Cecile Garcia: Q & A's 2018

When will you be doing a book signing?

I am still looking into it and information will be posted when I actually have a booking.

Was your book,  In the Company of Elves a short story before you made it into a full-length novel?

Yes. When I first wrote it, I originally wrote it as a novelette, the book consisted of two stories. In the Company of Elves and Loretta. Both stories had mild adult content. I decided not to publish the book as is. I took out the last story (Loretta) from the book, saving it for later use. I re-wrote In the Company of Elves and published it through subsidiary company online. (InstantPublishers.com)

2017: I later decided to revise it adding several chapters to  the book.

How hard is it to re-write a book?

It depends on the length of the book and how much you must edit. Sometimes it does take a few months to a year to re-write a book.

Will Chandra’s Quest Book 3 be published next year?

*Honestly, since it’s a full-length novel, it might take all next year to finish, but I am working on it and yes I know, I've been working on it for a while.  Chandra's Quest book 3 is the last novel from the Chandra's Quest trilogy, and the original word document only had  3 chapters completed. Rest assure, I will complete it and publish it.

NOTE: The only full-length novels I've written are, Chandra’s Quest Book 1 & 2 and In the Company of Elves. All other books will be novelettes, except for Chandra's Quest book 3.

Novelettes:

The Other Side of Things part 1 & 2

Out in the Open

The Phoenix Files

Finding Loretta

Yes, I decided to revise the original story that was called, Loretta. I still have the file and I am going to re-write it. It will be an adult novelette, though.

For family members:
Yes, I am still working on my official Memoir: Every Season. Remember the novel will contain journal entries from 1978-2010. That’s a lot of writing I have to type and a lot of editing to do. I can only hope to finish it before some of my aunts and uncles die. I would like them to read it, since it is a real life story--memoir.

 Keep in mind, I will not sell my Memoir and it will be PRIVATELY distributed to family members. 

Goal: I do have other novels/novelettes to finish, especially Chandra’s Quest book 3. The way I see it, the trilogy should have been finished years ago.

Finally:

I recently set up a Twitter account. It certainly is not like Facebook, where you can set up albums, a business page or groups. I haven’t found that part on twitter yet. Right now, I am only sharing links to some of my books and other social media websites. I haven’t gone way out and shared the link to my Twitter on other social media website I belong to yet but next year in January or February I will. If family members want to follow me there, well that’s up to them. 

I will accept everyone.

Personal note: I still prefer Facebook, I think it’s better. So please family, stay connected on Facebook with me. Thank You.

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Chandra's Quest New Cover

Since CreateSpace and Kindle merged many authors made changes to some of their books in order to keep them up to date. I did not want to change the cover for Chandra's Quest (book 1) but basically I had no choice. So this is what it looks like now:

Not much different than this image (2017)

One exception is that the first image shows more of the picture, including background. I am a little miffed about this but it's the best I can do for now and I don't think I will be changing it in the future. I may have to change the book cover for Chandra's Quest book 2: Twisted Embers as well.

*There's an old saying: "Never judge a book by it's cover."

That much is true. Look at the book cover for Saints and Sinners: Affairs of the Heart

Yes, it's the same design, which most authors are picking this design only because it's easier to place their own image on the book cover. The other designs are not as agreeable on how the author wants the book to be presented visually. Some book covers can be simple, plain, not much of a pop, but those are probably the ones that readers will remember because the story is good, by their standards.

Anyways, about that whole, "Don't judge a book by it's cover," well, Saints and Sinners may have a nude woman on the cover but the content is far from explicit. I categorized it under relationships and romance, for 18 and older, however even a 16 year old can read it. 

Some people may judge this book strictly by it's cover and assume that there is explicit sexual content in it, but it's far from it. Remember--don't judge a book by it's cover. This is a perfect example. 

In conclusion, I will be making changes to Chandra's Quest Book 2 cover. I probably will use the same design, it is quite popular and the only design I can use for my books.

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In this entry I am sharing a link to my youtube channel. I am adding new videos, relating to Vlogs I have made. Most of those videos are my personal opinion on matters of writing. I will add some excerpts form my books in coming months. Pleased do subscribe to my channel.Thank You.

*In addition, For those who have bought or downloaded my books, please READ, RATE & REVIEW on Amazon. TY

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Fan Fiction video

Video

Image too Racy?

So as many of you know, CreateSpace and Kindle merged, making it easier for authors like myself, to publish eBooks and paperbacks on one site. However, I’ve been having a problem with one of my paperbacks. A few months ago, I did a sponsor Ad for Saints and Sinners: Affairs of the Heart, but when I tried to do another Ad campaign for this book, KDP got back to me and said the request was denied. Solely because of the book cover image! Wow.  Check out the images below.

