Gearing up for NaNo 2011

We're less than 11 hours -- on the east coast -- away from the beast known as NaNoWriMo 2011. Of course, I'll be taking part.

This year, I'm going a little bit out of my comfort zone of thrillers, sci-fi and fantasy for this year's tale. I'm writing a historical romance set in Boston's old Scollay Square during its waning years, mainly the 10-year period between 1953 and 1963. It's basically the story of a Boston Brahmin girl from a WASPish family who meets and falls in love with a West End boy... they fall out of love and don't see each other for eight years, right before the city of Boston begins the eminent domain process to take land for the new Government Center.

Government Center... yes, you've heard that before. I've written about Government Center before, mentioning it in two books. It held a great deal of the plot for Model Agent, and I mentioned it a few times in Turning Back The Clock. The line "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot" in MA references the demise of Scollay Square in 1963.

I'm excited and nervous for this project. Like I said, I'm going outside of my comfort zone. I've read my outline, and it looks mighty vague, especially on the third page of three. I have plenty of reference material to go with. And of course, I'm thinking there's no way in Hell that I'll get 50,000 words out of this story.

Of course, I've said that before. I just need to relax and do what I do best, and that's write and create.

Midnight can't get here soon enough.

Excited for new stories/releases

I just had the pleasure of checking out the PDF of the 2011 Bump In The Night horror anthology from Bucks County Publishing. As you know by now, BCP is the publisher for Zombie Showdown, and I've worked with BCP on its 2010 edition of BITN. My Christmas horror short, RED CHRISTMAS, is more like a novella: nearly 52 pages (in 5x8 book form) of blood and snow, set in my hometown of Fitchburg, Mass.

I just posted on Facebook about it: And I may seem a tad biased, but if you're not taking a deep breath after reading RC, then you need your pulse checked.

Red Christmas, if memory serves me, is coming out as a standalone ebook on Nov. 1, with the full anthology coming out on Nov. 15.

Soon after that, I have a short story coming out in Dark Continents Publishing's Phobophobias anthology. This was a great project to be a part of: 26 authors, mainly from the UK and a smattering from the US including yours truly, taking a letter of the alphabet and writing about a phobia beginning with that letter. I chose the letter C, and I wrote about Coulrophobia -- the fear of clowns. I put the clowns and the main character, Camille, in a cemetery, and, well... if you've read me, you know there's some sort of action involved. I'm excited for this release; it'll put me in front of a whole new audience.

Phobophobias comes out Nov. 25.

And of course, shortly after that, I'll release the third Jaclyn Johnson novel, Double Agent. This one is set in Las Vegas. I'll go into more detail in a couple of weeks, after edits are finished and everything is nice and straightened out.

Let's just say this: It's a big novel.

I can't wait to release it.

www.johnfitchv.com

Ten personal book selling facts I want you to know

I updated my book sales spreadsheet this morning. I don't use Excel; I use a legal pad and a calculator. I'm so old fashioned that way. I wanted to share my findings with you all.

A couple of disclaimers.

First: Before this morning, I hadn't updated my spreadsheet since May. The fact that I've been busy with Double Agent's first draft, which I finished Friday afternoon, as well as the delay in Smashwords' reporting has delayed my updating. Since I know I've had some strong boosts via Smashwords and that I'm nearing 2,500 lifetime book sales (lifetime being since Nov. 1, 2009), I wanted to verify my counts before I threw a party. That would've sucked if I thought I had arrived... and then found out that no, I'm not there yet. It happened yesterday in South Africa; that country's football team thought it had qualified for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations... but it didn't. So yeah, I want to avoid that at all costs.

Secondly: I had posted on Facebook back in July that I hit 2,000 books sold lifetime on July 2, which is what I knew at the time. At the time, my data did not include the numbers for my short story Vuvuzombie, which I had traditionally published through Bucks County Publishing (the same publisher for Zombie Showdown) as part of the Bump In The Night anthology. As soon as I started receiving numbers for ZS, I requested numbers for VVZ. My thought was since I'm including my trad-pubbed data in my sales reports to my IAM members, I might as well add VVZ to it, too. My new data updates that.

And third, I'm breaking this blog down into what information I know and what I'm thinking about that information. I hope this will help other authors on their sales journey, whether being a newbie to the publishing world or a traditionally published author making the jump to do-it-yourself.

All right, without further ado...

Fact No. 1: I've sold 1,788 books in 2011. Of those, 1,768 are digital books.

What I think about that fact: Holy shit! Little ole me sold that many? Wowza.

