Zoe York's Blog, page 10

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Soon after I made the decision to self-publish my Wardham series, I read a blog post by Elisabeth Naughton, a long-published author of paranormal romances. She turned to self-publishing when a contract renewal failed to impress. She took a hard look at her finances and decided she didn’t have anything to lose. In that process, she decided to publish a little standalone contemporary romance with a suspense twist, Wait For Me. A book she’d long tried to sell to publishers, with no success. She wrote the whole journey in a post on her blog, and I’ll let her explain what happened next. “The book of my heart, the book no one wanted, catapulted me into a new publishing category.” As in, NYT bestseller. USA Today bestseller. Top of the Amazon charts. On a book she was told to put in a drawer. And, it’s worth pointing out, a book that didn’t take off right away – a book that needed a push to get in front of the right group of readers. I will never forget her story, and I’d thought about sharing it many times over.

Last week, I read another blog post, this time by debut author Leah Raeder. She played the game, and got further than many writers do, but after three years, she still didn’t have a publishing contract. And she’d had enough. “I’m tired of trying to break into an industry that’s so hostile to unproven authors.” So she self-published her third book instead of shopping it around, and now Unteachable has rocketed up the charts. At the end of the day, Leah’s happy, and her readers are happy. It’s hard to let go of the bookstore dream, but that wasn’t happening the other way, either. “All I really wanted was to write and be read. Mission fucking accomplished. Everything else is gravy.”

So after I read Leah’s post, I started this blog entry, with links to both posts. And it sat in my drafts for a week. Because really, what was I hoping to gain by sharing?

Anecdotal evidence.

They’re the exceptions that prove the rule.

And then yesterday, Hugh Howey posted a link in The Writer’s Cafe on kboards.com to this interview that Patrice Fitzgerald did with him on Joe Konrath’s blog. Right there, in that sentence, are 3 more examples of self-publishing success. But while examples are fascinating, and their stories are just as compelling as Elisabeth’s or Leah’s, Hugh argues that it’s an underlying logic that trumps everything else. His career management reflects that same philosophy, and it’s interesting to read how he’s negotiated a new type of relationship with the publishing industry, one that works for him and his readers.

There are a ton of other examples I could add to this post, except the total number of self-publishing stars I want to list would be too long. I’ll feature them over time instead. I’m not trying to convince anyone to self-publish, but if you want to and something is holding you back…join kboards. Email me. Don’t leave the book you love in a drawer, or let anyone else be a gatekeeper who keeps you from your readers. Because if you write a good story, you WILL have readers. But only if they have a chance to read your work.

I have a collection of emails that I’ve saved in a special folder, new fans telling me how much they love Kyle Nixon from What Once Was Perfect. I’ve made people cry with my upcoming novella, Between Then and Now. And not just my sister, but people who don’t know me as anything other than Zoe York, romance writer. That’s awesome-sauce.

The post Self-Publishing: Love and Logic appeared first on Zoe York.

A common question I get is when do I find the time to write. Like a lot of other new authors, I’m juggling this with a full-time job and a young family. But I love writing, and these stories are in my head anyway, so when I sit down to put them on paper, I try to do it in a smart way. I don’t start with a blank slate (or a blank screen, since it’s the 21st century).

This isn’t my clever idea. I got it from Rachel Aaron’s blog post on how she went from 2k to 10k words a day. That blog post changed how I write in a lot of ways – her Triangle of Writing Metrics was such a lightbulb moment for me. Now I only write what I’m enthusiastic about. If I think something else needs to be fit in, I write INSERT MORE HERE and skip ahead. On revision, I end up deleting a bunch of those notes without ever adding anything.

But my favourite takeaway from her blog post was the pre-writing sketch. She talks about it as a paragraph, but this is what I do – it’s often replete with arrows and bubbles and as  I start to document the chapter or scene that is in my head, questions arise. In this case, for chapter 10, I realized that I don’t have the members of town council sorted out yet. That would pull me up cold tonight when I sit down to write up the scene that’s been playing out in my head – because up here, the mayor is just called the mayor. But Wardham’s small, maybe it should only have a reeve…And so now I’ve tagged this as something that I need to research before I waste any time staring at a blank screen.

