Published! ALL FOR ONE by Sophia Beaumont

We could not be more pleased to announce that the 2017 ShoreIndie Runner Up's book has been released into the world! All For One by Sophia Beaumont went live on Amazon this month, and Sophia took time out of her busy launch schedule to do a brief interview with us about her book and her experience with the ShoreIndie Contest. Read on to learn about this gender-bent retelling of The Three Musketeers, what Sophia got out of the ShoreIndie Contest, and what advice this self-publishing author has for those who are considering the path.

SI: Congratulations on the publication of your novel All For One! What inspired this book? 
SB: I love reading classic literature, and one of my all time favorites is The Three Musketeers. I love the comedy and the setting and the characters, and I just wanted to do something with that. But so many classics are rife with sexism, racism—every form of bigotry imaginable. If I was going to work with an old story, I wanted give it new life through a more modern lens.

My mom also happens to be from Montreal, so when I was playing around one day, brainstorming, combining the two just seemed natural. Adding elements of the American Civil War, steampunk, women’s rights, immigration issues—it all just came together very naturally.

Writescast E29: Self-publishing Part One

So you have a book, and you've decided to self-publish. Now what?

This question will be the focus of the ShoreIndie community for all of 2018. This year we're excited to bring you content and Twitter chats designed to help you prepare to self-publish your book. And who knows? Maybe there will be a giveaway or two. ;*)

So what do you do once you've decided to self-publish? One place to start is this Writescast podcast episode, hot off the presses today, featuring ShoreIndie editor Sione Aeschliman.

"Sione Aeschliman walks us through the early steps of the self-publishing journey. In this episode, we talk what you need to have done before looking to publish, the platforms through which one can self-publish, cover design and cover art resources, and best case practices for each of these critical phases."

 Self-Publishing Part One: a How-To Featuring Sione Aeschliman

Writescast is a writing and publishing podcast created by author and freelance editor R.R. Campbell, whose debut novel, a romantic suspense titled Accounting for it All, is slated for release in November 2018 from Nine Star Press.

Jan. 26, 2018 UPDATE: Part Two is now available!

And now we'd love to hear from YOU: What questions do you have about self-publishing? What topics would you like the ShoreIndie community to address this year to help you on your journey? Leave a comment below or email us at shoreindiecontest(at)gmail(dot)com

Published!: WHAT WE KNOW NOW by Mo Parisian

We are positively thrilled to welcome another ShoreIndie Round 1 winner's book into the world! What We Know Now by Mo Parisian went live on Amazon on November 17th, 2017, and Mo was kind enough to do a brief interview with us about her book and her experience with the ShoreIndie Contest. Read on to learn why Mo decided to self-publish What We Know Now, what it took to get it publish-ready, and Mo's advice to emerging indies.

SI: Congratulations on the publication of your novel, What We Know Now! What inspired this book?

MJP: Thank you! I am so excited to finally be able to share this book with everyone. The idea for What We Know Now started in Frankfort, a small beach town in northern Michigan. We were vacationing over Labor Day weekend and checking out some of the lighthouses. There is a row of beautiful beach homes located on the beach in Frankfort, and one in particular caught my eye. I knew immediately this was the setting for my book, and it was just a matter of figuring out who lived in that house and what the conflict would be! Obviously, it isn’t that easy, but the setting never changed for me. I can still see it so clearly.

SI: Tell us a little about why you decided to self-publish this novel.

Published!: MALFUNCTION by J.E. Purazzi

Today on the ShoreIndie blog we're celebrating the publication of one of the books that was a 2017 Round 1 Winner, Malfunction (The Malfunction Trilogy, Book 1) by J.E. Purazzi, which went live on Amazon on Sunday, October 8th. J.E. was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to do a brief interview with us about her book and her experience with the ShoreIndie Contest. Read on to learn about the inspirations for Malfunction, what it took to get it publish-ready, J.E.'s advice to emerging indies, and more.

