Commentary

Advice on Supporting Indie Writers & The Best Indie Book Sites on the Web

~ davidbiddle ~ 6 Comments

I want to report that after two years of indiscriminate book reading on paper and screens, I have come to the conclusion that I like reading on-screen more than paper. I did not start this process as an experiment, but I was aware that I should do everything in my power not to be judgmental on either side of the fence as I read.

There’s the obvious issue of being able to change font sizes (my 56-year-old eyes suck), but in addition: I like the compactness of the reading experience; I seem to be able to scan a story better (that is speed up and slow down the reading process); it’s also awesome to set up a catalog of highlighted text with book apps; and Continue reading →

2013…(The Merman Turns Again): My Undercover Soundtrack

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DCBiddle HeadShot MedRez
New headshot. Woo Hoo!

I’ve got a guest post called “Sex, Drugs, Metaphysics, and Rock ‘n’ Roll” over at Roz Morris’s website My Memories of a Future Life. It’s a quick-read, but provides a tour of some of the recordings that influenced me as I worked directly on my novel Beyond the Will of God.

Roz runs a great shop and offers a feature setup weekly for authors to highlight their musical influences called “The Undercover Soundtrack.” You really ought to subscribe and check out some of the past features. Check out the link list at the beginning of each post. It’s a quick resource of all the links in a post that allows you to quickly follow each track the author refers to in their text. Also, one of the coolest things about Roz’s music site is the list of all the previous references you will find at the very bottom of the page. She’s posted so many great pieces on authors’ musical influences, if you just think of a musician or composer, you’ll likely find multiple links to their work in this massive database.

Roz is also the author of the “how to” book Nail Your Novel. It’s a fabulous resource if you’re struggling through writing a novel or if you know someone else who is (hint: give books by independently published authors for the holidays). I bought Nail Your Novel, first because I thought it was a manual on how to make love to an e-book, but also because the notes Continue reading →

Not the Marriage Plot: On Men Reading Novels in the 21st Century

~ davidbiddle ~ 5 Comments

Here’s what I think about at some point of every day:

What is going on in this world that would lead so many men far, far away from reading modern literary novels?

I’ve written here at this blog and in other places around the Internet about my overall concern for literary fiction. A helluva lot of intelligent people want nothing to do with it anymore. Before the Internet took hold (about 18 years ago), I thought that somehow it was just the little world I lived in here in Continue reading →

Here’s what I think about at some point of every day:

What is going on in this world that would lead so many men far, far away from reading modern literary novels?

I’ve written here at this blog and in other places around the Internet about my overall concern for literary fiction. A helluva lot of intelligent people want nothing to do with it anymore. Before the Internet took hold (about 18 years ago), I thought that somehow it was just the little world I lived in here in Continue reading →

The Effect of Staring at Screens: an essay on Alt Lit, Tao Lin, and Marie Calloway

~ davidbiddle ~ 4 Comments

English: Tao Lin in 2010
Tao Lin in 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve spent a good amount of time over the past few months really trying to understand this whole new Alt Lit approach to fiction. There are some links at the end of this essay if you want to explore this movement too. Basically, there’s a bunch of Millennial writers, mostly centered in Brooklyn and the surrounding area, working to be poetic and lyrical in new ways with text and art using everything from Tumblr and Twitter to retro-digital graphic technologies in the attempt to do something new to Literature (note I say to, not with…).

The main reason I want to understand Alt Lit is because over the past 2-3 years it has become all too apparent to me that the electrification and digitization of books and stories is the Continue reading →

Ralph Ellison and the Floating Self

~ davidbiddle ~ 5 Comments

A Young Ralph Waldo Ellison

No one is really sure, but March 1 was either Ralph Waldo Ellison’s 99th or 100th birthday. We have at least three copies of Invisible Man floating around our house. More than likely, if you ask, all three of my sons will tell you that was their favorite book from high school. In addition, my bookshelf holds a hardback edition of his collected essays as well as his story collection Flying Home and his under-appreciated 1101-page unfinished novel, Three Days Before the Shooting…. I posted the very short essay, below, on my first blog 8 years ago. I offer it again in appreciation and honor of this master and genius of American Letters.

Ralph Ellison and the Floating Self

It seems to me that Ralph Ellison may be this country’s most important writer. Not so much for his production or even his style, but because of his deep wisdom and his remarkable understanding of the links between literature, politics, and our national struggle with the culture of Continue reading →

On Beauty, Genius, and Paying Attention: Tim Williams Got Me Through So Much

~ David Biddle ~ Leave a comment
“Morning of the Magicians”Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shitao/3197160727/in/set-72157625031441773

From about 1993 through 2000 I worked as best I could on my first novel. I am deeply indebted to nearly 20 friends and colleagues who read various drafts over that period.

From 2000 through 2005 I tried to get agents and publishers to pay attention to my insane story — best described as a psychedelic mystery about music and consciousness. I came close a couple times, but no one took me on. After over 100 Continue reading →

Experiments in Independent Publishing

~ David Biddle ~ Leave a comment

Several weeks ago I used three of my Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) free days and watched 10,110 people download my novel, Beyond the Will of God. The book is currently priced at $2.99 (that will change in the fall and go up to $4.99). By most accounts that’s a fairly successful KDP promo. Unfortunately, Amazon has changed their algorithms around in the past few months. Whereas once my successful free days would give a novel lift in the Amazon ranking system that would extend past the promo, now their calculations give my book very meager support. Within a few days Beyond the Will of God had dropped from being in the top 20 popularity list for mysteries out of the Top 100. 

