State of the Series Address
The first thing I wanted to let everyone know that there is a forum set up on:
- my Facebook Author page and
- on Goodreads.com
for anyone who would like to discuss the world, the characters, nearly anything regarding The Children of Man series while they wait for Render to be released.
This next announcement is the one about which I'm probably the most excited. My debut novel, Shatter (The Children of Man, #1), has reached a milestone that I really never thought feasible for an unknown indie author like me. Shatter was published in print May 3, 2010. By the end of June, I made it available as an e-book. In that time Shatter has been either purchased or downloaded by over 50,000 individuals. In fact, it's actually closing in on 55,000 this week. Wow. I mean really. Just wow. Do you have any idea how improbable that is for an indie author within the first sixth month of publication much less AT ALL? It doesn't seem real to me honestly.
To give you some context for why this is so mind boggling for me, Publisher's Weekly in 2006 said that
“[o]f the 950,000 titles out of the 1.2 million tracked by Nielsen Bookscan sold fewer than 99 copies. Another 200,000 sold fewer than 1,000 copies. Only 25,000 sold more than 5,000 copies. The average book in America sells about 500 copies.”
-- Publisher’s Weekly, July 17, 2006
Granted, I realize that I've reached these numbers, because I've offered the book for free, however, it's just the first book in a series. Not only has Shatter been picked up by over 50,000 people, the reviews and comments I've received on the series have been overwhelming positive with some valid constructive criticism along the way. I am all about constructive criticism. Some people crave praise; I crave criticism. How else is an author supposed to improve?
Speaking of which here's a roundup of places to read reviews of Shatter:
- Amazon
- Amazon UK
- Goodreads
- Barnes & Noble
- Smashwords
- Musings of the Othar (Sci-fi & Fantasty Newsletter)
- Jendi's Journal
- The Children of Man Series Official Site
- My Facebook Page
Also, in exciting news, smashwords (my e-book distributor) has reached an agency model contract with the retailers to whom they distribute. This is a very good thing for indie authors, because this means that we can set the price for our titles, which means even more platforms are offering Shatter for free now. Regardless of which e-reader or e-reader application you have, there is a version of Shatter available for free. And the peasants rejoiced! Okay, so I rejoiced. There really isn't much of a difference, I promise.
On to the part that you all actually probably care about, the status of Render, the second book in the series. Just like last year, I took part in NaNoWriMo in November. I've passed the 100,000 mark for word count and draft zero of Render is shaping up to be around 150,000 words. I had hoped for a Winter/Spring release for it, but that just won't be feasible. I finished draft zero of Shatter on Christmas Eve last year and finishing Shatter at the end of December last year gave me a May release. There's no chance this draft will be finished by the end of December. I am not expecting, however, that the editing will take as much time with this draft. It won't need nearly the in-depth work that Shatter required. Having gone through this process once before, I have a much better idea of how to handle the drafting, the rewrites, and the edits this time around. Therefore, my new deadline will be a solid Summer 2011 release for Render. It's a priority to me to make sure that I don't rush to get the second book out before it's ready for public consumption, so that means you'll have to wait a little while longer for the next installment in the story.
Any way, I just wanted to thank you so much again to everyone out there who's picked up my book! Happy reading!
I came across your book on Amazon. I was looking for stuff to read on my Kindle and saw that Shatter was free. I read the synopsis and thought "Why not?" I started reading it...and I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! Holy crap! It was so unexpectedly better than I had thought it would be. It's not that I had really low expectations for it, just that I usually know what I want to read beforehand because it's something that has been recommended to me or has been quite popular. So for something that I just happened to pick up it really surprised me. I am so excited about Render that I'm almost sad that I have to wait another 6 months or so to read it. But you do what you got to do to make it perfect, spelling and syntax included :P I'm reading one book right now that doesn't even look like it was proofread and it's...distracting if not unprofessional.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing where you're going to take this series. When I started reading Shatter, I didn't realize it was only book one and when it ended I was miffed, but now I'm downright excited.
Thank you so much!
~Jessica
Thanks so much! I'm so pleased to hear that the book surprised you! :D I've been extremely fortunate with the exposure I've received from amazon. I hope you enjoy "Render" as much!
ReplyDeleteThanks for an update. I will have to find something else to entertain me while you finish the second novel. First one was surprisingly good as I'd downloaded it along with a few others as a sample read, none of the others were worth the download time. I, too, am very fussy with what I enjoy, yours had it all.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I love knowing what people thought about it. I seem to be hearing a lot recently from people who are quite particular about the stories they enjoy and they all seem to have really enjoyed "Shatter." It's quite a compliment.
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