Rethink Your Book Publishing

Since my first novel was published six years ago, there have been lots of changes in the book publishing industry. Back then I tried very hard to find an agent that could represent me and help me achieve my dream of fame and fortune. It has not materialized yet, but I have learned a lot about our industry, and the many facets that make up book publishing.

There is no “right way” to get published. Anybody can publish a book at the click of a mouse or the tap of a screen. Getting published is the easy part. Building your audience, and finding new readers, that is the challenge. And it is one that I am still learning about. I took time out to participate in a training course and it taught me a lot about self-publishing.

  

One thing I learned is that I would rather not self publish from scratch. I am very fortunate to have a good friend who is a professional photographer, and she designed the cover for my new novel, Eye of the Tiger (A Redcliffe Novel), which I am very happy with. I have agreed to return to my original publisher, Mirador, who will help with the book formatting, distribution, and all the technical knowledge that is required. That leaves me free to continue doing what I do best: writing the darn books!

Did you enjoy this article? Join my tribe today, and I will send you a fabulous FREE book to get you started… (be warned, my vampires do not sparkle, and my wolves will bite!) 

Let’s Get This Sorted! #15kinMay #amwriting

I decided to look back at some old blog posts and see if I could glean a little inspiration and motivation to move forward from my current writing slump. I had forgotten all about my participation in the #15kinMay challenge back in 2013. It looks as though this was a short-lived social media trend, but I think it would be a good opportunity to get myself back in gear again this month.

What I want to do is finish the first draft of my current WIP, which is book 5 in the Redcliffe novels series. That will probably take around 15000 words, so this is a great opportunity to get myself up to date. How do you fix a problem when your writing slows down? I know the cause of my problems, and am working towards releasing those blocks and freeing my time a bit more. It is all a work in progress.

Did you enjoy this article? Join my tribe today, and I will send you a fabulous FREE book to get you started… (be warned, my vampires do not sparkle, and my wolves will bite!) 

#ThrowbackThursday and the #AtoZChallenge

Two years ago, I participated in the April #AtoZChallenge. I did it to explore themes in my Redcliffe novels series, and a method for keeping up with a regular writing routine. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of hard work, and I decided not to actively participate in the #AtoZChallenge this year because I simply could not fit it in with my current daily schedule.

I decided to look back at my #AtoZChallenge blog post for 13^th April 2015. It was the letter K, and I wrote a post about one of the characters in my upcoming novel Eye of the Tiger (A Redcliffe Novel). She is a werewolf, and you can follow the link to read more. I had planned to release Eye of the Tiger earlier, but events intervened and so now I am rescheduling. Tentatively, I would like to release it at the end of June, but I am currently working with a cover designer and more updates will follow.

Did you enjoy this article? Join my tribe today, and I will send you a fabulous FREE book to get you started… (be warned, my vampires do not sparkle, and my wolves will bite!) 

#AtoZChallenge - Fall in Love with the Redcliffe Vampires

Jessica Stone fell in love with a Vampire. She was a normal, happy human before she met detective Jack Mason. She never even considered the possibility that vampires and werewolves could be real and living in her home town. They were myths, stories, characters from the books that she sells in her shop. Jack hid his true nature, although there was always something a little off about him. Jessica was blinded by the strength of her love. She literally fell head over heels for this man, and it scared the hell out of her. She was a proud woman. Now she is a blubbering wreck, and she has the scars to prove it. Falling in love with a vampire is dangerous. It brings pain and suffering. It also brings the most exquisite ecstasy and power, and it was enough to awaken the witch within.

Jessica’s vampire lover is complicated. Jack Mason was turned by a former lover, a vampire who decided she would keep him for eternity. Emily Rose seduced him when his army unit marched across France and Switzerland during the Great War. Before he left town, she attacked. She turned Jack into a vampire, and then she lured a werewolf out of the woods to kill his identical twin brother, Danny. She never expected Danny to survive. She never expected him to become a werewolf. The brothers ran away, and continued to run and fight Emily Rose for decades after the event. She met Jessica in Redcliffe, and Jack became the trophy that each woman refused to surrender. Emily Rose tried to kill Jessica. She underestimated the strength of the young witch. It was a tough battle, and there were casualties. Jessica is recovering now, as I continue the story in book 4 of the Redcliffe series, Eye of the Tiger (A Redcliffe Novel).

