Mindy Hardwick's Blog, page 45

Gifting an Ebook

It’s Cyber Monday! Time to pull out those credit cards and start the on-line Christmas Shopping. (If you didn’t get enough of it this weekend….).

So, in honor of Cyber Monday, I wanted to take a moment and share how to gift an ebook.

If you want to gift a Kindle Book or NOOK Book–all you need to know is the person’s email address. That’s it!  You simply need the recipient’s email address. It’s as easy as sending an on-line card!

First, pull up the book’s page, make sure you are on the page for the Kindle or Nook version of the book you want to gift and not the print book. Next, click on Give as a Gift and there will be a couple steps to take.

Type in the person’s email address, then, you’ll preference when you want the book to be sent. I just sent one to my Mom for her birthday. I ordered the book on Sunday, November 25, but set the book to be sent on Monday, November 26. If you’ve ever ordered amazon gift cards to be sent, it’s the same process.

Then, you’ll have an opportunity to fill out what you’d like the gift message to say. You can click on preview to see what the email will look like that the recipient will receive and that’s it.

On Christmas Day, your recipient  will receive an email telling them they have received an ebook gift. They’ll click on the button in the email and be directed to how to download the book for their Kindle or Nook.

It’s very easy, but if you want to see a detailed list of how to send ebook gifts through Amazon,  click here.    

Or for the Nook click here

I think this gift an ebook process is especially great for gifts for kids!

If you know of a 5th-7th grader with an ereader, send them an ebook gift of STAINED GLASS SUMMER! (Amazon). STAINED GLASS SUMMER (Nook)!

I’m happy to mail out a signed bookmark or postcard of STAINED GLASS SUMMER or WEAVING MAGIC to anyone who is sending an ebook as a gift this holiday season.  I can send the signed bookmark or postcard directly to the child receiving the ebook if you let me know their address.

Or, my newest romance short story, LOVE’S CHRISTMAS GIFT, also makes a nice ebook gift for those special holiday people on your list.

And while we are on the subject of gift giving……

WEAVING MAGIC will have a PRINT book which can be ordered through Amazon very soon! There will be a new cover on the print book. Look for a big announcement by the early part of December.

And……STAINED GLASS SUMMER will have an AUDIO version very soon! I have heard the first fifteen minutes and it’s FABULOUS! Jasmine really comes to life in the audio version. Look for that announcement in early December too.

Audio and print books make great gifts too, and I have signed bookplates I can mail you to insert into the print WEAVING MAGIC or the Audio STAINED GLASS SUMMER.

Writing and Reading with Boys

Last week, I turned in a YA short story for Musa’s upcoming anthology about “first experiences.” The anthology will be published in February or March. My story, “The First Drive” is told from the point of view of a teen boy.  This is not the first time I have written from the male point of view. My YA romance, WEAVING MAGIC, is told in alternating view points–one of which is sixteen-year-old Christopher’s point of view.

It’s not easy to write from the male point of view, and honestly, I’m not sure I do it very well. But, sometimes those male voices just want to tell the story.

There was a great blog post on Cynthia Leight Smith’s blog entitled, “Let’s Hear it for the Boys” by guest blogger Karen Rock.

Some of the things she mentions in her post are:

1. Action is critical in books boys want to read.

2. Boys gravitate toward non-fiction and read books on subjects which interest them

3. Gross-out books, human interest and sports stories are favorites with boy readers

4. The voice should be authentic in the story.

To read the whole blog post, go here.

All of these above mentioned items are things I discovered in designing and creating my two classes for teachers, BOOKS FOR BOYS, and WRITING WITH BOYS.  (These are distance learning classes I teach through Seattle Pacific University to educators who need to continue their education for certification renewal. You can see more about these classes here.)

But, one of the things which is not mentioned is romance and boys. In my experience, working with the teen boys in juvenile detention, the boys want to read a bit of romance too. More times than not, it was the teen boys asking, “Do you have a poetry book with love poems?” I think this is why I explore the topic of teen love with my boy characters in both WEAVING MAGIC and my upcoming short story, “First Drive.”

What do you think? Have you written a story with a male point of view?

