Today’s your last chance to grab The Shadow Girls Volume one for free! Download if you haven’t already!
IT’S OUT!
It’s finally here! Don’t delay, get your copy of The Shadow Girls, Volume 1 Into the Shadows today!
Great news!
The Shadow Girls Volume 1 will be available to buy fron amazon in five days!
Keep an eye out 😆
Pros and cons of self-publishing
It truly is an exciting time to be a writer.
Originally, if an author wanted to be published, they had no option but the traditional route. This option came with its benefits of course, but if not sold properly or the publisher had no interest in the writer’s work, most ended up rejected and few are published, so a lot of aspiring authors get frustrated and simply give up altogether.
However-
This new modern era of books has blessed us with a second possibility- Self-publishing, an option for those who are fed up with their manuscript being rejected, simply want to avoid the hassle or are aware that many publishers will be unfamiliar with their genre of book (me).
There are many benefits to this, of course.
You retain all the rights.
When self-publishing, you remain the sole owner of your manuscript, meaning everything is yours, whereas if you handed it over to a publisher they would retain all of the rights to your story.
You receive higher royalties.
Traditionally publishing, you would usually receive around 30% of the royalties, or lower. Not to be discouraged though, they will be selling large volumes of your book.
However when self-publishing, you receive 70% or more in royalties of books sold.
You retain creative control.
Every author has a vision for their novel, they know exactly where they want it to go, and how every scene should be executed. If submitted to a publisher the author loses all creative control, and has virtually no say in changes and cuts to the novel.
Now not to make self-publishing to look like a faultless godsend, it of course, like everything on earth, has its faults and downfalls. Here are some not so great things about self-publishing you should also be aware of if you are considering it:
You’ll be doing everything yourself.
Think of all the planning, the re-writing, editing, formatting, cover design that goes into making a book. If you were publishing traditionally, none of these would be your problem. You just write your manuscript, and send it off. However if you weren’t, it’s all up to you to get it done right. You need to pay for all of these services, and to get it professionally done is very expensive. Although going for the cheaper option is desirable, it’s better to avoid as it means your book will be lacking in quality.
Beware the publishing houses.
The best advice I can give for these is to stay away from them completely, speaking from a bad experience. Publishing houses take your money, and format and edit your book for you. Although this may sound less complicated than contacting a load of freelancers for different services, make sure you READ the form they send you before signing it.
In a particular publishing house whose name I will not mention, I was offered the service for a ridiculously high price, and then sent a form to sign. In our phone call, I was informed authors received 60% royalties and retained all the rights to their work. In the form, it read authors receive 25% of royalties and the publishing house retains 100% rights to the work, as well as the right to alter, re-produce, re-create, etc. Thank goodness I’d read that and turned it down.
Also, don’t expect any marketing help from these people.
Self-published books have a bad name.
What is liberating to some, is undoubtably distasteful to others. Self-published books unfortunately have a reputation of being poorly-written, bad front covers, or both. This is for many reasons, most new ‘indie’ authors are clueless to what they’re doing, simply seeing ‘I published a book’ as enough, and completely disregarding the importance of quality.
Poorly-designed covers are a definite no no. We all judge by the cover, and we as readers often make the judgement that a poorly-designed cover means a poorly designed book, further decreasing our likelihood of buying it.
A lot of self-publishers also decide to forego editing due to expenses, another definite no. Editing is vital for a book’s success and readability, and this is one step that cannot be skipped. If not a professional editor, why not a friend or beta readers to look over the novel and brush for mistakes?
No matter the disadvantages of both, you now have the option to choose in which direction you want to publish you book. Whether you don’t mind relinquishing some of the control, or you want total dominace, I hope I helped narrow down the decision for you.
Keep writing!
Digital Art: Easy or hard?
I don’t think there’s an actual answer to this question. It all depends on your style, ability, and time. Sure, it’s easy to say that one style is easier than others, but it depends on the person’s preference. For example, my personal preference is 2D Anime Art. I don’t do fanart, I like to draw my own characters. And I can’t just draw any old random side character, it has to be one that has a story or an interesting personality/past, and I use that as inspiration for the picture. For others it may be different. Whether you’re someone who draws for hire, or can just complete an amazing piece from the top of their head simply because they ‘felt like it’, all are important factors as to how easy or hard you found a piece to create.
It can be easy to get discouraged too. But don’t! One thing to keep you going is to keep in mind that there will always be someone better than you.Or people. And that’s no excuse to give up/be jealous/sob in a corner, no! You should congratulate these people and use it as incentive to improve your own art. Plus, if there’s people better than you, that also means there’ll be people that are worse too. So hang in there! Find your style, and keep moving on. And if you find an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING piece of work by an artists that’s been doing it for God knows how long and you just started, don’t throw down your paintbrush/pencil/graphic tablet pen just yet. Give yourself time to reach their level, or even higher. I’m still not quite at the level I’d like to be, but hey I’ll keep going til I reach it!
Plus, you’ll improve more every time, and I even have proof. This is how my drawings looked when I first started (and I was still proud of them)
And now….
Don’t give up!
RANT: Useless anime girls
As an anime watcher, there is nothing that infuriates me more than when a character is taking up valuable screentime, and is not doing anything. And it can’t be just me, that notices how useless most of the girls are? DBZ, Naruto, anything else you name it. Don’t believe me? Let’s see.