Jack Mason and Emily Rose are just two of the vampires we meet in the Redcliffe novels. We are introduced to young millionaire Marcus Scott at the beginning of the series, in Love Hurts (A Redcliffe Novel). Marcus was turned into a vampire during the Victorian era. He was educated to be a gentleman by his master, and inherited the wealth of Lord Gregory Stockton. Marcus spent many years embracing his vampire nature, testing the limits of his power, and seducing humans along the way. He is fascinated by Jessica, and in the beginning he is not sure why. It all becomes clear when she awakens her magic. Marcus is a vampire who thrives on witch blood. He is addicted to it. He is controlled by it. Jessica is now learning how to handle him, because she actually likes him as a friend, even if she does not trust him as a vampire.

If you are interested in seeing other participants for the #AtoZChallenge, check them out on the official website. We have everything from book stuff, to cooking, to photography, to travel, and a whole lot more. Happy April!

*Vampire bite image courtesy of Vampires Do

#AtoZChallenge - Kimberley

We are less than two weeks into the #AtoZChallenge and I am getting creative with my paranormal Redcliffe theme. Today I will continue from the previous post, The Wrath of a Jealous Werewolf. Today I will talk about Kimberley.

Kimberley is the antagonist in my latest Redcliffe novel, Eye of the Tiger. Every writer knows that a good story must have ’good guys’ and ’bad guys’ who battle their way through the plot, culminating in a fight to the death where the good guy wins. Well, in my fourth Redcliffe novel, I am applying this simple formula. My characters are not so clean cut, however. I do not have good guys and bad guys. My good guys can be very bad. And vice versa.

Which leads me to Kimberley. She is a werewolf. She is a jealous werewolf, who wants to be alpha female to Danny Mason, and to rule the Redcliffe wolf pack as their queen. Kimberley is conceited, proud, brave, and she has declared Jessica Stone her enemy.  This escalates some very brutal fighting between werewolves. But, Kimberley is not all bad. She is a doctor in her human capacity. She works at the local hospital, treating patients very efficiently and thoroughly. She is respected and revered in her profession. Ah, now there is the conundrum. How can she be a bad guy? It is all a question of perception…

If you are interested in seeing other participants for the #AtoZChallenge, check them out on the official website. We have everything from book stuff, to cooking, to photography, to travel, and a whole lot more. Happy April!

*Fire and Ice wolves image found on Pinterest

#AtoZChallenge - The Wrath of a Jealous Werewolf

It might seem an odd choice for me to use the word Jealous for today’s #AtoZChallenge blog post. After all, jealousy is not a paranormal subject. It is, however, a very powerful, and often very destructive, emotion. It is even more dangerous when experienced by a supernatural creature, such as a vampire or a werewolf.

The Redcliffe werewolves are proud, powerful, and dangerous. The alpha wolves are the most volatile, which is how they came to be leaders of the pack. I am talking about the alpha wolf, Danny Mason, and his lieutenants, Simon Bunce and Sally Frost. Danny demonstrates the extent of his jealous power when he turns it on Jessica and Jack. The brothers descend into a vicious fight, and it is left to Jessica and her animal familiar to break it up. This is only one of many fights that occur, and not just between vampires and werewolves.

 The wrath of a jealous werewolf becomes most apparent as we progress through Love Redeems (A Redcliffe Novel) and into my current work in progress, Eye of the Tiger (A Redcliffe Novel). It turns out that the female of the species really is the deadliest. Jessica becomes further involved with Danny and his wolf pack, to the detriment of his subordinates. They do not welcome a witch among them. They believe that she is dangerous, unpredictable, and that she is leading their alpha astray with her magical wiles. Among the meek wolves, there emerge one or two that are prepared to fight for power. One is a female who fancies herself as the alpha’s mate, a position that has so far remained unfilled. And she is a force to be reckoned with…

 If you are interested in seeing other participants for the #AtoZChallenge, check them out on the official website. We have everything from book stuff, to cooking, to photography, to travel, and a whole lot more. Happy April! 

*Wolves image found on Pinterest

#AtoZChallenge - Every Witch has a Familiar

As we progress through the Redcliffe novels and learn about Jessica Stone’s hidden heritage as a witch, we begin to learn more about her new position in the world, and what it means as she fights to maintain a relationship with her vampire lover. It is a very passionate embrace with Jack one night that brings forward Jessica’s animal Familiar, Suri, an ancient and magical snow tiger.

