Reena Jacobs's Blog, page 44

Guest Post: Terrance Foxxe ~ The Budding Writer (Part 1)

I've been chatting up Terrance Foxxe for the last few weeks. We've shared woes, exchanged ideas, and offered encouragement. An interesting sort of fella, this guy. Over the next few days, he'll be sharing his experiences in publishing with us in a 4 part series.

Lessons from a Twenty Year, Almost Career (Part I)
by
Terrance Foxxe

There are a lot of people out there who have dreams of becoming a published writer, and I wish you the best of luck with that. I've kept my dream alive by living it day by day, writing my nuggets off. I keep plucking away, doing what I think is right. I'm just like you. Though, there is one big difference between you and me. I did just about everything you can think of wrong and then some over the last twenty years, yet live to talk about it.

My wife has helped me with my writing where she could, my sons could care less, and my friends are shallow enough to listen politely, praise me occasionally, otherwise their eyes glaze over. It's very sad. My entire family think this adventure nothing more than a pipe dream, and I haven't been stoned in years. You can't write ripped. Well . . . I can't write ripped. These days I try to keep myself honest.

If you've been writing for a while, you know what I'm talking about when it comes to family and friends. Fault them not. Them and fish smell the same after three days. Do this: Learn to pat yourself on the back. Often. Stretching regularly helps.

I discovered (over the decades) that I had a margin of talent. I discovered I had a knack for "The Hook," spouting somewhat decent dialogue, pumping up the middle of a story with interest, and crafting an exciting or thought-provoking ending as often as needed. I'm not bad. Self-confidence can take you a long way.

I also discovered I was stupid, and ignorance is not bliss.

Doing things the hard way has taught me a lot, and doing things the hard way has also cost me valuable time. I found truth in some How To books, and lies-by-omission in others. I'm not going to lie to you. What I do each day is hard work. Writing can be extremely frustrating. There are days in which I feel as if I'm just spinning my wheels. Is this the life you want? If so, good.

And the word from our sponsor? Nothing you will ever do as a writer is wasted.

Trash cans at ten tender years of age (1970) were better than shopping malls, and didn't cost me a freaking dime. I found an old typewriter in one can that worked, and had a ribbon in it still infused with ink. At home, blank paper abounded. I put a sheet in and stretched my fingers across the keys. I pretended I could type, unsticking the rods as they congregated up top. I jammed the keys just to make them stick. Hey, when you're ten, it's cheap fun. About a week later I put in a piece of paper after rewinding the ribbon for the fourth or fifth time, and actually started to write a story. I tried like hell to write my story, got about fifty pages in, and then lost interest in the whole thing.

What I remember about the story was, it had promise, and the dialogue wasn't bad. It made sense. My interests drifted, and I didn't write again for many years. Over twenty-five years, if you must know. A little history lesson to help you become a better writer. When it comes to your hard work being self-published as a brand-bleeping-new Indie Author, knowledge truly is power.

Like most human beings I had to learn the rules the hard way. Nobody out there approaches the subject of writing quite like I do. What I promise you is this: When you sit down and take a practical business-like approach to writing and self-publishing, your readers will appreciate your efforts. Your readers will judge you by your words. Readers are everything to the Indie Author.



The one book I once purchased that says you too can get happily published (by the big boys), the book I refuse to mention by name, written by someone in the know, and authority, really doesn't take you by the hand and slap sense into you. That book makes promises I think are unrealistic in any day and age. Corporate publishing continues to implode at an astounding rate.

Self-publishing as a business continues to mutate, and then grow in unexpected directions. I can barely keep up with the changes. Me, all I can see is good; a win, win.

Most books on self-publishing assume you can afford the expense and time to attend all the many conferences and workshops out there. They assume you can afford an accredited editing service. They assume you can buy everything you need to make each book a pristine specimen of personal professionalism. It makes a lot of assumptions that take a lot of money.

I'm far from being a rich man, never attended a single workshop, and have yet to meet anyone, anyone at all in this business face to face. I'm most of you. I don't have extra money. Yet, I do my own cover art, and I think it has a cool retro feel. I wrote my own disclaimer, and formatted the book. Cover to cover, inside and out, it's all me. The samples I downloaded looked great.

