Time to BLACKOUT (or Release Day is Here!)

Tip of the Day: Verla Kay's Blue Board is so amazing that it is merging with the SCBWI message boards! Go Verla and BBers!

Four days early, my YA novel BLACKOUT is out in the world*!

It is only $2.99 (what a deal!) through the following retailers:
Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

 

Also, my super talented husband wrote original music and put together this awesome book trailer. I love it!

For a reminder on why I decided to self e-pub BLACKOUT, here's my blog post from April.

Thanks to all the A2A Misses and critique partners past and present who helped bring this book to life!

If anyone has any questions on the e-pubbing process from a first timer, feel free to ask them here. And if they are beyond my ability to answer, I will forward them to the epub master, Megg. :)

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

*Except for through slooow iTunes and delayed Kobo.

What Is She Up To? (or Writing and Wondering)

Tip of the Day: My hubby is a writer too! Check out the two brand new tracks he's written, produced, and posted for his new band, Blue Falcon. They're FREE on this FaceBook page! Thanks in advance for checking it out. :)

(Won't this look hot on a t-shirt?)

So while my husband has been getting his music "out there," I have been...starting a new middle grade project.

"But, but, but, what about the nine other books you've already written, Deena?" you may be asking. "Shouldn't you be getting those 'out there'?"

Or maybe that's the voice of my conscience coming through like a ghostly voice on Zak Baggins' EVP recorder.

Either way, here is where I reply, "Yes. Yes I should. BUT I CAN'T FOCUS ON ONE PROJECT!"

My plan last fall was to get my YA speculative thriller polished so I could e-pub it this summer -- if nothing else happened with my other books. But when I dove into it at the end of January, I found myself stalling and working on it soooo slooowly.

Fear of epubbing it? Boredom with the story? Disinterest in writing the sequel?

I'm not sure.

Then I went to the NYC SCBWI National Conference (SO FABULOUS, and now I am in even more love with Mo Willems (he is basically elephant and piggy personified) and Julie Andrews (so lovely AND beautiful with her daughter!) than ever), and I got excited to query agents on my MG novel and of course I got an idea growing stronger in my head for ANOTHER MG instead of getting the YA ready.

So what have I been working on? The new MG. And it is so fun to write! Plus I have some agents reading my completed MG and I keep thinking, what if I sell that traditionally and I want a follow-up MG to sub?

Ah yes, here I am thinking ten steps ahead of where I might be one day...instead of just working on the one thing I can control: perfecting my YA speculative thriller and epubbing it.

That is the beauty of the self-epubbing world right now: writers CAN take control of their own publication, and in some ways have the same odds of reaching their target audience as midlist trad pubbed authors.

In retrospect, I'm glad self-epubbing wasn't as accepted when I started writing YA novels eight years ago because I may have made the mistake of pubbing my quite crappy early drafts and early novels, thinking they were actually really good. But now, after years of writing and revising and learning and reading, I KNOW my YA speculative thriller is good -- and the sequel will rock, too.

That said, my plan right now is to:
1. Fast-draft the MG throughout March
2. Fast-edit the YA throughout April and get it epubbed by September, when the novel takes place

HOLD ME TO IT, A2A READERS! HOLD ME TO IT! :)

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

SCBWI NYC 2013! (or What I'm Doing This Weekend)

Tip of the Day: Can't make it to NYC SCBWI this weekend? Follow this blog for updates throughout the weekend!

This has been an exciting week in kidlit. On Monday morning, the Youth Media Awards were announced at the ALA Midwinter Conference. I nerded it out and cheered for the winners while watching the live stream and working the Children's Reference Desk at my library. GO KIDLIT BOOKS!

And on Friday, the SCBWI NYC 2013 Conference begins. Woo hoo! And guess who's going? Kate and I!

While I await responses on my latest batch of agent queries, I'm excited to get reinspired and energized for my next project at this conference. It's great spending time among those who love writing and illustrating for children and teens.

Who else will be at the Grand Central Hyatt this weekend?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

I am a Lazy Author!

Tip of the Day: Don't work out three times in one day. You will not be able to move when you wake up the next morning. Trust me.

You know super-bestselling, uber-famous, author Sue Grafton, right? She writes those murder mystery alphabet books. She thinks self-published authors are lazy. Yes, in an interview with a Louisville news outlet, she said this, "Quit worrying about publication and master your craft. If you have a good story to tell and if you write it well, the Universe will come to your aid. Don’t self-publish. That’s as good as admitting you’re too lazy to do the hard work."

Bein' lazy & pickin' my nose!

It's true. I'm super-lazy. This summer I hired a babysitter and paid her $10 an hour so I could write pick my nose while playing on Facebook.

