My New Novel: Meet The Characters!

As we get closer to F#@! BOMB's release date, I've been posting little teasers about the book on the page for my upcoming Facebook Book Release Party. Each day, I've been sharing a "Meet The Characters!" blurb, where I introduce readers to the various personalities in the novel. This way, they'll know who everyone is when they read my book.

I'm trying not to give too much away -- just enough information to get people excited and to whet their appetites for my story. Hopefully, many readers of this blog will join the online party on March 30, 6-8 p.m. ET, but if you can't make it, here are a few of the "Meet The..." posts which I've shared so far. I'll include more in future posts! Meantime, be sure to check out F#@! BOMB, as well as LOVE NOTES and REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, all on Amazon.

MEET THE CHARACTERS!

NAME: Sadie Abramowitz

ROLE IN BOOK: Narrator, female protagonist

AGE: 18 going on 19

OCCUPATION: College freshman majoring in English; plans to be a journalist and writes for the school paper, The Falcon.

TALENTS: Writing, singing, cooking

FLAWS: Eats to calm her emotions, has a bad habit of pushing people away

ABOUT SADIE: Sadie is smart, sassy, hard-working... and very overweight. Her size has caused her to withdraw from her peers and when we first meet her, she's a loner whose best friend is her mom. At college, Sadie befriends Griffin -- a track star, who is also one of her former high school bullies -- and he encourages her to get in shape so she can walk a marathon. As she trains for the event, she not only improves her health, but learns to come out of her shell, make friends and trust people.

MEET THE CHARACTERS!

NAME: Griffin Greenberg

ROLE IN BOOK: Sadie's best friend, coach and lead male protagonist

AGE: 18 going on 19

OCCUPATION: College freshman majoring in Bio; track star, marathoner and Olympic hopeful

TALENTS: Running, coaching, teaching younger kids

FLAWS: Has a quick temper, often acts without thinking, was a bully in high school

ABOUT GRIFFIN: Handsome, charismatic Griffin has always been a star. Being the oldest of four children and a talented runner, people have always looked up to him. Family is very important to him, as well as being Jewish. His father has his son's whole life planned and expects Griffin to run in the Olympics and then become a doctor. However, Griff has keeping a secret: he's gay. He's very reluctant to come out because he's afraid of how the reveal will impact his charmed life. Once he befriends Sadie, he slowly comes to terms with his sexuality and what it means to actually "be himself."

MEET THE CHARACTERS!

NAME: Veronica Miller

ROLE IN BOOK: Sadie's eccentric roommate

AGE: 18-19

OCCUPATION: College freshman majoring in art

TALENTS: Painter and sculptor; her specialty is creating 3-D pieces using "found objects," such as hair, dog poop or chewed-up gum. Is also extremely perceptive and has a talent for seeing through people's b.s.

FLAWS: Sometimes grunts instead of speaks, yells when frustrated, is extremely opinionated, swears like a sailor, is honest to the point where it's hurtful.

ABOUT VERONICA: Having been beaten down by Life, Veronica takes no sh-t from anyone. She favors a classic punk style with piercings and multicolored hair and is basically the exact opposite of Sadie. At first, Sadie thinks her roomie is psychotic, but Veronica often tells her some painful truths when Sadie most needs to hear it. *Side note* -- I originally meant for Veronica to be a minor character who'd provide some comic relief, but she ended up becoming rather integral to the story. She's also one of my favorite characters I've written so far!

LOVE NOTES Guest Blog Post And Exciting Update!

The "official" LOVE NOTES Blog Tour ended over a week ago, but Elaine G. Flores of TV Recapper's Delight was kind enough to let me write a guest post for her site. In it, I share how critiquing soap operas for a living led to me writing REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD. Let me tell you, it felt very strange to be writing about soaps again! She and I had a few discussions about which examples I should use in my piece and I felt as if I were going back in time to my days at SOD.

