• Tag Archives Publishing

  • Laying Low

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    This site has been fairly quiet as of late. Part of it has to do with a change in personal schedule, the other part being I don’t have much to report on a platform like this blog right now. Lately, my on-line efforts/time has been spent on Twitter and in my weekly newsletter. Like my last post said, I’m having a great time writing a newsletter and am really enjoying its potential for communication with readers. It’s my current method of bringing my thoughts to the virtual page and sharing it with you guys. I suggest signing up for it–it’s free–as a means to a) keep in touch with me more regularly and, b) to receive information on things pertaining to the writing life, publishing stuff, life stuff and other stuff.

    Been also juggling multiple projects so am in kind of a working season where not much is going on publicly but with stuff happening beneath the surface. It’s been awhile since I’ve had so many irons in the fire, but as it is with these things, it takes time to complete each one. So, yeah, in work mode, in figuring-stuff-out mode, and am just plugging along.

    Been thinking about my publishing schedule for this year and how it might need to be changed to accommodate some other life changes that are happening. We’ll see how it all pans out, but, of course, I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, I’m going to be laying low for a while as I get things done because in the end it’s getting the work done that matters. However, I’ll still be active on Twitter and, as I’ve been pushing, in my newsletter.

    Like they say, watch this space.


    📂This entry was posted in Stuff Writing 📎and tagged

  • Having Fun Writing a Newsletter

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    I’m having a blast writing The Canister X Transmission. Just yesterday I sent out the seventh issue. It’s weekly and I’m having a ball. I think it’s the idea of publishing something new each and every week that appeals to me. Unlike blog entries, a newsletter is something that is “sent out” as opposed to just posted. Sure, some people get my blog posts via email, but a newsletter is meant to go out, be read, possibly even shared.

    I’d like to invite you now to sign up via the signup box on the right hand side of this site. It’s free. You can also visit the newsletter’s page at Tiny Letter to read back issues and see if it’s for you. I hope so. I try to make them interesting. They’re not terribly long either and only take a few minutes to read. I cover musings on the writing life, some fanboy and pop culture stuff, writing updates, and publishing and marketing tips.

    I also got a master file going in which I write out each newsletter first. The plan? Why, make a book out of them, of course. I’m thinking of doing it annually, so 52 newsletters per collection. Might even craft a bonus newsletter that you can only get in the book.

    Hope you sign up. It’s a fine method of communication and I’m having fun doing them. Likewise, if a particular issue speaks to you in some way, you can reply to it and let me know your thoughts.

    Thanks.

    See you on the list.


    📂This entry was posted in Newsletter 📎and tagged

  • Publishing Isn’t Free

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    Publishing Isn’t Free

    Pen and keyboard publishing isn't free

    Raising Capital for Your Book
    by A.P. Fuchs
    (from Getting Down and Digital: How to Self-publish Your Book)

    Publishing books costs money. Like the saying goes, you’ve got to spend money to make money. There’s no way around this. Thankfully, desktop publishing has dramatically cut that cost down and instead of having to spend thousands of dollars up front like in the old days, you can publish your book for less than a couple hundred on the low end, or a thousand or more on the high end.

    This book shows you how to publish your book for around $200, give or take a little depending on what you hire out when producing your book and where you live.

    Keeping up with the spirit of this book, which is starting out with little to no money like I did, let me make a few suggestions as to how to raise that $200 if you don’t have it saved already.

    – set aside a set amount every payday so you can publish your book in a timely manner

    – if things are indeed tight and nothing can be spared, then consider getting a temporary part-time job to cover the expenses of book publishing

    – if your book is complete, write up a synopsis of your book and take pre-orders from family and friends. This may be tricky, however, if you don’t know how to price your book. See the section on pricing for more info

    – have a yard sale

    – start a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign at www.kickstarter.com

    – sell off your unwanted CDs, books, records, etc. to stores that specialize in those items

    Of course, there are many other ways to fund your project but the above are a few suggestions. After all, publishing isn’t free.


    📂This entry was posted in Articles Self-publishing 📎and tagged

  • New Newsletter: The Canister X Transmission

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    Some of you may recall the old Canister X Newsletter, which ran a long time ago for five or six issues. It was published monthly and contained a pile of stuff that I didn’t include on my blog. I’ve always liked the idea of a newsletter and have been toying with the idea of starting a new one for quite sometime now.

    Well, that time has come.

    The plan is to send it out every Saturday. It’s called The Canister X Transmission, and will be a place to transmit my thoughts on what’s going on, musings on the creative life, fanboy randomness, with a publishing or marketing tip at the end. It’s good for writers and artists, but you don’t need to be one to sign up. If you enjoy peeks behind the curtain or just want to get stuff from me more regularly, this newsletter is for you. Yes, there’ll be the occasional promo thing–that’s just how these things are–but I’m not going to spam you with sales pitches. I just want a fun way to stay in touch with my readers and those interested in hearing more about making stuff up for a living.

    You can find the signup page here.

    First issue goes out this Saturday.

    Thanks.


    📂This entry was posted in Newsletter 📎and tagged

  • What Happened with my “Retirement”

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    Without giving the finer details, the bottom line is one thing happened: I crashed.

    Crashed and burned.

    In some ways I’m still burning.

