Confession time.
I have thought and procrastinated and thought and started and stopped and started and….
I keep coming back to the idea of hosting an Ask the Author Party.
So here we are, dear readers!
What do you want to know? Do you have burning book questions about one of my books? Are you a budding author yourself and want to know some inside ballgame info? Are you a life style stalker and want to know what color my favorite pajama bottoms are to write in?
Whatever your question, let’s hear it!
Maybe next time, we’ll play Ask the Reader…. :)
Do you design your own covers and if not do you wish you had more control of how your covers look?
As a published author, how much of your work is writing versus sales and marketing (and whatever social media work to build a market)?
Why did you choose Ask the Author as the subject of your post?
What is your favorite part about being an author?
Where do you find your inspiration for a new story?
How do you go about submitting your book to publishers, or getting an agent so that they can submit to publishers? I’ve read where a lot of publishers don’t take manuscripts except from agents so I was curious how writers breakthrough and get published.
Mary,
Covers for me are rough. For one thing, I don’t have access to exclusive couples or photoshoots. So I have to use what I can find. Most of the time, I find one character that’s really close and the other is not horrible. This series has really been hard because several books are the same characters so then I have to find a shoot with multiple different pictures of the same couple. UGH.
I’m also not a very artistic person visually, so once it starts being put together, I KNOW what I want it to look like in my head…. I rarely get exactly what I’m going for.
At first I really stressed out about the covers, and they still are more trouble than I often want to put in. But it has gotten a little easier over the years (just don’t ask me that again when I’m working on the next one!)
Oh, and I’ve only done one of my actual covers. The one for Princess was my design and implementation. The rest I had a lot of help!
Lincoln,
Back when I was heavily into the book game (versus now when I’m teaching and doing other things as well), it was probably about a 50-50 split between writing and marketing. Back then, I posted on social media every day, multiple times a day. I used Twitter and Facebook a LOT. I was out doing blog tours and interviews probably 3-4 times a week. In the meantime, I was writing on the next book.
Life now has shifted a lot in the last year. I have my last child as a senior in high school and my middle one getting married soon. I started teaching two classes back in August. With two businesses and all the family stuff going on, I barely have time to write… full confession, I have 100 pages of a 400-500 page book finished for my next preorder. So, in all honesty, I’m not getting that done either. But my marketing efforts have also gone out the window as well. I think for a long time, it was a very profitable game for me, and while it was and while I felt like all the time was well worth it, I put the time in. Then Amazon got weird, and it became less profitable and far more work for much less reward. In any case, I’m not doing as much of either now as I used to.
Dianne,
Because I’ve come to the bottom of my being creative jar, so I went with the most obvious of titles. :)
God bless!
Merrillee,
I love getting to talk about the stories with readers. I love how passionate about my characters they get–how protective and emotionally invested. I’ve had readers tell me that they go to sleep or wake up praying for the characters. I’ve had readers tell me they wanted to ring a character’s neck or they were so angry, they had to put the book down. One poor reader wrote to me, lamenting that her husband and doctor had forbidden her from finishing one of my books because every time she started reading, her blood pressure went through the roof! (I’m really not trying to hurt anybody!)
But I love that I can take the story/movie in my head, put it down in words, and it come out so well that other people reading it have the same visceral reaction I did when I first saw it in my head. I think that’s pretty cool!
Lucy,
Most of the time brand new stories come in dreams. I’ve only had a few come while I was awake. One of them was a challenge to God because I had a reader that would not let me have peace about a story I was writing. I said to God, “Fine. If this other thing was a story, what would it be?” (My plan was to tell said reader that I had asked God and He didn’t have a good idea for it… I should have known!) Two seconds after asking that sarcastically, the new story dropped almost fully formed into my mind. That book became “To Protect & Serve.” The one I was working on is still unfinished.
Megan,
I did the submission game when I first started, but I quickly found out that they don’t want YOUR story… they want a story they can remake and craft into THEIR story with your name on it. “We love it, but it needs to be about 1/2 as long.” “We love it, but we don’t like the lead being so angry at the beginning….” “We love it, but….”
