Dark Days, Bright Ideas

I have been hibernating for the last month, but unlike the groundhog, I will not wait for February 1^st, Imbolc to me, to come out of my sleep and blink at the world.

In the ancient tradition of the Druids, winter began at Samhain (Halloween on the modern calendar) and lasted to Imbolc (approximately February 1). By that calendar, the winter solstice does, in fact, mark mid-winter. It is the shortest day of the year. The nights in the Northeast US can be long, dark and cold. And like days gone by, when people would retreat to the warmth of the hearth and plan for the next year, we do the same.

Winter was and is a time of re-evaluating and re-grouping… think New Year’s resolutions. In modern times, we are no different and, as I talk with many of my friends, we feel as if we are on the brink of change and new growth. Change is never easy and often downright painful. We can feel lost in the dark night of winter.

Those of you who have stopped my blog over the last year or even few months have been privy to some of the changes in my life. After years of a torturous bank merger, I resigned my position with a major national bank. I had spent long nights (and days) looking at the current environment, which did not empower me. It was and is an organization that subtly and not-so-subtly encourages their people to cross ethical lines (if not legal ones) and disrespected their customers and employees. My values and integrity are important to me and so my prospects for success and advancement were bleak.

I also briefly had an agent and after a difference in philosophy parted company with that agent. I am a supporter of agents and publishers everywhere and appreciate the work that can be done on behalf of authors when the right fit is found. It is an evolving world and lots of relationships have to be redefined or re-aligned. I will never rule out establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with an agent and/or publisher.

So, as the days grow shorter and I approach the Winter Solstice and the first anniversary of this blog (Wow, one year already!), what am I up to now.

Dark Dealings proceeds toward publication with a target of early 2012. I have been approached by several small press houses about publishing my novel, but self-publishing remains for me a very viable option.  In an effort to manage all the plans and projects to the future, I will be forming a Limited Liability Corporation in the next few weeks. In addition to the name of the company, I will also announce my decision on how I will be going about publishing Dark Dealings.  Oh and I continue to look for a day job to pay bills until my writing does that for me.

So I have not been wasting the short days and the long night. I have been planning the next harvest.

When I was in grammar school (yes, that’s what it was called back in the day) we had to memorize poems. One has stayed with me all these years. I have posted it before, but for myself and those who plan for the next cycle of growth, it is worth posting again.

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.

'We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,"
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.

                                                                                                                                ~ Oliver Herford

Now I don’t care if what the mix of dark and light are, just someone find me a forty-eight hour day. How are you doing as one year ends and another is about to begin?

Meet Evan Gabriel of Steve Umstead's Gabriel Trilogy

K.Victoria Smith:   Through the magic of time travel, we are here today with Evan Gabriel. Some of you already know him from the events on Poliahu as re-told in Steve Umstead’s thrilling novel, Gabriel’s Redemption. I’ve read Steve’s new novel, Gabriel’s Return. I am a big fan of you and Steve Umstead.  I think it’s time for your fans to get to know you better, Evan.  I can call you, Evan? 

Evan Gabriel:         I'm normally referred to by rank, but as you're a civvie, Evan is fine, thank you.

KVS:        Good.  So shall we begin? 

Evan:      Yeah, I've got a mission debrief to get to.

KVS:        Let’s start with the basics.  Tell us about yourself. Where were you born? Family? Childhood pets? What did you do for fun?

Evan:      I was born in Phoenix Arizona in June, 2148. Parents Scott & Ekaterina, both deceased. My mother…died of cancer when I was very young. My father was…he passed away during the aftermath of the Shanghai Event when I was twelve. Sorry…anyway. I've got a brother who after not seeing him for several years, turned up quite unexpectedly on my last mission. He's older, but more…academic than me, I suppose. I was always bigger and stronger than he was, so I was always sticking up for him in school. Go figure. Before my father died, we did a lot of traveling to the Caribbean, along with my uncle and my cousin. After the Shanghai asteroid, things…changed. That was the end of a lot of childhoods.  


KVS:        What attracted you to military service?

Evan:      My uncle was Special Forces, and I was always fascinated by his tales when he came to our house. He couldn't tell us everything, of course, but what he could was…thrilling. After my father died, I was sort of on my own - well, my brother and I. And when Zack went off to college, I fell in with what most would call the wrong crowd. Instead of college I enlisted, and found I was very good at what the Navy needed. I rose very quickly through the officer ranks, and into the Special Forces. Sort of saved my life.


