alchemical fantasy
A Pakistani girl with a gift for seeing what no one else can incurs the wrath of a supernatural being. A pudgy accountant who sees far more than he wants to is chased by mysterious figures through the gloom of an industrial city. Both encounter what lies beyond the edges of the mundane world.
Unseen is a collection of two previously published short stories by Rabia Gale.
Now available on Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords
I’ve rather avoided the obligatory “why I’m self-publishing” post. First of all, I’m not a publishing method zealot (I save my activism for causes like Free Chocolate for All Moms! and Ban Early Mornings!). I love that new technologies and changing business models are giving writers more options than ever before. We can try for an agent and a traditional deal with a big publisher. We can find a small press to partner with. Or we can self-publish. But there is no One True Way to publishing success. What works for one writer is going to be the kiss of death to another.
Secondly–and sadly–the recent changes in the Way Things Are Done have divided writers into camps. And woe betide any unfortunate who dares cross over. A self-publisher signs a deal with Ye Olde Established Publishing House? Sellout to greedy corporate interests. A traditionally-published writer puts up her backlist all on her own? Traitor. A never-published writer gets off the query-go-round and self-publishes? A hack who doesn’t have what it takes to be a real author.
No, thanks. I don’t need to join the Publishing Wars (but sign me up for the fight to eliminate any wake-up time before 8 am!). I just want to do what’s right for me, my career, and my books. For some projects that might mean self-publishing, for others it might mean going with a publisher–if they’ll have me (*grin*).
But whatever route I go, rest assured that I always always strive to have as good of a product as I can manage. I do not–and will not–throw words on the screen and then upload to e-tailers without revising, copyediting, proofreading, and getting feedback from my nitpicky beta readers. You will get my best work at the time, and I’m always looking to improve.
So, now that’s out of the way, why did I self-publish Shattered (with more projects along the way)? (Darn, there’s no avoiding that question.)
First, to show I could do it. My father owns his own business, so I suppose entrepreneurship is in my blood. I liked the idea of being a project manager for my collection. I liked being in charge of the entire process from story to saleable product. As a writer, I’d never had to worry about things like back cover blurbs, anthology titles, story order, and cover design. Now I know how much goes into putting out even a simple ebook and I picked up a few skills along the way (though I won’t be hanging out my shingle for e-book formatting and conversion services–ever). The experience of self-publishing was worth it.
Second, I had material that would not work for traditional publishing venues. Single-author anthologies are a notoriously hard sell unless you are a Big Name–not to mention that I didn’t have enough stories to fill a novel-length book, anyhow. But I did have three thematically-linked stories that were perfect for a self-publishing project. So I did it.
Aside: All the other stories in my self-publishing queue are also hard to place in traditional venues because, lengthwise, they fall in that vast space between short story and novel.
And, lastly, self-publishing has motivated me to keep writing. I write to reach readers. If I hadn’t self-published Shattered, those stories would’ve been sitting on my hard drive, reaching no one. Instead, now my work is out there, getting favorable reviews from people who are not my family and close friends. I have evidence that I’m not wasting my time here, toiling over the keyboard. It was a much-needed boost that came at the right time.
There’s another reason why I self-published, but that deserves its own post in the future. Right now, self-publishing works for me and I’m giving it a good go.
Do you self-publish? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments.
I’m baaaack from my week in Utah at David Farland’s Professional Writers’ Workshop. Dave is an award-winning, bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction and a great writing teacher.
So, what did I learn during this time? Read on for a sampler of the many many topics Dave covered in this comprehensive workshop…
On the writing side, we learned how to
And on the business side, Dave talked about
It was not all a data-dump, however. Every day, Dave assigned us a writing exercise with a particular focus–say, descriptive writing. After slaving over the assignment in the evenings, we read aloud our scenes the next day and got critiques from everyone. I’ve always hated reading aloud anything I’ve written–it sounds so stupid to my ears–but this was the best way to overcome my fear of public readings. By the end of the week, I was hardly bothered by the Pit of Doom that opened up in my stomach every time it was my turn to read. Dave also had one-on-one sessions with each attendee to answer specific questions (how cool is that!).
The other great thing about the workshop (for me) was the face-time with a diverse group of writers. In our group of seven, we had a professional musician, a copywriter, a lawyer, a bookseller, another stay-at-home mom (like me! yay!), and a guy who really wants to win Writers of the Future (I’m sure he has a job, but I don’t remember what it is). I was impressed by the quality of their writing and the insight displayed in their critiques. I haven’t done much critiquing of anyone else’s work besides Jo’s since I gave up the OWW, so I was a bit rusty. It was another good get-me-out-of-my-comfort-zone experience.
(Flipping through my notes here) Amongst all the nuggets of gold, these ones shone the brightest to me:
1. “Writing style can kill your book”. That’s a big one for me, since I do adore a well-turned phrase or a smooth metaphor. I never begrudge other authors their sales, their fans, their plots, or their characters, but let them use a beautiful sentence or evocative phrase that I wish I had come up with and I am muttering darkly (and enviously) under my breath. So, my takeaway is: write well, but focus on STORY, not style.
2. “Failure of imagination is the biggest failing of any story.” Then Dave proceeded to show us how we’d failed to imagine bigger and better when critiquing the first 20 pages and outlines of our novels in progress. His comments and questions opened my mind to all sorts of possibilities I’d never considered. It felt like fireworks going off in my head. Awesome.
3. Resonance is a good thing. ‘Nuf side. My literary side (see point #1) has a horror of being seen as cliched or derivative. Now it’s been put in its place quite firmly.
So, yes! Going to the workshop was worth every penny and I’m grateful to D. for not allowing me to back out of it when I got spooked by the prices of airline tickets and hotel stays (I have a teeny weeny problem with spending money on myself).
Now I’m home and ready to put all my new-found knowledge to work. How have you been?
I was first introduced to M.C.A. Hogarth’s work by Liana Mir. At that point, I hadn’t quite made the decision to self-publish Shattered. I knew that I was interested in going into business for myself, but I didn’t have a plan, I didn’t have any tools, and I didn’t have the mindset of an artist-entrepreneur.
Enter Hogarth’s Three Micahs–cartoon jaguars who understand the creative process and make business principles fun and accessible. Hogarth is pretty amazing–she’s a writer and artist who has also held down day jobs in the business and technology fields. Over the years she’s experimented with interactive storytelling, serialized fiction on her blog and small press publishing, not to mention creating visual art (fantasy illustration and cartooning) which she’s productized (yet another word I learned from the Micahs!) in her Zazzle store.
People, this lady has a lot of experience in combining the creative right brain and the analytical left brain into a career as an artist-entrepreneur, and she’s shared a lot of her insight in (free!) monthly columns.
And now she’s running an Indiegogo campaign to turn her columns into an actual book (with extra chapters! and worksheets! and more cartoons!).
To say I’m excited about this is a wee bit of an understatement. So, if you’re interested in making money off of whatever kind of art you do–be it writing or costume-making or jewelry design–you should run, not walk, to see what Hogarth is offering. Check out the Three Michas columns that started it all (Roles, Products, and Plan) and if you’re convinced, help support her campaign.
