Indy Planning

Now that I've taken the first giant step toward indy publishing by ending things with the agent I am working out a plan for the first byline title I intend to publish. I've decided that will be the third novel in my steampunk Disenchanted & Co. series, for which the working title is Her Majesty's Deathmage.

The first task is, of course, to write the novel. Since I'm working full-time as a ghost writer I will have to fit that in with my professional obligations, which at present are rather hefty. I am sending out inquiries to the people I want to work on the book production, so that I have a team in place once I'm ready to publish. For promotional purposes I'll probably resurrect the Toriana blog (although I'm not entirely decided on that yet.) Scheduling everything is also important for me, as I like to set deadlines for myself to keep the process rolling along smoothly.

While all this is going on I'll also have to take a harder look at all the indy publishing options available and decide which direction I want to take with HMD. I am grateful to all of you who have offered to help, and I will probably be asking plenty of questions in the future. That said, it's important to me to learn and be able to the majority of the grunt work myself. As always I'll pass along whatever I learn in the process that I think may be helpful to other writers taking or considering the same path.

Readers, I will keep you updated here at the blog. I know I can't write the book fast enough for some of you, but I hope you will keep in mind that I now have a day job. I must give my clients top priority (and since they pay me for the privilege, I'm sure you understand that.) I'm also likely to be a bit slower than most writers at leaping into the indy publishing waters, but this is so I can swim instead of sink the first time out. My ultimate goal is to provide you with the best possible reading experience that I can once the book does hit the shelves, so your patience will be greatly appreciated.

Indy authors, if there was one bit of advice you now would give to yourself back when you started, what would it be? Let us know in comments.

Secret Covers

Sometimes when I want to write a story but I don't have time, have to finish other projects and/or want to wait and let it simmer a bit more, I make secret cover art for it anyway. Sometimes it's to try out art for stories I plan to make into freebies, but more often it's just for my own amusement. I'll print out a secret cover for my personal journal, the idea file or any notebook I've started on it, but otherwise no one ever sees it but me. I feel like I've made a million of these secret covers, too.

In the spirit of spontaneity, and (hopefully) me being a bit more transparent, here are the three latest secret covers I've made:



My sequel to In the Leaves, for the day when I can get back and write more of Sally's story. Definitely writing this one.



This cover is for some notes I found on a novella series I planned to write to continue the story from Frostfire (and alas, never got the chance.) It's unlikely that I'll ever write all five stories I outlined, but you never know -- and the ideas were really solid and fun.



I have a story sorta/kinda based on/partially set in/orbiting distantly the StarDoc universe that has been bouncing around in my head for a couple years. Lately I've been revisiting the idea while I drive around running errands, so I jotted down some notes and decided to make a cover for it. I have seriously mixed feelings about this one. I also have ten million excellent reasons to never revisit StarDoc in any way shape or form. This might end up being the novel that they only find after I'm deceased, along with the twenty-eight others no one has ever seen that I have hidden away. Kidding. There are only like seventeen.

Do you ever do weird stuff like this? Confess your secrets in comments.

Image Credits:

Far Seer -- massonforstock
Frenchman's Pass -- zacariasdamata
21 -- Molodec

What About . . . ?

I've had a couple of people ask me when I will be writing this story, which I promised (and then had to scrap) last year:



The truth is I still have not written it. While I know it's already been reviewed, every time I go to start working on it I get the most annoying twitch in my right eye. Plus it only stops when I stop thinking about writing the story and work on something else. Since I don't care to write with a blinky eye, Forget-Me-Knot will have to go on existing only in my mind (and, naturally, anyone who can scan my thoughts for stories I haven't yet written or travel to the future to read stories I someday publish, etc.) until such time as the twitching problem goes a way.

Okay, I'm kidding about everything except not having written it (yet). F-M-K is something I plan to get back to after the holidays. I'm just not sure if I want to keep the idea to novella length (my original plan) or let it expand into a novel (which is what it wants to do.)

To get a sneak peek at the next freebie, which I hope to have ready for you all before the end of the year, stop by tomorrow.

