Unique

March 26, 2018 Guy Pace

Unique

Here’s the trouble with writing something different, unique. As I try to get reviews and marketing attention for Sudden Mission, Nasty Leftovers, and Carolina Dawn, I often come across the question “Are these like the Harry Potter books, or The Hunger Games?”

Uh. No.

And, that’s a problem. I can’t piggy-back off the success of other authors by claiming if you like The Hunger Games, you’ll love Sudden Mission. I’m not throwing shade on The Hunger Games or Suzanne Collins. She is a very good author and I loved her books, as I did J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.

But, the Spirit Missions series–I think–is unique. It’s a teen Christian fiction series that incorporates some science fiction, fantasy, role-playing gaming, and a lot of spiritual elements. You won’t find anything like it on the shelves at a Christian book store–unless that store gets some copies of Spirit Missions.

Something Different

Of course, it all started when I set out to write something I wanted to read. For Christian fiction, I stumbled on Ted Dekker’s work. I found it fascinating and dealing with characters that weren’t cartoon simulations. That’s where I wanted to go. Write about real characters, facing challenges in the real world (okay, mostly real world), incorporating their relationship to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit during their journeys.

That’s where I went. I didn’t expect glowing reviews (but I got a few), and I expected a lot of knock-back due to the spiritual nature and some violence. I even expected harsh challenges to the Christian doctrine I chose to follow, and some shock with the way I handle aliens in Carolina Dawn.

What I got was positive feedback from friends who said their non-reader teens couldn’t put the books down. I just wish those teens would get on Amazon or Barnes & Noble and post reviews. I also got a couple of Spirit-filled Fiction awards and I hope Carolina Dawn earns one, too.

Self-publishing

Since my former publisher closed their doors in 2016, I’ve struggled with the marketing and promotion. It’s not easy when your product is so different or unique. I got some great help from fellow authors on the net and from friends and family around the country. I also received good advice from Rachel Thompson and her 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge.

So, I keep plugging along. Maybe someday someone will publish something and make the claim that “if you liked the Spirit Missions books, you’ll love <new book title>.” It’s a nice dream.

Keep writing.

Bookstores

March 5, 2018 Guy Pace

Bookstores

I like bookstores. Much as I read e-books, I still like to wander through the stacks at bookstores. I still have a lot of print books in my collection.

But, I rarely see an author in a bookstore promoting his or her work, or sitting as a table signing copies. Some local independent stores go out of their way to promote authors, but that usually involves top tier authors with agents and/or one of the top five publishers.

Independent authors are a gamble and, honestly, most bookstores don’t play that.

I had some success with a local independent bookstore, and some Barnes & Noble stores who have aggressive managers. But, that isn’t the norm. Sometime in late 2016 a bookstore somewhere bought eleven copies each of Sudden Mission and Nasty Leftovers. I had no idea what store bought those. IngramSpark (the company that does the print-on-demand paperback editions of my books) cannot/will not divulge that information and the bookstore didn’t make any contact with me about it. This web site URL (universal resource locator) is on the back cover and I’m not hard to find on the Internet.

Buy Back

As it worked out, I ended up buying back all those books. As an independent author, I have to guarantee buy back of books for bookstores to have access to my books. This could be a short route to bankruptcy if a lot of stores bought a lot of books and didn’t sell them.

It’s worth the risk, though.

I don’t know how else to reach bookstores across the country. I can only plead with fans, readers, and other authors. Here’s the deal:

If a bookstore buys some of my books (or any other independent author’s books) let me or that author know via email, website, Twitter, whatever.

I, for one, will guarantee that I will put forth my best effort to let everyone know that you have my books in stock at your location(s). I will use my social media, newsletter, and street team to get the word out. If you have media in your area and want to arrange an interview, I’d be happy to participate. If at all possible and practical, I will make every effort to arrange a visit to your store for a reading, signing, or other event. No additional cost to you, the bookstore.

I can’t speak for the other independent authors, but I bet if you (the bookstores) contacted indy authors when you make an order of their books to let them know, they may make a similar effort.

So, I’m asking all of you to pass on this information.

For Spirit Missions, an independent Christian bookstore might find this approach appealing (I already know that LifeWay bookstores aren’t interested in my books). But, some Barnes & Nobles may be interested. They like teen books and many don’t have a problem with Christian-themed material.

