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The Explorer’s Son Will Be On Pre-Order!

The new design for the covers!

The new design for the covers!

I’ve decided to put The Explorer’s Son on pre-order at Amazon. I will get the pre-orders set up on the other retailers tomorrow. The actual release date will be December 8, 2015!

In the coming couple of weeks, the makeover of all the covers, my mailing list, reformatted versions of the previous books, will be set up. If anyone has downloaded my books from Amazon, you will most likely get an email if you do not have your Kindle account set up for automatic updates. This is not a bullet I’ve fired before, but I think it’s really important that everyone have a chance to experience the refreshed versions of my books. From what I understand, readers who have my books downloaded from other book sellers get the changes automatically.

Posted by SB James in The SB James Author and Artist Blog, 0 comments

What It Means To Be Indie…

(Hint: It’s not the Jones kind…)

Photo Credit: via Empire Online

Photo Credit: via Empire Online

As the 4th of July rapidly approaches in the US, and I’m in my second year as a published author, I’ve been a bit reflective on what it means to be an independently published author. These days, the words “self-published” are starting to be eschewed in favor of “indie published” or “indie author.”

While a lot of the “stigma” of “self-published” authors is dissipating, many argue that there is some lasting aftertaste in many readers’ palates. While it’s getting more and more difficult (especially for the reader only casually interested in such things) for anyone to tell the difference between a traditionally published book and an independently published one, there are still brick and mortar stores worried about carrying such books on their shelves. While eBook prices are becoming less and less disparate between the traditionally published book and those that are independently uploaded to Amazon and Nook, et al, there are still books on the highest end of $14.99 and at the lowest end of “permafree.”

This past month I’ve been blogging about a few different topics, mainly of concern to indie writers and publishers rather than fans of my books. Because I’m independently published, I get to do my own eBook coding, and create my own covers, exactly as I want them to appear! That’s the good news. The bad news is, I have to do my own eBook coding and create my own covers, unless I pay someone else to do these tasks. Frankly, the small price in time spent is nothing compared to the satisfaction of seeing how my eBook is coming along and being able to come ever closer to complete control over how it looks.

As an independent author, I get to market my books how and when I want (mostly, unless I was intent on trying to get a BookBub ad), which is great. As an independent author, I have to market my books all by myself, which is not so great sometimes. People have said that Amazon often takes over the marketing of your book if you’re successful enough. I say that often Amazon’s weird algorithms are actually an impediment to anyone discovering or buying new books. Someone truly independent cannot rely on, nor does she need to rely on, Amazon for marketing.

Heck, I can even decide where to sell my books! I could even sell them on my own site, or give them away! I can decide if I want to do a print version of the book as well, how big the book is going to be, and how much I am going to charge for it.

Very soon, I will be launching my new website. At that point, I will be starting up my email list as well (something many argue should have been done long before Book 1 was ever published). Because I’m an independent author, I don’t bother much about what I “should have done” last year, last week, or last night. No one, certainly not Amazon, is taking my book out of print (though if you’re a romance writer and had your books in Scribd, I feel very badly for all of you. Apparently, there really is such a thing as being too successful…). The ONLY person who can yank my books (under most circumstances) is me. I’m working hard on a “relaunch” of my brand and the series, but if I was traditionally published, I could never do something like this.

This is, perhaps, the greatest of times for someone like me, who really had always wanted to accomplish writing and publishing a book on my own, done exactly the way I want it to be!

Posted by SB James in Older Blog Posts, 0 comments

5 Ways Moving to a New Place Gives You Perspective About Writing

After an epic saga of massive proportions, I have finally moved to a new home. I have been renting for years, but I decided it was time to buy a house, not the least of which because the rents in my area are growing way higher than the properties are actually worth, and I did not want to be subjected to such fluctuations in rent. I moved to a house that had been unoccupied for about four years, since the previous owner allowed the house to go into foreclosure, and in Florida, these type of proceedings go for years through the courts. Without getting into a load of details, I will simply say this: it takes a lot of perseverance to try and buy a bank-owned property that is in decent condition.

As I quickly packed my belongings to move out of the rental in order to take possession of the new house in a timely manner, I started seeing some parallels between moving and writing and editing.

