It’s only been one day, and I can say this was an incredible decision.  Not only is my book getting great attention (I did 27 sales on “the slow day”), but I’m learning a great deal about what scifi folks like about my story, the information they need to know to determine they want to “take the chance” and buy my book, etc.

My presentation on self-publishing is tomorrow at 1pm.  I’m a bit nervous as the venue is pretty LARGE, but it’s equally exciting.

I’m going to do a write-up of lesson’s learned and recommendations after the con!  If you have a scifi book, you need to do this!!!

In just a few short weeks I’ll be at the 2013 Chicago Comic Con.  It’s a week after the official book launch of D’mok Revival: Awakening.

My best friend Pat, and my sister Elizabeth will be with me the Con.  I can’t tell you how excited I am to be able to share this Con experience with both of them. As you will read in the dedication and author’s note in my book first book, they were instrumental in their support and early critique of the story. Without the book wouldn’t be what it is, and frankly, without Pat, the book would be here at all.

I’m also lucky enough to have Brittney Brauer at the con.  She worked at Mira Smart Publishing to get my “Seed” copies printed.  She’s brilliant, and an expert in the publishing realm.  One of main attractions (beyond the book) to the D’mok Revival booth is the opportunity for other con goers to find out how to bring THEIR story to market.  Look, most Scifi lovers have a story.  Some have the passion and drive to bring it to bear just like I did.  I WANT TO HELP those people.  Lord knows I would have loved someone to help me blaze the trail and figure things out.  But that’s okay.  I can be that for other people now.  It’s kind of cool!

So, in addition to the booth, Brittney and I have pulled together a panel on how to Self-publish.  It’s an hour presentation, on Friday August 9th.

I thought I’d talk a little bit about my approach to creating the panel.

This panel isn’t about saying how awesome D’mok Revival is and how to be godly or anything crazy, it’s an opportunity for me to “think like a new author” and provide the information I was seeking oh so long ago.

First I start with a clear goal.  My goal for the panel is to talk about the overall process with the experts.  Then talk about what happened as D’mok Revival went through these stages, like a case study.

The most important thing to remember is: who is in the audience, what do they already know, what would help them the most, and in what way can they absorb it the best.

So I put on my thinking cap and thought about Authors.  They are typically good with the writing part. In fact, many don’t want advice on how to write.  They have their approach and you’re not going to change it.  So I’m steering CLEAR of that one.  Besides, there are so many writer’s conventions out there that will provide better insights into the art of writing.

Instead I think it would be more interesting to them to focus on “what comes next” after writing the manuscript.  To properly tune this presentation I first listed what are the things the audience wants to know (or should know):

1) Where to spend the money if you have it (editor, cover, book quality)

2) Where to find an editor

3) How to find and evaluate an artist for your cover and brand

4) The printing process (vetting options, pricing)

5) PR for your book (advanced review copies [ARCs], how to come up with messages, press releases, web sites, social media, blogging)

6) Contests, reviews and advertising

7) Distribution of books (ebook, physical book, Amazon, etc.)

8) The release process and beyond (how, where, when, interviews, tours)

9) Questions

This looks a little long, so I’ll dial it back to the essentials and just use a summary for the others.

Cost, Editing, visual design, printing, and distribution really needs to be the core.  I can always direct people to my blog, to email me with other specifics later.

I’m going to pull together a few PowerPoint slides to provide relevant visuals and hold engagement. As my friend and co-worker Brandon would say “don’t fill it with text.” It’s a VISUAL medium, not intended to be a small encyclopedia.

In addition to the PowerPoint, Brittney is brining a few other experts to be on the panel. That takes some of the pressure off, and makes it more interesting as one person isn’t droning on the whole time.  It also provides more legitimacy concerning answers.  They can also deep dive in their respective topics to depths further than I could. Bonus information for the panel viewers!

In the end, I want the audience to have the information needed to start planning their own approach.  Brittney and I will be available after the session, at the booth, and via email after the con to stay in touch and help people out.

So, that’s my approach to assembling the panel.

