Six Moon Summer review and guest post

I have a guest post over at WORD for Teens today talking about my favorite YA novels with crossover appeal!

And Cheryl at Cheryl's Book Nook wrote an awesome review!  (I haven't added it to my review page yet 'cause I'm lazy.)

I'm writing All Hallows Moon today (the sequel to Six Moon Summer) and doing some cover design practice.  So all in all, a very productive Saturday!

What are you all doing this weekend?

Helpful Baby Saturday

Holy cow!  Everyone is being so awesome about Six Moon Summer.  I'm kind of shellshocked right now, so I'm going to take this as an excuse to toss up a cute baby picture and sit down for a few minutes.  Phew!  What a week!

I normally run this feature on Fridays, but who care?  Let's all stare at my perfect baby.  Aww.

This one's a couple weeks old, but how cute is he at his first baseball game?  SO CUTE.  (By the way, his wonky eye is due to a blocked tear duct, which is something he's always had and should grow out of eventually. Nothing to worry about.)

This week, Helpful Baby helpfully slept on me so I could get lots of work done designing the cover for my next project (which I'll be Officially Announcing very soon) and helpfully applauded my newly released book! And by "applauded," I mean "wildly flapped his arms at me," because he's trying to learn how to fly before he can walk.  Silly baby!

Six Moon Summer around the internet

Holy cannolli!  *falls over dead*

Six Moon Summer is officially out.  Can you believe it?

My sales are already better than I could have expected thanks to all these amazing people I know on Twitter and Goodreads who have talked it up and bought the book.  My brain is numb.  I'll have to get more into gratitude later.  (I still have too much work to do now!)

A few bloggers have been SO awesome and helpful to post about my book today.  Check them out!

Reading Away the Days: A release announcement.  There will be an interview up later today, too!
Ron Vitale: An interview!
Weaver of Words: A review and interview!
The Elliott Review: A release announcement. The book is in her review queue. :)
Coffee Table Reviews: A release announcement. She gave me an awesome review a little while ago!
Me, My Shelf, and I: A release announcement from someone who also gave me an awesome review!

I'll spare your feed reader and add any additional appearances I might make later.  ;)  Thanks so much, everyone!

Now it's back to work!  (And I'm taking all my enthusiastic exclamation marks with me.)

Indie services?

Out of curiosity, if I started offering inexpensive services to indie authors (like cover design and book trailers), would anybody be interested?  I was thinking $99 apiece.  Most cover artists seem to run $400-$500+, which poor indie authors (such as myself) can't afford.  I'd like to help some of my poor indie author friends who are less Photoshop-inclined get pretty covers.

These are two covers I've made recently:

I have two other older covers that aren't in my portfolio, but I'd be happy to show them to anyone interested.

And then, of course, my book trailer.  It's the only one of those I've made, but I've done a lot of other videos on my own (which I could also show to anyone interested, but I'd prefer not to post them on my writing site higgeldy piggeldy).  I'm all right at editing.

I'm just wondering if I should set up a portfolio site and start selling myself.  ;)  Not like... you know... selling myself... but... oh, you know what I mean.

Six Moon Summer released!

Buy it now!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Goodreads

Createspace
Smashwords

Rylie's parents are going through a messy divorce.  They send her to summer camp to get her out of the way of their fighting lawyers, but she's just as miserable at the girls' camp as she was at home-- there's nothing vegetarian for her to eat at the mess hall, she hates hiking and archery, and the other campers taunt Rylie mercilessly.

One night, the bullying goes too far, and Rylie runs away.  She doesn't get far.  It's a full moon, and she isn't alone in the forest.  A wild animal mauls her.  She's certain she won't survive.
     
Instead of dying, she wakes up unharmed in her cabin the next morning.  The only sign that something has changed are the healed scars on her chest, her increasingly keen senses, and her sudden craving for raw, bloody meat.  A boy from the other camp seems to know what's happening to her, but Rylie isn't sure if she can trust herself with Seth.
     
Rylie soon learns that she only has until the end of summer before she becomes just like the monster that attacked her: a man-eating werewolf hungry for human flesh.  Unless she can find a cure, she's only six moons away from transforming forever and losing her life to the hunger...

 

Support Judy Mays: A Public Service Announcement

We're taking (another) break from our regularly scheduled programming to discuss an outrage occurring in Pennsylvania.

Judy Mays is the penname of Judy Buranich, a high school teacher.  She writes erotic romance novels.  Perfectly normal, consensual, adult erotica.  Parents discovered her illicit writing career on the side (oh no!) and have outed her in an attempt to get her removed from school.

Erotica is harmless.  I would even go so far as to call it healthy.  Teachers have horrible salaries, so most of them have a job on the side, and writing is an excellent second job for an English teacher.  I'll direct you to the news article here for more information, but try not to rage too hard when you read what people are saying about her.

This is pure lunacy.

Everyone should band together to support Judy Mays in her careers-- both of them, which are perfectly legal, valid, and normal for an adult.  Please help spread the word.

1 Day to Six Moon Summer: Reviews

I have been so, so lucky to have the opportunity to work with some really amazing book bloggers.  I can't properly express my immense gratitude at the enthusiasm with which they acquire, read, and review books.  Each and every one has been delightful so far, and as a crotchety old crank pot, I don't say that lightly.


I'm collecting excerpts my reviews on the official Six Moon Summer website, so you'll be able to read all of them there, but here's a few I've gotten so far:

"Just when you think that there isn't another twist in the werewolf story, along comes Six Moon Summer... [T]his is a solid debut book for Indie writer SM Reine. Fresh and fast paced." Four star review from Amber at Me, My Shelf, and I

"This was a fantastic werewolf tale from debut author SM Reine. I am excited to continue the series and it shows great promise. Packed with tons of adventure, teen angst, touch of romance and twisted with paranormal, it makes for a perfect read!" Five star review from Aimee at Coffee Table Reviews

"The plot itself was captivating... there were some interesting twists and turns in the book. Six Moon Summer was a very good book and an interesting start for series and I will be looking forward to reading the sequels." Four star review from Inga Kupp-Silberg at Me and Reading 

"Reine has also made her own rules about the werewolf mythology; it’s unique and refreshing.  This is a great book for all you YA lovers, who are looking for something totally new to read." Four star review from Katja Rinne at Coffeemugged

So far, I've received universally good reviews.  Hopefully the general public will feel the same about the book.  :)


On a related note...


