Not unlike, you know, zombies do. At least in my book.
At any rate, here's a lovely write-up of the book.
Warning: If you go to Zombie Girl Shambling and start clicking around, you'll probably find a dozen books you want to buy. You've been warned.
And if you find this, Dana, I'm glad you're enjoying the book!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Why I Heart Hocking
If you haven’t heard of Amanda Hocking, you should click on over to her blog and read everything she’s got there. Start at the beginning, way back in 2009 when Amanda was a no-name writer trying to get an agent.
Then keep on moving forward, month-by-month, and watch her evolve from a woman who decided to put her books up on the Kindle to raise a little money to a woman who made, by her own admission, somewhere between 1.5 and two million dollars in about a year.
This, by the way, is why she’s the hero of the indie published writer. Because secretly (well, probably not so secretly) we all want to make a million dollars, and have agents and publishers begging to even talk to us, even though they wouldn’t even LOOK at our books before we put them on the Kindle and sold the kind of numbers that would make Stephen King envious.
It’s not unlike the nerdy guy in high school who wants to go back to his reunion 10 years later and tell the cute cheerleader that he’s all rich and stuff now and she totally should have taken her shot with him when she had the chance.
The thing of it is, though, Amanda ISN’T like that. At least in cyberspace (does anyone even use that word any more?) Amanda is just as kind and sweet and friendly as she was back in 2009.
She may be kinder and sweeter.
She offers up advice on how she got to the point where she sold over a million books. She’s honest and forthright. And she blogs about stuff she loves, like the movie “Inception.”
But then… she made the news. Why? Because she made a traditional publishing deal for two million dollars.
And some people got angry about this. How could this indie author, who was so dang nice, and already making all this money, choose to get a traditional publishing deal?
She’s supposed to be one of us!
Allow me to slightly misquote the cult favorite flick “The Way of the Gun:”
“Two million dollars is not money. It's a motive with a universal adaptor on it.”
Hocking has a longer, more elaborate answer than that, but really, that should be all you need. If someone comes to you and offers you two million dollars to do something you love, be it writing, or laying bricks, you take the two million.
And this is central to why I think Hocking is awesome. She tried to explain it anyway.
For the record, people are wondering what Hocking is doing, and I think it’s pretty simple: She wants people to read her stuff. So she made a deal to get her books into bookstores.
That should do it.
She’s done well up to this point, and I wish her continued success, whether it’s in print, or on the Internet, or if she starts inscribing clay tablets and selling them on street corners.
May we all remember to be as kind and hardworking as she has been. And may we all be so lucky, too.
Then keep on moving forward, month-by-month, and watch her evolve from a woman who decided to put her books up on the Kindle to raise a little money to a woman who made, by her own admission, somewhere between 1.5 and two million dollars in about a year.
This, by the way, is why she’s the hero of the indie published writer. Because secretly (well, probably not so secretly) we all want to make a million dollars, and have agents and publishers begging to even talk to us, even though they wouldn’t even LOOK at our books before we put them on the Kindle and sold the kind of numbers that would make Stephen King envious.
It’s not unlike the nerdy guy in high school who wants to go back to his reunion 10 years later and tell the cute cheerleader that he’s all rich and stuff now and she totally should have taken her shot with him when she had the chance.
The thing of it is, though, Amanda ISN’T like that. At least in cyberspace (does anyone even use that word any more?) Amanda is just as kind and sweet and friendly as she was back in 2009.
She may be kinder and sweeter.
She offers up advice on how she got to the point where she sold over a million books. She’s honest and forthright. And she blogs about stuff she loves, like the movie “Inception.”
But then… she made the news. Why? Because she made a traditional publishing deal for two million dollars.
And some people got angry about this. How could this indie author, who was so dang nice, and already making all this money, choose to get a traditional publishing deal?
She’s supposed to be one of us!
Allow me to slightly misquote the cult favorite flick “The Way of the Gun:”
“Two million dollars is not money. It's a motive with a universal adaptor on it.”
Hocking has a longer, more elaborate answer than that, but really, that should be all you need. If someone comes to you and offers you two million dollars to do something you love, be it writing, or laying bricks, you take the two million.
And this is central to why I think Hocking is awesome. She tried to explain it anyway.
For the record, people are wondering what Hocking is doing, and I think it’s pretty simple: She wants people to read her stuff. So she made a deal to get her books into bookstores.
That should do it.
