Romance in Science Fiction for Valentine’s Day

Love is in the air. Valentine’s Day is here. Today is dedicated to recognizing the special people in our life and telling them that we love and appreciate them.

Too often we’re too busy to mention how important they are to us.

So take some time today and let them know.

You probably have it already on your agenda.

You know I’m working on marketing, so I want to make sure that you’re aware that my time travel romance, Caught in Time, will be offered free on Amazon today February 14th through the 18th.

Travel back in time to a medieval period…on an alien planet. Rowyna Grae is a regendered clone from the last dying time traveler and is sent into the past to kill a king who is considered the origin of those with special abilities called, Talents.

However, instead, she falls in love with him while dealing with no running water, lack of heat, a barbaric people, betrayal at the royal court, and a looming war.

Think Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court…only Rowyna Grae is no simple Connecticut Yankee and King Telluria’s court can get complicated to a young woman from the future.

Enjoy yourself. It’s FREE for a limited time only.

Currently, I am watching the Brigham Young University series by Brandon Sanderson and really am enjoying his lectures. I gave a link on a former blog. I am thinking of reading Words of Radiance since I have read and reviewed the first book of this epic fantasy, Way of Kings, already and liked it. Unfortunately, it’s over a thousand pages long. I can’t do that in a week. But I’ll probably try.

Word is that sequels to his Alloy of Law series will also be out later this year. So heads up there. The earlier Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson is a favorite of mine and many other fantasy readers. If you haven’t read it, you might give it a glance.

Since I’m constantly in edit mode nowadays, I bought Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Brown. I usually use an editor, but it helps to edit myself first before I hand it off. One of my favorite bloggers just came out with a long list of books to help the struggling writer of today and that is where I discovered this title. Check out http://www.veronicasicoe.com/blog/2015/02/writing-advice-books-list/ and her latest blog for ideas and comments.

Then, don’t forget to hug someone significant and tell them that you love them.

XXXXX

 

Writing Science Fiction and a Military Scifi Review

If you are an author or writer, I have three interesting links for you to check out. The first is a lecture series on Utube given by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn, Way of Kings, etc.) for classes at BYU. Seventy-two fascinating lectures cover all aspects of writing: characters, setting, plot and the business end of getting published the traditional way: networking, queries, agents, etc.

 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2FCD81A6FE4280AC

You might want to grab a bag of gummie bears before you start. A great lecture series from one of our current best, free on Utube.

The second is a link to the short story market. Where to put a short story if that’s what you write.

Http://wwww.duotrope.com.

The third is a survey by Freebooksy, an advertising site for free and discounted books. (So they are biased) The author signs up and when his book is offered free on KDP Select, Freebooksy features it for the date requested. Readers sign up and get e-mails of these free and discounted books at no cost for the service. Sometimes, the sites that do this charge quite a hefty fee to the author for a promo and are picky about what books they list. Still, the numbers in the survey are interesting.

http://freebooksy.com/author-blog/2012/9/18/freebooksy-report-the-state-of-kdp-select-free-promotions.html

This week I read Poor Man’s Fight by Elliot Kay. This is the first in a series recommend by my ex-military reader and I quite enjoyed it. Bonus is that it is a well-written Indie published series; a gem glittering in a pile of self published novels. To see a self-published author take care with his story and presentation makes me proud.

Having said that, the plot isn’t dramatically new or the characters unique.

And that isn’t a bad thing.

Tanner Malone’s stellar school performance comes to a unexpected end when family problems and a rigged test cause him to flub his final exam for college placement. His poor performance requires him to go deeply in debt if he is to continue on to college.

Rather than go into debt, he enlists in the military that is ramping up its forces to combat the increasing threat of space pirates.

A large portion of the book deals with his trials and tribulations at boot camp. Then, the story picks up the viewpoint of the pirate horde and their grievances against the current government practices. The author flashes back and forth between the two.

Kay balances his characters nicely. You have both good and bad in both camps. In addition, he does a nice job of portraying Tanner Malone as a highly intelligent nerd caught in the grinder of the military boot camp where physical prowess and guts counts for more than independent thinking and intelligence.

Even in the pirate’s camp, brute viciousness is balanced with a likable leader and his capable, but deadly, female boatswain.

As you enter both worlds, you feel the inevitability of them meeting with violence and a lot of fighting.

If you like military scifi…future worlds with spaceships and battles, I suggest you gear up and try this one. 

Reviews on the sequel, Rich Man’s War,  are even higher.

 

 

Science Fiction Selections for 2015

A new year is upon us, and there’s lots of excitement on the horizon, especially in the science fiction book world.

