And my next Kickstarter is live! Check it out, read the excerpts, grab the original novella for a buck or the whole series before it goes live at retailers – if you like ebooks, that is! π This will be a little longer than the previous one, because it’s new stuff and I want people to have time to find it.
It’s an experiment on book-launching. After 10+ years of write-and-release with not very good results, I decided to try this technique for my latest mini-series, in the hopes of actually grabbing some readers. Pre-orders never worked for me, so we’ll see how this goes.
Last week I wrote 6500words, again short stories, I haven’t found a long project yet. I’m at 98K for the year, so I’m not complaining anyway. I’m actually surprised I did this much already! π
This week I haven’t written a word yet, but life got in the way with looking after aging parents and the usual mess at DayJob. Here’s to hoping I can retire early next year and not be bothered by that at least.
I used what little concentration I had to edit the Otherside books, so they’ll be ready when the Kickstarter ends! π I got book 2 and 3 back from the editor last week, so I’ll concentrate on that for now, and then finish the project I had started (a couple more shorts to write for that one).
Not much else to say this week, except go check my Kickstarter! π Have a great week! π
If you haven’t read Otherside yet, go grab it for less than 1$ along with those other awesome books! Because the next big announcement is… the Otherside Books! Yes, in March and April (with possibly a couple of weeks off to travel) I will publish three short novels and a collection of stories exploring the steampunk world beyond the portals!
Book 1 is ready, but Book 2 and 3 + half of the short stories still need to go to Mighty Editor who is busy until the end of the month. And the acquisition of Smashwords by Draft2Digital means that I postponed publishing Book 1 until I have all three, in the hope that meanwhile I’ll have only one dashboard for the two distributors! π
This month I’m going to put out a couple of old Italian titles (revised, and that I will not translate into English), since those go only on Amazon and Kobo. The first is the original story I based Soul Thieves on, which means I went through the English version, if only to remind myself how it had evolved.
And, horror of horrors, I found typos, missing words, but mostly, a typo in the blurb! Which meant that I had to redo the paperback cover. Originally made with Createspace, you’d think it would be easy to change the cover, right? I mean, it went smoothly with other titles…
Well, not this time. Soul Thieves has a white cover, and they kept telling me there was no bleed. So if you have a white cover for a paperback, remember to frame it with a black line. Still missing Createspace, sigh.
Also, the previous cover template calculator no longer works, as I discovered while I prepared the Italian book. Now you need to go here, and it’s actually better than the previous one, since both the PDF and the PNG are the right size (the previous version had the PDF already cut, so when you uploaded it to KDP print, it was too small)!
So, between dealing with KDPprint for myself and Kobo for a friend, I didn’t write a word until Saturday – I could have started on Friday, but I had to check a few things, which means I found a couple of typos in the first chapters of Thief and I really should find time to go through all my paperbacks catching typo fairies, but where is the time?
Anyhow, during the weekend I managed to write a full story, though, and my wordcount is a little over 7K (the yearly total so far is 64K, so at 6 weeks it’s perfectly fine – I need to write 10K/week for 50 weeks to get to 500K).
The Sunday event was canceled because Khabi Lame was in Dubai (his manager probably forgot to tell him he had a signing event in Rome, LOL!), but then I read this article about being an aunt, so… say hello to PANK Barb, and Dear Nephew still loves her even if he couldn’t have his comic book signed! π
And the last author to answer my 6Q is workshop buddy Laura Ware. That’s all for the Portal Anthologiesβ¦ but stay tuned for more Eclectica Authors! π
Fantasy Portals Author Interview – LAURA WARE 1. What is it about portals that draws you to it?
A portal is a way into another world, something different and maybe exciting. To me, books are portals that lead us to different worlds.
2. What is your story in the anthology about?
My story is about a woman whoβs a frazzled full-time mom. A portal offers her a chance to escape her world β but such an escape comes with a hefty price.
3. What inspired your story?
For one thing, I have been that full-time mom (grin). I am also a full-time caregiver at the moment, and I know the feeling of wanting to escape your life, if only for a moment.
4. Do you always write about portals? If not, what do you write about?
I write in a variety of genres. Some fantasy, a dab of sci fi, contemporary, and Christian fiction.
5. What should readers know about you?
I love writing stories! Hoping to get more out this year.
6. Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?
Check out my website at www.laurahware.com. I am trying to update it, so please be patient with me.
I’ll have to admit September took me by surprise. In spite of celebrating Da Muse’s birthday last Sunday, the whole weekend didn’t feel like a new month. I almost missed the Happiness is post last Monday… maybe I need a vacation? I was off only four days last summer… well, the summer is not officially over yet, so this summer!
Anyhow! Another 10K written and books sent to the proofreader. I’ll have to finish the last novella before the end of the week or possibly the start of the next, then I’ll probably have two weekends busy with editing… and paperbacks. I actually even managed to link D2D and Findaway, but I can’t find the courage to start on audio books yet. Cause I hate them so much and can’t be bothered to listen to them. Maybe next year…
For sudden changes in DayJob schedule, I also started the translation of Brainwaves, so that as soon as I finish with the Star Minds Lone Wolves, I can get back to the Post-Apocalypse Chronicles and write book 2. And then the other books coming after that, probably. Writing the mini-series at the same time is actually better, especially if they’re either closely intertwined like Star Minds Lone Wolves or squential like Post-Apocalypse Chronicles.
Write all the books first. Write the series first. If itβs a trilogy, write the trilogy before trying to publish. If itβs a longer series, write the first three books, at least. Or, bare minimum,Β plot the books robustly, so that when the contract comes in youβre not rushing to figure out the story beats on a longer series.
And since the Silvery Earth Heroines are standalone, I can write them next year, even though I already have the covers by wonderful Federica Manfredi (she still has to draw the last one, but there is really no rush!). I’m also having fun doing covers with stock photos and rendering, so I might redo some of mine (meaning the ones I drew myself). I did an attempt for Firebird (one of the books I wanted to try in audio), but I still have to work on my skills, LOL!
In case you missed the announcement or are not subscribed to my newsletter, Otherside is out! Although D2D initially rejected it for Apple for links to competitors. I have no idea where they saw links to competitors, since I don’t put them anywhere in the books anymore. Only the publisher page, this blog and the newsletter subscription link. What will they do when I mention the competition in the text (with no links whatsoever) in Kristine the Youngest? Maybe Apple doesn’t want my books. Shame on them.
I downloaded all the reports from CreateSpace (50 paperbacks and the payments of the past four years) just in case they get lost in the move. Then I’ll probably just wait until they do it. My last paperback sale was a few months ago anyway. Not going to do it myself (it didn’t prompt me when I logged in, so I assume they’re already overworked by people moving before the closing).
Now I better go back to writing! The newsletter went out, the new title is up, I better get back to work! π Have a great week!
New release! Touting my own horn! Only 2.99$! Check it out! π (the above is the DTF announcement but it’s available at the usual suspects – although a couple may be lagging behind. Go to the publisher’s book page for more! π ) Happy Sunday!
My name is Barb, and I'm a writer, sometimes an artist, mostly a world-creator and storyteller of fantasy worlds. I write in more than one genre, although mostly SFF.
Find my books at UPB.
This is my blog, about the "creative barbwire" that I am - there's no rose without thorns, right?
Enjoy...