How To Make A Living As A Writer. Part #2 Don't Compare, Compete & Create.

Part #2: Don't Compare, Compete & Create. 

Here we go again. You are over there, I am over here…we should so hang out. But there is a problem, you have a cool car and nice hair, I on the other hand… well don't. 

Sounds silly yes. But that is what a lot of Indie authors do. They look at what some other author is doing and their personal expectations go through the roof. H.M. Ward sells over 4 million in one year, CJ Lyons kills it and Bella Andre is unstoppable. So instead of writing because we love to write, instead of putting our heads down and working the plan we get caught up in the compare game. 

#1. COMPARE:

Avoid this trap if you really want to make money as a writer. Remember when you worked a regular job? Yeah, 12 $ an hour. Now you want to make millions and work 20 hours a week? Wait…you are telling me that you want to make more than a doctor, more than most any job out there and do it from your recliner? Seriously? I bet before you began writing if I told you that you could make ANY money writing you would have been blown away. So stop comparing. You are you, they are they. 

"Be content but never satisfied." 

#2. COMPETE:

If you had to choose an author that you feel is competing with you on a head to head level. Meaning that someone could buy their book instead of yours. If you name anyone besides a big name author like Tom Clancy you are missing the mark. I know this sounds like I didn't read the first part of this post but comparing and competing are different. 

I am competing with James Patterson. My covers have to be better than his, my eBook layout and print files must blow his away. Why are you trying to out sell some other Indie? I know that this sounds bad but most of the Indie published authors don't sell and they are panicked and fighting for the scraps. Don't even play in the playground. One thing people like Hugh Howie do is they are trend setters, they make new rules. 

Here are some questions you can answer to find out if you are competing against the big boys or not. If you answer YES to any of these you could be falling short. 

1. Did you make your own book cover?

2. Do you publish with Smashwords?

3. Did you do your own eBook conversion?

And if you answer NO to the following:

4. Do you have a Newsletter?

5. Do you have live book links in the back of all your books?

6. Do you change your keywords every month?

7. Do you have your book in Audio, Print?

8. Is your book in libraries? 

9. Do you spend money promoting your book? 

"You are only limited my your own fears, and or a lack of skill."

#3. CREATE:

We are all writers and creatives but sometimes this hurts us. We feel like we have to come up with the next best idea and write a book that is so out there that people stare and wonder at how smart and creative we are. NO! Look, it has all been done and take it from me, as a publisher one of the hardest books to sell is one that is different. Amazon and other stores have keywords and categories and if your book if so different that there is no place for it you can run into a wall. 

Tell a story. That is all you have to do. Most all chick flicks are the same and have been for years. Boy meets girl, they hate each other and something happens, they fall in love but one of them lied…oh no! The other finds out, they break up and there is music and flashbacks to when things were good. Now they get back together in the end and kiss in the rain or in the street. Guess what? They still sell! Sometimes being the same but different is a good thing.

"You are not special--if more parents told the truth, we wouldn't have American Idol." 

Making a living as a writer is easy as long as you can take off the writer hat and put on the business hat.  
Hope this helps and as always… nah I'll tell you next time.


Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

How to make a living as a writer. Part #1 Get over yourself

Part #1: Get Over Yourself 

I am sure there re many of you out there who want to write a book, maybe you have written a few and really wish your sales were up so you could suit the old day job. I can tell you from first hand experience I know what you feel, I got it, I am with you. In all, I understand the need for validation, and a big fat check to rub in the faces of publishers and maybe even a few friends.

This last weekend I went to a school/church function for my kids and saw a lot of old friends that I had not seen in years. The one question that I got asked over and over was: "So are you still writing?" I would nod and smile and wait for the follow up question. "So, you are doing okay? You are able to make a living?"

To this I nod again and smile. So far I have made over a million dollars with my books and yet most of my family has yet to read a single book, most my friends see this as a cute hobby poor Aaron does and hopes I wake up and get a "real" job so I don't starve. I figured by now I would be taken seriously but maybe that is like the old saying: A prophet has no honor in his own country.

