Writers' Charity Auction to Benefit Hurricane Sandy Victims

The Washington Post: A water vapor satellite image
 of Superstorm Sandy on Tuesday, Oct. 30.
 (Stu Ostro/Facebook)

I've been glued to the television over the last few days—as I'm sure many of you have—watching the news as it reported on Hurricane Sandy. My heart goes out to all of you who were touched by the massive storm or who know people who were touched. I'll be keeping all the victims, survivors, and those affected in my thoughts as they work to recover and rebuild.

I love how the writing community always pulls together in times of crisis. Only hours after a massive disaster, people have banded together to raise money for the victims. Today is no different. Writer Jen Malone has organized a charity auction to benefit the Red Cross and victims of Hurricane Sandy. Lots of agents and authors have donated some really cool prizes, so make sure you pop on over and bid and help raise some much-needed money.

I'll see you there :)

How about you - were you affected by Hurricane Sandy?

Have you ever wanted to completely unplug???

(Source)

I must admit, that's what I've done for the last few months - turned off my Blogger, my Hootsuite, my Facebook, Pinterest, and all the other miscellaneous pieces of social networking that I dabble in from time to time. In a way, I've gone back to the beginning. I've baked lots (macarons are my specialty, yum yum), played computer games, changed from a coffee drinker to a tea drinker (go figure), worked on some craft projects, and gone out with friends I haven't seen in ages.

I've even taken a break from my writing *gasps*

Was it worth it, you ask. Oh yes, I say. Because writing has crept back into my life, slowly, bit by bit, until I've found the love again. I've found myself once again excited by the thought of reading a blog post on writing tips, studying more of the craft of writing, and diving into my manuscript so I can rip it to shreds and start from the beginning in an effort to make it sing.

My only regret - how much I've missed all of you!!!

So, how are you? What have you been doing these last few months? Any news? And, have you ever wanted to completely unplug???

New Adult: A Real Category or an Absurd Balkanization of Bookstores? (Guest post by C. Lee McKenzie)

Goodness me, how time flies! I hope you've all had a lovely few weeks and got lots of rest in--I know heaps of you have taken breaks over the summer (US and Europe) and winter (Oz and NZ) holidays. I myself have just come back from a glorious camping holiday--winter camping (I know, right!) though we went up north to the beach, and had lovely sunny shirts-and-shorts weather, lots of ice-cream and fish and chips, and heaps of dolphin-sightings (beautiful creatures!). So I'm all rested and refreshed and ready to introduce to you the gorgeous C. Lee McKenzie, who'll be talking to us today about New Adult.

So take it away Lee, and while you've got control of my blog, I'm off to look up "balkanization" and find out what it means - I'll report back later :D

New Adult: A Real Category or an Absurd Balkanization of Bookstores?           

It has been almost three years since the term New Adult (NA) emerged on the book scene. St. Martin's Press in conjunction with Georgia McBride's YaLitChat did something amazing. They asked for writers to sub their novels to a contest. Three winners would receive a copy of Tempted by P. C. Cast and Kristina Cast, but they'd also have a shot at publication. Who could resist that? Apparently not many because they received 382 submissions.

The rules were simple and one of them set out the NA category clearly. “[Submit] fiction applicable to older teens and twentysomethings, but 20's are preferred."

Since then several articles and blog posts have been published about NA. And there's some debate about whether this is a real category or a new way to package “chick lit.”

Uncreated Conscience says, no. “[Saying NA is all about “chick lit is] like saying YA is only about high school. It is not. YA is about a certain time of life, when you are no longer a child but not quite an adult and one can write about this period of time through less literal genres like historical fiction or science-fiction and fantasy. Similarly, New Adult is about young adulthood, when you are an adult but have not established your life as one.”

Writers seem to applaud the possibility that they'll be able to write books with slightly older protagonists (18-24) who are dealing with major life issues for the first time.

As author, Lynn Rush, says, "Kids and teens focus on the present, while adults draw on their past experience to inform their present and future decisions. New Adults are somewhere in between…. That distinction might seem subtle, but it comes through loud and clear in the voice of New Adult Fiction.”

In From the Write Angle, J. Lea Lopez argues that with NA “Variety is really the whole point here. There's variety in both YA and adult literature, and as a supporter for a New Adult category, what I'm rallying for is even more of it.”

NA Alley, Bridging the Gap Between Young Adult and Adult Fiction is a most site where seven writers have come together to write and promote this “category” of fiction.

I can see why writers would embrace NA as a category. Look at the diversity of themes that are available. What previous generations have embraced as traditional steps following high school, no longer applies. As Robin Marantz Henig writes,”The 20s are a black box, and there is a lot of churning in there.” The writer in me translates that as a lot of opportunity for stories that readers are waiting for.

What happens when a twentysomething:

• moves home?

• is rootless, going from one place to another, not establishing any community?

• goes from job to job? Will this be a great experience or result in a failed career or worse?

• lives with a partner, but doesn’t marry?

• marries much later than that traditional early-mid twenties?

We’re already seeing some of these stories, and in all likelihood, we’ll see many more of “twentysomethings churning” because this group of readers exists and scholars are providing a ton of research about them.

JEFFREY JENSEN ARNETT, a psychology professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., calls the 20s a distinct life stage and refers to it as “emerging adulthood.”

But there’s an argument against creating this NA category. In an Upstart Crow Literary post, “New Adult”--Specious category or market opportunity? the author, Michael, calls it a "slippery slope," even, "an absurd Balkanization of bookstores." He says, "[when I was a twentysomething] I didn't need any sort of bookstore category to do my thinking for me . . ." He humorously proposes that this “slippery slope” could well lead to other categories: “‘Elderly and Disgruntled.” “Stories for Shut-Ins.” “Masculine Asses.” “Pre-Feminist Thinkers.’”

Then there’s the “dumbing down” factor that pops up in comments about NA. Do we spoon feed our children so much already that creating this category is just another form of parental helicoptering? Is it a way to confirm that the twentysomethings don’t have the ability to select books from the adult fiction section, the history or science sections?

