If At First You Don't Succeed...

(Or What I'm Learning About Self-Publishing)

Spindle Dreams has only been out for a few weeks now -- a grand total of eighteen days, if I'm not mistaken. I was pretty stoked to release this book to Amazon and the world, considering how long I'd been working on it, and also considering how many years it'd been since I released The Rose and the Balloon. A lot of people had asked for more after reading RatB, and I was excited to give them more.

However, I have had very mixed feelings on this new release. For one thing, I've had incredibly positive feedback from the few people who've read the book. My beta readers were absolute saints to read SD on short notice and tell me what they thought. Some of my readers now gush over how much they loved it, and others tell me that they hate me and I've ruined them from reading an epilogue ever again. Both of those responses tell me that I'm doing my job as a writer correctly.

But that's the thing... only a few people have read the book. We're going on three weeks of being published and readily available to pretty much everyone in the world, and I've not sold near as many copies as I expected to. In fact, my reports tell me I've not even sold five copies of Spindle Dreams -- paperback and ebook combined. SD has five stars on Amazon since I've only gotten one text review on the story. On Goodreads, there's two reviews.

I'll be honest with you. That hurts.

Don't get me wrong -- I wasn't expecting to be a billionaire overnight with this book. I didn't expect a million 5 star reviews. It wasn't nearly that way with The Rose and the Balloon. Debut novels, however, I'm realizing do a lot better than seconds. With RatB, I sold enough copies in the first few weeks to make about $50 in royalties. That blew me away. I didn't expect to do that well with my first book, but I was hoping that I would do half as well with the second. Only I didn't.

What went wrong? I've been asking myself this question for the last three weeks. I advertised. I tried to run a fun blog party with promotion posts here on Lianne Taimenlore. I visited other people's blogs when I could. I promoted the book on my Facebook author page. I ran a countdown on both my Instagram page and my Twitter page. What more could I have done?

I'm learning that the world of being a writer and getting published is not all sunshine and daisies. Spindle Dreams hit so many snags for me that delayed its publication; I was frustrated with the book and just wanted it out and be done with it. And that, I think, was my first mistake. I didn't build enough hype about the book BEFORE getting the cover released and the actual story published. In self-publishing, a HUGE part of doing well is just how much and how effectively you market yourself. And I am a lazy marketer, to put it simply. And people don't buy a book they don't know much about.

Also, as an indie author, keeping your name front and center in people's minds is key. After publishing The Rose and the Balloon, I went three years before I got anything else into the book market. Three years. That may not seem like a long time, but for a reader, it's a long time. This is another part of marketing yourself well. Since you don't have a big publishing house pushing your name out there for the world to see, the way you keep your name hot in this market is to keep it active. The best way to do that is to publish something a few times a year. If you can't do that since you're working with bigger books, keep people excited about what you're working on by keeping active on social media. Which was something else I really didn't do. Plus, I've gone those three years with nada.

Please understand I'm not writing this post to garner sympathy or guilt-trip people into buying my books and writing reviews. I just want to be honest about what's happening to me as a writer. And I know I'm not going to be the only one who goes through things like this. My hope is that what I've learned and gone through with self-publishing can help other indie authors grow as well. Writers need to learn to accept the ups and downs of the self-publishing life. When you hit a snag, you pull yourself up by your bootstraps and try again. 

Self-publishing really is a learning process. There will be moments of extreme glory and excitement. There will also be times when you don't succeed. Just don't let those few failures keep you down.

Just try, try again. 

And that being said, I'm working on book three of the Once Upon a Twist Tales, folks. Diamond: A Rapunzel Story hopefully won't take another three years to complete.

God bless!

Once We Make the Big Announcement... !

I can feel a lurking, lurid, evil presence behind me. I know instantly what -- or rather, who -- it is even before he speaks.

"What are you up to, Kiri?"

I quickly close out the tab and pretend not to have heard him. I open up my email. Checking my inbox always makes me feel like I'm doing something profitable.

