Rinelle Grey's Blog, page 19

It’s a late post for me, and out of sync with my usual posts, but I’m just so excited I had to share.

I spent the evening visiting my sister, talking about the novel I’m writing for Camp NaNo (or rather, continuing, since I started with around 30k), and making a new cover for it.

I’m in love with it, and can’t wait to get this novel finished so I can share it with you all! This one is a fantasy romance, about twins. (In case you missed that in the title!) I posted an excerpt from the beginning last month.

I find having a cover for a novel really motivates me to get it finished. How about you? Do you enjoy making covers for your novel even before they’re ready to publish?

One of the common pieces of marketing advice you will see is to identify your target audience. What sort of person will enjoy your book? Where might you find them? How old are they? Male or Female?

It can seem really daunting for a first time author, who (if they’re anything like me), figures that they can’t really know who will and won’t like their book. And what’s wrong with marketing it to everyone? If they buy it, that’s the important bit isn’t it?

From my recent experience, no.

I wrote a few months ago about discovering New Adult books, and thinking my book might fit into that category. Seeing as it’s a hot category at the moment, I figured it couldn’t hurt to try. So I gave away ten free ‘Read to Review’ copies of Reckless Rescue on GoodReads, and sat back to wait for the reviews. Most readers up until that point had been fairly positive, so I read the first review eagerly.

Only to find it not positive. The person hadn’t enjoyed my book. Had, in fact, found it slow and boring. Of all the reviews, I think that one is the most hard to take as an author. If it had been my first review, I would have been shattered.

Since it came on the tail of several people who’ve said they loved Reckless Rescue, couldn’t put it down, were eagerly awaiting the sequel, I instead put it down to someone just not liking the style of the book, and moved on.

Except that the next one was similar, and the one after that.

What had happened? People had loved my book, why didn’t New Adult readers?

A little more exploring and reading about New Adult (in articles that have come out since), has given me the clue. New Adult readers like really deep emotions, lots of angst, and intense sex scenes.

Which isn’t what Reckless Rescue is about. Yes, there are sex scenes, but they are more subtle, and more about the relationship between the characters than the physical sensations. They aren’t constantly ‘hot’ for each other. It’s closer to a sweet romance, though not closed door. A totally different style of book.

It did throw me off for a few days, but I’ve since had a few more positive reviews from other readers, and I’m confident that the problem is not in my book, but in the place I was trying to market it. Lesson learned. I figure the couple of bad reviews just give my good reviews legitimacy, and prove that they’re not all from friends and family.

How about you? Have you ever marketed your book to the wrong audience? And readers, have you ever read a book that seemed completely out of place in the category where you found it?

I sent Reckless Rebellion off to the editor this morning! Wow, what a freeing feeling. So many things to catch up on now. Some cleaning, some sewing with my daughter, cooking, maybe even read some of the books that have been piling up on my iPad!

Normal blogging will resume on Monday. I have some fun posts planned!

Meanwhile, this weekend I’m attending the Virtual Book Fair on Facebook! Check it out for excerpts from a lot of different books! And don’t forget, Reckless Rescue is at 99c for a few more days. If you don’t already have a copy, grab one now.

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I’m taking a few days off to do a quick re-read of Reckless Rebellion before I send it off to the editors. Regularly scheduled blogging will return soon!

If you’re on my Facebook page or Twitter, you probably already heard that I finally wrote ‘The End’ on Reckless Rebellion! If you’re a writer, you probably  know that that’s just the start of the books journey!

I don’t know if it’s because I still know how much work I have to do, or if it’s just me, but I don’t find finishing a book that exciting. Once it’s published, yep, that’s a big moment. But the happy feeling of finishing the book doesn’t last long. I’m already in the middle of a quick edit to make sure all the changes I made make sense, before I send it off to the editor. The work continues!

But I’m setting a tentative publishing date of August at this point. Fingers crossed I don’t have to revise that. I’m feeling quietly positive though. If you want to be notified on the day it goes live, sign up to my mailing list in the top left corner. If you haven’t already read Reckless Rescue (the first book in the series), it’s currently 99c!

