Cleared for Takeoff

Just heard from the publisher -- Mainly Murder Press -- and Dying to Dream is online now. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, etc, e-book ($2.99) and paperback ($15.95) are available. ***Have to add ... right now Amazon is offering a preorder deal: $10.82, which remains at that price until June 1st. That's almost $5.00 off the original cost.

It's hard to believe that it all started last September when I signed my contract, more than eight months ago. I think the waiting periods got to me more than the busy ones. Fortunately, the experience remained void of "artistic" differences. The cover art is beautiful, like I never could have imagined -- especially since I'm not really talented at that kind of thing. All in all, I've grown to appreciate the whole process, going from creation to publication, after having ventured down the self-publishing road a time or two. Of course, the parts I enjoyed the most so far is seeing my cover and searching to find it on Amazon. But cliche as it sounds, I'm really looking forward to holding the paperback in my hands.

I have to thank a few people for giving me support and help along the way. LIke those who so kindly and generously agreed to read my story and write reviews ... Michael Murphy, Cherie Jung, and Sand Pilarski. And to my husband who showed patience (most of the time) while I'd spend hours churning out chapters. Can't forget the crew at MMP, especially Karen with her fantastic creative talent. I absolutely love the cover. All the elements, the symbolic representation, right down to the font used in part of the title, which I agree gives the word dream a truely dreamy feeling :-) And a future thanks to all those readers who may decide to read my work and maybe even write a review comment or two. I'm eternally grateful.

So, now what happens? Well, as they say, this is when the real work begins. Promotion. Book signings, virtual tours, peddling to book stores, more book signings, and on it goes until the next creative tidbit comes out! Bottom line, it's fun. I love writing. Otherwise, why would I put myself through such a challenging workout?

At least I've made that first marketing step ... a book signing at my local library in July. Hopefully, a lot more to follow :-) Until then ... enjoy reading!

Coming Together, Piece by Piece



Words Put Into Images

Well, I finally have the book cover options ... now if I could just decide. I am leaning toward the second one with the tombstone coming out of the swamp, and the fact that it includes the image of the lady ghost. What do you think? It's always nice to see it from another pair of eyes :-)

Oh, and here is a brief synopsis of the story:

When Jack Robesaux is found lying dead on a Louisiana beach, psychic, Marin Seurat, must use her gift to prove it is murder and not suicide. Though Marin knows her dreams with their messages from the dead could help, she struggles with the idea of returning home and facing a troubled past. However, a phone call informing her of Jack's murder and the return of the family curse gives Marin that final push. In a surprising turn of events, Marin discovers a mystery from long ago that somehow connects to recent deaths. With the help of cryptic messages delivered by spirits, Marin races to solve the mystery of Saint Toulere.

Book News

How's this for news? Amazon has closed a deal to acquire Goodreads. Now, this is a site that I use and find beneficial both as a reader and an author. It has great features that let you not only keep an account of books you've read, want to read, and a place to leave a comment or two, but also groups for all types of literature to join. A great plus is the Goodreads Giveaway where authors can offer free copies of their books and readers can enter the giveaways to win books.

It will be interesting to see if the site changes much. I did notice a while back that B & N seemed to be the book retailer put in the forefront when it comes to linking where books are available for sale. Amazon, on the other hand, was put in the drop-down menu.

In any case, here is the link to the news blurb -- Amazon Buys Goodreads .

Time to Correct ... Correct?

Well, I sent off my list of corrections to the editor and now I wait once again. I know I was able to catch a few errors, but always the worry that there may be more. After all, if the pub's editor missed some -- ones that I noticed -- then what? I'm not going to stress over it though. At least I feel between the two of us we did a great job.

 
It's difficult to read my work so many times. I wish I could be one of those who experience it anew. I envy that. Still, I think it's good, really good, the best story I've written so far. I love my characters, especially Tante Louise Picault. She's old but feisty, and colorful with the perfect touch of french culture. The southern feel to the characters makes them approachable and loveable. I'm optimistic that readers will find them endearing and drawn to their story that weaves mystery from the past and the present. The touch of paranormal with the main character who uses dreams from spirits to gather clues is yet another layer to interest, I hope, many. We will see.


  In the meantime, I wait, patiently.

