Month: November 2015

Kelly Speaks, news from the self publishing world, self publishing news, Self-Publishing, Self-Publishing Week in Review, Uncategorized

News From the Self-Publishing World: 11/23/15

This week in the world of self-publishing:

We pretty much love i09, the millennial go-to forum for all news fandom-related.  And when an article begins with the line, “At an anti-library closure protest, local magician and comics legend Alan Moore had some surprising words” you can bet we sit up and pay attention––particularly when those “surprising words” end up rallying support to the self-publishing cause.  The article by Kaila Hale-Stern, which posted to i09 on November 19th, records Moore as saying “Publishing today is a complete mess. I know brilliant authors who can’t get their books published [….] Publish yourself. Don’t rely upon other people.”  Says Hale-Stern, “It’s rare and refreshing for an established writer to promote the potential boons of self-publishing and be honest about their perception of what lies behind the industry curtain.”  Moore’s words aren’t exactly  hot off the press (the protest actually took place back in 2011), but Hale-Stern’s decision to resurrect them––and to a high-traffic website like i09––says a lot about what millennials are hungering for.  HINT: It’s not more bureaucratic red tape and rejection by traditional publishers.  For more of Hale-Stern’s article, visit her article here.

In another article published on the 19th, GalleyCat contributor Dianna Dilworth updates readers on the latest development for self-publishing authors looking to break into the audiobook market––and, fittingly enough, this week that involves the launch of a new self-publishing tool by the audiobook industry supergiant, Audiobooks.com.  (When you own the domain name, you must be close to the top of your pyramid.)  The platform is being called Author’s Republic, and according to Dilworth it will allow self-publishing authors to “submit titles to Audiobooks.com, Audible, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Scribd, Downpour, and tunein, as well as library providers such as Findaway and Overdrive.”  The benefits seem (from a cursory glance at least) to be notable: “Most of these platforms will pay authors an average of 35 percent royalty on what their titles are sold for. iTunes and Amazon will pay a 25 percent royalty.”  Only time will tell if this new service measures up to existing competitors, of course.  For more information, follow the link.

Self-publishing made it into the Huffington Post this last week!  In an article for HuffPost Books on November 20th, contributor Brooke Warner writes that “Most writers have traditional publishing aspirations” in that “They want an agent to fall in love with their project and champion their work; they’re looking for the external validation of being accepted by a publishing house; their fantasies about getting published involve a red carpet experience that’s increasingly elusive in this industry.”  But so few aspiring authors receive that validation, despite having genuinely rich material to submit.  The solution?  According to Warner, you can fine-tune your approach to agents and publishers alike, but the one option which will always be open to you is that of the indie, hybrid, and self-publishing market.  Says Warner, “Independent publishing is a blossoming middle ground for authors, and in many cases you can replicate the experience you always dreamed of having–though you pay for it instead of being paid for it.”  Obviously we’re a little biased here at SPA, but we fully advocate for more creative control!  To catch more of Warner’s article, check out the original post.

When it comes to self-publishing, or publishing in general, “art books” don’t get a lot of love or attention.  But they should!  I mean, what’s more eye-catching and giftable than a beautiful oversized book full of illustrations and photographs?  And with the digital revolution has come a parallel evolution in the creation and editorial tools now available to artists and photographers––so really, seeing someone pay attention to them is both refreshing and necessary.  In this November 20th piece for Publisher’s Weekly,  Ryan Joe writes that “despite the amount of work that goes into such an endeavor, numerous creators—some big names in their respective fields, others up-and-comers—are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to getting their art books published.”  He goes on to document the ways and means in which several of these creators have trailblazed the way for other artists to follow, and in so doing Joe creates a summary guide for authors looking to flex a different self-publishing muscle.  Well worth a second look, we’d expect!

As a self-publishing author, you may find it helpful to stay up-to-date on the trends and news related to the self-publishing industry.This will help you make informed decisions before, during and after the self-publishing process, which will lead to a greater self-publishing experience. To help you stay current on self-publishing topics, simply visit our blog every Monday to find out the hottest news. If you have other big news to share, please comment below.

KellyABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.

Book Reviews, Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week, Uncategorized, weekly self published book review

Weekly Self-Published Book Review: “The Lucky Seven Show”

Book reviews are a great way for self-publishing authors to gain exposure. After all, how can someone buy your book if he or she doesn’t know it exists? Paired with other elements of your book promotion strategy, requesting reviews is a great way to get people talking about what you’ve written.

