I haven’t done a lot of book promotion in recent months. The bloom is off the rose, and my mind’s been engaged with other things. But in June my steadily declining book sales finally spurred me to do something, and I put the ebook edition of Edges on sale for $2.99.

(It’ll remain on sale for the next day or two, though that’s not the point of this post. I’m assuming most people who visit this blog already have a copy — and thank you for that! My purpose here is simply to share my experience in case that’s of interest to other writers, and maybe to some readers.)

So, the point of a sale like this is to capture the attention of new readers. After all, it’s less of a gamble to sample a new-to-you writer at $2.99 than at $14.99, right? (Not that I ever price my ebooks that high, though some publishers do.) And if the reader likes the book, maybe they’ll go on to buy the rest of the series…

The challenge, of course, is to get news of the sale in front of those hypothetical new readers — and I’ve gotten very lazy about this. The standard procedure is to take out ads in newsletters like BookBub and its lesser imitators, or purchase Facebook ads. I’ve done all that before, but this time I didn’t buy any advertising. I just announced the sale on Twitter and Mastodon, and in my newsletter, and that was it. Lucky for me, lots of people shared the news (THANK YOU!!). Word of mouth is the best.

So what were the results? The price drop went into effect on June 17, and as of a couple of days ago a total of 226 copies had sold: 75% via Amazon, the rest split among Kobo, Apple, and BN, descending shares in that order.

Is that good? Well, clearly the numbers are not life changing, but I’m not unhappy with the result. For a writer like me with an extensive back list (~19 novels), infrequent publications, and a not-very-active online presence, a little sale like this can forge connections with readers who might otherwise never encounter my work — and who might enjoy it enough that they come back for more. So there it is. A simple little sale format.

Now, back to work on the next in the series…

I’ve made it a tradition to list my writing goals for the coming year in a January 1st post. I used to be ambitious and list a lot of goals, but I’ve learned since to keep the list short. After all, there’s more to life than writing. 😉

Here are my goals for 2023:

1. FINISH THE CURRENT NOVEL
I talked about this in my prior post which you can read here. I’m working on the fourth volume of the Inverted Frontier series and if things go well I’ll have a final draft before year’s end. If things go really well, the novel will be done well before the end of 2023.

2. PUBLISH THE CURRENT NOVEL
Will I be able to publish book 4 this year? I don’t know. It feels like a 40/60 chance. In the past I’ve rushed two books to publication (Silver and Pacific Storm), just to get them out before the end of the year, and both did dreadfully from a sales perspective. Silver mostly recovered over time; Pacific Storm never did. So if I’m not ready to go by, say, early September, book #4 will need to wait until 2024. (Write faster, Nagata!)

3. WRITE A “RED” NOVELLA
See my prior post, where I realized that 2023 will be the tenth anniversary of the original publication of The Red: First Light in its indie edition. For years I’ve talked about writing a novella in this story world. I really need to do that. Maybe this year?

Okay. That’s three goals and that’s ambitious enough. If I can do these three things, I’ll be satisfied. But just as a reminder to myself, I’ll mention two bonus projects: (1) Start outlining the fifth and last volume of the Inverted Frontier series; and (2) Put together that third short story collection I’ve talked about over the last few years.

Happy New Year!

Every January I put up a blog post listing my writing goals for the coming year. At the end of the year, I check back to see how I did. That assessment is the subject of this post.

2022 was a decent writing year, better than 2021. I met my primary goal and that did wonders to pull me out of a severe income slump in the first quarter of the year, so I’m not going to complain.

Here are the specifics on how I did, with the goals I set for myself in January in all-caps:

1. FINISH & PUBLISH THE CURRENT NOVEL
Done! This novel was Needle, third in the Inverted Frontier series. I finished a first draft early in the year, had it edited in the spring, and published it in July. Thank you to everyone who purchased a copy or convinced your library to get one. While I am by no means burning up any bestseller lists, Inverted Frontier has been my most successful indie project thanks to all of you, and I’m very grateful.

2. START A NEW NOVEL
Done! That is, I’ve started it. I envision five novels in the Inverted Frontier series. Right now, I’m working on volume 4. I’ve written the beginning of it, maybe 15% of the whole. That doesn’t sound like much, and I admit progress has been slow, but I’m very excited about the ideas I want to incorporate in this story. So many ideas, that I was feeling confused about how to handle them. So in early December I shifted gears and started putting together a new outline, with lots of details and dialog. I’m going through all my brainstorming files, sifting through the ideas, and fitting them into prospective scenes, all in the proper order. Once everything’s in place, I should be able to follow the outline, expanding the story scene by scene. For me, as I write, there’s always the dreaded question of what comes next. Knowing the answer to that, with copious notes to guide me, should help to accelerate my writing pace. Anyway, coming up with this detailed outline has been a fun, creative process.

3. WRITE ONE SHORT STORY (OR NOVELLA)
I really wanted to do this. I thought it would be fun to wade back into the story world of The Red. I even listened to all three audiobooks to try to get back into the series. But even after spending a couple of weeks brainstorming on it, I’m still not sure how to approach this project. Maybe next year.

