J.C. Isabella's Blog

I’d never before stepped inside a bookstore where my mere presence was unwelcome and quite possibly hated. Of course, upon going in, I wasn’t unwelcome. Just another potential customer curious about the shop. I’d never been in before, and tended to be a fan of small bookstores where you can buy used and new copies. Nothing wrong with a used book, half of mine are, and I’m supporting a small business that way.

It was a spur of the moment thing. I was in town to spend a day with my mom, since I really hadn’t seen her since I got back from Germany. We were out shopping, and she knew I loved bookstores and mentioned that my sister liked it a lot. She also knew that I can’t spend less than half an hour in a musty shop like that, so I told her I’d only be five minutes. Just five minutes to check them out.

Those five minutes were going to be a real doozy.

So when I went into the shop, it was nice, clean, and had a good selection of books. The prices weren’t bad, and I was considering grabbing a couple books on my way out. Before I had my books, I stopped by the checkout counter, and looked at the lady behind the register.

I introduced myself.

“Do you support local authors,” I asked ever-so innocently.

She smiled, “Why yes!”

I smiled now. “Great, I’ve written a few books, and was wondering if you might like to have them in the YA section of your shop.”

She goes on to tell me how to submit my book, and then she pauses to ask who I have it published through.

“I’m self published.” I said, feeling proud. I mean, this is my full time job. My living. I am proud of myself!

“Yes, but who do you publish through?” She asked, a little more intense. “Do you use Amazon? Createspace?”

“Yes…”

Before I could say anything else her demeanor went from nice to so very angry I didn’t have time to process it.

“We will not do any business with authors who use Amazon!” She said this so loudly the whole shop went silent. I swear you could have heard a mouse fart.

I took a step back, because she was obviously angry.

Now, the next question I asked her, I am not proud of. I was so caught off guard by her switch from sweet to angry, that I stupidly asked. “What do you have against Amazon?”

Insert foot in mouth.

Mental forehead slap.

She was so angry, and spewed at me, “They have ruined bookstores! They put Borders out of business! Barnes and Noble is next!”

Another big step back, and I can honestly say I don’t remember what I stammered as I bolted for the exit.

As I reflect on what happened, I now know exactly what two things I would say to her.

1. The books in your shop are for sale on Amazon. The authors who wrote them and the agents and publishers made that happen. They are making money together. So you shouldn’t want their books in your shop.

2. Amazon hasn’t done anything wrong.

Now please, just hear me out as to why I think this…

It’s not Amazon that put Borders out of business, not really. And it’s not Amazon that is hurting book sales in other stores. When you get right down to it, it’s the people. It’s the masses and the money those masses spend.

Amazon didn’t force anyone to buy their product, or to buy into the ebook sensation. They aren’t standing at the computer with a gun pressed to some poor person’s temple, telling them to click buy. They merely saw something that they thought the masses would like, took advantage of it, and made an amazing business out of it. So how can you blame Amazon for putting other stores out of business when clearly, the people have spoken? They like ebooks. They like being able to carry a library around in their purse or pocket. The people made this happen. Not Amazon.

It could have gone differently. Amazon could have tanked in the ebook biz, and the people could have ignored the ebooks and Kindles and kept going into Borders and their local book stores. But they didn’t. It’s clear times are changing, and bookstore owners like the one I encountered have to realize it’s not my fault. I shouldn’t be penalized for running my business by using Amazon. And from my point of view, Amazon has done what any other business would have. They capitalized. That’s what businesses do! If someone thinks differently they are kidding themselves.

No business would ever succeed or turn a profit if this is how their conversations went….

Borders: Well gosh, Amazon, our profits are down real bad. I think you’re killing us with your fancy Kindles.

Amazon: I’m so sorry. Here, we’ll take them off sale so you can get your footing.

Barnes and Noble: Hey, that’s real nice of you Amazon, I think I’ll hold off on releasing the new Nook, you know, to help too.

