Imposter Syndrome

Happy Friday everyone. Casey here. If you have a moment, please stop by my blog. I’m hosting another Goodreads giveaway to celebrate the paperback release of The Undead Space Initiative.

In case you hadn’t yet heard the news, Mystic Storm will be published in 2013. And while this is my third published novel, I still feel like a giant imposter.

Like someone is going to single me out and yell – “Fake! Fraud! She’s not a real writer!”

I know that sounds totally ridiculous but I know I’m not the only one who sometimes feels this way. I have heard an established NY Times bestselling author admit to having the same feeling - that no matter how many novels you write and sell that this one might be your last.

That you will never, ever write anything “good” again. Your career will be over!! You’ll be a “has been”, the equivalent of a dried up old spinster.

Eek! What’s a writer to do? Well, for starters, it’s time for a reality check.

By the power invested in me I say to you -  You’re a writer. A real, honest to goodness writer. Doesn’t matter if you’re unpublished, published big, published small, self-published, or any variation in between. If you’re dedicated to the craft of storytelling and you are actively putting words on a page, you’re a writer.

Feel better?

If not, and you’re still fretting,consider this:

1. Ignorance is bliss. Remember back in the early days of writing before you knew any of the “rules”? When it was a thrill just to type those words on the page and “publication” was some far off dream on a distant shore? If you find yourself traveling down the road of uncertainty, hark back to that earlier time. Too many “rules” equals zero fun. Ditch’em. Be that dreamer again. The completion of one book doesn’t mean you’re doomed to never write another good story again.

2. There are many paths to publication. Readers don’t care who published your novel. All they want are well-written, entertaining stories. I know I don’t go looking for books based on who published them. I just want to read something good and judge accordingly.

3. Tell the Doubt Monster to shut his (or her) gob. If you’re suffering from imposter syndrome, consider it a form of self-doubt. Cut it out.

And finally, square your shoulders, hold your head up high and be proud of your accomplishments (no matter how big or small they are that day, week or month).

Now say it with me – “I am writer, hear me roar!”

Time for the truth – who else has had imposter syndrome? And what are your suggestions for combatting it?

Interview with Author Jenn Reese

Greetings Seven Scribes Fans!  Jamie K. Schmidt here filling in for J Monkeys.  Keeping with my crafty resolution, I’m going to give away another pair of earrings to a lucky person who comments on this blog post.

Today, I’m pleased to introduce to you an old friend of mine, Jenn Reese.  Her MG book, “Above World” is scheduled to be released on Valentine’s Day this year!

Tell us how Above World came about.  What was the spark or the “what if?” moment that made you decide to write a middle grade book about Aluna and the Coral Kampii?

As ridiculous as it sounds, I was sitting around one day and I thought, “You know who would make an awesome space captain? A mermaid!” That’s what gave me the idea of combining mythology and science to get my various bioengineered humans of the future. Although I dropped the space captain angle, I do mention “sky ships” in book 1 in honor of that initial spark.

How did you go about searching for an agent and what made you decide to go with Joe Monti from Barry Goldblatt Literary? What was harder to write, the query letter or the synopsis?  Got any tips for improving a query/synopsis?

I am fortunate to have many published friends, so the first thing I did was ask them for their agent spreadsheets. Then I researched for months using agentquery.com, Publisher’s Marketplace, and several different mailing lists. I created my own spreadsheet with data and feedback from others until I had a three-tiered agent hunt list.

I got two offers from my first tier, and chose Joe – a decision I have never regretted. Joe had been to my website, read my blog, and I was confident that he wanted to represent me – in all my geeky glory – and not just this one book.

I spent over a month working on just my query letter and synopsis while friends read the latest draft of my novel, and I think it was time well spent. I’m certainly no expert, but I definitely recommend going lean and mean in your query. No unnecessary details about either your novel or yourself. Your goal is to get agents intrigued, to get them to ask for more. The longer your query letter is, the more likely you are to say something that will turn them off.

Did Joe have any edits for you? What about Candlewick?  How long did it take you do the revisions?  Did you wrestle with the changes or did they fit with your vision of the book?

LOL. Yes, both Joe and my editor at Candlewick, Sarah Ketchersid, had edits. Lots of edits. They all made the book stronger. (Joe is notorious for wanting more fight scenes, a request I am always delighted to indulge.)

