Jennifer R. Hubbard's Blog, page 96
June 19, 2011
Writing lessons from the cat
My cat likes to stretch himself out on the living-room floor in poses that suggest he's been flung there, perhaps from a great height. Other poses suggest that he's studying to be a contortionist. He has no self-consciousness about stretching himself into any position whatever.
If I could learn any lessons from him, they would be:
Be flexible.
Don't be afraid of looking silly.
Get comfortable.
If your antics entertain others, so much the better.
If I could learn any lessons from him, they would be:
Be flexible.
Don't be afraid of looking silly.
Get comfortable.
If your antics entertain others, so much the better.
June 18, 2011
Taking notes on life
There's a scene in my work in progress where the characters are caught in a thunderstorm. I've been through plenty of storms, so I was drawing on memory for the sensory details. But one thing I had trouble remembering: how long do thunder and lightning last, once the rain starts? It seemed to me that most of the storms I've experienced started with thunder and lightning, but once the rain started, the electrical components quickly vanished. I was trying to get this right in my book.
Last night, a series of storms woke up my husband and me--more than once. At one point, the thunder and lightning were simultaneous and incredibly loud and bright, which means the storm was right the heck on top of us. "I hope all our trees are still standing," I said sleepily to my husband. (We have many trees on our property, but two of them are especially gigantic.)
Sleepy as I was, I was also doing something that will not surprise any writer who is reading this blog post: I was taking mental notes for my book. "Holy cow, it's been raining and raining and raining, and it's still thundering," I remarked. (To myself. Hubby would probably not have appreciated that little observation under the circumstances.) "If only this storm doesn't wreck our house or trees, how very useful it is for my current project."
I suppose there are very few experiences in my life where some part of my brain, no matter how small or deeply buried, isn't down there thinking about how to express it in writing.
Last night, a series of storms woke up my husband and me--more than once. At one point, the thunder and lightning were simultaneous and incredibly loud and bright, which means the storm was right the heck on top of us. "I hope all our trees are still standing," I said sleepily to my husband. (We have many trees on our property, but two of them are especially gigantic.)
Sleepy as I was, I was also doing something that will not surprise any writer who is reading this blog post: I was taking mental notes for my book. "Holy cow, it's been raining and raining and raining, and it's still thundering," I remarked. (To myself. Hubby would probably not have appreciated that little observation under the circumstances.) "If only this storm doesn't wreck our house or trees, how very useful it is for my current project."
I suppose there are very few experiences in my life where some part of my brain, no matter how small or deeply buried, isn't down there thinking about how to express it in writing.
June 17, 2011
Giveaway of realistic YA
This is just a quick notice to fans of contemporary realistic YA. Tara Kelly, author of Harmonic Feedback, is hosting a celebration of such books now, including a multi-book giveaway. Check it out!
June 16, 2011
Second person
I've been rereading Jane Rule's 1970 novel This Is Not For You, and I've realized it had a subtle effect on The Secret Year, which I didn't realize at the time. Rule's book is written in first and second person--that is, it's a first person narrator (Kate) writing to another character (Esther), whom she has loved for years. And yet, Kate doesn't expect or intend Esther ever to read these words. She addresses Esther, but she is really writing for herself (hence the title, This Is Not For You). It's a form of letter never sent.
This is exactly what my character Julia did in The Secret Year--she kept a diary of letters written to her secret boyfriend, and yet she never really meant for him to read them. She was having a one-sided mental dialogue, if that makes any sense. Julia's diary was also based loosely on diary-type letters-never-sent that I generated during some of the more painful relationships in my life.
I suppose this form of second person can seem gimmicky, but I actually love the way Rule pulls it off in This Is Not for You. She also sustains an interesting tension, because the whole book is about unrequited love--or love that is returned, but not exactly in kind. And despite this extended unfulfillment, the narrator doesn't indulge in sentimentality or angst, except for a brief flash here and there. Instead, she's perceptive, practical, and sometimes wickedly funny. The style is cerebral, subtle.
The use of second person also makes us see Esther differently than we would if she were a third-person character. The use of "you" filters every reference to Esther through the women's longstanding relationship. Kate is not telling us about her friend; she is talking to Esther and we are eavesdropping--which creates a whole different tone, a different level of intimacy.
