Last week, Jody Hedlund, a friend and once-upon-a-time debut author herself, listed her criteria for deciding on whether to give debut authors a chance. I agreed with a couple of her points:

Word-of-mouth praise. There’s nothing like people talking up a book to make me want to run to my nearest bookstore or eReader.

A eye-catching cover. Like Jody, I love a cover that grabs you and immediately introduces you to the kind of reading experience you’re about to embark on. But I’m also very forgiving of a bad cover in the traditionally published market because I know the author had nothing to do with designing the cover.

Jody also made a point to list another criteria she uses in deciding whether to give debut authors a chance. She says:

“Traditionally versus self-published. I hate to admit this, but it’s true. For debut books, I almost always check if they’ve gone through a traditional publisher. If a new author has passed through the various “tests” and persevered to make it through the “hoops” of traditional publication, and if agents and editors believe in the story, then I’ll be more willing to put out my hard-earned cash on a debut book.

Because let’s face it, anyone can throw anything out there nowadays and call it a book. If I know a book has faced the rigors and screening of the traditional publisher route, I’m more likely to give the new author a try (fair or not). (When experienced authors self-publish, that’s a completely different story.)”

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and while Jody makes a valid point that “anyone can throw anything out there nowadays,” I’d like to give readers an alternative to simply turning your back on what might be your new favorite author, who may have self-published a fantastic, well-edited, and well-crafted novel.

Ready for it?

Try the sample chapters. You can try a sample of almost any novel out there these days. And the sample is usually pretty large — definitely long enough to give the reader enough evidence on whether they want to purchase the entire novel. In the sample pages, you should have enough time to get to know the author’s voice and writing style. You’ll probably get a pretty good feel for the genre of the novel. And you should know by the end of the sample, if not well-before that point, if the story has been well-crafted and well-edited, both of which are very important to many readers.

The sample chapters of MINDSPEAK take you into Chapter 4 and introduce a major plot point of the entire story. You will know well-before that point whether to spend $2.99 on my debut novel.

Of course, I am biased. I think readers everywhere should give self-published novels a try. There are some amazing writers out there who have chosen to go a non-traditional route. They are writers who study the craft and the industry. They persevere through the same editing processes (sometimes even more so) than traditionally published. They are writers who study their market and put their own money behind their product.

I read both traditionally and self-published novels these days. I have discovered good and bad in both camps. (Of course this is all subjective.) And to be honest, I don’t think readers REALLY care anymore who a book was published by. As a reader, I just want to read a good book. And if I discover a fresh, new voice of a debut author in the process, well then good for me, good for that author, and good for all the friends I spread the word to.

So, go out and find a debut author to read. Try her sample pages. That’s my challenge for you this week. I don’t care if he/she is published by a large publisher, a small press, or published her story all by her good ol’ self, give her sample chapters a whirl. And don’t forget to tell her you liked it when you’re done.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve discovered a new favorite author lately. Whether he/she is a debut author or simply new to you, let me know.

Photo Credit – Creative Commons – by shutupyourface

I know, I know, I KNOW!! I’ve been away. I don’t even know how long I’ve been away, but wowzers, I’ve missed chatting it up on here. I’ve been on Facebook a bit, and I’ve received some amazingly nice emails and phone calls with encouragement and questions. Thank you  for that! I also did an author panel last weekend with four amazing young adult authors (who are all traditionally published and über successful and oh-so-nice). I’ll do a post on this on a different day.

Since I launched my debut novel, I’ve received questions here and there that I thought I’d address on the blog. Yes, I’m going to be blogging more often, but until I get back into a full-swing writerly routine it’s hard to say how often that will be. I’m considering doing more posts than you’re used to seeing from me, but keeping the posts short, sweet, and to the point. I’ve even hired my daughter to help me give vlogging a whirl. (She’s an amazing videographer.)

Okay, on to the first question I want to address. This comes from a friend who wished to stay anonymous.

How did you know FOR SURE that you wanted to jump into the Indie/Self-Publishing waters?

