Posted by Sabine on May 18, 2012A few weeks ago, I read a post at The Creative Penn blog that questioned whether self-published authors are happier than traditionally published authors. While thinking about it, I chalked up a list of things that make me happy being published with a traditional or digital publisher:
1) Not having to worry about editing as I know they will make sure the book is as good as it should be. Having the opinion of an experienced and competent editor who has worked on similar books at every stage of editing, marketing and publishing would relieve me of a lot of unnecessary tension.
2) Not worrying about designing a good cover,
3) Not worry about getting an ISBN,
4) Not worry about book formatting and uploading on various sites.
5) Having the stamp of approval from others in the same business.
In comparison, here is a list of things that would make me happy should I choose to self-publish my books:
1) Having complete control over pricing, royalty rates and publishing dates as well as having the ability to use price changes as a marketing tool available to me,
2) Designing a cover to my liking,
3) Not having to see another rejection letter in my inbox. No matter how much we tell ourselves, each rejection letter, sent for whatever reason, is a kick on our ego. Honestly, if I never saw another ‘this manuscript doesn’t match our publishing criteria’, I would be a happy writer.
4) Not having to do research on agents and publishers, preparing partials and full manuscripts and submitting to them,
5) Not being dependent on others for my career choices.
At the end of the day, every writer needs to make this very personal decision as to what would make them happy. As you can see, each option has the ability to make your content, but at the same time, it is possible only if your expectations match the results. Self-publishing for the right reasons would make you happy, and traditional publishing for the right reasons would also make your happy. Before making this decision, go through this list, and mark each item that is important to you. Whichever choice matches the expectations your have from your writing that is the best option for you.
Also, remember sometimes it is ok to make mistakes. The process of publishing is also a journey, and the only thing that matters is not to repeat the same mistakes.
Happy Writing!
Posted by Sabine on May 16, 2012For the first time, I am presenting a guest post by another writer. Margaret Jules is a freelance writer and here are her unique tips on how to develop ideas for fiction writing:
There are lots of people who often dream of writing a fiction book of their own. This may seem a lot easier but majority of them give up very shortly just because they are not able to develop new ideas for their fiction book. Developing new ideas for this task is something that will bring favorable fortune for a person who is putting efforts in this task. Getting ideas is surely not as easy as it seems but this doesn’t mean that it is impossible. Basically the ideas are something that one cannot achieve by just thinking while sitting at a place in silence. For this, one must be creative. Here are few tips that can help in this matter.
Get ideas from your own life
Getting ideas from the story of your own life is something that can work quite well. Even the people who live a boring life can have lot of things in their life that they have already experienced and some of them can be excellent for the outline of any fiction book. The prime benefit of adopting your own personal story is that it is something with which you are more familiar with and this can easily provide a great touch to your story beginning. Most of the time what happens is that writers worry to start with their personal life but there is one thing that must be remembered and that is no one can become a writer until he/she learns to handle this fear.
Take ideas from other books
There is not anything wrong in taking ideas or references from other books. Others books are great source of inspiration and can highly help a person in developing new ideas for his/her own fiction book. Even the best selling books of the world have been re-written several times in the past. Also many of the famous writers of the world take their ideas from the previous work of other authors. It really doesn’t matter which type of fiction book you are going to write, something that can make this work easy for you is to read some other books before starting your own efforts.
Something very useful – a journal
Make a habit of keeping a journal along with you that contains some of the interesting things you see daily and also consider all those things that make you smile in a day. The biggest source of such things is television, games, and internet. In case you hear some interesting lines or some unique words it is better to note them as they can also be very useful in the development of new ideas.
Don’t try to be perfect
If you try to be perfect surely you will end up exhausted very soon. For creative writing, write for a fixed amount of time and correct the mistakes later on. Also you have to keep one important thing in mind and that is not to discuss your ideas with anyone.
Developing ideas for fiction book is not difficult if you always remember that ideas are always around you – and you simply have to pay some attention to your surroundings to collect them.
About the writer of this blog post: Margaret Jules is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She spends much of her days blogging about technology and bornrich. In her spare time, she enjoys developing New Ideas, ecofriend, and avoiding her laptop.
Posted by Sabine on May 11, 2012A. L. Waddington is a print published author of the Eve series, a four book series, of which the first book Essence is available for sale as an e-book at Tate Publishing website. It is also available as a paperback at Amazon. In my last post, I promised you a fabulous interview with her with the purpose of getting a few glimpses of her journey towards becoming a published author.