I've pulled the trigger on Six Moon Summer.  There is a little downtime before books appear on websites like Amazon and B&N, so I've uploaded everything in advance to ensure it will be on sale everywhere by tomorrow.  Particularly astute readers may snag the book early!

See you all on the other side!

2 Days to Six Moon Summer: Win the Book!

Who wants to buy a book when you can get it free, right?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Six Moon Summer

by S.M. Reine

Giveaway ends April 29, 2011.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
  

Enter to win

The Goodreads giveaway is still going, so you have a short time left to enter! Of course, if you go on Goodreads you can also find my awesome author page, which includes the book trailer for Six Moon Summer and a sneak peek at my next project, The 19 Dragons. :)

There's a few other chances for you to win the book, too:

Ecered for a signed ARC - Ends May 2nd
Me and reading for a signed ARC - Ends May 1st
Coffeemugged for an ebook edition (instant gratification!) - Ends April 28th

If you happen to be amongst the lucky winners and you enjoy Six Moon Summer, you can always "pay" for the book by dropping a review on Amazon or B&N.  :)  Or just enjoy it!  That's awesome too.

Go!  Enter!  Win!  :D

Pros and Cons to Indie Publishing

As I've discussed before, I didn't originally intend to independently publish Six Moon Summer.  After finishing the book, I began the usual drudgery of writing query letters (which were never good enough) and the agony of writing a synopsis (at which I'm terrible) and was bracing myself for the long road that is pursuing an agent and eventual publication.

I've written many books before and received plenty of positive attention, but never quite found the umph I needed to push myself over the edge.  After a single round of queries for Six Moon Summer, I decided I needed to do something different.  I completely believe in this book, but I didn't think traditional publishing was right for this project.  (I haven't ruled it out for future books, but I'm not sending anything around at the moment.)

Is indie publishing right for your current project?  That's for you to decide.  If it helps, here are some of the factors I took into consideration:

Pros
I have complete control over the result.  I don't have to negotiate my "vision" with editors or marketing experts.  Everything is exactly the way I want it to be.

It's faster.  Less than two months elapsed between the decision to self publish and the release of the book.  I still had to put in tons of time writing and editing (don't ever skimp on editing!) but I can take as much or as little time promoting as I want.

The book length is less important.  Six Moon Summer is perfect at 50,000 words-- which is roughly 10,000 words shorter than a book of the genre should be.  I didn't want to pad the book out.  I write lean and mean, and everything was right at that length.  I probably would have needed to find another subplot to make it traditionally publishable.

It's very hands-on.  I like getting up to my ears in everything publishing.  I've long contemplated starting my own small publishing company, so this is a lot of fun for me.

Higher percentage of profits.  You can get up to 70% of the royalties from many digital distributors, and that's huge.  If you can make your success as an indie author, you may find yourself even more successful than a traditional mid-list author.

Cons
I have complete control over the result.  ;)  Everything is up to me.  If it's not good enough, it's completely my fault.

Distribution is difficult.  Although reaching markets on Amazon and the B&N website is simple, Six Moon Summer will probably never see the bookshelves of a bookstore, airport, or grocery store.  That's a huge market I can't touch.

Much lower marketing budget.  As I observed on my Twitter awhile ago, traditional publishers send out five hundred review copies of their books.  I've sent out over twenty-five, and my goal is at least a hundred within six months of the release, but five hundred is going to be very difficult (if not impossible) to match on my own.  Publishers also organize release events, tours, and other things I can't afford.

It's exhausting.  Indie publishing is just as much work -- if not more -- than traditional publishing.  I've written the equivalent of dozens of different queries and synopses to boot, which I'd hoped to escape by going this route, but there you go.  ;)

A hearty stigma.  "Vanity press" still hovers around indie publishing.  There's a lot of prestige in successfully navigating traditional publishing, which you're unlikely to find as an indie author.

Is it right for you?
Only you can decide.  How much are you willing to invest in your books?  What are your goals as an author?  What do you hope to get out of your career?

(Of course, this doesn't need to be a major, life-changing decision.  Like many authors, you can do both.)  

5 (actually 4) Days to Six Moon Summer: A Playlist

(I meant to post this yesterday.  Oops!  I'll have today's post up around noon.  Sorry.  It's actually four days to 6MS.)

I make soundtracks for most of my books, but I didn't with Six Moon Summer.  Not a lot of music struck me as right for the book.  I do, however, tend to listen to the same songs on repeat whenever I'm writing, and this changes from project to project.

Thanks to the lovely help of Grooveshark, I can share some of those "songs on repeat" with you guys. :)

Saturday Round-Up

It's A Mystery>> 10 Lies You Might Tell Yourself While Editing

Write to Done>> 10 Tips for Writing Excellence From Top Writing Bloggers

Paperback Writer>> Self-Publishing 911 Operator

terribleminds>> Six signs you're not ready to make your living as a professional writer

6 Days to Six Moon Summer: A tale of pregnancy, writing, and woe

There wasn't actually any "woe" when I wrote Six Moon Summer, but I thought it sounded kind of exciting in the title.  ;)

Flash back to September 2010.  I'm extremely pregnant and extremely huge (this picture is five weeks before I gave birth!).  Walking across the room takes ten minutes because my baby's big fat head is engaged the wrong way in my pelvis -- ouch! -- and it's about a million degrees in Nevada.  My house doesn't have air conditioning.  I'm a beached whale in the desert.

Writing is the last thing I can even consider.  Pregnancy has been so miserable that I'm lucky if I've written five words in the last ten months.

The Helpful Fetus has to come out someday, and that day happens to be more than two weeks overdue.  Long story short (too late?), I labor for almost 24 hours.  It sucks, and after a traumatic pregnancy and labor, I'm ready to be back to normal.