To date of this post I have 12 novels published, I publish for over 40 different authors and between the 2 or so publishing houses I run/own I host over 100 titles. By the end of the year 2014, I'll personally have over 20 novels to my name and be once gain on the New York Times bestseller list and a few others. I say all this to help you. There is not a day where you see an old friend and they look at you with envy instead of pity. Writing is looked at as a hobby, a thing old people do before they die. So why should they think anything else?

Deal with it. I don't really care as long as I can pay my bills and go on vacations like I want. Forget validation. Heck, even the big 6 publishers, think I am some self published loser. No matter how many times I beat them to the punch I am "lucky" a flash in the pan. Maybe in 20 years when I am still around I'll get a nod instead of a look of pity. But I ask you, does it really matter?

Do yourself a favor and get over trying to impress anyone. We live in-between our ears and no one will ever be able to live up to how you think you rate. In short, you think and I think we/I am way more important than we really are. Shall we start by getting over ourselves?

You may be asking yourself, "What does this have to do with making a living as a writer?" To which I say, "Before you can learn you must get over the person looking back at you in the mirror." We all have to see that maybe our books don't sell cuz they are crap, or maybe they have the worst cover known to man, or maybe your poor book has a author attached to it that everyone hates! Get out of your own way. Most if not all the people that come to me for marketing advice rate in their own ways. To me I look at their branding or marketing and can in 5 seconds figure out why their book is not selling, but to them it is a huge mystery.

So to start this series I want you to look in the mirror and forget all the self esteem tapes, give up trying to impress anyone and say out loud. "I have no idea what I am doing. I am an average writer. I am not as important as I think, I need help."

If you can honestly say that, and believe it, you are on your way to making a living as a writer. You my friend can one day quit your day job and live your dream. Am I being mean? Maybe… but I really want to help.

Now as my part, in honor of this journey: I Aaron Patterson have no idea what I am doing. I am an OK writer and want to one day be a great one. I am not as important as I hope to one day be, to someone, anyone! I need help. A lot!

All I have to give is what I know. What I know is what I have done. And I promise never to do something that I personally will not do myself. This is trial and error, we learn by mistakes and if you want, I'll make some mistakes for you so you can have a smoother ride.

Join me.

Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

One Day sale! Breaking Steele! $1.99

Today Sunday the 20th I have my new thriller Breaking Steele on sale for $1.99 on Amazon. Check it out!

That is all.

To buy Breaking Steele click HERE


Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

Let's do the numbers! (3rd edition)

Let's do the numbers... Again

The Numbers! I know, so many writers are freaked out and never talk about this stuff and each year I let it all out for you to see. Why? So you the writer, who wants to make a living can really see what you can do, make plans and write to the income you want, not cross your fingers and hope you hit it big.

Many of you know about my "Amway" speech, it goes something like this: Find your averages. That is what do you make per title per month. Notice that I didn't say per unit? That is because in the land of eBooks it is about your per month income NOT your per book or unit income. This is where a lot of authors get mixed up.

If you make 1K per title per month you have to write how many books to make the money you want? It is simple math and I HATE math, but this I can do. So, even if your averages are low you can still make a living, it just means you have to write more books. Now, don't you feel better knowing what you have to do? Do you feel more in control? Good, that is the point.

Now that I told you all that lets go over the last year, see what this may look like.

My average per book per month is around 4.1k. This means that on 5 books I will make 50K per year per book. These averages are good, not the best I've seen but not the worst. This means in the book world I would be a mid-lister, and most mid-listers don't make a lot of money based on 12-15% royalties. But me? I can make a good living selling what in the traditional publishing world would only grant me a 4K per year check.

Now, in case you are just as bad at math as I am, here is the end of the year total. 250K off 5 titles. Not bad for a home-schooled punk huh...

Now, what if I want to make more, build and grow this thing. What happens if I have 10 titles at the end of the year? That means I make 500K per year. Now lets keep going, 20 titles, will put me at one million a year based on these averages. But I don't count for the rollover that will happen by having that many titles out. I should hit a million a year with 12-15 titles as the chance for one hitting big goes up and the fallout from that gives me a boost.