"Was that Cake Boss?" My little writer peers over my shoulder, his presence now thick and choking. There's no way to ignore him now.

"Of course not! This is my email!" I click through a couple of links on my inbox. "Wow, there's a lot of useless stuff coming in today."

My little writer sighs. "Kiri, when was the last time you opened something to work on?"

"I had The Dragon Tamer opened last week for a while."

"Yeah, but you didn't do much with it."

"I even had Secret of the Hazel Tree up."

"To re-read your favorite scene! When are you going to get serious about something this summer?"

"I am serious about my writing!"

"Then why are you watching clips of Cake Boss on Youtube?"

"I'm not now," I mutter dejectedly. "Besides, the cakes look really good. You know he made a taco cake once, and a giant pizza slice..."

"It doesn't matter what the Cake Boss makes," my little writer argues, "it's wasting your time."

"Not completely. Watching these clips has inspired me to bake more."

"Yes -- to bake more cakes. Which you don't need."

I close Diomedes -- my laptop -- with a distinct snap. "Actually, gissel, I've got big profitable plans, so you needn't worry about me at all."

"Gissel?" He looks puzzled. "What's that?"

"It's the Swedish word for scourge. Or curse."

"And that's what you think of me?"

"Don't yell. I know you're pleased."

Scowling, he changes topics. "What plans?"

I just grin. "Oh, you can find out with everybody else on Friday." I love that he looks astonished and furious all at the same time. It's not often I can strip him wordless like this. "Wait for the big announcement."

God bless!

Getting To Know Me Tag (Writer's Edition)

My good friend, fairytale enthusiast, and writing buddy Christine recently posted a really cool looking getting-to-know-you writer's tag. I read through her whole post, thinking, What a great tag! Man, I'm so jealous no one tagged me with it! This would be so much fun to fill out! To be honest, it's been a while since I've filled out a tag of any kind, and it's also been a while since I've consistently posted on my blog. This tag looked like just the thing to get me going again. 

And then, lo and behold, I got to the bottom of the post... and she had tagged me. 

Thanks, Christine! *grins* 

So, let's jump into this thing. 

~*~*~*~

RULES

Link back to the person who created the tag

Thank the person who tagged you

Share the tag graphic (Optional)

Tag eleven bloggers

~*~*~*~

THE TAG

Vital Stats And Appearance

Name: Which one do you want? My online name is Kiri Liz, my writing pseudonym is Kirsten Fichter, and my real name is Kirsten Davis. Take your pick; I'll answer to all of them. Just NEVER Kristen.

Nicknames: Kiri, mostly. A lot of family members call me Kitty. When I went to college, I got tired of people pronouncing my name wrong or just not remembering my name, so I introduced myself as Kit for a while. I also answer to Dee, Kirsty, Kirry, and now Mama. *grins*

Birthday: August 11th -- the same as Chris Hemsworth; I get weird looks when I tell people I'm Thor's twin (just 10 years younger). At least, we looked more like twins before his haircut. 

Hair color and length: Dirty blonde and long-ish. I just had a huuuuuge trim so it's just to my mid-back now, but before it was cut I was just sitting on it. 

Eye color: Blue/gray/ish. I used to be very blue, but I think it's changed over the years.

Braces/piercings/tattoos: None. Piercings and tattoos are probably my biggest fear; the thought of putting a hole or foreign ink into my body makes me feel sick. It's not the needles, though -- I went through a whole summer of allergy shots and was just fine.

Righty or Lefty: Righty.

Ethnicity: Germish. That's German and English combined, for those of you who don't know. And then I've got some Scot, Scandinavian, Native American, and random bits of other things thrown in. I'm a true American mutt.

~*~*~*~

Firsts

First novel written: The first book I ever began working on was a Civil War story about a girl named Ruth. I can't remember what I called it, but I still have the notebook of handwritten chapters somewhere in my writing paraphernalia. Ruth disguises herself as a boy and joins the Union army with her brother. I was very proud of it.

