Category: Marketing - Thaddeus White

The Adventures of Sir Edric - out now

4/1/2016

In trouser-explodingly good news, The Adventures of Sir Edric is now available. Even better, the price is an obscenely low 99p (this will go up in the not too distant future).

As well as the limited edition hardback [which, I should stress, is more than 99p], the e-book is available from Amazon.

Click here for the Amazon UK link.

Click here for the Amazon US link.

If you're reading this I imagine you're quite interested in my writing, so please do buy it, review, rate and recommend.

In the short term, there's more marketing to do for Sir Edric, as well as awaiting more reviews. In mid-April, The Haunting of Lake Manor Hotel (horror anthology in which I have a short story) comes out.

I also hope to get Kingdom Asunder released in the second half of the year, but we'll see about that. In the meantime, enjoy The Adventures of Sir Edric.

Thaddeus

2015: The Plan

1/16/2015

Last year was a bit fallow in terms of stuff I released.

There was the milestone of getting my first published short story out (Saxon & Khan, part of the Malevolence: Tales from Beyond the Veil anthology), but that was the only story of mine released in 2014.

The reason for the fallow year was just a matter of circumstance, in the same way that Journey to Altmortis and Sir Edric’s Temple were released a few months apart in 2013, and didn’t reflect any slowdown in how much I was writing (quite the reverse, to be honest). Hopefully, 2015 will be a bumper harvest.

I’m very glad to announce that the first of 12 episodes in the Zodiac Eclipse mini-series is out now at Kraxon magazine. Zodiac Eclipse tells the tale of Gertrude Jaeger, a crippled bounty hunter coerced into piracy on the infamous ship The Sun Dancer. One thousand word episode will be released each month of 2015.

I’m endeavouring to get Kingdom Asunder self-published this year. It’s hard to say when, precisely, as it’s currently being brutalised by a small army of beta readers, whose hard work beating out the weak spots is greatly appreciated. Kingdom Asunder is a fantasy novel which occurs in the Bane of Souls/Journey to Altmortis world.

Those who enjoy comedy may be pleased to know that the second edition of Sir Edric’s Temple (published by Tickety Boo Press) has been pencilled in for release in 2015. Sir Edric’s Treasure, the follow-up comedy, will also be published by Tickety Boo, possibly this year, possibly next.

I have a number of short stories in the pipeline with several anthologies. They range from sci-fi to steampunk (which was surprisingly fun to write. I’m giving serious consideration to a full-length steampunk novel). Can’t say which will be given the green light, or when precisely they’ll be out, but I’m hoping for at least one short story (within an anthology) to be released in 2015, in addition to the 12 Zodiac Eclipse episodes.

So, at the maximum extent this year could see about sixteen short stories and three solo efforts, and the minimum should be twelve short stories and one solo effort. Either way, it’s a lot more than 2014, so stay tuned for announcements on new releases.

Thaddeus

Marketing thingummyjigs

2/4/2014

Marketing and self-promotion are not my forte, but I've got a few cunning plans to try and improve things.

In the distant(ish) future I'll be releasing Kingdom Asunder. I'm about halfway through the first draft and suspect it'll be the biggest book I've written so far. (I don't aim for word targets, but I'd guess 130,000-150,000 words is possible). When it's out I'll be releasing a free Regency Edition which will cover the half of the storyline that focuses on the Regent (the plot covers the civil war between him and the King).

This is good for a few reasons. A free book can tempt people into buying the rest, and Stephen Sweeney used to great effect in The Battle for the Solar System (you might very well think I got the idea from him, but I'm afraid I couldn't possibly comment). In addition there are some free book sites that list, er, free books, giving some zero cost publicity.

I've been considering making Bane of Souls and Journey to Altmortis into a mini-series, called Transfigura Tales. This would basically entail me calling Bane of Souls #1 in the series and Journey to Altmortis #2. That will make zero practical difference to the books, but will mean that people who have bought one and not the other will be notified by Amazon of the other's existence. I have mixed feelings about this. I did always intend them to be related but stand-alone, as Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold and Red Country are. On the other hand, others have suggested the two are close enough that this would be a change that's legitimate.

I haven't written, or even started, really, the second book telling of Sir Edric's misadventures, but when I do it'll be a prime candidate for this seriesification. Sir Edric's Temple shall be #1, and Sir Edric's Treasure (working title) #2, and so on.

I do plan on doing a Twitter giveaway. Not quite sure how to do it. I might run it for 3-5 days, and have everyone who RTs an article I'll write here specifically for it gets entered into a draw. The winner gets all three books (or can nominate someone to send them to).

I'm hoping that when Malevolence: Tales From Beyond The Veil comes out Saxon & Khan (my short story) will be well-received, and hopefully lead to readers stumbling onto my other work. I shan't give anything about it awa

Of course, the best way, still, for promotion is through word-of-mouth. So, if you enjoyed Sir Edric's Temple, Journey to Altmortis or Bane of Souls, do let your friends know. It'll help them find a good book, and help me out quite a bit as well.

Thaddeus

The difficult middle and a giveaway idea

1/28/2014

Right now I'm more or less in the middle of Kingdom Asunder. The middle third of a book is often the trickiest, because you don't have the initial novelty and blank canvas that's there at the start, but neither is the end in sight.

Having said that, over the last couple of chapters I feel like I've gotten a better grip on the story and the major characters (there are quite a lot, though not all will survive to the sequel). As well as improving the general quality of the writing (which varies from almost good enough to release to atrocious) the redrafting/editing process will be largely focused on shifting the chapter order early on. There's too prolonged a period of the Royalty half of the storyline, meaning that Regency characters get introduced but then not seen again for too long. A more even balance with some extra development will help address this.

