Traust Tour #7: Edward L. Cote

Edward L. Cote is joining us today! You should go on and enjoy him now. He's a nice guy who got pushed back by my family crisis and he has good things to say! :)

So Ed, get on with it! :D

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

It's been about a month since we wrapped up work on the Twelve Worlds anthology project and I'm at an important point of my own. I'm publishing my first book, Violet Skies, around the end of May.

The anthology was an interesting project to work on. I had some exposure to things different from what I usually read, and I hope I learned a thing or two. It was really something to see it all develop, especially since a project of that scope and nature was, for most of us, outside our experience. We had to form our processes and rules as we went along. The most important part of it all was meeting and working with the other authors. I have established relationships with colleagues that will last for years to come.

That's looking back a few months. I can also look back as far as twelve years. I had the first tiny seed of Violet Skies in my mind as early as 1999. Over the years it grew, and I would come back to check on it now and again. In 2009, I decided that I would finally get serious about this thing. I would sit down and, as they say, “just do it”. I solidified and codified. I poured over my notes and added to them. I fleshed out the setting and its history. I got to know the characters a little better, and I realized that in their own way, they had always been there.

In 2010, I finished the first draft and started looking for publishers and agents. I figured that I could do some polishing while I waited for them to get back to me. That turned out to be a mistake, for two reasons. First, the book at the time was not nearly ready. It was too short, too rough, and too raw. Second, as I've learned since, Violet Skies is outside the comfort zone of a risk-averse industry.

Yes, Young Adult books do sell very well these days, but I was bucking every trend. Instead of a paranormal romance set in a rainy American city, I have a coming of age tale set in an agrarian city-state ruled by a 600 year old Magus. Instead of vampires and werewolves, I have wizards and swordsmen. Instead of the thousand page tomes, purple prose, unpronounceable names, and ensemble casts common to the fantasy genre, I have novellas, clear prose, simpler names, and a small cast.

I made those choices deliberately, and I am still convinced that they can pay off by giving me access to an untapped market. For every person who has told me all the reasons why they don't read fantasy, there could be ten more who feel the same way. Maybe some of them will give the genre a try when presented with books that do away with many of those obstacles while keeping the essential nature of the genre intact. Lowering that threshold and the level of investment it takes to get into the Violet Skies series could also appeal to teens and busy people of all ages.

However, convincing creatures of habit that I had a point, using only a query letter, proved to be very difficult indeed. I collected enough rejections to see the problems. I even found a few agents who would not accept queries for novellas to begin with. I was a contender for a publishing contract at a small house, but I did not make the cut. I'm pretty sure that the length of the book was the deciding factor.

I was at a difficult crossroads. I knew that I couldn't force the books so far beyond their natural length, and I didn't want to combine them. I considered shelving the project and trying something more traditional, but I didn't have any compelling ideas along those lines at the time. I considered quitting writing altogether. Either way, I couldn't abandon something I'd already had on the back burner for so long. Something important to me. I felt its time had come.

Then, a friend sent me an email with a link to Joe Konrath's blog. I learned that while I was making my own transition to writing professionally, publishing itself was making a remarkable, rapid, and historic transformation into a fundamentally new industry.

It was through that blog and this emerging self-publishing community that I met first Derek J. Canyon and then the other Twelve Worlds authors. Ironic perhaps, that I'd be more alone if I had insisted on the traditional publishing route.

At first, self publishing presented another way, a door opening where others had closed. Now I feel that it's the only way for most writers, especially new and emerging ones. At this point I probably would not take a contract with an agent or publisher even if offered one.

Which brings me to where I am today. I have a story, Iron in Shadow, published in the Twelve Worlds anthology, and I'll have my first book published in a matter of weeks. I know that getting sales and building a fanbase is a long and challenging process, but I also know I can do it. I've had setbacks to be sure. I always will, but I'll get past them and learn what I can.

I want to have the second book out for Christmas, and I might still pull that off. Maybe in a year or two I can make a living at this. I have an opportunity that I did not have even a few years ago. The Twelve Worlds anthology is something that we could not have done even a few years ago, but we came together as peers and produced something very good for a very good cause.

