When Winter Calls - Diary of a Futurist Thriller

Interfaced · Jul 1, 2015

The time is rapidly approaching - I'm only weeks away from releasing my first self-published novel! I've really appreciated the insight and guidance of diary threads here, and so thought that it would be worth starting one of my own. I'm starting this before the release of the book so that I can share each step (and mistake!) made along the way, and also because I know that by doing so I'll get a lot of excellent advice from the lovely peeps here on Absolute Write

When Winter Calls
380 pages (paperback)
Release Date: Summer 2015 (Now Available!)

“A terrifying glimpse into a future where humanity can be ‘improved’ by technology and corporations govern. Robert Gordon spins a cautionary tale about the increasing omnipotence of corporations and an endless appetite for pushing the boundaries of technology.” – Elizabeth Karr, Producer of Radio Free Albemuth

Back Cover Text:
Research is the Door to Tomorrow

Welcome to Caldera, the corporate enclave in international waters where cutting-edge research meets employee utopia. As Sentivue Industries prepares their new flagship product – a neural interface that connects the user to the collective knowledge of the ages – Jared Elsworth is tasked with ensuring a smooth and successful launch.

But with winter setting in and many of its residents preparing to leave, something doesn’t seem right. People are acting strangely, and the citycorp begins to take on a much darker and more violent tone. Is the interface causing the changes, or is somebody pulling the strings? When isolation is the key to corporate sovereignty, how do you overcome a sinister force that has taken control?

Robert A. Gordon is an anthropologist that has been writing about the ethics of future technology for the past decade. Dedicating his professional career to engaging the public discourse on questions of morality and social purpose, he has consistently worked on themes of corporate power, governance and innovation. When Winter Calls is his debut novel, a science fiction thriller that explores the boundaries of our personal and collective identities in an ever-changing world.

Next Steps:

Final proofing round - the book is currently on its 9th edit and I'm calling this as the last! Proofing/formatting/minor changes only.
Purchase ISBN block
Start playing around with Draft2Digital, CreateSpace and IngramSpark - I'm currently planning on using all three for different things (eBook, Paperback, Hardcover)
Start building up a mailing list through my Future Conscience blog, with a discount offer!
Sort out US tax exemption forms so that I'm not charged double tax! (I'm in the UK)
Finalise full cover design (including a request for a cover quote...)
Figure out a publicity strategy for launch window (reviews, Goodreads, podcasts, blog interviews, paid ads, calling in favours!)
All the other things I've missed... (!!)

I'll keep everybody updated with everything that I do as things progress, and particularly the resources that I find useful. Over the month of June I started the pre-release ramp up on the blog, and put out a post every day for 30 days to drum up interest and open up channels of communication with other futurists online. Now the next phase begins!

Interfaced · Jul 2, 2015

First day of the process and we're already bringing up some interesting questions about ISBNs!

Nielsen UK sells them for £144 for a block of 10. Given that I want to publish this book in three different versions, and am intending to write others in the future, this is the most sensible option so I will be going for that.

I am choosing to purchase my own ISBNs so that I have the most flexibility when it comes to marketing the book and finding sales channels. There are a number of bookstores in London that I can likely convince to carry copies, so making it easy for them to order it is obviously a good idea!

Filling out the ISBN order form, already a number of questions arise:

Should the listed Publisher Name be under my own name, or under the name of the Future Conscience blog?
I've chosen to go with Future Conscience as publisher.

Which contact details do I want to appear on public listings?
Email/website only.

Do I need to register the Publisher Name anywhere else as a business?
No, I don't think so - but will look into it.

Should I list the cover illustrator's name on the ISBN form page 3?
I've decided not to, because it seems that what they are asking there is if there is an illustrator on the project (i.e. images throughout the text/children's book type situation).

All these questions popping up with just the first step! ISBN form will be sent through later today, and I will wait patiently for the ISBNs to arrive in about 10 days time...

Anybody got any thoughts on things I should pay attention to regarding ISBNs?

JalexM · Jul 2, 2015

Just a fyi, you'll have a harder time getting your books into bookstores through Createspace because they don't allow returns. But Ingram does but the process of setting up a paperback/hardcopy cost a lot more than Createspace which is essentially free.

