S.C. Wynne's Blog, page 3

I’m A Lambda Finalist! By S.C. Wynne

Good Morning, all!

I thought I’d share with you some good news. My book, Crashing Upwards, finaled in the Lambda Literary Awards. To say I was shocked would be an understatement, but I certainly was honored.

Lambda Literary nurtures and advocates for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, preserve our legacies, and affirm the value of our stories and our lives. To learn more about the Lambda’s, click HERE.

I almost didn’t enter Crashing Upwards to the Lambdas. I was only going to enter Strange Medicine, a gay mystery series I started last year. But at the last minute, I entered Crashing Upwards because I was so proud of the book. I’m very glad I did too.

I don’t expect to win, (of course, I’d love to) but just being nominated validates me in ways all writers yearn for. Writing is a very solitary occupation and it’s often hard to gauge whether or not you’re connecting with your readers or peers. Receiving a nomination for a respected award such as this goes many miles in making me feel as if maybe I really do know what I’m doing. Odd that after five years of writing, I still need outside influences to make me feel that. Maybe it’s because writing for a living has a lot of rejection built into it from publishers, agents and reviewers/readers.

I know people always say just being nominated is an honor, and in this instance, it truly is. I’m thrilled to be included among so many wonderful, talented authors.

Finalist List Here

If you’re curious about my book that finaled, I’ll link it below so you can check it out.

S.C.

www.scwynne.com

Crashing Upwards on Amazon Click Here

You Like Me! You Really Like Me… or do you? By S.C. Wynne

Morning all!

I thought today I’d share a bit of personal insight into who I am. I’ve been writing mm romance for over five years, and I don’t tend to share a lot about myself.

Since I was a kid I’ve always felt like if someone liked me it was because they didn’t really know me. I didn’t really even realize that about myself until I was older, and I’d notice that I felt extreme anxiety if someone seemed to like me. I always felt I’d disappoint them if they got to know the real me. Not that I’m hugely strange or anything, but I just assumed they had to be mistaken if they actually liked me. I feared that if they looked too close, I wouldn’t seem funny enough. Smart enough. Good enough.

I guess we all hide parts of ourselves trying to put our best foot forward. But the thing is, we’re all odd in our own way. I doubt sincerely there is anyone who isn’t at all strange. Maybe I’m kidding myself, lol, but I don’t think so. Granted, some are stranger than others.

I’ve always been drawn to quirky people. I don’t think perfect people exist, but I think there are people who are better at faking it than others. I like flawed people. I write about flawed people. I find flawed individuals interesting. Especially in books.

I’m shy until I know you. I think sometimes that makes people think I’m prissy, stuck up, or a goody-two-shoes, when nothing could be farther from the truth. I like a lot of music people would never think I like. I cuss more than people might think, and when I drink, I can drink a lot. But I’m kind, and I’m extremely loyal. If you’re my friend or my family, you’ll never go into battle alone. I’ll have your back even if it makes me unpopular.

Not everyone returns that same loyalty to me. I think I have too idealistic of an idea of the world sometimes, and often people let me down. I’m guarded and stupidly trusting at the same time. I’m only close to a small number of people who I trust. That group is mostly made up of my family, who I trust implicitly, and maybe two friends who I think might have my back if I really needed it.

I think this introspective, untrusting side of me actually suits being an author. When you write, it’s useful to be a people watcher, which I am. I may not interact with a ton of people, but I know people. I study people. I love putting those observations down on paper and creating complicated characters.

Well, now you know a bit more about me. Hopefully letting you in isn’t a bad thing. Maybe you can let me see a glimpse into you as well. Feel free to comment and tell me something about yourself that other people might be surprised to learn.

S.C.

www.scwynne.com

Should Ghostwriters Be Revealed? By S.C. Wynne

I saw an interesting poll being distributed by N.R. Walker the other day. You can find the poll HERE on her Twitter page. (I’m linking this because she encouraged sharing the poll.)

The poll asked if authors who use ghostwriters should be made to add a disclaimer in the front matter of the ghostwritten book, or on the cover, to alert consumers to the fact the listed author did not write the book.

Let me preface this by saying; I don’t pretend to have the answers to any of this. What follows will simply be me rambling about my opinion on this subject.

I think it’s an interesting question; should ghostwriters be disclosed to the consumer? My gut reaction is, yes. I think if you establish a brand, then people who buy that brand should get the real deal. But it’s kind of more complicated than that. Some author names are groups who write under one pen name. In that case, the brand was never really one person to begin with.Was a brand ever really even established? Maybe group pen names should disclose that they are a group? 

