Published: Behind the Scenes (June 2018)

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve had an update with this! Partially because hey it turns out debuting brings out a whole plethora of various doubts and weird quirks you didn’t know you had, made especially worse if you already struggle with these things. But also because not a lot has really happened. It is pretty mind-boggling how slow publishing works. But I digress.

If you’re not caught up: I sold my New Adult alternate-history fantasy series late 2016 to Glass House Press. Since then, I’ve been detailing my journey of what goes on behind the scenes for fun, but also in the hopes that someone might gain some benefit from it. My publishing journey will obviously be different than someone else’s, but there might be some inspiration or advice in my tale.

Just in case you need it, here is:

• The introductory post to “Behind the Scenes” where you can find a list of all the posts so far
• My path to publication blog post

The last time I wrote on this subject, I spoke a bit about marketing in my perspective, and the start of designing Pridem’s cover.

Some updates about that! Pridem’s cover is still in the works. It’s hopefully going to be done in a couple weeks. We hit a few snags with designers, but I’m still very excited about what’s happening. There’s a lot of excited-waiting in publishing, that’s for sure.

Hell, if you’re interested, I’m going to be revealing sneak peaks in my newsletter that you can sign up for here. (You’ll also get snippets from Pridem and other goodies.)

Which leads me into marketing updates! I know, the concept of marketing is super scary. It’s sounds like a really dry, painful thing to do, and it’s not writing.

Honestly, I’m finding a lot of things about marketing is pretty fun (I think I’ve mentioned this before). Because while you’re going to have to put in a lot of work to make yourself successful as an author, I’m pretty against the idea that you have to do things you absolutely hate just because everyone tells you that you need to. In the same vein, it’s easy to get sucked into all of the information you can learn and have.

Maybe that’s me; I tend to get obsessive about something when I know I need it and it’s remotely interesting. And marketing is the kind of thing that never ends, so I’m fast reaching the burn out stage of it instead of just learning and moving on.

It’s causing a weird shift in my writing. Because I’m focusing on the Business side versus the Creativity side of authorship (as I should, but also, maybe a little on the unhealthy side), I think my approach to writing has changed. And it’s kind of uncomfortable.

I’ve heard that this is pretty typical. When you move from Writer to Author status (whatever that really means), you have to think about actually selling the books you write. For me, I wasn’t thinking about an audience or selling books for a looong time. I wrote because my skin itched if I didn’t. I wrote because the pictures in my head were so vivid I had to write it down. I wrote because it was an escape and a comfort. I was also a kid when I started writing, so most of my experience takes place in the fury and passion of teenagehood. Needless to say, this change to the reality of authoring may be particularly harsh.

I think the truth of it is you have to find a balance (my favorite word!) between the business and the creativity. Or maybe a more accurate word is a harmony. Because focusing totally on one or the other isn’t going to help garner success.

Well, I’d been figure out this harmony damn quick, because it seems to be having a very tumultuous effect on the actual writing part of writing. I realized the other day that I haven’t finished writing a book since I signed with Glass House Press. I don’t think that’s a coincidence, because before that I was fast on my way to finishing two books a year. The anticipation and excitement and frustration is immense, and I think I’m letting the stress of being successful overshadow all. Honestly, getting my book out is starting to become a relief simply because all this exciti-waiting is taxing.

Actually, hold up. I have completed a book since then. PRIDEM was completed under the guidance of my editor early last year (duh). That was my shortest novel yet, and it was under deadline, so that was definitely a different kind of getting a book done! I guess more accurately, I haven’t finished writing a novel in over a year.

I don’t think I can blame all my problems on debuting, however. There are a few personal issues that have cropped up over this time period, along with learning how to manage a mental illness and straight up learning how to be a friggin’ adult.

I think I might have had some unreal expectations about what writing would look like once I was an adult. As a homeschooled teenager, I could write as soon as I finished my work. In college, it was busier, but about the same. Now… with all this responsibility and my body saying hello to late 20s and life and adulting, writing time has to be squeezed out between responsibilities and exhaustion.

