Sky Diary: the blog

It’s so nice to get back into nature and do a little shooting for pleasure. At Viera Wetlands on Thursday, I used my still camera as well as a new video camera I’m trying out to capture a few images of the birds and alligators that flock to this area in our Florida “winter.” I was especially amused by a cranky great blue heron who wouldn’t let another heron anywhere near a nest, from which babies occasionally poked their fuzzy heads.

See the photo gallery, or check out a short video, below. Make sure you choose 720HD from the settings menu on the video (the gear- or flower-shaped symbol) to get the best quality.

It’s been a month since my virtual book launch. I self-published Funnel Vision in hopes of not just sales – I don’t have dollar signs in my eyes, despite the success of a few self-published authors – but in the hopes of gaining readers for a novel that I have lived with for a long time.

Still, people are curious about sales, so I can say I’m now in the 20 percent club – books that have sold more than a hundred copies. I hit that mark a couple of weeks in. Sales did well in the first few weeks thanks to a lot of great support during the launch. They’ve slumped in the past week, but dips are to be expected, I think. I hope. And despite modest sales, it’s done pretty well in customer-review rankings. If you looked today in the two Amazon genres in which the Kindle edition is listed, it was No. 34 in top-rated romantic suspense and No. 139 in top-rated action-adventure (a HUGE category, so – hooray!). But I’m pretty sure these review rankings don’t really help get a book discovered by the masses. It takes being in the top 100 in sales on any given list. And that goal is many, many thousands of rungs above me on Amazon’s ladders.

Sales aside, it’s really interesting seeing the book reviews come in. I’ve been lucky in receiving some nice ones on Amazon, even from people I don’t know or don’t know well. But as it’s not about the sales, it’s also not necessarily about the stars (though you’ve gotta love ’em). I am fascinated by readers’ reaction to the story, which is still something I’m thinking about every day as I write a sequel. Could a reader really be friends with my heroine? Is the hero sexy or despicable? I love to read these thoughts, no matter how disparate, because it means people are reading the story and, gosh darn it, having a reaction. And isn’t that what we want as writers? On the other hand, I have to be careful not to let these lovely voices get inside my head as I continue writing in this fictional world. I have to let my characters find their own way.

If you want to weigh in and haven’t read this storm-chasing adventure, the e-book is on Kindle and Nook. It’s also available in paperback. Get more info and see the book trailer here. Happy chasing!

I had the pleasure of speaking with Court Lewis, host of American Variety Radio on select public-radio stations, about storm chasing and my novel “Funnel Vision” for a show that will air starting this week. Catch it at 8:30 p.m. this Thursday on WETS 89.5 FM (Tri-Cities, Tennessee); at 7:30 a.m. Sunday on WFIT 89.5 FM (Melbourne, Florida); at 4:30 p.m. Sunday on WMFE 90.7 FM (Orlando, Florida) and 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, on WQCS 88.9 FM (Fort Pierce, Florida). Or you can always catch it in the archives online after it airs.

If you missed me on Nerdy@30 on Blog Talk Radio, listen here. That was a lot of fun, too. Host Marcus Kastler lives in Kansas, so he has firsthand knowledge of severe storms.

I had a great time today chatting with UCF students in online classes. Great questions. My madly typing fingers got a great workout. Does your group need a speaker, or would your book club like to discuss ‘Funnel Vision’? Let me know.

My brain was so full after last weekend’s Space Coast Writers’ Guild conference in Cocoa Beach that I think it took a whole week to digest the information I gathered there. The truth about a writers’ conference is that, even if you don’t get practical advice (though you pretty much always do), you’re going to get inspiration. You’re surrounded by ambitious writers, by smart authors and editors and literary agents, and no amount of mediocre hotel food can turn off your appetite for everyone’s enthusiasm. You go home wanting to plot, and write, and do all the things it takes to get your book out into the world. Make that books. Which leads us into five takeaways I got this time around:

1. Your writing career isn’t about getting one book published. It’s about writing and publishing multiple books. Agents and editors are looking for career writers, not one-tome wonders. Even if you’re doing the self-publishing thing, the one sure way to build fans is to write multiple books so they have somewhere to go when they’ve finished reading the first one. To write all those books, you need the discipline to write every day, even if you have another job. There are no shortcuts. And while one project is well under way, another (or two) should always be in the works. (Thanks, author Davis Bunn.)

2. Most writers have another job. Most writers don’t get rich writing. Even authors published by big houses can’t necessarily support themselves by their writing. Your fortune is not assured by a publishing contract. Oh, yeah, and if you sell five books at a conference, you’re doing great! (Thanks, agent/author Lois Winston.)

