September's Theme:
Self Publishing!
Contents
From the Executive Committee | Why I'm a Dedicated Indie Author by Marsha Ward
Good News & Book News
Self-publishing vs Traditional Publishing: One Perspective by Joyce DiPastena
Member Spotlights: Kristy Tate & Karen Hoover | Self-publishing tips by Cindy Hogan
Tech Corner | Recipe
Good News & Book News
Self-publishing vs Traditional Publishing: One Perspective by Joyce DiPastena
Member Spotlights: Kristy Tate & Karen Hoover | Self-publishing tips by Cindy Hogan
Tech Corner | Recipe
The wish — which ages have not yet subdued
In man — to have no master save his mood.
~Lord Byron
"Times are Changing"
~Christine Bryant
~Christine Bryant
And they've been changing for quite sometime. The invention of the ebook has taken the publishing industry by storm. Anyone can throw their book on Smashwords or Amazon.com for FREE and sit back and wait for the millions of adoring fans to snag it up. You'll be rolling in the dough in no time, right?
Well, maybe. But only if you do the work and put out the best book ever. Sure, Amanda Hocking did it, but she also did her homework, created an AWESOME marketing plan and put out a quality piece of work. She also did something else. She made us all believe that we can do it too.
A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from David Farland in the form of his "Kick in the Pants" article that comes around every week or so. He talked about ebooks and compared the statistics to publishing traditionally. It got me to thinking. I'm sooooo ready to be published. My book has already been under contract with a publisher who later reneged. I've also gone the rounds with query letters and tried to find an agent. They liked it, they just don't LOVE it enough to represent me. We've all heard THAT one.
Sooooo, why NOT try being an Indie? I'm creative. I know how to use Photo Shop and take great pics, so I can rock a cover. My book has been through several crit groups and survived. I've edited, revised, and gone through several rewrites. I THINK I'm ready.
*sigh*
Am I ready?
Do I have a webpage? Yep.
Blog? Yepper Depper.
How's my online presence? Well, I have over 1000 Facebook friends, belong to several writing groups, have my feelers out there in the writing community. I think I'm ready.
Okay, so I don't tweet like I should, but I can learn.
*gulp*
*deep breath*
Yes, I AM ready.
Anyone else wanna take the plunge and become an INDIE????? Come on. The water's not THAT cold.
*SHIVER*
**This post was taken from one I wrote for my blog, Day Dreamer.
Well, maybe. But only if you do the work and put out the best book ever. Sure, Amanda Hocking did it, but she also did her homework, created an AWESOME marketing plan and put out a quality piece of work. She also did something else. She made us all believe that we can do it too.
A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from David Farland in the form of his "Kick in the Pants" article that comes around every week or so. He talked about ebooks and compared the statistics to publishing traditionally. It got me to thinking. I'm sooooo ready to be published. My book has already been under contract with a publisher who later reneged. I've also gone the rounds with query letters and tried to find an agent. They liked it, they just don't LOVE it enough to represent me. We've all heard THAT one.
Sooooo, why NOT try being an Indie? I'm creative. I know how to use Photo Shop and take great pics, so I can rock a cover. My book has been through several crit groups and survived. I've edited, revised, and gone through several rewrites. I THINK I'm ready.
*sigh*
Am I ready?
Do I have a webpage? Yep.
Blog? Yepper Depper.
How's my online presence? Well, I have over 1000 Facebook friends, belong to several writing groups, have my feelers out there in the writing community. I think I'm ready.
Okay, so I don't tweet like I should, but I can learn.
*gulp*
*deep breath*
Yes, I AM ready.
Anyone else wanna take the plunge and become an INDIE????? Come on. The water's not THAT cold.
*SHIVER*
**This post was taken from one I wrote for my blog, Day Dreamer.
by Marsha Ward
I have several writer friends who have published their work independently, and more who are curious about indie publishing. I'll share some facts about how a few hours' work has impacted in my life.
Long-time friends know why I started indie publishing. I had a health crisis, and didn't want to die with manuscripts unpublished. I put out three print books with iUniverse, The Man from Shenandoah, Ride to Raton and Trail of Storms, and they were well received.