    It was a cumulative thing, years of being a one-man band publishing house and a writer. In my career since 2004 I published over a 100 books for other people plus around 30 of my own never mind some comic projects. Most of them were since 2009. That’s a lot for any person in terms of all the work involved for each project plus all the work the administration and logistics side of things demand. It basically got to the point where I was spending so much time running the business that keeping up with my own writing was difficult.

    I’m grateful for the career, to be sure, and have learned many lessons and made many friends along the way, but it became too much.

    I realize it was all self-instigated as I wanted a career in this business so badly I was willing to go the distance to get it. I’m like that: willing to move mountains to get what I want. A good trait and bad, depending on how you look at it.

    But last year was a turning point. Leading into the summer I buckled down hard and produced a bunch of titles, five of them personal, the bulk of the writing for them being done on top of everything else. I started pulling away from the business before then but after the C4 Comic Con in the fall, it became too much. That’s when I totally burned out. Still tried working through it, but if you’ve ever gone through a burnout, you know how hard it is.

    Fast forward to the beginning of February this year and a traumatic personal event happened that rocked my world and led to a three-day panic attack with trouble breathing, violent shaking and a complete meltdown and, well, given the circumstances, I had to shut everything down completely.

    Only so much one man can handle.

    About a month and a half later is when I restarted some things, having finally got some stuff sorted out, but in the end, what happened was beyond just being overworked.

    It cut deep, it got personal, and the only choice given all that happened was an utter pulling of the plug.

    I feel bad and I know I let some people down. I’m sorry for that. Was never my intention for things to fall apart. Thought I could handle it all.

    I was wrong, and I’m so very sorry.

    So here we are, still in recovery mode, trying to get some stuff done from a new perspective and a new stance on the type of work I’m willing to get behind. There’s a spiritual component to all this as I’ve preached on here before, and for years I struggled with the type of material I was putting out. See, I wanted this job so bad I made certain compromises to get it. I’ve been writing since 2000, and having been aiming for a career in the creative field since 1995, first comics then books. The obstacles and trials I’ve been through to make it happen–I could tell you stories. Things finally came to a head in February and I had to make hard choices.

    I suppose in the end all this only adds to my writing and publishing experience, having now added “complete shut down” to my resume.

    I’m in a rebirth stage right now, still sorting through things, still wrapping up loose ends.

    It’s my hope that–because all this book stuff is such a public endeavour–my years of working in the small press and the reputation I’ve built will be enough to help cover this bump in the road.

    It’s also my hope this entry has helped those who looked on and wondered what was going on get some clarity as to what happened. I hope those I let down will cut me a break and we could still be friends.

    I hope that as time passes and life goes on, we can all look back on this and say, “It was a wild time, but we’re in a better place now.”

    Thank you to those who’ve shown support along the way. Thank you to my readers for reading my material. Thank you to my friends in the business who helped make me the writer and publisher I am today.

    Thanks for listening.

    Onward.


    📂This entry was posted in Stuff 📎and tagged

  • Simply: I’m Back

    Posted on by A.P. Fuchs

    Last week I began reinstating some of my titles, starting what could be considered my fifth era in this business, my Mark 5, so to speak.

    Those in the know would tell you the reason for my retiring was a valid one, but upon reflection, prayer and consulting with others, I’ve stepped back into the world of writing and publishing.

    However, this time, things will be different. As said, this is my fifth era in terms of how I do things, and it’s going to be a much simpler one. One of the problems with the last method was its complexity. Most of it was complicated by its nature, and the rest was made complicated by me, but since publishing is always about learning, I discovered how I did things before brought on its share of headaches and issues. Not the publishing part, but the administrative side.

    The main thing that will underline what I plan on doing going forward is to keep things as simple as possible in as many ways as possible. Going back to basics here, and since 2014 already marked a change in my career in terms of stepping down as publisher, it’ll also be a year in which I fly below the radar in a lot of ways. I plan on just keeping my head down and working, only surfacing from time to time to check in, see what’s what, then step away again.

    One of the main points of my retirement notice was my plan to go into full time Christian ministry. That’s still the plan in that I want my writing work to glorify God and not use it to glorify myself. I might miss the mark now and then, but Jesus is the center of my life so while I’ve made mistakes and had my ups and downs, I want my career to reflect my love for Him.

    There are still some Mark 4 items that I’m wrapping up, but after the end of April at the [hopefully] latest, it’ll be Mark 5 all the way.

    For my titles, I’ve brought a good portion of them back–books and comics–but my monster and horror stuff is gone. Those made up about half my catalog, but I’m okay with letting them go. What does light have to do with darkness, right? As for anything else I might bring back, we’ll see.

    I learned a lesson recently in that I was invited to submit a horror story to an anthology in 2013, the story due end of January/early February of this year. I had a very, very hard time writing it. It was around 13,000 words or so on the third draft, if memory serves, but it was a difficult write and I mentioned to my wife as I wrote it that I just wasn’t into that stuff anymore. That story won’t be published and I pulled out of the anthology when I posted my retirement notice. My heart’s changed and horror and monsters are no longer my thing. A pastor I spoke to recently said it best when he said I was a dispenser of fear.

    It’s true.

    I was.

    I don’t want to be that anymore.

    I have plans for what books I’ll write this year and I really hope to do some comic stuff, too, as I love them so much.

    This blog will be updated now and then, but with what, I’m not sure. I might go back to a schedule, I might not. I really like this idea of simply working.

    Simply.


    📂This entry was posted in Stuff 📎and tagged