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Saturday, August 27, 2011

The End is Near...

No, I am not talking about the end of the world and for all my fellow world citizens who are in Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene's path, I hope you stay safe and take care of yourselves. Evacuate if you are told to and remember everything can be replaced except family and friends. 

Unfortunately (or fortunately) for me, I am nearing the end of my writing odyssey. As The Vamp Saga is a series, I am just saying goodbye to my cast of characters for a while. I have other irons in the fire after all that need tending to desperately.

I have decided (and will have to update all my pages and bio) to release the first part of Murder, Inc: The Pop Star Series in December, just after I have released Death Wish: Book I from The Vamp Saga and will be in the process of finishing TBP series with the last ebook from that saga, The Beautiful People: Part Two, which will encompass books five through eight for those readers who aren't fond of novella length. 

What am I doing, you ask? Well, I'm releasing books because that is what I want to do and it is how I plan to earn a living. The more work I have out, the more my (potential) audience can get the feel for my writing style. There are some who will never get into the pop culture/entertainment novel series I put out and there are some who will never really care for the vampire series (being all vamped out/paranormaled out... did I just make up a new word?). 

I can tell you right now I will never be releasing a thriller as I am not skilled in that area and there are plenty of gifted thriller writers out there so the genre won't be missing me. I write what I know and love best: pop culture and paranormal and even take a brief foray into erotic-literature when DeGeneration: Part I is released Summer of 2012. I say erotic-literature because there is plenty of explicit sex in the book but it is also a love story of great magnitude; a novel about possession, obsession, money, class, and a generation that is lost in its own degeneracy ... Generation X, my generation and a situation I can write about only too well. 

I suppose some of my work could backfire and potential customers might be "put off" because the same author they like also has an erotic-literature series. The people who like the erotic-literature series might think a lot of my other work is too dry. What none of my work is missing, fortunately, is angst. I love it, thrive on it and think it is a great way to tell a story and get people emotionally invested and involved. 

I have started a "Question of the Blog Day" because I genuinely want to interact with the people who follow my blog or just pop in and out to see what I am prattling on about now. If you can, please leave feedback as I do value it and find it helpful.

Question of the Blog Day: Do you think an indie-writer should stick to one genre or is it okay for us to "pull a James Patterson" (that is jump around and write all sorts of genres)? Why do you feel the way you do?

What I have been reading:  The Queen Bee of Bridgeton by Leslie DuBois, a cute story about a black girl from the wrong side of town who wants to be a ballerina and the popular white basketball player who is in love with her. Did I mention she goes to an exclusive school and so does not fit in? It's syrupy, adorable and more than what I hoped for in the YA genre. 
In The Shadow of The Moonlight: The Awakening by J.J. Bidell, a paranormal YA novel about a young woman who gets accepted to study abroad at a university in Maine but there's just one little secret she can't tell anyone: she's a cat person (were-panther for True Blood fans).  I'm not finished so I will be leaving a review but all I can say is wow. The plot is intriguing and the research involved is amazing and detailed. Did I mention it was translated from German to English? 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Moonlight-Awakening-ebook/dp/B005IHDW82
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/84422




Added to my TBR List: 
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kissed-Fire-Sunwalker-Saga-ebook/dp/B005I58P1S
Smashwords: 
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/82621


Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Eyes-Vetala-Cycle-Novel-ebook/dp/B0052BPGTM
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/61836
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shapes-Vetala-Cycle-Novel-ebook/dp/B005IE7VX2
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/83582

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

SQUEE! I'm on the TBR list! :-) lol

I think that authors should write what they love. Especially what they love to read. For most of us that means writing multiple genres. Nothing wrong with that. I think a lot of people enjoy reading in various genres.

I'm currently reading Norah Wilson's The Merzetti Effect which is a paranormal romance. It kicks some serious bootay. She also write a hilarious mystery series which reminds me a lot of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Totally different, totally awesome.

Unknown said...

Squees are definitely in order, Shea. I always love your recommendations so Norah Wilson's book will definitely go on my next TBR list. To be honest, I can't wait to get back into paranormal again but I won't read it while I am writing my present book.

I am learning increasingly that genre matters very little to me. I am even discovering the YA genre and I love it. I have ultimately come to the conclusion that if a book is good, it makes no difference what the genre is and that's truly a good thing for indie-writers, tradionals and everything in between. ;-)

Cristina said...

Authors should write about what they love most. I have a couple of book ideas, a paranormal one which i am very excited about and a fiction/travel/romance. Also have some ideas about a hot/steamy novel but I think I will use a pseudonym for the same reasons as you comment above. I will use my cat name!
Talking about cats, I love The Awakening. I can see it on a big screen!

Unknown said...

Cristina, in terms of genre, it depends on what the author is comfortable with and what kind of label they want attached to their name. It is easy to write any genre you want except the erotica one and come out unscathed.

Unfortunately, I have spoken a lot about my book and I am quite proud of it despite the steamy sex scenes as there is a real story there and I want to be able to take the credit for telling it. If it was just about sex (and I am not accusing all erotica novels of this as my first foray into erotica was 9 1/2 weeks and that is one of the most angst-ridden books I have ever read), I'd throw a fake name on the cover in a heartbeat. The only reason why I will use my real name is because it is a story that explores love and relationships and genuinely asks the question: define what is normal for a relationship between two people who love one another.