When Smashwords.com was created two years ago, I jumped on the electronic book bandwagon, and uploaded my first two novels. Smashwords delivers content to most of the big ebook retailers, including Sony and B&N. They have NOT been successful in getting distribution to Amazon, so authors were advised to go to the Amazon Kindle site and do it themselves. I'd heard the Kindle preparation process was complicated and difficult, so I held off. In the meantime, I had some sales through Smashwords channels.
I added my third novel to Smashwords in late April, and decided to see how hard it really was to format for Kindle. Astonishingly, with the free software Kindle Direct Publishing offered, it was easier than preparing a manuscript for Smashwords!
I uploaded my three novels to Amazon Kindle, plus several short stories, an anthology, and a sampler with chapters from my novels. My prices ranged from $.99 to $3.99.
Now I had TEN ebooks of various sizes going through both Smashwords distribution and Kindle's stores.
After I uploaded my works, I joined a couple of Facebook groups, mentioned the works, and then got busy preparing for a road trip that took up a good part of May.
In June I had emergency major surgery and did no marketing for my books.
In July I was beginning to feel like a human being again, and to see if I'd sold any ebooks on Kindle, I took a look at my sales figures.
I about got my socks knocked off! In May I had sales of 90 UNITS in the US Kindle store ($209.03 royalty), and 5 UNITS in the UK store ($6.35 royalty).
In June I sold 94 units in the US and 3 units in the UK. Royalty figures for the period of June 4 through July 9 were $287.09 and 63 pence for the UK.
In July I sold over 104 units. August looks to continue the upward trend.
These aren't figures in the tens of thousands of sales or royalties yet, but ebooks have the advantage of the long tail. They never get swept off a bookstore's shelf after a month. They are FOR.EVER!
I'm quite astonished by the success thus far of my Western-flavored novels and stories. Am I ever likely to send out queries, try to get an agent, or nervously stand in line hoping for a gatekeeper to say I'm good enough to publish? I don't think so! I'll remain an indie author, thanks.
Marsha Ward is a long-time member of Authors Incognito. She is the author of the Western novels The Man from Shenandoah, Ride to Raton, Trail of Storms, as well as numerous other works. She blogs at Writer in the Pines.
(We heard it through the grape vine: A place to post warm-fuzzies on the cyber-fridge.)
~by Wendy Swore
Take a peek at all the good news and book signings!
Rachelle Christensen and Nichole Giles were finalists in the Romance Writers of America Heart of the West contest in the published category! Way to go gals!
September
1st 11-5
3rd 12-5
7th, 9th, 14th, 15th, 19th, 21st,and 23rd 11-5
Ronda Gibb Hinrichsen,Best-Selling Author of TRAPPED and MISSING
(Mystery, Suspense, Romance) just finished 2 Costco signings for her novel TRAPPED and is preparing to e-publish a chapter book called “THE HIDDEN KINGDOM.” It's Book 1 of "Heroes of the Highest Order." Deirdra Eden Coppel created the cover, and Ronda hopes to have it ready to publish in October. You can subscribe to her newsletter, by emailing her!
Karen Hoover is doing a blog tour for THE ARMOR OF LIGHT during September and into October. She’s still looking for people who want to join in the fun if there are any volunteers. Also, she’s moved her weekly flash fiction and poetry challenges to www.sprintwriters.blogspot.com and added a monthly short story contest. If anyone is looking for a way to jumpstart their writing or just have some fun, check it out! The official release date is September 6th, what would have been her mother's 80th birthdayAuthor of The Sapphire Flute: Book 1 of The Wolfchild Saga
Wow! Awesome news everyone. Keep up the good work!
We look forward to seeing what everyone gets done next month!
by Joyce DiPastena
It has been four years since I originally self-published my medieval romance, Loyalty’s Web, and since that time much has changed in the world of self-publishing, particularly with the fast-moving popularity of e-books, so my experience might be a little outdated. And yet I suspect that some things, at least for now, still hold true. Here are a few of my thoughts.
Karen Hoover
If you were to ask random people on the street which automobile manufacturer built the highest quality vehicles, odds are a high percentage would answer, "Toyota." What does Toyota do to distinguish itself among car companies? The simple answer is they have made the manufacturing process an exact science, setting the world's standard for efficiency.
Since this is the "Tech Corner," you are probably wondering what this has to do with technology and writing. Surprisingly, the answer is everything.