Launch is imminent!  We’re just a few weeks away now.  I have the proof version of my final edition coming in the mail. The official t-shirts are in production. I have the exclusive Comic Con posters already in-hand at home. The Comic Con goody-bag flier is designed and about to go to press as soon as I get my booth number.

When it comes to the launch on Saturday, August 3rd at 7pm at Boswell Bookstore off Downer Avenue in Milwaukee (just in case you want to attend), I just need to figure out the refreshments and what I want to say.  I was hoping to attend a few book launches for other people, but that hasn’t panned out.  I’ve been told to not actually do a reading, and to talk instead about the origins of the story, my work on it, etc.  That should be easy enough.  It’s near and dear to my heart, and I know exactly how the story came about.

In my interview with Hugh Howey earlier this week (http://newbooksinsciencefiction.com/2013/07/17/hugh-c-howey-wool-simon-schuster-2012/) he mentioned how he can never shut off the story and characters in his mind.  I completely identified with him.  One of the things he said that really stuck me was that he never would want to be able to shut it off, that it was dangerous to be away from your characters for a long time.  My interpretation of that is if you don’t keep writing, you get out of the groove, maybe become estranged with your characters.

I’ve been working on so many side efforts like brining D’mok Revival: Awakening to market, working on the video game project for the major comic book property, being a single dad, holding down my job, that writing has actually taken a back seat to the rest of my life.  I can’t even afford the time to play video games right now, and that’s just CRAZY talk for me.  Honestly I have “The Rest of Us” by Naughty Dog just sitting there staring at me, crying out “COME ON! PLAY ME!”  Yet, “sorry, no.”  Not right now.

The upside is the comic book video game project is allowing me some leeway to write the actual story for the game.  At least I’m WRITING, just not in my universe.  I do want to get back to D’mok Revival.  I committed myself to releasing “D’mok Revival: Retribution” in fall of 2014, according to my official press release.  So I’ll need to get moving on that.  There’s a good deal of editing to do back in book two before sending it off to a professional editor for review.  Then there’s book three, then four to edit.

I do miss furthering the story as well.  Seeing there’s three tracks to write as of the end of book 4, there’s a lot to do!  I’m going to get through this launch for the moment, then find a way to really hit the ground running to get the next edition ready.

Sure, there’s the literal “cents” of this (more puns), but it’s far great than money.

Right now I’m literally dizzy from everything I’m doing. It’s all of my own making, and I’m choosing to do the things I am.  So, I’m not complaining, but rather sharing.

I have a fulltime job, I’m a single dad, I’m working on getting my first book out, I’m designing a video game for a very well known television and comic book series, I’m working on the user interface for a medical system.

I’d like to say that I see my friends all the time, but I don’t. But the friends I have aren’t the type you hang out with every day, or even a few times a week. They’re the type you see every so often, pick back up with where you left off, and have a great day or evening together.  I’ve never made friends that you hung out regularly with. I guess I’m not that kind of guy–even if I’ve wanted to be many times.

I’m a work horse, I always have been, I always will be. I get my personal satisfaction out of feeling I’ve created or accomplished something–perhaps even my own sense of self-esteem too.

The most important person in my life is my son. He’s the only thing that’s immutable in my life. I make a point to ensure time with him isn’t impacted by my hobbies in life. On the few nights or weekends he’s not with me (at his other parent’s home) I work. Though, I always miss him horribly.

They say you only live once, and that life is meant to be lived not observed.  Well, I’m certainly experiencing a lot. The stubborn Italian, Taurus in me won’t let me drop any of these important (and personally fulfilling) efforts!  Of course, the body doesn’t care about what the mind wants.

There is a significant cost to go after dreams. But doesn’t it just make your dreams that much more valuable?  I’ve sat for too long on the side lines, playing everything safe, architecting a house of cards that I’ve seen fall down before.  Now–now my approach is live the best you can, make the most of everything I do, and stay doing the things I love.  Nothing else is worth it, especially a false sense of security.

I may fail in what I try, but God help me–I’m going to burn like a star until I can’t any more.

