Sarah Zama's Blog, page 67

The business of book launching: Give in to the Feeling

Hi everyone.

Well, I knew having a book about to launch was going to be busy. Just how much busy it was going to be I had no real idea. But I’m enjoying the process, so I don’t really mind.

I just thought I’d share some of the things I’ve been up to, just to as annoying as a mad bee, you know.

Author Website

I’ve been thinking about setting up an official website for a while, but I had put it off because, well, I suppose I didn’t really need it since The Old Shelter gives me everything I need. But with a book out I thought having a website would be handy, because all about the story will go there. Including all about the promotion side of it, because I don’t want to clatter The Old Shelter with that.

So, if you want to stay informed about what I’m up to with my story, that’s probably the best place (though I keep everyone posted in here too, I promise).

Pinterest Board

I’ll tell you the truth, I love Pinterest. It’s the first social media I joined and still one of my very fevourite together with Twitter. So of course it has always been on my mind to have a board for my story when the time comes.

And here it is. Go ahead and have a look at it. I love storyboard boards.

Maybe have a look at my profile too? There are a few 1920s boards and a couple devoted to dieselpunk. You never know, you might find something you like.

And hey, if you are on Pinterest, leave a note in the comment. I want to know!

Now, I’m a Instagram too, but honestly I can’t figure out how to use it. At least, not as an author. You can’t link anything. You have to rely on pictures alone, but I don’t see it working as Pinterest works.

There’s seem to be a lot of debate out there whether Instagram makes sense for authors. I can see why. Some people seem to think Instagram is a good possibility, and it sure is, but I still have to find an author account and think: oh right, my I get it!

Any of you use it and enjoy it?

Since we’ll taking social media, I’ll mention I also have a Google Plus page for The Old Shelter where I share posts from here but also nice articles about Twenties life and dieselpunk in general. I’ve come to the conclusion people interested in what I am interested don’t hang out on Google Plus, but, well, I like it and I’ll keep going, so if anyone what to join…

Blog Tour

This is what has taken up most of my time lately.

I discovered blog tours last year and I participated in one as a host (you might remember my post about Maud’s Line) and I so enjoyed the experience I decided I wanted to have my own when the time comes.

Now you can have a company organising your blog tour, there are quite a few of them out there. It will cost you money. I mean, it will cost you money.

One of my friends, Nicholas, suggested to organised my own tour instead, with my own people. He pointed out that it is a lot of work, but it’s generally more effective. I had been on the fence about it, because you know, how do you go about organising a blog tour when you have just participated to one as a host? But Nicholas’s advice nudged me that direction and I’m so happy I decided on that course of action because, yes, it’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun too!

#GiveintotheFeeling #blogtour Dieselpunk, noir, Roaring Twenties... and... well, me

The dreams fueled my desires and I follow them willingly – Simon (Characters Speak Series)

The world is changing so fast it is unsettling.

I remember plains of grass extending to the horizon. The sound of the wind swishing among the long green blades. An untamed river. Birds flying in the sky. Where has this maze of concrete come from. And when?

But no, what I remember is a city of wooden houses and people jamming everywhere. Shouts and calls and laughter and cry. Beijing, where I was born, on the other side of the world.

It is hard to remember, sometimes. I can hardly say what part of me is remembering. San Francisco? It’s a haze on the back of my mind, some sort of ‘before’, though I’m not sure before what.

I hated it there. I hated San Francisco the moment I walked out the ship. I was examined, asked questions I couldn’t possibly understand. And then thrown in a part of the city that was like China slapped on the face of San Francisco. Why had I crossed the ocean if then I found myself in China, only without being in China? To be expected to act like a Chinese, only when I wasn’t expect to act like an American – which I’ll never be?

It was just crazy. I was going to let that behind. Soon. As soon as possible. And to do that, I needed money.

I met this men in San Francisco Chinatown, a fellow Chinese from Beijing. A lot older than me. He had started an import/export firm, bringing stuff from home to this new land. He mostly worked for Chinatown, but some of the things he brought in were sold, at fabulous price, to Americans. He made money so easily it was shocking. And worth learning.

I’m a fast learner, you know? He liked that. In a very short time, I became his assistant, then his associate. I learned English fast and good. I learned to deal with Americans a lot better than he ever did. I was learning, and I could see the day I’d leave San Francisco getting nearer and nearer.

Then my associate decided he had gained enough and wanted a family. There were crowds of Chinese in Chinatown, but very few of them where women. So he did what most of us did: bought a wife from home. I thought that was a sensible way to go. I had many women, I mean non-Chinese women. Usually for just few days. But when I set up a house, of course I wanted a Chinese woman. He took contact with home, asked for a woman suitable for marriage. Asked after her looks and personality, and when he was satisfied, he asked for her to be sent over.

Two weeks after this he caught a flu and died.

And the new wife… can’t say it bothered me to have her come here without reason, but it was an annoyance. What would I do with this woman? I didn’t need a wife yet.

