I love books and I have so much respect for the men and women whose books I’ve read. So far, I’ve yet to meet one of my favorite authors. In part because I’ve never had the chance to meet them, and in part because I’m not sure I’d try if I could. I’ve touched on this before, of not meeting them out of fear. I’m afraid they won’t live up to the expectations I have of them and I’m afraid that it’d ruin the story for me.

There are so many authors I know of who don’t seem nice and I can’t read their books. (Call me weird, I don’t mind.) I love reading for the same reason I write. I need that magic. I love being able to share new worlds and characters. And as much as I’d love to be known as a great writer/author, I want to be known for being a nice writer/author.

And that’s been on my mind. I’m not perfect. I’m not always as nice as I could be, or as diplomatic or understanding. I do try, but I’m human, I make mistakes. Even so, if I make a mistake, if I say something mean (even if it wasn’t my intent, because I fumble with words a lot and say things poorly), I’ll be the first to apologize for it. But on the whole, I want to be remembered for being nice.

In five, ten, or twenty years, I want people to remember me not just as a writer, but as a nice person. I’d rather have 100 people remember me as an okay writer but a great person, than to have 1,000 people remember me as a great writer and a…nope, that’s it–just a great writer.

What about you? If you’re an author, do you want to be remembered for being great or being nice? And if you’re a reader, would you rather remember a nice author, or a great author?

**Please note: I am in no way saying I’m a great writer. I think I’m a good writer, but I know I have more to learn and I hope to improve.

Traditional Publishing

Pros

• Editing: If you go with a trad publishing company, you don’t have to pay for editing up front.
• Promotion: There will likely be at least *some* promotion done, though from what I’ve heard, it isn’t always a lot unless you’re a Big Name Author.
• Advance: They offer you an advance toward your sales, which can be anything from $1,000 and up.
• Bookstores: Trad publishing comes with bookstores. Yay!

Cons

• Low royalty rates: ebooks come with ridiculously low royalty rates, and print rates are even lower.
• Control: They pay the bills, so they have the final say in everything. From how your book is marketed, what goes on the cover/blurb, what does or doesn’t get changed, how much it’s going to cost, etc. Again, unless you’re a Big Name Author, your wants aren’t considered very much.
• Payments: I’m sure this varies from house to house, but unless you make back your advance pretty quickly, you won’t see another penny for probably a year, if not longer.
• Release date: Odds are, if you signed a contract today, your book wouldn’t be published for at least a year.

Indie Publishing

Pros

• Control: You control everything, from your cover, to your release date, to your price.
• Payment: Most places pay every few months. For example, with B&N, if you make $10 in royalties in August, then you’ll get your money in October.
• Royalty rates: Your choice here. Price your book at $2.99 or higher, and you’ll make at least $1.94 on each book (this does vary depending on where your book was purchased, however). Price your book below 2.99, and most places give you approximately 30% of the price. So even if you sell your book for $.99, you’ll make at least $.30 per copy sold–which can be more than most traditional publishers.

Cons

• Money: Indie publishing doesn’t come with advances, so any expenses you have are yours and usually have to be paid up front. This includes editing, formatting, book covers, etc. It can get expensive quick.
• Pre-order/specials: With places like Amazon and B&N, it’s not possible to have your book available for pre-order. And unless you try to work the system and do some price-matching, you can’t really discount your book or set it for free. (But if you want to have a free-all-the-time book on B&N, you can do it through Smashwords. Unless you’re living outside of the US, I don’t recommend using Smashwords for B&N unless the story will always be free.)
• Promotion: It’s all up to you. Getting reviews, getting the word out, etc. All of that is on you to handle, which can be hard and really time consuming.

For me, there are better pros with Indie publishing for my particular wants/needs. I’m not against traditional publishing, and I wouldn’t fault anyone for going that route, but it’s not for me, not right now. As I said in a previous post, I’d consider taking a trad deal if it met my goals/wants at the time.

What about y’all? Did I forget any pros or cons for either side? If you’re with a traditional publisher, would/have you considered indie publishing? If you’re indie publishing, would/have you considered going with a traditional publisher? Let me know!