Knowing that Toyota is the paragon of manufacturing efficiency, what kind of computer system do you suppose they use to run their supply chain management and operations scheduling? Would you believe they don't use computers for this complex, mission-critical task? It's true. Toyota uses a low-tech system of cards, whiteboards, and I couldn't tell you what else.
The reason I hold up Toyota as an example here is to show how easy it is to fall into the trap of assuming the most effective technology is the one that is the most advanced. This is not always the case.
As writers, we may think we need to use a word processor, such as Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, or OpenOffice, in order to write effectively. That may or may not be true. At the moment, I'm using a simple text editor. Since it does everything I need it to do for this article, there's really no need to fire up Word. When I write my wife love letters, I eschew the computer entirely, opting instead for a pen and paper. There's something more intimate, more personal, more expressive about the way words come across when written in my own handwriting than what can be found on a printed page.
My point then, with regard to the various and sundry technologies at our disposal to help us write, is that only one thing matters. The result. Technology, in whatever its incarnation, exists as a tool to help us accomplish some task. The most effective technology then, is whatever enables us to attain our desired result. If the words flow most easily when you write in longhand on paper, do that. If you are at the top of your game when sitting at the keyboard using a full-featured word processor, do that. If you are most effective when dictating your writing into a microphone and letting vocal recognition software turn it into words for you, go for it.
In upcoming articles, my plan is to examine various technologies we can use to write, exploring the pros and cons of each. Who knows? Perhaps one of these technologies will revolutionize the way you or I write.
Wouldn't that be something?
Advantages of self-publishing:
(1) The author has ultimate control of his or her book’s content. This may or may not be a good thing. An excellent editor can catch a lot of glitches that a writer might be too close to the material to see. On the other hand, a poor editor or an editor with a different “vision” of your book can be a tremendous stumbling block to your creative happiness. My current editor and I are mostly in sync with my books. But I had an almost-editor once who “loved my book to death”, but then made me add so many ill-fitting elements to the story that I literally cried with relief when she ultimately rejected my revisions.
(2) Your book never has to go out of print. Yes!
(3) Your royalty percentage on each sale is tremendously higher than it will be with a traditional publisher. But you’ll still have to sell enough books to cover the cost of whatever self-publishing package you went with. (If you went with a self-publishing package.)
Advantages of traditional publishing:
(1) As an unknown debut author, I cannot overstress the advantage it was to me (and my sales) to have my book physically in a bookstore. My sales numbers soared once my book appeared in Deseret Book over what they had been as print-on-demand. Not to national bestseller standards, of course, but being on a bookstore shelf gave me much wider publicity much faster than all the internet strategies I had previously been able to think up. Others may be better at promoting themselves, but for me, the advantage of the bookstore is a simple fact.
(2) I know that ebook sales are supposedly soaring. A report released by the Association of American Publishers in January 2011 quoted ebooksales rising 115% over the year before. But my personal experience has been the following:
In June 2011, 29 other authors and I sponsored a 30 day giveaway on our blogs. In the three years that we have been running this giveaway, entries for print copies of books has remained consistently higher than entries for e-book copies. And every time I hold a giveaway for one of my books, whether on my own or someone else’s blog, and offer “winner’s choice” of a print or Kindle copy, the winner has thus far requested a print copy…every single time! E-books may well be gaining ground (swiftly), but my personal experience is that they still have not overtaken the popularity of hard copy books. Something to weigh if you are considering going with an ebook-only version of your self-published book.
(3) And of course, it’s nice to have someone else pay all the costs of actually producing your book and deal with the hassle of getting it into a bookstore. After that, self-promoting your book may or may not be pretty much the equivalent of promoting a self-published book, depending on your publisher. (With smaller publishers, you can pretty much count on it being equivalent. But there’s still that “book in an actual bookstore” advantage.)
Joyce DiPastena is a long-time member of Authors Incognito. She is the author of Loyalty's Web and Illuminations of the Heart. She blogs at JDP News.
Joyce DiPastena is a long-time member of Authors Incognito. She is the author of Loyalty's Web and Illuminations of the Heart. She blogs at JDP News.
Dr. Seuss was my first love. When my mom left me in the children’s section of the library I’d find Horton and the Cat. My mom hated the good doctor and refused to checkout his books. He was my secret, guilty pleasure. Eventually, I read about Narnia, Oz and Green Gables.
