Misinformation about Indie publishing – Updated April 4, 2013

Candy Korman posted a link in comments to a LinkedIn member who had been scammed. Thanks Candy. So then I approached Indies Unlimited in the hope they would do an article about it. Kat Brooks from IU replied with a link to an article they had already run on exactly this company, and this type of scam. I recommend all Indies check it out :

http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2013/01/18/due-diligence-in-action-amazonbookclubs-com/

 

This is not the post I meant to write today, but it is too important to put off. If you are an Indie author, or are simply thinking about becoming an Indie author, this article by Martin Crosbie is a must read.

In the article, Crosbie talks about the misinformation he heard at the BC Writer’s Federation presentation for new Indie authors. This presentation was meant to help Indie authors. Instead, much of it was self-serving, erroneous crap codswallop designed to scam entice Indies to pay for ‘help’ from … Bah! Just read this short extract :

“She [the presenter] talked about improper copyright pages and she spoke about all the things that can’t be done and then she talked about classes she offered on how to avoid all these calamitous circumstances.”

The above so-called expert has self-published one novel, and by her Amazon ranking,  sells about one copy per month!

Being an Indie author is not easy, but twaddle like this makes it even harder.  Please follow the link below to the full article, and if you know anyone who would benefit from this real information, please pass it on.

http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2013/04/02/the-blog-nobody-wanted-to-publish-except-indies-unlimited/

And if, like me, you sniff a conspiracy here… you’d probably be right!

Meeks

I’m being interviewed on Indies Unlimited!

Sorry, this is going to be a quick me-me-me post because I want to let you know my author interview at Indies Unlimited is going to be published on March 26th [in north America]. For us Downunder, it should be availalbe on the 27th? Anyway, I’ll post the link as soon as it goes live.

I really enjoyed this interview as it allowed me to wax lyrical on a lot of different subjects. The only thing I’m a tad anxious about is the author photo that will accompany the interview. It is me, but a much younger me, taken when I was thinner and prettier. The only thing that hasn’t changed too much is the hairdo.

When I began this blog I made a conscious decision to ‘be myself’, even if my views on life, and the meaning thereof did not endear me to potential ‘customers’. I think I’ve been true to that principle, but I did not factor in my own vanity.  So the reason you won’t find a photo of me anywhere on my site is because I hate the few photos that have been taken of me over the last two decades.

I should be mature enough not to care, but I’m not. I have always been camera shy, and freeze up whenever I see a camera pointed in my direction, so the only photos in which I look ‘good’ are the candid camera ones.

The photo that will appear with the interview is one of those candid camera ones, taken one Christmas when the Daughter was little, and I was happy. Bear that in mind when you see it.

One thing this whole author photo thing has highlighted in my mind is that I cannot procrastinate any longer. I am going to have to get a current photo taken, even if I end up looking like the Wicked Witch of the West. -sigh- I will also have to grow up, and grow out of this silly vanity thing.

cheers

Meeks

I’ve done a guest post on Indies Unlimited!

I’m sorry, I know a venerable lady of my age should be more lady-like but, stuff it… I’m so excited I can’t help myself…. YES!

For those of you who haven’t heard me speak of Indies Unlimited before, and can’t imagine why I’m so excited, let me give you a quick run down.

Indies Unlimited is a website where writers get together to chat, and learn about the industry. It’s a place that fosters excellence, and it’s my favourite place on the net [apart from my own blog and all of you, of course].

Now I started hanging out at IU [Indies Unlimited] close to a year ago, back when I was still very much a wannabe author. I didn’t speak up very much, but by god I did some learning, and laughing. These published authors were damn funny. Their moto seemed to be ‘why preach when you can tell a joke instead?’ But those jokes were all teaching important lessons for people like me.

And then the incredible happened – I was asked to write an article for all these experienced, terribly talented writers. Boy, talk about rites-of-passage…

I agonized over that article for days. When I finally sent it off, I had everything crossed, from fingers to knees. I was praying ‘they’ would not be offended by my brand of humour. Or my Brit spelling. I was also praying I hadn’t made a complete fool of myself.

Well, apparently my humour is okay because my virgin article is up and live. And no-one is booing!

Please, please, please go and check it out :

http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2013/03/06/learning-the-indie-game/

-huge hugs-

Meeks

Flash fiction on Indies Unlimited

I couldn’t resist this particular flash fiction topic. The picture and the prompt really struck a nerve with me :

Now he knew why the old man was always yelling at him for playing with matches.

He stood well back but could feel the heat even from this distance. He could hear the crackles and groans as the walls of the old place swayed and buckled.

He was afraid, but invigorated. This would change everything. What would happen now? He could hear the sirens wailing in the distance. There might be trouble, but there would be no more beatings.

In 250 words or less, tell us a story incorporating the elements in the picture.

This is my effort. To read the other entries or to write your own, please click this link. It will take you to Indies Unlimited.

* * *

CFA Chief Geoff Baker and his team were the first to arrive, their big red fire-truck screeching to a halt a safe distance from the massive bonfire that had once been a house.

“Bloody hell,” the Chief muttered as his team swung into action. This was going to be bad.

In the end it took four CFA teams to put the fire out, but they did manage to save the neighbouring houses. No-one could have saved the old man who lived in the smoking ruin of the old weatherboard.

According to the neighbours, the old man liked his beer and was rarely sober.

The one piece of good news was that the old man’s grandson would be at school. But who would look after the poor kid now?

The crews were still stabilizing the wreckage so the police could go in when a shout went up, “Over here!”

Like all old houses in country towns, this one had had an outdoor dunny, and that was where they found the boy.

“You’ll be okay now son,’ the Chief said as he lifted the trembling child into his arms.

The boy, who looked to be no more than six or seven, did not have a scratch on him, but there was a strange, almost exultant look on his face as he said, “When I grow up I’m going to be a fireman!”

* * *

For non-Australians, the CFA are volunteer fire-fighters in rural areas. ‘Dunny’ is a very aussie word for the old outdoor toilets we used to have. They were freezing in winter and often full of redbacks [poisonous spiders] in summer. Thank god for technology!

Vokhtah is on Indies Unlimited!

Sorry guys, I know you must be getting sick of this by now, but…  I really am on cloud nine at the moment so bear with me, please!

I’ve mentioned Indies Unlimited [IU] quite a lot in the past because it’s a fantastic place to learn, and hang out with other writers. The regulars are warm, generous with their knowledge and just plain funny. IU is also a place where I have found some brilliant books to read. I’ve reviewed many of them so indie authors like M. Edward McNally, Laurie Boris, J.D.Mader and John Barlow [to name just a few] should be at least a little familiar to you.

Well, IU now has an even more special place in my heart because Vokhtah is featured there. If you have the time, please drop in and have a look. Better yet, join in one of the many conversations that are always happening at IU!

The link to my little piece of IU is here.

Before I go I’d like to send a huge thank you to Lord David Prosser who began one of the best weeks of my life with his interview yesterday. On the off chance you missed it, that link is here.

I may have missed my birthday deadline for publishing Vokhtah [by a couple of days] but I am always going to remember turning 60 as one of the very best times of my life.

-huge hugs to all-

Meeks

Bublish.com – and no, that was not a typo!

I really love Indies Unlimited! The team at IU are always coming up with new information or new angles to make a writer’s life easier and better. Today’s tutorial, by Yvonne Hertzberger, on how to use Bublish, is a great example of how the IU staff help all writers market their books, no matter how they are published.

The concept behind ‘Bublish‘ is simple : instead of spamming the same, tired ‘My book is awesome so buy it’ type nonsense, give readers a short excerpt and an insight into that excerpt.  These titbits of interesting information are called ‘bubbles’ and bubbles are then tweeted by the Bublish team [I think I have that right?]. Bubbles also contain links to where you can buy the book.

As a reader, I prefer to make up my own mind whether a book is  ‘awesome’ or not, so the spam not only misses its mark, it tends to annoy the hell out of me. And when I’m annoyed with an author I don’t feel like giving them any of my cash. I suspect I’m not alone in this. Nonetheless, I can understand that authors have to market their books. The question is how do they let me know their book exists without ticking me off in the process?

Bublish may have solved this problem, for both authors and readers, by helping authors give potential readers a  ’sample’ that has value.

In the real world, free samples tend to ‘stick’ in a way that straight advertising does not. I have received samples of tea from Twinings, samples of porridge from Be Natural, fridge magnets and even free movie passes [from a plumber of all things]. I can’t pretend that I’ve gone out and bought all the products I’ve sampled, but I’ve had that plumber out to my house twice now so he has recouped the cost of his ‘sample’ many times over.

