S. Cu'Anam Policar's Blog: Cu's Journey From Aspiring to Published, page 10

Rise of Xosha Print Edition is LIVE on Amazon!!!

Rise of Xosha the prequel Novella to the Legend of Xosha series is LIVE on Amazon!!!

Right now it’s just the PRINT Edition

The Digital Editions will be going live on September 06!!!

I am so excited right now! >^.^<

The Rise of Xosha Teaser

I thought I’d give you a taste of our bad guys. They don’t have a big part in this book but you’ll see them more in future books in the series >^.^<

It was Devlin who spoke up. “How do we intend on doing this, Master?”

Elrur grumbled a string of curses in elven under his breath. “Are you two really this stupid? Did changing you dull your senses?! He grabbed the black haired girl and hoisted her out of the boat. “We will do it with her!”

Caterina and Devlin shared a glance and a smirk before looking back to Elrur. “A human cannot play the role of a dragon, Master. Perhaps it is your senses that have been dulled?” Caterina gave a toothy smirk.

The remark cost her a sharp slap across the face. The sound of Elrur’s hand connecting with Caterina’s right cheek was hard enough to snap her head to the right. The sound echoed through The Wastes.

Caterina growled and made to lunge at Elrur, stopped only by Devlin wrapping his arms around her and pinning her back to his chest. “Calm down, my pet. Our Master has yet to figure out he plays with fire.” He whispered softly into her ear before giving the lobe a sharp nip to which Caterina’s body relaxed and a strange purr escaped her.

“This human is the youngest of Oceanus’ line. If we get her to Caprae before Pyre makes it back, she will be Oni of the horde and the plan will be set. Jade being Oni will prevent the prophecy all together since Rose cannot mate another female.” Elrur explained with an exaggerated roll of his eyes.

Caterina and Devlin shared another look followed by twin smirks. “Then, let’s get the party started, Master,” They said together as Fury, flanked by a large male Shai’Demon on her left, and a smaller female on her right stepped out of the mouth of Shai’Pyre’s entrance.

 

What Is The Point Of A Publisher?

This is a serious matter among most authors. My question is this…

What’s the point in having a publisher when they don’t listen to their authors?

What exactly do they get paid for if the author has to go outside the publishing house for editing and in some cases covers? Aren’t those things a publisher is supposed to do?

At what point when the author is paying out of pocket for services their publishing house doesn’t have, or doesn’t have adequately enough for use, is it not breaching the contract to want to leave said publishing house?

Authors are bound by contracts to write, which they do; but publishers are bound by their own set of obligations as well which include but are not limited to, providing professional grade editing to the manuscripts, cover art for the books, as well as anything else the author’s contract states.

At what point is it okay for an author to have enough of someone making money off their work without contributing anything to it aside from pushing the “publish” button?

When it is okay to laugh when publisher tries to scare an author into staying with lawsuits when it’s not the author, but the publisher who has breached their written agreement?

This may seem like only nonsensical rambling to a lot of people, to a few these questions are hitting home, and hard.

So I ask, when is it okay to walk away with something you’ve poured not only months (or in some cases years) of your time, but your heart, your tears, your very soul into a piece, not to mention missed time with your families and missed opportunities to better your work.. When is it okay to walk away and not have to worry about being slapped with a lawsuit?

I think this is something all authors should sit and think about

I also think all publishing houses should sit down and really think if they are offering their authors the best of their abilities at all times. Remember without authors, a publisher wouldn’t even have a company.

 

The Rise of Xosha’s First Book Club Showing!

You are seeing that correctly!

With all the correcting done and the formatting fixed I have decided to give the world a little sneak peak of The Rise of Xosha!

If you’re part of the Lovers of Paranormal Group on GoodReads, The Rise of Xosha will be on their next R2R Day! I’ve given Carrie the book in mobi, epub, and pdf for 10 lucky reviewers to be among the first to meet the residents of Xosha and to explore this exciting new place.

Will you be among those 10?

“You won’t want to put this book down once you pick it up. There was plenty of mystery, chemistry, and humor to make the story flow and captivate you from the very beginning.”

