I’m following Zoe Cannon, fellow Infinite Inkling, in this blog tour about authors’ writing processes. Visit her website here: http://www.zoecannon.com.


What am I working on?

Currently I am in the last stages of initial edits to a book titled Dead in Me, a YA Horror novel. Here’s the premise to pique your interests.

Seventeen-year-old Nora McBane can't get over what happened the night her step-father murdered her school librarian in cold blood. The kids at school taunt her, her family has unraveled and Nora's biological father won't answer her calls. Then she sees a corpse in her mirror and her life goes from weird to insane in a heartbeat.

Worse still, her step-father isn't the only one from her small island village who has murder on the mind. Nora comes to realize the corpse in the mirror is someone she knows all too well and it wants to communicate with her. Now she must face this ghost to learn which villager will be the next to kill. Nora and her friends take on the the killers, hoping they can stop them before a dark force threatens to end them all.


How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Though this book is a ghost story, these ghosts can do major damage, no bumping around in sheets knocking over lamps for these guys. The main character, Nora, has the ability to see ghosts (I see dead people!) but also learns her version of Bloody Mary is her own corpse communicating with her from the other side. So, Nora knows she may very well die as the terror plays out in her little island town. Also, there’s a demon who spews out death watch beetles. Yeah, that’s pretty different.


Why do I write what I do?

Because I’m messed up in the head. I blame my father (affectionately) for my obsession with the weird and abnormal. I was weaned on Star Trek while I was just a babe. I watched more bizarre 80s SciFi than I did Beverly Hills 90210 or Saved by the Bell. And it fascinated me. I was captivated by The Giver, The Black Cauldron, and A Wrinkle in Time. Normal books about romance or getting babysitting jobs just weren’t as exciting as exploring new worlds. I still feel that way.


How does my writing process work?

I’ve penned six full length novels and my process is still evolving, but here’s how it generally goes down.

Step 1: Seed idea
I usually start with an idea I just can’t shake. Maybe it’s a vivid opening like my novel, The Breeders. Maybe it’s an idea to combine genres like, Eyes Ever to the Sky, where I thought it would be cool to meld a heroe’s origin story with a paranormal romance. Either way, it’s something I just can’t shake. I get very excited and want to jot ideas down right away.

Step 2: Growing the idea
Once I’ve pinpointed an idea, I like to grow my book baby in many ways. I create character bios, do research on setting or details. I read up in that genre if I am not already familiar. I ponder a lot on what I want to see in the book. Letting my mind explore is some of the best parts of writing. I play out scenes in my head where I’m the movie director, the God of the story. This part is also awesome. Also, I may have a God complex.

Step 3: Outline
For my first three wild stabs at writing a novel I didn’t outline and found myself meandering through with no direction whatsoever. A few characters and a setting don’t a book make.  It also made the muddy middle of each novel very hard to push through. Now I absolutely outline, but in a messy way. I use a Blake Snyder beat sheet to generate ideas on how the plot will progress. I sometimes fill in scene spreadsheets with characters, setting and motivation next to what will occur in the story. The ending is always loose because, as I write, I learn much more about my characters and plot. I often have to revise. A lot.

Step 4: Down and Dirty
No, this isn't me reminiscing about how I felt the first time I watched Dirty Dancing at my friends house in seventh grade. When I write rough drafts, I write them down and dirty with my head down and my creativity cap on. I’ve stopped letting people see it as it goes because that can poison the well. I write messy and I keep moving forward. I remind myself it is okay to write crap at this stage. I write crap.

Step 5: Revise
I read through each chapter and clean up as I go. Often I include my first CP, Kimberly Shursen, on each chapter as I go. Then I revise from her feedback. Next I send it on to Amy Biddle for her eagle eye. Sometimes I even include another set of eyes. I clean up each subsequent draft until it’s looking pretty darn good and I’m pretty darn sick of it.

Step 6: Professional Content Editing
I’ve used a professional for all of my published books. There’s no way I’d give anything out to the general public that hasn’t been onced-over by someone I completely trust.

Step 7: Copy Edit and Format
This is exactly what it sounds like. The drudgery. The agony. But, then I know I’m always home. YEAH!!!


