Publishing Wars

I'm much too tired and sick to actually report on this in the manner it deserves, but my travels in that strange land called "Twitter" have been the highlight of all my marketing hours combined. Somehow I stumbled across a war in the publishing industry that I had no idea was even being waged.

For the full dish read the article by Nina L. Diamond below:

http://independentpublisher.com/department.php?page=1383

One path led to another and then I was on @evilwylie 's profile and was rolling at the comments there. So I decided to follow him. And he followed me back. And it went the same way with @emperorfranzen and @goodrandomhouse. The most shocking thing was the speed with which they re-followed me. (I'm sure there is a really fantabulous and catchy Twitter Term for re-following, but I don't know it yet. Suppose I better find out before I go for that graduate degree in Social Media.) I know I'm not cool enough to garner the affections of these three supremely funny individuals. (Note: I also follow Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult and they haven't re-followed me. Hmm.) It makes me feel like they're each trying to claim me as a minion. A girl can dream.

My attempts to fully appreciate @evilwylie 's web page http://www.evilreads.com have been thwarted by that monstrosity known as dial-up. I will have to download the free comic of "Emperor Franzen v. Jennifer Weiner" tomorrow at school. To be loyal to my gender I know I should be on Jodi and Jennifer's side, but they haven't shown me any love.

Thanks boys, I now look forward to the hours of "shameless self-promotion" I spend on Twitter.
And thanks Nina, for following me back and for the skinny on the battle!

The Downside of ePublishing

It must've been easier to be a writer when you weren't constantly plugged in to your numbers. I remember the good old days of stamps and envelopes and waiting in silence for so long that you forgot you even mailed something to a publisher. Of course those were also the days when you relied on a publisher or agent actually opening your envelope and giving it a fair chance. Those were also the days of high prices for self-publishing.
Right now Filter is lost in a sea of ebooks and I am fighting tooth and nail to get it noticed. That's why it's free right now at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/20957 At least if it's free people will read it and, I hope, enjoy it and leave a favorable review. I might have to wait until the next book to actually charge some minimal amount.
If writing does pan out I'm going to have to get a 9-5 which is NOT what I want. I've accepted my June Cleaver fate and I love being home to take care of my boys and shuffle them around. But I need my own home. My parents have been good enough to let us live with them for some time now while we get our degrees and establish our careers but I want my own home with my own decor and my own rules. I also need to get my broken tooth fixed. My Mac book attacked me. Broke my front tooth. And we're too poor to get it fixed.
I've spent the last week shamelessly self-promoting my book and I'm not very good at it. I don't want to just say, "Hi, buy my book." That's not me. I was never good at small talk. I like to be invested in people and hear their stories and know their thoughts. Problem is, that takes up a LOT of time. And that's time I should be spending working on Book Two and reading. I haven't had time for lazy days of reading because I'm busy peddling my free ebook. Ridiculous. And don't even get me started on Amazon. I've only sold two copies there because you can't find it. Everyday hundreds if not thousands of new ebooks are uploaded for the Kindle format. I'm only charging $2.99 and have only sold 2. That is not going to fix my tooth. At least I know at Smashwords people are downloading my ebook and I pray they are enjoying it. If they aren't I want to know why because I know I have a lot of growing to do as a writer. Sometimes I think I was a better writer back in high school before my adult ADHD kicked in  (I don't actually have ADHD, it's just called an overly busy life).
I need coffee.

Filter Book Trailer!

Copyright!

I have successfully obtained the copyright for my novel, which is now titled, Filter. It will be the first book in the series, I have already started on book 2. By the end of this week the final edit should be done and Filter should be up on Kindle. Hope it is. By then I might chicken out and decide it's all a bunch of stuff and nonsense and no one should even pay the .99 for it. Maybe not. We'll see. Oh it's so scary!