Interfaced · Jul 3, 2015

Thanks for the heads up - that's definitely something I hadn't yet considered.

I think the chances of getting it into bookstores is relatively slim, especially when compared to the sales that Createspace would help with on Amazon. The few smaller bookstores I'm thinking of approaching I think would be more keen on the hardcover version from IngramSpark, as a more eye-catching piece to display...at least that's what I'm hoping!

At this stage I'm not even sure I'll launch all three versions at the same time. I think getting the eBook version out there first should be a priority, and I'm hoping that once that version is ready to go sorting out the others won't be too difficult (I already have the cover layout pretty much sorted).

Abderian · Jul 3, 2015

Everything sounds good to me, Robert, and I'm looking forward to following your progress. One thing I noticed you might want to fix

Robert A. Gordon is an anthropologist ~~that~~ who has been writing about the ethics of future technology for the past decade.

Interfaced · Jul 4, 2015

Fantastic - thank you!

Interfaced · Jul 14, 2015

Just a quick update for those who are interested:

10 x ISBNs are in hand and ready to go (quite a high £££ to pixels ratio on that email attachment!). I'm pleased to have taken this route, even though it means I have to sell more books to make up for it, as it opens up a few additional avenues for publicity and long-term sales.

I have had some positive news on a cover quote from a Director and/or Producer of a high-profile indy science fiction film that I've built a good working relationship up with over the years. They are just seeing if they can fit in the reading of the book and quote return within the next few weeks...fingers crossed! If not for release, then I will add the quote and amend the cover as soon as is possible.

Over halfway through what was going to be the final proofing edit. Having read some recent threads about the importance of editorial perfection (well, as much as is possible!), I am going to add another round specifically focusing on conversation formatting/grammar. It's a difficult one to get right!

I'm now starting to get concerned that I haven't done enough leg-work on release reviews...I've sent it out to a few people who do such things (such as SF Book Reviews), but no luck yet. Would anybody here like to receive a review copy?

Onwards and upwards!

Interfaced · Jul 27, 2015

It's been a fortnight since the last update, and here's what has happened since:

1) I've completed another full edit of the book, mostly to streamline sentence structures and readability. I've also now got a proofreader friend (who is a Literature PhD) on the case to catch those pesky things that I'm now blind to. I'm very grateful already to be able to have those final kinks sorted out without much additional cost.

2) I've started the oh-so-fun process of getting the formatting right in the conversion from .doc -> .mobi, which has been a slightly easier process than I anticipated having heard a lot of nightmare stories. I'm using Draft2Digital for the conversion process, and it seems to be working a treat with just minor issues to sort out.

3) I'm starting to think about the release schedule and whether I'll stagger different formats (eBook, paperback, hardcover). Presumably the bulk of sales will be eBook so I'm keen to get that out first, plus it saves some time on the full wrap cover layout and waiting for proof copies in the post. Does anybody have opinions on this? Do you think it is okay to release an eBook version first and then follow up with paperback/hardcover a fortnight later?

4) I've collected a small number of people who will leave reviews upon release (always looking for more - if you want a free copy in exchange for a review, send me a PM!) and am now looking into the possibilities of advertising. One particular avenue I've just discovered recently thanks to a post on here - does anybody have experience in using NetGalley? Are they worth the cost?

Hopefully things will continue to come together well, I'm entering this period where I am kind of terrified of the release...because how will I feel if it just sinks like a stone? It's quite daunting!

Thanks for following, plenty more updates to come

Interfaced · Jul 30, 2015

So now we come to the interesting question about virtual book tours - are they worth it? Have you done one before? What kind of results did you get?

I have contacted Goddess Fish Promotions about their tours, as I saw someone else here recommend them in a diary thread recently. They got back to me within the hour (great customer service!) and were very open about my questions. Basically, I'm concerned that these virtual book tours cater almost exclusively to romance and YA genres...and for a science fiction book I wasn't sure whether they would gain traction. They responded saying there just aren't really any sites that focus on sci-fi that do these tours, and so they would focus on general book review/readers sites.