Connecting with your readership is your number one best way to stay connected and aligned with your fans.  Sure, infrastructure and costs are important to manage properly, but if you don’t resonate with your consumers–if they don’t want, care, or need your project–you are done.

Enter the MVP Team.

Simply put, this is a collection of people directly from your consumer market.  They are people you hand pick, get to know, and come to trust as representative of those typically found in your consumer market.

What types of things would you tap your MVP team be used for?

• Discussing existing series direction
• New book concepts
• Getting reactions to new marketing / identity and branding approaches (logos, slogans/tag lines, look-and-feel)
• Review of new games, newsletters, etc.
• How to improve your site
• Pricing discussions
• Market research (what they want to read about, when they read, formats to present your stories in–blog, ebook, printed, etc.)

What types of (free/near-free) communications methods should be leveraged from MVPs

• Interviews (skype, gotomeeting)
• Forum discussions (joomla, wordpress, etc.)
• Surveys (surveymonkey)
• In-person Focus groups (at conventions, other local events)
• Virtual focus groups (google hangouts, gotomeeting)
• Email (mailchimp)
• Usability studies (usertesting.org)

How do you put together your MVP team?

First you must know your market. What it the typical profile of someone from your consumer market. What are they looking for in a story? What type of action or detail do they like?  What size book matters to them?  How often do they purchase books?  What is their criteria to decide?  How much are they willing to pay?  Where do they prefer to purchase books?  What format do they prefer? It’s not enough to look at general book readers.  You need to look at the ones in your target market.

Next, research where can they be found online? What type of social media or community interaction takes place and where?

Where can they be found offline (hangouts, conferences, and other gathering places)?

You need to examine if there are sub groups within your consumer market (kids, teens, young adults, adults, elderly, etc.) and understand their unique needs and dwellings.

Determine to what extend you want to leverage your MVP team (see “What are MVPs tapped for” below)

Create a page on your site about being an MVP (with a list of active and emeritus members)

Create an enrollment form with specific questions

• Name
• Age
• Where they live
• How long they’ve been a fan of your books or series
• What your series means to them
• What you love the most about the series
• One thing that you’ve always had an issue with
• Why they want to participate
• Best communicated with through: phone, email
• Able to participate in individual interviews, focus groups, and or tests of new company concepts

Review the enrollment forms, and select those you feel understand your brand, would be good sounding boards, and fit the “voice” of the market you want to connect more effectively with.  Look for thoughtful responses with insight.

Based on your research here is a non-exhaustive list of techniques you can use to recruit them:

• Recruit using the last page of your book
• News release on your Web site
• Survey from your Web site
• Email your to registered readers from your site
• Press article in trade site or journal about your recruitment for your MVP team
• Fliers at appropriate conventions
• Inserts in directions or other packaging with your products informing people about potential participation as MVPs
  • Send out a press release
  • Mention it at book signings
  • Drop off fliers at local books stores, coffee shops or other places your target dwells
• Blog postings about opportunity
• Posting on Facebook about opportunity
• Posting on Twitter about opportunity

How do you cultivate your team once it’s together?

1. Communicate with your MVPs. They want to know they’re a respected and stable entity for you. Without this they’ll feel their time isn’t worth the dedication since there isn’t any from you.
2. These people want to be a part of your brand and series. They want to be kept up to date on what’s going on. They want to be able to tout they’re an MVP for you.
3. Create a social media package (badges, etc.) that they can post to Facebook, twitter, blogs, etc. to show they’re connected to you
4. Send regular communications (news posts, email newsletters, etc.) telling them what’s going on, upcoming feedback opportunities, and how existing feedback has impacted your company/products (be as specific as you can)
5. You want a healthy crop of MVPs, and will want to rotate them in and out so you don’t develop any organizational bias or skewed thinking from your MVPs.  Celebrate graduations into emeritus status (certificates signed by you)
6. Ask your MVPs to spread the word about broader surveys, product launches, events, etc. Let them have exclusive information first
7. Planned discounts and special deals should be extended to your MVPs first as appropriate and if possible
8. Promote discussion amongst your MVPs. Provide a password protected forum for your MVPs to discuss issues and ideas
9. Talk about your MVPs at trade shows, on your site, commercials, and other places.  It’s both a nod to those that participate and a sign to your consumers you’re listening to them.
10. Contact them and ask them to meet you at book signings, conventions, and other social events close to them.