First novel completed: Lianne Taimenlore. Yes, the same story I named my blog after. I completed writing the first book of the series back in, oh boy -- years ago, but I lost the beginning of the second book when my sister accidentally knocked over our computer and I've actually not gone back to it since. Lianne is a half-elf who, after her father dies, has to flee from a killer and have all sorts of adventures. I planned at least a trilogy of adventures for her, and I hope I get around to writing it all one day.

Award for writing: I won "grand prize" in my local county fair for a poem when I was a teenager. I liked to think that it was a big deal, but basically every kid who entered something in the fair got a prize.

First publication: Well, that depends. I've had a poem published in an online writing magazine for Christian youth. The magazine was discontinued in 2013. Since then, I've self-published The Rose and the Balloon through Amazon. Link in picture below. *shameless advertising* 

Conference: None... yet.

Query/Pitch: I began writing a query and pitch for Secret of the Hazel Tree, but never got the courage to send it to an agent or editor since I was still working on edits. Writing isn't easy, folks. Especially when you remember that other people will be reading your words and making judgment on every one of them.

~*~*~*~

Favorites

Novel (that you wrote): Probably Secret of the Hazel Tree. It's long and everything that I wanted in a fairytale retelling. My goal was not to twist Cinderella in my own way, but to stay as true to the original tale as possible while making all the fairytale elements and Cinderella under-explained plot points seem believable. I still can't believe I wrote it all in 5 months.

Genre: FANTASY. Seriously, I don't know that I really have another genre that I write in. I've begun a couple contemporary, historical fiction, dystopian, fan fiction, etc. novels, but never really got past a few chapters. Technically, I've done a little steampunk with The Rose and the Balloon but it's only light steampunk.

Author: Why must you ask this question??? TOO MANY. Charles Dickens, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Donita K. Paul, Wayne Thomas Batson, Jaye L. Knight, Jan Brett, Margaret Wise Brown, Jane Austen... and the list goes on and on.

Writing Music: Typically soundtracks by James Newton Howard and Patrick Doyle. It used to be the LOTR and HTTYD soundtracks, but I've had to shy away from those since the music gets me thinking about and quoting the movies as I listen to the songs. I've learned it's better for me if I don't know the movie too well, so I don't get distracted with the soundtrack. Anything with lyrics is bad, too.

Time To Write: In the morning before everyone's awake, or in the evenings after everyone has gone to bed. So... basically when no one but me is awake. 

Writing Snack/Drink: Depends on my mood. Sometimes, it's a nice cup of coffee with creamer. Sometimes, a bowl of pretzels. Sometimes, applesauce. Sometimes, chocolate. 

Movie: The Lord of the Rings. Was that even a question??

Writing Memory: Probably the first time I ever participated in NaNoWriMo. I did it in April, just to see what it was like, and I wrote 50K words in 30 days. And that was the beginning of The Dragon Tamer. 

Childhood Book: Ooh, that's a tough one. When I was really little, it was The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear (illustrations by Jan Brett); in my teens, Life of Faith: Millie Keith series. 

~*~*~*~

Currently

Reading: My husband and I are reading the Wheel of Time series aloud, and we're currently in book four, The Shadow Rising. I did not think I would get sucked into this series so fast. Yeah, the books are like 700 pages apiece, but we're flying through this thing. A lot of our conversations lately have been about the books, asking each other questions about the characters, making predictions about what we think is going to happen. It's been so much fun. 

Writing: Ha. Actively working on one project right now? Shamefully, no. I just came off of a week and a half vacation for visiting family and my cousin's wedding, so it's taking me a bit to jump back in. Wheel of Time has me itching to get my hands back into The Dragon Tamer series, but I'm trying to keep myself focused on editing right now. FOR REASONS. *be on the lookout for updates in the near future* *waggles eyebrows importantly* No, I'm not spilling secrets yet. 

Listening to: I've been stuck on Dan Forrest's Jubilate Deo recently, but that doesn't make good writing music at all. I had the immense privilege to perform this epic of a piece as part of a choral concert in college. Hours of practice, guys. It was amazing. So worth the effort. And now I can't listen to it without singing along. Seriously, if you want something that's going to send chills up and down your spine, you have to listen to it. It's Psalm 100, giving praise to the Lord in, I think, 6 or more different languages. GIVE IT A LISTEN. 

