In Other News . . .

My divorce came through.
No, not the marriage one (love the hubbs!) but my publishing divorce with Egmont UK.

It was completely amicable (because Egmont are professionals and staffed with decent human beings) and now the paperwork is through. I get full custody of the kids, they keep the pretty clothes they bought for them.

My first two Ondine novels, which were published with Egmont, had begun with such amazing promise. The editing was encouraging, sympathetic and solid, the covers were gorgeous the distribution  throughout the UK was comprehensive. They came out in 2010 and 2011.

The reviews, wow, the reviews were so awesome I cried. I cried early and often. They were so lovely and effusive and bursting with praise. Loads of five stars from total strangers, dozens and dozens of four stars from people who laughed their heads off, a smattering of three stars from reviewers who appreciated my efforts but the book wasn't for them. And hardly any two and one stars, which is unheard of, right?

But for whatever reasons (mostly the collapse of the bookstore industry (Borders in the UK and Australia, along with Angus and Robertson in Australia) the books didn't get traction.

In the mean time, I brought out new ebook versions for the USA and other territories (hello Russia, Moldova, China, Japan) which were not covered by the original Egmont contract. I fell in love with the new covers and was so happy with the results. Ondine had a new life in 'The Rest of the World' and was getting lovely reviews all over again. Ahhhhhhhh. It made all the effort worth it, to know that I'd written books that entertained people, gave them a break from the everyday and made them laugh and swoon.

I had control of the distribution, covers, price and promotions for the ebook, except in the UK where it all began. It made co-ordinating things difficult, and the different covers created confusion. The answer was to get a reversion of my book rights from Egmont, which they agreed to in a timely and professional manner. I am one of the very lucky authors to get my rights back. I know a great many who have a difficult time when they want their book back. Either the publisher ignores them completely, outright refuses, or publishes a 'new issue' in some small territory which fulfils the definition of 'published' but doesn't give the writer much in royalties.

As I said earlier, I was very lucky. This is, as I also said earlier, because Egmont are professional and staffed with decent human beings. I loved working with them and they publish magnificent books.

As of last week, all my ONDINE are available in all territories, as ebooks, with the new matching covers.

Which means, I think, if you click on this groovy widget, it will take you to The Summer of Shambles (Ondine #1) in whatever part of the world you're in, and you can get it and start reading it in just a few seconds.



Happy reading, and thank you again, Egmont, for being so brilliant.

New Competition! Win Stuff!

New Competition!

Your chance to win ebooks of the Ondine series and some seriously cute ferrety swag.

First prize winner will receive:
A pack of assorted cute ferret notecards and matching envelopes.
Plus
A ferret ornament
Plus
A pewter ferret pin
AND
All three Ondine ebooks for your reading pleasure.

Winner takes all. Comp starts October 17 and ends October 31.

*OPEN INTERNATIONALLY*

a Rafflecopter giveaway





UPDATE:
Congratulations Shelly!
Hope you enjoy your books and your new ferrety trinkets.

Win Stuff and be Awesome!

Hey everyone,
time to ramp up the ferrety fun with a competition.

HUGE prizes!
Ebooks!
Post cards!
& A pewter ferret pin!

First prize is:

1. A fine pewter ferret pin, made by George G Harris, valued at $11 US (plus the postage from Australia, which is anyone's guess!)
2. Two rare postcards from Brugel, which I'll post via air mail to the winner's nominated address.
3. The first two ebooks in the Ondine series, The Summer of Shambles & The Autumn Palace.

(If the winner already has these first two titles, I'll send the ebook of The Winter of Magic.)

Second prize is:

Fine pewter hand crafted in the USA
From the George G Harris
Wildlife Collection
"Wearable art for the outdoor enthusiast"

The first two ebooks in the Ondine series, The Summer of Shambles & The Autumn Palace.

Third prize is:
The first ebook in the Ondine series, The Summer of Shambles.

"Shut up and show me where to sign?"

Starting June 10, and running until July 17. Tell your friends. In fact, if you do, you'll stand a better chance at winning. It's that insidious easy!

Click away below and you're in with a chance. Good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Update - as you can see, the comp is closed and I've announced the winners.
Congratulations to Rae, Vivianne and John, and happy reading :-)

Nearly There!

Excellent news.  Good things are about to happen for The Autumn Palace.
I approved the proof copy of the USA/Russia/Japan/China/Moldova/Ukraine edition of The Autumn Palace today, and the the files have already arrived at ibookstore and Gardners. The rest will follow in quick succession.

The Autumn Palace Cover Reveal

It's here!

I thought I was going to die from impatience.