I get to select five books this week to put on my shelf to read for 2015. I may not read them all in a row or at once, but throughout the year, adding others as I go along. The selection process proved interesting. Various factor were at work, and good science fiction was hard to find.

But first, I finished the Martian by Tony Weir and eagerly recommend it. What I learned is that humans have ingenuity if they just keep trying and remain focused. Yes, some of the chemistry got heavy and Mark’s personality included offbeat humor, but it’s wonderful to read a book where the characters are decent people. People from all over the world worked together for a common goal of saving a life, no matter what the odds or outcome. Makes me proud to be human. I like that feeling.

Enough said…I don’t want to spoil it for you.

So how to chose?

Well, word of mouth is one way. My friend Lea recently suggested the Goblin Emperor, and that will be my fantasy pick. Lea knows books, especially scifi and fantasy, having 24,000 in her home, give or take.

I was skimming through Goodreads and bumped into The Rosie Project again, where someone recommended it as one of their favorites for 2014. They say you have to see a product more than three times to buy, and I remember seeing this title on several recommended lists. So, it went on mine.

Free is the price I can best afford and factors into my choices occasionally. Since I have recently offered Cosmic Entanglement in my series free through KDP Select, I now browse the free lists and websites for interesting titles. Starship Mage attracted my attention. I thought I would give it a try.

Sometimes after seeing a recommendation, I’ll read the summary to get a feel for the story. Departure is by A. G. Riddle, an author I have never heard of, but the blurb sounded intriguing. I may take off with this one. All the Light You Can See has been hitting the hot selection lists, but after reading that it was about Nazi Germany and a young, blind, Jewish girl, I gave it a pass. I’ve read enough about that shameful part of human history already. So, the summary or story blurb affects my choices also.

Ted Blasche (retired), my scifi military specialist, has been urging me to read a series that starts with Poor Man’s Fight. This is a self-published series that has been high in Amazon’s ratings and also suggested several times on my front page there…making it my military selection. I’ll give it a go. Thanks for the many suggestions, Amazon.

Ted is also in my writers group that recently had a spirited discussion on time and how it works. There were some back of the napkin drawings involved and various analogies with branching streams or electric currents. It sparked me to think that the past really isn’t a fixed event, but an entanglement of perceptions…that the past for each individual is different, and given events are perceived differently by each individual involved. New information can change the perception of a past event , so it’s not totally static. Also, how close you are to an event or how far away changes the impact and individual perception dramatically. If you experience a plane crash, that event is far different for you than for a disinterested viewer who sees it on a newscast and then goes about his daily business. We think of the past as static and absolute, while it really depends on the witnesses and how they record and perceive what happened.

Yeah, food for thought today. Have a happy New Year and may many great things happen in 2015.

Indie Christmas Shopping

Christmas music in my ears, a pencil sharpened to make a list, eggnog at my elbow…wait, no…more like tapping notes on an iPad and trying to escape the Christmas mania by hiding out somewhere with a good read and coffee. I’m also thinking books make a nice gift (you’re welcome for the idea) or an Amazon gift card where a reader like me can go pick up a few novels that I have had my eye on throughout the year.

 Why am I tossing out ideas? Because I pose extra difficulties having a December 24th birthday. I usually feel like I kickstart the celebrations, or try to, but it makes for an extra burden on my holiday gifters. My family has at least twenty birthdays between November 11th and my husband’s, which is January 9th. So you see why I hide out this time of year, paralyzed and overwhelmed by all that needs to be accomplished.

 However, I did still find time to squeeze in some reading for this blog. Couldn’t let you guys down. My recent guilty pleasure is an Indie novel that has made a big splash at Amazon, mostly through word of mouth. Jennifer Wells confesses to attempting little promotion, which makes me insanely jealous, because I love marketing so much. (You did hear the sarcasm there?) I am still trying to figure out what I should do on the marketing side.

 So write a really good book, and sometimes the word will get out. At least, that’s step one. I’m certainly trying that approach at the moment. Someone’s Clone was just published in paperback and Kindle. It took a year to write. As an introductory offer, I am putting it on KDP Select Countdown starting December 18 (.99) and it will run through December 25. I’m thinking it’s a good story to load onto a gift Kindle or iPad for holiday reading. Before or after Christmas?? I’m not sure which is best. I’ll let you know.

The story I picked to read is an Indie publication (Blue Bedlam Books), at least I think so. I have seen it promoted on Amazon as one of the top read books in science fiction for 2014. I read the blurb and it sounded interesting.

 Fluency is a story of mind to mind contact with an alien. Jane Holloway is an expert on ancient languages. Actually, she easily learns most any language as she has an affinity for understanding the written and spoken word.