Following me next week on the #mywritingprocess tour are:

Kimberly Shursen, thriller writer, author of HUSH and Itsy Bitsy Spider and my Critique Partner. Find her at http://www.kimberlyshursen.com

Amy Biddle author of The Athiest’s Prayer and co-contributor to Underground Book Reviews. Find her at http://www.amyrbiddle.com

Writing is a lonely profession. I spent my first five years as a fledgling writer in isolation. I was an author island, typing away in my armchair day after day with no colleagues, no compatriots, no co-workers. You see, I'm not one of those fortunate people who's married her first reader. My husband is a lovely man. He'll do dishes and put kids to bed until the cows come home, but ask him to read a teen dystopian manuscript and he slowly dies a little each page. There is no one in my household that yearns to read my fiction. I have teacher-writer friends who started reading my work in the beginning, but I knew after a few pages it became tiresome for them. Later I was lucky enough to stumble on some online writer friends who were kind enough to give me feedback on my writing. Writing conferences garnered new friends here and there. It was amazing how exciting it was to talk to fellow authors, to share trade secrets and miseries, to give virtual pats on the back. Insert semicolon smiley face and hug icon here. 

This past year I started talking with some indie authors whose books sat beside mine on the Amazon shelves. I met some amazing people and quickly formed a bond. It was not much later when nine of us decided to pool our resources and form an author collective. I'd seen the Indelibles do it and thought it was brilliant. "You mean you guys work together, support each other and spread the love around? Sign me up." 

Today introduce you to Infinite Ink, my author collective. Please go to the website and poke around. There's a fantastic giveaway, a list of our books, our author bios and free books. These ladies write speculative fiction like me. They are fabulous people. You'll love them and their books. 

Any authors out there who are considering an author collective, I'd recommend it 110% percent. The camaraderie and support has been phenomenal. Not a day goes by that I don't receive valuable information, tips and help. When a bad review gets on of us down, we pump her back up. When a new promotion site pops up, we consult about its worth. We share blog posts, tweets, and jokes. I'm no longer an author island. I'm a guest at the best indie party in town. And the lampshades abound. 

The moral? Find a buddy, a writer friend, someone who's book you've seen on your Amazon shelves and reach out to them. I've found indie authors to be some of the most wonderful people on the internet. Your marketing efforts will be magnified and you'll feel more fulfilled. And if all else fails you'll have lots of couches around the country that you can crash at. 

So what about you? Anyone out there interested in author collectives? Sound off below. 

As you may know, book marketing is a regular topic on my blog. I've been guerrilla marketing my books for almost a year now and have tried many strategies. To learn about other tips you can try part 1,  part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6 at each respective link. 

I've waited a while to write this post mainly because I wanted to give myself some emotional distance from my experience at NetGalley. For the most part, I want these blog posts to be informative and help authors like myself to better market their books. I do not want this to be a rant post that is neither helpful nor informative. That is why I've waited a month to describe my experience with NetGalley. I will do my best not to rant. 

Before we begin, let me give you some information on NetGalley. Here is a blurb straight from their own website. 

"NetGalley is a service to promote and publicize forthcoming titles to readers of influence. If you are a reviewer, blogger, journalist, librarian, bookseller, educator, or in the media, you can use NetGalley for FREE to request and read titles before they are published. Publishers can upload their galleys, plus any marketing and promotional information, and interact with members in two ways: * By approving member requests from our catalog of titles * By inviting members to view titles using our email invitation widget. "

NetGalley for the last many years was limited to traditionally published authors, so when I learned they were opening their doors to indies I was very excited. Another door opened to my Indie brethren. (No longer would we be kicked out of country clubs or hissed at on the street. We were being promoted from the kiddie table to the grown-up buffet.) Not only do I like doors opening for indies, but I also like the prospect of real, vetted reviewers checking out my title and posting reviews. I know well the mantra "The more reviews you have, the more sales you have." I figured my new release would be perfect for this. I'd get lots of professional reviews posted to Amazon and it would help my sales. Voila. What could go wrong?

I signed up in a co-op with several of my writer soul-mates. We each paid $350: three hundred for the NetGalley yearly subscription and fifty for the moderator who would set it all up and manage our request for us. That is a steep price point and it was a hard choice, but I figured it was worth it. I'd have reviews pouring in and I'd see the money back in sales. So I paid my money, uploaded Eyes Ever to the Sky and waited. 

Reviewers quickly requested copies of my book. Over a hundred people were approved. But as the days ticked by and the reviews trickled in, I started to worry. Why weren't more of the people who requested the book posting reviews? Why weren't many of them posting to Amazon, the site where I make my money? Why were so many of the reviews short or grammatically challenged? 

