How to Publish?

Self Publish, Tradition Publishing, or Agent?

Now that I'm finished my manuscript, I'm in the early stages of self-editing my work. With NaNoWriMo, I just wrote and didn't go over the previous chapters. I found that it slowed down the writing process because I would end up rewriting a chapter over and over again and only add a few hundred words to my work in progress (WIP). Instead, I just wrote and wrote and wrote. If I felt that there was a change needed, I would make a note and get back to it—which is where I am right now.
In the meantime, I'm thinking about what to do next after I finish polishing this manuscript. I have submitted a few chapters on Scribophile and the peer critiques are helping tremendously. I may use the critique partner matching program that is available from the Romance Writers Association.
But after I get critiques done on my manuscript, what next? I had the chance to talk with some peers at Toronto Romance Writers Holiday Social about their method of publishing. Some have their pros and cons.
Traditional publishing is easy, provided publishing house makes an offer for your manuscript. They would take care of the editing, cover art, and some promotion. They give an advance on your manuscript or half for future books and the other half upon completion. But watch out for clauses in the contract because they may require exclusivity with your pen name and only want manuscripts with certain themes or plots. Also, the royalties may be a small percentage of the sales.
Similar to traditional publishing are e-publishers. Your books are sold in an e-book format with print on demand. The royalties are a little higher than the traditional publishing.
Another option is using an agent. But this takes some work getting an agent to take your manuscript. This requires a query letter as well. But once an agent decides to take on your manuscript, they take care of all the legality in contracts with publisher to ensure you are protected. They work to find a publisher for your manuscript. They take care of the editing. They can also give an advance for your manuscript or half for future books. The thing is, they would take a cut from the profits of the book.
Both the above mentioned methods put in a lot of work in the editing and polishing of the manuscript, promotion, and selling.
Another option is self-publishing. With self-publishing, all the royalties go to the author. However, the author needs to put money upfront to pay for editing, cover art, and promotion. The more effort put into manuscript, the more books are sold, and the more money is made. If there are too many grammatical mistakes or the plot goes no where, expect a bad review. If the cover art isn't attractive, the book won't be noticed among the thousands of thumbnails for other books. If the book isn't promoted constantly, the book isn't proactively purchased.
There are many complaints for each type and also many success stories. It's a big decision, but which is the best choice?

Stock images from creativemarket.com

Gaming the System Series Review

When I saw this series suggested by an author I read, I thought I'd give it a try. The premise sounded interesting and with Amazon, you can sample the first chapter and a bit for free. Normally, I don't like reading new adult romance novels and I'm also not fond of the first person POV. That's just a personal preference. There's nothing wrong with first person POV, but I prefer a third person perspective. But, I decided to just download the sample and check it out.
There was also the issue that it was a story stretched out over three books. Some find this irritating because you would have to wait for the next book to come out and see how it all resolves. But, I'm a fan of series books because I like to see the story continue. Preferably, just post HEA events, but if the books are written well and the story is compelling, I would rather read three different books than one gigantic book with the whole story in one.
This book surprised me. At first, as I started reading the book, I thought that this was going to be another version of some of the popular books out there. Young innocent college girl meets up with a young good looking guy who made it rich very early in life with some deep troubling past on both parts that prevents them from getting together. Drama ensues throughout the first book, continues in the second, and somehow in the third book they get back together again.
That seems to be the current basic skeleton for some of the romance novels at the moment. It's true that a romance novel should have a boy meets girl, sexual tension and something that keeps them apart, then the final resolution of their problem where the reader is rewarded with a satisfying payoff of a HEA. This series does that and more.
I will try not to give any spoilers away. If you've read the book, you will know what I am referring to. If you didn't, go and read the book. It's a great journey into the lives of Mia and Adam and well written take on relationships.
Mia and Adam's story is original. The internal conflict of their personalities and the external conflict that drives them apart takes you on an emotional roller coaster especially if you've ever known anyone in that situation. The fact that it's in first person POV makes the reader really feel the multitude of emotions that the MC is experiencing.
Brenna Aubrey's technique of changing the POV for the first two books and then within the third book was brilliant. The reader gets to really delve into the mind of the characters and literally walk in their shoes. The choice of which POV to use was smart because it kept the secret that the reader doesn't know well hidden until the final reveal. With the third book, the reader sees how the MC grow as one part of a pairing.
I also loved all the geek speak in the book. I never played Dungeons and Dragons or any online group games but I know of them. I did like the references to the major geek themes out there like Star Wars, Star Trek, and Dr. Who, to name a few.
This is one of those series that I won't forget, and I can't wait to read the next two books for Jordan and Liam. Check out the books on Amazon.com.

