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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Resolutions

The other day, J A Konrath's put up his writer resolutions for the new year.  He also included his resolutions from past years. It was cool to see how they have changed dramatically in such a short time.
How did they change? Well from about 2006 to 2009 his goals were all related to traditional publishing. They were things like sending queries to agents, and using rejection as motivation. But then in 2010 he mentions the ebook revolution. And then in 2011 his goal becomes a definite 'I will self publish.'

Check out the post. It's awesome.

After following Konrath's Blog for awhile and reading all the evidence that he laid out, I have to say I totally agree with him on self publishing. Which is weird because at the start of the year I was against self-publishing. But everything that Joe said on his blog made sense. Everything from the better royalty rates, to the increased creative control. It all made sooooo much sense.

The key difference in the market place that allows people to self-publish and be successful (people like Joe Konrath and Amanda Hocking) is distribution. In simple terms - more and more people are buying ebooks off the internet and reading them on their ereaders. This means that writers no longer need a publishing company to print physical copies of their books and distribute them to book stores.

I wanted to be a part of this movement. I wanted to have my work available as an ebook.  So that's what I did. I uploaded Dead Forest (the first volume in a series of novellas about  demonic ninja and samurai and zombies, oh my.) And I'm planning to publish a whole lot more. Which leads me into my resolutions for 2011.

I've never actually sat down and put into writing my new years resolutions. Come to think of it, I've never even made new years resolutions before.

But I'm going to make some now. So here goes....

1. Self publish a trilogy of ebooks

2. Self publish another trilogy of ebooks.

That is all.

Will I be able to do this in one year? Probably not. One trilogy, let alone 2 is a huge task. Especially since it took me about 6 months to complete my last novel. But as Oscar Wilde once said, 'Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land amongst the stars.'

So that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna shoot for the moon.

Happy freakin New Year.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

New Years Eve, Eve and Backyard Cricket!

Round 2. Ding Ding.

It's new years eve, eve here in Australia which means it's only 1 more sleep until new years day and you know what new years day means?

Yep.

Backyard Cricket!

Rules for New Years Eve Backyard Cricket.

1. All participants must have a beer in one hand (or some other alocholic beverage).

2. If the batter gets out first ball, they must scull the rest of their drink. (Scull is a funny word).

3. If a fielder drops a catch they must scull the rest of their drink.

4. If the batter hits the ball over the neighbours fence it is deemed '6 and out' and the batter must retrieve the ball. (If this occurs on the first ball the batter must scull their drink.)

5. If a batter fails to score any runs during the entire game they will need to scull their drink and do a nudey run around the block.

This is gonna be fun.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Introductions

Of course, an introduction.
A beginning.
Where are my manners?

(BTW. The above is an excerpt from the Book Thief by Markus Zusak.)

I included it because it's an awesome book and a great opening and... well because I'm not very good with introductions and first impressions or the dreaded 'kiss hello'. (I usually end up head butting the person I'm greeting. The last time I attempted the 'kiss hello' I was at a wedding. As I went in for the hug and the kiss part of the 'kiss hello' I stepped on the poor girls foot.)
I also tend to ramble a bit.
Oh god, I'm rambling right now.

So moving along... I just want to say, “Hi there. How are you? You're looking swell today.”

And welcome to my blog.

And did I mention what a good looking audience you all are. Wow, wouldn't it be cool if I had an audience. Even if it was an audience of one. That reminds me of that song by the Cold War Kids – Audience...'three's too many when you're playing for an audience of one.'

And I'm rambling again.

Ok let's focus. So what's this blog about?
In a nutshell it's about writing. And the process of writing. And publishing. And the process of publishing. I don't claim to be an expert in either of these matters – unless I'm at a bar and I'm drunk out of my mind on whiskey, trying to pick up. (I'm kidding. I've never done that. Or have I? No, I haven't.)

In summation I just want to give a few shout outs. The following peeps are some of the coolest peeps in the blogosphere. And I heart them very much.


I learnt so much from this guy. He is a complete genius. Seriously, I can not say enough good things about him. Reading his blog over the last few years was like taking a university course in all things writing and publishing. He is without a doubt one of the greatest teachers I've ever had. He's also funny. Do yourself a favor and go check out his blog.


I also learnt a lot from this guy. He's the reason I have the know how and ability and confidence and the testicular fortitude to publish my work. He is awesome. How awesome I hear you ask? He's so freakin awesome I want to stand on top of a mountain and shout to the world 'I heart you J. A Konrath! And I want to make babies with you. Or at the very least, start up a small business with you. And I don't care who knows.'

Go check out his blog. You will be amazed at what this guy has done and how many books he has sold and the way he sticks his middle finger up at the man (i.e. the publishing business.) It's so awesome I get goosebumps just thinking about it.


Hannah is a teenage author and prodigy. According to the FAQ section on her blog she doesn't like being called a prodigy but god dammit I just couldn't help but use that word to describe her. I mean, she's only 19 (or there abouts) and she's already published 2 Young Adult novels and she's got a couple more coming out soon.

A hip hop legend once asked the question, 'What's the definition of a real MC?' I have no idea what the definition of a real MC is but I do know that Hannah Moskowitz is the definition of a prodigy. But seriously if you read her blog you will quickly realize that she's smarter than you or I and most other older more experienced authors out there.  


Victoria is another young and extremely smart author with an amazing blog which lets people get an inside look at the whole process of writing and publishing. Her Vlogs are an amazing insight into the day in the life of an author. And people like Victoria and Hannah make me kind of depressed because they are so cool. Seriously, I have no idea how these people balance university and writing/publishing multiple novels. It boggles the mind. Yes! Boggles. And I am in awe of them. Also, according to her blog, Victoria likes to workout. Which I think is just the best ever.

And that will do it for my first ever introductory post.

Seacrest out.

(I'm still working on my goodbye catchphrase).