New job with Lucky Bat Books

I have exciting news! I’m the newest Managing Editor of Lucky Bat Books!

Lucky Bat Books is a new kind of publishing company for the 21^st century. They’re a full-service publisher that accepts awesome books and makes them more awesome, working with the author every step of the way—but the difference is, they don't keep a percentage of the author’s income. The author pays for the work we do—and they pick what work they need—and then all the income from the book goes to them.

Lucky Bat also offers LB Press, for authors who want to do some of the work themselves and set up their own publishing company or otherwise indie publish on their own. Those authors just pick the services they need—a strong copyedit, say, or book design.

As a Managing Editor, I get to do all of the fun stuff: work with authors and shepherd their book through the publishing process, developmental edit, copyedit, proofread, design ebooks and print books… About the only thing I’m not going to do is cover design, because while I’m a competent enough designer for simple covers, I don’t have the background or training to do anything complex. Which is fine, because Lucky Bat has a stable of tremendous cover artists (and other staff)!

I’ll be doing this on top of being a writer and publisher/small business owner, but it means I can still work at home in my jammies (or, ahem, nothing at all), so there’s really no downside. I’ve done some freelance work for Lucky Bat over the past couple of years, and I’m so looking forward to helping more authors see their dreams become reality.  :-)

State of the projects, end of May edition

People seem amused by these, so here's another. Plus it helps keep me focused.

Here's what I'd like to get done by the end of May (or, since my Production Schedule starts on Mondays, by June 3):

Writing

• "Clap Your Hands" (dark mystery) due 5/31 to Fearful Symmetries
• untitled fantasy story for second Elemental Masters anthology due 7/1 – my proposal was accepted, so all that’s left is to write the story. I’d like to get it off my plate early; I know the editor would appreciate it!
• untitled SFF story for Penumbra – Revolution due 5/31 – if I have time—but I’m also waiting to hear if another story I’ve written will come free in time edit: The story came free, but I realized I'd be better off sending it to better-known, higher paying markets first. It would be nice if I had an idea for the anthology theme...!
• humorous SFF story for Unidentified Funny Objects 2 due 5/31 – they passed on the first story I sent but liked my writing, but at this point I have no ideas…
• direct-to-epub erotica – no due date; I’d just like to get more of these up
• two untitled erotica stories for anthology calls due 6/1 – I love the editors and would love to send them something, but these fall down the priority list for various reasons edit: Realized I could tweak an existing story for one of them, so that's tweaked and mailed!

Getting those written would mean I would have June for novels:

• Ghosted (urban fantasy as Dayle A. Dermatis) – This is a stalled, almost-finished project. It would be groovy to finish it in the first week of June. edit: in the process of printing it out.
• Possessed, Undressed, and in a Mess (spicy romance as Sophie Mouette) – This one’s more than half finished; Teresa and I started it eons ago, before our lives both went insane with other projects. Ideally, I’d love to get this done in June, but I'm waiting to hear about Teresa's schedule. edit: We've scheduled a phone confab after she gets back from vacation, with a rough draft due date of mid-July.

Design

• added: "Under a Double Rainbow" (Sophie Mouette) – Teresa and I decided to get another long-ish (8K) short story out before we published Cat Scratch Fever. Edited, ebook designed, need to upload. Next month I'll put this and "Catalyst" out as cute little PODs as well.
• Cat Scratch Fever (Sophie Mouette) – Proof copy of the POD is in hand. I need to input all changes into the POD and ebook, publish the ebook, and then publish the ebook
• What Beck’ning Ghost – finish interior design, write the back cover blurb/finish designing the back cover, upload ebook, upload files for proof

Copyediting

• freelance job, fantasy – finishing it up today
• freelance job, mystery – received, would like to finish by first week of June edit: In progress and on track!