My first book actually went through the editing process, and when it came out, it sounded nothing like me. It was dull and flat and flavorless. My readers that I’d already accumulated said, “Great story, but it doesn’t sound anything like you.” So my second book I put out as an independent author. I had one reader who was new to my books and writing say, “Oh, the second one was so much better. You’ve grown so much as a writer!” What I couldn’t explain to her was that the second book was written BEFORE the first one, and what had changed was it was in my voice, not reworked to sound like everyone else’s!
Hi, do you design your book covers? Have a Great rest of the week and stay safe.
I loved all the books I’ve read so far. I especially loved your Grace series and want to learn to be like your characters. I found your 9-12 Project and have started on it. Will it ever be available in paperback? It’s one of those books I want write notes in and be able to flip back and forth between topics. Thanks for awesome stories.
Alicia,
I help. I find the cover photos and I give a general description of what I want. Then I do some adjusting and fine-tuning. But I do not do the actual design. The only one I did was Princess because I wanted to change what I had, I didn’t want it to cost much, and I found a really great picture.
Judy,
I have actually hand-made some copies of 9-12 for people here who have asked for them. Not sure how to get your info, but if you want, I could make one and mail it to you.
Staci
What’s your favorite trope to write? Or, do you have a favorite season for a setting?
That would be awesome. You sent me “Mirror, Mirror” back in March…you may not still have my email…
Judy,
Send me your email to: staci_stallings @ hotmail. com (altogether)
Denise,
I’m a Cinderella girl at heart–even if the story isn’t “Cinderella,” that allusion somehow always makes it into the story. For example, here’s the opening scene in the book that will be released in December:
Greg Everett had never had cause to think much about fairy tales. Oh, he’d heard about them. Sleeping Beauty. Snow White. Belle and her Beast. And of course, Cinderella. But because he’d never seen himself as anything even remotely resembling a prince, he’d never really given the whole idea much thought.
That was until he danced with Taylor Grayson.
Okay, it wasn’t the grand ball. It was New Year’s Eve at The Davenport, but it was as close as he would probably ever get to dancing with a real Cinderella. And it had been magical. As magical as all the fairy tales put together and then some.
She was beautiful and kind, wonderful with a sparkle that could not be denied no matter how hard he had tried over the years.
And they had danced like they belonged together. Which they did, in a completely platonic, Friend Zone kind of way.
If he just didn’t think about taking her home and her giving him that final, friend-hug on her front porch, he could almost make believe the night had been perfect.
So why did he wake up the next morning feeling like Prince Charming, standing on those steps, holding only the glass slipper?
No questions :) just wanted to wish you a Blessed Christmas Season!
Ah, Merry Wonderful Christmas Season to you, Natalya & to everyone else as well!!!
Do you ever get writers block and how do you get past it?
Trixi,
I am learning that one thing that really gives me writer’s block is having too many life things to think about. I have to try to clear life stuff out to have time and space to let my mind wander. If I try too hard to lead it, I get into trouble. Trying to force writing, for me, never works. Taking in lots of different good stuff–books, music, television, movies, etc. will kick-start my mind into where we’re going next.
Done, I think. I’m a bit discombobulated this week with unexpected plumbing adventures. Trying to be positive. :)
Do you ask your readers for opinions on covers? I think when you get it down to 2-3 favourites, it would be helpful to take a reader poll. Wishing you a blessed Christmas.
Sandra,
Normally I don’t ask for opinions because most of them come out like, “I like the color but not the couple…” and whatever they say to change is usually something I can’t change without hours and hours more work. With limited time, I tend to go with whatever I can get put together quickly! :D
This is not really a question, more a ‘heads up’ – though I’m open to suggestions of better ways of dealing with it if you like (including ignoring it)! I was looking inside the first chapter of a freebie by an author I wasn’t familiar with and realised that it appears to be the content of your book ‘The Greatest of These is Love’, but with names changed. I considered reporting it to Amazon but wasn’t sure whether that was a good route to go – I’ve heard too many Amazon horror stories… If you want to have a look or do anything about it, the link is https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08R7SYVF9/ref=pe_1168592_181361312_cm_rv_eml_rv0_dp. Sorry if this is the wrong forum for this, but I wasn’t sure how else to contact you.