I’m pretty sure most writers have a picture in their mind of what their published self will look like. For girls, it’s very much like the wedding dream. Many girls start dreaming of their wedding day at a very early age. They imagine a big, glamorous wedding, or maybe a small garden wedding, the traditional wedding march, or something a bit non-traditional. Whatever it is, the picture is there from an early age. And though the picture might change with the trends and personal circumstances and as the girl ages and matures, the basic desires usually remain.

Publishing is very much like this. I had a picture in my head. Mostly that picture included people reading a novel I had written then telling all their friends to go read said novel.

But I’ll be honest. That picture also included publishers and agents begging me to write another book, and paying me in advance to do so. I envisioned editors scheduling brainstorming sessions with me when I got stuck on a plot and needed a little guidance in making the story the best that I could make it. I dreamt I would have a team to help me make my stories better than I could do on my own. And in my dream of all dreams, I pictured publishers scheduling me for world-travelling book tours with authors I only dream of meeting.

Of course, that picture was before I learned (aged and matured) and realized that the perfect-world publishing picture was only available for a select few. And it’s not that I don’t think it’s possible for myself (or for you), because anything’s possible, but after studying the trends and the circumstances writers are faced with right now, I decided that in order to reach MY goals the most efficiently and timely, I needed to self-publish. I needed to GO FOR IT.

I began studying things like:

How will I build an audience without a publisher backing me?

What aspects of the publishing process can I do myself? What will I need to hire out/pay for?

What kind of budget did I have to work with? Could I afford that?

What if this book fails? Could I live with that?

What does success look like? Can I reasonably expect to reach MY picture of success on my own?

The first and last questions were the biggies for me. I knew I had to be reasonable in how I measured success on my debut novel. I wanted to set the expectation high enough that I worked hard to reach it, but low enough that I could reach it. I wanted some measure of success that would motivate me to work hard on Book 2. Reaching that success would depend on building an audience. But without a book, I was struggling to build an audience.

So, in answer to the question… I didn’t know for sure that self-publishing was the right choice before I hit publish. But after a lot of research, I knew that self-publishing would start me in the right direction. I knew I had to start building an audience. And I knew I had a book that could help with that.

We all have to start somewhere. And we all have to consider our own dreams, desires, and unique circumstances.  But in the end, don’t forget to look reasonably at your own situation. And don’t forget to examine the fears that are holding you back.

Are you holding out on making your next move out of fear or because it’s the smart business decision that you need to make right now? Make sure you know the difference.

My husband called me on his way home from work last week saying, “I just recorded an NPR interview that you’ve got to hear.”

The next day, a friend of mine direct messaged me on twitter (Hi, Julie) saying, “I thought of you yesterday when I listened to this story on my run: http://www.npr.org/2013/03/11/173514863/frankensteins-cat-bioengineering-the-animals-of-the-future.

Let me just say, I now hold in my hands a copy of Emily Anthes’s book, Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts.

The introduction alone has my mind spinning out of control about the many scientific breakthroughs — ones I only imagined in my head (inspired by a lot of research) while writing MINDSPEAK — that are actually truths. Not to mention how much of this book echoes things I’ve already incorporated into Book #2 in the series. And that’s just from reading the intro and the description. It’s crazy!! It’s like Anthes had mindspoken these things right to me as I wrote.

Of course, my imagination is doing this to human beings, not mice, beetles and cockroaches.

Here’s an excerpt from the introduction that had me thinking about the characters of MINDSPEAK (this excerpt is talking about genetically manipulated lab mice – not humans):

“While some of the rodents have obvious abnormalities, others reveal their secrets over time. One variety appears normal on the outside, with thick white fur and healthy pink ears and noses. But the animals are klutzes. They are clumsy and spectacularly uncoordinated. They fail miserably when researchers put them through their paces at a special rodent boot camp.”

Doesn’t this make you think of Lexi and the characters of MINDSPEAK? Lexi has no idea the extent of her “abnormalities” or what I like to call “special abilities.” She and others were also genetically manipulated for special purposes. And these, too, will be revealed over time.

