Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Beware the Distribution Arms if You're in KU

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I know I'm late, but I'm HERE, and that's what matters. My schedule fell on its head today. haha! But still managing to make time to get in here and blog. Today, I'm going to talk about something that happened to a friend of mine. We can all learn from it, so get your coffee and let's get going!

So, for a long while, my friend had her books wide (being distributed to all vendors everywhere). She decided to pull her books from wide and go all in with Amazon KDP Select. This enrolled her stories in Kindle Unlimited automatically, and she started getting paid by the Global Fund pot for pages read.

Everything was going fine for a good, long time, until one day, she discovered her titles had been pulled from Select. There was no email telling her why. Nothing.

She freaked out (wouldn't you?).

You see, this friend of mine is always on the up and up. She's done everything by the book and to the letter of the rules. So, when this happened, she was completely taken aback.

After a LOT of digging around, she discovered those titles that had been pulled to go into Select were available via one of the distribution arms of a popular distributor.

No, I'm not going to say which one. That's not what this post is about. I'm just issuing a warning here and showing you how you might want to delve more deeply if you're pulling from wide distro to go into Select.

Let's move on.

These books weren't pirated. Amazon doesn't yank your books for that. They were legitimate arms of distributors that simply neglected to remove a title that was no longer available.

Needless to say, she's still fighting it. No one at Amazon will get back in touch with her, and last I heard, she was planning to reach out to the distributor to see if they could help.

But the damage is, sadly, done. Her royalties for pages read have come to a screeching halt, and she doesn't know when or if she'll be able to get back into Select. When Amazon bans you, it's usually for at least a year.

So, there's one situation to be hyper aware of. If you pull your books from wide, be sure you check everywhere before clicking the "Enroll this book in KDP Select" button. She thought she did, and it's really messing up her money right now.

Have you heard of something like this? Anything strange happen to you?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Being Put in Impossible Situations

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Well, the kidlings here in Ga are back in school, and that means Mommy can finally concentrate on things she needs to do without interruptions. While my child is good about not coming into my office when she knows I'm working, she's still a kid. Sometimes, she just can't help herself. But yay to being back on track. This post isn't about all that, however. Today, I'm going to talk about something I hate: being put in an impossible situation. Ready? Let's get going.

My definition of an impossible situation, for purposes of this post, is one where if I do one thing, I look like an ass, and if I do the other, I compromise my core values, allow myself to be deeply hurt or disappointed, or let people take advantage of me. Either way, as you can see, it's lose/lose. As you read, keep that in mind.


I've had sessions with counselors in which I'm told I have a very good sense of self-awareness, but that I need to be firmer with people. I should tell them when they hurt or disappoint me. For example: I know what it was that hurt me and why, but I can't bring myself to address it with someone else because I'm afraid of hurting them even though they've hurt me already. Oftentimes, I find myself commiserating with characters I see in movies that do stupid stuff, those folks that no one but me seems to understand, and I end up feeling badly for them.

Why is this?

Well, while talking out a situation one time, it was pointed out that I'm a giver with a very high core value of integrity, and while I never believed I expected anything in return, that wasn't quite the case.

I believed that if I gave and was honest, I would get loyalty in return. Now, loyalty isn't friendship. A true friend is there because they genuinely like the person you are and respect you. Loyalty, however, can be earned and independent of friendship. Someone who is loyal doesn't necessarily have to like you.

I hold people to a very high standard of behavior that includes respect of me and my time along with a few other things I have a hard time compromising on.

Let me clarify: I don't do things so people do things in return for me. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying I give, and what I want in return is respect, thoughtfulness, and to not be put in impossible situations.

Here's one:
My son tells a friend they can stay over before asking me. I just took the kid all over town for school shopping, and I have three other kids in the house besides him. I'm just not in the mood to deal with someone else's child. I say no. He stands there and begs me, says he already invited the kid, and begs me some more. For every no, he has a reason it will work out, and he refuses to call the kid and tell them they can't come.

Okay, now I'm in an impossible situation. 1. ) I can either call the kid's parents and tell them the kid can't come, or 2. ) I can give in and be miserable all night. Several things eat at me about both of those options (please know I realize we'll all react differently to these things--these are my opinions and feelings--they may not make sense to you): 1. ) This option makes me look like a terrible parent (an ass) who can't keep their kids under control and it disappoints another child who might have been looking forward to something. It also has the likelihood of ruining the other set of parents plans they may have made with the expectation their child would be gone for the night. 2. ) If I give in to my kid, I reinforce that he can beg and get his way. Worse, I allow him to have control over me. I would be tired and grumpy, and I'd have yet another mouth to feed, another kid to clean up after, and another someone in my house (this alone causes me stress).

