It's about the numbers Mario here:

If you're a writer, you are about deafened by all the shouting and caterwauling regarding ebooks and the future of publishing (always expressed in Apocalyptic simpering). There's no doubt that publishing has definitely changed, both bad and good for us writers.

On the bad side: For most novelists, the multiple book contract is dead, and a series limps along based on the sales of the last book. Advances for even established, bestselling authors are shrinking, often to half or a quarter of what they were five years ago.

On the plus side: The continuing growth of ebooks allows the writer to circumvent the previous roadblock for self-publishing--the distributor. Before ebooks, if you self-published you had to fork over tens of thousands for hard copies of the books and then find a distributor to market them (and a bookstore willing to shelf them). Now you don't need any hard copies and through Amazon, Barnes & Noble's Nook, etc., your book has the potential to reach a huge and growing audience.

The big however for self-published ebooks remains that you still have to market them.

One golden marketing tactic was Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing Select program. The premise behind this tactic was that you'd offer free downloads of your book for a day or two to build buzz, and thousands of free downloads later, you'd put the book back on sale, then Ka-Ching! those thousands of freebies would translate into thousands of sales. But the ease of self-publishing means there's a glut of manuscripts available that should have never gone further than the trash folder.  Now offering free downloads doesn't always work, and with the glut of bad free books, seems to work even less.

Forbes provides a welcome and factual analysis of how well free downloads have worked to market a book. Read the article here.

The most sobering statistic?

Weekly average a book sold before free loads--5.  Weekly average AFTER free downloads--49.

Hardly day job quitting money.

But not so fast. I personally know two writers who have earned enough from ebooks to quit their day jobs. And several others who have rejuvenated their careers after getting jerked around in traditional publishing. 

So what works? Marketing is governed by several proven principles, but applying marketing is an art, not a science. What worked yesterday may not work today. What works now may not work tomorrow. Elle Lothlorien shares her experience pimping ebooks and the need to remain nimble in your approach.

One commonly repeated tenet is that the best marketing tool is to write a good book. But what does that mean? I have writer friends who have written splendid books, and those books simply not have gained the attention and sales they deserve.

And so to pimp two deserving writer pals we have:

From Publishers Lunch:

"New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author CJ Lyons's BROKEN, where a critically ill teenage girl discovers that other teens are coming down with the same sickness, and the illness may not be what it seems to Leah Hultenschmidt at Sourcebooks by Barbara Poelle at Irene Goodman Agency. (world English) Foreign Rights: Heather Shapiro at Baror International."

Plus this very nice article about YA and mystery writer Jess Lourey. Like, or better yet, buy The Toadhouse Trilogy, Book One.










Lastly! Sound the alarm!

The University of Doom website is finally up. Mad science. Evil genius. Schemes and inventions gone very wrong. Plus awesome Lego videos.

Labels: Amazon. Elle Lothlorien, eBooks, Forbes, Jess Lourey, University of Doom

  ¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 9:02 PM  7 comments

  Educate yourself
Mario here:

Major pimpage for this very awesome seminar from the:


 Have you written a novel? Are you writing a novel? Maybe thinking about it?
Get the inside scoop on writing a novel from published writers experienced
in both publishing their novels and teaching about writing novels.

The Mystery Writers of America presents MWA-University, August 11, 2012, at the Downtown Westin Hotel, in Denver, CO. This full-day, low-cost writing seminar is designed to teach participants the essential skills needed to write a novel. The seminar is not genre-specific and covers the novel-writing process from the idea phase to publication. The focus is on the craft of writing, and the college-level courses are taught by published writers who are also experienced teachers. The core curriculum includes:

• After the idea
• Dramatic structure and plot
• Setting and description
• Character
• Editing
• The writing life
• Finding a publisher

The all-day workshop is open to the public and costs $50. Seating is limited, and
pre-registration is required. Registration deadline is August 3, 2012

The seminar will be held in the Downtown Westin Hotel, 1672 Lawrence St, Denver.

Visit  MWA-University for more information.

You can find more information (and instructor bios) at the RockyMountain MWA Chapter website.

And while we're pimping, check out these two very shout-out worthy ebooks. Both original manuscripts got passed on by the big publishing houses and lucky for us, have arisen, reborn, on Amazon. Buy them both. You have my permission.

From Mystery writer pal, Jess Lourey, The Toadhouse Trilogy.


Aine believes herself to be a regular teenager in 1930s Alabama, but when a blue-eyed monster named Biblos attacks, she discovers that the reclusive woman raising her isn't really her grandmother and that she's been living inside a book for the past five years. With her blind brother, Spenser, she flees the pages of the novel she's called home, one terrifying step ahead of Biblos' black magic. Her only chance at survival lies in beating him to the three objects that he desires more than life.






And from my Latina buddy in the Bay Area, Annette Sandoval, Spitfire (love the title).

Twenty-eight-year-old Tomi Reyes is a documentary filmmaker who moonlights as a receptionist to pay the bills. It’s a pretty easy gig—until she receives an unexpected promotion, and her somewhat interesting life goes totally insane. 

Labels: Annette Sandoval, Jess Lourey, MWA-University, Mystery Writers of America

  ¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 8:44 PM  1 comments

  Back from the Big Apple Mario here:

Late post because I spent the weekend in NYC to attend the Mystery Writers of America national board meeting as I'm the President of the Rocky Mountain Chapter. One of the perks of the job though the rest of the year they get their money's worth out of me.

Besides official business, it's a chance to reacquaint myself with old friends and meet new ones.


Among the reacquaintances:

The funny (and closeted pervy) Jess Lourey, one of my favorite writers and the author of the satirical Murder-by-Month cozy Mysteries featuring librarian amateur sleuth Mira James.








Gary Phillips, he of the booming voice, President of the Southern California Chapter, and all around pal of everybody in the mystery-writing business.









..and the new friends.

Greg Herren, President of the Southwest Chapter, a funny funny guy, and scourge of America's youth as a "gay pornographer." He and Jess spent an hour at Saturday's dinner critiquing New Orleans Mardi Gras costumes (and bodies) on his iPhone album.




Tim Broderick, president of the Midwest Chapter, another funny guy (humor helps in the noir murder business), and prolific graphic novelist.



And to pimp Jason Heller one more time before the book launch of Taft 2012 (Tue, Jan 17, Tattered Cover on Colfax), he got a plug by none other than the New York Post, who mentioned his book in Required Reading.








On Wednesday, January 18, I am one of the featured artists at The Lobby (2121 Arapahoe, Denver), exhibiting along with Greg Marquez and Zoe Tessier, Artists' Happy Hour, 5-7PM, curated by Art Pimp extraordinaire, Eric Matelski.

Labels: Gary Phillips, Greg Herren, Jess Lourey, MWA, Taft 2012, Tim Broderick

  ¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 7:47 AM  0 comments