less than this - Latest Comments

Re: Trying to fit perfection in the schedule

modernevil — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 02:36:33 -0000

Update: I did hear back from the photographer, and after a couple of emails back and forth which were like an emotional roller coaster, it's all been worked out and I have the rights to use both images on my covers. In other news related to this post, I have just been reminded by my sister that she'll be home all week next week (she also works for a school, but in a different district, with a different spring break) - hopefully I'll still be able to finish up recording; I'm sure she can sit quietly for a couple hours a day, reading or working on homework while I record, and my voice only holds out for about 3 hours at a go, anyway. With any luck, I'll have finished recording by next Wednesday.

Re: Trying to fit perfection in the schedule

spiritualtramp — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:48:53 -0000

A shame it didn't pan out. I can assure you that I'll be buying the e-book when it comes out. I enjoyed the stories quite a bit.

Re: The possibilities of focus

modernevil — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:38:46 -0000

I am going to use my last doses of modafinil to switch from nocturnal to diurnal, and to try to write ... let's aim for four or five chapters, today. Get a good start. Wish me luck.

Re: Debt pay down update, 1/2012

tdhurst — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:48:18 -0000

Congrats!

Love that last line.

Re: Variable book pricing

modernevil — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 09:20:20 -0000

Well, the guy was more making a suggestion for other people to follow rather than announcing something he was going to do ... and his own books are more ... non-fiction, non-serial, often business books, and always tightly focused on a particular issue for a particular audience. Almost all his advice is good for people writing those sort of books and almost totally useless for anyone writing fiction.

Keep in mind, too, that most writers have just one thing. If they don't find success with it, they either keep trying with the one or they give up. Sometimes that one thing is a series, more often it's a single novel. His advice would probably work with a single novel, and would even work with a series which had new books coming out... if they sold in any significant volume. Think about it: You loved the first book and are waiting with bated breath for the next one - and if you get it when it's brand new, you only pay $0.99! If you wait, you have to pay more. The idea is to create an incentive to get in early.

You're right, though, that for a latecomer to the series, the unusual pricing may be confusing - with the plan I'm following now, if I were the sort of author motivated by money, I'd just not put out the next book in a series until the previous one had earned out. Then, at least, you wouldn't end up with weirdness like I would (if I were offering the books individually, right now), where Book Two seems to be the most popular (if only by a little), and where 5 & 6 have earned more than 4.

Anyway, hopefully what I'm doing will help, some. It's really just another big book-pricing-experiment. Of course, my sample sizes are usually too small for any meaningful data. *shrug*

Re: Variable book pricing

Steven Black — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 07:13:37 -0000

I think this approach makes a lot of sense. The books that you can sell cheap you do sell cheap. The books you are not making money on you charge more for.

This approach maps cleanly to what the world does for most physical products. As the initial development/production costs are paid off the price is lowered.

The thing I really don't understand about the person planning to do it in the reverse order is that, well, typically an author will have a series that both they and their core fan base really loves. In your case that maps to the "Untrue Tales" series... if you raise the price as a book becomes more popular, you'd be selling book #1 at $9.99 and book #6 at $0.99. That is, it totally ignores the fact that authors get more readers of an established series if more people read the first book in the series.

Re: Piling on the challenges

Ovi — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:15:45 -0000

That's quite the ambitious effort Teel! I look forward seeing what you come up with!

Re: I’m not okay

Cs Temp Mail — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:23:44 -0000

I have also been depressed. As has my mother, father and brother. The last talks a lot like you. He is 19. I find similarity interesting. Personally I never could talk about it. I could never find the right words. Whenever I went to a consoler my problems would seem simple for 50 minutes and then gone for the day but pile on again the next night. My mother swears by them though. She seems to draw strength from her sessions. My father doesn't care for it. He prefers pharmacological solutions. In fact if he hadn't told me he of his disposition I would never have guessed. He has always seemed a rock and always had a good joke in his pocket. My brother doesn't like either solution. He seems to embrace the ennui. He says, "it is the truth."
My point is that we all deal with it in our own ways. I wish I knew something to say that would bring you and everyone I know happiness, but I don't. I can tell you that I don't feel bad now which is proof that these things pass. Maybe as a writer you can find it easier to put outside what you feel inside and to do so is doubtlessly good. But there is more to it (for me) the next has always to move off into something new. The sooner I do that the sooner I (maybe not feel better) but don't feel badly. The unexplored, even when uncomfortable or disconcerting or distasteful, has always been sometimes exciting but always helped me to forget how to think. For me a blank slate is better then a jumble of negative emotions.
I hope this comment helps you find your solution or at the very least lets you feel less alone. Feel free to write, I'm always reading.

