#PitMad and Twitter Fun
Posted on January 9, 2014 2 Comments
Well – I competed in #pitmad on Twitter today. Yup – did get a request. Many thanks to Trisha Leaver for breaking out her pompoms to cheer me on! And a big thanks to all the retweets from fellow authors and some agents!
#Pitmad is basically 140 characters of hell in which you pitch your novel to agents floating around on the Twitterverse. Let me tell you – it was like the running of the bulls in Spain. I have never seen so much action on Twitter in my life – but it was so much fun! And no one got gored! Hooray!
Afterward I somehow stumbled on this hilarious post by SlushPile Hell and I am now IN LOVE with the page – just fantastic! I didn’t know how to “reblog” the sucker so I copied-n-pasted, but all credit goes to SlushPile Hell (yeah, yeah . . . I need to learn Tumbler, but I’ve got to finish STORMFRONT people!). Anyway – ENJOY!
SlushPile Hell held a contest on Twitter back in 2010 for Worst Children’s Book…Ever. We had more than 1200 entries, because apparently people have nothing better to do than dream up hilarious children’s book titles. Well, just because these entries and winners still bring me a chuckle and help me forget the daily horror that is my life, I figured it was time to repost them. Here is the winner and the top 25 list.
Our WINNER was: @MJsRetweet Daddy Has an Itch. Mommy Smells Like Fish: A Child’s Rhyming Guide to STD’s Congrats to @MJsRetweet!
And here are the rest of the Top 25 WORST CHILDREN’S BOOKS…EVER, in no particular order:
@SmolderingInk: The Best Things to Drink Are under the Sink
@LynetteCurtis: Toy Story 3: Buzz Gets a Woody
@harleymaywrites: Is Angelina My Mommy?
@C_Spaghetti: Where the Wild Thongs Are
@Janet_Reid: The Smith & Wesson Coloring Book for Kids
@AVgrl: Ashley Has Two Daddies, and They’re Both Going to Burn in Hell
@KateHaggard: Dismemberment Donny Needs A Hand
@SarahEGlenn: The Secret Pot Garden
@Smolderingink: Princess Poledancer And The Twirly Tassle Gang
@Prettyandi: Santa Clause, The Tooth Fairy & The Easter Bunny: Just The Beginning of a Lifetime of Lies
@Shelltex: Math Will Make You Ugly
@Juniperjenny: The Magical World beneath the Tarp on the Pool
@Thericeman: All Alone with the Internet: A Choose Your Own Adventure Story
@MJsRetweet: The Fog in the Looking Glass (and Other Ways to Find Out if Grandma’s Still with Us)
@alc417: A Buzzing in the Night: Why Your Wii Control’s Batteries Are Gone
@FrozenGlitter: It’s Not that Grandpa Doesn’t Love You, He Just Loves Drinking More
@jjdebenedictis: You Don’t Need to Think When You’re Pretty
@KarlShoemaker: Furious George Gets Cut Off on the Freeway
@Tobywneal: Why Do Grandma’s Boobies Touch Her Waist? (And Other Questions Not to Ask Out Loud)
@SarahEGlenn: You’re Not There, God. It’s Me, Christopher Hitchens
@GeneDoucette: Rachel Has Seven Mommies: A Children’s Guide to the Book of Mormon
@Saraheolson: Things We Can’t Afford because Your Father Left Us
@EliasSerulle: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Mercury Poisoning
@LynneKelly: Frog And Toad Are Friends with Benefits
Finding a character’s voice
Posted on January 7, 2014 4 Comments
Ever read a great story, but you just can’t seem to stay glued to the book?
Ever watch a thrilling movie, but just can’t get into the actor?
Often times it is because the character doesn’t fully come to life, and that is almost always because of one missing piece: Voice.
Writing for “voice” is something that is learned, honed on the trials of other authors by the books they produced. Reading heavily in my genre helped me hone the voices inside UNDERTOW. My Beta readers were brilliant at catching where a voice shifted or didn’t fit a character. For their help, I am enormously grateful.