When we read good reviews, we definitely like to share them. It gives the author a few (permanent) moments of fame and allows us to let the community know about a great book. Here’s this week’s book review, courtesy of the Midwest Book Review:

the lucky seven show

The Lucky Seven Show

by Mary Jo Wisneski Johnston (author)
& Richa Kinra (illustrator)

Publisher: Outskirts Press

ISBN: 9781478747093

Synopsis:

Muscatino Rattuti the Great––or Musky for short––is delighted to have discovered the huge barn with seven sides. It’s perfect for storing the Rat Pack’s treasures from their nightly forays, and the entertainment possibilities of the barn are endless: It’s loaded with various and sundry items that the wood rats, flying machines, forest people, musical instruments, photographs, the world geography contingent, and ancient farm tools are inspired to engage in. Musky isn’t the only creature vying for use of the barn. Everyone wants to play there! In The Lucky Seven Show––a delightfully illustrated new book––Musky the wood rat and the weathervane horse use their wits to bring about a resolution to the problem, as all seven groups showcasing their talents in the barn at once would cause utter chaos. A positive outcome grows out of generous planning, collaboration, and compromise among the groups––and the final resolution brings happiness to all!

Critique:

The Lucky Seven Show is a creative fantasy in which Muscatino Rattuti the Great, otherwise known as Musky the wood rat, collaborates with seven other groups or entities to organize multi-faceted use of the hepbarn, a seven sided magical barn storage structure in which all groups wish to perform. In this amazing, kaleidoscopic mini epic, Musky, a wizard wood rat with wings, is assisted by a talking weathervane pony and a human observer to begin a planning conference inviting all seven groups to think of ways to share performance space in the hepbarn. This is a phenomenal idea, resulting in an amazing Lucky Seven Show featuring flying machines, forest wood sprites, funky musical instruments, animated trip photographs, world geography remnants, and ancient farm tools, and the wood rat pack. Each contingent was allowed one side of the seven sided barn and one time for featured performance, and all planned performances were announced by a publicity menagerie/signboard effect. In this ditzy, glitzy, theatrical troupe, shape and order, with collaboration and cooperation, evolve into a stunning solution which eclipses anything imagined by Musky or the other groups. Funny, whirling, colorful pencil/crayon-like illustrations express the components of The Lucky Seven Show with precision and style, providing an enriched fantasy experience for the lucky readers (age 8 and up). The Lucky Seven Show ends leaving readers wanting to hear more. Perhaps a sequel will add further delight.

[ reviewed in the Children’s Bookwatch ]

Here’s what some other reviewers are saying:

This book is about cooperation, organization and being willing to take turns when only one group of several can be active at any time. The interior of a barn has seven sides and there are seven distinct groups of actors that want to carry out their performances designed to express what appears on their wall. When one group is active there is no room for any other group to operate, so scheduling is necessary.
The caretaker of the barn is Muscatino Rattuti the Great (Dr. Wiz), a flying rat with wispy, filmy wings. It is his job to keep everything organized and he is drawn with nose spectacles and wearing a wizard’s robe and hat. Eventually, there is a meeting where the groups within the barn are able to create a schedule that all can agree on.
Although it is constructed in the classic children’s book form of images on one side and text on the other, this book will challenge young readers due to the presence of more difficult words. Some of those words are Hantavirus, sojourns, appendages, interminable, edifice, myriad and cacophony. The images have the appearance of having been done in colored pencil, the colors are soft and there are sketch lines.
This is a book that presents an important lesson, the lesson of timesharing a scarce resource. The smooth process of life is based on rules of politely taking your turn, whether you are in a grocery store, driving a vehicle or in a business meeting where company policy is being discussed and developed. Children need to learn that this is the most efficient way for groups to function and this book teaches that important lesson.

– Amazon Hall of Fame Reviewer Charles Ashbacher

Illustrated by Richa Kinra, this children’s book by Mary Jo Wisneski Johnston is sure to delight many readers. It the pictures are engaging and colourful. They are hand drawn and the expressions on the characters’ faces are amusing. I do not like computer generated images and I would like to applaud the author and publisher of this book for these organic and enriching illustrations.

This fun book tells the tale of a strange seven-sided barn and the magical events that happen within its walls. Each side or wall has different characters who compete with each other for space and attention. However, a compromise is reached and the reader learns a valuable lesson about working together, cooperation and appreciation of those that are different from ourselves.

– Amazon Reviewer Susan Day

Thanks for reading!  Keep up with the latest in the world of indie and self-published books by watching this space every Saturday!