(Actually… I did delve into our perceptions of what an author’s life looks like in a blog post found here)

I wanted to mention this in my official Behind The Scenes In Publishing series because I think there should be some warning about how long publishing takes, and how much it messes with your head when it comes to creativity. You may not have as much of an issue – god, I hope you don’t! – but I did want to give a heads up.

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Jumping around a bit, I have a piece of advice I want to impart:

When you debut, I HIGHLY recommend that you find a debut-authors-of-your-year group and join. I joined #Authors18 late last year and it’s been a whirlwind partnership of advice, guidance, general support, and commiserating. Debut author groups are all in a similar situation of needing reviews, help, and someone to listen – often, everyone is willing to help you out if you’ll help them out. And it’s a serious boost to know people who are going through the same stresses you are.

Also! In case you haven’t seen from social media or from my newsletter, I got a pretty author logo:

This is actually a present from my publisher, because GHP is super awesome. But I think it’s pretty dang cool and I’m glad to be using this to tie my writing presence together!

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Final updates:

My editor and I touched upon development edits in the actual content of Pridem. She’s trying to ease me in slowly and develop a good working relationship, so she sent me a taste of the first few pages instead of an overwhelming chunk. I’m already loving her insights and how she’s pointing out things I’ve overlooked, though I’m so hungry to really dive into it! She’s very good about layering in compliments along with suggestions for improvement.

Either which way, I’m so ready to make this book the best it can be. It might be easier to tear this book apart because it was technically written at my editor’s behest and isn’t as close to my heart as the rest of the series, but I’ve also been readying myself for constructive criticism for a long time. I’m itching to do this.

Oh, speaking of the whole series, it has an official name. My editor and I worked out a name for the whole series based off of some particularly crucial world-building events and overall themes, and it is officially: The Obsidian Divide series. I think it’s unique and catchy enough to do the job!

And! My editor and I almost have the back cover copy and tagline done (back cover copy: what’s on the back of the book that makes people want to read it). So I’ll be revealing the official description of Pridem and what to look forward to as soon as I’m able. (I have an unofficial version on my blog’s front page “Home” if you want to check that out.)

That’s probably where I’m going to end things, because this is getting pretty long already. I’m hoping to have cover updates and edit updates here in a month or so, and I’ll detail all those adventures next time!

 

If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all my adventures and get sneak-peaks into my New Adult alternate-history fantasy, sign up here!

Published: Behind the Scenes (Oct. 2017)

All right, the recap: I sold my alternate-history fantasy series almost a year ago now (wow) to Glass House Press. Since then, I’ve been detailing my journey of what goes on behind the scenes in the hopes that it will help people have a glimpse into the process. My publishing journey, of course, will be different than someone else’s — this is just one path.

If you’re interested, here is:

• The introductory post to “Behind the Scenes” where you can find a list of all the posts so far
• My path to publication blog post
• The most recent post in this series

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Since the prequel was back in the hands of my editor the past few months, I’ve spent most of the time working on other projects. I’ve talked before about the benefits of working on two projects at once (under certain conditions) and it’s something that’s slowly become part of my routine.

A mental refresh, if you will. Or a pallet cleanser.

Either way, it seems to be working. I have a clearer picture of the Obsidian Divide series now in my head. I even figured out a few elements about the world and even a few character quirks. (Unfortunately, they are details for farther along in the series versus the actual prequel that Editor and I are working on, but whatever. It’s new fun stuff, and I really ready to tackle the prequel again.)

Though now that NaNoWriMo has hit, most of my energy is focused towards my that manuscript. (If you’re interested, I wrote a short story related to the world that’s pretty dang interesting, if I do say so myself.) I could have worked on something related to Obsidian Divide, but until the prequel and Book One are firmly set developmentally, I’m worried about working too far in advance.

So I will be extra prepared to look at the prequel with fresh eyes when my editor comes back to me with edits.

In other news, I’ve been working on setting myself up branding and marketing wise. I had a designer build a logo for me a few weeks ago, and I might have another exciting branding project in the works here soon.

Otherwise, I’m really starting to think a lot about bloggers and reviewers. 2018 approaches, and the reality of needing to build buzz and get reviews and make people actually KNOW about my book is getting heavier. I’m starting to get a little paralyzed by the idea of all of it.