Watching: Just watched both HTTYDs while visiting my family, and SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THE THIRD. So far, Dreamworks hasn't messed this series up for me and THAT TRAILER looks so incredibly EPIC. I'm also really stuck on watching Cake Boss clips. And consequently making cake because I get so hungry. That's the problem with watching anything with food. 

Learning: How to Mama. It's been a new adventure, being a first-time mom, but I'm loving it. Our little girl has been so good -- we don't deserve that. Yes, she has her cranky moments, but I wouldn't trade her for the world. 

~*~*~*~

Future

Want To Be Published: I'm hoping to get something else self-published sometime soon, so we'll see what happens. That's my goal, anyway. 

Indie or Traditional: Indie for some things, definitely, since it takes less time and I can control everything going into it. *ducks head* Yeah, I'm a little bit of a control freak when it comes to my work. One day, I'd love to get into traditional publishing, too. 

Wildest Goal: My husband laughed when he saw this one and said, "Have 19 kids, right?" I watched a lot of the Duggars and Bates while in recovery after birth (they both are families of 19 kids, for those of you who don't know), and we've talked about having that many, too. Can't say for certain if it'll happen or not; only the Lord knows how big our family is. I'm so happy with the one little girl we have right now, but I'm looking forward to being able to give her a partner in crime. 

~*~*~*~

Thanks, Christine, for tagging me in such a fun post! I'm not going to tag anyone at this moment, but any writer who would like to steal this for himself/herself, please feel free! Rules are posted above, but the tag questions I've copied down below so it's easier to copy and paste onto your own post. And no -- don't glare at me for neglecting to tag people. I'm claiming Mommy rights right now. Baby comes first. Yes, I pulled that card. Plus, I've got to get this thing posted and I don't have a lot of time. 

Enjoy! 

~*~*~*~

Vital Stats And Appearance

Name:

Nicknames:

Birthday:

Hair color and length:

Eye color:

Braces/piercings/tattoos:

Righty or Lefty:

Ethnicity:


Firsts

First novel written:

First novel completed:

Award for writing:

First publication:

Conference:

Query/Pitch:


Favorites

Novel (that you wrote):

Genre:

Author:

Writing Music:

Time To Write:

Writing Snack/Drink:

Movie:

Writing Memory:

Childhood Book:


Currently

Reading:

Writing:

Listening to:

Watching:

Learning:


Future

Want To Be Published:

Indie or Traditional:

Wildest Goal:

2017 Recap and Announcement

*blows dust away* 

Oh, look, Blog. There you are! Still alive after all this time? Amazing that the old interweb connection's still pumping away. 

Well, dear Blog, let me tell you. 2017 has been a long year. I was not prepared for this year when it began, and I don't think my brain's processing all that's happened in just 365 days. Somehow, it felt twice as long as normal and half the time it took to see 2016 slip away. 

What's kept me so busy? Oh, you know, college mostly. I just completed my second-to-last-ever semester, and the last-one-EVER is looming right around the corner. I've made good friends this year, studied a lot... and yes, used school as an excuse to ignore you, faithful Blog. Once graduation rolls around, I'm really hoping to spend some more time with you. I think you deserve it after almost 4 years of neglect. 

~ READING ~

I did manage to get a bit of reading in this year, though. Only about 32 books, but again, that will change once graduation. Let me share some of my favorites, or some highlights, whichever you prefer, dear Blog. 

Five Enchanted Roses -- The Beauty and the Beast collection that inspired The Rose and the Balloon. Ah, yes, I finally got around to reading it. I should write a review of it, but I'm torn. First collection ever that I didn't read all of the stories. My favorites were Stone Curse and The Wulver's Rose, hands down. But I couldn't bring myself to read Wither... for the sole reason that I've been inflicted with numerous nightmares involving zombies. 