ShoreIndie (SI): Congratulations on the publication of your novel Malfunction! Will you tell us a little about the inspiration for the trilogy?

J.E. Purazzi (JEP): Sure! The original idea was just going to be a short story for Wattpad, something to try to gain an audience for my fantasy project before I really knew good marketing practices. My first glimmer of the idea was focused on the virtual reality and was about a kid (a blend of Menrva and Cowl back then) in a subterranean city, escaping through Virtual Reality only to find out that the game they were playing was real. As I worked on the concept, hammering out the plot holes and applying existing science, I ended up sticking with the one image of the climax in the second book and wrote the first draft of Malfunction in about a month.

One of the ideas that carried through all the drafts was that of human beings being reduced to objects in order to provide safety and pleasure to others, a concept that I think is really relevant to the issues of modern-day slavery and human trafficking.

2017 ShoreIndie Contest Winners

A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to our 2017 Grand Prize Winner, Jacy Sutton, and our Runner Up, Sophia Beaumont! We're incredibly proud of these authors and can't wait to help them celebrate when they self-publish their books. Read on to see what our judges had to say about the winning entries.

2017 GRAND PRIZE WINNER

JUST ONE YOU by Jacy Sutton (@authorjacy)

Edited by Rebecca Heyman (@RFaithEditorial)

"This entry drew me in from the very beginning. The language was beautiful and lush, and from the very first lines, the characters felt like real people: complex, flawed, & fascinating. Artful storytelling!” - Ember Casey

"This novel grabbed hold of me from page one. The writing is beautiful, the characters rich and intriguing, & the slow boil narrative utterly riveting. It did the thing I love best in a book, which was to leave me pondering it even when I had to set it down, and eager to get back to it as quickly as possible. The ending presented a satisfying blend of 'Ah ha!' 'Oh my god!' and 'Of course!' all at once This book is a genuine and thought-provoking pleasure." - Bill Cameron

"A depth of character combines with an almost lyrical nature to the language used to create an equally satisfying and engaging story primed with romance, tension, and growth.” - Elise Kova

2017 RUNNER UP

ALL FOR ONE by Sophia Beaumont (@KnotMagic)

Edited by Jeni Chappelle (@jenichappelle)

"I loved this entry! The premise was so fun and original, the worldbuilding was vivid and colorful, and I loved how the book kicked off the action from the very first chapter! An enjoyable adventure!" - Ember Casey

"As I read this novel, I kept thinking that the author must have really enjoyed writing it because every page is infused with an infectious joy. The concept is fun to begin with, and the author’s handling of it was simply delightful. It made me wish I lived on the timeline where Marie Antoinette formed a monarchy in Quebec though I wouldn’t want to find myself at the tip of Louise’s blade." - Bill Cameron

"The story hooks you from the first line and doesn't let go, pulling you along with action and a rich sense of world-building that leaves you excited for more.” - Elise Kova

Your Novel's Structure

by Sione Aeschliman

What is structure?
When we talk about the structure of a novel, we're describing the order of the major plot points, the work that needs to be done by the major plot points and between those plot points, and the timing of the major plot points, with the goals of ensuring that the story 1) hooks the reader, 2) sets up accurate expectations in the first fifty pages about what the story's about, 3) maintains forward momentum, and 4) delivers an appropriately intense emotional payoff.

My approach to narrative structure is influenced primarily by the three-act structure as explained to me by my friend Diane Gilman, who wrote screenplays for many years, and by Viki King's description of the nine plot points in her book How to Write a Movie in 21 Days. Influenced being the operative word; what I offer here is not a simple mash-up of those two approaches but rather my own interpretation of them with modifications to fit commercial and upmarket fiction for today's readers.

Act I: The Beginning
This is The Beginning of your story, starting on on Page 1. It introduces the novel's setting, tone, characters, and theme(s) and includes two inciting incidents: the one that happens within the first five or six pages, and the one that heralds the end of Act I, around page 50.