So! To try to head off this panic, I’m trying to be proactive.

For about the past year I’ve dinked around reading articles on marketing, listening to different marketing ‘experts’ about what to do, and signing up for all sorts of mailing lists. There’s a lot information floating around in my head, but unless I put it in some sort of order, it’s not going to help me very much.

(By the way I recommend to all of you to start reading information on marketing. Don’t get anxious, don’t think you don’t do ‘the right thing,’ don’t worry about changing anything right now. Just start digesting some of all the information out there. It’ll give you time to figure out what might work for you and get a grasp of the size of it all without it becoming overwhelming. I’ve talked a little bit before about marketing, specifically the branding aspect of it, which is pretty dang interesting, if I do say so myself.)

So! With some help (a buddy of mine who also has her trad-published-debut coming out next year is doing it with me), I’m going to start planning. Like, in a planner, with it all written out. I’ve even got a really awesome one picked out. I’ve been writing out notes, and sketching out general ideas of how they might fit for me, and trying to gather lists of influencers in my genre. But now I’m going to make A PLAN and put it together.

This plan primarily revolves making people even realize my book exists. Which means interacting with people who have a lot of interaction with other people who might want to read my book.

All while keeping up on my social media interaction and branding.

Which means, of course, ads, free stuff, guest blogging, interacting with influencers in my genres, putting the book all over Goodreads… and yeah, so much else I’m probably forgetting here.

Either way, I’m hoping that I’m going to have a real plan written out here by my next update. I think I might write another post here soon about a different segment of marketing as well.

Oh! And before I forget. I wrote a short story a while ago that actually has to do with my debut series. It’s actually a part of Book One, versus the Prequel which will come out earlier, and from a different perspective. But it’s really good, if I can say so myself, and you might be interested in reading it. Let me know what you think…

I hope you all have a wonderful writing week! 

Behind the Scenes In Being Published: Update and Cover Art (Aug. 2017)

Recap: I sold my New Adult alternate-history fantasy series late last year to Glass House Press. Since then, I’ve been detailing my journey of what goes on behind the scenes. Now, my publishing story is going to be (probably markedly) different than someone else’s, but you might take some inspiration or advice with my tale.

If you’re interested, here is:

• The introductory post to “Behind the Scenes” where you can find a list of all the posts so far
• My path to publication blog post
• The most recent post for this series

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If you’re caught up, you know that I’ve been working on a whole ‘nother book before the original series I sold to Glass House Press. My editor, in considering how gigantic my world is and how much backstory I have to get there, was nervous that there was too much information to pack into the beginning of the series. Thus, a prequel.

Well, it’s turned into 64k words with the latest revision, so I guess it’s real-book sized! I thought it was going to be a novella but since it’s basically impossible for me to write anything short… yeah.

Anyway, August consisted of me working with the first letter of feedback. Mainly, fleshing out my ending, and putting more world details and MC voice in the beginning. This last month was a big of a whirlwind, in learning more about my world than I have before. (The last blog post goes into more detail about this)

I’m a pantser character writer, which means that my world building comes in fits and starts as my characters explore it. It’s got it’s disadvantages; meaning, I tend to have to re-write everything once I get to the end as I figure out Oh Yeah I Need To Know How That Works. Because there’s nothing more irritating to a reader than going along thinking one thing and then having to jar yourself into another world-space because of oh yeah this important detail of my world right here that I’m suddenly bringing in to create conflict hahahahaaaa… 

Okay I’m sure there are other things that are more irritating but that’s probably one of the top ones. At least for me as a reader.

Anyway, I ended up fleshing out/discovering things about my world beyond what I expected. I thought I had it mostly figured out; in delving deeper, into things I thought weren’t important because they weren’t important to the character necessarily, I discovered/created a lot that made my world a lot more interesting. Even though I still feel meh about this prequel coming out before Book One, the exercise of going through all of this has been immensely helpful (and important, to be honest). I already have a boat-load of new information that Book One needs to have. It’s really rather exciting.

