Today is the last day of my Kickstarter, so I posted a video update where I read from the first chapter of Apocalypse in the Balance. I hope you enjoy it and click HERE to visit my Kickstarer Campaign and become a backer.
Category: Apocalypse in the Balance
Justin!
Black Friday Sale
‘Tis the season for buying Christmas presents. So in the spirit of the season I will be offering a discount for all Smashwords purchases through December 28th, 2014.
If you have not been to Smashwords then you are missing out. Smashwords offers e-books in all major formats and I am glad to have my books listed there. Just use the discount codes below and you can pick up my books for 66% off the regular price.
Apocalypse Rising – CODE: DV35Z – $0.99
Apocalypse in the Balance – CODE: LU53W – $1.99
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Lessons Learned This Weekend
It would be oh so easy to sit here and complain about it being Monday. My wife has the week off and our friend from Arizona is staying for the week. My little girl will be home all week with her momma and the boys only have a day and half of school this week. But am I bitter about having to go to work for three days? Yes. Yes, I am.
I’m not going to focus my attention on all of that though. I’m going to focus in on the fact that on Saturday I spent the day at the Broad Street United Methodist Church’s Christmas Bazaar. I set up my table and waited for the customers to come rolling up. And waited. And waited. Sigh.
Kathryn Reed, my friend and the organizer of the event, did her best to bring people to my table and always introduced me as, “Eric Swett, the famous author,” and some people stayed to talk, but most wandered away without making a purchase. After lunch time I was visited by someone who asked some questions and wandered off, but she came back and bought a copy of Apocalypse Rising. Sweet. A little while later I had a couple come by and ask a bunch of questions about the books and the series. They were going to buy Apocalypse Rising, but I offered up Apocalypse in the Balance at a discount and they jumped on it. Super Sweet. I used the same deal for a friend that came by and he bought both books as well. That was the end of the little selling spree I hit, but I was pleased.
So what did I learn from this, my second public outing as an author?
First, I learned that I need a button to clip to my shirt/jacket that says, “Yes, I am the author.” It was amazing to me how many times the first question out of anyone’s mouth was, “Did you write this?” or some variation on that theme. I would have thought it obvious, but I guess not.
Second, I need to be better prepared before the day of the event. I had some great little signage that I created and some flyers with plenty of information, but I know it looked sloppy in the holders I bought that morning at Walmart (the sheets of paper were too big and I had to fold some edges). I also need a little book stand or something like that so that I can better display the books. Also, an easel and larger bit of signage would have been nice to grab attention. There was one other author at the Bazaar and she had a nice big foam core board picture of her book’s cover and I was completely envious. It seems like a small thing, but theses are investments I need to make for the future.
Third, I’m a pretty good with people. I’m personable enough, but I suck at self promotion and I feel awkward talking about how awesome my books are. When the Bazaar started I felt mousy, hiding behind my tables and my fliers, waiting for people to stop in front of me long enough for me to say something. The further along the day went the more I was willing to reach out to the people walking by and engage them in conversation. I talked about my book, about what it was about, finding the points of interest that might get the book sold, and damn but it felt good. I’m a long way from perfecting my pitch or approach, but the more public events I participating, the better I will get.
I struggle with self promotion and book promotion online for the same reasons I struggle in person. I suck at talking about myself or what I have done. If I can get better at it in person, maybe I can get better online as well. I know my books, especially the newest one, are good, and the only thing holding me back is me. I’m ready to make that next step, even if it is a small one.
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As Mid November Strikes…
Once again I find myself in that dubious position of looking at the calendar and admitting that I will not be finishing NaNoWriMo this year. To be honest, I am okay with that. I love the idea of National Novel Writing Month, but I don’t need it the way I once did. The idea of NaNoWriMo is to force the budding author to set aside distraction, editing, and all other forms of excuses that keep a novel from being written, so that they can finally get those words onto the screen.
I do that anyway.
This year I intended to take a break from working on my novella in order to participate. I could spend the time working on the second part of my epic sci-fi piece so that I would have it that much closer to ready when I finish my Armageddon Angels series. I sat down and tried to focus in on the first book, but I just could not get into the groove. There were so many errors and inconsistencies that I wanted to edit, fix and rewrite the whole mess, not jot down notes before starting the timeline for the next book. Strike One.
When the end of October started closing in I found that I was ill prepared for the November kickoff. No outline, no real concept of where to go with the story, and almost no motivation to focus my little time and effort on the project. Add to that the fact that I was running a blog tour for Apocalypse in the Balance and I was well past the point of being prepared to fight through NaNoWriMo. Make no mistake, it is a brutal fight for the writer, and poor training and preparation leaves you doomed to failure. Strike Two.
November kicked off and I decided that I would work on some of my Armageddon Angel stuff, which I already had prepared, and just not count the material written before November. I sat down on November first, stared at my monitor, place my fingers upon the keyboard, and said, “Fuck it.” Strike Three
I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to set aside my normal writing process in favor of smashing out a half done ball of crap, because lets be honest here, that is exactly what NaNoWriMo churns out. Crap. Fifty-thousand words worth of crap. There is nothing wrong with doing NaNoWriMo, but if you do nothing with the results, such as copious amounts of editing and rewriting, then all you are left with is a stinking pile of garbage that no one will want to read.
