Yesterday, Nathan Bransford posted the question:
If You Could Live in the World of One Novel, Which One Would You Choose?
Most of the really amazing stories take place under terrible circumstances, though. It's like the old Chinese curse:
May you live in interesting times.
Yeah, my first choice would be to live in Minder's Ganzfield world. I kinda already do anyway--I look up from writing and THIS world seems strange and unfamiliar.
And very, very interesting.
Speaking of which, please watch the book trailer to support Nothing But Nets.
So, back to Mr. Bransford's question: where would YOU live?
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Playing with Your Heads
Hi folks,
My ARCs have arrived! I'll be sending those out to reviewers in the next 24 hours. I mailed out a couple of the proofs last week, so, if you've already received a book, don't worry about a rip in the space-time continuum. We got the size wrong on this batch (7x10 inches, when it's supposed to be 6x9), but it's fixed now, and all future batches will be right.
Someday, if Minder becomes a major bestseller, these mis-sized copies will be valuable collector's items!
Anyhoo, here's something fun. Thanks to Stef for the link!
My ARCs have arrived! I'll be sending those out to reviewers in the next 24 hours. I mailed out a couple of the proofs last week, so, if you've already received a book, don't worry about a rip in the space-time continuum. We got the size wrong on this batch (7x10 inches, when it's supposed to be 6x9), but it's fixed now, and all future batches will be right.
Someday, if Minder becomes a major bestseller, these mis-sized copies will be valuable collector's items!
Anyhoo, here's something fun. Thanks to Stef for the link!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Department of Redundancy Department
I seem to be repeating myself a lot lately. Repeating. A lot. Repeating myself. Ugh.
My marketing campaign starts this week. I keep posting the same bio, and the same jacket copy, over and over.
In fact, here it is again:
About Kate Kaynak
I was born and raised in New Jersey, but I was able to escape. My degree from Yale says I was a psych major, but my true course of study was YPMB.
After serving a five-year sentence in graduate school, I started teaching psychology around the world for the University of Maryland.
While in Izmir, Turkey, I started up a conversation with a handsome stranger in an airport. I ended up marrying him.
We now live in New Hampshire with our three preschool-aged kids, where I enjoy reading, writing, and fighting crime with my amazing superpowers.
Minder
Sixteen-year-old Maddie Dunn is special, but she needs to figure out how to use her new abilities before somebody else gets hurt. Ganzfield is a secret training facility full of people like her, but it's not exactly a nurturing place.
Every social interaction carries the threat of mind-control.
A stray thought can burn a building to the ground.
And people's nightmares don't always stay in their own heads.
But it's still better than New Jersey.
Especially once she meets the man of her dreams...
I sometimes change out the "YPMB" line, if the bio's going somewhere without link-access. But that's my life, distilled down to 100 words. Sometimes I think I'll be puttering around the nursing home in 2050, muttering about how I escaped from New Jersey. And I'll still be gushing about that book I wrote to anyone who can't move out of earshot fast enough.
I hope some of the other nursing home residents have dementia, so I'll always have a fresh audience.
My marketing campaign starts this week. I keep posting the same bio, and the same jacket copy, over and over.
In fact, here it is again:
About Kate Kaynak
I was born and raised in New Jersey, but I was able to escape. My degree from Yale says I was a psych major, but my true course of study was YPMB.
After serving a five-year sentence in graduate school, I started teaching psychology around the world for the University of Maryland.
While in Izmir, Turkey, I started up a conversation with a handsome stranger in an airport. I ended up marrying him.
We now live in New Hampshire with our three preschool-aged kids, where I enjoy reading, writing, and fighting crime with my amazing superpowers.
Minder
Sixteen-year-old Maddie Dunn is special, but she needs to figure out how to use her new abilities before somebody else gets hurt. Ganzfield is a secret training facility full of people like her, but it's not exactly a nurturing place.
Every social interaction carries the threat of mind-control.
A stray thought can burn a building to the ground.
And people's nightmares don't always stay in their own heads.
But it's still better than New Jersey.
Especially once she meets the man of her dreams...
I sometimes change out the "YPMB" line, if the bio's going somewhere without link-access. But that's my life, distilled down to 100 words. Sometimes I think I'll be puttering around the nursing home in 2050, muttering about how I escaped from New Jersey. And I'll still be gushing about that book I wrote to anyone who can't move out of earshot fast enough.
I hope some of the other nursing home residents have dementia, so I'll always have a fresh audience.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Purchase Orders
I love you guys. Those of you who pre-ordered Minder from Amazon--I love you. I just had a "very special moment" in the life of an innocent, young publisher--my first purchase order.
They say you always remember your first. *sigh*
I got the order in from Seattle while sitting at my computer in New Hampshire. I sent the print order to the printer in Tennessee, who'll ship the books to the warehouse in Indiana. God Bless America and the internet.
BTW, if you want a signed copy, please preorder from the Spencer Hill Press website. It says that you have to order before the release date to get a signed copy, but I'll send you one anyway if you ask. That's the kind of love I have for you.