I’m almost positive you’re going to hear me talk more about this book as I read past the intro!

Greetings! Exactly one month from tomorrow is tax filing deadline. I know that April 15 is just another day for most people, but for me, it’s my last day of working the day job for a while and the day before I sit down and REALLY get to work on Book #2 of the Mindspeak series.

So, we are celebrating three things this week with a $20 iTunes giveaway:

1. One month until the end of tax season! Which means one month until I buckle down and truly attack Book #2 in the Mindspeak series.

2. You!!!! MINDSPEAK reached up into the 40′s of Amazon rankings this past week for teen science fiction for Kindle. I can’t begin to understand how the alogorithms of Amazon work, but I know one thing for sure. The further you climb, the more those lists on Amazon work for you. For example, if your book is selling, the more likely the book will appear on “If you liked this…, you’ll like this…” lists. And in order to keep selling, your book kinda needs to appear on those lists. And I’m convinced that if I didn’t have so much help getting the word out about Mindspeak, I wouldn’t have sold the first copy. So this giveaway is me saying THANK YOU for an excellent first six weeks.

3. Jack!! Oh, Jack. I’ve been thinking about Jack a lot lately. He’s got a rough road ahead of him in #2 of the Mindspeak series. And to truly get inside Jack’s head I listen to a lot of music. That’s why I decided to say thank you with some iTunes money.

I’ve shared before how my daughter helped me come up with the playlist for Mindspeak. She knows the type of music I like to listen to while I write and work, plus she has excellent taste in music. And because she is almost the age of my target audience of 14 and up (yes, she has read Mindspeak, and she loved it!), I thought it would be interesting to hear her thoughts about the Mindspeak playlist, playlists in general, and about the importance of music to the creative process.

Here is what she says…

Music defines who we are. Music can make you cry, laugh, forget, forgive…and start something big. When a tune is paired with the right words, something beautiful is created. In Poet by Bastille, this idea is captured beautifully. He sings:

“I can feel your pulse through the pages…I have written you down, you will live forever. All the world will read you. You will live forever.”

Throughout the song Bastille descrbes how powerful poetry is, and his poetry becomes lyrics of a song.

Poetry is not the only form of creative writing that flows with music. Any type of writing can. The incredible emotion of a character in a novel can also be expressed through music. That is why creating a playlist for your novel can be a way to not only promote your work, but also to portray the meaning of your writing effectively.

Picking the right songs for your list is key. I had to carefully choose not by which songs I liked the most, but which songs directly related to the themes and situations contained within Mindspeak. Jack is a great character to relate to with music, especially since he’s a musician himself. While my mom was writing the band scene, I was called on to give my opinion of which bands to use to describe Jack’s band. I immediately blurted, “Coldplay and The Fray! I mean, if they had a band-child together it would be a pretty awesome band.” So that is what she went with.

While putting together the playlist, most of the songs I chose were easy to envision Jack singing. He is relatable to many different musicians. His deep emotions are woven into countless songs in every genre, although I never strayed far from the alternative genre with this playlist.

Heather here again. Isn’t she awesome?! She has a way with words, I think. And I love how she describes Jack’s deep emotions.

Okay, so the contest rules…

Share this post somewhere. Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. I don’t care where. And leave a comment below telling me: Do you like listening to playlists created for novels? Have you created one for your own novel? .

That’s it. You’ll be entered for the chance to win $20 in iTunes money.

The contest ends Wednesday at midnight (Mar 20th). I’ll announce a winner Friday (Mar 22nd).

Tweetable:

Listen to music playlists created for novels? Come share and win iTunes money. Click to Tweet

Also, I’m being interviewed on Lisa Godfrees’s site , Monday, March 18th. She asks some really tough questions about Christians and cursing. Should make for a good discussion so don’t miss it…

Plus, I’m giving away a copy of MINDSPEAK.

We want to snag a fantastic agent. We want the validation that comes with attracting the attention of a big-time publisher, followed by attracting the attention of lots and lots of readers.

