Radical Departure: What’s Next for "The Crystal Ball"

© 2012 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

This is one of my occasional posts on the status of my humorous mystery, The Crystal Ball. Thanks for your support as I dig deeper into one of my favorite genres of writing!

March 31 has come and long gone. It's the latest date day by which I should have heard the news, if I happened to be the lucky winner of the St. Martin’s First Crime Novel Contest. Although I haven’t yet seen the winner posted online, I assume it’s not me for lack of a call or letter. I’m less disappointed that I thought I'd be. Now it’s time to move onto Plan B. Transiting Jupiter entered my 1^st House on the same day—March 31—and I’m even more optimistic than usual about the book’s potential. I don’t equate not winning to “the book isn’t good.” Contests have to find the book that best fits the publishing criteria of the sponsoring publisher. I’ve had very positive feedback from early readers about The Crystal Ball, including comparisons of my writing style to that of Janet Evanovich. (I love her hilarious mysteries and consider that quite a compliment.) Best of all, I like how it turned out, and as you can imagine, The Radical Virgo can be a Radical Nitpicker when it comes to getting it just right. (If you knew what I go through sometimes, just to get the “perfect” art or photo for one of these posts, you’d be rolling your eyes as much as reading with them!)

It was good to take a breather from the project between submission of the book to the contest in November 2011 till now. It was one of many major projects that contributed to massive overdo last year. The cumulative busy tizzy left me in deep recovery all winter. Meanwhile, I’ve been gleaning wisdom from one of my favorite local authors. She tells me the only people making money as authors these days are the already famous, who nabbed a traditional publisher and steady contract long ago, and those who are self-publishing. That’s what a Virgo likes, a practical analysis. I’ve given away so much of my writing, willingly I might add, it’s time to help support the family for all my time and effort. Especially as we get older—even the pets!—our care and keeping gets costlier. Given that, I think I’ll be self-publishing. Being both author and publisher is labor intensive, but it yields the highest percentage of profits and in many ways, the highest satisfaction. Someone even told me recently that big publishers are now searching Amazon to find new authors who self-publish and make good sales. The book industry really has been turned on its ear by print on demand, e-readers, and the other cool tools of the Information Age. It's a whole new ballgame.

Here’s my newest blurb on the book:

The Crystal Ball

Opposites attract with such chemistry, they’re San Francisco’s latest earthquake. Astrologer Micki Michaels and Curt Stern are odder as a couple than Bones and Booth, except she’s the bleeding heart. He’s still the FBI agent, but retired and loving it--if she’d just let him. Micki and Curt find themselves keeping masqueraders from turning up dead at a futuristic, New Year’s Eve costume party. It’s the silver anniversary celebration of the longevity association she heads. Some nutcase wants the secret of immortality. He has no doubt crashed the party as one of the masked characters. How will they figure out who he is, protect family and friends, and keep this party the love-in craved by the Immortalists on Planet Earth Association? Wacky costumes, solutions and surprises. You’ll laugh way past Auld Lang Syne.

My favorite Vedic astrologer, Dennis Harness, told me long ago that I have a good signature for self-publishing in my Jyotish chart. I’ve decided I need to believe him, believe in my own positive self-publishing history, and believe in myself. Isn’t it one of life’s great astrological ironies that Virgo, a sign strong in the charts of many writers, is also one with the challenge of self-doubt?

I had this huge aha recently that Jupiter in the 1^st House combines the keywords House of Self and the Planet of Publishing = Self-Publishing. Now is, apparently, my time. So what am I waiting for, except for a new method to stare down the fear of the unknown?

It’s not like I don’t have experience self-publishing. I’ve been doing it since the 1990s, starting with Chironicles. I do it now on this blog and with my e-books. However, I’ve not yet done a paperback or print book, which simply adds another format to my repertoire.

So, here’s my plan. Since it has continued to sell well in PDF and e-reader versions, I’m going to adapt Chiron and Wholeness: A Primer into a paperback version so there will be a third format and purchasing option. In the process of converting that short primer, I should learn everything I need to know about how to self-publish The Crystal Ball. One of the things I’ve learned, thanks to you, is that PDF and e-reader versions are a good place to start. Then if sales warrant, moving to paperback makes sense, so people have choices that fit their various preferences.

If Saturn is good to me (we have a great relationship, overall), I hope to have my novel available by autumn. I could use all the cheerleading I can get … and if anyone has advice from any personal publishing experiences, I’m taking notes!

