J.K. Rowling New Book Speculation
As many of you know, J.K. Rowling recently announced that she will be writing a new book for a different publisher, “Little, Brown”. It goes without saying that this has provoked controversy and it seems that the masses are saying that her “childish writing style” (their words, not mine) won’t work in an adult novel. Personally, I’ll read anything she writes. It doesn’t matter what. I’ve never had a problem with her writing style (although I do see how she abuses semi-colons and commas and tends to overwrite) but that may just be me. The complete article on Rowling’s announcement can be found here. Apparently, #RowlingReturns trended Twitter shortly after. Unsurprising, of course. I mean, c’mon. It is J.K. Rowling after all.
And since it is J.K. Rowling, I’ve decided to dedicate an entire post to speculation on what her adult novel will be about. Please note that I have no insider information and know nothing more than the general public, these are just my uneducated guesses:
“What will this novel be about?” is the question heard ’round the world. Rowling, her publisher and her agent have proved to be very tight-lipped about hinting at even so much as a genre beyond the generic ‘adult fiction’. So as impatient readers, it’s our job to speculate, right?
I’m predicting that this new novel will be a mystery, probably an Agatha Christie type novel. Her writing really feels suited for that kind of book, doesn’t it? It will definitely be a plot-driven novel (not character or prose-driven) and I’m guessing that it will have at least one sequel. It’ll be set in England, obviously, too.
And that’s all I can think of at the moment.
What about you? What do you think of Rowling’s decision? What do you think her next book will be about? Here’s your chance to speculate about Rowling’s next book! Let the random guessing begin.
On a somewhat unrelated note, I’m not quite sure why Rowling isn’t publishing this new book under a pen name. I’m certain that, no matter how good the book is, a good portion of readers will hate it purely because it is not Harry Potter. Her future books will forever be compared to Harry Potter, no matter how good they are, which is why I don’t understand why she is not publishing her future writing under a pen name. I guess for the built-in promotion of her name on the book cover?
A Book Ramble: My Thoughts On Romance In YA
*This post is part of the TCWT blog chain. This month’s topic is: “What are your thoughts on romance for your typical genre? Do you tend to have a little, a lot, or none at all?”
I think that most people will jump to the conclusion that I’m completely anti-romance since I tend to read and write darker fiction. This is sort of true. I’m not a huge fan of reading or writing romance when it’s the main plot to a book. I, personally, find most romance as the main plot of a book to be boring, but that’s just my opinion. No offense to any romance readers and writers reading this, of course, it’s just my personal taste. I also dislike how in YA there is so much cliched romance. Earlier in the chain there was a mention of InstaLUV, which I completely agree with. InstaLUV is when two people fall in love with each other immediately, live happily and have no relationship problems whatsoever throughout the book, except the girlfriend getting captured by thieves and the boyfriend having to save her. Even as a subplot, this perfect romance gets annoying in my mind. Where’s the arguments? Where’s the controversy? I’m sure it happens in real life but it’s not something I want to read about.
Another romance cliche that seems to be prevalent in YA is the love triangle. We’re seeing a lot of these popping up, especially in dystopians. Love triangles are where girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy, girl and boy live happily ever after until girl meets boy #2 who is much “badder” (excuse the grammar) and girl, who is often weak and terrible at decision-making (which also annoys me. I hate when main characters are setup purposely as weak-minded. I prefer strong main characters), has to choose between boy #1 and boy #2. Often enough, it takes her 3+ books to decide. We’ve seen love triangles in too many YA books recently – Twilight, Matched, etc. Some people like these (and again, no offense to anyone who does. This is just my opinion) but I am not a fan, personally.
However, that said, I don’t hate romance. I think that in moderation, romance adds to any book. It gives a book zest, this level of feeling and believability that compels you to read on. I also think it adds to how much we care about the main character, if he/she is involved in a romance. Of course, we can still care about character WITHOUT romance, but love is a natural thing and anyone can relate to a character experiencing it. I find that romance as an aside, if it’s not the main plot to a book, can be really excellent. I’m not one of those hopeless romantics, but I quite like a side romance to any book.
Believe it or not, I’ve also begun to write in romances to my books. Well, at least a little. In my current WiP (work in progress for you non-writers), a YA thriller entitled “Inevitable”, I decided to try something new. Instead of making my MC suffer, I gave him a girlfriend as an experiment. The romance is not essential to the plot, but it is still a pretty good part of the story. I’ve also made sure that the romance doesn’t involve a love triangle, or the gooey, annoying InstaLUV, etc. It’s one of those awkward teen romances that never seem to work out. I’ve surprised myself with adding romance to my novel, but I quite enjoy writing, actually. It isn’t cliched and I think it really adds to the book.
Anyway, just my take.
Want to follow the rest of the blog chain?
February 5– http://noveljourneys.wordpress.com –Novel Journeys
February 6– http://lilyjenness.blogspot.com –Lily’s Notes in the Margins
February 7– http://kirstenwrites.wordpress.com –Kirsten Writes!