But when I saw her…

She was beautiful. Not short, with a stately countenance. Fair skin, sparkling dark eyes, with a lot of life in her. And lost. So lost. I thought I could help her find a way into my life and my bed. She never complained about that.

It was perfect. I had a woman and I had money enough to leave San Francisco with her.

I don’t know how I learned about the speakeasy in Chicago. Another businessman, most likely. I didn’t know where Chicago was even when he told me it was in Illinois. It was fine. I didn’t care where it was, as long as it was far away from San Francisco. And I was happy when I learned there were so few Chinese in Chicago that I was unlikely to ever stumble into.

I bought the place straightaway.

But I remember the dreams. They inspired me. I followed them willingly #GiveInToTheFeeling…
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I remember this quite clearly. Early times in Chicago – I don’t remember just as clearly. But I remember the dreams. Strange dreams that would visit me every night. I can’t say I know what they were about, but they were inspiring. The feeling is still with me. They inspired me what to do, what I wanted to achieve and how to achieve it. They gave me purpose, and I gave myself to them. I followed their inspiration willingly. When I lay beside Su Xie in our bed, I always hoped dreams would visit me.

That’s all I remember.

But no, no, I also remember what it was like before. The need to share. The loneliness of not sharing. It was like a drug. I felt incomplete without sharing. Sharing my desires, sharing my aspirations. Sharing my knowledge. It had been normal, before. Before… I don’t know when that before is.

And I don’t know… What would I share? I knew that sharing would allow me to gain, gain what I deserved. But the desire will burn. It will burn everything and it will need to be fed. That’s why I never stopped Su Xie from pursuing her desires. I wanted her to stay genuine, and strong. I wanted her to be happy and satisfied because that would feed her loyalty to me. That would keep her near.

And now I need her more than ever.

Available for preorder
Barnes&Nobles – Kobo – iBookStore

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Who’s modelling as Simon

Chen Kun

Kun Chen was born on February 4, 1976 in Chongqing, Sichuan, China.

He gained a following after appearing in one of his earliest films titled Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. He rose to new heights when he played Chen Qiushui in The Knot.

Hundred Flowers Award winner for his performance in the film Painted Skin as Wang Sheng and Golden Horse nominee for A West Lake Moment. He is also notable on television for his performance in Love in Shanghai.

The post The dreams fueled my desires and I follow them willingly – Simon (Characters Speak Series) appeared first on The Old Shelter.

The Siblinghood of the World Bloggers Tag

This was originally known as Sisterhood of the World Bloggers, but someone wanted to make the tag more inclusive and changed the name.I’ll say the truth, I wasn’t really tagged for this challenge. Sara over at Sara Letourneau’s Official Website & Blog left it open to anyone to grab, but I liked the idea and Sara’s questions so much I thought I’d give it a go.

The rules for Siblinghood of the World Bloggers are as follows:

Thank the blogger who nominated you and link to their blog in your post. (Check!)
Answer the questions that the blogger who nominated you has provided.
Nominate 10 other bloggers, and notify them of said nominations.
Create 10 questions for your nominees.

Thanks Sara for coming up with such lovely questions. I really found your post inspiring, so guys, if you want to read it, go right here!

 

Here it goes, my answeres to Sara’s questions

Would you rather…

Drink tea or coffee?

Coffee, of course. Some of my friends would say, “Of course, you’re Italian!” Well, yeah, that might be part of the reason. When an American friend of mine came visite last year, she told me, “Now that I had coffee with you and your friends I understand. For us Americans, coffee is about the caffeine. For you Italians, coffee is about the ritual.”

I had never thought about it that way, but she might have a point.

Read in the morning or at night?

To be perfectly honest, I don’t read in the mornings, because I prefer to do more demanding activity while my mind is more rested. Morning is when I do most of my writing.

I rarely read at night because I fall asleep.

I normally prefer to read in the afternoon. In fact, I do most of my reading on the train to and from work.

Vacation somewhere with an ocean view or a mountain view?

This is a hard one. I like both environments. But if I would be forced to really choose one or the other… well I think I’d go for the ocean.

Cook, or have someone else cook for you?

I admit sometimes it would be lovely that someone else did the cooking. But I love cooking, so I don’t mind it, especially when I have friends visiting.

Go on a trip with family or your best friend(s)?

I don’t have a preference here. I suppose it depends on the holiday. I don’t even mind going on holidays alone, I’ve done it several times.

Choose Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw as your “house” at Hogwarts? (I couldn’t help myself with a Harry Potter question. *lol*)

Uhm… I’d say Ravenclaw.

Read about a protagonist who shares your hobbies and personality traits, or a protagonist who’s completely different from you?

Well these are completely different experiences so I don’t think I can choose. There’s a very special sense of belonging when you read a character that shares so much with you. But reading a character who’s completely different from you is a journey of discovery. So there’s good in both situations.

Watch a movie in the cinemas, or wait until it’s on DVD / HBO / cable / etc.?

