indie author rock star

Posted on July 2, 2011 by John

Moses Siregar III

Moses Siregar III is a fantasy writer [his website is Moses And Dionysus Walk into a Bar and for his novella - Black Gods War] who is building up a very adept marketing program for his forthcoming fantasy novel planned for release in the [American] summer of 2011.

I have read his novella and it is an impressive debut. Needless to say, I am looking forward to reading the full novel when it is released.

In the meantime Moses is aggressively marketing his novella and his pending novel. He has a well-designed website where for example he has offered readers the opportunity to win an ereader or a gift card [with a charitable element] and generally his content focuses on support of his development of web/social networking-based marketing. He recently broadened his marketing efforts to include other writers, which is best explained in his own words -

Hi, everyone! I’m excited about a new project I’m creating to support the indie author community.

I’m going to be creating a website/community at www.IndieAuthorRockstar.com that will select one indie author to highlight and promote every month. During each author’s ‘winning’ month, the community will do all it can to turn that author into an indie rockstar. It goes a little something like this …

Any author can choose just one of his or her self-published fictional works (excluding erotica) to participate with. There is no limit on the number of authors who can participate, but each author can only submit one book at a time. Books can and will be rejected at the discretion of the admins for the site, especially books with covers that aren’t up to a relatively professional standard.

On July 1st, six of these books will be chosen at random. Everyone in the community will have one month to read or sample those six books. Over the last five days of the month, the community members (meaning, only authors who have submitted a book to the site) will vote (one vote per author) to select the featured author–the rockstar–for the following month. I’m still deciding whether the voting will be public or private–what do you think? Doing it publicly will make it easier for me to tally the votes and would be more dramatic (plus, everyone would know that the votes were counted correctly), but that might also hurt some feelings.

For the rest of his concept, see – KindleBoards and Indie Author Rock Star

About 80 writers contributed their book details to this project, for the first month.

And the reason why I am including all these details in my blog? Broken Glass was one of the six randomly selected books. It will be an interesting experience to see how this project impacts book sales; mine and for the other five writers [for this month - July, 2011] and of course, the sales of The Black Gods War.

The complete selection for June is -

And I suspect all of the writers will be wondering just how this publicity will impact their sales on Amazon. I will interview each of these writers and Moses in future blogs, assuming they are each willing to appear.

Sales
Broken Glass has now been available for one month. It is available on Amazon, B&N, and via Smashwords on Apple, Sony, Diesel and Scrollmotion as well as Smashwords itself; sales [if any] through Apple, Sony, Diesel and Scrollmotion will take some time to be reported. Notwithstanding that reporting delay, it looks as though 40 copies were sold in the first month.

Just about enough to cover my coffee purchases.

Controlling Monsters
When you have captured a monster it is an absolute imperative that you take it for its exercise walks on public streets. Just remember to use double restraints for control purposes.

Capture a Monster

Photo by John Hindmarsh Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved

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Finding Readers

Posted on June 1, 2011 by John

Yes, finding readers is the most critical task for a writer who has just published his first eBook – so I thought I would call on the assistance of the world’s best known detective – and give him the task of finding my missing reader – and I agree, it is one of the worst puns… So let’s see what happened as we join Dr Watson and Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Missing Reader.

Holmes was in exemplary form as usual. He handed me a note that he had been folding and opening out, as though deliberating on its contents. “This came in the last post,” he said. “Read it and tell me what you think.”

The note was unsigned and was obviously written in a hurry for it had splotches where the writer’s quill had splattered ink. It was brief, requesting a meeting this very evening, and for Holmes’s assistance with a pressing and important matter.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“You have the note,” returned Holmes. “What do you think?”

I examined the paper and the contents again. “The writer is of some means,” I remarked. “This is an expensive paper. And he – I daresay it was a he – was in a hurry and did not blot his writing. Also, his quill was not sharp.”

“Is that all?” queried Holmes in his inimitable manner, reaching for the note. He read it again. “The writer is not accustomed to using a quill, which is very odd. He is right-handed, for a left-handed writer would smudge his efforts even more. And the preciseness of his words indicates to me he is – no, not foreign – alien, perhaps. Some of the words – he may be American? Very peculiar.”

As he finished speaking there was a sharp pull at the bell announcing a visitor at the front door. Shortly after we heard heavy footsteps on the stairs and then an authoritative tap on the door.

“Come in,” said Holmes. I noticed he slipped a strange device behind a photograph on the mantlepiece as he spoke.

The man who entered was medium height, with the dress of a gentleman although his ensemble somehow jarred my sensibilities. His suit was well-made and his double-breasted overcoat of a fabric that I could not identify. He looked at each of us in turn, finally addressing Holmes.

“Mr Holmes? Sherlock Holmes?”

“Yes. Pray take a seat,” directed Holmes, “for I discern you have traveled far. This is my good friend Dr. Watson, who occasionally assists me with my cases. Whom have I the honor to address?”

“You may address me as J. For the moment my identity needs to be kept confidential.”

“Very well.”

“I have come quite a distance and need to take every precaution against discovery.”

“I am aware of that,” murmured Holmes, also settling himself down in his favorite armchair. “You are not English although you speak the language clearly and precisely. Your clothes indicate some wealth although your shoes are in need of repair so perhaps you are currently somewhat – shall we say – short of funds. There is ink on your right sleeve, so you are right handed and also unaccustomed to writing with quill and ink.”

Our visitor looked at Holmes with some apparent surprise. “Very good. You surpass your reputation.”

Holmes shut his eyes for a few moments, deliberating. “Aaah. I have it. You are from a different time. Yes, that’s it.”

“You are right,” cried the stranger. “I am. But how did you know?”

“Your watch,” pointed Holmes. “It is running backwards. And it is of a type I have never seen before.”

The stranger clasped his hand over his wristwatch, belatedly hiding it from our gaze. “I did not consider that. Well yes, I am from a different – time. And I have a pressing problem.”

“I know that. You have lost something valuable.”

“Yes, I have. This is astounding.”

Holmes stood and walked across the room to the fireplace and stood, leaning against the mantlepiece. “It is a technical device?”

“Yes, yes.”

Holmes reached behind the photograph and brought out the device that I had seen him hide earlier. He handed it to our visitor.

“Is this the missing item?”

“Oh yes, you have found it. Thank goodness. I was totally dismayed. Yes, indeed, it is my missing reader.”

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