News So Big It Needs Three Exclaimation Points!!!

I’ve been sitting on some pretty big news for the last couple months, but I’ve just been given the thumbs up to reveal it here. No, it’s not that I have developed an allergy to avocados, and no, it's not related to my books (though I might have some news in that regard in the weeks to come). This news is bigger than allergies, bigger than publishing contracts…

My wife is pregnant again (and it is currently the size of an avocado... apparently). I remember like it was yesterday when I posted about my wife being pregnant with my son, and how he was the size of a sweet potato. (http://stevewhibley.blogspot.ca/2011/02/sweet-potato.html). It will be my goal to come up with more interesting objects to use as size indicators this time around.

We haven’t decided if we want to know what it’ll be yet. We let it be a surprise the last time and that was pretty fun. I think we might do that again. It doesn’t really matter to us, and we’re not really big “planners” for that kind of thing, so knowing wouldn’t change much.

If I had to put my money on one, though, it would be a girl.

I Saw London, I Saw France, I Saw Switzerland's Underpants....and Monaco's too

Well I’m back. I didn’t have time to mention it before I left, so probably most of you are thinking, “Back from where? Were you gone somewhere?” 

Yes.

When my wife got into school many moons ago, we knew it was going to be a long haul and we agreed that kids or not, when she was done we’d take a vacation somewhere she really wanted to go: France.

That day recently came, and of course, our thinking was, if you go all the way to France can you really not visit a couple surrounding places too? Of course not… So we did Monaco and Switzerland and London, too.

It was a great trip, and I have to say, as far as travel goes, those countries were among the easiest places I've ever traveled. Public transit was simple and reliable, food was great, costs weren't crazy . . . in fact, France was a lot less expensive than Canada.  Switzerland was the big surprise however. It was never on our list, and we likely never would have gone that way had we not had friends living there, but it was a highlight of the whole trip. Beautiful country (the Alps are ridiculous), wonderful people, heaps of history . . . plus, we sneaked into the United Nations, so that added a bit to the overall experience. Add to that the fact that chocolate is practically a staple, and you very nearly have heaven on earth.

My son was injured during part of our trip ( I should say it was during our infiltration of the UN, but it wasn't quite so interesting). He dislocated his elbow, but I suppose it could have been worse, and perhaps it was interesting to visit one of the hospitals in London . . . that is, if I really needed to find a silver lining there.

He's all better now, and couldn't have been more of a trooper. We rewarded him with some time in Paris Disney which he actually really enjoyed. I was surprised since he’s so young, but he giggled at the characters, and laughed on the rides.

Jet lag has tweaked my usual sleepless nights to even more sleepless nights, but that works for getting some writing done. I didn’t have my computer on this trip and I have catch-up like you wouldn’t believe.

Summer is usually the travel time for most people, so do any of you guys have trips planned?

PS - that's the Flag of Geneva above. Why don't cities in Canada have cool flags like that? I'll have to start a petition or something, see if I can't make it happen. 

WHO ARE YOU REALLY????

Who are you?

The internet and social media has made it possible for people to have close friends thousands of miles away. It’s also provided a means to get to know people you might never really meet in real life. But with Facebook, and Twitter, and Linkedin, and Blogger, and Wordpress, and … the thousands of other social networking platforms that exist, how do you know which one is best. I mean, are you really the person you are on Facebook? Should people expect you to be the person you seem to be on Twitter?

I don’t know.

For me, I find I really over-think posts on social networking sites. I filter, and filter, and question if what I’m about to tweet, post, share… etc is something that will come back and bite me one day.  For every post I make, I probably write 25 and delete them, even though they're probably just fine. As a result, I likely come across rather stiff on certain sites.

But it got me thinking about the people I follow,  and if my opinion of them is based on fact of fiction... or even just filtered fact. Do I know enough to have an opinion of them? I started thinking about the sites I'm on, and if people would know me from those sites.

I’ve reached a conclusion. There are three sites where I am most myself, and I think the same three might apply to others too.

1/ Pintrest.

There are no status updates. It’s just a pinup board of things you’re interested in. My boards show my interests b/c I made each board for myself. I started looking at my friends and family boards and I saw that they too are pinning things for themselves. As a result, I think it's a great way to get insight into someone.

2/ Goodreads (or otherbook review sites)

For most people, these sites are bookshelves. Reviewing a book is a lot of work and you have to really invest time to do something like that. I think you can get an idea, somewhat, of what a person is like by the books they read. Not fully, of course, but it’s a reliable piece to the puzzle.