 NASA has been monitoring an alien dormant spacecraft secretly for years, attempting to develop the technology that would enable humans to investigate it.

Because of her ability to understand language of all kinds, NASA recruits Jane to be an astronaut on a mission to explore the ship in case of alien first contact.

 When the mission finally reaches the ship, they discover the ship is not lifeless, but houses an unseen alien mind that soon communicates telepathically with Jane. At first, she is the only one of the five on the mission able to do this, and not everyone is convinced it’s not an act.

Problems start to happen in the alien ship, and the mission commander begins to doubt Jane’s independence from the creature’s influence and the creature’s positive intentions toward them. He claims the alien’s intentions are malevolent while Jane points out the creature helped save their lives. As events unfold, the remainder of the crew vacillate in their opinions. They are torn between wanting to believe Jane’s argument in favor of the alien’s good intentions and the captain’s accusations that it is dangerous.

As a reader, I wondered myself.

The story progresses, and a romance builds between Jane and Dr. Alan Bergen, an engineer and crew member…just to complicate things further.

Fluency is a good first novel by an Indie author who is already working on a sequel. The action builds as Jane and the others become involved in life or death problems on board the alien ship. Is the alien really on their side or just setting them up? The character of Jane and her feelings for Bergen, as he is called, make a nice counterpoint to the other interactions of the crew. The mission members soon discover that the ship carries a dangerous virus. The human explorers find that all former life on board are dead, except for the alien brain who controls the ship and invades Jane’s mind. Eventually, Jane discovers the alien does have an agenda, but not what anyone ever suspects.

An interesting story with an intriguing concept of interaction with an alien and first contact.

Happy Holidays, Jingle Bells…lock the door on your way out.

Military Science Fiction Series

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Most people are either knee deep in relatives, eating turkey and cheering on their football team or battling it out in the stores, scooping up door busting deals.

With most of my family on the East Coast and my daughter in sunny Puerto Vallarta (shed a quick tear for her…no wait), hubbie and I will be munching a hot turkey sandwich and cheering on a favorite football team. Maybe check out a sale.

With Someone’s Clone in final proof, I am now turning my attention over to the next book…named…?? Well, Gosh, I have no firm title so far.

So I thought to engage you, my blog readers, to help me. Tell me which title you would be most likely buy to read.

Saving Angels

Factoring Fate

Angels in the Equation

Angels and Equations

The Grandmother paradox

If there be Angels

The Fate Factor

Shaping the Future

Killing Time

(Your suggestion..not a published title)

There will be a prize for those selecting the winning title.

A quick note on my Countdown Deal. After blogging last week, I went to list Touching Crystal and found that I had not enrolled it in the KDP Select program yet. The rules state that you must be enrolled at least thirty days prior to scheduling a Countdown. So I listed Space Song instead and confused everyone.

My apologies.

I will set up a Countdown for Touching Crystal when it becomes eligible and let you know ahead of time.

As promised, I read Ark Royal and was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed it. It was well written and well edited. Christopher Nuttall is very prolific with several military series ( Ark Royal, The Empire’s Corp, Martial Law, The Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire) and fantasy series also. (Schooled in Magic) Okay, more books than I have room here to mention. He has over thirty-five published on Amazon and is an example of how an author can do very well self-publishing.

What I was curious about was his reviews for Ark Royal. He had 1518 reviews total for this book. That was amazing. 751 were five star, 505 were four star, 153 three star, 69 two star and 40 one star. I was intrigued by how many reviewed his book, and then at the wide variety of opinions. Some loved it, “A fun read” to those who called it bad, “Space Karaoke.” Getting reviews is painfully hard for me, or else I don’t know the secret sauce. Nuttall’s wide range of comments prepared me as a writer to understand how subjective science fiction stories can be and that every writer, no matter how good, gets a few bad reviews. For such an enjoyable story, some were brutal.

This is the first book in a series of three. Ark Royal is the name of a lumbering and aged space warship put aside in the shipyard and barely functioning. What keeps her functioning is an alcoholic captain, Ted Smith, who cobbles together her outdated systems and tenderly cares for her as he drinks himself senseless, mourning a dead wife.

Then aliens attack a Russian settled colony world along the space tramlines, and when Earth sends her best and brightest to defend her territories, the aliens tear through all those sleek new warships in an eye-opening rout. The Ark Royal, because of her heavy dense hull and projectile style weaponry, becomes the lone ship able to resist the enemy’s firepower.

Of course, a young, ambitious, newly-graduated Lieutenant, James Fitzwilliam, uses his family’s friendship with the Spacelord to try to take command, but Captain Smith’s knowledge of her idiosyncrasies just barely enables him to hang onto his command while karma makes James his XO. The Spacelord asks the young XO to keep an eye on the shaky captain and report any slip-ups.

