Michael Offutt's Blog, page 167

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A Little Chat With Nephylim

I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine who writes dark gay fiction romances. She goes by Nephylim. Her blog can be found here. Be aware before you click that to visit, you'll have to agree to an "adult content" warning. 1) I'm curious about your nom de plume. Can you provide us with some background on Nephylim and why you choose a pen name instead of going with your real name?
According to legend the Nephylim were the children of 'the daughters of men' and the Malakim, or Watchers, which we now know of as Angels. In some versions the purpose of the Great Flood was to wipe the Nephylim from the earth, although the description of Noah in the bible makes it pretty obvious that he is one of them.

I have always had a facination with both fallen angels and vampires and I firmly believe that 'real' vampires, derived from the Nephylim are their descendents.

I am a pagan and do not believe in a christian god and, therefore, do not believe in the christian ideas of heaven and hell. I do not believe that fallen angels 'fell from grace, i.e. were thrown out of heaven by God. Rather that they got caught up in a political battle over the issue of whether or not they should associate with human women, and were defeated in what was essentially a civil war.

Ishtahar/ Inanna is considered to be the mother of the Nephylim and her symbols are the eye and the seven pointed star. She is the first woman to become involved with an angel called Semjaza. I I feel a lot of connection with a woman who risked, and ultimately lost everything, including her sanity, her child and her life, all through love, and of the brave angels who died for the same reason.

There is a lot of fascinating stuff out there if anyone is interested in looking into it further.

The reason that I use it as my pen name is simple. It was the name I used when I first signed up for Gay Authors, who gave me my first opportunity to have my work read. Without them I would definitely not be where I am. Nephylim (Nephy) became the person I am on GA, the part of me that is a writer. Nephy is the writer, Cheryl Headford is the boring lawyer. What is more natural, therefore, than to use the name I associate with writing as my pen name when I write?

2) Do you storyboard your fiction completely before writing or are you what they refer to as a "pantser" in the industry?

I have no idea what a 'pantser' is but I NEVER plan a story in advance. Usually I get a strong burst of inspiration from a person, a dream, once even a mannequin in a shop window. I 'see' a scene or a thread or an idea and then I start writing. From there it simply unfolds as it will. Sometimes the story takes twists and turns I never saw at the beginning as, in many ways, I am just along for the ride and the story is telling itself to me as much as to the readers.

Once I start to write, the characters some alive, and I tell their story. They become very real to me and I quite often have conversation with them or do things as them. Silver from Enigma is an excellent example of that. When I was writing those books he took over my life and I did everything and saw everything as he would have. I love his simple and fresh way of looking at the word and his purity.

3) Why did you start a blog?

Publicity purposes...simple as that. I'm a complete technophobe and I never thought I would be able to make a blog, let alone want to. Then I got my book published, and I thought that was the hard bit done. But no, people started talking about publicizing it and networking and suddenly I was knee deep in blogging, tweeting, making pages on Facebook and profiles on all sorts of sites. It's been scary as hell but so much fun I am now wishing I had done it years ago.

I have rather an... erm... eccentric? dark? strange? downright weird? personality and my blog is a way to express that. It is also a great excuse to look through and at eye candy because that seems to be the way of most blogs.

One of the great thing about having a blog is the networking, getting involved with other people who have blogs. I have started to participate in a weekly flash fiction group and it has been fun and also very difficult. As I am sure you will see my problem is not about getting the inspiration to write but the disciplinne to stop.

4) Can you tell us about your upcoming book and a little about the cover art?

Well, I have two, and I hope you won't mind me being greedy because they are both equally important.

Enigma is a story that I wrote a while ago. I absolutely got taken over by it. The lead character, Silver, is, quite simply...awesome. He was kidnapped at 12-years of age and 'trained' as a sex slave. When he was 19 he was beaten almost to death for daring to fall in love with another slave who WAS beaten to death in front of his eyes. He was then dumped on the verge of a motorway to die.

After recovering from his physical injuries he completely withdrew from the world and lived entirely inside his head, unable to make decisions, responding only to orders, not reacting at all with the world around him.

The story is about his recovery and the man who helps him achieve it, and to survive the blast from the past who tries to finish the job they started when they threw him out of the car on the motorway.

I very quickly became completely taken over by him and totally fell in love with him, to the extent that I started painting him. One of those paintings had been used for the cover art.