As for me, I’m excited to see something new. The publishing is a constantly and--now more than ever--quickly changing business, so I ask, “Why not?” Besides, some authors already refer to their books as New Adult. They’ve found a niche for those not quite YA, not quite Adult novels.

How about you: As writers/readers, what do you think about New Adult finding a shelf (real or virtual)?

++

Thanks so much Lee, for your intriguing post on New Adult. I really enjoyed reading it, and now that I know the meaning of "Balkanization", life is all good :)

Have you read Lee's book yet? It's called ALLIGATORS OVERHEAD, and here's the blurb:

Alligators, witches and a spooky mansion aren't your average neighbors unless you live at the edge of the Ornofree swamp in the backwater town of Hadleyville. The town's bad boy, Pete Riley, may only be twelve, but he's up to his eyeballs in big trouble, and this time he isn't the cause. This time the trouble arrives when a legendary hundred-year-old mansion materializes next door and the Ornofree alligators declare war to save their swamp from bulldozers. Things only get worse when Pete's guardian aunt and several of her close friends vanish while trying to restore order using outdated witchcraft. Now Pete must find the witches and stop the war. He might stand a chance if his one friend, Weasel, sticks with him, but even then, they may not have what it takes.

Here are Lee's author/contact details:

WEBSITE: http://cleemckenziebooks.com

BLOG: http://writegame.blogspot.com

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/cleemckenziebooks

TWITTER : @cleemckenzie

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0042M1KYW

GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2809083.C_Lee_McKenzie



And if you'd like to check out Lee's book, here is some link love:

AMAZON KINDLE

AMAZON PAPERBACK

B&N

SMASHWORDS

Catch you all soon, and big hugs,

Writing with Technology (Scrivener, Evernote, iPads, oh my!)

(Scrivener - source)

I've turned into a bit of a techno-geek lately, I must admit. It all started when my iPad arrived a couple of months ago; since then I've been researching the best ways to do my writing, and programs that will make things easier. And not just writing my novels, but also blog posts, information-gathering, administrative tasks, and general organization. Different considerations apply, of course, most notably whether I'm working at my desk at home or on my iPad offline (unfortunately I don't have full-time internet support when I'm away from my home wi-fi setup). I thought I'd share a few of my discoveries with you, and see whether you know of different ways of doing things that I can yoink borrow and use myself.

I'm writing my current manuscript with Scrivener on my laptop, and have been for a while now. At this stage, I don't think I could live without it! It's got so many useful functionalities, and I particularly like the corkboard, the ability to take snapshots to save previous versions, the full-screen composition mode, and the collections (ah, the collections!). I don't know about you, but I love how I can gather scenes that deal with one particular thing—my love story, for example—and list them all in a "love scene" collection so I can find them easily, while at the same time not changing the order of my actual drafting and scenes.

Only problem is, Scrivener isn't out for iPad yet, and is unlikely to be out for a few more years yet, according to the Literature and Latte guys (who developed Scrivener). Until that day, I'm having to use other programs in order to write on my iPad.

I bought Pages, for approx. $10, and that is a pretty good word processing tool—some say it's the best word-processing tool that there is among the current apps. My difficulty with Pages, however, is that every time I amend my manuscript on my iPad, I have to email myself a copy of the document and copy it back into Scrivener. Forget to do that, and I'm working with incorrect versions, and it becomes a headache waiting to happen.

Evernote

So I've been trying to find something that will allow me to sync between my home computer and my iPad. Scrivener for Mac gives you the ability to sync to Simplenote, using Dropbox I believe, but I use Windows so I don't even have the "Sync" button on my version of Scrivener :( And I haven't found any other way of automatically syncing between Scrivener and another program.

Instead, what I've been doing is manually copying and pasting my Scrivener scenes into Evernote once each is completed (each in one document/note). I could use Simplenote to do this as well, and many prefer Simplenote for its "pure text-based" fuctionality. But I like how I can use Evernote for so many things—keeping photographs, to do notes, reminders, links and articles I've copied in from the web, etc etc. Plus, Evernote keeps my formatting from Scrivener, including highlighting—which I use extensively—whereas I lose much of that when using Simplenote.

And there are all sorts of companion apps to Evernote that are making my life so much easier, including Skitch, Clip to Evernote, and Clearly. I can even save Tweets and tweet links into Evernote, simply by copying a tweet into @myen, or DM'ing Evernote.

Ah, techno-geek heaven *sighs*!!! And that's not even mentioning Write or Die and Freedom, and my NaNoWriMo Report Card which I have open all the time to record my word count progress (even though it's not November)!

How about you: What programs/apps do you use to write when you're away from your computer (and at your computer too)? Is there anything I haven't mentioned above that you think a techno-geek like me would like? :)

Interview with Jericha Senyak, aspiring author

Guys, today I'm doing an interview with Jericha Senyak, aspiring author and legendary follower o' mine! She's a particularly intriguing person (*grins*), and I can't wait to get to know her better. So, I'm going to dive straight into my questions:

Question 1: If you had to describe yourself in one sentence, what would it be?  

Aha, you see, I am the champion of complex, mystical, evocative, and wildly gesticular run-on sentences. I could tell you my whole life in a single sentence (correctly punctuated, too) with all the major events to date and not a single misplaced modifier. Really, I swear. But actually I’m just going to let that first line stand as it is.

Question 2:  What are the three most important things should we know about you? 

The three most important things? Hmmm. I’m pretty sure there’s only one: all you need to do for me to be putty in your hands is offer me a really excellent snack. (Both my parents and my boyfriend can corroborate this.) Add a moderately nice-looking garden/museum/café/armchair in which to enjoy it and I’m yours forever. I’m like an especially dopey puppy who’s hungry all the time.

Question 3: You talk about the Museum of Joy project on your website. It sounds like an awesome project, can you tell us about it? Are you close to realizing this dream, or is it something you’re working toward for the future?

