Ella James's Blog, page 12
April 9, 2012
Emerging from the rabbit hole
Ahhhh. So it's been a REALLY long while since I posted last. A lot has happened. A lot of it good. Hence the ahhhh. :)
My family has finally truly "moved in" to our new home, in our new location: Alabama. No snide questions about whether we wear shoes or have running water here. ;) My husband and I are from the South and love it. Moving was as suck-tastic as moving always is, made at least 20% more suck-tastic by doing it with an 8-month-old. That would be 40% more suck-tastic, 'cept that figure was offset by 20% more overall awesomeness, also due to having an 8-month-old around. My boy is giggly and cute and crawling and trying to walk and generally being a wild man. Which really is awesome. And yes, I guess sometimes I'm going to talk about my kid here. :) Just can't help it.
Not sure how many of you know about my Stolen catastrophe. It wasn't really SUCH a catastrophe, but it makes me feel like bullet point b) under REASONS INDIE AUTHORS AREN'T LEGIT. After some formatting problems which led to me having to get an outside person to format Stolen, I sent that formatting person an OLD draft of Stolen. When they gave it back to me, all pretty and formatted, I published it without giving a close look to the actual content. Ya know, just thinking it had been formatted. Which it had. But it wasn't the correct version. My wonderful readers were surprisingly kind about this - even the ones who'd already finished it. Hearing a few people say they loved the book despite its draft-iness was really great, because it really was a draft. Bottom line: accidentally publishing a draft instead of an actual book is kind of like going to school naked. But I did it, I lived through it, and while I wish I could say I learned something from it, I'm honestly not sure HOW the heck it happened. Although I guess I did learn how kind people can be. I knew this already, of course, but it's always nice to be reminded.
I'm looking back over the new and improved, formatted and correct version of Stolen right now, preparing to press publish again sometime in the next few hours. Baby Boy James is dozing on the floor beside me. I'm drinking coffee, which, because I'm really NOT a coffee drinker, is making me feel electric. Though not necessarily in a bad way.
I've had some personal stuff going on in the last little while, with the moving and a family member having a semi-major surgery. I'm glad to say I think I've reached an ebb with that kind of stuff, and hopefully can focus more on the books.
I'm planning some giveaways and contests for the re-release of Stolen. Most of them will probably take place on my Facebook page. If you are a reviewer who was promised a copy of Stolen for r&r, I have not forgotten you. I hope to send those copies out tomorrow. If you are a reader who bought the original Stolen, I'll be getting you a new copy as soon as I get with Amazon and figure out how. (Don't worry - there IS a "how" - I've just gotta get someone to walk me through it). If you are Jude Henderson, thank you for my new blog! I love it!!!
Re: the new blog - I know there are some dead links. Hoping to get everything perfected in the next week or so. Also... anyone wanna interview me? I need to do some PR! :)
Up next on my to-write list:
Chosen - Stained Book Three (hoping to be finished by the end of May)
Over The Moon - adult romantic suspense, companion to Before You Go (should be out in April or early May)
Unnamed - HERE Book Two (hoping to have it out in June)
Shifter Book (U-PLOT-IT) - (hoping to have it out in July)
I'm hoping to have AWAY, Book Three in the HERE series, out in August, as well as the fourth Stained book. That will end the Stained series and the HERE trilogy, making way for the Shifter series, the Over The Moon series (lots more about that later - you will LOVE IT), and Azalea & The Makers of Zen, my rockin' YA sci-fi romance, which has been in the making since 2006, and has been plotted/semi-written since 2007! :)
My family has finally truly "moved in" to our new home, in our new location: Alabama. No snide questions about whether we wear shoes or have running water here. ;) My husband and I are from the South and love it. Moving was as suck-tastic as moving always is, made at least 20% more suck-tastic by doing it with an 8-month-old. That would be 40% more suck-tastic, 'cept that figure was offset by 20% more overall awesomeness, also due to having an 8-month-old around. My boy is giggly and cute and crawling and trying to walk and generally being a wild man. Which really is awesome. And yes, I guess sometimes I'm going to talk about my kid here. :) Just can't help it.