Here is the interview:
Q: How was your journey as a writer to a published author? How long did it take you to get published?
A: I began writing shortly before my teens, short stories, poems and such. I started writing my first novel around twenty one. It’s still sitting on my hard drive and needs a lot of TLC. I finally went back to school when my youngest daughter started first grade and that consumed almost all my time and energy and ninety nine percent of the writing I did during those years were for my courses. During that time I had my first poem published, Alone, in The Sounds of Poetry and I managed to finish my second novel and even got an offer to publish it. After great consideration, I decided against it because it was too personal. I may someday reconsider. I started The EVE Series/Essence the summer after graduation. A couple of my professors were kind enough to read the initial manuscript and give me their feedback on everything from characters (those they liked and those who could be cut out because they did not add anything to the story) to plotline. I got an offer on it six months later. So all in all it took more years than I care to admit, but I can say that it is very much worth it and absolutely a dream come true!
Q: What is your writing routine?
A: Despite having an office in my home, I typically write on my laptop in my living room with the television blaring and teenagers running in and out. I guess I write better with all the commotion around me. I find the noise comforting. I do my best to write/edit a little everyday but occasionally life happens and it is not possible.
Q. Tell us a bit about the series? How did you come up with the concept and how many books will the entire series consist of?
A: The EVE series is ultimately a love story between Jocelyn and Jackson. It is freshly unique in that it bridges genres with its cross over between science fiction/time travel/romance/young adult as a work of commercial fiction. The main characters are relatable to a large audience in that their age group is late teens to early twenties. The narration of the story is told from eighteen year old Jocelyn Timmons viewpoint and the distinctively different lives that she leads on parallel planes when her soul travels nightly.
On a much grander scale of enlightenment, it offers an alternative explanation for déjà vu, the consequences of declining family dynamics, the rational of auditory and visual hallucinations as the classic symptoms of schizophrenia and hypothesizes the truth behind noted prophecies. The foundation is created in Essence, elaborated further in Enlightened and blossoms in Perception followed by a unique twist in Illumination and a mind boggling conclusion in Incandescent. The series theories that an individual who has the inherited gift of EVE, possess the ability to live parallel lives on separate planes of existence. Throughout childhood and early adolescence, a barrier in their mind remains intact on the conscious level to prevent awareness of the other life from crossing each other. However, during late adolescence to early adulthood, the barrier between the two worlds begins to disintegrate causing the auditory and visual hallucinations of their other life to break into conscious awareness. These symptoms, once recognized by a family member(s) who also has the gift, were throughout history, guided by that family member(s) to adjusting to the disintegration of the barrier and full conscious awareness of living dual existences. Unfortunately with the decline in extended familial structure, family member(s) with the inherited gift are more often than not, no longer present when the symptoms appear and therefore the individual are diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The EVE series chronicles Jocelyn’s journey of awareness, realization and understanding of the consequences of living parallel lives on vastly different planes, the pains of youth and young love and her struggles of making her way in this new and complicated way of life she is thrust into.
The concept for the EVE series honestly came from a very weird dream that I had. When I awoke I jotted down the premise and tried to imagine what it would be like to live on two separate planes of existence. Right now I am imagining five books in the initial series. I am currently writing the fourth installment and doing research on the fifth. I am contemplating doing a spin-off series that will be related to the EVE series using one of the more minor characters from the initial series, but I have not decided one hundred percent as of yet.
Q: Are your books available on Amazon or other digital retailers as e-books?
A: Currently no, Essence is only available in paperback form at Amazon, B&N, etc. and is only available as an ebook on my publisher’s website. But I believe it should be released to the aforementioned in ebook format by the end of summer.Q: What is your marketing strategy for your books?
Q: What is your marketing strategy for your books?
A: I work in conjunction with a Marketing Representative provided by my publisher who sets up my book signings and handles the promotion of each event for me. Together we try and utilize Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and LinkedIn to aid us in promotion and notifying readers of upcoming events. Plus I have a personal blog that I try to post in daily that is on my author website. I also give speeches at High Schools, Colleges, and Universities promoting reading and writing and how it shapes the future success of the student.
Q. What is your opinion on self-publishing? Would you prefer to self-publish your books as opposed to publishing with online publishers?
A: I do apologize but I do not know enough about the world of self-publishing or online publishers to have an opinion. I know there has been a lot of debate about it pointing out the high and low points of each, but unfortunately I am not really familiar with either.