I'm really keen to hear all your thoughts about these virtual book tours for a book like When Winter Calls. From looking at a lot of the sites that participate in these tours, they mostly seem to dedicate themselves to these kind of promotions and little else besides! It makes me worry that it's a bit of an echo chamber, and there's not really any serious engagement with people who will actually purchase the book and become fans...

Thoughts on virtual book tours? I think I'm likely to go ahead with Goddess Fish just as an experiment (it's not that much of a cost), particularly as they have shown such good customer service even before I've paid anything...but I don't really have the best opinion thus far on what it will achieve.

JalexM · Jul 31, 2015

Interfaced said:
So now we come to the interesting question about virtual book tours - are they worth it? Have you done one before? What kind of results did you get?

I have contacted Goddess Fish Promotions about their tours, as I saw someone else here recommend them in a diary thread recently. They got back to me within the hour (great customer service!) and were very open about my questions. Basically, I'm concerned that these virtual book tours cater almost exclusively to romance and YA genres...and for a science fiction book I wasn't sure whether they would gain traction. They responded saying there just aren't really any sites that focus on sci-fi that do these tours, and so they would focus on general book review/readers sites.

I'm really keen to hear all your thoughts about these virtual book tours for a book like When Winter Calls. From looking at a lot of the sites that participate in these tours, they mostly seem to dedicate themselves to these kind of promotions and little else besides! It makes me worry that it's a bit of an echo chamber, and there's not really any serious engagement with people who will actually purchase the book and become fans...

Thoughts on virtual book tours? I think I'm likely to go ahead with Goddess Fish just as an experiment (it's not that much of a cost), particularly as they have shown such good customer service even before I've paid anything...but I don't really have the best opinion thus far on what it will achieve.

From what I understand from what I heard from other authors, book tours were good a few years ago, but now they're not worth it anymore.

Interfaced · Aug 12, 2015

Many thanks JalexM, I've decided to hold out on the virtual book tour for now. I figure I can always do one later, and it will be better to see how each different element has an effect on sales rather than doing lots of different things at the same time.

I have officially submitted the book to KDP for approval! Now the (terrifying) fun begins...

Interfaced · Aug 12, 2015

So it turns out that Amazon can be a lot quicker than the stated 72hrs!

When Winter Calls - Now Available!

The Kindle version of the book is now officially live!!! I hope that some of you enjoy it (and if anybody here leaves a review please do let me know so that I can return the favour!), and I'll keep people updated on how things progress with the dreaded self-marketing push. I didn't expect such a quick turn-around for it to go live, so am left a bit flat-footed as to getting word out...time to get on with it!

Firstly, I need to update the listing with a cover quote I have received:

“A terrifying glimpse into a future where humanity can be ‘improved’ by technology and corporations govern. Robert Gordon spins a cautionary tale about the increasing omnipotence of corporations and an endless appetite for pushing the boundaries of technology.” – Elizabeth Karr, Producer of Radio Free Albemuth

Wow...the moment has finally arrived! Somewhat overwhelming...

JalexM · Aug 12, 2015

Congrats! I hope your journey goes well!
I noticed you priced your book at 3.45$. A general rule in sales, not just book sales, is that the cents of the dollar should be .99. So I would suggest either moving it to 2.99 or 3.99

Polenth · Aug 12, 2015

The books I've done have gone live within about 12 hours. But they can take longer, and they can throw up issues with covers and the like, so doesn't hurt to add some extra time for safety.

J. Tanner · Aug 12, 2015

Interfaced said:
1) I've completed another full edit of the book, mostly to streamline sentence structures and readability. I've also now got a proofreader friend (who is a Literature PhD) on the case to catch those pesky things that I'm now blind to. I'm very grateful already to be able to have those final kinks sorted out without much additional cost.

Checked out your sample on Amazon. Did the correct version of the file get uploaded? It looks like you've got a missing word in your very first paragraph:

...taller than the two either side.

And there are several places in your sample where you treat separate sentences as dialog tags like this (made up example since I can't cut paste):

"We're docking soon," he scanned the hangar for an open berth.

Should be:

"We're docking soon." He scanned the hangar for an open berth.

There are a few other grammatical oddities or word choices that I would expect an experienced proofreader to catch.

Good luck with your book. Keep us posted on your progress.

