My Author Values Nailed to the Door.

This month, there has been some serious turbulence in the old indie author community surrounding the thorny issue of boxsets. Now, I know this is pretty much a weekly occurrence in one way or another, but this time, the storm is pretty big and it's feeding off a lot of hurt.

In almost all cases, calling folks out on the way they choose to travel their individual author path isn't a good thing - it can be a path paved with assumptions, false information and misunderstandings.

There are always two sides to a story (often more) and there are multiple truths of a situation. I am sad to see my community so divided and potentially destructive over the box-set matter. The world is tough enough for everybody in the authoring world at the minute.

Like with all the other dramas in the community, I'm keeping my mouth (almost) shut on this one and approaching it with a more positive reframe; This post is me nailing my personal (as in me and me alone) author values to the door.  BTW - I have disabled comments on this post because this is not about igniting some kind of crazy bonfire of opinions.

Over the last year, I have become increasingly aware of all kinds of ways that authors are choosing to lead their creative life and run their marketing.  Some of them have left me feeling sad and hollow over the state of our creative industry, others have been inspired and clever. It's tough times and it would be highly naive to believe that the book world was somehow spiritually protected from some of the 'evils of capitalism' (assume Orwellian scary voice for that phrase but at the same time, know that capitalism can be a  beautiful source of ethical invention and resourcefulness)

Like Midas, I have been offered all kinds of ways to increase my visibility, my reach, my sales rankings, garner titles, pay for reviews, create (buy) a 'success' story.

Seriously, dear reader, for an investment of under $15k by this time next year, I could have a USAT bestseller title (maybe even a NYT bestseller title) have a newsletters of 10s of thousands of 'engaged' readers, 50, 100, 150 x 5 star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads; I could be bumped up in forums, reading groups, book clubs, access to exclusive signings, I could have my book reviewed by some of the biggest book tubers and reviewers - you name it, anything that makes me 'look' like a success, I can buy - ANY author can buy; tempting isn't it?

And the problem is, when you know all this is on offer to be purchased, how do we, the community know what is real or ethical anymore?

There are a lot of grey, shady areas, a lot of different truths being lived, and that's okay, we all have the right to make our own choices, create our own reality, but I wanted to share with you my personal author manifesto so you know where this author stands.

• I believe in working hard; crafting, nurturing, building. I do not believe in quick fixes; I've been cursed with an over-achiever mentality. 


• I believe being an author is a professional career, and like any career, it takes years of dedication and conscientious application to truly attain knowledge, experience and aptitude. 


• I believe books and stories are sacred things, not to be played with just for the sake of market, and I also believe that authors should write whatever intrigues, interests and excites them, meaning if they want to butterfly genres, good for them.  


• I believe quality will always trump clever marketing in the long run. I believe quality demonstrates respect for your reader and the word; it ensures you can always be proud of the legacy you will leave behind. 


• I believe that uniting with other authors who share your values, who share your passion, integrity and love of the book community, will produce great opportunities and exciting works of creativity. Sharing is caring. Sharing is power. 


• I have never purchased a review, and I never will. When I 'gift' paperbacks & ebooks etc, it is always with the understanding that it will be an honest review. 


• I have never purchased perceived favour, or scale, in the form of purchased Twitter followers, Facebook Likes or newsletter subscribers. They have all been built up organically through an approach of engagement, follow back, and involvement in the book community. 


• I believe a small, engaged community of fans is gold dust. I genuinely appreciate every single person who picks up my books because there is something that has appealed to them. 


• I will never use money in a way that will dishonestly manipulate rankings on Amazon or USAT lists - I am aware there is a shady 'almost accepted' approach by all facets of the publishing world to buy back, or gift, copies of their book to influence rankings. 


• I will never buy click farm services to help the launch of one of my books. (I can barely get around to organising the pre-order function on Amazon)


• I love working with other authors, and I think it is smart to buddy up and cross promote, share each other's successes. I believe with a whole heart that somebody else's success never detracts or damages the potential for my own. I genuinely air-punch the air when I see one of my buddies reach a goal. 