February 8– http://correctingpenswelcome.wordpress.com — Comfy Sweaters, Writing and Fish
February 9– http://delorfinde.wordpress.com –A Farewell to Sanity
February 10– http://thewordasylum.wordpress.com –The Word Asylum
February 11– http://weirdalocity.wordpress.com –From My Head
February 12– http://estherstar1996.wordpress.com –Esther Victoria1996
February 13– http://alohathemuse.wordpress.com –Embracing Insanity
February 14– http://greatlakessocialist.wordpress.com –Red Herring Online
February 15– http://goteenwriters.blogspot.com –Go Teen Writers (Honorary Participant)
February 16– http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com –This Page Intentionally Left Blank
February 17– http://oyeahwrite.wordpress.com –Oh Yeah, Write!
February 18– http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com –The Incessant Droning of a Bored Writer
February 19– http://herestous.wordpress.com –Here’s To Us
February 20– http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com –Teens Can Write Too! (We will be announcing the topic for next month’s chain)
What Price Says About The Quality Of An eBook
After my last essay/rant/whatever you choose to call it (about fake reviews on Amazon) became my most popular post ever (thanks guys!), I feel some pressure to choose another interesting topic and pretend to know what I’m talking about. Of course, this topic probably isn’t as interesting but it’s another big question going flying the world of indie reading and writing.
Please note that the following pertains to self-published and small press published books only. The Big Six as well as many mid-sized publishers can price their eBooks as high as they want because a) they can and it won’t matter much to readers as long as the price is nothing crazy. They’re already known for putting out quality books. And b) because they have more people to distribute royalties to and therefore need to make a larger profit to stay in business.
Like with a book cover, I - as a reader – tend to judge the quality of an eBook from its list price. This is only natural and many readers seem to, too. When I see a full length novel (short stories aren’t included in this) selling for free, besides the “oh, who cares? It’s free!” I immediately think that the book is of poor quality. After all, if an author is going to invest months, even years, in writing, editing and rewriting their novel, why in the world would they list it as free? Also, with the addition of the price of professional editing and cover art, listing a novel as a free makes even less sense. Although this is not always the case, a free full-length novel most often means that a) it was rushed to be written b) it wasn’t edited at all and c) the author doesn’t care enough about his or her own work to charge people for it (aka, it’s badly written). Again, I don’t mean to group all free novels into one category because there are certainly exceptions to the rule but in my experience, most free novels are incomprehensible, unedited drivel. So, besides the fact that a free novel costs nothing to download, the average readers sees the price and assumes that the book isn’t worth bothering with. Free novels are most likely cheap, cheesy and not worth the $0.00 it costs to download.
But honestly, I doubt that the average reader spends much time sampling, reading reviews and judging free books for quality. If it interests them, they download it – because it is free – and, most likely, never bother reading it. Then what about .99 cent ebooks? What does that say about the quality of a book? This is where opinions vary. First off, I need to say that the following does not apply to short stories. The price of .99 cents is the perfect price for short stories and novellettes, no question about it. Free is fine for them, too. However, when readers see full length novels (as eBooks) priced at .99 cents, what do they think? Personally, when I see a .99 cent novel, I simply think that it’s an excellent deal. However, I’ve heard that many readers are beginning to judge a book by it’s list price (as well as it’s cover, of course, but that’s a different story). If an author is going to spend years writing and editing a book, plus hundreds of dollars on professional editing and cover art, why would they price it at only .99 cents? Yes, it’s a cheap book but often enough in real life, cheap items are less dependable and are of poorer quality. So how is this different for books? Truth is, it really isn’t. Although I’m not one of them, many readers are beginning to judge these .99 cent eBook from first-time, unkown authors as “not worth it”. To some, pricing a novel so low is as if saying: “here is the book that I spent years writing. After all that effort, I’m only going to price it .99 cents because it isn’t worth anymore than that.” As they say, you get what you pay for. Although the majority of readers today are like me and they only see an excellent deal with the .99 cent price, others are beginning to see a cheap, badly written book that it isn’t worth buying (like with a free book except the difference is that .99 cent novels cost money).
So what makes a good price for a self-published novel from an unknown indie author? Personally, I think 2.99 is the perfect price. It shows that the author is confident enough in his or her book to price it slightly higher than other self-published books, yet at the same time keeping it cheap enough so that a reader won’t fret over the price. If you’re a better known indie author, you could probably stretch to the 4.99 price, but nothing more. Most readers who see a 2.99 full-length novel see a good deal on a book that is of good enough quality to be priced at a higher price than other self-published works. And also, to me at least, 2.99 just looks right. For a short story, however, 2.99 is a little high unless you’re Stephen King.
One thing I occassionally see is an eBook from an unknown self-published author priced in the 6.99-8.99 ranged, which is pretty much ridiculous. Yes, the confidence is good, but that’s simply too much for a self-published eBook, unless you’re Amanda Hocking, John Locke, or the like.
Now for my questions to you: as a reader, what do you think when you see an eBook listed as free or .99 cents? In general, do you think it’s too cheap or do you think it’s a good deal? I’d also like to hear author’s opinions on this.
The Four Letters of Love by Nadina Boun
In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’ve agreed to host “The Four Letters of Love” as a part of the Lightning Book Promotions mini-tour. Included is anything and everything about Nadina Boun’s newest poetry collection, which I feel is worth checking out.
Blurb:
“The Four Letters of Love” describes love in various forms as seen by the poet; through a lover’s eyes, a warrior’s heart, a stranger’s quest, a dreamer’s mind, in the form of allegories, metaphors, quotes and fantasies.
