A little of this, a little of that

I'm at the library looking for jobs and doing a little writing. I am finding it tough to stay at home and be as productive as I want to be. Too many distractions. Whether it's a chore to take care of, or just a TV show to watch, there's always something to distract me. I think I am most productive when I'm away from the comforts of the casa. This is only the second time I've been here, but I feel like I'm getting more done. Applied for one job. Searched several sites for others. Even wrote 500 words on a short story that came to mind the other day.

I'm enjoying the short story so far. It has a younger protagonist than I'm used to writing, so that's making it fun. And I like the dynamic I've established between the two characters in the opening scene.

If you've been following this blog for any amount of time, you'll know that I don't really plot out my short stories. I have an idea where they're going to go, but nothing in stone. Same is true with this one. I have an idea, but it's only a rough one. The only thing that came to mind the other day was the opening. Where it goes from there, who knows?

You may have seen the blog post last week about wanting guest bloggers and interview subjects. The offer still stands for both. I've got one interview ready to go for Friday. Well, almost ready to go. And I have a guest blog post that is being finished for next Thursday. That will be the schedule, by the way. Planning interviews for Friday and guest blog posts on Thursday. This will allow me to keep the blog filled with content. It also gives me a chance to keep my editing and interview skills sharp while I look for that new job.

Hope you all like the changes and let me know if you want to take part.

Back home and ready to go

I got back from Kansas City yesterday afternoon. We had to go up for my grandmother's funeral. She passed very early Sept. 11. She was 93. For the last few years she was having a hard time seeing and hearing. Her memory was also failing her.

Gina and I went up to visit her a few years ago over a long weekend. I was amazed at her mind. She had a hard time remembering who I was at times. She'd ask questions about my dad and my uncle and my brother, not remembering that I was related to any of them. Then she'd go into detail about how you harvest, hang, and dry tobacco, something she hadn't done in 80 years.

It feels weird to say you had a good time at a funeral. At least it does for me. But I did have a good time. I got to see cousins I hadn't seen in almost 20 years. Maybe longer than that. I enjoyed getting to see them and catch up. I also got to listen to my dad, my uncle, and their cousins tell stories of growing up. It was special. We are all going to miss my grandmother, but it's nice having a family that's close no matter how many years pass between us seeing each other.

But now I'm back home and ready to focus, both on the job search and on the writing. I've been working on the former and not doing enough of the latter. Spent last week writing and polishing my resume. It's going to be sent out starting today. And I've got a story outline for Book 2 that needs to be filled in.

Get to know Anthony Neil Smith

I met Anthony Neil Smith through Twitter, but I knew about him before that. I found his site Plots With Guns years ago when I first started researching writing markets. He was editing it at the time. He doesn't anymore. He's the publisher now. But he's also an author. Find his books here and buy one or two. They don't cost more than a couple of bucks, tops. And, if you're on Twitter you need to follow him there. Honestly, with all his promotion, I think he's responsible for about half the sales of Chasing Filthy Lucre.

In 100 words or less, give us the writing history of Anthony Neil Smith.

     Read HARDY BOYS in 2nd grade. Wanted to do that. Wrote little stories. Moved on to adult fiction. Loved crime stories. Then--comic books, rock and roll, guitar, religious conversion, more music, religious de-conversion, Creative Writing Classes, James Ellroy & PULP FICTION (same year, I think), grad school, published short stories, published novels. Now trying to write more.

 If you had to classify yourself as a writer, put yourself into a genre, which one would it be? And you don't have to stick to the traditional genres. Make one up if you think it'd fit better.

     Yeah, really, I have no problem at all with the label of crime writer. I embrace it. The coolest writers, to me, were always the crime writers--usually smart and respected by literary folks while simultaneously being accepted by the commercial crowd. I write stories about characters dealing with the consequences of crime. And I like that.

Following some of the conversations you've been having on Twitter with others, you seem to spend a bit of time contemplating the direction of crime and noir fiction. So, what is their future? What direction are they heading in, and is that good or bad?

