Update on Tales & Lives of the Vietnam War

The nonfiction story I've been working on for the past few years has been Tales & Lives of the Vietnam War.  By "working on" I mean gathering stories as I tell people I'm working on it when in fact I keep putting it off.  I finally decided on Veteran's Day last year that I couldn't put this off anymore.  So I started actually pecking away at it.

To be honest, it's very difficult to get through.  The subject matter is obviously depressing, but it's also been depressing for me ever since Two Gun didn't do very well.  If that was a subject that didn't catch people's attention, I don't see why this one should.  From everything I've seen, people want to bury this part of history and never hear about it again.

But hearing these stories, I can't help but realize how important it is for people to hear them.  So I push on.

So far I've finished Lance Block's story and Wally Turner's.  This was the story of an infantryman and a priest.  I've started on the next ones and am expecting to speed up a bit.  I want to have it done by Memorial Day

Using a Mailing List

As time has gone by I’ve been hearing more and more how important a mailing list is.  I disregarded its importance as I felt that emailing people was more of a nuisance to both me and the people I’d be emailing, and I didn’t see how it would be effective.  I figured that if someone was interested enough to give me their email address, they were already looking at my work, and they didn’t need me to bother them with reminders about it.

            However, I heard about mailing lists being important enough that I finally looked into it, and I began to see the value.  First, it’s really only helpful if you are regularly coming out with material.  So if you have a mailing list for you as a writer, then you need to regularly be coming out with books or other written materials.  If the mailing list is about a series, then you need to be regularly coming out with written materials for that series.

            The problem with the former is that your list will likely be made up of people who became interested in your writing because of one specific book.  So you’re going to need to stay within that genre in order to keep their interest.  If your newsletters become about a subject they’re not interested in, they’ll unsubscribe, even if you’re just taking a short break from that type of writing.

            So it’s best to focus on a particular series and collect names and addresses of people who want to follow along.  For me, that’s been Relic Worlds because not only is it a series, but it’s a series with a lot of ancillary elements.  There are short stories, games, a comic book, etc.  There’s something to talk about every month, and more material to release, so the newsletters have material and aren’t just empty ramblings of me saying, “something more is coming sometime, I promise!”

            I’ve found that there are two methods to build the mailing list that work the best, conventions and giveaways.  At conventions, you’re trying to get people to look at your books, but they’re not sure whether they’re ready to commit to buying or even reading them yet.  So a mailing list is a good way to get a taste without a commitment.  It’s also a way to remind them that you exist, as opposed to a flyer which will likely get thrown away once they’re home, no matter how interested they are in your product.

            Giveaways are the way to do it from home.  You need to get a prize people will want, and it’s a great idea to get something that matches what you’re selling.  In my case, I gave away a Kindle Fire and I included one of the Relic Worlds books.  That way they not only get a prize they want, they also have a means for which to read my books, and a starter.  But the real prize for me was all the email addresses that people had to give in order to enter the raffle.

            Now, I don’t want lists of people who won’t be interested in my series.  That wastes everyone’s time.  Even once I have their email addresses, when I send them a newsletter, they’ll just unsubscribe because they’re not interested.  Or, worse yet, they won’t unsubscribe and I’ll continue to send them information that’s useless to both them and me.  So I promote it on sites where I think my readership will go, and I make sure keywords are always included that have scifi, adventure, books, etc.

            I use Shortstack as my sweepstakes provider.  They help collect all the email addresses, and provide a means by which to make a good looking sweepstakes page.  I might switch this out as I wasn’t extremely impressed with their service considering the cost.  But it wasn’t bad.  They’re at: http://www.shortstack.com/

            I use Mailchimp to create and send the newsletters.  They’ve been fantastic.  They’re at: http://mailchimp.com/

An Open Letter to The Colbert Report

I've always been a very large fan of The Colbert Report.  I typically watch the previous night's episode each morning while I eat breakfast.  (I make breakfast while watching The Daily Show.)  I always think Colbert has fantastic insights into things, but last week, I feel he got it wrong.  I explain why in this open letter to his show.  I doubt they'll ever read it; that's part of the hypocrisy I'm talking about, but I hope others will, and eventually this will change.

