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Interview with Austin Rogers

September 8, 2016 by Nathan Beauchamp Leave a Comment

An Interview with Austin Rogers, author of the new space opera, SACRED PLANET

Austin Rogers and I (Nathan) attended the MFA program at Western State Colorado University where we earned our stripes as fiction writers. I’m excited to feature Austin–he’s a talented guy and a good friend. His first novel, SACRED PLANET is available now on Amazon!

Austin Rogers Interview

“An ambitious, ardent launch that sets a stellar precedent for installments to follow.”

–Kirkus Reviews

Author Bio:

Interview with Austin Rogers After earning his bachelor’s degree in Cinema and Media Arts from Biola University and his master of fine arts from Western State Colorado University, Austin bounced between jobs in California, Missouri, and Texas. He has worked as a talent agent’s assistant, a bookseller, a summer camp staffer, a newspaper writer, and most recently a real estate agent. He takes every chance he can get to sneak away from the real world and drift among spaceships and faraway planets.

 

Interview:

Religious and philosophical themes play a prominent role in Sacred Planet. Did you always intend to invest heavily in those topics from the outset, or did it happen more organically during the writing process? 

A little of both. I started with the kernel of an idea that I thought would be interesting to explore in a space opera setting. For a long time, there have been thinkers who believe religion and belief in the supernatural is on the verge of dying off (think Nietzsche’s famous line, “God is dead,” circa 1882), and yet it never has. Religions and religious beliefs evolve but rarely die off. Yet much of science fiction, especially space opera, doesn’t take this into account. Their future worlds tend to be void of religion.

“I wanted to explore a space opera world in which humanity has spread thousands of lightyears into the universe, and yet religion persists in certain groups.”

Not new religions—the same religions that have been with us for thousands of years, but in their evolved forms.

One of these future religions is called “Abramism” and is an amalgamation of the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. One aspect of the Abrahamic religions that carries over into Abramism is the attachment to and protective urge toward certain holy sites. In a universe where millions of people still travel from across the galaxy to visit these holy sites and will fight to keep (or gain) control of them, we are bound to see the same sort of conflicts over the same pieces of land as we do today, the same conflict that flared during the era of the crusades. Hence the title, “Sacred Planet.”

Austin Rogers Interview

Are you a “Plotter” or “Pantser”? How much pre-writing / planning did you do for Sacred Planet? 

I start as a “plotter” and become a “pantser” during the writing. During the pre-writing or plotting phase, the story is one thing, but then during the writing it becomes another. Something strange happens in the writing process that is impossible to predict. The story takes on its own momentum. The characters take on their own voices. Subplots surface that I hadn’t foreseen. Themes emerge. Certain characters that I thought had large parts to play in the story fade to the background. Other characters that I hadn’t pictured during the plotting appear and play a dramatic role in the story.

“Plotting is essential to establish the basic conflict(s) and goal(s) that will drive the story, as well as the character journeys, but the actual writing is when the story comes alive and becomes its own creature.”

Can you talk a little bit about why you went the indie route? Do you have any plans to try traditional publishing in the future? 

There are basically two ways to get the attention of the big publishing houses in New York. One is the traditional way: send your manuscript to a literary agent, whose assistant will read maybe a few chapters and maybe, if it’s really good, pass it on to the agent, who will maybe read a few chapters and consider representing you, then send your manuscript to someone’s assistant at a publishing house, who will maybe read a few chapters and maybe pass it on to their boss. Getting through the traditional publishing machine, even with a really great book, takes about as much luck as winning the lottery.

. . . that is, unless you have an established platform. Celebrities or anyone with an existing audience or fanbase can get a book published without even being a good writer. So the other route authors can go to get the attention of a publisher these days is to use indie publishing to build an audience. It’s true that an unsuccessful book published the indie route can stymie a writer’s chances in New York. But a well-written and decently successful indie-published book can be a gateway to traditional publishing. That is my strategy and hope for Sacred Planet.

Austin Rogers Interview
Concept art for Sacred Planet by www.tomedwardsdesign.com

What’s your favorite Space Opera? Why?

Right now, I’m just finishing Pierce Brown’s excellent Red Rising trilogy, which I would say is my favorite recent space opera series. Joe Haldeman’s Worlds series is one of my favorite older ones. And, of course, the Ender universe is up there, too, especially Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead.

