Still editing

So while I'm taking a hiatus from writing while still editing a finished book, I thought I'd share a few random things: 

I designed a 4-piece Enterprise Christmas tree ornament for a friend's birthday since she's a fan, and her birthday is close to Christmas, and she was as excited to see it as I'd hoped she'd be.  It's a nice feeling to surprise someone who is super nice by doing something unexpected for them.  Try it, and you'll see :-).

When I posted pics of the party, including the Enterprise ornament, another friend requested one and that I also make him Millennium Falcon and X-Wing ornaments.  Since there is only one pattern for a plushie Falcon and it's huge, I designed a smaller one from scratch, and since there are no plushie X-Wing patterns that I found that I thought looked like an X-Wing, I designed one.  He requested them too close to Christmas for them to arrive in time for 2012, but in 2013, he should have a Merrier Geekmas with those to put on the tree or hang around the house.  I know other Star Wars and Star Trek fans, and I plan on making more ornaments for them as I find the time, hopefully well before next Christmas. 

For writing-related fun, I checked out several name generators, some for fantasy and other role playing games, and some create names related to a specific franchise (like Tolkien's elves and Star Wars' Jedi Knights), and I got some good results from several of them.  I also found a fantasy race generator, which randomly creates a description of elf, dwarf, and other races.  While the available societal details are limited, running the generator can make a good starting point for a fantasy race or even a sci-fi one.  You just have to ignore all the magic related suggestions, unless your sci-fi universe allows interaction with the magical world.

Hopefully, I'll have another book ready to publish soon.  I'm about halfway through with what I call the intense edit, where I read each line keeping not only the story in mind, but is the sentence necessary, and is it in active voice rather than passive?  I know that's an issue with my writing sometimes, and I work to correct everything I can before sending the books on to the publisher.  On a positive note, the cover is finished, and I really like it. 

I hope anyone who reads this had a great holiday season.

Contested Crown has been published.

Contested Crown has been published on Smashwords.  For only $3.99, you can read the conclusion to the Crown Princess Keestu Ranell trilogy.  I'm currently outlining the fourth book in the Union series, but Keestu will not be the protagonist.

Here's an excerpt from Contested Crown: 



General Pelka turned to back to Keestu suddenly, and the look in his eyes made her back up several steps, her chains rattling. 

"Time for you to die, sudi," he hissed at her, pulling out an energy pistol.  

"What are you doing, General?" 

General Pelka darted forward, grabbing the chain dangling from her manacles, yanking it down and forcing Keestu to her knees.  He stomped his foot on it to keep her kneeling as he stood over her, planting the muzzle of the pistol against her forehead. 

Stunned, Keestu went cross-eyed and didn't react to the unexpected attack.  Something was terribly wrong.

Slowly but surely getting out there!

You can now find my first 2 books on Kobo and Barnes & Noble, though the front cover image for Crisis isn't available on B&N just yet--the issue has already been addressed and should be remedied soon thanks to the wonderful folks at Smashwords.

The Tourney on Kobo

The Tourney On Barnes & Noble

Crisis On Sandar on Kobo

Crisis On Sandar On Barnes & Noble

Meanwhile, I didn't participate in NaNoWriMo because I have 2 books written that I'm preparing to publish, and given the other things that have happened this month, it's a good thing I didn't take the challenge this year.  Maybe next year, though there are numerous books I'm eager to write, and I will probably end up concentrating on publishing one or more of them rather than writing something that may not be suitable to share.

Crisis On Sandar has been published

Now available at Smashwords for only $3.99, Crisis On Sandar, the second book in the Keestu Ranell trilogy, part of the Union novel series. 

Here's an excerpt: 

Hemda's voice broke the shocked silence that followed these revelations.  "Esplosion confirmed high o'er the middle of Eastique!"  She had stayed at her post to monitor the incoming reports while Ismer addressed the extended family.  

"'Nother o'er Southern. 

"Westique military reports tree military flitters chasin' a spacecraft inland!"  A moment later, she blanched, her voice trembling with reaction.  "Westique military flitters have gone off air in mid transmission."  

She took several breaths to steady herself while listening to more reports on the military channel before continuing.  "Eastern ground control reports esplosion o'er the Midrange Mountains, with the military flitters crash landin' 'fore inerception.  

"Westique capital ground control is on!  Esplosion high o'er that continent as well."  

"Are there any damage reports yet, Hemda?"  Ismer was tense.  

She answered after looking over the updates scrolling across her console.  "Not yet." She pressed a hand over one ear so she could concentrate on what was being reported.  "CeCe reports a spacecraft incomin' high o'er the border between the seventh and fifth baronies!  Military fighters have been scrambled from Enforcer but are still out of range, so our local military flitters are to fire on it in four, tree, two, one, fire!"  

