Writer Wednesday: Calista Taylor

Calista Taylor is an amazing, multi-talented dame from the Eastern US. She just finished up her steampunk craft book for her publisher (Fox Chapel Publishing–tentative release date: May 2012) where she not only designed and created a wardrobe of steampunk clothes and accessories, she also wrote the step-by-step instructions, and took all of the book’s 175 photographs. Oh yes, and while doing that she was also designing her own award-winning cover for her self-published steampunk novel, Viridis, which has had over 20,000 downloads, and spent weeks on the top 100 free ebooks list on Amazon. She also designed the beautiful cover for book two in the series as well as helped other writer’s with their cover designs. And she’s been making websites. And she’s been raising her young family. And keeping her crazy South American dog in line (and warm with a special handmade coat she made for her). And renovating her bathroom!

Yeesh! I’m tired just thinking about it!

Recently, Calista has released both Viridis (free!!) and Devil on a Sparrow’s Wing ($2.99) as ebooks on Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes and Noble.com. (You can read ebooks on a dedicated ebook reader, your computer, a tablet, or even a smart phone.) These two novels are unique stories featuring a hot-headed, strong-willed, and very feisty character named Phoebe who plays an important role in Victorian, steampunk London during a revolution. She an inventor, mother, wife, friend, business owner, and quiet revolutionary. Talk about how does she do it all!? I think Calista and Phoebe have something in common!

For those of you who have not heard of steampunk, it is a wonderful dream world created by writers where they have imagined what our world would have been like if the industrial revolution had taken longer to evolve and steampower had been able to develop more fully as a possible power source. A steampunk world is as rich and unique as its inventions. It’s a world well worth checking out.

Without further ado, I would like to introduce Calista Taylor!

What lead you to or got you interested in steampunk?

Oddly enough I was looking at corsets when I noticed the steampunk tag, and remembered seeing it as a genre an agent rep’d.  Once I looked into it further, I realized it was the perfect fit!

What do you love most about creating a steampunk world in your novels? What is the trickiest part?

I love that I’m only inhibited by my own imagination.  The trickiest part is translating what I see in my imagination, in a way that’s clear to the reader without getting too bogged down in details.

Both books, Viridis and Devil on a Sparrow’s Wing, are set in Victorian England, did you have to do any/much research for your books?

To be honest, I’ve been an avid reader of books set in the Victorian time period (Elizabeth Peters and Anne Perry are some of my favorites).  That certainly helped.  Also, there are some fantastic websites out there.  Oddly enough, the one thing I had the hardest time finding out about was what would be historically accurate for men’s undergarments during that period (when still in London).  Still not 100% sure on that one.

Lady Phoebe Hughes (the main character in both novels) is a tough yet sweet, rule-breaking woman. What was the most difficult part of creating a such a feisty character? What was the easiest?

I tend to let my characters dictate who they are and what they do, so in a way, it comes natural to write them.  I think the hardest part is actually remaining true to them, since it would often be easier to make them behave in ways that are more acceptable to a majority of readers.

There are some wonderfully steamy passages in Viridis and Devil on a Sparrow’s Wing, do you worry what people like your parents, siblings, coworkers, or friends and other family members might think if they read it? (Yeah, I’m a big chicken, what can I say?)

Yeah, I’m a big chicken too, which is why I tend not to advertise to my friends and family.  However… if they do ask, I give them the warning that there are some graphically intimate details, and ask them if they really want to read it, knowing that I wrote the book. Some skip it, but others don’t mind.

The male characters speak with a definite accent, where did you pick up their expressions and accents?

I think it’s a mish mash of my husband’s Irish accent and the way he phrases things, combined with Gabaldon’s Outlander series, and the celtic music I listen to.  I can literally hear the characters speaking in my head in their accent, so I just do my best to translate it.

Phoebe finds herself in all sorts of interesting situations. Are there ways that Phoebe resembles you?

Perhaps. lol.  Like Phoebe, I think I tend to be strong willed, and tend to act with my heart rather than with my head when it comes to the people and causes I care about.  I guess that’s why Phoebe gets herself in difficult situations which may have been handled differently if she acted logically rather than emotionally.

If you had only three adjectives (Ack! Adjectives!!!) to describe your novels, Viridis and Devil on a Sparrow’s Wing, which three would you use?

Steamy, different, unconventional.