Writing is a creative art, much like painting. If I bought a painting by an artist, I’d expect that painting to have been painted by that actual artist. If for some reason that artist didn’t paint it, I’d expect that information to be disclosed to me.

Some respondents to the poll didn’t care if the ghostwriters were disclosed or not. They didn’t care that there might be an inconsistency to the books because different people are writing them. They felt that if it got too much, or the voices were too different, they just wouldn’t read that”author” anymore.

That is certainly a fair point of view. No one is making anyone read anything. (Unless you’re in school, and then you must listen to your teachers girls and boys!)

I’m a Pluviophile, and I’m Proud! By S.C. Wynne

Good morning! 

It’s gloomy and rainy today. Now many people wouldn’t enjoy that, but I do. I most definitely do! I love the rain. Absolutely adore it. I think that’s because I was born and have lived in sunny Southern California my entire life. Blue skies are a thing here, and rain is a nice change.

I love blue skies, but it’s nice to have seasons too. I like the yellow and orange autumn leaves. I love snow and rain. (I do not like DRIVING in snow though) Blue skies every day get boring. You need the darkness to enjoy the light, right?

I also write for a living, so pouring rain is cozy. Maybe if I had to drive two hours in bad weather to a day job, I’d curse the rain. But as I type this post, I’m on my cozy bed, sipping Jasmine tea, and watching the drops drench the earth.

Of course, tomorrow will be blue skies again, because that’s California for ya.

GRL 2018 By S.C. Wynne

GRL was an interesting and fun experience. It was crazy meeting so many people who I’ve met on line. Seeing them in person was amazing. Most people were friendly and in a great mood, a few were in their own world, but that’s pretty much life, right?

It was cool meeting all the readers and other authors. Where else can I spend time with people who are as obsessed with books as I am?

I was lucky enough to join with Kale Williams, Felice Stevens, and Josh Lanyon for a reading. Kale read from each of our books, and he was amazing as usual. What an amazing voice talent he is. One of the best.

I plan on going to GRL in 2019 too. It’s going to be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico from October 17-20. Will you be there? If so, come see me and give me a hug!

S.C.

New Release! Crashing Upwards By S.C. Wynne

My newest release is a forced proximity type of romance. I loved writing Harper and Sam’s story. I liked the push and pull between the two, very different men. Sam is optimistic and good hearted, while Harper is untrusting and wary of people’s true intentions. Both men are the way they are because of how they were raised, but the connection between them helps to bridge that gap.

Blurb:

Harper Jones is a professional bike courier, and in his business if you don’t ride fast, you don’t make money. His apartment has mice, he’s barely able to scrape up the rent, but at least he’s living life on his terms and doesn’t depend on anyone.

Sam Foster is the gay son of a wealthy conservative senator. He’s noticed Harper before when he’s dropped off packages at his dad’s company, but he’s never had the nerve to speak to his secret crush.

When Sam accidentally hits Harper with his car, Harper’s bike is destroyed and he’s injured seriously enough that he won’t be delivering packages for a while. Sam decides Harper needs rescuing, and he moves in with Harper to take care of him.

Unfortunately, Sam’s politician dad is convinced Harper’s a con-artist and he’ll do whatever it takes to get him away from his son.

If this sounds like fun, the book will be on sale for $2.99 until October 8th. Then it goes up!

Amazon   Kobo   Barnes & Noble   Apple

S.C.

www.scwynne.com

People Don’t Seem to Talk About Books Anymore By S.C. Wynne

Good Morning!

I was talking with a writer friend the other day, and we’d both noticed that readers don’t seem to dissect, or talk about books like they used to. Goodreads groups used to buzz with lively discussions about the latest books they’d read, but now it seems no one is doing that as much.

I don’t think that this new development is because readers don’t care about books. My guess is it has more to do with the fact that people read so fast now. Kindle Unlimited has been instrumental in encouraging binge reading. I’ve seen some readers say they read as many as twenty books a week. I don’t know that I’ve read twenty books this year. Granted, I’m on the low end of the scale because I’m busy writing books. I’m not condemning anyone who does read that fast or that many books, but I am saying it probably impacts how well one can immerse themselves in the story. It must affect how deeply they think about the book once they’re done reading because they’re on to the next book right away.

I remember a time when readers would pick apart every detail of a book, and talk for hours about their feelings about the story. Readers would savor the books and comb through the pages. On one hand, it was probably unsettling for those authors of yesterday that anyone would pay that much attention to all the little details. But it must also have been flattering and energizing knowing all the details you bothered to put in were indeed being noticed by enthusiastic fans.

