Do Short Stories Sell?

So far, in my experience, the answer to this question is no.

My novel, Eria, sold quite solidly for a first novel from a nobody (well, in my opinion at least). Not enough to quit my day job and live on a tropical island somewhere, but that was never my expectation. I was glad to have something out there, and for people to read it, comment on it, and hopefully like it.

My first short stories (or novella, I suppose), The Dragon's Spine, was much better than Eria - it read better, the interactions were better, and it was quite a solid piece. Sales were slow and awful. At one stage Eria was outselling it, despite the difference in pricing and the fact that Eria had been around for quite a while. It left me scratching my head.

Now with Dren out, I'm getting the same kind of sales as I had with The Dragon's Spine. Slow, almost non-existent.

Is it that there is so much stuff at 99 cents that people either fail to see things at that price? Is there still the idea that if it's that cheap there must be something wrong with it? Or is it simply that short stories, by themselves do not sell?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Not Dead!

It has been a very long time since I updated this. A lot of it had to do with me not feeling on top of the world. Some of it had to do with me feeling like I had nothing to say. Some of it had to do with me not having real internet. At least one of these problems has been resolved.

For those that might not have noticed it, my latest short story, Dren, is now available on Amazon. The link should be at the top of the page. I'm also working with Bygone Futures to get Dren and Eria up on DriveThruFiction the same way The Dragon's Spine is.

Why? Well, DriveThruFiction allows for us to make the stories available in multiple formats, to take into consideration that not everyone has something that is a Kindle reader. Also, some people prefer not to let Amazon have their business. Additionally, the returns from DriveThruFiction are better. Finally, it doesn't hurt to have something available in multiple places for people to locate. As and when they become available on DriveThruFiction, I'll let you know here, and be sure to add the links to the top of the page, as well.

What else have I been working on? Well, I'd love to say heaps, but that's not entirely true. I have been thinking a lot about writing, and have started a new story that is not Eria-based. It's a Sci-Fi story, but I'll say more about this later. For now I just wanted to say : NOT DEAD!

What's Going On?

I've been going through a lot for the last little while. I've had some physical health problems (there have been some nasty bugs going around), but I've also been having some mental health issues, as well.

Last weekend (and that seems like an eternity to me now) I was close to taking my own life. I wasn't going to do it because I wanted the attention, or to cause pain to anyone, but for the simple reason that I wanted the pain that I've been suffering with to end. To disappear. For it to finally be over.

Obviously, I didn't do anything. I fought very hard against it, and I'm still here. Since then I've seen a doctor about things. I've started a course of medication, which will likely run for two to three years (at least), and I meet up again with my doctor on Friday to discuss therapists and the like.

It's not going to be an easy road, but hopefully it'll get me to a better place. A place where I can begin to enjoy life again, rather than just endure it by breaking it down into little slivers that I have to make it through every day.

Depression isn't a new thing for me. I've been dealing with it my entire adult life. Some times I deal with it better than others. Some times I do a good job of hiding it from the rest of the world, and indeed myself. But it's always there. It'll probably always be there, but I hope to get on top of it, or at least learn to deal with it in a better way.

I was hesitant to mention it here, because this is supposed to be a blog about writing, my novels, stories, and the like, but I find more and more that I'm sharing about my life, and I wanted to keep everyone that reads this in the loop.

I don't want people to take pity on me, and rush out and buy my stuff because it might cheer me up, or make me feel better. I want people to understand what I'm going through. If people want to buy my stuff, I want them to do it because they want to, because they enjoy it, or because they want to read it.

Anyway, that's all I have to say about stuff at the moment. Thanks for reading (if you made it this far!).

Short Stories

My new job sees me spending some time on the train to get to and from work. At first I filled the time by reading Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. I'd never read them before (it's a long and not very interesting story that basically boils down to me being stubborn in the face of someone telling constantly how awesome they were and why I should read them every day for an extended period of time - don't get me wrong, I like people suggesting new stuff for me to read - what I don't like is someone practically shoving something into my hands and wanting to sit by me to make sure I read it), so they are a new experience for me. I quite like them, but after the first few, I ran out of ones to read, unless I bought more, and moving house, car insurance, new internet set-up, among other things, has really made a dent in my finances. So, I thought I'd give writing on the train a go.

It's actually been working rather well. Even though I'm commuting around peak-hour, most of the time I have no one sitting next to me on the train, or, if I do, it's not for the whole trip, or I still have enough room to type a bit.

I started off by getting back to a short story I started just after I finished The Dragon's Spine. For anyone who has read Eria you'll probably remember Elrath's cat, Dren. Well, this story is all about Dren. It's the lead up to what Dren was up to before he came into Elrath's life. I've finished the first draft, and I'm going to put it to one side while I work on another short story. The second one is similar to the Dren short story, but it will focus on Baedyr. Once that one has reached the first draft stage, and after I make another pass of Dren, I'm going to get started on Zelton. For those with a good memory, Zelton was Elrath's master's master.

Ideally, I'm going to release them one at a time over the period of a couple of months. I've already got some cover art in the works for Dren, and once I'm happy with that, I'll do the same with the others.