Cinema, there’s no competition here!

Ride a hippogriff or a hippocamp?

Oh, you’re evil! Why should I have to choose just one?

Mhm… my child self would say hippogriff without questions, but my adult self would be too curious to see how riding a hippocamp would feel like.

Revisit your childhood, or teleport into your future?

These are both scary options. But in the end, I think I’d choose the future.

 

My 10 Questions for My Nominees

Every kid would like to be a only child. Do you still prefer it or would you rather be one of a football team of siblings?
Someone gifts you your favourite cake. Do you eat it all, or do you call your friends to have a tea party?
You receive a hard rejection. Do you suffer in silence? Do you call all your friends and cry on their shoulders? Do you vent you r rage on social media? You go for a dinner out with your closest friend to plan your new, reshaped future?
You’ve planned a holiday in a place you’ve never been with your best friend. At the last moment, your friend calls it out because of an unforeseen event. What do you do?
You’re going through a difficult time and you’re writing down your experience as a let out. Once that experience is over, what do you do with your journal? You burn it. You share it.
You receive the answer for the interview for your dream job. It’s a yes. What do you do?
While cleaning up the attic, you come across your sister’s old favourite doll, all dusted up and with holes in her dress. Do you throw it out?
You’ve tried and tried this thing multiple times, you’re watched all the tutorials, you’ve followed the instruction religiously. It doesn’t work. Do you give up?
That book made you cry. Do you recommend it to your friends?
A fellow blogger tags you for a challenge. What do you do? (eh, eh!)

And My Nominees Are…

Well, nobody tagged me for this challenge, it was an open call. So I think I’ll give it as I got it. If you like my questions, go ahead and pass the challenge down.

Enjoy!

 

The post The Siblinghood of the World Bloggers Tag appeared first on The Old Shelter.

When I dance to jazz music, I feel free – Susie (Characters Speak Series)

Welcome to my world!

This is the first part in a series of four that will be going over February, where you are invited to meet the main characters from Give in to the Feeling.

It’s a weird experience for me, I very seldom write in the first person. But it was fun. You never know what characters are going to reveal you when you let them speak.

And you will discover things about my characters that are not in the story. So it might be worth a quick!

Enjoy.

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It’s the weirdest of things, thinking about that life now. It feels like a dream, a sweet dream, sometimes. But so far away that I’m not even sure it was ever my life. I know it will never be again.

I was born on the Dragon Backbone Mountains in the south of China, in what I used to think of as a village and I now would call a group of huts among the rice paddy fields. It was a beautiful place, I knew it even then. I remember the sun on the liquid terraces, the mists before the sun rose. The sweet summers. I do have many nice memories of my birthplace.

I remember running barefoot with gangs of kids, playing jokes on our elders, going hunting for rabbits and other small games. I was quite a good hunter, considering I was a little girl.

My father would always say I was a double disgrace for him. First, because I was a women, the first of five sisters. And second, because I should have been a boy as it was clear by my personality. He would always say that, before proceeding to beat some sense in that stupid head of mine.

I wonder now whether my father was a violent man. I don’t think he was. He never treated my sisters the way he treated me, but maybe my treatment was education enough for them never to do what I did: speak back, speak my mind, act like a tomboy. If this is the case, I’m happy I spared my sisters that fate. By my teen years I had learn do curb my tongue and think twice before speaking up even when the words strangled me in my throat.

I hardly remember what I felt when my father told me he had found a husband for me and I was to cross the ocean to reach him. I had always expected to leave my house, of course. And probably, back then I didn’t really know what it would mean ‘crossing the ocean’. Maybe my father saw it as the only option he had for a difficult daughter like me: selling me off to someone who couldn’t possibly check on me before marrying me. I know – because I discovered later – the man paid quite an handsome amount of money to get me, which was a huge amount of money in my little village. I’m sure my parents lived well enough after that, and my sisters found a good house to be marry into. I consider that my last service to my family, because I know I will never see any of them again.

I stood with my papers in hand, staring at those incomprehensible words, thinking that looked…
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I don’t remember the journey across the ocean. I don’t want to remember. But sometimes it comes back in my worst nightmares. The dark, the choking heat, putrid food. The smell of so many bodies pressed together. The short moments of fresh air each of us where allowed.

I’m glad I don’t remember.

But I do remember when I finally landed in San Francisco, alone. It was a nightmare of its own. It was hell. Nothing was familiar. Not the language. Not the smell of the city and the people. Not the colour of the sun. Not the sounds that assailed me and confused me. I remember the inspection, and the papers handed to me which I wasn’t even sure what were for. I stood in the street with my papers in hand, staring at those incomprehensible words and thinking that was exactly what my life looked like from that standing point.

How did I found the place where my husband was waiting for me? Maybe an old couple of immigrants helped me, someone who had come before me and knew the city. Yes, it was a elderly couple who took pity on me and helped me find the house.

