I'm a little embarrassed...

So... I've started my Nook edit of KM1. If you recall, I didn't do this step before releasing Killing Memories. As reviews came in about grammar errors, I was frustrated because I felt that there weren't grammar errors; they were typos. 

Ummmm, no.

These are grammar errors.

Typos aren't any better, but there's something about telling a writer that their grammar's bad that stings a little.

The problem is that when I first wrote KM1, I wrote the first half in first person present tense (for example: "Stop looking at me!" I yell. Instead of yelled). [Hostile Kisses is written in first person, present tense. It's a little tricky going from that to past tense, but I'm managing.] I'm not sure why I decided to change the tense for book 1. I think it was because it wasn't coming out organically--it didn't sound right. Making that change involved a lot of heavy rewriting, and I obviously missed little things here and there. It's not just missed tenses though--there are a lot of little things that I'm catching. I wish I'd thought to do the Nook edit for KM1. Oh well, live and learn!

It's kinda fun revisiting book 1 again! I hope that I can make it stronger and hopefully reduce the amount of reviews that say: "this is dumb" (not helpful!).

Concerned

So, Barnes and Noble is changing their independent publisher platform from PubIt! to Nook Press. I'm concerned about this because I think in the transition between the two things are getting lost in translation. My sales have been pretty steady since the beginning of the year, but in the past two days I haven't had any. I don't really understand that and it concerns me. Plus, I can't sign up with Nook Press, which frustrates me. I'm considering the temporary removal of my books from B&N until they figure out what they're doing. The only downside of this is that B&N is the best platform for my books (although Amazon is slowly picking up speed).

I don't know what to do now... I need to figure it out before KM4 goes live.

When might that be, you ask?

I don't know... I hope by the end of the month. My fingers are crossed.

Killing Models Release Date

So... I hoped to have KM4 available by this weekend, but that might not happen. I'm still waiting for feedback from my beta reader and she did mention she's a bit busier this time around (she's planning a wedding herself!) and that her review might take longer. So, yeah. I'm not going to rush her. Hopefully the wait will be worth it!

Hostile Kisses update: 140 out of 330 pages edited.

Killing Memories nook edit: Just finished chapter 1. This one needs a lot more work--I may even print out the novel and edit it that way. It won't need an overhaul of the story (I already did that), just a sentence by sentence trimming.

Update

I'm still waiting for feedback from my beta reader for KM4... once that comes back all that I have left is formatting the e-book for the three different platforms. Then I can upload it! It still probably won't be until next weekend, if I get the book back by then. It makes me happy when people tell me that they're excited for it!

I've started working on my first edit of Hostile Kisses, the Estela and Moo spin-off that features Adam and Daisy. That's going pretty well, I think. I'm 41 of 326 pages in. I haven't added anything to this one, which I think means that there are less holes in it. So, that's good. I've finished the cover for HK already too. I'll share it here later on.

I've been debating on what to do after HK is done. I have one more contemporary romance that I could edit (A Starter Boyfriend), but I think I might take a break from editing and write book 2 of my YA trilogy (The Spirit Keeper). Hopefully fans of the KM series will like these books too. I do wonder if it's detrimental to call it "YA"? I put it there because the characters are younger, but I feel like the story is more "adult." I. Don't. Know. I'm not going to worry about it too much right now--the series isn't even finished. Of course, I'll listen to any thoughts on the subject!

At any rate, I feel like it's time to start writing--or else I'll have nothing to publish later on. I'm still deciding.... If I do go right into the edit of A Starter Boyfriend, I'm stopping in November so that I can participate in NaNoWriMo. I've always wanted to try it and I think this year is my year.

Killing Models Blurb/Cover

Okay, here's the cover and blurb! Any feedback will be great!

Voodoo. Murder. Betrayal. Wedding?

One of these things just doesn't fit in with the others.

In two months, Estela will be married to the love of her life. She doesn’t have a dress, a venue, or invitations, but she’s positive things will work themselves out. Between planning her wedding and managing Moo’s career, she finds it hard to focus on anything. And now that she’s killed someone—violently—she can’t focus on anything.

She’s promised Caleb not to get involved in another murder investigation, but what if she’s the murderer? Certainly she should get involved then? At least to turn herself in? But then things get crazy and models are being offed left and right. With Moo a little over seven months pregnant, she could already be next on the killer’s list! Estela knows she has to intervene somehow.

Protect Moo. Marry Caleb. She can do these two things at once, can’t she?

Determined, Estela hurries to conclude this murder business. Just as things start to get back to normal, she sees a side of Caleb that she never expected in a million years. It is a side that makes her question everything. Does she even know him? Does she know herself? Maybe there won’t be a wedding after all.

Game Plan

Now that my Nook edit for KM4 is done, I have decided on a game plan on the next few steps:

1. Transfer Nook edits to computer. I'm about 139 out of 457 pages (Nook pages, that is) in to the transfer. Things are going well. I'm doing things a little differently with this book, in that I'm doing the Nook edit before I send it to Sarah, my beta reader. I'm hoping to avoid typos this way. I probably should have done this for ALL of the books, but for some reason, I didn't think to. I was rushing things, I think.

2. Edit Hostile Kisses Blurb. I'm planning on putting the prologue of HK at the end of KM4. So, I need to make sure that's good to go.

3. Send KM4 to Beta Reader. Sarah's good so she'll probably have it back to me in a few days--if she's not swamped (fingers crossed).

4. Finalize cover. No promises on this cover being amazing... I'm going to work on it myself this time. Mostly because I know that I want the covers to change at some point and I don't want my friend who helped me with KM2 and KM3 feel like I wasted her time. Anyway, here's the cover that I have so far... thoughts? Give it to me straight. I'll take any feedback I can get--how much I can do on my own, I'm not too sure.

5. Write blurb. Ugh... this is seriously the hardest part for me. Look for drafts to be posted here. Reader feedback is invaluable to me.

6. Format novel for uploading. This can be a little time consuming. I have to have drafts for Smashwords, Nook, and Amazon. They all want things to look a little different. For the most part the files are the same, but if I make a change to 1, I need to make a change to all. Blah.

7. Upload KM4!

8. Start editing Hostile Kisses (while doing a Nook edit of KM1). So, I'm pretty sure that in my excitement to share Estela and Moo and the guys with everyone, I didn't do a Nook edit (hence all the "grammar" related reviews it received). I've actually already started this (it keeps me busy at the gym). My goal is to upload the revised KM1 at the same time as HK... or maybe a week before, we'll see.


So... let me stop blogging and get back to transferring edits!

Good Weekend Coming!

Okay, so I haven't done much nook editing this week. However, I think this is going to be a great weekend for it. Mostly because my sister's out of town and I don't have anyone around to distract me with shopping and fro-yo. Of course I may do both of these things on my own this weekend. The point is, I hope to read through most of KM4. I'd like to have it to my beta reader at the end of next week, and to everyone else by the end of April, if not earlier!

So, here's to a good, productive, fun weekend of editing.