Going back to the big picture, I do see this as a time of opportunity, even as it is also a time of upheaval. I think that as the middle men and gatekeepers recede, readers and authors can come together in ways that we couldn't before. In the coming years we will see changes not only in the economics of publishing, but the dynamics of it as well. As authors we now have control over our own work, and are free to experiment with different material and forms. As readers we are free to decide for ourselves what we want, and we are the arbiters of quality, not some distant gatekeeper. Already we see the resurgence of short stories, and soon serials as well. So maybe the words “fantasy” and “novella” can be used in the same sentence. That can't be the strangest good idea. Eventually someone will surprise us with something we cannot yet foresee.

Publishing has a bright and wide open future. Somewhere in that future is a place for a young girl named Taya Mindaerel.

Edward L. Cote,
Author of Violet Skies
EdwardLCote.blogspot.com
twitter.com/EdwardLCote

JEM Sez: Somebody surprise us, you say? I have an episodic-novella-length-series, the third of which dropped today... ;) Maybe one day I can be a poster-child for novella-length stories? Wouldn't that be nice :D

Behind... to Catch Up! (Bonus Material: Fun Chart!)

For some reason, when April was nearing a close I thought to myself, "Coward is due to publish by May 18th. I therefore have at least twenty days to finish writing it."

Then, in a conversation the other day, someone mentioned my progress on "Coward". I said, "Oh yeah, it needs to be completely ready by the 16th. I'm way ahead. I have 14 days to write... 16k words. Er... maybe I'm not as ahead as I thought..."

So, I've been working hard to get it ready! As a consequence, I sent out the TrAuSt questions for tomorrow late, so I will probably post it Thursday this week. Please stop back to learn a little bit more about Coral Russell!

B&N switched over to May sales today, so I think it's safe to say I can count all my sales for April from them on no hands (Read: ZERO).

I saw a slump in sales in April. By slump, I mean I had 9 sales in March and 6 in April. April was 150% of my first month's (February) sales (4), but 66.6% of my March sales (9). I missed my target sales (20) by a whopping 70%...

HOWEVER. Much to my incredibly voluble and excited surprise, the first three days of May have already equaled my April sales... I attribute this in large part to the fact that "Cheat" (the first episode of the IH series) is beginning to show up in the "Customers also bought" portion of Amazon.

I won't lie, I'm already immensely relieved and grateful to have met last months sales in three days. It takes a lot of negative pressure off me for this month. If I can't surpass, I want to maintain! But, I can't very well say it's fine after only three days... so I'm (almost arbitrarily) setting my goal for this month at 200% of last month (12).

Here's what I'm extrapolating my data from:

One really positive thing I can say is that at least 3 people picked up "Liar"! Hopefully that means they read "Cheat" and wanted to know the next little bit. If that's true than of the 8 copies of "Cheat" that sold, I saw a 37.5% conversion to continue my series. (Of course, that's assuming they read "Cheat" first and didn't just pick up the one they wanted because they are supposed to be stand-alone.)

So, I'm still poking around in the low numbers, haven't broken 10 sales/month yet, but I'm hoping to have good news to report next month.

FYI: ALL of my sales, save for 3 copies of "Shackled" and 1 of "Cheat" were sold through Amazon.

Based on my exhausting research, authors tend to sell better after they have 3~6 titles available. I just broke 3, and my works are starting to show up in the "also bought" feature. Here's to a good May! (We deserve some of those May flowers in Ohio... it rained all but 8 days in April!)

Cheers!

Update: New header! If you didn't notice :)

Day in the Life

The lady across the street was outside. We liked her, even had an affectionate nickname we called her behind closed doors, dealing with the amount of tobacco she could ingest in one short sitting. Her dog is four years old, a terrifying looking beast that is sweeter than honey.

She - the dog - is best friends with our puppy. He used to be afraid of her, but now that they're the same size, he likes to run as hard as he can to make her chase him. She bites him on the ruff and leaves long tracks of drool. Great.

We don't say much to each other while our dogs visit. It's merely a companionable moment of time, filled with excited canines and banalities.

Her head turns to me, blonde hair dancing slightly in the breeze. "So," she asks, awkwardly. I feel a moment of alarm. This seems like the intro to a Big Question. No place for that in our banalities.

"What exactly do you do?"

I glance down to the pavement. I'm a little ashamed, to be honest. I'm not where I thought I'd be when I finished college 6 years ago - graduating a semester ahead of my incoming class. I spent three years in a foreign country, seeing the world and learning about myself. I grew up, but what do I do? It was a question that struck fear into my heart.

