"Being indie" and professionalizing my author presence (including new e-mail service) ...10/21/2014 This month I attended the Push to Publish workshop sponsored by Philadelphia Stories which included a “speed date” with an agent. I told her how I had independently published The Sense of Death in December and am now working on the sequel which is targeted for completion in the first half of 2015. She was not interested in representing The Sense of Death, which didn’t surprise me, and wasn’t interested in representing any future books in the Ann Kinnear series, which did surprise me. I believe the theory is that once a book is published, it establishes an identity which transfers to any series based on that book—publishers would prefer a book whose identity they can shape based on their own creative and business models.
Establishing that fact early on in the “date” meant that the agent and I were able to spend the majority of our 15 minutes together on other topics, and we discussed what her pitch would be to a promising unpublished author who was choosing between independent and traditional publishing. What I heard—which was mainly related to the support staff and business infrastructure a traditional publisher can bring to bear—didn’t sway my growing preference for independent publishing for two main reasons: artistic control and the ability to set my own schedule. With that refreshed commitment to “being indie,” and with the expert advice of Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn, I have been working on strengthening the business foundation of William Kingsfield Publishers*, my independent publishing arm. Joanna recommended that I:
Stay tuned for updates on activities on the creative front! Cheers! Matty *William Kingsfield was my father’s pen name. You can read two of his short stories in “Collier’s Weekly”: “Tobe” from September 1952 and “Captain’s Counterfeit” (which I think is a pretty cool title) from July 1954.
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It's been an exciting month since my last update!
At the end of September I ran a promotion for the Kindle edition of The Sense of Death and for a few glorious hours was #137 Paid in Kindle store, #19 in Suspense, and #1 in Suspense / Paranormal! Part of that was the result of discounting the book to $0.99. The regular price of the Kindle edition is $4.99, but I'm thinking of experimenting with different prices ... If you are an e-book reader, what is the price that makes you take the plunge on a book like The Sense of Death? Please post your thoughts! In September I also went on a fabulous vacation with my sister, my brother-in-law, and my husband / plot brainstorming partner, Wade Walton--go to my Facebook page and see if you can guess where we are! (Maybe the setting of Ann Kinnear Book 3?) Happy haunted reading! M. |
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