Tip of the Day: If you have an eye appointment in the morning, write your blog post before the doctor dilates your eyes!
So how many times have you seen the Hunger Games? If you're 13 like my daughter, you may have seen it three or more times. She's also read the book three times. And she's seen Dark Shadows twice.
I would say that adults don't do this the way teens do, but honestly, I think my husband has watched Zombieland upwards of 12 times by now.
Personally, I would like to go see Men in Black 3 with my daughter, but she's dying to see Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer. Really, Hollywood? Although don't get me wrong, if they come out with the movie of Sense and Sensibilities and Sea Monsters, I'm first in line.
In my opinion, there aren't that many movies with interesting women in them, or women at all. I mean other than Tiffany or Megan Fox playing the unlikely astrophysicist. (The sci fi nerd in me tolerates it for movies like Men in Black, but normally, I find the absence of women characters annoying.) The Hunger Games and Katniss have been a breath of fresh air. Yes, Hollywood, people will go see movies with female leads. They can be hits too. And teenage girls don't all want to be Bella Swan. Heck, I might even help my daughter buy a ticket to go see Hunger Games a fourth time. Even my Dad went to see it.
Yes, I know it can be a violent movie. But is that worse than the new trend of taking young women out of popular movies altogether, unless they've graduated from the Pinup Calendar School for Astrophysicists Whose Fathers Specialized in Monsters/Plagues/Disasters? I don't think so.
-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages
Monday, June 11, 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012
Time to Quit the Day Job???
Tip of the Day: Still think self-publishing is a bad idea? Check out Jessica Park's story on The Huffington Post. Jessica is a traditionally published author turned self-pub.
Warning: I come from a family filled with accountants, so money management is a high priority for me.
Before I started self-pubbing, I did have a quasi-day job (other than being a full-time mom). I worked as a freelance journalist for seven years. My articles appeared in national magazines like Parents and in many local parenting magazines. I worked about 15 hours a week - from home - and brought in a bit of income. It took me six months back then to make what I make in one month now. Fiction has not only proved more lucrative, but also more fulfilling. I'm chasing my imagination - there's nothing better than that.
Let's say you have a 9 to 5 job. Maybe you're making $50,000 a year. You might look at your self-pub (or trad pub) sales and assume that since you're making nearly the same amount selling books that it's time to quit the day job. You'll save money because there's no more dry cleaning, no more lunches out, and no more gas.
It's simple, right?
Wrong.
Don't quit your day job.
I'm making almost as much as my engineer husband, who has supported our family on his income for the last ten years (I lost my job while I was pregnant and never went back to working outside the home). Not once have we ever considered having him quit his job.
Publishing does not guarantee you a steady income. I know self-pubbers who were hitting big numbers last year, numbers that still beat my current sales, who are now languishing in the low-sales club.
If they had quit their day jobs, where would they be today? Frustrated with publishing because they can't seem to get their sales off the ground? Likely. Looking for a job in a crappy economy wishing they'd never quit their perfectly fine day job the year before? Definitely.
If you're publishing and considering quitting your day job, ask yourself the most important question: If I never sell another book after today, will I still have enough money to live my life the same way I'm living today? For most of us, that answer is a resounding no.
Yes, I'll probably pull down $100,000 this year. No, I will not ask my husband to quit his job.
What's my magic number?
$10,000,000
Yeah, you read that right. I'm in my mid-thirties and I have two kids who probably want to go to college someday. I have a mortgage and one car that desperately needs replacing. I fear taxes will only get higher to support our failing economy, not to mention the looming shadow of inflation. I can't even contemplate what health insurance will cost when I hit 65.
This topic isn't sexy. It ain't controversial. But it's important to your future and if you have a family, their future too.
So, unless your name is JK Rowling or James Patterson, don't quit your day job. Please.
Warning: I come from a family filled with accountants, so money management is a high priority for me.
Let's say you have a 9 to 5 job. Maybe you're making $50,000 a year. You might look at your self-pub (or trad pub) sales and assume that since you're making nearly the same amount selling books that it's time to quit the day job. You'll save money because there's no more dry cleaning, no more lunches out, and no more gas.
It's simple, right?
Wrong.
Don't quit your day job.
I'm making almost as much as my engineer husband, who has supported our family on his income for the last ten years (I lost my job while I was pregnant and never went back to working outside the home). Not once have we ever considered having him quit his job.
Publishing does not guarantee you a steady income. I know self-pubbers who were hitting big numbers last year, numbers that still beat my current sales, who are now languishing in the low-sales club.
