Mik Everett's Blog, page 2
November 14, 2012
Well, it's official.
I'm officially far enough along that I can start claiming that I am 'working on my second novel.'
November 10, 2012
Last day to vote!
No, no, I know the presidency thing ended Tuesday. I mean the Goodreads Choice Awards! And I'd really appreciate every vote cast for Turtle in the Memoirs category. Just go to http://www.goodreads.com/award/choice... and enter the ISBN (0615634621) followed by a space and it will pop up. Thanks! :)Turtle
August 3, 2012
Introducing: Brainfood Bookstore!
Hey, if you're an indie author, artist, or musician-- or like buying the art that said individuals create-- you're going to want to read this.
As an indie author, something that really bothered me was how few independent bookstores actually carry independently-published books. For a while, I've been toying with the idea of opening a bookstore that would change this; recently, my better half (John) decided to start a brewery. We decided to join forces and open a beer-and-books store.
But wait! That's not all. We will also sell food, art, host live music, and have a kid-friendly atmosphere.
Our business will be opening in Nederland, Colorado, but even if you live on the other side of the world, this is still valuable information for you! One, we will be carrying books/ art/ music on consignment from authors and artists all around the world. Two, we are currently running an Indiegogo campaign with some marvelous perks for authors and artists.
For example, imagine someone halfway around the world is drinking their beer. They look down at the label, and notice a short story-- perhaps a 500-word excerpt from your latest novel. But only 500 words. they want to read more! Luckily, your name and the name of your book are right below the excerpt. And the book is sold in the same store as the beer. Would you like to be an author who gains readers from our beer-label art initiative?
To learn more about Brainfood, or other perks available to artists and authors, please visit http://igg.me/p/189088?a=942011
And be sure to 'like' on Facebook, share on Twitter, and tell all your friends! :)
As an indie author, something that really bothered me was how few independent bookstores actually carry independently-published books. For a while, I've been toying with the idea of opening a bookstore that would change this; recently, my better half (John) decided to start a brewery. We decided to join forces and open a beer-and-books store.
But wait! That's not all. We will also sell food, art, host live music, and have a kid-friendly atmosphere.
Our business will be opening in Nederland, Colorado, but even if you live on the other side of the world, this is still valuable information for you! One, we will be carrying books/ art/ music on consignment from authors and artists all around the world. Two, we are currently running an Indiegogo campaign with some marvelous perks for authors and artists.
For example, imagine someone halfway around the world is drinking their beer. They look down at the label, and notice a short story-- perhaps a 500-word excerpt from your latest novel. But only 500 words. they want to read more! Luckily, your name and the name of your book are right below the excerpt. And the book is sold in the same store as the beer. Would you like to be an author who gains readers from our beer-label art initiative?
To learn more about Brainfood, or other perks available to artists and authors, please visit http://igg.me/p/189088?a=942011
And be sure to 'like' on Facebook, share on Twitter, and tell all your friends! :)
July 20, 2012
Check out the new review at First 7500 Words!
From: http://first7500words.blogspot.com/20...
Characters:
5/5
Of course you're all probably thinking: "Well DUH, it's a memoir--all the characters are real people." Well I will tell you that memoirs are not video tape recordings and it still takes a very talented writer to pull them off properly. The characters in this novel, including our narrator, are going to captivate you. The author writes in a style that is very straight forward, matter-of-fact, detached-- but NOT cold. Have you read any Kurt Vonnegut? That's what this is like. Sometimes we go from one topic to another so abruptly that it feels like a tangent. And it is. And it's not. Everything is meaningful, just like a Vonnegut book. You have to read it twice to really take all you can out of the thing. All of the characters are so incredibly REAL, and you sometimes wish real people WEREN'T like this. The novel strips the mask off of the face of society and just tells us how shit is. It's so real. It's so awful. In the novel, it is described as a story about lies, and deceit and a world of non-sequiturs. I'm just going to call it a story about life and save myself the extra words. The characters are real, and you see reflected in them, yourself. You hate them for it. You hate yourself for it. You want to take a really hot shower to the point where you cannot breathe the air for its humidity. Then you write some emo poetry before hopefully finishing the novel if the state of the world doesn't depress you so much that you decide to jump off a bridge.
