New Approaches

First, if you haven't read my post on how to best support your favorite independent author, do so now.  Then go support them as best you can.  I'll wait.

OK, thanks.  They'll appreciate it (BTW, the advice will also work for new/lesser known authors with mainstream publishers, too.

So what's happening in the writing world of T. Allan Bishop lately?  Well, the muse story stepped back and hasn't cried out for more to be written lately, so I have it set slightly aside.  The zombie story has reshaped itself, and I've written several sections for it over the past week.  It looks now like it'll be formed mostly of "newspaper articles," "police report" excerpts, "medical and lab report" excerpts, personal letters, etc.  I don't know if that will be just one section that talks about the outbreak and part II might change POV to be first or third person yet or not.  the story hasn't revealed details from that far ahead yet.  I do know that some of the personal notes will be from at least one zombie.  I know that this isn't the first time an approach like this has been used (Stephen King's Carrie comes to mind), but it's a new approach for me.

The Josef Mengele vampire story has been popping into my head a little lately, too.  So, it might just turn out that I start juggling stories based on which one is yelling at me the loudest that day.

I got tired of having to constantly reboot my phone, have apps stop responding, the previously awesome battery life suddenly being non-existent, and the phone not even give me the option to answer it.  I was planning on buying it later this summer when I hoped a sale would be happening (though it was going to be painful waiting that long when it was basically a paper weight).  When I did a search for rumored sales of the phone I had decided I wanted, I found that it was $130 cheaper from Amazon than from Verizon, so I went ahead and got it and will be putting the money I was going to be setting aside for it to the credit card bill to pay for it.  We'll keep the Amazon route in mind when we go to upgrade Candice's phone eventually, too.  If it saves us $$, why not?

I got the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.  The primary reason was because I have large clumsy fingers and figured (correctly) that it would be easier for me to type, etc on it.  The secondary reasons was that it has handwriting recognition and I figured that could help me as a writer, and that it has good battery life.  It turns out the handwriting recognition is AMAZING (but slow).  It recognized my handwriting even when I wrote in my crappiest form and EVEN when I wrote in cursive.  I have to write a little slower to get the handwriting recognition to work and convert to typed text, but I'll be able to use it when waiting in waiting rooms, or lying in bed and getting inspired, etc.  So, as a writer, this is the first time that writing using technology has excited me instead of simply handwriting on paper with a pencil, this is another new approach for me to writing.  Granted, when I really get in the groove, I will still probably use a pad and pencil for now, but eventually this might be the way I go.  (This phone will also allow me to change the battery if/when this one starts to die, too).

That's all I have for this post.  Thanks for reading.

How To Best Support Your Favorite Independent Author (or Artist)

Independent authors are changing the way the publishing world works.  You'll often find their books published for much less than mainstream publishing books electronically for e-readers like the Kindle, Nook, iPad, tablets, etc.  Some even release a book for free in hopes that people will like it and will purchase their other books.

When you discover one of these authors, there are some things you can do to make them more successful.  This has already happened to some, who have been picked up by larger publishers for better distribution.  Here's a small list that isn't all-inclusive:

1.  The obvious:  Buy their books.

2.  The next obvious:  Tell your friends and family.

3.  The not-so-obvious:  Write a review of their book.  This is perhaps the most important thing you can do, because it will reach so many more people and surveys have shown that at twice as many of "first time" book purchases for a new author are based more on reviews than by recommendations from friends or family.

4.  Corollary to #3:  Review the book on other sites where you can.  This includes other venues where it can be bought as well as sites like Goodreads and Shelfari.

5:  Important corollary to numbers 3 and 4:  Do not write a review that will make the book sound better than it really is.  Write an HONEST review of it.  If it is 4 stars, don't give it 5 just because you've liked their other works or know them and want them to be more successful.  Write it honestly and include enough details to help someone else decide if they, too, might like to read it (but not so much you reveal the story).

6.  If they have a web page, share it on social media for them.

7.  If they have a social media presence, follow them. But it isn't enough to just follow them.  You also need to share, click like, +1, etc. their posts.  Facebook for instance, inhibits small businesses and independent authors and artists from being seen by their core audience and followers with their algorithm to show "what is important" by only selecting random posts from a site you've clicked "like" on.  The more posts from that page gets shared and/or liked, the more of their posts that will show to people that have already clicked "like" on their page (and the more likely they can then click "like" or "share").

8.  Corollary to #7:  go to their page just in case you didn't get to see some of their posts.

9.  Encourage them.  Post something to their page letting them know you anxiously await their next book, but don't be too pushy.  Artists and Authors like encouragement, but not so much pressure to complete something.

10.  Repeat.

That's all for this week's blog.  Thanks for reading.

