Journalist And Newspaper Gone Bad

The reporter that was bugging me for details about AMP? The one that Teddi Pig posted the contact details for? His article went up at the Aurora Sentinel newspaper. The title of his "article?"

Battle Among Local PORN Authors Heats Up on Facebook As Aurora Publisher Goes Mum.

Porn?  PORN?  What the HELL?  I don't write PORN.  I don't edit PORN.  In fact, during my tenure at AMP, I never saw a PORN book go through the pipes.  PORN and EROTICA are two entirely different genres, types of book, and markets. AMP didn't publish PORN.  AMP published science fiction, fantasy, horror, romance w/o sex, romance w/sex, erotica, mysteries, suspense, thrillers, action/adventure, paranormal romances.

And yet, this "journalist," Brandon Johanssen, didn't mention that in the title of his article.  Oh no--instead, he compounded the misery of AMP authors by calling them all PORN authors.  

PORN?

Dude--are you really SO ignorant that you don't know the difference between erotica and PORN?  Are you really throwing it out there that I, who writes fantasy, science fiction, and horror am a PORN writer?  Really?

You know, I think that's called LIBEL.

Or, at the very least, yellow journalism.

What happened to journalistic ethics?  What happened to double checking your facts?  Heck--one of the authors quoted in the story, Charles Sanders, wrote a HORROR book that didn't get anywhere near a PORN.  Charles is probably not real happy to be called a PORN author.

I know I'm sure as hell not.

This is why I didn't talk to that cretin when he kept pestering me for information about AMP.  And despite the fact that in the ARTICLE, he states that not all AMP writers wrote PORN--it doesn't really matter.  The TITLE is what will remain online. So for the eternity that is Google-fu, when my publishing credits come up online, PORN author is what people will think.  No one will remember that I write vanilla spec fic, or that I edited books from all genres and build a no-sex-allowed tradtional Regency romance line.  All they'll remember is the PORN.

With complete unconcern for the victims of the AMP debacle, this "journalist" and the Aurora Sentinel newspaper discarded all the ethics of their profession and threw all AMP writers under the bus on top of the financial and emotional hardships they are already undergoing.  And while I'm really damn pissed at Sandra Hicks right now, the fact that she's been labeled a PORN publisher in her hometown is absolute bullshit.

But the Sentinel and Johanssen don't give a rats' ass about that.  As long as they sell papers, they are quite willing to trample to work and reputations of over a hundred authors and staff into the dirt. Right now, that PORN label is hovering over every single victim of Aspen Mountain Press.  And that "reporter?"  The one that lied to AMP authors and staff about wanting to get their stories out?  

He lied.

Let's look at my correspondence with him At first, he contacted me because of my blog and mentioned that an AMP author (who most assuredly does NOT write PORN) had contacted him about AMP.  In my return email, I confirmed that I did work at AMP (and yeah, that was a big DUH on my part since I'd been raging about it on my blog. Cut me some slack. Even I can pull a DUH.) and asked what he intended to write his story about.  He indicated he wanted to do a business story, and wanted details about why AMP fell, how much I personally was owed, how many books AMP published and WHAT KIND OF BOOKS AMP PUBLISHED.

I talked about the offer with the ladies of Musa, and we arrived at a decision together that what I'd said on my blog was enough to serve as Musa's statement about our dealings with AMP, both within the company and as a separate entity.  I informed Mr. Johanssen of this in a formal, if cordial, reply:

Dear Mr. Johansson,

After discussing your request with my colleagues and considering it very carefully, I'm afraid I don't really want to comment further on the Aspen Mountain Press situation.  My blog posts are already up and impacting the situation. I don't feel that participating in such an interview is the best choice for me at this time.
Thanks--
Cordially,
Celina Summers

His response? He wanted more background information for the story. At that time, I replied that I would be happy to reply to his questions via email, but not via a phone call.  I never heard from him again.

Now I know why.

The article came out the next DAY.

He didn't have any interest in the facts of the story.  The facts are pretty boring. What he wanted was the sensationalism of screaming PORN!!!! into the quiet little community of Aurora, pointing to a member of that community as the PORN Queen who stole from her writers.  

So thanks for nothing Aurora Sentinel.  Appreciate all the "help" Mr. Johanssen. My situation is SO much better now that I've been branded for my involvement with a company that produces PORN.  

Anyone who is outraged by this article--like pretty much every writer that's been born?--can leave a comment at the Aurora Sentinel story page (linked to above) or send an email to legals@aurorasentinel.com.  As writers, we know the power of the written word. The truth pales next to it.  And this is just another example of how to exploit the writers who have already been exploited by their publisher.  

Yellow journalism should never be supported, particularly when a journalist and the organization he writes for are content to lie in order to sell more copies.  Perhaps the Aurora Sentinel and Mr. Johanssen will be surprised to realize that a simple writer of non-porn PORN has a greater understanding of journalistic ethics and scruples than they do. 

You see, when I was working toward my degree in Communications, my professors always pounded home the fact that a reporter had to be sure of the FACTS before he went live with a story.  I guess Brandon Johanssen slept through that part of the course.

But his editor?  His editor knew better.

For shame.

Breaking My Word About Aspen Mountain Press

Yeah, yeah--I really thought I was done.  There are a lot of things I could be blogging about, but this one is sticking in my craw.

Since all this mess started, Sandra Hicks has been maintaining a low profile.  The splash page on the AMP website reads:

The Aspen Mountain Press web site is temporarily suspending operations.Over the past five years we've demanded high standards in all areas of the company from authors to editors to administrators.  Due to the current health of the owner these standards have not been met.We'd like to thank you for your support and patronage over this past half decade and apologize for any inconveniences this decision causes.

Due to the current health of the owner...

Makes it sound really bad, doesn't it?  Like the situation is dire?

Well, then let's take a look at the owner, Sandra Hicks, and her personal Facebook page. Her personal Facebook page tells an entirely different story.  This Sandra Hicks doesn't seem to have many health problems.  According to her posts, she is shopping to finish decorating her son's bedroom, going to concerts, baking pumpkin pies and...quoting Bible verses. A lot of Bible verses.

And yet, this is the same woman who just a few weeks ago in an  open letter to her unpaid and rebelling authors and staff claimed, "I can only work about two hours a day."

Obviously, if one is shopping, decorating, baking and going to concerts that doesn't leave a lot of hours in the day.  And, curiously, while the AMP authors and staff remain unpaid, Ms. Hicks can miraculously afford to redecorate her son's room?

Amazing recovery on her part--both financial AND physical.

I've canvassed the AMP authors and staff over the past few days.  Despite a minuscule trickle of rights reversion letters 10-14 days ago, no one has been paid or received their rights back since then.  I know since I had the 'latest betrayal in a long line of betrayals' voice message (ironic since apparently me not getting paid the royalties she owes me is now some kind of betrayal of her?) I haven't heard a peep from Sandra Hicks or Aspen Mountain Press.

We are now into November. I have not received any pay from Aspen Mountain Press since June.  That means that on November 15th, we'll be at the FIFTH consecutive month without receiving pay.  And yet, Sandra Hicks apparently feels holy enough to purchase the makings of pumpkin pies, to pay for concert tickets, to redecorate her son's room--and all with the royalties that AMP authors and staff members didn't get paid for.

How easy it is to steal someone else's money and spend it on yourself. And so, despite numerous articles and blog posts about the thievery ongoing at Aspen Mountain Press, including from Writer Beware and sites of that nature, Sandra Hicks apparently feels well enough--and safe enough--to spend the money she has illegally withheld from the authors and editors who actually EARNED that money.

