A.J. Race's Blog, page 34

Who’s Your Target?

t’s now officially a week and 21 days until the official release of Goddess of Carnage and I’m still working on editing my proof. Thankfully there’s still a few more days left in November so I have a little bit of time to get everything finished. I’d like to have everything typed up for my editor by the first (it’s going to be a photo-finish that’s all I can say) and while I’m excited I’m a little frustrated with myself, because while I was trying to fix part of a sentence I almost ended up trying to rewrite a whole scene, and I’m like what am I thinking? It never ends. Every time I think I like some part of my book I end up wanting to change something or other.

Oddly, I do find some comfort in the fact that I’m not alone. In fact many authors experience this same thing, which is why I’ve come to realize that perhaps how you know a novel is done is that either a: You’ve worked so long on it your sick of seeing it. Or B: You have to walk away. Eventually, we as authors have to realize that the only way we’re ever going to get readers and let people into our world is by letting go of it.

It’s a lot like being set adrift without a paddle, or that age old nightmare of being naked in front of your entire school. You can often feel exposed like everyone’s watching you when you finally let your work be seen and I suspect this is true, traditionally published or not. You’re suddenly no longer protected from judgement because now it’s not just whatever you think about your book it’s other people’s thoughts. Sure you can imagine what so and so would say about it, but until you actually hear it come out of their mouths (good or bad) it’s not the same is it? And it’s hard leaving this sort of cocoon of safety that we writers tend to build for ourselves, sure we like to set fire to it from time to time, but it’s only when other people set fire to it that we really start worry. We can handle whatever we think, because we’re used to hearing that obnoxious voice that says What are you thinking? This is terrible? Are you trying to best Fifty Shades for worst book ever written? I personally have never heard that last one, thankfully, i merely added it in the hopes of making people laugh, but you get my point. We as writers learn to live with that little voice that says we can’t do it. And sometimes we learn to ignore it or even to tell it to fuck off. But whether we acknowledge it or not, there is still the worry of what other people will think. Because when that voice isn’t asking who we think we are. It’s asking: Who would ever want to read this? To be fair, this is the one valid question that particular self loathing part of us asks. It’s an important question. Knowing who our target audience is, is key, there are certain expectations to consider for each type of writing. Even erotica has protocol. There’s a certain formula to all types of writing and rules you have to think about. As I’ve said before, in one of my favorite posts, Breaking All the Rules. Every rule has exceptions, the key is knowing what the rule is first. Then deciding why you should or shouldn’t follow it. You don’t just jump into sex right off the bat in erotica. You build up to it. You don’t start a horror with everything happening all at once. You build up to it. Almost all writing is about build up (the exception perhaps, being literary fiction). All events build up to the final clash (or climax as it’s taught in most English classes) and then the fall back down to earth from the excitement of that. Of course some books, if their a series have several climatic events that lead to the ultimate clash at the end of the series. The point is, a book wouldn’t be very interesting if all the action happened up front now would it? It’s fine for a movie to start in the middle of some car chase, but it’s rather difficult for a book to do the same.

YA? Probably Not.

his is a debate I’ve been having with myself for some time now, can I reasonably call the Secrets of Witches trilogy Young adult, or at least teen fiction? Part of the reason I personally considered Bridge of Memories YA is mainly because the main characters are teenagers. The problem is, thus far almost all of my readers have been adults anywhere between 20-50+. No one younger than 19 (as far as I’m aware) has read my book as of yet and so it’s difficult to consider a book YA when your actual target audience isn’t reading your novel. To be fair, indie and YA is sort of a difficult mix mostly because teenagers are barely interested in reading period, let alone hunting for a book no one’s ever heard of. As Goddess of Carnage nears it’s publication date (faster than I ever expected) I’m once more tasked with the challenge of deciding what genre (beyond the obvious of fantasy) to place it in.

Here’s why I feel it’s probably not YA:

First and foremost, I’ve never actually written it with young readers in mind. I know that’s like rule number one of writing, consider the reader, but here’s the thing, I am technically considered a young adult (20 something) myself so do I really have to psychically think of my age group as I’m writing? Sure I’m not like most twenty-somethings, but I’m also not likely to use any kind of language that someone my age wouldn’t understand because it’s too outdated and no longer cool.

