Happy book birthday! ‘Endre’ by ST Bende
Posted: September 9, 2013 Filed under: On Books | Tags: book launch, contests, small presses, urban fantasy Leave a comment
Endre by ST Bende
Book II of The Elsker Saga
Release: September 9, 2013 (HELLO, TODAY!)
Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Entranced Publishing (Rush imprint)
Blurb:
Sometimes, finding your destiny means doing the exact opposite of what The Fates have planned.
Winning the heart of an immortal assassin was a dream come true for Kristia Tostenson. Now she’s knee deep in wedding plans, goddess lessons, and stolen kisses. But her decision to become immortal could end in heartbreak — not only for Kristia, but for the god who loves her. Because while Ull would do anything to protect his bride, even the God of Winter is powerless against the Norse apocalypse. Ragnarok is coming. And the gods aren’t even close to ready.
Availalbe from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
Review Snippets:
“If you’re looking for a different take on New Adult that has plenty of swoon-worthy moments, some nail-biting action, and a mythological world you can lose yourself in, this book is for you.”
Giveaway:
About the Author:
The gorgeous ST Bende
Before finding domestic bliss in suburbia, ST Bende lived in Manhattan Beach (became overly fond of Peet’s Coffee) and Europe… where she became overly fond of McVities cookies. Her love of Scandinavian culture and a very patient Norwegian teacher inspired the books of The Elsker Saga (TUR, ELSKER and ENDRE). She is an audio co-host of #NALitChat, and helps compile indie new releases for the USA Today HEA blog. She hopes her characters make you smile and that one day, pastries will be considered a health food.
Find ST on Goodreads, Twitter, Pinterest, her blog, or send her an e-mail at stbende(at)gmail(dot)com. While you’re at it, introduce yourself to @UllMyhr on Twitter — when he’s not saving the cosmos from dark elves, he loves meeting new friends. Especially the human kind.
Excerpt:
“What do you want to know?” Ull lowered his sunglasses lazily and eyed me with a look that made my insides burn.
“Well,” I paused. “Uh… what am I supposed to do if I’m attacked?”
“You mean if this happened?” Ull launched himself off the chaise, wrapping one arm around my waist and dragging me across the beach. He cradled me in his arms and landed in the froth where the ocean met the shore.
“See? I’m totally defenseless!” I gazed up at him, my back pressed firmly against the wet sand. He hovered over me, supporting his weight on his forearms.
“I am afraid you are.” Piercing blue eyes locked in on mine. Between the depth of his stare and the heat from his abs, I forgot everything else.
“Um …” I bit my bottom lip.
Ull tilted his head to one side, a small smile playing at one corner of his mouth. “Now what did you want to know?”
“I–” I broke off as a wave washed over us. The warm saltwater lapped up to my waist then retreated, leaving a film of sand over my legs.
“You were asking me how to defend yourself?” Dangit, it was hard to focus with Ull’s dripping body pressing against mine. Yes, I wanted whatever it was I’d asked about. Self-defense, right. But there was something else I wanted more.
I bent my knee and twined my calf around Ull’s. I shifted my hips just an inch and stared into those endless blue eyes. They sparkled in the sunlight. My arms were trapped beneath his torso, so I turned my palms upward to touch the spot where his chest met his shoulders. It was so smooth, so firm, and so very, very warm. My eyes never left his as I moved my thumb along the line of his shoulder, down his biceps and down to the crook of his arm. I drew a slow circle inside his elbow and Ull blinked.
“Kristia,” he whispered.
“Yes?” I tried to reach up to stroke the stubble lining his square chin, but my arms were pinned.
“You are not trying to defend yourself.”
“So?” I raised my head and kissed his jaw. “Maybe I don’t feel like fighting you off.”
“Mmm,” Ull closed his eyes as I kissed my way up to his ear. “So if someone came after you, you would just let them do this?”
He swiftly rolled onto his back, forcing me on top of him. He shoved his fingers in my hair and tugged gently, pulling my head back. He kept the other hand just above the bottom of my bikini, firmly pressing my hips into his. I squirmed against the hold, trying to find a way out of his grip. Though I tactically had the upper hand, I couldn’t move.
“Well I wouldn’t let just anyone do this.”
