A.J. Maguire

Tag: publishing

  • Revising Old Work – Blood of the Witch Heir

    Recently I had the publishing rights to several of my novels returned to me. This was a strategic decision made due to the original publisher selling itself to another site, which I felt wasn’t a great fit for my work.

    Before I did this, I reached out to Amazon to make sure there wouldn’t be any copywrite issues once the reversions were done and exactly what I was allowed to do with the work once it was mine to publish again. Things like if I wanted to change the title (which I did) and if I should put a notice in the front of the novel letting readers know that this is a Re-Release.

    The answer to both those questions was yes, I could change the title but it would be like releasing a whole new book so the reviews I have on the original won’t be transferable. And yes, I can put a notice in the beginning pages letting people know so they aren’t shouting at me that I stole someone else’s work. (Difficult to do there, it’s still the same author name.)

    Due to contracts and all that, the things that I COULD NOT use from my original publication was the cover art and the editing. The Publishing House paid for the editor to this work originally, and thus owned the rights to that version.

    This was fine. I have grown enough in my craft that I felt confident I could take the book to the next level.

    That said…

    Revisiting old work is hard.

    Mega hard.

    Tooth pulling hard.

    It hurts to see what I put out into the world. Not only have I grown as a writer, I have grown as a person too. Things that I didn’t blink twice at before have been unpacked and rewritten. The themes at the core of the book revolving around trust and independence and how the two have to learn in live in harmony are being highlighted better.

    On the line-by-line level, the narrative has been given a major overhaul.

    But more than that, the characters are being given the chance to breathe more. Elsie Varene Delgora is as sharp as ever, and Dorian Feverrette remains my favorite roguish nobleman. Their story is one of tragedy and triumph, despair and love, and I sincerely hope that readers walk away from it knowing that no matter how dark the path they have traveled, joy and happiness can still be achieved if we’re willing to open ourselves to it.

  • Boycotts, Kindle Unlimited, & Indie Authors

    Why yes, we have another controversy sweeping through the internet. It’s all over my social media feeds and still going strong. Because this actually does affect me as an Indie Author with titles on Kindle Unlimited, I’m going to go ahead and comment on it.

    Many of my dedicated readers are not writers and therefore do not have insider knowledge of how this all works. Sure, they hear snippets where they start to get outraged at how they perceive authors are treated on various platforms and, historically, things haven’t been great for us.

    However…

    For Kindle Unlimited in particular, I can tell you that I have made a decent percentage from having my titles on there. Enough of a percentage that it’s worth it to me to keep the titles on that platform – the current boycott against Amazon notwithstanding.

    I imagine once the boycott is over, we will see an uptick in people reading on KU again. Or at least I sincerely hope we do.

    The truth is, Authors have always had the short end of the stick in publishing. The BIG publishers in traditional publishing get the largest slice of the pie regardless of any advances they may hand out to their authors. It’s a business. You’re getting your name under their imprint, which they have worked hard to gatekeep in such a way that readers who frequent their titles trust that they are buying a quality product.

    That’s part of the incentive for going Traditional. You get the stamp of authority that says your work is of the quality that these professionals hold. Notice I say PART of the incentive. The marketing budget they can offer is another one, and if we’re really honest, the rise of Indie Publishing has made it so that most people know they don’t actually need that imprint’s stamp of approval to put out a quality book.

    Many Readers are catching onto this fact too.

    This is where Kindle Unlimited comes in. Readers are able to access millions of books for a set price every month, so they are more willing to give an unknown Indie Author a chance. Yes, sometimes they find a stinker that didn’t take the time to research properly, didn’t hire an editor, and (these days) maybe even used AI to help ‘craft’ the story.

    Brief Sidebar: Please don’t support AI created stories.

    For all its faults and business practices that make people cringe, at the end of the day KU has become a space where Readers can take a chance on an independent author that they otherwise would not have. For a lot of us, that chance is all we need. Die-Hard fans are made in the KU publishing space.

    Is the pricing fair to authors who publishers there?

    I mean… let’s point again at literally every other publishing outlet on the planet and recognize that the authors are almost always on the short end of the stick. With KU, at least we’re getting paid regularly for people flipping through the book. Even if a Reader puts the book down because they don’t like it, the chance was taken and we get a little money for creating something.