In other news, Silvia over at Silvia Writes nominated me for The Very Inspiring Blogger Award, and I’m very happy to accept. Thanks Silvia!

I always love reading Silvia’s blog, with some great emotional writing snippets and posts that make me think. Drop on over and check it out!

The rules are pretty simple:

1. Display logo in your blog to show you’ve been nominated – Check

2. Link back to your nominator – Check

3. Share 7 things about yourself – hmm, get to that in a minute.

4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award.

5. Notify your nominees.

So, 7 facts about myself. That should be interesting…

I’m really not good at telling right from left. Takes me a few minutes to remember which is which, every time! Makes someone giving me directions a pain
I love to sew. And knit. And do pretty much anything crafty.
I live in Australia, and have only been out of the country once, on a business trip to Japan with my mum.
I’ve never seen snow. Nope, never. It’s on my to do list.
I prefer summer to winter. I’d rather be hot and go swimming than cold!
I hate wearing shoes.
I have not very adventurous tastes, and would prefer to eat something simple at home than go out to a restaurant.

Now for some nominations. I’ve had a few awards lately, so I hope I’m not doubling up on anyone! It’s supposed to be 15, but in the interest of not flooding the blogging world, and since the numbers seem to vary in different blogs, I’m going to limit myself to 7!

Nana Prah’s blog
Karen Woodward
Molly Greene: Writer
Creative Writing with the Crimson League
The Rambling Jour
Goodbye Junie Moon
Flutey Words…

So that’s it for today! Don’t forget, if you haven’t already, to enter into the SFR Brigade Blog Hop, there are some excellent prizes up for grabs, including a 35 ebook pack, and a $150 voucher for either Amazon or B&N (your choice).

 

Well it’s finally arrived! Today is the Sci-Fi Romance Brigade Blog hop. There’s some brilliant prizes up for grabs, including 35 SFR ebooks (including Reckless Rescue!) and a $150 gift card to Amazon or B&N, so check out the rafflecopter giveaway below for the list, and to enter!

The theme for the blog hop is ‘Out of This World’, a great theme for sci-fi romance! When I started this blog, not quite a year ago, one of the things I was trying to decide was how to tie together the page, and the books I write. Since I write fantasy romance as well as sci-fi, I wanted a tag line that could be applicable to both.

One of the things that’s common between fantasy and sci-fi is that they both take place in different worlds – either the made up world of fantasy, or a made up/futuristic world of sci-fi. Both involve considerate differences to ours, and  yet, people fall in love in mostly the same way. Love is the constant, that anyone can recognise and take away, regardless of the different technology or rules.

And thus my log line was born. “Different worlds, different rules, different lives, but love remains the same.”

That’s what I like about love, and about reading romances. The feeling of love doesn’t know boundaries, or rules, or differences. If you fall in love, all that becomes unimportant. The fun thing with writing sci-fi romances, is finding a way to make it all work for the characters!

In my sci-fi romance novel, my two characters, Tyris and Marlee, are from very different worlds. While Tyris’s world is a little advanced from ours (and has spaceflight), Marlee’s people lost all useable technology when they were stranded on an abandoned planet, and have a constant struggle to grow enough food, and store it for the winter.

As if the huge difference in their backgrounds wasn’t enough, Tyris is forbidden to have children on his world, whereas on Marlee’s world (where he has crash landed), a child is needed to make a relationship permanent.

Figuring out how to make this work for them has been a challenge, but a lot of fun.

To celebrate the blog hop, I’m lowering Reckless Rescue’s price to 99c for a limited time! (Usually $2,99). So if you’re looking for a new sci-fi romance, or an introduction to the genre, check it out, or enter the rafflecoper competition below for a chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you haven’t heard of BookBub as a promotional tool for selling books, well, I guess you’ve been hiding under a rock. At the moment, BookBub is the big name for advertising, because it works, even if it does have a significant cost. Even big name self-publishers are talking about it and recommending it for getting your name out there.

Sounds like a great opportunity for self-publishers, right?

