December 22, 2014

The Catalain Book of Secrets Is Published

Hullooo! So, you've probably noticed that my new website is live. Isn't she gorgeous? Bizango did amazing work. They were consistent, timely, creative, funny, and amazing communicators. You should probably write a book just so you have a reason to hire them to build you a website. In fact, I am positive I'm going to miss working with them.

But such is life, right? Relationships grow and change.

Speaking of which, The Catalain Book of Secrets is now available wherever books are sold. In keeping with the painful honesty of this self-pubbing journey, I'm going to share my current (as of today) sales figures: I've made $500 on the book through Kindle and sold 31 copies through IngramSpark (ie, to indie bookstores and libraries). These aren't terrible numbers--the book has only been available for sale since 12/12/14--but they are tepid numbers. It makes me panicky.

I tell myself I've done what I can--in the last nine days, I've sent out approximately 160 Kickstarter rewards, 500 postcards to indies, 300 review copies to indie bookstores, 30 review copies to newspapers and another 9 to professional reviewers (*Publishers Weekly*, etc.), put *Seven Daughters* out as a free download for five days as a loss leader, entered *CBS *in the Minnesota Book Awards, done one newspaper interview and one blog post (and am open to many more), and--and this is the biggest and--it's the best book I've ever written. I'm proud of it. *CBS *hit all the notes I wanted it to hit.

And so, I surrender.

I'm trying to do it in the good sense (ie, stop borrowing trouble) and not the weenie sense (I'm taking my soccer ball and going home!), but December has been a tough month, exacerbated by two personal speed bumps that have thrown me for a big-ass loop. But I keep going back to the relief I feel at writing the book I needed to write, and the gratitude at all the love and support I've gotten on this self-pub adventure, and I know I just need to dust myself off...right after I drink some red wine, eat dark chocolate, and watch a slew of 1980s action comedies in my fort. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and much love to you.

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December 8, 2014

The Kickstarter Campaign Reached Its Goal--Thank You!

I'm taking a detour from my promised genre posts to share breaking news: Sunday night, thanks to the generosity of readers, writers, family, friends, and strangers all over the world, my Kickstarter campaign reached its $12,056 goal four days early! When I found out, I cried.

I never cry.

For some perspective, I have thrown up more times in the last ten years than I have cried. (Apparently, I don't like liquid to come out of my head.) My point is that I am a bit of a stoic, but I was so humbled by this experience, so pushed to a new level of vulnerability and evolution, so caught by the hands of many that I turned into a squishy mess.

Thank you all for your kindness! Now begins the next level of this crazy-thrilling ride: fine-tuning the marketing campaign for The Catalain Book of Secrets so I can spend wisely and account for every penny that has been pledged, and beginning to organize the Kickstarter pledge rewards (see photo for a sample). The Kickstarter campaign is live through the witching hour of Halloween, and there are still gifts to pledge for (books, candy, book club kits including a Skype from me, and at the $25 level or higher, the most amazing surprise gift EVER--it's got magic). You can find out the details here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1675834533/the-catalain-book-of-secrets

Or, you can simply accept my sincere thanks for joining me on this journey, and my wish that only good things come to you today and every day. Big love to you!

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November 5, 2014

Fiction Genres, Part I: Transcending the Genre

If you walk into a bookstore, you'll see genre fiction separate from literary fiction. Genre fiction (also called commercial and mainstream fiction) is comprised of these subcategories: mystery/thriller, romance, westerns, horror, sci-fi/fantasy, and young adult. It is generally viewed as books for the masses, while literary fiction is considered more highbrow.

Can we stop with that?

I'm gonna call this elevation of literary fiction "genreism," an elitist holdover dictating that a certain class of books (one that can be largely inaccessible because of subject matter, or because its pacing makes it difficult to read them between shifts, or for a host of other reasons) is better than another. I'm not knocking literary fiction. There's some truly awesome lit fiction books out there (I just read Adiche's Americanah and highly recommend it). What I am doing is taking the idea that any single genre is better than another, hitting it over the head with a shovel, and burying it.

Because here's the deal: literary fiction IS just another genre.

It is a genre that relies more on character than plot, that includes themes and symbolism and speaks to the human condition, but that is mostly defined more by what it isn't than what it is. Literary fiction is not horror, though what is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein without a monster? Literary fiction is not romance, but what is Jane Eyre without passionate love? Literary fiction is not science fiction, but how else would you describe Orwell's 1984? Literary fiction is not mystery, but The Big Sleep without murder and blackmail really would be sleep-inducing.

Some might argue that these examples "transcended their genre," as if the authors set out to write a horror/romance/sci fi/mystery novel and accidentally wrote a really good book instead. I would argue that every novelist tries to write the best book they can, and that genres--including the genre of "literary fiction"--are useful for organizing conversations, catering to moods (sometimes you just wanna read a romance), selling books, and nothing else.

Because I'm teaching a class on genres in Boston in February, and because I write across genres (mystery, fantasy, young adult, and lit fiction) and am trying to figure out what exactly that means, and because this is important (genreism stifles reading and writing), I'm going to break it all down.

My next post will provide a definition and examples of literary fiction, romance, westerns,

horror, sci-fi/fantasy, and young adult, and the post after that will break the mystery/thriller category (near and dear to my heart) into its sub-categories. If you would like subcategories for the other genres, you can find a great list here.

The lists will not be definitive, and feedback (as well as reading recommendations in each category) is welcome!

(And I have to sing this from the rooftops--my Kickstarter campaign to publish my magical realism novel The Catalain Book of Secrets has met its funding goal! Thank you thank you thank you! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1675834533/the-catalain-book-of-secrets)

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