01 July 2024, Writing - part xxx732 Centurion Marketing
Announcement: I still need a new publisher. However, I’ve taken the step to
republish my previously published novels.
I’m starting with Centurion, and we’ll see from there. Since previously published novels have little
chance of publication in the market (unless they are huge best sellers), I
might as well get those older novels back out.
I’m going through Amazon Publishing, and I’ll pass the information on to
you.
Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya:
Enchantment and the Daemon. This was my 21st novel and through
this blog, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary
on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on
writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols
in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the
scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel beginning
with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.
I’m using this novel
as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel
published. I’ll keep you informed along the way.
Today’s Blog: To see the steps in the publication process,
visit my writing websites http://www.sisteroflight.com/.
The four plus two
basic rules I employ when writing:
1. Don’t confuse your readers.
2. Entertain your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don’t show (or tell) everything.
4a. Show what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted on the stage
of the novel.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of
your writing.
6. The initial scene is the most
important scene.
These are the steps I use to write a
novel including the five discrete parts of a novel:
1. Design the initial
scene
2.
Develop
a theme statement (initial setting, protagonist, protagonist’s helper or
antagonist, action statement)
a. Research as required
b. Develop the initial
setting
c. Develop the
characters
d. Identify the telic
flaw (internal and external)
3.
Write
the initial scene (identify the output: implied setting, implied characters,
implied action movement)
4.
Write
the next scene(s) to the climax (rising action)
5.
Write
the climax scene
6.
Write
the falling action scene(s)
7. Write the dénouement
scene
I finished writing my 31st
novel, working title, Cassandra, potential title Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors. The theme statement is: Deirdre and Sorcha
are redirected to French finishing school where they discover difficult
mysteries, people, and events.
I finished writing my 34th
novel (actually my 32nd completed novel), Seoirse, potential
title Seoirse: Enchantment and the Assignment. The theme statement is: Seoirse is assigned
to be Rose’s protector and helper at Monmouth while Rose deals with five
goddesses and schoolwork; unfortunately, Seoirse has fallen in love with Rose.
Here is the cover
proposal for Seoirse: Enchantment and the Assignment:
|
Cover
Proposal |
The most important
scene in any novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to
the rising action. I am continuing to write on my 30th novel,
working title Red Sonja. I finished my 29th novel, working
title Detective. I finished writing number 31, working title Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warrior. I just finished my 32nd novel and
33rd novel: Rose: Enchantment and the Flower, and Seoirse:
Enchantment and the Assignment.
How to begin a novel. Number one thought, we need an entertaining
idea. I usually encapsulate such an idea
with a theme statement. Since I’m
writing a new novel, we need a new theme statement. Here is an initial cut.
For novel 30: Red Sonja, a Soviet spy, infiltrates the
X-plane programs at Edwards AFB as a test pilot’s administrative clerk, learns
about freedom, and is redeemed.
For Novel 32: Shiggy Tash finds a lost girl in the isolated
Scottish safe house her organization gives her for her latest assignment: Rose
Craigie has nothing, is alone, and needs someone or something to rescue and acknowledge
her as a human being.
For novel 33, Book girl: Siobhàn Shaw is Morven McLean’s savior—they
are both attending Kilgraston School in Scotland when Morven loses everything,
her wealth, position, and friends, and Siobhàn Shaw is the only one left to
befriend and help her discover the one thing that might save Morven’s family
and existence.
For novel 34: Seoirse is assigned to be Rose’s protector
and helper at Monmouth while Rose deals with five goddesses and schoolwork;
unfortunately, Seoirse has fallen in love with Rose.
For novel 35: Eoghan,
a Scottish National Park Authority Ranger, while handing a supernatural problem
in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park discovers the crypt of Aine and
accidentally releases her into the world; Eoghan wants more from the world and
Aine desires a new life and perhaps love.
Here
is the scene development outline:
1.
Scene input (comes from the previous scene output or is an initial scene)
2.
Write the scene setting (place, time, stuff, and characters)
3.
Imagine the output, creative elements, plot, telic flaw resolution (climax) and
develop the tension and release.
4.
Write the scene using the output and creative elements to build the tension.
5.
Write the release
6.
Write the kicker
Today:
Let me tell you a little about writing.
Writing isn’t so much a hobby, a career, or a pastime. Writing is a habit and an obsession. We who love to write love to write.
