Showing posts with label KAK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KAK. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Website Mins, Mediums, and Maxs

 This Week's Topic: Author Websites Do's and Don'ts

We all know by now that authors need a home on the web that is theirs and not a social network's, right? Is it enough to have just a FaceBook page? No. A TickTok addy? No. Authors must have their own web destination. I'm in the camp that says authors need to have their own domain name too. Ideally, the domain name is the same as the author name/pen name.

KAKrantz.com Main Page Image
KAKrantz.com Home Page

The whole point of a website for an author is so readers can find a listing of your works. Past, present, upcoming. Thus, at the bare minimum, an author should have:

  • their name
    • and any related pen names 
  • their bio
    • this usually includes an author headshot, short and/or long bio
  • their works
    • listed by genre, by series, by reading order
    • should also include links to buy the works
    • nice to provide a printable list
  • and a means of contact
    • whether it's a form-driven contact page that sends to the author's preferred email address, 
    • links to their social media pages
    • links to their discord, private community, etc 
    • links to podcasts

Ought to haves, but not have-to-haves:

  • One-click means to subscribe to their newsletter
    • Also need the privacy policy page and cookie policy page if you're collecting any information on a user such as email address
  • Press packet 
    • Often incorporated into the About Me page, this includes author headshots/preferred images, short bio, and long bio. This is to help promotion/event organizers have the author's information at their convenience, be it for podcasts, blogs, articles, book clubs, etc.
  • Where to Find Me
    • If the author is touring, either virtually or IRL, a calendar of events/appearances with links to the event pages
Nice to haves, but not necessary:

  • Series Extras
    • Be it term glossaries, character guides, world maps, etc, it's nice to have a place where fans can download the extras that'll help them better enjoy the series.
  • Writing Sample
    • While big retailers offer a "look inside" preview of books, that's for audiences who are on their sites. Folks who came across the author's name before their work can get a sense of writing style from the sample on the author's website.
  • Free Story Download
    • This might be part of the author's newsletter lure (subscribe and get a free story!) or a separate short story to attract potential readers
  • Sell-direct storefront
    • If readers can buy books directly from the author, then those links should be on the book pages and on a unified storefront
  • Other Author-Related Revenue Presence
    • From freelance articles to workshops to Tarot readings to private coaching, etc., if the author has a writing-adjacent service or products, readers want to know

Now, as tempting as it is to put ALL THE THINGS on a website, clutter is an interest killer. The best websites are simple and straightforward, delivering what the reader needs.  After all, the end game is BOOK SALES. 

FWIW, there's a saying in web design that each click costs an additional 10% click-through rate. From a marketing standpoint, we have a "two clicks and they're gone" theory, so we try to put the buy option within two clicks of arriving at the main page. 

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Unloved & Beloved Fantasy Tropes

 This Week's Topic:  Which Tropes Do I Love to Write and Which Do I Loathe?

I don't know if there is a Fantasy trope I loathe to write. The Damsel in Distress probably comes the closest, but I'd totally make it "the tribe/village/town in distress" instead of a TDTL heroine. Avenge My Slaughtered Wife/Mother/Daughter? I hate the conceit that women have to die for men to succeed. That's not to say I don't love a good revenge story; just don't bump off the Important Woman...or the dog. No killing the dog, ever.

I'm wholly in bed with The Mentor trope. Magical artifacts and magical creatures? Pffft, hell yes! Antagonist as former bestie? Love it. Chosen One and The Prophecy? Sure, them's a bedrock of Fantasy. Overpowered Protagonist? Done it. Lost family? Any day, any time. Parallel dimensions/other worlds? Absolutely. Portal? Yaaaas. The Dying of Magic/The Birth of Magic? Yup, yup, yup. My list of beloved tropes is much longer than I'll post, but you get the gist.

The trope I'm too chicken to tackle? Alternate History.  I love reading 'em. Writing 'em? 🐔🐣🐔

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Overthinking and the Blinding Flash of Brilliance

 This Week's Topic: How Do I Stop Overthinking My Writing?

{cuts open skull}

{takes out brain}
{leaves it on desk}
No? Maybe not?
Okay, fine. 

I laughed when I saw this topic because overthinking things is so me. I can spend a whole day in a thought spiral for what amounts to less than a page worth of story. D'oh! What a colossal waste of precious time, right? 