Q. What is your advice to a new writer who is trying to get a publishing contract or thinking of self-publishing?
A: As I said before, I wish I could be more helpful in the area of self-publishing but I am afraid I do not know enough about it to truly offer an opinion or advice in that area. However, I do know how difficult and frustrating it is to find a Literary Agent/Publisher who believes in your work as dearly as you do. What I can say is to utilize the Writer’s Market guide to its fullest. A new one is published annually that offers young authors a comprehensive list of Literary Agents/Publishers and what they specialize in. It also contains helpful hints and suggestions on just about everything regarding submitting your work. It is an invaluable resource. I strongly advise young authors to do your research on which agents/publishers specialize in their genre, check out their websites, and follow their submission instructions to the letter. Write a solid query with no mistakes in punctuation and grammar and do not rely on spell check. Proofread everything before you send it out to anyone.
Essence
You can read more about A. L. Waddington and her Eve series at her blog, on follow her on twitter, facebook and linkedin.
Posted by Sabine on May 8, 2012Well, I am excited to get an excellent four star review of The Black Orb on Amazon and Goodreads by Author Tahlia Newland. Here is an excerpt from the review:
“The Black Orb is an excellent traditional fantasy, a quest with all the elements enjoyed by fans of the genre. Essentially, a plucky heroine and her guide search for the object of power that will overcome an evil queen, and free the heroine’s brother and the people of their kingdom from the queen’s compulsion…I enjoyed the characters very much. Both Aria and Bikkar came alive for me as did the world they lived in. The growth in their relationship and in Aria’s sense of responsibility was skillfully done. The descriptions, particularly of the Forest of the Drayds, were very evocative without being wordy, and the magnificent scene at the end leapt off the page with vibrancy.
The ending left me feeling satisfied, as you do after enjoying an excellent meal.”
Tahlia Newland is an urban fantasy author and although I write high fantasy/adventure stories, it’s nice to get appreciation from a fellow fantasy writer. You can check Tahlia’s young adult/urban fantasy and magical realism stories here. If you are a writer interested in getting a review from her, she has her review policy on her website.
Thank you Tahlia for your support!
I am going to do a fabulous interview with author A.L.Waddington in the next post so don’t miss it. You can follow my blog by subscribing to RSS or using google reader or by simply following me on twitter as I announce all my new posts on it.
Happy Writing!
Posted by Sabine on May 2, 2012If you are self-publishing your books, or thinking about self-publishing, research shows that self-published writers who write series have better sales than writers of stand-alone novels and novellas. There could be many reasons for this, but some are:
1) Low price of the first novel tends to attract readers who later go on to buy the other titles in the series.
2) Low price on subsequent books may spin sales for older titles. Some authors offer the first book for free.
3) It’s easier to build loyalty with a series.
4) Marketing efforts are more focused, coordinated and aggressive because you can focus on one set of characters.
5) Word of mouth publicity comes into play as readers who read and like one book recommend to others.
It makes sense to write a series if you are self-publishing because you can then concentrate on expanding the story, and let your previous marketing efforts come into effect for each new book. With stand-alone novels you have to do the marketing from scratch for each book. Of course it does not mean that each author needs to have a series. Romance, fantasy and science fiction as a genre lean more towards series as a form of story-telling.
So for those of you who are self-publishing, series is a good way to build your audience.
Happy Writing!
Related Posts:
Should I Self-Publish my Novel?
Building a Writing Career through Self-Publishing
Posted by Sabine on April 25, 2012Self-publishing is certainly not a get-rich-quick scheme. It has however proven to be a valid and profitable source of revenue and satisfaction for many authors. I have heard or read about so many writers who got tired of the grind of traditional publishing, or got fed up receiving rejections and collecting manuscripts in their desk drawers or some who just tried this option from the get go. Most authors who have self-published are not doing extremely well in terms of money, some are earning a fair amount and very few are doing quite well.
Before you make the decision to self-publish, there is one thing you must consider: Why do you want to become a published author?
1) Do you wish to earn a lot of money from your books?
2) Do you feel compelled to write? Are there stories in your heard that deserve to be told? Can you not be content doing this as a hobby?
3) Would you be happy if you never made any money from publishing your book?
4) Do you wish to become a famous author?
5) Are you tired to getting rejections and not writing the sequels of the stories you planned?
6) Is the querying and submitting process to the agents and publishers too cumbersome for you?
7) Are you getting depressed waiting for someone to recognize your talent?