"Normal" turns out to be an awfully tall order. Helpful Baby has to be hospitalized for a nasty case of jaundice, which is absolutely traumatizing for a new mother, and I guess you could say I get a bit of the baby blues after that.  I can't sleep.  I lay in bed with the baby all night, tired but awake.  I should be able to pass out as soon as I hit the pillow, but my eyes stay open until dawn.

So what do you do when your entire world is askew and you have a nasty case of insomnia?

Write!

I daydreamed in all those sleepless hours of a dark forest on a foreboding mountain hiding monsters in its depths.  I dreamed of Rylie and Seth and the battles they would fight.  I knew it was going to be an awesome story, and I couldn't wait to start.

Since I had maternity leave for another six weeks after his birth, I would be off for November-- NaNoWriMo.  Seemed like the perfect time to get back into writing and find some normalcy despite this little larval human attached to my breast.

The book came out over the course of the month in fits and starts.  Newborns nurse a lot (they say every 2-3 hours, but they eat for 2-3 hours every 2-3 hours, so it's pretty much constant).  I had to fill the baby up as best I could and pass him to daddy for a few minutes of writing before he was hungry again.  My little guy didn't like being put down at that time, and he wouldn't sleep without being held, so I had almost no time to write.

But somehow, the book came out. I won NaNo and finished "Six Moon Summer."

Almost every moment I've worked on the book, the baby has been with me.  It's tricky balancing motherhood and writing, but it's a pretty awesome challenge, and I'm really proud of how I did it despite being so overwhelmed.  Now I feel like I can do anything.  (Except have another baby EVER AGAIN.  It's an amazing experience that I'm happy to leave as a once-in-a-lifetime joy.)

I feel so much pride seeing my little man trying to learn to crawl, a lot like the pride I feel in seeing my book is coming out in less than a week.  It's a little scary letting my "babies" go out in the wild on their own, but I have to let go someday.  :)

7 Days to Six Moon Summer: First Page

Sorry about my stuffy voice!  If I'm completely incomprehensible, you can read the page on the Six Moon Summer website here.

I guess I should be sorrier about my unwashed, unkempt look, but having a baby has seriously lowered my standards of how often one needs to shower to be socially acceptable.  After having about three pounds of spit-up in one's hair, you realize you can function even when you smell like barfy baby and have applesauce all down your shirt!

Helpful Baby Fridays

Tee hee, embarrassing bath time photo!  He's going to hate me for this in about fourteen years.

Helpful Baby has helped me with my "oh dear Lord my book is coming out in a week" flop-sweat by being extra cuddly snuggly.  It might be that he got his shots this week so he's feeling groggy and crappy, but I'll imagine he knows I'm tearing my hair out and wants to make me feel better.  Of course.  *shifty eyes*

We had Helpful Baby's six month check-up this week.  He weighs 19 lbs, 8 oz (meaning he's gained 11 pounds since he was born!) and he's 29 inches long.  Wow!  What the heck, Helpful Baby?  (For you non-parents, I assure you these numbers are very important to us breeder types, so you can just nod like you care and go about your business while the rest of us exclaim over the ounces.)

How is your Helpful Baby helping you this week?  Post a picture of your baby on your blog (whether s/he be an infant, fur baby, or helper of any other persuasion), share a fun story about them, and drop a link in the comments!

8 Days to Six Moon Summer: Meet Rylie

Rylie Gresham is an awkward blonde girl with knobby knees and a serious case of vegetarianism.  Her hair is white-blonde and her eyes are pale blue.  (Not that you can tell by the cover!)

At almost-sixteen years old, Rylie is pretty sure things can't get worse than her parent's divorce, although she thinks getting shuttled off to summer camp is pretty bad too.  The other campers immediately single her out as an outsider and bully her relentlessly.  What is a girl to do?

Rylie was a wonderful character to write.  She starts out as kind of a punk kid who doesn't know how to cope with all these things happening around her and grows up a lot as the story progresses.  Rylie is strong and spirited, even if she's a little bit of a loner.

In an interview that has yet to post, a blogger asked me who I would pick to play Rylie in a movie.  It's a hard choice!  I have such a vivid image of her in my mind that I can't imagine an actor filling in her hiking boots.  But the first actress that came to mind was Evanna Lynch.  She's a lovely actress with a great look, and I think she could be very scary as a werewolf.

So far, readers have loved Rylie, and I'm excited to share her story with everyone.  I can't wait to tell the rest of her tale in the sequels to Six Moon Summer-- but that's getting a little bit ahead of myself!  :)

Female characters in peril

TRIGGER WARNING.

I'd like to take a break from our regularly scheduled programming to discuss an issue that keeps coming up in the books I'm reading.

Rape.

I read and write books with female protagonists almost exclusively.  As a woman, I like reading characters to whom I can relate.  I like women that aren't pushovers.  Women who fight to overcome their flaws.  Women who take charge of their lives.  These can be girly girls or awesome butches or anywhere in between, but I like women who dominate in whatever they're doing-- or at least try.

So I would say 90% of the books I've read this year have had female protagonists, and of those books, 90% of them have had the female characters under threat of rape at some point in the book. Apparently, where female characters are concerned, rape is the only threat that effectively shows the seriousness of a situation.

Even when there is no outright attempt or successful assault, there's lots of dubious consent-- women who are sexually accosted while they sleep and cannot consent, or women who are taken by some spirit and forced to have sex with someone (again, without consent).  This is also rape.  And you what?  All of the books with these scenes would have been just as good -- or better! -- without scenes of rape or threatened rape.

Women can be in peril without threat of sexual assault.
   
I don't have an issue with sexual assault as part of the plot.  Let's face it: rape is a serious problem in reality.  People are victimized every day.  Ignoring it will not make the problem better, and there are valid ways to address sexual assault in fiction.

That said, so many of these books had threat of rape as a casual aside, and I've come to recognize it as the lazy writing method of saying "oh no! this woman is in danger!"  One book had a female protagonist almost-raped twice before she was finally actually raped about 20% of the way through, and I had to give up reading it.