So, how do I stop doing it? Yes, I appreciate that the question is "stop doing" versus "never do."  In accordance with the universal first step, one must recognize there is a problem. For me, that usually comes when a pee break forces me to step away from the computer. I have a habit of mentally checking my progress toward my daily goal during those moments of, erm, seated relief. (Yeah, I'm the girl who starts her day with "what do I have to get done today, what do I want to get done today, and what can I absolutely not do today.") That's usually when I realize I've spent the last two hours reworking the same damn page. When I return to my WiP, I don't let myself look at the mess I've created. I move on. 

Sometime around 2AM, the solution will come to me. 

The second way I realize I'm overthinking the problem is when I MAKE THINGS WORSE. Usually, I'm overthinking a scene or a moment when I'm trying to clarify and/or simplify the information imparted. Somehow in the throes of it, I make things more complex. Again, once I realize what a disastrophy I'm writing, I move on. I force myself to turn the page (or page-down the page?).  The Blinding Flash of Brilliance (BFB™️) will come once my subconscious has had time to noodle on it.

Overthinking a point of your story is bound to happen. The key to working through it is to realize when you've succumbed. Once you know you're caught in the thought spiral, you can break free. Give your subconscious time to figure it out, then you can go back and fix things. You know that process called Editing? Yep. It's where BFBs shine. 


Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Believable Intimacy

 This Week's Topic: How Do I Make My Love Scenes Believable?

Man, it's tough being the one to follow Jeffe, who won Romancelandia's most prestigious award for best romance with Pages of the Mind. Her backlist includes holy-hot-stuff fantasy and contemporary erotica. I write "how to 'splode your enemy's head" kind of books; thus, I kinda wanna cheat and just post a "what she said" link

But, I'm pulling up my ruffled big-girl panties and giving you, dear readers, my $0.04 worth of opinion.

I could be a little shit and say, "I don't write explicit sex scenes," but that would be a lie. I've written 'em, I just haven't tortured the public with them. However, I do write (and have published) scenes of intimacy. They may not be ass-baring, but they are soul-baring. And, yeah, as Jeffe said, the key to believability is to ground the actions, emotions, and personal evolution in the character's character. 

In healthy relationships, vulnerabilities are exposed, acknowledged, and treated with care by the partner.  In healthy relationships, desires are shared both verbally and physically. In healthy relationships, there's give and take, both in dominance and submission--even during vanilla sex. There's a respect between (or among) partners that--in a medium of show vs tell--is absolutely shown.

By contrast, in unhealthy relationships, the opposite is shown. Deliberate disrepect. Intentional hiding  of or trampling over needs. Engagement as a tool of punishment (not kink). Humilation and degradation (again, not as kink). Whether or not anything is being penetrated, the cruel intention spurring the actions is plain. 

In the course of a story, the scene of intimacy is used to either advance character development or to demonstrate character self-sabotage. Sure, if you're aiming to write a believable sex scene involving humans, you'll want to avoid portraying the man as an endless fountain of jizz banging on his mate for hours. Chafe is real, and dudes do have to take a break to rest and reload, ya know. 😇


Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Book Launches: Three Tips

This Week's Topic: What Are My Book Launch Tips?

The most important one? Have fun. Celebrate.

    Really. I'm not being a smartass this time. Whether you're releasing your first book or your hundred-and-first book, release day should include a celebration. Doesn't have to be big, but do recognize your own accomplishment. The book you worked hard on is finally out there. You did it! Yay you! Snarf a cupcake, binge an extra episode, or have a round of drinks with friends. Whatever you consider a treat, go ahead, indulge!

The second most important one? Have reasonable expectations. 

    The only thing wrong with dreaming is mistaking it for reality. Imagining your book-baby will bring in thousands--no, hundreds of thousands--of sales on its first day? {grimace} First week? {cringe}First...year? {cough} Aiming for a best-seller list? NYT or one of Amazon's niche categories? The former is much harder to hit than the latter. Even if you have a deep-pocketed publisher's support, selling 500k+ copies on release day/week isn't reasonable unless you already have established an audience larger than that. Building an audience of that size takes a lot of work and is what most authors are constantly striving towards.