Setting:
5/5
Not going to mention much about this, just that you know what's going on/where you are, blah blah blah. It's a freakin' memoir.
Plot:
5/5
The plot is of course, real. This is why I wasn't going to accept non-fiction. Because it is hard for me to critique it on things besides grammar and stuff. But this plot is not only real and captivating, it is written perfectly and it will haunt you. It will make you question the state of the world. Are we civilized at all? How do people become the way they are? Even in the first 7500 words, I can tell that this is a superb introspective tale that will not only provide an interesting read, but help you gain some ancient wisdom about the world and people. This is how shit is. You know, I am always telling people to read Machiavelli's The Prince. Is it because I am secretly in love with a dead man? Maybe. Is it because he is a freakin' smart ass? Sure. But mostly I tell people to go read Machiavelli's The Prince, because Machiavelli just plains TELLS IT HOW IT IS. Of course everyone and his cousin seems to think Machiavelli a savage, a demon's spawn, a cretin scourge. But they don't understand the difference between acknowledging something and condoning it. And there is a gigantic difference. Like Machiavelli's The Prince, I am sure Turtle will be misunderstood by some people. Luckily, we don't have to deal with bad translators being bad. I know some people will read Turtle and be all "This is a depraved lot of nonsense." Well sure. It's depraved. But it's not nonsense. There's a severe problem in the world and that is the very fact that nobody wants to understand PEOPLE. The plot of this story will weave a web of philosophical insight around your mind that you will not be able to escape. This is not a story of what SHOULD be. This is a well-written example of what IS.
Grammar/Spelling:
5/5
I found nothing. You win.
Punctuation:
5/5
See above.
Structure:
5/5
Like I said earlier, anybody who loves to read Vonnegut, and that should be all of you, will delight in the very structure of this novel. It beautifully switches from scene to scene, jumping around in time to show us what we need to see next. There are seeming tangents by the loads and we lap these up like parched dogs. We feel connected to the author. When you read a memoir, the author is sharing a life with you. I have always said that Time is the most valuable of all currencies, and when we read a memoir, somebody is sharing that with us. It is a gift, the greatest gift you can give anyone, to share Time with them, to share a life, ideas, feelings, and stories. I had a difficult time stopping at the 7500 words.
Potential Beyond 7500 Words:
5/5
Preview it, buy it, torrent it, do something. Everybody needs to read this novel right now. Go do it. It's beautiful, it's awful, it's so wrong and so so right. You want it, you hate it, you don't know WHAT you feel. And that is exactly everything a book should be.
Characters:
5/5
Of course you're all probably thinking: "Well DUH, it's a memoir--all the characters are real people." Well I will tell you that memoirs are not video tape recordings and it still takes a very talented writer to pull them off properly. The characters in this novel, including our narrator, are going to captivate you. The author writes in a style that is very straight forward, matter-of-fact, detached-- but NOT cold. Have you read any Kurt Vonnegut? That's what this is like. Sometimes we go from one topic to another so abruptly that it feels like a tangent. And it is. And it's not. Everything is meaningful, just like a Vonnegut book. You have to read it twice to really take all you can out of the thing. All of the characters are so incredibly REAL, and you sometimes wish real people WEREN'T like this. The novel strips the mask off of the face of society and just tells us how shit is. It's so real. It's so awful. In the novel, it is described as a story about lies, and deceit and a world of non-sequiturs. I'm just going to call it a story about life and save myself the extra words. The characters are real, and you see reflected in them, yourself. You hate them for it. You hate yourself for it. You want to take a really hot shower to the point where you cannot breathe the air for its humidity. Then you write some emo poetry before hopefully finishing the novel if the state of the world doesn't depress you so much that you decide to jump off a bridge.
Setting:
5/5
Not going to mention much about this, just that you know what's going on/where you are, blah blah blah. It's a freakin' memoir.