Poem Excerpts:
Bright Is Your Love
I hear chimes in the air;
bells are ringing somewhere,
the wind blows a tune in my head
the birds greet this song, far ahead,
the sun shines still with warming rays
and a promise for much better days,
the sky is clear, the fog has gone,
clouds are near but the moon is strong,
shining bright in an endless starry night
your love takes me away in its flight;
the tender way you caress my heart
leaves me speechless from the start,
the sweet embrace where you hold me tight
lifts me to heaven where all is bright.
The Space Between Us
The space between us where our hopes and dreams lay, where our emotions and feelings surface, where our fears and insecurities stand.
The space between us, where laughter echoes, where tears fill the gap, where love pulls us closer, where pain keeps us apart.
The space between us is where we stand on different grounds, the thoughts we share combined,
the space between us is you and I, together and apart.
Book Trailer:
Buy The Book Now!
Amazon Barnes & Noble Goodreads
About The Author:
Fake Reviews On Amazon
With this massive eruption in ePublishing, we’ve seen – recently – an astonishing number of cases where authors are faking reviews of their self-published books. It’s not really all that hard to fake reviews with Amazon and it seems that many authors are taking advantage of this. They are either posting fake reviews of their book to Amazon or getting their friends to write positive reviews for them, which are both equally as annoying. There’s been a lot of talk recently about how to spot fake reviews. The truth is, you really can’t spot them all the time. While some reviews are blatant fakes others are much more subtle and it’s getting to be impossible to tell the difference between poorly written self-published books with a bunch of phony reviews to make them look good and truly good books. This is never a good thing.
As a solution, many people read the Amazon sample of the book, which, indeed, usually works. But sometimes the first chapter of a book is the only readable chapter, as if the author gave up on editing after that. Or other times authors won’t even allow readers to sample their book. So what do you do now? How do you tell if a book is genuinely good or is just faked? That’s the question that I’ve heard so much of recently. Unfortunately, there seem to be very few sensible solutions. Many readers that I’ve heard of have resolved to ignore a self-published book if it has only 4 and 5 star reviews because, most often, the authors of books with only 4 and 5 star reviews get their friend to write positive reviews for them or fake the reviews themselves. The ignoring books without negative reviews strategy makes plenty of sense because in literature, there’s always a huge variety of opinion and a one-sided pool of opinion therefore looks very suspicious to any reader. But what if those 5 star reviews are real and the only reason there are no negative reviews is because a) no one has bothered to write one or b) it hasn’t reached a large enough auidence yet to get a negative review? That’s the problem.
For the fun of it, let’s analyze some fake reviews I’ve spotted pretty easily. These are the extremely obvious fakes that anyone can spot but I thought it’d be fun to point them out anyway. The following review excerpt is for a vanity-published book by an author who appears to be either 5 years old or entirely illiterate. Or both. The author also has a tendency to capitalize random words in the middle of a sentence. Yes, I read a sample. I will refrain from revealing the identity of the author and/or the book in case he/she isn’t doing this as a sick joke and actually is serious about writing. Anyway, here’s one among the 90 five star reviews that the author faked, which were all posted in the same time frame. Suspicious, much? The writing style of the review is also the exact same as in the book. Also, notice how the review has the same random capitalization that I mentioned was in the book itself. And, without further ado, here is the hilariously faked review:
“This is a book. And Also its a Good book, one to read. The auther who goes by the Name of Daryl M. Corteney really has a nack for Good science Fiction telling. Also the Story.
Now I dont want too Give to much away. In my review, So your going to have to. Read, the Book you’re self. But serve ice it to Say, your going to Read some things here. That you really did’nt expect. I Took one star Off for being Short and Singlespaced. But hey.”
Yes, sadly, that is the exact, unedited review. I didn’t alter it at all. Pitiful. It’s pretty clear that this was faked, along with the other 89 reviews of the same book written in a similar style with similar capitalization errors. Unfortunately, this book is getting fairly good sales BECAUSE of these fake reviews, which somewhat enrages me. It appears that some readers aren’t even looking at the reviews. They just see the 90 five star reviews, don’t bother with a sample, and buy the over-priced book (this book costs 6.99!). As a reader, you need to be aware of this review faking going on - if you buy self-published books - and need to develop strategies to tell whether a review is faked or is posted by a friend or not. It’s nearly impossible to distinguish, and I’m honestly not sure if we ever will be able to tell whether or not a self-published book is genuinely good because it seems we can no longer trust Amazon reviews. One suggestion I have is to check the Goodreads reviews, too, because those are most often genuine.
Anyway, have you noticed/heard of this fake review madness? As a reader, what are your methods for getting around it? I, personally, am basing everything off those Amazon samples if a self-published book interests me. However, I have also found that a book can have a killer first chapter but have the rest be incomprehensible drivel. So samples, too, are not always reliable.
Finally, I hope that fake review made you laugh once or twice. I know it got me laughing!
Interview With Publisher, Raechel Henderson, of Eggplant Literary Productions
About Raechel:
Raechel Henderson started Eggplant Literary Productions in 1997 with Jackhammer E-zine. Over the next nine years she edited several e-zines, chapbooks, magazines and e-books. During a time when electronic publishing was just developing she spent a lot of that time learning things the hard way. In 2006 she shuttered the press, and in 2008 she started a new career as a seamstress-at-large. Examples of her work can be found at Idiorhythmic Designs. Currently she splits her time between getting Eggplant back up and running, creating fantastic costumes, and taking care of her family. It’s been an interesting ride so far.