Have you ever thought of using second person in any of your work?
This is exactly what my character Julia did in The Secret Year--she kept a diary of letters written to her secret boyfriend, and yet she never really meant for him to read them. She was having a one-sided mental dialogue, if that makes any sense. Julia's diary was also based loosely on diary-type letters-never-sent that I generated during some of the more painful relationships in my life.
I suppose this form of second person can seem gimmicky, but I actually love the way Rule pulls it off in This Is Not for You. She also sustains an interesting tension, because the whole book is about unrequited love--or love that is returned, but not exactly in kind. And despite this extended unfulfillment, the narrator doesn't indulge in sentimentality or angst, except for a brief flash here and there. Instead, she's perceptive, practical, and sometimes wickedly funny. The style is cerebral, subtle.
The use of second person also makes us see Esther differently than we would if she were a third-person character. The use of "you" filters every reference to Esther through the women's longstanding relationship. Kate is not telling us about her friend; she is talking to Esther and we are eavesdropping--which creates a whole different tone, a different level of intimacy.
Have you ever thought of using second person in any of your work?
June 14, 2011
Keeping up with the times. Or not.
One thing about being an adult writing children's or YA books is that you have to keep adjusting to obsolescence. References that we think of as current may be ancient history to our audience. I've been watching the disappearance of slips and pantyhose (good riddance to the latter!), land lines (still have mine, though--they're so reliable), and cursive handwriting, just to name a few. But sometimes discussions of obsolescence, especially in the general media, take on a sort of scornful tone implying that if you're still doing whatever the article claims is on the way out, you're living like a caveman. Just for fun, I thought I'd do a parody of that kind of article:
Are you still using these old-fashioned products? Experts say they will soon go the way of lickable postage stamps and rotary-dial phones. In fact, they'll probably disappear by the time you finish reading this article.
Exclusive to Trendy Online News Trends
As the world spins ever more quickly, people are finding that if they don't adjust, they will be left in the dust. Here are three items experts are classifying as "the new antiques:"
1. Pillows. Fed up with the need to wash pillowcases or buy frilly covers, most sensible people are now jettisoning the pillow altogether. "Besides, they harbor dust and germs," says Beulah Bingkettle, trend-setting consumer. "We just lie flat on the bed now. Sure, we wake up with horrible cricks in our necks, but that's the price of being up to date. My daughter saw a pillow on a bed at a friend's house, and she didn't even know what it was. I had to explain, and she couldn't see why people ever used them in the first place!"
2. Lights. Lamps and overhead lights are no more, rendering the recent kerfuffle over light-bulb efficiency altogether moot. "Let's face it," says Drew Dennison-Drew, a recent college graduate. "We now have so many lit-up screens, we don't need any other source of light. We can get around by the flicker of our computer, phone, and tablet screens, in addition to the display panels on our appliances. I don't know any fool who's still messing with switches and bulbs. Lights! How geriatric can you get?"
3. Teeth. "You'd have to brush them all the time, and they get cavities--what a pain!" says Simone Sleek, age 8. "Nobody I know has teeth anymore. Well, except my friend Melissa, but her parents are such dinosaurs, they still use paper checks! They even have this thing lying around their house called a 'newspaper,' which is like an internet news site but printed out onto a huge piece of paper with ink that stains your fingers. Her whole family's just plain crazy." Returning to the subject of teeth, Simone adds, "We get by on giant lattes and pudding. What else do you need? Chewing is just so Old Skool. Plus, it's kind of gross, mashing up food inside your mouth that way."
If this article hasn't made you feel old and panicky enough, Trendy Online News Trends will publish another one in approximately ten minutes that will inform you of even more ways in which you are falling further and further behind the times. You're welcome!
So ends this parody. And if any of these items really are on their way out, please don't tell me. I will cling to my land line and my pillow as long as possible.
Are you still using these old-fashioned products? Experts say they will soon go the way of lickable postage stamps and rotary-dial phones. In fact, they'll probably disappear by the time you finish reading this article.