    Already picking out your IRL launch party outfit? Picturing a full house at your local bookstore? Envisioning the line of costumed fans winding through the conference hall waiting for your autograph? Go back and re-read the previous paragraph about having an already established audience. Then do a web search for anecdotes about book signings. Even the famous have sat alone and ignored. Not trying to be a killjoy, just pointing out reality.  If you are invited to sign somewhere, make sure readers can actually buy your books (I know, that should be a given, and yet...). Get a fine-point pen that doesn't bleed and remember to ask how to spell a name instead of assuming anything. 

Don't set yourself up for disappointment by believing the wish-fulfillment fantasies portrayed in movies and TV. Even Roberts and Childs had to build their audiences before making it big. Be aggressive with your goals, but reasonable with your expectations.

The most practical one? Have a plan with built-in flexibility

    Make up a list of To-Do's 100 days before release day. If you plan too far in advance, then you'll have to revise/revisit more than once due to the inevitable changes in technology, changes in the production schedule, changes in what's hot trend-wise, or changes in your life. Know what is within your control and what isn't. Allow wiggle room in your schedule for the sake of your own sanity and the unexpected happening. 

   Pre-Orders: If you're doing a pre-order, you'll have some deliverables around the 90-day mark. Whether pre-orders are worth it, depends on your goals. If you're trying to hit a top-sellers list, then you probably want pre-orders so you can amass sales that are counted on release day. Me? I don't do 'em because I'm not after a single-day or first-week number boost. My audience isn't big enough to come close to hitting the kinds of lists that would drive more sales. 

    Ads: Do invest a bit of time to set up advertising on the big distributors. (Ads really aren't that hard to set up. Refining your ads for maximum ROI is where it gets eye-twitchy.) For those distributors that allow it, make compelling (legible with a call to action) graphics. If your current release is not a stand-alone nor first-in-series, then push the point-of-entry book 60+ days before your release and the series 30 days before release to stir interest in your new book. 

    Social Media: Leading up to release day, don't bother torturing yourself by using social media sites that you don't enjoy using or that you don't use regularly. You probably don't have a large audience there anyway, so you're just pimping into the void. Engagement stats on most platforms are in the fractions of a single percent, and conversions to sales are fractions of those fractions. Promoting there is not worth your effort. If you feel compelled to do so anyway (probably due to a contract), do not barge into established conversations/groups and promote your book (unless explicitly invited to do so). That's how you get haters (and wind up banned from the group). 

    On the sites you do use, if you lead an active audience (group, discord, followers, etc.) with whom you engage frequently, then they're probably cheering for you and would be crushed if you didn't do some fun promotions from which they benefit. This is the time to do virtual launch parties and swag if you can afford it. If you can't afford tangible goods, then go with a free digital copy of your book or gift of your time (but be safe and smart, there are a lot of unpleasant people out there). However, expect less than 10% of those members to actually buy your book. Conversions are more in the 2% range. Yeeeah, it's true, social media isn't great for ROI. So only do it if you enjoy it. 

    Newsletters: Hands down, newsletters offer the best conversion of subscribers to sales at 15%-25%. Those are outstanding numbers in the world of marketing, so this is where to focus your pre- and post-launch efforts. After all, your subscribers asked you to contact them (not to spam them, not to pester them with pointless babble). The topic of newsletters demands multiple posts unto itself, so I'll keep this short by saying if you're doing pre-orders, then you should schedule 2-4 swaps and one broadcast of your own to announce the pre-order. If you're not doing pre-orders, then wait until release day to contact your own subscribers and spread out your swaps. Remember: swaps mean you're obligated to promote the other authors' work in your newsletter in exchange for them promoting your book, so schedule accordingly. Send follow-up newsletters and schedule additional swaps to coincide with discounts you're running.  

    Do NOT spend more than you can afford on advertising, be it CPC, swag, or promo companies.

    Uploads: If you're self-pubbing, my best-practice (though possibly unpopular) piece of advice is to not upload placeholders for the sake of pre-orders. Sure, it's allowed by some distributors, but you're asking for a tech-glitch on release day. Too many authors have experienced their placeholder content being delivered instead of their final product. Spare yourself the nightmare by adjusting your schedule to only put into public that which is ready for the public. Similarly, make sure your book is done-done and uploaded at least two weeks before the distributor's lock-out date. If there are tech-gremlins at the point of upload, you've got time to panic tweak.

There you have it, my tips for launching your book. Kinda easy, no?


Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Book-Related Income: Having a Platform of Monetary Value

 This Week's Topic: How Do I Make Book-Related Income Not from Book Sales?

Uhm.
{sucks on upper lip}
I don't.

As Jeffe mentioned on Sunday, this week's topic is prompted by the 2023 Author's Guild Author Income Survey. The survey defines "other author-related income" as being earned from work that includes: "editing, blogging, teaching, speaking, book coaching, copy writing and journalism."

No one on the SFF Seven gets paid for blogging here nor does the blog generate revenue. Yes, that's the reason you're not inundated by ads and newsletter subscription pop-ups. We freely share our experiences with other authors who might be feeling a little lost or a lot of frustrated--and every emotion in between--because we value our community and can commiserate with the assorted challenges of publishing. Since there is no one way of being an author, our dear readers get up to seven different perspectives on how/why each of us has approached a particular aspect of the craft or business.

Why am I not pursuing the alternate-income avenue? Do I not like money? Pfft. I'm not yet at the stage of having the bona fides to establish a platform of monetary value. For the time being, my attention is focused on writing the books to build a backlist that produces the sales that would allow me to feel as though I have sufficient success and insights of value to prospective students from which I could craft a for-fee class/workshop. I look forward to the day I can do that. No, really. Although I'm an introvert, I love public speaking and have led many workshops in my non-writer lives since I was a yewt.  (Long-time readers of this blog may recall I wanted to be an actor when I grew up. To me, public speaking is acting while educating through engagement.)

One day. Yep. One day a KAKler workshop will be a thing. {evil laugh}




Tuesday, January 23, 2024

The Evolving Writer: A Foundation in Romance

 This Week's Topic: Has My Writing Changed? How?

I'd like to think my writing has improved, though I suppose that's a bit subjective. I do know that after two decades of crafting stories, I'm more aware of my weaknesses, my stylistic habits (which are not to be confused with my voice), and my creative goals. That's a long-winded way of saying I know me better. Useful, no? 

Has my writing changed in ways perceptible to others? Well, I started off writing romances. PNR-Shifter and High Fantasy (what is now known as Romantasy) to be specific. Romance is where I learned to place importance on developing characters and relationships against a fantastical backdrop. Telling a story in dual POVs that express unique perspectives of shared situations pushed me to think through goals and consequences and how they must vary by character. This unquestionably helped me improve as an author.

I moved away from Romance because I wanted to tell broader stories around a central character where the development of a core intimate relationship wasn't the main plot. That's not a diss on romance; I still love the genre and am a big fan of the authors who write it well. I've blogged before about how my storytelling didn't deliver on romance reader expectations and how important it is for an author to meet those expectations. With my foundations firmed thanks to Romancelandia, I'm much more confident when writing Fantasy. 

So, yes, my writing has changed since I started my journey. I thought I was a Romance writer, but I discovered that I'm really more of a High and Contemporary Fantasy sort of storyteller. 

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Hobbies: I'm Going to Un-Mess That S#%& Up!

 This Week's Topic: Secret Skills - Hobbies That Take the Pressure Off Writing

I really love Jeffe's description on Sunday of a creative's hobby being a non-monetized artistic/creative outlet. The importance of giving ourselves permission to not monetize our every effort feels like we're breaking a rule of The Hustle or as if we'll lose our self-employment "privilege." Yet, as Jeffe mentioned, it's imperative for authors to have means to clear our minds, to allow ourselves to rest in a state other than sleep. 

Three Cheers for Hobbies!

Me? I enjoy decluttering/organizing other people's stuff -- defeating chaos soothes me. Weird right? Yeah, you'd think that's a stress-inducing hobby rather than a stress reliever, but hey, we long ago established I'm playing with chipped marbles. 

I also like painting. Walls. Rooms. Signs. The practice of transformation with a tangible end result (that takes less time to produce than a novel) is soooooo satisfying. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a muralist. I'm not that talented. I've made attempts. I've also made spectacular failures. But that's the beauty of a hobby, it's judgement-free learning (at least, for me. My dog has opinions, sure, but they're mostly about the weather and whether she wants to come inside).