The first image was the one I used when I decided to change the cover after CreateSpace and Kindle merged. Then Facebook wouldn’t do a boost on my post regarding Saints and Sinners because of the naked woman. All it shows is the back of her, so again, I decided to change the cover to another image, one that kindle provides for their authors. This time, Kindle rejected the request to make a sponsored campaign Ad for it! So now, I decided to change the image to the third picture on the list. That image is also in the Kindle gallery, available to authors. So now, I’m just doing a waiting game with Kindle. If they reject my request for a sponsored Ad, well I don't know.

 I'll just have to accept it but I'll still publish it as a paperback. It burns me that they complained about images being too racy, when frankly they’re not! 

Well, I will present my book at my book signing next year.

Planned Event:

Well, as I posted on my Author’s Facebook page, I will be doing a book signing. Hopefully next year. There are many things still that need to be done beforehand. I will be sharing a booth with an artist who wants to sell his paintings.  He might have the whole weekend, but I will only have one day to sell and sign books. Of course that depends on the situation. 

Yes, I will order 10 copies each of my books, I will sell them and sign them. For those who have bought the paperback books, bring them & I will sign them. 

A Gamble:

It’s a gamble, really. I will make an announcement on social media, by then I should have a Twitter account.

 Will people come? 

Well, the book signing will be at an indoor swap meet however, I’m still looking into it.  I will let everyone know on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and other social media websites that I belong to--the date, time and place when the event will take place.

Got any questions, please ask. 

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Excerpt from: The Other Side of Things Chapter 3

Excerpt: Chapter 3 Health

(In this chapter I will present several topics, not as many as the first chapter but a few to bring to light certain health issues. Please note, I only state my opinion about the topics I’ve written, no intentional personal attacks on any group of people. I am being real and that means I may state personal opinions about some people I don’t know very well, sorry.)

Topic 5: Staying Fit During Pregnancy is Important for you and your Baby

You help your baby by eating the proper foods, the fetus absorbs the nutrients your body gets from foods that you eat. You may not know this but, if you eat right and exercise during your pregnancy,

you stand a better chance in losing the weight you gain. With my first kid I could barely keep anything down for 6 months, so I did lose a lot of weight, however, I ate fish after my sixth month and fresh veggies. I couldn’t drink milk, so I drank soy milk.

  There were some foods I couldn’t stomach and that included burgers from fast food places. The only burgers I ate were the ones I made myself. I have no idea why but that’s the way it was for me. With my second child I only experienced morning sickness for 3 months then I was able to eat almost everything except drink milk. I still had to drank soy milk with my second child.

By the time I had my third child, I was able to drink regular milk and enjoy a lot of foods I couldn’t during my first two pregnancies. Note, that I did walk every morning with all three pregnancies, usually after my fifth month. I did about 1 a mile, 5 days a week. I did myself a favor because I stayed fit and I was able to lose weight quicker after I had my kids. So, it’s important to workout during pregnancy and eating the right foods, fresh and healthy foods keep you and your baby healthy.

(because some topics are controversial, I won't always share them on this blog or instagram. )

Age category: 16 and over.

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Fanfiction

For those who saw this coming, bravo! I had planned on writing a blog entry and stating my opinion about fanfiction for some time now, but first let's explain what fan fiction is:

  Fan Fiction is when someone takes either the story or characters (or both) of a certain, piece of work whether it be a novel, tv show, movie, etc., and create their own story based on it. Sometimes people will take characters from one movie and put them in another, which is called a cross-over. 

Wow! I think I might have been a fanfiction writer back in the day when fanfiction wasn’t even known. I was 14 when I wrote my first fanfic story on a spiral note book, it was a cross-over about Doctor Who and Star Trek. No, I am not joking, I did write a fanfic about two of my favorite shows. Unfortunately, I must have thrown the spiral note book away, I didn’t want anyone else to read it, I suppose. I can’t find it anywhere. It has been many decades since I wrote it. I wrote the story for my own entertainment and even if I wanted to share the story on my blog, I couldn’t because I don’t have copies, too bad though, it would have been interesting.

Copyright issues

 *fan fiction deals with legally protected works. By writing stories featuring someone else’s characters, fan fiction authors are treading on risky legal ground. This is doubly the case when they publish their work for others to enjoy. In the US and many other countries, authors have copyright over their creations. This is a detailed legal situation, however for fan fiction writers, the chief concern is with derivative works. Copyright gives the author the sole right to create derivative works, basically works which use protected elements of the source material. This is a pretty cut-and-dry situation, stating that you cannot legally use their characters or settings for fan fiction.There are three ways fan fiction writers may still be free to use copyrighted elements for derivative works. The first is through exceptions given to parody, the second through exceptions granted for ‘fair use’, and the third by general permission of the author.

