Zoe E. Whitten's Blog, page 96

Shattered Prophesies, and other tragedies…

Book 3 of the Collins Family trilogy. Amy's ascension to leadership of the Collins family starts a revolution in the McCulloughs, and Elliot McCullough seeks a truce to mend the centuries-old rift between clans. Even the paranoid magi are coming to regard her as a worthy ally. But when the daemon Lucien comes courting and Amy spurns him, it begins a tragic downward spiral for the halflings.

Buy Shattered Prophesies for $2.99 @ Smashwords. (Amazon & other vendors TBA later)

Or get more information on the book at my site.

And you may want to read Little Monsters and In the Grasp of the Devil first. (Just FYI.)

I'm really happy to have this book out on time, but I'm afraid there's also some bad news to deliver. Visitors to my web site will notice that some of the story archive and free PDFs are missing. The missing files are all the stories which have been converted into ebooks, and later today, folks will notice the same stories missing from my blog archives.

As I raise prices, it doesn't make sense to have free files on my site, so I'm taking them down. There are still free stories to read, and there are still a few free PDF files left. But now once you work through the shorter pile of free samples, you'll have to pay for the ebooks. I'm sorry to go all mercenary on you like this, but the "try before you buy" model just isn't panning out for me.

In more positive writing news, I seem to be on schedule to release my next ebook, Confessions of a Zombie Lover, which is a sequel to Zombie Punter. I'm handling cover duties, so they'll be a bit simplistic, something in the spirit of the Zombie Punter cover art style. The story inside follows G as he joins the Army and recruits another two "kids," Reggie and Cal. His research yields smarter and emotionally stable zombies, but G begins to doubt he can make the undead smart enough to avoid them becoming second-class citizens. So in addition to subtle themes of sexuality and tolerance explored in the first book, this second volume also looks at classism and slavery. It's a lot to pack into a novella, but I think readers of G's first story will find this second book just as entertaining.

After G's story is out, I have to worry about how to pimp my upcoming releases with Belfire Press, and with Skullvines/KHP. It should be an interesting year for my readers. I'll be bringing y'all zombies, sex dolls, ninjas octopuses versus pirate ants, magi, werecats versus witches, a werekin porno, more vampire novelettes, more shapeshifters and yes, more musical numbers!

Stick with me, and things are bound to get interesting. (*^_^)

A modest proposal for shared investment…

Today, I want to pick up the topic from yesterday, but having a few hours to calm down and think about things. I took the morning off for a temper tantrum and a nap, and now I want to get back to the topic of editors, and the problems we indie writers face in working with them. Number one is, the flat fee full edit at pro rates. The editor wants to charge pro rates, whether they're working for New York or new guy. After all, you're buying their expertise, and that training remains the same no matter who they serve.

Great, and I'm not disputing that logic. But can't editors do something less…strenuous, for new guy and cut them a discount? Perhaps instead of full rewrites, you can go with a line edit? Maybe the work doesn't need more than few suggestions to put the writer on the right trail. How about just charging them for that advice at a lower consulting fee? If they're a really poor writer (financially) and the writing isn't awful in your educated opinion, maybe you could just do a skimming typo hunt and charge them on a sliding scale. Or offer a critique and charge a small reading fee.

The key point here is, you only do the work on the work you feel has merit, and you try to tailor your efforts to the available budget. You don't have to feel obligated to work on every little thing that comes in, or on work that falls outside your favored genres. In theory, you could be getting enough incoming proposals that you would need to be discriminating anyway.

[image error]Anything you offer will be more feedback than writers had on their own. So why go with the full service and fee if the price tag sends your client scurrying away? If they reply that they can't afford your full package price, maybe you could make a counter-offer and try to pull in another source of income. Sure, it's not as great as a full edit would pay, but a typo hunt for $200 will still pay a bill. A line edit for $400 on a short novel would not be unrealistic. Plus, if you sign on that sucker for one good job, you might find them willing to sign up for another edit, even an upgrade to line edits or full services.

The second hurdle is, editors have zero vested interest in the titles they edit. This doesn't sound like a problem to editors, but indie writers often feel alone in pushing their titles, and it is a pretty hostile market for self-promoted works, even when those works are professionally edited. (If you want me to go into a screaming rant, ask me about how much Redemption Lost cost versus how much it earned.)

Editing is a fire and forget job, and if an editor misses anything, it's not like they give discounts for it. (I'm not suggesting editors give discounts for mistakes. That was a joke.) While I loved my editor's work, and I felt her advice was valid for every book I've sent, in Redemption Lost, I discovered in the proof copy that she had missed a missing r from "through." Throughout the book, there were dozens of places that said "though" instead. The spell check sees nothing, the writer sees nothing and the editor…oh shit, the editor missed it too. (They were fixed before the book went to a final edition.)

And this is OKAY. I paid for the job, and I paid for another book after that, and another after that. My editor's last bit of work will be in A Perfectly Empty Vessel, and I feel her advice was worth every penny. (And she didn't miss a single through in that book.) But she was not perfect or infallible, and once the job is over, she doesn't have anything to do with the book. And this is a little frustrating, because even if it's not her responsibility, it would be nice if my editor got enthusiastic about launch day and ran out and told all her friends to buy my book. I'm not asking her to, and she's got no incentive to do so. We are totally cool. I love my editor like…like a writer loves an editor. Platonically, and with much respect.

I digress, editors have no need to pimp the titles they edit, except as a reference for future jobs, and then they only list the good books that sold well. Why mention that you edited Zit Lancing on a Budget when it only sold five copies? (And those five were review copies that got burned on YouTube.*) At present, there's nothing in it for the editor to work with the writer after the editing job, because their part of the job is pretty much done.

(*At the same location for the same video, in a huge bonfire with the author's effigy burning at the top of the pile. I have to admit, I really admire the dedication of those spiteful medical reviewers.)

