The Ghosts of Aquinnah

Hey, gang! So thrilled to share news and a cover of another awesome upcoming release today! I'm actually doubly excited, because not only does this book come from my good blogging-writing friend, Julie Flanders, but the cover and blurb were done by one of my other dear blogging-multitalented friends, Michael Di Gesu.

Want to congratulate them both on doing a bang up job, and say I'm really looking forward to adding Ghosts to my library this December.

A brilliant flash of light transcends through time.

Another freezes a cloaked figure within a frame of salty mist as waves crash against a rocky shore. Her harrowing expression shadows the beacon to a pinprick. 

By the next blaze, she is gone. Only the lighthouse remains.

Hannah’s eyes blink in step with each heartbeat. Images of her deceased parents and Martha’s Vineyard explode like firecrackers inside her mind.

She shakes her head. 

For weeks this eerie woman dressed in nineteenth century garb has been haunting my webcam, but tonight she stared into my soul. 

Why? ...

Who is she? ...

Casting aside months of research on historic lighthouses, Hannah drives to the coast and boards a ferry. 

What is the strange connection she has to this mysterious woman suspended in time?

Hannah finds out. 

But, it’s not at all what she expects ...

Hannah unravels a century old murder.

Julie Flanders is a novelist and freelance writer in Cincinnati, Ohio. She has a life-long love affair with the ocean and has spent more summer vacations than she can count on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. When not writing, Julie can be found reading, cheering on her favorite sports teams, and watching too much television. She is an animal lover and shares her home with her dog and cat.

Find Julie at:

Website ~ Blog ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Pinterest ~ Goodreads

The Ghosts of Aquinnah will be released by Ink Smith Publishing on December 5, 2013

Partners In ParanormYA... Call Out The Neighbors, It's A FEUD!

Hey, gang! I've got a fantastic post lined up for you today featuring the characters from two new, not-to-be-missed book releases in paranormal YA.

Regulars on my blog will be very acquainted with Gwen Gardner and Angela Brown as I've featured their shenanigans on the Open Vein before. But if you aren't familiar, you should know these two authors are hilarious and talented to boot.

So sit back and enjoy a little "ParanomYA Feud" with the characters of A Guilty Ghost Surprised and They Fall Down. 

*cue the Family Feud intro music*

Welcome to today’s True/False edition of ParanormYA Feud!

I’m your special host, Wayne Brady of Let’s Make a Deal, NOT to be confused with a certain They All Fall Down character - looking at you, Q – who likes to make deals to sell your soul to the devil.

*cue infamous Wayne Brady smile, infectious laughter and audience applause while Q nods and blows kisses all around*

Let’s move on to our contestants. We have Team AGGS, A Guilty Ghost Surprised, and Team TAFD, They All Fall Down. Abby and Indigo, come on up for the first question.

*cue audience applause*

Wayne: Look at this. We’ve got ourselves a girl in red cloak and another in red face. It’s okay, Indigo, no need to worry. It’s just a game.

Abby: Tell that to Q.

Wayne: Um, uh…well now, let’s all do our best to uh, survive, with our, uh, souls intact. First question: The Blind Badger is a pub.

Indigo *smacks the buzzer*: True?

*Her team calls out cheers of “Good answer!”*

Wayne: You are…correct! Point for Team AGGS. Next up, we have Samaya for Team TAFD and Franny for Team AGGS.

*cue audience applause and several loud whistles for Samaya’s wardrobe…or rather, how much is lacking since her chest is hardly hidden by her barely-there-piece-of-fabric-for-a-shirt*

Wayne *clears his throat*:  Okay. Here’s the question ladies, ghost, uh, ma’am, uh, never mind: The Soul Collector is a warm, caring being to be worshipped.

Samaya *smacks the buzzer*: Of course that’s true.

Wayne: I’m sorry, but that is incorrect.

Samaya: It’s what!?!

*The lights click off. The audience gasps.*

Wayne:  No worries everyone. Just a technical difficulty. We’ll be right back. Wait, who is touching my butt?