Exclusive to Trendy Online News Trends
As the world spins ever more quickly, people are finding that if they don't adjust, they will be left in the dust. Here are three items experts are classifying as "the new antiques:"
1. Pillows. Fed up with the need to wash pillowcases or buy frilly covers, most sensible people are now jettisoning the pillow altogether. "Besides, they harbor dust and germs," says Beulah Bingkettle, trend-setting consumer. "We just lie flat on the bed now. Sure, we wake up with horrible cricks in our necks, but that's the price of being up to date. My daughter saw a pillow on a bed at a friend's house, and she didn't even know what it was. I had to explain, and she couldn't see why people ever used them in the first place!"
2. Lights. Lamps and overhead lights are no more, rendering the recent kerfuffle over light-bulb efficiency altogether moot. "Let's face it," says Drew Dennison-Drew, a recent college graduate. "We now have so many lit-up screens, we don't need any other source of light. We can get around by the flicker of our computer, phone, and tablet screens, in addition to the display panels on our appliances. I don't know any fool who's still messing with switches and bulbs. Lights! How geriatric can you get?"
3. Teeth. "You'd have to brush them all the time, and they get cavities--what a pain!" says Simone Sleek, age 8. "Nobody I know has teeth anymore. Well, except my friend Melissa, but her parents are such dinosaurs, they still use paper checks! They even have this thing lying around their house called a 'newspaper,' which is like an internet news site but printed out onto a huge piece of paper with ink that stains your fingers. Her whole family's just plain crazy." Returning to the subject of teeth, Simone adds, "We get by on giant lattes and pudding. What else do you need? Chewing is just so Old Skool. Plus, it's kind of gross, mashing up food inside your mouth that way."
If this article hasn't made you feel old and panicky enough, Trendy Online News Trends will publish another one in approximately ten minutes that will inform you of even more ways in which you are falling further and further behind the times. You're welcome!
So ends this parody. And if any of these items really are on their way out, please don't tell me. I will cling to my land line and my pillow as long as possible.
June 12, 2011
Hubbard Power
My name is Jennifer Hubbard.
It never struck me as being all that common a name. I didn't hear of another person with the same name until I was in college, and then it just seemed like a quirky coincidence. When I started publishing short stories, I used the name "Jennifer Hubbard" (except the first time I published a story in male first-person POV, when I used "J. R. Hubbard"). Then one day, my husband brought home this book:
That's from the Amazon page for The New Parrot Training Handbook, by Jennifer Hubbard, if you can't quite make out the author's name. No, it isn't me. I know nothing about parrots. (If you've been reading my blog all these years in the hopes that I will drop some crucial parrot-care secret: Sorry!) But from the time I saw that book, I made sure to publish under the name "Jennifer R. Hubbard."
(The Secret Year, by Jennifer R. Hubbard, is the ONLY book listed in this post that I have written!)
I was glad I'd used my middle initial when I discovered A Science on the Scales: The Rise of Canadian Atlantic Fisheries Biology, 1898-1939, by Jennifer M. Hubbard. And Through Silver Eyes, by Jennifer Leigh Hubbard. And this book: Sleep, Little Child , which lists a Jennifer Hubbard as the editor. I have no idea which Jennifer Hubbard she is--Parrot Jennifer? Fisheries Jennifer? Silver-eyes Jennifer? Or maybe--dare I say it--another Jennifer Hubbard altogether?
By this time, I was asking myself just how many Jennifer Hubbards were out there writing books, anyway? And should we have a convention? But at least, I told myself, I was the only one writing YA books, so we weren't likely to get confused. So imagine my surprise when I saw the pre-publication announcement for this book:
Paper Covers Rock, a contemporary realistic YA novel by Jenny Hubbard. She went with "Jenny," because obviously this "Jennifer" thing was getting out of hand.
Anyhoo, I have not yet read Paper Covers Rock , which debuts this week. But I plan to, because it sounds like it's right up my alley: a drowning, a web of lies, a critical choice. Contemporary realistic YA with male main characters. It already has starred reviews from PW, SLJ, and the Horn Book. And if you read it and like it, your fan mail for Paper Covers Rock should go to Jenny Hubbard.
