The Journey

Writers on Writing: I Guest Blog on Kathleen Valentine’s Site

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I’m excited to let you know I’m today’s guest blogger on novelist Kathleen Valentine’s site Parlez-Moi.

Kathleen has a wonderful thematic blog going where she asks writers to comment on writing, especially the authors that have influenced and guided them. I chose to ruminate on Tobias Wolff’s amazing short story “Bullet in the Brain,” a stunning short work from his collection Our Story Begins that will have you thinking LONG after you’ve read it. Please check out Kathleen’s blog and tell your friends! (And for Pete’s sake, read more of  Wolff’s stuff!)

In Other News
I apologize for not  updating the blog nearly enough lately, but I’ve been hard at work on my debut crime fiction novel, A Reason to Live, featuring retired Washington DC homicide detective Marty Singer. It will be available in Kindle and print within the week.

The sequel, Blueblood, is finished and going to the editor later this month. And the third, Signs, is 1/3 finished and I’m looking forward to a scribbling marathon over the next five days where I hope to reach a goal of 20,000 – 25,000 words (hey, if David Gaughran can do 40,000 words in a month, I’m game).

I also have a non-fiction guidebook on how to write a novel (Telling the Tale: The Complete Guide to Writing Your Novel) coming out soon and I hope to offer it through Amazon as well as this site via Oronjo.com, a free site that facilitates file download-for-payment and empowers writers everywhere. Lastly, I’ve been committed to cultivating a presence on Goodreads.com, where I think the future of e-authoring is going to occur. If you hang out there, please friend me!

Shine on, you crazy diamonds. 🙂

A Novel’s Journey: A Reason to Live

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Almost four years ago, an idea for a crime fiction series wriggled its way into my subconscious. Although I’ve always enjoyed reading Parker, Child, and Crais, I was hankering to write about someone who wasn’t always right, wasn’t indestructible, and had flaws and problems that weren’t of his own making…but had to be solved anyway.

The protagonist I started noodling with became retired Washington DC homicide detective Marty Singer and his first novel, A Reason to Live, is so close to done I can taste it. Final edits are done and only the formatting and launch remain.

I thought this might be a good time to recount where it all started.

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Featured Today on Scarlett Archer’s “1001 First Lines”

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I’m excited to be today’s featured interview on Scarlett Archer’s great blog, 1001 First Lines.

Scarlett’s questions about the importance of first lines–and some of the lemons I’ve both read and written–were a lot of fun to answer. It’s a pleasure to just talk about craft sometimes!

Check it out if you have a few minutes and see if you agree with my views on what some people think are the most precious words in a book.

1001 First Lines: http://1001firstlines.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/first-lines-interview-with-author-matthew-iden/

one bad twelve available in print!

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I’m excited to announce that my crime fiction short story collection one bad twelve is now available in print at both my CreateSpace store and Amazon.com for $11.99. (If you’re interested in buying it, I’d appreciate it if you did so at my CreateSpace store…Amazon takes 50% more royalties when selling from their site!)

The volume is 226 pages and consists of 13 original stories as well as a Story Notes section where I talk about the inspiration and background for the stories. There’s also an excerpt from my forth-coming debut detective novel, A Reason to Live.

The process to go from ebook to print was much easier than I’d anticipated. CreateSpace–a division of Amazon–has the process down pat and guides the would-be print author through every step of the way. If you’re interested, I talk about my experiences and provide some tips and expected pitfalls here (Part I) and here (Part II). I’ll be posting a Part III of the experience soon.

Quick FAQ

Why did you go with CreateSpace?
CS is owned by Amazon and the seamless connection between creating an ebook and a print book–and linking the two in their sales channels–was too good to pass up. Also, like their system for uploading ebooks, the interface for creating a print book is exceedingly easy to use and the help they provide through the process is thorough.

Is it safe to order from CreateSpace?
Yep. CreateSpace is a wholly owned division of Amazon, although your credit card statement will show CREATESPACE as the merchant.

What’s the difference in ordering from CreateSpace vs. Amazon?
For the buyer, very little. The price is exactly the same. However, because CS is the printer rather than the distributor, they take less in royalties…50% less. So, the author (that’s me) makes much more from orders through CS than Amazon without any increase in price to the buyer.

The one consideration for a buyer is that CS does not offer free shipping for Prime members. Amazon does.

Why $11.99? The ebook is only $2.99!
There are overhead costs–salaries, printing, warehousing, and paying for the electronic costs of the store–that drive the cost of a print version up. Also, I elected to go through an “expanded distribution” network that allows me to place one bad twelve in libraries and independent bookstores, who take much deeper cuts of the overall price.

Because of that deeper cut, I make just $1 per copy sold in those channels; $11.99 is the lowest price I could set and still make any money on my book. 🙂 I make correspondingly more through Amazon.com and even more if you buy through my CreateSpace store.

one bad twelve – $11.99
CreateSpace  – https://www.createspace.com/3826415
Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/one-bad-twelve-Matthew-Iden/dp/147504500X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

Feeling Free

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If I had any doubts about the power of promotion, they were laid to rest this past weekend.

My crime fiction short story collection Three Shorts has been free since about the first week of February. In a month, it had been downloaded a respectable–if unspectacular–500 times. I had heard of other indie authors garnering thousands of downloads, but I’m a relatively unknown new-comer and I was more than happy to see hundreds of downloads fueled by little more than a change in price…I didn’t do any specific promotion beyond Twitter, Facebook, and a blog post.

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