3. The dream of getting your book into the big bookstore above all else may be misplaced. While it’s lovely to get your book into the big bookstore, more book sales take place online now than in stores. And even though it’s important to know your genre so you can market your book and pick the appropriate categories for it, self-published or not, keywords and online marketing may be just as important as being on a particular shelf. (Thanks, Cadence Group‘s Bethany Brown.)

4. Don’t fear Twitter. It’s a great way to (a) raise awareness of your own books, but (b) even better, learn from other writers and publishing industry types. This is a message I conveyed in my session on how to present yourself professionally to the press, but it was echoed in many sessions during the weekend. Social-media immersion continues to be important, as long as you keep in mind it’s not all about self-promotion. The experts say 70 percent of what you post shouldn’t be tooting your own horn. Share knowledge, share links, and respond to other folks online. In other words, be the person you want to listen to. (Thanks, Jeremy Reis.)

5. This may be the age of DIY self-publishing, but the key to success at self-pubbing is to be just as professional as the pros. Have a professional cover, a professional interior design, and professionally edited text. Readers can smell an amateur project a mile off, and they won’t respect your book if it’s not done well. And as much as we writers would like to hide in our respective garrets/basements/ivory towers and write, and have someone else carry our book outside, package it and share it with the world, that’s our job, too, more than ever. We’re all doing our own marketing. Horrible word, right? So think of it as sharing. Make friends, be supportive of other writers, do your research, spread the word, and people – with luck – will discover your book. Because in the end, it’s not about the money and the fame, both of which are in short supply. At least for me, it’s about the love, it’s about telling the stories, and it’s about finding readers for my book – and writing the next one. See point No. 1.

I am so grateful to friends and supporters who downloaded or bought the paperback of my storm-chasing novel Funnel Vision during its launch Tuesday. While it didn’t stir up a tornado on Amazon’s charts, it did create a bit of a dust devil.

The novel briefly bumped up above 6,000 (rankings, NOT sales) on the paid Kindle chart. That’s from selling 40ish Kindle editions within a couple of days, so it doesn’t take that much to jump from 25,000 to 6,000. I hope my numbers will grow, but it’s going to take a while to see a day like the launch day. This morning it was in the 8000s, so it’s kind of cool that it hasn’t yet fallen from its lofty (ahem) heights. And it means that 8,000 books sold more copies than mine did, in whatever time period they’re measuring.

For more insight into rankings, check out Richard Mabry’s guest post on Rachelle Gardener’s blog. He cites Rampant TechPress’ guesstimation that books ranked 1-10,000 are calculated every hour; 10,000-110,000 every day; the rest, once a month.

For a little perspective, Amazon offers more than a million books and periodicals on Kindle, a spokeswoman told me today. More than 800,000 books cost less than $10, plus there are millions of free out-of-copyright works, she said.

The Kindle charts are divided into paid and free, and a lot of authors are taking advantage of “free” to boost their sales, their visibility, or their supposed readership. I say “supposed” because I know I’m not the only one who’s downloaded free books to my iPhone’s Kindle app or the iBooks app and never read them. Still, it’s hard to ignore the potential of ebooks, now that 29 percent of American adults own a computer tablet or e-reader, according to a Pew study. In December, Amazon says, customers bought more than a million Kindle devices a week. These figures answer with an emphatic “NO” the question some have posed about whether e-book sales have reached their peak.

Russ Grandinetti, VP of Kindle Content at Amazon, said today that Kindle book sales have outstripped print books, according to an item in eBookNewser. That’s from an online retailer, though; print books still account for 80 percent of the market, according to a USA Today story.

I found that my own paperback did better than I expected, and its “real book” ranking this morning was in the 17,000+ range. I think some people want to feel the book in their hands and get it signed, too.

Since there are so many charts on Amazon, and none cumulative (at least that I’ve seen) that combine your print and ebook sales, one could argue that rankings are kind of meaningless (but incredibly awesome if you make the top 100). Plus I’m selling on Nook (Barnes & Noble’s figures seem to be lagging reality) and eventually iBooks, if Smashwords delivers it. But if you look around at where you are as an author – pretty much wherever you are on a given day – you’re probably in pretty good company. And as someone who has just published a novel, I’m just thrilled to find readers. Get more information on Funnel Vision here.

My paperback has joined the Kindle edition on Amazon… hooray! Want a copy of this storm-chasing adventure novel? Help Funnel Vision stir up a tornado in Amazon’s rankings on Tuesday by buying your copy then! The ebook is just $2.99; the paperback list price is $14.95. Don’t have a Kindle? The Kindle ebook reader app is free on multiple devices, including your iPhone, iPad and Android. Thanks and happy chasing!

WHERE TO BUY

On Amazon: Funnel Vision Kindle edition  | Funnel Vision paperback

Also on B&N Nook | Smashwords | Coming soon to iBooks/iTunes

Read more about the book …

And in case you missed the book trailer:

So this is what it means to be your own publisher. Terror. Typos. Eye strain from way too much time looking at web sites. Yet another reason why it would be nice if someone else did all that work.

