thought it would be. Few people don't like Tyson's whinging (you think it's bad reading it, you should try writing it! So polite! So many qualifers! ACK!), most are digging Eva, and the majority are happy enough that it was at worst worth the $2.99. Not the best KH book ever, but...a nice taste to hold you off to the FM7 feast, I hope. And come on, that ending kicked your ass!
3. Just a reminder: FM6 was insane, topping it will likely take a miracle. I'm going to try with FM7 but...well, hold on to your butts.
4. Speaking of FM7, I started working on it finally, yay! Working on the school story, 5k of work in the bag. We skipped a whole year from Pent to just a couple days before the start of the last year, so there's some catch up in there on what probably would have been some of the most boring school stories if I'd actually written them. Namely the relationship with Eva (pretty sure we've covered this just a little bit) and KH stealing and barting for the materials to make his first artifact. Which if you are a good fan you should know is...?
5. Also working on an edit of Glassbreaker Goes Home. When I started these I much more gravitated to it over Assault, so the 25k I had was all written before I figured everything out with FM6.5. For one, the original version of FM6.5 had no Isabel in it. Crazy thought reading it now, right? That was all added in the second rewrite. Before that it was meant to be Teresa Garcia who stuck around out of vengeance and well... Let that be a lesson to aspiring writers: anything can and will change from draft to draft. So don't be afraid if the first one sucks, it's kind of supposed to!
So, yeah, having to solidify some of the thoughts on the assault in FM6.75 now, and other stuff...like I expect there might be a KH rant about babies coming up...
6. I like FM6.75 so much better than 6.5...oh, I'm horrible father playing favorites, yes I am. It's all character stuff! So good! No yucky action scenes! Just KH and Val and Susan and...there's like a 40 page conversation between Vicky and Moira Welf and I love it so much! Probably not a surprise since one of my favorite scenes I've ever written is the Ceinwyn vs KH argument at the end of FM4.
7. Oh, more FM7 news I forgot about! I took the time to come up with the entire list for all of Ultra Class 2015 this go around. Bit of a spoiler, but Student-Advisor Price has lots of work to do. 30 new characters! Well, 28, you should know two of them already if you read FM5.5. I'll try to post the list soonish, although you still have months of waiting, you poor babies...
8. You will surely recognize some of the last names...
9. This month is looking great. Avengers! God of War! Hearthstone expansion! Tons of writing from RR? I hope so!
10. Generally my goal at this point in a release is to disappear, even lock the WiFi in a drawer if I have to. Thanks to everyone who writes reviews, but man those things tear me up, even the good ones. Never have a job that can be rated by the general public, so stressful!
11. So...writing...I'm gonna get back at it!