The Museum of Joy is my life’s work, and it’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a museum dedicated to the experience of joy. (And yeah, okay, also wonder, delight, glee, exuberance, longing, and a general feeling for the marvelous. I’m not fussy.) What the heck does that look like? In my head, it looks like a piece of conservation land with a hand-built complex of low-impact buildings making some kind of fabulous pattern on it, each of which would be home to a riotous conflagration of art, dance, poetry, performance, music, imagination, cookery, and other general joy-inducing stuff. I’m nowhere near it, but I’m working on it. Why, exactly? Because I have an overdose of love for the sheer glory of existence, and I’m pretty sure that if I don’t do my very best to build something really, really awesome centering around the sharing of joy, I’ll end up wearing an orange robe and chanting nonsense syllables in some yippie cult in the Marin Headlands. And I really, really don’t want that.

Rach - Wow, this sounds so intriguing! You told me you'd love to build it on the Californian coast - I'm going to wish you the best of luck with your dream and hope one day I can come visit :)

Question 4: Tell us where you are in your writing journey? Where would you like to be in one year, five years, ten years?

I never thought I’d be a fiction writer. I’ve written all my life, and I love words, but I stopped bothering with stories after I was fifteen or so. I wanted to be a filmmaker and then I wanted to be an artist and writing was just something to help me put my thoughts in order. Then last November my dad and my sister were both doing NaNoWriMo, and I thought hell, I should at least try. I actually have no idea why I thought that, given that I didn’t have the faintest idea what I wanted to write about, but then a novel fell out of me kind of by accident and I stopped asking questions. I have no idea if I’ll ever write another one – I’m still in that one up to my eyeballs.

Honestly, I think of myself as someone-who-builds, not a writer or even an artist, really, despite what my website says. All my art centers around making spaces that feel magical to me, microcosmic and macrocosmic dream worlds and houses and castles in the air, that kind of thing. The first thing I ever wanted to be was an architect, and everything else has just been a variation on the basic theme of architecture as I understood it when I was eight: make something that people can walk into and feel transfigured, moved, shifted, altered forever. That's what I want, now and in ten years and probably in fifty years as well. Writing is a marvelous thing, but honestly, I just not-so-secretly want it to become a fantabulous bestseller so I can buy a piece of land already. If that doesn’t work I’m going to have to try something else. Maybe lawyering. Or chartered accountancy.

Question 5: What WIP are you working on at the moment? Can you share your premise with us? 

I’m deep into my second rewrite of the NaNoWriMo novel I mentioned above. Here, let me give you my new pitch! The Book Doctors, whose amazing book The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published has become a quasi-Bible for me, told me I had to practice my pitch. Let me know what you think, guys. Be harsh.

Somewhere in the heart of in a nameless city falling slowly into the sea, George Kepler, a shy bookbinder, is sitting in his attic with his books. He lives alone. He reads the books he binds. He doesn't have adventures. He dreams of alchemy and harmonies and devils in the chimney. His prayerbooks are the texts of old mathematicians and astronomers. He drinks coffee. He sighs a lot. He wonders if there is anyone left who remembers to praise the works of God but him. He wonders if maybe love's a better option (at least it's companionable). He chronicles the marvelous workings of the cosmos meticulously each evening, and wonders why divinity seems so very far away.

But just when he finds himself distracted by the black eyes of his local barista, Lilya, a peach of a girl with sharp elbows and an obligatory dose of snide, two strangers come a-knocking who know a lot more about him than they should. Before he knows it, they've whirled George out of his sleepy life of prayer and sent him on a series of harebrained and beautiful adventures. As he pursues an unseen Klezmer orchestra through a driving snowstorm, falls off cliffs, uncovers the unlikely friendship of a Danish alchemist and a famous mystic rabbi , stumbles across a secret synagogue, and discovers a forgotten manuscript that might just be about the Golem, he's left with hardly any time to ask himself - are his new friends fun-loving fools, or are they after something? Are they angels sent from God or a pair of tricksy demons? Is he having the time of his life or beginning to lose his mind? Does Lilya think he's nuts or a just lovable schlemiel? And did he leave the front door hanging open?

A Fool For God is an old-fashioned mystical romp, a brooding Eastern European meditation on belief thrust into a San Franciscan carnival of merry, drunken adjectives, a fantastical Christian allegory and a Jewish folktale busy birthing a love child on a festive night in the back alleys of a city that just might be your own.

Question 6: What similarities do you have with your main character? What differences? If you could meet your main character the day before an important event from your WIP occurs, what would you tell him/her???

Well, what I started with was a question for myself: can I, a nonbeliever who can be very impatient with religious belief and especially, generally speaking, the kinds of people who have religious beliefs, can I write a character who believes really and truly and fervently in God without me thinking that he’s basically, well, an idiot? And George kind of sprang up full-fledged in answer to that question. He’s like me in that he’s a Jew with unorthodox ways of looking at the world, I suppose, and his love for beautiful things and books and the mystical aspects of the universe are all certainly things we have in common. But there are fragments of me in all my characters, without any of them being me, or even a version of me. I wanted to write people who I didn’t understand and see if I could get into their heads. But the book is about faith, and the question why is beauty, and that’s certainly me. Me and almost everyone I’ve ever met, actually.

If I met George on the street (and I would love to, I think), the only thing I’d be able to say to him is I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer either. One of the major themes of the book is the mysterious, and what happens to the sacred when you ask too many questions. Or the wrong kind of questions. I’m all for questioning. But part of dealing with faith, no matter what kind of faith you’re talking about, is the battle between the part of you that wants a tidy answer and the part of you that wants to experience wonder. George would be looking at me all crazy-eyed, and I’d be shaking my head and going, “I got nothing, dude. Sorry. I’m not God, I’m just the writer. You’re on your own with this one.”

Rach - That sounds pretty intense. And I'm thinking you've got some great characterization going in your WIP, so go you!

Question 7: And the most important question of all—chocolate or cupcakes???

Oh, chocolate. Hands down. I remember that good dark bitter chocolate is a miracle every time I eat it. Cupcakes are not miracles; they’re too bloody sweet to be miraculous. Miracles are things that make you sway on your feet. Cupcakes are nice, but seriously, who wants nice? Joy isn’t nice, it’s a kind of transcendence, and transcendence is a wild, strange, wonderful thing. And really good chocolate is one of its many manifestations.

Rach Haha, I think that's one of the most unusual answers I've ever got to this question! 

