Down To The Wire . . . Again

Well, surprise surprise.  I'm about 15 minutes away from almost missing a May blog post.  Shocking I know.

May has been an especially crazy month for me.  First, my lovely wife graduated from nursing school.  It's been a long hard road for our family, but she's a tough gal.  I'm very proud that she not only went back to school (which isn't easy once you're married with children) but that she has chosen to be a nurse.  It's a noble calling to help those in need.  She's the most caring person I know so I'm confident that she'll be a great nurse.

Second, I had a birthday.  I won't disclose my age, but let's just say I'm now closer to 40 than 30.

Third, I'm working on a new novel.  It took me a while to get started on it because I was trying to get my mind around the scope of the story.  I was originally going to go dystopian, but in the end I scrapped that idea.  It the first in a series and will feature ghosts, vampires, zombies and an assortment of other macabre characters.

I've been battling with Day Job issues, mostly in the dropping of my weekly hours from 40 to 29.  So, a new job search is in my future.  That means my writing time will most likely go down.  One of these days I hope to put this rat race behind me.  Some day I hope that my "job" will be creating worlds one word at a time.

So, on to June we go.  Who knows what is waiting for us.

Oh, Mr. Patterson. What Will You Do Next?

I'm sure by now you've all heard about James Patterson and the ad he paid for in the NYT.  About how he feels literature is swirling around the proverbial toilet bowl and how we are all destined to return to illiterate Serfs.  Though he admits he doesn't have the answer to the death of story telling he does suggest a "government bailout" may be the ticket.

There is a lot and more I could say, but I was always taught if you can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all.

Many others have chimed in on the subject.  Two of my favorites are by Joe Konrath and J.E. Fishman.  I'll leave it to them, seeing as I'm still a little ticked since finding out that Mr. Patterson no longer writes his own books.

A Deal Too Good to Pass Up

Who doesn't love a deal, am I right?  There is nothing quite like happening upon something you want for a price way under what you expected to pay.

Now, I know you usually get what you pay for, and anything worth having should cost you something, but don't get all philosophical on me.  Just hear me out.

I'm not talking about those cut-corner, buying generic, sacrificing quality kind of deals.  I'm talking about a Copy of the Constitution Found in a $4 Painting kind of deal.

Okay, I'm being dramatic again.  But I still have a really good deal to tell you about.  And before you click away thinking this is a self promotion thing, let me assure you it is NOT.

If you are just a reader of books this post may not excite you (sorry, but thanks for stopping by).  This one is for all my writerly friends out there, more specifically self-pubbers.

One of the pitfalls of self publishing is the upfront costs you have to pay to get your book into the public.  Cover art, editing, and formatting are things you should not be skimping out on.  If you can't do it yourself, you should hire a professional.

But say you're like me, strapped for cash and trying to decide whether you should spend your hard earned cash on the cover, the editing or the formatting.  Well, I can help you out with one of those.

When I decided to separate the stories in my collection Contemplations of Dinner into single shorts I knew I couldn't afford to pay for ten expensive covers.  I can justify paying $200 -$500 on a cover for a novel, but it's harder for me to shell that out for just a 6,000 word short.

So I went on over to the site Fiverr.  For those that don't know, Fiverr is a website where people offer all kinds of services, some legit, some comical, for five dollars each.  I sifted through the many graphic designers and came across an artist going by the handle Freestyle25.

Freestyle 25 is actually a wonderful young lady by the name of Emily Lam.  I liked the samples Emily had displayed on her Fiverr page, but I was a bit worried.  That whole "getting what you paid for" thing.  But Emily quickly put my fears to rest.

Long story short (too late, I know) I hired Emily to create covers for eight short stories and new covers for both Contemplations of Dinner and Guarding the Healer.  She is professional, courteous, patient and extremely talented.

I have seen covers of Emily's caliber go for $200+ easily.  I feel a bit guilty about only paying her $5 a piece.  Even though it would be shooting myself in the foot, I've tried to suggest to Emily that she ought to start her own cover design business, but unfortunately Fiverr has strict policies about directly emailing each other.  I'm hoping she will read this blog post and consider it.  But until then I suggest you take advantage of her generous nature and grab a cheap cover.

It's one of the best deals I've come across in a long time.

If you want proof you should head over to my Amazon page and look at the covers.  The only covers that aren't hers are the paperback version of Guarding the Healer, Predatory Animals, the audio version of Contemplations of Dinner and the anthology Cat Tales 2.

Fraud or Not, You Decide

As I was perusing the fun and informative blog The Passive Voice I came across an article that stopped my scrolling finger.

James Patterson: the best seller who doesn't write his own books.

As a writer and a reader I found that too intriguing to pass up.  You can read the full article here, but the skinny is Mr. Patterson doesn't really write a line by line book.  He comes up with a 60 - 80 page detailed synopsis then subs the actual writing out to other writers.

I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this.  I'm still processing it.  My wife is not happy and says she will not be buying any more Patterson books, and will probably be getting rid of the ones on our shelf.  I understand where she's coming from.  There is a feeling of betrayal when you are spend your hard earned money on something and get something else in return.  Then again, if you liked the book who care who wrote it?

A few months back everyone was all in a huff about certain writers buying positive reviews for their novels.  I wasn't all that offended, but a lot of people were.  When you compare the two, which do you think is worse?

Is it more of a sin to pay to have people inflate the quality of your work or to let someone else write the book and slap your name on the cover?

I'm inclined to believe the latter is the greater transgression.

Mr. Patterson defends this method by calling it a collaboration and citing other artists and writers such as Gilbert and Sullivan, Woodward and Bernstein, Stephen King and Peter Straub.  My problem with this rationale is that when you buy their work both names appear together.  There is no deception.

Maybe what makes this slap sting all the more is the fact that Mr. Patterson is swimming in the cash.  I'm wondering just how many of the 275 million copies of his books he would have sold had it been known that though the idea came from James Patterson, the actual book was written by author So-n-So.

Maybe I'm wrong about all of this.  I need a few days to let my righteous indignation calm down.

What do you think?

A Couple More Shorts

I've published two more short stories from Contemplations of Dinner as singles.  Here are the covers for A Town Full of Holes and The Barn.


















I will be releasing a brand new short titled The Promotion just as soon as the cover comes back.

In other news, I made the jump from hobbyist to professional.  No, my writing has not yielded enough sales to allow me to quit the dreaded day job.  But I did add writing as a profession on my taxes.  The past couple of years has been a loss (hey, what start up company doesn't struggle in the beginning?) but things are looking up.  February has been my best month ever, and I'm convinced that as I add more titles I will eventually be in the black.

I've also started my own publishing house (sort of) called Gemini Gremlin Ink.  I'm not publishing other authors at this time.  It seems strange, I know, but the reason is that it looks more professional to have a publishing company listed instead of just my name.  I have watched other authors do this, and I thought I'd give it a try.  If you want to be professional, then you better act like a professional.

I'm hoping that the upward trend in sales continues into March.  I'm also waiting to hear some news, but I have a couple of weeks until I know if it's good or bad.

And Lord knows I hate waiting.