Nice.

The time for excuses is past.  The time for spurious claims of ill health or some other incapacity to follow through with her sorely abused authors and staff and to rectify her mistakes is long past.  At any time in the past five months, Sandra Hicks could have made even a tiny effort to recompense the well over a hundred authors and staffers for the over four hundred books that were published by Aspen Mountain Press.

She has not.

Instead, while claiming poor health, she's engaged fully in her new AMP-free days: spreading the word of God, baking pies, redecorating her son's room and attending concerts, sharing the joys of her life and the bounties of God's grace with her new pals from church, none of whom appear to be aware that she is responsible for financial hardship across multiple continents and blithely unconcerned with the suffering she's left in her wake.  She's not responding to emails, or phone calls, or registered letters, or text messages.  Nothing.  Nada.

And yet I am the betrayer for spilling her dirty little secrets, despite the fact that I almost lost my house while she redecorated hers?

Whatever.

Allow me to make myself VERY clear.  If Aspen Mountain Press and its owner, Sandra Hicks, do NOT respond in a clear cut fashion and make an effort to make amends to the writers, editors and staff who've been stolen from, I will release every single piece of correspondence, every financial record I was provided or had access to, and every single word of the transcripts I have for the multiple staff meetings I attended/ran as the managing editor at Aspen Mountain Press on this blog, other blogs, and whatever sites want to have them.  I will provide those materials to each and every author at Aspen Mountain Press for their legal cases. I will give that information to the journalist in Aurora, CO who's been asking me for an interview and whom, up to this point, I have refused.

A brand new countdown clock has just started. I would have been happy to deliver this message to Ms. Hicks in person and privately, but she's not answering her mail OR her phone these days.  But I'd damn sure be willing to bet that she's watching her Google Alerts, or that her husband, Jeff Hicks, the owner of 1PlaceForRomance (Mr. Hicks was also involved in an unsavory situation last year when AllRomanceEbooks sued him for copyright infringement and the third party site cancelled AMP's ability to upload books to the ARE site, naming Sandra Hicks as a co-respondent in the lawsuit) is.  As a matter of fact, judging from the undeniable truth that the only time Ms. Hicks has contacted me since my departure from AMP had to do either with getting money from me (the Aurora Regency deal) or to accuse me of betraying her as the result of a blog post, this is probably the ONLY way to get the warning to her ears.

Close the doors permanently, Sandra.

Give the authors their rights back.

And then pay the people you owe the money you owe them instead of going on about your business like there's not a thing in the world wrong with what you're doing.

There is something very wrong with what you're doing.  You have become what you once preached against--you, the leader in the fight against the scam publishers that burned you and your rights back in the day.

No matter how many Bible quotes you regurgitate, you have become a scam publisher yourself--an electronic pirate garbed in the spoils you've earned from the labor of others.

Just get it over with.

There's not a person in the world stupid enough to believe that you're at death's door when you're spending your energy, time and OUR money redecorating your son's room.  Seriously.

Breaking My Silence on Aspen Mountain Press--Part 3: Epilogue

I had to take a few days off and NOT think about Aspen Mountain Press. After all, I have my own business to think about and my own writing career.  But now, at the conclusion of a hellish week, I've decided to follow the links to my blog all over the internet and see what people were saying and thinking about what's happened at AMP.  As a result of that trek, there are a few things I want to discuss.

There seems to be a common thread among the comments that the AMP authors and staff are sitting back doing nothing.  That's about as far away from the truth as you can get.  

Stop and think for a minute. Would it be prudent or wise to discuss LEGAL actions on the internet?  Of course not. Why would anyone exploring legal avenues discuss their plans online, where not only people who are not involved can see them but the party against whom such actions would be taken?  Several of the AMP authors are attorneys, and an attorney had seen my documentation before I ever said a word.

On top of that, the AMP authors have been anything but passive.  Unlike previous small press implosions, this group of authors banded together and worked out a concrete strategy for dealing with AMP.  (And no, I wasn't the one who did that. I and the other staffers who'd walked were keeping our noses out of it as much as possible, in the hopes that our departure would galvanize the owner into rectifying some of the more serious breaches of contract.)  They managed to get AMP books taken down from third party sites pretty much across the board.  A few sites still carry AMP products, and they are now the focus of that group of authors.  

Anyone who's not involved can proffer advice to contact the FBI, the DA, the IRS, etc etc.  That's not a problem. What IS a problem is the assumption that these authors were too stupid or too scared to do that.  Whatever is posted on these blogs by AMP authors and staff is just the merest surface of what's going on.  

In the end, though, there are lessons to be learned here--lessons for every writer out there.  First off, there is NO SUCH THING as a contract that can't be negotiated.  In our eagerness to sign on the dotted line and get our works published, there are sections of the contract we rarely pay attention to.  The first publishing contract I signed, I never even THOUGHT about taking a look at the breach of contract section.  I just never considered it likely that the company would fall apart. I never thought to make sure there was an out clause for me if the company disintegrated.  I was naive. Many new writers are. 

Second, as soon as communication starts to become a problem--and particularly with a sole proprietorship--you need to address that issue IMMEDIATELY.  That seems to be the number one symptom of imminent implosion.

Third, I believe all writers at small presses need to have the mysteries of royalties eradicated.  When we started Musa, one of the key points for us was developing a database for our authors to be able to track their sales in real time.  We want our authors to know exactly what they're getting paid and when.  As far as I'm concerned, there is no reason to keep writers ignorant of how they're going to be paid.  Not one. 

Fourth and finally, if the unthinkable happens follow the example of the AMP authors.  Band together with other authors in the company.  Determine a set strategy. Follow through on that strategy absolutely.  When a retail giant like Amazon pulls a company's books due to complaints from that company's authors, you know the strategy will work.

This blog is the absolute last word I have regarding Aspen Mountain Press, its owner Sandra Hicks, and the resultant actions. Ever. And while I am still really pissed off that matters have come to this, I am also grieved as well.  Sandra Hicks was my friend and mentor. The health problems she is experiencing are very real.  Does that excuse her actions in my eyes? No, it doesn't.  She's not been ignorant of my opinions regarding sending checks out without royalty statements or her lack of communication. There's a year's worth of correspondence to support this contention. 

There are still questions that I and the rest of AMP need answers for.  Are our royalties/salaries going to be paid?  When?  Is AMP reverting all rights to the authors and closing down?  If so, when?  Are we going to be provided an accounting for the royalties we received--or didn't receive--over the past 15-18 months?  If so, when?

My opinion is that only a certified CPA can untangle the AMP accounts enough to make that accounting to the authors.That's not what bothers me.  What bothers me the most is that while AMP authors weren't getting paid their royalties, that money was being used by the owner for things that it shouldn't have been.  

That, my friends, is the cold, hard, unpleasant truth.

This week, I was asked by a journalist in AMP's home town for an interview.  After much thought, I decided that these blog posts were going to be my final statement about Aspen Mountain Press. I discussed this with the remainder of the senior staff that walked with me from AMP, and as one of them put it: "I think that is hitting below the belt.  You were trying to protect authors and help them.  Writing about her in her home town is a witch hunt."

That's a sentiment I agree with entirely. 