Perhaps the lack of book dissecting is because a lot of readers aren’t only reading for pleasure anymore. Many readers are on numerous ARC teams, and the pressure to read and then write reviews is relentless. If Amazon would stop including reviews in the algorithms, which affects authors ability to appear on lists, many authors wouldn’t care if anyone ever reviewed. Maybe that’s just me. Although, come to think of it, I actually do love feedback on my books. But I don’t enjoy having to hound readers for reviews. In fact, I hate it. I wrote a blog post not long ago about how authors AND readers are both suffering from burn out. I still stand behind that.

One also can’t ignore the fact that there are way more books to read now than ever before. The explosion of self-publishing has made it so literally anyone can publish a book. There are so many stories to read now, it must mess with how people read. When there were only a hundred or so new books a month in MM romance, I’m sure readers remembered the characters and experienced the stories so much more powerfully. To truly immerse yourself in a book, you need time.

I still enjoy talking about the books I love, and I’m looking forward to doing that at GRL. What about you? Do you feel like you have to rush through books and it sometimes feels like a chore? Or do you still discuss and dissect the books you love?

S.C.

www.scwynne.com

Frustrations in Publishing By S.C. Wynne

I always hope that with each new book release the stress and ulcer inducing angst will fade with time. For some reason, it never seems to. Every release is painful and terrifying. That elusive calm and serenity never finds me. Sometimes there is a reason for that stress, and sometimes it’s simply fear of the unknown.

This most recent release of Redemption (Previously titled Guard My Body) is giving me a headache. Not because of reviews or the book itself, but because of Amazon. They delayed the book several days and then when they finally made it live, they didn’t upload the cover. Now a book without a cover is incredibly difficult to promote, and promotion is everything in this crowded market. I can’t advertise a book with no cover. How appealing would an ad be with “NO IMAGE AVAILABLE” stamped on it? Not very, I can assure you.

The other vendors are more than capable of putting the book up WITH the cover, thankfully, but unfortunately Amazon is the bulk of most author’s sales. I really wish another platform would spring up that could put Amazon in it’s place. It would have to make book buying brainless because that is why I love buying things from Amazon. It’s so EASY. They understand that people will be lazy and go where the buying is easy. Their customer service if you’re a customer is great, but if you’re an author? There are no live people to talk to and you usually just get email responses that say almost nothing and tell you to wait 72 hours. THREE DAYS is a lifetime when you’re talking about a book launch. In three days my book probably will have sank to the bottom of the Amazon abyss.

But the good thing about this type of incompetence on Amazon’s part is; it reminds me that I need to be doing everything I can to be LESS dependent on them, not more.

S.C.

New Website New Horizons by S.C. Wynne

I’ve been working on this website since the end of 2017. I actually learned so much and I’m glad I did this because I was such a Word Press Newb I didn’t know how to do anything! I don’t like not knowing stuff. Yes, I’m a control freak.

My other site www.sc-wynne.com was run by my brother-in-law, Kevin Burton Smith of the famous, or maybe infamous Thrilling Detective website and I can’t thank him enough for the years he tirelessly updated my books and covers on that site. But he’s a busy guy and I’m someone who hates, hates, hates asking for favors. So I wanted a website that I could update myself without having to pester my awesome brother-in-law. lol

I love the clean simplicity of this new site. Let me know what you think. Be kind. There is lots I can improve upon, I’m sure. But this site is actually fun to work on so I see many more hours of tweaking ahead.

S.C.

Mpreg is it for you? By S.C. Wynne

Hello all my little Wynners! [image error]

By now most of you know I published an Mpreg book, My Omega’s Baby in June and then the second book, Rockstar Baby in the series in August. I was terrified to write these stories at first because I was afraid my usual readers wouldn’t like them. I myself was a little freaked out when I first heard about Mpreg. But as I read the stories, it became clear they were very much the same sort of thing I already write with MM Romance, only even more emotional.

Of course Mpreg stories would have to be slightly more emotional because they’re dealing with pregnancy. In my stories, the men are almost always shocked by the pregnancy. That, to me, adds a humorous element to the story that I love. Then of course we get to see the characters grow closer as the alpha becomes more protective of his pregnant omega. Mpreg definitely tugs at the heart strings and allows the author and the reader to go deeper with the feels.

I look forward to writing more books in my Bodyguards and Babies Series. It’s been an exciting ride so far, and readers are definitely responding positively to the books.

Next up I have a re-release of Guarding My Heart. It’s about a rich kid who has had his heart broken and the bodyguard who comes to watch over him when there are some threats against him. It’s fascinating to me how differently I write now. I’ve added a ton of new words and completely changed the ending of the book to give the readers MORE!!! That was one criticism of the book originally, that it ended too abruptly. I did that a lot more when I was a new author.

Well, hope to talk to you more soon! Join my newsletter for new release info!