Re: Crying about drama

modernevil — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:18:28 -0000

Yeah, but the holocaust ...

Band of Brothers was masterful, though. It was easy to get caught up with those characters, the few who survived the ordeals of the series' run, anyway. It's in my collection.

Have you seen The Pacific? I haven't had the opportunity to see it, yet, but was hoping it was anywhere near as good.

Re: Crying about drama

Sean Foley — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 07:11:08 -0000

Try watching the second to last episode of Band of Brothers. Almost made me cry.

Re: Numbers for PHXComicon 2011

Nina — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:33:05 -0000

The upcoming Leprecon(2012) only has a holder page up. The table prices are set by each chair, and I don't think they're set yet for 2012. It will probably be in the 75 dollar per table range(which includes 1 full membership and 1 dealer's only membership).

Re: A Problem of Confidence

Gabrielle Campbell — Sun, 08 May 2011 10:44:40 -0000

Confidence is a part of loving yourself. It's knowing you are worthy of all goodness. Don't deprive yourself of that. Be confident! You are worth it!

Re: Studying Dystopia

modernevil — Fri, 06 May 2011 08:56:02 -0000

@Longhorn - I read Neuromancer (and most of the rest of Gibson's books) back in high school, but it's been so long I want to re-read it/them. I remember enjoying them.

I found The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (and its 1st sequel - what's with everything being a trilogy anymore?) in the Phoenix Library system, and added them to my to-check-out list, there. The Phoenix Library also has Gene Wolf's *Long Sun* books, but not the *New Sun* (Or Short Sun, which Wikipedia mentions) books. I will keep an eye out for them at local used book shops, though. All those series seem interesting, if not obviously dystopian (from brief descriptions). I look forward to getting to them.

Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you found my blog.

Re: Studying Dystopia

Longhorn — Thu, 05 May 2011 22:21:43 -0000

Neuromancer, I think, may be one of the best sci-fi/fantasy books in your list. All Gibson's other books (except for the two most recent) follow in the same vein and are really good as well. Have you checked out Gene Wolfe's Books of the New Sun? Amazingly inventive. Finally, for a more modern addition, N.K. Jemison's "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms" is insanely good.

Re: iBook is dead, long live the iPad

modernevil — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:50:41 -0000

Sure. There are several apps for that, depending on how you wanted to do it. My first thought was: use one of the (several) good VNC apps and, yes, the iPad is suddenly a touchscreen display for your Mac Mini (or whatever else). There are other apps for using the iPad as a second display, too, to extend your desktop... that came up when I googled this for you.

You'd need a keyboard and display for the initial setup of the Mac Mini, but once it was running (probably with a VNC server software running), the iPad could be used as the primary display. I think. I don't have a headless computer to test it with.

Re: iBook is dead, long live the iPad

Zoe Mora — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:31:43 -0000

I wonder... can you use a mac mini with an iPad as the display?

Re: New books, coming soon!

modernevil — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 17:21:10 -0000

My random number generator / hat came up with Gabrielle Campbell as the winner for this contest! Congratulations! I've contacted you for details re: delivering your prize!

I've got to come up with something else for the second promised direct giveaway, but keep in mind there's already a second contest running over at Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/8727-the-second-untrue-trilogy

Re: Author Self-Interview

modernevil — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 04:43:48 -0000

How about for my next book? I find it especially difficult to speak about my last book, because it is the 6th book of a series, and there is almost nothing which can be said about it without giving away / spoiling two or three other books in the process, per sentence. That's why I wrote about the whole series for this 'interview' rather than a single book; it allowed me to avoid spoiling things. Not to mention, it's the full series I'm trying to push right now; I've just put out a paper re-release of all six books as two trilogies, in paperback.

