All Greek to Me

I would like to show you all something:

You will notice that, within the last week, the majority of visitors to my site spoke CHINESE. Not US-English, not even UK-English. CHINESE!

Xie xie. :)

I actually think this is really cool. A bunch of people from another country are checking out my site. You will also notice that #3 on this list is Italian. So I say: Prego!
The problem: It's not translating into sales. If I received even half the sales of the number of foreign views I would be sitting pretty.
While I have no quantifiable evidence to back it up, my theory is that the reason foreign views are not translating to sales is lack of translation. The stuff I sell is not in their native language, and they can either not read it, or not read it very well.

This leads me to wonder: what if there was a translation service? If there is, smack me now and point me to it. I would love to sell my stuff in other languages (German, amongst them).
It's not just about sales, though. I would be sharing my story with people from all over the world. My ideas would span languages and cultures. What an awesome concept! This makes me jealous of big authors like Stephen King who get their books translated into a bazillion languages at the drop of hat (not, really, but you know what I mean).

That said, though, I still need to drive sales in my hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. My theory could be very sound, but if I can't drive sales in Omaha, I probably can't drive sales too well internationally.

But it's something to think about. If you can translate your novel/novella/short story into another language, I would say try it! Think about the greater reach you could create by just translating into one other langauge, such as Spanish.
Translate into Spanish and you have millions of prople in over a dozen countries that could, potentially, read your book. Habla?
It's something to think about.

Until next time...

Hunting for Ideas

Hello everyone! Did you miss me? :) What? You didn't? What a buncha-ANYhoo, I've been MIA for the last few weeks because I just purchased a house and have been trying to whip it into shape. Between that, work for my Master's Degree, my day job, and everything else (Lent is rough, dontcha know?) blogging has taken a bit of a back seat.

Well, now I'm back (in black)!

Today's fine topic: Idea Hunting.

I read about the The Idea Hunter on the Forbes website. The book, written by Bill Fischer, Andy Boyton, and William Bole, is about the literal and figurative hunt for ideas. They talk finding your gig - what you want to do - and then actively searching for ideas from numerous different areas, especially areas that aren't even related to what you want to do. The book is based around their I-D-E-A model: Interested, Diverse, Exercised, and Agile. Throughout the book they give numerous examples, from Thomas Edison and Walt Disney, to Steve Jobs. It's a very quick read (and only took up about four pages, front and back, in my personal notebook), and, while it doesn't give you all the answers, it does help the reader form a rough framework from which they can work on discovering ideas.

I'd like to note here that the previous paragraph is a very brief, bare-bones synopsis of the book and I highly recommend reading it to get the full effect. It's $12.99 in the Kindle store.

The Idea Hunt isn't just for businesses, which the book is more geared toward. The authors say that this can be used for anything you're trying to do.

And what are we trying to do here, more often than not? Well I'm here to write...and make money. But mostly write (money is nice, too).

So where am I going with this? And why don't I have any pants on? Well I can't explain the lack of pants (or why I feel groggy, or why I'm bruised all over). The point is that the Idea Hunt is perfect for we writers. Some writers may already have this down pat. Think of all the writers that want to write about something and do endless research...that leads to research in another area, which leads to research in five other areas. But for us normal types - we self-supporting, hard working, bronze skinned, chissled muscle, self-published writers! - it can be an uncultivated art.

For example, say you're writing a sci-fi novel (NO WAI! you say. WAI! I say.), and say you wish to mirror Heinlein in that all space technology is founded deeply in fact, or clearly proveable theory. A good start would be to research how rockets work. And you want your rocket to go somewhere, right? So you'll have to research the bodies within our solar system and how they work.
BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!
Now that you're researching the rocket and planets, you research engine types and fuels, which leads you to researching a lot of science. This could bring an idea for characters! Maybe a rocket engineer chief. And how does the piloting of that rocket change when landing on, say Mars? Or Titan? Or on an asteroid? How are the fuel and components of the rocket affected on different planets and moons?
Or how is the rocket built? Who builds it? What's the process that organization has to go through to liscence, build, and sell/operate that rocket? What departments and individuals within and outside the organization are involved? What are the roles and responsibilities of their jobs? How and do they all interact in a business sense?

See all that? That's the beginning of ideas flowing. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. As you write MORE ideas will come to you, and MORE research will have to be done.

