The Indelibles Are On Sale

Happy Friday. Hope everyone's week has been awesome. My kids are back in school, so I went ahead and wrote a book. Yeah, I'm nerdy like that. *snort*

What have you been up to? Written anything new? Working on editing?

I also had to post a collage of one of each of the Indelibles books. I love the women in this group. They're talented, smart, and funny.

I mean seriously, I heart them big time. 

Most of these books are on sale or #free so be sure to check them out.

Kisses!!!

RaShelle Workman is the international bestselling author of the Dead Roses series ("Sleeping Roses," book 1 in the series, has been translated into Turkish and is NOW available wherever Turkish books are sold), the Immortal Essence series, the Blood and Snow series, the Cindy Chronicles, and Touching Melody (A Forever First Novel). She's sold over three hundred thousand copies of her novels worldwide in the past year, including Japan, Canada, and Europe. You can find RaShelle all over the web, but the best place to start is on her blog: rashelleworkman.com. 

What we can learn from Miley Cyrus

Photo shared from My Home Away from Home's Facebook Page

The above photos is Will Smith and family's reaction to Miley Cyrus' performance at the VMAs. If you haven't seen it...you can YouTube it because once was enough for me.

Miley Cyrus is a teen now. Back in the day she was the squeaky clean, Hannah Montana, then she decided that she wanted to shed that image.

She started with a movie role, then went on to crazier things like chopping all of her hair off and twerking. NOW we have the infamous performance.

So now you're thinking WHAT THE HECK CAN I LEARN FROM THIS?

There are good ways and there are bad ways to change your image. If you really want to get noticed and have people talking about you (and possibly not in the best light) you can go full-blown Miley and start twerking with a foam finger. If  you want to do it a little more subtly, here are some tips from an Indie author who went from writing clean, teen YA books about aliens to smoking hot New Adult titles with ten page love scenes.

In 2009 I wrote My Paper Heart and was told that a book with a college aged protag wouldn't sell. In some of the first versions there was open door sex and fellatio. When I tried to sell it as YA, I took all of that out. It still wouldn't sell because of the character's age. So I shelved it and said "Fine, I'll write clean teen fiction.

In 2011, How to Date an Alien came out. It received some good feedback and from writing that book I learned how hot a first kiss could be. I learned that writing YA doesn't mean that has to be all sex. I enjoyed writing the alien books and growing with my characters. Yet there was something in the back of my mind that wanted me to get back to more books like My Paper Heart.








When I finally did re-edit My Paper Heart and put it out just as New Adult started, it finally hit with the right market. Then I started devouring all the New Adult books that came out. There were some that had me really wondering "Is this too much?" Yet I couldn't stop craving more of these books. So I wrote The Only Exception and The Only One.

The Only Exception was my first dip in the really sexy waters. I wanted to try a hotter cover and to add a little more description to my love scenes. But at the same time, I knew I couldn't alienate the fans of my YA books. I didn't want to put something out there that was extremely graphic or shock the world into knowing that I now write sexy, New Adult books, so I took the stop of writing this book. Some fans of my alien books loved it, some wished I would have stayed writing about aliens.

And now for The Only One. An uber hot cover that some people weren't sure I should put out there. There is a BIG reason for putting that stock art on the cover and one that I'm not going to spoil. I wasn't trying to go all out Miley Cyrus crazy on my New Adult books, but I wanted to make a statement. These aren't my clean, teen YA books. If you think they are, just look at the covers and read the synopsis and they should tell you different.

 

 

I'm not knocking Miley Cyrus.

 

Okay, the performance did make my jaw drop...

 

But that's not the point.

 

What can we learn from her?

 

We can learn that to make a change or try and show others that we have a new image, doesn't need a great big spectacle. The world doesn't need to see every bit of you to know that you've changed. I do have a new YA book out there, and I've made it clear that it's purely YA, but as far as the future of my books, they will mostly be New Adult. It's what I love and it's what I think you all love.

 

Have you ever wanted to change your image?  Did you go all-out- Miley Cyrus teddy bear to do it?

 

 

 

Magan Vernon is a Young Adult and New Adult writer who lives with her family in the insurance capital of the world. When not writing she spends her time fighting over fake boyfriends via social media.

Connect with Magan Vernon: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Finishing Up Those Trilogies - Contrition Cover reveal!

The Perception Trilogy is my first real series, meaning the story begins in book one and doesn't complete until the end of book three. (My Clockwise series is unconventional that way, which is why I point this out.)