++

Thanks so much for taking the time to be interviewed, Jericha. I hope everyone pops over to her blog to say hello and give her a hug from me :)

BE HERE NOW: A Writer's Auction to Raise Funds for Andy Whitfield's Documentary about Cancer Awareness

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Guys, as an Aussie writer, today I'm doing a shout-out for "Be Here Now," a writers' auction to raise funds for the completion of actor Andy Whitfield's documentary promoting cancer awareness. YA Writer Kathy Bradey, who is repped by Suzie Townsend, is heading up an auction starting this Wednesday where you can win query and manuscript critiques. More details will be on her blog, so please visit her for all the up-to-date info, but here's a quick rundown:

What is "BE HERE NOW?"

Be Here Now” is an inspiring documentary about the actor Andy Whitfield, who put the same determination and dedication that he brought to his lead role in the hit television show, “Spartacus: Blood and Sand,” into fighting life-threatening cancer.

It was Andy’s hope that by opening his story up to a documentary, he might help or inspire others facing similar challenges, while pushing to accelerate the pace of cancer research around the world.

When Andy was told his lymphoma had returned and that without treatment he had 3 – 6 months to live, he was compelled to share his exploration into the unknown. He selflessly invited a film crew into our lives, who followed us through out the last year of Andy’s magnificent and courageous journey. We now need your support to finish the documentary and fulfill Andy’s legacy. ~ Vashti Whitfield 

What are "BE HERE NOW" Critiques?

“Be Here Now” needs funding for additional filming and editing, else the documentary will not be completed.

As a writer/fan of Andy Whitfield/despiser of cancer, Kathy Bradey has rallied together some wonderfully generous authors to offer various manuscript, chapter and query critiques in exchange for your pledge/donation to the “Be Here Now” Kickstarter campaign.

Writers participating so far:

Debra Driza
Laura Tims
Michelle Painchaud
E.K. Henry
Kathy Bradey
Mindee Arnett
Melanie Santiago
Angie Spartz
Rachael Allen
Beth Light
Susanne Winnacker
Kaitlin Ward
Jenn Walkup
Kara Taylor
Dawn Rae Miller
Stephanie Kuehn
Rebecca Rogers
Lori Lee

When does it start?

The first round of auction items will be posted on WEDNESDAY, 13TH JUNE (Sydney, Australia time) on Kathy’s blog.

Important Details

• The minimum bid is $1.00.
• Once winners have been confirmed, they must pledge their winning amount to Kickstarter within one week of winning their auction item. Please note: A pledge is not a payment. It is a promise of payment.
• THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!
As per the rules of Kickstarter, you will NOT have to pay any money (even after you have pledged) unless the “Be Here Now” funding goal is met within the specified timeframe. Let me say that again. IF THE FUNDING GOAL IS NOT MET WITHIN THE TIMEFRAME, YOU WILL NOT BE CHARGED YOUR PLEDGED AMOUNT. Unfortunately this also means that you will only receive your auction item if the funding goal is met. However, with a funding goal of $200,000 and $37,000 already pledged in 2 days (with 43 days to go), you can make up your own mind whether or not to participate.
• If the funding goal is met, your credit card will be charged on Monday Jul 23, 4:04pm EDT. You must send Kathy the confirmation e-mail sent by Amazon Payments as a record of donation to receive your critique.

If you would like to pledge without partaking in the auction, do so here.

Thank you for your interest and support! Please retweet, blog, spread the word!

++

I hope to see you all over at Kathy's blog on Wednesday for the start of bidding :)

Beta Match - Are you looking for a critique partner or beta reader? (June 4, 2012)

By Rachael Harrie (@RachaelHarrie)

(Source)

It can be hard to find a critique partner or beta reader (and even harder to find a great one!). Some of you have found critique partners and beta readers through those you know in person, while others have found them in bloggers you met online, on Twitter, through online conferences such as WriteOnCon, through forums such as Verla Kay's Blueboards, Absolute Write, and in other ways. But time and again I’ve seen people commenting that they don’t know where to look. So, I thought I’d help out (*grins*).

Today, I'm running a Beta Match (and don't let the name fool you, it's for critique partners too!). If you’re interested in taking part, there are two options:

OPTION ONE: 

Put your details and what you’re looking for in the comments below, using the following template:

Name: (your name, pen name, or blogging handle)
Email: (your email address)
My current WIP: (give a few details)
I'm looking for: (a critique partner or beta reader or both. Plus give info about the critiquing style/focus/etc that you want from a CP/beta reader, and whether you have work ready to be looked at now or are looking for a long-term partnership)
Some info about me: (anything you think a potential CP or beta reader will need to know)

(Source)

AND/OR

OPTION TWO: 

Read through other comments in this post to see if someone who’ll suit your needs has commented. Then contact them directly.

Please note: Beta Match isn't only for those who have a piece of work ready to be critiqued right now. It's intended to be a way for people to find critique partners who can help them with their writing/revisions/etc over the long-term. Even if you're after a beta reader, you can still connect with someone now and swap work at a later date :)

So comment away, and wishing you the best of luck finding someone!

May Self-Publishing and Digital Publishing Series (Week 4: Adina West Guest Post)

By Rachael Harrie; @RachaelHarrie (with guest post by Adina West; @Adina_West)

A reminder: don't forget to stop by Rach Writes... next Monday, June 4, for my next Beta Match, an opportunity for you to connect with Critique Partners and Beta Readers!!!

Today's post is the last in my May series on Self-Publishing and Digital Publishing. It's been so much fun to do, with guests posts by:

Michael Offutt (Monday, May 7, 2012), 

Rachel Morgan from Rachel Morgan Writes (Monday, May 14, 2012), 

Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi from The Bookshelf Muse (Monday, May 21, 2012), and 

Adina West from Stairways and Landings (today). 