So where do I get MY ideas?

Robert A. Heinlein, for one. He is, without a doubt, my favorite author with all perpatuity throughout the universe. His sci-fi, specifically, is what pushed me to get serious about writing sci-fi.
BattleTech was next. BattleTech is the epitome of giant robot/power armor future combat. The stories and the tabletop game started swirling ideas into my head since I was 13.
Aliens (note the "s") with its colonial marines. Warhammer and Warhmmer 40K (BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! I mean...yeah!). StarCraft, WarCraft, Command and Conquer.

Real life is a HUGE influence on my ideas. SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and other private space companies make me very hopeful for a future where humanity lives and operates throughout the solar system, and I hope more private space companies enter the market...and take me to the Moon and Mars. Many of the ideas coming out of this rising industry fuel my ideas for what I write, even if it is just hyper-ventalating optimism.

But there are a lot of non-space and -science related sources I draw from, too.

The Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Fortune, Inc. Magazine, and other business sources that I use to augment my day job and help increase my personal knowledge add to my writing. Some of the ideas expressed in the Harvard Business Review had directly impacted how I'm shaping the Olympus Mons Technocracy for the next novel (DUN DUN DUN! Spoilers!).

Finally, personal experience and learning go into a lot of what I write. My experience in contracting and purchasing influences how I write about deals (see DER STERNVOLKER). And the education I'm going through now - my Master's degree and soon-to-be studying for my Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM) from the Institute for Supply Management - influences me in what professions I write my characters into and how they interact (such as in the upcoming FREE short story RUN).

The point is to look everywhere for ideas, both in writing and in whatever your industry is. Search for ideas in other, non-related areas that could give you new insights and inspire new ways of doing things in your writing or job. And I recommend The Idea Hunter for everyone.

Until next time...

Where am I?

I'm sure some of you are wondering where the hell I've been. My digital presence has been lacking.

This is where I've been: painting my new house. When I'm not working I'm here...painting takes up a lot of time.

I promise I will be back with more fiction and updates.

Still Rollin

Another day of marketing the book. Stopped and said hello at Legend Comics. Sold two more copies of Der Sternvolker at Krypton Comics here in Omaha, and the Barnes and Noble off of 144th and L in the Oakview Plaza is looking into carrying it. Books-A-Million off of 132nd and L wanted to carry it, but for some reason can't. They might have to become a CreateSpace Direct member. We'll see.

So I'd say all in all that it was a successful day. Still waiting to hear back from The Bookworm and The Game Shoppe, but it all takes time. Patience is key here. The managers at these store do have other things to do...like run their stores.

So where am I at right now with writing?

The novella Run is in the hands of a friend being edited and I should receive it back any day now and will begin working on reworking and rewriting. When done, Run will be available as both an eBook and as a trade paperback.

On the Facebook page I asked if people would read a short story set in the "Der Sternvolker" universe and critique it. Several people voted they would, and I set out to write that short story.
Here is the beginning.

And here is the end.

The short story (to be named) is 4,356 words in its first draft. I've set it aside for now and will revisit it with a first edit in about a week.

More good stuff to come, so keep your eyes peeled.

Until next time. . .

My Case to Apple: Give Me A Bigger iPhone

I write this because it's been nagging me for a while.

My case to Apple (the company, not the fruit) is that they should make the iPhone bigger.
Why?

1) My fat fingers - I'm not a fat guy. I run and lift regularly, and eat healthy. But I have big fingers. Even when the iPhone is turned on its side my fat fingers mash every button BUT the one I want. I have to type slowly to get my message across. Texting, E-mailing, Facebooking, and Twittering are made difficult.

2) Better picture - along with bigger buttons, a bigger screen would also mean I could see more of a webpage or text while typing. As it is, the screen gets chopped in half, or worse.

3) More powerful - with a bigger phone comes a bigger processor. In my mind bigger = more powerful. I would like that for an iPhone that regularly slows down (I have an iPhone 4, and there could be improvements I haven't seen yet in the iPhone 4S). Regardless, more power is gooder.

My recommendation: make it Samsung Galaxy Nexus size.

STOP! Before you get angry and throw your MacBook Pro at the sight of your arch nemesis Samsung, let me explain.