    Now we come to the argument of ‘going wide’ with publishing.

    This is where the author puts their books out through many sites and not just Amazon. Places like Smashwords, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble are all viable outlets for selling books and have their doors open to Independent Authors. You absolutely can ‘go wide’ and have your books available on Amazon Kindle at the same time, you just can’t have them in the KU pool.

    I have books that I published wide, and books that I published to Amazon KU. The bottom line is, I make more money focused on Amazon KU. Don’t ask me why. Don’t ask me how their algorithm works. Because I honestly don’t know. All I know is, KU works.

    Which brings me to the current boycott.

    I understand standing up for what you believe in. I’m an author. 90% of the stories we tell are all about struggling against the Giants of the world to demand the right to not only exist, but live happy and free.

    So, you do you.

    But please do it with your eyes open. If you’re doing it because you feel the authors aren’t being treated fairly, I’m afraid that’s just how the cookie crumbles in this business. Aside from buying the book directly from us, we’re always going to get the short end of the stick.

    If you’re doing it for all the other business practices you disagree with, then hey, my proverbial hat is off to you. The lack of sales for a week is a small sacrifice I can make toward your cause as well, and I’m happy to make it.

    I like to fight Giants too.

  • Thoughts on Indie Publishing – 2024 Edition

    We are preparing to close out the year on 2024. I am preparing my end-of-year summary and planning ahead for 2025, but in the midst of this preparation comes some larger conversations going on in the publishing world right now.

    I already touched on a couple of the BookTok controversies that I spotted in a previous post but some other aspects of the conversation have been nagging at me and I am going to take my, admittedly quite small, blog here and unpack them a bit.

    First, let us admit that Indie Publishing has become a massive money-maker for quite a few people, and quite often these are NOT the writer. And no, I am not talking about Vanity Presses. Those still exist, of course, and you should avoid them. Suffice, if the publishing house requires you to pay money to get that book onto shelves, then you should walk away.

    You can quite literally go into debt to publish a book and never see that money fully returned. From editors to cover artists to marketing, we funnel money out to see this work put into the world because – for me anyway – it is my craft and I love telling stories.

    I mention this because I have seen an alarming influx of emails and DM’s on various social media sites targeting me for services. I am promised X amount of people will see their marketing posts if I pay them Y amount of dollars. I am guaranteed reviews on Amazon. I am told, for the low price of five-hundred-bucks, I can get my manuscript edited and professionally formatted.

    Given that five-hundred-dollars is actually on the extreme low-end for a professional editor, please hear me when I say that it feels like we have come to a place where only the extremely privileged can truly move forward in this business. Sure, anybody can make a social media account of their choice and start throwing themselves out there, but the chances of that truly making an impact are so slim it’s painful. AND, let us be honest, if that person hasn’t edited their work a dozen times over and hired an editor… Well. It’s dead on arrival, really.

    So where does this leave us?

    I promise I am not all doom and gloom here. I’m not throwing in the towel or anything like that. I am merely expressing some displeasure at all the noise, really. For those of you professional editors/ cover artists/ vocal artists out there trying to make a living in this business too, I’m afraid your voices are being swallowed up. My kneejerk reaction any time I get a new email or DM is to cast some serious salt and ignore it, which isn’t terribly fair to all of you and I know it.

    The question comes down to… how do we cut out all the noise?

    For me, I use Writer Beware a lot. Is there anyone who has something else they use? If so, I would love to learn of it.

  • The Media Kit and Me

    I’m a little late in the game here.

    Blame good books keeping my occupied.

    Or parenthood.

    Maybe even my fur-babies.

    Whatever the reason, I am late to the game of Media Kits, which are apparently something I should have been doing this whole time with my novels. I might have done something smallish for Paw Prints on the Wall last year, but it was nothing like what I have discovered is customary for a new book release.

    I’ve had a Bio for ages that I quite like, but it has been… you know… ages. So I thought to freshen it up some for this new book. But, you know, I prefer to talk about fake people and fictional scenarios. It’s gross to talk about myself. I feel so… weird.

    100-200 words about me?

    Ugh.

    Fiiiiiiiine.