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library -- This was such a fun book! Basically, the whole library turns into an escape/break-out room, and it's puzzles, and riddles, and tons of fun to get out! As a librarian, I muchly enjoyed the numerous references to Dewey. 

The Pickwick Papers -- So far, Dicken's most hilarious novel. In the words of Mr. Brown, "I defy you not to roar."

Mere Christianity -- First time reading this classic from C.S. Lewis. I loved his writing with Narnia, but his nonfiction is all so excellent! His arguments are easy to follow and a joy to read. I really want to get my hands on the rest of his works like this. The only other ones I've read so far besides MC are The Screwtape Letters and The Problem of Pain. 

Exiles -- BEST BOOK OF 2017. PERIOD. And did I mention it came out on my birthday? 

King's Warrior -- I've had a couple of Jenelle Leanne Schmidt's books in my kindle for a while now, but I finally got around to reading them. This series is (albeit wordy) but pretty good. I've not read the third book yet, Yorien's Hand, but I'm excited to see where the story goes.

Larklight -- I came across this little steampunk trilogy by Philip Reeve at the library and figured since I'm writing more steampunk-ish stories, I should read more steampunk-ish stories. Easy reads, but so funny! If you need a good steampunk guffaw one rainy afternoon, definitely put these on your list. 

Emma -- And dear Emma. This was a re-read for me, but it never gets old. If Lizzy or Elinor don't glare at me, this is my favorite Austen. 

~ WRITING ~

Oh, yes, and I did some writing. I worked a bit on The Dragon Tamer as well as The Twelfth Kingdom and Spindle Dreams. I'm almost done with that last one. With any luck, I can finish it within the month or so, and begin the journey again soon to self-publishing. After all, The Rose and the Balloon has stood without its companion novella for some time. Spindle Dreams wants to be let loose. And who am I, dear Bloggy, to stand in its way?

I also began, finished, edited, and submitted my very first and very last ever story for a Rooglewood contest. This year was Snow White, and what began as Snow and Copper, a tale that was meant to focus on copper mining and the dwarves/miners, turned quickly into What the Mirror Said, a tale in which (you guessed it) the mirror became the most important character. I'm not sure how the story will stand in the contest, but I am sufficiently happy for FINALLY entering one of the contests. My husband was such a great help; he encouraged me daily to get it finished and even went the extra mile to help me get the form mailed. After starting a story for each one of the contests, it was such a pleasure to finally get one done and sent in. 

Now, don't hate me, dearest Blog, but I'm afraid I have not been the most faithful of friends. At the command of a teacher, I was forced to begin another blog for a writing class. Not only is it not you, Blog, but it's hosted on Wordpress. And now I'm hopelessly torn between blogger and wordpress and which blogs to keep updated. Ah, yes, of course, I won't abandon you, best and dearest of Blogs, but here's the link to the new one should you wish to check it out. 

~ LIFE ~

Probably one of the biggest changes 2017 brought was the new last name. I did tell you I got married, Blog, so don't give me that look. After 15 months of dating my best friend (and some odd months/years before then getting around to it), he proposed and we have been living happily ever after ever since. Who knew marriage could be so much fun? 

And then I should probably also tell you, Blog... I will be busy with my new little family here so things can't completely go back to the way they were. I will do my best to be here more often, but when there's a little girl kicking the inside of your ribs, you know she's gonna be a handful after she's born. 

See ya later, Blog!

GUESS WHAT??

I'm finally getting around to doing something I should have done months ago. 

I'M GOING TO BE PUBLISHED!

And before you start the confetti cannons, I am going to just say it: No, I am very sorry, but it's not Secret of the Hazel Tree. Not just yet. I am making progress and moving closer to publication with that one, but there's still too much to do to hope for that publication this summer.

However, I am very excited to announce the upcoming publication of my Beauty and the Beast short story. 

Promotional/working cover -- not final cover.

The Rose and the Balloon

Further details will be coming soon, so be on the lookout!

God bless!