What a ride! It's a bittersweet to be closing in on the end. I've spent so much time getting to know and love my characters! It's kind of like having to wave good bye as your child leaves for college - it's good and necessary, but it marks a dramatic change. You're happy to see them develop and grow, but at the same time you can't help the tears that well up.

You find you make frequent trips to the baby albums, reminiscing on the growing up years. I began the first draft of Perception two and a half years ago, while on a trip to Romania. I'd meant to take a break from writing, but instead I started getting all these great ideas for a new sci/fi dystopian. Everywhere we went I'd be stopping to type in  quick notes on my iphone, and at night I wrote scenes on a borrowed laptop.

I published Perception on September 01, 2012, almost one year ago. Since then I've written and published book 2, Volition, and now in just a few short weeks, the final book.

Yes!

CONTRITION is releasing September 26th! Of course, there will be swag/contests/sales leading up to the launch. I hope you join in on the fun!

Without further ado....(drum role)....

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Zoe, Noah and the other plane crash survivors

 are stranded in the Arizona desert.

They all have secrets,

and reasons to hide.

But they’re not alone.

Cyborg soldiers.

War.

Humans and humanoids.

Who can be trusted?

Zoe’s life is in danger.

Noah must make an impossible choice.

Will their love survive their brokenness?

Will the world as they know it end before they can find out?

CONTRITION COMING SEPTEMBER 26th!

Taking the Road Less Traveled

(This is part of a book I'm blogging, Indie Author Survival Guide. If you want to know when it releases, please subscribe to my newsletter.)

Ch 3.9 Taking the Road Less Traveled*

*Apologies to Robert Frost

I'm preserving the original flavor of these two chapters (Taking the Road Less Traveled, The Secret Ingredient: Confidence) written just before my leap into indie publishing. Partly because they show what I was thinking before I knew self-publishing was going to give me monthly paychecks that would replace a job in engineering within a year. Before I knew people would give my books hundreds of five-star reviews on Amazon. It was before all the success I've been lucky and worked hard to have. And I think it speaks to the experience that many writers go through during that transition time when they step back, gauge the gap, get a running start, and make the daring leap into their author careers. Then we'll tie things up with a retrospective chapter on Making the Leap.

When It First Occurred To Me That I Might Self-Publish
[Ed. Note: I am scared crazy here.]

Sometimes I wonder what compels me to take that weedy path, the one that's overgrown because few people go there. Sometimes I tromp across a meadow that doesn't have so much as a deer trail, just because I think there should be a path there, and darn it, someone's got to be the first.

What is my problem? And more importantly, is this behaviour I would encourage in my kids?

I realize that I don't take chances in everything I do.

Wonderful, stable marriage? Well-worn path.
Running for public office? Road less traveled.
Owning a minivan, carting kids around? Paved road with lots of traffic.
Trying to write novels for a living? Weedy path.

So what makes me decide it's worth risking time/money/effort to pursue a goal (writing) that may end up snarled somewhere in a ditch?

The truth is that I agonized over that decision and still revisit it on occasion, as if I'm not finished with the agony just yet, needing to vex my conscience a little more. I'm relieved that 12 year old Dark Omen wants to be a physicist first and a novelist on the side, even as I abet his dream by uploading his novel to Smashwords so he can share it with his friends. I worry that 8 year old Mighty Mite loves Hip Hop dancing more than math, even as I can't resist putting up mirrors in the basement, turning it into his own private dance studio.

Do I really want to encourage them to be risk-takers, like Mom?

Never mind that it's worked out well for me, most of my life. My mom says I lead a charmed life, that things seem to go my way. Maybe she's right. Or maybe I make my own luck, by working hard to be ready when Opportunity comes knocking on my door. Either way, what seems like a calculated risk when I'm taking it, seems like crazy foolhardiness when it's my childrens' futures at stake.

So, I take a deep breath and whack down the tall grass in my way, with a machete I won online (being at the right place at the right time), and take the biggest risk of all: daring to be myself, even when the kids are watching.

(Four Months Later) Just Before Deciding to Take the Leap
[Ed. Note: The fear is still there, but I'm proceeding anyway.]

I've grown less worried about my children's forays into the creative arts and more concerned about all the children who don't. I've become less anxious that my risk-taking - in choosing to write children's novels rather than get a job with a paycheck - is some kind of foolhardiness that I will regret.

