K.C. Sprayberry's Blog, page 167

Solstice Shadows Contest

First time authors have a hard time getting their first contract. Many of us have been there and it is discouraging to say the least.  Solstice Publishing has published many first time authors and are actively seeking fresh new writers to add to our Solstice family. Many authors got their foot in the publishing door by writing short stories.  This is a great way for authors to build their catalog while they work on their longer novels. At Solstice, we believe every book has a home. It may or may not be with us but we invite you to see if we’re the right home for your story.
Solstice Shadows publishes Fantasy, SciFi, Paranormal, Horror, and all sub-genres therein.  If you have a short story that falls into one of these genres, we welcome you to read on and consider entering our short story contest.
Official Contest Information:
Solstice Shadows wants to read your short stories!
Do you have a short story collecting dust?  Are you an aspiring author who wants to be published? Are you an established author who is willing to take risks? Are you a self-published author who wants to see what it’s like working with an Indie Publisher?Solstice Shadows is hosting a short story contest starting June 1st through July 6th  2015.
* Accepted genres: Fantasy, SciFi, Horror, Paranormal, and all sub genres therein. (We do not accept non-fiction/overtly religious stories/pornography)* Story length: Up to 20K words.* The story cannot be currently for sale on any platform.
To Submit:1.) www.solsticepublishing.com/submission2.) Click on ‘Solstice Shadows’3.) Type “Shadows Short Story Submission” in the ‘Title’ box.4.) Your cover letter should tell a little about your story and a little about you.5.) Follow the directions for submitting your story.
Prizes:1st place – A 3 year contract for the short story, A promotional video highlighting the book and author, and a FB release party hosted by Solstice Publishing.2nd Place – A 3 year contract for the short story, a promotional video highlighting the book and the author.3rd Place – A 3 year contract for the short story.
Winners will be notified by August 1st,2015 via email.
How will the stories be judged? Here’s what we’re looking for in no particular order:
1.) Submission guidelines followed2.) A social media presence3.) An exciting first scene. 4.) A clear and organized plot.5.) Interesting characters.6.) Engaging dialogue.7.) Correct grammar/punctuation8.) A satisfying conclusion to the story9.) A unique voice.

We hope you decide to enter and look forward to reading your stories.  If you have any questions, feel free to email us (solsticeshadows@gmail.com) or catch us on Twitter (@solsticeshadows)
Happy writing!

Sweat Investment

Many people, including most of my family, have asked me what kind of investment I have in my book. My answer has always been simple. It’s sweat investment.
Let me explain…
Writing for me isn’t a job. It’s not an avocation. This job I’ve taken on of my own free will is the very air I breathe and the blood pumping through my veins. The intense moment when I hit my pace in a book can only be defined as breaking out in front of the pack during a marathon, only moments after the starter’s gun goes off, and maintaining a killer pace until I type “The End.”
More than a few people have shaken their heads and claimed that no one can maintain that kind of pace. I’m here to tell them that thousands if not millions of people maintain that pace every single day. Ask any devoted writer you might happen to know. They’ll all say the same thing. Each book reaches a point where they can’t stop.
Eyes closing because you haven’t slept in more than twenty-four hours? Toothpicks—not for me. I suck down cup after cup of hot coffee and push on.
A plot point waking you after a couple of hours of sleep? I don’t roll over and ignore the call. I stumble out of bed and open the file, staring at the page until I find why I woke up. Then it’s a matter of muttering, pounding the keyboard, and going over every single word, comma, and period, until I have the passage perfect. Of course, this always results in a complete look over of what I’ve already done.
A sagging middle? No, not the time to start with push-ups to regain your taut abs. My kind of sagging middle is the story itself sinking into a morass of confusing scenes and a plot going nowhere. That requires days if not weeks of work, to tighten up the middle and get the flow back into order.
A birthday or anniversary coming up. Your calendar screaming that important date at you, but you’re caught up in research to strengthen an important plot point. Think you can walk away? Not hardly. However, this can be cured by going ahead with the celebration plans and keeping a notebook and pen nearby, to jot down ideas as they rise.
All of this involves mental sweat. Writers are well known for that. We live for mental sweat. The best among us refuse to let go of a book that hasn’t had us wringing out limp muscles or massaging throbbing temples. This is what we live for, the moment when we realize we have broken through the wall and crossed the finish line.

And like the winner of the Boston Marathon, we know it has all been worth the effort.

The Master Entity

MORE GRAND SCIENCE-FICTION SPACE ADVENTURE! In this fourth novel of the “Colonel Kendrick Landry” space adventure series, nostalgically reminiscent of the “pulp” science-fiction of the 1950's and the original Star Trek of the 1960's, G. Bryan Smith has woven a tight and intricate tale of postwar peoples obsessed with finding an elusive, mythical master entity called “Kronos”--a hybrid of man and computer, which is perceived as the solution to life’s problems. The suspense builds as Colonel Landry travels in the starcraft Aurora with intergalactic tycoon Maxwell Rheinhardt, who offers “seed money” to rebuild the former Federation worlds defeated in a long-ago bloody war with the First Intergalactic Alliance. An ulterior motivation of Landry’s mission to rebuild is to determine once and for all whether Kronos exists. Landry meets a mystical cult leader named Robert Zilhoff who is bent upon finding Kronos. Zilhoff appears to be a key in the search for Kronos. But what is Zilhoff’s true identity, and what does he really want with Kronos? Landry views an old newscast with a Federation official suggesting that Kronos was mere wartime propaganda. But he is later led to the planet Varcon where he meets “Kronos seeker” Jonathan Farrow. Farrow guides Landry into the modern 25th Century City of Kronos where two of Landry’s men have already disappeared amid drone-like people that are joined together into a collective consciousness. Is Kronos real or a myth? The reader will be going back and forth on this issue until its resolution in the satisfying ending of this novel, peopled with engaging characters and with ample plot twists to keep the reader excitedly turning the pages.

Solstice Publishing

The Wait

As authors, we wait. It’s a part of our lives.
The first wait usually entails sending out “baby” out into the cold, cruel world of beta readers or to our critique group. We wait for the responses, for the red ink of edits, for the inevitable single person who says, “I don’t get it.” That wait is usually far less painful than others, since we’ve committed to having the best book possible.
The next wait takes a lot more patience. We wait for our dream publisher to get back to us. That can be anywhere from a few hours to never. Oh, yes, I did say never. It has become more and more popular for a publisher not to respond when they’re not interested in your book, because of the sheer number of submissions they receive. If you find yourself in this conundrum, assume after six months that they aren’t interested and move on.
Once we have that covered contract, we wait again. For the cover artist to create a book cover that will instantly attract millions… uh, a goodly number of fans. Cover art is the first hard piece of evidence that you will have a book at the end of the pre-publication process, and we usually can’t wait to get it out into the world, so others can get an image of what our book is all about.
The next wait is the editing. This is probably the most important part of the pre-publication process. Your editor will take time to go over your book, seeking out those tiny details that will turn your book from good to great. Remember that while you’re ghosting your inbox, searching for the first round of edits to arrive.
While in the editing wait, it might be a good idea to start seeking promotional groups that will assist you with getting the word out about your book. There are a myriad of low cost to expensive blog tour groups, offering everything from a basic cover reveal to a full on tour, complete with reviews posted to Amazon and Goodreads. It’s buyer beware with these groups. Do a lot of research about them. See if your book is a right fit, as in do their tour hosts have the type of audience you’re looking for.
The next wait is probably the most excruciating that you’ll endure. We wait for reviews, and we fear what the reviewers will say. One way to get past that is to remember that a review is an opinion. Don’t focus on the bad points, cheer for the fabulous reviews.
Well, do focus on the bad points, there might be something there you can do to change that person’s opinion in your next book. Just don’t obsess about that 1 star review, and never engage a reviewer in a conversation about their poor review. Ignore it publicly, even though you’re weeping over it.
One last thing… a great way to help the wait move faster is to start work on your next book.

Book Release ~ The Last Revenge: Book 2 of The Last Hero Trilogy

Today, Out of Control Characters welcomes Nathaniel Danes and features his latest novel, The Last Revenge: Book 2 of The Last Hero trilogy.

To celebrate the release of The Last Revenge, the first book in the trilogy will be free on April 30! 





The Last Hero



Excerpt: He tried hiding his pain with a grim look of determination draped across his face. It was good enough to fool most people, but not Amanda. In her eyes he saw she understood that the veneer of bravado concealed a mountain of pain.             She wrapped her arms around him, the soft embrace eased his aching soul.             “I’m sorry,” he said.             She pulled back, keeping ahold of his shoulders. “Whatever for?”            He took her face into his hands. “You deserve better.” Her brown almond-shaped eyes gazed back at him. “You deserve to have a life, a real life of your own. Back on Earth’s Fist, I said our war was over, that we could settle down. Things have changed, though. I can’t quit the fight and I don’t know when I’ll be able to. You should…”            She pulled his hand down, gripping them hard. “Stop. Don’t say it. You have nothing to apologize to me for. I’m not going anywhere. You’re my family now, my life. If you can’t quit the fight, then I can’t quit the fight.” 






Blurb: Blood demands blood.
Driven by grief to the darkest recesses of his soul, Trent Maxwell lives and fights for one reason, revenge.
As hidden agendas plot, Trent embarks on an unholy quest to marshal the forces he needs to exact the heavy toll his broken heart demands.
The largest fleets and armies ever assembled in space collide. A river of blood soaks the galaxy, but when is enough, enough?
Bio:
Nathaniel Danes is a self-diagnosed sci-fi junkie and, according to his wife, has an over active imagination. Mostly blind, he writes to create universes where he has no limitations. He lives with his wife and daughter in the Washington, DC area.
Author Links:
Facebook Twitter Blog WebsiteAmazon
Book Links:
Amazon

La Diva II: Several Years Later…

When last we left La Diva, she had lost her contract with her publisher. In a fit of rage, she trashed said publisher and was shunned by every other publisher. Not one to be daunted by such a trivial thing, she decided to self-publish, only to discover that she has to do the very promotion to sell her books now, but that she has no support system. Every cent earned goes into blog tours with companies who don’t listen to her suggestions, who tell her that they know far better than she how to do their business.
One thing she’s lacking with the dozen books she now has published is reviews. This is why she’s putting out money that should go to rent and other basic necessities to blog tours. The tour operators request reviewers, but very few volunteer, and most of those refuse to post their reviews, citing the lack of editing in her books. She stands by her determination to do whatever it takes to become famous… even if she has to haunt local wi-fi hotspots in order to access the internet.
Nothing will stop La Diva from her planned success.
Nothing, except yet another month of poor sales and snarky reviews.
She’s had to admit that her grand plan to be a world renown author is failing. The rent is past due, as are her utility payments and other debts. She’ll soon have no internet connection, no power to her home, no place to live. Admitting partial defeat, she takes a job as a clerk at a big box store, swearing that won’t stop her from becoming a world famous author.
Bitterness settles in. Our darling diva discovers her “uneducated” coworkers have no interest in her books. They complain when she won’t stop talking about her latest blog tour, or how expensive a cover artist is, so she has the perfect cover for her newest book. Her supervisor writes her up for going online during work hours, to check her sales, to see if there’s anything new she can do to promote her work.
Day after bitter day, a new stumbling block presents itself. The blog tour owners tire of her continual micro-management of the tours she books and begin to turn her down. Her online writer friends abandoned her during that whole publisher debacle and she can’t find any new friends to help her. Even her family doesn’t want to hear more about her troubles.
In danger of losing the only job she’s qualified for, desperate to become a world-renowned author, La Diva makes the difficult decision to stop acting like she doesn’t need anyone. It’s difficult, but she manages to listen to her coworkers, hear what they say about books they’re reading. Darling Diva remembers some advice she received years ago, when she was still in college, still believed that she would set the world on fire with her fine prose.
“Never give up. Never stop believing, but also never burn your bridges.”
Ah, the light dawns in her shuttered eyes. She burned bridges—with her publisher, her writer friends, her regular friends, her coworkers, everyone important to La Diva has abandoned her and she’s now alone in a cold, cruel world.
“What am I to do?”
At a loss as to how to best achieve the success she can see but not touch, La Diva goes back to the beginning again. She looks at the reviews, shudders under the candidness of the people who have bothered to write their opinion about her books.
“Hackneyed.”
“Trivial.”
“Fell asleep on page 1.”
Every single book also has the same statement. “Didn’t I read this same story in the last five books by this author? What a loss!”
Pain develops in her stomach. She huddles over a bowl of Ramen noodles fast cooling in her unheated apartment, as the gas company finally got tired of her excuses about not paying. Her fingers ache from the cold. Her head aches from eating Ramen 3 times a day. She finally begins to wonder if she’s been wrong all along.
“No one will help me fix this. I made this mess. I have to fix it myself.”
The words warm her in a way that she hasn’t experienced since she won an award for writing a stellar composition in high school. She spends the next few weeks rereading all of her published books, but never misses a day of work. Her coworkers stop talking to her, but she’s no longer in trouble with her boss for being online at odd times during the day.

