The Big Black Quiet

After it all ends, what is left?

So, my first novel is published. Self-published that is and on Kindle at that. After years of plotting, drafting and (re-)writing my epic young adult fantasy novel is out there...

...among thousands of others. Lost among the white noise. Unnoticed by all, but family and friends. I sold exactly one copy and got perhaps a few hundred Likes on my promotional Facebook page (for which I paid $65). Where is the release party? The interviews? The press releases and the bestseller nod? One month after my ego manifested itself online and my creativity up for sale, there is only a big, black quiet.

Let's put things into perspective. It's not death. Death is the end of a living being - surely not comparable to the mere release of one's creative endeavor? It's not that bad, and in fact I don't experience it as such, either. I'm having fun advertising my book. But it's not easy...

Any author/(self-)publisher will tell you it takes a lot of time and effort to advertise your work once its finished, getting the word out, making some noise and knocking on doors. Admittedly there are a lot of supportive websites that will gladly promote your ebook for free (as long as your book is for free) or have amateur reviewers read your book and post their opinions in blogs and articles. Then there's Twitter and Facebook. Tweet about your book. Build connections with first adopters, who actively are looking for new authors and new stories. Reward new readers with free give-aways, quizzes and Likes on their pages. There is quite frankly a ton of venues to sell your story.

When you don't have a fan base, you need to make connections.

Connection

 by MistoAcrilico

And so that's what I've been doing. On Facebook and Twitter I've been showing off present artwork in the book as well as sneak previews of artwork yet to come. I've run a single Facebook Ad campaign to test the waters and it's quite frankly a lot of fun to do it at first. 

But I'm not committed to accessing all channels of advertisement just yet. After all, the trailer version of the book - now available at Amazon :) - still has its fair share of grammar errors and temporary artwork. I'm drawing the official artwork as we speak and one of my three editors is already finished with checking the manuscript. So when I'm confident that the edition I release is proofed and complete, I will throw myself fully at the advertisement machine and give it its best shot. 

And to keep me really happy in the meantime? Start writing the sequel. That after all is the best way of getting picked up by a publisher/agent: proof that your not just a one-book wonder.

Post Dramatic Stress Syndrome

Day 4 of the Writing Marathon
Starting to tire today. I finding it once again to be true that when you employ more time (as in deep into the evening) on any given task, your motivation to do that exact same task the next day diminishes rapidly (a lesson for all you workaholics out there, who think your performance remains top notch after burning the midnight oil days in a row - it doesn't). So I escaped the house today, wearing baggy clothes and a 4 day beard (ouch... rough) and took a breather. This is what my day looked like:

• 6:00 Woke up, put Alex on schoolbus (well, not on the bus).
• 7:00 Crawled back into bed. Not exactly sure why, cuz I wasn't tired. Maybe cuz when I woke up it felt like I had just closed my eyes and was super awake. Have you ever had that? Strange. May have to lay off the sake I've been drinking lately.
• 10:30 Sat in my creaky chair (where is that WD-40?) and started on chapter 7. Oh right, now I remember why I finally started sleeping past midnight. I was still caught up examining my notes on the draft 3 plot I had printed out. OCD anyone? Granted though, the next few chapters need to be chopped up and sewn back together again as if it was Frankenstein's monster.
• 12:30 I'm going mad. I need a break. The bit that sent me over the edge was Zuul's first exposition. Zuul is the villain of the book and a multi-national CEO, who can only talk in business lingo. As if that wasn't hard enough, he is talking to someone I cannot reveal yet, about something I cannot be too specific about revealing emotions that have to be kept mysterious. Fudge on a stick! 
• 1:30 After lunch I decide my break is not long enough, so I decide to leave the house and go to nearby mega-mall Terminal 21. I walk around, air out my head, buy some bread and dark chocolate and enjoy a quick 30 minute back massage (for $10 !) before walking back home.
• 4:00 Crack knuckles. This sucker is going down! This is how my work space looks like (it's only slightly less complex than the material I'm trying to redraft):

So, there you have it.
If you zoom in enough you'll probably figure out a nugget or two of cool spoilers

but really... the way I'm redrafting now, don't bother;
chances are it might not end up in the final version. ^_^

• 5:45 Break for dinner. Tonight on the menu: old fashioned Dutch food. What is this you say? Ah, just boiled potatoes with gravy, chicken and brussel sprouts. Trust me, after 3 days of fried rice the kid was ready to eat something else. Besides, he gets chocolate pudding for desert.
• 7:30 Back again.
• 9:30 Wrapped up Chapter 7: Hideous Zuul and The Pumpkin Jail. So far so good. I managed to put in the right amount of 'mythology information' I wanted the reader to have, without overwhelming them or making it sound like a countdown of bullet points. This was Nancy's (my editor) main gripe. Simon, the lead character is shell shocked at this point, having been just introduced into his new magical world and also having blown up the entrance to the city by accident (you have to read it to believe it). So I hope many of the terms used are excused for the time being as Simon (and hopefully the reader) simply read past them in order to get to what comes next: the Trial of Simon.

I leave you with another few pieces of art:

What I picture my fairy tale city to look like.

Chicago as inspiration. Add the great Redwoods and voila.

Aufwiedersehen.