I've engaged the services of an editor to bash my novel manuscript into shape. I was pretty nervous about the process. As many of you know, I'm not wildly good at banishing self-doubt. But she has been making really cool comments about it on her social media.
And just now she posted this.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHGH! Fewer than 10 pages to go in the first pass through Annie's MS and I have to leave to take a child to an appointment. AAAAAAAHHHHHHGH!
I have a feeling I'm going to be cursing when I finish reading -- because I'll want to READ MORE."
Can you imagine how big the grin is right now? It's like this :D
ROFL!!! Congratulations, Annie. I'd take that as official confirmation that your writing is not "pants" and "rubbish," as you keep insisting. ;D
I just mentioned book 2 to her (it's nearly ready for her to look at, whenever she has a slot in her work schedule) and her response was.
"YAY BOOK 2!
::cough::
I mean . . . Sure. We'll discuss that when the time comes."
So I haz a happy.
Annie that's fabulous! What a great feeling to have someone else enjoy what you put your heart into. Looking forward to hearing more about it.
Congratulations! You are a "real" writer now.
YAY!! :)
GOOD LUCK!!!
Fantastic Annie! I hope it's not to long until we can all read it!
Excellent! Congratulations, Annie!
Kathleen/Lenni
(back to lurking)
Congratulations Annie -wonderful news! :D Look forward to seeing it in print and reading it once published.
So having tried it out on a sample of board members, it has two thumbs-up out of two. Belief may even be starting to emerge from the fog of self-doubt...
I am working on growing another hand so I can give it a third thumbs-up. I'd offer to turn my toes up, but that's a different idiomatic expression, and while it's a very good story, I'm not quite sure it's worth dying for.... ;)
LOL! I meant I'd had one thumb up from two people, not two thumbs up from one person. And we can't have you turning your toes up, as you have...
*all those part-written fanfics to finish!*
Yah! I'm getting more excited for you every day.
Quote from: AnnieUK on August 20, 2013, 03:40:26 AM
So having tried it out on a sample of board members, it has two thumbs-up out of two.
Make that three out of three! :D
Squeee!
Have just seen the first iteration of the cover art. It's gone back for a couple of changes, but I'm on a massive high right now. ;D
Where's the bouncing smiley when I need it?
;D *bounce!* ;D *bounce!* ;D
Will that do in lieu of an actual bouncing smiley?
Here, Annie, how about these?
(https://www.rhemuthcastle.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fec1.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FG%2F01%2Faskville%2F2668058_4021487_mywrite%2Fbouncing_smileys.gif&hash=8f9bb363629faf4fdf4597d2c69a6a456b40a012)
Yup, that's pretty much me at the moment! :)
So when do we get to see the cover art?
This is fantastic!
I'll do a little jig for you. Can not wait to see it.
I'll post the final version. It's gone back for revisions. :)
I can hardly wait to see the cover art!
Um, how is book three coming? I've been wondering how your main character is coping these days.
LOL! Are you worried I'm torturing him some more?
I'm about a quarter of the way through the draft. I've stalled for a few days while I let my subconscious chew over some plot points. I'm actually trying to work out how to be a little bit nice to him, without it being cheesy. After all, I've put him through the mill for 2 years and 225K words so far; I've got to cut him some slack eventually.
I meant to put this live in the New Year, but seemingly I pressed a button. Or didn't press a button. Or something. Anyway, it's now on Amazon all over the place (although the US site has a phantom book there that I can't see how to get rid of...)
I'll make no bones about the fact that the paperback is expensive, but seemingly print on demand for a 400 page book just *is*. But if I've pushed the right buttons (not hopeful, frankly, given my track record with Amazon's system!) you can download a free ebook if you buy the paperback. The paperback is discounted a little at the moment, for reasons I haven't determined yet, so if you prefer paper to pixels, now is a good time to snag it. The ebook is way cheaper as there aren't all the printing overheads and so on.
If you do read it, and you like it, I'd love for you to put a review on Amazon. Reviews are useful not just there, but some blogs and promotion sites ask for a certain number of Amazon reviews before they'll even consider it. I need to get it set up on Goodreads sometime, too, but I need a break from those darn buttons for a day or two...
Anyway, ebook is here http://www.amazon.com/Crowchanger-Changers-Chandris-A-Smyth-ebook/dp/B00HCQ24OU/ on .com
I shall now crawl away and indulge in some more imposter syndrome. Mods, feel free to remove this if it breaks any board rules or anything, but some folks said they were interested in taking a look.
Yea Annie!
I will do my best to give you a very, VERY favourable review! :)
I don't see where it breaks any board rules, seeing as it IS in the off-topic section, but bynw is the final authority on that sort of thing.
I'll ask him tomorrow, when he's awake. I'm sure he's asleep right now as it's 11pm his time now and he has to get up for work at zero-dark-thirty.
