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There's really not much I can say that isn't implicit in the subject line. Follow the links to pages for either the story/book itself, or to a landing page for the "universe" in question, which will then link to the individual pages.
Science Fiction
The Kintaran stories
Snips and Snails
Queen of Roses
Fantasy
The Lord Alchemist stories
Sweet Phantom
Or search for my books at your vendor of choice.
Thread started by Helen McLory: (TL;DR: men of twitter, rec a book by a *living* female author!)
(https://twitter.com/helenmcclory/status/1149634635640426501?s=12)
Genre in brackets, when known/deduced from comment. Commenters not listed; sorry! I've got a cat demanding attention and author/title/genre is a lot of data already. Alphabetized roughly by the LAST WORD in the author's name (which is NOT the author's last name in some cases; again, sorry!)
** means a dead author, and * for someone with a female-presenting name reccing (e.g., as a follow-on to a guy's rec. ***for Non-Binary author)
( list of authors )
(https://twitter.com/helenmcclory/status/1149634635640426501?s=12)
Genre in brackets, when known/deduced from comment. Commenters not listed; sorry! I've got a cat demanding attention and author/title/genre is a lot of data already. Alphabetized roughly by the LAST WORD in the author's name (which is NOT the author's last name in some cases; again, sorry!)
** means a dead author, and * for someone with a female-presenting name reccing (e.g., as a follow-on to a guy's rec. ***for Non-Binary author)
( list of authors )
Clean Reader. I have, as they say, feels.
Mar. 28th, 2015 09:15 pmFeel number one: ...okay, so with two taps on the screen (on the iPad version), it puts blank spaces over words that are often considered offensive by people.
And my big huge "feel" is... So?
The original is unharmed. Heck, the changes can be reversed with another couple of taps, so it's even less "damage" than taking a physical book and a bottle of white-out and playing "NOW KISS" with them.
And if someone wants to read a book like that, who died and made me Ma'at to judge whether that's "the right way to read"? It's their experience. They're seeking it out. They're not inflicting it on anyone else.
(On the other side, of course, is that I don't tell people how to read, and no one tells me that I need to write so that it will "clean up" tidily. Unless they are offering me substantial amounts of money...)
So I consider it hubristic to tell people they're "reading it wrong" if they use Clean Reader. (Just as I consider the font, font-size, and colors of any ebook I have to be MINE TO COMMAND!) So long as people aren't pretending that that's the way I (or whoever) wrote it originally, and aren't distributing the altered material without permission, then how they read is between them and their ereader. They can read it in the rain, they can read it on a train. They can read it in the mud, they can read it in a flood. They can make cussing unseen -- they can read it, dirty or clean.
...I may be just a little punchy about the topic by now.
Anyway, this is the obligatory paragraph for shilling my works. Smashwords distributes (with my permission) my work to Page Foundry, which is the company that owns Inktera, Clean Reader, and at least a couple other "themed" ebook reader apps. (One is focused on romance-only!) Therefore, you can buy my books -- or download the free ones -- through those apps and see what you think of the app. The science fiction works, thus far, are pretty "clean" already, and the fantasy-romances probably don't use the keywords that would hide what's going on. So, er, be warned.
And my big huge "feel" is... So?
The original is unharmed. Heck, the changes can be reversed with another couple of taps, so it's even less "damage" than taking a physical book and a bottle of white-out and playing "NOW KISS" with them.
And if someone wants to read a book like that, who died and made me Ma'at to judge whether that's "the right way to read"? It's their experience. They're seeking it out. They're not inflicting it on anyone else.
(On the other side, of course, is that I don't tell people how to read, and no one tells me that I need to write so that it will "clean up" tidily. Unless they are offering me substantial amounts of money...)
So I consider it hubristic to tell people they're "reading it wrong" if they use Clean Reader. (Just as I consider the font, font-size, and colors of any ebook I have to be MINE TO COMMAND!) So long as people aren't pretending that that's the way I (or whoever) wrote it originally, and aren't distributing the altered material without permission, then how they read is between them and their ereader. They can read it in the rain, they can read it on a train. They can read it in the mud, they can read it in a flood. They can make cussing unseen -- they can read it, dirty or clean.
...I may be just a little punchy about the topic by now.
Anyway, this is the obligatory paragraph for shilling my works. Smashwords distributes (with my permission) my work to Page Foundry, which is the company that owns Inktera, Clean Reader, and at least a couple other "themed" ebook reader apps. (One is focused on romance-only!) Therefore, you can buy my books -- or download the free ones -- through those apps and see what you think of the app. The science fiction works, thus far, are pretty "clean" already, and the fantasy-romances probably don't use the keywords that would hide what's going on. So, er, be warned.