La Diva finally figures out what everyone has been telling her all along. She has books with a good idea but the execution is horrible. She sits at her computer during her off hours, working now on a very different book. 

La Diva I: The Non-promoting, Social Media Whiner

Let me tell you a little story about La Diva. She is not alone in my book of tales about people who throw fits about how their book isn’t selling, nor is she any one person I’ve encountered in my career.
La Diva has a job, as do most of us. She labors long and hard at that job, but does have this dream of becoming an author. La Diva spent a year putting together what she deems are a dozen of the finest books ever written. Her prowess as an author is unmistakable. No promotion for her. These books will sell themselves. Haven’t all of her friends told her this?
La Divan proceeds with her master plan, arguing against any efforts to get her to be more active on social media, to talk about her books. Month one rolls past and she’s waiting for that massive royalty check. Sure, she’s checked her rankings on Amazon, and the numbers are pitiful… in the millions, but that has to be wrong. All of her friends and family bought the book. They told her so, therefore the rest of the world has discovered this masterpiece and is snatching it off the virtual bookshelves.
No royalty payment arrives. Her statement indicates no sales. She’s astounded. This has to be wrong. Obviously, the publisher is lying and hiding royalties from her, because her friends and family would never lie.
She fumes through the rest of the month, certain she’ll have a massive royalty check the next month. The publisher will apologize for missing the payment, but just in case there’s something to this social media stuff, she spends a couple of hours one day working on Twitter and Facebook.
That turns out to be too hard, so she quits. There’s one place where she can vent her frustrations and everyone will sympathize with her. The loser publisher, as she now things of this company, has created a page where the authors can talk. Well, she’s about to talk—long, loud, and hard—about just how she’s being cheated. And she proceeds to do just that, sitting back with a sense of satisfaction once she’s finished scorching everyone’s ears about just how lousy this publisher really is.
The responses come in fast and furious. Everyone talks about how they do this and that in order to draw notice to their books. No one sympathizes with her. Worse, the publisher announces that statements and payments have gone out.
Well, time to check email anyway, so our diva does that and discovers yet again she hasn’t earned a penny. This is not right. She’s infuriated and returns to social media, this time complaining on her personal, public page. This time the responses assuage her irritation and she has definite proof that those people have bought her book. Why, almost fifty people responded, saying just that. She takes screen shot after screen shot, copying each one into an email she then sends to the publisher along with a note that she wants an accounting of all of her sales immediately. She wants the sales reports, so she can see how much they’ve cheated her.
Instead, our delightful diva receives a message she can’t believe. The publisher reminds her that she’s not allowed to post messages like she has about the company on social media. She’s in violation of the contract, and since she’s so unhappy, they are willing to release her from her contract. Of course, she’ll have to agree never to post anything derogatory about the publisher again, and to remove all posts she has already made that do just that.
Releasing a screech that would do the best opera singer proud, our diva proceeds to put up post after post, outlining how her publisher is cheating her. She also contacts every lawyer in her town, demanding that they sue her publisher, but discovers that she can’t afford any of them, and they won’t take her promise of a massive payout once she wins the lawsuit.
Reality slams into our darling diva at this point. She’s done, finished. All she can do is lick her wounds, sign the release the publisher sent, and move on. She does this with all due speed and begins a search for a publisher who won’t cheat her, only to discover no one wants anything to do with her. A couple of less than nice publishers indicate they will never take on anyone who acts as she did.
Then she checks her social media and finds out that she’s lost friends and followers during her temper tantrum. Those left no longer respond to her ongoing diatribe about the ilk populating the publishing world. She’s beginning to feel alone and lost and has no idea how to go back and fix the problem. Her books are gone from the sales venues. A final statement from the publisher indicates that her friends and family weren’t truthful to her about buying her book. In fact, no one has purchased what she thought was the best book in the world.
La Diva sinks into desperation. She will get her book published, no matter what she has to do. She sends out query after query. Publishers stop responding. Several others tell her that her best bet is to self-publish her book, as no one in the industry will have anything to do with her. Her social media meltdown has become legendary, and no one wants anything to do with her.
Does defeat bow the neck of our proud La Diva? Oh no, she refuses to admit defeat. In her mind, self-publishing was always the best option, but silly her, she listened when people told her to get a publisher. So, our dear diva goes about the process of getting her book back onto all book sales venues without the back up of a publisher. It takes her far longer than she realized, as she continuously has to go back and fix errors. Once those books are for sale, she harangues everyone she knows to buy her books. Her fingers are numb from pounding on a keyboard, promoting those books herself.
When last seen, La Diva had sold a few books. She even received a few reviews, but nothing like she had expected. Still, she hunches over the keyboard daily, promoting the books she refused to promote with her publisher, and writing more. Because everyone knows that you have to publish more books to be famous…
More on La Diva next week.