Let's be frank here--we're not talking about a multi-million dollar company here.  We're talking about a small publisher who, quite frankly, got overwhelmed at a time when her inexperience cost her dearly.  Once in the trap, she kept digging herself deeper until she couldn't find her way out.  To be honest, her biggest mistake was getting into the publishing business at all.  She understood the publishing--not the business. What needs to happen now between AMP and its authors/staff can be boiled down to the following:

1) The immediate and unequivocal release of all books and contracts still held by the company.

2) The immediate audit of the AMP books by an accountant who is not involved with the situation.

3) The immediate accounting of all royalties due to each author.

4) The remuneration of any and all unpaid royalties and salary to each unpaid author and staffer.

That's it. Period.  Once that happens, everyone--including the owner--can move on to a new chapter in their lives.  And then, AMP can be held up as another cautionary tale on the gate of the bone yard where small presses go to die. 

And THAT, my friends, is all she wrote.

No more Aspen Mountain Press.  Godspeed.

ETA--Or maybe not.  Today, my attention was brought to the owner's Facebook page--a page that's nothing but Bible quotes and updates about things like going to a concert.  So the owner is too ill to right the ship and two hours of work saps her energy, but she is still well enough to post on Facebook and attend concerts?

On top of that, an AMP author (book lost in limbo) contacted me today claiming AMP had written to HIM. asking him if he wanted his rights back OR if he wanted to publish with AMP.  Due to this new turn of events, I have to reluctantly conclude that AMP's owner has no intention of closing and will reopen the AMP website for business before the sixty day window stipulated in the contract has passed.  

Interesting Developments

This morning, I woke up to a threatening message left as a comment on my blog.

Now granted, there are several people I can think of right off the top of my head who might feel compelled to leave such a comment on my  blog. Obviously, considering the nature of my past few posts I would have been an idiot not to change my comments over to moderation. I tend to NOT be an idiot--at least, not all the time--so I was fortunate enough to weed that comment out in the skimmer.

*shrug*  I'm really only an idiot about silly things, like forgetting to turn the heat on last night when I knew the temperature was going to get down to the low forties. (in other words, it's damn cold in here this morning). But one thing I'm most definitely NOT an idiot about is how people behave.  Years of bartending kind of wean you off the surprise thing.  But even then, strange reactions are kind of acceptable in a way.  Someone can have a few too many and shoot off at the mouth without really meaning to and BAM!  Bar brawl.

This is different.

I have to ask myself--who wants me to keep silent? Who thinks they can scare me into shutting up?  The list of suspects is fairly small; pretty much limited to the posts on my front page.  I figure it's someone who either wants me to keep quiet about Aspen Mountain Press, someone who didn't appreciate me outing self-plagiarism, or someone who has a strong reason to want to scare me from a personal situation. And since I'm reasonably certain that the only person who is involved in the latter can neither read nor spell, I have to look at the other two.

Let me make myself perfectly clear: I don't respond to threats. I don't really give a crap about anything a coward hiding behind an Anonymous handle might think about me, about my decisions, or about my right to speak out. I really, really don't.

That being said--

There's been some movement on the Aspen Mountain Press debacle.  Authors are starting to get rights reversion letters, which is great.  The website is down, with the following message:

The Aspen Mountain Press web site is temporarily suspending operations.
Over the past five years we've demanded high standards in all areas of the company from authors to editors to administrators.  Due to the current health of the owner these standards have not been met. 

We'd like to thank you for your support and patronage over this past half decade and apologize for any inconveniences this decision causes.

Also, checks of third party sites reveal that there are very few AMP books to be found for sale.  Even Amazon, apparently, has taken many AMP books down.  


All of this is good news.  When the AMP website was pulled, a new countdown clock started up.  Contractually, (Section XIX) if AMP suspends operations for sixty days, all rights revert to the authors immediately.  So this is great news, particularly when paired with the authors who had their own countdowns started over thirty days ago with notification of breach of contract.  Those countdown clocks are 90 day clocks. So right now, the authors who have not received rights reversion letters are keeping a weather eye on the AMP site.


However, I've not heard of any authors or staff getting paid.  Indications are that AMP is getting rights reversion letters out first and then turning to the salaries and royalties still owed. For the time being, therefore, while there is progress many AMP authors are not satisfied.  Latest word from Ms. Hicks, the owner, has reverted once more on the subject of having enough money to pay AMP authors and staff and now says she has the money for back wages and royalty payments.  


So hopefully, the small signs of progress are indicative of real progress and not just good intentions.


I have hopes that AMP and Ms. Hicks are going to do the right thing.  As I've said before, I've known Sandra for years, and she has been a friend and mentor to me. I don't believe she ever set out to deliberately harm her authors, staff or company; I think she was just overwhelmed But in the eyes of the law, and the people who are suffering as the result of this debacle, intent counts for little when set against the reality of the AMP staff and authors' very real and legitimate complaints. 

So despite the fact that the countdown clock has now begun for over 400 books and contracts and over a hundred authors.  Unless an author receives a reversion of rights letter, none of those books are freed from AMP.  On top of that, if the owner decides to reopen fifty-nine days after the notice, the authors are still entangled with AMP: Charles Wells, Esther Mitchell, Andy Dunn, Kimberly Nee, Grace Wen, Samantha Combs, and Barbara Custer are just some of the authors currently trapped in AMP contracts or contesting their royalties.  No authors and staff have received royalties since July—the month the senior staff did the royalties—and those funds remain unpaid.

Ignoring problems doesn't make them go away. As long as the books are ensnared by Aspen Mountain Press and the authors and staff are denied their royalty payments, Aspen Mountain Press has become the latest cautionary tale and warning to writers.

Even self-plagiarists.

So much for threats. I am not intimidated that easily.  

Breaking The Silence on Aspen Mountain Press Part Two

Today's post will be much shorter.  The past couple of days have been very wearing on me. And I do have a business to run instead of forever worrying about what's going on with Aspen Mountain Press.

Here are Aspen Mountain Press's and owner Sandra Hicks's responses today.

1) Today the Aspen Mountain Press website went back online.  None of the out of contract books were taken down.  The site has not been updated.  AMP authors believe that after being served with a DMCA notice and having the site taken down, AMP has just moved to a new host.  

2) After her post of yesterday morning (that you can see here on my blog) where she assured the authors that she had the money to pay the authors, today she told an author that she actually has NO money to pay the authors and that she isn't worried about criminal charges because she hasn't done anything wrong.

3) One author received a rights reversion in the mail today, but when the site went back up all of her books were still on it and still offered for sale.

Okay, let's just be blunt here.  I'm not sure what happened to Ms. Hicks to such a degree that yesterday, she claimed there was money for all the authors but today, she claims there is none.  Unless I get a sizable check in the mail in the next couple of days for the salary and royalties I'm owed, I'm going to assume the funds that AMP should be holding for its authors in a standard royalties arrangement, money that does NOT belong to AMP but belongs to its writers and editors who are owed money, has been used for purposes other than what they are intended to be used for. 

This is October.  Third party sites usually pay 45-60 days after the end of the quarter for those quarterly sales.  So AMP was paid in May for the first quarter; August for the second quarter; and should be paid in November for the third quarter.   AMP authors and staff should receive royalties 45 days after the end of the month that is the pay period.  So July should have been paid in September, August in October and so forth. So at this moment, in addition to all the AMP website payments--also paid 45 days after the end of the pay period--AMP authors are unpaid for one quarter and soon to be TWO quarters of third party sites, THREE months of AMP web sales and Amazon sales, PLUS any unpaid royalties from previous pay periods.

