The Start of Something New: Exile Blog Tour and Giveaway

In a lot of ways, 2015 was a hard year for me. There were some health scares with people close to me. I spent a large part of the year dealing with prolonged injury recovery for my horse and adjusting to live in the city after 14 years living in the country. I have also spent the last several months handling my own injury recovery thanks to my dog, Teagan (I love him, really I do) feeling it necessary to leave his bone on the top step in the middle of the night.

On the up side, I started 2015 with the lofty goal of getting another book published. I ended the year with three more books released into the wild. Dissident (Forbidden Things #1), The Girl and the Clockwork Conspiracy (Clockwork Enterprises #2), and Exile (Forbidden Things #2) have all joined my debut novel, The Girl and the Clockwork Cat, out in the world. In 2016, I'm planning the released of the next two books in both series along with the introduction of something new that I'm very excited about.

To kick off the new year, I'm taking Exile on a virtual tour coordinated by Masquerade Book Tours. The stops are listed below. Join me and get involved for the glorious fun of it and for chance to win one of two $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift cards.

May your 2016 be amazing (and full of books)!

Exile Tour Schedule

January 4th
Natural Bri @ Masquerade Crew (Review)
Charline's Blog and More... (Guest Post)
Hope. Dreams. Life... Love (Pick a Playlist)

January 5th
Foofy * Not Foofy (Review)
Boom Baby Reviews (Author Interview)
Teatime and Books (Spotlight)

January 6th
The Plotting Field (Review)
Girl of 1000 Wonders (Spotlight)
The Book Bag (Spotlight)

January 7th
DJ's Book Corner (Guest Post)
Celticlady's Reviews (Spotlight)
Paranormaly Yours (Author Interview)

January 8th
Moonwalker @ Masquerade Crew (Review)
Ogitchida Kwe's Book Blog (Pick a Playlist)
Indy Book Fairy (Spotlight)

Exile (Forbidden Things #2) Cover Reveal and Another Con

Tis the season for being thankful, so I'd like to express a great deal of thanks to my cover artist, Raquel Neira, for producing yet another fantastic cover for me. Exile is the second book in the Forbidden Things series, scheduled to come out in December (the season of giving - *wink*). The fantastic folks at Masquerade Book Tours are hosting this tour. Stops are listed lower down, just above the amazing cover reveal!

Before I reveal the cover, if anyone is in the Portland area the 20th through the 22nd, I'll be down there with my books at OryCon at the Waterfront Portland Marriott Hotel. Feel free to come by and say hello. 

Cover Reveal Stops

The Shadow Portal
Paranormal Sisters  
Boom Baby Reviews  
Girl of 1000 Wonders 
Hope. Dreams. Life... Love 
Book About 
The Book Bag  
Moonbeams over Atlanta 
Celticlady's Reviews    
E-BookBuilders  
abookwithbea 
Indie Author How-to
Crystal's Chaotic Confessions  
Masquerade Crew 
DJ's Book Corner  

And now... Exile.

Happy reading!

Selfies: The Process of Self-publishing

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With the first book in the Forbidden Things series coming out soon (July 9th! So excited!), I thought it might be worthwhile to talk a bit about the adventure of self-publishing. This isn’t going to be about writing the book or about editing it. Rest assured, it has been edited extensively by myself and others and was accepted by my agent just like The Girl and the Clockwork Cat. I’d like to think the book is the best it can be, but I’m sure something was missed. I’ve yet to read a book edited professionally or otherwise where something wasn’t missed. I just hope it was a small something.

Moving on. This series is epic fantasy and epic fantasy is a hard sell to publishers these days. Since I’d given traditional publishing a try, I decided, with the approval of my agent, to try self-publishing the series. This post is to give readers a little bit of insight into what it takes to self-publish a finished book and to offer other writers starting that journey some assistance. I will probably forget some things, but I’ll try to cover all the major items.

Select a publishing format

The first decision I had to make was that of format because it has considerable impact on many other decisions. I don’t think any author publishing in today’s market would chose to do print without eBook, but eBook without print isn’t uncommon. I love the feel, smell, and weight of a print book. I also love the ability to do public signings at events. For me, having my book available through print on demand as well as eBook was an obvious choice, but it does increase the cost of the process in several ways.

