Tag Archives: Self Publishing

Review: Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge

03 Wednesday Sep 2014

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You may recall way back in April that I went to the Fashionably Late World Book Night party with author Frances Hardinge in tow? Well, there was talk of there being copies of her latest book, Cuckoo Song, available for buying and signing but due to a post office snafu those books never appeared.

Of course every author wants Eddie to pose with their book now...

Of course every author wants Eddie to pose with their book now…

Well, not long after this I was contacted by her publisher and asked if I wanted a copy for review. Of course I said yes…

Unfortunately, being a very busy person, I have lately been very slow to get reviews out so here we are in September and I am only just getting round to putting my thoughts on this book down in a readable form.

Cuckoo Song is set in the fictitious English town of Ellchester, somewhere in Oxfordshire during the early 1920s. The post Great war vibe portrayed here is perfect for release in a year that sees the centenary of that war and the setting is vividly portrayed. Triss is a young girl who lives with her father (a famous architect credited with designing much of the town they live in), mother and younger sister (Penny). Her brother, Sebastian, died in the Great War leaving a fiancée and a grieving family behind.

The story begins with Triss having been rescued from almost drowning in a lake while the family are away on holiday. Following this incident, strange things begin to happen to her. She has gaps in her memory and a bizarre hunger that can only be satisfied by devouring her own toys and clothes. As time goes on, this strangeness tests her relationship with her parents and sister and her investigations into what has happened to her lead her to discover that there is more to her brother’s death than she had been told. She also delves into a hidden underbelly of the town ruled by a sinister being known as ‘The Architect’ and encounters the strangeness of that world, learning its secrets and dangers.

Hardinge deftly presents both the setting and the plot in a skilful manner, peeling back layers of world building and mystery in a way which has the reader slowly become aware of what is going on. This approach maintains the mystery as subtle clues you did not consider relevant slot into place and trigger small ‘ah ha’ moments at intervals. The setting starts out with a Downton Abby feel, all stiff gentlemen and upper middle class pomposity overlaid with a quaint olde worlde children’s book vibe, but soon develops hints of a world beneath that which is related more to Neil Gaiman’s Coraline – a dark, fey world of hidden evil and whimsy. The characters are also mostly well drawn and some, particularly Sebastian’s fiancée Violet and the Tailor Mr. Grace, are striking in their presence – the bold and adventurous, jazz loving  Flapper with the hidden sorrow and the quirky, friendly tailor with a sinister undertone. You come to care for Triss and the other characters, though Triss in her early appearances seems selfish and whiny she soon gains a backbone that turns her in to a true hero.

In all this was a very enjoyable read and one which I am sure children of all ages will enjoy.

D.A Lascelles is the author of Lurking Miscellany, Transitions (Mundania Press) and Gods of the Sea (Pulp Empires). He lives in Manchester UK. You can sometimes see him writing about Zombie porn on https://lurkingmusings.wordpress.com/ but he mostly blogs about books, vampires, science fiction and Terry Pratchett. He is inordinately proud of the fact that one of his Pratchett articles was referenced on the French version of the author’s Wikipedia page.

He would like to point out that having Eddie pose with a copy of your book is a special privilege reserved for those who have met Eddie and given him a stroke.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaLascelles

Twitter: @areteus

Buy Lurking Miscellany (paperback)

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Assault or Attrition – An interview with Blake Northcott

24 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by in Musings

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Today we are VERY lucky to have an interview with Blake Northcott, who some may remember as @ComicBookGrrl on Twitter but who has now emerged as Canada’s hot new writing talent. Her previous novels – Vs reality, Relapse and Arena Mode – hit bestseller lists on Amazon in the US and UK and her latest offering, Assault or Attrition, is already fully funded through a Kickstarter campaign.blake-northcott-author

Assault or Attrition, another hybrid of the traditional novel format and the graphic novel like Arena Mode, has seen Northcott work with some promising collaborators such as Steve McNiven (Guardians  of the Galaxy, Civil War, Uncanny Avengers) and Mark McKenna (Star  Wars: Old Republic, Justice League, Combat Jacks) as well as COMICBOOKGIRL19 (The Comic Book Girl 19 Show) among others and is set in the same dystopian superhero continuity as Arena Mode. We talked to her about her work, the trend for self publishing via Kickstarter and the perils of online misogynism.

