Melanie Tomlin's Blog, page 10

The fruit of my labours

The other day I was silently bemoaning the fact that for so much effort I’ve had so little (financial) reward. Then I thought of the numerous fruit trees in my backyard. It was at least three years before they started to produce a good harvest. Being a ‘successful’ author is much like that. Just as you need to tend and nurture your garden, in order for it to bear fruit, you need to tend and nurture your writing … eventually it should bear fruit. Well, that’s what I’m hoping. I must admit that I am rather impatient and eager for that ‘success’ now, but the fruit tree analogy has put things back into perspective for me. Of course, ‘successful’ is a very subjective term. For me, it means earning a modest income that would enable me to quit my day job, and be no worse off financially than I am now.

So, what am I doing about it?

Working on the next two books in the Angel Series — Angel’s Messiah (book 3) and Angel’s Body (book 4). The more quality work I produce, the likelier it is people will begin to notice me and read my books.

Marketing, marketing, marketing … Facebook ads, Kindle promotions, making my books available for review via NetGalley, multi-author promotions, and other online advertising. I’ve also booked a table in the Indie Author Zone at Supernova Melbourne (April 2016) and have submitted an application for a table at Oz Comic-Con Melbourne (June 2016). The latter will be more difficult to get into, but fingers crossed, my application will be accepted. My third book will be available just in time for Oz Comic-Con, so it would be great if I could be there to promote it.

Trying hard to build up my email subscription list. As well as being the first to receive updates, subscribers receive freebies, and are automatically entered into any giveaways I have, so there are good reasons to subscribe and stay on my list. I’ll try to hold a giveaway for each new book release.

Networking with other authors and readers via Goodreads, KBoards, Facebook and Twitter. Twitter is a real challenge for me. I’m having a hard time ‘getting it’. And of course, I find it hard to keep what I’ve got to say within the 140 characters Twitter imposes. That’s probably the real challenge for me!

Only time will tell if my labouring will bear fruit. Stick around for the journey to find out!

The post The fruit of my labours appeared first on Melanie Tomlin.

Oops, I Made a Mistake!

Oh dear, I made a mistake. It’s the type of mistake that only hurts you, and no one else. It’s a mistake I don’t wish to repeat … let me elaborate, as I usually do.

I’ve been really busy lately. I had to:

make sure Angel’s Kiss was all set to be made available on NetGalley for the month of February
work on preparations for attending Supanova in Melbourne (Apr 15-17). If you haven’t already done so, check out the business card holders I made to take to SupaNova
finalise the Kindle Touch and Cover Competition that I’d been running
reformat Angel’s Kiss — I disliked the large first line indent in the paperback
update the cover for Angel’s Kiss — reduced indent size meant reduced page count, which meant the original spine was too wide
work on the third, fourth and fifth Angel Series books. The sixth one can wait for now … there’s only so much I can do!

To top it off, I still have my day job to go to. When I’ve sold my first 100,000 books I’ll think about scaling back the day job.

So, imagine my horror this morning when that nagging little voice in my head asked, “Did you remember to tell the world that Angel’s Curse has been published?” I didn’t need to check … the nagging voice was simply being polite, when it should have said, “You idiot, you forget to tell people they can now buy the book!”

Sure, I’ve verbally told lots of people, and mentioned on social media that its release was imminent. I even emailed everyone at work to let them know I had advance copies for sale, but on the day, nothing.

I’m sure that any marketers out there would be shaking their heads and saying, “That’s a sackable offence.” I’m hardly going to sack myself though, am I? It goes to show that I am human after all — and here I was thinking I was an alien – and just as fallible as the next person. But hey, what a mistake to make!

Okay, so here’s the official announcement. Angel’s Curse is available for sale online from most ebook and paperback retailers.

Here’s the most popular of the ebook retailers … Amazon US, Amazon AU, Amazon UK, Kobo, Nook, iTunes US, iTunes AU, Smashwords.

