Only a moron would do otherwise...

As some of you may know, I have a series of YouTube videos aimed at helping my fellow authors - primarily focused on those just starting out in this business.

As such, I get the occasional questions about it - clarifications, things I may or may not have explained to their fullest etc.  One such recent question stood out, though.

"Hey Rick,

I'm enjoying your videos, but wanted to know what your thoughts were on mixing and matching some of your strategies. I've been reading different books on publishing and am trying to come up with my own mix of ideas to try.  For example, in video (redacted), you advise a person to (redacted) and (redacted).  So what if I only did the first, but not the second?  Would it still work?

- Newb Writer"

Thanks for reaching out, Newb. Glad to hear you like my videos. However, that happiness is greatly overshadowed by the despair of learning that my wisdom has apparently fallen upon deaf ears. The advice I give is to be followed to the letter. To do otherwise is to court disaster. In such case, all I can do is wish you good luck in striving for the mediocrity you are sure to fall short of.

ps: It's Mr. Gualtieri if you don't mind.

Okay, so maybe that sounds just ever so slightly egomaniacally assholish  Not to mention just a wee bit arrogant, too, eh?

Well, the sad truth is it's not too far from some stuff I've been seeing out there lately. Maybe most aren't quite as obnoxiously direct about it, but I've been seeing an awful lot of advice posts lately, some from really big sellers, that essentially boil down to "Here's the way I do it, only an idiot would do otherwise."

We're talking topics such as whether or not to join Kindle Select / Kindle Unlimited, formatting, all the way down to whether or not you should *gasp* dare to write a prologue.

Forget my videos. If I have even one bit of advice to give it would be run, don't walk, whenever anyone veers onto any topic (outside of maybe professional editing, good blurbs, or covers) where they offer opinions such as "Anyone who takes this business seriously would never...", "No true professional would ever...", or just outright telling you you'll fail if you do otherwise.

There is no one true path to success in this industry. Heck, even repeating someone else's process to the letter doesn't offer any guarantees that you'll ever sell a single book. The reality is that perhaps the only universal factor that successful authors have in common are compelling stories that have found their audience. How they may have found that audience, however, differs as much as New Jersey weather from day to day.

That's not to say you shouldn't seek help. Far from it. I've found the Indie author community to be full of generous people willing to share their strategies and advice. And the truth is some of that advice can go a long way toward tipping the odds in your favor.  For example, Mark Dawson's, excellent videos on Facebook marketing have paid off for a lot of authors (myself included).

The thing is, in the above example, while he does caution against some strategies that haven't worked for him, he never insinuates that success is impossible if you go against the grain.

That's the stickler for me. Some find their path and then conclude that all other paths lead straight off cliffs into a lagoon full of crocodiles.  That is simply not the case.  We each have to find our own path to success in this industry. And often times that means following many different maps, lots of them leading to dead ends, until we hopefully blaze a trail to a better place.

Once there, though, we should have the hindsight to realize that others can't or won't follow in our exact footsteps - or that sometimes it doesn't even make sense for them to try. However, that doesn't mean they won't eventually find their own way.

Success is a dessert with many different recipes and all of them taste just as sweet.

Make Your Weekend a Wicked One!

I am pleased to announce that...

THE WICKED DEAD (The Tome of Bill 7) has been released in all of the major ebook markets.

Paperback and Audiobook versions will follow shortly.

There are reasons we fear the night. Now he must become one of them.

Bill Ryder has a powerful destiny. He just never expected it to involve an amnesiac bloodsucker, a bunch of D&D dorks, and a hormonal witch. It's time for the gamer, geek, and legendary vampire to embrace his fate. Ordered to storm the vampire stronghold in Boston, Bill must approach the doorstep of the invincible undead warlord he's destined to face. It's his only chance of stopping Armageddon.

As his enemies stand in his way and his allies falter, the vicious beast inside of him wants out. If he stands tall and faces his fate, the world might just have a chance of surviving. If he fails, an unquenchable evil will destroy everything Bill knows and loves.

Why can't the end of the world ever be easy?

The Wicked Dead is the seventh book in the Tome of Bill saga, a series of foul-mouthed horror comedies with a nasty overbite. If you like bloody fight scenes, geeky in-jokes, and breakneck-paced action, then you're gonna love the penultimate chapter in The Tome of Bill series.

---

THE WICKED DEAD
Available Now For:
Amazon Kindle
Amazon UK
Apple iBooks
Google Play
Kobo
Smashwords

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Help spread the word and enter for a chance to win autographed paperbacks!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Wicked Dead - make sure your weekend is a wickedly good time!

Dec 11th is going to be a Wickedly Good Day!

I am pleased to announce that...

THE WICKED DEAD (The Tome of Bill 7) will be released on Friday, December 11th, on all the major ebook outlets.