“I should hope not,” he growled softly. He raked his teeth along my throat and paused at the hollow of my neck. “Because this could end very badly for you.” He ran his tongue along my collarbone. I shivered.
In a lightning-quick move, Ull flipped me onto my back and pinned my arms above my head with one hand. I gazed adoringly at the fierce assassin glowering over me. “And this. What would you do if someone did this to you?”
“Uh,” I blinked. If I told Ull what I really wanted to do right now, I’d turn every possible shade of crimson.
“Focus Kristia.” Ull stared at me. “What would you do if you were trapped?”
“I… uh… I’d,” I blushed. “You seriously want me to fight you off?”
“If you are so bent on going through with this little exercise, then yes. Give it your best shot. And then I believe, you promised to pay me for the lesson.”
“Gladly.” I narrowed my eyes and wrenched my arm as hard as I could. It didn’t budge. I tried again but it was futile.
“You are outmaneuvered and I am twice your weight. Try something else.” Ull commanded.
I threw my shoulder into his chest and tried to roll to one side.
“You cannot out-force me. Look at the difference in our masses. Think tactically, Kristia. What can you do that will debilitate me?”
My eyes widened. “You don’t want me to–”
“I want you to find a way to get me off you. Do what you have to do.”
I closed my eyes and raised a knee to his groin. Ull groaned and rolled off me.
“I’m so sorry! You said to–”
He raised a hand and waved at me, turning away.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated.
“That was good.” He rolled back with a grimace. “But if someone is bent on capturing you, they will come back for more. And quickly. Your next step should be to run.”
“If you want I can get some ice for–”
“Run, darling.” It was a threat. “Now.”
Cover Reveal and Excerpt: ‘Finding Home’ by Lauren K. McKellar
Posted: August 30, 2013 Filed under: On Books | Tags: aussie-owned, book covers, contests, small presses Leave a commentI’m thrilled to be a part of the cover reveal for Finding Home, written by my dear friend Lauren K. McKellar. Also, the excerpt gave me goosebumps! I can’t wait for this release!
Synopsis:
Moody, atmospheric, and just a little bit punk, Finding Home takes contemporary YA to a new level of grit…
When Amy’s mum dies, the last thing she expects is to be kicked off her dad’s music tour all the way to her Aunt Lou in a depressing hole of a seaside town. But it’s okay — Amy learned how to cope with the best, and soon finds a hard-drinking, party-loving crowd to help ease the pain.
The only solace is her music class, but even there she can’t seem to keep it together, sabotaging her grade and her one chance at a meaningful relationship. It takes a hard truth from her only friend before Amy realises that she has to come to terms with her past, before she destroys her future.
Finding Home, Lauren K McKellar’s debut novel, is coming October 1, 2013. Add it to Goodreads today.
Click HEREto enter a giveaway celebrating this sexy new cover!
Excerpt:
‘Look, I have to go. Can we talk about this later?’ Dad was asking Mum. Joe had shut the door behind him, and it was a good thing he did too, because when Dad had finished speaking, Mum picked up an empty bottle of Grey Goose vodka and threw it at his head. She missed, missed by a mile, but that didn’t stop the bottle hitting the wall behind him and shattering into thousands of tiny pieces.
‘Jesus!’ Dad exclaimed. He turned around, surveying the damage.
‘Oh, look what I did! Can’t have clean-cut Stevie D trashing the green room. People might talk!’ Mum’s voice dripped with sarcasm. It sounded hoarse, no doubt a result of the hours she’d spent alternating between crying and screaming up until now.
‘Even if this was our bloody lounge room, I would still be furious! You can’t just throw s**t like that.’
‘I’ll throw whatever I want to throw!’ Mum yelled. ‘You’re so uptight.’ She walked up to Dad and put her hands on his shoulders, shaking them. ‘Give up this stupid dream already.’
‘And do what? I can’t afford your habits any other way. If I don’t sing, you have to get a job.’ Dad shook his head.
I inched around behind them and started to pick up the pieces of glass. They were all different sizes, and some had gotten stuck in the carpet. They required a bit of twisting to retrieve, but the others I could pick up with ease and place in my hand.
‘What do you want me to do? I don’t have any skills. And there’s clearly only one thing you think I’m good at these days,’ Mum said, leering. She pulled at her top, exposing her décolletage.