If you’re interested in the paperback, you might want to go this page on my website, as it’s most likely the cheapest place to buy it, even with the postage costs. As an added bonus, it will be a signed copy!

You can also take a look at Booko for the paperback, and compare the prices of the various online retailers.

I was in a rush to write this article, so let me know if you find any typos!

The post Oops, I Made a Mistake! appeared first on Melanie Tomlin.

Oops, I made a mistake!

Oh dear, I made a mistake. It’s the type of mistake that only hurts you, and no one else. It’s a mistake I don’t wish to repeat … let me elaborate, as I usually do.

I’ve been really busy lately. I had to:

make sure Angel’s Kiss was all set to be made available on NetGalley for the month of February
work on preparations for attending Supanova in Melbourne (Apr 15-17). If you haven’t already done so, check out the business card holders I made to take to SupaNova
finalise the Kindle Touch and Cover Competition that I’d been running
reformat Angel’s Kiss — I disliked the large first line indent in the paperback
update the cover for Angel’s Kiss — reduced indent size meant reduced page count, which meant the original spine was too wide
work on the third, fourth and fifth Angel Series books. The sixth one can wait for now … there’s only so much I can do!

To top it off, I still have my day job to go to. When I’ve sold my first 100,000 books I’ll think about scaling back the day job.

So, imagine my horror this morning when that nagging little voice in my head asked, “Did you remember to tell the world that Angel’s Curse has been published?” I didn’t need to check … the nagging voice was simply being polite, when it should have said, “You idiot, you forget to tell people they can now buy the book!”

Sure, I’ve verbally told lots of people, and mentioned on social media that its release was imminent. I even emailed everyone at work to let them know I had advance copies for sale, but on the day, nothing.

I’m sure that any marketers out there would be shaking their heads and saying, “That’s a sackable offence.” I’m hardly going to sack myself though, am I? It goes to show that I am human after all — and here I was thinking I was an alien – and just as fallible as the next person. But hey, what a mistake to make!

Okay, so here’s the official announcement. Angel’s Curse is available for sale online from most ebook and paperback retailers.

Here’s the most popular of the ebook retailers … Amazon US, Amazon AU, Amazon UK, Kobo, Nook, iTunes US, iTunes AU, Smashwords.

If you’re interested in the paperback, you might want to go this page on my website, as it’s most likely the cheapest place to buy it, even with the postage costs. As an added bonus, it will be a signed copy!

You can also take a look at Booko for the paperback, and compare the prices of the various online retailers.

I was in a rush to write this article, so let me know if you find any typos!

The post Oops, I made a mistake! appeared first on Melanie Tomlin.

And the Winner Is …

… but first, a word from our sponsor. That would be me!

Just kidding!

All eligible email addresses were entered into a random list picker, courtesy of Random-ize. As I wanted to add a couple of screenshots to this announcement, I masked the majority of each entrant’s email address, but left enough detail so that each one was unique. I still needed to be able to identify who the winner was!

I then clicked the ‘Pick one!’ button and was presented with an email address. I have been in contact with the lucky winner, and am pleased to announce that the winner of the Kindle Touch and Cover Competition is Susan, of Melbourne in Australia.

Congratulations, Susan! You’ll be receiving your new Kindle Touch and Cover shortly.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I am planning to hold a giveaway to celebrate each new book that is published, so with a bit of luck, and a lot of elbow grease, there should be another two giveaways this year.

The post And the Winner Is … appeared first on Melanie Tomlin.

And the winner is …

… but first, a word from our sponsor. That would be me!

Just kidding!

All eligible email addresses were entered into a random list picker, courtesy of Random-ize. As I wanted to add a couple of screenshots to this announcement, I masked the majority of each entrant’s email address, but left enough detail so that each one was unique. I still needed to be able to identify who the winner was!

I then clicked the ‘Pick one!’ button and was presented with an email address. I have been in contact with the lucky winner, and am pleased to announce that the winner of the Kindle Touch and Cover Competition is Susan, of Melbourne in Australia.