Yes, that's right: Act I is only 50 pages long, if that. Here's a post that discusses Act I in detail.

2017 Round 1 & Blurb Critique Winners

In case you missed it on Twitter...

Round 1: Author-Editor Pairs
Editor Rebecca Heyman will work with author Jacy Sutton on the adult commercial fiction JUST ONE YOU

Editor Carly Hayward will work with author Jenny Lambert on the YA dystopian THE MEMORY VISIT

Editor Jeni Chappelle will work with author Sophia Beaumont on the YA adventure ALL FOR ONE

Editor Katie McCoach will work with author Mo Parisian on the women's fiction A MOTHER'S GUIDE TO LIVING

Editor Cynthia Luna will work with author Erica Sumner on the NA mystery CHRONICLES OF A WINEAUX

Editor Julia A. Weber will work with author Sandra Budiansky on the YA contemporary TAKING UP SPACE

Editor Sione Aeschliman will work with author J.E. Purazzi on the adult dystopian biopunk MALFUNCTION

Editor Kisa Whipkey will work with author Lora Couch on the adult paranormal thriller ABANDON

Editor Kyra Nelson will work with author Timothy Collins on the YA thriller EXSANGUINATION: DYING IS THE EASY PART

Editor Elizabeth Buege will work with author Nicole Ochoa on the NA inspirational romance UNDER WESTERN SKIES

Blurb Critique Winners
Brian Decker
Kip Rabidou
Colleen Akin
Shelley O'Rourke
M Greenhill
Darin TaDream
Charles A Malosh
N.M. Brott
Travis Peck
Russ Trautwig

AskAuthor chat with Rebecca Syme (& giveaway!)

We're kicking off our ShoreIndie AskAuthor series on Sunday, June 11th at 8pm ET with USA Today bestselling romance and cozy mystery author Rebecca Syme!

Rebecca Syme writes small town romance as Becca Boyd and cozy mystery as R.L. Syme. She is a long-time foodie and loves fancy cheese. Becca calls the mountains of Montana her home and draws inspiration from the beautiful vistas and heartwarming people. She is the USA Today bestselling author of the Line of Fire series of sweet romances and part of the Chick Tales continuity series set in Somewhere, TX. Her newest series, The Matchbaker Mysteries, falls into cozy culinary mystery and releases on July 1st. You can find her on Twitter talking #fancycheese or #Chopped, and on Facebook with her fans in Becca Nation. She is represented by Lane Heymont of the Tobias Literary Agency.

Connect with Rebecca: Website   Twitter   Facebook

Editor's Note: Not only is Rebecca is the author or co-author of over a dozen published books, but she also co-hosts the Smarty Pants Book Marketing Podcast and teaches courses on craft and indie authorship through the Margie Lawson Writer's Academy - including the excellent Indie Insider course, from which I learned everything I wish I'd known about indie authorship when I was starting out - and is a ShoreIndie sponsor. Bring all your questions about self-publishing and indie authorship over to the #AskAuthor hashtag on Twitter, and get ready to learn TONS.

We're also running a giveaway all day Sunday of Rebecca's latest book, VANGIE VALE AND THE MURDERED MACARON, due out August 1st! Enter below before 11:59pm on Sunday the 11th to win a paperback or an ebook copy of her new foodie cozy mystery!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Submissions to the 2017 contest are CLOSED

As of 9am ET on Monday, June 5th, submissions to the 2017 ShoreIndie Contest are closed.

Now the real fun begins! 

Tune in to #SIsubs & #ShoreIndie on Twitter for writing tips on the book blurb and first five pages as the editors tweet anonymous feedback about their submissions from June 5-10.

Attend the Author-Editor pair announcements, tweeted by @ShoreIndie, at noon ET on Sunday, June 11th to see which 10 authors the editors have chosen to work with for the 7-week Editing Round. The 10 winners of the blurb critique raffle will also be announced on this day.