I focused on the glass again. I counted each piece in my hand. Thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight. On the fortieth piece, a shard broke through my skin, spilling bright red blood. Funny. I hadn’t thought my skin would be so thin.
‘Amy, you’re hurt!’ Mum pushed past Dad and came to kneel next to me. ‘What are you doing?’ She knocked my hand with her own, and the pieces of glass flew up into the air and landed back on the floor.
All my efforts — ruined.
‘Let me see,’ Dad said.
‘Get the hell away from her!’ Mum yelled, raising her voice again.
‘Do we have to do this in front of Amy?’ Dad asked. I felt them turn to look at me. Did they think I hadn’t heard? That the fights they’d been having all day in the adjacent hotel room hadn’t resonated with a hatred that travelled through walls?
‘Please don’t,’ was all I could say. But it was enough. Dad left the room, and Mum tended to my hand, spilling some vodka to cleanse it before wrapping it in a spare t-shirt.
‘I’m sorry, baby,’ Mum whispered to me. ‘I promise, things are going to get better.’
Only they didn’t. They got much, much worse.
Find Lauren McKellar at her website, or on Twitter or Facebook.
Interview with author and ‘Chihuahua Momma’, Amy Jarecki
Posted: July 22, 2013 Filed under: On Books | Tags: book launch, Interview, small presses, Turquoise Morning Press 8 CommentsWant a book about love in the glamorous world of doggy beauty pageants? Wondering if there all that hairspray and valium (and that’s just for the dogs!) can lead to something more? Then CHIHUAHUA MOMMA may be the book for you!
CHIHUAHUA MOMMA is by Amy Jarecki. Born in Alturas, California, Amy holds an MBA from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. She now lives in south-west Utah with her husband, and writes contemporary romance and Scottish historical romance. Amy loves dancing, hiking, golfing, but above all, she is a true Chihuahua Momma.
Amy has very kindly answered a few questions about books and life here.
Where did you get the inspiration for CHIHUAHUA MOMMA? Do you show dogs?
Well, it all started when my daughter showed dogs in 4-H. She won the Wisconsin State championship, and begged me to buy a top-notch Chihuahua that she could show in the American Kennel Club. So I did my homework, drove to Michigan and bought a dog. Then my daughter got a driver’s license, a job and a boyfriend. Silly me. I wanted a return on my investment, so I started showing him and, after a few classes, I was hooked.
What’s your favourite thing about Rebecca and Matt, the main characters?
Oh boy, there’s so many things. Do I have to pick a favourite? Rebecca’s trying to hold on and keep things on an even keel—she’s making ends meet alone with two teenaged kids. Of course, Matt looks mighty hot in a pair of jeans. He’s always been a playboy, but he’s forty now, and his last disastrous relationship sent him packing across the US all the way from Malibu to New Jersey. Yep, there’s an attraction, but there’s a lot of excess baggage that needs to be shed before the pair have any chance at romance.
CHIHUAHUA MOMMA isn’t your first release, is it? Can you tell us about your other works?
My first published work was Koicto, a Native American historical novel about a boy’s fight for his place as chief of the Nahchee Nation.
I’ve got a few other novels in the works:
Virtue—A romantic suspense about a dancer who ends up on the sacrificial altar of a Mayan cult. Release date: 1 December, 2013
Rescued by the Celtic Warrior – Release August, 2014
Celtic Maid – Release December, 2014
My only overseas holiday was to Scotland so I’m fascinated to see that you studied there. How did that come about?
Funny you should ask. I was living in Australia, working for Arnott’s Biscuits in Sydney, and my daughter was a year old. Heriot-Watt University advertised in the National Accountant (a trade magazine). I contacted them and found I could do most of my studies by distance learning—took some of my exams at the New South Wales Board of Studies—for all you Aussies out there!
I just spent the month of May in Scotland researching my Highlanders of Raasay series—and gathering information for my next as well. I love Scotland, and my maiden name is Lowland Scots (yes, I do rock)!
Coffee or tea? Sweet or savoury?
Tea and savory.
Thanks for hosting me, Cass! You ROCK!