Letting Go: What It Means To Sign A Publishing Contract

You just received that coveted publishing contract and are doing the happy dance all over the place. Nothing can stop you now. You will rule the publishing world.
Excited, you scan the document, your eyes moving over those clauses that say, “must have information provided in a certain amount of time” and “publisher retains the right of final approval for manuscript or cover art.” No one will tell you to do with your book. They don’t have that right. Why, you can get that taken care of, no matter what you have to do.
As you’re staring at that document, your joy rising to new heights, you get a burst of inspiration. There are several scenes and a couple of new chapters you’d like to add to your book. Well, this publisher did say they would give you 30 days to send them the book, and you’re going to take every one of those days to fix what you now see as fatal flaws.
Of course, you have the perfect artist in mind to design the book’s cover. Nothing but the best for your first book, and you will do whatever it takes to make that happen. You are the queen, the top of the heap. Your book will skyrocket to the top of the charts within minutes of being released. Soon, your publisher will be wining and dining you at the best restaurants. Oprah and Ellen will fawn over your every word on their shows. The world is yours, and nothing will stop you.
Next step is sending back the contract. At the same time, you inform your new editor in chief that you will have the revised book to them in a month, at which point you will discuss the next step, the promotion of your perfect tome.
The response confuses you. This person has sent you a list of instructions of what they expect you to do instead of fixing what you see as fatal flaws in your book. You have to fill out a cover art form for their artist to create cover, and they want you to give them all this information you have no time to put together. That won’t do at all. Oh no, this person will learn very fast that they work for you, and they will go according to your timetable.
To get these pesky tasks out of the way, you dash off your idea of the perfect cover art, going so far as to include the name and email of your artist, who is breathlessly standing by to photograph the model you promised her big break for your cover. Each is awaiting word that you’ve scored a contract, so you must let them know to start work now. That little problem of not having the money to pay for their time is no problem at all. You blithely tell the photographer and model both to bill the publisher. This faceless person on a website won’t mind at all paying their fees for such an important book.
You cobble together all the requested information and email that back with their silly form, forgetting to tell your editor in chief that an unknown photographer and model will soon be sending them invoices. Then it’s time to get to work on those changes you just have to do to make your book better than any other book in the universe. Days go by. You fail to show up at your day job. No worries. You won’t need that loser position anymore. Your book is going to be a major success.
A week later, you’re finally satisfied with your book. During this time, you’ve had several emails from your publisher. Something about here is the cover art for your book. Another one about an editor who will soon be in contact with you regarding the first round of edits. A third requesting that you provide your social media links.
“Piffle! “ you exclaim. “None of this junk is important.”
You do, however, notice that the editor has already emailed you, saying they’ll have your first round of edits ready in a couple of days. Deciding to ignore the editor in chief, you send the revised book to the editor and tell this person that their boss is well aware of this and to move forward. There might be a comma or two that needs to be adjusted, but otherwise the book is perfect as is. No need to waste their time, when they could working with some idiot that can’t spell.