It’s also probably not YA because while the characters are both sixteen at the beginning of the book, by the start of book 2, their seventeen and by the end of it their nearly twenty-two. Something tells me that no longer fits under the genre of YA anymore. Not to mention the fact that it’s been said in YA never to write them having children because teenagers don’t like to read about characters doing the parenting thing. Oops. And it probably goes without saying that the simple fact of how much they swear, it seems like it would be frowned upon in traditional YA. (But then, I don’t read much YA so… I may not be the best judge)

I actually was never quite sure that I could even reasonably call Bridge of Memories YA in the first place, and I’m starting to think that perhaps that classification was a bad idea. But what do you think, knowing what you know about the trilogy (given what I’ve told you here) is it YA? Or am I right to assume that it’s probably not?

The New Role Models

esterday I talked about the reality of books like Fifty Shades of Grey, but what I didn’t bring up is that it’s dangerous equivalent, Twilight is probably more troublesome than most people realize. Like Fifty Shades, Twilight follows the story of a girl who is clumsy and self loathing (and supposed to be relatable) and finds a man (or two) who basically are the only way she will ever feel as though she is worth while. What a dangerous concept to be teaching children. You wanna talk indoctrination how about the teaching of young girls that their self worth can only be defined by a man? What kind of lesson is that?

For better or worse (in my opinion worse) Bella Swan and company have become the new kind of role model, girls hoping to find their Edward try to model themselves after this girl (or see themselves in this girl already) and that’s nothing to be proud of. We can’t possibly know the ramifications of young girls and relationships they will get themselves into because of Twilight, but I’d venture to guess that if they grow up thinking that Bella and Edward’s relationship is a healthy one, they will no doubt end up in very unhealthy and possibly dangerous relationships of their own. Regardless of what you think of their romance, Edward is a controlling prick who tells Bella she can’t be friends with someone simply because he’s jealous. It’s never expressly said he’s jealous (or at least not that I can tell) but it’s a slippery slope. She alienates herself from friends and family and she’s so distraught when he leaves her that she throws herself off of a cliff. This is neither normal nor healthy behavior and anyone who believes that it’s romantic is seriously out of touch. Now sure, it’s a novel and some people would have you believe that as such it doesn’t really pose any threat because it’s fiction and you shouldn’t take fiction so seriously, but consider the age group for a book like Twilight. YA, teens, somewhere between 10-17 (or at least this is the intended age group). That’s rather impressionable, and reading about a girl who is so obsessed that she would throw herself off a cliff just to see her boyfriend angry at her. (That’s the keyword there folks, not to imagine him concerned, to imagine him YELLING at her). It’s at this point that Twilight stops becoming just a book and starts becoming a potentially huge problem. We may never know the full ramifications of letting teenagers read a book like this, and some people will argue that any and all effects are completely unrelated to the book, but let’s be honest, when a YA book that’s supposed to be some great romance begets not one but TWO novels about S&M what does that tell you about the story to begin with and the relationship to begin with? I’m not saying there’s necessarily anything wrong with S&M, but something about the way in which it’s portrayed in Fifty Shades makes Rihanna’s song look like KidzBop! 

For the record, I’m not insinuating that my own novel is perfect, there are some moments where I wonder: Is that really believable? I think every novel has a certain amount of imaginative stretch that is necessary in order for you to buy that this is really happening. Or in the case of Twilight we hope that you’ll simply be so enthralled with what passes as a story-line that you won’t question the ridiculousness of a teenage girl not being able to tell the difference between a rock and her handsome not-boyfriend-but-I’m-going-to-string-him-along-best friend, Jacob.

Forgive the Mess

Just wanted to stop from my normal posts to say sorry about the mess my website has become the last couple of days. My GAYDD has been acting up with regards to my blog and I wanted to make some changes, unfortunately those changes aren't working out as well as I'd hoped so I'm going to have to figure out some alternative.