I’m not complaining. There are many benefits to getting exposure to 10,000 ereaders in a three-day period. The main one, obviously, is that my book is out there. When people like it, they’ll let others know. Amazon’s networking approach to sales is also impacted. My book will show up on lists like “Customers Who Bought…” and “What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?”. I’m still receiving 2-3 purchases a day. 
What’s most intriguing to me here, though, is that in order to achieve that huge number of downloads I followed the advice of another author and went to town promoting my free days through Twitter, Google+, and nearly a dozen websites that promote “free” books. One thing I found in this whole process was that there were a number of what I call “robot sites” that manage to track down free stuff for listing online. See HERE for an example. I don’t know how they come up with their data. Many of them aren’t even book oriented. And there are dozens of them. 
I have two promo days left on my KDP account and my agreement with Amazon for exclusive rights to Beyond the Will of God ends on September 9th. I don’t know if I will extend that agreement. I’d like to promote the ebook at Barnes and Noble (they do carry the paperback already), Smashwords, iTunes and other sites. Although, I’m not sure at all whether they will provide me any further sales edge (Amazon is freaking awesome, to tell the truth, in their reach). 
At any rate, I’m using my last two promo days this weekend (September 1-2) but being quite laissez faire about the whole thing. I’m not going to post to Twitter and I’ve only posted to one indie website with free listings. I will likely post to several FaceBook sites because they’re easy and I think a lot of folks pay attention to them. But I’m basically just going to let it ride and see what happens. 
I will document what I do, but the point here is to see what happens just modestly getting worked up about the promotion. My hypothesis is that I’ll get over 1,000 downloads with very little work.
This all came to me because of two insights: 
1) As I watched my account rack up 10,000 downloads, I realized that people who go for “free” stuff are possibly not the same as those who are truly interested in books and that there are dozens of sites online appealing to these Free Folk. (You can read an article I posted this week at A Knife and a Quill  called “The Challenge With Free”).
2) Earlier this year I posted my collection of short stories, Trying to Care, without any networking at all. It got 500 or so downloads in two days. I have no idea where anyone found out about that book. It may just be that folks page through the Free Kindle listings on Amazon and pick out what they want. 
So this is an experiment. I’m also using up my free days because I was completely non-strategic and rather haphazard in my planning. Partly, what I want to do here is give Amazon one more opportunity to show me why KDP has any value. We’ll see, I guess. I know this isn’t a controlled experiment. You can’t really do that in the world of books. They don’t give you enough meaningful data. That’s okay. I don’t need to report to a board of directors. I’ll report back here next week. You know what they say, “It’s good enough for blogging.”
In the mean time, I don’t care if you read my book, just read somebody’s book. It’s the best form of ESP I know of and it’s very good for you. 
Happy Labor Day!
-David

Indie Book Sites: Helping Readers and Writers

~ David Biddle ~ Leave a comment
Photo Source: A Knife and a Quill homepage

In the past 10 days two online indie book websites have featured my novel, Beyond the Will of God. On Sunday, July 8, Indies Unlimited provided a Sneak Peak both at their website and on their FaceBook page. Today, A Knife and A Quill is featuring BWG. I am grateful to Kat Brooks at Indies Unlimited and Luis Vera of A Knife and A Quill for the quick work and turnaround time. 

When both of these features were run, I dutifully posted information to FaceBook, Google+, and Tweeted proudly. I write today because I’ve received a number of responses from people who were surprised at the information offered about Indie Work at these two sites. These responses made me realize that a lot of folks are still not clued in to the Indie options out there. Www.indiesunlimited.com/ and aknifeandaquill.wordpress.com/ are two of several dozen quality information sites for readers and writers both.

I’m going to post a list of my favorites below, just so people know about ’em.

The Indie vista is becoming a bit cluttered these days if you check out Kindle Store, Smashwords, iBooks or any number of other amalgamated independent book sites. Special indie book websites are one way of getting direction about what is worth checking out and where the deals are (many of these sites have postings on “Free Books” that indie authors offer).

What’s most clear to me these days is that the standard approach to book buying used to be a sort of passive “maybe I’ll go to the bookstore on Saturday morning”approach to things. The new digital world of books, coupled with the demise of Borders and other big box stores, means that readers need to be a bit more active. You now have the option to say to yourself, “maybe I’ll sit in my bathrobe with a second cup of coffee after reading the paper on Saturday morning and check out some books online.” You may be sitting on your ass before taking a shower, but you’re actually required to be more active than when you used to just saunter into Borders or Barnes & Noble letting their table and shelf displays catch your eye.

When you add the Indie concept into this equation, it gets even more complicated. That’s what these independent book sites are all about. And that’s why you want to know about them. You can spend $12.99 on a new bestseller, or you can spend $2.99 on a first novel by an independent author. In either case it’s a crap shoot. Indie sites help with that … and help you save money.

The other thing I want people to know about is book bloggers. If you’re looking for great Indie and non-Indie e-books, there are now literally hundreds of “super readers” out there who run blogs reviewing the books that they’ve read. I’m going to save that info for another day. For now, check out the brief list below. If you want more, I’m sure by now you know how to use Google. 
More in few days on book bloggers and other review platforms. Remember, too, there are probably two or three dozen undiscovered Fifty Shades of Grey out there. You just need to find ’em.

And, for what it’s worth, remember that Beyond the Will of God is waiting for you to buy it and read it. You can get it as a paperback or as a Kindle e-book.