You can also win one in a few weeks at the Virtual Launch party--right here at The Disgruntled Bear June 14-18th. Today, I'm feelin' mighty gruntled.
So tell me, what kinds of giveaways do you want? Signed books? More t-shirts? Query critiques? Home-baked cookies? I'm up for any and all of the above--comment below to let me know your preferences.
They say you always remember your first. *sigh*
I got the order in from Seattle while sitting at my computer in New Hampshire. I sent the print order to the printer in Tennessee, who'll ship the books to the warehouse in Indiana. God Bless America and the internet.
BTW, if you want a signed copy, please preorder from the Spencer Hill Press website. It says that you have to order before the release date to get a signed copy, but I'll send you one anyway if you ask. That's the kind of love I have for you.
You can also win one in a few weeks at the Virtual Launch party--right here at The Disgruntled Bear June 14-18th. Today, I'm feelin' mighty gruntled.
So tell me, what kinds of giveaways do you want? Signed books? More t-shirts? Query critiques? Home-baked cookies? I'm up for any and all of the above--comment below to let me know your preferences.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Independent Publishing--Part 3
One thing really tipped the balance when I decided to start my own press--my research into marketing and publicity.
Marketing costs money: advertising, promotions, etc.
Publicity is free: reviews, blurbs, interviews, yadda-yadda-yadda.
The big six publishers pay for very little marketing for most debut authors. Publishing follows a business model in which they put their resources into products that are likely to earn big returns. You need to take artistry out of the equation to understand their logic--it's a business, like the music and film industries, so the executives make their decisions based on projected sales, rather than the intrinsic awesomeness of the book, album, or movie.
For many creative types, that sounds soulless and horrible. It is--it's business. The cold hard fact is that there are a LOT of talented people in the book, music, and film industries. "Talent" is a cheap raw material in these business models. A few movie stars might earn $20 million per film, but that's still a single digit percentage of the studio's expenses. Ditto for the publishing industry. They pay the top names big money because they expect to make much more money from that person's fans.
Promotion sells books. Even a wonderful book won't sell very well if people don't know it exists. Therefore, marketing is the largest chunk of my publishing budget. I requested proposals from several marketing firms, and I eventually went with the Penny Sansevieri, who literally wrote the book on internet promotion. She's had a bunch of clients on the NYT bestseller's list. I have dreams (or delusions) of joining them there.
Online marketing works with my business model because the target demographic groups for a YA paranormal romance series like Ganzfield are very internet-savvy people. I can reach thousands of readers who might like my book through online channels. I'm not planning too many in-person author events for this marketing run--they aren't cost-effective. But I set up a nice-looking website, created a book trailer, and run online promotions like the t-shirt giveaways and the charitable donations to Nothing But Nets. I carry around promotional items--postcards and stickers with the cover art--everywhere and foist them upon anyone who shows the slightest interest in my book.
There's one aspect of this whole process that may seem counterintuitive, though. I'm not aiming to make a profit from Minder. Like a drug dealer, I've made the first taste free.* The goal is to get people hooked, so they come back for more. Minder's just the first book in a series that will have at least six volumes (and I'm playing with some ideas now that may become book 7). This model wouldn't work as well with a stand-alone novel.
Happy weekend!
*It's not evil--it's just business. The first 80 pages are available as a PDF file. I'll also have a lower, promotional price for the Kindle edition of Minder after the launch date. A few of you may have noticed that the entire Kindle edition is already for sale. I'd entered the proper release date when I set things up, but it went "live" early. Premature release--I hear it happens to a lot of bookstores.
Marketing costs money: advertising, promotions, etc.
Publicity is free: reviews, blurbs, interviews, yadda-yadda-yadda.
The big six publishers pay for very little marketing for most debut authors. Publishing follows a business model in which they put their resources into products that are likely to earn big returns. You need to take artistry out of the equation to understand their logic--it's a business, like the music and film industries, so the executives make their decisions based on projected sales, rather than the intrinsic awesomeness of the book, album, or movie.
For many creative types, that sounds soulless and horrible. It is--it's business. The cold hard fact is that there are a LOT of talented people in the book, music, and film industries. "Talent" is a cheap raw material in these business models. A few movie stars might earn $20 million per film, but that's still a single digit percentage of the studio's expenses. Ditto for the publishing industry. They pay the top names big money because they expect to make much more money from that person's fans.
Promotion sells books. Even a wonderful book won't sell very well if people don't know it exists. Therefore, marketing is the largest chunk of my publishing budget. I requested proposals from several marketing firms, and I eventually went with the Penny Sansevieri, who literally wrote the book on internet promotion. She's had a bunch of clients on the NYT bestseller's list. I have dreams (or delusions) of joining them there.
Online marketing works with my business model because the target demographic groups for a YA paranormal romance series like Ganzfield are very internet-savvy people. I can reach thousands of readers who might like my book through online channels. I'm not planning too many in-person author events for this marketing run--they aren't cost-effective. But I set up a nice-looking website, created a book trailer, and run online promotions like the t-shirt giveaways and the charitable donations to Nothing But Nets. I carry around promotional items--postcards and stickers with the cover art--everywhere and foist them upon anyone who shows the slightest interest in my book.