Fact No. 2: I've nearly tripled my overall sales from 2010 (659). Of those, 52 were ink and paper.

What I think about that fact: Once again, holy shit. I never dreamed that I would triple 2010. Let me breathe for a second here... OK. The numbers just kept going up and up. I've had some really awesome months and I've toppled many milestones, including 1,000 and 2,000 lifetime books sold. The 2,500 milestone is only 23 books away.

Fact No. 3: I've released five new books in 2011, with a sixth coming in December (as long as everything goes right).

What I think about that fact: Six books in one year? Really, Sean? Here's the beauty of independent publishing, my friends. As an independent publisher, I have the ability to put out as many or as few books as I like. I spent a good portion of 2011 going through my backlog, polishing my books to make them as good as I can before putting them out in the marketplace. Three of the books I wrote in 2010, one in 2009, and the other in 2007. I've only written one book in 2011, which will be out in December. I also have a few short stories that will come out in the next few months, one of which to what should be a new audience. I'm looking forward to 2012 with that one. As soon as my backlog is fully clear, I'm expecting to put out, at the very least, three new books a year: One of which will be an AGENT thriller. I know that much.

Fact No. 4: A few of my John Fitch V titles have received a new lease on life.

What I think about that fact: Amen. I never thought my JFV titles were exceptional. A few of them, yes. They were the books I cut my teeth with. The stories are solid. The writing isn't my best, but I've done my best to improve the titles, with the exception of the Trilogy.The covers do suck, with the exception of Galaxy. Part in parcel of that success could be my making The Mastermind free in December 2010, as well as contributing to my buddy David Dalglish's A Land Of Ash anthology.

Fact No. 5: A Galaxy At War is currently my personal best seller.

What I think about that fact: You want to run that by me again? My sci-fi novel on the JFV name is my best seller? I guess putting it at .99 cents/70 pence really helped. Through its first nine months of existence, Galaxy had sold 92 copies. Since January 3, when I lowered the price from $2.99 to .99 (and since back to $2.99 for a few weeks), I've sold 472 more copies. I've not made a lot of money on the book, but the fact that people are reading that book (I hope its not languishing on their Kindle or Nook) touches me more than you know. The fact that it's my personal best seller right now simply astounds me. Also see No. 4.

Fact No. 6: The AGENT series is currently my top series.

What I think about that fact: This doesn't surprise me. What does surprise me is that Rogue Agent only accounts for 114 of the series' 636 sales. It shouldn't surprise me, though: The snippet of Rogue Agent in the back of Model Agent says Rogue will be released at Christmas 2011. I changed my mind and moved it up, and I never updated the file. I don't have it listed on Goodreads, so that may also be a problem I need to rectify. I also think my dragging my heels to get an ENT slot for it has hurt that book's success. I expect it to rebound in a month (my ENT slot is Nov. 3). My mate Steven Savile has told me that sometimes readers don't pick up the second book for a variety of reasons. So far, I'm happy with the series' success. I'm a little troubled with RA, but I expect it to rebound, as I said. And Double Agent is coming. Big things will happen with that book. Stay tuned.

Fact No. 7: The Obloeron series is performing well.

What I think about that fact: Great cover art works. So does strong writing. But also, too, is great escapism fantasy. Since I've released The Rise of the Dark Falcon, the original trilogy has seen a boost, 155 books combined. That could be due to Land of Ash and Mastermind... but I think it could be due to the fact that I mentioned the trilogy in the product description in DF, as well as mentioned C.S. Marks as the cover artist. She is a great author and artist, and her artwork graces the cover of DF; I'm sure a good portion of those sales came from Christine's fan base. For those of you who mocked me for my original name of Obloeron, well, the mock is on you.

Fact No. 8: Turning Back The Clock still sells.

What I think about that fact: TBTC has sold at least one copy a month since its release nearly two years ago. Nine days into October, it's at 0. Still a lot of time left and I have faith. The Little Book That Could is perfect for baseball's postseason.

Fact No. 9: Royal Switch kind of sells.... but doesn't.

What I think about that fact: I think I fucked up with RS. I honestly do. Around the time that I had released Model Agent and saw the success of that book, I wanted to feed off its success instead of linking Royal Switch with the success of its predecessor, Turning Back The Clock. I put my real name on the cover instead of the pseudonym. I think I made a mistake. Then again, I haven't updated my files nor really promoted the book, so that may have a bit to do with it...

Fact No. 10: An author can't have great book sales without great readers.

