Exciting things have been happening in my writing world this spring. Thanks to some hometown networking by my mom I now have a booth rented and book signing scheduled at the Dairy Festival July 9-11 in Elsie, MI, which is one town over from where I grew up and where my dad and grandparents are still remembered. I'm planning on offering paperback copies of The Rogue Queen for sale as well as giving away postcards with information on the e-book and the upcoming release of novel #2, titled For Two Cents I'll Go With You. I was able to easily reformat TRQ's blurb to put on the back of a copy of the book cover, and I delivered the props for Two Cents' cover art to Jordan, who has again graciously agreed to help me by creating the cover. I bought a WWI hat, a Red Cross armband, and a two cent coin on eBay to use on the cover. The coin is going to be hard to incorporate due to its size but I have complete faith in Jordan's abilities. She did such an awesome job with my first cover; I can't wait to see how the second one turns out! And it'll be exciting doing some marketing for my books.
I've also been working somewhat erratically on Two Cents' translation, erratically because it's the end of the school year and life is correspondingly busy. There's also been a learning curve. I normally don't have too much difficulty expressing myself in French, but translation is a particular skill. In the end the Larousse website and Linguee.com have become my go-to sites. Still, it's a slow process. I'm glad I didn't wait until June to start, as it's taking about an hour a page. I hope to improve on that now that I can work on it every day. I've also handed over the pages I've already finished to a French-speaking friend for her input. That, too, will help me learn what I need to do because I'm sure I'm making mistakes on every page. Still, writing is a process. You have to get words on the page. So, back to the desk!
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Saturday, April 4, 2015
On Translation
With one novel published and another waiting in the wings, what's an author to do? Why, learn to translate, of course! Although it might seem a whimsical choice, I did spend quite a bit of time mulling it over before deciding to tackle it. In the first place, my second novel is set against the backdrop of World War I and takes place mostly in France. As a French teacher with years of language study under my belt I thought it could be a good way to learn something about the language while exploring a new revenue stream. After all, French is the most widely spoken language around the world. I did consider translating The Rogue Queen since it's my first novel but not knowing how to handle various dialects and levels of language gave me pause, as did the novel's length (140,000 words vs. 37,400 for the second).
With that, I did what every good researcher does--I went looking for books that would help. I bought two. Stylistique comparée du français et de l'anglais by Vinay & Darbelnet arrived first, and I've been slogging through it. A lot of it is stuff I already know, expressed in heavy-duty academe-speak. I did learn the official distinction between futur simple and futur proche, which is good to know, and I picked up a few other pointers, but I'm waiting on Le Guide anglais-français de la traduction to arrive from Amazon.fr before putting pen to paper. I don't know how or indeed if this is going to work. Having received my fair share of negative reviews in English, I can only imagine what might happen if I try publishing in something other than my native tongue. The French have been known to verbally flay those who have the temerity to make grammatical gaffes when speaking. It does give me pause, although I plan to ask one or several francophone friends to read it through before publishing. Hopefully they'll catch the mistakes I'm bound to make.
I'm going to publish novel #2 in November, in time for Veterans Day. With any luck I'll have both the English and the French versions ready to go. And in between time I'll be researching for novel #3! Allons-y!
With that, I did what every good researcher does--I went looking for books that would help. I bought two. Stylistique comparée du français et de l'anglais by Vinay & Darbelnet arrived first, and I've been slogging through it. A lot of it is stuff I already know, expressed in heavy-duty academe-speak. I did learn the official distinction between futur simple and futur proche, which is good to know, and I picked up a few other pointers, but I'm waiting on Le Guide anglais-français de la traduction to arrive from Amazon.fr before putting pen to paper. I don't know how or indeed if this is going to work. Having received my fair share of negative reviews in English, I can only imagine what might happen if I try publishing in something other than my native tongue. The French have been known to verbally flay those who have the temerity to make grammatical gaffes when speaking. It does give me pause, although I plan to ask one or several francophone friends to read it through before publishing. Hopefully they'll catch the mistakes I'm bound to make.
I'm going to publish novel #2 in November, in time for Veterans Day. With any luck I'll have both the English and the French versions ready to go. And in between time I'll be researching for novel #3! Allons-y!