Visit the Eggplant Literary Productions website.
1. What is the most irksome thing that authors do when submitting to you? Please go beyond not following the submissions guidelines correctly.
Right now my pet peeve is not using standard manuscript format. I guess I’m officially an Old Fogy for getting all bent out of shape about single spaced paragraphs in .RTF files or exact word counts, but I think it shows a bit of laziness on the part of someone not to take the time to format a manuscript for submission. If it helps you to write your story in 8 point, single spaced Comic Sans without indentation that’s great, but please take the five minutes to reformat to standard format before sending it off.
2. What advice would you give to authors submitting their fiction to small presses like yours?
Treat small presses with the same professional courtesy you would a larger commercial publisher. We’re doing the same thing, only on a smaller scale. (And if the small press you are submitting to isn’t doing the same things: responding, editing, marketing and making their money off of sales of books why are you submitting to them?)
3. What is the wackiest submission you have ever received? Why?
I’m so boring, I’ve never received “wacky”submissions. But I have gotten lots of stuff in the mail that I couldn’t make heads or tails of. I’ve gotten pamphlets on new literary philosophies, hand drawn comics, even a photocopied booklet. They were sent without any cover letter or anything to tell me what the sender wanted me to do with them. I don’t know if they were submissions or just someone wanting to share. It always made me a little sad because I always figured there was some sort of meaning I just wasn’t getting.
4. So many authors are struggling to master the cover letter. How important is the cover letter to you? Does it ever influence whether or not you are going to accept a submission?
Cover letters usually aren’t very important to me. What I want to see in a cover letter is: author information, title and word count. I usually just skip over anything else and get right to reading the submission.
5. What are the best and worst parts of being a publisher? Explain.
You know that feeling of elation you get when you’ve had a great experience (watched a mind-blowing film, read a fantastic book, just ate at the best restaurant ever) and you can’t wait to share it with everyone you know? That’s what it’s like to find an absolutely wonderful story and then publishing it. “I love this and I know you will too!” It’s the best part of this job. Second to that is publishing a first-time author. I still hear from authors who had their first publication in the e-zines or magazines I ran years ago.
The worst part is paperwork. I hate, hate, hate filling out spreadsheets and keeping track of accounting. It’s time consuming and monotonous and not fun at all. So I end up putting it off and it piles up and then I whine about it. Fortunately, I have a couple of others working with me this time around who can help me with it, so the whining should be kept to a minimum.
6. What do you look for in a submission?
I want a great story and solid writing. I want to be entertained. I want to find myself thinking about the story a day or two later when I’m working on something else.
7. What influenced you to begin Eggplant Literary Productions? What do you see for it in the future?
I first started Eggplant back in 1997. At the time I published an e-zine: Jackhammer E-zine which was a weekly short story and non-fiction publication centered around a “Question of the Week.” There were other e-zines online at the time and I thought: well why not? I don’t think I expected it to last long (most didn’t at the time) and it would give me an idea of how the other side of the desk worked. It wasn’t until I was a few months into it that I thought, “Yeah, I’m good at this. This feels good.” Even then I wasn’t sure I was going to be doing this long term.
Right now I’m focusing on the immediate future with Eggplant: getting it back up and running, getting our first titles out, making it to the end of 2012 without my staff quitting/murdering me. Long term I’d really like to bring back the children’s fantasy magazine I published from 1999-2003 (Spellbound) and increase how many titles we’ll be publishing. Right now the publication schedule is one every two months in 2012 increasing to one a month in 2013.
8. What types of books are you seeking now? (Where you talk about submissions, publications details, etc.)
Right now I’m looking for novellas and novelettes (20,000-40,000words). Our focus is speculative fiction so fantasy, science fiction and horror genres and all the spaces in between. I’m really keen on getting some quality horror stories as that’s the genre I was short on last time around. I’m open to works that have been previously published. We’ll be publishing e-books so distribution will be through Amazon.com, B&N and Smashwords. Guidelines can be found at http://eggplantproductions.com/?page_id=13.
Thanks so much for stopping, Raechel!
The Novel Vs. The Short Story
In the literary world, there are countless unending genre wars that take place such as romance vs. erotica, mysteries vs. thrillers and sci-fi vs. fantasy. But the most famous of these literary battles is the novel vs. the short story, the inspiration for this post. This is an example of a war that just will not end. I keep trying to figure out what side I am on in this fight but I’m honestly not sure. On one hand, I really enjoy short stories. If done right, they draw you in, entice you, rivet you and end with a bang that leaves your desperate for more. Short stories can be really excellent and exciting, as Edgar Allen Poe has proven. They are especially nice if you want a quick but exhilarating read, which I often do.
However, short stories can go by too fast for me. The good ones leave me craving more, which is fine, but I don’t get “more”. Sometimes, for me, short stories are just too short. With short stories, I don’t really have time to get into the book’s characters or really understand the plot, though I always want to spend more time with the plot and characters. Which brings me to the short story’s greatest foe, the novel. The benefit of a novel is that the author has time to spread out the plot so you can really understand what’s going on. Also, novels allow you to follow and enjoy the characters. With a novel, you – as a reader – have time to be riveted by the plot, have time to guess at the killer (if your reading a mystery), then re-guess again and again, and can live with a book for longer. Novels can be savored for a longer time and can ultimately be more fun to read if they’re good. However, unlike short stories – for me at least – novels can be hard to get into. If you’re going to be with the characters for a whole novel-length book, you need to make sure you understand everything from the beginning and authors aren’t always able to provide that understanding. And sometimes, the characters are hard to connect with or really get into in a novel, which is an immediate buzz-kill for me. Novels often take time to develop and, unfortunately, are not always rewarding.
