Friskbiskit

Do they have to be gay?

Six years ago an editor asked me to make my gay characters straight, and an agent refused to market the book after I refused. It was the most pivotal development of my career with perhaps the exception of my first novel contract. It's the reason Jessica Freely exists, and as much as I love what I'm doing now (and I do) it still hurts.

And it's still happening.

Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith received a similar request from an agent and are talking about it on Publisher's Weekly.

Maybe this is what progress looks like. What happened in silence six years ago is now an internet uproar.

Roar away I say. Roar away.

Aspiring Author Book Covers

Wherever you may fall in the independent publishing debate, it's hard to deny that eye-catching, professional-quality cover art greatly enhances a book's sales potential.

  So I was excited to learn that my friends Ron Warren and Dawn Sketch -- talented professional photographers both -- have started a new business designing covers for independent authors and small presses. Incidentally, Ron and Dawn were recently honored with second place and honorable mention in the Lawrence St. Gallery's Exposures Exhibit.

For all the details, here's their press release:

At Aspiring Author Book Covers we understand that it is hard enough to write a book let alone deal with everything  that is involved with getting your work in front of readers.  If you are working with a small press without an in-house art department or you plan to self-publish, you will still want every bit as professional-looking a finished product as the big houses offer.  Maybe even more so as you are probably not backed up by a big marketing and advertising budget. 

 

  At ABC we create unique covers with broad visual appeal that increase sales and bolster your reputation!

 

Book Covers
For only $295.00 ABC will consult with you via phone or e-mail about your vision for the look of your book.  We will then design a cover and give you an opportunity to proof the design and approve it or request changes.  Up to two revisions are included in the base fee.  Once approved you will be sent the electronic file of your cover. 

 

ABC is a specialty service of Ron Warren Photography in the greater Metropolitan Detroit area.  Many of our cover designs involve original, custom photography which we feel adds to the unique, creative appeal of your book.  We feel that our skills with visual composition and our eye for design make a great team to help your work jump off the shelves and into the shopping basket.  If you are local to the Detroit area, we can even discuss options for making your author photo.

 

The recent publication of The Bastard Hand by Heath Lowrance via New Pulp Press sported an Aspiring Author book cover complete with several layers of original photography composited into a compelling cover for a truly thrilling novel.  We've always loved good books and what a coup for us to be able to meld some of our passions in the creation of book covers.  It is as much a thrill for us as it is for our clients when we see the image on Amazon and then, shortly thereafter, hold the tome in our hands!

 

Please check out our website for samples of our work and consider us for your project.  We're artists, but also bookworms and we're eager to hear about your book.

 

    

Broken has a Home

I'm thrilled to announce that Loose Id has accepted my current wip, Broken, on proposal!

No pub date yet but rest assured I'll announce it when I know.

Some projects just ambush you and take over your life. This has been one of those. It all started when I went to see a sneak preview of The Green Hornet and was smitten with Jay Chou.  Though Broken bears virtually no resemblance to that movie. It's more that Kato's character provided a jumping off point, from which I spun my own characters and story. Something very similar occurred with Amaranth & Ash, though in that case, Jackie Earl Haley's portrayal of Rorschach was the source of my inspiration.

I've been fortunate that I've been able to give Broken my undivided creative attention. For once, I'm not jugglng multiple projects. It's been great. It did, however, make waiting to hear from my editor a bit nerve-wracking, since I was just going forward and writing the ms. on spec. But now that anxiety is over, to be replaced with the anxiety of having to meet a contract deadline.

Last fall, when I was feeling particularly overwhelmed, I thought I'd only write on spec moving forward. Now I've decided that given the choice between worrying about finishing on time and worryng about whether the fruit of my (three hours/day every day) labors will ever make it out into the world, I prefer the fret that's under my control.

Podcast: SF in SF Reading and Panel Discussion

Back in February I took a trip out to San Francisco where the wonderful Rina Elson and Jacob Weisman (of Tachyon Books) put me up and squired me around town. Rina organizes a monthly reading and discussion series called SF in SF and I was privileged to take part in it.

The program consists of two authors who read from their work and then participate in a panel discussion with fantasy author Terry Bisson. In our case the panel discussion turned out to be a wide-ranging analysis of how dominant narratives act as social controls and how as authors Lucy and I both like to posit alternatives to those stories. It's a great conversation and one worth checking out.

Here are the podcasts of the event. More information is also available on Rick Kleffel's The Agony Column. Thanks to Rick for posting the podcasts.

Me reading from The Boy from Ilysies and Amaranth & Ash.

Lucy Bledsoe reading from The Big Bang Symphony

Panel discussion with Terry Bisson, Lucy Bledsoe, and Me

ARe Now Open to Indie Authors

I recieved this press release from All Romance eBooks today:

 

New Year, New Policy from All Romance eBooks for Self-Published Authors and Small Presses

The start of a new year brings the beginning of a new policy at All Romance eBooks as they lift the requirement that sellers maintain a minimum number of titles in their online storefront.

Palm Harbor, FL (PRWEB) December 30, 2010. All Romance eBooks (ARe™) announced today that beginning January 1, 2011 they will waive their required ten book minimum for publishers or individuals wishing to sell on the OmniLit™/All Romance™ sites. The revision in policy is designed to accommodate the ever increasing number of publishers with just a few eBooks in their catalog and authors choosing to self-publish their own work.