THE UNFAIRNESS OF LIFE

This is about Gabriel who is suffering from drastic symptoms of headaches, fits and strange delusions, after having been part of a government research programme that was attempting to unlock latent psychic talent.  He's angry at the world and everyone in it. He is remote, aloof and bitter. And then he meets Laurie who, from the first time he meets Gabriel in a night club decides that he is going to get through that unfriendly shell and gain the trust and love of the beautiful boy he can't get out of his mind.

Through sheer persistance he manages to win Gabriel over and the two go on the run, fleeing the government scientists who are trying to track him down.

This time, the scientists are not trying to hurt Gabriel but to save his life. Rather than being grateful he is angry as hell, especially when he finds that the results of the 'help' is that his psychic talents have gone haywire and he can't bear the presence and, more particularly the thoughts, of anyone else.

One of the scientists, Elena, takes Gabriel and Laurie to a secluded cabin to learn to control his abilities. Gabriel is never convinced that the government has stopped coming after him and he determined to drive Laurie away and flee either by running away from him or from life itself. When the government catches up with him again and he is taken back to the research center the experiments take a fatal turn and his only hope of keeping his life and his mind, is Laurie.

The cover art was done by an awesome cover artist called Mika Star. She worked tirelessly with me, ensuring that I got exactly what I wanted. I think my boys are beautiful and totally capture the essence of Laurie and Gabriel and the tension of the courtship and chase.

5) Will you tell us about your publisher and why you went with them as opposed to other options.

I never, ever thought that I would see my work in print (or screen). For most of my life I didn't think that anyone would ever read my stories, for the simple reason that no one had ever wanted to. Then I found Gay Authors and started posting my work for others to read, and review. People seemed to like it and I started to think that maybe, just maybe it was worth putting out there. Still I didn't have the confidence to do anything about it.

I half-heartedly sent a manuscript to some literary agents and publishers but they simply weren't prepared to take a chance on a new writer and, even worse, one who wrote literature with gay characters. I became totally disheartened and decided I was never going to try again.

And then a very good friend with his own indie publishing company offered to publish Enigma. I was completely blown away and have never been so excited in my life... well maybe for my weddings and birth of my children :) After a period of complete stress and tension between us when we clashed over editing, the book was published to my eternal gratitude by Red Haircrow, an amazing man and good friend.

http://flyingwithredhaircrow.wordpres...
http://theredhairedcrow.wordpress.com/

And then a friend told me about someone who had set up a new publishing company and was looking for submissions. I needed some persuading to send her the manuscript for The Unfairness Of Life. I mean, this wasn't a friend, this was a 'proper' publisher. Not that I am suggesting that Red isn't but it's a different thing going to a friend, who publishes just for the love of it, to going to a stranger who makes it their business.

Anyway, after some bullying by Sandi Rush, who I love totally, I submitted the manuscript and it was accepted. That's when I was launched into what was a dream and a nightmare.

The people at Romance First Publications, are FANTASTIC. From the very first I was made to feel welcome and special. From the president, Steph Danielson, to my editor, Julie Hayes to the Cover Artist, Mika Star, everyone has been friendly, professional and excellent at what they do. They worked with me totally, even though Julie and I had out clashes, to produce what I consider to be a polished and exciting work of art.

I can't praise them enough, especially since they have accepted two more manuscripts which are in the very early stages of production.

http://romancefirstpublishing.blogspo...

6) Last question...what advice do you have for writers who are seeking to become published?

Don't give up. Be prepared for a lot of hard work. Don't let criticism get you down; see it as a natural process and a means to make your writing better. At the end of the day criticism is a reaction and isn't that the best thing that you can hope for... that your work provokes a reaction. Most of all, have faith in yourself and what you do.

When music and words collide...

Have you ever listened to a song and thought that the words captured the impact and emotion of a scene that plays out in your head? Or that the song somehow captures within its tune the very essence of a character?

I thought about this when I watched the season 2 premiere of one of my FAVORITE shows this past Monday. It's called Being Human. And it's on #SyFy :)))
To explain the cast a little bit starting in the upper right corner...

The "Lady Killer" is Aidan. He's a really nice vampire who has some difficult choices to make because his desire to be a "nobody" collides with the vampire political elite who want him to be involved in just about everything that is going on in Boston.

