K.M. Shea's Blog, page 78

Book Release

Good news! I’ve set the release date for book one of the King Arthur and Her Knights series. It will be online by Wednesday, August 7, and it will be available for free from Thursday August 8 to Monday August 12.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m still wrestling with titles for book 1, but I will have one set and ready to go by Friday, which is also when I’ll have contest announcements. Right now I’m scrambling to finish the last two scenes of King Arthur, but I think it will be finished by this Sunday. There’s a lot to do even though the book is almost written. Editing alone is a huge project, but I also need to whittle out a summary, Myrrhlynn will be producing  cover art pretty soon, and I would like my merry editor Sunshine to get a look at it before it pops up in Amazon as well. (And, as I mentioned, I still have to name it.)

Short post for today, but my brain cells are few and I need to treasure them at this point. Thanks for reading Champions!

A Bad Apple

On Wednesday a judge found Apple guilty in conspiring with several major publishing houses to raise the price of ebooks and attempting to cut Amazon out of the ebook business.

Major publishing houses complain that Amazon setting ebooks at$9.99 is too low. In the conspiring Apple offered to allow publishers to set their own ebook prices (Hello $15 ebooks) and Apple took a 30% cut.

Why are publishing houses so bent out of shape about ebooks? Customers think ebooks should be priced significantly lower because they aren’t getting a hard copy book. Thing is, hard copy books are actually pretty cheap to make. A hardcover book costs $3.25 to print and ship the book. Ebooks, however, cost a mere 50 cents to convert to a digital file. Publishers spend about $1 per hardcover book on marketing. For digital books it is about 78 cents. (All of this information was from a New York Times article written in 2010.)

Publishers do indeed make more money off ebooks (About 50 cents to a dollar if the book is priced at $12-$15.) but publishers claim that if ebooks become more popular hardcover and paperback copies will become more expensive because they’ll still be shipping and storing them.

This is a pretty good depiction of how I occasionally think of publishing houses.

Excuse me if I do not weep for you, publishers.

I understand that publishing houses are upset because the book world is rapidly morphing, but I think it would be best if they focused on changing and deciding what sorts of technology they should pursue instead of conspiring to edge a retailer out of the market. (Because splitting hairs over rivals  when an entire industry is facing a revolution is ALWAYS the way to go.)

What do you think, Champions? Am I being too harsh?

The end is near!

Horrah, the end is near, for King Arthur and Her Knights book 1 anyway. I have about 5,000 words left to write. Of course, me being me that translates to 8,000. Writing this book surprised me in several ways. First of all Arthur waged a LOT of wars right after he got his crown. Most/almost all writers skip the war part and go straight to the good stuff, like the Round Table and all the knights that come with it.

However, I found it fascinating because these wars introduce a lot of characters who you don’t typically hear of, and who mostly stay in the background. Sir Kay and Sir Ector (Arthur’s foster brother and father) play a huge role in the war, and once it’s over and Arthur’s throne is secured they pretty much fall into household duties. They don’t ride off on adventures, in a way they’re stuck playing babysitter. I dreaded writing book one because of the lack of Round Table knights, but I’ve really enjoyed exploring the characterization of the knights that put (and keep) Arthur on the throne. What was even more fascinating to me is that a lot of knights enter the story and die, with the exception of the big name guys like Lancelot and Gawain, but these pre-Round Table guys are with Arthur until he dies. They don’t go out questing and complete all sorts of magnificent deeds, but they are staunch and loyal, and they are the only knights to stand with Arthur for his entire reign.

On the downside I’m 99% sure I will have to include an index of names in the books. The lack of last names is killing me as a lot of names are similar. (Some of them are the exact same, the second guy is just called the younger or the lesser. That would rot to be known as the lesser.) Right now it’s not so bad, but once all the Round Table knights gather in I’m doomed.

Speaking of which, I’m playing with titles for this book. Obviously some of these are jokes, but weigh in if you like a particular title!