Keep an eye on the website for the Editing Round Event Schedule, which will include the days & times of:

• #AskAuthor chats with the ShoreIndie Featured Authors and Judges. Want to know more about how to format for ebook and print? Whether to join the KDP Select program or distribute your book more widely? How to grow your audience and sell more books? These chats are fabulous opportunities to learn more about other indie authors' experiences - what's worked for them and what hasn't.
• Mini-workshops on craft, hosted by ShoreIndie editors.
• Giveaways of marketing consultation, Write! word processing software, ebooks about the business side of indie authorship, and books by our Featured Authors.

HUGE THANKS to everyone who entered the contest and to all who have watched and cheered our authors and editors on from the sidelines. We look forward to a summer full of rich conversations about indie authorship and tons of writerly and bookish fun!

How to Process Feedback

by Carly Hayward

ShoreIndie is a community full of editors and fellow authors wanting to help your manuscript be the best it can possibly be. The community this contest fosters is one of the most valuable prize you could win. Even if you aren’t picked by an editor or you don’t win during the judging round, there is a lot of value to this contest. The ShoreIndie editors are a fabulous resource, and lucky for you, they are chomping at the bit to give you feedback. They all have your best interests in mind, and they want to help you make your best book.

The way to get all that feedback is to engage. Don’t just submit your manuscript, talk to the editors on Twitter. Ask them as many questions as your heart desires. It’s what they are here for. They want to get to know you and your book. And believe me, we love giving advice!

Top 8 Problems That Turn Readers Off

by Carly Hayward

ShoreIndie is about to begin, and I bet you’re wondering what you can do to catch an editor’s eye. We editors see hundreds of manuscripts during these contests, and there are some common problems that will turn us away from your manuscript. While all these problems can be overcome by a fabulous voice or a plot that we can’t look away from, it’s best to avoid them.

Let’s dive right in! Here are the top eight problems we see over and over again:

1. Head-hopping: This term can be easily misunderstood. Head-hopping is not the same as multiple points of view or omniscient narrators. It’s when you are within the head of one character, understanding their opinions and viewing everything through their perspective, and then suddenly you are hearing the thoughts of another character. Multi-POV changes points of view after chapter or section breaks and remains in one character’s head at a time. And an omniscient narrator may be able to see into everyone’s head but has a bird’s-eye view; their POV is distinct from the characters.

7 Signs You're Not Ready for That Editing Contest

by Elizabeth Buege

After several rounds of helping authors get their manuscripts agent-ready through Pitch to Publication and RevPit events, I’m excited to get on board with ShoreIndie, helping indie authors get ready to share their books with the world. In these contests, I’ve read through hundreds of entries, and now I can quickly tell the difference between people who are ready for an editing contest and those who aren’t.

Are you thinking about entering ShoreIndie or another editing contest? It’s important to make sure you’re ready first. Take a look at the seven red flags below—if any of them apply to you, stop and take notice. It doesn’t mean you should give up and walk away; it means you should think about why they apply, how you can fix them, and whether or not it’s a good idea to enter the contest. How are you doing in each of these areas?

10 Reasons I'm Excited about ShoreIndie

by Sione Aeschliman

[Note: this post was updated on June 1, 2017 to reflect last-minute changes to the submission process.]

A few weeks ago I wrote a post called "6 Reasons to Follow #ShoreIndie," in which I gave some arguments for why writers should follow the ShoreIndie Contest regardless of whether they intend to submit. Today I'm going to focus on my own personal reasons for being excited about this contest - as its creator, as an indie author, and as a member of its editing team.

1. I know of no other contest like this for indie authors.
Existing contests open to indie authors fall into two main categories: published manuscripts and unpublished manuscripts. This contest falls into the latter category, and it distinguishes itself from existing contests in that 1) it is run by freelance editors, not by a self-publishing service; 2) TEN authors, not just one, will win professional editing; and 3) the prize packages are designed to include services and resources to help emerging indie authors begin to grow and sustain their careers, not just publish a single book. So yeah, I'm pretty darn proud of what we've put together. The contest being the first of its kind? Bonus.

