Alternative Marketing Methods, Blogging Tips for Authors, Book Marketing, Book Promotion, Book Promotion Strategy, Book Reviews, Book Signings, Facebook, Kelly Speaks, Marketing Your Self-Published Book, Self-Publishing, Social Media Marketing, Viral Marketing

Learning from the Late Greats: Summary edition

There are a lot of reasons why looking to the past for role models can be problematic, particularly (in our case) when looking for legendary figures for us to admire as self-publishing authors.  For one thing, the world simply looked … well, different back then.  Whether we’re talking about Gutenberg and the Fourteenth Century or Austen, Dumas, Thoreau, and Potter in the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth centuries, we must admit that the everyday fabric of human existence has been altered––and therefore, the nature and appearance of the publishing industry.  Calling certain (late & great) authors “self-published” is unlikely to do justice to the whole picture. 

But let’s take a second to look at those points, two per author, which I plucked from each (late & great) author’s life story and publishing history.

—

From Johannes Gutenberg, we learned to:

Use the tools at hand, and use them well, but don’t become shackled to any existing paradigm.

Pay attention to the market; listen to both your readers’ needs and those of your own practical enterprise.

From Jane Austen, we learned to:

Adapt as you go.

Use what you have.

From Alexandre Dumas, we learned to:

Own it.  Bring it.  Fight for your place in the sun.

Flee to Belgium when you need to.

From Henry David Thoreau, we learned:

Optimism is a discipline, not a fragile state to be moved through and discarded.

We must write what we feel compelled to write.

And (last but not least) from Beatrix Potter, we learned to:

Not let others change you without your permission.

Keep it relational.

—

Are these points still valid, when pulled out of context?  Factually, I think they are.  They may sound a bit like lines from the latest cheer squad movie, or chapter titles from a self-help book, and I’m okay with that.  Because you know what?  We can all do with a little direction, and a little encouragement.  (I’m most definitely the proof in the pudding.  And of course, I’m *completely* objective about my own opinings, right?) 

Loosely, these ten points fall into one-word attributes: flexibility, attentiveness, adaptability, pragmatism, determination, forgiveness, optimism, fidelity, authenticity, and relationality.  These qualities are timeless; they will always, always, workin your favor as a self-published (or self-publishing) author.  No matter what century you’re born into.

Of course, when it comes to interpreting the past, any decent scholar and historian can tell you that the act of interpretation says far more about the interpreter than the interpreted.  It tells us what we need, rather than what really happened.  (It might also show us what “really happened,” but that’s secondary and beside the point.)  So I suppose this list tells you what I, specifically, need to hear when it comes to icons of self-publishing––and, more broadly, what the culture that produced and sustains me probably also needs to hear.

The point of looking back is to look forward, with a clarity of vision and insightfulness of spirit.  Each and every one of the five authors I have examined over the last five weeks was human, and therefore not always liable to be warm and fuzzy when dispensing with advice for other and future authors, but they were also rather generous and kind to those they knew would pick up the torch of literary ambition.  They each would want you to persevere, to exercise wisdom, and above all, to write. 

And of course, to see your writing through, from beginning to end––dream to publication.

This concludes my series on the Late Greats of self-publishing!  If you have any comments, reflections, or suggestions for future series, I’d love to hear them.  Drop me a line in the comments box, and watch this space on Wednesdays in 2015!

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.

 

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

Friday Conversations With A Self-Publishing Writer 02/06/15

LOVE IS IN THE AIR

Last week I wrote about creating a personal Motivation Diary.  One primary purpose for a writer to do this is to keep grounded and focused on the real reason for writing what we write.  In the process, many of us discover that our resolve centers on the desire to pass forward the best of who we are to those we love.

