My Fall To-Be-Read List

Below is a list of books sitting on my shelf and in my e-reader, patiently waiting for me to get to them. I know I won't read them all in the next few months, and you may not care, but if nothing else this keeps them all in one place as a reminder for me. And hey, if you're wondering how my mind ticks, checking out lists like this is a pretty good way to find out.

Welcome to Deadland by Zachary Tyler Linville

One of the winners of the Nerdist/Inkshares publishing contest I took part in last year, I'm actually in the middle of this book right now and I'm enjoying it immensely (which is good, because I was quite disappointed with the other winning book). It's a zombie apocalypse story with some actual strong YA themes about coming of age and sexuality, and I'm very pleased with how it's going so far. Again, I'm only halfway through so there's plenty of time for it to go off the rails, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The Pickpocket by Celine Jeanjean

I love Celine Jeanjean's fantasy/steampunk/mystery whatever-you-want-to-call-it series, and she just released a new novella detailing one of the main character's backstories. It's burning a hole on my e-reader right now waiting for me to finish Welcome to Deadland.

Sawdust & Spangles: Stories & Secrets of the Circus by W.C. Coup

My post about The Toronto Circus Riot last week renewed my fascination with 19th-century circuses, and I found this book, written around the turn of the last century, filled with first-hand accounts of living and working with said travelling shows. It's said to be pretty hard to stomach in places (they weren't exactly known for the sterling animal rights) but it should be an curious read.

The Bear Who Wouldn't Leave by J.H. Moncrieff

I've been meaning to get to this one for awhile, as it's by a fellow Canadian horror author as well as a member of the IWSG. Plus how can you resist that creepy fucking bear on the cover?

Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

I read a collection of PG Wodehouse stories earlier this year and it blew me away. The fact that such simple jokes stand up nearly a century after they were written speak to the exceptional style and skill of the writer. Plus, his influence on future British comic writers like Stephen Fry, Douglas Adams, Hugh Laurie and even Terry Pratchett is obvious. I picked this one up on sale at Kobo and I'm really looking forward to it.

Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

I'll be honest, I know next to nothing of this book, but I've heard it described as the funniest book ever written, and it in fact was one of the influences on Wodehouse. That is more than enough to make me want to check it out.

Utopiates by Josh Finney & Kat Rocha

I won a copy of this cyberpunk graphic novel in a contest - apparently it's about a bleak, Blade Runner-esque future where the most popular drug changes people's personality, rewiring their brains to basically swap their souls with someone else. Sounds pretty freaky and worth a looksie, but I will admit when I signed up for the contest I actually thought it was for another book (Casefile Arkham) by the same authoer. Still, I'm not one to turn down a free book!

Wisconsin Vamp by Scott Burtness

Scott is the organizer of Vampire Books For Blood, the charity drive I'm taking part in during the month of October. Wisconsin Vamp is just one of the many fine books that are available (including of course Hell Comes to Hogtown!), proceeds from which will be donated to the American Red Cross and Canadian Blood Services. And just looking at the cover, you KNOW this book is right up my alley...

One Goblin Army by Philip Overby

It's Philip Overby. It's Splatter-Elf. You just have to read it.

We've been waiting for this one for a long time. It had better be good, Phil. ;-)

Rise by Brian Guthrie

Another book from the Nerdist/Inkshares contest that I somehow got a free copy of. Once again, I know nothing about this one or how it was entered into the contest when it was already published last year, but I am willing to check it out. 

So what books are you planning on checking out this Fall?

IWSG February: Almost there... Stay on Target!

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group here.

* * *

Is it okay to be a little excited yet?

As you're reading this, my manuscript is on its way to my latest - and last - line of beta readers. Technically I guess they're gamma readers, but whatever. Since my last pass through readers it has undergone several more rounds of edits, revisions and tightening and I wanted to get feedback from a few more voices as I had to change a few things(most noticeably the ending). While I'm waiting for their feedback, I will get the finishing touches put on the cover and work on some other related elements.

