N.E. White's Blog, page 10

Giving Money

Last week, over on the You Are Here anthology site, I announced we’ll be donating $400 to the Humane Society – that’s in addition to the $500 we donated to HS last year. (That initial amount was given in lieu of paying the wonderful Lindsay Buroker for an original story.)

As much as I love to give money to charities, especially the Humane Society (my dearly departed companion was a rescue dog), I wonder whether giving money is a good strategy for selling books.

[image error] I miss him.

I mean, the point is to make money and give it to the authors, not charities.

The thing is, these anthologies do not make very much money. $400 is probably all the anthology will ever make.

Don’t get me wrong, because we offer the anthologies as e-books, they’ll always be available. Even if each one only sells once a month for the next 10 years, that’ll be something.

But it is not enough.

All the anthologies published so far have been a complete loss – meaning, I paid out more (way more) money than they will ever return – and that’s with putting them out as cheap as possible! I pay the authors a pittance.

2017

Will be the year I publish.

I swear.

They* say not to commit to a goal one does not have complete control over.

Like: getting traditionally published.

One can’t control an agent or publishers. All you can control are your actions. So, you can set a goal to submit to agents or publishers, but it is up to them whether they pick you or your book.

But with self-publishing, it’s all on you.

So, that’s the plan. I’m really, for really reals, gonna self-publish my work this year.

I’ve committed to a project (Ghost Stories). I’ve hired an editor (Andrew Leon Hudson). I’m even talking to a graphic artist about developing an author brand and covers.

It is gonna happen.

Or I’ll waste a lot of money.

Clarification: if I spend money to get Ghost Stories out into the world and it flops, that is not a waste of money.

I see this as part of a life-long learning process. Figuring out all the moving parts of a successful book launch will not go smoothly. I suspect I’ll have to do a few of these before I get it right. I’m prepared for that. (Plus, the book might suck.)

What will be a waste is: once time, money, and heartache has been spent, I get cold feet and not go through with it.

So, the real goal is not to get cold feet.

That’s all I want to accomplish in 2017.

Oh, there are a lot more tasks on my list of things to do. Tons of shit. There’s all that book launch stuff that’s got to happen, let alone all the work I have to do to get the story in shape for publication. But in a nutshell, that’s what I really, for really reals, want to get done this year.

How about you? What’s the one thing you truly want to see get done in your writing life in 2017?

*The Internet

Filed under: goal, Wednesday Writer, writing Tagged: blogging goals, goals, writing goals

Books Read in 2016

Do you all use Goodreads?

I do. My handle on Goodreads is N.E. White (if you want to hook up).

If you are good (heh, pun intended) about listing your reads on Goodreads, the site provides a handy little end-of-year summary on what you’ve read. Here’s a link to mine.

If you don’t want to click-through, here are the stats:

I read 23 books (some of those were collections) which included 6,351 pages of text. If we figure 250 words per page, that’s 1,587,750 words.

Damn.

And that’s not including all the other reading I do (unpublished manuscripts, newspapers, emails, blogs, signs while I’m driving, etc.).

Double damn. I’m a reading machine! (Until I compare my reading habits to other readers… )

Anyway, the shortest book I read in 2016 was only 47 pages long. It’s called Dark Matters: Absences by Andrew Leon Hudson. This collection only includes two stories, but they are very interesting glimpses into dying worlds. Very much worth a read. I just noticed I didn’t review the stories. I’ll have to correct that in 2017.

The longest book I read in 2016 was a hefty 468 pages long. That one was The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin. This is an incredible story about identity and loss in a fantastical world you will not be able to forget. It deserved the Hugo award it won.

Of the books I read, the most universally popular was Good Omen by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (481,761 other people also read this book – according to Goodreads).

Only because it is new, the least popular was Hand of Glory by Susan Boulton (2 other folks read it).

I’ve talked about this over on the SFFWorld.com forum, but my ratings are heavily skewed to the ‘Love it’ side of things as I don’t rate/review books I don’t like. Hell, I don’t even finish books I don’t like, so kind of hard to rate/review them if I don’t finish ’em. Consequently, my average book rating for 2016 is 3.9 stars (out of five).

Interesting. Does that mean I’m a fluff reviewer?

If I had rated all the books I didn’t like (or finished), my average rating would be, of course, much lower. Would an average rating of 3.0 show that I’m a fair reviewer?

Not sure what the solution for this is (or whether a solution is needed), but something that kind of bugs me.

Anyway, among the books I read, the one with the highest rating on Goodreads is Hand of Glory (the one that was also least popular) by Susan Boulton. With an average rating of 4.5, I suspect Hand of Glory tops all the others because so few people have read it. (By the way, you should read it. Interesting story with a severed hand traipsing about the English countryside.)

That was my reading year. How was yours?

Filed under: Reading Tagged: 2016, GoodReads, reading, reading statistics

Goodbye, 2016

And good riddance.

Did 2016 end badly or what?

Wars raging throughout the planet, a backlash against minority rights, and no one liked what happened to Glenn on The Walking Dead  – no one.

And did it seem like more famous folk died this year than normal? Maybe it’s just the collective baby-boomer generation heading over the lip of the abyss, but it sure did feel as if we lost a lot in 2016.

So, I guess that means we have a lot to gain in 2017?

But before we get there, I’d like to review what I accomplished during this ill-fated year.

In the beginning…

In February of 2016, I hosted my version of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). But instead of doing it in November, we did it in February and I called it NewNoWriMo (for N. E. White Novel Writing Month – nifty, huh?). It was quite a success, if you ask me.

