Category — Writing

I’m only using this blog for the occasional note to myself and maybe some reviews. If you want to catch up with the latest, join me on Twitter!

As you know, stalwart reader, I went on hiatus at the beginning of the month. And I’ve been doing a bit of thinking since that time. And I’ve decided to give up regular blogging.

The reasons are many.

One, I’m homeschooling now and sticking to a schedule of three posts a week, in between teaching, running a house and writing, is too much. (We don’t have servants, remember.)

Two, each post takes hours to cross-reference and write, which is time I can spend more productively on, y’know, writing!

Three, it’s all a bit … static.

So, I’m trying a new experiment. I may save this blog for things like reviews and notes for myself, but you’ll now find me regularly on Twitter. (And maybe Tumblr. I’m still thinking about that one.)

I see this as a natural progression of things. I tried podcasting and this blogging thing. Let’s move on and see what else tech can do for me. I’ll still keep my food blog up (updated every Wednesday, starting next week. I promise) and you can catch me at Novel Spaces on the 8th and 24th of each month. And I might even turn up at SFR Brigade a bit more often, now that the pressure’s off. But this blog is moving into snail-on-ganja mode from today onwards.

Catch you on the ‘tubes!

In my last post, I mentioned several reviews that the Cougars & Cubs anthology had racked up. And Barbara Ann Wright (whose blog I now follow religiously after a recommendation from Maria Zannini) had this to ask:

When you were first published, did you wait for reviews with bated breath?

Before I continue, I’m reminded of a cat that ate cheese and waited at the mousehole with baited breath. Ha ha. That’s one of my favourite (clean) jokes.

Anyway, moving right along. When I read Barbara’s comment, I realised that a lot of people tell you how to receive reviews (with grace, always with grace, even if you think the reviewer has the wit and common sense of a goldfish suffering from severe concussion because, y’know, even The Stupid talk to other people), but not about getting them.

The path to receiving reviews goes something like this:

Stage 1. Wow, I have a book out next month. There should be heaps of advance reviews around. Let’s see if I can add more review sites to my reader. I can’t wait! I’m sure everyone will love it!

Stage 2. Well, my book is out next week. And I haven’t received any reviews yet. But I suppose there are HEAPS of books being released, so I shouldn’t be too impatient. Mary told me about some more review sites! There are so many of them! I’ll add them to my reader. I’m sure one of them will review my book.

Stage 3. Release Day! Wouldn’t it be great if I had a review right now? A great review to match up with my release? I’d blog about it, a really long one, just so people know that my book’s great. I can just feel the success surging through my arteries.

* Arteries if you write SF/murder mysteries because you’re a geek and know blood is more likely to surge through arteries. Arterial pressure is greater than venous pressure. Veins if you don’t write SF/murder mysteries because that’s the prevailing wisdom.

Stage 4. Okay, it’s a week after Release Day. Pity nobody reviewed my book on Release Day. That would’ve been awesome. But a week after is good too. Think I might just go check those sites again. I know I set up Google Alerts for any mention of my book, but how often does Google update its alerts, right? All those web spiders must get tired every now and then. I think I’ll go check the sites, one by one. You never know.

Stage 5. A month!!! A whole month!!! And still no reviews????? I mean, what’s up with these people????

Stage 6. After all, aren’t they, y’know, REVIEW SITES??? And shouldn’t review sites, y’know, REVIEW BOOKS???? And it’s been two months already and STILL not one single review! What, did all the reviewers suddenly catch ebola and die en masse or something? Jesus frickin’ Christ!!!

Stage 7. Okay, I thought I was a really patient person. Really. I mean, at the game final last year, I waited in line for one of Joe’s famous hot dogs for frickin’ two hours! In the frickin’ sun! For a frickin’ hot dog! If that doesn’t say I’m a patient person, I don’t know what does. (And the hot dog wasn’t all that good.) So it’s not as though I’m an impatient bitch! But it’s been THREE MONTHS and I STILL don’t have a review. I mean, WTF???!!!

Stage 8. The universe hates me. That’s what it is. It isn’t my book, it isn’t the review sites, it’s me. I’ve got “bad karma” stamped all over my body and somehow every reviewer in the universe can see it, and they hate it, and they hate me, and so they’re not reviewing my book. Now, nobody is going to find out how great my book is.

