12.13.15 - Sunday Smatterings

Hello, lovelies! I hope you're having a good Sunday, and a nice day of respite in the midst of the holiday bustle. On this third Sunday of Advent, the weather has been (sadly) springlike in Nashville (hello, low 70s), so we're soaking in the last bit of warmth before Old Man Winter brings the chill. It sounds like quite a few of you have had the same warm weather in your area, so I hope you've been able to enjoy it too! Though in truth, I want to find myself inside a pine cabin with a vaulted ceiling, staring out a frosty window at a six foot snowdrift, with tons of hot chocolate and firewood, but hey, I'm weird. 

Here's what I found around the Internets this week. It was a big week, so grab your tea (coffee, orange juice, whiskey) and get reading!

Bret Easton Ellis expounded on the (bizarre) culture of likability in which we find ourselves, and he nailed it. I encourage you to give this a read and reflect.

If you're looking for inspiration to create all the things, read this article from Kris Rusch right now. No, really. I link to Kris a lot, but this one is important for all creatives.

 Here's a Thanksgiving challenge that's actually appropriate for the entire holiday season. Sometimes, we need to step back from what we think the holidays are *supposed* to look like and enjoy what they *are* for us.

If you have a stamp to spare and would like to spread some joy this holiday season, mail a Christmas card to this courageous little girl.

Y'all know I'm a huge Tennessee Titans fan, which is why I loved this Sound FX video of rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota. What a great kid! He's clearly a leader, and this organization has needed a true leader for a long time. Can't wait to see what he brings to the team in the next few years. 

Y'all also know I'm a fiend about doing your best work. These 12 Chrome extensions will motivate you to work harder and smarter. I've recently installed Momentum, and I love it! (via Buffer)

The ladies of She Reads remind us about the beauty of the Advent season in this lovely post: the opportunity to be silent.

Also in tune with the holiday season, here are 31 books that will restore your faith in humanity.

Um, Duran Duran and Chic will be coming to Nashville in 2016. That's all.

And back at home base:

You want to be a part of my newsletter this week, because I have a super special surprise for you on Tuesday!!! Join here -- trust me!

On Two Tales Press, we discovered the best bookish gifts for the word lovers in your life. Between personal library lending kits, Harry Potter-wrapped pencils, and name embossers, you need to check these out for a loved one...or yourself! (via BuzzFeed)

And The Wine Vixen brought us the first of Amy's wines she sampled in Vegas (bonus: there's also a great coffee bar suggestion you should check out), and I talk about a Shiraz that fruity, delicious, and easy on the wallet. Oh, and if you're looking for wines that will work with your budget, check out our new (ingeniously named) Budget tab, where we've divided our wines by dollar amount.

I loved interviewing my friend and brilliant author, Patti Callahan Henry—and not just because she let me almost throw up on her during my first A WORD ON WORDS interview. You can watch an extended version of our conversation here. I think you'll enjoy Patti's warmth, humor, and ideas about writing Southern literature! #keepreading

FYI: Amazon is running specials on their favorite Cops & Crooks books of the year. And guess whose hardcover is now only $14?

And on the Tao, I was excited to share that PW called my new book, NO ONE KNOWS, "riveting," and I divulged how I created a publishing house with Vellum. 

Alright, folks, that's all I've got this week. Enjoy the magic of the season, send a Christmas card or two, and I'll talk to you soon!

Xoxo,
JT

12.10.15 - Building a Publishing House with Vellum

I have a quick suggestion for those of you planning to indie publish your work. It’s a fantastic little app called Vellum.

My friend Alethea Kontis turned me on to Vellum when she was staying with us a few months ago. I saw her working on one of her books in it, and she showed me the app and raved about it. I downloaded it from the app store, and within 5 minutes I’d imported a short story and started to play.

It took me a grand total of one afternoon to learn the quirks of the system. I imported one novel and three short stories, did their formatting, inserted backmatter, built the links, and tied my accounts into the system.

I immediately saw the possibilities. I could make an ebook and upload it with literally a few clicks.

There are books written on how to do this. People specialize in it. I’ve paid for it before – hundreds of dollars.

Vellum is the professional book formatter’s worst nightmare.

It doesn’t take any special skills to make it work. It is intuitive, simple, and straightforward. It shows you what your ebook will look like on all the devices, too, which is one of the biggest bugaboos formatters have faced before.

When I realized what I could do with this program, I immediately decided to move forward on a project that’s long been on my back burner: re-editing, rebranding, and republishing a bevy of short stories, and finally getting myself positioned to release several new stories that hadn’t been uploaded yet.

I taught my assistant Amy how to use the program and set her free to do what she would with the interiors. While we were in Florida for the NINC conference, Vellum training was front and center, and she learned some of the super-cool internal tricks, like evergreening links and how to import backmatter across all titles so you don’t have to recreate the wheel with every book. The ease of uploading ebooks is the real secret here – anytime you need to make a change, all you do is fix the file and reupload – a service Vellum provides at an additional cost.

While the app itself is free, if you plan on using it for your publishing ventures, I highly recommend you purchase their unlimited program. I’m telling you, you’ll spend less on that than a single formatting job by a professional.