This is worst in indie books.  I can only think that most big New York editors catch it and gently suggest writers cut back a little before publishing.  In any case, this has forced me to implement a new policy: I will not finish reading your book if female characters are casually and frequently under the threat of sexual assault.  I am sensitive about the subject and my tolerance for it has vanished.

So here's my plea: Writers, create drama.  Put your characters in horrible situations, and then escalate those horrible situations.  But unless it's critical to the plot, give your female characters a break.  She doesn't need to be almost-assaulted (or actually assaulted) for us to fear for her safety.

9 Days to Six Moon Summer: The Cover!

You guys have all seen the cover a million times by now.  Remember my series on how I designed it?

So I guess the cover is nothing special to anyone by now.  :)  But I wanted to talk about it a little bit since the release is coming up!

The main character of Six Moon Summer is Rylie, an awkward blonde girl with knobbly knees and a pale complexion.  Readers of the book have been quick to notice that the girl on the cover isn't blonde!  What the heck was I thinking?

Honestly, I couldn't find the perfect source photo to use on my cover.  There were no blondes that fit!  (And that I could afford, for that matter.)  I have resolved this issue for future covers-- I have an awesome camera and some photography equipment, so I'll be shooting my own models in the future.  But these circumstances came to me after I designed Six Moon Summer and had it circulating on the internet for promotional purposes.

When designing it, I decided it wasn't Rylie on the cover, but Cassidy, another prominent character in the book, and went on my merry way.  I mean, who cares, right?  It's just a book cover.

As it turns out, everyone cares!  Several readers and reviewers have complained that the cover model doesn't look like Rylie.  This was a huge shock to me, and a huge educational opportunity, too.  The details matter.  People will envision the models on the front of your book as the characters.  Since I've never cared about the looks of the cover models, I didn't think anyone else did either, but I was really wrong.

I'm going to leave this cover the way it is.  It's gotten around too much by now to change it.  But when I finish the series and print the collection, I will have a model that looks like Rylie.  I promise.

10 Days to Six Moon Summer: Giveaway!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Six Moon Summer

by S.M. Reine

Giveaway ends April 29, 2011.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
  

Enter to win

There have been a couple opportunities to win a signed copy of Six Moon Summer floating around the Internet (with more to come), but with less than two weeks until the official release, I want to do something special for my readers!

  

Which is... ANOTHER GIVEAWAY!

Come be my friend on Goodreads and win a signed copy of Six Moon Summer!  It's totally open to international entries!  :)  You know you want to enter!  The Helpful Baby is getting things together for the giveaway, and you don't want to disappoint him!

Uh... I swear he's not smothering himself on the box.  He has adult supervision.  Cough.  (He's actually trying to nurse on the box, because he doesn't yet understand that milk doesn't come out of EVERYTHING.  Just two very specific things.  Neither of which are boxes.) (Oh man look at those thighs!  He's so chubby.  I could eat him up.)  (But I digress...)

Only ten days until the release of Six Moon Summer (!!!!).  I can't wait!

Six Moon Summer Official Site Launch (and book trailer)

Especially keen readers may have noticed that the cover for Six Moon Summer on my side bar has switched from linking a post about the book to its own website!  Cool features of this website include the official book trailer, reviews, and a video of me reading the first page.  Check it out!  I think it's pretty neat.  (And of course I have a completely impartial opinion on the matter.)

Here's the book trailer I created for Six Moon Summer.  I'd never created a book trailer before, so it was quite a learning experience!  My laptop disappointingly refused to run Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 and I had to resort to using Windows Movie Maker.  No, seriously.  Windows Movie Maker.  I know, it's terrible, isn't it?  But the trailer turned out pretty good anyway!

Highlight on Indie Books: The Forsaken (An Apple for Zoe) by Thomas Amo, with interview!

The Forsaken (An Apple for Zoe) by Thomas Amo

The City of San Francisco is locked in a grip of fear. A series of occult murders has led, Inspector Thomas James, to a crime scene similar to a murder committed 90 years ago in the once grand Aleris Hotel. A place where power barons of the early 20th Century engaged in witchcraft. And silent film stars indulged in the most wicked of sins. 

A place where no one questions the black smoke that rises from the hotel's incinerators in the middle of the night...

Before I ever wrote fantasy, I wrote horror.  My upbringing on games like Doom probably contributed.  There is a tender, squishy place in my heart for a good horror story, particularly one about Hell, and "The Forsaken" by Thomas Amo really hit the right spot.

The beginning of the book seems like we're going into a good hardboiled mystery, but as the tension rises and more bodies are discovered, it becomes pretty obvious this is no normal mystery.  By the time I reached 50% of the book (I was reading on Kindle, of course), I could barely put "The Forsaken" down.  It was fantastically creepy.  You know it's good horror when it makes you feel a little dirty!  ;)

My only real complaint was that the real climax was about halfway through the book.  I think it would have been a great place to end this book, with the rest saved for a second.  The actual ending didn't pack quite the same punch.  But it's hard to complain with a climax that exciting!  There are some typos and punctuational errors, too, but they absolutely do not detract from the quality of the story.

Author Thomas Amo was kind enough to join us for the Indie Six questions today.

Thanks for talking with me!  Tell us a little about yourself.
I'm a mixed bag of everything I think. I'm a child of sixties. I'm television generation. Raised on The Beatles, James Bond, Vaudeville comedy like Abbott & Costello The Marx Brothers, Jack Benny.  Couldn't go a day without Benny Hill during the 1980's. I've always loved all thing British but mostly I've always been drawn to horror, ghost stories. If there was a book, television show or movie that had something scary in it. I had to see it.

What are your current projects?
I have 3 on my plate at the moment. 1st is a screenplay called "Forever Me." It's a coming of age high school comedy/drama.  I pitched the concept to a film producer and they have asked me to finish it, they like what they've read so far and they want to pitch it to 3 other production companies, so that's exciting. The other two things are the remaining books in the Apple For Zoë trilogy. I'm working on book two now, The Wicked.  I'm hoping for a late summer release and then follow up with the finale, "The Damned" by the fall.