Series: King Arthur and Her Knights   Book name:?

Crowning King Arthur
Legend of the Red Dragon  (For those of you who don’t know a red dragon was Arthur’s symbol)
Of Swords, Wars, and Camelot
Omgawsh Merlin is Hot!
the Birth of a Legend
King Arthur Wins Her Throne

From internet to paperback

I will admit it, I’m a sucker for internet-success stories– stories about people who showcased their passions on the internet and are now able to make a profit off their work. If someone wrote a Chicken Soul for the Internet Junkie’s Soul I would be first in line to buy it. The author I am showcasing today fits perfectly in that category.

No, this is NOT mine! This lovely book is the work of Sarah J. Maas.

Sarah J. Maas is the author of “Throne of Glass,” a high-fantasy YA story that hit the shelves last fall. (Book 2 comes out this fall!) Maas started writing “Throne of Glass” when she was 16. (Or at least she started writing an earlier version. “Throne of Glass” has been rewritten several times.) She posted it on Fictionpress and was encouraged by the reviews she received, so she posted more, and more, and more until eventually “Throne of Glass” was the highest rated, highest reviewed story in all of Fictionpress.

Maas decided to pursue her dream of becoming a full blown author and left Fictionpress. She rewrote “Throne of Glass” a few times, got an agent, and eventually sold it to Bloomsbury Children’s in 2010. She is now a full time author at the mere age of 25! What I like about Maas is that she continues to cater to her internet crowd. As I mentioned book 2 has yet to be released, but Maas has three novellas starring the heroine from “Throne of Glass” that are available on Amazon for 99 cents. It’s pretty rare for a published author to release Kindle ebooks, so this feat alone has won Maas a place in my heart.

Know any internet success stories? Warm my heart and share the story in the comment section, please!

And if it seems like I’m avoiding talking about King Arthur and her Knights….It’s because I am. I promise I’ll have an update for you on Wednesday or Friday!

Adventures on the Horizon!

Good day to you, Champions! Today is something of a newsy update and it’s a little vague because I don’t have any solid details at the moment so I apologize in ahead of time–I just couldn’t keep my news from you any longer!

First off I’m excited to announce that a reader-turned-editor is joining my team. She goes by Sunshine, which is pretty ironic considering how her corrections make me weep. Sunshine will help me by combing over both the Robyn Hood books. I recently took a glance at my Robyn Hood stories and noticed that the quality of editing is sub-par compared to my other stories. I know I took less time to edit the Robyn Hood books because I was rushing to release them, but that’s not a good excuse. I’m very much indebted to Sunshine for going over my books, which she will hopefully get a start on this upcoming week. I’ll announce when I have corrected versions available for purchase, and when I get a release dates hashed out I will announce what days I plan to offer the Robyn Hood books for free in promotion of King Arthur and her Knights.

Next up, I am planning to borrow off Life Reader and have a promotional contest for King Arthur and her Knights. I’m not sure yet what the contest will look like, or even what the prize will be, so if you have any ideas or if there is a certain kind of prize you would like offered (Within reason obviously) please send me an email or comment below!

Finally, I’m still looking to expand my team with one to three previewers. Previewers would be given (free) reading copies of my books before I release them. She/he would be asked to read it, and then leave a honest review on Amazon shortly after I upload the book. I would give the previewers a week or two to read the book before I released it on Amazon. If it sounds like something you’re interested in please send me an email!

Have a merry weekend, Champions! Next week I’ll give you a progress report for King Arthur and her Knights!

Little Literature

As a true book nerd I adore all things books. I’m not just talking collecting books and watching movies-that-were-based-on-books, I mean all things. I love book ends, book art, and any craft projects that use books. Recently a colleague of mine introduced me to the idea of book jewellery. Little Literature is an example of that.

Little Literature is a small business that creates tiny books. The books are a mere 22 mm high, and are sold as bracelets, earrings, and necklaces. Let’s look again at the height, 22mm. That means they aren’t even an inch tall! The books are crafted by Abby, who started making mini books in 2011.

