New video explainer
Hey there folks! Please take 3 minutes to check out the new video on the landing page I’ve made to quickly explain the main things to know about my Swithen fantasy book series. Would it send you into a buying frenzy for my books? If yes, GREAT! If not… then I have failed.
That’s the main page I send everyone to from any ads or social posts that I have. I figure it’s better than just sending people straight to Amazon, because this way they get to learn about the entire series and what makes it special. And the burden of that video is to give all the salient points as quickly as possible.
I want people to know that contrary to what most people believe, King Arthur is NOT all old and played-out. I want to touch on the reasons we’re actually not all familiar with the real legend, and that there’s a lot of stuff in there we still don’t know about. And I want to be sure to get across the main feature of my series; that I am committed to remaining faithful to the actual old legendary sources of King Arthur.
What do you think—did I hit it? I’d be interested in any comments you may have about that page, so… I’m all ears! Thanks for reading.
Lessons of recording audiobooks
Greetings, readers! I have reached the 200-page mark in the writing of Book 4, which will cover Arthur’s childhood until he pulls the sword from the stone, and I’m also in the process of re-recording my audiobooks, which I’m going to talk a little bit about in this post. Nowadays, people listen to audiobooks much more often than they actually read books, so they are completely key to reaching a larger audience who might enjoy my work. They also allow me to have my podcast of the books (currently on hold) and… as an independent author, I make a lot more money on the sale of an audiobook than I do from selling an ebook or paperback, so if you look at it as funding that supports my continued work on this project… audiobooks are what we need right now!
Previously I had recorded an audiobook of Our Man on Earth, which was definitely my first attempt at reading an audiobook, and it shows in reviews like “Absolutely terrible! Author should NEVER narrate!” and “I definitely recommend that Telek NOT read the next one.” And I must say… it WAS pretty terrible. I really was just reading through without a great deal of inflection and, perhaps even worse, as FAST as possible. I then—seeing as I like to waste a great deal of time and effort on fruitless pursuits (wish I was kidding)—did a complete recording of The Sons of Constance, which was then rejected by Audible for not having the right audio settings. Does it seem like I should have checked that BEFORE I recorded the entire book? Well, yes… but now see my comment above about wasting time and effort.
But it wasn’t completely wasted, because I was learning about reading audiobooks, and I am confident that I will do a MUCH better job this time. This came over several revelations, the first being that I’m not just reading, I really have to TELL the story like I would around a campfire. Key to this is simply slowing down and giving listeners time to process what they’re hearing, and also for me to have time to give the narrator’s voice the proper rises, inflections, pauses… and to shape the meaning of the story through my actual delivery of it. I am happy to read the novels myself and be able to express my personal voice as it comes through in the writing (especially some of the ironies or jokes), but it was quite clear that I had to take my delivery to the next level, and I am hopeful that I have done that on this round.
The other thing is that in the meantime, I have completely revised Our Man on Earth in order to flesh out the character of Meylinde and to bring the tone more in line with the rest of the series, and… the currently-available audiobook is a recording of the first version. And the first version, honestly… I would be surprised if anyone wanted to stay with the series after reading that. It’s NOT great. The writing is very stiff and Meylinde is barely the warm and wonderful person she is now. So I am actually growing a bit embarrassed that people might be hearing that version of the story, when I know that one that is so much better exists.
So I decided to finally figure out how to adjust the sound in order to get the recording levels right and make it sound good, and I am starting to work through recording the novels, beginning with the first one, with the aim of having all three novels available as audiobooks before the fourth book is out. And once the first audiobook is done… we can start to once more think about the podcast.
The podcast is also a bit of an embarrassment, since it cut off right in the middle of Book 2 (just as I was telling listeners “it’s about to get really fun!”). Basically, I got a job (good thing) but it meant that the time I had available dropped precipitously, and my priority has to be on actually writing the books. Also, I just didn’t have the sense that anyone was listening. I NEVER got a comment, and very few likes, and the number of listeners remained very low. Once it was over, I heard from someone who “Loved the podcast!” and I thought… “Boy, I wish you would have told me that while I was actually doing it!” So, just a reminder that those reviews, comments, likes and other indications that you leave for authors or artists ARE very important, and have a very real effect on whether those series’ continue. Feeling like no one was listening and no one cared, I just dropped the podcast without a thought.
