Kim Harrison's Blog, page 73

What’s your favorite page?

Yesterday I posted on FB about freebies and first editions, which sort of leads into today’s  post about where that edition countdown line actually is.  Sometimes a book will actually say FIRST EDITION on it, but that is a publisher decision, and not all books will do that. More certain are the edition countdown line, which you’ll find in every book, whether it be hardcover, mass market, trade paperback, whatever. And for those who find this stuff important, like me, I wanted to show it.

So I got out my camera.

The first book I grabbed was THE HOLLOWS INSIDER, which frankly was a mistake because of all the books I’ve written, this is the one that took the most time and love. I started flipping pages, and though I eventually took a picture of that edition countdown line, I also took one of my favorite page in the entire book. It shows the Hollows Gazette on the day the casino boat blew up, the first real indication that Trent might actually care for Rachel. It also shows evidence of Trent trying to woo a potential problem into his payroll. You should be able to click it to see a better picture of it, but sometimes wordpress is wonky. And if you’re wondering, the photos were taken by readers, submitted for approval in a contest, and now immortalized! (grin)

THE HOLLOWS INSIDER is going to be going to trade paperback soon, which means the editions that actually glow in the dark will be harder to find. They are still on the shelf but getting scarce, so if you want one of these first editions, you really need to move on it. Anyone you order the hard cover from will have a first edition, but if you get it from Nicola’s, it will be signed if you ask for one of the signed copies. How to order a HOLLOWS INSIDER International is okay, but email them for a quote first. nicolasbooks@tds.net

First editions of EVER AFTER are not a guarantee anymore, either, but I know Nicola’s has a box of them, and the same deal applies. If you ask for one of the signed copies, that’s what they will send you. How to order a first edition EVER AFTER

Oh, and the image I was trying to take that started this entire post? Ta-da! You can see the string of numbers down at the bottom of the page. That’s what you’re looking for.

 

Woke last night to the sound of thunder

And now I can’t get Bob Seger out of my head.

We’re under a flood watch until Friday, but seeing as I live in a river basin, that’s not unexpected, nor particular threatening. Baring a 100 year flood, most older homes were built out of the spring floods reach. New ones . . . there I might be concerned, but back in the late 1800s, they didn’t mess around with maybes.  They are also usually placed to take advantage of the cooling breezes in the summer, and sheltered in the winter. And the 2x4s are 2×4.

I’m really glad it rained, though, because the ground was dry after the snow melted. Seriously dry. I actually had to water a couple of bulbs to get them going.

I’ll be putting in a thick work week, and I’ve got two more days to go. Phew!

Did you know . . .

Remember where you were when you found Dead Witch Walking? I asked that over at FB yesterday, and I was amazed at how many people did! The reason I bring it up is because though Harper’s Kindle sale for Dead Witch Walking seems to be over for the moment, For a Few Demons More still has that 2.99 price.

Because it’s a publisher sale, it is for US residents only, and publication stops at the border. I’m hopeful that the other e-platforms follow suit, but for now, it’s only For a Few Demons More, (awarded B&N’s Best paranormal fantasy of the decade) so if there is anyone you have been trying to get hooked on the Hollows, this just might do it. It’s always more fun when you swear at Tink and your best friend knows what you’re talking about.

So, direct link to the 2.99 sale of For a Few Demons More: Kindle FDM

9:30 OMGosh, the 2.99 price is gone. (wide eyes) I think it was a mistake. But I’d love to hear how you found the books, anyway. 

What weekends are for

So, Friday I finished up with the last chapter of Peri, knowing I wasn’t quite happy with it, and I spent all weekend mulling over why. Long story short, I’m opening it back up today to tweak the last two chapters again. To be honest, if I can pull off what I want to do, the entire story will need minor shifts in a handful of chapters, but if it’s the last two they culminate in, so that’s where I’m headed today.

This has been a weird one to write, and most of that is because it’s still new and I’m finding the layers. It’s sort of how you get to know someone. You can’t get to know anyone within that first date, and you can’t write good fiction in the first, second, or even third draft.

First impressions are what your date is wearing, how they talk, body language, who they are trying to be–this is like the rough plot, as in “this is what I the writer want to accomplish.”

