Author: Cindy

I'm irritated because my posts won't publish.

Boys and Their Toys

By Annette McCleave

The men in my life have always had a thing for toys. Whether it was cars, boats, snowmobiles, all terrain vehicles, or even computers and big screen TVs, you name it, they had it. And wildly enjoyed it.  Something about cranking up the gas, speeding through space, and filling the air with a fine, deep roar truly stirred them.

Not surprising, I guess, that my fictional men tend to be fond of toys, too. My latest hero, Jamie Murdoch, owns a candy apple red Mustang and a black Triumph Thunderbird motorcycle. Being a medieval Scot, serving a rare second 500-year term of indenture with the Goddess of Death, he’s very in tune with his primitive side—and he thrills to the revving of a powerful engine. Both vehicles play a part in the plot of the story, and one of my favourite scenes in the book involves the motorbike and the heroine, Kiyoko Ashida.

I’m not going to say more than that. 🙂

The fascination men have with toys is no doubt tied in part to the measurability such possessions have as status symbols. But we can’t deny there’s also a sense of fun and freedom attached to them as well.

I know several women who get as excited about their status cars as any man, who thrill to the purr of a car engine and the sleek lines of a cigarette boat. But I can think of few who salivate over a snowmobile, a lawn mower, or a band saw. As women continue to further themselves as business people and continue to smash through glass ceilings in the workplace, do you think their interest in toys will grow in tandem? Or do you think the love of toys is fundamentally a guy thing?

Comment for a chance to win a signed Advance Reader Copy of the third Soul Gather novel, SURRENDER TO DARKNESS, out in January of 2011.

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The back cover blurb for SURRENDER TO DARKNESS and Annette’s bio are in yesterday’s post. Visit Annette’s website to learn more about her and her books.

Annette McCleave Guest Blogs Tomorrow

Tomorrow I’ll welcome my second-to-last guest blogger for 2010. Yes, you heard me, only two more opportunities to win free books from talented authors. So please drop by tomorrow and join me in welcoming paranormal romance author Annette McCleave. Annette is blogging about Boys and Their Toys and will give away an autographed ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of SURRENDER TO DARKNESS, the third book in her Soul Gatherer series. SURRENDER TO DARKNESS hits stores in January, 2011.

About SURRENDER TO DARKNESS:

As an immortal, Jamie Murdoch has spent lifetimes battling demons. But he’s cursed with an inner berserker, and his expertise as a Soul Gatherer is overshadowed by uncontrollable rage. Sent to Japan to investigate a mystical weapon that can destroy demons, Jamie feels out of place in a society that values tranquility and self-control.

Kiyoko Ashida has dedicated her life to fighting evil. Now she’s dying, and her remaining days are linked to a mysterious artifact, which is the only thing keeping her alive. Still, her path is clear—until the day a valiant Soul Gatherer storms into her life and, with one fateful touch, steals her heart.

The Veil is both destroyer and healer, and Jamie knows Kiyoko cannot survive without it. But when the malicious ambitions of a fallen angel target the artifact, he’s torn between fulfilling his duty and saving the life of the woman he loves.

About Annette:

Annette McCleave is the award winning author of the Soul Gatherer series—paranormal romances about immortal Soul Gatherers who battle demons for the souls of the dead. Mother of one, pet owner, and former high tech executive, Annette currently writes for NAL Signet Eclipse.

To learn more about Annette and her books, please visit her website.

Various PITAs

That A stands for Arm.

I have been a little absent here lately because I woke up at 4 a.m. last week with what I call “a sleeve of pain” covering one shoulder. A little Interneting advised me I might have shoulder bursitis. So I downloaded advice and exercises and started popping ibuprofen and icing my injury (which came about as a result of all that outside painting, but keyboarding makes it worse). Yes, I called the doctor, but he’s very popular and I couldn’t get in to see him until two days ago. By that time, all the ibuprofen and the icing had done their thing. My muscles are still twitching, but as long as I keep up with the exercises, HOPEFULLY I shouldn’t have to be injected with cortisone. If he’d seen me last week, he would have given me a shot, he said. But, no, I’ll be fine in 6-8 weeks, and the injury started around mid-October, so no steroid shots for me! Sob.

