The Journey is the Destination

by S. Usher Evans

 

When I started my publishing journey, I was so focused on the journey itself that I neglected to properly process the destination, i.e., a completed series. I was always focused on the book I was writing, the book I was editing, the book I was promoting, etc. Now here I am, almost two years after earning my "published" card, and I find myself staring at an omnibus version of my space pirate bounty hunter series--four books, seven short stories, and a prequel novella. So I’m taking a few moments to process (for a brief moment) that I made it here, and what it means.

When I wrote the first Razia book in the spring of 2014, the process itself revealed a lot of truths about myself. I was going through a "quarter-life-crisis" where I'd decided to question every decision I'd made to figure out if I was making it because I wanted to, or because I was scared of the alternative. Turns out, I was usually scared of the alternative, so I made a concerted effort to stop living my life out of fear.

Fast forward to today: I live back in Florida near my friends and family, I quit my soul-crushing consultant job, I started a publishing company, I traveled to 26 conventions in 18 months to spread the word about my books, and I have a complete four-book space opera series, one standalone fantasy, two in a fantasy-romance trilogy (one of which comes out today), and one in a YA fantasy series.

The thing is, I'm no longer having soul-affirming realizations while I write, but when I finished Razia, I did go through a bit of a mourning period. My bratty bounty hunter first walked into my brain when I was 15 years old. I’d just seen Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider and I wanted to write a character as cool and calculating as she was. Over the next 15 years, Lyssa evolved not only into a complex, layered individual, but a fully formed imaginary friend that I called on to entertain me during boring college classes and, later, boring meetings. Since publishing Double Life, I’ve always been daydreaming about her next adventure, her next scene, forward motion always. But now, there's nothing more to write.

The final two pieces and the omnibus of Razia are releasing on my 30th birthday on June 12th (but you can preorder them now). I released the first book on my 28th birthday, marking my emergence from a period of deep depression. And now closing the Razia chapter means closing the chapter on my twenties and embracing a decade where I finally know who I am and what I’m doing with myself during my rotations on this earth.

But there will still be that bittersweet sadness of a passed youth, knowing that a chapter of my life is closed but also knowing there’s a brand new one waiting to be written.

 

 

 

—-

Bio:

 

 

S. Usher Evans is an author, blogger, and witty banter aficionado. Born in Pensacola, Florida, she left the sleepy town behind for the fast-paced world of Washington, D.C.. There, she somehow landed jobs with BBC, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic Television before finally settling into a “real job” as an IT consultant. After a quarter life crisis at age 27, she decided consulting was for the birds and rekindled a childhood passion for writing novels. She sold everything she owned and moved back to Pensacola, where she currently resides with her two dogs, Zoe and Mr. Biscuit.

Evans is the author of the Razia series, Madion War Trilogy, and Empath, published by Sun’s Golden Ray Publishing. Her latest book, The Island, releases April 26th.

http://www.susherevans.com

http://www.facebook.com/susherevans

http://www.twitter.com/susherevans

http://www.instagram.com/susherevans

The Value of Planning a Book (Re)Launch #publishing #marketing

Hi, I'm Pippa Jay, author of scifi and the supernatural with a romantic soul. In May 2015 I relaunched my debut novel Keir after getting the rights back in 2014 when my publisher was bought out. At the start of 2015 I saw a workshop on book launches being run by the FFnP chapter of the RWA, and decided that maybe I should take it in the hope of getting some new ideas to give my book's rebirth a good push. I am not great at marketing, so I figured at the least I might pick up some useful tips. While some of the suggestions and projects were mostly outside my budget, let alone my abilities, I did learn a few things that helped me with my relaunch, and that I believe made it much more successful than my previous efforts, so I thought I'd share.

1. Scheduling. This was probably the most useful and important aspect of the whole workshop for me. I am not good at planning things out, but the workshop gave me a poke to do it. I used my often neglected Google calendar (mostly on my phone) and worked backwards from my release date scheduling in what things needed to be done when, such as requesting guest posts, submitting review requests, advertising, cover reveals etc. So reminders would popup on my phone to prod me to do things. I also found if I put set tasks on my calendar with a target date, I was much more motivated and likely to get it done (when my calendar is empty, I tend to procrastinate and wander off task). It also made the tasks ahead seem less stressful by breaking them up by days or weeks into individual tasks. I can't share the actual worksheet of tasks we were given in class, but simply make a list of all the things you think you need, give each a time scale, then plug them into your calendar.

2. One major task was to arrange reviews well in advance of release date (7th May, my third anniversary as a published author and what would have been Keir's third book birthday). I asked for willing reviewers among my friends and colleagues, collecting names and contacts into a list. I planned to ask for at least 25, and scheduled to send ARCs at least a month before release date in the hope that some would be ready to review on release day. (Unfortunately due to my own fault, I didn't have ARCs early enough. I didn't have them ready until 1week before). Fortunately for me this was a re-release and after contacting Amazon, the original 25 reviews I already had from the original release showed up. However, the handful of new reviews I did manage to get were a very welcome addition (I'd also copied the original reviews with the intention of asking the reviewers to repost, but thankfully didn't need to - a real time saver). Also, having joined Broad Universe (something on my list for over a year), I was able to put Keir into their NetGalley coop at the reduced cost of $25 for one month. This is planned for June, and I'm hoping any new reviews might boost sales as they tailed off at the end of May.

3. Budget. On the launch workshop, the organizer generously gave us a $1000 allowance. *Yoda laugh* Since I'm lucky if my budget for anything is even double digits, I used what I realistically had...which was considerably less than three figures. I don't believe in expensive advertising or massive giveaways - impractical for me, and in the case of giveaways I'm not convinced it gets people interested in my books (as an addition, little prizes themed to my books have worked better, but even those are a pressure on me financially). So I mostly look at free options. This often involves blogging, which takes time. Something you can do here is to write blog posts as you go while a topic is fresh in my mind, keep deleted scenes as bonus material for posts or newsletters, and keeping a list of inspirations such as music, film,books etc as you think of them. Saves you battling to recall them later. I often make up playlists for my stories on youtube, and have even included a link to these as part of my back matter. 

Some free options that I used:
Book Blast
SFR Quarterly release announcement and review request (they also offer reasonably priced ads and first chapter spots)
Cover Reveals spotlight (also offers cheaply priced extra services)
The Romance Reviews free banner headlines (you need to be a member of the site and display their banner to receive a free headline each month).
Goodreads Listopia (one of my readers found Keir the first time around via a list on Goodreads, and it costs nothing to add your book. Just be sure it's an appropriate list for your book. In my case, I went for lists focusing on beta heroes).

Lower priced options that I didn't use:
Check out Greta van der Rol's post on some email subscription services HERE. The prices vary, but several other authors pitched in with what did or didn't work for them in the comments as well. I've used some of those mentioned, but with no positive results.

3. Plan potential advertising. Adverts are something I don't consider a worthwhile ROI for me, so I stuck with the free options already mentioned in 2. I had planned to use the extras at Cover Reveals, but in the end I ran out of time - I didn't have sales links early enough to book it. My wonderful book cover designer and editor Danielle Fine did make some truly beautiful promo pieces for me to use, and I ran these as a daily countdown to release. I can and have done some of my own, but they're not as pretty. They're better than just text promos though.

4. Tour. I have had mixed feelings on the subject of tours. I didn't plan an official one as such, but approached a couple of big sites I'd been to before - mostly via my now ex-publisher - some familiar places, and a few new ones. These, in general, cost nothing but a little time and effort. For one, I had to provide a giveaway. Since I was self publishing, it cost me nothing to give away a digital format of my book. Here I fell down on one aspect of my relaunch by not sorting an overall giveaway - I'd had a poster of my book cover and bookmarks made, but I can always run these at a later date for another boost. I didn't do a huge number of guest spots, though,because of having mixed feelings about the value of blog tours. So I kept to posts I actually felt enthusiastic about and that I thought might be interesting. I also had the sequel listed on Goodreads and included a link to that. 

