Meg Silver's Blog, page 7

File Updates

I finally managed to get those file updates uploaded; if you see updates on your Kindle, that’s why. The changes are mostly under-the-hood type stuff with a few corrections thrown in for fun.

I hope all our US readers are having a great (and safe) Labor Day weekend.

School doesn’t start here until Wednesday. Am not entirely convinced I’ll make it until then…

The post File Updates appeared first on Meg Silver.

PSA: Dialogue Tags

Authors and editors, lend me your ears:

I read a lot. I love books, and I love stories.

Now, before I get into the following rant, let’s get something straight. I am not perfect. I have my strengths and weaknesses as an author. As an editing team, Emma and I never catch every problem. We follow up with a beta team in an attempt to catch issues in mechanics, continuity and whatever else, and we STILL don’t catch every problem. Mistakes and issues embarrass the shit out of me, and I’ve been embarrassed a lot over the years, okay? So I’m not speaking from a position of superiority, I’m speaking from a “I want to love new-to-me authors and their stories” position.

I will also set this up by saying I picked up a new fantasy series recently. I love the story, but there is something HUGELY DISTRACTING about the dialogue tags. This is something that drives me straight up a fucking wall, and I see it so frequently that I decided to post about the issue to raise awareness that THIS IS A HUGELY DISTRACTING PROBLEM. Also completely avoidable once authors and editors pay attention.

I will not post examples from this series I’m reading because I don’t like to single people out, but here’s the core of the issue. Repetitive “beat” dialogue tags. I’m not talking about he said, she said, he asked, she asked, or whatever. We all know those are invisible tags that readers reference rather than read.

The problem tags are “action” or “beat” tags like the following:

He sighed.
He nodded.
He smiled.
He chuckled. (Side note: I know this is a personal thing, but if you ever use that tag, I don’t care how good your story is, that shit is getting thrown at the wall and never picked up again. Ever.)
He shrugged.
He shook his head.

If authors/editors don’t believe this repetitive action tag thing is an issue, there is a particular author whose wizard series I absolutely adore and have read like fifty times. He also has another fantasy series. Because I loved his first series, I picked up this other one. In the first book, within the first seven pages, I counted FOURTEEN of the tags from the above list. And guess what? Never read another page of that new series. Never recommend it to friends. Never posted a review (thank God, right?). Never bought another title from that series, and I never will.

I take the problem seriously enough to do an entire editing pass JUST for dialogue tags. I would like more new or new-to-me authors and series if they would do the same.

Please? I really want to love your stories. Please take the extra time to clean up these lazy little devices that could easily be replaced with solid characterization.

Thank you. And I’ll shut up now.

The post PSA: Dialogue Tags appeared first on Meg Silver.

Reminder

Thanks to everyone who’s already taken the time to review Pressure and Captive. Believe it or not, those reviews make a huge difference on how visible books are on most popular retail sites, especially Amazon.

Because we’re kind of sucking for reviews lately (which is totally my fault for being too buried to build and maintain a street team, and also falling behind on the release schedule) I want to remind everyone about THIS LINK.

That’s the review-copy request form. The link has always appeared on this site’s CONTACT page, but I don’t think anyone sees it, so I’m posting it here today in case anyone’s interested.

Thanks!

The post Reminder appeared first on Meg Silver.

Monday Is As Monday Does

First up:

Congrats to Carolyn B, the August, 2015 monthly giveaway winner. Carolyn wins a “season pass” for the rest of the Fantasy Heights Season Two episodes. Thank you for entering!

Thanks, too, to everyone else who entered. Better luck in the September 2015 giveaway.

Second:

Thanks for another great launch, readers! I hope you’re enjoying Harper and Matt. They’re very fun to work on.

Speaking of which, I best get my wordcount done for the day before I have to retreat into the formatting cave for the afternoon.

Have a great one!

The post Monday Is As Monday Does appeared first on Meg Silver.

