I’ve been quiet for quite a while now. Why? I’ve been working, but also my attitude sucks, sucks, sucks. To put it mildly. Still sucks too, which is bad considering I’m headed to RWA National in sunny California in less than two weeks, but WTH, no point steering now, dudes.
Why does my attitude suck?
The business. Not the writing. The business of writing.
The latest scandal to rock the online reading community sure was sickening (and remains sickening). Outing and targeting readers? ARE YOU DERANGED? JFC, I’ve had lousy reviews and taken my share of lumps in GR mosh pits masquerading as reviews too. Did you see me crying and throwing hissy fits? Hell NO. That’s part & parcel for our ticket to ride, compadres. Publishing ain’t all bestseller lists, woot-worthy royalty statements, and smiling pretty at cons. If you’re lucky and work your ass to the bone, yeah, you may get those things, but that ticket to ride also includes reviews designed to flay the flesh from your bones. If you can’t take a good filet knife to the ribs without inflicting your meltdown on the reading community, DON’T READ YOUR REVIEWS. Simple enough? Thought so.
RBB (Reviewers/Readers Behaving Badly) are a fact of publishing life. So is author-on-author ABB (Author Behaving Badly) behavior. I’ve had my share served up to me (without fava beans or Chianti, tragically), but it’s been dragging me down lately. This is the kind of stuff readers rarely notice or if they do see it, they usually don’t recognize what it is. And shouldn’t so I won’t belabor it here. Trust me, though, it happens. Troll reviewers aren’t the only ones armed with the filet knife and nothing cuts more deeply than the blade wielded by an author you respected, had considered a friend, or one you’ve even helped. I’m disappointed, frankly, and deeply grieved. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll get over it. But for me, it’s very true to say that I’m evolving from the starry-eyed newbie to a jaded if wiser semi-seasoned vet of the digital publishing battlefield. Not a painless process, I’m sorry to say.
Thank God for the writing. THANK GOD. If you are a writer who’s ever toed a mile in my boots or are making that long walk now…Focus on the writing. The writing and readers who genuinely enjoy what you do make the publishing march worth the hassle and grief.
As it happens, even wallowing in my snarlies, I’ve been a tad busy. As you may or may not have noticed, The Importance of Being Denny was reactived at ARe. YAY! And my sincere thanks to the fine folks at ARe for their professionalism. MY fault it took so long to get Denny back up there, all mine and nobody else’s. That prodded me to finally upload Denny to Amazon and Smashwords too, which should be feeding into Barnes & Noble/Nook and other vendors any day now. As you probably know, Amazon won’t let me price Denny as a freebie, but if you guys wouldn’t mind doing me a favor, click on the link to Denny at Amazon above. See the link to Tell Us About A Lower Price in the product details? Click on that and tell Amazon about the Smashwords link to the Denny freebie. I hate charging readers for what they can get for free elsewhere and had already decided to add any royalties received from Denny’s sales to my monthly donation to the Trevor Project (from Foreshock’s sales). But it still bugs the snot out of me that people are paying for Denny, even if it’s only 99 cents. So if y’all wouldn’t mind taking a few seconds to help me make Denny a freebie on Amazon, I’d sorely appreciate it.
Plunder (the Spoils of War sequel) is set to release at Loose Id on August 14th — less than a month away now. WOOT! I’ve been playing around with a book trailer and will roll that out soon. It’s my first book trailer since 2010 so I’m kind of excited about it, LOL. Also a friendly reminder to get on my newsletter subscriber list for the random drawing for prezzies with every new release. The Join link should be in the menu bar to the right on my site. You want to get in on this one because Plunder’s newsletter subscriber prezzie will be wicked cool. 😀
For those of you wondering…I’m nearly finished polishing up the zombie story and expect to ship that sucker out the door any day now. WAHOO! As soon as that’s done, I’ll return to I, Omega’s story world for some smexy fun between Burke and an aide of Gabriel’s visiting senator father — oh boy. 😀 Then, the plan is to return to In the Red for that sequel, tentatively titled Black Friday. After that, who knows? Probably Collared 2. I actually started TWO zombie stories — a novel and a novella both — so maybe I’ll go back to the unfinished project of those two. Or maybe I’ll finally dive in for my girl cootie fix to wrap up the Lovely Wicked two-fer (which is still sadly a one-off — poor Sammy!) so I’d be owes-a-sequel free. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Yeah, I think so too. 😉
In the meantime, I’m headed to RWA National in Anaheim, California July 25th – 28th. If you’re a m/m reader in the area and want to buddy up to hit the literacy signing on the 25th, 5:00 – 8:00 PM, shoot me an email! One of the fun parts of RWA National last year was meeting friends (some of whom — GASP! — are readers 😉 ) to gossip about books we’ve loved while waiting in line and yammering away afterward. If you likes and let me know ahead of time, I might even bring a bag for you to carry your literacy signing goodies home in plus any swag you want of mine too.
So…keep your eyes peeled for the cover reveal for Plunder, the book trailer, pre-release giveaway and other fabulous goings-on. Hope you’re having a GREAT summer and
Happy Reading!