 

That Necessary Growing Process Called "Editing"

Let me tell you a secret...

Whoever tells you editing is simple and fun... don't listen to them. 

Because it's not. 

It is, more than likely, the hardest part about writing a book.

This summer I have made it my great project to edit Secret of the Hazel Tree and hopefully look into publishing it... soon. Honestly, I have no idea what the Lord has in store for this book of mine, because I've been looking into publishing for the last two years or so, and every time He's said "no." It hasn't been an easy journey, but I know it's been one that I need. 

Every book needs editing, and mine is no exception. Seriously. Unless you're a Jedi or something amazing like that, you're not going to put down a perfect story the first time around. I should know. I've tried it. More than once. And with every single story, I've had to go back through and edit it. 

It's a rough process. Large-scale editing, to me, is like trying to alter the events of history after everything in your novel is over. Small-scale editing is like walking into a swarm of mosquitoes. It won't kill you, but sufferin' cats, does it hurt! Working through your story will throw back every bad thing that's in the novel, and it's your job to fix it. I'm thoroughly convinced that writing and editing together is one of the toughest chores the human brain will ever face. 

When I finished the first draft of Secret of the Hazel Tree on April 30, 2014, the story stood at 198,000 words. One hundred and ninety-eight thousand words. I'd written almost 200K in 5 months. It was phenomenal. I felt like I'd just conquered the world. 

In reality, I'd just begun the quest to conquer a realistic, magic-free Cinderella mystery. 

Two years later, I'm still editing. Granted, being at school has really thrown a wrench in the works as I really don't have the time Sept-May to actually take hours to sit down and work at my stories. Hazel Tree has taken a back seat time and time again. 

Last summer, I spent a good deal of time tackling some of the big-scale problems. Continuity with characters, missing details in the revelation scenes at the end, scenes that didn't add to the story as a whole, etc. I rewrote my first chapter almost five times. And I'm still not completely satisfied with it. As the first chapter, it's gotta grab people's attention and pull them completely, hook-line-and-sinker, into the story. I wanted readers to absolutely fall in love with my main character from the very beginning. I wanted it to taste fresh, but I still wanted it to have that old-fashioned fairy tale flavor. 

Last summer, within adding things, fixing things, deleting things, I edited out 10,000 words in three months. 

This summer, I've been going through chapter by chapter, reading, rewriting, editing, deleting... you name it. If it's related to writing, I've probably done it within this last month. I've gone 38% of the way through my manuscript, and I've already edited out about 12,000 words. 

Currently, SotHT is at 177,139 words. So, it's still long. I really haven't changed anything huge. I haven't cut millions of scenes, nor deleted any characters. I just discovered that I'm wordy. Really wordy. (This blog post should be proof enough for that.) It's still the same story, but I've been hard at work editing. And it hurts.

But that's okay!

Editing is supposed to hurt. My dad's favorite thing to say to me is this...

"Never fall in love with your writing. The moment you do that is the moment you cease to grow as a writer."

If you're happy with what or how you write, you'll never get better. Satisfaction with "good enough" will never become excellence. Editing is part of the natural process towards becoming a better writer. Editing is double-checking your work, scrutinizing word choices, questioning character traits, and doubting plot progression. If you can't respect and believe your story, chances are your readers won't either. 

I love this quote!

I like to think of editing as self-teaching. I'm finding the flaws in my own writing and making myself fix them. 198,000 words has been hard to wade through and refine, I'll not deny that. But I've been able to polish up chapters and brighten up paragraphs by removing the excess decorations. Now, I truly believe, my readers will be able to enjoy the story more because they can actually see it. Too many words before blotted it horribly from view.

For those of you who are die-hard long novel lovers like me, no fear. I'm not working to destroy my Cinderella and push it into the standard young adult length. I want my story to speak for itself and I'll allow it to do that in any length it chooses. 

Editing isn't fun. It isn't easy. But I can promise that, if faithfully pursued, it can be entirely rewarding. It'll make your story better. 

And it'll make you a better writer.

Try it sometime. 

God bless!