• Box sets and anthologies are a really great way to introduce readers to other authors in the community who share the same approach and love of story telling - they are a great way to broaden readership and gain visibility. They are also great fun to work on. (I'm going to be in two this year with authors I have known a long time, and whom I respect; okay, they're actually my buddies and we love working together so it's a total excuse to play.)


• Personally, after looking into  and flirting with the idea of buying in to a $$$ box-set to pool marketing budgets, it's not for me - although I am sure there are many advantages and it can and is being done, with great integrity and ethics. 


• I believe it is the moral duty of the elders in the author book community to lift as they climb, to mentor, nurture and encourage newbies. 


• I am uneasy with the understanding that I could invest $2-3k of money next month and by the end of the year have a USAT or NYT bestselling author title pretty much guaranteed. I know where to go and how to do it (and there are several organisers, companies, services that provide this 'help')  Hell, I've even checked it out out of curiosity and had some pretty tearful conversations with the hubby about it - but I JUST can't do it. When I get my USAT bestselling author status it will be because I have done it all by myself with the help of my dedicated readers, for a novel I really believe in. 


• I believe everybody has the right to conduct their life and their business in whatever manner they decide, but if someone else calls out the ethics of it, it is despicable to turn around and accuse the community of bullying and jealousy - that's passive aggression on a big scale and I'm seeing too much of it of late. 


• I will always have time to help, support and encourage new authors - seriously, reach out; I've got 9 books under my belt and run a small press house, as well as being a professional editor, so feel free to ask. 

And there we have it folks. This is how this author has spent the last ten years doing her thing, and how she sees the next ten years, and hopefully lots of ten year blocks to come.

One of The World's Tiniest Book Launches in One of The World's Tiniest Cocktail Bars.

#StartSmallDreamBig

I'm heading off to UTOPiA in a month and having been nominated for a couple of awards for my book 'When Sorrows Come' and my series, 'Beautiful Freaks', I was feeling under increased pressure to find a drop-dead gorgeous evening gown (not that I need any encouragement, I love evening dresses) 

However, several weeks later and having tried on over 40 different dresses, every single one somehow wasn't right - either that or it looked pretty much the same as one of the 5 I have already hanging in my wardrobe. 

I was sat having a coffee, feeling a little deflated when I got to thinking that £200 / $300 was a hell of a lot of money for a dress I was going to wear just a handful of times. I began to think of ways that I could perhaps spend that money more wisely on attaining my life-plan. 

Coincidentally, the very next day, we stopped off at a new shop that had opened in my home town. It is the HQ office of a cocktail hamper company, founded by an interesting female entrepreneur. She wanted to create an office that was a joy to work in rather than the industrial unit office she had currently been renting. She chose one of the cute little Victorian fronted shops that had once been a florists, and now, as well as having a pretty office, she opens up the front of it as a tiny miniature cocktail bar. 

EUREKA, I would take that £200 and hold a perfectly miniature book launch party / signing. The cocktail bar will take just about 10 people - the perfect number of people as one of my very first solo signings. 

Then, life is strange; there are several other creative projects happening in my life at the minute, and for some reason, they all seem to be connecting with one another. One of these projects is working with women in the local community who have turned their back on traditional, patriarchal corporate jobs and professions to pursue their own path, create their own companies, and to sell their own services. TAP (The Academy of Possible) has recently been established, and it's a social evolution project that aims to connect women with skills with one another, so we can become cheerleaders and supporters for each other, both on a very practical sales level, and on an emotional, motivational level. 

As part of these two strands of my life, I had the idea that I would use the miniature signing in the miniature cocktail bar to make a miniature documentary on the theme of #StartSmallDreamBig, with the aim of inspiring other people to take that first step into doing something bold, social and extraordinary.

I'm not going to lie, the thought of a signing, where I will be reading, petrifies me. I'm still coming to terms with my identity as an author - which by 8 books down, I should have nailed already. And yet, there are reasons why I am 8 books down and never done a social launch party for one of my books... reasons that are complex and reasons that I know many others share. 

That's the aim of this project, to inspire folks to step outside of their comfort zones, but in a safe way - a bit like a controlled explosion, only just not with quite so much wreckage - although who knows what will happen with the added ingredient of cocktails. 

