Please visit my post on Speculative Salon! http://speculativesalon.blogspot.com/2012/10/creating-magic-by-kate-policani.html
Posts Tagged With: fiction
Speculative Salon on Writing Magic
Categories: Self-Publishing
Tags: Author, book, Fantasy, fiction, magic, paranormal, physics, reading, science-fiction, speculative fiction, Writing
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Author Blog-in: Moments Collide by Angela Graff
For the next few weeks, I’m going to be participating in an Author Blog-in, courtesy of Kate Policani, and her wonderful efforts to showcase indie authors, and help each other gain more exposure and a larger potential fan-base.
Today I’ll be featuring my book.
My book, Moments Collide, is available here on Amazon and CreateSpace, and more information can be learned about my writing on my Facebook Page, or this blog.
Moments Collide is the story told by Felix LaPage, a young man with huge musical aspirations. Growing up, Felix developed a love of music, and with his cello, worked his way through school to try and become a musical success.
However, that’s not the whole story. While working toward his musical dreams, Felix met a woman who would change the course of his life, but not necessarily in a good way. With this woman, Rayne, Felix learns that not everyone is kind or selfless. Struggling through Rayne’s verbal and emotional abuse, Felix also must face getting over her multiple affairs.
It’s one night, on a long train-ride home, where Felix meets a young woman who shows him a different path, a path that could lead to his own personal happiness, free of struggle and pain. It’s up to Felix, however, to choose whether or not he’s meant to walk the painful path with Rayne, or a path that allows him to be free.
Below is a short excerpt from the book. The book is available on the Kindle Library, which I highly encourage people to check it out. Any and all reviews are highly appreciated. Please enjoy the small bit of my story. Much love to all the readers and writers out there. Thanks for checking out my blog!
Note: this excerpt has had the language edited to keep it to a G rating for other bloggers. Please note that the actual text in the book consists of adult language. Thank you!
As I approached my door, my phone began to ring again, the bells piercing through my thoughts in an extremely unpleasant way. I was not surprised to see Rayne’s number and this time I answered it.
“Hello?”
“Uhg, Felix,” she hissed at me. “What have you been doing all day that you couldn’t answer my calls?”
“Oh, I was just busy,” I said, my voice oddly calm. “I did want to tell you, though; I had a visitor last night around midnight.”
“What kind of visitor?” she asked, her voice heavy with suspicion.
“Well, it was your friend Richard, actually. Before I go on, Rayne, is there anything you want to tell me? Anything at all?”
“Um… no,” she said. Her voice was suddenly small and scared. “Why?”
“Oh I don’t know,” I said, and the hard edge began to form around my words. “I thought maybe you’d like to confess to cheating before I call you out on it.”
“Felix,” she cried. “Is that what he said? He said he and I slept together?! I told you that he was going to try and pull this when I left! I told you he was in love with me!”
“He had pictures of the two of you… YOU CARELESS PERSON!” My voice went from calm to rage in a nanosecond. Fury rushed through me and I couldn’t stop screaming. “HE HAD PICTURES OF YOU AND HIM FROM THE SECURITY CAMERA, YOU DIRTY, DISGUSTING, LYING…! SO TELL ME AGAIN THAT HE’S LYING, RAYNE! TELL ME AGAIN!”
She was sobbing now, hysterically, and I didn’t care. She blubbered on behind her sobs, words that I didn’t understand. I caught an “I’m so sorry”, “made a huge mistake”, “went too far”, but none of it mattered. She was a liar, she was unfaithful, and above all she put me at risk because she didn’t bother to tell me the truth.
“Do you realize that I have to get tested now, Rayne?!” I shouted at her. I was still outside, not caring who heard me. I was pacing the grass, kicking around the towels that Richard had left out in the rain. “Do you realize that I could be infected with something because you slept around and didn’t bother to care about who you affected?! Are you proud of yourself, Rayne? Is this something you’re proud of!? Are you happy now, with what you did? Was he worth it?!”