Before I know it the official launch on August 3^rd will be here.  Shortly thereafter will be the Chicago Comic Con event!

Tonight my sister, son, and I dropped off the first 15 books to Boswell’s Bookstore on the East side of Milwaukee.  Those books, from the first printing (what I called my seed copies), still had the $6.99 price listed.  As a result that’s all Boswell can sell them for.  We’re going to call these the “pre-launch” price.  It turns out Boswell Books will actually be selling them before the full launch.  I had some idea in my head that there would be no book sales until August 3^rd.  I’m actually really excited that they will be in a bookstore on the shelves!

This weekend I’m going to put in the final edits (mostly type-o fixes) that my sister found in the ultra final review.  Then the manuscript, along with the updated cover (new UPC/EAN5 at the $8.50 price) will be headed to Mira Smart Publishing for the next run of 2000 copies.  Yes, 2000 copies!

I need to pull together a few more plans for the official launch at Bowsell’s Bookstore.  Mostly refreshments and a brief outline of what I want to say about the story.  It’s been such a long journey, it’s not like I need notes to recall it all.

The t-shirts, intended mostly as a give-away at Comic-Con, will be ready by my launch.  I’ll bring 2 or so as giveaways for the launch.

I do need to finish up my press release, which I have a draft of from my PR company.  That will happen over the next few days.  I’ll send it to multiple outlets, in addition to the Morning Blend (channel 4 morning news program) to secure my TV interview slot.

Then I should be in great shape.  I have a few Comic Con items to work out yet, which I’ll talk about in another post.

I’m very excited to get D’mok Revival: Awakening in the hands of readers!  My friend and co-worker Frank expressed an interest in purchasing my book.  He mentioned finding the site, and reading the prolog and being interested. It was a GREAT feeling.  I know there are others at work waiting to get a copy too.  Just amazing!

Well, time to take care of myself and get some rest.

In my opinion, Amazon is the place to sell online. Your market, no matter how niche, will most likely be on there.  In addition you get to take advantage of their social ratings features (essential to buyers in their decision making process), their established online order and payment systems, their inventory and fulfillment software, tax documents, and more.

I had NO idea how to do this or all the steps involved.  So, here’s what I discovered and what I did:

The first thing you want to do is set up a business account at your bank.

Next, create an LLC with your state.  To do this, go to the government site for your state and search for LLC (limited liability corporation).  I’m in Wisconsin, so I went here:  http://www.wisconsin.gov/state/byb/LLcompany.html.

Wisconsin charges a one-time setup fee.  You “could” use various online companies (like legalZoom.com or Rocketlawyer.com) to do this for you. Most of the time they provide an online wizard to take you through the questions you would have answered yourself on the form. I didn’t want to pay additional fees to a company to play a middle-man.  But, I also felt comfortable answering the questions and had previously read books like LLC for dummies.

Next, go to the federal government and apply for an EIN (employer identification number).  I went here: http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Apply-for-an-Employer-Identification-Number-(EIN)-Online

This is what you’ll need for taxes and the like.  It’s a simple process, and can be done online in minutes.

Then go to the Amazon marketplace and register.  I went here: http://services.amazon.com/content/sell-on-amazon.htm/ref=footer_soa?ld=AZFSSOA.

They have a great process with clear steps to setup your company.  They ask a ton of questions, including your bank account, Federal EIN, and more.  It’s all required and important.

Once you’re in, you’re ready to add your first product (printed book or ebook).  Keep in mind that each product you plan on selling (and each format of that product–for instance one book may have a printed copy and ebook–that’s TWO different products according to Amazon), you will need a unique ISBN number with EAN 5 extension.  The best place to get these codes is here: https://www.myidentifiers.com/.  I’d go with a 10 pack, as buying them individually is cost prohibitive and if you really love writing or plan for multiple product formats you’ll eat them up anyway.  What’s an EAN 5 extension?  Well, it’s the part of the bar code that contains the cost of the product. Most places are looking for these to be included with your ISBN, especially printed on the back cover of your physical book.  The great things about this particular site is you can both purchase the ISBNs, manage your data about those numbers, AND get a graphic file to put into your book cover art for production (with the EAN5).

