Stephanie Erickson's Blog, page 7

Weekly Roundup

Hi all!

One thing I learned at the conference last weekend is that I should really be blogging more, even if it’s just to tell you what I’ve been up to this week.  So, here’s my goal: Monday’s post will be something about writing or reading, whether it’s the craft, or how you choose a book to read—something like that.  Friday will be a weekly roundup that’s just me talking.  I’m really hoping to be able to stick to this pace, but we’ll see with formatting and word count weeks coming up quick!  I have good intentions anyway!

Writing

I got Unseen back from the proofreader early this week, and she said it was the best manuscript she’s read in awhile.  I can not WAIT to get this book out!  I think you’re all really going to enjoy it.  So, I have a few people reading it now, just for a last set of eyes, and next week starts my own personal hell week: Formatting.

I spent last week taking a break from word count on my new apocalypse book.  This week I’ve been brainstorming and putting into practice some of the things I learned at the conference last week—specifically character development and plotting.  I’m working hard to turn the apocalypse book into the best thing I’ve ever written.  It’s a looooooong way from that right now, but I think it’s on the right track.  Next week I’ll get back to word count.

Reading

Right now, I am reading The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax.  It’s such a cute and light read.  It’s about four writer friends who met at a conference and became BFF’s.  What’s not to like?  So far, Kendall, one of the women in the book, is pretty unlikable so far, but I’m hoping she grows as a character soon.  All the others are good.  Not sure what I’m gonna read next!  Feel free to make suggestions!

 

That’s all for now!  Check back on Monday for more!

The Florida Heritage Book Festival

Hey Guys!

So, I went to the Florida Heritage Book Festival over the weekend in St. Augustine.  It was awesome!  The festival was held at my alma mater, Flagler College, so it was so fun to go back and walk the campus again.  Although, holy cow did the kids make me feel old!

Friday I went to four different workshops.  My favorite presenters were Chuck Barrett and D.L. Havlin.  I learned so much about publishing and crafting a character from them both!  Everything from creating an imprint, to purchasing your own ISBN numbers, to using psychological profiles to define your characters and create conflict.  By day’s end I was feeling so jazzed and ready to write again!

Saturday was the marketplace day, and although sales were slow, I learned so much from the other vendors!  I plan to attend more festivals, and even found a great one in Georgia (The Decatur Book Festival) that I’m hoping to get into next year!

I also made some new friends at the festival, and found their input invaluable!  Check out Tami Lynne and Christina Benjamin, give them some support!  They were awesome!

All for now!  I’m trying to blog more frequently, I promise!  

99 Cent Sale on The Cure!

We are most pleased to announce the fresh cover art for The Cure!  Part of our new mission to get Stephanie writing full time is having really striking cover art for her books.  The Cure is the first to receive this new treatment and we are so happy how it has turned out!

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover.  While that may be true, people are visual and a great looking cover certainly draws a reader in so they may become interested in what’s inside.  With so much competition on the market, it’s so important to have a cover that stands out, is easy to identify, and evokes some kind of emotion with the reader.

Also, The Cure is no longer a Kindle exclusive…the first of Stephanie’s books to do so.  The Cure is now available on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iTunes, and Google Play!  All of you who passed up on The Cure because you had a reader other than a Kindle, now is your chance!

To celebrate the BRAND NEW COVER and the NEW AVAILABILITY on different platforms we are offering The Cure at 0.99 for a limited time.  Beginning today, August 1st, all platforms will be selling at this special price for just a few days.  Get it now, while it’s available at a discount!

Thanks for reading,

-Dan

 

 

What’s going on?

Hey guys!

Here’s my first post from our new site!  I’m sure it’s way over due, but we’ve been so busy lately!  Here’s a rundown:

Brand Spanking New Office

We’re in the middle of converting our guest room to an office!  #Sorrynotsorry to all of our guests.  We’ll get an air mattress for you, promise.  So far, we’ve painted it a lovely light gray color, hung some charcoal patterned curtains, put together the lamp, got the couch in (for comfortable writing and reading – essential), Dan’s putting together the bookshelf as we speak, and my new desk will be here next week!!  I can’t wait to have my very own writing cave!

WIP

I’m about 63% finished with my work in progress, and I have to say, it’s definitely a WIP, lol!  So far, I’m just excited to be writing, after The Cure.  I expect to be done with the first draft next month, then it’s off to the editors.  I’m planning to do a title reveal, and maybe a brief synopsis in August!  Stay tuned for that!

The Cure

The Cure is getting a major face lift!  I just got the cover back from Damonza and it looks AMAZING!  I can’t wait to show it to you guys!  In the mean time, I’m getting it ready for (drum roll please) print, Nook, Kobo, iTunes and Google Play!  So everyone who’s been bugging me that doesn’t have a Kindle can have it very soon!  Like by the end of July!

What I’m Reading

Right now, I’m about half finished with Denise Grover Swank’s The Curse Keepers.  So far, I have mixed feelings about it.  I hope Denise knows what she’s doing, because the main guy character is really a turd bucket and I kinda hate him.  I’m hoping he redeems himself soon!  