Editing

• Possessed, Undressed, and in a Mess (see above) – I’ve got 4-5 more chapters to read through before Teresa and I can have a plotting/planning session.
• Blackwood House, gothic romance as Dayle Ivy – doing a final readthrough to add a small element throughout. It’s been copyedited, so after this, it’ll be ready for design.

Other

• Out of the Frying Pan – ping copyeditor re: schedule, contact the artist of the potential cover art
• A Little Night Music – ping cover designer with ideas and artwork; write letter for artwork permission
• A variety of fiddly website and online stuff

Happy Saturday!

Goals for Today

• food shopping/refill water bottles/buy cat litter - actually, Ken did it. I love him.
• go for a bike ride and a short run - nope. Felt oogy this afternoon. Tomorrow.
• scrub the cat puke off the bedroom carpet - not yet. It's not like it's going anywhere.
• enter receipts in Quicken/tidy home office desk - guess we're looking at tomorrow.
• curl up and watch a movie with Ken - watched the latest Doctor Who, and introduced Ken to the glory that is Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock.

• finish editorial revisions on short story and send - done!
• 1 hour freelance copyediting job
• finish reading through half-finished collaborative novel (or at least 4-5 chapters today, leaving 4-5 chapters for tomorrow) – tomorrow
• watch final videos for online workshop and do any homework (no homework!) - will probably do this tomorrow
• answer a ton of work email
• various online stuff (promo “Catalyst” on website, write blog posts about groovy news, etc.)

I feel like the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey: “What is a 'weekend'?”!

State of the projects, first quarter 2013 edition

All sorts of books talk about scheduling and how to pace yourself and focus on what’s important. I’ve been so deep in work these past couple weeks that it’s been hard to see the bigger picture. So I thought I’d make a list of all the projects either in progress or due soon.

Oh. My. Gods.

Short Stories

• “Finding My Own Voice” (fantasy) – redraft (per editorial request) finished, waiting on Ken’s review. (Since it was a redraft using some bits from previous versions, I want to make sure the information flow is correct.)
• erotica stories for Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 12, due Sunday 3/31 – reprints, assembled today and will mail tomorrow
• fantasy story for fire-themed anthology, due Sunday 3/31 – um…looking for an idea?
• “Still Flying” (lesbian erotica) – in progress, due to Best Lesbian Erotica 2014 by Monday 4/1
• erotica story for Best Bondage Erotica 2014, due Monday 4/1 – I was going to send “Still Flying” (see above) but it fits better for BLE2014, so I’ll probably send a reprint to this
• short-short erotica stories for Short-Short BDSM Erotica, due Monday 4/1 – one written, needs a read-through before I send it, along with a story I already had
• reprint erotica story for Coming Together: Girl on Girl charity anthology, due 4/15 – I know which story I’m sending; just need to send it!
• two erotica stories for His Book and Her Book, due 4/15 – not really on my radar yet, although it’s on my production schedule

I’d like to get all of these off my plate so I can get back to longer fiction, including

• On Her Lips – second novella in a three-novella set (In Her Hands is already available as an ebook)
• Seasoned With Danger – sexy funny spy novel as Dayle St. Clair

Design

• No Horns, No Trumpets – labor of love project. My aunt wrote this book about my cousin, who was brain-damaged at age 15 in a motorcycle accident, and was submitting it to publishers before she died. My other cousin has taken up the reins, and I volunteered to publish it (I did the copyediting and design). We’re waiting for our proof copies and the pdf from the proofreader, and then we’ll make final changes. Due date is having it ready before a traumatic brain injury conference in June.
• How to Sell Cruises Step-by-Step – nonfiction freelance book that I copyedited and designed. Also waiting for proof copies and markup from proofreader.
• What Beck’ning Ghost – gothic romance by me as Dayle Ivy. I need to finish the interior design, and rewrite the back cover blurb because it kinda sucks. I’m taking a six-week online Pitches & Blurbs workshop starting 4/2, so it may not get published 'til after that.
• In Her Hands – cover redesign of already published erotic romantic novella, to bring it in line with the two forthcoming novellas, and then also to publish it in print
• “Catalyst,” paranormal lesbian romance by Sophie Mouette – Sophie’s been on the back burner while Teresa and I have focused on solo stuff, and it’s time to get her going again! Cover is designed, interior is designed…it’s ready for upload once we get the bank account and all the online accounts set up (see below).
• Cat Scratch Fever, erotica by Sophie Mouette – reprint of previously published book, which has been re-copyedited. Need to design cover (rough preliminary done) and interior.
• various erotica short stories – I’m working on rebranding all my Andrea Dale erotica covers, redoing the interior files, and getting them all uploaded to the various sites, including Kobo, which I’ve just started to do. Also, I need to learn how to upload directly to iBooks and get them all up there.