The "Wild Man" is Josh who through no fault of his own has been infected with lycanthropy.  He's impregnated his girlfriend and spread his disease unwittingly to her (it would seem). So he's got a lot of tough choices too. Tough in the sense that the "paranormal" won't stop for an instant and allow him to be "normal" which is all that he ever wanted.
And then there's "Sally". She is my favorite character in Being Human because her story is so incredibly sad. Like tear-jerker sad. It really moved me when I discovered that the reason she's a ghost is because her good-looking and charming boyfriend/fiancee murdered her. She didn't know it either. We find out about it about the same time that she does. And boy does he show his true colors. She had so much love and was such a kind person. But just like in real life...those types of things in no way insulate a person from experiencing the worst that life has to offer. I'm not one that believes in karma. Bad things happen to good people all the time.

At the end of season one, there's a scene where Sally looks on from the door and the song by Oasis called "Don't Look Back In Anger" plays. It even  has the line "And so Sally can wait, she knows it's too late as we're walking on by...Her soul slides away, but don't look back in anger I heard you say..."

And it really is just perfect because it has her name, she's a disembodied spirit, and she's been very angry and because of that, it's trapped her on earth. It more or less seared her story into my brain so that I'd come back for season two. And I think that's just amazing and clever writing.

Have a great Wednesday :)

Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory

I listened to a podcast on This American Life. The link for it is here . I encourage all of you to take the time and listen to it. It's incredibly well written, funny in parts, and more or less gave me an insider's look through his eyes at what it takes to make these gadgets that you and I love.
Apple is undeniably cool. Wouldn't you agree? I'm sure you've seen the ads.Mr. Daisey's fascination with Apple started when he got an iPhone out of a box that hadn't been wiped. It had pictures of people, conveyor belts, and other things in it and his curiosity became piqued. He asked Siri "Where are you made"? and Siri responded, "I'm not allowed to answer that." He states in the monologue that it was almost like Siri knew where and when and by whom she was created but that there was this thing that prevented her from speaking her mind.
Shenzhen by night. Doesn't it look incredible? Arcologies
and corporate super towers everywhere.Because of the podcast, I now know that Apple products, namely the iPad and the iPhone are assembled in a place called Shenzhen near Hong Kong in China. Mike Daisey describes it as a city of the future and that it looks exactly what you'd expect a city to look like if Blade Runner were to throw up on itself. I think that's a great description and a great analogy.

This is a Sheraton HotelAround the tops of the skyscrapers, particularly at Foxconn, there are nets to catch workers because so many of them go up there to throw themselves to their deaths. In his time there, he talked with many under-aged workers (some as young as eleven) who worked a full-hour (not the American one filled with smoke breaks and slacking off). He clarifies that this is a full 60-minute shift with people standing behind them to monitor their work. And their shifts are back-breaking, some fall between 14- to 18-hour days. The work is so hard that it ruins the hands of many workers. They just get fired and have to go find work elsewhere.

This is the plan for a new corporate HQ in ShenzhenHe spoke with one worker that he found whose hands were ruined at Foxconn. This old man had a new job in a new factory. Mr. Daisey showed him the iPad and he'd never seen one turned on. All of these products (the iPad, iPhone, etc.) are manufactured and shipped back to the states. Imagine working back breaking shifts all day long for weeks and years on end, ruining your body, and never seeing one of them turned on so that you could play with it. To actually hold in your hands the thing that destroyed you.

The old guy in the podcast said, "It's like magic." I suppose it is so I agree with that statement. I play with my iPad and think "it's magic."

A nice cityscape photograph. This is the city where all of your tech comes from.As writers, we really don't need to look very far to find inspiration for dystopian fiction. Maybe the reason dystopians are so popular is because they are more a reflection of how the world really works and how people really treat each other than utopias could ever possibly be. I will say this. Despite all my whining and bitching, I'm glad I'm not the worker class of Shenzhen. I think it sounds miserable, and I probably would have been one of the people that decided to check out early. Does this mean I'll stop buying Apple products?

Unfortunately no.
Workers in a Chinese factory.I like the magic.

Does that make me a horrible person?