I would like to see editors become more invested in the promotional side of the business, and to feel a bit more loyalty toward their indie clients. This means giving them an incentive to be salespeople and/or cheerleaders after their projects are published. I would also like to find ways to cut down the initial flat fee investment into something more manageable for writers who don't move 10K in book every six months. It's no secret that we need editors in the writing "minor leagues," but it's also no secret that we can't afford the full fees. That's why we usually skip the editors. We don't want to embarrass ourselves by running away after editors email a quote. I'm not talking about a 50% discount, but we just need a little something trimmed off the top. Too many zeroes together in a price tag makes us indie writers queasy. It's like almost a real medical condition. (>.>)

What I would like to suggest is that writers offer editors a small percentage of royalties from their book sales in addition to a partial advance payment for services rendered. This payment structure would give the editor a vested interest in selling the book during the first three to six months, because they are also trying to recover some of the costs of their editing job. In theory, it also might give the editor more incentive to be extra careful when they sell a full services package. Okay, if on a typo hunt something slips through, eh, it's a discounted job. We got a discounted result. Oh well. But on a full service job, an editor is stamping the work as being just as much their kid as it is the writer's. Or, I would like for the editors to feel this way, instead of booting the lil' bastard out the door to pull the next from the inbox.

Obviously, a full royalties option is not desirable for an editor. It's way too much risk with nothing upfront for their work. Even a partial advance with a cut of the sales for x number of months is taking on a level of financial risk with every writer. (Though not necessarily with every title. Once an editor knows they can trust a writer to be honest, and they can also demonstrate the ability to move units, the relationship should be relatively smooth for future stories.) But in this way, the freelance editor becomes a partial investor in the publishing process with the indie writer.

The risk for the editor is lower, because they get paid the larger part of their normal flat fee. But they also lose a part of their fee if they just fire and forget, moving on to the next job. If they act aggressively to sell projects they really like, there's also the potential to make a bonus from each job, an amount above and beyond what they would have earned with flat fees.

This creates a two-person sales team for indie titles, and the editor's voice adds a note of authority that could become more important as editor/investors become more common. This gives freelance editors a better chance to brand themselves by investing their names with the titles they edit. Just as we see writers online advertising their wares under their favorite genres, we might also see editors with sites selling their services under standard pre-made contracts alongside a catalog of the books they've edited. So having a current backlog of titles on your web site isn't just a bragging board. It's a chance to earn residual income.

Writers can submit work via queries to editors through email in much the same way that they would with a publisher. But there is no promise from the editor that a book is getting published. It's not the editor's job to front the cash for publishing. They don't even have to warrant that their work will lead to publication. These jobs remain with the writer, should they choose to submit to a publisher or self-publish.

But, what if the book is never published? The editor needs a clause in the contract allowing them to recover their remaining fees. It's the writer's responsibility to get the work into the market. If the writer never completes this step, the editor shouldn't be forced to take on extra financial burdens. They still take on part of the burden, because depending on how the writer publishes the work, there can be a long, long delay before the editor sees the chance to earn residual income after the release.

But, once the book is out, the editor can help reduce their investment risk by promoting the stories. This is an arrangement that need not take a lot of the editor's time, but I'm sure some editors think it's completely unfair that they should spend any time marketing books. I totally agree with that sentiment, but as much as I hate marketing, I have to admit, I do like when people buy my stuff. When editors earn residual incomes on every sale, I think they will like it too. Sales happens more often around the times that I say "Buy my book, please." But, being that I'm a self-published writer, I still have the problem of people who won't read me because they think I don't edit at all. So, it would be totally cool if my editor spent a few weeks throwing the same kind of marketing efforts that I did. Nothing that requires money, mind you. They can do a few guest blogs, or podcast interviews, or even just do some shout-outs in the right forums. Their promotion would carry a LOT of weight if they said, "I'm the editor of this book."

Having the editor be a part of the sales team helps build the reputation of an editor, and every book advertises the editor's services to every writer who reads it. This represents a great way to recruit new jobs. Writers see a clean edit and hey, there's the freelance editor's email address and web site right at the front of the book. Hmmm…

This gets back to the idea that freelance editors can brand themselves just like indie writers, so they would want people to buy the last books they edited and see their work. And not just because the editor liked the story, but because they're earning part of their residual income from the promotion. They also want to tell writers what to pick up when they ask "What kinds of books do you prefer to work on?" Which in theory might mean less slush to wade though. (Yes, that was exceedingly optimistic. Stop snickering.)

If we worked together, it might get to the point when people look at an indie-produced book and see two names; the writer and editor. (Or three; writer, editor, and cover artist.) And it may be that readers see a book from a first-time writer and don't know them, but they buy the book because they know the editor and know their reputation for picking good writers. The editor becomes something between a publisher and a publicist for a brief time after the launch of a title. After say, one year from the release date of the title, the editor's cut of royalties ends, and then they have no more responsibility to the project even if they are still associated with it.

I would like to think that the combination of two promoters and an added sense of writing quality could lead to higher sales for indie works, so that freelance editors who take on the right writers will always find themselves earning bonuses from every project. But this isn't a perfect world, so it's more likely that this arrangement could be fraught with pitfalls. The editor might pick a few stories that, good or not, just never catch fire with the public. They could also pick a major bomb.

There's also major trust issues surrounding keeping track of royalties, and clauses that need to be discussed when a writer fails to live up to their end of the deal. (ie: they use a cover from hell, or they have an odious sales persona and the editor wants to avoid being associated with them.) Also, there needs to be clauses protecting the writer from a lazy or bad editor. (ie: I shouldn't have to pay for "services rendered" if the edit is poorly conducted and misses major mistakes.) This kind of "simple contract" is really not so simple, and cannot be drummed out overnight.