There's one aspect of this whole process that may seem counterintuitive, though. I'm not aiming to make a profit from Minder. Like a drug dealer, I've made the first taste free.* The goal is to get people hooked, so they come back for more. Minder's just the first book in a series that will have at least six volumes (and I'm playing with some ideas now that may become book 7). This model wouldn't work as well with a stand-alone novel.
Happy weekend!
*It's not evil--it's just business. The first 80 pages are available as a PDF file. I'll also have a lower, promotional price for the Kindle edition of Minder after the launch date. A few of you may have noticed that the entire Kindle edition is already for sale. I'd entered the proper release date when I set things up, but it went "live" early. Premature release--I hear it happens to a lot of bookstores.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Breaking News
Part three will have to wait until tomorrow. I sat down to write it this morning, but the doorbell rang two minutes later. I ran to the door like a six-year-old on Christmas morning.
Yes, that double-chinned woman
with the wild look in her eye is
HOLDING AN ACTUAL HONEST-TO-GOD
COPY OF MY BOOK!
It's too hard to type while doing the happy-dance and giggling.
Yes, that double-chinned womanwith the wild look in her eye is
HOLDING AN ACTUAL HONEST-TO-GOD
COPY OF MY BOOK!
It's too hard to type while doing the happy-dance and giggling.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Independent Publishing--Part 2
OK, once I decided to sell Minder unagented, I had three options.
I could go to an existing independent press.
I could self-publish.
I could start my own indie press.
I did my research. There's a LOT of research in a decision like this. Basically, I needed to figure out what agents and publishers brought to the publication process--professional editing, formatting, cover art, distribution, pricing, marketing, publicity, etc.--and then decide how I would get those things for my book.
After checking out my choices, I decided to start my own press. And thus, Spencer Hill Press was born. It's not just for my own work, although I'm figuring out the best methods as I put Minder through the process. I'll open the press to new submissions in October--if you write YA (or New Adult) urban fantasy, please consider querying!
I filed the proper paperwork with the State of New Hampshire, adding the "Doing Business As" name to my LLC. I set up my website, and opened the proper accounts with printers, distributors, and Bowker (the ISBN assigners). I got a bank account and a credit card. I've run my own business before, so I knew the drill. I created a business model that took into account my target demographics, a realistic sales projection, and included marketing the rest of the series, since there will be at least six Ganzfield books. I gave myself a six month lead time to get the book released; I've found that to be a tight (but doable) time-frame, so I'll expand that to about nine months for future releases.
My publishing checklist has nearly 50 items.
I covered item #1 yesterday: write a book. The two most important--and expensive--remaining items were marketing/publicity and editing. I hired professionals to do both, and my company paid a premium to get really good people. I figured out that, with my expenses to date, I need to sell at least 3,400 copies of Minder before I see a profit. That's not much compared to Stephenie Meyer's 85 million units of the Twilight saga, but it's substantial when you consider that 95% of the books published each year sell fewer than 5,000 copies. How do I plan to beat the odds? First, I strongly believe I have a really, really good book. I wouldn't put in all the time, money, and emotion into a mediocre product. Second, I have an innovative marketing strategy and a great team on-board.
I'll tell you more about marketing and publicity tomorrow in part 3.
I could go to an existing independent press.
I could self-publish.
I could start my own indie press.
I did my research. There's a LOT of research in a decision like this. Basically, I needed to figure out what agents and publishers brought to the publication process--professional editing, formatting, cover art, distribution, pricing, marketing, publicity, etc.--and then decide how I would get those things for my book.
After checking out my choices, I decided to start my own press. And thus, Spencer Hill Press was born. It's not just for my own work, although I'm figuring out the best methods as I put Minder through the process. I'll open the press to new submissions in October--if you write YA (or New Adult) urban fantasy, please consider querying!
I filed the proper paperwork with the State of New Hampshire, adding the "Doing Business As" name to my LLC. I set up my website, and opened the proper accounts with printers, distributors, and Bowker (the ISBN assigners). I got a bank account and a credit card. I've run my own business before, so I knew the drill. I created a business model that took into account my target demographics, a realistic sales projection, and included marketing the rest of the series, since there will be at least six Ganzfield books. I gave myself a six month lead time to get the book released; I've found that to be a tight (but doable) time-frame, so I'll expand that to about nine months for future releases.
My publishing checklist has nearly 50 items.
I covered item #1 yesterday: write a book. The two most important--and expensive--remaining items were marketing/publicity and editing. I hired professionals to do both, and my company paid a premium to get really good people. I figured out that, with my expenses to date, I need to sell at least 3,400 copies of Minder before I see a profit. That's not much compared to Stephenie Meyer's 85 million units of the Twilight saga, but it's substantial when you consider that 95% of the books published each year sell fewer than 5,000 copies. How do I plan to beat the odds? First, I strongly believe I have a really, really good book. I wouldn't put in all the time, money, and emotion into a mediocre product. Second, I have an innovative marketing strategy and a great team on-board.
I'll tell you more about marketing and publicity tomorrow in part 3.
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