Interview with YA Author, CALLIE KINGSTON!

Callie Kingston is a YA Author and friend of mine, who just launched her new YA novel, UNDERTOW.


I have the privilege of being part of her kick off blog tour, and snagged an interview with her about the new release!

Tell us a little about UNDERTOW. You said it was a genre-bender--how so?

When I set out to write Undertow, I knew the story would be directed to the young adult audience, but target the older end of the age range. With a college-age protagonist who experiences a mental illness, and themes focusing on family relationships, redemption, forgiveness, Undertow crosses over into the women's fiction genre, as well as what many are now referring to as “New Adult.”

Sounds fascinating! What are your favorite novels of all time? :) Which genres/writing styles attract you?

I adore lyrical, literary novels in many genres, especially those which include touches of the supernatural as they address serious issues. Novels such as The Mermaid Chair, Wintergirls, Mists of Avalon, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, The Shadow of the Wind, and A Tale of Two Cities are all favorites. But I also love great stories, especially ones with a twist from what's expected. The Adoration of Jenna Fox,as one YA example, and Vibes, for another. 

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is one of my all-time favorites as well! 

If you could go back in time, what's one piece of writing advice you could give yourself?

Have confidence in the story, and my ability to tell it as no one else could. Also, to give up writing long hand! Not only was it much slower, but deciphering my handwriting so I could convert the first draft to Word was brutal!

My hand just cramped up thinking about that... What's next for Callie Kingston? Any other projects in the works?

I have another YA novel entitled Upstaged, which will launch late summer 2012. Also, I've begun a new novel and am currently heavily involved in research, outlining, and drafting.This is the most exciting stage of a project, in my opinion--a lot like falling in love. 

Tee hee :). Love it!

A huge THANK YOU to Callie Kingston for the interview, and best of luck with UNDERTOW!

Here's a sneak peak of what it's all about:

Marissa is nearly eighteen and can't wait to leave behind her traumatic past. With long time boyfriend Drake, she thinks she has her future all figured out--until she discovers his betrayal. She flees to a desolate beach on the wild Oregon coast hoping to escape her pain, where, overcome with emotional and physical exhaustion, she dozes off beside a log. When the first icy waves strike her, it is too late: a rogue wave drags her out to sea.


Somehow she survives, and now each night she dreams of a creature who rescues her. Determined to discover the truth, her obsession deepens until she once again risks her life in the frigid ocean. Will the creature Marissa seeks save her? Will she be lost forever in the eddies of her mind, or will Jim, her new boyfriend, keep her from drowning in the abyss? 

Check it out here on Amazon.

I'm giving away one copy of UNDERTOW to one of the people who comments on this post, by tomorrow! :) 

About Callie:


My home is in the Pacific Northwest, where I live with an assortment of furry creatures (husband included). I have a masters degree in Psychology. When not writing or working, I like to explore the outdoors, especially the forests and beaches along the Oregon coast. I also enjoy a great cup of cappuccino, which happily is easily found in this part of the world.

Don't miss the rest of Callie's blog tour for more chances to win a copy of UNDERTOW!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, my lovely blog friends! :)

If you're like me, you're maybe not as into the whole "give one another a whitman sampler" tradition as most, but my husband and I do have a very special thing that we do every year to celebrate this wonderful day.

We watch V for Vendetta and eat steak! This is why I'm excited that V Day has come 'round again. Gonna eat me some cow, watch me some distopian goodness. What could be better?

Love, people. Love. I obviously was lucky enough to find my soulmate. Who else would not only put up with such rituals, but participate in them with gusto?

Here's hoping you have a wonderful V Day however you might celebrate it, and whomever with :). Much Love!

Cha cha cha Changes! Adjusting to My Weird, New Life.

So, now that I've gotten what I wish for, it's bizarre adjusting to this new life. I thought to share some of the Weird I've been adjusting to, I'd share a list of Working From Home Pros That Are Also Cons :).

1A) I get to work in my PJs!


This is awesome. I get up when my husband leaves for work, smooch him goodbye, then just hang around in my pajamas. It's a personal choice whether or not to put on Real Pants. This is new and exciting. There's nothing I love more than comfy clothing, so this is a major benefit in my new career path.

1B) I'm allowed to stay in my PJs.