I hope you all enjoyed yourself and found lots of useful information and tips! So, for the last time this series, some agent tips/posts and "link love" on the pros and cons of self- or digital publishing:

Some agent thoughts on self-publishing

(Former) agent Nathan Bransford: Traditional vs. Self-Publishing is a False Dichotomy

And this one: On Self-Publishing and Having a Chip on One's Shoulder

Other "link love"

Why do so many Hate Self-Published Books? by Tracey H. Kitts

3 Tips for Assessing Self-Publishing Companies by Andrew Chapman of Curiosity Quills Press

David Robinson: One Author's Experiences with KDP Select

Where will Self-Publishing get Quality Control?: Roz Morris

How to Self-Publish an E-book by Chris Gaylord

The Domino Project: Using Ebooks to Promote Ebooks

Joel Friedlander: Self-Publishing on Unwavering Faith

Hope these are all interesting and useful! Now on to the digital publishing journey of one of my original Writers' Platform-Building Campaigners, Adina West from Stairways and Landings:

Guest Post by Adina West of Stairways and Landings

Campaigners rock!

Adina West

Rach and I have shared time in the trenches. We’re both Australian, and even though we originally met online, we’ve been lucky enough to meet up in real life. We started blogging around the same time, (though I am MUCH less prolific) and in 2010 and 2011 I participated in every one of her early platform-building campaigns, and met some wonderful bloggers and writers.

My fellow campaigners were there for me back in 2010 when I was angsting over my search for an agent. (if angsting isn’t a word, it should be!) Recently, they’ve also shared my exciting news; after an eighteen-month-long search, I’ve finally signed with a publisher! So it feels appropriate that my first ever guest post is for Rach Writes..., our campaign headquarters.

New beginnings

My book, Dark Child, will be published by Momentum, the brand new, digital-only division of Pan Macmillan Australia. Working in collaboration with industry professionals to edit and revise the manuscript is really exciting. Many minds are better than one, and I’m confident that all our hard work will result in a better book. 

My work space

Here’s a picture of where all this is supposed to happen: my new writing space. My husband and a friend rescued this desk from the roadside for me one rainy night...

I wrote my first book while sitting at the kitchen table. Or with the laptop in front of the TV. So I’m not sure if this special desk-of-my-own thing will work. But at least now I have a safe place to charge my computer away from my son’s grasping little fingers!

Down the track, I’ll be very glad to have the expertise and support of my publisher’s marketing team behind me. And other people doing the cover, and layout, and organizing an ISBN, and a myriad of other tasks that I’ve probably never even heard of. I’m very grateful to be able to share the workload with other professionals who can do their various jobs so much better than I could.

The digital publishing model makes a lot of sense.

Publishing a title digitally is less expensive than the print alternative, so it’s easier for digital publishers to take a chance on someone new. My book straddles the line between young adult and adult. And it blends genres, with paranormal elements, and suspense, and romance, and a touch of epic fantasy.

I’ve found Momentum keen to use the flexibility and responsiveness of digital to market my book to as diverse an audience as possible, which is great, because marketing to cross genre audiences can be tricky. And by publishing new writers, they’re playing their part in nurturing the best selling authors of the next generation. I believe the ultimate winner in this scenario will be the reader.

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I’d like to thank Rach for hosting me today – and I hope you’ll share my journey in the months to come. I’m also more than happy to answer any questions you have in the comments.

About Adina

Adina West grew up surrounded by trees, on a remote property on Australia's east coast, in country New South Wales.

"As a child, I was never afraid of the dark," she says. "The night, for me, was filled with infinite possibility."

Adina wrote her first story at age eight. "I typed it up on my parents' old typewriter," she says. "I knew I wanted to be a writer."

Though her subject matter may have matured, that desire has remained unchanged.

Adina lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and two children.

Some random facts about Adina in no particular order:

• She occasionally drinks tea and coffee to be polite, but prefers rooibos. Or hot chocolate. Or chai (which doesn't make much sense, because it has tea in it)
• She loves vintage and hand crafted and made-from-scratch. She's also a recovering Etsy addict.
• She has scraps of paper and computer files and notebooks full of jottings and song lyrics and bad poetry, but Dark Child is her first completed novel.
• She can't whistle to save her life, but she can whittle.
• She can dance the Heel and Toe Polka and Pride of Erin. But can't manage a normal waltz.

May Self-Publishing and Digital Publishing Series (Week 3: Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi Guest Post)

Welcome to my May Monday series on Self-Publishing and Digital Publishing. I hope you'll find heaps of information and knowledge within these posts to help you on your writing journey or give you information about the journey other writers are undertaking. I'll have guest posts from:

• Michael Offutt (Monday, May 7, 2012), 
• Rachel Morgan from Rachel Morgan Writes (Monday, May 14, 2012),
• Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi from The Bookshelf Muse (today), and 
• Adina West from Stairways and Landings (Monday, May 28, 2012).

They're all either already published or have books that are coming out soon via self-publishing or digital publishing, and they're going to share some of their publishing journeys with you, give you interesting information about self/digital publishing, and even give you the chance to win some cool loot! And each of the four weeks, I'll be popping in some agent tips/posts and "link love" on the pros and cons of self- or digital publishing as well.

Some agent thoughts on self-publishing

Janet Kobobel-Grant writes about Why Everyone in Publishing-Authors, Agents, Publishers-Feel Disinfranchised

Sarah LaPolla's interesting post on What's the Deal With Self-Publishing?

Some link love

A 2011 article on digital publishing pros and cons: E-Publishing with a Publisher rather than Self-Publishing

Three Tips For Assessing Self-Publishing Companies

Harlequin Fail - a very frank look at why a long-time published author with Harlequin has turned to self-publishing

Something Scary Is Happening - an interesting look at Amazon's KDP Select and why they'll never give it up, plus some lessons for Indies

The Masquerade Crew on 99c Ebooks - Good or Bad?

I hope you find all these links useful. More next week.


Guest Post by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, authors of THE EMOTION THESAURUS 

I'd like to welcome these two lovely ladies to Rach Writes... and thank them for sharing their publishing journey with us. Together, they are responsible for The Bookshelf Muse, and as you will probably know, they've just published their fantastic book, THE EMOTION THESAURUS. They were also behind the massive Random Acts of Kindness blitz you will have seen around the writing community over the last week. Take it away ladies!!!