When I engage in my hobbies, I check all the way out of writing and go deep into the work-avoidance other project. I am fully committed to (un)messing that shit up! 

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Creative Development: By Book or By...

This week's topic: Do I look for new skills to try each year or with each book?

Intentionally? By series. I definitely like to attempt something new-to-me with each series for three reasons: 

  1. I'm always trying to improve as a writer
    • There's a difference between the natural growth that's a result of practice versus the deliberate pursuit of a challenge, of reaching for a higher rung. 
      • Book-to-book within a series my storytelling inevitably improves as I become more comfortable with the characters, the world, and the conflicts.
      • Series-to-series I push myself to take on a creative challenge. Sometimes I succeed (and those series make it to print). Sometimes I fail (and those messy attempts never leave my cloud storage).
    • I keep an eye on the higher rungs that are my creative goals. Similar to what Jeffe mentioned on Sunday, there are series I want to write but lack the chops to do my concept justice. Those partially drafted Book Ones languish in notebooks or on my cloud, waiting for the day I have the skills to properly convey my vision.
  2. It prevents me from writing "the same book with different names." 
    • I don't feel I've reached my fullest potential as an author yet. I certainly don't want to lose my creative drive by repeating a storytelling formula that's comfortable or easy. I like the excitement of challenging myself and improving.
      • Note: There's nothing wrong with developing a storytelling formula that works best for you (and your readers) and applying it over and over and over. There are plenty of famous authors who use a tried-and-true method to great financial success. Many readers find comfort in knowing exactly what they'll get from that author.
  3. No Bait & Switch
    • Once I introduce a series, I don't want to change the voice, style, or structure whilst in the throes of the greater story arc. I feel that's an injustice to the reader, a violation of the storytelling promise I made in the opening book.
    • By contrast, I don't want to be locked into a specific storytelling style for the rest of my career. I feel that changing my style from series to series is a clear enough indicator to the reader of Achtung! Different Book Ahead!
Sometimes we grow as authors through intentional acts, and sometimes we grow through myopic focus (hello, contractual deadlines) where we don't realize the breadth of what we've accomplished until it's behind us. In whatever manner your progress happens, I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on how far you've come--even if it's not as far as you'd hoped--and be proud of yourself. You did it. Congratulations! 


Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Inspiration & The Value of Social Media

 This Week's Topic: 3 Sources of Inspiration

Happy 2024! On this second day of the new year, some of us are reluctantly emerging from the haze of excessive consumption, questionable decisions, and the bitter confirmation that we are, in fact, too old to keep doing "this." Whether "this" is guzzling a magnum of champagne by yourself or writing 30 books in a year, you're not alone. Across the globe, people woke up not to New Year's resolutions but to New Year's realizations.

I salute you, my fellow members of Team Realization.

I realized that something I detest has somehow become something on which I...rely. 

{huge dramatic sigh} 

Social media has become the means through which I discover my inspiration. My first two sources of inspiration haven't changed no matter my age or circumstance: music and folklore. However, novels and movies have taken a step back as social media swaggered into third place. 

I know, I know. I am pained to admit it.
Yet for you, dear readers, I do confess.

Improved information accessibility via the evolutions of technology and the intense social pressure to perform for the world if one has a mote of talent (for better and worse) permit me to fall down deep, deep, deep rabbit holes chasing videos or teasers from amazing creatives whose works I discovered due to a post on social media. 99% of the time I didn't discover those artists directly from their feeds, but through others linking to a post about an article about a TikTok about a technique, a myth, a song, a story, an animation, etc.

That's the kind of viral marketing every author (and everyone selling anything) dreams of happening. It's not a pathway of discovery that the source can measure or of which they are even aware. True, this fan-based trail is typically rife with click-monetization, yet it creates a symbiosis in the discovery environment. Truer still, the creative at the end of the trail probably sees less than 0.0001% of the monetization (if any money at all). Despite that, the feat of being discovered in a sea of billions holds immense value. When talking heads speak of social media being necessary for creatives, this is why. This elusive interlinking Gordian knot of passions, fans, creatives, and products is wonderful even when the artist never knows if or how their efforts are working. 

*Note: This description of the value of fan-directed, interest-related discovery in no way supports the pirating, scraping, or theft of any works or content. Nor does it support the exploitative practice of "exposure as payment."

To my fellow authors and artists who feel like they're shouting into the void, keep posting. You never know when your talent will fuel another creative's inspiration. 

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Cheers to the Changing of the Year

 This Week's Topic: Thoughts on the Closing of the Year/Start of the New Year

As we say goodbye to 2023 and look ahead to 2024

I wish you all 

Good Health

Good Fortune

and

Good Company

Cheers to the changing of the year!

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

A Peaceful Pause

 This Week's Topic: On My Mind, the Winter Edition

Image: Winterscape and text reading "a peaceful pause."

It's the time of year when I give myself permission to not write, to pause marketing analysis, and to back off ad management. There's no guilt for missing word-count goals. No stress over skipping editing pages. My book discounts and winter ad campaigns were launched at the beginning of the month and are slated to run through the end of January (yes, I do winter campaigns versus holy day campaigns).  I check my sales mostly because it's a habit and not because I will do anything to adjust campaigns.

When writing full-time--or any type of self-employment--we often forget to give ourselves permission to take a break. As creatives, it's imperative we step back, step away, and step into a place of regeneration and relaxation. Too many of us attempt to keep our work schedules during times of the year that we know will demand a lot of us outside our fictional worlds. Whether it's family obligations, religious observations, charity deliverables, or community interactions, the end of the calendar year is exceptionally taxing. Fighting the inevitable isn't worth my health or my sanity. Thus, I give myself permission to set aside my writing--both the creation and the business--to participate in the season of giving. Giving my time, my emotion, and my cooperation to those who've supported me throughout the year. 

Now, now, I don't give away all my time. I still maintain my restful hours. I even claim a few extras. Because, as stimulating as it is to reconnect with loved ones, it's also exhausting. This recluse can only handle so much of...people.

This winter, dear readers, I wish you the serenity of a peaceful pause.

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Inigo Montoya and My Favorite Website

 This Week's Topic: What Website Do I Use The Most While Writing?

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.--William Goldman, The Princess Bride

I am guilty of this far more than I care to admit. There's a point at which contextual clues fail, and my vocabulary is filled with those results. Turns out, close is not actually good enough when one is the author instead of the reader. My greater foible is homophones. Greater still, straight up bad spelling. Then there's the whole When to Hyphenate issue. We won't discuss the CapItaLiZatIon iN FanTasY chaos that gives grammarians GERD.

I really ought to send my copy editor an Inigo Montoya plushy. 

{sheepish}


Tuesday, November 28, 2023

New Fantasy Romance & Old Fiery Fantasy

Jeffe's latest in her Renegades of Magic fantasy romance series is out today!

TWISTED MAGIC: Renegades of Magic Book 3
Their love makes them stronger together... 
Unless the world rips them apart

BUY IT NOW: Amazon | Kobo | Apple | Direct from Jeffe




This Week's Topic: Winter Holiday Promo!


LARCOUT
Fire Born, Blood Blessed: Book 1
SPFBO 2016 Finalist!

Blood-beings can be chattel or char.

Fire seethes through the veins of every Morsam, demanding domination and destruction. Combat is a hobby. Slaughtering the inferior blood-beings is entertainment. Life is a repetitious cycle in the prison fashioned by the gods. But mix-race abomination Vadrigyn os Harlo suspects the key to freedom lies in safeguarding the blood-beings; until her blood-born mother uses foreign magic to turn the Morsam against her. Betrayed, bound, and broken, Vadrigyn struggles against the dying of her essential fire. Yet the ebbing flames unleash the dormant magic of her mixed heritage…

The magic to destroy free will.

Seized by the gods and dumped in the desert nation of Larcout to stop history from repeating, Vadrigyn discovers her mother’s legacy of treason and slaughter still festers. To survive the intrigues of the royal court, the roiling undercurrents of civil war, and the gods themselves, Vadrigyn must unravel the conspiracy behind her mother’s banishment. But manipulating free will unleashes a torrent of consequences.

If she fails the gods, she will return to the Morsam prison, stripped of all magic and all hope.

If she succeeds, she can rule a nation.

Kasthu. Roborgu. Inarchma.

Live. Learn. Burn. 