No, we didn’t have thousands of participants. But eleven of us strutted our stuff and made some words. Check out the results here.

I plan to do it again in 2017, so watch this space!

For the rest of the first half of the year, I pretty much worked on my Ghost Stories (a series of novellas set in Oakland, California about a gal who just can’t get it together).

Mid-year re-direction…

Sometime in August, after putting out the call for submissions for SFFWorld.com’s short story anthology, I got the bug to write a story about a map. And I did. Most specifically, about a map maker. The short turned into a novel. I finished it up during NaNoWriMo 2016. It’s called The Map Maker’s Dragon.

I’m not completely enamored with the story, but I plan to let it sit for a while and see how I feel six months down the line. If it still calls to me, then I’ll think about editing it.

The End of 2016

The final stretch of 2016 sees me finishing up my Ghost Stories series. After spending the latter half of 2016 away from it, I’ve come to really want to see this thing complete. I plan to self publish the series in 2017, and I’m even gonna hire an editor to help me make it the best.

All in all, though 2016 kind of felt like a bummer of a year, I also wrote a lot. Oh, and I also wrote two short stories that while not the greatest, are definitely blog-worthy. I’ll edit and post those sometime next year.

Until then, enjoy what remains of 2016 and best of luck in 2017.

 

Filed under: Wednesday Writer Tagged: goals, writing update

I Got Quoted in Academia This Year — The Open Window

Back in 2013, I did a blog post about women SFF authors, “Reality and the Welcome Sign — Gender and SFFH,” in reference to Tor UK’s editorial director Julie Crisp’s blog post at the time about how Tor welcomed women authors but they weren’t showing up in submissions, or at least not for things like […]

via I Got Quoted in Academia This Year — The Open Window

Filed under: writing

NaNoWriMo 2016 – The End

Finished!

No, I didn’t get in 50,000 words.

But I did get to the end of my story.

As you may know, I decided to go NaNoWriMo Rebel this year and finish up a work in progress I had started over the summer. While I wasn’t entirely sure how many words I needed to finish the project, I knew I could always start something else if I suddenly found myself with too much time on my hands.

Alas, time does not sprout on trees. (Or does it?)

Anyway, the point is (there’s a point?), I finished my story.

Woohoo!

The last 6,700 words of it are hand written. I’ll have to transcribe that into my computer. I’m sure that will precipitate more words, but at the moment, the story stands at 54,513 words.

There’s a lot of description and background stuff I need to add. I’m thinking, after the second draft, it will be around 70k or so. Not bad. A respectable amount. And manageable. I might just have a novel. Finally!

Unless the urge to revise grips me sooner, I’ll set it aside for now. I have two stories I’d like to tackle. One I wrote three years ago (a novella-length, science fiction dystopia set in Fresno, California). The other I wrote last year (an urban fantasy short-story series set in Oakland, California). Lately, they have both been tugging at me. I’d like to clean them up and get them out in the world.

Speaking of getting things out in the world… have you checked out You Are Here yet?

How did your NaNoWriMo go? Did the election results derail you or bolster your resolve?

Filed under: NaNoWriMo, Wednesday Writer, writing Tagged: NaNoWriMo 2016

It’s out!

This year’s SFFWorld.com’s anthology is out!

We finally got it all together and published it yesterday. I’m proud of it. I hope folks like it. There’s something for everyone in this anthology.

The first story is a fun little wizard story and the last is a great piece by Lindsay Buroker set in her popular Fallen Empire world. It tells of the very first adventure Alisa and Mica have together. In between these two stories are pieces that touch on horror, military sci-fi, a bit of steam-punk, magical fae, and much more. We even have a few literary pieces we’re quite impressed with. And to top it all off, each story features a map.

If you’re interested, follow the You Are Here blogsite to learn more about the authors and find out about upcoming specials and giveaways. We’ll also have a fun, interactive map to share.

For now, I have NaNoWriMo to complete.

Catch ya later!

Filed under: Friday Fiction Tagged: anthology, Lindsay Buroker, Published, You Are Here

NaNoWriMo 2016 – Day 15

Half way through the month and I’m failing.

Okay, maybe failing is too strong a word.

How about…falling behind? Playing catch up? Waiting for a burst of inspiration?

Or maybe failing is appropriate…

Regardless, I am forging ahead. I have managed to hit the 10,000 word mark. 10k is a fair accomplishment and I’m rather happy about it. It’s just not the 25k I should be at.

So that’s my new goal. 25k by the 30th of November or bust.

How’s your NaNoWriMo going?

 

Filed under: NaNoWriMo, writing Tagged: NaNoWriMo 2016, status update, writing update

Distant Skies – Tomorrow @ 7:30pm! — Once & Future

Well, what do you think? Do I look like I’m from the 25th century? My partner says I look like I’m from the ’70s, which by today’s very low standards, is pretty much the future. I am from the retro-future. The future that should have been. Tomorrow is the big show. At 7:30pm, I will…

via Distant Skies – Tomorrow @ 7:30pm! — Once & Future

Filed under: writing

NaNoWriMo 2016 – Day 9

For half of you, it is a sad day. For the other half, a triumphant day – though I’m 99% sure most of these folks don’t visit my blog.

Regardless…

For the half of you feeling depressed and adrift, do not despair. History teaches two things:

It will get worse before it gets better (ouch!).
It will get better.

Two steps forward, one step back and all that jazz.

We can do it, people.

Keep writing.

Filed under: NaNoWriMo, Wednesday Writer, writing Tagged: NaNoWriMo 2016