F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

New York

Going Indie—What I’ve Learned (So Far)—Part 8

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Busy
I Can DO This! (Busy. Photo credit: AJC1)

Wow, could things get any busier?

I have been pushing more of the social media thing, the past month or two, at the expense of working on my manuscript-in-progress, Psychic, and kinda “burning the candle at both ends.” It gets exhausting…but cool to find new avenues, like iAuthor. I’m even considering starting up a quarterly newsletter, but when will that happen, since I’m stuck on the initial insert the subscription widget onto my blog site part! No, I’m not all that technically inept, but it seems as though some crucial “it’s easy” step or two is missing from the WordPress instructions. I’ve e-mail their Help depot.

Okay, since my last post on this topic, here are some more things I’ve learned on my adventure of “Going Indie”:

  1. Selecting ISBNs on CreateSpace.  Be careful with you go in and select which type of ISBN you want for your book, and whichever one you do choose, ALWAYS also select the expanded distribution. Read the different types very carefully before selecting, because once you select, you cannot change the ISBN—unless you totally delete your book’s account and start over. I recommend the custom ISBN option for $10 and then get a graphic designer (which will cost you, of course, but is well worth it!), like Lon Kirschner, to design a “faux imprint” for you to have on the bottom edge of your cover, like my Wailing Loon. It looks cool and gives you a brand for your work, other than the generic “CreateSpace.” You can display a little more your own creativity of “who you and your books are.”
  2. Changes To Your CreateSpace file. I found I had to go back into The Uninvited to add some missing front matter. It’s kinda “scary,” doing this, because you really don’t want to F-up your already nitpicked and edited file, but it’s easy to do. You simply select the interior or cover portion of your file, under “Setup,” on your Project Homepage for the book in question, and on the next page, you’ll see a place that says “Make Changes,” and go from there. You don’t have to change anything other than what you need to change, like, for me, the front matter blurbs. You can just “Next” on through the other stuff. Just be careful to not touch anything else. And for any proofing, you can have an actual “proof” copy of the book sent to you (versus doing this all online, for free), though you have to pay for it (like $5, plus shipping), and on the back page of the book is stamped “Proof.”
  3. Interested in signed copies? I decided to get that PO box, so I could mail stuff back and forth to any readers out there. I’ve posted the address about, but it’s F. P. Dorchak, P. O. Box 49393, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80949. The Post Office says you can do a 3-month version, but you have to also get the automatic renewal, which makes zero sense, because that makes the term 6 months. So, really, the lowest amount of time you can get a PO box for is 6 months. That’s government reasoning for you. But it’s cheap (mine is $39). If you get something larger than the box you have, they just give you a key to a larger box, for no charge.
  4. Chain Reviews and World Domination. I put out there that if anyone was interested in reviewing my books, I’d send free, autographed copies. The first 5 per book would get a free book. Offer still stands.
  5. Book Review Outlets. I’m looking into these, you know, what with all the free time I have. Check these out.
  6. Facebook. So far, this is a bust. No more begging from me! And still no “FB Superpowers,” i.e., I still cannot “Like” other pages or save the world. But, not giving up, cause it’s still early, but, feel free to drop by my FB page. Thanks!
  7. Newsletters. Found a great couple of Writers in The Storm links for newsletter info. Thanks, WITS! Thought I’d do this this year, but may have to wait until next year.
  8. Word of mouth. This is where I get lots of comments from people, either by e-mail or through my wife. This is where people rave about my work. Not Facebook (well, at least not so far…). And, of course, I have some “virtual friends” with which I routinely interact, and they’re very supportive (thanks, again, folks)! But, word of mouth seems like the biggest factor in my marketing and promotion. It’s everyone one of you, out there, reading my work and talking about it. Telling others. I hope you will also write an online review (e.g., here und here) at your favorite outlets, too. Please. Thanks!
  9. iAuthor. Found a new overseas outlet, out of the U.K., called iAuthor, so I added The Uninvited and ERO to this site (Sleepwalkers doesn’t have a HighDef cover file, so I’m told by the site it most likely wouldn’t be allowed, because it would degrade he overall quality of the images). It’s free for authors. But…the site seems to have issues during the “height of the day” in loading and such (just now, the site didn’t load right; it should display tons of book covers). I had to do my uploads in the early hours of the morning (i.e., 3 a.m.) before I got them to work, so be advised.

That’s all I have for this year, for my ongoing “Going Indie” adventure. As always, thanks for stopping by, and have a Happy Holiday Season, in whatever way you choose to celebrate (or, uh, not celebrate…) it!

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December Is Here!

