S.M. Butler's Blog, page 20

So, with the new year, I hired a personal trainer. I fell off the gym wagon a few months ago, again, and I thought maybe it was time for me to get back into it. So here I am. And I had my third appointment with her today, and I’m feeling so… good. Sore, but good. She explained a lot of things that had bothered me about working out (to the point where I didn’t enjoy it) and I’m finally feeling good about getting healthy again. I’ve gained about 40 pounds over the last three years and I’m just not happy with how I feel or look. I know I can do better, and my trainer’s been really good about holding my hand, which I think is what I need.

Since I sit at a desk for hours every day, I really need to get moving, and this is working out so well for me.

And it’s helping out with the writing, too. Or in my current case, editing. If you’ve seen me on Facebook lately, I’ve been whining about these edits. It never fails. I never give myself enough time to really dive into the edits as I should, so I always end up blowing the deadline. I need to get over that. Anyway, I’m doing well with the book, and I’m hoping to have it finished this evening and off to the editor tomorrow. I think it’s going to be so good. I’m really excited. It’s hot, and sexy, and kinky in new ways I hadn’t explored in my writing in the past.

Oh, and I got my iPhone 6 Plus accessories the other day. I now have a small tripod to fit my phone on so I can finally work on some videos for you guys. I’m kind of excited about doing them too. It’s going to be a lot of fun.

Well, it’s time for me to get back to edits, so I’m gonna sign off here and run away and do all the editing things I can today so I can read one of the amazing books I have from the RITA contest tonight. I can’t wait! The level of talent in this year’s RITAs is incredibly high.

Tomorrow, I’m meeting with a friend to do writerly things and have some fun. So edits need to be done before then….

 

If you’re on my weekly newsletter, you’ve already seen most of this. But I love you guys, and I want to make y’all happy, so that’s a lot of what 2015 is geared toward.

So, books.

Scoring His Heart

You guys wanted more Texas Highlanders, so you’re getting Scoring His Heart in March. In fact, you can pre-order that puppy now. And you should. It’s turning out to be one of my favorite books. Gavin is so hot. Happy sigh.

Y’all also wanted more Lucky Thirteen, and I had to do some thinking on that, because I’d originally intended it to be a trilogy and that was it. But I think I can do something that makes everyone happy. The Lucky Thirteen series will continue, with a second set of books I’m calling the “Once Upon a Hero” series. All the planned books feature characters you’ve met in the Lucky Thirteen universe, and of course, a few new ones. And they take place after the events of the first three books.

So what does the year look like?

Upcoming Releases

(which are pretty set, but could change if something horrible happens in the next few weeks)

Feb 17 ~ The Sport of Romance ~ A bundle of ten sports romance authors. This includes Off Her Game, the first book in the Texas Highlander series.
Mar 17 ~ Scoring His Heart ~ Gavin Ferrara gets his HEA in this book, but he’s a little bit of a kinky guy with some secrets up his sleeve.

Books Currently without Release Dates

These are books I’ve planned to write this year, but I’ve not set dates for their release yet. I typically don’t set release dates until I have a pretty decent first draft done. So, know they’re most likely coming, but I haven’t written them yet.

Once Upon a SEAL (This was originally in the Love is… anthology, and is getting expanded a little and rereleased as a single title.) It’s also now #1 in the Once Upon a Hero series.
Once Upon a Bodyguard, Once Upon a Hero #2
Once Upon a Secret Agent, Once Upon a Hero #3

I have a couple other things in the works, too, but I think that’s enough to look forward to getting for now. I’ll be announcing the heroes and heroines of those books as we get closer to their times. I’ve learned the hard way that sometimes, it changes, and the characters want what they want, regardless of what you think they want.

But wait! There’s more awesome!

My newsletter is now a weekly occurrence. You know what they get?

Subscribers get new cover reveals before anywhere else online
Links to new blog posts, interviews, podcasts, and more all in one spot
Recommended and bargain books every week
Giveaways JUST for the newsletter folks
And a short, weekly installment of a brand-new, still-to-be-named serial!

