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Useful tool for fellow authors: self-serve ads on Goodreads

Last month I decided to try Goodreads’ self-serve advertising system, and set up test ads for both Faerie Blood and Valor of the Healer. The ad wizard they set up is pretty simple–as long as you have a book in Goodreads’ database, you can build an ad around that and deploy it to be viewed by whatever set of users you’d like. You throw it whatever amount of money you want to spend, and every time your ad gets clicked on, the cost of that is deducted from your budget.

It’s pretty slick, I gotta say. And now people are seeing the ads for both books and I’m starting to see people add both of the books to their shelves on the Goodreads site. What’s even cooler is that I can use both of these campaigns when I’m ready to deploy ads for Vengeance of the Hunter and Bone Walker, too, and they’ll use the same pools of credit.

So I’d recommend checking the ad wizard out if you have an author account on Goodreads. You can use it for your self-pubbed work, and non-self-pubbed work too–hence, me setting one up for Valor. Pretty easy way to do some promo on a site whose entire point is to talk about books. Thus, one of the few ways I’m absolutely comfortable with advertising.

Advertising! Enjoy some now!

January 9, 2014 by
Other People's Books

More on reading La cite maudite by Elodie Tirel

I’m into chapter two now on Luna: La cité maudite by Élodie Tirel, and so far I’m having great fun with it. Not only because of the language geekery, which was part of why I wanted to try this in the first place, either!

Some of it turned out to be the surprise glee of reading a book where the language is mostly beyond me, but where I have just enough to get the general idea of what’s going on. This feels very much like when I was a child and grabbing any book around me to read, especially Stephen King or The Amityville Horror off my dad’s tables, just because OH HEY BOOK. And being all “ooh hey what’s this word? How about this one? And this one over here?” And looking stuff up if I don’t understand it.

And reading a thing in French without an English translation–and also without resorting to Google Translate or the reverso.net dictionary if I can help it!–feels like riding a bike without the training wheels for the first time. Sure, I’m wobbly, and maybe I’ll only make it a block or two down the street before I go skidding into a neighbor’s driveway and wind up skinning my knees on the asphalt. But that’s okay, because holy crap omg I was on the bike go me!

Language-geek!me is, however, still noting interesting words to look up. One was the verb songer, which is not to be confused with singing–it’s apparently a synonym of penser and means “to think about/consider/daydream”. And I also noted both forms of the word for “prowler”, rôdeur and rôdeuse, used to describe the drow that are the bad guys of this story.

And writer!me is amused by what I’m able to get out of the story, too–particularly things that I’ve seen industry professionals in the US markets advise against using, in no uncertain terms. For example, a prologue! Because there is one, setting up the backstory for how our heroine, Luna, is born. And for example, having our young heroine described to the reader by way of her admiring her own reflection in the water. (Complete with the obligatory description of how, of course, she is totally beautiful above and beyond the standards of her tender age, even for elves.)

But mostly, this is about amusing reader!me, and reader!me is finding this delightful so far. It’s making me have to slow down my reading speed considerably, because I need to be able to try to understand the words. And while I’m finding a lot of them still beyond me, a lot of them aren’t, and I’m getting the very basic gist of the action, just enough to let me build an idea of the plot. It will be amusing to read this again as my comprehension of French improves, just to see how my understanding of the plot changes!

Also, since I’ve been asked about this–the copy of this book I’m reading is a physical print copy, which I bought in Quebec in 2012. I will not be loaning this out, because it would be difficult to replace if anything happened to it.

But that said, if anyone else wants to try to tackle these books, they are available electronically for US readers from a couple of places. Barnes and Noble has a bunch of Tirel’s books for the Nook. Kobo has them as well. Interestingly, they are not available for the Kindle in the US, although Amazon seems perfectly willing to let you order the paperbacks. Amazon.ca DOES have Kindle editions as well as paperbacks, though.

If you want the paperbacks, though, I’d recommend either ordering them from Amazon.ca, or else getting a Canadian friend to scarf you copies and send them to you. Chances are good that I myself will be continuing this series electronically, though I may continue to purchase the print copies on general principles of ‘gosh this cover art is pretty’.

More as I continue through the book!