No, that’s not how the book business works.

So to the owner of this bookstore I would like to say,

GET A GRIP. Embrace change! I should be just as welcome as any other author in your store. The used books on your shelves are a part of Amazon, just as much as me. Some of them were probably bought on Amazon before ending up in your store. So since you hate Amazon so much, you might as well close up shop. That way you can be extra sure you are not doing ANY business with them.

When you get down to it, Amazon didn’t do anything wrong. No one business did anything wrong. Its not them you should be angry with, and it’s not me. I’m not hurting you. The other indie authors aren’t hurting you.

So before pointing your finger at me or someone else for being part of the business that supposedly killed books, think long and hard about who you condemn.

I bet you’ve purchased something from Amazon.



Sincerely,



J.C. Isabella

With the release of Praying for Daylight, my mind turns to other books. Knowing which book to write next is always a problem. I have so many on my list, sometimes I have trouble deciding which one to tackle first.

Why is this so hard?

I wish I had an answer.

I only know that I love each of my stories so much, and I have so much fun writing them, that I can never decide which one to have fun with next.

I go through this every time I finish a book. I don’t think I’ll every stop having this problem. Sometimes I feel like a kid in a pet store. I don’t know which puppy to grab first! They all look so wrinkly and floppy! So cute and cuddly! OMG!!!

Well…as I sit at my computer staring at my list of books to write, I am able to reign in my inner five year old, and finally decide, based on a few things.

Here’s how this process of picking the next book to write works for me…

I first sit down to look through what the readers want. I tend to be a people pleaser, so if I get enough messages and emails about a certain book people are wishing for, I can sometimes be coerced. If there isn’t one, then I see which book can be out the fastest. I have always hated waiting for a year or two for the next book in a series to come out, so I can sympathize with readers.

Also, I just have to ask myself, what am I in the mood to write? A sweeping romance with cowboys? A funny book with zombies or a suspenseful book with an evil queen….

As I write this, I may or may not have come to a conclusion about the next book I’m putting out there.

It may or may not involve cheeseburgers, an ex-supermodel, and a hot cowboy turned bodyguard.

And I may or may not have titled it Tabitha Takes Off.

And it may or may not be out in spring 2014.

J.C. Isabella

Praying for Daylight will be released within the next 24hrs on Kindle and Nook!!!! I'll be posting links to the book's pages later on, and tweeting all about it once it goes live!!! Find me under @jcisabellabooks!

Each day leading up to the release of Praying for Daylight, I'm going to release one quote, or a little snippet of the book :)Check out my twitter feed for the quotes, @jcisabellabooks

Here's the first!


"My death is her punishment." Kate Kelly

J.C. Isabella

Prologue

I’d refused to go back to Montana. There was nothing for me there but pain and old memories. Memories that haunted my dreams and tore my heart to bits. I left that life behind. I left everything I knew for a life that that I hadn’t necessarily dreamed of, but welcomed for the change.
I wasn’t the same Kate Kelly after leaving. I wasn’t the girl without a care. With wild hair and a sunburned nose. The life full of laughter and family I knew was gone.
The pain would never go away. I kept it buried deep. My heart told me I was too young to have this kind of grief. It wasn’t normal and it wasn’t right. But it made me stronger. It made me who I am. I had to live with the changes it brought.
And now as I stood in the drive of my family home, all those memories I fought to keep buried came bubbling to the surface. The anger came. It went. The tears came too.
I was only here until a storm blew over.
And just as suddenly as I appeared in Montana I would be gone.



Chapter one

“And the winner is…Kate Kelly!”
The roar in my ears was almost too much to bear. I dropped my beaded clutch, stumbled, nearly fell face first into the lap of a famous director sitting beside me, but I made it. I made it all the way up the shining, gold stairs, all the way to the clear glass podium. I barely registered the tall blonde woman handing me my first award.
I thought about everything that brought me to this point, and my stomach rolled in nervous excitement.
Kaitlin Kelly, a little nobody from a small town, McCree, Montana.
I was being honored as hot new artist of the year.
Good God, I really couldn’t breathe.
I eyed the microphone, which was just a little high for me, and stood as tall as I could in my cowgirl boots. They were baby blue with silver stitching, and matched my short white ruffled dress perfectly.
But I seriously had to stop thinking about my boots and say something…
“Uh, wow,” I gasped, squinting through the bright lights of the stage. “I can’t believe this. I feel so happy, and blessed. And I didn’t even write a speech because I never thought I’d win…and I know I have so many people to thank, but I just can’t remember their names! So, thank you…uh, to my manager Jake, my sister—Cheyenne, you don’t know how much…what you have done means to me. I love you. You’re my best friend. Uh, and I’d like to thank my manager Jake. I couldn’t have done this without you. And I…I just love everyone, and I think I’m starting to make a fool out of myself…” I felt a clammy hand on my arm and glanced back at the blonde woman. Music started to play. I had to wrap this up. “Uh, so thanks to everyone. I love you all!”
And I was whisked backstage. Lights flashed as cameras snapped. I posed this way, that way, stuck out my leg like I was taught. I held up my award, bursting with pride.
I made music and toured the country with other stars. Life was more than I could ever ask for. I was having a blast.
Who’d have thought that I would spend my senior year of high school on the road, getting to hang out with some of country music’s brightest stars?
I was one of them now. I had my award and congratulations at the after party. So many people peppered me with questions about my second album and what I had planned for it.
To be honest, I was so caught up in everything else, I really hadn’t put much thought to it. Once I had some down time, I’d have to think about what I was going to do.
“Honey, you were amazing!” my sister said, hugging me later that night at the after party. She was older than me by about ten years, and she had a son, Ben. I didn’t think she’d go for me having a music career, but she supported me every step of the way.
Some people thought my sister took advantage of me, by exploiting me when I was only sixteen. But it was my idea. I wanted this more than anything in the world. I had to convince her.
Not that she didn’t benefit. My rise to fame brought attention to her talent as an interior designer, and now she was in talks for her own TV show on the home improvement channel.
An arm came around me and I was swept off my feet in a crushing hug. Jake, my manager, nodded. “You’re a star.”
I smiled. “Thanks guys, I couldn’t have done this without you.”
“Oh, after this, we should all go eat hamburgers in our gowns like the other famous people!” Cheyenne grinned with excitement, and I watched Jake share the giddiness with her.
“So.” I looked up at Jake when my sister was snatched by a singer looking to revamp her kitchen. “Any progress?”
Jake shook his big blond head. “No, I’m being a chicken.”
I glanced at the crowd gathered on the rooftop of a swanky hotel. It was full of the elite, and I almost felt out of place. “You can get any one of the girls here, so why can’t you just ask out my sister? I mean, I’m planning a wedding in my head here. Ben loves you…it’s like, perfect.”
“I know. I don’t want to screw this up. I mean, it’s Cheyenne. She’s gorgeous and smart, and she smells like sugar cookies.”
I rolled my eyes. Never would I have thought big, tough Jake Parsons, would revert to his teenage ego at the thought of approaching my sister for a date. “Why don’t you tell her you love her and pop the question?”
He blanched. “I haven’t kissed her, and I’m going to ask her to marry me?”
“You know you want to…” I smirked.
“Yeah, but I can’t just get down on bended knee and give her the ring.”
“Wait, you have a ring?” I nearly dropped my drink. Holy Lord. My sister was just as crazy about him, so I was going to have to do something to end the insanity. It’d been like this for a year now. She was constantly wondering if he’d date her, and if ben would like him for a stepfather. Jake was pestering me daily about her favorite colors, flowers, and whether or not he could be a dad to ben.
I lowered my voice, “Uh, where did you get a ring?”
He blushed. Like, actually blushed! “It belonged to my aunt. It’s a family heirloom.”
“Oh my god! Cheyenne is going to love that!”
“Really?” His chest puffed up.
“You know how she is about mass-produced stuff. She loves things with meaning.”
“Great…but it still doesn’t help that we haven’t been on a date yet.”
“How about you come over tomorrow?” I had it all worked out in seconds. My plan would go perfectly. He’d come over, I’d make up a sudden excuse to leave and take Ben with me. “Tomorrow is pancake night. Eat with us, and then you ask my sister out, or I’m doing it for you.”
He nodded. “Right, pancakes. Should I bring a bottle of wine?”
“I said pancakes…”
“Red or white?” He wasn’t hearing me. “Maybe flowers?”
“Unbelievable.” I stood on my tiptoes and locked eyes with him. “Bring chocolate milk.”
“Milk.”
“Yes, the kind with chocolate in it.” I rolled my eyes, heading to grab sparkly water from the bar. He’d figure it out, or I’d ambush him in the front yard tomorrow, snag his wine, and hand him a bottle of Ben’s favorite milk.

