Michelle Zink's Blog, page 37

What You Can Do

Recently, a very loyal reader of mine, Nikki, brought this article (thank you, Jody Hedlund!) to my attention. It articulates the things I've always thought but rarely have the time to say, or in this case, ask you all to do.

Because the truth is, nothing makes as big a difference in the success, shelf life, and reach of a great book or series than YOU.

Publishers spend tons of money marketing and we authors increasingly spend tons of time reaching out to readers, but none of it matters if the readers don't love a book enough, if it doesn't resonate with them enough, to make them want to shout from the rooftops about it.

And none of THAT matters if readers don't actually DO it.

This is one of the reasons I endlessly recommend the Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness, White Oleander and Paint It Black by Janet Fitch, everything by Sarah Waters, Tamora Pierce, and Ellen Hopkins, anything by Stephen King, The Passage by Justin Cronin and the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larssen. Some of these books I've read recently and some I read years ago, but I continue talking about them all because I want them to be around for a long, long time and to entrance a new generation of readers.

With that in mind, I'm asking you to continue spreading the word about the Prophecy of the Sisters Trilogy. Tell your reading friends about the series, tweet about it, leave reviews on Amazon, B&N, and any other site that allows reviews, tag the books to increase traffic on those sites.

In return, I'll do my part to continue earning your loyalty by writing more great stories, talking with you online about reading, writing, and life in general, and keeping things fun with mysteries, new music, Friday Polls, and the occasional giveaway here on the blog. A TEMPTATION OF ANGELS will be out March 20th, 2012 and I'll have lots of fun stuff leading up to its release. I'm working on something new that I'm not ready to announce yet, but I can say that it's entirely different and I think you'll all really like it. Because of your feedback, I'll be releasing three Prophecy novellas over the course of the next six months. I don't have the details yet on how and when they'll be released, but I should have more information for you soon. I'll also be giving out free  signed, personalized bookplates around the holidays, as has become tradition. This way, you can give the Prophecy Trilogy as an extra special gift to a reader on your list (and if you tell me a little about the recipient, I try to make it personal). And between you and me, I'm more than happy to do this for birthdays and other occasions as well. Just send your request to prophecypress@aol.com.

I also want to give a big thank you to blogger Birth of a New Witch for this AMAZING review. I have to mention it, not just because it's a great review (it is), but because she really "got" the story I wanted to tell with the Prophecy of the Sisters Trilogy. And you know what? That's pretty awesome.

See you tomorrow for Thursday Night Write and a prompt!

Song of the Week – This Time Pia Toscano

This week's song is This Time, sung by Pia Toscano and nominated by Krystal, whom I adore.

I've never heard of Pia, which is the whole point of Song of the Week – to introduce us all to new music. This has a kind of country/pop/Taylor Swift feel. Very catchy! Plus, the lyrics are very empowering.

And the girl's got PIPES.

Keep those Song of the Week recommendations coming by sending them to prophecypress@aol.com with "Song of the Week" in the Subject line.

Enjoy, you guys!

Mystery Monday – Dark Energy

[image error]This week's Mystery Monday is a mind-bender, combining science and the unexplainable in a way that only the best mysteries do.

Basically, scientists have created this ginormous camera that will be mounted on a telescope in Chile to study the effects of Dark Energy by looking at data on over 300 million galaxies that are so far away, their light has been traveling for Earth for a long, long time.

This article explains it way better than I could, but let's just say that the possibility of the universe flying apart and entire galaxies disappearing makes for some interesting story ideas.

;)

Friday Poll – What Do YOU Want to Read?

Everyone in the publishing industry loves to hypothesize about the Next Big Thing.

Will it be Contemporary Fiction? Love stories without the supernatural element of the past few years? How about sci/fi?

Authors, agents, and editors alike can spend hours speculating, analyzing recent acquisitions, the bestseller lists, and books that flopped to try and figure out which direction to head. It's not so much that we want to write for the market, although, let's face it, a hit is always nice to have! But I think most writers (myself included) want to write for a living. We don't want to hold down other jobs that pay the bills but force us to write in stolen hours at odd times of the day and night.

That means selling books. The more books we sell, the better the odds that we get to continue (or start) writing for a living.

Plus, writers by nature are idea people. Most of us have more ideas than we have time to execute them. And if you only have time to write one book and your banking your next pay check on it, it only makes sense to write the book you have the best chance of selling. ESPECIALLY if you're writing for a living.

