Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 91
April 20, 2016
Writer Wednesday
Got the announcement on the publisher’s page? I still think I can make it go live on May 2, but I won’t set up a pre-order button too much in advance. That’s one of the jobs for the long weekend ahead. Revising and formatting Charioteer of Buddha. Formatting the e-book and POD of Today People. And wrap up Kaylyn with a final re-read before sending it off to betas.
Oh, and upload The Archers to the other retailers. How was KDP Select? Not good, but then I wasn’t expecting much. I had a few downloads during the free days, some KENP reads on the first day, and then nothing. In $$ terms, maybe 59cent. And probably not just because Amazon has still problems with scammers showing up on its bestseller lists.
So, will I do it again? No, thanks. It was an experiment and I didn’t like the outcome, so the next titles will be out everywhere as usual.
Follow the discussion on Goodreads about the authors of the month’s projects! I can add to that… not much. Well, the first three months of the year I wrote 100K, but not all of them are published yet. In spite of the low wordcount of the month of March. And since I aim for 500K, I’m probably still quite behind. But I’m not worried.
About Kaylyn, she’s back to India by now, so I hope to write the last two chapters between today and tomorrow, so I can borrow the office laser printer on Friday morning to print out the whole thing and go through it during the weekend. Nothing beats paper when one needs to revise!
April 17, 2016
Sunday Surprise
I’m currently translating into Italian some of the character interviews or articles I’ve written on Star Minds when I published the English version and sending them to an Italian blogger as well as publishing them on my Italian blog. I’ve also published Yash & Ryo in Italian and it’s selling a lot more than its English counterpart, in spite of my total lack of marketing.
Why am I mentioning this? Author voice part 2 or 3 or whatnot. I sent a printed copy of Yash & Ryo to my Italian beta-reader (the Angela I dedicated Technological Angel to), and she said that my voice has changed. The story I sent her is the translation of a work originally written in English, and that may account for the change of style and voice she perceived.
In case you missed it, here’s the characters interview. What I wanted to explore in this story was male rape without putting it on the page like I did for Smeraldo and Kyrio. I also want to write more ACE-friendly stories from now on and not only because I hope to be picked up by Goodreads Ace Book Club. So you won’t get many more Adults Only buttons on the publisher’s site!
April 15, 2016
Random Friday
For Author Voice I had to look up Stage 4 writers, which made me go to my physical bookshelves and plunge into the past – end of last century.
The first book I read in English in the late 1980s was Tanith Lee’s The Silver Metal Lover. I loved it – still do, still reread it from time to time. I bought another title by her and did not finish it. Same with Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea trilogy – did not finish.
Then I read the Belgariad and the first two books of the Chronicles of the Cheysuli in Italian, and during my next trips to England, I bought the originals. Now, that was love at first sight! I bought many series from David Eddings (I still have to get the last, co-authored with his wife, but I even have his early contemporary titles) and a couple from Jennifer Robertson (if I couldn’t find all the books in the bookshops, I didn’t even start the series).
So I was very happy to go digging through those old paperbacks, looking for author voice. I know I bought all those titles even if the storylines were repetitive (especially David Eddings, after reading his Rivan Codex, I started seeing his pattern – that’s an excellent book on world-building, by the way), so it must be because of the author’s voice.
I hope to reread all of them, along with the Dragonlance books, sometimes, since they’re the reason why I write fantasy! And I still have four titles from SFF bundles I bought Nov.2014 – Mar 2015… not to mention this order from Amazon (I prefer non-fiction in paper, especially if it’s illustrated like the ones below)…
My TBR pile never goes down, and even if it’s just on Kindle, I do have a list that covers both sides of a sheet of paper still (I delete the read titles, so that’s still a lot of stuff to read – not to mention the piled paperbacks on my desk).
When I’m not researching for Kaylyn, I’m going through the bundle of shorter works… so far, so good, will tell more when I’m done. Go grab it before it’s gone!
