RS: Beta Readers . . . Are Awesome

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Raven ShadowHawk

Last week I talked about my plans for ‘Slippers & Chains: Sugar Dust’. I plan to release it myself through Little Vamp Press and will do so as soon as the background is done. This decision has meant several things:

I now have to work out how I want my covered produced – do I use the fantastic Taria Reed who made the original BP cover, or do I go my own way and use previous routes like with the Meeting Each Other series?

I have to work out how I want to distribute: eBook only? Print too? Which platforms do I want to go through? Do I give Amazon their crazy exclusivity or do I make use of Smashwords and All Romance to get to the harder to reach nooks of the erotic romance fan base?

lifted from openclipart.org

Credit: bitterjug

Above all those things, is editing. The weight of that is on my shoulders now because I simply can’t afford the services of wonderful people like Jennifer who was my editor with BP.

Which means, more time spent making sure every sentence is exactly as I want. More time thinking about plot and arc and characterisation.

Bring in the beta readers!

I’m in a very fortunate position. The BP author group has remained open giving me the ability to chat with all the other wonderful people who were part of the BP family. And many of them are willing to beta read.

little pink worm reading a book; bookworm from OpenClipArtI can’t tell you how valuable this is. Not only do I have some lovely talented people looking at my words, but they’re also avid readers. And this is the most important thing: beta readers are readers. People who will look at your book with a critical eye, geared towards how the general buyer may perceive your book.

This is an invaluable step that should never be missed in any editing process.

DSB talked about this in the last Joined Up Writing Podcast so if you want to hear her thoughts on that, check out the episode at your leisure. This post is to give thanks to some kind and generous people:

Summer Ross
Noelle Riches
Shellie Rosewarne
Jo Huysamen
Sarai Johnson

Thank you all, so, so much for taking the time to read ‘Slippers & Chains: Second Base.’ Your comments will help me do what matters the most: provide a story that is fun, engaging, intelligent and funny.

Much love to you. x

Raven's Signature In Black

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IY: Mah Plans 04/05 & April Round Up

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Ileandra Young

meow the fourth meme

Heh, heh, heh.

Right! Now I have THAT out of my system, let’s move on.

This week has been an odd one. Knowing I have a reFootball goal posts from OpenClipArtst period coming up has made me lag rather than push harder. Or maybe there have just been too many things in the way. Last week was a rough one for DSB and her fellah. 😦

Actions Last Week

Test the waters in local stores as to whether or not they will hold my humble book for sale
Yes, and I’ve learned that speaking to an Assistant Manager, followed by a Manager yields very different results. What I thought was going to be simple certainly was not and I’m a bit gutted by that. But it won’t stop me. Just means I need to change things up a bit, that’s all. Be more creative about how I get my book into stores. 😉

Make final decision on whether or not I want a book launch/party event
Yeah . . . I want one, but I can’t arrange one. Not now. There are too many other things going on and I don’t think I will do the ideas I have justice. So it can wait. It doesn’t have to be a launch event, after all. As Wayne suggested in the comments a little while back, it could be a ‘Hey, aren’t we doing well, six months down the line’ sort of shin-dig. Suits me.

Chase Dave for cover tweak if not received by Wednesday
Sorted. ^_^

Start reading ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ to familiarise myself with the text once more. Make general, sweeping notes.
Started. Done. I had a lot of fun writing that novel and even more fun reading it after the break. Yes, there are (many) issues and yes, it will be a tough slog to edit, but boy-oh-boy am I excited about starting!

Targets For April

Clipart lemon from OpenClipArt,Complete the draft of ‘On A Knife Point’ (45k words to go)
Yep. Boom, beh-bey!

Check next proof of ‘Silk Over Razor Blades’
Also done, we’re good to run!

Set ‘Silk Over Razor Blades’ for sale (assuming there are no issues with the new proof)
Not yet. Need to work out how to set it for pre orders. ^_^

Issue this month’s newsletter
Also done. In good time too.

Changes To My Plans

Soooooo . . . where does that leave me now? Completed tasks struck out, changes in red and additional tasks in green.

  • Publish ‘Silk Over Razor Blades’ through Little Vamp Press by May 25 in digital and paperback forms
  • Edit ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ to completion by end of August (including betas)
  • Publish ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ through Little Vamp Press by end of November
  • Draft ‘On A Knife Point’ by the end of April (min 100k words)
  • Issue all remaining parts from the ‘Chapters of D’nai T’keyah’ novelette for newsletter subscribers (monthly), then switch to quarterly newsletters which should leave two updates for the remainder of the year.
  • Edit ‘On A Knife Point’ to completion by end of December
  • Decide what I want to do with Dead or Alive in 2016

Targets for May 2015

  • Complete at least half the deep edits on ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’
  • Issue this month’s newsletter
  • Release ‘Silk Over Razor Blades’ (SQUEEE!)

Activities For The Week

Yeah more Trya HF 9This is my week off! ^_^ DSB is LARPing from Thursday to Sunday so I won’t even have internet access after about 6pm Thursday. Guess I should just chill, right? Naah . . .

  • Send three more book review/spotlight requests
  • RELAX!
  • Read something . . . for fun ^_^

Thoughts…

April has been a really, really good month. I’m so pleased with everything I’ve achieved and how the outlook for the rest of the year. It would be nice to keep up the momentum, but I’m very conscious that things can change. I mean, look at what happened to Raven. In fact, since that’s in my mind, I’ll just say that mostly, DSB was looking to get Raven’s work in stores. But there’s no reason why mine can’t be out there too. So I’ll be doing the leg work for the pair of us now.