There are so many of these examples that I could throw down here, but I'm not going into all that. Today, I'm trying to get you to think about yourself and maybe even your characters' situations. It can be cathartic to write about people who behave in a different manner than you, but be careful to dig deeply and show why the character is the way they are to your reader. If you'd just read the beginning, without understanding why I reacted the way I did, you probably would've said that you'd stick to your no and be done with it. Hell, maybe you'd still say that. But this is showing you what it might be like via the inner turmoil of another.

I hate disappointing people or making them feel badly about something they've done. I also can't stand being selfish. It eats at me. So, when it comes to me standing up for myself, oftentimes, folks have no idea they've hurt me--even when it's deeply--because I move forward and pretend like everything is okay (this is especially true if they can't see me--if they can, they'll see the tears, but I'll insist everything is fine unless pushed, and then I tend to explode because I'm trying really hard to keep it under control--lose/lose) or I end up just ignoring them because I know I'll hurt their feelings if I say something.

My issue is that I expect other people to be as careful with my feelings as I am with theirs. This is what I refer to as loyalty.

I'm working on it.

What are yours? What do you think of the above? Do you have this issue? Do any of your characters? How did you show it?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Monday, July 31, 2017

A Book that Went Askew

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. It's back to the grind today, but no worries! This post is lighthearted and fun. I'm gonna talk about some characters that pushed me around and took my story in a different direction than I'd planned. Ready? Grab your coffee or tea, and let's get going!

I spent the weekend revising the first half of Utterances (you can read an excerpt here). I'm at 30k words now, and I have about 30k more to write. I like to take a pause at this point in a novel and re-read to make sure everything is flowing as it should, details aren't regurgitated, and my timeline works. Also, I check to make sure my loose outline is moving forward as it should.

Needless to say, I found a few holes.

Once I'd gotten them filled in, I took a minute to build a timeline I'll be able to send to my editor so she can double check me. Everything was flowing smoothly, and then I whipped out my suggested chapter outline that I wrote at the beginning of May.

It was off by nearly six chapters! Several of the things I'd planned never happened, and many more have yet to happen. My characters dictated where the story was going, and they took it over, making it their own.

Why?

Because there are things I can't outline--like how a character will show who they are and what their core values (those things they refuse to bend on) are. Sometimes, a character needs a moment to overreact to something, and I hadn't planned it in advance. That's when my books take on a life of their own.

So, I threw my original plan out and jotted down a new one. Still the same ending, I'm just taking a different path to get there.

Right now, I'm figuring I'll introduce you to my MC and her supporting cast. SURPRISE! Check it out! Images are how I picture them in my head.

Name: Simone Alice Bookhart
Age: 18
Height: 5' 7"
Career: Cashier at grocery store
Great quote: “I know, and I love you for trying. But I had to be my own grownup around here, and I’ve changed in ways I can’t explain.”


Name: Tristan Joseph Cardre
Age: 22
Height: 5' 11"
Career: Runs one of the family restaurants & college student studying business management
Great quote: “I didn’t do anything! I just asked her if she wanted to order, and she went all cavewoman on me.”

These two have a lot of hurdles to leap over, but I think y'all are gonna like Tristan. He's as much of a hot mess as Simone is. Together, I think they're incredible.

What do you think? Looking forward to getting to know them?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Friday, July 28, 2017

Friday Funday Part Four

Happy Friday, everyone! So, I used to do this awesome thing called Friday Funday. It's all about authorly word games or writing games you can play alone or with friends and family. If you'd like to check out past posts, click these links: Friday Funday, Friday Funday Part Two, Friday Funday Part Three. Keeping with the theme, I'm gonna do one today! These are all about observation to revise your work in progress. Get your brain ready, and let's get going!

Game #1 - Acting Crazy for Revisions (3+ players)
Use your phone or computer camera. Set it up so it can capture the area and hit record. Pick a scene from your work in progress, and read it aloud while the other people in the room act it out. You now have a live visual to draw description from. Pay attention to facial expressions and movements when you're revising the scene. You can also just do it for fun with a book you've read to see if other people picture it the same way you do. Costumes are optional, but fun.

Game #2 - What Happens Next? (3+ players)
Pick a scene from a book and read the first part. Players in the room act out what they think happens next. Whichever one is correct wins candy (or some other little prize). Who knows? If you're the author, you may revise the scene to make it fit what they acted out rather than what you've written. *grin*

Game #3 - Where am I? (2+ players)
Again, choose a scene (or two) and leave out any location details. Read the scene aloud, and let the other person/people guess where you might be. Have them tell you what they think the location looks like. This one can get pretty fun if you have imaginative friends.

