CRYO; Rise of the Immortals at Barnes & Noble

Posted by geoffwakeling on February 13, 2013

Morning all, just a little book update today to let you know that CRYO: Rise of the Immortals has finally landed at B&N. It can be a little frustrating waiting for B&N to pick up Smashwords distributions, especially when other places, such as iBooks, pick new works up so quickly. However, it’s finally available – HERE.

CRYO is one of my real book loves, and John Carlody is very like me in many ways. He dreams of going to the future and finding his place in the world, but when given that golden opportunity, he finds himself second guessing and wondering if he’s making the right choice.

John’s life is ordinary. Whilst skyscrapers soar towards the heavens, leaving a dying Earth far below, John has little to enthuse him about the modern world. He’s the black sheep of the family, the recluse, the one who never did anything worthwhile. That is, until John wins an elusive ticket to the CRYO program. Within seconds, his life explodes in a flash of cameras, notoriety and intrigue.

The chance to sleep for a few decades and wake in a new world, a place where life might be better, is all that John can hope for. But, is CRYO everything it says it is? Is the promise of a prosperous future unfounded? Only time will tell, as John becomes one of 50 new immortal souls to ride out the journey of time….

If you’ve had your appetite wetted, then you can download the sample at B&N. CRYO, is also available at Amazon, Kobo and iBooks, and there’s a couple of reviews over at Amazon.co.uk.

Happy Hump Day!

Using multi-channels to sell your ebooks

Posted by geoffwakeling on January 26, 2013

Anyone who’s read this blog for any length of time will know that I’m a keen advocate of the multi-channel approach when it comes to selling books as an indie author. Had I come into the publishing industry a few months earlier, say around December 2011, then Amazon’s Select program may have well stirred enough interest to get me to sign up. As it is, I published Inside Evil in March 2012, and after reading several reports that the advantages of Select were already waning, decided against becoming exclusive. It seemed pretty obvious to me; I didn’t want to put all of my eggs in one basket.

Select continues to draw a large number of people in, and I’m sure that they’re doing very well out of it. However, distributing with Smashwords and Kobo Writing Life has never been easier. I hear a lot of people saying that they have issues with Smashwords, but in all honesty, I can hand on heart say that I’ve had no problems. I’ve gone through their Meatgrinder without ending up with a completely ruined eBook file, I’ve got into their Premium catalogue with no worries, and I’ve been distributed fairly fast. B&N does take a while to get going, but I don’t necessarily think that this is Smashwords’ fault because CRYO landed in the iBookstore just days after being distributed.

Why use the multichannel approach?

- Readers

Readers want flexibility, and whilst the Kindle is still a huge eReader, an increasing number of people have other devices. I read everything on my iPhone and I have fans of my work who read on the Nook and Sony devices. Had I started on Select, none of these readers would have got to sample my work whilst the exclusivity contract was in place. And, though I’ve thought about putting subsequent work into Select, it ultimately means that any readerbase I’ve already gathered would be penalised for not choosing Amazon as their number one ebook provider.

- Maximum Exposure

There’s no denying it; Amazon is a huge marketplace and has millions of readers awaiting your novel. But this can have its downsides too. It will take more sales to get into Amazon’s Top 100 lists than it might on Apple or Kobo, and you’ll fall out of those lists more quickly too. Being on Amazon alone also stymies the places you can promote, and you’ll be stuck to advertising methods that only point directly back to Amazon. In addition, the Select contract means that you can provide excerpts of no more than 10% (i.e. the sample that Amazon offers) and links must direct back to them. However, by choosing to use a multi-channel approach, the world and all the eReaders really are your oyster.

- Limiting Risk

Placing all your work in one place is risky. What happens if Amazon suddenly decides to stop promoting indie authors? They make a deal with the Big Six and, almost overnight, all those top ranking indie books disappear way down the lists because of changed algorithms? This is not a good thing, and it’s made worse if your work is only available on Amazon. Of course, creating a newsletter is the best option if you want to reach readers regardless of where they are and whatever happens to the market. However, by having your work in as many places as possible, you can limit the risk of a big hit due to one market changing or closing.

I love Amazon, and they do make it very easy for us indie authors to sell our books. But I also love the multi-channel approach, and I’d be severely stunted if my readers suddenly couldn’t download on iBooks or the Nook. CRYO: Rise of the Immortals has now made it to Apple, just days after it was uploaded to Smashwords, and you can find it for both US and UK versions. Having it in multiple places has helped its launch and got the book off to a good start. As for your advertising, which do you prefer? Amazon Select or multi-channelling?

CRYO: The Rise of the Immortals has arrived

Posted by geoffwakeling on January 7, 2013

I’m over the moon to announce that CRYO: Rise of the Immortals has finally arrived. I got the final revisions this morning, spent a couple of hours making corrections and going through the manuscript one final time, before uploading to Amazon. As ever, Amazon were pretty swift off the mark, and CRYO: The Rise of the Immortals is already available to purchase.