The title for this blog post, Sketch it out! Sketch it out now, comes from a conversation I had with my critique partner the other day. It was, like a lot of our instant message chats, about being stuck. My default question: have you sketched it out yet?

All good things come from paper and pen, even in the digital age.

Instead of taking a picture of my most recent example and just emailing it to her, I decided to share it on the blog.

So I’m a fan, and have yet to experience a downside of a quick pre-writing sketch myself. Any writers find that this technique leads you astray?

If you’ve never tried it, I highly recommend it, and Aaron’s other techniques to increase your writing productivity. When I was writing my first book, I was happy to get five or six hundred words an hour, and a thousand words a day. Now that’s my absolute bare minimum on a writing day, and I’m secretly unhappy if I don’t hit 3k on a weekday and 5k on a Saturday or Sunday.

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I shared the finished first draft of Between Now and Then with my girlfriends yesterday (a move which causes me to rapidly alternate between doing a little happy dance and wanting to pass out from nerves), and in honour of Carrie and Ian, who didn’t have a conventional start to their marriage, I thought I’d try to chill over the weekend with a book that celebrates an unusual path to happily ever after. But before I go digging through Goodreads for something new to read for myself, I thought I’d suggest four of my recent favourites in a similar vein.

What books would you add to this list?

Something Old – A Rogue By Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean

I read the second in this series, One Good Earl Deserves a Lover, first, and I knew I needed to go back and read Penny’s story. I’m very glad I did.

Something New – Shine, Not Burn by Elle Casey

This is a book that is, at turns, funny, sweet and sassy, and in one particular scene, so smokin’ hot I was worried I might pass out. Mack…oh, Mack. You are something else.

Something Borrowed – A Negotiated Marriage by Noelle Adams

This book begins three years into a marriage of convenience, and the couple really likes each other. It’s a twist on the trope I found fresh and interesting, and the love story that unfolded delivered on that promise.

Something Blue – Lady Luck by Kristen Ashley

It’s stretch to fit this into being blue, although there’s enough heartache in the middle bit to certainly qualify! But on a list of unconventional marriage stories, this needs to be included. An ex-con and a fashion maven hit Vegas and then play house. It sounds like a joke, but it’s sweet and real and awesome. It’s in the middle of the Colorado Mountain series, but it stands alone. 

The post Friday Reads: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue appeared first on Zoe York.

The post Between Then and Now teasers appeared first on Zoe York.

Drum roll, please! I’d like to introduce you to Ian Nixon and his beautiful wife, Carrie. Their story is coming in September, in the the form of a short novella.

“Don’t do this, not tonight.” His features pinched together. He didn’t let go of her hand, but the easy softness in his grip faded, replaced with a subtle tension that told her it was an effort to keep touching her.

“I’m not doing anything,” she whispered. Tears threatened, hot bubbles at the edge of her vision.

“You’re dragging old shit into a new argument. Shit I didn’t even know was in your head. An argument I didn’t even know we were having.”

“We’re not!” Were they? Was it all one big fight that just ebbed like the tide? “I don’t know why I said that.”

He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. She tentatively lifted her gaze to read his expression, but he didn’t look over at her, instead keeping his eyes on the road ahead. A muscle twitched along his jaw and she squeezed his hands, willing him to turn and see her. See that she wasn’t mad. That she was just scared and strangely alone, and not dealing with that well.

“I don’t think we were a mistake.”

“Damn straight.”

“But we weren’t in love when we got married, Ian. That’s never going to be something I forget.”

“Never asked you to.”

“We just can’t talk about it.”

“We can talk about it, babe. But you can’t yell at me about it.”

“I didn’t yell.”

“You cried. That’s worse.”

“Didn’t cry. No tears.”

“Sad voice, choked up…sounded like crying. Carrie, that kills me, you know?” He dragged a deep breath into his lungs. “I just wanted an evening without a fight. Come on, let’s go in.”

With a start, she realized they were home. “Wait—” she unbuckled her seat belt and reached across the center console. “Slide your seat back.”

“Carrie, I’m not—”

“Give me a chance to get the mood back, please?” She was grateful she’d worn a skirt tonight. “Scoot back and close your eyes.” He still hadn’t moved, but at least he wasn’t getting out of the truck. “I want to show you what I’ve got on under this skirt.”

