New Year New Books

I've been very blog laggy lately. With the holidays, and even after, I've been busy with other stuff: life, family, friends, and writing.

Meanwhile, I've added some new items to my header menu and also added a little animated gif in the sidebar featuring my book covers.

Speaking of books & covers...I have two releases planned for 2013:

 

The first is a young adult fantasy, AIRE, which you can learn about here on my site or on Goodreads. The book is currently out with my beta reader (aka The Fabulous Amber), and then onto my proofreader/copywriter (aka The Amazing Thyra). Release is planned for Spring 2013.

The second is what I'm calling a "ghostly little story"titled HAUNTING JOY, which you can learn about here on my site or on Goodreads. That release is planned for Fall 2013.

I've also been thinking a lot lately about self-publishing and what it means to be an "indie author". I've really come to love and embrace that term. (Plus, it just sounds cool, right? Like an indie recording artist. :)) I've read a lot about self-publishing and consistently follow about a dozen blogs, because I find it fascinating, but also to keep up. The publishing world is changing at such a terrific pace that it makes it difficult for published books on the topic, even ebooks, to keep up! But there are still some really good books out there.

One book I've recently been reading is Guy Kawasaki's APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur-How to Publish a Book . I love what he says about self-publishing or artisanal publishing: "Self-publishing could change from stigma to bragging point--maybe we should change the term to 'artisanal publishing' and foster the image of authors lovingly crafting their books with total control over the  process."  Guy Kawasaki, APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur-How to Publish a Book

That concept really resonates with me. I'm not into throwing rough drafts up on Amazon (although it's so easy to do that you could indeed upload a doc and be published tomorrow, seriously). But I want to take some time with my books. I want to to luxuriate in the process, and lovingly create a book from stories that I have lovingly written. Or, perhaps a good term for me is a book geek. That works too. lol I just love putting in the effort and care to produce the most beautiful professional looking product I can (with my skill set and budget--yes, I could do more and do it better if I had more money. Fact of life. But, you do what you can, the best you can, with what you have been given.).

And I've got a whole lot more I could say about this. In fact, I'm being interviewed over an a YA author site soon, where we will be talking about self-publishing. More on that later. And I want to put up a whole page of resources soon for other writers. There's just so much I want to do and it all takes time! :)