But trying to see which way the wind is blowing in publishing is about as easy as reading tea leaves. So I thought I'd go straight to the source and ask YOU what you're hoping to see on bookstore shelves in the coming months and years. You can choose as many asnwers as you want, so have at it and weigh in with the Friday Poll!

View Poll

Thursday Night Write 8/18/2011

[image error]After two weeks of special features as part of the virtual tour for Circle of Fire, I'm happy to be back to our regular features.

Starting with Thursday Night Write!

If you're new to TNW or have forgotten the rules/point due to our hiatus, I'lll refresh your memory;

Thursday Night Write is a chance to share your own writing for comment and to stretch your writing muscles (when we have prompts). Some weeks – like this one – are Open Mic. That means you can post an excerpt of no more than 300 words of your original short story, poem, novel, or song for comment.

The rule with all TNW exercises is that you have to comment at least one other post of you leave a post of your own. This way, we insure that everyone gets a little feedback on their work. You can post your writing any time between now and Midnight EST on Sunday, though the earlier you post, the better your chances for comments. We welcome writers of all ages and experience. I used to comment all the entries, but I can't really do that anymore. I do, however, read them all and am always impressed with the talent exhibited by everyone who particpates.

If you've never played before, don't be shy! There are a very nice bunch of "regulars" here who don't bite at all, and sharing your work is an important step in getting feedback and gaining confidence in your writing.

So have at it!

;)

 

Circle of Fire Virtual Tour – COMPLETE!

I have to be honest; finishing this virtual tour is kind of like finishing a real tour. I find myself limping across the finish line, realizing there were a few things I'd wanted to do and a few things I wished I'd done and more or less ready to go back to my regular schedule of writing and blogging.

I guess it's only fitting to close out this tour the way I'd close out any other – slightly bedraggled, a little tired, but eternally, always, grateful for all the wonderful people who have shown their support along the way. I've received such a HUGE outpouring of support from my readers about the Prophecy of the Sisters Trilogy. So many of you wrote to tell me how much the series means to you and that it has a very special place in your heart. One reader on Facebook told me the series had taught her to fight for the things she wants, that no one can stop her, love is waiting for her, and to never forget the people we lose to death. Your comments really touched me and made me feel like I've created something lasting and important. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

There were two things I planned to do for the virtual tour that never came to fruition – a Live chat with Kenneth and a video tour of my home. I still plan to do these for you in the coming weeks, but events outside our control made it very difficult. Kenneth, in particular, is having a very rough time as Borders inches toward their final closing date. It's both physically and emotionally exhausting to see the the liquidators bring in things like cheap perfume and fleece throws to take advantage of the Borders foot traffic as long as they have the store space.

:(

I will still put those things up for you eventually, though, I promise!

I hope you've enjoyed getting to know me a bit better during the virtual tour. I hope my writing tips have helped you and that you've all had fun entering my giveaways, from the 25 readers who won hardcovers of my next book, A TEMPTATION OF ANGELS, to those of you who won Random Shite in the Random Shite Giveaway. Starting tomorrow, regular blog features will be back with Thursday Night Write.

Over the next few weeks, the website will be updated to include A TEMPTATION OF ANGELS. In the coming months, I'll give you more information about the book and do more fun things in preparation for its release. Also, don't forget that there's a Forum here on the website where you can chat with other readers about everything from books to music to current events to personal stuff. My moderator, Dawn, does a fantastic job of keeping things moving in my absence and I know she and the other Forum participants would be happy for more company! It's a tight-knit group of really warm, welcoming people. Plus, I send little birthday packages to everyone who's registered if you tell us your birthday. ;)

Lastly, please continue to spread the word about the series by telling your friends, posting reviews on Amazon and B&N, recommending the book, Tweeting about it, and posting on Facebook about it. Word of mouth really is the single biggest factor in a successful book, and I would still very much like to grow my readership. I have many, many stories to tell. Having people continue to read my books insures that I'll have the opportunity to tell them.

And now, I have the winners of the International Giveaway;

UK

Nathiel nathielgold@gmail.com

Jessica Wells jessicamichaelwells@yahoo.com
US

Neil Raz neilrazipong@gmail.com

JoAnne thefairytalenerd@gmail.com

Renelly alejandrasolache@hotmail.com

Claire Chen clairebear575@gmail.com

Laura make_It_work_567@hotmail.com
France

Jonathan jobrychcy@hotmail.fr
Greece

Diana artgiote@gmail.com

 

 

Congrats to all the winners! Please email your mailing address to prophecypress@aol.com by Midnight EST Sunday, August 21st. If you were a US winner, please specify whether you would like an original Prophecy of the Sisters hardcover or a paperback edition of Guardian of the Gate.

