Author Website!

With the release of Into the Tides coming up soon, I've begun working on my author website!

It's still under development, but I've added a few features. Many more are planned, such as hopefully fan forums (if I can figure out how to add them, and arrange them to my liking...), deleted scenes, and bonus world information.

Do you visit author websites? If so, what are some of your favorite author websites? What sorts of things made those websites great?

Publishing Industry News

Publishing news and industry blogs for 11/30-12/13.


Publishing News

Apple is protesting having to pay the fee for the court-ordered monitor required by Judge Cote's ruling in the DOJ vs Apple case... and since the monitor is charging $1100 an hour, that's fairly understandable. (For our international readers, that's 6679 yuan, 9111 UAH, 800 Euro, 673 GBP, or 36,086 RUB.) There's also the monitor's supposed "fishing" for dirt, and the fact that the monitor can access employees without legal counsel present (which Apple objects to, calling it a last-minute illegal expansion of the injunction). Judge Cote tells Apple that according to the injunction, the complaint must be worked out with the DOJ first before coming to her; she does, however, reverse the ruling that allowed the monitor to communicate with her without Apple having a legal counsel present.

In the States vs Apple case, Judge Cote approves final e-book settlements for Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster.

Amazon, meanwhile, is not particularly happy with the Supreme Court's refusal to hear their appeal over the ruling that allows New York to collect sales tax for online sales.

Speaking of Amazon, there was a lawsuit filed against Amazon and the major publishing houses by indie booksellers alleging a conspiracy to limit competition through DRM and other methods. The judge tossed the case, though.

Quebec decides to set limits on bookseller discounting on new titles with a new law, coming to the compromise of not quite price-fixing.

If you were published with All Classic Books and you receive an e-mail basically holding your rights for ransom, check out this post from Writer Beware.

Digital retailers are taking advantage of the new rules on bookselling to offer steep discounts on e-books.


Industry Blogs

QueryTracker's Publishing Pulse for 11/29 and 12/13.

On the Editor's Blog, a discussion on using dialogue tags, why they should be used, how they should be used, etc. Most importantly, keep in mind the purpose of tags when writing.

A new member joins the staff of Writer Beware.

If you read QueryShark (and if you write queries, you should), the Shark is trying a new strategy: submitters get up to 100 words to explain why they broke the rules.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about the "old ways" of traditional publishing advertising, why and when they're not for you--and when they are.

Apparently jobs involving intellectual property make up 6% of the GDP, according to the International Intellectual Property Alliance.

According to the Pew Digital Library Report, nearly 90% of people ages 16+ said the closing of libraries would hurt their communities.

On QueryTracker, Jane Lebak talks about what's necessary for finding a good critique--often, it's reciprocation, but you'll probably have to start off with a soft touch. Ask Krafton explains "deep" point of view.

Here's 25 literary journals and magazines that are accepting submissions.

Amazon releases a short fiction imprint. It also reveals an interesting feature called Kindle FreeTime, an app that allows parents to set limits on the content kids can interact with.

The GoodReads Choice Awards are out.


What other publishing news have you encountered in the past two weeks?

Inspirations: Blue Butterflies

Actually taken after I chose to use blue butterflies.

Butterflies are a major part of my upcoming release, Into the Tides. But where'd I get the idea?

I's always the innocent things that are the creepiest, that stay with you the longest, when they're portrayed as evil. There's a reason people find old dolls and small children speaking in perfect harmony scary. I wanted something innocuous, something that scares almost no one. And I wanted to make it terrifying, because I wanted my novel to come alive for my readers, and to stick with them after they'd finished reading.

I wanted to make an impression. A terrifying impression.

One day I was surfing the net and found a gif of a monarch butterfly migration taking flight in Mexico. I thought, "There's something beautiful."

So I chose butterflies.

Blue butterflies, especially. I had this mental image of swarms of butterflies in blue, which just feels more magical to me than orange and gold monarch butterflies. Although the first butterflies you meet in the story aren't color-specified, in my head they're blue and white.

