It’s getting late here in Central Europe, so I may end up missing the best slot Ygerna manages to take, but right now it’s ranking #93 in free books on Amazon!
We will have to wait and see whether the expense to get it there was worth it, but it’s still really cool to get this kind of slot again, after a long marketing hiatus.
I realize that some of my readers still only read in hard copy, and I apologize that it takes me longer to get the paperback out than the ebook. The formatting is much more complicated, however. I’ve been considering getting the new add-on for Vellum, but I’m a bit worried about spending $100 for something without being able to test what the results will be.
So I continue to use the template I bought from Joel Friedlander. It takes a bit of copying and pasting, but I’ve been very satisfied with the look of the books I’ve been able to produce that way.
Anyway, as I stated in the title of this post, Ygerna is now available in trade paperback through Amazon. 🙂
Yes! I haven’t even started the big ad push for Ygerna yet, and it is already a Hot New Release in Arthurian Fiction on Amazon! Here’s the screen shot to prove it:
And you saw right — that is Stephen King behind me. 😀
I was a bit worried about this one, given that the material is not exactly easy. But the description makes it clear enough that Ygerna’s journey from victim to warrior begins with rape, so hopefully those who do not want to deal with that kind of darkness will stay away. Many of us have had to live through that experience, though, and I wanted to tell the story of a woman who learns to become the hero of her own life, despite having been a victim.
Of course, once again I was unable to write something that would be easy on potential readers …
I have another project up my sleeve for Nanowrimo, where I’m hoping to restrain my dark side a bit more than I usually do. More on that in a few weeks. And yes, I’m trying to bend my imagination to the more commercial. Eventually I want to make a real living from this writing gig, after all. And I have slowly come to the conclusion that the kinds of books I most want to write (and read) aren’t going to do it.
I am thrilled to announce that Ygerna has been approved for pre-order on Amazon — in record time! It will be available for a special launch price of only 99c through October. After that, it will go up to $2.99.
Uthyr destroyed her life. Now she wants revenge.
When young Ygerna first meets Uthyr, Pendragon of Britain, she is dazzled by the handsome and famous warrior. But when Uthyr interprets admiration as consent and takes her by force, Ygerna’s hero worship turns to hatred.
And she will do anything to get revenge on the man who got her with child and ruined her life.
It will officially be published on Amazon on Oct. 2. I did that to have a bit more time to arrange for some additional publicity in October, since it would be cool to have a Hot New Release again. 🙂
Strangely enough, other venues have been much slower publishing. The only other one I have so far is Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/en-us/ebook/ygerna
I have not yet done the extra work to make it available for print — which also involves getting a new version of the wraparound cover from my cover artist once I have the PDF done. I have to see if it’s possible to test the Vellum print add-on — otherwise it’s cut and paste into my print template …
I would be very grateful for shares and tweets and reblogs! There’s too much going on at the moment for me to invest the time in anything like a Facebook launch party, so ads and word of mouth are all I have to rely on.
But one very nice thing — before I even noticed that it was already available, Ygerna had its first pre-order. 🙂
In anticipation of the upcoming release of the Pendragon Chronicles prequel novel, Ygerna, I have lowered the price of Yseult to 99c through October 20.
Amazon
B&N
Kobo
Apple
Smashwords
Google Play
And no, I still do not have a release date for Ygerna. My editor’s computer died, which has set her back several days while she transfers data and sets up the new computer.
This kind of thing is why I really don’t like doing much pre-release promotion. Not everything is in my hands, and if an editor has computer problems and can’t deliver on time, if I have set up a pre-order with a specific launch date, then I’m out of luck. I’m not setting a definite publication date until everything is in my hands. Then all I have to worry about is getting the corrections into the manuscript and the formatting — which I do myself.
Once I have the edited manuscript back, then I may do a short term pre-release. Or maybe not. 🙂 Might just publish as soon as I can and throw everything I have at it then!
I haven’t had a lot of time recently to update my various pages for places you can advertise eBook promos, so I thought I would share this site I found:
https://blog.reedsy.com/book-promotion-services/
It has an especially nice feature that you can click a button to only show free sites.
I should soon have news on the publishing front regarding Ygerna. Just waiting for the file back from the editor. 🙂
The beginning of this month, I sent Ygerna off to beta readers. If you follow this blog, you know that it ended up WAY longer than I intended, and I decided to reward myself with a short “vacation.”
I did some sewing.
Our place isn’t big enough that I can have a dedicated craft room — or it might be if I tossed half my books, I guess, but I’m not to that point yet. 🙂 Anyway, to do any sewing I have to haul out the machine and take over the dining room table. A bunch of mending had piled up that I couldn’t do by hand, so I got that finished first.
Then I started on the fun stuff.
For a while now, I’ve been collecting ideas on on Pinterest for upcycling projects — making new out of old. I’ve also been saving favorite garments with tears and holes rather than throwing them away, hoping I might be able to find the time to play with them a bit and possibly give them a new life. I’m pretty pleased with the results. Here’s a jeans skirt that had a serious tear combined with a VERY old maternity dress I couldn’t throw away because I loved the material so much:
And matching top:
A couple more where the pictures turned out *g*:
I also taught myself how to make roses out of fabric, and attached one to a skirt I made my granddaughter out of pants she’d grown out of:
I also made a set of Barbie dresses for my girls out of a thrift store top, and saved a couple more t-shirts by sacrificing others and adding a bit of lace here and there. It was huge fun. I think I have come up with a suitable reward for myself for getting a book ready to kick out of the door.
