Books for LDS Readers. Tips for LDS Writers.
So I, in my alter-identity, was catching up on a back-log in my Google Reader when I came across this:
Finding GOOD LDS Fiction…Enter, LDS Publisher
And, no. I didn’t have to pay her for that. I didn’t even know she was going to post about me.
(Thanks, Josi. You and all of your commenters are my new BFFs.)
Announcing, LDS Publisher’s Recommended Reads!
(See sidebar, second item from top.)
dit…dot…dit…We interrupt this announcement with an important message…
After much consideration, I’ve decided to discontinue the LDS Fiction Review site.
I had the best of intentions when I started the review site but… I just don’t have time to review books and apparently my volunteer reviewers don’t either. It probably has something to do with the fact that I expect them to work for free—and I am a harsh and demanding task-master.
For those of you still anxiously awaiting a promised review, I have made arrangements for other reviewers at other sites to do those reviews—by the end of this month. (They’ve promised.)
I will notify you when the reviews are posted and add review post links to the LDS Fiction post for your book.
(Authors not waiting for my review may send me a link to ONE review and I will add that to your post.)
And now back to our announcement…dit…dot…dit…
Missing the LDS Fiction Reviews?
Never fear.
LDS Publisher’s Recommended Reads was developed just for you!
Every week, I’ll post images of books that IMNSHO are guaranteed to please.
Click HERE for more details.
Happy Reading!
P.S. Yes, you can still put ads in the sidebar, but they need to be 125 x 125.
The Association for Mormon Letters (AML) just posted their awards for 2009.
Their fiction winners are:
Novel
Todd Robert Petersen for Rift
Novel Honorable Mention
Jamie Ford for Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Young Adult Literature
Carol Lynch Williams for The Chosen One
Click HERE for the full list.
FYI: The AML takes a more literary approach, while the Whitney awards (the winners will be announced in April) are more consumer driven.
Now that comments here have to be accepted before they display, I’m reading them before approving them.
Some of the comments coming in on the stories are just mean. Shame on you!
Critque is fine and you don’t have to like everything. It’s okay to point out weaknesses and things that didn’t work for you but I’m not going to put through comments that are cruel, calling stories “tripe” or writers “the most untalented hack I’ve ever read.”
Ain’t happenin’ here.
UPDATED COMMENTS IN RED.
Whether you’re a dyed-in-the-wool printed book person or a cutting-edge digital connoisseur, there is one truth that must be faced.
Ebooks are here to stay.
No, they’re not a fad.
Yes, they’ll change and morph. Various e-readers will go in and out of style. But they’re here.
Deal with it.
MAKE YOUR BOOKS AVAILABLE IN E-FORMATS!
(I say that in the most respectful way possible, while yelling at my computer.)
In my opinion, here are a few mistakes that LDS publishers are making:
This is just—erm—dumb. It isn’t that hard to convert your press files to ebooks. Really. It’s an extra income stream with very little investment—and that income stream is only going to grow. It’s also a great way to keep your backlist titles available without reprinting.
Ebooks should be $9.99 or less. (My vote is less because really, once you’ve created the file you have NO PRINT or STORAGE COSTS, NO RISK of having thousands of copies sitting in the warehouse that don’t sell.) (I wish I could link to an example but when I went back to Amazon, I couldn’t find it. If you know of an example, put the link in the comments section.)
Now that most of the readers make their software available FOR FREE for PCs, iPhones and other smart phones, even more readers will be purchasing ebooks.
Publishers need to join the 21st century and make their titles available to all readers.
Okay. Go ahead. Argue with me.
Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.
Please take a moment to learn more about our wonderfully generous sponsors.
Servant of a Dark God by John Brown
Young Talen lives in a world where the days of a person’s life can be harvested, bought, and stolen. Only the great Divines, who rule every land, and the human soul-eaters, dark ones who steal from man and beast and become twisted by their polluted draws, know the secrets of this power. This land’s Divine has gone missing and soul-eaters are found among Talen’s people.