I'm being ultra brave, and fighting the fear by inviting a local journalist, the manager of a local national book store, and a high profile blogger to attend and be of the 10 guests that will be invited. I don't know if they will come, but I do know that if you don't ask, they definitely won't come. 

And if the filming is rubbish, if the reading is wobbly, if the whole thing is a little less than perfect, it doesn't matter, it will be perfectly imperfect and I will have learned a whole lot of lessons. 

Watch this space for more updates on this project, and I really look forward to hearing where you arrange your miniature signings having been inspired by this idea. 

Drop a reach out in the box <3 nbsp="" p="">

SERIAL READER.

Welcome to day 8 of the OctoberFrights Blog Hop. Today I'm talking serials and introducing you to my new dreadpunk, gothic, detective, fairy tale serial coming out in December called 'Beautiful Freaks'.

Leave a comment to be in with a chance of winning these really fab Jack earrings and a paperback copy of the orginal novel, Beautiful Freaks, which inspired the series.

I know that many of you have  fallen in love with drama series thanks to NETFLIX, HBO and FOX. And having the technology to record, store and consume episodes has made following series an even more delectable experience. I'm a series junkie too; Hannibal, American Horror Story, Game of Thrones, The Following to name a few that have captured my adoration over the last few years. There are many approaches to the consumption of serials, but whether you are a binger or a pacer, the one thing most people agree is that serials allow the viewer to really engage in a world, and to bond with the characters in a very unique fashion.

So T.V series are fab, but have you tried the same principle with your reading? I'm not talking traditional novel series, where each full length book is released at eagerly anticipated 12+
month intervals, but a weekly, Thursday downloadable episode, each of a short novella length and designed specifically to keep you on the edge of your seat as you wait for Thursday to come around again.

Whilst attending UtopYA I came across this amazing concept and curious, I became hooked. I love the whole experience of consuming an episode and then being forced to wait with anticipation for the next.

This December sees the release of my own 12 episode serial called 'Beautiful Freaks'.

BEAUTIFUL FREAKS: A 12 PART SERIAL
STARTING DECEMBER 3rd 2015 until 28th FEBRUARY 2016

PRE-ORDER YOUR DOWNLOADS NOW TO RECIEVE THEM INSTANTLY TO YOUR KINDLE OR E-READING DEVICE ON RELEASE DAY.
 

A dark and twisted saga that winds its way through the Victorian streets of London like a luxurious and lethal ribbon.

When a series of terrifying and seemingly paranormal murders occur at a rapid rate, panic and fear grip the city. Still haunted by the ghost of the Whitechapel Ripper case, Inspector Steptree is forced to admit the murderer he now pursues maybe even more wicked and brutal. As the case closes down on the mysterious No.7 club, owned by the enigmatic Evangeline Valentine, Steptree discovers that evil is far from a fantasy.

It is against this backdrop that Kaspian Blackthorne turns eighteen and begins his apprenticeship under the scientific maverick, Doctor Greyson, a pioneer in brain surgery, and human transplantation. Whilst Kaspian is introduced to the horrors and wonders of man’s scientific progress, he also begins an epic adventure of self-discovery and infatuation. Guided into the decadent and luxuriant world of the London West End night scene by his new friend Hugh Denvers, Kaspian tastes the sweet temptation of a life less ordinary, but such a privilege comes at a terrible price.

A cast of timeless characters and dark, grown-up fairy tales interweave to create a rich and haunting tale of fear and desire.

Based on the original novel, ‘Beautiful Freaks’ written and published in 2013 by Katie M John, this series is a development of that world. This is the first season of a planned three seasons.

You can find out more about this season and forthcoming seasons on the official site. www.katiemjohn.com

#Gothic #Dreadpunk #Paranormal #Demons #Fae #FairyTales #Phantoms #Vampires #Creations #Frankenstein #ParanormalRomance #Murder #Detective #Horror #SecretSocieties #CrossOver #UpperYA

 Published by Little Bird Publishing, Katie M John is the author of the U.K No.1 best-selling YA Paranormal Romance and Dark Fairy Tale series, The Knight Trilogy.

