Tag: The Cauldron Bound

The First month: The Cauldron Bound

On By MikaelaIn Writing

So the Cauldron Bound have been out in almost exactly in one month. And the sales have been dismal. Part of it is because I screwed up when I signed up for Bargain Booksy without dropping the price.
But even when I dropped the price to 0.99, the sales were few. The fact that people bought Exile, with a blurb written by a pro told me that the reason for the low sales were probably the blurb.
So I tweaked it. Twice. But the sales didn’t rise. So today I gave the blurb another overhaul and tweaked the keywords too. Here’s hoping it works!

This is also one of the things I like with selfpublishing. If my books isn’t selling, I can try to figure out how to improve things. Sometimes it means tweaking the blurb and keywords. Sometimes it might mean getting a new cover designed. But for me each new release means I am building on the lessons I have learned with the previous book, instead of making the same mistakes again and again. 

Writing Exercise: Keywords

On By MikaelaIn Writing

I have been frustrated about my lack of sales, despite dropping the price
.So I have spent the morning tweaking my keywords.
Why? Because while cover and blurb makes a reader click on the buy button keywords tells them that your books exist.
Before I tweaked them they were something like this: military fantasy adventure, bronze age Celtic fantasy Elf.
After 20 minutes of free writing and some Amazon searches,the keywords have changed to war warrior witch quest undead curse sorcerer.
One the surface it might look more generic which is the point, but the combination makes it specific. Oh, and I haven’t listed all keywords.

Now I want *You* to take a pen and paper or open an empty document and write down 7-10 words that boils down what your book is about.
Don’t think too much about it, just write
it down.
Once you have written them it is up to you what to do with them. You can use them as a basis for an elevator pitch. If the story is selfpublished you can log in to KDP or Smashwords and enter them there. One note: If you want to get into subcategories, you have to add commas. Also while it says 7 keywords, one keyword can be made up of several words.

Snippet from the Cauldron Bound

On By MikaelaIn Writing

Since there was no Wednesday Snippet this week and since it is Friday I thought I would post the opening paragraph for The Cauldron Bound. I have posted it before,  but it is tweaked now.

As he walked through the settlement in the early morning sunshine, Aodh was glad for his fur tunic. The day might be sunny, but the air still carried a bite of winter. The settlement was quiet around him as he headed toward the chieftain’s roundhouse in the center of the settlement. There were no smoke coming from the smoke holes, no animals braying, no children playing. The fact that it was early was only part of the reason. Most of the silence stemmed from the heavy toll the war had taken. He nodded to a yawning man that was stumbling in the direction of the jakes. As he approached the round house he tried to figure out why he had been summoned. Bradach might be fond of me, but I am young for a warband leader. Too young, according to some people. He exhaled. Before the war begun, he hadn’t planned to become a warrior, but a smith. Like the rest of his clan, the war had changed his life.
He pushed away the thoughts, and opened the gate in the wicker fence around the Chieftain’s roundhouse. He stepped inside, closing the gate before any of the precious hens or goats could escape. He walked down the tramped up path leading to the door and knocked on the door. He was startled when the door opened and the Chieftain stood in the doorway. Normally opening the door was a duty assigned to children.

 

 

Rough blurb for Cauldron Bound

On By MikaelaIn Writing

This is a very rough blurb for the Cauldron Bound. It *will* change. But it will do as a teaser for now. 🙂 I will post a more final blurb later on.

For centuries the war between the clan have been on going. The war has fluctuated, but lately the Portal Clan has been doing their best to annhilate the other clans. The Clans of the Valley decides to send out an envoy to see why the Portal Clan is so determined to  kill everyone else.  During the travels, they discover that the other clans are besieged by foul magic.

The only chance  to stop the Portal Clan is to form an alliance with the Crone of the Valley.  If they can find her before the Portal clan does.

 

Scrivener and revising

On By MikaelaIn Writing

I am currently working at adding at least one new subplot to The Cauldron Bound.  I am having a great time, and the story will be *much* better. But I am once again wondering how on earth I revised before Scrivener.

I am a linear writer. I begin at the opening and then I write all the scenes I am aware of.  This leaves me with a first draft that is more or less stable.

When I began to revise ( which took a couple of years), I wrote new scenes on paper and typed them in. Then I had a period where I basically used the first draft as an outline.    Which went faster, ironically, than writing new scenes on paper and typing them in.   ( Though I am not certain if the drafts were better.)

Scrivener?

Is so much more flexible.  If I discover a plot hole  I just have to add a new text and write the new scene.  Need to add a chapter?  Just add click on add folder, and it is there.

For example, when I write new scenes, from a new POV, I prefer to create a seperate folder, write the scenes and then slot them into the proper places. Which is  the closest I come to writing out of order.  Scrivener lets me do that.  It is so easy to add new scenes. And I am planning to add a lot of them.  ( At least 10, probably closer to 15.)

Something to remember:  The first draft of the Wild Hunt? Was 22 000 words. The second was 27 000. The third draft, based on Kari’s feedback was 39 000 words.

This draft?  As of yesterday, it is at almost 21 700 words. And I am far from done yet. I am aiming to add another 5-7000 words. I have a feeling that after Kari’s feedback, not to mention *editorial* feedback, it will be at least as long as the Wild Hunt.  And to think that this was a  simple and straightforward novella. To be fair, the plot is still rather straightforward.