Which is why I would like to open discussion to both indie writers and freelance editors. If you were going to consider a contract like this, what terms would you need to see to feel comfortable with it? Writers, think long and hard about how very useful an editor can be, and ask yourself how much you think that initial investment is worth. How much are you willing to give upfront, and what percentage of your sales would you be willing to temporarily grant your editor? And editors, if you could cherry pick your editing projects and work more on the kinds of stories that excite you instead of taking whatever comes down the line, would that be worth enough to you to accept some financial risks and invest in writers to help develop their talent?

Can we stay on topic?

So, I'm chilling out on Twitter when I saw @angelajames comment how they'd read a self-pubbed book that had potential, but still needed an editor. I commented back that if editors were willing to work for royalties instead of taking a huge up-front fee, we might be able to work something out.

This briefly led to a discussion between the two of us about the hurdles that make it so hard for independent writers to work with editors, whether on royalties or on flat fees. In fact, I was just starting to think about how this might work into a blog post about the barriers that we still needed to work out to create a truly level playing field for writers at all level of the market.

But then I was broad-sided by a complete stranger who decided that since self-pubbed work=no editing, none of it was worth her time. She derailed the conversation, and she dismissed all of my work with a few sweeping broad brush comments. And then @angelajames didn't want to talk about editors any more. She wanted to quote the reader about how price points and packaging are so important. So much for the discussion about independent writers finding ways of hiring editors without going bankrupt. [image error]

It isn't that we don't desperately need to have this conversation. We do. But it promptly got derailed and became about why self-publishers don't really know what we're doing, and why can't we be more smart and submit all our work to the nice publishers? Angela became condescending about how self-publishers were claimning to have great sales, so surely they can afford editor's fees. And the thing is, no matter where the conversation goes after that, I lose. Because it's clearly okay for Angela and anyone else to attack me once they've lumped me into the same crowd of nobodies. If I should get mad that we've gone off topic, it doesn't matter because my opinion was no longer valid anyway. I'm just one of the stupid ones now.

Now, I really, really want to talk about editors with Angela. Because yes, we indie writers do need them. But rather than discuss the problems that face writers and editors, someone else managed to derail the conversation and make it about why publishers are awesome, and why us little self-pub guys are just stupid.

I'm near tears as I write this, because nothing of my work will ever reach people like this. It doesn't matter that I did hire an editor and never recovered my funds, or that I bust my ass with each and every book release. It doesn't matter how much work I do, or whether my ebook's quality is similar to a professional ebook. Their opinion on the matter is set in stone: I didn't get accepted, so I'm not "for real." And because I'm not for real, they won't even let me be part of the conversation about editing. Even though I'm the one starting the conversation with "I want to hire you, but we need to work out better terms."

While I was trying to cool down from being told that my work wasn't even worthy of a sideways glance, one of my friends on twitter wrote this:

ok…time for a rant about self publishing authors. If you're a writer, you NEED to hear this. I learned how to build and run a foundry from self published books. I learned how to weave on a backstrap loom from self published books. I learned how to build CHP plants from self published books. I learned how to clear land from self published books. I learned how to make surface water safe and potable, and maintain sanitation in the backwoods from self published books.

I see how other people love, live, and feel from self published books. and I also see fools bash self publishers because they think that having a corp rubber stamp their crap as "publishable" makes it better. Maybe it makes a corp lots of money, and gives an author empty bragging rights to be "corp approved" but it don't make it better. Really. Because sometimes being good, being the best, even, isn't the size of the corporate dick you're fellating. Sometimes being good, being the best, even is all about being the best and having the cojones to bring it anyway, never mind what corp says.

There's a lot of people out there who will read self-published work, and who know that many of us work as hard on the quality of our books as a professional publisher does. That we lack their financial resources does not mean we lack their quality. People who take the time to know us know the truth. I really wish more people would at least look at one or two of my book covers before declaring me a lazy person. But if I say anything to this person about their attitude, who's wrong here? Exactly. They get to retain a poor attitude about me and remain ignorant, and I'm the one who has to be bigger and leave them be.

But my status as a hack writer isn't the topic I wanted to discuss today. The topic I want to discuss is the barriers that exist between independent writers and freelance editors. Royalties, while they sound nice in theory, require a leap of trust from the editor for the writer, and not every writer is trustworthy. Which would make the issue muddy enough, but almost all writers are lousy at math. It's hard for us to keep track of our own sales numbers because we work through so many sources, so keeping accurate numbers for the purposes of paying our editor is likely to end up with problems now and then.

I agreed with Angela that there are a lot of potential pitfalls to editors working with writers directly, but the fact is, there's a lot of editors out of work these days. They need stories to edit, and the indie market is full of writers who WANT to hire them, if payment arrangements can be made that make both sides happy. So I feel like we need a platform, perhaps some kind of pre-made contract that benefits both parties. But if such a platform existed, what would editors want to see to make it doable? And what would writers be willing to offer as an initial investment to take on an outside editor? There's a lot of important questions that need to be sorted out before an initial contract could be put together, perhaps as part of a Creative Commons Project to allow all writers to take advantage of it, even professional writers who might want to hire an extra editor before submitting to agents and publishers.

I would still like to discuss this idea of a contract to make editing an affordable and equitable option for editors and writers. Perhaps at some point, @angelajames and I will be able to sit down and discuss the idea in a moderated setting to avoid tangents. But if the topic is about how editors and indie writers can work together, then it might be a good idea for the editors in the debate not to spit on the same writers who they could be approaching for freelance work.

I want to have that discussion, but instead, I'm feeling angry and unable to comment in a conversation I started because someone else turned into a platform for their opinions about self-published writers in general. So, excuse me for having some animosity, but it bothers me how every single issue about writing always comes around to "self-pubbed is shit." It has nothing to do with the topic we needed to discuss, and now it's just set the conversation back to the point where no one can talk about it at all. And that to me is even more wasteful than never having the conversation.

