A Demon's Heart

Last Tuesday Mia poured out her soul out to everyone explaining why she decided to step back from A Demon's Heart. Today I share my choice on what to do with this project. It's with a lot of thought, consideration, and discussion with people I trust most, that I have come to the choice to shelf A Demon's Heart until further notice. I'll break down my reasoning for you.

Personal: This is a project that Mia and I started on together, it was supposed to end that way. I do not feel right putting only my name on it and being the only one to profit from it. I don't feel that it's morally right, nor do I feel that Mia doesn't deserve to be on the cover. There was a lot of thought and debate that went into the pros and cons of what doing that would be.

Business: Before Mia had come to me to discuss the future of A Demon's Heart, I had brought up that I wanted to switch it to my other name. A.L. Kessler because it fit that branding better. However, the release date that I was working on for A Demon's Heart would come right after I released another first book in a series. (Which puts me up to 3 Series under that name) I felt that I could not do ADH justice by adding it as another series under that name, especially with releasing it so close to the other one.

Conclusion: ADH is being shelved. I'm not giving up on it completely. I will probably pull it out some type next year and see if it's still relevant and see what Mia wants to do with it. This was not an easy choice to come to, but I feel that it is a right one. I respect Mia's choice. My two biggest disappointments coming out from this was: it was my first truly co-written book and I was excited to see how it would have done and that it was my second attempt at something for SPE. (In Black and White (now Black and White Desires) was my first, but because of contracts, EC picked it up.)

SPE will continue as normal next Wednesday.

Oh The Places You'll Go....

When I graduated high school my grandmother followed tradition and gave me a copy of Dr. Seuss' "Oh the Places You'll Go." This book meant a lot to me because it showed that she believed in me and Dr. Seuss is one of my idols. What's the point of me telling you this? There's a few lines in there that really speak to me as an author:

“So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains.” 

Let's break this down and why I bring up these particular lines for the day. "So be sure when you step, step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act." As authors, artists, and just people we often tend to post negative things, some times out of frustration and sometimes out of jealousy. Now, we all have our moments where frustration comes out, but the problem is when that frustration is aimed towards attacking people. Spit. Jealousy. Sour Grapes. Whatever you want to call it, you don't bash others in your fields (Or other fields) publicly. It's bad JuJu and my friends that is not the type of attention you want. You will lose a lot of respect that way, you will be blacklisted by readers, and honestly you're just inviting trouble to yourself. (Think of the trolls on Goodreads and other websites, do you really want to show yourself as an easy target for them?)

There is a fine balance that you have to find. Yes it's frustrating when someone seems to become a big name over night, but they too had their troubles when they started. Ask any author, they won't tell you it was easy to get where they are. I'm always telling Mia that we have to remember that and not get discouraged.

"And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains."

And most of us will get that success, but it'll be those of us who actually put the effort in. How does one move a mountain? A stone at a time. Small steps. You climb one the same way. There are steps to be taken and stumbling stones along the way.

Again, why am I bringing this up? Because I read an article the other day where an author stated that a big name author should stop writing (adult) fiction to allow room for new authors. (she made it clear that said author could continue to write for children or for his/her own pleasure, because she would NEVER deny that to someone...) So instead of going on a rant about it, I wanted to remind people that no matter how successful you are or are not everyone started at the bottom. There are no magic words, spells or tricks to 'hitting it big' you have to work for it. And if you're not willing to do that, then you will fail.

Now, get over your sour grapes, you have work to do.

The challenge of pricing your book, plus an announcement.

So several times over this last week posts have come up talking about how to price your e-book. There are a bunch of articles out there, a bunch of suggestions and you'll hurt your brain when you try to make heads or tails of it. So what do you follow? What article do you believe. Why is something working for someone else, but not you?