KVS:        What is the hardest part of your job? Why? What keeps you going?

Evan:      Being SpecFor in the Navy means a lot of traveling, relocating, not a lot of settling down time. I guess that can be hard, not having friends outside the military. But the hardest part, by far, is watching people die. And sometimes feeling responsible for it. As a commander, I am ultimately responsible, and when a mission like…Eden. Damn. Sorry…when a mission goes wrong, and people die, it stabs at a man's soul. What keeps me going? This is my calling. I'm good at what I do, like I was meant for this. And I'm responsible for a new team now. They depend on me, and I cannot let them down.


KVS:        If we were to ask your team to describe Evan Gabriel, what words would they use?

Evan:      They'd better use good ones, or there'll be hell to pay. I'm no taskmaster, but I do expect results. Determined…driven…knowledgeable…trustworthy. Maybe a bit too easy on them, actually, now that I think about it...


KVS:        Is there something you won’t tell anyone?  I promise I won’t tell a soul.

Evan:      This is off the record, correct? I cannot have this showing up in some tabloid on Mars. There was an…incident. During the Ganymede Uprising a few years back, miners had taken control of an ore-producing facility on that moon. They had taken hostages, several of which were children. My team and I had gone in to ensure their safety during negotiations. I had come across a single miner who had taken a child and was holed up in an ore transfer dock. We were…under orders. No casualties, even the miners. But this guy…he was different. I saw it in his eyes. 

                I was alone, I tracked him down, and shut down my comms, powered off all weapons. I was off the official grid. He…refused to let the boy go, claimed he needed leverage. The boy wasn't more than twelve. Same age as I was when my father died. It's a very impressionable age. We struggled, I got him away from the miner and secure in a storage locker, then it was just he and I.  I used my neuretic brain implant to hack into the dock's controls, and opened the outer airlock door. I forced him back against the inner door, took a deep breath and squeezed my eyes shut, and ordered the inner door open, bypassing the safeties. I watched his body in my heads-up retina display fly through the door, then immediately closed the inner door. The boy was safe, and the miner's body was never found. It was off the record, and none of the other miners complained - apparently they all knew him as a piece of trash.

                Bottom line: don't mess with kids. 

-

KVS:        So Evan, for the ladies out there:  Are you single? If not, tell us about the lucky lady.

Evan:      Technically? Single. However, don't let Renay hear that. For five months or so, from shortly after the Poliahu mission, Lieutenant Renay Gesselli and I have been together. We, along with my team, were deployed to Mars for security, and, well, things just sort of happened. I've been away from Mars for over a week now, with this Eden mission, and I'm looking forward to sharing a cup of coffee with her back in Nuovo Portofino on Mars.


KVS:        So what’s next for Evan Gabriel?

Evan:      Apparently some political maneuvering has been happening on Mars while I've been away. Those South American Republic snakes always seem to be behind all the problems my team and I run into. I received a message from my good friend Governor Mubina Tarif in Arsia Mons dome that two domes now belong to the SAR, and that something of a personal nature happened. Something…I can't talk about. Not now. I've got to get this briefing over with, and get back to Mars as soon as I can. I just…I need to get there. It's important. It's…Revenge.


KVS:        It has been a real pleasure for me. I want to thank you for taking time away from your responsibilities. I hope you will continue to work with Steve Umstead. We all want to know what happened next.  

Gabriel's Return is available as an ebook by clicking the link for the :
 Kindle                          or            Nook           and at          Goodreads


 More information about Steve and his books can be found at his website: http://steveumstead.com/

Some previous stops on Steve's blog tour include the websites of:

Leah Petersen  and Shay Fabbro


Keep an eye out for future visits to other websites, including:

Al Boudreau    and  AJ Powers

Steve is giving away one set of the Books One and Two of Gabriel Trilogy.  Leave a comment or question here for Evan Gabriel to qualify.   A winner will be drawn at random.




Who knows, Evan or his avatar, Steve, may answer.

Taking Charge: Bob Mayer's "Write It Forward"

Just a quick post for today.

I am reading  Bob Mayer's book Write It Forward. In a changing writing and publishing environment it is a must read for those who want to take charge of their success as a writer.  Bob,(I hope I can call kim that) is a multi-pubbed author and the founder of Who Dares Wins Publishing. Perhaps more important is his military background in the Green Beret.  He learned his focus and ability to motivate himself and others there.

I have always been a person who took charge of my own future, but lately I have felt a loss of control. The economy has battered us all, publishing is shifting sands--nothing is as easy as it use to be.Bob Mayer's  Write It Forward is the shot in the arm I needed right now.  It reminded me to start with a strategic goal and build from there.  Having a goal that is specific and measurable was the piece I had lost.

I have written my strategic goal for my writing.  Have you?

Now I can talk about it---NEWS!

I am thrilled to announce that I have signed with Marisa Corvisiero of the Lori Perkins Agency. We are working toward the publication of Dark Dealings (see some unpolished excerpts to the right of this post) and future projects.  It has been a long road, most of it spent trying to become a writer worth reading.  I am extremely excited to see this novel move to the next phase and welcome all that Marisa brings to the table.  I can now focus on the next manuscript knowing I am in good hands.  

The publishing business is a changing place and everyone needs to blaze their own trail.  There is always a place and a way for great writers to be heard. Like your novel, find your voice and what works for you.  Be open to changes and revisions. Never give up  on the dream.


A big shout out to Barbara Rogan, who took a newbie with delusions of authorship and whipped her into shape. I learned a lot in her classes and met some amazing writers who remain dear friends.  Another shout-out to the PubWrite folks (find them on Twitter (#pubwrite) and on Facebook. Amazing supportive and helpful folks and a growing force in self and indie-pubbing. And last, but not least, the Liberty States Fiction Writers through which I first met Marisa and the unstoppable Lori Perkins.


As news develops, I will keep you posted. In between, stop back for my usual ramblings.

The Voices in My Head

The Voices in My Head

“Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia”                

-          E.L.Doctorow

                Last week, I posted my character sketch worksheet.  Today I want to talk about what came before.  The main character of my current manuscript, Micaela O’Brien first started as a voice in my head.  I was sitting one evening under a clear fall sky and I started thinking about a young woman, very successful on Wall Street who was hiding from herself.  Okay, so a nice cabernet was involved. I knew her name was Micaela.  I ran inside and grabbed a notebook and pen and wrote three pages about her.  At least, as much as she was ready to tell me at that moment.  She gave me height, eye color, weight, all the superficials.  She had gone to the Wharton School and then Harvard Business School.  Her parents had died in an accident when she was thirteen and was raised by her maternal grandfather.  She had a significant other, Parker, an architect she met at Harvard.  He was very prep school and normal.  Everyone thought they made a good couple but there was no fire, just best friends with benefits.  This was the first clue she was holding back and I needed to dig deeper.   

              Over the months that followed, we (Micaela and I) continued to talk.  She finally told me about the recurring dreams and after an argument in the shower one morning, that had my hubby questioning my sanity again, she told me what really happened to her parents. Sorry, no spoilers here.

                That novel, Dark Dealings, is in good shape and ready for review and edits by wiser eyes than mine.  I have several new projects that I am playing with including a sequel to Dark Dealings and two novellas.  One is an expansion of an unpublished (with good reason) old short story about characters who played a minor role in Dark Dealings.  The other is an experiment in urban YA paranormal, based in part on my childhood hometown and years as a high school teacher.  I realized today that none of these are proceeding at the pace I would like because I have not had one dominant voice among them.  I have tried to have the “so where do you go from here” conversation with Micaela but she’s being her usual reticent self.  Maybe I should write about Liam, one of her potential suitors (I know old fashioned but he’s that kind of guy).  Perhaps she’ll get jealous and speak up.

                I suspect that I will be waking a lot, earbuds firmly in place.  It helps me think and certain songs are connected to my characters.  And hopefully, I will start arguing with them, but not out loud in public.  People other than my husband might think I’m crazy.

                With gratitude to E.L. Doctorow.

E-Book Pricing and the Black Hat

For any business, pricing their product is both an art and a science.  Yes writers, we are producing a novel, therefore it is a product.  For traditional authors this is not a hat firmly planted on their heads.  For the trad-author the discussion about price generally revolves around contract language and if their percentage will be based off MSRP, discount, or net sales.  The MSRP is set by the publisher as part of their strategy to position a book within their catalog and the market as a whole.

            For Indie-authors, pricing is personal. Among the many hats that the Indie-author must wear, I think of pricing as the Black Hat.  It is Black for some writers because, consciously or unconsciously, they view this as the Bad Guy. A philistine’s discussion of filthy lucre and demeaning to the art.

                                                                                               

  As a writer and a business person, I see the Black Hat as my goal.  I want my writing to be profitable---in the black.  So profitable that I can quit my current full-time job and make writing and selling my books my only job.  Some will say the odds are against debut authors today, but if you don’t have a goal you never achieve anything.

            So the question is: how to set the price of an e-book. There are many authors experimenting with the effect of price on sales (supply/demand) and list rankings, including Joe Konrath and his List Experiment.  It would be interesting to turn a herd of MBA students loose on any available data and see what they come up with.  While $0.99 pricing can boost sales in the short run (introductory pricing, special event/fundraising), I wonder if it may hurt in the long run.  I don’t have any data (hello Harvard Business School are you listening?) just a concern that readers may take a “you get what you pay for” response to prices. 

            Let’s assume I have followed the first rule of writing: Write a high quality book that people will want to read.  Does a discerning reader think less of my book and unwilling to even sample it if I price it at $0.99 as opposed to $2.99 or even higher?  What are the authors I consider peers pricing at?  I care where they price at because they are my rivals for the reader’s dollars.  As an example consider the change in pricing strategy taken by some colleges a few yrs ago.  Over a decade ago officials at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania decided that the tuition was too low to attract a large applicant pool. So, they raised tuition over 18% in one year.  They also raised financial aid 20%.  Applications jumped the following year.  Apparently, being cheap as compared to the colleges Ursinus felt were rivals left parents with the perception that Ursinus was a lower quality school.  The higher price with discounts strategy is also found in US healthcare billed to insurance companies, new car pricing and hardcover mass market books.  When I go into a Barnes & Noble I can buy a recent release hardcover for 30% of list PLUS an additional 10% off as a Member.  I am sure B&N forecasts revenues based on a percentage of books being sold at discounted pricing and the resulting volume not full price.  I suspect the big 6 also take this into account in their forecasts.

            Publishing and bookselling is undergoing powerful changes, but we are not the first industry to do this.  Let’s slap on our Black Hats and profit from what we can learn from others.

Reality, Forests and Vampire Facelifts

As the publishing and bookselling market evolves, it is human nature to speak and think in absolutes.  The sky is falling!  We can all become blockbuster authors.  Examples are given for both.  Recently the success of Amanda Hocking has received enormous attention.  I do not know her personally.  But she is reported to be the 26 year old phenom of the indie writer world.  But what has impressed me the most is her rational, measured and mature response to this. I have talked about the work outside the manuscript that is involved in going indie.  I cannot speak with Amanda’s authority as a writer, but I have been a business person, both corporate and self-employed, for more years than I will admit. I have written and reviewed business  plans and I know this.  My manuscript is my product and my business. I must decide what is the best approach for me (each author must make their own decision) in the now and the long run.  I need a business plan.

Writing is on the one hand creative and ephemeral, but it also requires discipline and knowledge of craft to produce a product that someone (many someones) will want to read.  I talk about putting on our writer hat or putting on our editor hat.  If I choose the indie route I must also put on several other hats: publishing, packaging, marketing, publicity. 

I am still undecided on the trad vs. Indie route. 

Whatever route I choose or you choose, read Amanda’s own words and go in with eyes wide open.

http://amandahocking.blogspot.com/  Some Things That Need To Be Said

On a subject dear to my heart, please sign the petition to save the forests of Ireland:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/help-save-irelands-forests/

And just for fun, check out his idea before you get your headshot, esp the paranormal writers, like me.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20010412-10391704.html  Vampire Facelifts

Chaos or Opportunity?

I am a new writer in the fiction world.  What a time to jump into the deep end.  I’m still struggling with the questions of craft and now I must also figure out Facebook, Twitter, blogosphere and all the options for publishing.  So here in The Grove, there are more questions right now than answers.  Please feel free to share your experiences and help fellow travelers find our way through the forest.

So as I understand it, in the traditional publishing world there are several entities that assist the writer in becoming an author.  The difference between writer and author was once explained in a workshop I attended as (and I paraphrase): you are a writer until you get a contract, then you are an author.

So in the way things used to be, oh say, two months ago before Borders began its downward spiral and the e-books rocketed out of the holiday gate, I, as a writer, would finish a manuscript and then begin the query and pitch cycle.  It being a bad idea to pitch before I have a reasonably finished product.

So let’s say things go according to plan, after all, I write fiction/urban fantasy.  So follow along on my fantasy journey.

Said agent would most likely recommend revisions to increase the likelihood of signing with a publishing house.

Having survived the vetting and debating of a publishing house, I would then be paired with an editor who in all likelihood would ‘suggest’ further revisions to make it even more marketable.

And finally 18 months to two years later, the novel is ready for primetime.  At some point prior to that, I would begin working with a publicist on how to launch your novel to make the bestseller list. But which one?  NYT, Amazon, B&N, in the perfect world (this is my fantasy) ---all of them.

But here I am at the edge of some new world.  E-books are flooding the market.  It is, in some cases, the classic drive to eliminate the middle man by both the writer and the distributor.  Not a new phenomena in general economics.  The writer wants to shorten the distance to launch and the keep more of the revenue and the distributor wants, well, essentially the same thing.

But the agent, editor, and publicist do serve a valuable function in this process.  Let’s face it, few of us are equipped to negotiate a contract, we are often word-blind when it comes to our own work and most have only a rudimentary knowledge of superior marketing strategies.  But, how to rise above the pile, hit a bestseller list and work a day job?  In self-pubing the writer must become agent, editor, and publicist.

Or does the writer find someone with more expertise?  Afterall, I don’t repair my own transmission or do my own dental implants.  Does this mean that the process will become more fragmented with independent editors and publicists, similar to the agent model filling a need? 

Does this create an opportunity or opportunists?  Are you using a specialist to help you navigate the new reality of publishing and bookselling?  Are you happy with them? How did you find them?

Thoughts?  

Tuesday, Twitter and Brags

Tuesday Tales: 

So for starters, I have to brag.  My daughter is a college senior and recently applied to 17 PhD or Masters programs.  She was just offered a spot at the University of Nebraska in their doctoral program.  Waiting to hear from the other 16. She has also been accepted as a presenter at a conference in her field in San Diego.  Of course, my brilliant daughter will probably be the first to publish.  Her Independent Research paper is being submitted to journals.

Hey, if you can’t brag about you children whenever and wherever possible, what’s the point of social media? Which brings to my point, social media as a marketing tool for new writers/authors.

Her more reticent Mom’s, that would be me folks (no snickering from those who know me), big accomplishment of the week is setting up a Twitter account. @kvictoriasmith. It is yet another step in building a platform for the day when I, too, can lay claim to the title Published Author.  So now I blog, am on Facebook and Twitter.

 I can’t say how it will all end up but we stand at the edge of a new world and places like Facebook and Twitter are not only marketing but educational tools.  We can teach each other and watch and speculate on trends.  After all we are writers, it’s our job to ask what-if.

So here’s the question.  What do you think the publishing and bookselling industry will look like in 5 years?  10 years?  Will the roles and responsibilities of the author, agent, editor, publisher and publicist change?   What about big bookstores, will they even be around?  Do they go the way of the music industry, as some have suggested?  Do we need any of them in an Amazon/Kindle/B&N/Nook world?

 What’s a lowly writer to do to get published and get Henry Cavill to play the hero?  Or maybe Alex Skaarsgard.   Or even Matt Bohmer.  Hmmm, now where was I?

Meditation, a Journey and a Gun Range

I started the Chopra 21-Day Meditation Challenge today.  I’ve tried to follow along several times before, but never finished the cycle.  So here I am putting it out there.  This time I will complete the cycle.  The parts I did previously were a great benefit personally and creatively.  Like many writers, I do not get to write full-time.  My days are chock full of (no not nuts, although…) family, work, household stuff, more family, more work.  Particularly after the holidays, I have had a terrible time refocusing. I have a manuscript to polish, queries to write, and several new ideas floating around in my head.  Let’s not forget platform/brand building, educating myself on the changing publishing and bookselling landscape and a new business idea.  Oh and I did promise to return to the idea of the Hero’s Journey in my last blog.   Over-achiever--- me?

To sort it all out and find the occasional quiet space where the muse might sneak in a thought or two, I return to meditation.   I’ll keep you posted as to how my journey goes.

Speaking of which, have you read or heard anything about the Hero’s Journey?  How has the idea impacted your writing?

Maybe I should take up yoga next.  Nah-I’m more the gun range type, seems like a better way to blow off steam after a tough week at work.

Note to self….FOCUS.