It's strangely difficult to do anything productive when you're schleppin' around in your pajama bottoms and a hoody with no time restraints or places to be. Ooh, is Iron Chef on Netflix? Ooh, check out those birds nesting in my yard! Ooh, a new Youtube video of an adorable panda sneezing.

Oh, wait... I guess I should probably write something... Maybe it's time to put pants on.

2A) I get to cook for myself! 


Screw you fast food. Screw you in the eye. I'm done with you and your easy-but-crappy breakfast and lunch choices. I have options now, and they include making myself delicious fresh eggs and bacon every morning. Woo hoooo!

2B) I love cooking now.


And time looking up new things to make for lunch today and riding my bike to the store to get ingredients is time that I'm not actually writing. Damn you, delicious, fresh food! *shakes fist*

3A) I have more time to help around the house!


Yaaay! Now I can finally do all of those chores I've been putting off for the last few days years. Awesome! After all, those curtains won't dust themselves.

3B) I have more time to help around the house.


...

Yeah.


Overall it's awesome, but I'm definitely figuring out what works as far as a steady routine and what makes Becca an Unproductive Citizen.

Rule #1: Put on Real Pants.

After that, the rest just falls into place :).

Guess What I Do For a Living Now?

Wait for it........

.......

.................... Waaaait for it.................................


........................


I WRITE!!! :)


You read that correctly, guys!

I quit my job a couple of weeks ago, and have just settled into the groove of living my dream: Being a Full Time Writer for a living!

For the last few months, I've been quiet because I've been busting my balls writing stories under a variety of pen names, as suggested by a guy calling himself Throwaway Writer who gave some excellent writing advice on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/writing/comm...he_first_time/

That gentleman is making ~$1000/day from writing alone, so I took his advice seriously. Before I'd heard of him, though, I knew the old adage "Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Basket," so I was already busy, typing away.

Well, it all paid off :). For the last three months I've matched (and recently far exceeded) my salary at my corporate job, and was able to quit.

It was a surreal feeling handing in my notice, and even more surreal when people asked what I was going to do, and I just responded "write." This was met most often with blank stares, because, lets face it, it's like I told them my garage band just got signed by a major label or something equally impossible.

I'm living my dream.

When I was a child, I drew books with crayon before I could write. In the 6th grade I did an assignment where we had to present on what we wanted to be when we grew up. I wanted to be a writer. I majored in Writing/Literature in college, a degree which everyone thought was useless and fanciful.

I am so BLESSED that I'm able to do what I love and fulfill my childhood dream. I thank God every day. It still hasn't quite sunk in.

I got lucky, but I also worked incredibly hard. Right now I have almost 40 titles out. Soon I hope to make enough money to allow my husband to go back to school and follow his dreams.

I just wanted to share and say that with indie publishing, it IS possible to make a living as a writer :). I did it, guys! And all it took was hard work, luck, and determination instead of years and a mountain of query letters.

The Wave of the Future: Subscription Book Services

As a big fan and user of Netflix, I got to thinking about what the new Kindle Owner's Lending Library means for readers. Will a similar program as the unlimited streaming be coming down the pipeline, only with e-books instead of video?

I read this great blog post by author David Gaughran today, which addresses mainly this topic. I'm of two minds about the whole thing, really.

As a reader, I'm excited.

I love Netflix because I get free access to movies I wouldn't have otherwise purchased. That's basically what I use it for--experimenting and finding new, cool things to watch without commiting myself to buying a new Blu Ray or, God forbid, coughing up for a movie ticket.

If I find something I truly love, OR (more likely), Netflix doesn't have it available for free streaming, then I'll buy it or rent it if I've heard it's awesome.  I still have a blu ray collection that I add to every year, so Netflix isn't cutting into my purchasing decisions just because it's free.

As a writer, I'm worried.

In the blog post I linked above, David closes with an excellent point about how we as authors want to get paid. If everything goes subscription-based, then we're basically agreeing to a flat rate, set by the retailer and can never hope to make more than that.  Right now, I get to set my own prices, and the only things determining my earning cap are a) how hard I want to work to produce more content and b) reader interest. 

There is no limit to how much I'm "allowed" to make! If I keep churning out great stories that people want to read, the potential is there to make a nice living. 

However, if my only choice is to be locked into a flat payout (or even worse, some mystery payout like Kindle Select offers), then that will seriously suck. 