Self Publishing Advisor

selfpubicon1

Conversations with a Self-Publishing Writer, Royalene Speaks, Writing

Conversations With A Self-Publishing Writer: 11/20/2015

SEASONS Part III

 

Whether our writing environment provides us with the blessing of looking out upon nature’s changing seasons or we have set up a laptop on the laundry basket next to the basement washer and dryer, we can always imagine the seasons of setting, plot, and the lives of each individual character.

I must confess that my writing space looks nothing like this beautiful illustration. It is often cluttered beyond my ability to deal with the stacks and I am forced to take-a-day and reorganize it, much to my husband’s delight. You see, he shares one side of the narrow desk in our 10×10 office and tries to demonstrate organization by keeping his side “neat” with everything in its place. However, until I discover a way to keep each of my on-going projects within easy reach (not in closet filing cabinet), my stacking system will remain. I’m one of “those” writers who allows my imagination free reign giving me the opportunity to jump from one project to another at any time of the day. When something I’m researching and/or critiquing triggers a thought relating to another project, I immediately place that piece (concept, website source, person-to-contact) with the appropriate stack.

royalene3

THERE ARE, however, as many writing space concepts as there are writers.  Following are a few that I’ve discovered are helpful to my author friends.

  • BABY BOTTLE READINESS. This space is nestled next to the rocking chair and the crib in the new baby’s corner of the family room. Whether the author is Mom or Dad, when it is their time for baby-watch, they have acknowledged that their creative ideas rarely pause during those specific hours. The “desk” can be an actual writing desk or a TV tray just as long as it provides space for pen, paper, laptop and/or tape recorder.
  • DINING ROOM/KITCHEN TABLE. One of my best friends wrote her plays while seated at her long, rustic-style family table. This space was actually added to the kitchen and designed with windows on three sides. Her view—throughout each season of the year—was of a mountain meadow, aspen and fir trees and the occasional white-tail deer family. She kept her developing projects in a box (emptied of paper reams) and cleared the table every day.
  • PET PARTNERS. Sometime soon, I suggest you do a Google search of Authors and their pets. It will make you smile! There are stories told about John Steinbeck and his standard poodle, Charley. Ernest Hemingway was a great fan of cats and “owned” several—or, rather, they owned And then there is my cat, Sadie, a tabby lady who has shared my writing days from her cushion these past eighteen years. The presence of these critters in our lives can bring about just the right amount of pause and reflection we writers need in order to grab hold of the next complete sentence and/or thought.
  • THE RETREAT or HAVEN. George Bernard Shaw built is own very private retreat, converting a tool shed into his writing space. It worked for him. However there are other get-away locations that might serve your needs. Again, do a Google search of “writing retreats.” You’ll find luxurious places in castle towers or tack-rooms in big red barns converted for the writer who enjoys the scent of horse and cattle for their inspiration.

royalene4

Bottom line…don’t hesitate to move about while developing your writing project. Becoming TOO settled, TOO comfortable in one chair or at one desk could stifle your imagination and lock you into one season of writing. ⚓︎

RoyaleneABOUT ROYALENE DOYLE: Royalene has been writing something since before kindergarten days and continues to love the process. Through her small business—DOYLE WRITING SERVICES—she brings more than 40 years of writing experience to authors who need “just a little assistance” with completing their projects. This is a nice fit as she develops these blogs for Outskirts Press (OP) a leading self-publisher, and occasionally accepts a ghostwriting project from one of their clients. Her recent book release (with OP) titled FIREPROOF PROVERBS, A Writer’s Study of Words, is already receiving excellent reviews including several professional writer’s endorsements given on the book’s back cover.  

Royalene’s writing experience grew through a wide variety of positions from Office Manager and Administrative Assistant to Teacher of Literature and Advanced Writing courses and editor/writer for an International Christian ministry. Her willingness to listen to struggling authors, learn their goals and expectations and discern their writing voice has brought many manuscripts into the published books arena.
Advocacy in Self-Publishing, copyediting, editing, Editing Your Self-Published Book, elizabeth speaks, ghostwriting, in your corner, outskirts press, Uncategorized

In Your Corner : Do I need a ghostwriter?

How do you know if it’s time to seek out a ghostwriter to help you complete your book?  And what all is involved in the process of ghostwriting, anyway?  Is it really any different from detailed copyediting?

If you’re asking these questions, I hope what I write here will help to answer at least a few of them.

As with any writing venture, ghostwriting is a unique experience that presents unique challenges in addition to unique benefits.  You won’t ever find me pretending otherwise, just as you won’t find me beating around the bush when it comes to recommending a thorough and professional edit of your manuscript once it’s been written––and just as I held no punches when I worked to draw a dividing line between copyediting and proofreading in my blog post two weeks ago.

