(Review) Love In the Nick of Time

Just when I was about to write up a scathing post about men never reviewing my work, an unexpected (and completely unsolicited!) review of Isadora DayStar came out in the Tampa Examiner! Not only did the reviewer like the book, he actually gave me the great and wonderful compliment of comparing me and Gene Roddenberry! Of course he was not happy about the “Hallmark ending” with which he nailed me correctly for making it an HEA (“happily ever after”) but then he was not alone in that, lol! A female reviewer said almost the same thing! Now normally I might be upset but they liked Isadora DayStar to be honest enough to point it out! That means something to me.

Of course, I always knew men would like my work. It was just GETTING them to read it in the first place! Which is understandable since most women weave in a lot of romance and a lot of flowery prose. I am not one of those women. I try to make my work as honest as I possibly can and I don’t shy away from swearing and or adult situations–that does NOT mean erotica–there isn’t any of that. Consequently, I have striven not to be a whiny female complaining about not being treated equally. I see myself as an equal and behave accordingly and that means, for me in any case, not whining every chance I get. But I’ve had to fight all the female author stereotypes in my struggle to bring my work before men without threatening their sense of competence or making them toss the book thinking “Ugh, Romance.” That is evidenced by the disdain for the sappy HEA ending although, as I’ve said, a female reviewer had the same response. Personally, I don’t like happy endings either, unless my novel actually IS a romance (yes that happens). So now, I’ve finally gotten what I truly wanted: a compass with which to gauge my work. If men like it and women like it, then I’m guessing I’m hitting the right notes.

I am truly grateful for my first review by a man and even more grateful that he enjoyed it.
Below is the link to the review. It is not long and I hope you will take three seconds to check it out.

http://bit.ly/zl8Kia

Self Publishing 2011: Lessons Learned

Well well well! Another year older and deeper in debt. Actually I’m not in debt, thanks to God and a good bit of common sense in the form of my family! I wrote about the New Year of 2011 and now I’m doing so again for 2012. Once more I’ve been busy, more so I imagine due to making writing presentations to other authors and writing groups; attending my writing associations’ meetings more often; and finally finally trying the self-publishing route instead of a publishing house. My baby, Isadora DayStar, finally came together as a real novel and putting it out there myself taught me several lessons about the self-publishing aspect of the industry. One thing I learned after being absolutely terrified of the enormous instructions on formatting: literally pages and pages and pictures and pictures that made me procrastinate after reading them over and over. That is until I realized that I’d already formatted it in Word and that I knew the formatting after the requirements of my publishers! They were basically the same and incredibly simple!!

However, not so simple was taking on the job of complete self promotion not because my pub houses did it for me previously but because I did not have the mental and emotional security of having a publisher behind me regardless how much or little their participation in promotion was. Pretty much publishers are scant with promotion these days due to budget constrictions and/or being e-pubs with virtually no budget whatsoever so authors are one their own for the most part. Remember that when you fly into a dizzy tailspin trying to keep up requests for reviews of your novel! I also was responsible for the editing and grammar of my book; normally something I relied on my editors to do in the final sequence of publishing my novels.

Finally, as if sent from above, I found the perfect book cover art and artist for Isadora! I’d tell you the price but you would never believe me. It was perfect right to the font used!! That was probably the most fun of my self-publishing experience. Now I’m not saying you’ll have the same experience. Yours might be better or worse or at least the same relatively speaking. I didn’t make a million dollars in one month, I didn’t expect to. I did get damn good reviews and that I did not expect either! Isadora DayStar is an odd sort of a novel…dark but hopeful…gritty and grim though not too explicit…but she somehow worked her way into reviewers’ hearts just as she did mine.

Was self publishing the right path for me? Yes and no. I learned a lot. I worked a hell of a lot harder. I found formatting a lot less intimidating but editing more difficult. Do I regret it? Again, yes and no. If I’d known the wonderful response that Isadora DayStar would receive, I’d probably have submitted it to a publisher if not an agent. But then again, I retain all the rights which, if you don’t know by now, is a big deal in more than one way. Especially since more than one reviewer wished for a series of Isadora DayStar.

Is self-publishing right for you? That’s something you have to answer for yourself. No one can accurately decide or advise you on that but yourself.
My situation was slightly different because I self-pubbed after being published by several publishing houses (e-book and print formats) so my experience level was several notches up from a novice. What will your experience be? Hopefully good. Wishfully great. But whatever it may be take something positive from it: learning. It certainly can’t hurt!

Here’s to a successful 2012 for you, me and all those hard working authors! May this be the best experience yet!

Ghosts of New Years Past

Ah yes, I remember those days. We were young and first splashing around the entertainment industry as novice children, dipping our toes into the sun drenched pool of Hollywood. Back then we didn’t know about the brackish, scum laden waters, we just celebrated every moment of our Los Angeles virginity. 

We met a lot of people back then, some deeply entrenched in various facets of entertainment, others on the fringe, either forging out careers or stubbornly clinging on to the shreds of their tattered ones. They were all slightly crazy just like us. 

Those on the outside threw parties with just as much gusto if not as much money as those on the inside. In fact they did it with much more class and civility but with the same sense of festivity. Sometimes I think they were better than the drunken, cynical, pathetically political big time parties we would later attend with the same amount of cynicism. 

Once we were driving into our big time jobs at big time companies when my sister turned to me and asked, “Do you remember when we would come into town and everything was brighter–like the sun was shining more?” 

I said yes. She’d hit it on the head exactly. While the California sun still beat down mercilessly at times, the brightness was gone along with our enthusiasm and joy of being part of exciting things.