January 6, 2014 by
Other People's Books

Reading Luna: La Cite Maudite by Elodie Tirel

Luna: La cité maudite

Luna: La cité maudite

I haven’t quite finished off the Trilingual Hobbit Reread yet, but I’ve been itching to progress with my French reading. And so as of today I’ve started reading a book called Luna: La Cité Maudite, by Élodie Tirel. This is a Quebecois YA-level fantasy novel, which I’d heard about via userinfocow and which I picked up in paperback when Dara and I visited Montréal in 2012.

This is also the book which, when I bought it in Renaud-Bray, got me the amused commentary from the clerk about how “you know this is for children, right?” And I told him that was absolutely fine, because I was trying to learn French and I thought it’d be a good way to practice. He told me he did the same for English.

And as you can see by the cover, there’s a silver-haired elf girl riding a wolf here. In addition to this art just being lovely, it amuses me by reminding me of Clearbrook from Elfquest.

This will be the first I’ve tried to read anything in another language without having an English translation handy, so yeah, this is going to be fun. I started reading it slowly today, and was pleased to discover in the prologue that while I couldn’t pick up on all the language, I did get enough to realize that the character being described was a young elf who’d been enslaved by the drow along with her loyal servant, that she was forced to live underground and sorely missed living on the surface, and that ohnoez!, she’s about to have a baby.

Which tells me that while I have a long way to go yet with French reading comprehension, I can at least pick up on the basic details of a story. Which is very promising indeed.

Bonus too that this series is actually available electronically for the Nook. We’ll have to see if I like this one well enough to buy the rest!

ETA: Oh hey the series is also available for digital purchase via Kobo. This will require looking into, given that I do have a Kobo account set up to support Third Place!

Also: looks like the series has an official Facebook page here, and an official site here. Though be warned that the official site does launch music, before you click!

And wow, this series is up to twelve books!

January 4, 2014 by
Great Big Sea

One more musing about Great Big Sea and Sean McCann

Overall my household found “The Time of the Doctor” to be a bit of a mess–but Dara, Paul, and I were all in agreement that Matt Smith’s regeneration speech was the shining gem of the episode.

This part:

The Doctor: It all just disappears, doesn’t it? Everything you are, gone in a moment, like breath on a mirror. Any moment now… He’s a-comin’.
Clara: Who’s coming?
The Doctor: The Doctor.
Clara: You. You are the Doctor.
The Doctor: Yep, and I always will be. But times change, and so must I.

And this part:

The Doctor: We all change. When you think about it, we’re all different people all through our lives, and that’s okay, that’s good, you gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all people that you used to be. I will not forget one line of this. Not one day. I swear. I will always remember when the Doctor was me.

All of which I mention because the recent regeneration has been on my mind, what with the ongoing emotional reactions of Great Big Sea fandom to the departure of Séan McCann from the band. Many fans have been heartbroken by this news. Some have sadly expressed how this will impact their ability to enjoy Great Big Sea concerts moving forward, and that they’re not sure they’ll want to try. A few have been actively, alarmingly resentful on the matter.

In Doctor Who fandom, many fans speak of “their” Doctor–often the actor who was playing the role when they first imprinted on the show, either as a child or as an adult, but sometimes not. For me, although Christopher Eccleston was the Doctor who made me start paying attention, David Tennant is “my” Doctor since he’s the one with whom I’ve developed the emotional connection.

Great Big Sea feels the same for me. The band’s already been through a few changes–the departure of Darrell Power back in 2003, the addition of Kris MacFarlane on the drums, the replacement of Darrell by Murray Foster. All of these have been changes that caused their share of brouhaha among the fandom, and all of them bring to mind Matt Smith’s speech up above.

Because like Time Lords, bands change. But when you’re a devotee of a band, it can be almost like being one of the Doctor’s Companions. Your Doctor is the one you travelled with in the TARDIS–even if you meet the Doctor again many years later and he’s gone through half a dozen regenerations since you saw him last, as we saw happen to Sarah Jane in “School Reunion”. Likewise, your version of a beloved band is going to be the one whose combination of vocal and performance chemistry is the one you fell in love with–the one that got you to eagerly seize every new album the day it’s released, and to snap up concert tickets the instant they go on presale.

My Great Big Sea was the original four–Alan, Séan, Bob, and Darrell. I’ve very much enjoyed the Great Big Sea made up of Alan, Séan, Bob, Kris, and Murray, mind you, much as I’ve happily enjoyed other Doctors besides David Tennant. This second version of Great Big Sea, for example, gave me The Hard and the Easy, which remains one of my all time favorite albums of the group’s.