A gasp rippled through the crowd, and Keestu felt a chill go down her spine.  She looked around the vault at her extended family, but her mind's eye was imagining unspeakable devastation: the other capital cities flattened by horrific blasts, people who were unable to get to shelter in time burned to death or mortally wounded by deadly radiation, and her eyes filled with tears.

The Tourney Excerpt

Here's an excerpt from my book, The Tourney, available at Smashwords for only 99 cents: 

They were getting the receipt for their meal when two male nobles entered, laughing loudly. One of them called out to the restaurant, and Keestu looked at her cuff. "The Prató's get," was all that it understood and translated. She wondered if Pulon had been sent to find them?

"He just said something about the Prató's child," Keestu informed her table.

"We better check it out," Gontu said, wobbling momentarily as he stood.

Vahin nodded in jovial agreement, and they approached the nobles, one of them very drunk. He put his finger to his lips with exaggerated care as he grinned at them, hushing them as he motioned for them to follow. He staggered into the night and took them around to the back of the building. Keestu's eyes darted around before she went around the corner, alert for a trap. She saw that Tenget and Gontu, while feeling their drinks, also scanned their surroundings before moving into the alley.

Keestu was completely unprepared for what she saw there: Shariel, her back to them, had her hands in the trash barrel, and was pulling out leftovers and eating them with the same single-minded intensity as she had the food on her plate at home.

Disgust warred with pity in Keestu. She understood that Shariel's mother was a horrible cook, but Shariel herself appeared to either lack the discipline needed to keep her eating under control or she suffered from a serious medical disorder of some sort. She was eating as fast as she could, and Keestu realized she must do this every time she was locked into her room for the night, for it gave her many hours in which to get to the city and return unnoticed.

The drunk noble sniggered loudly next to them, and Shariel whirled, her cheek and chin smeared with stew from the garbage. Keestu saw horror, shame, and anger on her face before she shouted something at them in Phaet, which was muffled by the mouthful of food that she had just crammed in.

Keestu saw that their erstwhile guides had vanished, no doubt fleeing the wrath of the Prató's daughter.

She grabbed at Tenget's arm, pulling on it while emphatically nodding her head back towards the light. However, shouts sounded from that quarter as well.

"Down the alley," Gontu decided, urging them past Shariel, who was still shouting at them in Phaet. Keestu didn't bother to try and read the translation on her cuff in the darkness.

They were almost to the end of the alley, when their way was blocked by a group of six Vuloan nobles armed with stun staves, spears, and short swords. "So," one of the guards growled at them menacingly in Unity, "You're digging in the trash with the Prató's glutton offspring!"

Before any of them could respond, the guards were rushing at them. "Spread out," Gontu shouted. "Find a weapon if you can!"

Keestu looked frantically around the alley, but saw nothing she could immediately use. She looked back to see Gontu planting his feet in front of Rue, who he'd shoved back towards Keestu. Tenget sprang forward, to face the closer immediate threat with Gontu, while Vahin checked behind them for anything useful to use to fight. Finding nothing, he moved forward and resolutely formed a second line between Keestu and the closest onrushing Vuloan nobles. Keestu checked behind her again, though she heard no more pursuit from that direction. In fact, Shariel had vanished, as had the nobles who had come out of the restaurant to see what the others found so funny.

The first of the men were on them, and Gontu sidestepped the first stun staff thrust at him, grabbing it with one hand as he delivered a backhanded punch to the man carrying it with the other. There was an audible crunch as the man's nose broke, and he fell to the ground, yelling what Keestu assumed were curses in his own language. Gontu kicked him soundly in the stomach after he landed, and the man curled quietly into a ball, unable to cry out with the breath knocked out of him.

Meanwhile, Tenget had met his first assailant and was grappling with him over his stun staff. Neither had punched each other, and Keestu watched in horror as the short sword of another man came down on Tenget's left arm, severing it just above the elbow. Tenget screamed, reflexively kicking out at the man who'd maimed him as he fell to the ground, blood spurting from the wound.

Gontu, seeing Tenget gravely injured and knowing they were now greatly outnumbered, turned to Keestu and Rue, yelling the one word she never thought she'd hear from him. "Run!"

Asking blogs to review your book

I'm relatively new to blogging and am finding lots of advice on how to do so.  First off, if you want a blog to review your book, you must read their review request form over carefully and follow their special instructions if they have any.  I think this is to keep people from sending the same boilerplate request to any and every blog they see (using what I call the shotgun method) in the hopes that a few will agree to read and review their book.  I tend to shy away from form letters that are sent to me, and I try to not send out a form letter to anyone. 