A pitch for The Collins Family trilogy and Shattered Prophesies

Despite spending all my time writing, it's hard to sum up my feelings as I near the release of Shattered Prophesies, the third and final book of the Collins Family trilogy. I think I do a terrible job of pitching stories, so I dread this like normal people dread visits to the dentist. (I don't go to the dentist cause I gots dentures.) Nevertheless, I need to sell you the book, or the rest of the trilogy if you haven't already read it. If you haven't, I've dubbed this is a fantastic tragedy series, and it's based on the idea that a prophesy could be misread by both sides, allowing it to come true through everyone's best efforts to prevent it.

In this modern day, alternate-Earth with fantasy elements, I chose to tell a three-act tragedy from the losers' side. Why? Because almost all fantasy, whether light or dark, high or common, follows the hero. Not many people look at the story from the other side and follow a bad guy unless it's to flip the script and show the villain winning. This isn't the same thing as what I'm depicting, which is the "villain's side" of the story, even though you know they're going to lose. My point isn't to give sympathy to bad characters, but rather to demonstrate that they also have compelling stories. Their tales aren't as noble, but with an objective narrator, the right broken characters can be just as interesting as heroes.

Note: I'm not knocking how other people write dark fantasy. I'm setting myself apart as different, not better. But, having said that, in a lot of fantasy settings, I find the villain exists only as a prop, and they have the weakest character development, perhaps weaker even than friendly bit characters. They have no jobs, no friends, no personal lives. They don't have parents, or normal backgrounds. They show up fully formed after years of plotting and spawn armies. They just dig their forces out of the ground, I guess. Like potatoes, but with more aggressive personalities. All these character details that the hero has, the writers spend weeks lovingly crafting. But the villain is often denied the same traits because it's not like they're real people, right?

[image error]I believe this kind of story angle is not considered viable by many modern writers because it's a hard sell to publishers, and to readers. Bold? Yes. But is it unique? No, nothing under the sun is new. But this angle is rare enough that you're guaranteed not to see many similar series. This, in essence, is the point of the Collins Family trilogy, which brings me to Little Monsters, the first book of the trilogy. If you haven't read it yet, I want to explain a bit about the story without giving too much away. The main themes in the first act are explorations of identity and sexuality, and the impact that those two factors have on our relationships with others.

Jarred Collins is a man with a false personality programmed into him by a manipulative father who intended to turn Jarred into a sexual predator. He has become ashamed of his past, avoiding his family, along with most everyone else, until the arrival of a daughter he never knew. Cora's arrival comes with the revelation that she is telepathic, like most members of her family, and that Jarred is supposed to be gifted as well. The news forces Jarred to examine his identity, and to confront his estranged family for answers about his past. Which ultimately leads to Jarred's death. The book is also about Jarred's friends and their struggles to redefine themselves in the wake of constant disasters and revelations. When tragedy strikes and cripples Cora in the process, the rest of her adopted family comes together in an effort to turn an empty house back into a home.

If you read In The Grasp of the Devil, the second book of the trilogy, you know who Amy is, and you know why she ascended to take the role of leadership from Jonathan. The rest of you will be confused when I say that in this second outing, fledgling leader Amy Collins is confronted with a family slayer, a child of incredible power who is also possessed of a psychotic desire to kill her relatives. Amy chooses a desperate plan to imprint Katherine with a conscience, but it isn't enough to stop the child from escaping and wreaking havoc on the human population, risking exposure for all halflings. While Amy recovers in England, Cora gathers the family in preparation of an attack by Katherine.

So what is Amy's next plan once she's recovered? Sneak home and act like nothing is happening. There's more drama for everyone back in the states, a blossoming romance for Amy, and new kids from England to settle into the Collins home. And when it becomes clear that Katherine isn't showing up for a fight right away, Amy sets everyone to the same task: find a cure for Katherine's malady.

For the few folks who read the first two books, let me sum up Shattered Prophesies without spoilers: part of the family is kidnapped, a daemon invasion begins, and a lot of halflings end up dead. The survivors are forced to scatter and hide while the "heroes" celebrate a hollow victory. The prophesy is still going to pass, and fate wins. Yes, that's spoiler-free. When I'm pitching a tragedy, it's hardly a spoiler to say "It won't end well." But before I go on, let me show you a preview of the cover courtesy of K.H. Koehler:

 

And now let me give y'all the longer, slightly more spoilery version: The merging halfling clans are beset by more problems, and Amy is called to England to investigate the disappearance of many relatives. At the same time, Katherine risks a trip to the US to see Amy about the same problem, and Cora is called to help the McCullough clan recover from a devastating magi attack orchestrated by outside forces. With the leaders of the Collins family spread so thin, an attack on the home seems inevitable, and the paranoid elites begin picking off halflings, leaving the clans reeling from their losses. The daemon Lucien attempts an alliance with Amy, but she spurns his affections in favor of her magi allies. In return, the daemon begins attacking Amy's family and friends, pushing everyone into a chaotic and deadly final fight.

And that's the basic pitch. Shattered Prophesies is coming soon, so if you buy Little Monsters and In The Grasp of the Devil now, you can be sure the final book will be arriving at Smashwords any day now. If you buy the first two books during February, you can get them for $0.99 cents each. After this month, my bigger books will be going up to $2.99. Shattered Prophesies will not go out on sale at $0.99 cents…it will go on sale at $1.99, and then at the end of April, it will go up to $2.99.

So, how did I do? Was this pitch better, or are you not taking a swing at the series yet?

Whose definition are we using?

Today, I'm writing about "professional behavior" because it's been coming up on other writer's blogs in all kinds of ways. I've seen writers talk about whether it's professional to write too negative reviews, or too positive reviews, or any reviews at all. I've seen writers talk about whether we should talk about our health, our finances or sales numbers, our political opinions, religious beliefs (or lack thereof), or our thoughts on publishers or other writers. All of these topics revolve around the notion that writers ought to behave according to a stricter code of conduct than other people do online.