Where do you see the future of independent publishing going?
Nowhere but UP! This is the most amazing time to be a writer. All the walls have been broken down and the excuses are no longer there to become published. Independent is still ground floor but that elevator is going to rise fast. In fact it already is.  There are so many good opportunities out there now for writers who are truly serious about making this a career.

Which authors and books are your greatest influences?
Stephen King (who probably gets mentioned by every writer.) but you know he's sort of the father of those of us who dream of doing this. I don't like all of his stuff but that's okay what I don't like, someone else is gonna love.  I'm also inspired by Robert Graysmith who wrote the true crime book "Zodiac", along with Richard Matheson, Ira Levin, and Sidney Kirkpatrick.

To continue that question, which indie authors do you most admire?
I admire the ones who have decided to take this seriously and  truly make a name for themselves. Authors like Belinda Frisch, Tiffany King, Jen wylie.  I want to take a moment to mention Accendo Press, this is comprised of 3 authors, Jennifer Sommerby, Heather Hildenbrand, Angeline Kace.  To me, they are the perfect example of the indie movement. They are taking charge of their writing careers through the use of social media and helping one another, paying it forward. I am inspired by them deeply.

What's the deepest, darkest secret you're willing to share?
I once told Adam West (the original Batman) to Shove a bun.  We were working on a film called Omega Cop, the director wanted to introduce me to him.  I was on one side of the room the director on the other, Adam West (with his back to me) came out of a makeshift dressing room and stood in the middle of the hallway combing his hair. I couldn't get past him, so I say, "Hey shove a bun, dude." He turns around and faces me and says in his Batman way, "Shove a bun dude?" I was like "oh crap I just told Batman to shove a bun...not even a batbun at that."

Front left: Author Thomas Amo, beside the exquisitely manly Adam West (!!!)

An Apple for Zoë is available from Amazon and B&N.  You can find Thomas Amo on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Saturday Round-Up

New York Times>> Authors Sign eBooks This sounds more like a cute fad idea than an enduring keepsake to me.  Thoughts?

Novel Publicity>> Are you sure about that?  6 things to consider before self-publishing I don't agree with all these points (you can promote and polish your book while writing), but it's good to think twice before jumping on the indie publishing bandwagon.

Duolit>> Don't Bypass the Copy Editor  Duolit explains the purpose of a copy editor and why you need one.  (Unless you're poor like me...)

Alexis Bass>> L is for Likable Characters The one thing that can make terrible characters lovable.

Haley Whitehall>> Short Stories and Novels are Different Animals  This is something I'm discovering through the rigors of NaShoStoMo.  Yeesh.

Helpful Baby Fridays

Yesterday, Helpful Baby turned six months old!  *sniffle*  IT'S NOT FAIR STOP GROWING UP.

Helpful Baby helpfully came down with a cold, meaning he's been crying and fussy (despite all appearances) and in need of lots of mommy TLC.  I'm falling behind on all my writing and I've done barely any promotion this week!  But he's worth it.  Look at that little guy and try not to give him all of the love.  I could eat him up.

How is your Helpful Baby helping you this week?  Post a picture of your baby on your blog (whether s/he be an infant, fur baby, or helper of any other persuasion), share a fun story about them, and drop a link in the comments!

The importance of an author's identity

It's no secret: SM Reine is a pen name.  (Gasp! Shock! Horror!)

It's comprised of my middle name and variations on the middle names of my two sisters (Sarah, Marie, and Rahne respectively).  With a couple seconds of Googling, you could probably find my real name-- as well as my "real" blogs and social networking pages.  More than once, I've accidentally sent emails under my normal email address with the "Sara" signature appended at the bottom, so I'm pretty sure half of the book bloggers in the YA blogosphere probably think I have multiple personality disorder by now.

If the status of my civilian identity is no secret, then why bother with a pen name at all?  There are several excellent reasons for this.

1. No casual associations.  Most readers will see my books and never look up SM Reine and discover my "real" identity, so they wouldn't connect my "real" name with these projects
2. People who do search for SM Reine won't find my personal Facebook/Twitter/blogs and see me talking about boring, unrelated things, like what I ate for breakfast and my annoyances with that guy who lives down the street
3. If I decide I want to publish in a genre that strongly clashes with YA fantasy, I can publish it under my real name or yet another identity without scarring my YA readers with kinky erotic spy thrillers
4. I liked to go by Sarah/Sara when I was a small child.  I thought it was nicer than my first name.  So this all makes a tiny kindergartener within extremely happy.  :)

Writers must consider themselves a corporation in this day and age.  You have to think about your brand and market yourself appropriately.  Casual people should only see SM Reine and think "indie fantasy writer," not "that girl who's married to that guy with a funny name who works that funny job and also publishes nasty slasher erotica."

You have to protect your brand identity as a writer.  The internet age has made everything about us accessible.  That's a great advantage in many ways, but if you have lots of drunken party photos on your Facebook, it's probably not good professionally to put that name on your books.

So absolutely feel free to use your real name as a writer (I use my real name for traditional publishing efforts, which does not fit into the neat brand of SM Reine who does "indie fantasy"), but keep in mind that you must protect that identity.  You are not a person as a professional writer.  You are a brand.  A corporation. An identity.

What's your brand?  How do you promote your brand identity?  And am I being overly cynical about the status of our names and identities on the Internet?

Highlight on Indie Books: What I Read This Week

Camille by Tess Oliver
Camille and Dr. Bennett are werewolf hunters pursuing a cure for lycanthropy in the name of science.  They have always killed the ravenous beasts without thought in order to save lives, but when Nathaniel Strider is bitten, everything changes.  Love has a way of doing that to you.

I picked this book up thanks to the great reviews it's received on Amazon and Goodreads, and I wasn't disappointed.  The ending was a little anticlimactic, but I really enjoyed the Buffy-like Victorian story.  What?  I'm a sucker for kick-butt heroines.  Any lady who dresses like a lad is fine by me.  It seemed like Tess Oliver left it wide open for a sequel, so I'd be excited to see if she returns to this story in the future.

---

The Sun Never Rises in the Big City by Jeremy C Shipp
Cover porn alert!  Nngh.  Look at that.  It's so Mark Millar.  *drool*

This is a short story of about 5,000 words rather than a book.  As such, it would be difficult to summarize without spoilers.  Suffice it to say, this is an unusual take on detective noir with a great story that my little feminist heart loved.  My only complaint was that it was a little too short.  I think even a couple more pages exploring the world would have made it more satisfying.  It's a little tricky to get into since Jeremy C Shipp jumps right in and doesn't try to explain things -- I don't think I fully understood what was happening until about halfway through -- but I love that about a story.  Furthermore, the writing is pristine.  This is a great example of how e-books are a perfect platform for selling short stories.  Definitely pick this one up.

Life's hard decisions-- why independently publish?

Life has a way of springing challenges on us when we're not expecting it, or by complicating the challenges we do expect.  I've recently had to make a difficult real-life decision that would have huge ramifications on every aspect of my life-- particularly my writing and family life.  Do I want a new Real Job that pays better and is more rewarding than the one I'm at if it means spending less time with Helpful Baby and a lot less time writing/marketing?

It was something I debated a lot over the last week, but I ended up choosing to stay at my current, less-rewarding, lower-pay job.  I can't imagine having less time with my chubby baby, and having less time to write at the moment would be devastating.  I'm worried I'll really regret it.  But here's my thought: am I more likely to regret not spending more time with my son in his infancy, or will I regret not having a better job?  Probably the first.

Of course, being poor has been a frequent mention on the blog, and deciding to stay where I am means that's not going to change any time soon.  Sigh.

One of the toughest decisions I've made about writing recently was actually whether or not to pursue traditional publication for Six Moon Summer.  It's a great project.  People are loving it so far, and I'm pretty confident I could have found a traditional publishing house interested in it given enough time and effort.  There's no way the effort could be less than that required to independently publish-- I spend almost forty hours a week working on Six Moon Summer.

So if the book is great and it wouldn't be any more work, why independently publish?

Amanda Hocking (aren't you tired of hearing about her yet?) chose to move to traditional publishing so she would have more time for writing.  I decided to move away from traditional publishing for the same reason.  Having control over the publishing and marketing process, and the rate at which it progresses, gives me more time to write.

What?  That doesn't make any sense!  But as strange as it sounds, getting projects written and then out of my hair is what I really need in my life right now.  I've gone years trying to sell the same projects and seeing them go nowhere (or at least, nowhere impressive), and I felt stuck.  What I needed was a jolt: get it written, get it edited, and get it out.

If I hadn't chosen to get Six Moon Summer "out," I would still be working on it.  I would be on the umpteenth revision, the umpteenth query letter, and the umpteenth synopsis.  Instead, I forced myself to make a few hard decisions -- is it good enough this way? is this the right way to do it? is this draft the best I can do? -- and called it good.  Now I'm working on two (!!!) novel-length projects while I market this one and get it out of my system, and I feel fantastic.

Is it the right decision?  Yes.  Is it the only right decision?  No.  But we'll never know if the choices we make are correct until we live through the aftermath of it.  This route was right for Six Moon Summer.  It may not be right for future projects.

How have you made your publishing decisions?  If you're an indie writer, why?  And if you've taken the time to publish traditionally, why?

Reviews for Six Moon Summer

Reviews are starting to come in as the release date for Six Moon Summer approaches.  I'm so appreciative of everyone taking the time to read the book and share their thoughts, and my experience with book bloggers and other advance readers so far has been amazing!

As the reviews come in, I'll add the links to my page for Six Moon Summer, which you can see by clicking on the cover over there to the left.  I don't want to clog up folks's feed readers.  :)  I already have a couple reviews.  Check it out!

Speaking of feed readers, did you know there's several ways you can follow my blog and exploits throughout the intertubes?  If you're logged into Blogger, you can click on the "Follow" link up at the top left of the screen (on the navbar).  This will also add it to your Google Reader.  I'm also on Twitter and Facebook, of course!

I'm looking for awesome new ways to bring my incessant chattiness to followers, so tell me: Where do you guys like to read your blogs?  And where else do you network?

Swamped

So here's what I'm doing right now:

• Promoting Six Moon Summer
• Finishing layout/design for SMS (almost done!)
• Writing a novel
• NaShoStoMo
• Raising a chubby baby
• Making sure my husband knows I still love him
• Maintaining a couple blogs
• Full-time work at a Real Job

I am swamped.  I'm lucky that my Real Job involves a lot of down time, which affords me a few minutes of writing a day, but it's still overwhelming.

As an indie writer, it seems like you have to assume a workload that, at the very least, matches that of a  traditionally published author under contract to experience similar success (although success is relative).  It's normal for a writer under contract to be promoting one book while editing the next and writing her new one, all while managing family and a Real Job.  I suppose, in that respect, I can't complain.

But... oof.

I'm learning time management skills here.  My two main things are:

• Don't put anything off, ever
• Have a to-do list

On the bright side, I'm expecting to release my NaShoStoMo stories as a novella-length short story collection in July, so look forward to an official announcement for that in early May.

Time to go write!

Saturday Round-Up

Paperback Writer>> No-Tech Note Solutions As a disorganized personality, note cards and notebooks and other organization techniques are like porn to me.

Sarah M. Ball>> why we should support self-pubbed authors (and the traditional type, too) A writer in pursuit of traditional publication explains how trad and indie are not mutually exclusive using the music industry as a metaphor.  (My favorite!)

Nathan Bransford>> Who Should Have the 'Indie' Label: Self-Publishers or Small Presses?  Both.  "Self-publishing" is an accurate descriptor, but it's still closely related to the vanity publishing of yore.  If a self-publishing author is doing all the work of a small publisher (editing, designing, promoting, etc), they should also be called "indie."

Tracy Marchini>> What Could an Agent Do For a Self-Published Author?  A lot of discussion about the evolving role of agents has been circulating lately.  Tracy Marchini suggests they may double as a type of publicist.

The Forest of Adventures giveaway!

The drawing for the signed copy of The Forest of Adventures by Katie M John has ended!  With the help of Random.org, the winner is:

Missy @ Two Readers Reviews!

Please send me an email at smreine (at) gmail {dot} com with your mailing address in the next 48 hours.

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Helpful Baby Fridays

I got a new camera!

This week, the Helpful Baby helpfully sucked on my chin (yes, my chin) while I corresponded with book bloggers, chewed on my cheek while I finalized the Six Moon Summer design for Kindle and Nook, and insisted on eating my keyboard as I began a couple new projects.  Yeah, he's teething.  Thanks Helpful Baby!  You're awesome.

How is your Helpful Baby helping you this week?  Post a picture of your baby on your blog (whether s/he be an infant, fur baby, or helper of any other persuasion), share a fun story about them, and drop a link in the comments!

An ode to my spouse

O dearest spouse
I love you so
You are the jam
in my jelly roll

- SM Reine, An Ode to My Spouse

(Ahem.  Poetry is not my thing, as you can see.)

I can't list all the ways my husband helps me out.  He stays at home with the Helpful Baby so I can work a full-time Real Job in addition to my almost-full-time writing job, which is immense.  He packs my lunches in the mornings and gets my breast pump together for the day.  He stays up with the Helpful Baby at night so I can sleep.  He cooks dinner and keeps the house tidy.  He's a full time house spouse, and that's a job that never, ever lets him off.

Last week, he received proof copies of my book and helped me prepare to send the ARCs out to book bloggers.  He picked up prints of the cover so I could check them for errors.  And he's volunteered to do other personal assistantly things, which may involve sending emails and scoping out new promotional opportunities for me (although I haven't abused him in that fashion just yet).

Authors usually only get personal assistants when they're super rich.  My husband happily, willingly acts as my assistant (more like a partner, really, as one would expect with a spouse) and supports me more than anyone could ever expect.  And he looks awesome naked.

In short, he's amazing.

That's all.  :)

Interview with IJ Black, author of Amnar the Inheritor

Answering the Indie Six questions today is IJ Black, author of Amnar series!


Thanks for taking the time to interview, IJ.  Tell us a little about yourself!
I'm I J Black (everybody calls me Joely) and I'm an ex-academic who's making the transition into writing full-time.

What are your current projects?
At the moment I'm splitting my time between two projects. I'm currently working on the third book in a prequel trilogy to The Inheritor, and then the final drafts of the books that follow The Inheritor. So it's quite busy at the moment.

Where do you see indie publishing going?
I'm not sure, to be honest. I think this might be a turning point for people wanting to self-publish, a great opportunity on the Kindle to get work out there, and for those who're able to put a lot of energy into marketing, I expect it'll reap great rewards. At the moment, it's difficult to tell whether this will completely change the face of publishing, but I think it's definitely a new route for people wanting to reach the market directly.

Which authors and books are your greatest influences?
I've always loved Ursula K LeGuin, and I think her work really inspired Amnar a great deal. I grew up reading Dostoyevsky, Zola, Kafka and similarly heavy novelists from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, so I suppose that might well be why Amnar has ended up being the way it is.

To continue that question, which indie authors do you most admire?
At the moment, I think what Amanda Hocking has done is great, and I fully understand her decision to take a traditional deal. It still makes a lot of sense for a successful self-published author. I also love what Carrie Clevenger is doing out there, as she's taking the unusual route of adding a musical element that fully backs up the qualities of her character. I'm excited to see how using multi-media works for an author.

What's the deepest, darkest secret you're willing to share?
I'm not sure I have any deep secrets that aren't out there in some form or another. And for any secrets that I do have, I think they should probably stay that way!

Thanks again, IJ!  You can find her books on Amazon or Smashwords or visit her website at JoelyBlack.com.

Amanda Hocking and Barry Eisler: The Rise of Hybrid Authors

Will independent publishing kill traditional publishing?  No.

Will independent publishing burn bright and die fast?  No.

This is the future of publishing: Hybrid authors.  Writers who starts as indies and move to traditional for the legitimacy and access to readers, and traditional writers who move to indie for the freedom and flexibility.

More and more, we're going to see authors spanning this gap to enjoy the best of both worlds, whether it be the distribution provided by traditional publishers or the potential for great royalties with independent publishing.  Both will be legitimate ways to give readers access to your writing.

Furthermore, writers who have been published in the past by the Big Six will realize they can put their old or rejected projects to work for them and do both at once.  No more do manuscripts have to sit in the dusty box under the bed because they were a great idea at the worst time.  No more books out of print and unavailable to the current generation of readers.

This is the future, folks.  Are you ready for it?

Highlight on Indie Books: The Forest of Adventures by Katie M. John

The Forest of Adventures by Katie M. John
Published by Little Bird Publishing House

Overview
Mina feels a strange connection with Blake, the new boy at school, but she could never have imagined that falling in love with him would launch her into a mystical world unseen by normal eyes.  Soon she finds herself embroiled in a political battle amongst legendary characters from Arthurian myth, and Morgan Le Fey will settle for nothing less than blood.

My Thoughts
It's rare that an indie book should take me by surprise in the first paragraph, but that's exactly what happened with "The Forest of Adventures."  When I read the first paragraph, I actually went back to double check that I was in the right book.  Everyone knows I love indie books, but their charm is one that often grows on you rather than arrests you from the beginning.  The beginning of "Adventures" was great, and the first few chapters in particular were very compelling.

Her rhythm didn't carry quite through the entire book, but she made up for it with an interesting plot and a tragic climax.  My only complaint was that the romance between Mina and Blake seemed to come out of nowhere, although it may develop better in the sequels.  Mina certainly wasn't a pushover for Blake, which I appreciated.  That said, my favorite part might have been all the Britishisms-- there's no American "translation" and (as someone from the Wild West) I found myself amazed at some of the differences in language.

I really enjoyed the book and zipped right through it (especially in the action-packed end), so I'm looking forward to the sequel, "Immortal Beloved," which is coming out in August.

Katie took some time out of her busy day to answer my Indie Six questions and offer a giveaway of a signed ARC!

