My interview with Joshua Pantalleresco on his podcast, Just Joshing, is now live.
You can listen to it here.
It was done lakeside at a creator’s retreat I was at in June.
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Appearing at . . . Kids Fringe Festival
This will mark my third year in a row appearing at the Kids Fringe Festival here in Winnipeg.I’ll be there July 24 from 3-7pm and will be bringing books, with, I think, superheroes and zombies being the orders of the day.
Come downtown to the Exchange and visit awhile. Bring your family.
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Axiom-man Revision Underway
I’m a great deal through revising the original Axiom-man novel and prepping it for the 10th-anniversary special edition that’s coming out in the fall.It’s like going back in time. Not only do I get to revisit the story, but I also get to revisit myself because it was written when I was 25 and still new at this writing game. I was a very different writer back then so my mission with the revision isn’t to do a complete overhaul, but maintain the voice of that 25-year-old while updating the text to match the writer I am now.
The special edition will not only contain the revised version of the story, but a lot of bonus material, too, which will be revealed at a later date.
Whether you’re new reader or have been following The Axiom-man Saga since the beginning, this is a book you’ll want to add to your collection once it’s released.
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Quick Zomtropolis Update
Working on the book’s wrap-up.
I don’t think I’ll make the projected June publication date because of production time, so look for it in July.
Freelance editing work has been priority these days.
The book’s coming. Don’t worry.
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Going Off-line (Mostly)
Please accept this as formal notice that I will be [mostly] off-line for the next 7-8 weeks.Deadlines are bearing down and I need to clear out my current task list so this means no social media for the next while. If you need to reach me, please use the contact page on this site.
Emails will be responded to. My newsletter, The Canister X Transmission, will go out every Saturday as per usual.
My social media accounts will still be active but will be run by the (auto)bots except for some manual posts here and there through Hootsuite.
Watch this page for announcements and/or news as I will be posting here now and then.
See you all in a couple of months.
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Convention Basics: Five Tips to Make Your Book Stand Out
Convention Basics: Five Tips to Make Your Book Stand Out
This article was originally published January 7, 2016 on the Operation Awesome Blog.
With so many writers these days focusing all their marketing efforts on-line, they’re putting themselves in a corner and limiting their exposure. Off-line sales are where the bread and butter is at if you play your cards right.
I’m talking conventions, which are basically glorified book signings.
Since 2007, I’ve been tabling at Central Canada Comic Con here in Winnipeg, a giant comic book convention. This show is also a big part of my paycheck, and my books fit right in because I write nerdy stuff like monster stories, superhero fiction and sci-fi.
A lot has been learned about having a successful show over the years. Here are some convention basics to get you and your book(s) started:
1. Display
Have an eye-catching display. When competing against so many other booths and tables, you need to stand out. Bring a tablecloth because not all shows provide them. Use signage, big ones, like 11”x17” set up on stands so folks catch sight of your book’s cover or what the deal of the day is. Want to really stand out? Get a big banner printed up, one you can put behind you. This can display your name and what you do. It can feature your book covers, a web address. Lots of options.
By all means, lay your books flat if you want, but if you prop them up on book stands, all the better. It raises them above the table and draws the eye. Simple picture frame stands work fine. I use iPad ones because they compact better for transport.
Have a series? Lay them out in order of reading.
Write in multiple genres? Organize them as such on the table. Makes it easier to direct the customer to what’s what.
2. Pricing
Big sales point. Offer convention-only pricing. I do ten dollars a novel, five bucks a novella. I make sure the customer knows the convention is the only place to get the deal. Get my stuff at a store or on-line and you’ll pay more. Everyone likes saving money.
You can also bundle your books. Have a series? Instead of three books at ten beans each, how about three for twenty-five? You can also do a buy-two-get-one-free thing. Whatever works for you provided you come out in the black all things considered.
3. Book Stock
Better to bring more books than necessary. Nothing worse than selling out and having someone want something. With time and experience, you’ll learn your top sellers and will stock up accordingly. For a first-time show, I recommend at least fifteen copies of each title. If you only have one book out, bring at least twenty.
4. Miscellaneous Items
Scatter bookmarks and business cards around your table. If someone doesn’t buy something, at least you can send them off with a card for a potential after sale.
5. You
Be courteous, be nice, give the customer the time of day. Don’t be a fake. Answer their questions honestly. Be active. Don’t squirrel yourself away behind your table. Say hi to people as they walk past. Smile. And, please, don’t do the lonely-author thing where you sit there staring at folks, the look in your eyes saying, “Please come talk to me.” Just be cool. Relax. With time and experience, you’ll find what works for you in your personable approach. Ultimately, be yourself. This isn’t a show.
There’s so much to expand on regarding the above, but space doesn’t allow it. Why not sound off in the comments below and exchange tips and tricks with your fellow authors? I’ll tune in when I can and do the same.
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Coles Bookstore – Kildonan Place – Signing Appearance
Just got off the phone with Coles Bookstore in Kildonan Place here in Winnipeg and locked down a signing for June 18, 1-3pm. It’s a Saturday.I’ll be signing copies of Mech Apocalypse and, if I have all my ducks in a row, my new zombie diary book, Zomtropolis.
Come one, come all.
