From: mbottorff@lshelby.com   
      
   Nicky  wrote:   
   > > Sounds like a plan.  So, um... how is one supposed to go about doing   
   > >   
   > > that, exactly?   
   > >   
   > With smashwords I think you can give advance notification - a kind of   
   > 'coming soon' with other routes I don't know but you can certainly list   
   > on amazon in advance and get some sales which when they come home to   
   > roost boost your sales figures. It is probably the same on other   
   > platforms.   
      
   I discussed this with my publisher  (aka, my husband) and he says,   
   "Sure, we can do that, all we need is the cover art."   
      
   Ooops.  The cover art is usually almost the LAST thing to get done.   
      
   But he says it's worth a try to see if we can't get a listing up at   
   least a little bit in advance.   
      
      
      
   > > Changing names, however, means abandoning the existing audience, the   
   > > hard-won creditials as a writer of "self-published gems", and starting   
   > > over way back down in the red with nothing.   
   > >   
   > No - it means having two possible income streams   
      
   Isn't that like like saying you can sell at a loss and make up for it   
   with volume?   
      
   If I have two "income streams" that aren't actually making money...   
      
   > iff the work is already finished and ready to go and there is no cross   
   > over appeal from one to the other.   
      
   Why in the world would you assume there is no cross over appeal?   
      
   All my books are written to appeal to *me*.  All readers who like the   
   same stuff I do (swashbuckling action, romance, puzzle solving,   
   imaginary cultures,  dialog, protags you can cheer for, intelligent   
   worldbuilding) will find a lot to like in every single one of my   
   stories.   
      
   Besides, there is *never* no possible cross over appeal.   
      
   In traditional publishing the possiblity of cross-over appeal is *less   
   important* not non-existant.  What can be more important is positioning.   
   They want the people looking for an urban fantasy to find... ta-dah,   
   *this* urban fantasy.  Just what the reader was looking for, the cover   
   looks cool, the back cover blurb is interesting, and off it goes to cash   
   register.   
      
   Having the author of the latest urban fantasy also be the author of a   
   high fantasy series just confuses the issue if they're trying to sell   
   THE NEW URBAN FANTAY!!! rather than Author X.   
      
   But this marketting approach does not, and cannot work for me.  Nobody   
   browses my books and buys them because they are urban fantasy, or   
   because they are high fantasy, or because they are space opera.  I can   
   stick my books into those categories, but I'm waaayyyy too far down any   
   of the browse lists to actually be *found*.   
      
   Everyone who buys my books is looking, specifically, for my books.  They   
   are almost only ever SEEN by someone who has typed into a search box   
   either the title, or my name.   
      
   So someone is more likely to find a book by my name, and buy it even   
   though its in a sub-genre they don't usually read because they know they   
   liked other things I have written, then they are to ever even know the   
   book I have written in a subgenre they do like even exists, if they have   
   never heard my name before.   
      
      
   Um, also...   
      
   Writing in both fantasy and science fiction under just the one name is   
   quite common.  I'm a bit surprised you can't think of anyone that does   
   it.  I start off my list with Lois McMaster Bujold, Orson Scott Card,   
   Elizabeth Moon, Sharon Lee...   
      
      
      
   > You can in any case direct readers to your other identity Z   
   > writing as Y is common enough.   
      
   Why bother?  It just gives your readers one more thing to remember.  Or   
   more likely, and far more damaging, not remember.  And I'm not seeing   
   how it helps me at all.   
      
   It's different when a publisher is trying to sell to a book store.   
      
   Book stores don't like having the same author name publishing stuff that   
   gets shelved on many different shelves.  It confuses the employees.   
   (And maybe even possibly the customers, I dunno.  It never confuses me.)   
      
   Orson Scott Card's historical fiction, therefore, gets shelved in   
   fantasy and science fiction.   
      
   But nobody has to pick which shelf to put my books on.  They can be on   
   many different virtual shelves *simultaneously*.   
      
      
      
   > > I don't see how that's worth it, even if none of my current audience is   
   > > willing to hop sub-genres with me.  Being known as an author, even if   
   > > its the author of something totally different, I think would still be to   
   > > my benefit.  And I'm sort of assuming that at least some of my audience   
   > > will make the jump... I am keeping it all under the "speculative   
   > > fiction" umbrella, after all.   
   > >   
   > Well you know better than I do. I've just found in conventional publishing   
   > that having published nine novels as N M Browne the name  suggests ( to   
   > publishers) a certain kind of writing and anything else has to be under   
   > a different brand.   
      
   And to a pubisher, launching a new brand is almost a boon in and of   
   itself.  Oooh, it's a *new* author, how exciting!  Everyone wants to   
   know what they're like.   
      
   But I'm not working with publishers, and nobody finds the prospect of a   
   new self-published author exciting.   
      
   Wow, gee-whiz, another stupid incompetent writer who isn't good enough   
   to sell, and doesn't realize it so they try foist their poorly written   
   and largely unedited work on the world.  Hooray.   
      
      
   You're used to an environment where every author is seen as legit.  They   
   may not be to everyone's taste, but they've done the work, they've paid   
   the dues, they are a "real author".   
      
   I'm working an enviroment where it is assumed that I am NOT legit.  That   
   I haven't done the work, that I haven't paid my dues, and that I'm not a   
   real author.   
      
   And not only that, I'm completely lost in the crowd of thousands and   
   thousands of other not-real authors.   
      
      
   >   
   > > But at the same time, until I'm in the black, it seems wise to plan my   
   > > steps to maximize return for effort.  So I've been trying to put out   
   > > "similar" books.  Which for me is far from easy!  Across a Jade Sea and   
   > > Cantata *aren't* in the same sub-genre.  Not even close.   
   >   
   > Well it is a problem if you like writing different things. If you are   
   > lucky your readers will trust you and follow you.   
      
   I think it's a little more likely than you seem to be expecting.   
      
   I did I make my entry into the market with something that kind of   
   screams "This author has no interest in writing within established   
   subgenre boundries!"   
      
   Across a Jade Sea is set on an imaginary world, with no magic, and   
   edwardian technology.  Categorize that.  Even worse, I just got asked   
   (in an interview for an upcoming eMag review) if it was a romance or an   
   adventure. (Yes the person asking had read it.)  And most readers seem   
   not entirely certain if the intended audience is teens or not, too.   
      
      
   I don't always mix those same elements together, but pretty much nothing   
   I have ever written has been what someone looking for subgenre x would   
   be expecting.  If a reader can't be flexible about those things, they   
   are not going to enjoy my books.   
      
   This may be why I never did manage to sell trying the traditional route.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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