Admittedly, you can’t always tell right away if you agree with the suggestions. I have to sit on editorial notes a minimum of four full days before my brain starts thinking about them constructively. For Above World, I actually changed the book’s villain. Instead of killing him at the end of book 1, I killed off a lieutenant instead and saved the Big Bad for future books. (A suggestion that implies the need for future books? I’m all over that!)

In the end, every single editorial pass — one from Joe, one before we sold, and two under contract – made the book immeasurably better. I will be forever grateful that no one has to read the book as I originally wrote it.

The cover to Above World is gorgeous. As a graphic designer yourself, can you tell me what you think makes this cover so great?

I love the cover! Candlewick was generous enough to include me in design discussions. We all wanted something bright and gender neutral that hinted at the fantastical elements of the science fictional plot. I think the intense colors and simple, bold design scream “adventure,” and I couldn’t be happier!

The artwork is by  Alexander Jansson (http://www.alexanderjansson.com/) and the cover design is by Candlewick’s Kate Cunningham.

Your first book, Jade Tiger — an adult urban fantasy, was published in trade paperback by Juno a few years ago and you’ve just recently released it out for Kindle and Nook. What can you tell us from an author’s perspective about the difference between the two mediums?

When the rights to Jade Tiger reverted back to me, I enjoyed converting it to ebook format – mostly because I was able to edit the book slightly and take out a section that had always bothered me. (No, I’m not telling you what it was!) I’m also loving the ability to change the book’s price whenever I want, just to see what sells. Ebooks give authors the control that they crave.

Having said that, I still vastly prefer to sell my books traditionally. It’s not just that the money is better, it’s that the book itself ends up better. All those amazing editorial notes! Copyediting! Proofreading! Professionally designed cover and interior pages! Marketing, sales, and publicity teams! Distribution channels! I would be lost without Candlewick.

Traditional publishing is for me – no question — but I love that authors now have a choice. And I also love that many authors are now putting their out-of-print backlists online. So many wonderful titles that we once again have access to! “Out-of-print” will soon be out of style.

I noticed you’re doing a book signing at Mysterious Galaxy in Redondo Beach, CA on 2/17/12.  Did you set that up or was that something Candlewick did?  How did you set it up?  What are your plans for the signing are you going to read chapters or give a talk?

The signing is a result of networking. While I was at the World Fantasy Convention, a good friend introduced me to the awesome Maryelizabeth Hart who manages publicity for Mysterious Galaxy. She took care of everything, including contacting my publicist at Candlewick (the equally awesome Tracy Miracle). I’m sharing the signing with a fellow debut author Sara Wilson Etienne (check out her novel Harbinger!), and we have yet to decide what we’re going to do. It will be my first-ever such event. Suggestions welcome!

Jenn Reese’s book “Above World” will be available on February 14, 2012. You can pick it up at Barnes and Noble  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/above-world-jenn-reese/1104308923  or wherever you prefer to buy books!

Inspired by the denizens of the City of Shifting Tides, the Coral Kampaii, I’m giving away a pretty pair of lampwork glass fish earrings to match the cover of Above Word.  I’ll announce the winners here around noon Thursday, January 12th.

 

Last week’s winner, Katy, will receive these funky vampire earrings.  

Frankie Robertson: Veiled Mirror

Veiled Mirror

Happy Friday everyone! Casey Wyatt here. I’m so excited! Today we have a special guest blogger: Frankie Robertson sharing her self publishing journey. Take it away Frankie!

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Thanks, Casey, for inviting me to blog here today!

I’ve been writing about my self-publishing journey on my own blog, http://FrankieRobertson.wordpress.com. One thing I haven’t talked much about is how my traditional publishing experience has compared to self-publishing.

When I started writing the path was pretty clear: publish some short stories, write a novel, get an agent, agent sells book, money rolls in, repeat. I’m not sure it was ever that simple, but that was the prevailing paradigm back then. Boy, have times changed! When I write that now, I feel like I should open with, “Once upon a time. . .” but it wasn’t a complete fairy-tale, I know people this  worked for. People who told me,“ I’m
glad I’m not trying to break in right now.”

Nevertheless I persisted. Then, on the same day my husband found out that he’d made his first short story sale, I found out that I’d made mine! I was pumped! Hallelujah! The tide had turned! The future was rosy!

Several weeks later I learned the magazine’s editors had gotten into a power struggle. The editor who liked my story lost, and my story was dropped. No contract, no sale.

Eventually I did make that first sale. It was a contest win that included payment and publication in an anthology of speculative romance (SUM 3) but I refused to let myself get quite as excited about it. Not until it was printed and in my hands. I’d learned
that the publishing business could be uncertain – everything about production
was outside the author’s control.