Instead, I can die happy.

Here is the cover for the second Ondine novel, The Autumn Palace.

It will be out in September in all digital formats, in all kinds of happy places like the USA, Russia, China, Japan and Moldova.


And one more thing. See that tornado heading Ondine's way? Have a closer look at the debris.


Those things in the sky are ....

wait, hang on. I want you to tell me what the things are in the sky. (No, not the flying leaves and dust, the OTHER things.)

Best answers will get gift ebooks from me, because I'm so excited I'm giving my book away to celebrate.

Should I have put that at the top?

How's the 1,000 Words a Day Working Out?

I'm as pleased as plütz that this new writing regime is actually working.

I'm now in the fourth week of 1KPD. I'm writing 1,000 words per day, Monday to Friday and taking weekends off.

I've reached my goal (or gone a little over, which is always a bonus) for every writing day. Some days the words are easier to come by and I'm writing as fast as I can to keep up with what's playing out in my head.

Then there are the rubbish writing days. Yesterday was awful - but I forced myself because nobody else will write this book for me. The words are probably terrible, but I can fix bad words.

It's Thursday now, and I'm not going to stop until I've added at least another 1,000 words to 'Ondine 4' file. Old Col in uncharacteristically snappish. This has Ondine very worried because although her great auntie is a lovely woman and delightfully mad, she's starting to become a big old meanie and that's not like her. This of course means that SOMETHING IS UP! (Should I let you in on a secret? I don't actually know what that something is, but I'm sure Col will tell me at some point).

Meanwhile, here's a progress report on the USA/Japan/Russia/China/Moldova ebook edition.
Nearly there!

Summer of Shambles Cover Reveal.

I can finally reveal the cover for the USA ebook version of Ondine, The Summer of Shambles.

And by USA I mean, USA, Russia, China, Mexico, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Serbia, Ukraine, Croatia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and South Korea. Oh yes, and Moldova!

I think it's beautiful. But who cares what I think. You think it's beautiful as well, right?

Update:

This is author Paula Roe's reaction. It cracked me up. Because Paula is made of awesome.

Hello Europe, Japan, China and USA!

I'm so excited to bring the ebook editions of Ondine into 'the rest of the world' THIS MONTH!

Yes, it's June and that means the first of the Ondine novels, The Summer of Shambles, will be available in digital format in lots of new places on (drumroll, because I'm dramatic like that)

 !!!!!  Friday, June 21 !!!!!

(Meanwhile, you can still get the paperbacks of the first two Ondine novels, with free worldwide delivery, from bookdepository or Kenny's Books.)

My original contract with Egmont UK secured paperback and ebook publishing rights in the UK and Commonwealth, and several other countries throughout Europe, including Spain, Norway, Poland and Irish Republic, to name a few.

BUT, now that I'm bringing the titles out independently, I can reach other territories that previously haven't had digital access to the Ondines.

It's so much fun going through my formatting files and choosing all the countries that have previously missed out. And they are some BIG countries. Like Andorra, Moldova (they have it listed as Moldavia, but it's sort of the same, I hope!) Russia, Japan and a lil' ole place called China.

And the USA, where I've had so much fantastic support even though the books weren't officially released there. Fans, bloggers and reviewers bought the paperbacks from overseas so they could join in the magic and mayhem, and spread the word.
The pedant in me wants to point out that Macedonia is officially "FYR Macedonia" which stands for "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia". Also, Moldavia should be Moldova. Really, it should. And United States should have several exclamation points after it.

So that's my exciting news. Or at least, that's my news that I'm saying is exciting. Because what is really happening is I'm sitting here at my desk, re-reading my original contract to make sure I'm not breaching it by adding a country I shouldn't, and also making sure I reach as many new readers as possible.

I will have loads more news as it comes.

Being In Control

Turns out, I really am a control freak.
How about that.

As a writer, I am really enjoying this "going indie" caper. I control what I write, and I set the deadlines. (Which is fine because I'm self-driven and am good at setting goals ... and meeting them.)
I'm in control of the stories and the covers.

But the biggest thing I'm in control of is setting the cover price.

I'm also in control of the advertising budget and where that advertising is going.

It's incredibly liberating. Sure, it's hideously frightening too, because I don't know if anyone is going to be interested in parting with their money for my books. But then, when I'm with a publisher, I'm not in control of the deadlines, the promotions or the prices.

That's not to say I've turned my back on traditional publishing. I still think all writers should aspire to traditional publishing. For me, being offered a contract by a publisher means I've passed several tests of quality and potential profitability from their point of view.

So much has changed since I signed my first contract waaaaaay back in 2008. Five years ago, there simply weren't the options for writers that there are now. My original contract didn't even mention digital books. (I signed an amendment for that a year or so later.) I'm sure these days, every publishing contract would have a digital/ebook clause.

In hindsight, I shouldn't have signed that ebook clause. Because I can't control the prices for the UK and Commonwealth sales. At the moment my novels are listed for £4.12 on kindleUK , which is about $6.25 Australian (or about $6.40 US).

$6.25 is too much for a 60,000 word ebook. Especially when you can get the paperback for only a pound more in the UK or a couple more dollars in Australia/US with free worldwide delivery.

Do you know what I'm getting from those digital books? 25% of 'net'. The net, dear readers, is not the amount the reader pays for it ($6.25) but the amount the publisher gets from the retailer. Which could be as little as $3 per book. In other words, maybe 75 cents per sale.

And the sales are ... let me choose my words carefully .... UTTER CRAP, which I partly blame on the price point.

The 'sweet spot' for ebook purchases - for an author to attract readers while still being able to make a living - is between $2.99 and $5.99.

If I'd held on to those digital rights instead of signing them away FOR NOTHING, I could have been be selling the ebooks myself, for $2.99 and taking home 70% of the sale price, which would be $2.10 per sale.

So, I only have control of the US digital release, (and Japan and ... wow, Moldova!) because I didn't sign that right away. Thank goodness.

And I have full control of the next two books in the series. I'll be setting the price in the sweet spot.

I'll be in control.

The Same But Different

Why am I going "Indie"?
Good question. I know it's good because I asked it.

Here's why I'm going Indie.
Because publishing is changing and my Ondine books don't fit the traditional mould.

It doesn't mean they're rubbish, it just means they don't fit the way publishers do business these days.

Way back when I signed a deal for Ondine with Egmont UK, it was for UK and Commonwealth rights only. Which meant my agent and I still held the rights to sell into the USA.

Later, when the books came out in the UK to rave reviews, my agents tried to get USA interest. However, the times were already changing and the USA publishers weren't interested.

In rave reviews!
In a ferret hero!
In a diabolically funny romance!

They weren't crazy, they were being ultra cautious. Because publishing was changing. And also, ebooks were storming on in and everyone was NERVOUS. And that global financial crisis thing. Upshot being, if a US publisher was going to pay out for a book, they wanted as many rights as possible so they could get back their investment. And we'd already sold most of those rights.

But, I have the rights to the USA, which is why I'm releasing the first two Ondine titles, as ebooks, into that territory. The clever thing is, I can geographically restrict the sale of these titles to the territories I still have rights to, without infringing on the deal I've previously made with Egmont UK.

So, I'll be releasing the first two Ondines into the USA-only in June and September, and then . . .

The NEXT TWO ONDINES will be released as ebooks WORLD-WIDE in December and then March.

Are you still with me? Excellent.

Here's where things get tricky. That global financial crisis? It kicked in.

I wrote the Ondine trequel, and in 2012, Egmont UK passed. Not because it was crap, but because the first two books hadn't sold enough to warrant further investment. Traditional publishing is a business and they are in it to make money.

But I still had a story to tell, and for me, it was worth the investment of my time and money to write the next two books and deliver them for the fans. I hired a freelance editor (who, as luck would have it, used to work with Egmont). All up, it will cost me a few thousand dollars to release these four books, and I'm confident I'll get that investment back.

The downside is, the covers won't all match. If you're in the USA, and you're buying all the ebook versions, they will match. But if you've been a loyal fan who bought the paperbacks in the UK, books 3 and 4 will only be on your ereading device, rather than your bookshelf. I can only apologise for this, and for the different covers. I've tried to make the most gorgeous covers in the world, so that you'll be happy. Ultimately, it's what's between the covers that will count, and I've written the best books I can as my way of thanking my existing audience, while appealing to new readers.

Speaking of counting, I'm counting down the days. It's May now, and that means THE SUMMER OF SHAMBLES will be available in the USA next month. NEXT MONTH!

I have work to do.

Why do e-books cost so much?

I have no idea. But the topic is due for an airing because there is so much debate about ebook pricing (and physical books as well).

Dean Wesley Smith's giving the subject a nudge, and it's really got me thinking about price points. Too low and readers will assume it's cheap and nasty, too high and I'll price myself out of the game.

As a reader, I had no idea what was even involved in making books happen. I thought an editor grabbed a writer and said 'here's bucketloads of money, write a story with flying turnips, I'm off to Monte Carlo.'

As a writer, I have learned the hard way how intricate and DARN SLOW the process is.

Writing the first draft - at least six, more usually nine months for me.

Then beta readers and critique partners. They are human beings. They read at the speed of words and it takes time. At least a month, sometimes more. This is 'free' in as far as they are writers I know and trust, and I'm reading their work at the same time they're reading mine, and we make lots of suggestions back and forth.

Then it's another couple of months of me pulling the story together again, making it the best it can be.

Because it's going out in public.

But as much as leaning on my writer friends for help along the way can be fabulous, if I want this book to be the best it can be, I have to hire somebody who knows what they're doing to edit it.

A good freelance editor is around $50 per hour. Editing a 60,000 word novel takes about 14 hours.

If my editor had rushed it, she would have done a lousy job. Also, $50 an hour is a reasonable rate for freelancers in Australia. It's about paying people for their skills and labour and allowing them to support their families.

Also, my first two Ondine novels went the traditional way, through a publisher. The story and structural editing took several months, then the copy editing and proof reading took another few months. By highly skilled, incredibly fabulous editors who wanted the book to be the best it could be.

The reason I'm now hiring editors for my new Ondine novels is because I want this third book to stand up alongside those first two and be just as good (if not better). It's the least the fans deserve.

But it also means I embark on self publishing with some debts to pay. If I price the books too low, I'll need to sell thousands and thousands of copies to break even. Even when all four novels are on sale (by March next year, yikes!) if they're on sale for .99c I'll get about .25c per copy so I'll need to sell at least 4,000 copies before I even start to make a profit.

I don't want to sell them for .99c. I might do this for a week or something as a special deal, but at such a low price they're likely to be treated like crap.

Case in point, several friends of mine are traditionally published, and are also releasing other titles independently.  They begin selling it at $4.99 or $5.99 and earn fabulous reviews. Not a lot of them, but the reviews are 5 and 4-star great.

But then something horrible happens. The authors put the price down to .99c to gain more traction. They sure gained traction, but also gained a whole troll-load of 1-star reviews complaining about how awful the books are. By dropping the price they appealed to a new audience - and it's not good. People who hadn't read more than the first few chapters still felt entitled to complain via the reviews, misspellings and all. Oh the irony! It burns!

So you see, I need to price my books at the $3.99 or $4.99 mark to pay debts. So do hundreds of other indie authors, who have hired editors and other clever people along the way.

But I'm also pricing the books to keep clear of people who want things for next to nothing and will never be happy.

Because I'm not doing this to make cheap strangers happy. I'm doing this for the fans, and I'm doing it to make myself happy.

And I'll be buggered if I'm going to do it for next to nothing.

The Lives of Cover Models

I'm looking through stock art websites to find cover models for the Ondine books. I'm also having a mild panic attack that I won't have the cover done in time for the June release, so I'm procrastinating like anything.

I really love these two - they look so much like Ondine and Hamish, I have to use them.



No, she doesn't have an unfortunate birthmark on her face, that's the Dreamstime watermark, because I haven't paid for the pics yet. I'm not sure which one I'll go with, but when I make the decision, yes, I am going to pay for it. A whole $15 or so.

So I'm looking through so many pictures of this couple. They are delightful.

I call this one "The third wheel"

Sweetie with the big glasses is photobombing, trying to move in on Hamish, and Ondine is going to snap her neck if she flirts one more time....

Here's Ondine working at a call centre, making the most of it. Brugel is in recession again.


But now she's a scientist! Woot!


Here Ondine is with Hamish. So in love...


And now she and Hamish have a blog, which brings them joy. And a source of income.


But ... who is this IMPOSTOR with Ondine? She BELONGS with Hamish!


He's lured Ondine away? How dare he????


You'd better have a long hard think about what you're doing, Blondie!


Hamish tries to win her back, but this isn't the way to do it!!!



Oh, a job came up in the Reykjavic office.
Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.


Ondine and Hamish are together again. As it should be.


(These photos are all from the collection of Yuri Acurs, who has an insanely great collection of pictures to buy from Dreamstime.)

The ONDINE series, in four acts.

The super tricky thing about writing a synopsis is the author has to show how the story ends.

My instinct is to say, 'You have to read it to find out how it ends.'

I think I've found a way to do both:

Act One: Ondine lives in the Eastern European country of Brugel.
She works at her family pub.
Her pet ferret, Shambles, begins talking with a Scottish accent.

Act Two: Shambles is no ordinary ferret.
He's really Hamish McPhee, and a witch cursed him a good one.

Act Three: Ondine falls madly in love with Hamish
and will do anything to break the spell for good.

Act Four: They travel back in time and are eaten by dinosaurs.