Are Serials the New Thing?

Tip of the Day: No one notices the dust in your house except for you. If someone does notice, hand them a feather duster. ;)

Last year, my good friend Karly Kirkpatrick came up with this revolutionary idea: we should write serials, like a TV show, then release them every couple of weeks.

I respected Karly's opinion, but I thought it would be a TON of work for little payment. A serial is short (7,500 - 15,000 words), so it's not worth pricing above 99 cents. For self-pubs, a 99 cent sale on Amazon garners just a 35 cent profit.

I filed the idea away  in the back of my head. I hadn't written short stories in years, even though in the late 90's I'd sold quite a few (under my real name - lol, yes, I have more names than I can keep track of too) to magazines. Short stories weren't my favorite medium. Karly had an interesting idea, but not one I was ready to pursue.

One year later, I'm doing just that. Working on a set of five novelettes. Each has its own storyline, but they are part of a bigger story that spans all five books. Starting October 23rd, I'm going to release my mini-series.

The debut is 10/23, then every two weeks through 12/18 I'll release another story.

It's been quite an adventure. I never announce release dates until I'm done editing. With this series, I have deadlines imposed on me that I must keep. It's good motivation to write, if nothing else.

And yes, I'm doing this under another pen name - Isobel Lucas. Why? The books have more language and sexual content than my readers are used to. The last thing I need are 12-year-olds picking up these books. The mom in me can't stand the thought.

Okay, so back to serials. A couple of weeks ago, Amazon announced they're starting up a serials imprint. More and more authors are taking this path. It should be interesting to see if the reading public enjoys the concept. ePublishing is a really fluid place - the rules change all the time. I'm just having fun experimenting with the medium.

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

ePublishing Panel or I Did Not Vomit

Tip of the Day:  Imagining people in their underwear during a presentation doesn't help everyone. Instead, keep a cup of water nearby and a cough drop to suck on. You'd be surprised how much those really do help. ;)

Last fall, my friend Jane Hertenstein contacted me for some advice about epublishing. We spent hours on the phone going over everything she needed to know about getting her books changed into ebook. She owned the rights and was really excited about this new technology.

Once her books were live and she was happy with her experience, she thought it would be great if I shared my knowledge with her SCBWI group. I could get up in front of an audience and talk.

Now, in real life, I really enjoy talking. I have a bit of a reputation (within my family, at least) for never shutting up. However, when it comes to speaking in front of a live audience, to people I don't know, I don't do well. My hands shake and sweat. My voice cracks and my mouth goes drier than the Sahara. I get nervous. I say stupid things and embarrass myself.

I promptly turned her down. Not only was I not confident enough in my speaking skills, I really felt I was too new to epublishing to get up in front a group and declare myself some kind of expert. So, I suggested a panel with me and my friends.

Jane agreed. We tried to set a date for winter, but it just didn't work out, so we decided to do it in March. My friends Karly Kirkpatrick and Norm Cowie sat on the panel with me and Susan Kaye Quinn came in support (I didn't know her when Jane & I set up the panel or I would have invited her to speak too.)

I spent a month being really nervous. Like heart-pounding, scared-to-death, convinced-I-was-going-to-vomit-on-Norm nervous. I considered backing out. As the months passed I focused more on my career and less on the upcoming meeting. My books took off. I learned so much more about epublishing every day. By the time March rolled around, I really felt like I had something to contribute to the panel.

My nervousness faded. I knew I had something to say - a lot of somethings, in fact. I told Jane the day before the panel that she might need to use bodily force on Karly, Norm, and me because we are all skilled in the art of talking.

How did the panel go? Fantastic! I felt like I really was able to impart my message to people. (ePublishing isn't for everyone and it isn't simple. ePublishing is a business, totally separate from writing.) I met some writers whose names I knew from the SCBWI listserv I belong to. It was a really fantastic afternoon.

Moral? Don't agree to speak on a panel as an expert unless you feel like you are one. Had the panel occurred last fall or winter (like we'd originally discussed), I would have been far more nervous because I didn't feel like I knew enough. By March, I had real facts, data, and experience to give out.

Since then I've been contacted by two other people to give talks about epubbing. Will I do it? Absolutely! And next time, I think I can even do it alone. :D

Karly, Megg, Norm

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

Around the Publishing World This Week

Tip of the Day: There is still time to enter our Valentine Makeover contest. There are lots of cool prizes so check it out. And hey, if you don't win this one, I still have a contest for a signed copy of Just Your Average Princess over on my blog.