What I think about that fact: Thank you. I really mean it. Great readers drive me to write great stories. I'll continue to do so. You can take that to the bank.

www.johnfitchv.com

The New Kindles, broken down

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has always said he is out to revolutionize the book. He did so with the company's roll-out of the Amazon Kindle waaaaaaaaaay back when in November 2007. Four years later, Bezos and the Kindle Team continue to tinker the way we read.

After Wednesday morning's announcement of four new affordable e-readers, Bezos nudged Amazon in front of the e-reader wars yet again -- albeit a little late to the party, timing-wise. What puts Amazon ahead of the game is price.

Bezos and Amazon go ahead on price, every time. Bezos wants readers to come to Amazon because of price, and they can afford to do it. Bezos has always been willing to take a hit in the wallet as long as it works it in the long run. Undercut the competition -- i.e. Barnes & Noble and, in the case of the new Kindle Fire tablet, Apple -- and the money should roll in.

Let's start off with the Kindle Fire tablet.

At first glance, I was immediately reminded of B&N's Nook Color. It looks the same, weighs a little less than the Color (14.6 ounces compares to Nook Color's 16 ounces), and the battery life is on par with each other (8 hours). Nook Color is Android-based, while the Kindle Fire has its own web browser, Amazon Silk. I have yet to check out the browser demo, but I will. Both are touchscreen. One place where the Fire fails to deliver: no 3G wireless. It is strictly a wi-fi device.

But of course, the price: Nook Color is currently $249, with the Fire coming in at $199. You can't even get a used iPad at that price. Advantage: Amazon.

Here's what I think: I don't think that Amazon will draw from the Apple die-hards with the iPad. Apple Sheep are Apple Sheep, and are loyal to Apple. However, with everything that happened with Samsung and with Amazon's customer service being what it is (i.e., fantastic), customers looking for a tablet will edge toward Amazon, all due to price. Where does that leave B&N?

(That question is left hanging for a reason.)

Moving on...

Bezos also unveiled a Kindle Touch e-reader similar to the Simple Touch e-reader in B&N's arsenal. But like the Fire, it is priced lower than B&N. The Kindle Touch also comes with 3G and wi-fi versions. Much like with B&N, the battery life is two months with the wireless off. While the Simple Touch can hold only 1,000 books, the Kindle Touch can hold three times that amount.

But the price, ohhhh, the price: Kindle Touch 3G is $149, while the Kindle Touch wi-fi is $99; that is the with special offers (ads on the screensaver) price. The Simple Touch -- which is wi-fi only -- is $139.

Do I have to write who has the advantage? I didn't think so.

Finally, Bezos unveiled a simple Kindle e-reader for $79. It doesn't have a keyboard like the Kindle we all know and love, as it is only controlled by the 5-way controller. The Kindle 3 has been renamed the Kindle Keyboard. Same prices as usual. The $79 Kindle is available right now.

Of course, B&N is coming out with new devices later this year, a new Nook Color rumored to be among them.

Here's what I think B&N will do: panic. They'll see the writing on the wall and try to undercut Amazon like they did in Summer 2010. Amazon will then calmly cut the price of their devices even further, which they did after B&N brought out the 3G Nook. Bezos makes the guarantee: Amazon WILL have the lowest price ereader out there.

That is how you revolutionize reading. By being the affordable e-reader that everyone wants.

Let the holiday shopping begin.

www.johnfitchv.com

"Should my kid read your book?"

The above title is a question people ask about my books every so often. In fact, it was asked to me today by a reader who wanted to know just exactly what was in Zombie Showdown. I have friends who have kids, and some of my classmates and contemporaries have kids who are at the age where their parents are searching high and low for anything for the kids to read. Luckily, they have a friend who writes interesting books. Advantage: Me.

I don't really know how to answer this question, to be honest. I don't have kids, so for me to make a decision like this for them is really not my place. The bookseller in me says yes, buy the book... but the responsible adult in me says no, don't do it if you don't want your younger kids reading about older teen/mature situations. It's a hard line for me to straddle, because I don't want to say yes and then turn around a few days later and get blamed for giving their child nightmares or bad ideas.

I write adult fiction. That means there's a pretty good chance there will be obscene language, hot blonde women in their underwear, or even hot blonde women wearing nothing whatsoever. There will be swords (in my fantasy novels), blood, gore, guns, and really cool cars. There will be diabolical plots by diabolical terrorists who will use anything and everything to gain power, even if they have to kill people to do it. Occasionally I'll write young adult fiction, where I'll tone down the adult stuff BUT will write about situations that teens go through, i.e. hormones. I was a teen boy once, and I'm not that old that I don't remember what I went through back then.

