Eight chapters so far, but I'll be posting a new one every day until the whole book is posted. To avoid the wait (or just for convenience) download the whole book for your e-reader from Amazon for just 79p (99c).
Science fiction and space exploration. See news, progress reports and special offers on novels in the growing Astronomicon Universe.
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
#Sci-Fi Fans: #Free Chapter Every Day!
Eight chapters so far, but I'll be posting a new one every day until the whole book is posted. To avoid the wait (or just for convenience) download the whole book for your e-reader from Amazon for just 79p (99c).
Monday, 28 October 2013
What's a good number of novels in a series?
We've all experienced trilogies, quadrilogies and even longer series of novels. Some authors only ever write standalone individual books, others love to write larger stories - sometimes a LOT bigger.
But what do readers like?
There's a lot of advantages for an author, especially an indie author, in writing a series as it can really help with the marketing side of things. It allows the author to pour most of their marketing effort into the start of the series in the sensible hope that most readers of the first novel will go on to buy some or all of the rest of the series. Obviously that relies on a good first novel.
The big weakness with that plan is that your first novel is most probably the worst one you'll ever write. Book 3 will probably be a much better novel as you will have honed and polished your writing skills, but readers prefer not to enter a series part way through. If your first novel is good, you are on safe ground, but if the first in the series is the weak link it can kill sales of all the others.
So what's the solution? Some people recommend writing two or three novels and just throwing them away, but I would never advise that. Your first novels are not only necessary to improve your creative skills but also to sort out the skills and help needed to edit and finish your novels. Attempts to promote those novels will also teach you a huge amount about the market, advertising, sales blurb, making contacts and how to use social media to promote your brand. You're going to make mistakes, probably a lot of mistakes, and it's much better to make those mistakes on your early books.
Save your best efforts, once you've learned some of the tricks of the trade and how to avoid the many pitfalls, for your later books. This is a circular thing as the tips you learn from attempting to market your first couple of books can also help you plan and write your later books. Whilst it's nice to think of writing something new within your genre, you also need to not stray too far from what readers in your genre expect. Feedback can be especially important here, and you won't get much feedback if you don't publish anything.
So how does this all work together?
Well the detail is very much up to you, but I would advise writing a couple of standalone novels first. It's the best way to learn and they will be most helpful to practice your marketing skills, building a following and making some useful contacts. With all you learn from that experience, crack on with a series.
Some genres are better suited to a series of novels than others, but within Fantasy, Science Fiction and Thrillers, a series will usually be well received by readers and you will benefit from increased sales.
Follow me on Google+ or Facebook for more.
But what do readers like?
There's a lot of advantages for an author, especially an indie author, in writing a series as it can really help with the marketing side of things. It allows the author to pour most of their marketing effort into the start of the series in the sensible hope that most readers of the first novel will go on to buy some or all of the rest of the series. Obviously that relies on a good first novel.
The big weakness with that plan is that your first novel is most probably the worst one you'll ever write. Book 3 will probably be a much better novel as you will have honed and polished your writing skills, but readers prefer not to enter a series part way through. If your first novel is good, you are on safe ground, but if the first in the series is the weak link it can kill sales of all the others.
So what's the solution? Some people recommend writing two or three novels and just throwing them away, but I would never advise that. Your first novels are not only necessary to improve your creative skills but also to sort out the skills and help needed to edit and finish your novels. Attempts to promote those novels will also teach you a huge amount about the market, advertising, sales blurb, making contacts and how to use social media to promote your brand. You're going to make mistakes, probably a lot of mistakes, and it's much better to make those mistakes on your early books.
Save your best efforts, once you've learned some of the tricks of the trade and how to avoid the many pitfalls, for your later books. This is a circular thing as the tips you learn from attempting to market your first couple of books can also help you plan and write your later books. Whilst it's nice to think of writing something new within your genre, you also need to not stray too far from what readers in your genre expect. Feedback can be especially important here, and you won't get much feedback if you don't publish anything.
So how does this all work together?
Well the detail is very much up to you, but I would advise writing a couple of standalone novels first. It's the best way to learn and they will be most helpful to practice your marketing skills, building a following and making some useful contacts. With all you learn from that experience, crack on with a series.