If all goes according to plan, I might get this book out by the end of March, or sometime in April at the latest.

I started this book back in February of last year. I finished the first draft on July 17, and I've been editing and re-writing ever since. It's coming up on 12 months since I began, and it's been a busy year. I published my first book in May. In the Fall I launched a failed crowd-funding campaign to have my new book released through Inkshares.com. Not to mention I have a full-time job, and my wife and I had our second child.

I suppose as far book-writing goes, a year is really not that long, but for me the last 12 months have seemed like forever. Numerous deadlines and publication dates I've secretly set for myself have come and gone. It feels like I'm been talking about this for years so everyone must be tired of hearing about it. Part of me really wants to get this finished and out to celebrate a job well done.  Another part of me wants to get it off my plate because I have so many more projects lined up that I want to work on!

And though I should have learned my lesson, I'm considering entering another Nerdist/Inkshares contest...

With my first book, I took a manuscript I had written a few years before, gave it a real quick polish and then put it online. I actually did way more revising and editing after its original publication, which I admit is monumentally stupid. This time, I'm being far more cautious and putting much more effort into it before I hit the publish button. They say your second first impression is the important one, right?

Of course, the insecurity remains - will it all be worth it? Will this book be noticeably better? I hardly made a ton of sales with Ten Thousand Days - will the added effort at least help me match the numbers on the first book? Or will people who gave me a chance with Days and ended up burned not give it another go around?

I mean, people read Fifty Shades of Grey and came back for three sequels, so quality of an author's writing is by no means a measure to judge future sales success.

I'm kidding. I have no problem admitting I wish I had written this f*cking book.

I'm being harsh, Ten Thousand Days wasn't that bad. There are people who genuinely seem to like it, but there are definitely things about it I would like to change. That I may still go back and change. The new book though, in my opinion, is much, much better. It's funnier. It's darker. And I hope more people will get to read it. I hope that my added effort and the improvements that I've made will show a comparable increase in my readership.

So I'm optimistic, but also apprehensive. Excited but extremely cautious.

In short, I'm a bucket full of conflicting emotions. I think that was a Pixar movie.

IWSG October: Wake Up, September's Over

So another month came and went. As you may have guessed, I DID NOT win the Nerdist Publishing contract. Several cools books did win, however, and you could do worse than to check them out. I ordered all of the top 5 myself, and I'm looking forward to checking them out when they drop in a couple of months.

I started the month hot and heavy, still with a some shreds of hope my book my catch on. I made a "cool" preview trailer:

I also did a fun interview, talking about my book, Inkshares and writing in general:

Sadly, neither of them lit up the Interwebz. Winning a contest like that, or crowdfunding a book (or anything) in general takes a ton of marketing, promotion, networking and selling that I just did not have the time or the energy to do right now. I accepted that weeks ago and moved on.

While the contest is over the crowdfunding campaign is still technically ongoing. The book is still available for pre-order until mid-November. If you sign up you still get a digital copy of my first book, Ten Thousand Days, and you'll get added to a mailing list to to be updated when the new book is officially (self-)published. Since there is probably only a 0.01% chance of the book getting funded at this point, you're basically getting that all completely free.

Outside of my misadventures in crowdfunding, it was actually a pretty cromulent month for writing. I re-wrote the ending for Hell Comes to Hogtown at least four times, but I'm finally feeling pretty good about it. After fixing that I took some time off from Hogtown to write a short story in response to a challenge from the Grim Tidings Podcast guys that I took far too seriously. Ten thousand words is way too long for a joke, by the way. I think the story actually turned out pretty good so you may see it pop up somewhere. With that out of the way, I dove headlong into hardcore editing (with the help of my fabulous, beautiful and talented editor, of course) for Hogtown which is slow but I think will ultimately make the work a lot better.

Slowly going through this baby with a chainsaw.