8) Are you ready to do all the work associated with self-publishing? (Making the cover, editing, formatting and conversion)
9) Do you think all your problems will be solved if a publisher or agent accepts your story?
10) Are you aware that you earn more royalties per book sold through self-publishing but have to spend initial money editing, making the cover and formatting your book?
11) Are you aware that most traditionally authors don’t earn out their advances?
12) Do you want to walk into a bookstore and see your book on the shelf?
13) Do you seek the approval of an agent or editor before publishing your work?
Many authors have managed to get a traditional publishing deal only to be dissatisfied with the money they earned or the overall result. Many authors have self-published only to be unhappy with few sales. Self-publishing can only be a good option for you if you correctly identify the goals associated with your writing. Becoming an author is hard work. Publishing is a fickle business. Whether you decide to self-publish or wait for an agent or publisher to recognize your talent, the publishing of one or two books is not going to set you on the right path. A career isn’t built in a day, but at least if you have your goals clear, you won’t end you getting lost in the way.
Happy Writing!
Posted by Sabine on April 20, 2012Most big publishers will not even give you the opportunity to enter their slush piles. Very few publishers actually accept un-agented manuscripts, or even unsolicited queries. If you are a writer trying to get published in the traditional way, your best bet is to go through an agent. Agents, however, are also extremely busy, receive hundreds of queries in a week and take on few clients in any given year.
How to make it past an agent’s slush pile? Writing an original and intriguing story is the key, of course. However, few writers, including me, have an objective view regarding their own story. Obviously if you have spent a few months writing a story, you must believe it is intriguing and exciting – but no one can be sure whether the reader will believe it. So as a writer it is given that you have faith your idea is unique. In order to make it past an agent’s slush pile, apart from presenting a unique idea, you also have to sell your writing skills as well as your professionalism.
The query is the only way you can attract an agent (unless of course you meet one at a conference and your verbal skills are better than your writing skills). I will not rehash the basics of a query letter. There are plenty of other sites that do a better job than me. You can read here and here and also here.
However, I would stress that you do research the agent before querying. On the official website, many agents do not specifically state which sub-genres they like the most. So if you have an urban fantasy and you are pitching to an agent who is more into dark fantasy, there is a good chance your idea will not appeal to him. Do a google search on the agent and read their interviews, which are usually more informative.
Also, try to see if the agent likes any of the same books you like. For example, if you are a fan of suspense and read Mary Higgins Clark, and the agents does the same, and if you write suspense then perhaps that agent’s tastes in reading would match yours. Try to pitch to those agents who have the same reader preferences.
Make the blurb as exciting as possible but also keep it brief. Spend time on editing and perfecting your blurb until it accurately represents the story, and the unique idea around which your story has been based. Here is one of my old posts about How to write a Story Blurb?
If the agent specifies for you to send the synopsis or few pages of the manuscript, make sure they are polished to perfection before you send the query along. Follow their directions. Don’t send attached files if they have asked for pages to be pasted in the body of the email. Agents can judge the writing in the first few pages so make sure your voice shines through before pressing the send button.
Be professional, and don’t take the rejections personally. Move on to the next project before you start sending your query. I have discovered that it’s easier to accept rejections when you are already involved with a new and exciting project. Most of all enjoy the process of writing and accept the process of querying as the business side of the world of publishing. One has nothing to do with the other. As long as you enjoy your writing, and work hard to improve it, sooner or later you will become good enough to attract the attention of a dedicated agent.
Happy Writing!
Posted by Sabine on April 13, 2012Writing is a labor of love. All writers would attest to that. No one does it because they hope to become a millionaire – but sometimes the journey to publication and beyond is so tough that it’s hard to remain optimistic. Why waste your time pounding away at the laptop when you can spend that time with your children, your spouse, other family or doing some work that will have better monetary rewards?
What would you do today if someone guaranteed your success?
If your answer is the same as mine, that is to write – you, my friend, are in the right profession, or hobby or however you define your writing.
Sometimes, it is difficult to be brave, to take risks – if you are comfortable writing in one genre, it may be hard for you to even think of writing another type of story. If someone told you, you will do a fabulous job writing a romance (and you have been writing mysteries) and if they guaranteed you will make money writing romance, would you do that? If yes, perhaps it’s time to take a look at why you haven’t written romances as yet?
If you have been writing for the past four, five years, and still have not submitted a story, ask yourself if what is holding you back is a fear of rejection? If someone guaranteed acceptance, would you send your book out today?
