C. Leigh Purtill's Blog, page 5
December 26, 2011
In 2012, I resolve to...
1. Self-publish my entire backlist as e-books across all platforms. Also make them available in print editions.
Reason: I need to wipe the slate (i.e. my hard drive) clean of old titles. Whether people read them is not up to me but at least all of them will be out there and available to be enjoyed.
2. Write the books I want to read.
Reason: I fell in love with reading when I was a teen and I devoured all genres, including fantasy and science fiction. I have always loved spec fiction too. When I write for others - for the marketplace - I get stuck because I'm not excited to find out more. Then I'm trudging through it rather than racing through it.
3. Write the books I've always wanted to write.
Reason: It takes a very long time to write a novel - and to rewrite it and rewrite it until it's ready for others. I am tired of wasting my precious writing time on books that mean nothing to me, that may have a fun premise but are nothing more.
4. Read more of what I love.
Reason: As a YA writer, I tend to read what I should read, what's popular among my audience. While it's important to know what sells, those books shouldn't be my sole literary consumption. And now that I have a Kindle, it's easier than ever before to get what I need.
5. Organize my social media more efficiently.
Reason: Again, time is a precious resource. I need to streamline what I do and when I do it. Toward that end, I stopped using MySpace altogether and I linked my Facebook and Twitter accounts. I also have to set specific times of when I'm online - it's eating up my day!
November 23, 2011
"Who does that fat girl think she is?"
That's the strange comment I've read on some reviews of my novel, ALL ABOUT VEE. Perhaps not quite as harsh but certainly I've read comments that express that sentiment.
Why? I always wonder. Why would a reader be upset that my mc, Veronica May, a plus-size actress struggling in Hollywood, has confidence in herself? Plenty of other characters in other books know they are good at something, whether it's acting or painting or sports. So what's the difference between them and Veronica?
Her size.
There's an attitude among a lot of people that overweight women shouldn't be happy with themselves. They should want to look thinner. They should not like who they are. They should feel inferior to others. Many readers who pick up VEE expect that Veronica will be sad or have low self-esteem and that, over the course of the book, she will learn to love her body the way it is (or change it and then be happy and get the guy!). They don't expect that the problems she has in the book are ones that other people impose upon her.
I've often told readers how I came up with my story about Veronica and her friends, Val and Ginny, the original 800 page book that was called FAT GIRLS IN LA. I had been walking on my lunch hour in Beverly Hills and saw a lovely young woman waiting to cross the street. The neighborhood was filled with agencies for film and TV and this girl was overweight. I wondered if she was an actress looking for an agent - or maybe she was a model or a writer. I thought about who she might be, where she might have come from.
And I thought about being a fat girl in LA. You can never be too thin in this town, no matter what your profession. Even if you're a writer and you're attractive and thin, they can promote you better than if you're not. Everyone, it seems, wants to be thin here. But what if you came from a town where no one cared? What if you were really good at what you did but you also happened to be overweight? Why should that matter?
Behold, the Vees were born. Three plus-size gals from Arizona who were best friends and who wanted to make their lives more exciting so they moved to Hollywood. Veronica was the actress and she got all the best roles in her small town - why shouldn't she be positive about her talent? Why shouldn't she assume she could get roles here in LA? Ginny was the writer and Val was the model. They all suffered discrimination here. Their friendship was tested. Their self-confidence was challenged.
I think a lot of readers who have problems with Veronica's positive self-esteem have struggled with it themselves. They may want her to feel as they do and are disappointed that she likes herself the way she is. They may have had people in their lives tell them they need to lose weight in order to be hired - or loved. Make no mistake: Vee does not think she's the best at everything, that she's beautiful, that she should get every guy she meets. That's the assumption readers place on her just because she's a good actress. She struggles too. She just doesn't struggle with what you expect her to.
She's just like you.
Why? I always wonder. Why would a reader be upset that my mc, Veronica May, a plus-size actress struggling in Hollywood, has confidence in herself? Plenty of other characters in other books know they are good at something, whether it's acting or painting or sports. So what's the difference between them and Veronica?
Her size.
There's an attitude among a lot of people that overweight women shouldn't be happy with themselves. They should want to look thinner. They should not like who they are. They should feel inferior to others. Many readers who pick up VEE expect that Veronica will be sad or have low self-esteem and that, over the course of the book, she will learn to love her body the way it is (or change it and then be happy and get the guy!). They don't expect that the problems she has in the book are ones that other people impose upon her.