If they had quit their day jobs, where would they be today? Frustrated with publishing because they can't seem to get their sales off the ground? Likely. Looking for a job in a crappy economy wishing they'd never quit their perfectly fine day job the year before? Definitely.
If you're publishing and considering quitting your day job, ask yourself the most important question: If I never sell another book after today, will I still have enough money to live my life the same way I'm living today? For most of us, that answer is a resounding no.
Yes, I'll probably pull down $100,000 this year. No, I will not ask my husband to quit his job.
What's my magic number?
$10,000,000
Yeah, you read that right. I'm in my mid-thirties and I have two kids who probably want to go to college someday. I have a mortgage and one car that desperately needs replacing. I fear taxes will only get higher to support our failing economy, not to mention the looming shadow of inflation. I can't even contemplate what health insurance will cost when I hit 65.
This topic isn't sexy. It ain't controversial. But it's important to your future and if you have a family, their future too.
So, unless your name is JK Rowling or James Patterson, don't quit your day job. Please.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Book Blog Tours: Yay or Nay?
Tip of the Day: Read how author Rachael Aaron boosted her word count from 2k to 10k a day. And a side question to coffee baristas out there. Do you get very annoyed with the people that spend half a day in the coffee shop working on their laptops? I know I get very self-conscious of the looks from staff if I spend more than 2 hours somewhere.
I was reading author Maureen Johnson's blog post on Book Blog Tours yesterday and why she doesn't do them. Here it is: Blog Tours, and the Word NO. And she makes a lot of sense. Blog tours are part of the standard marketing plan for books these days and they take a heck of a lot of time between answering 30 or so interviews, sending books out for review, writing witty guest posts, and then advertising the places that you're touring. With my first book I kept track of how long it took me to fill out the interview questions I had been sent: 30 hours. 30 HOURS. That's kind of crazy right? And did they do any good? Hmm. I don't know. I would like to think with my first book that they did do some good because no one had heard of me before so at least there was some mention of me and my book on various Web sites. But three books in now and I'm not so sure the interviews are effective. How many times can people hear about my writing process or how I get my book ideas? These kind of questions are shiny and new at school or book club visits because they aren't the ones reading the blogs. But the people who are faithful blog readers have probably seen my interviews a few times and don't really need to see them again.
I do think that cover reveals and hey, here's my new book and here's info about it is a good thing to do to get the word out when you first release. But if authors keep pushing and pushing talking about their books I do tend to tune them out (or hide them on facebook or unfollow on Twitter) because it gets really really old. No one wants to constantly hear about your book. Like what Maureen had pointed out about Jennifer Laughran's tweet:
It IS starting to seem like noise right? Sometimes twitter feels like one big advertisement. Each person saying check out my review, download my book, see my new cover. And I know no author can entirely get away from doing these things because it's part of the job to market yourself. But it gets to be too much sometimes.
There are also the book blog tours that are set up by blogging groups where they make a list of bloggers who will read your book and review it. You (or your marketing people) send a copy of your book to the first blogger and they pass it to the next one within a week. These can be really great because then you're getting a lot of thoughtful reviews out there. Which is probably the best way to market your book. It's hard to get people passionate enough to go review a book on goodreads or Amazon. Usually it's because they really really hate it or they love it so much they are dying to share. There's a lot of in between there. :-) Not that these type of book blogger tours don't occasionally fail too. I've had some tours where 20 bloggers read and reviewed a book and then I've had some where they only passed the book to maybe five bloggers and only two posted a review. So it can be hit or miss.
What do you guys think? Are you a fan of the book blog tours? Or do you get tired of all the "noise"?
Kristina, Miss Author in Action
I was reading author Maureen Johnson's blog post on Book Blog Tours yesterday and why she doesn't do them. Here it is: Blog Tours, and the Word NO. And she makes a lot of sense. Blog tours are part of the standard marketing plan for books these days and they take a heck of a lot of time between answering 30 or so interviews, sending books out for review, writing witty guest posts, and then advertising the places that you're touring. With my first book I kept track of how long it took me to fill out the interview questions I had been sent: 30 hours. 30 HOURS. That's kind of crazy right? And did they do any good? Hmm. I don't know. I would like to think with my first book that they did do some good because no one had heard of me before so at least there was some mention of me and my book on various Web sites. But three books in now and I'm not so sure the interviews are effective. How many times can people hear about my writing process or how I get my book ideas? These kind of questions are shiny and new at school or book club visits because they aren't the ones reading the blogs. But the people who are faithful blog readers have probably seen my interviews a few times and don't really need to see them again.