But if you find all this confusing: to be on the safe side, just assume that anything written by a Jennifer Hubbard is a good read. ;-)
And that goes for Mandy Hubbard and Kirsten Hubbard, too.
Hubbards. Writing is obviously our DESTINY!
It never struck me as being all that common a name. I didn't hear of another person with the same name until I was in college, and then it just seemed like a quirky coincidence. When I started publishing short stories, I used the name "Jennifer Hubbard" (except the first time I published a story in male first-person POV, when I used "J. R. Hubbard"). Then one day, my husband brought home this book:
That's from the Amazon page for The New Parrot Training Handbook, by Jennifer Hubbard, if you can't quite make out the author's name. No, it isn't me. I know nothing about parrots. (If you've been reading my blog all these years in the hopes that I will drop some crucial parrot-care secret: Sorry!) But from the time I saw that book, I made sure to publish under the name "Jennifer R. Hubbard."
(The Secret Year, by Jennifer R. Hubbard, is the ONLY book listed in this post that I have written!)
I was glad I'd used my middle initial when I discovered A Science on the Scales: The Rise of Canadian Atlantic Fisheries Biology, 1898-1939, by Jennifer M. Hubbard. And Through Silver Eyes, by Jennifer Leigh Hubbard. And this book: Sleep, Little Child , which lists a Jennifer Hubbard as the editor. I have no idea which Jennifer Hubbard she is--Parrot Jennifer? Fisheries Jennifer? Silver-eyes Jennifer? Or maybe--dare I say it--another Jennifer Hubbard altogether?
By this time, I was asking myself just how many Jennifer Hubbards were out there writing books, anyway? And should we have a convention? But at least, I told myself, I was the only one writing YA books, so we weren't likely to get confused. So imagine my surprise when I saw the pre-publication announcement for this book:
Paper Covers Rock, a contemporary realistic YA novel by Jenny Hubbard. She went with "Jenny," because obviously this "Jennifer" thing was getting out of hand.
Anyhoo, I have not yet read Paper Covers Rock , which debuts this week. But I plan to, because it sounds like it's right up my alley: a drowning, a web of lies, a critical choice. Contemporary realistic YA with male main characters. It already has starred reviews from PW, SLJ, and the Horn Book. And if you read it and like it, your fan mail for Paper Covers Rock should go to Jenny Hubbard.
But if you find all this confusing: to be on the safe side, just assume that anything written by a Jennifer Hubbard is a good read. ;-)
And that goes for Mandy Hubbard and Kirsten Hubbard, too.
Hubbards. Writing is obviously our DESTINY!
Literary pilgrimage (by accident)
When my husband and I were on a road trip in New York state recently, we passed a place labeled "Lake Tiorati." The word "Tiorati" rang a bell, and I strained to pull out the memory. "Camp Tiorati" came out--but where was it from? I even had the lines to a poem or a song about loving Camp Tiorati stuck in my brain.
Then I got it: Laura's Luck, by Marilyn Sachs, a book I first read as a child. The book takes place circa 1940, though it was written in the 1960s, and continued to be reprinted for decades. Its characters travel from New York City to a summer camp called "Camp Tiorati," located on a lake. I had never dreamed it might be a real place. I'd assumed that Sachs had made it up.
We drove past the lake, and I wondered if the island clearly visible in the middle of it could be the "haunted island" where Sachs's Laura and her friends camped in the book.
I tell you, I was book-geeking out all over the car. Fortunately, my husband has been married to a writer for a few years now, so my geekery did not alarm him unduly.
There are people who make literary pilgrimages--Jack Kerouac's fire lookout station is one destination that springs instantly to mind; the South Dakota town where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived is another--but there's nothing like having the setting from a book dropped unexpectedly in your lap. Have you ever made a literary pilgrimage, or wanted to?
Then I got it: Laura's Luck, by Marilyn Sachs, a book I first read as a child. The book takes place circa 1940, though it was written in the 1960s, and continued to be reprinted for decades. Its characters travel from New York City to a summer camp called "Camp Tiorati," located on a lake. I had never dreamed it might be a real place. I'd assumed that Sachs had made it up.