I've often told readers how I came up with my story about Veronica and her friends, Val and Ginny, the original 800 page book that was called FAT GIRLS IN LA. I had been walking on my lunch hour in Beverly Hills and saw a lovely young woman waiting to cross the street. The neighborhood was filled with agencies for film and TV and this girl was overweight. I wondered if she was an actress looking for an agent - or maybe she was a model or a writer. I thought about who she might be, where she might have come from.
And I thought about being a fat girl in LA. You can never be too thin in this town, no matter what your profession. Even if you're a writer and you're attractive and thin, they can promote you better than if you're not. Everyone, it seems, wants to be thin here. But what if you came from a town where no one cared? What if you were really good at what you did but you also happened to be overweight? Why should that matter?
Behold, the Vees were born. Three plus-size gals from Arizona who were best friends and who wanted to make their lives more exciting so they moved to Hollywood. Veronica was the actress and she got all the best roles in her small town - why shouldn't she be positive about her talent? Why shouldn't she assume she could get roles here in LA? Ginny was the writer and Val was the model. They all suffered discrimination here. Their friendship was tested. Their self-confidence was challenged.
I think a lot of readers who have problems with Veronica's positive self-esteem have struggled with it themselves. They may want her to feel as they do and are disappointed that she likes herself the way she is. They may have had people in their lives tell them they need to lose weight in order to be hired - or loved. Make no mistake: Vee does not think she's the best at everything, that she's beautiful, that she should get every guy she meets. That's the assumption readers place on her just because she's a good actress. She struggles too. She just doesn't struggle with what you expect her to.
She's just like you.
November 15, 2011
Things I've Learned During Self-publishing (so far!)
1. First of all, the cool kids call it "indie" publishing and as we all know, when you stick the word "indie" in front of anything, its cachet is magnified a thousandfold.
2. Apparently, there was no Chapter 13 in my published novel, ALL ABOUT VEE. Yes, it's true! There's a Chapter 12 and a Chapter 14 but no 13. This was due solely to human error (many humans' errors), not a superstition, although if it had been a superstition, that would have been pretty neat.
As we reformat the book to publish it as FAT GIRLS IN LA, I'm making changes, adding a little material here and there that I always wanted kept in. So there will be a Chapter 13 in the new edition.
3. I only used one ellipsis in the entire novel of ALL ABOUT VEE. Weird, huh? An ellipsis is "..." Which I use all the time in my normal daily writing so it's truly bizarre there's only one in nearly 300 pages of text.
4. LOVE, MEG in Hungarian? Maybe! When you're getting ready to re-launch, you need to regain control over all the material you own that's out there. Ninja Webmaster and I are always on the lookout for websites that have my ebooks listed so we can get them removed so we are constantly Googling, etc. But according to Goodreads, there was (or might have been) a Hungarian language version of MEG as an ebook and as a paperback. They have ISBN numbers and everything!
2. Apparently, there was no Chapter 13 in my published novel, ALL ABOUT VEE. Yes, it's true! There's a Chapter 12 and a Chapter 14 but no 13. This was due solely to human error (many humans' errors), not a superstition, although if it had been a superstition, that would have been pretty neat.
As we reformat the book to publish it as FAT GIRLS IN LA, I'm making changes, adding a little material here and there that I always wanted kept in. So there will be a Chapter 13 in the new edition.
3. I only used one ellipsis in the entire novel of ALL ABOUT VEE. Weird, huh? An ellipsis is "..." Which I use all the time in my normal daily writing so it's truly bizarre there's only one in nearly 300 pages of text.
4. LOVE, MEG in Hungarian? Maybe! When you're getting ready to re-launch, you need to regain control over all the material you own that's out there. Ninja Webmaster and I are always on the lookout for websites that have my ebooks listed so we can get them removed so we are constantly Googling, etc. But according to Goodreads, there was (or might have been) a Hungarian language version of MEG as an ebook and as a paperback. They have ISBN numbers and everything!
November 9, 2011
New cover reveal: Vee's back!
...and she's bringing her friends!
Finally, we've got a little action going here on the blog. It's been a long time percolating but we've got a brand new cover for the re-release of ALL ABOUT VEE, now titled FAT GIRLS IN LA, as I originally wanted it to be. Check it out (thanks Ninja Webmaster for the redesign!):
We're all Fat Girls in LA - even the boys.