The two are sent out to confront and delay the alien enemy until Earth can build the ships it needs. Also on board for this dangerous mission are a ragbag crew and a group of obnoxious embedded reporters. The mix is volatile and the pressures both inside and out would be enough to drive even a teetotaler to drink, much less a vulnerable captain who swears he’ll stay sober through the war.

The inevitable space battles are nicely balanced with a crew who fight their own internal battles and put a human face on war. Also interesting is the process of trying to figure out how the aliens might think, what they might look like and what technology and society they might have developed.

Sometimes first contact can get outright deadly and dangerous.

 

 

 

 

 

Superstar Science Fiction Marketeer

Along with recommended science fiction and fantasy, I have been recently discussing self publishing and marketing.

 And…no one is more at the forefront of marketing for the Indie author than Hugh Howey.

I first became aware of Hugh Howey when I downloaded a free, self-published, short story off of Amazon called Wool. At the time, I didn’t realize it was a short story, but I had heard a bit about it and it showed up on my Amazon’s “suggested for you” list.

Seemed like an odd title, but it was free and intriguing noises were being made about it.

 There followed on Amazon a longer sequel of 126 pages called Wool 2: Proper Gauge for .99 and then a 106 page story called Wool 3: Casting Off for .99, a little longer at 166 pages Wool 4: the Unraveling was $1.99, and finally a 259 page novelette, Wool 5: The Stranded for $2.99.

 Hugh Howey says in July 2011 he wrote the first short story, never marketed it, never mentioned it on his blog, but readers clamored to know more about the world with the silos. Offered free, many downloaded, read it and wanted more.

 So he wrote more.

Five more.

 The stories were bundled into an omnibus called Wool Omnibus Edition 1-5 for $5.99.

 Hugh Howey was on fire.

 Following this success, he continued with The Shift series, much in the same vein as Wool…First Shift at 236 pages, Second Shift at 266 pages and Third Shift at 282 pages all collected together and in 2013 offered the Shift Omnibus. Wool went to hardback, published by Random House, UK in 2013 and Ridley Scott Productions is discussing making a movie of Wool.

 Then, Hugh Howey opened the doors to his Silo world, and authors from all over are now writing stories and novels in the Silo Universe. Wider distribution came with audiobooks. Also, Shift can be found in Scribd’s subscription listings.

 This is where it becomes apparent that “content is king,” and some stories fire the imagination of their readers and take off to become mega hits if the author is paying attention to the new trends.

 And Howey was.

 It was an undefinable, combustible mixture of great storytelling, fresh marketing approaches and being at the right place at the right time.

 Hugh Howey has been very clever and innovative in how his stories were released out into the mad maelstrom of the new publishing world.

 Then one year ago (2013), he published his novel, Dust, also through CreateSpace, that wrapped up his Silo trilogy.

 “Wool introduces the world of the silo, Shift tells the story of its creation and Dust brings about its downfall.”

Dust is a full novel of 464 pages. Sold in paperback ($14.78), Audiobook ($12.33) or Kindle ($5.99). I happened to grab it out of my local library in the paperback version. Before you yell cheapskate too loud, I did buy the Wool version first and then accidentally found Dust in my library. *snatch*

 As a finale to an exciting trilogy, it delivers. Once again the reader encounters the determined Mayor Juliette who understands more than anyone the horrors of the silo and desperately tries to save her people. Dust also brings back the grittiness of life in the silo with the good, the bad, and the clueless that live there.

It’s a story of the human spirit that never gives up, that adapts and copes in order to survive against horrifying odds.

But you have to start at the beginning. You have to start with Wool.

 And then, you’ll be hooked.

Science Fiction: More Marketing and An Exciting Military Series

Word of mouth..still a powerful means of getting your book out there, but there’s no way to control it except by writing a story worthy of mention.

As Mark Coker says, “Content trumps all.”

I am still figuring out the best path in which to offer my books that is both cost effective and energy efficient. As a counterpoint to Coker’s idea of spreading distribution access to your book across distribution lines, Hugh Howey has a thought provoking blog entitled. http://www.hughhowey.com/no-more-shitty-baskets.

Once again, I enrolled Caught in Time in Amazon’s KDP Select and this time tried the Countdown Deal. I did very little marketing on my own and was pleasantly surprised at the results. There are hordes of readers who have found the website for Countdown deals, and also sign up for daily offerings of free books through other websites. Avid readers are cleverly pursuing cost effective ways to satiate their reading experience.