An Open Letter to The Colbert Report:

I never thought it would be possible for me to be angry with Colbert and his staff until I saw this episode.  I am normally a HUGE fan of Colbert.  I literally watch it every morning on the internet while I eat my breakfast, and I repost a lot of videos for others to see.  But this is one time I have to cry both “bullshit” and “hypocrisy” to the Colbert Report.

I am an author who has been using Amazon to independently publish my books.  I chose to do this because the agents and publishers I approached were typically interested in the bottom line; how much money they could make, and they barely considered the quality of the material.  They acted like the very idea of integrity was a naïve and childish ideal, and were only looking to maximize their profits.

For example, I have a book right now that I pitched to publishers, and they told me I couldn’t submit to them, I had to go through an agent.  When I went to the agents, I was told by many of them that they didn’t want it because it’s the true story of an Italian American who was a hero on the side of the law, and only stories about Italian Americans as criminals will sell in large numbers.  They even admitted that this story would sell, just not enough to make them the profits they wanted.  These agents offered me the chance to write about criminal Italian Americans, but I refused.  One non-fiction book of mine actually was with a publisher and the editor asked me to change the facts to make it more exciting and dynamic.  When I refused, I was dropped from the company.  The excuse in all of these cases is that it’s strictly a business concerned only with making money.

As such, I’ve been independently publishing so as to make better books, and they have been reviewed almost entirely with 4 and 5 stars.  They are also about subjects that are interesting to readers, such as the largest bank robbery in history, and the story which caused Stephen King to become a horror writer.  However, despite all this, shows such as The Colbert Report will not even consider having me on as a guest.  Their reason is because they have a policy against bringing guests who are “self-published.”  This is very disappointing, as it would help me, and many other first time and independent authors greatly.  But business is business, I suppose.

Now Stephen and his staff are experiencing something similar as their book is being blocked on Amazon.  Welcome to our world, Stephen.  It sucks when you’re trying real hard and a company that could help you out a great deal creates a policy that blocks you out, doesn’t it?  He, the staff, and his publisher want us to feel sorry for them, and get mad at Amazon for singling them out.  I might have some sympathy for them if they didn’t have similar policies in place that block independent authors from getting out their messages.  Amazon is trying to maximize their profits, just like the publishers, just like the agents, just like The Colbert Report.  Business is business.  If they want to criticize Amazon for that, then they need to stop doing exactly the same thing.

What really made me mad here is when he tried to pretend it wasn’t for best sellers like him and JK Rowling, but rather for the little guy, the authors just starting out with their first books.  It’s one thing to say you’re angry that you’re blocked by Amazon, Stephen and company, but don’t invoke the names of us struggling authors.  If you want to help us, remove the policy that blocks independent authors from coming on your show and make decisions based on quality rather than just who we know, and how much we’re willing to sell out.

I realize that this opens a sort of flood gate to a huge number of authors, probably more than your staff could handle; so what I would recommend is that you allow authors to send in a one paragraph, or even perhaps one sentence description of their books from which to make a list, then have an employee go through that list to find appropriate guests.

As it currently stands, your criticism of Amazon, while partially valid, is extremely hypocritical.  And it’s wrong to say it’s for us when it’s really for you.  Even if I support you on this crusade of yours, tomorrow my books will still be sold on Amazon, (who has been supportive of me and other independent authors all along,) and you still won’t even consider me as a guest on your show.

It’s very clear who’s really supporting independent authors, and those who are just getting started.

I want to close by reiterating that I love The Colbert Report, even knowing they refuse to consider having me or any independent author on the show.  I will continue to watch, and I will follow when he goes to CBS.  I hope his staff will go, too.  Even though I resent their policy of blocking independent authors, they create some of the best content on television and the web, and the show is one of the best sounding boards for reason and sanity in our country.  I hope that they will reconsider their policies on who can and cannot be considered to be guests, but in the meantime, I will continue to be a fan.

I’m just not going to take part in this very hypocritical stand they’re currently making.