Interfaced · Aug 13, 2015

JalexM said:
Congrats! I hope your journey goes well!
I noticed you priced your book at 3.45$. A general rule in sales, not just book sales, is that the cents of the dollar should be .99. So I would suggest either moving it to 2.99 or 3.99

Many thanks JalexM!

Yes, I did know that general rule about pricing but have consciously gone against it (which might prove a big mistake!). This is primarily because I feel that the .99 pricing is related to what used to be called 'motivational research' and is at its core a deceptive practice (there's a subtext of consumer manipulation in the book itself, which also informs this decision).

My pricing of the book at $3.45 (£2.25 in the UK) was in between the two main price points that you rightly stated, and it was done as a show of respect to readers whilst being at the price point that felt right to me. It's quite likely a decision that I will have some regrets about if it impacts sales!

Interfaced · Aug 13, 2015

J. Tanner said:
Checked out your sample on Amazon. Did the correct version of the file get uploaded? It looks like you've got a missing word in your very first paragraph:

...taller than the two either side.

And there are several places in your sample where you treat separate sentences as dialog tags like this (made up example since I can't cut paste):

"We're docking soon," he scanned the hangar for an open berth.

Should be:

"We're docking soon." He scanned the hangar for an open berth.

There are a few other grammatical oddities or word choices that I would expect an experienced proofreader to catch.

Good luck with your book. Keep us posted on your progress.

Time to start developing that thick skin! Yes, the correct version was uploaded.

Interestingly enough, the opening sentences that you mention as missing a word went through the 'three sentence' grinder here on AW. I can see your point though, and will likely add in a word there when I do the next revision whilst preparing for the print copies. Thanks for pointing it out.

On the dialogue tags, there's not a 100% standard way of dealing with them. I searched through half a dozen or so mainstream books (from Terry Pratchett to Wolf Hall) and they all did it differently. The key is to be consistent, which I have tried to be throughout. There'll be instances that do need to be altered in the way you suggest (or reworded), and I'll definitely take another close look to correct some of those. You're making me doubt the decision throughout...so maybe I'll go through and make it all 'correct' - but I really do feel that consistency is the most important thing.

Other grammatical oddities and word choices, these things form the amorphous tapestry of what we could call a writer's 'style'. There will be some errors still in there, for sure, but I'm confident that this book has been edited to a high standard (given that I wasn't able to afford professional editing). In many cases, it's really just a matter of opinion.

Many thanks for your suggestions. Beyond the grammatical notes, I hope that you enjoyed the sample chapters! I'll definitely keep everyone updated with weekly sales figures and other bits and pieces as I begin this long marathon of self-promotion

J. Tanner · Aug 13, 2015

Not familiar with the three sentence grinder. Sounds interesting. Is that a thread in Share Your Work?

Day job includes a significant amount of copy editing, so I'm predisposed to seeing it. If this is detouring too far into craft for this thread, say the word and I'll edit it out or copy it over to PM...

There's certainly some wiggle room in dialog tags. Wolf Hall, as you mention, does away with them entirely. Pratchett, as I recall is fully American* standard (at least in the US editions.) Child 44 goes with European styling to match its setting. But if you've chosen American style, the rules are fairly static, and you're off track in a way that appeared to my eye as a mistake rather than a choice. (Could be wrong--wouldn't be the first time.)

Tags are always some form at their core of: he said.

There's no "he said" in the tags I'm referring to. There's some other action which may be related to speech at times, but isn't actually speech.

You've got narration disguised as dialog tags. This is how Wolf Hall does it intentionally. It's just punctuated right, where yours isn't.

(Even there, there can be some leeway, like -- "That's funny," he laughed. -- which annoys hardliners like me but is perfectly accepted in general usage as close enough for rock and roll.)

I think this primer covers most of the bases and is worth a read: http://theeditorsblog.net/2010/12/08/punctuation-in-dialogue/

Enough of that!

So, yeah, the sample. My tastes run pretty pulpy and no one got punched in the face, or had a ray-gun pulled on them in the first few pages, so probably not for me.

But otherwise it seemed well written enough that the things I mentioned stood out from otherwise fine prose. I always try to read the samples of posters here to be familiar with both the writing and their experiences.

On the pricing thing, I agree with Alex. It's nice to see your reasoning, but I think a reader could never figure it out, and will assume the opposite: that you're careless about your pricing.

*Not trying to sound US-centric. I distinguish American from UK style as the double quote vs single quote as the dialog markers but I'm aware that a lot of UK novels use the double quote now too.

Interfaced · Aug 13, 2015

Thanks for the detail - I really appreciate what you're saying now and will fix it over the weekend. Easy to update the file, and it's early days yet as far as sales!

The book gets very action-based as it progresses. The second half is a violent descent into chaos - you'll love it

I spent the first chapters setting up the 'utopia' before tearing it down!

Will take your view on the pricing into careful consideration also, although it really does rest uneasy with me...

The three sentences was a thread somewhere, will track it down when I'm back home and update this with a link.

M. H. Lee · Aug 13, 2015

On the pricing issue. There's an author, Elizabeth Ann West, I think it is, who gives all of her books odd prices based on significant dates. So she has one priced at $8.24. Another at $4.61. She does just fine. (She does write in a very popular niche genre - Jane Austen stories reimagined.)

But I do agree with J. Tanner that there are pretty standard ways of punctuating dialogue. I scanned what he linked to and it looks like a pretty good source for US punctuation. I didn't see anything, though about dialogue plus action in that link (could've missed it). So, for example:

"Leave me alone!" He slammed his fist into the wall.
vs.
"Leave me alone!" he shouted.

See how the action is treated as a separate sentence, but if it's a dialogue tag you use a lower case for he because it's all part of one sentence? I haven't read your sample, but my impression was that this was the issue J. was seeing with your dialogue. There are a lot of good sources out there for this. Whether readers will notice? I don't know. I suspect they notice far far less than your fellow writers do. But it might get to them at some sort of subconscious level, so better to fix than not, and if you want other writers to be part of your audience, they will notice.

grayworld · Aug 13, 2015

Looks good, Interfaced, and best of luck to you. Be sure to consider all the advice offered by the AW community. Very valuable stuff.

Interfaced · Aug 14, 2015

Many thanks everyone - I've gone through and updated the manuscript for those dialogue tags as you suggested and have uploaded the new version. I'm sure that I missed a few (and there were some that could go either way, so I made an executive decision!) - but it's now much more in-line thanks to your help. I've also changed the price to be more consistent with the market (now listed at $3.99 in the US), as I have to defer to the collective wisdom on these things. Much appreciated!

I'll come back with a more solid update once we hit the end of the first week...time to dive back down the rabbit hole!

Interfaced · Aug 19, 2015

The first week is now behind us!

I managed to sell 45 copies (+41 KENP) which is not too bad at all, although certainly highlights that this is going to be a long game. My best guess is that about 3/4 of these sales are from my extended circles of family and friends, so now that they're tapped out the hard part really begins!

A few tidbits:

I've been able to get word out pretty well on Twitter so far, but it doesn't seem to be translating into sales (which is not terribly surprising). TweetReach reports that the unique phrase "When Winter Calls" (which only brings up my book) reached 82,187 accounts with 236,962 impressions thanks to 22 contributors speaking about it via 67 tweets. I've been watching it all pretty closely, and think that I can attribute about half a dozen sales from this.
I reached a peak of #11 on the UK Cyberpunk Charts - which put me at one point next to Philip K Dick's 'A Scanner Darkly'. This meant so much, given that it is one of my top three favourite books of all time and PKD is my absolute favourite author by a long shot! It was quite emotional to see my cover next to his actually...
I've picked up 4 reviews on Amazon so far, and at this point they are all from people I know who are being kind with five stars! It will be interesting to see the first reviews that are from people who aren't concerned about my feelings
I've had a handful of people (including people who I don't know in person) tell me that they want to wait for the print version of the book to be available. So I'll have to move on getting the full-wrap cover design sorted out sooner rather than later!
I've started looking into paid advertisements, and will stagger these so that I can ascertain their effect. I started with one on Goodreads, which is proving to be pretty unsuccessful - 2 clicks from 9,811 impressions.