I joined the cult of Tebow

I don't like football. I don't watch it. And I don't know many of the players. But, I think that this is going to change next year as I have become an unwilling follower of the cult of Tebow. Allow me to explain the term "unwilling". It means in this context that I cannot stop myself from watching him. It probably started weeks before the wild card game where he shot down the Steelers with a play that left me standing and staring at the television and thinking "I don't believe this." It probably started because of Saturday Night Live's skit first alerting me to the "over the top" behavior of this now world famous quarterback. Millions of internet memes pounding my eye sockets as I travel websites like Reddit and follow links that appear on my google homepage are probably responsible. Anyone that knows me knows that I am influenced by advertising. I do follow trends. That's just me. I can't help it. So I got sucked into the Cult of Tebow...all of this despite the fact that I don't believe in god. But none of that really matters now does it?
Despite the fact that I'm atheist, I do respect a man's conviction in what he
believes as long as he doesn't try to dictate my life or what I should believe.
Tebow behaving like this on the field is something I've never seen, and it's
clearly one of the reasons I like him. He stands up for what he believes and
doesn't give a shit what other people think of him. I like that. I respect that. No,
I don't believe that anything "divine" has ever or was ever going on. But the
fact that other people did was worth paying attention to. I wish I could believe
but religious faith is simply something that I was never meant to have.I have no concrete explanation for why I like him. Only mixed feelings searching for an answer. I also felt sadness. Sadness when the Patriots completely crushed the Broncos on Saturday. I've never felt that for a football team. I don't understand where the emotional investment comes from. I experimented on Sunday by watching the Giants play the Packers, and I felt nothing. I could care less for either team and could care less who won. I also tried to see why people like Tom Brady, and he just looked like an emotionless angry robot that was as loveable as a swather that cuts down wheat on a field.

So that is the key (at least for me) in watching sports. Does that even make any sense? I have to have the ability to root for a player. Without that, the game is meaningless and kind of boring.

It leaves me with a question.  Why do I like this uber Christian underdog? Well he's exciting, he's unique, his confidence is undeniable (maybe it has something do with this)....

In the end, I have no idea.

But he has "IT" quality. A thing that defies my ability to provide a definition in words but is akin to Charisma (but obviously something more than that). People with "IT" command attention.  Whatever you want to call it, he had the ability to wake a fat wet bag of cement (which is what I see myself as) from his apathetic take on football and tune in to watch. I guess next fall I'll be watching the Broncos and Tim Tebow. For now, I'll just have to be content and read his book. Life is so strange, but then again, so am I.

The Curse of Gremdon by Ciara Knight

I bought and read the Curse of Gremdon. This novel by Ciara Knight is the first romance novel I have ever read and I really liked it. I give it five stars out of five.

Curse of Gremdon is more than just a romance though. It is a good ole fashioned sword and sorcery novel (with the emphasis on "sword" and very little if no "visible" magic at all). It's what us nerds might call a "magic poor" world. But the description fits and the world-building is amazing. The book is mostly told through the experiences of Arianna. She's an amazing warrior with the spirit of Grace Jones' character in Conan the Destroyer but with a component of beautiful femininity that the afore-mentioned character never had. And Tardon is every bit a testosterone-fueled warrior who lops off heads with one arm while embracing his true love with the other.

The song done by Bryan Adams called "Have you really loved a woman" comes to mind when seeing Arianna through Tardon's eyes. The story is thick with erotica (and I loved this) and it NEVER gets old. If you are looking for a sexually-charged story that is borderline pornographic yet maintains the side of art instead of descending into details of what goes where and also has an incredibly engaging story, then this novel is for you.

Yes, it's an adult book. But I'm an adult and I loved it. There were several times when the heat from the pages made me fan my face and think, "wow...Ciara is such a damn good writer."

And the story is in no way predictable. There's a plot twist in there that came out of nowhere. I thought the story was going to be linear...you know...as a reader I had it "all-figured out." I was going to give it four stars because of this. But Ciara surprised me with her cleverness and my eyes opened wide when I realized what was going on.

Tardon for all his brawn though is so wimpy when it comes to child-birth. I guess that makes this tough guy kinda cute.
Author Ciara Knight INTERVIEW:
1) First off, I just wanted to say without gushing too much that you are an amazing writer. That being said, I wanted to ask you on some pointers on how you wrote your sexually charged incredibly steamy scenes? Are there words you would tell others to steer away from, and did it flow naturally or were they really difficult? I've tried to write something similar, and I always thought I ended up crossing the line.

Michael, you are so sweet. *blushes* I'm thrilled that you enjoyed the book so much. I LOVE the story and there is still so much more to tell!

Okay, wow, start with a tough question. ;) I'll be honest, during the first draft the scenes practically wrote themselves. Tardon and Arianna were two characters that took over and didn't let me have much say in what was happening. You've gotten to know Tardon after reading the story, so I'm sure you can understand that he wouldn't tolerate my author voice interfering at all. J

As for words to avoid, it wasn't until editing that word choice took some extra thought. My world is fantasy, so I wanted to avoid any modern terms. I think one of the most important things to remember while writing any scene is to stay true to the world you've created; otherwise your reader will be ripped from the moment.