Some genres naturally lend themselves to writing for those we care about.  Children’s books, from toddler to young adult, are mostly written to encourage and inspire young minds as they grow.  Nature books, magazines and blogs are written to share the beauty that surrounds us and draw others into “loving” nature.  Comedy, in stage and screenplays, novels and short stories, allows both writer and reader to see the humor in “love relationships” that have their ups and downs and sideways moments.  The epic Family Sagas create a timeline that demonstrates how “love conquers many things.” However, the mainstay of sharing concepts of love is still the Romance novel, which includes Historical Fiction, Western/Pioneer Fiction, Science Fiction/Fantasy Romance and Inspirational Romance.

The successful Romance writers I know develop the backbone of their plot on true stories—actually a collection of true stories that they can “clip” from depending on what is needed in their current “love scenario.”  The list below is what they look for in research material.

  • Hero/Protagonist (male) types who 1) holds women in high esteem/respect;” 2) doesn’t hesitate to chase the purse thief; 3) almost always speaks with a positive attitude; 4) isn’t afraid to take a risk in relationships and looking for a lifetime commitment.
  • Hero/Protagonist (female) types who share the same characteristic as those listed above with the additional elements of: 1) needs evidence that her hero is actually who he presents himself to be; 2) speaks her mind freely; 3) has developed a strong set of values that she plans to stick to and/or develop further in her FOREVER relationship and in her children.
  • Main Antagonist (male) types who 1) disrespect women; 2) enjoy “using” a woman’s position or intelligence for their own benefit; 3) always points out the impossibility of a situation; 4) has a string of broken relationships, always blaming the woman for the breakup.
  • Main Antagonist (female) types who again demonstrate many of the above antagonist characteristics with the additional elements of: 1) greater levels of deception to obtain selfish goals; 2) speaks before thinking—often causing harm to others; 3) demonstrates the definitions of “ego” and selfishness.

SO HOW (you ask) do the successful Romance writers blend such opposite characters into novels that fly off the bookstore shelves?  They AIM for happy endings—or if not totally happy then realistically happy endings.  Romance Readers—more than in any other genre—picture themselves IN the scenarios they read about.  No one wants to find themselves in hopeless and/or helpless circumstances.  In fact, they want to learn how to GET OUT of those kinds of situations.  They pick up a Romance Novel and see the hero/heroine conquer “life” (all the messy stuff) and build healthy relationships—all based on LOVE.

Yes, love is a great motivator for both readers and writers.  It is also the stimulus that moves writers to their computers, completes the novels and gets those novels PUBLISHED!

Royalene ABOUT ROYALENE DOYLE: Royalene Doyle is a Ghostwriter with Outskirts Press, bringing more than 35 years of writing experience to authors who need “just a little assistance” with completing their writing projects. She has worked with both experienced and fledgling writers helping complete projects in multiple genres. When a writer brings the passion they have for their work and combines it with Royalene’s passion to see the finished project in print, books are published and the writer’s legacy is passed forward.
Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week

Weekly Self-Published Book Review:The Churning Cauldron

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 by Midwest Book Review:

the churning

 The Churning Cauldron

Ronald Dahle

Publisher: Outskirts Press

ISBN:9781432777623

Special Forces veteran Ronald Dahle presents The Churning Cauldron: Book 1… The Beginning, an action-packed novel describing an America that has grown corrupt, repressive, and on the verge of degenerating into a totalitarian state. One man, a retired Green Beret, is determined to bring liberty back to the collapsing nation – by force if necessary! With the aid of “The Geriatric Warriors”, friends he served with years ago, he is prepared to sacrifice everything – even his very soul – to exterminate those responsible for the failing government, no matter how high their political rank. Violent, dark, and brutal, The Churning Cauldron is a gripping page-turner to the very end.

Alternative Marketing Methods, Blogging Tips for Authors, Book Marketing, Book Promotion, Book Promotion Strategy, Book Reviews, Book Signings, Facebook, Kelly Speaks, Marketing Your Self-Published Book, Self-Publishing, Social Media Marketing, Viral Marketing

Learning from the Late Greats: Beatrix Potter edition

Sometimes, the fiercest battles are fought over the sweetest of rabbits.