Coffee, Tea, or “other”? 

You left out an option: both. Coffee has, alas, sunk its addictive tendrils into me, but I also love green tea. Both are essential fuel for writing.

Can you tell us a little bit about your next book? 

Currently, I’m writing the second book in the Dominion series (the sequel to Sacred Planet). It’s called Horns of the Ram and picks up where Sacred Planet ends. It will feature a few new characters, including a strong female lead named Cristiana, and a lot of familiar ones.

Who is your ideal reader? 

This may sound like a cop-out answer, but my ideal reader is whoever enjoys a good yarn set in a science fictional universe. Seriously. My first and most important goal is to entertain readers and keep them turning pages to find out what happens next.

But I would also think that my ideal reader would be a thoughtful person who is, like me, a “big picture” kind of thinker, someone who wants to understand the machinery that makes the world crank. That “big picture” element is definitely present in Sacred Planet.

Are you a lover or a fighter? 

I’m a lover who is captivated by fighters. Sacred Planet centers around fighters and has lots of action, but at its core it’s about the struggle between lovers and fighters—between those who are trying to keep the peace in the galaxy and those who see war as the only way to preserve justice. That’s a struggle that will always be with us, I think.

Austin Rogers Interview
Concept Art for Sacred Planet by www.tomedwardsdesign.com

Tell us about your antagonist(s). What characteristics are important to you when writing the bad guy or gal? 

Every story needs a good villain, the kind that you either secretly root for or hate so much that you can’t stand watching him/her succeed. I think there are basically two kinds of villains: the menacing, scary, mysterious kind (think Darth Vader, Sauron, or Hannibal Lecter), and then the all-too-familiar kind who is driven by some cause or belief that we as the audience can almost get behind . . . if only it didn’t have that one dark element. Think President Snow from Hunger Games. The guy is just trying to keep order in Panem and prevent another devastating war from destroying them all, but he’s doing so in a way that oppresses his people to the benefit of the Capital.

Austin Rogers InterviewSacred Planet has two of these President Snow-type antagonists on both sides of the two major opposing forces in the galaxy, leaving the protagonists trapped somewhere in the middle. On one side, you have Zantorian, the iron-fisted leader of the Sagittarian Regnum, an empire built upon a feudal division between the noble class and commoner class. On the other side, you have Ulrich Morvan, Minister of Arms for the Republic of Carina, who has his own plans to reshape the balance of power in the galaxy.

Do you mind sharing a little bit about your budget? What did you spend to get Sacred Planet ready for release? What advice would you give another first-time indie author? 

I did not have a well-defined budget going into the prep for Sacred Planet, which was a mistake. I ended up spending a lot more than I should have. Then again, I learned some valuable (and expensive) lessons for the future.

“In total, I’ve spent a little over $4,000 getting the book ready for publication.”

The largest expenses were (from highest to lowest): editing, book cover art, promotional art, book cover design, a map of the galaxy, and interior formatting. I’m very happy with how all of these turned out, but I do wish I had spent more time finding less expensive providers of a few of these services.

Also, while I LOVE the promo art for the book, I should have set a much lower budget for it.

“My advice for those considering the indie publishing route: First, have others (preferably readers of your chosen genre) read your book and give you feedback before you invest a dime in it.”

The most important element to succeed at any kind of publishing is a really good book. If you don’t have that, keep honing your craft and put off publishing.

“Second, don’t try too hard to cut costs on editing, interior formatting, or the book cover.”

Those are essential, and if they aren’t professional, your book’s chances of success will be severely hindered. But DO try to cut costs as much as possible everywhere else, and think hard about what you need and don’t need.

When can we expect the next book? 

Early Spring of 2017!

Austin Rogers Interview

SACRED PLANET is available now on Amazon in paperback and eBook formats.

You can connect with Austin through his author page and on Goodreads.

A huge thanks to Austin Rogers for stopping by for an interview.

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Filed Under: Being an Indie, Interviews Tagged With: Austin Rogers, Indie Publishing, Inerview, Self-publishing, Space Opera

Rejected by BookBub? Don’t Despair!