You can find out more about Katie and her books over at her Amazon Author Page

Katie's Amazon Author Page

www.katiemjohn.com

@KnightTrilogy

LINK TO EPISODE 1 & 2 Of Beautiful Freaks out on Thursday 3rd December 2015
EPISODE 1
Amazon.UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B0164JRJYU
Amazon USA http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0164JRJYU EPISODE 2
Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0164K9GKY
Amazon USA http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0164K9GKY

DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE YOUR COMMENT. RANDOM WINNER SELECTED IN THE NEXT WEEK OR SO. LEAVE YOUR TWITTER HANDLE TOO.

The Indie Author: The tethered Cash Cow?

It's now officially official, there has been a reading revolution and it has happened super quickly. In 2011 14.9 million e-readers were shipped world wide, add that to the 14.9 million of 2012 and the predicted 10.9 million expected to be shipped in 2010, we get a shed load of people who own an e-reader. (That's not counting the tens of millions who own a tablet with e-reading application)

Undoubtedly Amazon led the way in the e-Reader revolution with its Kindle e-Reader. The mega powerhouse that is the Amazon book store was suddenly portable and instantly on hand to anybody with one of their magical little devices.

When coupled with its incredibly easy to use self publishing platform the indie book revolution exploded into the world. I was fortunate to be at the right place in the right time at the end of 2010 with the release of my first indie published book.

At the time, Amazon offered writers like me the opportunity to indie publish their work and have a 'level' playing field amongst the traditionally published houses - in fact a possible advantage. Offering 70% royalties on books over £1.49 was an incredibly enticing opportunity. Some writers who were canny enough to be prophetic already with a back catalogue of 10+ books even found themselves making hundreds of thousands of pounds (and we've heard about the millionaire indies, John Locke and Amanda Hocking)

But with the e-Reader thing going bonkers and the self-publishing world changing every turn of the Atlantic clock, the bubbles of optimism were sure to burst. And so they have...

The impact of the $0.99c Price wars: And the real winner is...

Firstly nobody really understood or thought that the price wars would impact on indie works so much. Humbled by their legacy-reputation of vanity publishing, indies soon realised that in order to gain a readership they would have to lower the price (and value? of their book) to $0.99 / £0.79p. I resisted for a long time, not because I believe readers should be milked for every cent, but because I knew that the $0.99c route was a very perilous one indeed. In the end market forces forced the decision on me and I lowered the price of my first book to $0.99c. It was a gamble that paid off in lots of ways but Amazon was quickly becoming Saturnine; yes, you can lower your book to $0.99c but you will only get 30% royalty.

There are now hundreds of thousands of $0.99c books on Amazon, and that is a lot of $0.70c profits filling up their coffers.

I am yet to understand why there is this difference in % royalties other than Amazon knowing that they are on to a very, very good thing and the indie writer is now nothing more than a domesticated cash-cow: Tethered fast by the KDP select program which insists on exclusivity to take part.  Goodness knows why (other than it being an overt attempt to monopolise the book selling world)

KDP Select & The dangers of all your eggs in one basket: 

In principle this is an excellent facility. When it first came out I jumped at it and had several very successful promotions. However it was early days for The Knight Trilogy, and at that time I was happy to be 'exclusively' on Amazon. But as time has gone on and I've had my docs specially formatted for Smashwords premium catalogue (allowing me access to iTunes / iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Nook and Kobo platforms, establishing profiles on each of them) I am reluctant now to pull The Knight Trilogy out of those for the sake of being able to freely give away a couple of thousand copies on Amazon.

 I'm increasingly wary about putting all my eggs in one proverbial basket - especially with a predicted fall in e-Reader sales (predicted to be as low as 8 million in 2014) as Apple, Samsung and Android tablets come storming up the market. (For more information on these market trends head over to http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Tablets-Surge-Ereaders-Struggle/1009555 )

I opted out of the KDP select program for this very reason about 12 months ago in order that I could investigate other platforms - unfortunately, such is Amazon's hold on the worldwide market that sales on sites such as Smashwords and e-zreader are very minimal.

How to make a living on Amazon: Series and coming to an agreement with your readers

I'm lucky that the genre and audience I write for lends itself towards series, which means I can afford to have my first book on at 0.99c and then have the rest of the series on at a more realistic living price. (Point of note: I have a 88% follow through on readership, with readers happy to pay £1.49 - £2.49 for books in the rest of the series.)