     I don't know anymore. There are things I hope will happen, like a lot more literary writers embracing genre and thus doing cool shit with it, but I'm not sure what's going on with publishing right now. Seems harder for edgy crime writers. I see a lot more use of noir as a flavoring in other genres or lit fiction. I like that, too.
     With ebooks flourishing, I hope we'll see a return to shorter novels like they had in the 50s and 60s. And I'd like to see prices of ebooks settle at a level that will attract a lot of new readers rather than just folks with a lot of money. 10 bucks for a book just doesn't seem right. 10 bucks for an ebook, even less so.

Another Twitter based question. You seem to spend as much time promoting other people's work there as you do your own. Is that just the good, Christian thing to do, or do you have sinister motives?

     I've always been a fan. I started PLOTS WITH GUNS as a way to read more stories in the vein I liked, which we didn't get from the BIG TWO crime mags at the time. And when I get around other writers, I talk about the writers I like, and the ones I don't. If I find a new write through PWG who deserves attention, I work like hell to do whatever I can to get it. So with Twitter and ebooks, I've found a new way to do that. And it's fun.

I know your books are like your children, all little snowflakes and special in their own way. Still, crush the dreams of all of the others and pick a favorite. Then tell us why you love that one more.

     Well, there is an unpublished one about a nerdy, shy PI who, for some reason, is irresistible to women, so he ends up having sex with allllll sorts of people. Not a "pan to the curtains" type of thing you see in older noir flicks. And, well, he can't help himself, but it makes him tired. Oh, and his older sister has him trapped in an incestuous relationship, too, that he can't free himself from. Somewhere in there, he tries to find a missing pregnant teenager.
     I think that book really taught me how to write the sorts of books I've written since. It was my third one, and it didn't sell, so I moved on to YELLOW MEDICINE and HOGDOGGIN.

At what point in your career did you say to yourself, "I'm a writer."

     Either when I sent a story to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine when I was 19 (terrible story. Rejected), or when I made the decision to go to grad school. At that point, I knew I wasn't going to stop until I got to publish books.
     What's been the biggest challenge of self publishing? Most rewarding experience of self publishing?
     The most rewarding is the surprise of having new readers get so excited about the books. The internet makes that easier than ever. I love to hear from them. The challenge is reaching them. How do I find these people and market myself in such a way as to make them want to give my stuff a try? I keep looking.

What's the one piece of advice you'd give to someone thinking of putting their own work out there?

     Make sure it's ready -- editing and formatting solid, reviewed by several readers -- and then be smart about promotion. People want to get to know you, not constantly hear your pitch. Give it some variety. Play around.

Give us a quick recommended reading list. What little-known books have you discovered that more people should know about?

     That would take forever. And forever. Seriously, follow me on @docnoir on Twitter, and you'll see. I will say that I'm excited that PLOTS WITH GUNS alums (whom we call "Crimedogs") Frank Bill and Greg Bardsley both landed cool book deals. Awesome!

Now how about the three books you couldn't live without?

     Collected Stories of Flannery O'Connor, LUSH LIFE by Richard Price, and the Dave Berry book where he went to Japan. The single funniest opening 30 pages I'd ever read.

Finally, what's next for you? Anything we should know about?

     I've got a new e-book coming out in October called ALL THE YOUNG WARRIORS, more of a thriller than my usual noir chops. Still, very dark. Keep an eye out for that and the new company publishing it soon.
     I'm working on some new novels. Seems like I have so many I want to write that I ended up freezing myself. Chipping away, though.

The print copy. One step closer.

I mentioned a post or two ago that I was working on a print edition for Chasing Filthy Lucre. Well, today I got the final proof of the book in the mail from CreateSpace. It looks great. This will be the version of the book that I order for the coming convention that I mentioned previously.

Not sure exactly how many of them I'm going to order, but whatever I don't sell at the convention I'm going to make available to everyone here and on Twitter. I'm going to mark them somehow so that it will be obvious that these were from the first bulk printing of the book. I'll probably call them certified convention editions or something similar. I'll write that on the front page, number the book, and sign each copy. Not sure what the cost will be, but it shouldn't be too expensive. Something for folks who really enjoyed the ebook version -- or who just really like me -- to buy and have on their shelves.

I'm excited about this if you can't tell. I've got other plans that I spelled out in the previous post. For now, I'm just going to enjoy having a book in with my name on the cover in my hands.

