Shevi Arnold Writes: How I learned to stop worrying and love the e-book...: I know my friends mean well when they tell me that an agent and a book deal are right around the corner. Every writer wants to be tradition...
A "kiss your feet" post. A control freak like me who wanted to decide on her own editor, cover graphic, names of characters etc? There were a list of reasons I chose to self-publish, and this lovely writer has just validated those.
Possibly one of the most engraving was the mere cost of paper submissions - from South Africa to international publishing co's.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
The Writing Bomb: Common Lies Self-Published Authors Believe.
The Writing Bomb: Common Lies Self-Published Authors Believe.: As an indie author I have to confess that I am guilty of believing a lie -- not just one, but many. They are the same lies I see self-publi...
A beautifully written post!
Thank you.
A beautifully written post!
Thank you.
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Nix Romipen
The sequel following The Morrigan is called "Nix Romipen". Federi has a clear mission. He wants to get to the bottom of the mystery that is the Unicate, once and for all, and root that evil organization out. To give himself a bit of space and have an excuse to get off the ship, he calls it a honeymoon and takes his essential backup along.
Soon they find themselves in Romania, where Paean discovers the magic of Federi's birthplace, high in the Transylvanian mountains, and is drawn into the irresistible charm of the wild forests. They reconnect with some free Tzigany, and so far everything seems perfect... but then...
That is exactly the point at which I need to start editing. An essential emotional red thread running through the story is missing. Federi's focus shifts. Earth faces more aliens - this time nothing remotely human. Things happen head-over-heels, the story splits as we try to follow Paean and Federi on their separate missions at the same time. There is, to put it bluntly, chaos.
For a while I thought it was ready. It's not. Please, be patient. It's one of the strangest sequels in the whole series, as it seems to exist separately from the others. It's very different in character from the others; also from the new series, "Shooting Star", following onto the Solar Wind series. It really is a stand-alone that belongs in neither. It's a bridge but yet an individual. I'll have to wrap my brain around it.
Why do I write? Because if I didn't, I'd be crazy by now.
Soon they find themselves in Romania, where Paean discovers the magic of Federi's birthplace, high in the Transylvanian mountains, and is drawn into the irresistible charm of the wild forests. They reconnect with some free Tzigany, and so far everything seems perfect... but then...
That is exactly the point at which I need to start editing. An essential emotional red thread running through the story is missing. Federi's focus shifts. Earth faces more aliens - this time nothing remotely human. Things happen head-over-heels, the story splits as we try to follow Paean and Federi on their separate missions at the same time. There is, to put it bluntly, chaos.
For a while I thought it was ready. It's not. Please, be patient. It's one of the strangest sequels in the whole series, as it seems to exist separately from the others. It's very different in character from the others; also from the new series, "Shooting Star", following onto the Solar Wind series. It really is a stand-alone that belongs in neither. It's a bridge but yet an individual. I'll have to wrap my brain around it.
Why do I write? Because if I didn't, I'd be crazy by now.
Friday, September 4, 2015
So amazing...
While I'm doggedly plodding through another revision of "Nix Romipen", Book 6 in the Solar Wind series, and that is after we thought "The Morrigan" was the last volume in that series, things are moving very fast in P'kaboo.
Times like this, I'm deeply thankful for all the help I'm getting, and that I don't have to run the ship alone. Les, my excellent editor, is taking over going through submissions with a fine-toothed comb and approaching any edits with his usual, unusual sensitivity to the author. Paul, our associate in UK, is taking over many details of the basic cogs and wheels concerning the overseas authors, approaching overseas book places and so on. My young designer advises me on what works and doesn't work - mind, two other designers of ours have indicated that I do have an eye for visuals, but more advice is always great. Interesting how the trends differ though. The illustrator of a recent title has been giving more than her all to rectify quality issues with the original files of the release - working day, night, regardless to get everything smoothed down. Two wonderful book bloggers are giving my authors spotlights, one by one, and two of my newest authors are pushing, L for Leather, the marketing and development of their works, one of them with such amazing success that a billboard ad will appear over a busy highway announcing her book available in a major UK book chain.
If I didn't have my team around me, I'd be panicking, it all is moving so fast. I'm deeply thankful to my wonderful associates as well as the strangers that are pitching in and helping.
Here's the poster that was created for Carmen Capuano, announcing her book in WHSmith:
To think that Bernhard, who created the cover for The Assassin and Almost Dead in Suburbia, originally created the 3D book image, and I've been using it all along, and now it has been deemed worthy of a billboard ad...
Times like this, I'm deeply thankful for all the help I'm getting, and that I don't have to run the ship alone. Les, my excellent editor, is taking over going through submissions with a fine-toothed comb and approaching any edits with his usual, unusual sensitivity to the author. Paul, our associate in UK, is taking over many details of the basic cogs and wheels concerning the overseas authors, approaching overseas book places and so on. My young designer advises me on what works and doesn't work - mind, two other designers of ours have indicated that I do have an eye for visuals, but more advice is always great. Interesting how the trends differ though. The illustrator of a recent title has been giving more than her all to rectify quality issues with the original files of the release - working day, night, regardless to get everything smoothed down. Two wonderful book bloggers are giving my authors spotlights, one by one, and two of my newest authors are pushing, L for Leather, the marketing and development of their works, one of them with such amazing success that a billboard ad will appear over a busy highway announcing her book available in a major UK book chain.
If I didn't have my team around me, I'd be panicking, it all is moving so fast. I'm deeply thankful to my wonderful associates as well as the strangers that are pitching in and helping.
Here's the poster that was created for Carmen Capuano, announcing her book in WHSmith:
To think that Bernhard, who created the cover for The Assassin and Almost Dead in Suburbia, originally created the 3D book image, and I've been using it all along, and now it has been deemed worthy of a billboard ad...
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