Category Archives: Publishing
Consider This a Twofer
High Tide Episode 13: Going For a Ride and Episode 14: Pouring Oil On Troubled Waters are now live on Kindle Vella. Friday’s episode didn’t upload until late so I didn’t post about it last week, sorry about that.
Speaking of contacting people, I sent out a newsletter yesterday thanking folks for buying Crystal Blade and talking about some other projects, and woke up to four people having unsubscribed. Which, believe it or not, is fine—I would much prefer people who actually read my stories and enjoy hearing from me to get my newsletter. Having a huge newsletter audience is pointless if half of them only signed up to get a free book and plan on unsubscribing at some point. I’d much rather build a solid group of readers who actively enjoy my books and want to hear about what’s coming up next, read teasers, get entered into giveaways, etc.
And even though I lost four subscribers yesterday, today more than made up for it with four book purchases, including a print version of Esposito County Shifters: Omnibus Edition. Apparently Mercury is no longer in retrograde and everyone is rejoicing by buying books, hurrah!
It’s Good To Finish Things
High Tide Episode 12: Aftermath is now live on Kindle Vella. And lo, thou canst read it at thy leisure.
We have rain on the way and I cannot wait. I love writing when it’s raining outside—I even have a rain sounds track on iTunes so that I can play that when I’m writing something that doesn’t need a specific musical track.
Even better, the quilt project for a friend is 99% done. I now have to turf it to someone who can quilt it on a longarm machine, then I get it back, put on the binding, and send it out. I don’t know about you, but unfinished projects nag at me so I always feel really good when I get one done (or almost done in this case).
Once I get back from the quilt store, I’m settling in here to work on High Tide (which is almost 25% done) and Hurricane Warning (still outlining the bulk of it, but I think I’ll post the unedited version of the first chapter Real Soon Now). And this weekend I’m going to finish setting up my Shopify store where people can buy bundled ebooks directly from me. I want to do signed paperbacks as well, but that’s going to have to wait until later when I have the spoons for it.
Best of all, now that the weather has cooled off and I won’t sweat to death in my bedroom closet I can start working on the audiobooks, yay!
And It’s Monday
High Tide Episode 11: Divine Etiquette is now live on Kindle Vella. You know the drill, go forth and enjoy it.
The weekend was most productive—I got some ads tweaked, worked on a quilting project for a friend, continued outlining Hurricane Warning (I know how I want it to begin and I know how I want it to end—it’s the middle part that’s always the challenge), and poked a bit at the paranormal Vella serial I want to start posting once High Tide and Hurricane Warning are done. Devil’s Deal will be a true serial, designed to be read over a cup of coffee, and the leads are a rather dishy Prince of Hell who has a wee gambling addiction, a witch/data miner who gets catapulted into PI status when the investigator she worked for gets killed, and the blondest, snottiest angel you could imagine (think Sam Reid in Lestat mode, only with a British accent). And I’m not restricting myself to Heaven and Hell—this story can wander into any pantheon or afterlife you can imagine. This is gonna be fun…
Even better, the heat has finally broken here in the clavicle of Texas and we’re looking at days in the 80s, one day in the 70s, and rain this week, which is so thrilling I can hardly stand it. Seriously, when you go from mid-June to mid-September with only three breaks in a string of triple digit days, it wears on you like you wouldn’t believe. And I work inside in AC (well, relative AC)—the people who had to work outside during those temps are the ones who I really worry about. If next summer is anything like this one, we may seriously have to look at moving because I’m Olde™ and I can’t take temps like that anymore.
So, Yeah, It’s Monday
High Tide Episode 7: VivePharm is now available at Kindle Vella. You know the drill.
I had a panicked moment today. I thought I had my writer’s group meeting on Zoom tonight, which meant that I’d have to stop working at 7:00 PM and attend the meeting. Luckily we don’t have a story in the queue to be critiqued so I didn’t have to spend time on that but I am still editing the last few chapters of Crystal Blade before sending them off to Team Editorial Machete tonight and I didn’t have time to stop and attend a meeting…
…until I realized the meeting was tomorrow. Oops. And crisis averted.
Also, may I just say that having to plead with a medical insurance company to pre-approve an instance of non-elective surgery is bullshit? Luckily my doctor’s office is handling that and bless them for their tenacity, but it means I’m still waiting for them to receive my insurance company’s blessing before I can go ahead and have this gum issue fixed.
God, I want Medicaid For All.
On the plus side, the temps here are ever so slowly dropping and indeed it’s only two digits in my neighborhood at the moment, and that’s before 7:00 PM. I think that’s the first time this has happened since we had those three days of 90s temps. I just want to go back to non-hellish weather, is that so wrong?
Not Looking Forward To This Weekend
High Tide Episode 6: To Be Human … Or Not is now available at Kindle Vella. Go Forth and read.
So, Crystal Blade will be released on 8/29/23 at Amazon and you still have time to snap up a copy at 99¢ which is even cheaper than reading it on KU (yes, it will be on KU, never fear). The goal is to get the edited doc over to my editor and beta readers by Monday, get their edits input by Thursday, then give it a final polish and upload before the 7:00 PM CST deadline on Friday.
And the funny thing is, I thought this was the one that I’d have ready early. I had a whole month and a couple of days to get it ready for publication. I wouldn’t be rushing around like a headless chicken trying to get it polished, edited, formatted, and uploaded. I would have time.
Which must have amused Fate because that’s why I had my downstairs AC unit go out and a medical situation land on the same day. As a result the last two weeks or so have been filled with talking to AC techs, scrambling to get window units, getting various doctors’ appointments lined up and scheduling surgery (this is for the gum thing), all while it’s been hotter than Satan’s taint here. Frankly, the fact that I managed to get as much done with everything else that was going on astounds me.
