Category: Writer-y Stuff

A Shadow in Sundown is here!

My first novella has finally made it onto Amazon, after many months of delays!  You can find A Shadow in Sundown (ebook only so far) here.

I also have an Amazon author page now, which I’ve added to my About section.  You can look at that little gem here.

After a lot of back and forth, I decided to enroll in KDP Select.  I had hoped to roll everything out on a variety of platforms (I still can with the paperback, when I get that darn cover done), but then I read this very persuasive article from Draft2Digital about exclusive vs. wide marketing.  (Lot of links in this post, aren’t there!)

In a nutshell, they suggested giving exclusive publishing rights a go, at least for a single term, for authors with less than 3 titles.  That’s me!  And the free promotion that comes with being an ebook exclusive to Amazon could be a real help.  At least I hope so.

Anyway, I now have 90 days to focus on my writing.  And my new four-legged friend.  And my family and the holidays and…you get the picture!

Oh, yeah, and Princess Disasterface, too.  It’s coming back shortly, I promise!

So cheers to you, dear reader, and boo to all the things that take us away from whatever is most precious to each of us!

-CKB

Self-publishing A Shadow in Sundown

My new novella is almost here!  In ebook form anyway.  A Shadow in Sundown (Book One of the Open World Quartet) will be released on Amazon first.

So what’s next?  Paperback, promotion stuff, adding the book to other retailers…it’s overwhelming at times but I’m looking forward to it, too.  I’ve been trying to get this together since the summer, was sure it would happen in November and…well, here we are.  Almost at the end of the year!

A Shadow in Sundown has an even longer history than that, though.  Looking back at old files, I think this story started 8 years ago.

What I remember is that I wrote it quickly, and that I had no idea to do with it next.  It wasn’t long enough to submit to a literary agent–not by a long shot.  I brainstormed ways to make it into a longer book, tried to expand on it, tried to add perspectives of new characters and continue the story.  Nothing quite worked.

Years later, I realized, Oh.  I write novellas.

After that, some of the writing problems I’d struggled with for ages started to make sense.  But there was one new problem: unknown authors rarely get novellas or short story collections published.  So when it was time to do something with this story that started so long ago, I had to learn how to become an indie author and self-publish.

I do wish novellas were more common today.  It’s true that some of my favorite books are uncommonly brief (like The Buddha in the Attic, or The Whale Rider), but in today’s market a standard word count range, for a first-time novelist, is generally very important.  (Journals are also an option.  You can read a little bit about literary journals in yesterday’s post, Goodbye to Glimmer Train.)  So for this, for me, self-publishing was king.

And here we are.  (And here we go!)

I’ll be sharing more about A Shadow in Sundown in the coming days.  I hope you’ll take a look.

Oh, and Princess Disasterface will be coming back soon, too!  I’d say in the next week or so.  As always, stay tuned, and thanks for reading.

Cheers!

-CKB

Goodbye to Glimmer Train

Not another one!

I recently found out that the short story publication I always wanted to get into is no more.  It’s sad but true: some of the best literary journals are gone.  The end of Glimmer Train is a loss especially close to my heart, which says a lot, since they rejected my work a whole bunch of times.

I started out writing literary short fiction (under another name).  Like a lot of foolish and optimistic young writers I shopped around for a journal I “felt comfortable with.”  That was Glimmer Train, and over the years I just kept trying, both by working on my craft and periodically submitting a story.  There was something about them I just craved to be a part of, like a really good book whose world you just wanted to dive into.

Submitting your work is scary and frustrating, and it’s also true that you don’t get a professional reply every time (if you get any at all!).  It’s a competitive world, and it’s not the writers’ fault.  But read a lot of the advice out there and you’d think every burden is on them.  (Either that or you’re just moments away from publication, if only you take this advice.)  It’s a business, and the truth is that sometimes you just don’t get the job.

It hurt less with Glimmer Train, though.  In fact, it was almost nice.  They made a kinder, gentler world for everyone who submitted.  Replies were always courteous and encouraging.  Submission deadlines were never hard.  Their newsletters contained free advice from writers who’d made it.  And they always, always replied.

What also made Glimmer Train so special is that they paid authors they published (I mean really paid).  It was a set payment for publication ($700, when I was submitting), not pennies per word or in copies.  Plenty of first-time authors made it onto their pages, too.  They weren’t just a respected journal; they respected all writers.  Heck, they even encouraged them.

Glimmer Train’s last issues are out after 29 years of publishing.  I know it will be a lot worse for aspiring writers without them.

Cheers to you, Glimmer Train!  I’d say you’ll be missed, but you are already.

PS: Their web content and all its wisdom (including Writers Ask and their Resources for Writers) will still be available for at least the next year.