Andre SanThomas's Blog
December 14, 2012
Get on board!
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February 1, 2012
The American Idol of books...
I know you've all seen American Idol or at least the commercials for it or heard people talking about it over the water cooler or a grande vente coffee. But, in case you've been living under a rock, here's how it works...
Thousands of wanna be singers line up at football stadiums. Granted some are screened out early on, but lots of the rest get through to the judges. Within those hundreds of people there are some that are spectacular singers. A few. A very few really. Then there are a bunch that are pretty good. Not quite the big time, but not bad.
Then there's the rest. Couldn't carry a tune with a handle. Painful to listen to. You just want to pour concrete in your ears rather than listen to any more from them. But their mother said they were good. Their bff told them to try out. They're screaming at the judges and flipping them off on camera (mom is so proud).
That's the self-publishing world too. A few gems. A pile of pretty darned good. And a whole bunch that might have a good story to tell, but have so many technical flaws, we can't find it in there. They get mad at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or the website they're distributing through. They get mad at the customer for daring to point it out. They argue with other authors or reviewers that try to point it out. Mom said they were good singers. They must be.
You want to write, paint, make pottery, dance? Great. You want to do it for fun, have at it. You put it out in public, then you have to step it up. Hone your craft. Invest the time and energy to do it well. Or keep it at home. Mom will love it either way.
Thousands of wanna be singers line up at football stadiums. Granted some are screened out early on, but lots of the rest get through to the judges. Within those hundreds of people there are some that are spectacular singers. A few. A very few really. Then there are a bunch that are pretty good. Not quite the big time, but not bad.
Then there's the rest. Couldn't carry a tune with a handle. Painful to listen to. You just want to pour concrete in your ears rather than listen to any more from them. But their mother said they were good. Their bff told them to try out. They're screaming at the judges and flipping them off on camera (mom is so proud).
That's the self-publishing world too. A few gems. A pile of pretty darned good. And a whole bunch that might have a good story to tell, but have so many technical flaws, we can't find it in there. They get mad at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or the website they're distributing through. They get mad at the customer for daring to point it out. They argue with other authors or reviewers that try to point it out. Mom said they were good singers. They must be.
You want to write, paint, make pottery, dance? Great. You want to do it for fun, have at it. You put it out in public, then you have to step it up. Hone your craft. Invest the time and energy to do it well. Or keep it at home. Mom will love it either way.
January 29, 2012
January 21, 2012
Free this Weekend- Saturday, Sunday, Monday
There's a great book out there and it is free this weekend- Saturday, Sunday and Monday...
Have a look at Erotic Stories of Domination and Submission: Taking Jennifer
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006KIY3RW
Have a look at Erotic Stories of Domination and Submission: Taking Jennifer
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006KIY3RW
January 18, 2012
About me...
So, I suppose I should tell you all a little something about me. Let's see...
I've always been a writer. From the time I was quite young, teachers, parents, relatives marveled at my ability to put words together. I should probably credit my dad. He had a bullshit gene that could spin a yarn like nobody's business.
But as I got to be an adult, I didn't write fiction. I wrote a lot of technical papers, reports, white papers. I created a lot of educational materials, academic articles, made hundreds of presentations at conferences. All real world cut and dried stuff. I did it well. People often said I did it in such an easy to read way that it stood out in a sea of dry, boring stuff.
One day, someone on a message board I frequent mentioned Nanowrimo. I was intrigued. Here's something I could really sink my teeth into. Could I really write a whole novel? Could I write one that would be any good at all? Hmmm...
So, I took up the challenge. For those of you not familiar, Nanowrimo challenges you to write 50,000 words during the month of November. If you do that, you "win". No one reads what you wrote. You could type the same word 50,000 times if you want. No one judges if your novel is actually good, no one claims it will be publishable, but when it is all said and done, you can claim that you've written a novel. You can pull that out at dinner parties when people ask what you do. You can drink white wine and look over the edge of your glasses at people that have not dared to do the same thing. I was game.
I had no idea what I might write, but what spit out was not only Erotica, but a BDSM based erotic romance. I'm a seat of the pants writer, so I had no idea where this was going when I started. The characters took over and led me where they wanted to go.
I did complete my Nano novel. It needs a major re-write but you will see it at some point as part of the Sensual Submission line. Once it was done, I knew I needed to wait a month and give it some distance, so I started a second. You'll see that in Sensual Submission some time too.
Over the next year, I completed three more (Ielle, Ovia and Sensual Submission: Driven). I have two more Realm of Janos books in progress and ideas for more after that.