D.A Lascelles: You’ve done really well in the last few years, seeming to effortlessly hit bestseller lists on Amazon with your books (Arena Mode #1 in Amazon UK). How much of that was luck and how much was due to hard work?

Blake Northcott: That is a funny question. I don’t think anyone gets anywhere without hard work, but maybe there is an element of luck in there, too? Sometimes there is a ‘right place, right time’ event that kind of comes along, and maybe the people in the UK just really wanted to read a book about superheroes?

Either way I’m grateful!

blake-northcott-jon-roc-upchurchDL: Assault or Attrition is part of the same continuity as Arena Mode. What is the underlying story of these two novels?

BN: Arena Mode is more ‘world building’ – it sets up a universe in 2041 where the economy has kinda gone to hell, and superheroes just happen to exist. It follows a lifelong underachiever, Matthew Moxon, though some big challenges.

The story, if I had to sum it up, would be ‘Marvel and DC collides with The Hunger Games’, although that’s pretty simplistic. There’s more to it than that…at least I think there is?

Assault or Attrition deals with the fallout from the first book, and it’s heading in a completely different direction.

 DL: You talk about Arena Mode and Assault or Attrition being a blending of novels and graphic novels. Why did you choose to follow that route rather than opt for one or the other?

BN: Because I love both genres, and always wanted to do a hybrid of sorts – this was my happy medium. I get to write a novel, but have a comic book flavor by adding some artwork, without the need to make one person commit to an entire 22-page issue along with an inker, colorer and all that.

DL: Assault or Attrition has garnered a lot of support from some quite big names in comic art. Are you surprised at this? What was it like working with these people?

BN:  I’m surprised every day!

Working with some heavyweights from Marvel and DC is very humbling. They’re so talented and I’m learning so much from them. They’re all nice….well, one of them is a dick. You know who you are.

That was a joke. Sort of.

DL: Kickstarter seems to be the ‘in thing’ for self published writers looking to fund their writing.  Could you describe your experiences with this method? How do you see the use of this method developing in the future? 

BN: I see a lot of huge publishers elbowing their way into the space at the moment, but that was inevitable. I would like to see it stay kind of ‘indie’, for people who can’t find a home with a major publisher, but there’s no way to keep the sharks out the little pond, it seems – once they see the potential for profit they’ll jump in.

But overall, it’s still a pretty fair marketplace. My experience is that I can get exposure to a new audience that would not normally have seen my books, in a way that simply isn’t possible on Amazon, or anywhere else.

Plus selling a physical book on Amazon is so cost-prohibitive that there is almost no upside to it. Kickstarter allows me to produce a high-quality book, printed in America, and add all sorts of bells and whistles to the packages so people get more for their money.

DL: Self publishing: self inflicted modern vanity press or a way for talented writers to get unusual ideas with a niche market out there?logo2

BN: Self publishing is the ultimate raw material. It’s a lump of clay, and you make whatever you want out of it.

I’m a dorky Canadian woman who does sci-fi/superhero books with comic book art in them. That’s what I’ve made out of it so far, and every single writer does their own unique thing with the platform.

DL: There has been a lot of strife on social media over the ‘fake geek girl’ scandal and a whole host of issues surrounding the sexism in geekdom – specifically in the gaming industry. What is your stance on this? Is Geekdom becoming more enlightened over time or reverting back to more misogynistic roots? How do you think this issue can be tackled?

BN: I think that the trolls can be far more easily dealt with by ignoring them.

That sounds simplistic, but really, the whole ‘You’re a fake geek girl!’ thing can be crushed by just not letting the trolls voice their stupid opinions. There are a handful of dicks out there, but most people aren’t sexist or mean – they just want to engage and share what they love.

And I love debates and opposing opinions – that’s what an open discussion is all about – but when someone is being intentionally rude or aggressive, I block or unfriend  them, and delete their post immediately. It’s that easy. I don’t get all upset and make a big thing about it – I just get rid of them and move on.

Let’s face it – 99% of people are pretty cool. But there is always gonna be that one jackass who wants to screw up the party for everyone. Instead of letting that dick become the center of attention, let’s just move past him and discuss awesome stuff.

***

Assault or Attrition has, at the time of writing, exceeded its funding goal on Kickstarter and so should very soon be available to buy or download. However, the Kickstarter is still open so you can hop on and claim some of the rewards.

You can find out more about Blake on her Facebook and Twitter accounts or read more of her thoughts in one of her regular Man Cave Daily articles.

Assault or attrition cover

Cover designer wanted…

05 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Publicity

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I am looking for a cover designer to do a cover for a freebie give away story linked to an upcoming anthology release I am involved in. There are details about what is being looked for on here:

http://areteus.livejournal.com/238703.html

Before you click this, however, a few caveats:

 – Yes, this is unpaid. It is an ebook we are giving away for free. This is the authors of the anthology not the publisher doing this (we are basically self pubbing this). Though I am personally offering a very, very small fee of ‘the price of a drink’, either in person or sent via paypal.

 – There is, however, a chance that you will get your work noticed which may potentially lead to more, better paid work. Full credit is given and there are a few people at least (the authors for a start) who will sing your praises to the high heavens.

 

A busy few days in blogging land…

20 Friday Apr 2012

Posted by in Musings, Reviews

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This is what my study looks like at the moment...

I’ve not posted here much since the end of Vampire Month (apologies for that, I’ve been distracted) and you were probably expecting a post linked to the AW Blog Chain here about now as I was signed up for it this month. However, I opted out last week for personal reasons. I do intend to do next month’s blog chain, however, so look out for that in May…

In the meantime, I have been a busy bunny on the reviewing front. School Easter holidays provided me with plenty of time for reading and writing so I managed to clear some books off the big pile of ‘books to be reviewed’.

First up we have Watson’s Afghan Adventure, another MX Publishing offer set in the Sherlock Holmes universe:

http://www.cultbritannia.co.uk/2012/04/18/book-review-watsons-afghan-adventure/

This follows the exploits of Dr Watson during his pre-Holmes days in the army. Please excuse the missing ‘of’ in the first sentence…

Secondly, I have also reviewed Wake up, volume one of the City of Roses series:

http://www.epublishabook.com/2012/04/20/book-review/#axzz1sZN6l3ZI

A strange and mystical story of faerie courts in modern urban cities, somewhat akin to Gaiman’s Neverwhere.

Finally, not a review but a commentary on a photograph:

http://newsfromthespiritworld.com/2012/04/18/ghostly-pics-the-raynham-hall-ghost/

Here I talk about another famous ghost photograph – the Raynham Hall ghost, also known as the Brown Lady – another of the shots labelled as one of the ’10 greatest ghost photos ever’ in numerous blog posts.

There is a lot more to come because the ‘big pile of books to be reviewed’ is a very big ‘big pile of books to be reviewed’ and there are a lot more ghost photos out there…

 

[Vampire Month] You’re only given one shot by Jason Petty

30 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by in Guest posts

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For his Vampire month blog post, Jason has decided to post about his reasons for choosing self publication as his method of getting his work out there…

“You’re Only Given One Shot…”

                Thanks for having me on! I think your readers might enjoy a quick recap of how I got to where I am. Sick and tired of condescending rejection letters, I decided to self-publish. It amazed me how rude agents thought they could be toward me and how offended they got when I’d reply with similar tact. I was just tired of the mess and sick of eating crow from my family.

