Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Decision Made/YA Sub-genre Roll Call


So I’ve decided as of recently that I will self-publish. I know; I know. How is that news nowadays? But, I assure you, it was news to me. After discussing it with my advisers (hella smart people out there, you know who you are), I’ve decided that rather having what I’ve written collect even more dust, I will put it out in the world and see what happens.

What’s the worst case scenario again? Oh, yes. Everyone will hate it and me by association, but that’s a small price to pay, I think to have people (HONEST TO GOODNESS PEOPLE) reading what I loved to put together.

Now, I’ve gotten to the point where I:
  1. Am even more obsessive about reading through it for editing.

  1. Need a book cover, and I just may be crazy enough to design it myself. (I’ll take pictures/snapshots along the way to show you how I did and what I used to do it, whenever I do it).

     C. Want to get a copyright on the manuscript, which apparently only takes an upload and $35 at the      Library of Congress website. YAY CONVENIENCE.

  1. Set a price. ($0.99 or $2.99)

  1. Decide on a name for the cover. Pseudonym? No pseudonym? (I’d love to hear your thoughts on that, btw)

  1. Talk about it incessantly without bugging people. (Hard to do. Maybe I’ll just beg the lurkers out there to tell your friends when it happens? Pretty, pretty, gorgeously, pretty please?)

Anyone else just starting this crazy journey? Please link me to your great (and horror) stories in the comments or through email. Or, simply write that we are embarking on this thing together, thus making my powers and yours stronger as we enter this process. :)


P.S. My soon-to-be-published book is YA. I was trying to decide what sub-genre of YA it would be so I ended up doing a main YA sub-genre list to get my mind straight. Hope it helps you to (and tell your friends, please!)

YA Sub-Genre Roll Call
Sub-genres can mix
All of the below can be /Romance
(and I believe the story is better when they are)

  1. Dystopian (see versus #2 here)
  2. Post-apocalyptic  (see versus #1 here)
  3. Contemporary (no magic, “real life”)
    1. In School Setting
    2. Issue based (death of someone, mental disorder, drug-related)
  4. Fantasy
    1. High (a whole new world)
    2. Low (Our world, but slightly different)
    3. Mix (Our world, but we can travel to a whole new world)
  5. Paranormal
    1. Angel (Fallen or otherwise)
    2. Vampire
    3. Werewolf
    4. Faerie
    5. Ghost (Main Character [MC] is a ghost, or a “haunted” story)
    6. Miscellaneous school where all of the above are welcome, or only one type (I count it as different because school stories are a different mindset kind of sub-genre to me)
    7. Zombie
    8. Dream related magic
    9. New breed, and it ain’t human, but it’s cool and not one of the above. Often involved with fantasy as well.


So, after looking at these, I’d say my book is a Paranormal: New Breed, and it ain’t human…”/Romance/ Mix Fantasy. I’ll get into more and better details later to make you be just as excited about my book’s eventual release as I am.


Here’s another song to write by/to/from: "Strange and Beautiful" Aqualung




And here’s a video on YA sub-genres with recommendations/examples that I thought was interesting:


12 comments:

  1. I self published my YA Sci Fi novel earlier this year, even going so far as to make a dead tree version available. I don't regret it for a second. Best of luck!

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  2. Thanks, Scott. I'm really excited, with a semi-regular case of the jitters :)

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  3. Add me to the list of people that are vicariously sharing your excitement. :) As you saw on my blog, I'm also going to be self-publishing my first novel (novella, actually) later this year. It's YA as well - sci-fi to be exact.

    So, being in the same place as you, I really enjoyed this post. :) Getting a cover made is so exciting! I hired someone else to do mine because I'm hopeless with graphic design. ;)

    Are you to the line-editing stage, then? I still have a few minor revisions to do, and then it's steel wool time!

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  4. Aubrey, I'd say so. Or at least I'm at the "my eyes are bleeding, just have mercy on me when I release this" stage of revision. Thanks for stopping by (and for making me less scared by being on a similar timeline as me lol)

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  5. i would suggest asking, begging, pleading others to read over it as well...the more eyes the better when it comes to editing....

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  6. Jonathan, VERY true. Nerve wracking, but necessary.

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  7. Good luck on self-publishing! :) What genre/sub-genre is your book?

    (This is Laura from lauraplusthevoices, by the way. Thought I'd drop in and say hi:))

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  8. I think it us great you are self publishing. XD
    I am at the point with my novel that I need to figure out what publishing route to take. Still undecided.
    As for the name on the cover - I personally will be publishing under my real name. So everyone will know its me :)

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  9. Krista, I'm agreeing with you on the name thing now (which means the name here will be different than the name on this blog...sort of). Good luck with your decision making process!

    Laura: sorry I'm late responding. It's paranormal YA, but no vamps, werewolves, or angels. Something new :)

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  10. Wow, congrats on your decision to self-pub. Now, when I'm ready, I'll come to you for support! I've decided that while I'm looking for an agent, I'll be looking also into self-pubbing. Setting up everything, counting all my duckies, putting them in a line, and if by the time I'm ready, and I haven't landed an agent, and my book is in tip-top shape. Hello, self-pubbing, here I come!

    Who did you use?
    ~Candy Lynn (Fellow Campaigner!)

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  11. Since it has been awhile since last post, just checking in to see how the self-publishing went and what challenges you faced? What sub-genre did you end up choosing for your book?

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