My intent for this type of romance was to describe a setting and what the characters were feeling, but not to list each movement and action. I didn't want to spell everything out. That would be intrusive to the reader's journey. I think a writer should be able to describe something to a certain extent, but leave some of the actions to the reader's imagination.

2) Who would you have star as Tardon? How about Arianna? You can pick anyone from any time period. I'm just curious. My personal pick for Tardon is Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson. Is that even close?

I think Tardon is such a strong character each reader can view him a little different. In my mind, his face resembles Chris Hemsworth (maybe a little less pretty) and the body of "the Rock" or Arnold in the early years.
Dwayne Johnson
Arianna HAS to be played by a curvaceous female, no skinny girl should ever play her. She has lips like Angelina Jolie, curves and a strong female air like Katherine Zeta Jones.

3) How do you channel Tardon so well? I mean he's the quintessential hunk. And do you picture him having to work out to maintain all that muscle or is he just naturally swoon-worthy?

Chris HemsworthTardon just wouldn't let me write him any other way. His voice was so distinct in my head, I couldn't alter it. Due to his training schedule, he doesn't work out. No need, the hours in the Pit keep him in shape.

4) Tell us about Arianna. More specifically, where in your psyche does she come from? She has a riveting strong female voice, but at the same time, she is completely aware of her lack of physical strength when it comes to her comrades in arms, and I just want to know how you came up with her.

Arianna is one strong girl. She is physically capable of handling many things. When I wrote this book I had blown out a disk in my back and I wanted to be tough. Since I wasn't, and had to spend many hours in bed, I wrote who I wanted to be. It ticked me off that I couldn't beat the pain, so I lived vicariously through Arianna for several months. They say tap into your emotions to write a better character, so that's what I did.

Arianna is also strategic, always thinking. When she couldn't win a fight with her own physical abilities, she'd use her brain and imagination.

5) How is writing romance fantasy different in your mind to writing say fantasy or science-fiction and how did you come up with the story for Curse of Gremdon?

I think the main difference is the character interaction. Typically, fantasy and sci-fi have little romance, and usually it is off screen. The Curse of Gremdon had more on screen romance.

I've always had a huge imagination. I LOVE world building and probably have ten other worlds in my head right now. I think of myself as more of a story teller than a writer. Inventing the story is the easy part, writing it is extremely challenging at times. For instance, The Curse of Gremdon started as a short story. I didn't think I could write a fantasy novel, but when I received a rejection from a magazine that stated the story was too big, I turned it into an 84,000 word novel.

6) Last question...was it difficult coming up with the title? Now that I've read it, I think the title and the artwork are perfect. But it seems so effortless. Were there other titles you had considered before the one you chose or did you go in knowing that it would be called "the Curse of Gremdon"? Oh and is there going to be a sequel (I know I'm cheating by asking two questions here)?

I usually have a difficult time with titles, but this one was easy. Actually, that was the title of the short story.

I have outlined a sequel, but it might not be out for a year or so. This one will be a little heavier on the magic side. I can tell you that it will be held in the same world but the main hero will be Saldor. The female, well you'll have to wait and see if his love returns.

Buy Curse of Gremdon at Amazon for $7.99 on Kindle here.
Visit Ciara Knight's author blog here.
Enter to win a free copy of Curse of Gremdon on Goodreads here.
AND because it is Friday the 13th, my Christmas giveaway has ended.  MY ADVANCED READER EDITION GOES TO...

T.F. Walsh.
I'll get your shipping information from you and get it in the mail.

Project Fiona is the new SEXY

Mild disclaimer => I own a Razer Lycosa gaming keyboard and a Razer mouse and they do a great job. What you are looking at on the screen of amazing device below is Firefall, a full-fledged online first-person shooter for the PC. Razer (the company that makes some of the coolest gaming gear) says Firefall, and other PC games, will run on its Project Fiona tablet in Windows 8 (time to say adieu to Windows 7).
Yes, I'm a geek, nerd...or whatever you want to call it. THIS does excite me. I know Patrick is probably rolling his eyes. In one sentence...this is not the tablet for you if all you want to do is play Angry Birds.
Here's the skinny:
1) Under $1,000. That's important because it competes with the iPad and is obviously going for the same market.
2) Intel Core i7 CPU--WOW! Quad core baby (all i7 processors are quad core in case you didn't know).
3) SSD memory. This is tech speak for Solid State Drive. You know those flash drives that you use to store your manuscripts on so you don't lose them when your computer chokes? Picture that only larger, roomier, with no moving parts and instantaneous retrieval and upload of information. My gaming p.c. has had solid state drives for two years. They're incredible.
4) Dolby Home Theater Audio on a Windows 8 interface. Damn. Plus you can play most p.c. games for Windows on this tablet using Ivy Bridge.
5) Dual stick controllers and feedback.  If you are shooting a machine gun, you'll feel it vibrate.
Are you excited yet? Watch the video below and you'll see how the keyboard and mouse hook up to it to create a full transformational tablet to p.c. experience.Have a great Thursday. Tomorrow I'm playing host to author Ciara Knight because I begged her for an  interview. :)