I chose to indie publish for a lot of different reasons. Some of which are control issues, some are time issues, and there are other reasons that I won’t get into right now. I’m not against NY publishing. Sure, there are areas of it that I’ve heard or read about that I don’t particularly like, but if the right deal came along that matched my goals, then I’d definitely consider it. I don’t think publishing needs to be all one way or another. It doesn’t have to be solely NY publishing, or e-pub, or even just indie publishing. There’s room to grow in all the different avenues–at least that’s what I believe. There’s different pros and cons to them all, too; it just depends on your goals and wants.

But I don’t get this attitude when someone goes from one to the other. And I especially don’t understand why people consider it ‘selling out’ to have goals or to change those goals. I’ve read a lot about Amanda Hocking (because I <3 me some success stories), and when she went from indie to NY, it seemed like a bunch of people thought she sold out because of it.

Personally, when that kind of thing happens, I don’t see it as selling out. I see it as people taking another avenue to reach their goals–whatever they may be. Maybe their goals changed over time, or maybe they just evolved. As people learn and grow, so do goals. I don’t see anything wrong with that, and in fact, I think it’s a good thing.

What do you guys think? If an author goes from one way of publishing to another, do you think they’re selling out? Do you think having evolving goals is a bad thing?

So, because I’m made of fail, I decided to go ahead and offer each of the participants (Kat, Krysykat, Shadow, and Shannon) the book of their choice, Shadow and Light or Twin Tied.

I just sent off the emails (like, 5 minutes ago), so if you entered the contest and didn’t receive the email, please let me know. You can use the contact form on the site or just comment here with your original email address and I’ll resend the email. (To clarify, you don’t have to post your email address as long as it’s the same one you originally commented with.)

I removed all the emails from the posts just so no spam bots came around and nabbed them.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the blog hop. Hope you all won some great books that you’ll love and found some new authors to enjoy (no hard feelings if I’m not one!).

Happy reading!

It’s Easter! Or it will be on Sunday. I don’t normally do a lot for Easter, but I thought I’d join in on a blog hop and offer up some fun stuff for y’all to do and a contest. I’m one of many who are participating in this, so if you’d like to check out some of the other participants who’ll be having giveaways, you can find a list here: http://thebloghopspot.com/event-page/

First, some origami! I love me some origami, and I thought it’d be fun to share some easy, Easter-themed projects.

The Bunny. I recommend using a smaller piece of paper for this one, just because they’re really cute all miniaturized. (This one does require scissors for one small snip.)

The Box: Just a cute little box that you can throw some candy into. Really has no practical use, but it’s simple and cute.

Also, to celebrate my release of Twin Tied, I wanted to do a little excerpt egg hunt, or an eggcerpt hunt as I’ve been calling it in my mind (and giggling every time I do). Actually, there isn’t much hunting, only point-and-clicking, but that’s easier anyway. So, just point and click on an egg, and you can read excerpts from Twin Tied. Each egg has links to a different excerpt.

Now, for the giveaway portion of the post! That’s the good stuff, right? Right! 2 people will win their choice of either Twin Tied or Shadow and Light. The contest will run from today until Sunday (it closes at 11:59pm EST Sunday evening). To enter, just comment. That’s it. No other hoops to jump through.

But, if you want to increase your odds of winning, then pick an eggcerpt, answer ONE of questions at the bottom of this post, and you’ll earn two entries. On Monday, I’ll use random.org and pick the winners. I’ll post them here too, so if you want to check back, feel free!

Question/Eggcerpt 1: What’s the last line?
Question/Eggcerpt 2: Fill in the blank (each dash represents one word): “Get real, Lexa. No one is _ _ _ _. That was just…insane.”
Question/Eggcerpt 3: Who scares Lexa?
Question/Eggcerpt 4: Who was driving the car?
Question/Eggcerpt 5: What does Lexa hate having thrown in her face?
Question/Eggcerpt 6: What does Kai do when she sees a horror flick with “one of those heroines who cries and hides like a scared little dog”?

That’s all, folks! If you like giveaways, check out some of the other people participating and try to win some goodies. Don’t forget to comment to be entered to win, and please use a valid email so I can reach you if you’re a winner. Have a safe, happy, hoppy Easter!