Paperback and Audiobook versions will follow shortly after.

There are reasons we fear the night. Now he must become one of them.

Bill Ryder has a powerful destiny. He just never expected it to involve an amnesiac bloodsucker, a bunch of D&D dorks, and a hormonal witch. It's time for the gamer, geek, and legendary vampire to embrace his fate. Ordered to storm the vampire stronghold in Boston, Bill must approach the doorstep of the invincible undead warlord he's destined to face. It's his only chance of stopping Armageddon.

As his enemies stand in his way and his allies falter, the vicious beast inside of him wants out. If he stands tall and faces his fate, the world might just have a chance of surviving. If he fails, an unquenchable evil will destroy everything Bill knows and loves.

Why can't the end of the world ever be easy?

The Wicked Dead is the seventh book in the Tome of Bill saga, a series of foul-mouthed horror comedies with a nasty overbite. If you like bloody fight scenes, geeky in-jokes, and breakneck-paced action, then you're gonna love the penultimate chapter in The Tome of Bill series.

Until then, here's another small taste of things to come...

---

Christy convened a closed session upstairs with her sisters to bring them up to speed on our findings from the Jahabich lair. With the Templar keeping guard outside and the Defilers off ... well, supposedly defiling barnyard animals, it seemed like the perfect time for the mages to do so without interruption and with minimal people overhearing.

Mind you, minimal didn’t mean nobody.

With the magical freakiness over for now, my roommates and I moved the furniture back into the living room so as to relax a bit. The large living space just so happened to be conveniently located right beneath where Christy and her coven were talking, allowing me to pick up everything being said above a whisper while pretending to engage my friends in some idle chitchat regarding who would win in a fight: a platoon of Sith warriors or the X-men.

Sheila joined us soon after, having gone to check in with Sister Bernadette, who’d set up a Templar command center in – where else – the kitchen.

“How’s it going with the holy rollers?” I asked, having just crushed Tom’s argument by pointing out that Jean Grey and the Phoenix Force could fuck up Emperor Palpatine six ways to Sunday.

“Not bad. They’re a bit on edge, but putting them on guard duty is helping to distract them from the distaste most of them are still feeling.”

“Teaming up with me?”

“It’s not just you, but yeah.”

“Maybe we should pass the collection plate around,” Ed suggested. “That always seemed to work when I went to Sunday mass as a kid.”

“I draw the line at confession,” Tom joked.

“Believe me, nobody wants to hear that,” I said idly, focusing on the conversation at hand since all Christy seemed to be doing upstairs at the moment was passing around the photos I’d taken of the Jahabich-be-good spell. “Although I’m sure Sally would have some snide comment. Speaking of which, where is she?”

“Still outside, I think,” Sheila said. “She drove Bernadette and me up. When we got here, she said she wanted to take a walk, scope out our perimeter.”

“I bet that was a fun ride.”

“It was ... uncomfortably quiet.”

“Sally? Quiet?” I asked. “I can see Sister Dumpling not wanting to lower herself to speaking to garbage such as us, but I’m having a hard time picturing Sally not getting in every dig she could.”

“Yeah,” Ed agreed. “She’s never been shy about her opinions.”

We shared a glance, which I broke off quickly. He and I still had one hell of an uncomfortable discussion ahead of us. I couldn’t pretend forever that he hadn’t noticed my feelings for Sally had changed ever so slightly. As one of the few folks in this world I considered a true friend, I’d need to come clean at some point, albeit that could certainly wait until after we discovered whether we’d live or die in Boston. Death was potentially the best plausible deniability excuse of them all.

Thankfully, the awkward moment was shattered just then as Blasphemy! psychically reverberated throughout the house.

I refocused my attention back upstairs. Yep, Christy had gotten to the White Mother and what a bitch she really was. Things were finally getting interesting.

“What are they talking about?” Sheila asked.

“Huh?”

“You’re eavesdropping, aren’t you?”

“Um...”

“Every few seconds, your eyes lose focus. Also, you tilt your head so your right ear is facing upward.”

“I do?”

“He does?” Tom echoed.

“Yes. Don’t you guys ever play poker? Bill’s tells are obvious from across the room.”

“Yep,” Ed replied. “Hence why I always win.”

I pointed at him. “You said it was just luck.”

“I lied.”

“Ass.”

“Don’t change the subject,” Sheila chided. “Are you listening or not?” My silence was apparently a confession of guilt because she added, “So spill.”

“Dude, are you listening in on my girlfriend?” Tom asked.

“Fine. Yes, I’m listening.”

“Have you ever done that before?”

“On occasion,” I admitted.

“Like what about when we’re doing it in my room?”

“Oh, fuck no!” I lied. Truth was, it was kinda hard to tune out. Tom liked to pant “oh yeah, baby” over and over again like he was in a bad seventies porno. Try sleeping through that shit.