I think, oddly enough, I bring my background as a Psych major and a journalist, to my novelistic pursuits. The Psych part of me knows that humans never simply speak with words – our bodies accent what we say and how we say it. Sometimes violently, sometimes softly. We never simply stand like a stone and speak. As writers, the goal should be to portray not just what a character says in words, but what is communicated though a vividness of movement, tempo, and how the phrases are strung together. Do that, and the character crawls his or her way off the page.
Voice can be tough to capture. It helps when writers spend a great deal of time crafting a character first. In some of the books I have read, I quickly become aware that the character, while fun, is just a means to an end. A shell flung in there to move the story along. His voice sounds basically like the other characters, the only difference is what drives him. Often these characters need to be forced into a conflict, and their reactions are more extreme. So, for instance (and I made up this rotten example):
John looked at me, anger in his eyes. “You DIDN’T kiss me goodbye! You don’t love me and I am leaving!”
I tried to stop him, but he stormed out of the house, slamming the door.
That is just plain stupid. You don’t storm out because you didn’t get a kiss – suck it up! And yet I see this in books . . .
I see, so many times, conflict thrown in for the sake of CONFLICT because the characters don’t have enough substance. Look – I don’t know ANYONE who would walk away from someone they love BECAUSE they love them. That makes me NUTS. It is one thing for a character to be DRIVEN AWAY, but to up and leave? Uh . . . no.
Characters who are fully fleshed out, with backgrounds that only the author may know, do not need to be forced into conflict. Characters will naturally come into conflict because life isn’t perfect, but for goodness sake, make it real. And the whole “leaving without telling them” crap – hate that too. If your character is built well, readers will be desperate for more of them and not because you leave them with a cliffhanger. They will want more of them because they have become real people to the reader.
Write vividly. Bring your characters to life, and not just because they are running from flying sharks. Bring them to life because they have a voice, a personality, and a manner that defines them.
If you write YA like me and want to read more vivid voices, I highly recommend the SHADOW AND BONE series by Bardugo, the THRONE OF GLASS series by Maas, and the UNDER THE NEVER SKY series by Rossi. I am also looking forward to reading YA horror story CREED by Leaver and Currie, slated for release this year. I am a wimp, but early reviews tell me the characters inside CREED are vivid, so I will have to sleep with my teddy bear and read it!
A nightlight. I need a nightlight.
My reviews of THRONE OF GLASS, SHADOW AND BONE, & UNDER THE NEVER SKY.
Happy Writing!
The Write Space
Posted on January 6, 2014 2 Comments
The other day my daughter came into my office (okay – more like a walk-through, jammed between my kids’ bedrooms and our great room) and said, “Wow – your office looks worse than my locker.”
Ummm . . . why yes. Yes, it does.
Which got me thinking (no, not about cleaning it). I thought that, in some ways, my office reflected my current state of writerhood.
You ask, “How, pray tell?”
Well, when I wear my journalistic hat, my office is well organized. Contacts, names, times, phone numbers, questions, notes, etc. My desk acquires its own form of OCD. Right now my editors are mumbling, “THANK THE LORD!”
But when I write to weave a story, my office resembles a combination of Animal House and a hyper-active scrapbooker’s paradise. It’s as if my imagination has barfed all over the space. Weirdly, everything somehow reflects my personality and who I am. Take the top of my computer for instance:
You might also notice (from the first photo) that my computer desk actually is a drafting table, set horizontally. My grandfather was a graphic artist, and since I was the only other artist in the family, I inherited all his art supplies. I thought it quite poetic to use his drafting table, where he put pen to paper, as a space where I too would craft alternate realities. I hope he sees me working late into the night at his table, and smiles.
My other desk is where my laptop normally resides (though it is currently in the hands of 
my daughter). It is an unmistakable Mac thanks to the Wicked Witch on the back, and was the faithful tool with which I wrote UNDERTOW. The desk itself is called a Kipling, named for the British Poet and author. I ADORE it. It is wide and deep with a beautiful dark wood color. It also tends to collect more junk that one of those people on Hoarders. When I finally get around to cleaning it off, it’s like seeing it again for the first time – a cheap form of self-inflicted gift giving of sorts, and I yell “Wow! For me? I love it!”