Why? For the love of God, we're writers, not middle managers! We have more in common with musicians and artists than we do with desk jockeys. When other people dream of fleeing their cubicle hell jobs, they daydream of being writers, free to write and say whatever they want. Writers have acted as the critics of society and industry, and as the advocates of reading and critical thinking, from the beginning of the written word. It's part of our job description to be blabbermouths, and not everything we say will be positive puffs of sunshine. By now, people should have learned to deal with it. Instead, they're still suggesting that maybe writers should "tone it down with all that negativity." Not possible. It's part of the job description to be critical.

[image error]I'm not suggesting that writers should get away with murder, but I find it sad that in this modern era of open communication, one of the topics of discussion among writers this year is what we should or shouldn't say in front of our readers. Part of the problem is, we're never seen as being off the clock. Every blog post we write is taken as part of our "branding effort," and every status update we send on Facebook becomes a matter of public record, even if we restrict our list to "real friends." Writers have no off-time in the online world, and so that builds the public expectation of us behaving "professionally."

Begging your pardon, folks, but whose definition of professional are we operating on? Because this sounds like the definition for a professional politician, not a professional indie author of weird and dark fiction. My job is not to write a blog. Really, it's not. I don't make a dime off of my blog, and no matter how many posts I add, that never changes. I write fiction, or clever lies, and I sell them to you. I only make money when you buy my lies. So, my definition of professional behavior is, I get up and write all day. I'm always busting my ass to put out more work, and that's my professional behavior.

When you read my stories, that's me on the clock. That's where I work to get rid of as many typos as I can. You bought the book and paid me, so my writing has to earn my paycheck. That's where I need you to see me as a professional. But when you come to my blog, you're reading my thoughts outside of my job. It's like you've followed me to the pub to listen to me ramble over a pint of lager and a bowl of nuts. (Hehe, nuts.) That's the point of me having a blog, so you can see some side of me outside of my writing. It's where I'm supposed to talk about my hobbies and my interests. It's where I give my opinions on current world events.

Given that my main hobby is reading, a lot of my posts are fiction reviews. Some of those reviews are not positive. Hey, it happens. Generally, if I am unable to finish a book, I will post a review on Goodreads, but not here on the blog. That's not always true, and there have been exceptions. I'm sure there will be more exceptions in the future too. But some folks have suggested that because I'm also a writer, I shouldn't make negative reviews. Why? Because readers might see it as sour grapes from another writer. So, one camp says I can't post a positive book review because it might be seen as favoritism, and another says I shouldn't post a negative review because that's seen as being mean? Where does that leave me in expressing my interests as a reader? Does my position as a writer invalidate my ability to evaluate the work of other writers?

With all due respect, fuck that. If I decide I don't like a book and I want to write a negative review, I will. If I decide to gush and make a 5 star review, I can do that too. In neither case will my review have anything to do with the writer. It's all about the story, whether I'm raving or ranting. That's the whole point of a review, right? I tell you what I feel about the work without giving too much away. Then you decide if you want to plunk down the money to check the story out. Maybe you will, and you'll come away with a vastly different take. But the purpose of the review isn't to be a rah-rah sales cheerleader for the book or the writer. It's a book report from one reader seeking to inform other readers.

These reviews are also my efforts at reading advocacy. I feel that more people should read as a hobby, and I want to support writers at all levels of the profession. Which is why I plan to continue posting reviews of books as I read them. Some will be gushing squee-fests, and others will be rants. The only books I don't review are those that don't register with me. I read them, but I don't feel anything for the events or the characters. In those cases, I don't write anything because I don't feel anything. So if I dislike something strongly enough to write a bad review, you can be sure there's no hidden agenda, no attempt to discredit or smear another writer. I just reacted badly to the story and feel a need to express my opinion. And I can do that. Viva freedom of expression!

Occasionally, I have been known to wade into a major controversy to deliver an unpopular opinion. That another reason why I keep a blog. It serves as a place for me to vent or rant on topics that I run across during my daily online commutes on new sites. It's where you come to read me off the clock, warts, typos, and all. If I felt I had to filter out what I wrote about so only "safe topics" are left, I would just as soon shut down my blog and never offer anything but my stories. And that would be pretty damned boring.

Price increases going into effect in March!

Starting next month, my self-published stories will be going up in price in accordance with their word counts. Larger books like Little Monsters, In the Grasp of the Devil, and Changeling: An Urban Musical Crime Fantasy will be going up to $2.99, while novels like Blind Rage and novellas like Zombie Punter will be $1.99.This will be the new pricing model for upcoming releases, and 0.99 will be used only for novelettes, or for collections of reprinted short fiction.

I would love to keep the 0.99 price for all releases, but I'm not making enough to fund marketing drives, print runs, or even my enormous crack habit. But seriously, there are still expenses associated with releasing ebooks, and with my other forms of income drying up, I need to get more out of each sale to help pay off more of these debts.

If you want to pick up any or all of my e-books at their introductory prices of 0.99 cents you need to hustle over to Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/zoewhitten and pick up whatever catches your eye before the end of February.

Ebooks and the triumphant resurgence of the novella…

One of the trends I'm noticing as I buy new ebooks is the lengths, and most of my recent purchases have been novellas from both indie and pro market writers. This makes me realize that there's a side of this self-publishing story that isn't being talked about: the return of the novella market.

Mainstream publishing has all but abandoned the novella, and even among mid-size and small publishers, it's hard to find a novella a good home. Many places choose to double up authors to make a larger print book, and while this works, it has problems, in my opinion. For one thing, some readers will decide not to buy the book if they like one book blurb, but not the other. The other is, it's hard to figure out how to sell them. Do you pair up two stories that are similar and risk making the second novella look like a clone? Or do you pair contrasting stories, even if it might cost you some readers? (For the reason given above that readers like one, but not the other.)

