Hey gang! Susan asked me if I'd be willing to help in her book launch today, and I'm THRILLED to, but I also thought Susan, in particular, presented the face of some fabulous stuff that was going on in the Indie Publishing world, so I am gunna talk about THAT, too... in fact maybe that FIRST so you'll see what is so exciting about Susan and her latest book (or all of her books, but including her latest).
You know... it wasn't so long ago I was saying 'they just aren't there yet', and for ME, I have not dived in... mystery sells well traditionally without me learning all that extra stuff, and since I haven't gotten AROUND to learning all that extra stuff, I've stuck to traditional for my YA stuff, too. But I DO see indie in my future—my couple books that are off genre, in particular—the pieces of my career that will be nice as 'also by'... and I might get there for YA.
The reason I've changed my mind is largely that the QUALITY has come up so much. Two of the best books I read last year were Compass Master by Helena Soister, and Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn—they had all the phenomenal quality, and were less expensive.
Part of this great improvement is because of authors like Susan—who works in cooperation with other authors—several of our friends even—Leigh Talbert Moore, Matt MacNish, Jessica Bell. These authors are dedicated to quality and critique, edit and proof for each other so they get a really professional product.
Susan has been a forerunner in this—like I mentioned—intentionally getting her superstar books out there at TOP quality and opening the avenues for the rest of us who care to do all that work.
The other thing I'm so excited on about Delirium, is it is being sequentially released... remember me talking about that just last week--the potential... so you can get your first taste for just 99 cents.
What’s your life worth on the open market?
A debt collector can tell you precisely.
Lirium plays the part of the grim reaper well, with his dark trenchcoat, jackboots, and the black marks on his soul that every debt collector carries. He’s just in it for his cut, the ten percent of the life energy he collects before he transfers it on to the high potentials, the people who will make the world a better place with their brains, their work, and their lives. That hit of life energy, a bottle of vodka, and a visit from one of Madam Anastazja’s sex workers keep him alive, stable, and mostly sane… until he collects again. But when his recovery ritual is disrupted by a sex worker who isn’t what she seems, he has to choose between doing an illegal hit for a girl whose story has more holes than his soul or facing the bottle alone—a dark pit he’s not sure he’ll be able to climb out of again.
Contains mature content and themes. For YA-appropriate thrills, see Susan’s Mindjack series.
Delirium is approximately 12,000 words or 48 pages and is one of nine episodes in the first season of The Debt Collector serial. This dark and gritty future-noir is about a world where your life-worth is tabulated on the open market and going into debt risks a lot more than your credit rating. You can find out more about the series at the Debt Collector website and facebook page. The Debt Collector newsletter is a special list just for episode releases.
Susan Kaye Quinn, Author
Find all my books at my author website
To be notified about future releases, click here.So if you haven't read Susan yet, you definitely want to, and at 99 cents, it seems like maybe this is a good time to get hooked...
14 comments:
Congratulations on the new book Susan!
As for indies having arrived, I think we're still arriving. Yes, there is a lot more quality and success now than two years ago, but two years from now I think there will be a lot more. We're building up.
Congrats on the new book, Susan. It sounds like something I'd enjoy.
I've only recently taken my first baby steps into self-publishing. It's scary and exhilarating, and I enjoy the creative control.
I was saying something similar to Susan just the other day, Hart! About how her writing is so good it's really made me change my mind about Indie. I actually just finished Open Minds recently, and it was so good.
Congratulations, Susan!
Hart! Thank you so much for all your kind words! I'm going to have to go read your post on serials - they're definitely a new possibility that ebooks and indie publishing have opened up. I LOVE the freedom to write what we want and publish the way we want - it brings out the awesome, natural creativity of writers everywhere.
Sean - Indies are still just getting started, very true! A sea change in an industry takes time...but the future is intensely bright. I was lucky enough to meet Hugh Howey (indie rockstar) on tour with his ground-breaking print-release, and he was saying how the real news story is all the midlist indie authors who are making a living with their writing now. It's a phenomenon that's going nowhere but UP.
Shelley - Best of luck with your indie journey! One of the great things about going indie, is that you're far from alone.
Matt - I heart you, sir. That is all. :)
Alex - Thanks so much! :)
Oh, Sean-absolutely! There is still PLENTY of room. I think where we are is that the good ones have arrived, but there is still a pool of people not doing due diligence.
Shelley-I be you WILL enjoy it! And best of luck with your adventure!
Matt-I fell in love with the Open Mind blurb and found out it was Indie AFTER--a VERY pleasant surprise!
Alex-back atcha!
Susan-you're very welcome-You've impressed me for a long time!
Hart, True -- all true.
Susan, Congratulations!
Congratulations, Susan!
I think readers have gotten very savvy and tend to follow and read writers who have professional products (reviews now typically mention quality of grammar, spelling, and formatting). And there are plenty of wonderful freelance editors out there, too!
Cool! I just jotted down the title and am off to download :)
Interesting storyline, Susan. Like the title and love the cover. Congratulations!
there are a lot of quality indies out there. I enjoy finding new ones to read. I'm definitely into reading, not necessarily reviewing, good books lately.
Teresa- ALL OF IT!? Surely I said something ridiculous!
Elizabeth-it's true--reviews that include that stuff are definitely helpful in differentiating Indies.
Johanna-excellent!
Sia-Reviewing can sometimes be a chore, eh? I try to do it, but I hear you.
Oooooh - they both sound fab!
Completely agree on the quality. I just started in on Wool by Hugh Howey, and the writing is amazing.
THANK YOU so much, Hart darling, for being so kind about my book.
I really want to check out Susan's Open Minds and her Delirium series -- what a brilliant idea, to release a book sequentially. While on the one hand it sounds innovative, it also seems to harken back to the days of classic writers like Charles Dickens who serialized their novels in the press.
For me, publishing as an indie author was daunting and I had minor anxiety attacks while navigating the self-publishing process. But now that I'm no longer a virgin in the indie industry I'm actually looking forward to getting two more novels into print this year.
Judging by the very high quality of your own writing, Hart, I think you'd succeed like gangbusters as a mixed indie/traditional writer. As Susan mentions, the indie route gives us freedom and creativity (we can ignore genre rules!), and now with even the New York Times starting to review indie books, we're also getting some respect.
Onward and upward for us all.
Great post, TH! Susan really is a rising star, and her Debt Collector series is FANTASTIC. I'm getting the privilege of beta reading them, and they just get better and better.
Agony (#2) might be my absolute FAVE read this month! :D <3 ((hugs))
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