Everyone has been talking about things they love this week so I thought I'd talk about some of the fun/interesting publishing related stuff I've seen on the Internet this week.

1) This crazy funny VLOG:



2) This interesting blog post from Rachelle Gardner called, Do You Know What Business You're In? In it she compares the publishing industry to Kodak and how they kept denying the changing times (from printed film to digital) until they were out of business.

3) You know the hilarious Ryan Gosling Love YA web site? Well, it seems Ryan is tweeting now as a lit agent and he's somehow even funnier on twitter with updates like, "Hey Girl, there were chocolates and glitter inside your query envelope. You didn't need to do that. But thanks." Follow him @GoslingLitAgent

4) Anna Reads's Top 10 Most Heartbreaking Young Adult Books list.

5) USA Today's blog post, Why Do We Need Romance Novels? Complete with answers from loads of authors.


6) Karly Kirkpatrick's list of Strong Ladies in YA books on The Indelibles site.


7) Rebecca Besser's and Megan Crewe's individual posts about ways to support your favorite authors for FREE. Both ladies have excellent suggestions.


Did you see anything awesome this week that you want to share?


Kristina, Miss Author in Action

Introducing Me (Megg) and My 2011 Writing Recap

Tip of the Day: Don't be afraid of independent authors. There's some really great self-published books out there!

Hi! *waves* My name is Megg. I'm a former freelance parenting journalist turned ninja! Oh, well, in my imagination at least. If you want a basic bio about me, click here. Or you can strap on your seat belt and take a trip with me in my handy-dandy time machine.

I know we're supposed to recap our 2011 writing goals. I'm going to break the rules a bit (watch out, I tend to do that) and take you back to 2010. In the midst of a declining freelance parenting career due to poor economic conditions, I submitted novel queries to agents. Perhaps a bit obsessively. I knew there was a reason my freelance career was on the skids - it was because it was finally my time to shine as a novelist. <insert angelic music here>

I had completed two novels, ANATHEMA and SLEEPERS, and was absolutely sure I would easily be able to get an agent, get a book deal, and live the rest of my life in blissful happiness. Um, yeah, didn't quite happen that way. There were the agents who never responded (ugh), then there were the form letter rejections (ugh), and the sweet personal notes telling me my book looked awesome, but that it wasn't for them and never give up rejections (double ugh). There were quite a few who requested my full. I KNEW one of them would take me on. I had no doubt in my mind whatsoever.

Guess I should learn the difference between knowing something for a fact and hoping for something so deeply. One agent offered to take me on if I'd switch genres. That was a deal-breaker for me. One had me submit all my work to her. In the end she just decided to reject me and I'll never know why. Another held on to my work for nearly a year, kept promising to get back to me and never did. By the end of 2010, I was convinced my books would never, ever be read by anyone outside my critique group.

My BWF (best writing friend) Karly Kirkpatrick told me about epublishing. I scoffed. Self-publishing was for people who gave up, right? Not one to automatically dismiss any idea, I researched it. Karly & I talked, and talked, and talked about it. It wasn't until I saw the quality work being put out by so many self-published authors (Konrath, Amanda Hocking, Sarra Cannon) that I decided to jump in the epub pool.

There were no sharks - just eager readers. I'll swim with them any day.

Now we're in 2011 - I epublished ANATHEMA in February. OUBLIETTE in June. SLEEPERS in July. SEVERED in November. THE INITIATE in December. Over 25,000 copies of my books have been downloaded. I have countless new Facebook and Twitter friends. I have met so many new & amazing readers in the last year. I've also sold foreign rights to my books. I don't regret one moment of 2011.

If you follow my A2A posts, you'll learn more about how I accomplished so much. Believe me, I have a TON to say about it too. I'd really love to know what you guys want to hear. Leave some comments below or email me - meggjensen (at) gmail.com - and tell me what you want to learn about epublishing.

I'm so excited to be on A2A and thank you so much to the ladies for inviting me!!!! :D

-- Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

Fun Friday: Guest Post from YA Author KARLY KIRKPATRICK

Blazing An Indie Trail

I’d like to give a big thanks to Kristina Springer for asking me to come here and discuss the options available to authors in 2011.