“Felix, please,” she begged, her sobs still punctuating every syllable.
“No, shut up. You don’t get to talk to me. You don’t get to say my name. You don’t get to ask me for anything. When we get home you and I will discuss the end of our relationship, and at least this long drive you have ahead of you will give you time to reflect on whether or not losing an upright, honest man was worth your little fest with some dirty piece of junk. Good bye, Rayne.”
With that, I hung up. I was shaking, and my neighbor was outside staring at me. He gave me an ‘I’m sorry, man’ smile and went back inside as I opened my front door and walked in. My adrenaline was pumping and part of me wished she was there right now so I could keep screaming.
Screaming, however, was not going to make it better. Even in my state of mind I knew that, and the two hours it took her to get home allowed me to be calm. I was sitting on the couch when she walked in. Her face was white and she looked petrified. She set her keys down and started to sit next to me so I stood up and walked across the room.
The pictures were now on top of the TV, still unopened, and I threw them to her. “Enjoy the show,” I said as she opened the folder and pulled out the stack. I took care not to look at them but it was clear by her face that whatever the cameras captured was pretty graphic.
“I had no idea there was a camera,” she said.
“Well lucky for me then, isn’t it, or I might have never known,” I bit.
“Felix, if you’ll just listen to me for a minute-”
“Rayne, you don’t get to talk,” I snapped at her, my temper perilously close to shooting off. “You’re going to sit there, keep your mouth shut, and listen to what I have to say.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks and she let out a little sob, but she knew I had her. I would have felt sorry for how I was treating her if for one moment I thought her tears were because she felt bad for what she had done. Unfortunately, for both of us, I knew she was only upset because she’d been caught. She’d been caught in such a way that she couldn’t talk her way out of it.
“Rayne, I can’t afford this place on my own yet, so I can’t kick you out. I was already speaking with the office but because of your credit they won’t let me off the lease so I can move out to a place I can afford, so for now, you get to move out of our bedroom and sleep in the second bedroom. You and I will split bills down the middle, and you will carry the weight of the extra finances until I can afford to buy myself a car– a problem I wouldn’t have if you hadn’t insisted I sell my car to buy you a ring which you threw in my face just weeks later.”
“We’re both going to get tested, which you’re paying for, and if we need any treatments, you’ll also pay for those. You won’t talk to me, you won’t touch me, you won’t look at me. You won’t be spending any time with me, and if you ask me for anything, literally anything, I will spit in your face. Do I make myself clear?”
With tears pouring down her face, make-up smeared, looking devastated, hurt and on the verge of hysterics, she nodded. “I’m so sorry,” she breathed from beneath her tears. “I love you, Felix, I really do.”
“Don’t ever say that to me again,” I hissed at her, my temper boiling, my face going red and hot. “Don’t you ever dare!”
“But I do!” she cried in defense.
“I don’t care if you think you do, Rayne!” I bellowed. “Your sick, sick mind has no idea what love is! You have no idea what selflessness, love, or compassion are. You don’t get to use those words to me. You gave away that right when you opened your legs and let that slime-ball in! If I hear you say anything like that to me again so help me you will not like what happens.”
“Felix,” she wept, “what can I do to make it better?”
“Nothing,” I hissed, leveling my finger in her face. “Nothing, Rayne. It’s over. You disgust me. I can barely look at you right now without vomiting all over the floor. You cheated on me and you lied about it! You spat on everything that I thought was true about our relationship. Five years, Rayne. Five! You have no respect for anyone or anything and believe me if I could kick you out right now I would. I would not hesitate for a moment.”
At that point I was done. I didn’t feel like she’d had enough, but I was done listening to her sobbing, because it was all self-serving. If she had cared she wouldn’t have done it. If it was a one-time affair I might have believed she was sorry, but they had been screwing for months, and she had been hiding and lying and there was no excuse. There was no forgiveness for that.