Where exactly DID those thousands of dollars of sales go?  The last quarter I did editor royalties for before we took over, a royalties quarter missing over a hundred already-released titles on third party sites, the sum of AMP royalties for the quarter were substantial. The months of June and July, the senior staff put all those books up for sale on the third party sites (hours they never got paid for) and AMP posted an average sales increase for that month in the double digits. Significant double digits.  I can put together a fairly accurate estimate of royalties for both those quarters and probably low ball it in the process.  If I were really ambitious, and I may be, I could just go through the AMP sales records in my possession from my tenure as managing editor this summer and figure out EXACTLY how much AMP got paid. 

I think there needs to be an accounting for those funds IMMEDIATELY.  We are NOT talking about small change here. We are talking about six months of sales on third party sites, three months of sales on Amazon and the AMP website and for the first of those two quarters I have the figures sitting right in front of me. So, let me reiterate: I KNOW HOW MUCH ASPEN MOUNTAIN PRESS WAS PAID FOR THE SECOND QUARTER OF 2011.  I can hazard a VERY good educated guess about what AMP was/will be paid for the THIRD quarter of 2011. Actually, I know how much Aspen Mountain Press was paid for all of 2010 and half of 2009 too. 

And if the owner of AMP does NOT have the money--then where is it?

We may never know. 

Regardless of what happened with the money issues, these facts are patently clear:

1) AMP authors have still NOT been paid the royalties due them.

2) AMP staff members have NOT been paid the royalties due them.

3) The AMP website miraculously returned to the Internet today, which couldn't have happened if the owner  was incapacitated.

4) When the site went back up, AMP still had the out of contract books still offered for sale.

5) Even authors who received letters of rights reversion in the mail today are STILL seeing their books offered for sale on the AMP website.

AMP authors need to know and follow through on this one major, unavoidable fact: Aspen Mountain Press is CONTRACTUALLY REQUIRED to present each author a royalty statement for each month's check with the reasonable measures of available technology.  Even if you did not make any sales, Aspen Mountain Press is CONTRACTUALLY REQUIRED to send you a royalty statement for that month. The contract clause regarding this reads as follows: 

XIII. Payments and Statements
Publisher shall pay Author royalties in accordance with a schedule to be determined at Publisher’s discretion but in no event shall payment be made later than forty-five (45) days from the end of the month royalties are collected.  Royalties will be calculated from the first of the month through the last day of the same month.  Payment shall be made by Paypal, or corporate check, to Author or Author’s authorized agent.

Author understands that royalties will be paid in the following month copies of the Work are paid for by consumers, distributors or vendors, not to exceed forty-five (45) days after the end of the payment period.  If distributors or vendors delay payment to Publisher, Publisher is not obligated to pay the royalty until it has been paid by the distributor or vendor.

Publisher agrees to take such reasonable measures as Publisher’s sales technology permits to obtain and include, in royalty statements, information about the number of copies created, shipped, sold, and if appropriate, returned for each Digital / Print Format edition of the Work whether sold from Publisher’s website or through other channels of distribution.

Let me tell you what reasonable measures you have to take to show the sales for a specific work in a given month.  I'll work with one of my books. You go to the spreadsheet, you select the row of the book, you copy and then you--:

   Metamorphosis *editor name* 0 $0.00 0 $0.00 0 $0.00 0 $0.00 0 $0.00 0 $0.00 0.00 0.00

--paste the numbers into another document.

I timed myself; that took two seconds,

The 'reasonable measure' you need to take, the 'reasonable measure' of technology you need is the following: a spreadsheet, provided by the vendors; a new document or email to paste into; and a computer.

If you want to get REALLY fancy, you paste a line up top that has the column names in it.  Here, let me show you:

Title Editor Amazon-May Sales FW-1stqtr Sales Bookstrand 1 qtr Sales ARE 1st qtr Sales 1PR 1st qtr Sales AMP-May Sales New Release Other CK AMT      

Metamorphosis *editor name* 0 $0.00 0 $0.00 0 $0.00 0 $0.00 0 $0.00 0 $0.00 0.00 0.00       

(On a wider screen it lines up better. But this is still not incomprehensible.)

For editor royalties, all you have to do is copy and paste ALL the books/lines under that editor's name--a task I made much simpler and easier by putting BIG RED LINES in between each editor on the spreadsheet.  You don't even have to use a calculator, because I set up the spreadsheet with the formulas needed so the program did the math for you.

 But even without the royalty statements, AMP is in breach of contract for NON PAYMENT OF ROYALTIES for over TWO months at midnight.  Three months is...ninety days, give or take.  AMP will hit that ninety day mark with almost every author and staff member on November 15.

AMP  has resurrected its website and kept for one purpose and one purpose only: to continue to sell books as long as possible. The owner believes that the 90 day clause to address breaches of contract is protecting her--that NONE of these complaints are really problems because she has that ninety day clause.  That is NOT how it works.  The 90 days clause is there to protect the owner against ACCIDENTAL breaches of contract, not flagrant violations of every contract in the company.  And, it seems like she will go on intentionally refusing to release authors who have not been paid in well over 90 days. Here, too, is where the certified and registered letters piling up in her mailbox comes into play.  She seems to think that if she personally does not sign for a certified or registered letter, then the 90 period outlined in the contract for breaches has not been triggered.

She appears to be unaware that the countdown on the 90-day clock started the moment an employee of Mailboxes, who is an agent for her, signed for those pieces of mail.

AMP has used up what good faith it once had.  There is no reason for anyone to believe that AMP intends to pay its authors or staff.  Whether these concerns are intentional on the owner's part or the result of some external factors that prevent her from understanding the potentially devastating consequences to her if she continues to play ducks and drakes with money that is not rightfully hers I cannot and do not know.  

But I do know this: today, AMP took a major step backwards. AMP is  now no longer a publisher. Now Aspen Mountain Press is nothing more than an electronic pirate, capitalizing off the stranded and breached contracts of authors the company is refusing to let go.

For me, in the end, this isn't about the money. I honestly believe that many AMP authors would be willing to forgive their back royalties in exchange for the rights to their books. For me, this is about the books and the authors who are trapped by this publisher.  Whether the owner's intentions are good and she just can't face up to the amount of work that's needed to rectify the problems at AMP or whether she is intentionally withholding funds and causing hardship for her authors and staff is no longer the question.

The question is: how can  these authors and their intellectual property be freed from a non-functional publisher?

The End of an Era

Yep. The end of one of MY eras.

My last contracted e-book comes out from Aspen Mountain Press this month.  The Vampire Covenants, a trilogy I began with co-author Rob Graham, concludes with Defying the Covenants on March 21, 2011. Although Rob and I co-wrote the first two books, the final book is all mine.  I wrote it by myself, which seems fitting as it's the last one.

For some reason, this book was harder to write than the others.  I hemmed and hawed for a long time over the characters, the ultimate resolution of the plot (which changed drastically from what Rob and I had discussed) and how to bring the story to a final culmination.  I'm not used to writing 'final' in any of my stories. I always like to think that even if I never write another word in the world, the story somehow goes on.  The characters have amazing adventures without me, until they pass into the history of that world.  Then they gradually adapt, becoming first a memory, then a legend and finally a myth.