I don't want a Galaxy Nexus.
Yes, it has the size, screen, and touch-screen-buttons I want. But the touch screen itself is HORRIBLE. Try to zoom in on a webpage and it selects links and buttons I don't want. Trying to blog with it is a study in frustration. That and I couldn't find the dedicated browser, and had to keep using Google Search to get to sites. Ice Cream Sandwich is not for me (plus ice cream sanwichces will give me those love handles I've been working so hard to get rid of).

My idea: Make it roughly the size of a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, but keep the nice iPhone 4 rounded-off-rectangle design. A 5" long x 3" wide screen would be AMAZING. I could write whole books on an iPhone like that. Hell, a 6"x4" would be pretty cool.
And keep the width of the iPhone 4, at just under a centimeter, or roughly 3/8". Maybe a tad thinner.
Keep both cameras, and with a larger iPhone they could be made bigger and better. Mega-MegaPixels!...TerraPixels?

The pros: It would be larger than the current iPhone and great for fat-fingers like mine, plus it has more power, better resolution, and a larger screen for videos, webpages, texting, etc. It's smaller than a tablet, and will appeal to those that don't want to spend the money on an iPad, but would like more out of their smartphone. A middle-market, so to speak.

The cons (because there are always cons): it's going to be bigger and heavier, and some people may balk at the size and weight. It will cost more to produce, and cost the customer more to purchase. People may balk at the price.

But if marketed as an inbetween smartphone/tablet, and with Apple's hush-hush-product-debut-followed-by-religious-devotion-of-consumers, I think it would work.

Just rambling. Now: back to work...and writing. I have a short story to finish!

Until next time...

Stop Hitting Yourself

This past week has been an epic failure for my writing. I've written. . .get ready for it. . .6,000words. Tragic I know, especially when I should be pounding out roughly 1,500-3,000 per day. Damn you work and the need to make money! Damn you Project Management masters degree!

Seriously, though, writing isn't a career for me (yet) and so finding time to write in life is difficult. I'm not complaining, just stating fact. I find ways to write (. . .not at work, of course. . .if my boss is reading this). I mute the TV and bang out a few dozen words at a commercial break. I become a hermit and lock myself in my room for an hour. But word count does suffer due to other activities.
I wil work on this.

So this week's blog? More lessons learned from my adventure self publishing. It's ADVENTURE TIME! (Algebraic!)

Don't Be a (Book)Baby!
BookBaby.com was my leap into self-publishing. I thought, "What a great service! For just $99 I can get my book published as an eBook to Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, and Apple! Gee golly!" And so I skipped along, my cheeks rosey, and handed BookBaby $99. . .to do what I can now do for FREE!

I'm really kicking myself in the ass on this one. It's not that they're a bad service, per se. They're not. The BookBaby team has been amazingly helpful along the way. My questions are answered in 24hours or less. They have an amazing site. They pay me the moment I hit my payment cut-off. But it's still $99 (or more) for things I CAN DO FOR FREE!

That's a huge lesson here. If you don't have to spend gobs of money on it, don't. If you can spend a fraction of the price using a service like e-junkie to distribute your books in PDF format, DO IT! That, and Amazon has the Kindle Direct Program, Barnes and Noble has the PubIt program, Apple has the iBook Author App. It's all FREE. Okay, yes, they do take a royalty from the purchase. But there is no upfront cost that hurts your wallet. That's the important bit.

Now, BookBaby has sweetend the deal by allowing people to publish to Kobo and Copia, and they have their new print service (I honestly don't know enough their print service to opine on it, so I won't). But CreateSpace has a pretty good deal for authors (have you seen Der Sternvolker on the Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million websites?). And watch, both Kobo and Copia may start offering services much like Amazon and B&N.

Now, if you so choose to use BookBaby, more power to you. They'll treat you right.
...but it's still $99+.

Pimp Yourself
Wait, no, don't pimp yourself. You're not a word whore! Or maybe you are.
Whatever.
What I mean to say is market yourself. And it can be done on the cheap! Facebook ads and Google AdWords are great advertising tools for very cheap. Bids for your advertisement to pop up can be as low as 5cents ($0.05). Budgets vary, but you can execute a very effective marketing strategy with these tools on the cheap.

