Kim Harrison's Blog, page 85

Last day to make your “vote” count for the mass market of A Perfect Blood

Raise your hand if you’re tired of political calls on your phone and political ads on TV that use fear instead of understanding to sway.  I spent the entire weekend away from phone, TV, radio, and internet.  Okay, I’ll admit there was some casual spot checking of the internet for email and posts that needed to be unmoderated, and I watched Gladiator last night as I sat on the couch and recouped from some yard work and kayaking on the lake, but for the most part, I was unplugged and loving it. The weather cooperated, and the trees are beginning to edged into color.

But it’s Monday, which means it’s the last day to get the mass market of A Perfect Blood and have that purchase added into the first week’s numbers.  I never know what to expect with the mass market release.  The hardcover has been out for almost a year, and the e-book has been out just as long, but for a lot of people, it’s the mass market that’s what they wait for. I know I used to. As a young girl with little allowance, who was weighing one hardcover against two paperbacks . . . let’s just say the paperbacks always won.  And if you’re looking for a deal, check the shelves of your local discount store. A Perfect Blood is supposed to be showing up on a few new shelves with a nice price. And don’t forget that the mass market has that chapter rewritten from Trent’s point of view. I’ve been hearing from a few readers who absolutely love it. -grin-

Made it to another one

Friday!  And I don’t think it’s supposed to rain this weekend.  I hope not. I’ve got stuff to do in the yard, but with these cooler temps, the kitchen has been exerting its pull as well and I might actually bake this weekend. I’m thinking chicken, one of the few things that I can cook and cook well.

I think I’ve bombarded you guys enough with all the promotional stuff that’s going on right now, and even though things are piling up to tell you, there are two books that aren’t mine that are coming out soon that if you’ve not heard of them, you might want to take a peek.

Jocelynn Drake has book one in the Asylum Tales coming out October 16, and she’s giving away an early copy of Angel’s Ink at her blog. You might know her best from the Dark Days series, but this is something completely different. For a chance at the copy of Angel’s Ink, you’ve got to read the post and answer the question of what every-day thing your spouse/sig other does that gets your attention and pegs  your attraction meter. Contest ends today. What floats your boat.

And Faith Hunter’s Death’s Rival is on the shelves this next Tuesday!  This is book five in her Jane Yellowrock series. She and I have put together a joint blog about friendships in the industry, how they get started, and how hard it is to keep them going.  Look for that next Friday, but in the meantime, check out her latest.

The coolest thing is that both of these ladies will be at Comic Con NY in October, and I can’t wait to see them there!

Into The Woods signing party

Last night, Guy and I went to a signing party out at Nicola’s, signing the orders that had come in since last week, and wow!  This is going great! I’ve already gone through one pen and started on another, which is cool because this and Comic Con are the only two ways this year to get one signed. The only problem is that Guy is standing over my shoulder saying, stuff like, Oh! LeAnn!  I send stuff to her all the time.  She’s a nice lady.”  (Sheesh!) Sometimes, I think he knows you better than I do.

There is still one week left to order one of these bad-boys before we reach the cutoff of October 3rd, noon EST.  It’s sort of like a Manic Monday that last all week, because as soon as we hit that noon, EST mark, there is no way you will get this on the drop date.  Oh, you can still order one, and I will still sign it, but it might be a few days after the drop date that you get it.  I’ve got to get back from Comic Con, for one thing.  :-) ( If you’re going, I’ve got my schedule here.)

To order one a signed/personalized Into The Woods, this is what you do.

1.  Go to their ordering site and order a book.  I’ve got the link at the end here.

2.  Work through the order form until you get to the “pay me” part.  Way down at the bottom you’ll see a box that looks like this.

3.  In this box, you write in “Please have Kim sign my book”  ORRRRRRRR  ”Please have Kim sign my book to __________”  and fill in the blank with who you want me to personalize it to.  The first will get you my signature, the second will get it personalized to you with a note.