We want the control that comes with designing our own covers (or at least control over deciding if a cover needs to be changed after we don’t like a design) and deciding what we want to include behind that cover — the story we want to tell.

We want the royal treatment from a publisher — book signings, corner displays at the bookstores, shelf space at Wal Mart and Target, trips all around the world to meet face-to-face with our most supportive fans.

We want big fat paychecks to start rolling in so that we can quit those day jobs to concentrate on our art, replace our 10-year-old cars, hire someone to clean our house (okay, maybe this one’s just me), and go on a much-needed vacation.

Oh, and let’s not forget that none of us want to wait for any of the above. To kind of quote my movie friend Veruca Salt, we want the whole world, and we want it now.

To find out which of the above “wants” drove my decision to publish MINDSPEAK, follow me over to Katie Ganshert’s blog for the rest of the post.

Isn’t she adorable? Meet Katie, my brother’s newest addition.

Think about a goal or something you desire in life right now. It can be a career goal. A dream outside of your day job. Maybe it’s to lose weight. Or run a marathon. Something big. Something that rests before  you at the top of a large, intimidating moutain of obstacles.

My brother did an amazing, brave thing several years ago. Well into his thirties, he went back to law school. He had always wanted to be an attorney, but life got in the way. Time passed. But his dream never died. He was one of the oldest in his law school class, many of his peers more than ten years younger.

On one hand, I thought he was n-u-t-s, but only because I couldn’t image going back to school. You see? I brought my life, experiences, and desires into his dream. I couldn’t imagine the reading and the work he’d have to do to succeed in law school so long after graduating from college. Of course I thought he was nuts, being a lawyer wasn’t my dream. On the other hand, I was unbelievably proud of him, and super envious that he had the drive to go after what he wanted.

So, as you are imagining that one thing you desire in this life at this moment, what will it take to reach success? Maybe there are road blocks you need to knock down. Maybe the uphill climb seems too much for you. Maybe you think you’re too old, too out of shape, too busy… Too stuck?

I’ve felt stuck at times. I think, “I’m so beyond busy when I work full time January through April, how can I possibly build some sort of career in writing?” Sometimes I feel pulled in so many directions that finding the time to write seems like too big of a mountain.

But it’s not. If you have a desire, a goal, a dream lying heavily on your heart, there is no mountain too big. And just when you think your dream is too big for this life is exactly when you might need to redefine what success looks like. See it from a different angle. Take a different path.

Or maybe this is your time to wait.

My brother didn’t reach his dream in the timing he thought he would. Or in the timing he hoped. God had different plans for him. But just because his timing wasn’t God’s timing, the dream lived on. The mountain was still there for the climbing. And climb he did. Persevere he did. He ventured through a time of wait until his dream flared up again, and then he took a different path.

What is my point? Well, my point is success is very abstract. What success looks like to me, or looked like for my brother, is going to be very different to someone else. Even if your dream and my dream seem similar, success is going to look different. And that’s okay.

My other point? Dreams and life goals have peaks and valleys. Sometimes we are hot on the trail to reach the top of the mountain, and sometimes we enter periods of wait. Don’t be afraid of those quiet periods of wait. Sometimes, that’s when visions of success are morphing into something entirely different.

What are you waiting on today? What is at the top of your mountain? Has your vision of success changed recently?

Photo credit – Coffee with Heart by Scott Barlow (Creative Commons)

One of the things I’m quickly learning about self-publishing is that although the process of getting there is often times lonely, I can’t reach a level of success alone.

Another thing I’m learning (actually, I already knew this) is that…

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!

I have been blown away by the early response to Mindspeak. I asked for help on Facebook, and man, did y’all stand up and help! I would not have seen some early glimpses of success without you.

Thank you!!

Now, about that $50 Amazon Prize… I am so thrilled to  announce that the winner is

♥ Jenny Hale ♥

Congratulations, Jenny!! I’ll be emailing your Amazon gift code later today.

Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you! We should all celebrate with a shiny new romance novel.