Keep in mind that you should only ask blogs that deal with your type of book (trad or indie) and your genre.  It would be frustrating for me if I started reviewing books and stated that I didn't review a certain genre and got requests from a person asking me to review a book in that very genre anyway.  So read the blog over to make certain they are:  1.  Currently accepting requests.  2.  They are interested in your book's genre.  3.  If they have any detailed instructions on how to query them. 

It should go without saying that if you want someone to invest their valuable time in reading and reviewing your book, you shouldn't ask them to pay to do so.  I can't imagine having to tell someone this, but I suppose some people figure they've invested a lot of time in their book and therefore everyone should fork out some money in order to read it.  However, if you are serious about marketing your book, think of it as you would any other product and think of new products you see in the stores--most stores around here have dedicated kiosks that are handing out free samples of new products.  So, if you're a new writer in search of a market, you've got to be willing to give out a few samples to let people try it before they buy it.  If they like it and tell others who trust their opinion, you'll more than make up the "loss"! 

Next, you should be persistent but not annoying when marketing your book.  If you aren't on social media sites, you should be, and when your book is launched, you should make your pages reflect that fact and make an announcement about it every so often, especially if you are having a special on your book.  By special, I mean coupons, contests to give away free copies, and the like, all of which will bring more attention and interest to your book.  But, there's a fine line between being enthusiastic and being annoying.  Try and network with others in your new field, watch what they do, and learn by example. 

 
Lastly, you need to be patient.  Most of your first copies are going to be bought and/or given to family and friends.  For me, this is not an issue.  I began writing as a hobby to amuse my friends with daydreams I made up while bored in school.  Yes, I am paid as a medical writer in my job every day, but being a paid book author is a new experience for me.  However, I'm still at my day job and have no delusions of becoming an overnight literary success.  Heck, I'll consider myself a success when someone I don't know reads my book and says they like it, since I think family and friends are sometimes just being polite when they gush about something I've written, and an independent opinion or three will tell me whether I've got true potential as an author or not. 

The Tourney has been published

After a major revision, much editing, and a new title, my sci-fi book The Tourney has been published. You can find it at Smashwords for only 99 cents. Smashwords supports most, if not all, ebook formats, so you are bound to find my book in a format your reader can display. 

I hope everyone who reads my book enjoys it. If you do, I ask that you please leave a review. If you don't like it and leave a negative review, please be constructive in your criticism.

For those who do like it, the sequel has been written and is currently undergoing what I hope is its final edit, and I hope to have it out by Christmas. 

The final book in the Keestu Ranell trilogy has been written and will soon undergo its first edit.  I hope to have it out early next year.

However, more books are planned for this series. 

In addition, the novel made from a series of urban fantasy short stories I wrote about 20 years ago is undergoing editing, and I hope to have it published early next year as well. 

Until then, please check out The Tourney!

Preparing to market your book

There are several options for self-publishing your book, and each taps into a little different market.

Ebooks are one of the fastest growing markets, as readers are compact and can access many books at once, so different members of the same family sharing a single reader can each read a different book at the same time.  Many Ebooks are offered for free or at discounted prices.  A publisher such as Smashwords will convert your book to as many Ebook formats as are supported in order to reach the most consumers, making Ebooks very attractive to self-published authors. 

Print on demand.  There are a number of companies offering POD services, and it's up to the writer to select which one best fits their needs.  Many offer copies at a discount so the author can have several copies of their books on hand, which are great for promotional giveaways--have a contest on any social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and your blog, and give away a few autographed copies.  You can also loan out your book to family and friends who want to read your book in the traditional form. 

Audio books.  This option is often overlooked by self-published authors.  I'm currently gearing up to record my first book, which will be first published as an Ebook, then offered in POD, and finally as an audio book.  One thing that most authors don't understand is that unless you record your audio book yourself, it can make the audio book cost prohibitive to produce, requiring a higher price than either Ebook or POD formats.  However, I think I'm in the majority to say that I'm not overly fond of hearing my own voice, especially when I started recording it using my Windows 7 indwelling sound recorder.  A simpler version than what was offered on Vista or XP machines, this one records only and doesn't offer any editing features as were found on older versions.  However, if you get into the control panel, hardware and sound, and manage audio devices, you'll see a tab labeled "recording".  You select your microphone and go into "enhancements".  DC offset cancellation is the default choice.  I found that it made my voice sound incredibly nasal.  I recorded each of the filters separately and in groups and wasn't happy with any of them.  I either sounded extremely nasal, really processed or tinny, or all three.  Further research into recording audio turned up a simple device you can make at home that will filter your voice but not make it sound overly processed.  You see it in images of singers and voice actors in recording studios.  It's called a "pop filter".  The pop filter can be made using items found in most households where women are present.  All you need is a frame of some sort (which can be made by cutting rounds out of an oatmeal box), and a pair of pantyhose.  I used a knee-high stretched over a hand-held weaving loom since I also work with yarn.  An embroidery hoop or an empty picture fame would work as well.  You simply stretch the hose over the frame and place it between your mouth and the microphone.  My mic is part of an old Labtec headset/mic get-up I used to try speaking my work rather than typing it out by hand, but last I knew VR still hated women's voices and all the technical medical jargon I use in my day job as a medical language specialist. There's also a technique called "de-essing", which reduces the hissing of sibilant sounds when a recording is remixed in a pro studio, but a way you can reduce the hissing without having to record in a studio is to position the mic so it's not in a direct line with your mouth so the hissing air isn't picked up. A few practice sessions of recording your reading are the only other things necessary to get started making an audio book, since most people need to learn to speak more slowly when reading in order to obtain the best results.