4.  If you don’t put anything in the box, you’ll get a book but no signature.  :-)

5.  International orders are okay.  Email them for a shipping quote at nicolasbooks@tds.net with “ordering Into The Woods” in the subject line.

6.   If you want it by the drop date, you have to order by October 3rd, noon EST.

7.  Here’s the link to get you started.  Nicola’s signed Into The Woods offer

And if you’re on the fence about it, I’ve got a .99c excerpt available as an ebook.  Pet Shop Boys also has the first chapter of EVER AFTER in it, too.  I’ve just got stuff going on all over the place!  -grin-

Amazon:  Pet Shop Boys with Ever After chapter

Barnes and Noble: Pet Shop Boys with Ever After chapter

iTunes: Pet Shop Boys with Ever After chapter

Sony: Pet Shop Boys with Ever After chapter

Kobo: Pet Shop Boys with Ever After chapter

Formatting a manuscript-one way to do it

So you’ve got your manuscript finished, polished, looked at by someone else, rewritten, and polished again–ready for Harper Voyager’s submission palooza October 1-14th.  (Link for that is down below) That submission button goes live on the first, and they may give more information on the format they would like to see it in then, but if they don’t, and you want to give your manuscript a look that they’re familiar with, I can tell you what mine looks like.  Keeping in mind that things have changed with the advent of track changes and electronic submissions, this still might give you a place to start.

The basics: Times New Roman font, double spaced, one-inch margins at the right, left, and bottom.  I use “orphan” control to prevent a paragraph from being started at the bottom line of the page and leaving a line floating, in a manner of speaking.  It makes your bottom margin float between one and one and a half inches, but set it for an inch and let the programing work it out.  The top margin I set at an inch and a half as well so I can put what they call a “slug” in the header. The slug is set about half an inch down in the header space.  This is where you put your name / title on the left, and the page number on the right.  If you have an agreed upon pen name, it goes here, but to avoid confusion, use your real name even if it hurts.  It will make you look less like a newbie if you go forth thusly.  You can talk about pen names after it’s been accepted.  To do so before is useless.

Harrison / Pet Shop Boys                                                                                                                                                         1

It looks like this on my manuscript, and again, it’s in the header, about half an inch down.

First page has the chapter number centered, down about 7 lines, skip another  line, then start your text.  Be bold.  Give yourself a lot of room on that front page.  It is restful, and the reader will appreciate it.

Title page:  I sort of forgot this page.  I’m going to try to drop a picture of one because it might be easier to see that way.  I left the formatting in, it shows up in blue, but you’ll want that hidden when you submit. Again, use your real name on the upper left side.  This is who they will make the contract out to and write the checks to.  USE YOUR REAL NAME.  I single space here.

Also, a few things have changed since I started submitting.  It used to be that you underlined what you wanted to be italicized, but now you just italicize.  And where I was taught to put two spaces between sentences, the accepted format is a single space.  I’m still working on breaking that habit. I’m sure there’s more, but no one tells me these things.  -grin-

And a few hints from me to help your manuscript look like you’ve been doing this a while. Make 90 percent of the names recognizable and with conventional spelling.  You can go wild when you’re drawing attention to a character, but Bob will make you look professional, and Beobb with a silent e will  give you a newbie shine.  Unless Beobb is a gargoyle and that’s how they do things.  Also, try to avoid using the same first letter more than once to avoid confusion.  Jenks’s kids all have the same first letter as a way to tell the reader that they are not going to be important and to not bother to remember the names.  And when they are important, I give them a physical tag to make them stand out. (youngest daughter, only dark-haired son)

Pleeeeese don’t start your chapter/book with waking up. 85% of that slush pile is going to start with the phone ringing, a knock at the door, or waking up.  Be different.  Start with spilling coffee, or missing the elevator.  Also, don’t end it with falling asleep.  This second one, especially, invites the reader to put the book down.