Anyway – this is my mad-mind space. Where be yours, matey?
Holiday Fails and Other Epic Moments
Posted on December 26, 2013 4 Comments
In my family, we ARE the Griswalds. You know – that family, headed by Chevy Chase’s character “Clark” in which the saying, “What can go wrong, will go wrong” applies to everything. The most famous Griswald movie is probably Christmas Vacation and let me tell ya – we’ve just about got them beat.
As a general rule, my mother leads in the most mortifying moments points, and still holding tight to the crown thanks to the ceiling incident, which she fell through on Christmas Day. No worries though – she only came through to her belly-button, though the Christmas Tree shaved off every one of its nine lives since she nearly crushed it. Poor evergreen.
My mother was also there when one massive tree, laden with her nine-million ornaments, started to fall over. In an attempt to save the suicidal leaping of all the ornaments, she tried to hold up the tree (I was at K-Mart buying lights because one twinkle light had died and thus the whole strand mutinied). Anyway, as she clung desperately to the tree, my then five-year-old brother (who was down right hysterical) managed to answer the ringing phone. Apparently one of my father’s clients was calling and my brother (drama queen that he was back then), sobbed into the phone, “CHRISTMAS IS RUINED!!” and hung up. I don’t think the man called back – can’t imagine WHY. Finally pulling in with the new lights, I looked through the bay window to where the tree had been, and one thought went through my head: Where the heck did the tree go and why is my brother plastered to the front glass door screaming at me?
Other disasters included getting stuck on the roof of the house, in the dark, with my dad who had convinced me that we could see Rose Kennedy’s fireworks from the skid-row area of Hyannis where we lived. While I think I did see a drug deal go down, I couldn’t see the fireworks OR MY HAND IN FRONT OF MY FACE. Convincing me to feel my way down off our steep roof to the ladder took a few years. Needless to say, the neighbors found us entertaining . . . probably as they weighed out a few Speed Balls.
We also had a hot water tank crap out an hour before my Christmas concert, all the power fail while cooking Thanksgiving dinner, our breaker box catch fire on Christmas Eve, and a tree nearly come through the roof of our house on New Years.
We laughed at everything, because this is life – Whadda ya gonna do?
So THIS Christmas, having escaped most holiday disasters myself, I should have known my time had come.
You see, I had asked for warm socks and fuzzy slippers for Christmas (hey – I am a simple gal with simple needs). Anyway, I got them and was wearing them while cooking (I hosted dinner – dumb idea #1). As the time drew near for guests to arrive, I grabbed my crock pot full of steaming, sweet and sour meatballs, and began to head upstairs to our family room. It turns out fuzzy socks and new slippers are an unwise choice for me.
I slipped half-way up the staircase.
The crock pot went flying. Meatballs sailed like comets. Sauce repainted the walls.
For crying out loud it looked like a serial killer had a field day in my stairwell!
As the last, lonely meatballs hopped down the stairs towards the now thrilled dogs, I burst out laughing. I was covered in sauce (and stripping because the stuff was friggin HOT), my new socks were marinated, and my fuzzy slippers were roadkill. I looked entirely ridiculous and all I could do was laugh to the point of almost peeing. While my husband was still scrubbing the walls, company arrived.
I had joined the ranks of my own mother’s historic catastrophes and I didn’t care.
Because this is life. And life is sometimes ridiculous and hilarious and all we can do is laugh at ourselves.
I will say this however: If anyone is crazy enough to ask me to carry a crockpot full of meatballs up the stairs, I plan on channeling my inner raven and muttering, “Nevermore.”
Self-Published Marketing
Posted on December 24, 2013 2 Comments
Another writer once asked me why, OH WHY, did I bother with live models? They asked, “Isn’t that time-consuming? Expensive? What if the photos don’t come out right? What if the models don’t understand their characters’ emotions?”
The questions went on and on . . .
I simply responded, “Well, first of all, what would you do if you went to the movies and the actors were cut out and only had voice overs?”
No response . . . blank expression. My interrogator was not getting it.