BLURB FOR CHIHUAHUA MOMMA:
In the frenetic world of canine pageants like Westminster, where dog hair flies and personalities diverge, Rebecca Lee remains in a cocoon of loneliness. Widowed, with two teenaged kids and a business to run, Rebecca would rather mow through five-hundred poodle cuts than think about dating. But when former quarterback Matt Johnson shows up to buy a Chihuahua, his irresistible grin rocks her world—until Matt’s ex decides she wants him back and Rebecca’s daughter decides she’s against her mom dating. Rebecca now has a choice—crawl back into her realm of dogs or fight for the powerful love that fills her soul.
Chihuahua Momma releases in eBook on 28 July; keep an eye out for the paperback a couple of months later.
You can find Amy on Twitter, Goodreads or at her blog.
I signed with Turquoise Morning Press. Again!
Posted: July 3, 2013 Filed under: On the Isla's Inheritance trilogy | Tags: Isla's Inheritance, Isla's Oath, small presses, Turquoise Morning Press, writing 17 CommentsLoyal readers of my blog (ha!) will know that I always intended Isla’s Inheritance be the first book in a trilogy. There’s a three book arc, a meta-plot … and how cool is the phrase “meta-plot” anyway? I feel like I need to say it in this big, booming voice: “I have this plot, and it is meta.”
I’ve drafted the sequel to Isla’s Inheritance; it is in the beta-reading stages. Until last week I was calling the manuscript Book Two, because I am the queen of naming things and all shall bow before me. But when my amazing editor over at Turquoise Morning Press, Shelby, asked me for a synopsis for Book Two, I had to come up with a proper name. And a synopsis. Aaah! I wrote the latter, and then ran it past my Aussie Owned girls. Sharon suggested Isla’s Oath. For she is the true queen of naming things, and all shall bow before her.
Bow! *shakes fist*
Seriously, I’m pretty stoked with that. Isla’s Oath. It rolls off the tongue. (If you’re wondering, Isla is pronounced eye-la.)
I sent the synopsis to Shelby and then—be still my heart—she asked for a one-page pitch for the third book as well.
Now, book three is currently just a series of thought bubbles in my head. I have been working on a different project these last six months, because at the start of the year I’d had no joy in placing Isla’s Inheritance and, since I write so slowly, I didn’t want to spend almost a year working on the third book in a series that might never go anywhere.
Also, the plot bunnies were biting on this new idea. And you can never tell those plot bunnies anything.
But I wrote the pitch (with a working title that I’ll keep to myself for now). And THEY SAID YES!
That’s right, I now have a three-book deal with Turquoise Morning Press. I just, I can’t even … there are no words. (That’s not a problem for a writer, is it?)
The current plan is to release Isla’s Inheritance around the middle of next year, and then the subsequent two in gaps of up to six months after that. As that firms up I’ll let you guys know.
Thanks to everyone who’s supported me in this, especially my boyfriend, the evil genius, Peter; Chynna-Blue; and all of the Aussie Owned ladies. Also, to all of my friends on Twitter and Facebook, and everyone I’ve ever met. Also to people I haven’t met yet. Glomps to you all!
Pitcharama: what influenced my selections
Posted: June 19, 2013 Filed under: On writing | Tags: agents, aussie-owned, contests, queries, small presses 2 CommentsThe Pitcharama first-round selections were announced today over at Aussie Owned and Read. There are some great pitches there, although I’m sad we couldn’t take everyone through to the final round. (However, as I said yesterday, it’s not too late: the pitch-a-mate round opens tomorrow. Keep an eye on the blog for details.)
My three selections (in the order they were submitted) are:
- No Such Thing by Sarah Glenn Marsh
- Off Campus by AJ Albinak
- Barely Imagined Creatures by Pete Catalano
You’ll see that I chose two young adult manuscripts (both urban fantasy) and one new adult (an m/m romance). There were a few things that influenced my decision.
1. I love urban fantasy.
I write it, I read it—it’s hardly surprising that I would lean toward choosing it. This should give you an idea of how subjective this process really is.
2. Word counts were a big factor.
YA can run from 50k to 80k (or up to 100k for fantasy, but better to keep it lower than that for a debut novel). I chose pitches for manuscripts in that ballpark. If you want to read a great blog post on word lengths, this is the one I use as my rule of thumb.
Some of the digital-only presses may care less about word count, since they don’t have to pay the larger cost of producing a fat novel. I don’t really know much about that, though, so I assumed the normal conventions would apply in this case.
3. I looked at the participating publishers’ preferences.
We have several presses looking for romance (at least one of which publishes m/m—I checked!). We have several that publish paranormal, UF and dark fantasy. So I tried to choose pitches that I thought those presses’ acquiring editors would be interested in, to give “my” three authors the best shot.
This, by the way, is the same process you should go through if you’re pitching to presses or agents directly: look at what they buy or represent. Look at their website to see what they’re after. Most of them are pretty upfront about it, and it saves you from wasting your time and theirs. And, even better, saves you from the heartbreak of a rejection you could have avoided.
Anyway, that’s it. Looking back over the post, it doesn’t seem like rocket science to me, but maybe it’s helpful to someone out there. A big snuggle-y thanks to everyone that has participated thus far!
Thoughts on pitching contests
Posted: June 18, 2013 Filed under: On writing | Tags: agents, aussie-owned, contests, queries, small presses, writing Leave a commentI’ve got a new-found respect for agents.
Those of you who’ve been reading my blog for a while know that I highly rate pitching contests. They are a great way to hone your pitch, query or first pages. And, just as great, you can get in touch with what I’ve discovered to be a supportive community of fellow writers, many of whom have great advice to offer or are just happy to be a cheer squad. I wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for Pitch Wars (if you want to know why, I blogged about it here).
And if you’ve been reading my blog for only a little while you’ll know that Aussie Owned and Read has been hosting its first pitching contest, where people can submit a 250 word blurb for their young adult or new adult manuscript. In the first round, the eight bloggers at Aussie Owned choose their favourites to progress to the final round. That is where we have eight small presses (nine editors) who will swing by to request the ones they’d like to see more of. (In the second round you can pitch your friends—that starts on 20 June so if you missed the first round it’s not too late!)
The first round closed last night and choosing three pitches from those that entered was SO HARD IT HURT MY BRAIN! Not in a bad way but in an “aaaah, I can’t choose” way! My original shortlist was 50 per cent of the total. I loved them all, and wanted to take them home with me. Like, really. I have a newfound respect for people like Brenda Drake and the writers who help her; she runs Pitch Wars and Pitch Madness. Our humble contest is only in its first year so we didn’t get nearly the number of entries she’d see in one of hers. (Not that I didn’t respect her before, but Oh. My. Gods!)
And that’s why I also have a newfound respect for agents. In a way they have it a bit easier than we did in choosing our pitches, because most of them request at least the first five pages, which gives them an idea of the voice and execution. But in another (much bigger) way, they have to read thousands upon thousands of queries a year. And they don’t even get paid for that part of their business, not until they choose a client and then sell their client’s work.
Wow. Just wow. You seriously have to love books, love stories and tales well told, to dedicate that amount of time to it. Because while all the pitches we saw were good, the same cannot be said for agents’ slush piles (or so I hear).
Agents, I doff my hat to you. Or I would if I was wearing one.
I doff my imaginary hat to you.
One more thing. If you’re reading this and you entered Pitcharama, I also wanted to say that, whether you’re one of my final choices or not, I respect the courage it takes to put yourself and your work out there. I know how stressful it is. Don’t give up.
Dystopian fiction and ‘Runners’
Posted: June 17, 2013 Filed under: On Books | Tags: dystopian, guest post, small presses, writing 1 CommentThis guest post is by Sharon Sant, whose new dystopian novel, Runners, came out on 7 June.
The Oxford dictionary defines dystopia as: ‘an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. The opposite of Utopia.’
That sounds like a perfect place to set a novel. And it seems that I’m not the only one who thinks so. I’ve been reading reports for some time now about how agents and publishers are sick of dystopian novels landing on their desks. According to them, since The Hunger Games, we’ve gone dystopia crazy. I hate to burst that industry bubble, but I don’t think that dystopia is going away any time soon. In fact, I don’t think it was ever really missing from the cultural landscape in one form or another. Thinking back to novels like 1984, even as far back as The Time Machine by H G Wells or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, it’s clear that we’ve always been fascinated by the ideas of dystopia.
As a narrative tool, dystopia can hold a mirror up to our own society to make all sorts of political and social statements, or it can be used simply to issue warnings, the latter being closely linked and often overlapping with speculative fiction. For me, however, it also represents a society where the normal rules of our world no longer apply. Like fantasy, dystopia is a setting that you can manipulate; it presents the opportunity to create a world that enables the story you want to tell to unfold how you want. You want kids beating each other to death on a TV show? In a dystopian society you can make this entirely plausible.
When I first had the idea for my dystopian novel, Runners, I knew straight away what the setting would be: a near-future Britain where the current economic hardships and climate change had progressed to their worst possible scenarios. I’m a huge fan of fantasy in realist settings and for me this was just perfect. There are no silver-clad futuristic cities, no radiation-soaked skies full of spacecraft, no mutated humanoid species in Runners—all fantastic settings for dystopian fiction, of course—there’s just a crumbling version of a contemporary Britain and a poverty-stricken population that no longer cares what happens to anyone.
I took a lot of my ideas from periods of austerity in history, so there are Victorian-like features such as child labour and workhouse-type institutions, and then there’s rationing like during the Second World War. These things have already happened in real life and, just because they’ve gone away, it doesn’t mean they can’t come back. Because in real life, just the tiniest false step from the people in charge and we could actually find ourselves living there. It’s a scary prospect for us but a perfect dystopia for a book.
I think that some of the best fictional dystopias are the ones almost close enough for our society to touch, the ones where you can easily imagine yourself living in it. For me, that’s where the weirdness and the fear come from.
About Runners
Elijah is nothing special. He’s just a skinny kid doing his best to stay one step ahead of starvation and the people who would have him locked away in a labour camp—just another Runner. But what he stumbles upon in a forest in Hampshire will show him that the harsh world he knows will become an even more sinister place, unless he can stop it. As past and present and parallel dimensions collide, freedom becomes the last thing on his mind as he is suddenly faced with a battle to save his world from extinction. But before Elijah can find the courage to be the hero the world needs, he must banish his own demons and learn to trust his friends. And all the while, the sinister figure of Maxwell Braithwaite looms, his path inextricably bound to Elijah’s by a long dead physicist, and hellbent on stopping Elijah, whatever the cost.
Find Runners on Goodreads or at Immanion Press.
About Sharon Sant:
Sharon Sant was born in Dorset in England but now lives in Staffordshire. She graduated from Staffordshire University in 2009 with a degree in English and creative writing. She currently works part time as a freelance editor and continues to write her own stories. An avid reader with eclectic tastes across many genres, when not busy trying in vain to be a domestic goddess, she can often be found lurking in local coffee shops with her head in a book. Sometimes she pretends to be clever but really loves nothing more than watching geeky TV and eating Pringles. She is the author of a string of YA novels including the Sky Song trilogy and Runners.
To find out more you can follow her on Twitter or Facebook, or at her website.
Pitcharama: it’s here!
Posted: June 14, 2013 Filed under: On writing | Tags: aussie-owned, contests, queries, small presses, young adult Leave a commentGot a completed manuscript? Want a chance to put your pitch in front of the eyes of eight small press editors? Now is your chance. Go go go! (NOTE: If you don’t have a blog but want to enter anyway, post your pitch here in the comments section of this post on my blog as per the original requirements, and then link it here on the linky list.)
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s the time you’ve all been waiting for… Pitcharama is here! *Insert trumpeting fanfare*
We are so excited to offer you this opportunity to have your manuscript seen by some of the world’s top independent publishing houses. See who they are here.
Sign up your blog with our dear friend Mister Linky Tools below and then post the following information on your blog:
Manuscript Title:
Author:
Age group: (YA/NA)
Genre:
Word count:
250 word blurb:
Quick, do it now! The Aussie Owned and Read team will stop by and select our favourite 24 queries to go through to the publishers round over the next four days and then, AND THEN, we will share them on our blog on the 28th when the big guns stop by. Don’t worry, though; you will know who made the cut on the 19th, when we announce our top 24.
Don’t get…
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Pitcharama: manuscript pitching contest
Posted: June 2, 2013 Filed under: On Books, On writing | Tags: aussie-owned, contests, queries, small presses Leave a commentIf you’re a writer of young adult or new adult fiction, and you have a completed manuscript that’s ready to go, there’s a fantastic opportunity this month over at Aussie Owned and Read!