Traditional publishers have tended to look down on the novella because the length to payout ratio isn't "cost effective." I put that in quotes because this is the same industry that banks lousy books using their blockbusters, and that has been operating on a shotgun marketing approach to sell a book within a very limited window of time. They abandon many works even as those books are just starting to find an audience. And they've operated this way for decades knowing this approach meant marginal returns, at best. You pro publishing proponents may try to claim that I'm  wrong, but let's look at Borders, or B. Dalton, or at the diminishing sales of print books while ebook markets are soaring. The fact is, these people don't have room to talk about what's cost effective when so many industry standard practices aren't.

[image error]Ebooks really are changing everything about the market, and yet, most publishers are still putting out word count minimums that completely snub the novella. So a whole lot of writers who are really good have nowhere to go. And the industry response is mostly, "So write something we want to sell or stop whining." Is it any wonder that so many novella writers have chosen to go with self-publishing in an environment this rigidly opposed to their preferred format?

The market for these novellas is bigger than publishers want to admit, and it's only going to grow larger as more writers return to the shorter formats. With the freedom to let the story decide its own length, I think we'll see a lot more novellas in the coming years, and not just from amateurs and indies, but from novel writing pros who are exploring the format and discovering its merits. Novellas are faster in pace than novels, but more detailed than short stories. And for a lot of writers, I think they'll find it's the "sweet spot" where they want to put the bulk of their creative experimentation.

I love writing novellas, though I also love wiring novels. I've never cared for short fiction and feel it's too limiting. But that's just my opinion, and not a proclamation that the short  story market is doomed. (I'd be talking out of my ass if I said that.)

I've seen writers I respect bash the trend of online writers skipping pro markets altogether. "Those dumb noobs just aren't trying hard enough," they say. But if a writer only writes novellas, there's no huge market to work with, and there's certainly no huge paycheck to be gained out of submitting to a small press. What benefit is there to be gained in submission except bragging rights? And really, if that's all the pro market has to offer is a bit of ammo for a dick waving contest, I'm not interested. Hell, I don't even have a dick to wave anymore.

Even with stories going online and dumping print costs altogether, the novella still doesn't have a commercial appeal to most publishers. It's not a matter of try or try not, as Yoda would say. It's a matter of looking at reality and realizing you're better off selling that novella directly to readers. You keep more of the profits for yourself, and you don't have to deal with a finicky market that only wants "sure-fire" hits.

Lots of pro writers have said, "This is a business, not an art." I think you've lost the point of writing if you believe that. This is art. It's pop art, but it's always an ongoing experiment, and sometimes experiments fail. The pro market is so afraid of failure that they won't take risks anymore. They take safe bets, and in the process, they kill the art side of the business. The artistic aspects of writing were being micromanaged to death, and the novella was one of the casualties of the mindset.  But now the novella is coming back, even if the pro markets are still ignoring the format.

I want to address a tangent before I close this out. Again, I've seen writers I respect complain about having to compete with rank amateurs on the market. They claim that the crappy writers charge sub-par prices and make it harder for them to sell "real" writing. With all due respect, grow up and stop whining. The whole last decade, amateur and indie writers have been talking about the Internet as a level playing field where everyone competes on the merits of skill, not on who you know. And pro writers rolled their eyes and wrote whole tomes on why the amateurs were wrong.

Here we are a decade later, and now the mid-list and best-selling writers are entering the market with self-published works. Which means they're entering a market that has been dominated and saturated by indies and amateurs. It's not their fault that the pro writers snubbed the online markets. Pros are coming into the game late and whining that it's not fair that the markets are overloaded with allegedly unworthy books. Bullshit. Nothing could be more fair than you having to grow a new online market and compete with the same writers you scoffed at for their sub-par work. Yes, they're amateurs. They never tried to claim otherwise. All they said was, "One day, the pro print model is going to collapse under its own weight." You said they were misguided. And now many of you are coming to realize they weren't. Instead of sucking it up and admitting you were wrong, now you complain that you have to enter "a market of losers."

If you would stop complaining and get to work, your skill as a writer would shine through and the readers will come to you. Just like you always said, "The money comes to the writer." It's just, in this new world, it comes to you direct from the readers instead of through a middle man. It's truly a level playing field now, and the little guy has just as much chance as you do. And yes, having so many more writers out there means you have to work harder to be heard over the chatter. But that's been true in the pro markets for years, where every month, thousands of new books get dumped on the shelves.

The effect is multiplied exponentially when you get on the ebook markets and have to compete with all the self-publishers, but by complaining that it isn't fair, your reputation as a "pro" is going to take some dings. You don't have a case here. You were wrong about where the market was going, and the self-publishers were right. So at this point, you can either shut up and put up, or you can fade into obscurity, another dinosaur who failed to adapt to changing conditions.

The New Bedlam Project – Vol. 2 Issue 4

The last online issue of The New Bedlam Project is out today, and after this it will move to a print format. Fittingly, the last digital issue also features the final installment from my Donkey Lady series, four linked "episodes" that have been posted every other issue over the online life of the project.

After this episode, Teaching the Beasties, Jeff Parish is taking over to continue the story from a new perspective. Jodi called this the best of the series so far. I don't know if it is or not, but I am pleased with the finished results, and I'm excited to see what another writer will make of Carol and her dark powers.

I hope you like the final installment from me, and thanks again for all of you who've been following the whole series.

Think kind thoughts for my hubby…

I'm cross posting this, so if you're reading a duplicate, my apologies. Last week, my husband collasped outside of work and had to be taken to the hospital. He told me not to worry, that he was fine, and they just wanted to run some tests. Hours later he called back, and no worries, he's fine, but the doctors just performed a leeettle surgery to install a shunt in his heart. Also, he wouldn't be able to come home until next Wednesday because the doctors wanted to run more test to see if a second shunt was needed.

