Friday, June 26, 2015

Book Publishing Secrets with Gabriel Valjan, Author of the 'Roma' Suspense Series

Book Title: Turning To Stone
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller
Thank you for your time in answering our questions about getting published.  Let’s begin by having you explain to us why you decided to become an author and pen this book?
Author: Gabriel Valjan
Is this your first book?
Gabriel: Turning To Stone is Book 4 of the Roma Series from Winter Goose Publishing and available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble in paperback and digital formats.
Some background for readers: Bianca started work as an analyst at a time when legislation against white-collar crimes was lacking in the U.S., so she is recruited for her hacker and pattern-recognition skills. After the initial excitement wears off, she realizes that many of the subjects of her investigations end up dead. Fearing for her life, she flees to Italy, assumes a new identity, and attempts to live a normal life. She falls in love and develops a circle of friends, who happen to do work similar to the kind that she had done in the U.S., but within her adopted country’s law enforcement agency, the Guardia di Finanza. A computer correspondent named Loki contacts her on occasion and feeds her challenges.
Bianca is in Naples for Turning To Stone. Loki, her mysterious contact, is now giving her baffling anagrams. They seem to lead to a charismatic entrepreneur who has a plan to partner with organized crime to manipulate the euro and American dollar. Against a backdrop of gritty streets, financial speculation, and a group of female assassins on motorcycles, Bianca and her friends discover that Naples might just be the most dangerous city in Italy.
With this particular book, how did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you choose this method?
Gabriel: Winter Goose Publisher is a small, but growing, indie press in California, with titles in a variety of genres in fiction and poetry. WGP had published Roma Series Book 1: Roma, Underground in 2012 and remains my publisher and supporter.
Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey?  The pros and cons?
Gabriel: I started writing in 2008 when I was between jobs. In 2010, I started getting published, with one notable accomplishment: being short-listed for the Fish Prize, a prestigious literary award in Ireland. While I continued to write short stories, winning an award from ZOUCH for a flash fiction piece, I started writing novels. The genesis of the Roma Series was a challenge from a colleague to write a compelling, but flawed, female protagonist.
Alabaster/Bianca came into existence, with Roma, Underground written between September and November of 2010, submitted to Winter Goose Publishing in 2011 and published in 2012. I continued writing novels, three more of which WGP published, and I had anthologies and publishers accept more of my short stories.
I count my blessings that I did not languish for years before I was published. I’m grateful that my publisher has been both gracious and supportive, allowing me a say in editing and cover-art design. Cons, if there are any, have to do with doing my own PR and social media. I’m somewhat introverted and reserved so I had to cultivate an outgoing persona. It is important to remain positive and patient since there are so many authors out there, so many books, and it takes time to develop a readership.
What lessons do you feel you learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing industry as a whole?
Gabriel: In terms of social media, I follow Kristen Lamb’s 80/20-Rule in that I tweet or discuss what is important to me 80% of the time, and promote myself 20% of the time. I usually don’t do more than three tweets a day, and I never DM or automate messages to folks on Twitter to buy or read my books. I mention writers and other artists I like for good karma. I avoid trolls, as they are best left under bridges unfed. I understand (and accept) that not everybody will like my books, or that readers may not leave reviews, but it is important to remain positive when I feel as if my voice has the range of a kitten’s meow in the wilderness; it’s a big world out there in publishing, but I have four tangible books to hold in my hands and a growing body of blog posts and short stories out there with publishers.
Would you recommend this method of publishing to other authors?
Gabriel: A small press has its up and down sides. The positive side that I have experienced is having a greater say in how my book will appear to readers. In addition to my own editorial process, which includes a proofreader, a cultural editor, since my book involves a foreign culture, and a line-editor, I have two editors at Winter Goose whom I have found to be receptive and congenial. The design process for the book cover has been collaborative. I am not a graphic designer or artist, but I have a grasp of my story and ideas do come to me, and Winter Goose has listened, taking what I say and creating compelling covers for the Roma Series.
What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?
Gabriel: Stay positive. Don’t be discouraged. Keep writing and hone your craft such that each story and every novel improves for your loyal readers and the future readers who will discover you.



Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Name: R.M.Cartmel
Genre: Mystery/Crime
Publisher: Crime Scene Books
Thank you for your time in answering our questions about getting published.  Let’s begin by having you explain to us why you decided to become an author and pen this book?
Author: I had recently retired from my main job, and the last thing I wanted to happen was for me to go moldy in some corner. I have always played at writing since I was a teenager, so I thought I would give it a go. So waving goodbye to the medical profession, I set off to the part of France I wanted to set my book in in order to go and do some research.
Is this your first book?
Author: No Charlemagne is the second of what is at the very least a trilogy. The first book, The Richebourg Affair was the adventure. Charlemagne is the sequel and the third book is called The Romanée Vintage. I had more or less decided to create the three right at the beginning, with Richebourg set in the spring, Charlemagne set in high summer, and Romanée being set, as the title says, during the vintage. It is a mystery series set in among the wine-making community in Burgundy. Being a fairly avid reader of fiction, I was surprised to be unable to find any fiction set there either in French or in English, and therefore I decided to create some.
With this particular book, how did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you choose this method?
Author: It is a Small Press Publication. And like so much about Richebourg and Charlemagne, I didn’t choose it, it chose me. Richebourg was a fairly stream of consciousness novel, and there were times that I had wandered so far off the point that I had lost the plot altogether. There were times when the plot and the characters and I nearly came to blows. When it finally came together in some sort of coherent form, I then knew, that before I even thought about attempting to get it published, it needed a damn good going over by someone else. It needed editing. The first contact I made with a firm who had best remain nameless, but they advertised on the internet, and I contacted them. Twenty four and a half hours later, the half hour was ear-bending on the telephone, and the person on the other end was telling me all about how he and his firm were going to arrange the film rights for my book, which I had yet to tell him anything about. He was also telling me how much I was going to be paying for the whole thing.
At that point I ended talking to a very old friend on the phone, who told me all about this editor her husband had been in communication with about a project of his own. This sounded more like it. I met Sarah Williams in Woodstock, and she offered to look at the book and see if she could do anything with it. Well over the next 6 months we knocked the thing into shape.
Her next tip was to go to Crimefest in Bristol, and meet all the people who were there. My socks were blown off! There were all those people whose photos I had seen on the back covers of the books that I had read. I also pitched my book to a couple of agents. They both liked the pitch enough to ask to read the whole thing. One of them came back fairly rapidly with a thanks but no thanks response, and the other went very quiet. Meanwhile I started working on Charlemagne, as that part of the season was now happening in Burgundy, and it was that time of year to do the research. I spent most of that summer in Burgundy talking to winemakers and police, and in the autumn I was writing the book.
Meanwhile the agent was still silent. I wasn’t hopeful as there was no reply from my, admittedly very polite e-mails.
By the end of the year the first draft of Charlemagne, which was a much easier book to write, and it too pretty much wrote itself, but behaved considerably better. In due course it reached Sarah.
At this point I went to Monterey CA for its Left Coast Crime festival, and ended up talking to Sue Grafton. She advised me not to sit around waiting for this agent to happen, but to become excited. I also enlisted my editor to try to get a response from the Agent.
We finally got a response saying ‘No’. Fair enough, sad it had taken that long.
Some three months before, Sarah, my editor, had already suggested that she would like to publish Richebourg. She had already worked in publishing for a number of years, and was just in the process of starting up her own publishing house focusing exclusively on crime fiction. She very much wanted my books to be among the first on her list. After some thought, I finally said yes. And she now had two books to hand, with a third on the way. Monterey had produced two other people in the plot. Jeffrey Siger had offered to read Richebourg and see whether he was able to write a blurb, and also I ran into Maryglenn McCombs, a publicist, when someone wandered in off the street brandishing a manuscript. When I turned round and explained to him that that wasn’t quite the way you did it, of course my very English vowels stood out. And she was also given a copy of an early edit of Richebourg on a memory stick.
Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey?  The pros and cons?
Author: We had worked on Richebourg awhile so the next step was the copy editing, and then typesetting, while the maps were drawn and the covers were designed. The covers were designed for all three books at once. At the end of July 2014 Richebourg was on the street. Thereafter I have been at conferences on both sides of the Atlantic, or on one occasion, when I lost my passport over here, so I never got to Killer Nashville last year. I have little idea whether being the ‘missing author from Britain’ helped or hindered my place in the market.
What lessons do you feel you learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing industry as a whole?
Author: It takes a very long time and a lot of effort to be discovered. Never consider JK Rowling was an overnight success. I have no illusions that I will write a ‘Bestseller’ but those who have read what I have written tell me that they have liked what I wrote. They like the story, and also the lessons about wine and how Burgundy works that are built into the books.
Would you recommend this method of publishing to other authors?
Author: It really depends on whether you can survive without advances. I have a reasonable income from my medical pension, and therefore I don’t need money from the book to put food on the table or cover my living expenses. I hope one day for this situation to become more interesting. On the other hand, working with a small publisher, I am in much closer touch with what is going on. Everyone involved in the whole project is someone I have come to know well. I have talked to some authors who have told me that they send an e-mail to their agents about something or other, and a couple of months later that agent gets back to them … That I would find seriously irritating. On the other hand the larger publishing houses have bigger budgets if they do decide to back you.
What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?
Author: Firstly, write what you want to write. Then be prepared to let it go. Like a child, a book must be allowed to spread its wings, and the first person must be an editor to see what they can make of it.

