Book Launch Success // Happy Holidays!

Dec 26, 2020 5:32 pm

Hello from London,

A very happy holiday season to you all.

Now that it's done, and all things considered, Christmas is perhaps not the ideal moment to launch a new book. Not that it makes it impossible or anything, but it's hard to pay attention to the details when you're trying to entertain little ones and manage a Christmas card campaign.

Not to mention that the United Kingdom became the Typhoid Mary of Europe because of a new strain of Coronavirus, and the continent cut the gangrenous isle off from the rest of the world, leaving us isolated and looking down the barrel of short supply chains and zero fresh goods on the shelves in time for Christmas.

It turns out the French, Belgians, Germans and others are kind enough to find ways to get goods across the Channel, and Christmas was un-cancelled at the eleventh hour.

Amidst all the noise of Corona-Christmas this year, my book was launched, and it didn't do too badly at all...

Book Release Feedback

Emily Voss Volume 1 has met with a certain amount of critical success.

This is a relief. I knew it was good enough to please my beta-readers, and I knew the first episode had met with very positive feedback, but until you release your 30,000 words onto the market, there's no way to tell if it's going to be well-received or not.

At present, Emily Voss Vol. 1 is at 4.7 out of 5 on Amazon, 4.86 out of 5 on Goodreads, and 4.5 out of 5 on Bookbub, although I only have two reviews on Bookbub, having done no promotion there.

The book is available to buy here:

Emily Voss Box Set on Amazon

What would I do differently?

I followed an unusual format for books. The story is structured like a TV series, with 10,000-word episodes arranged in seasons of 9 or 12, that work both as self-contained mini-stories and as chapters in a longer plot arc. Book one is the first three episodes, and a little over 30,000 words.

I like this format for a few reasons:

It forces me to maintain pace in each of the mini-stories, which gives a great sense of pace to the overall 'season'.
It's super-easy to for readers to get into.
10,000 words is much easier to achieve as "finished writing" than 60,000 words. I can write, re-write, have it copy-edited and proofread in about 4 to 6 weeks. That reliably pushes my "achievement" button, giving me that boost of satisafaction and motivation that makes it easier for me to keep writing.

But it's also created a number of problems.

Everyone refers to my book as a "short story". It really isn't. At 30,000 words it's either a very long novella or a very short book. This, however, seems to get in the way of people's buying decision.
Each episode is fairly simple to write, but I've given myself a big challenge in keeping the overall plot arc on track. So far I haven't had any issues managing this, but if the objective was to make my life easier by splitting the story up into episodes, that strategy has more or less backfired.
My plot arc will, most likely, take 12 episodes to complete. I may be able to shorten it to 9. So instead of giving myself a 60,000-word book to write, I've 'shortened' that to 120,000 words of individual episodes. Oops.

The lesson here is that story structure and traditional book lengths are there for a reason, and in my future work I would be well-served by sticking to these traditions.

I would love to hear what you think. How does the 10,000-word episode length work for you? Do you like a story structured like a TV series? Hit reply to let me know.

As far as book launches are concerned, I asked for reviews, and of the 30-odd people who got a book for free, I got 10 reviews. That's a little disappointing, although some more reviews may yet trickle in.

I should have started the marketing two months earlier at least.

A quick request

If you enjoyed episode 1, "Past Mistakes", and you haven't read the book, please consider buying it on Amazon.

If you haven't read "Past Mistakes", you can download it for free using one of the two links here:

If you are a member of my email list, click here. If you are not a member of my email list (and this email was forwarded to you), click here.

What if you're undecided? If you read Past Mistakes but you're not sure if you want to read the rest, you can get a free bonus story from the Emily Voss universe, called "A First Time For Everything", by clicking here. Maybe that will give you enough additional experience of my writing to help you decide, one way or the other.

As I said in my last email: If you like and support my work, please consider purchasing it on Amazon here.

I will stop asking you to buy my book now, and regular service will resume in the New Year! To those of you who supported me this Christmas by purchasing my book, thank you a million times over.

Beta Readers for Episode 4

I will be needing a couple of beta readers for episode 4, so if you've read episodes 1, 2 and 3, and you'd like a chance of getting episode 4 for free, please get in touch by replying to this email. However, I really do need you to have read the story so far to be a beta reader for the rest! Please don't ask for a copy of episode 4 if you haven't read the first book.

From Other Authors

I have only one author in my spotlight this week.

Marked Chaos by Niki Livingston

Billed as similar to The Hunger Games and The 100, Marked Chaos is a dystopian fantasy and the Kindle Edition is on sale for £0.77 ($0.99), so it's a super-affordable entry point into a new series.

Three unlikely guardians have been chosen to breathe life back into Earth, but the prophecy is not welcomed by all the planet's inhabitants.

Zoe Dawn's headstrong tendencies has brought the wrath of the Doyen upon her. But another tribe has their eyes on her ignited fire and will stop at nothing to claim Zoe Dawn as their own.

Alex has traveled a long way to find a safe place to survive, but her first mistake was returning to her hometown. Thousands of years and an entirely different dimension will not stop her enemies from pursuing her flood of abilities.

Kia Lynn has been marked by the rune of protection, fracturing her elemental connection with the other guardians. As her best friend is dragged away by a masked intruder, the rune activates and she is forced into a whirlwind of chaos that is filled with ghosts from her past.

Once these three are united, an unstoppable force could be invoked, but if they remain separated without completing their destinies, the portal for Earth's destruction will open instead.

Download "Marked Chaos"

I'm not a huge fan of memes, but sometimes even I can't resist, so I'm going to leave this here and wish you health, happiness and fortune until next week, and for the year to come.