I’ve also started an agent search for my single title mystery romance, SEX, PIs & PACKING TAPE. Wish me luck! I’ve sent out several e-queries and most of them ask the subject line to run something like QUERY: Title of Novel. However, Title of Novel includes the word “sex.” I have no clue if some of my queries are going into spam folders because of this. But when an agent’s website says, “Put QUERY: Title of Manuscript in Subject line, or you’re outta luck,” well, I’m sticking in the title. Besides, “QUERY: From Author Afraid to Insert Title” doesn’t sound very good.

Next week, I plan to edit an erotic romance single title for Penny.

What are you up to?

Published
Categorized as This & That

Why Indie Author?

Lately, I’ve been reading the term “indie author” to describe self-publishing. I find it interesting that none of the authors on the professional authors e-publishing loop I referred to last week use the term. They just say self-publishing, or re-releasing their back list in ebook form (self-publishing is a shorter way of saying that). I’m interested in why the use of “indie author” has come about. Is it because “self-published” has a negative connotation when it comes to fiction? Or to differentiate that you haven’t paid a vanity press to print your book, or to get you reviews, etc? Vanity press being, in my point of view, a printer who calls themselves a publisher who will print anything sent to them. They don’t care as long as they’re getting paid. Compared to, say, paying for your own editing services (or swapping editing services) to one individual, paying for your cover art (or creating it yourself) from probably another individual, and uploading the book to e-book venues yourself (or, again, paying someone else to do it). To ME, that’s self-publishing. When you’re really doing it all yourself instead of paying a vanity press usually way more money than necessary to do it for you.

The thing I don’t understand is that all authors are “independent authors,” because we’re independent contractors. I guess if you have a 5-book contract with a major publisher…no, I would still consider that author as running her own business (which she is). Even Nora. So…isn’t Nora an indie author?

Unless you’re an employee of a publishing house, you’re independent as far as I can tell.

So…is “indie author” used to differentiate from “published with a major house?” To differentiate from “being under contract”? If that’s the case, I’m very much an indie author. Because I haven’t sold to a major publishing house and I’ve never sold a 2+ book contract. Yet I’m not an indie author, according to how I’ve seen the term used, because I’m not self-published.

What am I missing?

Educate me!

Subsidiary Rights Fun

I had another post planned for this week, but researching agents and problems with my shoulder have waylaid me. The “Internets” says I might have shoulder bursitis, brought on by all that damn outside painting I did this summer and fall. However, I can’t get in to see my doctor until next week, so for now I’m postponing more massage therapy and have stopped one of the exercises the chiropractor gave me. It just makes the pain worse. The Internets says not to do anything to make the pain worse, but not to sit like a lump, either. So I am curtailing a lot of computer time and doing basic stretching exercises several times a day. Plus, I succumbed to taking an anti-inflammatory yesterday and might again today.

That doesn’t sound like Subsidiary Rights Fun, does it? Well, this will.

I’m in the midst of proofing the audiobook files for HEAD OVER HEELS, which will releaese from Audiolark…I’m not quite sure yet. I’m having a blast proofing the files, but, wow, it takes a lot longer to proof while listening to your book than to proof reading your book. Each chapter takes at least half an hour to listen to. I’m down to the last three chapters and will have the files back to my publisher by Monday.

At first, it was really strange to hear my book being read into my headphones. The narrator has a very pleasant voice and she does an excellent job of relaying different character voices while not coming off sounding like a cartoon movie. The voices are just different enough to clarify. Some of you who have read HEAD OVER HEELS will remember that the story features two English secondary characters, Kate and Nate Willoughby. I laughed out loud when I heard the narrator’s rendition of their voices. She was spot on! I didn’t know when I submitted the pronunciation guide if she would make their voices sound English or just let the narration relate that they have English accents. So to hear these two voices especially tickled me pink. I’m hoping that the fact that my own audiobook is giving me many fits of the giggles means that the humor will come through in the “hearing” for readers other than myself. I’m very excited to have this opportunity.