Thank god for his healthy libido. A lecherous grin spread across his face as he flicked his gaze to her hemline. “Please tell me the answer is nothing.” She waited for his gaze to hit hers again before offering a slow nod. His already smoldering interest caught a burst of oxygen from her answer, and while he slid his seat back with his left hand, his right arm was hauling her into his lap. “We gotta stop fighting, babe.”

“We weren’t fighting,” she whispered.

“We were doing something,” he muttered as he arranged her thighs on either side of his, his thumbs pressing hard into soft flesh. “And it wasn’t this.”

Want to read their whole story? Sign up for my mailing list on the right, and you’ll receive an email when it goes live! It’s going to be released free on KoboBooks and iTunes in early September, and Amazon will hopefully match that free price point soon after (they don’t allow me to set the price below .99 cents, so that’s what it will be at Amazon off the hop). If you want to help me convince Amazon to lower the price, consider joining my street team on Facebook – the Wardham Ambassadors group is where I’ll post things like that, as well as photos and snippets from all the Wardham stories to be shared on social media. Ambassadors get first dips on Advance Review Copies of the book, and autographed copies of cover postcards.

The post Cover reveal: Between Then and Now (a Wardham Novella) appeared first on Zoe York.

Big news! I posted to Facebook the other day that I’m working on a novella prequel to the Wardham Series, Between Then and Now. You can add it to your TBR pile on Goodreads, and it will be available around Labour Day weekend on eretailers.

This is all too familiar story of a couple struggling to stay connected amidst all the other responsibilities that crowd into the relationship, and how they figure out a communication strategy that works for them. It sounds heavy, and it has its emotional moments, but this is a short, sweet and sexy introduction to Wardham. It takes place a bit more than year before What Once Was Perfect, and we see a glimpse into Kyle Nixon’s life before reuniting with Laney. We also get more of an introduction to the cast of characters that will populate future Wardham books, but the heart of the story is about Ian and Carrie Nixon, and their moment of truth after 8 years of marriage.

This playlist is for them:

Pink & Nat Ruess – Just Give Me a Reason

Brad Paisley – Some Mistakes

Keith Urban – A Little Bit of Everything

Drake White – The Simple Life

Jon Pardi – Up All Night

Brad Paisley – Whiskey Lullaby

Shawn Colvin – Never Saw Blue Like That

Kim Moore – Hey Pretty Girl

Lee Brice – A Woman Like You

And the Pink/Nat Reuss song so perfectly sets up where Carrie and Ian are at in the beginning of this story, I thought I’d also share this rock awesome live version:

The post Carrie and Ian’s playlist (New Wardham Novella) appeared first on Zoe York.

The lovely ladies at Love, Lust and Lipstick Stains have posted a hot Hump Day Excerpt from What Once Was Perfect today! Check it out!

The post Guest blog post: Excerpt from What Once Was Perfect appeared first on Zoe York.

I’m working away at Book 2 in the Wardham series, Where Their Hearts Collide, and the photo for the cover makes me so freaking happy every time I look at it, I want to share it with you right now.

But where’s the fun in that?

So I’ve recruited some fabulous bloggers to help me release the cover, once the book is done and Advance Review Copies are ready to go out. I’d tell you to mark your calendars for August 26-30, but you know I’m going to be all over this, everywhere, so unless you head deep into Algonquin that week, you’ll hear about it. The plan is 5 days, 5 exclusive excerpts from the new book, each accompanied by a puzzle piece from the cover. By the end of the week, the cover will be revealed, and the excerpts will have everyone panting for more of Karen & Paul. (No pressure, Zoe!)

I will share this teaser photo, first posted at Novel Thoughts a week or so ago. Meet Paul and Karen!

The post Book No. 2 Cover Reveal Tour is Set! End of August will be fun! appeared first on Zoe York.

Kim at Read Your Writes Blog gave me a journalism assignment – interview Laney & Kyle, the couple from What Once Was Perfect. If you’ve read the book, this will give you a little glimpse into their life between Chapters 17 and 18. If you haven’t read the book, don’t worry, it doesn’t have any major spoilers in it – the HEA is a given, remember?

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