 

Awww! Little Lotr!

Considering the price of jewelry these days, the books are a steal. A necklace will cost you about $11, and a bracelet is about $20. I am so in love with this idea, and if anyone knows how to make these PLEASE TELL ME. I would love to get a Narnia or a Jane Austen set!

Let’s Rewrite History!

One thing that is becoming increasingly obvious to me as I research information for King Arthur and Her Knights is how badly my elementary and high school education maimed and brutalized the middle ages. I’m not saying the middle ages were a fun time that I totally wish I had lived in, but they also were not the sloven, scientifically stupid times most of our textbooks teach us they are. Below are two myths about the middle ages, and their corrections. I got most of my information from books, but I’m including links to public websites like wikipedia so you can see that I’m not trying to pull one over you.

Myth: Everyone thought the world was flat

The Truth: No. No they didn’t. The scientific community already knew the world was spherical, but they didn’t know how big it was. Yes, once upon a time people thought the world was flat, but we’re talking early BC years–before the Greek and Roman cultures bloomed.

Myth: Hygiene was nonexistant

The Truth: No. Everyone knew about the practice of bathing. Bathing regularly was not a matter of superstition, but a matter of ability. Peasants couldn’t easily take baths in the winter because heating that much water required a lot of firewood. Nobles were able to bathe more regularly–and they did!–and washing hands before meals was common practice. The soap industry first boomed in the middle ages because they were the first to use it as the Greeks and Romans had used essential oils.

The takeaway for me is that sweeping generalizations are what create the falsehoods. There were times when peasants starved, there were times when crops were bountiful and they ate well. There were times of bloody wars, but there was also times of peace. You can’t look at an entire era and make a generalization about it, you have to go decade by decade, or in some cases year by year.

Book Banquet: Translator Tea

Today I’m featuring a recipe from one of my books, Red Rope of Fate. In Red Rope of Fate one of the ways the Translators’ Circle is able to swindle Tari into meeting with them, is by offering her their fantastic tea. Little does Tari know the tea is excessively easy to make.

Translator Tea

Ingredients:

A black tea of your choice (Early Gray or breakfast teas are the best)
Cream (or milk)
Sugar (or honey)
a pinch of Cocoa
a pinch cinnamon

Preparation: There are two ways you can go about this. If you want to do it the quick/easy route buy black tea bags, boil water, and pour into a mug. Place the teabag in the mug and let it seep for a while before pushing the tea bag aside and adding the milk. Let it seep a little while longer before adding the sugar, and cinnamon, followed by a little bit of cocoa. Add just enough cocoa to get that nutty chocolate taste, the sweetness comes from the sugar, not the cocoa.

If you want to brew the tea the way the translators would have you’ll need some extra equipment.

For starters you’ll want to pick up actual black tea leaves. There are specialty tea stores in malls now, like Teavanna, otherwise you can purchase tea leaves online. Note: if you use tea leaves you’ll need to let it brew for a longer period of time then if you were to use a tea bag.

You will also need something to brew your tea leaves in. There’s a few ways of doing this. You can use an actual teapot with a built in strainer (just about all Japanese tea sets have these. You can pick up a Japanese tea set for a reasonable price at second hand stores/thrift shops.) or can use any tea pot and hold the tea strainer physically outside the pot as you pour yourself a cup, or you can purchase a steel tea ball which can be used to brew tea in a mug. (Just stuff the tea ball with the tea leaves and drop it in.)

If using a teapot place the tea leaves on the bottom of the teapot and then add the boiled water. Once your tea has brewed for a while add milk, or if you’re looking for a richer taste, cream. Again, Sugar or honey will serve as your as a sweetener. If you’re aiming for authenticity I recommend honey, as that would be the cheapest resource. Then add the cocoa and the cinnamon–you will need to stir the tea to mix these in.

