Month: May 2014

Must read summer releases

On By MikaelaIn Book Recommendations

This summer is packed full with books that I’m itching to read.

To begin with, there is Shield of Winter by Nalini Singh. Which was the reason I re-read the series now. Mmm.  ( I’ll admit that I’m crossing my fingers that my book store makes the same mistake they did last year. *cough*)

Then in July  Shaman Rises by C.E Murphy releases. *sob* I’m still struggling with the fact that it is the last Walker Paper novel.

Also in July the third book in Patricia Rice California Malcolms trilogy releases. I’m having my fingers crossed that she writes more, though. If not… well… I’ll nag her until she changes her mind. 🙂

And Wen Spencer’s next Elfhome novel releases in July! Perfect for some fun, fastpaced summer read.

Oh! Magic Breaks by Ilona Andrews is out  July too.  This book wraps up this series arc, although there will be more books. And Michelle Sagara’s Cast in Flames are out in July.

And in September, Ghost Layer by Robin D Owens is out.  The first book was so good.  But then all Robin’s books are really good. 🙂

So many books. So little time. 🙂 What books are you looking forward to read this summer?

 

 

New shiny bookstore!

On By MikaelaIn Writing

Soo.. If you look to the sidebar on my homepage, you will see a new page called Bookstore. Right now it is empty, but in the future I’ll offer exclusive samples ( of the longer version), free short stories and maybe even ARCs. Everything will be in watermarked epub, since Publit don’t offer a mobi option. ( That’s the only drawback as far as I can see.)

It will work like Bookview Cafe’s bookstore: You pay with credit card ( or bill me later, though I have no idea how that works if you are abroad) and the download link is e-mailed to you. This will probably be the way I offer the free download on Shamrokon. I’ll simply not tick the boxes for the other distribution channels until after I get back home. ( And raise the price to 2.99 )

So many things to do

On By MikaelaIn Life, Writing

A couple of days ago, Shamrokon tweeted: Just 99 days to go.  I stared at the tweet for a moment, and then panicked for a moment.   Let’s just say I’ll be busy this summer.  I’m revising the Wild Hunt, which keeps on growing to Thrizah and Kari’s delight. But being told ” More is good, since it is a fascinating world”by  Kari does boost my self-esteem. 🙂  The goal is to finish the revision in June 1st, but I don’t think I’ll manage it.  But I should have it done before I get the edits back for Daughter of the Dark.

I plan to spend most of June on editing Daughter of the Dark and revising Exile.  Or maybe the other way around, since Exile has a closer release date than Daughter of the Dark.    Though both of them is coming soon!

I have found a reasonably priced copy editor that I plan to contact soon. ( She prefers to do a sample edit, and I’m not going to send her unedited pages.)

Oh. And deciding on a marketing plan.  I think it will involve a lot of teasers.  Since the only thing I got to catch the attention of readers is my novellas.  There will be longer and shorter teasers.  I really like the quotes that Shiloh Walker posts close to release date, so I’ll make something similar in Gimp. That much I can do at least.  I am also thinking about swag for Eurocon.  I want to offer a free download of either Exile or Daughter of the Dark, but I’m still thinking about how to do it. ( I know what the easy way would be, but I’m not certain if it is the best way).  Which reminds me. I need to hire a cover artist. I’m leaning towards Skyla Dawn Cameron, I really like her covers.

But right now I’m running around finishing everything on my todo list before I leave for London on Monday.  I’m going to see my brother for the first time in 6 months! I plan to hug him so much. 🙂 I mostly plan to visit British Museum and bookstores.    And take a walk in Hyde Park, if my leg doesn’t hurt too much.

 

 

 

Thoughts about selfpublishing

On By MikaelaIn Writing

 

”Selfpublishing is better.” ” Selfpublishing is the only path.” I’ve lost count on how many times I have read things like that, both in blogposts and in comments..
Don’t get me wrong, I can understand why selfpublishing is appealing, but for me it is more complex than that.

