In 10 Days…
by veilwar
Two weeks of vacation for the last week of January and the first of February. More Veil War!
When I found out that I wouldn’t be telecommuting anymore, it had been my hope that I might be able to squeeze out some writing. That has, sadly, turned out not to be the case. I need moderately big stretches of time to write, and those just don’t exist in the new dispensation. (Small silver lining – thinking, editing and planning are possible. Fer instance, I now know exactly how to fix chapters 9-17, and I’ve substantially improved 1-8 with some stellar feedback from a friend and former Marine.)
Seeing as we are so very close to the end, those two weeks will be enough to finish Lewis’ story arc at a bare minimum. I also hope to complete the other elements of the story – the ones that have not been posted here, but will make the story a complete novel. It is my sincere wish to be able to type “the end” sometime early next month. To be sure, that will not be the end of it. There is the editing to be done, the rewriting, the proofreading – but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter at long last.
You may have some questions.
Does this mean the end of the Veil War? Not at all. Corny as it is, the Veil War will be a trilogy.
When will the excitingly titled Veil War II start? That depends on a number of things – most crucially, how quickly I can finish the clean up of Veil War I. My goal is end of Spring.
What’s VWII going to be about? Magic, ultraviolence, ‘splodey-splodey, dark forces, suffering and Coleman saying goofy shit. While VWI is set in the first couple weeks of the invasion, VWII will cover a broader range of time about a year in to the war.
Will you keep publishing online for free? Right now, that is in fact part of the plan.
Part of the plan? Once Veil War I is cleaned up, I want to sell it. Moving forward, I will continue to publish parts of the ongoing story for free.
Well, what’s the other part then dammit? That’s the big question. With a complete manuscript, I could submit to an agent/publisher and maybe two years from now you could by a book. Or I could throw it up on Amazon five seconds after I finish it. There are pros and cons with each method. Yet… I feel that traditional publishing is dying.
So what’s the other part then dammit? Right now I’m leaning toward the possibility of a kickstarter campaign, followed by sales on major online distributors.
***
Now, I have some questions for you:
- Would you be interested in a kickstarter campaign?
- What sort of bonuses would entice you to pony up your cash?
- How high, or how cautiously should I set the goal? (Things I’d want to cover with the cash would include copy-editing, regular editing, artwork…)
- Do you have other suggestions?
- What price point is most comfortable for you for an eBook? (aside from free) That is, where do you feel decent price for a good story meet?
Collectively, you all have been extraordinarily helpful in the writing of the Veil War. Without the slightest hint of exaggeration, I can say that I have been staggered by the level of support, advice, feedback and information that has been showered upon my head. I think that you will likewise be just as amazingly helpful in getting the finished product out there.
The Veil War 
I like these kinds of stories and I have an Amazon Kindle. I would very much like to be able to sit down and read the entire story from the beginning and I would be willing to pay up to $10.00 for the ebook.
I don’t know much about Kickstarter campaigns, but I would think a goal of $5000 to $10,000 would be reasonable for this kind of project and the intended use of the money you mentioned.
As to the publishing vehicle, I’d go ereader all the way. Everyone it seems has some flavor of reader whether Kindle, Nook or iPad. I’d say a target price point would be between $5 and $10. Baen is selling most of their ebooks for $6.
I’d gladly pay $6 for an ebook. When ebooks get up into the $10 range I prefer buying the print version.
I think an e-book by a new author should be under $10. I also think a kickstarter goal of 5k to 10k is good, but more important than the goal, is all the campaigning that you will need to plan out and execute – that is much more important. I think kickstater bonuses for an e-book are pretty much fluff. Maybe hefty amounts for characters named after you.
However I recommend reading:
http://kriswrites.com/2012/12/12/the-business-rusch-writing-like-its-2009/
A good article on the current state of publishing.
Also John Scalzi’s bit on the figures for his latest book are also of interest to aspiring writers. – he also wrote an excellent article on kickstarter with respect to Amanda Palmer and why she was so successful.
I know of 2 new authors who used the Baen forums and then went the Amazon route in the past year (Christopher Nuttall and Joshua Wachter)
both claim some degree of success.
