My Idea for Amanda Hocking's Giveaway

Okay, so is it truly really weird to post about a comment I left on someone's blog when there is 0 drama about said comment?  The answer is probably yes.  I don't even care.  Here is Amanda's post asking for ideas for the release of her latest novel Wake.  She wanted ideas for things to get fans/readers excited and to say thank you to her fans/readers at the same time.

This was my comment:

I haven't read all of the comments yet so sorry if this is a repeat. I have no idea how crafty you are but I'm willing to bet at least a bit. This would take a little bit of work but as a Jim Henson fan, how can you really say no? (Easily, it's one syllable, I get that.) What if you made little dolls of your characters? Not all of them and they don't have to be super detailed action figures, sock puppet-esque things would be cool too. Then run a little giveaway. Book giveaways are always cool but I can get the books anywhere, one of a kind dolls made by Amanda Hocking herself (or whatever cheap labor she hires) would be bad ass. Or, if you paint, maybe a painted scene from your book. Or, if you're me, a really juvenile-can't-believe-she-isn't-mentally-slow stick figure drawing. These things would get me jazzed. Here's my blog if you need me to post about any giveaways. :)

Now, here's my question, and this has nothing to do with Amanda Hocking, I'm posting this directly after writing that comment so she's had zippy time to read it or respond to it, would you get jazzed if your favorite author did this?  My answer is Hell Yes.

If Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett made dolls of their characters, I would collect them all.  If I could only get them in a giveaway and the only way to enter was to buy a book of theirs, I would buy them all.  This isn't just for them, I'd do for any of my favorite authors including ones whose characters don't lend themselves to dolls - Brock Clarke, Michael Chabon, Virginia Woolf, Muriel Spark, Eugene O'Neill, Margaret Atwood, Kurt Vonnegut, August Strindberg, David Ives, etc.  

I just wanted to check to make sure I'm not obsessively weird.  Okay, I kind of am, but would anyone else collect dolls of characters made by their favorite authors?  Or am I on a whole new plane of lame?

Guest Post David Powers King

Hello one and all!  I can be found today at one of the blogosphere's friendliest blogs, David Powers King.  David writes MG/YA science fiction and fantasy novels.  You know, the kind you want to gobble up immediately.  I'm discussing some advice I received in acting class that deeply impacted my writing.  Hope to see you there!

Here's a video for your viewing pleasure.  In this video, I am Nick Offerman.  Oh, how I am Nick Offerman.

Chicago vs. Chicago: Round 3 from Nick Offerman

The Animals and Children Took to the Streets

The hubby and I went to DC yesterday to see a new play at Studio Theater, "The Animals and Children Took to the Streets".  It was a bit of a journey.  We parked in Crystal City and took the metro.  We were planning to ride the yellow line to U Street but the train stopped running two stops before that.  The intercom was bad and/or the driver mumbled so we, and half the other passengers, did not hear "Last Stop".

What happened next was a bit frightening.  We thought we were headed further up the line and technically we were, only the train stopped in the middle of the tunnel a few hundred yards past the last stop.  I didn't think much of it at first, the Metro has been known to have a few problems, but my husband was more realistic and realized something was wrong.  After a few minutes, the driver walked from one end of the train to the other not saying a word to any of the confused passengers.  I think we all assumed he was going to check on something and didn't want to bother him with a question.

Then we sat there.  The Metro sometimes breaks down.  Occasionally, passengers have to get out and walk to a platform.  That's really quite rare but I started to wonder if that was our fate.  Our train kept turning on and off so I thought we had engine troubles.  Nope.  It turns out the driver was walking to the other end of the train so he could drive us back the other way (each metro train can be driven from either end).  Had he just said something when he passed us, it would have been fine, but no, he said nothing.  I wouldn't mind except that if you announce "Last Stop" and over half the train stays on, it's a good indication that no one heard you or understood you and maybe you should take two seconds to explain in each car.  But okay, whatever.