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Snowshoes
Snowshoes (Photo credit: Singularduality)

December is here!

I have three favorite times—or months—of the year. July, October, and December.

Why?

I think, to me, they (except for October, which is all about Hallowe’en) signify (note itals) being in the “middle” of two seasons, summer and winter, though, technically, less than half of December is in “winter.” But, when I was growing up in upstate New York, believe me, with first snow beginning to fall in October, and continuing on through into May, there was nothing “autumnal” nor “fall-like” about December! Of course, my birthday is in December, and—for the “Kid Year”—nothing beats “Kid Year” activities like Christmas, so I’m sure both of those affected my love for December (and I’ve always loved snow and all-things wintry)! At least once, our family actually went out caroling with others in the dark, frigid coldness of an Adirondack winter, not to mention all the other fun stuff we did, like snowshoeing, skiing, snowmobiling, or just (for me) hiking through the “back 40” of our and our neighbor’s heavily wooded properties, much like I described in ERO (well, except for the “weird shit”), in thick snow boots, wool pants, and everything else you typically wore back in the 60s and 70s. I love how the cold winds bite, the trees crack, the snow falls. The sound my boots (or snowshoes) make in the snow. How, with tons of fallen snow, all “the dirty” takes on that fresh, sparkling, “clean” look. The creation of ghostly vapors from my warm breath breathed out into frigid air….

I love the contrast in the seasons. Love how, in winter, the season becomes more…”pensive.” Inward directed. At least that’s what happens to me.

And, now, there’s snow falling all over this blog! I love it!

Can you hear the jingle bells?

I thought you could.

Happy December, everyone!

Going Indie—What I’ve Learned (So Far)—Part 7

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English: This is the title screen from the ABC...
I Was LOST…But Am Becoming FOUND…. (Photo credit: Lost, Wikipedia)

I don’t mean to be getting ahead of myself, here, but I just have to say that ERO is getting great reviews by those who have read it. It’s not yet selling huge, because of my restricted ability to promote right now, but those who have read it are contacting myself or my wife to tell them how much they like it—okay, love it. Many are even saying it should be a movie.

How cool is that?

The very fact that readers love ERO enough to say they’d like to see it as a movie is highly complimentary, even humbling. They liked the story enough to want to re-experience it again, in another form of expression!

This book has been rejected from traditional editors multiple times, yet (so far), I’ve heard from handfuls of readers about how stunned, “wowed” and impressed they are with the story, how they never saw the ending coming. Sure, someones out there might not like it, can’t please everyone, but so far, all I’ve heard has been complimentary. And these are people from all walks of life, not just SF, action adventure, or military fiction readers. These people come to me, not the other way around. These are the very readers editors and publishers are supposed to be catering to. Small sample? Does it really matter? Any sample is representative of a greater whole.

It’s a bit weird talking about something I wrote in the third person, but it warms my heart that something I’ve written so touches those who have read it. Heck, my Dad is even promoting the novel where he lives. You just can’t beat that!

To this end, I’d like to share parts of an e-mail from an Internet radio talk show host, Paul Neal Rohrer. He’s given me permission to share this. His e-mail blew me away:

“I just finished ERO. (Body shivers!)

Man, I gotta say…you’ll probably think me nuts to say I felt so close to Cherko…this book should be a FILM!

Whew. INTENSE.

I will say that it did not start off to be the type of book I would normally read. I kept with it solely because I knew you and though I felt like I was reading the series, LOST…I kept with it saying to myself…this WILL all make sense. Repeating that thought over and over until around page 160…then I was HOOKED! I breathlessly turned each page…I had all of this morning to finish the last 65 pages. Wow. LOVED IT!

Your mind must be a terrible thing to live with! Radical, powerful and relatable.”

Wow, thanks, Paul!

So, what I’ve learned has actually been a reinforcement of what I already knew: just because a major publisher does not take your work does not mean readers won’t like it. I stuck to my guns and found a way to get my work out there. I persevered. And it is being discovered. It may take some time, but it is out there. Again, thank you, readers, for taking a chance on my work.