In fact, in these mere four months, I've grown in my confidence that not only is taking the road less traveled a wise choice for me, it may in fact be the only real choice.  There's a feeling of rightness, an intuition-approval (see Training Your Intuition) bliss-feeling that comes when I've made a choice that's right for me. I believe it has something to do with integrity, in the sense that all the disparate pieces of me are integrated and heading in the same direction. 

Where did this come from?

Sampling the Cloud 

[Ed. Note: this is summer of 2011, when indie publishing was just starting to go mainstream]

I've been reading a lot of blogs, talking to a lot of people, and reading books about changes in the publishing industry. I've been examining people who are successful, trying to discern what makes them unique. I think of the knowledge base of human experience like an amorphous cloud, shifting and gusting around, changing from minute to minute. You can easily get lost in the cloud, and it can drive you a bit crazy. But I've been trying to take large snapshots to find patterns and learn from them. 

From this I've discerned a couple things: 1) people who are successful aren't successful because they've divined the secret code. They're successful because they made their own code, and 2) Their own code is an expression of the type of person they are, fully embraced and carried forward into the world with confidence.

Examples: 

John Locke is a savvy sales guy who made a bucket load of money selling books the same way he sold insurance. Could I possibly succeed this way? No more than I could sell insurance (which is to say NO).

HP Mallory is enthusiastic, cute, and fun, and has sold a lot of books by being ... enthusiastic, cute, and fun. And attracting readers who enjoy that (and her). Could I be that cute and whimsical? I have my moments, but that's not the main thing that drives me.

My path to success will be different from theirs, and only by embracing who I am (see Ten Things I Believe), making up my own code for success, will I find it. This is the very definition of traveling your own road, but like the Room of Requirement, you will only find it when you go forward with confidence in what you need. Confidence to tromp down that path, even if I'm the first one to travel it in exactly my way. Confidence that my path is not only an acceptable way to go about things, it is probably the best way for me.

Because that's the kind of person I am.

So, Mighty Mite is not only taking Hip Hop, we've added Voice lessons to his creative outlets (he also wants to take acting classes). Dark Omen is hard at work on the sequel of his novel, and Worm Burner has decided that he's a fan of both C++ programming and Shakespeare.

I'm not worried about these explorations anymore. I know they are following their own paths, ones that are expressions of who they are, and I'm grateful that they feel free to tell me, "Mom, I want to try this."

After all, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

But How Do I Find That Confidence?

It's not magic. It's not blind faith. In The Secret Ingredient: Confidence I'll talk about how confidence isn't found, it's grown.

You can follow the Indie Author Survival Guide as I blog it, or sign up for my newsletter to be notified when the whole thing is released in ebook form. 

Susan Kaye Quinn is the author of the bestselling YA SF Mindjack series. Her new Debt Collector serial is her more grown-up SF that she likes to call future-noir. She just sent off her MG fantasy to an editor, and now she's working on her steampunk fantasy romance. And she spends a lot of time playing on Facebook. Susan has a lot of degrees in engineering, which come in handy when dreaming up dangerous mind powers, future dystopias, and slightly plausible steampunk inventions. Mostly she sits around in her pajamas in awe that she gets make stuff up full-time. You can find her at www.susankayequinn.com, where she's blogging her Indie Author Survival Guide.

The Future of The Printed Word

Recently, I bought an iPad mini. We already had one iPad in the house, a full-sized third generation. It wasn’t a matter of me being my typical geek self, although I can’t tell you how much new shiny gadgets delight me. No, the real reason was because we use the iPad so much that there were times when one of us was out of luck if the other was using it.

Mostly, it’s because we’re reading books on it. Now, to be fair, reading isn’t the only thing we use the iPad for, but that’s another topic. The point is, we do 95% of our reading on the iPad. 95%!

I didn’t expect to love the iPad mini the way that I do. Which means I’ve pretty much confiscated it as my device. I bought a leather folio case for it from Oberon Design and it truly looks like an old-world Celtic journal. You know, book-like.

Yeah, you probably see where this is going. Why not just read real books? I’m a writer! Shouldn’t I relish in holding a book in my hand? Shouldn’t I prefer to go into a book store or peruse the library shelf?

I still buy my favorite author’s physical books. I still enjoy going to the library, although I confess to going a lot less now that I can check out books on the iPad using Overdrive. The selection isn’t quite as robust as our library, but it’s still very nice. I now reserve driving to the library to pick up books I can’t borrow from Overdrive. And buying ebooks from iTunes or Amazon is just so darn convenient! Within minutes, I’m reading the book instead of stalking the mailman or hopping in the car and battling traffic to the local B&N. I dislike traffic with a passion and the area I live in is getting more and more congested.