Remember that dialog gets things moving.  Someone once told me that 90% of best sellers had dialog within the first three paragraphs.  I don’t know if it’s true, but I try to hold to that rule, which sort of melts into the suggestion of don’t try to put too much “this is who my character is” in the first chapter.  Be brutal.  Cut everything that the reader doesn’t need to know at that exact moment. Use that information to lure them into reading more to find out.  Try starting your book from chapter two, not one.  If it reads with action and tension, consider throwing chapter one out and move the essential stuff into chapter two.

Oh, and if you are not willing to change things, listen to your editor’s suggestions, and understand that this is something you created, not birthed, then don’t bother submitting.  Go to a small press where you can have everything your way.  Everyone will be happier.

And good luck!  As they say, there is no prize for being the first to submit, so take another look at your manuscript.  You’ve got until the 14th.

Harper Voyager opens digital submission palooza in October

And now back to your regularly scheduled madness

For those of you who get my drama in your inbox by subscription, you got a really mangled version this morning of what I was actually trying to do.  It’s been edited on site, but wow.  I had to redo it like three times because my mind is not where it’s supposed to be.  The link I gave you is for the i09 excerpt of MILLION DOLLAR BABY, which is the new Hollows novella in INTO THE WOODS.

Woe to the telemarketers and political pushers who try to talk to me today.  I will be speaking in tongues and be confusing.

Into the Woods sneak peek at iO9

Had a great day yesterday with good writing, good dirt time, and caping it off with good PR prep work.

I finally gave book 12 a hard look and let go of the summer solstice and moved the dates to the 4th of July.  It made more logical sense for what was going on with the girls, and no one ever notices when I set a book around the solstice anyway.  But the 4th?  -grin- It’s hard to ignore the fireworks, right?  This is my last look before I turn it in in December, so next week I have to start the rough draft of book 13.  I’m starting to think I’m procrastinating, but the timing has been singularly unique that I could do the page proofs of book 11, followed by a rewrite of book 12, and then start the rough draft of 13–all in the same month.  It just doesn’t happen like that, and it’s especially important to keep the flow right with the relationships I’m juggling right now.

A few hours outside moving three yards of dirt into a new bed I started a few weeks ago.  A tree is coming Thursday, and I was panicking the dirt wouldn’t be there when the tree arrived.  I’m going to try one of those water bags you see on new city/state trees these days.  At least until the ground freezes.

And finally, I spent a couple of hours prepping the freebies for Comic Con next month. It’s amazing

what you can get done in front of the TV, and honesty, I think there were more commercials than movie thanks to creative editing, (really don’t like it when they take parts out), so I got half of them done. ore on that later. Here’s a link to my schedule if you’re going.  I’ll be adding a few things here and there, maybe, so check back the day you’re actually on the floor.  Kim’s Comic Con schedule.

But I said sneak peek, didn’t I?  Yep, I’ve got a bit of a free spoiler of INTO THE WOODS for you via i09 today.  IO9 Excerpt-Into The Woods Even if you don’t care to partake in e-books, it’s a nice tidbit for Tuesday, and will give you a good taste of what Trent’s thinking. -grin-

P.S.  My mind is not here this morning.  It took me three gos to actually get this post right after posting.  Seriously, don’t ask me to think outside the Hollows today.  I will be confused and scattered.  Woe to the telemarketer and political pusher, I will be speaking in tongues.

Kim Harrison’s A Perfect Blood mass market

Tomorrow is drop-date Tuesday, when all good little books strap on their boots and go forth into the wilds, hoping to find a home.  And I get to be a part of it this week with the mass market of A Perfect Blood! Harper has continued their tradition of putting the first chapter of the next Hollows release at the end of the mass market, in this case, chapter one of Ever After.  There’s also a little bonus chapter with one of the scenes from A Perfect Blood rewritten from Trent’s point of view.  If you’ve already got the hard cover or e-book, please don’t think you have been slighted or asked to buy the same material again for a look at something new.  (Come on.  You know me better than that.)  You can stand in the bookstore and read the bonus chapter, or you can wait until Harper enables the browse inside feature for the mass market of A Perfect Blood.  It’s traditionally available there as well.