She’s done well up to this point, and I wish her continued success, whether it’s in print, or on the Internet, or if she starts inscribing clay tablets and selling them on street corners.
May we all remember to be as kind and hardworking as she has been. And may we all be so lucky, too.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Getting the Word Out
So… it turns out, when you write a book, and put it out yourself, you have to tell people about it so they can read it and review it and hopefully say nice things about it.
Over the last few weeks, while the book was in final editing stages, I sent out more than 80 emails to people all over the country telling them that I had a book, that the book was coming out, and that I’d be happy to send them a copy so they could read it and tell their readers about it.
All things being equal, it probably would have been best to start the process a month or two in advance of selling the book. But with spring and summer on the way, I knew that a lot of people would be packing up the old Kindle and heading out on vacation, and they’d want to have a book with them.
Which is a good thing for me (I hope) as I have a well-loved, inexpensive book they can put on their e-reader. I mean, come on… what better place to read a book about being trapped on an uncharted island than on the beach? What better place to read about a plane crash than on a plane? And there’s a boat in the book, too! And a tank! It’s the perfect travel book!
I digress.
It was time to get the word out. So I sent out 80-some emails, and got 21 replies back (so far) from folks willing to read and review, or let me come and chat up the book on their blog, or do a giveaway.
And word has started to spread on ye olde Internet:
The Firefly Book Loft featured my book on their “In My Mailbox” post this week.
The Zed word let the world know that my book is out there, as well.
And finally, I got my first review, at the King of Zombies blog. What did he have to say?
“Patterson provides fans of contemporary zombie fiction with a delightfully gruesome world of death and survival.”
And how!
Further reviews as they appear…
Over the last few weeks, while the book was in final editing stages, I sent out more than 80 emails to people all over the country telling them that I had a book, that the book was coming out, and that I’d be happy to send them a copy so they could read it and tell their readers about it.
All things being equal, it probably would have been best to start the process a month or two in advance of selling the book. But with spring and summer on the way, I knew that a lot of people would be packing up the old Kindle and heading out on vacation, and they’d want to have a book with them.
Which is a good thing for me (I hope) as I have a well-loved, inexpensive book they can put on their e-reader. I mean, come on… what better place to read a book about being trapped on an uncharted island than on the beach? What better place to read about a plane crash than on a plane? And there’s a boat in the book, too! And a tank! It’s the perfect travel book!
I digress.
It was time to get the word out. So I sent out 80-some emails, and got 21 replies back (so far) from folks willing to read and review, or let me come and chat up the book on their blog, or do a giveaway.
And word has started to spread on ye olde Internet:
The Firefly Book Loft featured my book on their “In My Mailbox” post this week.
The Zed word let the world know that my book is out there, as well.
And finally, I got my first review, at the King of Zombies blog. What did he have to say?
“Patterson provides fans of contemporary zombie fiction with a delightfully gruesome world of death and survival.”
And how!
Further reviews as they appear…
Monday, March 28, 2011
The Secret is Out
The secret is out – my book went on sale last weekend, mostly so I could let bloggers know where to link.
Since I’ve gotten ahead of myself, I might as well go all the way.
So:
Mercy on the Kindle
Mercy on the nook
What’s the story about?
When Georgina Fulci’s plane crashes into the Atlantic, her troubles have just begun.
Desperate to get home to her family, Georgina and a handful of survivors must find a way to escape an uncharted island… while fighting off hordes of the living dead.
And here’s what people have been saying about the book:
“Joshua Grover-David Patterson writes in a style that will surely connect with many contemporary zombie fans. His use of tone and narrative structure are miles ahead of most who work in the genre.”
-Scott Kenemore, author of “Zombie, Ohio” and “The Zen of Zombie.”
“You expect a zombie novel to have brains, but you don't expect it to be this smart. You expect a number of internal organs to be on display, but you don't expect this much heart. MERCY is a kicka** zombie novel, but it's also a thoughtful, moving story about the joy and importance of being human and alive.”
-Seamus Cooper, author of “The Mall of Cthulhu”
“Patterson has taken the zombie-pocalypse story in a fresh new direction, infusing hope and heart into a format that normally only thinks of heart in relation to gory attacks.”
-Word Nerd Blog/Bethany K. Warner
Since I’ve gotten ahead of myself, I might as well go all the way.
So:
Mercy on the Kindle
Mercy on the nook
What’s the story about?
When Georgina Fulci’s plane crashes into the Atlantic, her troubles have just begun.