    BIO:

    A.J. (Aimee Jean) Maguire has been writing about women rescuing their men since 2008. She loves stories in all shapes and sizes, which means her novels tend to run the full spectrum of fiction, but her favorites tend to be fantasy and science fiction. She is currently living her own happily ever after in Central Massachusetts with her husband and son, where they are surrounded by far too many pets. On the weekends she enjoys exploring the many historical sites peppering New England or hunting for lighthouses on the coast.

    So that’s just shy of 100 words, but it’s a work in progress and it’ll fit nicely on the back end of a book.

    But you know what else is supposed to be in a Media Kit?

    A Q&A Tip Sheet.

    Yes, that means I ask myself 10 questions and then answer those 10 questions for people to use as an easy cut and paste for their blogs and things.

    I’m still working on this one.

    And for the record… there’s a ton more on the list. Some of it is already done, such as book information with the synopsis, cover image, contact information and book details, but it can be more than a little overwhelming to look at on the surface.

    For those curious, I got most of this information from Reedsy, which has some invaluable information in it for authors. You should check them out CLICK HERE.

  • About Reviews – April Round Robin

    My mother always taught me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say, I shouldn’t say anything at all. While I haven’t always followed that advice, I’m certain many authors wish critics would.

    I’ve had one or two reviews that scoured my work to the bone, which … let’s be honest here … required a pint of ice cream to get me through. Mint chocolate chip is the greatest comforter in times like these.

    But when push comes to shove, negative reviews are always the ones that I learn from. I’m not a world-renowned author, not yet, and I’m still honing my craft. So anything that teaches me how to be better is good.

    Sometimes painful, but good.

    Positive reviews help sell a book, but not nearly as much as word of mouth. Like it or not, people talking about your book is still the number one way to push those sales up – or so all the professionals tell me.

    I’ve sent my books out to reviewers for their honest opinions and come back with some positive results there, but those results never last for very long. To be honest, sometimes the only result of a positive review is my own feeling of accomplishment; somebody read my book and understood what I was trying to say!

    Since Sedition was first published eight years ago I’ve held a 4.36 star average on Goodreads and about the same on Amazon, which I suppose is quite good considering there are a lot of things wrong with my early novels. But the only thing this knowledge serves is to push me to become better.

    Maybe it sells one book every three months or so, but at the end of the day it still only pushes me to be better. I don’t have time to check reviews every day or even every week. I check them once or twice a month, see if I have anything new, and then I get back to work.

    See what some of my fellow authors think about reviews …

    Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
    Dr. Bob Rich https://bobrich18.wordpress.com/2017/04/22/how-to-get-reviews
    Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
    Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
    Victoria Chatham http://victoriachatham.blogspot.ca
    Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com
    Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
    A.J. Maguire  https://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/ (YOU ARE HERE)
    Margaret Fieland http://margaretfieland.wordpress.com
    Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
    Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com

  • How Important Are Titles? Round Robin Post

    This week it’s all about titles in the Round Robin conversation! The question posed is this: “How important is a title? What attracts you to a certain title, and how do you determine what to title your book? ”

    Now, if I was a marking guru, which I’m not, I would say the title was absolutely important. That and the cover are what buyers are going to see first, right? It needs to attract them enough to get them to pick up the novel and read the back blurb or the first few pages.

    When I’m walking through the bookstore and glancing over the titles, I honestly don’t have anything in mind when I’m looking. I’ll read anything and everything under the sun, so it’s a little hard to categorize what I’m hunting for in a book or a title. It really depends on my mood or the season or whatever I happen to be writing at that time.

    It’s a lot easier to write Fantasy novels when your brain is already set to “Fantasy” by what you’re consuming. Now, I do have to be careful there because I don’t want MY fantasy novel to start showing traits of the novel I’m reading and all that. So I pick a different sub-genre in the fantasy realm to try and keep things separate.

    How do I determine the title of my books?

    That’s … a painful process, actually.

    Persona was known as “The WWII novel” for many years. I actually had to brainstorm with another author on Google+ to get to that one.

    Tapped was easier because I just stole the name of the super soldiers (Yes, I used super soldiers) in that book. I have been tempted to change the name to “Grey Men” from time to time but … that’s marketing strategy and I’m still sort of blundering my way through it.