A Year of Firsts

2012 has been a year of firsts for me. I reached 50k words for the first time, I self published my book for the first time and more importantly I held my book in my hand for the first time. I used InDesign to create a full blown book that looks pretty damn good if I do say so myself all for the first time and just yesterday my blog got 101 hits in one day, for the first time. I have almost a hundred followers on twitter, and for the first time in my life I'm coming to have a small fan-base surrounding my book. I'm making money from my book and I've received some pretty amazing reviews from people who've read the book. It's also the first time I've ever made an ebook with the intent to sell, and worked very hard to sell something directly on the Apple store (or rather the iBookstore--which is still under review. So many weeks later)



This has been an exciting and sometimes nerve wracking year of firsts for me. After the year is over I will have self published three books. The entire Secrets of Witches trilogy. I will have written, 225k words between 3 books (maybe a little more or less depending on how the final two books turn out). The simple fact that I've set the goal for myself to write a 75k word first draft, for the first time in my life is incredibly exciting, the fact that I've set rather ambitious (and to some rather psychotic) publishing goals for the last two books is for me also exciting.



Not in book news but in personal life news, 2012 is the year I decided to become a redhead. Not, orangish, natural red, more like an auburn with burgundy accents. I've been dying my hair for many years, not many people know, but I believe I've been dying it at least since eighth grade and at the time I was full brown-black. (I don't entirely remember but I believe my natural hair color is dirty blond or a light brown). Either way, I didn't care for the color and for years I had been dying it darker. I eventually allowed myself to stick with a chocolatey brown, then a somewhat lighter brown, but it was only really at the beginning of this year that I decided I wanted to go for auburn. Mostly in an effort to have some sort of change. 2012 will also be the very first year I vote. I've been legally able to vote for three years now, but being that the Presidential race was over, and I never found the time to register, up until now I've never voted in any kind of political capacity. And last, but certainly not least, 2012 will be the year that I am officially 21 and of legal drinking and gambling age (which living in Vegas, makes this a pretty big year). I have no actual desire to gamble, but the point is, by the end of this year I will no longer be limited by what I can and cannot do in a state that I have lived in frankly far too long.

the Racers Have Spoken

"Bridge of Memories is the first of three books by new author A.J. Race. A.J. combines magic, intrigue, and passion in the Secrets of the Witches saga. Think Harry Potter meets Twilight meets Linger, and you are in the neighborhood. I read the book in 2 days and couldn't put it down."--Lori L. Fox (Amazon)

"A.J. Race does a beautiful job in describing the exotic scenery without an over-baring amount of words, the characters are deep and relate-able, and the story is dynamic and draws you in immediately. Job well done. I would quickly refer this book to anyone who asked. I am excited to read the rest of the series."--Brittni (GoodReads) 

"Bridge of Memories by up and coming new author A.J. Race is the first book in the Secrets of Witches trilogy. I just finished reading the book this morning after receiving it only three days ago. I feel that it was one of the best books I've read in a long time and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good book to read. I am typically a rather slow reader, but found myself unable to put this book down. I felt as though I was always being kept on my toes with things that I would have never seen coming around every corner. I found myself learning about the characters and forming new opinions of them as the book went on, something I expect from any good book. I can't wait for the rest of the trilogy and I hope to be seeing more work from A.J. Race in the coming future. I think this young man will go far in writing if he puts the same amount of passion and skill that I felt in this book in all of his future work." --Katrina (GoodReads) 

"The first of 3 books in the series, honestly can't wait till the next 2 come out. A.J is definitely an author to keep an eye on. A truly captivating read, i couldn't put the book down.If you want to be taken into another world of magic and mystery this is the book that will take you there again and again, You'll be captivated from cover to cover."--FreshFlippy (Amazon)

Finally Catching Up with Myself

After the amazing (and frankly psychotic pace) at which I put out the first book in the Secrets of Witches Trilogy a part of me decided that while I didn't want to take as much time as most authors would take to put out a sequel, I wasn't going to do it in four months again like I had with the first one. So I decided on a compromise. Giving myself from December until April 13th to finish the sequel. Which at the time was about four months. (Just for a first draft). The problem that I hadn't anticipated was that actually, I was extremely busy from December to February, putting out the first book. Working on edits throughout December and then dealing with formatting in the month of January then actually putting it out on February 12th. I was, extremely busy. So in reality, I only had from the third week in February to April 13th giving me roughly two months. Easy enough, I had finished the the first one in one month, it was a question of time management. So I pulled up my calendar and calculated how many words I would need to write per day in order to make my goal.