I’m starting to think that going forward as a writer, I need to write a ‘history book’ involving whatever world I’m working on. Nothing I ever publish or even make interesting in any sense of the word, but something that makes me walk through and flesh out the environment that my characters are living in. I plot it out in my head, but there’s just something about writing it all out. Because I vastly underestimate how much detail I need to build certain world elements.

(You world-building first types are probably like DUH, but hey I’m getting there)

So that’s the update involving the writing portion of what’s going on behind the scenes.

IN OTHER NEWS.

The publisher and I have started talking cover designs and concepts. For a fun and awesome twist, I get a lot of input on what is going into my cover(s). So last month I had a meeting with my publisher and we worked out concept ideas, themes, and what we wanted to portray for my series. Like, the covers are all going to be made in the same style with similar designs in order to link them together.

The color and certain elements will be different for each one (I’m not sure how much I can talk about details since it’s not quite set in stone this is killing me!!), but we have a basic concept, theme, and vision going forward.

An AMAZING designer (I’m not sure I’m allowed to really say who yet but omg I’m so excited!!?!) has been booked to create my first cover in November. She’s slotted for the first three for sure (first three including prequel and book one and two), and I’m not sure what happens after that, but considering it’ll be like a year or two before I have to think about it I’m sure we’re fine.

Guys I’m so excited about the designer. I didn’t really connect who she was at first, but as soon as I went to check her out and I was like WAIT I KNOW THIS I’VE SEEN THESE COVERS ON SOME OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS. She does gorgeous work, and I think the theme that the publisher and I worked out is going to be very striking and unique. *Cue flailing*

So there’s that.

I’m going to do my darnest to get the latest revision of the prequel back to my editor today. I’ve walked through all the changes she suggested (and some changes I felt it needed), and I can feel my focus on the story flagging; I’m not really seeing it anymore. I’ve done a LOT of work on it (12k words of addition plus whatever I’ve subtracted!), and need a break to come back with it with fresh eyes.

The next step is going to be another round of hard core development edits focused on what I’ve written (the last round of devs utilized a very detailed outline for a big-picture set of edits). It will be very interesting to see what my editor thinks walking through the story, versus just hearing about what the story will be about…

I’m pretty nervous, but also really looking forward to it. I’ve been craving this kind of in-depth, er, teaching, for lack of a better word. I read a lot of writing advice and such, but it’s easy to get tunnel vision when it comes to your own writing and not quite see how to apply the advice. Developmental edits are not my strong suit, and I sincerely want to learn!

And on that note…. happy Monday everyone! May your week be filled with inspiration and writing.

Published: Behind the Scenes (April 2017)

Well this is going to be a short one. Much the same as my last post, I’m working on the prequel project assigned by my editor. I will be writing a post about what it’s like to write for oneself vs. ‘contract writing’ as they say, but I’d like to finish writing the thing before I delve into that.

So, just in case you missed it! I’ve written about my initial foray into developmental editing, which was eye-opening to say the least. I also wrote a post about my Path to Publication, which highlights how I even got my publishing contract that I still can’t quite wrap my head around as actually having oh my god my book is going to come out next year —

*deep breath*

So while you wait for more crazy thoughts of behind the scenes, here’s a snippet of what’s taking up so much of my time lately. Don’t judge too harshly, it hasn’t gone through editing yet (ha!).

The windowpane was cold on the side of my head. I could just move and relieve the discomfort, but I didn’t. I sat there, useless. Or maybe I was punishing myself. Everybody was always worried about that lately. Survivor’s guilt, they called it.

But they didn’t know it actually was my fault. If I hadn’t told my biggest secret, none of it would have happened. He’d made sure to tell me how special I was, that the secret I hid from the world was the reason he’d had to take my sister and me. Not just to ransom, like most people kidnapped upper class girls for. But for something else, something that meant he hurt us, over and over, without even touching us…

The cold from the glass was seeping from my head, down my body. Annoying little shivers kept hitting me at intervals, pulling me out of my reverie. I pulled the blanket tighter and higher around me, but the cold still penetrated. It made me squirm on the window bench; between the cold and my butt falling asleep, I wanted to move.