We drove past the lake, and I wondered if the island clearly visible in the middle of it could be the "haunted island" where Sachs's Laura and her friends camped in the book.
I tell you, I was book-geeking out all over the car. Fortunately, my husband has been married to a writer for a few years now, so my geekery did not alarm him unduly.
There are people who make literary pilgrimages--Jack Kerouac's fire lookout station is one destination that springs instantly to mind; the South Dakota town where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived is another--but there's nothing like having the setting from a book dropped unexpectedly in your lap. Have you ever made a literary pilgrimage, or wanted to?
June 11, 2011
One footstep at a time
It takes a long time to write a book.
I'm writing one now. I'm in the middle of it. I'm revising, and I have a list of things yet to do, a list that suggests I will be working on this same manuscript for weeks to come.
My second book (which is already finished) is still about seven months from release.
So here I am, in a desert-like stretch of time devoid of big publishing milestones. I'm plodding along. The book I'm working on has presented me with some short-lived snags, but I've found solutions and moved on. Day after day, I'm working. I'm making progress, but it's not splashy. I get a little farther along this road each day.
This is what being a novelist has been like for me. I've had some nice plums--publication, subrights sales, awards--but they don't shower in on a daily or even weekly basis. Mostly, I write (or edit) a few scenes. And the next day, I write or edit a few more. And the next day ...
This life is not for adrenaline junkies. At times like this, I would love to have big exciting news to keep me going.
Yet I look at the characters who are coming to life in my manuscript. I look at the battles they are fighting and the ways in which they sometimes face up so bravely to their challenges, and at other times stumble or flee, and in both cases I love them. Writing this novel may take a while, but at least I'm enjoying the company.
I'm writing one now. I'm in the middle of it. I'm revising, and I have a list of things yet to do, a list that suggests I will be working on this same manuscript for weeks to come.
My second book (which is already finished) is still about seven months from release.
So here I am, in a desert-like stretch of time devoid of big publishing milestones. I'm plodding along. The book I'm working on has presented me with some short-lived snags, but I've found solutions and moved on. Day after day, I'm working. I'm making progress, but it's not splashy. I get a little farther along this road each day.
This is what being a novelist has been like for me. I've had some nice plums--publication, subrights sales, awards--but they don't shower in on a daily or even weekly basis. Mostly, I write (or edit) a few scenes. And the next day, I write or edit a few more. And the next day ...
This life is not for adrenaline junkies. At times like this, I would love to have big exciting news to keep me going.
Yet I look at the characters who are coming to life in my manuscript. I look at the battles they are fighting and the ways in which they sometimes face up so bravely to their challenges, and at other times stumble or flee, and in both cases I love them. Writing this novel may take a while, but at least I'm enjoying the company.
June 9, 2011
Adventures in e-publishing and self-publishing: an interview with Katie Klein
If you've toyed with the idea of self-publishing an e-book (and these days, I know very few authors who haven't thought about it), you may be interested in today's interview with a writer who has done just that. Katie Klein, who also has experience in the world of traditional publishing, spoke frankly with me about her reasons, her methods, and her results.
Q: I understand you've self-published some YA novels for Nook and Kindle. How many books, and what are their titles? Could you provide a one-sentence synopsis of each?
I have two e-books out right now. The first is CROSS MY HEART, a YA contemporary romance. In one sentence: Good girl falls in love with mysterious boy who turns her world upside down.
The second is a YA paranormal romance, THE GUARDIAN. This is the first in a series. In one sentence: Good girl falls in love with mysterious boy who turns her world upside down. (laughs) Do you sense a pattern here? Actually, THE GUARDIAN is the story of a girl who falls in love with her Guardian Angel and lands herself in the middle of an epic battle between good and evil.
Q: Why did you decide to go with electronic self-publishing? What were your goals going in?
Quite honestly, my goal going in was to sell a book. That's why I released THE GUARDIAN first. I didn't believe the stories where "no name" authors found an audience for their novels. So, I slapped a "no name" on the cover (yes, Katie Klein is a pen name), sat back, and waited.