On Saturday he was moved out of intensive therapy, our version of ICU, and into a shared room with another patient. Hubby saw this as a good sign, and once again, he said he felt fine. I went to see him on Sunday, and he was taking calls from work and bouncing around the room to give us the full tour. So yeah, that gave me hope that I'd been worrying over nothing. Well today he called, and the doctors aren't convinced he's fine. They want to install the other shut and run more tests. So hubby won't be coming home this week, and he might not be back next week either.

Hubby is an Atheist, so prayers are kinda not kosher. (I don't think he'd really care one way or the other.) But if you could, try and think some positive thoughts for him. And also, if I seem a bit randoms or catty out of the blue, try to forgive me. I'm having a bit of a rough time dealing with this. Hubby is my only connection to the world around me, and I have trouble caring for myself when he goes out of town for four days on a sales convention. He's been gone a week, and things are falling apart fast here, myself included. The house is so cold I have to stay in my room to conserve heat, or wear three layers of clothes just for a walk to the bathroom. I can't really cook full meals, so I'm eating junk food and snacks. Which is probably also part of the reason why I'm having such terrible problems with my MS. But then again, with all this added stress of worrying over hubby, I'd still be fucked even if the weather was warm and I was eating properly. Since I'm not and it's the dead of Winter, I'm triply fucked.

I am not an Atheist, and so you can direct all prayers this way, please. And once again, sorry if I get weird on you in the coming days. Really, I have good reasons to be losing my shit.

A Frosty Girl's Cure – Epilogue

Though the air was oppressively hot, I sat on the curb for the better part of the afternoon, my gaze wandering around a familiar neighborhood which, according to the universe, I had never been to before. After taking a cab from the bus stop, I'd deposited myself on the curb and kept my mind blank. Meditating on the quiet suburban oasis, I didn't bother knocking on the door. The first person I really wanted to see wouldn't be home for several hours.

Finally, the old blue Chevrolet rumbled around the corner, pulling into the driveway slowly.

I got up and dusted off the back of my jeans, wondering what I was going to say, but as the driver got out and looked at me, I remembered that I didn't need to say anything at all. So as I approached Kevin, I thought over my memories of coming to Podunk, and of my adventures after I'd been taken away.

Kevin gaped at me with confusion at first, but his eyes shifted colors rapidly as recognition flashed in them. They changed to silver, and I felt his mind seek mine out. Then once he'd linked with me, his eyes turned green to match mine.

Terry? he sent, at the same time raising his hand to touch my cheek.

I nodded, and then offered a weak smile. "I know this is going to sound crazy, but you and I were in the middle of something at another point in time, and I'd very much like to finish what I started."

Kevin smiled, nodding as he pulled me into an embrace. He was hesitant at first, and I understood that. How does anyone react to meeting the love of their life after a time travel accident wipes out their first meeting? Being a telepath made reintroduction easier, but it still couldn't bring back all of his emotion for me.

But the link I shared with him also let him feel how important this reunion was to me. And it helped that, like our first meeting the first time around, he fell in love with me at first sight.

Several kisses later, we stepped back and looked toward the front door, now open. Amy leaned against the doorframe watching us with a bemused smile.

Kevin said, "Mom, I'd like to reintroduce you to an old friend of the family." He laughed, and then took my hand to lead me to the porch.

Now, I could say that this was the end, but what kind of person would leave you hanging with so many loose ends? Certainly not me.

Kevin and I got married just days after my "return" home, stunning his cheerleaders when they were invited to become bride's maids for a girl they didn't know. And, because I had never had a career as a crime fighter in this world, nobody had to know there was anything different about me, allowing me to slip into a peaceful, quiet life where nobody knew the names Terry Donalds or Icee. On my marriage certificate, I used the name Terry Masters, giving Duggan the credit he deserved as my father.

Still, it was stunning to Kevin's friends that he married a complete stranger when he hadn't even graduate from high school yet.

His cheerleaders were wary of me because of my sudden arrival, but I fixed that problem soon enough. I attended classes at their dojo and beat up their sensei again (though I did so without dislocating joints or breaking ribs, further proof that I'm mellowing out), and I took them all on shopping trips, or to lunches at the diner. Within weeks they all relaxed because of how friendly I was. Yeah, me.

Kevin's cheerleaders are my best friends, even if they constantly tease me about stealing their man out from under their noses.

Let's see…what else? As I write at my desk, my little girl is kicking my kidneys at a steady rate. Kevin joked that she's going to be a drummer in an all-girl band. It took us some time to have this first child, but if you have to work at something, making a baby is easily one of the more enjoyable things to keep screwing up.

The other Terry was able to work at it faster than me, and she had her daughter almost nine months to the day after I sent her back home. True to my word, I took a plane with Kevin to visit my family in Idaho, and there she was.

Katherine had just the tiniest sprouts of red fuzz on her head, and her little blue eyes didn't even have any lashes yet, but I knew it was the same precious angel I'd seen before. I took her in my arms, and she smiled at me. Suddenly, I was overcome with emotions, and as I cried, I kissed Katherine's forehead.

"See?" I said, laughing happily. My laugh almost became a sob, but I swallowed it back. "I promised you I'd see you again."

And so, despite not wanting to ruin the other Terry's wonderful life, she and my family forced the truth from me. They had a lot of help from Kevin, but in the end, it did something important. It brought me back to my family, the one I'd felt certain I was going to have to give up for the other Terry's sake.

Mom spent a lot of time with me after that, and she and I cried often as we sat out by the pond. The night before we were going to return to Texas, she and Dad got my address, promising that they would be coming down to visit us just as soon as I had my own baby. I'm going to be due in two more months, so I'm looking forward to seeing them. During my last call, Terry got on the phone and insisted that she, David and Katherine would need to come down as well, because Katherine kept insisting that she needed to see her "other mommy" again. Weird, huh?