Vee will be released this month followed by...! Nope! Not gonna reveal that title yet! You'll have to wait til December. Keep up to date with Vee and her friends on her Facebook page or her Twitter page and be one of the girls!
Finally, we've got a little action going here on the blog. It's been a long time percolating but we've got a brand new cover for the re-release of ALL ABOUT VEE, now titled FAT GIRLS IN LA, as I originally wanted it to be. Check it out (thanks Ninja Webmaster for the redesign!):
We're all Fat Girls in LA - even the boys.Vee will be released this month followed by...! Nope! Not gonna reveal that title yet! You'll have to wait til December. Keep up to date with Vee and her friends on her Facebook page or her Twitter page and be one of the girls!
October 25, 2011
Upcoming books?
10, 9, 8, 7...
We're getting ready to launch. Re-launch, that is. My intrepid Ninja Webmaster is designing a brand new website and new book covers for the re-launch of 2 of my books plus several absolutely, never-seen-before new ones, including two sequels in my Fat Girls trilogy. Currently we are tweaking images and such - plus lots of technical stuff I don't know anything about. We'll go to Amazon and other e-tailers online first but will hopefully have the books available for print as well.
6, 5, 4...
And why am I doing this? Well, first of all, I always felt like my novels, LOVE, MEG and ALL ABOUT VEE weren't given the opportunity to reach a wide audience. Part of that was due to the very small marketing budget those books had- not my fault, not the books' faults, not the editor's or agent's fault. It's just the way traditional publishing works: only a select few books get the money spent on them. They are usually the ones whose authors received large advances so the publishers need to spend even more money on them to recoup that original outlay. Those books are the ones which are expected to rake in the big bucks.
Then there are "small" books like mine - "quiet" books that don't have big high-concept hooks - that don't receive big advances, big marketing budgets and are expected to do nothing. Publishers throw these books into the mix and let them flounder on their own. If they make any money, hurrah! If not, they go out-of-print. Well, how many do you think fall into the former category? Not many is right. Mine fell into the latter and they went OOP and now, I have the rights back.
Another reason why I'm putting my e-books out online is that the market has changed an awful lot since I first got published. The books I wrote after MEG and VEE were also "quiet" without high concept hooks and since MEG and VEE did not flourish, no one wanted these. I disagree - I think readers want them. I think people are hungry for good stories, regardless of whether they have a hook or not. As a reader myself, I enjoy good characters and solid stories that entertain me. I have a Kindle and I want to load it up with books. I think there are a lot of people out there like me. And my books are for them.
Sure, I'm also writing books that do have "concepts" that I hope traditional publishing will want to put out but if not, I am creating an avenue directly to readers and I'll get them out there one way or another.
3, 2, 1...
We're getting ready to launch. Re-launch, that is. My intrepid Ninja Webmaster is designing a brand new website and new book covers for the re-launch of 2 of my books plus several absolutely, never-seen-before new ones, including two sequels in my Fat Girls trilogy. Currently we are tweaking images and such - plus lots of technical stuff I don't know anything about. We'll go to Amazon and other e-tailers online first but will hopefully have the books available for print as well.
6, 5, 4...
And why am I doing this? Well, first of all, I always felt like my novels, LOVE, MEG and ALL ABOUT VEE weren't given the opportunity to reach a wide audience. Part of that was due to the very small marketing budget those books had- not my fault, not the books' faults, not the editor's or agent's fault. It's just the way traditional publishing works: only a select few books get the money spent on them. They are usually the ones whose authors received large advances so the publishers need to spend even more money on them to recoup that original outlay. Those books are the ones which are expected to rake in the big bucks.
Then there are "small" books like mine - "quiet" books that don't have big high-concept hooks - that don't receive big advances, big marketing budgets and are expected to do nothing. Publishers throw these books into the mix and let them flounder on their own. If they make any money, hurrah! If not, they go out-of-print. Well, how many do you think fall into the former category? Not many is right. Mine fell into the latter and they went OOP and now, I have the rights back.
Another reason why I'm putting my e-books out online is that the market has changed an awful lot since I first got published. The books I wrote after MEG and VEE were also "quiet" without high concept hooks and since MEG and VEE did not flourish, no one wanted these. I disagree - I think readers want them. I think people are hungry for good stories, regardless of whether they have a hook or not. As a reader myself, I enjoy good characters and solid stories that entertain me. I have a Kindle and I want to load it up with books. I think there are a lot of people out there like me. And my books are for them.