Here's the main problem I have with NetGalley. They claim on their website that the readers you are giving free books to are all "reviewers". They are all supposed to have a platform with which to share reviews. They are all supposed to know how to write a book review. As a reviewer myself, I know that learning to review takes time. Anyone can blab a few minutes about their feelings on a book, but it takes a certain learned skill to convey what you felt and why you felt it in a way that helps identify if this book would be a suitable purchase. Sadly, with some of the reviews I was receiving, they were not deft in this skill. I'll admit some reviews were down right mean and hurt my feelings. Others gave away spoilers RIGHT IN THE TITLE of the review with no spoiler warning. The worst part is, out of the nearly two hundred books I gave away, only a handful of reviews have made it to Amazon. So in essence, I paid 350 dollars to give my book away for nearly nothing in return. Well, I did get some bad feelings and some mediocre three star reviews. Honestly the whole thing felt like a gut punch. From Mike Tyson. Into a tiger's den. 

To be fair, NetGalley does allow you to pick and chose who you allow to upload your titles. I should've been more selective, but it is very hard, given the limited amount of information you get on these reviewers, to know if they'll a) even write a review or b) write one that won't give away your whole book. There will never be a next time with me and NetGalley, but if the universe somehow worm-holes into a Bizarro World and I forget my rotten experience, the one thing I would do differently is be WAY more selective on who I give books to. If you're considering the service, please take that one piece of advice. 

A few weeks ago I asked our NetGalley moderator to take my title down. It had been up for about two months and I couldn't take the abuse anymore. Sadly, I've already paid my yearly fee and have to eat the 350 dollars. A monthly fee would be much more helpful to Indies. You live and learn, but one thing is for sure, I'll know better next time. 

So what about you? What have been your NetGalley experiences? 

Book Marketing Part 8 - The Anthology

Have you ever stood naked in front of a group of strangers? Unless you work for the pornography industry or have a propensity for streaking, I'd guess no. I haven't either (thank God), but I have had an experience which I liken to a frolic in your birthday suit. I'm pretty sure hitting the publish button on my debut novel last August felt similar: the toe curling anxiety, the sweating palms, the bashful backing away, covering your genitals. Yet, I digress. I had to face the fact that pretty much everyone I know would read the deepest, strangest parts of my psyche. I had to blush and nod as they discussed particularly embarrassing parts of The Breeders. My boss brought up the scene where Riley passes a brothel and sees a naked sixty-year-old woman with her saggy breasts in a man's palm. Talk about toe curling. And yet, I survived. I learned to roll with the punches. The problem is I'm about to do it again. 

Today I sent the final draft to my lovely editor for a final copy edit. When it comes back, it'll be pretty and pristine and I will have to fight all urges to touch it, lest I mess it up. This is the suck-it-up time. The punch-fear-in-the-face time. Publishing a book puts your feet right to the fire and invites any number of injustices in the form of Amazon reviews that will strip you bare and have you covering your genitals for sure. 

So, hopefully by the beginning of May I will be able to unveil my new shiny work-in-progress to you all. In the meantime, here's the teaser in case you missed it last time. 

When Hugh wakes up in a smoldering crater–no memory, no clothes–a single thought echoes in his head…trust no one. Frightened and alone, with no memory of who he is, he stumbles upon a grisly murder scene and is fatally shot.  He wakes, only to find he can heal himself. He has superpowers, and he’s going to need them.

Desperate and bleeding, Hugh stumbles upon fifteen-year-old Cece, who’s got enough troubles of her own. Between caring for her bipolar mother and trying not to get evicted from her run-down trailer, Cece may be the only person struggling as much as Hugh. Drawn to Hugh, Cece finds a love she’s never known. But when the real killer–a man-hunting beast–  chooses another victim, Hugh and Cece realize they must unlock the clues to their past if they have any chance at a future.

Eyes Ever to the Sky is a Young Adult paranormal romance/hero's origin story with a dash of horror. Audiences who liked I am Number 4 will enjoy this action-packed romance. 

In case you missed it, I began this series last week on my many experiments with marketing and my take on what works and what doesn't. You can find part one here and part two here. There is one very important marketing tool that I think may have been the single most important technique, so important I thought it deserved its own post. Are you ready for this mind-blowing secret? Here it is: giving your book away for free. 

The brain child for using this technique came when I began working with my super agent, Amanda Luedeke. She suggested that I try to increase sales numbers and rankings before we went to submission on The Breeders. I am always game for something that will make more money and create more visability, so I told her I was game for any idea she had. She suggested a five day giveaway through KDP Select. If you haven't heard, KDP Select is Amazon's book sharing program. If you opt in to KDP you agree to offer your e-books nowhere but Amazon. The upside is Prime Members can borrow your book for free. The down side is that Kobo, Barnes and Noble and Apple customers get no e-book love. I opted into KDP pretty early on in my writing adventure. It was clear from the start that Amazon was where I was selling and nothing was going on anywhere else. KDP worked well, allowing people to try my book for free through Amazon Prime. And I get paid a hunk of the money Amazon shares out for its KDP authors (roughly $2). 

