Month: April 2017

Why XXX for Multifarious?

On By KaelenRhyIn Blog, Culture, Uncategorized, Who is Kaelan?

So.

It may be going through minds, so I’m going to answer it before I’m asked.

I’m offering Acquiring editors of POC, Transgender, Non-Binary (others) full acquisitional power on the stories we publish through Multifarious Press.

Yes, it’s a big deal. Because I own the press and my goal is diversity I can say that. I can *do* that.

I’m multi-racial, and it’s not my lane to decide which stories Black, Latinx, Asian, Pasifika, First Nations, readers want/need to read. It just isn’t. I *WANT* to offer lines of those stories. *I* can’t.

I’m genderqueer, but not trans or non-binary, so I’m not able to choose representative stories for those readers either.

I am a lot of things, intersectionally diverse especially. Knowing our strengths and weaknesses is important in life.

Providing an opportunity for people to help get the stories they need/want to be reading into the world? That I can facilitate. I’m putting my work, passion, and belief behind this.

So.

Change starts small. Shall we get the ball rolling?

 

Multifarious Press

On By KaelenRhyIn Blog, Culture, editing, Uncategorized, Who is Kaelan?, Writing

Welp, cat is officially out of the bag on this one. So, some words.

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The idea to found Multifarious Press smacked me like a freight train a little over a year ago. Remember I’ve been writing for a long time, editing for almost as long.

I discovered writer-twitter and the wonderful (and horrible) world it can be roughly two years ago.

Through that medium, I’ve met some amazing authors, many diverse, wonderful voices that have honored me by letting me read their words.

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I’d been chatting with an author who felt their chances for a book they’d written had been lost because the diverse voice was too real.

An autistic voice. Like my own.

Silenced.

My soul cried out at that, because I need more adult autistic voice stories, and this one might never see the light of day.

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In the two years I’ve been talking with authors on twitter, I’ve also seen so many diverse authors quit.

They stopped trying.

They stopped writing.

I’ve been working behind the scenes with my editors and web developer to get this fledgling press up and running for close to a year. From the seed of an idea to figuring out how we’ll work it all to getting people I trust to do what they’ll say they’ll do… it’s been a journey.

We’re all parents and people with lives and jobs and difficulties so you could say there were a few potholes.

But I am not going anywhere.

I’ll be honest, I’m bloody terrified that people won’t think I can do this, that they’ll think… unkind things about me, when all I want to do is help others like me. Diverse Voices.

One thing I’ve been accused of being a time or million is stubborn. Once I choose a piece of ground to stand for, I’ve been likened to a donkey with its feet planted in cement.

This is my ground.

I may not have a lot of experience with publishing, but by gods, I know how to get stories out there. I know how to edit and make covers and market. I know sales like the back of my hand because that was my career for the longest time.

If the world really wants diversity? (I think it does…) this press has a chance to open those doors to those authors who quit because they feel they’ll never make it in publishing.

I can make a difference.

I will. I will be the change in the world that I want to see.

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Go here for the Submissions Guidelines or check out the Multifarious Press website. 

Addendum post: https://kaijarayne.com/2017/04/14/why-xxx-for-multifarious/

The Dark Side

On By KaelenRhyIn Blog, editing, Who is Kaelan?

of the force…

What? I couldn’t resist.

Resistance is futile, you know. Okay, fine, enough geek humor.

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At least the dark side has cookies, or so I tell myself.

I work as an editor for a small press, have for a while now, and I honestly felt like my best skills (with romance in general) weren’t utilized. So I asked for more romance subs.

Yay! I get some… Yay! I get to read the submission packages and decide… woah, I get to write the acceptance/rejection letters.

Whups.

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I didn’t think about that.

And I learned how bloody painful it is to reject a book someone has slaved over. 

I’m human (most days) and negative emotions are remembered more strongly than positive.

I have also enjoyed the experience of the giddy sense of OMG I LOVE THIS SUB I NEED THE REST OF IT RIGHT NOW, as well as that nasty, heart-stabbing pain of rejecting others.

I can say, having received a lot of rejections, that I at least made it a helpful one, listing my whys.

I can also see the reasoning behind why so many agents don’t bother to even use form emails, when inundated with subs, I can see how it would be overwhelming.

It doesn’t change my stance on querying future titles that I write, not sure anything can.

But I understand better now. 

I don’t know that I’ll ever be the type to not send some sort of feedback, I know too well the sense of questioning that comes with each rejection.

The people at THP are all good people, so I imagine we’ll be around for a while. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that I’ll get to the point where I’m inundated with subs and have to create a form email response.

For now though, I don’t have to do that, and I’m grateful for it. As painful as it is to write the rejections, it’s still more painful to receive them.