I originally decided to e-pub because I felt I was out of options. The market was extremely volatile, I was on an agent hunt, and no one seemed to be responsive. By the time I decided to upload CROSS MY HEART, I'd accrued 75 agent rejections (some never responded, some rejected the query, some the partial, and three rejected it after reading the final version in its entirety). It was never the writing, or the story. It was always the "market." More specifically, they weren't sure it would "stand out" enough.
I loved Parker and Jaden, though, and I believed in their story. I felt if I loved these two people (who aren't even real!) this much, then someone out there was bound to feel the same way.
Q: What has the response been--in terms of sales, sales rankings, reviews, and fan mail?
(laughs) Well, I was right about people loving Parker and Jaden, because the response has been overwhelming. It's getting mostly four and five-star reviews/ratings, and the fan mail I've gotten usually begs me for a sequel. I released CROSS MY HEART on March 14, and sold 161 copies in 17 days. In April, 977 copies were sold. In May: 2,523. I'm on a few bestselling subcategory lists (Teens, Love and Romance), and I've spent the last 40 days (as of this writing) in the Amazon Teen Top 100 (both print and e-books).
It happened so fast. It's all kind of surreal.
Q: How did you approach editing, book design, and cover selection?
I did everything myself. This is, quite literally, a one-woman show. I don't recommend this approach, though. I'm just enough of a control freak enjoy the HUGE undertaking it is to edit, design, and format my own work. I have two degrees in English and graphic design experience. I've taught at the college level, so I'm pretty good at finding typos/errors in my own writing. It's not something I recommend, though. In this case, it's best to "do as I say and not as I do." If you have any doubts, hire an editor and cover designer. There are some great ones out there, and it's not as expensive as you might think.
The photograph used for CROSS MY HEART I found in the stock photo section on Deviant Art. I emailed the artist (Gemma Hart) and asked for permission to use it as my cover. She was so sweet.
Everything else I tackled on my own.
Q: How did you set your books' prices?
I priced my stories based on instinct. Unlike a deal with a traditional publisher, most of the royalties go to me. I can afford to set my prices lower. That said, I'm not a huge fan of the $0.99 price point. That's not to say that I'll never price my books this low, but I was more interested in building a reasonable audience than driving sales. I feel that a lot of books priced $2.99 and lower become "impulse buys" and never get read or are read by those not interested in the genre.
My plan was to focus on teens and readers of young adult novels. THE GUARDIAN is just over 50k words, so it's priced at $2.99. CROSS MY HEART is over 70k, so I priced it at $3.99. Both are steals when compared to the prices that traditional publishers are setting, but I see more profit.
Q: What kind of marketing have you done?
CROSS MY HEART is one of those books that (I think) took off by word of mouth (that's the most logical explanation). People were reading it and rating it on Goodreads and telling their friends. The more books I sold, the more Amazon "Customers Also Bought" lists I appeared on. The more attention I got, the higher on those lists I appeared. Sales just continued to roll in.
I was active on KindleBoards and blogged a few times a week, but I didn't even have a website or Twitter account until April/May. I did a few interviews here and there, but it was the reader buzz that had the most profound effect.
Q: I understand that you network with other independent authors. Do you have a support group of any kind?
I hang out on the KindleBoards when I can. The Writer's Café is an awesome place for indie authors. It's the first place I go when I have a question or if I want the latest "news." Otherwise, I have an awesome group of writer friends, and they're the ones I turn to when I'm dealing with general writer angst.
Q: Is there anything you wish you'd known before, or that you would have done differently?
I don't feel like I rushed into anything. I stayed on the sidelines for a few months before I jumped on board. I lurked around the KindleBoards and followed J. A. Konrath's blog posts. I was really interested in how others were faring (what was working and what wasn't). I think I released the books at the right time.
I also kept very realistic expectations. I was thrilled when, in January, I sold one copy of THE GUARDIAN a day. CROSS MY HEART took off faster than I ever could have predicted. I've heard it takes about 4-6 months for an indie writer to find an audience (this is when sales pick up), and my expectations out of the gate were very low.
Q: What advice do you have for novelists who are considering this publication route?
