Debut Year? I Only Remember the Sparkles

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“If I could go back to my debut year…”  Um, why on Earth would I want to do that LOL?

My debut year was fun and sparkles and I DID get The Call, the actual CALL, from Angela James at Carina Press, to say they wanted to acquire Priestess of the Nile, which I had sent in response to a note on their website about wanting Ancient World romances. I was basically incoherent on the phone with Angela that day because I was so excited and thrilled.

That first year was so much fun because I had no expectations, knew  nothing really about the publishing industry or the ebook industry – Priestess came out as an ebook and an audiobook in 2012 but I did understand that status from the getgo (i.e. there’d be no print version) – and it was all fun and exciting. I think my view of the publishing world was still somewhere between Jo of Little Women up in her attic writing for a penny a word and Joan Wilder in “Romancing the Stone”, you know? I didn’t belong to RWA, I wasn’t in any author groups online, I only knew one other published author at the time.

I had a fulltime career at the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the business side of the house and this, having Priestess published, was a lifelong dream for me. In 2012 I also self-published Wreck of the Nebula Dream (“Titanic in space…”), so there I was with not one but two books out there and more to come in due time, I was sure. I had READERS. I had REVIEWS, even one from RT magazine. Oh my gosh.

In that debut year I learned about blogging, the ins and outs of social media, fell in love with twitter,  worked with a fabulous editor (Allison Dasho), I joined RWA, I went to the national conference and met PEOPLE, I had a Carina Press balloon on my signing table, the Harlequin people came and talked to me, I was actually in the same room as Nalini Singh, signing books (the conference was in Anaheim so there were local people I l knew who came, who kindly had me sign for them). I was too shy to actually approach Nalini, which is amusing to me now and she is the sweetest person, easy to talk with. Her table was actually EMPTY of fans for a few minutes while she sat there and I was still too shy to walk up to talk to her! But then I was just in awe of breathing the same actual air as my favorite author.

I met JEFFE! And she was such a mentor to me, helping me figure out various things…she was very patient with all my questions.

So that debut year was all kinds of fun for me, in part because I didn’t have expectations about anything. I didn’t want an agent. I wasn’t angling for a contract with a traditional publisher. I had no thought of being able to quit the challenging and enjoyable day job. I was simply basking in the state of actually being a published author.

Now, if it was all so much fun, then you may ask why I don’t want to go back to 2012?

Well, I only got the two books out that year. I wrote another one for Carina, got a Revise & Resubmit letter, which was something of a surprise to me (welcome to the world of publishing LOL), and even after they did acquire it, the process to get it published was wayyyy longer than ever-impatient I expected…I decided self-publishing was my thing and scifi romance was my primary genre…I got bitten by the bug to hey, maybe work up to being a full time author (which took me three more years to accomplish)….

So the debut year was a very special time in my life and my memory, and I cherish all the experiences but I have no desire to relive it again. I like new adventures. I’m happy with having more detailed and concrete goals as an author, I like being deep in the scifi romance author community, I love self-publishing…lots more stories to tell and I’m always moving forward.

But thanks again to Carina Press for my start, and for the memories!

Dear Author, Please Stop

Dear Author,

You wrote the thing! Good for you! Now, you're going to fling that thing into the bright sky and see if it will fly.

I want you to stop.

No, no. By all means, hit publish or accept that contract - whatever is going to get your book out into the world, do it. What I want to do is tell you what I wish someone had told me.

Stop being a people pleaser if you are one.

Remember why you started writing in the first place. Whether it was to entertain yourself, or keep yourself company, or to right a wrong done in another story - no matter the reason, at some point, writing became your own little act of rebellion. Maybe sedition. It's a portion of yourself that refuses to bend to the dictates of your society and your culture. It's the part of you that you reserve for you. Keep that firmly in mind and in your heart.

Once you hit publish, your story may grow wings. Or it may crash and burn. Or it may flounder in obscurity. You have no control over how your thing is received. But if you're a people pleaser, you'll spend too much time and energy obsessing over why someone liked it/didn't like it/failed to notice it. And that will warp your relationship with your stories. Eventually, it will warp your relationship with yourself.

So stop being a people pleaser. Only one person needs to love your stories. You. If you do, then and only then is it possible for anyone else to love them, too. It isn't a guarantee that everything you produce will meet with unconditional love. It likely won't. What is guaranteed is that if you allow people pleasing to drive your writing, no one will be happy. Least of all you.