Another thing KDP offers are promotional days where you can set your content for free. I had tried this before and given away a good number of free books. Each time I saw a little spike in ratings that would eventually slide back down. I had never tried a five day giveaway before, so I decided it was time and started to plan.

The interesting thing was we were approaching Christmas, a booming time for ebooks. Everyone gets sparkling new Kindles or Amazon gift cards in their stockings. I thought it might be a good idea to run the giveaway the week before Christmas and then return my book to $2.99, on the 23rd right before the sales boom. So, I set my five days up and held my breath. 

The result was tremendous. I gave away 2200 books in 5 days. I got a ton of reviews, sequel notification emails and Facebook friends. My book rating sky-rocketed (from 15,000 to 6,000) and I began selling quite a few more titles each day. I went from selling five books a day before Christmas to selling 15 a day after the promotion. And the wave still hasn't peaked. This month I am selling twenty-five books a day with little to no promotional leg work. 

So, the result is free days work, especially when they are timed right. Now, I know you'll have to wait a whole eight months before you can take advantage of the Christmas boom, but I think that any special event will help (i.e. the release of a new title or a marketing promo you are running). The free books you give away will likely translate into sales that will quickly make up for any lost revenue on those free days. 

So, there you have it, the not so big secret that has brought me success. What about you? How have KDP free days worked for you?

Book Marketing Part Four

Life is a funny thing. Just when you think you are on one path, something unexpected comes along and WHAMO you are spun 180 and heading in the opposite direction. I feel like this is what my writing career has been like so far. But, let’s rewind, shall we?

I’ve been seriously writing for five and a half years. I wrote two books (one dreadful, one passably awful) and queried like a good girl should. Of course I was rejected, but I kept on keeping on. Then I started my third manuscript. This one felt different from the get-go. I was faster, more skilled and more dedicated. I knew the premise was worthwhile and the characters were working. I got great feedback from my CPs. I took it to New York and pitched my heart out to some big time editors. I got some full requests and held my breath. Unfortunately, doors kept slamming in my face. Ouch.

Now, I’m not one to take no for an answer. It just isn’t in my nature. I KNEW this book was good. I KNEW people would want to read it. So, I took a big leap, despite all my fears and self-published. It was the only way my words would see the light of day and I took it, jumping in feet first, eyes closed.

For those of you who self-publish, you know it isn’t for the faint of heart. For me, self-publishing was like querying on steroids (the nasty kind that make you grow hair in weird places). I spent hours researching HTML, I read books on marketing, I became a website designer and much, much more. When all that was said and done, I had to send my brand new book baby out into the world without the clout of an agent or publishing house behind me. It was as scary as the time I watched The Ring alone at night in my apartment.

And… it was amazing. The book is doing great (ranked right now in the 7000s on Amazon) and the fans have been fantastic. I love that people are reading and liking my book. I love reading the reviews. I was all set to navigate this publishing world alone with all the skills I had acquired.

Then came the WHAMO.

In December I was contacted by an agent I sent a full manuscript to back in May. (Yes, it can sometimes take that long.) Amanda Luedeke of MacGregor Literary emailed to say she was finally reading it and was it still available. Imagine my surprise. I said yes and then disclosed that I had self-published. I thought this would be a deal-breaker and we would go along our merry way. Little did I know that Amanda would not let that sway her. She pursued me further with more emails and a phone call. A year ago I would’ve been peeing my pants and dancing in the puddle, but now I was self-published. What could an agent possibly offer me?

The bottom line is I liked Amanda, really, really liked her. She was young, energetic and in love with my book.  She had a marketing background. The thing that sold me was that she was fine with me saying I didn’t want a tiny deal that took all my rights and control and gave me nothing in return.

So, I took a deep breath and signed. Our relationship is new and not a lot has changed for me yet. I’m still doing my thing, blogging, writing and marketing my book, but now I have a cheerleader and advisor to help me through sticky spots. Amanda plans to go out on submission in the spring and we shall see what awaits. Until then, I’m still happily self-publishing and glad I did it. Right now, I’ve got the best of both worlds and everything’s coming up roses.

What about you? What are your thoughts on self-publishing versus traditional publishing?