Hello everyone back in from the cold

[MWhateley 10]

Used to post on here years ago, not been back in a while. How are you all?

[Ron Blanco 10]

Hello again, MW.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Any resolutions for 2012?

 

Ron

[coyleys 10]

Nice to have you back Mick. How have you been? Done any writing lately?

Anyway, here's wishing you and all at SFWG a happy new year.

[MWhateley 10]

Hi Ron and hi Coyley. Happy new year to you both.

 

I have avoided a new year resolution, that way I won't be breaking it.

 

Yes I have been writing. Was going to see if anyone would like reviewing my ebook at some point. If anyone would then I would email them a mobi version. I have a collection of short stories and an ebook called Killer in mind. Killer in mind I am proof reading at the mo.

 

What have you both been up to?

[Ron Blanco 10]

Good to hear you're still enjoying your writing. I remember reading some of your short stories when I first joined the group - that must be about four years ago.

 

Since then, I've done a couple of evening classes, an Open University course (A174) and been to the Winchester Writers' Conference a couple of times. I'm thinking of self-publishing some short stories, as ePublishing seems to have opened up some opportunities there (although it's quite likely I won't get round to it). And I wrote a children's story (approx 15,000 words) with my kids. I promised them I would get that story published, which seems a bit of a rash promise now - although self-publishing remains an option for that one too!

[MWhateley 10]

It's been a while Ron. Since being on here, I've been made redundant twice, joined the TA as an Infantry Soldier and I have been self employed. I now work as a CCTV operator, untill the job market picks up anyway.

 

As for self publishing, go for it, seriously. It's easy. I have two books on Amazon kindle and one of them is available in paperback on Amazon through LULU.

 

Six of Hearts

 

Killer in Mind

 

Seriously tempted to rewrite Killer in Mind though, there was so much more I wanted to do with it. It is easy to get on Kindle, it all starts by creating yourself a Kindle Direct Publishing account. Click Here. If you want any help I am more than willing to offer any help and assistance I can.

 

As for me, I want to improve my writing craft. I am looking for a good affordable course and/or a writing group. How much was the OU course you went on and how do you rate it?

[Ron Blanco 10]

Well done getting those books out there.

 

I noticed that you lumped several short stories into your first book - was that because of the pricing constraints? I gather that royalties drop significantly for lower-priced books, which presumably makes it less benefical to publish short stories separately. Do you have a good handle on the pricing/royalty aspects for the various outlets?

 

I see that your second book is a novel. Presumably the CCTV aspect is no coincidence? I think a 'Surveillance Society' theme is extremely relevant in today's world.

 

I've looked into Smashwords a bit, but will also have a gander at your KDP link. Thanks.

 

As for the OU course - I found it useful. It cost about £170 for a 12-week course. It's quite well-structured, in terms of notes and exercises, and you get informal feedback from peers as well as more detailed feedback from an allocated tutor. I would estimate that you need to set aside about four or five hours per week, to do it justice. It's called "Start Writing Fiction", but I think it's better for those who have been writing for a while and don't need much hand-holding. Is it worth the money? For me it was.

Edited January 4, 2012 by Ron Blanco

[MWhateley 10]

Royalty is based on price on Amazon. If it is below $2.99 then it is 35%, and 75% if it is over. I did lump the short stories together for that reason, but a book of short stories does not appear to sell very well. Killer in Mind has sold reasonably well in America; not so good in Britian. To be honest, I would like to rewrite it and add to it. It was originally written about five years ago and I think I have improved since then. It has received reasonable reviews on Amazon but got slated on Goodreads. Although to be fair, only one person reviewed it on Goodreads and I am not convinced he gave it a fair hearing.

 

I never managed to sell much on Smashwords. I gave a book away free on Smashwords and in six weeks 49 copies went. I gave the same book away free on Amazon for a day and 900 went. I think Amazon pretty much has the lion's share of the ebook market, not sure that is a good thing but there it is.

 

For the paperback version of Six of Hearts I chose Lulu. It's a print on demand service, so costs you nothing to get your book out there. They also do a free extended reach program that gets your book further afield. For example the paperback version of six of hearts is available on Amazon through Lulu. I make less money on each sale, but it gets your work out there. If I can do it, anyone can.

 

As I said, go for it Ron and if you get stuck I am happy to help.

 

I might give that writing course a look. I have loads of ideas for books, I just want to make sure that I have all the grammatical and creative tools at my finger tips.