If
you love to write, the problem is gaining the skills to write well. We want to write well enough to have others
enjoy our writing. This is
important. No one writes just for
themselves the idea is absolutely irrational and silly. I can prove why.
In
the first place, the purpose of writing is communication—that’s the only
purpose. Writing is the abstract
communication of the mind through symbols.
As time goes by, we as writers gain more and better tools and our
readers gain more and better appreciation for those tools and skills—even if
they have no idea what they are.
We
are in the modern era. In this time, the
action and dialog style along with the push of technology forced novels into
the form of third person, past tense, action and dialog style, implying the
future. This is the modern style of the
novel. I also showed how the end of
literature created the reflected worldview.
We have three possible worldviews for a novel: the real, the reflected,
and the created. I choose to work in the
reflected worldview.
Why
don’t we go back to the basics and just writing a novel? I can tell you what I do, and show you how I
go about putting a novel together. We
can start with developing an idea then move into the details of the
writing.
Ideas.
We need ideas. Ideas allow us to
figure out the protagonist and the telic flaw.
Ideas don’t come fully armed from the mind of Zeus. We need to cultivate ideas.
1. Read novels.
2.
Fill
your mind with good stuff—basically the stuff you want to write about.
3.
Figure
out what will build ideas in your mind and what will kill ideas in your mind.
4.
Study.
5.
Teach.
6.
Make
the catharsis.
7. Write.
The development of ideas is based on
study and research, but it is also based on creativity. Creativity is the extrapolation of older
ideas to form new ones or to present old ideas in a new form. It is a reflection of something new created
with ties to the history, science, and logic (the intellect). Creativity requires consuming, thinking, and
producing.
If we have filled our mind with all
kinds of information and ideas, we are ready to become creative. Creativity means the extrapolation of older
ideas to form new ones or to present old ideas in a new form. Literally, we are seeing the world in a new
way, or actually, we are seeing some part of the world in a new way.
The beginning of creativity is study
and effort. We can use this to
extrapolate to creativity. In addition,
we need to look at recording ideas and working with ideas.
With that said, where should we
go? Should I delve into ideas and
creativity again, or should we just move into the novel again? Should I develop a new protagonist, which, we
know, will result in a new novel. I’ve
got an idea, but it went stale. Let’s
look at the outline for a novel again:
1.
The initial scene
2.
The rising action
scenes
3.
The climax scene
4.
The falling action
scene(s)
5.
The dénouement scene(s)
The initial scene is the most important
scene and part of any novel. To get to
the initial scene, you don’t need a plot, you need a protagonist.
My main focus, at the moment, is
marketing my novels. That specifically
means submissions. I’m aiming for agents
because if I can get an agent, I think that might give me more contacts with
publishers plus a let up in the business.
I would like to write another novel, but I’m holding off and editing one
of my older novels Shadow of Darkness.
I thought that novel would have fit perfectly with one potential agent
who said they were looking for Jewish based and non-Western mythology in
fantasy. That’s exactly what Shadow
of Darkness is, but they passed on it.
In any case, I’m looking for an agent who will fall in love with my
writing and then promote it to publishers.
That’s the goal.
I’m on a new venture in my
writing. I’m adverse to self-publishing;
however, I have an author friend who was also published in the normal market
with a regular publisher who went out of business. He is deep into independent publishing. I will say this, since he has two novels that
were published normally, he is a proven author.
In other words, there is no reason, except for the help, advertising,
and support you get from a regular publisher, for him not to independently
publish. There is little reason I
shouldn’t either. I’m still seeking a
regular publisher, and at the moment, I’m seeking an agent.
My friend suggested that I republish
my previously published works. Since
they were previously published and not bestsellers, there is very little likelihood
that any publisher would republish them. I decided to do just that. I went to the Amazon Premium Publishing site
and chatted with their representative there.
They didn’t make any hard sell, but they looked up my book, Centurion. It’s still listed with all the others on Amazon,
but it is only available used. They
presented me with two options for publication.
