Chelsea M. Cameron's Blog, page 12

Whisper edits and hello to Feature and Follow hoppers!

Whisper edits from The Editor. Also my left hand :)
I got my edits back from the editor today! So excited. All that's left now is to plug them in, format, send out ARC's and then we're good to go for the 16th! Aahhhhhh, I'm so excited! Can't you tell by the amount of exclamation points in this post?! If you don't know what Whisper is about, here's the synopsis:
People think I'm crazy. Maybe I am, since I've been able to talk to spirits for as long as I can remember. They are the forgotten, the souls who have unfinished business and can't cross over. I help them, or at least I try to. There's this one in particular, Jack, I call him, who's been following me around a lot. Usually they tell me what they need to do and move on. Not him. 


It isn't until he brings another spirit, Tracy, the victim of an unsolved hit-and-run accident, that I know for sure he's something more than just your average spirit. Then I start seeing him. And feeling his touch. And falling for him. 


In our quest to get justice for Tracy and help her move on, Jack and I become something more than just a dead boy and a living girl. I'm just waiting to see what happens next...
For everyone who's come here via Parajunkee's Feature and Follow Hop, I'd like to say hhhheeeeelllllooooooooo! Welcome to my blog! I'm looking forward to meeting and making some new followers :)
I don't bite. 
Much ;)

Baby, you need a beta...

Reader, that is. If you don't know what a beta reader is, I'll explain it. If you do, skip the next paragraph.

A beta reader is a person, with or without editing experience that reads your manuscript in a pre-published form. A lot of indie writers use betas when they can't afford to hire an editor. A bevy of betas can be used in addition or instead of an editor.

Okay, so why am I talking about this? Because I have a beta! Her name is Laura, and she's the fabulous blogger over at Little Read Riding Hood. I 'met' her on Twitter when I asked for book bloggers to review Nocturnal. She said she was interested and she loved it! Since then she's been combing through both Nocturnal and Nightmare and rooting out all the little typos and inconsistencies that I couldn't find myself. So before I publish Nocturnal and Nightmare in paperback, I want them to be as close to perfect as they can get.

I'd never worked with a beta online before, so we've been muddling through it, making things up as we go. I send her a chapter or two, she makes her changes in red and then sends it back to me. She adds things, changes words and makes comments on things that don't make sense. It's helped my writing SOOOOO much. Often, we writers see the forest and not the trees. Laura is my tree-spotter :)

Honestly, I was totally freaked out by having someone critique my work. I'd had editors rip my articles apart when I worked for my college newspaper, and teachers eviscerate my English essays. But my fiction is something else. No matter how much I want to, I have a really hard time separating myself from my books. But I found I didn't mind nearly as much as I thought I would. In fact, I didn't mind at all. I was so pleased to have someone point out the flaws in the story, because now it's going to be better. And that's my goal. I want to put out the best story I can, bottom line.

Have you had any beta experience? Was it positive or negative? I'd love to hear about it in the comments :)

I'm going on tour!

Actually, my books are going on tour!!! The totally awesome Heather from SupaGurl Books is hosting a tour for The Noctalis Chronicles for THE ENTIRE MONTH OF AUGUST! We've got awesome stuff planned, including character interviews and playlists, some pictures of the real places that inspired the series, and a scavenger hunt for a HUGE swag package! There are still some spots available, so if you want to be a part, go to Heather's blog to sign up! 
IT WILL BE EPIC. THAT IS ALL.

Winner of the Swag giveaway!

Sooo... I have a winner for my BIG, HUGE, GIGANTIC Swag giveaway. You ready?

The winner is.....

Allison E!


Allison has been a huge supporter of mine, and I'm so happy to share this swag pack with her! Allison, I'll be contacting you shortly to get all your mailing information.

But I've got more winners! Remember the cover reveal I did last week? I've got a winner of the $10 Amazon Gift card and that winner is....

Na! 


I'll also be emailing you to send your gift card :)

In other news, I fooled around on GIMP for an hour and tweaked the Whisper cover just a bit. You probably won't notice too much of a difference, but I wanted to adjust a few things. Here's the new cover:

Most of the stuff I worked with was the fonts, adding the flare on the penny and adding a box at the bottom to make my name easier to read. I might mess with it a little more, but for right now I'm done. My eyeballs are screaming for mercy.

Teaser Tuesday!

I've never had a book to the stage where I could do teasers before it was released, but now I do, so I've been posting them on Twitter and Facebook. I'm also on Pinterest and there's a special board dedicated to Whisper! Right now it's like I've got my own little inside joke, but I cannot wait to share it with everyone!