Saving Summer's release is drawing closer. It's this Saturday!!! Visit the fan page on Facebook for more info and fun extras!!

https://www.facebook.com/savingsummer...

J.C. Isabella

1. Read what you write- The book you’ve written is done, now put it away for a couple weeks, a month is even better. Don’t peak! Let it be. Once the time has passed, download it to a kindle, or print it out. Don’t read it on the device you wrote it on. Read it with fresh eyes as if you found it in a bookstore. Now review it. Was it a good book, were there any weak points? Grammatical errors? Keep a list if it won’t distract you. Then use it to your advantage!

2. Take a writing class- They not only offer them at school and university, you can take a course online or by mail. For the seasoned writer this may sound like a funny tip, but I think anyone, published or not, can benefit. You may learn something new, or simply find a weak spot to improve. And it’s always fun to get good marks on a paper to give your confidence a boost.

3. Share your knowledge- By helping someone else, you reinforce what you as a writer already know, and maybe discover some things you didn’t.

4. Throw your synopsis out the window- Yes, you heard me. Forget your synopsis. Why? Reading a book is an adventure. You have no idea what’s going to happen, so why can’t writing it be just as much of an adventure? You should have a basic plot. Know who your characters are, but if you can, try writing without a detailed synopsis and see where it takes you. I come up with some of my best ideas when I don’t plan.

5. Read your story out loud- Change your voice, act it out, have a friend help you and read it like a script. People may think you are crazy if you do this in public, but trust me, the dialogue will feel much more real.

6. Listen to music- Is it a fight scene? Listen to something to get your blood pumping. A love scene? Put on something romantic. Maybe you can’t listen while you write, so listen before you start to help set the mood.

7. Use your emotions- Had a spat with your sister? Great, use that to fuel a particular scene. Super excited about a trip? Use that too! Writing a book involves energy. So if you’re in a mood, take advantage of that! You’ll really feel it when you read it back.

8. Have a space- I have spaces. They include Barnes and Noble, and the local library. I have my favorite spot. A chair on the second floor by the window of the public library, and when I’m there, the words flow. So find your space. It helps you get into the writing mood.

9. Take breaks- Its great to sit down and have a writing marathon, but sometimes you need to shut down the computer and get out. It can really revive you, and maybe you’ll see something that you might like to add in your book!

10. Create a character chart- I have a table in Microsoft Onenote. On the left I have all the characters, then I have categories running the top. I list below anything you could possibly need to know about each character. Be it eye color, favorite food, or pet peeves. It’s all right there, and I can keep adding. It also makes finding what I need to know about a character much easier.

Yes, you read that right! I am giving away three signed copies of Chasing McCree. The constest starts today, and lasts till April 14th. The book also includes the two short stories, A McCree's Star Spangled 4th, and a McCree Christmas.