I turned and went to my room, shutting the door and wishing desperately that we had a working lock. She gave me some space until around ten that night when she knocked timidly asking for her things. I grabbed a handful of clothes, not paying attention to what I had in my hands, and her pillow, and shoved them at her. I didn’t look at her and didn’t give her a second to speak.
I shut the door again and flopped down on the bed, letting out a heavy sigh. I wanted out so badly, but I was stuck. I didn’t know how to make it work so she could be gone and that was the part that was killing me.
Categories: Author Blog-in
Tags: Angela Graff, Author, Author Blog-in, books, contemporary, ebook, fiction, literary, reading
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I Love Free Listings!
I just got linked on https://www.facebook.com/weloveebooks ! If you want to sign up, visit here: http://bestebookreaderlovers.com/kindle-authors-how-to-promote-your-book/ It’s FREE but go quickly because their list fills up and then you don’t get on for a while.
Categories: Resources
Tags: Author, bestebookreaderlovers, book, ebook, Fantasy, fiction, free, promotion, weloveebooks
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Things I Learn From Reviewing Your Books
I started reviewing books long before I started my blog and they started as an exercise in analyzing books to improve my writing. Boy did that help! The difference over just a year in my writing is amazing! This is all thanks to my hubby, Marc. He suggested it.
For awhile my reviews were just of things I checked out from the library, which were all traditionally published books. The first few, I did as a long English-class type book report. That got old fast. After that I started an easy and kind of fun review on my phone. I texted my email with a concise and meaningful few sentences that comprised my review. Some of these are on Goodreads, expanded a little to remove my personal code for some common things.
For you, I do a longer review and a deeper analysis of what I’m reading. I focus on:
- What I really liked about the book
- What I thought didn’t work, described with kindness
- What your themes are and whether they came through or not
- Some of the character highlights
The things I learn:
I learn a whole lot about you! What you write, though it may be fiction, is coming out of your heart and imagination. (This was one of my fears when first publishing, because it is a huge leap of faith to give the general public a piece of my brain!)
I learn about what I like to read and what doesn’t work for me. My “Never Do” list and my Quotes came from reading library books and taking notes on things that I liked and things I did. Most of them were there and I see them everywhere.
I learn about the universal themes that grip you as a writer. They are everywhere. Betrayal, forgiveness, loss, loneliness, these are just a few. I can then transfer my favorites to my own writing. Your writing also shows what is best and worst to you. Sometimes I agree and sometimes I don’t, but it all affects how I shape my own beliefs. If I don’t agree with you, it forces me to figure out why. If I agree, I see your perspective on the issue.
I learn how your mistakes look in my writing. I make many many many of the same mistakes and seeing them in another’s work is like seeing in a mirror. This is one of the best ways your writing improves mine.
I learn the way someone else writes the same thing I am writing about. Talking to some writer friends, we agree that, given the exact same story idea, we will all write a completely different tale. My story of a Vampire Chick will be similar but also radically different from yours. Even formula books will be completely different. Nobody writes like you, or me! Doesn’t that make you feel special?
That isn’t all either, but how long are you really going to spend reading my post?
If you are writing, you should be reading. If you are reading, you should be analyzing the reading in some way, whether through conversation or reviews. If you aren’t you are missing out on a treasure trove of learning about your own writing craft.
New Review: Regression by Kathy Bell
Regression
by Kathy Bell
Fourteen-year-old Adya Jordan wakes after a terrible accident with memories of another life…and echoes of even more. Was the family and husband all a dream, or did she really die in 2011 and begin all over again in 1985?
As Adya searches for answers, she encounters the Three Eleven Corporation. The leaders of this powerful global entity share her recollections of past lives, but not her philosophy about the world they are trying desperately to save from a future disaster. The company is trying to remedy future mistakes with past actions, but might not be changing the right things to prevent the fall of humanity.