When Vellum asked Amy and I to dish on their product, this is what we said:

“I’ve never seen a program more intuitive, flexible, and easy to use than Vellum. The end results are elegant and stunning, and the program is helping my business run smoothly. What more could you ask for?”
–New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison

“As a former Big 5 publishing professional, I thought only XML-fluent designers were capable of creating an ebook. Vellum empowers any author or content creator to make a beautiful, commercially viable product in just minutes. I’ve never been so glad to be wrong.”
–Amy Kerr, Publisher, Two Tales Press

I could go on and on and on about how great I think Vellum is, but it would be easier to just show you. You can see the results of Vellum’s gorgeous interface at my publishing house, Two Tales Press.

P.S. The good people of Vellum didn't pay me to say this. I just love their product!

_______

If you like what you read today, please consider leaving a tip on the way out. No pressure. But unicorns wearing roses might show up if you do! 

12.8.15 - Because We've All Been There

12.7.15 - PW calls NO ONE KNOWS "...Riveting..."

It's a tricky thing, this writing business. 

I'm so grateful for this life, the chance to stretch my creative muscles and give you heart-pounding stories that keep you up at night. 

But there are parts of this job that make my heart pound and keep me up at night: namely, sending my book out into the world.

Oh sure, we authors know that a by-product of creating something is that people will see it. Heck, that's part of this whole "getting paid to write" gig. But it's one thing to create something in solitude and yoga pants, and quite another to send it out into the world. And no matter how many times my characters shock me as I type, no matter how many times I hit Send on a finished manuscript, no matter how many revisions I go through, I still have this voice in the back of my brain niggling at me: 

What if they don't like it?

Hey, I can't feed the kitties if y'all don't like what you read. Mama's gotta bring home the catnip. 

But not only that, there's artistic integrity at stake. I have so much fun creating characters like Taylor, Sam, and now Aubrey. But I want you guys to have fun, too, to experience new places and characters, to be thrilled and excited by the books, and maybe to think a little bit. Art exists to move us, to challenge us, and I want my work to mean something to someone else, too.

As such, I'm completely overjoyed when I receive positive words on a story from someone who's not my editor (c'mon, these book babies belong to both of us, so they're just as biased as I am...).

Publishers Weekly has just printed some thoughts on NO ONE KNOWS, and I'm so pleased to share them with you:

"This riveting Nashville-set standalone . . . is a skillfully plotted story that's equal parts mystery, psychological thriller, and cautionary tale . . . Ellison's  twists are fresh, and the novel's action-packed conclusion will shock . . .  Artful and evocative prose complements the fully fleshed and realistically flawed characters."

Thank you, PW. I'm grateful for your kind words. 

If this sounds like something you can get on board with, you can pre-order NO ONE KNOWS (coming 3/22/2016) from the fine folks below. 

And thanks for helping me do what I do. The kitties especially appreciate it.

12.6.15 - Sunday Smatterings

Hello darlings. Another week has passed, one fraught with terror and tales of heroism. It breaks my heart, it truly does, especially in this season of Peace. As I mentioned on the socials, I’m so proud and humbled to write stories about heroic cops. The cops, sheriffs, FBI, ATF and first responders of San Bernardino are my kind of heroes.

Before the world went to hell in a hand basket *again* this week (sigh) there were a few cool things on the interwebs. Get your tea, settle in, and enjoy this week's smatterings: 

A former editor comes to the dark side in a hilarious, touching way with an essay that struck a chord in all of us: “DEAR AUTHORS, I’M SORRY.” Can't wait for her book!

Nerdiest showed all the cool ways we scienced the s*** out of the universe this year with their list of 10 big discoveries from 2015.

I know I’ve been a little mouthy lately, but it’s because I have a liberal arts education,  which challenged my thought process, and this piece made me stand up and cheer. I loved this quote:  "A liberal arts academy is about learning. It's not supposed to be a place to *suppress* controversial ideas."  Emphasis my own.

Banal but true: I’ve been using a great new grocery service called Shipt! and you probably don’t care. But if you do — I’m telling you, this service is your new bestie. Use my link and get $10 back when you sign up! 

I absolutely LOVE the idea of filling a notebook with things I don’t yet know, then trying to discover them. If it works for geniuses from MIT, maybe it will work for us. And to give it a writing slant — this is a superb way to begin a story. Hmm… maybe I better blog about this… 

And because laughter is always the best medicine: this. Man's Noisy Spider Battle Sparks Police Calls.

On this second Sunday of Advent, light your candles and read this brief reminder of the reason behind the season from Diana Gabaldon. I love her openness about her faith, and love how generously she shares it.

Now, from the Team Ellison home front — two, count them, two blogs for your pleasure this week, one on writer self-care and the other a slightly less-than-reverential look at my mind process.

The December newsletter released to fanfare and joy. And all the recipes now have lovely PDF versions for you to download!

On The Wine Vixen, we got Gnarly and discovered a delightful Pinot. Have y'all seen the new ad on knowing wine? Cracks me up every time. “Pinor Noir… which means… Peanut of the Night…”

Finally, I am going to have some interesting news for you on Two Tales Press next week, so you should check out our new news page, build specifically for this purpose by the assistant extraordinaire.

Blessed Advent, chickens.