Zombie Showdown, for example, is a YA book. YA is normally geared to readers aged 12-18. Most of my other books are adult books, but I know of readers as young as 11 enjoying Turning Back The Clock and 14 reading the AGENT novels.

So, to answer the question....

(Waits two minutes)

Shit, I still can't answer it.

Answering the question really isn't my place. I'm not your child's parent. I don't know whether or not your child is mature enough to handle the subject matter I present. I have some friends whose children can handle it, but I'm sure there are some whose children aren't ready for what I write. I'm not qualified to decide whether or not someone's child is ready. I'm not a teacher, and I'm not a parent.

A parent should know -- or place -- limitations. My parents put limitations on what I could read, listen to, or watch. I remember when Digital Underground's album Sex Packets came out. I had bought the cassette. It had a parents advisory warning on it. My father saw it and forbade me from listening to it. I'm sure that if he were still alive, he'd still forbid me from listening to it. Denying permission for me to listen to it made me want to listen to it more.

I think you know where I'm going with this... if you, as a parent, deny something to your children, they'll want to do it more.

(Thinks.)

OK, deny my books to your kids.

Just kidding.

I'm not the parent here. I'm not the one who has to make the decision. If you choose to let your child read the/my book, YOU should read it first to make sure it is something you want your children reading. The only other suggestion I can make is this: don't underestimate them -- they probably would get hooked on to reading even more after reading my words.


www.seansweeneyauthor.com

Putting it all together, Star Wars style

A funny thought hit me as I drove to Gardner for my nephew's 7th birthday party yesterday: Even when I don't intend to do it, I still take the George Lucas approach when it comes to my books.

As you probably know by now, I'm deep into the first draft of the third Jaclyn Johnson novel, entitled Double Agent. DA is just as action-packed as the first two. But did you know that I wrote Rogue Agent first?

If you've been following me for quite some time, you know this. I wrote Rogue Agent early in 2010, Model Agent late in 2010 (and into early 2011), and now here I am writing Double Agent, starting it in the second half of 2011.

Now, how does Star Wars relate to all of this?

Of course, I didn't have all three parts sketched out before hand, and I didn't split it all up into three movies. However, a quote of the late Irvin Kirschner hit me as I pulled onto Route 2 westbound: The second one can only be the second one.

Without even realizing it, I didn't want Rogue Agent to be "just a second one." I wanted RA to be a Empire Strikes Back-like tale, one that left the reader wanting more after two parts. So when I wrote Model Agent, I did several important things: I made MA be the warm-up act, much akin to how Star Wars Episode IV blew people away (21 5-star reviews now). I put in several one-time characters that would not make another appearance in the books -- albeit they've been named since.

And now I've moved on to the third installment. Jaclyn has grown deeper, and maybe a little bit resentful of her treatment in between books two and three. The action continues to grow.

And I can assure you: no Gungans.

www.johnfitchv.com
Model Agent on US Kindle/trade paperback
Model Agent on UK Kindle
Model Agent on Nook
Rogue Agent on US Kindle/trade paperback
Rogue Agent on UK Kindle
Rogue Agent on Nook

Sample Sunday -- Zombie Showdown

The zombies stopped cold, right at the OK Corral, not 20 paces from the teens. Chris let a wry smile drift across his face as he noticed this. A couple of the zombies turned to look at the open lot, too.

The silence was eerie, and not even the night breeze could be felt. Only when one of the zombies stepped forward did their ears become quite attuned to their surroundings, as the dead man’s foot crunched the dirt underneath.

Chris quickly leveled the double-barreled shotgun at the zombie.

“Not another step, or I’ll blow what’s left of your face clean off!” he yelled.

The zombie gave pause, but then the dead man smiled at him as if he didn’t hear what Chris said.

“They are coming, little man,” it said, and its gravelly voice sent shivers down Rachel and Mackenzie’s spines. The zombie looked at the OK Corral again. “The Three are coming for revenge.”

Chris froze. He lowered the shotgun and just stared at the walking corpse, his eyes widening even though no one could see it.

“What did you say?” he asked. His voice shook.

The zombie laughed.

“Is that a touch of fear I detect, young whippersnapper? Afraid that the ones who were murdered are coming back to right the wrong committed against them? You should be afraid, tyke. You should be very afraid.” Then he laughed again, which preceded the laughter of the zombies behind him.

“Bubby,” Rachel said, a leer in her voice. “What does he mean by that?”

Chris ignored her, instead continuing to look at the zombie, whose laughter escalated. It sounded like Chris’s Halloween nightmares came true, even before he dreamed them.