Stuck in a desolate future, scientist Nicholas Weaver is forced to watch Adya replay the past again and again as he labors alone to save the world from the disaster he has lived over and over. Is this the time they finally get it right and save the woman he loves? If not, does he have the will to try again?
You can read my review of Regression here: http://katepolicanisreviews.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/regression-by-kathy-bell/
For more about the author, visit http://kathybellauthor.wordpress.com/
Or you can just purchase it right now on Kindle!
Categories: Reviews
Tags: Author, book, ebook, fiction, Kathy Bell, Kindle, reading, review, science-fiction
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A New Review!
Super-thanks to Sharon, the MaineMuse, for the awesome review of The Disenchanted Pet! See it here: http://mainemuse.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/the-disenchanted-pet-by-kate-policani/
I also added the link to Compulsively Writing Reviews!
Categories: My Books
Tags: book, ebook, fiction, mainemuse, review, science-fiction, thanks
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Shameless Begging
Please, oh please would you review my book? If you don’t have a review page, that’s OK! There is still no review for TheDisenchanted Pet on Smashwords. Amazon can’t have too many reviews.
If you want, I will squeeze your book into my review list in exchange for a review of mine. I am happy to send you a free e-copy coupon code if you will review it after you read.
Email me at katepolicani@gmail. and we’ll talk turkey!
The Dark Song by Piia Brendenburg
The Dark Song
by Piia Brendenberg
India, a struggling musician, buys the house of her dreams in the countryside, knowing that this is where she’ll find her lost inspiration. But the house is already inhabited by strange creatures who disappear when you look at them, and the townsfolk refuse to put one foot inside the cursed place. Turns out inspiration can be a dangerous thing.
See my new review on Compulsively Writing Reviews!
Or just go buy it. It’s definitely worth it! The Dark Song on Amazon, The Dark Song on Smashwords
Also, you can see her page!
Categories: Reviews
Tags: Amazon, book, compulsively writing reviews, ebook, Fantasy, fiction, Piia Brendenberg, review, Smashwords
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A Matter of Perception by Tahlia Newland
A Matter of Perception
by Tahlia Newland
Do you see what I see? Take a bunch of supernatural beings, a battle of magical light, a mysterious hole in the pavement, a dream of a future past and a pair of rose-coloured glasses, mix them with a little romance and a smidgen of philosophy and you might be left wondering if it isn’t all just a matter of perception.
This thought-provoking collection of urban fantasy and magical realism stories includes ‘The Grorgon Slayer’s Choice’ and ‘The Boneyard’, a semi finalist in the Aussiecon 4 Make Ready fantasy/scfi competition of 2010.
See my review of Tahlia’s short stories on my Review Site! http://katepolicanisreviews.wordpress.com/
Or you can just go to her site to see purchase information: http://tahlianewland.com/short-stories/
Categories: Reviews
Tags: Author, book, Fantasy, fiction, reading, review, Tahlia Newland, Young Adult
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Early Christmas!
These are the books I bought today!
The Dark Song by Piia Brandenberg http://piiabredenberg.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/the-dark-song-goes-up/
Three Girls and a Wedding by Rachel Schurig http://rachelschurig.com/books/
City Wedding by Maggie Carlise http://maggiepublishing.wordpress.com/my-books/
Flash Bites by Krista Bunskoek http://flashbites.wordpress.com/
Lightbringer by Frankie Robertson http://frankierobertson.wordpress.com/
Regression by Kathy Bell http://kathybellauthor.wordpress.com/
One Insular Tahiti by Thea Atkinson http://theaatkinson.wordpress.com/
I went through all my followers one by one and bought one of their books for sale if I hadn’t already bought it.
If one of your books is not on my list, that means I COULDN’T FIND IT!!! Do you know what that means? You are trying to market your book online and someone going to your site purposefully to buy your book CAN’T FIND IT! Yes I’m yelling because this is a TRAGEDY!!! Please, make it so anyone visiting your site either can’t help but see your book for sale or accidentally clicks on it repeatedly. This is the only way you are going to make it self-publishing and possibly even if you are traditionally published.