Cover This

This week I'm hoping to finish up In the Leaves, my Toriana story from Just Write Thursdays. Once I do I'll need some cover art for it, so I began playing around with some ideas and put together three possibilities:

Cover A



Cover B



Cover C



I haven't been able to narrow it down to one because I like all three ideas, so now I need some other opinions. Which cover of the three do you like most, and why? Let me know in comments.

Dimensional

In the past I've mentioned that I want to get away from writing long series. My readers are wonderfully loyal and patient, but I don't care to leave them hanging for years as I did while struggling to bring back StarDoc. Most series authors also don't attract the followings we did ten years ago, which given all the books being published is entirely understandable.

Many of you who have invested in my new Disenchanted & Co. series (for which I thank you) have been asking when the next book will be released. There is no next book (yet) and before I accept any offers or even write any more books I really have to decide how long I want to make the series. Five books would work best with my original series plan, and I think that's a decent length for a series these days, so that's what I'm inclined to make my goal. Or I could condense my plan, wrap things up with one more book and end the series as a trilogy, which would definitely guarantee closure for the readers and less headaches for me.

I thought I'd get some opinions from you all -- what do you consider an ideal length for a novel series? Let me know what you think in comments.

Image Credit: Smosh

Elsewhere with Kit

Today I'm over at the Toriana blog celebrating 2014 and the print launch of my new series, which will be hitting the shelves in late January and February this Spring.

Stop in if you have a chance, enter the giveaway and you could win this lovely handmade crazy quilted tote (this is the one with the neat holographic thread stitching on the burnout silk centerpieces that I posted on the photoblog last year, and some sinfully soft silk velvet patchwork.) The giveaway winner will also receive a signed print copy of Disenchanted & Co. and a print ARC of The Clockwork Wolf.

Elsewhere with Three Gifts

Today I'm over visiting at That's What I'm Talking About blog for their Mistletoe Madness event, at which you can read Three Gifts, my free, never-before-published Disenchanted & Co. short story. I'm also giving away this lovely scarlet and gold handmade quilted tote packed with goodies, including signed print ARCs of Disenchanted & Co. and The Clockwork Wolf, so stop in if you get a chance and enter to win the lot.

Elsewhere Celebrating Victorian-Style

Today I'm over visiting at The Good, The Bad and The Unread blog to talk about how many of our modern Christmas traditions got their start during the Victorian era. Stop in if you get a chance and enter to win this handmade quilted and beaded Victorian tote filled with goodies, including signed print ARCs of Disenchanted & Co. and The Clockwork Wolf.

Covering Elsewhere

Today I'm visiting Typing with Wet Nails, author Anna C. Bowling's blog, to talk about how even great cover art can sometimes mess up your life. Stop by if you get a chance today and enter for a chance to win my hand-quilted and beaded Winterberry tote of goodies including signed print ARCs of Disenchanted & Co. and The Clockwork Wolf.

His Lordship Arrives

Today is the release day for His Lordship Possessed, the latest book in my new Disenchanted & Co. steampunk urban fantasy series for Pocket Star. This book wraps up the story that began with Her Ladyship's Curse in August, and will be combined with that book in the print edition of Disenchanted & Co., to be released in January. Takes notes because there will be a pop quiz on this later.

As most of you know the only income I have is from sales of my books, so if you would like to show your support for me, Paperback Writer, the Disenchanted & Co. blog, and all the other trouble I get into online you can invest in His Lordship. My thanks to you and those already have; you're the reason I keep at this gig.

Video Contest

No film for you all this week as I'm off to prepare for the latest tropical storm headed our way. However, I do have one elsewhere; the official book video for Disenchanted & Co. is being featured today over at You Gotta Read Reviews in a contest for, you guessed it, videos. I entered it because I think Jeff Somers (the producer) is a genius, plus it was a fun way to get more people to watch it.

Stop in if you have a chance, vote when you're able (I believe voting takes place at the end of October), and thanks in advance for your support.