In other news, I've taken a giant leap and have decided to release my second novel, F@#! BOMB in March! I've hired Shane Morgan, author of THE RIGHT SONG, and one of my fellow LOVE NOTES writers, to design my cover. She created the cover for our anthology and I really like her work, so I knew I could count on her to come up with something cool for my book -- and she has. Her concept is simple, but eye-catching, and captures the spirit of my story. I'm going to have a Facebook cover reveal party on March 4 -- and plan to have the book out by March 16.

A few months ago, I attempted to get another agent for this novel, but ultimately decided to again publish on my own. I'll admit, I didn't put as much work into finding an agent as I did for BAND GEEK -- but my heart wasn't in it. I just want to get my work out there without having to go through a bunch of other people. I found that dealing with this aspect of the business made writing a lot less enjoyable for me. I truly respect agents and editors, and the work they do, but I'm just not sure I fit into that world. If I did, I would've found my place in it by now and would have sold a book in the traditional way. Since I haven't, I'm finding another means to do so.

Meanwhile, I'm very excited and nervous about F@#! BOMB's debut! I've gotten some great feedback on BAND GEEK and hope my readers enjoy this one just as much, if not more. So stay tuned for the book's release -- and check out the LOVE NOTES anthology on Amazon.

Publishing A Novel: Hiring A Professional Editor

This morning, I got a three-star review for BAND GEEK. That isn't too bad, but the reader did have some hurtful things to say about my work. She felt that my basic story -- bad boy grows close to misfit girl -- was "stereotypical" (as Josh would say, it's not a cliche, it's a classic).

She went on to say that she didn't think that my story is memorable and that a week from now, she'd mainly remember the cover (hey, at least she liked something, right?). But what I find interesting is that this woman, who says that she wasn't moved by my work, wrote the longest review I've ever seen! Seriously, it goes on and on for about eight paragraphs and is easily 1000 words. She wrote a freakin' thesis explaining why my book is mediocre ... so obviously, it did mean something to her, right?

Anyway, I don't agree with most of her criticisms, but one thing she does nail me for is typos. I've had a few readers complain about this (though most have not), so I've decided to hire a professional editor to help me put together my next book. I'm willing to own up to my mistakes and clearly I need an extra professional eye to catch typos and help me with formatting. I really worked hard to make BAND GEEK as clean as possible and had several people read it over for me, but I obviously need more help. I'm not embarassed to admit this; writers who are published by big houses have editors go through their books, so why shouldn't I? If all goes well and she does a good job, I may hire her to fix up BAND GEEK, too. Then I can promote both books at once.

I'm still proud of BAND GEEK, especially since it's my first novel. I love my story, even if it doesn't appeal to everyone's tastes and am using this experience to make my second novel even better. I don't see mistakes as a bad thing; I'm just keeping track so I can learn from them. Meantime, I'm glad that so many people are enjoying BAND GEEK.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD. Every critique helps!

Publishing A Novel: My First Overseas Review!

I find it amusing that one of my most-read posts on this blog is the one I wrote about my first bad review. I don't know if the people reading this are other writers who've received rejections and are happy to know that they're not alone, or if these readers are simply people who enjoy hearing about others' bad days, but for whatever reason, that post is getting a lot of attention.

I'm happy to report that BAND GEEK received its first review from the United Kingdom on UK Amazon. And it got five stars from this person!

I haven't sold that many books overseas, at least not yet, so I still get a kick out of seeing sales from the UK or Germany, or France. I wonder how BAND GEEK's tale will translate in these places. Obviously there isn't a language issue for readers in England and the rest of the UK, but the British sense of humor is a bit different from America's. So I'm pleased that a teen from the UK enjoyed my book so much.

I do want to make it clear that I'm not trying to brag about my work by sharing these little triumphs. As you know, I'm more than willing to share my disappointments and I'm my own worst critic. I'm hoping that by blogging about both the good and bad points in my writing career that I can give readers -- and prospective authors -- a chance to see what being an indie author is really like. That said, thanks again to everyone who's weighed in on my book so far.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Marketing An Indie Book: Blog Tour Disappointment

Part of being an indie author means that you have to do your own marketing of your book -- and in most cases, this means putting money into some things.

