Tag Archives: Infinitas Publishing

June 23, 2016 · 10:52 pm

Thoughts On Publishing – Infinitas Publishing Annual Report

Now that a full year has passed since officially starting Infinitas Publishing, it’s time to compile the annual report. So, for those of you who want to see numbers, here you go. 🙂

Since starting the business, we’ve released 1 book, 2 games, and 15 episodes of a serialized novel. (Plus, we pulled in one short story and a collection of short stories that I had published previously)

We had 4 appearances. A book Signing at the Readers World in Sedalia (January 29th, 2016), Game Room at Stealth Con (February 13-14th), Vendor’s Booth at Old Drum Days (April 9th), and the Book Signing at Hastings in Warrensburg (June 4th).

 

Now for the sales stats:

 

Magic’s Stealing

Ebook (Released September 17th, 2015) ($2.99)

September:

  • Smashwords: 1 Sale (Kobo)
  • Kindle US: 3
  • Kindle US (Pre-order): 5
  • Kindle UK: 1

October:

  • Kindle (US): 1

November:

  • Kindle (UK): (1 Sold and Returned)

December:

  • Smashwords: 1 Sale (Kobo)
  • Kindle (US): 1 Sale

January:

  • Kindle (UK): 1 Sale

February:

  • No sales

March:

  • Kindle (US): (3 Sold, 1 Returned)

April:

  • Smashwords: 1 Sale (Barnes & Noble)
  • Kindle (US): 1 Sale

May:

  • No Sales

June:

  • No Sales

 

Total Ebooks Sold: 18

 

Print Edition (Released December 1st, 2015) ($7.99)

December:

  • No Sales

January:

  • Amazon (US): 2 Sales
  • Readers World (Sedalia) Book Signing: 5 Sales
  • Readers World Sedalia (1 Prior to Signing, 4 bought by store after signing): 5 Sales

February:

  • No Sales

March:

  • No Sales

April:

  • No Sales

May:

  • No Sales

June:

  • Hastings Book Signing: 6 Sales
  • Hastings (Later Date): 2 Sales

 

Total Paperbacks Sold: 20

Total Copies of Magic’s Stealing Sold: 38

 

Ashes ($0.99)

Online Only (Short Story – Released prior to creation of Infinitas Publishing)

June:

  • No Sales

July:

  • No Sales

August:

  • No Sales

September:

  • No Sales

October:

  • No Sales

November:

  • No Sales

December:

  • No Sales

January:

  • No Sales

February:

  • Kindle (US): 1 Sale

March:

  • No Sales

April:

  • No Sales

May:

  • No Sales

June:

  • No Sales

 

Total Copies of Ashes Sold: 1

 

1000 Words – A Collection of Short Stories

(Released prior to creation of Infinitas Publishing)

(Note: All but one of these short stories are available for free online through Smashwords)

Ebook ($0.99)

June:

  • No Sales

July:

  • No Sales

August:

  • No Sales

September:

  • No Sales

October:

  • No Sales

November:

  • No Sales

December:

  • No Sales

January:

  • No Sales

February:

  • No Sales

March:

  • No Sales

April:

  • Amazon (AU): 1 Sale

May:

  • No Sales

June:

  • No Sales

 

Total Ebooks Sold: 1

(Note: I did not track sales of the individual free stories. If you’re interested in those, let me know)

 

Print ($11.99 – full color paperback)

June:

  • No Sales

July:

  • No Sales

August:

  • No Sales

September:

  • No Sales

October:

  • No Sales

November:

  • No Sales

December:

  • No Sales

January:

  • Amazon (US): 1 Sale

February:

  • No Sales

March:

  • No Sales

April:

  • No Sales

May:

  • No Sales

June:

  • No Sales

 

Total Paperbacks Sold: 1

Total Copies of 1000 Words Sold: 2

 

 

The Multiverse Chronicles

(Prologue and 1st 3 episodes released February 5, 2016)

(Online Only – Free Blog Series)

6 Followers

 

Battle Decks: Trials of Blood and Steel

(Released February 12-13th, 2016)

Deluxe Edition: ($37.99 – Online Only) No sales

Basic Edition: ($24.99 – Online Only) No sales

Total: 0 sold

 

Phalanx

(Released April 9th, 2016)

Cloth Edition: ($25.00 – Local Only) 4 sales (3 sold in April, 1 sold in June)

Wooden Edition: ($75.00 – Local Only) 1 sale (April)

Board Game Edition: ($28.99 – Online Only) No sales

Total: 5 sold

 

 

I suspect that having the games be primarily online only is hurting chances of impulse buys, especially given that it is direct from The Game Crafter website, rather than a site people are familiar with (such as Amazon). For Ashes and 1000 Words, these are older works, so I rarely advertise them.