I have plenty of writer friends that participate in this fall ritual, but they don’t publish what they write until they have spent countless hours rewriting and editing the results. More power to them. There is a part of me that wishes I could do it, but I just can’t write that way. My first draft is anything but perfect, but I have found that I cannot just spew words onto the screen and hope to come back to it later. I have a hard time getting past all of the errors I make when I am taking my time writing a story, and rereading the one successful NaNoWriMo novel I finished I can only look back in utter horror. Some day I will revisit it, clean it up and edit it, but I’m not going to add to the mess by throwing more NaNoWriMo crap at it.
To those of you that are still fighting your way through NaNoWriMo, let me just say, “Keep it up. Press on. It is worth it. When you are done you will look back at what you have written and feel a sense of accomplishment that is completely deserved.” I mean every word of that. Just because it doesn’t work for me doesn’t mean it doesn’t work for someone else or that it is not worth doing. Of course, I am also going to say, once it is done, “Set it aside. That book you just created needs a chance to simmer for a bit. No, go forth and edit it. Be merciless. Ask friends for help. Don’t be afraid to add an additional chapter or nine. It will still be your NaNoWriMo book and you can even claim it as such in the forward of your book, but for God’s sake, do not send that thing to an editor in December. Maybe next October would be a better month to send it in. Seriously. If you so much as hit send on that e-mail or put a stamp on that manuscript envelope, I will hunt you down and beat you with a stick.”
The Blog Tour Is Coming To An End
Well the Blog Tour is over, but it is not too late to take the tour and enter the rafflecopter giveaway. The Rafflecopter will be good until 11/14, so make sure you enter to win.
Here is a list of blogs and their links:
Finding the Fantastic in Fallen Places – Hosted by C. P. Bialois
An Interview by George Sirois
NaNoWriMo Preparations – Hosted by AC Elliot
A Quick And Dirty Book Review by AJ Beamish
Inspiration – Hosted by Melina Turner
Fear of the Unknown – Hosted by AJ Beamish
Inspired to Write – Hosted by Jamie White
An Interview by Todd Maternowski
A Book Review by C. P. Bialois
A Book Review by Jamie White
A Book Review by AC Elliot
Writing About the Apocalypse – Hosted by Rachel Bostwick
Driven to Write – Hosted by Kristy Carey
A Book Review by Georgina Hannan
Thank you for participating in the blog tour and make sure to visit Amazon an buy a copy of Apocalypse in the Balance.
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Lucky Number Thirteen on the Blog Tour
Just like that we come to the last guest post of the Apocalypse in the Balance Blog Tour, and today we get another excellent reviews. This time we visit Georgina Hannan for her take on the book and it is a good one. Georgina has not read the first book, so it will definitely give some perspective to those who are worried about picking it up without having read Apocalypse Rising.
Tomorrow we’ll have a follow up post and the last post of the Blog Tour, so if you missed any of the posts over the last two weeks you’ll find a complete list there. Make sure you go back, read them all and enter your chance to win an autographed copy of one of my books. You can register to win at each site.
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On the Twelfth Day of the Blog Tour
Wow, the blog tour is almost done and what a fun ride it has been. Eleven days worth of guest posts, interviews and book reviews has left me excited and exhausted all at the same time. The experience has left me completely excited about getting the upcoming novella finished so that I can move on to the next book.
So why stop the fun today? The very talented Kristy Carey is hosting today’s guest post. I shared some of the process that led to the writing of Apocalypse Rising and Apocalypse in the Balance.
Make sure you stop in and take part in the rafflecopter giveaway so that you can have a chance at winning an autographed copy of one of my books.
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Day Eleven of the Blog Tour
Man how I love to see those good reviews. Three days in a row on the blog tour saw three great reviews in a row. I’m feeling so pumped about those reviews that I cannot wait to get the next couple of books written, but for now we have to wait and stop at our next guest post hosted by Rachel Bostwick. In today’s post I talk about the first rough draft novel I ever finished called Alone. More specifically we talk about what I like in the post-apocalyptic genre and what my future plans for that story are.
Give it a read and make sure you check out the rafflecopter giveaway.
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Blog Tour Days 9 and 10
I’m sorry for not posting yesterday’s Blog Tour stop yesterday. I didn’t get the link until after lunch, and with it being election day I did not make it home until nearly nine o’clock last night. I wish I could say that I stayed up late watching the election results, but I didn’t and it is probably for the best since it would have gotten me all worked up before bed. As it was, my wife had to talk me down from a ledge.
Yesterday’s blog tour stop was once again at Culture Shock, where I received an excellent review for Apocalypse in the Balance. Today’s Blog stop is hosted by AC Elliot, featuring another review.
I don’t know about you, but I love seeing all of these positive reviews. Make sure you check them out, then visit Amazon to pick up your copy today.
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My Writer's Cramp 