Congratulations, Susan! You’ll be receiving your new Kindle Touch and Cover shortly.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I am planning to hold a giveaway to celebrate each new book that is published, so with a bit of luck, and a lot of elbow grease, there should be another two giveaways this year.

The post And the winner is … appeared first on Melanie Tomlin.

Make your own unique business card holder

Okay, so this is a bit different for me, though it does show that I am creative in more ways than one.

As I’ve booked a table at the Indie Zone in The Alley for Supanova Melbourne (April 15–17), I thought I’d need some business cards to hand out. My dilemma was finding something nice to display them in. I searched the Net for a number of hours, looking for an inexpensive and unique business card holder, and couldn’t find what I was looking for. So I thought to myself that maybe I could make one, and searched for ideas. Bingo! Lisa Minckler, at You Made Me Ink! used an earring box to make a unique business card holder back in 2012. Having looked at some of Lisa’s other projects, I can only say that she is a very talented and creative artist. She provided me with the inspiration I needed!

I knew I wasn’t in Lisa’s league, but I was going to give it a go.

I didn’t have any earring boxes, and the usual shops I would trawl for this sort of thing didn’t have any either. I settled for a couple of small gift boxes from The Reject Shop instead. I wasn’t fussed what they looked like on the outside, as they were going to be covered up anyway, but for my project, finding a couple of boxes with a black interior was a bonus.

I found some lovely flocked paper at Kaisercraft — After Five Collection, Debutante — bought some Mod Podge matte glue, a packet of wooden cotton spools in various sizes, and Steam Punk jewellery featuring a cherub and angel wings from Spotlight.

With the basics for my business card holder purchased, it was off home to start work on the project.

1. Create a template using plain paper.

I can’t stress this enough. Don’t waste your more expensive paper on creating a template. If you’re like me, and make a mistake, you’re likely to curse yourself for having wasted the good paper.

On my first attempt, I glued the sides after having glued the front and back. The result was that the flaps from my sides showed up on the front and back of the box. The front and back should look like one solid piece. That means gluing the sides to the box before the front and back. To make sure I didn’t make the same mistake again, I numbered each part of the template, based on the order in which they should be glued.

Wasted good paper count = 1

2. Use your template to cut out your good paper.

Use a pencil to trace the outline of your template onto the reverse of the paper you’re going to use to cover the box. You don’t necessarily have to do this on the reverse side of the paper, but with dark paper it makes it easier to see the lines. Draw the fold lines as well.

Don’t forget to check that the design on your paper is facing the right way before you start cutting it out. After I’d cut out my second one I realised that the pattern was on the side. Grrr! By using a pencil to trace your template, you can easily erase the lines and start again. Also, if you’re making a matching set of business card holders, make sure your template is positioned in the exact same spot on each sheet of paper. That way your design will look consistent throughout.

After you’ve carefully cut out your good paper, make a diagonal cut between what will be the bottom of the flaps for the sides, and the base of the box. (I hope that makes sense!) Now make your folds along the fold lines. This ensures it’s easier to mould the paper around your box.

Wasted good paper count = 2

TIP: Run a black permanent marker around the edges of your paper. This will hide any ‘white’ edges that might show up once you’ve glued the paper in place. If you’re using a different colour paper, choose a marker of a similar colour to go over your edges with. Of course, if you’re using white, or a really light colour, there’s no need to go around the edges at all.

3. Start gluing.

I found it was easier to use my finger to spread the glue on the paper. The Mod Podge glue I used is non-toxic, so I was happy enough to get a sticky finger. If you choose to do the same as me, keep a wet wipe or serviette close to hand, so you can wipe the excess glue off your finger.

Glue the base first. Lift up the sides, front and back, to make sure your box is positioned in the right place. Let go, then press down on the inside base of the box for a few seconds to make sure the paper and box bond. I waited 5–10 minutes before proceeding to glue the sides.