But with Marguertie in the Covenants series, things are a little different. This is her last story. In a lot of ways, she is representative of me.  Marguerite slides from the limelight, while I move from one sphere to another.  I think that's very fitting.  Marguerite has been one of my favorite characters ever.  She's so different from Tamsen (Asphodel) and all my little goddesses from the Mythos series.  Marguerite is a tragic character in a lot of ways.  She finds ways to make her own happiness, true, but she also finds ways to screw that up.  She didn't start out as a heroine, a woman destined for greatness.  She falls into heroism because of a series of events completely out of her control, and throughout the three books her primary quest is to regain control over herself and her life.  And, at long last, she accomplishes that goal--but at a terrible cost.

I'm very proud of Defying the Covenants. I think this book is an earmark of the change in my writing style, the maturation, perhaps, of how I develop characters and plots. I also think this story is true to my narrative voice.  I was writing this book at the same time I was writing Theater of Seduction so that change in voice had already taken place.  This book is darker, and yet at the same time more emotionally honest than its predecessors.  A couple of the best scenes I have ever written are pivotal moments in the story.

Have you ever had one of those?  A scene that for some reason works so well that it evokes the emotions in you, the writer, that you'd hoped to inspire in the reader?  I had one of those in Apostle of Asphodel, with Anner's death. In Defying the Covenants, there are a couple of those--scenes that I re-read and that actually suck me into the story.  One gives me shivers. The other...well, I've opened the document about thirty times to change that scene, thinking I needed to revise the ending of the story.  But then, I'll read that scene over and I just don't want to touch the damn thing.  So it stays, and because it stays I've stuck with an ending to the story that conventional wisdom would advise against.

That ending is a risk, and therefore I love it.

So now my last countdown clock is up for the vampires of the Covenants, counting down the hours and seconds and minutes when they will at last emerge into the light--figuratively of course. The feeling is bittersweet, which makes it all just that much more amazing. 

I hope you love Defying the Covenants as much as I do.  And just to give you a feel for it, take a moment and get a taste of what Marguerite and Gunther and Marcellin will bring to the table this time.

And farewell to this second era of my writing career.  I hope the next era is as incredible as this one has been.

The Vampire Covenants 3: Defying the Covenants

by Celina Summers

buy page--http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/coming-soon/coming-soon/defying-the-covenants/prod_383.html

Coming March 21, 2011 from Aspen Mountain Press

Synopsis

As the Conclave prepares to confront the Russian renegade Grigori Volkonsky, Marguerite von Wittershiem has been shunted aside. Her husband and mentors hope to keep her out of danger by assigning her the unglamorous task of protecting the written lore of their people.

But their plans go awry when a traitor within the Conclave betrays them all to the enemy. As the most powerful vampires in Europe fall to Volkonsky’s minions, Marguerite must find not only the strength to stand alone but the ability to withstand the greatest threat that the hidden world of vampires has ever faced. If she fails, the immortal races and humanity will be destroyed.

In order to ward the Covenants as she has sworn, Marguerite must be prepared to defy them as well.

EXCERPT

* * * *

The Russians have surrounded us at Notre Dame! Calmet and Marcellin fight alone! Help us!

I was so close. I could make out the brass handle on the great door, gleaming with oily allure through the gloom. Something slammed into my body and hurled me into the pedestal of a statue warding the cathedral doors. I rolled to my feet, the sword in one hand and the dagger in the other. My foe laughed and circled me.

More vampires were dropping from the air now, most of them turning immediately to me. Marcellin was fighting against seven or eight immortals, all thralls, who had surrounded him but couldn’t get past the flashing guard of his blade.

“Come, little one,” the Russian nearest me said in atrocious English. “We will not harm you.”

Somehow, the new arrivals had gotten between me and the cathedral doors. There was no way I could speed through them and head for the sanctuary. I’d lead them right to it—and Calmet’s library. Desperately, I looked around for some other option.

I threw the knife at the Russian who’d spoken. He fell, screaming, to the ground with the blade protruding from his eye. I took advantage of his compatriots’ confusion and leapt for the narrow balustrade before the huge rose window.

My feet scrabbled on the edge of the stone railing, but I leaned forward and threw my arms around the Virgin Mary’s legs. The sword fell from my hand, spinning to the earth below. I didn’t wait to see what the Russians did next. As someone shouted below me, I ran across the narrow ledge to the southwest corner of the cathedral. I began to climb up the staggered bricks.

Overhead, the clouds that had been gathering over the death throes of the France I’d loved, rumbled ominously. I turned and barely bit back a scream. One of the gargoyles was right beside me, sneering over the embattled street below. I used the sculpture’s head to help me vault onto the ledge on its other side. By the time I reached the second balustrade between the twin towers of the cathedral, lightning flashed across the sky. It illuminated the false front of the façade and, for just a second, the steeply angled roof beyond it. I squeezed through two of the fluted columns and found myself standing on the peak of Notre Dame’s roof.

I sobbed, unsure which prospect was more terrifying—the Russians or the roof. Before I realized what I was doing, I mentally screamed, Gunther!

Every ounce of my power went into that psychic shout. Somewhere to the south and then, incredibly, to the north, I felt another immortal’s reaction to that desperate call. I didn’t have time to ponder who these vampires might be. Instead, I bit my lip and took my first step out onto the roof.

I couldn’t walk on the apex of the roof itself; decorative swirls and spikes of metal were enough to warn any vampire away. Instead, I progressed one step down from the peak, using the decorative ironwork to keep me balanced. I would never have attempted such a thing if I wasn’t able to turn into a bat if things went wrong. Regardless, I didn’t relish the idea of sliding down that pitched roof and forcing the shape shift before landing on the stones below. A vampire could experience all the pain of—and live through—breaking every bone in their body. It wasn’t a pleasant prospect at all.

While the storm gathered strength overhead, I scurried across the roof, keeping as low as I could and moving as quickly as I dared. Even to my ears, the sounds of battle were fading. I didn’t know if I was being pursued or not; I didn’t dare take the time to look. As I neared the first of the great flying buttresses, I had an idea.

Maybe I could conceal myself under one of those the same way Marcellin and I had hidden under the Pont Notre Dame. The towering spire reared in front of me. I scrabbled the rest of the way across the roof to it and pulled myself over the railing into the bell tower. For a moment, my legs wobbled in relief.

It didn’t matter that I could fly; all I knew was I could fall.

The massive bells hung in their frames as I slipped through the precarious walkway among them. I glanced over the edge of a landing into a stairwell that descended into the cathedral. For a moment I was tempted. Perhaps I could speed down those stairs and make my way to the crypt, obeying Marcellin’s orders and sealing the sanctuary against any who came. But a tickle at the back of my mind alerted me that others were nearing the spire.

I would give Calmet’s secret away if I followed my desire.

I crept around the huge bell in the center, easing my way toward the northern wing of the cathedral. The wood framework of the building would magnify even the slightest noise, betraying my position to any immortal nearby. I had to remain as stealthy as possible. Occasionally, I caught a whiff of some sour smell—an unwashed vampire, perhaps, still reeking of his last meal. The aroma overwhelmed the other, natural odors of this place—the warm spiciness of the wood, the metallic tang of verdigris and a lingering scent of spices from the cathedral below.

I froze. No, that aroma wasn’t the normal scent of the Catholic service. I was smelling myrrh.

Dear God—it’s Emmanuel Lando!

Terror, thick and cloying as the sickly sweetness of the myrrh, rose into my throat. I ducked under a smaller bell, edging around to the aperture that would lead me back to the roof and the buttresses keeping Notre Dame intact. If I was being stalked by Emmanuel Lando and not Volkonsky’s minions, things were worse than I could ever have imagined. Calmet’s blood, the blood of the eldest of night’s children, ran through my veins—his gift of healing.