“And no,” I said, turning to Sheila, “I don’t listen to you guys either when you’re downstairs in the shower.”

She blinked a few times, her expression blank. “I didn’t ask.”

“Yeah ... well ... in case you were wondering.”

---

The Wicked Dead - coming December 11th, 2015.

Masks & Mysteries - a chat with EM Kaplan

I recently had the privilege to sit down with the awesome EM Kaplan. For those of you not in the know (for shame!) she's an award winning Fantasy and Mystery author and an all around epic Tweeter.  Seriously, if you're on that social media platform, you should be following her. Anyway, I asked her to discuss her newest release, her mystery series, and what we can expect from her next and she was good enough to not immediately file a restraining order ... yet anyway.

Take it away, EM...

---

You recently released Unbroken, the 2nd novel in your Rise of the Masks series. Tell us a little bit about it and why you think people will enjoy it.

As the story begins, we see Mel and Ott (the main characters from the first book) setting sail with a rag-tag band of misfits to try to help a young woman find her younger sister. The two sisters have been separated by events out of their control (which happens in the first book). The cultural climate of their world is evolving—it’s on the brink of industrialization—but an array of throw-back, old-world gods and monsters explode on the scene, disrupting the course of change.

Unbroken has the same cast of lovable, fascinating, and occasionally deadly characters as Unmasked, plus a couple of new ones. If you haven’t read book one, the second book has a little prologue that will help you get some context. I don’t think you’d be lost if you haven’t read the first one, but I admit I’m the kind of reader who likes to start at the beginning.

What sets Unbroken apart from other books in the fantasy genre?

I call this series epic fantasy because it has all of the markers of that sub-genre of fantasy—magic, swords (or axes, daggers, and spears, as the case may be, because I’m not all that swordy…I’d rather be a mage or a rogue), it’s set in an unrecognizable world, and it has the potential to be long. But the truth of the matter is all the world-building and plot mechanics are secondary. Characters are most important to me.

Ott, the berserker, isn’t just the muscle of the group. He also has a sense of humor, a checkered past, and a few self-esteem issues. Readers should have a good idea of how he’s going to react when a buxom barmaid, Daisy, tries to jump him—but also be surprised when he acts in an unexpected way that still makes perfect sense.

Mel is a strong person with powerful abilities—but also with a major social disability. She’s a failed Mask—Masks don’t show their emotions—so she hasn’t interacted much with normal people. Yet, she’s making her way in their world…finding friends and her own kind of fantasy Cheers-level acceptance. Go ahead, I know you want to sing the Cheers theme song now.

Well, yeah. Who doesn't want to be in a place where everybody knows your name? You’re also known for your Josie Tucker Mysteries. As someone who can neither write nor solve mysteries, I envy you greatly. Tell me a little bit about your mindset and process for setting up the plot and the clues for readers to follow.

I’m interested in the dumb things people do for smart reasons. And the smart things people do for dumb reasons. Although I’m fascinated by forensics shows on TV, I don’t really want that level of scientific detail in my books—there are plenty of good puzzles lying around caused by personal motive and opportunity.

On the other hand, I’m a terrible liar. My face is like glass, and the same goes for my writing. So if I’m trying too hard to manipulate plot kinks and red herrings, it’s going to crumble apart. Sometimes the most ridiculous situations are caused by the simplest things.

I didn’t answer any of your questions, did I?

Not really, but I'll just assume that's another mystery I wasn't meant to solve. :)  Do you ever wonder if you’re giving away too many or too few clues for someone to figure out whodunit?

Yes. All the time on the “too much” side. Sometimes the clues aren’t even in the body of the book. Shhhh. I’ll say no more.

You're killing me here. Okay, moving on ... Mystery or Fantasy?  Is there one you enjoy more?  Is there a genre you’d like to write in, but haven’t yet?

I like both mystery and fantasy—but my mysteries have found an audience quicker than my fantasies. Sadly, fewer sales might mean a longer wait before I wrap up the Rise of the Masks series. I write two books a year, and 2016 might be the Year of Two Josies. We’ll see… I have some other books half-written, but any more genre-switching might require a pseudonym. Marketing books in different genres is exhausting and sometimes confusing for readers. It’s probably better to stick with one genre. Then again, I’m an indie writer. I make the rules. Kind of.

Tis the blessing and curse of being an Indie Author.  Speaking of, which authors do you enjoy / have inspired you. Favorite book from each?

I really dug Neal Stephenson’s Interface. A lot of people didn’t like that book because it’s a social rant, a political farce. It was West Wingish before West Wing was around. I’ve read Interface a few times, but not in the last decade. Yet, it still comes to mind first.

Then there’s Agatha Christie’s The Man In the Brown Suit—a quieter, more romantic one of her mysteries, atypical because it doesn’t star either of her famous detectives.

And Jane Austen’s Persuasion, which features an older, more mature heroine…also atypical of the author. Are you sensing a pattern here? I never noticed that before.


My friends tease me because I rant about how I read A Game of Thrones not long after it came out. (I was working in a book store.) And I brought it to them to read. It’s a modest claim to fame in my small circle of nerds.

When did you begin writing?  If you could contact your fledgling author self, is there any advice you’d give her?

I used to write in the middle of the night when I was a kid—maybe nine or ten. I’d use a flashlight and a pen and notebook. If I met little Emily, I’d say, “Good job, Pem. But could you stop training yourself to be an insomniac?”

Wait ... Pem?  Okay, maybe we'll save that for next time. Gotta leave a mystery author a little mystery in their life. What’s next for you?

I’m writing a Josie Tucker Christmas story—I have a free Halloween story about her on my blog. I agreed to write Valentine’s Day and Easter/Spring stories with her, too. Maybe I’ll collect them in a book eventually. When my day job quiets down over Christmas break as it always does, I’m diving into the next full-length Josie Tucker novel, tentatively titled, The Cut-Throat Coed.

Do you base your characters on people you know?  If you woke up tomorrow in the world of Rise of the Masks, do you think you’d get along with Ott and Mel?

For the most part, I try to create characters I wouldn’t mind knowing. But if I woke up in Mel and Ott’s world, I’m not sure if I’d approach them. They’re a center-stage kind of people. I’m definitely a behind-the-scenes person. However, Ott has an older sister named Jenny, who I think would totally be BFFs with me.

And now for a little fun. You wake up tomorrow with the power of a Mask.  Tell us a little bit about your new powers and how you would use them in your day to day life. PS: It’s okay if some of the things you’d use them for aren’t exactly legal.  We don’t judge. 

I’d like to think I’d use my powers for good and not evil—I’m mostly good with a side of chaotic. So I might have a Gandalf-caliber light show over my house during the holidays. I’d get a lot of enjoyment out of doing good things for the people around me…I know what you’re thinking, with this level of ambition, I should probably go live in the Shire with the hobbitses.

Nah, not at all.  Like I said, I don't judge ... even if I'd probably use that power to immediately set up a secret lair and rename myself Doctor Doom.

Thank you so much, EM! It was a pleasure having you here.

---

Award-winning author, EM Kaplan, was an 80s kid, spoonfed on six channels of a VHF dial TV. She grew up reading Agatha Christie and Edgar Rice Burroughs in rural Arizona where there were no sidewalks but plenty of tumbleweeds. A former wannabe spy, trombonist, toilet-cleaner, beginner ninja, and subversive marketeer, she currently lives in the frozen north with her husband, author JD Kaplan, kids, and dog.

Learn more about EM Kaplan at:
Her Webpage
Amazon.com

Rating the Publishing Platforms - part 2

In Part 1 we took a look at the major ebook stores that authors have options to load direct to when / if they decide to go wide. It's not exhaustive by any means and I apologize if I missed any that you might have interest in. However, the list presented is typically considered the major players in the field.

Now, though, let's expand upon that and take a look at some other popular options for authors looking to branch out.


Smashwords (Smashwords & Aggregator)
Setup 
Pluses: Lots of options offered for categories, formats, and keywords. Accepts many different formats for upload. Friendly for those who know Word, but not how to create an ebook.
Minuses: Their meatgrinder tool can sometimes produce odd formatting. Feedback for their premium catalog can be difficult to understand. Timing to reach their other channels can be highly variable. Ugly, not particularly user-friendly interface.

Maintenance
Pluses: Quick updates to the Smashwords store.
Minuses: Updates to their aggregated stores aren't always quick. Some of the stores themselves are frustrating to update or remove. Confusing interface between the various dashboards.

Marketing Resources
Pluses: Coupons and permafree allowed. Affiliate program is offered.
Minuses: Smallest of the stores. Difficult to market in. Sales and payment reports can be confusing.

Overall Grade: B-
For a time Smashwords was the go-to ebook aggregator for many. These days, it feels eclipsed both as a storefront and an aggregator due to its dated look and feel.

Draft2Digital (Aggregator)
Setup 
Pluses: Lots of options offered for categories, formats, and keywords. Accepts many different formats for upload. Friendly, easy to follow interface. New options for adding introductory, promotional, and biographical pages to your books. Tooltips offered to guide the user through the experience. Allows access to some ebook stores that are difficult to get into otherwise.
Minuses: Time to publish at the various other stores can be variable, but is generally pretty quick.

Maintenance
Pluses: Quick updates to books, as well as updates for the various specialty pages they offer.  Email support is generally considered pretty good.
Minuses: Updating requires republishing to external stores, which again can be variable for timing.

Marketing Resources
Pluses: Not a store in of itself, but allows for customization via search keywords and bisac categories
Minuses: N/A.

Overall Grade: A+
As picky as I can be, I find very little to dislike about Draft2Digital as a platform.

Createspace (Paperbacks)
Setup 
Pluses: Offers both a guided step-by-step setup, as well as a streamlined "expert" setup for CS veterans. Once setup is complete and everything is approved, can be easily linked up with your ebook on the Amazon store.  Formatting, cover, and other additional services are available for a fee. Multiple options available for ISBNs for all budgets. Downloadable templates and guides are available.
Minuses: Mandatory wait times for files and covers to be checked for print-worthiness. Make a mistake, and you could be waiting up to 24 hours to fix it. Their additional services tend to be pricey for what you get. Can often do better shopping around for freelancers.

Maintenance
Pluses: Relatively easy to update. Digital proofer works as a pretty good substitute for actual print proofs for minor updates. Owned by Amazon, so shares their good customer service.
Minuses: Several options are locked once you publish. Need to change trim size, paper type, or ISBN then you'll need to retire your old book and start from scratch.  Subject to the same time-out period as initial setup.

Marketing Resources
Pluses: Options for creating a Kindle version directly from CS.  Expanded distribution options for other storefronts and libraries.
Minuses: Expanded distribution often requires in a price increase, making long books expensive for consumers. Creating a kindle edition from CS can result in an ebook of iffy quality. Typically not considered a viable outlet for true wide distribution as CS does not work like other print wholesalers. Questionable value of expanded distribution.

Overall Grade: B
The go-to place for indies when it comes to paperback options. Expanded distribution is iffy, so might be best to utilize CS for the Amazon marketplace and Ingram Spark for expanded distro as a long-term strategy.

Ingram Spark (Paperbacks)
Setup 
Pluses: Offers a guided step-by-step setup. Industrial, but functional design. Tooltips offered for ease of setup. Hardcover options offered as well as lots of trim sizes.
Minuses: Pricey if setting up multiple books. However, they do run sales throughout the year, so it's recommended to keep an eye open for those. Not nearly as user friendly as Createspace.  Considered an advanced took for paperback distribution, so best to do one's research before diving in to set up books.

Maintenance
Pluses: Minor updates such as pricing and meta-data allowed from their tool.  Revisions can be made as well, but are not free..
Minuses: Revisions are not free. Can get pricey with multiple books.

Marketing Resources
Pluses: Options for selling to book sellers who otherwise will not do business with Createspace.
Minuses: You are treated as a publisher, which means you assume risk and responsibility for returns (not really a minus for someone pursuing this business seriously, but more a word of caution).

Overall Grade: B-
A great service, but probably better for those who are more advanced in their indie author career. For those just starting out, Createspace is recommended.

ACX (Audiobooks)
Setup 
Pluses: User friendly setup. Multiple options for finding narrators. Multiple pricing options for paying for narrators. Different options for distribution offered. Exclusive distribution offers access to Audible, iTunes, and Amazon storefront.
Minuses: Stipend system is a crapshoot. Graduated royalty system abolished in favor of set 40% royalty scheme.  No control over pricing. Can be pricey depending on quality of narrator. ACX has a long review period, sometimes several weeks, between your approval of a book and it actually being put on sale. Audible distribution term lasts for 7 years.

Maintenance
Pluses: Fairly quick customer service.
Minuses: Once an audiobook is approved, you're pretty much done. Cover changes can be made, but must be done via contacting their customer service.

Marketing Resources
Pluses: Some tips are offered. A fairly robust market if one can tap into it. Audiobooks are linked to ebooks and print on Amazon, offering expanded visibility.
Minuses: ACX offered very little in the way of marketing services. Their financial reporting is fairly obtuse. Often difficult to calculate what royalty one is receiving until such time as one is paid.

Overall Grade: B
If more competitors enter this field, this grade could easily be lowered. For now, though, they're the go-to outfit with regards to cracking the quite-large audiobook market.

Rating the Publishing Platforms - part 1

The advice often given to new indie authors is for them to start on Kindle, via the KDP Select service, before branching out wide. The logic there is multi-faceted: KDP is the largest ebook store, they offer good tools to build a readership, and it's usually easier for a new author to focus on one platform at first - so as to learn the ropes.

When the time comes to branch out, though, this can be a terrifying proposition as, just when you think you've mastered one platform, you need to start again from scratch elsewhere. In actuality, going wide usually means learning multiple storefronts at once.

Many will turn to aggregators for this task - Smashwords and Draft2Digital being the two most prominent. The upside there is learning one new platform, which will then seed other platforms for you. The downside, you're paying a percentage of your sales for them to do so.  In some cases, this might also result in a bit less control over your marketing efforts than going direct allows. And, well, sometimes you get control freaks like me who just want to have their hands in all the cookie jars.