$6-$8 is fair for an ebook. I’d pay $10 if I had to…if you’ll kill more goblins!
I’d pay more for a kickstarter project…perhaps we get the chapters early.
Let me be the pubic hair in your cola here for a second.
First of all, I don’t think a Kickstarter campaign for a book from a relatively unknown author is going to work. I’ve been pumping work into the publishing pipeline for a couple of years now, and I wouldn’t expect a Kickstarter to work for me.
Second, you’re highballing your costs. I’ve spent $400 on cover art (for my upcoming release Day of the Destroyer on March 13), and I’ve also spent nothing, making covers using appropriately-sourced and legally-free-to-use art, which you can find all over the Internets with a little knowledge of where to look. Your biggest cost is likely going to be editing if you don’t have access to a professional-level editor amongst those people who owe you favors/have nude pictures of/alibied for that one time. In your case, you’re going to want an editor who is familiar with military fiction, because it’s a fairly specialized field. You’re ALSO going to want one who can help you make Veil War into a tale which will appeal not only to military fiction fans, but the wider audience out there. I have no stake in her operation, but I recommend Deborah Halverson at http://deareditor.com/ for a good starting point. You might spend $1000 on editing; you might spend less or more. $2000 should be ample to budget for your first release. Keep in mind that you will probably not make that amount back. Most self-published writers will not.
Other expenditures:
-Producing ebooks: It better goddamn well not cost you a cent. It’s easy to go through the various platforms like Kindle Direct, PubIt, Kobo, and Smashwords.
-Producing print books: If you go through CreateSpace, your cost can range from free to a few hundred dollars. I spend $35 per print book, which includes an ISBN assigned to my publishing imprint (Local Hero Press) and expanded distribution.
-Marketing: The mystery. I frankly don’t know if it works to hire someone to do it or not, but I’m trying it with my next release. I’ll let you know how it turns out and if I’d recommend it.
Your biggest problem with your strategy is your lack of content. You’re essentially investing all your hopes and dollars in a single project. If it fails, what impetus is there for you to keep striving? Using my own business as an example, I’ve been self-publishing professionally since January of 2011. In two years, I’ve released (I think) 26 individual pieces. Some of those are no longer for sale because they’re incorporated in collections. A few I just plain took off the market. But constantly producing new material is key in building your business. Nearly every single month since I began this endeavor has resulted in increased royalties, because I’m always putting new material out there for people who’ve read my other work. The upshot of this is that my company is self-sufficient and has been for over a year.
For a novel-length price point, if you charge less than $2.99 or more than $9.99, you will make 35% royalty on Amazon (the only platform that matters, honestly). If you charge between $2.99 and $9.99, you will make 70%. That’s the sweet spot. When I started, I was charging $2.99 for novels. Now I’m charging $3.99 and have found that to not harm sales and increase profits. I’m not likely to raise them above that point though, in order to stay competitive.
If you want to discuss this even further at even more length, you know where to find me. 🙂
I agree with Ian. There are a lot of writers trying to get into Kickstarter now, so the market has been flooded with a lot of folks looking for help with editing, cover, and marketing costs. Keep in mind that unless you have a huge following and network, it’s going to be really hard to make goal, and of course the way Kickstarter works, if you don’t make your goal you don’t get anything. So it isn’t really a good idea to ask for high dollar amounts in the first place, unless you are producing something with a HUGE following (game developers kind of own Kickstarter in that regard).
We researched Kickstarter a ton for the podcast I co-host (Creative Commoners), both as a possible avenue to fund our show as well as interviewing someone who was ultimately successful. What we found was that people who didn’t really understand Kickstarter were the ones who failed the most. First of all, they treated it more like a charity. Their presentations weren’t compelling enough, and their products were too ephemeral (or intangible) for people to want to part with their hard-earned money. Also, the pledge levels have to be set in such a way that you are not spending more money than you are taking in.