Lando could not be allowed to drink from me, to add that power to his already considerable strength.

I slipped over the rail and back out onto the roof. I could hear the sounds of battle continuing hear the West Façade, punctuated by screams and clouts of power. It seemed as if there were more vampires involved now—probably Leandro had come at last to Marcellin and Calmet’s aid. I turned back to glance over my shoulder and one of the lead tiles loosened beneath my foot. I couldn’t help it; I screamed.

I slid toward the edge of the roof, grabbing desperately at tiles to slow my fall. I managed to grab hold of a gargoyle just as my feet and legs flew over the edge of the foot. I dangled there for a moment, relieved beyond measure at the sight of the gargoyle’s laughing snarl.

Lightning flashed above the cathedral, illuminating a lone figure at the top of the roof looking down at me. I didn’t have to see his sallow, drawn face or the tattered remnants of his Venetian robes to recognize Emmanuel Lando’s leering face.

I let go of the gargoyle.

Mythos 3: Beloved of a Mortal Now Available

The third book of my mythological romance series, Mythos 3:Beloved of a Mortal, has been released and is now available through Aspen Mountain Press.

After a prophecy that Thetis’ son would be greater than his father, the male gods of Olympus shun her. She is now an outcast, wandering the mountains in Greece and seething against the petty motivations of the other immortals.
Peleus is a Greek hero and warrior prince. On a visit to the king of Iolcos, he fends off the advances of the Queen. When she lies to her husband and claims Peleus is in love with her, the King strands Peleus on a mountain. Only the intervention of a beautiful immortal saves him from a horrible death.
Peleus and Thetis fall in love, but their future is uncertain. Can Peleus overcome the obstacles the gods have set in his way? Or will Thetis be strong enough to fight for the man she loves? When a goddess is the beloved of a mortal, only the help of those who love her can save her from the anger of the gods.

I love release days.  They're always so exciting.  There's something really cool about seeing the link to your book go live and knowing that people who have read the previous books and love the series are going to be reading your work over the weekend and (hopefully) loving this book too. 

This book has a particularly special place in my heart because it's a story I've always thought needed to be told.  The myth of Thetis and Peleus was extremely important to the Greeks but has been overlooked by more modern interpretations of Greco-Roman mythology.  I mean--these two are the parents of Achilles, the greatest warrior of anitquity and the hero (albeit a whiny hero) of the Trojan War!  And while the relationship between Thetis and Peleus was extremely rocky after their marriage, the characters still genuinely loved each other and their son.

So why not tell it?

It won't be long before Mythos 4 is completed and I'll talk more about it in the weeks ahead.  But, until then, here's my latest offering and I hope you like it.

Work and Work and Work

The story of my life.

Work and work and more work and work still and continuing work and new work and the same old same old work.  Good grief--I've got so much piled on my plate I'm a single person smorgasbord.

But I love it, you know? I love being so busy I don't know what to do yet.  This week, my husband's family is getting together for the first time in years.  I'm meeting his oldest brother and his family for the first time and Shannon and I have been together for a decade.So naturally, I'm scrambling around trying to get the house ready for guests--some of whom are children--while, at the same time, getting work done for AMP and Aurora and me.

Oh my.

*Yes--A Wizard of Oz moment*

I've got books to be scanned, manuscripts to finalize, submissions to read, writing deadlines and editing deadlines of my own, covers to be approved, art to be assigned, publicity to get cranking and this week I have to scrub, vaccuum, clean and conceal--the latter being necessary on the off chance someone gets nosy enough to poke around in my linen closet.  And I am in my element--loving every second of it even while I whine about how much crap I have to do.

Some of that made it onto the new Aurora Regency blog if you want to go read about that.  Yes--another project that got off the ground this week: http://www.auroraregency.blogspot.com/ is the place to go for information about the imprint, submissions and upcoming releases.  Go check it out.

I have to clean this spot on my couch.

Mythos 2:Daughter of the Sea Now Available!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand it's out!

Mythos 2: Daughter of the Sea is now available at Aspen Mountain Press.

The young gods of Olympus have pursued the sea god Nereus’ daughters, Amphitrite and Thetis, since they grew to maturity. The sisters are used to the adoration of immortal men and like the attention they receive. But when the imprisoned Titan, Prometheus, makes a prophecy that Thetis’ son will be greater than his father, the gods shun the beautiful nymph. Thetis hides herself away from Olympus, leaving her sister Amphitrite angry and in no mood to deal with the fickle tastes of men.

When the King of the ocean, Poseidon, watches Amphitrite dance at a feast upon Olympus, he falls instantly in love with her. His attempts to court Amphitrite end in disaster; she flees to the one place in the three realms where no Olympian can go. Can Poseidon find some messenger to break through her anger and win her heart? Or will the great god of the oceans be spurned by this daughter of the sea?

I have to tell you, I absolutely LOVE this story.  I liked writing Amphitrite--who is underknown in the Greco-Roman mythologies--because I could get away from proscribed personalities or tendencies.  I could make her (and her sister, Thetis, in the next book) more my own.  Amphitrite is a no-nonsense kick ass kind of heroine who makes Poseidon jump through hoops.  HER hoops. Literally.

Can't argue with that.

At any rate, you can take a look at Daughter of the Sea on the Aspen Mountain Press website for now and major third party distributors within the week.

And don't forget to enjoy the best abs in mythology on the cover, too.  Hard to argue with a god that looks like one. Special kudos to Tuesday Dube for the fantastic cover and a big shout out to Lori Basiewicz, my long-suffering editor.

Y'all enjoy!

A Month In The Life--Saturday, May 1, 2010

Yep--you get an extra day in this month because this whole past month has been about the Romantic Times convention and this was the last day of it, at least for me.  So May Day was spent  dancing around the flower laden pole that is a book signing at a major event with major authors.

No, I didn't get to sign.  I got to watch and take pictures and run errands, which was total awesomness from my point of view. First off, I was in sneakers and jeans--sheer bliss after five days of misery. I'd determined from the beginning that while I would love to have every single darn book in the ballroom, I had to restrict myself. So I kept to books from writers who'd been especially helpful and/or friendly throughout the week.

First off, then, was the lovely and simply loveable Bobbi Smith.  Aside from hosting and directing the two-day pre convention workshop that was the most helpful event I've ever attended as a writer, Bobbi has one of those absolutely incredible personalities, the kind that makes you believe you can go out and do exactly what she believes you can do. I would happily spend a week or two brewing her coffee and taking phone messages for this woman--and I honestly believe I would learn more doing that that I did in four years of writing classes at college.  She's one of my new idols.

Isn't Bobbi beautiful? I wish I could wear that color pink, but alas!  Too much red in this redhead's hair.

Next on the list was Linnea Sinclair. I really bonded with her and Stacey Kade during their workshop on how to stay inspired, and bonded even more with Linnea when the subject of scam agencies and vanity publishers came up in the author's panel.  She writes kick ass science fiction with kick ass heroines--not hard to understand at all since she's a kick ass kind of gal herself.  It's been a long time since I've dipped my toes in the sci fi pool, and Linnea has convinced me to do it. I can't wait to read her book.

See what I mean? Linnea is an absolute firecracker!