You really need to have all the information ready for your product.  It includes the following:

VITAL INFO

• Title
• Publication Date
• Series title
• Required Contributors
• Foreword
• Contributor
• Edition number
• Binding
• Publisher
• Number of pages
• Language
• Volume #
• ISBN-13/EAN or ISBN number or UPC

OFFER

• Seller SKU
• Condition
• Condition Note
• Your Price
• Sale Price (and date to start and stop sale)
• Quantity
• Start selling date
• Restock date
• Import designation (Make in USA, etc.)
• Country as labeled (if imported)
• Shipping method (you, or done by Amazon)
• Shipping Options (standard, expedited, two day, one day, international, expedited international)

IMAGES

• Product Images (cover, back, spine, etc.)

DESCRIPTION

• Product Description (2000 characters)

KEYWORDS

• Subject keywords (up to 5, 50 characters each)
• Search terms (up to 5, 50 characters each)

MORE DETAILS

• Language
• Package dimensions (L,H, W, weight)
• CPSIA Cautionary Statements
• Subject

Now go back to Amazon Seller Central: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/ . This location is different than the one you used to register.  Pick “New Product” from the “Inventory” tab (first one in the navigation).  Follow the wizard and put your information in.

The product will now show up in your inventory listing.  Keep in mind that using Amazon’s infrastructure does NOT come free.  They were going to take a $3.60 cut of a $6.99 book (my original book price before I realized this).  I didn’t recall Amazon warning about how much they were planning on taking.  In fact, most times I saw a “$1.00 per sale” cost.

That said, it forced me to print books in large enough quantity to bring down the printing cost to make this platform viable.  I still believe it’s worth it 100%.

Make sure you get a business CPA to make sure you do your taxes and planning right.  Here’s a helpful link: http://entrepreneurs.about.com/cs/gettingstarted/a/choosingacpa.htm.

And there you have it!

Good question!

A number of people have asked me what my process was and how to go about it. I’ve attempted to stub together some thoughts and considerations. It’s by no means an exhaustive list of things to do or consider, but it gets the process going. At the very least it will help an aspiring author to think about their brand and have information to bring to the agent, publisher, or visual designer if going it alone. Good luck!

============================================================

Before going into the cover process

– Clear understanding of your book and series themes

– Clear definition for what this book is about (not just the theme)

– A listing of key moments, locations, or characters

============================================================

The cover process includes

– Fonts

– Colors / textures

– Imagery

– Content (titles/sub-titles, review quotes/awards/ratings info, author name, back cover text, UPC & EAN5 codes, illustrator name, site url)

– Series logo design

============================================================

Explore your genre

– Create a list of all most famous book sold in the genre across the last 15 years

– Provide special attention to detail on the biggest hits in your genre in the last 3 years

– Examine the covers and look for patterns:

– Position and size of series name

– Position and size of book title

– Position and size of author

– What key visual elements are presented (what are the elements, visual style used in depiction, what is the size and position, common themes?)

– How is additional content presented and where (quotes, sales info, awards)

– Examine the spines – How much information is represented on the spine? – How is the book series and title represented – What type of visuals are used

– Examine the back covers – How much space is used for reviews – How much “back cover” text is there about the book’s story – How much space is the UPC/EAN5 taking up – How much visual design is really present for the back cover versus front

Trend

– How much cover space is dedicated, on average, to visuals versus text?

– How much is the author spot-lighted (if it’s a new author, if it’s an established author, etc.)

– How much series branding is present in the visual presentation (e.g. size of series logo, etc.)

– Colors used (backgrounds, copy, logos, etc.)

=============================================================

Creating your logo

– Remember, there are people that do this for a living (it’s not easy)

– You’re going to have to do a ton of them

– Review your series’ themes

– What do you want to embody when someone sees the series logo (intense, scary, happy, epic, etc.)

– Do you want something more iconic versus a wordmark? What images may conjure the essence of your theme?

– Based on your theme, genre trends, etc. what type of font would work best (sharp, flowing, scripty, block style, etc.)

– Remember this needs to be striking, memorable, and be able to both stand on its own, and be represented in sizes ranging from 60×60 pixels to billboard size

– The design must look good when in black-and-white (grayscale), and color

– The design must be able to be placed on my types of backgrounds and still be clear and visible (patterns, dark, light, etc.)

=============================================================

Creating your paperback cover

– Review your series theme

– Review what THIS book is about

– Review the listing of key moments, locations, or characters

– Assemble your content (series name, book title, quotes, author information, supporting copy, logo, no images yet)

– Review your research, especially covering the past few years. You want your cover to pattern after what’s contemporary because it’s what your readership expects (and is looking for)

– Make a listing of things that visually represent your theme (colors, images, textures)

– Determine what your most important information is for your cover (maybe author name, maybe series or logo, maybe key image)

– Remember you have seconds to engage the reader, and only seconds to present key content. If they’re interested, they’ll pick up the book and read more on the back cover. Don’t over-stuff your cover designs.

– Think of how a reader will look at your cover, what is the hierarchy of visual elements (What they see first, second, etc.), and how the eye will move across the cover. Top-down, left-to-right is the traditional western reading approach. Eyes will lock on images before words, especially faces (it’s how our brains are wired).

– Following your visual theme, create the primary visual element(s) (this in itself could be multiple rounds)

– Following patterns from your genre research, and leading with your identified most important information, begin laying out cover elements

– Adjust the element sizes to create the intended visual heirarchy

– Apply fonts that align with your theme, reflowing text as needed based on presentation differences with fonts

– Apply final colors to copy

– Additional enhancements with textures or visual treatments (like antiquing an image, etc.)

– Print the color cover, put it on the wall 10 feet from you. Does your most important information pop out at you? Is there an easy flow of visual elements and information? What do you notice first, second?

– Again, use your printed copy. Shake it up and down so it’s blurry. What do you “see” when you’re doing this? What information and elements are still visible? Is your most important information still showing? When there’s a lot of distractions, people will see basically what you see when shaking your printout. Keep that in mind.

Creating your spine

– Very little information goes on a spine

– Review the design you presented on the cover

– Following your genre research package your spine material

– Print it out, look at it as you’d see it on a bookshelf. Is it readable? Even at a passing glance?

Creating your back cover

– Recall the purpose of the cover is to provide more information about the story (no spoilers), and clout (recommendations, quotes, etc.)

– The majority of content will be the teaser for the core struggle presented in the book

– The second most important space is for quotes

– Back covers are traditionally very bland – the UPC takes up a huge amount of space on traditional paperback books

Getting feedback

– Beyond your friends, post to your fans, get feedback from your printer company, post to your blog

– Compare your design to the books published this past month (on amazon or other key outlet)

– Take it to your local bookstore and ask the owner or clerks there (they see tons of books)

Make revisions

– Don’t be surprised if you make 3 or 4 rounds of changes

Notes: Don’t be afraid to make a few cover versions and test them against each other with with your community, book review team, etc.

Going into January of 2013 I fully intended to only release an ebook. The idea was I would attempt to build an online following, and then go after a literary agent after I had established sales. I was told that since I didn’t have lots of writing credits or awards to my name I had to do this to get the engine turning.

I did my research, figured out how to launch an ebook on Amazon (THE place to be by the way), and then something unexpected happened. I had recently purchased my ISBN numbers, and it somehow put my contact information out into the wild. My guess is the ISBN place sells access to their new customer listings.

I received an email from Mira Smart publishing in St. Louis. Allison and I talked about my project and my intentions. She warned me that reviewers avoid ebooks like the plague. I already knew this from the exploration and research I conducted when trying to queue up reviews for my story. It’s true, ebooks are of little interest to “real reviewers.”

She said I could use the physical copies (and advanced review copies) to more convincingly approach professional reviewers, I could also submit to contents, and gain valuable insights from book stores and consumers.

She quoted me a great price and, before I knew it, my entire focus changed from being an ebook to a printed edition. Suddenly I wanted nothing more. However, an ebook is a glorified PDF (or Microsoft Word document). It was going to fairly easy to convert.

But a PRINTED book, now there’s an entirely different beast. There was typesetting, cover, spine, and back design, book size and format, paper stock selection, and the list goes on and on.

Then they gave me the price. It was totally affordable.  It became an instant “no-brainer.”  It took about two months to adjust and have everything ready for a physical book.  I worked with Mira to pick the book font, but I personally worked on the series branding and visual design.  I wrote the back cover description, directed the development of the cover (which I’ll talk more about in another post as that experience alone needs to be talked about), did the desktop publishing for the complete outer shell of the book.

When it came to formatting the inside of the book I took around ten fantasy and science fiction titles and looked at their structure.  Some of the things I examined were:

1)      The title page

2)      The copywrite page

3)      The table of contents

4)      The author notes/thank you

5)      How the prolog was positioned

6)      How the epilog was positioned

7)      Chapter divider presentation

8)      Blank page usage (e.g. all chapters began on the right-hand page)

9)      Inner-chapter topic breaks (the permutations of “***”)

10)  Page number size, font, and placement

11)  Author name usage and placement

12)  Book title or chapter use at the top of pages

13)  Where and how an author bio was used

14)  Book gutter margins and outer margins

It was interesting looking at additional books from a particular publisher or author, spotting the trends in how “that brand” presented their content. In the end I created what I felt was the best hybrid across the various styles.  I felt the result was very professional.  After all, I referenced the biggest and best authors out there—it should be!

I sent over the Microsoft Word document, along with a PDF output of the cover from Photoshop. I have to say; when the box arrived with my printed proof I was elated and terrified.  My book was REAL!  My hands shook carefully opening the box, worrying I’d cut it as I sliced through the packaging tape.

Holding the book in my hand, my eyes madly looking over the vivid cover, was a surreal experience. I thought it looked great—good enough to be side-by-side with any other book at Barnes and Nobel.

In the end 75 copies were printed, ten of which were Advanced Review Copies. We’ll talk about why ARCs are important in another post (so many topics to discuss).

Not only was this an incredible personal boon, but it allowed me to all the things I had hoped: the ability to send “real” versions to reviewers, to enter contents, to show potential book store owners, and get buzz going.

When I started writing D’mok Revival I had literally binders full of maps, background stories, character shorts, etc.  Recall that it was supposed to be a pen-and-paper role playing game initially with the intention of converting into a computer based RPG later. With RPGs your players make decisions and the game master tells them how “the universe” responded. A novel doesn’t have the flexibility, it needs one track. I wondered the best way to take all the possible game modules and make them a linear story.  There were so many combinations! Nukari encounters would become more difficult as time went on—regardless of the order in which the worlds and supporting characters were picked up.

I decided I would just listen to my instincts, and simulate player decisions selecting “one path” through the game.  So, I played a virtual game with myself, documented out the direction, and then started writing out the prose form.

When I completed the first manuscript, like any newbie, I thought it was good.  In fact, I had no idea what I was doing.  To make matters worse, I didn’t even follow a traditional novel style for formatting.  I actually used more of a movie script style.  In essence, it was awful.

The ideas were good, but the presentation and execution needed a lot of refinement.  That was okay, I expected that.

I knew this story was important, and that I wanted to share it with people (or rather it wanted to be shared).  So I sought out an editor.  I trolled the Internet for recommendations, processes on how to find one, read warnings about those that would seek to take advantage of the newbie masses.

I found a site the appeared to provide some qualified recommendations. I ended up working with a wonderful lady from Atlanta.  Keep in mind, the manuscript was MASSIVE. 286,000 words or so.

Her first comment to me was, “as a first time author no one will publish this. Maybe if you were Steven King…”  I never forgot that.  Of course, she’s right.  In fact, many literary agents will tell you the sweet spot for first time science fiction authors is somewhere between 80k-100k words.

