M.R. Miller's Blog, page 7

Just curious…

Ted Dekker is one of my go-to authors for a good read. One of the things I like about Dekker is his willingness to try something new with his writing. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But he’s not afraid to take risks.

Dekker recently released four ebooks that come together to make one novel, Eyes Wide Open. He released the first ebook for free, obviously hoping to entice readers to purchase the other three.

But the serial concept isn’t what caught my attention. Instead, it was that Dekker — a bestselling author — opted to publish his books himself through his own Outlaw Studios. And even though it’s none of my business, I’m really curious as to why. Was it the opportunity to make more money than the royalties offered through mainstream publishing? Was it to maintain complete control of his works? I don’t know.

I surfed the Internet and so far haven’t found an explanation but it made me wonder if other popular authors with a strong fan base might try to go out on their own as well. Could … say …  a Stephen King or John Grisham self publish? Dekker’s sales seem to be solid, though based on the reviews I don’t know that all readers really liked the serial concept.

I haven’t read the books yet; they’re on my “to-read” list and eventually I’ll get to them. It also appears that Dekker has more books planned for his Outlaw Studios. I’ll be curious to see what new risks he’ll take and what kind of success he’ll find.

Just so you know…

From the time I started writing the Emily O’Brien series, I struggled with the fact the books weren’t going to fit neatly into any category. The books have strong Christian elements, yes, but they weren’t necessarily written as Christian books. I tried writing the first book that way initially but it just didn’t fit well with the story or the characters. So I decided to write it the way that felt right to me. I guess that’s the reporter in me.
And when I made that choice, I found Emily’s voice and that propelled the story forward. At the time, that was OK since I was writing just for me. I never expected to let anyone else see them. But I had a persistent husband and I finally figured, why not?
I’ve heard the term “realistic Christian fiction.” I guess that might be the closest category I could find, but it wasn’t an option on Amazon or Smashwords. And I’m not sure it really covers it all anyway.
So in advance, I apologize to anyone I offend — either because you don’t like my views on faith or because you don’t like the book’s profanity or realism. I realize the books have the potential to alienate both ends of the spectrum but I had to write the books authentically.
I promise to keep the books between PG and PG-13 — no F-bombs or raunchy sex scenes or grisly, bloody details that make you quit eating your lunch. And as the series progresses, I hope readers see a change in Emily, that she becomes a better reflection of her faith. That was one of my goals when I began writing, to create a newbie Christian character that matures over time. She’s definitely a work in progress.

Free is good…

I would love to pretend that it was all part of my plan. But really, it was just a big flub on my part that ended up working out very well for me. That hardly ever happens so I’m kind of enjoying it.

So what did I do? I accidentally made my first two ebooks free on Amazon. When I published “Foul Play,” I decided to make all three of my books free on Smashwords for a few days so friends and family could download them. I didn’t think about the fact that Smashwords would send the price to Barnes and Noble, and I didn’t know that Amazon would match the B&N price.

So I was horrified when I checked on the status of “Foul Play” a few days after I had uploaded that to Kindle Direct Publishing (I use both Smashwords and KDP) and saw that “Vengeance is Mine” and “Buried Truth” were now free. I’m still fairly new to the world of ebook publishing and there is a lot I don’t know. Obviously. I didn’t even know I could make my books free on Amazon.

But it ended up being a huge blessing! It has been fun to see thousands of downloads of my books and a few reviews, and even better I had some readers say hi to me on Goodreads, where I had also posted my books. I wish all of my goofs turned out this well. 

The books are still free on Amazon and B&N. I have no idea how long that will last but feel free to take advantage of my mistake.

Sticks and stones …

This really isn’t book-related … well, it sort of is. I’ll admit that reviews scare me a little. As a reporter, it took me about five minutes to learn that not everyone will like what you write and some people can be very vocal about their disapproval. It’s part of the territory and you kind of know that going in.

I’m not really afraid of having my work reviewed in and of itself. I know I’m far from perfect and some criticism is OK … even good. But what scares me a little is just how mean people can be when they can hide behind the anonymity of the Internet.

I was reading an article on CNN last week about a waiter who identified one of the tables he was serving as “three fat girls.” I cannot think of any context when that would be appropriate. The guy was fired and the restaurant publicly apologized to the women. What shocked me about the article was the hateful way some commenters stated that these women were indeed fat and the waiter did nothing wrong.

WTH?

Some of these comments were brutal and I was just flabbergasted that people could be so mean. I can’t imagine that anyone would be OK with the waiter posting “three gay guys” or “three black chicks” because that smacks of discrimination. But let someone be fat and you’d think they committed a crime.

I’ve seen the same kinds of comments about Christians. If an article even hints at Christianity, Internet trolls come out of the woodwork to blast Christians as self-righteous bigots and to mock our belief in Jesus Christ. The level of hatred is just plain appalling. Everyone has a right to their beliefs, including Christians.

