Self Publishing – Page 2 – AJ Mullican, Author

(Not so) well read

Novel, Reading, Self Publishing, Writing

So Kindle has this thing where if your book is enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited deal, you can see how many pages a person has read if they have downloaded your book through Kindle Unlimited.

Somebody has been reading my book! But they’re not very far in…eleven pages one day, three the next, then nothing for a few days, then twenty-five pages yesterday. (And there’s no way to tell if it’s all the same person or different people, so I don’t know if the first two days were people who got bored partway through or if all three days read are the same person.) Still, even if they’re all from different people, at least one person got a good couple of chapters in yesterday. I’ll keep checking it to see if any more pages get read. I’d love to be able to watch as someone reads all the way through.

Still no reviews after my free promotional period, but I’m not surprised. A lot of people download books while they’re free then take their time reading them. I’m sure plenty of those nearly 600 people have lists of books that they want to read, so I’ll try to be patient.

Haven’t written anything new in the WIP, but I’m planning on possibly rewriting the beginning once I have a better idea of what my world is like. And now, more pre-surgery-shift Internet laziness!

Experiment, Day 3

Learning, Marketing, Novel, Reading, Self Publishing, Social Media

My experiment is more than halfway over, and I have come to the conclusion that perhaps a full five days of freeness might be too much.

I wanted to reach the largest audience I could, so I figured the longest available free promotion would be best. It’s looking to be an error in judgment right now. Though the book did quite well the first day and somewhat well the second day, yesterday (day 3) was something of a bomb in comparison:

The first day saw 227 copies sold, the second 144, but yesterday only 42 copies were sold. Granted, 413 copies is vastly more than any number I had reached prior (I think my previous record was six in one day, just after the launch), but how many will read it? I myself have gotten free books before and not read them. I have probably at least a dozen on my Kindle app waiting to be read, maybe even two dozen.

I’m not drawing any definitive conclusions until the five-day promotional period is done, but I’m thinking that five days is too long. Free for a weekend? Yeah, that’s a possibility. But free for five days? It’s not looking like there’s much interest anymore.

Today (day 4) there has only been one copy sold, but given that it’s only 1:15 in the morning we’ll just ignore that little tidbit and wait for more solid results later in the day.

As far as predictions for tomorrow go, it’s hard to say. Have all the people who were interested in the book gotten it already? Will some people see that “last day to get it free” tweet and scramble to pick it up while the deal is still going on? Who knows.

Past, Present, Future, and Beyond

Novel, Sci-fi, Self Publishing, Thoughts, Writing

Which type of fiction is most difficult to write, I wonder? Historical fiction? It certainly has its challenges. Researching for accuracy while trying to put your own unique spin on things. Trying to keep the nitpickers from tearing apart the tiniest anachronism. Taking what was and turning it into what might have been.

But what about urban fantasy? How would modern characters react to the magical and supernatural existing side-by-side with cars and cell phones and airplanes? How would the magical and supernatural beings react to existing side-by-side with these things? Did they always exist together? Were they recently introduced?

Okay, those are both tough subjects to write. But I’m not done yet. Futuristic sci-fi and dystopia? You’d have to take current events and let them play out in your mind, marching forward into a time that has not yet happened. Do those cars and cell phones and airplanes still exist? What, if anything, has taken their place?

Yeah, yeah, that’s all well and good–but high fantasy? World-building? I don’t know if I could even attempt that. Creating an entire world, sometimes an entire universe, from scratch. Sure, you can take bits and pieces of the past and present of our reality and combine them with the realities in your head to make a quilt that blankets your stage, but where to start? What do you use and what do you toss aside? How do you stitch the pieces together into a cohesive picture?

So what’s next for me? I’ve tried my hand at urban fantasy already. I’m too lazy to do the research for historical fiction. And I’ve already said that high fantasy is beyond me … so sci-fi it is!

Experimentation

Flash Fiction, Novel, Poetry, Promotion, Reading, Self Publishing

So, as I’ve established before (or at least I think I’ve established it here before), I suck at marketing for my book. I’m trying something a little different now, though.

I’ve actually set up a temporary free promotion through Amazon KDP for a few days, starting tomorrow. I’m trying to see if this generates any “sales” (yeah, they’ll be unpaid sales, but sales nonetheless) and if it gets the word out more about the book.

I don’t know how well this will work. I don’t know if there will be ANY sales during my promotion, but I figure since it’s not selling now, what am I really missing? At least this has the potential to get more reads, reviews, etc. Maybe some of my friends & coworkers who have said they’ll read the book will actually “buy” it? 😉

But what’s this? I’ve also put my poetry anthology & collection of horror flash fiction/short stories on a free promotional period as well? I must be crazy!!!

Or….I’m just lost.

We’ll see what the next 5 days brings.

By the way, here’s a link for my Amazon author page (where you can find all three books):

amazon.com/author/AJMullican

It’s already showing Whispers of Death as available free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers…I don’t know if I did something wrong (the promotion is supposed to start tomorrow), but what the heck. Here I go!

Throwback Thursday: Hostage in My Head

Mental Health, Poetry, Self Publishing, Writing

I don’t always post a Throwback Thursday, but when I do it’s usually art or poetry. Today, I’ve chosen one of my favorites out of the poems that I’ve written. It, along with other poems of mine, can be found in Kamikaze Butterflies on Amazon Kindle and in paperback on Amazon or Createspace. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PRGB1IM?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Trapped alone

Awash in a sea of terror

No escape from my own deranged thoughts

Impossible futures scroll through my mind

Over and over on a continuous loop

My mental movie screen glows

As the macabre fantasy plays unbidden

Death and disaster overtake reality

Can’t focus on the here and now

When the “might be” looms on the horizon

Against my will my death plays out again

For the hundredth time this hour

I watch my lifeless form slide to the ground

Shot in the convenience store

Pulled from the mangled wreck

Coded mysteriously at work

At the sight of my imagined death

My heart rate soars and pounds

There’s nothing beautiful and delicate

About the kamikaze butterflies in my chest

Every single nerve

Teeters on the edge of a precipitous drop

With a nightmare at the bottom

Just one nudge

One little push

And everything will come crashing down

I tiptoe on the inside

Walking the fine line between sanity and oblivion

Pacing the padded room within my skull

Inside I scream for a reprieve, for escape

Even for sweet, sweet nothingness

But my calls go unheeded

The nightmare begins anew

I am my own personal terrorist

And I am the hostage

Will the Grass Be Greener?

Celebrity, Marketing, Novel, Self Publishing, Writing

I’ve been given a great opportunity, and I wonder if/how it will pay off in the coming weeks.

A publication for the Phoenix, AZ, area is interviewing me about my book this weekend. I’m pretty excited, even though I got the interview because I work with the editor-in-chief at my day job, and I talk about my book all the time there (because fuck yeah! I wrote a book!).

I’m wondering if this will help increase sales any. They’ve been dismal for quite some time now that the die-hard fans (translation: some of my friends and coworkers) have already purchased their copies. I’ve gotten only a couple of reviews, but I am proud to say they were both five stars. I’ll stick that in the “win” column.

This also gives me hope for the next book. I don’t know what the interview questions will be, so I don’t know if I’ll even have the opportunity to talk about my work-in-progress, but if the first book sells a few more copies then maybe I have hope for the second book.

It feels weird to be on this side of an interview. I wonder if any of the bands or actors that I’ve interviewed have felt this way. Probably not the more well-known ones; they already have careers and don’t care if they get interviewed by me. But the indie bands, the actors just starting out? They just might have a inkling of what I’m feeling like right now. The excitement, the anticipation…it’s pretty cool.

I can’t let this get to my head, though. I wouldn’t have this opportunity if I didn’t have a “connection in the biz.” Still, it’ll be interesting to see what things are like on this side of the fence.

New Year, New Me?

Health, New Year, Novel, Self Publishing

It’s that time again! The past two years I’ve made a list of resolutions with decreasing success in accomplishing said list. The first year I did great; the second, not so much. This year, I’m keeping it short and sweet. I want to finish the first draft of my work-in-progress, and I want to eat less. Not necessarily “lose X amount of poundage,” but control my cravings and try to have small portions.

I’m hoping that by having a short list of resolutions I’ll better be able to stick to it. Last year was dismal, and I know it kind of started with the disappointment of the weight gain after the holidays and the snowball effect of being depressed about the weight gain, eating because I was depressed, more weight gain, etc.

There will be a few semi-resolutions, I guess. Make more friends, even if it’s just through social media. Try to learn how to market my book better so I can get more sales and have it reach a wider audience than just friends and coworkers (that was part of this year’s resolutions, but since I don’t think that anyone other than friends bought it so far I’m calling that one a dud). Come up with more ideas for my own original content/articles for Talk Nerdy With Us. Not really resolutions per se, as they were things I was wanting to do in general to begin with, but just some sort of goals to strive for.

I don’t want to make sweeping changes. Just some little things that will hopefully make life better in the coming year.

Resolutions revisited

Art, Cosplay, Crafting, Drawing, Exercise, Fitness, Novel, Self Publishing, Writing

It’s coming to the end of the year, and as I look at my resolution list I’m both proud and disappointed.

I not only completed the first draft of my novel; I published it as well. I exercised more (not much more, but more than last year). I published a few short stories and flash fiction stories. I sold a few art pieces. And I did more cosplay.

Some of the other resolutions, however, were less than successful.

I gained more weight than I wanted to lose. I didn’t get the tattoo that I wanted, but that’s a trivial thing. And thus far, my marketing sucks.

I’ll try for more realistic goals next year. Perhaps another rough draft? Developing an exercise routine? Who knows. I have a couple of weeks to figure it out.