Plot:
5/5
The plot is of course, real. This is why I wasn't going to accept non-fiction. Because it is hard for me to critique it on things besides grammar and stuff. But this plot is not only real and captivating, it is written perfectly and it will haunt you. It will make you question the state of the world. Are we civilized at all? How do people become the way they are? Even in the first 7500 words, I can tell that this is a superb introspective tale that will not only provide an interesting read, but help you gain some ancient wisdom about the world and people. This is how shit is. You know, I am always telling people to read Machiavelli's The Prince. Is it because I am secretly in love with a dead man? Maybe. Is it because he is a freakin' smart ass? Sure. But mostly I tell people to go read Machiavelli's The Prince, because Machiavelli just plains TELLS IT HOW IT IS. Of course everyone and his cousin seems to think Machiavelli a savage, a demon's spawn, a cretin scourge. But they don't understand the difference between acknowledging something and condoning it. And there is a gigantic difference. Like Machiavelli's The Prince, I am sure Turtle will be misunderstood by some people. Luckily, we don't have to deal with bad translators being bad. I know some people will read Turtle and be all "This is a depraved lot of nonsense." Well sure. It's depraved. But it's not nonsense. There's a severe problem in the world and that is the very fact that nobody wants to understand PEOPLE. The plot of this story will weave a web of philosophical insight around your mind that you will not be able to escape. This is not a story of what SHOULD be. This is a well-written example of what IS.
Grammar/Spelling:
5/5
I found nothing. You win.
Punctuation:
5/5
See above.
Structure:
5/5
Like I said earlier, anybody who loves to read Vonnegut, and that should be all of you, will delight in the very structure of this novel. It beautifully switches from scene to scene, jumping around in time to show us what we need to see next. There are seeming tangents by the loads and we lap these up like parched dogs. We feel connected to the author. When you read a memoir, the author is sharing a life with you. I have always said that Time is the most valuable of all currencies, and when we read a memoir, somebody is sharing that with us. It is a gift, the greatest gift you can give anyone, to share Time with them, to share a life, ideas, feelings, and stories. I had a difficult time stopping at the 7500 words.
Potential Beyond 7500 Words:
5/5
Preview it, buy it, torrent it, do something. Everybody needs to read this novel right now. Go do it. It's beautiful, it's awful, it's so wrong and so so right. You want it, you hate it, you don't know WHAT you feel. And that is exactly everything a book should be.
July 19, 2012
Where else can you follow me?
You might be reading my blog, but where can you get other cool updates?
You can follow my Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/missmikeverett
You can read my publications for Pretty Magazine: http://prettyprettymagazine.wordpress...
You can join the Q&A group here on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/7...
You can like Turtle on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ReadTurtle
You can follow my Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/missmikeverett
You can read my publications for Pretty Magazine: http://prettyprettymagazine.wordpress...
You can join the Q&A group here on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/7...
You can like Turtle on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ReadTurtle
July 9, 2012
Free Books Download-- Limited Time!
The Miscellaneous Books group is currently reading Turtle, among others, for their Book of the Month. In honor of that, it will be downloadable- free!- for a short time only. Get it quick, because after a few days, it will revert to being an excerpt, with the entirety of the book available for purchase.
And once you've read Turtle, be sure to head on over to Miscellaneous Reads and give your input. :)
And once you've read Turtle, be sure to head on over to Miscellaneous Reads and give your input. :)
July 5, 2012
Check out my author interview with IndieBookSpot.
From: http://indiebookspot.com/2012/07/05/i...
Mik Everett, author of Turtle: The American Contrition of Franz Ferdinand, talks about her approach to writing and her plans for the future.
Why do you write? Is it something you’ve always done, or always wanted to do? Or is it something that you started fairly recently?
I’ve been a writer since I was a child. When I was probably two or three I told my grandmother that I was going to be a ‘bookmaker,’ unaware that what that word meant and what I was talking about were two completely different things. To be fair, I have had more success in writing than in bet-taking.
Tell me a little about your book.
Probably the most important thing about it, and the thing I hesitate to emphasize, is that it is non-fiction. It is a memoir. It’s daunting to remind people of that because they act like it makes no difference. The second thing is that it is not about me. I’m just the narrator. I’m the Nick Carraway. It’s about my mother. She’s the Gatsby of the story. The third thing is that it is not a story about the truth. If that seems contradictory, that it is a non-fiction memoir that isn’t about truth, you should think about how much of their daily lives most people spend deceiving each other. Or themselves.
