Hello fans and friends,
It is Friday, which means blog day.
After several weeks of distractions including a lovely trip from our UK family, I’m getting back up on that horse we call writing. Spring is just about gone, the sweltering days of a hot, humid Virginia summer are touching down upon us and I’m about to get trapped back inside my house with the A/C cranked up on high. Although it seems bad, this is a good thing. The two extremes of the year are probably the only time that I get anything done writing-wise so I look forward to a prolific summer of getting Watcher re-edited and back out in the public sector as well as getting through the final push on Protector (fall release, fingers crossed).
That, of course, means I have a few announcements.
The first one makes me a little sad. For those who don’t know, I got waitlisted for Odyssey – one of the top residential SF/Fantasy workshops in the country. I had hoped that there was one poor soul who would not be able to go so that a space would be freed up for me, but alas it wasn’t meant to be. The May 24th deadline has come and gone and I am now in Virginia for the summer. My short story based on Roxanne by the Police is now up in the Mixtape Collection if you’d like to read it – it’s the story that I submitted with my application.
So poo.
In different news, like a boomerang flung once but comes back again, I’ve decided to continue to go indie and NOT query for an agent for The Shining Ones series. I know, I know, can I just make up my mind already, right?
The thing is that it just doesn’t make sense to try to go the traditional publisher route these days. Not only is it hard to get a deal, but the deal you get is probably so disadvantageous that you wonder why you thought it was a good idea in the first place. Seriously. The ideal situation is probably being a hybrid author meaning that you get a publishing deal for hard copy only, leaving you the author in charge of digital. Cause frankly, if you can do the numbers yourself via ebook why would you then turn it over to get less money?
It just doesn’t make sense. Plus, if you get the numbers on your own then the likelihood is that you can leverage your platform or brand in a better deal with publishers if you have a proven hit. See, I know how to throw the lingo around, too. I’m halfway there . . .
So, I lost about a year with my flip flopping decision and many nights thinking that the only way I could be validated is with a deal . . . I have since changed my mind. I’d rather just write and get stuff out there and not wait years to see my stuff in print. Either my fans will love it or hate it and that’s what truly matters.
This will be good news for most – you’ll get your wish for Protector this year.
xo
shawnee