In a sense, interviews and reviews serve the same function as samples for authors. Both allow authors to talk about themselves, their books and the processes they go through to create those books. They advertise in the old fashioned meaning of the word, but they do so by giving something away for free, something real, if intangible. Now we can add a third option to these ‘freebies’ – Bublish ‘bubbles’.

Only time will tell whether the concept of  bubbles takes off, but I hope it does because I’m always on the prowl for new, interesting, well-written books to read, but I hate spam. Coincidentally, if the concept does take off, then perhaps Twitter will become a bit less boring than it is now.

cheers

Meeks

Flash fiction and the rise of Dog Power!

I’m probably as competitive as the next person but I learned the hard way as a kid that competition is only fun when you win, or in my case, manage not to humiliate yourself too badly. If there was a foot race I’d be the kid limping in last. Swimming? More like drowning. Tennis? Oh is that young Andrea flat on her face because she’s tripped over her own racket? Basketball? Duck!

I was ok at badminton and table tennis because the balls were a manageable size but you don’t get too many people cheering at either one of those sports so… I learned to avoid competitions of all sorts like the plague, which is why entering a flash fiction competition on Indies Unlimited is such an amazing turnaround for me. I have no expectation of winning but I discovered that coming up with an ultra short story on an interesting theme can be masses of fun!

The theme that sparked my interest so much can be found here, as can all the other entries, all of them good. Mine is down in the pack somewhere so I thought I’d cut and paste it here as it’s so short [250 words]. But please do check out the theme first otherwise this story may not make much sense.

***

Death March

The dogs came back for Beth. Snow was the first. She crept up to Beth and licked her face before flopping on the ground, sides heaving as she panted open mouthed. Coal and Emba joined them once they realised the trek was not a game. Together the three dogs and Beth lay still for another hour until the blistering sun finally relented and left them alone for the night.
As desert cold replaced desert heat the dogs licked dew from their coats before getting to work on Beth. They nudged her face with their cold noses, whined in her ear, tugged at her clothing, pushed and pulled until she finally opened her eyes. Then they shepherded her back to the plane.
The trek back was a nightmare of thirst and stumbling feet for Beth but the dogs would not let her be, let her give up and just before the sun rose they all reached the downed hulk. It glittered with condensation in the grey light.
The helicopter spotted the wreck a day later. When the rotors stopped two black dogs staggered out of the shade of the one, remaining wing, their tails wagging. The woman and the small white dog did not greet them but they were still alive. The men were found over the next five days. All alone. All very dead.

***

I think I’m the only entrant so far who has killed off most of the human protagonists in four short paragraphs but I consider that poetic justice for the many scary movies where the dog [or sometimes the cat] always gets bumped off in some horrible way to convince the audience that ‘the killer’ means business. Besides, there was no way I was going to let that cute little dog die so if it was to live then the others had to live as well. Dog Power!

Archangel – wild, wonderful music

I am having a truly wonderful day so I thought I’d do something I’ve never done before – share a piece of music :

I discovered Archangel yesterday while voting on a book trailer at Indies Unlimited. The background music to the trailer was Archangel and I fell in love with it on the spot, so much so that I had to find out who wrote it. I was astounded to learn that ‘Two Steps From Hell’ is not a band, it is the name of a production company started by two guys who found a way to fuse their love of music with a brilliant business model. Basically Thomas Bergersen [the one who does most of the composing] and Nick Phoenix make music for trailers, games and even movies. People loved their music so much that the company recently released two albums for the public. I’ve already bought one and it is so good I’m going to buy everything they release from here on in.

Music has always been important in my life but since I started writing fiction it has become as necessary as breathing. I’ve discovered that certain kinds of music break the link between my straitlaced technical writer mind and the dreamy, creative, anything goes person hiding inside. I started listening to Andrea Bocelli [who sings in Italian, a language I can't speak] but as the years rolled by I literally went through all my CDs looking for music that stirred me in that special way. I’ve written to the sound of opera, orchestral, movie soundtracks and the soundtracks to games. The only music I can’t write to is English vocals. If I can understand it I can’t use it

Now, thanks to TSFH I have amazing music to listen to again. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Turn it up and set your mind free