Desperate to get home to her family, Georgina and a handful of survivors must find a way to escape an uncharted island… while fighting off hordes of the living dead.
And here’s what people have been saying about the book:
“Joshua Grover-David Patterson writes in a style that will surely connect with many contemporary zombie fans. His use of tone and narrative structure are miles ahead of most who work in the genre.”
-Scott Kenemore, author of “Zombie, Ohio” and “The Zen of Zombie.”
“You expect a zombie novel to have brains, but you don't expect it to be this smart. You expect a number of internal organs to be on display, but you don't expect this much heart. MERCY is a kicka** zombie novel, but it's also a thoughtful, moving story about the joy and importance of being human and alive.”
-Seamus Cooper, author of “The Mall of Cthulhu”
“Patterson has taken the zombie-pocalypse story in a fresh new direction, infusing hope and heart into a format that normally only thinks of heart in relation to gory attacks.”
-Word Nerd Blog/Bethany K. Warner
Thursday, March 24, 2011
How Did I Get Here?
Here I go, hoping I don’t make a fool of myself on the internet.
So… I’m self-publishing a book. There are other terms for it now: Vanity Publishing. Indie Publishing.
Indie publishing just sounds cool, because it’s got that “I put out my own records, and sell them out of the trunk of my car!” vibe. And it sounds a lot better than, “No one wanted to publish my book, so I did it myself. I’ll show them!”
I’ll be honest, though, I resisted going this route for a long time. Two years. Maybe three.
Why?
I’ve read some self-published stuff that, frankly, wouldn’t have gotten out into the world any other way.
Granted, I’ve read good stuff as well.
But there are other issues with physical self-publishing. Namely, bookstores won’t carry your books. So you can sell them yourself (indie!) or try to sell them through Amazon. But it doesn’t happen very often, because the books are more expensive than traditionally published books, and no one knows who you are.
And anyway, I thought that eventually the whole agent/publisher thing would work out for me, assuming I had something good to sell.
And I really thought I had it. In fact, I knew I did. I just knew that if an agent, nay, the RIGHT agent read it, the book would get picked up and published.
Problem: I spent two years crafting and re-crafting my query letter, trying to get an agent – any agent – to read the thing. And I really did my homework. I looked up agents, I figured out their likes and dislikes, the whole nine yards.
No one wanted to look at it.
So there’s my book, which I couldn’t even get someone to look at.
And there’s the Kindle.
And there are two authors (actually, SEVERAL authors) out there selling books like crazy. One of them, J. A. Konrath, was a traditional author with traditional publishing deals who walked away from it all to sell his books online. He’s on track to make half-a-million dollars this year.
The other one, Amanda Hocking, was just like me – a unknown who thought she may as well get her work out there. Depending on who you ask, she’s pulled in something like a million dollars over the last year.
And I said, “What can it hurt?”
So I’m putting my book out in a little over a week. And since I was drinking the indie publishing Kool-Aid, I went ahead and submitted it to some authors for blurbs:
Here’s what I’ve got so far:
"Joshua Grover-David Patterson writes in a style that will surely connect with many contemporary zombie fans. His use of tone and narrative structure are miles ahead of most who work in the genre."
-Scott Kenemore, author of "Zombie, Ohio" and "The Zen of Zombie."
“You expect a zombie novel to have brains, but you don't expect it to be this smart. You expect a number of internal organs to be on display, but you don't expect this much heart. MERCY is a kicka** zombie novel, but it's also a thoughtful, moving story about the joy and importance of being human and alive.”
-Seamus Cooper, author of “The Mall of Cthulhu”
"Patterson has taken the zombie-pocalypse story in a fresh new direction, infusing hope and heart into a format that normally only thinks of heart in relation to gory attacks."
-Word Nerd Blog/Bethany K. Warner
In all, I have almost 20 (maybe more, by the time I’ve done) writers and/or bloggers who are reading my book, or who are willing to post that my book exists, and are planning on saying what they think of it.
What will happen?
Good question.
I’m pretty sure I’m not on my way to being a Kindle millionaire. Don’t get me wrong, that’d be super-awesome, but if you hope for something like that, anything less than buying your own island at the end of the year will be a letdown.
I do have a short story up, and just by telling my friends and family it’s there, and asking them to spread the word, I’ve been selling some copies – even to people I don’t know.
(At least, I don’t think I know them…)
But I have plans. I have at least one short story I need to finish, and a novella I think I need to rewrite (I’m a little afraid to look at it) and a novel I’m about one-third finished with.