I also worked for years to hone my writing and editing skills. I'd like to think I come as close to being perfect as I can get, but I'm not perfect. The best I can do is 150% effort, for 99.8% perfection. I do that for my readers, whoever they might be. Work smart first, and work hard second. Your words will lead the way as an Indie Author, and your words will make you or break you. 150% effort, for 99.8% perfection.

Me? I'm going to take you by the hand and bitch-slap your head from behind. I'll make it hurt, too. You'll thank me in the end, because this is a business, first and foremost, and you can make it. It's just not going to be as easy as you think.

Return tomorrow for Part 2.

********************************

Terrance Foxxe is crazy enough to share everything he knows about catering to readers, because readers matter most to the Indie Author of today, and tomorrow. He had two books published under his real name, only to discover publishers really suck. After being drawn and quartered, royally ripped off and then some, plus more, he is the Indie author of A Post-apocalyptic Story of Love, $2.99 USD for the Kindle. Link provided. He's now a happy man. Buy his book. Read it. Write a review.

A Post-apocalyptic Story of Love is available at Amazon.

He blogs at http://terrancefoxxe.blogspot.com/

Guest Blogging at E-book Endeavors

Lindsay Buroker, Author of Goblin Brother's Adventure and bunches of more stories, opened her blog to me today. I talk about why I self-published and do some weird math. Have a visit, check out her blog, kick back awhile.

A Round of Words in 80 Days #ROW80 – Update 4

So here we are…  my weekly #ROW80 update. Let's see how things are going.

January:

Market Shadow Cat.  This is ongoing. However! I did receive my first review yesterday from Lily at Lilium's Realm. She had some wicked nice things to say, plus she's hosting a giveaway for me. A step in the right direction.
Write the Sex scene for Control Freak: Regina's Story. Another #FAIL this week.


Do the first round of edits on Unprotected. I started this tonight. It's only about 8k. I'm looking forward to adding it to my collection of finished works.


Continue to chip away at Stray Cat. (200+ words a day) I'm just cruisin' along with this. But I do have a confession to make. Tuesday I got so absorbed in a book I was reading, I completely forgot to write before midnight. So I missed a day. On average, I still topped over 200 words a day even after missing one. Started at 18,063 according to last week. Today I'm at 20,235.


February: Work on Stray Cat

Basically just finish the draft I started. Though this is a February thing, I've been chipping away at it.




March: TBD

Might work on Trinity's Awakening
Might edit Alley Cat


Bonus Goal: Work on New Adult novel

Maintaining 100+ words a day over at Word Count Union. This is on top of any other goals I have. I'm really liking it. I figured at 100 words a day, I'll finish this novel this year. Still going strong! Last check-in I was at 20,630. Today I'm at 22,626. Not sure what happened there. Almost 2k.

So that's it. I'm doing better with some goals than others.

For those of you who are interested in keeping track of ROW80 participants, head over to the linky.

Late on the Ball

It's a good thing I was never into sports, cause I'd surely be the one to drop the ball. Anyway I did a guest post over at The Feckless Goblin on setting writing goals. Have a look see.

Novel Review: Guilty Pleasures by Kitty Thomas + Shadow Cat Winners

You all probably remember a novella I reviewed a while back… Comfort Food by Kitty Thomas (review here). I couldn't stop talking about it. I absolutely loved that story. I want to rave about it more, but it's not Comfort Food's turn; it's Guilty Pleasures. So before I get too deep into Ms. Thomas' latest addition to BDSM, how about a bit of a blurb from her website?

Vivian Delaney leads a life of privilege, but behind closed doors she feels isolated and trapped in a gilded cage. Unable to achieve sexual pleasure with her husband, she finds herself in the capable hands of Anton, a massage therapist intent on awakening her to her full sexual potential. By any means necessary.

As their secret meetings progress, she falls farther down a rabbit hole where the line between rape and illicit affair grows increasingly blurred. Anton will accept nothing short of her complete surrender as he molds and shapes her to be sold to the highest bidder.

DISCLAIMER:

This is a work of fiction, and the author does not endorse or condone any behavior done to another human being without their consent. Further, this book contains no use of condoms or talk of STDs. It is fantasy, not reality and should not be read in any way as resembling reality.

Warning: This book contains sexual situations of dubious consent, coercion, sexual blackmail, kidnapping, multiple partners, master/slave, girl on girl, humiliation, boot worship, oral play, and anal play.

