Happy Mother's Day

This lovely lady is my mother.
She loves to play scrabble and read.
We play scrabble a lot.

These were the letters she drew at the beginning of a game with my sister.

I love this photo, because mom looks so pretty with her hair down and she only wears it down when my sister fixes her hair. We all have a job to do when it comes to our parents. Right?

My sister cuts and sometimes colors her hair, gives mom a mani pedi and makes her look pretty. My job is to help mom feel secure.

Since this is Mother's Day weekend, may you enjoy time with your mother, or enjoy your memories of your mother. I am pretty sure we'll be playing scrabble and going lunch. Our routine.

Have a blessed weekend everyone!

Four book goal

Sorry I have been absent for so long.

I met many of you at Wondercon in LA in March, as well as at YP Comiccon, Ocala in April. 

From there I stopped in at the Romantic Times Convention in Vegas and also took a much needed break to recharge my writing battery.

While in Vegas my husband, Tom and I visited Red Rock Canyon, The Valley of Fire and Hoover Dam. The cost to see all three was $17 for the both of us. $0 for Hoover Dam, $7 a car for RRC and $10 a car for TVOF. Well worth the expense of a rental car at $55 a day.

This past weekend I learned more about screenwriting and the film business at Sunscreen Film Festival in St. Petersburg, Florida.

And if you didn't know, I work a full time job as a sales rep for and I do everything else as time permits. Mostly weekends.

So on the slate this year: The 3rd book in the St. Blair series, The Diary of St. Blair; the 3rd book in the Marquel series, Marquel's Redemption; a stand-alone thriller and a new middle grade series about some ghostly beings.

So stay tuned!!

Check out my website: www.emilyskinnerbooks.com or www.ewskinner.com

Sign up at the website for emails and send me pictures of you at your favorite bookstore or library and tell me where it is. I love visiting new places.

Happy Summer reading!

St. Blair: Sybille's Reign is released!

I am so behind in my blogging. Well, I just got back from Walker Stalker Con in Atlanta which is the convention for The Walking Dead television show.

What a unique crowd! I love all the character costumes and the fan's passion for the story.
That is what inspires me. Seeing fans cos-playing their favorite characters.
To think that I could someday see my characters walking around would thrill me to no end!

Which brings me to the newly released, St. Blair: Sybille's Reign. The characters that developed in this story are so cool. I don't boast because I wrote them, but because they presented themselves to me. You'll now meet Eston's fellow Quad leaders in the other three Quadrants of the world, as well as a lot of demons!

For those who read the first book and were puzzled by the storytelling, that was intentional. The story bounced between diary and future characters similar to a movie scenes. However in the new book, St. Blair: Sybille's Reign the storytelling is more straight forward as Blair is involved with Sybille and the action is the driver.

Next I want to discuss saving the world... well, how Sybille does. But that's for another post.

Summer pick-me-up

This has been an amazing summer!

I am ever grateful to Miami SuperCon and Tampa Bay Comic Con for the awesome crowds and response I've had for "St. Blair: Children of the Night." I beat all my records in book sales and feedback. These events have given me the drive to exceed expectations and give readers more of what they are looking for.

My YA novel is an unconventional read I'm told, it builds to the conclusion and you have to keep up with the scenes to dial in for the finale. I didn't choose this format, it chose me.

The St. Blair series is tough to write.

I try as hard as I can to keep St. Michael on the page, but he wanders off to battle demons and leaves me.

He is a magnificent being and doesn't take direction from mere mortals. He dictates his story to me and I comply. Then he is off to the next battle.

I definitely identify with Sybille's frustration a great deal. People in her life go missing when she needs them or pop up unexpectedly and want her to save them from peril. What is a girl to do?

My favorite person is St. Blair. I so enjoy hanging out with her. She is the epitome of who I want to be. She has a since of humor, shows up when you need her and will bring reinforcements if the occasion calls for such. She has total faith that God will provide and doesn't do the heavy lifting for you, but instead supports you on the task.

All writing releases something in the author that they didn't know about themselves. I sometimes don't understand where a new character comes from or their mission, but I let them in. I have not thrown a character out of a book yet. Maybe I should? But I am not sure if the story would be complete otherwise.

So I continue as the agents and publishers encourage. Write the story that is in you.

To my readers, thank you for taking the journey. I hope to keep you busy.

The book that surprised me!

I just published Marquel's Dilemma. I love these characters! I can't wait for you to meet the new cast members.

What is now book two in a three book "Marquel" series, would never have happened if it weren't for Judy Roe, Roxanne Smith and Robyn Fairbanks. These women fueled my desire to write a sequel. More responded later and I am equally grateful to Bunny Cates who connected me with Lani Skuthorpe. Lani was a beta reader of Marquel's Dilemma and is a fan of the first book.