You never know what fun can be had with the cast of A Guilty Ghost Surprised and They All Fall Down. Get your copy of the stories today to find out who YOU think copped a feel on our poor unsuspecting show host.

About A Guilty Ghost Surprised: Indigo Eady and gang are back with a feather and a Chance setting off another twisting-turning investigation to bring a cold case, and loved ones, closure at last.

Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About They All Fall Down: Free of their duties as Cleanser and Harvestor, Abby and Basil try to move on with their lives. But some secrets remain. And what is done in the dark won’t be good when it comes to light.

Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About Partners in ParanormYA:

Gwen Gardner and Angela Brown - YA paranormal authors embarking on the adventure of a lifetime. Share with us as we take the Indie journey to bring our works to the world. Buckle up! There'll be mystery, mayhem, action and emotional roller coasters...oh, and a few things that go bump in the night.

Hauntings are scary but we love interaction:

Angela’s author FB page | Gwen’s author FB page

Tweet Angela | Tweet Gwen

Angela’s blog | Gwen’s blog

And don’t forget about the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

)

IWSG - Failure To Launch

Hey, gang! Time for another Insecure Writer's Support Group post. (Yes, holy poop it's October already...) It's our monthly tribute to wallowing in self-pity and doubt, or what most of us refer to as: writing. 

Actually, it's usually a bit more positive than all that as we try to lift each other out of the pitfalls that plague a life devoted to creating. If you think you'd like to join or learn more about our band of merry misfits, click the pic below.

IWSG - Failure To Launch

Why do we fail? Sometimes a very difficult and complex question to answer. 

A wise woman (my mother) once told me that we only truly fail at the things we never attempt. That logic yields an equally powerful and simple answer to the previous difficult and complex question: Success is in the trying, not the accomplishing. 

TOTALLY didn't jibe with Yoda's "Do or do not. There is no try." by the way. But I like to think of my mother as a Real World Jedi, so I'll side with her on this one. :-)

I've found the advice has played out as almost universally true in my life. I really only view missed opportunities due to inaction or indecision on my  part as failures. When I've decided to get in the game and play--outcome be damned--I almost always feel as if I've won something.

That's not to say I'm a raging success at everything I do. 

Sometimes I win by falling on my face and learning the limits of what I can and can't do...

Sometimes I win by screwing up so much I eventually learn the right way of doing things by default (see also - writing)...

Sometimes I win by feeling just inadequate enough to keep trying until I'm proficient...

Sometimes I win--like a kid touching a hot stove--by simply knowing and understanding more about the world than when I started...

While those aren't the stuff of workplace motivational posters, they're markers of growth in my book. And not standing still, trying, is all I'm usually after.

I bring all of this up for IWSG today, because I think in writing in particular, we're sometimes so terrified by lofty ideas of success and failure that we neglect to even start. 

Maybe we don't want to go up to the starting line because we aren't sure exactly where the finish line is. Maybe the other runners are more accomplished and we feel we won't stand a chance. Maybe we're worried that everyone will have gone home and not notice when we do finally finish the race.

There are so many reasons to not start, and I can't tell you how much success you'll have if you do go for it. But I can promise you, you will fail if you never try.

If you knew you could only measure success by the effort you gave in the attempt, what would you try?

And speaking of trying and being bold, a good writer-blogger friend, Nick Wilford, started up his own editing business this week. Nick is extremely dedicated to the writing craft, and I can say from previous interactions on a project, he's a joy to work with. So I'm sure he'll do great things with his business. If you're interested in learning more about his services, jump HERE.

~EJW~   

Steps To Indie Publishing - Outsourcing Pt. 2 of 3 - Editing & Covers

Hey, gang! You might recall a couple of weeks ago I covered the basic steps to Indie publishing (a mostly serious list). As a refresher, I basically listed a bunch of things like editing, covers, formatting, etc. that lead up to you getting your book published. 

At the end of that post, I made a case for considering hiring someone to do those things for you. 

As promised, here is part two (of three... sorry, there's a lot of information to cover!) wherein we'll take a look at the first three steps I listed previously (writing, editing, and covers) checking out the basic why, when, how much, and what of outsourcing those publishing tasks.