I have feels about Reach and Profit
Feb. 17th, 2015 12:38 pmSo I wrote this a while back on my personal blog, and because of the oddities of having a personal and a "professional" DW account, didn't crosspost it. Well, I'm going to do so now, with some minor modifications.
Okay, so there was a thing that haikujaguar on livejournal posted, about representation as authors in fiction, and how it felt like this should be a non-issue -- that people should just self-publish and do an end-run around the gatekeepers. (You can probably find the post and she may let me link to it (or she may tell me to occlude the name), but for Bast's sake, if you comment there, be good. Because the TL;DR form is I think she's 100% right on one axis of the argument, though I disagree with her on another axis.) So anyway, I had a mass of feels which I inflicted on her. And which I should probably put here, because it goes really meta in spots. (And now she can delete all my comments if she wants! ^_^ )
...um, Person Who Is Traditionally PublishedSoon (Now!), whom I refer to, tell me if you'd like me to A: edit this in any way on those aspects, and B: delete the other comments and just reference back to here. I was trying to avoid saying anything specific!
( I have, as is said these days, feels. )
From another comment-reply:
(...I also think that people knowing what they want, money or fame, is necessary for them to decide what they'll settle for. People rarely make sound business decisions that are based on unexamined assumptions.)
Okay, so there was a thing that haikujaguar on livejournal posted, about representation as authors in fiction, and how it felt like this should be a non-issue -- that people should just self-publish and do an end-run around the gatekeepers. (You can probably find the post and she may let me link to it (or she may tell me to occlude the name), but for Bast's sake, if you comment there, be good. Because the TL;DR form is I think she's 100% right on one axis of the argument, though I disagree with her on another axis.) So anyway, I had a mass of feels which I inflicted on her. And which I should probably put here, because it goes really meta in spots. (And now she can delete all my comments if she wants! ^_^ )
...um, Person Who Is Traditionally Published
( I have, as is said these days, feels. )
From another comment-reply:
(...I also think that people knowing what they want, money or fame, is necessary for them to decide what they'll settle for. People rarely make sound business decisions that are based on unexamined assumptions.)
Crucible (Alchemy's Heir II)
Oct. 13th, 2014 11:47 pmWhen Dareus Kymus traveled to the Empire to seek a bride for his brother, he didn't plan on getting captured by pirates. Now his luggage is reduced to the clothes on his back and a few hidden alchemies, his traveling companions are an Imperial Wind-priest and a foreign "Bride of the Gods," and the itinerary includes a cross-country trek through ancient, poisoned battlegrounds – all while staying ahead of the slavers who want to recapture them.
Dar thought he'd been in scrapes as a lad, but the blightlands of the Empire are a crucible beyond his imagining. It will take all his luck, skill, and the talents of his companions to have a prayer of returning home . . .
Available (in English language only, thus far; sorry) at:
• Amazon
• Amazon.AU
• Amazon.BR
• Amazon.CA
• Amazon.DE
• Amazon.ES
• Amazon.FR
• Amazon.IN
• Amazon.IT
• Amazon.JP
• Amazon.MX
• Amazon.UK
• Apple iBooks
• Barnes & Noble
• Blio.com (Blio does not use permanent links; search on author and title. Sorry.)
• Smashwords (read online, epub, mobi, PDF, etc.)
• Kobo
...and anywhere else Smashwords ships to, such as Scribd, Oyster, etc.
Dar thought he'd been in scrapes as a lad, but the blightlands of the Empire are a crucible beyond his imagining. It will take all his luck, skill, and the talents of his companions to have a prayer of returning home . . .
Available (in English language only, thus far; sorry) at:
• Amazon
• Amazon.AU
• Amazon.BR
• Amazon.CA
• Amazon.DE
• Amazon.ES
• Amazon.FR
• Amazon.IN
• Amazon.IT
• Amazon.JP
• Amazon.MX
• Amazon.UK
• Apple iBooks
• Barnes & Noble
• Blio.com (Blio does not use permanent links; search on author and title. Sorry.)
• Smashwords (read online, epub, mobi, PDF, etc.)
• Kobo
...and anywhere else Smashwords ships to, such as Scribd, Oyster, etc.
Analog Review
Jun. 17th, 2014 08:01 pmAhem. That title is me being professional. The truth is that I am flailing around like a 14-year-old (I have a 14-year-old; trust me on this flailing analogy), squeeing, grinning and staring into space, and generally going, ANALOG! EEEE!
I will now try to be professional again.
Queen of Roses has been reviewed at Analog. The link is http://www.analogsf.com/2014_09/reflib.shtml, and Sarafina is in rather good company, among books by M.C.A. Hogarth, C. S. Friedman, and Deborah J. Ross (who has been continuing the Darkover books), and others.