August 27, 2016 by Nathan Beauchamp 1 Comment

 Rejected by Bookbub

We Got Rejected By BookBub And Still Gave Away 7300+ Copies of CHIMERA in 5 Days

(From time to time, we’ll post articles written for other indie authors rather than our readers. This is one of those posts. Feel free to skip this one if you don’t want to read about how we got rejected by BookBub)

BookBub is unquestionably the biggest and best book marketing list out there. They command a huge number readers, and drive book sales like no other e-mail marketing list. Every author (not just indie authors) wants to get a Bookbub promotional spot. Including us!

We submitted CHIMERA, the first book in the Universe Eventual series, for consideration back in July 2016.

And BookBub turned us down.

Despite 200+ reviews, 72% of them 5-stars, BookBub still said no

Which they do. A lot in fact. They turn down 90% of the books submitted to them. They’re choosy, and they can afford to be.

While getting rejected by BookBub hurt, we decided to look at alternative marketing lists. In the past we used Book Barbarian, as well as The Fussy Librarian, and a few other smaller lists. Of all the smaller lists, Book Barbarian performed the best for us. During our last $0.99 sale on Chimera, we sold 74 books through Book Barbarian, which was great at the time.

After signing up for another promotion with Book Barbarian, they recommended another list, one I’d never heard of: Books Butterfly. We didn’t know at the time that Butterfly has a bit of a spotty reputation in the Indie marketplace (more on that to come). We just liked and trusted Book Barbarian and took their endorsement of Butterfly as “good enough” to get us to pull the trigger.

The Deal

Chimera by N.J. TangerTitle: CHIMERA, Universe Eventual Book I

Normal price: $3.99

Promotional Price: FREE!

Dates: August 21-25, 2016

 

 

 

Marketing Lists:

  • Book Barbarian (30,000 SF Subscribers) for $54.00
  • The Fussy Librarian (103,000 SF Subscribers) for $17.00
  • Books Butterfly (“Top 100 Push” with 3,000 guaranteed downloads) for $240

Total budget: $311.00

BookBub Charges $300 to market to their Science Fiction List

We also did some “grass roots” marketing by asking FB friends to post the link, getting a few others to tweet about it, including one of our writing heroes, Susan Kaye Quinn.

We weren’t sure what to expect–after all, none of the lists we paid for command the number of readers that Bookbub does.

Would getting rejected by Bookbub ruin our chances of having an epic free promotion?

No.

We got a STELLAR result from our three lists that looked like this:

Rejected by BookBub

In the first two days of the free promotion, we gave away over 5,600 books!

We gave away a total of  7,300 over the full 5 promotional days. CHIMERA hit the #1 spot in all three of its categories (YA Dystopian, Dystopian, and Space Opera). All of those are hard-contested categories, with Space Opera being the toughest of all.

For comparison, a writer friend of mine landed roughly 14,000 downloads of one of her novels using BookBub. She also writes YA, though hers are listed in the Cyberpunk and Dsystopian genres, while Chimera is Space Opera and Dystopian.

7,300 downloads is roughly half as many downloads as 14,000 (Yay, math!). Which means that at the same price point, we got 50% of what we might expect from BookBub. Would we rather have landed a BookBub deal? Of course. But we didn’t let them saying no prevent us from pursuing other lists.

Despite getting rejected by Bookbub, we launched a successful promotion

We didn’t run ANY free promotions until this year, some 18 months after the release of Book I in our series (heeding Susan K Quinn’s advice in her book, FOR LOVE OR MONEY). We waited because we wanted maximum recapture on sales in the rest of the series, and felt that getting at least 2 books out after the first book would be ideal. We released Book III, CERES,  in July 2016, and planned this promo for August 2016 for that reason.

After our free promotion, our KU (Kindle Unlimited) pages read went way up:

Rejected by Bookbub

We, love, love, love readers who can get a book for free but borrow it from KU anyway! I wish I could give every one of them a thank you note.

After posting these results to several author FB groups we belong to, we heard a lot of negative things about Books Butterfly

I (Nathan) had several exchanges with other writers on Facebook and Kboards. Books Butterfly has a spotty reputation with indie authors. Many writers reported bad experiences with them.

The main complaints were that Books Butterfly doesn’t make good on their guarantee to pay authors back if certain download thresholds aren’t hit, that Books Butterfly has scammy business practices (such as pestering authors on Facebook), and even that Books Butterfly may use bots (bots!) to generate their downloads/ KU Pages read.

In fairness to Books Butterfly, we had a GREAT experience with them. Good communication, and an excellent result on the promotion. Books Butterfly has an entire page titled “trust” where they list all the reasons they’re a legitimate company. Books Butterfly also has a LONG list of testimonials, though none of the names are full names, and they don’t have contact information to double-check them.

On Kboards, some authors had great experiences with BooksButterfly just like we did, while others say they’d never use them again (or wouldn’t use them in the first place).

So what’s the deal with Books Butterfly? Stay tuned for a follow up blog post where I’ll let you know everything I learn in the coming weeks. I’ve also reached out to my contact at Books Butterfly, as I’d love to get their perspective on their reputation with the indie community. I feel they have a great service, but probably could do a better job of promoting their brand.

Getting rejected by BookBub doesn’t have to cripple your promotional efforts

Here’s everything we’ve learned from running our free promotion:

  • Smaller lists don’t have the same power as BookBub, but can be used together to get good results
  • Because we used three different lists / grassroots marketing, we don’t know exactly what list generated what result. It would be great to be able to parse which downloads came from Books Butterfly, Book Barbarian, The Fussy Librarian, and from other sources, but that’s not an option because Books Butterfly doesn’t track click-throughs or conversions.
  • We recaptured a lot of business on our second and third books, which made it worthwhile. If you only have 1 or even 2 books out, a free promotion is a lot less attractive.
  • We gained a lot of e-mail list signups by having an invite in our back matter. This is a MUST, not just for promotions, but in general.
  • Books Butterfly has a less-than-stellar reputation among other indie authors, but we had no problems with them and ran an excellent promotion.
  • Getting rejected by BookBub isn’t the end of the world!

We’ll try again with BookBub in the future

We would still LOVE to land a BookBub promotion, and perhaps with persistence, we will.

Amazon only lets you run a promotion on a book twice a year, so we’ll target BookBub again in the spring of 2107. Hopefully next time we won’t get rejected by Bookbub!

What’s your experience been running Amazon promotions? How about using BooksButterfly? Let us know in the comments.

Filed Under: Being an Indie, Publishing Tagged With: Bookbub, Indie Publishing, Publishing

Get a FREE copy of Chimera on Amazon This Week

August 21, 2016 by Nathan Beauchamp 1 Comment

Chimera by N.J. Tanger
Chimera is the first book in the award-winning Universe Eventual series by N.J. Tanger

For the next few days, you can get a FREE copy of CHIMERA on Amazon.

No strings attached. No bull. Just a free book. Click Here to get your copy now!

As an added bonus, at the end of CHIMERA you can find a download link for a free copy of Helios! So it’s really a 2-for-1 deal. This is THE BEST deal we’ve ever offered, but it expires on August 25th, so make sure you get your copy now.

Already own CHIMERA? This is the perfect time to recommend the series to someone you think might enjoy Universe Eventual. If you really want to do us a favor, post the link to the free book to Facebook or Twitter–that would make our day!

Some other big news is on the horizon, including an official release date for ASCENSION, the Universe Eventual prequel that follows the Chimera’s journey from Earth to Elypso.

Now it’s time to get your free copy of Chimer! Click Here to go to Amazon.

Filed Under: Chimera, Free Stuff, Updates Tagged With: Amazon Deal, Chimera, Free

CLONES: The Anthology | Kindle Fire HD Giveaway!

May 12, 2016 by Nathan Beauchamp Leave a Comment

Clones: The Anthology

Clones: The Anthology is available for pre-order on Amazon for only $0.99.

“The Replacement Husband” opens up the collection, an honor I did NOT expect when asked to submit a story months ago by Daniel Smith. I’m thrilled to appear alongside one of my heroes, the inestimable Susan K. Quinn. Also included in the anthology are speculative fiction powerhouse Rysa Walker, and the mastermind behind the Future Chronicles anthologies, Samuel Peralta. If you’ve read any of these guys and gals, you know their work speaks for itself!

The early Amazon reviews are also EXCELLENT. A few mention “The Replacement Husband” by name, which makes me feel pretty darned good. Nothing makes me happier than knowing readers are enjoying my work.

Win a free Kindle Fire HD! Click Here to enter the Rafflecopter drawing to get a Kindle Fire AND a free copy of Clones: The Anthology.