Assuming people like Konrath are right, one of the best ways to keep money flowing in is to keep your personal bookshelf expanding.
So that’s the plan. Two months spent filling the bookshelf.
After that, wait and assess.
So… I’m self-publishing a book. There are other terms for it now: Vanity Publishing. Indie Publishing.
Indie publishing just sounds cool, because it’s got that “I put out my own records, and sell them out of the trunk of my car!” vibe. And it sounds a lot better than, “No one wanted to publish my book, so I did it myself. I’ll show them!”
I’ll be honest, though, I resisted going this route for a long time. Two years. Maybe three.
Why?
I’ve read some self-published stuff that, frankly, wouldn’t have gotten out into the world any other way.
Granted, I’ve read good stuff as well.
But there are other issues with physical self-publishing. Namely, bookstores won’t carry your books. So you can sell them yourself (indie!) or try to sell them through Amazon. But it doesn’t happen very often, because the books are more expensive than traditionally published books, and no one knows who you are.
And anyway, I thought that eventually the whole agent/publisher thing would work out for me, assuming I had something good to sell.
And I really thought I had it. In fact, I knew I did. I just knew that if an agent, nay, the RIGHT agent read it, the book would get picked up and published.
Problem: I spent two years crafting and re-crafting my query letter, trying to get an agent – any agent – to read the thing. And I really did my homework. I looked up agents, I figured out their likes and dislikes, the whole nine yards.
No one wanted to look at it.
So there’s my book, which I couldn’t even get someone to look at.
And there’s the Kindle.
And there are two authors (actually, SEVERAL authors) out there selling books like crazy. One of them, J. A. Konrath, was a traditional author with traditional publishing deals who walked away from it all to sell his books online. He’s on track to make half-a-million dollars this year.
The other one, Amanda Hocking, was just like me – a unknown who thought she may as well get her work out there. Depending on who you ask, she’s pulled in something like a million dollars over the last year.
And I said, “What can it hurt?”
So I’m putting my book out in a little over a week. And since I was drinking the indie publishing Kool-Aid, I went ahead and submitted it to some authors for blurbs:
Here’s what I’ve got so far:
"Joshua Grover-David Patterson writes in a style that will surely connect with many contemporary zombie fans. His use of tone and narrative structure are miles ahead of most who work in the genre."
-Scott Kenemore, author of "Zombie, Ohio" and "The Zen of Zombie."
“You expect a zombie novel to have brains, but you don't expect it to be this smart. You expect a number of internal organs to be on display, but you don't expect this much heart. MERCY is a kicka** zombie novel, but it's also a thoughtful, moving story about the joy and importance of being human and alive.”
-Seamus Cooper, author of “The Mall of Cthulhu”
"Patterson has taken the zombie-pocalypse story in a fresh new direction, infusing hope and heart into a format that normally only thinks of heart in relation to gory attacks."
-Word Nerd Blog/Bethany K. Warner
In all, I have almost 20 (maybe more, by the time I’ve done) writers and/or bloggers who are reading my book, or who are willing to post that my book exists, and are planning on saying what they think of it.
What will happen?
Good question.
I’m pretty sure I’m not on my way to being a Kindle millionaire. Don’t get me wrong, that’d be super-awesome, but if you hope for something like that, anything less than buying your own island at the end of the year will be a letdown.
I do have a short story up, and just by telling my friends and family it’s there, and asking them to spread the word, I’ve been selling some copies – even to people I don’t know.
(At least, I don’t think I know them…)
But I have plans. I have at least one short story I need to finish, and a novella I think I need to rewrite (I’m a little afraid to look at it) and a novel I’m about one-third finished with.
Assuming people like Konrath are right, one of the best ways to keep money flowing in is to keep your personal bookshelf expanding.
So that’s the plan. Two months spent filling the bookshelf.
After that, wait and assess.
Idol Talk
Okay, so I posted last night that I thought James was going to win American Idol, and also my wife and I had a long conversation about who is out the door and when.
Because this is the Internet, I thought it would be fun to post my list of who I think is leaving and when, because I’m sure I’ll end up looking stupid, and that’s always good for a laugh.
Top of the list is staying, bottom is leaving. Though I’ll be honest, “worst” is all relative here, as most of these people singer better than… I dunno. 99% of the country, probably.
Margin-of-error-wise, I’d guess that at best I’m off by a week or two of each of these. (Meaning, say, Naima might go this week… but then Thia will go the next. And so on.)
