Reflections on 2010.

This is the time of year when I reflect on the trials, tribulations and successes of the past 12 months. It's been a busy one for me. A new novel out and a story collection written, as well as several other stories for other anthologies in the bag for next year.

On the awards front, I was shortlisted down to five, being the only woman in the final line-up, for the British Fantasy Society Best Novel Award and also a finalist for ForeWord Magazines Book of the Year Awards. Both of these were for the second Vampire Gene novel Futile Flame. The third novel, Demon Dance, has just been confirmed as making the Eligibility List for Welsh Book of the Year for the 2011 awards.

Book sales have been at a record high since September and the launch of Demon Dance. I'm told that this is because readers really like to buy into a series. I had originally sold the Vampire Gene as a trilogy, but having finished the third book, I soon realised that there was in fact more stories about the characters that needed to be written. Therefore Book 4, Hateful Hearts, is now underway and my publisher Terry Martin at The House of Murky Depths has asked for first refusal - which is great because I am writing it with some surety that it will be published.

As well as this, my vampire immortals are now blogging - you can check out their views at Immortal Bloggers!

What's on the horizon for next year?

Well firstly, my story collection, Zombies in New York and Other Bloody Jottings, was sold to Telos Publishing  and will be launched in LA at the end of February and at Waterstones, Trafford Centre, in the UK in March.

There will be a longer, wider spread, tour of Waterstones and several independent bookstores around the UK, Kicking off on 3rd March at Bookmark in Spalding with the Vampire Night.

There is now Vampire Gene/Sam Stone merchandise. These items will be made available to purchase at Gallifrey 2011 in LA in February initially, but will then be accessible from this website or at any of the events I'll be attending. So more details to follow in the new year.

Provisionally, Hateful Hearts, will be published in September 2011. We are aiming, once again, for a FantasyCon launch. But this may be available sooner.

Well, that's my year in view and I hope you'll join me next year on my continuing journey to make the Vampire Gene Series the most successful Dark Fantasy Novels of all time.

Happy Solstice everyone!

Learning to Self-Promote: A Writer's Journey.

When I went to university some years back to improve my main motivation was to become a better writer. I knew I had good ideas, but wasn’t confident that I had the skills to put them down in the best way. I promptly finished my BA (Hons) in English and Writing for Performance and felt better equipped to tackle the writing world. Unfortunately though, the need to get to work and earn a living reared its ugly head and all of my plans and ambitions were put on hold.

            I went into teaching. I loved it, but always in the back of my mind was this little tingle that it wasn’t really what I wanted, and it had never been the real objective of going back into education in the first place. I rapidly signed up for my MA in Creative Writing on a part-time course. I needed to. Teaching at High School just didn’t give me that stimulation I had when I was writing and at least by doing the course it forced me to write.

            The course was brilliant. I felt like I learnt so much from the analysis of other people’s writing and by learning even more to analyse my own work, therefore making me better at editing myself. One thing it didn’t teach me, though, was how hard it was to actually get anything published and then how difficult it would be to promote it.

            At the end of my course I had an MA but I also had this beautiful novel. It was my pride and joy and I believed it was good because I’d been judged on it in order to pass my qualification. That’s what led to my total impatience – plus I’m never one to wait around anyway.

            So, I self-published.

            It probably wasn’t the best course of action – so I’m constantly told – but actually it worked very well for me and I sold over 350 copies of the book in this format. It even won the Silver Award for Best Horror Novel with ForeWord Magazine in 2007. Following on from that success I was then able to negotiate a deal with The House of Murky Depths and they have so far published three books in the Vampire Gene Series.

            Myspace was my first dabble with social networking, and only this week I deleted the account – despite having over 12,000 views because I just didn’t think it worked for me anymore. Since then Facebook, Goodreads and my blog have become the outlets for all of my social and business networking and recently friends have been sending me something called ‘Linked In’ (not sure what it’s about yet though ...)

            To a lot of people when you’ve written a book they believe the hard part is over. To some extent that’s true, but a writer these days is now obliged to also promote that book. Your responsibility begins in earnest on completion, but really you need to start telling people before you finish. How to do that, of course, is the million dollar question. Promoting is the hard. You have to be confident without appearing arrogant and getting the balance right between promotion and spamming can be difficult. I’m never sure if I do have it quite right, so I always lean towards less is more because I’ve seen so many people go completely over the top with it. However I do have a sort of formula and this is what works for me..

Some Social networking Dos and Don’ts.

What not to do ...