The story starts with an accusation of rape, but it’s not a story about rape. It’s not a story about how a girl was raped or why she was raped or whether or not she was raped. Remember, it isn’t a story about the truth. If you’re more interested in the thematics of the story, it’s about a girl raised in poverty in the rural, isolated Deep South, raised with a certain set of morals and ideals and gender roles that are native to that culture. And now she’s living in two-car garage picket-fence All-American Midwest Suburbia and those morals and ideals gender roles don’t work anymore. You pick the values that make you a good, virtuous person in one culture, and they don’t necessarily make you a good, virtuous person in another culture. That can be very confusing, very heartbreaking, especially if you’ve sacrificed a great deal to conform to them.
Are there any authors who inspire you?
Margaret Atwood is probably one of my greatest inspirations. I read The Blind Assassin my sophomore year of high school, about the same time I began work on Turtle. It was the first place I ever saw the F-word in print. At the time, it really smashed up my delusions about what great literature was supposed to be and what conventions it had to conform to. I re-read it again in the spring of 2012, and it was what really gave me the push to self-publish. The Blind Assassin is fictional, but it’s essentially about an old lady who redeems herself by finally writing the truth. I have a lot of that going on in my story. Some of my other biggest inspirations are Harper Lee, Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter S Thompson, and Maxine Hong Kingston.
How do you write? Do you make yourself write a certain number of words per day?
I’ve learned that you can’t force writing. I don’t have any routines or dogmas I prescribe to. I write when I feel like writing. My only habit is that I always carry a Moleskine notebook and a Uniball pen, so I can write an idea or a phrase down if something strikes me. I have this idea that if you don’t have a favorite brand of notebook or pen, you’re not a writer. I have all different sizes of Moleskines and thicknesses of Uniballs. So does my boyfriend. He’s a writer, too. They’re in my purse, in our car, in our bedroom, in the pockets of our jackets, all over our house. If I can’t find one of mine, I write something down in his, and vice-versa. We’re always getting our notebooks mixed up.
Did you try to get a conventional publisher or agent interested before you opted for self-publishing?
I half-heartedly sent out a few query letters, but I really didn’t want to hand over my story to someone else to edit and change the wording and tell me how the plot should go. It seems that conventional publishing has become, as Henry Miller would say, a hard industry, like steel or cellophaned bread. Publishing isn’t like the old days. Scribner used to have a relationship with Hemingway and Fitzgerald. I knew I’d never be able to have that, so I just didn’t want to go that route.
What goals have you set yourself? Do you want to sell a certain number of books in 2012? Is there some way you measure success, on your own terms?
This book had been like a parasite or an infant, sucking my blood and soul for five years. Now that it finally stands on its own, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to live off of it for a while. I support myself through book sales and freelance writing for a few local magazines. To me, success is not having to be gainfully employed. I hate being gainfully employed. It’s really the worst.
But in all seriousness, I published the story. I told the truth. That’s success.
How have you marketed your book?
I have a moderate following on the internet, and that’s really helped me. Social media is invaluable. I wrote this dumb thing in five minutes called What Happens If You Fall in Love With a Writer? that went viral about six months ago, and that gained me some exposure. I’ve spent about $30 total on ads. From what I can tell, though, nothing is a substitute for people reading it and liking it. Your best advertisers are the ones you don’t have to pay because they feel they’ve already been reimbursed, just for getting to read your work.
Have you signed up for KDP Select?
Free promotions are the best. The vast majority of my truly excellent reviews are from people who read my ebook because it was free, and the vast majority of my paid sales are from people who bought the book because they were so impressed with the reviews. I’m pretty sure that half of the key to being successful as an author is getting people to actually read your book. The other half is people liking it. Note which half comes first.
Away from Amazon, have you had much luck with other outlets? Do you use Smashwords, Barnes & Noble etc?
My novel is available from Barnes & Noble online, but I have no idea how. They must have gotten it from some outlet that CreateSpace provides. I know that people can request it to be shipped to the store if they don’t want to pay shipping. I don’t even know how Barnes & Noble works. I sell a lot of copies on consignment at local indie bookstores. That’s more work because you have to fill out a contract with each individual store, and make sure you have extra copies on hand to re-stock them when they run out. But it’s worth it. I want to see independent bookstores continue to not only survive, but thrive.
