Slow Down, October

The month is more than half over. Have you submitted your short story to the IWSG short story anthology contest? You still have until November first. Read all the details here.

Ready for more confusing statistics about book sales? Here are some numbers and analysis from the Association of American Publishers. One good point they made was that in 2014, there was a huge bump in sales of children's and YA titles because of the Frozen craze and the last book in the Divergent series. Once again, like previous reports this accounting only includes reports from the the members of AAP and these are only for the first part of 2015. People are still buying lots of books. They're just buying more self-published books.

Last Saturday's Book Expo in York, Pennsylvania ranged from a medium to great on a success scale. Great was the atmosphere. Lots of enthusiastic writers and artists. Hundreds of readers, many of them children. I met some new writers and chatted with long time friends like Cate Masters, Allison B Hanson, Heather Heyford, and Don Helin. That was the success part. At an event like this, authors pay for their table space. You have to sell a lot of books to even break even. I'm happy to say that I sold enough to pay for my table and a little bit beyond that. Not bad because the table was expensive. Beyond the books I sold, I also handed out a lot of cards and had a number of people who snapped pictures of my books with their phone or looked them up right there. So hoping that means some additional digital sales. And it was fun.

Me, taken by Cate Masters

On more news from last week front, I received a new contract for the first book in my newest space opera romance series. Title isn't set in stone yet, so I'll share it later. I'm busy with the second one and happy with my word count if not sure about the pacing of the contents.

I have so many lists of things to do on my writing desk that I'm thinking of making lists of lists. I'm trying to get those done in between raking leaves and doing some major house cleaning. I've mentioned many times that I don't like the cold but the one weather condition I really try to avoid is wind. And it's been so windy. I'm thinking of just raking the leaves out of the flowerbeds and from under the trees and hope the wind carries them all into the woods or into the neighbors' yards.

A few of the things I enjoy about fall weather is the crunching of leaves when I walk or jog. The sound of geese flying south. The brightness of the stars on a clear cold night. The change of seasons is a beautiful treasure with mysterious of science and the grace of God giving me an appreciation of what I've been blessed with. So slow down, October, and let me enjoy it a while longer.

"In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia." Charles A. Lindbergh

"It is not easy to walk alone in the country without musing upon something." Charles Dickens

Are you working on that short story? Ever make a list of lists? Do you enjoy a change of seasons? What do you think of my nefarious plans to send my leaves on their way to another land?

Indie Life

It's the second Wednesday which means it's time for Indie Life blogfest. Thanks to the Indelibles for starting and running this group. Once a month we reach out to each other to give and receive support. There are many more writers publishing by themselves or working with a small, independent press than there are traditionally published authors.

Don Helin at BAM

If you've been in this field for long, you'll either experience for yourself or know someone who has worked with a publisher who either goes belly up or that changes their course. Changing course is publisher speak for dumping an author. I've experienced both. Having a publisher you've signed a contact with go bankrupt is a long, drawn out headache as you try to get your rights back. It can take years. It took me nearly a year to get my two books back, neither had made it as far a being released, and I did find a home for that series with another publisher. I've also had the misfortune to have a publisher 'change course' to concentrate on celebrity books and books written by celebrities. It was infuriating but that's another story. I self-published that series after I had my rights returned. But an author friend of mine for the same company rewrote the second book in his series and started a brand new thriller series with a new publisher.

Don Helin, author of Devil's Den, is a perfect example of an author who had a setback but instead of giving up, he reached out and took control. Don found an independent press who he was comfortable working with and who had the professional reputation he sought to bring his work to the world. I recently attended one of Don's booksigning at the local BAM. He's a happy writer, doing what he loves.

I also found a new publisher for my newest fantasy series not too long after Don found his. We had talked many times about what we should do after that first publisher kicked us to the curb. What we both agreed on was not to give up. There are lots of wonderful indie presses out there run by talented publishing professionals. If you are looking for a publisher, talk to other writers, investigate your options and never, ever give up.  Don didn't and he's smiling with success.

Today is also Movie quote day at Alex Cavanaugh's fun blog. The focus today is computer-animated movies. I'm without an idea. I'll probably see lots of good candidates when I check out others' offerings but I seldom watch any animation since my kids are grown. But you can check it out or give me some suggestions.

Have you ever had a publisher go bankrupt or drop your line or genre? What animation are you watching?

Feedback

Finally.  I put aside all the duties of family and made it to a meeting of a group of local writers.  They meet the last Wednesday of every month.  A few members of the group have invited me in the past but the timing never worked out for me to make an evening meeting.  Since I dropped my membership in RWA at the end of last summer, I've missed meeting with fellow writers face to face.  Thank you to Don Helin for inviting me.

The group met at the local B&N since Borders closed. Even though it's about a 35 minute trip in heavy traffic, I felt I really needed some person to person connection.  It was great.  Twelve writers attended, a multiple of genres represented, and together discussed where to go for the next meeting.  B&N didn't really want us there taking up space in the cafe.  Scrooges.  Next month will be in a local library.

After getting the organization items out of the way, the group hunkered down to the real purpose of their meetings.  A number of the attendees had brought up to five pages of a piece of work.  They passed around hard copies for everyone.  We took a few minutes to read and mark, and then went around the circle and gave feedback.  One of the rules is for the author not to respond to what is said.  It was very friendly.  The scope of knowledge and professionalism makes me regret not getting to this group earlier.

So what kind of feedback should one give?  I think it's important to start with the positive.  Good dialogue, great characters, interesting setting or perhaps an engaging plot.  But you don't really help anyone if you're only positive. 

At least one of the things shared was not of a genre I like reading so I tried to only pay attention to the words on the page.  If I felt I couldn't relate to the characters or their behavior, I kept my mouth shut unless I could specifically say what didn't work about them.  If I thought the pacing too slow, I searched for where the writing could be tightened.  It was my first time giving feedback in such a setting.  Usually I do this sort of thing online and not in real time so I have more time to figure out the words that are constructive rather than destructive.  I did know enough to try and end with a positive observation.  Writing is tough and anyone who can stay at it deserves some pats on the back.

Fortunately, the group gathered made few grammatical or punctuation errors.  Do you ever do face to face critique sessions?  What is the most important feedback you feel you can give or receive?