I'd also like to remind everyone of our mantra: Quality matters!

I know a lot of you in the audience are actually hiring out as editors and cover artists, so in an attempt to do a little love connecting, I'm providing a link list for you to let people know about what you do and where to find you.

ALSO, if you want to learn more about Indie publishing and outsourcing, I highly recommend you stop by our special 1 hour early (8 PM Eastern) #NALitChat tonight on Twitter. 

We'll be chatting live on air (we do an audio show along with tweets, so if you're not into tweeting you can just listen) with Kate Tilton who works with Bibliocrunch--a one-stop-shop website that connects Indies with editors, artists, distributors and more. 

You can join the conversation (or just follow it) on Twitter using the #NALitChat hashtag. Should be a lot of fun with tons of information shared.

Keeping in mind this is based off of my experiences and research, that the cost estimates are intentionally broad, and that your mileage may vary, let's get to it!

Step 1 - Writing

As I mentioned before, I'm going to assume you actually want/like to write and aren't going to hire a ghostwriter to do it for you. Furthermore, I know nothing about ghostwriting, so we'll move right along...

Step 2 - Editing

Why you should hire it out - Okay, the distinction needs to be made up front: Professional editing is different than having beta readers and critique partners. You need those, too! But a professional editor is the next step. This person will be paid (and handsomely--we'll get to that) to scour your manuscript and make that sucker sparkle. 

They don't get to pull the "my kids are insane demons", "the cat vomited on my computer", "OMG Walking Dead just started again!" excuses a beta gets to use. Why? Because they are on the clock, and their business reputation is at stake--just like yours. It's a magical relationship, really.

Can you have a tight manuscript without paying an independent editor to look at your work? Maybe. But can you guarantee that your critique partner wasn't distracted by life and possibly their own manuscript when they looked over yours? No. Furthermore, can you hold them accountable if they were? No. Free is free, and you don't get to bitch about it if they miss your comma splices and word spamming.

When to find an editor - The first thing to understand about editing is that there are different types and levels of editing. If your betas are ninjas and your critique partners omniscient, you might just need some proof/line editing (think typos, homonym screw-ups, etc.) or copy editing (think style, form, and presentation of the text). 

But let's just say your mom is your only/best beta reader and loves everything you do. THEN you might want to find someone to do some developmental editing (think BIG picture stuff like plotting, pacing, and character development) for you.

So, the type of help you need will dictate when you need to seek an editor out. If you've got a fairly raw draft, you'll want to find a developmental editor earlier on in the project. However, if you've got something pretty polished on your hands, you might wait until you're closer to the publishing point for a little more focused help.

In either case, keep in mind that editing takes time, and reputable editors book up sometimes a year in advance. But before you go all ants-in-pants on me, remember that quality matters. Good things are worth waiting for.

And don't assume they're too busy to help you. Always ask, because they sometimes have unexpected cancelations, etc.

How much is it going to set you back - This will likely be the most expensive thing you outsource. It's also probably the most important. Basically, if you can only spend your money in one place, put it here. 

All the marketing, fabulous covers, and glitz in the world aren't going to cover up sloppy writing. Yes, I know (Insert Horribly Written Book Title Here) sold a billion copies, but yours won't. Trust me. 

Expect to pay $250-$2,500 depending on the length of the work (most charge by the word) and the type of editing you need. Developmental tends to cost more because it takes more of the editor's time and more interaction with the author. If they are a busy and well-established editor, probably on the high side of that estimate for a novel.


Considerations - Always shop around, talk to customers, read testimonials, and carry a cross and rabbits foot with you. Then, make sure they give you a sample of what to expect from their editorial feedback, demonstrated on YOUR work. It shouldn't take more than a few pages to see if they know what they're talking about, and if you'll be able to work with them.


Resources - Check sites like Predators & Editors and popular writing forums like Absolute Write for the skinny on specific editors. And definitely ask your writing friends. Word spreads quickly in writing circles.


Bottom Line - Do your homework before giving anyone your money.