I cleared my throat, stalling. "I... deliver pizza." I said it, but it sounded hollow. She blinked at me, as if I were lying. Trust me, I thought, with a vocabulary like mine, I understand your confusion.

"Oh." Seriousness sloughed away. She was content with the answer. "Okay."

Tell her the truth, my conscious whispered. Tell her what you really do.

I shouldn't hide it. I should tell her. My conscious was correct - why was I afraid? Did I think she would judge me? What did I care? If I spent all that time across the ocean and couldn't even stand up for my beliefs, what had I really learned?

I cleared my throat again, meaningfully. My voice exploded from my mouth in ringing tones, surprising even myself.

"Wait," I boomed, her back was starting to show to me. I might lose my moment, the window where I could show I was not a coward. She looked back, a wary query in her eyes.

I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath. "Actually, I am an author."

TrAuSt Tour #2: Kelly Gorman

After a rocky start, we've gotten back on track! The TrAuSt Tour is proud to present K. Gorman's fantastic and witty interview! We're both part of the Twelve Worlds Crew, and I'm happy to have her. Please enjoy :)

5 Up High:
JEM: Why did you get into writing/become a writer?

KG: I got into writing sometime after I got into reading. Probably around grade 9, when I discovered there was more to books than textbooks and Pony Pals. Writing just seemed to be a natural step to take from there. At first, I role-played among various games. After several years of that, I realized that I liked doing that as a hobby, so why not turn it into something more? Besides, my mom said she likes my writing... it must be good, right?

JEM: Why did you decide to go into Indie Publishing?

KG: I'm a control freak. I like the idea that I control everything--the price, the cover, the editing--indie publishing has a lot of bonuses that I can agree with. Quick publication, no censorship, I can go back and edit out all those mortifying mistakes/typos that I often find in print books. Comparing my experiences in other jobs, I much prefer a job in which I get paid based on how well I do/work, and not on what some corporate boss decides he can afford to pay me. Not to say that publishing houses are evil corporate overlords, but as an unknown writer with no credentials, I think I stand a better chance to make money self-publishing my works rather than submitting them.

JEM: Can you give a synopsis of your current WIP (Work In Progress)?

KG: Which one? I have a couple. However, since they're in the same world I can kind of describe them both. In one, the novel I'm working on, there's this country being invaded by another for its resources. Hardly an uncommon reason, in the history of warfare. Anyway. The novel follows the story of Meese, a 14-year-old girl who moved to the city of Merrin (deep in the mountains) to escape the invasion. Things happen, and she accidentally falls on the fire god's spaceship and makes it glow. Then the fire god bails her out of jail and she becomes his apprentice. More things happen, interesting character development and excitement in the, quite literal, criminal underground of Merrin, some explosions, yadayada. Then someone steals the god's magical rock and all hell breaks loose. Mainly because the rock powers the shields that protect the city from being bombed.

The other WIP is a series based in the same world. The world has gods based on elemental magic, and this series follows those affected by them. Like Kitty, a girl who found out she can control electricity...

JEM: What is your biggest inspiration as a writer?

KG: Biggest, eh? I'll have to go with other writing. Actually, scratch that--any situation in which I can form a "what if?" Like "what if stuff like nymphs had to adapt to space travel? What would the sociological effects be? What would they do?" Usually those situations come from reading, although the reading can be quite varied in topic. For example, last week I was doing a paper on the nationalist movements in Vietnam and East Timor, and I thought "what must that have been like?" Hell, once I was doing math homework and, looking at all the greek symbols, thought "Hey, is this like modern-day magic? What if mathematicians really are wizards?" Not sure where "nymphs on a spaceship" came from, though.

(JEM sez: Mathematicians ARE wizards, just to clarify.)

JEM: What is your writing process? (IE: outline, notecards, etc)

KG: I usually get a scene in my head and start writing. Then I have to backtrack and find the beginning. When I've done that, I start outlining to procrastinate everything else. And I make lots of food. And eat it. Do laundry. Then I sit at my computer thinking about all the movies I want to watch. Then I'll look at the outline again. It usually takes a few renditions of all this before I've got it all done, and I rarely know exactly what will happen at the end.

(JEM sez: Award goes to K. Gorman for most honest answer, hahaha!)


12 Worlds Special Feature:

JEM: Why did you decide to contribute to Twelve Worlds?