Tell me a little about yourself!
I live in the London suburbs with a handsome giant and 2 and half foot Mud-Puddle Fairy. In my 'spare' time, I write YA fiction novels, horror and poetry. I currently work part time as a Secondary School (High School) teacher, teaching English and Media.  I love to eat Jaffa Cakes when I write, my favourite word is door and the three things I look forward to each day is my daughter waking me up, my husband coming home from work and an hour or two of evening writing.

What are your current projects?
Oh blimey! My 'In tray' is bonkers at the moment. I am currently editing the sequel to 'The Forest of Adventures' which is titled 'Immortal Beloved and is due out in the Autumn of 2011. I am also working on a novel called 'Beautiful Freaks' due out in the Spring of 2012 (A gothic horror YA). As well as this I am working on a couple of short stories which have been comissioned for anthologies. (Busy, Busy, Busy - going to have to give up sleeping methinks!)

How do you see the future of independent publishing?
Bright! I think at long last it has found its path. It is going the way of music and film. Independent publishing is finally breaking away from the awful stigma of 'Vanity Publishing.'  Funny to think that independent publishing was how some of the greatest works of English Literature came into being - I can't recall anybody calling the Bloomsbury set 'Vanity Publishers' or Wilde, Shelley or Byron - which was exactly what they were!

Excellent point.  Which authors and books are your greatest influences?
The Modernist writers, Huxley, Orwell and Golding. I love Dystopia. I am also a complete Goth at heart and love the works of Stoker, Shelley, Poe and Lovecraft. One of the most recent influences has been Meyer's Twilight Saga ( I say this without shame - she's come under a lot of silly criticism - at the end of the day, there is no denying that there is something special about her storytelling - it wouldn't have become the success that it was, if there hadn't been.)

To continue that question, which indie authors do you most admire?
I am a great fan of Jason McIntyre, LM Stull, Maria Savva, EJ Stevens, Kait Nolan and Amanda Hocking who are all working tirelessly to change the face of indie publishing.

What's the deepest, darkest secret you're willing to share?
That there is more truth in my books than I like to legally declare. Ssshhh!

The drawing has ended!

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Interview with Ron Vitale, author of "Dorothea's Song"

Ron Vitale was kind enough to take a little time out of his day to answer my Indie Six questions.  You can find him on the web at RonVitale.com and on Twitter as @ronvitale.

Tell me a little about yourself!
I was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. My earliest memories about writing were influenced by Tolkien, Asimov, and the British sci-fi television series "Doctor Who." Around the time I was 10, I began writing short fiction from my early Dungeons & Dragons role-playing sessions.

After high school, I obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and French and then a Master of Arts in English, writing my thesis on a Jungian interpretation of Alice Walker and Margaret Atwood at Villanova University. After I graduated, I entered the world of medical publishing, and am not an Associate Director, Website Communications working on implementing social media tools and managing a team to update websites.

When I'm not working, I've done my best to make time writing. My short story "Toynbee's Gate" placed 5th out of 143 stories in the 2004 SFWoE contest (Science Fiction Writers of Earth contest) while my Magic: The Gathering articles have appeared on StarCityGames.com, Brainburst.com, Grimmoire.com, and MTGOntario.

In 2006, my Magic The Gathering articles were published in Beckett Magic: The Gathering magazine and in Inquest Gamer. I also wrote web articles for Wizards of the Coast's Dreamblade miniatures game and have had more than a half dozen "how to" writing articles published in the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America's Bulletin.

In October 2007, I published my short story collection "The Jovian Gate Chronicles" on Lulu.com that is also available on Podiobooks.com. "The Jovian Gate Chronicles" is a collection of four science fiction short stories that answers the question: What happens when humans cross paths with intelligent aliens who claim to be prophets from God?

For the longest time, I had wanted my novel, "Dorothea's Song" to be published but had no luck with traditional publishing. In the fall of 2008, I went the indie route and released my novel as an audiobook on Podiobooks and for sale on Lulu.com, Smashwords and on the Amazon.com Kindle store.

Late last year I had my article "If You Don't Have a Social Media Crisis Communications Plan--Get One" published in PRNews' PR Digital Guidebook, Vol as I work hard on keeping myself current with the changing social media arena. But my biggest recent project is that I've been working on my next novel, a YA fantasy, that I hope to complete later this year.  

What are your current projects?
Back in January 2010, I started writing another book and hope to have it finished later this year. My wife and I also worked on The Podd Couple podcast (www.thepoddcouple.com) but we had to stop producing the show as I needed more time to write. And I nearly forgot that I put out, twice a month, The Magic Sock--a podcast about the card game Magic: The Gathering.

Where do you see the future of independent publishing going?
Over time, I see indie publishing rising in stature as the technology and its acceptance becomes more mainstream. With iPads, iPhones, Android devices and Kindles, tens of millions of people will need content to read. The challenge will be for indie writers to step up their game and a few will rise to the top as they are producing content that people are looking for at a cheap price. What I see as most important is that indie writers will need to work on developing their brand--who they are, where their presence is on the web and they'll need to focus on how they engage with readers and their peers. Writing a book isn't enough. I've tried that and failed. You not only need to write the book but then promote it and that's the hard part.

Which authors and books are your greatest influences?
As cliche as it might sound, I have been majorly influence by Tolkien and Asimov's robot series. But I like to be eclectic as I've enjoyed C. S. Lewis, Margaret Atwood, Alice Walker, Shakespeare--I could go on. I love to read and I try my best to read not only fantasy and sci-fi but out of my genre to experience the words of other writers I might not normally come across.

To continue that question, which indie authors do you most admire?
I admire Mur Lafferty and Amanda Hocking as they're honest, hard working and have shared their ups and downs with fellow writers.

What's the deepest, darkest secret you're willing to share?
Technically, I use a woman's deodorant. Many years ago I started using Degree "Shower Clean" deodorant and some marketing genius decided that the "Shower Clean" variety fell more into what women like so that particular scent was rebranded to be for women. The company stuck a black dress on the label and added "for women" to it. With how busy I am with work, two kids, running half-marathons, writing, social media, podcasts, trying to be a good husband, imagine how I felt when I went to the store and realized that the product I used was changed. I thought about it for a split second and said, screw it, and stuck with the brand as I like the smell. So that's my deep, dark secret.