I don't mind making an investment if I feel as if the cost will be worth it and I realize that with marketing, as with selling most things online, it's kind of a crap shoot. You can pay to have the most popular blog in the world review your work, but that doesn't necessarily mean that people will buy your book. Still, I at least want the services for which I paid to be carried out.

Sadly, this does not seem to be happening with my latest blog tour, which is supposed to be an all-review tour. The first two days went as planned; both blogs had reviews posted right on time. One review wasn't as positive as I'd hoped, but she was what I asked for. That blogger did her job.

Unfortunately, the tour has since fallen apart. One blogger had to postpone her review due to illness. That's fine. I don't expect anyone to work while they are sick and she gave me a new post date well ahead of schedule. But the other two blogs just sort of flaked. One still hasn't posted a review; the other posted a blurb and excerpt, but no review ... which is well, specifically what I paid for.

I want to make it clear that none of my annoyance has to do with the host company. They've been great. They've kept me posted on my tour schedule and have sent me continual alerts about the review (or lack thereof) situation. I know that they've contacted the bloggers to find out what's up.

But I am upset with people for not honoring their commitment and not meeting deadlines. I understand that life can get in the way, that people have jobs, kids, doctor's appointments and a number of other things that can make a schedule crazy. But if you can't get something done on time -- something for which I PAID MONEY -- at least have the courtesy to tell me that you can't do the job.

I do want to say that I'm grateful to the bloggers who've hosted me or have posted reviews of BAND GEEK. Blogging does take a lot of time and it was generous of them to feature me on their sites. I hope that these other bloggers come through in the end and that the rest of this tour goes smoothly. I just want my money's worth and don't think that this is asking for too much.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, 4.5 stars on Amazon, now just 99 cents!

Publishing On Kindle: KDP Select Pros And Cons

My 90-day contract with KDP Select ends this month, which means that I'll have to decide whether I want to renew with this service. It's a pretty big decision, so here are some of the things that I've liked -- and haven't liked about my experience with KDP Select so far.

CON: KDP Select asks authors to grant them 90 days of exclusivity. This means that you can only sell your books on Amazon -- not on Smashwords, Lulu or even your own website. This greatly limits authors who want to diversify their products.

PRO: However, 90 days isn't a very long period. It's not like KDP Select is asking for five years of exclusivity. And out of all of the indie publishing platforms available, let's face it -- Amazon gets the most traffic.

PRO: KDP Select authors' books can be borrowed in Kindle's lending library. Amazon Prime members can borrow your work for free ... but you still make money from borrows. So far, I've made almost as much money from borrows as I have from sales, so I really like this feature.

PRO: KDP Select gives you five days during a 90-day period during which you can give your book away for free. The idea is to put your name out there and gain publicity. I've had mixed results with this, but my last run was successful. Sales went up for quite a while after the promotion and I got several more reviews on my Amazon and Goodreads pages.

CON: I don't plan to do another free giveaway because, well, I want to make money from my book -- even if it's just 99 cents a download. I'd rather promote my work in a way which will encourage people to actually buy BAND GEEK. And 99 cents is about as cheap as you can get outside of getting it for free. Besides, Smashwords allows authors to giveaway books whenever they want; there's no limit on days. But again, Smashwords' traffic isn't as high as Amazon's.

CON: I find it very difficult to get visibility and a higher ranking on Amazon. When my book has sold well, my visibility goes up... but when sales slow down, so does my ranking. It's a vicious cycle and a system that's designed to reward already-successful authors. I wish that Amazon had some promotional options for indie authors (other than free days) to put their names out there and get their books on the most visible pages.

PRO: As I've said a few times now, Amazon gets great traffic. I've heard mixed things about Smashwords and authors' success on that site. It reminds me a bit of how I tried to sell my jewelry on Etsy and ArtFire, but didn't sell a thing on the latter, simply because ArtFire doesn't get Etsy's traffic. Still, it would be nice to have some more options for my writing.

As of now, I'm leaning toward not renewing my KDP Select contract. I can still sell my work on regular Kindle/Amazon and at least try Smashwords and Lulu. It can't hurt to see what happens since both sites are free. And if I don't like those results, I can always re-sign with KDP Select. In the end, I just want to do what's best for my book and I'm glad that indie authors have a few choices.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, just 99 cents!