Also, two months to edit ‘Walking The Razor’s Edge’ and then another month for betas to look it over (to meet the August deadline) seems a little tight, but think about it this way: Raven no longer needs to work in time to do the back and forth with her BP editor. After getting a round of comments back from the five lovely betas she’s enlisted, it really comes down to fine line editing. A skill we both need to learn. So she’s going to do that herself. But once that’s done, ‘Slippers & Chains: Second Base’ is ready to release, since she and I are both intending to publish through Little Vamp Press.

So, in truth, there are no other big jobs for DSB to take care of this month. This month is aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall about me (plus admin for Little Vamp Press and closing off The Write Feeling, but that’s by the by ^_^). So I’m confident I can get this done. My notes from my first read are pretty comprehensive, all I need to do is decide if I’m going to edit direct into Scrivener or in hard copy as I did last time.

Decisions, decisions.

How do you think I should do it?new ileandra signature,

 

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IY: Silk Over Razor Blades – Cover Reveal

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Ileandra Young

I know, I know. I’ve been teasing you with this for months and you’re very kind to stick with me for so long. To not reach across the blue nowhere and stab me in the eye shrieking ‘Show us the damn cover already!’

Thank you. I’ll say that first. Thank you for your patience and your kindness throughout the entire project. It won’t be forgotten and it continues to warm me (though if you do want to see these things sooner than the general populace than my newsletter is the way to go :-p).

I’d also like to give especial thanks to Dave Johnson who designed this fabulous cover and put up with all manner of emails to the effect of ‘Can I see it? Is it done yet?’ You’re a diamond, Dave and for the rest of you . . . if you need an incredibly talented illustrator, this is the guy you want. He’s amazing.

So, without further ado, here is the front cover to ‘Silk Over Razor Blades’, first in the Saar’s Legacy trilogy.

Silk Over Razor Blades Cover

YEY!

And . . . for those of you who like to see everything:

Silk Over Razor Blades, full cover

B-e-a-UUUUUUTIFUL!

It’s weird . . . seeing it here, I keep expecting to find problems or realise that I’ve spelt my name wrong or something silly like that. But no. It’s fine. And it’s beautiful. And I’m so happy I could cry. I have cried. On several occasions.

I know Raven has already had several releases, but this is mine. This is my dream of almost seventeen years. Come May 25, I’ll be so far up in on a high that you’ll need to prick me several times to deflate me.

I can’t wait.

Wanna win a copy? Well, stay tuned. Next week . . . I’ll launch the competition. 😉

new ileandra signature,

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RS: I Haz Planz 30/04

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Raven ShadowHawk

Right. Thursday again. Funny how it always seems to creep up on me even though I know damn well there are only seven days in a week. Meh.

Actions Last Weekblank calendar from OpenClipArt

~Add ten to the book reviewers/spotlight spreadsheet over the course of the week (even if they go in the ‘no good right now’ section I need to add them in)
Eeeerm. A good deal more than ten. I have access to a list that the authors of Breathless Press previously used to promote their own works. It has more than enough in it to keep me going for months at a time, so unless something new pops up in my occasional searches, I have more than enough to be getting on with for now.

~Mail three reviewer/spotlight bloggers over the course of the week
Done. Painful, but done. It feels so much like begging . . . I know it’s not but it feels icky. There must be a better way to do this.

~Decide what to do about the Slippers & Chains series
See this morning’s post. All done. Indie publishing here we come!

~Write and set up my Twory idea
Sorted. All lined up and ready to post. Each twory tweet will be clearly labelled and go out throughout the course of May at 10:30am GMT each day. Starting tomorrow. Quite excited about this, actually!

Activities For This Week

  1. Mail three reviewer/spotlight bloggers over the course of the week
  2. Visit two stores locally to see if they would like to stock Meeting Each Other: The Full Story
  3. Follow up my Ann Summers pitch
  4. Start preparing a second Twory

Thoughts…

Small things that I can do out and about. Next month I’ll be focused more on what to do with ‘Slippers & Chains: Second Base’ since I no longer have an editor to send it to, but I want to get DSBs birthday and LARP out of the way first.

Next week, though DSB will probably in Wales by the time of posting, I’ll still talk about this month as a whole and look forward to what May holds in store.

Raven's Signature In Black

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RS: The Decision

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Raven ShadowHawk

I know what I’m going to do. I’ve made list upon list, I’ve tossed coins, asked around, dreamed, wept and pulled my hair, but I know what I want to do.

‘Slippers & Chains: Sugar Dust’ (and the rest of the Slippers & Chains) franchise for that matter, will be released through Little Vamp Press.

logo for Little Vamp Press publisherI’d like to thank all the folk across Twitter who have listened to me piss and moan about this for the last couple of weeks. I would also specifically like to thank Maria Smith for her ideas, support and humour last week. I know this decision is somewhat different to where we landed when we spoke on Saturday (with a few flutters back and forth in between), but I’m already working on your ideas and I see light!

It’s going to be hard work.

I know that.

It’s going to be slow. Slower than I thought.

I can deal with that.

It’s going to be (initially) more expensive.

I know that too.

But with all these cons and more thrown into a big list they just don’t outweigh the pros. When I look back at all I’ve achieved since 2013 I know this is the way to go. I can feel it in my bones.

I’ll learn more this way. I’ll be forced to become more pro-active and innovative. I’ll have to practise strict timekeeping and scheduling. I’ll have to be organised. All skills that are valuable outside of this incredible task I have set myself. And most of all, I don’t have to do any of this at a racing pace. I can afford to take my time. Do things slow. Do things well. Learn. Enjoy.

My name is Raven ShadowHawk and I’m an independent author and publisher.

Peel back your bed sheets . . . I’m coming in. 😉

Raven's Signature In Black

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