Well, I’m not so sure. I wrote last month about my latest free promotion, and how I had downloads in the thousands, numbers to be happy with. I was hoping, from the way my numbers were climbing, to have my book on the first page of Amazon’s free list. But once I hit about #50, I didn’t seem to climb much faster. I went up, slid down, went up, slid down. In the final push, I couldn’t make it past #31.

Curious why, I had a look at the books above me, and while some of them were obvious big name books, many weren’t that different to mine, leaving me wondering what was different. A quick search soon confirmed my hypothesis – nearly every book on the list above me was listed on the BookBub site.

Is it possible to get into that top 20 list without a paid promotion? I don’t know, perhaps some weeks are better than others, and some books do better than others, but overall, it seems unlikely.

This is either the best possible news for indies, or the worst. It seems that though Amazon doesn’t sell those highest places, that they can be bought. Most people who have talked about a BookBub promotion have said they paid for themselves in sales afterwards, meaning the advertising costs (which are in the hundreds of dollars zone) are worth it, but you still need to have that money up front, which many indies don’t. And as always, there’s still a risk that you won’t make your money back.

What do you think? Are promotional sites like BookBub a benefit for book sales, or not? Would you consider buying an ad?

I’m not sure if this should be my favourite ‘writing books’, since most of them aren’t quite about writing, but I can’t think of anything else that gives the right impression. I tend not to read books about plotting or characterisation. I’m a pantser, and since I don’t plot out my novels, theory on plotting doesn’t help me. In fact, I find it gets in the way of my writing, and I focus too much on getting it ‘right’, that I don’t get it DONE.

So my list of books are going to be about editing, and improving your story on the smaller scale, and the sales/marketing of ebooks.

I just started reading Let’s Get Visible: How To Get Noticed And Sell More Books by David Gaughran a couple of days ago, and I’m LOVING it. Even though I’ve read a lot of webpages on promoting your books, and gained a lot from them, but this book takes it further than I’ve ever been. Some really great advice on how to get visible on the Amazon search engines, and how to stay there, backed up by a through explanation of how the Amazon algorithms work. I’d recommend this book to any self-published author looking to promote their work.

I really enjoyed Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson, for it’s explanations of how to really draw your reader in, and make them feel connected to the characters. It talks about how prose such as “He thought she would have forgiven him by now.” is actually keeping your characters at a distance, and explains ways to fix these problems. I feel this book helped my writing in a lot of ways, and I’m probably due for a re-read.

The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, is another great book for removing that barrier between the reader and character. As a writer, I’m as guilty as anyone of using telling to get my character’s emotions across rather than showing. This book is chock full of ways you can show that emotion rather than resorting to telling. It lists 75 common emotions, and gives you many different ways your character could display them. I keep this one beside me while I’m writing or editing.

Another favourite of mine is The Little Book of Self-Editing for Writers by Bridget McKenna. Everyone says you should get an editor for your books, and I totally agree, but you’ll save money by handing your editor the cleanest manuscript you can, and this book will help you with that. Using the search function of your word processor, it shows you how to look for an eliminate overused words, passive voice, and tighten your writing, in a simple to follow manner. A great start to your editing.

You know, I thought I’d have more. I have a lot of other samples of writing books on my kindle that I haven’t gotten around to reading, but these are the ones that grabbed me enough to read, and the ones I go back to.

Have you read any of these books? Like them or hate them? Do you have any other good writing books to recommend?

Well, I posted towards the end of last month that I hoped to have Reckless Rebellion finished by the end of the month. I did try. I sat down to write, but the ending just wouldn’t come. It seemed forced, and lame, and not satisfying at all.

So instead I went back to the beginning. I knew I had to up the stakes for my characters, so that their actions in the end seemed real and right, not out of place as they were feeling to me. I spent several days just writing out my thoughts in the form of “what if this happens? but that would then mean this, and maybe this would be better? How can I make this happen? What if I did this?” etc. And eventually, the ideas started coming.

