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.
Later this week, on May 18th, the Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA) EVVY Awards will be hosting the 2013 award banquet. The event will take place at Marriott Denver South at Park Meadows and all proceeds will benefit the literacy projects of the CIPA Education and Literacy Foundation (CIPA ELF).
CIPA is a nonprofit association of independent book publishers, authors, future authors and related publishing service providers that has been providing leadership since 1992. Members come from many states as well as from Colorado and three foreign countries to take advantage of the resources made available through CIPA membership. Organization membership, along with active participation in CIPA programs, can open doors to many opportunities and can save thousands of dollars in costly mistakes.
Thanks for reading. If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hearthem. Drop me a line in the comments section below and I’ll respond as quickly as I can. ♠
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
“Professional photographer Alice Mabin is a woman not afraid to have a go in life,” writes Jennette Lees in her September 2nd article for the Cootamundra Herald, a paper which covers the Cootamundra District in New South Wales, Australia. Says Lees, New Zealand born Mabin, 29, “always knew she wanted a career on the land,” and indeed spent “her early working life traipsing around high country stations in New Zealand mustering sheep, cattle, and deer, before packing up her life, including her dogs, in 2007 and moving to the vast, flat, drought-stricken planes of Hay, to experience farming the Australian way.” She even took part in the 2013 Brinkworth cattle drive, the longest cattle drive in over 100 years of Australian history, walking roughly eighteen thousand head of cattle “from central Queensland to Hay,” a journey of 2000 kilometers (1240+ miles).
[ a map of the Brinkworth drive ]2000 kilometers, for comparison, is roughly the distance from Dusseldorf to Skopje, and from New York to Miami. You can imagine that walking that far might lend itself to some interesting photography, and Mabin made good on that opportunity. Writes Lees, Mabin “went along for a day to take photographs and ended up joining the crew for the entire five-month trip. She finished with beautiful, scenic images capturing a side of Australian life few have the opportunity to experience.” After putting her images together as a book, and struggling to find a publisher, Mabin self-published The Drover and printed just a thousand copies. To date, reports Lees, “21,000 copies of the book have been sold with another reprint on the horizon.” To learn more about Mabin’s fascinating work and the story of her self-publishing experience, follow the link!
Some weeks ago–back in May, in fact–we reported on Rana Ayyub’s rough journey to self-publication, and this week we are happy to offer a wonderful follow up. As Priya Ramani writes for Live Mint in this September 2nd article, “All the angst fades when you’re the country’s latest self-publishing sensation who has, pretty much single-handedly, managed to sell 32,000 copies of a book nobody would touch. It also feels nice to be on the verge of paying back the Rs.5 lakh bank loan you took to do this.” Says Ramani, “It’s great when the country’s biggest English language book distributor takes you on board because they know it makes commercial sense, political affiliations be damned.” Ayyub, who published the highly controversial Gujarat Files: Anatomy Of A Cover Up earlier this year, has faced everything from being ignored to accusations of being a jihadi Muslim radical. It doesn’t hurt that Ramani herself is clearly impressed with Ayyub’s work; as Ramani puts it, “the then 26-year-old reporter who went undercover as film-maker Maithili Tyagi for eight months in 2011 to investigate the riots, custody killings and 2003 murder of Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya. The investigation, originally commissioned by news magazine Tehelka, was never published. Several years later, Ayyub has self-published it as The Gujarat Files. It takes a single-minded madness to do what she did.” Single-minded madness aside, Ayyub has become something of a self-publishing sensation in addition to a political force for transparency, advocacy, and the ethical treatment of others. For the full report, click here.
Emma Bryson has some strong words for the publishing community. In her latest (September 1st) article for New Zealand’s premier Booksellers magazine, Bryson bemoans the fact that romance authors and publishers “inspire a bare minimum of mainstream media attention, aside from the odd condescending ‘human interest’ story. But the slight of romance rides further than this still, with traditionally little to no coverage in national or even local bookish circles.” Says Bryson, “I’m beginning to think that the somewhat toxic relationship between the wider publishing world and romance needs to be re-negotiated. Not for our sake, but for yours.” How ‘yours’? The genre “transcends most of those traditional mainstream publishing concerns,” she writes, and this is good for everyone: “Multinational vs indie? No problem, you can make a career out of either, or both. Traditional vs self-publishing? Both can be lucrative options for romance writers. Print vs digital? Hey, same there.” The complicated relationship between Romance and Feminism bears further study, too, according to Bryson. But when push comes to shove, it’s Romance’s very transgressiveness–its ability to cross lines because no one is looking–that makes it home for innovation and success. Its authors are “freed to explore those cutting-edge avenues that traditional publishers still scoff at,” write Bryson–and this is ultimately good news for everyone. For the rest of Bryson’s article, follow the link..