So that’s it for my roundup!  Haven’t signed up for my newsletter yet?  What are you waiting for?  The July issue will be out in a few short weeks!  Better sign up now!

Nesting

Just a quick update–

We’ve got some new things going on here at Stephanie Central.  Right now it all centers around Stephanie’s writing cave.  Until now, she has had an “office”, but it wasn’t very comfortable or inspiring.

Today, we spent the morning/afternoon getting fresh paint on the walls and pretty soon we’ll be able to move in a brand new sofa/lounger and desk and more bookshelves.  It will be pretty exciting to get everything put all together and have a great writing environment.

 

-Dan

 

New beginnings

Dan here– We’re excited to have a brand new web home for Stephanie.  I’m sure no one is going to be reading this post (at least not any time soon), but maybe at some point it will be fun for us to look back at the beginnings of this new venture. For now, I’m content to delete the default WP blog post.

Stephanie’s first two titles have been well received and after being inspired by some new friends…other indie writers well established in their self pub careers…we have decided to take the plunge.

What does that mean?

Well, for starters, Stephanie is going to be producing more regularly. I hope that is exciting to the readership she has already developed.  We have a production schedule mapped out to include one new title for 2014 and three in 2015.  The steps to the production process itself have been set to outsource to other professionals things such as cover art and higher quality editing.

We’re also looking very much to step up Stephanie’s relationship with her readers.  Facebook and Twitter have been around for her since nearly the beginning and she has around 600 followers on each platform.  The newest addition, though, will be her newsletter.  You can find the signup form on the landing page to this site, if you are interested in occasional mailings regarding new cover/title reveals, new releases, and giveaways.  After all, without you, the reader, Stephanie’s art is only for her–and she wants to share it!

Stephanie is also scheduled to attend her first book fair/writers conference this fall.  Lucky for her, this one just so happens to be hosted at her alma mater, Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL.  We expect it to be a great way to start off into new territory by revisiting some old.  This will make great opportunity to hone her craft and to further establish herself into the writing community.  This will be the first of many! Here we go! -Dan

Happy Easter!

Hey guys!  First of all, Happy Easter!  


Second, what a hard writing week it has been!  I'm still stewing about The Cure, and how slow sales on that book have been.  It's making it hard to write the new book.  I'm freaking out that this one won't be as good, and on and on (insert womanly and writerly insecurities here).  


Additionally, I wrote a section for the new book about something I don't really know about.  I had to do some research, and reach out to several people to tell me how things would go.  So that part was really hard to write.  I'm sure I will have to go back and change things quite a bit in the end, to make it better and more accurate, but I got through it.  And for now, that's the important part.  Best of all, I hit my word count goal for week 1 of 12!!!  5,388 words down, 54,612 words do go!  First draft, here I come!

Things are happening!

Hey all!  Sorry for the radio silence!  But I'm writing again!  Finally!  I have definitely had a hard time getting over the hump from The Cure, but I'm at it again.  I just finished my detailed outline for my next book (hopefully a trilogy series by the time I'm done with it).  I've given myself 12 weeks to write the first draft.  That takes me through to July.  I will spend August with beta readers (anyone interested?), and September and October will be for editing, and designing a cover.  Then November will be coding, and releasing!  


Additionally, I'm working on getting a newsletter going, since everyone says that's the best way to reach readers and interact with them.  I'm open to tips/tricks on this front, since I'm totally new to the game.  Want to sign up for my news letter?  Post a comment and I'll add ya to the list!  

Updates Abound!

First, we're 1 month into the year, and I'm 3/4 of the way through my New Year's Resolution.  The Nevermore Trilogy by Shannon Mayer was AMAZING!  You can buy the books one at a time, or get them all at once with the Trilogy (see the link).  I could not put these books down.  So, I'm three books into my four book resolution!  I'm thinking I might revise, and say maybe I read four different indie authors before the end of the year?  We'll see.  :-)  At any rate, I'm excited about what I've read so far!  Other indies, you have a lot to live up to!


In other news, I've just uploaded two new versions of The Cure and The Blackout!  They both contain links to leave a review, and excerpts of the other book.  Hopefully this small measure will help drive sales for both books!  :-)  


The Cure also received it's eighth 5 star review!!  Although not many of you have read it, those that have are loving it!  


Next up: Print edition for The Cure!

Resolutions Gone Wild!

I just finished reading Sundered by Shannon Mayer.  Woah.  What a great read!  It has been a really long time since I read something in a day, but that was a good book.  In light of that, instead of reading my next main stream pick, I have to know what happens in the series!  So I'm reading Bound.  Yup.  That happened.


In other news, I started outlining my new idea and got discouraged.  I really just had enough for maybe seven chapters and I just wasn't terribly excited about it.  So I put it to rest for a bit.  We'll see what I can come up with.  I'm reading more to try and spark some inspiration!  Wish me luck!


Happy reading everyone!