I have often said that I have a difficult time hanging out with my character Marquel. She pulls at my heartstrings and brings me down to a dark place. However, the plot for the sequel never took flight if I am honest.

I started with my outline and these people: Marquel, Zach, Isabel, Jackie, Ken Avery and Collins took over. My original plot for Marquel's Dilemma is now going to be the outline for a 3rd book, Marquel's Redemption. If they take me on another detour, this may become a serial or who knows? A television series?

I hope those who discover Marquel's Dilemma will read Marquel first. I wrote the sequel in 40 days, which is a record. I wrote Marquel in 52 days. My other series St. Blair: Children of the Night took a good few years to write book one. I will be writing Marquel's Redemption this summer and we'll see how long that one takes. The film script for the first book is complete, but under revision.

For everyone who encourages an author, you are blessing the world with more stories. Thank you!

The Writing Process Part 2

To plot or not to plot, that is the question.

I wrote Marquel with a plot and I'm writing the Marquel sequel with a full plot worked out. To write with a plot, you have characters who are predetermined with profiles and back stories.

St. Blair: Children of the Night was a concept in my mind, but not on paper. I wrote this book from my gut. I knew where I wanted to go, but I didn't know who was going along for the ride, meaning my characters and what they were going to do to derail or enhance the story.

To allow a story to unfold on the page, you sometimes are surprised by who shows up and what they intend to do with your lead.

I like both styles of writing, but realistically, I need to plot. I think it's because I learned this from my mentor, Harry Whittington. It took Harry years to learn to plot and once he did, he could write quickly and pump out books literally by the month! He was a full-time author.

Three quarters of the way through writing St. Blair, I had to plot. I had started the book as two parts allowing the story to develop on its own. Then I was advised to blend the two parts, so I did. But I was still wondering how I would get to to the end.

I so frustrated until Eston showed up. He is an important character who stayed away, didn't present himself for a long time! I was like, ok Eston, you should have come in much sooner, because now we have to back track.

Eston was one of the missing pieces of the puzzle. I needed him! For the longest time I was just hanging out with Sybille and Blair, wondering what was going to happen? They were equally looking to me for the same resolution.

If I had plotted St. Blair from the beginning, I know Eston would have been there. Characters aren't just whims, they are born to carry a story and they will push their way in one way or another.

I respect freestyle writing, I'm prone to dabble in the technique, but I want to have a road map, so I can get to where I am going without a lot of roadblocks.

Amazon and Hachette Debate

Amazon wants lower prices to make it affordable for readers to buy and read more. Hachette, as I understand, wants some rate integrity for their authors and to release ebooks at higher prices.

The debate as been compared to the pulp era when mass market paperbacks threatened the hardcover book industry. Publishers had to seek alternate distribution channels like dime stores to sell books, because traditional bookstores and publishers felt the paperback's lower price would kill their industry.

Having been mentored by pulp legend, Harry Whittington, I can tell you the world wouldn't be the place it is today without the mass market paperback.

The reality of the paperback sales the dime stores generated as excited readers went in to get their next installment of the authors they loved, no doubt grew more in store sales for a multitude of brands. Similar to what happens when a reader is on the Amazon site.

While Harry was an author for hire by publishers in his early years and had representation by agents, too. I'm sure Harry's agents likely might have agreed with Hachette's rate integrity concerns, but the Amazon argument is equally legitimate.

Authors want equal access to sell their stories and readers want to buy them at affordable prices. 

Sure, Harry would have wanted his representatives to make him more money, but if he thought his titles would be lost in the price wars, I don't think he would have agreed with some the pricing strategies that are being debated.

Where do we draw the line on progress?


Amazon, like other bookseller sites make it possible for all authors to get their work released in the same marketplace in the ebook age. 

Even agented authors are taking control of some of their ebook rights and publishing specific works on their own. They don't want to be controlled, but read. Their agents don't agree about crossing genre lines or publishing shorter works, yet authors do.

Agents are good marketers, no doubt. They know how to bring a client to market and the investment needs to pay off. The pricing has more do to with how long the title will trend or even get on the radar. Will a book breakeven?

Markdowns on books happen everywhere. I respect Hachette's rate integrity concerns, as I do Amazon's broad sales approach.

I think the greater concern should be protecting the digital platforms and the writers who fill the pipeline. The add-on revenue streams from other products, ad sales, cross-promotions, films and merchandise that spinoff from book sales are where the growth opportunities are for everyone vs. demanding more from readers who may be financially challenged.