Purchase the book on Amazon!

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Book Publishing Secrets with Terry Jackman, Author of 'Ashamet, Desert-Born'

Genre: Fantasy Adventure
Thank you for your time in answering our questions about getting published.  Let’s begin by having you explain to us why you decided to become an author and pen this book?
Terry: Deciding to write wasn’t a conscious decision; I needed to write, though for a long time I let other things get in the way. Eventually I took the leap – and took a writing course, the idea being to find out if I could write anything actually worth reading. I recall being disappointed when it began with articles rather than fiction, but hey, I followed instructions and wrote three articles – and promptly sold them all. So I became a writer almost despite myself.
I didn’t really ‘decide’ to become an author either. I got trapped into writing articles for another ten years. When I did turn to fiction I soon realized SF and fantasy were where I felt at home, but Ashamet himself stepped into my head, fully formed, when I was feeling cross about a writer who made powerful characters idiots, to make a poor plot work.
Ashamet made it clear from day one; whatever else he might turn out to be, it wouldn’t be stupid.
Is this your first book?
Terry: My debut, yes. It’s very exciting, and very scary waiting to hear how readers react. Especially now we’re being told, so loudly, that we females shouldn’t dare write SF or fantasy at all. While as for muscular warrior heroes who are attracted to… other males? I suspect I’m being modelled in wax somewhere out there J
With this particular book, how did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you choose this method?
Terry: Ashamet is published by an up and coming American publisher specialising in original fantasy. Perfect. I wouldn’t have self-published, not from any elitist attitude but because for me finding out if someone out there loves it enough to bet on it is part of the validation process. Just as being paid for my articles was my proof they were good enough.
Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey?  The pros and cons?
Terry: The first publisher I talked to held onto the script for a year. The second said it was “too difficult to market”. Ouch. I knew it wasn’t a familiar concept, but I’d stupidly thought that might be a good thing.
Happily the third was Dragonwell Publishing, who heard about it from a third party and asked to see it and after that it was a ball. I’d heard some harrowing stories about editors and publishers but mine were involved and helpful, and my editor makes me laugh! So far I couldn’t have had more fun.
What lessons do you feel you learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing industry as a whole?
Terry: Comparing my experience with others, I’ve learned finding the right editor or publisher is very important, sometimes worth thinking twice before signing. Although I think most are genuine. Certainly, judging by the British Scifi community there are a lot of friendly people out there, from publishers to readers. If I don’t know more of them it’s more my fault than theirs; my own diffidence is the biggest barrier. But I have stopped being quite such a coward. If people speak to me I can speak back now.
Would you recommend this method of publishing to other authors?
Terry: I’d say yes, go for it, as long as you find a home for your book that’s as comfortable as mine?
What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?
Terry: obvious bits of commonsense, really. Don’t even think about trying to get published until you’ve:
1: finished the book
2: got informed feedback on it from a pro editor or a suitable critique group. (General fiction groups don’t count for genre. Family and friends don’t count, full stop)
3: done some serious reassessing and rewriting.
Still, while you’re busy with all that at least you can get to know your genre. Read, a lot. Attend conventions, listen to panels, join in. Research how and where you should best submit your script and choose only those who are likely to be interested in exactly what you’ve written. And always, always, follow the guidelines.
I wish anyone setting off down that road luck, because they will need it. And just think, if they are lucky they too could end up shaking in their shoes as they wait to see if people like what they’ve written!