    For those unaware … I’m awful at marketing.

    Sedition was called The Ebony Blade at first. And then just Kiavana, the name of the region where much of the book takes place. But after several drafts and a lot of moaning and groaning, I looked at what the book itself was about and came up with the vein of sedition that really pulses through the whole novel.

    Generally speaking, I don’t come up with a final title until after the third or fourth draft. By then I have a better handle of what the book is showing about humanity or what adventures I’m promising the reader if they purchase it. But it is really a pain in the rear-end.

    Ahem. I’m having the censor myself because my eight-year-old giggles if I use other words at the end of that sentence.

    ANYWAY … I find titles and blurbs and the synopsis a pain. I suppose if I didn’t and I actually enjoyed that work, I’d be much better at it and my novels would see more success. Maybe I’ll make that part of my New Years Resolutions for 2017 – “Learn to love titles and blurbs!”

    Check out what some of my fellow authors think about titles in general and their own processes for finding the perfect title for their own work.

    Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
    A.J. Maguire  https://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/ (YOU ARE HERE)
    Victoria Chatham http://victoriachatham.blogspot.ca
    Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
    Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
    Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com
    Heather Haven http://heatherhavenstories.com/blog/
    Dr. Bob Rich  http://wp.me/p3Xihq-MI
    Connie Vines http://connievines.blogspot.com/
    Margaret Fieland http://margaretfieland.wordpress.com
    Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
    Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com

     

  • Kindle Scout Campaign

    So! I did a new thing!

    And it’s a little bit of a scary thing, but I’m trying it anyway.

    Persona, the WWII novel that I have scheduled to publish in December, has been submitted into a Kindle Scout campaign. Basically what this means is that, if I get enough nominations, Kindle Scout will publish the book for me instead.

    The process was relatively painless considering the book is already edited and edited and edited some more, as well as formatted and prepped for its launch in December. All I had to do was answer some questions and upload the book.

    Well … that and now I have to come out and shout from every virtual rooftop I’ve got that the campaign is now open, that you can find it HERE and that if you like what you see there I would really, really, really love it if you’d click the little “nominate” button.

    We’re going to see how this whole thing works and then I’ll give a more critical response to the process and things. I can say that, barring the actual writing process that you have to go through anyway, submitting to Kindle Scout was terribly easy. I got invited to Kindle Scout some time ago, I just hadn’t given it a shot until today.

     

     

     

  • Let’s Talk About Brand

    So there’s this thing in the writing business where people say writers need to have a “brand” to rely on. Something to shove at a reader so that the reader knows what to expect whenever they pick up a book written by that author.

    James Patterson readers know that the plot is going to move fast and it’s going to twist in ways you don’t expect. I remember from his class that he said he wanted people to know when they picked up a book of his that “the pages would turn themselves.”

    And considering how many books of his frequent the bestsellers lists I think we all can attest that he’s definitely made his name a brand.

    Brandon Sanderson also has a brand name to him. When I pick up a Sanderson novel I expect unique magic, intricate plots, and deep fantasy that can transport me.

    When I read Diana Gabaldon I expect rich characters and enlightening history and a more visceral reading experience than I can get anywhere else.

    Now then … as an author I have to ask myself exactly what “brand” I might be presenting. I find this highly annoying because, as much as I can recognize the trademarks of other authors, I’m really clueless as to my own. And from what I’ve heard from other authors, they feel the same way.

    On my website I have “Writing Mayhem” as the tagline.

    Why?

    Well … because I love the word “mayhem” and wanted to use it. And because my life as an author feels full of mayhem. I write everything from Science Fiction to Historical Fiction. My Fantasies range from Epic to Steam Punk.

    My muse just can’t seem to commit to any one genre, which makes “branding” me quite difficult.

    I could try finding that one common denominator between all the books and banking on that … Which would be the characters. In all my books to date, the focus is always on the individual character on the page and the struggles they face.

    But again … how do you “brand” that?

    A.J. Maguire – Character Tormentor … A.J. Maguire – “The characters will grab you by the throat and demand you free them.”

    … Yeah … No thanks.

    In all seriousness, and after many years of trial and error, I’ve come to understand that “brand” is a conscious decision.

    I have two releases scheduled for this year; the novelette “Torven” and the historical fiction Persona.