When I got there, finally… my soon to be husband was dead.

Was I shocked? I can’t say so. I was already overwhelmed with everything. This news was just one more brick in the wall I was banging my head against. I didn’t care. I was lost anyway. There wasn’t a place for me in this new land, I knew it from the moment I set foot on it.

But my husband had an associate, they did business together. Import/export from home, as I understood it. Ma Shu took an interest in me. He had indeed carved his niche in San Francisco, but now he wanted to travel somewhere else, to a place he could call his own. I liked that. I liked his drive.

He said he had bought a place in Chicago and asked me whether I wanted to go with him. I didn’t know what Chicago meant, but what did I care? Could be any place. I didn’t care to stay in San Francisco.

I went with him. I went with him in all possible ways.

Chicago did shock me. It is cold, colder than home in any season. And in the winters it’s dark, and freezing. The lake sends wind and snow our ways. Always. Always.

Contrary to San Francisco, there aren’t many Chinese in Chicago. Ma Shu set up his place, a speakeasy, he called it. A place where people can drink (which is forbidden by law, crazy as it sounds) and dance to jazz. All night long, if they wish.

I love jazz. Why? I don’t know. It doesn’t sound like anything familiar to me, still when I listen to it and especially when I dance to it, it’s like a part of me is set free. Free, like I’ve never be. So free sometimes I’m scared by that feeling, but never so much not to go back to it every time.

Ma Shu has never be opposed to my dancing. I’ve even join the show. I dance with other dancers, dance with customers. Ma Shu let me do anything American women do. I can drink, if I want. I can smoke. I can wear shockingly short dresses. He’s never tried to stop me from doing anything. He’s taught me to speak English. He’s taught me to deal with Americans. He’s given me a gorgeous house, beautiful dresses, anything I want.

I own him so much. I own him everything.

And now… now I don’t know what to do.

Available for preorder
Barnes&Nobles – Kobo – iBookStore

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Who’s modelling as Susie

Anna May Wong

Anna May Wong (1905-1961) was the first Chinese American movie star. She grew up in L.A., daughter of a laundryman. She first starred, at age 17, in Toll of the Sea, a silent version of Madame Butterfly. Her best-remembered film is Shanghai Express with Marlene Dietrich.

She made dozens of films in Hollywood, London and Berlin. She was glamorous; photographers flocked to take her portrait. She was worldly and articulate, with friends like Carl van Vechten, Evelyn Waugh and Paul Robeson. Yet she spent most of her career typecast either as a painted doll or a scheming Dragon Lady.

Anna May Wong could be perceived as a Chinese Stepin Fetchit, someone whose roles reinforced racist stereotypes. But a younger generation of Asian Americans sees her as a pioneering artist who succeeded in a hostile environment that hasn’t altogether changed.

PBS Website – Anna May Wong: in her own words

Lolita’s Classics – Anna May Wong

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Thursday Quotables – The Case of the Little Bloody Slipper

I caught some winks at my desk and dreamt I was in one of the burning shacks, screaming I wasn’t sick. When I woke up, sweating, I saw Jack perched in the opposite chair, staring at me. She was a street kid, scrawny, pale and unkempt. Fifteen, but looked twelve, and the best damn receptionist I ever had – but quiet, lately. Something secret and ugly on her mind.

“Jesus, kid,” I said. “Wear a bell or something.”

Jack pointed at the bloody shoe on my desk. “Did the guy kill his moll or something?”

It took me a minute to realize she meant Maroni. Ha. As if that boob had it in him.

“Different case,” I said.

“Didn’t know we had a different case.”

“New case.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Side case, you mean?”

“What’s life without work?”

“What’s life without dough?” But she hopped up on my desk anyway and didn’t give me any more grif about it. “Tell me the tale,” Jack said, so I told her about the woman in blue silk.

This is just the first installment in a in a trilogy of novelettes by Carlie St. George, The Spindle City Mysteries. It reads like a mystery, the main character is a sleuth in the vein of old hard-boiled detective stories, but the vibe is definitely fantasy. You can easily see 1940s America evocated by the main character’s voice especially, but this is a place that stands nowhere in actual America. It’s a world of high society, with the awareness that there is a far darker, poorer, more derelict side to it.

What I liked the most about the story isn’t the setting, though. It isn’t even the plot, which is actually quite simple and straightforward. It’s more the world I have a glimpse at through this first novelette.

Years ago, a horrible plague swept this world and people went mental. Everybody suspected everybody else to be infected by a illness to which there was no cure. So the only cure possible was getting rid of the ill people. That created a purge that killed thousands of people, whether ill or not.

A cure was finally found, but it’s an unstable one and above all it’s so expensive that only rich people can afford it. Besides, pharmaceutics are making huge money with this cure.

But in the shadow, secret societies are working to make the cure available to anyone, and they are using every means at hand.

I’m really intrigued by this idea, especially the secret society. Here, more than in the mystery plot, lies the conflict of the story and I’m sure there will be more about it in the next installments, which makes me happy.