Public domain

If written work or images are in the public domain then it can be used freely in any work. This includes characters such as Robin Hood, Hercules, Tarzan, Dorian Grey, and Dracula (which is why there’s an almost constant stream of movies, books, and video games starring these characters). There are several ways a story can enter the public domain (the author could, for instance, give up their rights to the work), but the most common is simply the passage of time.

There are many fanfiction stories online from various writers and not all of them should have their work published. Most fanfic writers rather stay on the websites pertaining to fanfiction and not risk copyright issues when trying to publish a book based on their story however, there are some who choose to take the risk and change their characters to a point that they can publish their book whether through mainstream publishing companies or self-publish.

Let’s talk about Fifty Shades of Grey

*As numerous reports have outlined, 50 SHADES OF GREY grew out of a multi-part series of fan fiction called MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, based on Stephanie Meyer’s TWILIGHT novels, that James (a pseudonym for London-based television executive Erika Leonard) published online between 2009 and 2011 in various venues, including fanfic.net and her own website. When she contracted with Writers Coffee Shop in early 2011 to publish the works, lightly rewritten to take out any references to Twilight characters and situations, E.L. James took the fan fiction versions offline.

I’ve never read that woman's work, however before I wrote this blog entry I had to read some of that book and to be honest, I am not into fanfiction, even though I did write one myself when I was a kid. I’ve never heard of about Masters of the Universe, but then again, I’m not a Twilight fan either, so I would not have ventured into a Twilight Fanfic website.

 Most recently, I took it upon myself to read a few chapters from the Fifty Shades of Grey book, I downloaded it and read 4 chapters. It is easy read. I later, watched the first Twilight movie. 

Yes! I do see the similarities between the characters. In fact, I feel the author should have done a better job in disguising and changing the characters even more.

The author’s writing will not be discussed here because even though I resent the whole 'Mommy Porn' thing that was thrown around when people talked about the books, I’m not going to put another author’s writing down. This isn't about James writing style.  

 She has her own style of writing, easy read, kind of okay. I want to focus on how similar her book series is to her fanfiction story. As people have stated, Masters of the Universe is no longer online and that was a smart move on her part to remove it. I have no idea how she got away with the copyright issues. Go figure, right? The only thing I can think of is that she made a deal with the Devil. I am jesting, of course. But am I? 

 

Below is a link to how similar her character is to the Twilight characters. Please visit and judge for yourself.

Master's of the Universe ( A Twilight fanfic)

So, despite of a few people who have published their fanfiction, I recommend that people try their hand out in fanfic but keep in mind that if you truly want to be a writer and a published author, make up your own characters. Don’t mold them after characters that have been used. You want to be real, genuine.

Creating Your Own Characters:

I would much rather create my own characters, brand new, and not mold them after a character from a show or movie. I suppose some authors take inspiration from movies & TV series but the majority create genuine characters from their own imagination.  

In all the books I've written, none of the characters are based on any character that have been used in movies or TV series. Just noting. If interested, download or purchase one of my books. 

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Reasonably Priced

Most recently, one of my books has a free download promotional deal on it. I don't do it that often. my books are reasonably priced, and if you have kindle unlimited, you can download the books  for free! 

Some People have to Hate!

I read on a forum---wait, let me just post what a user commented about Indie/self-published authors being desperate:

"If you wait long enough these so called authors will make their book available for free. Stupid self-published authors can't sell their books. Ha!"

So, that puts some salt on a wound, right? Some people.

The thing is, some of us authors WANT people to buy our books or download them. As the title of this blog entry states, "Reasonably Priced". 

Yes, most Indie/self-published authors books are reasonably priced.

 My goal is to share what I've written.  I'm proud of my work and my accomplishments. Some of the self-published books have inspired  screen writers or TV screen writers to come up with material for  movies and shows. Just noting. 

With that said, I am sharing a link to one of my books:

Chandra's Quest

Please do read, rate and review. TY

(Reviews matter)

Chandra's Quest 

 14 & over book

CreateSpace and Kindle Merged

Most recently, CreateSpace and Kindle merged, leaving some Indie/self-published authors having to make changes on their kindle books. 