 

Marketing

Twitter – Every so often, I tweet for Magic’s Stealing on my writer’s account. Also, Isaac and I created a Steampunk-themed curator Twitter account, The Dapper Pigeon, from which we occasionally tweet about Battle Decks and The Multiverse Chronicles.

Facebook – We created the Infinitas Publishing Facebook page, and I tried running a short campaign ($10.00, from Feb 19th-20th, 2016) but didn’t see any sales.

Word-of-Mouth – We have poker card-shaped business cards and fliers with the first episode of Multiverse that we hand out at events.

Newsletter – We created the Infinitas Publishing Newsletter on June 3rd, 2016. At the moment, we have 0 followers.

Goodreads Giveaway – I gave away 1 copy of Magic’s Stealing in January, 2016. 893 people entered the giveaway, but there were no noticeable sales based on the giveaway (I can attribute the print sales that did happen to people I know personally).

Rafflecopter Giveaway – I offered up 1 ebook of Magic’s Stealing during the first giveaway and 2 ebook copies during the second giveaway. The first had 3-5 people entering, and the second had one.

 

Let me know if you have any questions. 🙂

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June 3, 2016 · 10:51 am

Thoughts on Publishing – Infinitas Publishing Status Report

It’s that time again! Time for the monthly Infinitas Publishing status report. 😀

The Shadow War: I finished the first round of edits and I’m now in the process of smoothing out the story and polishing before sending it to beta-readers. Progress is definitely being made!

The Multiverse Chronicles: Trials of Blood and Steel: Slowed down a bit on releasing episodes (you can read why in this post) but we’re working our way through the second half of the first season. Isaac and I are debating taking a hiatus on releasing episodes so that we can get through edits on the rest of the season rather than trying to do a heavy round of edits each week, but we’ll see.

Battle Decks: Trials of Blood and Steel: Nothing new at the moment. Had to take a break from beta-testing since we were out of town for a few weekends.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Finished two formatting projects, finished a couple book cover projects, and have one more major formatting project to go. Progress made!

Beta-Reading: Finally got started on this! Still moving slowly, but I’m moving a lot faster than I was before summer started.

Distant Horizon: Waiting on beta-reader feedback. Isaac and I also noticed a few scenes we want to tweak before we release it into the wild, but I’m excited to start working on it as soon as we have all our notes. Also, we now have a blurb!

Video Blogging: Once I’m caught up with formatting and beta-reading, I plan to resume reading Magic’s Stealing in audio format.

Author Blog: I’ve been writing a lot more writing-based articles lately. Let me know if there’s any topics you want me to cover. 🙂

In other news, we’ve just about hit the one year anniversary of Infinitas Publishing, so I plan to do an annual report later this month. I plan to go over everything we released, what we had planned to release (and didn’t), as well as sales. And I also want to touch on how we’re adjusting our original plan and what you can expect to see next.

And if you want to stay up-to-date with our latest book releases and promotions, don’t forget to sign up for our new Infinitas Publishing Newsletter!

I hope you enjoyed this post. 🙂

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May 6, 2016 · 6:35 pm

Thoughts on Writing – A Blurb for Distant Horizon: Part Two

Last week I did a post about writing a blurb for Distant Horizon, the YA/NA Dystopian novel that my husband and I will soon publish.

After writing the previous post, then editing the blurb, I came up with three versions that Isaac and I took to the writer’s meeting we attend. The first version was a short blurb in present tense that focused on the world of the novel, but didn’t mention the protagonist. The second was the blurb-ified query letter. The third was a cross between the two.

At the writer’s meeting, we struck out the first one. The second and third versions tied for favorite in regards to which each person preferred.

I’ve made the suggested edits, and I’ve come up with two versions as possible options.

Which one would entice you to read the book?

