E.M. Tippetts's Blog, page 12

Two links

Like my new badge? I was *shocked* this morning when one of my reviewer friends emailed me to let me know that Someone Else's Fairytale had been featured on Pixel of Ink. Pixel of Ink is very choosy. I personally know exactly one other person who's been featured by them, and she had over 250 five star ratings when that happened. So today I had a very fun sales spike and get to wear the badge, something I didn't think was in the cards for a long, long while.

That kind of overshadows my other announcement, which is that I posted about my collaboration with German translator, Michael Drecker, on The Scribbler's Cove. Head on over there for the details, while I just provide this visual. It's the sales chart for the book's sales on Amazon.de.


Much of the credit for this goes to Michael, who has a talent for translating chick lit. I bet he never even suspected!

Writing leaner and meaner

As we gear up for the release of Nobody's Damsel , I'll be the first to admit that I wrote it in record time, and I understand if that makes people nervous. Whenever I see an author start to churn out books fast, the quality always seems to go down. Also, in the world of indie writing, there is a lot of pressure to write fast. The bigger your shelf of work, the more copies you sell overall, even if you don't sell all that many of each.

This is not my strategy.

When I researched indie writing and the market norms, I did take note of how some people release a novel a month and suchlike, and that got me thinking about my writing process. I have no desire to churn out volume for the sake of writing volume, but I did wonder, what inefficiencies could I cut from my writing? These are the ones I found:

- I could stop worrying so much about word count and whether the book was the right length. The book should be as long as it needs to be to tell the story. Hence when Damsel came in short, a mere 60,000 words, I decided not to panic. Previously I would try to jam in another 20,000 words of subplots or something. That was a mistake, it bloats the book, and it slows me down. It's unnecessary. The events in Damsel take place primarily over the course of one week. The plot is tight and focused and there are no subplots in there just for the sake of having subplots. This book didn't really lend itself to more than a couple of subplots, given the structure of the story. The novel I'm working on now looks like it may be a long one. Again, I won't stress about it being too long.

- I could write the books I want to write rather than obsessing about what I should write. If I'm writing the book that I can't stop thinking about, I am much more productive every day. For the novel I'm working on right now, I've exceeded 10,000 words a day on several occasions. Those aren't 10,000 words I'll keep, but they're still nice big chunks of novel that I wouldn't be able to produce if I was working on a project I felt I "should" write.

- Along those same lines, I could devote more back-brain daydreaming to my plots, as that's where my novels germinate. Whenever I attack a novel cold, it's difficult and takes a ton of drafts. If I've worked much of it out in my mind beforehand, it goes much faster, and I'm also learning that the books that captivate me are the ones that captivate readers. My enthusiasm comes through. Now I have an excuse to daydream every waking moment!

- I could just keep going from book to book rather than wasting time after the end of each project to see how well it sells and beat myself up. If a book doesn't sell well, I assume this is much easier to deal with if I'm sunk into writing another book. It gives me something to look forward to and less time to dwell. Hence, no more time-wasting breaks between projects.

- I could spend less time wallowing in self doubt. My books are all a little quirky. Each one has at least one major element of absurdity. When I was shopping Someone Else's Fairytale  around to agents and publishers, they all thought (and rightly so) that a chick lit novel with a hot actor and an abstinent honor student was just weird. It doesn't fit in the marketing category for chick lit. But I can either write this quirky stuff, struggle with de-quirking my stuff purely to please other people, or not write at all. I used to do a bit of option 2, but from now on I'll be sticking to option 1.

Now here's what hasn't changed:

- My obsessive rewriting and redrafting. There are barely any first draft words in any of my novels. I rewrite like crazy, tearing out 40,000 words or more sometimes. While it may seem obnoxious of me to give my own books 5 stars on Goodreads, I don't mean this to tell the world I'm just so wonderful. It's to tell the world that none of my projects go live until I put in 5 stars worth of effort to make it the best it can possibly be.