Okay, here are some more lessons learned:

  1. I created a checklist of items to keep straight when creating e-books and paperbacks. I’ve attached it to the bottom of this post, since it’s a couple pages.
  2. All you can do is what you can do. I’m sure I’ve said this before, and it sounds stupid, but it’s meant to keep you from going nuts with all the “shoulds” everyone throws out there. You’re one guy or gal. You can’t do everything, especially with everything else you’re doing in life besides the writing and publishing. Just do what you can, and always keeping an eye out for new opportunities.
  3. Check out a previous post I did about PR and promotion…while keeping #3, above, in mind.
  4. Apply to conferences and conventions about presenting your journey. By this I mean, if you have something to say about what you’ve learned on your Indie journey. Talk about what you’ve learned…take some ideas from your blog posts. PowerPoint them and present them at a writer’s conference, the library, or anywhere else there might be a platform for something like this. You might think, yeah, but everyone’s already doing that, and while that is true, perhaps in your area it is not so saturated…and if you know people in your writing community, and they like you, they’ll more likely than not be willing to “book” you (punny…) because they know you and are willing to help you out in your career as a writer. But, in any case, conferences are like magazines…they have to “publish” or fill slots for sessions, and there’s always an audience that hasn’t yet heard what you think has already been done before…or your spin on things and personality are decidedly different and refreshing. Don’t you count yourself out…let them tell you so…or more to the case, let them tell you YES! And when you do this, bring your books! Have them out and used as examples! Have fun with it!

Okay, here’s the checklist I’ve created. Feel free to copy and use! It’s not meant as an explanation of all I do, just as a reminder of what I need to do. When you get in to do this stuff, it all becomes (or should become) more readily apparent…but you actually have to be in there getting ready to release your book. Some of this stuff cannot be “taken back,” like assigning ISBNs.

Prepping ms for content formatter (text):

  1. Convert Word manuscript (ms) to:
    • Time New Roman.
    • Only single spaces, no double spaces.
    • Single-spaced lines, no double spaces.
    • E-book only: No more than 4 lines of spaces (returns) at the tops of any pages.
    • For paperback books, make sure all the line returns to chapter starts are the same.
    • E-book only: Add a space after all ellipses (3 and 4 dots), except w/in quotes, parens, punctuation.
    • Convert all dashes to M-dashes (or N-dashes; just be consistent).
    • Check all chapter and section numbers (1, 2, 3…) are correctly numbered.
    • Check all sub-section spaces/#/***; standardize, check spacing, and center.
  2. Spell check—again!!!
  3. Ensure italicized text are properly italicized (including appropriate punctuation within itals).
  4. E-books: can’t have text “left/right-justified-at-bottom-of-page” kinda thing for ebooks, since can’t have more than four lines “entered” down from the top of pages.
  5. Blurbs from other authors.
  6. Add “Also by F. P. Dorchak” list of books to front matter (front of the book info, before the actual story).
  7. Add family members to Notes/dedication?
  8. Add significant other/others to Notes/dedication. Think.
  9. E-books: add websites and social media links to e-books.
  10. Keep paperback clean with just “About” and website (no #8, above).

Submitting manuscript to Smashwords:

Be sure you’re ready to do this, because once you’re done stepping through their upload dialogs, you’re published.

  1. Select all e-book formats.
  2. Assign ISBN! Do so before submitting to Smashwords!
    • Impacts immediately getting into the Premium catalog.
    • Smashwords ISBNs cannot be used elsewhere.
  3. Opt out of Amazon and Nook distribution on Smashwords’ Channel Manager! Only do this to individually upload files to Amazon and Nook, since they pay royalties much quicker than the Smashwords schedule; if you don’t care about that, you can opt in to Amazon and Nook on Smashwords.
  4. Create any free Coupons through Smashwords to give away free copies.

Submitting ms to Amazon

  1. Add self as contributor.
  2. Try to add cover artist.
  3. Try to add content formatter.
  4. Select 35% royalty.
  5. Select price and set other country prices based on US price.
  6. Select Kindle Direct Publishing “Match Book” selection (readers buy a discounted verson of your Kindle book, if they buy the paperback).

Submitting ms to Nook

  1. Get cover graphic less than 2 MB.
  2. Add self as contributor.
  3. Try to add cover artist.
  4. Try to add content formatter.
  5. Nook automatically ties paperback versions to e-versions, but all titling and names, etc., have to be word-for-word, space-for-space perfectly matching. This presents a problem when using CreateSpace (CS), because CS does not like all-capital titles for their book accounts (e.g., ERO). In order to do all caps, you have to add periods between the letters (e.g., E.R.O.). This is not good, because when you release for publication, Amazon.com keeps those damned periods in the title for retail marketing! The actual title on the book remains your “ERO” title, but the displayed online title with your book, and any search engine hits only respond to the broken up title (i.e., E.R.O.), and not the actual title (i.e., ERO). So, effectively, there are two titles out there, and if people don’t know this, or don’t scroll down the Amazon search page, they won’t see the “E.R.O.” version of the book. I have contacted both CS and Nook about this. CS was nice enough to go in and link the two titles to each other, but you might have to actually contact them to get them to do this, by pointing out a loss of sales with the different titles, if people don’t know to scroll down the pages to find the related search of the other title. B&N/Nook also finally link the two formats together, but this took a long time. Be persistent and nice; some of these people you contact simply are not very smart on the whole process, and I ran into contradictory responses from the different people I contacted.