Unfortunately, for quite a few days now I haven't been keeping up with my goals. Or even coming close.

To put it into perspective, on Friday I was supposed to be at 42k words... I was still at 39 from several days previous. But last night that changed. Last night I got a great amount of inspiration and ended up reaching 43,131. Surpassing even Saturday's goal. I've finally caught up with myself, for now. But I need to keep going above my goals because in the long run I would like to finish the book before April giving me the entire month of April to do my own edits. Suffice it to say, I'm happy that I'm finally on track and I just hope I can continue on in this fashion.

Pig or Cow?

For those of you who watch Grey's Anatomy on a consistent basis, you probably already get this reference, for those who don't I'll make this short; a woman was in need of a heart valve transplant, and couldn't decide between a cow valve or a pig valve. Ever the impatient doctor Cristina made the choice quite clear to the woman. Pig or cow? Pig or cow?



Remember this, because I'm coming back to it shortly...

One of the greatest things I think self publishing has brought to the writing community is the freedom to chose their path. A: Send out to agents and hope for the best and if you finally land an agent hope for a publisher to want to take you on or B: Do it yourself. Pig or Cow? A lot of people would consider doing it yourself the path of least resistance. Even some of my friends (at least one in particular) considers self publishing to be the equivalent to giving up. You can't hack it in the "real" industry so you're going to do it yourself. And the truth of the matter is, I struggled with these same feelings myself. This had not been the first time I had considered self publishing my novel. In fact, ever since I had first learned about self publishing in the seventh grade (so about 13) I had been looking into it. Researching. Holding it as my back up. Inevitably the expense of the process was such that I decided I would try to send out to agents one more time just to see where it got me. More often than not, the process would get me nowhere and I would look at self publishing one last time (as if the prices might have gone down or the answer would somehow present it self). This back and forth went on from the time that I was thirteen up until about a few months ago. Truthfully, even as I was preparing to self publish Bridge of Memories I couldn't help but wonder if I wasn't just jumping the gun. Was I really doing the right thing? Would I come to regret it later? And in the weeks since the book has been out I have to say, at no time have I regretted this, in fact in a lot of ways this is probably the best decision I've ever made.



The truth is, this process isn't going to be right for everyone. It's difficult even with an editor and a cover designer, I couldn't imagine how much more difficult things would have been without them... which is ultimately why I'm glad I didn't do this sooner. If you ultimately decide to take this route. Be prepared. Do all your research on various companies and expect the unexpected. Don't rush it because you think you have to, when the planets align in your favor, believe me you'll know it. And don't let a few mishaps discourage you. And remember... when it doubt ask yourself... Pig or cow?

Make Joseph Kony Famous

In the past I have often made blog posts about my political beliefs and injustices; and when this video came to my attention on Tumblr I knew that I had to blog about it. Because I believe in stopping at nothing to reach a goal, and I believe that when you see this video you will understand why. The time has come to bring Joseph Kony down. And it starts with all of us.







KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.



Please watch and share and spread the word.

What I've Learned in Self Publishing (thus far)

Tracking sales on a book that's been out roughly three weeks is kind of difficult, but I've actually come across some interesting facts about my book sales thus far.



Firstly, in spite of a lot of traditional publishing data to the contrary the ebook sales have been pretty menial, while Hardcover has outsold both the Paperback and ebooks combined, which is kind of fascinating to me mostly because going in I was sort of debating the hardcover option for the pure fact that I was under the impression the ebooks would always outsell the print copies. I have an iPad, I can see why you'd want an ebook more than a print edition; conversely there's something exciting about the print version of your own book. Holding your own book is an incredibly powerful thing. Signing your book is incredibly powerful too. Honestly holding my book and signing my book is probably the most exciting part of this whole process (and making money for my work doesn't hurt either).