- Bridgette Ann Bandell (Bookworm Bridgette)

“TRoX is vibrant and addicting. The characters draw you in and will never release you. Even after the story is done, it stays with you.”

-Casse NaRome (Author of The Reborn & Death Knows My Name)

“With myth, love and faith permeating its pages, TRoX is a fable meditating on the intrinsic value of family and the incalculable importance of home.”

- Elka Gimpel (Wilde About Reading)

*****ATTENTION****

Several of you have asked me if I know Sonia James. A few have told me that I’m listed as mutual friend of hers. I am NOT. I am NOT friends with her. I thought I was since I do remember getting a friend request from her a few days ago, but I rejected it apparently since it says we aren’t friends. It has her listed a mutual friend to a few of my friends who are NOT Bloggers or Authors. and this day in age unless the person comes to me from a Author or an actual friend I generally don’t accept the requests.

The Rise of Xosha Release UPDATE

Due to it being brought to my attention more than once (three times in fact) by FFW’s digital cover artist on how even though they get a chunk of my royalties that my cover was done for free. (never mind my contract states I get “free” covers with a portion of my royalties going to the company artist) The release on the book is being pushed back until I can afford to pay an artist outside of FFW…

Make no mistake, if I wasn’t under contract I wouldn’t bother publishing it at all at this point, but since I have to I will at some point before the year ends. I just don’t know when since I have to save up to pay an outside source… Sorry for getting your hopes up believe me mine were up there too

The Rise of Xosha Gets A New Cover

I know, I know the old cover was AMAZING and Jenn put a lot of hard work into it. But a problem arose with the print wrap and the “safety” zones and I was unable to obtain the psd to the original. So I had a new cover made >^.^<

This cover was made by the very talented Jill Haldeman and I am quite pleased with the outcome >^.^<

What do you guys think?

Little Girl Lost Update

Hi guys! I know some of you are away I writing Little Girl Lost which was to be the first book in a new series called The Fire and Brimstone Chronicles.

That book is still being written except there’s a slight change in the game plan. At the moment it’s up in the air on whether or not this book will be part of a trilogy, a series, or just stand alone. After a talk with my good friend Stephen Ormsby (Click the link to see his list of published books) we’ve decided to write Little Girl Lost together. We’re still going to try to have it release by mid December but that too is still up in the air since I’m still working on The Dawning of the Three which is on a deadline. I will of course keep you updated as we go >^.^<

The Rise of Xosha Teaser

The scorpion had spotted Pyre’s prone form and poised its tail to strike. Pyre’s lids popped opened. He tucked his wings, wrapping them under him and rolled out of the way just as the deadly stinger slammed into the sand where he had just been laying. He sprang to his feet and squared off against the scorpion.

All of you get out of here! I’m already done for you guys go save Rose! He called over his shoulder as he barely jumped out of the way of the creature’s next attack.

Oceanus sighed and turned. He was ready to admit he would lose another close member of the horde and his family. As he began to walk away, he heard Reaper issue a loud howl.  Before he knew what was happening, all five wolves leapt over him and raced toward Pyre. One by one, they ran up Pyre’s back using his tail as their ladder. Their bodies shifted and maneuvered precariously as the red dragon engaged in the deadly dance with the scorpion. The female with the attitude nearly flew off Pyre’s back as he dodged suddenly to the right to avoid the scorpion’s snapping pincers. Reaper poised himself atop Pyre’s head, between the horns and howled again, before taking a running leap off the dragon and flying at the massive arachnid.

The wolves’ aims are true and their jaws each locked on a different section of the scorpion’s tail. The scorpion diverted its attention from Pyre to the closer threat of the wolves. Its body writhed as it tried desperately to get a hold on the wolves to pull them off his tail.

Pyre’s breathing was ragged but he understood now what Reaper had meant. He had almost become a snack for the seven foot tall arachnid. The fight was not over though. This was made painfully clear when was loud yelp began to ring out over the howling winds before being silenced just as quickly. His gaze fell to where the yelp had emanated from and he winced. The sand was quickly covering the female wolf, who now lay in two pieces.