What other usually innocent creatures have you encountered in a novel portrayed as something scary?

My Life as an NPC

Last week, I had the most admirable vacation to a lovely place known as Generic Video Game Land. I took on the relaxing role of a non-playable character (NPC).

Press "A" to talk.

Let me recount some of the high points. Actually, the only high points.

"Why hello, stranger. What an odd outfit you're wearing. Are you from outside?"

"Why hello, stranger. What an odd outfit you're wearing. Are you from outside?"

"Why hello, stranger. What an odd outfit you're wearing. Are you from outside?"

"Why hello, stranger. What an odd outfit you're wearing. Are you from outside?"

"Eliza has a remarkable collection of chickens. But they keep escaping."

"Can you help me find my lost kitten?"

"You found my kitten! Thank you! Here, have this. It's a lovely glass bottle!"

"My child would love a necklace of gold scales. I need five scales to make one for her, but I can't leave my fruit stand to get any."

"You found me a gold scale! If you find me four more, I can make that necklace!"

"You've found four gold scales! Just one more to go!"

"You've found four gold scales! Just one more to go!"

"Oh! Five gold scales. Now I can make a necklace. Here, have this worthless piece of junk I found laying around in my backyard. Surely trash will tell you how much I value your help. Er, I mean, take this dirty bronze medal. I'm sure it will be useful to you in your travels, if only you could shine it up."

After that they told me my vacation was over and I had to go home. But it was still a lovely week.

"No, don't leave. It's dangerous out there."

The Best Insults

Every Southern woman knows the best insults are those fit for polite company.

"Well, at least you're pretty." (Translation: you're dumb as a brick. Quite unisex these days.)

"Bless his heart." (Translation: depends on context, and sometimes even isn't an insult, but "what an idiot" in the most frequent insulting sense)

"My, isn't that precious?" (I mock your pain as your children do something horribly embarrassing/how pathetic that thing you've done is.)

 The British are also masters of the understated, polite-company put-down. From "That's interesting" (I'm so bored) to "How nice" (Why can't you see I don't care?), the civil tongue cuts sharper than steel.

On the other hand, when writing a story, one of my favorite things is coming up with fitting insults. In high fantasy this is especially delightful, as calling someone a "cow-brained son of a turd and termite" might be standard practice.

There's something satisfying about absurd obscenity. It's a fine tradition--Shakespeare one of the masters--and never fails to amuse. "If leaf-blowers held a convention in a garbage dump, it would smell better than you." "You're as lovely as the backside of an angler fish." "Learn to shoot a bow, you cycloptic, goat-fingered sea slug!"

Contemporary fantasy has more constraints, since the characters should sound like realistic modern-day people in their speech. But that doesn't mean you can't occasionally slip something interesting in.

What are some of the best "polite company" insults you've seen writers use?

Wednesday Writing Exercise: SASE

From writers sending out queries to students sending out school applications, almost everyone has heard of the dreaded SASE: Self-addressed, self-stamped envelope (yes, even today in the digital age!). It implies that something will be returned.

But what happens when you receive a SASE? Sometimes we get them in the form of bills, but what else might a character get?

Today's Wednesday Writing Exercise is to have a character receive mail that includes a SASE. What does the character get, and from whom? What must the character send back?

Settings real and fictional

One of my favorite real-life settings is fog, which seems to eat at the edges of the world until the only left is a tunnel around you (although it isn't quite so loveable when I drive...)

Another favorite is to see the clouds drifting through the mountains in summer, white wisps tucked away between peaks such that you'd never know it was there until you rounded the corner and found rain.

Twilight and gloaming also have a strange appeal, because that's when real life seems surreal, everything washed in semi-light that makes it seem like anything could be hidden in the corners, from elves to spies. 

And of course, I've always wanted to use a tropical island as a backdrop to a story, because then I'd have to go and do research. Oh, horror...

What's your favorite natural setting? Is there a setting you'd love to see in a book? One you'd love to experience in real life?