The Stocking Your Ereader Sale

THEStocking Your Ereader
Sale has ended.
Come back 1/15 for details on the next one. Enter until then to win a Kindle Fire HDX.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Authors! Sign up now for the "Stocking Your E-Reader Sale"

As per the rest of of 2013, I am a day late and a dollar short. Since I posting the sign ups so late I am allowing you submit books until 9PM Pacific Time Christmas Day! As usual, listing in the sale is absolutely free--however, some of the rules have changed so make sure you check it out! (Believe it or not, there are actually less rules!)

1. Must have an ebook priced .99 or FREE by 11:59 PM 12/25
2. Must be willing to post sale information at least twice a day on whatever social media networks you are into during the duration of the sale 12/26-12-31. (I.E. 2 tweets a day, or a facebook post and a google plus post, or any combination you can think of)
3. Must post sale information on your blog or website sometime during the sale.

I have also simplified the sign up form! Ready to commit? Click here. Then leave a comment and let us know you're coming!

Not an author? No worries! Make sure you check back after Christmas for awesome books, awesome prices, and fantastic giveaways!

COVER REVEAL! Coffin Nails & Other Beasts!

Whoa! I wish I could say December was a month of laziness--but alas, it only looks like I'm slow! I've baked over 200 cookies, I've song dozens of Christmas songs, and shopped for everyone on my list! I am done early, and that's good because now it's time for some bookish work!

First on the list, a cover reveal! Here is the new (and kind of creepy!) cover for my new anthology; Coffin Nails and Other Beasts.

I will be out soon. Until then, enjoy the introduction of it.

I was a strange child. In high school,  my clothing was mostly black, and mostly plastic. In the third grade,  I vowed that one day, I’d be an author. Oh so sweet innocence, if only I had known then what trouble that one little desire would bring me! It middle school I became obsessed with the idea of winning an obscure reading contest—that earned be a journal from the dollar store with gilt edges. I could have read Goosebumps or Babysitters club, but I read The Jungle Book first, and wrapped up my epic win with Moby Dick. Oh Ishmael my friend! You’re a freak, but so am I!

It would be nice to say my taste for the obscure ended in my childhood; instead I refined my individual preferences as an adult—well assuming of course I am an adult, to be honest I am not quite sure.

So Coffin Nails.

Perhaps you are like some and wonder, “Why that?” Why indeed! Well perhaps you understand the reference. The Christmas Carol by one amazing and legendary Charles Dickens is one of the most iconic and celebrated Christmas stories of all time—and it doesn't need my say so to make it true. Marley was dead to begin with. Dickens leaves no doubt of it, and he goes on to say he is deader than a doornail but then strays; something I am fond of doing myself! Dickens remarks that he doesn't believe that door nails are quite dead—he supposes that a coffin nail would be deader.

And I concur.

A Christmas Carol may have started my love of dark stories for the season, but nothing, not even my own book of them—seems to be able to end it.

P.S.
Sign ups for the next ebook sale start tomorrow!

Thanks for a great sale!

I would like to spare a few moments to thank the readers, the writers, and the tweeters for making THE GREEN TUESDAY SALE a success. Today I'm feeling slightly hung over, 4 hours a sleep a night for two weeks will do that to you!

Just some house cleaning notes, I am trying to wrap up the editing on DUST OF THE DEAD SEA so it can be out to you guys soon. I know you have been waiting, I really need to stop injuring myself!

I also have a surprise Anthology out later this month. It's called Coffin Nails, and Other Deceased Beasts. It includes an excerpt of a novella out next year called BONE DEEP. It's a Hollows novella, and it's about Alex and Lena--told from Alex's POV immediately following the events of Skeleton Lake and during the events of DUST OF THE DEAD SEA.

In other boring, mundane news; I am migrating my newsletter soon. Look for new sign-ups in the next week or so--and a contest to go with that.

And above everything else, keep your eyes and tweets ready for information on the next sale coming 12/26! Forms will be up for participation soon. It runs until new years and is called THE STOCKING YOUR EREADER SALE.

THE GREEN TUESDAY Sale is Here! Many Authors, Many .99 ebooks. #GREENTUESDAY

Green Tuesday is upon us! Check out the shelves are ebooks special priced at .99 or less! THEN hop on over to your favorite haunts and tell your friends!

Green Tuesday Sale! Save the trees, buy ebooks! Author/Publisher sign up. #GREENTUESDAY

This is a tiny bit late because man, I have been running on coffee and Top Ramen for months and it has finally caught up with me.

So here is the deal, my friends and I at Green Envy Press have are starting the first annual, GREEN TUESDAY SALE. Save the tress, buy ebooks! And not just any ebooks, but .99 cent ones! As many as we can possibly get. Which between us is already TONS. We thought, sure, we could do this awesome sale with just us. But man, we'd rather have a party! So we're going to open the sale to any author/publisher who can meet the following requirements.