Thanks for being there for me and with me on my path of the pen,

Joyce

PS – I guess it’s more the path of the keyboard in modern times. I have never been so grateful that I took typing as a teenager in summer school—or for my fast flying, nimble fingers, which have gotten quite a workout ever since.

~~~

 Photo Credit: © Pétrouche - Fotolia.com

One Last Radical Departure: The Book Is in the Mail!

© 2011 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

During October and November, I’ve been doing short posts to take you along for the ride of rewriting and getting my humorous mystery book ready for submission to the St. Martin’s Press Annual First Crime Novel Contest. To read the entire series, start with No Small Change on The Radical Virgo or enter Radical Departure in the Search Box in the sidebar of this blog to pull up the full list of posts. This is the final installment of the series.

Twenty-two is a Master Number in Numerology. It also happens to be the day I was born in September. I have a powerful, personal resonance to the vibration of 22.

The 22 is the most powerful of all numbers--often called the Master Builder. The 22 can turn the most ambitious of dreams into reality. It is potentially the most successful of all numbers. It combines vision with action.  ~ Decoz.com

I’ve been working to live up to this number all my life. (The name Joyce is also a 22 vibration). I’m thrilled that my book entered the mail stream on this 22-day. Today is also a Best Day, according to Joanne Hampar’s Electional Astrology Planning Guide 2011. Since electional astrology isn’t my specialty, I count on Joanne’s Guide and don’t make any major timing decision without it. (For more on her work, read her past post here: The Art of Timing. All-round, I’m delighted that I met my goal to mail The Crystal Ball into the contest on this auspicious day.

Where Do I Go from Here?

I won’t be resting on my laurels waiting to find out if I won the contest, which will be announced by late March. Jupiter enters my 1^st House on March 31, and I plan to take advantage of the blessings coming my way. T-Pluto is also conjunct my Moon in the 9^th House. According to my own intuition, supported by my personal astrologer, 2012 will be a fortunate year for me when it comes to Jupiter-related and 9^th House pursuits, including publishing. But God/dess helps those who help themselves. (More and more, I think of Creativity with a Capital C as Higher Power.)

While I’m waiting to find out if St. Martin’s may become my publisher through the contest, I’ll be putting out query letters to a limited number of carefully selected literary agents. If I’m lucky enough to find someone willing to work with a first-time novelist (this is becoming quite rare), then the next milestone would be selling it to a traditional publisher with the help of an agent. Getting an agent doesn’t guarantee getting a contract with a publisher. I’ve had friends who have been signed by an agent, just to have the disappointment of their book not selling to a publisher. The jackpot would winning the contest or A+B—getting an agent and selling the book to one of the larger publishers. If the latter happened before the former, I’d withdraw my manuscript from the contest, as required by the rules.

The traditional route isn’t the only way to get published. I’m sure you’re all aware that the publishing industry is morphing as we speak into a much more diversified and level playing field. There are excellent smaller presses that publish mysteries, and there’s the increasingly practical option of self-publishing. Since I’ve already self-published three e-books, I have no qualms about this alternative. It has many advantages—a faster turnaround time to print and distribution and more profits to the author, who isn’t sharing them with an agent and outside publisher. On the other hand, the traditional route does cover some expenses that the author otherwise incurs, usually involves a cash advance against sales, and carries more promotional opportunities.

No matter which way The Crystal Ball goes, the major marketing will be in the hands of yours truly. Fate has conspired to give me a many occasions over the past decade to learn how to promote my work. I’m grateful that I no longer feel completely self-conscious and lame about marketing myself. Today’s author has to be both an introvert to get the writing done and an extrovert to put herself and her books out there to sell them. In case I haven’t mentioned this before, I am just 1 point into Introvert on the Myers Briggs Personality Inventory. That’s about as perfect a profile as a writer can get, walking the fence in both worlds, although 1 point into extrovert would probably be just as good. (In case you’re wondering, if you’re Myers Briggs savvy, I’m an INFJ.)

I’ll be keeping you up-to-date on publication milestones. Since these routes vary widely as far as when the book might be available for purchase, I’ll make a bold prediction--earliest, the second half of 2012, latest sometime in 2013.

The good news is that the path to how the book sees print has no relevance to the reader. A book is a book is a book—unless it’s also an e-book, and nowadays most novels are published in both formats. I love reading and writing e-books, and my Kindle is my life’s companion (the original name of The Crystal Ball).

As always, I promise to keep you informed about what’s happening at The Ball! When we’re closer to book in hand, I’ll be publishing excerpts and hope you’ll all be humming Carly Simon’s catchy classic, Anticipation.

Meanwhile, I’m giving myself some much needed time off till mid-January to spend the holidays with friends and family. And, by the way, I’ve already started writing and gathering ideas for my second novel in the Micki Michaels mystery series. It’s called Vanished on the Vortex. It’s about a young teen who disappears in Sedona, Arizona. Her UFO-watcher mom thinks she’s been abducted by aliens. Micki has other ideas, especially when she discovers on the down-low that there have been a string of young girls who have disappeared around the Red Rock Mecca, threatening the tourist trade if word gets out.

I’m so grateful for your support and encouragement,

Joyce

~~~

Photo Credit: © Anatoly Maslennikov - Fotolia.com

Radical Departure: Book Signings and Other Inspirations

Janet Evanovich at 2006 signing for Twelve Sharp in Roseville, CA

© 2011 by Joyce Mason

All Rights Reserved

In case you’re wondering what on Earth is going on here, see No Small Change on The Radical Virgo. During October and November, I’ll be doing short posts to take you along for the wild ride of rewriting and getting my humorous, metaphysical mystery book ready for submission to the St. Martin’s Press annual First Mystery Novel Contest

Whenever I start to freak out about the tight timeframe to rewrite my book and submit it letter-perfect, I remind myself that I’m finally doing what I've always wanted to do. I try to let the joy of the creative process overshadow the fear of the clock.