Copyediting

• freelance job, mystery novel, due 3/31 – in progress; will take extra hours over the next few days
• freelance job, uh, can’t remember genre – due 4/15, scheduled to start 4/1
• freelance job, proofreading, SF – due 4/15, scheduled to start 4/1

Editing

• Blackwood House, gothic romance as Dayle Ivy – doing a final readthrough to add a small element throughout. It’s been copyedited, so after this, it’ll be ready for design.
• Possessed, Undressed, and in a Mess, erotic paranormal romance by Sophie Mouette (with Teresa Noelle Roberts) – We’re something like 60K into this book already, but we haven’t looked at it in a few years. Step 1 is to read through everything we’ve got. It’s really freeing, because we made some changes per an editor’s request (before the editor bought it – live and learn) and now we can just focus on writing the book that gives us the most excitement and joy rather than worrying about publisher guidelines.

Other

• Beta read a friend’s fantasy story. Currently overdue (sorry, LW! SOON!).
• Set up business bank accounts for Soul’s Road Press and Little Kisses Press
• Write and send anthology ideas to publisher for possible editing jobs. Kinda overdue (I had a phone confab w/her a few weeks ago).
• Set up Little Kisses Press accounts at kdp (Amazon), pubit (B&N), Smashwords, Nook, iBooks, and CreateSpace
• Out of the Frying Pan, spicy romance by Sophie Mouette – still in early stages: need to hire a copyeditor, need to contact the artist of the potential cover art, that sort of thing
• Meet up with owner of lingerie shop to discuss a reading/signing
• A variety of fiddly website and online stuff

Looking at this makes me feel energized and tired in equal measure….

A blog about why I haven't blogged

There are generally three reasons I stop blogging regularly:

• I’m not feeling well
• I’m too busy writing/working
• I’m too busy with other things

All three of these things have hit me this month alone, in a different order:

• I went to five Styx concerts in six days, including hosting a friend from Minnesota for three of them, and she won the VIP Experience with Tommy Shaw so I got to show my inner 17-year-old what the back of the stage looks like.
• I then came down with a cold, which knocked me on my butt for about five days.
• I’m about to head off to two workshops in Oregon, both of which had/have stories due ahead of time (story #1 was due at midnight tonight, and has been finished and mailed [and it’s probably the suckiest story I’ve ever written, but it’s finished and mailed, so, onwards]; story #2 is due Wednesday at midnight and has been started, but we leave tomorrow morning, spend tomorrow night with my sister, and then are taking two more days to get up the coast, arriving Wednesday afternoon and then going out to dinner with friends, so OMFG this story needs to get written somewhere in all of that), and I’m working on two copyediting jobs, one of which is on a tight-ish deadline (I’m actually serving as editor and publisher of the book, even though it won’t be published by Soul’s Road Press), and I need to prep materials for the book sale at the California Dreamin’ conference (order comp copies, order some SRP promo cards) that’s less than two weeks after we return from OR, and I have to catch up on business correspondence.

All of which is to say, I’ll actually have a couple of "free" days in OR before the first workshop starts, so maybe I’ll write a blog post then. Except that I have another story to finish, and several languishing novels, and don’t get me started about the design for What Beck’ning Ghost, and….