A year ago I sold Veiled Mirror to The Wild Rose Press. It was the third novel I’d completed but my first novel length sale. I love the cover Rae Monet created, and the communication with my editor Laura Kelly is wonderful. She had a light touch while still
strengthening my book.

I decided to self-publish my second book. I probably could have sold Lightbringer to TWRP. Why didn’t I?

Lightbringer

It came down to a perfect storm of reasons:
•    I’d read a lot about the potential of self-publishing.
•    I had more than one friend who had done it. (It no longer seemed like a heresy.)
•    I wanted the higher royalty per unit sold.
•    The requirement to self-promote is no greater than with small press and trad-pub.
•    I could bring it out in less than four months instead of a year.
•    I wanted to practice before I self-pubbed  my two fantasy-romance novels.
•    But perhaps the most compelling reason was:  I wanted more control over my career.

I’m really glad I had the opportunity to learn from being published with The Wild Rose Press and I would consider publishing with them again. It gave me confidence and it taught me about the process. The biggest difference between my traditional and self-publishing experiences is that with TWRP, I had one person to ask when I was confused about something. In self-publishing, there are hundreds, but I had to decide who to listen to. And in the end it’s all up to me. Even though I chose to hire out the
cover, the editing, and the formatting, the ultimate end product will be a
result of all the decisions I made over the last four months.

And I love it! I have never been more excited about writing and publishing than I am now. Self-publishing may not be the right choice for everyone, but it was for
me.

Thanks for letting me share my story with you. Please join me over on
my blog where you can  read excerpts from Veiled Mirror and Lightbringer. Veiled Mirror was just released (Yay!) and is available at http://www.thewildrosepress.com and http://amazon.com.). Lightbringer will be available in late November.

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Thank you so much Frankie. Best of luck with both novels.

Please share your thoughts on traditional vs. indie publishing. Which path are you taking? One or both? Debate and discuss!

Countdown to Launch

My husband has been a space suit engineer for about thirty years so we’ve been especially vested in following the Shuttle program. It was a sad day when we watched the final launch. I’ve always been fascinated by astronauts–the brilliance, the courage, the fortitude it takes to strap yourself into a cock-pit that is sitting on several hundred tons of rocket fuel and is about to be blasted into space. On my most adventurous day, I can’t imagine being that brave…or that well organized. I understand that there are many teams of individuals that make a successful launch, but thanks to my husband’s involvement, I’ve become aware of the amazing amount of personal preparation on the part of the astronauts themselves, prior to those flights.

Strap in and enjoy the ride

Although writing and self-publishing a book is
nowhere near as dramatic as spaceflight, I equate the magnitude of the task
with that of an astronaut preparing for launch date. They must be physically,
mentally, and emotionally prepared to face whatever comes. With less than four
weeks to the launch of my debut YA novel, HEAVEN IS FOR HEROES, coming
September 24^th, I had to ask myself if I was fully prepared. This is
where I am now. Please let me know if I’ve missed something important.

1)  I’ve written the best book that I can.

2)  I am active on Facebook and Twitter, (once or twice daily as needed).

3)  I have a web site (to be updated in the next two weeks).

4)  I have press releases ready to go.

5) I have a blog tour scheduled (five appearances over a one month period with more
to come, hopefully).

6)  I have been creating buzz for the last few months with blogging, social media, friends, family, and anyone else who I can hand a bookmark to.

7)  I have a few signings scheduled for October.

8)  ARCs sent to reviewers. Must not forget my Book trailer.

9)  Ready to upload to Createspace, Smashwords, Amazon (KDP), and B&N pub-it

Since deciding to self-publishing back in April, some people have asked me why
I didn’t just put it out there then. The answer is simple. Traditional publishing
has been successful for a very long time. I wanted to emulate the process as
closely as I could because the process has been proven to work. I’ve had the book professionally edited, and I personally went through three printed proofs to make sure the book is as error free and well written as I can possibly make it. I’ve created buzz, set in motion as many avenues to success as I can manage as an individual (without making myself too crazy), and now I just have to keep on keepin’ on. Just like every other published author.
They will all tell you that you can’t possibly do everything, so do what you
can and be satisfied that all the I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed, say your
prayers, and try to enjoy the ride.

So I’m strapped in and ready to go. The countdown
has begun. Have I forgotten anything? Comments and suggestions welcomed.