“You're turning into a stalker, you know.” I like to think of it as watching. I thought girls liked that kind of thing. “Not this girl.”
I'll also be announcing the winner of my cover release contest, probably tomorrow. Also, I ordered some things for the Whisper release, and I'll be ordering more this week. Gah, I can't stand the suspense! Whisper is off to the editor, and as soon as I get it back, get everything spruced up, I'll have ARC's available. If you're a book blogger and would like one, please email me. 

It's here! It's here! Whisper Cover Reveal and Giveaway!

Today is the day I share the Whisper cover to the world! Are you ready? Are you sitting? Okay. Deep breath... OH! Don't forget to scroll all the way down for a giveaway!
HERE IT IS!


(yes, the pennies are significant.)


People think I'm crazy. Maybe I am, since I've been able to talk to spirits for as long as I can remember. They are the forgotten, the souls who have unfinished business and can't cross over. I help them, or at least I try to. There's this one in particular, Jack, I call him, who's been following me around a lot. Usually they tell me what they need to do and move on. Not him. 
It isn't until he brings another spirit, Tracy, the victim of an unsolved hit-and-run accident, that I know for sure he's something more than just your average spirit. Then I start seeing him. And feeling his touch. And falling for him. 
In our quest to get justice for Tracy and help her move on, Jack and I become something more than just a dead boy and a living girl. I'm just waiting to see what happens next...
Whisper will be released on June 16th in Ebook and later in June in paperback. Here's a sneak peek of the first chapter!

You don't look like the kind of girl who would speak to the dead.“I can't decide if that's meant to be offensive or not.” He was right, though. From my t-shirt which had a picture of the Cookie Monster on it and a caption that read, “Come to the Dark Side, we have cookies,” my holey yoga pants that had never been used for yoga, and my mismatched Christmas socks, to my not-straight-but-not-curly hair blondish hair, I didn't look like the kind of girl who would talk to dead people. I didn't hang out in cemeteries and listen to too much Evanescence and wear a lot of crystals. Not that there was anything wrong with any of those things.It was not meant to be offensive.“What was it meant to be?” I pulled my knees up and put my chin on them.Didn't your mother call you for dinner?Evasive. There was definitely something different about him. Most spirits were so confused about where they were or if they were dead they didn't know how to be evasive. This guy was something else.“You sure you don't want anything?”No. Just visiting. Spirits didn't visit. The only reason they hung around was to accomplish something they'd left undone. So either he didn't want to tell me, or he was just messing with me.“Well, if you want to stick around, that's your choice, but I'm going to pretend you aren't here.”Do whatever you want. He was starting to get on my nerves. I walked to the doorway. Once I was through there, I was going to pretend I was normal.“Okay, I'm going to stop talking to you now.”Silence.“Thank you.” I took a step.You're welcome.“Ugh, stop it!”

Don't forget to add Whisper to your Goodreads shelf.



Do you believe in spirits? Comment below by May 28th for your change to win a $10 Amazon gift card! Want a chance to win an ecopy sent to you the day before it's released? Visit some of my amazing friends to enter. There will be one copy per blog, so there are plenty of chances to win!

Gloria from Globug Needs a BookCameron from What the Cat ReadLaura from Little Read Riding HoodTess from My Pathway to BooksAvery from Avery's Book NookMelanie from Have You Heard My Book ReviewJess from Lover of ParanormalRen from Ren's RamblesTiffany from Escaping...One Book @ a TimeAuthor M. LeightonAuthor Brina CourtneyOpen Book SocietyTeAm NeRd

Coming soon... Details on the Whisper Cover Reveal!

I decided to do some exciting things with my next release, Whisper, which is coming out June 16. One of those is a cover reveal. I thought it would be more fun if I did it on a few other blogs than just mine, and somehow it's turned into an unofficial blog tour kinda thing! Oh, and there will be giveaways :)

Here's the list of participants so far:
Gloria from Globug Needs a Book
Cameron from What the Cat Read
Laura from Little Read Riding Hood
Tess from My Pathway to Books
Avery from Avery's Book Nook
Melanie from Have You Heard My Book Review
Jess from Lover of Paranormal
Ren from Ren's Rambles
Tiffany from Escaping...One Book @ a Time
Author M. Leighton
Author Brina Courtney
Open Book Society
TeAm NeRd

So at each place there will be a chance to win an ecopy in the format of your choice (mobi or epub) sent to you the night before it releases to the world. There will also be a giveaway here for a $10 Amazon Gift card.

Gah! I finished the cover yesterday and I can't wait to share it with you, but alas, it will have to wait until Wednesday :(

I know I've been MIA on the blog lately, and Whisper is why. I've finally hired an editor and I have my first non-self-imposed deadline with her. So I've been locked in the writing cave. Which is a good thing :)

Cover reveal for Hell Hath No Fury (Kelly and Umber Series #2) and Interview with Bill Blais!