On top of that I've also made some concrete decisions and started outlining my next two projects, which I'm hyped about, but at the same time I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself.

I'm excited to finally unleash Hogtown upon the world, but I'm reining in my impatience and holding off on dropping it prematurely like I did with Ten Thousand Days. I really want this to be a better, more polished book than my first one. I'm taking time with the editing and getting more feedback before rushing off to Amazon to hit the "Publish" button. I want to put a bit more thought into marketing and advertising. I want to get some review copies out early to hopefully grab some release-day reviews.

I originally wanted to have it out before Christmas but I've now accepted that it will probably be early next year. I have a date in mind but I'm not revealing it yet, just in case. Who knows what could happen, right? Right now I could almost believe it might be something good.

Like getting one of these awesome suits under the Christmas tree.

TL;DR version: Today, I'm not actually feeling insecure. I'm cautiously optimistic, and feeling productive and excited about my work, at least for the moment. I'm sure that once I'm knee deep in notes from the editor in a couple weeks, or when I'm struggling to convince people to buy and/or review the book in a couple of months, those feelings will be long evaporated. But for now, just for today, let's look on the bright side, m'kay?

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group here.

IWSG September: This Is Another Fine Mess You've Gotten Yourself Into

Last month I discussed the struggles I was having with my work in progress, trying to wrangle it into some semblance of a coherent novel. Progress has been slow but study, like hacking through a jungle with a dull machete. And the mosquitoes are the size of swallows. African swallows, not the European variety. I have received some good feedback from beta readers, but that only led to even more revisions and headaches.

So what's the next logical step to make when faced with such a task?

Why, submit the book to a crowdfunding competition, of course!

There are more details here, but here's the short version: I've signed up for Inkshares, a publishing crowdfunding site that takes "pre-orders" for book ideas. If you sell at least 1000 pre-orders, Inkshares will edit, design, print, market and distribute your book. It's like the most democratic publishing house ever, letting the readers (instead of an editor) decide what gets published. Of course, if you don't hit the threshold the backers don't get charged anything (though they will have to suffer with missing out on my fabulous book).

In theory, it's a great idea. In practice, there's no way I'm hitting 1000 friggin' pre-orders. That's way, way more copies than I sold of my first book (now available on Barnes & Noble). Running a program like this takes massive prep-work to build up the proper network of potential buyers. I'm a total idiot for rushing into it when I did. Why didn't I wait until I was better prepared?

I blame Chris Hardwick.

You know, this bastard. The guy who holds your hand when your favourite character dies on The Walking Dead.

Yeah, that Chris Hardwick, the CEO of the Nerdist and host of one of the best podcasts on the web. See, Nerdist is running a contest until September 30: the top five pre-ordered fantasy/sci-fi books on Inkshares by the end of the month will get published, regardless of whether or not they're going to reach their threshold. Nerdist will also pick their favourite book out of the batch to be the first official title under the Nerdist publishing banner - a huge break, by my estimation. Most importantly, I'm also working under the assumption that the winner may get a chance to be on a Nerdist podcast, which is honest to God one of my secret life's ambitions. I actually saw this as my shot.

Two weeks into the contest, the top ranking books have 300-400 orders already, and could easily hit full funding before September 30 with or without Nerdist help. I'm sitting at 32. I'm not at all surprised, but I will admit I'm still pretty discouraged. I know logically that I simply don't have the bandwith and readership to fund a project like this. Like I said at the top, under normal circumstances I never would have even considered trying at this point in my writing career. But because it filled a weird pocket fantasy, I kinda hoped it would work out, you know? That I could slip in through the back door.

One of my favourite parts of Inkshares is that it shows you exactly where your orders come from. The lonely guy over in Japan is of course Phil. And I may be one of the few authors with a reader north of the 63rd parallel.

