Buried by charlatans

I enter Writer's Digest's Self Published Book Awards every year. Even though I have yet to bring home the top prize, the judges' critiques of Sever, Regret Things and Sin Walks Into The Desert have all been worthwhile - tough but fair, complete and useful, insightful and marketable.

This year, I sent The Baby Monitor: A Novella of Family Horrors to the competition. I believe in this little book. You can unwrap layers of meaning and metaphor from every page. And its characters and foreshadowing are much deeper than in anything else I've attempted.

I had high hopes. But Tuesday I got an email informing me I didn't win and delivering the judge's critique.

It was glowing.

Beyond glowing. It was a rave review, including perfect scores in the categories for Structure, Grammar, Plot, Character and Voice. The judge went through line by line calling out favorite moments:

"You have particular flair for repetition, a musical bent to your prose... The buildup of empathy throughout the story is powerful... I don’t just admire your use of metaphor, I admire the pace of them – just enough, like spice in a well-seasoned dish. The sheer propulsion of this climactic scene is priceless. An excellent book."

Writer's Digest is a legendary publication with serious cred. I know from experience their judges aren't nice to every book they receive, so it should be validating to get such a positive critique.

But accolades like these make me want to shoot myself.

Because The Baby Monitor has sold fewer than 60 copies despite hundreds of dollars worth of advertising, raves from Indie Reader, the support of my email list, and an audiobook available on all the major podcast platforms and my personal YouTube channel. Plus I've given away hundreds of copies and gifted 40 more with only four Amazon reviews to show for it.

Meanwhile, you know who I hear is making money in publishing? Plagiarists who buy ebooks, swap out a few adjectives, and republish them as their own work. Clickfarms that boost authors' page count for a price. And frauds who steal outlines and outsource their content to ghostwriters in the Philippines.

Amazon has given writers a way to publish fiction that never would've seen daylight a few years ago. An 18,000-word novella like mine would be dead in my desk drawer. So I guess I should be grateful. But right now I'm just frustrated. I've been buried by charlatans.

What's the answer? In moments of doubt, I watch this video and am reminded.

"I suspect everyday life is trying to drive me crazy"

A few months ago, IndieReader gave The Baby Monitor: A Novella of Family Horrors a really insightful review. Today, they published an interview with me, featuring tidbits such as:

What inspired you to write the book: The bills on my counter and the alarm clock by my bed. My car breaks down and as soon as that gets fixed, my dryer breaks down. Sometimes I suspect everyday life is trying to drive me crazy. So I wrote a book about it.

I also talk about why genre fiction is superior to most literature. Please go give it a read!

The Baby Monitor comes to YouTube

The entire first (and only) season of The Baby Monitor: A Podcast of Family Horrors is now streaming on YouTube. You can sit back and listen back to the whole thing in sequence right here:

 

Kirkus and IndieReader review The Baby Monitor: A Novella of Family Horrors

I haven't written a lot about The Baby Monitor: A Novella of Family Horrors since the podcast version launched back in January. The book dropped February 28 in print and on Kindle. I ran a new release sale on FKBT. Mentioned it a couple times on Goodreads. And offered it free to my email list.

It's been reviewed on a couple of the indie publishing sites. IndieReader was unequivocal in its praise. "Short, but perfectly formed, The Baby Monitor is a very smart, very human, and very skillfully constructed horror novel... The conclusion is a stroke of genius."

Kirkus Reviews was a little conflicted about my style, but also enjoyed the end. "Ingwalson’s narrative is effective and suspenseful, and while the conclusion at first appears to be a standard, urban legend-style twist, the ending is more complex and satisfying than that... While some readers may feel that the short length leads to a lack of details about the characters and their surroundings, others should enjoy the tight pacing and claustrophobic dynamic."

I find it intriguing, even frustrating, that the number one comment I get is that my novellas are short. Never mind that novellas are short by definition. I read a lot. And I'm often frustrated by how little happens in many novels. And by how many words it takes some authors to convey simple ideas.

The Baby Monitor: A Novella of Family Horrors is a novella by design. It would crack if it was spread over too many pages. On the other hand, I do wonder where my novel is. I'm toying with a couple of ideas for the type of story where the plot deserves 80,000 words.

Someday, I guess. Someday.

Introducing The Baby Monitor: A Podcast of Family Horrors

The Baby Monitor is a plot I have been playing around with for a long time. It's the tale of a couple whose son wakes up screaming. Every single night. Does he have night terrors? Is their home haunted? Or is there something even darker waiting inside their American dream?

In a way, The Baby Monitor is just a creepy story. But it has something serious to say about the way the secrets and banalities of adult life gnaw away at you.

The novella is coming out in March. But I'm publishing the entire thing as a free podcast, starting right now. This is partially because I love doing stuff. Partially out of the hope that podcast listeners will show their support by purchasing the novella. And partially for fun.

The first few episodes are on Soundcloud (here) and you can subscribe on iTunes (here) or on Stitcher (here). (Subscribing and rating is a huge help, making sure new podcasts bump to the top of the recommendation engine.)

The plan is to publish a new one every few days until the story ends. Enjoy.