It's good to be writing again, even if it is for short bursts before and after work. Hopefully once I get settled into my new job and my new house I'll be able to find the time to get some more writing done in the evenings and on the weekends. And to update this blog more often, too, to let you all know what I've been up to. Not having a reliable internet connection kinda hurts the whole being active online thing.

Anyway, that's where I'm at at the moment. Until next time!

Sequel Names and Other Stuff

I've really painted myself into a corner with this one. When I write a sequel to Eria what am I going to call it? Eria II just sounds awful. It really does, and it'll do no justice to the original. For now, it'll have to do, I suppose.

Of course, the questions that I'll have to answer will be "what's going to be in this novel?", "will it be better than the first one?", "will Dren be in this one?".

Great stuff, yes and yes are the answers to these questions.

I love the characters from Eria - I have so much more planned for them. Bethany has some growth, Elrath has a lot to do and Baedyr will feature pretty large in this novel.

And Dren. Well, that cat's something I can't contain...

Eria - Six Months On

It's been six months to the day since I released Eria on Amazon. Originally I'd planned on releasing it on my birthday, but some last minute formatting issues and finalizing the cover art delayed that. In the end I was happy to have it out before Xmas.

Initially sales were good, as you'd expect. I put most of the sales in the first month down to friends picking up a copy. It was still nice. It was satisfying to see people getting behind me and my novel.

The next couple of months were just as good, and I was quite impressed. I couldn't put all the sales down to just friends because, and let's be honest, I don't really have that many friends.

In those first three months I got some reviews (which are always nice - I can't stress enough how much I love reviews), and some nice feedback from people on places like Google + and Facebook.

Since then things have kind of petered off. I knew it would happen, but it is still a little disheartening. In the last three months my total sales of Eria have been what the monthly average sales for the first three months was. I love that people are still picking up copies, and I'd like to think that it's through word of mouth, people discovering this blog, or maybe my presence on the social media sites. Not that I just pimp my stuff there (I find it a huge turn off when other people do that), but I do post often on those sites.

I launched my novella The Dragon's Spine in April, not really a prequel as much as a story set in the same world a few hundred years earlier. It was good fun to write, and I hope it was good fun to read, as well.

I've definitely learnt a few things over the last six months, but I might leave that for another post, as lack of sleep is kicking my ass...

Writing and Bread Making

I've been making bread lately. No - that is not an euphemism, Australian slang, or anything else like that. It is just something that I've been doing. Because I have a bread maker. It doesn't mean I have been making money hand over fist, either. It is, however, a good analogy for writing, the creative process and so forth. If you found this blog because you Googled bread making feel free to keep reading, because I will actually talk about bread making.

Anyway...

The new bread maker came into the house. I'd been talking about getting one for a while. Talking about how I like fresh bread. But I'd never really made bread before, or owned a bread maker. Maybe I just liked the idea of having a machine that could make bread at will. Or maybe I just hadn't thought the whole thing through.

My flatmate brought home the bread maker, much to my surprise, and almost to my chagrin - I'd been mouthing off about the bread I'd make if I had one. I guess she called my bluff.

Naturally, she expected me to know how to use it. Know how to make good bread. And expected we'd never need to buy bread ever again.

So, I did what anyone would do - I went to the supermarket and bought pre-packaged bread maker bread stuff. I read the instructions on the packet - Water, Bread Stuff, Yeast. In that order. Do not mix them up, add them in a different order - just do that.

I did, and, probably because I had done it with my own hands, watched the whole process, and held the freshly baked loaf in my hot little hands, I exclaimed to the world that I had made the best loaf ever. I feasted on that loaf. It was pretty damn good. It was the best loaf of bread I had had in a while.

The bread stuff I had bought at the supermarket had more bread stuff than required to make one loaf - it had enough for four loaves. I could have just repeated the process four times and had the same bread four times over, but my flat mate had some feedback - she wanted to some bread with cheese and sun-dried tomato. I looked for a recipe in the book that came with the bread maker, and there wasn't one. But there were a few similar ones. And I figured they were close enough to the pre-packaged stuff, that all I needed to do was chop up the sun-dried tomato and add the grated cheese. That became the best bread ever.

I still had the means to make another two loaves of basic bread. All I had to do was follow three steps, and I was done. I bought sliced bread. It was easier. It cost less. I just picked it up at the supermarket, and took it home. It tasted okay, but it was nothing at all like the bread I'd made, either the first or second time. Sure, it was bread, but I'd grown to expect more.

Tonight I decided to make more bread. I used the third of the bread stuff, and improvised a bit more. I had more sun-dried tomato, so I wanted to add those. I had black olives, so I used those. I had some ham, so I sliced those up, told them they would be bacon, and used those. The only cheese I had was sliced, so I took a knife and turned it into a fine diced cheese. I loaded the machine, but I knew I wasn't going to be awake when it all came together and made the next loaf. So, I set the bread maker to pause starting. Everything is still there, still ready, but it will start cooking, and finish cooking, at a time that suits me, not the bread.

I still have a long way to come with my bread making. I can make everything from scratch, for instance. Not use a bread maker. There are a lot of other steps I can take to make my bread better, or more original. But for now, I am happy with how this bread making is turning out.