Barb Hendee's Blog: Barb Hendee, page 35

Noble Dead Raffle #1 — REMINDER

Just a heads up. The first raffle for a signed hardbound first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark… ends this coming Friday at Midnight, PST. So if you have not entered yet…

Please see the “original post” and follow the instructions so your entry is confirmed in your first submission.

This raffle is only open to participants in the USA.

Happy Holiday!

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday yesterday.  JC and I were on our own this year, but we had a fun day, opening gifts in the morning, and then going to see The Hobbit in the afternoon.



Due to the reality of having two eight-month old kitties in the house, we couldn't put any wrapped packages out until the last minute: for fear having them "opened" for us (smiles).



Once the gifts were out, excitement and great interest followed.  Here is Miss Cinders checking out the colorful ribbons.

The Writer's Corner: Myth Busters

In the past year or so, there has been a small explosion of
overly loud voices in the writer’s community blogosphere shouting to the
rooftops about the “new world of publishing,” and how everything has changed and how new writers must now do everything differently from how it was
done just a few years ago (while I would assert that we need to do some things differently).  These loud voices are constantly
putting up “Myth Buster” posts. Most successful writers (meaning those who make
a living at this) tend to ignore those loud voices and just quietly carry on at
making a living with their writing. 
I know I should ignore those loud voices too, but I feel compelled to
write my own “Myth Busters” post on the other end of the spectrum.  So . . . here goes:




New myth #1:  You don’t need an agent to sell to a
New York editor.




This one bothers me a lot.  Yes, I know that it’s tough to get agent (even grueling and
disappointing in the process). New writers often get ignored by the agents to
whom they’ve submitted, and it would be a lovely, lovely thought to believe,
“Hey, I don’t need an agent to sell to a New York editor.  I can do this on my own.”  But it just makes me wince when new
writers are fed this line.  Don’t
get me wrong; it might be possible to get your novel proposal on the desk of a
New York editor without an agent . . . but it’s very improbable.  All the big houses have gone to a “no
unagented manuscript” policy (which I know is not fair), and most of the
editors have assistants who weed out the unagented novel proposals and send
them back with a form letter. 
Please be aware of this.  It
is VERY difficult to even get your proposal onto the desk of a New York editor
without an agent.  It’s not impossible.  It’s just very difficult.




Side note: For established writers with solid connections, I
do think it’s becoming possible to function without an agent (and to just use
an intellectual property lawyer for the contract), but I hang out with a lot of
writers, and the successful ones (meaning those making a living at this), all
have agents.  JC and I have an
agent.




Myth #2: New York
publishers are evil and their only goal in life is to cheat writers out of
every last possible penny.  So, all
new writers must avoid them.




This just makes me groan.  Yes, publishing is a business.  Yes, publishers are out to make money. Yes, contracts are
getting more draconian, and that’s why we need professional help in going over
every word of the contract before signing it.  But . . . viewing our publishers as “the Enemy” is not
productive to our writing careers. 
For a brand new writer to abstain from New York publishing simply because
he or she fears being “cheated” out of money is absurd.  JC and I make our house payments with
the money we earn from our professionally published books.  That’s how we earn the brunt of our
living.  We make a little grocery
money from our indie projects.




Don’t forgo the chance at real money simply because you fear
being “cheated” by a publisher. 
Just take your time with any contract you sign, get professional
assistance, and make sure you understand what you’re signing.




Myth #3:  A self-published writer has just as
much chance of getting a book into B&N as a writer with a New York publisher.




This one is so absurd that it almost doesn’t deserve to be
here . . . but I’ve seen this ridiculous myth in too many blog posts by the
“overly loud voices.”  This is
absolutely ridiculous.  Right now,
the major publishers are jockeying for space in Barnes & Noble.  The major publishers send huge, glossy
catalogues to the book reps, and the reps order from those. Our publisher pays
for “up front” space for the books they publish—and for space in those center
aisle racks.  Plus, our publisher
gets our mass market paperbacks into Safeway and Fred Meyer’s.  You cannot do this on your own.  Now, this is no reason for you NOT to
go indie.  But just be aware that
the employees at B&N have started to run (and I mean run) for the break
room if they even suspect the person coming at them might be an indie writer
trying to get her/her book on the shelf.




Myth #4:  All successful, traditionally published
writers despise indie writers, hurl insults upon them, and have a tendency to
beat them up and take their lunch money.




