So I have a decision to make…and it’s kind of a tough one.
There’s this convention, see. Tucson Comic Con. I wrote a sci-fi novel. Sci-fi and comic cons go together like peas and carrots. Or something. Point is, it would be a great opportunity to promote myself as an Arizona author with a new publication. The fee for a table isn’t unreasonable, and I’d have time to buy up a small stockpile of books to sign/sell at the con.
Buuuuuuuut…..The same weekend is also Coronation for the next King and Queen of our SCA Kingdom-slash-stepping down of my husband’s friend from current King to Duke.
Fuck. My. Life.
I want to be there to support my husband’s friend and my chosen family, but I also want to be able to be visibly there to promote my book at a medium-sized convention.
What do I do?
My husband was initially on-board with the con thing, but when he found out it was the same weekend as Coronation it was all nope, can’t do it. But I want to. I need to talk to him, I guess. I just feel like a jerk for wanting to.
We don’t have to do everything together. We can split the weekend–but it would be kind of a bummer not to have him there.
I’ll think it over. Who knows? I might not even get a booth. It might end up being a moot point.
But it would be freakin’ awesome to be able to do the con…..
*Sigh*
I’ll talk with my husband. See what his thoughts are. I know he won’t be happy, but maybe we can compromise.
Category: Promotion
Gone to bed–time to start the day
It’s bedtime for ABNORMAL. I’ve officially emailed the final revisions to RhetAskew.
Soon come the marketing materials and the footwork to get ABNORMAL out in the public eye. I have a lot of work ahead of me; I’m not trying to fool myself into thinking things are done. Even if I didn’t have Book 2 and the others to write, I’ve got to put in as much work as possible on the marketing.
Ah, marketing. The thing I spent my first year of college majoring in. Twenty years ago. If I recall, the only actual marketing course I managed to take before I switched majors was Business Statistics. So yeah. I’m flying blind here.
There’s one small local bookstore that I’ve heard of. A couple bigger ones in Tucson and probably a bunch in Phoenix. And I wouldn’t rule out traveling out-of-state for conventions or book signings. That’s not enough, though. I’ve got to blow up Twitter and Instagram and Facebook and All The Things to get word out. But it’s not like I don’t have resources. I can look up blogs on book marketing, ask my publishers for advice, ask other authors who’ve had success in their own marketing.
Until my marketing package arrives though, I guess I’m going to start back on Book 2.
Well, after today’s barbecue.
Welcome to home ownership.
Coming soon, to a bookstore (or website) near you…
Yeah, bookstores are a thing of the past almost, but…
That’s right, RhetAskew Publishing has officially announced ABNORMAL! It’s not for sale yet–there’s still some work to be done on it, and all the pre-production stuffs has to happen, but it is announced!
Here’s the beautiful announcement artwork, courtesy of Dusty at RhetAskew:
I am beyond excited, and even though I should totally be working on revisions right now, my head’s buzzing a little. I’m, like, beyond words.
”ll give updates as I’m allowed. For now, it’s back to work! 🙂
Signed, sealed, delivered, HOME
We did it! After more than a year and a half of planning and building and paperwork and stress, our house is our house. We can sleep and eat and shower and live in it!
The first night went well, though I didn’t sleep any better than usual. Still woke up ass-early in the morning, but I was able to do some revisions on the chaise of the couch while my husband slept soundly, without worrying about typing too loud or finding headphones to listen to music on the laptop.
Yeah, there are boxes everywhere. Yeah, we still don’t have all the smart home stuff fully set up (though I can turn on/off lights and fans and such with my phone or the Echo now). Yeah, there’s still stuff lingering in the apartment. Yeah, we still need to clean the apartment. We have to officially change our address at the post office and numerous other places. We have to get used to driving an extra 20+ minutes to get anywhere compared to the 5-10 minutes it used to take when we lived “in town.” We’ve got stuff that we need to purchase to maintain the land and house and all that. But we’re home.
Rory and River love it. They were apprehensive at first, but once they realized they were here to stay and they had twice the space to explore as the apartment, they were all about the house. There’s new furniture and old to climb on, new windows to look out (with windowsills they both fit on), and a nice, new concrete floor to lie on when they need to cool off.
This upcoming long weekend will be a huge help in getting settled. We’re going to see Solo on Saturday (and making an out-of-town trip for it), but otherwise we don’t really have anything planned. We can take a breath and focus and get things organized. Just knowing that we have that little bit of extra time helps me relax and get out of OMG-I-have-so-much-stuff-to-do-and-no-time mode.