Self-Publishing: Taking the Scenic Route

ANGELA: Becca and I have been writing for a long time, so we’re familiar with setbacks and the occasional detour. What’s that line from Days of Thunder? Rubbin’ is racing. Well, that’s writing. If the path is smooth, you’re not on the writer’s road.

So when we decided to self publish The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Expression, we were ready for a few bumps! Our cover creation went smooth. We chose Scarlett Rugers, probably the most professional art designer I’ve ever met. You want a great cover, she’s your gal. However the first bump came when our original formatter found that our project was a bit too complex. (To be fair, the ET is not your average book. The fact that it needed someone really experienced in HTML wasn’t a total shock.) She did the right thing to tell us, and luckily, knew just the gal to get it done: Heather Adkins, Formatting Goddess (she really is). WHEW, crisis averted.

When it came to uploading, Becca and I divvied up tasks. I took on Createspace, and the whole process was a breeze. Provided you do your homework and make sure your Word doc. matches the trim size, and it’s formatted correctly, the process is quick and painless. In a few short days, we had a proof in our hands and suddenly, the book was REAL.

BECCA: Meanwhile, I was in charge of uploading the various digital files to the different distributor sites. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords were pretty straight forward. Apple, on the other hand...there’s a reason so many people go through a distributor like Smashwords to get to iTunes instead of selling directly through Apple. Their formatting standards are ridiculously picky, there is no phone support for iTunes Connect (their venue for self-publishing), and their wait times are notoriously long; first, you have to apply to self-publish with them (wait up to two weeks for acceptance), then you get to upload your file (and wait two more weeks for your book to go live). Craziness.

BECCA: Another speed bump that we never foresaw was the multi-authorship of our book. Most distributors had no problem with this. But when I uploaded to Smashwords, there was only one author’s name allowed. I e-mailed them to find out how to include both our names and they matter-of-factly informed me that Smashwords has no protocol for including multiple authors on their listings. End of story. No apology, no this-is-something-we’re-working-on. Just a resounding No. So if you co-author a book with someone and want to distribute it through Smashwords to other venues like Amazon, Sony, or Kobo, know that while your actual book will have both your names on it, the listing at Smashwords will not.

ANGELA: I’d say over all (possibly with a slight grumble from Becca) that our experience was pretty good. What we did learn is that it’s important to leave yourself a lot of lead time up to your launch. Becca and I uploaded to Smashwords well in advance, but we left others a bit too close to the release date. Had something gone sideways at the wrong time, it could have messed us up or even caused us to postpone.

Three takeaways from this experience: 

• Don’t hit ‘Publish’ until you are certain your book is as strong as it would be had you gone through traditional publishing. This is your NAME, your BRAND. If the writing is sloppy, a pretty cover won’t save it. 
• Unless you know what you’re doing, pay a formatter. A good one. Ask for references and talk to other clients. Trust me, it’s worth the cheddar. You want a painless process, not a pain-filled one. 
• Hopefully you won’t need it, but leave yourself lots of time for the scenic route, just in case you find yourself on it!

Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi are possibly twins separated at birth, living in different countries. The Bookshelf Muse blog duo are co-authors of The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression. Listing the body language, visceral reactions and thoughts associated with seventy-five different emotions, this brainstorming guide is a valuable tool for showing, not telling, emotion.

This book is available in both Print and Digital Formats.

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Thanks so much for sharing your insight, Angela and Becca. Make sure you check out their book, THE EMOTION THESAURUS, which is a must-have for all writers (of course, I've bought my copy already *grins*).

And make sure you pop back next Monday for the last in my Self-Publishing and Digital Publishing series, a guest post by the lovely Adina West from  Stairways and Landings!


 

May Self-Publishing and Digital Publishing Series (Week 2: Rachel Morgan Guest Post) (and Random Act of Kindness BLITZ!)

Welcome to my May Monday series on Self-Publishing and Digital Publishing. I hope you'll find heaps of information and knowledge within these posts to help you on your writing journey or give you information about the journey other writers are undertaking. I'll have guest posts from:

1. Michael Offutt (last Monday), 
2. Rachel Morgan from Rachel Morgan Writes (today),
3. Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi from The Bookshelf Muse (May 21), and 
4. Adina West from Stairways and Landings (May 28).

They're all either already published or have books that are coming out soon via self-publishing or digital publishing, and they're going to share some of their publishing journeys with you, give you interesting information about self/digital publishing, and even give you the chance to win some cool loot! And each of the four weeks, I'll be popping in some agent tips/posts and "link love" on the pros and cons of self- or digital publishing as well.

Some agent thoughts on self-publishing

Natalie Lakosil has answered some Author Q & A on Self-Publishing, including how authors can publish traditionally after self-publishing.

Rachelle Gardner has written a post on the intriguing question of: Are Agents Running Scared?

Nathan Bransford has written so many awesome posts on self-/digital publishing. This week his post is about The Biggest Challenges in the New Era of Publishing.

Some "link love"

Rachel Morgan shares some of her publishing stats in her guest post below. And if you are interested in hearing about the publishing stats of another published author, check out Shelli Johannes's recent post where she gives an Update From the Indie Front: My Indie Sales Update. It's very enlightening to see how she's done over the last six months of self-publishing.

Tracey H. Kitts has written a post on Why Do So Many Hate Self-Published Books - I don't know if any  of you have experienced this attitude, but it's an interesting read in any case.

In keeping with the week's focus on "Self-Publishing Stats" and the experiences of self-published authors, here's the post from Amanda Hocking that I mentioned last week, where she talks about the success of her two new series, which are being "traditionally published": How Am I Doing Now?

I hope all those links are very helpful. And here is Rachel Morgan's guest post, where she gives her experiences of self-publishing and compares Amazon KDP vs Smashwords:

Rachel Morgan's Guest Post

Self-Publishing: Amazon KDP vs Smashwords

Amazon KDP

Pros

• I found the formatting requirements to be simpler than Smashwords.
• Everyone knows Amazon! More people will come across your book.
• Bestseller lists. Customers can see your book’s ranking overall on the Kindle Store as well as within specific categories. This is a good thing if your book is doing well, but possibly not a good thing if your ranking isn’t great!