Some pages listed their books but had no links. I searched for them on Amazon and wasn’t disappointed, but the link should be there!!!
Anyway…Merry Christmas to those whose books I did buy, and if you want me to check out your book, I’ll be happy to look it over! Reviews will come as soon as I can read and stuff.
Warning: I did see some ebooks for $8 and would only buy an ebook at that cost if I new and loved the author, and loved the synopsis.
Categories: Reviews
Tags: ebook, fiction, novel, promotion, review, self-publshing, Writing
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My Christmas Present to ME (and maybe you)!
First, don’t forget my Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale coming up in 2 days! Get The Disenchanted Pet for free as an ebook or for cost as a print book!
The real post: Today my ereader is supposed to get here! My dear family, without any effort at all (or necessarily even knowing it), got me a lovely ereader for Christmas. Early. Don’t judge, people. This is how Mama gets what she wants for Christmas instead of a vacuum cleaner.
That was from Marc and the kids. For myself, I’m getting ebooks to read on my ereader! I’m getting YOUR ebooks. I’ll be combing through all the ebooks my followers have written and buying the ones that interest me. Then I’ll post reviews of them on my “Reviews” page, which I’ll probably have to refurbish to hold that many.
Yes, my present to me is also my present to you! But only if you are following my blog. If you have friends who want their books bought and reviewed on my site, be sure to get them to click that “Follow” button!
Normally I will not read thrillers or erotica. Sorry. But I am open to any interesting synopsis for any other genre. I’m pretty open to any good tale.
I reserve the right to skip the books that don’t appeal to me, and I will give an honest review. I’ll be sure to run it by you, though, before I post. I won’t post any reviews you don’t want me to post. Don’t worry!
The Glory of the $0.99 Ebook
Sermonizing time. The ninety nine cent ebook is something I am passionate about, and here is why: reading is one of my greatest pleasures. I learned how to follow a story line while being interrupted every few minutes by horrors such as poop, property destruction, interpersonal violence, and unsanctioned nudity (all performed by tiny people). Reading is that important to me.
My beliefs are sometimes conflicting things, though. I believe in free stuff online. I believe that I should not have to fork over $8.99 for a work of fiction by an author I don’t know and which I might not enjoy. I believe that he or she deserves to be compensated for his or her work, BUT he or she is not giving me a physical product. I mean, really! You are selling the physical book for $10 and you want me to pay only two dollars less for it when you don’t actually have to print it?
I know how just how free ebooks are. I published some. The entire cost of the book is what its worth for you to write it and what it cost to edit and maybe make cover art. I’m not asking any more from other authors than I am expected to give myself.
I have paid $8.99 for ebooks–don’t get me wrong. These were books that I knew I’d like, that I’d been waiting for. They were ones I paid for because I was treating myself to the privilege of reading it right away rather than waiting it to be uploaded onto my library website. That doesn’t mean I think that it was a good deal.
Lets be honest, folks. This is fiction. The ideas are real and important, but nobody’s life is depending on my novel. Nobody will die if I write it wrong or misspell a word. If a giant electromagnetic pulse hit the city like in the movies, my entire body of work would be gone, except for the three print volumes on my mantel (one of which has a coffee stain.) It’s better for everyone if my work slips smoothly onto your ereader or hard drive without pain to your wallet.
If you are writing “The Idiot’s Guide to Emergency Heart Surgery With Household Tools” then please, write carefully, spell everything right, and charge however much you like. You spent all that time in medical school and you know how to save lives. We get that and are willing to pay.
If you are writing, “Sexy Vampire Chronicles” then you should be ashamed of yourself for charging more than $0.99 for an ebook. I’m serious! Your brainchild is the equivalent of Dove bars for your brain. Would you pay $8.99 for a Dove bar? I love Dove bars but I wouldn’t pay $8.99 for one.