Revisions are coming along again now that we’re moved. I’m about halfway through a preliminary read of the edits, but of course I have to review everything a couple of times before resubmitting. After all, this is the LAST batch of edits. The LAST revisions before publication. I can’t say when publication is yet, because I haven’t been officially announced by the publisher, but as soon as I can I’ll be blasting it all over the Interwebs. (Which reminds me, I need to get back to actually utilizing Twitter to grow a fanbase/network and to start marketing.) I’ve given my publishers an open invite to stay with us should they ever come to Arizona, and there are tentative plans in the works to get some booths set up at local conventions once the book is published.
As soon as this first book is “put to bed” I’m going to get cracking on simultaneous edits/rewrites on Book 2 and SCA Arts & Sciences projects. I have to learn/write the documentation for the one thing I’ve made so far, finish the research on the research paper I plan on writing, and potentially make a third thing for entry. I’ve gone from entering just in the local Baronial Arts & Sciences competition to entering as part of a household in another Barony. Still a lot to do in just a month or two, but I’ll be okay. I just need to breathe and not stress out too much about any of it. Of course, to make the third as-yet-to-be-determined thing for A&S I’ll need a new chair for the craft room. Turns out the carefully-planned room (which is still awesome) does not have enough room for the futon I used to sit on, so I need an actual, like, office chair or something. Oh yeah, and I have to put all the crap in there away, or at least “away enough” to where I can start on the third project. At least the research paper doesn’t need to be constructed, just written and printed.
We have no less than three house parties in the works now, with one huge SCA party planned, one party for family and coworkers, and one party (date as-yet-to-be-determined) for close friends. I’m hoping to get at least some of the “rapier obstacle course” that I plan on making done by the SCA party, so we can have some er, party games. Yeah. Party games. With mutherfuckin’ swords. Hell yeah.
Lots to do, but much less pressure now.
Now that I’m home.
Home, sweet home.
Slow but sure
Revisions are… coming along. Slowly. Mainly because of adverbs like slowly and mainly. And because of gerunds. I apparently love gerunds. It’s funny the things you don’t realize you do until someone points out how often you do them.
I’ll get it all fixed though. I am so excited for this book to be published! It’s been a long couple of years since I made the resolution to get the first draft finished, but I’m now on the final revisions and Book 2 is in the early stages of revisions for the first draft. It’s got a long way to go as well, but now that I’m more aware of my gerund affinity I’m sure it’ll be easier … Won’t it?
Oh, who am I kidding? I’ll be just as stressed for Book 2, 3, and onward. Lol But it’ll all be worth it. I just have to push on.
In other news, the house is almost home and I’m doing some unwinding this weekend in between revision sessions. Soon things will be back to (my) normal. Work is work, and crafting is taking a hiatus while I finish the book. That means I probably won’t get the time to make and document enough stuff to enter as Champion for the Baronial Arts and Sciences competition. I can still enter as novice in a couple categories, but I’m a little disappointed in myself for not being able to go for the big prize right out of the gate. I had wanted to push myself, but maybe all this is the Universe’s way of telling me to simmer down and just take my time. I have the rest of my life with the SCA to try for Champion; I don’t need to get greedy the first time I enter.
Well, guess I should stop dwelling and get to the relaxation part of my weekend… While it lasts 😉
A portent of things to come
I received the best email this morning: the previews for the promotional materials for my book! They look great, and it’s lit a new fire under me to get my revisions done ASAP.
Unfortunately, I’m still mid-move, so that throws a bit of a wrench into things. I can’t just wake up early and open the laptop and get cracking. I have to pack boxes and get those things ready. That’s in the mornings; the evenings (after work) are for unpacking said boxes in the house. We’ve gotten maybe half of the apartment moved over, but the remaining half is the tough stuff. Clothes, dishes, electronics, deep freeze, food, bed, TV, and all the little piddly stuff that’s been left. I don’t know where I’m going to get the time. Well, I suppose I could cut back on what little sleep I get….
I’ll get it done by the deadline. I have to. I’m not giving myself any other option.
It’ll be nice to finally be in our house… But I can’t let my guard down. I’ve got to remember that I’ve still got work to do.
Debut Askew
So I’ll admit, I haven’t been super vocal about the publisher I signed with. I’m new, they’re new, and I wasn’t sure how much “Oh-My-God-check-out-these-guys” they’d want on the radar yet. Now, though, with their debut author’s debut novel, they’re ready to, well, debut–and they’ve asked a little help from little ol’ Askewian me.