• ·        One of my pet hates is people leaving adverts on my page. I never do that. I think it’s rude and it’s disrespectful. Often I’ve had new people come onto my page and immediately post a link telling me all about their book and how wonderful they are without even saying ‘hello’. That to me is a big, no, no.

• ·        Another faux pas is posting your website on every single comment you leave. Or a full blown advert for your latest book. Okay!!! We get it: you’re a writer too – but don’t do that because it won’t win you any friends or new readers it will just annoy them.

• ·        Don’t harp on all the time about how wonderful you are.

• ·        Don’t stalk other people’s pages and then just talk about yourself all the time on them – engage in conversations, you might just enjoy yourself and make some real friends.

• ·        When sending out events – don’t keep resending the same one. If friends have refused you won’t make them say they are coming by re-inviting, but you might encourage them to delete you for spamming.

• ·        Spam emails/private messages – OMG! (You wouldn’t believe how many of these I get.) Don’t resort to it. It doesn’t work. Event invites are enough, if people don’t respond then leave them alone.

• ·        Never respond to a bad review in public. You only make yourself look an idiot and people think you’re unprofessional. If you don’t like the review – suck it up. The reviewer is entitled to their opinion and you can’t please everyone so just get over yourself.

• ·        Never talk politics or religion – everyone has their own beliefs in this area and it won’t make you friends but is more likely to lose you some.

• ·        Don’t be snide about other people online – even if their status is the most annoying self-obsessed bullshit you’ve ever seen. It doesn’t look good and only makes people think you’re unpleasant and bitchy.

• ·        Never review friend’s books unless you have a lot of positive things to say about them. You should be objective and balanced in your argument but if you didn’t like it – it’s always best to stay quiet about it.

What works for me  ...

There’s no formula for perfect promotion but what I find works for me is just being myself with everyone. What you see is what you get. I also really enjoy interacting with people on Facebook etc ... you could say I’m a little addicted... 

• ·        Mix up status updates with a combination of personal things and work related things even on my official page.

• ·        Be cheerful as much as possible, because let’s face it if you’re constantly feeling sorry for yourself then people will get fed up with it and stop listening. Also, when you do have a rant they are more likely to listen because you don’t do it all the time.

• ·        Respond to comments that your friends leave, even if you put a ‘like’ on it. Be interested in other people and what they are doing – it’s not all about you after all.

• ·        Respond to your friend’s updates and statuses if you expect them to engage in yours. Be supportive of other people and genuinely mean it.

• ·        Reply to private messages – even if they are from some guy in Turkey asking you to marry him. You can still be polite when you tell him to ‘get lost’.

• ·        Definitely advertise your achievements. There’s nothing wrong with telling your friends you’re up for awards or have been invited to attend a convention as a guest. That’s all good and positive after all and it does help to raise your profile with others. It shows that your work is valued.

• ·        If there are awards that need votes – remind people about them but don’t beg them to vote for you, it sounds desperate.

• ·        Pat other people on the back if they win and you don’t – it’s only an award and it’s not the end of the world. Be positive about being shortlisted – because hey – that’s a huge achievement anyway!

• ·        When sending out invitations to events it helps if you write a covering note. Mostly I apologise for sending just in case it is not wanted or they live too far away. It doesn’t hurt to be polite and aware that not everyone is interested.

• ·        Be positive and upbeat. That’s the biggest and most import of my own rules.

Blog like crazy!

There’s also blogging of course. Mine is over 9000 hits now. One thing you should do if you have a blog is keep an eye on your stats. I have a stats counter that analyses the hits. At the click of a button I can see the IP addresses of all people who log on and it shows me where they are from (don’t worry it’s not full names and addresses only areas or countries). It also reveals how they found the site – even showing you the google pathway that led them to the page. This kind of information is useful to help you analyse your tagging process. Tagging is a great resource and helps people find you by accident. It helps if you think ‘out of the box’ when selecting tags for the main page – and always tag the blogs.

            Other results that I look at are ‘returning visitors’. At the end of the day you could be doing something wrong if your website or blog is getting a very low return rate. If you are posting interesting blogs or the type of information that the reader wants to see then there should be good returns results.