But this is the path I have belatedly chosen, self-publishing, and in the DIY culture of today’s media, it’s a real education. I actually kind of like the process. If you haven’t been through it, let me give you the rundown of what it’s taken so far to get Funnel Vision out into the world – and it’s not quite there yet.

1. Write the book. Rewrite the book. Edit the book. Share with critique partners. Rewrite again. (Insert years here spent trying to get an agent to like it enough to pick it up, as I did.) Get serious. Rewrite again. See the world changing fast. Decide to publish it yourself.
2. Buy ISBNs. This isn’t what everyone does, as a lot of publishing services provide them, but I felt that to be serious, I wanted the block of Bowker numbers for each edition.
3. Design book/hire someone to design book. Did I mention DIY? I’m a ridiculous do-it-yourselfer. (Sometimes that’s called a “control freak,” though I’m always happy to get professional assistance.) I wanted to see if I could come up with a cover that made me happy. I have some background in graphic design, thanks to a long career in journalism. With a couple of stock photos of good-looking people, carefully transformed, and my own tornado photography, I made my own cover with Photoshop. That includes a back cover with a tornado image I shot and an only mildly manipulated sign photo – that’s a real sign in Liberal, Kansas, and fits my story perfectly. I used Word to design the inside of the book.

4. Create print version. Optional step these days, but I wanted to feel a paperback in my hands and have something to take to events to sign and sell. Also, some people still like paper. I used CreateSpace and, after multiple proof reviews, took the terrifying step of pressing the “publish” button. The book was instantly available – but I’m still waiting for it to migrate to Amazon.
5. Create e-book editions. I am wonky enough to make my own web pages, so I thought this wouldn’t be hard, and it wasn’t – very. That said, it was a glitchy process, as I exported a slightly stripped-down Word file to a web-page file (HTML), then used the friendly, free program Calibre to convert to ePub (for Barnes & Noble Nook) and mobi (for Kindle). Smashwords insisted on doing the conversion itself with its “Meatgrinder” program. I didn’t really want to use Smashwords, but Apple has made it so difficult to direct-publish to the iBookstore that it seemed the simplest way; plus, the book now can get on some of the less-popular e-readers. The problem with tinkering with all this code is that it’s easy to let glitches creep in, and I had an invented word in a couple of the versions that forced me to do a quick file substitution. Fortunately (depending on your perspective), no one had bought the book yet.
6. Plan launch. I am doing scattershot marketing. I’ve created an online press kit, sent out a press release to the local paper, created a book trailer (DIY again), and signed up for lists of media looking for interviewees. I have a lot more to do, but I have to keep in mind that during all of this empire-building, I really need to be writing my next book. I’ll be signing books at 1:15 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Space Coast Writers’ Guild conference at the International Palms Resort in Cocoa Beach with other writers of proven fabulousness. As they say, I’m just happy to be here.
7. Hurry up and wait. I’m planning a virtual book launch party for Tuesday – that’s Jan. 24. I hope my friends and anyone with an interest in Funnel Vision will log on that day and buy the Kindle e-book (or paperback, if it’s there) to give me a bump in the rankings, even if it’s just for one day. I’m hoping the paperback will have migrated to Amazon by then, but that’s out of my control. Eventually, my Smashwords file should make it to iBooks, and the Nook version is already out there. I have no control over the timing of any of that, either. This part of the process is pretty frustrating.
8. Enter twilight state of amazement (pull down pants). OK, that’s just me. I have a bit of trepidation now that I’m pushing this book out in the world. I’ve lived with it for a long time. It’s intensely personal to me, despite all this talk of the superficialities of design and code and marketing. And I am really feeling one of my favorite literary quotes, from Edna St. Vincent Millay: “A person who publishes a book appears willfully in public with his pants down.” This seems even more true, having not been gilded by the official blessings of the great publishing machine. It’s out there. It’s naked. I hope it finds friends.

I won’t be strutting around saying I am a “published author.” But I can quietly say I’m a “self-published author.” These days, that’s not such a bad thing, right? On with Funnel Vision !

I was wondering if the giveaway of ‘Funnel Vision’ had gone live yet on Goodreads, and holy cow, has it ever! I’m grateful for the requests and look forward to sending the five books out when the giveaway period ends Jan. 30. The Goodreads gods determine the lucky winners in all giveaways.

Here’s more stormy fun. I’ve just uploaded to YouTube a video I did almost five years ago, featuring 10 years of storms packed into 10 minutes. There’s a smattering of hail, lightning, storm structure and tornadoes, including several time-lapse clips and music.

