Krista D. Ball's Blog, page 4

A sad break in the blog tour – an explanation

[image error]As you know, I've been in the midst of a blog tour and, suddenly, dropped off. I wanted to let everyone know what was happening. Sputnik, our 21 year old cat, passed away this week after several days of liver failure. We didn't realize it was liver failure, only that he wasn't feeling well. Then, he took the turn where your heart says "nope, this isn't something he's coming back from."

Thankfully, the vet said we brought him in before the real pain began and that he wouldn't have made it to the end of the weekend in any case.

I've been fighting vicious migraines for two weeks now, so with the additional of a family companion's illness and death, I'm rather low. I want to apologize for flaking out. I just can't do it right now.

Why do you write anyway?

I'm guest blogging at Rie McGana's with a new excerpt from NO MORE BLANK SCREEN. This excerpt is an opened ended one, asking authors to explore why they write.

Come on over and read about how the book evolved!

Should Authors Comment on Reviews?

There was a time where I believed yes – a simple "thanks for taking the time" was polite. Then, I went through a phase where I said no – seriously, I need to stay out of it. Now, I'm not sure anymore.

I'm not talking about correcting people or arguing with them if they give me a low score. I just mean thanking someone for taking the time to post a review on their blog. And my answer is – I don't know.

So, I'm putting it out to everyone to help me answer this question: should authors comment and thank reviewers who do reviews of your work on their blogs?

No More Animals!

Today, I'm sharing my short story, NO MORE ANIMALS*, with Angelina Rain.  She's even done a review of FLYING KITE, CRASHING SHIP.  I'd love it if you dropped by her blog to say hello!

*I really should turn this into a children's book! Thoughts?

Six Sunday – HARVEST MOON

Welcome to the blog! You're in the midst of a month-long blog tour. Today, I'm relaxing here on my own blog, and sharing a few lines with you. Check back this week for more guest spots and special blog posts.

Here are six sentences from my historical fantasy (with a little sweet romance on the side), HARVEST MOON. Our heroine, Dancing Cat, finds herself trapped with no way out:

Her attention faded away from her work. She stared past the women to catch a glimpse of Eagle Eyes, her brother, mounting his horse. He was only six years older than her and already leading hunting parties, while she sat, docile and obedient, making powdered berries. His gaze caught hers, full of warning. She looked away with the heaviness of her situation pressing against her chest. Dancing Cat pounded her berries harder, trying to crush her own aching loneliness.

HARVEST MOON is available at Amazon, Smashwords, and directly from MuseItUp Publishing.

Keeping projects a secret

I don't talk about the specifics of my projects until they are well underway. I sometimes don't even talk about them with my writing group. Why not?

For me, I lose interest in writing them when I talk about them. I can't explain it, but one of two things happen. Either, someone criticizes/offers helpful advice/gives suggestions and I get frustrated. Often, when I first start a project, I only have a basic plot in mind. I usually have to write a little to work out the POV, main characters, and the plot for me to stop, write an outline, and start over on the real draft. It kills my passion for the project when people start butting in and pointing out plot holes.

The other side of the coin is that sometimes people become all googly-eyed over the story. There's a lot of pressure then, especially if people clamp on to a plot point or a character that needs to change. I haven't even finished the story and already I've disappointed people! That's no way to start writing a book.

Then, there's the issue that I might not finish the book. Right now, I'm so far behind in projects that I'm not sure I'll ever see the light of day again. I've written a lot in the last year and am stuck firmly in editing purgatory.  And, let's not forget how life gets in the way!

I find that I talk more about projects the further along I am. Tranquility's Grief, for example, is still unreadable but I have about 9000 words edited and cleaned up. So, I'm willing to talk about a few things from the early chapters. Sisip Learns to Shapeshift finally have a title and a full draft, so now I'm feeling ok with saying "I'm going to have my children's chapter book finished and submitted this year sometime."

Likewise, I have booked the editors and cover artist for my upcoming urban fantasy novella-length series that I plan to self-publish. I also have a first, but unreadable, draft written. So, I'm ok with saying that I'm aiming for a Nov 30th release.

I want to share all of my projects and give loads of detail, mock up some cover art, have sample chapters and the whole thing. However, I don't have finished projects to do this with right now. I owe it to my work to focus on it before I advertise it to the world.  I know it's frustrating to my readers but, right now, I don't write to contract. That means I have to complete full projects and find publishers for them. Therefore, I'd rather not shoot myself or jinx my project at the beginning [image error]

WRITERS: Do you keep your projects to yourself?

Today's "Spread the Word" idea is to write a 1 sentence review of one of my books and put it on Facebook.

I sold a book. Now what?

If you've ever wondered what it's like after a book gets sold, come on over to http://www.skyladawncameron.com/blog and check out my guest article,  "I signed a contract. Now what?"

Is Publishing Dead?

No. It's sure changing, though. Two years ago, self-publishing was for non-fiction niche writers or desperate fiction writers who only cared about getting their in print and nothing else.

The times, they change.

I'm in a rather unique position, as I'm doing both with no plans to change my current method right now. It's working for me. I'm selling to e-publishers (publishers who focus on ebooks over print), small press (focus equally on both formats), and self-publishing (doing it myself).

