Joey Paul's Blog, page 244
May 14, 2016
Inside The Author: Why An Indie Author?
WHY AN INDIE AUTHOR?
After I finished BLACKOUT in 2002, I started to approach agents and publishers. I got rejection letter after rejection letter and after a while, I gave up. What was the point in writing all this if no one was ever going to read it? As some of you who follow my blog will know, it wasn't until late 2004/early 2005 that I was approached by the self publishing company AuthorHouse who were offering me the chance to publish BLACKOUT through them for a price. I don't regret that decision, it was the right one for me at the time and it pushed me into the writing world head first and I was determined that I wouldn't sink.
About six months after BLACKOUT was released in August 2005, I was again approached with the possibility of becoming an indie author. It took me a long time to get to a point where I could make that decision and implement it and it wasn't until 2011 that BLACKOUT was released as an e-book on Amazon through an independent label, Bug Books. When my second and third book were released the following year, I found myself once again being flung head first into the indie author pool and this time, I had a lot more control.
By control, I mean the ability to set my own prices, to choose release dates and to work with an editor whose opinion and work ethic I admired. I was also able to work alongside my best friend and carer, B, with her designing my book covers. She'd done the same with my first book before it was released, but this time I was able to pay both her and my editor a percentage of what I earned in royalties. Now that I am more established as an indie author, they both get a flat rate sum depending on the level of work they have to do. This is something I wasn't able to do when I was reliant on what is basically a vanity publishing house. They gave me a set choice of prices and although I chose the lowest one, it was still a huge amount to expect someone to pay for a paperback from an author they had never heard of before.
It wasn't an easy start, and it wasn't any easier once I got started. Being an indie author is hard work. Not that working with a traditional publishing house is a walk in the park, but an indie author doesn't have as much back-up as those authors have. I am 100% responsible for a number of things. I have to promote myself, run my Facebook page, work out how much tax I have to pay and so on. It's not easy and it's not cheap. Due to the fact that Bug Books is my own indie label, I am on my own. Other indie authors go through independent publishers and that works for them as they are able to share some of the tasks out through the company. However, you'll find that even then, a lot of the promotion and every day admin tasks still fall on the author themselves.
There is also the problem of the backlash from traditionally published authors, as well as the misconception readers may have that because your work is not published through the big six publishing houses then it must not be any good, or that you don't edit and just publish the first draft, which in my circle of author friends who are indie, is not true. I pay for an editor, but I also have beta readers and proof readers who help to double check that my work is as correct and to make sure that mistakes won't make it into the final draft. B works hard on my covers, and is redoing all the older ones at the moment to make them look that much better.
Juggling all of that alongside being chronically ill, and also being a part time university student, is hard work. I have emails to reply to, and blog posts to write. I have to make sure that I get the rest I need so that I don't overdo it and get sick just when I can't afford to take time off. In the future, I plan to hire an assistant, but for now, it's just me, my editor, Antonia, my proof-reader, Natalie, and my cover artist, B.
Having said all of that, I love being an indie author. I love working for myself and creating my stories. I don't like having to edit, but not everybody likes every aspect of their job. I became an indie author because I believed, and still do, that I had stories to tell and I wanted people to be able to read them. I write because it's something I love to do and being an indie author and not tied to a contract allows me to do that. It's hard work, but seeing a review from someone who brought, read and enjoyed my books means the world to me and I wouldn't stop doing it for anything.
Follow Joey here on her blog, on Facebook, or Tumblr to be sure to be kept up to date with the latest news regarding Joey and her books.
May 9, 2016
May 7, 2016
Inside The Author: Why The Paranormal Genre?
WHY THE PARANORMAL GENRE
When I started the DYING THOUGHTS series, I didn't even consider what genre they would fit into. All I wanted was for them to be aimed at young adults and have a crime and mystery theme. It wasn't until they started to get published that I had to seriously think about what genre they fitted into. That's when I realised that Tara's gift ensured they fell squarely into the paranormal and supernatural genre. I know it sounds silly, but I just hadn't realised it before then. Now, I embrace it and have written another book or two that would also be considered as part of that genre.