Stage 9. Or maybe it isn’t great, which is why nobody will review it! In fact, maybe it’s soooooo bad, people would rather poke their eyes out with blackened bamboo skewers than review my book. Oh God, I’m trash!

Stage 10. What’s this in my Inbox? A Google Alert? A….review? Do I even want to click the link? Oh God, why am I even alive?

Here’s the thing. You know how the best way to handle queries is just to send them out, forget about them and work on your next novel? Well, it works the same way with reviews. Just write the book, publish it and work on the next one. Forget about the reviews. You’ll get them soon enough. The book isn’t yours any more once it’s published. It belongs to the readers. And they’ll let you know one way or another what they think. Maybe keep your toes crossed as you write, in remembrance of The One Currently Published. And best of luck.

I’m a writer so it’s par for the course that I get reviews. But, as you know, I tend to keep that a little low-key. I mean, you’re already here, stalwart reader, so I figure you’ve already visited my website and/or downloaded my Sampler, and run your eyes past the kind of writing that I do.

However, when there’s a slow news day, it’s time to do a Review round-up and here is the first one (I think) for the year.

Earlier this year, the Cougars & Cubs anthology was released by Total-E-Bound. As I told you a gazillion times, this was the first romance anthology I’ve been in and it was a lot of fun. So far, we’ve notched up four very solid reviews.

COFFEE TIME ROMANCE gave us 4 cups. Delane the reviewer said:

The stories in the Cougars and Cubs anthology tastefully but erotically answer the age old question of can an older woman love a younger man every bit as much as a younger woman can love an older man. I thoroughly enjoyed each story, and the combination of them all is awe inspiring and on the top of every readers list.

DARK DIVA REVIEWS gave us 5 divas and a Recommended Read! Thank you to Deb, who had this to say:

These red hot sexy Authors show us that love can happen anytime and anyplace with the right partner. This book has been on my “To Be Re-Read” List and I’m finally glad that I did because it’s just too much fun to not read it again. Come see what these wickedly, passionate she devils are up to. These stories are delightfully funny and Red Hot Sexy! Come along and purr with us!

I only wished I could rate this higher, it was that good. *VBG*

TWO LIPS REVIEWS also reviewed the book, and Tina concluded that:

Cougars and Cubs Anthology  has some very good cougar stories. I loved the chemistry, love and daring of the characters. When you want some really hot lovers and their fearless view on life you want to read this book.

And the latest has come from NIGHT OWL REVIEWS, who gave us four stars. Diana tells readers:

I have to say that I just loved this anthology! Quite a few of these authors are new to me, but after reading their work I’m a fan now! Each one brought their own unique writing style to this book and penned creative storylines and characters that kept me engrossed from beginning to end. Usually with anthologies there’s always one or two that just don’t make the grade compared to the other stories, but I can honestly say that with this compilation of six stories that is not the case. I thoroughly enjoyed each story and would highly recommend it to other readers. Definitely add this one to your buying list!

I speak for the other five authors as well when I say we’re chuffed by such a response. Thank you ladies.

Wow, were you getting sick of that Sticky post? I was and J definitely was because he had to scroll down to read anything new and he just hated that. (I’ve yet to convince him of the efficacy of using a blog reader.)

Next week I’ll be announcing the two winners of my May/June competition. Can you believe it’s July already? If you like science-fiction, hie on over to Redstone Science Fiction []. They’re a brand-new SF mag and I’m happy to support them. You’ll see an ad there for IN ENEMY HANDS all month long.

To my Australian readers, welcome to the new tax year! Time to think of last year’s tax return. Do you know where all your deductions are?

In the meantime, have a good weekend. I’m back to my grumpy and opinionated self next week. You have been warned.

It’s inevitable that, as an author, you often get informed of book trailers for a release from one of your writing buddies or peers. I’ve watched quite a few of them and they’re well done. The problem I’m facing though is, do book trailers work for SFR?

The elements of a book trailer involve (of course) the main protagonists. There is also a variety of mood shots to set the scene, not to mention the ever-important music. It takes time, skill and a good sense of pacing to put together a good book trailer, and the authors and people who do it have my complete respect. It’s just…. I dunno…. I mean….