SIGN UP FOR THE FREE NEWSLETTER

Upcoming Special Events

I’m going to be doing a special Google hangout for my newsletter subscribers, where they can send me questions and I’ll answer them live on the hangout. You have to be on the newsletter list in order to get that invite, though.
I’m also over on Patreon now! If you’re not on the newsletter, you can subscribe to my Patreon feed and still get the serial story! It will be up there, for free, until it’s complete, and then it will go to paid subscribers only. If you’re not familiar with Patreon, it’s a long-term crowdfunding platform for consistent, regular content producers. And of course, paid subscribers get fun goodies that no one else does.
Conventions ~ Look for me at Romantic Times Booklovers Con, RWA Nationals, Austin Author Affair, and possibly NINC. I’m not sure about that last one yet. I haven’t actually committed to that one, so don’t hold me to it.
I also have two podcast interviews upcoming, so I’ll post those as soon as I have links.

Here’s to a fantastic 2015

I’m super excited about 2015! I can’t wait to share all the things with you! It’s going to be SO. MUCH. FUN. Make sure you’re on the new weekly newsletter list and you’ll get first notification of all that before anyone else!

Oh, and one more thing. I’m currently building an invite-only review team and I’m opening up sign-ups for a few days. I’d love to have you guys on it, if you’ve reviewed a book for me. Now, if you haven’t, that’s okay. I’ll wait here while you go do that…

YAY! It’s gonna be a great year, y’all! I just can’t wait! Like, so excited, OMG. We’re gonna have an amazing year.

 

Dear 2014,

Here we are, on the very last day of you. It’s been an incredible year for me. 2013 was a bag full of shit, and I was afraid you’d be more of the same. But you weren’t. You were good to me. And I appreciate that. Like, so much. Like, you can’t possibly know how much you meant to me.

Here’s a few things I did this year:

I put out four new novels (Killing Honor, Wounded Courage, Dying Commitment, and SEALed until Christmas) and a short story (Once Upon a SEAL for the Love is… anthology) this year.

I wrote 515,994 words. That was on 13 different projects. I edited 6065 pages. I have no idea how I made that crazy word count, but I did it, and I’m really proud of what I’ve written.

I read right around 30 books, which is up from the FIVE that I read in 2013. I used to be a heavy reader, but when I started writing, I forgot about making time for reading. That was a goal I had this year, and it’s worked out. I have that goal for 2015 too.

I went to my first conferences as an author. I went to RT, where I sat on my first panel as a panelist. I went to AAD and met some fantastic people. And I went to Readers ‘n Ritas and reconnected with people I hadn’t seen in years.

I started watching more TV, and the reason why this is a good thing is two fold. First, it gives me insight into how story evolves on TV and in serial form. Second, it was an excuse to sit the kids down so they could watch with me and I’d have something to engage them in conversation with. And I love spending time with my little humans, especially as they get older and end up big humans.

I also realized I missed blogging, and I found my blogging niche, so looking forward to 2015 and making that more of a priority.

I hit the New York Times list once, and the USA Today list four times (one book stayed there for three weeks).

I found balance between publishing and my family. I made a career out of it, and I still get my quality of life. That’s so hard to find in a career, and I’m hanging on to it as much as I can.

I started a Mary Kay business, mostly for the consultant discount, but also to help speed up the process of buying a house, which is on 2015’s goal list. And because of that, I’ve met some super sweet ladies.

So, 2014, I want to say thank you for all that you’ve done for me. I had a stellar year, and I hope that you’ll put in a good word for me with 2015. I think 2015 and I will get along fantastically, and I can’t wait to see it.

XOXO,

Suzan

Happy New Year, my friends!

 

It’s here! The individual release of SEALed until Christmas is here!

Yay!!

I’m so excited!

Download now from all major online retailers!