As I hold this bookish cover that contains my iPad mini, the little device that holds any number of books I can markup to my heart’s content, the device where phone numbers, contacts, calendars, task management systems, Evernote, calculator, and countless other apps, videos, and music is stored, and all in something that fits in my purse, I wonder what the future holds for printed press.

Please don’t get me wrong. I really do love printed books. One wall in my office is a wall-to-wall, ten foot tall, solid built-in black walnut bookshelf complete with an old-fashioned library ladder. Yeah. You could say that I love books.

I could spin this all about publishers and contracts and how so many authors are taking control and leaving the traditional publishing world behind to become indie instead. I could say this is the reason digital will easily overtake print.

Believe me, I’ve heard and read it far too often that indie publishing is mostly to blame for the woes of traditional publishing. 

But I don’t think that’s true. I think the real reason is that people are enjoying tablets and ebook devices and either consciously or not, are buying more digital content that physical content. We did it with music and movies. Why did we ever think it wouldn’t happen to the printed word?

I think the reason digital is growing and print is shrinking is because of the end consumer. Authors just benefit from it. Publishing houses could, too if they adapted, and I’d love for them to stick around. But again, that’s a whole separate topic.

What are your thoughts? Do you think ebooks will overshadow print the way downloadable music and streaming video has to CDs and DVDs? And if so, what do you think is the main reason? 

Michelle is the author of the best-selling New Adult horror novel, The Haunting Season, as well as The Book of Lost Souls and Don't Fear the Reaper. 

She blogs at http://michellemuto.wordpress.com/

Find her on FB and on Twitter

Indie Life - Tell us your good news!

Welcome to Indie Life! A chance for indie authors to post about indie life, find each other, offer support, encouragement, news, helpful hints, and anything else that makes life as an indie author a little easier.

What is Indie Life?
How: Sign up on the Linky at the bottom of this page
When: Post on the second Wednesday of the month (starting 1/9/2013)
What: Write anything indie related: something that will inspire or help a fellow indie; something that celebrates a release or a milestone; something that talks about the ups and downs, joys and heartaches of Being Indie.
Grab: The banner above to include in your posts!

Because being Indie doesn't have to mean going it alone.

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Hi, Everyone! Laura Pauling here for this month's Indie Life! I wanted to take this month to give all of you a chance to share your good news with us.

Have you signed with agent?

Released a new book?

Finished a first draft?

Nailed down a rocking plot for a new series?

I shared some good news today for Indie Life today on my blog. Check it out here. I'll give you a little hint.

Tell us about your good news or accomplishments in the comments! We want to know.

Copy this linky code to include the linky in your Indie Life posts!

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=69334987-2a7f-48ea-b1d6-4614953e0005" ></script>

Francis Ford Coppola Does It

Hey, writer-friends! *waves enthusiastically* It's my day to steer this bloggy ship, and I confess... I've been in The Cave.

I'm in the thick of revisions and edits, and my inspiration is all directed toward Anna + Julian in Book #3 of the Dragonfly series, Watercolor (link).

But I want to give you something you can use! So I went back and scoured my ole writer's blog for something readers seemed to like. That's Write, I'm recycling (wink). See what you think~

OK, I did it again. I got another Fresh Air podcast inspiration.

But this time I was listening to Francis Ford Coppola talking about his film career and being a writer. I mean, sure. It's screenwriting. But he had the greatest advice.

FFC says...

I was kind of already doing it (bet some of you were, too), so in truth, it was the greatest affirmation.

He said, "When you're writing, just keep writing."

OK, that's not exactly what he said.

The gist of what he said was that young writers don't trust themselves. They go back and read those first five pages right after they've written them, and lots of times, they tear them up.

Along with some potentially good ideas or inspiration.

(Historical Note: FFC's old, children. Back in the day, writers used to write stuff on paper. Which they cold tear. His point is sort of the equivalent of deleting it all today.)

Back to Frank! He said to write, write, write. (Just keep swimming.) Then put it away for a day or so (Stephen King says a month, doesn't he?), and then go back and read it.

Give yourself a chance to forget it, and then read it with fresh eyes. It's something I (used to) tell my editing clients all the time. Take a break. Let it rest a few days to a week. You'll be amazed how different it'll look.

Gene Hackman listens to FFC...