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In addition to be part of the Thursday Quotables meme at Bookshelf Fantasies, which I often take part to, this post is also part of the Retelling Challenge at the Daily Prophecy. In fact, there is a sense of retelling of the Cinderella story here, though to be honest the elements from Cinderella are so few and so faded that I can hardly call this a retelling. Still these few elements are there, and in spite of adding very little to the story (as I mentioned the conflict is elsewhere) I enjoyed reading and recognizing them.

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Give in to the Feeling (cover reveal)

I am super excited!

I’m telling you, going through the process of starting this ball rolling was hard and time consuming, not just the editing process (that I always enjoy) but also learning to format a file, uploading it, organising my launch, coming up with book-launch ideas… Oh boy! I’m still working to a few of these things, but today… I officially start my book launch.

My knee wobble, but don’t bother them.

And since first things are always first, here it goes my cover, a creation of Marion Sipes.

Enjoy.

 

Blurb

Chicago 1924

Susie has never thought she might want more. More than being Simon’s woman. More than the lush life he’s given her when she came from China. More than the carefree nights of dance in his speakeasy.

Simon has never asked her anything in return but her loyalty. Not a big price.

Until that night.

When Blood enters Simon’s speakeasy, and Susie dances with him, she discovers there’s a completely new world beyond the things she owns and the things she’s allowed to do. A world where she can be her own woman, where she can be the woman she’s supposed to be. A world of sharing and self-expression she has never glimpsed.

But she’s still Simon’s woman, and he won’t allow her to forget it.

Soon Susie will discover there’s more than two men fighting over her in the confrontation between Blood and Simon. There’s a fight breaking through the wall of the real world, into the spirit world where Susie’s freedom may mean life or death for one of them. And if Susie gives in, she will lose more than just her heart and happiness.

 

Excerpt

From Chapter One

Susie left Simon’s table and crossed the speakeasy toward the bandstand.

The club was dusky, smoky, chock full with people. She knew most of these people, at least by sight. The smoke and the soft light had become so familiar to her that they now wrapped around her like a warm protection.

She squeezed in between two men standing beside a table with cocktails in hand. One of them winked at her. She smiled back but didn’t stop. The show would start momentarily. Susie found a chair waiting for her by the bandstand and sat, watching the crowd ease off the dance floor as the band finished their number. As always, before the show, her heart beat faster. She liked that sensation. The music embracing her, taking control of her body — it lit a flame inside her every single time.

She watched her fellow dancers take their positions on a line of chairs on the other side of the dance floor, all dressed in yellow and showing off their legs and shoulders. All sporting black bobs adorned with white feathers.

Susie dropped her gaze to her hands as she fanned her fingers. Even her nails were polished red. Red like her lips and her dress. It took her a while, but she had become accustomed to her new look. She actually liked it, now. Her fingers were steady, didn’t tremble like the first time she danced right here in this club. Was it only two years ago?

She looked across the floor for Simon. He sat in the dusk of the far corner, his face lit by the golden glow of the stained-glass lamp on the table, a finger tapping his cocktail glass at the rhythm of the fading music.

He smiled at her when their gazes met. A small smile curled the corners of Susie’s mouth.

She raised her chin and straightened her back. The song died out and the murmur of customers took over.

A brush on her shoulder, and she thought a feather might have fallen from her headband. Its gentle touch breathed down her back, causing her a shiver that wasn’t unpleasant, but when she turned, she saw no stray feathers. Her gaze then raised to the entrance by its own accord.

That’s when she saw him.

A stranger.

Only people familiar to the doorman would enter, or people introduced by a customer, and she had never seen this man before. Lithe and willowy and dressed in a grey suit with a matching fedora, a grey coat draped on his shoulders. A black man with black curly hair reaching past his shoulders — and she was staring at him.

She tore her gaze away and saw his companion, taller, bigger and watchful. He wore a black suit, black fedora, black long coat and when he stopped beside his friend and leaned to speak to him, Susie saw he wore his dark hair in a long braid on his back.

So unusual.

Back in China, all men wore their hair in braids even longer than that, but she had never seen it here in Chicago. Simon didn’t wear it like that.

And this man was not Chinese.

Her gaze moved back to the black stranger in the grey suit. She couldn’t look away. Was he really a stranger? Hadn’t she seen him before?

Don’t stare, that’s so rude.

The music burst alive. Susie started and jumped up, joining the dance a second later.

#GiveInToTheFeeling cover reveal. The journey begins, are you up for a ride? #bookcover
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Well, guys, I know that a lot of you have already gone through this and it isn’t any big deal by now, but when I saw my book in the online bookstors the first time… well, it was quite the experience!

You know what’s so exciting about it? The fact that now my story can be read by anyone. Truly. Not just by people who know me, but by any reader who enjoys the same kind of stories I enjoy. There is something mind-blowing about it… well, certainly it is for me.

