Cover art for HIVE has arrived!

Posted: March 29, 2012 in Uncategorized
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The cover art for HIVE arrived yesterday.  It took me completely by surprise, because the book isn’t due for release until August and often the cover art isn’t finalized until a month or two before release.

 

 

 

Check it out below!  The artist, Misa Buckley, did a great job.  Covers need to be slightly different in the modern world of eBooks, because readers will only see a small icon before they purchase the book online, as opposed to a full size cover in a store.  This means that the cover needs to be eye catching enough to work as a small icon, but sophisticated enough that the physical book still looks good.  I think Misa has done an excellent job of balancing those two tensions.  I particularly like the font and the honey-comb grid.

 

 

 

So how did the cover design process happen?

 

 

 

Well, my publisher invited ideas from me for the cover design when I first signed up with them.  I filled out a marketing form which included a bunch of information and sent it off by email.  That was almost a year ago now.

 

 

 

I didn’t really have any concrete ideas of what I wanted at the time, for a number of reasons.  Firstly, I’m not very good with visual design.  I also didn’t really understand how the cover creation process worked, which meant I didn’t have a good grasp of what the artist could achieve.  Would she just Photoshop images taken from somewhere else, or would she create images from scratch?  The two approaches allow vastly different degrees of customization.  Drawing monsters that appear in my book would be impossible if the artist had to Photoshop existing images–she just wouldn’t be able to find pictures which accurately reflect my imagination.  So I didn’t know how specific or demanding I should be with my suggestions.

 

 

 

Finally, I’m partially colour blind and therefore not very confident with visual art.

 

 

 

So I gave my publisher some vague ideas about what I wanted, which eventually made their way through to the artist, Misa Buckley.  I have to admit, I was a bit worried that my ideas were too vague to be useful.  One suggestion I made was that it would be nice to play on the book’s title, HIVE, by incorporating something to do with bees or honeycomb.  There is also a symbol which appears regularly throughout the book, of a human face with a star shining from its forehead, so I asked if that could be incorporated somehow.  The novel is also set in contemporary London, so I suggested that the artist could build some urban themes into the cover.

 

 I really didn’t have any idea how these suggestions might work in practice, but somehow Misa managed to incorporate them all.
 
 

 

Why aren’t you writing?

Posted: March 10, 2012 in Uncategorized
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Check out my article on Why Writer’s Don’t Write at the Fantasy Faction Website:

http://fantasy-faction.com/2012/why-arent-you-writing#comment-14268

I’m pleased to say that I’ve taken the first step in conquering my procrastination, and finished the edits on 3 chapters of the sequel to Hive this week.  I’ve set myself a deadline of 2 months to finish.

Choosing Between Independent Publishers

Posted: November 5, 2011 in Uncategorized
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Today I wrote an article about choosing between independent publishers for the Fantasy Faction Website.

I had so much to say after my experience trying to find a publisher for HIVE, but alas only 3,000 words in which to say it!  Hopefully my ramblings will be of use to someone out there.

You can read the full article at http://fantasy-faction.com/2011/choosing-between-independent-publishers.  Here’s an extract:

In some ways, the publishing industry is just like any other.  There are good operators, there are those that get by, and there are those that would be better served changing professions.  Unfortunately, there are also sharks and scammers.  I like to think the vast majority of people in the industry are well intentioned, but that’s small comfort to a writer who never sees his book published because the publisher went bankrupt.

Even more common are authors who start with unrealistic expectations about what their publisher is going to do for them, and where their book is going to be sold.  Fortunately there are ways to get answers to these questions and undertake some due diligence on a potential publisher before you sign the contract.

Article on Fight Scenes

Posted: October 10, 2011 in Uncategorized
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Here’s an extract from my article on Writing Fight Scenes at the Fantasy Faction website:

A fight scene is supposed to be fast and tense, but there is little time once you’re in the thick of it for scene setting or explaining the lay-out of the environment.  Every word spent outside of the action can kill the tension.  At the same time, a badly described scene can make the fight lack-luster, boring - or worse still - confusing.

Setting the scene before the action begins is a great way of resolving these conflicting tensions.  It never ceases to amaze me how putting in the hard yards to describe the environment pays off later on.  It allows you to focus on the action when you need to, without sacrificing context and clarity.  Good writers will lay the groundwork well in advance of when it is actually needed.

A favorite technique of mine is to have the characters visit the scene prior to the fight, perhaps even in an earlier chapter.  Readers won’t remember the layout of furniture in a room or the exact placement of barricades on a field of battle, but they will sure as heck remember that cliff you are about to throw someone over, or the pool of acid your villain is about to fall into.