Whenever I went to a store, as soon as I got back to the car, I’d rip the receipt into a not-really-square-like square and make cranes. The dash and my cup holders were always full of them, and anytime I had any left over paper at home, I’d make a bunch and stuff them into whatever was handy. I even used to stuff them in my wallet, just because they were super tiny and cute.

I hadn’t made anything in a long time, and I’ve still never made anything with proper paper (though one day, I swear I will), but I wanted to get back into it, so I cut up some notebook paper and made some things that way. They look funny, but that’s okay. It adds to their character…or something.

I tried making some fancy box out of a dollar, but that was an abysmal failure. So I just stuck with making a heart, a box, and an envelope. All of them were way more complicated than they should’ve been (except the box) and took way too much time. I’m still not sure the envelope is right, but that’s okay. It’s, er, envelope like. Kind of.

I really like the boxes. I’m going to make another one and make a lid for it. It’s going to be my Bucket Box. It’s not going to be a real bucket list, because I don’t have one. But basically, I’m just going to write down stuff I want or things I want to do and put them in the box. Why? No idea, but that’s the plan. And to make other cool things. Like more cranes.

What about y’all? Any old hobbies you’ve been wanting to get back to? Any new ones you want to try?

John Cena is one of the most loved WWE wrestlers, and at the same time, he’s one of the most loathed. There’s nothing like watching a match and hearing one-half of the crowd shout “Let’s go Cena!” and the other half shouting, just as loud, “Cena sucks!”. It’s amazing to me to hear and see how divided the crowds are. It’s like that for every single one of his matches, but he never seems to let it phase him. To him, it is what it is. His job is to entertain people. Sometimes, he does that by winning matches. Sometimes, he does that by getting his butt kicked. But win or lose, good or bad, he’s entertaining people.

Cena is one of my favorite wrestlers, and to others, he’s just a big joke or a fake or *insert words I try not to say in public places*. Chasing Fire (one of my favorite Nora Roberts books) has a 3.5 star rating on Amazon. Right now, it has 187 reviews. 60 5-star, 37 4-star, 32 3-star, 24 2-star, and 34 1-star. To me, she’s one of the greatest writers of the romance genre. Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight is either loved or hated.

I guess the point of this post was to serve as a reminder. A reminder that, whatever you do, there are always going to be people who love you, and there are always going to people who don’t. I don’t know how Nora Roberts (or any of my other favorite authors) handle being disliked, but personally, I’m going to try what I’m now calling the John Cena method. I’m going to remind myself that I’m in this because I want to entertain people. Sometimes, I’ll do that by writing a good story. And sometimes, I’ll do that by reminding people why they love someone else’s stories.

Most fans of wrestling either love John Cena or they absolutely hate him. There’s not a lot of middle ground where he’s concerned. Obviously I’m one of his fans, and it’s not so much about his wrestling as it is about his presence. He’s passionate about it, and I love seeing that. I love seeing people do what they love and love what they do. I love when his entrance song comes on, the crowd goes insane, and here comes John Cena running out from behind the curtain like it’s the last match he’ll ever have and he wants it to be great. But he does it every. single. night. That’s love. That’s passion.

That’s kind of how it is for me with my writing. My theme music is the idea for a story. It’s the whispers about a world I just have to explore. The crowd going wild would be the characters chattering and yapping in my ear, screaming “write me, write me!”. And when I run out from behind the curtain, I’m in the story. I’m immersed in the world and learning everything I can because I love it. Good or bad, the world is unique, it’s special, and it’s its own character, and I love being introduced to it.

In a way, I think it might be like that for a lot of writers. We all probably love a lot of things, or really like them, but our passion lies with writing, with world building, with discovering new people and new things. And like the great wrestlers, they do it for the crowd, but more, I think they do it because they absolutely love it. Because they can’t picture themselves doing something else.

You can say what you want about writers, because we’re sometimes a fickle bunch, but we love our work. Good or bad, love it or hate it, we’re passionate about it. At least, I think the really great writers are. And I think that’s how it should be.

So, what about y’all? What do you have passion for? How would you describe your passion?