Christmas Romance Story Published

I’m not one of those who likes to rush into Christmas. I really enjoy the month of November. It’s cold and  wet. My yard is finally done for the year–garden work in the Pacific Northwest is a long, long, long season!  And, in November I get a lot of writing done!

However, all that being said…….I do have a brand new Christmas Romance Short Story which hit the Amazon bookstore this week.

Skipper Bill and Elizabeth have been friends forever. But, when Elizabeth is offered a job interview across the country, these two friends are going to need the help of a little mistletoe to find their holiday romance. Can mistletoe turn friendship to Christmas romance in this short holiday romance?

LOVE’S CHRISTMAS GIFT is the third story in the Sailor Romance Series. (And no, you don’t have to read the other two before you read this one).  LOVE’S CHRISTMAS GIFT is available as both a single title for 99 cents AND the publisher has created a collection of Holiday Romance Stories entitled, LOVE UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE which sells for $5.99 and includes four other Christmas romance stories as well as mine.  LOVE’S CHRISTMAS GIFT is up on Amazon, and will be coming to Barnes and Noble soon.

I really enjoyed writing LOVE’S CHRISTMAS GIFT. It was the most challenging to write of my three short stories in the Sailor Series. The story is a friends to romance story. Skipper Bill and Elizabeth have been friends forever, and the trick in writing the story was to allow that friendship to move to romance without making either character appear clueless or passive about the other’s feelings. The other challenge was to give Elizabeth her career working as an educational director in a Zoo and not allow her to give that up when she falls in love with Bill.

I hope you enjoy reading LOVE’S CHRISTMAS GIFT as much as I enjoyed writing it! It is my favorite of the three stories in the Sailor Series.

You can buy LOVE’S CHRISTMAS GIFT here.

You can buy LOVE UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE anthology here.

And stay tuned as we move into December….there are a couple other things working their way to December publication releases–both of which have to do with Jasmine and STAINED GLASS SUMMER……..

Happy Holidays!

The Short Story and a YA Short Story Market

One of the blogs I read is Guys Lit Wire. This is a great blog filled with books teen boys might enjoy.  The other day, there was a blog post about a new short story market for teens--One Teen Story.  One Teen Story is dedicated to showcasing a single story that can be digested in one sitting with no further distractions. In addition to a print format, digital editions are also available, with deals for classroom sets available to teachers.

There is beginning to be a buzz about short stories–both in the adult markets and the teen markets. At the romance writer’s conference, the last thing I heard on the last panel I attended was, “Short stories are making their way back to the world again and this just may be the next big rise in publishing.” A lot of this is being attributed to the digital age and how we are reading stories. It’s quick and easy to read a short story on an ereader, a phone, or an Ipad. The other contributor to this new rise in the short story may just be our short attention spans.

I like this new trend. I’ve written and published short stories for about five years–mostly to tiny markets with very little audience. (Some of my short stories can be seen at my website here.) Then..my romance short stories started publishing. And then, suddenly, it was as if the flood gates opened in my short story career. I love writing the romance short stories. They average about 8,500 words. I can tell a small story, and don’t have to worry about epic tales–something I’ve never been good with. I can spin characters and worlds together so the stories link. I can play with minor characters from novels I’ve already published such as in my upcoming story to be published in an anthology with Musa in February.  That short story, “First Drive,” is told with a couple teens on Jasmine’s Island. (One note–when I do use characters from my novels already published, I am usually required by my contract to submit first to the publishing house published my novel). And, short stories are a nice way to fill the space between my novel publications and keep my readers happy with new content.

So, with all of that…I was very excited to see that this new YA market is calling for submissions!

One Teen Story is looking for all genres of literary fiction. 2,000-4,500 words.  The submission period is February 1st-April 30. So you have time to work on those stories. I’m thinking of one told in flash fiction based on the kids in juvenile detention since this will fall within the time frame of when I’m working on my post-graduate semester with that story.

To find out more about the submission guidelines for One Teen Story.  

To find out more about One Teen Story. If you’re a classroom teacher, this looks like something that would be great to use in a lit and/or writing class! When I taught seventh grade, we used Read Magazine, and I loved those Fridays when I placed a copy of Read Magazine on each desk and the kids poured over them.

Good luck to all who submit!