Circle of Fire Virtual Tour; Advice for Young – and Not As Young – Writers

Sorry I didn't post for you guys yesterday. I'm not kidding when I tell you that I have THREE writing projects going right now – and those are just the ones I'm actively working on. I have at least three more in various stages of planning, and sometimes, I'm not gonna lie, it's all a little much. Figuring out how to split my time so that I can still be accessible to readers, write all the things I want (and need) to write, and still be the mother I want to be (because it's still the most important job in the world to me). Being a single mother makes it all more difficult. There's no one to pick up the slack, no one to clean the house or spend extra time with the kids when I'm under deadline, no one to tell me I'm doing okay when I feel like I suck as a mother AND a writer.

I figured this was a good time to to address the question I'm MOST often asked on tour; What advice would you give to aspiring writers?!

Truly, I never feel qualified to answer this question. Most days, I feel like I just got lucky. The only thing I'm sure of is that I worked my ass off. Beyond that, I can only offer the following;

1. Read as much as you can. Seems obvious, but I have to reiterate. Something happens in your brain when you're reading – even if you're not aware that it's happening. You're processing stuff. How a good story feels, how the sentences are structured, even grammatical rules you'll never actually remember as rules.

2. Write as much as you can. And not just fiction. Every little bit of writing you do – school papers, newspaper articles, sales letters (I was always the first to volunteer for these when I worked in corporate America, geeky little writer that I was!). It ALL makes you better.

3. LIVE as much as you can. Every experience you have – every boring trip to the doctor's office, exhilarating new adventure, fight with your parents or children – is a chance to file away material for your work. You can't accurately describe fear, love, anxiety, boredom, excitement, pride, unless you've felt them.

4. Be consistent. It doesn't matter what your schedule, what matters is that you make one. Life is just too busy and too many things can conspire to keep you from your writing. You have to have some kind of plan, even if that plan changes from time to time. I write at least 10,000 words most weeks when I'm drafting. During the school year, I write over 3,000 a day Tuesday through Thursday. It works for me because my kids are in school and busy with their own stuff, and then I can have four days to unwind, work on other things (like promotion) and spend time with my children. But I had to come up with another system for summer, because it just didn't make sense for me to spend six hours a day holed up in my office when the kids are all home. So I've been writing 2,000 words a day, every day, in two one-hour bursts. And it's working! Sometimes I fall a little short, but I've still written 18,000 words in the last ten days. And let's break it down further. Let's say you only write 1,000 words a day, five days a week (a thousand words for me on a good day is about an hour, two hours on a bad day). That's still a 90,000 word book in just over four months. That's more than two books a year if you write only 1-2 hours a day, five days a week. And what if you wrote 500 words a day, five days a week? You would still write a book in about 9 months. And you'd only be working 30-60 minutes a day. So you see what I'm getting at, right? You have to commit to your writing. It has to be more important to you than an extra hour of sleep or an hour of TV or whatever. I'm a single mother of four kids. I'm under contract for two books, working on another project, and another yet to be sold project with many more in the pipeline. But if you told me to find an extra hour in my daily schedule, even now, I could and would find it – if it mattered enough to me.

5. Give yourself an extra incentive to write. When I was writing Prophecy I was too broke to have more than one computer. In fact, I was too broke to even have an Ipod. I wrote on the only computer we had in plain view of everyone in the house. But I listened to CDs on an old Sony Discman and I always had a stash of dark chocolate in the drawer. I actually looked forward to tuning out the rest of my life for a few hours by listening to film scores, sipping tea, and writing.

6. Tune out the noise. I was a member of several online writing forums when I was trying to get published. Some of them were super helpful and supportive and some of them were just plain toxic. But none of them was actually writing. I had to make a conscious effort to log off and focus on writing, because it sometimes seemed like I was "working" when I was talking about writing. But since I wasn't getting paid to talk about writing and talking about writing wasn't getting me closer to publication, I had to remind myself that it WASN'T THE SAME AS WRITING. I valued the camaraderie (and still do) and still dropped in from time to time, but I was very careful to meet my writing goals, too.

7. Eliminate negative people as much as possible. There are those who will support you and believe in you, and those who will go out of their way to tell you how impossible your dream is (and this is true of anything, not just writing). Sure, getting published isn't a common occurrence. Of all the people who submit their work to agents, only a fraction will secure representation. Of all the authors who submit their work to editors, only a few will secure a contract and even fewer a big one. But my feelings about this are best summed up in a conversation I had with my son about his music. He said something like, "Maybe it's egotistical, but when people tell me I only have one in a million chance, I just think, 'yeah, I know. I'm the one'." I realized that was the way I'd always thought about it. One in 10,000 or one in a million. It didn't matter. I would be that one. Now, I wasn't delusional. I was perfectly prepared to write 20 books if that's how many it took, to keep working, to keep getting BETTER. But I never doubted that I would do it. I always believed. And if you don't believe in yourself, who will?