Good heavens! I just realized that 2023 will be the tenth anniversary of the original publication of The Red: First Light, that is, in its indie edition, by my own Mythic Island Press. Wow. Yes, I really need to do something in this story world.

4. PUBLISH A THIRD SHORT-FICTION COLLECTION
Done, though not in the way I originally intended. I had hoped to add another short story or two (or that Red novella) to the eight stories I have ready to go. That didn’t happen. But I did create a story collection for the United States Air Force Academy’s “One Book, One USAFA” event — and that was such a huge honor that I’m going to call this goal a success. 🙂

Check back here tomorrow, when I’ll be posting my 2023 writing goals.

Hauoli Makahiki Hou! (Happy New Year!)

I’ve made a start on book 4 of my Inverted Frontier series, but right now I find I’m spending a lot of “writing” time doing calculations, like “How far apart are these starships?” and “How long does it take to get a message from one end of the fleet to the other?” It’s frustrating, but I need to block out events on the stage before I get down to the actual writing. In large part, this is because I have no innate sense of the vast distances I’m dealing with. So I force myself to gauge things comparatively — i.e. radius of Earth’s orbit and Saturn’s orbit — and in multiple units: kilometers, astronomical units, light minutes. That helps me to work with the immense scale of space…and then I try to leave most of those numbers out of the actual story. 🙂

On a tangentially related topic…
I have no regrets about being an independent writer/publisher. Seriously, none. But of course there are drawbacks. For example, very few outlets of scale are willing to consider indie titles for review — a problem compounded when the title is third in an ongoing and little known series. So I am deeply grateful to reviewers who do take the time. The latest is booktuber Michael Everts, who has included my latest, NEEDLE in his top 3 books of the year so far! Thank you, Michael!
Click here to see his review (and subscribe to his channel).

In short: Expect the next Inverted Frontier novel this summer.

The long version:
Back in February, I sent the third volume of the Inverted Frontier series to my intrepid editor, Judith Tarr. She returned it to me, along with her comments, a couple of weeks ago. Much to my relief, her general assessment was very positive! In summary: “I loved this one.”

Whew!

There are revisions to do, of course. But nothing huge, nothing structural. And I’ve put many hours into them already. My goal is to be done by mid-May, at which point the manuscript will go off to the copy editor, and possibly to a small number of beta readers.

My next challenge is to pick a publication date — one far enough in the future to ensure I have time to both revise the manuscript and to do some pre-publication publicity. But I also want to get the novel out this summer, when people are hopefully taking time out of busy lives to read.

I was originally looking at June 23rd as a potential publication date, but that may not allow enough time. So I’m going to work on the manuscript for another couple of weeks, see where I am, and then decide.

I plan to announce a publication date and to do a cover reveal in my next newsletter. So if you’re not already subscribed, now’s the time. Click here to reach the newsletter signup form.

Mostly as a way to help me plan, I’ve made it a tradition to list my writing goals for the coming year in a January 1st post. I used to be ambitious and list a lot of goals, but I’ve learned since to keep the list short. Here goes…

1. FINISH & PUBLISH THE CURRENT NOVEL
This is the third book in the Inverted Frontier series. I’m maybe 70% done with a solid draft. There is hope.

2. START A NEW NOVEL
I’m sixty-one years old, and I don’t know how long I’m going to continue writing. Right now, my only real ambition is to finish the Inverted Frontier series. I’m anticipating five novels in total. In 2022, I hope to make a good start on book 4.

3. WRITE ONE SHORT STORY (OR NOVELLA)
I’m recycling this goal from 2021. I want to write one original story that I can include in my third short-fiction collection — maybe a Zeke Choy story, or even something from The Red story world?

4. PUBLISH A THIRD SHORT-FICTION COLLECTION
Another recycled goal! I’ve got eight stories and the cover art ready to go now, but I need another story or two to round off the collection.

That’s my plan. Wish me luck!

Every January I put up a blog post listing my writing goals for the coming year. At the end of the year, I check back to see how I did. That assessment is the subject of this post.

I’ll admit straightaway that 2021 was a tough year for me on the writing front. Politics, the pandemic, the insurrection, the ongoing disasters due to climate change and our inability to address it — it all saps my creative energy and distracts my focus. It hasn’t helped knowing my 2020 novel Pacific Storm, published just over a year ago, failed to catch on despite positive reader feedback. At this point, it’s earned less than $5,000 over production costs — and given that I put a year of work into it, that’s discouraging.** And when I get discouraged, it’s hard to write. Even writing this post has taken absurdly long! 🙄

So yeah, this was a tough year, though not entirely unsuccessful. Here are the specifics on how I did, with the goals I set for myself in January in all-caps:

1. WRITE AND FINISH A NEW NOVEL
I’m writing it, but I did not finish it. This is book 3 of the Inverted Frontier series. I’m well into it, and I think it’s a strong draft, so far. I am disappointed it’s not a complete draft.