But today, to celebrate, I’m bringing back the absolutely gorgeous wallpaper that Harper made up for you guys last spring.  If you missed it, here’s your second chance to score a beautiful, high def image from the cover.  I’m going to drop it right here for you, but it’s probably going to show up as a thumbnail, so just click it to go to the bigger version, and from there you can copy it to your device for your personal use.

Perfect Blood mass market on the shelf next week

If you have been waiting and avoiding spoilers, the wait is almost over!  The mass market of PERFECT BLOOD will be on the shelf next Tuesday, September 25.  This is the version that will have one of the chapters rewritten from Trent’s point of view, giving us another look at not only Rachel, but Al as well.  I had no idea the things that were going on in Trent’s mind until I rewrote this.

The mass market also has the first chapter of EVER AFTER.

Can’t wait any longer?  Have someone you’re trying to convert to the Hollows?  I’ve got the first four chapters available on line at Harper.  Also lists of where to buy it on line, an audio sample for you audio book listeners, a wallpaper, and even the photos of the tour from the original release.  I keep everything!  A Perfect Blood info

And if you’re looking for a sneak peek into October 9th release Into the Woods, Pet Shop Boys is still up for a reduced price of .99.  Got a dollar?  -grin-  Jocelynn Drake also has The Asylum Interviews out there for her release October 17th, Angel’s Inc.  Links to both at Harper.  E-shorts from Harrison and Drake

Feeling something in the air

It used to be that fall was one of my most difficult seasons to get through as I was plagued with a general sort of restlessness that the cooler temps and shifts in light brought on.  Writing actually helped, and you can see a lot of my restlessness in my earlier work where quests and travel played an important part.  (FIRST TRUTH, DECOY PRINCESS) Not so much anymore, and placing the books in Cincinnati put a damper on the travel somewhat as well.  Oh, we still get out and around, but the tastes, smells, and feel of the air don’t change dramatically, and isn’t that the crux of the restlessness?  Of travel?  The changing light and feel in the air as the sun swings round to a different path?

Where you are in latitude makes a difference, and I’d love to see a study done on perceived restlessness in the fall compared to latitudes.  Those nearer the equator don’t have as big a change as those closer to the pole.  Just the 800 miles between Michigan and South Carolina make a huge difference.  Do people who live in higher latitudes tend to write more quest stories than those at the equator?  Curious.

But I’m restless today, and it’s going to make sitting at my desk difficult.  And if I can’t go anywhere different, I can at least write something different.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not starting anything new.  But when I get restless, I do start to think “what if” more and with a wider scope.  Also, “why not?”  I like taking my time with the “what if” and “why not?” because when I go, I like to know where I’m going.  At least when I start out.  -grin-

Favorite kind of day

They say there are two kinds of people, those who wear a watch, and those who don’t.  Me, I don’t wear one.  Haven’t for about fifteen years.  It’s not because I have “freed myself from the constraints of time” or that “I have tapped into the primal rhythms of the universe”  (snort)  Or that I have an issue about things around my wrist, or that I have an especially good sense of the passage of time, or that I have so few things to do that I don’t need one.  I don’t wear a watch because I have one on my computer.  And my oven.  And my phone.  Outside on my garage wall . . . you get the idea.  As a society, we are obsessed with time, whether it be in small increments, or larger.

Sometimes, I can go weeks without looking at my calendar, though, able to juggle what I need to do without looking.  There’s a definite pattern to my life.  Lately though, I’ve found myself flipping three months ahead, a week, a weekend.  Fall tends to be like that as the unfettered and timeless days of summer are pinched down to a bare handful that you can hold in your fist and doll out carefully one by one.

Today, though, there is nothing on my calendar, and though it’s too cold to have the windows open, my office smells like dirt and the sound of water trips through the back recesses of my brain.  It’s one of the best days to write in, and I plan on enjoying it.