Clones: The Anthology

Here’s a little taste of my story, “The Replacement Husband”

The replacement husband arrived in a clear, hermetically sealed smartglass canister that looked like a high-tech coffin. Naked except for a pair of white underpants, suction cups dotted his shaved skull and chest. A breathing tube jutted from his mouth. Jasmine studied the thick, wiry hairs bristling from his calves and forearms. She’d never seen him with so much body hair. He’d zapped everything but his pubic area in college, trying to make the Olympic triathlon team. He hadn’t, but she’d fallen in love with the silky smoothness of his dark-skinned body—an unintended side effect.

The technician wheeled the replacement husband to the bedroom like a refrigerator on a dolly. The smartglass displayed his EKG, heart rate, and neural activity. Jasmine stood inside the doorway, fingernails of one hand biting into the palm of the other. Fifteen months had passed since the funeral. Fifteen months of status updates from Forever Inc. as they grew the replacement husband in their Detroit laboratory. And now, here he was. In the flesh. Heart thrumming at a steady sixty-seven beats per minute. Closed eyelids shifting as the hidden pupils moved.

“Is he asleep?” Jasmine asked, knowing the answer, but needing some reassurance that this was all really happening.

“Sedated,” the technician said. “Once we get him in position, we’ll rouse him.”

The canister made a distinct fffppp sound—like a fresh tube of tennis balls—when opened. The technicians lowered the replacement husband to the bed, wires linking him to the canister trailing behind.

“Are you sure you don’t want someone with you?”

“I’m fine,” Jasmine lied. She’d refused to accept the Reintegration Specialist offered by Future Inc. Refused her friends pleas to “be there” to welcome Norwood back. Most reintegration processes included close family members, but she and Noorwood were both only children. Both sets of parents had passed years ago, leaving her to greet this not-quite-Norwood—far too skinny and with skin as fresh as a baby’s—alone.


Want to read more? Pre-order your copy of Clones: The Anthology from Amazon. You don’t want to miss this one.

Filed Under: Short Stories, Writing Tagged With: Anthology, Clones, Short Story

Universe Eventual: Ceres Cover Reveal

May 6, 2016 by Rachael Tanger Leave a Comment

Ceres Cover Reveal

I’m so excited to do the Ceres Cover Reveal! Without a lot more words, here it is. (Because who doesn’t like instant gratification?):

Ceres Cover Reveal

I can’t wait for the release of Ceres in June 2016! And I’m excited for you to meet some of the new characters that I have fallen in love with. (Don’t worry—lots of old ones are in there too!) I’ve spent a lot of time on this book, and it needed something a little extra special when it came to a cover.

Our books feature a large, diverse cast of characters that can’t be portrayed by just anyone. And our cover style uses photos of actual people as well as complicated, detailed backgrounds. Add in the need for a SF atmosphere, and ours is a difficult style to replicate on a book-by-book basis. It requires a lot of time and effort sourcing images, putting together mock-ups, and deciding if the feel is right.

Which is why I am so happy to do the Ceres cover reveal. And I’ll let you in on a secret: I made it! In our three-person team, I’m the graphic artist. I’m responsible for almost all of the images that you see on our website, Facebook, ads, etc. I have a background in this sort of thing, but I have to be honest: it took a while to resurrect all my Adobe skills! It’s been fun but intense. I’m going to throw a little plug in here for my next post, where I’ll tell you more about the original process of getting covers made. It’s an entertaining—and mistake-laden!—story and includes some great takeaways. But to finish up, here’s a list of what I love about this cover:

  1. Features a person of color

This is my top item because the diversity of the books’ cast is integral to the series, and it has been so hard to find dynamic, well-shot images of diverse models! Many freelance photographers are based out of Russia and Eastern Europe, and their models lack diversity because their locations lack diversity. Nathan, Josh and I all have a very American melting-pot perspective and want that highlighted not just in our words but on our covers.

  1. Makes great use of the Universe Eventual branding

I wasn’t sure that the metal R was going to work well, but it looks perfect. We initially thought maybe orange for this cover, but I’m in love with the purple. Probably mostly because I love purple.

  1. Nice visual interest and micro-storytelling

If I’d never seen this book, I would have so many questions about it. I would definitely pick it up and flip through. Hopefully, you feel the same!

I think it’s a winner, but what I’d really love to know is what you think. Leave us a comment here or on Facebook and tell us what you think of our Ceres cover reveal.

Filed Under: Ceres, Cover reveal Tagged With: Ceres, Cover

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