Fine – simple answer is best: “My cast and photographer are brilliant. They seem to like each other and, incredibly, the characters they represent.”
My interrogator cocks head and thinks. “That’s too much work for me and I don’t see how it would make a difference.”
I smile politely, for two reasons: A. This writer got wind of what I had been doing and took the time to talk with me about it. and B. This writer got wind of what I had been doing and took the time to talk with me about it. Nope – that’s not a type-o.
You see, there are thousands of books released every year. THOUSANDS.
I am but one person with no agent nor publisher. And yet . . . this writer heard of me, not because I just threw a book on Amazon and prayed, but because I did something insane – I launched a book like a movie and used REAL TEENAGERS. In fact, people come to book signings because of the media attention UNDERTOW has received, often thanks to the fact that I used real models.
This, my friends, is what I like to call “Insane Marketing.”
Pronounced MAR-KET-ING, this strange approach to selling books is often overlooked by novelists who are self-published or published by smaller presses.
Emily Penn poses as the face of Elizabeth Walker of the UNDERTOW series
UNDERTOW I launched like a film series, branding the characters with real faces right from the get-go. In doing so, they move off the cover, transforming into real “actors” of sorts, with posters and character cards available to hard-core fans (and yes – the book actually has a lot of those).
Boys are branded as “Teams,” though I avoid love-triangles like the plague. The girls are defined as kick-ass high schoolers by their looks in front of the camera.
What is even more incredible is how these young people transform from who they are, as real people, into their characters in seconds. Take the photos below for instance. The first one is my “cast” shot as themselves – their true personalities. In the second, they are posing as their characters. My tireless and freakin’ awesome photographer, Alex Duanais, does an outrageous job with lighting and framing the cast.
Emily Penn, Megan Jones, Sean Potter, Colby McWilliams, Leslie McKinnon, Christa Mullaly and Justin Blaze Elizabeth Walker of K.R. Conway’s UNDERTOW
The UNDERTOW series cast by K.R. Conway: Raef, Eila, Ana, Kian, MJ, and Nikki
Below is also an example of the first time Leslie (EILA WALKER) and Colby (RAEF PARIS) posed with each other versus the second time. The photo to the left was before UNDERTOW was even released and Colby had yet to read it (Leslie had read the ARC copy). The shot to the right, 6 months later, shows Leslie and Colby, who have now both read the book and been in the newspapers and on television as their characters.
Between takes of channeling their characters, my cast would hang out together with their various iPods and laptops, chatting and laughing. They were remarkable at being able to “flip the switch” from being themselves to being their characters. I suspect this is what it would be like on a movie set, minus all the voices in the background. Below, from L to R, Leslie, Colby, Christa, Sean, and Megan.
They could go from this photo . . .
. . . to this in seconds.
AND . . . then back to this. LOL!
At one point, Leslie got into a fit of the giggles while laying on Colby, which got him laughing as well:
But then they nailed the shot . . .
Christa and Justin were less giggle-prone, but could go from serious to melting the camera in milliseconds. Ironically, the same could be said for their characters, Ana Lane and Kian O’Reilly.
Yes, using real models takes a great deal of time, but I would never change it for the world. For me, the author, there is no one, anywhere, that could take their place. These kids and my photographer go with the series, blended as one.
Get used to seeing them all and enjoying Alex’s fine skills behind the lens. They are all destined to do great things in this lifetime and I, for one, am privileged and humbled they let me and my stories come along for the ride.
Now if I could only decide on what shots to use . . .
UNDERTOW novel in the news!
Posted on November 29, 2013 Leave a Comment
UNDERTOW has some awesome fans – I have been very blessed in that respect. Readers, reviewers, and Cape Codders have all become quite a fabulous cheering section. To them all, I cannot say THANK YOU enough :)
Today, I am sharing some pictures, reviews, and media from the past month. UNDERTOW released on October 13th. Since then I have had over 4000 entries for 8 signed books and 3 posters! This dark tale of two, historic warring families and the entangled lies they left behind 
seems to have hit a addictive cord with readers. I am SO THANKFUL for everyone who helped make it possible.