As you may have noticed, the bulk of my books are currently enrolled in Amazon's Kindle Select program, meaning that they're exclusive to Amazon until such time as my commitment to them ends.  However, this is a fairly recent development for me. Before this Fall, I had been wide with my distribution, with multiple years of experience on the other platforms. As a result, I wanted to give my thoughts to any fellow authors who may be considering branching out. While I don't claim to know it all, I've experienced a good chunk of the plusses and minuses the other major ebook platforms have to offer. Before we get to the rest, though, let's tackle the big dog...

KDP (Amazon)
Setup 
Pluses: Loading a book to the KDP platform is a pretty simple process, guided by FAQs and tooltips as you go. There are lots of options to fill out, but options are typically a good thing as they offer you more opportunities to customize your experience and hopefully find your audience.  KDP allows uploads in multiple file formats. There's even a tool to suggest optimal pricing for you once you're ready.
Minuses: The category options given to you don't necessarily match up with what's on the Kindle store, which can be frustrating. Once you hit submit, there's a typical 12 hour delay before you can make changes again.  Make a typo on anything and you'll be sitting there helpless to do anything until your book unlocks again.  During peak hours, KDP can slow down considerably.

Maintenance
Pluses: Making changes to a book is a relatively painless process once you know the system. If you have any issues, KDP customer service is typically both fast and helpful.  You can use Amazon's Author Central website to make updates to your book description without worrying about the KDP tool lockout period.
Minuses: Author Central can occasionally be a little buggy with regards to formatting, sometimes necessitating multiple updates to get a book page to look right.

Marketing Resources
Pluses: Hands down, Amazon offers authors the most tools for marketing.  There's KDP Select marketing opportunities, Author Central's ability to further customize your book page, Shelfari for adding additional details to your book, and Amazon Associates to help you both market and earn some additional income. Sales reports can be customized and run at any time. Author Central accounts can be established at Amazon's various international storefronts too.
Minuses: Amazon can be a little stingy when it comes to data sharing. Once you use a platform like Facebook Advertising, Amazon's feedback can feel rather sparse. Creating a permafree book requires a price-match to another platform. Many of Amazon's on-site marketing options require the 3 month exclusivity of Select.

Overall Grade: A
Amazon is the 600lbs gorilla in the room. Though some have a love/hate relationship with them, they are constantly evolving and adding new services. Their desire for exclusivity, however, can be a turnoff for some.

Nook Press (Barnes & Noble)
Setup 
Pluses: Nook Press offers multiple dimensions for setting up a book, including the ability to edit your manuscript on the fly.  There is also space for editorial reviews to help further market your book to your fans.
Minuses: Nook's cover requirements can be a little frustrating. They require certain dimensions, but a low overall file weight - which can lead to having to load a highly compressed cover. HTML highlighting isn't allowed in their descriptions, taking away that ability to customize one's page. Their previewer can be both buggy and slow. Nook Press offers additional services for a charge that are outsourced through Author Solutions, a paid-to-publish company of dubious reputation.

Maintenance
Pluses: Making changes to a book is typically painless. One simply needs to edit or update a new manuscript and hit the publish button.
Minuses: Nook Press can be slow during peak hours. There is no feedback provided as to when an update will hit their site. Barnes and Noble's customer service does not have a particularly good reputation when it comes to helping their clients.

Marketing Resources
Pluses: Nook Press offers the ability to modify your categories and search keywords. Up to five categories are allowed for each book. They also partner with the Rakuten network for an affiliate program. Editorial reviews are allowed to help customize your book page.
Minuses: Sometimes keywords will disappear from their engine. The keywords allowed are also of potentially dubious value given the small character count and amount of books on their site. The Rakouten network is not the easiest affiliate program to use. B&N's website itself often puts far greater weight on big publishers than they do independent books. Will not price match permafree, can only do this through an aggregator. The future of Nook itself is questionable.

Overall Grade: B-

B&N's online platform is quite mature, but often feels like an afterthought compared to Amazon's. Their continued financial woes make it questionable how sustainable they are in the long-term. They still have a large and loyal following, making them worthwhile, but they are rapidly losing their place as the Pepsi to Amazon's Coke.

Kobo Writing Life (Kobo)
Setup 
Pluses: Kobo Writing Life offers a platform that allows one to enter a book's details quickly in a step by step manner. There are additional author services that one can purchase through them, such as cover art and editing. However, these are a relatively new addition. Unfortunately I don't have much data on these so it might be best to approach them with a degree of skepticism.
Minuses: No ability to enter search keywords. While their engine is pretty good about accepting files, error messaging can be somewhat esoteric. The wait time between when one hits the publish button and a book actually appears on their site can be highly variable.  Their cutesy loading messages get old quickly.

