Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 89
May 27, 2016
Random Friday
Warning, reader rant ahead.
So, I downloaded some samples of books from an article I read somewhere and then from the blog hop last week and in between longer readings I thought I’d give them a read, so I could decide if I wanted to buy the book or not.
I have limited reading time and a long TBR list, so reading samples before actually buying has become more of a habit lately. Except I was more than a little disappointed with certain small publishers who use up to 60% of the sample for their publisher shit.
Listen, I don’t care about all that boilerplate stuff publishers put at the front of printed books. I’m downloading an e-book sample, and you better let me read the story in that sample! Because 4 pages out of 10 (I’m simplifying, since I’m math-challenged) are not enough to hook me, and you’ve just lost a sale.
Now I almost feel sorry for the author who trusted you enough to license her book to you. Almost.
Second thing: if of a 20% sample of the whole book (is that how much Amazon lets you sample, or is it set by the publisher?), 60% is boilerplate and only 40% is story, I’m also prone to thinking this might be a short story, therefore not worth my money. Again, I’m math-challenged, so this thinking of mine might be wrong.
And then there’s those small publishers who publish only on their site or certain retailers, where 1) you need to register 2) I’m not even sure they have mobi file available. Sorry, guys. I have a Kindle. I don’t mind coming to your site, but if you’d allowed me to read the sample on Amazon, it might make things easier for me.
I already have too many accounts – as an author. I don’t want many more to be a reader. So, a couple of missed sales for you. You might not care at all, but I thought I’d let you know.
And I’m not naming names, but if you do that (put all that boilerplate stuff at the front of the ebook or not publish on Amazon at all), this is for you. Think about it. If you don’t care about those missed sales, good for you.
And to those of you who do things right, know that three of your books – for which I downloaded a sample – are now on my TBR pile and I will download them as soon as what’s already stored on K.K. goes down a little.
Now I better go back to that TBR pile, bundles of fiction and non-fiction, not to mention the paper books on my desk… I wish there were more hours in the day, but then… reading sends me to sleep, so I’d rather keep it for the evening!
May 25, 2016
Writer Wednesday
Okay, first here’s the Booklinker Amazon Link of the latest title, click on it before Booklinker starts sending me emails that I didn’t put it to good use and I’m missing sales. Since I have no way to unsubscribe to those, I’d rather you just click on the damn link so they’ll shut up.
I’m doing it for all the new titles, but sometimes I set it up before I actually publish the title on the Publisher Page, and so a week goes by before the link actually goes live and I get those silly reminders. I wonder what happens when I start making the links for the old books. I guess I’ll make a post with all of them and kindly request you to click on them even if you don’t have a Kindle or an Amazon account!
May 22, 2016
May 21, 2016
Saturday post
Since this week is screwed anyway with three posts in a row, I thought I’d do one on Saturday instead of Friday. And since it’s not a usual day for a post, I’ll do an unusual post – the maps post![image error]
I’m working on the tales of the northern kingdoms, so here’s a little chronology of the most wandering characters – Beautiful, Prince Splendor and Quests.
First is Beautiful, set in the year 1350 – same map as the upcoming Lovers, but Rithvik and Kerrien seem to wander a lot more, or better, they make a journey that can be followed on a map.
Then we have Prince Splendor that is set twenty years later (1370), and the borders are more or less the same, the itinerary slightly different.
Finally we have Quests. It’s set in 1405 and as you can see, the borders are shifting. Soon the Varians and the Blackmore will start the long war that will end with the birth of the Varian Empire (see full chronology).
Here’s the complete journey, improvised as I wrote along that brought the wordcount up to 40K almost. I hope to finish this weekend, like I said, but simply looking at the map made for an excellent plot of the heroes’ journey!
May 18, 2016
Writer Wednesday
And welcome back to the regular scheduling. So the current WiP has a title, hopefully the last and final, Quests. I even made some cover attempts, but I might tinker with them a little more. What was supposed to be a short story is now well over 30K in and I’m not done yet. So I guess it will be a short novel. Sigh.
I will still include it in the Tales of the Northern Kingdoms, though. Because the characters are on the cover of that book and I can’t ask (and pay) for another cover – teaches me to order covers before the story is written, haha! So you’ll see them in two versions, by me on e-book and by Silvano Beltramo on e-book and paperback![image error]
As soon as I finish the above (hopefully by the weekend, but it’s a crazy week), I will start working on a story involving the battle of Hastings and some of my vampires for Wyrd Worlds III or whatever it will be called. I will write the whole second life of one of Bran’s fledglings who didn’t really make it through many centuries (turned 1066, killed 1200)!
May 17, 2016
Blog Hop Special Post
Hello visitor! This post will be sticky for the duration of the blog hop!
Since I assume you’re new to this blog, let me tell you a little about myself. I’m a writer, sometimes an artist, and of course a goddess on earth, since being a world-creator that’s what I am, haha! I have two series – a fantasy series of standalone books sent on Silvery Earth and a science fantasy series with some kind of reading order called Star Minds. Both are QUILTBAG friendly.
There is more, but not specific to this blog hop – unless you count the body switches that have some gay characters. When I’m not writing in those two worlds above, I like to dabble in m/m (not necessarily romance, though).
I like to talk about characters who are outsiders or outcasts and either try to fit in or just stay out of whatever society they live in. I’m an ACE, so one lucky commenter will have an e-copy of my book Yash&Ryo Lost in the Milky Way, which is the first story with an official ACE character (although on Silvery Earth they don’t have all those labels, besides same-sex love, therefore none of those characters would never ever call him/herself asexual).
Yash is asexual and traumatized, Ryo is gay and smitten.
Yash runs away from his home planet, a matriarchal world where men have few rights, to escape abuse.
A short-lived rush through the Milky Way with Ryo of Xi-kong, a mob-boss son who is not very loved on his patriarchal planet.
Getting away from the Star Nations might be the only way out – or certain death at an early age…
Part one is included in Star Minds Interregnum.
This is the story the Star Nations never get to know.
It’s practically a standalone. So leave a comment with your email and I’ll send the winner a coupon code for a free download from Smashwords at the end of the blog hop!
Now head back to the main blog and continue the hop. Happy hopping!
May 15, 2016
May 13, 2016
Random Friday
I had time to watch a couple of movies between stories (Barb can watch a movie only after she’s done with the current WiP). One I bought and watched immediately because it was “short” (the usual 90minutes), the others stayed on the “to watch” pile for a little longer.
So, first I watched Mustang. I found it at the newsagent and was intrigued by the blurb. As you should know by now, I love world movies, so I watched it in Turkish with Italian subtitles (I might watch it dubbed once, but I enjoyed listening to the real voices even if I couldn’t understand a word).
It’s a lovely movie and the little girl is the smartest of the lot![image error] She is the true protagonist (and in case you can’t be bothered to follow the above link, here’s the blurb)!
When five orphan girls are seen innocently playing with boys on a beach, their scandalized conservative guardians confine them while forced marriages are arranged.
It’s not a comedy, but it’s not total drama either, it does have a happy ending!
May 11, 2016
Writer Wednesday
Today People is now available in print. A new ebook is out, Amazons, that I (re)wrote in 2014 and left in a drawer for two years. I’m not rewriting the other story I wanted to put with this, so I’m just publishing as is. Cheer, I’m learning to leave the old stories alone!