            There has to be a balance between attracting new readers and keeping old ones. I’m no expert on this of course, but I try to mix up the information as much as possible. Sometimes I blog on a film I’ve seen. At other times I write about the publishing industry exploring things that I believe might interest aspiring writers. Then, of course, I post all of my news or latest events. It’s important to keep the blog updated whatever you decide to put on it though. Just think about it. How many times have you gone onto your favourite writer’s website and found that it hasn’t changed in six months? Eventually you stop looking for that information, after all what’s the point in returning if there’s nothing new to learn? So it’s a good thing to bear in mind when maintaining your blog or website. I try to put something up every few days these days – and I’ve seen an increase in hits recently so hopefully it’s working. If I'm going to be a way from my computer for more than a few days, I even write some before hand and schedule them to go up while I'm away. It's about being organised as well as consistent.

Conventions

Overall promoting takes up a lot of your time. Once you’ve sorted out your social networking sites and blogs you’ve got to get out there and meet people. That’s where conventions come in. This is where the real time and money goes.

            In order to meet the right publishers and maybe even interest more readers you have to get out there and meet them. There are several Horror and Fantasy conventions that are good for promotion. My favourite used to be FantasyCon, but this isn’t always the best selling event; although I have seen a huge increase in sales there over the last three years which I hope is down to the fact that the word is getting out about my books. If you’re new on the circuit, or self-published, don’t expect to do well here on sales. The event does attract, however, a good selection of publishers and agents.

            There is also EasterCon, which is huge. It has about 12-1300 people attending every year. It is an excellent event to get involved with. EasterCon organisers are very open to new people being panellists. My first EasterCon I was given 6 panels over the course of the weekend. Panels are good things for writers. It’s an opportunity to talk intelligently in front of an audience. A good moderator will know who you are and will introduce you properly explaining what you write or will give you the opportunity to do so yourself. It’s also a very good selling event. I’ve seen the most unlikely books sell at EasterCon and I think that is because there are more fans attending, whereas some of the smaller cons attract mostly writers, publishers and agents, who are less likely to buy your books. Also there is no snobbery at EasterCon. ALL writers can become involved at the mass signing events. So whether you are published by one of the majors or by a small independent press, you’ll be treated the same.

            I’ve recently discovered Asylum – which is a steampunk convention in Lincoln. I was invited as a guest this year only to learn the event attracts over 800 people. The organisation was fabulous and I was treated wonderfully. I’m invited back next year also and I’m hoping to get more involved in the panels. This isn’t necessarily the place you’d go to if you want to meet publishers and agents – but it’s a great selling event and is full of potential readers. It’s also growing in size and had become the second biggest UK convention. It may even take that crown from EasterCon next year. Also, Asylum have invited me to return as a guest again next year, so I'll definitely be attending.

            Smaller more intimate events are NewCon (2 Yearly – but a whole weekend) and AltFiction which is usually only running for a day but apparantly next year it is planned  to run over two days.There are more but I will be honest and say I haven’t attended them.

            Outside of the UK -  I also attend Gallifrey in LA. My partner, David J Howe, and I are invited as guests and guest status makes all of the difference. In the USA we get extremely well treated and sales are incredible. There are also great panel opportunities.

            That’s where the time and money element of promotion comes in. Attending Cons is expensive and while you’re away from home you aren’t writing – but if you’re smart, you will be working. 
              I could say a whole lot more, but I think that's enough for now, except to say - Keep plugging away at the promo ... but remember, not too much ...

Sam Stone 12.10.10

Demon Dance Launches & Signings

Hi Guys,

There's so much happening in the next few weeks that I thought it best to post a list for forthcoming events.

10th-12th September - The Asylum, Lincoln.

The first book launch for Demon Dance, takes place in Lincoln at the steampunk event of the year, The Asylum. 

The launch is on Saturday 11th September at 3.15pm, in The Orangery, Charlotte House, Union Road, Lincoln LN1 3BJ. Tel : 01522 541 000.

ALL WELCOME! Please note you don't have to be part of the convention to attend the launch.

So no excuses! Join me and The House of Murky Depths as we celebrate the coming of age of the third book in my Vampire Gene Series.

Refreshments will be served!

If you are attending the event - then come along on Saturday to 'The Little Theatre' at The Asylum at 2pm to listen to me read an extract from Demon Dance, and take part in a Q & A. Or come and say hello at the Annual Empire Ball on Saturday evening at 7.30pm in The Asylum.

15th September - Waterstones, Bury.

I will be signing copies of my books at Waterstones, 4 Union Arcade, Bury BL9 0QF Tel: 0161 764 2642 from 2pm onwards with Actor Frazer Hines who will also be there signing copies of his autobiography, Hines Sight.

17th - 19th September - FantasyCon, Nottingham. 

FantasyCon this year is particularly special for me, as my second novel Futile Flame is currently shortlisted for the August Derlerth Award for Best Novel in the British Fantasy Society Awards. The winners will be announced on Saturday evening after the banquet.