Damn it, I couldn’t even be miserable properly. I couldn’t even punish myself for being alive when she wasn’t.

I flung myself up from bench and stalked across the room. My eyes burned, looking for something or throw or to hit. A pillow went first, but that didn’t feel like anything. The water glass on the bedside table went next. It made a loud sound against the wall before hitting to the ground, a large crack down its side. The damn glass couldn’t even shatter properly.

I slumped down on my bed, trying to cry, trying to feel anything but hollow, like I’d had all my insides sucked out by those things that had taken us and held us and burrowed into our heads like worms that ate through our brains –

I slapped myself sharply across the face. The gleeful bubbling panic under my breastbone was too close; I’d let it too close. My thoughts ran frantic through my head, like clawing hands searching for a way to rip open the memories and spill them forth like sewage.

Two deep breaths later, I knew I’d be able to conquer it. It wasn’t going to overwhelm me. I breathed deep and focused on one single point, keeping my mind still. It still took several more minutes of deep breathing before my hands stopped shaking.

The therapists my parents had been hiring weren’t completely duff. I’d mostly ignored all of what they’d said, because like everyone else, they wouldn’t listen to me when I’d told them the truth about what had taken us. But some of what they’d said about panic attacks helped.

The slapping bit was my own, though. Sometimes I needed something more drastic to get my stupid head’s attention.

I fell backwards across my four-poster, and nearly brained myself on the book I’d bought earlier today. Wincing, I yanked it out from under my head and stared at its dark cover.

It didn’t hold the answers I sought.

There was nothing in the book about what he was. Nothing had fit. Oh, plenty about the other things. Plenty about creatures that were more shadow than flesh, creatures that lived off of human blood, creatures that could change shape, ones that stole children and ate them, ones that looked to be a mix of several creatures, ones that controlled weather or elements – all of them categorized by their most common regions, favorite habitats, and common behaviors. Even dragons, and more creatures I’d never even dreamed of yet alone heard of from my grandmother.

Breathing deeply, I spent a few seconds calming, my train of thought courting the panic attack I’d just conquered.

Another thought hit me; my stomach gave a little lurch. The book held no answers about what he was, or why he’d taken us. But this couldn’t be the only book. And this couldn’t be the only way of finding new information. My grandmother was gone, everyone laughed off what I said – I was the only one willing to find out the truth.

The book was heavy and warm in my hands. It couldn’t be the only one with information like this. There had to be others of its kind, with more information, new information.

There was a way to find out who’d killed my sister.

There was a way to find the truth about the things that dwelled in the dark.

Comments? Questions? Laughter?

Have a fantastic writing day, friends.

Published: Behind the Scenes (March 2017 edition)

In October of last year I signed a contract with Glass House Press for my alternate-history fantasy series to debut in 2018. For fun and for the benefit of anyone interested, I started up this blog series chronicling monthly updates of the behind-the-scenes in being published. Read the introductory post here! A list of all the other posts I’ve written so far can also be found at the end.

In my previous post, I got in-depth about developmental editing and progress with that. This post, I’m going to have a little less to talk about, because as mentioned before, I’m writing a prequel to my series. So what’s primarily happening behind the scenes? Lots of writing. Which, hey, we’re all doing, that isn’t anything new. This entry is going to end up a little diary-like.

The basic reason for the need of this prequel is that my world is very complex, and a lot to jam into a first chapter. Additionally, my first book arguably starts out too far into my character’s arc. My editor thinks there too much for the reader to catch up on and takes away from getting the reader into the story. It can easily be too confusing, with all the cultural terms along with hints about character and world history I’m throwing about.

I personally think it’s fun to have a bit of mystery about the character and world to drive the story… but I can’t be sure I’ve created enough of a reason for the reader to care about Fairian and hang around for getting answers.

(So we’ll see how that all works out when we get to the editing of the actual writing and how the story works out bit, but meanwhile — )

I’ve been assigned to writing the prequel. Which is unfortunately slow going, as I haven’t really written anything (fiction) on ‘contract’ before, so I’m discovering the jarring difference between writing for oneself and writing for someone else. There are many author-ly laments on all platforms of social media about this problem, so I don’t feel like I need to go into it here. Needless to say the experience will be good practice.

Despite the reasons for actually making the prequel happen, I am discovering my love for the story. The events in the prequel I’ve always treated as past history, as influencing ‘current’ events and seen through the lens of the present. Writing the prequel as present, in the eyes of my main character that’s 5 years younger… well, that’s pretty interesting. And hard. A lot of the characteristics that make up Fairian (my main character) have developed in part because of The Events in the prequel, so they’re not in place in her personality yet. But I can’t have her a completely different person. So I have to plant the seeds of her later personality, then have The Events, and then show the start of her personality change.

This is surprisingly hard. Mostly in the sense that Fairian is kind of a spoiled, naive brat at this point in time, and I’m kind of wondering how to make her even likable. I read an article the other day that mentioned something like this, but emphasized that (in the beginning of a story at least) you need to make your characters interesting before likable, worry about likability later. That, I’m pretty sure I can do.

One of my editors suggestions for clarifying my giant world for readers while still keeping mystery for my characters was to write from another point of view. I struggled with this for a little while because this is really Fairian’s story, and I have a weird complex with keeping things mysterious and throwing questions around like confetti. But, I found a happy medium. Inter-spliced between chapters from Fairian’s perspective are reports from … basically this world’s version of the magical CIA.

So in essence, I get to write Incident Reports and Correspondence of global magical clandestine operations in an alternate reality.

Just reading that I get excited.

(Now just to make sure they end up being exciting as they sound, ha!)

Camp NaNoWriMo hit just in time to help complete this thing. It’s going to be a novella (I think anyway…) so less words to write, but unfortunately I’m being so nitpicky about the craft and details it’s getting in the way of getting words down. I’m re-remembering to just get the words down and worry about editing later. Thus, Camp NaNoWriMo is helpful as the kick in the pants I need. I want to have this thing done by the end of April. I’ve written 50k in NaNoWriMo several times before; getting out 30k more should be just fine as long as I stay focused.

Speaking of focused. I need to turn my attention to writing all those words! This whole weekend ended up being “manual labor weekend” with barn cleaning and house building, and before that I was flat on my back as a migraine reminded me I’ve been messing with my sleep schedule a little too much (excuses, excuses). I need to get back at it. I still don’t feel fully recovered, but maybe the fuzzy-headedness will help just get the words out and not have a complex over all the details…

Thanks for reading, friends! Stay tuned for April’s update in a few weeks; this post ended up being a little late for a variety of reasons, next time’s should be on time. Let me know what you think, share experiences, feel free to commiserate …

Happy writing!

Published: Behind the Scenes (Jan 2017)

 

Yeesh, writing “2017” is still weird. But anyway. Welcome to the first segment of my new series, where I talk about the behind-the-scenes action of being published!

So in October 2016 I signed the contract to sell my Initium series to Glass House Press. Pretty much the very first thing that happened:

“Let’s look at your author platform!”

How did I know this was going to happen? Oh right, the entire writing world tells you about it. So, things started happening, like social media calendars, starting up a FaceBook author page (which I don’t hate as much as I thought — hey, if you want to like it and follow my updates more in detail, here it is), and discussing how many pictures of my freaking goats I post on Instagram (heheh).

The past couple months have been about setting goals and thinking about branding as a whole. The holidays took up a lot of time and headspace, so that was mostly easy, fun stuff. When 2017 hit, it was time to get serious (<– I almost wrote that ‘series’, ha!). Anyway. *cracks knuckles*

The part I’m struggling with the most is finding and actually utilizing my ‘keywords’ in a natural way. The whole point of social media as an author is to be able to connect with potential readers, to find them and make connections before the actual book comes out. So if you want the right people to connect with you, who are interested in the concepts/themes in your story… you have to effectively find/attract them through keywords.

So while I can tweet/post indefinitely like #fantasy #alternatehistory #strongwomen #solarpunk etc etc etc — I definitely feel that it’s the bare minimum of what to do, and there has to be a better way to do it. It needs to feel natural, not like I’m awkwardly waving off in the corner and nobody really knows what I’m doing there.