I have to admit, by the end of the week I felt like a Misery-esque number one fan of Jade Lee.  Her characterization workshop completely changed the way I look at my characters and if it weren't for her advice on pitches during the authors' panel, I would never have gotten the requests I did.  But all that aside, it's really hard for me not to totally dig a chick who's as smartass as I am, writes the kind of fantasy I love, seems to have a similar outlook on writing and speculative fiction as I do AND who used my promotional document stands all over her table at the booksigning. It would be the equivalent of Albert Einstien using my abacus to demonstrate the theory of relativity and I totally ate that up.  Here's Jade in one of her more serious moments:

One of my favorite new acquaintances during the entire convention, and once I got over being totallyu gobsmacked by even talking to her, I felt like I'd known her forever.

These pictures, by the way, took place before the doors opened.  After they opened, I wasn't able to get any more great closeups and was barely able to get any books.  Why, you may ask?  Well, because there were at least 3,000 people streaming through the doors as best I could tell.  It got to the point that it was so crowded that it actually hurt to turn to one side and avoid running into someone--which, I might add, very few people other than me and Cynthia Vespia were that worried about.  We did creep upstairs to get a few shots of what the book signing looked like from above. This might help you understand.

Exactly. So while I did fight through the crowds to get books by Stacey Kade, Brett Battles and Robert Gregory Browne, I didn't dare take out my camera. 

We had a great afternoon all in all.  By the time the booksigning was over at three, all of us were exhausted. But, by the same token, I think we were all very happy.  We'd made lots of great new business acquaintances and friends, finally put some faces to the online screen names, and hopefully attracted a slew of new readers to Aspen Mountain Press.  Considering that most of our free time was spent in the bar (go figure) we ended up with a lot of fabulous talks and some amazing photo ops which I am under obligation not to post.

Until the post after this, because there's one more thing to tell you about RT that is really important.

Remember when I was named a finalist in Bobbi Smith's Creative Writing Challenge in the advanced writers' workshop?  I got to wear that badge all week. It's amazing how many people actually take the time to stop you and congratulate you when you have a big FINALIST tag between your boobs.  I'm assuming it was the badge...

At any rate, Saturday was the last big party of the convention.  We had a prom, hosted by Dorchester Publishing.  But it was important to me for another reason entirely: the winner of the Creative Challenge was going to be announced at that party.  All week, I'd pretty much talked myself into believing that one of the other two writers was going to win.  Both of them were talented young writers from what I'd heard of them in class. Besides, my storyline for Deception Enters Stage Left is so damn complicated!  How could anyone possibly judge that manuscript from the first chapter, which is all we submitted for the challenge? Although I knew that chapter was clean technically and set my story up perfectly, I was more than happy to just be named a finalist.  I'd already reaped so many benefits from that finalist position that I didn't dare to dream I'd actually win the darn thing.

So the party starts--and Jade Lee started it by doing the dance to TRHPS's Time Warp and then followed up with It's Raining Men--and there's no sign of any awards ceremony.  We're sitting at out table and Bobbi came up with a teddy bear and congratulated me for being a finalist.  So I thought, Well, that's obvious enough. The bear's cute though. I told the others I just needed to wait until the winner was announced so I could congratulate her and in case we were all called up onstage.

Shannon decided to go have a cigarette so he leaves, and not even ten seconds later Bobbi stands up and heads over to the stage, where they give her the microphone.  I couldn't help but laugh; we were sticking around for this announcement and my husband was going to miss the whole thing.  I opened up the camera and tried to turn it on--the darn batteries were dead.  So karma was already stomping the hint home--you didn't win you didn't win you didn't win...

Bobbi announced the third place finalist first.  To my shock, it wasn't me. The award was between myself and a really lovely young lady named Jennifer who I kept running into on every escalator in the whole darn complex.

But the runner-up's name wasn't Celina. It was Jennifer.  Sandra Hicks (the publisher of AMP) and I just looked at each other in shock.  Then Bobbi said, "And the winner of the Creative Writing Challenge with her manuscript Deception Enters Stage Left is--"

I didn't hear my name. I heard Deception and I was up on my feet, screaming and putting my shaking hands to my face like every Miss USA winner I've ever made fun of in the past.  That whole winning with dignity and grace crap?

Right out the window.

I managed to make it onto the stage without faceplanting--in and of itself a miracle considering I could barely walk--and Bobbi handed me this beautiful plaque with my name and the manuscript name on it (which meant that she'd known all along that I'd won) and then she handed me the microphone while she snapped a medal around my neck. Don't get excited: it was a little plastic medal, but who cares? It was cute. So while I'm juggling plaque, papers and microphone in my trembling hands, I lift the microphone to my lips and all I can think of to say is--

"Hi!"

Seriously Celina? Hi?  You couldn't even have come out with a You like me; you really like me? Absolutely and stunningly humiliating. So when I got back to my table, all the AMP ladies hugged me and laughed at me for bawling like a little b*tch and then Bobbi came over and handed me the real bonus prize.

Her agent's phone number.

And right after all this went down, my husband meandered back into the room after his cigarette and I had to face the facts: not only had Shannon missed the whole damn thing, but I didn't even have a picture of it.

Que sera sera.

So there you have it.  We left the party and went to the bar, where we downed two bottles of champagne and toasted each other.  I held on to that teddy bear and plaque like they were the last life jacket on the Titanic and somehow we managed to get through the worst part of the convention.

Saying goodbye.

Total RT stats: Six days. I was given or bought over thirty books. I gave away two hundred water bottles and five hundred document stands. I sent out ten full manuscripts: four to agents and six to publishers. I ran three pairs of hose in two days. I won one major award. I got one agent's phone number. I was introduced to a minimum of twenty-five NYT bestselling authors. I created one hell of a promotional space and had one half of the best 4 by 8 foot long banner there.

And several thousand fantastic memories.

So there you have it: a month in the life.  Now my world goes back to normal. I concentrate solely on writing and editing from here on out, shooting for my 8000 words a day and getting Aurora Regency launched while promoting my new releases and editing AMP manuscripts. I get to focus on my house and family a bit more while I continue to chase after my professional goals.And aside from a few more RT pictures, this month in the life is over. I'm going to take a couple of weeks off (ha! fat chance) and get back into my routine.

Hope you've enjoyed the ride.

Take a Gander at our Banner!

Yippee!

As you know, fellow AMP author LB Gregg and I went in on a banner for the RT Convention. Well, got out of the morning session and our banner is hanging in the bar!  Check it out:

More than a little stoked. The banner looks awesome and any time you have a banner in the bar at a writers/readers' convention it's got to be a good thing!

The morning session was awesome.  Jade Lee was back for more character development, while Linnea Sinclair and Stacey Kade taught a fantastic  workshop on staying inspired that was a lot of fun and very beneficial.  Bobbi and Judi gave a great lecture (and test) on self-editing that gave me a really good glimpse into what I should be looking for as both a writer and an editor in the manuscripts I'm working on.

The majority of the AMP writers are on their way, and I'll be meeting them this afternoon and still trying to figure out this darn promotional lane stuff. *sigh* But, this afternoon are the editor/agent panels in this workshop and I'm really looking forward to that.

Time for one more smoke (hopefully without rolling my ankle and falling on my ass like I did earlier) and then back to the workshop! Yippee!

A Month in The Life--April 4, 2010 Easter

I slept in.

I figured it was only fair.  I slept all the way until 10:30 and I loved every minute of it.

Waking up was not as pleasant.  Still very stiff and sore, and the flare up of bursitis made it almost impossible to type.  Realizing the writing was pretty much out of the question, I kind of wrote off the rest of the day.