Eight publishers will be participating – we’ll announce who in the next few days, but they are all open to submissions internationally, so this isn’t just an opportunity for Australians. If I hadn’t just signed with Turquoise Morning Press I’d be really disappointed, because I’m not eligible to enter! :p
The details are on the Aussie Owned blog, so you can start refining your pitch. Make sure you follow the Twitter account as well, so you don’t miss out on any updates.
Four reasons I chose not to self-publish
Posted: May 28, 2013 Filed under: On the Isla's Inheritance trilogy, On writing | Tags: Isla's Inheritance, self-publishing, small presses 15 CommentsA week ago I got asked the inevitable question. I imagine all debut authors get asked it these days: why not self-publish? Why subject yourself to the delays of traditional (even small press) publication? After all, my book isn’t scheduled for release for more than a year. Why wait, when I could have it out tomorrow if I wanted to, and start raking in all that cashey money?
So here are my reasons.
Please understand this is in no way meant to deride those who choose the self-publication path. If I had been as unsuccessful with the small presses as I’d been with the agents (I’m still too embarrassed to tell you guys how many rejections or ‘no response’s I got), I would have self-published Isla’s Inheritance. There are two reasons. I have faith in the story … and I wrote a sequel, which I also have faith in. No way was I going to let my first two books sit in a drawer!
But here are the reasons I didn’t decide to go directly there (do not pass Go, do not collect $200).
#1. To have someone else edit my work
I’m a professional editor. And I’ve edited the bejeezus out of Isla, in particular, because it’s my first book. I think I’m up to version eight, and that’s before Turquoise Morning Press have started on it. I’ll easily crack double digits on the number of versions before it finally hits the shelves. BUT! I’m not an editor of fiction, and I’m so close to these words right now I wouldn’t spot a hilarious typo or a misplaced modifier if it hit me in the face in a 16 point font.
I could have paid someone, or begged a colleague to do a proofread (although they aren’t editors of fiction either). By going with a small press I didn’t have to.
#2. To have someone else do all the other things you need to do yourself if you self-publish
I have a pretty awesome fake cover for my book, thanks to my friends. (Well, I think so.) But even if we assume TMP’s cover won’t be better—which it probably will be because I’m not a graphic designer—there’s still typesetting, publication, and promo work that needs doing.
I’m under no delusions. The bulk of promotion is going to be up to me, whether I’d self-published or traditionally published. Even the big publishing houses don’t do much for their authors these days. But every little bit of help helps; know what I’m saying?
I could have learned to do these things. If I’d had to, I would have. But I’d rather be writing.
#3. Amazon lives in the dark ages if you’re an international author
Amazon pays authors who use its publishing services (including its print-on-demand hard copy service) by direct deposit … unless you live in a country where they don’t have Amazon. So, for example, say I lived in Australia (oh wait, I do!) and wanted to self-publish using Amazon. They will pay me via international cheque (or ‘check’, for the Americans), in US dollars. If I’m not making much in royalties, the bank fees to convert the cheque and cash it could actually absorb the royalties! Sure, Amazon may pay royalties of up to 70% of eBook prices, but I wouldn’t see 70%.
By going with a small press, I have someone who will take the payments from Amazon (in instances where they are the vendor of my book) and turn them into something my bank won’t eat like the Cookie Monster.
My bank fees: an artist’s impression.
(Cookie Monster belongs to Sesame Street; I’m not trying to steal their copyright. Their cookies, maybe…)
#4. To pass through the gate
Agents and publishers are the traditional gatekeepers of fiction, which is a good thing and a bad thing.
A great thing about self-publishing is that there’s a way for people who’ve written something too challenging for a regular press to get their work out there. Unfortunately there is now also a way for people who are too impatient to bother even proofreading after the first draft to get their work out there too. And it’s difficult for your average shopper to be able to tell the difference (although avoiding dodgy covers and taking advantage of the “Look Inside” feature are great ways to start).
Having a press logo on your front cover or an imprint as part of your blurb tells the reader that someone other than the author has taken the time to make the book presentable. I wanted that—because readers have a lot of demands on their time and for their money, and anything I can do to help people decide they should give my work a go is a thing I personally feel is worth doing. Your mileage may vary, of course.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. I’m interested to hear what you think—have you chosen one path or the other? Why?
Cassandra Page 