And I’ve seen difference of opinions degenerate to the point where some commenters feel it necessary to refer to a person with a different opionion as a moron or loser. And, back to my original point, I’ve seen discussions on Goodreads or reviews on Amazon that have called authors awful names just because the reader didn’t like a book. I’ve definitely read my share of wretched books, some by famous authors, but I can’t ever remember leaving such hateful feedback.

I have to wonder if people would use those same slurs if the other person was sitting across the table from them. When I worked at the newspaper, we allowed comments on our news stories, and I found that the ones delivered anonymously were often much nastier than those delivered via our Facebook page when the person had to leave his/her name.

The Internet makes it way too easy for us to forget that we’re talking to or talking about another human being with feelings. Someone who has his/her own insecurities and weak points, someone who really hurts when such barbs are hurled their way.

Is it really too much to ask that we all make an effort to treat one another with respect? Sadly, I think that ship has sailed, but here’s to hoping that I’m wrong.

New Year’s Resolution … sort of

I have a confession to make. I’m not much of a blogger. While telling stories and creating characters is fun, talking about myself is sort of uncomfortable. To put it mildly. Which is why even though I created this blog almost a year ago, I’ve only posted in it twice. Yikes!

In defense, I’ve had a lot going on in my life during that time. We moved to another state. My husband and I took new jobs. We built a house and got the kids settled at a new school. But those are really just excuses.

So, I’ve decided to make more of an effort this year to post on my blog. I’m not sure what I have to say will be that interesting but, hey, we’ll see what happens!

And BTW, I’ve also updated my list of books on the Emily O’Brien tab above. Right now all three ebooks are free at http://www.smashwords.com, in a variety of formats including for Kindle.

It’s Not Personal — Part I

I’m in my last week of working at the newspaper where I’ve been employed for more than a decade (both full and part time). Today I had two encounters with the public that reminded me of a truth many outside the newspaper business don’t understand: it’s not personal.

Though there are exceptions, reporters in small local markets rarely take aim at an individual, either to promote him or her or disgrace that person. We just do our jobs, reporting the facts, uncovering the background, sharing information so the public can understand.

And we try to do that consistently. The Associated Press publishes a style guide that most newspapers use as a starting point to establishing their own styles and policies. Of course, individual papers can follow or ignore AP recommendations on everything from how to write an address to military titles to whether to capitalize academic degrees. The book reads like a dictionary but it is something we refer to often, like when you need to know whether or not to abbreviate a reference to the state of Texas.

As the education reporter, I process a lot of briefs about students and adults in schools, from preschool to graduate school. These items are submitted by the public and I will hammer out these briefs to align with our newspaper’s style.

Today, a man came to see me who was upset that I removed the title “Dr.” before his name in the brief he submitted. AP Style recommends using Dr. only before someone with a medical degree; we have chosen to follow that recommendation. He felt  I personally was disregarding the many years he’d taken to earn that doctorate when I removed the title. I tried to explain it was our style. But for him, it was personal and he was angry.

I tried not to smile. I have written thousands of articles that have mentioned people with a doctorate and not once used the title in order to remain consistent with our style. It certainly wasn’t personal. He plans to come back and talk to my boss next week when he returns from vacation but I doubt he’ll win that battle. And in that case, again, it won’t be personal.

When I got back to my desk, I had an email from a woman who works at one of our school districts. She needed help getting her anniversary notice in the paper and I had simply forwarded it to the right person. I did almost nothing for her and it’s something I would do for anyone, even a stranger.

But she took the time to send me a very nice note, thanking me for my help. She felt like I’d given her special treatment, but really it wasn’t personal. It was just my job. I’m glad her anniversary notice ran, these kinds of item are the bread and butter of a small-town paper. But I treated her the same as anyone else.

It struck me as strange that within a period of 10 minutes, I had two readers assume I had made an issue personal, when in fact I hadn’t. Of course, I won’t lie, I enjoyed the latter experience much more than the former.

Getting started

It’s strange to be writing this knowing at this point, no one is likely reading it. I’m pretty new to the world of blogging, only adding some posts to a parenting blog at my newspaper’s website.

A little about me. I’ve been a newspaper reporter full-time for nine years and I was a freelancer before that (when my kids were still little). For the past few years, I’ve been messing around writing fiction. Now, I’ve decided — what the heck? Maybe it’s time to put it out there as an e-book and see what happens. Maybe nothing — I really started writing just for me. But after writing so many words, it’s hard not to wonder if someone else should read it too.

I’ve spent the last few years getting to know Emily O’Brien and in a short time I expect to release my first novel/mystery “Vengeance Is Mine” through Smashwords. So, we’ll see how it goes.

Under Construction

I’m totally new to the world of blogging so bear with me as I put this together!