As you can see in the graphic above, the book will release on 4th March, but it is available for pro-order at Smashwords, Kobo, Barnes&Nobles and honestly it should be available at iBookStores too, but since I don’t own an iPhone I haven’t been able to check that. If any of you guys owns an iPhone and feels like checking, will you let me know?

UPDATE : Thanks to Anabel who informed me that Give in to the Feeling is indeed available on iBookStore.

And thanks to Grace who made me aware that Smashwords doesn’t really supports pre-orders. You can put my book in the librery, but that’s like Amazon’s wish list.

So I thought this: if you still want to buy my book from Smashwords, email me at giveintothefeeling@yahoo.com and I’ll send out a reminder when the book becomes available.

Thanks for the head-up, gals!

And I hate to sound salesy, but who will tell you if not me? I’m offering the book at $ 0,99 (€ 0,92 – £ 0,69) only for the pre-order period and since I love everyone who will order it (as authors should) I want to give you a gift. If you email me the receipt of your purchase at this email (giveintothefeeling@yahoo.com) I’ll send you a wallpaper inspired to my cover for you phone. It is a very exclusive wallpaper I will offer only for the preorder time of Give in to the Feeling and never again.

I am using it on my phone already and I love it… yaeh, yeah, I know that’s not news.

Enjoy, if you decide to read it. And should you enjoy read it a fraction of how much I enjoyed writing it, I’ll be the happiest author in the univers!

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International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2016

 

The United Nations General Assembly designated January 27—the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau—as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this annual day of commemoration, the UN urges every member state to honor the victims of the Nazi era and to develop educational programs to help prevent future genocides. (USHMM)

 

 

I’ve never been to Berlin, though I’m becoming increasingly eager to go. My sister has been there many times, she loves the city. She was there last year too, to research her thesis about the Berliner Kabaret of the 1920s and she took the chance to visit the Memorial to the Holocaust. All the photos in this post are hers (Mascia Zama)

The idea for a memorial to the Holocaust was first proposed in Berlin in 1988, but only in 1999 a project was finally chosen, that of U.S. architect Peter Eisenman. The memorial was built in 2005.

It stands in Mitte, not far from the Brandenburg Gate, on a land where the Wall once stood and not far from where Hitler’s bunker was located.

It is a very unique memorial. Covering a 800 square meters area, it consists of 2711 rectangular blocks of concrete, laid out as a grid. The outer blocks are smaller, they only reach knee height and they resembles graves, quite clearly. But as you go deeper into the memorial, the slabs rise in height, until they tower over you and you find yourself walking in alleys of a concrete, silent, lonely city.

This memorial has apparently raise both praise and controversy, starting with its name. The official name is  Denkmal für die Ermordeten Juden Europas (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) and some people have raised the question why the Holocaust isn’t mention. Though my sister calls it Holochaus Manhmal (Holocaust Memorial) which I suppose is what they call it in Berlin.

She told me visiting it was a very emotional, almost touching experience. The grave-like shape of the outer slabs implant a very strong image in your mind, very strong ideas of what you are experiencing, and when you enter the maze of the memorial and slowly ease yourself among the towering, faceless, grey slabs you cannot help yourself thinking where you are and what that place means.

There is a Visitor Center in the deepest part of the memorial, which is really a kind of museum, but I think the memorial itself is a very strong experience and a thought-provoking one.

When I visit Berlin, I want to go.

Visiting the Berlin Holochaust Mahnmal is an emotional, almost touching experience #holocaust
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A View on Cities – Holocaust Memorial (Berlin)

Berlin.de – Memorial to the Murdered Jewes of Europe

New Yorker – The Inadequacy of Berlin’s ‘Memorial to the Murdered Jewes of Europe’

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Jazz it up! Do you like the PostModern JukeBox?

It occurs to me that it’s been quite some time since I last shered some music with you guys. Time to fix this!

My friend and dieselpunk fellow author Aaron Sikes (who’s working on a dieselpunk story set in New Orleans) recently shared this piece on Twitter and I really enjoy it. Actually, I generally enjoy the PostModern JukeBox output, so you might want to check them out. They play vintage-sounding remake of popular songs and they’re great.

They have this piece below on their homepage at the moment and I find it absolutely fantastic. It’s so much like the Twenties. I love the video (lighthearted and funny), the music and the band – look at it, it’s a genuine 1920s jazz band.

Enjoy!

 

 

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Martin Luther King Day – Let no man

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I’m going to be a published author

I know so far I’ve talked about this as a possibility, but now I’ve decided to come out with it: I am going to self-publish Give in to the Feeling.

This is the reason why I’ve been quiet on this blog lately: I’ve been working on materials for the launch and reading like a mad woman about how to launch a book and promote it. It’s fascinating, you know? I actually like reading about promotion and marketing. We’ll talk about how I like it after I’ve actually promoted my book (I have a feeling my ideas might change…) but at the moment I’m really enjoying it.