How do you portray the science and worlds that we’re building? Should we? If we do, are the stock images of beakers and bubbling retorts enough to give the picture, or are we being lazy in resorting to stereotype? What if the alien species we’ve created only exists in our heads and there is no photo of a Lxulzianian Swilltwik (much less one in the pose we want!) in any of the photo stock libraries we’ve perused.

I can see how you can easily immerse your watcher in an historical world — the costumes, the music. But what about an interplanetary invasion? Just to take one example, the geeks among us know that we can’t hear explosions in space, so do we keep such a scene silent and remain true to the science or do we cave in to Hollywood hype and put in sound effects? And let’s not even mention costumes or ships. Is it enough to stick in an image from Hubble to differentiate your SFR from someone else’s rom suspense? Do SFR trailers even work?

What do you think? Use them? Don’t?

ADDITIONAL: My good friend, Maria Zannini, is having a competition at her blog. Know a good blog that needs a shout-out? If you do, go here for more details.

I know, I should be talking up my new release, IN ENEMY HANDS. After all, it’s being released TODAY (well, “today” US time which is like tomorrow for me).

The problem is, I don’t know if I can come up with anything novel to say. Is it because I’m already in the middle of a h-u-g-e promo push? Is it because of my reluctance to keep pushing something that you, stalwart reader, are already aware of? When does promo stop being promo and become Damn Annoying?

It could be that, as I mentioned at Liane’s blog, having the kind of British/colonialist/Catholic background I have, shouting things from the rooftop about anything personal makes me feel uncomfortable. In that respect, I’ll admit that the North Americans have it all over the rest of us. They appear to be utterly shameless and I’m not sure whether to bow down in admiration or be quietly appalled by some of the things I’ve seen in the past few years.

In any case, it’s a bit of a moot point as, while it’s already 7 June for me, it’s not for the USA. I’ll be watching the Carina site carefully over the next 24 hours. Coming from a tech background, I am not expecting a glitch-free launch. (One of the downsides of being a launch title.) When it goes live, I’ll put a link at the book’s website page on http://www.ksaugustin.com You should know that I signed up for the Harlequin affiliate program so, if you follow that link and buy the book, I’ll get a bit of extra coinage. Just so you know.

Remember that I’m at The Galaxy Express two days running. The first part, an interview, went up four hours ago. The second part, a post, will be up this evening/tomorrow morning I expect. With many thanks to Heather. And I’m also at JK Coi’s blog on 7 June, again US time. And thanks for all your support.

I’ll be at The Galaxy Express on both Sunday and Monday. IN ENEMY HANDS releases Monday! It’s all a bit unreal. Have a good weekend everyone.

It’s a pub hol in Singapore and Malaysia today (as well as a few other countries in the region, I suspect). The good news is that it’s a pub hol for J and I. The bad news is that it’s a pub hol for the kids as well. So no sneaking off for a private, indulgent brunch. Rats!

Vesak Day celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha, presumably in that order. He must have been one exceptionally efficient dude is all I can say. Even Jesus Christ couldn’t manage to fit everything on the one day. Except, like Christ, Buddha’s day skips around all over the place, depending on the phase of the moon. And they say women are indecisive!

In any case, I’ll take whatever holiday I can get, which means we’re actually Not Here while you’re reading this. I don’t know where we’ll be, but not chained to a PC, that’s for sure!

Before I go, however, I’d like to say that The Romance Studio will be giving away a digital  copy of Guarding His Body on Friday, 28 May during its Book-A-Day Giveaway. Wow! A Pirate’s Passion, then Cougars & Cubs (which has received two great reviews so far), now Guarding His Body and let’s not forget two copies of In Enemy Hands at the end of June. I think I would have given away more books in May/June than in the previous three years combined. Make sure you don’t miss out.

Have a good weekend and I’ll catch you all on Monday and, don’t forget, I’m at Ann Wilkes’ blog today (US time), talking about romance in science-fiction.

POSTSCRIPT: In Enemy Hands is available for adding to your wishlist at Amazon although you should know I get a better royalty if you buy direct from Carina Press. (No, the commercial part of their site isn’t up yet; I’ll let you know when/if it is.) However, if you’re an Amazon die-hard, then you can go there and I promise not to sic Sausage on you! Interestingly, I can’t buy my own book from Amazon because I’m not in the USA apparently. Hmmmm. This one will require more digging, methinks.