Today I have author Bill Blais visiting for an interview and the cover reveal for his new book, Hell Hath No Fury! 


Here's a little more about Bill:
Bill Blais is a writer, web developer and perennial
part-time college instructor. His novels include Witness (winner ofthe Next Generation Indie Book Award for Fantasy) and the Kelly &Umber urban fantasy series. Bill graduated from Skidmore Collegebefore earning an MA in Medieval Studies from University CollegeLondon. He lives in Maine with his wife and daughter.


And here's more about Hell Hath No Fury:
After the horrific events under the streets of New York
City, Kelly McGinnis quit the team of demon hunters who had recruited
her and did everything she could to put the experience behind her. Six
months later, life is nearly normal, complete with bills, school for
her children and hospital visits for her husband.

Dreams of Umber --the handsome and intriguing incubus she
saved--continue to tease Kelly’s sleep, but it is only when far darker
dreams--and worse--begin to infect her children, that Kelly discovers
what happens if you stop hunting
demons.

They start hunting you.



Oooooo... Demon hunters? Incubi? Yes, please!


On to the interview:



Chelsea: Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Bill Blais: Actually, no. When I was young, I was certain that I was going to attend MIT and be a super math genius. I loved math. Then I took algebra. Not an awesome experience. I remember laughing at my grades while my classmates were aghast. Writing wasn't necessarily next in line, but reading had always been there, and this only grew until my sophomore English class in high school, when I first tried my hand at stories of my own. Writing has been part of who I am ever since and I felt confident that I could make a living at it someday.

Chelsea: What influenced your decision to indie publish? Are you still pursuing the traditional route?
Bill Blias: I suppose the most direct influence was the impending birth of our baby. My wife has been a constant and steadfast supporter of publishing the books myself, but to be honest, going indie with the Kelly & Umber series was a major hurdle for me because I had been (and, to some extent, remain) indoctrinated with the traditional publishing model and the associations that go with it, particularly this one: if no-one will pay me to have my own work published, then it can't be that good, can it?

I struggled with this for a long time, but as the rejections for No Good Deed piled up (as they do - I thought I had a major editor interested, at one point, but that didn't go anywhere), I kept an eye on the growth of e-books and self-publishing. More importantly, though, I finished the last revision of Hell Hath No Fury the next year. More rejections. Then I finished Another Night at the End of the World. More rejections.

As I was finishing the second revision of yet another novel, we discovered we were pregnant and suddenly there was a sense of urgency I hadn't really felt before. Not pressure, exactly, but a kick-in-the-pants kind of "Hey! What are you waiting for?!"

So I took another look back at what I'd written and realized that I thought I had some pretty cool stuff, and the indie- and self-publishing options had come a long way. We didn't have the money for print, but places like Smashwords and Amazon were making it easy. Yes, the odds are still heavily stacked against indie and self-pub authors, but the possibility is now very concretely there.

So, after yet more encouragement (cajoling) from my wife, I finally took the leap. Of course, being me, I waited to do it until mere weeks before the baby was due, but I finished the futzing and finagling of getting each book to look and feel professional and posted them to Amazon the week before our little girl was born.

And a good thing, too, or I wouldn't be here talking to you today if I hadn't.
Am I still pursuing traditional publishing? I don't really know. I certainly wouldn't say no if someone read a digital copy and wanted to publish them (duh!), but I'm invested in a couple of series right now (Kelly & Umber and All Prophets are Liars) and now that I've self-published the first of these, there seems no interest in picking them up after the fact. I have other stand-alone books planned, and I will probably give them a go in the traditional market, but what I'm really committed to is writing. The indie publishing world is wide open, and I'm excited to see what there is to see.

Chelsea: I heard you had a new baby (Congrats!). How do you balance writing with all your other responsibilities?

Bill Blais: Thanks very much! It's still an awe-inspiring and thrilling and difficult and wondrous thing that beggars description. It's also a most fabulous consumer of time, so the real answer to your question is that I've had to scale back the writing accordingly (though I'm back to at least abiding by my 5-minute rule). I've worked multiple part-time jobs (teacher, web developer, etc.) for much of my adult life, so time management is something I've been pretty good at, but caring for a baby is far, far, FAR more than a part time job, and none of what I do would be possible without my wife (have I mentioned how amazing she is?).

The key thing, I suppose, is that writing is part of who I am. If I am not writing regularly, however much or little, I get quite unpleasant to be around. In order to be the best husband, friend and father I can be, I need to make sure I make time for my writing. One more reason having a partner who supports you is so important, whatever it is that you do.