Buy It Now: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks |Kobo 


Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Gratitude: Pi the Pumpkin Queen

This Week's Topic:
Gratitude: Three Cheers for Writing Buddies (be they furry or friendly)!

Regular readers of this blog know about Pi, my constant companion, my furry beast, my "get off your ass and walk me before you develop a clot" timer, my pestiest writing buddy. 

Pi (Dog) with Pumpkins
Pi the Pumpkin Queen

During this week of conscious gratitude, we thank you, dear readers, for supporting us throughout the years past, present, and future.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Oh The Expectations I Wish I'd Known

 This Week's Topic: What Do I Wish I'd Known Before I Wrote My First Book?

Let's see, the first book I wrote (and finished) was a shifter PNR. It was fun to write, but it got no love from agents or editors -- and, in hindsight, I'm glad they rejected me. What I'd written didn't meet romance-reader expectations. What I'd written could maybe be called romantic fantasy, but not fantasy romance. Here are four things I'd wish I'd known:

  1. The OTP meeting needs to happen in the first chapter 
    • I'd waited until ch 5, building on the Jaws-esq dunuh dunuh dunuh approach (closer, closer, closer, Meet Cute)
  2. They need to spend 99% of their time on-page together
    • I'd structured it in the way I like my personal romances--with time spent apart, not living in each other's back pockets.
  3. A short synopsis is not my enemy; it is a tool to ensure my plot is structured and complete. 
  4.  That there was such a thing as readers' genre expectations. 
    • hahaha, zomg, {face palm} I can't believe I didn't know that
It's been almost two decades since I started writing as a career, so uh, safe to say, I've learned some things along the way. 

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

VOTE and Ad Classes

Before I jump into the Topic of the Week, I'm getting out my soapbox for my annual plea to our US readers to GO VOTE. If you haven't cast your ballot early, please, please, please go to your assigned polling place and VOTE today. Even though it's not a year for a presidential election, so much still needs your say on the local level. Some of the nastiest legislation gets snuck through in off-presidential years because voter turnout is low and the citizens aren't paying attention. We cannot afford to "sit this one out." Whether it's your school board or gubernatorial race, approving liquor licenses or women's healthcare, issues on the ballot matter. 


 This Week's Topic: Class List: What are we learning and from whom?

I've been taking ad classes from the Zon and FB 'cause it's their platforms, so I consider them the experts. There are lots and lots of self-proclaimed advertising platform experts out there, yet a paltry few offer insight you can't get for free from the companies that own the platforms. Once in a while, the monstrosities run book-specific advertising classes and I hop on those toot-sweet. A lot is stuff I know, but as the companies release new features, I want to stay on top of those so I'm not wasting $$. 

I'm also subscribed to David Gaughran's free best-practices newsletter. He's been in the book biz for decades with a good reputation, and his advice--on the whole--is useful. YMMV. About one out of every ten newsletters has a gem that makes me jot down a note to "try this." What I like most about his newsletter is the inside scoop on when/how distributors are changing things on the tech or policy sides. Obviously, that's not in every newsletter, but when there is something coming, he's one of the first to know and to put it into "this is how it affects authors" terms. 

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Happy Halloween!

 This Week's Topic: On My Mind

What's on my mind today? Pfft. Sugar highs, candlelight, and spooky sights!



Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Fantasy Covers: Elements Convey Sub-Genre

 This Week's Topic: Judging a Book by Its Cover
Cover Trends and What I Look for as an Author and a Reader

Hell yeah, I judge a book by its cover. If the cover looks like crap, I'm assuming the story was written like crap too. I don't have to use the "Look Inside" feature to know it wasn't professionally edited, either. Life's too short and my TBR pile is too big to waste time on a book with a shitty cover. A good cover is more than well-rendered art, there's the matter of the appropriate font too. I've seen eye-catching art ruined by bad font, and I weep. Anyone trying to resurrect ye ol' WordArt should be shot from a cannon, FWIW. Bad font screams "amateur" and "badly written content inside." 