I don’t think anybody who’s up with publishing news hasn’t, by now, read the article at Publisher’s Weekly on JA Konrath’s deal with Amazon.

I also have Konrath’s blog on feed so was interested in reading his feedback on the article. Oh my. Konrath, while polite, doesn’t mince words, saying that “PW’s version of the truth is lacking in many areas.”

Oops. I tend to be fractally sceptical, so thought I’d compare something fairly easy to verify between the two accounts. PW says:

According to Nielsen BookScan, the first book in the Jack Daniels series, Whiskey Sour (2005), sold 32,000 copies, while the latest, Cherry Bomb (2009), has sold 4,000 copies.

Now, that’s damning, you have to admit. Oh what a has-been Konrath is! No wonder he moved to Amazon, the hack! But hold on. What’s this? Konrath says:

CHERRY BOMB, my last book in the contract, is not coming out in paperback until June [2010].

So, what sold 4,000 copies? Was it the paperback, as PW intimates (“Konrath … has been published by Hyperion in paperback for years”), or the hardback as Konrath insists? Amazon (and The Book Depository) confirm that the edition of CHERRY BOMB published in 2009 is, indeed, the hardback. So Konrath was right! Double oops. In light of this, one can only read PW’s statements, such as:

So Konrath essentially took a book no one wanted and instead of fully self-publishing it, signed with Amazon-Encore, which will bring the book out in paperback a year after the Kindle release this summer ….

as being somewhat spiteful. And here I was, thinking that a rag on publishing might be just a teeny weeny bit above spin. Le sigh.

It bit extra deep because I also got my free Top 5 daily email from Roubini yesterday. (What, you think I pay for my propaganda?) Because one of my abiding loves is economics (no, seriously), I have learnt to take anything to do with politics, economics, sociology, etc. with a grain of salt. So when I read this (I’ve highlighted the amusing bits):

The current financial and economic crisis—and in particular the still unfolding sovereign debt crisis in Europe—has highlighted a change in Germany’s attitude towards the so-called “European project” and the quickening pace of Germany’s emergence from what might be called its post-war transition. While in the past often putting its interests second to European unity, Germany has now become much more outspoken about its own political and economic goals. German pronouncements on everything from the need for new financial regulations to NATO expansion into former Soviet territory to the proper role of the ECB had already riled its partners to varying degrees, but since the onset of the Greek crisis, these tendencies have grown much more pronounced. Germany’s unilateral adoption of a deficit cap, initial resistance to a European bailout and, most recently, unilateral restrictions on short-selling all serve as evidence that the EU’s largest economy is increasingly focusing on policy goals more consistent with its own unique export-dependent, highly prudent economy, even if those aims come at the expense of its European partners.

the antennae immediately twitched. Germany as a selfless paragon of European unity? Where did this come from? The Germany we all know has pushed the agenda of the EU insofar as it would increase its own dominance in the group. Just ask any of the other nations. Remember Rumsfeld’s grizzles about “Old Europe” and “New Europe”? Germany and France were considered by him to be “Old Europe” — two big economies with their own axes to grind. Now we’re supposed to believe that Germany is some angel of European unity, selflessly putting itself last? Sorry, nobody who knows political history at all buys that.

The second snorting point is about Germany’s “unilateral restrictions on short-selling … com[ing] at the expense of its European partners.”

Oh, now Roubini is going past analysis and diving straight into fantasy. Anybody who doesn’t live within the censored media bounds of the USA knows that Europe can’t stand the kind of short-selling that inevitably led to the last financial collapse. Or, to put it another way, nobody in Europe likes short-selling, but Germany was the first to out-and-out forbid the practice. There is no “coming at the expense of” in this situation. There is no disagreement. The ONLY people who disagree with this move are the American investment banks.

I’ve noticed that Roubini often has a hidden agenda and it’s becoming more and more apparent in his group’s analyses. It’s still useful information. Remember that. It’s all useful information, but you gotta watch that spin.

TANGENT: And just to give you cognitive trauma coming on the heels of economic news, Two Lips gave the Cougars & Cubs anthology (featuring my short story, Singapore Sizzle) 5, er, kisses? Mouths? Lips? Whatever it was, it’s much appreciated. Thank you Two Lips!