Since then, I’ve been re-writing some of the key scenes, making the changes I’d decided on. I’ve just started writing the actual ending today, and it will probably take a couple of days (when I can fit it in around being a Mum, my daughter seems to need me a lot right now), then I need to go back and change a couple more bits, then it’s off to the editors.

I’ve also spent a bit of time researching editors. Starting early this time, so that I’m not scrambling to find someone at the last minute. Reckless Rebellion will go through two lots of edits, like Reckless Rebellion. First a critique/development edit, to catch any slow parts, storylines that don’t make sense, and plot holes, then I’ll make those changes, before sending it off for a copy edit. Then I’ll have a couple of friends proofread for me.

It’s such a long path! But worth it in the end, to have a story I’m happy with. I’m estimating about two months until it’s ready for publishing.

In the meantime, I have an idea I’m working on, for anyone who’s needs a bit of a Tyris/Marlee fix before the next novel comes out. Sign up for my newsletter if you want to know more, or to be notified when the next book comes out.

And if you haven’t read Reckless Rebellion yet, check out this lovely review over at soireadthisbooktoday.

Since SFR Brigade Presents isn’t running this month (we have a blog hop later in the month instead, excited about that!), I thought I’d run my own ‘Fantasy Friday’s”, to show some excerpts from my few unfinished fantasy series.

Today I’m sharing an excerpt from the beginning of the first novel I ever wrote. This is one I still love, and go over frequently. It’s rather different to my other novels. One day, I’ll get it cleaned up enough to publish. Would love to hear what you think.

Elizabeth clung low to the mare’s back as the horses thundered across the sunbaked plain.  The wind whipped her hair in front of her eyes and adrenalin surged in her veins.  Without sparing a moment to look up, she knew that Digger was right beside her on Missa.

Clumps of rough, dry spinifex grass, the only cover on the bare land, lashed at the horses legs.  They were raising a cloud of dust, but it wasn’t enough to hide them from the bandits following close on their tail.

Elizabeth flicked back her head to let the wind blow her short blonde hair out of her eyes and couldn’t help but laugh for the sheer exhilaration of it.  Sometimes she wondered if they only reason she lived was for moments like this.

She risked a glance at Digger, and he laughed back, enjoying the wild ride almost as much as she was.

Their merriment carried back to the bandits pursuing them.  Elizabeth heard their leader yell and spur his horse faster.

Though the bandit’s horses lacked the breeding and the conditioning of Elizabeth and Digger’s mounts, they were not afraid to use whips to make up for the lack.  They were catching up.

Elizabeth leaned low over Riana’s sleek neck and whispered to the horse, who gallantly produced extra speed.  Beside her, Digger kept pace.

Now Elizabeth could see the woods she remembered in the distance.  But she knew they were not going to make it before the bandits, now cheering in premature victory, overtook them.

Elizabeth rose in the stirrups, turning slightly to look at the bandits.  They were so close now that she could see their leader’s teeth, bared in as snarl.  She transferred both reins to her right hand, then held up her left, concentrating hard.

It was difficult enough to focus her magical energy in Salenthia these days, being on the back of a bouncing horse certainly didn’t improve the situation, but her years of experience held her in good stead.

A glow formed around her upheld hand as she drew upon the energy within her, manipulating and bending it to her will.

The bandits paused, then as the glow intensified they all pulled frantically on the reins of their horses, trying futilely to turn.  Without pause, Elizabeth threw the ball directly into their midst.

There was an almost inaudible boom when the ball hit one of the bandits, then a ripple of power expanded out rapidly to hit the rest of the panicking group, fading just short of  the tails of Elizabeth and Digger’s still galloping horses.

Digger didn’t even pause to glance back.

Elizabeth spared one last fleeting look over her shoulder at the horses and bandits sprawled on the ground.  A few struggled to sit up, but most were not moving at all.

Then they were in the woods, branches whipping past their faces as the horses slowed to navigate the obstacles in their path.

Digger slowed Missa to a walk to step over a fallen tree trunk and glanced over at Elizabeth.  “I always wonder how you manage to stop that right before it hits us.”  His tone was one of interested curiosity.