Did it work? Well, I had my best month's sales ever, all the more surprising to me with it being a re-release. Keir also had more pre-orders than any previous title I've released, AND it repeatedly hit the Amazon Top 100 books for Time Travel during its second week. I don't pretend to really understand marketing, and I'm still experimenting. Maybe I was just lucky. But I figure a well-planned launch has helped. It certainly made me feel less stressed to have targets on my schedule and to hit them, so it was worth it from that viewpoint alone. 

If you feel you have anything to add to the suggestions, or if there's something you've tried that has worked especially well or the opposite, please share!

Bio:

After spending twelve years working as an Analytical Chemist in a Metals and Minerals laboratory, Pippa Jay is now a stay-at-home mum who writes scifi and the supernatural. Somewhere along the way a touch of romance crept into her work and refused to leave. In between torturing her plethora of characters, she spends the odd free moment playing guitar very badly, punishing herself with freestyle street dance, and studying the Dark Side of the Force. Although happily settled in the historical town of Colchester in the UK with her husband of 22 years and three little monsters, she continues to roam the rest of the Universe in her head.

Pippa Jay is a dedicated member of the Science Fiction Romance Brigade and Broad Universe, blogging at Spacefreighters Lounge, Adventures in Scifi, and Romancing the Genres. Her works include YA and adult stories crossing a multitude of subgenres from scifi to the paranormal, often with romance, and she’s one of eight authors included in a science fiction romance anthology—Tales from the SFR Brigade. She’s also a double SFR Galaxy Award winner, been a finalist in the Heart of Denver RWA Aspen Gold Contest (3^rd place), the 2015 EPIC eBook awards, the GCC RWA Silken Sands Star Awards (2^nd place), and the RWA LERA 2015 Rebecca contest (2nd place).

You can stalk her at her website, or at her blog, but without doubt her favorite place to hang around and chat is on Twitter as @pippajaygreen.

Website – http://www.pippajay.co.uk

Blogs –

Spacefreighters Lounge - http://www.spacefreighters.blogspot.com

Romancing the Genres - http://www.romancingthegenres.blogspot.co.uk/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/pippajaygreen

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5054558.Pippa_Jay

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Pippa-Jay-Adventures-in-Scifi/114058821953752

Amazon page - http://author.to/PippaJay

All Romance eBooks - http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Pippa+Jay

Newsletter - http://eepurl.com/IKX7b

A Science Fiction Romance Novel
Goodreads | Available from...
Amazon | All Romance eBooks
Kobo | iTunes | B&N 
Smashwords
Print

Blurb:

A demon waiting to die...

An outcast reviled for his discolored skin and rumors of black magic, Keirlan de Corizi sees no hope for redemption. Imprisoned beneath the palace that was once his home, the legendary ‘Blue Demon of Adalucien’ waits for death to finally free him of his curse. But salvation comes in an unexpected guise.

A woman determined to save him.

Able to cross space and time with a wave of her hand, Tarquin Secker has spent eternity on a hopeless quest. Drawn by a compulsion she can’t explain, she risks her apparent immortality to save Keir, and offers him sanctuary on her home-world, Lyagnius. But Quin has secrets of her own.

When Keir mistakenly unleashes the dormant alien powers within him and earns exile from Lyagnius, Quin chooses to stand by him. Can he master his newfound abilities in time to save Quin from the darkness that seeks to possess her?

Book One of the Redemption series and part of the Travellers Universe. A science fiction romance novel previously released by Lyrical Press Inc. 7th May 2012, Keir is a Readers Favorite Contest Awards Finalist 2012​, HOD RWA Aspen Gold finalist (3rd place), The Kindle Book Review’s 2013 Best Indie Book Awards semi-finalist, and a 2012 SFR Galaxy Award Best May to December Romance winner.

New Publishing Platform: QuarterReads

An exciting new publishing platform, created by web designer and author Ian Rose, has come onto the publishing scene. Aptly named "QuarterReads," the reader pays only 25 cents for each story purchased, with a minimum subscription of $5 for 20 reads to start. With a word limit of 2,000, it is a site of short stories where authors can have their hard to market flash fiction published and readers can find sought after shorter fiction for when they simply want a quick, satisfying read. The site was created with the idea that it would be a middle ground between "tightly curated magazines and free-for-all self-publishing."