The Clans muster a massive hunt, and Talen finds himself a target. Thinking his struggle is against both soul-eaters and their hunters, Talen actually has far larger problems. A being of awesome power has arisen, one whose diet consists of the days of man. Her Mothers once ranched human subjects like cattle. She has emerged to take back what is rightfully hers. Trapped in a web of lies and ancient secrets, Talen must struggle to identify his true enemy before the Mother finds the one whom she will transform into the lord of the human harvest.
John Brown is a novelist and prize-winning short story writer. This first book in his epic fantasy series was published October 2009 by Tor Books. It’s set in a world where beings of immense power ranch humans for their souls and is called Servant of a Dark God. Other forthcoming novels in the series include Curse of a Dark God, and Dark God’s Glory. He currently lives with his wife and four daughters in the hinterlands of Utah where one encounters much fresh air, many good-hearted ranchers, and an occasional wolf. Brown’s agent is Caitlin Blasdell of Liza Dawson Associates.
The Canticle Kingdom by Michael Young
It seemed like ages since Kate’s father went off to war, and she is eager to thank him for the beautiful German music box he sent for her birthday. But when it starts playing a strange, new melody and Kate vanishes into thin air, Captain Edison is willing to do anything to rescue his little girl.
When the Canticle Kingdom is attacked and the queen falls deathly ill, Joann, a young blacksmith’s apprentice, learns a terrible secret – the kingdom is contained entirely within a music box in another world.. With the help pf his friends, Johann races to bring aid from that other world in an effort to stop the dark power that threatens to destroy them all.
Enter a beautiful world full of magic, danger, loyalty, and bravery in The Canticle Kingdom, and discover that even the most ordinary objects and people might be hiding something truly wonderful inside.
Michael Young is a graduate of Brigham Young University with a degree in German Teaching and a minor in Music. He lives in Utah with his wife, Jen, and his son Jarem. Michael enjoys writing fiction, acting in community theater, and spending time with his family. He played for several years with the handbell choir Bells on Temple Square and is now a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. You can reach Michael at thecanticlekingdom@gmail.com
CLICK HERE for details on how to win these books.
CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.
This question was in the comments for this post:
I do have a question, though, about swearing in LDS fiction. Maybe it’s because I now live in Australia where many members use the “milder” swear words, or maybe it’s that I’ve seen some of those words in a few books I bought from or seen sold in Deseret. But I’m curious as what words (if any) would pass the LDS censor?
I’m about 85% finished with my first novel and am hoping to market it to the LDS market as well, so I’d love to figure this one out.
I can’t really answer that because there is no “LDS censor”—at least, no single individual or committee or even guidelines. It will vary from publisher to publisher, and some publishers have different standards depending on the type or genre of book, or the imprint the book is published under.
I can live with the words used in the Bible (d—, h—) used judiciously and sparingly. If you have a few of those in your novel, and the publisher doesn’t approve, they’ll strike them out. (As I did with one of the stories in Stolen Christmas—it wasn’t really a swear word, but use of the name of deity in a way I felt would offend our target reader.)
My advice is do your research and read through what your publisher of choice is currently putting out. Are there any swear words in their latest releases? If so, feel free to use those words in your book. If not, clean it up. Or follow the adage, “when in doubt, leave it out.”
Personally and professionally, I like the suggestion of having your character “curse under his breath” or even something like, “she threw a string of curse words at me that would have made a sailor blush” or whatever. You get the idea.
(And to whichever Anon out there who wants me to be perfect. . . I know my example of the blushing sailor is cliché and I should come up with something really clever and unique but, y’know, I’m in a hurry and I do this for free and I’m behind on a deadline. Sorry.)
Before we get too far into the year, I want to request some help for the LDS Fiction site.
I try really hard to track down new fiction releases by LDS authors but at the end of each year I find I’ve missed quite a few. So. . . help, please.
If you are an LDS author and you have a novel scheduled for release in 2010—let me know.
Now.
I’ll get you on the calendar on or near your release date.
Thanks so much!
I already tweeted this, but I think it bears repeating and elaborating. Over the weekend, I read a book that was chosen as the January read for a book club I’m in. (No, I’m not telling you the book club and no, you can’t join. Start your own and maybe I’ll join that one too. Or maybe I’ll start the LDSP book club. . .)