Releasing to Multiple E-Readers

Today was spent releasing my book The Great Heist to all the e-readers (in addition to Kindle, in which it was already available.)  I was intending for this pots to be the announcement that it's available on all these readers, but I had forgotten what a bureaucratic mess it all is, and how long it takes for the book to become available on the other sites.

First, I should explain the top places to release your e-book.  They are:

Kindle

Smashwords

Google Play

Goodreads

Drivethru Fiction

Scribd

I have placed them in the order in which I do them based on a delicate balance of value for you vs. how much of a headache they are.  Below I list each one and how I feel about them.

Kindle is the number one spot for independent writers/publishers.  It just is.  There are other places with a great independent spirit, like Smashwords, but the simple fact is that Kindle makes it easiest for independent writers/publishers, and they help promote them the most.  By placing our books in Amazon alongside larger publishers' books, we get the same respect and potential sales as anyone else.  Amazon also recommends our e-books when someone buys something similar.  But most important to this particular blog post, the publishing process is easy.  First of all, it's a very streamlined process.  The amount you need to do to prepare your document is rather minimal, and when you upload it, their program will help fix little problems you may have, and you can check it right away, seeing how it looks on various readers immediately.  And if there are any problems, you can call them and they'll actually talk to you!  Many other distributors complain about Kindle having unfair competitive policies, but there's a reason they're ahead, and rather than complain about them, other e-readers and distribution channels should learn from Kindle and maybe do what they do.  It's for these reasons that I typically start my books on the KDP Select exclusive deal with Kindle for the first 90 days before making it available on other readers.  I'd love to open up to the other sites right away, but Kindle is just simply the most supportive and easiest to deal with.

Smashwords is the second place to go.  And in some ways, one could go with just being on Kindle and Smashwords and be fine.  When you publish something through Smashwords, it goes out to just about everyone except Kindle, so everyone you want to carry the book has it.  It's run by Mark Coker, probably the largest supporter of independent books.  It's because he's so supportive of independent artists that I want to go to Smashwords first, but in order to upload to them, a publisher has to go through a whole bureaucratic process that's extremely complicated and frustrating.  The good news is that when you finally get it right, it's formatted for a whole bunch of different readers, so you only have to do it once.  This is true, and it's nice to not have to do it multiple times, but by the time you prepare this one file,  you'll feel like you've done it a bunch of times.  Smashwords provides a guide to help you prepare your document... that's literally more than a hundred pages long.  And if you get lost, there's no one to call; just a note that tells you that it's wrong after you upload it.  You can't even preview it to see what it looks like and where the problem is exactly.  The excuse for this is simply that it's publishing, and therefore complicated.  I would accept that if it wasn't for the fact that Kindle is so easy to publish onto.  I don't blame Coker or the team at Smashwords.  I think they're doing their best to make it easy on us.  I think it's the fault of the companies it gets distributed to, like Barnes & Noble, Sony, etc.; these companies that complain about Amazon having unfair business practices rather than learning from them and improving their services.

Google Play is fast becoming an important distribution platform, particularly because of the Android tablets they sell to.  Also, the way Google is growing, it's got its fingers in many areas.  Personally, I like the convenience.  I know some people feel like it intrudes on their personal lives, but I really like the way I can connect all my various projects and jump between them with ease.  I can have a book trailer on Youtube that connects to these blogs which connect to my calendar which connect to my email, etc.  And now my books can be part of this mix.  The biggest problem has been a very poorly organized site with which to upload the books.  Every single time I used the system I had problems.  Links were broken, instructions were incorrect, it was a mess.  Worst of all, they had no phone number to call for help.  I could email and maybe get a response sometime that week, but that's all.  I often begged the people to give me some phone number because the issues were usually easily solvable in less than a minute over the phone, but they took more than a month by email.  I write all this in past tense, however, as they seem to be solving their problems now.  Let's hope it gets better... and that they start to have phone support!

Goodreads is of course the place where people generally go to talk about books, but they now have an option to purchase e-books directly on their site.  This is a great thing, as the majority of people on there are book fans.  If they can instantly purchase books they've been recommended, so much the better.  The problem with this is that these services are just being implemented, and it needs vast improvement to work properly.  Like Google Play, there's no phone service, and issues that could be resolved in minutes take over a month.