Getting the work into shape

As far as my book is concerned, I have a cover which was provided by Marion Sipe of the Dreamspring Design… and no, I’m not showing it, because I want to do a proper cover reveal (eh! eh!!) while the MS is currently with my editor, Aaron Sikes, who’s a fellow dieselpunk author as well as a freelance editor.

I’m also reading manuals on how to format the text so that it will look good on any e-reader. I’m kind of surprised how much I’m stressing over this part of the job, but maybe that’s because I’ve never done anything like this and I know nothing about it.

I’m going with Smashwords as my main outlet. They are very straightforward and very transparent, which I like. I’ve already read their Terms of Service and let me tell you, I liked it a lot more than Amazon’s (which I also read in its entirety together with my boss when she decided to become a provider for Amazon). Where Amazon is obscure and convoluted, Smashwords is clear and straightforward. And – I’ve noticed– Smashword calls the author just that, author. Amazon’s contract never calls the author author. I know many authors won’t care, but honestly, I do.

Why I wanted to learn the song

People who know me are aware that for a long time I’ve said I wasn’t interested in self-publishing… which for a long time had been true. I have never had anything against self-publishing, mind you, I actually thinking all authors will be hybrid in the future, because that’s what makes more sense. Besides, I’m still seeking traditional publishing for my trilogy.

The reason why this is, is that I think the trad industry is where you actually learn the job. I know, lots of indie authors point out how many authors that were previously trad published went indie and they cite this as an indication that going indie is the way to go. But I think the crucial point here is previously trad published. These previously trad published authors know the job because they have been doing it in a professional environment for many years. They know how it works, what you should expect, what you are supposed to do, what your work should look like. I think this is very important because it will shape the way you go about your indie career and there are very few ways you learn this other than doing it in a professional environment. I’ve read articles by many indie authors who just gave me the impression they were jumping on the bandwagon and just try to follow the song. It works… sometimes. Personally, I prefer to know how to read music and how the dynamics of the band work before jumping in their midst.

I'm fascinated by the idea that I can build my author platform as I promote my first book…
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One reason I started thinking about self-publishing was my two rounds of queries last year. I leaned one important thing from all the rejections I received: my work isn’t up to the standard. It hit me hard, because I had honestly thought the contrary. I though I had a good story (which I still think and some agents remarked on that), but my style and my storytelling still lack a professional level of maturity. I honestly think this is the reason why, even if a few agents thought the story was good, no one ever asked me for a full.

So I started to think I had to go one extra step and professionally edit my stories before submitting. Clearly, I couldn’t trust myself on the professional level of my own writing. Problem was (and is) I can’t afford to edit my novel at the moment, so I instead decided to edit one of my old short stories (I ended up completely rewriting it) and have that professionally edited, so that at least I’d have a sense of what I might be overseeing in my writing.

But once I decided that, I though, wait. I’ll have a finished, polished product, why not go all the way through and publish it, and so experiment also in promoting and selling a story?

This is one of the reasons (but there are many) why I finally decided to self-publish Give in to the Feeling.

You can’t argue with your publisher

I knew from the beginning that self-publishing is a full time job in its own right, which is one of the reasons I’ve always been hesitant in going for it: do I have that kind of time, I wondered?

Well, I suppose that, as with all things, if you don’t have that kind of time but you want to do that thing, then you’d better find the time you need.

It does take a lot of time getting ready, even if I started having an idea what I needed to do and to achieve. I’m a bookseller in Verona (Italy) but the bookshop where I work is also a publishing house. So for ten years I’ve been involved in the publishing business and I’ve seen it happen everyday. I know the job from the inside and so I also know some of the things publishers blame on authors. I’ve tried to address that as I plan my launch, because you know, I’ll be the author, but also the publisher. Authors always know what they expect from a publisher, but what happens when the publisher is you and there’s no one you can blame about not doing something you expect? What when you are the publisher and you can’t blame the author not to be involved enough… because you’re the author too?

And of course, I’m reading widely about book promotions, which I’ve been doing for a long time, but now I’m focusing on an actual goal. It does makes all the difference.

I have a plan, here’s what it sounds like

 So after considering all of this, gathering my ideas, reading profusely on the subject, what have I been doing?

Write my media kit . I didn’t know anything like this even existed before a few months ago, but as soon as I discovered it, I decided I needed it.

Basically, a media kit is a page on you author site were people can find (in just one place) all the info they want about you and your work. This is particularly helpful when you’re promoting, because a part of promotion will be done on blogs. If you have a media kit, you just refer the bloggers on that page and they will find everything they need. You don’t have to send anything to them and they don’t have to wait for you to send them anything. This is a specific promotional tool.

There is a lot of material that goes into a media kit (I’ve written a short and a full bio, trivia on myself and a sample interview, and also a short and a long presentation of the book and a few loglines) and yes, it is work, but it’s such fun too!
Prepare material for my author site . So yes, I think I should finally set up a site in my name. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, and this seems the right occasion to actually do it.