Then you get to know a few things that the public doesn’t, like family, interests, stuff that makes the person something other than they want to be–this is the motivations that move the plot and make actions make sense. This is what the work is actually saying under the action and adventure.

Thirdly you start to know the person well enough that you can predict what they like, don’t like, how they will react, more intimate details–now we’re into the lies the characters tell themselves, how they fight against their own best interests, find complex interactions and feelings that move the story, sometimes in a big way. This is where I’m at with Peri, and though I love this part as the knowledge gained here is the stuff that really opens the world up for me both in scope and interest, it’s kind of a pain to have to go back and do another rewrite, even if this rewrite is the one that will shift the work from potential good to actual good. Fortunately it will be a fast one.

 

Feels like Friday

Don’t have a lot to relate today, but I woke up with that feeling you get the night before vacation, that quiet anticipation of things to be found and done, uncluttered with worries of how, but just the joy of doing.  I’ve got one more day, maybe two with Peri, and then I’m on to the next thing on my desk. But what has my mood evolving is not just the work. Amid my shifting of purpose and intent, I can see the weights in my life sliding with the soft and certain thump of ages, aligning my sight to a new focus.

Yep, we went to visit a university yesterday for Thing Two.

The doing so which reminded me too clearly of what I hated about college, ( which wasn’t much) what I liked, and that my youngest is about to have a chance at finding out a huge chunk about himself. I’m glad I have the good fortune to be there as his safety net.

Vistas are opening up both for him and myself as the ties of active parenthood are being eased and let out in a gentle give, the only difference between us being he has no clue as to the possibilities, and I’m looking at my own with a breathtaking awe.  After twenty-five years of being an extended “we”, I almost don’t know how to think in this smaller “we” that encompass my husband and myself, a far more mobile “we.”

Don’t get me wrong. I loved raising my family and will always count those years as the best. But I’m not going to waste that empty nest with mourning it.

I found a second flower yesterday and got a nice shot of it close up. This new bunny cam is ace.

Of universities and first editions

I’m out of the office today, touring universities and colleges. Urg. Just Urg. So no real post from me today as I look at things from the other side of the coin.

However . . . I did want to let you know I’ll be going in this weekend to sign another box or two of EVER AFTERs for Nicola’s. These are guaranteed to be first editions and will have my signature if you ask for one of the signed ones in the comment box when ordering.  Second editions started popping up the second week of publication, and to know what edition you have, just check out the list of numbers on the page preceding the title page. If they run 10-1, it’s a first edition. If they run 10-2, it’s a second, and so on.

I’m going to send you to the main page at Nicola’s if you are interested. They can get most of my books if you are trying to round out your signed-book collection. International is okay, but email them for a shipping quote before ordering. It can be pricy. nicolasbooks@tds.net

Signed copies from Nicola’s

As the little tiny bits begin to add up

I’m working with Peri/Overdraft today, as I have for all of March, rewriting a shift to third person from first to help simplify the plot. I’ve always said first person requires an exquisite subtlety in crafting to get the reader informed, but not the main character, and yet keep the main character from looking stupid for missing the obvious. But Overdraft’s story line needs a little de-cluttering, and so I’m working it in third person, adding a few chapters between secondary characters, and generally having a good time doing it.

But I’m almost done with it, being on the last couple of chapters and very happy with the results. The rewrite has also let me tighten up a few of the plot points that had never set well with me. (Bonus!) Changing the tension from the main character/reader finding things out, to the reader being anxious for the main character to figure it out is a big shift for me. I’m using tools I’ve ignored since the Truth books, so I have to think about what to do rather than just reaching for it.

I’m already thinking about what comes next, though. I’ve got an ambitious idea for some self promotion, but it will require a lot of my resources so I’m still mulling it around. Fortunately I’ve some time as the editorial rewrite for book 12 of the Hollows is on my desk for April. Believe it or not, my editor and I are already discussing the cover. (Dude!) At this very second, I have to work to remember what book 12 is about. (head hits desk) But that will change when I dig into the edit letter next week and I go back to Rachel refreshed and recharged. Book 12 is going to rock some socks.

Happy Book Birthday, and you can eat your cake, too!