Ultimately, I’m not sure what side of the battle I’m on. I guess I lean a little bit more toward the novel side but let’s just say that if this hypothetical were real and there are really two literary armies shooting each other down, I’d probably get caught in the middle of the battlefield. And that never ends well…
But my question to you, readers, is: what side are you on? Novels or short stories?
Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!
What Does Your Favorite Genre Say About You?
This post idea was taken from a post I read at Novel Journey’s, another awesome blog worth checking out. Essentially, the question is: what does your favorite genre say about your personality? This site has a list of genres and what it supposedly says about the reader.
Here’s what it says about people who like mysteries:
“A naturally curious person, you are probably a good problem solver. A bit of an adrenaline junkie, you have an incline towards either 1. adventure or 2. paranoia… need to look at supplemental books outside of Mystery genre to determine.”
A naturally curious person? I guess I am. Good problem solver? Meh. Adrenaline junkie? Yes! The genre that I love to read seems to be somewhat telling of my personality but not very much. It seems to me that the genre you love to read is mildly indicative of your personality, but I don’t think it’s too much so. Of course, there are the stereotypes like – for example – a person who reads horror has a sick mind. Same with erotica. There are the stereotypes of people’s personalities and the genres they read but is a favorite genre really a good indicator of you as a reader? It seems that it has to be somewhat representative of you because you have to actually like it but, in my humble opinion, a favorite genre doesn’t tell much about your personality. Everyone has their secret reading addicitons. It doesn’t mean that, because you like mysteries, you’re a good problem solver. You may happen to be a good problem solver but it doesn’t mean that you have to be to like mysteries. So my answer is simply: it depends. What do you think? Do you think your favorite genre is indicative of your personality? Take the challenge to see what your favorite genre is supposed to say about you. Is it right?
Guest Post – From Self-Published To The Big Screen – Lynn Hardy
Today, as a part of the Lightning Book Promotions blog tour, I have over author Lynn Hardy whose self-published book is currently being made into a movie! Read this guest post to find out about her amazing success story.
From Self-Published to the Big Screen – The Road Less Traveled
In the winter of 2007, the first Prophecy of the Flame books rolled off the press. In those days, small press was just beginning. An order of 500 copies was the minimum for a first run. It took a sizeable investment to get started.
The original printing of the manuscript, the Author’s Edition, was not much more than a rough draft of the book. It was all me – exactly as I saw it. I knew very little about the road ahead, as I fearlessly barreled down the small trail others had hewed out before me.
The moment I had that first book in my hands was bittersweet. It was a beautiful moment to see a book with my name on the cover. However, one look told me I had a lot of work to do. The cover was marbled gray. It was so dark it was hard to make out the subtitle. The spine was nearly unreadable.
With a shake of my head, I cleared some brush. I knew I had to sell these books if I was going to improve upon my work. My first book signings were at Borders – they were the only stores that would allow me to do a signing without being listed at Ingram, the nationwide distributor that large chain stores order from.
Renaissance Fairs were another welcoming local where I could sell books as I signed them. I did these events in costume. The sorceress outfit helped break the ice with potential readers. The shiny blue and silver outfit was based on a design I created for the main character, Archmage Reba; it was an easy intro into the storyline.
It wasn’t long before people found my Amazon profile and somehow figured out how to message me. I was surprised that readers actually wanted to email me. Because of this, I created a fueling station, my first website – a central location for fans to find me. And boy did they find me.
Ninety percent of the initial reviews were positive – everyone seemed to want the next book in the series! But there was another consistency: nearly every reader mentioned the numerous typos. I thank God for those early fans and their encouragement. They fueled my journey and I continued on.
Further research showed that I had a typo every three pages in that mess I call the Author Edition. I am still amazed fans could see a diamond through all that muck. I had discovered the second pothole on the road of self-publishing.
I asked the small press publisher – who had charge me a small fortune for editing my manuscript – for credentials on his editor. She had none. The publisher also let me know that I had accepted the edit so there was no guarantee: no refund and no more help.
I employed three steps to clean up my work. I listened to my book as a free program called Natural Reader, read the words aloud. I had several teachers I know go through the manuscript. Finally, I listened to the fans. They were my initial group of “first readers.”
During signings I had also noted that many parents were buying the book for young teens – even tweens – though I warned them that book contained adult situation including a steamy sex scene. Teens seemed drawn to the storyline. While editing, I toned down that steamy scene, trying to make it appropriate for a YA rating.
With renewed confidence I went to print again with a brighter cover. The true First Edition of Prophecy of the Flame was a second set of 500 books printed in May of 2008.
I moved from Washington, DC to Boise, Idaho that summer. It is eight hours to the next major city from Boise. How was I going to continue self-publishing from here? I also discovered that through all my efforts, I still had a typo every ten pages!