As much as I honor Coker’s efforts, for my genre, or maybe just my books, they are not selling in Smashwords. Two books have been listed there for over two years and sales are dismal. I’m not sure why as they are listed on Apple iBookstore, Kobo, Sony, Diesel, Scrib’ner and now, libraries. While Smashwords sets my books on other shelves, Amazon helps me market and seeds the entire globe with them. And I am selling well there. I sell in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, India, Canada, Australia and more.

It makes me dizzy. It thrills me.

So the word is spreading and not always in American English.

Which brings me to this week’s selection suggested by fellow writer Ted Blasche. Ted just recently published a gem of a short story in VFW…or Veterans of the Future Wars, an anthology of short story military science fiction. Ted holds the rank of LTC USA (retired), and is in the process of writing an exciting military science fiction series that will eventually reach publication.

He leaned forward at our last meeting and with eyes alight recommended I read Aurora cv-01 by Ryk Brown. If you check out this series, you’ll notice there’s lots to it. Within days, Ted was on book#8 and intravenous feedings so as not to have to stop reading in order to eat.

Aurora follows a well known storyline. The influential senator’s son, Nathan Scott, rebels against his father and enrolls in the space academy where he is noticed by Captain Roberts. There is competition for the spot of helm with a smart and feisty female, Cameron Taylor but Nathan’s unorthodox strategies win him the helm position. Anal and by-the-book Cameron is paired with Nathan as his navigator. Sparks fly between the two competitors.

Unexpectedly, the unit is shifted to a brand new, top secret ship, named Aurora, and ordered out for a trial run and shake down cruise to Jupiter. To Nathan’s chagrin, a one night stand from his father’s party shows up in uniform in a security position on board the ship. But Nathan can’t be distracted by complications at the moment.

Upon arriving in the orbit of Jupiter, Captain Roberts unveils a prototype jump engine on board and receives orders from Earth Command to jump to the Oort Cloud to test its effectiveness. Captain Roberts also informs the bridge that the Jung, a powerful enemy, has recently conquered yet another system, and Sol system is the last remaining free system left in the galaxy. He speculates that within a few years, the Jung may attack Sol system with the intent to take it over. However, the trial jump lands them in the lap of an unexpected Jung fleet and they’re immediately engaged in battle.

Hit and barely functioning, the Aurora inflicts damage on an enemy ship that appears to be inoperative, but a boarding party finds surviving soldiers have activated an anti-matter self destruct sequence. Tension, non stop action ensues as the boarding party scrambles away, one brave soldier staying behind to give the Aurora more time to escape the imminent explosion. In desperation, the Aurora jumps as the anti-matter explodes in the nearby ship, kicking the ship 10,000 light years across the universe, landing it in the middle of yet another unexpected battle. Immediately, the Aurora’s crew is attacked by a huge unknown alien ship. Winning, the fight, Captain Roberts gets mortally wounded, leaving Nathan, three weeks out of the academy, as captain. Now the ship is badly damaged and again involved in active combat, but this time thousands of light years from Earth.

As you can see, Ryk Brown provides breath taking action. Young Nathan scrambles to save what’s left of the crew and try to figure out what’s happening in an unknown sector far, far from home. He needs to fix a damaged jump engine that is limited in how far it can function and get home so he can warn Earth of the Jung attack…but first…he needs to survive.

I don’t care if the scenario has ever been done before, I was breathing heavily through several action-packed episodes. The storyline has some great twists and turns and enough emotion and character development for most military scifi readers. The one screaming flaw was the disruptive changes in point of view. I would be reading in one point of view and suddenly flip to another, then within two sentences flip back. When you’re trying to fight a battle, this can become annoying. But other than that, I agree that this is the start of a fine new series and if military scifi is your interest…welcome aboard…and hang on.

The Writing World and Critique Groups

 

 

Writers’ Critique Groups

Writing about the new book publishing age, I mentioned the importance of a good critique group to help polish a self-pubbed book. My critique group has been invaluable, so I asked D. Wallace Peach to say a few words about what makes a good writing critique group.

Known to me as Diana, she has published her third book, SunWielder, which I recently reviewed, and has submitted the rest of her Myths of the Mirror Trilogy: Eye of Fire, and Eye of Blind to her publisher. So stay tuned for that sometime in 2015.

Even with an editor and Diana’s exact eye for copywriting, I believe the critique group helped make the final books of the Myths Trilogy even stronger and better.

So here’s what she had to say:

Diana:  “A critique group is different from a support group, though they overlap. My mother is a one-woman support group; she loves everything I’ve written since I was six. And for that reason she’s an awful person to ask for a critique.

Joining a critique group may be one of the smartest steps we can take in our careers as writers. Pointed, honest feedback is essential to learning and refining our craft. But finding the right group is like finding the right psychotherapist; sometimes you have to work at it to get a good fit. You want the truth, but in a way that’s helpful and encourages you to grow.”