He also admitted that he copied all his favorite screenwriters and directors.

He confessed that his movie The Conversation was based on some movie he loved and wanted to copy.

And then he said the most important point: But that's impossible!

Which I interpreted this way: It's okay to emulate, to strive to write something like that book you love so much.

(The one that made you almost give up on writing because you'd never in a million years be able to ever write anything that good. Ever.)

I'm not talking about plagerism, as I've said before. I'm talking about being inspired. Being challenged. Being ticked off (or depressed) by other writers.

And then getting in there and trying to beat them, depending on your personality.

I'm a bit competitive, so after I get over the wallowing and the "Oh, I'll never write as good as Jessica Bell!" I get up, dust myself off, and then get ready to kick her tushie. (*wink*)

Yes?

OK, so here's the link to that podcast (link). And now hit it! I want to see some drills. Jumping jacks. Drop and give me 20K (words, that is)!

Have a great week, reader- and writer-friends! I'm planning to get some of my own revisions done this week. More soon~ <3

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Leigh Talbert Moore is a wife and mom by day, a writer by day, a reader by day, a former freelance editor, a former journalist, a caffeine addict, a chocoholic, a beach bum, a lover of any great love story, and occasionally she sleeps.

-THE TRUTH ABOUT FAKING (link) is her debut young adult romance.
-THE TRUTH ABOUT LETTING GO (link) is her newest book available now!
-ROUGE (link) is her mature-YA/new adult romantic suspense novel.
-DRAGONFLY (link), and UNDERTOW (link) Books 1-2 in her new adult, contemporary romance series are out now!

Leigh loves hearing from readers; stop by and say hello:
Blog * Facebook * Amazon Author page * Goodreads

July New Releases by Indelible Authors!

More Great New Releases! UNDERTOW by Leigh Talbert Moore Falling in love will pull you under... -Bill Kyser has a plan to take the sandy farms of his hometown and turn them into a world-class tourist destination--and become a billionaire in the process.  -Alexandra "Lexy" LaSalle has a plan to change her life by becoming a world-famous artist.  -Meg Weaver has a plan to hold onto Bill no matter what she has to do. Three friends, three dreams. One fatal decision will change all their lives forever. In Dragonfly, Bill Kyser gave Anna the three journals that held the story behind the powerful developer's seclusion and the damaged lives of his family members.  Anna hopes to find a way for Julian to know the truth, but as she digs deeper into the tragic events of the past, she realizes silence could be the only option.  Now she's in an alliance with the man she formerly feared. And if Julian finds out what she knows, she could lose for good the boy she's starting to love. PURCHASE LINKS: Amazon: http://amzn.to/15IW1ep Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/15fYMBP Kobo: http://bit.ly/15fJcWM iTunes: http://bit.ly/17fVcZK Paperbacks on CreateSpace: http://bit.ly/18yKqTb Amazon PB: http://amzn.to/137pBpE Design and Upload Your ePub: The Steps to Your Success This guide will cover several types of e-book design software and help you navigate the upload process for all the major vendor sites: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iBooks. In addition, learn basic and more advanced coding and design techniques to make your novel unique, interactive, and beautiful. We'll cover e-book format conversion, epub validation, coding for interactive elements, and much more. Episodes 8 & 9 plus the full season. What’s your life worth on the open market? A debt collector can tell you precisely. This dark and gritty future-noir is told in nine episodes across the first season. Now, the final two episodes of the Debt Collector serial by Susan Kaye Quinn have been released, along with the full Season One! Available at Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, iTunes First Kiss VL. Virgin Lips. You may not have heard of it, but where I live, it's a thing with a card, even if it is a figurative card. I was Brooklyn Hamlin, certified virgin lips, and I planned on clinging to that figurative card with all I had--while dating as many of the hottest guys at school as I could. Maybe that's a bit strange. I mean, what teenage girl isn't interested in kissing? Locking lips definitely interested me, but the drama that came with it didn't. No kissing, no drama. Simple. But on my sixteenth birthday, on my first real date even, the drama found me. His name was Luke Graham--cute, funny, and bad news for the whole female race. Only .99 cents Amazon Stolen Kiss Episode #2 of Confessions of a 16-Year-Old Virgin Lips With my VL card gone, my flickering light of hope lay with Ryker, someone else who'd caught my eye. Only he could erase the memory of Luke, the boy who lip-raped me. Unfortunately, Luke was determined to keep me, or at the very least, ruin me. Stolen Kiss link- only .99 cents Amazon