Chelsea: What is the best writing advice you've ever received? What's the worst?

Bill Blais: Kill your babies (the literary ones, of course). In my early writing, I loved everything I wrote, and I believed that if I felt that strongly about something, it had to stay. Over the years, I have learned that the things I tend to feel most strongly about are the ones most in need of cutting from a story. It's amazing how this can continue to happen, but it sneaks up on me in everything I write, until I take a good fresh look at the page and demand a rationale for why I keep holding on so tightly to a particular scene. The sooner I can get to this point (and I've moved from 13 revisions down to 5-7!), the better.

The worst? I don't know that I've heard it said, but the flip side of the above is my greatest writing obstacle. I actually enjoy revisions, at least as much as the initial draft, if not more, so my initial approach is to try to make a piece as perfect as I can before putting it out there. There's no such thing as perfect, though, so this leads to madness (like, say, revising something 13 times).
Chelsea: Quick, it's 12/21/12 and the zombie apocalypse is upon us. Your family is safe inside the bunker already and you have five minutes to choose five things to bring with you. What would you choose?
Bill Blais: Oh, this is bad. Zombies are very much not my thing. I've never even seen a zombie film and I didn't read that handbook that came out a few years ago, so I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. If I somehow managed not to lose the keys to the bunker (seriously, just ask my wife) and thereby doom my loved ones to a hideous death, I suppose I would bring a series of incredibly un-unuseful things: 1) my copy of The Riverside Shakespeare, 2) a lot of blank paper, 3) a bunch of pencils, 4) a pencil sharpener, and 5) a bat (well? I had to pick something, right? Guns run out of ammo and blades lose their edge, but a bat you can trust, right?).
Thanks for the great questions, Chelsea, and for having me by. Okay, so I realize that last answer was probably lame, but I really would be useless in such a situation. Zombies terrify me. Seriously.

Great answers, Bill! Now, on to the cover reveal.... (drumroll)


Wow! Those eyes really get to you, don't they? You want it now, don't you?
Bill's Website and Blog: http://www.billblais.com/

Where to Buy the Kelly and Umber Series books:

No Good Deed (Kelly and Umber #1):
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Kelly-Umber-Novel-ebook/dp/B007IXY6UC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335582057&sr=1-1

Hell Hath No Fury (Kelly and Umber #2):
http://www.amazon.com/Hell-Kelly-Umber-Novel-ebook/dp/B007IXY7RE/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335921706&sr=1-7

Read Sample Chapters of both books:

No Good Deed: http://www.billblais.com/books/no-good-deed/no-good-deed-excerpt/

Hell Hath No Fury:
http://www.billblais.com/books/hell-hath-no-fury/hell-hath-no-fury-excerpt/
Be sure to hit the other stops on the tour for more interviews and content!

In which I make a hard decision...

Here goes: I set the release date for Whisper before I had gotten very far into editing. Now that I'm in deep, I realize it's not going to be possible to stick to the original date of June 6, and still give you a quality book. Indie authors are constantly under the pressure (more so than trad. pubbed) to produce more books. A lot of this pressure is put on us by ourselves. No one can pressure me more than myself. But I also want to get it out for you. For the readers who want to see what I have next.

Could I absolutely kill myself and get no sleep for the next couple of weeks and get the book out by June 6? Probably, but I'd be an unhappy author person, and I don't want to hate this book or resent it. I want to get wrapped up in the story and know that when I hit the publish button, it's the best I can give you.

So that's why I'm pushing the date to June 16. It's only a week and a half later, but I have vacation from work, so I'll be able to devote my full attention to it. Also, this is the first book I'll also be doing in paperback. I'm not sure how long it's going to take me to format and get the proofs and all that, but I'm hoping by the end of June to have them so I can GIVE SOME OF THEM AWAY!!! The idea of actually having a physical thing to give away just tickles me.

In the long run, this will be better for everyone, and, most importantly, for my books. Please don't be mad :) I'll have lots of prizes to make up for it. Oh, and the cover reveal will still be on May 23.

Duh, winning... (Winners of The Spring Fling Giveaway Hop!)

So I've got some winners!!!!!! I had 541 entries, which is the biggest giveaway I've had yet :) Thanks everyone for entering!

The first winner of a $10 Amazon Gift card is.....

Vendea!


The winner of an ecopy of Nocturnal is.....

Emily R!


I'll be emailing you shortly.

As for everyone who didn't win.... I have good news!!! Nocturnal will be on sale for 99 cents on Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day. Nocturnal features the unbreakable bond of Ava and her mother. Get your copy while it's on sale :)