One of my only events in the northwest was a Science and Fantasy convention in Spokane, WA. There I met a cover artist from Tor, the largest publisher of fantasy books in the US. His honest critique of what I thought was a unique cover made me realize that I had hit yet another pothole in the road of self-publication – one that had given me a flat tire. Unsure of where the road was, I put the book on the shelf, wondering if I had taken a wrong turn somewhere.
In 2009 I had a chance meeting at a jury summons. A woman approached me as I dragged out my laptop and sat down to entertain myself.
“Are you an author?” Eva asked.
Over lunch we talked about many aspects of being self-published. Eva was considering publishing a manuscript she wrote many years ago. She would use the income from the book to help out her daughter who was struggling financially.
The story of this family struck a chord in my heart. I could see the downturn in the economy affecting so many. If what people were predicting was true, it would only be getting worse. I decided it was time to take to the road once more. This time I had a new goal.
I lived through the recession of the 80’s and knew how hard homelessness was on children. I had always dreamed of helping families who had kids and where homeless when I became a bestselling, famous author. Feeling that there were people that needed help, that they couldn’t wait any longer, I took a leap of faith. I would start a nonprofit and dedicate 100% of the proceeds from the first book in my series to it.
Many long hours on the phone with government employees helped me fill out the forms for a nonprofit I called, Agape Assistance. I was not yet famous, but I couldn’t stand by and do nothing. I would give what I had and hope others would join me. I had a few hundred dollars to start the organization with. Because I dedicated Prophecy of the Flame – Book One to this charity, I hoped it would give credibility to this new 501(c)(3). I figured, if people were unsure about a nonprofit started by a stay-at-home mom, I could give a book in exchange for donations – then they would have something in return for their support.
A few months later, I ran into a local author who had started a small press publishing company. Aaron had some success developing a system of publishing on Kindle. I launched Resilient, as an imprint under his company, and started down the trail once more, this time with a guide to help show me the way.
The second edition of Prophecy of the Flame had had a new black cover, the concept suggested by the Tor artist – a stylized flame to draw attention from the shelf. A new printer allowed for a shorter run. A run of a hundred books, allowed me to test the market.
Again, I must thank readers for their willingness to communicate with a new author. I quickly discovered that men would not pick up the book with the subtitle of Love’s Dawning on the cover. One bold guy even came out with the truth of the matter: “We love the suspense the romance adds. It doesn’t distract from the adventure at all. But I just don’t want to carry a book around with LOVE on the cover!”
Armed with this new information and a snazzy new look I forged a head. My resilience in the face of difficult obstacles paid off. I had the joy spending a weekend with L.E. Modesitt Jr. at a local Science Fiction convention in Boise where we were guest panelists. Lee is one of my favorite authors. I love his Recluce fantasy series.
After taking one of my books home with him, Lee sent me an email. That correspondence will forever remain a highpoint in my journey. “Very enjoyable and fun…” is the quote from L.E. Modesitt Jr. that graces the front of Prophecy of the Flame – Book One. (Love’s Dawning only graces the title page on the inside of the book.)
In the summer of 2010, Book Two in the Prophecy of the Flame series debuted. Agape Assistance also became a certified nonprofit. One month later, Prophecy of the Flame – Book One, became #1 on Kindle in two categories: Science fiction/Fantasy and Fantasy/Epic.
Other side streets have now emerged along the road of self-publication. I have self-produced a full-cast audio book with the help of, Zany Productions, a local studio in Boise who donated massive amounts of studio time to Agape. A group of voice actors – some from DragonBall Z, Tekken and even the guy who plays Iron Man in the cartoon – also donated their time to the project. Now Agape has a wonderful audio book to give for any donation larger than $40. Thanks to this, and many other Agape projects, the charity was able to support its first family this winter!
Terry, a local businessman, found out that 100% of the proceeds from the audio book are donated to Agape Assistance. “Would you be willing to donate the proceeds from a movie to the charity as well?”
“Of course, that was the purpose in starting Agape!” I replied with joy.
Turns out that Terry is good friends with a director. He suggested making a movie for Agape. Wow! I thought the charity was there to receive proceeds from the book, I never thought of creating a movie for the charity!
A screenplay is being written. The Prophecy Project is underway! I have now embarked on yet another journey, one that will lead to the big screen.
As you can see, it’s not like Spielberg called. This time, I am blazing the road of self-publishing, just on a bigger scale. The downside is the time a project of this magnitude takes. Book Three is delayed. I am three-fourths of the way done, but the movie, the Prophecy Project, is taking all my time at the moment.
The upside is that I will be working closely with the director on the screenplay, helping to choose the actors, storyboarding and I will be on set for every day of filming. Not to mention the fact that the more fundraising I do for the Prophecy Project, the greater the percentage of income Agape will get to keep. (Paying back investors would reduce Agape proceeds)
It is a job I am happy to be saddled with. With the movie proceeds, thousands of families will get a helping hand: a warm bed for their kids, financial aid counseling, and job search help.
I believe that there is nothing greater than the combined force of the human spirit joined together for a common good. Together we can achieve what Hollywood cannot: we can entertain millions and help thousands of families find a warm bed for their kids. I hope many of you will join me on this new adventure.
You can find a rallying point for the Prophecy Project at my Facebook page. Clicking “Like” will help spread the word. We will be launching a Kick-starter campaign to begin the fundraising for the Prophecy Project in January, 2012. (At Kick-starter, a donation of any size will get you one of many gifts designed specifically for the Prophecy Project.) I hope to see you there.