Highlights Fiction Writing Contest

Highlights Magazine is hosting it’s annual fiction writing contest.  They are looking for stories for beginning readers in 500 words or fewer. They welcome stories of any genre (mystery, historical fiction, sports, humor, holiday, friendship, etc.) as long as the stories are intended for kids ages 6–8.

PRIZES:

Three prizes of $1,000 or tuition for any Highlights Foundation Founders Workshop. (For a complete list of workshops, visit http://www.highlightsfoundation.org.)

ENTRY DATES:

All entries must be postmarked between January 1 and January 31, 2013.

To find out more about the Highlights Fiction Writing Contest go here.

 

 

Art of Silliness

The other day, I was feeling a little overwhelmed with the “business” side of writing. I was trying to negotiate prices, dates and times for a Creative Writing Club I’ll be teaching later this winter. The negotiating process was involving a lot of back and forth emailing as well as a lot of fiddling with numbers, hour and planning costs. I was also updating my website to include my romance novellas and fiddling with formats and links.

If you haven’t taken a peak lately, stop by and visit my home page.   You’ll be able to see the covers for all my romance novellas as well as my two young adult novels on the home page. When you click on any of the book covers, you’ll be led to a separate page with more information.

At the same time as I was updating my website and negotiation teaching prices, I was also doing edits for my Christmas Romance Novella, LOVE’S CHRISTMAS GIFT, which will be out in the next couple weeks. It’s the third in my sailor romance novella series and will be published in both a single title short story for all types of ereaders as well as in a Christmas Anthology with four other BooksToGoNow romance authors. I got to see the anthology when I was proofing my story and it looks fabulous! I can’t wait to read the other stories in the collection. I will post when the book is available to buy!

Needless to say, all of that business work makes me a little brain dead for creative work–something I couldn’t afford to be right now as I was just asked to write a story for one of Musa’s YA Anthologies which will be released in February or March. Musa is publishing two YA short story anthologies. One is about Outsiders and Outcasts and one about First Experiences. My story will be included in the First Experience anthology.

I was just at the point of going into a serious writer’s block when I remembered the best way for me to shrug off the business side of writing and get back to the creative side is to find some form of creative play. And for me, the best form of creative play is mixed-media collage and art journaling. So, I headed into my craft room, pulled out some of my art journal books and notes and got busy making a Junk Journal. A Junk Journal is something I learned in one of Carla Sonheim’s classes. The idea is to collect a lot of junk mail such as all those great election mailers that slammed my mail the last couple weeks.  Next, you paint over the junk mail with a couple different color coats of watercolor paint. Then, you do some doodling and drawing based on what you see in the water color blobs. Finally, you Gesso the blobs you have doodled.  Each of these steps takes about ten-fifteen minutes to do with a drying period in-between, and the idea is that it’s not supposed to BE anything at all. It’s just play. And that was exactly what I needed to free me from the business side of writing. After each session, I was ready to get to my computer and write.

And that short story I had to write? Done. Finished and sent off to the editor. I am now working on a Valentine’s Day romance short story. (I have to admit, these holiday stories are a little tricky. In order to release near the holiday, they have to be written and submitted way in advance of the holiday. I wrote  two Christmas stories  in June. Now, when it’s Thanksgiving, I’m working on Valentine’s Day!)

While I was in my exploration for play, I noticed that Carla Sonheim has a new book out called, THE ART OF SILLINESS, and it’s exactly what the title says. Quick exercises in being silly–a perfect does of medicine for those of us who work in the arts and at times can get too bogged down in the business of being an artist!

You can find THE ART OF SILLINESS at all your favorite bookstores. And this writer has it on her holiday Amazon wishlist!

Autographing Ebooks

One of the questions which comes up for an ebook author is, How do I get your autograph on my book?

When I am at book fairs and signings, I always bring signed postcards and bookmarks for all my books and novellas. Last spring, I watched as a reader asked Susan Wiggs to sign her Kindle cover. When the reader opened her cover, she had a whole host of author’s signatures!

There is also something called Authorgraph. This was formerly Kindlegraph and you could only use it if you had a Twitter Accout and a Kindle. But, good news! Now, Authorgraph is open for all readers. You do not need to have a Twitter Account to sign up.

