Tag Archives | Indelibles

Indie Life – publishing will look different, possibly forever.

By on April 10, 2013 in publishing industry, Writing

 

Though I’d share a couple links for Indie Life today.

In the future, will everyone be a publisher? by Nathan Bransford

Go ahead and read it.

Interesting, huh?

This quote jumped out at me.

 For now, publishers can still rely on those services and their print distribution to attract authors. In the future, they won’t have that. And as those services become the central differentiator, you have to wonder if the adversarial approach publishers occasionally take with authors (slow payments, lack of transparency) will give way to a true service-oriented approach.

What about you? Can you already see the industry changing and not being quite what it used to be? I look at all the digitals imprint and contracts being offered that are ebook only until the sales warrant a print version.

I hope big publishing, self publishing and everything in between sticks around for a while. But there’s no arguing the publishing world will look different, possibly forever.

For further reading, here’s a Hugh Howey post that should be a must read for any writer. (If you haven’t already read it.)

Click back to the Indelibles blog for a list of all the links!

 

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Indie Life – my biggest hurdle so far.

By on March 13, 2013 in publishing industry

 

I’m going to be honest today.

And I find it so ironic/amusing/strange that this one aspect of self-publishing has thrown me off since the beginning. Looking at all we have to learn and put into action to publish a book, I’d think ebook formatting would be the one to cause a ripple in my calm exterior surface. But no.

It’s putting a book into print.

That’s right.

I’ve justified for over a year why my books aren’t in print. The fact that print is just a fraction of sales is my top reason, and a rather good one too. Nothing wrong with just digital.

I’d read posts about getting books into as many venues as possible for exposure…etc. And I’d still justify. One huge factor led me to this strange hurdle that only now I’m mustering up the gusto to leap over.

I had a powerful program (Indesign) and I haven’t been able to get past the learning curve. Yet. I will eventually. And when I do? I know creating the print PDF will be a snap. But I don’t have the time to invest right now.

So why am I playing with print now?

I’m attending an author festival in Maine. I have my middle grade to sell but I can also bring my YA books to sell on my own. I’m using this opportunity to force myself over this hurdle.

And then I found this video by India Drummond. She explains the process of transforming your word doc. into a print-ready PDF. Step by step.

I watched it and realized. I. Can. Do. This.

Head over to the Indelible blog and visit everyone participating in Indie Life this month!

 

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INDIE-kissing – A SPY LIKE ME.

By on February 14, 2013 in murder and mystery, spies

Welcome! And Happy Valentine’s Day! Today is all about kissing. I’m participating in the INDIE-kissing blogfest. And it’s never too late to join!

Here’s a scene from A SPY LIKE ME. The first book in the Circle of Spies Series.

 

“Great. I’ve got people trying to kill—”

He pulled me to him and his mouth covered mine. I fought back at first but he wouldn’t let go and my defenses crumbled. Heat washed over me as his kiss deepened. His body pressed into mine. I stifled a tiny groan of pain and pleasure. The vodka had pretty much numbed any feeling in my leg. His kiss deepened again, and it was better than eating a triple peanut butter chocolate ice cream cone in Pennsylvania or skinny-dipping in the creek when it reached 100 degrees.

His kiss softened. He was gentle and loving, like he cared. His hand grazed my cheek. His past, my past, our families all faded. It was just me and him. Malcolm and Savvy. Two teens.

My heart broke a little bit. I don’t even know why. Maybe because I could add one more person to the list of people I cared about who would betray me and leave me. One more person I cared about more than they did me.

His hands slid down my back to the hem of my shirt. In one suave lift, my shirt was off.

My hands roamed across his chest, exploring. He tenderly ran his fingers down my arm, and I shivered.

He whispered in my ear, “God help me, you’re beautiful. Even with frosting in your hair.”

The words sank in and something broke. The cracks in my heart that I’d plastered and put Band-aids on tore open. Emotion flooded out and filled every inch of my body. My face was wet with tears.

He pulled away and kissed them. “In my line of work, you can’t care about anyone too much. It can get you killed.”

“That’s good, because I don’t care about you. The tears are purely a post-traumatic side effect of getting shot.”

At least I was pretty sure my life wouldn’t end tonight.

***

Thanks for stopping by and reading! Check out all the INDIE-kissing posts!

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Indie Life and a FREE online conference!

By on February 13, 2013 in How I Write, Writing

When I made the decision to plunge into self-publishing in the fall of 2012. I felt many things. Exhilaration. Excitement. Fear.

I scoured blog posts when debating on my future. There were many helpful blog posts, but not near as many as there are today!

And something even bigger is on the horizon.

  • If you’re debating about your publishing future.
  • If you’ve started self-publishing but still have questions.
  • If you’re wondering about the best way to plan for this new venture.
  • If you’ve been winging it and need some solid business strategies.
  • Or if you’ve found success and are ready to go to the next level.

Then register for IndieRecon. Next week. February 19th-21st. A FREE online conference.

Yeah, that’s right. It’ll be nothing short of stupendous. Read the agenda here and the line up of successful Indies.

I’ll see you there with my post about middle grade and an interview with Sybil Nelson, author of the Priscilla the Great books.

And the best part? I’ll be wearing my jammies.

Head back to the Indelibles blog for other Indie Life posts!

Don’t forget to sign up for Indie-kissing blogfest for the 14th! ! Click on the picture in my sidebar to sign up! 

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Dragon Empire Blog Tour!

By on February 11, 2013 in book reviews
I love hosting other authors because releasing a book out into the wild is exciting and scary! Here’s the latest from Heather McCorkle!

Today we’re celebrating the release of Heather McCorkle’s fantasy novel, The Dragon Empire! For today’s stop Heather is answering the following question:

The world you created in The Dragon Empire is very elaborate. How did you keep track of everything?

Heather: I created a notebook and put everything about the world in it. I wrote up pages on each type of dragon, each island, each character, the different creatures and cultures, and even drew maps of the world. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun!

 

Here is a bit about it:

On Yacrana dragons are the advanced species. But advanced doesn’t always mean civilized…

There’s trouble in the Dragon Empire, the kind that could start a war between dragons and the races of people. Hidden factions of dragons believe they should rule the lesser races, not simply stand aside and allow them to develop as they will. Having lived so long in peace, the Emperors turn a blind eye, many oblivious that such attitudes even exist.

Despite being only an architect class, emerald dragon, Grendar is willing to risk banishment and death to stop that which his rulers refuse to see. The hope of peace lies not within the scaled breast of a dragon however, but within the hands of a group of people. But if the hidden factions have their way, these people won’t live to fulfill such a destiny. With a reluctant seer at his side, Grendar must leave his precious Empire for the outside world to save those that will one day save his kind.

While The Dragon Empire is for ages young adult and up, it does contain mild violence and some difficult subject matter. 
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