Your feet propped on your desk, you cup your hands behind your neck and stare at the ceiling, grinning. You are more than ready to start on the next earth shaking novel. That is, until a series of thing occur at almost the same moment.
Your boss calls to say that since you couldn’t bother to show up for work, they no longer need your rather pathetic services.
The editor in chief emails you, telling you in no uncertain terms that you will never pull such a stunt ever again. You gave them the book when you submitted it. That your unilateral decision to do serious revisions wasn’t approved by them first, and that you are already in violation of your contract. There’s another note at the bottom of that scorching email, something about cover art attached.
You open the attachment and your jaw hits the floor. This isn’t the cover you commissioned from a very reputable photographer. That silhouette staring at the sky is a blog, not the model you promised would have her big break by being on your book. What is going here?
You are about to send off a scathing email of your own when you notice one from that person calling themself your editor. They’ve sent you the first round of edits. First round, you think. My book doesn’t need more than a cursory look over. Not a first round. What is this fool trying to do? Are they trying to steal money from my publisher that belongs to me?
That’s when you notice another email from your publisher. This one is from a person saying they’re the chief operating officer. First, they received an invoice from a photographer and model, who are under the mistaken impression that you had the right to engage their services to create your cover art. That simply isn’t the case. You read each word of the explanation, your fury rising to explosion levels.
Email after email pours in. Each slaps down your preconceived notions of what a publisher can do for you. Reality begins to set in. You may have overestimated a few things.
You decide you better get to work, so you can pay the photographer and model, and a few important things like rent, food, utilities, etc. Then you remember your boss fired you. Just when you think things can’t get worse, you open the attachment from your editor and see all of this red everywhere. You have to approve these edits and get them back within a week.
There are two ways you can go at this point. Humbly accept that you overestimated the power of your first book and move forward, or decide to maintain your attitude and “force” everyone to do things your way. The first action might not get your job back, but it will appease your publisher’s staff. The second will bury you deeper than the quicksand you’ve jumped into is dragging you under.
Publishing in the twenty-first century has changed a lot. First of all, indie publishers of the type where you’ve signed a contract, don’t operate like the major publishers. Even the major publishers don’t act like you’re dreaming of. It’s a streamlined publishing world out there. No longer do publishers offer massive advances that might or might not sell enough books to recover. Indie publishers don’t wine and dine their authors, they don’t arrange huge book tours from town to town, with stops on major television shows to tout their genius.
Be ready for several things as an author in the twenty-first century. You must cooperate with these streamlined operations. You will do the bulk of your promotion, with costs coming out of your own pocked, so keep the day job. And you will be expected to cooperate with the publisher’s staff and abide by the terms of the legal contract you signed.

Remember this as you take that step into becoming a published author—very few people skyrockets to the top with their first novel. Not even their second or third novel. If you want to become an author,  you will have to work hard, and not just writing your book.