Now… a poll question! The new podcast will include chapters of the audiobook in a serialized form, and the point of it is to bring more people to my series and—I’ll just be open about it—to sell more books and audiobooks. At the beginning and end of every episode, I say “If you want the entire book right now, and don’t want to wait months for it to be complete, you can go buy the audiobook…” But then… what happens when you reach the end of the first book and go into the second? Here’s where I ask you for your thoughts, what solution would hit the sweet spot of both pleasing listeners AND helping me sell books (which has a direct effect on the continuation of this series). Ideas are:
a) Include the entire audiobook, up to the end, and when book 2 starts, just keep the whole first book up for free.
b) Include the entire audiobook, up to the end, and when book 2 starts, remove the last half of Book 1, but include a synopsis, and refer people that the complete audiobook is available.
c) Include the entire audiobook, up to the end, and when book 2 starts, take down book 1 and replace it with a synopsis.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
In any case, look for a new edition of the first audiobook and soon after that, new (and pretty good, I must say) audiobooks of Books 2 and 3, and don’t forget to leave likes and comments for your favorite artists and authors so they are encouraged to keep on!
Women in “The Swithen”
Hi there, just a quick note that I added a new video that discusses the treatment of women in my series The Swithen, and you can watch it here.
The video covers 3 things:
That because a number of notable women in the Arthurian sources don’t even receive names or deep psychologies, one of the unique, and unplanned features of my series is that it comes off as “progressive” simply by supplying names and characters for these women (like Merlin’s mother, the protagonist of Our Man on Earth) and giving women’s concerns equal importance to the men’s.
Since Book 3, The Void Place, contains a rape, I discuss the process I went through of reaching out to women for their perspectives and also researching #MeToo stories and accounts of sexual assault. I also wrote a whole separate piece for my process in handling the rape in Book 3, if you’d like to read it.
That a big feature of the books going forward will be the education of boys to respect women and think before resorting to violence. There is so much violence baked into the Arthurian legend, and one of the major aspects going forward will be having our characters react to all that violence and process what it means to them to see all that.
That’s it for now, go off and watch the video, and leave me your comments on the page below.
Oh my word it’s a Radio Ad
The wonderful and talented Morgan Z. Sowell of The Table Round podcast (here it is on iTunes) made the kind offer that I could create a radio ad for my series that he would broadcast on his show. He does this as a pure kindness for Arthurian authors, which is… awesome and quite chivalrous. The Table Round is an ongoing audio drama that dramatizes stories from the Arthurian legend in a way that is quite intelligent and interesting and with GREAT production quality. I was actually quite blown away by the episodes that I listened to, and you should check it out!
Anyway, Morgan’s offer was made quite a few months ago, but myself being self-defeating and always intrigued by new and innovative ways to sabotage my own success, I let this offer languish while I focused on other things (like writing Book 4). But then I finally sat down and wrote it, recorded it and slapped on some music, and the result… sounds like a radio ad. Which is to say it sounds a bit like I’m advertising a heartburn pill, but regardless, here is the ad:
What do you think? If it has encouraged you to run off and buy my books, please, go do that first! Then I’d love to hear any comments you may have on it, feel free to share!
It was great to be able to address an audience already interested in the Arthurian legend, and I wanted to be sure to emphasize the commitment of my series to remaining faithful to the actual legend, and that the novels try hard to maintain the tone and weird magic of the Middle English sources. Definitely look forward to seeing how effective this ad is with this audience.
That’s it for now, listen to The Table Round and let me know anything you think!
Author Interview: Merlin’s Origin Story
Greetings folks, just a note to point out that I have just added an author interview about the first book, Our Man on Earth, to The Swithen website. It gives insights into the character of Meylinde, how I came to understand her and her crucial role in the book and the entire series, as well as why I felt I had to go back and revise the book to make her a more full and fleshed-out character in her own right. This interview was originally available only as part of the bonus materials included in the First Trilogy Boxed Set, but now it’s here and free to all.
It’s a very satisfying time for me as the series is slowly starting to take off and gather fans, and I find that the first book outsells the others regularly—which is why I’m glad I went back and revised it! Not sure you know, but the main character of this book, Merlin’s mother, vanishes from the original legend once Merlin leaves her care, never to be seen again. That’s how it is in the Arthurian legends, folks! You get used and thrown away!
After developing her in such detail for Our Man on Earth, and going with her through all the torment and suffering she endures, I just couldn’t bear for her never to be seen again—but, I did say that I’m going to follow the original legend to the letter. Luckily, I was soon able to find a way to keep her in the series while remaining faithful to the legend, but that opened up the question of how weakly she was presented in the first novel. I spent a week at a cabin in the woods in Ontario working on my revision every day, ultimately adding 50 pages to the novel to fill in her character as a person and let us understand her psychology and indomitable strength even better.
My reward is that she is, hands down, the most beloved character in the series so far (of course, everyone else is not all that nice, so it helps). It has been great to me to have her be so well accepted and loved, and to grant her the incredibly influential place she has, and will have, throughout the series.
Read the Our Man on Earth interview here
The Swithen 