Ugh.  This one
bothers me more than I can say. 
Again . . . I hang with a lot of traditionally published writers, and I
can promise you that not a one of them has an ounce of scorn for indie writers
. . . rather just the opposite. 
Most of the traditionally published writers I know are extremely
interested in dipping their toes in indie publishing.  They are excited at the prospect.  JC and I have already started.  We’re having a blast. 
But again . . . what we earn here is not enough to live on.




Any scorn, derision, or insults that I’ve seen or heard have
come purely from the staunch indie writers and have been flung at the
traditionally published writers: words like “lazy” and “sell out” and “stupid”
and “gullible”.  Trust me.  I am none of those things, and neither
are any of the successful traditionally published writers I know.

 

Myth #5:  An indie writer without a fan base has
just as much chance of success as a long time published writer (who goes indie)
with a fan base and a backlist.




I’m not sure what to say about this one, as JC and I are
really just now trying to figure out the whole “marketing” concept for indie
publishing.  I’m not even sure this
myth belongs here.  I only included
it because we get about 8,000 hits a month on our Noble Dead website, and JC
has done a bang-up job of having any posts on the Noble Dead site flood outward
into other social media.  So . . .
because we already have a solid fan base, we managed to find a market for the
“Tales” project.  I’m honestly not sure
how a writer with no fan base would manage this.  I’m not saying it can’t be done.  I’m just now sure how
it would be done.




Myth #6:  Ninety-nine percent of indie published
fiction is as well edited and proofread as traditionally published fiction.




Okay, I have seen badly proofread professionally published
fiction, and I’ve seen some decently edited and proofread indie fiction.  But in all honesty, most of the indie
fiction I’ve seen is a mess.  This
is NOT an insult to indie writers. 
This is simply what I personally have seen.




JC and I have struggled with this ourselves, and we’ve used
outside proofreaders, but with our indie stuff, we certainly do not have
anything like the support of our publisher.  The Noble Dead novels are edited, copy-edited, and
professionally proofread, and we are involved at every stage.  Sometimes a typo or two will still slip
past all of us, but I really do appreciate the support system of our publisher
. . . and working on these indie projects has made me appreciate them more.




Okay . . . I may get flamed for saying some of the things
above, but I felt the need to say them.

Noble Dead Raffle #1 — NOW OPEN!

Here we are again for the first in another six raffles for books from the Noble Dead Saga shipped straight to your door. For our first raffle, as is appropriate, the prize is a signed hardbound first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark…

Please follow the instructions below so your entry is confirmed on the first submission.

This raffle is open to only readers in the USA.

Deadline for receipt of all entries is Friday, December 28th, Midnight PST (via the timestamp on the email you send for your entry). By the following Friday, one random winner will be notified via email and (once confirmed) will be announced (by name only) through NobleDead.org, its newsfeed, and satellite pages on accepted social systems. The the winner should receive the prize within 10 business days.

Go to the Contact page at NobleDead.org and submit the following information correctly:

Name: [First and Last in full]
Email: [where winners will be notified]
Subject: NOBLE DEAD RAFFLE
Message: Street Address, City, State, Zip Code

ABOUT YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT:

Use an account that you check at least once everyday. If you are screening for spam by rejecting HTML content, white-list the “nobledead.org” domain in your email program and/or email server to be certain you receive notification if you win a raffle. [We do not send direct email spam—ever!] Barb and J.C. have full control of all participant information; you will not be added to any form of mailing list. All entries are discarded/deleted once a raffle is complete. Winner Selection Process

The following is the process for the raffle and awarding of the prize.

Each entry is checked upon arrival for complete contact and delivery information as required. Correct and complete entries are confirmed by email reply within 72 hours of being received. Incomplete entries are discarded and, if possible, the entrant is notified. After the raffle's closing date/time, all entries are checked for duplicates based on Name, Email, and Delivery Address. Clear duplicates are discarded. Indeterminate ones may receive an email query at our discretion . Verified entries are assigned a number by ordered of date/time received. The total number of entries is entered into a pure random number generator to select the winner. [See Random.org] The winner is notified via email and reconfirmation of entry delivery information is requested. The winner has 48 hours to respond. If no response is received, that entry is discarded and a new winner is selected according to Step 4. Upon confirmation of delivery information, the winner is announced via NobleDead.org and its news distribution systems, including linked social systems. The award prize should arrive on the winner’s doorstep by standard USPS mail, usually within 10 business days. (NOTE: delivery time might more during the post-holiday week.)