I think these were basically what they offer for a new publication. I’ll post them below:
-
BASIC PUBLISHING PLAN: $1,670 instead of $2,245
· Proofreading
of the Entire content
· Final
Formatting (Paperback, Hardcover and ebook)
· Publishing
on Amazon, and Kindle
· Creation
of Author Bio & Profile
· Add
ISBNs to each format
· Integrate
Bank Accounts with Amazon
· Setup
your Shelf
· Set
Royalty Percentages
· Print
on Demand Configuration
-
GLOBAL PUBLISHING PLAN: $2,921 instead of $3,745
· Finalization
of the publish-ready version of the book (print & digital)
· Publishing
on the following platforms
a) Amazon KDP
b) Barnes & Noble
c) Kobo
d) Draft 2 Digital
e) Ingram Spark
f) Google Books
g) Esquire
h) Book Baby
i) Goodreads
j) Wattpad
· Barcode
and ISBN.
· Unlimited
print-on-demand setup.
· Creation
of author and book profiles, optimized to attract your book's target audience.
· Turnaround
time (4 Weeks)
· The
author retains 100% Ownership Rights.
PUBLISHING
Guarantees:
· 100%
Ownership Rights
· 100%
Satisfaction Guarantee
· 100%
Money-Back Guarantee
OUR
PROCESS:
Step 1:
Once you complete
the online order process and you are onboard with us, I will assign a dedicated
project manager to collaborate with you during the entire process until the
publication of your book.
Step 2:
We will begin
the professional phase by initiating our proofreading services once you share
the manuscript.
This
proofreading process will assess the manuscript for any necessary revisions.
If required,
our experts will diligently edit the content, providing you with a revised
draft for your review.
Step 3:
We will
proceed to the formatting of the book, integrate your bank accounts with
Amazon, establish your Shelf, include an Author Bio, and prepare the necessary
elements for publication.
These were the packages they offered. I asked for a few days to discuss with my author
friend and my supporters. My author friend
suggested using the regular Amazon publishing services rather than the
premium. My question was how do the
costs and support compare. He is a real
genius for marketing and the details—I’m not.
The costs were basically the same when you factor in editing,
proofreading, cover development, and all.
I decided to go with the Global publishing for Centurion. I’ll explain next why Centurion, and
why the Global package.
Centurion is my most popular novel. It brought in a few bucks and has good
reviews on Amazon and other places. That’s
the main reason I chose it for republication first. It really helped that the novel was already
on Amazon and everything had been developed for it. My Amazon agents just looked at the
information and said they could make everything work.
Now, I don’t think I’m going to make a mint on Centurion,
but I would like to give it as much a chance as possible. That’s the main reason I chose the Global
plan. This plan puts the work into the
maximum number of formats and placement.
I’m not certain how much more access this gives the work, but I’m going
to track it and check it out.
My plan for the other works is to use the lower
cost basic publishing plan. This might
not give the other novels as good a boost in the marketplace, but I just want
to get my writing back into availability.
As I noted before, previously published works generally have little
potential for republication by a new publisher—they are looking for something
new and unpublished—that is unless the novel is a best seller.
I’m not foolish enough to believe that my
novels without the backing of a publisher will takeoff immediately, but I would
like to have them available to my fans and the market. I also hope for more attention for future publication.
I’m not a fan of self-publication (independent
publication), but in this case, I think it’s justified as well as a good
investment in the future of my writing.
So, that’s the reason for the specific package
as well as Centurion first. I’ll
give you more details on the specifics and how things are moving along, next.
The first main point I wanted to address for Centurion
was an update to the cover. The cover
was designed back in 2006 or so when the novel was published by
Capstone/Oaktara. There was a second
edition with a slight change to the cover, but still the basic cover.
If you take a look at my website with the
covers for the Ancient Light novels you will see the improvement between
the original Aegypt cover and the new covers for Aegypt, Sister
of Light, and Sister of Darkness.
The newer covers represented the market and more modern marketing from 2006
to around 2016 a change of ten years.
Yes, the markets and what excites and interests readers has changed in
ten years. It’s not so much the interior
of the writing as what grabs a potential reader’s attention. I’ve mentioned this before. In a bookstore, you grab the attention of the
reader by the cover. The original Centurion
cover was kind of bland compared to the modern covers of today. I asked the Amazon agent to update it. I can give you a pretaste because the novel
should be republished by the time you read this. Here’s the old cover:
Here is a mockup of the updated cover. The final will be similar:
I think this cover still
conveys the dignity and the mystery of the centurion. The color scheme is red and gold with the
Centurion facing away from the viewer.
At the same time, the background shows mystery and a blaze of sunlight.
I think this is a great update to the
novel. It’s just the cover, but it
should generate some excitement. By the
way, if you make an Amazon search for Centurion and Alford, this novel comes up
at the top of the search. That’s a good
sign although the title has some issues in the modern market.