Nanami Momozono: Kamisama Hajimemashita
I recently started watching this series, right now I’m on season 2. I can’t lie it’s good, but I just can’t get over how useless the main character is, I’m just watching it for Tomoe to be honest with y’all. This girl is tripping over nothing every couple of seconds, no wonder she needs Tomoe to save her all the time.
Videl from DBZ
So, we finally have an anime girl that can fight in DBZ. She decides to fight Broly. This is pretty much how it went:
This fight was a few seconds. AND DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON SAKURA. (Naruto) AT LEAST VIDEL DID SOMETHING.
I’ve noticed a recurring pattern in most animes, aside from RWBY (which is AWESOME btw watch it) girls in anime seem to be useless, clumsy, there to just be rescued or if on the rare occasion they’re cool they’ll receive next to no screentime or get killed off. Like why can’t they ever be cool main characters, or have an ambition or goal that isn’t just out of love for some guy? What are your opinions on this? Let me know in the comments below!
Why did you create this series?
My name’s Chloe Walker, I’m 17, and I have many reasons for wanting to become an author of my own book series (still writing the manuscript) I actually created it when I was around 13/14, when I developed a love for action cartoons and animation. It was probably the unrealistic fight scenes that did it for me and how cool they were to watch. I then saw how attached fans got to it, it was them who pretty much made the show successful, lining up to buy merchandise, gassing about each new episode and plot twists, drawing fan art, etc. I guess I want something similar, in future anyway 😝
At first, my plan was to just scribble down a few notes and doodles then submit them to an animation company, in hopes that they would pick it up and become a show (I was 13 OK?) I even remember calling up a lot, (none of whom answered btw 😑) But I was just a naive kid, who would? But I refused to give up on it. As time went along, and I developed more ideas and characters, I wondered if it was worth sharing, and so told my friends about it and brought in my work. Much to my surprise, they were amazed! They all wanted to see my drawings and congratulated me, and then I started drawing a comic, that I would show my friend every science class, that I sat next to. She loved it, and was sad if I hadn’t drawn any new pages. The drawings were God-awful back then trust me, but if she liked it, I figured who’s not to say others wouldn’t too?
I got a LinkedIn account at around 14/15, and me, being a child, was just trying desperately to be noticed by someone important, someone that would take a look at my ideas. There was this one guy who replied back, he was an animator. When I showed him one of my characters, he asked my about their story, and that was the most important part. I froze. I realised that he had no story; none of them did. It just never seemed that important at the time. But heeding his advice I decided to give all my characters a story, and I found it quite exciting, because then instead of just pictures, they all became people. I then went on to fill out numerous notepads with ideas, sketch pads, evolving them and giving them abilities, connections, how they ended up there, tragic back stories, the reasons they were who they were. Some were inspired by my favourite superheroes, others completely original.
I don’t remember if it was this year or last year, last year probably 😅 I bought a graphics tablet, because I wanted my work to look professional. I immediately got to work, and posted everything I did on Instagram (theshadowgirlstsg) and they gradually improved the more I did it. At first it was just in hopes someone important would see it, but I’d grown so attached to the story that I didn’t want it changed. So, I became a writer. I’m currently in the process of writing book 1, but I’ve already planned out the next 6 😃. As soon as it’s finished I’m deciding to self publish, and I’ll put the Amazon link up here soon as it’s ready. Any ways, thanks for reading, and watch this space!
Chloe Walker😜
So what’s this all about?
Welcome to Haden, the hidden side of the world, only found through alleyways of the world you know. It consists of a very different order and social class system: Still just as corrupt. Within Haden one is also able to awaken, meaning endure enough physical or emotional pain to reach their breaking point. Once this is reached, the person can awaken. Agents and organisations hold power in this world, existing in their very own hierarchy, in which Shadow exists, right in the middle. Enter it’s newest agents:
Kimberly Coleman:
Dropped off 16 years ago at a poor but kind woman’s house, Kimberly grew up through a rough childhood, facing dangers at home and an unsavoury neighbourhood. She saw her helpless guardian constantly disrespected which caused her to be extremely angry developing problems at school, earning the nickname ‘hothead.’ Kimberly is loud, competitive, cheerful and strong willed in nature, growing up seeing what is wrong with the world, she made it her mission to make it right.
Akira Tsuiyama:
Much of Akiras past is still unknown, although Akira is Kimberly and Yasmine’s closest friend, she is a rather shady character, with unknown intentions at this point. She outclasses the both of them in combat skills, planning and strategic thinking, setting a standard they both wish to reach. Akira shows little interest in most things, is highly intelligent and regards everything seriously. She can also be known to be arrogant at times. She often gives people cold looks. One things for certain: Whatever her past was, it was painful.
Yasmine Kuunichi:
The bubbly, cute one of the group. Yasmine is like the sunshine that holds everyone together, and often stands in the way to prevent Kimberly and Akira from fighting. She is an exceptional gymnast, but often doubts herself due to bullying in the past. Her greatest desire is to protect her closest friends, and It was because of her that they all became friends, and she chose to be an agent so she could stay with them. Clumsy, funny and oblivious to most things, it’s always fun to have Yasmine around.
The Organisation Hierachy
Orignally created by the leader of Cloud 5, Haruki Shita, the organisation Hierachy was created as a system to govern Haden and keep all world organisations ‘in check.’ It is however corrupt, as it gives those above in the Hierachy legal clearance to do whatever they wish to those below.
The Shadow Girls 