A few characters need a bit more time, although I'm pretty happy with how the lead Royal female is going so far. There isn't so much a single protagonist as an ensemble cast.

Tons of action in the chapters ahead, followed by tying up some storylines and setting some up for the sequel.

I'm also considering a giveaway of one or more of my books to date, via a Twitter 'contest'. It'd just involve retweeting a certain message to get entered into a prize draw for the book (or books).

Thaddeus

It's well worth committing arboricide for

11/19/2013

Splendid news arrived today.

Sir Edric's Temple is now available at Barnes & Noble, Diesel and Apple.

In even more exciting news, Sir Edric's Temple is also available in ye olde physical format at Lulu. At less than a fiver it's a splendid and reasonably priced present to get someone for Christmas.

In time (2 months, give or take) it will become available through Amazon, but it'll cost nearly £7 there (I discounted the Lulu price). None of that goes to me, it's all to the retailer. So, there's no point waiting for Amazon and you should (if you want a copy of this cracking comedy) buy straight away from Lulu.

Thaddeus

Flirting with Lulu

11/12/2013

Sir Edric's Temple is the first book that I'm going to try and release in a physical format, via Lulu.

As it's my first time, I'm sure I'll fumble a bit and make the odd mistake. Given the nature of the beast it'll take longer than formatting for Smashwords or Amazon, as I'll need to receive and assess a first copy. On the plus side, I've got the text and cover sorted, so it's just a question of getting to grips with Lulu.

A timetable's hard to try and predict. This is my main priority right now, so if possible it'll be out this month.

Pricing's also something I'm undecided on. I think the raw cost (ie with a 0% profit margin for me) will be about £3.50, so to make it as profitable as a digital copy it'd cost about £5. Because of this, I'm thinking of (in the future) releasing 30-40k stories as e-books, and then putting them together into a 90-120k physical amalgamation.

And, when this is done, I'll be cracking on, full steam ahead, with Kingdom Asunder.

Thaddeus

Sir Edric's Temple is out now!

10/31/2013

After a surprisingly long formatting proces (seriously, it took me about 5 hours checking all the italics repeatedly), Sir Edric's Temple is now out.

It's a 37,000 word or so comedy, filled with the misadventures of Sir Edric Greenlock, the least heroic man in all of fantasy.

At the minute it's out on Smashwords, and I'm hoping it'll be up on Amazon tomorrow (the 800lb gorilla of book retail online takes a little while to process a new book).

You can buy it here for the modest sum of $2,99 and, until 7 November, the code KF49K will give you a two-thirds discount.

So, treat yourself this Halloween and buy Sir Edric's Temple.

Update: unexpectedly quickly, it's up on Amazon.

Thaddeus

Forthcoming interview, links and techwoe

6/11/2013

Things have been a bit tricky lately. Yesterday the computer took umpteen tries to actually start, today it was fine, tomorrow a tech chap comes to peer into its Neolithic interior. Hopefully it'll be a tiny problem that can immediately be fixed, but I may disappear for a time.

On a much happier note, an interview of myself should be up on http://www.indieauthorland.com/, a delightful site, with a date pencilled-in for 27 June. Obviously I'll promote it at the time if I can, but I thought I'd mention it now in case my computer explodes the day before.

I'm also going to do a little bit of trimming of this site. Including all the book-buying links on both the Links and Book Stuff tabs seems a little excessive (especially as there are so many), so I'm going to have them only on the Book Stuff tab from now on. Given that most people browsing this site have either bought or are at least aware of my books (Bane of Souls and Journey to Altmortis, to date) I don't expect it to affect sales and it will make the site a bit tidier.

Progress has been a bit slower of late, partly due to the computer issues. I have made a start on Chapter 8 of the comedy, and although I've not written much I'm pretty happy with what's there. I'm also largely pleased with Ch7, although one scene at least needs a major rewrite (in solitude it works ok but it doesn't fit with the rest of the story).

Thaddeus

Journey to Altmortis update and quiz

6/4/2013

Good news!
Journey to Altmortis, my latest book, released in May, is now out at some more online retailers.

You can now buy it at Kobo, the iTunes store, or Barnes & Noble.

I've also created a small quiz on Goodreads (no spoilers), which can be found here.

Right now I'm working on the chapter-by-chapter plot outline of Kingdom Asunder, which is the working title of my next full novel. I'm also writing my first ever comedy, which will be a short book and hopefully out in time for Christmas.

Perhaps surprisingly running the two projects alongside one another is mostly working well. The variety of serious and funny, as well as world-building and writing a first draft, helps keep both sides of things fresh.

Anyway, I'll keep posting updates on both books (the comedy's tagged as Hornska for now, I don't have a title as yet) regularly.

Thaddeus

A word on pricing

5/15/2013

Just wanted to clear something up ahead of time. Hopefully this post will be entirely redundant, however.

I chose the $2.99 price tag for a couple of reasons, but near the top of the list was the 70% royalty rate at Amazon. Prices below this are not eligible and therefore have the 35% royalty rate.

However, sometimes (as happened fairly recently with Bane of Souls) Amazon can itself lower the price (probably matching a lower price elsewhere). If this happened and the price got dropped to, say $2.89 that would save the customer $0.10 but more than halve my income per book.

In that situation I'd have to increase the price by the minimum unit (on Smashwords and Amazon) in order to re-enter, hopefully, the 70% bracket.

After the comedy I imagine that the trilogy will be priced a bit higher (probably looking at $4.99 per book, but that's not set in stone) and this shouldn't be an issue. I really dislike fiddling with prices, but because I selected the Journey to Altmortis price in order to fall within the higher royalty range that's something I would have to do, if the situation outlined above arose.

As for the comedy, pencilled in at 20-40,000 words, I'm also thinking of a $2.99 price tag. The aim is a Christmas release.

Thaddeus