Inito Trailer

Here's a totally sweet trailer for you to watch if you aren't yet pumped about Inito's release in five days! LET'S GET AMPED.

Writing Contest Reminder!

Hello friends!

Just a reminder that the writing contest hosted by Cute N' Cozy Creations will be ending December 6th! If you know any girls 13 and under with active duty parents, pass this along! The prizes are lovely, and it's such a fantastic way to show our troops how much they mean to us, especially during the Holiday season.

Visit their Facebook page for more information! After December 6th I will be a judge in the contest. I look forward to reading the submissions!

https://www.facebook.com/cutencozycreations

One Week until Inito Release

One week and counting, people!

I thought I might have to push the release date back, but I'm working my tail off so I can stick to my deadline! Inito will be available for purchase on November 25th. You will be able to find it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords for print and ebook.

I'm feeling pretty stoked about the whole shebang.

 

Trust me, if you enjoyed my first one, Lunula, you're going to love the epic events in the next one! I mean seriously, look at this thing:

 The witch knew she had died.

Wynn's return to the world of the living is not the only mystery surrounding the fusion of light and dark. Young men and women inexplicably disappear from their homes. Strange noises and moving shadows plague Wynn as she follows Gethin to a castle by the sea to negotiate the futures of Dristol and Irador. A new evil has emerged in the wake of Alexandria's death, and Wynn must uncover what it is before the fates of the brother kingdoms are irrevocably sealed--in the hands of Chaos.




The adventure is palpable. 

So please mark your calendars! The ebook will release with a price of $1.99 with the paperback at $12.99. There is fantasy, romance, magic...owls. I'm not kidding, there's seriously an owl. It'll make a perfect read for Thanksgiving when you're beached on the couch and stuffed with turkey, wanting to be entertained. Allow me to entertain you, my friends.

Should Books Have Content Ratings?

I picked up a great looking paranormal book from Amazon the other day. The cover was good, reviews were awesome, and I was interested in the storyline. I read about half of it--just enough to get invested--and then out of nowhere people were taking their clothes off and describing genitalia in ways I really just didn't want seared into my brain. I deleted the thing from my Kindle, angry that I got all invested in a book without foreknowledge that it would contain content that would offend me.

Yes, I'm a prude.

But I know I'm not the only one, and everyone has their own level of "prude" that they draw a line at. So how are we supposed to know if a book contains these elements or not? How can we avoid spending money on crap that we end up just having to throw out anyway? How can we keep our kids from reading stuff they shouldn't?

Movies have ratings. TV has ratings. Heck, every other form of media--Youtube even!--has some rudimentary form of letting users know when content has gone from acceptable to questionable. Why not books? Why are books not rated through a system like movies are?

Films are rated by the MPAA or Motion Picture Association of America. Their board of reviewers are made
up of parents, actually. It's the main criteria for being on the board, because if you are a parent, then you will view the content through the eyes of a protector of children, I assume. The MPAA is able to afford this because films must pay to have their films rated. And in order to show their films, it is law that they must first have it rated. So. They pay a fee, the MPAA rates it for them, and we're all a little wiser.

So how did books slip past this? Is it because books are so old? There are too many? Too hard to regulate a rating system?

I want to know! I did research, and not surprisingly, I can't find much on this topic. But as someone who's main form of entertainment is actually books, it would be nice to just look at the spine, see a "R" rating, and be able to slip that puppy back on the shelf. Perhaps it doesn't even need to be regulated. Perhaps it could just be a courtesy that publishers add for readers so they know what they are getting into.

Am I totally crazy here? What do you think about content ratings?

Geeky Monday Moment (WITH A TIME CRUNCH)

Hello Auchward readers!

First of all, before I unleash my stress on you, here are some Thor memes to make your day. It was everything I wanted it to be, and then some! Critics say "brainless action," and I say, "delicious CGI and two hours of Chris Hemsworth's gorgeous face." You can't go wrong.

 

And there's this one, which made me laugh:

Okay, so now to unleash my stress on you. Inito is all set to be released less than two weeks from now...AND I CAN'T ACCESS IT. I'm usually a stickler about using Google Docs for all my work so it doesn't get trapped in a computer, but in this case I formatted the book for both print and ebook, and I didn't want to screw with that formatting. So while I backed up the PDF versions, I do not have the Word documents floating around. And my laptop has been dead for like 3 weeks now. AND I had a last editor go through it, and some changes still need to be made. El stupido me didn't just email herself the doc files.