Version 1

The Community is safe.

At least, that’s what we are supposed to believe.

 

Eighteen-year-old Jenna Nickleson resides in an efficient, secure society that’s recovering from a hallucinogenic plague. So when agents of the Community’s Special Forces arrive at her university prior to a mandatory Health Scan, Jenna’s paranoia—and recent string of hallucinations—prompt her to find out what happens to the students who fail. Rumor has it that they’re sent away for treatment, but when she uncovers a ruthless government conspiracy, her ideal world is shattered.

Terrified, Jenna flees her home under the protection of a ragtag band of freedom fighters. The rebels offer her refuge on their rusty airship and claim her hallucinations are elemental plant powers. She’s not so sure she trusts them, but when she comes face-to-face with a cruel telepath in charge of the government’s darkest secrets, Jenna realizes she’ll need more than special powers to escape with her mind and body intact.

 

Version 2

The Community is safe.

At least, that’s what we are supposed to believe.

 

Sixty years ago, a hallucinogenic plague annihilated half the world’s population, leading to the formation of the Community—an international government that promises its citizens safety, security, and efficiency. Every day, Community citizens swallow a mandatory pill to ensure their immunity to the plague. A year after graduating high school, they take the Health Scan.

Most pass, and continue with their lives.

Others disappear.

Eighteen-year-old Jenna Nickleson hasn’t taken the pill since her senior year in high school. She feels more alive without it, and she hasn’t shown any signs of infection—at least, not until two days after a surprise Health Scan is announced and Special Forces arrive at her university campus.

Spurred by the recent string of hallucinations, Jenna searches for any inkling of what happens to those who fail the scan. Rumor has it that they’re sent away for treatment, and once cured, receive a menial job. But when she uncovers the cruel truth behind the plague, her ideal world is shattered.

Underneath the illusion of safety, Special Forces agents harbor a dark secret.

The plague is a lie.

Version one is based on the final query letter we wrote before deciding to create our own company. The blurb reveals a lot more information, but (as some of the writers at the meeting pointed out) narrows the options that the protagonist might choose. With this blurb, we know that the government’s secrets involve super powers, a telepath, and that the protagonist goes with the rebels (at least to start with).

This blurb seems to ask the question, “How will Jenna escape the telepath?” “What other secrets does this government have?”

For the moment, I’ve chosen the same tagline for both versions and changed them completely to present tense. The goal is to draw readers into the story by giving them the sense that all this is happening immediately.

Version two sets up the world before the protagonist. We don’t know what she ultimately chooses to do, though we know that she’s uncovered some kind of secret, Special Forcess agents are enforcing that secret, and that the plague is a lie.

“Why is the government lying about the plague?” “What’s really going on?” “What’s going to happen to Jenna?”

We don’t know, but the blurb promises the reader that if they read the book, they’ll find out.

What do you think? Which blurb catches your attention, and why?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. 🙂

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May 4, 2016 · 9:21 pm

Episode 13: The Test – Part One

Episode Twelve of The Multiverse Chronicles is now up!

Trish goes about her week at camp, facing trials of textbooks and tack


SBibb's avatarThe Multiverse Chronicles

The Multiverse Chronicles

SEASON ONE: EPISODE THIRTEEN

“The Test – Part One”

* * *

The Multiverse Chronicles: Trials of Blood and Steel - Silent Morning

* * *

Trish chewed on a granola bar from the mess hall as she crossed the campground. The early morning sky was dark. Cool air whispered through her hair and across her cheeks, helping her wake. The stable tent stood as a dark silhouette on the distant hill, mostly silent except for the few wolves prowling nearby in search of a wild snack.

At 0430, Trish had plenty of time to make the journey up the hill, which was fine by her. The chilly air raised gooseflesh on her skin, but lately, the still mornings were the only downtime that could calm her nerves.

At least, the only downtime she’d found.

This was her seventh day at the camp in Francia. Thus far, her training had consisted of textbooks, tests, practicing basic commands with her pterosaur—which


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May 2, 2016 · 5:10 pm

Thoughts on Publishing – Infinitas Publishing Status Report

Well, guess what? It’s time for another Infinitas Publishing status report!

The Shadow War: This is slowly, slowly making progress. I did get a little more editing done. The good news is that this process should go faster now that summer is almost here.