At the moment, I’m going with a free WP site. I’d love a self-hosted site, like The Old Shelter, but I’d need to upgrade my hosting plan and at the moment I just can’t afford that. I know I’ll miss the freedom a self-hosted site gives, but I’ll make the free version do – for now.

There a lot of material I need to prepare for the site: some is the same as the media kit (which is good), but then I’d like to add characters’ presentations, setting presentations, many things about the story itself. I’ll probably add a section with image-quotes, which is an idea I LOVE.

Be assured that when the site is ready, you’ll be the first to know.
Plan my launch. I’m kind of scared about thinking to what will come next, still I think I should take a problem at a time, and so at the moment I’m completely absorbed with the launch.

One of my buddies, Rae Lori , twitted about a marketing book and I’ll never thank her enough. The book is Tim Grahl’s Book Launch Blueprint, and it’s really very interesting and factual ( you can download it for free here ). Tim Grahl is a book promoter and he has a lot of knowledge to share. I’m basically planning my own launch on this book. I did change my mind about a few things after reading this book, but I’m saving them for the future. As someone told me, once you start promoting, you never really stop, so having a few ideas in my bag sounds good to me.
Prepare a few freebies for my lovely new readers (eh! eh!)

If you have time, I’d recommend checking out Tim Grahl’s site. There is a wealth of info about promoting a book, including how to organise your site and how to write and promote your media kit (see links above).

A couple of other reasons why I decided about self-publishing come from a speech Tim Grahl gave during a webinar:

He pointed out that being a published author opens doors that were previously closed. If you can honestly claim you are a published author, people, including people who can help you promote, will look at you in a different light.
It’s true that to successfully promote a book you need an author platform, but if you don’t have it, you can use your first book to build that platform. Which sounds just like what I want to do.

Decisions, decisions, decisions

So once I decided to self-publish, I was done, right?

Well…

I knew that I wanted my book to look as professional as possible. This would cost me money. So the first decision was: do I want to sped money to get published? And the second was: how much money am I wiling – and able – to spend?

A few friends suggested me to make my own cover. I did consider this. What finally pushed me to turn to a graphic was that I can’t use Photoshop in any satisfying way. Sure I can crop images and slap a text on it. That hardly qualifies as being able to use Photoshop well enough to make a book cover. And what bothered me even more was being able to find pictures I could actually use. I’m not as strict with images I use on this blog, because of course they don’t belong to me, but if I use a picture for the cover of my book, I want that cover to belong to me legally.

Because I know very little about this, I preferred to turn to someone who knows how to go about it. And in any way, I then discovered that most of the pictures you can use are for sale, so you still need to spend money on them.

This said, I’ll admit that while I’m happy with the end result, I was very awkward with the process. Because I’m a visual person myself, I had a very clear idea what I wanted the cover to look like, which turned out to be not really the same idea Marian had. This resulted in a longer process which I think was frustrating on both sides.

And I wish I had read this blog from Bard Constantine earlier, because I may have gone a different way, but well…

I ended up thinking I should learn to use Photoshop and be able to do my own things. I had been toying with this idea for sometime and never really go through with it, because, you know, it will probably cost me more money. But after this experience I really think I should educate myself with Photoshop.

Self-publishing is an exciting adventure... it's also a forming experience for any authors…
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There was never a doubt I’d hire a professional editor, but now I’m facing the possibility to hire a proof-reader too. I’m very happy with Aaron’s job, but he did (as he should) the job of an editor. And no, I can’t proof-read my own work. I can’t do it when I write in Italian, let alone in English.

I just think that, after having gone through all this, I’d hate that someone would think, not too bad… shame for those typos…

Then I had to decide about the publication date, which was a natural decision for me.

I’ve read recently that Mondays are terrible days to self-publish while Saturdays and Sundays are good. I decided for a Friday.

Tara Sparling analysed in a blog what time of the year is best to self-publish and it turned out to be spring and autumn. I decided for March.

I made both decisions before reading those two articles… on the very scientific reason that the beginning of March is when my birthday it. So, don’t say a word, I’m not going to change my mind!

Now I’m facing another decision and I’d really like your help on this because I can’t make up my mind on it: what should I price my book?

I’m hesitant to price it near 3,99 because it isn’t a novel, and many novels are priced that. But I don’t want to price it too low, like 0,99 (as I originally thought), because I’d like to have some room for promotion.

I’m kind of leaning toward 1,99… but I really don’t know. I’ve read articles that suggest 2,99 for novelettes and novellas, but it kind of sounds maybe a bit too much for a 16.000 words story.

What would you suggest? How did you decide, if you’ve already published your stories?

My sweet baby

What can I say, I’m excited. I really am.

You know I love this story, I might have mentioned it once or twice (caugh caugh…). I just loved writing it, but making the book is so very exciting too.

However this will go, I don’t think I’ll regret trying. It’s a nice, forming journey. I hope you’ll come along.

 

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