Make sure you do your research. J. A. Konrath's blog is an excellent resource (also Robin Sullivan's Write to Publish blog, and Katie Salidas's blog), and indie authors are always trading information on the KindleBoards. Try to keep realistic expectations. Don't upload your story before it's ready. Enlist the help of beta readers, hire an editor, etc. There's this attitude pervading the writing/reading community that self-published authors don't put out a good product. The reason there's a stigma is because it's partially true. I've seen so many reviews where readers found plot holes, or the story wasn't sufficiently developed, or there were sentence structure errors and typos. If you're going to e-pub, treat it like a business, and make sure you're selling the best product possible.
Q: Where do you see your career in five years--or do you think things are changing too quickly for anyone to be able to predict this?
I have no idea. It really is changing rapidly. I've had a traditional deal and agent before. I'm not turning my back on New York publishing, so I would entertain the idea of another traditional deal in the future (both the foreign and print rights to my e-books are still available). It's not something I'm going to actively pursue right now, though. At this point, I'm going to finish THE GUARDIAN series (which will be three books total), because I made promises to readers in the first novel that I need to keep. I also have another YA contemporary romance I would consider revising and uploading as well.
Sales fluctuate from day to day, and I can't predict the path this "e-revolution" will take. I have no idea how long this will last, so I'm just trying to enjoy the moment.
Katie Klein is a diehard romantic with a penchant for protagonists who kick butt. She wrote a YA novel no one wanted, then watched it hit the Amazon Teen Top 100. She blogs at KatieKleinWrites .
Q: I understand you've self-published some YA novels for Nook and Kindle. How many books, and what are their titles? Could you provide a one-sentence synopsis of each?
I have two e-books out right now. The first is CROSS MY HEART, a YA contemporary romance. In one sentence: Good girl falls in love with mysterious boy who turns her world upside down.
The second is a YA paranormal romance, THE GUARDIAN. This is the first in a series. In one sentence: Good girl falls in love with mysterious boy who turns her world upside down. (laughs) Do you sense a pattern here? Actually, THE GUARDIAN is the story of a girl who falls in love with her Guardian Angel and lands herself in the middle of an epic battle between good and evil.
Q: Why did you decide to go with electronic self-publishing? What were your goals going in?
Quite honestly, my goal going in was to sell a book. That's why I released THE GUARDIAN first. I didn't believe the stories where "no name" authors found an audience for their novels. So, I slapped a "no name" on the cover (yes, Katie Klein is a pen name), sat back, and waited.
I originally decided to e-pub because I felt I was out of options. The market was extremely volatile, I was on an agent hunt, and no one seemed to be responsive. By the time I decided to upload CROSS MY HEART, I'd accrued 75 agent rejections (some never responded, some rejected the query, some the partial, and three rejected it after reading the final version in its entirety). It was never the writing, or the story. It was always the "market." More specifically, they weren't sure it would "stand out" enough.
I loved Parker and Jaden, though, and I believed in their story. I felt if I loved these two people (who aren't even real!) this much, then someone out there was bound to feel the same way.
Q: What has the response been--in terms of sales, sales rankings, reviews, and fan mail?
(laughs) Well, I was right about people loving Parker and Jaden, because the response has been overwhelming. It's getting mostly four and five-star reviews/ratings, and the fan mail I've gotten usually begs me for a sequel. I released CROSS MY HEART on March 14, and sold 161 copies in 17 days. In April, 977 copies were sold. In May: 2,523. I'm on a few bestselling subcategory lists (Teens, Love and Romance), and I've spent the last 40 days (as of this writing) in the Amazon Teen Top 100 (both print and e-books).
It happened so fast. It's all kind of surreal.
Q: How did you approach editing, book design, and cover selection?
I did everything myself. This is, quite literally, a one-woman show. I don't recommend this approach, though. I'm just enough of a control freak enjoy the HUGE undertaking it is to edit, design, and format my own work. I have two degrees in English and graphic design experience. I've taught at the college level, so I'm pretty good at finding typos/errors in my own writing. It's not something I recommend, though. In this case, it's best to "do as I say and not as I do." If you have any doubts, hire an editor and cover designer. There are some great ones out there, and it's not as expensive as you might think.