Elsewhere Steampunking Anne Stuart

Today I'm over at Disenchanted & Co. so we can steampunk author Anne Stuart. Stop by if you get a chance and enter the giveaway to win all this stuff:



(Girl, markers and furnishings not included.)

My Five Minutes

USA Today's Happily Ever After blog has a three-authors/three-things piece running today, and Her Ladyship's Curse and I are featured with trio of things about me that may (or may not) surprise you.

If I sound I bit terse in comparison to the other authors, it's because my publicist said "Be brief. Be very, very brief." and so I was.

Elsewhere with Her Ladyship

Today I'm over at That's What I'm Talking About blog to share what happened when I told my Mom about selling my new Disenchanted & Co. novel series. If you get a chance stop by, join in and enter to win the giveaway, which includes bound and signed print galley copies of Her Ladyship's Curse and His Lordship Possessed and my positively medieval handmade Toriana crazy apple tote.

Over at Disenchanted & Co.

Today over on the series blog I have a fun post about how you can use old pics to spark ideas for characterization and world-building; stop in if you get a chance to see some of my collection of Victorian-era portrait photos, too.

Golden

At the first writer's conference I ever attended I went to a chat with a popular genre author who was there to meet the fans and promote their latest release. Toward the end of the session a fan asked how many books the author had published, and the author answered "I don't know." When some of the fans tried throwing out some numbers, the author added, "After so many books you lose track." As a rookie still waiting for her first novel to hit the shelves, I couldn't imagine how you could forget how many books you'd published, but after I left that chat I made a promise to myself never to become that writer.

Now I know a little better what causes writers to develop backlist amnesia, but it never happened to me. I can recite from memory the titles, premises and story synopses for every single one of the books I've written -- it's a great party trick, btw -- and I know what I personally put into them. I remember what inspired them, why I chose to pursue the ideas, the amount of work I put in outlining and refining them, the endless hours at the keyboard writing them, every editor I worked with to bring them through production, and all the good and bad associated with that process.

Every story also represents dozens of paths I took along the journey, and contains little reminders of the hopes and dreams, the disappointments and the discoveries, the failures and the triumphs. And while I'm sure I've forgotten a few things (please don't ever ask me to recite a complete character list for the StarDoc series off the top of my head) another thing I've made sure to remember about my books is it what an immense privilege it has been to be able publish them, and how grateful I am to my readers for all the support you've provided during that journey. Writers, if you're in this gig for the long haul, I hope you never forget those things, either (or how many books you've published.)

In less than two weeks my 50th novel, Her Ladyship's Curse, will be released. If Publishing were like marriage, this would (sort of) be our golden anniversay novel, so I intend to celebrate. I'm taking Her Ladyship on a virtual tour starting on Thursday of this week, but on August 12th I'll back here at PBW and the Disenchanted & Co. blog to party with my people.

I'm curious, too -- have any of you authors out there already published your 50th novel, and if so, did you do anything special to celebrate it? If you're still headed toward that landmark book, how do you think you'll mark the moment? Let us know in comments.

Free Disenchanted & Co. e-book

To get this free e-book, click on the cover art.

Print Edition Cover Art

We have cover art for the print edition of Her Ladyship's Curse and His Lordship Possessed, which will be released together in January as one novel:



No surprises here, as it's the same artwork my publisher used for the e-book edition of Her Ladyship's Curse. Since this was my favorite of the two covers, however, I'm quite happy.

Elsewhere with Her Ladyship

For this Friday's video post I have to send you over to SF Signal here to see it. Why should you go? This time it's my video.

You should also know that this trailer was produced by amazing author and fantastic filmmaker Jeff Somers, whom I highly recommend as a genius when it comes to putting together a writer's crazy ideas and making them into a terrific video.

Elsewhere with Barbara Samuel

Today over on Disenchanted & Co. we're steampunking our very first guest: award-winning author Barbara Samuel. Stop in, read the interview and enter in comments -- over there, not here -- to win this giveaway of her books and other goodies themed to Barbara's world-building (gorgeous girl not included.)