Self-publishing

It's been a while since I updated my blog because I've been busy pursuing the traditional publishing route.  I think it's more difficult than it should be to get an agent to look at your work.  However, with the steep rise in population comes a steep rise in the number of people competing for the same thing I want, which is to get my written work out there. 

After having numerous agents reject me after my sending them requested pages for my first book after they responded positively to my query, I've decided to publish my book myself since self-publishing doesn't have the stigma attached to it that it used to.  Vanity publishers whose only goal is to make as much money off you as they can still exist, but there are now several options for writers who can't seem to get their foot in the door of an agent and don't want to submit their book to a single publisher's slush pile and then wait for a year or more to find out if the publisher wants to take on their book. 

There are a few things that you need to do when you self-publish.  First off, you have to make sure you polish your manuscript, which means edit, re-edit, and re-edit again, which I have done.  Have test readers go through your work and critique it, which I have done.  After the initial test reading, I made a major revision of the book I'm nearly ready to publish and had test readers read it again, which resulted in completely positive feedback over the plot and characters and no complaints regarding anything in the book. 

After the polishing is done, you need to format your work for the publisher.  I've decided to go with Smashwords, and so I downloaded their free formatting guide, and I've gone through my book and made the necessary formatting changes.  Find/replace is a powerful tool, and with the detailed information given in Smashwords' formatting guide, I was able to quickly make the changes required for a manuscript that will be made available in numerous formats. 

 

Next up is the cover art.  I looked at Smashwords' recommended cover artist list and browsed most of their pages.  Unfortunately, it sounds like most of the listed cover artists use stock photos to create a book cover.  As I'm certain there are no stock photos that come close to portraying how I envision the cover art for my books, I have begun contacting artists who make the kind of images I have in mind for the covers of my books. 

Once the cover art is done, my first book will be ready to launch!  That means I have to find time to hammer out the details I'm going to share on my web site and begin building it, since I already own my domain name, so there's no excuse to slack off on getting it up and running around the same time I publish my book.

Test readers and editing

I've heard a lot about test readers and editors lately and thought I'd weigh in on it.

If you have your friends test read or edit a book for you, it's best to not give them a deadline on finishing it. Most people have extremely busy lives, so if you want quick feedback on your story or a fast editing job, you're better off hiring someone for the task.

When you ask your friends for feedback, be aware that they won't want to hurt your feelings, so they'll probably be vague in their critique, and you'll have to analyze their comments in order to interpret what they are saying. For instance, two friends said the same thing about one of my novels "the second half of the book was a much faster read than the first half". This told me that the first half of the book needed a serious revision. I added more action and ruthlessly cut fourteen pages using rewording and deletions in order to try and balance out how fast it read and was told that it greatly improved the book.

Some people think a single edit of their finished novel is sufficient. However, the writer is too close to the story and will not notice that they've repeated information two or three times that they wanted to make sure was included in the novel. I suggest after the first edit that you read the book aloud to yourself or someone else, because it will bring to your attention things that you've already covered in your story, and in addition will highlight awkward passages that you need to edit so they are easier to read.

There is no substitute for a spell checker, but it's not an absolute. There are many sound alike words that people misuse, including simple words such as "there", "they're", and "their", and if you have trouble remembering which is which, you should expect to pay a premium for editing services.

Keep in mind that even if you have professional editors working on your novel, they're human and will miss things. One writer blogged about how many people he has editing his work and test reading it, and yet I found mistakes in the first chapters of both of his novels that I read (both wrong words), so you have to keep in mind a spell checker won't tell you you've used the wrong word if it's spelled correctly, and having multiple people edit your work won't catch all the errors. You just have to decide how many times someone examines your work with a critical eye before you declare it finished and be ready for the comments of others when they find things that everyone else missed.