Love,
Me

PS. Debut year? WTH? Every single book you release is a debut. It's all new. It's all fun. It's all scary and overwhelming and guaranteed something will go sideways because of all the moving parts. But if you keep writing, you have infinite chances to roll out the perfect debut. Even if it's of your 67th book.

New Release EMBRACE THE ROMANCE: PETS IN SPACE 3

This is an exciting week for me because we’ve released our third annual Pets In Space anthology! My 41K word novel in the collection is a new Sectors scifi romance entitled Star Cruise: Mystery Dancer and I’ve taken a futuristic look at the ‘Anastasia’ urban legend. Is my princess the only survivor of a terrible massacre? Or is she an imposter? I also created a three eyed alien genie ‘cat’ as my scifi pet this year.

Anthology Blurb:

Pets in Space™ is back! Join us as we unveil eleven original, never-before-published action-filled romances that will heat your blood and warm your heart! New York Times, USA Today and Award-winning authors S.E. Smith, Anna Hackett, Ruby Lionsdrake, Veronica Scott, Pauline Baird Jones, Carol Van Natta, Tiffany Roberts, Alexis Glynn Latner, E D Walker, JC Hay, and Kyndra Hatch combine their love for Science Fiction Romance and pets to bring readers sexy, action-packed romances while helping our favorite charity. Proud supporters of Hero-Dogs.org, Pets in Space™ authors have donated over $4,400 in the past two years to help place specially trained dogs with veterans. Open your hearts and grab your limited release copy of Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space™ 3 today!

STAR CRUISE: MYSTERY DANCER blurb:  Tassia Megg is a woman on the run after the death of her elderly guardian. Her search to get off the planet in a hurry comes when chance directs her to an open dance audition for the luxury cruise liner Nebula Zephyr’s resident troupe. If there is one thing Tassia can do, it is dance!

Security Officer Liam Austin is suspicious of the newest performer to join the Comettes. She shows all the signs of being a woman on the run and seems to fit the Sectors-wide broadcast description of a missing thief, accused of stealing priceless artifacts. As he gets to know Tassia during the cruise, he starts to wonder if she’s something more – a long vanished princess in hiding from deadly political enemies of her family perhaps? And what’s the story with the three-eyed feline companion other crew members swear Tassia brought aboard the ship? Does the animal even exist?

As the ship approaches its next port of call, all the issues come to a boil and Liam must decide if he’ll step in to help Tassia or betray her. Life is about to get very interesting aboard the Nebula Zephyr as Liam tries to uncover the truth. Could F’rrh, the peculiar alien cat he has been hearing about, be the key to the mystery and Tassia’s fate?

The excerpt – Tassia explains part of her story for the first time:

Remembering his previous intuition that she was on the run and hiding secrets, he held her tight. “I need to know the whole story now, sweetheart, so I can protect you. Help you. Before we have to explain anything to Captain Fleming.”

Tassia took a deep breath, set the mug on the table with a thump, and sat straight. “I’ll have to tell the captain so I might as well start by telling you.” She gazed deep into his eyes. “I trust you.”

“Tell me what?” Nothing she could say was going to change his feelings for her but he sensed major trouble might lie ahead. No matter what challenges Tassia had, he’d stand with her and do his best to defend and protect her.

Raising her head as if she wore a crown, she said, “I’m the Imperial Princess Alynnskaya Tassiamilla Oleavna, sole survivor of the mass assassination that sparked the Ruatsar Rebellion.”

He stared at her, not sure he’d heard correctly, waiting for her to clarify the oddly timed joke, and then he realized she was deadly serious. She was the embodiment of the persistent urban legend, whispering through the stars, telling of the mysterious survival of one member of the doomed family.

“It’s a long story, but the RNR forces have been hunting for me almost my entire life.” Her voice was weary and her hands shook. “They’ve also been trying to regain the crown jewels, which the enemy believes I possess, but whatever bits of jewelry I had were sold long ago for food, a roof over our heads, or passage to the next solar system by the woman who was my rescuer and guardian angel.” She watched him. “I’m trying to reach asylum at the court of my great aunt, but it’s been a long and difficult journey through many Sectors.”

