Wednesday 28 January 2015

Thursday 15 January 2015

So, you've written a novel. What next?



You're novel's all written. What do you do next?

First, off step away from the manuscript. Have some fun. Zap zombies on a computer game. Catch up with your favourite TV show. Hey, the whole new season of Orange is the New Black is on Netflix.



Had a break? Feel rested? Now it's time to look at your manuscript again with fresh eyes.

You're looking for -

Spelling mistakes - do not trust spell checkers. They can lull you into a false sense of security and change words. Mine change violet jumpsuit to violent. Don't know what it had against violent.

Plot holes - did you bring a dead character back to life? Not resolve a part of the storyline that needed to be resolved? Don't leave someone standing on the ledge of a building without having them persuaded not to jump, or rappelling down to break into that office.

Look for continuity errors - Did you rename a character halfway through the book or change the spelling of their name? Were they shot or kidnapped, and you carried on writing like they hadn't been?

Get rid of all the fluffy words like just and only as much as you can. They don't read well and are unnecessary.

Did you commit the sin of writing he/she started to (ADD AN ACTION like run) - Have someone run not start to run.

Check for errors you and only you would make - For instance, I had stench the flow of blood instead of staunch the flow in one of my books and I did I even notice. My publisher's copy editor didn't, but the proof reader did. But, she only spotted one, another two instances were left in the book.

Don't have characters doing the same thing all the time -
I found too many taking a deep breath in my latest book. Shake it up. Have characters doing different things.

Please don't send your novel off without the best chance of publishing success. Publishers and agents want you to make it easy for them to say no. Don't hand them that reason.

Happy writing folks. Would love to hear what you are working on.

Tuesday 30 December 2014

Is Kindle Unlimited hitting author incomes?



Is Kindle Unlimited picking authors pockets?

Kindle Unlimited sounded like it might actually help authors to reach a wider readership. For a relative small sum a month ($9.99), members can read as many Kindle books as they want. Authors like me hoped that would lead to our books that wouldn't otherwise be bought, being lent instead and us getting a payment (albeit less than what we'd get for a sale) for each loan.

Sadly, I've found Kindle Unlimited has lost me money, especially for my non-fiction title, Living Cruelty Free: Live a More Compassionate Life.




I put a lot into writing that book. More than I put into any of my fiction titles, because I had to do so much gruelling, distressing research into animal cruelty and human cruelty towards other humans that gave me nightmares. All of the research took almost a year to do and I had to decipher complicated laws that made my head spin.

I had a publisher for the book, who badly let me down and didn't send me a royalty statement in 2 whole years since the book was published, causing me so much stress trying to get the rights to my own book back. Then I self-published. I did everything myself and it cost me more money than I could afford.

Considering the work that went into Living Cruelty Free, a book readers could turn to again and again, I felt a Kindle price of £4.99 ($8.99 in the USA) was fair.

Sadly, I'm starting to notice a trend. I sell a book and it shows up in my sales on KDP. Soon after, usually within an hour, that book appears as returned and a loan shows up almost right away.


So, what's happening?

To me, its simple.

People are either 1. Buying the book by mistake, instead of borrowing it using Kindle Unlimited, and then they're returning the book and borrowing it.

Or, 2. Borrowing the book because it costs nothing.

You can't blame readers. But, you can blame Amazon for having the facility to buy and borrow a book on the same page (which i believe is confusing people) and for coming up with a scheme that takes even more money away from writers.


Borrow rates for authors on KU in 2024

When one of my book sells, I make $6.26 or £3.37 on a 70% royalty. On a loan, I make just over a dollar. So you can see how I lose out every time a buyer switches to a lender.

I'm not alone in this. Other authors are also being hit in the pocket, and many of them used to be big earners. See here

What's your experience of KU? How has it affected you? I would love to hear your experience. 

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