I do think that cover reveals and hey, here's my new book and here's info about it is a good thing to do to get the word out when you first release. But if authors keep pushing and pushing talking about their books I do tend to tune them out (or hide them on facebook or unfollow on Twitter) because it gets really really old. No one wants to constantly hear about your book. Like what Maureen had pointed out about Jennifer Laughran's tweet:
"And someone just said something I enjoyed a lot:
YA marketing panel: “do blog tours & cover reveals!” My question: since EVERYONE does those, how is it not just noise? #bea12 "
It IS starting to seem like noise right? Sometimes twitter feels like one big advertisement. Each person saying check out my review, download my book, see my new cover. And I know no author can entirely get away from doing these things because it's part of the job to market yourself. But it gets to be too much sometimes.
There are also the book blog tours that are set up by blogging groups where they make a list of bloggers who will read your book and review it. You (or your marketing people) send a copy of your book to the first blogger and they pass it to the next one within a week. These can be really great because then you're getting a lot of thoughtful reviews out there. Which is probably the best way to market your book. It's hard to get people passionate enough to go review a book on goodreads or Amazon. Usually it's because they really really hate it or they love it so much they are dying to share. There's a lot of in between there. :-) Not that these type of book blogger tours don't occasionally fail too. I've had some tours where 20 bloggers read and reviewed a book and then I've had some where they only passed the book to maybe five bloggers and only two posted a review. So it can be hit or miss.
What do you guys think? Are you a fan of the book blog tours? Or do you get tired of all the "noise"?
Kristina, Miss Author in Action
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
What the Teens are Reading Now (*or Hunger Games and What Else I Don't Have to Weed)
Tip of the Day: Catch up with the books I read and what I think of them here.
A few weeks ago, a reader asked what teen books are currently going out from the library like hot cakes. I've been monitoring my YA library collection in order to properly answer this question. And I've learned that the answer is: It depends.
Here are some observations.
1. I had a YA display up for all of May, Asian American Heritage Month books; titles that featured Asian characters or themes. And over the course of the month, only a handful of books were checked out -- and I have a fairly large Asian population in my town. These books were a mix of historical, contemporary, and fantasy stories.
2. I had a YA display up for two weeks in May, Jewish Heritage Month books; titles that featured Jewish characters or themes. And over the coures of the two weeks, a large number of these books were checked out -- and I have a very large Jewish population in my town. These books were a mix of historical (WWII/Holocaust primarily) and contemporary.
3. I had a YA display up for four days in June (so far), Gay Pride Month books; titles that featured GLBT characters or themes. And over the course of the four days, a lot of these books were checked out (and this display was super popular last year over the course of June as well) -- and I have no idea how big the gay population is in my town. These books are primarily contemporary fiction.
4. In the books that were NOT recently on display, I've noticed these titles/genres going out:
a) high fantasy (ex. Cinda Williams Chima's HEIR series)
b) spy novels (ex. Ally Carter's series)
c) action adventure novels (ex. James Patterson's series, Anthony Horowitz's series, Cassandra Clare's series)
A lot of "midlist" books that I bought in 2009/2010 are now languishing on the shelves, even if they are good books, and sadly I will probably have to weed them to make space for new stuff soon. BUT it's amazing how much these same titles can suddenly take off when they are put on the local school's summer reading lists or for assignments. I can see why authors get so excited when their books make the "state award lists."
Another conclusion is that while high fantasy and some paranormal romance are still going strong, contemporary is being read a lot, too, compared to the past couple years (during the TWILIGHT series' debuts).
Oh, and if you want to know the title in general with the most holds in our system, it is 50 SHADES OF GREY (about 700 holds between the hard copy and ebook versions; yes, it's beating out HUNGER GAMES).
Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing
A few weeks ago, a reader asked what teen books are currently going out from the library like hot cakes. I've been monitoring my YA library collection in order to properly answer this question. And I've learned that the answer is: It depends.
Here are some observations.
1. I had a YA display up for all of May, Asian American Heritage Month books; titles that featured Asian characters or themes. And over the course of the month, only a handful of books were checked out -- and I have a fairly large Asian population in my town. These books were a mix of historical, contemporary, and fantasy stories.
2. I had a YA display up for two weeks in May, Jewish Heritage Month books; titles that featured Jewish characters or themes. And over the coures of the two weeks, a large number of these books were checked out -- and I have a very large Jewish population in my town. These books were a mix of historical (WWII/Holocaust primarily) and contemporary.
3. I had a YA display up for four days in June (so far), Gay Pride Month books; titles that featured GLBT characters or themes. And over the course of the four days, a lot of these books were checked out (and this display was super popular last year over the course of June as well) -- and I have no idea how big the gay population is in my town. These books are primarily contemporary fiction.
4. In the books that were NOT recently on display, I've noticed these titles/genres going out:
a) high fantasy (ex. Cinda Williams Chima's HEIR series)
b) spy novels (ex. Ally Carter's series)
c) action adventure novels (ex. James Patterson's series, Anthony Horowitz's series, Cassandra Clare's series)
A lot of "midlist" books that I bought in 2009/2010 are now languishing on the shelves, even if they are good books, and sadly I will probably have to weed them to make space for new stuff soon. BUT it's amazing how much these same titles can suddenly take off when they are put on the local school's summer reading lists or for assignments. I can see why authors get so excited when their books make the "state award lists."
Another conclusion is that while high fantasy and some paranormal romance are still going strong, contemporary is being read a lot, too, compared to the past couple years (during the TWILIGHT series' debuts).
Oh, and if you want to know the title in general with the most holds in our system, it is 50 SHADES OF GREY (about 700 holds between the hard copy and ebook versions; yes, it's beating out HUNGER GAMES).
Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Please give me a laugh...
Tip of the Day: want to try some fun, summer drinks? Check out this list of 60 delicious looking beverages on Martha Stewart's website.
You know how sometimes you have those weeks when you have to double check every five seconds to make sure it truly is Monday and not really Friday? Yeah, it's been one of those weeks already.
All I need today is a laugh.
So please let me know the funniest book you've read lately in the comments. I need to get my hands on it.
Anything along these lines will do!
--Emily, Miss Querylicious
Monday, June 4, 2012
What I Learned from Game of Thrones
Tip of the Day: Help us congratulate my MigWriters partner Susan Laidlaw on her February 2013 debut novel, Infidel in Paradise!
Last night was the Season 2 finale of Game of Thrones. Wow, some of my favorite characters are in trouble. I've read all five books, so I know things aren't going to get any better for them.
What I learned from Game of Thrones? You can torture your characters too much.
A happy ending is sort of like a puzzle. We want to figure it out. It's exciting to speculate on how your favorite characters are going to get out of this mess. It's exciting when it seems there's no way for your favorite character to triumph and there are only 50 pages left in the book, but you know they'll win in the end. It's somewhat less exciting when there are several books left. Eventually you stop hoping for something good to happen because it never will.
"Okay, Sansa and Arya are in trouble but it's okay because their direwolves ... no, huh? Well, their father realizes that the king is a ... oh, they killed off their father. Well, they'll be okay. Arya is being brought to Winterfell by the Night's Watch ... okay, no. Well, Sansa and Arya have the Hound and Gendry to protect them ... Dammit! I'm turning this off and imagining my own story where the Starks take back Winterfell. With lots of direwolves."
The Walking Dead is kind of burning me out, too. Those characters in that world will only continue to go from bad to worse. There will be no happy endings. I'm only watching now to see Daryl's crazy brother Merle return. It's like a watching a train wreck.
I'm not sure if I need every ending to be a happy ending, but complete, unmitigated character torture with no redemption possible just doesn't compel me any more. Let me think there's some way for my characters to find some peace. Give me some hope.
-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages
Last night was the Season 2 finale of Game of Thrones. Wow, some of my favorite characters are in trouble. I've read all five books, so I know things aren't going to get any better for them.
What I learned from Game of Thrones? You can torture your characters too much.
A happy ending is sort of like a puzzle. We want to figure it out. It's exciting to speculate on how your favorite characters are going to get out of this mess. It's exciting when it seems there's no way for your favorite character to triumph and there are only 50 pages left in the book, but you know they'll win in the end. It's somewhat less exciting when there are several books left. Eventually you stop hoping for something good to happen because it never will.
The Walking Dead is kind of burning me out, too. Those characters in that world will only continue to go from bad to worse. There will be no happy endings. I'm only watching now to see Daryl's crazy brother Merle return. It's like a watching a train wreck.
I'm not sure if I need every ending to be a happy ending, but complete, unmitigated character torture with no redemption possible just doesn't compel me any more. Let me think there's some way for my characters to find some peace. Give me some hope.