Cons

• Amazon only sells one ebook format—the Kindle format—and so their ebooks can only be read on Kindles.
• You have to wait up to 48 hours for your ebook to be available for sale.
• The categories you choose when you upload and publish your ebook are NOT exactly the same as the search categories in the Kindle Store. So all the research I did beforehand (number of books in each category, as well as keyword searches within each category) was almost useless!
• Your ebook can end up on a random bestseller list, which may confuse readers. For example, in its first week, Guardian ended up on an Anthologies bestseller list, despite the fact that it’s not an anthology!
• You cannot make your book free unless it is enrolled in the KDP Select program, where you then have the option of 5 free days during every 90 day period. (Unless you try and force Amazon into a price match, but you don’t know how long that will take, or how long it will take for them to put a price back on it.)
• Your ebook may be “lost” whilst publishing! I hadn’t heard of this until it happened to me! When I published the second installment in the Creepy Hollow series, Labyrinth, I received the standard email from Amazon congratulating me on publishing a book, and giving me the link to where I could find it. However, when I clicked on the link, I got a 404 Not Found error. Over and over again! After some research on the KDP forums, I discovered a few other people had experienced the same problem. One person was still waiting a MONTH later for their book to show up! Fortunately, Amazon “found” my book within a day or two. Phew!

Smashwords

Pros

• Smashwords produces multiple formats of your ebook, so customers can read it on many different e-readers.
• Smashwords distributes to other online retailers, like Barnes & Noble, Apple’s iBookstore, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, and Baker & Taylor.
• Your ebook can be available for sale on the site within minutes (depending on (I imagine) how many other people are uploading at the same time).

Cons

• I found the formatting requirements to be a little more complicated (or at least long-winded) than Amazon’s.
• Not as many people buy from Smashwords.
• You have to wait a while for your book to be approved for the Smashwords Premium Catalogue. It took a little over two weeks for Guardian to be approved. (Smashwords won’t distribute your ebook to any retailers until it has been approved.)
• There are no ranking details for your book.
• Distribution times. After a book is approved, it is supposed to take one to two weeks to show up on other online retail sites. I found Guardian on Sony, Kobo and Diesel within that time, but a MONTH after it had been approved, when I unpublished Guardian from Smashwords so that I could try out Amazon’s KDP Select program, the book STILL had not shown up on Barnes & Noble and the iBookstore. (That was on April 25th, and I first published Guardian on March 5th)

Other Comments

DRM and Piracy
Another difference between Amazon and Smashwords is DRM (Digital Rights Management). I didn’t list it in the pros and cons, because it can be both a pro and a con! On Amazon you can choose whether you want to apply DRM or not. On Smashwords there is no option. None of their books have DRM. If you don’t want anyone pirating “sharing” your ebook with others, then you’ll want to have DRM. However, honest customers who have no intention of passing on copies of your book may still find this frustrating as it means they can only read your ebook on one device. There have been many debates on whether piracy of ebooks is a good or bad thing, and this blog post isn’t about that. (But you’re welcome to bring it up in the comments if you want!)

Difference in Sales Numbers
At the time that I unpublished Guardian and Labyrinth from Smashwords (so that I could try out Amazon's KDP Select program) I had sold about six times more copies on Amazon than through Smashwords. And through the retailers that Smashwords distributes to, I had sold only ONE copy!

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Thanks so much for that awesome guest post, Rachel! Here is her bio and her links:

Rachel Morgan was born in South Africa and spent a large portion of her childhood living in a fantasy land of her own making. She always loved reading, but decided to do something science-y with her brain when she left school. She studied Genetics and Biochemistry, but eventually realized that research wasn’t for her—writing was! These days, in between teaching mathematics to high school girls, she writes fiction for young adults.

The Creepy Hollow Series

Amazon | Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Book Trailer

Author Links

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Google+

A Giveaway! 

Rachel has kindly offered a giveaway! Just leave a comment then click through the Rafflecopter link below :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Random Act Of Kindness Blitz

A smile. An encouraging word. A thoughtful gesture. Each day people interact with us, help, and make our day a bit brighter and full. This is especially true in the Writing Community. 

Take a second to think about writers you know, like the critique partner who works with you to improve your manuscript. The writing friend who listens, supports and keeps you strong when times are tough. The author who generously offers council, advice and inspiration when asked.

So many people take the time to make us feel special, don't they? They comment on our blogs, re-tweet our posts, chat with us on forums and wish us Happy Birthday on Facebook.

Kindness ROCKS!

To commemorate the release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus, Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse are hosting a TITANIC Random Act Of Kindness BLITZ. And because I think KINDNESS is contagious, I'm participating too!

I am randomly picking Rachel Morgan, who is a good friend--Rachel was my fifteenth follower, and her comment on one of my posts in late 2010 inspired me to create my Writers' Platform-Building Campaign, which I know has helped so many of you connect with other writers and build your platform. I thought it rather appropriate to choose Rachel, given she has shared her guest post with us today *grins*.

Rachel, for my RAOK gift, I'm offering to help by critiquing your next book in the CREEPY HOLLOW series :) And if you have a minute, please stop in and tell Rachel how awesome she is!

Do you know someone special that you'd like to randomly acknowledge? Don't be shy--come join us and celebrate! Send them an email, give them a shout out, or show your appreciation in another way. Kindness makes the world go round. :)

Becca and Angela have a special RAOK gift waiting for you as well, so hop on over to The Bookshelf Muse to pick it up.

How about you: Have you ever participated in or been the recipient of a Random Act Of Kindness? Were there any links above that will be useful to you? Are you self-publishing or digital publishing - if so, where are you in your publishing journey? 

May Self-Publishing and Digital Publishing Series (Week 1: Michael Offutt Guest Post)

As promised, welcome to my May series on Self-Publishing and Digital Publishing. I have an exciting schedule of Monday posts planned, and I hope you'll find heaps of information and knowledge within these posts to help you on your writing journey or give you information about the journey other writers are undertaking. I'll have guest posts from:

1. Michael Offutt (today - as part of his SLIPSTREAM book tour), 
2. Rachel Morgan from Rachel Morgan Writes (May 14), 
3. Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi from The Bookshelf Muse (May 21), and 
4. Adina West from Stairways and Landings (May 28). 