Ah––and there you have it, my fifth and final late great champion of the self-published or otherwise non-traditional author: Beatrix Potter.  A titan in the world of children’s books, Potter’s hand-illustrated flights of fancy have found their way into the homes of millions––millions––of readers.  The Tale of Peter Rabbit alone has sold over 45 million copies and been translated into dozens of languages*––and it all started as a quiet private venture, financed by Potter herself.

Beatrix Potter’s legacy is a rich one.  She was a rather wealthy heiress, and waited until 47 to marry––a radical choice for the time.  She was also a dedicated, if amateur, environmentalist.  Mostly, today we remember her for her books, but we also remember her for her mammoth lifetime work of preservation; it is in large part because of Beatrix Potter, and her dual income as both an heiress and a successful children’s book author, that we have England’s Lake District National Park.

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While we know her mostly for the products of her lifetime labors, I might suggest that we remember more than just the books themselves, but also the place which they occupied in Potter’s life.  As both author and illustrator, she was responsible for more than just the text on the page; she was responsible for its artistic direction, and in many ways, its actual production.  And then there’s the small matter of financing; while her later books were picked up rather quickly, Potter had first to overcome extreme prejudices against both her gender (women were discouraged from involvement in the business side of publishing, at the time) and her vision for the book (which was exacting, down to the page number, the types and quantity of illustrations, and the physical dimensions of the page).  She operated in somewhat of a vacuum, without the enormous mechanism of the picture book industry as it exists today.

And yet, she persisted.  With a little help and quite a lot of her own money, Potter printed 250 copies of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, produced to her exact specifications.  The book was so popular that within a year, she was approached by one of the publishing companies who had turned her down and forced her into self-publication.  By the time of her death in 1943, she had radically reshaped the author/publisher relationship––rather luckily for us, in the here and now––into something much more like a partnership than it had been.  There are manifold lessons we can learn from Miss Potter, but here are the two that rise to the top:

IMG_1420

Don’t let others change you without your permission.  The publishing companies that Potter attempted to sell The Tale of Peter Rabbit to had plenty of suggestions on how she could make the book better––or rather, more salable.  They suggested she cut down on the number of illustrations, and alter the book’s size and the number of pages.  She stuck by her guns, self-published her book, and later of course history has proven that her vision for children’s book was the future of the industry.  You too must stick by your guns, when it comes to the fundamental elements of your book that make it, well, yours.  This isn’t to say you shouldn’t listen and internalize the suggestions of others––specifically, publishers––but remember, they’re in the market to sell books and make a profit (or as many companies might say, to recover their investments).  A self-publisher chooses to cover those initial expenditures, and retain the work intact.  That’s both a radical and rewarding idea.  The danger for self-publishers is just as great, however, when it comes to finding themselves on the firing line for making bold (or distinctive) artistic, aesthetic, or other content-related choices.  You’ll receive a lot of advice.  It’s important to give yourself permission to not follow those suggestions that lead you away from your own vision.

Keep it relational.  Potter wrote The Tale of Peter Rabbit for an acquaintance’s sick child, and published it because she felt that the scope of the book might touch the lives of others.  She was briefly engaged to one of her eventual publishers at F. Warne & Co., (Norman), who died of leukemia less than a month after they announced their engagement––but she stayed with that publisher afterwards, and even left her collected manuscripts and so forth in trust to them after her death.  Which is to say: she found her people and built a lasting legacy with them, one that continues to bear fruit, generations later.  (The 1989 edition of her Peter Rabbit collection sitting on my bookshelf is proof of that.)  She didn’t just write to write, or publish to publish; she wrote and published in partnership, in response to, or conversation with, the lives of others.  They enabled her to write more of what she wanted to write, and that’s not always an easy groove for a writer (or illustrator) to fall into.  We all know that self-publishing can be an exhausting experience, and it’s easy to find yourself carrying the burden of responsibility alone.  In the spirit of Beatrix Potter, I encourage you to find your people.  Find those kindred spirits, whether fellow self-publishers or lay editors or bloggers or random accidental acquaintances (we’re here for you, I promise), and let them engage with you as a writer and as a person.  You don’t need to go through this process alone.

This is the last author in my current series (previous authors have included Johannes Gutenberg, Alexandre Dumas, Jane Austen, and Henry David Thoreau).  Check back next week as I wind up the series by recapping the ‘greatest hits’ of self-publishing inspiration, so to speak, that these authors have provided!  And then––in two week’s time––drop on by as I launch into a new series!

If you have any comments, reflections, or suggestions, I’d love to hear them.  Drop me a line in the comments box, and watch this space on Wednesdays in 2015!

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

Friday Conversations With A Self-Publishing Writer 01/30/15

SAINTS AND SCIENCE FICTION

Somewhere in my memory I hear someone telling me: Experience is an uncompromising teacher.  She first gives the test then slowly outlines the lesson(s) to be learned from them.  When I shared that thought with one of my writing friends, he immediately agreed.  “Of course!  That is the reason I’m writing my young adult books—so maybe our precious youth can avoid some of the very hard lessons I’ve had to learn.”  He then showed me his Motivation Diary.  Now, I’ve started one for myself.  But before I share a few bullet-points from that list, I’ll offer you the following brief paragraph about “the writer’s motivation.”

The word motivation is a noun.  It is that something that provides the reason behind the act or actions that accomplishes a specific purpose.  For the writer, it is the internal (and often uncontrollable, overwhelming) impulse that spurs us to create the next blog, magazine article, poem, novel or textbook.  It is the incentive or inducement that arouses and sustains the continuation of a writing career.

My author friend has created quite an extensive list of motivation statements.  Below are a few of his and a couple from other writers.  He often uses quotes from other authors OR anything he reads or hears that inspires his writing goals.

  • I write (and expose) errors I’ve made in decisions/choices SO THAT others can see the fault in them and AVOID them. (first entry)
  • I write to let others know there is HELP and HOPE.
  • I write to develop my own Faith in God—and show others that it is OK to have FAITH.
  • When I get discouraged, I re-read what Saint Francis of Assisi said: “Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
  • I must remember that many very famous writers were “rejected” by editors hundreds of times before their work was accepted. I must keep writing!
  • Science Fiction author, C. J. Cherryh says: It is perfectly okay to write garbage—as long as you edit brilliantly. I will become a better self-editor every day!
  • I LOVE to watch Star Trek movies! Their author (an inspiration) is Ray Bradbury, who tells writers to FIRST find out what your hero wants, then just follow him! That is what I hope my young adult readers find in my books—a hero worth following.
  • Today I read quotes from two people I admire. General Omar Bradley (US Army WWII) said: Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. Abraham Maslow (the famous 1960s psychologist) said: The ultimate disease of our time is value-less-ness. This state is more crucially dangerous than ever before in history. I must continue writing to give readers examples of ethical maturity and the certainty that every human being is of great value.

AS YOU’VE read through these entries, were you starting your own Motivation Diary?  I hope so!  My friend and I talked extensively about how his (and my) motivations changed over the years as our writing skills improved.  He feels that reminding himself of the specific reasons for developing his characters and various plots they must traverse KEEP HIM grounded.  They also keep him focused on getting his work published—now, through self-publishing—and not waiting for one person in the haystack of publishing houses to accept his manuscripts.  WRITE ON!

Royalene ABOUT ROYALENE DOYLE: Royalene Doyle is a Ghostwriter with Outskirts Press, bringing more than 35 years of writing experience to authors who need “just a little assistance” with completing their writing projects. She has worked with both experienced and fledgling writers helping complete projects in multiple genres. When a writer brings the passion they have for their work and combines it with Royalene’s passion to see the finished project in print, books are published and the writer’s legacy is passed forward.