To ISBN or not to ISBN

Many publishing platforms (Kindle, Nook, iBooks, etc. – I haven’t researched this for all of them, so you may want to double-check if you’re publishing a book) will provide an ISBN for free. I think this is a fine way to go for eBooks. However, if you’re doing print on demand through, for example, CreateSpace, and you use their free ISBN, they will be listed as the publisher for your book. You can decide if this matters to you or not, but I wanted my books to be published by me, so I purchased my own ISBNs from Bowker. It’s more expensive than it should be, but it was worth it to me. As a side note, for print books you can get a barcode for the cover on Bowker as well.

Copy-editing

This could be set aside as part of the editing process, but I did want to mention it as I feel having a dedicated copy-editor go over the final draft is necessary. I’m somewhat embarrassed by how many misused or simply missed apostrophes my copy-editor found (thanks Brian). I tend to ignore them a bit when I’m writing. A bad habit I’m trying to fix.

The search for great cover art

Cover art can get expensive, but having a good cover is critical. If you don’t know anyone with the necessary skills, there are many resources including online forums (Writers' Cafe, Goodreads, etc.) and art sites (such as DeviantArt, where I found Raquel Neira, the cover artist for The Girl and the Clockwork Cat and Dissident, and Fiverr, where I found Victoria Davies, the cover artist for In Silence Waiting and Making Monsters as well as several other shorts I haven’t published yet) that can help you find what you’re looking for. You need people to look at your book cover, usually in thumbnail form (thank you Raquel for pointing out that my original idea would be too busy for a thumbnail), and know if it’s something they’ll be interested in. A good cover also shows that you cared enough about your work to represent it well. If you are doing eBook and print, you will need a cover that works for both.

Interior design and formatting

Often overlooked, but critical for reader enjoyment and another place where doing both eBook and print can lead to more work and expense. Good interior design and formatting will determine how easy the book is to read and how people will feel while reading it. It’s easier to get more elaborate with print, but both versions should be attractive and easy to read. I strongly recommend reading through a print proof and looking over the eBook in all platforms you intend to publish on if possible. For one thing, reading through the print version, I found a few embarrassing content errors that were missed in all of the editing.

Getting the word out

There are a lot of ways to market online and a lot of people happy to tell you how to do it. After considerable research, I selected Goddess Fish Promotions to help with my cover reveal and with the post-release blog tour. So far, I’ve been very happy with my choice. If you plan on paying someone to do your promotion, research the options and find someplace that fits your specific book and your budget. Otherwise, you can try to go it alone. I didn’t take that route because, right now, I have more budget than I do time to write and edit.

 

So many platforms

There are a lot of platforms out there. If you want to make it simple, you can go with KDP Select and call it good. There are a lot of authors who say that has worked well for them. There are also a lot of authors who say diversifying has worked well for them. For my purposes, I decided to go with Createspace for the print on demand version. For the eBook, I’m going direct through Kindle and Nook then using Draft2Digital for some additional distribution. I may narrow or expand this as time goes on. Do your research and make the decision that is right for you and your book(s).

Those are the major items. I don’t doubt that I’m forgetting some things, so I may revisit this in the future. If you have questions or additions, feel free to comment.

Happy reading and/or writing!

Breaking the Silence & Book News

It’s been quiet here since early February (cue crickets). February itself was simply lost time due to a bad bout of flu that turned into pneumonia and put me in the ER a few times. Three actually, but I'm better now.

Now I’m making up for lost time with several book projects, two of which I’d like to share with you now.

More Clockwork Cat!

The sequel to The Girl and the Clockwork Cat should be coming out this year if all goes according to plan. Due to the red tape of traditional publishing, I don’t have a release date yet, but I promise to share as soon as I have something solid to offer (including an official title).

Something New!

Having experienced the world of traditional publishing with all its ups and downs and learned a great deal in the process, I am now exploring the world of self-publishing with my Forbidden Things fantasy series.

Taking this project on has sucked up massive quantities of time. Even with all the things I learned working with a publisher, the learning curve for self-publishing is steep. There are many things that I was aware of and even had a hand in with my publisher that I am now managing myself. Quality writing and editing are critical, but there are so many other things necessary to make a book that will draw people in and keep them coming back for more. You need great copyediting, cover art, interior design and formatting, promotion, and much more. You even have to get your own ISBN and bar codes! Every time I accomplished something, there was something new I hadn’t thought of yet waiting around the corner.

