Archive for January, 2011

I have the great privilege of following a lot of very creative, smart people on Twitter. Those people often have very good advice and blog posts on a regular basis and it (finally) occurred to me that I should be sharing their wisdom. So, I will be putting a post out every week of the things I’ve seen that I think are useful. Keep in mind, these are simply some of the things I’ve seen over the past few days. I’m sure there are plenty of things I’ve missed. Let me know if I should keep this up.

HOW TO SUB QUERIES & FULL MS IN THE DIGITAL AGE (Jill Corcoran – http://jillcorcoran.blogspot.com)

http://jillcorcoran.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-sub-queries-full-ms-in-digital.html

What is Steampunk? (Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences – http://www.ministryofpeculiaroccurrences.com)

http://www.ministryofpeculiaroccurrences.com/what-is-steampunk/

How to Format a Manuscript (CA Marshall – http://www.camarshall.com)

http://www.camarshall.com/2011/01/how-to-format-manuscript.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

eBook Sales Trending Up (ZDNet – http://www.zdnet.com)

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/doc/ebook-sales-trending-up/1767

TwitterShare

Tags: , , ,

26
Jan

On the Edge of Awesome

   Posted by: Michell    in Irreverent Muse

By appearances, 2011 looks like it will be a very interesting year. As you probably know, I have a book that is scheduled for release in 2012. That means I will be doing all those things that need doing to see that it happens. Revision, review and more revision. I also have several other projects to consider.

GalaxyBillies (which releases January 26, 2010 on Podiobooks.com) – needs to be revised and laid out for submission. I haven’t quite decided how to go forward with the book. Should I use it for an agent hunt or send it directly to publishers? I’m still thinking that through. There are a number of factors I’m working through, not the least of which is how it does on Podiobooks.

Secret Project – I would guess that it’s between 50 – 75% complete. That is the immediate project. I’m pretty excited about it and even more excited to start talking about it. Can’t do more than tease at the moment though. I will keep you posted.

YA Novel – I wrote this book last spring. I sent it out several times for consideration but no takers at this point. My children have both read it and liked the story. I am considering using this as a test of sorts. More about that later.

Boy Scouts of the Apocalypse – this is very much a working title but one I love. The idea for the story came to me when I was driving out to a Scout Camp in November. I actually told an abbreviated version of the story around the campfire one night to my Scouts. I now get asked at least once a week from different Scouts who were at the camp if the story is done yet. That alone tells me that it needs to be finished.

As you can see, I have lots on the go and coming up. That alone is enough to make for an excellent year. However, there is one other thing that could change things in a big way.

For those of you who listen to my Get Published podcast, you know I had Robin Sullivan, editor of Ridan Publishing as my guest for episode 49. I simply had to get her on the show after I chatted with her one night via IM. She talked about some major shifts in self-publishing and eBooks. I won’t tell you what she said (you have to listen to episodes 49 and 50 to hear ;) ) but suffice it to say it was compelling enough that I may just test the self-publishing waters. That YA novel mentioned above will likely be my first attempt at it. If I do, it will mean at least two books available by next year.

It’s all pretty exciting, but daunting too. The shear amount of work facing me is almost overwhelming. That being said, I am stoked at all the fantastic stuff I will be working on.

All this and I haven’t even talked about all the great guests I know I’ll have for Get Published. Just like the title for this post says, I’m on the Edge of Awesome. It feels great too.

What kinds of awesome are you doing in the coming year? I’d love to hear from you.

Personal Update

What you see above pretty much describes it all. :)

TwitterShare

We are coming up on episode 50 and I was planning on having a special interview with Robin Sullivan. Some of you may remember Robin from episode 38. Robin is the publisher for Ridan Publishing. When I first talked to Robin I knew she had a wealth of experience and knowledge to share. It wasn’t until I chatted with her via IM that I learned of her interest in self-publishing.

As I said, I had planned on interviewing her about the topic of self-publishing and how it has changed for episode 50. Except, once she started talking I realized that there was much more information than a single show could hold. So I broke up the interview into two parts. This segment will set the ground work for some of Robin’s interest and the next for episode 50 will talk more about some of the things you as a writer can do to self-publish and market your work.

I also have a book review that I’ve been meaning to do for several months. I had the chance to meet John Hemry AKA Jack Campbell at Balticon last year and I’ve wanted to review his most recent book The Lost Fleet: Victorious ever since. I finally take the time to do that.

Show Notes

00:00 — Opening – Get Published Episode 49 – Self Publishing Has Reached a Tipping Point

  • Everything has to start somewhere and this is the start of “Get Published”

00:14 — Introduction – Get Published Episode 49 – Self Publishing Has Reached a Tipping Point

Welcome to the show.

01:41 — Promo – Fiction at Chrismoody.net

02:30— Tips and Typos – Get Published Episode 49 – Self Publishing Has Reached a Tipping Point (continued)

  • Mike reviews The Lost Fleet, Book Six – Victorious by Jack Campbell
  • Email feedback at getpublishedpodcast dot com with your comments

05:10 - Promo – Podiobooks.com

06:09 — Get Published Episode 49 – Self Publishing Has Reached a Tipping Point (continued)

Robin Sullivan talks about self-publishing and the huge changes that have happened in the past couple months. (Pt 1 of 2)

47:14 — Promo – GalaxyBillies

49:02 — Closing

Thank you for listening.

Websites mentioned in this episode:

John Campbell – http://www.sff.net/people/john-g-hemry/

Robin Sullivan/Ridan Publishing – http://www.ridanpublishing.com/

Kindleboards – http://www.kindleboards.com/

Podiobooks.com - http://www.podiobooks.com/

Smashwords – http://www.smashwords.com/

JA Konrath – http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/

Fiction at Chris Moody - http://chrismoody.net/

GalaxyBillies – http://www.michellplested.com/category/galaxybillies/

TwitterShare

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Get Adobe Flash player