I Am So Excited

Way back in September I wrote an entry on my blog about the future of publishing. I wrote then that one of the most important things agents would be asking is if you have self published a book. What was the response to your book? What is your following on your networking sites?

Well, I guess the proof is in the pudding. I recently received an email from an agent. She said she purchased Immortal on Amazon for her Kindle and loved it. She was also curious to know if I had representation.

My first response, “This is a joke.” Surely someone hijacked the agents account and was spamming me hoping to get personal information. After digging around and fact check (it is nice to have a computer genius for a friend) I discovered it was real. It took me several hours for it to sink in and another hour to reply to the email.

After exchanging several emails with the agent we set up a time to speak. Around one o’clock today we spoke. She gave me a few suggestions on improvements and some advice and offered representation. So as of one thirty today I am now an agented author with Kimberly Whalen the Vice President at Trident Media Group LLC. I feel incredibly lucky. I realize this doesn’t happen every day.

I want to also thank everyone who has purchased Immortal, written a review, or just placed it on their TBR list. If it wasn’t for all of you this may not have happened. So, thank you all. 

Reading vs. Writing

If you ask writers you’ll find most if not all of us read. Like every reader some of us speed through a book or several at a time. Sometimes we plod through from page to page looking for the end or something to make it feel like less of a chore.

There are many tired sayings. “If you want to write you need to read.” “You have to read it before you can write it.” I agree with these statements even though they are clichéd by this point. For me I struggle at times for a balance. It is so much easier to pick up a book and immerse myself in a different world.

  

Writing is much harder. At times it flows from inside your head and down to the keyboard without any effort. The world you create grows and changes as you write. Sometimes it’s as if you are there.  At other times it is difficult to see through the haze that surrounds your mind. Everything is fuzzy around the edges and hard to see.  As we write we hope for the easy days and dread the fuzzy clouds that roll in.

 It would truly be wonderful if writing was as easy as reading.

To B!#%p or Not to B!#%p

Most of us hear or use curse words on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes they are used for effect, to make our point clearer, or even to make a joke. Sometime they are used without us even noticing. We hear them on television on a nearly daily basis. They are even in the music we sing along too. So, why not in our books?

I have to say that in everyday conversation and most media the swear words pass me by without me even noticing. Occasionally, they call my attention such as when my supervisor uses them in a staff meeting as he yelling at us.

The one place they are sure to catch my attention is in my reading. When I read/ hear the word coming out of someone’s mouth or even in their head I feel the full impact of it. I am shocked
                                           and often dismayed. Which makes me wonder why?
                                           We use them, we hear them, and we sing them.  Why not write them?

No Such Thing...

“There is no such thing as bad publicity.”  How many times have we all heard this? I used to think it was… well not true. Recent events have made me rethink my stance.

When I think of that phrase many stars (and former stars) come to mind. Like Lindsay Lohan, Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen. It seems to be that authors are now taking this outlook. 

Several authors (I will not give names as I do not want to promote their conduct) are behaving badly. They are arguing with readers, posting to their blogs attacking individuals who review their books, some are even making false claims about being attacked on the very forums that embraced them. 

You would think that behaving this way would cause people to not buy their books.  Unfortunately, it appears to show the first sentence true. I am sure that it turns some readers off and they refuse to read or buy that book. However the numbers don’t lie. Many see their numbers lower on Amazon as their number of sales rise.

All I can hope for is that their marketing ploys, bad attitudes, and false publicity end up being their down fall. That those who maintain our composure and heed our mothers warning, “If you don’t have anything nice to say…” when out in the end.

Spell Check: Both a Blessing and a Curse

I can honestly say I am quite possibly the worst speller in the world save for my Mom and Husband. I have gotten better with time and practice, but I will never be one of those people that can stand up in even a small group and win a spelling contest. As a child my spelling was so bad that when I told my teacher in second grade (this was before personal computers were common place) I wanted to be a writer she laughed at me. I digress though.

My Blessing- I use spell check all the time. It’s little red X reminding me that I have made yet another mistake. It is wonderful when I have misspelled tiem, oh I mean time, for the sixteenth time it will still catch it. This is a wonderful thing.

My Curse- I hate that spell check won’t let me know things are spelled wrong.  Obviously, it’s not really important that angel is a-n-g-e-l instead of a-n-g-l-e J.

Spell check is not foolproof. It may correct many mistakes, but there are many more that it can’t catch, or errors that aren’t errors at all. This is where editing comes into play.

October Contest Winner

Well it's November 2nd. I first want to say thank you to everyone who has bought, read, and reviewed Immortal.

Now onto the winner. I chose the review completely at random and drum roll please. The winner is Sarah Clark "besarah".  Thank you so much for the wonderful review. It was posted on Amazon on October 22. Below is the review.

Great book can't wait for the second. Immortal starts a little slow and similar to another book but ends great and all it's own. I had no idea were this book was going at times it will keep you guessing, and the sneak peak at forever(book2) makes me anxious and excited it can't come quick enough. Immortal starts with Alina and her friend Tabby starting college were she meets two guys Samuel and Duncan. Both guys are gorgeous and both guys want Alina. I loved the tension between the three, I just wish there had been more Alina and Samuel. Alina finds out there's something different about both Samuel and Duncan,can you guess what that is by the title. Is he good, is he bad, I wasn't sure who she would pick, or who she should pick? Great book defiantly worth the read.

I want to again thank everyone who wrote a review or simply bought or read Immortal.