1)Must have .99 ebook(s ) [regular or sale priced] on or before 12/2 available on Amazon
2) Must have a Twitter account and must be willing to post a minimum of three times on various social networks about the sale. (i.e. 3 tweets, or one post each on G+, facebook, and Twitter--however you want.)
3) Must have a blog, and be willing to post the Green Tuesday button provided to you via sign up email from at least 11/18-12/3
4)Must post sale information the day of the sale on your blog. (12/3)
5)Must sign up before 11:59 PM 11/28 (Thanksgiving)

SIGN UP FOR THE GREEN TUESDAY SALE HERE. 

BONUS, nice things:
It would be nice, if you sign up before you could share this post on your own blog. The more people we have participate in the sale, the more people will hear about it. That means higher traffic, and more fun for everyone--authors and readers alike.

We are also going to be having some fabulous giveaways! If you would like to contribute swag, books, ebooks, cash (to buy cards), or gift cards to the cause click here. It's not required.

In addition to all the benefits there are from having a large ring of synchronized support; I will be throwing an all day Twitter party (and bringing 22k+ of my closest friends) all day Green Tuesday. You are invited to party too, use hashtag #greentuesday

Did I leave something out, or need clarification? Leave a comment or send me an email. 

Yesterday I got my first death threat... apparently this means I've made it.

On Tuesday, which is odd because it's always the Mondays--but on Tuesday something crazy happened. No, not the normal level of crazy you know and love me for.

Someone threatened to kill me, on Twitter. It would be on Twitter, because practically all my life is there these days, but! It freaked me out a little bit. I'm over it, but COME ON! Who gets death threats on Twitter?

Besides me, I mean. I thought I'd get them over the the end of Pigments of My Imagination--but the fanboys took the cliffhanger better than expected! Everyone was mostly nice--this wasn't from anything writing related.

I must still be freaked out, because there are a lot more exclamation points in this post than usual. I am not even sure this post is in English.

Why I ♥ Grammarly & You Should Too

Dudes. I use Grammarly's Plagiarism Checker, because copying is for bad pop music.


And the rest of it? Man, I am in love.

So. The secret is out. I hate editing...Wait. You mean that wasn't a secret? You mean I complain about it on Twitter like every week? Er... day? HOUR?!

Ok, so quite often I can be found complaining about how much I hate editing to around nineteen thousand of my best friends. Often whining about how it totally ruins my day, week, existence. So it might come as a complete shock to you, that I don't hate editing so very much anymore. Well anyway, it's a shock to me.

A couple of weeks ago I sat down and tried Grammarly for the first time. To say I was a skeptic was putting it mildly. All I could think of was that stupid Allstate commercial, it must be true if it's on the internet! Grammarly claims they:

• Instantly find and correct over 250 types of grammatical mistakes

• Improve word choice with context-optimized vocabulary suggestions

• Help avoid plagiarism by checking your texts against over 8 billion web pages   

I admit I scoffed! We all know how good a job Microsoft Weird does checking our grammar. Even Scrivener has failed me recently. (Shorn is so a word Scrive-NERD) So despite the fact that the whole internet is talking about them, I did not have high hopes. Still, the timing was good. I was in edits up to my armpits, so I tossed in the next chapter of my manuscript in.

Wow.

That was all I said, and seriously this writer is never at a loss for words. Never.

I went through an entire chapter in just minutes. It takes all the guesswork out of the edit process for me. Often I think something might be not right, but I can't put my finger on it. Grammarly can. It is hard to self-edit. Grammarly kept me from having to re-read the same scene until the words spun off page and I'd start wondering if I wrote the whole damn thing in some obscure dead language.

The very next thing I did was email my editor asking him to go over my edited text--and see if it really is as great as I thought it was. I had to wait until the next day for my answer. Apparently editors need sleep. Whereas I previously thought they were too evil for it.

The answer was amazing. "While it didn't catch everything," he starts.... it was about ninety percent cooler than what I normally turn into him. And I mean, he couldn't say it's perfect right? Editors got to eat too.

For kicks, I am going to throw in this blog post pre-edit to see what Grammarly finds.

So as you can see, I'm an awful writer.

No, that's not right. As you can see, Grammarly gives you a "score" out of 100. As you correct things your score goes up. I don't know about you, but my adult self still likes to get A's. No one wants to write a D- of a book or even a blog post. Grammarly makes it all so easy, I forget that I am editing and not just playing some crazy word game all the Grammar Nazis think is cool.

On Grammarly.com they have an awesome list of TOP TEN REASONS YOU SHOULD USE GRAMMARLY. I'm partial, so I think mine's better.

#10 Sometimes it pays to be the smartest one in the room. Let's be honest, in writing everyone is trying to out do everyone else. To be the best you have to be the best at something. Why wouldn't you jump on the chance to make you and your book more professional with something that doesn't require your firstborn child.

#9 Everyone is a critic. As a writer, you spend a fair amount of time trying to make other people happy. If you claim you don't you're a terrible liar. There is always someone. You might be writing your books for you, but then there is always the agents/editors/publishers/readers/and other critics of the world. Don't give them something easy to complain about.

#8 Self-editing is hard. Being burned at the stake for being a bad self-editor is worse.

#7 Grammarly has 20k Twitter followers (a little more than me!) but editing is not cool--therefore Grammarly must work fabulously! Because no one wants to hang out with editing at a party.

#6 All the cool kids are doing it. While I am big into being original, there is something called a grading curve. You might be shocked to realize this applies to writing and real life. If everyone else raises their standards, you have to raise yours or you won't be able to compete.

#5 Real Editing comes in tiers, like substantial, basic, and copy-editing. Grammarly plans also come in tiers, but theirs are all for a very small fraction of how much you'd pay for a first edit.

#4 Use it and abuse it for one low price! So you get your manuscript back from the editor, and it has red lines all over it! What do you do? You fix it of course. Only sometimes the fixes aren't as cut and dried as we like and most editors don't include a second (or third, or tenth) look in their price. Grammarly does.

#3 It's not cool to wait in line. Say you want someone (anyone!) to look at your book. Did you know that most awesome editors have serious wait lists? In addition to the time you'll spend on that, it also takes weeks for them to get back to you when they do start your book. Do I think you can go editor-free when you use Grammarly? I can't, but I can skip to the copy editing part which saves time and money. Comma people probably could though.


#2 Real editors need sleep (those bastards). Feel free to use Grammarly at three in the morning. I do.

#1 Angela Kulig recommends it! Hey, that's me~!



The Fine Print: Grammarly sponsored this post... but they didn't actually plan on me talking about them. They said I could write about whatever I wanted. I decided to write about Grammarly because I am seriously into writing innovation, and I want my friends to be into it to. I love Grammarly, but that wasn't a requirement.

A Good Update

This is an update to my last post, A Personal Kind of Pain. My husband was packed, and ready to go. He was just waiting for the final details on his last minute plane tickets when he found out his orders had been canceled.

So he's still here.

I feel like a rung out rag of a women. I have cried every time I think about it for two days because I don't know what else to do. After being pulled one way and then another for so long it's hard to feel anything at all but at least I don't have to miss my best friend and cuddle mate, and that makes it much MUCH better than the alternative.

A Personal Kind of Pain

Those of you who have followed me around on the internet for a while, know I rarely talk about my personal life. The first reason is, it gets kind of dull. For example, today I have already run the dishwasher three times!  The second reason is, it's personal.

So you might not know this, but my husband is in the Air Force. That presents some very interesting challenges for our life, being so far away from family (close to 1,000 miles) can be very difficult but it's worse when husband is gone--and as you read this blog he's leaving again.

On some level, you get used to it. Or, at the very least, you get used to going through the motions. However this time because of the shutdown we were jerked around a bit---we were told he wasn't going, then he was going again, then not going, then it might be canceled all together, then he was going again but they ran out of time, and now he's going again for real and hurts. It hurts so much more than it would have if I hadn't had to hope he wouldn't go.

Usually, I'd go through a mini grieving period. I'd read a book a day for week until I could live again, but this time I just don't feel like I have time to blink. In the world of book promotion pulling back for a week could mean you are as good as dead. While that might sound dramatic, it's true. So I will do my best to focus on that, and making sure the dishwasher gets filled.

I just wanted you to know.

HEROES & VALLENEZ is free on Kobo!

Vic Vallenez is awesome, and right now he is absolutely free for Kobo! Heroes & Vallenez is a novella introduction to the world of Barneby Knotts, that we will be exploring very soon. Of course if you wanted to pay for H&V he is just .99 on BN.COM and AMAZON.COM

Blurbish:
Victor Vallenez might not be a villain, but that doesn’t make him a saint. At age 16, Vic could be a career criminal, but instead he spends his time lurking in corners and telling other peoples' secrets—for a price. As a professional snitch, money is the only thing that talks more than he does. Still, as much as Vic hates to admit it, there are some things even blood money won’t buy—mainly Emily. So, when her chivalrous butthead of a boyfriend shows up and asks for his help, there is one very good reason he won’t turn him down—and that’s his angle.

Initiate by Tara Maya

Sometimes I have other authors on the blog. Usually it's other Green Envy Press peeps, but today it's  Author Tara Maya. Fantasy Fans will love her.

The Unfinished Song (Book 1): Initiate by Tara Maya

BLURB

DEADLY INITIATION

A DETERMINED GIRL...

Dindi can't do anything right, maybe because she spends more time dancing with pixies than doing her chores. Her clan hopes to marry her off and settle her down, but she dreams of becoming a Tavaedi, one of the powerful warrior-dancers whose secret magics are revealed only to those who pass a mysterious Test during the Initiation ceremony. The problem? No-one in Dindi's clan has ever passed the Test. Her grandmother died trying. But Dindi has a plan.

AN EXILED WARRIOR...

Kavio is the most powerful warrior-dancer in Faearth, but when he is exiled from the tribehold for a crime he didn't commit, he decides to shed his old life. If roving cannibals and hexers don't kill him first, this is his chance to escape the shadow of his father's wars and his mother's curse. But when he rescues a young Initiate girl, he finds himself drawn into as deadly a plot as any he left behind. He must decide whether to walk away or fight for her... assuming she would even accept the help of an exile.

EXCERPT

Blue-skinned rusalki grappled Dindi under the churning surface of the river. She could feel their claws dig into her arms. Their riverweed-like hair entangled her legs when she tried to kick back to the surface. She only managed to gulp a few breaths of air before they pulled her under again.

She hadn't appreciated how fast and deep the river was. On her second gasp for air, she saw that the current was already dragging her out of sight of the screaming girls on the bank. A whirlpool of froth and fae roiled between two large rocks in the middle of the river. The rusalka and her sisters tugged Dindi toward it. Other water fae joined the rusalki. Long snouted pookas, turtle-like kappas and hairy-armed gwyllions all swam around her, leading her to the whirlpool, where even more fae swirled in the whitewater.

 

"Join our circle, Dindi!" the fae voices gurgled under the water. "Dance with us forever!"

"No!" She kicked and swam and stole another gasp for air before they snagged her again. There were so many of them now, all pulling her down, all singing to the tune of the rushing river. She tried to shout, "Dispel!" but swallowed water instead. Her head hit a rock, disorienting her. She sank, this time sure she wouldn't be coming up again.

"Dispel!" It was a man's voice.

Strong arms encircled her and lifted her until her arms and head broke the surface. Her rescuer swam with her toward the shore. He overpowered the current, he shrugged aside the hands of the water faeries stroking his hair and arms. When he reached the shallows, he scooped Dindi into his arms and carried her the rest of the way to the grassy bank. He set her down gently.

She coughed out some water while he supported her back.

"Better?" he asked.

She nodded. He was young--only a few years older than she. The aura of confidence and competence he radiated made him seem older. Without knowing quite why, she was certain he was a Tavaedi.

"Good." He had a gorgeous smile. A wisp of his dark bangs dangled over one eye. He brushed his dripping hair back over his head.

Dindi's hand touched skin--he was not wearing any shirt. Both of them were sopping wet. On him, that meant trickles of water coursed over a bedrock of muscle. As for her, the thin white wrap clung transparently to her body like a wet leaf. She blushed.

"It might have been easier to swim if you had let go of that," he teased. He touched her hand, which was closed around something. "What were you holding onto so tightly that it mattered more than drowning?"

LINKS

Tara’s blog http://bit.ly/12dFdNy

Tara’s Twitter http://bit.ly/162sCtE

The Unfinished Song on Facebook http://on.fb.me/1400mMq

Amazon http://amzn.to/15ciwYc

Barnes and Noble http://bit.ly/13yM5Dr

Kobo http://bit.ly/1aFhg1P

iTunes http://bit.ly/1baddhN

Smashwords http://bit.ly/17zK8Xn

Initiate is free everywhere except on Barnes and Noble (where it’s $0.99). You can download a free .epub version via Smashwords.

★ DUST OF THE DEAD SEA EXCERPT ★

As promised, late for my birthday, an excerpt of DUST OF THE DEAD SEA. The next book in The Hollows series. It's *really* book 2 in the series. The Skeleton Song is a prequel to Skeleton Lake. Look for Dust of the Dead Sea before Halloween. 

In the night, weeds like taloned hands reach at the road like needles looking deep for veins. Never will they reach them, but somehow never beaten all the way back. The small wisp of moon gives no light that our headlights can't block out. The sky is only as dark as the asphalt that lays before us, cracked and wrinkled is the skin we can't the shed. Stars that should fill the sky like specks of dust in the dark underside of things seem not to exist. In the late hour, it is as though I have forgotten what they look like; standing both alone in their own light, and together in thick clustered families against the painted parts of the sky.

I wiggled closer to Raiden. In sleep,  his head had fallen from my shoulder, and become pressed against the window that may as well be a painted wall of black. The only light is the horrible desert plants that are illuminated by the two beams in front of the jeep. I had to give up watching what lay out there, my imagination I hoped, was worse than what could really be lurking in the starless night. Yet I knew I was driving toward much, much worse.

The decision to come to The Dead Sea had been the right one. But the closer we got, the more I was afraid of the beasts that weren’t imaginary. I, the ever willing lamb, was headed exactly where the wolves would have stolen me away.

Haven't read the other books in the Hollows Series? Find them below, and other ebook retailers. 

The Best ★★★★★ Star Review (ever) of PIGMENTS OF MY IMAGINATION

So my massive bday plans were foiled by bloggers hiccup of my scheduled posts. I run around most days like blindfolded wildebeest, so I didn't notice until dinner time. Here was what was supposed to be the mid-day post. It's awesome, trust me. (DotDS excerpt has been moved to *checks schedule* October 2nd) The POMI book tour continues tomorrow.

This is the best review of Pigments of My Imagination... or possibly any book ever.
http://bit.ly/1bnQv6b

★★★★★Seriously. Go read it. I'll wait. 

Then make sure you enter to win the limited edition paperbacks here:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Pigments of My Imagination

by Angela Kulig

Giveaway ends October 15, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

and the Kindle Fire here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's my birthday, and I'm throwing a party! Pigments is just .99!

Happy birthday me! I've knocked the price down on my new release Pigments of My Imagination to

just .99!

Get it on Kindle.
Get it on Kobo. 

Get it on Nook when they update it eventually. 

Don't forget to enter to win a *Limited Edition* paperback on goodreads here.

And enter to win a Kindle Fire below! Come back throughout the day for several awesome birthday posts, with the grande finale being an excerpt of my next book Dust of the Dead Sea (the second...third?Book in the Hollows Series)

The Pigments of My Imagination book tour resumes tomorrow!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

PIGMENTS OF MY IMAGINATION, the long awaited super natural romance is now available.

I know some people refused to believe it was happening until it was here, the day is today! Pigments of My Imagination is available here:

Ebooks:
Amazon
http://amzn.to/16rv3V9

Kobo
http://bit.ly/16rvrmG

Barnes & Noble
http://bit.ly/19rA0jX

Paperback:
http://amzn.to/19rzToz


Synopsis from Goodreads:
From the moment Lucia steps into Bayside Art Academy, she is fed a steady stream of lies, but it’s not until she meets William that she begins to question the people she trusts. Unraveling fact from fabrication seems impossible until Lucia finds her first painting, and discovers the dead do not lie--at least not to her.

A dozen lifetimes ago, Lucia started a war. Not a war with armies or guns, but a bloody war nonetheless. The path leading Lucia to the truth is hidden within lovely art that spans the ages. In this life, however, Lucia doesn't know where to look. Lost, she turns to the one thing she knows with certainty--she is in love with Leo, and has been before.


Today is day one of the blog tour, and it had to be at my editors blog here. Larry actually became my friend because of seeing excerpts for the book on my blog way  back in the day. I can honestly say, the book would have never been released without him. I obsessed over it, and had an awful time turning it loose. He made me. It was exactly what I needed.

While we're on the subject of the book tour, make sure you enter below to win some AWESOME prizes, including a Kindle fire. If you have won a Kindle from me in the past, it would be nice if you let someone else win ;)


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Goodreads Book Giveaway! #POMI 2 *LIMITED EDITION* Paperbacks

Remember, these are the limited edition--extra large paperbacks that are only available from September-November. Get your hands on one now~

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Pigments of My Imagination

by Angela Kulig

Giveaway ends October 15, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Title Reveal of the #POMI Sequel! Contest winner announcement.

Nicola Horner was the winner of the #POMI sequel word scramble for her guess:

A FATE WORSE THAN THIS

In the sequel to Pigments of My Imagination, Leo can't really imagine a Fate worse than this... 
Officially Pigments is out the 23rd, but it should be cropping up here and there before then!
AFWTT is out later in the fall. 

Nicola, please email here. Or find me on twitter at @angelakulig so I can get your address. 

Also, there are other winners to be had. Stick close! The next few weeks are going to be a little crazy.

Well Monday, We Meet Again

I only have 2 hours left of Monday, but I will go down fighting.

This is just a friendly blog to let you know I haven't died, just returned from a month long vacation (I went on vacation earlier than planned, and last minute)! I came back, then immediately did the Three Day Novel Contest. Since I write by hand, that meant I had to type it all after that. I can no longer feel my arms, but as soon as they get to tingling I promise to update you with the winners of the last contest, as well as title announcements, and POMI announcements, and so many announcements I have run out room on my board that holds all my post-its.

I am not sure this makes any sense at all but...

POMI Word Scramble#1**REVEAL SEQUEL TITLE**WIN BEFORE RELEASE

I have heard officially POMI will be done by this weekend. Look for an awesome release opportunity soon, but for now we are going to play a game! I have been going insane, waiting to tell you guys the sequel title, so here it is. Only problem is, all the letters are mixed up! You only get one clue, and it's this: The title is a turn of of phrase like Pigments of My Imagination/ Figments of My Imagination. It too is one word off, but instead of being the first word, it's the last one.

Whoever comments first with the right title wins--an ARC e-copy of Pigments before it goes on sale PLUS an autographed limited edition hardcover to be delivered sometime in September. (After I get back from vacation!) If no one guesses today, I will start adding letters in until someone does.

Since I know you love to win, you can also tweet about the word scramble for a chance at a $20 Amazon gift card. See rafflecopter below. Entry will close when the title is revealed.

Good news everyone! The POMI release date is coming soon.

My editor was eventually successful in prying my manuscript from my fingers for last time--and I should have the date for it really soon. I am so glad it's finally ready, but I might need a paper bag.

The eBook Apocalypse Part II: The revolving story of us versus them.

I have never met and indie/self published author that hated Amazon. I am sure they are out there, but for the masses there is love or respect for The Zon. There is a good reason for that, Amazon makes what we do possible. They get a lot of credit--good and bad--for allowing people to self publish, but let us be frank; they are the bread an butter for a lot of the independent publishers too. My co-op included. For reference, an indie publisher is any publisher outside the big six...*counts* er, five, publishers and their imprints (of which there are A LOT).

Penguin and Random House recently morphed into some type of megazoid publisher, that just leaves Hachette, Macmillion, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster.

The more I talk about Amazon, the more people I meet who hate my guts. They love to tell me how wrong I am, and if I miss commas. They love to tell me they hate what I am doing, but not any of them have been able to prove that I'm wrong. They just don't like me.

So far, these people have all had one thing in common. They are all committed to traditional publishing. And that's great! I am a firm believer that everyone in the "book industry" is on the same side, even if we don't like each other. (One day, I want to sell my book for half off at the Walmart too.) Oddly, these people tend to be the ugliest to me. Not all of them! Some are FAB! But the self published and the micro published have caught on to the fact that they are their brand. They know being a vicious bitch on social media will catch up to them--and quickly. Agented writers that haven't sold a book, and don't have fans, or a publisher to please probably aren't going to see the effects right away. But I am a firm believer in Karma.

I freely admit, there is all kinds of hostility, and it is on both sides. The thing is, when one gets on their platform and screams that Amazon is evil and shouldn't exist; the other group hears that they are evil--and that they shouldn't exist. It can't be both ways, and most people don't even try and pretend it is. They don't want Amazon to live, and they don't want indies to live either. It's nothing personal, except when it is. The traditionally published make more money in real books than indies and self published authors. It's because they have great distribution channels, and we don't. So if Amazon fell, they'd still sell books. But if Amazon never existed, then the waves of small presses wouldn't exist, and self publishing would still be completely laughable--though I am sure they still think it is. There would be no Amanda Hocking, no .99 Millionaires.


I revised this article four times, and almost always and three AM. I had to do that because of how quickly the publishing world changes; and because people keep pissing me off on the internet. In the amount of time it took me to run through this thing again, I am worried Barnes & Noble will have wheezed its final breath and this whole last bit will quickly become faction.

Just to recap: If Amazon fell, no more indies. There is no one ready to step up and fill their shoes, and I am not sure anyone would want to if Amazon was no longer there to compete with. The Nook branch of B&N lost millions of dollars last year, and the only one that has enough devices in hand to take on Amazon is Apple--and they had to go be taken on by the DOJ and lose. Read that article here.

BUT what would happen if Barnes & Noble shut their doors for good? You know, after systematically destroying most indie book stores. Like they have done. Well then other than the big box stores, as mentioned here, there really isn't anywhere else for them to go. Except for back online, where the playing field isn't at all in their favor. You can argue that their books are in some cases better edited, that they sometimes have better covers, but the thing that really speaks to be people is the almighty dollar. Most readers don't know that I might miss a comma in the next sentence, but they know if they like a story. They will see them side by side on Amazon, and if they have no idea who any of these people are, they are probably going to pick the one with the better price tag. There is less risk.

It helps that every day people are becoming smarter about publishing. A professional looking cover can go a long way.

You could even argue that all self published books are crap! But I am a capitalist. I believe that the market does a good job of weeding out the garbage. I also believe you are far less likely to pick up a lemon on Amazon than you are just browsing in Barnes & Noble. That is because on Amazon all the reviews are just there, you can read through the first part of book in both places but only one will get you looks from the teenager in the Starbucks if want to read a big chunk. You don't have to just look at the cover and read the blurb, at least I hope you won't.

With the stakes so high, it's no wonder we're all yelling at each other on Twitter. Still, I stand by what I said before--we are all on the same side. Do you agree?

Who I am, and what I do.

I have lots of new friends, fans, and followers and I am super excited about every last one of you! I just have one problem, I can't keep up with everyone. I try to talk to everybody who talks to me, and I do pretty good with that goal--only I feel like a lot of new people don't really know who I am or what I do so I wanted to take a moment and go over that. Somewhere along the line, people maybe started to think all I did as social media! I mean, I am good at Twitter, but not that good!

In case you missed it, my name is Angela Kulig. I write books. I have written books since just before I turned thirteen. My first book was terrible, but I like to think I have gotten a lot better since then--45 books later. These days I write mostly young adult, and middle grade. That's the boring stuff.

Originally, I published with a small indie press. Though I was more successful than a lot of people in this business, we parted ways last year and  after that I founded a publishing co-op with Author Larry Kollar. In the co-op I handle mostly marketing and book covers--because besides writing books those are the things I am good at. That's the boring stuff of my bio.

I am releasing two books in the very near future, but I am super tired of talking about me already. I want to talk about you. Please take a minute and introduce yourself, old followers and new followers. I want to learn about you too!

Barnes & Noble Hovers Close to Doom, APPLE Loses (Judge Rules in Price Fixing Case)

We interrupt this regularly scheduled eBook Apocalypse to bring you another one. Yesterday it was announced Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch had resigned the previous day, effective immediately. 

Looks like Barnes & Noble is headed for splitsville, but if Microsoft only purchases the Nook bits like it's looking, what is to become of the brick and mortar stores? It's interesting to me that Microsoft would want the Nook platform at this point considering it's losses last year were something like $177 MILLION. Yet somehow the store fronts don't look appealing with out the digital arm of it. 

The world is Bananas. Read the Bloomberg Article about BN here. 

I think it's safe to say at this point a Windows 8 based eReader is in our future, one way or another. 

In other eBook news,  Judge Denise Cote ruled today that Apple had violated anti-trust laws in wave of price fixing way back in 2010. Apple tried to reason that publishers wanted prices raised, and duh; of course they did. The judge replied that the plan had required  publisher participation, but that doesn't change the fact the laws were broken. (That's a fancy way of saying they are just as guilty). Read the PW article here. 

The Ebook Apocalypse, What Would Happen if Amazon Fell? PART I Saints, Sinners, & Statistics

Did you know, that in 2012 eBook revenue surpassed revenue from hardback books for the first time ever in America? And I'm not talking about Amazon's bottom line, I am talking about real numbers from real publishers. That makes a lot of sense to me, considering we are talking about revenues and not total units sold. Publishers like to price eBooks comparably to what their hardback books will go for on Amazon, BN.com etc; and the eBook is without the bulk of paper,  and the need for transportation, warehousing, and the like.

So much is going on in the publishing world, and I feel as though we have all been conditioned to look at in through a red tinged lens in need of blood. But let us step down for a minute.

My first love was books. It would be nice to think that my childhood was all blue skies and ice cream sundaes, but it wasn't. At least in stories when things ended they were usually tied together in neat little bows, the hope that comes from a happy ending in a fictional land is like no other. Pure. So perhaps, I am guilty of not caring so much where the books come from; as much as caring that they exist. And that they continue to exist.

And all writers, readers, and believers should care that books exist.

Barnes & Noble is crippled, and it's likely permanent. So they will either go the way the other massive chain bookstores have gone--conveniently after shutting down tons of the indie stores where they will die a slow and painful death as they wheeze and limp along, OR they will be sold off to Walmart or Microsoft. (Read about B&N's troubles here. I also suggest you read The Amazon Effect here.)

Either way, it seems that arm of book selling is close to changing forever. So where does that leave us?

I live in Las Vegas. Most people have heard of it. It's not some nothing town with no where to shop. Its got anything you could ever hope to see, all in one spectacularly lit place! Well everything except for an indie book store. If there is one here that doesn't just sell used books, I have not been able to find it. Las Vegas boasts a population of more than half a million (569,000+ in 2010) and last year we saw close to 40 MILLION visitors. But the only places I have got to buy new releases are Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Target, and other big box stores. So if B&N bites the dust, the only brick and mortar stores I have to buy new books at have very finite shelf space. At Walmart for example, new releases are on shelves that span roughly the same space as my office door.

So forgive me, if I have become increasingly paranoid about where I am going to be able to buy books. If I had to pick between the nostalgia of a bookstore, and  all the books I could ever hope to read, I'd pick the books every single time.

It's no secret that I am a fan of Amazon, but that doesn't mean I think they are devoid of fault.

Which leads me to this: Pretend for a moment, that all the people wishing for Amazon's demise could will that into existence. That is what we are going to explore in this blog series. Originally three parts, it has been expanded to include some new articles that came out last week. Though a lot of the scenarios we will be weaving through are hypothetical, this series will require you have an open mind. If you aren't capable of thinking outside of, "Amazon bad. Evil. Must kill." I'll still love you, but you might want to sit this one out.

The moral of the story is, don't take yourself too seriously and don't make jokes on the internet.

So I had written up this whole blog post letting people know that chapter six of THE GODS OF MARKET STREET was up. I know a lot of you were waiting and I put it up at a really weird time. But more on that later.

In my last post,

Dear book lovers, don't you remember? Barnes & Nobel are the enemy.

I made a joke with Barnes & Noble's name and their behavior over the past few years. I was attempting to invoke the image of the Nobel Prize--as people have begun acting as though BN is some kind of Saint. I thought people got it, because no one said anything. Was I wrong? Lots of really wonderful and respected people came out to talk about the post both here on Twitter and no one brought it up--and usually Larry Kollar yells at me if I make obvious and awful editing mistakes. Because it's true, I might miss things in blog posts written after midnight--and that is most of them. 

But this morning, when I did my first morning Twitter stint I received a tweet from someone who didn't get the joke. I did blame myself, but there is not need to be ugly to each other. Sarcasm, isn't always obvious on the internet because a lot of it has to do with context. AND there isn't much room for context on Twitter and in the occasional dry blog post. 

So to fix that, I just won't make anymore jokes on the Internet!

That was another joke, if you missed it. 

Dear book lovers, don't you remember? Barnes & Nobel are the enemy.

Most people that follow news in the publishing world have seen the last quarter numbers for Barnes & Nobel then promptly shook their heads. If you haven't, you can read about them here. Only what happened next was a bit puzzling to me.

Amazon gets a lot of flack for, "Destroying Indie bookstores." Which, on some level I think is unfair. Especially now that the blog-o-sphere is hammering them for destroying Barnes & Nobel. Honestly, who cares if they destroy BN--they are the bad guys remember? With the help of now defunct Borders--and that third chain bookstore I can never recall the name of, they shut down more indie bookstores than Amazon ever did. They also did it methodically, and a part of their business plan. Dare I say, evilly. Amazon never once built a bookstore across the street from one that was already there, and lets be frank; brick and mortar stores fulfill a completely different need than Amazon. If I want to hand select a meaningful gift, or get a custom book recommendation from the mouth of someone I trust--I'm going down the street, not to a .com.

So I suppose down the line, someone decided that Barnes & Nobel was the lesser of two evils. I want to know, are you absolutely sure about that? What if I told you that BN was *this close* to being bought out by Wal-Mart? The chief destroyer of the mom and pop store. Would you rather they joined forces with Wally World, or would you rather they just went away--and possibly paved the way for more indie book stores to stay open? Don't believe BN would ever do that? Read about it here.

I think it's real easy to point fingers at Amazon and blame them for the shuttering of small booksellers, but really I think the bad economy is more to blame. Only now that Barnes & Nobel is on the brink of collapse, we are willing to forgive every sin they ever committed against anyone. Keep in mind, they would be in a far better place is every business decision they have made in the past, oh three years or so, wasn't a knee jerk reaction to something Amazon did.

I have been sitting on a 3 part blog series for a while, waiting for the right time. I think it's finally here. The series is called, The E-Book Apocalypse. What Would Happen if Amazon Fell? It's in this same vein, but while I think the publishing world in it's current state won't collapse into chaos with out Barnes & Nobel, I think we are in a world of trouble if Amazon were disappear. It's going to run Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, next week.

I made a joke about the name of Barnes & Noble; if you didn't get it read about it here.

Wednesday for Writers #6: Why You Should Never Be the Smartest Person in the Room

Last night on Twitter, I chatted on and off with my friend JL Bryan. Since you read my blog, you might remember that he is the awesome author who wrote Jenny Pox and that maybe sometimes I can be a bit fangirlie.

BUT DON'T TELL HIM.

It's weird because, I have a hard time remembering that my buddy Jeffery is this dude I had a writer crush on before we 'met'. Here's how it happened: I read an excerpt of Jenny Pox in some Amanda Hocking novel. I don't remember which. I have read all of them and it hurts my head to remember timelines back that far. So at some point I started stalking Jeff on the internets. Only it was odd, as there didn't seem to be a whole lot of other people doing that. Jeff had sold a crap ton more books than me--so the fact he didn't have a twenty thousand Twitter followers, and like ten times the number of blog followers was sort of in direct contrast to EVERYTHING I KNEW ABOUT SELLING BOOKS ON THE INTERNET. Which I thought at the time, was quite a lot.

As it turns out, it really wasn't.

To make a long, painful, and humiliating story very short; one night I was sharing my, "Goals in life*," on Twitter. One of them was to have JL Bryan follow me, and it happened! We have come a long way since then, now I get to call him a friend and not just some idol.

I told you that story to tell you this one.

Every author has an ego. Finding a healthy balance is necessary and almost impossible. Too little ego and your books will never see the light of day. With out ego, an author wouldn't care if anyone ever read their books. Too much ego, and you will develop what I like to call, "Smartest person in the room syndrome." Or SPITRS for short.

SPITRS come in all varities but the main SPITRS are fools, the ones dumb enough to think they are the coolest, bestest, most awesomest person they knew when they aren't and the people who make sure they are. Sounds heavenly! If I were to have SPITERS that would be the way I would go, trust me my ego would love it. People who make sure they sit atop the mountain and look down on everyone else. It sounds great, but what will you learn if you refuse to associate with people who do know more than you?

I'd be lying if I said my ego wasn't wounded every time I re-read Jeffery's bio and remember he studied English at Oxford--I was a Drama Major some place not nearly as impressive! But it doesn't sting like it used to, because I have learned so much from hanging out with people who are cooler than I am. It makes me sick thinking I could have missed out because of pride.

Speaking of Jeffery, he has a new book coming out and I know a lot of you are going to LOVE it. Check the deets:

A new dystopian novel from the author of Jenny Pox - coming July 26.

They took everything: her family, her home, her childhood.

By the age of nineteen, Raven has spent most of her life in the sprawling slums of America, fighting as a rebel against the dictatorship. When the rebellion steals an experimental time-travel device, she travels back five decades to the year 2013. Her plan: assassinate the future dictator when he is still young and vulnerable, long before he comes to power. She must move fast to reshape history, because agents from her own time are on her trail, ready to execute her on sight.

Cover by PhatPuppy Art

Stalk Jeffery on Twitter.
@JLBryanBooks

*BTW, doing a goals in life post Friday. Because I'm down to my last one.