Or, if not my next book, we can work to choose a few of the questions I answered here to post on your blog, or something... I'm actually quite anxious about "being interviewed," in any capacity. It's quite difficult for me to even reply to your request here; normally, when someone contacts me asking to interview me, I just ignore them and hope they don't ask again. It's worked so far. I used to get someone asking to interview me a couple of times a month, for years, but it's finally begun to taper off. There's just something in the difference between simply having a conversation with someone about my books and in "being interviewed" that makes me sick to my stomach with anxiety, and I run & hide.

It's a problem. Actually, almost any form of promotion or of marketing generates a similar response in me. I've been fighting this uphill battle, worse than any other aspect of writing books, publishing books, or dealing with the requirements of running a business (and I abhor all things about business, almost as much as I abhor money itself), the sickening and painful need for marketing and self-promotion along with all the rest.

By the time I'm done with another book or three, I believe I'll have solved the problem, probably by removing most aspects of promotion, marketing, and business itself from my continued writing and publishing of books. Which will be one of many, many problems and topics I'll be addressing in my next book, about my experiences writing and publishing 15 books in the last few years: http://modernevil.com/kickstar...

Re: Author Self-Interview

Pat Bertram — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:59:53 -0000

I am disappointed that you didn't send me an interview to post on my blog, but I'm glad you got some use out of it. A lot of your answers would be like mine -- evasive. It's hard to distill the essence of a book into a few questions.

Here's an idea. How about doing an interview for your latest book?

Re: New books, coming soon!

Angela — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:46:25 -0000

I want to enter your contest. So here is a comment, I don't have many twitter friends so I will post on facebook and twitter about your book, I will also add your new books to my Goodreads.

Re: New books, coming soon!

Gabrielle Campbell — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:05:50 -0000

Normally I don't enter for DTB as I have my Kindle and prefer ebooks (for convenience.) But I'm making an exception here..lol. Plus, my DD prefers DTB and I think she'd enjoy this series.. so.. I'm commenting! : )

Re: New books, coming soon!

modernevil — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:37:16 -0000

I'll probably go make a post about this, but despite my best efforts (read: putting an 'on sale' date in my ISBN metadata), the new books are already available for purchase at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. This is nearly 4 weeks prior to the official "publication date" of the books. Oh well.

Like I said in the post, please don't buy them there. You'll support me more if you order directly from me (I'll have the books in hand Thursday), and you'll pay close to the same price anyway.

Re: New books, coming soon!

modernevil — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 10:15:51 -0000

Y'all are at least as bad at math, and at commenting, as I am. I don't have to subtract the printing/shipping cost when calculating how many books to sell to cover the printing/shipping costs. In fact, I'm not sure why I didn't notice that sooner. Bottom line: I don't need to sell 46 copies at full price to cover the books' production; I only need to sell 32 copies at full price. 29 if I charge tax. And since those are "out of 100" they represent percentages. (Not including other costs, of course, which was still accurate.)

Also: The books are shipping from LSI today, so I should be getting 6 cartons of books some time next week. Very nice.

Ooh, and: Remember when I said I was giving away $50 of books? Well, forget that. It's $100 of books, since I'm planning on charging $50 each for the signed copies, and the contest is for signed copies! Enter now!

Re: New Untrue Tales… covers

Gabrielle Campbell — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:18:13 -0000

I love the coloring and the angles.. really eye-catching. Book 1.. enticing description. Book 2.. needs something. Seems to ramble on. "the life you know is not what you thought" <-- maybe highlight that? use as a header?

Re: New Untrue Tales… covers

modernevil — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:15:42 -0000

I have to run the numbers, but I'm thinking I'll offer the pair at $25 to anyone who already bought the first trilogy. I know you have it, but maybe have people send me photos of them holding the first trilogy to get the discount. If they're ordering it straight from me, the 50% discount I have to work into the price in order to sell retail means I can afford to do that for repeat customers.