Once you’re ready to move on, glue one side at a time, including the side flaps. Don’t glue the top flaps yet. We’ll do that once the front and back have been glued onto the box.

Did you wait 5–10 minutes? It probably won’t make much difference if you haven’t. I just used that time to hang out the washing, check my emails and get something to drink. Many cups of tea and coffee were consumed during the making of this business card holder. I refrained from alcohol. Who knows what it might have turned out like if I’d had a tipple or two … or three!

Okay, back to work. Glue down your front, have a drink, then glue the back. It’s starting to look good, isn’t it?

Fold the top flaps over and into the box one at a time. If one or more of them seems a bit squished inside the box, trim the sides slightly. Now glue those suckers down!

4. Add your embellishments.

I didn’t have any black paint, so I used a black permanent marker to colour the little wooden spools I used as feet. More gluing! Turn your box upside down and add your feet. I allowed 20 minutes for them to dry before adding my other embellishments, though you could easily change the order in which the embellishments are added, to speed things up.

The front of the box is 10cm wide, so I wanted the middle of my cherub to be at the 5cm mark. I figured I’d allow 1cm (or thereabouts) from the top of the box for the placement of the cherub’s wings.

When I had my placement set, I sat the cherub in position and used a white gel pen to mark the places where I needed a hole. I dialled the smallest setting on my mum’s old dial-a-hole punch to make the holes. I used the same twist ties that held the cherub and angel wings to the cardboard they came on to attach the cherub to the box. Don’t forget to flatten the wire for the twist ties against the inside of the box.

I measured the side of the box (6cm), halved it and made a mark 1cm from the top on each side of the box. This is where I made the holes for the angel wings, once again attached by the twist ties. The wings were a bit of a challenge, as they wouldn’t stay upright. After a bit of fiddling around, I figured out that if I twisted the twist tie firmly around the wing first, then popped it through the hole and flattened it against the inside of the box, it stayed where I wanted it to.

Lastly I added some tape over the flattened out pieces of the twist ties on the inside of the box.

5. Pad the inside of your box.

The boxes I chose to use are quite deep for business cards. I could have stored some business cards in the bottom, but once I started using the stored cards, I’d still have the problem of them not being really visible in the holder. I found some old packaging foam (they’re shown in the image for the previous step), cut it to shape and used it to pad the bottom of the box. I then glued some of the good paper from the off-cuts onto the top layer.

6. Make a backrest.

Okay, nearly done. I looked at the box and thought that if there were only a few business cards left, they might not sit upright. Solution — a backrest.

You really should make a template on plain paper for this as well, as you’ll want it to look quite neat. Follow the same principles as outlined in steps 1–3 and you should be right.

I used more packaging foam to make the backrests. They sit nicely in the box, and when it’s empty, it looks like a funky little couch! Kind of cute, don’t you think?

You don’t have to use the same paper, embellishments or even box shape/size as me. Whatever you do, make it personal. For me, it was about my Angel Series, so I wanted something to reflect that. I may well make another unique business card holder for the other series I have planned (3P Trilogy). It’s certainly cheap enough that you can have a dozen or so ‘originals’ already made up, to suit a different mood or purpose.

The post Make your own unique business card holder appeared first on Melanie Tomlin.

Imagination land

Or why books are great …

I love my imagination! It serves two purposes. The first is to give me almost all the material I need to write my stories, and the second is to enable me to visualise the characters and worlds from other authors’ books that I read.

An author creates a story to take us on a journey, but it is the reader’s imagination that brings the story to life. Watching something on the television, or going to the movies, we’re spoon-fed someone else’s vision of what the characters/places in our favourite books actually look like. I can’t recall my imaginings of a character having ever matched the TV show/movie character representation. Sometimes that spoils the show for me, especially if they’re quite different to how I imagined them.