I couldn’t leave off writing completely while I was concentrating on sewing — I managed that for about two days before I had to get back to something, even if it was only brainstorming.
But more on that in my next blog post. 🙂
I just noticed that a book that has helped me a lot in organizing a couple of recalcitrant manuscripts is on sale today for only 99c — a book I paid full price for! *g* It’s Libbie Hawker’s Take Off Your Pants: Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing.
I admit, I can’t tell you yet whether her method works to create more successful books, since I have only applied it to a couple of books that are still WIPs, including the Pendragon Chronicle prequel that I’m working on right now, Ygerna. But what I can tell you is that when I dug the notes and scenes I had written a while back out again and applied Libbie’s plotting method to them, I finally had the feeling that I had a story that made sense and that I could finally finish.
One of the points she makes that has helped me the most is her emphasis on the main character’s flaw, and how integral that should be to the plot as a whole. I’ve created plenty of damaged and flawed characters in my time, but her plot structure can give you a great tool for building that more directly into the plot. In any case, her main plot points resonate with me as a writer more than a lot of of other writing advice out there. Here is her basic plot structure, so you can see if it might make sense for you:
– Opening Scene
– Inciting Event
– Character Realizes External Goal
– Display of Flaw
– Drive for Goal
– Antagonist Revealed
– Goal Thwarted
– Revisiting Flaw
– Repeat above several time (drive for goal, antagonist / goal thwarted)
– Aid from Ally
– Character Change
– Girding the Loins
– Battle
– “Death” / Overcoming Flaw
– Outcome
Another thing I like about this structure is that it doesn’t insist that the main goal is clear right from the beginning. Not only that, it admits that the main goal could well be tied to the character’s flaw — which will eventually have to be overcome. It reminds me of another piece of writing advice that I’ve been internalizing for a long time now: remember to distinguish between what your main character wants and what she needs.
So if any of this resonates with you as a writer, and you feel like you could use some help in plotting your books faster, grab this book for under a buck while you can. I have no idea how long this sale will be going on, since it’s not mine. 🙂
A lot has been going on here in Central Europe, and I just haven’t been able to take the time for blogging while still moving forward on my writing. My sister came to visit — for the first time in over 25 years. Then we took a short trip to France, where we met her daughter and spent some time drinking champagne in Champagne. I still intend to write a blog post about that with pictures, but when we got back, I had better things to do: I FINISHED A COMPLETE DRAFT OF DRAGON TOUCHED TODAY! The rough draft was done end of February, but it was full of holes. That’s the way I work: first drafts are like a jumble of notes to myself and scenes that are completely written out. During revisions, I added another 20,000 words and deleted around 10,000. 🙂
This evening, I dived right back into Ygerna, inspired by the new cover by Lou Harper:
Do let me know what you think! It’s not finalized yet, and any feedback you have will be sent on to the cover artist. You can see the wraparound cover as well in my last post here on my blog.
I also never got around to a new goal post for this quarter, since that was up at the time my sister arrived, and shortly before we took off for France. I’m just going to carry over the goals from the last round. 🙂
I haven’t posted for WIPpet Wednesday for a while either. I’m sticking with Ygerna, but jumping forward to a scene I was just revising. Our protagonist has realized that she might be pregnant, and she goes in search of a healer who can help her do something about it. Thirteen short paragraphs for the 13th day of the month:
Ygerna reined in her horse on the outskirts of the small village and examined the roundhouses of daub and wattle. There was no help for it, she would have to ask someone which house was that of the village healer. She could only hope no one would recognize her; she wanted as few people knowing her secret as possible. That was why she hadn’t gone to the healer in the town across the land bridge from Dyn Tagell.
It wouldn’t do to be asking about herbs that would start her menses again there, where everyone knew the daughters of Erbin, the King of Dumnonia.
So she’d wrapped her distinctive red hair in a shawl, put on an old gown she usually only wore when she needed to help with chores, and set off for the next nearest village with a healer.
She dismounted and approached a woman throwing slops to the pigs. “Excuse me, can you tell me where the healer in this village lives?”
The woman set down the bucket and pointed. “The third house over there, Lady.”
Oh dear, the old mare and the old clothes had not been enough to disguise her class. Well, at least she knew no one here and no one knew her. They might call her “Lady,” but they didn’t know her name.
Ygerna lead the mare by the reins to the house indicated. A young woman perhaps a little older than Elen was tending a small garden of herbs and vegetables next to the house. A basket beside her contained some radishes, spring onions, and a couple of parsnips.
“Hello,” Ygerna said. “Are you the healer in these parts?”
“That I am.” The young woman rose, smiling, and wiped her hands on her apron. “How can I help you?”
Ygerna glanced around, unable to repress her nervousness. “May we go inside?”
“Certainly.”
The healer led the way into her modest dwelling, a roundhouse in the old style, and now Ygerna noticed that she too was pregnant. The belt of her gown was tied a little higher to allow for the gently rounding belly.
The healer closed the door behind them. “Let me guess, you need herbs that will abort an unwanted child.”
Emily Witt is our host for the snippet sharing session, in which we post an excerpt from a WIP on our blog, something that relates to the date in some way. If you want to play too, add your link to the Linky.
My cover artist Lou Harper sent me a new cover design for my Pendragon Chronicles prequel, Ygerna, and I would love some feedback!
Here’s the ebook cover:
And here’s the wraparound:
Any and all comments and suggestions welcome!
Ruth Nestvold - Indie Adventures 