Originally posted HERE
Nothing big here. I'm just writing the second book in the Parallel Worlds series. My goal is to make it shorter than the first book, since the first book was 100,000 words long.
I'm getting about 7 pages done a day, but I think I can increase that number. I'm very pleased with the storyline and with what I've written so far. I have about 30 pages of single-spaced notes, so I definitely know what direction I want to take the book. It's going to be a murder mystery of sorts. A lot of people did a double take at the end of my first book. I hope to have even greater surprises in book 2. The clues are all there. You just won't realize it until the end.
I just sent out almost 800 CDs to the World Fantasy Convention. Whew! What a project. And expensive. I hope it helps bring more attention to my series. I sent back the contract to Audible.com and SpokenNetwork.com. My audiobook should show up on those sites soon. Sony, on the other hand, is a never-ending battle. There's an error with the E-Book that they're trying to fix. I hope to see Paraworld Zero on the Sony Reader soon.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
BookExpo America 2008: Day 2
Originally posted HERE
Today I was invited to be interviewed by 3 radio stations. Several audiobook and ebook publishers showed interest in Paraworld Zero (some of them said they'd call me). About 4 movie producers showed some interest in my book (they each took a book, so that's something).
Several U.S. publishers showed great interest in my book. One publisher is owned by Disney and is thinking about doing YA books. Another promising independent publisher sought me out because they had seen my book everywhere (I guess they've been tracking its progress). I was impressed with the print runs and marketing dollars they are willing to spend. The president was very excited to meet me and left his booth to talk to me. Nice guy. Oh, the owner of Edge/Dragon Moon Press (largest sf/f publisher in Canada) stopped by. We've met several times. I really like him and his company. Too bad his publishing company doesn't do young adult novels.
A couple other publishers were extremely interested in my book, but they were too small for me to look at them seriously. I've plugged in so much money (well over $100,000) and time into promoting my book, that I won't sign with another publisher unless they give me a large advance to prove to me that they will back up my promotions and book. Ingram has placed 4 orders in the past 4 months and my current publisher hasn't fulfilled any of them.... grumble... grumble. In fact, a library invited me to speak a couple of weeks ago and they told me that they had ordered books 4 months ago and still hadn't received them. Grumble... grumble... But don't get me started on that.
On to happier things such as the last 5 minutes of the day. I mentioned to the person in the booth next to me that I hadn't seen a single agent all day, and then lo and behold an agent appeared at my booth. I read her name tag wrong and made a silly impression (she had to explain to me that she sold books to publishers), but I recovered quickly and she seemed interested in my book. She even told me that I am "a publisher's dream." I just did some research on her and she looks like the type of agent I'd like to have. I'm crossing my fingers double-time on that one. I have too much interest in my book with foreign and U.S. publishers for me to not have an agent. I will definitely pursue an agent when I get back home.
I was flattered today to hear that more people had already bought my book and enjoyed it. It's very satisfying when people mention that they've seen my ads, video trailer, or read my book. Over a dozen people specifically visited me today because they had been keeping track of my book and website. Several MySpace friends introduced themselves to me (how strange is that?!). I felt like I knew one of them so well, I even gave her a hug (she's from my home town). A whole bunch of teachers and librarians said they'd like me to visit their schools, and several people invited me to speak at book events. I have a ton of business cards to sort through.
I think I'll note lastly how impressed I've been with the people. Sometimes when I go to the science fiction or fantasy conventions I tend to see a few people who are a little strange, unkempt, and socially challenged, but at the BEA, I've seen mostly professional people. For example, I met a friend who modeled for her father's book. She and her aunt were so sweet. It brightened my day every time they came to say hi. These little social interactions made standing ALL DAY LONG more bearable. Just one more day to go...
Today I was invited to be interviewed by 3 radio stations. Several audiobook and ebook publishers showed interest in Paraworld Zero (some of them said they'd call me). About 4 movie producers showed some interest in my book (they each took a book, so that's something).