So you see, anyone can make money as an author. The key is to get away from the big publishing model, and reach out on every platform you can. audio, E, print, bulk sales, book clubs etc... if you think publishing is just having a print and eBook you are missing out on a lot of money.

This is like Amway, the more books you write, the more you make and with eBooks it can keep going, nothing gets old, update your titles every three years and you have a new book to sell to new readers!

Any questions?


Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

2013 my predictions and some off color humor.

Reading all these blogs about the new year, what people are planning on doing and in publishing what may happen in 2013. I was not going to say much on the subject as I imagined many blogs would say the same thing. To my shock and horror I'm seeing not only a lack of info on the subject but the ones I have read are way off base. Thus...you get me. lol

First off, I plan to lose a little more weight...hahaha!

What to do about Amazon...the big monster, the bad boy on the playground? We sure do love to build them up and tear them down don't we.

So far every blog I've read says that Amazon is going to go down in flames, B&N, Kobo and other sites are going to rise from the ashes and give them a run for their money. To this I giggle...snicker and break into a full laugh until my gut hurts and I am weeping!!! See I even used three !!! just to show you how funny this prediction is.

But Aaron, why do you say this? They have unhappy authors fighting bad reviews and all around they are big, mean and scary so they HAVE to go down.

I am sorry but Amazon is a baby company, just about to hit their stride and no one is in their way. B&N...who are they? Oh yeah, an old school store that has an outdated website with poor search engines. Kobo? I think I saw them on the side of the road chocking on Amazon's dust... They may be a player in 4 years but not any time soon, again, they only sell books, Amazon sells everything so they get more traffic. But wait, you didn't mention Apple.

Wow, nothing gets by you. I didn't mention them because in the eBook world they don't exist.

I guess I will mention Google only cuz if I say the word Google in my blog I might get something out of it. They put out an outdated eReader and are not user friendly. Enough said.

The simple truth is people go to Amazon to shop for EVERYTHING. They are bigger, have more stuff and ship fast. What is the downside?

Not only that but they have department after department dedicated just to eBooks. The rest treat eBooks as a sideline.

So my prediction is in 2013 there will be more of the same.
*Doom and gloom from the big 6, Indies will fall off cuz they don't sell due to bad writing and crappy covers.
*The big authors, indie and otherwise will get even bigger and to get noticed you will need to have money or be really good at building up a fan base.
*Next, Amazon will take even more marketshare and freak out just about everyone.
*B&N will shut its doors by the end of the year or get bought-out.
*Goodreads will open their doors and sell eBooks on their site and try to play the Amazon game.
*Smashwords will seal their doom as they continue to be marked as the place to go if you have no clue what you are doing. They are already known for putting out junk and as a publisher and want to be taken seriously, they are the mark of death.
*"Marketing your book" scams will explode as indies scramble and kill each other over the scraps.
*The rise of the small press will keep trending but many will fall away as they see that publishing is more than just listing a book online.

I could go on and on but you may want to know that most of this is good. Amazon doing better is SWEEEEEEET, it means we sell more books, make more cash and build a solid fan base. B&N going under is good because they refuse to change even though they know how. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. When they go down it will send a message that people just want a good book and they want it fast and cheap. Lol... that sounds bad but its true.

How can you end the year with a smile instead of a frown?

*Keep writing books. Most will get frustrated with their sales and quit, if you don't you will do better.
*Stop talking to doom and gloom people. One they don't know what they are talking about and it is just annoying most the time. Go get a massage or get arrested, live a little and stop infecting people.
*Learn, learn, learn. The big mistake with most indies is they do not learn. They want to be spoon fed and have no clue what business they are in.
*Be nice...people like and buy from nice people. I once did not buy a book even though I really wanted to read it because I didn't like the author, they were mean and grumpy so I skipped the book.
*Write more books.
*Build a newsletter, the best way to let people know what new junk you are selling.
*Write more books.... get it?

I am really excited for this year, big things are coming and if you are ready you will be sitting really good this time next year. So strap on and put on your big boy pants the ride is gonna be awesome!




Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

Michael (Book 2 in the Airel saga) One day push!

ONE DAY BLOG TOUR! 
MAY 17th!