Do you worry about Amazon gaining a monopoly in the ebook market?
Not as much as I worry about the ebook market gaining a monopoly in the book market.
What’s next? Are you working on anything at the moment? Do you have anything new coming out in 2012?
My next novel is actually fiction. Mostly. Think Through The Looking Glass but with logical proofs instead of a chess game. I’m a former logic instructor. The plot is more This Side of Paradise, though. It won’t be completed by the end of 2012. 2013 or 2014 if I’m lucky. I’m graduating from college in December of 2012, so there’s that. Oh, and my kids. Having a two-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son and keeping them from getting into household chemicals is really my main project right now. I’m teaching them to dress themselves and to not eat bugs and to write.
Mik Everett’s Turtle: The American Contrition of Franz Ferdinand is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. You can also follow her on Twitter, and visit the book’s Facebook page.
Mik Everett, author of Turtle: The American Contrition of Franz Ferdinand, talks about her approach to writing and her plans for the future.
Why do you write? Is it something you’ve always done, or always wanted to do? Or is it something that you started fairly recently?
I’ve been a writer since I was a child. When I was probably two or three I told my grandmother that I was going to be a ‘bookmaker,’ unaware that what that word meant and what I was talking about were two completely different things. To be fair, I have had more success in writing than in bet-taking.
Tell me a little about your book.
Probably the most important thing about it, and the thing I hesitate to emphasize, is that it is non-fiction. It is a memoir. It’s daunting to remind people of that because they act like it makes no difference. The second thing is that it is not about me. I’m just the narrator. I’m the Nick Carraway. It’s about my mother. She’s the Gatsby of the story. The third thing is that it is not a story about the truth. If that seems contradictory, that it is a non-fiction memoir that isn’t about truth, you should think about how much of their daily lives most people spend deceiving each other. Or themselves.
The story starts with an accusation of rape, but it’s not a story about rape. It’s not a story about how a girl was raped or why she was raped or whether or not she was raped. Remember, it isn’t a story about the truth. If you’re more interested in the thematics of the story, it’s about a girl raised in poverty in the rural, isolated Deep South, raised with a certain set of morals and ideals and gender roles that are native to that culture. And now she’s living in two-car garage picket-fence All-American Midwest Suburbia and those morals and ideals gender roles don’t work anymore. You pick the values that make you a good, virtuous person in one culture, and they don’t necessarily make you a good, virtuous person in another culture. That can be very confusing, very heartbreaking, especially if you’ve sacrificed a great deal to conform to them.
Are there any authors who inspire you?
Margaret Atwood is probably one of my greatest inspirations. I read The Blind Assassin my sophomore year of high school, about the same time I began work on Turtle. It was the first place I ever saw the F-word in print. At the time, it really smashed up my delusions about what great literature was supposed to be and what conventions it had to conform to. I re-read it again in the spring of 2012, and it was what really gave me the push to self-publish. The Blind Assassin is fictional, but it’s essentially about an old lady who redeems herself by finally writing the truth. I have a lot of that going on in my story. Some of my other biggest inspirations are Harper Lee, Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter S Thompson, and Maxine Hong Kingston.
How do you write? Do you make yourself write a certain number of words per day?
I’ve learned that you can’t force writing. I don’t have any routines or dogmas I prescribe to. I write when I feel like writing. My only habit is that I always carry a Moleskine notebook and a Uniball pen, so I can write an idea or a phrase down if something strikes me. I have this idea that if you don’t have a favorite brand of notebook or pen, you’re not a writer. I have all different sizes of Moleskines and thicknesses of Uniballs. So does my boyfriend. He’s a writer, too. They’re in my purse, in our car, in our bedroom, in the pockets of our jackets, all over our house. If I can’t find one of mine, I write something down in his, and vice-versa. We’re always getting our notebooks mixed up.
Did you try to get a conventional publisher or agent interested before you opted for self-publishing?