The Multiverse Chronicles: Trials of Blood and Steel We recently released episode twelve, and we aren’t quite halfway through the season. There’s still a few more end scenes to write for the later episodes, and I’m about one episode away from having to edit episodes I haven’t yet touched. I’m hoping I can get these edited fast enough to give our beta-reader time to read them before Isaac and I do our final edit before publishing them, or there may be a few episodes spaced out a couple weeks apart rather than just one week.

Battle Decks: Trials of Blood and Steel Isaac and I are continuing to test expansion ideas with our group of beta-testers. However, we’re having to really evaluate where we want the game to go before we release anything. Initially we were talking about deck-building ideas, but then we realized that too many deck-building options would take away from the hero-focus of the game. Right now we’re looking at the idea of limiting the scope of deck-building, while still offering some deck customization within each faction, along with testing more hero card options.

Still very much a work in progress, though I am looking forward to revealing a few of the different faction deck expansions once we iron out the details. And new factions… though those will come later.

Phalanx: We debuted Phalanx at the Old Drum Days Festival, and while we only sold a couple games, we did get to play the game with a number of people who stopped by our booth, and we hope repeated exposure will entice more people to pick up a copy down the road.

SBibb’s Photographic Illustration: Another book cover done, more proof covers made, one formatting project complete, another near-complete, and several more projects to go.

Beta-Reading: I’ve started reading the latest draft of the book I’m currently beta-reading. Seems I’m about as slow beta-reading as I am with editing The Shadow War, and as such, I’ve asked the author to send me weekly email reminders to get the chapters read so I can send her feedback in a timely manner.

Distant Horizon: We’ve got a couple people looking at the current manuscript for typos, and once we have feedback, we’ll be making the final edits and I’ll print out a copy to check for typos. I’ve also been working on a back-cover blurb, and hopefully I’ll have a polished version ready to reveal soon.

Video Blogging: Only a few chapters left of Magic’s Stealing to read, and then I’m not quite sure what to read next. I’ll be evaluating the video blogging project at the end of the readings to decide where I want to go from there and whether or not to continue with the video blogs.

We’ve got a lot of stuff planned for Infinitas Publishing, and I hope you enjoyed this post. 🙂

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April 29, 2016 · 10:17 pm

Thoughts on Writing – Writing A Serial Novel – MVChron Midpoint Evaluation

Now that Isaac and I have reached the midpoint of The Multiverse Chronicles (or what was originally going to be the midpoint), I thought it might be fun to look at what we had planned for this series, and what the current trajectory is.

For those of you who are new to my blog, The Multiverse Chronicles is a pseudo-steampunk fantasy blog series that my husband and I write. Isaac writes the rough draft for each episode, which I then edit. We send that draft to a beta-reader, who gives us feedback. We polish the episode, and then post it to our blog (approximately once a week between episodes).

The series started because we wanted a way to advertise our Battle Decks: Trials of Blood and Steel card game. So we worked out more of the universe and wrote it into story format. (Fun Fact: The story came from the card game, but the card game from a story… which came from a role-play game Isaac game-mastered and created the world for. It’s just one big cycle.)

When we first planned the series, we thought they’d be short little episodes, each an individual story following the lives of various characters who we occasionally revisited (actually, we first pictured this as a comic strip). As the story progressed, certain themes would reoccur and a larger story arc would appear, but would only be important to those who read the whole series.

That didn’t happen.

The story evolved to have a full-blown plot. Even then, we determined that we would still keep the episodes short (around 500-1500 words), and we would keep some level of independent story from episode to episode, that way new readers could fall in at any time and be able to reasonably follow what was going on.

Ahem.

Let’s take a look at the actual word count of the first twelve episodes, shall we?

  • Prologue: 478
  • Episode 1: 2,318
  • Episode 2: 3,287
  • Episode 3: 2,771
  • Episode 4: 3,395
  • Episode 5: 3,829
  • Episode 6: 2,202
  • Episode 7: 3,082
  • Episode 8: 3,660
  • Episode 9: 2,760
  • Episode 10: 2,018
  • Episode 11: 3,918
  • Episode 12: 4,226

Ignoring the prologue, which we added at the last minute because we wanted to have at least some reference of why we call this “The Multiverse Chronicles,” the episodes are well above the intended length.