Michael, book two in the Airel Saga, is live on Amazon TODAY ONLY for a discounted price!!

To promote Michael I’m hosting a contest where you can win a FREE copy of Airel and win a free Kindle Fire.

To take advantage of this awesome deal, head to Amazon and check out the eBook version of MICHAEL at its promotional price, then see below to enter the contest. Also, leave me a comment on this post. The blogger with the most comments will win the Kindle Fire! If I win, I’ll also get the chance to be part of a special giveaway in the next few months.

Praise for Michael


"Move over Twilight! Here comes Aaron Patterson!" --Joshua Graham, bestselling author of Beyond Justice and Darkroom


"I was surprised by how much I really, really liked this book. I have not jumped on the whole "fallen angel" bandwagon, just as I didn't jump on all of the vampire stories that came out after Twilight. This is not your typical fallen angel story. It is one that has left me breathlessly waiting for the next one in the series. Hurry up please!!!" --Sandra Stiles

Description of Michael


Michael did the unthinkable to save Airel from death, but now he must live with the choices he has made--both good and evil. Tortured by his past and haunted by what he believes might be his future, Michael seeks redemption--but will the past prove to be too strong? How can he break free of it and be the man he longs to be for Airel? If only he had never...

Airel. Michael's one true love. He had forced her to drink in new life only to find that old wounds and deep scars do not heal overnight. Can she truly forgive Michael, can she truly love him? And can he accept that forgiveness? Or is it all for nothing, and has he gone too far already? As the darkness of past choices closes in on them, chases them, intercepts them, coming at them from everywhere at once, how can their love possibly survive?

Aaron Patterson is the author of the best-selling WJA series, as well as two Digital Shorts: 19 and The Craigslist Killer. He was home-schooled and grew up in the west. Aaron loved to read as a small child and would often be found behind a book, reading one to three a day on average. This love drove him to want to write, but he never thought he had the talent. His wife Karissa prodded him to try it, and with this encouragement, he wrote Sweet Dreams, the first book in the WJA series, in 2008. Airel is his first teen series, and plans for more to come are already in the works. He lives in Boise, Idaho with his family, Soleil, Kale and Klayton. His daughter had an imaginary friend named She.


Chris White has an award for reading 750 books in one school year — from the 3rd grade. So yes, he’s more of a nerd than Aaron. Chris loves history, Sherlock Holmes, and anything that’s not virtual, like old motorcycles and mechanical typewriters. He also doesn’t get why we have these things called “smart phones” when all they do is make people dumber. Chris recently celebrated 10 years of marriage with his wife, April, and has two boys: Noah, age 8, and Jaden, age 3, who inspired the Great Jammy Adventure series; the OK-to-color-in picture books. Chris is working on a short story called The Marsburg Diary that will further explore the prologue to Airel, and he is finishing up his first novel, entitled K: phantasmagoria, due out in 2011. Chris has a major crush on Audrey Hepburn, who is now dead. His wife is okay with all of this.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

So what is up with Amazon Kindle Select?

The Kindle Select mess and #lameness to follow!

Warning...this is a rant, so I may not be the nice little author you know and love... oh wait, you all know me...never mind, carry on =)

I must be getting old or something, or maybe the rantings of well meaning writers just gets under my skin. Not that normal stupid people make me feel all warm and fuzzy, but is it me or does everyone think that they are so important as to think that we really matter in the game the big boys are playing???

Yes, as you can gather, I am in a MOOD.

So here is the deal: KDP Lending program, good or bad? IMO it is good if you know how to use it.

1. Use it with your special titles. Doubles, UNCUT books and books that do not sell well on other sites.
2. Stop the madness!!! Amazon would have taken over the book market long ago if they had the stones to do it... but I talk to them once a month or so and they are like a sleeping giant that thinks they are small and are just figuring out that they are small, but that they live in a ant world. Amazon is playing a game. Putting publishing imprints in place for the future, buying up authors to one day crush the publishing world. They could do it tomorrow but they don't realize how much power they really have. So, you can be "In The Family" or fight what IS coming.

What do I mean by this?