When do CreateSpace copy:

  1. Get paperback ISBN. Once ISBNs are assigned, they cannot be changed.
    • “Custom” ISBNs can have a “faux” imprint name, like “Wailing Loon.”
    • I’m not an expert on these, but in CreateSpace, the custom ISBNs are also divided into those that are oriented toward retailers and those oriented toward libraries. Make sure you select the right set.
    • Get any offered “Expanded Distribution” offerings if cheap.
  2. Titles: see #5, Submitting to Nook, above.
  3. Add faux imprint to:
    • Copyright page.
    • Spine/cover.
    • Anywhere else needed.
  4. Need any artwork on the interior of the book, the front or back matter?
  5. Add the following to the back matter (rear of the book, after the story): About the Author, website, books/anthologies/etc., again list content formatter and cover artist names and websites.
  6. Cover photo?
  7. Send e-mails/thank you cards to thank contributors, and if they helped enough to justify, free coupons for e-book or actual (signed!) paperbacks.
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Why Did I Go Indie?

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Yes, I'm Finally Showing Some Spine!
Yes, I’m Finally Showing Some Spine!

Why go indie?

This question was asked in one of the writer’s loops I belong to, and I thought it might make a good post, since I don’t know that I really spelled it out in any previous blogs, nor really put it all together in one place. Apologies for all this “Indie This/Indie That,” and I do promise to post some other topics, soon, but here, I present my response to a writer’s loop question, in its near entirety, plus-or-minus some:

Why did I go indie?

Well, I got tired of banging my head on the brick wall of the traditional route. Tired of all the “have-tos” thrown around like so much confetti at a New Year’s Eve party. Tired of the attitudes of many of the Gatekeeper’s out there (not all, but I’ve been at the receiving end of smirks, disaffection, arrogance—an industry professional picking up my one-book-at-the-time, casually flipping it over in their hands with obvious prejudicial attitude [most of you surely know what I’m talking about—the cover clearly not a “New York job” kinda thing] before placing it back down on the pile without even opening it, and I was this person’s driver from the airport, so they “knew” me, but this person didn’t even have enough energy to crack open the book—as I’m standing directly beside him/her); sure, you get that anywhere, but at least by this route, I don’t have to deal what that particular aspect of things…

I got tired of the wasted time.

It’s not that I harbor anything “against” these people, in and of themselves, it’s just that it’s a different world out there these days, with everyone grabbing for work, trying to stay afloat, trying to remain germane and “important” in their own industry (at least that’s what I hear talked about, but I don’t really think this is a problem)…and you throw into this mix the apparent proliferation of what I perceive as growing attitudes where writers seem to be there for the Gatekeeper’s, where authors are no longer grown, but plucked with expectations of immediate ripeness.

I just don’t want to be part of that, if there’s another route.

And, now…there is. I mean there really is! And it’s finally gaining acceptance. At the publishing house level, if you believe all the ground-level noise, there no longer seems any real respect for the writer…for the awe of their ideas, their words. It’s all about money and profit and immediate financial-gratification. Sure, I’d love to have a traditional publisher for many reasons (and not, for other reasons)…but everything’s so frigging “weird” now. Agents have to be pickier because publishers are being weird-pickier because of the “sure-fire” hits requirements. Can’t really go that far out on a limb, anymore. Heaven forbid you have a “thinky” story that makes someone consider their world, their soul, rather than rehashing yet another formulaic plot with different plot apparel. Sure, nothing so much against those kinds of books (I really don’t have any)…but at the exclusion of other material, yes, I do take exception. My ex-agent thought highly of my efforts, but because NY didn’t, we had to part ways after 4 1/2 years. My ex-agent who is a huge reader, has been in the business a long time, has all the contacts, thought sure [as well as any agent can think “sure” in this biz, in that, nothing’s truly a “sure” thing, however, this has a damn good chance at being picked up kinda sure…] certain “elements” would take on my work…then didn’t. Sure, you could say all kinds of things, one way or the other, including my work just plain sucks…but I still see “sucky” stuff getting traditionally published. I don’t really like to honk my own horn, but my wife told me the other day that one of her Facebook friends who’d read ERO thought it should be on the bestseller list. Wow, do you know how that feels to hear something like that when you’ve been laboring in the damp dark for so damned long? Getting dissed by agents and publishers and even some of your peers who have been published and made to feel as if you’re not fricking worthy? Questioning your own worth? Damn right I’m gonna honk that horn! Thank you, whoever that was! But, that’s a reader. A buyer of books. A human at the distant end of the publishing food chain. I often say that if one person feels one way, you know others do (or will), too.