But things are finally lined up and I’ll spend the weekend finishing up my round of edits before sending it out to Team Editorial Machete. Wish I could sleep next weekend but I’ll be prepping for release, tra la.
Back In the Saddle With Vella
High Tide Episode 5: Look Who’s Back is now available at Kindle Vella. The Olympic Cove gang are starting to approach the end game of Thetis and her mysterious companion, but Scott, Orrin, and Rian picked a very bad time to approach Poseidon (do not bother the God of the Seas when he’s trying to welcome a bunch of other deities, some of them not so friendly, to his home).
After I got the episode uploaded I decided to wash the bedding (at least we’ll be sweating into clean sheets), then go out and enjoy the last day of relative cool before Hell returns to the Clavicle of Texas. I picked up some stuff for a quilting project and stopped at the butchers for some proper bangers (mild pork sausages). Being an Englishman, Ramón is more than passing fond of bangers and mash with onion gravy, and since it’s stupidly simply to make (slice an onion very thin, brown it in butter, add it to a pan of brown gravy and let it simmer while you fry the bangers in the original frying pan, make up some mashed potatoes, and you’re done) I figured I’d do it tonight.
Frankly, I could use some comfort food myself at this point. I don’t like going to the doctor at the best of times, and tomorrow is for an actual treatment so, yeah, a little nervous. But better to get it done than ignore it and let things get worse, right?
Oh, Thank God
The portable AC unit arrived today. It’s rated at 14,000 BTUs, which with the 8,000 BTU window unit in the breakfast nook is generating enough cool air to make downstairs bearable. And we’re getting three days of double digit temps this week which should make things even cooler.
And yeah, I know I’m rattling on about my AC unit instead of writing but this is an object lesson that not all romance authors are rolling in dough (I wish). As it is, Ramón has regretfully asked me to go find some contract work once my gum treatment is completed so that we can afford to replace the downstairs system and get some long-needed repairs done around here. Which I agreed to because it’s necessary and I’m a grown-up who will do what is necessary.
That being said, if I can start making enough money with my writing to match what I’d been bringing in as an instructional designer, I won’t need to look for contract work. So if you want to see more work from me on a faster schedule, would you please talk me up to your friends and get them to buy books or read my Vella eps? And I’ll work on getting my Patreon and Storenvy site up in a couple of weeks, which will be another way to keep me writing fiction instead of spending my day coming up with use cases. *twinkle* We thank you for your support.
Waiting On a Call
High Tide Episode 4: Conclave of the Seas is now available at Kindle Vella. Go forth, read, and enjoy!
I’m sitting here reeling from yet another night of badly broken sleep and waiting for a call to find out the results of the gum biopsy I had two weeks ago (they weren’t in yet when I had my followup visit last Thursday and I’ve been playing phone tag with the oral surgeon every since). I’m hoping that the results are benign and I just need to confer with my dentist about possible solutions for replacing the cement in my crowns.
But I can’t be sure of that. So I’m sitting here trying to manage my anxiety and get some work done in the process. It doesn’t help that the Loudest Orange Cat in the World has decided that he wishes to glue himself to my side and comment loudly on everything. I tried closing the office door; he parked himself directly outside and started up with a mid-voice chorus of “Meow? Meow? Meow? Meow? Meow?” So he’s currently sprawled on the floor behind me while the Brown Girl has taken over the cat bed next to the bookcase.
As for writing, I’m editing Crystal Blade today because I can do that with relative competence in my current state, then I’ll get ready for my writer’s group Zoom meeting tonight. In the meantime here’s hoping that the oral surgeon calls back soon and lets me know what’s going on.
Side-Eyeing Trad Pub
High Tide Episode 3: Guess I’m Working, Then is now available at Kindle Vella. Go forth, read, and please leave a Thumbs Up because those are important for bonuses.
Recently I picked up a time travel murder mystery recommended by a colleague. It had a great cover, the concept sounded interesting, and I love good time travel stories anyway so this seemed like it would be right up my alley.
Until the first instance of head-hopping in a scene. That was followed by clunky, inauthentic dialogue between law enforcement professionals, motivation that had me side-eyeing the lead, and incorrect usage of British noble titles in direct address. At that point I quietly closed the book because life is too short to listen to my inner editor raging.
And this was a traditionally published novel by a major publishing house, the first in a series. That makes me feel a lot better about my own stuff. Yes, the occasional typo slips through despite my editing team’s best efforts, and sometimes I screw up a minor character’s name or plot details (and when these are pointed out to me I go back in and fix them). But at least my dialogue is on point, I keep the action moving, and if I use something specialized like noble titles I do the necessary research to make sure my usage is correct.
And I don’t head hop in a scene. Gah. Scene breaks exist for a reason.
Creative Decisions
High Tide Episode 2: And Hello To You, Too is now available at Kindle Vella. You know the drill.
I realized yesterday that I kinda made a mistake. I jumped from a complex fantasy romance with bleak backstories, intrigue, and suspense (Crystal Blade) directly into another complex fantasy romance with bleak backstories, intrigue and suspense (High Tide), and after the last three years my brain kinda needs a break from so much sturm und drang and bleak backstories, please.
So I’ve decided to lighten things just a little with the main trio for High Tide. One of the members is a sunny cinnamon roll in human(oid) form, another is grumpy and sarcastic but will do anything for his mates, and the third, to be honest, is a bit of a dork. But a nice dork who tries hard.
This creative decision being influenced by the second season of a certain show that just dropped on Amazon Prime is something I will neither confirm nor deny. All I will say is that art moves in mysterious—nay, ineffable—ways.
Nicola Cameron Writes 