Some genres are better suited to a series of novels than others, but within Fantasy, Science Fiction and Thrillers, a series will usually be well received by readers and you will benefit from increased sales.
Follow me on Google+ or Facebook for more.
Monday, 21 October 2013
Read a #free chapter every day
Here’s an excellent new way to read Astronomicon: The Beginning
(1st novel in the epic sci fi series). Starting today I will be posting a
free chapter every day until the whole book has been posted.
You can read the first chapter here. If you like it, please take a second to vote for it. It would be really nice to see some votes to go with the good reviews.
You can read the first chapter here. If you like it, please take a second to vote for it. It would be really nice to see some votes to go with the good reviews.
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
What's the best price for an e-book?
It's still selling at its current price of $3.99, but just not achieving the numbers I need. Although I am making slightly more money from selling fewer at the higher price, this has serious repercussions when you assess the whole series. Just over half the people who buy book 1 go on to buy book 2 (Distant Relatives) and almost all of those go on to buy Book 3 (Those Left Behind). Overall, lower sales of book 1 means less people get introduced to the series and I lose out.
There are so many factors to take into consideration when choosing a price for your novels and sometimes the only way to find out for sure is to try out the variants and see what works best for you.
If you want to find out more, try this article.
Wednesday, 21 August 2013
Progress on the Celtic Conveyor #3D #Model
It’s been a while since I posted a progress report on the
Celtic Conveyor design. I'm really not getting much time to work on it,
but Sketchup is such an easy package to use that it doesn't take much
effort to put complex things together. Even without a concerted effort, the design is moving on at a decent pace.
More structure has been completed, all 24 cargo pods and now most of the upper deck too. The upper deck, known as the “Command Deck”, the focus of this shot above, houses the bridge, operations room, senior crew accommodation and the captain’s cabin and office.
This full-length shot clearly shows how almost two-thirds of the vessel’s length is taken up with the cargo pods, each almost 8 metres hight, 20 metres long and over 13 metres wide. Although the accommodation for passengers is a significant part of the vessel, it is at heart a freighter.
Another view of the accommodation section, from the rear. This highlights how much smaller the command deck is than the passenger deck. Behind the main airlocks on the passenger deck you will find the recreational and medical sections of the vessel. Due to voyages from Jupiter to Earth taking upwards of six weeks, the vessel, must include all facilities necessary to occupy and care for passengers and crew for the duration. This includes a sports hall, small gym, exercise area, doctor’s surgery, infirmary and comprehensive pharmacy.
More structure has been completed, all 24 cargo pods and now most of the upper deck too. The upper deck, known as the “Command Deck”, the focus of this shot above, houses the bridge, operations room, senior crew accommodation and the captain’s cabin and office.
This full-length shot clearly shows how almost two-thirds of the vessel’s length is taken up with the cargo pods, each almost 8 metres hight, 20 metres long and over 13 metres wide. Although the accommodation for passengers is a significant part of the vessel, it is at heart a freighter.
Another view of the accommodation section, from the rear. This highlights how much smaller the command deck is than the passenger deck. Behind the main airlocks on the passenger deck you will find the recreational and medical sections of the vessel. Due to voyages from Jupiter to Earth taking upwards of six weeks, the vessel, must include all facilities necessary to occupy and care for passengers and crew for the duration. This includes a sports hall, small gym, exercise area, doctor’s surgery, infirmary and comprehensive pharmacy.
The End is Nigh!
.jpg)
Until Sunday you will still be able to download this 360+ page quality science-fiction novel from Amazon US for 99c (please check your local Amazon for the equivalent price in your region). Almost all devices can handle this e-book, including Kindles, PCs, Android devices and even iPhones and iPads.
"3 Space craft, 240 colonists, 25 trillion miles and an unexpected discovery that changes everything.
Classic science fiction that will appeal to fans of Arthur C. Clarke. Astronomicon: The Beginning follows the human race’s intrepid first steps into interstellar space, a colonisation mission to Proxima Centauri. The colossal distance and harsh environment are not all that stand between them and survival.”
Click here to find out more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)