Next steps:

Sort out a paid advertisement on KDP - for some reason the page that will let me do so is coming up as 'not available' at the moment...so I need to figure out how to actually make this happen (is this a temporary problem with Amazon, or my region I wonder?).
Write more blog posts on relevant topics, to drive traffic more organically. Yesterday I posted a piece on ocean cities (seasteading) that has received about 400 unique readers so far. Doing this also lets me promote on places such as Reddit, which wouldn't react kindly to pure self-promotion of the book alone. I think this has gotten me a single sale at this point, but will hopefully catch people for some time to come through searches on the topic.
I'm going to write to a few futurist/sci-fi blogs and see if I can write a guest post, do an interview, or have them review the book (in return for a signed hardcover copy when available).

That's the update for the first week! What do you think, anything that I'm missing out on that should definitely be included in the second week's strategy? Would anybody like to be sent a review copy?

Thank you for reading!

Interfaced · Sep 18, 2015

Well, it's now been just over a month since the release of When Winter Calls - so here's an update of how it's going!

Month 1 - 61 sales, 3063 KENP

I've also managed to pick up 11 reviews (5 US, 4 UK, 2 AU), which I really do wish were all displayed as one whole total...but it's still a good start.

I haven't done as much self-promotion as I should have, and an obvious lesson to learn for next time is to pre-plan/write a lot of this stuff beforehand so that the roll-out is more an issue of scheduling than new effort (which is often difficult to come by in our busy lives).

I tried out some advertising (basically bringing my overall takings back to break even), and have had a bit of success with some Twitter buzz (which seems to mostly map to Kindle Unlimited KENP totals more than sales). Lessons learned?

Advertising on Good Reads is, at least for me, a waste of time and (a tiny amount of) money. 91,000+ views for 29 clicks, and only 2 adds 'to read'.
Amazon ads haven't fared much better, unfortunately. 23,000+ views for 83 clicks and only a small handful of sales/reads.
Kindle Unlimited really does seem to be doing well. Sales slowed down considerably after the opening week, as is to be expected once all my loyal friends and family picked up copies, but this has been quite nicely replaced by KENP. If nothing else, it keeps morale up because on days with no sales there are usually some pages read!

Next steps?

Get enough reviews to be able to advertise with places such as Ereader News Today or even the coveted Book Bub.
Consider how best to use Kindle Countdowns and other promotions to get a sales boost.
Begin writing a short story that will act as a kind of origin story for one of the side characters in the novel (and also as an introduction to the setting, which many people have said is a strong aspect of the book). This will be given away for free.
More blog posts, excerpts, tweets and other online promotional activity.
Take another look at my website to see how I can best direct people to buy the book, quite a few of my posts over the years now rank very high on google (more than a few #1s in there)...so turning that into sales is an important opportunity.

As a closing thought, I'm also a bit conflicted about the contradiction of what is an essentially anti-corporate book being sold exclusively on Amazon and with copyright attached rather than Creative Commons. I seem stuck in the structure that I'm trying to critique, and I can't decide whether that amounts to hypocrisy or whether the problems I am talking about are more related to scale of activity. The problem is that to remove myself from such a structure will essentially kill the book dead in the water...

I hope you might have found that an interesting update. I'm always keen to hear from other people with advice on what I'm doing, or thoughts on what I might try next. I'm certainly not an adept in this field!

Thanks for listening

J. Tanner · Sep 18, 2015

Interfaced said:
As a closing thought, I'm also a bit conflicted about the contradiction of what is an essentially anti-corporate book being sold exclusively on Amazon and with copyright attached rather than Creative Commons. I seem stuck in the structure that I'm trying to critique, and I can't decide whether that amounts to hypocrisy or whether the problems I am talking about are more related to scale of activity. The problem is that to remove myself from such a structure will essentially kill the book dead in the water...

It's fiction, so I don't think you have to apply its subject matter into your personal choices, but the solution is simple if you want to.

Exit select after your 90 days are up.

Copyright and Creative Commons are not mutually exclusive, but adjust your copyright page to also include your CC License of choice.

Distribute your book wide.

I think your conclusion that this choice would kill a book is flawed. SL Huang whose thread you can follow in this forum has used this exact method and done quite well with it.

It's likely the tougher path in regards to marketing the book because other sites cannot match Amazon's discovery tools, but it's far from impossible, and often the better long-term option.

When Winter Calls - Diary of a Futurist Thriller

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