In my Angel Series, to get my readers to use their imagination, I try not to name the cities or countries where most of the action occurs. If you happen to live in an area where there’s a forest a few hundred kilometres away, I want you to think that what you’re reading could be happening in your own backyard. I want you to feel that you’re involved in my book — a part of it. The same goes for my characters, although I do need to provide you with some detail, or your imagination has nothing to work with! Look at it this way, between the two of us, we’re brainstorming our way through my books — my words, your imagination.

Admittedly there are times when I try not to leave anything to the imagination. For example, if a character that has meant a lot to me is going to die, I want to give them the send-off they deserve. I want you to feel sad — to feel the same anguish I do — as my much-loved character dies. Hopefully, if I’ve captured the essence of the scene, your reaction will be just as I planned it.

Television and movies are still great for a ‘quick fix’, or when you really don’t want to put any effort in. They’re even good to determine if you want to read the book that the TV show/movie was adapted from. Yes, I know that quite often the two deviate, but it should give you a general feel for the book … unless of course it’s a terrible TV show/movie!

Has your imagination had a workout recently? What TV show/movie adaptation made you pick up the book it was based on? What TV show/movie were you put off by, because it didn’t match your ideal of the book?

The post Imagination land appeared first on Melanie Tomlin.

Why am I sad at this time of year?

It’s almost the end of the year and I am sad. Why am I sad? Okay, prepare yourself for a tirade as I explain why I’m sad.

Note: If you are easily offended, perhaps you should stop reading this article now …

Over the years political correctness has spread like a virus to infect all avenues of our lives. In most cases it’s been a good virus, but in some — this one in particular — it’s plain awful and wrong.

I live in Australia, which is a predominantly Christian, English-speaking country. Here are some statistics to support that claim, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics website, for the latest census in 2011:

Religious Affiliations (top three)

Christian 61.1%

Catholic 25.3%

No Religion 22.3%

Language spoken at home (top three)

English only 80.7%

Mandarin 1.7%

Italian 1.5%

Australia is a multi-cultural melting pot. I think it’s wonderful that we have such diversity here. We can learn a lot from other cultures, just as they can learn from us. We embrace diversity, but in doing so, it appears we’ve become scared of offending others because their beliefs, be they religious, political or something else — how to eat your Tim Tam? — differ to ours.

Christmas is a classic example. I recently attended an ‘End of Year’ celebration, and have received a few ‘Happy Holidays’ cards. Are we so afraid to call an ‘End of Year’ celebration what it really is — a Christmas party — for fear of offending someone? Where have the cards that say ‘Merry Christmas’ disappeared to?

Growing up in Australia, Christmas was always Christmas. Anyone coming here from another part of the world would have been aware that we are a largely Christian country, and that we celebrate Christmas. In reality I think there are very few people who are offended by Christmas — that’s my personal opinion, not necessarily a fact. After all, we accept and embrace their celebrations, so I’m sure the majority do the same of ours. For example, last month Diwali, which is the Hindu Festival of Lights celebration, was held in Werribee, not far from where I live. A lot of people from different backgrounds attended and it was a huge success — so much so that there are already plans for next year’s celebration (www.wyndhamdiwali.org.au/).

Hmm, could it just be the government and business that are driving the push to make these important parts of the year more neutral and nondescript? (Something to think about. Is it all part of one of those dreaded conspiracy theories? Forgive me, that last part was a bit tongue-in-cheek.)

For me, Christmas has not centred religion since I left Sunday school. It is about getting together with loved ones, sharing food and good times. Surely if the minority of people who are offended by Christmas could look at it the same way I do, they would have no cause to be offended. After all, isn’t being with loved ones and celebrating life a good thing?

I love Christmas! As well as getting together with loved ones, there’s the build-up, anticipation and all the colour — bright baubles, tinsel and flashing lights. Everything is so festive, bright and cheerful. It’s Christmassy. I don’t want to feel bad about calling it Christmas, or be sad because I shouldn’t call it Christmas.