Sheron: Cross mom and Aunt Susie off the list.

Diana: “Group Composition

Not all groups are alike. Some are loosey-goosey, others more formally structured. Learn as much as you can about the expectations of a group and be honest with yourself about your needs and the time commitment you’re prepared to make.

A few considerations:

1. Not everyone in a critique group needs to work in the same genre, but there may certain drawbacks to being the only romance writer is a group of military science-fiction buffs.
2. Four to five members is ideal, providing sufficient feedback while not overwhelming members with critiques.
3. A mix of male and female participants is great for garnering different perspectives.
4. Though some writers may prefer a group with equivalent experience, a mix of new and seasoned members can be extremely rewarding. New writers often bring fresh energy.
5. If a group experience leaves you discouraged and angry, don’t stay. Groups are supposed to vitalize your love of writing, not drain your enthusiasm.

Structural Norms

How groups are run and structured varies group to group. Some meet face-to-face, others are entirely on-line. In general, guidelines for effective critiquing are the same, but I am a strong proponent of face-to-face feedback where verbal and physical cues (like smiling) augment the words we chose in our critiques. Meeting in person offers an opportunity to elaborate on comments and ask/answer questions.”

Sheron:  I like to look them in the eye when I tell them what needs fixing. Sometimes, they have a reason for the story to be that way. In addition, you should have a rule that all weaponry be left at home.

Diana:  “However a group is structured, there are generally norms related to timing, submissions and how critiques are returned to the authors. The critique group I belong to meets twice a month in person for approximately three hours and a written critique is completed between meetings. This is how we work:

1. Via email, we distribute our submissions to other group members. Submissions are limited to 20 double space pages (with occasional exceptions).
2. Group members critique each submission and return it via email to the writer with comments. (Word has a “comment” tool that is very helpful in this regard.)
3. Prior to the face-to-face meeting, we review our comments so we’re prepared to discuss ideas and answer questions for the author.
4. Meetings start with a focus on one member’s work. One at a time, readers offer additional feedback and respond to questions. The process repeats itself until all submissions have been discussed. (Set time limits for face-to-face feedback if meetings run over. Don’t skip discussing someone’s work.)

Receiving Feedback

Rarely do two people provide the same advice, and sometimes what one person loves, another would “suggest tweaking”. Sally may be great at tracking emotional themes; Margo is the queen of punctuation. Larry gives a man’s perspective of … well, everything. Jenny adores lurid descriptions, and Katie is the verb-police. Everyone brings something to the table and the author uses what’s helpful and dumps the rest.

Sheron: This is amazing. No two people read the material the same way and just when I think all’s been “fixed,” someone makes an important comment.”

Diana: “Some writers submit first drafts, others a final product, and most something in between. What a writer turns over for critiquing will flavor what comes back. A first draft may point at awkward dialog, holes in the story, punctuation problems, word choice, and grammar. Often a first draft will benefit from a second look after the writer has smoothed the rough edges. For a “final draft” the critique may serve as a last review before the manuscript wings off to the publisher. Either way, a critique group does not eliminate the need for repeated, careful editing on part of the author.”

Sheron: Read that last sentence twice.

Diana:  “Giving Feedback

Writing is personal, and when a writer shares her work and asks for feedback, it’s an act of trust, worthy of respect. Be cognizant of your personal preferences and writing style and separate these from your critiques.

An effective critique starts by emphasizing the strengths of the work. An initial focus on the writer’s successes makes hearing suggestions easier on the ears and heart. There’s always something positive to comment on – story, scene, character, section of dialog, a description, humor, rapport, tension, punctuation, word choice, grammar, pace. A critique is successful if a writer feels good about his or her work and eager to tackle the hurdles.

As much as possible provide suggestions so that the writer gets the gist of your comment. If you identify a weak verb, give a few suggestions for stronger ones. If a sentence is awkward, suggest a possible rewrite. If you think a section of dialog feels stilted, explain why. If you think the character’s emotion is inappropriate, explain your perspective.

You may end up critiquing the equivalent of a chapter or two every two weeks. Remember that this isn’t a typical pace for pleasure reading. A book may seem as though it’s dragging, but that may be more a result of the group’s pace than the book’s.”

Sheron:  This is true if the work is long. Or you meet with lots of time between the critique.

Diana:  “When we critique another’s writing we are commenting on the work, not the person. The most helpful criticism is specific to the piece. It points to a word, scene, or paragraph and explains what isn’t working for the reader. Then the writer can see exactly where the challenge lies, learn about another’s perspective and make a choice. Broad negative statements aren’t only signs of a poorly crafted critique, they’re unhelpful and demoralizing. Broad positive statements are fine, but grounding positive feedback with examples shows the writer the strengths he can build on.”