Now, I'm not saying the release date will have to be pushed back...but I'm not saying I'm NOT saying it will have to be pushed back. I'll have to see what magic I can pull out of my proverbial hat this week.

Just imagine me screaming like Shawn and Gus.

Christmas Essay Contest--Sponsor Cute N' Cozy Creations

Hello there readers! I'd like to share an awesome essay contest with you today, and hopefully you can share it with those you know. This contest is for girls 13 and under with an active duty military parent. In about 300 words, we would like to hear why their parent is their hero. Not only does this inspire younger children to share their talent of writing (something I think every writer can get behind), but it honors those who defend our safety every day. I was very excited when Ginny approached me to be a judge in this little writing contest, and I'm happy to share the news!

If you or anyone you know might benefit from sharing this, please do! More information can be found on their Facebook page.

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What is an Indie Author?

While cruising around my Google+ haunts, I came across a persnickety writer who I imagined had a nasally voice and giant glasses he shoved up the bridge of his nose as he stated, " Actually, the term 'Indie Author' is a common misconception. Indie authors are small-press published authors, and should not be confused with the more common practice of self publishing." And he went on to kind of diss self-published authors for trying to "steal" a title or whatever.


That's not exactly what he said, but it's close enough. I also read this in a self-publishing how-to book that I mentioned in one of my earlier posts. The author, Catherine Ryan Howard, cautioned not to label yourself as indie because you are self-published, if that is what you are doing.

But that was news to me, and since titles are everything (eyeroll) I had to do more research to find out what exactly "Indie Author" meant, and where we all fit on the spectrum. What I found were, surprisingly, a lot of dull articles that either got way too specific with terminology and the nitpicky nuances of the definitions, or rainbows and unicorn blogs that couldn't stop blabbering about going for your dreams and picking a title that makes you feel warm and fuzzy. So I decided to lay it out Auchward style for you to see if it helps any.

First of all, in case it hadn't dawned on you yet, "indie" is short for "independent." This term "independent" seems to be used in a variety of ways, but it kind of speaks for itself. You stand alone! From what I understand, this term developed originally from the 1950's to 1980's with independent music labels. I won't bore you with a quote, but I did get it from a textbook, Media Essentials: A Brief Introduction. I just happen to be taking that class right now, so you're welcome.

The term sort of evolved to encompass the book publishing world as well, describing independent publishers who aren't one of the "big dogs" so to speak. They're small, and functional, and are not vanity publishing or self-publish aids.

So oh! You're thinking, wait, the nerd was right?

Sort of.

Here's where I stand with this: Both the mushy dreamland writers AND the nerd got it right. Independent Authors are authors who aren't using the larger industry publishers to represent their work. This could mean that you are an author for an independent publisher, OR it could mean you are publishing on your own...independently. Some bloggers have tried to argue that you're only an independent author if you are making your own publishing company and publishing other works, too.

Puhlease.

Where you draw the line with your writer title is up to you, but from where I stand, "indie" is just short for independent. If you aren't relying on someone else, or if your publisher is bravely forging ahead in this risky, not-always-rewarding business (like my publisher, Malachite Quills), it's all the same. **MUSHY UNICORN MOMENT AHEAD** We're all trying to share our creations. So be nice. :)

 Here's a chart for you. As you can see, the more successful or "big" your publisher gets, the more you might be able to consider taking off the "Indie" part of your name. But if you are self-published, whether through your own publisher or not, I think it's pretty safe to call yourself "Indie" if you are so inclined. I am most decidedly an Indie Author. My publisher is small, independent, AND I happen to be self-publishing my second work. I think that puts me smack dab in the middle of the independent spectrum.

I believe the take-away from this is that some writers will try to draw a line in the sand. They'll want to say, "You can't join my author club because you did things differently!" They're entitled to draw lines, but we're entitled to ignore them, especially if they're as arbitrary as they seem. I'm not sugar-coating the fact that self-published authors are at a disadvantage, or even that many self-published works are big piles of poop. There's a lot of poop out there now. But the title shouldn't be what holds you back from feeling accomplished. At the very least, not the title.

As always, I love discussion. What are your thoughts on the title?