But that said, I made the transition between these versions of the band much as I made the transition from Eccleston to Tennant. Losing Séan, though, is harder. It’s like losing Tennant as the Doctor–I’ve found things to like about Matt Smith, make no mistake, but he just never grabbed me on the same level that Tennant did for the most part.

Still, though, I haven’t stopped watching Doctor Who. Neither will I stop listening to Great Big Sea. It may be that when the group regenerates again (aheh), I’ll find new things to love about what they’ll provide to us fans. And as I periodically keep an eye on what Tennant’s doing now that he’s no longer the Doctor, I’ll be keeping an eye and an ear on what Séan does with his music.

But I’ll always remember when Great Big Sea had Séan McCann.

Shantyman, good night.

January 3, 2014 by
About Me

What I want to do for 2014

I get regularly mistaken for being in my 30’s, and sometimes even younger, but truth be told I’m looking 45 in the face. And as such I’ve got a pretty damned good idea at this point of my nature and what I’m likely to do in any given year–so making resolutions I know I’ll never keep seems a rather silly way to start off a new year.

Now, goals, on the other hand, that I can do. So here’s a roundup of what I hope to accomplish in the forthcoming year.

First and foremost: write Victory of the Hawk. I have a hard deadline for this, and this time, I’m going to damn well hit the thing and not give my poor editor gray hairs. Plus it’ll be supremely satisfying to finish up the Rebels of Adalonia trilogy, which has after all been rattling around in my head since 1998.

Second and just as foremost: release Bone Walker, DAMMIT. Ideally before Vengeance of the Hunter drops.

Third: Finish up everything else owed to Kickstarter backers. This means three shorter novella-length pieces as well as the soundtrack.

Fourth: I know better at this point to say I’ll avoid medical drama. I’ve had too much of it in my life. But what I can do as a goal is to be in charge of the aspects of my health that are in my control, both mental and physical. Which includes doing what I can to stay healthy, and if I drop weight, bonus–but also not to stress out too much if I don’t drop the weight I’d ideally like to drop. Because I think everybody on the Internet knows at this point that the hard part may be losing the weight, but the even harder part is keeping it off.

Fifth: If SOMEBODY IS WRONG ON THE INTERNET (ohnoez!), remind myself that everybody will be better off if I just do not, repeat, DO NOT engage. Nobody needs that.

Sixth: Play music! And stuff as many Quebecois tunes into my head as possible. And go play them at session!

Seventh: Keep working on my French and start making a dent in the small collection of French-language novels I have acquired. Especially the Quebec SF/F ones.

Eighth: Help my fellow Carina authors spread the word about their books.

Ninth: Cuddle my spouse, pet the cats, and in general, try to maintain a good outlook on life.

Yeah, I think that’ll do nicely. So yeah. Hey there, 2014, bonjour! Comment ça va? C’mon over here and have a cup of tea with me and let’s talk about getting these things done.

January 1, 2014 by
About Me

2013 recap post

Everybody’s doing this (and by everybody, I mostly also mean Dara, who is showing 2014 the corpse of 2013 as a warning). So what the hey, here’s mine!

January: I had a scary mammogram which thankfully turned out to not be so scary after all. And I also got the publicly releasable cover art for Valor of the Healer!

Valor of the Healer

Valor of the Healer

And in the meantime, my post on how to make cake vodka milkshakes remains one of the highest-traffic posts on my site. Rightfully so. Because goddamn, people, cake vodka milkshakes.

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December 31, 2013 by
Trilingual Hobbit Reread

Tri-lingual Hobbit re-read: Chapter 16

When last we left Thorin’s company in the Lonely Mountain, Bard’s army and that of the Elvenking had shown up to deliver them a Siege-o-gram. Postage due: a share of the treasure of Smaug. Not terribly surprisingly, this didn’t go over well at all. Particularly given how Thorin’s getting crankier what with the lust for the Arkenstone being well and thoroughly on him.

Chapter 16, “A Thief in the Night”, kicks in with that very question. ‘Cause yeah, Thorin, about that Arkenstone? Bilbo might know something about that…

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December 30, 2013 by