Ellen became my Sarah, though I held off her advances until she was sixteen. Kevin lasted a full year after that, but after she "became legal," Ellen also become a lot more…persuasive.

The whole town knows we're a trio, but then we do a piss poor job of hiding our affection for each other. When it comes to tolerance, Texas is a weird place. Sure, there are the occasional holy rollers who harrumph when they see us. But there are many more people who don't make a big deal out of it. Often, if someone complains within earshot about us, the recipient of their complaints will shrug and say, "It takes all kinds…"

And that's pretty much the prevailing attitude among "normal people" in Podunk, Texas. If I ignore the religious freaks and the insane local government (don't ask), it almost looks like heaven…well, if I squint, I mean.

Wally retired from the game and joined Tommy on the platform. They're supposedly converting the barrel into a telescope, and will realign it to look at the stars as a hobby. Vera now lives as two separate forms, each one a very happy wife.

And of course, the real Chet and Vicky still live in the city. Both Chets retired from the game, and he was replaced by a hero that froze the hearts of criminals with the mere mention of the name Truant Man. Yeah, I know, but apparently he did just fine without me. Then again, he still had Su, and like the saying goes, behind every successful man, there's a woman telling him what to do to be so successful. Okay, I may have paraphrased it slightly.

There is one last loose end, but describing Chet's arrival to Podunk in passing is not good enough for me. I have to tell you the whole thing for you to appreciate the full sappiness of our reunion.

I had just begun to write my story, and I'll admit that it's taken me four years to pen this tale. I've had a lot of wonderful distractions along the way, with my work at the dojo, and my various vacations with Tommy and Vera. In fact, we had just returned from a trip to Hawaii when the inspiration to write struck me.

Working longhand with a composition tablet, I had only penned a few pages about my old life in Idaho when Amy came into my office and said I needed to get downstairs pronto. She said nothing else before darting back out of the room.

I walked down the hallway, and then barked a shocked laugh at the sight of Chet sitting on the couch. He looked up at me, rising to his feet as our eyes met.

I moved just as quickly toward him, and I closed my arms around his chest in a tight hug. Chet, my Chet, had finally figured out where home was. We didn't speak as we stood there in the middle of the living room. We simply held each other in a tight embrace for well over a minute or two. I didn't know how long it was, and I didn't care. When we at last separated, I looked at Amy, intending to apologize for making such a scene.

Instead, I could only giggle at her. Amy was starstruck, and the expression on her face was as transparent as glass. Chet had stolen her heart the moment she'd opened the door. Shaking my head, I chose not to tease her, yet another sign of my growing maturity. I led Chet back to the couch and sat down, clasping his hand in both of mine.

My mouth split in an impish grin. "Did you come to visit your favorite bitch?"

Chet shook his head, staring at the floor for a long time. "I know we got home like I promised, but there isn't any place for me in this world. So I…" Chet trailed off.

I squeezed his hand, my smile warming. "So you came to see if maybe you could cash in on that promise I made, right?"

Chet nodded. "I guess you don't really need me around—"

"Hush Chet, and stop being so stupid," I said. "Since I got back, I got back my mom and dad, but that doesn't mean I couldn't use a dad closer to home. In fact, let me introduce you to my other mom. I'm pretty she wants to get to know you anyway."

"Terry!" Amy gasped, a blush rising on her cheeks.

"You hush too, Mom. I saw that look, so I don't need to guess what you're thinking. Amy this is Chet."

"I know," she whispered and giggled softly. "I'll have to make some room in my closet for his skirts, but I think I can manage it."

"Terry!" Chet groaned, looking at me with cross dismay.

"She's telepathic," I said, smiling as his expression became deeply embarrassed. "In fact, their whole family is, so you'll have to get used to just being yourself."

"I'm not sure what that is," Chet mumbled, looking as if he wasn't sure how to feel.

"Be happy, Dad," I said, and then hugged him. "You're finally home where you belong."

And then it hit me that this was really the best place to end my story, with me coming to terms with my Chet and adopting him into my crazy dysfunctional family.

But I was wrong, and there was a bit more to the story. Amy and Chet got married just a few weeks later, and it was a very chaotic wedding. My family from Idaho came down, and so did Amy's relatives, forcing us to plan for an outdoor wedding when we had previously been working toward a small private ceremony. Wally got the other Chet and Vicky to attend, and that was when they found out all that he had gone through with me. Up until that point, Chet never tried to establish contact with himself or Vicky. Like me, he was willing to sacrifice his happiness for theirs, and the other Chet declared him a long lost brother.

So in the same day that my Chet became a father to me and Kevin, he also gained a brother and sister-in-law. Of course, Mom and Dad told him he was part of the family in Idaho as well, and poor Chet spent more time weeping at his wedding than most people do at a funeral.

I swear, he's such a creampuff. But I wouldn't love him any other way.

Chet and Amy were also able to get some buns in her oven, a set of twin boys who are just about to enter their terrible twos. This problem is compounded by the fact that the little tykes can fly, but we've managed to keep them in line well enough. They're only allowed to fly in the house, and even then only if they haven't broken any of their toys. This is a bit of a challenge, what with their super strength. They maul toys fast. Still, day by day, we feel a little less of an urge to drown them in the tub.

I digress, in the end, I got my real family, the other Terry got hers, and Chet got his. We're all a little dysfunctional, but who isn't in this day?

So that, dear readers, is the story of how I grew up. Every year, I head to City for Dustin to give me a treatment, and the other Terry and I schedule it a week after our birthday. We've both agreed to keep doing it that way until the nanites decide we're too old to play the game anymore. Not the game of City, but the game of life.

I'll end this story with something I learned from a smart girl along the way. If you want to have a happy ending in your own life, just take Judy's advice to heart.

Life throws all kinds of distractions to make you forget what's important, but all you really need is a roof over your head, food on the table, and someone to love. After that, it's all happy trees and fluffy white clouds.

 

The End