2. Supporting indie authors as leaders in the publishing industry.
I am a person who is driven by a fierce independent streak and a strong commitment to social equality and self-empowerment. So it makes total sense that I'd be excited about the fact that we who write the books now have access to the means of production and distribution. But it goes beyond that, too. One of the biggest opportunities that self-publishing authors have is to push the boundaries laid down by traditional publishing - by publishing content deemed too risky for traditional publishing, by blending and inventing new genres, by introducing readers to voices and perspectives that aren't yet making it through the gates of traditional publishing. I firmly believe that once the self-publishing community has proven that there is a market for a wider range of voices and perspectives, more traditional publishers will be willing to take these projects on. Everybody wins.

You Should Enter That Contest

by Nicole Evans (@thought_stained)

If you stumbled upon this blog post, you might be considering entering #ShoreIndie, a new contest for emerging Indie writers to win free editing and support through your writing journey. (Want more details? Check out this blog post here.) But you also might be feeling some apprehension or some nervousness thinking about submitting your work into a contest. You might still be on the fence whether that’s a risk you want to take.

As someone who has entered into three such contests and not won a single one, I want to encourage you to enter that contest.

A year ago, I was also in your shoes. Only battling in the query trenches a few times before and receiving rejection after rejection, I was wary about opening myself up to “failure” once more. I had doubts that my work was truly ready. I was nervous to send my work out to be critiqued, worried that the feedback would find it wanting and I’d be discouraged to keep trying. Before finally convincing myself to enter, I had this false idea that you could only gain something from Twitter-based contests if you won.

I was very happily mistaken.

What are the different types of editing?

by Katie McCoach

If you stumbled on this article and aren’t familiar with ShoreIndie—an amazing contest for emerging indie authors—then I encourage you to learn more. The contest begins June 3rd!

The main focus of this contest is providing authors a chance to work with an editor to prepare the best possible version of their book for self-publishing. If you win, you’ll be working with an editor for several weeks on the content of the novel. And the grand-prize winner will receive copyediting!

Developmental/Content 
Developmental editing, also often considered content editing, is editing that focuses on creating the best story possible. The editor will work with the author to strengthen the author’s big-picture story, as well as help them develop their craft of writing. This is the first stage of editing.

Editing of this nature usually involves things like critiques or manuscript evaluations to address big-picture items. It also often may be paired with substantive editing (also considered line editing). 

These edits look at the writing style, voice, pacing and flow, characters, readability, intended audience, genre, narrative, plots and subplots, etc. These edits are designed to help an author tighten their manuscript. Does the protagonist grow or change from beginning to end? Are the characters’ actions believable? Does the plot feel forced or organic? Are the characters’ goals and motivations fully developed? Is there internal and external conflict? Is this actually a romance novel or is it women’s fiction?

Meet ShoreIndie Judge Ember Casey

We are jumping up and down with excitement to have USA Today bestselling author EMBER CASEY as a 2017 ShoreIndie Contest judge!

A prolific indie author since 2013, Ember was a powerhouse straight out of the gate with her debut NA contemporary romance, His Wicked Games, which, to date, has a whopping 626 reviews on Amazon. Since then, she's gone on to finish the Cunningham Family Series and write books in four more series, plus a standalone. And every one of her books has higher than a 4-star rating on Amazon. Ember is a master at keeping her readers engaged with her platform. One of her brilliant strategies is to release novellas and short stories related to her ongoing series in between novels. She also has a fantastic website, newsletter, and Facebook presence that are great models for how to do this indie author thing right. (Seriously, go check out what she's doing. She's an absolute genius.)