Anyway, this was a national suspense. The author sells well. I was wary going in because I knew there’d be language and probably loose morals. I was right. Lots of language and a couple of pages I had to skip due to explicitness. I usually only give these books one chapter but it was chosen by a very close friend and I knew she’d ask me about it, so I read—or rather skimmed—the whole thing.
What a waste of my precious time!
First, it was completely predictable and LAME. There were none of the twists and turns that Stephanie Black is so good at.
The characterization was flat; no sassy and unique heroines like Josi Kilpack creates.
The plot was pretty straight forward—no loops and subplots like Betsy Brannon Green gives us.
We knew right up front who the good guys were, who the bad guys were, and pretty much how it was going to end. No red herrings like Gregg Luke throws in our path.
And unlike Traci Abramson, Lynn Gardner, Ronda Hinrichsen, Jennie Hansen, Tristi Pinkston, and most of the other LDS mystery/suspense writers, this woman kept me on edge—not in a good way—never knowing when I was going to have to skip a swear word or jump past a detailed sex scene. (Picture me shuddering over that.)
But the biggest outrage was when the hero says that he likes the heroine because she has morals—as proven by the fact that AFTER they were intimate (mere hours after they meet up), she is worried over the idea that he might be married or have a girlfriend.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!?
Seriously.
So, a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to you LDS authors out there who write intriguing suspense without all the crud in it.
Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.
Please take a moment to learn more about our wonderfully generous sponsors.
The Pirate Slayers: Ghost Waves by W. Everett Prusso
In the winter of 1846, 238 pioneers leave New York City for a voyage that would take them twenty-six thousand miles around South America to Honolulu, and to their final destination, San Francisco.
On a warm, sultry, moonless night, off the coast of Brazil, four teenage passengers inadvertently fall overboard. Thomas, Elizabeth, Nicole and their Australian sailor friend, Matthew, find themselves stranded in dangerous waters.
The Caribbean Sea and South Pacific are the backdrops for this adventure that pits the foursome in desperate contests with pirates, profiteers and scoundrels as they swash-buckle their way to California.
W. Everett Prusso describes himself as an author, an adventurer, and an altruist. In addition to writing, he has explored the Yuba River, the Pacific Crest Trail, the islands of Hawaii, and traveled to Australia, New Zealand, Guam, Saipan, Hawaii more times than I can count, Belize, Mexico, St. John’s, St. Thomas, England, Ireland, Scotland, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Russia and Italy. He’s flown over the North Pole, hovered over an active volcano and soared high above the north shore of Oahu. He is also starting a non-profit organization called Waipuna, to help provide clean drinking water to people all over the world.
Heroes of the Fallen by David J. West
Heroes of the Fallen is set after a golden age of peace, that lasted almost three hundred years. War is now coming to Zarahemla. Men beat their plowshares into swords or call vainly to pagan gods for answers, all the while forgetting that which could deliver them.
Stand alongside daring heroes with swords bared against sinister villains, never knowing which will fall—Captain Amaron and his Ten Scouts, Zelph the White Lamanite, or Anathoth the Ishmaelite General, agonizingly loyal to the despised King of Tullan—all must face the chillingly evil Gadianton Master Akish-Antum and his numerous followers.
Witness the plans of mighty kings and lowly thieves. See the dreams of Bethia, a prophet’s daughter, as she runs away from home seeking independence, only to find confusion and wickedness in a land of war.
Heroes of the Fallen is filled with tragedy and triumph. It echoes universal themes of mankind: fear and courage, faith versus doubt, hunger for power and love, and sacrifice for the greater good. Intensely researched for reality and fantastically dreamt up for imagination, Heroes of the Fallen is a literary work of art, presenting revolutionary viewpoints in a cross-genre’s ancient American landscape.
David J. West was born in Salt Lake City, Utah but has lived throughout the United States and briefly in Mexico. He has been writing stories since he learned to read and is an avid collector of books and swords.
He enjoys traveling, and visiting the many places he writes about. He lives in Utah with his wife and three children, each with more unusual names than his own.
CLICK HERE for details on how to win these books.
CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.
The covers are posted!
Click HERE to vote.
Update: Had last minute scheduling changes. Won’t be at my computer tomorrow. The book cover finalists are already posted in the sidebar but voting doesn’t go live until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. Also set to go live at that time are posts with the images of the covers and voting instructions.
Wasn’t planning to post today but I got an email from Amazon.com and I wanted to try it out. This is so totally cool!!
If you blog using Blogger AND you have an Amazon Associates account (both of which are free), you can now do the Amazon links from within Blogger.
First you have to activate it HERE. It puts a little widget thingee next to your Post box.
Then you simply type in the title or whatever and highlight it.
For example, let’s say I’m talking about Stolen Christmas
or I can make it post an image for Stolen Christmas
The only downside that I can see is you have to use Blogger’s new stupid updated editor—which doesn’t give you as much control over things (like image manipulation) as the old editor did.
But still, you can easily switch back and forth between the two editors in your Settings panel faster than you can go to Amazon, find the product, create the link, etc.
Final verdict: It’s cool.
Why haven’t you posted this week? Did you go on vacation without telling us?
What are you talking about? Huh? Wait a minute….
I believe you are hallucinating because I see two posts clearly labeled Monday and Tuesday.
My Christmas vaca officially starts this coming Friday. I’ll officially be back on January 3rd. However, I’ll be popping in occasionally to announce winners of the cover contest and other stuff. As time permits.
When are you doing that cover contest?
Well, uhm. Narrowing it down is harder than I thought it would be. But I’ll have them up and ready for voting on Friday, as promised.
How is Stolen Christmas doing?
Wonderfully! As of this morning, we’ve sold 224 paper copies and about a dozen electronic copies.
I just hopped over to Amazon, and Stolen Christmas is “frequently bought together” with The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck and A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity by Bill O’Reilly. Interesting.
Are you doing another Christmas book next year?
Definitely! We’ll be holding the contest in mid-summer, but start working on your stories now.
Any plans for another non-Christmas short story collection?
Absolutely. I’ll be officially announcing it at the beginning of the year, but if you want to get a head start, it will be a collection of stories written for teens but based on Book of Mormon characters, scenarios, etc.
Will you be posting tomorrow?
Probably not. That’s my only day to go finish my Christmas shopping. Sorry. But come back on Friday for the cover contest.
Amazon is doing “Vote for the Best Book Covers of 2009” contest HERE.
They’ve narrowed it down to ten covers and you vote for the one you like best. You get a chance to win a copy of the winning book.
Cool. What a great idea!
In fact, I think it’s such a cool idea, that I’m going to do it here.
I’m going to pick the Top 10 Covers of 2009 (IMHO) from this site.
Then you get to vote on your favorite—and get a chance to win the winner!
I’ll post the T0p 10 next Friday, so if you know of a fiction title by an LDS author that’s come out this year, and it’s not on LDS Fiction, send me an e-mail ASAP so I can consider it for the contest.
This may or may not be a question you can use — maybe I just need to talk to somebody who might understand. But I think I’m stuck.
I want to write a book, an LDS book, but I can’t seem to come up with a plot that I like. In fact, except for the boringly standard “girl meets boy,” I can’t seem to come up with any plot at all. It’s like my brain has shut down. I only have some ideas for a background and maybe a character or two, but whenever I try to think of a plot, nothing comes out, and I mean, nothing. I’ve tried to brainstorm a few times, but I usually only come up with a load of questions that I can’t answer, or it’s all background and no action, and above all, no resolution. I’ve tried letting everything percolate in the back of my brain, hoping for a spark that will set it all off, but so far, nothing.
Am I trying too hard, putting too much pressure on myself, or maybe not trying hard enough?
Am I limiting myself unnecessarily by saying, “I really don’t want to write a romance?” I mean, I wouldn’t mind if a touch of romance was a by-product of the main plot, but that main plot just isn’t making itself known.
[A friend] once told me I should take the characters and situation from [my story] and make a book out of it. I’ve been trying, but I just can’t seem to get ideas to expand the story into a full-length novel.
Do you have any suggestions as to what I could do to help myself come up with an idea that I really want to work with?
Thanks for listening to me whine, anyway. I know you must be horrendously busy, so I’ll understand if you can’t reply right away.
I am horrendously busy, but that’s not why it’s taken me so long to answer this question. It got lost. I found it just now as I was tidying up my email account. Soooo sorry.
Yes, you’re trying to hard. Give yourself a break for a bit. Do writing exercises and prompts until an idea strikes, then go for it!
If you don’t want to write a romance, don’t write a romance. Just because they sell well in the LDS market doesn’t mean they’re the only thing that’s selling. Fantasy is selling well. So are mysteries and historicals.
Sometimes a short story is just a short story. Maybe there’s nothing more to it. Or maybe it needs to percolate a bit longer.
Find a story line that excites you, that you’re enthused about. That’s what you should be writing—not what you think the market expects. If you aren’t excited about your story, no one else will be excited about it either. You have to follow your bliss.
Dear Guru,
I am a writer, (unpublished) but have some basic questions. I have seen some financial numbers for the huge writers, but have been unable to obtain a ball park figure for what a good LDS author truly makes. I can’t even get someone to tell me how many books a better author sells. What kind of money are we really talking here? Is this worth my time? Do you have time to give me a hint here?
I’m a guru! Wait till I tell my mom. She’ll be so proud. 🙂
Okay. This is an area that is difficult to get good info on because: 1) most companies are tight-lipped about their numbers, and 2) there are so many variables that it’s hard to really say.
For example, a lot of it depends on the publisher, the genre, the retail price of the book, the size of the print run, how much advertising the publisher does, how much promotion you do, whether or not Deseret Book/Seagull pick the book up for their stores. . .
In the companies that I’ve worked for, a first run printing for a new or mid-list author averages 2,000 copies. If they sell through in less than a year, chances are there will be a second printing but the size of that printing depends on how quickly the first 2,000 sell.
An author is going to make 6–10% on royalties—sometimes this is based on the retail price and sometimes based on the wholesale price (again, depending on the publisher).
Let’s say you do average and sell 1,800 copies of a book priced at $14.95, and your royalty is 6% on the retail price. You’ll make just over $1600.
If you sell 10,000 copies (I’ve heard DB reps say they won’t accept a book unless they think they can sell that many), you’ll earn $8970—or maybe a bit more because some contracts pay a higher percentages on a tiered sales schedule.
Is it worth your time? That’s something only you can answer.
(P.S. If an author or publisher would like to answer this question anonymously, please send an email and I’ll post your response without revealing your identity.)
I have no idea if I’m asking this in the right place on your blog, but I’m going to ask it anyway. I have written a novel and in that novel I quote one line from Anne of Green Gables. I’m a first timer and though I’ve tried to figure out exactly what I need to do, I can’t find a specific guideline on if I need to cite this, and more importantly, how to do that. I do have the address of the Heirs of L.M. Montgomery and can use that address if I need to do so. My only fear is that they will laugh in my face since it’s only one line. Any suggestions?
This is always a tricky path and I prefer to be safe and not sorry. I generally go for the permission when I can find ownership.
Generally, quoting one line of a much larger source is considered “fair use”—under certain conditions. You can read the official U.S. Copyright definition HERE and Wikipedia has a discussion of it HERE.
However, according to Project Gutenberg, Anne of Green Gables is not under copyright protection here in the U.S. so you would be free to use that line without fear.
Why don’t you offer a free critique service and spend your time evaluating people’s manuscripts? (Just kidding)
Because I’ve grown accustomed to the luxuries of life: food, clothing and a roof over my head.
What do you think of the pricing war between Amazon and Walmart? How might that affect the LDS market?
As a consumer who buys LOTS of books as Christmas gifts, I love it! Comparing several popular national titles, Wal-mart seems to have the better prices, sometimes only by 1¢, sometimes by several dollars.
For LDS (and more obscure/niche national titles), it’s a moot point because Wal-Mart doesn’t carry them at all, and not all LDS publishers get their titles up on Amazon (and I ask them, Why not? Really?! You like shooting yourself in the foot like that?).