                So I started looking for a good self-publishing house. Step one, as you will find, is not getting scammed. I looked around for a place that let me keep the copyright and had good prices. I found Lulu and was happy with them at first. But then their customer service was kidnapped by Somali pirates or something. With the new management traipsing about, “fixing” everything that made the service remotely usable, I left. Finally my wife found Createspace and we were back in business.

                So now I had 25 copies and a $100 hole in my wallet. Since my family had bought most of my previous orders I knew I’d have to find real fans now. And so began the legwork. I hit every shop and book store I could find knowing full well that most of them weren’t going to give me shelf space. I didn’t even bother with big chain stores: they only stock stuff corporate sends them.

                I hit used book stores, coffee shops, local produce shops, campus newsstands…any place that looked like they might carry pages with ink on them. After talking to dozens of places I finally got two stores interested. One of them was so snooty I finally gave up dealing with them, the other still orders books from time to time.

                So I had venues selling my wares! I was in! I felt like the big dog! I WAS the big dog! I made the front page of the paper (narrowly beating out a story about a dog that caught a quail) and that helped some, too. And then it all came down. Everyone who gave half a crap had bought it, read it, and moved on.

                So I decided to do an audio book. I was reading through it and realized something: the book sucked. I couldn’t read it and keep a straight face. I was embarrassed, depressed and ready to give up writing. I couldn’t, though. This was my only job and is still my primary bread winning effort. But I couldn’t stand behind a product I didn’t believe in.

                So I did the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I pulled the book from shelves so I could sort out some of the overly descriptive crap. About half way through I realized I didn’t want to read any more of it. It just went on and on and on! I worked on one chapter for two weeks because I couldn’t find the give a damn to fix the dead plot. It was over. I knew it. It was time to stop kicking this horse, get the shovel and give it a proper burial.

                I was literally about to cry one night when I pounded my fist on the desk and just said “Ugh! If only she’d have CALLED instead of showing up on the door step I could skip this and…GREAT SCOTT! THAT’S IT!”

                That simple tweak changed everything! And I mean everything! That moment made the whole ugly thing worth it. That “little tweak” was no small venture and I knew it. I’d have to change the entire second half of the book, throw out two of my favorite scenes and rework some motives. Say goodbye to 60 thousand words. When I had sat down earlier that month I’d planned to change a few things, edit some of the descriptions and make what I had read better, like buffing the paint and hitting it with a coat of wax. This wasn’t just a wax job anymore. It was major surgery. It was like gutting the thing to the chassis, replacing the old and busted engine with a race motor and reinforcing the entire car to hold up to the abusive new motor. And you know what? It worked like a charm. Those sixty thousand worthless, boring words I disparaged over deleting? They were replaced with 80 thousand fast-moving, exciting words.

                What I had before was a boring book about two characters with no clear motives with a good ending and final plot twist. What I have now is a murder mystery thriller with Grindhouse leanings and paranormal twist starring two characters that almost everyone has a strong feeling for. The only gripe I really get is that I need an editor. I have that now and the spelling mistakes will be fixed by early April. And right now, even with the typos, repeated words and all of it, people tell me over and over again that they can’t put it down! That’s a book I can stand behind!

                With my new-found confidence I’ve gone at it like I’m, killing snakes! Sales are up! Fan count is up and generally climbing! I’m back on the road, and with much style, I might add. So if you want to be an author my advice is simple. Step away from your book for three months, then read it aloud. When you hate it (and you will) make a backup, tear it down, build it up and go for broke.

Look around on facebook till you find a page that reviews books like yours. Concentrate on finding one that favors books with similar plots, characters, events, etc., but is willing to give a bad review to a bad book. Don’t worry about a bad review. If you’ve done your homework and read up on their page and your book is good, that threat evaporates. Pick that first reviewer strategically and watch the fans come tumbling in! Make sure you have it available for the Kindle and Nook and you’ll be shocked how well you do. I sure was.

                You only get one shot, so aim well!