Self-Publishing, Traditional, or Indie

I have had the opportunity to read an article decrying the merits of self-published and indie authors several times since its publication in March 2014. I must say that whenever I read this piece of prose, I get angry on several levels.
First, the author of the article, whom I won’t identify, makes it clear from the start that he doesn’t believe that those who are indie authors or self-publish are real authors. In his opinion, only those published by the Big 5 are worthy of that title, and only those authors should be at conferences or part of the professional groups that support authors.
I would like to say that I did submit to the Big 5 publishers, until most of them decided one needed an agent to have their book cross their threshold. A bit of investigating on my part indicated that I wouldn’t make that much in royalties for my first few books, until I built a fan base. My goal was to become an author and have that be my main income source. Taking an already small royalty payment and deducting an agent’s fee seemed rather silly to me. That’s when I began exploring indie publishers, and I’ve had an excellent relationship with six of them.
What I discovered with these publishers, and heard about for other indie publishers, is that they are a lot more like traditional publishers than most people realize. They don’t take every book that is submitted, but unlike the Big 5, they will take a chance on an author with a good story to tell. Granted, the indie publisher doesn’t have a large promotions staff to send out review copies, set up interviews and signings, and hold the author’s hand when they are blocked in the midst of their next book. The indie publishers I’m with do have one thing that I haven’t noticed with the Big 5, a fabulous support system in either email discussion groups or closed groups on social media where their authors can talk about what does and doesn’t work for them when it comes ot promoting their book.
I’ve also found a whole new group of authors whose work I will buy once it comes out be stepping away from the traditional publishers. I have my favorites. Who doesn’t? But some of those favorites have gotten a bit stale in their celebrity. I often feel like I’m reading the same plot with different characters and settings. Originality is suffering with these people. It’s like they have a product that did well and they’re not going to change much about it, so they don’t lose sales.
Indie authors push their writing limits. They search for different ways to plot a story. They’re hungry, much like those famous authors once were. So, to the person who said they’ll never read an indie or self-published book, I truly feel sorry for you.
Why do I waste this emotion on a person who derides the very type of publisher I’m with? Because this individual is missing some great books. Sure, he’s going to run into some bad authors, but he’s ignoring one very important fact—even the big names have an off book. Instead of exploring new territory, he’s suggesting ways to drive indie and self-published authors out of the market, by delegitimizing them.
Well, I am here to stay, sir. I’ve worked most of my life for this moment, and I think you’re wrong about indie and self-published authors. I know many of them, and we’re hard working people who are trying to make a living. I will not apologize for understanding that the Big 5 were late to the party of electronic books and are just now trying to catch up. I’ve found my niche and am very happy there.
Try a book by an indie and self-published author. You might actually like it.

The Author’s Imagination

You’re in the grocery store and the person in front of you is reading the labels on cans and boxes. They’re moving slowly. You can hear them muttering about murder, kidnapping, and high speed chases. Have you caught a criminal in the act?
More than likely, you’re behind an author and they’re plotting their next novel, or overcoming a severe case of writer’s block. That means you’re in for a treat if you stick around instead of notifying the authorities. Listen to the process, how our minds work in twisted, convoluted circles.
Did you just hear that mousy Jane Simpson is about to “off” her neighbor? Hmmm? Just how will Jane accomplish the deed? Will she use the rake or the hoe? What did her neighbor do to warrant such a violent reaction from her usually placid friend? Instead of shoving your cart past them and searching for a manager to inform they have a crazy loose in the store, hang around. Smile when the author glances in your direction. Ask how their day is going. Get a conversation started. Authors love talking to people. We pick up important clues to use in our work that way.
Another scenario, you’re in traffic. The man beside you is talking but there is no one in the vehicle with him. He’s speaking about spiders, dank cellars, and a set of creaky stairs. A kidnapper devising ways to terrorize his victim? Maybe. Or maybe an author working through a difficult plot moment. What you probably don’t see is his smart phone or voice recorder clipped to the visor on nearby, picking up every word, all the traffic sounds around him, and the scream of a siren of an emergency responder in the background.

An author has a very vivid imagination. It’s part of our stock in trade, and when an idea hits, we’re scribbling notes, recording scenes, and otherwise making those around us nervous. Your reward for these moments is to see a picture of that person gracing your social media sites months later, announcing the release of their book. Once you read the blurb, you’ll flash back to the moment when you didn’t report someone who broke out of the mental hospital and realize you had an inside moment with a piece of art under construction.