Tag Archives: Writing

I’m Gonna Make You a Deal

09 Thursday Sep 2021

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Reviews have started trickling in for A Most Malicious Murder, thank you kindly, and one of them asked a question — “Dare we hope for a sequel?”

Part of me is looking at my collection of ongoing romance series patiently waiting for new volumes and whimpering. Part of me is saying, “Well, if there’s interest…”

So here’s the deal. I do have a vague idea of a sequel set in Richmond, VA, and I will write it IF I sell 250 copies of A Most Malicious Murder. I have currently sold 35 copies (which is not bad for the first week, seeing as I’m a newbie in the field). Once the counter ticks over to 250, I’ll get the sequel started. If you enjoyed AMMM and want to see the continuing adventures of Eddy and Charles, leave reviews for the book at your favorite online bookseller, talk it up to your friends, mention it to podcasters who love true crime and historical fiction (thanks, Rachel!) and help me sell the dickens out of this book.

In other publishing news, the proof for the print version of AMMM arrived yesterday. Apart from a goof on the title page it looked great, so I uploaded the corrected version and pulled the trigger. As of this morning it is now available for purchase, so if you prefer print to ebook I’ve got you covered.

And as the weather here in the clavicle of Texas is downright balmy today, I’m about to move my laptop out to the patio and do some more work in the sunshine, tra la.

Phew

08 Wednesday Sep 2021

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In the last two days I’ve received a five star rating and a five star review on A Most Malicious Murder. Let me tell you why that is a massive, MASSIVE relief.

I know I’m a good writer. That’s not arrogance — that’s me being published since 1995, repeatedly selling stories and novels to publishers (I’m indie now as a financial decision, not because I couldn’t get stuff published the traditional way), and getting reviews from complete strangers saying that they love my stuff. Okay, so I’m competent with words.

But AMMM was my first novel under my own name. Moreover, it was in a genre I had never written in before (alternate history mystery). Mystery has its own set of rules and tropes which I had to learn pretty damn quickly while I was editing, and alternate history requires a buttload of research in order to get it right. So with AMMM I was in real weenie-shrinking territory, to paraphrase Bill Murray — I had to hit all the mystery points and I had to get the history right even as I twisted it out of true. And while I thought I’d done a good job with it and my editor assured me that it was a good story and people would enjoy it, I couldn’t be sure until it was out there doing its job with readers.

Now it’s out there, and I’m getting good feedback, which means I can finally release this breath that I’d been holding since August 31st (you would not believe the color my face turned — I went straight past Rampage Raspberry into “Um, poke her and see if she’s still alive” Umber). Which bodes well for future books (right now I’m torn between the time travel novel with Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell, the novel where an evil Ancient Egyptian queen wreaks havoc on Dallas, or the space opera retelling of Sense and Sensibility).

In the meantime, however, I think I’m going to relax with a refreshing adult beverage. Because I earned it.

Well, this is interesting

04 Saturday Sep 2021

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As many of you know, I’m an old hand at the indie author game. Been doing this since 2015, I have lists of reputable reviewers and promoters, I’m running ads, my chops are good, and I know what to do.

But. A Most Malicious Murder is my first novel under my own name, and as a result I’ve had to do things like find non-romance promo groups on FB, use my own Twitter and IG accounts to promote the book, and do other stuff that my public persona hasn’t done before.

As a result, I’m getting offers. You know the kind — book tour companies asking to promote my book, random strangers on FB wanting to message me about how they can help me promote my book, et al. Luckily I’m an old hand at this so I have my promo game lined up, but if I’d been a newbie with no idea of the jackals waiting outside the door I might have handed over a serious wad of cash in the hopes that my book would be promoted.

And I would have been both 1) disappointed and 2) out a serious wad of cash. For one thing, most pro book promoters/reviewers/et al don’t go looking for customers (I say most because I found BookSirens when they followed me on Twitter. But they didn’t contact me or offer anything, and I did due diligence, researched them, and found them to be a recommended outfit). They’re already swamped with people wanting to hire their services — they don’t need to go after you.

And yes, there are small, hungry promotion companies out there that want to build a good reputation and will bust their butts to promote your book, but they’re few and far between. The bulk of the people who have been contacting me this week are some flavor of scammer who see someone they think is a newbie and are throwing their regular scripts at me in the hope of getting money out of me.

Ho ho ho. Yeah, no. Thanks for playing.

And it’s off

27 Friday Aug 2021

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As of 5:00 PM today the final MS for A Most Malicious Murder was uploaded to Amazon, so the seventeen people who were kind enough to pre-order it will get it delivered to their Kindles at 12:01 AM on August 31st.

I may have squeed just a little bit, I dunno.

And boy, do thanks go out to my editor Theresa Havens and the beta divinities J. Kathleen Cheney and Peter White for going over the manuscript because man, I missed a number of things. Like, oh, the whole “Eureka!” moment that a mystery is supposed to have? You know, the moment where House stops in mid-sentence, looks into the distance, and you know he figured out what’s wrong with the patient? Yeah, that. Also kinda skipped the whole part that explains why Poe didn’t die in 1849.

Luckily I had those bits in my Cut Parts file and was able to slip them back in at appropriate points. But dang, Mel. You know better.

Of course, my job isn’t finished. Oh, the writing/editing part is done, yeah. But now I have to compile the .epub and .mobi versions for Smashwords, the .epub version for Google Play, and the print version. And I have to ride herd on promotion and marketing, which means sending the book to reviewers/Bookstagrammers/BookTokers/influencers for review, crafting Amazon ads, checking out promo deals, and figuring out unexpected places that would be interested in an alt-history mystery starring Poe and Carroll. And I have to create more promo graphics. And make a book trailer. Um.

On the upside, I have complete control over every part of the publishing process, and if I do it right I’ll make way more than I would if I’d submitted it to a traditional publisher. So I’ve got that going for me. It’s just a lot of work.

I also really, really, REALLY need to clean this house because my sister’s coming for a visit at the end of September and … yeah. Kinda let things slide. But it’ll be good to get everything washed, dusted, and properly clean for a change. The J Crew will be pissed that I’m removing their hair from everything, but oh well.