Not sure how many of you know about my Stolen catastrophe. It wasn't really SUCH a catastrophe, but it makes me feel like bullet point b) under REASONS INDIE AUTHORS AREN'T LEGIT. After some formatting problems which led to me having to get an outside person to format Stolen, I sent that formatting person an OLD draft of Stolen. When they gave it back to me, all pretty and formatted, I published it without giving a close look to the actual content. Ya know, just thinking it had been formatted. Which it had. But it wasn't the correct version. My wonderful readers were surprisingly kind about this - even the ones who'd already finished it. Hearing a few people say they loved the book despite its draft-iness was really great, because it really was a draft. Bottom line: accidentally publishing a draft instead of an actual book is kind of like going to school naked. But I did it, I lived through it, and while I wish I could say I learned something from it, I'm honestly not sure HOW the heck it happened. Although I guess I did learn how kind people can be. I knew this already, of course, but it's always nice to be reminded.
I'm looking back over the new and improved, formatted and correct version of Stolen right now, preparing to press publish again sometime in the next few hours. Baby Boy James is dozing on the floor beside me. I'm drinking coffee, which, because I'm really NOT a coffee drinker, is making me feel electric. Though not necessarily in a bad way.
I've had some personal stuff going on in the last little while, with the moving and a family member having a semi-major surgery. I'm glad to say I think I've reached an ebb with that kind of stuff, and hopefully can focus more on the books.
I'm planning some giveaways and contests for the re-release of Stolen. Most of them will probably take place on my Facebook page. If you are a reviewer who was promised a copy of Stolen for r&r, I have not forgotten you. I hope to send those copies out tomorrow. If you are a reader who bought the original Stolen, I'll be getting you a new copy as soon as I get with Amazon and figure out how. (Don't worry - there IS a "how" - I've just gotta get someone to walk me through it). If you are Jude Henderson, thank you for my new blog! I love it!!!
Re: the new blog - I know there are some dead links. Hoping to get everything perfected in the next week or so. Also... anyone wanna interview me? I need to do some PR! :)
Up next on my to-write list:
Chosen - Stained Book Three (hoping to be finished by the end of May)
Over The Moon - adult romantic suspense, companion to Before You Go (should be out in April or early May)
Unnamed - HERE Book Two (hoping to have it out in June)
Shifter Book (U-PLOT-IT) - (hoping to have it out in July)
I'm hoping to have AWAY, Book Three in the HERE series, out in August, as well as the fourth Stained book. That will end the Stained series and the HERE trilogy, making way for the Shifter series, the Over The Moon series (lots more about that later - you will LOVE IT), and Azalea & The Makers of Zen, my rockin' YA sci-fi romance, which has been in the making since 2006, and has been plotted/semi-written since 2007! :)
March 12, 2012
Get the dish on Stolen...
Want some Stolen teasers? Join me tomorrow night at 9 p.m. EST at Journal Jabber blog talk radio: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/journalj...
March 6, 2012
Changed release date for Stolen
I've changed the release date for Stolen from March 10 to March 24. I'm sorry to everyone expecting it March 10! I had some family stuff come up that could not be rearranged. Hope you guys love Stolen when you get it the 24th. Between now and then I'll try to post a soundtrack and the cover, as well as a juicy snippet!
In the meantime, have you read HERE or Before You Go? Heck, have you read Stained? Because you can't enjoy Stolen if you haven't read Stained! ;)
In the meantime, have you read HERE or Before You Go? Heck, have you read Stained? Because you can't enjoy Stolen if you haven't read Stained! ;)
February 16, 2012
HERE! :)
I stayed up late last night (read: all night) tweaking the formatting for Here (which I've decided to write like: HERE to minimize confusion, since "here" is such a common word). It's is coming out Saturday, and I'm soo excited! Both Stained and Before You Go were written a while back, but HERE is something I just did. Stained is my oldest project, and while I'm proud of it, it's not really a good representation of my writing anymore. (Stolen will be!) Before You Go is a modification of a larger story, so it's not a "typical" book from me. But HERE is. It's certainly not perfect, but I think it's good and I'm really looking forward to having it "out there."
I have to send Stolen to my editor by Monday morning...so I'm kind of nervous about that. Since I just officially finished the final formatting touches on HERE last night, that means I don't have as much down time as I'd hoped before I have to throw myself hardcore into Stolen. Tonight I'm planning to read some more of Caged Moon (by Rachel Deagan). I'll probably play with the formatting on HERE a little more, b/c I'm annoyed that Mobipocket Creator is turning all my cool fonts TNR. =/ I guess the logical solution to this would be to learn HTML or use another file converter, but we all know I'm barely managing to use Mobipocket, with its four very easy steps...