Amazon  |  Apple  |  Nook  |  Kobo

The overall first response of this book has been really good, and I’m so happy to hear about how much you guys love Jessie and Charlie’s story. I admit, I was a little nervous about how they’d be received, mostly because it’s a little different from the first three Lucky Thirteen books. It was on purpose this way, because it is a Christmas book, and it’s about a SEAL coming home for the holidays to deal with his own demons from the past.

If you pre-ordered the book, it’s going to be right there on your ebook device/app, waiting for you today. Depending on your location, the lovely Aussie and New Zealand readers will have half a day head start on the US folks.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Jessie and Charlie once you guys are done. Their book was hard to write, because it was a bit of a departure from my normal Lucky Thirteen books, but I’m very proud of it, and I think you guys will love it too.

If you haven’t bought it yet, you can get it right now from all the major online retailers:

Amazon  |  Apple  |  Nook  |  Kobo

Happy reading, y’all!

Oh, man. I dropped the ball on this posting every day thing, didn’t I? Well, it’s been a really busy month so far. I have a task for you guys. If I ever promise to release three new titles, participate in NaNoWriMo and promise a blog post every day for NaNoBloPo… slap me silly, because I’m going to kill myself at that rate.

However, even with how much I’m doing, I feel like I’m doing well. Did you guys know that as of Nov 1, I’ve been publishing for two years? That’s crazy right? Two years since I started this crazy ride, and I still feel like I’m new at this. I still feel like there are all these people who are so much more knowledgable than I am, that work at this so much harder than I do. My biggest weakness is my competitiveness (it’s also my strength, but you’ll see where I’m going with this in a minute). I see other authors, some newer than me, some more experienced, publishing and having great success. More success than I’ve found. And I want it.

Not saying that I haven’t been successful. For the first time in a long time, my kids are being spoiled for Christmas. Because of my writing, and because of my publishing these books, they’re getting a wild Christmas. One they’re going to love. So, while the last few years, I’ve been struggling to get them one $40 present each, and gift cards for my nieces and nephews… this year, I was able to do so much more. I’m almost done with Christmas shopping this year already when last year, I was just starting to stress about it.

This is what self-publishing has done for me. I could have waited, kept on churning out queries and sending out partials to publishers. But at the end of the day, I really love what I do. I love that I’m in charge, I love that if I don’t like an editor or a formatter, I just don’t have to hire them again. I don’t have to suffer through it because the publisher assigned them to me. Not that I’ve been unhappy with anyone that I’ve hired, but I suspect that has more to do with my obsessive research ability than anything else.

What’s the last couple years been like?*

Okay.  since Nov 1, 2012, when I first published O Christmas Three, I’ve published eight novels, two novellas, and one short story. That’s an average rate of four novels and 1 novella a year. That’s a lot by anyone’s standards. And yeah, I’m aware that there are people publishing a novel a month, but that’s not my pace, not when I have to coordinate edits, and cover art, and formatting and promotion and all kinds of other things to do it.

I’m extremely proud of where I am.

My first month of self-publishing, I made $65 on a little hot Christmas novella I wrote on a whim. My newsletter list had 11 people on it, and I knew most of them. Friends and other authors that joined it to support me. It’s crazy. I know I keep saying that. But where I am now, when I think about where I was… it feels like a dream. Like it’s not really happening. But I know that it is, logically. I know that I’ve worked hard and long to get where I am. I’ve sacrificed a lot, spent money that I really didn’t have to spend.

2013 was a long year. I wrote a lot. I worked on tight deadlines. I wasn’t as fast a writer, because while I could pound out the words…  I had not taken into account how much time the admin part of publishing took. I had to organize my income and expenses. I had to track it all. I had to update the backmatter for the books whenever I had a new one come out.** I had to figure out promotions, and what was working and what wasn’t. I had to keep from spamming people.

I think I learned a lot in 2013. I learned how to balance the different publishing hats just a little bit. It was a trial by fire. I threw myself into the water, knowing I had a vague idea of how to swim, but not really how to compete. I had a goal of eight books I wanted to release in 2013. I released three that year and that was HARD. Because I hadn’t realized all the time the Other Stuff took. 2014, I released 4 new novels, but I participated in 4 multi-author bundles and organized a short story anthology of over 40 amazing romance authors.