These are great comments and thank you to Diana.

BTW: Diana and I will be signing our books at Jan’s Paperback Saturday, August 9 at 1:00 p.m.

We invite you to join us there.

Address: 18095 SW Tualatin Valley Hwy, Aloha Check out their website@ http://www.JansPaperbacks.com

Gazing into the Future of Publishing

 

 

 

 

Recently Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, made several interesting predictions about the future of publishing that I want to share with you. A few of them I mentioned in last weeks’s post and gazing into my crystal ball, I would like to further these comments.

While large traditional publishing houses are rethinking strategy, smaller, nimbler publishers are springing up all over. Because I plan to self publish a number of books, I established my own company, Digital Imagination Publishing. This way I have total control and can change price, product and marketing as I see fit. Total control. Yahoo.

 I can update my books at any time, and if I use CreateSpace as my printer, it’s free. One of the things a new Indie author has to make sure of is that his book looks professional. Please Indie authors take time to study six or seven professionally done books before you throw yours out into the world. The last two books written by Indie authors I have read were embarrassing. This gives Indie authors a bad name, and indeed, I am getting frustrated with the sloppiness.

Having said that, no book is perfect, no matter who publishes it. That includes mine, but I continually polish and perfect them in order to offer the reader the best experience I am able.

What most Indie authors need is a reasonably priced array of services where he or she can select what aspect of the production they most need help with. Does he need an edit? Maybe formatting is her weak spot, or marketing. Some just want to write and let others handle the rest of production.

Unfortunately several big publishers have hurt themselves buying vanity presses. Penguin recently bought Author’s Solutions (AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Xlibris, BookTango, etc.) These houses offer overpriced services to unwitting authors. They show smiling people who will publish your book and then take your money. Lots of it. Their advertising is compelling, but be careful what you pay for or sign up for.

Publishing “Must become not what can the author do for the publisher, but how can the publisher serve the author, or what can they do that the author cannot do or will not do on his own.”

To this end, Mark suggests free self serve platforms offered by the publishers.

Well…good luck with that.

However, with all this bashing of legacy publishers, the bottom line is well…what keeps the publishers solvent. They are a business. They must make money or go out of business.

And, I think there will always be authors wanting to try the “traditional” way first. The cache is still there, and someone will be close by holding the writer’s hand as they do the work for them. The new “vanity press ” may just be the old traditional houses.

“Platform will be king.” Having a platform is now critical to getting acceptance by most large publishers. Added to signings and known avenues of selling, social media, breath of distribution and collaborations will be key for a successful career.

To avoid the high cost of services, authors will band together and share the work load, divvying out to each other, according to individual strengths and willingness to do certain work.

As an example: Bookview Cafe is a co-op of authors with varying skill sets. A computer savvy author continually updates the website, a professional editor trades off her editing skills and a known author such as Ursula LeGuin adds her name to attract marketing attention. Books can be bought right off the site. Around forty authors pool together their knowledge and resources helping each other be successful.

Goodreads is another website where authors and readers are brought together.

Coker says in order to be successful, an author will need to “write more books.” A one book author has a hard marketing effort, but if he has several, and especially a series, then if the readers like one, they tend to buy the others.

This is my cunning strategy…besides I love to write about the Alysian Universe and the characters in it.

For in the end, “content trumps all.” No one checks out who published the book when making a buying decision. They check out the lists, blogs, read something on Twitter or Facebook, become attracted by a cover or listen to a friend’s recommendation. They read what it’s about in the summaries and apply their own desires for the type of writing that interests them.

I know that if it’s about golf, then my husband will be interested and look further into what a book may offer.

If it’s science fiction, then I’m checking out the storyline and evaluating whether it might be something I would like.

Coker calls it “desire and awareness,” saying these are the two key ingredients that will be necessary for future successful sales.

 

Predictions for Publishing

 

Recently I talked about the fragmentation of publishing and how the industry is changing. Now I want to analyze and discuss Mark Coker’s 2014 predictions on the future of publishing. We won’t have to wait fifty years like we did for Asimov’s predictions. Already the portents are visible.

So, let me gather my crystal ball (which I actually have somewhere nearby) and advance in time to the future.

Love to time travel.

Mark Coker is the founder of Smashwords, a publisher for eBooks that distributes to many sellers taking a small piece of the book’s price for his service. So you download to Smashwords and their “meat grinder” reformats your book into ePub, PDF, mobipocket, etc. and distributes to a wide variety of names such as Nook, iBooks, Sony, Kobo, etc.