Okay, I’m throwing made-up words at you and you’re probably a bit confused. “Askewian” just means someone associated with the publishing company, which is named Rhetoric Askew. They’ve been around for a while with editing and critiquing and cover art services and a Facebook group that offers writers assitance, but publishing Askew is new to them, and I’m quite proud to be getting in on the ground floor. I can say I knew them when, they can say they knew me when, and we can all laugh about it on Oprah.
This post isn’t about me, though, or my book. (Surprise! Yes, I do know how to write about others. 😉 ) I’m here to tell you about a book debuting today called Whisper of an Angel, written by author Lorah Jaiyn. I don’t know her well, but I had the change to get a sneaky peeky of Whisper of an Angel, complete with a nifty press kit. (Haven’t seen one of those since my Talk Nerdy With Us days lol) Lemme give you a peek of my peek:
First, let’s tell you about the author. That’s always important, because it helps to know a little about the mind behind the world you’re about to enter. Here’s Lorah’s bio:
“Whisper of an Angel” is Lorah Jaiyn’s debut novel. Her short stories have been featured in several anthologies, and she has much more in the works. Her mood dictates genre blend from magic to vigilante justice. She lives in Central Florida and credits her Jack Russell as both her muse and biggest distraction. Lorah enjoys creating with polymer clay and volunteers with a wildlife rescue. She loves exploring the great outdoors and is also totally addicted to the Hallmark Channel. She can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lorahjaiyn.
Hey, Lorah, I totally like polymer clay too! (If only I could find the time for it anymore…) Still not sure? Well, I also have a convenient author interview! (I love press kits…so cool!)
Q: Lorah Jaiyn. Thank you for sitting down with us today in the Askew News Update room. Why don’t we start off with a little introduction. Tell us a little about yourself and what you’ve got to share with the world, today.
Thanks for having me. I am so excited about this book. I started out in western New York before moving to Florida right out of school. I was the quintessential rebellious teen who thought she knew everything, so I struck out on my own adventure. After a few months of stretching my new independence boundaries, I planted roots right smack in the middle of the state. I’ve been married forever, and our daughter and toddler grandson currently live in Japan where our son-in-law is stationed with the Air Force. Due to a severe case of empty nest syndrome, I’ve finally settled down and started to put all the stories hoarded in my imagination to paper, to hopefully entertain others.
Q: What was the pivotal moment where you said “You know what? I’m going to be an author?”
I remember telling my parents when I was a young teen that I’d have my first novel published by the time I was eighteen – romance, of course. Creative writing classes in high school were my favorite. My big plan was to spend a Christmas in NYCity, because that’s where all the big publishers were. Then, by the time I turned eighteen, life had taken over so it took ‘slightly’ longer than originally planned.
Q: What inspires you to create your fictional worlds and characters?
In a word, reality. I grew up reading Harlequin romances and I’m not ashamed to admit that real life is disappointing when you’re expecting perfect relationships and fireworks. Sometimes my stories contain scenes that are therapeutic and the only outlet I have that is legal.
Q: Every author has their own method to the madness, so-to-speak, what’s your writing process look like?
Get close to the deadline and panic. I’m such a pantser, always waiting til the last minute. I’ve tried outlining, but figured out that I fare better if I just blurt the story out of head and get it typed, then outline afterwards to make sure it makes sense. I also tend to handwrite first so I have something to follow when I type. I have enough partially used notebooks to stock Staples for a year. Or two. Each story needs a special notebook. Back-to-school time is better shopping than Christmas.
Q: When you develop your stories and characters, do you let them grow in front of you or do you have everything all planned out?
Both grow as I write. Trying to plan is just a waste of time for me.
Q: Tell us about some of your favorite authors and books and why you love them.
There are so many – after working in a used bookstore for years, I became very eclectic with my reading. I don’t stick to any one genre (although I avoid nonfiction, history, and biographies), but here are a few of my favorites:
Cecelia Ahern – her stories are always emotional and heartfelt, without being overwhelming.
Nicholas Sparks & Mitch Albom – oh, the feels. Guaranteed to make you cry.
Raymond Feist – Faery Tale – all time favorite horror – the only book I’ve read that actually gave me the heebie jeebies.
Rosalind James – her New Zealand series. New Zealand is my dream location and her books are very vivid with her locales.
I’m also a huge local author person. Connie Mann and Dylan Newton are two of my favorites – they are both multi-successful and have both been huge supports for me.
Q: You chose to publish your work through RhetAskew (a division of Rhetoric Askew, LLC), why did you choose them and do you feel it was the right decision?
I’ve been in several Askew Anthologies and loved the time, devotion, and detail they put into their products. This is my debut novel, and I’m their debut novel, so it was a win-win right from the start. I love the staff and powers-that-be and it has been a very rewarding process. I totally made the right decision.