Huzzah, Annie! :D
Looking at the paperback book specs shown on your Amazon listing, it looks like they are printing up the hardcopy versions as trade paperback size rather than mass market paperback size, so for a larger trade-size paperback, that pricing is about average, I think. The mass market paperbacks tend to run between $6 to $10 on average, but I think they also use less paper, so the markup for a trade paperback seems reasonable to me.
I went ahead and bought the Kindle version, though I may spring for the paperback later on the off-chance I might manage to twist the author's arm for an autograph. ;) So, have you managed to get up the nerve yet to mention to Hubby that you've written over 2/3 of a trilogy and that you're now a published book author? Or does he still have no clue what all that notebook scribbling and nocturnal keyboard tapping is all about? ;D
Congratulations, Annie! I'm envious as all heck. =o) Well done! :D 8)
Melissa
Okay, bynw and I just had a quick chat; all's well. He did say that if it had been an independent post instead of part of an existing thread, it might have been better placed in Trading Post, but since we were already discussing this in Tid Bits, it can just stay where it is.
So, Annie, nope, you don't get away that easily. :D
I won't have the money to buy anything that isn't food or fuel for my car until early January, but I may very well acquire the paperback, because I don't own a Kindle or a smartphone with a Kindle app. :)
There's also Kindle for PC free software, if you prefer to read on your computer, but if you become as glued to the story as I was, you'll want the paperback, since it's more portable than lugging a computer (even a laptop) around everywhere you go.
Oh, fun, fun! This is wonderful, Annie!
I got the kindle version. However, I will want the paperback too. Autograph, did Evie say autograph? Might have to consider that.
I think anyone can read the kindle version on their computer. Just go to amazon and down load the kindle app. I may be wrong, but I don't think you need to have a kindle to download the software. then you can buy all your books in kindle and read them on the computer.
Thank you for a story to read for Christmas.
Thank you for all your support, everyone. It all still feels very strange.
No, Evie, I haven't told DH yet. I guess I'll have to sometime, although I've been saying that for a long time now.
When I sent it to the design folks, I asked for 8x5, but because of the number of pages it came out to, and how Createspace prices long books, they advised me to go to 8.5x5.5. The next one is a little longer still, I think (115K as opposed to 110K), so I may have to change the font size or the gutter. The font size looked big-ish to me in the proof copy, so there is room to take it down a point or so, I think.
I'm still finding howlers in book 2, but I guess that's what I pay the editor for. Manuscript goes to her next month, and to the designers in March, so it's all go here. I just want to get back to the draft of the 3rd one and then do something else for a bit!
Quote from: AnnieUK on December 18, 2013, 04:33:15 PM
No, Evie, I haven't told DH yet. I guess I'll have to sometime, although I've been saying that for a long time now.
What's the use of putting a shout-out to him and your DD on the Dedications page if they're never going to get to see it? ;D
I don't really like doing extended reading on the computer if I can avoid it. There's one four-novel series that is only published online that I read on the computer, but that's kind of an exception because it's the only way I can get it short of printing it up, and I'm not willing to use up my printer paper and ink for something nonessential like that.
So, paperback it will be for me. It may become my birthday present to myself, since my birthday is next month. :D
Way to go Annie!!
Please do get back to the draft of book 3.
*dying to find out what happens next* ;D
So am I!
Seriously, I know in broad strokes what happens, but how exactly I'm going to get there remains to be seen. I'm still far more of a pantser than a plotter.
Still trudging through edits, but background processing book 3 as I do it.
Yay, Annie! What a major accomplishment.
As soon as things die down after the holidays, I'll be snatching a paperback, too! This is always a slow work season for DH, but should pick up again in a month or so.
Quote from: AnnieUK on December 17, 2013, 04:44:03 PM
<snip>
If you do read it, and you like it, I'd love for you to put a review on Amazon. Reviews are useful not just there, but some blogs and promotion sites ask for a certain number of Amazon reviews before they'll even consider it. I need to get it set up on Goodreads sometime, too, but I need a break from those darn buttons for a day or two...
Anyway, ebook is here http://www.amazon.com/Crowchanger-Changers-Chandris-A-Smyth-ebook/dp/B00HCQ24OU/ on .com
<snip>
Annie, YAY!! Is there any chance of getting a Nook (Barnes&Noble epub) version? In the meantime, I'll read the Kindle version that I just bought. Congratulations!
Lenni/Kathleen
Lenni,
At the moment, I'm in KDP Select, just to try it out. That means that until I come out of it (there's a 90 day minimum), I can't sell anywhere but Amazon. But I do have an epub version lined up ready to go. So if you drop me your email, I can send you a copy.
And thanks for buying! That will have stopped me waking up to the brown line of doom on my KDP dashboard! (If you have sales, it's a nice comforting pale blue. If it has no sales to report, it's a depressing sludge brown.)