Agape Assistance Association homepage
Order your copy of “Prophecy of Flame” here:
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Interview With L.M. Vila, Author Of “Agent M: Project Mabus”
Tell us about yourself (where you bask in all of your glories and successes).
I’d like to think I’m just a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit…
Wait a second, that’s not it. Wonder where that came from.
Actually, I consider myself a relaxed creature of logic (although my friends and family will tell you that I’m suffering from a severe case of egomania). I’m an avid reader of comic books, an amateur filmmaker that achieved minor YouTube fame at one point, a loyal follower of the Transformers universe (even the films which have their own unique charm), and spend more time playing video games then the law should allow.
My parents love and support me wholeheartedly although they wouldn’t understand any of my books even if they tried. It’s not because they’re overly complicated, it’s mostly because they consider science fiction to be equivalent to (in my father’s words) bull excrement. But thankfully they still love what I’m doing and encourage me to keep at it even if they don’t quite understand all of it. I’m lucky my fiancé is my biggest fan and supporter. She keeps me going, sometimes to an overbearing degree. It’s hard to live with a big fan of yours when they’re always hounding you to write more just so that they can see what’s going to happen next.
1. If you got an offer from a decent sized commercial press, would you take it?
I’d like to say no but it’s one thing to be in a hypothetical situation, it’s another to see a contract with the advance figures staring you at the face. In all honesty, I’d probably take it if only for the marketing help alone. I’ve love to get my stories in as many hands as possible and that will help in a tremendous way. I have a lot of friends that work at Barnes and Noble and the question on their minds lately is “when is your book going to go on sale at Barnes and Noble?” Although, now that I think about it, I would probably lose a few nights of sleep while trying to convince myself I’m not a sellout.
I’m sure every other self-published author would feel the same way. It’s one thing to be motivated by money (and self-publishing offers you the highest earning potential) but it’s another to sign a contract to further legitimize your career as a writer. I know it’s not a big secret but independent/self-published authors aren’t seen in the same light as other writers who have traveled commercial press route. It’s a sad but true (for you Metallica fans) fact of the business.
2. Comment on the writing vs. publishing process.
Writing’s the easy part. Publishing is an entirely different beast. I like to think about it like any other job. When you’re hired to do one thing and do one thing well, it’s pretty easy to complete your daily tasks. But if you’re then asked to start doing other jobs that you may be completely unfamiliar with, therein lies the challenge.
It is much harder to go through the publishing process than it is to write a story. Especially for self-published authors. Think about it. When an author like Stephen King, John Grisham, or J.K. Rowling submits their manuscript, their jobs are inherently finished. There are teams of people, specialists mind you, that being the editing, marketing, and promotion process. Imagine one author trying to do the job of a dozen others. That can overwhelm anyone, especially a new author.
Putting the words down on paper is a piece a cake. Getting that story published is like trying to build a house with your bare hands. My carpentry skills are pretty decent but even I wouldn’t want to lay the foundation without a little help or guidance.
3. Your book sounds very interesting. Can you tell us a little about it?
Stop, you’re making me blush. Agent M: Project Mabus is my life’s work. Well… My quarter-life’s work anyways. From conception to completion it took approximately 8 years. I know what you’re thinking, I’m sure lazy-ass comes to mind, but in all honesty, at the time when I first came up with the concept, I wasn’t nearly skilled enough to write something that would do this story justice.
The premise of the Agent M series is the inevitable counting down to the prophesied end of days. I’m sure many people have heard of the French seer Nostradamus that came up with a book of theories and predictions about catastrophic events. When I read about him in college I was hooked as well as astonished that no one else tried to use his ideas in fiction. The concepts are incredible and ripe for debate. However, what really got my creative juices flowing was the idea of the fabled third antichrist. The books I read had their speculations but there was nothing concrete. That’s when a light bulb shined at 1.21 jigawatts. Where could one find a greater villain then the one destined to destroy the world?
Ideas started racing faster than my fingers could keep up with. I wanted to write about two things I knew very well and had experience with. Crime and science fiction. The setting of the first book is Los Angeles, California and involves the FBI investigating a pharmaceutical company. I always loved a good crime-thriller, Tom Clancy is one of my heroes after all, and I thought mixing it with a bit of science fiction would amp things up a bit and take it into a whole new dimension. I mean, how many stories out there cross science, religion, and government at the same time? If there wasn’t any yet, I would be honored to be the first.
4. What gave you the idea for this book? What is Project Mabus?
I always feel kind of weird telling this story but the idea for this book literally hit me and started coming together while I was sitting in a movie theater watching Daredevil. Truth be told, I didn’t think the movie was all that bad (when I watched the Director’s cut at least) but there was something about the soundtrack used during the film that spoke to me. I began crafting scenes out in my head of this genetically created soldier kicking ass up and down the streets of Los Angeles. The epiphany struck about 30 minutes into the movie when I was trying to come up with a gimmick for this villain (because every villain needs a gimmick). Call it fate, call it destiny, call it karma (thanks Bill Murray!) but somehow Nostradamus snuck into my reasoning and decided that this character would be the fabled antichrist Mabus destined to destroy the world.