So many questions, and yes we're all lost in a sea of doubt when this comes up. As Mia prepares to release Waking Up in Bedlam it's something her and I discuss quite often. So here's my advice to you, from the research and reading I've done, it's a trial and error kind of deal. According to the Indie Romance Convention Blog, there's a formula that should help with pricing your book. According to Molly Greene, it's all about hitting that sweet spot, but it's still different for every person. When you talk to some authors they'll tell you they sell all e-books at $0.99 and that it works great, others will tell you that it doesn't work so well.

From what I've gathered $2.99 is the sweet spot for novels and novellas, $1.99 or FREE is great for short stories. Running a free short story as the start of a series seems to be a pretty popular choice. Many people say avoid $0.99, but why? So many authors do that, hell there are authors that offer entire collections for $0.99. Now, a $0.99 promo is different that a $0.99 continuous selling price. Here's the deal, $0.99 can still be associate with crap. Stuff people just throw up there to see if they can make a few sales. Check out the IRC blog for a great analogy about dollar store steak. (Which, for the record our dollar store here does, indeed, sell steak.)

Here's the deal, fellow authors and aspiring authors, don't sell yourself short. We all struggle with doubt, and wonder if someone would even be willing to buy a book for $2.99 from an unknown author, a new author, anything like that. But you have put your blood, sweat, and tears into your project. You are worth more than $0.99, all indie authors are. Don't let yourself get lost in that sea of $0.99, and it's never too late to change that price. So if you're floating around, go play with your prices a bit and see what happens with your sales!


Now time for the announcement. As we all know Mia's book is coming out next month (yay!!!) which probably brings to question when my book will be coming out. This was supposed to be a journey together, and it will be, but because of other unforeseen circumstances the publishing path for Black and White has changed. It will be published with Ellora's Cave, I can't really go into details as to why or how this came about, but I assure you that I have the Indie publishing experience to continue to help Mia with this blog and now I can start to offer a view point in comparison when working with a publisher. So please bare with us when things start to shift around here!

Release Date Jitters

Release day jitters. Plain and simple, my stomach is doing Olympic high-dives every time I think about it. Waking Up In Bedlam has an official release date: November 14, 2013 and to be honest I have no idea what I am doing.

Downfall of self-publishing is that it's all on you. And when you don't know what you are doing it is like swimming in fast drying cement carrying a bowling ball. But here is the game plan.

Alex offered to help me set up a Facebook Event before the launch. I need to start pimping myself out. Maybe posting some snippets, giving away some swag. I need to find some book reviews and hopefully get a couple of reviews before my release date.

All in all, it's a lot to do before the 14^th but hopefully it will help me share my story and my characters with lots of readers who will hopefully enjoy what I've crafted.

I am firmly planted in reality. I know not everyone is going to like what I put out, I know that this won't be easy, I certainly understand that (in most cases) you do not get rich going this route and I don't expect to. I want to share what I've created, I hope that I've done the characters in my head justice, and I hope people enjoy it.

So while I am experiencing some major jitters in regards to actually giving myself a release date I am keeping the date, facing it all head on, and going to do my best to get over my fears and actually promote myself.

In the next week or so I will figuring out my marketing plan, when I have that all sorted out I will share it and we will just have to wait and see how it goes.

The Writing World

Too many irons in the fire is a phrase that I'm hearing more and more often by my surrounding authors and aspiring authors. One of the blogs I write for was put on hiatus because everyone ended up being too busy to keep up with regular posts. I'm a person who likes to be busy, so when something new and exciting was dropped on my plate, I thought, no problem! Tonight will be my fourth night in a row staying up until midnight to meet minimum expectations for my projects under Alexandra and my projects under my actual name. As I sip my coffee, I can't help but think, 'this is the life of an author.'

Mia has a project that has a deadline of September 13th. That's not a deadline she set, but I can't tell you what the project is. The advantage of self published projects is that you set your own deadlines. You can keep your readers waiting, which I don't recommend, or you can pick a release date, when you're comfortable, to get everyone excited about it. There are authors I know who have been promising a release (without a specific date) for a few months. You can check on their Facebook page, and two months ago they give the same excuses and explanation this month. If you go down this path you have to claim your title. You are an author now. There is stress. There is times you don't want to work, when you need to.