Sometimes a local connection, like where I lived in the past, can help. Like Twin Falls or Boise, ID; Great Falls, MT; Moses Lake, Spokane, Bellingham, or Bothell, WA; Bend or Madras, OR.

If you are a bookstore that stumbled across this page, contact me here.

Keep writing.

Series End

February 12, 2018 Guy Pace

Wednesday, Carolina Dawn releases and this represents the series end for Spirit Missions. Those who pre-ordered will see them in their e-readers, and the print editions ship from the printer then.

For me, Spirit Missions started in 2012 with some wild ideas and the result was Sudden Mission. The series name didn’t come about until after Nasty Leftovers and I knew there would be a third novel. It has been fun, exciting, and hard work and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Thanks

I want to take a moment and thank all my readers and supporters. Without your support and reviews, it wouldn’t be possible. Keep that in mind. Without reviews, authors and their work languish in obscurity. Even just a star rating–if nothing else–is very welcome.

Now, I move on to other projects. I plan to try more short fiction and a more adult Christian-themed novel. I might release a combined edition of Spirit Missions, with all three novels, and the two related short stories under one cover. We’ll see how it works out.

Journey

It’s hard to believe that almost six years ago, I sat down to my computer and started this journey. I learned so much about writing, editing, publishing, covers, and marketing. I’m still learning. Honestly, I don’t think the learning will stop. It seems something new crops up all the time.

Early on, I learned about book trailers. I took mine down shortly after Booktrope closed their doors. I recently put the trailers for the first two books back up on YouTube. Links are in the book pages. I’ll have a trailer for Carolina Dawn out soon.

Keep an eye on my Events page, too. Things are starting to come together. I’ll add events as they get scheduled.

Again, thanks. Enjoy!

Keep writing.

Error

February 5, 2018 Guy Pace

Error

Every book you ever read had an error. Some typo, misspelling, missing word, misuse of there, they’re, or their.

It happens.

I know Sudden Mission and Nasty Leftovers have some errors. I stumble across a couple when I do a reading. It is unavoidable. Carolina Dawn very probably has a few errors that got past my editor and myself.

Fortunately, before I pushed up the final version of the e-book, I found a couple of errors. I intended for a specific passage as a block quote. And, there was a name change missed on one page. I was able to make those corrections, recompile the e-book and print documents, and got them pushed back up to Amazon and Ingram in plenty of time.

Tools

I use Scrivener for all my writing. Yes, the new version is great and once I sorted out how to edit format templates, things went well and complies were reasonably quick. To get the e-book format up to Amazon, you need to create a .kpf file and for that you need Kindle Create (on the Mac). That link may or may not work, depending on if you have a KDP account or not.

So, Scrivener was working great, then I got into Kindle Create (KC). It imported the e-book document just fine, and I worked through the formatting. But, then KC caused a hard crash on my Mac. No warning. Just BOOM!

After I got everything back in order on the Mac, sent off the error report and log files to Amazon’s KDP support folks, I got back to work. I saved frequently, and got out of the app every hour or so. It all worked out and I uploaded the .kpf file.

I seem to remember a similar crash on an earlier version of the Kindle tool that created the .mobi file (no longer supported). Oh, well. We move along.

Thanks for listening. Thanks for all the support, likes on Facebook, and retweets on Twitter.

Keep writing.

I will, too.

Published!

February 1, 2018 Guy Pace

Published!

Carolina Dawn went on pre-sale today! So, it is officially published.

This link takes you to the ebook: Amazon

And these links takes you to the print: Amazon

Barnes&Noble

As they just went up, Amazon hasn’t combined them under my author account yet. In five days, they should both show up on the links. Amazon will deliver your ebook to your e-reader on Feb. 14, and ship the print edition beginning on the 14th.

Just FYI, Barnes & Noble have the print edition on special sale price. And, they show all three print books under my author link.

If you buy a print copy on Amazon, you can get the ebook edition for free.

I will have print copies of Carolina Dawn with me at MisCon 32 and SpoCon.

Exciting!

Keep writing!

Guy L. Pace

Living to Write

Category: Getting Published

Unique