Project Mabus is the title given to the experiment to create the ultimate human soldier. The predecessor to that project was called Agent M (or Agent Mabus) and (to put it simply) it was a drug that current soldiers could take that would enhance their physical, mental, and emotional prowess. However, that drug failed because (without going all Star Trek on you guys) the human body could not sustain the changes that were made. That is why instead of changing current soldiers, they opted for creating new ones. The reason the old product was called Agent Mabus was because the architect Dr. Donald Viseman wanted to give humanity a warning about the implications of his creation. The name Project Mabus was coined by a project contributor in with similar thoughts but also as a way of antagonizing the prophecy into coming true.
The entire idea for the Project Mabus really came to light when I started reading about this Mabus entity in a few Nostradamus books. Many people had their own theories but the big question was “who is going to be the Mabus?” So I thought, why not just create one myself. It’s already established that the Mabus character is going to bring the world to an end. You can’t get a more powerful or convincing villain than that. So I opted to interpret the entire Mabus mythos in my own way and use it to craft an entire new world that is coming to an end.
5. What’s been the hardest part of self-publishing thus far? The easiest?
As I sort of touched on before, the hardest part of self-publishing is all of the extra work that goes involved. You are no longer just a writer. You are also your marketing specialist, agent, and even consultant. My drawing skills are slightly above average but nowhere near the quality needed to grace the cover of a novel so hiring outside help became mandatory (Special thanks to Mr. David Sondered at Studio Colrouphobia for his skills and level of patience!). I enlisted friends as “beta-readers” to help find flaws and flesh out segments that needed work. Self-publishing puts the ball in the author’s court. Thankfully I attainted some higher education in the field of business and marketing or else I’d be really lost.
The easiest part of self-publishing is the level of control. I know some authors out there are freakishly devoted to keeping as much of it as possible and it doesn’t come much easier than by self-publishing. I personally worked with the artist and got him to render my vision perfectly (with a few professional suggestions from himself of course). Every word on every page is exactly the way I wanted it and the barriers for entry are practically non-existent. Getting a book published these days is easy. Getting that same book to swim to the top of a flooding pool of others is the new challenge.
6. If you wish you had known one thing before writing your book, what would it be?
Definitely don’t rush things. When I look back at the very first draft of Agent M: Project Mabus, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry (but there’s definitely plenty of cringing going on). I never look at the 8 years spent between conception and creation as time wasted but rather as a sort of marinating process. If I had gone with the first draft of the story, then I would have missed out on a few fantastic aspects that came to me later on as time progressed. Comparing it to the finished work now would be like comparing apples to jet skis. In fact, the only things that the two have in common are the general premise and a few character names.
Rushing into production of Project Mabus would have not only ruined the book but the series as well. Believe me, I know what it’s like to get over-excited about an idea and try to barrel into it without any disregard. But with that kind of mentality, the overall product will suffer in the end.
If there’s anything I really learned from this process it would be similar to a tattoo theory I once heard. Imagine you want to get a tattoo today, before you go in there and start picking out designs, think back to ten years ago. Ask yourself, was I stupid back then? Chances are the answer is yes and hopefully that will sway your decision to get a tattoo today. I like to think about coming up with a new book concept in the same light. If you believe your story idea will still be relevant and interesting 5 or maybe 10 years later, then give it some time to develop and age. You’d be surprised how many ideas you can come up with in that time that will trump anything you worked on back then. That’s the nature of maturity and experience.
7. What’s your approach to marketing your book? How do you plan to promote to readers?
From my experience, readers primarily operate on a word to mouth basis. About 90% of the books I’ve read were because a friend recommended them. Thanks to the new facets of social media like Twitter and Facebook, I can connect with thousands, possibly millions of potential readers within an instant.
There are a lot of fantastic self-published author resources that many people don’t know about. GoodReads.com is a prime example. I’m a part of a Self-Published Authors group that connects hundreds of like minded people into helping each other promote and sell our books. It also helped me connect with a few blogs (such as this fine one right here) and participate in interviews and such. I’m hoping to do some live interviews as well on a few podcasts so hopefully you’ll get to hear my radiant personality shine through your favorite mp3 player of choice. I’d love to do a live Ustream show one day but I might need to sell more than a few dozen books before I can generate enough interest.
I’m also working on setting up a few giveaways/contests to put a few more copies of Agent M: Project Mabus in reader’s hands. At the Creative Writing Forums, they are creating a Project Mabus themed Short Story Contest where the winner will receive a digital or paperback version of the book. I believe the contest starts on January 16th and will run for 7 days. Little things like that are simple, easy to do, and will help spread the word. It kind of pulls me away from other projects but nothing ever worth having comes easy.
8. Any new books in the works?
I’m currently trying to churn out the 2nd book in the Agent M series and I’d like to say I’m about 20% in. My goal is to have the first draft done before my birthday and given the time I have left, I’d like to say that should be easily attainable.
There’s another series I started crafting in college that takes place in the same universe as the Agent M series but they might be more suited for a YA audience. I might give that one a shot in between drafts just for fun. The kids in college got a kick out of the premiere episode (it was originally crafted as a motion comic) and the saga is very near and dear to my heart.
9. Can you link us to any blogs, websites, social media, etc.?
Absolutely! Feel free to talk, rant, or stalk me at the following locations:
My blog:
http://projectmabus.blogspot.com
My Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1221153284
My Goodreads author page:
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/6777801-l-m-vila
The Agent M Series Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Agent-M-Series/193791970663363
Agent M: Project Mabus official Amazon.com Sales Page:
