Praying for Daylight Cover Reveal!

******COVER REVEAL AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT OF PRAYING FOR DAYLIGHT******



  I'M SO FREAKING EXCITED I'M USING ALL CAPS!! I'LL HAVE TO GO TO CAPS LOCK REHAB, ZACK WARREN WOULD SAY!!!

How I Became an Indie Author

I’ve been writing since I was sixteen…I think. It’s hard to remember when I started. My first story was YA, even though I didn’t know what YA was at the time. It was about two teens who go hunting for treasure. Modern day pirates were involved. I wrote about ten pages.

It wasn’t exactly a masterpiece and I have no idea what happened to it.

But I kept writing and writing, until finally, one day I’d written a full novel.

The Unofficial Zack Warren Fan Club.

I took inspiration from one of my childhood friends. He was a jock. Played baseball. Super popular. Everyone loved him, only I just didn’t see why he was so magnificent. Or how he could make anyone in a training bra and braces melt with just a cocky smile.

I never tried to publish the book. I had no idea what I was doing. Mostly I just read each chapter as I completed it to my aunt, who had gone blind as she battled a severe form of type 1 diabetes. She loved it. Unfortunately I never got to read the end to her. She passed away before I wrote the end. But it was her enthusiasm for the book that gave me the initiative to push forward. And one night, I was sitting in the living room with my mother, and she started talking about an old boyfriend.

I didn’t understand where the conversation was going.

Then she told me he self-published a children’s book. This was about three years ago now. I had no idea what self-publishing was. I wasn’t sure it would even work. So I kept submitting my book to agents, praying for the day someone would find love with a paranormal romance I’d written called, The Council, A Witch’s Memory. It wasn’t a big hit with agents. They liked it, and it was enjoyable, but just not what they were looking for at the moment.

I must have gotten ten rejections from people who really liked it, but not enough to snap it up.

Everyone was going through the Twilight craze, and I’ll admit I was too. I had some stiff competition. I figured I might as well give indie publishing a shot.

So one day in July 2011, I put my book up. Zack Warren. The first book I’d completed. It had a cover I made on PowerPoint, and it had never been read by anyone. Ever. Just read aloud to Aunt Cindy.

In December of 2011, after mostly forgetting about my book, I saw an article about Amanda Hocking, and how she shot to the top of the lists selling indie books. I logged in to the author website, hoping that I’d sold a few copies. I didn’t think I’d sell any.

I wasn’t being pessimistic, but the sheer size of the kindle store, and the amazing authors that had so many fans, seemed daunting to me. I had no idea how to market, or tweet, or even make a Facebook fan page.

I’d sold 569 copies.

I logged off. Then I logged back in thinking I must have logged into someone else’s account. Right. That’s not my account. Then I sat there, thinking that I had 569 page views. That seemed more like it. I was so excited. Readers had viewed my page!!!

After staring at the screen a while longer, it finally sunk in that I’d sold 569 copies of Zack Warren.

Holy freaking cow.

I called my mother at work, screaming into the phone. Telling her what had happened. She was just as shocked. I couldn’t contain my excitement, and spent the afternoon calling anyone and everyone I knew.

I think I may have told the mailman….

Anyway, after I realized people were actually buying my books, I put up Chasing McCree. The book that changed everything. I really felt like an author, something I’d never experienced before. I hoped that readers connected to it, the way I did when I wrote it.

I kept writing, and uploading books to kindle. I worked my little fingers to the bone. I started backwards, essentially. I put up a book, and then had to figure out what exactly I was doing as an indie author.

That is something I don’t recommend doing if you want to keep your sanity when you start out :)

And when people ask me how I did it, I can honestly say I’m not exactly sure. I think some of it has to do with luck…well, a lot of it. A lot has to do with luck. A good cover boosted my sales. I did a couple blog tours. But mostly I just interacted with people. I talked to them. I wrote emails back to readers that were five pages long. I was just being myself.

The most important thing you can ever do, no matter what business you are in, is to be approachable. Be relatable and accessible, not untouchable.

As my mother says, we all put on our pants the same way.

One leg at a time.

Self-publishing has been a blessing in disguise in so many ways. I’ll never stop writing, and I’ll certainly never stop publishing my books.

I’d love to hear from other aspiring authors, or established authors, about their adventure into self-publishing. Or publishing in general. And I love answering questions, so if you ever have any about self-publishing, or feel like a chat, I’m an open book. Just ask away ;)

 

Seak Peek at A McCree Christmas!

A McCree Christmas

 

© J.C. Isabella

Copyright 2012 by J.C. Isabella

This book is the personal property of J.C. Isabella. Its characters are fictional and any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental. This book is for your entertainment, not to be given freely or resold in any way.

Thank you for respecting her work.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1

Briar

 

 

I remember the first time I played in the snow.

I was seven. My parents had brought me with them to a fancy ski resort in Colorado to attend a medical conference for my dad’s job. Left to my own devices—my nanny was more interested in skiing with cute instructors—I ventured out the French doors of my parent’s suite onto the hotel balcony.

A small pile of snow had fallen from the roof.

I dove right in, and was instantly in heaven.

Ever since that day, I promised myself I would have white Christmases when I was a grown up. I’d move somewhere with seasons.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be riding a horse, herding cattle, in the middle of a blizzard.

The wind gusted through the trees and sent flurries of thick snow dancing across my vision. Visibility grew worse. I couldn’t see my boyfriend, Chase, or Ash, his horse. We were about ten miles east of the main house on the McCree Ranch.

Chase had forged ahead, searching for a cow that had separated from the herd. He’d told me to stay back where it was safe. The terrain ahead was rocky, slick with ice, and snow filled crevices on the hillside.

I was still a novice at navigating a storm like this, so I stayed back as he’d asked, though the waiting was starting to wear on me, and my horse.

Firefly was in a restless mood. She probably sensed my unease. I was having trouble holding onto anything resembling calm. She bucked once, pounding her hooves into the snow. I steadied her, smoothing my gloved hand down her mane. “It’s okay girl.”

It was only my second time on horseback in snowy, inclement weather. So far, I hadn’t run back to the house, seeking shelter from the cold. Earlier in the day, Chase had said he was proud that I was trying.

“This is your last chance to run back inside, Briar baby.” Chase said to me. “It’s going to take you a while to get used to the cold.”

The thought of going back to Chase’s Aunt Millie and having a hot mug of cocoa was awfully tempting, “No, I can do this. I’m not going back.”

Now I wish I’d stayed home.

Firefly jerked her head. I held tighter to the reins, trying to keep her calm, but something was bothering my horse more than usual. She hadn’t been this skittish in months.

I squinted, searching the white and gray, hoping that it wasn’t anything too bad. Probably just a small animal looking for shelter, or maybe a tree branch had fallen.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something dart, disappearing behind a tree.

Firefly reared up. I held on for dear life, clinging to the saddle as she stood on her hind legs.

She dropped back on all fours, jarring me. The reins slipped from my hands. I grabbed the saddle horn. Before she reared again I let myself fall. It was a soft landing, right into a pile of snow. I sighed with relief, remembering the time Firefly had thrown me on the Fourth of July. I promised myself that if it happened again, I’d stop riding her and just keep her as a really awesome pet.

Stabbing, unbearable cold soaked through my coat and hit the back of my neck.

The creek.

I rolled to my stomach, scrambling on my hands and knees for the trees. I hadn’t realized how close we were to the creek. It wasn’t fully frozen yet. I’d been lying on snow that had piled up on the bank.

But as I sat up I felt water slide down my back. My skin crawled. I was wet from hips to shoulders.

Being wet wasn’t my biggest problem though.

Twenty feet away, a pair of glacial eyes met mine.

A wolf.

I was cold and wet, and my rifle was strapped to Firefly’s saddle.

The animal didn’t charge. He was sitting, just eyeing me, as if he didn’t know what to make of me.

I sat up a little straighter. Chase had told me what to do if I encountered a wolf, but every vital piece of information seemed to have vanished from my mind. I was frozen solid with fear and icy water from the creek.

One Year Anniversary as an Indie writer, and I'm Going to Tell All

It's my one year anniversary as an indie writer. November 14, 2011 was the day I put The Unofficial Zack Warren Fan Club online for the world to see. It was on a whim, and I didn't think anything would come of it. I wasn't one of the people who set out to be an indie writer. I had no hopes for any kind of career, and to be honest, I had no idea people did this for a living.

The only thing I knew: I had a book, I thought it was good, and other people might like it.

I was in for a wild ride over the next twelve months that I never, ever, in my wildest dreams would have imagined.

My mother has a friend. He told my mom to tell me I should try self-publishing. So, I put Zack Warren up and forgot about it. I just left it. It was on Amazon with it's little blue and pink cover. I made that sucker on PowerPoint, and I thought I'd be lucky if one person read it.

Fast forward a couple months later....

I was at home, surfing the Internet. I read an article about a girl that was now making a good living putting her books up on Amazon, and I remembered I had a book, and maybe I should check on it. I may have sold a couple copies. So after trying to remember the password to KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), I hadn't logged in since I put up the book, I eventually found my way to the page detailing how many books I'd sold.

Over 500.

I was in shock.

I stared at the computer screen for a few minutes, trying to make sense of things.

"Oh, that must be views....my page has been viewed that many times...."

After convincing myself that I was seeing things, dreaming, or that I somehow had magically logged into another person's KDP with my email--I mean, what are the odds of that?--I realized that I'd actually sold 500 copies of a book that I thought would never get any kind of recognition whatsoever.

So I screamed, scared the dog poo out of the cat, called my mother at work, who thought I was having some sort of crisis, and then proceeded to call and message anyone willing to listen. I'm not sure who was on the receiving end of my excitement, but no one was safe. Not even the mailman.

At one point I remember staring at my phone, bummed that I'd run out of people to call.

And my journey as an indie author started. I had no plan. No formula. Nothing. This wasn't something I set out to do. I still thought the only way to have a career as a writer was to get an agent and muddle through it like the rest of them. After all, I wanted to be legit. I thought that I wasn't a real novelist or author until there was a publisher who told me I was.