There are so many things I love about this site that it's hard to know where to begin. There is a quality control in place, where every story is read by a staff member. A story can be rejected for grammatical errors or fragmentary content. That's a great feature with all the unedited self-publishing one finds on other platforms. With a nice balance between known authors and new authors, I've enjoyed every story I've read so far.

Another great feature is that authors get 88% of every story sold. Additionally, if a reader wants to tip an author, then the author gets 100% of the tip. Authors don't have to worry about book covers either. They can simply write and submit their stories. Readers can preview the first 10% of each story and decide if they want to purchase and continue from there. That means it's very important to be able to hook a reader right at the beginning, just as it is with any story.

As a reader, you can favorite an author and receive email updates when he/she gets another story published. There is not a review system, but readers can rate a story on a rating system of 1 to 4, with 4 meaning you loved the story and 1 meaning the story just wasn't for you. The ratings are not public, but they help the algorithms in recommending the story to others. That's another really great feature with the site; each reader has a recommended reads section in their profile.

I'm excited to say that QuarterReads has a Science Fiction Romance section. For the first couple months (the site opened in Oct 2014), most of the stories in that section were written by me. A few more authors have joined in and I'm hoping more SFR authors will help this section grow.
Head on over and check it out!

Kyndra

　

Author bio:
Kyndra Hatch grew up with a fascination for science fiction and a deep interest in ancient civilizations, a combination which fuels her active imagination. After twelve exciting years as an archaeologist, Kyndra has decided to take a break from her career to have more time with her husband of thirteen years. She pursues a passion for writing and has discovered her works have a decidedly science fiction romantic flair. She is an active member of the SFR Brigade and her debut story, "The Stranger," won the 2014 SFR Galaxy Award for Outstanding Debut Story.

SFR stories available on QuarterReads by Kyndra Hatch: https://quarterreads.com/writer.php?id=13

QuarterReads homepage: https://quarterreads.com/

SFR stories on QuarterReads: https://quarterreads.com/genre.php?id=25

Helpful Links

Thought these writing links might come in handy. Most are my genre orientated (f/f/p romance) but there are a smattering of general sites.

Agents/Editors (for researching information)
Agent Query - http://www.agentquery.com/default.aspx
AuthorAdvance - http://www.authoradvance.com/
Literary Agent Verification - http://www.agentresearch.com/agent_ver.html
Preditors and Editors - http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/pubagent.htm

Miscellaneous Sites
Time and Date.com - http://www.timeanddate.com/
Australian War Memorial:Military Organisation and Structure - http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/structure/rank_comparative.asp
IRS:Tax Identification Numbers for the USA information - http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=96696,00.html

Writing Related
Brenda Hiatt's Show Me the Money - http://www.brendahiatt.com/id2.html
Dictionary of Sexual Terms and Expressions - http://www.sex-lexis.com/
Gordian Plot:thesaurus technique for writers - http://gordianplot.com/index.php?title=Main_Page
Great Source iwrite - Grammar - http://www.greatsource.com/iwrite/students/s_grammar_hndbk.html
The Perfect Pitch - http://samhainpublishing.com/blog/2007/04/02/the-perfect-pitch
Publishers Weekly - http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Stephanie Smith's Contest Chart for Writers - http://www.stephiesmith.com/contests.html
When An Agent Offers You Representation - http://www.agentquery.com/writer_or.aspx
Write to Done - http://writetodone.com/

Organisations
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America - http://www.sfwa.org/
RWA:Fantasy/Futuristic/Paranormal Chapter - http://www.romance-ffp.com/
ParaNormal Romance - http://www.paranormalromance.org/
Romance Writers of America - http://www.rwanational.org/
Romance Writers of Australia - http://www.romanceaustralia.com/
Romance Writers of  New Zealand - http://www.romancewriters.co.nz/
Australian Romance Readers Association - http://www.australianromancereaders.com.au/

Submission Guidelines
Avon - http://www.harpercollins.com/imprints/avon/SubmissionGuidelines.aspx
DAW - http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/daw/index.html
Dorchester - http://romanticreads.net/2009/05/07/now-accepting-electronic-submissions/
e-Harlequin - http://www.eharlequin.com/articlepage.html?articleId=538&chapter=0
Hachette Australia - http://www.hha.com.au/about_submissions.html
Orbit - http://www.orbitbooks.net/about-orbit/
PYR - http://www.pyrsf.com/index.html
Tor - http://us.macmillan.com/Content.aspx?publisher=torforge&id=255#ctl00_cphContent_ctl30_lblQuestion

Web Design
Free Images for Websites - http://www.imagehousing.com/
Free Fantasy Design artwork for Websites - http://fantasyartdesign.com/free-wallpapers/best-fantasy-art.php?s=12&np=10&srt=1&best=1
Free Web Counters - http://www.freestatscounter.com/
The Three Bears Method - http://threebearsmethod.com/

(All links are current as of 23rd Dec.2010)

NB. Author's comment - all sites listed are intended to help writers with their research or as helpful links only - not promotion of any particular site.

Houses, Companies & Imprints...oh, my!

For those of you on the journey to publication I thought I’d pass on knowledge gathered over many years concerning single title publishing houses, specifically in the mainstream sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal and romance genres.

Starting out I knew of a few major houses, mostly from looking at the spine of the books on my shelf but, over time and with the help of other writers, I’ve sifted through the information and think :-) I have a better handle on it.

A couple of great research websites include Speculative Fiction Book Publisher Markets website - they lists many print & e-publishing houses, Preditors & Editors - they have a huge listing of publishers, in alphabetical order and with recommendations and warnings, and Book Crossroads - a directory of e-publishers with submission guidelines.

I hope you find the lists useful in your quest for publication. Unless otherwise indicated the publishing houses are based in the US market and are mostly listed as Publishing House, Company and/or Imprint name. (NB. The headings Mainstream and Romance are my own distinctions not industry divisions, folks.) Googling the names should give you links to their websites.

Mainstream SF/F Houses
Penguin Putnam :DAW
Penguin Putnam: ACE & ROC
Random House: Doubleday, Bantam Press, Black Swan, Bantam & Corgi (UK)
(Random House)Ballantine: Del Rey & Spectra
Hachette Book Group: Grand Central Publishing: Orbit Books
Macmillan/Tom Doherty: Tor
Pocket Books: JUNO Books
Baen Books
Penguin: Viking, Sphere, Orion & Signet (UK)
HarperCollins: Voyager & Angry Robot (UK)
Prometheus: PYR
Arrow Books: Legend (UK)
Solaris (UK)
BL Publishing (UK)
Victor Gollancz Inc: VGSF & Magnet (UK)
Mushroom eBooks (e-publisher)

Romance SF/F/paranormal Houses
Harlequin: LUNA fantasy imprint
HarperCollins: EOS fantasy imprint
HarperCollins: AVON paranormal romance imprint
Penguin: Berkley Sensation & Jove imprints
Penguin: Signet novel imprint
Penguin: NAL romance imprint
Hachette Book Group: Grand Central Publishing: Forever paranormal romance imprint
Kensington: Zebra paranormal romance imprint
(Macmillian) Tom Doherty Assoc.: Tor romance imprint
(Macmillian) St.Martin’s Press: St.Martin’s Paperback romance (US)
Random House: Bantam Books romance imprint
Dorchester: Leisure paranormal romance imprint
Dorchester: Lovespell paranormal romance imprint
Simon & Schuster: Pocket Star Books imprint
Medallion Press: Jewel Imprint Sci-Fi romance
Hachette Book Group: Little, Brown Book Group: Piatkus (UK)
Carina Press (e-publisher)
Desert Breeze Publishing (e-publisher)
Devine Destinies(e-publisher)
Ellora’s Cave: Romantica imprint (e-publisher)
Loose Id (e-publisher)
Liquid Silver Books (e-publisher)
Lyrical Press (e-publisher)
Mundania Press:Mundania, Phaze Books, Awe-Struck, and Hard Shell Word Factory (e-publisher)
New Concepts Publishing (e-publisher)
Red Rose Publishing (e-publisher)
Samhain Publishing (e-publisher)
Shadowfire Press (e-publisher)
Wild Rose Press (e-publisher)
Wings e-Press (e-publisher)
Whispers Publishing (e-publisher)

(*Some e-publishers also have available print books)

By no means is this a complete list - I’m sure I’ve missed many but it’s a place to start. You’ll have to do the leg-work to find out more about them and their latest submission guidelines :-) .

Happy submitting!

Spotlight on...Harlequin Single Title

The editors featured the following lines during their presentation - MIRA, HQN, Harlequin Teen, LUNA & Spice.

• Harlequin accepts agented submissions only.
• Harlequin Teen is aimed at the 13-18 year-old market, all genres accepted. They're looking for exception writing and a strong voice.
• MIRA is their main core romance imprint - historical fiction, thrillers, paranormals, commercial literary fiction. They publish in paperback, trade size, hardback and e-books.
• HQN is their single title romance line - contemporary romance, historical romance, western romance, romantic suspense and paranormal romance. Must be fulfilling, romantic reads. 90-100K word length with a unique premise and strong voice.
• LUNA is their single title fantasy with romantic elements line. this line publishes 12 titles/year in trade paperback size. Must have a strong female protagonist, believable world building, single book or series or loosely linked stand-alones OK. They're looking for fresh voices in the following genres - urban fantasy, other-world or fantasy. Manuscripts must be between 90-120K word length. Submissions must have a query letter, 3 chapters & synopsis. Please see website for elements required in a LUNA imprint, see the titles being published now and in the past - these are not your typical romance book.
• Spice is their single title erotic fiction sold in trade paperback size. They're looking for all genres. Can be erotic romance or erotic only. Tone is very sexy, steamy, language is explicit - no euphemisms please, feel free to push the envelope with romance/sex scenarios, all variations accepted. Not necessarily a happily ever after ending but must be satisfying. While this is an erotic imprint the stories must be good and well told.

#NB: While these facts are as up to date as possible the author strongly advises anyone to check the Harlequin website before submitting work. They are the best source of accurate information.

Spotlight on...Ellora's Cave

At the recent RWA® Nationals, I attended a couple of Spotlight on... sessions where publishers highlighted what they were up to in the coming months and what they were looking for in terms of submissions.

For those interested in the the e-pub market, here's what the editors at Ellora's Cave imparted in their session.

• Ellora's Cave is the largest erotic publisher in the e-book marketplace with 450 authors, 3200 e-books & 900 print books on offer.
• Cerridwen Press (Ellora's Cave's non-erotic imprint) is rebranding itself and will be relaunched at the end of the year. Submissions are only open to established authors.
• A book is originally published as an e-book then anywhere from 6 months to 3 years then it may go to print.
• Ellora's Cave is actively seeking new authors - 50 new authors have been signed this year so far.
• Best selling e-books continue to be in the paranormal, erotic and BDSM genres.
• Ellora's Cave has several lines - Erotic, Romantica, GenEdge & Branded.
• In the Erotic line they're looking for the following sorts of genre submissions - erotic steampunk, erotic urban fantasy, fem.dom., M/M. Are keen to find more F/F and are branching into horror erotica, fetish/kink, voyerism. This line doesn't have to meet the requirements of a regular "romance" but does have to have a satisfying ending. Anywhere between 7K(novella-size) to 125K (single title) in length. The flexibility of e-print allows the larger word limit. See their facts page on What is Romantica? to get an idea of what is expected for these lines.
• Gen-Edge is a new line aimed at younger female readers with heroines aged between 18-25yo, heroes can be any age, has be written in a young voice.
• Branded is also a new line catering to a market where readers don't want to see penetrative sex unless it occurs within a marriage. Characters are heterosexual and monogamous. Foreplay and orgasms outside marriage OK, wording can be graphic and explicit. Any genre OK.

Submission guidelines are on-line at their website. No paper submissions accepted, email only.


#NB: While these facts are as up to date as possible the author strongly advises anyone to check the Ellora's Cave website before submitting work. They are the best source of accurate information.

The SUGAR RUSH Query Letter

For those of you still trudging through Queryland, I thought you might want to see my query letter.
http://opheliadawsonchronicles.blogspot.com/