Buuuuut, what about those covers that look like every.other.cover. in the genre? Are they bad for being too much alike? Ahahahah. Welcome to the wobbly line between delivering on reader expectations and trying to stand out in a listing of millions. Urban Fantasy covers tend to look a lot alike, and that's because readers identify that similarity with the genre so authors/artists deliver for the sake of sales (chicken->egg->chicken, yes). The core elements of a UF cover are: 

  • Hot chick (or dude) on the cover
  • Magic representation (aura, array, shifter-sidekick, etc.)
  • Urban-ish nightscape
  • Weapon (8 times out of 10)
    • A gun or a sword are the most likely, though there is an occasional dagger or crossbow.  
Does the formulaic cover mean the book is formulaic too? Uh, maybe. Does it mean the story hits the big UF tropes? Probably. That's what the artist and author are trying to convey with the composition of elements on the cover. Wanna read a shifter novel? Look for an animal on the cover. Wanna read a vampire book? Look for the fang with a blood dribble. Witches? Pentagrams or familiars. Angels? Wings. Demons? Serpentine eyes. As long as the humanoid on the cover doesn't look like remedial Poser and the other elements have been properly layered and blended to create a cohesive picture, then we're headed in the right direction.

On the other hand, Fantasy books--be they High, Epic, Grimdark, Hopepunk, RPG, etc.,-- have a wider pool of "typical" from which to draw. Some don't have people on the cover at all, it's mostly symbols and swirls. Some have the caped man in various landscapes. Some have brilliantly illustrated--straight from a graphic novel--look to them. Regardless of the composition, it's the quality of the art and the appropriateness of the font that matters. Fantasy readers are picky as fuck about quality. It's not a genre where DIY covers are a good idea (unless you're a professional designer/artist in your other life). 

When it comes to using AI art on covers, keep in mind that most of the art produced by AI is stolen from artists and then remixed by algorithms; therefore, it doesn't have the appropriate commercial image licensing that's legally necessary for book covers. Yes, yes, yes. I know authors are publishing books with AI covers, but just because it's possible doesn't mean it's legal or ethical. 



Tuesday, October 17, 2023

I'm Not The Poster Child for Ergonomics

 This Week's Topic: Tools of the Trade Ergonomic Edition
Split keyboard or straight, laptop or desktop, phone, voice-to-text, etc.

This is another post where you'll likely not want to emulate me. Despite being a middle-aged broad, I don't give much thought to ergonomics and my writing setup. 

I don't write at a desk or a table, which is where a lot of ergonomic preventative measures are applied. Instead, I am Goldilocks, sitting in whatever comfy recliner, armchair, or couch fits my mood. Sometimes I use a cushioned lap desk to elevate my screen; though most often I just eat more holiday cookies to fluff up my thighs. {cough} {looks askance}

I write on my laptop (backlit keyboard + number pad). I don't own a desktop, and the few times I've used my phone for working on the WiP were total disastrophies. I've had the big ol' 18-inch screen and the small tablet 11-inch, but find a 14-inch or 15-inch is the sweet spot for text-heavy work. The only thing I hate about composing on my laptop is that the trackpad is centered under the QWERTY keyboard instead of the whole keyboard. I'm forever right-clicking when I want to left-click because of that. (Yes, I'm a PC user. Yes, I must have the number pad or I'll really go 'nanners.)

I don't use voice-to-text for drafting; though, that may be a "yet" statement. Mostly because speaking the punctuation breaks my train of thought faster than seeing the world's longest run-on sentence on my screen. For me, there's something almost subconsciously affirming about the clickety-clack of typing that keeps me in the creative thrall. That said, I do use text-to-voice for editing. I like having the computer read my mss back to me so I can catch missing and redundant words, along with nonsensical statements. 

So far, I'm fortunate to not suffer carpal tunnel, so I don't need a wrist brace. I am diligent about getting up and taking a short walk every two hours to avoid blood clots (my dog is trained to pester me at the appointed hours).  

Looking up/away frequently from my screen to allow my eyes to shift focus happens whenever I think, so I've got that guidance well covered. My computer screen is permanently set to "night mode" to minimize blue light. Recently, the news that viewing the world through rose-colored glasses helps relieve light sensitivity for migraine sufferers crossed my feeds. The power of FL-41 tint could be pure marketing hype or it could be scientifically proven, either way, I just received my pink glasses. 

So, uhm, yeah, thar' be the ways this couch potato avoids the ouchies of sitting on her ass all day. 😇