The next stage is the writing itself. I’ll write about that piece, next.
I decided before that I didn’t want to make a
complete rewrite of Centurion. I
could, but I think the novel stands well on it’s own. Even though it’s one of my early novels, it
reads well and is complete. The things I’d
want to change in a complete rewrite is getting rid of the “saids” and making
more contractions. These might improve
readability, but they are just cosmetic in some ways.
The novel, before publication, went through more
editing and inspection by the publisher as well as my prepublication
readers. I always make notes for my
published novels when my readers or I find things that need a fix. I did the same for Centurion, but
there weren’t very many—only a handful.
As I noted, I could have made an entire rewrite of the novel, but I’d rather
keep it the same as the first two editions and just fix some of the obvious proofreading
problems and the small historical issues I’ve really become aware of through my
own study. What’s that exactly.
When I wrote Centurion, I studied all
the Roman, Greek, and Aramaic sources I could concerning the times and the Legions,
but some information was just not available in history. One point that has come out of my extensive research
into the times and history is about metal and food. When I wrote Centurion, the historical
and agreed knowledge was that metal was not ubiquitous, but it was relatively
common in general use. I’ve found that
is completely untrue. The average family
and person had very little metal and only soldiers would have much as part of
their weapons and issue. In other words,
there were no pot and pans, no metal cups, or other metal items in common
use. You do find metal in wealthy
families and individuals and metal used industrially—as in pots for cooking as
part of an inn or food preparation, but individuals rarely had any pots or the
ability to cook items that required pots.
This is seen by the fact that in Europe as well as the rest of the world
people resorted to inns and pubs for soups and stews as well as some other
types of metal only cooking even into the early twentieth century. That is, even when metal cooking vessels were
available and more common, the average person was still going out to get foods
that were difficult to cook, except with a metal vessel. That changed with the Twentieth Century for
cost reasons rather than lack of convenience.
The small things I’m correcting in Centurion
are these little points. Where before I
had Abenadar with a bronze metal cup, I changed it to wooden. Bronze and metal was just too dear to own a
metal cup. How do we know? The word in Greek for money means to be
punched from a pot. In other words with
the invention of money in 600 BC, the Greeks took all their metal serving
dishes and turned them into coins. By
the way, these serving dishes would not have been used for cooking, they were
gold and silver, only of use as containers.
We know even the metal nails used rarely in Roman crucifixions would be
stolen as soon as the guards left their posts.
That’s how valuable metal was in the ancient world. You can even note the affect of Captain Cook’s
metal nails from his ship in Hawaii as another example of ancient societies and
metal. These are the kinds of small
issues I’m correcting. I’ll give you
more, next.
So, I’m not really working on a revision as
much as a new edition. As I noted, this
will be the third addition. The
difference between the first and second was the cover and just some small
details. The difference between the
second and the third will be a little more.
Basically, I’m fixing the few problems I know
about plus some of the very small historical abnormalities I know about and can
find. This is how I’m approaching this
change. I’m also looking at modernizing the
novel. What I mean by that isn’t the
text as much as the cover. The cover is
the real issue. Since all my novels are
set in time and place, I don’t see any reason to rewrite of affect any of
them. Although I’m sure Centurion could
be improved with a full rewrite, that would significantly change it. I think the overall novel fits and is
complete. The immaturity of my style and
the feel of the novel itself has entertained and informed a large group of
readers, so I don’t think it needs much change.
I’ll see whatever I can bring to you about
the changes, publication, and the novel.
I am making some very small changes, the ones
I know about, and the ones I’m finding in a clean read-through. It’s been years since I read the novel. It’s not too bad. I like my newer novels better, but my writing
has matured and my subject matter has changed a little. I wrote Centurion while I was in the
military because that kind of novel would not belong to the military.
When you are in the military, the courts have
ruled that material you write about your field of work and area of work belongs
to the military—so the writing I did about flight, flight test, and engineering
basically belonged to the government.
They could make a claim of ownership.
That’s why I wrote about historical subjects and historical novels, with
a twist, of course. Centurion is
one of my few novels without a science or supernatural twist. The twist in Centurion was the
relationship between the Centurion Abenadar and the other historical figures at
the time.
