Tell me what you think of this ebook cover

We all judge books by their covers, admit it.  Let me know how you like this one.  Thanks!

STORYTELLER flap copy

If Storyteller had a book jacket, here’s what it might say:

Your best friend is really your guardian.

Your grandmother is really a fairy.

Your birthday present holds a magical power.

And you think your nemesis is just a 13 year old girl.

That was before you encountered The Morrow, a creature from another world sent to stop you from fulfilling your destiny.

 Thirteen year old Lily knows she can make weird things happen, just by telling a story.  It’s a gift she can’t always control, making her the queen of seventh grade outcasts.  She can’t make a million dollars appear out of thin air or make it rain cupcakes, but it’s not for lack of trying.  More than anything, she wants to see her mom, who’s left her in the care of her unconventional grandmother, Gwendolyn, and her only friend, Peter.

When Lily finds a strange fairytale book, she’s drawn into a fantasy world where her mother waits for her.  When her grandmother admits to Lily they are fairies, hiding in this world from dark forces in another place, Lily is convinced the book she’s been reading is real.  According to the book, those dark forces now threaten to destroy her mother.  What Lily doesn’t know is they are already hunting her as well.

Despite the dire warnings of Gwendolyn and Peter, Lily embarks on a mission to find a way into the fantasy world to save her mom.  The events she sets into motion with the telling of a story will change all of their lives forever. 

 An early beta reader review:

 “I read Storyteller and I really liked it. I’m not much for fantasy-type stories, but this was really good! I think you developed the characters well, you balanced descriptive prose with dialogue nicely, the plot was definitive and the story moved along well. It was difficult to put down-which in my mind is what every author wants!”

Social Media aka Internet Time Suck

So I did it.  I signed up for Facebook against my better judgment and friended most everyone I could think of off the top of my head, without opening it up to the entire universe.  Unfortunately I said I liked Lady Gaga and now I have fifteen posts on my wall with that horrible album cover…I gotta get that off there.  I also have numerous messages about FB games I don’t want to play.  The whole experience left me somewhat uneasy without really knowing why.  It’s just so…surreal.  I guess I find myself longing for the simple human connection of plain old e-mail.  Some of you may remember me sending you real, handwritten letters years ago; that’s what e-mail is to me-personal. 

I also went back to Twitter, which I’m actually enjoying more than FB.  It’s kinda fun, like haiku, like sending out tiny messages in a bottle to see what comes back.  There’s some pearls there.

And then there’s Youtube –ugh.  Suzann, who’s working on the book trailer for me, said it would be easiest if I got a Youtube account so she can upload it there and I can view it in draft.  So I go to Youtube and try to set up an account, but it says I have to have a Google account too.  When I try to set that up, nothing happens.  It’s really frustrating for a non-techie, lemme tell ya.  As Scarlet always said, I’ll think about that tomorrow.

Despite all that, I’ve had a lot of fun with the trailer ideas, hunting down the photos, the music, etc.  I’m really excited to see how it turns out. The only real downside to all this is the amazing amount of time I seem to be spending online – the reason I’ve always avoided this stuff in the past.  Very little actual writing is getting done right now.  I console myself with the notion that this is “work” that will pay off in time.  My current work in progress is now a complete first draft and I’m letting it sit for awhile, so it’s all good, right?  When the edits come back on Storyteller, I’ll get right on it.  I promise.

And to answer Chris’ question about Smashwords in a nutshell, it’s cheap and easy, or at least it appears to be.  I looked at Lulu once, but the price scared me off.  Amazon confused me.  Smashwords makes sense to me.  They take your file, translate it into multiple types of e-reader files and distribute those files to multiple sales outlets for free.  They take a small percentage of each sale in exchange, much less than a traditional publisher.  This article explains it better than I can http://reviews.cnet.com/how-to-self-publish-an-e-book  Of course, I’m not committed yet, so if you know of something better, I’m all ears.

Taking the Plunge

After much thoughtful deliberation, unproductive querying and well-intentioned nudging from my parents, I’ve decided to give e-publishing a try.  I’ve been writing stories for what seems like eons now and I’ve reached the point where I’d like to share them with more than just my critique partners.  It used to be self-publishing meant spending a ton of one’s own money to print the books and then driving all over the countryside promoting those books, selling them yourself, one by one -a really tough, daunting row to hoe.  Now, with the creation of the tablet, a manuscript can easily become an eBook, which can be distributed with a few clicks all over the world.  A self-publisher can reach markets never dreamed of before.

So, with this in mind, I’ve decided to take the plunge and e-publish the first book in my middle grade, fantasy series STORYTELLER.  I’m not sure just how many kids are out there reading books on iPads, but if my daughter is any indication, they’re out there and their numbers are growing by the day.

I’ve done my research on smashwords.com (an eBook distributor) and I know that marketing will be the key.  Without a traditional publisher to help market my work, it’s all up to me (and you) to get the word out.  In e-publishing, that means twitter, facebook and blogs.  (Oh, how I cringe at the idea of facebook!)  In the coming weeks, the look and content of this blog may change.  I’m even working on a book trailer with a friend - youtube-style – very exciting!  I’ll post it here when it’s done.

Right now, the manuscript is undergoing the last round of edits and being formatted for smashwords, which takes a bit of work to get it right.  I’ll let you know when it goes live.  Wish me luck!

February is Picture Book Marathon Month

There's a month for everything.  This month, I'm taking part in a Picture Book Marathon.  You try to write a picture book every day of the month, but since we aren't over achievers,  you only need to produce 26 for the whole month.  Guess they figured you need a couple days off.  So I'm plugging away, writing a little something every day.  Most of mine are awful (the rhyming ones don't rhyme), but some may just turn out to be something one day, after many, many revisions.

I've also been submitting my middle grade fantasy manuscript to agents, without getting much interest.  I'm starting to think it's just not that original, or marketable in the minds of agents, who I'm sure have to think about the bottom line.  I may try submitting to some small presses instead, but I'm still mulling it over.  I've been following the blogs of other writers who've decided to go the self-publishing route with great interest.  If I could publish it as an e-book myself without the expense of printing, well...I must say its tempting.  Any thoughts?

I just finished the first draft of another work in progress that's been sent off to an editor friend for working over.   It's, what else?  A paranormal romance.  Maybe once I get that out of my system, I can write this dystopia I've been outlining....;)

Short Rant...I promise

I just want to express for a moment how frustrating it is for a writer who's tried to hone their craft, follow every rule, only to find the rules continually broken in published books.  And then I promise I'll stop because I don't want to be a downer.

I've been attending writing conferences, talking one on one to editors, visiting some very insightful agent blogs, reading/studying about writing, etc. etc. for a very long time.  The advice is all about having a distinctive voice, an alluring first line, conflict throughout.  And read all the time they tell you; read everything.  So I do that too.  I picked up a book, got it at a recent writer's conference no less, and started to read.  I've read probably four chapters now and have yet to figure out just what the conflict will be/is.  How did that author get away with that???  This is the same conference at which a highly respected editor told me she wants to know who the main character is and what their issue is on the very first page!

All right then, that's enough of that.  Just wanted to get it off my chest!  On the bright side,  we just got our first real snow of the season so the kids are preoccupied and I have a shiny, bright new idea for a novel I'm working on....much to be Thankful for.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

“8 Year Old: Professional Cliché Finder” or “My own personal nail in the coffin”

I’ve been polishing my latest draft of Storyteller (a middle grade fantasy I wrote) and decided it was time to read it, out loud, to my daughter, who is now eight years old.  She’s a bit young for middle grade reading (12-18 yrs), but I figure she can easily handle the story if it’s read to her.  She’s been wanting to read it for some time and been very patient with my brush offs, like “Leave me alone!  It’s not done!” She’s even suggested some of the plot points I ended up using, so I obviously owe her big time for all her love and support.

            So, she’s in bed (where we usually read) and I’m reading a chapter to her, trying my hardest not to start editing the thing, when I read a line that says something to the effect of “Lily knew it was probably the nail in her coffin, but she didn’t care”. 

“Huh?” says my daughter.  “What’s that?”  Now you try explaining this figure of speech to someone who lives in a world where coffins only appear around Halloween time and they rarely have nails in them anymore anyway.  It was a wakeup call for me and the phrase was immediately erased from the manuscript.  Now, if my daughter says “huh?” there’s a big circle around it for closer inspection later.

            The whole episode led me on a wonderful “find and replace” adventure with my manuscript.  I had no idea I had so many glances over the shoulder and so many occurrences of the word “suddenly”.  Thank goodness for word processors!  Reading out loud to a human being other than myself has helped tremendously and I resolve to do it with everything I write from now on.  Well, almost everything. ;)