Hollywood can do that to a person. There’s more than one way the city can chew you up and spit you out like a mouthful of dirty pool water. And you don’t even have to be a crazy ancient once ingenue actress that never had a line but still haunted the Strip, in full on garish make-up and 1930′s dresses.

I remember those fun, exciting, promising parties thrown by fun, kind people who wanted nothing more extreme than ringing in the New Year with champagne and good will. In fact I remember that those New Year’s Parties usually heralded in some of the best years of our Hollywood lives.

Auld Lang Syne.

Okay, Last One I Promise

I’m going underground for a bit to get some work done, but as usual, I forgot to put up the latest news on Isadora! Okay here we go:

First, Isadora is now LIVE on KINDLE/Amazon.com!! Second, there’s a new review for her (yeah, she’s almost a real person at times)!

So without further ado, here are the two combined in one link:

http://www.amazon.com/Isadora-DayStar-ebook/product-reviews/B0066GOCT2/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

I promise the next time I open up Future Imperfect, I’ll have something more to say!

Thanks my little Imperfections!

Special Item: Excerpt, Isadora DayStar

I know I’ve been less than constant here on Future Imperfect so I thought I’d give you a special, never-before-posted excerpt (one of my faves!) from Isadora DayStar:

 

Isadora slid onto a chair and the chatter around the bar picked up again. She again tried to ignore that it was louder than before, that she thought she could hear her name in snippets of conversations and speculation. When she had the information and the deal concluded, Isadora stood up and walked out of the bar and out onto the street, pausing to inhale the fresh cold air and gather her wits in preparation for her first ever assassination.

As she rode the cushy lift up to his hotel room she planned to offer herself as a prostitute and then kill him afterward. The levels of floors in the expensive building in the business district of Nova Cheiros were designated by color; his was the yellow.

“Level Seven.” A soothing voice breathed out the information and Isadora stepped out into the hallway darkened for the night, only the ends of the hallway were still lit in glowing lemon for those who roamed the city late.

After she’d serviced him, she stood fluffing the Mohawk ridge on the top of her hair in quick nervous movements before a small mirror, glancing back at him and her black bag with her gun inside it, waiting for the chance to kill him. He stood up and began pulling on his clothes and she walked to the table where her bag lay, sliding a hand into it and grasping the gun to slowly pull it out. Before it was halfway out he yanked it out of her hand, spun her around to face him and lifted her up, slamming her against the wall making the mirror jump. He thrust the gun up against her crotch.

“Let me give you three pieces of advice on assassinating people,” he hissed at her. “One, never get close enough to your mark to give them an advantage. Two, never put down your weapon, and three, always, always, get half the money up front.”

Isadora could not stop the uncontrollable trembling and could only make tiny mewling sounds of fear.

“Got it?” He snarled at her, waiting for a response from her white face. “Got it?”

“Uh—uh huh.” She managed, too frightened to even cry.

“Good. Now get the fucking hell out of here and never let me see your face again, anywhere!”

He opened the door, still carrying her off her feet and then tossed her full force out the door, her bag and gun after her. Isadora landed on her hands and knees on the plush rubberized carpet vomiting out her terror. When she finally stopped retching she sat back against the hallway wall sucking hysterical gasps of breath for a long moment. She turned her head and gazed down the hall and then scrambled, half-crawling toward her bag and gun flung nearly to the end of it.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/76514

A Question For You

Since everyone on my social media apparently watches every single paranormal/dystopian/sci-fi/fantasy/whatthehellhaveyou program on TV, I thought I’d ask this question:
How much and in what way does television affect your writing?

Isadora DayStar: A 4-Star Review!

Hello my dears!

Isadora DayStar-- Another 4-Star Review!

Some news from me at last! Isadora DayStar, my latest novel (a dark sci-fi adventure) has just received a 4-Star review (the latest one!) that you can check out at this link! It’s short and to the point and may give you a bit of an idea what Isadora DayStar is all about!  Stop by and leave a comment if you wish!

http://livetoread-krystal.blogspot.com/2011/08/isadora-daystar-by-pi-barrington.html

A Little Music…

I love all versions of this song! A little music for a Friday night.

Enjoy!

Halo ~~Beyonce’

New Interview

Hey my little Imperfections! Short but (maybe?) sweet: my interview talking about the birth of Isadora DayStar! Check it out and leave me a comment if you would:

http://www.1stauthorinterviews.com/2011/08/interview-with-pi-barrington-loni.html

Isadora DayStar

I’ve Only Just Begun…

Okay I know I haven’t been here in ages but believe me when I tell you little aspiring authors: writing the book is the EASY part. It’s the promotion that’s the killer! Trust me, I know. It used to be my job. Still doesn’t make it any easier–in fact it may make it harder. You’re putting your work out there for people, hoping they like it and hiding any insecurity you may harbor inside. You’re promoting for goodness’ sake!
In fact the only other creative area that I think makes you feel more vulnerable is being a singer/songwriter. Think about it: you’re expressing your most inward emotions to be judged as well as your performing talent which may be judged even more harshly! In my opinion there isn’t any other creative outlet that makes you so vulnerable!
Well, now that I’ve scared the hell out of you, let me tell you this. This is why I always yell about being brutally honest with yourself–if you are, truly truly honest with yourself–you will put out something of quality that regardless how it’s judged, you will know you put out your best. All righty, that’s my brief little lecture on promotion. Someday soon I will hopefully expound on this subject but not today (tonight).