Authors and publishers are treating the Nook like it is the red-headed stepchild of ereaders

I just finished an excellent book written by an author that I will choose at this point not to name. I read the book in three days. The publisher is Musa publishing. First some background.

I own two kinds of e-readers. The first is an iPad and the second is a Barnes and Noble Nook Color.
I buy a lot of books on the Nook because I cash in my Discover Card rewards for gift certificates to Barnes and Noble. Plus, with one of their stores just right across the street from where I live, and the demise of Borders, I felt that I should do something to keep Amazon from destroying the last big brick and mortar bookstore chain in America. Every little bit helps.

So...I buy Barnes and Noble ebooks. I buy quite a few of them.

Chances are, if you're an author with access to your own sales and you mysteriously see one Nook sale next to the hundred kindle sales you have...that one customer is me. Again, I get gift certificates for just using my Discover Card so in a sense, they're free to me and FREE IS GOOD.

However, even though I represent only 1% of your sales, it does NOT give you a license to shit all over the end product. I'm getting sick of it.

In this book put out by Musa Publishing that I finished just tonight, a page ended mid-sentence with the word "the". I turned the page to continue to read and it was a whole new paragraph. What the hell? I can only assume by the context of what was going on that either an entire paragraph was omitted, or an entire page was left out. Okay...big deal, right? It gets better. I'm reading along and then pages start repeating over and over and over. I have to drag the bar to advance past them and then backpedal to where I was to continue the story because there are so many of the same page inserted in the Nook formatting.

But it isn't just Musa. Rhemelda Publishing had a book that had the author's name inserted mid-sentence at the bottom of a page (this isn't a spelling problem but a formatting one). And I've come across foreign letters only represented by empty squares.  I have to infer from the context of the sentence what word was used.  Also, I've bought self-pubbed books who have the screwiest indents (either omitted or glaringly huge) in the Nook but their kindle editions apparently are just fine. And when I say screwy...I mean REALLY F'IN SCREWY so that the book is damn near unreadable. I don't care that the author goes back and corrects it. I'm not going to buy the book twice to download it. Burn me once, shame on you.

You know who hasn't messed up on Nook formatting? Anything done by the BIG SIX .

All of their books are fine. Gee...I wonder why that is? Haruki Murakami's 1Q84 looks pristine. R.A. Salvatore's book that I'm reading has no repeated pages. George R.R. Martin's books look great.  Even old school books like Isaac Asimov's Foundation look passable (and they probably don't make money formatting his books for the Nook anyway). I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the reason their books don't suck on Nook is because they choose not to make them suck.
I think I know why this is happening. It's called "Apathy". Small publishers and self-pubbed authors are like, "Amazon is the only thing that matters. Kindle formatting is the only thing that makes us money." Well screw you. I'm a consumer, and I own a Nook, and I would like a little respect. Either do it well or don't even make your book available on the Nook...period. But I have five friends that own Nooks as well, and if you don't make your book available to me...that's five friends that will never hear about it (and one of 'em is part of a small book club).

Can you help me with a blog tour?

I am planning a blog tour for my book that is coming out this May. Only, I have no idea how much is enough or too little. As it is, I've scheduled eleven days. But when I look at Ciara Knight who is going on tour later this month for the fabulous Curse of Gremdon (I can say this because I read it), she has got a lot of time blocked out (I think the entire month).

So, I'm asking you knowledgeable writers out there...what is the perfect amount of days to use for a blog tour? Do they need to be spaced apart or can they be Monday thru Friday? Are you expected to give out something like an Amazon gift card or a book or is it okay not to give out anything?

I'm also looking for three more people who would like to host me to fill out the schedule I have (unless it ends up not being enough or too much). If you would be willing to help me with a blog tour, please say so in the comments :)

You can check the schedule I have at this link or by clicking the tab above.

Have a great Tuesday.

How to write good

That just about explains it all, now doesn't it?

:) Have a great Monday.