Close together or far apart?

Golden Blood is on the market and I'm now preparing Black Blood for release in December. I've decided to put the books out relatively close together as I can't stand reading a trilogy and having to wait MONTHS for the sequels. By the time you get the second or third book, you've usually forgotten all the little details of the other books.

Now, I haven't done any marketing research on this strategy, so I don't know if it's a wise move or not, but I've decided to go for it anyway.

I wrote the trilogy as one before deciding to pursue publishing. This was a story I had to get out of me and it felt incomplete writing the first one and leaving the other two books for later. I wanted to get the ENTIRE story out. I'm glad I did it this way, because after my beta readers gave me their feedback, I went back and rewrote 80% of Book One. Book Two and Three, reaped the benefits of that decision too. I can safely say that what I have put out there for readers to enjoy is what I consider to be my best work so far... and they won't have to wait an age to complete the trilogy.

But how does that affect the momentum of book sales? Do publishing companies purposefully wait so long between books because they want to make their audience extra hungry? In my case that strategy has sometimes back fired. I've had to wait so long that I've forgotten to look for the next book or I have forgotten too much of the last one to bother.

Maybe publishers wait so long, because the author hasn't completed the next book and they want to see how sales go on Book One before taking a risk on Book Two. That could be one of the benefits of self-publishing. No matter what my sales are like, for the people out there who enjoyed Golden Blood, they are definitely going to be able to finish the trilogy, because I WILL publish all three books.

What do you think?
Would you prefer publishers/authors to release their books close together or do you think it's better to have this big gap in between them?

The Big Reveal

Heart palpitations! I'm actually doing this!

Okay, so like I promised, here is the cover and blurb of my first self-published novel.

First, I want to say a HUGE thank you to Amanda Crane for the amazing job you did. I'm so excited with how it turned out. You are legend.

Second, I have to thank my beautiful model, Frankie. You are gorgeous and you look beautiful on the cover. Thanks for helping me out.

Last, but not least, thank you to my amazing husband, Peter, and my best friend, Bree, who understand how passionate I am about writing and always help me out anyway they can. What would I do without you guys?

Golden Blood, will be available on Amazon and Smashwords next week. Will post links when the books come on line.

Gemma Hart never knows when her father is going to whisk her back in time. Her toes start tingling and she has a few minutes to find a secret haven where she can disintegrate and appear in another time and place. While “across the line,” her training and skills are put to the test as she completes a mission that will change history for the lucky few her father has selected.

Gemma's parents are adamant that secrecy is paramount to her family’s safety. If people knew what they were capable of, they could be "used and abused", as her mother always says. Afraid she might accidentally utter the truth and break the ancient oath of her people, Gemma spends her school days as a loner. Only one thing can throw her sheltered life askew... Harrison Granger.

Harrison never expected to talk to the strange Hart girl, but after a brief encounter he can't stop thinking about her. He begins a campaign to chisel away her icy veneer and is met with unexpected consequences. As he slowly wins this girl over, he enters a surreal world that has him fighting to keep his newfound love and his life.

The blurb

I don't know about you guys, but I find blurb writing about as hard as the synopsis. How do you write that perfect little paragraph or two, that will have people desperate to read your book?

I sat in the library for ages the other day just going through the YA shelves and reading blurb after blurb. Some of them were awesome, others totally cracked me up and others seemed ho-hum.
I want mine to be in the first category... obviously!

The other thing I'm finding challenging is that I need to write one for each of my novels in the trilogy. I want to assume that most people reading the second and third books would have read the first, so some of the info should be obvious to them. How much do you need to include in your sequel book blurb? I don't want it to be overly wordy.

I've come up with a few different scenarios recently and I'm happy with my fifth attempt so far, but I just thought I'd put the thought out there and find out how you guys go about tackling the blurb.

Hope everyone has a great start to their week. Happy writing everyone :)

Self Publishing

I have been trying to get published for a while now and have always turned my nose up at the idea of self publishing. The thing that worries me about it, is that people can basically put whatever they want out there and what if it's not very good. I like the idea of my work being scrutinized and made brilliant by an editor. I like the idea of a publishing company thinking my work is good enough to market and stamp their name on. People who self publish just don't get that satisfaction.

However, I have been researching self publishing lately and I'm beginning to change my mind. Admittedly I have been reading articles about the amazing Amanda Hocking, who has just done so brilliantly. If that happened to me, I would be flying high! What an excellent start to a career in writing! Now, I'm not suggesting that I would ever manage to build up that kind of impetus, but wouldn't it be awesome :)

One of the main reasons I am seriously considering self publishing an ebook is because I have written a YA trilogy and I can't sell it as the first book of a potential trilogy. All three have to be published... the story lines are interwoven throughout the three books and the first one ends with a cliff hanger that, according to all my critiques, is brilliant. I don't want to lose it.

So - my thoughts are this...
Self-publish my trilogy in a digital format. Put it out there, use social media to market it and see how I go.
In the meantime I will continue to write and submit my single title manuscripts to agents.

So that's the plan. I still have a little more research to do before going ahead, but watch this space. By the end of the year you will hopefully see a copy of GOLDEN BLOOD available as an ebook.

What are people's thoughts on self-publishing? Who else out there has given it a go?
I would love to hear some stories.