I swear – I won’t let you down with the rest of the series. I write for you, my fans, and for the characters who live so vividly in my mind.
From Seeing Night Reviews: “Such a great start to a new series that I will definitely be continuing. This one brought me back from my small hiatus from young adult books. I felt like I was getting too much repetition in the genre and am so glad I retuned with such an awesome read. I applaud K.R. Conway for an original plot line with a lot of history, romance, mystery and paranormal goodies to keep me reading in one sitting.
Undertow follows Eila Walker who has just received some surprising news. She has just inherited a million dollar home in Cape Cod, without much thought she and her guardian Mae head there to start their new lives. But when Eila starts to get comfortable with her new home, she realizes she has some history in this small town.
The home she lives in belongs to her 4th generation grand parents, thus making her wonder how she got this home and who knew who she was. But that’s only the beginning as she soon discovers her grandmother’s memories are connected to her and some powerful beings are after her. With the help of her new friends and the very protective Raef, she discovers she has the power to stop history from repeating itself.
Eila is a down to earth kind of girl, one that normally doesn’t get along with the cool group 
but just tries to get through the days. Being connected to old money and a inheriting a famous estate doesn’t make her popular with some of the kids, she makes friends other outsiders like herself.
But after an accident at the beach and a creature tries to drag her under the water, her friends let her know she is the last of her kind to a very powerful family. Eila’s character has a lot to take in; she has some major history about her family that she never knew existed. Plus an ability she doesn’t understand, along with a dangerous enemy that would be more than happy to take her life. Even though she took all this insane information really well, I felt her demeanor and determination to keep her friends and family safe made her a real likable character. I was rooting for her from beginning to end and loved discovering more about her lineage.
Raef is one of those guys that you know all the girls at school are dreaming about secretly. He’s strong, very good-looking and very protective of Eila, even though she doesn’t know he’s protecting her at the start. That is until he tells her the truth. He has a whole secret about himself that was an excellent twist. What I loved most about his character is that he doesn’t hide his feelings; he cares for Eila and shows it with his devotion to watch over her, find answers and fight off the bad guys. He’s like a big teddy bear that you just want to hug and know will keep you safe. I really enjoyed his chemistry with Eila; they seriously had a great connection and some cute scene together.
Overall this is one of my new favorite series that I can’t wait to continue. Conway created a whole back-story that all start 160 years ago and I can tell there is still much more to learn. The secondary characters are just as good as the main protagonist, with her two school mates MJ and Ana being great sidekicks with some interesting tricks up their sleeves, and Kian a playboy big brother type that helps Raef keep Elia safe. They all have great stories about themselves that I’m hoping we get more insight on in the next book. This series has it all, with paranormal elements, suspense, great villains and of course romance. This is a book to add to your list to read asap!”
From Tipsy-Ink: “If it were at all possible, I would rate this title a 5.5 (which it is… I’m just too damn lazy to make a new rating jpeg.) From page 1 I was swept away. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading such a unique read since ‘Scars of the Bifrost’. K.R. Conway’s way of writing IN first person does not limit the story, quite contrary really, it helps to move the story along in a way that anyone can follow and enjoy.
I think one of the things I love most is the unique and original take on ‘Supernatural’ so 
different from the books now hitting the shelves. Don’t get me wrong, I still like the ‘traditional’ supes, its just nice to read something different every once in a while. Writers of this day almost always seem to fall into the comfort of writing about something we something we know and this is different, something we don’t know.
Funny enough, this book was so well written that I found myself hooked (dangerously so, if you count almost burning my dinner). By chapter 10, this review started manefesticing itself in my head.
I can honestly say with a clear conscience that there isn’t a thing about this book that I didn’t like. The writing style, while done in first person, did not deter my ability or my want to read this book. There was way too much I liked. Even some of the twists didn’t register in my mind until a couple of seconds before they were revealed so kudos for that Ms. Conway.
I love every single character, good and bad. Their development was spot on! While I’m aware that there is much we have yet to discover, there is no doubt in my mind, that this author spent countless hours meticulously crafting their backstories down to their favorite color and it shows in every loving key stoke.
