My Patreon Is Live

After months of consideration and more than a little work, I've launched a Patreon page to support myself and the projects I'm working on over the next few years.

Why are you starting a Patreon Page?

The simplest, shortest answer is that the industry is changing, and if I don't change with it, I won't survive.

The much sunnier answer is that I wanted a new platform where I can bring everything I'm doing together, and Patreon offers a great new home, where people who have been telling me that I charge too little for my books can correct that problem themselves and receive extra content in exchange.

Stabilizing a volatile career is another potential plus to Patreon, which would make it easier for me to release novels and other things.

Will Your Podcasts, Updates, and Free Novels Cost Something Now?

Most podcasts will be free, and there will be many more of them since Patreon puts me on a release schedule. Updates on writing progress will be free as always, an available there, and anyone who joins my Patreon will receive all my free books and something more. So, only the location of the free stuff will change.

Are You Dropping This Blog?

I will link everything that is available to the general public on Patreon here, so your subscription and attention on this page isn't wasted.

Are You Still Going To Contribute To Your Facebook Page and Participate on Twitter?

Yes. Larger posts, audio, video, and articles will be on Pateron and the other social media platforms will have links to them.

Will There Be Pateron Exclusives?

Yes, at least two a month are planned. Stay tuned.

Will You Still Publish Your Books As You Have Been?

Yes, in fact I will be publishing more per year if things with Patreon go well.

What Is Patreon?

There's a YouTube Video that explains that pretty well, give it a watch.

I'd like to thank everyone for their support thus far. You've purchased my books, talked about them with friends, family and online, and done so much more. I appreciate everything, and Patreon will ensure that I offer more to get excited about on a more regular basis.

Take a look, here's the link: www.patreon.com/randolphlalonde

Twitter, Facebook, and Other Things I Should Really Ignore

There is a TMI* Tsunami taking place right now, and I'm realizing that my life and my work suffer whenever I go near it.

Twitter, Facebook, and blogs about writing sucked up a massive amount of my time during September, October and especially November this year and I didn't realize until the first week of December how much it hurt my writing.

Twitter and Facebook don't seem to take up much time, but a minute here and another minute there add up, not to mention those intermittent distractions break up work flow without providing any real breaks. You feel like you stepped away from your desk sometime, but really, you went no where and didn't do anything of any importance. I found myself checking Twitter in the middle of chapters instead of focusing on transporting myself into a character's shoes, as I normally do while writing a passage.

Blogs on writing and publishing wasted a lot of my time as well, as I mentioned earlier. My opinion on most of them are the same as a dog chasing its own tale. Cute, and entertaining for a short time, but generally useless and dizzying. Sure, there are a few articles and blogs out there that are well informed, but when it comes down to it fiction writers all have their own creative process.

As for blogs on the publishing industry, well, that's a space that's even worse. eBooks are changing a lot, but in the end, people are still reading, Publishers, publicists, book stores and agents are still sucking up massive percentages of the average published authors income (over ninety two percent on average). That hasn't changed, in fact, the independent writers are having a better time than ever connecting with their audience and reaping more rewards than ever. Some signs point to publishers changing or perishing, others are pointing to the eventuality that publishers are going to swoop in and take it all away from the Indies again. Basically that's what hundreds of industry blogs are saying and arguing at length. It's all the same thing over and over again without any redeeming knowledge. Once you know the argument and watch for REAL news, you can ignore the hundreds of blogs that discuss that sort of thing at length.

That is why, dear readers, I don't talk about the how-to of self publishing. There are plenty of sites about that sort of thing and this site is for you, it's about the fiction I've produced and you (hopefully), enjoy. I'd much rather announce progress in my latest book, survey you for your opinion, or raise interesting questions about the story than preach about getting to the top 10 on Smashwords or Mobipocket.

My whole point is that for a few months I produced less than half of normal and found new ways to interrupt my work but now that's over. Twitter and Facebook may occasionally get a nudge or a wink, but I won't be browsing to either one during the work day. Blogs about writing and the publishing industry won't be getting so much as a nod or a further thought. I'm too busy writing for your entertainment to stop and consider my navel along with all the others who like to tell others how it's done.

Now, back to work.

RL

[If you'd like to contact me in a public forum, feel free to visit me on the KindleBoards where I have my own conversation thread.]

*TMI = Too Much Information

I Do Not Pay For Publishing Services!

Today was the last straw. Another future independent author has emailed me asking; "wut company do u pay to publish you?" Further into the email he asks; "how much does mobi charge to keep ur books so high?" [I didn't edit or change the language he used to ask the questions, those are direct quotes].

Here's the skinny on how much publishing online costs me. NOTHING.