Drivethru Fiction is a personal favorite of mine, but the number of people who know about it is limited.  It's nice because it's connected to several other game and comic book sites, so it attracts a lot of fantasy and sci fi fans.  What's wonderful for writers is that they have a great method of advertising.  Every month you get a certain number of points you can use to advertise.  You can get more points by doing various activities that help the community, such as reviewing other people's work.  Also, don't let the name fool you.  Just because it says "fiction" doesn't mean you can't sell non-fiction on it.

Scribd hardly needs mentioning if you do Smashwords.  It's supposed to already be distributed there if you go through Smashwords.  However, I haven't noticed many sales through Scribd when I went through Smashwords, but I have seen sales when I put things on directly, so I always upload here separately.  Scribd is a great place to get noticed.  Every time I upload I instantly get dozens of reads.  I usually have 10 to 20 before I switch from the uploading screen to the reading screen.  It seems to be the perfect place to get people to notice you so they then start purchasing.  Plus, it's easy to upload!  No bureaucratic nonsense!  Google, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Goodreads, these guys could learn a few things from Scribd and Drivethru Fiction.

Social Media and Building a Platform

I'll be honest with you, I hate dealing with social media in regards to my business.  I would far rather be writing, completing a book or beginning a new one.  After all, it's the product I want people to see, not my online persona.

But alas, I must build my platform through an online presence in order for my books to have any chance to be noticed.  Connecting through social media goes far further today than advertisements, especially in the book world.  And so I set about having an online presence on several networks.  At first it was chaotic and scattered.  I did it when I could, but in doing this I would put it off, forget to do it, or do something that was half-assed.  I often entered conversations and disappeared from them.

I had to make a plan that would be effective.  The biggest obstacle for me is the way I work.  I'm the sort of person who can sit down and concentrate on one project for hours and hours.  If I stop, getting back into it takes a huge amount of time and makes the process very inefficient.  So I finally settled on one day a week in which I would work on social media, Sunday.  I created a list and go down it.  The most important things are at the top, and the priority list drops the further you go down the list.  It's too long a list for right now.  Perhaps I'll put it up another day.  But here's the gist of it:

Blogger:  I write the blog.  Today, it's this one.  I do this first because it has to be kept up each week.  I then put the link to the blog on the connected Google + page, the Twitter feed, and a Facebook group I created called Bandwagon Books.  I also place it on my Goodreads blog, and occasionally try to put it on Reddit.

Scan social media networks:  I then go through my various social media networks to see what everyone else is talking about, and I respond to them.  It's important to not always be about yourself, so I go in and find things people are talking about and only talk about them, not about myself.  If they're interested in me, they'll come check me out.

Update projects:  I then go into each major project and upkeep the social media and websites for them.  This includes blog posts, connections I've made, and groups I've joined.

Lately, I've discovered one major flaw.  I've been doing this all under Bandwagon Books.  The reason I did this was to keep my business separate from my personal life and other projects.  I wanted to keep my own name free to post about various things.  However, it's recently become clear that people are looking up authors when they like their work.  They're not going to look up Bandwagon Books so much as they're going to look up Jeff McArthur.

Therefore, I'm going to have to post as myself.  I don't want to drop this blog nor anything associated with Bandwagon Books because I think it's a good way to make a distinction that I'm writing about publishing.  So what I'm going to do instead is do the same blog as myself and as Bandwagon Books.  That way I'm posting in both places without overworking myself.  (Spreading myself more thin is the last thing I need.)  So if you see this blog post up twice, it's because I'm putting it in both places.  Every now and then I'm sure I'll have separate things to post, but most of the time, it's up there both times so one can find me either as an independent publisher or as an author.

I'll probably be connecting with people more as myself, too, but I haven't figured that one out completely yet.  Bandwagon Books sounds more like an authority figure, and you know what it's about just by its title.  However, it's good to get my name out there.  So that might wind up being double the work.  I'll let you know how it goes.