I half-heartedly sent out a few query letters, but I really didn’t want to hand over my story to someone else to edit and change the wording and tell me how the plot should go. It seems that conventional publishing has become, as Henry Miller would say, a hard industry, like steel or cellophaned bread. Publishing isn’t like the old days. Scribner used to have a relationship with Hemingway and Fitzgerald. I knew I’d never be able to have that, so I just didn’t want to go that route.
What goals have you set yourself? Do you want to sell a certain number of books in 2012? Is there some way you measure success, on your own terms?
This book had been like a parasite or an infant, sucking my blood and soul for five years. Now that it finally stands on its own, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to live off of it for a while. I support myself through book sales and freelance writing for a few local magazines. To me, success is not having to be gainfully employed. I hate being gainfully employed. It’s really the worst.
But in all seriousness, I published the story. I told the truth. That’s success.
How have you marketed your book?
I have a moderate following on the internet, and that’s really helped me. Social media is invaluable. I wrote this dumb thing in five minutes called What Happens If You Fall in Love With a Writer? that went viral about six months ago, and that gained me some exposure. I’ve spent about $30 total on ads. From what I can tell, though, nothing is a substitute for people reading it and liking it. Your best advertisers are the ones you don’t have to pay because they feel they’ve already been reimbursed, just for getting to read your work.
Have you signed up for KDP Select?
Free promotions are the best. The vast majority of my truly excellent reviews are from people who read my ebook because it was free, and the vast majority of my paid sales are from people who bought the book because they were so impressed with the reviews. I’m pretty sure that half of the key to being successful as an author is getting people to actually read your book. The other half is people liking it. Note which half comes first.
Away from Amazon, have you had much luck with other outlets? Do you use Smashwords, Barnes & Noble etc?
My novel is available from Barnes & Noble online, but I have no idea how. They must have gotten it from some outlet that CreateSpace provides. I know that people can request it to be shipped to the store if they don’t want to pay shipping. I don’t even know how Barnes & Noble works. I sell a lot of copies on consignment at local indie bookstores. That’s more work because you have to fill out a contract with each individual store, and make sure you have extra copies on hand to re-stock them when they run out. But it’s worth it. I want to see independent bookstores continue to not only survive, but thrive.
Do you worry about Amazon gaining a monopoly in the ebook market?
Not as much as I worry about the ebook market gaining a monopoly in the book market.
What’s next? Are you working on anything at the moment? Do you have anything new coming out in 2012?
My next novel is actually fiction. Mostly. Think Through The Looking Glass but with logical proofs instead of a chess game. I’m a former logic instructor. The plot is more This Side of Paradise, though. It won’t be completed by the end of 2012. 2013 or 2014 if I’m lucky. I’m graduating from college in December of 2012, so there’s that. Oh, and my kids. Having a two-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son and keeping them from getting into household chemicals is really my main project right now. I’m teaching them to dress themselves and to not eat bugs and to write.
Mik Everett’s Turtle: The American Contrition of Franz Ferdinand is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. You can also follow her on Twitter, and visit the book’s Facebook page.
June 22, 2012
I am now writing for Pretty Magazine!
I'm really excited about this job, which will include writing about 3 articles a week. To check out the website or to read my work, you can go here: http://prettyprettymagazine.wordpress...
I'm really excited about this job. Plus, between writing articles and book sales, I'm officially, you know, making a living as a writer! Dreams do come true. :D
I'm really excited about this job. Plus, between writing articles and book sales, I'm officially, you know, making a living as a writer! Dreams do come true. :D
June 15, 2012
Congratulations, Alyssa and Renee!
They were the two winners of the giveaway, and each won a signed copy of Turtle! I've packed them all up so they're set to mail tomorrow morning. It's exciting because I finally got to use my coveted American Poets stamps. :D If you weren't one of the lucky winners, very sorry! Like Turtle on FB (facebook.com/readTurtle) or follow me on Twitter (@MissMikEverett) for more chances to win! And dont' forget to join the discussion group to participate in a Q & A session with me! :)
June 11, 2012
How's your summer day?
Did the grocery shopping with my kids this morning. Now that they are down for a nap, it is time to pay the bills and drink cheap liquor. Or maybe... write? Nahh, cheap liquor. Or both. You know what Hemingway said: Write drunk, edit sober. :)