Countdown To My Virtual Book Tour!

My VBT is all set and kicks off in just a few days! It begins on October 31 and will run through November 23. During that time, I will be featured in guest blog posts, share excerpts from BAND GEEK and will be doing a few author interviews. Plus, I'm GIVING STUFF AWAY! In addition to giving away free copies of my ebook, one grand prize winner will receive my book, an autographed copy of my CD FLUTE PATH and a pair of my handmade treble clef earrings. So check in each day, download my book and leave comments, especially if you want a chance to win my grand giveaway prize.

Here are the details and dates for my tour:

October 31 - VBT Cafe' Blog

November 2 - Guest Blogging at Cindy Vine's Blog

November 2 - Guest Blogging at A Book So Fathomless

November 5 - Guest Blogging at The Official Blog-Zine of Terra Little

November 7 - Reviewed at Oh Chrys!

November 9 - Book Feature & Excerpt at Dream Big, Read Often

November 12 - Interviewed at Reviews & Interviews

November 14 - Book Feature & Excerpt at Blooding Book Reviews

November 16 - Guest Blogging at Wise Words

November 19 - Guest Blogging at Lori's Reading Corner

November 21 - Reviewed at Teena in Toronto

November 23 - Interviewed at Angels & Warriors Radio

November 23 - Book Feature & Excerpt at Library Geek Girl

Meanwhile, please read and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now only 99 cents!

Thoughts About Self Publishing And Indie Publishing

When I started writing BAND GEEK in 2002, there was no way that I would've considered self-publishing my novel. At the time, I felt as if that were the last resort, a thing that a "writer" did if his or her work sucked and had no other choice. 10 years later, my very humbled older self knows how much more complicated the situation is -- and readily welcomes the changes that have taken place within the publishing industry.

When it came to getting my work noticed, I didn't do too badly the first time around. I received plenty of rejection letters, but was ultimately asked to sign on with two agencies -- and actually got to be the one who rejected one of them. I signed on with Jean V. Naggar's literary agency and had very high hopes. I was going to sell millions of copies of my book and be rich! BAND GEEK would be made into a movie! I even had an idea of who I'd cast for certain roles. Back then, I thought that a not-so-messed-up Lindsay Lohan would've made a great Kathy.

Well, things didn't work out as I'd hoped. My agent was great. She was very supportive and gave me some wonderful editing notes. She's the one who'd suggested that I change my title from its original name WHO'S ON FIRST? That's when I came up with REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

My manuscript was sent to a dozen houses that handle YA books and it got a lot of positive responses. Most publishers liked my general story. Two houses actually came close to purchasing it, but wanted me to make a few changes. But no one was on board with it 100 percent. Some editors didn't like the beginning. Some loved the opening, but hated the ending. Some thought Melinda was too immature. Some thought that she was too wise beyond her years. I kept making small changes in an attempt to please everyone, but it felt as if I were twisting my book into a pretzel. I was open to constructive criticism; I wanted to make my book as good as possible, but it just wasn't working out. It wasn't just the story that mattered; its earning potential and marketing abilities were also concerns. I wanted to sell that "perfect" story to them, but couldn't figure out how to do so.

Finally, my agent exhausted all of her YA connections and basically dumped me as a client. But I have absolutely not hard feelings. She was just doing her job and had run out of options for me. I was disappointed, but didn't take it personally. As I said, she was great and really encouraged me.

I continued writing for fun and with the hope of finding another agent. Meanwhile, my husband and I came up with an amazing idea for a quirky travel guide. I'd rather not give too much information away because this is something that we're still working on, but we put together an outline and business plan. We then landed an agent (sorry, I forget her name) and she sent our outline to about 20 publishing houses.

The editors LOVED it. They went crazy over our idea and were all prepared to gvive us an advance. I was ecstatic. I seriously thought that our book would be part of a bidding war. Again, my head filled with dreams of riches, best seller lists and all that jazz.