15 minutes pass and we're in danger of missing the play.  We pull back into the stop we just left and the hubby and I haul buttcheeks to the theater.  We ran the whole way and just made it before the curtain went up.  I sat next to a lady that had to wonder why I was so sweaty (I pour sweat when I exercise) but she was far too polite to say anything.

Now, on to the play.  It was remarkable in many ways.  The story wasn't that amazing and the characters were mostly caricatures.  However, the storytelling was fabulous.  It was a mixture of animation, live action, and song.  The actors interacted with the animation on the screen behind them in a performance that was all about timing.  For instance, a little bird landed on the shutter of a woman's window, the actress hit the shutter and the animated bird flew up into the fan and was decimated (in a very non-gory way).  That should also tell you the tone of the play.

I don't like musicals as a rule, though there are exceptions.  I loved the music in this story.  It was fast paced, clever, great lyrics and set the mood for the entire piece.  Each song had a genuine purpose in the story, which is one of my beefs with most musicals.  There were few instruments, I believe only a piano, and the voices are what I would describe as sardonic.  There was more or less an entire song dedicated to the perverts in their building, one of whom sniffed bicycle seats.

Okay, I want very much to go on and on and on about this but I'm late.  I'm driving 1.5 hours to take my dad out for a belated Father's Day lunch.  So I have to run.  Please excuse any grammar/spelling mistakes, no time to edit.  If you have a moment, please take the time to pretend this entry was as awesome as I planned to make because I simply ran out of time to do it myself.  I'll love you forever if you do.  :)

Yay!!  I just checked 1927's website (they're the troupe that created and performed the piece) and they have a video I can embed!  Here, check it out.

Oh, You Enjoy Eating? Not For Long...

I've had this dry cough for about two years.  It's kind of weak sounding, like I'm trying to clear my throat but remain dainty.  I picked it up when I was in the call center and figured it was from talking all day.  It persisted, I ignored.  My husband worried.  Then, the last six months, it got worse.  In the past few weeks there's barely been an hour that's gone by where I haven't coughed at least a few times and usually I coughed to the point where my throat hurt.  Thinking something might be wrong with my vocal cords, I went to an Ears Nose and Throat specialist.

The camera down my throat wasn't a big deal and my doctor was amazing.  She was patient and pleasant and took great care to explain everything to me and she made sure I felt okay during the examination.  I expected to hear that my vocal cords were shot and that I might need surgery.  Nothing that drastic.  I have mild acid reflux and that's causing a lot of irritation and a bit of swelling.  My body keeps coughing because the swollen bits are at the top of my windpipe and my body thinks it's clearing debris from the area.  Little does it know, it's just more of me.

How do I fix this?  The first step is to rid my diet of stomach irritants.  Let's talk about that.  The first thing my doctor mentioned was mint.  No problem.  Unless it's toothpaste, I actually don't like mint.  Then the list got scary.  For at least a month I can have no chocolate, caffeine, soda, coffee, fried foods or alcohol.  I also have to limit my dairy intake.

Before anyone calls me out in the comments, yes, I know I'm extremely lucky.  There are people with many ailments in this world and mine are quite mild.  Yes, I'm very thankful for that.  But please let me whine for just a moment and then I promise I'll put on my big girl pants and get on with it.

I looked at the doctor and with a grimness even I didn't think I was capable of, I said, "You've just mentioned all of my favorite things."  She nodded then went on to say that if the diet doesn't work after a month then I'll need to try medicine.

Allow me to expand on how I'm a lover of food and beer.  When asked what super power I would like to have, I do not respond with anything that would be useful to humanity, animals, plants, minerals or life in general.  My superpower would be to eat whatever I want and not gain weight.  Also, I have only forgotten to eat once in my life and I still remember it.  It was lunch six years ago.  It was three o'clock before I remembered.  I'm still shocked.  As further proof, this doctor's office is in walking distance of my favorite bar.  I was planning to go from there to have french fries and a can of Ten Fidy, because it is glorious and I love it.  This will be no small task.  My body may actually go into shock.

For the next month, I have to go cold turkey.  Then I can reevaluate.  I'm hoping to introduce my darlings back into my diet on a much smaller scale in the future.  Until then, don't be surprised if you see me lurking in Starbucks trying to sniff customers' drinks. 

Sad Libby.   Image by radacina

MPAX Guest Post - Backworlds Blog Tour

Today it is my privilege to host blogging buddy and fellow scribe M Pax.  She is one of my favorite bloggers and I'm a fan of her writing as well.  :)  M Pax will tell us how to gain and keep the audience we so desperately desire.  Enjoy!

Capturing Your Audience

Thank you to the amazing, Libby, for having me on today. I’m eagerly awaiting her release of Tough Girl this fall, knowing it will be amazing. I’ve certainly enjoyed her short story collections so far.

Well, onto talking about marketing and keeping what we work so hard for ...

Gaining and holding an audience isn’t easy. If it were, we’d all be instant best sellers. It takes time, effort, patience, and tenacity.

Series sell best, and the more product we get out there, the better. These are known main ingredients in authors’ arsenals who make a living at this writing gig. So, that is my emphasis right now: series and producing. Writing, writing, writing.

We can get more notice by offering the first read in a series for free. I know that makes a lot of authors uneasy, but it’s a proven marketing strategy. Get it out there. Get it in people’s hands. Get them hooked, so they come looking for more. Then produce the more.

Great sites for uploading your free work are: Smashwords [will get you into iTunes, Kobo, Diesel, and Barnes & Noble], Feedbooks [I get a ton of downloads off Feedbooks – over 1,000 at this point], and Amazon [quickly catching up to Feedbooks].

You can’t set the price as free on Amazon, but you can get them to price match once your work winds its way onto B&N and iTunes. Tell them about the lower price and have your friends tell them.

Exposure is great and is what we need, but we also need a mechanism to speak to our audience / fans directly. This is why you should have a mailing list. Those names are our money, people who love what we do and want more. If you’re not capturing that, you’ve a big hole in your marketing strategy.

Mailchimp and YMLP offer free versions. I use YMLP. I offer discounts to those who sign up as an incentive. So, when Stopover rolls out in July — the sequel to The Backworlds — those on my list will get a coupon to buy it cheaper. Whether they use it or not doesn’t matter. What matters is those are people eager for more, and I can communicate with them directly.

Keeping people updated between releases is a great way to keep my name and my books in their minds, helping me maintain the momentum I built.

The Backworlds After the war with Earth, bioengineered humans scatter across the Backworlds. Competition is fierce and pickings are scant. Scant enough that Craze’s father decides to hoard his fortune by destroying his son. Cut off from family and friends, with little money, and even less knowledge of the worlds beyond his own, Craze heads into an uncertain future. Boarding the transport to Elstwhere, he vows to make his father regret this day.

Available as a FREE ebook: Amazon / AmazonUK / Smashwords / Barnes & Noble For other outlets such as iTunes and Kobo, see M. Pax’s Backworls Page

Sign up for M. Pax’s newsletter for discounts on sequels in the series, updates, and more.

About the author:

M. Pax’s inspiration comes from the wilds of Oregon, especially the high desert where she shares her home with two cats and a husband unit. Creative sparks also come from Pine Mountain Observatory where she spend her summers working as a star guide. She writes mostly science fiction and fantasy, but confesses to an obsession with Jane Austen. She blogs at her website, www.mpaxauthor.com and at Wistful Nebuae. You’ll find links there to connect on Twitter, Goodread, FB and other sites.

In case the links don’t hold:

Wistful Nebulae: http://mpaxauthor.blogspot.com

Newsletter: http://mpaxauthor.com/newsletter/

Smashwords - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/150519

Barnes & Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-backworlds-m-pax/1110498771?ean=2940033159109

Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007Y6LHAA

AmazonUK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007Y6LHAA

The Power of the Critique

As writers, we submit our work to be critiqued.  While secretly, and not so secretly, we want praise, what we really need is to see how our work is landing with readers.  Do our choices make sense?  Are the characters coming clear?  Are there confusing bits?  You know the drill.

Me, wanting praise.  Image by warszawianka

Tough Girl just underwent a new round of critiques, some on just a few chapters, two on the whole novel.  The end result is she needs a little work.  I mostly knew that, at least about the pacing, but I can put on blinders and hope for the best like nobody's business.  So, thanks to my awesome individual critique partners and my super groovy critique group, Tough Girl will undergo a little retooling.  The majority of the story will stay the same but I'll be slowing it down some and developing certain aspects more.  I'm going to give it a few days to sit in my brain, then I'll reread the novel, make notes, and rewrite.  Releasing Tough Girl will be delayed but probably only by a few months.  When it's released, it will be better and that's what I really care about.

This brings me to my point about getting critiques.  While we all like feeling like a rock star, and I've had that feeling a few times after a critique and it's lovely, what we really want is to improve.  There are bad critique groups/partners out there that critique from a negative place.  I've been fortunate enough to rarely experience those types of critiques.  Most of my beta readers are articulate, well read and are interested in helping me discover and improve my story.  I want to take a second to send a special thanks to them because it's not easy or comfortable to look over a friend's work and say, "Hey, this could be better."  I feel uncomfortable every time I have to say it.

One of my beta readers last night kept saying he felt bad tearing apart my story.  It made me smile because what he thought were negative statements I took as, "this is a way you can make your story better."  No problems there.  I give my work to other writers for suggestions and pointers, I give it to my mom when I want unadulterated praise.  I agreed with most of his comments which, I have to admit, always makes it easier.

Critiques are good!  Image provided by Anonymous

In other news, the first draft of Grape Merriweather is nearly a quarter done.  It's still fun and breezy and a nice break after Tough Girl.  A few short stories are still giving me headaches but I think they'll be worth it.  I'm also kicking around a few play/screenplay ideas.

How are your projects going?

The Beach

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Ocean City was fun and relaxing.  We went out but didn't get crazy, just lots of bar hopping.  It rained one day which was great because we got to relax and do indoor stuff like the Ripley's Museum which was surprisingly fun.  Here's a neat little tidbit about the Ripley's Museum in OC - the speaker in the bathroom makes fart noises when you go in to pee and when you leave, there's a voice that goes "Ahhhhhhh".  I nearly peed myself before I made it to the bathroom and I really had to go so I got to listen to farts for a couple of minutes.  I'm assuming the museum is usually super crowded so everybody just chuckles because it's happening to so many people.  There were only about 20 people total in the museum that day so the few people in the hall probably thought I was having issues.  Oh well, never seeing them again.  Oh, and the first night at the beach I had a dress malfunction and there was a lot of side boob action - once again, I'll never see those people again either so I feel okay about it.

I spent the rest of our vacation time firmly planted on the couch watching Jersey Shore Season 4.  I'm not proud of my JS addiction, but it is a wonderful way to turn your brain off and that's what I seriously needed.  I just did a wiki search and I cannot believe how much money those guys make.  I think they're making upwards of 100 grand an episode.  WOW.  100 grand to live rent free, work in a t-shirt shop and drink?  Who would not say yes to that?   If someone paid for the drinks I might just do it for the free rent.  Then again, who would pay to watch me read books and sip beers? 

Now that I'm back and the apartment has been cleaned, laundry is conquered and the groceries have been bought, it's back to writing.  I have to prioritize and figure out what gets the majority of my attention for the next few months. 

What are you guys working on?  Any big plans this summer?