Q: What did you enjoy about the Askew process?
Communication! This book thing is not easy – parts of the process are very daunting. But using Rhetoric Askew made me feel less overwhelmed, there was always someone right there to ‘hold my hand’ so to speak. I’ve never had to wonder what was going on.
Q: What do you hope your readers will take away from reading Whisper of an Angel?
I want people to close the book with the sense that no matter how bad things are, it doesn’t mean that something good won’t come along. Keep your heart open to opportunities. And because I’m a big animal person, with a special love for dogs, I want people to realize that a dog can provide a special kind of love that you may not even know you need.
Q: Where can all your Askew fans find you when you aren’t writing?
facebook.com/lorahjaiyn
And if I’m not writing, I’m probably sitting behind a table making something out of polymer clay, so www.facebook.com/peekemboos
So now you know a little something-something about the author. Groovy. But you probably want to know about the book, seeing as how that’s what all the hubbub’s about. The genre’s romantic suspense, but that doesn’t tell you much. Maybe the cover art will give you a hint:
Adorbs, right? And don’t worry, I’m prepared if you don’t think adorbs is enough to get you to go buy this book: I’ve got the jacket blurb as ammunition!
Sometimes second chances start with four paws.
In the small town of Marshall Glen, Sofia retreats from life following the death of her husband. Six-year-old Kady lives in foster care and hasn’t spoken since a house fire stole her family. After she saves Kady’s dog from drowning, Sofia attempts to stay locked away, but learns that—
…even though she’s given up, her heart wants to—try again.
When Kady runs away from her foster home, Sofia meets the cop in charge of the search, Brandon—her first love. Sparks fly even as she struggles with her conscience. Is she being unfair to her husband’s memory?
When random acts of vandalism turn to attempted kidnapping, Brandon helps keep Kady safe. As the danger deepens, how far will Sofia go to save a child?
Hooked yet? I have to admit, this wasn’t my usual genre, but Whisper of an Angel was definitely an interesting read. I was hooked from the start, and it made for a quick, fulfilling evening’s read. And don’t let the Table of Contents intimidate you; the chapters, though many, are short enough that you don’t get bored. I could go on, but I’m one of those who will give away the whole plot in an attempt to summarize. That’s why I haven’t gone into details of the plot of my WIPs…I’ll end up basically writing the whole story here and have nothing left to surprise you with when Rhetoric Askew gets my own work on the shelves. You don’t want that–you want to read it for yourself! I totally get that, and that’s why I’m using my handy dandy press kit to give you links, links galore!
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lorahjaiyn.
Twitter: @writerlorahj
Website: www.marshallglen.com
Amazon Author: https://www.amazon.com/Lorah-Jaiyn/e/B01MQTN0X4
Amazon Book:
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16150584.Lorah_Jaiyn?from_search=true
But wait, there’s more! This fantastic book is available today! That’s right, today, January 19th, is the debut date, and I just happened to schedule this post to pop up on your feed/email on the 19th (I’m sneaky like that).
Now, this isn’t just some “I’m-pushing-another-Askew-author-because-I-want-my-stuff-pushed-when-the-time-comes” gig; I really want to support another author in her publishing journey, and I want word to get out there about this book. Yeah, at the time I’m writing this I have 180-something followers here on this blog, and yeah, my average views (according to WordPress, which I think is a bit off–sometimes I have more people talk to me in person about a blog post than the stats say have viewed it) aren’t the highest…still, it’s another voice in the din, and maybe, just maybe, I got you at least a teeny bit interested.
We authors tend to get caught up in our own musings, and I think we need to remember to support each other and read others’ works. Lorah has a real hit on her hands here, and we all need to band together and make that hit happen. I know there are other writers here; surely you can spare a bit of time and energy to wrench yourself away from your own works to appreciate the works of a fellow wordsmith? I did, and it was well worth it.
A page in the life
So I manage a cosplay page on Facebook (that has stalled at the wayside as SCA overruns cosplay on the priority scale), a “fan” page for our cat, Rory, a page for my oft-forgotten Etsy shop, and of course the work I do for the Barony. So why did I add another page to keep track of?
Oh yeah, author Facebook pages are a thing. That’s why I did it.
You see, it goes something like this: I was typing up a scheduled post for Friday (keep your eyes peeled, folks!), and I realized that I haven’t had a proper page for my writing in years. I just keep losing track of what I’m doing and forgetting to post and then I ditch the page in favor of just using Twitter and this blog to promote moi.
Can’t keep doing that. People like having “fanpages” they can use to get updates on their favorite authors’ comings and goings. Granted, I don’t come or go much, but I do write, and I can write about writing. So off to Facebook I went to create a page.