This time, it was the marketing people who hated us. The marketing people! They couldn't figure out where our book would go in a bookstore since it straddled two categories and so they refused to take it. We were so disappointed!

It was at this point that I began to get frustrated with the publishing industry. Don't get me wrong, I think that traditional publishing is still very important. But it felt as if I had to cross one obstacle after another from landing an agent to pleasing the marketing people. Moreover, the number of people whom I was trying to please really isn't that large because the publishing industry is pretty incestuous. It may seem that you have a choice of many agents or editors, but only a certain percentage will even look at your genre. And then there are sub genres within that genre, i.e. "YA Paranormal Romance." In the end, it's only a handful of people who decide your fate. Do they really represent the opinions of the general public?

This is why I decided to become an indie author. Is it because I couldn't get my book sold to a traditional publisher? Yes. I wish it had been sold, but I gave it my best shot. However, the industry has changed and being an indie writer comes with so many exciting possibilities. I call the shots. I get to participate in my cover's design. I get to market my work. I get to plan my book tours and speaking engagements. I get to choose my own deadlines and release dates. I can write my story the way that I want to without having to worry about pleasing anyone else ... except, of course, all of my readers. Which is who we're all trying to cater to in the first place!

That said, I definitely take back any thoughts I ever had about self-publishers being "losers." There's some garbage online, but there are also many, many amazing and talented authors, many whom have "unmarketable" stories to tell. I'm so glad that we now have a platform where we can easily share our work.

I still think that there's a place for traditional publishing and I'm curious to see where it heads with ebooks growing more popular. I'm just thrilled that the Internet has provided writers, artists and musicians with so many thrilling opportunities.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now only 99 cents!

Book Recommendation: 6 Seconds Of Life

Being a writer is hard enough. Being an indie author is even tougher because we have to market ourselves. We don't have a publishing house behind us to arrange book tours and interviews, etc. And, as I'm learning, many book review blogs ignore indie authors and will only do write-ups on novels that are published the old-fashioned way.

In some ways, I can understand this. It's so easy to publish on Kindle that anyone can do it -- which inevitably means that there will be some terrible indie books out there. Hell, you may even think that BAND GEEK is one of them, but trust me, there's worse!

Anyway, I'm attempting to start a little project called "Project Pay It Forward." What I intend to do is select and read promising-sounding indie YA books. If I think they're must-reads, I'll post reviews on this site and Amazon. This way, I can help give some publicity to those talented authors who've decided to go solo. I may be only one person and I'm a tiny fish in a huge pond, but I'd like to do what I can. I'm hoping that other indie authors will join me and will help pay it forward by reading and reviewing other great indie books. I'm not asking them to necessarily take a look at mine -- though it would be nice!

The first book that I'd like to share with you is called 6 SECONDS OF LIFE and is by Tonya Fitzharris. In short, it's about a suicidal teen who flashes back on her life while jumping off a bridge. Before she takes that fateful last step, a stranger muses that it takes about six seconds until one hits the water ... hence the intriguing title.

This book blew me away. It was honest, raw and you really felt for the narrator, Maura. In a short time, she deals with her parents' marriage crumbling, a shaky relationship with her first boyfriend and a disastrous freshman year at college. All at lot to take in, especially for someone so young. At times, she was very unlikeable and many of her decisions were questionable. However, she was REAL. Though she was flawed, she was ultimately a good person and I rooted for her to finally come to her senses and look to the future. I really wanted her to succeed.

I especially liked the realistic way in which the author portrayed teen relationships and a not-so-great start to college. Personally, my freshman year at Binghamton sucked. In high school I was always told that things would "get better" in college and I longed for those years. When they didn't get better, and in fact got worse, it was hard to deal with. Fitzharris ably conveys how lost one can feel during this time.

My one minor quibble with the book is that there were a few typos and grammatical mistakes ... but that's another issue that indie writers have to deal with: not always having a professional editor on hand unless you want to shell out big bucks. Overall, thought, I was impressed with this story and encourage you to check it out!

Meantime, please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now on sale for only 99 cents!