You see, with the other genres I've written about, I've had a certain fondness for them myself. Either growing up or in my adult reading life, I'd come across authors who did them well and I found myself enjoying them. However, I wasn't too fond of what would be considered paranormal. I'm not a huge fan of vampires or werewolves, yet I loved watching Buffy and I adored the Harry Potter books, but when I would look for books to read and see the paranormal or supernatural label, I would find myself shying away from them. I still do it today.
Don't get me wrong, I'll read the blurb on the back and I'll see if it's something that I'd like to try, and when mixed with a crime and mystery plot line, I'll probably read it and enjoy it. Yet, I still wouldn't call myself someone who enjoys paranormal fiction. There's nothing wrong with it, I just like to have some of the fiction I read based in some kind of reality. So, I hear you ask, why would I then write the books I've written that have used aspects of things that aren't considered reality? To be honest, my answer would be that I never planned or realised that they were. Sounds silly, doesn't it? Well, have you ever looked for something and given up because you can't find it and then have it pointed out to you? You're like "Oh, yeah!" and then you feel a little bit stupid because you couldn't see what was right in front of you?
That's what I'm talking about. It wasn't that I went out of my way to give Tara the gift she has, or to write the books with that particular genre in mind, it just seemed to have ended up like that. Even now, nearly thirteen years after I put pen to paper and brought her to life, I still wonder how I got into the genre in the first place. I mean, everyone has either read or at least heard of J. K. Rowling and her sucess with the Harry Potter books. Moving on to a more recent TV reference, Supernatural is also a big show - and one I've recently started to watch and enjoy - but somehow, I managed to end up in this genre and not really know how I got there in the first place.
I love writing Tara and even got to the point when after finishing the fifth book, I decided to extend the serious to at least seven and I can see myself carry it on a few more books after that. So, I do enjoy writing in the paranormal genre, I just don't really know how I ended up in it. Maybe I took a wrong turn somewhere!
Follow Joey here on her blog, on Facebook, or Tumblr to be sure to be kept up to date with the latest news regarding Joey and her books.
May 6, 2016
From Joey's Instagram
A difficult day but doing okay now. The sun is shining, it's nice and warm and I got my writing to do! #beingawriter #writing #writerlife #joeywrites #indieauthor #amwriting #authorsofinstagram #goals #chronicillness #spoonie #oxygenuser #wheelchairuserA photo posted by Joey Paul (@joeybug) on May 6, 2016 at 8:20am PDT
[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A picture of Joey Paul (me), a woman with short bobbed brown hair, wire-rimmed glasses, and a round face. She is wearing a nasal oxygen cannula, which joins under her chin. You can see her office in the background and she is wearing a white tank top, though only the straps are visible. The caption of the photograph reads: A difficult day, but doing okay now. The sun is shining, it's nice and warm and I got my writing to do! #beingawriter #writing #writerlife #joeywrites #indieauthor #amwriting #authorsofinstagram #goals #chronicllness #spoonie #oxygenuser #wheelchairuser]
May 3, 2016
April #JoWriMoGo final tally!
April's #JoWriMoGo tally stands at 93 pages written, 45,952 words written and 20 chapters written! A new personal record!! The plan now is to keep the momentum going into May!
April 28, 2016
Random Booktube - The Story Behind #JoWriMoGo - April 2016
RANDOM BOOKTUBETHE STORY BEHIND #JOWRIMOGOAPRIL 2016
April 27, 2016
From Joey's Instagram
After a month of lots of work and a day of #writing it's nice to relax in bed with my tablet and chat with a friend. Another chapter to write tomorrow and a new record this month for words, pages and chapters! #jowrimogo #indieauthor #joeywrites #beingawriter #writerlife #relaxingA photo posted by Joey Paul (@joeybug) on Apr 27, 2016 at 12:09pm PDT
[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Photo of Joey Paul sat up in bed smiling. She is a white woman, with a chubby face and wire-rimmed glasses. She has a short bob of brown hair and is wearing a grey tank top, though only the straps are visible in the photo.