Except I can’t get the damn URL to be custom. I guess not enough people like the page yet? Maybe that’s why…anywho, for now this is the URL: https://www.facebook.com/AJ-Mullican-143311953045804/
Yeah, you see why I want a custom one. I think if enough people like the page I can pop in and create that custom URL in a jiffy, but right now it’s the middle of the night and no one’s up to add it.
It should be interesting to see how the viewership of this blog changes with the new Facebook page. You see, I changed my Twitter settings so my tweets go to the author page, not my personal Facebook feed. Say what? Yeah, WordPress is cool like that; it lets you share to different social media platforms when you publish. So why does changing my Twitter settings change my WordPress posting? Okay, so Twitter does a cool thing, too: it lets you share your tweets to different social media platforms as well. So WordPress –> Twitter –> Facebook. Easy peasy. Or something. It’s worked so far; guess we’ll see how well it works now that the settings are tweaked. If worse comes to worse (or is it worst comes to worst? Damnit), I can just share from the page to my personal feed if I want my blog read by more friends and family. A P.I.T.A. to be sure, but eventually people will see that the author page is the original poster of the blog posts and thus go to the author page and like it and then everything will be swell. Or not.
Facebook, you see, is tricksy.
More tricksy than nots. What they have are these silly metrics things, which are apparently arbitrary and only to Facebook’s benefit. To make a long story short, if you don’t pay them monies to get your posts seen, even people who “follow” your page won’t see your posts. Lame.
So, again, why make the author page?
Because it gives my publisher a link to show people, that’s why. Yeah, it’s a new page and doesn’t have much content (yet)….it’s still something. And the more links they can give, the more exposure I can get once it’s time for Book 1 to get released.
Credit to the Oatmeal. Because that guy fucking rocks, and he deserves both exposure and monies for the work he does.
Seriously, though, as an author a little exposure can go a long way. I mean, if people don’t know I’m there or that my work is there, how can they be interested? Yeah, exposure itself doesn’t pay, but if people see the thing and want to read the thing, then (in theory) if they want it enough they’ll pay to read the thing.
Or maybe I’m just nucking futs at 1:30 in the morning, having very little sleep and being unable to either get to sleep naturally or take more sleeping medicine. (I already took my prescriptions hours ago…they worked to get me to sleep initially, but not to keep me there or get me back there.)
We’ll see how the page goes once people wake up and start liking the page and once I can update the URL and all that fun happy stuff.
Until then…to the writing board!
Into the ring
For the past several months I have been in a “deputy” position for a large volunteer/charity group. Last night, the opportunity came up for me to take the lead position in that department, and I decided to bite the bullet and submit myself for consideration.
I don’t know that anyone else would even want the position, because it’s a stressful one, but still, I’m a little nervous. I mean, I’ve only been with the organization for six months; kind of soon to take over a role like this. As far as I know, anyway. Everyone was surprised when I was made deputy after only three months of participating, so I’m guessing that six months is a little soon.
It’s going to be a lot of work, but I think I’m ready. I just have to get my lazy butt up earlier (is that even possible?) and get cracking every day. Pay more attention to the myriad of groups and pages and sites and events and … well, anyway, if I get the position, I’ll have my hands full.
Fingers crossed!
Experiment’s End
The final tallies are in, and I have mixed feelings on my free promotion experiment for my novel.
Overall, I “sold” 596 free units of the book. Yes, 596 is an amazing number considering I’m an unknown author who just posted on Twitter and Instagram about the deal. But considering they were all free, there’s no royalties in it for me. So now I have to rely on my lame “marketing” until I learn proper marketing.
I know, I know, I should read some articles or take a class or something. I just don’t have the energy for all that. In the mornings it takes me a couple of hours to wake up enough to be able to comprehend the ins and outs of marketing techniques, and when I get home I just want to spend time with my husband.
Another side effect of the free promotional thing is that in order to be able to do a free promotional period I had to sign up for a Kindle program that allows for people with Kindle Unlimited to read the book for free as well. Soooo….that will cut into potential royalties.
Then again, if no one wants to pay for the book, the royalties will be zip.
I’m going to give this a month or so before I make a final decision on whether or not this was a success. Give the people who purchased the free copy time to read it, wait to see if reviews come in, etc. Then I’ll decide if I want to do a weekend promotion next time, or maybe a promotion where it goes down in price then increases by $1 increments each week until it’s back at regular price. I might even do another free promotion during my birthday weekend. Why not? If I’m not selling paid copies anyway, might as well give myself an ego boost by watching the numbers go up as people grab a free copy for themselves.