Yowsy. Talk about getting your freak on.

Before I get into this, folks should know I'm not a fan of BDSM. I'm all for a little tying up and light spanking… the "let's have a little fun, honey" play. Guilty Pleasures was the real deal—full blown BDSM slave/master kind of thing. I know Comfort Food was full of that, but it was a bit different… more of a psychological thriller, and appealed to me as a woman.

That's not to say Guilty Pleasures wasn't a decent read. I think folks who enjoy BDSM would truly enjoy this work. It had a very realistic feel to it. I could totally see the situation Vivian landed in happening. And though I would not have acted the way Vivian did if I were in her situation, for her personality, I thought it was very believable.

As a heroine, I wasn't fond of Vivian. She was quite the tearful sort of gal. However, I knew a girl like that, when I was in the military, who cried over just about EVERYTHING. Me being a girl raised amongst 4 boys, I've always been too prideful to be free with my tears. So I had a hard time dealing with her.

The males in the book, I loved. They gave as much as they took (pleasure that is).  They were firm masters but never cruel. I really liked that. It made the situation seem less abusive and more like tough love.

So, Guilty Pleasures wasn't for me. Does this mean I won't be on the look out from Ms. Thomas' next work? Not by a long shot. Straight BDSM isn't my type of genre, but the story was well-written. It's kind of like me being a fan of J.R. Ward's BDB series, but not being into her contemporary Jessica Bird works. Some styles just fit better for me. Anyway, Ms. Thomas plans to do something unique with each one of her works, and I look forward to what she plans in the future.

You can find copies of Guilty Pleasures on Amazon and Smashwords. For a complete list of availability or to find out more about Ms. Thomas, visit her website. All her talk about Tender Mercies has really gotten me curious.

[image error]I promised winners, right? Coming out the door, I had a few individuals interested in receiving a copy of Shadow Cat. The winners are: Lucy, Claire Gillian, and Sabina Edwards. They've all been emailed their Kindle Edition of Shadow Cat. Enjoy! If you didn't win, Shadow Cat is is available on Smashwords, Amazon, and Barnes & Nobles. Ya'll come back now, ya 'ere?"

Two Giveaways! Two winners!

We had a couple of great giveaways end recently.

First up, L.K. Rigel stopped by and talked to us about editors. If you haven't checked out her guest post, it's not too late. She offered one lucky winner a copy of her latest work, Spiderwork. As a special touch, if the winner doesn't have a copy of Space Junque (see my review here) Ms. Ligel offered that as well. Find out more about L.K. Rigel and her works on her website.

And the lucky winner is:

Congratulations Kathy!

You can find your copy of Spiderwork or Space Junque at Amazon.

Second up, I received an opportunity to participate in the blog tour for Anchored by Rachel Haimowitz. Carl Whitman stopped by and gave us a dose of his personality in his interview. Great supplement to Anchored. Ms. Haimowitz offered 1) an ebook copy of Counterpoint: Book I of Song of the Fallen OR of Sublime: Collected Shorts (winner's choice) and 2) a swag pack featuring cover art from Anchored and my other works.

And the winners:

Shiela (free ebook)

Kari Gregg (swag bag) [Confirmed]

Didn't win this time? Head to Ms. Hamowitz website for her Blog Tour wrap up for another chance.

All winners have been emailed and have until Wednesday, January 26, 2011 to confirm their prizes.

If you haven't entered to win a copy of Shadow Cat, there's still time.

Gimme! Gimme!

My Book Depository goodies are starting to trickle in. Apparently the mail has been a little slow in the Old World. So! Let's see what the mailbox has vomited over the last few days.

I've heard folks talking about this book. Finally after Aimee Laine boasted about it, I picked it up. 'Nuf said. We'll see how this goes. I'm typically not a non-fiction fan, but this is worthy, I think.

We all know how disappointing anthologies can be. I finished Burning Up a few weeks past, and Meljean's story really rocked (read review here). Save for the Hero's obsession with the Heroine never being explained it would have made my top 2010 read for sure. Anyway, Ms. Brook earned herself a fan with her Burning Up Contribution. If she keeps up the good work, I might become a permanent fixture hoarding her prior books.