- My setting my own deadlines. This is one of the huge advantages of indie writing. No editor/publisher breathing down the back of your neck. I can release the novel when it's ready, not when it meets someone else's production schedule. Hence, one novel might take four months and another eight. I'll set a deadline once I know for sure how long the project will take, so every time you see a new book cover go up on Goodreads and a preorder button pop up on my site, you can rest assured that the novel is most of the way done and well into the editing phases, so it will release on the promised date. But there might be some long gaps without new covers popping up, because it's not worth releasing a book until it's the very best I can make it.

- My interaction with fans. While I now have less time to spend babbling away on Twitter, I always respond to personal tweets and messages and emails. If someone takes the time to reach out to me, they deserve a response, and if they've taken the time to read my book, they deserve a personal thank you. I do know authors who've gotten so famous they can't afford the time to respond to all their fan mail. I don't bother worrying about this happening to me.

So, yes, Damsel will be out a mere four months after Castles on the Sand. This isn't because I felt like I had to get it out this fast. It's because I got to write it that fast. I gave myself more freedom to write as many words as I wanted and to polish it exactly the way I felt it should be. While it'd be great to produce a novel every four months, I make no concrete plans to do this. At all. My books will continue to release when they're ready, but with a few tweaks, I now can make them ready a little faster.

Review Copies of Nobody's Damsel are now available

We're exactly one month away from the release date for Nobody's Damsel , and the review copies are ready to ship! If you are a book blogger or review for a review publication, you are welcome to one of them. Please get in touch with me via email at emilymtippetts@gmail.com

Meanwhile, for everyone else, preorders are still open here on the site and the first ten chapters will go up on Wattpad as a free sample.

On top of all the usual, holiday season insanity, we're gearing up for the launch! Also, the day after tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of Someone Else's Fairytale being published. It happened in a moment of pure insanity when I decided to just forge on ahead without a publisher, publicist, or full time editor. I hired a cover designer and jumped in with both feet. Right now, Fairytale is 9th in Teen Literature and Fiction on Amazon.com, outranking The Hunger Games trilogy and the Twilight books. Consider me amazed!

Fairytale is out in German, here's a German indie author I HIGHLY recommend, with a novel out in English!

Today I'd like to celebrate the publication of Someone Else's Fairytale  in German as Nicht mein Märchen. The launch has been spectacular and the novel is selling very well, yet since most of my blog followers likely don't read German, it seems only fitting that I celebrate this publication by raving about a German indie author who just had her first book translated into English. I'm talking about Emily Bold, who has already made a big name for herself in her native Germany. Much of her work is historical romance, but this one has a paranormal twist. Here's my synopsis:

A curse that makes a man unable to die, also prevents him from living. He feels no pain and no emotion, merely drifting through existence like a ghost until he collides with a young woman with the inborn power to change his fate. Payton and sixteen of his clan members and allies were afflicted with the curse back in the seventeenth century, only not all of them consider it an affliction. When Samantha, a descendant of their bitter enemies, arrives in modern day Scotland, she steps into a centuries old feud between men who want to live again and those who don’t dare feel the crushing guilt for the sins they committed so long ago.
The Curse , is a complex and compelling book with a story that spans three centuries. While we’ve all seen the immortal guy in love with a mortal woman storyline before, Bold packs the pages with a rich backstory full of historical detail about clan warfare in medieval Scotland, something that the main character, Samantha, knows little about. She is on a modern day exchange program in a small Scottish town when she is nearly knocked over by Payton, who enjoys riding his bike at breakneck speed. It’s a trivial amusement for someone who can’t actually break his neck, only his fleeting encounter with Sam evokes real, physical pain.
This book is written in a mix of British English and Scots dialect. In choosing a translator, Bold wisely went with someone fluent in Scots dialect, able to write it in a way that all of us English speakers should understand. While it is possible at points to see that this is a translation (i.e. Britishisms in some of the American dialogue, which will be removed in the next edition), the underlying bone structure and emotional core of this book is first class. I’m very much looking forward to the sequel, which just came out in German. Everyone buy this book so she can afford to have the next one translated!

