Releasing Books into the Big Wide World.

After months of work writing, editing and re-writing, finally Falling Star has been sent into the big wide world on the hunt for her audience.  This has been a differnet kind of venture than my previous novels, and one that has set me on the road to the future. 

I've said it before, and I'm going to say it again here, but I write books because I don't think I feel happy doing anything else.  For me, the act of creating a world, inhabiting it with characters, and setting them on their way throughout the story is what I've wanted to do since I was a child.

Do I want fame and fortune?  It would be nice I suppose, but it is not the reason I want to write books.  Especially as the chances of getting one of those things, let alone both, are remote to say the least.  I would really prefer people to read my books and hopefully enjoy them.

Starting my own publishing imprint, Dark Crucible Publishing, has helped me learn more about the process, and given me the chance to maybe help other writers get their work out there.  Maybe authors will come, maybe they won't, but as I've found out, there are no promises in the publishing world, we all just roll the dice and take our chances, from the moment we send off our synopsis and first few chapters to an agent or publisher, or we decide to go it alone and self-publish.  As long as we have fun doing it, that should be all that matters.

Now I'm looking to what I'm going to do next, and so far my plans are to work on the revised 2nd edition of Killing Time, and the next book in the Ramton Gallow Mysteries Series.  I don't know what the future truly holds, but I'm going to have fun finding out.

A Conversation with... Gary William Murning - Part 3

GWM: Yes -- I think structure is, on the whole, extremely important. I'm a morning writer. I usually start about 9 AM, fresh out of the bathroom and mind still uncluttered by the day ahead. I like to write 1000 words every day, five days a week -- and the thousand words usually take me about an hour. Once that's done, I move on to related stuff; editing, promotional work, correspondence etc. After lunch I generally take a couple of hours "off" for reading and then continue with the non-writing writing stuff that every writer seems to spend most of his/her time doing -- networking, researching, schmoozing and so on and so forth!

Speaking of which, I recently wrote an article for The View from Here magazine (you can read it here if you wish) in which I discussed online promotion etc. I was wondering, you also use Twitter and other social media/networking tools. How successful have you found them?

CJW:

I’ve found that social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, are invaluable for a writer, both new and established, in order to not only advertise their writing, but also get in contact with other writers, reviewers and fans. Writing is mostly a solitary process, and being able to chat with other writers and share tips and encouragement makes you feel more part of a community, just as you said in the article.