BUY LINKS

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Website: https://www.petsinspaceantho.com

Pets in Space™ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PetsInSpace/

Letter to my pre-debut self

Dear Me on April 3, 2017,

Tomorrow your first book will be available for sale. Go you, kiddo. You'll get flowers from Christa, and Sloane will drive you all over town from B&N to B&N so you can sign all the paperbacks in Austin. Your writer friends will text and tweet congratulations. Your family will take you out for dinner and pretend you're famous. The whole experience will be a blur of wonder, a party, the sweet fruit of years of hope and work and passion.

Don't look at rankings. Don't look at reviews. Don't think about the next day or the next book or the next anything. Just enjoy the moment. Enjoy the people who make the moment happen.

And when you wake up Wednesday morning, keep on not looking, not at any of it. Because guess what? Nothing will have changed. You'll still be a nobody in the giant soup of writerly folk. You'll still have to work, to struggle, to hope, to fail. You will still have exactly what you had going into this: some amazing and supportive friends and family and a spark that makes you want to tell stories.

Basically what I'm saying is that the debut changes nothing. It's neither an ending nor a beginning -- you've been writing a long time, and it's not like you're going to stop anytime soon. The debut -- the day, the year, the book -- is a nice marker on a longer, bigger, more complicated path.

Enjoy what you can, and keep your expectations to a minimum.

And most of all, just write the next damn book.

So much love,
Me of 2018

p.s. -- Did you guys see that Jeffe Kennedy has a new book out this week? And Marshall Ryan Maresca had one come out last week. SFF Seven is killing it, people. Both are fantasy writers, and I think we could all use a bit of escape from the real world right now.

Release Day: THE ARROWS OF THE HEART by @JeffeKennedy

Fans of fantasy romance rejoice! The latest installment in Jeffe's award-winning Uncharted Realms series is out today!  🎉📘🎉

THE ARROWS OF THE HEART
The Uncharted Realms Book 4

As the Twelve Kingdoms and their allies are drawn toward war, a princess cast aside must discover a purpose she never dreamed of…

Karyn af Hardie behaved like a proper Dasnarian wife. She acquiesced, she accepted, she submitted. Until her husband gave her a choice: their loveless, unconsummated royal marriage—or her freedom. Karyn chose freedom. But with nowhere to run except into the arms of Dasnaria’s enemies, she wonders if she’s made a mistake. She wants love, security, a family. She can’t imagine finding any of it among the mercurial Tala.

Worst of all is Zyr. The uninhibited shapeshifter is everywhere she looks. He’s magnetic, relentless, teasing and tempting as if she’s free to take her pleasure where she wishes. As if there isn’t a war rising before them, against a vile and demanding force far stronger than they. But with Karyn’s loyalty far from certain, Zyr offers her only chance to aid the defense—a dangerous gambit to seek out a land not seen in centuries, using clues no one can decipher. Together, they’ll have every opportunity to fail—and one chance to steal something truly precious…

BUY IT NOW:   Amazon  |  B&N 

Read an Excerpt 

Debut Year

So, reality:

My debut year was two years in the making. I sold my first ever tale to Clive Barker's Hellraiser, a comic book that came out from Epic Comics (a division of Marvel). I spent the next three months after it was accepted waiting to hear what issue it would appear in (fifteen as I recall) and then waited another  twenty months months waiting or the story to get printed.

During that rime I was not idle. I did my best to use that sale as a springboard to other sales. I did a lot of work for White Wolf Games Studios, and I did some writing and interviews for Game Shop News. By the time that debut had taken place, I was knee deep in articles and had four game supplements come out. Such is the nature of the beast.

I am extremely proud of the work that came out. i am delighted to this day about my little tale "Of Love, Cats & Curiosity." But if i'm being honest I never stopped to celebrate other than a very quick yelp of excitement when I got the news that I had made my first professional sale.

The Myth of the Debut Year

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is "If I could go back to my Debut Year..." You can tell I didn't suggest this one because I don't believe in the "Debut Year."

See, the "Debut Year" is a bit of magical, sparkle-pony mythology of Author Land.

This is how the myth goes:

One day a writer receives "The Call" where an editor offers the Big Book Deal. The writer's First Book comes out - their Debut Book - and they have their Debut Year. It's a time of glory and terror and dancing sparkle ponies. The writer is hopefully toasted as the New Big Thing. Reviews always discuss the book in terms of it being the author's First Book. And every mention of the author after that will note their First Book.