My books are in the top 10 in the Science Fiction category on Mobipocket because the readers enjoy them, rate them, spread the word and people continue to purchase and enjoy them. I'm very fortunate.

I do not pay Amazon a fee to get my books registered with their Kindle reader or in print on their site. I use Createspace's free service for print and Mobipocket's distribution network to list my eBooks. I do order print copies for myself, but that's the same as anyone ordering a copy from Amazon (except for my massive discount), they don't charge a dime for publishing.

Lulu.com offers all their services for free, and they're very happy to have me.

Any place you see my books you can rest assured that they didn't charge me anything to put them there, in fact, they listed them because they see that they're selling elsewhere, mostly on Mobipocket. They want to bring that success to their retail outlets as well.

I don't pay for marketing services either. I use Twitter, my Blogs, Facebook, and most of all people who I have a connection with to to get the word out. I also frequent other blogs, comment on them as often as I can, participate in online events and put a lot of hours into guerrilla Internet marketing. Oh, and don't email me with a "get 15,000 followers in one month" or another "make sure you're heard!" marketing scheme. I don't care about reaching 15,000 random people, I'm interested in reaching people who are interested in what I do specifically. I also enjoy connecting with people who are interesting, which doesn't happen often with mass join scams.

I also don't pay for advertising. Effective Internet advertising is an art form and to be honest, I'd rather use online social networking. There's more feedback and it's a lot more fun.

For everyone whose ever asked me how it's done; I don't have any magic trick. I don't pay someone to do the work for me, and vanity presses are expensive money pits. I work about 10 hours a day between writing and marketing.

I've received many calls from these vanity presses that call themselves publishers, they all start the conversation with; "We'd like to publish your book." The first thing I ask them is; "how much will it cost me?" If they answer with a dollar amount I hang up.

I'll never, ever pay someone else to publish me. In fact, I won't take any offer on the rights to my work from a publisher that comes with an advance under four figures. I'm fortunate enough to have a number of readers who enjoy my work. I do my best to entertain them and in return they buy my work in the format that is most convenient for them. I should never have to pay anyone to publish my work because those retailers and publishers are going to make money from selling my books. It's bad enough that I only recieve a 30%-35% royalty on most titles as an independent. That sounds like a lot to some of you, but you have to consider that I don't sell the volume that published authors do, no where near. (Less than 5% of what a non-best selling author sells).

That brings up another point. I can't afford to pay for publishing or marketing services! Being a successful self published author to me means making enough money to keep writing, to keep entertaining readers. I live a happy, simple life where I get to work the trade I prefer without frills.

I'd like to end this post on a positive note by thanking the readers, who have been very supportive. I've said it before and I'll say it again; they keep a roof over my head, the lights (and Internet connection) on, and food on the table. I thank you and hope that you continue to enjoy my work enough to remain a reader and spread the word.

RL

[Where do you want my books to appear next? Leave a comment!]

No more World of Warcraft for me

I can't believe I'm saying this, but after a few months of not having time to so much as log on, sadly I don't think I'll ever be going back to World of Warcraft. The only thing I don't like about dropping an online game is the friends I leave behind, something similar happened when I left Everquest.

The difference this time is that I actually got to know some amazing people over the couple of years I spent online, and I miss them as though they were next door all along. It's pretty surprising how you can form attachments online, it makes the world seem pretty small until you look at the cost of airfare.

Sadly, "tools" like Facebook certainly don't cut it as far as staying in touch is concerned. Besides, as far as social network interfaces go, it's bare bones ugly, populated with applications that are as much spam as they are sad marketing and research tools and I find that for a social network there's very little back and forth even when you are 'speaking' to several friends. That, and I've turned down friend requests from at least a couple dozen people I've never known from anywhere. Spammerific.

Back on topic; I know I'll miss the people in World of Warcraft, the social aspect is what keeps people going back I believe. The game itself is great, but it does wear a little thin for some people. Besides, with two or more hours of writing every working day, then editing and more writing on the weekends along with other normal life stuff I have to get to, logging on just doesn't happen. Do I think of the people I was connected to online? Daily, it's hard not to after spending a couple years on and off in digital nearness with them.

Not spending time online has brought a lot of success that pushes me forward and upward in life though, and that's something I have to prioritize. It just goes to show that growing pains can come in many forms and at any time.

Last week I saw the inside of a bar for the first time in about six months, a few people were amazed I was even still in town. Just being around familiar faces for a bit was pretty good, getting in touch with a few friends I hadn't seen in a while. I still found myself thinking; if all the people I cared about online were there too, well, what a great time it would be.

Well, back to the editing of Project Moo...