But what's FREE?
A Facebook page for you as an author/your site. That's free. And getting your friends and family to 'Like' it is free. Because then other people see their 'Like', look at your page, and they 'Like' it. That is also free.
Creating a Sell Page for your print novel(s) to hand out to local book/comic stores with Microsoft Publisher/Scribus and Adobe Acrobat? This is free (Scribus is very free to download and use).
A Twitter account is free. Everyone has the Twitters! Follow other authors, publishers, agents, and stuff you like. I follow Woodchuck Cider on Twitter (I could use like ten Woodchuck Ciders right now).
A Blog account is free.
A YouTube account is free (although a digital camcorder isn't free, unless built into your computer). Microsoft Movie Maker is free. And there's a ton of stock music and images that are free online. You can make your own free advertisements!
Another great FREE thing: going up and talking to people about your stuff. Though comic/sci-fi/fantasy conventions aren't free, they aren't terribly expensive. Just stay local (ComicCon is definitely not free in any way shape or form...but if you can go, do so and network your little heart out). Book clubs are free. Business cards aren't free, but VistaPrint is $10 for 500 very nice, professional looking business cards. It's not free, but it ain't bad, either.

There are plenty of ways to market yourself for free, or for very little money.

Do Maths
I didn't do maths. That was bad. Want to see my cost v. profits so far?

Item                                         $
BookBaby service                   -$99.00
E-Book Profits                          $62.50
CreateSpace service                -$52.00
Book Profits                              $22.29
E-Junkie Subscription (to date) -$20.00
Total                                       -$86.91

That's bad. The red lettering and negative signs prove it.
If I were a multi-million dollar business I would not be too big to fail and my corporate empire would topple like a house of cards (Noooo!).
So do your maths. Make sure you can make a profit before you spend oodles of money. Then you won't be playing the catch up game (like me. . .shut up).

My action plan?
1) Stop spending money where I don't need to. Der Sternvolker will remain with BookBaby. I've already shelled out that money. But in the future I'm goin the free way. CreateSpace should be my only charges since there is no way to get a print service to print books for free. But I'll make sure there are profits to back that up.
2) Market like a boss without spending all the cash.
3) Write, write, write summore. . .to make more money (but mostly because I like writing. . .and money).

Self-Editing, or: How to Stop Worrying and Love Hitting Yourself
Self-editing is crucial to a good final draft/book. A lot of people are adverse to this. It forces them to analyze their work and admit it's bad. They're forced out of their comfort zones. They have to criticize themselves and improve. We, as human beings, are adverse to such stressors.

We must overcome that adversity and self-edit. Finished something? Drop it for 1-4weeks, then go back and look at it like it's not yours. Then DESTROY IT! Look at the grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Balk at the horrible dialogue and terrible word choice! Force yourself to change everything to "said" and "asked" ("Oh no!" he ejaculated).
Wash, rinse, repeat self-editing process.

I would recommend doing this at least 5 times. Five. Fuenf. Sanqe. Cinco.

And then give it to someone else to ravage. A new set of eyes can make all the difference. Maybe they see something that you didn't because your eyes are bloodshot from staring at a screen for endless hours trying to turn your
crap into a diamond. Just make sure it's someone compitent. Run has been given to the wife of a friend of mine who has a degree in english and such. More to follow on that.

That's all for now folks. I'll be out of town and returning Sunday night, so have a good weekend.

"So remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."
- Red Green

Some Stuff, Some Things

Random post today to let you all know I'm alive and kicking - and writing.

First, I'd like to welcome my first blog follower: Thomas A. Bradley. Thanks for the follow, Thomas.

Next, I'd like to draw your attention to Barnes and Nobles and Books-A-Million, and the fact that the trade paperback of Der Sternvolker is available at both sites. I got all giddy when I saw that. By giddy I mean I peed myself. . .so if you have an extra pair of pants handy. . .

Next, if you head over to the RENEGADE DATA CORE site you'll see some amazing art from Nicolas Giacondino (Aerion the Faithful on DeviantArt). I commissioned Nic to draw up a short comic for me as a sort of foot-in-the-door to the comics/eComics part of RENEGADE DATA CORE. I hope to have more comics in the works soon.

And now I pose a question for you, dear readers: what would you like to see in future short stories/novellas/comics? What settings and characters do you want to read about?

I have a ton of ideas of my own that I'm working, but I'd love to get feedback from everyone.

Next time: more lessons learned in my self-publishing journey.

Until next time. . .