What do you enjoy most about writing?

I love the adventures my characters take me on. The scenes are constantly playing in my head, and being a pantser, I never know where they’ll take me.  I’m completely addicted.

(Note from Jean: “Pantser” or “pantster” is writer speak for writing by the seat of your pants. In other words, sit down, start writing and see what happens rather than a “plotster” who plots the whole story out before they begin writing.)

You’ve self-published this book which is an immense amount of work. One of the issues with self-published books are the lame-o covers. How did you create such a striking and beautiful cover? Can people hire you to create a cover for them?

Thank you, Jean!  To be honest, I’d be the person that clicks on the red button and sets off a nuclear reaction. lol.  I constantly click on things to see what the buttons do, and it’s sort of the way I went about learning Photoshop and figuring out what seemed to work with designing book covers and what didn’t.  I have just recently started making covers for other writers, and I’ll admit, it’s been great fun!

Is there a third book in the works?

There is!  As long as Phoebe, Seth and Gavin are willing to take me on their adventures, I’m happy to write their story.  I also have other series in the works, and will soon be finishing my paranormal romance on Jack the Ripper.

Thank you for visiting, Calista. Best of luck with your books!

How to get your hands on Calista Taylor’s books:

Viridis (book 1):
Smashwords
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

Devil on a Sparrow’s Wing (book 2):
Smashwords
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

These books are part of a series but can be read as stand alone novels as well.

Type Specimen For Paper Books

There is a curious thing going on in California. There is a man, or should we say, hero-to-be, named Brewster Khale who is compiling and storing a huge pile of paper books in case our digital world falls apart. Which it truly could. (Did you see the episode of The IT Crowd where Jen borrows the Internet for her speech… and well, things happen?)

Click on the picture to see the clip.

Anyway:

Brewster decided that he should keep a copy of every book they scan so that somewhere in the world there was at least one physical copy to represent the millions of digital copies. That safeguarded random book would become the type specimen of that work. If anyone ever wondered if the digital book’s text had become corrupted or altered, they could refer back to the physical type that was archived somewhere safe.

Not a bad idea, really.
Want to read the whole article? Check it out at The Technium.

Ereader Basics: How to Buy an Ereader

There are all sort of quotes out there these days mentioning that ereaders are gaining ground and that something like 6% of the American population plan on purchasing an ereader in the next 12 months. So, what the heck is this ereader thing anyway?

Here are some highlights to get your feet wet.

A few ereaders on the market: Kindle, Sony Ereader, Kobo. (And various models in all three.)

Kobo

Some ereaders are proprietary (the Kindle) and do not believe in free love. In other words, you have to use the device’s website to do things like convert files, download onto your reader, etc. Other devices will allow you to place any file on them. Drag and drop and voila! Some ereaders have WiFi capabilities meaning you do not have to download ebooks onto your computer and then drag and drop them onto your connected ereader. You simply go online with your ereader and download the book. (WiFi capabilities generally costs more.) Some ereaders will also allow you to place music files on them (earphone plug ins). This feature is also handy if you happen to have an audiobook in digital format. Wow!

Some of the ereaders allow for annotations/highlighting to be made in the ebook. Some don’t. Handy for editing or making notes.

Cases and cases with lights are also available for all ereaders. As well, generally, there is a selection of colours for the actual ereader.

Remember, the more add-ons and features you want in your ereader, the higher your price is going to be. However, it’s a pretty good time to buy an ereader as the prices have just dropped, dropped, and then dropped again. As well, the product you are getting now is even better/fancier than it was six months ago.

Sony eReader in case

Ereader Screens: All ereaders at this point are black and white. The new Kobo does have a bit of a colour screen at the bottom–but this is just for viewing cover art–and it is an LCD screen and not eInk. (Your actual ebook will not be shown in colour.) EInk is actually pretty cool. It is not backlit like an LCD screen, thus reducing eye strain. In fact, it is not lit at all (unless you get some sort of a light) and so you cannot read eInk in the dark. I generally describe eInk as a really, really, really clear etch-a-sketch.

As well, some of the newer ereaders have touch screens. So, you touch the screen to turn the page, etc.