As someone who has a vested interest in books and publishing in general, it sort of bothers me. I’m concerned about it, but I’m still inclined to the same conclusions I came to back in October. Short-term, good. Middle-term, painful. Long-term, we’ll see.
Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.
Please take a moment to learn more about our wonderfully generous sponsors.
Missing by Ronda Gibb Hinrichson
A BYU-Idaho choir tour in British Columbia turns out to be anything but ordinary when soloist Stacie Cox spots a kidnapped child from Rexburg during a performance. Before Stacie can alert the authorities, the little girl disappears. Stacie vows to find and rescue her, a choice that forces her to deal with her guilt-ridden past and another little girl that haunts her dreams.
When the handsome Matt Brennan helps Stacie in the search, she tries to resist the attraction she feels for him. Yet as he gains her friendship and trust, her resolve to never fall in love begins to crumble. And after a series of harrowing events, Stacie must decide if she is willing to sacrifice her life—and a possible future with Matt—to save a stranger.
Ronda Gibb Hinrichsen received her Associates Degree in English from Ricks College and studied writing at Weber State University and Utah State University. Her numerous magazine and internet writing credits include fiction and nonfiction published by The Friend, New Era, Ensign, Guideposts for Kids, Class Act, and yourLDSneighborhood.com. She also enjoys teaching writing and speaking in various venues. Ronda first knew she wanted to be a writer when she was in the 6th grade. Her English teacher had been reading S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders to the class, and when she reached the section where Johnny urged Ponyboy to stay “gold,” Ronda realized she wanted to write “golden” words just as Hinton had. More than that, she wanted those words to encourage the “golden” in others. That remains one of her goals. Ronda’s award-winning novel, Missing, is her first book. She loves to hear from readers and can be contacted at rondagibbhinrichsen@gmail.com.
Stolen Christmas and Other Stories of the Season
by Various Authors
What happens when you’re so poor you have to steal your Christmas presents? Have you ever taken a punch in the face as your Christmas gift to the girl you love? Or saved Christmas while hunting were-weevils?
These award-winning Christmas stories are the best of the best from the LDS Publisher Christmas Story Contests. From Christmases past, to present, to future; from sweet and inspirational, to zany and delightful—there’s a story for everyone in this eclectic collection.
CLICK HERE for details on how to win these books.
CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.
I bet you thought I wasn’t going to post today because usually I post early in the morning.
Psych!
The reason I’m posting so late is I wanted to be able to announce that in addition to CreateSpace, Stolen Christmas is now available from Amazon.com and in various e-book formats at Smashwords. You can even read a sampling there.
Title: Stolen Christmas and Other Stories of the Season
Author: LDS Publisher, ed.
Publisher: LDS Publisher*
Release Date: November 18, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-931858-16-8
Size: 108 pages, 6×9, softcover
Genre: Christmas Short Story Collection
This book is not eligible for a Whitney Award.
What happens when you’re so poor you have to steal your Christmas presents? Have you ever taken a punch in the face as your Christmas gift to the girl you love? Or saved Christmas while hunting were-weevils?
These award-winning Christmas stories are the best of the best from the LDS Publisher Christmas Story Contests. From Christmases past, to present, to future; from sweet and inspirational, to zany and delightful—there’s a story for everyone in this eclectic collection.
Featuring LDS authors:
Order through CreateSpace E-store
Order from Amazon.com (link coming soon)
Title: Stolen Christmas and Other Stories of the Season
Author: LDS Publisher, ed.
Publisher: LDS Publisher*
Release Date: November 18, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-931858-16-8
Size: 108 pages, 6×9, softcover
Genre: Christmas Short Story Collection
What happens when you’re so poor you have to steal your Christmas presents? Have you ever taken a punch in the face as your Christmas gift to the girl you love? Or saved Christmas while hunting were-weevils?
These award-winning Christmas stories are the best of the best from the LDS Publisher Christmas Story Contests. From Christmases past, to present, to future; from sweet and inspirational, to zany and delightful—there’s a story for everyone in this eclectic collection.
Featuring LDS authors:
Order through CreateSpace E-store
Order from Amazon.com (link coming soon)