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

Okay, everyone, I don't normally participate in Blog Hops on this blog, but this one is perfectly timed. Do we all know what today is? Today is the one year anniversary of when I indie published my first book! So far this November, I've sold over twice as many books as I did for the entire month of November last year. I'd like to celebrate with this Blog Hop, in which I'll answer questions about the upcoming sequel to Someone Else's Fairytale.

Starting below the book graphic are the words of the originator of this Blog Hop (modified to link to the author who passed it on to me), and my answers to their questions:



“From Twilight to Casual Vacancy, the past few years have been full of high profile reads. Love em or hate em, you have to admit you have at least heard of them.

As Authors we all dare to dream we will be next, and well let’s face it you never know ... right?

What is a blog hop?

Basically, it’s an Authors game of tag.

One Author posts, and then tags five other Authors, who each link back to them. Exponentially it is a marketing gold mine, and you my fair reader have hopefully just increased your to read list. Finding New and Exciting Authors you may never have found otherwise. Some of us are still writing, others are just being released. Either way, for you Fiction Lovers, a treasure trove awaits and I’d like to thank fellow Author, Michelle Renea Anderson, for tagging me to participate.”

Click the links to find out about Michelle Renea Anderson's book Shelby’s Plan.

Blog: http://shellsbookworm.blogspot.com

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shelbys-Plan-ebook/dp/B007CT4GL6

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Michelle-Renea-Anderson/e/B000APA04G

Twitter: @MichelleRAnders

“In this particular hop I and my fellow Authors each in their perspective Blogs have answered 10 questions where you get to learn about our current WIP (Works in Progress) as well as some goodies as to our process, from characters and inspirations to photographic/ Cinematic eye candy! I hope you enjoy it!!

If this or any other items pique your interest, please feel free to comment and share your thoughts and questions.”

HERE ARE THE QUESTIONS

1: What is the working title of your book?

The working title of my next book is Nobody's Damsel. It's definitely what I'll stick with since I've already got the cover designed.

2: Where did the idea come from for the book?

So in this book we return to the world of  Someone Else's Fairytale , but focus on Chloe's career as a forensic scientist. She's put on her first case which happens to be a crime against a child. As a childhood crime survivor, she feels a strong personal investment in the case. Meanwhile the media and the public are all interested in her husband, Jason, because he's an A list actor. His frustration is that he feels he has incredible power in the world of make believe while his wife has so little power in the real world, where real lives are at stake. By working together, though, they find their worlds aren't as different as they fear.

This is a sequel to  Someone Else's Fairytale , which I guess is technically an Amazon "Bestseller" as it's been as high as the top 200 paid in the Kindle store, but that's not a term I feel I should be using yet. Suffice it to say, a lot of people really liked Fairytale, so I've wanted to write a sequel for quite some time, but it took almost a year for me to put together a viable idea. I didn't want to just do a sequel in which we follow the characters around doing nothing. Even the most lovable characters get old in that kind of context.

3: What genre does your book fall under?

Chick lit, I gather. I never read chick lit, but Chick Lit Plus has already booked a review slot for it, so I'll trust their ability to categorize!

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

You know I'm terrible at this kind of thing. I know what I don't know, shall we say, and I don't know which actors would do the best portrayal. If I ever have to seriously answer that question, I'll likely be too giddy to be coherent.

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Chloe wants to crack a case and save a child's life, while her husband, Jason, fears that he's lost his edge as a Hollywood actor, yet together they find that they and their careers compliment one another better than they ever could have imagined.

6: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I assume you mean self pubbed or traditionally pubbed. As E.M. Tippetts I always self publish, so this book will be no exception.

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Six weeks for the actual typing, but about a year for all the mental work of plotting it.