The support group helps.

Honestly, I did a lot of this without telling my family. I started publishing without telling them. For a  long time, I think they probably thought I was the biggest freeloader in the world. No job, no prospects, a shit ton of student loan debt, and dumping my kids on them every chance I got. I just didn’t want to tell them in case it didn’t work. If I crashed and burned with the writing career, I didn’t want to turn around so I could see the disappointment in my parents’ eyes, or sit there when my dad said, “I told you so.”

I don’t recommend that route. I don’t recommend not telling your family. It’s hard. Because they see you on the computer a lot, and they naturally wonder what it is you’re doing there. Yeah, maybe they won’t understand why you write when you start out, particularly when you’re not making money. And I’m a big fan of avoidance. Maybe it’s my personal crazy. I didn’t tell my parents because I wanted to avoid the questions I didn’t have answers to. When will I make money? When will I pay the bills? When will I be moving out?

Now that they know, and they see it, it’s been so much easier. Like a huge weight was lifted from me. Because now I had a support group in real life as well as my online life.

The two year mark.

2014 was a milestone year for me. It’s been one hell of a ride. I hit the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. I made amazing friends and business contacts. I went to conventions that I’d only dreamed of going to in the past. For the first time in forever (I’m sorry, that song is in my head now…), I paid all my bills on time for several months in a row. I’m sure my parents see the change in me. Actually, I know they do. Because I’m not sitting around in a deep depression anymore. I’m working. I’m doing things. I take the kids to the movies, to the stores, I do things with them that cost money. I always felt horrible before, because I couldn’t afford to take them places and I’d have to borrow my dad’s card to do it.

While I’m nowhere near the income level I want to be at, to be independent and maybe start paying my parents back for all they’ve done for me–and I know they don’t care if I do, but it’s something I feel like I need to do–I’m close to it. So close I can taste it. So close that I dare to look at real estate listings for the area I want to move to. I’m thinking hard about how moving will affect my kids and school, and if maybe I need to move somewhere within the district first for a few years, let them finish school, and then move. These are the questions that fill my head now, instead of “how the hell will I get my phone paid before they turn it off?”

The future is coming, and I’m ready for it.

Publishing is never going to be a get rich quick scheme. It’s taken me two years to get to a good point in my life. I’m very hopeful for the future. I’ll be house shopping next year, in 2015. And I’m very excited about that. And as long as people keep reading what I write, I’ll keep putting it out there.

Here’s to two years and counting.

 

Notes:

* For these purposes, I’m not including Spells and Swashbucklers, which was published in May 2012.

** We won’t talk about the books I forgot to update for a year… YIKES.

There is something special about when you get a book. I don’t mean buy a book, I mean GET a book. You just get what the author was saying, or it’s one of your own and you just GET what that book is meant to be. Then suddenly, you’re on this whirlwind where you can’t stop writing because you’re afraid that you’re not going to get that groove back if you stop. This happens a lot to me, or it did until a few months ago. I got so mired in the business of writing, and trying to write what other people want that I forgot that I was doing this because I love it.

Publishing can be stressful. You’re on the hook for not just a good story, but most likely a continuing string of good stories, in the vein of what people want you to write. I’ve been pretty lucky. I’m writing what I love writing, and people are eating it up with a delicious side of ice cream. I don’t think that’s coincidental. The books that I wrote to fill a niche languish on the retailers. In fact, I’ve been taking some old stuff down (don’t worry, this was a different pen name. All Butler books are still up). Because I didn’t write those because I loved them. I wrote them because the market dictated that they were hot sellers. And they were for a bit, but they were missing passion.

I have a hard time not thinking of what I write or want to write in terms of potential publication. But man, that’s so hard to do. My brain is hard-wired to think about what’s popular or what will go over well with my readers or what will sell well in the current publishing climate. It’s hard to turn off that business manager. I just want to write stories that entertain me, or stories that make people think or feel. And maybe all three, if I want to be ambitious. I don’t want them to languish on the retailers, unread and unloved. So how do I turn off that side of me? How do I take the business out of writing?