Several U.S. publishers showed great interest in my book. One publisher is owned by Disney and is thinking about doing YA books. Another promising independent publisher sought me out because they had seen my book everywhere (I guess they've been tracking its progress). I was impressed with the print runs and marketing dollars they are willing to spend. The president was very excited to meet me and left his booth to talk to me. Nice guy. Oh, the owner of Edge/Dragon Moon Press (largest sf/f publisher in Canada) stopped by. We've met several times. I really like him and his company. Too bad his publishing company doesn't do young adult novels.
A couple other publishers were extremely interested in my book, but they were too small for me to look at them seriously. I've plugged in so much money (well over $100,000) and time into promoting my book, that I won't sign with another publisher unless they give me a large advance to prove to me that they will back up my promotions and book. Ingram has placed 4 orders in the past 4 months and my current publisher hasn't fulfilled any of them.... grumble... grumble. In fact, a library invited me to speak a couple of weeks ago and they told me that they had ordered books 4 months ago and still hadn't received them. Grumble... grumble... But don't get me started on that.
On to happier things such as the last 5 minutes of the day. I mentioned to the person in the booth next to me that I hadn't seen a single agent all day, and then lo and behold an agent appeared at my booth. I read her name tag wrong and made a silly impression (she had to explain to me that she sold books to publishers), but I recovered quickly and she seemed interested in my book. She even told me that I am "a publisher's dream." I just did some research on her and she looks like the type of agent I'd like to have. I'm crossing my fingers double-time on that one. I have too much interest in my book with foreign and U.S. publishers for me to not have an agent. I will definitely pursue an agent when I get back home.
I was flattered today to hear that more people had already bought my book and enjoyed it. It's very satisfying when people mention that they've seen my ads, video trailer, or read my book. Over a dozen people specifically visited me today because they had been keeping track of my book and website. Several MySpace friends introduced themselves to me (how strange is that?!). I felt like I knew one of them so well, I even gave her a hug (she's from my home town). A whole bunch of teachers and librarians said they'd like me to visit their schools, and several people invited me to speak at book events. I have a ton of business cards to sort through.
I think I'll note lastly how impressed I've been with the people. Sometimes when I go to the science fiction or fantasy conventions I tend to see a few people who are a little strange, unkempt, and socially challenged, but at the BEA, I've seen mostly professional people. For example, I met a friend who modeled for her father's book. She and her aunt were so sweet. It brightened my day every time they came to say hi. These little social interactions made standing ALL DAY LONG more bearable. Just one more day to go...
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Old Newspaper Clippings of the Writing Contests I Won
Originally posted HERE
For the longest time I've been telling people that I won the first writing contest I had ever entered, which was the 2004 Writers Weekly contest (I won $300 for a story I wrote and edited in a matter of hours). Well... I've been going through some of my old things and found some newspaper clippings of me when I was in 8th grade. Looks like my comment of winning the first contest I had ever entered was a true statement, but the Writers Weekly contest wasn't the first contest I had entered.
I had totally forgotten this, but I had entered and won a few contests back in 1989/1990 when I was in 8th grade. That's when I started writing my first book "The Sorcerer's Wand" (which I never completed) and later "Parallel Worlds" (which ended up becoming "Paraworld Zero"). Here are the newspaper clippings. Click on each of them to see the whole article.
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For the longest time I've been telling people that I won the first writing contest I had ever entered, which was the 2004 Writers Weekly contest (I won $300 for a story I wrote and edited in a matter of hours). Well... I've been going through some of my old things and found some newspaper clippings of me when I was in 8th grade. Looks like my comment of winning the first contest I had ever entered was a true statement, but the Writers Weekly contest wasn't the first contest I had entered.
I had totally forgotten this, but I had entered and won a few contests back in 1989/1990 when I was in 8th grade. That's when I started writing my first book "The Sorcerer's Wand" (which I never completed) and later "Parallel Worlds" (which ended up becoming "Paraworld Zero"). Here are the newspaper clippings. Click on each of them to see the whole article.
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