3/ Blogger. (no link... you're already here)

Admittedly, I am totally guilty of over thinking posts on my blog. I worry about offending people, and I worry about my sarcasm not finding it’s mark, but when you post long posts, it’s impossible for your personality not to come though somewhat.

So what about you guys? Where do you think you are the most yourself? Where do you think you can look to get the best indicator of what someone’s like? If there is one you think represents you best, add a link to it in the comments section.

Writing and human-turtle hybrid babies... oh yeah, there's a connection!

I remember finishing my very first manuscript and practically collapsing on the couch after making that final keystroke. It was as if I’d just run a marathon. The manuscript took me about six months to write, and came in at a daunting 90K words. Sadly, it was a pile of garbage that pains me to think about. Of course, I didn’t realize how garbage-like it was at the time. I thought it was a masterpiece.

I was like a mother who’d just given birth. You know what I mean? Mothers always think their newborn babies are gorgeous, but if you ask the fathers – those brave enough to answer honestly – they’ll tell you that, while witnessing a birth is an amazing experience, a newborn baby tends to look a bit more like some kind of human-turtle-bald-monkey hybrid. “Cute,” I’m afraid, is not the first word that sprang to mind when I saw my little guy for the very first time. “Perfect,” sure, even “Wonderful.” But “cute?” No sir! 

-REDACTED FOR REASONS OF SELF PRESERVATION … I just learned my wife reads this blog.-

In any case, that first manuscript is now, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, forever locked in a trunk marked “SHAME” (along with a few other manuscripts). 

But last week, when I finished my latest manuscript, I realized that that exhaustion, which I really have felt with almost every other manuscript I’ve written, wasn’t there.  In fact, I’m a few thousand words into my newest work-in-progress (WIP), and feel confident that I'll finish it by summer.

I’ve decided writing is a muscle. I’ve heard the analogy before, but it never really made sense until recently. It's strengthened with each manuscript. Your endurance increases. Even staring down the first page of a new WIP is easier each time. This last time I just ploughed right into it. Finished the last sentence of one book, and started the first sentence of the next.

I have one more rewrite to do on the book I just completed. I took the plot a different route during the last rewrite and while I’m happy with the story, and the pacing, it’s sufficiently different that I only consider it a rough first draft. I’m taking a few days away from it (and starting in on something new) before I dive in to that rewrite, but I think it’s going to be a pretty quick one.

What about you guys? Have you guys found that each manuscript you write is easier than the one before? Are you less exhausted when you're finished? Or do you have that same struggle each time? Maybe you've found the opposite to be true, and it's actually harder than before because now you know how much effort goes into writing.

 

As Promised...

Well, if you read yesterday's post, you know all about today's post. Today's the day I talk about a series of books I'm going to be releasing in the next few days... official release date set for book one: 04-15-2013.  Book two is set for about a month after.  Okay, without further delay, here are the covers for the first two books!

What do you guys think?

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking: "Wow, Steve, where can I get more information about your titles? I really wish you'd throw down some more shameless self-promoting links!"

Oh, um, sure... yeah, I can do that. I mean, if you're insisting:

Official website

Goodreads

The titles aren't live on Amazon yet, but they will be. I will add some links to the site when that happens.

Now, let's talk about the contest, shall we? I'm sure you've noticed the contest thingy below.. There's another one on the website linked above. Basically, I'm giving away at least 15 copies of the eBook for GLIMPSE and at least 1 physical copy of the book.   I wanted to make it very easy for anyone to get a couple entries and for those of you who have accounts around the web(twitter/goodreads/ etc) you'll find it pretty easy to get all the points.

I really am curious to hear what you guys think of the covers and of the website. The website still has a couple pages that are under construction, but it's got a lot of information on there now, and I hope you'll check it out.

Thanks again for your support guys.

Cheers!

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News!!!!

If you followed my blog from the beginning, you know that some time ago I sold a series of books to a publisher. That publisher went the way of the birds and all rights formally reverted back to me.  My titles never made it through the production line, and so they were never published.


To make a very long story short, I discussed my options with my agent, and decided to put the titles out myself. My agent is still going to handle some aspects of the books (foreign rights... etc), and he's still pitching my latest unrelated manuscripts to publishers, but I am going to put this series out on my own.


"But Steve," you say, "what in the world do you know about self publishing?"