$0.99 is a beautiful price. You can get two Dove bars for that price and they will live in your fat cells forever.
Low-priced ebooks are good for the environment! Think of all the paper that is not being used, the inks, the power to move the printing machines. Encouraging people to turn to ebooks instead of a pricey print book is good for the economy. Plus, if your ebook is almost as much as your print book it won’t be worth it to a buyer. They will buy the print book, or more likely, skip it and pick a cheaper book. You evil tree killer!
I respect the preferences of the people who love a physical book. Hey! I printed my book didn’t I? I’m just not going to expect my profit margin to be four times as large with an ebook.
You can all rub this blog post in my face one day if my ebook for my seventeenth novel is $8.99 (because I’m very susceptible to ironic life coincidences), but I’m thinking by then that Dove bars will cost $8.99. Inflation, you know. For now I stick by the $0.99 ebook and I appreciate all the authors who agree.
Categories: Self-Publishing
Tags: Author, ebooks, economy, environment, fiction, free, novel, self-publishing, value, write
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Review: Farsighted by Emlyn Chand
Farsighted
By Emlyn Chand
Genre: Fantasy
My rating: Four out of Five Stars
Bonus! This blog tour has a $100 prize for one random commenter as chosen by random.org. Leave comments on this post your chance to win! You can also visit other tour hosts and leave comments on their blogs to enter for the random commenter prize.
This is my first Blog Tour participation. I’m a person who learns by doing, so this is me doing. My review will live at the “Book Reviews” page.
Description:
Alex Kosmitoras, blind from birth, is an otherwise normal high school boy, until he develops powers of foretelling the future, as well as perceiving events currently happening elsewhere. His new friends Simmi and Shapri, two girls in his class, have been drawn to him because they also have powers. Simmi can affect people’s moods and Shapri can speak to the dead. Shortly after meeting Simmi, Alex begins to have feelings for her. Then he has a vision of her gruesome death. Prevention of this disaster becomes his obsession, compelling him to hone his powers and push his own boundaries. Alex must crack the mystery of his visions and stop a telekinetic boy named Dax from killing the girl he loves.
Review:
Farsighted was exciting and engaging. Emlyn’s characters were lovable and she made me want to know what happened to them.
Alex’s bravery through his challenges and his manliness was refreshing and made me respect him. I connected with him from the first few pages, loving his frank perspective and unique challenges. His many, shifting emotions were dead-on for a sixteen-year-old boy, and they enriched the story. I really enjoyed the view into his sightless world under the context that he had never seen before. Omitting that aspect from his descriptions made the descriptions sizzle, and that takes talent. Only once or twice did I think, “Would a blind boy be able to tell that was happening?” The plot engaged me as I was pulled through the book by the
momentum of the story, not left hanging by too much description or rabbit trails.
A few of the dramatic scenes seemed rushed. With all the great emotional description of Alex’s feelings through the rest of the book, I was surprised how little some of the big scenes were explored in this way. The scenes of Alex’s dad’s disappearance and reappearance, the false breakup with Simmi, the fake romance with Shapri, Alex’s mom knowing the whole time about his powers, and the final confrontation with Dax left me wishing for more details, particularly in how everyone felt. The characters’ feelings here so richly described elsewhere that I expected it to flow through the whole narrative.
The description of Alex’s identification of people by their smell, and his awareness of what was happening through sound was fantastic. I wanted to hear all about his perceptions and impressions in this unique perspective.
Alex’s numerous and dramatic visions belied the quick ending. There was so much buildup to the horror of Simmi’s death and the evil nature of Dax that the tame ending felt a bit like an anticlimax. This is truer with real life than with a novel, and I felt Emlyn could have gotten more out of her ending.
The segue into a second book was obvious, but not so abrupt that I felt cheated. I’m looking forward to the next book in this series!