My only negative comment if you can even call it that would be “Do you hate your readers, because making us wait till summer of 2014 is just cruel and unusual punishment?” I don’t want to have to wait so long for book 2 but I will as I’m sure many other reader will!”
From Head Stuck in a Book: “I absolutely loved this book, such a fresh, exciting and exhilarating read, with such an original concept that I can see this book doing very well.
This novel combines quite a few of my favourite things in a story, a paranormal origin and intriguing use of it throughout this book, contemporary romance added in all wrapped up in the New Adult genre.
I really like that the reader finds out all about Eila’s family history and her heritage the same time that we do, leaving us questioning things the way that she is left to do, trying to figure just what is going on and why her new friends are keeping secrets from her.
I loved the mysterious Raef and his brother Kian, you know that they have a big secret that they’re hiding and I love that it comes full-circle as Eila’s delves further into her family history and discovers the responsibility that is now her birthright.
With a well written heroine, who is extremely likeable, you can’t go wrong. Combining a new paranormal concept with a dash of action and romance, you’ll be taken on a ride as soon as you open this book to its first page and lose yourself in it’s fantastic storyline. I give this a big 5/5 Stars.”
WANT TO READ MORE REVIEWS?
CHECK OUT THE UNDERTOW GOODREADS PAGE!
Meet the UNDERTOW cast – Alex Duanais
Posted on November 19, 2013 Leave a Comment
If ever there was an unsung hero in the UNDERTOW insanity, it has to be Alex Duanais, our faithful photographer.
I stupidly assumed I could take the photos (cue rolling on floor laughing) and thankfully John Sullivan had a photographer on standby – Alex. Young as he was, he did a fabulous job!! Shooting what felt like 400 photos over 6 hours, he is now the only one I trust to capture these kids on film.
A writer himself, Alex is penning a comic book based on the lead singer of the Dinosaur Jr. Band (the artwork on the left is from artist Wayne Lowden and is featured in his book). Yeah – I see great things for this kid too.
Here is the 4-1-1 on our photographer, Alex Duanais:
Name? Alex Michael Daunais
Age? 22 years old
Town? Originally from Lowell, MA, I now live in Harwich.
Musical muse? My favorite band is either Dinosaur Jr. or Jim Croce
Favorite quote? “The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.” -Neil Gaiman
You are friends with John Sullivan of Quahog Corner. How did you two meet and what do you do for him? I left a heart felt note at the Quahog Corner office saying, “Dear Mr. John Sullivan let me work with you!” And he called me. That’s how we met. Working with Quahog Corner is an amazing hands on experience and I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with John Sullivan and Andrew Rapo every day.
How did you find out about my plans as a writer and the photoshoot? How did you get dragged into the mix? John Sullivan. I can’t thank that man enough. He has opened up so many opportunities for me.
How long have you been a photographer? What is it that you like about photography and do you see it playing a role in your life-long career? I like to dabble in photography. I understand it because I study cinematography and they have a lot of common similarities. As far as my career goes I just want to make good art. I like it all, drawing, film, photography, music, and writing. I like to find ways to combine all my passions into individual art projects.
Is it strange to see your photos all over the Internet and on book covers? Soon they will be hanging from the ceiling of the Cape Cod Mall on a SkyBanner – does it make you smile? It pretty awesome to have my photos on a book cover and I might definitely be bragging about my photos all over a Cape Cod Mall SkyBanner. It makes me very happy, and its great for the good old resume.
For the UNDERTOW shoot, you were photographing real local teens and young adults who were supposed to be the faces of supernatural characters. Was that weird? Photography often seems so honest, yet you were trying to capture a fictional character on film. Was it hard? Did it get easier as the hours rolled on (and there were a LOT of hours)? Capturing the essence of the “UNDERTOW” characters was fairly simple. Kate told me what she wanted and showed my some photos where she got her inspiration, and I mimicked what those photos looked like, very moody and very dark. Lighting is everything.