All of this is a fictionalization. We're novelists, after all! But I think it's also a damaging bit of mythology, so I'd like to discuss why.

First, let me break this down in reality.

1. All of this is cast in traditional publishing terms. Not only that, it's pretty much only for deals with the Big Five. So, only authors who publish their first book (see caveats to this) with the Big Five get an experience anything close to the Debut Year.

2. Almost nobody gets "The Call," even though you still hear people talk about it. If you're working with traditional publishing, you'll almost certainly be working with an agent. Those exchanges happen first via email. Your agent may call with exciting news, but very rarely - even vanishingly rarely - is there a single phone call with the final deal news. This is a fictionalization that makes it sound good.

3. Not many authors get a Big Book Deal. You just hear about the ones who do. And, because it's a Big Book Deal, the publisher puts a lot of marketing behind the book, so you hear about that, too. But hey - it's a book deal and that's fabulous!

4. But, you know what? It's one book deal. If you plan to make a career as an author, there will be more book deals. Lots of them. You might also self-publish or do that instead. We tend to celebrate "Firsts" of all kinds, but there's no particular magic to them. (Besides that you're a newbie, which is likely the point of this topic, but I'm ignoring that. You'll find out why. Stick with me.)

5. There is a lot of terror. Moments of glory. Mostly a lot of work. Spoiler alert: No sparkle ponies.

6. Some writers get to be the Big New Thing, which is super cool. Most don't. Even those that do? Well, like prom queens and MVPs, there's a finite shelf life to being one, and there's a replacement coming the following year, if not sooner.

7. The "First Book" is a myth I'd really like to see die.

• Most writers have written many books before their first published one.
• Most writers have written and published extensively before their first published novel - poems, essays, other nonfiction, short stories, novellas, etc. By making a big deal about the first novel, we're elevating it above all other forms.
• Because they understand the "magic" of the debut, very often publishers will ask an author to adopt a pseudonym and present the initial book under that name as a first book by a debut author. All smoke and mirrors.
• In new publishing landscape, an author's first book is much more likely to be self-published or published by a small/digital-first publisher. These don't get the same splash.

The reason I think this mythology of the Debut Year is damaging is that any author who doesn't get this particular brass ring ends up feeling less than. Because this is most authors - I want to say 95% or more - that makes a lot of people laboring under a false perception of being lesser.

For myself, my "First Book" was WYOMING TRUCKS, TRUE LOVE, AND THE WEATHER CHANNEL, an essay collection published by a university press back in 2004. A lot of those essays had been published in literary journals and magazines - including Redbook, my big score - so the collection wasn't even my first publication. 

After that...

[insert montage of time passing here]

...when I transitioned into fiction, my "first book" was a digitally published novella. My first novel-length work was published by Carina, an imprint of Harlequin, also a digital-first publisher.

My first print deal was with Kensington, for The Twelve Kingdoms trilogy. The first book, THE MARK OF THE TALA, was my 4th novel-length publication, my 2nd print book, my 13th fiction publication, and I have no idea what number it would be in overall number of creative works.

The first book in my first Big Five book deal, THE ORCHID THRONE, comes out next summer. It will be something like my 30th novel-length publication.

The point is, I never had a Debut Year.

Okay, yeah - maybe we could say it was 2004, when Wyoming Trucks came out. That's why I put that photo at the top, because that's at my signing and launch party, where I'm clearly bright-eyed, cheeks flushed with excitement.

It was a great night.

And good things came of that book.

But I was never the New Big Thing. I didn't get rich or famous. The only sparkle pony I have is a plastic one that an author friend gave me.

What's most important is that this is just fine! My career has grown slowly and steadily, which I will absolutely take over what some of my friends have gone through - a Debut Year that burns fast and hot, but ends in ashes and reinvention. Building a career through small presses and thoughtful self-publishing is a viable path - often a far better one - than shooting for the moon and the Big Book Deal. Even if you *do* get the Big Book Deal, that's no guarantee of the future.

So, the others of the SFF Seven might have more to offer on the actual topic. But when I consider going back to my Debut Year, I don't know when that was.

Even if I did know, and could go back - I wouldn't change a thing.

What's Stopping You?

