How to Switch Publishers

...or, Going Self-Pub

When my publisher went out of business, I had no choice in the matter. I had to find a home for my books.

Musa Publishing informed its authors on February 20th that it was closing its doors. On March 1, all publishing rights reverted to us. So now, what to do with my books?

Submit to another small publisher. I never seriously considered this venue. 

Small presses are great. Loved mine for example. But, since bad ones plague our business, research is paramount and I didn’t have the time. 

Besides, I was already half-way to self-publishing so why blindly look for another small press like a desperate petitioner.

Self-Publishing. I’d tested these waters with Out of Magic so I wasn't totally naive. Only 95%. Luckily, I had help in the form of KMDwebdesigns.com.  Kelly Shorten and Michael Mand were a part of the Musa team and we are all very familiar with our relative quirks. I highly, highly recommend their services.

I bought the cover photos and Kelly re-created them perfectly. KMD formatted the interior for print and e-book.

I had an account with KDP and Createspace. I named my publishing company Shamira Publishing and moved through the various decisions on size and marketing. I bought my own ISBN for print but let KDP chose the Kindle versions. For now, I’ll go with Amazon as my only format. I sold a dozen or so at B & N etc and wasn’t really impressed. Besides, Amazon has all formats available for Nook and Apple so why bother.

Wilder Mage and Mage Revealed are live, print and e-books, joining my first short story, Out of Magic in that self-pubbed goal. 

Amazon - Wilder Mage

Amazon - Mage Revealed

Nothing is permanent in this life. Especially computers and business ventures. 

But good friends are forever.

Plucking Nose Hairs

Or, ain't marketing fun.

I am not good at this stuff called marketing. Grandstanding is as foreign to me as sailing a boat on the ocean. And since I’ve never been on the ocean, that’s like saying vacationing on Mars is my next goal.

But here I am, writing books and waving my arms and yelling, hey! Look at me.

*sigh*

Today Wilder Mage goes on-sale for $1.99 at all markets, including Amazon. Out of Magic, the prequel to The Magic Withheld series is free. And if you like all of the above, Mage Revealed is beckoning you on with a decent price of $4.99.

So have at it. Check out my series, and I’ll blow out my cheeks knowing this round of tooting my own horn is done. For now.

 Oh, the agony an introvert goes through.

Advertising, Reviews, and Introverts

To summarize this post: I had no idea.

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/

Yelling at the top of my voice like a crazy woman, “Hey, look at me,” was about the furthest thing from my mind when I started writing six years ago. I knew it wouldn’t be easy becoming a published author, but holy cannoli, marketing was one heck of a surprise.

Thank Goodness, I’ve had help.

My first book, Wilder Mage, is going on sale at $1.99, for three days starting February 19 thru the 21st. Not its first sale but the first I've initiated.  

So how to get the information out there?

I hit a few places, bought a couple ads on Amazon. At the same time, the lead-in, Out of Magic, is free. As the prequel to the series, it was my foray into the world of self-pub.

My first stop on the road of Advertisement was to SciFiFantasyFreak also known as BettyBookFreak. (say that three times fast)

Run by a close friend of mine, this was my numero uno choice. Try this FREE site for cool books. I’ve bought and downloaded more than, ahem, I should have from Betty’s recommendations.

Other places like Bookbub and Fussy Librarian provide good but limit their services. Try 'em though. 

For a personal view of advertising, go to Matt Keith’s site, part I and II.

Review sites.

Yeah, I’ve pretty much given up on reviews for Wilder and for the sequel Mage Revealed. I’ve shipped it off to various sites and heard nothing back. 

Here are a selection for the brave or merely persistent.
Manic Readers
All Things Urban Fantasy

Begging is not one of my personality traits. Not that I don’t do it on occasion, but it doesn’t come naturally. Also, reminding readers to leave a review is a two-edged sword. Those one- and two-star reviews cause (sing along with me) gloom, despair, and agony on me. Deep dark depression excessive misery. 

Talk about the Pit of Despair. Especially the really mean ones filled with vitriol. My policy when reading a less-than-super book, aka three stars and up, is to remain quiet and not give reviews. I can’t help but think the nasty ones are not authors but wannabe literary experts.

Paying for reviews is not in my playbook, btw. I can’t do it. But dang, it sure is tempting. When I buy a book on the merits of the reviews and it turns into an excruciating journey, I am appalled.  I don’t see how they acquire the large number of reviews except by monetary means.

So what did you get from this post? That Wilder Mage is on sale? Gee whiz, I hope so.

I Do It

When my little brother was three or so, his favorite phrase was “I do it.” 

Our parents would try to help him set up a game and he’d brush them off with I do it. Someone would put a

plate of food in front of him and start to cut up his sandwich into smaller bites. “I do it” and he’d push their helping hands away. Or hold him going down a slide, guide him around a ditch, follow him out the door. I do it, I do it, I do it.

In other words, he hated asking for help.

In that trait, we are very similar. I cringe from asking for assistance. It’s not that I don’t need it on occasion but it goes against my willful nature, I reckon.

• And so I use an axe to chop the ice from a blocked sewer on my own without asking for help. (hey, after tentatively hitting the stinky stuff trying not to get the crud on me, one splat in the face made me say, “Oh well,” and swing mightily to get the job done)
• Plaster and tape 20 by 30 foot room alone.
• Face down a charging bull.

Yes, I am the independent sort. Sometimes stupid but definitely independent.

This leads me to today and my release of Mage Revealed. I swallowed my reluctant nature and asked several of my highly valued blogger friends to assist me in the announcement. Their response made my “allergies” kick in. 

At least that’s the excuse I give when confronted while holding a tissue.

Thank you:

Alex, my uber blogger, who told me the stress never gets even better after the second book. He should know since his fourth novel is in edits and he can’t stop writing.

Marcy – an amazing and humbling post. Truly my rock and friend, beyond priceless

Angela Brown, author of Neverlove and has one of the coolest pen names, Rayven Godchild for her self-pub series. I blush even looking at the covers.

Ellie. One of my all-time, most favorite humans on Earth. I mean she met Shaun (of the Dead) aka Scotty for Goodness sake.

Christine Rains – one of the most delightful (and talented) authors I know, author of The Thirteenth Floor series.

Heather, author of Maguire’s Corner. Her next book in the series, One Good Catch is humming along and should be out next year.

Thank you one and all. My appreciation knows no bounds.

The Day Before

Tomorrow is release day for Mage Revealed and I feel kinda funny about it. 

Anticipation? Yes. Worry? Always. 

I question if it will achieve the measure of success that Wilder Mage did. I hope so.

Someone asked how that “success” has affected me. Folks must gauge it differently than I do, I reckon. I was just happy so many read and enjoyed my debut novel. 

The journey from Wannabe to Published had speed bumps that resulted in dents in the chassis. And occasions of what we call black ice, slick spots in the road that you don’t see until you hit them. 

Then it's Hold on Nellie, cuz suddenly you're going sideways headed for the ditch.

If arriving at Published Author can be labeled success, it's due to research, luck, and Providence. 

Research: of writing techniques, blogging, critique partners, hook sentences, agents, and publishers. 

Luck: due to writing a genre people like.

And Providence, because there can be no other way.

In addition to the above, I also list other writers as the reason for my achievement. Is there a business like this, made up of established authors, ready and willing to give of their time and expertise to aid the newbies? It still astounds me to no end. But, like I said last year, it’s got to be because they only want to feed their own reading needs. 

Got to be, *grin*.

So tomorrow is the big day and Mage Revealed is going into the hands of many people.

As it says in my acknowledgements, 

To my Once and Future Readers, always and forever my gratitude.

Messes and Mages

Facebook and I get along. Mostly. I like meeting my friends and family, seeing pictures, and commenting. Sometimes the BuyMyBook gets to be too much and I wander off.

And then I see something like Jessica Bell's post about her messy desk and my faith in FB returns.

My place of business is not so bad. At this moment. 8:34 and 45 seconds. But it should return to its cluttered ways soon enough. 

I will admit to one thing. I have a drinking problem. 
I start one, forget it's there, and begin another. Tea, coffee, pop. Whatever.

So what does your desk look like? (I'm telling you right now, Ellie, I don't believe your desk looks like that)

Send and I'll post. 

Also, notice the countdown to the right. It is there for a reason. 

Mage Revealed is coming. Yes. Finally. Ebook AND paperback.

Mage Revealed

Book Two of The Magic Withheld series

Struck with enough malevolent Spirit to turn him into a raving beast of a man, Bert Reese fights to remain human. Alone, he walks a slender path between sanity and madness. Then, an unlikely source enters his life to help—one of the now-hated mages.

But Ashleigh is different and calms his butchered senses. Her fierce nature is the only rock that stands between him and the crevasse that is beast. In all ways, she walks beside him toward a new beginning. But at the end of their journey lies the one who used Spirit against him. Questions arise; did Tiarra, head of the Imperium, lose her magic, die, or simply give way to the new order? Or, like a spider, does she wait for a mage to blunder into her web?

Forced on him without a care for his humanity, Bert is the mage who should not exist, born with a different kind of magic.  

And the gates of Hell are no match for the magic he wields.

* * * *

Release date, October 24th.

Download the prequel to Wilder Mage, Out of Magic FREE at Amazon.