Wanted: Guest bloggers and interview subjects

So now that I've got a little time on my hands, I think I'd like to make some changes to the blog. Right now I'm thinking guest posts and author interviews on a regular schedule. Still working out the details in my head, but if you're an author of crime or sci-fi fiction and would be interested in participating, let me know.

To get an idea of how I'd do the interviews, look at this one I did recently with Steve Umstead.

Losing the day job

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook then you likely know this already, but I lost my newspaper job on Tuesday. There was a pretty big reorganization and my position was eliminated. I was hoping that in the reorganization I'd be moved to a different department. It was a possibility, but it didn't happen.

I've been telling everyone that I'm OK with losing my job, and I am. Honestly. Thinking about a new job, a new career is exciting.

This company was the only one I'd worked for so there wasn't a lot of need to keep a real up to date resume. Any time I moved positions, they already had my work history on file. So that's what I'm doing today. Updating/creating a resume so I can get serious about my job search. I've spent some time this morning looking for jobs. I'm seeing some things that seem like they'd be lots of fun. Good jobs with good companies that could use the skills I've spent the last 14 years building.

Gina seems to be taking this job loss harder than I am in some ways. I think we are both understandably a little scared about what the future holds for us. We are in decent shape financially. We will be able to weather the storm for a while if I can't find something. And I've reassured her that I don't plan on being out of work for long. If I can't find a career job, I'll start looking for any job. I'm a healthy guy with two strong arms and two strong legs. I'm not proud. I'll put those to use if I have to. But that's not why she's sad. She keeps telling me this was your dream job. And it was.

Newspapers are all I've done since I graduated from college in 1997. They're all I'd wanted to do before that. Since I was a kid. In the fourth grade a friend and I drew up a newspaper. It had four or six pages. There was a sports section. There were comics. I made a World Series prediction. The Yankees to win it I think. This was 1983 or 1984 so I was way off. My friend's mom made photocopies of our creation and we passed them around the grade level at school. It was called Revealed.

I worked on the newspaper in sixth grade and then again in high school and in college. I was a journalism major. See? Newspapers were it for me. It took 10 years of professional work to get to the job I'd always wanted to do, the one I was doing when I was let go. I think that's what has Gina so sad. I was finally getting to do what I'd always wanted.

But I keep telling her that I got to do that job for four years, and it was a blessing. I did work I'm proud of and got to collaborate with some truly talented people. I won a couple of awards that will look good on that new resume I'm making. Would I have liked to keep the job? Of course. But I was in a vulnerable position in a company that's struggling, just like all newspaper companies are right now. It was just my time to go.

So, that's the update. The job search is on my mind a lot right now so you will be seeing more about it here. Hope you don't mind. And I hope you don't see much more, that'll mean I found something rather quickly.

In the meantime I'm looking at this as an opportunity to be a full-time job searcher/full-time writer. I am going to concentrate more on my writing and on getting the word out about Chasing Filthy Lucre and the world of New Eden that I've created.

So if you are inclined to help, you could do it by buying a copy of the book. I could use the 35 or 40 cents I get per copy. And, if you've already bought the book, you could leave a reviews somewhere. I can definitely use more of those. And if you've done both of those, you can help by telling others about Chasing Filthy Lucre.

To wrap this up, a lot of my writing friendships are the virtual kind. Many of you wouldn't know me if we passed in a crowded room, Still, you offered kind words when you heard about the layoff. I truly appreciate that. It's a comfort to me and to Gina.

Plans for print

I've signed up for my first sci-fi convention. It's in a few weeks and I'm excited. It's a convention that's much more literary than what they put on in San Diego every year. It's much more literary than the conventions that are put on around here every year. At least that's the impression I get. One of the local newspapers called the convention one of the best annual book functions in the area. It should be fun. I should get to meet some cool people who are fans of sci fi. These should be my potential readers.

I am going to do what I can to meet folks and network since I won't be the only writer there. I'm also going to do what I can to hand sell my book. I've planned to have some postcards made up that will include the Chasing Filthy Lucre book cover on one side and information on how to buy the ebook on the other.

I'm also going to have hard copies. I'd never planned on putting out  a hard copy of Chasing Filthy Lucre. It was just too short to make it worth while, or so I thought. But this convention got me thinking about selling a small number of hard copies. So the plan is to have some hard copies printed and carry them with me in a bag. If talk to someone and they want to buy a copy then I can go to the bag. I'm expecting to see a proof from the good folks at Createspace in the next few days. If it looks good, I should be able to order some hard copies in time for the convention.

