Thursday, May 29, 2014
Summer Barnes and Noble Signing Tour!
Slowly things are coming together for a signing tour I am doing this summer with other Northwest Authors.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Little fan fare
My re-release of Entrusted happened with little fan fare…primarily because I didn't realize I had actually hit the put on Amazon button. But I needed to get the courage to do it and was procrastinating so i guess it was a good accident. I am starting a blog tour in June and going to do my summer Barnes and Noble book tour but still feel it is floating out there with out an audience. I want to buy an add in Entertainment Weekly and see if it shoots up my sales and reviews….ha ha bet that cost a pretty penny!
Monday, May 12, 2014
And now for the beginning of the end
I got my publisher in May of last year after a twitter pitch party. Of course I was skeptical because any publisher that wants my book must suck....yeah writers self depreciating thoughts....Any how I ended up signing all three of my completed books with this new up and coming publisher. I was excited to start with a new publisher...help build a brand. I was excited! Then my first edits began. I was very open to edits because again I figured I needed some big help since I was a new author. My editor was awesome and I think overall my books are better then they started but it is a shocker at how much a publisher will ask of you in order to make a book work for them. At one point I had to wonder why they even wanted the books. The only problem I had up to this point was my publisher continued to spell my name wrong on everything.
My first book came out in the end of August. My friends gave me a small release party and many of my friends bought it to read...it was surreal.
Then I went on to Createspace to make the paperback available.
When I began formatting I quickly discovered that all the final edits I'd worked on were not corrected in the published version. I had an ebook on Amazon that was riddled with mistakes.
I was embarrassed and didn't know what to do. My friends and family hadn't said a word and bless all m reviewers hearts no one mentioned it in one review. Although I would have appreciated a head up.
The next two books had similar issues....
Of course I immediately asked my publisher to fix the issue and it did get fixed but I began to see the writing on the wall....Duh Duh Duh!!!!
My first book came out in the end of August. My friends gave me a small release party and many of my friends bought it to read...it was surreal.
Then I went on to Createspace to make the paperback available.
When I began formatting I quickly discovered that all the final edits I'd worked on were not corrected in the published version. I had an ebook on Amazon that was riddled with mistakes.
I was embarrassed and didn't know what to do. My friends and family hadn't said a word and bless all m reviewers hearts no one mentioned it in one review. Although I would have appreciated a head up.
The next two books had similar issues....
Of course I immediately asked my publisher to fix the issue and it did get fixed but I began to see the writing on the wall....Duh Duh Duh!!!!
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Entrusted wasn't the first
Although I wrote Entrusted to completion first it was not the first story I plotted out. Although I am not sure I even knew what plotted out meant at the time.
I had a notebook full of notes following a nurse in Vietnam. Well it wasn't timely and the characters were older and I wanted a New Adult book so I started to change stuff. Then the war in Afghanistan started. I loved, loved doing research for that book and am a die hard military fan now. 1000 Sleepless Nights was the first book of mine to get picked up by a publisher even though it wasn't the first to be thrown out to the wolves.
1000 Sleepless Nights was also the first book that I found a publisher has the right to say "change this or no deal"
The original version of Sleepless Nights did not have the characters getting together. In fact it was far from it. I had to make it a happy ending so I carved off what turned out to be half the book and wove a happily ever after.
Now that I have parted ways with said publisher I am changing the book back to a more similar version to the original and will be turning the skimmed off chapters into two more books. I hope my readers enjoy them.
I had a notebook full of notes following a nurse in Vietnam. Well it wasn't timely and the characters were older and I wanted a New Adult book so I started to change stuff. Then the war in Afghanistan started. I loved, loved doing research for that book and am a die hard military fan now. 1000 Sleepless Nights was the first book of mine to get picked up by a publisher even though it wasn't the first to be thrown out to the wolves.
1000 Sleepless Nights was also the first book that I found a publisher has the right to say "change this or no deal"
The original version of Sleepless Nights did not have the characters getting together. In fact it was far from it. I had to make it a happy ending so I carved off what turned out to be half the book and wove a happily ever after.
Now that I have parted ways with said publisher I am changing the book back to a more similar version to the original and will be turning the skimmed off chapters into two more books. I hope my readers enjoy them.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Today is the day!