Stress is a killer, but you must find away to work with it instead of against it. If you need to step back, take a nap, take a bath, take a walk, but then get back to work. Don't forget that writing is only part of the job. As my other-self, I have events coming up that I have to prepare for. A book signing at a local store and a convention. Despite the fact that I'm going to be exhausted, I have to be able to participate in the book signing, talk to the people there and appear professional. (They better have coffee!) The convention is a four day commitment that I know I won't get much work done while I'm there, so I have to prepare for it. That means planning deadlines and goals around that. More stress since my newest deadline is November 13th, that means during NaNoWriMo (which is a whole other beast) and a few weeks after the convention. I have to time things just right. Stress, but excitement all the same.

I sit back and look at my WIP list and sigh, I'm scared some of it's not going to get done. I'm scared some of it is going to bomb, and I'm scared I might burn myself out. I have three projects under Alexandra right now, not including the upcoming NaNo: In Black and White Edits, a post apocalyptic story, and Redemption, which I can give more details on later. I won't even get into the WIPs as the other me. I'm not complaining. I asked for this life. I have worked for this dream to become a reality. I'll take everything as it comes. What is important is that you don't let the stress and the fear control you. You are bigger than it, you can over come it. Remember that you have great support and people who are taking this journey with you. You'll find them in some of the most unsuspected places. Chin up and dream big.

Showing Support

Indie writers need support. Doing this whole self-publishing thing is a long and lonely road without support. You need to establish fans, friends, and network your ass off. Seriously. This isn’t a road for the lazy to travel and unfortunately for me I do tend to have a huge lazy bone.

We can make all the excuses we like (and I do!) but the bottom line is when deadlines are looming sometimes life gets in the way and other times we just forget. Today is one of my (many) “forgetful” days. Between life being chaotic and looming self-imposed deadlines stressing me out I have once again forgotten my SPE post. Luckily for me I had already figured out what I wanted to write about, which was supporting those who support you. Isn’t it advantageous that my forgetfulness works into a post about support? Why yes, yes it is.

Anyways, so here I was lying in bed nursing one of my killer headaches that usually lays me out for at least a full day when I get an inbox from Alex gently reminding me that today was my SPE posting day. Alas, when it needs to be done you drag yourself out of bed, pull up your boot straps and get to work. That is what I am doing now.

Now Alex didn’t send me a bitchy email saying “Hey lazy, get off your ass and post! You are messing up my blog!” No, instead she was supportive, knowing what a busy morning I’ve had, she knew that I had just finished eating and was dealing with a headache, it was a gentle nudge, a reminder not a demand. If my headache was already to the point of no return then I wouldn’t have been able to get up and start typing but it is at a moderate pain level that I can deal with for the time being, so I let her know I’d be getting to it. Communication. It is key in every type of relationship, professional or personal, you will ever have. Alexandra and I communicate, if I’m feeling under the weather I let her know, if I forget something she lets me know.

On the Twisted Tales blog we are on there are seven different writers all with different schedules, family lives, spouses, significant others, children, no children, pets, jobs, obligations. We can’t always get our posts out on time, but we try and when we can’t we let the rest of the writers know. Not because we are obligated to, but to communicate so that everyone knows what is going on.  And when we post we do our best to promote everyone’s writing, not just our own. We tag, we share links, and we spread the word for all of us.

Support. It’s a huge thing, sometimes it is the only thing that keeps you going.

Support from colleagues is the same as it is from fans and friends who support your writing. When a friend of mine posts a link to one of my projects, or my author page, or recommends that people follow one of my blogs I always do my best to acknowledge them. These people who recommend my page, or share a link to our blogs, they are doing so because they like what they read and want to share it with others. They aren’t asking for a kickback, they do it because they are great people, great friends and as such I am always extremely grateful.