Rage filled Pyre from talon to horn. His narrowed gaze fell on the scorpion. With new found energy, he rushed at the arachnid. Reaper and the other 3 wolves jumped off the creature just as Pyre’s body slammed into it. He jumped back and began to circle the scorpion. He dodged the right pincer, but growled as he felt the left graze off the scales off his right front leg. He took a gamble and when the stinger came at him again, he did not dodge it. He realized the scorpion’s pincers were unable to snap through his scales, perhaps that meant that the stinger could not either. The sound of metal on metal twanged as the stinger hit the armored scales on Pyre’s back. Quickly, he folded his wings to his back hooking the claws at the tip of each wing together, locking the scorpion’s tail to him. He could smell and hear the arachnid’s poison eating away at the exterior of his scales and knew he had to act fast. He inhaled a deep breath.

Oceanus saw what his foolhardy brother was attempting and swept his wings out to shield the wolves from what was to come.

Pyre gave a smirk to the infuriated, thrashing creature before expelling a stream of fire directly at it. The scorpion began to scream like a lobster tossed in a pot of boiling water. Its writhing grew in intensity and it took everything Pyre had to keep his wings locked around the tail. It seemed as though the scorpion struggled forever before it finally stopped. Cautiously, he brought his tail around his right side and poked the tip of it on the scorpion’s shell. After a few minutes, he was satisfied the thing was dead, he finally relaxed his hold, releasing his wings from their locked position. The tail slumped to the sand with barely a sound.

Reaper agilely leapt onto Pyre’s back and sucked in a sharp breath before he jumped down. The intake of breath was all Pyre needed to hear. He doubted he would live long enough to see Rose and apologize, let alone return to Caprae.

Message From the Soap Box: When is it Okay to Tell a Friend there’s a Problem with Their Book?

When is it not okay to contact an author that is your friend when you come across quite noticeable errors in their works?

Apparently the answer is never. As weird as that sounds when it comes to doing blog tours, some organizers place a “no contact” clause in their rules even when it comes to people you converse with on a daily basis if you opt to review said friend’s book for a tour. The reasoning is sound in some aspects since I know I wouldn’t want a bunch of strangers messaging me if they found things wrong with my book, but when it comes to friends should this rule still be valid? I personally don’t think so. I would rather my friends come to me and say “Cu.. I found something really wrong with your book and I thought you should know about it” then to have to sit there wondering why my friend told me they were going to review it or I saw their name signed up for a review on a tour and then there’s no review on their stop. I’d most definitely contact them and ask them why the review is missing. But under this rule they would be unable to tell me why less they risk being thrown off the group. Quite the conundrum isn’t it?

I bring this up since I was removed from a group that shall remain nameless for breaking this rule. The group will remain nameless since honestly they don’t need the headache of the results of their actions and I don’t need the headache either. We are still on speaking terms and honestly the removal hurts them more than it does me.

I bought a copy of a friend’s book. It’s an older book, her first publication I believe. Then I signed up for the tour. Since I had the book why not review it for the tour. However, there were certain very noticeable things wrong with it. So as I always do when I come across things that could potentially ruin the sales AND rating of a friend’s book, I told them. But like always before I contact a friend, I contact the tour organizer as well to let them know 1) I’ll be withholding the review and 2) that since the author is a friend I contacted them to find out if they were aware of them.

My inability to lie is what got me removed, and honestly I’m fine with that. I would rather be removed for caring too much about my friends, then to lose the friend over a low rated review in the long run because they didn’t know about the errors in the book or why I was posting the review when they were working on a corrected version.

I claim my reviews to be 100% honest.. and they are.. and there’s not a person alive that will force my hand into giving a dishonest review friend or not. If people would rather I not make sure that the information in my review is accurate so I can uphold my 100% honest claim, then they don’t need me to host for them. It’s really that simple. Like I said all being removed from a group does to me is anger my author friends who know I was supposed to review for their tours, and lighten my review pile.. It affects the group and the authors a lot more.

Okay I’m done “explaining” myself to the masses now lol ^.^<