These ideas are spitting out, laying themselves down on paper. The characters are clamoring to have their voices heard after decades of suppression under technical manuals and educational materials. They demand to be heard, and you'll be seeing more and more of them.
I've always been a writer. From the time I was quite young, teachers, parents, relatives marveled at my ability to put words together. I should probably credit my dad. He had a bullshit gene that could spin a yarn like nobody's business.
But as I got to be an adult, I didn't write fiction. I wrote a lot of technical papers, reports, white papers. I created a lot of educational materials, academic articles, made hundreds of presentations at conferences. All real world cut and dried stuff. I did it well. People often said I did it in such an easy to read way that it stood out in a sea of dry, boring stuff.
One day, someone on a message board I frequent mentioned Nanowrimo. I was intrigued. Here's something I could really sink my teeth into. Could I really write a whole novel? Could I write one that would be any good at all? Hmmm...
So, I took up the challenge. For those of you not familiar, Nanowrimo challenges you to write 50,000 words during the month of November. If you do that, you "win". No one reads what you wrote. You could type the same word 50,000 times if you want. No one judges if your novel is actually good, no one claims it will be publishable, but when it is all said and done, you can claim that you've written a novel. You can pull that out at dinner parties when people ask what you do. You can drink white wine and look over the edge of your glasses at people that have not dared to do the same thing. I was game.
I had no idea what I might write, but what spit out was not only Erotica, but a BDSM based erotic romance. I'm a seat of the pants writer, so I had no idea where this was going when I started. The characters took over and led me where they wanted to go.
I did complete my Nano novel. It needs a major re-write but you will see it at some point as part of the Sensual Submission line. Once it was done, I knew I needed to wait a month and give it some distance, so I started a second. You'll see that in Sensual Submission some time too.
Over the next year, I completed three more (Ielle, Ovia and Sensual Submission: Driven). I have two more Realm of Janos books in progress and ideas for more after that.
These ideas are spitting out, laying themselves down on paper. The characters are clamoring to have their voices heard after decades of suppression under technical manuals and educational materials. They demand to be heard, and you'll be seeing more and more of them.
January 15, 2012
Welcome!
Howdy, howdy! I'm still learning how to work Goodreads (as evidenced by the fact that I hit the wrong button and had to start this post all over). Still, I have to say this is a fabulous site! I wish such a thing had existed when I was a teen. I would have spent all my on-line time here, surfing books, talking about them, hearing directly from authors... heavenly.
Anyway, I planned to have my first blog here be something about who I am and the characters I'm writing about, but instead, there's a much more pressing issue that I wanted to talk about first.
Recently, a good friend of mine, Sharazade, (by the way, read her stuff, it is really good), got interested in a little research on Amazon. You know how it goes, right?
You start looking at something and then you just go hmmmm.... pretty soon, you're following trails and the next thing you know, you've spent an hour browsing Wikipedia and gone from Kristy McNichol (whatever happened to her) and landed at Sigmond Freud by way of Desi Arnez, Fidel Castro, JFK and Marilyn Monroe.
Well, Shar's research landed her in a much more worthwhile place. The piracy of erotica. Have a read of this story for the details.
So, how do we all help? Before you pay out your hard earned cash or even click the button on that oh so attractive free download, take a second to look at what you're getting. Does it look legit? Try cutting and pasting a sentence or two into your browser and see what comes up. If it isn't original, move on. Click the report button on your way out of town. Those of us who slave (so to speak) hundreds and hundreds of hours over our original text thank you.
Anyway, I planned to have my first blog here be something about who I am and the characters I'm writing about, but instead, there's a much more pressing issue that I wanted to talk about first.
Recently, a good friend of mine, Sharazade, (by the way, read her stuff, it is really good), got interested in a little research on Amazon. You know how it goes, right?
You start looking at something and then you just go hmmmm.... pretty soon, you're following trails and the next thing you know, you've spent an hour browsing Wikipedia and gone from Kristy McNichol (whatever happened to her) and landed at Sigmond Freud by way of Desi Arnez, Fidel Castro, JFK and Marilyn Monroe.
Well, Shar's research landed her in a much more worthwhile place. The piracy of erotica. Have a read of this story for the details.
So, how do we all help? Before you pay out your hard earned cash or even click the button on that oh so attractive free download, take a second to look at what you're getting. Does it look legit? Try cutting and pasting a sentence or two into your browser and see what comes up. If it isn't original, move on. Click the report button on your way out of town. Those of us who slave (so to speak) hundreds and hundreds of hours over our original text thank you.