“Chris?” Nick said. “You are scaring us, let alone the zombies scaring us. Answer your sister.”

Chris kept looking at the zombies; it was if the dead man’s voice petrified him.

“Chris,” Mackenzie said, more forcefully than the others. “Raise that shotgun again and blast them!”

“Chris,” they all said, before shouting “Chris!”

He finally turned, shaken from his reverie, to look at his sister and their friends. He kept the shotgun lowered, the barrel pointed at the ground. He looked pale under that black hat, as if he became a zombie; just seeing her brother like that made Rachel take half a step backward.

“Chris?” she said tentatively.

“I’m not afraid,” he said under his breath, but all three of them heard every syllable. “I’m not afraid of what’s coming.”

He stared at Rachel, and she immediately understood. She looked into his eyes, before she looked at the OK Corral, just like the zombies had done. Her eyes went wide.

“They are coming for revenge,” he said. “They must know we’re here.”

“So what are we going to do about it?” Nick interrupted.

Chris turned to his best friend and flashed a cocky grin his way, before he slipped the safety onto the shotgun.

“What do you think we are going to do about it?” he said. He stuck his thumb over his shoulder. “We’re going to turn these fuckers into dust, like they should have been years ago. Then we deal with what’s coming.”

All three of them gave Chris looks of determination and admiration.

“Ready?” Chris said.

They nodded.

“On the count of three,” he said. He hefted the shotgun up into both hands, his left on the barrel. He grinned. “One.”

“Two,” Rachel said, bringing her hands down to her slung low holsters.

“Two and a half,” Mackenzie said with a light, sing-song smile. They all looked at her. They weren’t smiling.

“What?” she said innocently. “Doesn’t two and a half usually come after two in situations like this?”

Chris, Rachel and Nick finally grinned. Chris gave her a little wink, before he turned to Nick.

Nick took a very deep breath before looking at Rachel and Mackenzie. Seeing they were ready to go, Nick said, “Three.”

Chris spun back to face the zombies and dropped the shotgun, moving his hands inside the trench coat, a blur of flesh as he acted. He had both revolvers in his hands and out of the holsters in a flash.

“Burn them down!” he cried, and as he squeezed both triggers, the sounds of gunfire erupted all around him as Rachel, Nick and Mackenzie all fired their weapons at the zombies.

The zombies in the front had no idea what hit them as the teenagers moved so quickly, catching the undead off-guard. Three went down with bullet holes in their skulls to match the ones in their chests, the wounds that sent them to Boot Hill Cemetery nearly 130 years prior. Three other zombies — one of them McGuirk — staggered, as the teens’ shots struck them in the chest or arms, only causing a puff of dust to rise from their soulless bodies.

The kids cocked the hammer again and fired, Chris and Rachel’s guns blazing away, left and then right, right and left. They each took out several zombies, hitting them right in the head, rendering them dead for a second time; Rachel took McGuirk down. The zombies in the back of the bunch began climbing over the dead ones, trying to get at the obnoxious, gun-toting teens.

Chris saw this and held firm, not panicking. His mind, for the first time since a night ago, felt clear of confusion. He kept firing his pistols until they clicked, their chambers exhausted. He twirled the guns and put them back into their holsters before kicking the shotgun back into his hands, lifting it up with his right foot.

The zombies charged at him.

While the other three continued to fire, Chris calmly cocked the hammers of the double-barreled shotgun and flicked the safety back off.

He lined up his shot and waited for the lead zombie, one with four bullet holes in its chest, to get within five paces.

He pulled the trigger.

The zombie’s head blew clear off. The zombie dropped right to the ground. The other charging zombies gave pause as they saw what Chris did to the corpse of Lester Moore.

“Now that was fucking cool!” Nick exclaimed. “That was like popping a really bad zit!”

“You’re a really bad zit,” Chris said, busting his buddy’s chops even during the heat of the battle. “We need to run, and we need to run now!”

“What?! I thought we weren’t running away this time,” Rachel said as she emptied the chamber of her own weapons.

“I’m out of bullets, you’re out of bullets, and Nick and Mackenzie are out of bullets, so it’s time to improvise,” he replied. “We’re going back a few blocks; hopefully we’re quicker than they are.”

As the four of them took off, it took the zombies several seconds to realize what the teenagers were up to. The undead followed them slowly, their hunger for teen flesh — sated only temporarily over the past two nights — not abated in the least.

Zombie Showdown is available at buckscountypublishing.com, Amazon in both trade paperback and Kindle, as well as on Nook.