It's been a few months and the sting of being published and then not published has kind of lessoned so I think it is time to move forward and tell my story of my progression into the world of ebooks and the crazy world of Indie Publishers.
I am going to start at the beginning. I have always kept journals, spiral notebooks full of ideas, I have always changed the storyline or characters of a favorite television show or movie to add myself in. In short I have always had something going on in my head. Whether it be my lack of having something in my life or just an overactive imagination…who knows!
So I started writing seriously about the time my two boys hit high school and had their own set of friends and didn't really want to hang out. My first book was what would eventually become Entrusted. Now my kids are in college so you can see that was about seven years ago.
Entrusted started out very different from what it is today. It was probably what we now consider a New Adult but at the time was geared towards an older audience. It was based heavily on a time in my life after college that I was struggling and it was…let me just say liberating to put pen to paper.
I had a hard time when I searched out beta readers, you know the people who read for you and give you input. I have never had success finding a good one and to this day…four books later have to rely heavily on my editor to do what a beta should do. Anyway my readers came back to me telling me that the character was unlikable, she did unrealistic things…and I was like WHAT! I did those things and are you saying I am unlikable. Well maybe I was at that time in my life.
You see I was a victim of date rape. Although I don't even think it was 'date' because it was a guy I had been seeing for two years. Anyway it told the story of her struggle to develop a relationship after the rape.
The point of this is that I think it is important to get your feelings about stuff out and not let others tell you how you should react or feel whether that is in life or in the pages of your book.
I found myself changing the story to fit the needs of my betas when I really needed to tell the story that I lived. Of course it is hidden between the lines but it is there and needs to be.
Entrusted set me free. I have destroyed relationship after relationship because of issues I let hinder my ability to connect. Writing them down, even if no one ever saw the book, was the best thing I ever did.
Entrusted will be re-released in the next few weeks with additional chapters in the beginning and the end. Chapters that needed to be there but were taken out because of bad advise. I hope you understand that Emma doesn't mean to be unlikable. She simply is holding a story within that she is trying to keep from destroying her.
Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get free samples of books in the works. Remember Entrusted liberated me so watch out! *wink*
I am going to start at the beginning. I have always kept journals, spiral notebooks full of ideas, I have always changed the storyline or characters of a favorite television show or movie to add myself in. In short I have always had something going on in my head. Whether it be my lack of having something in my life or just an overactive imagination…who knows!
So I started writing seriously about the time my two boys hit high school and had their own set of friends and didn't really want to hang out. My first book was what would eventually become Entrusted. Now my kids are in college so you can see that was about seven years ago.
Entrusted started out very different from what it is today. It was probably what we now consider a New Adult but at the time was geared towards an older audience. It was based heavily on a time in my life after college that I was struggling and it was…let me just say liberating to put pen to paper.
I had a hard time when I searched out beta readers, you know the people who read for you and give you input. I have never had success finding a good one and to this day…four books later have to rely heavily on my editor to do what a beta should do. Anyway my readers came back to me telling me that the character was unlikable, she did unrealistic things…and I was like WHAT! I did those things and are you saying I am unlikable. Well maybe I was at that time in my life.
You see I was a victim of date rape. Although I don't even think it was 'date' because it was a guy I had been seeing for two years. Anyway it told the story of her struggle to develop a relationship after the rape.
The point of this is that I think it is important to get your feelings about stuff out and not let others tell you how you should react or feel whether that is in life or in the pages of your book.
I found myself changing the story to fit the needs of my betas when I really needed to tell the story that I lived. Of course it is hidden between the lines but it is there and needs to be.
Entrusted set me free. I have destroyed relationship after relationship because of issues I let hinder my ability to connect. Writing them down, even if no one ever saw the book, was the best thing I ever did.
Entrusted will be re-released in the next few weeks with additional chapters in the beginning and the end. Chapters that needed to be there but were taken out because of bad advise. I hope you understand that Emma doesn't mean to be unlikable. She simply is holding a story within that she is trying to keep from destroying her.
Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get free samples of books in the works. Remember Entrusted liberated me so watch out! *wink*
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