**I promised this wouldn’t be a wrestling post, and it’s still not, but if you’ve got a few minutes, check out these two youtube videos. Just watch long enough to see when John Cena runs out, then you’ll get an idea why I love watching him wrestle and why he’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think about passion (not in the pervy kind of way). This link for an every day match, and this one is for a Wrestlemania match (Wrestlemania is like the WWE’s version of the Superbowl). (Oh, and the second video has a really cool thing in the beginning, so watch them both!)

**In case you were wondering, yes, my brain works in mysterious, mysterious ways to link passion with John Cena, wrestling, and writing.

Thirteen Books I read in 2011

These are some of the books I read last year. Some are adult, but most are YA. So, in no particular order…

1. Marked: PC Cast
2. Hallowland: Amanda Hocking
3. Twilight: Stephenie Meyer
4. Witch and Wizard: James Patterson
5. Portal: Imogen Rose
6. Fang: James Patterson
7. Hunger Games: Suzanne Colins
8. My Blood Approves: Amanda Hocking
9. Betrayed: PC Cast
10. Chasing Fire: Nora Roberts
11. The Search: Nora Roberts
12. New York to Dallas: JD Robb
13. Breakout: Nina Croft

Did y’all read some good books last year?

I actually wrote this post back in January (of 2011) and just…well, forgot to post it until now. It’s kind of long, so be warned.

1. [insert Author here] wrote [insert Thing here], they must be talking about themselves!
• Fact: Becca Fitzpatrick writes about Nephilim; Stephenie Meyer writes about vampires; Stephen King writes…scary stuff; JK Rowling writes about witches and wizards; James Patterson writes about bird kids.

  
  Now ask yourself this: How many Nephilim do you think Becca Fitzpatrick has met? How many vampires has Stephenie Meyer dated? How many people has Stephen King tortured and killed? How many bird kids do you think James Patterson has created in a secret lab? I’m guessing not that many, but, you know, I could always be proven wrong. (If I am–don’t tell me!)

2. [insert Author here] did it first! [insert Different Author here] is obviously copying them!
• Fact: Vampires and werewolves and love triangles were all around before Vampire Diaries and Twilight. Witches and wizards were there long before JK Rowling showed up on the scene. People were murdered and tortured in books even before Stephen King wrote about it.

  
  There are very few (if any) completely original ideas. It’s all been done before. It’s up to the author to make THEIR portrayal original.

3. [insert Character here] has blue eyes in the story, but he has green eyes on the cover! Doesn’t [insert Author here] know what she wrote?
• Fact: Most authors do NOT control what goes on a cover. The author has very little–if any–say at ALL in the cover process. They can be asked for their opinion, but 9/10, the publisher is picking the cover and the author just has to deal with it.
4. [insert Author here] has priced their book too high!
• Fact: Publishers set the price. Authors have no say in how much a book is going to cost.
5. [insert Author here] doesn’t have the sequel coming out for another year! Why are they making me wait so long?
• Fact: Again, this is something that is up to the publisher. Authors can’t demand their books be published within such-and-such time or on such-and-such date. The publisher could have the book six months to a year before it ever sees the light of day–and there are (probably) some good reasons for this. But it’s still not in the author’s control.
6. Authors hate bad reviews.
• Fact: Authors don’t mind bad reviews (they’d rather not get any, but they expect and know it will happen). What they do mind are inaccurate reviews.

  
  1) Reviews that attack the author. If the book is awful, then you can say that. But the reviews shouldn’t be a tirade of “The author sucks. They’re idiots and they should jump off the nearest cliff.” Insult the book–NOT the author. Remember, the book is up for review, but the author should never be.
  
  2) Comparisons that are way off. Say, comparing any story with a love triangle as a Twilight wannabe (even if there are no vampires), or any thriller/horror to Stephen King, etc.

There are exceptions to every rule. Even if most authors have no control over certain aspects, I’m sure there are some who have more say–but again, these are the exceptions.

Also, self-publishing/indie publishing is an entirely different matter. In that case, authors do have more control.

These are just a few of the misconceptions I’ve seen or have had myself. I’m sure there are others, and if I can think of them, or if they’re brought to my attention, then I might do another post on it.

Question time! If you’re a reader/author, are there any misconceptions I missed?