You have now been in the studio twice for UNDERTOW shoots and we will return again right after Christmas for another large shoot. Since that first time in the studio meeting these “characters / kids,” do you think the other shoots will be easier, since you now know their faces and how to manipulate the light to capture them? I definitely have recognized what lighting set ups work for most of the main characters. There are a few characters I haven’t shot in a while so it will take me a little more time to get familiarized with a few of them.
This psychotic writer approached you as being the model for one of the characters, known as “Rillin”. You will have to live on the flip-side for a while, in front of the lens, rather than behind it. What do you think that will be like? Well, unless Kate wants me to take selfies of myself, which I vowed never to do, I guess I’m gonna have to find another photographer.
DUDE – I am SO finding someone to shoot ya! LOL!
Mall Madness!
Posted on November 19, 2013 Leave a Comment
It has been an amazing ride with UNDERTOW thus far, and I can’t thank the fans, my family, Cape Cod, and my fellow writers enough!
A big high-five to the Fiction Fanatics and author Trisha Leaver (check our her Facebook Page here). Huge thanks to Nate, Jill, the newspapers, the local bookshops, and John Sullivan who apparently knows every teen on Cape Cod (thank God).
I have many events coming up related to the book, including this Friday (November 22nd) when I will be at the Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis at Barnes and Noble from 4-6. Cover models Colby McWilliams (RAEF) and Leslie McKinnon (EILA) will also be with me (Colby will be there from 4-5, Leslie TBA).
Please come by and say “HI” and meet two of the cool kids that decided to jump in, feet first, to this crazy adventure. I hope their time as the cast of UNDERTOW (and that of the rest of the crew and photographer) will launch them towards whatever star on the horizon they seek.
I see them all burning brightly in the future :)
The 4-1-1 on Indie Distribution
Posted on November 9, 2013 Leave a Comment
I have had a lot of questions about marketing (basically how I did it with UNDERTOW). I will answer those at a later date (not because I am trying to be sneaky – I am just literally crushed for time).
Instead, I wanted to convey how I released the title, because when it comes to ISBNs and rights, the publishing world has some wild waters to navigate. Please note that I do all layout and cover graphics MYSELF (which saves me a sizable fortune).
So, I learned early on that I needed to own my ISBNs and buy them DIRECTLY from Bowker. DO NOT BUY FROM ANYWHERE ELSE. Places that sell “discount identifiers” will list themselves as publisher and then you end up in a sticky-wicket in regards to rights. Suck it up and cough out the dough. I bought 10 at $250.00 plus a bar code for $25.00
So, once I owned my ISBN, I went to CreateSpace and uploaded my cover art and interior file and ordered a proof ($35.00 I think). I used MY ISBN (they will say “for extended distribution, we will use OUR CreateSpace assigned ISBN”). DON’T DO IT – DO NOT CHOOSE EXTENDED DIST. That Createspace ISBN will not be able to be used ANYWHERE else and therefore titles that are published by Lightning Source won’t take the book title and you will need a new ISBN. You asks, “Well that’s okay, right?” WRONG. You want all your paperback books of that edition to have the same ISBN for sales recording. Extended distribution will be handled by Lightning Source (keep reading . . .).
Once Createspace (aka AMAZON) had the Print-On-Demand copy set for UNDERTOW, I also went into Kindle Direct and set the file up as an ebook (.mobi file). I had KDP do this for $80. It was worth it – trust me. I chose NOT to do the Premier package and get 5 days to set my book for “free” because I wouldn’t be allowed to sell it anywhere else as an ebook for 90 days. Not happening. Plus, I could drop it to $.99 without being in the premier program. I have learned that .99 is basically the same as free in the eyes of consumers.
THEN I went to Lightning Source (this is not for the faint of heart). After a LONG road, they set up the title for POD (Print on Demand) into the world-wide Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and Books in Print catalogs. PAIN IN THE ASS. Why do it then? Because bookstores (large and small), libraries, and schools do not buy through Amazon and CreateSpace – they buy through Ingram. And the only way to get into Ingram without stocking in their warehouse is to set up a POD. You can pay a fortune to Author House to do this (and Lulu) OR torment yourself and save a few thousand and do it yourself. I did it myself. I spent around $150 so far with them (versus $1000 + through Author House).