This all takes place in The Britannia Hotel, 1 St. James Street, Nottingham.
 
The House of Murky Depths will be proud to launch Demon Dance at 6pm in the bar outside the dealer's room. Refreshments will be available for anyone who attends.

Unfortunately this event is only open to attendees of the convention.

9th - 10th October - NewCon 5, Northampton.  

NewCon 5 will take place at The Fishmarket, Northampton, NN1 2HL. I will be attending the event with The House of Murky Depths, taking part in panels and generally hanging around the bar - so come and talk to me if you plan to attend!

Hope to see you all at one of these events.

Sam x

Being in Birmingham ... And NewCon 4

I have considered the fact that I am becoming a bit of a convention geek - before you say it.

I made a flying visit to the Birmingham International Comic Show on Sunday. I went along for 4 1/2 hours to Birmingham because my publishers Murky Depths were there promoting my book as well as their fantastic quarterly magazine (for more info on that, check out www.murkydepths.com).

The bottom line, and this is a very brief update (sorry I have no pics), is that I again met up with some interesting people. And for that no trip is ever wasted. Top comic writer Tony Lee gave me a fab signed book for my daughter Linzi - owe you one Tony! It's called Midnight Kiss and she's delighted with it I have to say. (Terry Martin said: 'Bet you charmed it out of him.' Hmmm... No idea what he's suggesting at all. I smiled and was very polite though, good manners go a long way.) I bought The Mammoth Book of Best New Manga featuring manga from my Facebook friend Jay Eales, and his partner Selina Dean, who are regulars at conventions. Wandering round I also met Grant Perkins who is a new artist and writer on the scene, with his fiancee Eva.

It was brilliant to see people making the effort and dressing up. I saw many very authentic looking costumes, including Lara Croft, Batman, Superman and a brilliant Joker - dressed in the nurse's uniform from the latest film.

And, yay! We even sold some books - which always helps!

So a worthwhile and fun trip as always.

Looking forward to next weekend ...

NEXT EVENT - NewCon 4 - 11th/12th October.


I'll be there from Friday evening, and will be reading an extract from Killing Kiss on Saturday at 12 noon, with the lovely Storm Constantine and equally delightful Ally Bird (who I met this year at FantasyCon). At 5pm I'll be on a panel with the topic of 'Sex sells' - I'll be kicking this panel off with a reading of two pieces of my erotic poetry. Also on this panel, Ken Macleod, Ally Bird, Roberto Quaglia and Ian Watson.

Sunday lunchtime I'll be reading some of my poetry with the charming Donna Scott, and Cardinal Cox (Poet Laurette 2002) - this will take place from the stage (and I'm hoping to have a surprise male reader join me to read at least one of my poems). Time permitting this will feature a selection of poems from the Demon Lover CD and some of my love poetry.

The House of Murky Depths will be there selling Killing Kiss, along with bargain subscriptions for the Murky Depths quarterly magazine. (Oh, and the latest on MD's continuing success - the magazine is now available in Forbidden Planet and several other stores. Killing Kiss has been accepted by Waterstones and Barnes and Noble in America - where it will not only appear on their website but in selected stores as well. More on this another time ... hopefully including some in store signing dates.) The image here is the cover of the latest edition which I can assure you is well worth a look-see.

The rest of the time at NewCon I hope to be attending some of the fantastic panels they have listed. And - obviously - in the bar as well!

With any luck I'll exchange a few words with the guests of honour which this year include Paul Cornell, Storm Constantine, Iain M Banks and Ken MacLeod. What a fantastic line up!

If you are coming along though, please check the times on your itinery, just in case any last minute changes have been made that I don't know about ...

So catch up with me at NewCon 4 this weekend and please come and say hello! I don't bite - I just look scary.

What New Writers Need to Know...

Driving from Manchester yesterday in the pouring rain, I was crawling along in traffic on the M6 and my mind was wandering to the questions I've been frequently asked in the last two weeks. There are many new and aspiring writers out there. It wasn't that long ago when I was 'aspiring' myself. I'm still a newbie by the industry standards having only been around since January 2007.

Reflecting on the past year I have learnt quite a bit about the industry. Been on the receiving end of some bigotry (nothing new there) and I've made some amazing friends that have the same interests as me.