Okay, this one. Mind Games, the first in the series, was a twitter recommendation. It was my first Urban Fantasy book, and I absolutely LOVED it. 2010 Favorite, by the way (see review here). So of course, I had to come back for more.

I've had a couple of people from twitter recommend Unearthly to me. I have no idea what it's about. However, it seems to be getting decent reviews, so I'm in. That's it. Cool cover though.

Guest Post: Scott Nicholson on Building a Book Audience

Who Can Build A Book Audience?
By Scott Nicholson
http://www.hauntedcomputer.com

There's a common belief among writers that the route through New York and then to America's bookshelves is the best way to build an audience. Certainly, there are plenty of advantages to letting someone else worry about all that paperwork, especially when they are earning most of the money.

But I don't think we can automatically assume that being on store shelves is going to grow your audience better than self-publishing. In fact, I believe the exact opposite. I believe anyone wrapped up under contract for the next two or three years is going to miss a historic opportunity. You might very well be losing readers because major-press books will be used to benefit the corporate strategy, not the writer's well-being, and you lose every competitive advantage besides the dubious marketing power of the publisher, who often expects writers to do most of the marketing anyway.

Getting paper books out there in a year will mean (a) you miss probably the peak year of e-book sales growth (that's growth, not total sales) and (b) you totally miss the audience you will need in the years ahead because you will be priced out of the market and moved aside–and I think this is going to happen to a lot of NY authors as new stars are being minted and readers exploit their incredible and newfound choice and purchasing power. Getting published by Big Six is increasingly meaning little to readers besides higher prices to avoid–in fact, most never even noticed publishers until the silly battle over $9.99 ebooks.

Current print buyers are the late adopters, and if you cultivate that audience, I don't think they will convert with the same enthusiasm and prolific degree that the first and second wave of adopters did. When the tipping point arrives and bookstores vanish with a vengeance, those writers will be scrambling to re-establish themselves when they should be enjoying the fruits of a long career instead. In other words, this 8-million Kindle owner pool is the core audience for much of the immediate future. If you are lucky enough to board the next wave, it will be smaller and you will be fighting a million authors for eyeballs.

However, I am already looking at the fourth wave (or fifth or so) when publishers may come back into advantage–when books are sponsored and given away free, they will have advantage of scale to offer advertisers (or will use their own affiliate corporations). I imagine the pay scale will really slide at that point, and only the driven or the insane will undertake the occupation of writing. Maybe the future is closer than we think.

—-

Scott Nicholson is author of 12 novels, including the thrillers Disintegration, As I Die Lying, Drummer Boy, Forever Never Ends, The Skull Ring, Burial to Follow, and They Hunger. His revised novels for the U.K. Kindle are Creative Spirit, Troubled, and Solom. He's also written four comic series, six screenplays, and more than 60 short stories. His story collections include Ashes, The First, Murdermouth: Zombie Bits, and Flowers. Follow "hauntedcomputer" on Twitter or Facebook, or visit Haunted Computer for news, articles, and prizes.

Check out his newest release:

CRIME BEAT

A novella by Scott Nicholson

Crime doesn't pay…but neither does journalism.

When John Moretz takes a job as a reporter in the Appalachian town of Sycamore Shade, a crime wave erupts that boosts circulation and leaves people uneasy. Then a murder victim is discovered, and Moretz is first on the scene.

As more bodies are discovered, Moretz comes under police suspicion, but the newspaper's sales are booming due to his coverage of sensational crime. His editor is torn between calling off his newshound and cashing in on the attention, plus the editor is romancing the big-city reporter assigned to cover the suspected serial killer.

And Moretz seems to be one step ahead of the other reporters, the police, and even the killer himself.

CRIME BEAT is a 21,000-word novella, the equivalent of about 80 book pages. Also contains the bonus story "Do You Know Me Yet?" from HEAD CASES. DRM-free and 99 cents for a limited time.

A Round of Words in 80 Days #ROW80 – Update 3

So last week I made more changes to my goals. haha. It's okay to change goals right? Hope so, cause imma doing it. I think I added more tasks after completing others. Let's just call it updating goals to reflect the current happenings. Here's a list of where I was last week.

January:

Develop a marketing plan for Shadow Cat.  Still working on this.
Write the Sex scene for Control Freak: Regina's Story. I didn't touch this. Shame on me.
Do the first round of edits on Unprotected. Also didn't touch this one. I should because it seems like an easy task.
Continue to chip away at Stray Cat. (200+ words a day) On task with this. Started at 15,792 according to last week. Today I'm at 18,063.