Maintenance
Pluses: Making changes to a book is typically painless. One simply needs to edit or update a new manuscript and hit the publish button. Though their email support leaves a bit to be desired, members of their executive staff are online at various author boards and are often enthusiastic and helpful.
Minuses: The online help doesn't seem to be updated all that often to match changes to their platform.

Marketing Resources
Pluses: Kobo often runs sales and will reach out to indies to participate in them, leading to potential opportunity. Permafree is allowed.
Minuses: The lack of search keywords can be maddening. Lots of trial and error is required and even then the results can be questionable. Their ease of loading and updating a book is negated by the frustrating experience of trying to build visibility in their store.

Overall Grade: C-

Kobo is full of potential, but I wonder if that potential shall ever be realized.  It it probably the most frustrating platform when it comes to attempting to gain traction.  Though they have a dedicated and passionate staff, indie success stories from them seem to be few and far between.

iBooks (Apple)
Setup 
Pluses: A relatively thorough interface (through iTunes Producer) to upload books, their details, and pricing.
Minuses: You either need to own a Mac, know someone who owns a Mac, or rent virtual time on a Mac to participate. In the year 2015, when everyone else offers a web interface, this is a fairly ridiculous requirement. ITunes Producer's error messages are often useless with regards to figuring out formatting issues. Sometimes with a new release Apple will completely revamp iTunes Producer, thus requiring one to figure out a whole new interface.  Uploading can sometimes be slow.

Maintenance
Pluses: iTunes Connect (website) can be used for basic maintenance of descriptions, pricing, sales, distribution.
Minuses: iTunes Producer is required to update manuscripts and cover art. iTunes Connect can be buggy at times, depending on browser.

Marketing Resources
Pluses: Apple allows permafree and also offers an affiliate program. They also reach out to authors for marketing pushes and sales. Apple is a solid company and iBooks is considered a good potential growth vehicle for indies. Books created through iBooks Author can be enhanced with additional media capabilities, potentially making them more attractive to customers.
Minuses: Another platform with a lack of search keywords. Outside of their marketing pushes, it can be difficult to figure out search optimization and visibility on their platform. The web interface for their affiliate program leaves a bit to be desired. Can be difficult to find their affiliate program if not bookmarked. If not chosen for one of their pushes, it can be difficult to gain traction in their store.

Overall Grade: B
Would be a B+ if not for their ridiculous requirement to utilize Apple equipment. Nevertheless, I would consider them a serious contender in the ebook space. If you can gain momentum in the iBooks store, it can offer significant growth opportunities.

Google Play (Google and Android)
Setup 
Pluses: Lots of options offered, with tool tips to help.  Google is often quite fast to add a book to their catalog.
Minuses: Lack of a discrete keyword section (seriously Google?). Keywords can be entered into the description, but this isn't obvious.  Google automatically discounts EVERYTHING. Their pricing is maddening because this can lead to unintended price-matches from Amazon and others. Requires a lot of trial and effort to get pricing down correctly. Uploading cover art and ebook files isn't obvious. Probably the most frustrating of the major platforms to master.

Maintenance
Pluses: Quick updates to the Google Play store once new info is entered.
Minuses: 

Marketing Resources
Pluses: A growing market. Search can be fairly robust once it's figured out. Allows permafree.
Minuses: Aside from search and sales options, not a lot in the way of marketing. Tends to be a dead platform for pushes from other marketing platforms such as Bookbub. Prices can be changed at Google's whim. Reviews appear to be aggregated, but unclear how this works.

Overall Grade: B-

Google Play offers equal parts potential and frustration. Some days they appear to be a viable competitor and on others they seem to exist to do little more than be a fly in Amazon's ointment. It's a good market, but carries with it potential for lots of headaches as well.

Next post: I'll take a look at some of the other platforms (Print, aggregators, and audio).

The Wicked Dead - Teaser 1 and Cover Reveal

THE WICKED DEAD (The Tome of Bill 7) is coming.

I am pleased to share both the cover and the first teaser from this, the penultimate chapter in The Tome of Bill series.

The impending end of the world is weighing heavily upon Bill Ryder and things are looking worse than ever. His partner Sally has been mind-wiped. His friend Christy is on the verge of going postal. And his roommate Ed is seemingly on everyone's hit list.

And that's just the start of Bill's troubles. He's been tasked with the impossible - taking down Vehron The Destroyer, an ancient vampire so far out of his league that Bill is going to have to completely rewrite the playbook to have any hope of winning. And that's not even counting the scores of other enemies - both new and old - that he'll have to get through if he's to stand even one chance in Hell of surviving to see tomorrow.

Action, adventure, and a whole lot of snark awaits. Who says Armageddon can't be fun?

