Saturday, February 19, 2011

Sally Forth (This is a No-Tarrying Zone)

My 9-day vacation was well spent, I think, in that I released "Shackled" on all three platforms as I wished. I have even sold 2 copies :) I know at least 1 is to my friend Lauren, she was excited to read something by me... no clue who the second one was! But, it got me a rank on Amazon, which I now understand...

IS VERY EASY TO CHECK COMPULSIVELY.

Ahem.

That being said, "Shackled" is complete and it's time to move forward. I have more in mind for that world, but as I've read the story about 5 times in the past week, I need to step back from it for awhile and let the toons ferment about their business. I know where it's going, but I want to rest that part.

As you may notice by my widgets to the right, I have 3 projects I am considering next. (Stupid ideas, never seem to stop coming... not that I'd want them to. I love you, ideas! You're not stupid! Please don't abandon meeeee!)

I had 4 editors and 5 beta readers for "Shackled". I have 2 editors and 3 beta readers for my next project, whatever it may be. One of those editors may not be able to keep up - through no fault of his own, but due to my own pacing.

You see, two of those projects are me considering a foray into the land of episodic writing. I would aim to write 20k novellas (less than a month of writing, for me) so they would bang out rather quickly.

In a (rather forward-thinking, if I do say so) move by myself, I'm writing the intro to the beginning of all three, asking the opinions of my beta readers. I've already gotten opinions from various people on the "pitch" but I want an opinion on the "voice" for the stories.

The thing is, I need 2 (possibly 3) more editors and at least 1 more beta reader. (You can be both editor and beta reader - but yo' skillz bettah be AMAZING at grammar/punctuation!) I catch about 85% of my errors. But that 15% could drown me in mediocrity and plot holes, so I need good eyes.

I write fiction, exclusively. I like twists in my stories and everything to tie up neatly. I write fast and can send out as much as 3,000 words to be edited, per day. (Though usually I send around 1k, and sometimes bundle a few k together after a period of silence, and I don't usually send out large chunks more than 3 days in a row). You'll read the whole story at least twice. The first time is the rough draft, the second time is edits, and possibly a third time after that. Two of the projects, if chosen, will be episodic so I'd need a long-term person to stick through the whole thing.

Last thing: The episodic are aimed at YA, the novel at A.

Any takers? :)

2 comments:

  1. Congrats! I will check out "Shackled" in a little bit here.

    And selling two copies right out the gate is not bad at all...I look forward to hearing about all your new projects.

    The novella idea is intriguing...maybe make an overarching story for three or four of them, charge 99 cents a piece rather than $2.99 for a full novel length book? I know some people are releasing short story collections in a similar manner.

    - Nick

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  2. You found yourself another beta-reader if you still require one!

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