When I consider which stories I’ll selfpublish and which I’ll submit to a publisher, it depends on the genre and the length.
The Portal Universe stories is slated for selfpublishing, purely because they are an odd length, and the fact that most of the stories are Urban Fantasy set in an secondary universe. There isn’t many fantasy publishers interested in novellas shorter than 30 0000 words. For the same reason, The Wild Hunt and its sequels is also slated for selfpublishing. Epic fantasy novellas isn’t something publishers are interested in.

On the other hand, the Queen of Sind isn’t slated for selfpublishing. It is slightly longer than the Wild Hunt, but it has a romance subplot. That romance subplot makes all the difference. What I have found from looking at submission guidelines is that more publishers are interested in fantasy romance novellas than fantasy novellas. Because of this, I’m making a list of publishers I’m planning to submit to.

Another aspect is the fact that to be successful in selfpublishing you have to spend money. I know that some authors manage to selfpublish their novels by spending very little money. I’m not one of them. For Daughter of the Dark I will end up spending 300-400 dollar on editing and cover art.
Is it a lot of money? Not really. Not when you consider it includes content editing, copyediting, proofreading, cover design.  ( Yes, I’ve managed to find a cover artist that I like for less than 120 dollar.)

But if I had written novels? I wouldn’t have had the money to put out a quality product. In fact, I wouldn’t have considered self publishing. Mainly because I think publishers have a role, and that they know what they are doing. Mostly. Since I write Fantasy novellas, that is a purely hypothetic question, though.

Recommended TV: Your Inner Fish

On By MikaelaIn Writing

I don’t watch much TV. I intend to, but well, I haven’t gotten around to getting Cable TV yet.  This weekend I was at mum’s and I happened to turn on Viasat History. And there was a fascinating Documentary called Your Inner Fish. It is about how Mammals and Humans have evolved during the millennias, and how the traces are still visible in our bodies.

I knew part of the information, since I have taken a course in Evoluntion Biology, but it was still fascinating.

So if you are an author and interested in developing your own species ( or tweaking an existing one), I recommend that you check out this series. It is bound to make your brain buzz with ideas. Or at least I got ideas!

What I’m reading: April

On By MikaelaIn Book Recommendations

The last week or so I have been glomming on Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series.  It is far from the first time I read this series.  I love it.  I love the complex and rich worldbuilding, but most of all I love the characters.

They are Changelings, Psy and human, but what I also appreciate is that all of them has a past that have affected them and that affects the plots in the books.

But what I appreciate the most is how all the books in the series builds up  to the climax of the story arc.  It is also interesting to see the changes in the world, from Slave to Sensation ( book one) to Heart of Obsidian.  While I suppose you can read the books out of order, I recommend you read them in order. At least the first time  🙂

Oh, and if you are looking for diverse books? I definitely recommend these.

The only draw back is that I need to find another series to glom on. Maybe Patricia Rice Malcolm Ives series? After all, I just replaced my copy of Merely Magic, which I bought when she originally selfpubbed her backlist, with the Sourcebooks edition.

Utterly random update

On By MikaelaIn Life, musings, Writing

I went offline during easter, and revised a whopping 11 000 words.  After I got home it has been slower though. Part of it is because I’ve had health issues and part of it is because I need to recharge. ( That’s always the case for me. )   But I’m slogging along on the revisions of the Wild Hunt. I’m 2/3rds through right now, and the draft is at 33000 words.  The goal is 35 000 words.

Once these revisions are done I’m going to work on  Exile.  Actually, that isn’t true. Once I’m done, I’m going to readthrough Daughter of the Dark before sending it to the editor.  Then I’m revising Exile.

I think I’ve already mentioned that I  signed up for Publit awhile ago.  They are a Swedish distributor and one of the options they offer is a Widgetshop. Right now I’m thinking of how to best utilize their Widgetshop for promo. The reason is that I want to do somekind of free read/exclusive  for Eurocon, but I’m not sure what.  Hrm.  It is still a couple of months left.  I’m still thinking about promo in general.

I like the way Anne Bishop and Yasmine Galenorn posts stuff from their characters POV on Facebook and Tumblr. I’m thinking about doing something similar.

I’m also getting back the urge to blog about books.  Not reviews, though, but more recommending authors and reading updates.

Oh, and I’m going to London in May! Just 2 days, but I’m happy.  No firm plans, except hopefully seeing Kari and my brother.