So, in honor of Valentine’s Day, grap a warm cup of something and tell me what is your favorite all-time romance novel? What romance have you read recently that you’d recommend?

I was definitely one of those writers.

Why do writers hide their writing even though many writers’ ultimate desire is to be read by others?

Here are some of the excuses I’ve used.

1. Writing is personal.

Well, yeah. Duh! It is personal. And many of us struggle to share the intimate details of our lives with others. There are definitely aspects of my deepest and most personal emotions hidden within the words that I write.

When my husband was reading Mindspeak, he would occasionally look up or jot a note in the margin, “That is so you!” Or he would say something like, “I see so much of you in this character.” And I’m pretty sure he meant the good qualities and the flaws.

So, yes, writing is personal, and I think many writers keep their work secret for fear that they might reveal something too intimate about themselves to others.

2. Fear of Failure.

Can I get an “AMEN?” I mean, who isn’t scared that their writing is going to suck big time.

And if no one knows I write, then no one will know when I fail, right? Oh, I totally lived by this logic for several years.

I lived by that until I realized, if I continue to keep my writing a secret, then I’ve already set myself up to fail. At least by putting my work out there, I’ve given myself a chance.

Now, of course, there are those who are okay with keeping it all a secret. That’s fine. But my dream has been to publish, sell, and connect with readers. To do that, I had to put myself out there.

3. Your writing is a stark contrast to your day job.

Oh, yes. This one is a big one for me. In general, I’m finding that a lot of accountants don’t read. Not young adult science fiction romances, anyway. Therefore, explaining that “yeah, I write young adult novels” sounds very much like “I publish picture books” to many accountants who don’t know me very well.

What this really means is that it takes a little more effort on my part to educate those around me on what I really write. And this is super difficult if you’ve spent the past five years hiding the fact that you write anything beyond letters to the IRS.

Those are three of my top reasons for having kept my writing a secret in the past. However, it’s been fairly liberating putting a book out there that I’ve worked so hard on. Friends now know why I’ve turned down lunch dates, why I won’t volunteer for another charitable event, or take on more hours at the day job. It’s extremely freeing to  embrace my dream and push forward in a world where fear had led the way for way too long.

What about you? Are you still in a writer closet like I was? What are your reasons? Do you see a time when you know you’ll have to come out? What will it take to venture out?

Or maybe you’re not a writer. Do you do something else in your life that you keep secret from others? Why?

***Don’t forget that tomorrow is the last day to enter the contest. You can find the details here. Just share the contest post (and my debut novel, by default), “Like” my Facebook page, and let me know somewhere on my FB page that you’ve done those things, and you’ll be entered to win $50.***

Photo Credit: Wet Kiss by wtl photography (Creative Commons – Flickr)

I don’t know about you, but I’m permanently scarred by that kiss last night. It was sloppy-wet, uber gross, yuck, euww!

And if you haven’t seen the GoDaddy commercial that I’m referring to… DON’T DO IT!

I’m not even kidding. Permanent damage has been done. And if that’s how they run word-of-mouth campaigns? Well, I guess we are at least talking about GoDaddy this morning. But in a good way? I think not.

Anyway, I promise here and now: I will never subject you to kisses inside my books like that one. Only tender, sweet, passionate ones. Some that will leave you breathless. Some will be cut short, leaving you craving more.

However, I would like to give one amazing reviewer a big, sloppy kiss this morning!!

Jeannie Campbell over a The Character Therapist has reviewed MINDSPEAK this morning, and I am in love with this review. She discusses some of the controversial aspects of the book and truly captures some of the thematic elements I was after while writing MINDSPEAK. It was like Jeannie was inside my head, or maybe I was mindspeaking to her, I don’t know.  She’s also giving away a copy of MINDSPEAK to one lucky commenter. Yay!! So, what are you waiting for? Pop on over there!!

Happy Monday!! I pray that no sloppy kisses ruin your day or mine!!

What do you think? Would you go with GoDaddy after seeing that commercial? Was that good advertising because we’re talking about it? Is all publicity good publicity?