It’s happy book birthday to Faith Hunter, the woman I credit most with getting me published as fast as I did. (As in shoving me in front of my to-be agent and walking away.) Blood Trade is out today, the latest in the Jane Yellowrock series. Her vampires don’t sparkle, and if you like ‘em bad, you’ll like Faith’s take on the mythology. Blood Trade

And for the cake? I’ve got that too! Jocelynn Drake has the Dark Day’s series and the Asylum Tales e-books on sale for .99. Not just one title, but all of them! She’s got a great post on what is actually included in the short-running sale, so pop on over and get it straight from her. Jocelynn Drake’s April special deal.

 

Waiting for the other shoe to drop

We had a wonderful spring weekend here in lower Michigan, the kind that keeps us Michiganders here when the snow flies and the sun bakes, because when the weather is good, it is absolutely beautiful.

But it’s got me waiting for the other shoe to drop, so to speak. It’s not over yet, even if the crocus are up and blooming. We could still have snow. In fact, I distinctly remember having snow on April first once. It wasn’t a very good joke, and I didn’t laugh.

Still, I didn’t let the weekend slip by without getting into the yard for a little, tiny tidy at my most walk-visible flower beds, and the miniature front garden and the back wildflower ten by five garden have been de-leafed and lightly raked. Went around the perimeter and raked the mulch back into the beds as well. And then sat on the walkway and threw balls for my dogs until they were tired.

Ahhhhh. . . .

Loyalty, Trust, and Pixy Dust

Borderlands,San Francisco. 2007.

There is so much change in the publishing industry right now, and my thoughts on it seemed to gel over the last couple of weekends as I got out and around, rubbing shoulders with my peers, all of them coming from different genres, different places in their careers. Some were on the rise, some were maintaining, and some had just gotten the rug pulled out from under them and were facing the familiar three- to five-year struggle to get themselves back where they were with another publisher, perhaps using another publishing style.

I’m in a good spot, but even I’m vulnerable in an environment where loyalty increasingly takes a backseat to chasing those publicity dollars, and money tells the reader what is “good” not your friends, because honestly, when a distributor of books starts creating their own product, it’s their babies who get the front page, buzz, and attention, and it’s the competition who gets pushed low in the algorithm or just simply loses their “buy” button at a critical point. For as much as a new publishing/distributor might claim to like books, readers, and advocate authors, they are there to make money like everyone else.

Which brings me back to the traditional publishing industry.

Traditional publishing has been taking hit after hit lately for being money grabbing and insensitive in the face of new opportunities graced with low overhead and little to support. They’ve been  deemed uncaring about books and even now, their authors. Yep, publishing is hard. It’s always been hard, and with the doors having been opened wide the last decade or so, there are many more people seeing their dream realized. Downside? When things don’t work out, they are disillusioned and blame the easy target.

But one thing seems to have been forgotten in the ultimate ugliness. Everyone in the traditional publishing industry is there because they love books–or they don’t stay there very long. They love reading them. They love discovering them. They love sharing them, because quite honestly, the hours are too long, the rewards too little. No one goes into publishing to “make it big.” They go to discover and share.

Which brings me to loyalty. I’m not talking about loyalty to a specific publisher or imprint. I’m talking about loyalty to the feeling of scanning the shelves, of seeing those imprints on the spines and knowing what you’ll find just by that. I’m talking about loyalty to a system that gave you the stories that took you to the stars. The stories that made you believe in dragons and space colonies, that showed you that you could make a difference, that you could fall in love. Someone believed in that story enough to force it through the gates of the publishing house and onto that shelf where you picked it up. I’m not bashing e-books, because they’re a part of traditional publishing now as much as word processing and electronic submissions. I’m talking about the system that brought you the stuff you read. Period.

So yes. The traditional publishing industry is struggling to adapt and thrive in a new climate where yes, anyone can become published and have that glorious chance to see their work loved and cherished. But I bristle at the notion that the traditional publishing industry is in it only for the money. They love what they do, and have since day one. It’s why they started, not the other way around. And that deserves a little respect, if only for the pleasure that they brought you when starships sailed beside dragons in the stacks.

I’m keeping this up for a while. Feel free to repost and comments are welcome.