---

Roughly two hours later, I stepped out of the cab onto one of Newark’s main drags. The streetlights were still lit, which told me this place probably was hanging on pretty well. The ride hadn’t been too bad either – a little slow, and we’d had to take the long way as the bridges from Staten Island to Jersey were closed off. Fortunately, the roads were otherwise mostly clear. The world might be going to shit, but it was still in its early stages. We hadn’t yet reached a point where the highways were littered with cars full of people who’d decided to just pull over and die right there.

Don’t ask how much the whole thing cost. Let’s just say I was glad that nobody was stopping by these days to ask for a rent check. Thankfully, I had planned the trip in advance and had left home with a pocket full of bills – albeit probably not enough to get me home again. Oh well. I’d cross that proverbial bridge when I came to it.

My plan of action was simplicity itself: try Dave’s apartment and then, if that didn’t pan out, make my way to the hospital where he once worked as a resident. Dave was a smart guy, but a shitty doctor – at least when it came to bedside manner. However, the hospitals were doubtlessly overflowing with patients these days. They were also home to a generous supply of bagged blood. I was pinning my hopes especially on that latter. If so, maybe Dave was still responsible for saving lives and not taking them. It was a longshot, but in these crazy days hope was the one commodity that was still free.

I hiked several blocks toward my first destination – noting the rapidly deteriorating state of the neighborhood as I went. No wonder my cabbie hadn’t wanted to go any further.

Dave’s apartment complex wasn’t exactly in the upper crust section of the city to begin with, but it had previously been safe enough for a group of guys to gather for a weekly D&D game. Now, though, I could easily envision the rest of the group not so politely bowing out of the game. I saw burnt out buildings, graffiti proclaiming the end of the world, and bizarre scratches in the sides of some dwellings. All of it combined into a sense of being watched. If I hadn’t been an unholy creature of the night myself, I’d have said fuck it and found myself a nice, well-lit place to loiter until the sun came up.

But I was a vampire, more so, I was a Freewill – a special breed of vamp with powers above and beyond the rest of the rabble. Or at least I kept telling myself that as I struggled to maintain my new outlook on life. Let me just say, it’s one thing to stand in your own bathroom and proclaim you’re gonna face your fate head-on. It’s quite another when you’re walking through what looks to be the set of a fucking John Carpenter movie.

I thought back to my early days as a vampire – remembering how Sally had told me that appearance was ninety-nine percent of everything in the world of the unliving. If you acted like a victim, you’d be torn a new asshole. If you walked in like you owned the place, your chances of seeing the next sunset were much better.

Heh, the Sally living downstairs from me wasn’t so different from the one I’d first met, I mused as I turned down the block where Dave’s old apartment lay. I mean, weren’t they in the same boat, essentially getting to know me from scratch?

No, that wasn’t true. Despite Alex mucking with her brain, she was a different person from those days – a lot less likely to cause a bloodbath just because someone was walking too slow in front of her. Well, maybe not a lot. Either way, she had definitely changed. In some ways, it was hopeful because...

The thought scattered as something hit me from behind with the force of a small truck. Before I could open my mouth to cry out, I was airborne – flying across the parking lot leading to Dave’s place. The blow and subsequent landing – allowing me to experience the gentle tug of the scarred asphalt against my face as I skidded to a halt – would have been more than enough to stun most humans or worse. Pity for the asshole who blindsided me, I wasn’t a...

More like pity I wasn’t allowed to finish that thought. A pair of hands grabbed me roughly by the back of my jacket and hauled me to my feet. I was spun around and shoved into the wall of the building. Just then, the scent of vampire caught in my nostrils, something I should have noticed earlier rather than getting caught up in Sally daydreams.

“You’re more than thirty minutes late,” my attacker growled. “We get a free pizza and your life.”

Huh? The attack had caught me by surprise, but I was otherwise relatively unhurt. Whoever this asshole was, he was either a newb or didn’t realize who I was. It was going to cost him.

Make that them.

I looked up to see two more figures join the first. Though the darkness couldn’t conceal them from my eyes; they were all wearing masks.

They rushed forward and I took a wild swing at the nearest. My fist connected with a solid *clonk* of flesh meeting metal as I realized too late this one was actually wearing a medieval-style helmet – a pretty decent replica if my bruised hand was any indication.

Regardless, the blow got the job done. My attacker went down – a big-ass dent in the middle of his faceplate.

“Motherfucker!” a muffled voice cried from within.

Something about the cadence caught my attention and I hesitated for a second, allowing the other two to close the distance and attempt to pin me. The one on the right wore a green knit ski-mask, with Cthulu-esque tentacles hanging off the front. The other stared at me through the rubber face of a Cyberman. All the fight went out of me as I realized that I recognized their headgear.

No wonder the voice of Sir Dipshit had sounded so familiar.

I was being attacked by my own D&D group. Guess I’d missed more games than I realized.

---

The Wicked Dead - coming late Dec 11th, 2015. 

Teaser 2