Blogs, DRM, Wilder Mage, and Edits

Is silence golden? Or merely a case of shiny objects diverting my attention from blogging?

Anyway, I’m back on the bloggery track after a jumbled July and an awesome August. Plus, I been sick.

Yeah. That’s the ticket.

Wilder Mage has entered the realm of the Fifth Sense. Or Touch. It is in print now and available through Amazon. My publisher Musa decided to branch out from Ebooks and into the glue-and-paper versions. I most humbly appreciate that Wilder is one of their first to go to print. In October, Mage Revealed will come out in both print and Ebook also. And I’m doing the Snoopy Dance.

DRM or Digital Rights Management. Is it good or bad for an author? I’m reading both sides and confess that I’m more confused than ever. An article in Publishers Weekly breaks it down to a single sentence:

“...all DRM does is punish legitimate users who had the misfortune to be so honest that they paid for the book, rather than taking it...”

By holding the digital rights of our books, is it slithering out of our fingers like a broken egg? This blogger thinks so.

Another question from an article by Writers Beta hit me hard:

"...is pirating going to cost me so much, that I'm better off risking limiting and annoying users..."

Wilder Mage is on the Torrent websites available for a free download and there ain’t nuthin’ I can do about it. Sure, you can email them and give the spiel to remove your book from their lists immediately. But it is a waste of time. Believe me, I know.

Summary: any book, DRM protected or not, can be formatted to fit your programs. Look to Calibre to see how it’s done.

Edits. I am in the final edits to Mage Revealed, the sequel to Wilder Mage. I’m up against a deadline for the first time in my writing career and find it...er...stimulating.

Cover reveal soon. For now, here is the book trailer.

So what do you think about DRM? Ready to cut your book loose and let it fly like a kite?

Manuscript Wars – The Writer’s Block Strikes Back

Or, “...come into the light, Carol Anne”

• Words, mix-mastered into a jumble of nothing.
• Ideas that fail to ignite.
• Commitment is a bad word.
• An engine that stutters and dies.

So many euphemisms for the miasma of writer’s block, that loud screech of tires on pavement coming to a full and

complete stop. It’s not a matter of if it happens, but when. And what to do when it does.

I’ve given and received much advice. When I hit the fog of manuscript blues this time, the tried and true solutions failed me. Walking, driving, writing it out in long-hand: Nothing worked. And I stopped creating. 

The words of JRR Tolkien come to mind, in speaking about the long process of writing:

“...and I plodded on, till I stood by Balin’s tomb in Moria. There I halted for a long while...”

Mine is not such a journey as his and I do not in any way pretend it is. The mental picture he paints is rather cool though.

At any rate, the third book in The Magic Withheld series is roaring along now. Fresh ideas are stirring and boiling. Book two, Mage Revealed, is in the oven while Spirit Mage is coming on with grit teeth and fire in its words.

Thank the Lord for those half-asleep moments when strange ideas pop into a writer’s head. It's the only thing that broke me from the dungeon of Writer's Block.

IWSG - The Accidental YA Author

IWSG—Insecure Writers Support Group, coming together on the first Wednesday of every month for a virtual pat on the back. 

I like the YA genre. My bookshelf proves that. But I am not a YA author. Writing for a younger audience is different from adult.

Or is it?

I've said before that genre designations are confusing. Take mine, the speculative fiction/urban fantasy/contemporary fantasy genre. Yeah, that one. The Magic Withheld trilogy is set in modern times, in the real world, in urban and rural settings about characters doing impossible things.

It is an adult novel. Little cursing, no explicit sex. But I wrote it for an adult audience.

So why are fifteen-year-old boys falling all over themselves to read it?

I marketed it to adult men and women. I didn’t try to use YA lingo or follow the normal well-traveled path of popular youth-oriented novels when I wrote it.

So why are kids in Middle School reading it and writing book reports?

Holy Jehoshaphat.

I had a young man come up to me and blurt out how much he loved it. How he'd read it so many times that he knew every line. I sure my expression was the epitome of surprise/shock listed in The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi:

the mouth falling open, a hand flying to the chest, fingers touching parted lips, an incredulous stare or dazed look. 

Not that there is anything untoward about my storyline. I felt RL Stine was iffy when my daughter was in school and I don't think my books cross that line especially in Wilder Mage.

But that’s the first book. Things kinda heat up in the next one in the series, Mage Revealed, to be released October 24^th.

Uh, eek.

So how do I face parents or the winking school kid when it comes out?

* * * *

Insecure Writers Support Group: The Final Frontier.

These are the continuing voyages of the Ninja Captain, AJC. His mission, to explore all new writing venues, to seek out new authors and new blogs. 

To boldly go where no blogateer has gone before.