Ebooks: Many books can now be purchased from online booksellers such as Amazon, Kobo, Chapters, and Barnes and Noble. You can also find them on author websites. Many aspiring authors are also breaking in (or trying to) by self-publishing ebooks and selling them online. You can also find free ebooks for books like classics where their copyright has expired. Many public libraries are also lending ebooks now. (The selection may be slim at the moment, but it will improve.) And finally, you can steal them. I don’t recommend that method. Why? Not because you could get a computer virus you rightly deserve, but because you are taking royalty money from the pocket of an author. If enough people do this, guess what? Your favourite author may no longer be able to AFFORD to write those books you love. So, if you like an author and like a book, PAY FOR IT, please.

When purchasing an ereader, check out whether your ereader will read only epub files, or whether it will read other files like PDFs, Word files, etc. (Not everything is created as an epub file and you may have to do some conversion whenever you want to upload an ebook to your ereader.)

Ereader size: The storage size is amazing. I have a smaller ereader and it holds about 250 books. Some of the devices will hold twice that–or more!

Ereaders are heavier than a paperback, but lighter than a hardcover. They tend to be a bit wider than a paperback, but are quite thin. You can generally check one out in your local electronics store.

Battery life: Generally they last for about two weeks–of constant reading. It also depends whether you do a complete shutdown of the device when you let it sit for a few days or just put it to sleep. The battery life is nothing to sneeze at.

I think that about covers the basics. If you have questions, let me know and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Want to dare to compare?

Lap of Luxury and eBooks

I’ve been promising myself for about three months now that I’d talk about eReaders. And I will. But first, I have a really cool idea to share with you on using eBooks and eReaders to hook new readers. It’s brilliant!
First, read this article in the Washington Post so you know what I am discussing.

Yeah, that’s right. You sign into your hotel and get an ebook on a loaded reader for you to use during your stay. I like it, I like it a lot. Unfortunately, I never pay nearly enough for a hotel to actually be in the leagues of this kind of pampering, but still.

Putting aside the discussion about the exclusivity that takes place with the hotel’s choice of eReader and the partnership between Random House and Fairmont hotels (bloody brilliant marketing, I say!), here’s what I like about the idea:

Access. I love that they are literally putting books into people’s hands. (Some hotels put real books in hand.) Think of it this way, you are staying in a hotel and you start reading a book that they have loaned you. You have to check out, you can’t finish the book… what do you do? At some point, you are probably (but not always, of course) going to find that book, buy it, and finish it. Especially if you liked it. If nothing else, you are probably going to talk about it with your friend.

Two things just happened here. The publisher got a book into someone’s hands while they are relaxed and kicking back. That’s huge. Two, the person either read it fully or partially and are likely to talk it up in some form. (Not a guarantee though.) That author just got access to what could possibly be a new reader. And a possible third thing happened which is a possible sale.

The other thing I like about the access of getting these books into people’s hands is that it opens the doors for word of mouth. I’ve seen a good book sell, sell, sell, by having one person read it. Here’s the scenario. Our book club decided to read “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” based on one member’s recommendation. About half of our group (7 of 14) always buy the books that we read. Right there, 7 sales. I liked the book so much, I went out and bought a copy for myself. Then I recommended it to my mother and her friend while in the bookstore as well as purchased a copy for a friend as a gift. The friend liked it so much she recommended it to her whole family. And she’s got a big family. So how many sales came from that one person recommending the book to our book club? I don’t know because, months later, the chain reaction is still going.

So what would you think if that member had read this book while staying in a hotel? (She didn’t, but the very idea of it is inspiring.)

Book Review: ePublish: Self-Publish Fast and Profitably for Kindle, iPhone, CreateSpace and Print on Demand

Book Review: ePublish: Self-Publish Fast and Profitably for Kindle, iPhone, CreateSpace and Print on Demand
By Steve Weber

This book is a must-have for those interested in self-publishing in any format (paper or electronically/online) and especially for those considering this avenue of publishing. The cost of the book will pay off in terms of less headaches, a better product, reaching more readers and of course, saving you money when you choose your self-publisher. So, spend $10 to save yourself hundreds (and maybe thousands).

Weber’s short book is to the point and covers everything from different electronic formats (did you know you want to make changes to your book’s format to make it more readable for the Kindle and iPhone?), resources that will save you money, tips on how to gather attention for your book, ideas on how to set your price point, which type of publishing is best for what kind of product, etc, etc. While it is only 100 pages long, it is so jam-packed with info, you’ll want to read it twice.