Do I know the answer to that yet? Not really.

(Though I am having a lot of fun finding really cool pictures to post on Instagram. Seriously, I feel like a image hoarder right now.)

Another aspect of it — as you probably know — is that you want people to make connections to you as a writer. They’ll hopefully want to buy your book when it arrives, but that’s not the point. You’re supposed to make connections and build relationships as your primary goal.

So there’s this balance between ‘keywords my book is about’ (AKA finding the right people) and ‘being naturally you’ (being genuine so people don’t think you’re a robot). I’d like to say I’m pretty good at that last part, and am working to incorporate the first part… but we’ll see.

 

As for what’s happening with the actual manuscript… the first thing to tackle is developmental editing. Basically, my editor wants to make sure that the whole series fits together and is pushed to it’s best possible potential. Big picture stuff. Does-what-happens-in-book-four-make-sense-with-what-happens-in-book-two. Etc.

I haven’t gotten the letter with developmental edits yet, because my editor has been slammed getting authors ready with books coming out here shortly. But we have been talking informally about basics.

Liiiiiiike — big reveals that happen in book four must be foreshadowed in the previous books if it’s a big freaking plot hole. If it’s a plot hole that’s supposed to be there, you’ve got to let the reader know YOU know it’s supposed to be there.

Which, apparently, I did well with Fairian’s whole obsession with finding secrets. I reveal to there readers that HEY LOOK THERE’S SOMETHING REALLY WRONG WITH GEOGRAPHY I KNOW IT’S WRONG JUST BEAR WITH ME without giving them answers. And then drag out allllll the secrets for several books…

Eh-hem. It’s good to know I did that part right, because the waiting in strangling anticipation for the edits letter is only killing me slowly. I am so ready to tackle to this thing and turn it into an even better beauteous creation of awesome.

So. Moral of the story: publishing really does take a long time, for various reasons. Use the time to beef up your author platform. And meanwhile, write more books!

I feel like there should be a lot more to tell, but that’s all I can think of for now. It ought to get more exciting as things progress; stayed tuned for the end of February update!

 

Happy writing,

R. K. Brainerd

Upcoming Blog Series: Behind The Scenes in Being Published

As many of you know, I sold my now-titled Initium series to Glass House Press in later 2016. I knew from the beginning I wanted to share as much as I could about this whole process, what it entails, my reactions and feelings — just so you all would have an idea of what it looks like when you get your awesome books deals (if you’re going the traditional route, of course!).

In my effort to be organized and pretend like I know what I’m doing, I’ve decided to create a blog series. It will be called “Published: Behind the Scenes,” and at least one blog post a month on AwakeDragon will be solely dedicated to detailing all the details I can describe (

I don’t have an agent, so this is me and my publisher, one on one. Hopefully, in all these posts, you’ll get a glimpse into what to expect — and maybe know how to improve right now in what you’re doing, based on my experience.

Needless to say, this is going to be a LONG series. It will, at the very least, last throughout 2017, and probably through most of 2018. Just based off of the first few months I’ve had this contract, I’m going to guess this series I will cover a broad variety of topics:

• developmental editing
• copyediting
• structural editing
• stylistic editing
• (repeat: editing, Editing, EDITING)
• marketing
• branding
• author platforms
• book launching
• debuting terrors
• handling criticism
• improving as a writer

I also have a feeling that some months there may not be that much to say. As many of you already know (or guess), publishing is a looooonnnnnnng process. I’m just now starting to realize why. Everything takes so much longer than you expect!

Some of it will be diary-like. Some of it may be more technical. And I’m sure that my experience is going to differ from other’s experiences. My publisher is a small publisher focusing on intense, high-quality literature — I love their vision and what I think they can do for me. Small publishers have more time to spend with authors, helping and cultivating them. Smaller publishers depend on authors more for marketing and such. This is going to vary if you’re picked up by a bigger publisher, or have an agent. (Even within the same publisher I’m sure experiences will be different) I want to share my experience for fun and for reference; but I’m not saying everyone’s journey will be like mine.