8. Don't quit. And there's a caveat I'll get to in a minute. It can be a VERY long road to publication and even success once you get there. It took J.A. Konrath 10 books to become published. It took Scott Westerfeld 11 novels to hit the bestseller list. But they didn't quit before they got there. Not everyone is meant to be a published writer. It is wonderful and magical and so rewarding – and sometimes lonely and terrifying and very unstable. But the best advice I ever heard when it comes to writing and quitting is this; go ahead and quit – if you can.

If you can't, you're really a writer, and quitting isn't an option anyway.

Circle of Fire Virtual Tour Day 11 – TEMPTATION Winners!

Last week I promised that I would give away ALL 25 of my author copies of A TEMPTATION OF ANGELS to readers who bought Circle of Fire in the first week of release.

Well, we have winners!

A TEMPTATION OF ANGELS won't be out until March 20th, but I'll be receiving my copies about a month before that. As soon as I do, each of the following people will received a free, signed hardcover;

Jessica S. laceandbone@gmail.com

Natasha H. nheck@natashamheck.com

Beth G.  islandgirlbethany@gmail.com

Emily B. budd1027@gmail.com

Alisha T.aetrisler@bellsouth.net

Molly R. usagiko@gmail.com

Milagros G. milagros.gerena@gmail.com

Krystin H. krissherring@gmail.com

Jessica C.  jessie.cochrane@yahoo.com

Tracy D. tracy.dickens@yahoo.com

Alisa W. alisaweeks@hotmail.com

Danielle P. xxarchangel302xx@aim.com

Xia T. xia_thao95@hotmail.com

Jeannie A. jma1031@aol.com

Michele W. shellbug716@yahoo.com

Jamieson W.  jamiesonwolf@gmail.com

Erin M. erinleighmillar@gmail.com

Catie D. cdutter426@gmail.com

Renee R. areesa@aol.com

Cat H. funkiefaerie@gmail.com

Angela P. angelabluejeans7@yahoo.com

Melanie B. mdkbrown@yahoo.ca

Lalitha N. lalitha@infolali.net

Kendall S. disneygirl11@me.com

Leonor M.  leonor.emmalyn@gmail.com

 

Winners were chosen by Random Number Generator, but I have to say; I'm especially happy to see a lot of names of people who have supported me and my work for a VERY long time. If you're a winner, please email your mailing address to prophecypress@aol.com. If you're address changes between now and March, let us know! Winners must email prophecypress@aol.com by Wednesday, August 17th at Midnight EST or new winners will be chosen.

Congratulations to all the winners. Thanks so much for supporting me and Circle of Fire. Hope you all enjoy A TEMPTATION OF ANGELS!

A couple of notes;

If you're an International reader, you can still enter to win a copy of one of my books in your language!

I'll be chatting with the Mundie Moms this Wednesday, August 17th and hope you'll all join me. I'll be answering questions – writing, music, life, you name it! – and giveing away goodies, too. Hope to see you all there.

Circle of Fire Virual Tour Day 10 – Inspiring Things

One of the most common questions I'm asked on tour is, "What inspires you?"

It's a loaded question! There are lots of things that inspire me, so I thought I'd list some of them here.

1. Music – I love all kinds of music (those of you who know me know that I'm fanatical in my love for the band Brand New) but I listen to film scores while I write. Choosing one that fits the mood of the book I'm creating is a huge help!

2. Movies – I'm a really visual person. When I'm writing, I feel more like I'm channeling a story than like I'm creating it. It's like it's already there in the ether, and I'm just telling it.

3. Books -Of course! Some of the writers who have most influenced me are Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Anne Rice, Sarah Waters, Janet Fitch, and Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

4. Success – Seeing other people succeed at ANYTHING that seems impossible is empowering and inspiring. It's fun to cheer them on and it also reminds me that every day, people beat the odds through perseverance and hard work. I pride myself on always demonstrating both.

5. Silence – I'm a big believer in silence. I have this theory that the human spirit needs plenty of silence to really ponder, expand, and create. One of the biggest advantages of not watching TV is that my kids and I are completely accustomed to and happy with utter silence. During the day when the kids are in school, I'll literally be in a perfectly quiet house for hours upon hours. It's often during times like this, when my mind just wanders, that I come up with new ideas or have a breakthrough on a WIP.