  1. Discovering things you didn’t know you had = discovering things you didn’t know you actually knew. I unearthed items in my closets and other storage areas that had been tucked away and long forgotten. And I’m not talking about old bottles of shampoo, either (we’ll get to that). I’m talking about items, some of them valuable, that haven’t seen the light of day in a long while. And old journals, handwritten ones, that I hadn’t looked at in many years. Many of these journals had been done right out of high school, where I was supposed to keep a journal in my Junior and Senior years. I took what I had learned from those classes and was applying them to my writing out of high school. How much has my writing changed? How much has it improved? Was there something I was doing then that I don’t do now? I do notice that one thing hasn’t really changed since those days; I didn’t and still don’t really write in first person. About the only things I write in first person perspective are these blog posts.
  2. Dust gets all over everything, no matter how well you store it = Even the best stuff I write needs a little cleaning up. Someone I told about my moving difficulties likened moving to the Ultimate Spring Cleaning. I like this analogy, and this made me think about my writing and marketing, and what kind of “spring cleaning” they might need. At the beginning of 2015, I had lofty ideas about Pulp Speed and getting much more writing done. I got to thinking about just what might be lurking on my hard drives and cloud drives that, with a little more “dusting off” might well supplement my future writing plans. I’ve already started this reclaiming words campaign with my The World Of The Inventor’s Son project on Wattpad. I included one deleted scene from The Inventor’s Son featuring Dr. Colbourne and his evil lackeys that almost made the final cut, but makes a new home as a supplementary passage in the chapter introducing him. I’ve also got a great deleted scene featuring Marcus Stanwood that I need to find the exact right place for.
  3. Moving furniture around = Finding inner strength to write. During the worst of the mortgage paperwork hell, I was participating in CampNaNoWriMo. April 2014 Camp was a disaster, that you can read about right here. (Interesting to realize that I was even talking about moving back then as well). I was determined not to let April 2015 Camp end up the same way. How can I do PCamp-Winner-2015-Web-Bannerulp Speed if I can’t even write a measly 20,000 words in a month? How can I move to a new place if I can’t even lift a box of books? Of course, it took a lot of loss of sleep, an aching back and shins that felt like rocks every time I took a step, but I got it done!
  4. Rearranging your rooms in a new space = Figuring out what’s important to your story and what isn’t. Everything is arranged differently in this new place. My slider doors are now off the kitchen, rather than the living room. My cable jack for the tv is right near the front door, instead of deep into the house. At first I thought this was going to be terrible, because I’d gotten so used everything arranged the other way, but now, since the cable jack is in the living room, so is the WiFi and that’s SO much better than having it in the bedroom. (This might also have to do with the fact that I’m no longer a Comcast customer, heh.) Similarly, my main character has been through the wringer in these first two books, and I’d run into a wall with him in Book 3 insofar as his state of mind. I knew I was going to have to dump the plot bunny of his deep depression if this book was ever going to get done. As a result, the final draft is getting worked on as I write this!
  5. Moving to a new place is prime time for redecorating = Publishing a new book is a perfect time to re-brand! I’ve already made a couple of changes to my small patch of front yard, all without running afoul of the Home Owners Association, and once I’ve sold a lot of books replenished my bank account , I’m planning on getting some new furniture. The good news, as far as The Inventor’s Son series is concerned, is that I don’t need to wait long to get the changes coming. As soon as I can, I’m getting a PO box, so that I can get my long overdue mailing list started. As you may know, authors tend to give a goody to anyone who signs up for their mailing list, and naturally I’ve got what I think is a pretty sweet mailing list goody prepared for anyone who signs up. I’m also working on revised covers in time for the launch of The Explorer’s Son. I’m revamping the e-book files so that they look even nicer. I’m going to upload to Smashwords so I can get into Oyster. And last but certainly not least, the print versions of all the books, which has been delayed long enough. I also realized that it’s been one year since I published The Inventor’s Son! While this momentous occasion has largely gone unheralded, I decided I’d slowly build up the hype for Book 3 and let that launch be the big deal this year.

What other kinds of experiences can someone draw a parallel to the writing experience? Has moving to a new place affected your writing goals?

Posted by SB James in Older Blog Posts, 2 comments

It’s 2015, A New Beginning!

It’s 2015! Already I’ve had to make a couple of changes with my ebook pricing, thanks to new VAT laws that have take effect today. I’ve had to adjust my pricing for the two books that aren’t permafree, if the retailer hadn’t already done so. But I’ve tried to make an average price that covers most of the affected countries and is a little less than the completely adjusted price that Amazon was going to adjust the price to.

Some more changes I’m thinking about or implementing:

  1. I’m thinking of changing the book covers again, to more reflect the paranormal aspect of The Inventor’s Son, rather than the ones I have now which seem to cater more to the Steampunk and less to the paranormal. I’l be sketching some new designs in the coming weeks, and I may post some of them here for some feedback.
  2. I know I’m doing print versions of the books this year, delayed from 2014 thanks to, well, just life really. But I’m thinking I will do one of The Beginning as well as the others.
  3. I’m also thinking of revising The Beginning to make it a bit longer (more Book Bub friendly if it’s over 100 pages), and adding some material to Book 1 as well. If I do this, anyone who bought them through Amazon will get the notice of editorial changes made and should download the updated versions of them. I’ll be posting more about this if and when it happens.
  4. I’m looking into where to host my new website. I have a bit of website building background, but it’s been a while since I attempted it. I am reasonably certain I will make the website an “SB James Author” website/portal, and then make separate sections for The Inventor’s Son and future series.
  5. I’ve already got three parts of The Beginning on Wattpad. Any revised edition will be uploaded there as well. I know I don’t have too many views there so far, and a lot of that is due to the fact that I need to start promoting it on there through Wattpad’s forums and threads. I was looking into that a few days ago.
  6. I will be devoting a bit more time to drawing and sketching. I had done it years ago, and it is more than time for me to get back to it.
  7. I am also going to write more efficiently. Remember my post about Pulp Speed? I am committing myself to aiming for Pulp Speed 1. That would be 1M words in a year. This will have to include all writing projects including blog posts and website stuff. And a lot less Panda Pop (which is a complete time suck and should only be used if waiting in line somewhere, LOL).

I’ve got big plans, and though I may not manage it all, I’m aiming to get as much done as I can so that I can feel productive. There’s no reason for me to not keep trying to get more done as I can. I think revisiting this post quarterly this year will be illuminating, to see how much progress I make. Stay tuned!

Posted by SB James in Older Blog Posts, 2 comments