I could easily be offended that Christmas shouldn’t be called Christmas any more, yet my being offended wouldn’t make any difference. But whatever happened to good old tolerance? I am happy to share this wonderful country with others, but all I ask is for a little tolerance toward our celebrations. Is it easy to be offended. It takes patience and understanding to be tolerant.

Okay, rant over, and I feel better for it.

Take care, stay safe and I’ll be in touch in the new year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

The post Why am I sad at this time of year? appeared first on Melanie Tomlin.

Win a Kindle Touch and Cover!

To celebrate the upcoming release of the second book in the ‘Angel Series’ — Angel’s Curse — I’m having a little giveaway!

Subscribe to my newsletter for a chance to win a Kindle Touch and Cover (for the Kindle). Existing subscribers please note that you will be automatically entered into the draw.

Entries close on 31 January 2016 11:59pm AEST. A random-picker website will be used to select the winner, and the winner will be announced on, or before, Sunday 14 February 2016 — provided the winner’s eligibility to enter has been verified.

The Terms and Conditions can be found here. Please do take the time to have a read, as some of you may be ineligible to enter. (You are still most welcome to subscribe for news and updates though.)

You can subscribe to my newsletter via my website. A pop-up subscription form will appear a few seconds after you land on my site, an info bar will appear at the top before you try to run away, and, if that isn’t enough, there’s a ‘Get updates!’ form near the bottom of every page. Alternatively there’s an ‘Email Signup’ form on my Facebook page. Any one of these will get you subscribed and entered, but don’t forget to check your email and confirm your subscription, otherwise you won’t be properly subscribed.

The photo at the top shows the actual goods that the winner will receive. Don’t knock the photo — I’m a writer, not a photographer!

Good luck!

The post Win a Kindle Touch and Cover! appeared first on Melanie Tomlin.

Let’s say in ten words what could be said in three

This may seem somewhat off-topic, but I have to say that Aldi’s white chocolate — Choceur brand — is almost to die for. For those of you who don’t know, Aldi is a discount supermarket. I promise I’ll get to the point of this post shortly. Now, if my brother was here he’d be telling you that white chocolate is not chocolate. Technically he’s right, and if I were to talk about an off-white, creamy confectionery that melts in your mouth, you’d probably know what I was talking about… but ‘white chocolate’ is easier and instantly recognisable.

Sometimes it’s better to describe something in the least number of words, which I quite often have difficulty with. The unofficial motto of my family is something along the lines of, we don’t say in three words what can be said in ten.

Can you imagine how often it comes across that we’re lecturing, or someone outside our family paraphrases what one of us has just said, in the three words we should have used in the first place? It happens a lot. How hard is it to change? Very!

Now that leads to another question. Is it always a bad thing? I believe the answer to that can be summed up in a single word — no. Did you see what I did there? Instead of simply saying No, I padded my response with an extra fourteen words! Seriously though, if you’re going to write fiction there are times when you need to be descriptive. Which of these sounds better?

I could hear the sounds of a fight. They were frightening.
In the distance I could hear the sounds of a ferocious fight. The snarling and growling, interspersed with yowls of pain, echoed throughout the forest. I’d never heard sounds like that before. They were frightening.

However, when you’re writing a book blurb, or have a character limit — perhaps for a short title — you need to be able to tighten up your text. Usually I’ll just start off the way I always do, and write whatever comes into my head. From there I try to prune anything that isn’t necessary. Sometimes I can do it, no problems. Other times I labour over it and feel that I’d rather cut off my arm than have to prune or reword one more time! When that happens I’ll ask others to provide me with some feedback. Sometimes all you need is to see it from another person’s perspective.

Do you also suffer from long-wordedness? (Did I just invent a new word? I like it much better than plain, old wordiness.) If you do, please let me know how you deal with it, or if people have commented on your ‘affliction’. Does it make you self-conscious of speaking in groups of strangers, or do you think, ‘who cares, it’s their problem, not mine’?

The post Let’s say in ten words what could be said in three appeared first on Melanie Tomlin.