There was no way the manuscript was going to get edited down to that. So the approach was to review the entire thing and see where it ended up.  She provided great feedback about story pacing, character development, and grammar.  She even made some direct suggestions about evolving some dialog to add more personality to characters.

It was important for me to keep “my voice” in the story. What I mean by that is how the characters came across to me, and the way I felt they wanted to be presented. That said, there were many suggestions by my first editor that remained and shaped the future of the story.

In the end there were two massive books, with a number of big chapters removed. I created new outros and intros between books one and two. Then I tried to pitch the books to publishers (BIG MISTAKE—DO NOT GO DIRECTLY TO PUBLISHERS) without success.  In fact, once a publisher rejects your book they BLACK LIST IT so a future literary agent representing your work will have NO TRACTION with that publisher.  It will be a dead work to them.  So, heads up on that mistake.

Eventually I decided they modules that were removed were too important to character and plot development to take out.  So, I worked them back in.  Then I recombined them into one massive manuscript, and divided it into the first three books.  After more edits creating new intros and outros between the books, each was around 80-90k words.  The trilogy was born.

Sure, I went through all three books tweaking and rewriting segments.  But there wasn’t any major movement on trying to bring it to Market.

Eventually I wrote a fourth book (subject for another post). As I started a fifth, actually the first book in a spin off series that started as of the end of the fourth in the main series, I decided it was time to bring the story to market.

I attended the Milwaukee Spring Writers’ Conference hosted by the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.  I met great people, and even paid for an hour of review by an editor.  The entire conference was great.  It provided insights on the publishing (and self-publishing) market, let me network with other would-be authors, and introduced me to literary agents.

The time with the editor was especially important.  Though he only reviews 20 pages of my story, I felt he provided some great feedback. He called out issues I was concerned with (without prompting), and presented some solid solutions.  Eventually I contracted with him to do the entire book.  He really pushed me to make sure that, despite being a trilogy, the first book also had a solid story arc that could conclude. He also said that Rhysus, the protagonist, always seemed to come up with some ability just in time to save himself or others.

I explained that I was working off the Japanese model (mostly from Anime) where emotional outbursts or dire situations are the catalyst for new abilities emerging.  He said in the states it comes across as too convenient. But more so, he said that he knew Rhysus would come up with some ability and save things so there was little true tension. That particular comment really hit me.  I could see that.  Okay, sure, it’s Rhysus to begin with, he’s the main character, so of course he won’t die or whatever.  But I did see his point that there was little tension.

So I went back and modified the manuscript.  I made him more vulnerable, and less “powered up.”  His big guns really don’t out until the end now. It actually forced me to make him rely on his other teammates more.  In the end, I really liked it.

I think the revised ending to book one has much more of an emotional gut-punch as well.

Of course, my friend Yana, Michele, Pat, and sister Elizabeth were also key factors in the editing of the story.  They read (especially in Pat case re-read and re-read and re-read) sections always providing feedback on the changes I made.

Pat in particular is a living encyclopedia of movies and video games.  He was quick to say “this was done in XYZ” or “is very similar to ABC” or “man, this is totally cliché.”  I LOVED THAT FEEDBACK.  It forced me to try and put a fresh spin on things, or just stay focused in on how the D’mok characters would genuinely react to that situation and not just lift something from somewhere else.

Pat, ultimately, was a game changer for me and D’mok Revival.  It’s also why the first book is dedicated to him.

My advice for other new writers, write your pieces. Get everything in you out on paper (or computer). Have friends review it, rip it apart. Seek professional editing.  Even get a book writers circle going where you can review one another’s pieces (though that can be difficult to hold together if writing styles and topics are too diverse).

Listen with an open mind.  I didn’t make every change suggested. You won’t either. But it did provide insights as to what the readership may think.  Sometimes I changed other parts to make the troubled spot make more sense and smooth it out.

My style is always evolving. It always will.  My challenge now is I’m 4 more books ahead in my style.  As I work on bringing book two to market, I’ll have to update it with my new style.  That’s fine, it will be stronger for it, but it will be work!

Regardless, I love writing!