I actually do have some pretty complex reasoning behind the ingredients. Since the elves only traded with Calnor they didn’t buy a wide variety of goods. Of course they were fine with this–they don’t really like change anyway so they would be unlikely to adopt foreign foods–but this means their sweeteners are fairly limited. When crafting their culture I decided they mostly use honey, fruit, and a little bit of sugar for their sweetening agents/baking.

Humans from Calnor, on the other hand, trade with the rest of the human countries. This means chocolate and cinnamon are available to them if they’re willing to pay the price and import them from other countries. (Which the translators circle does.)

Enjoy your tea and this bit of geeky goodness, Champions! I promise my next few Book Banquets will be actual recipes.

Camelot is still coming!

I bring an update from the front lines!

As many of you know my next book is a historical romance and book one in a series about a modern girl who is dragged back through time and placed on the throne as King Arthur. The series will (probably) be called King Arthur and her Knights, although I’m still playing with title ideas for the actual book. Last time I reported in I had 5,000 words, I’m happy to report that I now have almost 15,000 words and that the writing is speeding up. I am certain I will finish it in the month of July, but I’m not sure how long it will take me to edit it and get it nice and polished for you, Champions.

For those of you who are real King Arthur geeks, I’m basing most of my story off the books written by Howard Pyle and Sir James Knowles. Both of these books were written in the late 1800′s/early 1900′s. I plan to use pieces from traditional Athurian ballads, as I did for my Robyn Hood series, but there are very few surviving ballads that provide the rich details of Arthur pulling the sword from the stone, being crowned, etc, which is why I’m mostly relying on Pyle and Knowles for now.

What makes this series particularly difficult to write is that all of our ideas of Camelot and King Arthur are historically inaccurate. Based on my research it seems that writers of the ballads, like Chrétien de Toryes who wrote the first story about Lancelot and Guinevere, took the concept of King Arthur and set it in the time period they lived in. In King Arthur’s time there was no such thing as platemail or even castles.  The writers did this because their patrons–the people feeding, housing, and paying the writers–wanted to read idealistic stories about King Arthurs court in their time period. There is a historic Arthur, but he wasn’t a king at all, and he lived far before any of the medieval imagery we associate with King Arthur. So, what am I saying? I’m saying that my King Arthur story will be exactly like the books you read as a child. While it will not be historically accurate–because King Arthur didn’t live in that time period–the details will be authentic and based off truths for the time period I’m setting King Arthur in.

Honestly it’s excessively confusing. But I still hate Lancelot. Which reminds me, I’m pouting. Lancelot ISN’T EVEN IN THIS BOOK! My Lancelot Torture Time won’t start until book two. Until Wednesday, Champions!

J. R. R. Tolkien: Impacting a country

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of C.S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. I love their books, and I adore the movies that are based on their books as well. I look up to them as a writer, and I feel that both of these men had a great deal of useful insights to share with the world. What completely boggles my mind, though, is how much the world is still impacted by these men, even though they’ve been dead for a number of years.

J. R. R. Tolkien is the superstar of this example. The movie adaptation of his books has been earth shattering for New Zealand. The most obvious example is the tourism industry. It nurtured the creation of a lot of new and unique tour companies. There are tours available of Hobbiton, horse riding tours of various film locations, and more. But that’s not all. The whole country has hopped on the Middle-Earth bandwagon, and uses it to campaign for tourism.

The campaign seems to be working. Tourism was up 10% compared to last year, and 8.5% of New Zealand visitors cited the Hobbit movie as their reason for visiting. More over, 13% of those tourists took part in some sort of Middle Earth related tourism. That might not seem like a lot, but for a country the size of New Zealand those numbers mean a great deal of money pouring into their economy. (Picture it like this, what if 8.5% of all tourists to America said Disney was their reason for visiting?)

What other writer can stand up and say they have had such a wide spread impact? Best selling authors eat your hearts out! Snobbery aside, let’s think about this: It all started with a book. Books really do have the power to change not only people, but the world.