INDIEpendence Day: An Interview, an Author, and a Magic 8 Ball: Shari Brady

Read through for a giveaway at the end!!!!

It's been a long time since I've done an interview in this series. The Indelibles are celebrating INDIEpendence Day by giving over our blogs to deserving indie authors. Today I'm featuring the incomparable Shari Brady.


MJ: Tell me a bit about your novel, Wish I Could Have Said Goodbye, in your own words - not the official synopsis.

SB: Wish I Could Have Said Goodbye is a story about how Carmella D'Agostino struggles with her grief and guilt after losing her older sister to addiction, and the steps she takes to overcome her fears and find the courage to love again.

MJ: Did you pants or plot while writing your first draft?

SB:  plotted and improvised.

MJ: What’s your next release going to be?

SB: All the World's A Stage is a humorous novel about Gabrielle, an aspiring actress and expert Tarot card reader whose life is perfect and going right along as planned. But when her mother is injured in a car accident, and her best friend's ex-boyfriend flirts with her, Gabi's neat and tidy life begins to unravel.  Release date:  March 2013.

MJ: Now for the fun stuff! If you were trapped on a deserted island and you could only bring three books, what would you bring?

SB: The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and Stephen King's On Writing.

MJ: Who is your celebrity crush?

SB: That's easy.  Phillip Phillips :)

MJ: What is your favorite color?

SB: Red

MJ: What do you wear when you write?

SB: Sweats, a t-shirt and one of my favorite fleece zip up sweatshirts in the winter, drawstring shorts and t-shirt in the summer. (I have to be comfy at my desk)

MJ: What’s your favorite vacation spot?

SB: Isle of Palms, South Carolina (near Charleston).

MJ: Now, I need YOU to ask ME a question about absolutely anything under the sun. It has to be a yes or no question and will be answered by my  10-year-old’s all-knowing Magic 8 Ball! The question can be serious or silly - it’s up to you.

SB: Do you believe in pet psychics?

M8B: It is decidedly so.

MJ: Funny, I didn't even know that was one of the replies my Magic 8 Ball could make. Verrry interesting. Of course it doesn't surprise me that M8B believes in pet psychics, since, after all, M8B is psychic too.

Thank you so much, Shari, for stopping by my blog today! I'm reading Wish I Could Have Said Goodbye right now and LOVING it. :D

Check out the rest of the featured authors below, but first, enter the contest to win one of two ecopies of Wish I Could Have Said Goodbye.


a Rafflecopter giveaway
Interviews: 

Disappearing Act

I've had a difficult time, professionally, the past two weeks. There were some developments that made me seriously consider turning my back on my career. I don't think their exact nature is important, because what's damaging to one person would make another shrug their shoulders and walk away.


After multiple distressing things happened, I broke down and had a long cry. My husband reminded me that writing was never about publishing for me. I wrote because I needed an outlet. I'm an emotional person. I feel things very deeply. I'm not clinically depressed, but I've had my moments where I thought I might be able to understand what those who live with depression feel. I'd venture to say we've all had those moments.

Most of you know this (it's not a secret), but Megg Jensen is a pen name. I could so easily walk away from this career and never turn back. Few people would even know. Heck, most people in my real life don't know what I do. Those who do often treat it as a joke - like "give the cute little girl a pat on her head for writing a cute little story."

It would only take a few keystrokes and "Megg" would be gone.

In the last two weeks I've had to deal with some major shit. It's not even anything that will affect my sales or really anything that most of you have heard. It's behind-the-scenes junk that life occasionally doles out.

Yet it has made me doubt myself. Doubt my writing. Doubt my decision to self-publish. Doubt every single publishing decision I've made since December 2010.

On the other end of this doubt is a pinhole with a tiny light shining through it. That light is my imagination. No matter what anyone lobs at me, they can't break my imagination. It's always there, winking at me, telling me stories, forcing the most ridiculous ideas into my head. I know that my desire to spin a story will always be there. It's the one constant in my life.

Since the beginning of time, humans have told stories. Whether whispered over a campfire, glyphs drawn on the walls of caves, or a brilliantly illuminated medieval manuscript, one thing holds true - our lives are beautifully enhanced by narrative. I just happened to be one of those souls driven to share mine.