  

I’ve seen other people who do not acknowledge when a fan shares a link and tags them in a post praising their books, but that is not my style, I can’t be like that. I’ve seen some people flat out ignore fans comments or questions in a thread because they are too busy sharing inside jokes with their close friends. I always think to myself, “I never want to exclude anyone.”

This is all just my own, personal little musing on how I want to conduct myself as a professional. I want to cultivate relationships (friendly relationships, get your minds out of the gutter) with the people who support me. I never want people to see my every post on social networking as “Oh poor me, come listen to me have a pity party for myself. Nobody likes me. I’m getting rid of all my friends. If you don’t talk to me then why are you on my friends list?” kind of thing. Everyone has their moments (and my personal page is different from my author page. On my personal page you will probably see the random bitching about my husband who just did some really dumb thing that made me mad, or you might see me posting about my kids… And honestly a whole lot of food pics but my author page has none of that). We all have our sour moments in life, but we should never be sour when it comes to people showing us love and support.

I got my start writing again in the role playing world, because of that I always try to show mad love to the RPers on Facebook, I promote them on The Indie Writers’ Collective and on my personal page. I show love to other authors that I enjoy reading, the authors I write with at Twisted Tales, and to my friends. My friends, most of whom I’ve met through social media and Facebook Role-Playing, they keep me going. They encourage me and pick me up when I’m feeling down. But even the people who are on my friends list that I am not close with (yet) I still show as much support as possible. Even if it is somebody I don’t talk to, I still enjoy seeing their posts in my newsfeed and “like” their posts.

I hope that one day when I’m an attending author at a convention and someone from FB comes up that they are actually excited to meet me because I’ve been accessible online to them. And yes, I realize that being a featured (or attending) author at a convention is a huge pipe-dream, but you just never know, it might happen for me one day.

And so in this crazy, lonely, scary world of Self-Publishing relationships and support are key.

That is my goal, no matter what happens in my writing career. I will support others and be kind. You never know what someone else might be going through or dealing with, a “like” or a nice comment can sometimes turn someone’s day around and that makes taking a second to show some appreciation, a like-back, or posting a random *hug* to someone who has supported me is totally worth it.

 
<3

Cultivating My Brand & Progress

This is an exciting and frightening time for me.

When +Alexandra Webb  first asked me if I wanted to be part of this experiment I instantly said yes and as the months have passed I have come to realize the importance and the seriousness of that answer. Who would have thought that one simple word—just three little letters would alter my life so dramatically. But it has and it will continue to do so. Every move I make on social media, every blog post, every Tweet, every Facebook status on my author page, every comment has to be carefully weighed against my brand as an author. And yes, authors are brands in and of themselves.  Granted I am a small name, practically unheard of brand, but it is my brand I am trying to cultivate.

At the beginning we each knew we were going to need a “SPE Project” the one work we were going to use to break into the Self-Publishing business to try to make names for ourselves, to see how hard this industry really is to become successful, and to catalog our ups, our downs, our hits and all of our misses. My project for SPE is “Waking Up In Bedlam” and as for my downs, here they are: I’ve been stuck on Chapter 12 for over a month now. I am procrastinating, sometimes not even consciously, sometimes I think the fear of reaching for my dreams triggers something in my brain that says “Let’s take a break even though you’ve only written 12 words and play “Where’s My Perry” for a little bit.” And off I go. Because it is frightening when you are reaching for your dreams. And as the famous quote goes:

 If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.

I’ve seen this attributed to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Albert Einstein, Eminem, Winston Churchill, and Dr. Seuss. I don’t really care who said it (although it is quoted in Madam President Sirleaf’s book, so let’s just go with that), it is the truth. Your dreams should scare the ever-loving-crap out of you. End of Story. And every move you make should be pushing you towards that goal. So yes, I procrastinate. I play “Where’s My Perry” when I should be concentrating, I slack and get distracted by Facebook posts and even worst Facebook drama. But I always manage to pull myself back and remind myself that just because I’m scared of what it will mean for my life when I finish this project that I am only ever a failure, a true failure if I do not try.