When my mom grew too sick to visit the library, a friend brought her a stash of romances which she kept in a big box beside her bed. Weekly, this good friend replenished the box. My mom didn’t know I read her books; it was like the Seuss affair, only sexier. Reading became my escape from a horrific and scary situation. Immersed in a story, I didn’t have to think about the life and death drama taking place on the other side of my bedroom wall. Books were my hallucinogenic drug of choice. In college, I studied literature and fell in love with Elliot, Willa and too many others to mention. (This had no similarity to my dating life.)
I’m no longer a child living with a grieving father and a dying mother, nor am I the co-ed in search of something or someone real, nonfictional. I’m an adult blessed with an abundance of love. I love my Heavenly Father and His son, my husband and family, my dog, my friends, my neighbors, my writing group, the birds outside my window.
Because I’m a writer, I also love my characters. I adore their pluck, courage and mettle. I admire the way they face and overcome hardships. But, as in any romance, I sometimes I get angry with them and think that they are too stupid to live. At those times, I have to remind myself that they live only in my imagination, unless I share. Writing for me is all about sharing--giving back to the world that has so generously shared with me-- because I learned a long time ago that the world is full of life and death dramas. Sometimes we need a story to help us escape.
And we need as much love as we can find. That’s why I write romance. I self-published my novel, Stealing Mercy, a few weeks ago. My decision to self publish is a story that deserves its own spotlight and is shared on my blog kristystories.blogspot.com.
Karen Hoover
Karen Elizabeth Gillespie Hoover was born in California, but only lived there until the age of 4, when her father passed away. Shortly after, her family moved to Washington to be near her grandparents. She has also lived in Oklahoma and in Utah since she was 14, graduating from Woods Cross High in 1989.
She received a music scholarship for flute and went to Utah State University, but during her second quarter she developed a severe case of mononucleosis and had to go home. After spending a year healing, she decided to serve a mission and was called to the Connecticut, Hartford mission, covering Connecticut, most of Rhode Island, upstate New York, and a small corner of Vermont. She had the pleasure of serving in all four states.
In October of 1993, she enrolled in massage school, and shortly after met Gary Hoover while sitting on a piano bench, helping a friend compose harmonies for her songs. She heard Gary sing and instantly fell in love. Christmas Eve of that same year, he proposed, and they were married the following July.
After seven years of being unable to have children, Gary and Karen did a foster to adopt program, originally fostering three half brothers, and eventually adopting two of them. They were sealed as a family on October 10, 2002.
Karen's first book, The Sapphire Flute, was published by Valor Publishing Group in March 2010, but due to financial challenges, the company closed its doors. Karen has now gone Indie and is publishing the rest of her series, The Wolfchild Saga, on her own. The Armor of Light, book two, will be released on September 6th and she couldn't be happier. Life hasn't gone according to her plans, but it is still full of joy.
Karen resides in Tooele, Utah. She blogs at A Writer's Ramblings.
~Tobyn DeGraw
Conferences, workshops & contests, as well as book signings & launches, have moved to Events page!
by Cindy Hogan
Have you been checking out self-publishing, or indie-publishing as it is now being called, and feel overwhelmed with all of the information out there? I’ve got your solution. I started a series on my blog several months ago called, “The Secrets to Indie Publishing.” This is not just theory or opinions. It is a specific walk-you-through-it series that focuses on the nuts and bolts of publishing your book and ebook all by yourself.
I began writing this series because when I started looking into publishing my own book, there was a ton of information out there, but no real how-to advice. I took the plunge anyway. How hard could it be? I discovered just how hard and now want to make it easy for you. So, yay for you! You don’t have to make the same mistakes I made and will be able to sail through the process without fear. No one should have to go through what I did. Come learn from me.
The series starts with the basics. Secrets #1-#3 are all about getting your manuscript to be the best it can be. #4-5 talk about who to use for creating print books and ebooks. Others walk you through the steps in publishing a print book and ebook including getting coverart for free.
There are so many things to keep track of and it’s hard not to miss a step. For example, have you thought about getting an LCCN? Do you know how to go about it and when to go about it? Did you know you have to get an LCCN before you publish or your book or you're out of luck? There are so many choices for choosing an ISBN. Where and how do you do that? What should you put on the first and last pages of your print book? Your ebook?
In the future, I will be covering more on marketing, the business side of things, the real downside of indie-publishing, when indie publishing is the right choice, the pros and cons of POD publishers, how to get your books printed if you don’t use a POD publisher as well as how to find a distributor—and much, much more.
As the landscape changes for publishers, and more and more brick and mortar book stores disappear as people choose to buy books online and ebooks become the norm, we, as authors, need to be educated on what's happening and be prepared to step up and take the future into our own hands. The future looks bright if you are prepared.
Come join me on Tuesdays and discover the path to publishing your own works in a way that is stress-free and enjoyable. Knowledge is power.
Happy publishing.
Cindy Hogan is a member of Authors Incognito. She self-published her first novel, Watched, this year.
~James Blevins
If you were to ask random people on the street which automobile manufacturer built the highest quality vehicles, odds are a high percentage would answer, "Toyota." What does Toyota do to distinguish itself among car companies? The simple answer is they have made the manufacturing process an exact science, setting the world's standard for efficiency.
Since this is the "Tech Corner," you are probably wondering what this has to do with technology and writing. Surprisingly, the answer is everything.
Knowing that Toyota is the paragon of manufacturing efficiency, what kind of computer system do you suppose they use to run their supply chain management and operations scheduling? Would you believe they don't use computers for this complex, mission-critical task? It's true. Toyota uses a low-tech system of cards, whiteboards, and I couldn't tell you what else.
The reason I hold up Toyota as an example here is to show how easy it is to fall into the trap of assuming the most effective technology is the one that is the most advanced. This is not always the case.
As writers, we may think we need to use a word processor, such as Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, or OpenOffice, in order to write effectively. That may or may not be true. At the moment, I'm using a simple text editor. Since it does everything I need it to do for this article, there's really no need to fire up Word. When I write my wife love letters, I eschew the computer entirely, opting instead for a pen and paper. There's something more intimate, more personal, more expressive about the way words come across when written in my own handwriting than what can be found on a printed page.
My point then, with regard to the various and sundry technologies at our disposal to help us write, is that only one thing matters. The result. Technology, in whatever its incarnation, exists as a tool to help us accomplish some task. The most effective technology then, is whatever enables us to attain our desired result. If the words flow most easily when you write in longhand on paper, do that. If you are at the top of your game when sitting at the keyboard using a full-featured word processor, do that. If you are most effective when dictating your writing into a microphone and letting vocal recognition software turn it into words for you, go for it.
In upcoming articles, my plan is to examine various technologies we can use to write, exploring the pros and cons of each. Who knows? Perhaps one of these technologies will revolutionize the way you or I write.
Wouldn't that be something?
RECIPE
Peanut Butter Cups
~ Karen Dupaix
Whether you decide to continue on the traditional course or self-publish, best of luck in all your endeavors!
Peanut Butter Cups
~ Karen Dupaix
1 cup butter
1 lb. (4 cups) powdered sugar
1 1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup crushed graham crackers
1 12-oz. package chocolate chips
Blend in mixer. Press into bottom of 9 x 13 pan. Melt chocolate chips in double boiler (or microwave) and pour on top of peanut butter mixture. Let cool. Refrigerate until firm.
1 lb. (4 cups) powdered sugar
1 1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup crushed graham crackers
1 12-oz. package chocolate chips
Blend in mixer. Press into bottom of 9 x 13 pan. Melt chocolate chips in double boiler (or microwave) and pour on top of peanut butter mixture. Let cool. Refrigerate until firm.
Whether you decide to continue on the traditional course or self-publish, best of luck in all your endeavors!
Thanks to the newsletter staff: Wendy Swore, Tobyn DeGraw, James Blevins, Karen Dupaix and Jordan McCollum
Photo by Jeremy Hall
Great newsletter this month. Thanks to all the hands who helped.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, you guys! This newsletter, as always, is packed with fantastic information and fun stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks to everyone who worked on the newsletter. The focus on indie publishing was very interesting. Great job.
ReplyDeleteGreat issue! Fabu information. ;D
ReplyDeleteVery Nice, Everyone!
ReplyDeleteGreat job everyone!
ReplyDeletethanks for all the glimpses into the Indie world. Perhaps one day I will venture forth.
ReplyDeleteGreat INFO I glad this is al archived in case I want to chance it sometime. :) AWESOME!
ReplyDeleteI should have said something earlier but GREAT JOB EVERYONE!
ReplyDeletewhew, yelling takes a lot out of a person
But seriously, good stuff.