Five Killer Tips Every Kindle Author Should Be Using

Please note: there is now an updated and superior version of this article over on my new author website, The Outdoors Author. 

It's been a while since I posted here, what with all the many developments in the Armadaverse lately. By way of apology, this post is for my author colleagues — primarily those who publish through KDP and perhaps Createspace.

In this post we will look at five strategies every Kindle author should be using to maximise return on investment, increase market penetration for their series, provide best value to fans, cooperate with other authors, and make the most of their sales data.

Why am I giving away such useful information? Pretty simple really: as I have said before, I don't consider other indie authors to be 'the competition'. You are colleagues.

Use Scrivener's Keywords to Manage Your Series

I'm having a little break from writing The Ravening Deep, so I thought I'd share a technique I'm using now that I have moved my entire Armada Wars operation from Open Office to that unbelievably good writer's app: Scrivener.

In this article, we'll start with the premise that you are writing (or starting) a series of novels set in the same universe. Here not only will you discover how to manage the books from your series in a single project file, but you'll also learn how to make the most of the keywords feature in Scrivener by setting up keywords in a structured fashion.

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Don't forget that this blog is now for behind-the-scenes reporting on the Armada Wars universe, and RCV's posts on writing and for writers. All of the current news and events going on in the Armadaverse can now be found on the all new web site at www.ArmadaWars.com!

"The Ravening Deep" — Cover Art Revealed!

Feast your eyes upon it: the front cover of the upcoming Armadaverse instalment, The Ravening Deep...

"I Dream of Damastion" — New Details!

The upcoming novella which will serve as an expansion episode for The Ravening Deep has now been named.

I Dream of Damastion will be a first person story, taking place in a claustrophobic environment where the stakes are high and the threat is difficult to see.

It will feature a previously unseen main character, and a dangerous villain we have met before.

Announced: Armada Wars Novella 1

Those of you following me on Twitter may have spotted this bit of news appearing quite sneakily a few days ago.

If you've got as far as List of the Dead you will know that in the current story various Imperial ships and facilities have gone silent. You can probably guess at why that is happening, given the other events in the novels, but might feel that you'd like to see it first hand (so to speak).

This first novella — one of a handful which will expand and enhance the Great War of the Shaeld story arc — will be released fairly quickly after The Ravening Deep becomes available. My intention for the novellas is to add extra dimensions to the overall story without interrupting the flow of the narrative with irrelevancies. This particular episode will deal with some of the mechanics of the ongoing invasion.

Without wanting to drop any spoilers, I can confirm that it will follow a previously unseen character aboard an Imperial starship.

Keep an eye out on the blog and social media for a title announcement!

"The Ravening Deep" Teasers

Just before the release of List of the Dead, I posted an announcement for the title of the next book in this series, The Ravening Deep.

You may remember that at the time I did not provide any plot details, for fear of dropping spoilers about the major events which occurred at the end of List of the Dead.

Well... enough time has now passed!

Let's have some teasers...

• Euryce Eilentes will be the flashback character in this volume, and as was strongly hinted at in List she will be coming into her own in major ways.
• As far as the dreadships go, the heavy defeat suffered by the Empire at the end of List prefaces what is coming next.
• The story unfolding on Guathelia, which so far has occupied only the prologues and epilogues, will collide with the main narrative.
• Maber Castigon will also collide with the main story, in a way you might not expect.
• You will hear more from Voice and The Emptiness, and also see more of Earth.

Deep is the middle volume of this five-part story, and it will very much be the Empire Strikes Back of the series. Dark days are ahead for our plucky protagonists!

Worlds Will Fall.

Announced: "The Ravening Deep", Armada Wars Book 3

With the launch of List of the Dead coming up in just under a month, it's time to officially announce the third book in the current five-book story!

The title of book three was sneaked onto Goodreads (and this very blog) a few months ago, but for those of you who missed that the title will be The Ravening Deep.

Because there is a major plot event at the end of List of the Dead, and a major event for some main characters, I am not going to share any story details for The Ravening Deep just yet. So let's just say things will be going downhill for our plucky protagonists! Darkness awaits.

The eagle-eyed amongst you might notice the release date for TRD is 21st September 2015. Who can wait a whole year, right?

Worlds Will Fall.