Ah, well, Little Man James is awake randomly, probably wanting to eat some more b/c he's going through a HUGE (and grumpy) growth spurt... .so more later. I'm trying to be more active on my blog, which is harder than it probably should be since I'm convinced I am just not that interesting.
I have to send Stolen to my editor by Monday morning...so I'm kind of nervous about that. Since I just officially finished the final formatting touches on HERE last night, that means I don't have as much down time as I'd hoped before I have to throw myself hardcore into Stolen. Tonight I'm planning to read some more of Caged Moon (by Rachel Deagan). I'll probably play with the formatting on HERE a little more, b/c I'm annoyed that Mobipocket Creator is turning all my cool fonts TNR. =/ I guess the logical solution to this would be to learn HTML or use another file converter, but we all know I'm barely managing to use Mobipocket, with its four very easy steps...
Ah, well, Little Man James is awake randomly, probably wanting to eat some more b/c he's going through a HUGE (and grumpy) growth spurt... .so more later. I'm trying to be more active on my blog, which is harder than it probably should be since I'm convinced I am just not that interesting.
February 12, 2012
You-plot-it update!
So far, the book you guys are plotting is...
-About shapeshifters
-Who are in their 20s
-And who morph into the last animal they encountered
For the week of Saturday, February 11 through Saturday, February 18, our question is:
-Where do they live?
The mystical Black Forest in southwestern Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Fo... The beautiful Isle of Skye in northwestern Scotland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyeThe North York Moors in England http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Yo... Yellowstone National Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowst... going to put up an actual poll soon, but for now vote in the comment section! :)
-About shapeshifters
-Who are in their 20s
-And who morph into the last animal they encountered
For the week of Saturday, February 11 through Saturday, February 18, our question is:
-Where do they live?
The mystical Black Forest in southwestern Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Fo... The beautiful Isle of Skye in northwestern Scotland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyeThe North York Moors in England http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Yo... Yellowstone National Park http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowst... going to put up an actual poll soon, but for now vote in the comment section! :)
February 11, 2012
Stained is FREE today!
Get it on Amazon or e-mail me if you have Nook!
February 7, 2012
----------------->>>>>
Hi guys! Just wanted to draw your attention to the polls on the right. I'm writing a YA romance, but letting other people plot it via polls, which are new each Saturday. Last week, we decided the book will be about shapeshifters... Now decide if you want teen or 30-something characters, and what their inner animals will be. Thanks for helping me with this! Have fun!
February 5, 2012
Before You Go
My second YA romance, Before You Go, was free Saturday and Sunday. I was able to list it free through KDP select. In light of the Amazon vs. BN war, I felt a little conflicted about it, especially since so many Nook readers sent e-mails and posted sad faces on my FB page. But as an author working to get established, I HAVE to offer my books free, and right now I think KDP select is the best way to do it. (If you're a Nook reader, shoot me an e-mail and I'll try to hook you up with something). #thingsthatsoundsketchy
Anyway, I'm mostly blogging at this ridiculous hour (when I should be editing Here!) to say how happy I am about the support people showed for BYG. I really do appreciate everyone who helped me pimp it on their FB page or blog. I'd never had a book listed free, and it was SO much fun watching the "purchase" numbers climb... and climb... and climb. :) At its best point, BYG climbed to #128 on the Kindle Free Books List--just 28 away from the coveted Top 100 Free--and it made it to #2 in children's/YA love & romance, and #12 in children's ebooks. (Probably need to put some kind of PG-13 warning on it...)
In other news, I'm reading through Here for one of the last times, and I LOVE IT. For a while I didn't love it, so it's great to finally be so happy with my final product.
I'm tweeting again, or trying to. Anyone want to follow me? I'm a tech dummy, so it may be funny to watch me fail.
Anyway, I'm mostly blogging at this ridiculous hour (when I should be editing Here!) to say how happy I am about the support people showed for BYG. I really do appreciate everyone who helped me pimp it on their FB page or blog. I'd never had a book listed free, and it was SO much fun watching the "purchase" numbers climb... and climb... and climb. :) At its best point, BYG climbed to #128 on the Kindle Free Books List--just 28 away from the coveted Top 100 Free--and it made it to #2 in children's/YA love & romance, and #12 in children's ebooks. (Probably need to put some kind of PG-13 warning on it...)
In other news, I'm reading through Here for one of the last times, and I LOVE IT. For a while I didn't love it, so it's great to finally be so happy with my final product.
I'm tweeting again, or trying to. Anyone want to follow me? I'm a tech dummy, so it may be funny to watch me fail.