The world of a writer no longer belongs in an ivory tower. It's not just about writing that masterpiece, but you have to be prepared to follow through with promotion. Promo takes many forms. Online networking is an excellent way of establishing a presence. And all writers should have an online presence because we cannot any longer rely on book sales always occuring in shops. (Partly because the shops are fleecing the publishers and it's always the writer who ends up not getting paid - but that's another blog entirely!). So. First step - get your book in print (gosh, that makes it sound easy doesn't it). Second step - make friends on Myspace, Facebook, Bebo ... wherever you want. And before you sigh and say 'I don't have time for all that, I'm too busy writing...' then consider this - One hour a day checking them all instead of watching TV will be boosting your career (I borrowed that from Darren Turpin (Orbit Books) at the self-promotion panel at FantasyCon - but it's not plagiarism because I'm telling you he said it). It's good advice.

I spend more time online than that though, perhaps several times a day - because it isn't enough to go and make thousands of friends, you need to be nice to people too - and believe me they can tell if you're fake and are just promoting. The bottom line is - as a writer you should be interested in people - especially those who like your work. One, you get feedback from them, which I like to receive personally, even if it isn't always what you want to hear. Two, you make some interesting and diverse friends from all over the world. Three, if you're loyal to them, they will be loyal to you.

My latest online site is http://www.goodreads.com - this is fantastic because it is all about reading. People on there are looking for new books to enjoy and you get some really interesting and intelligent emails from them. I'm forging some nice friendships and enjoying receiving some great recommendations to add to my reading list too.

And for those writers who have books on shelves already you can develop a writer's profile. So people immediately begin to associate your books with you - that nice person who replies to their emails. (The marriage proposals were, however, ignored for obvious reasons :)).

More on this subject to follow ...

Reading at FantasyCon

Just a little note to say, I'll be reading an extract of Killing Kiss at FantasyCon at 11am on Saturday 20th September 2008. This takes place on the 10th floor, so I'm told. If you are attending, please come along and give me some support. If I'm good then clap, if I'm not then bring your own tomatoes.

Killing Kiss Launch at FantasyCon

I've just had word from my publishers that Killing Kiss will be launched in 2 weeks at FantasyCon.

The launch will be a joint with Telos Publishing and will take place in the DEALERS ROOM BAR on Saturday 20th September at 9.30-10.30am, with free coffee/tea/biscuits with every purchase. This will be a great opportunity to meet up with me and if you buy the book as well, I will happily sign it for you.

There will also be some fantastic non-fiction books by Telos. These include Torchwood, Till Death Us Do Part and Taboo Breakers (film). All of which look fantastic reads. (So bring your wallets!!)

Needless to say, copies of Killing Kiss will be there and available prior to the official release which is at the end of September. (It's only £7.99)

There is however, one drawback, the event is only available to Convention attendees - but you can still sign up and attend on the day. Go to www.fantasycon.org.uk for further information.

Recording 'Demon Lover'

Over the summer I've been recording a CD called Demon Lover & Other Eroticisms . This was done with a friend, Singer/Songwriter/Composer Penny Nicholls, whose musical talent helped to create what we think might be a new genre.




Penny Nicholls and I breaking down one of the poems, exploring the meaning, tone and mood prior to the creation of the music.




We call them Mohemes. A Moheme is a poem that is, not just set to music, but is reformed to work with the music. It was a very collaborative and creative process. Yes, the poem came first. Yes the poem can stand alone on the page or be read as it is, but, when we added the music in this unique way - and I don't mean just for ambience, it was CRAFTED to suit the words and the mood - then something very unique happened. The emotion, the tone, the mood and the words all became enhanced.

This was the birth of the Moheme.

One problem I came across, however, is that some of my poems are written in a male voice. So I asked my friend David J Howe to record a couple of these for me. So we had a great deal of fun on that day! Lol!

Here's David recording the CD title poem Demon Lover.

You can hear some of these on my Myspace page (see links on the right). So listen and enjoy. But remember, if you are attending FantasyCon, you'll get a free copy in your membership goodie bag.

My Book!!!

I've finally received my copy of Killing Kiss and as you can see I'm feeling very proud. The cover, layout, and overall publishing quality is fantastic, thanks to Terry Martin and Murky Depths. Copies will be on sale at FantasyCon where I'll be available to sign it. Hope to see you there.

FantasyCon

My next appearance will be at FantasyCon in Nottingham this September. Look out for the launch of Killing Kiss at the conference and also for a freebie CD of my dark fantasy poetry readings, Demon Lover and Other Eroticisms, which should be in all the delegate bags. If anyone would like to hear some of the poems, then please hop over to my Myspace page (link on the right) where they are available to listen to.