FREE Alert

Gentleman’s Privilege is free on Amazon this weekend.

Grab it while you can!

The post FREE Alert appeared first on Meg Silver.

Captive (Sessions, #1)

PLEASE NOTE: I am trying to launch this book at the same time I’m getting ready for work. Stupid plan, I know. Everything will go live while I’m out; I’ll update links as soon as I get back, provided there’s any action before then.

Novella-Series Description

Two consenting adults, one hot arrangement…

Harper Isley isn’t looking for romance. Someday she’ll settle down, but for now, all she wants is a strong, trustworthy man to meet her needs without demanding more.

Matt Solomon has the perfect solution——a discreet arrangement between consenting adults.

Harper agrees to surrender herself to Matt one night per week. Strict rules govern their weekly sessions, and Matt’s sensual imagination ensures each session runs hotter than the last.

CAPTIVE is the first book in Meg Silver’s “Sessions” novella series.

CAPTIVE: A tentative Harper learns that surrender has its benefits as she ventures into an intimate bargain with sexy, commanding Matt Solomon.

“Captive” Info

Length: 15,000 words

Price: $.99USD

Goodreads

Captive’s Info and Excerpt

EXCERPT

“Captive” Purchase Links

(These will update as the book goes live on retailers)

Amazon US (pending)

Amazon UK (pending)

Amazon CA (pending)

Amazon AU (pending)

Barnes & Noble (pending)

iTunes (pending)

Google Play (pending)

Kobo (pending)

The post Captive (Sessions, #1) appeared first on Meg Silver.

Regrouping

Happy Monday!

I’m regrouping after a crazy-busy weekend. While I was toiling away at the day job, our wonderful beta team has been hard at work, too. Thanks to them, we should have another new release for y’all by the end of this week.

For that to happen, I need to get my editing braincells firing on all cylinders… And also to get the babycat out of my freshly watered plants. Holy crap, is she ever in rare form today.

Have a great one!

The post Regrouping appeared first on Meg Silver.

Sessions: First Look

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you news of a new serial…

Everyone, meet Sessions, the new mini-serial coming up next.

Here’s our first cover:

Pretty sure Joy would give me THE LOOK if I did not explain that the cover is still a draft. She’s not in love with how the cover looks as a thumbnail yet; further typography tweaks expected.

The serial and episode blurbs aren’t approved yet. I’m working on those, but the gist of this thing is our heroine agrees to become our hero’s sexual captive one night per week.

Anyway, here’s a list of preliminary facts about this new series:

There are six “planned” installments.
These are short. Like HELP WANTED short, running between 12 – 15,000 words each. For comparison’s sake, FH Episode 13 was 40k words.
These are $.99 USD each.
Yes, these are very naughty.
No, there is no suspense element. (Read: SO MUCH FASTER TO PRODUCE than FH)
Yes, I am still working on FH Episode 14. Rylie is giving me a fucking headache, by the way. I need sympathy, chocolate, coffee and manions. Many, many manions. Preferably smart ones who love to clean kitchens and cat boxes. Who also dabble in marketing copy. And rarely speak.

The post Sessions: First Look appeared first on Meg Silver.

Afterglow

Happy Monday!

Thanks, everyone, for a great launch. Go forth, my minions, and review!

As for me, I’m headed into the word-count cave, which I will have to leave at 4PM. Should you hear a loud tantrum at that time, it’s probably me.

Have a good one.

The post Afterglow appeared first on Meg Silver.

Episode 13: Pressure

Episode 13: Now that Ben has gathered the protective detail under one roof, everyone feels the pinch of proximity. Ben and Sophie cope with a change in their relationship while the past works its will on others in the house.

Purchase Links: (these will go live as the book becomes available on different retailers)

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon CA

Amazon AU

Barnes & Noble

Google Play

iTunes

The post Episode 13: Pressure appeared first on Meg Silver.