As a new author, do you feel preyed upon?

As you pursue your dream do you ever feel predators are waiting at every part of the journey? As soon as you pause or hesitate, show any lack of confidence, or you ask yourself can I do this, they pounce.

Their mantra is you need a professional. You don’t have the expertise. Even if you did, you’d still need them for a different perspective. Anything free is not as good. Anyone who volunteers to help is an amateur. You’ve invested so much time and effort into your dream don’t sell it short. You’re worth it. Your dream is worth it.

The predators come in the form of book marketers who claim only they know how to get your book in front of all those potential readers. They’re editors who suggest a typo or a dropped word (which they would catch) is the difference between success and failure. They’re graphic artists who have invested heavily in image manipulating software that can be adapted to whatever purpose including book covers. They’re hybrid publishers, a cabal of all the aforementioned.

All that stands between you and success according to them is their services. Oh, yes, and their fee.

It’s great to have a dream but financing it unfortunately is where reality sets in. In most ventures, dreams aside, a cost benefit analysis is compulsory, as is some rudimentary market research. Why not undertake both for the novel you’re considering publishing?

Professionals can cost you thousands of dollars and the truth is a slick, error-free package doesn’t guarantee a best seller. In fact, it doesn’t even guarantee a return on your investment. Do the math. If you sell your e-book on Amazon for $3.99 your net royalty is about $1.40. How many books will you have to sell to pay the cost of the professionals?

Now, take into consideration what the marketplace is like for today’s authors.

The number of books being published every year has exploded. 1.7 million books were self-published in the U.S. in 2018, an increase of 264% in just five years.

Book sales are stagnant. The average U.S. book is now selling less than 200 copies per year and less than 1,000 copies over its lifetime.

(You can check this and more depressing facts out for yourself in a well-source article by Steven Piersanti, Senior Editor, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Updated June 24, 2020 at https://ideas.bkconnection.com/10-awful-truths-about-publishing)

Save your money. Invest in how-to-write books, programs and courses. Put your work out there and seriously consider what other writers are saying about how to improve it. Search out other writers at your level or better and develop professional relationships. Be patient. Work hard. You’ll discover it’s as much about the journey as the destination.

When you think you’re ready go ahead and self-publish. It’s easy, it’s exciting and it’s free. Make mistakes. You can always upload corrections, or for that matter, unpublish the book and start again.  Keep at it.

Don’t worry too much about success, be more concerned about becoming a better writer.

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Mine for Tonight by J.S. Scott book review

Another triumph from indie author Jane Davis in this gloriously gritty novel that engages head-on with a post-war London struggling to re-boot itself and wider society, amid ongoing privations. Against this authentic backdrop, the dawning realisation that Britain needed to change and to challenge former ingrained inequalities, particularly the structural disadvantage of women, is deftly explored by the author, through the lived experiences of three fictional women in the 1950s. Moreover the reader discovers that Caroline, Ursula and Patrice are each held hostage by their very different respective circumstances and perceptions of duty to family (parents, children, husband). Such traditional values are also cleverly juxtaposed with the tragic real-life story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the UK. The sensationalised accounts of her crime carried in the press at the time (Ellis shot her lover, killing him) succeeded in vilifying Ellis, but drew a veil over the scandalous and violent behaviour of the ‘innocent’ male victim.

The format of the book reflects multiple points of view and rotates between the key characters’ perspectives. Indeed, it sounds like the start of a joke, the hostess, the actress and the duchess, but despite the disparity in their social positions, their common experience of abuse (financial, emotional and physical) at the hands of men, is something of a leveller. But for quirks of chance, all three might not be so far removed from the fate awaiting Ruth Ellis, yet they are drawn inexorably together, bonded by a shared sense of being social misfits. The intertwining of their journeys also offers touching examples of support, without judgement.

Far from being a tale of ‘doom and gloom’, the writing is sumptuous and though perhaps not intended as a feminist commentary on the period, the author has provided the reader with a genuine depiction of a society in transition and three strong and courageous female characters equal to their time. 

Indeed, time, as measured for the nation by the iconic notes of ‘Big Ben’, provides a wonderful symmetry to this book. From August 1949, when the bongs failed to appear on cue, to July 1955 when sections of London held their collective breath in anticipation of the nine o’clock salvo, the author locates each of the women and enables the reader to follow their discrete but convergent journeys. It is true there are no male role models to speak of, which perhaps begs the question whether the period also presided over the demise of ‘gentlemanly’ conduct, or leastways diminished capacity to do the ‘right’ thing? But, the dilemmas the book exposes and the moral conundrums posed make for a fascinating and stimulating read, irrespective of the reader’s gender.

In his thrilling fantasy novel, indie author Jeff Lane introduces two strains of superhumans, in effect the Yin and Yang of seemingly contrary forces, locked in a perpetual existential struggle for survival. That the conflict between the ‘champions’ and the ‘spoilers’ rages alongside the humdrum existence of the vast majority of the human population is interesting. That such extraordinary beings are hidden in plain sight among the general population and their activities go largely unnoticed is also slightly unnerving! Both groups are relatively small in number and co-opt lesser mortals to their respective causes, however, the enmity between the two factions is palpable. For the champions it is driven by the predation of the spoilers, whose hunting style resembles that of hyenas. The spoilers seek to harvest power from their superior opponents in a gruesome and tortuous process, draining the very life force from a lone champion, most often isolated and overwhelmed by numbers. Still, for the reader, this insatiable appetite for the ‘consumption’ of champions’ energy, in what is essentially a parasitic existence, readily casts the ‘spoilers’ as villains and the battlelines drawn between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are clearly marked throughout this opening book in the series.

In an act of self preservation, some champions are loosely connected through a national network and this story follows the transition of eighteen year-old, Jim Hunt, from college student to elite champion-in-the-making. Jim is the prodigy of his neighbour, the enigmatic Nathaniel Parker, who had identified the boy’s potential at a young age (and the need to protect it), but until now never disclosed why he was so special. However, the importance of the young man does not go unnoticed and when spoilers audaciously organise to trap Nathaniel and use him as bait to feast on two of the most powerful champion ‘batteries’, Jim has a life-changing decision to make. 

This, will he, won’t he, journey to potential ‘champion’ undertaken by Jim is exciting and at times comical, as the hero is supported by his college roommate, Eric Warner, who exhibits all the more familiar traits of a hapless mortal teenager. In fact, at times, Eric reminded me of Sancho Panza, with his squirely regard and selfless support for his friend, though he is also weighed down by a substantial secret, his ‘sanchismos’ provide a useful lighter tone amid the surrounding tension.

In the broader arc of this compelling story, can the champions survive this coordinated attack on their existence? Maybe even counter attack the unusually organized incursion into their established, but intentionally nondescript lives? No doubt which side the reader is on, but the grandstand finish raises plenty of new questions, which will have me reaching for Book 2 (“This Burning World”). The author has also confirmed that Book 3 (“This Champion’s World’) is currently being edited, so more to look forward to. For fans of thrilling fantasy tales, this is a very welcome addition to the bookshelf and I am obliged to Jeff Lane for a welcome diversion in this time of COVID-19.