I decided I wasn't going to work at all.

So, I had a meeting with Lori--who's helping me put together the workshop about taglines and blurbs for AMP.  We had a productive conversation and determined that I would cover the part of the workshop about why a great blurb and tagline was so important and she would cover the important question of how to write great ones.  We're getting back together in a week to put it all together.

Then I spent some time fielding questions about review requests.  After another couple of hours, I finally put the computer aside and settled down on the couch.  My shoulder was killing me.  I took out my journal and planned out my work for the week--which is usually how I spend Sunday afternoons. By the time that was done, I was bored.  So, the decision not to work was reversed and I started to writer around six o'clock. By nine, I had a respectable 7,923 words and put my work away.  The DH and I watch Undercover Boss together on Sunday nights, so the rest of the night was family time.

Happy Easter? Ours was fabulous. We turned off our phones and stayed out of everyone's way.  Not so great of a work day, perhaps, but it was a holiday. I'll make up for it in the morning.

A Month in the Life--April 2, 2010 Good Friday

When I woke up this morning, I really kind of wished I hadn't. Everything that hurt yesterday hurt twice as bad after a night on the couch. (The cats were rampaging through the house last night and keeping me awake.  I ended up closing the doors to every room but the living room and kitchen and moving the butcher block in front of the cabinets so I could remove the noisiest feline toys from their access.  The cats punished me by drinking all the water out of the fountain and discovering a new way to use dry cat food as cat toys all over the house.) At any rate, when I woke up I was already two hours behind schedule.  My husband had stayed home to take me to the doctor if I thought I should go.

I did think I should go.  For one thing, going to the emergency room would not only cost a fortune, but since I'm a chronic pain patient they (a) wouldn't give me anything for the pain, which kind of negates the idea of going to the ER in the first place and (b) would tell me to call my doctor.  I figured I'd be saving a step by going straight to him.

Totally forgot it was Good Freaking Friday.  You guessed it--no doctor, and no chance of a doctor until Monday.  So I had to reevaluate the situation--could I make it through the whole weekend?  In the end, we determined that--since the ER would only do x-rays and tell me to go to my doctor who (as is his right on a holiday weekend) wasn't there, we might as well stay home and wait until Monday.

So Shannon, after making sure I had everything in reach I could possibly need and giving me brand spanking new ice packs, went on to Columbus to salvage what was left of his day and I turned my mind to the scheduled activity of the day--mailing out review submissions.

I'm the Review Coordinator for Aspen Mountain Press, and every week I set aside time to send copies of our new releases out for review. Depending on the genre of each book, I submit AMP books to a core of about fifteen sites--adding a few different ones for genre novels (sci fi, fantasy, historical and so forth).  The majority of our releases are either romance or erotica.  The two books I submitted on Friday weren't our latest releases: they were the releases from the past two Fridays. (I like to send out in bulk) So knowing I would have two more books to submit later that day, I went ahead and sent these two out.  Both books were gay (m/m) erotic romances, so they would go to the same sites, and both books were ones I'd edited so I wanted to make sure they hit all the review sites possible.

I always block out about four hours for review submissions.  Not does AMP submit to a lot of sites, but each site has its own submissions requirements.  At some sites, I have to fill out a review request form and THEY let ME know when they want a book to review.  Others want the books emailed in advance--and then want different information: some want the ISBN, some want the length of the book, some want you to describe exactly what might be offensive to a reader.  At any rate, it's a long process.  Not a single review site lets you attach the book and send an email that says, "Yo--here's the books this week. Peace out."

But while working on that for my allotted four hours, I got a brainchild. And, as is normal, that brainchild involves more work for me.  I decided to volunteer myself (and my editor Lori because I'm nice like that) to create a blurb/tagline writing workshop for the AMP authors.  The tagline and blurb are the only chances writers have to hook a reviewer--and by extension a reader. It's the writer's chance to sell his or her book. But some writers (like me) suck at writing blurbs.  I'm good with other people's blurbs, but for some reason the ones I write for my own work blow.  A blurb is basically the back cover copy of a book.  Online, that blurb is used as the mini-synopsis of the book. It's what readers use to decide whether they're going to purchase the book or not--or, in the case of a reviewer, review the book.  Those reviews are the best promotional tool a new writer has.  Great reviews will not only give your book publicity, but will also convince readers to give you a shot for the first time.  So you can't undervalue their importance. 

A few emails later, and I added another block of work/time to my schedule. Lori and I are going to get together this weekend and work on putting together an online workshop as well as worksheets to go to AMP editors and writers.  More on that as it progresses.

Then I wrote a guest blog post for Raine Delight's website.  Raine and I have been friends for many years--she's an up and coming erotica writer out of Buffalo, NY.  I'd promised her this blog entry a couple of weeks ago, but had scheduled to write it today.  So, with a fresh ice pack (I don't think my ankle is supposed to be as big as my blown out knee. Just sayin'...) applied to my technicolored appendages, I wrote out a long blog post about the resurrection of Regency romance.  You can check it out on her website. Not too shabby if I say so myself.  So having gotten that in, I crossed it off my list.

I then sent Lena Austin, a wonderful author and all-around classy lady congratulations on the release of her book The God's Wife.  (If you love ancient Egypt and a story of female empowerment, you need to check this book out.  Here's the buy link: http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/new-releases/the-god-39-s-wife/prod_310.html .) I'd edited the story for her.  The God's Wife  is the story of Hatchesput and how she rose from just one of Tutmoses II's wives to Pharaoh in her own right.  Lena had released a version of this story earlier with another publishing company, but wanted to explore the story in greater depth. (One of the great things about AMP is that there aren't any requirements a writer has to meet with their work. I had one company tell me they wouldn't publish my work unless I cut the majority of the plot and added three more sex scenes so I know whereof I speak.) So we'd worked together on it.  I let her explore the story to her heart's desire, only reining her in if she was headed out on a tangent. I can recognize those from how many tangents I write into my own work. Tangents are fun to write and easy to move off on, but they inevitably fall to the editor's pencil.  At any rate, I sent her a note letting her know how pleased and proud I was of her and the incredible story she'd written.  Always good to spread a little love toward your authors, and spreading love to Lena is not only easy, but a pleasure. She's such a doll!

Then it was time to work. *By this time, it was already past three* I'm getting the Aurora Regencies ready for first edits and waiting for one manuscript from AMP to finish up before then.  so on Friday, it was all about writing.  I got another 18k written on Defying the Covenants, working around review requests and email exchanges. I set up a couple of conferences for Monday--one with an author and another with the head of the art department at AMP to discuss the overall theme and look of the Aurora Regency line. 

Shannon came home at six and spent much of his evening being an absolute doll, helping me out by doing all my running back and forth for me and worrying more than he probably should.  When at eleven I finally settled down in bed to try and get some sleep, he finally relaxed enough to go to sleep himself.  But I stayed awake--not sure why.  I watched a movie on tv (W.--Oliver Stone's ridiculous film about George W. Bush) thinking it would put me to sleep. It didn't. It just made me mad.  So I pulled the laptop back out and worked for a couple of hours, outlining the fourth and fifth Mythos books and getting about 6k down on the Terella WIP.  Total word count for the day--24,809 over the course of 8 hours. World building/outlining time spent: One and a half hours. Time spent on business--about six hours all said and done.

All in all, a fairly satisfying day, if pain ridden and somewhat slower than usual, I still met all my goals.