We are thrilled that Ember has agreed to do an interview for the ShoreIndie blog - stay tuned to find out more about how she has achieved her indie awesomeness - and that she's allowing us to host a giveaway of a signed copy of The Billionaire Escape Plan (date TBA). In the meantime, we highly recommend checking out her website, Facebook group, and BookBub listing; signing up for her newsletter to get a sense of what a great, engaging newsletter looks like; and following her on Twitter @embercasey.

Meet ShoreIndie Judge Bill Cameron

We are over the moon to have mystery author BILL CAMERON as a 2017 ShoreIndie Contest judge!

A hybrid author of adult and young adult mystery novels, Bill also writes short fiction, some of which has been included in anthologies edited by Lee Child (yes, THAT Lee Child - the bestselling author of the Jack Reacher thrillers). We recommend checking out the interview Bill did with Sentence to Paragraph about his latest book, Property of the State (2016, Poisoned Pen Press), for an engaging discussion about how to capture the modern teen voice and writing about social issues without the book becoming a polemic.

Bill is a generous human being who has supported other writers for many years. Sione met him, in fact, through a weekly community reading series Bill organized that was open to writers of all ages, genres, and skill levels. In addition to judging the inaugural ShoreIndie Contest, Bill has agreed to field questions about writing and his decision to become a hybrid author in an #AskAuthor chat (date/time TBD), and we are thrilled to host a giveaway of Property of the State on that same day. We are so grateful to have Bill as a ShoreIndie judge, and we hope you'll help us show him the love!

Bill tweets @bcmystery. Be sure to check out his website, www.bill-cameron.com. 

Meet ShoreIndie Editor Sione Aeschliman

Sione Aeschliman (pronounced see-OWN ASH-lemon) is an editor and writing coach with a Master's degree in English and over fourteen years of editing experience. Since becoming a full-time freelance editor in 2012, she’s had the honor of working with authors from several countries on a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction projects. Last year she was an editor in the Pitch to Publication Twitter contest and faculty at the inaugural The Work Conference in New York City. This year she’s a #RevPit editor, creator of the ShoreIndie contest, co-editor of an anthology of floating-inspired prose and poetry for Coincidence Control Publishing, and teacher of genre fiction writing at the Show:Tell Workshop for Teen Writers and Artists.

Under her own name Sione writes prose and poetry (and prose poetry) about dusty heart-drawers and being chased by nunchuck-wielding ducks. Under pseudonym she is the indie author of seven books published in the last five years.

Although she lives in Portland, Oregon, she does not own a bicycle and is woefully underprepared for the zombie apocalypse, but her adorkable dog, Milton, is an Expert Urban Forager. She can't wait to read submissions and connect with members of the Twitter indie author community.

For ShoreIndie 2017, Sione is excited to accept...

Meet ShoreIndie Editor Carly Hayward

Carly Hayward is a developmental editor specializing in genre-fiction, including but not limited to romance, mystery, sci-fi, fantasy, erotica, and YA. Carly will help you find your voice and bring your vision to the reader. She will be your book’s best friend.

She has worked in the publishing industry for 9 years, including at a big 5 publishing house, a literary agency, and an indie publishing house that helps self-publishing authors. Carly graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in English. She is a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association and Chicago Women in Publishing. Carly was a panelist at Book Expo America 2016 and an editor for #RevPit and #P2P16.

For ShoreIndie 2017, Carly is excited to accept submissions that fit the following MSWL:

Meet ShoreIndie Editor Elizabeth Buege

Elizabeth Buege is a Midwestern girl with a lifelong love of words. She graduated from the University of Northwestern—St. Paul with a B.A. in English writing and internship experience in nonprofit writing and book editing. She now teaches secondary writing classes for homeschool students through a local co-op, where her job is to help teens fall in love with words and learn to express critical thought clearly. Elizabeth also loves helping authors become better writers, so she offers book critiques and editing services at elizabethbuege.com, where she blogs writing tips and related topics to help authors grow in their craft. When she’s not editing books or grading research papers, she’s probably reading, writing, or enjoying the world around her.

For ShoreIndie 2017, Elizabeth is excited to accept...