What's Your Writing Inspiration?

Finally designed the bare bones of this website to get it up and running but now I've lost that momentum from NaNoWriMo. I was hoping to start the outline for the next book in the series and get the critiques in for some overdue chapters from my Scribophile friends, but I only got to the critiques (though not enough for my liking) and this website. But, I enjoy the challenge.
Trying to get back into the groove of writing, I thought about what I could do to give me that swift kick back into gear. Some people find art inspirational. Admiring the nuances and hidden meanings that convey a story and inspire them to tell that story. Similarly, watching dance is like watching art move. It's equally inspiring.
My writing inspiration is a combination of reading—many books—and listening to music. Reading is obvious. There's a story already there and it can help present "what-if" alternatives that can create new stories, or new takes on similar tropes. My biggest influence is music. Classic music can be interpreted into a story. It sets a mood, whether it's slow and flowing or fierce and passionate.
Many may find that mainstream music distracting. I find even more inspiration from listing to my playlist of top 100. The emotions that it evokes through the beats and lyrics and the flow from one song to the next that tells its own story gets my brain thinking. It influences my current WIP or the next books in the series, so much so that I get Siri on my phone to take dictation for new things I want to add to my books—though the notes that I see afterward sometimes don't make any sense at all because of all the background noise that interfered with Siri's dictation.
There are times when I go through life like I have my own personal music soundtrack. Every little thing that happens, there's music playing in my head. Every conversation I have, a lyric comes to mind for each reply or discussion topic. And from time to time, my brain thinks up a dance move to go with the music.

Thank You #NaNoWriMo

I did it!

Thanks to NaNoWriMo, I finished the first draft of my WIP, Scent of Attraction. Before I discovered NaNoWriMo, my novel was at a standstill, just waiting on my computer—and in my head—to be completed. I figured, what is a better way to add 50,000 words to my novel, than to be motivated with a 2,000 daily word goal? I felt the same way when I decided to borrow book 2 and 3 for George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, a.k.a. the books that the TV show Game of Thrones is based on.
I'm used to taking my time reading books. The only time I go through books like chocolates (I like this analogy better than tissues) are those times that I read my favorite romance series of all time. Many may say, "How can you not be addicted to Martin's books?" I was at first, but being under a deadline of 21 days to read a 700+ book and then a 1200+ book under the same conditions made me feel an aversion to pages and pages of lengthy description. Some people like detailed descriptions to get a real sense of this other world, but my analytical mind likes things short and to the point.
But I digress (I tend to do that in my blogs, don't I?). I just want to praise the awesomeness of NaNoWriMo. I noticed that there were many people in my network that participate and was also surprised at the number of people locally that part of it. During the half way party, one of the restaurant patrons that started dining before the place was closed to the public didn't know that there was a local group that got together for various events. She happened to be participating. One of the writers that I critique on Scribophile was also participating. So, you never know who around you is part of it.
NaNoWriMo is a great motivator with a network of people that are very supportive. This goal oriented aspect of NaNoWriMo helped stop me from going back to previous chapters to edit, and re-edit, and revise, and basically, delay my writing. I just kept writing. There are notes everywhere in my manuscript to add more info, or change a scene, or add another possible scene, but with a rough outline, I just pushed forward and wrote out each of the scenes with my points as prompts. I want to give kudos to those participants that are pansters and let their novel flow from their imaginative brains and into their fingertips. They built their novel with pure creativity alone. NaNoWriMo did bring out some of my own creativity, I deviated or added to my outline. Maybe I may use a simpler outline for next year.
I can't wait to start from the 1st of November next year instead of 5 days in.