So, what is ghostwriting?  It is, according to the “Publishing” page on About.com, “the practice of writing for and in the name of someone else. It is most commonly associated with book publishing, but today it is also widely used in public relations, corporate communications, social media, and many other industries and fields that are producing greater and greater amounts of written content.”  Many of our most prolific “superstar” genre specialists, like John Grisham and Tom Clancy and Nora Roberts (and so on and so on to infinity) employ a combination of understudies, assistants or secondary writers, and ghostwriters.  They are called upon to generate, quite simply, too much material for a single human being to keep pace.  But many if not most niche storytellers––whether famous or indie, traditionally published or self-publishing––lead hectic and busy lives that keep them from writing the books that they want to.  We just can’t ignore the fact that self-publishing authors deserve to know that there is another option out there for them!

ghostwriting

The process is relatively simple: most ghostwriters work on a contract or freelance basis for companies like Outskirts Press, so the fastest way to get yourself set up with an accomplished and expert ghostwriter is to go through one of these established websites.  Perhaps the best reason of all to go with someone who has been vetted and proven trustworthy is this: ghostwriting is, at its core, a collaborative venture between you (the author) and your ghostwriter.  How you choose to work depends more on you and what your vision for a piece demands than it does on time constraints, or one hopes for such a truth in a perfect universe.  (Being too rushed for time to go it alone is a wholly valid reason to hire a ghostwriter!)

Ghostwriting has been around awhile.  Long enough, in fact, that industry supergiants like Forbes have taken a look at it––and, circling back to my comment about collaboration:  In this article for Forbes, contributor Sydney LeBlanc writes that “you can turn [your] entire book project over to the writer (research and writing) or you can provide research, notes, periodicals, etc that will help the writer.”  That’s one option, but “You can also have regular ‘interviews’ with the writer who will take notes or record conversations with you about the topic. The writer will write draft chapters for you to review, edit, or make suggestions.”  LeBlanc says that, ultimately, “There are many ways to work with a ghostwriter; it all depends on what is convenient or best for you and what is in your budget.”  (Emphasis mine.)

Hopefully this is enough to convince you that seeking out a ghostwriter is a simple and easy thing to do, and that therefore we can move past one of several possible obstacles to taking that course of action!

(PERSONAL ASIDE & RANT: Enough with the stigma, already!  Everyone’s writing method looks different, anyway, so why do we feel guilty over choosing to bring someone else in on the process?  Let’s celebrate diversification through collaboration rather than taking ghostwriting as a marker of a lack of creativity!)

So, how do you know it’s time to start researching ghostwriting as a viable option for your book?  Well, here’s a simple rule of thumb: if you can answer all or even most of the following questions with “yes,” then it might be time:

  1. Are you overworked, overstressed, or overcommitted?
  2. Do you have a story to share?
  3. Do you need a little help developing your ideas beyond the outline or draft stage?
  4. Do you believe in artistic collaboration?
  5. Can you trust the ghostwriter you pick to do justice to your vision?

Here’s where ghostwriting diverges from that other industry-specific term, “copyediting” : a copyeditor’s job is to take a finished draft and polish it up for final publication.  A thorough copyedit involves more than just shuffling commas around, but it won’t substantially change the core content of a piece.  Ghostwriting, on the other hand, involves the conceptualization and generation of a great deal of new material.  Your ghostwriter becomes your collaborator and your partner in crime, your sounding board and scribe.  Ghostwriters become folded into your stories, and it is in their best interest as paid professionals to deliver the best service they can––but if you’re both lucky, your ghostwriter might even become your ally and friend.  And what could be better than that?  Writing can be such an isolating experience, but I’d like to assure you as I do each and every week:

 

You’re not alone. ♣︎

ElizabethABOUT ELIZABETH JAVOR: With over 18 years of experience in sales and management, Elizabeth Javor works as the Manager of Author Services for Outskirts Press. The Author Services Department is composed of knowledgeable publishing consultants, pre-production specialists, customer service reps and book marketing specialists; together, they all focus on educating authors on the self-publishing process to help them publish the book of their dreams. Whether you are a professional looking to take your career to the next level with platform-driven non-fiction or a novelist seeking fame, fortune, and/or personal fulfillment, Elizabeth Javor can put you on the right path.
digital census, e-readers, ebooks, ereaders, futurebook, Kelly Speaks, Uncategorized