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Our topic this week is what do we say to people who tell us, “I’ve always wanted to write a book.” I think my fellow SFF7 bloggers have covered the subject pretty well. I tend to think to myself in these cases “Well, what’s stopping you?” but I try to be more tactful out loud and offer a bit of encouragement. Something along the lines of urging them to just stop thinking about it and dive in, even if they just write a few words every day. Those words do add up!

Of course I offer advice if the person seems serious (rather than them classifying their ever writing a novel along with their ever winning the lottery or someday climbing Mt. Everest). And if the person had actually written a book and wants specific tips, I’m happy to help because I received much help along the way. Pay it forward!

I’ve got twenty five books out at the moment with three more to come in the next two months and I wrote them one word at a time and I wrote them because I have to write the way I have to breathe, having written since the age of 7, so possibly I’m not the best person to wistfully inform “I’ve always wanted to write a book.”

Comments I’ve had made to me of a slightly different but related tenor include “Hey, I have a great idea for a book so why don’t you write it for me?!” Um, because I have all my own ideas, thanks, and utterly no interest in writing someone else’s story. I’m not a ghost writer or a nonfiction author.

Or this one:  “I have some great plot ideas for your next book!” Yeah, DON’T tell me.  It’s highly unlikely that anyone else’s ideas are going to fit with where I’m going on my own with my characters, my world building and my plots. Besides in this litigious world of today, I don’t want the slightest hint of “idea stealing”. In recent events in Romancelandia it’s been made abundantly clear that many naïve people have no idea how common certain ideas, tropes, words and plot twists, even character names are. I’ll just do my own thing over here in this corner and if you like the books, yay!

Additionally, when I release a book, I’m usually already knee deep in writing not the next book, but the book after that, so the person making suggestions has no idea of the events they haven’t seen yet, in whichever of my worlds I happen to be writing.

I don’t mind if readers want to discuss the books or the characters and say to me wistfully, “You really need to give so-and-so his own book.”  Or “I wish you’d write a sequel to Book XYZ.” Reader involvement and feedback is priceless. Golden.  BUT  I’m not looking for plot ideas. I have so many bursting in my head at all times, I’ll never get them all written in this lifetime. And truthfully, I’m not going to have the enthusiasm for someone else’s idea that I’ll have for one of my own. Not sure what fiction author would? That’s the point where I say, “Oh you should write a book!”

My next Sectors scifi romance novel is releasing this coming week, on the 9^th. It’s STAR CRUISE: MYSTERY DANCER, in the Pets In Space 3 anthology…

STAR CRUISE: MYSTERY DANCER blurb:  Tassia Megg is a woman on the run after the death of her elderly guardian. Her search to get off the planet in a hurry comes when chance directs her to an open dance audition for the luxury cruise liner Nebula Zephyr’s resident troupe. If there is one thing Tassia can do, it is dance!

Security Officer Liam Austin is suspicious of the newest performer to join the Comettes. She shows all the signs of being a woman on the run and seems to fit the Sectors-wide broadcast description of a missing thief, accused of stealing priceless artifacts. As he gets to know Tassia during the cruise, he starts to wonder if she’s something more – a long vanished princess in hiding from deadly political enemies of her family perhaps? And what’s the story with the three-eyed feline companion other crew members swear Tassia brought aboard the ship? Does the animal even exist?

As the ship approaches its next port of call, all the issues come to a boil and Liam must decide if he’ll step in to help Tassia or betray her. Life is about to get very interesting aboard the Nebula Zephyr as Liam tries to uncover the truth. Could F’rrh, the peculiar alien cat he has been hearing about, be the key to the mystery and Tassia’s fate?

Anthology Blurb:

Pets in Space™ is back! Join us as we unveil eleven original, never-before-published action-filled romances that will heat your blood and warm your heart! New York Times, USA Today and Award-winning authors S.E. Smith, Anna Hackett, Ruby Lionsdrake, Veronica Scott, Pauline Baird Jones, Carol Van Natta, Tiffany Roberts, Alexis Glynn Latner, E D Walker, JC Hay, and Kyndra Hatch combine their love for Science Fiction Romance and pets to bring readers sexy, action-packed romances while helping our favorite charity. Proud supporters of Hero-Dogs.org, Pets in Space™ authors have donated over $4,400 in the past two years to help place specially trained dogs with veterans. Open your hearts and grab your limited release copy of Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space™ 3 today!

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