-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages
Friday, June 1, 2012
Fifty Shades of Typos
Tip of the Day: Want to do a very in-depth typo analysis in your manuscript? Put your document into a program that will read your story out loud. That's a great way to find those tiny typos!
Clearly, if there's a typo in your book, you suck. Right?
Especially if you're a self-pub. It proves that not only are you illiterate, but that you are sloppy.
If it happens in a traditionally published book (and it does more often than you might think), then it's just a simple boo-boo and no one was harmed.
Sadly, this is what many people believe... :((((
Guess what? Typos happen to everyone!
Here's why it doesn't mean that the author is an illiterate idiot. Remember this little Facebook meme that went around a year or two ago:
Arocdnicg to rsceearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit pobelrm. Tihs is buseace the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Now, whether or not there was actually a study like this done in Cambridge (I think that's an urban legend), the point is that we are all capable of reading the above passage even though it's technically jibberish.
Now imagine one of these little puppies hidden in a 200 or 250 page manuscript. You might miss it because your mind automatically translates it. Imagine 'first' instead of 'fist' got through spellcheck and eight different highly educated readers who also happen to have extensive experience in editing.
It happened in Anathema.
Yes, I was horrified. Yes, I fixed it. No, it does not mean I'm an idiot or that my entire novel sucked (novel suckage is totally subjective). Nor did I blame my early readers.
Sometimes a typo, or two or three, are blown up to such huge proportions. Reviewers take off one or two entire stars because a typo distracted them so much. The author gets flamed and another ding appears in their already-fragile armor.
If readers think authors aren't bothered by typos, trust me, we ARE! We obsess over editing far more than you might guess. It's important for readers to understand that we are all simply human. I honestly and truly believe that all authors want error-free books. I think if you read a book and it has an occasional typo, maybe you could forgive them. If the book has typos on every page, then yeah, maybe it needs some extensive editing. But if you find occasional typos, does it really take away from you enjoyment of the book?
If you don't believe that typos or story inconsistencies happen in well-vetted traditionally published books, then here's two examples to show you that they do. I have no intention of flaming these authors at all. In fact, I happen to have a literary crush on one of them (the dude, not the chick). It's simply to illustrate that these things happen.
Ex #1: James Rollins
Ex #2: Veronica Roth
Why do typos and inconsistencies get through sometimes? Because we're human. At least I am. I think... ;)
Clearly, if there's a typo in your book, you suck. Right?
Especially if you're a self-pub. It proves that not only are you illiterate, but that you are sloppy.
If it happens in a traditionally published book (and it does more often than you might think), then it's just a simple boo-boo and no one was harmed.
Sadly, this is what many people believe... :((((
Guess what? Typos happen to everyone!
Here's why it doesn't mean that the author is an illiterate idiot. Remember this little Facebook meme that went around a year or two ago:
Arocdnicg to rsceearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pcale. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit pobelrm. Tihs is buseace the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Now, whether or not there was actually a study like this done in Cambridge (I think that's an urban legend), the point is that we are all capable of reading the above passage even though it's technically jibberish.
Now imagine one of these little puppies hidden in a 200 or 250 page manuscript. You might miss it because your mind automatically translates it. Imagine 'first' instead of 'fist' got through spellcheck and eight different highly educated readers who also happen to have extensive experience in editing.
It happened in Anathema.
Yes, I was horrified. Yes, I fixed it. No, it does not mean I'm an idiot or that my entire novel sucked (novel suckage is totally subjective). Nor did I blame my early readers.
Sometimes a typo, or two or three, are blown up to such huge proportions. Reviewers take off one or two entire stars because a typo distracted them so much. The author gets flamed and another ding appears in their already-fragile armor.
If readers think authors aren't bothered by typos, trust me, we ARE! We obsess over editing far more than you might guess. It's important for readers to understand that we are all simply human. I honestly and truly believe that all authors want error-free books. I think if you read a book and it has an occasional typo, maybe you could forgive them. If the book has typos on every page, then yeah, maybe it needs some extensive editing. But if you find occasional typos, does it really take away from you enjoyment of the book?
If you don't believe that typos or story inconsistencies happen in well-vetted traditionally published books, then here's two examples to show you that they do. I have no intention of flaming these authors at all. In fact, I happen to have a literary crush on one of them (the dude, not the chick). It's simply to illustrate that these things happen.
Ex #1: James Rollins
Ex #2: Veronica Roth
Why do typos and inconsistencies get through sometimes? Because we're human. At least I am. I think... ;)
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