But doing the work on the print edition made me think a little more about possibilities and I've got some ideas. Exciting ideas, at least on this end. It'll involve print editions, autographs, selling books through the blog and, potentially, a personal web site. The plan still isn't fully developed but right now I'm thinking there will be limited first editions copies that will be available for a little more cost, second and third editions that will be a little cheaper. And overall they will be cheaper than most self-published print books. That was a goal when I started putting these print editions together. I wanted to be able to sell them for less than $10.

One of the problems I've always had with self-published print books is the cost. For the author to make any money they have to charge a price that most people aren't willing to pay. Chasing Filthy Lucre, though, won't be that. I'm keeping the profits low in the hopes that I can move more books, make it almost an impulse purchase.

I'll go more into my print plans as they become a little more set in stone. But I'm excited about what's coming up, and wanted to let you all know.

Some advice from Chuck Wendig

Haven't done one of these in a while, but if you're a writer here's a little wisdom from Chuck Wendig. If you like this, go read the rest of the post at his blog. There are 24 other tips on using social media. And, as is typical with a Chuck post, don't go if you have easily offended eyes. Chuck has been known to work blue.

"You are not a brand. Social media is not your platform. The world has enough brands. You are not a logo, a marketing agenda, a mouthpiece, a Spam-Bot. Approach social media not as a writer-specific tool (keyword: tool) catered only toward your penmonkey self and see it instead as a place where you can bring all the crazy and compelling facets of your personality to bear on
an unsuspecting populace, your audience. People want to follow other people. People don’t want to follow brands."

And we hit 100

I wrote yesterday's post before church, not expecting that by the time I arrived for the service I'd find out that I'd sold the 100th copy of Chasing Filthy Lucre. However, that's exactly what happened. I'm excited about that. Happy to say I've sold 100 copies.

Ever since I started writing regularly in junior high school, this has been the dream. Not to sell 100 copies of a book, but to have people read and enjoy what I write. Thanks to a rapidly changing publishing world, that's happening.

Worrying about what you can control

I'm getting close to a milestone number as far as book sales go. I'm one sale away from hitting 100 total sales. Honestly, I thought I'd be there by now. I started the month of August just four sales away from 100. So, a little quick math, that means I've sold three books this month.

I've heard from lots of independent authors that summer sales are slow and that August is the worst. "Sure," I thought, "but it can't be that bad." No, it can be worse.

Honestly, I thought that August would go well. July started slow. No sales for the first two weeks. After that, though, I sold almost one book a day for the rest of the month. Momentum, I thought, I finally have some. This will carry over into August. And I was fooled, because for a day or two it did carry over. I sold a book on the fist day of the month. I hadn't done that ever. Then I sold another on the third day. So far so good. Then I didn't sell another book at all until this weekend. Someone on Barnes and Noble picked up a copy.

I was checking every day hoping to see that third and fourth sale, but nothing. Until this weekend, I was stuck at two. I've been tweeting about Chasing Filthy Lucre. I've been pushing it on Facebook. I've had interviews and reviews posted. Still, nothing moves the sales.

I am starting to realize that what some of the more successful writers have been saying. You can't control how many copies you sell. You do what you can to let people know about your book or books. You make your best effort and hope that works. You can't, however, make anyone push that buy button.

That's why you concentrate on the one thing you can control: writing your next book. There's one thing that almost all the successful indie authors say will drive sales, and that's having more books available. Two books will sell better than one book. Three books will sell better than two. Four better than three, and so on. I'm about 15,000 words into Book 2 into and it's really starting to take shape. I always knew where this book would go but the details are in focus now, and that's a good thing. I have a goal, the second book being published by my birthday, October 4. That's very doable.

So for now, I'll keep doing what I've been doing and hoping that these slow sales are just the summer doldrums. That things will pick up once the weather turns cooler and the kids go back to school. And I'll keep writing.

And speaking of milestones, here's a little something I just realized. That last post -- the interview with Steve Umstead -- was the 400th post on this blog. That's kind of cool. Didn't know I was getting close to another round number.