Book trailers are so much fun to make. It’s like the very best version of your book, or the idealized, one-minute version. Actually, if you really did it like Hollywood, you’d probably have multiples … one that emphasizes the action (this one kind of does), one that emphasizes the romance, one that emphasizes the emotional personal stories … you’re getting it. Anyway, here it is. The trailer includes several snippets from storm-chasing video I’ve shot over the years. I’ll be publishing Funnel Vision later this month.

… Or how I learned to stop worrying and love my novel

I used to review a lot of books, mostly for The Sun in Baltimore, a newspaper I worked for in the 1990s. I loved books, still do, and I was surrounded by smart, inspiring writers. Among them were richly talented critics and reporters who were or have become famous for their novels, including Stephen Hunter and Laura Lippman. For a few months, I was actually interim book review editor at The Sun, while the new editor was formulating his vision. I was handed that task – in addition to an editing job I was already doing – when I told my boss that being a book review editor was my dream job at the paper. It turns out, it wasn’t.

There was a huge backlog of books that hadn’t been considered and a tsunami of books pouring into the office. It was overwhelming, and I didn’t spend my time reading novels over hot cocoa and doughnuts. I spent my time organizing the deluge, prioritizing reviews, and saying no to publicity people. Despite what was probably considered, at the time, generous book-review space – space almost unheard of now in most newspapers – we probably reviewed less than 15 books each week, even including occasional roundup reviews of five or six titles. I wrote some of those, too.

From this experience, I understood that even books published by the big houses, even books written by people I’d actually heard of, wouldn’t necessarily get reviewed. Self-published books were simply never, ever considered for review, and for good reasons. One, there were too many “legitimate,” vetted books up for consideration; and two, most of the self-pubbed books were terrible.

Fast-forward to the last few years, when I worked at a newspaper in Florida and wrote about, among many other things, books and authors. We gave self-published books a mention, because there were so many local writers putting them out. Some of them were certainly worth the publicity they got; in fact, a few of them merited feature stories for their intriguing topics, interesting authors or writing pedigree. But the truth is, a lot of self-published books are still pretty bad. Some people publish in a vacuum, without doing their research, without the benefit of a critique group, without investing in good design, without understanding anything about the industry. They are, in their own eyes, Published Authors, a title I’ve long desired but wanted to get the hard way.

As my editor during an early internship told me a few thousand years ago, “Don’t you know? Every journalist has a novel in their bottom drawer.” I was one of them. The first one I wrote was pretty awful. The second one was fun and captured the zeitgeist of the time it was written, but I gave up too soon on publication after a handful of rejections. In the interim, I started chasing storms, and then, I started writing Funnel Vision, a novel about storm chasers.

I had tremendously valuable input from a critique group, and I got the novel into a state where I was ready to submit it to agents. I did. A lot. Some asked to see chapters. A few asked to see the whole thing. But no one said yes, and I grew weary of rejection, again. I believed in my novel, but it is a bit of a genre-bender – an adventure story with humor, drama and romance – and a novel like that seemed unlikely to find a home with a publisher who wants a shelf label, who wants a novel of a type that’s already been successful.

Despite my frustration, I still didn’t want to own the stigma of being self-published.

Then, as you know if you follow publishing, the world changed. It is changing, incredibly rapidly, and traditional publishing is going through a massive upheaval. E-books’ popularity is growing. There are some major self-publishing success stories. And while I didn’t think I’d be the next Hocking/Konrath/Locke, I finally decided that it might be time to give it a shot. Not only is publishing the Wild West; other books about storm chasers are out there – books I have studiously avoided reading – and I didn’t want the one I wrote five years ago to be irrelevant and overtaken before I even got it out into the world. Besides, as strange as it might sound, I had started writing a sequel.

So I set out upon one more revision. With fresh eyes, I added a couple of scenes. I found out even more about my characters. And I set the wheels in motion: cover, formatting, and all the fun aspects of becoming your own publisher. I believe in this book. Reading it again and again, as I have been in the final phases of getting it ready, I’m enjoying it, too.

I still have fears of being dismissed as part of the self-created slush pile, as some still see self-publishing. I cringed recently when I saw a bookstore employee venting on a Millions post denigrating self-publishing, saying, “Self-published authors are the bane of our existence.” I’m not a “hater” of the industry, as that column implied. I’m not naive. But I have my reasons for making this choice.

Why would a cynical book-critic type self-publish? I have a story to tell, a story I love. Time is ripping by, and the wheels of publishing turn slowly. While I still have fantasies of being the Published Author with the imprimatur of the Official Publishing House on my book, I know now it’s not the only way. And in the current publishing climate, it’s going to be even harder for me to find an Official Publishing House to accept my particular flavor of adult fiction.

I want my story to find readers who enjoy its world as much as I do. I hope they do. Look for Funnel Vision later this month.