So, go ahead, define “sucky.”

Additionally, I’m older than when I started. I no longer have the time I did when I started out.

I also have stories where timelines have gone against me, in that I can only extend JFK’s age so far into his 90s in the present-day alternate history, or the effects of 9/11 in the story (had to severely change that plot line in The Uninvited).

I’ve read that many readers don’t care who publishes a book, just that it’s “good,” however that’s defined. The “new indie” has far more flexibility than the “old indie” of plunking down $3K for a POD book, or the “old, old indie” of plunking down far more, then getting a garage-load of hardcovers you could foundation a house with (yes, you can end a sentence thusly). I love the flexibility, and, yes, as others mentioned, the control. It’s just another way of doing business, and I have several books still to release, and, now, several out there.

I love having the control for the cover, ooh, boy do I! And when you find cover artists like Karen Duvall and Lon Kirschner, formatters like Pam Headrick, out there willing and qualified to work with you, man, you just wanna write more just so you can work with these kinds of people again and again! It’s actually a fun process, it really is, but very time-consuming, especially for creating the physical books [v. ebooks]. Oh, but when you finally get them into your sweaty little hands….

And…I now have books (plural!) out there…an actual growing body of work…to answer the question I’ve frequently received over the years:  “When’s your next book coming out?” I will soon also have an answer to “When is your next ‘Sleepwalkers‘ book coming out? (hopefully by year’s end).”

And…I no longer feel rushed. Now I write…and when it’s ready, I publish. I still have much promo and marketing to do, but my plan was and is to get these already finished books out there, then promote the hell out of them. Working a full-time day job, there are only so many hours in the day—and that’s another thing about choosing to go indie, but there’s no rush to “make it big,” or profitable in the first two weeks or you’re sunk! It’s up to you how much time effort and profit you wanna make, unless, of course, something catches a tasty wave, and off it goes on its own. Hang ten! The strangest event can launch already published indie books into the national forefront. They’re also out there forever; no one’ll pull them from retailing because they’re not making billions.

There will always detractors out there. Sure, my arguments can be ripped a new one, and so can other arguments against mine. It’s not about finding fault with things…it’s about finding another way and finding the positive in one’s life.

To be a writer is to write. To be a writer is to be read.

This is all just my opinion. I am who I am and have done what I’ve done.

I’m quite happy with my decision!

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Wailing Loon

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Wailing Loon (F. P. Dorchak and Lon Kirschner)
Wailing Loon (F. P. Dorchak and Lon Kirschner)

In my continuing journey as an Indie author, I thought about the creation of the trade paperback for ERO, and asked Lon Kirschner, my Cover Guy, if we could create a “fake imprint” to round out the cover…something instead of “Create Space” that would communicate the kind of writing I do. Basically, “finish” off the whole cover process. Lon enthusiastically said, “sure!” So, I (pardon the pun) floated a couple ideas by him I’d been thinking about, one involved a black lab (in honor of our long-gone dog, MacTavish du Lac) and the other involved a loon. Lon gave some great advice, one of which was that in doing this I should be different, think of something unique, cause “everyone” does a dog. Sage advice, because I did want something unique…something I could brand all my work with, not just ERO. Well, yesterday Lon presented me with his offerings, and, I must say, once again, I am blown away by his work! What he has created is so classy, so professional, it simply belongs on the spine of books!

I chose the loon, because I’ve always loved them…loved their haunting tones…and the way they always bring me back to the Adirondacks of upstate New York, where I grew up. When I hear them, I’m transported to dark and mysterious places…the calm, dark waters of the Adirondacks, also replete with mystery. The Adirondacks are one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world. The image of the loon also lends a calming, end-of-day relaxation, gliding over the glass-like evening-into-night waters…of places largely unfrequented by the masses…causing many to give pause and introspection to not just one’s day, but one’s life.

And then there’s the red eyes.

They’re just such a different bird…that I’ve come to love their symbology so much, I’ve decided to use them as my Indie imprint. Mysterious, haunting, subtle. Stark. Different. All things I hope my work embodies.

So, I hope you enjoy my new brand…and I hope you enjoy my work. The creation of the physical trade paperback (in 6 x 9 format) is coming along nicely, and I hope to have it out soon! But, until then, sit back and enjoy…the haunting wail of the loon….

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