I mean, all Amazon wants is to make money. And to do that they have to keep authors and readers happy so they walk a thin line. They are not going to shoot themselves in the foot and piss off all the indie authors as they make bank on them. BUT they will kill B&N soon just like Borders and a new book monster will have to rise up to give them a fight.

Through all this we authors can still sell and sell well building a fan-base the whole time. But to make it sound like they are a big ol mean online bully is just writers getting all fussy cuz they want to whine about something. I know... I am harsh...

The other thing that makes me hot under the ugly sweater is authors that think the Big 6 care about little kidz reading! Oh and Amazon is just a money hungry so in so. You really thing the publishers care if a poor kid gets a book for Christmas? Really?

All they want is money, to sell you a book to make a dollar... the only difference between Amazon and the Big 6 is Amazon will pay you!!! Yeah I said it! They pay their authors and know how to sell a crap load of books! The publishers do not, they are out of touch, lost in the land of print and sucking their thumbs cuz eBooks messed up all the money they were making!

So what should you do?

first, stop looking for the bad news. Look at the new whatever it is... and do your research and try something new instead of running with the masses into a wall.

Next, stop thinking of yourself beyond what you are. Do you really think that your eBook and your huge sales is going to bother Amazon or anyone else? We are all small fish, not worth most readers time, so stop making it out like you and your book sales are going to go under cuz Amazon wants you to sell only on their site. Really... so you sell so many on B&N? I don't...so what does it matter... you don't hear in the news when B&N has "Exclusive" titles... they do! did you know that? They have eBooks (James Patterson) that you can only get on B&N.

Now let us all take a breath... suck in some air and realize that all of this is about the money. Publishers want to make it, Amazon and B&N want to make it and yes you little author want to make it... if you don't call me and I will make it for you and you can just write cuz you believe in the art.

Amazon is trying new things... that is why they do so well, they are not afraid to try something new and fail. If this lending thing does not work they will try something else. I know they were talking about giving 80% to authors that wanted to just sell on Amazon and decided to try this lending thing instead. So try it, if you make more money, great. if not, oh well, it is not forever... you are not selling your soul. I look at it as advertizing, what if the one or two books I put in the program lend really good and I can use the extra promotion to boost my other sales... you never know. And you will never know if you do not try.

This is just the start, soon B&N will want you to just sell a book on their site, and new programs will hit the market. Think about how it may help or hurt you, and don't worry about the world falling around you... you may not live to see it so lighten up.

and a note to the high brow authors that think NOT selling and getting awards is a mark of success... you will die alone with 5 readers who thing you are a god... but what good will it do the world? If you do not connect with the people you missed your mark. Books are written to be read, the mark of success is to reach as many people as you can and to leave them better off. What grand thing do you do if you do nothing because you are scared to act? I could care less if I get an award... the reader who emails me and says they loved my book is my reward. If you do not sell, don't turn it around and make out like it is cuz you don't want too... or maybe it is that you have lost touch with the people... but don't look down on the author that puts his or her heart on the line and jump in the big pond.

End Rant!


Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

How Much Should An eBook Cost? Part #1

How Much Should An eBook Cost? Part #1

This is a big topic in the writing world. Most readers are open to paying a higher price if it is a well known author, but who does not want a cheap eBook?

I will take a short amount of time over a few posts to talk about eBook pricing in the fiction world and also in the non-fiction world.

First, we need to look at how we SHOULD look at eBooks and price/value. To think of a paperback as a per unit price/value is fine. But to take your value as an author with a per unit price for an eBook, is just silly.

The Big 6 want us to believe that price=quality. But the low priced books, (Indie or not) have shown that this is not the case. Price=Price. I say that if you have a high priced eBook you are greedy and a mean person, or maybe just hate puppies and little children. This is the truth of the matter, if you are a big publisher and have high priced eBooks you are ripping off the readers.

The Big 6 say we have low quality and I say they are greedy. eBooks are cheap, they do not cost a lot to put online and take little to maintain or manage. Where is the cost? Anyway... I could go on and on about this and we will explore it later. What should an eBook cost? As a Indie what should you price yours at and is there a better way of doing things?