Granted, a lot of that is my fault. I like details. I want to see the world…

And I enjoy knowing what the bad guys are doing.

Isaac’s original drafts are closer to the intended length (for example, the original draft of the first episode is only 1,645 words long, and episode twelve was only 1,672 words long (note: this does not include the end scene, which was added later and raised the total count to 2,591 words).

Combined,the total word count for the first twelve episodes without the prologue is 37,466 words, with an average of 3,122 words per episode.

That’s double the original word count we had in mind.

Adding to the word count was the decision to add “Meanwhile“scenes at the end of each episode to show what other characters, especially the antagonists, were up to. The idea was to build suspense. Per feedback from our beta-reader, we later stopped calling them “Meanwhile” scenes and just made them a part of the regular episode, albeit with a section break.

What remained as planned, however, was to have an illustration with each story, hearkening back to the idea of penny dreadfuls and dime novels. Though the style and number of illustration varies a bit from episode to episode, we try to have at least something.

Originally we planned to have 24 episodes, though looking at our current structure, we now have 27 episodes planned, and I haven’t checked to see if any of the remaining episodes need to be split into two parts (as we did with one of the earlier episodes, and the two episodes we’ll be releasing next).

Once the first season has been released, I’m hoping to go back through the full story, make any final changes and polish the writing, and then publish a print and ebook edition. But that’s a post for another day.

Though we deviated from our original plans, I hope that readers will still enjoy The Multiverse Chronicles. And please, feel free to chime in with thoughts and comments as you read each episode. We would love to hear from you. 🙂

Previous posts about the serialization process:

Thoughts on Publishing – Serial Publishing Methods

Thoughts on Writing – What does a Serial Episode Need?

 

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April 20, 2016 · 9:22 pm

Episode 12: The Keeper of the Deep

Episode Twelve of The Multiverse Chronicles is now up!

The prince and his bodyguard meet the Keeper of the Deep–an eccentric witch in the middle of a mysterious forest.

SBibb's avatarThe Multiverse Chronicles

The Multiverse Chronicles

Season One: Episode Twelve

“The Keeper of the Deep”

* * *

The Multiverse Chronicles: Trials of Blood and Steel - The Witch's Cottage

* * *

Spots of sunlight danced between the trees as Alia and Alfons made their way through the thick undergrowth of the Deep. A cinnamon-colored rat scurried along the bramble, unhindered and well-ahead of the two humans.

Alfons rolled underneath his covers and tugged them to his chin. Some dream. Dreams were not usually so memorable. He could almost believe he had woken in a jail cell, escaped under the guidance of a rat who claimed his fiancé had been murdered, ran from mechanical soldiers into a magical forest, been duped by mischievous fairies, and finally been captured by a man-eating witch.

At least his dream had ended with his capture and not after being fired, baked, or broiled alive.

He sighed and stretched, but his feet smacked against a footboard.

Odd. Had his bed shrunk?

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April 18, 2016 · 10:46 pm

Thoughts on Publishing – A Video Blog Post – Reading Chapter Seventeen of Magic’s Stealing

I finally got the next reading (chapter seventeen) of Magic’s Stealing uploaded! Enjoy. 🙂

Click here for the link if you can’t see the video.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

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Gallery

Episode 11: A Little Bit of Mischief

The next episode of The Multiverse Chronicles is now available! 😀

SBibb's avatarThe Multiverse Chronicles

The Multiverse Chronicles

Season One: Episode Eleven

“A Little Bit of Mischief”

* * *

* * *

Spots of sunlight danced between the trees as Alia and Alfons made their way through the thick undergrowth of the Deep. A cinnamon-colored rat scurried along the bramble, unhindered and well-ahead of the two humans.

“Let me get this straight,” Alfons said, ducking a thorny vine above his head. “You saw Alia walk into the princess’s room, but you knew it was not her because you could not smell her?” His pants caught on the prickly edge of a thistle. He cursed and untangled the fabric.

Yes, lad. How many times do I have to tell ya? Henry sent. My sense of smell is more than a wee bit heightened when I’m a rat. Believe me, your pirate friend was apparently hesitant to wash during this last week.

Alfons scowled. “You suggested


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April 12, 2016 · 11:32 pm