Traditionally, animal familiars are believed to be in the spirit of the domestic black cat, but I believe this may be a very old literary invention, although I cannot be sure. Anyway, I had always believed that a witch’s familiar was a physical, living animal. I now know that is far from the truth. A familiar can also be a spirit animal, a ghost-like creature that is intelligent and powerful, and that lives in an ethereal other world accessed directly by the witch. Perhaps they take the physical form of their animal kin on occasion, and perhaps this will happen with Suri at some point, but I am still getting to know Jessica’s animal familiar, and she is an unpredictable and proud creature.

 Jessica finds it hard to believe that a being as powerful as Suri could have remained hidden and undiscovered for nearly thirty years, but perhaps she will find the answers as we continue reading about her adventures. Certainly, book 4 in the series, my current work in progress, Eye of the Tiger (A Redcliffe Novel), is all about the snow tiger and her power games with Jessica’s boyfriend and his brother. Suri is excited to be free after such a long imprisonment. She is full of energy, and she wants to cause mischief in the Redcliffe wolf pack.

 If you are interested in seeing other participants for the #AtoZChallenge, check them out on the official website. We have everything from book stuff, to cooking, to photography, to travel, and a whole lot more. Happy April! 

*Witch and her familiar image found on Pinterest

Bridging the Gap in my Manuscript #amwriting #writetip

My current work in progress is taking a very long time to write. I began the process back in 2013, when I had seen publication of my first three Redcliffe novels, and my spin-off historical vampire novel The Darkness of Love. The novel in progress is book 4 in the Redcliffe series: Eye of the Tiger. And I have still not yet finished writing the first draft. Wow!

To my fellow writers, this might not seem particularly unusual. For me, it is. I wrote and published my first four novels all within three years. They are easy reads, genre fiction, and they are well written. OK, I concede that my first novel may now seem a little clumsy in hindsight, but I am proud of it, because it was the culmination of a dream that I nurtured for over 10 years. And they are good stories. Trust me!

Anyway, I had stumbled my way through Eye of the Tiger. I only settled on a title for it late last year. But I am not concerned about the length of time taken. This one is going to be my Best Novel Yet. It may even be the one that all the best literary agents clamour to support me with. It might be the one that lands me a massive Hollywood movie deal, or a television franchise, and all those other glamorous dreams and visions that we writers are prone to indulge in.

I have very nearly finished writing the first draft of Eye of the Tiger. I know what happens at the end, finally. I didn’t up until about a month ago. And it didn’t hit me like a revelation, the ending. It sort of dripped into my mind, bit  by bit, until I formed it into a decent storyline that fits the plot. My problem was getting from one section to another. Bridging the gap in the story, if you understand my meaning. I am not the kind of writer that can do chunks of a novel, and return to fill in the gaps later. I have to write it from start to finish, and then go and do the editing in a methodical manner. But, eventually, after deliberating for a couple of weeks, I sat down before my computer last night, and I just wrote it. I didn’t stop to read it back. I just wrote. And actually, I think it worked quite well. Now I am free to write the exciting, dramatic conclusion. Watch this space…


*Image courtesy of HybridGothica at Deviant Art

I’m Still Here! Author at Work #amwriting

Hello my friends, and how are you today? You may have wondered why I fell silent over here on the Catherine Green Author blog. Well, I will tell you. I have been very busy. Not only am I powering ahead with my business plan, setting my intentions for 2015 and beyond (thank you, Leonie Dawson!), I am mothering and nurturing my young family at home. And, most importantly for the purposes of our conversation, I am beavering away on the latest installment of the Redcliffe novels series.

Before you get too excited, remember that I am still only writing the first draft of my fourth Redcliffe novel. Eye of the Tiger has taken a lot longer to write than any of the previous books that I published. I think the reason might have something to do with my nineteen month old daughter… and her four year old sister… and the dog… and the husband… and the house… you get the picture. But I never gave up. Despite the sleepless nights, the almost constant breastfeeding, and the demands of my family, my Redcliffe characters waited patiently in the background until I could return to them.

And now they are losing patience. The story has been too long in coming, and the Mason brothers are getting restless. That is never a good sign! When you take the cool, calculating power of the vampire, and his hot-headed, impulsive alpha werewolf brother, you know there will be trouble in their little Cornish town. Poor old Jessica has got it bad. She really fell in with the wrong crowd. Now she is in love with a vampire and a werewolf, and they alternately use her and abuse her for the power that she holds as a witch. Tough times, filled with passion, intensity and action.

See you later!


*Vision Board from personal archive; Witch image courtesy of Deviant Art