Now I'm going to go off and be unprofessional and eat ice cream in celebration. *big grin*
I will now try to be professional again.
Queen of Roses has been reviewed at Analog. The link is http://www.analogsf.com/2014_09/reflib.shtml, and Sarafina is in rather good company, among books by M.C.A. Hogarth, C. S. Friedman, and Deborah J. Ross (who has been continuing the Darkover books), and others.
Now I'm going to go off and be unprofessional and eat ice cream in celebration. *big grin*
Blog Chain Tag!
Apr. 22nd, 2014 11:09 pmI was tagged by Stephanie Cain, and here are the questions we're supposed to answer... *grin*
Rules of tag!
Basically, you link back to the person who tagged you and then answer four questions: What am I working on? How does my work differ from others in its genre? Why do I write what I do? How does my writing process work?
So here I go!
What am I working on?
Lots of things. All at the same time, kind of. The top 4, in order:
• Crucible (Alchemy's Heirs #2): getting beta-reader feedback. I'm extending myself in two or three different directions and would like to avoid horrible amounts of Fail.
• A GURPS supplement, on spec. That's getting some GURPS beta feedback before I sail it into the slush.
• That Dragon Thing: What came to me in a dream as unabashed dragon-shifter smut... developed fantasy-world politics, a need to have Our Dwarves Are Different, a relatively different magic system (which is what's driving the politics, in large part), and eventually I am going to shove the characters together and scream "NOW KISS." Eventually. This had better stay novella-sized, is all I'm sayin'.
• Copper Leaf Bargains: This is the thing I should be focusing more on. It's a Lord Alchemist book, and a jump back in time to when the twins are babies. Kessa and Laita get to be the viewpoint characters for this one.
I should also be getting a business name filed so I can do hardcopy versions of my books, but the universe has been conspiring against me. (I really hope that by the time I put up this post, I can strikethrough that...)
(...nope.)
How does my work differ from others in its genre?
Primarily? My favorite world, the Lord Alchemist universe, differs in that it's... not really staying tidily in a genre. I call it fantasy-romance, but it tends to use deep fantasy tropes/expectations, and romance-heavy plots, so... it kind of does work best for the Venn Diagram of readers who want the world as a third character to go along with the Relationship Plot. (And then I veer off into something that's a lot more plain fantasy, with Crucible.)
My science fiction, thus far, sits in the smaller niche of Non-Human Viewpoint Characters. Whether aliens or AIs, those are the heads I'm trying to get into, and figure out what it's like to see the world through slitted eyes or security cameras.
Why do I write what I do?
A love of words -- well, dialogue, anyway. A love of characters. A hatred for forgetting things. The realization that if I want to have any room in my head for anything, I have to write things down to get them out of my head.
Seanan McGuire once posted... I think on her blog, though it may've been Twitter... something along the lines of, "If I forget your name, you won't stop existing. If I forget a character, they will." That's a paraphrase, but it resonants with me a lot. Even worse for me is that I will, at times, make up my very own AU fics in my head...
I also write what I do because few, if any, other people are writing this! I want it, so I have to write it. AI stories that scratch the exact itch? Alien viewpoints and space opera setting? Fantasy with UST (...till it resolves, anyway... ;) ?
How does my writing process work?
Frankly? Annoyingly. I'm a pantser. I would love to actually write to an outline sometime -- but I think someone else would have to write the outline. If I try to do anything like that, the story dies on me. It becomes actively repellant. I have done that story and... It just doesn't work.
This is very frustrating, because... it's not that I don't have some kind of crude outline in my head. It's that it has to stay in my head until it's all written, with only the barest of notes as reminders. This... produces a cluttered head. (Aside from the bottom two of the "what I'm working on," above, I have... the unnamed companion story to Copper Leaf Bargains, Alchemy's Heirs #3, and an unnamed story also set in that universe, pertaining to the Laerini side of the family. Plus a short story in the Kintaran universe that I want to finish, plus two SF stories in entirely different universes (different to each other, too), and that's not even counting the second Queen of Roses book that's half-written...
(Not to mention all thesmut erotica that I'm planning on finishing and putting out under a pseudonym. No, I do not think I will be telling people what that is...)
Ahem. Yes. I write by the seat of my pants, and hold the structure of the story -- what I have of it -- in my head. Mostly I wind up the characters and set them moving along to bump into each other, and try to poke them in the direction I want them to go for the result I want. (I generally have an idea of the result I want, anyway.) Then I write, trying to skip the boring parts, till I get to the end, and eventually throw the result at beta-readers to tell me where I need to cut the boring parts I didn't skip in the first place.
...this is a terrible way to write, by many standards. If I could pick a way to write, it would be to draw up an outline and churn words out brilliantly every day. But I didn't get to pick, so this is the way I write. Now, time to post this, remember to tag a couple other people, and get back to writing.
Rules of tag!
Basically, you link back to the person who tagged you and then answer four questions: What am I working on? How does my work differ from others in its genre? Why do I write what I do? How does my writing process work?
So here I go!
What am I working on?
Lots of things. All at the same time, kind of. The top 4, in order:
• Crucible (Alchemy's Heirs #2): getting beta-reader feedback. I'm extending myself in two or three different directions and would like to avoid horrible amounts of Fail.
• A GURPS supplement, on spec. That's getting some GURPS beta feedback before I sail it into the slush.
• That Dragon Thing: What came to me in a dream as unabashed dragon-shifter smut... developed fantasy-world politics, a need to have Our Dwarves Are Different, a relatively different magic system (which is what's driving the politics, in large part), and eventually I am going to shove the characters together and scream "NOW KISS." Eventually. This had better stay novella-sized, is all I'm sayin'.
• Copper Leaf Bargains: This is the thing I should be focusing more on. It's a Lord Alchemist book, and a jump back in time to when the twins are babies. Kessa and Laita get to be the viewpoint characters for this one.
I should also be getting a business name filed so I can do hardcopy versions of my books, but the universe has been conspiring against me. (I really hope that by the time I put up this post, I can strikethrough that...)
(...nope.)
How does my work differ from others in its genre?
Primarily? My favorite world, the Lord Alchemist universe, differs in that it's... not really staying tidily in a genre. I call it fantasy-romance, but it tends to use deep fantasy tropes/expectations, and romance-heavy plots, so... it kind of does work best for the Venn Diagram of readers who want the world as a third character to go along with the Relationship Plot. (And then I veer off into something that's a lot more plain fantasy, with Crucible.)
My science fiction, thus far, sits in the smaller niche of Non-Human Viewpoint Characters. Whether aliens or AIs, those are the heads I'm trying to get into, and figure out what it's like to see the world through slitted eyes or security cameras.
Why do I write what I do?
A love of words -- well, dialogue, anyway. A love of characters. A hatred for forgetting things. The realization that if I want to have any room in my head for anything, I have to write things down to get them out of my head.
Seanan McGuire once posted... I think on her blog, though it may've been Twitter... something along the lines of, "If I forget your name, you won't stop existing. If I forget a character, they will." That's a paraphrase, but it resonants with me a lot. Even worse for me is that I will, at times, make up my very own AU fics in my head...
I also write what I do because few, if any, other people are writing this! I want it, so I have to write it. AI stories that scratch the exact itch? Alien viewpoints and space opera setting? Fantasy with UST (...till it resolves, anyway... ;) ?
How does my writing process work?
Frankly? Annoyingly. I'm a pantser. I would love to actually write to an outline sometime -- but I think someone else would have to write the outline. If I try to do anything like that, the story dies on me. It becomes actively repellant. I have done that story and... It just doesn't work.
This is very frustrating, because... it's not that I don't have some kind of crude outline in my head. It's that it has to stay in my head until it's all written, with only the barest of notes as reminders. This... produces a cluttered head. (Aside from the bottom two of the "what I'm working on," above, I have... the unnamed companion story to Copper Leaf Bargains, Alchemy's Heirs #3, and an unnamed story also set in that universe, pertaining to the Laerini side of the family. Plus a short story in the Kintaran universe that I want to finish, plus two SF stories in entirely different universes (different to each other, too), and that's not even counting the second Queen of Roses book that's half-written...
(Not to mention all the
Ahem. Yes. I write by the seat of my pants, and hold the structure of the story -- what I have of it -- in my head. Mostly I wind up the characters and set them moving along to bump into each other, and try to poke them in the direction I want them to go for the result I want. (I generally have an idea of the result I want, anyway.) Then I write, trying to skip the boring parts, till I get to the end, and eventually throw the result at beta-readers to tell me where I need to cut the boring parts I didn't skip in the first place.
...this is a terrible way to write, by many standards. If I could pick a way to write, it would be to draw up an outline and churn words out brilliantly every day. But I didn't get to pick, so this is the way I write. Now, time to post this, remember to tag a couple other people, and get back to writing.
The Bear Prince may now go Russian!
Jan. 16th, 2014 05:41 pmI have, at long-last, uploaded the translation. Hopefully I didn't introduce any errors when formatting it for Smashwords...
Currently in all formats at:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/398696
Should be propagating to B&N, Sony, Diesel, etc. (But not Amazon, sorry; Amazon won't take Russian-language e-books.)
Currently in all formats at:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/398696
Should be propagating to B&N, Sony, Diesel, etc. (But not Amazon, sorry; Amazon won't take Russian-language e-books.)
Hello, Australia!
Nov. 12th, 2013 10:41 pmWhile Smashwords has always been happy to sell to anyone who can get money to it, Amazon has just opened an Australian store. My stuff should be there, too, of course! Now I have to go and enter the proper URLs on all the other pages...
(Sorry about the few updates. The perils of only updating when I have something useful to say. Work proceeds apace on Alchemy's Heirs 2: Crucible.)
(Sorry about the few updates. The perils of only updating when I have something useful to say. Work proceeds apace on Alchemy's Heirs 2: Crucible.)
A lovely review!
Oct. 14th, 2013 12:01 pmI have a short Kintaran story in What Happens Next, and the anthology just got reviewed!
http://www.flayrah.com/5398/review-what-happens-next-edited-fred-patten
http://www.flayrah.com/5398/review-what-happens-next-edited-fred-patten
For Want of a Comma.
May. 6th, 2013 08:50 pmI have also been known to do a spot of editing now and then. While I'm not as happy with the ending as I could be, the rest of it amuses me and even made my spouse smile.
For Want of a Comma
Scene: a throne room. Prince John paces. You may imagine him played by a scruffy lion with a short mane if you wish.
PJ: I have sent my man, Rich Lackcomma, to spy upon Robin Hood. He reports today!
ENTER Lackcomma. You may imagine him as played by a cross-eyed crocodile.
( PJ: You have returned with information? )
For Want of a Comma
Scene: a throne room. Prince John paces. You may imagine him played by a scruffy lion with a short mane if you wish.
PJ: I have sent my man, Rich Lackcomma, to spy upon Robin Hood. He reports today!
ENTER Lackcomma. You may imagine him as played by a cross-eyed crocodile.
( PJ: You have returned with information? )
Because this site, http://www.livrariacultura.com.br/Produto/Busca?Buscar=elizabeth%20mccoy , certainly has my stuff from Smashwords... They're probably operating as a Smashwords Affiliate rather than as a retailer in the Channel Manager, but it was a bit surprising to discover!
...anyone know any decent Brazilian translators?
...anyone know any decent Brazilian translators?
Legend of the Morning Star -- in Russian!
Apr. 18th, 2013 11:03 pmThe same story, now available in Russian. This tickles me greatly. As it's the only Russian-language story I have up, it is currently at the minimum price I can set (in USD), of 99 cents. Hopefully, as I can afford it, I can get The Bear Prince translated, and then slowly accumulate enough to get the duology translated. (Alas, at the moment, translations are pretty much "a lark" for me. But a very awesome lark!)
Давным-давно, во времена, когда драконы еще не истребили богов, жила-была принцесса...
Ветерки--добродушные духи воздуха--унеслись вихрем прочь, в вечном танце--такой уж у них обычай. Поднимаясь высоко в небо, они пересмеивались и сплетничали о красивой смертной девушке, которая--ну и ну--почти не уступает им в искусстве танца.
Важно знать, что к болтовне ветерков прислушивались и другие существа. Например, дух огня, слуга солнечного бога. А еще... а еще сам солнечный бог, Алайон.
Подслушав разговоры ветерков, Алайон заинтересовался. И послал своего слугу Кайро проследить за девушкой--проверить, так ли она красива, как уверяют ветерки...
Available at:
• Apple iBookstore
• Barnes & Noble (as "Unknown (Russian)"...)
• Kobo Books
• Smashwords
• More to come...
Давным-давно, во времена, когда драконы еще не истребили богов, жила-была принцесса...
Ветерки--добродушные духи воздуха--унеслись вихрем прочь, в вечном танце--такой уж у них обычай. Поднимаясь высоко в небо, они пересмеивались и сплетничали о красивой смертной девушке, которая--ну и ну--почти не уступает им в искусстве танца.
Важно знать, что к болтовне ветерков прислушивались и другие существа. Например, дух огня, слуга солнечного бога. А еще... а еще сам солнечный бог, Алайон.
Подслушав разговоры ветерков, Алайон заинтересовался. И послал своего слугу Кайро проследить за девушкой--проверить, так ли она красива, как уверяют ветерки...
Available at:
• Apple iBookstore
• Barnes & Noble (as "Unknown (Russian)"...)
• Kobo Books
• Smashwords
• More to come...
Kobo could steal a march on B&N...
Apr. 7th, 2013 10:04 am(Just posted this as a comment to http://dearauthor.com/features/letters-of-opinion/to-save-indies-publishers-need-to-reconsider-drm/)
One brick and mortar store admits that he doesn’t know why his customers would buy ebooks through him.
1: Desire to support a resource/establishment they enjoy.
2: This is the reason they should do it (and in mass numbers!), that I bet no one's enabling technologically: that the customers can voluntarily let the bookstore access which ebooks they buy (and have not returned!), and give them a steep-to-good discount on the matching physbook. Yeah, so they may be buying for Aunt Edna, Uncle Rodger, and Cousin Lee; they're in the store, buying physbooks; just make sure the discount is better than break-even. ( Likewise, if the store is allowed to keep records of physical books bought at their bookstore, offering a smaller discount on the matching ebook encourages people to do all their physbook shopping there, as well, rather than on "the 'Zon.")
B&N is perfectly positioned to offer this sort of service to its members and isn't doing it. (If they're not keeping the purchase data from membership card discounts in their stores, they're... seriously not thinking.) Neither is Amazon; they're doing that Select thing instead. Kobo is partnered with indie bookstores already? Hopefully Kobo will realize how they can offer a service that can offer lock-in to both their e-store and their affiliated bookstores -- even without DRM.
(Heck, if they'll do the "buy a physbook at any affiliated store, using your Kobo Membership data, and get an e-book discount"... That would certainly encourage shopping at affiliated bookstores for split-format buyers like myself, and if the Kobo Membership data will quietly give the ebook's affiliate fee to the store that sold the physbook, even if the ebook purchase is made through Kobo's main site... Stars know, I get physical books gleefully, zip through my Read Right Now purchases, then wind up wanting to read something in the bathroom and having... my phone or my iPad, with my physical Read Later purchases downstairs in the To Be Read pile. Or I finish one and am away from home. Oops. Now, imagine I could get on Kobo's website, access my list of bought physbooks, and click "buy ebook" for the one that intrigues me, with a discount...)
One brick and mortar store admits that he doesn’t know why his customers would buy ebooks through him.
1: Desire to support a resource/establishment they enjoy.
2: This is the reason they should do it (and in mass numbers!), that I bet no one's enabling technologically: that the customers can voluntarily let the bookstore access which ebooks they buy (and have not returned!), and give them a steep-to-good discount on the matching physbook. Yeah, so they may be buying for Aunt Edna, Uncle Rodger, and Cousin Lee; they're in the store, buying physbooks; just make sure the discount is better than break-even. ( Likewise, if the store is allowed to keep records of physical books bought at their bookstore, offering a smaller discount on the matching ebook encourages people to do all their physbook shopping there, as well, rather than on "the 'Zon.")
B&N is perfectly positioned to offer this sort of service to its members and isn't doing it. (If they're not keeping the purchase data from membership card discounts in their stores, they're... seriously not thinking.) Neither is Amazon; they're doing that Select thing instead. Kobo is partnered with indie bookstores already? Hopefully Kobo will realize how they can offer a service that can offer lock-in to both their e-store and their affiliated bookstores -- even without DRM.
(Heck, if they'll do the "buy a physbook at any affiliated store, using your Kobo Membership data, and get an e-book discount"... That would certainly encourage shopping at affiliated bookstores for split-format buyers like myself, and if the Kobo Membership data will quietly give the ebook's affiliate fee to the store that sold the physbook, even if the ebook purchase is made through Kobo's main site... Stars know, I get physical books gleefully, zip through my Read Right Now purchases, then wind up wanting to read something in the bathroom and having... my phone or my iPad, with my physical Read Later purchases downstairs in the To Be Read pile. Or I finish one and am away from home. Oops. Now, imagine I could get on Kobo's website, access my list of bought physbooks, and click "buy ebook" for the one that intrigues me, with a discount...)
What I would do if I owned B&N.
Mar. 28th, 2013 10:50 pmhttp://www.thepassivevoice.com/03/2013/books-arent-dead-yet/ asks if one would rather own KDP or B&N. I said...
If I were to own one of them, I'd like to RULE B&N WITH AN IRON FIST, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *cough* A little autocracy and vision might yet save it. Or at least let it go out with an impressive bang. (Get the impression I'm not impressed with some of B&N's choices, especially in the online realm? Yeah. I love the local-ish one, but I've never had very good experiences with the online store or their customer support. I hope other people do better there, because I do get sales from B&N and certainly would never harsh on readers... But I don't think B&N is doing as much as it can.)
Things I'd do with B&N:
• Hire programmers with skill and humility, who want to Solve Problems YAY. ( More under the cut! It got long. )
I'm sure I could come up with more -- I heard some horror stories recently about gift cards and the B&N online store, for instance -- but that's just for starters...
Now, someone give me command of the B&N stuff, and a copper parachute, and I'll get to it... >:)
If I were to own one of them, I'd like to RULE B&N WITH AN IRON FIST, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *cough* A little autocracy and vision might yet save it. Or at least let it go out with an impressive bang. (Get the impression I'm not impressed with some of B&N's choices, especially in the online realm? Yeah. I love the local-ish one, but I've never had very good experiences with the online store or their customer support. I hope other people do better there, because I do get sales from B&N and certainly would never harsh on readers... But I don't think B&N is doing as much as it can.)
Things I'd do with B&N:
• Hire programmers with skill and humility, who want to Solve Problems YAY. ( More under the cut! It got long. )
I'm sure I could come up with more -- I heard some horror stories recently about gift cards and the B&N online store, for instance -- but that's just for starters...
Now, someone give me command of the B&N stuff, and a copper parachute, and I'll get to it... >:)
Typo Patrol...
Mar. 15th, 2013 02:15 pmComputer programmers have been known to say, "There are always N+1 bugs," where N is the number of bugs found and squashed.
Likewise, there are always N+1 typos.
But should enough typos be found in a given book, I can correct them and upload a new one. (This will be a bit of a production with Smashwords, for some books; the new requirements for cover-images are excused for ones uploaded before those requirements, but if I upload a typo-fixed copy... I'll have to make a new cover, too.)
In any case, please feel free to post any typos you might find, that I may wince and eventually correct them.
Likewise, there are always N+1 typos.
But should enough typos be found in a given book, I can correct them and upload a new one. (This will be a bit of a production with Smashwords, for some books; the new requirements for cover-images are excused for ones uploaded before those requirements, but if I upload a typo-fixed copy... I'll have to make a new cover, too.)
In any case, please feel free to post any typos you might find, that I may wince and eventually correct them.
So, there's these reviews, see...
Jan. 22nd, 2013 11:35 pmShould I be posting links to reviews? Most of my reviews are on Goodreads and Amazon, with a few on Smashwords. I think there might be one or two on the B&N site. Anyway, a couple of the awesome ones that make me bounce up and down and want to geek out like a fangirl with the reviewer (but I don't, because I don't want to risk making the reviewers uncomfortable), are at GoodReads.com. These are really detailed reviews. (Less-detailed reviews also tend to make authors pleased, of course! Don't feel that there's some kind of review bar that you have to pass before you can review.)
This next pair is extremely spoilerific. Heck, I'll put the excerpts from them under a cut, just in case! ( Spoilers! )
If I've forgotten any good, detailed reviews... I did link to the Dear Author review, yes? ...please tell me! Or tell me if I shouldn't do any more "hey, look, awesome reviews!" or if I should make more strenuous use of the cut-tags, or whatever.
Read if: You're looking for something living comfortably between fantasy and romance. You like thinking about the problems of consent and forced marriages. You love a heroine who has a bit of sneak thief in her. You're my sister.There are also "skip if" paragraphs, which are, frankly, fine by me. I'd rather people be warned off if they wouldn't enjoy a given book!
--http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/391754501
Read if: You enjoyed the first one. You are interested in the high points of self-publishing in the year 2012. You like actually complicated forced-marriage scenarios, and not stupid ones.
--http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/448297855
This next pair is extremely spoilerific. Heck, I'll put the excerpts from them under a cut, just in case! ( Spoilers! )
If I've forgotten any good, detailed reviews... I did link to the Dear Author review, yes? ...please tell me! Or tell me if I shouldn't do any more "hey, look, awesome reviews!" or if I should make more strenuous use of the cut-tags, or whatever.
Plague: A Lord Alchemist Short Story
Jan. 17th, 2013 09:24 pmWhen sickness comes to the country of Cymelia, alchemists and herb-witches create the healing brews that save lives. But this illness is different; the usual measures have little effect. Master Iathor is his city's best hope to discover a cure – but even with his alchemical skills, the plague is spreading through the city, and amongst his own household . . .
This 6,000 word short story is a prequel to Herb-Witch and Herb-Wife, set around 20 years (give or take a few) before the events in the duology. It includes approximately 2,000 words of worldbuilding notes in the glossary. Hopefully one will not need to read any of the glossary in the back, but for people who want to know more about the world? There's ample information, and perhaps an easter egg or two.
Art is once again by the amazingly talented Sarah Cloutier.
Priced at 99 cents, it is currently available at:
• Amazon
•• Also, in American-English: Amazon.AU, Amazon BR, Amazon.CA, Amazon.DE, Amazon.ES, Amazon.FR, Amazon.IN, Amazon.IT, Amazon JP, Amazon UK. Prices may vary, according to automatic conversion of price at time of upload; VAT & other fees may be added by Amazon. *sigh*
• Apple's iBookstore
• Barnes & Noble (Nook)
•• Nook UK
• Blio (Blio doesn't use static pages for books; search on name and title at the homescreen.)