But not Kindle. Amazon is a competitor on the Ebook side. But Mark Coker knows the Ebook publishing business inside and out.

One of the results of the Ebook evolution is the dramatic cost shift from a paperback to an ebook price. Traditional publishers would bring a blockbuster seller out in hardback at $25 and a year later go to $15 trade book or paperback. Maybe a mid-level writer would come out in mass market for $7-8.00. To get it cheaper you would have to go to the library, find a used book store or borrow a friend’s…if it was available at any of those places. That was how things operated and readers had to accept it.

Now with eBooks, the cost of production is so cheap that books can be offered at much lower prices and still make money. This lower pricing has offered Indies a selling advantage and as the reading public adjusts to expecting lower prices for quality books, traditional publishers will have to lower their prices in order to compete. A number of lawsuits and fights have been waged over the last couple of years on how to price books, both paperback and ebook.

Mark says, “Ebook sales measured in dollar volume will slow.”

 EBooks that sell at $2.99 and $3.99 sell 4x more than higher priced unit sales, but as traditional publishers lower their prices to compete, the advantage of price the Indies have enjoyed the last few years will diminish. Traditional publisher who once ignored digital rights are now using them and selling eBooks to bolster profits.

Also he points out, “With books dropping to under $4 sales, promotions become less effective.”

And in truth, with a burgeoning number of free book or discounted book websites, the reader’s library is becoming stocked with low cost books that he may or may not ever get around to reading…but they cost little or nothing, and don’t go stale.

I offered Caught in Time on Mother’s Day through May 15th and counted around 4500 downloads on my Amazon report. It definitely impacted my sales advantageously, as many added other books from the series and continue to buy more as they read and enjoy the other stories. Eventually, a single reader may have hundreds of books in his digital library that he can pick and choose from that he purchased this way or through known distributors such as Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo, Nook, etc. at special promotion prices.

Another prediction he makes is, “The ebook unit market share will increase.”

Many readers still claim that they like the “feel” of a physical book, but the proliferation of Ereaders and tablets at better and better prices is making it attractive to slip over into the digital camp. A reader can load hundreds of books into his library and not have to dust the shelves or lug heavy, bulky books around. Shelves once holding leather bound books may now sport art objects or video equipment.

While there are traditionally published authors that still act like they are better than an Indie published author, many are sneaking over into the self-published realm because of shorter book to shelf time, greater freedom of creativity, higher royalties and more control of the finished product.

When I showed my paperback version of Touching Crystal to a traditionally published author recently, she sniffed that her cosy mystery was a “real book.” (her actual words) Mine sure looked real to me and had real words inside it. But when I looked around the table, most of the successful “traditionally published” authors were actively engaged in also self-publishing. She had been publishing her mysteries and romance novels with a small publisher for a long time, and didn’t realize the change in attitude happening all around her.

In fact, the most popular author at the table with a successful series was beginning a new series and had decided to self-publish it, even though he liked his traditional publisher…a well known and respected house with a famous editor who had treated him well.

It used to be that you were either traditionally published through a publisher along with a contract, or you weren’t legitimately published. End of story.

Nowadays, authors can, and do, publish both traditionally and Indie. The stigma is vanishing as many best selling authors recognize the many advantages that self-publishing holds and are leaving traditional publishing, or doing both. While waiting on the long time frame of a traditional publisher, the author is self-publishing a variety of work from short stories in anthologies to novelettes in order to build their “platform.”

No longer does self-publishing reflect lower quality of work, or a desperate to publish author, and those that still think so are mired in old school attitudes of the past. They haven’t seen the future and may be hurt by their blindness, both as a reader and an author.

Another upcoming change in distributing books out to readers that Mark mentions is the subscription model.

Smashwords recently partnered with Scrib’ner that follows the business model of Netflix by offering an array of books for a $8.95 a month subscription fee. Oyster is also another company using the subscription model for books.

Product will become key as readers sign up and have unlimited access to 500,000 plus books they can download and tuck into their library at any time, in any amount.

Readers no longer will be worried about price or what can fit on their tabletop, but what book offers the greatest “emotionally satisfying extreme.”

 Will this engender stories that are more emotional? Darker? Have kids killing off each other? Have the hero be an inquisitor and torturer? Without the reins and lead lines of the gateway editor telling us what will sell, and what will not, how will stories change and evolve?

Where will the rules for writing a story come from? Will the arbitrator or what is good or bad be up to the public reader?

Book publishing is transforming just as music, art and video are also changing. I promise a book review next week, but also a few more words in response to more of Coker’s publishing predictions.

As soon as I can locate that crystal ball.