The move reflects ARe’s long standing policy to provide their customers with the most diverse selection of romance and mainstream titles possible, with catalogs from the major publishers (including Harlequin and Random House) as well as selections from small press and individual authors.

“Some of our hottest selling books are coming from indies,” said Lori James. “More importantly, the change in policy is in response to author and reader requests.”

The rising trend in self-publishing could be attributed to today’s digital technology which makes it possible for authors to self-publish high quality digital eBooks, whether it be a single title or their entire out-of-print backlist, in addition to readers demanding an ever broadening selection of genres, authors and titles.

ABOUT ALL ROMANCE eBOOKS All Romance eBooks, LLC was founded in 2006, is privately held in partnership, and headquartered in Palm Harbor, Florida. The company owns AllRomance.com, which specializes in the sale of romance eBooks and OmniLit.com, which sells both fiction and non-fiction eBooks.

NPR on the future of bookstores

Here's an interesting article</a> offering an optimistic view of the evolving role of independent book stores.

http://t.co/xBKRzQm

News Flash! Romance is Driving the Bus in Epub

New York cracks me up.

Today the NYT has an article breaking the news that romance readers buy more ebooks than anyone else. Isn't that cute? They think they've discovered this. The VP and publisher of St. Martin's is noted as having realized that romance is really popular in digital as early as this summer! Wow! He's a precog!

LOL

News of the Day

So guess who showed up in this morning's crack of dawn writing session? Evanscar's love interest! Yay! Finally! He's covered in blood and he doesn't have a name yet but at least he's finally in the book. What a relief.

In other news, my two custom made hand woven jackets arrived today. Woot!
Here's a pic of me in one of them (sideways, for some stupid reason). The other one is green with other colors mixed in and a black panel around the waist -- slimming!

I'm expecting my editors revisions on the third book in the other project any second now. And uh... let's see, oh yeah, it's frigging cold out. And grey. Bleh.

Oh and I know what else! I got the cover art for The Ice Prince today. But you can't see it yet. Nyah, nyah.

Sales figures

Here's an article from Mashable chock full of statistics on sales of ebooks and print books. And who doesn't love statistics?

My favorite: "E-books now make up 9% of all trade sales in the U.S.; last year, they made up a mere 3.3%."

Link Love: Moira Rogers on the Ugly Truth About EPub

Here's a great post on Moira Rogers' Adventures in Digital blog that takes an honest look at a couple of downsides to ePub.

I'm with her on this. Way better to own up and expect better than to go on the defensive.

Amaranth & Ash in Print!

My author's copies of the print edition of Amaranth & Ash arrived last week, when  I was in the thick of OOB and couldn't do a thing about it. Here's some pics. Aren't  they beautiful? 

The book is available from Amazon now, though for some reason, there's no cover image, which is a crying shame. Hopefully we can get that fixed soon.

 

  
  

Looky What's Here!

tap to edit

The Grandmammy of Apocalyptic Ebook Stories

Came across this link yesterday. An article from British newspaper The Independent entitled Ebooks: The End of the Word as We Know It. Lordy. This one has it all, from the fetishistic adoration of "real books" to the hysterical proclamations of the death of culture. Play the E-books Article Drinking Game with this one and become an instant alchoholic.

There's a lot of hyperbole here, as you might guess from the title. There is also some information quoted that seems grossly innaccurate to me. Agent David Godwin is quoted as saying:

"But all that's going to change now in the US – the price of the e-book is now controlled at $12.95."

$12.95? Did I miss something?

And some terminology that is either Britspeak, which is one thing, or simply not bothering to know what one is talking about, which is another:

The paperback-sized e-books haven't been responsible for all the trouble, but they certainly started it.

He must mean e-readers, right? Those darn e-readers, always causing trouble.

Here's just a couple of my favorite passages:

Less anxious commentators thought the Kindle might be handy to take on holiday, because it was lighter than carrying six books in your luggage.

Few noticed its incendiary power to torch the publishing world. Nicholson Baker, the lofty author of The Mezzanine, called it "an alpenhorn blast of post-Gutenbergian revalorisation".

Holy shit! I'm not sure what that means but it sounds pretty serious.

And then there's this:

And the new phenomenon might indeed have remained a passing fad, had it not been for the involvement of four major companies: Amazon, Sony, Apple and Google. It's their quadrilateral Battle of the e-books that is sending gouts of blood all over the arena.

Gouts of blood! Incendiary blasts of post-Gutenbergian revalorisation! Aieeeee!

Well at least there will be plenty of unsaleable paper books to blot it up all the gore.

You really should just go read this. It's a hoot. If you need any more convincing, here's the porny part. Quoting Neill Denny, editor-in-chief of The Bookseller:

His voice becames dreamy. "Physically bumping into a book, in a shop, in real life. Having a bookseller put it into your hand..."

Are you getting hot yet? I know, it's difficult what with the blood and the blasting horns and all, but close your eyes, and remember the smell and feel of a real book. Yeah... that's it... just lay back and think of moveable type.

 

 

The Next New Trend in ePub

Thanks to Bert for passing this on.

Hero Available on ARe

Taking a break from OOB to let you know that All Romance eBooks is now stocking Hero! Here's the link.

BTW, in a world of lesser and greater evils *cough* Amazon, Google, B&N *cough*, All Romance eBooks is an actual class operation. Every contact I've had with them has been awesome and my sources at Loose Id say the same. So if you've already got Hero, go buy something else from them. They deserve your $$.