Oh, and guess what? The narrator for HEAD OVER HEELS, I have been told also narrated Sue Monk Kidd’s THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES. That’s kind of cool.

I also heard from the agent in Japan who handled the Japanese Manga rights sale of HEAD OVER HEELS to Ohzora. The Japanese translation is now complete and the publisher is in the process of assigning an illustrator. Very exciting! I’ll probably next hear from the agent in Japan when the Manga version has a release date, and you can be sure I’ll mention it here. I can’t wait to see the illustrations in anime. What fun!

Back List EBook Authors

I belong to a loop of multi-published authors who are interested in self-publishing their back lists on Kindle, Smashwords, and the like. I heard about the loop as a result of my Novelists, Inc. membership and joined while the loop was in its infancy. I joined because I would like to self-publish my out-of-print short story, DECEIVING DEREK, on Kindle (I’d say which publisher previously had it up for sale, but they didn’t pay me my due royalties, so I don’t want to give them the credit, and, besides, they’re out of business). You know, when I have the time. Plus, while I sold library edition hardcover rights and other rights to my upcoming contemporary romance, WHERE SHE BELONGS, to Five Star Expressions (December 2011), Five Star doesn’t buy electronic rights. So, eventually, I will self-publish the ebook version of WHERE SHE BELONGS, as well. My Five Star contract states I can’t publish the ebook until 12 months following the hardcover release, which means you won’t see the ebook until at least December 2012. But I’m a Capricorn. I like to prepare. And so I joined the e-loop, which was the brainchild of multi-published contemporary romance author, Julie Ortolon. She also designs ebook covers. Multi-talented, that Julie.

It’s a very busy loop as the authors learn the ins and outs of self-publishing their back lists and help each other along. In case you’re not a writer, by “back list” I mean books previously published by traditional publishers or small publishers, or the odd e-publisher. Books for which the rights have reverted to the authors. Or the authors are in the process of getting the rights reverted to them, usually because the contracts didn’t stipulate ebook rights. But other cases also apply.

The e-loop grew very big very quickly. As someone only published by small press and e-publishers, I’m definitely in the minority. Although I’m not alone. There are a few more like me on the loop, who also probably gained entrance through membership in Novelists, Inc.

Some of the more industrious authors on the e-loop have banded together to form the Back List EBooks website. If you visit, the site that’s there now is temporary. The group is currently getting a site professionally designed (depending when you read this, it might be up by now). If you buy books from this site, you are assured that the books are not pirated (pirating is bad, very bad). You are supporting the authors who put in the hard work of writing the books, not some schlep who thinks it’s okay to scan books into his computer, create ebooks from them, and sell them (that’s illegal). Or even someone who has bought an ebook and then thinks it’s okay to upload it to a file-sharing site or sell it (again, illegal, because you could feasibly sell 1000 or more copies of an ebook, whereas, when you buy a paper book and then take it to a used bookstore and they sell it, sooner or later that book will fall apart and need replacing, so it’s a different ball of wax). Yes, anyone who has downloaded an ebook for free, or even paid for it, from a file-sharing site or, yes, places like eBay, you are not supporting the authors. You are supporting an ebook pirate. For shame. Most authors struggle to earn even a part time income from their writing. Don’t make their lives harder by paying pirates for books!!

Ahem. Back on topic.

Here’s some info from the Back List EBooks site:

Backlist Ebooks is a brand new venture designed to help ebook readers find quality fiction from established authors who have e-released their out-of-print novels. Participating authors must have self-published one or more backlist titles that were originally published traditionally, in print, by a major professional publishing house (as we define it).

Note the “as we define it.” Their website, their definition of a major professional publishing house. I have no problem with it. For more details, check out the About Joining Us section on their website. (Hint, it’s on the Resources tab).

They also have a Facebook page.