Abenadar is the traditional name of the
Centurion who was in charge of the execution of Jesus. There is another Centurion named in
tradition, Gaius. This makes total sense
in the Roman Legion. I make Gaius the
Questionaries, that is the Legion Official (and Centurion) in charge or
punishment, torture, and executions.
This was a position in each Roman Legion, a position in the Officium and
held by a Centurion. The Centurion
Abenadar is given the responsibility for the leadership of the execution, and
the actual act fell to Centurion Gaius.
The twist I mentioned about Centurion is
that Abenadar came from Nazareth and knew Jesus. They were about the same age and
friends. This is a twist and a
historical twist, but I think I make it possible both historically and logically. It definitely fits in the sense of why
Adenadar would, of necessity, take up his work and execute his friend—at the
request of his friend. It also makes sense
in the idea that Pilate and Adenadar did everything in their power to try to
prevent the execution of Jesus, but for political reasons.
In any case, Centurion is a different
and Roman view of the crucifixion of Jesus and the events around this
history. It also answers, for me, the
question of why the Centurion says, “Surely, this was a son of God.”
I really didn’t want my novels or my
reputation to be an author in the Christian Genre. Not that I have any problem with the
Christian Genre, I want to be and am an author of books for everyone—I just
happen to not want to limit my audience or readers. No one asked in the Victorian Era if an
author was a Christian or wrote Chrisitan themes—they all were and they all
did. For some reason today, although 90%
of all Americans believe in God and more than half are Christians, being a
Christian and writing to normal historical themes and plots is considered anathema.
The main question about Centurion is
it a Christian genre work. Well, in
answer, no Christian bookstore would stock it.
Too historical and too realistic.
Regular bookstore would take it, and I don’t think it has anything but a
historical basis and focus. The
characters just happen to be from Christian tradition and Christian in
basis. So is George Washington, King
George of all varieties. In fact every
European king and queen as well as every member of royalty. In addition to every writer until around the Twentieth
Century.
I plan to advertise my novel The Second
Mission in Centurion, although the wrong audience and a limited
audience has read and reviewed it. It is
a very important and historically based novel.
It is not a Christian genre or Christian based novel. It simply takes a position that Centurion was
the first mission into time (not referred to at all in Centurion, which
is a completely historically based novel), but basically, what the second
mission into time would look like if the first mission had been to explore the
death and resurrection of Christ. That
seems like a great premise to me—some of my readers did not. I thank them for reading the novel. I don’t agree with their reflections of it. Again, I think we as authors are facing an
interesting problem in history and writing.
Because of freedom of expression, all
subjects should be available for writers to express their imaginations and
write their fiction. I think it’s
interesting that society intentionally restricts certain voices and ideas because
it doesn’t like them. This is especially
true of subject that are popular and normative in society. I mean specifically about God and about morality. These seem to be third rails for some readers
and for some audiences. Perhaps we could
be a little more accommodating and accepting of what society wants and
accepts.
In any case, Centurion is a novel
outside the norm in many ways. It is
likely the most accurate accounting of the Legion and the First Century that
you will find—even among history texts.
As I wrote, I’m going through the formatting and
final document for publication to make changes for this independent publication
of Centurion. I’m still
contemplating how much of the Capstone/Oaktara information I’ll leave in the
published document. Of course, I’ll take
out the references to Capstone/Oaktara, the previous publisher, but there are
some wonderful advertisement/teasers that the publisher put in for my other
novels. I plan on republishing them too,
so if I leave them in, they will help with marketing.
Marketing is the thing. I really appreciated the marketing my
publisher did for my works. That was an incredible
help to getting the novel out and read.
I don’t have that kind of influence or experience. I’m hoping Amazon will help in some
ways. I’m not sure they will. My author friend who has been doing this kind
of publishing for a while has great ideas, but I need to get them and apply
them. I’d really like to add some extra
marketing in Centurion for other novels.
I’d also like to get a regular publisher again for my newer novels.
As I wrote, I’m going through the document,
now. I’ll give you more about that and more
about this journey of independent publishing.
I can say, it has been very easy and productive so far.
This is how we develop a
protagonist. Next, I guess we should
look at the plot for a novel.
I want to write another book based on
Rose and Seoirse, and the topic will be the raising of Ceridwen—at least that’s
my plan. Before I get to that, I want to
write another novel about dependency as a theme. We shall see.
More
tomorrow.
For more information, you can visit my
author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual
novel websites:
http://www.ancientlight.com/
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com
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