Saturday, February 14, 2015
On Reviews
As of today, The Rogue Queen has been live on Amazon for just over a month, selling over 200 copies. I've gotten five reader reviews there and five on GoodReads (also owned by Amazon). Most of my reviews have been positive, but I've gotten three negative reviews. As a newcomer to the publishing business, I've been trying to come to grips with that, especially when the reviews seem unfair.
The first negative review claimed I hadn't done my research. That made me laugh, as I spent quite literally hundreds of hours digging up details on clothing, fabrics, colors, food, pastimes, human armor, horse armor, hairstyles, theology, songs, maps of London and Paris, not to mention the history behind Isabelle's story in both primary and secondary sources. I was very careful to avoid anachronism not only in the story but also in my characters' speech. Full disclosure: I did use the word "explode" twice in a 140,000-word novel even though it would not have been in their vernacular. I tried but I couldn't find a way around it. Likewise, I made carefully reasoned choices about the characters as I told the story. For example, I moved one character's birth up a season and another character was childless because it worked better. This was upsetting to at least one reviewer but I don't think I need to make excuses for those kinds of decisions. TRQ is, after all, fiction.
I'm having more trouble with reviewers criticizing the way my characters speak, saying it isn't "authentic to the period". Again, I made a conscious choice to have my characters speak in a natural way. I didn't want to write Ivanhoe, nor did I want to create a weird mashup the bloggers call "speaking forsoothly". I wanted my characters to sound like real people. James B. Shannon opined about an excerpt from Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom: "It derives its authenticity from its context. It contains names, activities, and values authentic to the period. The language seems less important. Cornwell’s world-building has already put us in the period and he is simply using the dialogue to reinforce what we already imagine. This type of writing puts more pressure on the author to do his or her research so that the world they are building is as authentic as possible. This then frees the author to use the dialogue simply to build character and to drive the plot forward. When considered in this light, the choice of speech and dialect seem less important." And this is precisely what I tried to do. Apparently, however, some reviewers felt I dropped the ball. I could've written it in Anglo-Norman French, which was the language spoken in 14th century England--but what would be the point? This kind of criticism recalls people nitpicking "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" because the actors didn't assume British accents.
I know that I shouldn't give a toss. I told the story I wanted to tell in the way I wanted to tell it. I'm proud of the characters I created. Rationally, I know that you can't please everyone. But when someone says your dialogue is worse than Fifty Shades of Grey, well, ouch.
The first negative review claimed I hadn't done my research. That made me laugh, as I spent quite literally hundreds of hours digging up details on clothing, fabrics, colors, food, pastimes, human armor, horse armor, hairstyles, theology, songs, maps of London and Paris, not to mention the history behind Isabelle's story in both primary and secondary sources. I was very careful to avoid anachronism not only in the story but also in my characters' speech. Full disclosure: I did use the word "explode" twice in a 140,000-word novel even though it would not have been in their vernacular. I tried but I couldn't find a way around it. Likewise, I made carefully reasoned choices about the characters as I told the story. For example, I moved one character's birth up a season and another character was childless because it worked better. This was upsetting to at least one reviewer but I don't think I need to make excuses for those kinds of decisions. TRQ is, after all, fiction.
I'm having more trouble with reviewers criticizing the way my characters speak, saying it isn't "authentic to the period". Again, I made a conscious choice to have my characters speak in a natural way. I didn't want to write Ivanhoe, nor did I want to create a weird mashup the bloggers call "speaking forsoothly". I wanted my characters to sound like real people. James B. Shannon opined about an excerpt from Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom: "It derives its authenticity from its context. It contains names, activities, and values authentic to the period. The language seems less important. Cornwell’s world-building has already put us in the period and he is simply using the dialogue to reinforce what we already imagine. This type of writing puts more pressure on the author to do his or her research so that the world they are building is as authentic as possible. This then frees the author to use the dialogue simply to build character and to drive the plot forward. When considered in this light, the choice of speech and dialect seem less important." And this is precisely what I tried to do. Apparently, however, some reviewers felt I dropped the ball. I could've written it in Anglo-Norman French, which was the language spoken in 14th century England--but what would be the point? This kind of criticism recalls people nitpicking "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" because the actors didn't assume British accents.
I know that I shouldn't give a toss. I told the story I wanted to tell in the way I wanted to tell it. I'm proud of the characters I created. Rationally, I know that you can't please everyone. But when someone says your dialogue is worse than Fifty Shades of Grey, well, ouch.