Here is what you want.

Highest number of units sold:

Highest return:

If one has to give way to the other, you are doing it wrong. In the eBook world it is monthly return, not a per unit price. Look at how much you make per book per month. Not what you make per sale.

It is all about Volume baby!

So you want to price your eBook at the highest price, and still reach the most people. With some books this is 9.99 and with others it is .99.

If you reach 1000 people a month at 2.99 but can make more money at 4.99 and only reach 500 people, drop it back to 2.99. It is not about the money, (that will come later,) it is about building fans. So, if your reach more people every month, and your numbers stay the same or go up, you are in a good price per person rate.

Now if you have a book that is dropping in numbers,(Ranking or number of copies sold each month) mess with the numbers until you can stop the bleeding. The goal is to keep your book sales and numbers up.

I will give you an example. One of my books I priced at 8.99. I sold about 200 copies a month. I dropped it down to 2.99 and now sell 400-600 a month, I do not make that much more, if any, but I reach more people. Now, I have tried to sell this title at .99 and at that price, still only sell 600 or less. So I found my sweet spot, 2.99 reaches the most people and makes me the most money. I would make a little more at 8.99 but would have to give up the people.

Again, remember that to figure out your value as a writer with eBooks, it is not about the price of the book, but the monthly income. If Stephen King sold 100k eBooks at 14.99 the big publishers see that as a win. But if he would do it the way I am telling you here, he could sell 1 million eBooks at a lower price and make more money and reach more people. There is no loser except for the big publisher.

For any of you out there that still think I am giving away all my value as an author, that I am short selling my work, well... I say, are you full time? Do you want a good monthly income or do you want to sell a few books at a higher price to keep your pride intact? After all, that is what this is... pride, you want to think that you are WORTH a good high per book price, so will you let your own pride stand in the way of your own success? Because once you EARN the right, you like SK and other bestsellers can get a higher price as the fans will pay it.

We new authors, the Indie people have to build a fan base first, after that we can do more as we will have the fans to carry it all... and we will talk about will they pay more once they are used to the low price later...


Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

The Idaho Book Extravaganza! This Weekend!

This is a post all about the Idaho Book Extravaganza this Friday and Saturday. Why post about this event? I will tell ya. First, it will change your life if you are a writer. Just ask many authors that attended last year.

You will learn about eBooks, marketing, publishing, agents and all sorts of other stuff that is relevant. So many book shows or writing conferences are so outdated that is is sad, no really, I cried at the last one that only had one class on social media and nothing about eBooks.

If you can make it please do yourself a favor and come. We will have Vincent Zandri, Estevan Vega, and some other amazing authors. Want to talk to an agent? We will have them, and it might surprise you what they have to say about the publishing world.

“Attending the Idaho Book Extravaganza was a life-changing experience for me. I heard about the event on the news, and the next day prepared a package of materials to take with me. I had been trying to get some of the big name publishers to view my CD and workbook for over fifteen years. The good news is that within four months had a newly packaged CD, and will be releasing my first book in the fall.
– Yvonne Rousseau, author Beyond Myself: Reclaiming Your Life After Sexual Abuse

I will link the details but here it is just for fun:

To Register click HERE

I hope to see you here.

Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

The Devil in the White City: Review and thoughts

There are a few books I find myself talking about. It is a must, a need and this is one of them. The title rocks, the cover rocks and the book... yeah, rocks!

I am not into historical fiction, I tend to go for thrillers and such. So this took me by surprise. It is full of some way cool history and written like a novel. If you like thrillers but like some meat as well you will love this novel. I plan to read Erik Larson's other books and I would tell you to do the same.

I really want to have a good reputation about what books I tell you all about. I want them to be amazing so after you read you feel like I gave you good advice and not just hacked out something lame to fill a blog.

If you have read this book, tell me what you thought...

About The Book

Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America's place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

"As absorbing a piece of popular history as one will ever hope to find." --San Francisco Chronicle

Reviews

The New York Times
“A dynamic, enveloping book. . . . Relentlessly fuses history and entertainment to give this nonfiction book the dramtic effect of a novel. . . . It doesn't hurt that this truth is stranger than fiction.”

Esquire
“So good, you find yourself asking how you could not know this already.”

USA Today
“Another successful exploration of American history. . . . Larson skillfully balances the grisly details with the far-reaching implications of the World's Fair.”

Chicago Tribune
“Engrossing . . . exceedingly well documented . . . utterly fascinating.”

Entertainmnet Weekly
“Paints a dazzling picture of the Gilded Age and prefigure the American century to come.”

Chicago Sun-Times
“A wonderfully unexpected book. . . . Larson is a historian . . . with a novelist's soul.”

People
“In a style that is suspenseful as well as entertaining, Larson shows us how both our highest aspirations and our most loathsome urges figured in the creation of the modern world.”

The Boston Globe
“Embedded . . . [with] treasures of description and anecdote. . . . Larson has crafted a work of excellence, not just suspenseful but historically informative in the best bedtime-story way. An ultra-satisfying read.”

The Denver Post
"Enthralling narratives that fully transport the reader into the past. An unqualified success."

About Erik Larson

Erik Larson, author of the international bestseller ISAAC'S STORM, was nominated for a National Book Award for THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY. He is a former features writer for The Wall Street Journal and Time magazine, where he is still a contributing writer. His magazine stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's and other publications.

Larson has taught non-fiction writing at San Francisco State, the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, and the University of Oregon, and has spoken to audiences from coast to coast. He lives in Seattle with his wife, three daughters, a dwarf hamster, a Chinese fighting fish, and a golden retriever named Molly.


Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.

Guest Post by CJ Lyons: Jack be Kindle, Jack be Nook: What you need to succeed in E-pubbing

Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you have seen the name CJ Lyons in the eBook and publishing new feeds all over the internet. She has a book in the top 10 on Amazon right now and made it to #2 beating out Lee Child. This is no small thing and as a blogger and writer I want to not just talk all about eBooks and the new way to publish, but I want to give you real life examples of other authors doing it.

We have seen Amanda Hocking, john Locke, Vincent Zandri and others all hit the Amazon top 10 list and what happens after that is always fun to watch. CJ was kind enough to grace us with a post so here she is... Thanks again CJ.


Jack be Kindle, Jack be Nook: What you need to succeed in E-pubbing

Aaron asked me to tell you guys how I got my start as an Indy author/publisher. It's one of those a funny thing happened on the way…type of stories.
You see, I initially sold to a major NYC publisher. That book, my dream debut, was a nice hardcover deal, a pre-empt, and garnered cover quotes from a dozen NYC bestsellers, including Sandra Brown. The editor wanted the sequel and it was already in the production line when the first book, my debut, was pulled from publication.

Why? Cover art--something I had no control over. But it meant my dream debut had crashed and burned.

I'd already made a leap of faith and left my medical practice after 17 years to pursue my life-long dream of being a full-time writer. And suddenly I was unemployed with no contract.

So what did I do? I kept writing. A few months later another NYC publisher came to me and offered me even more money to create a new series for them, which led to the Angels of Mercy medical suspense books. With the first book, LIFELINES, I became a National Bestseller.

I was able to pay my bills with my writing but I had several manuscripts that had undergone revisions and edits with NYC editors but never made it to publication for a variety of reasons--including those first two books. It nagged at me that these were books that had passed muster with NYC but the reading public would never see.
Then came Kindle. And Smashwords. And Nook.

Being a total cyber-klutz, I wasn't sure I'd be able to learn how to format and submit manuscripts, but with the help of Mark Coker's Smashword Guide, I mastered it. And so, by January 2010, I had four books on Kindle.

(new to e-book formatting? I made a short video walking you through the basics. You can find it here: http://www.norulesjustwrite.com/break-free-from-the-slushpile/)
I'd done my homework and read folks like JA Konrath who were true pioneers with self e-pubbing, but I was skeptical about his advice on pricing books at $1.99. So I priced mine between $2.99 and $4.99.

Then the Haiti earthquake struck. I decided since this was all an experiment anyway, I'd have nothing to lose by giving away my proceeds to Doctors Without Borders' relief efforts. In one month I sold 1800 e-books and was feeling pretty good about myself.