Blog Tour Notes
THE BOOK: Alex Kosmitoras may be blind, but he can still “see” things others can’t. When his unwanted visions of the future begin to suggest that the girl he likes could be in danger, he has no choice but to take on destiny and demand it reconsider. Get your copy today by visiting Amazon.com’s Kindle store or the eBook retailer of your choice. The paperback edition will be available on November 24 (for the author’s birthday).
THE CASH PRIZES: Guess what? You could win a $100 Amazon gift card as part of this special blog tour. That’s right! Just leave a comment below saying something about the post you just read, and you’ll be entered into the raffle. I could win $100 too! Please help by voting for my blog in the traffic-breaker poll. To cast your vote, visit the official Farsighted blog tour page and scroll all the way to the bottom. Thank you for your help with that.
THE GIVEAWAYS: Win 1 of 10 autographed copies of Farsighted before its paperback release by entering the giveaway on GoodReads. Perhaps you’d like an autographed postcard from the author; you can request one on her site.
THE AUTHOR: Emlyn Chand has always loved to hear and tell stories, having emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). When she’s not writing, she runs a large book club in Ann Arbor and is the president of author PR firm, Novel Publicity. Emlyn loves to connect with readers and is available throughout the social media interweb. Visit www.emlynchand.com for more info. Don’t forget to say “hi” to her sun conure Ducky!
MORE FUN: There’s more fun below. Watch the live action Farsighted book trailer and take the quiz to find out which character is most like you!
Categories: Blog Tours, Reviews
Tags: blog tour, book, ebook, Emlyn Chand, Fantasy, fiction, Kindle, Prize, promotion, review
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Making a Trailer!
Yes, I finally gave into the pressure to produce a trailer, worked out how I would do a trailer for my book, researched it, and am mostly done (translated “waiting for someone else to email me something”).
Here is my recipe for creating a trailer:
- First, I downloaded Microsoft live Movie Maker for FREE. It’s part of Windows Live Essentials: http://explore.live.com/windows-live-essentials?lc=1033 It was disgustingly easy to use and dummy-friendly. It was fun, and you just plunk everything in there with the “Insert photo” button. You can add effects and text and everything right there and export it in multiple formats.
- Then I spent hours and hours finding photos for my trailer. Literally. Hours and hours. These are the kind of hours and hours where you say, “Hey! How can it be 7:30 already?!!?” It is VERY important that you find royalty-free photos, unless you want to get sued or pay royalties.
- I came up with three sites where I got my photos: http://www.sxc.hu/ Has a selection of free and paid photos. For the free photos you must check and see below the pic whether the photographer wants credit or permission to use their photos. I just picked ones that wanted neither. The paid photos on SXC redirect you to istockphoto (below).
- http://www.dreamstime.com/ These are also paid and free photos, but the free ones are really free and don’t require that you check the photographer’s permissions. The paid photos are about the same price as istockphoto’s paid photos. Both sites require you to purchase points or a subscription to buy their photos. DON’T BE FOOLED. Each photo does NOT cost only one point.
- and http://www.istockphoto.com/ This is only paid photos. Their subscription is (at the time I wrote this) $18.99 for 12 points, which bought me 2 medium-sized photos and one large. The pics do NOT cost one point each, and two that I did not buy cost 30 points!!! If you can find them free, use those. Totally.
- I encountered a problem finding a picture of people fighting. All the stock photo of people fighting is cheesy ham shots of men in business suits punching at each other or boxers. I needed a brawl. http://ectopicleiron.blogspot.com/2011/01/fist-fight.html was where I found one, and after extensive searching with no clue as to where the pic came from, I decided to go for it. There were no other choices, really. If this is your blog and I’ve stolen your photo, please contact me for an apology and to let me know if I can use your photo for my trailer. When I tried to comment on the post and ask you that way, it said I wasn’t allowed.
- For music, I just emailed my dad, the composer with a Masters in music. (You should do that too. It’s really easy and cheap.) But if your dad isn’t a composer, you can contact mine: cdbarker@comcast.net . It won’t necessarily be so cheap for you, I’m afraid. Sorry!