I've been following and watching, and making note of my own experiences. This is what I've been seeing:

Self-publishing

The rush to the bottom. A couple of self-published authors sold a lot of books by pricing their books at 99 cents. Now, if you hang out in the self-publishing forums online, all people talk about is how 99 cents is the new novel price.
Hyper-focus on Amazon. The book world is a lot bigger than Amazon. Some folks seem obsessed with their Amazon sales rankings, Amazon customer reviews, etc.
Unique books are finding a market. This is especially true for some crossover books that blend genres (i.e. mystery and SF). Some of these books would have been difficult to sell in the mass numbers big publishers are used to, but are selling steady as independent titles.

Small Press

They exist and are offering some awesome books. I don't think this has ever not been true, but many have begun embracing ebooks along with print, and I'm finding so many new books to read.
There are so many new imprints coming out that it's really difficult to know what kind of work they are putting out. The established ones seem to have a firm identity.

Large, Giant, and NY Publishers

They are playing around with ebooks, though not all are offering decent royalties to their authors (sorry, 3% is not decent. Neither is 25%).
Prices are all over the place. I've seen ebooks as high as $22 Canadian!
My favourite authors are being dropped mid-series. This is pissing me off to no end. This is right up there with cancelling a series on a cliffhanger.

My largest hesitation remains with unpublished writers putting their work up on Amazon and thinking they'll sell millions and get a book deal. Sure, it's happened to a few people. But, mostly, what's up there is crap. Oh, I know, everyone is going to say that what's coming out of NY publishers is crap, too. However, that stuff is readable in the English language. People just don't like the content. There's a big difference.

I'm also concerned that writers won't continue to grow. They've made a couple hundred dollars selling their novel at 99 cents and think they don't need to learn more. They hire editors that have no real experience or, worse, who confuse being rejected by several publishing houses as experience. They think editing means line editing and checking for typos and missing words. They don't understand how to maintain conflict, develop characterization through dialogue, and maintain a gripping story. Some learn. A lot don't.

At the same time, I hate to see good books turned down because an agent hasn't had her morning latte yet or is too busy tweeting to actually read what's on her desk. I hate to see good book linger with publishers as they hem and haw over the marketability of a title. I hate how solid books are being dropped simply because they are "only" solid sellers, making 5-10K sales per book.

I hate to see small presses being squeezed because Amazon expects outrageous cuts.I hate that these small publishers have to keep up with the offset printer format, even though they'd sell more doing Print-On-Demand (but, of course, bookstores won't stock their books then). I hate how authors think it's agent and NY or nothing. I hate how agents think that.

I love books. Books cheer me up far more than a TV show ever will. I learn more, visit more places, and think of the world differently because of books. I think we authors need to stop bickering about the death of publishing, the crap of self-publishing, the end of bookstores, the greatness/evil of Amazon, and what editing really means. Instead, let's start talking value. Let's buy books that offer great reading value. I don't mean price; I mean story. Let's support small presses that *do* treat their authors fairly. Let's support independent authors who have made publishing their business and who put out products that can and do compete with big business.

Let's raise the bar for both quality and ethics and start putting our money there.

Today's "Spread the News" tip is to post this on whatever forum or social networking group you belong to that discusses books.

New Review of HARVEST MOON

Sherri Meyer reviewed HARVEST MOON today as part of my Adventures in SFF blog tour. Head on over to her blog and check it out!  http://sherrimeyer.blogspot.com/

 

Today's SPREAD THE WORD idea: Share a link to Sherri's blog on Facebook and Twitter.

Where do my ideas come from?

I get this question a lot. In fact, I even wanted to ask this of my favourite authors when I was in my "dreaming of being an author, but never writing" phase. I found that ideas came very slowly when my brain was out of practice. These days, however, I cannot even contain the amount of ideas that bombard my mind.

I've always been a daydreamer. There is a rare moment that I'm in "the moment." I have never had a thoughtless second in my life. In fact, rare has there been only one thought in my mind. Normally, I have dozens of thoughts in my mind at any given time.

One helpful skill that I've developed in the last couple of years is the ability to tell the difference between a short story, novella, and a novel in just a passing thought. I often get a scene in my mind, as opposed to a specific plot. Then, I take that scene (which is generally a mid-story idea) and massage it until there is a story for how things arrived at that point, and the consequences of that scene.

I keep a notebook full of these ideas, both raw and developed. I make note of what I suspect will be their word count, too. For novels, I let those ideas sit a lot longer, since I often get other ideas and scenes popping up that allow me to combine and massage into one book, as opposed to several.

So, where do the ideas come from? Everywhere! Here is today:

I saw a video clip of a sandstorm in Kuwait and thought about having a neolithic nomad tribe in the desert.
I was flipping through one of my old history books from university, and considered the effect of the Corn Laws if moved to a fantasy setting.
I cleaned my book shelf, saw a copy of "Pride and Prejudice" and pondered the idea of rewriting the story in a Neolithic period (again, combining that thought with the nomadic tribe).
I saw a news article on cyberwar and had three different ideas for a SF series on cyberwar.
I saw a pair of neon socks and realized I don't use enough colour in my stories.

Now, will I write any of these stories? Doubtful. What is more likely is that they'll get massaged and manipulated and show up in one form or another over the years.

Today's "Spread the Word" suggestion: Share the amazon link to "Harvest Moon" with your Facebook friends! The short link is:

http://amzn.to/fbTzuW