Monday, February 2, 2015
On Publishing
I officially published The Rogue Queen on Amazon nearly a month ago, first as a Kindle book, then through CreateSpace print-on-demand. Checking online today I was surprised to see that I've sold seventy-five copies! It may not sound like a lot, but since I'm starting from scratch as an unknown author I'm well pleased. One of the benefits of publishing digitally is there's no backlist. In brick and mortar bookstores, if a book doesn't sell well it gets cycled back off the prime shelf spots and eventually disappears. However anytime someone searches for historical fiction with TRQ's parameters on Amazon my book will pop up--forever, or until I take it down. So time is on my side.
Something I've had to work on since the book went live is marketing. In my last post I mentioned searching for reviewers. I've had two reviews on Amazon, and I'm waiting on a blogger and the Historical Novel Society to complete their reviews. The more positive reviews I get the more often Amazon will suggest the book to people searching, so they're worth going after. I've also looked into doing readings, one at a local independent bookstore and another at our town library. If all of this sounds like a lot of work it really isn't, especially when you consider that I'm earning 70% royalties. Most of it required only some searching online and a couple of emails. If I'd gone the traditional route the publisher would've taken over the marketing while pocketing most of the royalties. Since nobody wanted to publish the book the point is moot. I took on the risk, so I make the money.
I was told before I published the book that it would essentially be a loss leader, an investment that would hopefully help me to build a following while not necessarily making a lot of money. So far, thanks to the talents of my husband and a couple of generous friends, my only expense has been time. In that regard it's been worth every moment. I've also learned a lot, which will pay off even more when I publish my next novel, and the next. In the meantime, The Rogue Queen is making her way into the hands of readers who seem to be enjoying her, and that is most definitely worth it.
Something I've had to work on since the book went live is marketing. In my last post I mentioned searching for reviewers. I've had two reviews on Amazon, and I'm waiting on a blogger and the Historical Novel Society to complete their reviews. The more positive reviews I get the more often Amazon will suggest the book to people searching, so they're worth going after. I've also looked into doing readings, one at a local independent bookstore and another at our town library. If all of this sounds like a lot of work it really isn't, especially when you consider that I'm earning 70% royalties. Most of it required only some searching online and a couple of emails. If I'd gone the traditional route the publisher would've taken over the marketing while pocketing most of the royalties. Since nobody wanted to publish the book the point is moot. I took on the risk, so I make the money.
I was told before I published the book that it would essentially be a loss leader, an investment that would hopefully help me to build a following while not necessarily making a lot of money. So far, thanks to the talents of my husband and a couple of generous friends, my only expense has been time. In that regard it's been worth every moment. I've also learned a lot, which will pay off even more when I publish my next novel, and the next. In the meantime, The Rogue Queen is making her way into the hands of readers who seem to be enjoying her, and that is most definitely worth it.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Going Public
Well, I did it! I published my first novel on Amazon. Although it wasn't a simple process, I do believe anyone who uses a word processor could do it. Amazon makes publishing for the Kindle pretty straightforward, even providing a free e-book with step-by-step instructions titled Building Your Book for Kindle. I began by spending about three weeks doing a final edit, which the book really did need. I've learned quite a bit since I finished The Rogue Queen, thanks in large part to a pair of friends who also write. They very kindly read Novel #2, offering salient editing advice, which I then applied to Novel #1. Meanwhile, Patient Husband photographed Duchess Angharad Banadaspus Drakenhefd for the cover, and I think she did a great job! A friend from work offered to turn the photo into a cover. The blue of the duchess's dress simply leaps off the page. That part I doubt I could've done by myself, although there are workarounds for that as well. You can use Amazon's cover creator, or you can find someone to do it for you via Fiverr or other sites. I'm glad I had talented, helpful people around me to help me create a one-of-a-kind cover.
Formatting for the Kindle was also pretty easy. The worst part was having to go through a 400-page manuscript, changing the indents one by one. Not difficult, just tedious. I also had to add a table of contents, but since Word can do that for you it was just a few mouse clicks. The most important step is saving the Word doc as a Web Page, then uploading the right format. I had a brief moment of panic when I accidentally uploaded the Word doc, but it was a quick fix. I carefully checked the book using Amazon's online previewer, added the cover, and went on to the next step: pricing and distribution.
