Let The Crazy Commence

The March into madness is off and running. We begin with four weekends of events, while also applying feedback from beta readers on Siphon, my upcoming paranormal romance stand-alone novel. Oh and along with writing my next book Not Another Unhinged Romance, I'm also madly writing Nugget the Space Chicken 3 & 4 for an upcoming Kickstarter campaign—because my illustrator wants to get paid or something? Also also, I'm finalizing the author line up for the Lakeshore Art Festival's author alley. Aaaaaand planning a local book festival that will take place in September. I'm supposed to be sewing a new ren faire dress too, but yeah, that's kind of on the back burner at the moment. 

So yeah, no dull moments any time in the near future. Or maybe (looking at my event list) until December. 

Up this month: Mona Shores Comic Con— a nice little one day school con close-ish to home. Fantasticon Toledo—A mid-size two day con, not close to home. Third Coast Author and Book Festival—a one day book festival with a bunch of my author friends that is close to home. And Penguicon—a three day hotel con on the other side of the state where I'll be doing 8 panels, hanging out in the bookstore, and getting some writing done after hours. Or sleeping. Or checking out the room party when I should be sleeping. Place your bets. I'll report back next month.  

Let's see what has transpired since my last post... The Mid Michigan Women's Expo was underwhelming with attendance, but as always, we authors had a good time, networking happened, and books did find new homes. And I bought a new crown, because hey, if I'm not going to have time to sew soon, at least I have something new to wear. :)

Loki, the new puppy, is settling in nicely. My lap (where my laptop should be) is his favorite place.

Zero, the newest chick is growing beautiful feathers. I'm excited to see how this one turns out when it grows up. 

I recently did a couple podcast interviews if you're into those and want to check them out. On For the Love of Books, we talked about I9, my newest book, a stand-alone space opera with mystery and a little romance. Then on Indie Reads Aloud, we talked about One Shot At The Sphinx and The Narvan. 

In non-writing things... I took a break for a couple of weeks and watched all 90 episodes of Farscape, one of my favorite sci-fi shows. Except for that one animated episode. Nope. All these years later, and I still didn't like it. The other 89 totally made up for it though. 

For those of you on the author business end of things... BookFunnel finally came out with a cost effective audiobook plan, allowing us to sell our own audiobooks (without the distribution middleman getting a big chunk of the $) for only $2 a month and .04 per download hour. This means I can now sell Sahmara's audiobook in person at events along with my ebooks. I've really enjoyed having options for however readers want to read, ready to go right from my hands to theirs, where I get the majority of the profit. Sorry, but Amazon does not need your money to pay the bills.

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 

and find links to all the 

other participating writers. 

Let's get to this month's Insecure Writer's Support Group question: What elements do you include in your book launch? What do you have in mind for your future book launch? Advice on book launches?

Well, I'll just be honest here, I suck at book launches. Mostly I write books and throw them out into the world because I have an endless cascade of events where I promote them along with my entire backlist. Do I do some of the usual things? Sure. And if you're wondering what those are:

Cover reveals, posting the blurb, teasers, guest blog posts, sending out a few newsletters- before, during, and after launch, getting ARC readers before the release date, and generally chatting up the book on social media before, during, and after launch. If I can talk my way into a podcast or two to promote the new book, that's a bonus.

Do I have a ton of money to invest in big name reviews or do big promo advertisements? Nope. I invest my $ in event table fees because that's where I know I sell books and my return readers are there. Your milage may vary. 

I've tried ads. I've tried ebook blasts, bundles, blog takeovers, and promo deals. Results were meh on all of that. Not to say they don't work, but I'm guessing genre and timing have a lot to do with it.

Do I do a big release party? I have not. I tend to time my releases with a well attended con or festival and call it my book launch party. So nice of you all to come! LOL  Sometimes I do have a few special launch goodies that I hand out to the first X number of people who buy the book. One of these times I'd like to do an actual launch party for local fans, but my schedule is a bit restricted so we'll see if that ever works out.

Until next time...

 

On the road again. And again. And again

Normally September is a slow month for me in terms of book signings, a warm up for the upcoming writing months (usually Oct & Nov). Normally. This year? Yeah, not so much. I'm rolling through September with four weekends of signings. The good news is books are selling. Hooray!

Let's see, where was I since the last post? It's all a blur.

My local writing group did a joint booth at Art in the Park. Eight authors enjoyed beautiful weather and signed many books. The Marvelous Mr. Millie happily served as my flock representative. He basks in all the attention and often gets so relaxed with all the petting that he falls asleep on my table. I have to wake him up so people can take his picture. Some day, maybe he'll have his own book.

Mid August, author pal Joan H. Young and I took our annual road trip to Paradise, MI in the upper peninsula. It's a 5 hour drive for me but 6 hours when I detour to pick up Joan. Having the company for the long drive and weekend is well worth the extra hour. 

Joan writes mysteries for adults and a series for kids as well as books about her hikes on the North Country Trail. Check out her blog here.

She's also crafty and surprised me with this stuffed chicken she made. The chicken has been named Eggatha. She keeps me company on my writing chair.

What does it look like when you cram two authors' outdoor setups in one car for a road trip? It does not look like daylight inside and there's zero rear view mirror. LOL However, we did manage to fit a chicken and didn't have anything under our feet or on our laps, so we'll call it a Tetris victory. 

This was the view out the back of my booth all weekend. we were on the shores of Lake Superior. Amazingly, for the first time in three years of being at this festival, we had gorgeous weather. 

Next up was my last renaissance festival of the year in South Bend, Indiana. Peep and Dottie got all the love the first day and then Millie and Elsa switched out for day two. The chickens are very popular at this event every year and I sold out of my children's books that weekend! Thankfully, I had more books on order because my schedule is full for a month yet. 

Most recently, I did a children's book signing at Gilbert and Ivy, a small indie bookstore in Vicksburg, MI. Peep got lots of attention by sitting on the table by the window.

 

In writing news, Nugget the Space Chicken and the Haunted Cave of Korabumba, is live for pre-order at all of your favorite online retailers and will be released into the world on September 8. And hey, that means I can now show you the cover!

i9 is still in edits. Why? See above. I've been busy. ;)

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 

and find links to all the 

other participating writers.

This brings us to our regularly scheduled Insecure Writer's Support Group section of my monthly post.

This month's question is about your thoughts on using AI in your writing. 

I feel like we've covered this from a couple angles recently so I will say the only thing I've toyed with using AI for in a writing capacity is to brainstorm tag lines for the i9 blurb. There were a couple good starting points there but they needed a fair amount of tweaking to be accurate for my book and work with my blurb. 

Using it for brainstorming, eh, maybe. That's my current opinion. 

Upcoming Releases, IWSG, and So Many Signings

I've been busy (when am I not?) since last month. Projects are sort of falling into place. Are they at the orderly points where I'd like them to be? Nope, but we're rolling with it. #flexibility

Since the last episode of Does She Ever Sleep?, I've done a comic con that was my best sales event of the year so far, an art festival where water streamed through my tent, enjoyed a hometown art fair with perfect weather and lots of friends, had one signing canceled due to thunderstorms, and did a paid presentation on self publishing at my local library. I've also received the interior illustrations on Nugget #2 and finalized the cover of i9. #progress

Which brings us to ARC reader sign ups for Nugget the Space Chicken and the Haunted Cave of Korabumba. If you have any young readers or are interested in a kids sci-fi story, the sign up form is here. Do I have cover art yet? Nope, but I have a blurb. I'll be sending out ARC copies at some point this week.  #vaguedeadlines 

The mushroom forests and deep caves of Korabumba might be a beautiful home for humans. While exploring the planet, Jasper and Opal's father runs into trouble and calls for help. Their mother is out of range. It's up to Jasper, Opal, and Nugget to find him

They set off to work together on a rescue mission. Except their father down in a deep, dark cave filled with ghosts, fairies, a who knows what else. 

Is the trio brave enough to help their father or will they chicken out?

Let's get to the cover reveal for the adult sci-fi standalone I9, shall we? Tune in next episode for the blurb because I have a cover, but not the blurb. See what I mean about rolling with it?  #coverreveal

The audio narrator is still busy editing chapters of Sahmara so that is currently out of my hands but also in my juggling routine. Woohoo!

If you're not familiar with 

the Insecure Writers Support 

Group, check it out here 

and find links to all the 

other participating writers.

And that brings us to the ISWG portion of this episode. This month's question is: What is the most unethical practice in the publishing industry?

Since a friend is dealing with a troublesome publisher right now, I'm going to say: Not paying authors on time / being transparent with sales / not paying authors at all. 

She signed what sounded like an ideal contract with a publisher she was reading slush for stating they would provide formatting, ISBN, editing, and publication of her novel and all profits would go to her. They paid no advance and would not be taking any split of the royalties. Sounds too be good to be true, right? Yeah, exactly. 

What it did not state was a payment schedule or when sales reports would be relayed. She ordered author copies at cost and was happily out selling her book. Now, I will clarify that the majority of her sales were in person with the books she purchased so she did collect and retain payment on those. What she did not receive was payment or record of any online sales through the publisher's website, Amazon, B&N, etc. And there were sales. Not an astronomical number, but some. Some she wanted to be paid for. Asking a lot, I know.

It was well over a year after her book released before the publisher finally agreed to pay out what was owed and transfer rights to her, washing their hands of the whole hassle of having to track sales and actually pay the author. The crazy thing? They have other authors in house and NO ONE is getting paid what they are due because they aren't even asking. Apparently this is how the publisher is making money. I just can't even. *shaking head* 

Know your contract. Keep on top of your publisher. Ask for what you are owed. Stand up for yourself. #endrant

Release Day: Nugget the Space Chicken and the Dragon of Ishenor

 

It's release day for Nugget the Space Chicken and the Dragon of Ishenor! 

I had so much fun writing this book and watching my daughter's illustration sketches come to life. Now, here we are in print. Woohoo!

Jasper and Opal’s first mission with their scientist parents is to study the world of Ishenor to see if it could be a home for humans. They travel to the planet’s surface with Nugget, their pet chicken, to collect samples. Everyone has a job to do.

While their parents explore the landscape, Opal gathers plants and Jasper collects rocks. Nugget’s job is to stay out of trouble, but hunting for bugs leads her to a lost baby dragon.

Can Opal, Jasper, and Nugget get the dragon home safely before their parents return, or will they all be grounded forever?

If you'd like a preview, I did a reading of the first chapters on Indie Reads this week. It's available on Spotify and YouTube

 

You can find me and Nugget's book at the Third Coast Author and Book Fest today (March 22) in Grand Haven, MI, along with a hundred and some other authors who are taking over the downtown shops.