And I'm Off and Running to the Publishing Deadline

I finally received an email with lots of goodies attached ... my ARC and editor comments. And I have 20 days to read through it all, make my comments, corrections, etc. Yikes! I can do this. Yes, I can. Uh ... right? Fortunately, nothing really big going on at work, so I should have time. I just want to make sure I do a thorough job. So, nobody better bug me! Or ... grrrrrrr. (Just noticed: is it any wonder my editor says I use maybe a few too many ellipses?)

I read and reread the email, and then a few more times to make sure I didn't miss anything. So, this is the skinny: my feedback on the first draft ARC is due March 23rd. Cover should be coming around the beginning of April, so I need to start collecting reviews. If I would like them added to the back cover, that is. Of course, as anxious as I am, I already sent out requests for reviews to several mystery review websites and authors. Keeping fingers crossed. -- Thanks Michael Murphy for agreeing to do one :-) And to Cjung at Over My Dead Body. You both are great for responding so quickly, and settling my nerves since this means my back cover won't be blank! haha

Okay, what next? Well ... (yet another ellipse ... sigh) just have to wait and see! If all goes well and according to plan, I will be seeing my baby in print sometime in June. Then, I'd absolutely love to have a book launch event. Maybe at our local library or perhaps at one of the area bookstores. I'll have to start researching. Hmmm. Yet another task to consider, but such fun!

Update: Yet another thanks goes out to Sand, a wonderfully kind and helpful lady who happens to run the very cool ezine, The Piker Press and also agreed to do a review. Then finally, to Apex Reviews who will take a look and see :-)

All great people who help to make this project a success.

Where Oh Where Does My Story Go? ... The Journey of DYING TO DREAM

Manuscript is finished ... check. Edits, Revisions, More Edits, and Revisions ... check. Final read-through ... check. Now what?


Well, I had two options, both of which I'd taken before. If I chose option A -- query to agents, it will be a much longer road, much longer wait, but if it happened, I could get doors to open that would never be possible without an agent. Or option B -- submit the work to small, independent publishers who don't require an agent. Quicker, less fuss, but not the big payoff. Okay, so I'm not so patient any longer. Go with option B. Besides, I had accumulated a waaaay long list of indies to submit to. It would be a really long time before I'd run out of "doors to knock on".


I started with 4 or 5, one of which responded right away and asked for the full manuscript. Turns out this was to be a big delay in getting Dying to Dream published because this particular pub wants the suspense they accept to be big on romance. The good part is they were willing to work with me to get the story to the point where they'd like it and want to contract.


Two good things happened during this process. One, I did manage to add some romance. And two, I narrowed down the POV's to three, which I hadn't realized is such a very big deal :-). The downside was that there wasn't enough romance, and I wasn't willing to add more, so we parted ways after almost a YEAR! "Sigh"


Back to square one: This time, I submitted to five more pubs (that's a total of about 10 submissions -- really low number for me since the last work I'd written went out to probably about 50!) That was in the first week of August, 2012. Mainly Murder Press replied right away and said they'd get back to me after reading the sample chapters. Two weeks later, they asked for the full (8/22/12). By the end of August they offered me a contract. (WOW! That was fast.) But wait. I'm not through.


While I was taking time to read through the contract and deciding what to do, I received an email around the middle of September from yet another pub I'd queried, offering a contract. By this time, I'm thinking, what is going on and what a gem of a story I must have written! In the meantime, MMP is wanting an answer. I'm researching, even reading some of the books they've published and liking what I see. We go back and forth with me asking questions about certain things in the contract.


I finally make my decision and decide to go with MMP. It's a good fit. But the story doesn't end there. Geesh! A couple of days later, one of the other pubs asks to see the full manuscript. And a couple months later, yet another wanted to offer a contract! That's 3 out of 5 this time around who wanted to contract, and 1 that showed interest. The odds don't get better than that! And the expression, "you snooze, you lose" comes to mind :-) Sorry, you other guys. MMP caught the fish and I hope they are as happy as I am.


Now, of course, I can't help thinking, if I'd known what a great thing this novel of mine was, would I have gone the agent route and caught a bigger fish of my own? Well, I'll never know, and that's not how I'm gonna play this act in my life. No sir. I'm gonna drink the wine and enjoy the ride!