When my kids go back to school next week, I'm going to use my free time to write play World of Warcraft for a few hours each day before my soap operas come on. Then I'm going to edit bake a cake and eat it all.

I bought an iMac earlier this year. It makes it much easier to market create You Tube videos. Oh, and those SCBWI conferences and workshops I've paid to attend so I can learn more about craft? Shhh....don't tell, it's just so I can hang out with friends and score some food.

Working on my stank face for my crunk routine

After I close my eyes and type gibberish until the little indicator says I have 50,000 words, I slap my ebook up on Amazon. Why edit? That's lame. And it takes up too much time when I could be perfecting my crunk moves with last week's episode of So You Think You Can Dance.

I'm one of the few solely self-published authors in the world with PAL status within SCBWI. Usually it means Published and Listed. In my case, it probably means Pathetic and Lazy.

I'll make six figures this year. But that's easy, yanno, for us lazy authors. I wonder how much money the ones who work hard make?

If you're lazy, like me, you might want to consider self-publishing. Phew, I really dodged a bullet by not going traditional, didn't I? All that work...I can't even imagine what it's like.

ALL AUTHORS WHO WANT TO SUCCEED, REGARDLESS OF PUBLISHING PATH, WORK THEIR ASSES OFF.

-end rant-

***After I wrote and scheduled this post, Ms. Grafton wrote a response to the outcry from indie authors. Read it here.   Ms. Grafton was educated rather quickly, and while she still admits she doesn't understand self-publishing, she knows she spoke too soon on a topic outside her expertise.

My blog post doesn't make fun of anyone but me (my favorite person to make fun of!), so I left it as is.

I also hope the readers of this blog know that I am a very sarcastic person who would never, ever pick her nose or crunk ... in front of a camera. Let's not discuss what goes on when the camera's off. ;) ***

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

Hard Work Pays Off: SCBWI PAL

Tip of the Day: If you're a writer - treat it like a real job. Don't let anyone say your writing time isn't valuable.

If you're Facebook friends with me or a member of SCBWI-IL, you've heard the news: my self-published novels have been granted PAL status.

Maybe you're new to those acronyms. I'll explain what they stand for and what it means.

SCBWI = Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators
PAL = Published and Listed

PAL is, traditionally, only available to those with a publishing contract from a verified publisher. Self-published authors could not be PAL members.

Back in April, the Yahoo! group for SCBWI-IL exploded in conversation on whether self-publishing was viable, valid, and worthwhile. As a self-publisher who loves what she does, I stood up for self-publishing. Others shared opposing feelings. It was a spirited debated.

Afterward I was encouraged to contact the governing board of SCBWI concerning self-publishing. Even though that made me very nervous, I decided to do it. To my surprise, I heard back from a member of the board quickly. They were all interested in learning more about self-publishing, particularly from those who were successful.

Over the last few months, I've shared quite a bit of my personal data. Sales reports, income statements, etc. Because SCBWI was so integral in helping me become the writer I am today, I wanted to give back in any way I could (I have also done various behind-the-scenes volunteering for them since I joined).

A little over a month ago, a friend told me I should apply for an exception to PAL. I was really surprised, but figured it couldn't hurt to try. I spoke with my contact on the board and asked if this was a possibility. Within a few hours I was encouraged to send along a detailed packet of information for them to consider.

It was weeks before I heard anything. Honestly, I had no idea whether or not they would accept me. I certainly didn't deserve it just because I'd been in communication with the board. If I was going to receive a PAL exception I wanted it to be for my achievements in writing and in the business of publishing.

Earlier this week, the good news came through! I had been accepted! My friends asked if I was bubbling over with excitement. I was happy, but at the same time I knew it was just an exception for me. I still want my fellow self-pubs to find a path to PAL.

To me, PAL means you're a professional. It means you've achieved something incredible in your writing career. So why are successful self-publishers still not able to have it? I'm certainly not the most successful self-pub out there. I do quite well, yes, but I'm not the queen by any means.

It's my hope the SCBWI board will find a way to make PAL work for everyone who's achieved success in publishing. I know it's not an easy task. I don't envy their position. I will continue to share my information with them if they want it and advocate for my self-pub friends. The publishing world is evolving. I don't know about you, but I think it's a beautiful thing.

Viva publishing and viva SCBWI!

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

Traditional Publishing is Dead? RWA Conference Notes

Tip of the Day: Need to boost your writing output? Pretend you're in the Writing Olympics - time yourself in 1,000-word sprints. Try to beat your own record. Remember, you can always go back and revise. ;)

The Romance Writers of America (RWA) conference is happening this weekend. I'm not a member. I'm not even there. But, boy, am I being flooded with emails about what's happening at this conference.

Interesting tweet #1: "@Jennie_Lucas: #rwa12 holy cow. Stephanie Laurens just said traditional publishing is dead. What an amazing, gutsy speech."

Who is Stephanie Laurens? She's a New York Times bestselling author.

I have to admit, I was STUNNED when I read this tweet. Who would stand up at RWA, an organization who doesn't recognize self-pubs, and say this in front of a crowd of agents, editors, and writers?

Luckily for us, Ms. Laurens posted her keynote online. You can read it here. In her defense, she never said "traditional publishing is dead." Here's the crux of the speech, the part I think you'll find the most interesting:

"So my last words to you are these: Seize the day. Go forth with that same exuberance, joy, and passion in your heart - and write your stories. Seize the day - because for authors there is no danger in this new era. Take your passion and make it happen. Seize the freedom, embrace the opportunity, because one thing is absolutely certain - in all the millennia, there has never been a better time to be a storyteller."

I agree with her 100%. It's what I've been screaming to anyone who will listen. Write with passion. Publish with purpose - in the way that suits you best. I also think she's telling people to get over their hatred of self-pub because it's not evil.

Now back to the other statement I made above about RWA not being self-pub friendly. I have writer/friends who are members of RWA and have long complained that no matter their level of success, they can't get RWA to recognize them as PAN (Published Authors Network) members. It frustrates them as much as it frustrates me as a member of SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). I have more sales to my name (and far more income) than many SCBWI members, and yet I'm not automatically granted PAL (Published and Listed) membership. I'm fighting for PAL membership. It's a good fight, I think.

Anyway, back to RWA.... Now self-pubs WILL be able to get PAN membership.

Interesting tweet #2: Courtney Milan ‏@courtneymilan
AGMnotes #rwa12 Golden Heart next year will be entirely electronic; $5000 self-pub earnings make you PAN eligible.


Wow. Did you hear my jaw drop on the floor?! WOW, WOW, WOW! I checked RWA's website and couldn't find confirmation of this. It's possible the announcement was a surprise and won't be put on the website until after the conference.

If it's true, and I totally believe it is, then RWA has made amazing strides. I want SCBWI, my writing organization, to do the same. Self-publishing is not a black hole of crap. We work our asses off. We love writing. We love readers. We should get validation too. Hats off to RWA for recognizing this!

Conference Specificity (or I'm Gonna Stay at the Y-AL-S-A*)

*with apologies to The Village People

Tip of the Day: It's SUMMER READING time at your local library! See what great games and events they have planned!

I love SCBWI conferences, but my favorite ones have been those with a focus on writing YA, my personal first love, where I get the most bang for my buck.

And I love Book Festivals, but again my favorites are those that focus on teen books -- like the Rochester Teen Book Fest.

Likewise, for my allotment of library related professional development conferences I can attend, there are many choices, but to get the most out of it, I prefer ones that focus on YA lit.

So how lucky was I that the same year I started my job as a YA Librarian (2008), the first YALSA Symposium on Young Adult Literature was held in Nashville, TN.


This symposium is held every two years, and this year's is in St. Louis, MO on Nov. 2-4. The time to apply to hold a session has passed, but it's a great place for YA authors to schmooze with librarians who are obsessed with their works. :)

So if you're a YA author, librarian, teacher, or other fan of the lit, I highly recommend attending this event. You'll often leave with free books, and always leave with energy and inspiration from being around people who love the same literature you do.

Who will I see in St. Louis this November?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

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

SCBWI MD Conference Recap (or In the Merry Land of Maryland)

Tip of the Day: It's National Library Week! Tell your librarians how much you appreciate their services -- and their books!

On Saturday, March 31, I attended the SCBWI MD/DE/WV chapter’s spring conference: “Rx for Children’s Book Creators: Getting Your Stories Right.”

Why did I drive all the way to Maryland for a one-day regional conference, you may ask? Because I needed to visit my friend and her new baby, and I figured with the conference only an hour away from her, I'd squeeze it in and write off my trip! Another interesting tidbit: the first SCBWI conference I ever went to was in MD while visiting this same friend in 2006.

Anyhoo, the morning started with PB/MG author and writing coach Esther Hershenhorn and her talk, “Getting Your Stories Right.” She focused on how not only should writers and illustrators focus on the plotlines of their characters’ stories, but that they should also view their own creation journeys as plotlines. Kind of a cool concept, one I hadn't considered before.

After lunch, HarperCollins Associate Editor Sarah Dotts Barley discussed “Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.” I was familiar with a number of the “mistakes” she saw in her submissions, like “show don’t tell,” and a reminder to not include every stage direction that your character makes to get from point A to B. But for beginners it was a good talk, and she was a gracious and patient speaker with cool credits like the DEAR BULLY anthology who clearly knows her stuff.

Rachel Orr, agent at Prospect Agency, was the final solo presenter of the day with her talk, “Voices Carry: Discovering and Developing Your Own Personal Style.” And oh em gee, her discussion and examples were the most clear I have heard on the subject of the elusive "voice!" Go Rachel! She took portions of published picture books and novels, stripped them of their “voice,” and put both versions on a PowerPoint slide for comparison. Voila! A great presentation.

The final session, “Fairy Tales and Cautionary Tales,” consisted of a panel of eight of the region’s members who are agented or published. They talked about the mistakes they made along their journeys and what they would do differently now, how they got their first published gigs, and what their best advice was for writers and illustrators struggling to make it today. It was a frank, humorous, and realistic chat on the publishing industry that I really appreciated.

After decompressing my brain at my friend's house where I hung with her baby and we dyed Easter eggs, I drove home excited to dive into my MG revisions again with a focus on voice and the knowledge that I am a character in my own writing life who will one day achieve my greatest writing desires. Woo hoo!

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Places to Submit (or Open Doors)

Tip of the Day: Stay tuned for an A2A Query Clinic coming soon!
Have a polished manuscript? Looking for an agent and/or a publisher without an agent like me? Check out some of these opportunities to submit to some great people/places!

1. Janet Reid's Liz Norris Pay It Forward Writing Contest. You can win a great Backspace Conference prize package. Get your completed, thrilling novel in by March 15.
2. Angry Robot's new YA imprintStrange Chemistry's Open Door submission period. You have from April 16-April 30 to get your fantasy/sci-fi/horror/supernatural novels in.
3. Entangled Publishing, an up-and-coming new publisher, is still open to unagented submissions in upper-YA with romantic elements.


If your manuscript is not polished up yet and you are an SCBWI member, you have until March 15 for your manuscript to arrive at the L.A. HQ for the Work-in-Progress grants.

Good luck!

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Editing the Indie Novel, Part 3

Tip of the Day: Find your perfect critique partners through SCBWI or RWA.

So now that you know the different types of editing you need to do to your manuscript as an indie (because traditionally published authors have professional editors through their publishers to make sure, hopefully, all the bases are covered), I'm going to help you find your perfect editing partners.

When I decided to start approaching my writing as a business with an eye to getting published, versus just writing for fun, I joined SCBWI - the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators. It was through this organization that I found my first online critique group. I was thrilled because two of the members had MFAs in Creative Writing.

That was equally exciting and intimidating. Luckily, the members were more than happy to take me under their wing. I didn't submit my material at first. Instead, I sat back and learned how they critiqued. It was totally mind-blowing and I am grateful to each of them for everything they taught me. After a year of critiquing with them on a bi-weekly basis, I felt like I'd learned a lot ... but I was pretty sure there was more to learn. That's when I discovered Becky Levine.

Becky wrote this incredible book, The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide.

You should buy a copy because this book will enhance any critique group situation you encounter. It will make you a better participant and a better critiquer.

Once you're able to locate some critique groups, you want to gather people around you who have different skill sets. Find people who excel in copy edits, people who can spot a hole in a story a mile away, or who can find your writing tics that no one else can see. I can guarantee you that you will not find one perfect critique partner, nor can you be everything to someone else. Make friends and start sharing your work!

Now we can talk a bit about hiring an editor. *cringes* I hate talking about this. I really, really do. Why? Because when I was querying I sent out feelers to three professional editors, people whose names you'd recognize and who are well-respected editors. I sent each of them a sample to edit, so I could get a feel for their style. I purposely filled the document with errors, some subtle, some obvious.

All of the samples came back with a cursory edit. I was crushed. These were the most well-respected editors and the illusion had been broken. I spent seven years as a journalist. Had I ever turned in an article that poorly edited, I can guarantee you I wouldn't have received new assignments.

If you do decide to go the professional editor route, here's what I want you to do:

1. Figure out what kind of edits you need. Not every editor does all kind of edits.
2. Get referrals from friends. Read some of the work they've edited.
3. Send them a sample edit with known mistakes.
4. If you like the way they edited, make sure their style jives with yours. Make sure they understand your voice.
5. If you go ahead with the edit, don't assume their edit was perfect. Go over your manuscript again and again and again.

I've never claimed my books are perfect. There definitely are advantages to having a traditional publisher and their massive editing machine behind a book (though we've all seen mistakes in trad pubbed books too), but indies can get their books up to par too.

Good luck!!!!

Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber