Today, I'm pleased to welcome the saucy Imogene Nix to The Naughty Pages. She's discussing High Points and Hard Points of being an author, as well as her books Starline and Starburst.
High
Points and Hard Points with Imogene Nix
Oh the joys of being a published
author! I mean it’s all sunshine and
lollipops... right?
Sadly, that is not the truth... well not
for me anyway.
My Road to becoming a published author...
If I could lay the blame at
anyone/anything, it would be the ARRA conference in Bondi March 2011. I was
sitting in a room with Lexxie Couper, Rhian Cahill, Heather Boyd and Jess Dee,
listening to them talking about their experiences in writing, how they had
grown from their opportunities etc.
There weren’t lots of people in the room... But a light bulb lit up for
me.
I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.
All the way home, this darned refrain
kept playing in the back of my head. So
I sat down and wrote. That story became
Starline. My first erotic SciFi romance.
(Now I would call this a serious High
Point)
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This graphic has been doing the rounds of Facebook but
it is pretty close to society’s
expectations of an author.
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That’s all there is to it... right? So now I can sit back and rake in the cash?
Isn’t that how writing fiction works?
Not quite.
I decided I had better join a writing
group – RWA seemed the best option (and yes I still recommend that to all who
are considering embarking on a writing career.)
I found my first Critique Partner and
learned that there was a lot more to writing than just getting the story
down. It was hard. Very hard.
(Hard Point)
I had to learn about dialogues and
Points of View, ed and ing conflicts. The complexities of the rules of writing
romance and detached body parts, such as fingers that do things without the
benefit of an arm to assist, Lol! So no, it certainly wasn’t as simple as I
envisaged.
Once I was sure I had a good grasp of
what I was doing... I started sending it out.
I subbed it to a total of 8 houses, garnered 1 rejection and had 2
offers. Wow! It was a mix of high and hard points, but at
the end on the day, I found my first home, signed the deal and celebrated like
there was no tomorrow. (High Point)
Now surely, that must be it...
right?
Uh uh... Nope. Then I had to fill out all the paperwork,
apply for an ITIN (required for US Publishers), set up website, blog, facebook,
twitter and even google+. Now I do admit
to a fondness for this kind of technological thing, so that was fine. But then the first cover art arrived.
OMG! (High Point) I was ecstatic.
(Judge for youself.)
I waited and then the edit arrived. Scary black clouds of edits... (That first part
was a Hard Point because it reminded
me of how little I really did know.)
Once the book was edited and the first
dedication written... then I sat back and waited for release date. As an author with a small press, you have to
do a lot of the promo yourself.
Something I thought I had a handle on... well, I had to learn that each
author has to participate in a lot of promotion. But I’m getting there.
Now, it’s easy to sit here and say, I
have the bits ready and can reproduce this for every new book... after all
there is a formula, right? But it isn’t
like that. If there was a recipe
Add
a shot of suspense
3
chapters of sex
A
dollop of fear...
...then everyone would be doing it. For the record, there is No Formula. Each and every title is a journey in its own
right. With each new story I write, I
learn something new. Something to watch
out for.
There have been hiccups and false starts
along the way... but I am learning to deal with them too. Just as well all do.
Starburst
Book 3 in the Warriors of the Elector
Trilogy.
Meredith Gentry is a woman
with a mission. To decode everything found on the Alpha Star
Colony. Maybe, if she’s lucky, she might finally get closer to the one
man who makes her burn.
Chowd Sturat Sur Banden is
different. He’s always known that and that the differences have
kept him apart from everyone else. Until now.
At the end game, will these
differences keep Meredith and Chowd apart for good? Will his own unwanted
heritage tear them asunder forever? And will the crew of the Elector
finally prevail over Crick Sur Banden?
The Warriors of the Elector’s
cataclysmic conclusion has arrived.
Coming soon from Secret
Cravings Publishing
To find out more about Imogene Nix visit
her on the net:
About Imogene:
A mother of two, compulsive reader
and bookstore owner. Imogene lives in regional Queensland, Australia with
her husband, 2 daughters, dog, cats, guinea pigs and chooks. She has a
particular fondness for Vampires, Star Ship captains and things that go bump in
the night.