I do hope you like it. It doesn't matter so much if people don't like fanfic, but this is *responsibility* LOL!
Annie x
Hi Annie,
This feels a bit odd as I feel I know you all being an avid reader of the Deryni fanfic and various threads. I wrote a post way back in Easter then got cold feet as it felt a bit public, goodness knows how you all get the courage to write the amazing things you do. I'm not very good at putting things in writing - can talk for England but chat is at a time when exhaustion has kicked in - but need to be brave again and tell you how much I have loved Crowchanger. Just finished it once and now will reread slowly to savour it properly, you've made me care about the characters which is my test of a good book, need to know now what happens to them... loved the environmental twist at the end. Now to be really brave and put a review on Amazon
Aw, revanne. That's so sweet, thank you!
First time I posted something on here I was almost physically sick with anxiety, so I've come a long way in the three and a half years, or whatever it is. I'm always happy to chat via PM if it makes you feel safer. :)
And I'd love an Amazon review, if you can bring yourself to do it.
Book 2 will be out April/May probably. At the moment I'm scrapping for editor's time with an RPG book!
BTW, Annie, I'm curious which format authors prefer to sell? I'll be buying a hard copy to give to a friend, but I just received a Kindle for Christmas, so...
Not sure about traditionally published, but self-published will almost certainly prefer ebooks. The production costs on print on demand books + Amazon's cut = despite the high price, I make pretty much nothing on a paperback.
And if you do like it, guys, please leave a review. It helps, not only if people are considering buying, but also with unlocking some review/advertising channels that only take you if you have so many Amazon reviews.
Don't know if Gemeli is someone on here, but if so, thanks for the review!
Annie, I've ordered my copy as part of my birthday present to myself. (Also in that category is a new pair of pajamas, because two of my sets have given up the ghost after years of use.)
I read the reviews. I am seriously looking forward to reading it! It sounds fascinating.
Best wishes,
~DR
Thanks, DR. :)
And you can never have too many pairs of pajamas.
Quote from: AnnieUK on January 03, 2014, 02:01:34 AM
Not sure about traditionally published, but self-published will almost certainly prefer ebooks. The production costs on print on demand books + Amazon's cut = despite the high price, I make pretty much nothing on a paperback.
I suspected as much. So, Kindle version for me, then (and my first Kindle book purchase, BTW).
I'll be sure to write a glowing review when all brain cells are firing at the same time. (Well, at least 3/4 of them, anyway. If I wait till I'm at full capacity, it might take a few years. :D) After all, what good is a review if it's mindless gibberish?
Awesome, thanks. :)
I'm willing to bet I'll not see back the money I put out on editing, cover design and formatting any time soon, but every bit helps. I figured if I was going to do it, it was going to look smart, though.
And you certainly succeeded, Annie! :)
If you're in the US or UK (or you get your books through either of those Amazon sites) and you haven't got Crowchanger and want it, it might be worth having a look on there sooner rather than later. Like today or tomorrow, preferably, or Wednesday/Thursday for a lesser bargain...
Quote from: AnnieUK on March 17, 2014, 11:08:22 AM
If you're in the US or UK (or you get your books through either of those Amazon sites) and you haven't got Crowchanger and want it, it might be worth having a look on there sooner rather than later. Like today or tomorrow, preferably, or Wednesday/Thursday for a lesser bargain...
Think of it as a St. Paddy's Day sale.... ;D
Oh cool, I see you scored the kindle deals for today. That is great. I hope it entices many people to purchase your novel.
How is book two coming along?
Book 2 has gone to be formatted, and I've had a first effort at a cover back from the designer. I have to say I wasn't keen on it, so some more ideas have been batted around and he's getting back to me with a second attempt in a couple of days.
Book 3 has been kicking my backside, but I now have a fully-functional outline. I need to go through and see which bits of my previous draft are salvageable. One disadvantage of being a gardener (in GRR Martin's terms) rather than an architect, is I throw a lot away in order to find out where exactly I'm going.
Annie, I love the comment of the gardening writing style vs the architectural style. I like the gardening style myself where you plant lots of seeds and then see what really grows to fruition. I was talking to a friend who has read all his books and she laughed. "If GRR Martin is an architect than he is a relation to the builders of the Winchester Mansion," she said. I had to laugh with her.
If you have never heard of the Winchester mansion you should look it up. The widow of Mr. Winchester, afraid of lost souls caused by her husband's gun business, built a never ending home with stairwells to nowhere and doors that opened to brick walls in order to foil all the ghosts. I think this describes Game of Thrones quite well. For as much as I love GoT, there is more gardening in his books than architecture. At least the TV series edits out much of it.
So IMHO, garden away! Plant as many seeds of every variety and see what grows. Then relish in the harvest of a bountiful crop.