My path started much as many authors have. I finished my first book, Into the Shadows, in the summer of 2008. I spent the rest of 2008 and most of 2009 querying that same book around to agents and editors. I joined SCBWI (Society of Childrens’ Writers and Illustrators), and joined three critique groups. I continued to write while I waited, sometimes minutes, sometimes months, for responses on my queries.

I had some very positive responses, requests for partial and full manuscripts (which my SCBWI friends were very impressed with) but ultimately I got a NO. 100 times. I even had some nice rejections…agents who liked the writing, or liked the story, but due to the economy were unable to take on new authors.

Oh well. On to the next. The book was thrown on the shelf to collect dust. I wrote another book and started working on shopping that around, even getting a full request from an agent that had requested a partial on my first book. Things looked positive, but ultimately she rejected it as well. I was in the process of researching and writing my third book (now fourth or maybe fifth book as it’s still a work-in-progress) when I came across a blog in the summer of 2010. I honestly don’t remember how I found it, but there I was at J.A. Konrath’sblog (http://jakonrath.blogspot.com), reading all about his ebook adventures.

I was shocked. I’d always thought self-publishing was for losers who couldn’t get a ‘real’ publishing deal. But here was a published author skipping his publisher and going straight to ebooks. And he was making a lot of money. A LOT of money. Now, I am, of course, a realist and thought, well, he’s been published before, he has a following, but because the money he was making would allow me to write full time, I certainly kept paying attention and following along. I read about every epubbed author I could, how they did it, what they were writing, using social media to talk to these people and just gathering all the information I could.

And after a lot of thought and consideration, I decided that I would try out this epublishing and see what the big deal was about. I figured—what did I have to lose?

I had a book collecting dust on the shelf and I figured if anything, I’d get some readers, get some experience, and maybe make a little money as well. I planned to still submit my second novel to agents, hoping it wouldn’t be a black spot on my name that I had *gasp*—self-published. I followed Konrath, using the same cover artist and formatter. I figure it’s best to copy the successful folks.

But something happened. The further I got into epublishing, the more I realized I loved it. And that maybe I didn’t want to query anymore.

And I’m not knocking people who are traditionally published, being published is fantastic, no matter how you do it, but I’m also happy there are more options now than there were when I first started querying. You can chose your own path, which is great. Some authors are even doing a combination of traditional and self-publishing, which is a great idea.

As for me, since November 1^st,2010, I’ve sold over 400 copies of Into the Shadows, and sales have really increased, I’m now selling 100 or more copies a month. I expect them to continue to grow as word gets around and with the release of my second book, Bloody Little Secrets, later this spring. I’ve earned back the money I spent on the cover and the formatting and am now making profit. If I can sell at least 100 of each of my upcoming books (I hope to have a total of 4 titles of my own by the end of 2011), I will be making $800 a month off of ebooks, or $9600 a year. And that’s assuming I don’t write any more books, which I of course will! This is also assuming sales stay the same, however I believe they will continue to increase, so these numbers are modest.

In the meantime, I decided to band together with other like-minded authors, and with Megg Jensen (www.meggjensen.com) and G.P. Ching (http://genevieveching.blogspot.com) to create DarkSide Publishing (www.darksidepublishing.com). DarkSide is a publishing label, where indie authors work together to produce great ebooks. By April 4^th, DarkSide will have 4 titles available, and by the summer of 2011, we should have 7-8 titles available.

Megg Jensen has also seen great results, just in the first month, turning a profit and cracking the top 100 in Teen Fiction Ebooks on Barnesandnoble.com. G.P. Ching hit bestseller category lists on Amazon within the first two days of her release. We have high hopes for new author Angela Carlie’s upcoming release. (http://angelacarlie.blogspot.com)

All in all, I think self-publishing has emerged as a viable option for authors looking to get their work in front of readers. Some epubbed authors have received book deals here in America and abroad, movie deals, gotten agents, and have really made a career for themselves.

I’m so happy with the decision I made and so excited for the future and I wish you the best of luck with your reading and writing endeavors. Be sure to try out an indie book the next time you have a chance!

Karly Kirkpatrick is the co-owner of DarkSide Publishing (www.darksidepublishing.com), an indieepublishing label and author of Into the Shadows, available now, and Bloody Little Secrets, coming soon. She writes about her Adventures in Epublishing on her blog, www.karlykirkpatrick.com. In addition to being a grad student in the Writing and Publishing program at DePaul University, Chicago, Karly is also a member of SCBWI, a high school German teacher, and mother of an almost-four-year old.