You can simply sign up by creating a password here.

Once you sign up, if you go to your account preferences, you will be given a list of choices for how you read your ebooks. It is now possible to request author autographs for the Nook, Ipads, Kindles, and Kobos!

Then, all you have to do is search under authors for your favorite author and their ebook. Once you find their page, click on it, and there will be a button saying “Request Autograph.” If you click on that, your request will go directly to the author’s email. You can even specify how you want your book signed and to whom! Just as if you are at an author book signing.

The author will digitally inscribe your autograph and you will receive a notice that your autograph is ready. The autograph will be sent directly to whatever ereader you have selected in the settings of your account.

My ebook listings can all be seen here if anyone wants to try it. All of my books are listed, including my romance novellas.

The Art Gallery

I’ve just spent a few days in Cannon Beach for Stormy Arts. Stormy Arts is a great weekend, usually held the first of November. Art galleries fill with Pacific Northwest Artists exhibiting everything from jewelry art to paintings to glass art. Some of the galleries host wine and cheese on Saturday night, and some of them host brunch buffets on Sunday morning.

One of my favorite galleries is Steidal’s Art Gallery. The work by Bill and Sam Steidal is very enchanting, but what makes it even more mystical is the building of the art gallery. Here are some pictures. I think this art gallery is just begging for a story, don’t you?

Hooded Girls on Covers

One of the questions I get asked when I present workshops is: Who are the people on your WEAVING MAGIC cover?

When a cover artist designs a cover, he/she has the option to use what is called, stock photos. These are photos that are in the public domain and can be used for things such as cover art without a charge. A publisher also has the option of purchasing stock photos for use with cover art.

However, one thing which happens with the use of stock photos is the same stock photos are being used for multiple covers of different books published by different publishing houses.

So, for example, take a look at the following covers..recognize the hooded girl?

If you want to take a look at more Hooded Girl Covers, check out this  Pinterest called, “Look Alike Covers Hoods.”

There is also a posting of look alike covers at Goodreads here.

Is this a bad thing to have the same photo on multiple covers? Weigh in your thoughts in the comments below!

Tropes in Category Romance

This month, I’m participating in the Entangled Smack Down NaNoWriMo which is being run by Savvy Authors.

NaNoWriMo is when authors commit to writing a very fast draft of 50,000 words in a month. Anne Lamont in Bird by Bird calls it the shitty first draft. You can find out more about NaNoWriMo here.

The first two weeks of Boot Camp, we submitted our synopsis and outlines for Entangled editors to give us feedback. One of the things we had to address was knowing our trope. I’m participating in the Entangled Ever After/Flirts team (this is for romance novellas), and we only needed one trope. However, other lines such as Entangled Bliss needed a main trope and two minor tropes.

(If you don’t know about Entangled, check them out! They have many romance lines including YA, Bliss (Sweet Contemporary) and Ever Afters/Flirts (Novellas). They often have special submission call outs. I just heard the co-founder, LizPelletier speak at the RWA Seattle Conference and she was great!)

So what is a trope?

A trope is or a familiar plot line or set-up, that is instantly recognizable to readers. Romance readers (and YA readers) will recognize tropes. For example, some romance tropes include:

friends to lovers,

business competitors,

girl/boy next door,

accidental pregnancy,

matchmaker,

ugly duckling.

You can find a very extensive list of tropes here

Now, how can tropes be helpful in writing? Tropes can help craft a plot! If I’m writing a story about two characters who are at each other’s throats as business competitors–think You’ve Got Mail, then I know that is going to be the primary plot which is driving my story.  Now, this is not to say that the story becomes predictable (or it shouldn’t), if I’m doing my job as a writer, then I am going to engage my reader with interesting details within that trope, and that is where the research becomes so important for a story. In my YA romance, WEAVING MAGIC, Shantel and Christopher are bad boy/good girl trope. However, to liven things up a bit, I created Christopher to be a bad boy who is in AA. He’s not in his bad boy days, he’s trying to recover from his bad boy days.

So, if you’re writing and drafting for NaNoWriMo and stuck on the plot, think about using a trope in your story and see if you can generate a few more ideas!