I spent some time thinking about how to price the book. Some people advise giving it away for free, but I decided against that. I worked too hard for too long to simply give it away. In the end I priced it at $3.49; inexpensive, but at a point where I can make 70% royalties. I also chose to participate in Amazon's KDP Select program, where readers can borrow the book through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library or buy it if they read more than 10% of the text through Kindle Unlimited. Either way, I still make money. There are a couple marketing tools I can use through the program, like running a promotion, and although I can't sell the book on any other digital platform I can still sell it as a paper book or an audiobook. And I can choose not to continue with the program after 90 days.
Which brings us to the print-on-demand part of the story. I'm a die-hard real book user, I admit it, so I knew I had to create a paper book for others who also prefer the format. This was more complicated than the Kindle formatting. I struggled for at least two days getting the pagination and page breaks right. This, oddly, is one place where Amazon doesn't make it easy. There are some idiosyncrasies about real books, such as page one beginning on a left-hand page and having all text right-justified. The latter was simple; the former not so much. Separating the front matter, which is not paginated, from the text, which is, proved difficult but with some help from Microsoft Office eventually I prevailed. My front cover needs resizing and the back cover requires a headshot (!), which Patient Husband will take care of for me. After that I think all will go smoothly.
Getting the book into the hands of readers who will enjoy it is the next step. If I wanted to spend money it would be easy to get reviews, but with less than $100 in royalties earned so far I didn't want to go that route. I eventually thought to Google folks who blog about historical fiction. Some won't review books published independently, which I can understand, but it doesn't make my task any easier. So far I've contacted half a dozen bloggers who might agree to read and review TRQ. Once the paper copy is ready to roll I'm going to re-join the Historical Novel Society; they also review for free. Amazon (surprise, surprise) has master reviewers who will read and review. It's not a speedy process, but since it took more than a decade to get this far I'm willing to wait a little bit longer for the book to take off. One of the benefits of e-publishing is that the book never goes away. There's time!
Formatting for the Kindle was also pretty easy. The worst part was having to go through a 400-page manuscript, changing the indents one by one. Not difficult, just tedious. I also had to add a table of contents, but since Word can do that for you it was just a few mouse clicks. The most important step is saving the Word doc as a Web Page, then uploading the right format. I had a brief moment of panic when I accidentally uploaded the Word doc, but it was a quick fix. I carefully checked the book using Amazon's online previewer, added the cover, and went on to the next step: pricing and distribution.
I spent some time thinking about how to price the book. Some people advise giving it away for free, but I decided against that. I worked too hard for too long to simply give it away. In the end I priced it at $3.49; inexpensive, but at a point where I can make 70% royalties. I also chose to participate in Amazon's KDP Select program, where readers can borrow the book through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library or buy it if they read more than 10% of the text through Kindle Unlimited. Either way, I still make money. There are a couple marketing tools I can use through the program, like running a promotion, and although I can't sell the book on any other digital platform I can still sell it as a paper book or an audiobook. And I can choose not to continue with the program after 90 days.
Which brings us to the print-on-demand part of the story. I'm a die-hard real book user, I admit it, so I knew I had to create a paper book for others who also prefer the format. This was more complicated than the Kindle formatting. I struggled for at least two days getting the pagination and page breaks right. This, oddly, is one place where Amazon doesn't make it easy. There are some idiosyncrasies about real books, such as page one beginning on a left-hand page and having all text right-justified. The latter was simple; the former not so much. Separating the front matter, which is not paginated, from the text, which is, proved difficult but with some help from Microsoft Office eventually I prevailed. My front cover needs resizing and the back cover requires a headshot (!), which Patient Husband will take care of for me. After that I think all will go smoothly.
Getting the book into the hands of readers who will enjoy it is the next step. If I wanted to spend money it would be easy to get reviews, but with less than $100 in royalties earned so far I didn't want to go that route. I eventually thought to Google folks who blog about historical fiction. Some won't review books published independently, which I can understand, but it doesn't make my task any easier. So far I've contacted half a dozen bloggers who might agree to read and review TRQ. Once the paper copy is ready to roll I'm going to re-join the Historical Novel Society; they also review for free. Amazon (surprise, surprise) has master reviewers who will read and review. It's not a speedy process, but since it took more than a decade to get this far I'm willing to wait a little bit longer for the book to take off. One of the benefits of e-publishing is that the book never goes away. There's time!
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