I’m not sure I can. I’m not sure I should. I have a responsibility to my readers. I have to keep them well-fed in books. But I also need to feed my creative appetite. I need to write what needs to be written. I need to get lost in a story.

My last book was a monster to write. It had six false starts. I rewrote the whole thing three times. I edited and reedited that book until I couldn’t bear to look at it anymore. And even now, on the cusp of it being out there in the world in less than a week, I’m still biting my nails and wondering if it’s ready.

At this point, the question is less “how do I take the business out of writing?” and more “how do I take the heart out of business?” because people are going to read that book. A lot of people. And they’re going to leave reviews and I’m going to wonder if they like it, if they like me. I’m going to get awesome reviews from people who love that book, who think it’s the best book i’ve ever written, and I’m going to get scathing ones that hate my hero or think there’s too many typos or I abuse commas. They’ll hate my style.

These are the things I think of, and largely why I avoid being online on release day. Because I have a hard time dealing with the business side of publishing when so much of me goes into these books.

So, for November, I decided to write something I’ve been putting off for a while. I decided to write the next hockey book in the Texas Highlanders series. I tried to let that series go, because it’s my worst seller. But the stories are still there, waiting to be told. Waiting to be shared. So maybe it’s not the best business decision to write Scoring His Heart. But it’s right for me, as a writer, because these are books I love so much (and I’m not saying that I don’t love my military books. I so love them!) and they have every right to be written as much as an of my others. And the fantasy books I’ve been putting off for three years? They need to written too. Desperately.

I know all writers go through something similar to this, where they’re so hooked into the publishing machine that they stop thinking about what they love to write and start thinking about what they can write that will sell. I’m probably a damn mercenary person. I will do what it takes to make money for my family. But at this point, I realize that I need to write for me, too. There needs to be something for me, as well as for my family.

And when all else fails and I’m not feeling the writing at all? There’s always Netflix or Hulu Plus. I’m watching Arrow with the Monsters this month.

 

I’m still here. I’m still clicking away at the keys. I love NaNoWriMo. It’s one of my favorite times of the year. I have never failed not to have a good time for NaNo. And I’ve won it every year since my first in 2008.

I remember one year I wrote 185,000 words in November. I wrote with delicious abandonment. I didn’t care about rules or craft. I just wrote to write. And it was glorious fun, and exhausting, and just plain amazing. I’ve never been able to come near that wordage again. My average NaNoWriMo challenge ends up usually about 75-100k, which is still quite a lot, honestly.

I think about that one year a lot, and wonder what the difference is.

Maybe it’s that I was challenged by the ML in Atlanta at the time.

Maybe it’s that we ended up head to head with a word war every day for a month.

Or maybe it was the fact that I didn’t let myself follow rules. I have no idea.

I don’t think I will ever duplicate that month again. I don’t think I’ll ever be in that position where I write two full length novels in one month. 185k is a lot, and it’s hard. Hard on the mind, hard on the body. I don’t think I wrote anything for a good two months after that.

But I do enjoy NaNo for the sole reason that I get to have fun and do things that are awesome with other writers. Maybe not all of them are professional writers like me. Maybe for some of them it’s a hobby. That’s okay. I don’t care. I just like being around people who get me, who understand the crazy and why I do what I do.

For now, I’m just chipping away at a story that has been marinating for over a year, but I couldn’t find the time to write it. And honestly, I think that’s the best part of NaNo for me. I take a month off from obligatory and contractual writing to write a book that I would write for fun. Not that I wouldn’t write the others for fun, too, but this is a book that probably will never make me money. It will probably not resonate with my core audience. But I’m still going to write it. Because I want to. Because I’ll enjoy it.

Current word count for the month is 25,674. How’s your NaNo going?

Okay, so I didn’t make my Post Everyday in November goal this weekend. It was Readers ‘n Ritas and it was crazy busy and fun. But blogging suffered.