I’m happy to say that I am finally far enough in the process to announce that Forbidden Things book one: Dissident will be coming out in early July. Watch for a cover reveal in June. I am now deep into edits on books two and three and hope that taking these on myself will allow me to keep a more aggressive publishing schedule.

more books

In other news:

We saw Mad Max: Fury Road the other day. As long as you aren’t offended by violence, I strongly recommend this move. If nothing else, it is worth seeing for the amazing visuals and the creepy way it sucked me in so I didn’t know how ice cold my toes were until it ended. It’s a non-stop action extravaganza with almost no dialogue that somehow fits in some compelling emotional moments.

Now to finish some promotional work on Forbidden Things book one before I succumb to the temptation of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt again.

Happy reading, writing, watching, playing or whatever tickles your fancy!

Making Monsters and Dancing Spiders

I'm excited to announce that another of my short stories, Making Monsters, is now available through Amazon.com.

Making Monsters

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Shai is a girl who has nothing in a world run by men. Her parents are gone. She has no lineage to brag about. No future to hope for. Only her brother keeps her safe, but even he isn't willing to stand up to Kurth, the leader of their little band. Not when it comes to keeping Kurth's hands of off her and not now, when he should be disputing the older boy's plans to involve them all in a dangerous heist.

Shai knew the heist would go terribly wrong and, when it does, she is the one to pay the price. Only this time, what promised to be a tragic end brings her together with a woman secretly practicing magic, a craft forbidden to her gender. The encounter will give Shai the strength and freedom she needs to turn the tables on Kurth, but she may have to abandon her humanity in the process.

In other news, the sequel to The Girl and the Clockwork Cat went to the publisher this week. Fingers crossed they like it and we can get it on track for publication soon. Now I’m ready to start editing another project, assuming I can decide which other project to work on.

Lastly, for anyone who still doubts me when I say jumping spiders are the cutest things, take a gander at this (brought to my attention by the wonderful @ViolaFury).

Happy writing and reading!

Cover Reveal: The Caelimane Operation by Chris Pavesic

Periodically I like to share information about other authors. I don’t have time to read as much as I'd like, so unless I’m posting an actual review, I can’t promise you’ll like everything. However, if it is here, I do plan to read it eventually and I hope you find something here you truly enjoy. If so, please provide feedback for the benefit of myself and other readers. Happy Reading!

The Caelimane Operation cover reveal

The Caelimane Operation

When the Temples to the Goddess north of Southwatch are burned and followers of Dione are murdered, Hierocrat Catherine, a bard of the Caelimane Temple, sets out to find those responsible and to bring them to justice.  With only the help of a traveling group of minstrels and a retired fae investigator, Catherine must solve the mystery before more people are killed, but will she succeed when she finds herself pitted against members of her own Temple, rogue members of the Seelie Court, and a seemingly unstoppable army of undead?

About the Darkside Codex

The Caelimane Operation is part of Musa Publishing’s Darkside Codex, a shared world series with a steampunk setting.  Although steampunk forms the basis, the novels in the series explore science fiction, high fantasy, urban fantasy, horror, paranormal, romance, mystery, and noir themes.  At the center of each story is the city of Southwatch and the dark cloud (a toxic stew of chemicals and pollution) that bisects not only the city, but the people who live in it.  Segregation is quite literally built into the structure of the city with the rich and the powerful citizens living “sunside” while the poor and downtrodden live beneath the dark cloud. The higher up you are in the city, the wealthier and more powerful you are.

The Caelimane Operation is scheduled for release on January 16, 2015 by Musa Publishing.

You can learn more about this at www.chrispavesic.com

Leading up to the publication date there will be special posts, pictures, and contests.  Please check often to make sure you do not miss anything!

About the Author

Chris Pavesic lives in the Midwestern United States and loves Kona coffee, steampunk, and all types of speculative fiction. Between writing projects, Chris can most often be found reading, gaming, gardening, working on an endless list of DIY household projects, or hanging out with friends.

Email: chrispavesic@outlook.com Blog: www.chrispavesic.com Twitter: @chrispavesic Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1IvVb7W

A Little Stocking Stuffing

Christmas is coming and we all know everyone wants a little something catty or a touch of clockwork in their stocking, right? Well, maybe that wasn’t what you were planning for a stocking stuffer, but now you’re thinking it’s a great idea I bet. I’m here to help with a fun giveaway for your holiday or just for the heck of it if you don’t happen to celebrate Christmas. So what’s in this stocking stuffer giveaway?

You get this fantastic set of magnets...

...and some fun swag from The Girl and the Clockwork Cat.

Enter to win by December 23^rd.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Holidays!

In Silence Waiting and Working

I'm excited to announce that my short story, In Silence Waiting, is now available through Amazon.com. This story was a semi-finalist in the Writers of the Future 2^nd Quarter 2009 contest and came close to publication in Jim Baen's Universe right before they closed up shop.