- If you need free music immediately, you impatient thing, go to this beautiful site: http://www.seabreezecomputers.com/tips/freemusic.htm. I particularly liked their link, http://www.soundclick.com/business/license_list.cfm and found a song there in case Dad didn’t have anything. (But he did. Neener.) WARNING: there is a lot of kooky stuff on musopen. Don’t worry, though, your music isn’t one of the kooky ones, user of musopen who is reading this post. It’s all those other people’s music that is kooky.
And, really all the rest was tweaking the text and pictures and music and stuff (incredibly easy but time-consuming) with Movie Maker. As soon as it is ready, I’ll put it up here and you’ll see if you want to follow my recipe for a trailer or not…
Categories: Resources, Self-Publishing
Tags: advertising, Author, blog, book, book trailer, dreamstime, ebook, fiction, istockphoto, marketing, music, musopen, photo, promotion, publicity, Publish, publishing, resources, royalty, royalty-free, Self-Publish, self-publishing, stock.xchng, video, Windows Live Essential, Windows Live Movie Maker, writer
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How Writing a Book Changed Me
It did. It changed me, not in an enormous way, but I feel different now that it is out there. I have an accomplishment that is tangible and will endure beyond me. It may reside in a used book store or a storage unit, but it’s there. I have the knowledge that I wrote a book and the confidence that I can do it again. That is enormous for me.
Before the book, I was just Kate, a mommy and a homemaker, doing what all mommies and homemakers have done since the beginning of time. Truthfully, I felt lowly and unimportant to others as a mom. My job (and I consider it to be that) is un-glamorous and possible for anyone who can produce or acquire a baby to parent. Don’t get me wrong. I also think it is the most important job in the world, to raise the next generation, and that is why it is my job, and not my hobby or my side-job. It’s just that it is a really easy field to break into.
Writing a book, however, is not something everyone can do. It makes others see me as unique and worthy. Only a week after my publishing date, I feel the rise in respect from other moms who I chat with in passing at my kids’ school. Friends I haven’t heard from in 16 years are excited about my books! My books are getting people excited! They are enthused about the one that is out and eager for the ones to come.
The publishing thing is interesting too. Even though I self-published and had control over when the book came out (har har), that confirmation of publication was a rite of passage that made me a “Real Writer”. Without the evidence they could hold in their hand (or in their Kindle) it was just a cool hobby. I have the paperback. It says my name on it.
The paperback’s arrival was especially important to my kids. To them, books are still objects. Seeing my book in physical form, not just words on a computer or an ereader, made it real to them. The interest expressed by others is what makes the book important in their eyes and not just some thing mom does on her laptop. They aren’t allowed to touch my laptop, and so it is my space. But when others notice and talk to them about it, it becomes important.
I do feel kind of like a cheater here because my writing is not something I planned to do and sat down with sheer determination to accomplish. It did take discipline and work, but that was to make it presentable. When an idea is whirling around in my head and I am looking at it from all angles and poking it to see if it will twitch, it has to eventually come out onto paper, or the screen of my laptop. The night before last, in order to stop thinking about my next day’s schedule, I made up a story about people transformed into strange beasts with a gene-altering parasite. Last night I expanded on that idea and then fell asleep had a dream about a dramatic confrontation that also could be a story, if arranged properly. There are two potential pieces of books, right there, that oozed out of me without effort.
This writing isn’t an accomplishment of will for me, it’s the manifestation of my thought processes. And it makes me look cool. “Hi, my name is Kate. I’m an author. Here’s where you can buy my book.” That is so cool! Truthfully, you probably can’t sneeze and not infect at least two authors. But I’m an author, and I can prove it, and it has changed me.
Categories: Self-Publishing, Writing
Tags: Author, books, career, fiction, homemaker, housewife, literature, mommy, publishing, science-fiction, Self-Publish, self-publishing, women, Writing
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