Sometimes it works.

Although the deadline for the annual St. Martin’s First Mystery Contest is November 30, I didn’t look past November 22 as my personal deadline. It’s a great electional day. Theoretically, great things should come of anything I start, like my part in the contest process. I can’t say I like that it’s the annual anniversary of the assassination of JFK, but beggars can’t be choosers when I’ve only got 4 ½ more weeks to pull it off. If I’d have looked one day deeper into my calendar, I’d have realized the other reason I can’t go past November 22. In my time zone, Mercury goes retrograde late on the 23^rd. The fact that Mercury Retro wasn’t even on my radar screen speaks to the Sabian symbol for my Sun: A false call unheard in the attention to immediate service. This Sabian is all about priority and absorption. One interpretation calls the bearer of this symbol “deaf to all allurement.” (Sorry, Mercury, I didn’t even know you were alive. Don’t hold it against me!) Too close to it, akin to how you can’t see your own nose.

I always knew I had an overly active imagination, but until I wrote this novel, I had no idea what actually goes on with me “upstairs.” My mind is a little scary. I feel that way when I hear Robin Williams. He actually blurts out the kind of stuff that goes on in my brain. The first time I heard him, I blushed! Since I need to produce quickly right now, I have no time for creative inhibitions. I just have to let go and let flow. I wrote five new chapters this week, still borrowing bits from Life’s Companions, the original version of the story. Ninety percent was new. The process keeps surprising me. Words keep on appearing on paper. (Is this automatic writing?)

One thing’s clear. You can’t hurry love and you can’t push creativity. Down time is an essential part of this process. I felt lousy the other day—tummy trouble, my back was out, and I generally felt like the flu was gunning for me. I decided to take the day off and get some extra healing sleep. My reward was cranking out three more chapters in the next 24 hours.

Now that I know I need R&R to make my fountain of creativity bubble, I have to trust that the timing will fall into place. I took off a few hours Saturday to go to my friend Cindy Sample’s book signing. It was another good shot in the arm. Cindy and I had lunch recently and compared notes on the writing life. Her second humorous mystery, Dying for a Dance,is now available. Her heroine, Laurel McKay, is a single mom who keeps stumbling over dead bodies, this time at her ballroom dance class studio. Since my novel, The Crystal Ball, takes place at a futuristic costume party in a big ballroom, I feel a kinship to Cindy’s latest book and just loved reading it in Kindle!

Cindy is also the queen of making book signings fun. Since the murder weapon in Dance is a high-heeled shoe, she had a big basket of chocolate high heels. (Death by chocolate—yes!). Some of her other edible perks are dead body crime scene cookies, you know—the outline of a body. Pass the yellow Do Not Cross tape!

At Cindy's signing, I bumped into another author I know from Sisters in Crime, Elaine Macko. Elaine and I were in a critique group together some years ago. Her first novel, Armed, just came out. Who knew murder could be so much fun! Armed takes place in a mannequin factory in a fictional New England town with a very interesting cast of characters and a unique murder weapon. I've been enamored with her story since she was still writing the first draft. Her new web site rocks.

It’d be a crime not to promote such creative new authors, so I’m giving their books as holiday gifts to a number of people this year. Watching them finally manifest all this “fun between the covers,” after being familiar with their stories for a number of years, is a great model of manifestation. I'm enjoying the vicarious thrill.

Seeing Elaine also reminded me of a time when we went with another Sister in Crime to a local signing by Janet Evanovich a few years ago. Janet’s at the top of this post in that moment all authors dream of—stacks of books ready for signing and crowds lined up by the thousands. We got to Barnes & Noble early, waited a long time, and it was well worth it. Janet, too, has a huge flair for creating a party at her book signings, including goodies. She passes out the Jersey junk food that’s everyday fare for her snack-addicted Stephanie Plum, the protagonist in her number novels. For Janet and Stephanie fans, in case you haven’t heard, the movie of her first book in the series, One for the Money, will be out in January 2012 starring Katherine Heigl. Don't miss the trailer in this link! For fans of Stephanie's wacky Grandma Mazur, I almost fell over when I found out she'll be played by Debbie Reynolds.

It’s a relief—and a big carrot!—to remember that the other end of this process is a party. In my case, that’s doubly true since much of The Crystal Ball takes place at one—a big, crazy costume party. Carrots may be incentives, but I don't plan to serve them at my book launch.

Will someone help me see that party in my Crystal Ball next week when I’m up to my eyeballs in work?