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

See, I just don't read chick lit, so I wouldn't know.  Someone Else's Fairytale  is sometimes compared to Love Unscripted, but I gather that even if the subject matter is similar, the actual books are about as different as they can get.

9: Who or What inspired you to write this book?

My characters, I suppose. I've worked on coming up with ideas for plots and characters every day for ten years straight, so I don't have many "eureka" moments when I have this brilliant new idea. Usually they come together a little bit at a time over the course of weeks.

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I'll always make sure that my series books do not need to be read in order, so even if Someone Else's Fairytale doesn't appeal, feel free to check out  Nobody's Damsel .

Release date for Nobody's Damsel

Just a quick note, because I write this while dead exhausted from writing the sequel to Castles on the Sand. I've got a release date for Nobody's Damsel! It will be out January 5, 2013. Reviewers, you can get advance copies in December (though I do understand this is a busy month for everyone - I never mind, at all, having reviews out after the release date). Drop me an email if you're a reviewer who wants to reserve a copy, and let me know the format you want.

Everyone else can still preorder at a deep discount here on my site!

Promotions

Wow, okay, so I extended the free promotion for Castles on the Sand  another twenty four hours, and in that twenty four hours the book climbed to 51st on all of Amazon. So the free promotion is extended another two days. The book will be free until midnight Sunday night. Right now it's 43rd on Amazon, and all I can say is, holy cow, people. This is an LDS YA fiction book by an almost unknown writer. All of the ads for this promo expired two days ago. You fans are amazing. By all means, have more free books.

At the same time, I have lowered the price of   Someone Else's Fairytale  to $.99 for at least three days, so until the end of the day on Monday.

Fairytale is available from all the major sites. The price change may not yet be live on all of them yet. Castles is currently available as an ebook, only on Amazon. As a print book, it is also available on all the major sites. UK fans, the Amazon UK links are embedded in the righthand sidebar of my website (www.emtippetts.com, for those reading this post embedded elsewhere).

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for making these promotions such a success.

  

Castles on the Sand is Free on Amazon October 24-25 NOW EXTENDED another day

Yes, this post is going to be a short one, because really, I think it's all quite self explanatory. For this Wednesday and Thursday, Castles on the Sand  is free to download on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, and Amazon.it. The links in this post are to Amazon.com, as that's where most of my sales originate. The link from the UK store in the righthand sidebar will get you to the UK site.

Everyone enjoy, download, tell your friends!

Castles on the Sand is Free on Amazon October 24-25

Yes, this post is going to be a short one, because really, I think it's all quite self explanatory. For this Wednesday and Thursday, Castles on the Sand  is free to download on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, and Amazon.it. The links in this post are to Amazon.com, as that's where most of my sales originate. The link from the UK store in the righthand sidebar will get you to the UK site.

Everyone enjoy, download, tell your friends!

Cover for the Fairytale Sequel!

I've shown the new cover to Someone Else's Fairytale, which will go live on Amazon in the next few hours. Now here's the cover for the sequel, Nobody's Damsel. I like how it turned out, but as all my fans should know, I'm always open to critiques. Let me know what you think!
The release date for this one will be early next year, but if I can get it out sooner, I will. In the meantime, I will offer preorders for it here on the site, once I've got the cover up on Goodreads and can get the word out. The biggest obstacle to an early release date is that we may be moving early next year, and I want to make sure to release the very best possible book I can. Right now it's rolling along, almost writing itself, so I'm optimistic. Once it's all written, there are two rounds of proofreading and editing before I start the Kindle layouts. In any case, it will be out by the end of winter.
I can give a few clues away, though. In this book, Chloe works her first case as a criminalist and crime scene investigator. As luck would have it, it's a crime against a child, and she learns how hard it is to be an adult on the outside looking in. It's not as bad as being the child in danger (which she's been before), but it's a lot harder than she'd ever anticipated. I'll be vague here to avoid spoilers for anyone who hasn't read the first book and simply say that her husband wants more than anything to be able to help, but feels powerless. This case will change him too.