I like being in control of my own destiny, and I especially like being paid properly for my hard work.

So, here's my question to you:

Would you use a subscription site as a reader, and if so, how do you think it would influence your book-purchasing habits?

This is a fascinating time to be alive :).  Only time will tell how this all shakes out.

Kindle Select: A Potential Monopoly?

It has been one hell of an interesting week with the launch of Kindle Select, a new program for indie authors where they can give Amazon 90 day exclusivity of their titles in exchange for a piece of a mysterious pie and the opportunity to promote their titles for free for up to 5 days.

I've been lurking on the forums and listening to peoples' experiences who took this plunge with both feet, and the more I watch, the more concerned I become.

I mean, obviously Amazon isn't creating this program out of the goodness of their hearts, so there must be a reason why they created such a tempting program for indie authors.

From what I've heard from folks who used their free promotions this past weekend, some benefits for Amazon have become apparent:

• Amazon doesn't let you opt out more than once! 
• When you sign up for Kindle Select, you get 72 hours to opt out and change your mind. However, if you opt out once, you don't get that same window the next time you sign up. You're in. For 90 days. PERIOD.  They also make you forfeit your opt out window if you have your book go free during that timeframe. 
• The non-compete clause means no bundles, and probably no excerpts.
• If you have a short story in their program, you have to unpublish any short story bundle or anything with an excerpt of that story from all other sites.  Doing #samplesunday on your blog? Well, you've got to erase all of that, too, or potentially forfeit any earnings.
• The "Free" game has changed.
• It used to be that when your book or story went free on Amazon, it zoomed you up in the ranks. This meant when your story went back to paid, you'd still be at whatever ranking you earned as a free book.  If you hit the Top 100 for your genre, you could get a lot of exposure, and a lot of sales.
• From friends of mine who went free this weekend, I heard of people going from the Top 20 in their genre, to falling instantly back down to their previous rank when it went paid again, down to 1 billion.  The game has changed. Amazon may have tweaked their algorithms.

All this is to say, AUTHOR BEWARE!

I had one title in this program because I got excited like everyone else, but I've since pulled it.  I don't want Amazon to get a monopoly over indie authors, and I certainly don't want to be part of a program that promises a promotional tool and delivers something else entirely.

It feels very predatory the more I learn.

What do you think?  Any experiences with Kindle Select, good or bad?

New Kindle Lending Program: Good for Indie Authors?

I got a very interesting email this morning from Kindle Direct Publishing, letting me know about a new opportunity for indie authors: Kindle Select.

Basically, they have a new program that indie authors can enroll in that will allow people with Amazon Prime memberships to "borrow" their books through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.

The kicker is that for every person who borrows the book, the author gets a share of a profit pool..

From the FAQ:

__

How is my share of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library fund calculated?


Your share of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library Fund is calculated based on a share of the total number of qualified borrows of all participating KDP titles. For example, if the monthly fund amount is $500,000 and the total qualified borrows of all participating KDP titles is 100,000 in December and if your book was borrowed 1,500 times, you will earn 1.5% (1,500/100,000 = 1.5%), or $7,500 in December.

__

While I seriously doubt most of us will be making $7500 a month from this, it's still very intriguing.

Kindle Direct Publishing even went so far as to sweeten the deal by allowing authors enrolled in this program to make their book free as a promotion for 5 days during enrollment.

Now here's the rub. Nothing is perfect, right guys? ;)

Your book must be exclusive to Amazon for 90 days to participate in this program.

This means if your book is selling in any other store (Sony, iTunes, Kobo, Diesel, Barnes and Noble, etc,) you must take it down from those sites in order to be a part of this new Lending Library.

This article has a very good summary of what the program entails:
http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/pressed/2011/12/08/amazon-provides-boost-for-independent-authors

Now, I'm hesitant about this because I'm selling well at the other stores. I've heard other indie authors talking this morning about pulling all of their titles from Amazon's competition, and couldn't help but ask "What happens if Amazon gets a monopoly on indie bookselling?" Will they still treat authors as well as they are now?

What happens to our 70% royalty rate once they're the only show in town?

For now, I'm going to sit back and see what happens with the folks who are putting most or all of their books into this program. There could be amazing potential for profit, but there is also a high risk when you rely on one source for all of your income.

What do you guys think?  Should indies jump on it, or hold out to see what happens next?