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.
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
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 Between the Pages:
Author Jayme Martin has created a pretty picture book describing the seasons through the eyes of a skinny little tree. Through questions asked by a curious little boy, skinny little tree shares answers that highlight the passing of the seasons. There is the happiness of summer, the fading of fall, the loss during winter, and finally renewal as spring returns.
Colorful drawings correspond with the text to illustrate the tree’s answers. Martin adds a unique touch by including occasional blank pages offering the reader a chance to try his/her own hand drawing things referenced in the story such as a blue bird, little leaves, and the moon.
The simple story and friendly image of the skinny little tree make reading and sharing Martin’s book a pleasure. Young children can look back at their own additions created in response to the drawing prompts and perhaps imagine further images as the seasons change.
Critique:
I really enjoyed this interactive children’s book. First I want to comment on how special it is that this book allows children to draw on some of the pages, this helps to keep them intrigued. The story was short and simple which is perfect when reading it with young children. I enjoy sharing this book with my daughters because the author takes something familiar to children and creates a simple story which is essential in keeping their interest. My favorite part was the illustrations. I felt as though the artist did a great job conveying the emotions the tree was feeling in the story. This is a great addition to any young child’s library.
At twenty-eight unnumbered pages, this letter-sized paperback is targeted toward preschool aged children and beginner readers, especially those who enjoy interacting with books by drawing as they follow along with the story line. With no profanity or scary scenes except perhaps a few dark-looking trees at night, it is an ideal book to read and use right before nap time or bed time. Artist Clark Andrews Jr. uses full page, colorful illustrations with enough engaging details to keep readers interested.
After fill-the-blank ownership and acknowledgement pages, this imaginative tome is about a little boy who speaks to a tall, green tree that looks happy and contented on the front cover. The boy asks the tree lots of questions such as why it is smiling at him, why is it weeping or worried, why does it dance with glee at night, and why is it smiling again. Promoted as a book discussing all the seasons of life, it is more about emotions like being happy, sad, worried, or cheerful.
With each question the boy asks, the tree responds with reasons such as being tickled by wiggly worms, having a friendly blue bird fly away, shedding little leaves who would rather play with the ground, listening to the moon sing, or having all its friends back, surrounding it.
Also with each answer there is a blank page to have the reader create and draw his or her own wiggle worm, blue bird, leaves, moon, smile, and even a skinny little tree. By engaging readers through artistic interaction, they learn not only how to imagine and draw their own designs, they are educated about a few emotions, what insects and animals are near trees, and that trees shed their leaves.
Although the book is very short in length and there are only six drawing applications for readers, the concept of interacting with the story is helpful and fun. Due to the word repetition, beginner readers can focus on specific word groups and learn new, more complicated words and their meanings.
Learning that all seasons of life are worth living is the focus of author Jayme Martin’s delightful tale, SKINNY LITTLE TREE.
A youngster finds a skinny little tree smiling and ask why. It says Wiggly Worms are tickling its toes. Then the tree cries because its friend the Blue Bird leaves.
Next the tree becomes worried when its leaves begin to fall. But then the tree dances with glee under the moon. Finally the tree is happy again when all things return.
With each new find, Martin has left a page for readers to draw what the tree is discussing. This enables the reader to participate in the story in their own way. This enchanting story follows the seasons of the tree with great detail and insight. Martin has a delightful way of showing how life changes giving parents and children a fun way to talk about it.
The beautiful illustrations by Clark Andrews Jr. enhance the fun story. The vivid drawings will capture readers attention as they follow the tree’s story.
Youngsters will learn as they enjoy this entertaining story. It’s a fun read for all ages.
Are you the Writer whose story is rattling around in your thoughts and never gives you a moments rest? Does it wreak havoc with your daily life? Do conversations with family and friends become punctuated with descriptions of the perfect scene to open chapter eight? Is everyone asking you the question: WHEN will you be finished with that novel? This may be the time to consider working with an editor/assistant—but how do you find the right one? When I posed this question to one of my author/editor friends, she said: “It’s much like picking the right puppy out of a big litter. Go to a writers conference; sit in the middle of the room; and voila. The right one will come to you—eventually.” Well…maybe that has worked for her. Because she’s not just an author, but also an editor who easily connects with people and really does a great job of editing for them, lots of people enjoy talking with her. However, allow me to offer a few other suggestions that might help folks who aren’t quick as outgoing.
Because my editing friend is also a published author (with several book on Amazon and in bookstores), I look for that information in any Editor’s Bio. If someone has never gone through the whole writing process themselves, how are they going to understand what I’m going through—and HELP ME!
Whether in-person or by phone, I want to TALK with several Editors about my book ideas and then LISTEN to their responses. I’m hoping to hear a connected-ness to the central concepts of the book and feel a person-to-person (writer-to-writer) connected-ness, too. If they don’t “get” the story I’m trying to write, they are not the Editor for me.
Also important is finding an Editor who will compliment a writer’s personality type. Most of the authors I know have utilized personality-type-testing to enhance their understanding of Introvert/Extrovert, Empathic/Detached, etc. “characters” as they are developed in their stories. Knowing the basic personality type of the Editors being interviewed will help select the best person to BALANCE the creative flow.
Both Author and Editor must also be adaptable—sensitive—to the STORY being written. We’ve all heard (and eventually understand) that stories and characters take on a life of their own as the book gets closer to completion. Editor and Author must be willing to LISTEN to each other’s ideas about improving plot without making decisions that alter the character(s) and the life they’re living in the story.
Finally, ask for references from the Editor’s authors list and be willing to call them. One of my favorite things to do is provide the list of the published books my author/client/friends completed.
Mark Twain is quoted saying, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is like the difference between the lightning bug and lightning.” The same can be said about connecting with the right Editor. There is one more way to find an excellent Editor who will match your needs. Talk with the publishing consultant from the publisher you plan to use. Their experience in connecting Writers with Editors is there for the asking. ⚓︎
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.
When we talk about seeking help in the world of self-publishing, we come up against a struggle almost right away—a struggle almost as old as the indie publishing world itself: that inner debate between going it alone and creating the best possible book, a goal which in reality sometimes requires us to go very much not alone. A reality which requires us to seek assistance. And when you face up to that question, what you’re really asking is something else entirely. Something even more important:
What can having an expert in your corner do for you?
There’s great value in seeking personal help when it’s called for, just as there’s great value in considering all of your options and pursuing only those which benefit you more than they cost you. And really, when you think about it, pretty much every option costs you something, even if we’re talking about intangibles like time and energy and creativity instead of tangibles like hard cash. (But even hard cash is largely symbolic, isn’t it? That’s another story for another blog, though.) Often, the costs are ones we don’t think about, beyond the surface-level acquiescence of I guess I have to do this thing or this other thing, so here goes. I’ve spent many an evening on the floor of my living room snipping out shapes from craft paper only to sit back after hours of sweat (and the occasional tear, if I’m honest) with the lightning-strike realization that I could have just ordered these shapes online or something. But for one reason or another, I had already sunk a great deal of labor into the craft while assuming that I had no other option.
Many people have the same kind of AHA! moment when it comes to self-publishing—only, most of them have it too late, after they’ve already agonized through the various minutiae of picking out a self-publishing package, maybe even designing their own book cover or conscripting vaguely interested friends into copyediting, and even chasing down local distribution options to no avail.
Here’s the thing, though:
Help, in the world of self-publishing, is abundant. And it’s readily available. If you know where to look, and if you’re willing to look. There’s definitely a bit of resistance to giving up the solo attempt, stemming partly from the legacy of indie being tied to a flat rejection of the traditional publishing model, with its teams of marketing aides and editors with gatekeeping tendencies. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with questioning the need for help. Question away! Just know that it’s out there, and that true to the indie mindset it is as myriad and adaptable as the self-publishing process itself.
Thinking of my own personal experience in the world of self-publishing, I know for a fact you can find help with:
The true value of personal help in the self-publishing process is in knowing you have an ally. Many allies. All of the time. They might come in the form of a Publishing Consultant or a Personal Marketing Assistant, or something else entirely. They’re out there on message boards, email, and of course you can catch them over the phone. They’re even out there lurking in live chats.
You are not alone. ♣︎
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.
Self Publishing Advisor 