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The Posh, the Privileged and the Paranormal

The Posh, the Privileged and the Paranormal

Tag Archives: awesome indies

Day 4 of the Awesome Indies Grand Opening Party – and my story of why I went Indie

24 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by georgianaderwent in Uncategorized

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Tags

awesome indies, cheap ebooks, indie publishing, the cavaliers

aia_header_party4

If you’ve seen my blog or my Twitter at all this week, you’ve probably gathered by now that me and Oxford Blood are taking part in the Awesome Indie Authors Grand Opening Party. I explained a bit more about the site and the launch earlier in the week, but in essence, AIA is a site that aims to objectively assess self-published novels and then list the ones that meet their standards, in an attempt to take the risk out of buying indie.

Anyway, day four of the Awesome Indies Grand Opening party is meet the author day. Pop over and find out the difference between indie and self-publishing, watch a fun video and read the author’s stories.

 

Click here or on the banner above. Also, the 99c sale is still on, so if you haven’t been already, pop over there now.

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Once again, I wrote far too much for my entry and ended up having to submit a cut down version. But for those who are interested, the whole thing is below. hold tight, this one’s a little soul-bearing…

WHY DID I GO DOWN THE INDIE PUBLISHING ROUTE?

Ever since my teens, I’d wanted to write a vampire novel, but the first time I really found myself with enough time was in the months between finishing university and starting work. This was frustrating timing. A year or two previously, it had seemed that any piece of rubbish with the word “vampire” in the title would have been snapped up by publishers eager to capitalise on the success of Twilight. By the time Oxford Blood was finished, however, the pendulum had swung the other way. Several agents told me that they liked my novel and thought that it brought something new to the theme but that the market was utterly saturated by the vampire genre. The one agent who was willing to take me on was told much the same thing by the publishers that she approached. It was suggested that I should write a dystopian novel instead, but I had no interest in jumping on a new bandwagon – I’d written a vampire novel in spite of rather than because of the genre’s popularity.

Once we parted ways, I just didn’t have the strength to look for another agent, and suspected that unless I was very lucky, the answer from anyone new would be much the same. On the hottest day of the year in 2012, I went for a picnic with some friends, read a story in the paper about someone whose previously self-published vampire book had just been traditionally  published by the same company who a few weeks earlier had told me that vampire books were over – but clearly once a novel had had a million downloads, they were willing to take a ‘chance’ on it. I was beyond frustrated. I had a book that everyone was saying was perfectly good and likely to be enjoyed by vampire fans, but I couldn’t get it in front of any of the people who’d be likely to have fun reading it.

A friend of mine had faced the opposite problem but the same outcome. She’d written a YA magic realism novel, and where my genre was considered too overdone to be worthy of publication, hers was considered to be too obscure and niche (though infuriatingly,  no-one was suggesting that either of our novels was lacking in quality). She’d tried self-publishing and recommended that I gave it a go too. I got home that night, and still slightly drunk on Pimms and struggling not to cry, began to research how to do it. I suddenly had a conviction that this was the right thing to do. The big publishers’ concern was whether the book could sell enough copies to make them a tidy profit. I just wanted to see my story in print and have the thrill of knowing that some people I’d never met were reading it.

My book had already been heavily edited to meet my former agent’s requirements, but with the help of a variety of online editors and beta-readers, I refined it further. Though not quite enough – the second edition was much more thoroughly edited, and in retrospect, I wish I’d invested even more time, money and effort in getting the first edition perfect first time around. There are a few embarrassing reviews from the first few months of publication that basically say “great story, too many typos.”

I also commissioned a professional, customised cover. I’d always dreamed of having a beautiful cover to go with my story, and it was when I received the proofs of this that I realised that I wasn’t really missing out by going down the indie route. I honestly don’t believe that even the biggest publisher could have designed me a more beautiful or a more perfect cover.

You're welcome to disagree, but come on - this is pretty nice

You’re welcome to disagree, but come on – this is pretty nice

I remember when I got my first review from a stranger. It was amazing to know that someone I’d never met had read my book and enjoyed it and was sharing her opinion about the best characters and her favourite scenes. Since then, I’ve had lots more reviews, participated in interviews and been featured on blogs. It’s terrifying to think that if I’d held out for a traditional publisher, my manuscript would probably still have been languishing on my computer instead of being exposed to all sorts of people.

 

 

Awesome Indies Grand Opening Party Day 2: Who is the piano playing dog? Flash fiction fun

22 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by georgianaderwent in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

awesome indies, dog, ebooks, flash fiction, Music

aia_header_party2

You may have seen my brief post yesterday about the Awesome Indie Authors launch party. If not, you can find it here:

I put the post up just before bed, having exhausted myself with the lethal combination of a 6K run, a hot bath, a big meal and a glass of wine, and as a result I didn’t really take the time to explain about AIA or the launch party. If you’re familiar with all of that, scroll down for a link to some fun flash fiction, and the longer version of my entry.

Basically, the idea behind AIA is that independently published novels have a bad reputation with a lot of people. And it’s hardly surprising – there are huge numbers of indie books out there, and some are them are utterly awful. Some, however, are just as good as their traditionally published rivals. Awesome Indies tries to track down and promote these self-published works.  I was delighted to come across Awesome Indies a couple of months ago, and even more delighted to have Oxford Blood and Screaming Spires listed on the site. 

This week, the website is having its official launch. As I mentioned yesterday, many of the books (Oxford Blood included) are reduced to 99c (around 77p if you’re English like me) so it’s a great opportunity to pick up some quality books at a cheap price.

aia_button

 

As well as the offer though,  the site has got various fun things going on. Today, the authors were invited to watch a great video of a piano playing dog and then write a very short story about what he was up to. You can see the video and check out the entries here

Much as I love working on The Cavaliers, it was great fun to stretch my imagination and write something else for a change. My original story was about three times too long and I had to cut it down for the official blog, but I’ve copied the full version below.

WHY IS THE DOG PLAYING THE PIANO?

There had been a time when everyone had said that Thomas was the greatest piano player the world had ever known. He’d responded in the same way when the compliments came from professors of music at the finest universities as when they came from awe-struck pretty girls at his recitals: a modest smile, a shake of his head. Inside though, he’d thought they were all entirely correct, maybe even not going far enough.

Ever since he’d been tall enough to reach the keys, he’d improved on the natural gifts he’d inherited from his parents with hours of practise and a ruthless perfectionism. As he’d grown older and the performance requests  had come flooding in, he’d agonised over choosing the perfect songs for each occasion and rehearsed until his performance was flawless.

As time passed, however, he’d slowly begun to realise something : most people could tell the difference between a bad player and a good one, but not between the good and the great. He could sacrifice some of his rehearsal time for an evening with one of his adoring fans and the cheers would be just as loud at the next show.

By the time he was invited to play at Baron Jackson’s 50th birthday party, he’d grown utterly complacent. He’d heard strange stories about the Baron, but he didn’t concern himself with rumours, and Jackson seemed like a pleasant enough man. He was certainly visibly delighted to have Thomas on the bill.

Thomas had been invited to spend the weekend at the Baron’s estate to settle in and familiarise himself with the castle’s antique piano and the acoustics of the great hall. Instead, he’d spent the weekend familiarising himself with the castle’s vintage wine collection and the sounds of the Baron’s more attractive guests. The night of the performance, he had been over-drunk and under-rehearsed, but it hadn’t worried him in the slightest. Neither the expectant, noble crowd nor the imposing grandeur of the hall could dint his confidence. He’d sat down and he’d played well. Not brilliantly, but undoubtedly well. The hall erupted in applause. Every person in the room was delighted. Or at least, everyone but the Baron.  Jackson sat there in stony silence, then dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

Feeling suddenly nervous, Thomas had returned to his palatial room. Clearly, the Baron had a more discerning ear than he’d credited him with. When the Baron knocked in the early hours, Thomas had been  expecting a dressing down, perhaps even to be dismissed from the castle without pay. What he hadn’t expected was for the Baron to take place a hand on his shoulder in a fatherly manner. His words had been permanently engraved on Thomas’ mind ever since.

“You have natural talents and you are squandering them because you don’t have to try hard to play tolerably well. But I didn’t hire you to play tolerably well; I hired you because I heard you were the best. I’m afraid I’m going to make it rather harder for you to play, force you to re-learn the virtues of patience, practise and dedication.”

For a moment, Thomas had thought he was going to cut off one of his hands or break some fingers. Once again, he thought of the strange stories he’d heard about the Baron. Instead, Jackson had touched his forehead to Thomas’ and everything had gone dark.

He’d awoken to find himself like this. Stumpy paws, unwieldly claws and an inability to sit properly or to stand on two legs. But his human mind was intact, as was his innate understanding of music.

The Baron had stroked his fur in an amused manner. “You’ll be treated perfectly well, I promise. Your own quarters, plentiful human food and a free run of the castle and its grounds. All I ask in return is that you practise. I dare say you’ll find it rather harder than you’ve been used to, but with your natural talents and your perfect ear, I have no doubt that with enough dedication to your craft, you’ll be playing better than most men before too long. I expect you to perform last night’s repertoire at my next birthday and I expect you to meet my standards. If you do, I’ll give you your body back. If you fail, we’ll keep trying until you get it right.”

That was three months ago, and in the weeks since, he’d practised harder than he ever had in his life, harder even than  as a child under his virtuoso father’s watchful eye. He was getting better each day. Everyone said he played astonishingly well for a small dog. But he was horribly conscious that it would be a long time before they said he played well for a man, still longer before anyone would claim he was the best piano player the world had ever known.

The Awesome Indies Grand Opening Party; 26 top reads at just 99 cents each, plus 5 days of partying!

21 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by georgianaderwent in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

99c sale, awesome indies

 

You’re invited to the Awesome Indies Grand Opening Party—a sale of 26 top reads at just 99 cents each, plus 5 days of fun. See the new website, meet the authors, join them for games, giveaways and giggles and be in the draw to win the latest generation Kindle.

The Awesome Indies have found a way to take the risk out of buying indie. If it’s Awesome Indies Approved (AIA), a qualified publishing industry professional has determined that it’s as good as anything produced by the mainstream. Readers need no longer wonder if that book is really worth downloading. If a book is listed on the Awesome Indies, then it’s worth your time.

Click on the banner, or this link, to visit the Awesome Indies to browse the huge 99c sale (including my own Oxford Blood)and learn what you have to do to be in the draw for a Kindle Paperwhite.

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