Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Leaving for RealmMakers 2017

I don't know why I'm suddenly feeling nervous about leaving something important behind when I fly to RealmMakers 2017 tomorrow. Everybody there is my friend or friendly. I will be selling the textbook Writing Speculative Fiction: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror which has excerpts from many of the attendees. The textbook is aimed at homeschoolers and 30-40 percent of the attendees are involved in homeschooling. Ah, I know, I'll be selling Advanced Reader Copies because I thought I could skip the proof copy step of publishing. I was in a hurry to get it ready in time for RealmMakers, and the publisher had hired a proofreader. And I was EXCITED.
Lesson learned: don't skip that step. I've printed up Addenda that I'll be inserting in the books but there's not much I can do about the egregious typos in a book about writing.......
The publisher has downloaded the corrected versions. I don't know how many of the typo-heavy versions were sold. What I feel worse about is the half of the contributors I left out of the recommended lists and the index after I promised the writers I would put them in there. They're there now, and there's the addenda.
If I make a textbook for the second semester, I'll be sure to add at least one chapter on publishing decisions, probably using myself as the example of what not to do.
And then to make sure I'll never become arrogant, yesterday I discovered two typos on the back cover. I need grace.

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Skies of Dripping Gold

Skies of Dripping GoldSkies of Dripping Gold by Hannah Heath

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Allegories often leave me cold. Maybe I saw this story more as a metaphor, as I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and cannot recommend it highly enough. Beautiful book. I felt like I received a lot of value for my .99 cents. Beautiful writing, beautiful world-building, good characterization.



View all my reviews
I discovered a new writer to adore.

Saturday, July 1, 2017

It's on the Kindle

Here's the ebook version of Writing Speculative Fiction: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.
https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Speculative-Fiction-Science-Fantasy-ebook/dp/B073JW7YQ1/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1498934357&sr=1-3&keywords=Lelia+Rose+Foreman
Print should show up for sale in a couple days. I ordered some print versions to take to Preview Night at a homeschool resource center where I volunteered to teach the class. Parents and students will be meeting us to see what classes we offer. I hope a lot sign up for mine.
I feeling just a little panicked or maybe more than a little. I'm also ordering the books to take to RealmMakers. How many should I bring? I think maybe half the people there would want to buy the textbook. But what if I'm wrong. If I take 15 Teacher editions and 10 Student editions, will I sell out, or will I need to be dragging books through the airport when the conference is over?