Game #4 - Internet Meme Search (1+ players)
I find this one fun because you can do it yourself. Take a 2-4 word phrase from a book, add the words "meme" and your first name to the end, and type it in the search bar of your favorite engine. Choose image, and have fun laughing. In a group, whoever comes up with the funniest one wins a small prize.

I hope these provide you with a ton of laughs this weekend.

If you try any, come leave me a note to let me know how it goes!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Thursday, July 27, 2017

What's in Your Media Kit?

Happy Thursday, everyone! Look at me go with the blog. *grin* I told you, scheduling is everything. If you stick to it, right? Plus, this gives me an excellent warmup to writing. I've been like a tsunami of getting stuff done. It feels awesome. As of next week, the kiddo goes back to school, too, so I have a feeling Utterances will be done sooner than I expected. But that's not why we're here today, is it? No. You're wondering what you should put in your author (or book) media kit, right? Awesome. Let's get going.

When I was launching Emancipation, I had a company create me a media kit for the book. It looks like this (first page only):


You can see from the image what all it includes. I won't post the excerpt page here because of language, and because this blog is PG-13, but I'll put up the rest so you can see.





If I'd had editorial reviews of the book at the time, they would've included a page for those, too.

Now, an author media kit includes much of the same, but you'd want a page in there with all your social media links, any bestseller lists you've hit, and any awards you've won. It's a brag packet, and you should showcase everything that's awesome about yourself.

Why is it so hard for people to grasp that authors are a little bit vain? We have to champion ourselves at every turn, don't we? Moving on...

If you make your media kit look professional, you'll be taken much more seriously. Add it to your website for folks to download, too. Sometimes, people want to know more, and this is a great way to give them what they're after. Final document should be in PDF format.

I'll be creating one of these for myself (author media kit) and for a couple of other projects I'm working on. Why not? They're handy! I hope this post helped in some way!

Do you have a media kit for yourself or your book(s)? Planning on making one?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Happy UNBirthday to You! With a Giveaway!

Happy Wednesday, everyone! EEK! OMG I'm totally forty-years-old today. :O Funny, but I don't feel like I'm forty; at least, I don't feel the way I thought someone who's forty should feel. Anywayyyyy, today, because I love to do this, I'm giving YOU ALL a chance at a gift.

Ready? Get your entry clicking fingers ready, and let's get going!

About the prizes up for grabs today:

PAPERBACK of War and Pieces ~ Frayed Fairy Tales - Season 8

Here's the full wrap cover:



AMAZON GIFT CARD - $20

ONE lucky person will win BOTH prizes!

Here's the rafflecopter:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

May the odds be ever in your favor!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Dark Bishop Sale Blitz


Title: Dark Bishop
Author: C.L. Bond & Rachael Brownell
Genre: Dark Romance
Hosted by: Lady Amber’s PR
Blurb:
A dangerous game has begun.
Sydney. Her skin felt as soft as it looked. I shouldn’t have touched her, but I couldn’t help myself. I’ve been to New Orleans dozens upon dozens of times. It’s a unique city, filled with tourists and superstition. And until tonight, I’d never been superstitious.
An old fortuneteller freak stopped me on the way to the diner and said I would make a decision that would change my path. She didn’t know that I’d walked the path to this very restaurant before. It had been a few years.
Who knew that the decision to return would be blessed with a beauty—five foot six with curves in all the right mouth-watering places. Clothed in cheap polyester, stained with God only knew what, Sydney was a vision. Blonde hair to her waist. Big brown doe eyes. I could almost taste her.
In his game, everyone’s a pawn…
I didn’t miss the rumble of her stomach when I asked her to dine with us. She was hungry. Something that flashed in those eyes told me it wasn’t because she just skipped lunch today. Maybe I could meet some of her needs. Forget that. I could definitely meet her needs, but it was up to her to let me. So, I left her my business card, my number.
Girls like Sydney, they’re afraid. They never make the first move. Most never even make the second. I doubt she’d call. I’d tipped her well, not because she was the best waitress I’d ever had, not even because she was within my sites. I tipped her so that when I came back to the diner, she would remember me. She would want to serve me.
And, oh, would she ever serve me. I just have to play my cards right.
…and he’s never lost a game.
Dark Bishop is unsuitable for those under the age of eighteen due to adult language and situations.
Award-winning author Casey L. Bond resides in Milton, West Virginia with her husband and their two beautiful daughters. When she’s not busy being a domestic goddess and chasing her baby girls, she loves to write young adult and new adult fiction. You can find more information about Bond’s books via the following links: 
Rachael Brownell is the author of both YA and NA Romance. Her titles are available on all platforms. If you would like to know more about Rachael or her work, she is active on most social media sites or you can always drop her an email. She loves to hear from readers.
Author Links:
Buy Link: