Author: selfpublishingadvisor

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

Conversations: 1/6/2017

WRITER SEEKS MENTOR

January and the New Year nudge many of us to look into the future and consider what we might accomplish during the next twelve months. Quite often this season of new loungingpossibilities fills me with memories of the English/writing teachers in my life—the men and women who were passionate about grammar, sentence structure and the specific definitions of words. Many of my friends talk about the professors who became their tour guides into the worlds of American and English Literature, Shakespeare and Renaissance writings and the dramatic works of stage plays and poetry. For me, personally, I continued my education through writers’ conferences and local creative writing workshops. Without exception, each of the instructors fed me the knowledge they’d learned—and experienced—giving me the opportunity to absorb as much as I would or could at the time. I will forever be thankful for these counselors, advisors and mentors in my life.

Have you been a protégé of an English teacher, Journalism professor or local Creative Writing instructor?  Have you advanced your skills and abilities under their tutoring? Are you now ready to be a Mentor? Here are few thoughts to consider in this New Year—as you find yourself in position to encourage the youngest and oldest writers in your neighborhoods.

  • Be prepared with lists of resources. Take an inventory of your own writing resources. Include books and articles you’ve found most helpful and also include several of your favorite books—in several genres—that demonstrate the best of writing expertise.
  • Learn about your own personality type and the corresponding communication skills that allow you to connect with someone who asks for your advice.
  • Create a list of questions that you can select from which will help you understand what the person—and their writing project—need from you.
  • Be willing to decline a request for help. It is quite possible that you are a link to help that person connect with the writer/person who will be their best advisor.

There are several authors I know who are offering creative support to writers. Two of my “go to” mentors are Francine Rivers (Christian Fiction) and Joanne Penn (Thrillers). Their websites and blogs offer excellent advice developed from years of experience and award-winning writing. They are excellent resources for those who are a bit shy about meeting face-to-face. However, should you wish to locate a writer in your location, you can contact the National Writing Organizations in your genre and ask for recommendations. Another source is your local Universities and Community Colleges. Their professors may be a good fit, or they will know of author/mentors in your area.

It is an exciting time when one writer seeks mentoring by another. I never imagined that I would someday be in both positions—simultaneously. Experience has and is teaching me, that every writer—as we grow in our craft—become counselor, advisor and partner/assistant to other writers. What we learn from helping other writers, both through them and their specific projects, enhances our own skills in ways we may not realize for years. These are continuing paths of education that cannot be measured or given a monetary value.

As we begin this year of 2017, I hope we’ll all enjoy the blessings of being mentored and mentoring at least one other person. And may we never be shy about seeking the mentoring we need. It is through these experiences we become lifetime-learners! ⚓︎

Royalene

ABOUT 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.

elizabeth speaks, Uncategorized

In Your Corner: Resolve!

What is resolve? And why do we talk so much about it at this time of year? Simply defined, the word can either be a noun or a verb, a thing or an action we espouse, involving firmness of purpose and determination to reach some sort of goal.

resolve definition

So why do we do this whole “New Year’s Resolutions” thing? Is it because starting a new year somehow frees us up to do things we weren’t able to do before? Unlikely. Or is it because, historically, many cultures have a tradition of ceremonially marking the passing of an old year by letting go of past worries and struggles? Possibly. My personal theory is that New Year’s Resolutions came about as a combination of cultural ceremony and human psychology, wherein people find it useful and perhaps easier to lay the groundwork for big tasks or challenging years if they do it all at once, while they’re in a certain frame of mind. And the winter holidays in North America are the perfect time for reflection; in many parts of the continent, we’re all stuck inside due to forbidding weather, and exhausted by the passing of a full year. Holidays like the one we’ve just had give us some much-needed emotional distance from our experiences, past and future, that can be fuel for making plans for change.

new year's resolutions

As authors, our resolutions automatically look a little … different. We might also resolve to go on diets or quit smoking or any of the other “top tens” out there, but we usually sneak a couple of writing-related objectives into the list, too. And with so many people setting the goal of publishing their next book in 2017, there are some specific resolutions which might be of use to you which I thought I might mention here–ways in which you can achieve your dream of book publication in time.

  1. Keep writing, and keep it structured. At least, you know, to the extent which is useful. I started scheduling an hour before getting ready for work each morning during NaNoWriMo this last November, and that has proven to be a habit I can more or less stick to now. Very useful for me, personally. It may not be useful for you. But one thing is certain–no matter when you schedule yourself to write, make sure that you do make it a habit. Publishing means very little if you give up on the thing you love most: writing more books!
  2. Lock in a deadline for your first draft. If you write for an hour a day, you can reasonably expect to finish a first draft within two to three months of steady writing. It doesn’t need to be a full draft, but it does need to capture the main essence of what you’re trying to get at. You can go back and diagnose problems of plot and characterization later, but if you agonize over the details during the drafting stage, you’ll never get it done. I speak from personal experience.
  3. Lock in a deadline for your second draft, too. A second draft is where you fill in all the big blank spaces you left while drafting the first manuscript, and maybe address some of the larger issues of pacing and structure. I recommend another two months for this process.
  4. Stop writing–and stop editing, too. Once you have a good second draft in hand, it’s time to leave the writing desk for a little while and look for some outside assistance. Layer your personal crew of early readers–family and friends–with the expertise of a professional editor. I can’t emphasize the importance of this professional help enough! Our friends and family are wonderful, but they tend to be bound by affection in some ways, or they  might lead busy lives which prevent them from giving your manuscript their full, expert attention. And I recommend seeking professional advice at this stage because you still have the emotional room to make big edits and changes without feeling as though you’re butchering the text. A copyeditor, later on, can catch your spelling mistakes and so forth, but a true professional edit at this stage will help you fix character flaws, plot holes, and large-scale disorganization. Very important. And editors are available in many places, including through Outskirts Press.
  5. You guessed it–schedule your last round of edits. Give yourself that deadline, maybe a month or two out. This will bring you to six months from today–June of 2017. And that gives you a couple of months before Awards Season rolls around to get your book to a self-publishing company and out into the world, making you eligible for those awards submission deadlines.

And that’s it! I highly recommend keeping your resolutions simple and straightforward, and of course … don’t punish yourself if you perceive yourself somehow “falling short.” Resolutions are guidelines and motivators, and should not ever be a source of shame. Use what’s useful, and lose what’s a distraction, I say! And may 2017 be a year of firm resolve for all of us!

You are not alone. ♣︎

Elizabeth

ABOUT 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.
Alternative Marketing Methods, Book Marketing, Kelly Speaks, Marketing Your Self-Published Book, Uncategorized

Planning for 2017: Damage Control

I think a recurring theme in 2016 seemed to be that a lot of things can go unexpectedly wrong at highly inopportune moments. If your New Year happens to still be clinging on to that pattern from the year just passed, let’s talk damage control.

damage control

First damage control worthy scenario: maybe your holiday marketing plan was a flop, or you were too busy to enact one at all, and you’re still stuck with a pile of books. This is no time to tuck your tail between your legs and wallow in self-pity or defeat. Get online and create a compelling promotional copy for your Amazon book and ebook page, and get some endorsements! Test out your drafts for your promo copies on some members of your target audience and gauge what types of descriptions they find most intriguing. If you’ve written one that generates enough interest to trigger a purchase, then pat yourself on the back and put those marketing pants back on, because those books aren’t going to sell themselves!

Or, let’s say your resolution to spend at least 30 minutes a day on writing or marketing has already fallen through because you’ve become unexpectedly busy at work or home. Maybe recovering from the holidays and trying to get back into your old routine has taken longer than anticipated. I have a few quotes that I try and turn into mantras when I’ve fallen off the writing or marketing bandwagon that I’d like to share with you all, because motivation ultimately has to come from you, and I find that I can really inspire myself to get back into gear by just reading some motivational tid bits by other authors–or just reading in general!

“Be ruthless about protecting writing days, i.e. do not cave in to endless requests to have ‘essential’ and ‘long overdue’ meetings on those days.”

–J.K. Rowling

“Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very successful careers.”

—Ray Bradbury

“If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little bit faster.”

–Isaac Asimov

Maybe you have been writing, but your book is taking a different direction than you anticipated and you are trying to reconcile your original plan with the reality of what you’ve got down on the page. My advice to you here–readers love surprises. A book that goes exactly according to plan can sometimes be dull to read, especially if the plan was generic and not authentic to you and your voice. Since we’re talking damage control today, let’s use the comparison of a story taking an unexpected direction to your car hitting a patch of black ice. If you over correct the wheel to try and veer yourself back on course, you’ll end up off the road, or worse, cause an accident. If you slam on the breaks and try and bring the car to a halt, you’ll probably have a similar outcome. But, if you try to calmly go with the flow and let the car get itself back on track, you’ll hopefully ride it out safe and sound. Once your heart rate returns from the shock of the unknown, see where this unexpected turn in the story takes you, and you’ll surprise yourself as much as you’ll surprise (and excite!) the reader I’m sure.

Absolute worse case scenario: you have been writing and you’ve lost your manuscript. Maybe you spilt coffee on your laptop, or the file you were working on was corrupted. Don’t lose all hope. There are a lot of computer nerds in the world who can help with file recovery.

I remember just recently an article I had written for a magazine had been saved in a place I thought to be very safe–Google Docs–but the editor I shared it with accidentally deleted the entire thing! I felt nauseous when she calmly relayed this little factoid to me via email, because I had poured HOURS into the piece. However, after I calmed down, I spent a half hour on Google researching how to recover the older version of the document, and lo and behold, it worked! Now, that was an ideal situation, but I do highly recommend keeping online versions of all of your documents, in case there ever is an issue with your computer. If your manuscript really is unrecoverable, feel free to mourn, you’ve lost something you’ve worked hard on. However, do not let it stop you from starting over with a tabula rasa–something good always rises from the ashes.

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. ♠

Kelly

ABOUT 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
from the archives, Jodee Speaks, Kelly Speaks, Uncategorized

From the Archives: “Here’s to 2015, The Year You Publish a Book”

Welcome back to our Tuesday segment, where we’ll be revisiting some of our most popular posts from the last few years.  What’s stayed the same?  And what’s changed?  We’ll be updating you on the facts, and taking a new (and hopefully refreshing) angle on a few timeless classics of Self Publishing Advisor.

∗∗∗∗∗

[ Originally posted: January 5th, 2015 ]

If you are like many writers, publishing a book is probably on your 2015 to-do list. You’re probably feeling inspired, excited, maybe a little scared or overwhelmed, and you’re hoping your dream won’t become another failed resolution that gets pushed to the back burner after the thrill of the new year wears off.

Well, I’m here to help. Each week in January I will offer you tips and tricks to help you accomplish your goal of publishing a book this year, and I encourage you to continue reading my posts every week throughout the year for inspiration, advice, and news that will help you become a successful author.

So let’s get started.

The first thing you must do if you want to accomplish your goal is break it down into smaller, more manageable and measurable tasks. This will keep you from feeling overwhelmed, getting side tracked, and losing inspiration.

I find it helpful to have a calendar in front of me when I complete this task to help with setting deadlines and factoring in events that may impact my writing goals.

Now ask yourself these questions:

1) How much time do I need to dedicate to writing each day, week, or month?

2) When do I want to complete my first draft?

3) How much time do I need to edit my first draft?

4) What tasks besides writing (i.e., researching, marketing, etc.) will I need to complete?

5) When do I want to start the publishing process?

6) How will I fund my project?

7) What will help me be successful?

Using your answers to these questions, write down small, measurable goals for your project and put them some place you will see them often. Be sure to periodically check your progress and adjust your goals as needed.

I’d love to know, what are your 2015 writing goals?

– by Jodee Thayer

There’s a lot we can learn from the past, both the personal past and the grand historical narrative. Like, for example, it’s not a good idea to put your hand on an open flame. The historical lessons are easy to call to mind, too: Hitler, slavery, segregation, overdoing the electric shock therapy.

But there’s a lot we can’t know about the future, right? That’s just how time works. We don’t know what’s just over the event horizon; if we could, we’d all be rich. (Among other things.)

Well yes … and no.

Yes, there’s a lot we can’t know. But there’s also a great deal we can predict about the future based on our past habits. And Jodee, in her prelude to 2015, lay out the groundwork for a highly predictable future–a future that would meet with both her highest expectations for success and, understandably, with the challenges she had the foresight to see coming a long way off. How is this possible? Well, she took a good long look at what challenges she’d faced in the past, and the good habits she’d pulled together to combat them, and then she extrapolated forward, assuming both would prove to be constants in her future, if only she could manage to meet them in full fighting mettle.

Busy-ness is a thing most of us are more than a little familiar with. But I urge you, dear readers, to take a quick look back at Jodee’s recommendations from 2015. They still hold true. First, to break each task “down into smaller, more manageable and measurable tasks.” Then to pull out a calendar and plot all of the deadlines you know you’ll need to meet, such as awards submissions deadlines, and any upcoming personal distractions you know you’ll need to plan around–weddings, vacations and traveling, holidays, surgeries, turning in grades, etc–so that they become a feature of, rather than a source of anxiety within, your upcoming year. And start sketching out answers to her seven questions, listed above. I’ll be revisiting mine next week, and I hope you will too.

success

Thanks for reading.  If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hear them.  Drop me a line in the comments section below and I’ll respond as quickly as I can.  ♠

Kelly

ABOUT 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.
Kelly Speaks, news from the self publishing world, self publishing news, Uncategorized

Self-Publishing News: 1.2.2017

And now for the news!

This week in the world of self-publishing:

With the rise in self-publishing has come a rise in service providers who help take some of the ‘self’ out of the self-publishing platform. “There are companies that handle one step—or all of them—along the way: editing, marketing, design, distribution, and publicity,” says Alsever, and she has a name for this phenomenon which she calls “The Kindle Effect.” With the introduction of the Kindle to the market in 2007 came the option for Kindle Direct Publishing, which allowed anyone to upload, publish and sell their book, for free.

However, due to the fact that self-publishing means that authors keep 50-70% of the profit from their sales, rather than 15-25% royalties from traditional publishing, there is even more incentive to get your books sold, which often requires investing money so as to make your book a purchase worthy item.

Service providers have caught onto the fact that independent authors have created best-sellers as well; just look at Fifty Shades of Gray and The Martian, both of which have been made into Hollywood hits and have generated serious profits for their authors. While traditional companies miss out on these monumental literary pieces, less traditional companies who provide service to these independent authors get to say they played a hand in helping someone who’s idea had been wrongly turned away. When authors struggle to get noticed by traditional publishing companies, thanks to the Kindle Effect, their options have become seemingly limitless when it comes to getting their work out in the world. Outskirts Press is one of those options, and we’re proud to provide our services to independent authors.

Ylleya Fields and her daughter have always been avid readers, but Fields was shocked when she discovered that there were next to no books that depicted the experience of African American children to share with her daughter. “This inspired me to create my own children’s book series and in turn break down barriers for children of all races,” says Fields.

So began her pursuit to create Princess Cupcake Jones, a series with her daughter as the inspiration for the main character.

After a falling out with the person who was helping her write/edit her first story, Fields put Princess Cupcake Jones on the shelf for a half a year until her family insisted that these stories were crucial for young African American children to have access to. This persuaded Ylleya to really get the ball rolling again, to hire an illustrator and to bring the Princess to life. After sending her final polished copy to publishers and having it rejected over and over–I’m sure only reinforcing the importance of making her and her daughter’s voices and experiences heard and read about–Fields decided to self-publish.

Of course she didn’t reap success, profits or a fan base right away, but she stayed committed and wrote a second book, and this is when her audience began to grow.

As Ylleya is someone who had the odds stacked against her in more ways than just decided to self-publish, I’d like to leave you with a beautiful piece of advice from the author herself.

“…Make sure you surround yourself with a great team of people who want you to succeed more than you do — people who will make your idea great, not good; who are willing to give their opinions, but understand at the end of the day that it’s your decision…Finally, the last and best piece of advice I can give is to always believe in yourself; because if you don’t, you can’t expect others to!”

 

spa-news

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.

Kelly

ABOUT 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.