If you have been trying to get published in a traditional way for the past many years, ask yourself if you would consider self-publishing or digital publishing if someone guaranteed you will make money that way?
Sometimes, we just need to free ourselves from the fear of failure and just go ahead and do what we really want to do simply because it makes us happy. Writing fulfills me. I love it. When I am immersed in the plotting, writing or editing of a story, I am the happiest person on the planet. It’s my passion – and without passion, life is quite meaningless.
Maybe your passion will not make you a millionaire, but if it makes you happy, you should take out the time to do it. All great writers did what they did because they loved their work. Success was a byproduct – and although we live in a society that judges our merit by our monetary success, in our heart, we always truly know what will make us feel like a success.
So go ahead, I guarantee your happiness, if not monetary success…believe me, the second is tied to the first. Do what your heart tells you to do, and you will, in time (after patience and persistence) get the rewards associated with your passion.
Happy Writing!
Related Posts:
Building a writing career through traditional publishing
Building a writing career through self-publishing
Posted by Sabine on April 4, 2012Writing is fun, it’s creative and it is certainly personal. Each writer has his individual style and voice. You might not like what I have written, and I may not like some writer’s work. The art of writing is purely subjective. However, the business of publishing is extremely objective.
Most agents decide to accept or reject a book based on the blurb and query. How? Agents can usually tell if the book is publishable from reading the blurb and from the first five pages of the story.
Here is a link to the writer’s digest tutorial where Sara Megibow, an agent, talks about the business of publishing.
There are many things they look for:
1) A specific genre (a books that’s mixed in the genres would have a harder time getting an agent or publisher)
2) Word count (work below 80,000 words would be impossible to place in certain genres, for example, TOR’s website clearly states not to submit fantasy manuscript under 80,000). SO agents pay important to the genre and word count.
3) A hook that makes the book exciting, different, shouts out that this story is original or has a unique twist on an old idea.
4) The writer’s voice that comes clearly in the first five pages
5) A clear and interesting plot with well-defined external and internal conflicts
6) The writer’s previous experience, publishing or writing platform (but that’s the last thing agents look for. Of course, if an agent or publisher takes you on, they would expect you to do marketing and promotion via social media)
If you look at it from an agent’s point of view, they have to go through thousands of queries to select a handful of clients. So clearly they do play it safe and pick those stories that they are fairly certain of selling. However, I do believe that agents also rely on their gut instinct, that special tingle that announces that this is, or could be, a special story. Still, for a writer, it’s important to not take rejections hard. Remember that you could be getting a rejection only because your story doesn’t fit a particular profile.
Always keep on improving your craft, and sooner or later, you will get there. Persistence and hard work never fails to show results.
Happy Writing!
Posted by Sabine on March 28, 2012Twitter. Facebook. Linkedin. RSS. Google reader followers. Klout. Google analytics. Every day, there is a new way to measure the level of your success, the number of followers, fans, popularity or reach. Social media has become the new measure of a person’s popularity. For writers, there are hundreds of ways to determine the number of people who are following your blogs, subscribing to your feed, buying your books, etc.
For an author, it’s now essential to have a well-maintained website, possibly a blog, a twitter account and a facebook page. The more the better. Your agent will want it, and the publisher will demand it. A savvy author needs to establish a web presence even before the first book is published, whether that is an e-book or a print book.
Internet has revolutionized our life, and the advent of social media has shifted the onus of publicity and marketing on to the writer. Sure, your publisher will do something, and your agent will guide you but you need to do a lot of the promotional work yourself. And if you don’t know it, then it’s better to acquaint yourself with the basics even before you start submitting your book.
I was writing articles before I submitted the novella The Black Orb to Uncial Press, and I think it really boosted my credentials. It gave me an edge as an author.
If you are a serious writer, here are a few things you must do before you start submitting your manuscript:
1) Get a website or a facebook page, possibly both if you can afford it.
2) Start a blog
3) Establish a twitter account
4) Join goodreads.
5) Write articles or short stories and get them published
6) Start interacting with other writers, published and unpublished.
The fact that you are web savvy will be a bonus point in your favor if an agent or a publisher considers your story. Of course, the story comes first. If they like the story, they will look at the rest of your resume and if you have an established web presence, it will make you a better candidate for publication than a writer who doesn’t have it. Plus, it reassures the publisher/agent that you are capable of running your share of the publicity and promotional campaign.
Happy Writing!
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