This is a novel that has taken a LONG time to write, and there have been a lot of revisions along the way. Scrapping characters, changing existing ones, creating new ones. Throwing whole storylines away in favour of an alternate route…it’s certainly been an interesting ride.

If you’d like to know more, the the CRYO page now has the full first chapter, or alternatively you can download the sample from Amazon itself. Whilst CRYO is available at Smashwords, it’s still going through for Kobo, and could take some time for B&N because I have to wait for Smashwords to send the manuscript through.

Writing Challenges for 2013

Posted by geoffwakeling on January 4, 2013

Well, 2012 was quite a year wasn’t it?! This time last year I read an interview in the Telegraph about Amanda Hocking and thought, ‘I could do that‘. This time last year I had NO idea what a journey this self publishing process would take me on. This time last year I had a couple of unfinished manuscripts hiding away on my computer.

Inside Evil was published on March 12th, 2012 and since then it’s been a roller-coaster ride. I’ve got better at writing, become more accomplished at marketing and feel that my inner writer is finally coming out. And, in 2013, there’s some important goals to complete!

CRYO; Rise of the Immortals

I was originally looking at a December launch, but, well….you may have noticed that December’s come and gone without a book. That’s because CRYO was an old manuscript that has been polished…hence more editing than normal is required. My editor is 54% of the way through, so I do expect this new science fiction saga to be released by the end of the month.

Inside Evil – Spirits of the Middlelands

If anyone follows my Twitter feed or Facebook page, then they’ll know that the third instalment of the Inside Evil saga has already begun. I’m SO glad to get back to Roberta, Susan, Martha and the rest of the gang to find out what’s been going on. Spirits of the Middlelands jumps forward by six months, so gone is the winter and here is the summer sun. I don’t always know what’s going to happen, so I’m excited by the new twists and conclusions that keep jumping into my mind. I’m aiming for two months of writing and editing, so would expect this third book to launch in March/April.

Pacifier Six

I can now reveal that the title for my zombie novella is ‘Pacifier Six – The Shadows Within‘ . This was a book that I had not been intending to write at all, but it popped into my brain during NaNoWriMo. If you haven’t read the first unedited chapter, you can do so here. It’s only a novella, circa 30K, and it can be read as a stand-alone story. However, if people show interest and the novella does well, then I may well write further stories. The editing is finished on Pacifier Six, and I’m only waiting on the artwork. This means that this novella should be published in late January or early February.

In addition to publishing these three stories, I’d like to have the fourth Inside Evil book published by the end of the year so that the five book saga can complete in 2014. Depending on the reception for CRYO, I’ll also be looking to have completed the second book in this series! I have a lot to do!!

What are you planning for 2013?

Cover Reveal – CRYO; Rise of the Immortals

Posted by geoffwakeling on November 28, 2012

I feel like I’ve been waiting MONTHS to get this artwork. In fact, it’s only been a few mere weeks. Keith Draws has done an amazing job with this cover, and it’s everything that I wanted and more. This has been a novel which has been in the works for years, so to see everything finally coming together is rather incredible.

The book itself is currently with my editor and I’m hoping to get it back and corrected in the next few weeks so that I can make a December launch! For now…I’ll have to just gaze at the cover….and keep writing the next Inside Evil book too.

A novel update

Posted by geoffwakeling on October 8, 2012

Today, about five hours ago, I wrote and edited the final chapter of my new novel. Since then, I’ve spent many frustrating hours trying to get .mobi conversions to work so that my editor and proofer can read, enjoy and work at the same time. I ended up having to strip out ALL formatting and start from scratch….still, it’s a cleaner ebook now that the step has been taken.

I’m still not entirely sure of the title, but it’s tentatively called ‘CRYO; Rise of the Immortals‘. I have no cover, have done no marketing, have only just revealed a possible name, BUT at least it is done. I’m heading for a mid Nov – early Dec release to provide time for the multitude of work that has to be done between completing a manuscript and actually publishing it. Now, the work starts really starts, and first on the menu is some blurb. I tentatively (that seems to be the word of the day) put together some ideas for blurb, but it’ll obviously need refinement/embellishment.

There are some dreams that never come true, but John Carlody’s just won a ticket to a privately funded cryogenics program and is on a one way ticket to the future. He’s about to escape from a dying world to a place where the troubles of the past have been cured and forgotten, where he can finally find contentment, where, if the worst occurs, he might lay happily and blissfully unaware in stasis forever.

But, leaving loved ones behind isn’t as easy as John originally thought, and lost feelings begin to reawaken. There are many who are determined to see him fail, to see his dream shattered. And, even if John does pass CRYO’s tests and he makes the program, is Earth’s future as bright as he’s hoping for?’

I always feel a beautiful sense of freedom when I tap out those final words of a piece. There’s a natural conclusion to the writing process even if, like CRYO; Rise of the Immortals is, the novel is the start of a series. However, there’s no relaxing or quietening the sounds of keyboard tapping in my house, as I am now headed back to the Inside Evil series, to book three, and to the plight of Ridgewood’s most loveable residents.