February: Work on Stray Cat

Basically just finish the draft I started. Though this is a February thing, I've been chipping away at it.




March: TBD

Might work on Trinity's Awakening
Might edit Alley Cat


Bonus Goal: Work on New Adult novel

Maintaining 100+ words a day over at Word Count Union. This is on top of any other goals I have. I'm really liking it. I figured at 100 words a day, I'll finish this novel this year. I've also kept up with this. Last check-in I was at 19,327. Today I'm at 20,630.

So I'm on track for my most recent goals. I need to just sit down and do the Unprotected and Regina's Story thing. A week and a half should give me enough time. As for the marketing, that's still trial and error. And I think publicity is something that takes time. I could be wrong though. I'm really a newb at all this.

For those of you who are interested in keeping track of ROW80 participants, head over to the linky.

My Overcrowded Mailbox

This is a little crazy post, since it's been a long while since I've mentioned what's in my mailbox. I'm so bad, I've even reviewed some of the works already. So, here goes!

Print Books

Now this little number was my daughters' doing. Or maybe it started with a twitter recommendation. Anyway, someone recommended City of Bones (my oldest daughter or twitter). I do know my oldest daughter said City of Bones was the best book she read in 2009. Either way, I purchased it. My youngest daughter often harasses me for reads. I kept telling her, "your sister said City of Bones was the best read she had in 2009." Finally my young one gave in and read the darned book. Next thing I know, she's asking me for all the books in the series. Well, I purchased this one and the next one for her. Still waiting for City of Glass to arrive though. As for me, I've yet to read City of Bones. Shame on me.

There here's another twitter recommendation. Well, kind of. Someone recommended I read the next book in the series. But being me, I like to start at the beginning. So that's how this came to be. Honestly, I have no idea what this ones about. All I know is it's a YA novel. I'm really getting into to the YA genre.

Now this one, I wasn't expecting in the mail. I even checked my book depository order to make sure I actually ordered it. And yep… I did. The only thing I could think of is that I must have wanted closer while I was selecting books. Not that I have anything against the Tarien Soul series. Just that I thought the last book was unnecessary. Well, I have it now. Here's hoping for the best.

Anyway… I think I might start doing a next up kind of thing on the side bar. We'll see.

eBooks

Why am I grouping these three together you might ask? These three I've actually already read and reviewed. I picked up The Goblin Brothers Adventures strictly out of courtesy. Not a bad read, I might say (my review here). L.K. Rigel offered me Space Junque around the time she volunteered to do her Authors Helping Authors post last week. Another fun read (Space Junque review here). And Guilty Pleasures… what can I say? I wanted more after reading Comfort Foods. I'll post the review for Guilty Pleasures this coming Monday.

So shortly after I read Goblin Brothers Adventure, Lindsay Buroker went all crazy and sh*t releasing all these works. One of them, which also happened to be a free read, was Ice Cracker II. Like the smarty I am, I rushed to pick it up. If I'm not mistaken, it's a bit of a teaser leading into Emperor's Edge.

So Amanda Hocking books are so popular, I've been debating buying them for awhile. After unsuccessfully trying to cram Hush Money by Susan Bischoff down my daughters' throats, I finally suggested My Blood Approves to my oldest daughter. She read the sample chapter and hopped all over it. One by one, I purchased the novels for her. If she ever gets off restriction, she might get more Amanda Hocking novels.

Forsaken by Shadow was another book I'd been wanting to read. I kept putting it off. Last month (December 17 to be exact), I won a copy of it from Stacey Wallace Benefiel. Yes, I know… that's how long it's been since I've done my mailbox post. An entire month. For some reason, things just kept popping up. Well, I'm reading it now… so definitely expect a review in the next few weeks. Then Kait Nolan did this awesome thing. Sign up for her newsletter, and she'll send a copy of Devil's Eye. I already follow her blog, what's one more email. haha So voila! I'm the proud owner of Devil's Eye also.

So, that wraps up this crazy long post. Hopefully the next one won't be so long. I'm still expecting a batch of books from the book depository. I just need to keep up. Man, I need to update my Reading List and Review Page big time. Until next time. Happy readings!