Good question. Actually, in the back of my mind I always hoped to one day be a hybrid author. I wanted to have some titles released on my own, and some titles released through traditional presses. One of the things that drew me to my agency, Dystel Goderich Literary Management (DGLM), was the fact that not only do they represent some of the biggest names in traditional publishing, but they also represent some of the biggest names in self publishing.

 Anyway, I've spent a great deal of time researching the publishing industry, including self publishing.

I researched  market shares, and marketing techniques, and what accounts were required to put the books out on my own. I read interviews and watched the trends of children's book publishers. I talked to cover artists, and editors, and designers, and people who format manuscripts for print. I discussed the challenges with some of my friends who have self published and I took their advice to heart. I spent time working as a slush reader for a publishing house just to get a better feel for what happened behind the scenes. I even took university classes focused on the publishing industry.

I spent a few years doing that, and you know, as prepared as I was, there was so much I didn't know when I actually started taking the steps to self publish. So much I didn't think of. If I didn't have a number of great friends who had walked the path before me, I would would be wondering in circles right now, muttering to myself and probably drooling a lot.

I won't forget their support, and my hat goes off to them, and all those other self publishers who really put out a good product. That takes a lot of work.  It's one of those things that you really have to do before you can fully appreciate the effort that goes into it.

More than anything I want readers to look at my books and know that thought went into their creation. Not just the writing, but the production too. I spent months thinking about cover designs and preparing briefs for artists. I thought about trim size, and format, and interior design. I hired editors and put the manuscript through the paces. In short, I tried to approach the production of these books the way a publisher would.

I don't take the fact that I'm asking people to buy something I've made lightly. But even if the title was free, I'd still be asking people to spend a great deal of their free time with it, and that's not something I take lightly either. I hope that comes through.


"Alright, enough, Steve!" you say. "Get on with it. Where are these so-called titles?"


Ah, yes, the books. Tomorrow I'm posting all about them. I'll show covers, and tell a bit more about what the books are about. There will be links to websites where you can see more about the books too.

There will even be a contest. A huge one. The biggest one I've ever thrown* (*never thrown one before, so ... yeah....).

I hope you guys will wonder back this way tomorrow and check it out.

Cheers!

It's not ALL about the cover... but today it is. Today I show you a few self-published authors who got it right!

 This post is in response to a disagreement I got into with another writer, about self published authors. See, I am now, and have long been of the opinion that it matters very little if you're self-published, or traditionally published. What matters, in my opinion, is being well published.

To me, that means being professional. And I'm not talking about how you act, though that is certainly important. What I'm taking about is how you approach the publication of your work. If you're an author and you want to self publish, being professional would mean you have a realization that being a self publisher means you ARE a publisher.

Self publishing is not meant to be the cheap way, or the fast way, or the easy way. Not if you're doing it right. Not if you're asking people to pay you for a product. If you're doing it right, it's going to cost you money. You are going to have to pay for editing. That's a fact. Your neighbor or aunt or high-school English teacher is not an editor. And your cover... well, your cover matters. Your buddy who takes really cool pictures, is not a cover designer.  A picture of your hamster does not a cover make!

The aforementioned disagreement was when the writer indicated that self published authors don't care--as a blanket rule--about quality. He said he's never seen a self published book cover that could hold water to a commercially published book. Well, I wholly disagreed and promised to show him the light.

See, the self-publishers who take it seriously stand out. The ones who take it seriously have books that could sit on a shelf in a store and you would never know it was self published. They understand the importance of marketing. 

Since I tend to focus on children's literature in my blog, I'm going to do so for this post too (that's MG and YA).

First up: I've taken a self published book and grouped it with a couple comparible books published by major publishers. What do you think? Do they fit in with their competition?

 

Do you know what I see when I look at those books? I see an author who did market research. They looked at the covers in their target audience, and they made theirs compatible, they made theirs fit.

Next up, just a few self published book series that I would add to any list of wicked book covers!

And just so I can punctuate this post with one final flourish, here's a few more...

So, there you have it. There are dozens more, truly, but this is just a small sample of self published authors who. at the very least, care about what their products look like. These books could sit on the shelf of any bookstore or library and you'd never know they were self published. Because like I said, it doesn't matter if you're self or traditionally published. What matters is that you're WELL published.

Design is just one component of that, mind you. Editing is another biggie, but that's a topic for another day. 

PS- I will add links to take you to the author sites soon. . .