Step 3 - 
Covers

Why you should hire it out - Look, some people just don't have an eye for visual esthetics. That's cool! But when it comes to the cover of your baby, don't pretend. A rocking cover is very important to the overall package of your work, and as an Indie author it's maybe your best weapon in the fight to get noticed amidst the see of traditionally published books out there.

And be honest with yourself: If you don't have a clue what pixel count is, you have no business doing your own book covers in the digital age. 

When to hire a cover artist - This one is really up to you. Some writers like to have the cover in front of them as they draft for inspiration. Others don't want to think about a cover until the book is almost ready for the presses.

Whenever you decide to contact a cover designer, just be sure to have a reasonable grasp on the basic elements you want included in your design. Keeping in mind that most cover designers will not be reading your manuscript cover-to-cover, they're going to rely heavily on your vision and synopsis of the work.

A cover can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months to complete depending upon the type of work being done and how many 'revision cycles' you go through. 

How much is it going to set you back - $75-$1,000 This will vary greatly upon the considerations listed below, and the amount of work you're requiring of the artist you're hiring. Some charge by the hour, others by the project, so be sure to ask upfront.

Also, be aware of how many feedback/revision cycles the cover artist will give you. (Usually listed in their terms.) Typically, the more you pay, the more say you're going to have. If someone is putting together a $50 cover for you from stock images that already exist, don't expect them to change the eyebrow color of the models fifteen times.

Lastly, look for bargains! New design studios are popping up every day, and the new ones sometimes offer a good discount to help build up their clientele. Ask for sample covers, and if you like what you see, give 'em a shot.


Considerations - Do you want something illustrated--an original? Do you want to use people (models) on your cover? Are stock/public images okay? All of these things will likely impact price. So keep the variables in mind. Simpler concepts usually = less money.


Again, don't assume the cover designer is going to read your novel. In fact, many do not. They rely heavily on the author to give them the details they need to convey an entire book in a single image. Not easy to do, so it's important to find a cover designer you can work with, and who can quickly share your vision for the story.



Resources - You can find tons of cover artist with a simple Google search, and you can also check this Goodreads list. Here's a nice blog post on finding and working with cover artists.


Also, many talented authors are talented cover designers as well. So ask your writerly friends! Here, here, and here are a few of mine who do covers. :)

Bottom Line - An effective, nicely designed cover doesn't have to cost a fortune, but it might take someone with a little know-how to get it done.
____

That's it for part two! Be sure to keep an eye out for the final installment where I'll talk about formatting, distributing, and marketing.

Do any of you have experiences outsourcing to publishing professionals? Any tips to share in the comments? Did I leave anything out?

Also, be sure to add your business/service title and a website to the link list below if you're providing some of the services we've talked about. You never know who might stumble across this. :)

~EJW~

Follow Fest 2013!

Hey, gang! As promised, here is my post for Follow Fest. It's basically a networking campaign for authors in attempt to connect those of us who are writing in similar genres, etc.

It's organized by blogger-writer Melissa Maygrove and there's still time to sign up (through Thursday!) if you'd like to join in.

Name: E.J. Wesley

Fiction or nonfiction? Fiction

What genres do you write? Mostly speculative, in the New Adult category. I have a YA fantasy-dystopian-thing I'm gnawing on, too. I'm also trying my hand at some contemporary stuff. :)

Are you published? Yes. The first three installments of my Moonsongs series are available now, and 4, 5, and 6 will be out before the end of the year. Or at least I'm willing to die trying to put them out by the end of the year. :)

Do you do anything in addition to writing? I do covers and a few other publishing-related things, but nothing I'm hiring out for. In my spare time I play the guitar, read comics, watch the Walking Dead, play a few video games, throw a tennis ball to my dog (lots), run, hang with my family, and generally try to stay relaxed and inspired.

Where can people connect with you?

• Blogs - The Open Vein - NA Alley Blog
• Twitter - @EJWesley - @NALitChat
• Facebook
• Goodreads
• Google+
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• Amazon
• B&N
• Smashwords
• New Adult Authors

Is there anything else you’d like us to know? I host a New Adult litterature chat on Twitter (#NAlitChat) every Thursday night (9 PM Eastern). I'm a contributor to the NA Alley Blog.