Copy and paste the link below into your browser for the Rafflecopter giveaway page :)

Best of luck!!

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/disp...

No, not getting married. I'm talking about writing. It is something I will always do....unless I've had the flu and I can't look at the computer screen without feeling dizzy.

But that's what I get for being human.
Oh, well.

So I'm feeling better, and I have tons of emails to answer. I started sorting through them last night, and getting to some Facebook messages. It became clear to me though, that the emails were all very similar. There are times I will get twenty emails all asking the same question. That may not sound like a lot, but I like to take the time to actually write something back to the person. I try to answer all of my emails no matter how long it takes!

But I'm going to answer a few of the questions in this blog post. It will clear a lot of things up because the questions regard book release dates.
I want to start off by saying it's really hard to say when one of my books will be out. I can't give an exact day. I used to try, and most of the time I could to stick to it. But with my editor, graphics guy, and everything else rolled into a book, it can be a little tricky. My dates are always tentative. When you're indie, things can change in an instant.

Take Kyle B. Johnston.

I had the book almost finished, and then I sat back to read it with fresh eyes. (Fresh eyes mean I've put the book in a dark corner for a couple weeks and then look at it to see how it’s going.)
It was a good story, but there was something missing. I couldn’t put my finger on it, so I went in for a rewrite. Practically started from a blank page. It had become too dramatic. I didn't like where the story had gone. So I changed it! I have the power to hold it back and make it better. That is the most wonderful thing about my job as an indie writer.

But a lot of readers really are waiting for his book, so I understand that it can be frustrating when I said it would be out and it didn't show up.

I've been saying Kyle should be out around February 2013. Well, now it may not be till March/April. My editor has a lot of awesome authors and the next couple months for her are going to be packed. (It used to be that I self-edited, but now that I have an editor, I'll be sending everything to her, this includes as previously published work.)

This also means that until I have the finished product in my hands, I will not make any set release dates. I’ll be able to give you a rough idea.

So, here's to seeing Kyle in the spring :)

The next question I am receiving is about the Council books. Yes, there is another book! It's titled, The Vampire’s Protector. This book is about Dmitri and Christy. I don't have an idea of when the book will be out, it will be 2013, and I tend to release my paranormal books around Halloween :)

Chasing McCree. I get so many emails about the McCree books! And I love emails, so don't worry ;)

As far as the Chasing books, I can't tell you what I have planned for them yet. I don't know. I do know that Chase and Briar are going to take a backseat for a little bit so I can write other books and spend some time with other characters. BUT they are not gone for good. Just for now :)

So here are all of the 2013 books you will see, dates not included, but they will be released in the order they appear below.

1. Kyle B. -- Spring 2013

2. Praying for Daylight-- 2013

3. The Council, The Vampires Protector--2013

4. Third book in the Zack Warren series
I hope this clears up a lot of questions for everyone! I really appreciate your patience, and I love you guys so much!

My final announcement is a pretty cool one. This spring you will also see a newly edited Chasing McCree in paperback!!! Yay! Included in the book will also be the two short stories, The McCree's Star Spangled 4th, and A McCree Christmas.

I am super excited for everything in 2013. I can't wait to share it all with you guys!

And keep an eye out for a new extra on my website with Chase McCree and Grandma. She’s got her reporter outfit on, and Chase has reluctantly agreed to play along.

Have a stupendous and flu free day :)

J.C. Isabella

So my good friend Richard, I think I've known him for ten years now....WOW, has it really been that long since high school drama class??? Well, Rich has been hard at work making me a website that I have fallen in love with! I'm posting blog
posts to my new blog, and I'm just so excited! Go check my website and my blog!! Test it out :) He's still making changes, so if you check every few days, there will be more to see.. And keep an eye out for a Q&A with Chase McCree on my blog....he's being interviewed by Grandma!:)

http://www.jcisabella.com/J.C. Isabella