While LS was SLOWLY loading my title (and it is still loading I think), I also needed an ebook distributer. I was handling Amazon myself (long story on why I chose to do this). I found BookBaby to be a great resource for distribution. They converted the book and uploaded it to all the channels I requested (listed on the top of this blog in the header). For $350 (I think) they set up everything and take nothing for royalties. I highly recommend them.
I also set up UNDERTOW as print for small off-set runs with a local printer, COUNTRY PRESS, in Lakeville. I have been very pleased with them. I did this to get the book circulating into small stores, libraries, giveaways, etc. I could have used CreateSpace, but they charge quite a fee for shipping books. Country Press charges me about $5.05 a book and I pick them up – no one can touch that. I have run 140 books with them so far. I will let you calculate THAT total.
So, in sum, consumers can buy a print copy of UNDERTOW from any number of local books sellers (large and small) and online through the big players (Barnes & Noble and Amazon).
They can buy an ebook everywhere as well, including walking right into Barnes and Noble, paying the cashier and it will upload instantly to their Nook (or Nook account, which is now readable on iPad – SEE? There’s an App for that!).
Plus, B&N has a Starbucks . . .
Why negative book reviews are bad for the reviewer.
Posted on November 6, 2013 20 Comments
*** FYI – this post is about reviews that are BRUTAL – 1 and 2 stars that are just riddled with scorn for the book. That said, here we go! ***
It is no secret that I love to review books I have adored. If you kick around on this blog, you will find them. And yes – they are raves, because I loved the books and the authors deserve the praise I have given them. Because ultimately a review IS about the ability of the author, and that is what is often forgotten. Which is why I don’t write bad reviews, choosing instead to simply NOT review the book at all.
Because a bad review (and I mean THE BRUTAL ONES), in the grand scheme of things, does nothing for the other potential audience members. I mean – what I may hate (a certain series about 50 gray window coverings comes to mind), they may love and vice versa, right? So, while a great review applauds the work of the author, a scathing review serves only to slap them.
And it is a slap.
The surest way I know a reviewer is not a writer, is when they pen a brutal review and then add “this is not about the author.” *SNORT*
Let me tell ya – IT IS ALWAYS about the author TO THE AUTHOR. I have seen writers be destroyed by a bad review and I tell them, “the person who wrote this is obviously not a writer.” Somehow that makes them feel better . . . briefly. But then they go and write down the reviewer’s name, making sure to find their book IF he / she ever writes one. Sigh . . .
But I do get it, because a brutal review is to kick the tar out of someone’s baby – tell them their kid is scum and ugly to boot. Because a novel is a literary child, raised from infancy, in the eyes of the person who gave it birth. Someone who slaved over it, adored it, and finally gave it life. Sure, their “baby” COULD be the ugliest thing on the planet, BUT I AM NOT TELLING THEM. And quite frankly, I would never slam anyone’s book (okay – well maybe Mein Kampf, which I haven’t read and my review would be ENTIRELY about the author . . . bad me).
First of all, who says I am so brilliant to know what the heck I am talking about? Secondly, if I wrote a bad review, it reflects poorly on me as a person because I am choosing to ignore the fact that someone, somewhere in this universe, WROTE it. There is a real human being behind those pages. And a scathing review reads as excessive grandstanding for attention. Most potential buyers see such reviews as bs and the reviewer’s credibility falls through the floor. And while the book itself is rarely hurt by such reviews, the author is – and so is the reviewer.
So, while I do not write bad reviews, I also do not write many reviews AT ALL because I simply didn’t like the book. If I am backed into a corner by a writer begging me to read their novel (FYI – bad idea in the first place), and I don’t like it, I simply let them know the story wasn’t for me and I was going to pass on reviewing it. I’ve done this on NetGalley, but I sent it as a note to the publisher (always with praise, followed by a “but” line).
Oh – and one other thing. If you write a bad review of someone’s book, and you yourself are trying to become a novelist / author / journalist / etc remember: author’s are like elephants – what you say about their book, they will never forget.
Cheers all!
Cape Cod Scribe 