You can find the full article at http://fantasy-faction.com/2011/writing-fight-scenes

I was more than a little chuffed to see that the first person to comment was none other than James Barclay himself, who said:

“Some very sound advice here and the whole piece is excellent food for thought for anyone approaching the drafting of fight scenes.“ 

And that’s from a man who practically wrote the book on writing fight scenes!

The long road to getting published

Posted: July 5, 2011 in Uncategorized
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Okay, so I’ve set myself the responsibility of blogging about my experiences with a small publisher.  What now?  It’s a daunting task, especially when you’re trying to put every spare minute into writing the next book.
 
I though I would start with how – and why – HIVE ended up with Champagne Books.
 
I won’t spend too much time giving advice about how to find a publisher.  There are oodles of websites out there where you can go for that kind of advice, and to be honest I’m not sure I am the best person to give that advice anyway.  Why?  Because I made plenty mistakes while trying to find a publisher for Hive, and I wouldn’t want anyone else to follow in my footsteps.
 
When I first starting looking, I only had a vague idea of how to proceed.  Like most unpublished authors, I wanted to place my novel with a large publisher who would get it into bookstores.  Everyone dreams of seeing their work on the shelf, right?  And after a lot of research I realized that was probably the only way I was going to make many sales, too.
 
(As an aside, there are lots of stories out there about eBook authors having huge success. No doubt they all true, but I think people can sometimes get too caught up in the hype.  Having a book on shelves, if you can achieve it, is still by far the best way to get exposure and generate a following.)
 
There are a number of ways to find a large publisher, but getting an agent is probably the best. So I trawled the web, reading everything I could find on literary agents and making up a shortlist of those I wanted to approach.
 
This was no small feat in itself.  There are databases you can go to find searchable lists of agents, but many of them are out of date, and you really need to look at each agent’s website to find their submission guidelines and areas of expertise.  I estimate I looked at websites of about 200 agents within the US, the UK and Australia (where I live).  Of those, I compiled a list of approximately 70 agents who were open for submissions and would look at sci-fi.  Then I put together submission packages in accordance with their individual instructions and started submitting to them.
 
I received some responses immediately, all rejections. After 2 weeks, I received a request for a full copy of my manuscript from a reputable agency.  I was so excited.  This agent had an excellent track record, and counted some of my favorite writers on his client list.
 
I was going to be famous.  I would get a big advance, and quit my day job!
 
Well, you can guess what happened next.  He rejected me, and the resulting downer almost left me in tears.
 
I’m not a patient person, but I am determined, so I stuck with it for another month or so, sending out submissions in batches.  Perhaps I was naive, but I expected to at least hear back from most agents, even if it was just a standard form rejection.  Anyone that has been through this process will know, however, that unpublished authors often don’t even get a response from agents.  Not even an acknowledgement of receipt.  Of the 70 or so on my website, only about 30 responded.  I started to think a ‘piss off, I’m not interested’ would have been preferable over total radio silence.
 
I started to despair.  It felt like my dream of getting published and writing for a living, which had sustained me over the long process of writing and editing my book, had been shattered.  Okay, I admit I’m a bit melodramatic sometimes, and my ambitions were hardly realistic.  But when you have wanted something for so long, and worked hard for it too, then it is a real disappointment when factors largely outside your control prevent you from achieving it.
 
I started to consider alternatives.  Most of the big publishers won’t accept submissions from unagented authors, but many of the smaller ones will.  So I went through the same process of visiting websites and making up a short list of publishers.  This was another long process in itself.  There are publishers, and then there are publishers.  I did my research, and sent out submissions to anyone that seemed bona fide.
 
To my surprise, an agent I had forgotten about (I’d given up on them responding, remember) offered representation while I was waiting to hear back from publishers.  I accepted, and he shopped the manuscript around to most of the big publishing houses.  I worked with him for 10 nail-biting weeks.
 
During that period, I received offers from three smaller publishers, one of whom was Champagne Books.  Although I was thrilled, this presented issues of its own.  I wanted to let my agent have a shot at the bigger publishers, but I didn’t want to loose the offers from the smaller publishers by annoying them.  I decided honesty was the best course of action, and came clean to the smaller publishers about what I was doing.
 
I was extremely anxious about what their responses would be.  The proper course of action should have been to let the smaller publishers I had submitted to know my book was no longer available as soon as I was agented.  Why didn’t I do that?  Because I had grown used to the lack of any kind of response from both agents and publishers.  Not an excuse, I know, but there it is.  I did say I made plenty of mistakes :)
 
I expected a scathing dressing down for wasting their time, and immediate retractions the offers.  To my surprise, all three were understanding and patient.  Although they couldn’t extend their offers indefinitely, they were all happy for me to get back in touch with them if I didn’t find a bigger buyer for HIVE with my agent.
 