Not that I haven't tried. I've bugged every friend and family member I could think of, contacted every group and forum I'm a member of online, touched base with other authors in the contest to exchange orders. I've been all over Twitter and Facebook, especially Twitter trying to get celebrities to post about the book (whether they knew what they were talking about or not, I can't say). Hell, I even got Chris Hardwick's mom to retweet me. And I will continue to do so, and to continue polishing the book and giving those who ordered whatever perks I can find, including preview chapters and sneak peak at artwork and maybe even a video of me reading the prologue while stark naked. That last one was my wife's idea by the way, it hasn't been made official yet. But I am fully cognizant that this probably won't work (honestly the naked read thing isn't much of a selling point).

Censored for your health and safety.

As of now, I'm accepting that I'm likely going to have to go about this the regular way: either submit my book to traditional publishers or publish it myself. I do think it has promise. I think it will very much appeal to a certain audience who like dark humour. It could very easily be the start to a series. I know this book will see the light of day some way or another. And there will be another book after that, and another book after that. Maybe some day I will get on the Nerdist podcast of my own accord (though probably only if one of my books is turned into a movie, I don't think he generally interviews lowly writers). I know this is not the end, not for me, not even for this book. I will take this whole situation as a learning experience and suck up my pride and keep going.

But, until September 30, I've gotta keep trying.

Which reminds me:

You wanna pre-order a copy of my book? I'll throw in a Smashwords download of Ten Thousand Days for free...

;-)

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Writers post their thoughts on their blogs, talking about their doubts and the fears they have conquered. It's a chance for writers to commiserate and offer a word of encouragement to each other. Check out the group here.

Pre-Order My Book and Help Me Win a Publishing Contract

I just posted my latest work-in-progress on Inkshares, a crowd-funding site for publishing. Here's how it works: You pitch your book idea and post excerpts on the site, and try to convince readers to pre-order the book. If you hit a certain threshold of pre-orders, Inkshares will pay for the editing, design, printing and marketing for the book.

It's a fascinating model that seems like a win for all parties involved. The author (potentially) gets their book published without the personal cost of self-publishing or the humiliating obstacle course of finding a traditional publisher. The reader is only charged if the threshold is met and the book goes to print. And the publisher (Inkshares) has a guaranteed number of presales on the book before they even accept the manuscript so they know that they can cover their investment in the project.

Inkshares say they can get their books into many major book sellers, such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple and numerous independent bookstores. They also claim their are options for publishing overseas in other languages and even selling movies rights, but those are pale in comparison to the true reason I'm signing up.

The biggest reason that I decided to so this right now is that they're currently running a contest in conjunction with pop culture powerhouse Nerdist.com: The 5 books with the most pre-orders by September 30th in the Fantasy & Science Fiction categories will automatically get published, even if they don't meet their thresholds. More importantly, the folks at the Nerdist will pick their favourite book out of the top five to be backed and endorsed by Nerdist.com, becoming the first book in The Nerdist publishing imprint with all the perks and glory it entails.

So now I implore you, all my faithful readers: Help me win this contest so I can get an interview with Chris Hardwick on The Nerdist Podcast. Sure, publishing my book is great, but my true life's ambition is eat a burrito with the son of Bowling Hall of Famer Billy Hardwick.

This man's son is the first face you see after your favourite character bites it on The Walking Dead.

My project, tentatively titled "Hell Comes to Hogtown" is now live at Inkshares. The entire first chapter is available as a free preview so you can determine if you like my style of writing. I would love it if you would pre-order it and tell all your friends, but if you just "Follow" the book to increase it's profile on the main page, that would be great. Even if you tell all your friends and spread the word, that would be great. Maybe one of them would like it?

Seriously, Click Here to Check It Out!

Anyway, here is the (very) short pitch of what the book's about:

A comic book nerd and a pro-wrestler try to clear their names in a kidnapping while evading a bloodthirsty demon hobo.

It's a comic horror/dark fantasy in the vein of Christopher Moore. If that sounds like something up your alley, please check out the page and show your support!

(Also, if you have any better ideas for names for the book, I am open to suggestion)