If you’re looking to make money for self-publishing, I think your best bet is to start growing your publishing platform from the ground up. Write a wide variety of short stories. They’re easy to edit (I know writers who beta them, and my extremely intelligent and thorough spouse proofreads them), and covers are free to make if you keep it simple. In essence, they cost very little to nothing to produce, which means that every $.35 you make off a sale is all profit.
I won’t lie. It takes awhile to do this. Ian and I both started around the same time, and it took about two years for us to get to where we’re making tangible, usable cash every month. Probably not enough to pay the mortgage, but it seems to be growing exponentially at this point. All of our effort has been centered on producing new material in our given specialties. Ian’s doing particularly well with his superhero stuff, and my horror shorts are what butter my bread. Having a wide library and promoting myself through giveaways and building up my name through reviews and word of mouth is what really did it, though. That word of mouth led to my current publisher finding me (through Amazon and GoodReads) and now I not only have a growing business of selling my own ebooks, but I also have one, possibly two, novels coming out next year from them, and hopefully both of those things will propel one another once the first book comes out. All to say is, rather than investing a lot of effort into a Kickstarter campaign that may very well flop (statistically, most of them do), you could start building your empire now by producing and releasing more work direct to market, networking with more writers who are willing to scratch your back if you scratch theirs, and slowly but surely have a sustainable business and fan base.
All that has been said above makes sense. I would support a Kickstarter campaign, and would buy an ebook. However, I also prefer to have a real book in hand sometimes, if it’s good enough.
Call me old fashioned but I like the permanence of a book as opposed to a digital file that may corrupt or eventually be unsupported or unconverted regardless of backups.
Either way, just let us all know. I am very willing to support your endeavours.
I’d certainly be interested in not only buying the book(s), and would also consider paying for a kickstarter fee, if I only knew what that was exactly.
Ed, kickstarter is a way to raise money for a project. You might pay $10 and get an ebook – or you could pay more and get greater, or more personalized rewards.
Also, you don’t get charged unless the project meets its funding goal.
Take a look at the site, it’s interesting.
Thanks for the comments – and check out the next post.
> Would you be interested in a kickstarter campaign?
I would certainly wish you well and promote your Kickstarter, but last time I checked Kickstarter is not available to almost everyone outside of the U.S. I have heard that policy is changing and when it does, Kickstarter will be more appealing to me. As it is now, I need a US address to take part and so it’s out of my reach.
> What sort of bonuses would entice you to pony up your cash?
To be honest, a nicely produced book or eBook would be wonderful all on its own.
> How high, or how cautiously should I set the goal? (Things I’d want to cover with the cash would include copy-editing, regular editing, artwork…)
> I have no idea about how to set such goals. I would recommend an eBook by Monte Cook called “Kicking It: Successful Crowdfunding”. He recently raised a half million dollars for an new Role Playing Game via Kickstarter and shares his hard earned lessons in this eBook. You can get it from Amazon.
> Do you have other suggestions?
If you offer an eBook, consider selling it via a platform that offers multiple formats, or multiple platforms. My ebook reader can display the ePub format but not Amazon’s Kindle format, so I can’t buy books from Amazon.
> What price point is most comfortable for you for an eBook? (aside from free) That is, where do you feel decent price for a good story meet?
I’ve just looked at two recent paperback book purchases. I got an average quality copy of William Gibson’s Neuromancer for 7.99 CDN, a nicer larger format paperback copy of Cloud Atlas for 22.95 CDN. So, prices are highly variable. However, half that price – a range of 4 to 11 bucks – seems reasonable to me for ebooks. The 4 buck book I’d expect to be straight text, the more expensive volume maybe with some nice illustrations.
I think ebooks are still a bit of a crap shoot and I’m sure fellow authors can give you better advice. One interesting observation by prolific ebook author Cory Doctorow is that providing free or low cost ebooks actually helped improve his paper-book sales dramatically. Reading his blog entries on the topic over at Boing Boing might provide you with some insight.
Personally, I too would buy an ebook and paper book. Frankly, I am enjoying the read so much I crap sideways when there is a new chapter, I get so excited about it! And did I read correctly Part 2 and 3 are in the offing as well?
Pardon me while I dash off to the crapper!!!!! Weeee!!!!!!