• Diesel eBook Store
• Inktera
• Kobo
• Sony ebooks
• Smashwords (with 35% available as a free sample)
• Versent
This 6,000 word short story is a prequel to Herb-Witch and Herb-Wife, set around 20 years (give or take a few) before the events in the duology. It includes approximately 2,000 words of worldbuilding notes in the glossary. Hopefully one will not need to read any of the glossary in the back, but for people who want to know more about the world? There's ample information, and perhaps an easter egg or two.
Art is once again by the amazingly talented Sarah Cloutier.
Priced at 99 cents, it is currently available at:
• Amazon
•• Also, in American-English: Amazon.AU, Amazon BR, Amazon.CA, Amazon.DE, Amazon.ES, Amazon.FR, Amazon.IN, Amazon.IT, Amazon JP, Amazon UK. Prices may vary, according to automatic conversion of price at time of upload; VAT & other fees may be added by Amazon. *sigh*
• Apple's iBookstore
• Barnes & Noble (Nook)
•• Nook UK
• Blio (Blio doesn't use static pages for books; search on name and title at the homescreen.)
• Diesel eBook Store
• Inktera
• Kobo
• Sony ebooks
• Smashwords (with 35% available as a free sample)
• Versent
Brochures for Arisia!
Jan. 12th, 2013 04:01 pmI'm planning on attending the Arisia convention in Boston (as a guest, not a panelist), and am working on some little tri-fold brochure mock-ups so we can get some pretty color ones printed for leaving on appropriate tables at the con.
I now have over half a dozen black and white mock-ups, futzing with the margins. Guh. Word, why don't you have a Tri-Fold Brochure template?
*long pause*
*checks the Templates section*
*tries loading a brochure Template*
*discovers it wants weird stuff filled in, and has pretty well tweaked her version anyway*
Hush. Just hush. -_-
I now have over half a dozen black and white mock-ups, futzing with the margins. Guh. Word, why don't you have a Tri-Fold Brochure template?
*long pause*
*checks the Templates section*
*tries loading a brochure Template*
*discovers it wants weird stuff filled in, and has pretty well tweaked her version anyway*
Hush. Just hush. -_-
Drabble: Hairdressers
Nov. 20th, 2012 06:20 pmPrompt by LJ's Tuftears
"You will look fabulous," the signal-flare crimson Kintaran promised.
His target, a svelte female with unfortunately common tabby markings, flicked her ears nervously. "But... you have a hairdresser's. I..." She gulped. "I don't want the 'popular' cut."
Flare put his own ears back in indignation. "You think I'd be k'eetha? Please! Have faith! Credits entirely refunded if k'eetha!"
"All right..."
Over an hour later, mane curled and galaxies nestled within every formerly-plain black stripe, the Kint fem purred happily while she handed over her cred-card.
Several hours afterward, both Kintarans purred happily, and no credits had been swapped at all.
"You will look fabulous," the signal-flare crimson Kintaran promised.
His target, a svelte female with unfortunately common tabby markings, flicked her ears nervously. "But... you have a hairdresser's. I..." She gulped. "I don't want the 'popular' cut."
Flare put his own ears back in indignation. "You think I'd be k'eetha? Please! Have faith! Credits entirely refunded if k'eetha!"
"All right..."
Over an hour later, mane curled and galaxies nestled within every formerly-plain black stripe, the Kint fem purred happily while she handed over her cred-card.
Several hours afterward, both Kintarans purred happily, and no credits had been swapped at all.
Porter Square Books
Nov. 10th, 2012 03:42 pmThis bookstore, in Massachusetts, apparently has a "kiosk" with Kobo. If you want to support Porter Square Books, and want to buy one of my ebooks, please consider clicking on http://www.portersquarebooks.com/search/kobo/elizabeth%20mccoy .
They have no idea I'm putting this on my Dreamwidth Journal/Blog, and have never even met me. We're not even in the same state. But I read an excerpt from an interview with Josh Cook of Porter Square Books, which included:
I'm a bit of a sucker for that last line, so for what it's worth... There's a link that might do a little to make both me and Porter Square Books a little happier. :)
They have no idea I'm putting this on my Dreamwidth Journal/Blog, and have never even met me. We're not even in the same state. But I read an excerpt from an interview with Josh Cook of Porter Square Books, which included:
If I could get one wish from the ghost of Sylvia Beach, it’s that she, or someone who cares about the inherent value of books, gets a seat in those boardrooms to advocate for readers not consumers, for books as a pillar of culture not as a unit of sales, and for bookstores as community centers not retail outlets and merchandise showrooms. And yes, I can totally see my house from the high horse I’m on right now.
I'm a bit of a sucker for that last line, so for what it's worth... There's a link that might do a little to make both me and Porter Square Books a little happier. :)
