Frequently Asked Questions:
Here are some of the questions I’ve been getting about the Kickstarter and Murder of Crows. I’m thrilled by the number of questions and the interest people have in the project. Keep ‘em coming! You’ve got a question? I’ve got an answer and I’ll keep adding to the list.
Q: If publishing a book on Amazon is so cheap, why are you raising publication funds on Kickstarter?
A: Good question! I’m glad I got a chance to answer this one.
It’s true that anyone can write a book or document and upload it to Kindle Direct Publishing on Amazon for little to nothing in upfront cost. “Publishing” a book is actually quite affordable.
But “Producing” a book, and not just any book but a book with quality polish and industry standard expectations requires professional editing, packaging, formatting and marketing.
While the Kickstarter says I’m raising publication funds, it could be more accurately called production funds for a professional-looking publication package. I’ve broken down on the Kickstarter page where the funds will be distributed.
With the explosion of digital publishing, it’s more important than ever to provide a well formulated, polished product for the readers/clients. It’s a matter of trust and expectation that as an Indie Author I still hold myself to the high standard of storytelling with as much grace as possible. This means offering a book that is as free of errors, typos, grammatical mistakes and plot holes as possible. It is my desire to do the story justice and reward reader trust by raising Kickstarter funds to produce a publication that can stand on its own beside other professionally produced products.
On an aside: I am thrilled to live in a day and age wherein an Indie Author can still get their book to market without passing through the “gate keepers” or the eye of the needle. That being said, there is no excuse to disregard the process and craft of storytelling, or polishing a product to its best possible condition before releasing it into the world. Because Indie stories are sweeping the publishing world by storm, Indie Producer/Authors/Publishers have an even more important task of proving that we can provide high-quality content and maintain professionalism for the craft.
We cannot afford, in this critical juncture of Indie Publishing, to lose the faith and trust of readers who are willing to risk purchasing an indie book. The fastest way to lose reader trust it to publish an “unfinished book” as in incomplete development of the story/characters, frequent typos or mistakes, choppy line edits, poor storytelling in general. Furthermore, one blatant mistake I’ve seen in the indie publishing world is “story spamming” and abuse of the self-promotional marketing.
Because of all these reasons and more, I am raising funds to do a proper production and release of a book that could be pulled off a shelf in the bookstore and no one would know it wasn’t created by a huge team of expensive corporate Big Six publishing professionals.
Q: Who did your cover and can I buy a poster?
A: The brilliant cover was created by A.M. Sartor. We are still talking about posters, but if that becomes an option I will certainly update that information in a hurry!
Q: Why do you only have one name?
A: See this post.
Q: Is Murder of Crows a stand-alone novel?
A: No. Murder of Crows is the first book in the series, The Pillars of Dawn. I’ve arced the series, outlined the books and written the final climax. Murder of Crows was in fact too long for a debut novel and by industry publishing standards I knew it would not get picked up unless I broke the first book in half.
Q: Who is your demographic?
A: My original target demographic is 18-48 year old women. However, during the Beta-reader phase the results showed that men between the ages of 25 and 40 (and a 70 year old man) enjoyed the novel, “for the action elements, world development, dragons and swords.” Furthermore, my female Beta-readers included a 14 year old girl and several women in their 50’s. All of whom provided high marks and useful feedback despite not being in the parameters of the original target base.
Therefore the short answer to the demographic question is – I aimed for a specific demographic and ended up with quite a lot of overlap. Honestly, the wide range of Beta-reader acceptance left me somewhat surprised, pleased and no longer certain about my intended audience. Which leaves the conclusion – my demographic is now men and women who enjoy fantasy, romance, swords and sorcery, dragons and adventure with some adult sexual content.
Q: When will the second book in the series be available?
A: That’s a fantastic question! My aim is to release the second book within a year of Murder of Crows. I understand it’s a bit of a wait, but I hope it will be worth it as it’s longer, more action packed and complex.
Even though the second book is a year away, I am also setting up short stories about the world, backstories and histories of Aria and even recipes for download off the website. This will allow fans and readers to stay in touch with the world, the character and even some of the plot elements between release dates in the series.
Q: When will the website be up?
A: Hopefully no later than May 2012.
Q: Will you try to make a movie or TV series out of these books?
A: It is a question I’ve considered from the very beginning of the series development. In fact, I was simultaneously writing the script while writing the novel in an effort to keep track of which elements and threads would need to be captured and show in the limited window of a two hour film.
I will consider all legitimate offers for Option Rights to the series.
Q: Do you have an agent?
A: No. I am currently only interested in representation for foreign or subsidiary rights.
Q: Did you try to publish through the traditional routes?
A: Yes. I tried my hand at the usual publishing channels without success.
Q: Why not use your old publisher?
A: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. does not publish fiction.
Q: How many rejections did you get?
A: 73
Q: Which authors inspired your work?
A: Wow. All of them. But for Murder of Crows in particular, my inspirations were; Jacqueline Carey, Laurell K. Hamilton, Sara Douglass, Robin Hobb, Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, Ann McCaffery, Melanie Rawn, George R.R. Martin and David Eddings.
I’m loving these questions, folks! Keep ‘em coming!!
One Comment(+Add)
Much of what Athena says here about her publishing journey rakes over old coals, from my viewpoint. Been there, looked at how the world changed, decided to self-publish. I’m in the choir, listening to Athena as she preaches.
We’re sitting in a very broad church. My approach is slightly different. The end product – fiction – is the same. I, too, had an idea for a story that couldn’t be told in a single volume. Those familiar with my comments on writing understand that I already know how the story ends. Like Athena, I thought of the wait between volumes.
The more books there are, the more complex some of those plotting strands become. So it is important to get it right. Do you want it today, or do you want it done right? I hope the audience will wait, and see it done right.
Athena’s bang-on the money when it comes to short stories. I’ve also given thought to producing short stories set in the world of the series. Keeping that in mind, I opened my blog with a story written to entice readers through the doorway of my fictional world.
At the time, I was just over six weeks away from publishing. I intend to write a collection of tales to keep the fire going while I plot and plan that series in the chaotic depths of my office. And I’m also publishing other, unrelated, rejected books on Amazon. (See my blog, REPORT FROM A FUGITIVE, for a post on rejection. It’s a four-letter word.)
Where Athena and I differ is in the funding. My major publishing cost was postage, to send Uncle Sam a copy of my non-US passport – proving to the Embassy that I was not an American citizen. (That’s a tax matter.) I’d created a mock-cover and blurb back when I was chasing a paper publishing deal. In the end, I used what I’d created.
There’s my Amazon cover. Here’s the product description. Job done. I wrote, edited, and formatted the book myself. Based on a rejected novel that I’d already edited quite thoroughly back in the day. I sought to kill glitches and typos. Stone. Cold. Dead.
This DIY approach kept publishing costs down. It also made me responsible. At least I know who to blame, for any mistakes. In publishing electronically on Amazon, it is very easy to correct mistakes. So fear of getting it wrong shouldn’t hold anyone back. That is not, of course, an excuse to be lazy.
If you want to self-publish a book, learn as much as you can. Have plans. Make business decisions. Do you go all home-brew, as I did? Or take a hybrid approach and farm out some of the legwork, as Athena decided? Both approaches are valid. There are other ways of doing things. As those of you reading this, deciding to write books, will discover…
I’ll end with three questions for authors. Have you read © law? Do you make use of public library facilities? Have you helped another author this year? Try your best to answer all three questions in a positive manner.