They're all either already published or have books that are coming out soon via self-publishing or digital publishing, and they're going to share some of their publishing journeys with you, give you interesting information about self/digital publishing, and even give you the chance to win some cool loot!

And each of the four weeks, I'll be popping in some interesting agent tips/posts and "link love" on self- or digital publishing as well! In the interests of offering balanced information, I'll be including both pros and cons - I think it's very important for people to decide for themselves which form of publishing best suits their needs, and to do that, you need all the information, right.

Some agent thoughts on self-publishing

Former agent Nathan Bransford wrote this post on Should You Self-Publish: 10 Questions to Ask Yourself (it's a little old now, but the things to consider before self-publishing are still spot on!).

And this one, from 2012: Is There A Self-Publishing Bubble?

Here is part of agent Marisa Corvisiero's response to the question: With the trend of authors self-publishing, do you see this as a negative for the author who may later decide to try traditional publishing?

Being self published no longer means that the book is just not good enough or that the author is difficult to work with. It may just mean that the author is willing to spend time and money to sell their book and that they are eager to create a following. So the old perceptions are shifting into a more neutral and acceptable plane. I have recently sent out questions to some contacts at NYC top ten traditional houses and all ten told me that if they love the work and the book has been doing well, they will try to acquire it. The magic number for “doing well” is about 5K book sales! That is not an impossible number to achieve today with all of the social marketing and e-book opportunities that cost almost nothing!

Some link love:

And here's some link love on self/digital publishing:

• Here is *the* post by Amanda Hocking, the one she wrote in 2011 in response to the huge hype about her success. Anyone who is considering self-publishing should read this realistic post, and many of her other posts, I think. I'll be including others in my May series, including one of her latest posts about the success of her new books which are being "traditionally published"
• Emlyn Chand has written this post: Why I’m self-publishing Farsighted even though I already have a literary agent: Indie power and the perfect marketing campaign!
• Infinity Publishing are, I believe, a Print on Demand publishing company, and they have written an article on the Benefits of Self-Publishing. I haven't ordered or read this book, so I can't personally recommend it, but this "free 100 page self-publishing guide" by Infinity Publishing may be of interest to anyone who is thinking about Print on Demand publishing (here is the Absolute Write thread on Infinity Publishing, so you can check them out).

I hope you find all these links useful. More next week. Now, over to Michael :)

Guest Post by Michael Offutt, author of SLIPSTREAM

My publisher is Double Dragon Publishing. They are based out of Canada. Double Dragon Publishing describes itself as a midsize or medium-sized publisher. They primarily concentrate on e-books. However, they also do print, as in print on demand. This means that they do things through Lulu or lightning source and people can order a paperback book by clicking on the right button online. My book will never be physically featured in bookstores like Barnes & Noble, but I'm definitely okay with that. Really the only way you seem to be able to get into bookstores here in the States is to be traditionally published through one of the Big Six and that requires an agent and a whole lot of other things. My book honestly was never going to find representation. It has gay characters, is written in third person omniscient, has a boy as a protagonist, and comes in at 120,000 words. I gave up after 40 or so rejection letters. About that time I discovered several small publishers that didn't require an agent for representation. And mostly I was looking for someone that would format the book for me, help with some editing, and do the cover art. Double Dragon Publishing did all of that.

I published SLIPSTREAM without having a single beta-reader. I tried to find one and was unsuccessful. I asked my friend Robyn to read it. I even paid her $400.00 to get advice. I got nothing. I asked my friend Kathy to read it. She never got back to me. I emailed a copy to my friend Melissa. I never heard anything. My own family doesn’t read so they weren’t an option. After a year of searching, I had exhausted all my contacts. So I just tackled it myself and tried to figure out what was working and what didn’t work. It took me three years to write.

I started a blog in 2011. Since then I’ve met a lot of talented people, and in getting my sequel written, I was actually approached by beta-readers. Let me rephrase that…I had people who actually solicited me to read my book. I was stunned. Really? So I sent them copies (I’m not stupid) and they read what I’d written in two weeks! I was floored, overwhelmed, fascinated, and oh so thankful. I had gone from a year of nothing but heartache to ten pages of feedback simply because I started a blog. To show my appreciation to these betas, I offered to read their stuff in return. One thus far has taken me up on the offer. The other will do so in the future, she’s just not ready yet.

All of this happened because I network with other writers. It’s such a relief that I can’t express my gratitude to the people who are reading my words.

If you are in this boat; if you are an author and needs feedback but never gets it, I urge you to network with other writers. Join Rach’s twice a year Writers' Platform-Building Campaign. Join Arlee Bird’s A to Z Challenge. Participate in blog fests. You will have fun and make friends and more importantly, become a part of a huge online community that can support our special kind of crazy.

I have a contest for the release of my book. I will pick one random person who comments on this post to win a $5 Amazon Gift Card and a SLIPSTREAM jeweled spider (the same person wins both prizes). The jeweled spider really sparkles in the sunlight. I hope whoever wins it really likes it. Also, please make sure that your email is linked to your signature in some way :)

Rules:

1) Mark my book “To Read” on Goodreads.

2) Comment on this post.

3) Tweet this post if you have twitter. You don’t have to sign-up for twitter. It’s the “honor” system. :)

That’s it. I will choose a winner on Saturday, May 19th. And thank you, Rachael, for having me on your fine blog.

Here's where SLIPSTREAM can be found:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Slipstream-ebook/dp/B007R5DN8W/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1333585536&sr=1-1-catcorr

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1109954378?ean=9781554049493

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13003318-slipstream

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Thanks so much Michael, it's been lovely having you along today. Wishing you every success with SLIPSTREAM (and I just adore that Spider badge *grins*).

I hope all of you enjoyed reading Michael's post. Make sure you pop back next Monday for the next step in my self-publishing/digital publishing series: Rachel Morgan's guest post :) And don't forget to follow Michael's instructions above for a chance to win his awesome spider and the $5 Amazon Gift Card!