The photograph used for CROSS MY HEART I found in the stock photo section on Deviant Art. I emailed the artist (Gemma Hart) and asked for permission to use it as my cover. She was so sweet.
Everything else I tackled on my own.
Q: How did you set your books' prices?
I priced my stories based on instinct. Unlike a deal with a traditional publisher, most of the royalties go to me. I can afford to set my prices lower. That said, I'm not a huge fan of the $0.99 price point. That's not to say that I'll never price my books this low, but I was more interested in building a reasonable audience than driving sales. I feel that a lot of books priced $2.99 and lower become "impulse buys" and never get read or are read by those not interested in the genre.
My plan was to focus on teens and readers of young adult novels. THE GUARDIAN is just over 50k words, so it's priced at $2.99. CROSS MY HEART is over 70k, so I priced it at $3.99. Both are steals when compared to the prices that traditional publishers are setting, but I see more profit.
Q: What kind of marketing have you done?
CROSS MY HEART is one of those books that (I think) took off by word of mouth (that's the most logical explanation). People were reading it and rating it on Goodreads and telling their friends. The more books I sold, the more Amazon "Customers Also Bought" lists I appeared on. The more attention I got, the higher on those lists I appeared. Sales just continued to roll in.
I was active on KindleBoards and blogged a few times a week, but I didn't even have a website or Twitter account until April/May. I did a few interviews here and there, but it was the reader buzz that had the most profound effect.
Q: I understand that you network with other independent authors. Do you have a support group of any kind?
I hang out on the KindleBoards when I can. The Writer's Café is an awesome place for indie authors. It's the first place I go when I have a question or if I want the latest "news." Otherwise, I have an awesome group of writer friends, and they're the ones I turn to when I'm dealing with general writer angst.
Q: Is there anything you wish you'd known before, or that you would have done differently?
I don't feel like I rushed into anything. I stayed on the sidelines for a few months before I jumped on board. I lurked around the KindleBoards and followed J. A. Konrath's blog posts. I was really interested in how others were faring (what was working and what wasn't). I think I released the books at the right time.
I also kept very realistic expectations. I was thrilled when, in January, I sold one copy of THE GUARDIAN a day. CROSS MY HEART took off faster than I ever could have predicted. I've heard it takes about 4-6 months for an indie writer to find an audience (this is when sales pick up), and my expectations out of the gate were very low.
Q: What advice do you have for novelists who are considering this publication route?
Make sure you do your research. J. A. Konrath's blog is an excellent resource (also Robin Sullivan's Write to Publish blog, and Katie Salidas's blog), and indie authors are always trading information on the KindleBoards. Try to keep realistic expectations. Don't upload your story before it's ready. Enlist the help of beta readers, hire an editor, etc. There's this attitude pervading the writing/reading community that self-published authors don't put out a good product. The reason there's a stigma is because it's partially true. I've seen so many reviews where readers found plot holes, or the story wasn't sufficiently developed, or there were sentence structure errors and typos. If you're going to e-pub, treat it like a business, and make sure you're selling the best product possible.
Q: Where do you see your career in five years--or do you think things are changing too quickly for anyone to be able to predict this?
I have no idea. It really is changing rapidly. I've had a traditional deal and agent before. I'm not turning my back on New York publishing, so I would entertain the idea of another traditional deal in the future (both the foreign and print rights to my e-books are still available). It's not something I'm going to actively pursue right now, though. At this point, I'm going to finish THE GUARDIAN series (which will be three books total), because I made promises to readers in the first novel that I need to keep. I also have another YA contemporary romance I would consider revising and uploading as well.
Sales fluctuate from day to day, and I can't predict the path this "e-revolution" will take. I have no idea how long this will last, so I'm just trying to enjoy the moment.
Katie Klein is a diehard romantic with a penchant for protagonists who kick butt. She wrote a YA novel no one wanted, then watched it hit the Amazon Teen Top 100. She blogs at KatieKleinWrites .
June 8, 2011
Rebel with a keyboard
Some days, one jettisons everything one has been told about writing and listens instead to a crazy, babbling, insistent voice somewhere in the brain. That voice says: No, THIS is the way this story needs to go.
Sometimes it works.
Sometimes it works.