See you there.
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Reflections on Working as a Full Time Writer
Reflections on Working as a Full Time Writer
General Thoughts:
Since about the spring of 2009, I’ve been working full time as a writer and publisher. There have been a couple out-of-the-house gigs here and there since 2014, but otherwise I’ve been on my own. Even after the past seven years or so, it still all feels kinda new. If you know my journey and all that went on behind-the-scenes, you know it hasn’t been an easy road, so to finally be able to live my creative dream after all those obstacles is surreal. There are days I feel like I’m doing something wrong; decades of being conditioned to think that all jobs need to occur at a place of business instead of in a home office still creeps into my brain once in a while. Calling my own shots and my own hours is something I’m still getting used to even after years of doing it.
On Working for a Living:
I’ve never been opposed to working for a living. I believe everyone needs to earn their own way through life and not live on handouts. To clarify, “earning their own way” is meant as don’t be one of those people who sit around all day or count every day as play time. A person needs to work and that doesn’t necessarily mean at a job-job. If you’re a stay-at-home parent, you have my admiration because I did the stay-at-home dad thing for a long time and know how hard it is to maintain a home plus take care of a couple rugrats. Actually, stay-at-home parents work harder than anyone else if you count all the tasks and stresses associated with it. They make a living for everyone else around them even though they don’t collect dollars and cents every two weeks.
The world owes you nothing.
Nothing.
If you want something, you have to go and get it.
On Living Without a Regular Paycheck:
My needs are small and, in recent years especially, I’ve become something of a minimalist in terms of being content and fulfilled by the basics: food, shelter, clothes, a means to work. All the rest is window dressing, and I don’t chase the dollar sign nor do I want a rich lifestyle. Heck, I go to some friends’ houses who are way more well off than I am and within a few minutes I feel out of place. Same with fancy restaurants or venues. I get uncomfortable. I’m good with my 110-year-old house with a crappy paint job and holes in my socks.
But in terms of working without knowing where the next paycheck is coming from, I’ve gotten used it and I’ve always been provided for even when I’ve hit lean times now and then. The basics have always been met and, at the end of the day, those are the most important.
Living without security has also taught me to ensure I get my butt in gear and produce books and items to keep those books selling which, when the payday comes, makes it even more rewarding than a guaranteed salary because I know had I not made the effort to move the books, I wouldn’t be able to buy my next box of cereal.
It was a hard leap to plunge into what was essentially the world of sales and commission. When you’re used to a regular 9-5 and have been brainwashed by everyone in your circle that security is the way to go, it was a challenge to start working without a net.
Nowadays, I like the thrill of the chase. Even as I type this, my June is up in the air monetarily speaking, but I know I’ll be okay once it rolls around.
On Community:
The greatest reward is the creative community I’ve plugged myself into over the years. If I were to corral the people together into categories, they fall into two major groups: my on-line horror buddies whom I spent hours and hours with over the computer back in the early days, and the second group is a local one I started getting involved with in the fall of 2014. (Social media killed that first one.)
Writing is an incredibly lonely job. It’s fun while you’re doing it and is best done by yourself, but when you’re doing all the peripheral tasks of independent publishing, it can get lonesome sitting there at a computer all day. Having a group to connect with now and then in the real world has enabled me to get out of the house and be an off-line human being. It has filled me up in ways digital connection cannot, and since I’m generally opposed to living my whole life on the Internet, has been quite welcome.
Final Thought:
I don’t know what the future looks like creatively-speaking. Truthfully, I don’t want to know. But what I do know is come the day I’m lying on my deathbed, I get to lay there and look back over my career and know I had a fulfilling working life doing what I love on my own terms. That’s something money can’t buy, is something I can take with me as I leave this world, and an example I can leave behind on what it truly means to be rich.
But for now, I’m content working as a full time writer.
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Two Weeks Until Midnight . . .
If I had an atomic clock that tracked via weeks, that is.In two weeks, The Canister X Transmission clock strikes midnight and Year Two of my author newsletter is complete. That will make it 104 weeks without a break, the newsletter having gone out every Saturday. On occasion it went out Fridays.
This Saturday, Issue 103 hits inboxes and I’d like to invite you to join all the others who’ll receive it. You also get a free e-novelette out of the deal: The Dance of Mervo and Father Clown, a creepy clown thriller.
Please use the box on the right to subscribe. Only takes a second.
Also note Issue 104 will be a double issue to celebrate the end of Year Two and you won’t want to miss out.
Year Three will begin in Issue 105.
Thanks.
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Adjusting Workflow Settings
Attempting a new workflow this week. It’s similar to the current one, but with some adjustments to increase productivity.When you’re independent, you wear a lot of hats and sometimes you think you took off Hat A to wear Hat B, but then soon realize Hat B isn’t fitting right because Hat A got glued to your head. Which then indicates there was an imaginary motion in taking off Hat A, and, worse, the delusion that you did until confronted with the reality the stupid thing didn’t come off after all. This applies to Hats C and D, E and F. G’s a pain, and H is an idiot. It gets worse because I complicates things and J is a jackass. K is ok, I guess, but L drives me nuts.
This is all just a complicated way of saying I got stuff to do and I need to do it and I have too many hats.