Readers ‘n Ritas

I met some people from the Facebook readers group this weekend at the con, which was super cool! We had a great dinner on Friday. My table got some goodies. Free ebook, a free paperback of No Strings Attached, a necklace, and some other little swag items for each of them. And then the center prize had some more stuff in them.

Now, onto the books!

Today, I get to announce that my book, O Christmas Three, is going to be in a holiday anthology with five other authors titled LET IT SNOW.

If you were poking around on the website today, you might have seen some changes as I added the anthology. It’s been a crazy fast ride, as we decided to do it pretty late in the game. But the ebook is up for pre-order at Kobo and iBooks (and Amazon and B&N is on its way).

Also, the Sizzling 7 box set came out last week, and it’s trucking along nicely. You can order from any major retailer, and you can find those links on the anthology/box set page at any time.

The SEALs of Winter superbundle is scheduled for November 18th, and contains nine all new, never before seen romances from New York Times and USA Today bestsellers, many of whom were also in the previous SEALs of Summer set.

My contribution is SEALed until Christmas, #4 in the Lucky Thirteen series. It features Jesse Richter, who was the baby of the SEAL team back in Killing Honor. He’s home for Christmas for the first time in three years. Little did he know he’d get whacked in the head by the love stick.

Join the newsletter for all the updates!

And for a quick reminder, I always send out newsletters for new releases before I even post it here (if I remember to post it here, too!), so make sure you’re signed up for the list so you don’t miss out.

And now, I will go write, because this book will not write itself, and I cannot win NaNoWriMo without writing.

So, I missed my blog post yesterday. I blame falling asleep on my keyboard. I didn’t write yesterday either. But that was partially because I was switching WIPs to work on for November and I needed a palate cleansing day. Also, i had to do a bunch of shopping for Readers ‘n Ritas this weekend. I have pretty much cleaned out all the stores now.

Anyway, there will be some awesome this weekend. I’m super excited about it. I’m also on a panel called “The Evolution of New Adult” and that’s gonna be pretty cool because it is just the most ever-changing thing out there in publishing right now.

So, like I was saying, I started a new project for NaNo and instantly wrote 6k on it. I think the moral of the story here is that we’ve figured out that I need to write that book before I write all the others I want to. Which is good, because it’s actually the next book I’ll be releasing next year. Don’t worry, more info coming soon. There’s lots going on around this book so it’s more than just the writing of it that needs to happen.

I made some test necklaces for swag today. Tomorrow, I’ll actually do the ones I need to do for the weekend. They are actually pretty easy to do, and don’t take a lot of time to make. I made two in about 20 min, including drying time, so it was really about 5 min of actual labor. I might do a blog post here in a bit so you can see them.

For now, I should maybe go to sleep…

ETA: I actually wrote this last night, but then I fell asleep on my keyboard. LOL. So I’m publishing it this morning, but it’s totally yesterday’s blog post.

For those that don’t know, a zero draft is what I call my very base draft, the one that is so rough that it’s not good enough to be called a first draft. In many ways, it’s freeing to write a zero draft. It doesn’t have to be perfect. I can relax. It can be bad. In fact, it usually is bad. I never worry about it. I just move on.

I’ve gotten some people wondering about dealing with writer’s block. The fact of the matter is that I don’t get writer’s block. But only because i don’t worry about writing crap, complete utter shit. My zero draft is the worst writing in the history of writing. So when it comes out bad, I’m not worried about it. It’s definitely rubbish. But that’s what I’m going for, you know? The whole point is to get DONE.

The zero draft is exploration. It’s your time to sit down and hash out the bare bones. It might be bloated in spots, and thin in other spots. That’s okay. You can always fix it on the next round.

Keep going. Keep writing. Have fun.

Disclaimer: It might be that this advice doesn’t work for you and you keep getting stuck. Chances are you might be an outliner. There are lots of outlining blogs and tools out there. But I can’t give you any because I have no idea how to outline. However, I suspect that even if you outline, the above advice still applies.

Now go write!