So get your entry in now!

Tales from the World of the Noble Dead

I've noticed a lot of new traffic on my site lately, and for anyone who might not know, I wanted to do an announcement about the "Tales from the World of Noble Dead." 



JC and I are electronically publishing "longish" stories set in the world of the Noble Dead about popular side characters who our readers have met over the years.  The story to the left here is about Aunt Beija, and the one down below is about Loni, the elf, who lives in Miiska.



These are a lot of fun.  They are only available electronically (Amazon, B&N, Apple, etc), but for more information and purchase links, pop over to the Noble Dead website and click on "Tales" at the top:  nobledead







Happy reading!

COMING SOON: Another “Noble Dead” Raffle!

NOTICE: No early entries will be accepted at this time. Please wait for the coming official announcement of the first raffle’s opening via the NobleDead.org newsfeeds.

Very soon, we will begin another series of six bi-weekly raffles for varied hardback volumes and paperback sets, all signed by us and delivered to your door. Right now, we are buried in completing the manuscript for next year’s volume in the Noble Dead Saga, but since a new volume is about to hit the shelves…

Of course, the first raffle’s prize will be a signed, hardback, first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark.

Following raffles will be a mix as yet to be announced. In that mix will be a few other copies of this new book.

That is all for now, but we will be back with you soon. The official opening for the new series of raffles is not far off.

Woot!

Happy dance!  A big ole box of these just showed up on the front doorstep.

Just for fun . . .

JC and I are prepping for the holidays, and yesterday, we had boxes scattered all over the living room.  Ashes and Cinders both LOVE boxes, and they ran over them . . . inside them . . . through them . . .



Then after about 45 minutes of solid playful madness, they just collapsed for a nap.  They looked so cute I shot a picture.  These two sisters really love each other.

FYI: Ghosts of Memories

Hi Gang:



I've been receiving a number of somewhat confused emails asking me, "What a minute . . . is Ghosts of Memories the final book in this series?"



The short answer is, "Yes, this is the last book of the series."



The longer answer is that wrapping up this series was a mutual decision between me and my publisher.  I love this series and so does my editor, but it just never found an audience.



This is a tough business, and a series has to sell a lot of books to stay in the game, and I decided that I might "not" be an urban fantasy writer.  It just might not be my forte.  So, I ended the series (with a bang), and I pitched another one



The Mist-Torn Witches:





This will be out in May.  I'm very excited this new series, and I am sad to be done writing for Eleisha, Wade, and Philip . . . but I did pull out all the stops in Ghosts of Memories, and it is quite a ride.

The Writer's Corner

I'm going to try and put up a "Writer's Post" again now and then--as a number of people have asked me to share thoughts on various elements of the business, the process, or life as a writer.




So, here goes . . . 




The Possible Dangers of Giving it your "All"




 

It’s funny how our perspectives can change as we get
older.  Back in my grad school
days, in my late twenties and early thirties, I knew a number of people whose
dream was to be a professional writer, and they were going after that dream no
matter what it cost them.  At the
time, I found that mindset quite romantic.  For myself . . . I planned to teach college English as my
career and write on the side in hopes of becoming published.  But I had a husband and a daughter, and
I feared putting all my future eggs into the basket of “making it as a writer.”  I had personal and financial
responsibilities. 




However, though I was pragmatic for myself, I still over-romanticized
the bohemian idea of living on almost nothing and sacrificing everything for
the goal of “becoming a writer.”




I will be fifty years old in June, and my perspective is
beginning to change somewhat. 




I now know more than a few people who are also in their
fifties, who did sacrifice everything—career, financial goals, relationships,
everything—for the dream of “becoming a writer” . . . and then it never happened for
them.  I’m finding that this is not
so romantic for people in their mid-fifties heading into their sixties.




Recently, I’ve been faced with a few real tragedies for people
who clung only to that one goal and dogmatically ignored everything else in
their lives.




At the same time, I believe that the people who become
published, successful writers are the ones who don’t give up.




So, for my younger friends out there who want to be writers,
I say, follow your dreams, don’t ever give up, but develop a back-up plan and
put the needs of the people you love first.   Also . . .
think about a retirement account.




Barb’s two cents for the day.