Hell, I was half sure there was a ceremony with a little diploma stating you are a real author!

But no.

No one can tell you if you are an author or not. I think it's something you earn as people buy your books.

If you've penned anything at all that resembles a book, you're an author, just not a professional one.

(I could argue the professional side too. Most of the time I'm writing in my jammies, not a suit and heels. I don't go to board meetings or young professionals groups, and I've never been late to my job as an author. Yeah, I could argue both sides till I was blue in the face, but we'd be here all day.)

Knowing that I had potentially stumbled onto something, since my book was selling, but not quite sure what it was, I held on for dear life, hoping the choices I made were the right ones. But there really is no right or wrong, just what works. If it works, great! If it doesn't, you hop on the next idea train.

The only idea I had at that point was Google.

I read blogs and articles and kindle books, all about indie writing and self-publishing. I was like a newborn. I had no idea what I was doing. No marketing, no twitter. NOTHING. All I knew how to do was sit at the computer and make up fun stories.

I'm going to tell you right now, half of everything I ended up with, I got from sheer dumb luck. That's all. I've put work into it, yes. In the beginning though, I had no business plan. I had no idea what I was doing. I just thought something looked good and went with it! There are authors who have gone into what I do with research and planning, carefully, meticulously. they have marketing plans and ideas to gain readers....I had none of that, and I'm doing okay. So if can do it, I think anyone can.

The key is being able to write.

If you can do that, and keep writing things people like to read, then I don't see how you could fail.

So that's it for this blog post. In my next, I'll talk about something a little more meaty.

Like steak!

Just kidding.

In my next one I'll delve a little deeper into life as an indie author, and exactly what I do.

 

Okay, so here is a little Tuesday Teaser of Kyle B. Johnston. On Kindle and Nook October 2012

Happy Reading!!!

Chapter 1

Kyle

I’m a liar. There. I finally admitted it.

I am a sad excuse for a man, because I lied to my friends. I lied to the world. And I wasn’t even lying for myself. I was lying for someone else. Someone who I thought gave a damn about me.

But there it is.

Kyle Benjamin Johnston.

World-class pushover.

It’s eating a hole in me. I don’t know what to do. I have this huge secret that I’ve never told anyone. Not even Zack. He was his own person. He didn’t care what people thought of him, most of the time, or even doubted what he wanted. He and Chloe had a good thing going.

To be honest, I was a little envious of their relationship. I mean, I wasn’t looking to strap on the ball and chain, forever and ever amen, but it would be nice to be in a relationship where both parties were equally interested in each other.

I wish it had been good for Lana and me, but we were toxic. I couldn’t make her happy, and she didn’t do anything for me. So what were we staying together for? Not for us, that was for damn sure. It was for a secret.

A big ass secret I’ve been keeping since spring break. Everything went down the proverbial toilet once Zack found out about the club. Then I found myself standing on the edge of the porcelain throne, thinking I could hang on to the rim, or jump into the chaotic clockwise swirl.

I jumped, feet first.

I’d had enough.

Finding Your Muse

Where or where has my little muse gone?
Where oh where can she be?
With her wit so good.
And her snark so strong.
She can’t stay hidden from me!



We need good mojo to write. We have to feel the words flowing like molten lava through our veins, searing our fingertips. It’s magical. An experience that cannot be duplicated in any way….

Okay, so what do you do if your writing muse says, “Thank you. Thank you very much,” and leaves the building?

Well, you could try going back to the beginning of what you wrote and reading everything to the point you lost your mojo. Or go looking for it. Search under every nook and cranny. Get out your compass and map, if your old school and totally awesome like that, or ask Siri where your muse is hiding. I’m sure she’ll know!

Or you could always take the project you’re working on and shove it in a deep, dark hole until lightning strikes and your muse takes up shop again.

That’s what I do.

If I can’t figure out what to write, I put my book away. It could go away for a week, a month…once, it went a way for a full year! Your muse will return, but if you try to force the writing, it’s not going to be pretty. You might as well brace yourself for some crummy work. At least, that’s what happens to me. Maybe your muse fly’s the coop and you produce some top quality work, because again, you’re just awesome like that.

So when I am looking for my muse, I work on something else. I’ll do research for another book I have coming up. Or I’ll go read a book by someone else that has nothing to do with what I’m trying to write. I know at some point, she'll be back. That little devil sitting on my shoulder, telling me what to write.

Blog Overhaul

It's been a while since I've written anything on my blog, and with good reason. I never gave myself a direction to go with things, so most of it was turning out to be willy nilly. While that can be fun, it can also leave me scratching my head, losing my sense of direction.

So with that being said, I've decided to change a few things. From now on my blog is going to be dedicated to posts about the writing world and everything in it. It's what I know and what I do, so why not spread the love, right?

Once a week I will post a piece about writing. You can expect it to be on technique, the process, the business. Just anything under the writing sun.

If there are any writing questions you'd like me to tackle, leave them in the comments.

My first post will be up Tuesday :)

Hope everyone is having an awesome weekend!