I better go back to making up stuff, although historical research and reading old chronicles is sometimes fascinating… and I still have a long batch of non-fiction books on writing on the Kindle, but well… I want to read for entertainment for some time! Off I go! Happy reading![image error]
April 13, 2016
Writer Wednesday
I would like to thank the guys at Draft2Digital (especially Aubrey) who helped me deal with Apple for two titles in the past week. They’re an awesome distributor and without them I’d definitely stop sending my books to Apple. I’m sick of their rejections. And don’t even think of buying me i-Things because I’ll resell them, I don’t want any Mac-stuff in the house!
April 10, 2016
Sunday Surprise
Quick update on Kaylyn… 26K in, more than halfway, BUT I had to skip a chapter. I need to check the Travels of Marco Polo for some details, since the one chronicle in readable language isn’t enough. Enough Olde English and medieval Latin for now!
April 8, 2016
Random Friday
Since I gave up on the challenge that should have ended today (started April 1, end should have been April 8) and spring is killing me (cool mornings hot lunch times, gaaaaaah), I thought I’d just sort of pass. About Kaylyn update, I’m about 17K in and the plot keeps changing under me, so I don’t think I’ll manage to finish it by the weekend, but hopefully by next week yes.
Just an announcement for a reading Friday. Grab this bundle while you can, it’s shorter reads (between 10K and 35K I’m told) that can keep you company when you have a short trip. And now I’m leaving you with the words of others – words of wisdom, writers on writing, call them what you want. I’m already tired from typing this, so I better use my energies to take Kaylyn to her next destination. Have a great weekend!
***
Things change in this industry every day. If you’re like me, you probably find it bewildering at times. But take heart. Some things never change. The most important thing that will never change is that books are magical containers for delivering stories and knowledge. You create magic.
The industry will change – players will go out of business and others will rise and fall and rise again – but books will always remain. Authors will always remain. You are the captain of your personal adventure in publishing, and the course you chart is rife with opportunity.
(…)
Luck plays a factor as well, but only for those who implement best practices first. Best practices prepare you to capture lightning in a bottle when luck strikes. Luck strikes all the time. It’s word of mouth. It’s a blog post or a tweet or a Facebook mention or a review that recommends your book.
The books you have in you are important. Your books are important to the future of book culture and humanity. Don’t let anyone or anything discourage you from putting your book out into the world.
But if you want a career as a writer, if you don’t want to have a day job, if you only want to write, then it seems to me the safest path to take is the indie path. You’ll have more opportunity. You can work hard and publish a lot and make money doing so.
Will every indie writer make six-figures per year? Hell, no. Nor will every traditionally published writer. But what this particular Author Earnings report shows is that if you want the chance of making six-figures or more per year with your writing, the best publishing path is indie.
(Provided you continue to learn your craft, are a damn fine storyteller, have excellent covers, do the right amount of marketing… and on and on and on.)
I made a comment at some point over the last few days that bothered a number of people. I said I could always tell if a person was going to make it. I did not mean in their storytelling skills. I meant in their drive and persistence.
Anyone can learn how to tell a good story. Persistence over years is impossible to teach.
Making choices to write is always a key indicator. How often do you make the choice to write when others are doing something that sounds like fun?
– Dean Wesley Smith
(On getting to the typewriter)… “For me, a lot of times the real barrier to get to work – to get to the typewriter or the word processor – comes before I get there. I had one of those days today where I thought to myself: “I’m not sure if I can do this.” I have a lot of days like that. I think it’s kind of funny really, that people think: “Well, you’re Stephen King, that doesn’t happen to you,” as if I wasn’t really the same as everybody else.”
In the past year, I’ve had so many friends feel burned out. Tapped out. Done. Finished. Writing became this chore that they had to do to keep up with… what? Financial obligations. Reader expectations. Personal goals….
When I start to get burned out, it’s usually because I haven’t had enough creative time. It’s because I’m focusing on the publishing and selling aspects of this business and not on the writing parts. I NEED the writing. It’s still my most-fun-thing. My escape. My happy place.
April 6, 2016
Writer Wednesday
Update on the experiment! March wordcount was really low (less than 27K), so I thought the challenge of writing a 52K novel in 8 days would boost that for the month of april.
Except I picked the wrong novel!
April 3, 2016
Happiness is…
brand new vignette… refers to last year’s workshops, but I’m starting a new one TODAY, yay!