    One is a fairy tale.

    One is a “who am I” story based in WWII.

    What “brand” do I hope to attach to them both?

    I want readers to trust that if they pick up one of these books they’re going to get a good story.

    How do you brand that?

    Well, I’m still not sure. But when I find out, you’ll be the first to know.

     

  • Prepping for Launch

    Gutter space and margins … check.

    Cover art … check. (FYI, Chris Howard is still a genius.)

    Back blurb … hmmm … that’s gonna change a couple more times, I’m sure.

    (Pause to remove new kitten from the desk. He’s too curious for his own good and he’s constantly attacking my hands while I’m using the mouse. I’ve decided to call him Nuisance even though he’s my son’s pet.)

    Font size and spacing for both print and ebook versions … check and check.

    Re-read the manuscript for the zillionth time and STILL find a typo on page 96 … ugh, check.

    Dedication … aw, that’s easy … totally check. DSCN5894

    Acknowledgements … er … hmn. That one’s a little more tricky. I’ll probably add a few people before the December launch date.

    IMG_0051(Pause again because kitten is now attacking my ankle and his little kitten claws hurt. Try to convince him that he should be playing with Pest, my cat, who eyes me with frank disgust but … everyone’s gotta compromise here.)

    Go back to my regularly scheduled writing … I’m on chapter 10 of Dead Weight now, so it’s coming along nicely. I’m not sure I’ll make the three month deadline for a first draft, but I’ve had to swap between writing on the computer and writing by hand a couple of times so I won’t feel bad if I stretch it for another month.

    Four months to write a rough draft isn’t too bad.

    And really, I’m not JUST writing a rough draft, as evidenced by all the book preparation I’m doing. Persona will be my second attempt at launching a book on my own and I’m trying to remember all the mistakes I made last time — such as working while under the influence of cold medication and accidentally launching the book 2 weeks early.

    And forgetting to adjust line spacing for the print version, leaving one truly massive novel that cost an arm and a leg to ship.

    And not justifying the text.

    And … er … so many other things.

    Here in the next couple of weeks I’m supposed to start marketing for Persona, letting people know the exact date it will be out (December 6th 2016) and what the book is about (historical fiction/romance/women’s fiction/ … this one I probably need to narrow down a bit more).

    Which means that, on top of all of the above, I have to research venues (blogs, magazines, etc.) that might be willing to host me and give me a second to promote the novel before it comes out and during the first two weeks of its launch.

    … I think I’d rather have the kitten attack my ankles some more.

     

  • Year’s End

    Well, after possibly the worst Christmas present ever – which was a 24 hour flu bug that gave me an absolutely miserable day – I’m finally getting around to my end-of-year post.

    A friend of mine (L.J. Cohen, author of several YA novels that everyone should be reading) introduced me to the idea of posting writing goals and the like several years back and I’ve come to enjoy this little tradition.

    So!

    I wasn’t able to get to everything I wanted to do in 2015 writing-wise. I blame this on the re-write of Persona, which took several months more than anticipated. It is, however, finished and I have been shopping it around (another of my 2015 goals).

    Tapped was released in January 2015 as my first ever self-published novel. I imagine I could do more marketing-wise for it but I think I’m going to stick to just writing the next book.

    What’s next for 2016?

    1)  Dead Weight – the sequel to Tapped is slated for work to begin starting January 1st. I’m terribly excited for this one and have been aching to get started.

    2) Primal – This is a new-adult-paranormal-romance novel that I’ve been kicking around for years. I’ll begin work on it sometime in June, after I’ve completed the draft for Dead Weight.

    3) Residual Haunting – Will be completed in 2016. ‘Nuff said.

    4) Usurper – Is currently being edited. It may drag into the first two weeks of 2016, but not much further than that.

    5) Persona – Is going to go onto Kindle Scout. We’ll see how that goes. And I’ll throw confetti and wave people toward it because … apparently that’s what I’m supposed to do?

    I dunno, I’ve never done it before. We’ll have to see.

    Beyond the writing …

    I hope to enjoy many, many hours with my son, doing odd-ball things and having a blast.

    That’s it … that’s my 2016. I hope everyone else had a couple of great holidays and that their new year is spectacular!