Tuesday 18 December 2012

Missing The Boat


Two years in storage!

After joining a very interesting site (www.authonomy.com) and trying to get involved in order to pretend to myself I'm doing something worthwhile with regards to getting my book noticed, I found a forum thread that led me to another forum thread, which basically confirmed to me something that an author friend of mine had already alluded to... the free Kindle promotions I've been doing have become worthless.
Well, not worthless. I still get the occasional review of them (or maybe from one of my meagre paid sales that sometimes limp into view like an asthmatic greyhound), but the surge of sales I had after my first promo in the summer will most likely never be repeated.
It seems that self published books are now not showing up on as many 'customers also bought' feeds after they have been bought for free (or maybe actually bought too!). Apparently 2010 and 2011 were the years for doing the promo, with big dollar flying about post promo.
The Binary Man was finished in March 2010. I could have had two years of joy if I'd just grabbed that brass ring, and peed into the wind.
So it's going to be a long, hard road unless I get published, or promote the heckings out of my books (a painful task which I don't have enough time for if I want to actually write as well).
I think for the moment I'll just keep writing and pretend my other job is a dream... a long, twelve hour a day dream.

Thursday 13 December 2012

Keep Cutting.



 

Keep cutting.

Well after a few weeks away from blogging I thought I'd post a quick update on my progress. The Real Thing was completed on time, meaning I won the Nanowrimo. The draft? Absolutely appalling. I think I will have to slice it to pieces to even make a decent short novella. The one shining light is that it makes sense, despite it's convolutions.
So it's back to more serious fare, the Cuts of Flesh series! The first draft of Sark (the second part) has been sent off to my proof reading horror aficionados, so hopefully it will get a majority thumbs up vote and after a bit of tweaking it will be released onto the unsuspecting public.
Not wanting to rest in between my actual work (which is a mighty task at the moment as I work in retail), I have moved straight on to the third part of the Cuts of Flesh series.
I am really enjoying the character development and atmosphere, it seems very different to everything else I've done (as if it has an eldritch life of its own), but I am finding it increasingly difficult to ensure that the plot is satisfying and most importantly logical, especially when I think ahead to the final part. As I've released the first part and will soon release the second the protagonist's previous activities are set in stone. I can't change anything to accommodate a late conceived plot idea.
I have a small idea for the end but will it still hold merit after all that will go before, many of the details of which I make up as I write, throwing in obstacles and details that seem interesting at the time. It will be a mammoth task to weave all the plot strands together but hopefully an enjoyable one.
My plan is to release a paperback when all six are complete to be on sale alongside the kindle version, hopefully before the end of next year.
Samples of all my books are available to read at my new 'official' website at http://jakeprytherch.wix.com/main