                                Jason Petty

Reflections on Self Publication

10 Thursday Nov 2011

Posted by in Reviews

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There is apparently a war going on in the writing world between ‘traditional publishers’ and ‘self publishers’. A lot of bad blood is being spilled, a lot of blogs are being written about how one way or the other is ‘the only right way’ and there seems to be intense polarisation between those who support ‘ye olde fashioned way of publishing such as how our forefathers have been doing it since ye time of Caxton’ and ‘the hip new thang which has become possible cos we has the internets and stuff now’.

I am not going to delve too deeply into the arguments for and against self publishing, I am not even going to talk about the apparent evils of traditional publishers or how it is possible to make millions of dollars by publishing your own book (if you happen to get lucky and have a good product to start with and do a lot of work…). Those arguments have been done to death and people are still flogging them, despite the fact no one seems set to change their positions. Instead, I am going to reflect upon my own opinions of self publishing based on my experiences as both a reader and a writer.

I’ve always been a bit of a self publishing sceptic. To my mind, a book is not properly published unless it has been judged by someone with some expertise to be worth publishing and then given a thorough editing and cleaning and polishing before being dressed up in its prettiest marketing clothes to walk about in the public eye for purchase. Editors at publishing houses act as a filter – picking out the wheat of good literature from the chaff that makes up the majority of their slush pile. If you get past an editor then you have passed some form of test or maybe a rite of passage which proves you worthy to call yourself a Writer rather than someone who merely writes. With this mindset in place, I’ve therefore been somewhat derogatory of self published works. They’ve not passed the test, they’ve not had to convince an editor or an agent that their work is worthy. All they’ve done is rattle off a few thousand words, done some formatting and either sent it to Lulu to be printed or uploaded it to Createspace. Logically, therefore, this prejudice implies that all self published works will be badly written and not worth buying.

And this is where my brain goes ‘hang on, you’re being prejudiced’. This is where that argument falls down because I am indeed being prejudiced by assuming that everything in one category has the same characteristics – a major failure in logic. I don’t like being prejudiced. I am not sure anyone does and I really hate my brain when it points out these nasty little truths to me. More to the point, my prejudice was based entirely on circumstantial evidence with not one whit of actual evidence to back up my claim. You see, because I had the strong belief that ALL self published books were badly written and badly edited I religiously avoided actually reading any. Obviously, this sort of hypocrisy cannot stand!

So, I was quite pleased to be able to do reviews for the ePublishing a Book site. Because the site is quite self publishing focused they want reviews of self published books for preference and so I have been forced into reading and commenting on some self published books. I faced this task with a high degree of trepidation, not knowing what I would find in the darkest depths of hell that I imagined existed in the self publishing world.

I posted a request for authors with self published novels to contact me and tell me where I could get hold of their books for review and I got a lot of replies. So many that, at the rate of 2 reviews a month which I am obliged to do, I am not going to be short of things to read and review for a long time. I’ve read a few of these books now and written the review for one of them (which is due to be posted tomorrow – watch this space for details) – and I have come to a conclusion about self published books:

Some of them are actually not at all bad and some of them are even rather good.

I suppose I should not have been surprised at this revelation. After all, there are a lot of good writers out there and not all of them make it through the publishing filter. This may be because one of the flaws in the filter is that it doesn’t necessarily take out only those books that are really badly written. Quite often it takes out books which are very well written and merely don’t fit with current marketing projections. However, I was surprised which is why I felt it necessary to write this blog post to atone for my previously snobbish nature about self publishing.

Ok, here is the caveat… one of the books I read and reviewed and really liked was actually a previously published author who had recovered the rights to the book and decided to push out a reprint by themselves. This, of course, is one area where self publishing is potentially useful with publishers rarely wanting to touch reprints but you could argue that this might have skewed my subjective assessment of the books I read. I accept that and as a scientist I take it into account and will continue to collect data and testing the hypotheses until one of them breaks. However, given that all of the books I read so far have been enjoyable and I’ve seen no really terrible ones, I am going to read the rest of the ones I have on my list with an open mind and hopefully enjoy them without the trepidation that comes from expecting them to be awful.