Demystifying the Digital Census : Digital Sales Growing, But Slowing

Last week, I began a series in which I’m applying a microscope to the results of FutureBook‘s Digital Census of 2015 and breaking down to its component parts just what the fallout will be for you and me as indie and self-published authors.  FutureBook, an annual project of industry titan The Bookseller, has been hitting the books for five years now and has become the standard-bearer for those elements of the publishing (and specifically, digital publishing) revolution that range from mainstream (like Amazon) to cutting-edge, innovative, or brand new (like Goop and Medium!).

ebooks

The fifth annual FutureBook conference was held, in part, to evaluate and respond to the Digital Census of 2015, in which record numbers of readers and writers and bloggers and publishers (of traditional or indie ilk alike) and other industry experts reflected upon the ways that has changed or the ways in which they foresee the industry changing, all while indexing their hopes and concerns for where the Book as an object and industry and personal revelation is headed.  The data was condensed down to five talking points which in turn guided and shaped the course of the rest of the conference, and which indicate our ever-evolving relationship to publishing.  These points are:

  1. Mobile overtakes tablets and dedicated e-readers as the device of choice […]
  2. Digital sales are still growing, but they are also slowing […]
  3. Self-love levels recede as many indie authors report lower satisfaction levels […]
  4. Publishing remains very much divided on matters digital […]
  5. … And the majority believe publishers remain unprepared for what is coming [….]

Today I’m going to examine the second of these points, having addressed #1 (the rise of mobile) in last week’s post.  Here’s what the final FutureBook publication says about digital sales, which continue to demonstrate significant growth––although perhaps also showing signs of plateauing :

digital sales

The data meshes nicely with a series I just finished two weeks ago (“The Current State of E-Readers | An Author’s Guide“), in which I lay out the reasons why slowed growth in both ebook and e-reader sales is both a cause for concern (less overhead profit coming in) and for optimism (a diversified, stabilizing market with more competition and more options for authors).  Much of the research I gathered there applies here, so I don’t want to sound like a broken record and repeat myself––but I do want to emphasize the last line in the FutureBook article:

“Publishers have found that digital technology makes producing and delivering audio much more straightforward, but many are concluding that apps are not worth the candle.”

I think this is an important sentence because nowhere else in the article do audiobooks earn a lot of love, and even in the data mentioned above, the statistics for digital audiobooks is combined with that for digital e-books (that is, the text-based variety that doesn’t involve voice actors and snappy narration). And if there’s one segment of the digital publishing industry that’s neglected here and deserves a second look, it’s the digital audiobook!  Readers love them, and so therefore authors are beginning to pay attention.

We all have probably heard about Amazon’s merger with Audible and their ACX offerings for digital audiobooks by now, but what we don’t know (necessarily) is that there’s a whole niche market out there for authors looking to self-published audio books outside of the ACX/Audible/Amazon umbrella.  This Publisher’s Weekly article, for example, takes a look not just at ACX but at smaller companies without big corporate backing, like Open Book Audio and Spoken Word––and other media are starting to take note, including MediaShift and Author Marketing Institute.

As with all aspects of self-publishing, producing an audiobook (either with or without ACX/Audible/Amazon involvement) is a time- and energy-intensive process that deserves both careful and cautious consideration before you decide to commit … or not to commit.  But if there’s anything I’ve learned from my years in the publishing industry, it’s that readers are inherently voracious and will devour good words wherever they find them and in as many formats as they can discover them … and that there’s no such thing as “standing still” when it comes to the evolution of book distribution technology.  We have, as authors, a responsibility to remain at the forefront of the digital evolution––not hanging back and attempting to deny the inevitable progress from one mode of consumption to another, but leading the way and cutting new paths for those who follow.  Only if we innovate can we stay relevant and useful to our readers.  And I fully believe it when I say your book deserves to be heard.*

 

* and yes, I know that’s a terrible pun!

 

Thank you for reading!  If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or contributions, please use the comment field below or drop us a line at selfpublishingadvice@gmail.com.  And remember to check back each Wednesday for your weekly dose of marketing musings from one indie, hybrid, and self-published author to another. ♠

KellyABOUT KELLY SCHUKNECHT: Kelly Schuknecht is the Executive Vice President of Outskirts Press. In addition to her contributions to the Outskirts Press blog at blog.outskirtspress.com, Kelly and a group of talented marketing experts offer book marketing services, support, and products to not only published Outskirts Press authors, but to all authors and professionals who are interested in marketing their books and/or careers. Learn more about Kelly on her blog, kellyschuknecht.com.