Caption reads: "After a month of lots of work and a day of writing it's nice to relax in bed with my tablet and chat with a friend. Another chapter to write tomorrow and a new record this month for words, pages, and chapters!"]
Inside The Author: Why The Romance Genre?
WHY THE ROMANCE GENRE?
The only one of my books that has been published so far that fits into the romance genre has been WAITING ON YOU. As an adult reader, I do admit to having a bit of a guilty pleasure for romance novels, or what some people call "chick lit". I like to read books by authors such as Jill Mansell or Sophie Kinsella, who have written excellent stories about characters that you can relate to falling in love and living somewhat happily ever after. While there are many other writers in the young adult genre who do the same, such as as John Green and his excellent book "THE FAULT IN OUR STARS", I wanted to challenge myself to write my own romance novel.
So I did, and WAITING ON YOU was the result. I didn't want it to be a generic boy meets girl, girl falls in love, boy falls in love too, boy and girl live happily ever after romance. While it does have some of that in there, it's not the whole story. I wanted to look at two different ends of the spectrum. On one end, there's a girl from a poor family, who has dealt with some form of verbal, emotional and physical abuse pretty much her whole life. She is looking for, and waiting patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) for her fairytale ending.
On the other side of the scale there is Zack, who has a rather large, but very loving family. He has a lot of responsibility placed on his shoulders at the young age of sixteen and although his parents care and have provided him and his siblings with all they should need in life, there is the fact that they are rarely home when the children are awake. However, Zack just sees it as normal life because he's never really known much different through his teenage years.
I also wanted to include some aspect of a long distance relationship, as it's something that I have experienced personally, both in a positive sense and a negative one. It's a sign of the times we live in that people can fall in love with someone they have never met in person. There is technology such as Skype, online chat rooms, texting apps and much more that allows people from one country to communicate with someone else who may be around the world from them. While I know of people who have been in successful long distance relationships that began as online only, I also know others who have had a difficult time and a less than positive ending. By no means is the story supposed to comment on the validity of those relationships. As with many things, your mileage may vary.
What I did want when I wrote WAITING ON YOU in 2007 was to show how much more open the world was to people from other countries meeting and cultivating relationships either as friends or romantically. I wanted to show that it was possible for people to fall in love and find, as Zack and Angelina did, that distance can be a factor with being with the person you love. I wanted to tell their story in their own words and for that, I needed to write something in the romance genre. I won't pretend that it was plain sailing for me because usually I am strictly a crime and mystery genre person, with the occasional dabble in paranormal and supernatural. At times I found that it was an uphill struggle, whereas at other times it worked for me and I did enjoy the challenge
As for whether I will ever dip my toes into this genre's sandbox again, I don't know. I am getting close to writing another book that crosses all three genres, though the romance aspect is more subtle and could be considered a minor plot point. As I plan to stick with writing in the Young Adult genre, it's highly likely that there will be more romance novels from me. What they will be, I have no idea. I guess you'll have to wait to find out!
Follow Joey here on her blog, on Facebook, or Tumblr to be sure to be kept up to date with the latest news regarding Joey and her books.
April 25, 2016
Cover Reveal: Destination: Unknown
[image description: book cover art, the background is paving stones with tufts of grass through the edges of the brown dark stones. In the middle of the picture there is an orange and white ticket that reads:Destination: Unknown. At the bottom left of the ticket is the Railway sign and on the bottom right are small text which reads : SINGLE 2010. Just below the first ticket is a second one, a beige-brown coloured ticket that has across the centre: Joey Paul. On both sides of the ticket is: 1910. The top of the ticket has “2nd - Single” on it.]
Random Booktube - Cover Reveal - Desintation: Unknown - April 2016
RANDOM BOOKTUBECOVER REVEALDESTINATION: UNKNOWNOUT SUMMER 2016