So I am still trying. And for the record, Chapter 12 is the last chapter in Waking Up In Bedlam, so far it stands at 52k+ and I’ve already sent Chapters 1-9 out to some of my beta readers, I’ve already gotten feedback and things are looking good. Even while procrastinating my efforts are still going towards my dream and my goal. While I’m playing my stupid Perry game on my iPad I am usually combing through the previous chapters, fixing little things here and there. Even when I’m not posting about my progress I am still focused while goofing off.

I read my manuscript from Prologue to Chapter 12 at least once a week, to alter, edit and make sure I’m not overlooking stuff.  Self-Publishing gets a bad rap for having spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes, looking unprofessional, with shoddy editing, and plot holes.  I am striving to make sure that I can polish this baby as best as I can, that I take all of my beta readers advice and suggestions and that I do all that I can so that I do not fall into that stereotype.

I have this reoccurring nightmare that when my book is released it is so bad that I become the most hated person on the internet, the people in my small town all revolt against me and drag me out to the center of town and burn me at the stake with the ONE copy of my book that sold. I wake up in a cold sweat, panting and breathless, usually in tears or screaming. My poor dog and husband probably think I’ve gone insane. I am a writer, I think it is safe to say that my sanity-boat sailed a long time ago.

I don’t want to be burned at the stake, I don’t want to be roasted on the proverbial pyres of the internet either. I am my brand, my brand is me and I want to succeed, even if it means taking longer than I had hoped for the final product.

So where does Waking Up In Bedlam stand as of now? We are at 52k, one chapter left to write. Three chapters left to send out to my beta readers, then it is time to start the editing process. After a couple of rounds of that and final edits it will be good to go. I am aiming for mid-July.

I am also taking an online course for self-editing called “BeforeYou Hit Send” by Angela James. I’m hoping that will help me because I know grammar isn’t my strong suit and because I know I have a lot to learn.

One thing I can say is this: I am proud of myself. I’m proud that I am sticking with this even if it is slow going. I am proud that I am taking steps to get my name out there, to have my name in constant publication, I do that with the Twisted Tales blog. It is a project that is far more than just writing a fun little fairytale, it is more ways of cultivating my brand, my name and having a body of work that others can enjoy on a reoccurring schedule. I am proud that I am stepping outside of my comfort zone to do things like take the “Before You Hit Send” course and setting up my “Smashwords” acct in anticipation of publishing Waking Up In Bedlam. I am proud that my beta readers and friends like my story. I love when they email me that a piece of dialog made them laugh or that they want more. Those things make me feel incredibly good.  It lets me know that I am on the right track.

As for my reoccurring nightmare, I think in time it will pass. I know there will always be haters. People will hate on me and my books without even reading them. I know this, it is the nature of the internet.  I know I will get drive-by 1 star ratings from people who dislike me personally, or don’t like paranormal romance, or who think using the word “cock” means I should burn in hell. These are bound to happen, that I am prepared for. What I fear is letting myself and the people that believe in me down. That would be the worst.

When Something Is Missing

I have been going over my latest NaNo project after deciding that I will be using that as my first self-published short story. I have set a deadline for the first draft which be the end of February but I have run into a snag. The story is “alright” but it is missing something. I can’t put my finger on it, maybe it is missing more description. I think that is one of my biggest issues is that I tend to overlook detailed descriptions because I am always afraid of being “long winded” and boring the reader. So my writing tends to be fast pace and I’m guessing that isn’t a good thing.

So the question I’ve been grappling with this past week is: What do you do when a story needs more?

What do you add, where can you elaborate? Will it be seen as just filler or will it help the reader?

I know that I should just write and anything that isn’t necessary will be caught during edits, but it’s something that I worry about and therefore it is something I get hung up on and can’t move past.

I fear that getting hung up on this is going to derail my goals.

Sorry this post isn’t something more informative, it is just a little rant that I needed to get off my chest.