James – I seriously think this guy is going to win because he has yet to screw up, even a little bit. The guy can, apparently, sing anything, and he’s got charisma to burn. Maybe I’m just being easy on him because I thought he was going to spend the whole season screaming…
Jacob – Great voice, and it seemed like this week he learned that being screechy shouldn’t happen through an entire song. He could probably win, but sooner or later I think he’ll fall victim to a bad song choice or three.
Pia – The girl can’t sing a wrong note, but she doesn’t move very much. Could have a career as a Celine Dion impersonator.
Lauren – Honestly, I think Lauren is a little too young to go this high, but if she gets cut early, the judges will save her, because they looove her. Frankly, I think she’s sixteen, and lacks any kind of emotional backdrop the draw from, so she’s all timid. I think if she came back in a few years, she could take it.
Casey – Casey is my favorite. Mega-talented, can do just about no wrong. But I think he’s a little too “different” to win against the prettier people. No matter. Dude’ll have a career, and I would TOTALLY see him in concert.
Scotty – Scotty can only sing country, and good for him. Post-Idol, he’ll get a record deal and be a solid gold-record-maker, year in and year out. But his one talent will only take him so far on Idol.
Paul – Apparently, Paul is the “vote for the worst” guy. Which is sad, because he just seems really, really, really nice. And he has a really cool voice. Whenever he gets cut, he’ll walk with a record deal. Or spend the rest of his life as a Rod Stewart impersonator. Either way, he’ll be fine.
Stefano – Great voice, generic singer, can’t open his eyes and sing at the same time.
Haley – She keeps falling to the bottom three, and I’m not much of a fan of her performances in general.
Naima – I’ve actually seen her dance, live. She’s awesome. But her singing is good, not great, and she’s almost been cut a few times. I suspect she’ll be gone soon. I shall miss her dancing.
Thia – Belongs on Miss Teen America, not American Idol. She’s got a great voice, but is generally boring, and I won’t be sad to see her go.
Because this is the Internet, I thought it would be fun to post my list of who I think is leaving and when, because I’m sure I’ll end up looking stupid, and that’s always good for a laugh.
Top of the list is staying, bottom is leaving. Though I’ll be honest, “worst” is all relative here, as most of these people singer better than… I dunno. 99% of the country, probably.
Margin-of-error-wise, I’d guess that at best I’m off by a week or two of each of these. (Meaning, say, Naima might go this week… but then Thia will go the next. And so on.)
James – I seriously think this guy is going to win because he has yet to screw up, even a little bit. The guy can, apparently, sing anything, and he’s got charisma to burn. Maybe I’m just being easy on him because I thought he was going to spend the whole season screaming…
Jacob – Great voice, and it seemed like this week he learned that being screechy shouldn’t happen through an entire song. He could probably win, but sooner or later I think he’ll fall victim to a bad song choice or three.
Pia – The girl can’t sing a wrong note, but she doesn’t move very much. Could have a career as a Celine Dion impersonator.
Lauren – Honestly, I think Lauren is a little too young to go this high, but if she gets cut early, the judges will save her, because they looove her. Frankly, I think she’s sixteen, and lacks any kind of emotional backdrop the draw from, so she’s all timid. I think if she came back in a few years, she could take it.
Casey – Casey is my favorite. Mega-talented, can do just about no wrong. But I think he’s a little too “different” to win against the prettier people. No matter. Dude’ll have a career, and I would TOTALLY see him in concert.
Scotty – Scotty can only sing country, and good for him. Post-Idol, he’ll get a record deal and be a solid gold-record-maker, year in and year out. But his one talent will only take him so far on Idol.
Paul – Apparently, Paul is the “vote for the worst” guy. Which is sad, because he just seems really, really, really nice. And he has a really cool voice. Whenever he gets cut, he’ll walk with a record deal. Or spend the rest of his life as a Rod Stewart impersonator. Either way, he’ll be fine.
Stefano – Great voice, generic singer, can’t open his eyes and sing at the same time.
Haley – She keeps falling to the bottom three, and I’m not much of a fan of her performances in general.
Naima – I’ve actually seen her dance, live. She’s awesome. But her singing is good, not great, and she’s almost been cut a few times. I suspect she’ll be gone soon. I shall miss her dancing.
Thia – Belongs on Miss Teen America, not American Idol. She’s got a great voice, but is generally boring, and I won’t be sad to see her go.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
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