In Silence Waiting

The New Gobi desert is a dangerous place. The only way to cross with relative safety is with guided caravans using genetically engineered slaves, the cynta, creatures designed to sense the dangers of the desert.

When the guide is killed in a tragic incident partway through the crossing, his shackled cynta finds an unlikely ally among the people in the caravan. This ally bring the cynta hope for greater freedoms, but there are still the dangers of the New Gobi to face and many others in the caravan who would keep the cynta a slave.

The cynta can face the threat of the desert alone. The threat of continued slavery, however, is one it cannot conquer without help. Without the ability to speak, can the cynta build a strong enough bond with its new ally to weather the challenges lying ahead?

---

In other news, the sequel to The Girl and the Clockwork Cat is out with beta readers and I'm now working madly on an unrelated project for NaNoWriMo. Any other crazy NaNo addicts out there? I imagine you're to busy writing to read this right now, but ganbatte!

I'm currently a few thousand words behind because I started the month sick and now...

Yep. Curse you EA.

Happy writing and reading (and gaming)!

Sweet Romance: 君がいるから

If there is a consistent source of inspiration in my creative life it's music. I have more than one book idea that was inspired by a song and I often listen to music while I write, tailoring my playlist to the mood I’m trying to set in the scene. I also drive down the road singing along at the top of my lungs and dancing behind the wheel, but I try not to subject others to that part. I thought it might be fun to share some of the music that inspires me when I’m working. The first is one of my favorites of all time and a regular go to when I want a sweet romantic feel in a scene. This song isn’t inspiration for a first kiss or night of hot passion. This is two people who mean a great deal to one another discovering their love, reaffirming their love, or perhaps being reunited after a traumatic separation. It even works for non-romantic love, in the case of friends with a deep bond to one another.

This, for me, is one of those rare songs I always play two or three times every time it comes up in my playlist simply because I love it that much. It is in Japanese, however, so I provided a translation below the video.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WHVyzPTyv8&w=560&h=315]

"kimi ga irukara" (Because you’re here)

The rain which began to fall still hasn’t stopped crying Although the coldness was too painful because I didn’t have an umbrella with me… The one who warmed me up, was you

I, who have lost my voice, only sleeps as if I’m dead Although I cried as I became lost amidst the dream I can’t wake up from… The one who found me, was you

It was sad and distressing, if I look back Traces of the dream so transient Here and now, once again,

"arigatou"

Is what I want to convey to you

If you will laugh, I’ll sing If you wish for it, I’ll be by your side If you are doubtful, I’ll say it as many times as it takes Until my voice withers…

Can you hear me? Am I reaching you? Because you’re here, I’m here.

...

Translation from here.

Because I’m always collecting more music, I’d love to hear what your favorite sweet romance songs are?

Book Signing: Lesson Learned and Cool Stuff

 

I’ve been on the reader side of the table many times in my life.

A little nervous. A little excited. Trying to think of something to say to a favorite author that doesn’t sound absurd.

Glowing and happy as I approach the signing table of someone I know. Delighting in their accomplishment and proud to know them.

I never thought of what it’s like to be on the other side of the table, not even when I was getting ready for my book release party. I was far too busy fretting about whether the books and swag would arrive on time or if I forgot to invite anyone to think about actually being in that seat on the other side of the table.

The books arrived and the swag was perfect.

I even had someone there to handle the purchasing side of things. All I had to do was talk to people and sign books. Easy right?

Ever seen a deer in the headlights?

Yep. That’s how I felt, which wasn’t a real problem until it came time to write something in the books. I had no idea what to write. I hadn’t thought about that part of it. Not once. To be fair, I think it’s harder when you know a lot of the people buying the books because you want to say something personal to each of them, but having some vague notion of what to write would have made it so much easier.

So this is my advice to the new authors out there. Put time in on swag and ordering book copies and arranging all the details (better if you can delegate some of that), but also spend time coming up with a plan for how your want to sign those books so that you don’t have to try to engage your brain when you feel like a deer in the headlights (this is especially important for true introverts).

For all of you on the other side of the table, be gentle.

Now for a few of the fun things from the book release party.

An amazing bag gifted to me by the extremely talented Ann of Romany Rapture.

This fantastic pendant gifted to me by another incredibly talented woman, Lora of London Particulars.

And some great bouquets from more lovely people.

Happy book signing, regardless of what side of the table you're on!