6. Goals – There are certain things I want in life — not STUFF, but freedoms and choices and options and opportunities and the ability to help other people more than I do now — that drive me. I re-evaluate my goals regularly, but I never take my eye off the ball. It keeps me focused and makes it easy to know where to focus my energy, something that's critical for someone like me who always has too many irons in the fire. I'm not a quitter, and I will work my ass off to get what I want, often through sheer force of will.

7. People – I've been really fortunate to meet some amazing people, many of whom have become such an inspiration to me. People like Amanda Palmer inspire me because she's never afraid to be herself (I've never met her, though), Libba Bray who always has the courage to write what she wants and is a wonderful, caring person besides, Tamora Pierce who exemplifies everything an intelligent, strong woman should be, Ellen Hopkins who gives so much of herself (truly, she seems tireless) to help others and is an amazing writer, and Neil Gaiman who is, in addition to being ridiculously talented, always a class act. All of these people (and so many more) inspire me to be better, both as a human being and a writer.

8. Nature – I'm lucky enough to live in a gorgeous place where nature can still be found uncorrupted. I regularly walk down to the river by my house and just sit, listening to the sound of the water. Something happens in my mind and spirit when I'm out in nature. I'm able to let everything go – all those little, worldly things that can seem more important than they really are. I feel SMALL in the best possible way, and it inspires me to contribute to the world around me even as I'm acutely aware of how fleeting my time here will be in the grand scheme of things.

And on that note, here's some amazing nature for you!

 

 

I was going to post the 25 winners of the A TEMPTATION OF ANGELS hardcover, but I just didn't get to it! I'll post it tomorrow, so stay tuned! You can sill get a free bookplate if you email your receipt (or a photo of it) to prophecypress@aol.com.

Still to come on the Circle of Fire Virtual Tour; a video tour of my home and neighborhood ( and the famous river!), a Livestream chat and interview with Kenneth, a chat with the MundieMoms on the 17th, and a couple of other surprises!

Circle of Fire Virtual Tour Day Eight – Of Prophecy Prequels, Sequels, and Companions

I can't tell you how often I'm asked about Prophecy sequels, prequels, novellas and companions.

Namely, "Will you ever write one?!" usually accompanied by pleading and sometimes begging.

I have to be honest; for a long, long time I never imagined writing anything set in the Prophecy world beyond Circle of Fire. I'd always planned it to be a three-book series  and never saw any reason to change my mind.

But about a year-and-a-half ago I had a thought; What happened to all those Lost Souls already in the mortal world? You know, the ones that had been amassing here through previous Gates, waiting for Samael to lead them in a takeover of the mortal world. It would seem they're stuck here now that the Gate is closed, and that includes Samael's much-feared Guard.

About this same time, I was finishing up Guardian of the Gate, and I'd become particularly fond of Una, the Sister who nursed Lia back to health and became her friend while she was on Altus. It's always fascinating to me how some characters – even those originally meant to be secondary – take on a life of their own. (Gareth was like this for me, too, incidentally).

Once those two things came together in my mind, a companion series to Prophecy, this time featuring Una and the stranded Lost Souls, became like tic – it was there whether or I wanted it to be or not.  And more and more, I found that I did.

At the same time, there are so many other fascinating characters in the trilogy – Luisa, Sonia, Gareth, even Lia and Alice's mother, Adelaide. I can't help thinking it would be fun to explore them a little bit more, too.

If we were at a book event right now and someone asked me about a possible Prophecy sequel or companion, I'd ask the audience what THEY think.

So how about it? Would YOU read a Prophecy novella or companion? And if so, which of the following would you most want to read (if Other, leave in Comments section)?

Weigh in with the poll on day eight of the Circle of Fire Virtual Tour!

View Poll
View Poll

 

I also have some winners to announce!

First, winners for the Random Shite Giveaway (which was a ridiculous amount of fun, by the way);

Erica

Aurora M.

Mary

Chelleyreads

Layne

Angel C.

Kathy Avery

Emily J.

Aik

Alisha

Kristyn

I also need to announce a new runner up in the Circle of Fire release Day Giveaway. One of our runners up didn't contact us, so Emily Kaiser, you win!

I'll be announcing the 25 winners of the A TEMPTATION OF ANGELS hardcovers later this week. In the meantime, if you're one of the winners above, please email prophecypress@aol.com with "Winner" in the Subject line by Sunday August 14 at Midnight EST. Please include your mailing address so we can send your goodies.