Incentives

Not much to update other than it feels like I'm rocking writer's block like no one else ever has. 

Trying to advertise either book while they remain more or less free - except on Amazon - smacks of insanity.  There are a plethora of options for advertising your work...though the difference between pay services like Awesomegang and any Facebook 'I've-Got-An-Ebook-If-You've-Got-The-Time' group seem imperceptible. 

Selling oneself.  Self-promotion.  Yep.  Not to bitch about it, but introversion is sometimes not an incentives laden enterprise. 

 

Lucid - now available at Smashwords. 

The Lipless Gods.  Still officially turned down by 100+ literary agents (and counting).  Free at Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo.  And available through both the Seattle Public Library and King County Library System!    

SELF-e

The Lipless Gods is now available at the Seattle Public Library!!!

Kinda. Sorta. Like if you had all day to click and click links, you might find the actual rabbit hole. But enough harrumphing.

The cool bit for any indie/self-published type is the potential distribution of their effort through Library Journal and any U.S. library system on the ball enough to participate in SELF-e.

 

Lucid - now available at Smashwords. 

And don't forget the aforementioned The Lipless Gods.  Still officially turned down by 100+ literary agents (and counting). Free at Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo.  And the Seattle Public Library! 

It's v. Its v. Me

The first message sent to me from the website is a nice enough missive from a copyeditor pointing out mistakes from the first Chapter or so of Lucid. 

And so the stumbling continues unabated.

After paying for the website and the cover art, tasking a copyeditor/proofreader didn't enter the equation.  Maybe it should, but I only have 'x'-amount to conceivably hand over to folks, qualified though they may be.

The last time I hired a copyeditor/proofreader (on Lucid even) she waffled and ultimately flaked out on me.  Given that experience, I just kind of rolled up the sleeves and looked at the MS over and over and trusted my brain and Word to tell me good from bad.

Sigh.  Grammar.  Words.  Usage and all.  Its...It is perhaps indicative of my likely prospects at this indie/self-published endeavor.    

Lucid now available at Smashwords. I'm running a special...Find the mistakes and I'll give you something nice.  Maybe two things nice. 

And don't forget The Lipless Gods.  Still officially turned down by 100+ literary agents (and counting). Free at Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo.

LUCID

Lucid's out today -- at least on Smashwords and all affiliated channels therein (Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, etc). 

Through my sheer business ineptitude, Amazon has it out 5/11.

When I plotted and schemed a release date, I didn't know today was Mother's Day.  Neither Lucid or The Lipless Gods really lean towards being Mother's Day gifts since in fact, both novels starkly tilt towards those Disney animated films where the mom is out of the picture.  

This is a troubling pattern, purely unintended.  I don't think I'm trying to get back at my mom -- she is of course the best mom ever, likely just like yours.  

But whatever I write next, I will do my best to have a mom feature in the spotlight.  That's not to swear off absolutely horrible and unfortunate things befalling her.  I just won't kick things off with her already dead or packed off to an asylum somewhere.  

Happy Mother's Day, all you moms out there.    

Lucid now available at Smashwords. 

And don't forget:

The Lipless Gods.  Now officially turned down by 100+ literary agents (and counting).  Free at Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo.

Cisco Buddies

The internet took my money. Now I've got an official domain and a hosting site. Bells and whistles, all of that good stuff...

I had to throw a 'books' at the end of it because 'brianstillman.com' got scooped up.  Investigation shows this at the official 'brianstillman.com':

"I am still deciding what to do with my website. For now, it is a place holder so my Cisco buddies (Dan, Dave, and Ed) didn't jack my domain name and do sordid things with it."

Inspired by my doppelganger's woefully hesitant stance, I'm going to do all sorts of sordid things with my website. And maybe it's me, but 'jacking a domain' sounds like little less than an alcohol-fueled step up from 'cow-tipping'.

Lucid: Chapter 1

Lucid Chapter 1 via the Wix-site.  You can preview it through the link below, too, but this is like one less click.  Or screen touch.  Or whatever. 

I bumbled Lucid's Amazon pre-order.  It releases 3 days later there than anywhere else.  

     Apple's listing includes a review for Natalie Roer's Lucid-title, released 2013.  

I've contacted Apple and Smashwords and now wait upon those two titans to decide my fate. 

Lucid preview and pre-order available at Smashwords. 

And don't forget:

The Lipless Gods. Free at Smashwords, Apple, and Kobo.

A Foregone Fatality

In celebration of Lucid's release, witness a review courtesy one brave, anonymous Publishers Weekly employee roped into judging the 2013 Quarter-Finals bracket in the now defunct Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award:

There’s a distinct identity crisis with this very long teen thriller. It starts off as a slice-of-life drama, with small town girl Lucy McCall expecting the arrival of her older sister Maddy, now a famous actress, and Maddy’s husband Jack Ford, a Hollywood superstar, as they come home for the premiere of Maddy’s newest movie. Controversy arises over Maddy and Jack’s memberships in the cult/religion Lucentology -- clearly a stand-in for a certain other “-ology -- with Maddy’s father worried for his daughter’s mental health. Despite this, things run fairly smoothly until the night of the premiere, when Lucy is kidnapped and held for ransom, before being exchanged for Maddy, who goes missing in the process. From that point on, it’s a convoluted tangle of conspiracies, murders, and mayhem, featuring no less than three climaxes and resolutions as one plan feeds into the next. What could be a nuanced exploration of Hollywood faith systems, a culture clash between small town and worldwide fame, or a grim exploration of obsession and betrayal, ends up being none of the above. The writing itself is solid, and the characters, including the intrepid Lucy, her ex-boyfriend Sherman, and down-to-Earth megastar Jack Ford, are engaging, and there’s certainly a lot to enjoy, but this is one story that needs to tighten its plot and figure out just what it wants to do.

Re-reading Lucid while prepping it for e-conversion, I can't argue vehemently with certain bits of the review other than the contention it isn't a "grim exploration".  It's fairly grim if not descending into outright horror in places.   

But I'm the author.  It's my perfect in every way baby.  And objectivity is a foregone fatality once the first draft is done.

   

    

Lucid preview and pre-order available at Smashwords and  Amazon.