Okay, and finally: to keep all these posts organized, I’ve done a few things. All posts will be linked at the bottom of this post, so they’re all in one place. All posts will link back to this post, so everything else can be found. Also, I’ve set up a new category dedicated to these posts, which can be found on the righthand side of this blog that will take you to said posts. Lastly, I may even create a new page that can be accessed from the menu at the top of AwakeDragon, so it’s just that much easier to click and find.

What do you think? Is everyone excited? I’m excited!

Posts:

January 2017

February 2017

March 2017

April 2017

May 2017 (and June and July)

August 2017 (Update! And the beginnings of cover art…)

What is half-published, you say?

Half-published is when you’ve signed a contract with a publisher but your book isn’t out in the world yet.

Because yeah. That’s what’s happening. With me.

Like, what? Me? I have a what now?

*deep breath*

I am officially signed with Glass House Press for my INITIUM series, starring Fairian, my cranky answers-driven heroine, and Daimyn, my intense immortal guardian of the innocent.

*soundless flailing as I can’t decide what emotion to stick with*

Actually, I’m rather surprised at how I feel about it. I was thinking I’d be giddy, or so excited I felt sick, or doing the omg what did I just get into thing. Instead, I feel so light. With a huge dose of LET’S FREAKING DO THIS. I am so ready to make this happen I can barely stand it. I know at some point I’ll be overwhelmed by editing, marketing, etc — but right now I’m incredibly eager to make it happen and learn and see what works.

I feel solid. Grounded. Determined and excited. Which makes me feel like I’ve made a really good decision and am totally ready for this.

It’s going to be an incredible adventure.

Thoughts from a Meeting Today

I met with a published author today, who I came in contact with through my doctor, of all things. She was pretty awesome, and I got some insights into the publishing world and what I should expect. The gist of the conversation was that ALL publishing methods have pros and cons, you MUST be an aggressive advocate for yourself, and you have to be patient. (Yeah, those last two seem to contradict each other. You really have to be both.)

I was worried about meeting her at first, because her novels are based on real-life events of her adventures in Burma. As mine are fantasy based, there seemed to be a difference gap there. But we both found ground in the fact that we both wanted to teach through our literature – to expose people to ideas that they wouldn’t normally be exposed to.

I was delighted to learn that she was pretty impressed with my views on what publishing really means, so I feel a little more confident that I might have a inkling on what to expect in getting myself out there. She told me I had a good set up for being smart about the business aspect of writing, due to what I was writing about, the practical and realistic head on my shoulders, and the time I had available due to my situation in life (aka, no kids and/or working an exhausting amount of hours yet).

I’m nervous about self-publishing due to my inexperience, so I’m taking the longer route that I hope will provide more of a foundation and learning experience. She had a bunch to say about that too, including the fact I should be sending book proposals to editors, not just agents and publishers. She’s not a fan of huge publishing houses (as they are bogged down with inefficiency and overloaded with submissions) nor agents (also overloaded with submissions), but that all methods are going to have pros and cons. You just have to choose the ones you can live with.

She didn’t have a lot of good to say about self-publishing, which was fascinating because all I tend to hear from people is the chant about how self-publishing is the best option. She’s not impressed with the distribution ability of self-publishing, how Amazon takes advantage of self-published authors, and how all promoting rests on the author’s abilities. As most first-time authors don’t have a clue how to promote effectively (myself included), it results in the crash-and-burn scenario which I see happening around me quite often. Readers don’t just “find” your book, especially considering the saturation of the market.

That being said, total control and the speed of getting books out there is nothing to scoff at: it all depends on what your strengths are as an author. That being said, skills are going to change and grow over time – maybe your publishing method will too.

Anyway, the point of this long ramble for all of you, is that you should dissect the pros and cons of each publishing method and choose the one that’s right for you. People will talk, everyone had a bias, and only you know what your abilities are and what vision you have for your writing. And it seems to me that “the Traditional Route” and “the Self-Publishing Route” are not as cut and dry as it seems – there are variations in how individuals can creatively engage their readership.

As a final note, I was recommended a book that details all the pros and cons of each publishing method and what it entails. I haven’t gone through it yet, but it’s called “How To Get Happily Published,” and it’s website is here.