Sure, I'm also writing books that do have "concepts" that I hope traditional publishing will want to put out but if not, I am creating an avenue directly to readers and I'll get them out there one way or another.
3, 2, 1...
September 14, 2011
Here comes the 10th Annual West Hollywood Book Fair!
Whoo-hoo for Weho! As we say here in West Hollywood. Once again, I'm very proud to be a part of this event, helping to coordinate some really cool things on the Teen Stage. Let's take a look at some of the awesome things going on:
* "It Was a Dark & Stormy Night"--10:45am to 11:05amYA Authors read AWrinkle in Time With those words, author Madeline L'Engle begins herextraordinary story of teenager Meg Murry who is about to embark on a journeyto save her scientist father from the cold Universe with the help of threeotherworldy beings. YA writers Amy Koss(The Not-So-Great Depression), Sally Nemeth (The Heights, the Depths andEverything in Between), Leigh Purtill (All About Vee) and Carol Tanzman(Dancergirl) share the first chapter of this classic novel on the Teen Stage. And there's even a very special guest reader, Marg Helgenberger from CSI! * "Extra, Extra, Blog all about it!"One of the web's favorite bloggers, Chelsea Swiggett, aka The Page Flipper, who hosts the book blog, Coffee and Cliffhangers, will be interviewing 3 YA authors one-on-one, asking them all the questions you want to know about: --Cecil Castellucci--11:15am to 11:30am--Blake Nelson--12:50pm to 1:05pm--Cherry Cheva--3:35pm to 3:50pm * "Lights! Camera! Coming Attractions!"--12:20pm to 12:40pmLive book trailers on the Teen Stage preview new books fromyour favorite authors in Young Adult Lit. Elise Allen (Populazzi), Allen Zadoff (My Life, The Theater and OtherTragedies), Claire LaZebnik (Epic Fail), and Carol Tanzman (Dancergirl) present their new books with the help of someamazing teens. Singing? Dancing? Acting? Puppets? You never know what you'll get with these writers! So mark your calendars now for the West Hollywood Book Fair. There's so much to do and see that you'll want to be there all day! What: 10th Annual West Hollywood Book FairWhen: Sunday, Oct 2nd, 10AM-1PMWhere: San Vicente Blvd, between Melrose and Santa Monica BlvdCost: Free!!!
August 28, 2011
Rachel Olivier's "The G.O.D. Factor"
Rachel Olivier's novella, "The G.O.D. Factor," reminds me of some of my very favorite science fiction: a little Ray Bradbury, a little Isaac Asimov, a little Robert Heinlein. It all adds up to a really fun story with a main character you want to spend more time with.
Monica is part of a small crew on a ship in deep space. While she tends to the ship's controls, the rest of the crew (including the captain she crushes on as well as her ex-boyfriend) rests in their stasis chambers. All by herself, enjoying her solace yet a little bit lonely, Monica talks to her plants and to the ship's controls, completely unaware that someone is listening - the ship itself. She's shocked when the Artificial Intelligence that she'd thought had been turned off by the ship's engineer begins communicating with her. It calls itself G.O.D. - Galactic Orbital Dreadnaught - which is a holdover from a long ago war. Monica soon realizes G.O.D. doesn't want to be her friend; it wants to control her and the rest of the crew.
Monica is a clever and funny protagonist who would rather sleep in her flannel pjs on a sofa with a crocheted pillow than in her high tech stasis chamber. There is a sweetness to this story that much SF misses: even in the midst of the crisis, Monica can't help but admire the nude physique of the captain when she awakens him from deep sleep - and then she admonishes herself for doing so! I love the oh-so-low-tech methods she and the crew use to outsmart G.O.D.
The author told me she was thinking about fleshing the novella out more, perhaps examining the earlier relationship between Monica and her ex. I think this would be a great adventure in a larger story and would definitely enjoy reading more about the ship, the past war, and Monica herself.
The slim and easily portable paperback of "The G.O.D. Factor" can be purchased online at Sam's Dot Publishing.
July 20, 2011
Donate to a great cause and win books!
Donate and win me!Over at TLC Auctions, Lauren of the blog Shooting Stars Mag and Kristi of the blog The Story Siren have combined forces to put together the ultimate book auction. All money raised through donations will go to help young Kaylea, who has leukemia, and Daniel, who lost his arm and has gone through over a dozen surgeries (very expensive!).
Read about it all here at their combined site, TLC Auctions. My book is up for auction now - donate between today and Sunday, 7/24, and you could win a signed copy of my novel, ALL ABOUT VEE. I will sign it to you personally (or to whomever you want to give it) and send it out with my very own hands.
My book auction here.
Thank you Lauren and Kristi for asking me to participate! I hope you raise all that you need and more!
July 8, 2011
The Road to Self-Publication
It's been a long time since I've seen the inside of my Blogger account! LOL! For those of you who have stuck with it, thank you kindly for your patience. You probably saw an update of my blog in your feed and did a double-take: "Leigh is posting something new? Have pigs begun to fly?"
The reason for my neglect of this blog has been twofold:
1. I'm prepping books for self-publication. 2. I'm writing a new book for traditional publication.
Both at the same time!
First, let's start with self-pubbing. This, contrary to a lot of opinions, is not a bad thing necessarily. So long as you follow a series of logical steps:
--Write. --Rewrite. --Take a break. --Rewrite. --Get honest feedback. --Rewrite. --Hire an editor. --Rewrite.
In the meantime, you have to perform all the tasks publishers normally handle for you. Design the cover, plan the marketing, contact readers for blurbs, "typeset" the manuscript, and so on. If you have a particularly skilled person in your life, consider asking for their help in the design of the cover, etc. Take advantage of just about anyone you can. LOL!
I also recommend reading great blogs like Konrath's A Newbie's Guide, where he lays it out as it is. He and Amanda Hocking are the great exceptions to the rule but that doesn't mean you can't glean insight from their process. Plus it's good to read the comments for Konrath's posts because his readers have a lot of practical guidance themselves.
In fact, read everything you can about self-pubbing. You need to know what you're up against, not just the good stuff. It's also a good idea to buy a Kindle or a Nook or whatever format you plan to publish in. I have a Kindle and I love it. I love reading on it, loading new books to it, and perusing what's hot on the Kindle lists. Also good research.
I'm not up to marketing yet but I'm starting to think about how I will do this, how I want to create my brand, the C. Leigh Purtill brand. This is big picture thinking and right now I'm mired in writing and rewriting. I want to have all the books in place before I start pubbing.
I'll report more on this as it progresses.
Oh yeah, I'm also writing a ghost story that I want to publish traditionally. Yup. Ghosts.
June 10, 2011
YA's too dark? Bring it on!
For the past week, the YA world has been aflutter with essays and tweets about the Wall Street Journal opinion article by book reviewer Meghan Cox Gurdon. Here it is for your reading pleasure but I can sum it up briefly: she spoke to a mother who walked into a B&N store and couldn't find a book for her 13 year old daughter that wasn't filled with vampires and werewolves or dealt with issues like cutting, suicide, etc. Where are all the fun books for teens?
Well, LOTS of well-known writers jumped into the fray, providing cogent arguments refuting her claims. Among the best that I read were by Laurie Halse Anderson, Cecil Castellucci, and Sherman Alexie. There are plenty more plus the Twitter hashtag #YASaves that asked people to talk about their own experiences with books and how they helped them in rough times.
My reaction? It's all overreaction. The woman at the store, Ms. Gordon, and many of these writers. First of all, that woman at the store didn't try very hard because there are hundreds of books on the shelves that don't have black covers and "blood" in their titles. And if she bothered to look online, thousands of bloggers would gladly direct her to their favorite contemporary novels. Second, I don't think Gordon was condemning the entire YA lit world but she was making lots of incorrect assumptions. The idea that YA writers and publishers should somehow be held responsible, more so than their adult lit counterparts, is ridiculous. We write stories because we want to tell stories. We don't write stories because we want to be role models or teach lessons. If lessons are gleaned, well, hurrah.
When I worked in network standards, there would be periodic uprisings from Parents Television Council, a very vocal conservative watch group that would freak out about blood on the show "Angel" or sex on just about any other show on television. Language, nudity, sexual innuendo - they would lump it all together and shout, "Enough!" Some show runners might tone down things for a little while in response; some would dig in the heels, but eventually, it all worked out.
In the world of TV, you vote with your remote control. You don't like a show, you don't watch. The numbers get to the networks and they cancel shows that no one likes. It's that simple. The book world is the exact same thing. Vote with your dollars: you don't like a book, don't buy it. Will they go away? Yup, they will. Will this argument- and the one on television - come up again? No doubt about it.