2. PUBLISH THE WILD TRILOGY
Done! The Wild is an older epic-fantasy novel that I revised extensively in 2020, and then divided into three short novels. All three volumes were published last spring. I love these novels and I feel like I’ve finally done right by this story.

3. WRITE ONE SHORT STORY (OR NOVELLA)
Doubly done!
A few years ago I resolved to take a long break from writing short fiction to focus on novel writing. But this year I wanted to write one short story to include in my third short fiction collection. Instead I wrote two stories on commission. “Ride” has already been published. The second story is still with the editor, but should see publication in 2022.

4. PUBLISH A THIRD SHORT-FICTION COLLECTION
Maybe next year…
The downside of writing two commissioned stories is that I still need to write another story or two to round out the new collection — but that task will have to wait until after I finish the novel.

I’ll be posting my 2022 goals on January 1. I suspect that list will look a lot like this list. 😉

**In hindsight, I should have delayed publication until early 2021, and invested more time and money in advance promotion. A costly lesson.

“Ride” is a short story about climate change, AI, and social credit. It’s set in Hawaii, in the same story world as my novel Pacific Storm.

“Ride” is part of the Future Tense science fiction series at Slate—and you can read it for free online!

Find it here.

Writing this one was an interesting experience, different from anything I’d done before. It’s a commissioned story. I was asked to submit ideas to the team at Future Tense on the general subject of transportation. For me, story ideas don’t come easily. I need to work out most of the plot and have a general impression of the character before I know if I have a workable idea. So I ended up submitting an outline for this story. Fortunately for me, the team approved it. I wrote a first draft—of course it was too long—and then worked closely with editor Joey Eschrich to trim the length and better focus the story. This was fun, because with short stories, I usually write and revise on my own, with just minor edits once I turn it in. This felt a bit more collaborative.

I hope you enjoy “Ride”!

This year, in the United States, it feels like New Year’s Day ought to fall on January 20th, when our newly elected president takes office. We have twenty fraught days to endure until then, but I hope in years to come our descendants will be able to look back on January 20, 2021, as the beginning of a new era in which the people of this country and of the world rejected autocrats and learned to work together for the good of one another, and of the planet and its irreplaceable ecosystems. Happy New Year everyone! We can do this.

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And now on to my annual New Year’s Day post in which I list my writing goals for the coming year. When I first started doing this, I was far more ambitious. But I’ve learned to keep the list short, and do-able. So here goes…

1. WRITE AND FINISH A NEW NOVEL
This one is started, though just barely. It’s the third in the Inverted Frontier series, and I’m going to try to come up with a finished draft by year’s end (hopefully sooner!).

2. PUBLISH THE WILD TRILOGY
I’ve talked about this one in an earlier post. This is an older epic-fantasy novel that I revised extensively in 2020, and then divided into three short novels. I’m awaiting cover art, and plan to publish in the spring.

3. WRITE ONE SHORT STORY (OR NOVELLA)
A couple of years ago I resolved to take a long break from writing short fiction. No regrets. I’m a slow writer, so this decision allowed me to focus on novel writing. Pacific Storm would not have been finished in 2020 if I’d spent time writing short fiction. The downside of that resolution is that I still don’t have quite enough stories to publish a third short-fiction collection.

4. PUBLISH A THIRD SHORT-FICTION COLLECTION
I’ve got eight stories and the cover art ready to go. But I need another story to round off the collection. Now you see the importance of my third writing goal? 😉

So that’s my plan. What do you hope to achieve?

Every January I put up a blog post listing my writing goals for the coming year. At the end of the year, I check back to see how I did. That assessment is the subject of this post.

For 2020, I kept my goals to a minimum — but I still didn’t meet them all.

Here are the specifics, with the goals I set for myself in January in all-caps:

1. WRITE AND FINISH A NEW NOVEL
Done! This, of course, was Pacific Storm, published on October 8. Have you read it yet? If not, I hope you’ll check it out. Click here to read the opening chapters online.

2. WRITE, FINISH, AND PUBLISH A NOVELLA
Nope! I post this goal every year, and I never do it. Maybe next year…

3. START OUTLINING A NEW NOVEL
Done! I’ve put together a rough story-map for a third Inverted Frontier novel, and have even started writing the opening.

Two out of three — not bad. But I also accomplished two other long-time goals that did not appear on last year’s list.

• I commissioned a nice book cover for an omnibus edition of the Puzzle Land books. I really like those crazy grimdark fantasy stories! The omnibus is available from Amazon in both print and ebook editions. (paid links)

• I’ve also commissioned covers for my epic fantasy novel The Wild. I spent part of the summer and fall revising and expanding the original novel, and will be re-publishing it as a trilogy in spring 2021. Click here to read more about this project.

I’ll be posting my 2021 goals on January 1 — though I suspect you can already guess what my primary goal will be.
(Hint: see #1 above. 😉 )