Meanwhile, my agent didn’t have any luck shopping around my manuscript.  Although some of the publishers were interested, the industry was going through massive upheaval and they weren’t willing to take a risk on an unknown author unless the book knocked their socks off.  I think HIVE is a great, fun book, but is it worthy of the likes of Tor, Harper Collins, Orion etc?  I guess time will tell.
 
After my agent had done everything he possibly could, I got back in touch with the three smaller publishers.  Champagne Books seemed like the best offer.  They would release my book in print, whereas the others would only release it as an eBook.  They also had the best covers, a good list of existing authors, and a better market presence.
 
So that’s how HIVE ended up with Champagne Books, and I am immensely grateful to them for their patience. 

HIVE contracted to Champagne Books

Posted: June 7, 2011 in Uncategorized
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I am pleased (and very excited) to be able to announce that HIVE, my debut sci-fi novel, has been accepted by Champagne Books for publication in October 2012.  You can see their website here (http://www.champagnebooks.com/).  I’m honoured to become one of their many excellent authors.
 
Woohoo!
 
I don’t have any cover art to show off yet, but you can bet I will as soon as it becomes available.  For now, all I can leak is a preview of the draft back cover blurb (which will undoubtedly change as the release date approaches)
 
For centuries the Hive has waged a secret war, pitting psychic powers against the monstrous appetites of the Silencers.  Now its visionary leader has an ambitious plan to tip the balance, and the conflict threatens to boil over onto the streets of modern day London.
 

Nineteen-year-old Luke is thrust into the middle of the conflict when he foils an assassination attempt on the charismatic Dr. Jean-Paul Lysayer, a world renowned expert on telepathy.  Down on his luck, and torn between an old flame and blossoming desire, the last thing Luke needs is to be used as a pawn in the eternal conflict.

But the Hive needs Luke’s unique abilities, and when he uncovers evidence of a conspiracy it will take all his street-smarts to stay alive for long enough to separate friend from foe.

I’m pretty excited about it!

There are so many aspiring authors out there who, like me, don’t really know what the publication process is like.  So I’m going to blog about my experiences in publishing with a small press between now and the release date.  There will be editing, approving the cover art, marketing and all that jazz.  Follow me by Facebook or RSS if you want to receive updates.

Musings on being a writer

Posted: February 26, 2011 in Uncategorized
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Someone asked me the other day when it was that I decided I wanted to be a writer.

I made my first attempt to write a novel when I was fourteen. I still remember it vividly. The plot basically consisted of a superhero-type male character going around beating up monsters. I’m sure there were a couple of demons in there, and at least one dragon – all ultimately slaughtered by my super powered hero.

Not surprising for a teenage boy, I suppose. In my defence, there was some character development and a brief romance. Probably the most surprising thing was that I stuck with it at all. I got very close to finishing the book – I think it ended up at about 350 pages. Not bad for a fourteen-year-old boy.

My love for writing must have started before that, though, or I would never have made the attempt. It took me a while, but eventually I worked out it all started on a skiing holiday one year before that first attempt.

My father took my two brothers and I to a ski resort at Thredbo in New South Wales. It wasn’t the first time I’d been skiing, so I suppose I was pretty good for a thirteen year old. But that year I wasn’t much interested in skiing because I’d recently discovered books.

I remember that I had a short, mass market fantasy novel with me at the time. Unlike most young adult books now days – which are written for young women – this one was aimed at young men, though I can’t for the life of me remember what it was. Probably something from the Forgotten Realms franchise – I was interested in Dungeons & Dragons at the time.

While my brothers and father skied, I stayed in the resort reading by the open fireplace. Curling up in front of an open fire with a good book is still my idea of heaven, but my dad and brothers couldn’t understand why I’d want to do that at the snow. Each to his own, I suppose, though I’m pretty confident I’ve got the right of it.

Anyway, the book wasn’t as good as I hoped. I found myself getting bored. That was when a dog-eared paperback in the communal book basket (yes, they had them dumped in a wicker basket by the fire – sacrilege!) grabbed my attention.

It was Magician by Raymond E Feist, a classic by today’s standards. At some 500 pages, it was quite a long book for my reading tastes at the time – I was only about thirteen, remember. To my surprise, I was hooked within a couple of pages.

I might not like Magician if I picked it up now, but Feist had me spellbound by the power of his imagination and story-telling ability. I think I read the whole book over the next four days, much to the chagrin of my brothers who wanted me to go skiing with them.

By the time I was finished, I’d come to a realization. This ability to spellbind readers, to make them forget the real world for a while, and to immerse them in a fantastic, but complete believable alternative reality, was pure magic. And I wanted more than anything in the world to be able to do it myself.

There have been other moments that were probably just as influential in my desire to become a writer, but I think this was the earliest. It was then that my relationship with books grew from the enjoyment of reading into something more. And I’ve never looked back.

Do you have a similar story to tell? Post a comment below to share your experience.

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