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Fonts Can Be A Hassle

Since Forbidden Knowledge has Macedonian, Chinese, and Arabic Text in it, I searched for a way to get them to all show up without having to mess with a whole lot of fonts that might not be in some handheld readers.  I found that Arial Unicode MS was available on most.  But after reading some more, I'm finding that many of them don't support displaying the extra characters needed to show those languages.  Which of course means that I will have to change the story some if I plan to publish it in At The Turn Of Midnight (the tentative title of book number two).  I'm torn between rewriting the parts to just mention the various languages used on the book cover, or making a picture that I include that shows them similarly to how I show them in the text of the story.  Feedback would be appreciated.  Would the pictures (there would be two, slightly different) distract from the story or enhance it? One would look similar to the one I've included on a few other blog posts and also include here below:

The muse story has grown some more, and parts of the beginning have been re-written to fit the way the story seems to be headed.  

Also, in my self-editing phase, I've written about 300 more words to Cat's Eye View, which is about how a cat sees the world it lives in.  I've also made some changes to The Journey, which is a sort of surreal story of a man's journey through the cosmos.  Tomorrow I hope to either write some more towards one of my ongoing short stories I'm working on, or to do some more editing on the stories from Dark Stories For A Restless Night.

That's all for this blog.  Thanks for reading, and come back soon.  I plan to write a blog on how you can best help support your favorite independent author (hint:  it's a lot more than just buying their books)

Pricing For Dark Stories For A Restless Night

I was reading The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success from Smashwords today since the words weren't flowing when I had a chance to write, and it looks like my pricing might be wrong.  In it, it discusses sales at various price ranges.  $.01-$.99 had a sales ratio of 5.9x, $1-$1.99 was 3.2x, $2-$2.99 was 6.22x, $6-$6.99 was 2.2x, and $10+ was 1x.  For some reason, in two different years of doing the analysis, having a sale price between a dollar and $1.99 was kind of a black hole for sales.  With that in mind, I plan to now price it at $0.99.  That should get it out to quite a bit more readers.

On another writing note, I did write more for the muse story the other night, though I think the second section that I wrote belongs at the beginning.  It's also shaping up to be a frightening story for artist types.  We'll see if my muse strikes some more later this week.

That's all I have for this entry, thanks for reading!

Muses?

Yesterday I got an image in my head of a painting.  It involved a muse and a painter, though the muse is not the classic simple inspiration type from literature references..  It persisted, and I wrote a small scene describing it last night.  It doesn't fit into any of my current story ideas, but it might end up being a story idea of its own.

I haven't had any story speak to me since finishing Forbidden Knowledge, so hopefully this is a sign that the stories will start to flow again soon.

I finally got the license plate sticker put on yesterday, also.  I had to scrape off ten years' worth of previous stickers first, but it's done now.

I also cut the baseboard for Candice's witch cottage dollhouse.  I think we're getting to a point where I'm supposed to help put it together and/or start wiring it soon, but I'm not sure.  Candice also got inspired to do some clay work last night making miniature wedding cakes with "sugar skulls" on them.  Since sugar skulls are normally 1:12 scale, she's making them in 1:144 scale, which is apparently pretty frustrating.

I think today might be a lazy day with maybe a little bit of inspiration thrown in if I'm lucky.  That's all for this blog, thanks for reading.

Forbidden Knowledge Finished!

Not all books should be opened.  Not all knowledge should be gained.  I know this now, but I’d have considered those words blasphemous for a librarian to utter even a few days ago.

Back then, I ravenously fed on all knowledge and reading.  I cherished any ancient text that my hungry brain could come across.  To me, there was no concept even of forbidden knowledge.

But now I know better.  Now I know that some knowledge should not be obtained.

That is the teaser for my short story Forbidden Knowledge that I just finished the draft of last night.  The story is 4400 words and will probably be in the second book which I plan to name At The Turn Of Midnight.  I'm still not sure which if any of my other story ideas will reveal their words to me next, so we'll wait to see on that.  But I do know that if I don't get the editing and cover design done soon, I'll lose my motivation to publish it, so I'm probably going to make that my focus.

I need to figure out an item that relates to each story in the first book.  My cover design concept is that of a yard sale table, and many of the items on the table are in some way related to the stories in the book.  I'll gather the items, place them on a table out in the driveway and take some pictures.  If any of them look right, I'll design the cover using it.  I probably need to write the back cover "teaser" for the book, too.

So, that's my great news for today.  Thanks for reading!

Lazy Saturday

I haven't written anything yet this weekend, but I have gotten something accomplished from my To Do list.  I carried out the recycling and trash from the bedroom.  That was all from my actual list, but in addition to that, I loaded the dishwasher and glued a broken piece to Gabe's combination miniature foosball/air hockey/pool table (though in fairness, I did that last night).

It has been snowing out all morning, making me reluctant to go clean my license plates and put the new sticker on them.  If it warms up later, I'll do it this weekend.

I need to also cut a board for Candice's witch cottage dollhouse.  That would require me moving my car out of the garage and staying out there long enough to move stuff off the saw and to cut the board, so if it warms enough to put the license plate sticker on my car, that is entirely within the realm of possibility for this weekend, too.

That's all I have for now, thanks for reading.