So whether people want to hurt me so bad that they hope "Megg" might disappear or be ashamed of self-publishing, I have to remember that little light at the end of the tunnel. It's not about the end of the race, it's about the experiences we have along the way. Life will not always be easy. People will not always be kind. Life will never be perfect and complete.

I just have to be the truest version of myself. <3

Self-Publishing, The Hunger Games, and Selling Out

(Cross-posted from my Author2Author blog post)

What do self-publishing, The Hunger Games, and selling out have in common? A lot more than you might think.

I fully admit it - two years I ago I would have told you self-publishing was for failures (or small churches and historical groups looking to publish their own histories for a limited audience). I would have rolled my eyes and told you that I would never, ever consider self-publishing because traditional publishing was all that mattered.

2012 Megg would like to tell mid-2010 Megg, "You're a sheltered, close-minded idiot."

Self-publishing is a different beast than it was ten years ago. With costs at practically nothing, anyone can slap anything they want up on the web. But here's the kicker:

Those of us that want to succeed will work our asses off to make sure our product is the best we can make it. We will work hard to promote ourselves. We will recognize writing and publishing as two separate businesses, leaving the emotion for the first draft and implementing the business sense on the publishing side.

Source: http://bit.ly/J6EYWJ

This is where I think The Hunger Games steps in as a great analogy. Katniss and Peeta taught us that even though we're forced to play a rough game (I think everyone would agree that traditional publishing isn't for the weak), we can find ways around the strict rules. We can find fans (in our case, readers) who will support us. We can win and change the entire game in doing so.

This is what self-publishing has done. The game isn't over, far from it. We're just rewriting the rules and gaining the respect of our readers at the same time.

But sometimes with winning comes change. I won't get into the plot lines of Catching Fire and Mockingjay because I know not everyone on the planet has read them (you should if you haven't). Sometimes an indie gets the notice of the big boys. If traditional publishing comes knocking, should a self-pub give them the finger and move on?

No.

Now some self-pubs might call me a traitor for that. Too bad.

In my viewpoint, moving from self-publishing to traditional publishing isn't a crime. I also don't look at self-publishing as a stepping stone to traditional. I see a new model of publishing emerging.

Authors, like myself, can now weigh the pros and cons of deals and we can decide whether to accept or reject them.

It's not about who holds the power. Moving from self to trad is simply coming to a mutual decision about whether or not an author's work is something that will resonate with a wider audience.

That's it. It's not about who's better than anyone else. It's simply a matter of pure economics and the flavor of the day.

If I was offered the right traditional publishing deal, would I take it? Depends on the terms, really. I'm open to exploring any option. I'm also open to walking away from something that isn't worth it. It isn't my goal to tell people, "Ooooh, I got a trad deal." So what? If the deal isn't worth my time and money (because I'd be giving up a lot in royalties to take a trad deal), then I am okay with walking away.

Publishing is a business that provides people access to a form of entertainment. It is not here to fulfill an author's wildest dreams. The reading public does that. If a reader can escape through your book, then your wildest dreams have been fulfilled. If your only concern is seeing a copy of your book on a shelf at Barnes & Noble, then you're not looking at writing the right way. Writing is a creative outlet for those of us with wild imaginations and good grammar. There simply isn't room for all of us on the shelf at your local bookstore.

And guess what? That's okay too.

BIG Mistake & Proof I'm Human

I made a HUGE mistake in Afterlife. I've since corrected it and am uploading the new version to all sales outlets.

I think this is proof I'm human and I make mistakes. I feel the need to make lemonade out of these lemons and be soooo grateful I'm able to correct it within just a few hours.

For those of you who already purchased Afterlife, I am happy to offer you a free, corrected version. All you need to do is email me (meggjensen (at) gmail) with:

1 - The first line of Chapter Four (to prove to me you already have it).
2 - Your preferred ebook format mobi (Kindle) or epub (everyone else) or let me know if you want a Smashwords coupon code.

Here's what happened:

When I wrote Sleepers in 2009 (yes, THREE years ago), the names of the two enemies, the Dalagans and the Fithians were completely different names.  I changed them, then later on, I decided I wanted them switched.

When I wrote Afterlife in 2012, I grabbed all of my notes from Sleepers. Something didn't seem right to me - even the day I hit publish, I was still sure something was wrong, I just didn't know what. I chalked it up to jitters.

Then this morning I saw a comment on Goodreads about the races being switched and the lightbulb went on. And it electrocuted me. I knew immediately what that nagging sound had been in the back of my head. I had switched their names in Afterlife - back to the way it had originally been.

