Saturday, June 23, 2012

Why I'm not a fan of pirating

Last night I was feeling great. I finished the edits on my third Immortal Guardians book (the ones I go through before I submit to my publisher). Today though, I'm finding myself irritated and what some might consider "put out."

I keep finding sites that are giving away my books for free. I'm sure many people just think, "Hey, I'm just helping out my friends. They should get it for free just like I did," but in reality, these people are thieves, whether they realize it or not. When you give away a book for free without the author's permission, you've just robbed them. When you download a book for free that wasn't designed to be sold as such, you've just robbed the author (as well as their publisher, editor, and cover-artist).

I know I'm new to this whole writing thing, and that there are a lot of authors out there (best-sellers especially) who are losing hard-earned money every day because of piraters. So this post today is to just put it out there how this affects me personally, so that maybe at least one of the people who have stolen or distributed my book illegally will realize that its not okay.

Not many people know this, as I have been tight-lipped about it in my writing world, but I work hard at writing (and doing my best to write stories that people will enjoy) because I have a life-long goal that I haven't been able to achieve, and am desperate to.

For many people, having children comes as easy as looking at a member of the opposite sex and poof! they're pregnant. For me and my husband, not so much. We celebrated our eleventh anniversary earlier this month, and during our entire marriage we have tried to build our family. We've lost seven babies due to miscarriage (one being a tubal pregnancy) and it has taken ten's of thousands of dollars, as well too much heartache, to do something that comes so easy to others.

When I first found out I was going to be published, it occurred to me that maybe my husband and I could actually keep trying (more than what we do every month since it's clearly not working), and could maybe save up enough to afford another round of IVF. It didn't occur to me that people would just steal my work, and therefore take away any chances I might have left. Not only does it take that away, but even if I wasn't trying anymore, it would still affect my livelihood, and that of my publisher's and all the people who helped pull it together. People stealing like that can take food off of our tables, and make it so we can't afford to pay our bills.

All I ask is that people think before they download or distribute illegally.

Also, I really do appreciate my fans, especially those who have supported me by purchasing my novels. Every dollar I make goes into my little "Books for Babies" fund. I put everything I have into each book I write in hopes that it will provide you with entertainment and open up your imagination.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Coming Soon to Print, baby!

I have been a super good girl today. I have worked tirelessly at editing, making some important changes to the third book in the Immortal Guardians series, and I'm well on my way to finishing it up!

Anyhoo, imagine my surprise when I stop working for the night and decide to go check out what's going on at Evernight Publishing's site, when I spot that Dark Seduction is coming soon to print!

O - M - G!

I am so stoked, you have no idea! Being published is such an awesome experience, but I can't even tell you how thrilled I am that my book is going to be printed. Holding that in my hands, smelling the paper and ink... *sigh

I can't wait!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Great night of editing

I'm actually proud of myself for editing tonight. I've been tired, but I pushed myself to keep working. I'm now getting into one of my favorite parts of the story, so hopefully I can keep finding time throughout the week to get the book done!

Well, off to bed. Nighty night folks!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Editing

The last few months have been crazy! There is a lot going on in my life and my writing has really suffered. Thankfully I was able to write the ending of the third Immortal Guardians novel, so now I'm re-editing the rest of the book. I haven't decided when I'm going to submit it for publishing; I may start the fourth one first, or I might even work on one of my other WIPs. I never know when a Guardian is going to throw new information at me, and I don't want to miss anything before submitting (or publishing) it.

I did try to edit last night, but it was short-lived since I was already starting to get a headache (which turned into a stupid migraine - grrrr), and I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to again. The next few nights I'm going to spend time hanging out with my sweetheart since he's off work.

One thing that has really gotten me excited about writing again is getting fan mail. It's surreal, hearing from people who've read something you wrote and they actually liked (or loved) it! I still can't believe it, and I very much enjoy hearing what people think, and hearing about their favorite characters or even their favorite parts. So if anyone wants to write me, simply go to my site (katalynsage.com) and fill out the form to the left, I'll get an email from you personally. Or if you want to leave a comment, I'll see that too.

Hopefully I can keep it up so I can deliver more Guardians to my fans!