Even better was when the reviews began coming in. Not just from readers but from some wonderful bloggers who'd discovered my e-books.

I had several more manuscripts finished, so I hired a freelance editor who'd worked with NYT bestsellers and an artist to create new covers for all my books. By the end of 2010 I had eight books up, with fans clamoring for more, and was poised to make more in a year from my indy e-books than from my NYC contracts.

All this without any advertising other than listing the books on my website and including them in my monthly newsletter.

I continued to experiment with a variety of price points and for the first time ever, actually was able to track sales to see what worked and what didn't--something NYC publishing could take a lesson from! After discovering that one of my books, SNAKE SKIN, had great reviews but lackluster sales, I decided to experiment with giving it away in an effort to help it find its readership.

Giving away books has always been my main promotional effort. Before e-books, I would buy extra copies of my print books and mail them to my newsletter subscribers as special reader appreciation gifts. Now I routinely give away e-books and have built a Street Team of fans eager for a chance to read and review my new books.
(interested in how it works? You can find more info here: http://cjlyons.net/for-readers/join-cjs-street-team/)

Smashwords allows you to give a book away for free, but Kindle and Nook don't. So I set SNAKE SKIN for free on Smashwords and around three weeks later the free price finally propagated to Amazon. I woke up on Saturday morning to find 5,000 people had SNAKE SKIN on their Kindles.

Within 48 hours that number climbed to over 24,000 and at my agent's urging, I changed the price to 0.99. By the end of the month almost 40,000 people had downloaded SNAKE SKIN. Not only had SNAKE SKIN found its readership but sales of the rest of my books increased by 280%

I didn't like the 0.99 price as a full-time price because I thought it was "cheap" and under-valued my work. BUT as a special sale price it certainly was effective--gaining me new readers without losing me any money.

That was on a book that wasn't selling well. Could I risk reducing the price of my bestselling book, the one that paid the mortgage, from $4.99 to 0.99?

I decided it was worth a try. So for a limited time, my bestseller, BLIND FAITH, is on sale for 0.99. I don't know what will happen as far as long term sales, but in the first three weeks I've sold over 35, 000 copies, hit #1 on the Amazon Indie Bestseller list and #2 on the overall Kindle Bestseller list, so I'm pretty darned pleased.

What was the trick? I didn't do any big time promo for the BLIND FAITH sale. Just my normal newsletter and a few tweets and website/Facebook updates. So I can't take credit for this surge of sales.

I think it was a question of SNAKE SKIN already being on a roll, allowing everyone who viewed or bought it to see my name. Plus BLIND FAITH has a great cover and already had stellar reviews, so building on SNAKE SKIN's momentum was easier for it than an unknown book.

Could someone with only one book do this? Honestly, I think it would be very difficult. I'm learning that with online sales momentum builds more momentum until you reach a tipping point. You need plenty of books in your arsenal (I'd recommend at least 5-6) so that you can keep the momentum rolling from one book to the next.
No fancy tricks, no sleazy sales techniques, no expensive ads or trailers or sponsorships. Just readers who resonate with my brand of Thrillers with Heart and keeping an eye on my sales trends, ready to make those price adjustments when need be.

(in my mind, I imagine log rollers dancing across timber streaming down whitewater rapids—try that, NYC publishing conglomerates!)

Bottom line if you want to achieve success as an Indy: be nimble, be quick, be fearless. And never forget: it's ALL about the reader!

Thanks for reading!
CJ

About CJ:

As a pediatric ER doctor, CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge thrillers. In addition to being an award-winning, bestselling author, CJ is a nationally known presenter and keynote speaker.

CJ has been called a "master within the genre" (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as "breathtakingly fast-paced" and "riveting" (Publishers Weekly) with "characters with beating hearts and three dimensions" (Newsday).

Her newest project is as co-author of a new suspense series with Erin Brockovich. Learn more about her writing at http://www.cjlyons.net and find the tools you need to help you finish your novel and find your audience at http://www.norulesjustwrite.com


Author Aaron Patterson: Blog: The Worst Book Ever.