I realized I never made mention of the switch in my notes.

So, yeah, I screwed up. But I'm rectifying everything by uploading new versions and offering free replacement copies to those who already bought Afterlife.

Afterlife is OUT (and a CONTEST!)

I cannot believe Afterlife is finally out in the world. Well, at least part of the world. You can find it on Amazon (US & UK) and Barnes&Noble, but the iBookstore, Sony, and many international outlets are slow to post.

In honor of its release, I'm selling Afterlife for only 99 cents on April 27th through April 29th on Amazon and Barnes&Noble. It goes to its regular price of $2.99 on April 30th. Why? I wanted to give my loyal fans a chance to get it for cheap. You guys are the ones who've been there with me, who follow me in various places (Facebook, Twitter, my blog). It's my little gift to you.

But wait ... there's MORE!

Yes, you know me. It wouldn't be a book release without some kind of giveaway. If you've been following me, you know I took my family to Universal Studios in Orlando for the first time. I have to say, the Harry Potter portion was pretty damn incredible. It's something I won't forget anytime soon.

The best part? The souvenirs. I brought back a few for you!!!! One winner will get this really fun prize package - a stuffed owl (I think it's Pidwidgeon, but the tag doesn't specifically say so), a Gryffindor patch, and (what I think is the coolest thing ever because I bought one for myself too) a leather suitcase filled with Hogwarts stationary!!!!!

I'll also throw in some of my swag, but you know that Harry Potter stuff is way cooler anyway.

Enter below in the Rafflecopter widget. Yes, I'm having a little love affair with Rafflecopter!!!!

Thanks again so much for being a part of this journey with me. I love writing and I love that I'm able to make so many of you gasp, smile, and cry.

XoXo,

Megg

(the contest is open internationally!)

Okay, so Rafflecopter is having issues this morning. If it's working, use it to enter. If not, here are the ways you can enter - just leave a comment below to let me know which actions you took and make sure to leave me a way to contact you in case you win:

1pt - Leave a blog post contest below
1pt (once per day) - tweet this:  Afterlife by @meggjensen is out & only #99cents thru 4/29 on #kindle and #nook - enter to win cool #HarryPotter prizes http://bit.ly/IWmNCT
1pt - Follow me on Twitter
1 pt - Follow me on Facebook
1pt - "Like" this blog post
1 pt - Join my email list

Win 1 of 10 e-ARCs of Afterlife!

Who wants to win an e-ARC of Afterlife?

(an e-ARC is an electronic Advanced Release Copy)

Just enter in the Rafflecopter widget below!

Remember, even if you don't win, subscribers to my newsletter will get dibs on the first chapter of Afterlife next week, as well as information on release dates, sale prices, and secret info on my next contest (which is happening soon and is going to contain some pretty cool goodies)!

Good luck!!!!

Something Exciting This Way Comes...

I'm always on the lookout for a new innovation. I'm digging epublishing, but I really enjoy getting in on new ideas.

My fellow Indelible and friend Cheri Lasota introduced me to the newest & coolest in e-book inventions: e-book cards from GreenersideDigital.com.

What is an e-book card?

It's the size and weight of a credit card. One one side is my e-book cover, on the other there's a synopsis of the book, directions on how to claim your e-book, and a scratch off bar with a unique coupon code underneath. Just scratch it off, follow the directions, and you get a new e-book in .mobi (Kindle) or .epub (every other e-reader on the planet).

Wicked, right?

I really wanted to take advantage of this. How awesome would it be to be able to sell ebooks at author fairs while still giving the consumer something to hold in their hand? I can even sign the ebook cards too!

My only issue was deciding which book to make e-book cards for. They aren't cheap to produce and the minimum order was too high for me to even consider creating them for more than one e-book. After a day or so of wringing my hands, I realized how stupid I was. I didn't need to make an e-book card for ONE e-book. I could put the entire Cloud Prophet Trilogy (Anathema, Oubliette, Severed) on the card!

Now I'm able to sell ebooks anywhere I want. The entire trilogy goes for $7.99 on Amazon.com. I'm able to sell you the card for only $6.00 (including tax and shipping & handling). If you want to buy one, you can order it on the top right of the sidebar. :D

I hope you're as excited as I am about this new product!!!!!