I don't know about the rest of the authors, but on my part, I had to create two of my books as new paperbacks, for Kindle. I  changed the book cover image and on one book, I decided to change one or two things within the manuscript, so for those who have uploaded Saints and Sinners: Affairs of the Heart, please do upload the book again or buy the paperback. The image is awesome, and it does say a lot about the story in general. 

Kindle version

Paperback version

paperback version of Chandra's quest Book 2

NOTE: the eBook version of Chandra's Quest Book 2: Twisted Embers looks like the picture below:

I believe that any changes that I've made to any of my books, won't show up on Amazon's display list for a week or two. 

Saints and Sinners

(Facebook would not let me boost Saints and Sinners because of the cover image. Personally I've seen worst. Just saying. Since Saints and Sinners and The Other Side of Things are novelettes, boosting them, really doesn't matter but it's my full length novels that matter, so I will continue to boost them)

Indie/Self-published Authors and Why Some People Disdain Them

The landscape of self-publishing has changed significantly over the last decade. Once considered inferior to traditional presses, self-publishing is gaining more attention and earning credibility as a viable way to access unique, and in some cases quality, content. What’s more, the increase in self-publishing has garnered a significant amount of attention from marketing companies looking to capitalize on this burgeoning industry. Major publishers are even jumping on the bandwagon as well, offering independent authors a variety of ancillary services to help market their books. Libraries have begun using self-publishing to reconnect with communities by offering workshops and resources geared towards independent authors.  It is not uncommon for writers to choose the route of self-publishing because the traditional publishing route is difficult, if not impossible, for some writers to enter.

That statement is true! Many self-published authors hit a brick wall when presenting their work to the traditional publishers. Most of the time, traditional publishers don’t look at every manuscript they receive. If their work load is heavy, they will return the manuscript and thus depressing the author, who then decides to forget about becoming a serious author.

NOTE: an author is someone who has published more than one book. It doesn’t matter whether they are an Indie/self-published authors or not, they are still authors. Indie/Self-publishing is probably the only opportunity available to the beginners.

What’s the percentage of certain groups of people from obtaining authorship through traditional publishing routes?

*The number of books published by people of color speaks volumes about the barriers that prevent certain groups from obtaining authorship through traditional publishing routes. In 2017, out of 3,500 books received by the center, approximately 3% were written by African American and Latino authors, 7% were written by Asian Pacific American authors, and less than 1% were written by Native American authors. Therefore, self-publishing is a route that allows writers to share their stories. It also creates an opportunity to be recognized as an author.

Here is someone’s point of view regarding self-publishing.

I Understand that “indie publishing” is all the rage, but despite royalty rates of 70%, I think self-publishing is a terrible idea for serious novelists (by which I mean, novelists who take writing seriously, and love to write). Here’s why.

If you self-publish your book, you are not going to be writing for a living. You are going to be marketing for a living. Self-published authors should expect to spend only 10% of their time writing and 90% of their time marketing. if your passion is creating worlds and characters, telling great stories, and/or reveling in language, you might want to aim for traditional publication. I mute authors whose tweet streams are 90% adverts in the same way I wouldn’t watch the shopping channel. Most indie authors have tweet streams that are 90% adverts, perhaps a reflection of the fact that they must spend 90% of their time marketing. It certainly doesn’t make self-publishing look like the path to El Dorado. Why would I want to join this gang?

What I think: Well, he’s right about marketing however, he’s wrong about self-published authors not taking their writing seriously! All authors take their writing seriously! If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be irked when someone gives them a not so good review! 

There are people out there that just despise Indie/self-published authors, only for the fact that the author did what they could only dream of doing and that is publishing their own book. The self-published author doesn’t just talk about writing a book and publishing it, they went out and did it! They have courage and hope in a sea of vexing haters.

Do most self-published authors consider their writing a career?

The majority do but some are more realistic in the outcome so most have part-time jobs or even full-time jobs.  

Do I see my writing as a career or a hobby?

Well, I see it as a little of both. I do take my writing seriously just like other authors, but I don’t see it as a career. In fact, even some mainstream authors who have gone the traditional way and have published their books, do have a part-time job somewhere. If you did not make a deal with the Devil, like the woman who wrote Fifty Shades of Grey, then more than likely, your royalties will not be a steady steam. I have a part-time job, but I continue writing my books, in hopes that I will get a steady stream one day. All authors feel that way. Just noting.

 Overall, self-publishing may be all the rage, but the writer has a choice. If he/she wants to publish traditionally, then do so, however, more and more traditional companies are going in the way of self-publishing. Giving their audience a chance to read a diverse stream of books written by unknown authors. Some of those books can hide a hidden jewel. Just saying.

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