KG: Well, I was reading Derek's blog one day and saw the opportunity. It seemed like a good idea at the time... Amazing how that phrase always comes in, doesn't it? It was a good idea, though. A very good idea, and I'm very, very glad I got in on it. Initially, I just wanted to get my name out there. By the time of publishing, I assumed the other anthology I'd been accepted for (last July) would be published, although that doesn't seem to be the case. I saw it as a great opportunity to get my foot in someone's door.

JEM: Can you tell us anything about the story you contributed to Twelve Worlds?

KG: Remember that bit up above when I said "nymph on a spaceship"? It's like that, with guns and knives and stars and awesome.

JEM: Any other thoughts on Twelve Worlds?

KG: Well, I'm certainly excited! With as many great writers as we have, it's a really good read. And the cover art is amazing. I'm really glad this could be put together. I'll bet Reading is Fundamental will be very happy with us. Literacy is important. I can't imagine not being able to read. If you can't read, it's very, very hard to learn anything. I think this anthology will really help, and I'm glad I could be part of something so neat.


5 Down Low:

JEM: What three toppings would you mix into/put on top of your ice cream?

KG: Chocolate, of course. And caramel, too. And sprinkles. Also, let it be known that I want Malt ice cream. It's so hard to find Malt in my city. I think only Wendy's and some small convenience stores carry it. Why isn't there more Malt ice cream?

JEM: What is the coolest animal in the world?

KG: Ruby, the Belgian Draft horse. She's completely awesome. She loves to budge into traffic, and has a tendency to get her way. A lot of people don't realize just how large she is until she's got her nose at their rear window. At stop lights, she just kind of saunters up to the car in front, get's as close as I'll let her, then fusses. Kind of like she's saying "'Ello. Whatcha doin' down there?" Oh, I hope we do this to a convertible this summer.

Er... by the way, I drive horse carriages in the summer. For tourists.

JEM: Please invent the perfect candy and describe it to us!

KG: Well, in order to do this, I think I must define "candy" first. You see, chocolate is not candy. Chocolate is chocolate, and has its own category. As for the perfect candy... it's got to be a cross of those "Rockets" candies that usually emerge at Halloween. Oh, Wikipedia says they're called "Smarties" in the states. Anyway, a cross of that and something with a hard, fruity coating that you have to suck at.

JEM: Who do you think would take the fight - Captain Kirk, Captain Jack Sparrow, or Captain Crunch?

KG: Ouch. Tough one. I think Captain Crunch is right out--it's just between Kirk and Sparrow. Now, are we talking alone or with crew? With crew, it's going to be Kirk. The entire crew of the Enterprise against the Black Pearl (in the small times Sparrow does have a crew and a ship)? Kirk's used to dealing with different types of battles. On their own? Sparrow might get a shot off before Kirk fires his phaser. Hell, that monkey might come in and distract Kirk.

Although, if we're talking Captain Jack Sparrow from the first movie, before those coins were all returned and the curse broken, I think Kirk would be in trouble. If we're just talking a KO, though, I think Kirk could win with phasers set to stun.

JEM: What is one thing on your bucket list? (Bucket list = things to do before you kick the bucket.)

KG: To visit the temple complex of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. You know that Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movie? Part of it was filmed there. It is absolutely beautiful, and Cambodia really needs the money brought in from tourism. Such a sad history there, but I'm told they are the friendliest people in South-East Asia. Also, next to the Angkor Wat temple complex is the Tonle Sap lake which does something really interesting: every year during the monsoons, the water floods down the Mekong River from China, through Laos, and into Cambodia, and makes the Tonle river reverse course and fill the Tonle Sap lake, making it an extremely fertile place.


Author Freetime:
JEM: Any closing statements? :)

KG: Yeah, I think everyone should watch Hot Tub Time Machine and Top Secret. Excellent movies. And, if they so wish to read some of my writing before the anthology is out, I have two short stories on my site in the Freebie section. (/shameless plug)

Other than that, I would like to mention again how excited I am for Twelve Worlds to hit the e-bookshelves.

If you would like to contact Ms. Gorman, please do so:
Website: http://kgorman.ca/
blog: http://kelly-gorman.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/kgorman8
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/K-Gorman/185702481470134

"Shackled" is Released! (Completely and For Really Realz)

If you're interested in buying it, please check out my Release Blog!

Thanks everyone! Will have the widgets up soon, I imagine :)