News: Giveaway Winner and New Publications

Season's Greetings!

I'm delighted to say that the Unlikely Heroes giveaway drew many entries. The winner of the digital copies of Green Light Delivery and Blue Diamond Delivery was David. Thanks bunches to all of you who entered. and thanks to Milo James Fowler for hosting the wonderful 'Tis More Blessed giveaway extravaganza!

Santa and his elves may be hard at work, but it's also a busy time around the writing workshop:

1. I've had eight drabbles (stories of exactly 100 words) accepted by SpeckLit. They will be published one at a time over the next few months.

2. One of my stories was accepted by Rainbow Rumpus, pending revisions, for their Spring 2014 issue.

3. Old Hedgy Times will publish my science fiction story "New World Symphony," about aliens who invade Earth by means of musical sound.

4. "Bark of the Covenant," the silly speculative YA story I co-wrote with Araminta Star Matthews, is now available on Amazon and B&N.

5. I'm working on the revision of my YA novel, Space Surfers.

6. Also for C&G, I finally finished the first draft of the third Webrid Chronicles novel, Red Spawn Delivery.

As you can see, I sure can use a short end-of-the-year break. I hope you get to take a break, too. All health and happiness to you and yours in the New Year!

- Anne

A Writer's Joy: The Editor Who "Gets" You

This week my story "Rain Puddle Man" was published in the e-zine Spaceports & Spidersilk. The October issue is full of Halloween stories for kids, and you can buy it here.

When the editor, Marcie Tentchoff, emailed me that link, I started reminiscing over my relationship with that publication, and with her specifically. She's chosen to publish six or seven of my stories over the past three years. In fact, of all the stories I've submitted to her, she's rejected only one. It was the first one, and I was very green; she was absolutely correct in calling it seriously flawed.

Marcie is an editor who "gets" me. I've been incredibly lucky to find a few such advocates already in my short career. That kind of partnership is a huge boon to a writer's self-confidence. Statistically, I suppose it's as unlikely as a successful love affair, since it's all about taste and personality and world view. Those three elements are very tough to match between two people.

An editor who "gets" you doesn't necessarily always buy your stories, but s/he always sees what you're aiming for and appreciates what you've tried. And s/he is always eager, even impatient, to see your next submission. I hope every writer gets a chance to work with an editor who's so in tune with his or her vision. It can make all the difference.

Thoughts on My Three-Novel Summer

Dear Reader:

Never, if you can manage it, publish three books in as many months.

Now, I'm not saying I'm not thrilled to have three novels published. Trust me, I am. And I certainly had no control over this situation, my books being with three different publishers.

What was the downside? Everything you'd expect:

1. Potential readers got confused. My own family can't keep track of who is publishing what, and in what format. Friends and acquaintances who clearly wanted to support me didn't know which title was which genre or age-group.

2. Three blog tours, back to back. That's really all I need to say on that topic. You can imagine.

3. Over-saturation of my brand. To much of me, too quickly, associated with too many different titles.

But I did learn a huge amount about publishing and promotion. Here are a few of the many things I've taken away from the experience:

1. Daily posts on blog tours are a waste of time, unless the blogs are very high profile and a lot of strangers will read them. Just jumping from one small blog to another tends to keep you in the same circle of potential readers. Your Facebook and Twitter followers and other contacts lose interest quickly ("Wait, didn't you just have a launch day?").

I gained very few readers, despite all that effort. Next time, I will spread out the blog marketing, perhaps to once a week.

2. With three publishers utterly distinct in their approaches, I learned about various release choices. I can see that it is important to me, and to potential readers, that my books are available in both print and e-formats, and at all the major online venues.

3. Publishers probably do want a sequel, no matter what they say on their submissions guidelines.

So, dear reader, I survived the crazy three-book summer of '12. It was fascinating, thrilling, exhausting, and terrifying. And, while I hope to have many novels published in the future, I hope to spread them out by at least a few months!

Of Publishings and Editings

Greetings, all. Just a round-up for the week. Several things to report:

1. The zombie anthology So Long, and Thanks for All the Brains, containing my story "Stir-Fried Cerebrum," has been released. You can purchase it here.

2. My fractured fairy tale, "An Exceptional Clothier," has been accepted for publication in Enchanted Times, to appear sometime in 2012.

3. I've received first edits for my middle-grade paranormal mystery novel, Ebenezer's Locker. Nice to have that process up and running.

4. I'm three-quarters finished with the first draft of the sequel to my middle-grade medieval mystery novel Trouble at the Scriptorium. This new novel, featuring several of the same characters, is called The London Hurdy-Gurdy.


5. My story "Cheering Up a Friend" is published on Knowonder! You can view it here.

6. My story "Sisters' Sight" is published in the pagan anthology Etched Offerings, from Misanthrope Press. You can puchase it as print or e-book here.


I hope you're all having a productive December. I'll be taking next week off from blogging, so I wish you all a wonderful holiday!

"Big Rock in the Big Slime River" published in Knowonder! e-zine

Here's a link to my latest published children's sci fi story. Please leave a comment on the Knowonder! site if you get a chance to read it.

Big Rock in the Big Slime River


In other news, the release date for the charity anthology Resilience has been pushed back to January, but the cover is done.

Also checked on the Etched Offerings anthology from Misanthrope Press. They're behind, too, but do seem to be moving forward.

Buy links for Greek Myths Revisited

Greek Myths Revisited, an anthology published by Wicked East Press, is now available. It contains my story "Table Manners," a sci fi re-telling of the bloody, crazy myth of Tantalus, which is all about how jealous the gods get when men are too proud and ungrateful.

You can buy it from Pill Hill Press Shoppe

or from Amazon

(This is definitely not for children!)

New children's sci fi story published!

Delighted to have a link to "The Silver Visitors," just out in the new issue of Spaceports & Spidersilk. This is my third piece for them.


You can read it for free HERE!

My novel EBENEZER'S LOCKER finds a publisher!

BIG NEWS!!

I'm proud to announce that I have a book contract with MuseItUp Publishing for my middle-grade paranormal mystery novel, Ebenezer's Locker. It will be released as an e-book. I look forward to reporting here on the process of publication and marketing.

And in other good news, my adult spec-fic story "The Orpheus Factor" is now released in the newest edition of Shelter of Daylight, a Sam's Dot publication that you can order here. It's got a beautiful cover, don't you think?

[Please note: If you are having trouble posting with Google ID, you can choose the Name/URL option even if you don't have a website. Copy and paste in any URL from another site, and it should work.]

New Published Story, "Skinny Old Doug"

Delighted that my story "Skinny Old Doug" was published today in the July issue of Underneath the Juniper Tree.  Follow this link and scroll to page 19 of the magazine (which is page 25 of the file). Better yet, read and enjoy the whole issue!

Juniper Tree, July