Interestingly though the readership thing is complex and despite having an 88% 'loyalty' for The Knight Trilogy, my stand alone novel 'Beautiful Freaks' has really struggled and I am probably going to have to lower that to $0.99 for a time (Gut galling as it is by far a more technically accomplished book and a gorgeous story - it's the favourite of all I have written)

I love writing, I love story telling even more. I want to spend my life writing books but I need to be able to pay my mortgage and put shoes on my children's feet. So I'm going to marry my love of writing with my business head; I am writing a 7 book series - and no I'm not compromising on quality. It took me four years to write the Knight Trilogy. I am planning on writing and publishing book 1-2 of The Meadowsweet Chronicles this year. I couldn't have done this four years ago (or before completing NaNoWriMo or investing in Scrivener) but I am more skilled, a stronger writer, wiser about what my readers want from a book. My readers want beautifully, passionately, honestly told stories that let them escape. They do not want the wordsmithery of Umberto Eco or the almost too clever genius of Will Self that leaves them feeling intellectually unworthy. My readers are clever, astute, savvy and will not take any messing - they know what they like and they have high expectations: I strive to meet them. My love of writing and their love of reading will make us a happy bunch.

From the business point of view, the books will be lower priced at the beginning of the series (after all my readers are taking a gamble with their hard earned cash) and then we will come to a compromise whereby the reader acknowledges my need to eat and their need to read on. However, I will never screw my readers over by whacking them with a $24.00 price tag for one of my new releases! (They'll stay below the $3.99 tag)

N.B Bundles: You can see from the image that another way around the 30% royalty issue is to bundle all your books into one and then charge $3.00  for the complete bundle. This way your reader is still paying the golden 0.99c a book but the writer is getting 70% royalty. It's swings and roundabouts - you lose the potential of a higher gain by readers going onto buy 2-3 at a higher price but you capture a 70% royalty outlay from the start. A few of these a month really boosts your royalty account.

How to bite back the hand that feeds: Refuse to play Amazon ball.

There is no denying that as an indie, I NEED Amazon and apart from their blatant exploitation of my vulnerable position as an indie, they serve me very well. Over 90% of my sales come from Amazon and it is because of them that I have bread on my table (I could afford wine to go with it if they cut me a 70% royalty on 0.99c!)

But there are ways that we could change things and one of these is promoting more of our work with the Smashwords links. Smashwords is a 'hidden' shop. Authors and those in the writing community are mostly aware of it and it has become very much the place where authors buy their own reading material. Smashwords offers a set royalty of 70% regardless of list price. It also allows the author to run coupons, giveaways etc without the demands of exclusivity.

Smashwords gives readers the choice of their download format - catering for almost every form of e-Reader and tablet device. Just because a reader has a Kindle it doesn't mean they are trapped into buying their works from Amazon - we can chip away at their sales monopoly. Readers can hop over to Smashwords, fill their Kindle with $0.99c books and know that the writer is getting a fair deal - a living wage.

Call to arms: 

• When tweeting links to your books alternate them between the Amazon page and the Smashwords page. 
• Write a blog post explaining to readers the buying options they have and how you are striving for a better deal for writers. 
• Refuse to put all your books on Amazon at $0.99 and help to push the 'norm' back to $1.49 and a 70% royalty agreement
• Love Amazon for all they do for us but don't let it be unconditional. Run your giveaways through Smashwords and spread your book across various platforms (Beware the falling e-Reader sales) 

USEFUL LINKS:

SMASHWORDS PAGE: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/katiemjohn 

e-READER ARTICLE at emarketer.com http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Tablets-Surge-Ereaders-Struggle/1009555

Added at 3.39 Saturday 23rd Feb: 

As I said in the post, things change so rapidly and here is living proof over at Publishers' Weekly

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/content-and-e-books/article/56042-indie-booksellers-sue-amazon-big-six-over-e-book-drm.html 

It seems that it isn't only authors that are feeling the tethered effect of the Amazon powerhouse. Several independent booksellers are suing publishers over DRM and the monopolisation of the e-book market by Amazon.

 “Consequently,” the complaint states, “the vast majority of readers who wish to read an e-book published by the Big Six will purchase the e-book from Amazon.”