Ebook Buyers: Can You Afford To Lose Them?

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I recently read a guest post by Chris Keys, author of The Fishing Trip – A Ghost Story and Reprisal!: The Eagle Rises!, about the difficulties of selling self-published books.  According to Chris, he’s only sold about a dozen books.  It seems typical of independent authors, but here’s the catch: I looked for Chris’ book The Fishing Trip – A Ghost Story on Amazon and found that he only had it in print.

What really bothers me about this is that he used CreateSpace to publish his book.  I would think putting out a Kindle edition as well as a print edition would have been a no brainer.  It’s really too bad Chris didn’t go with both because I was poised to purchase an eBook edition, provided the price was right, on the spot.  I wishlisted the book, but that doesn’t mean I’ll remember to go back and buy it later.

I’m left wondering how many indie author sales are lost because of this kind of shortsightedness.  Between earning higher profits on lower prices and the immediate delivery (aka immediate gratification) of eBooks, how can anyone afford not to publish in electronic format?  That’s especially true now that epublishing is free on major bookseller sites like Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

I suppose many authors cringe at the idea of formatting their manuscript into eBook format. It’s not as difficult as you might think, though it does take some time. There are numerous articles on the web on how to do this, including “How to Format Ebooks” by Jamie Wilson and “How to Format an Ebook” by Smashwords’ Mark Coker. If you use Adobe InDesign, check out EPUB Straight to the Point by Elizabeth Castro. For basics on Kindle formatting browse Joshua Tallent’s Kindle Formatting web site.

If you still don’t want to try formatting your own book (or find you just can’t wrap your mind around it) then find someone who can. Indie Author April L. Hamilton of Publetariat offers eBook formatting at a reasonable price. She also warns us of taking the cheap route and simply converting a manuscript rather than having it formatted properly.

Editor’s Note: Publetariat Editor In Chief April L. Hamilton also offers her free written Indie Author Guide To Kindle Publishing here.

Formatting is different from conversion in that formatting standardizes the manuscript and creates any companion files needed for the eBook while conversion is simply loading the work into a program and clicking a button. Conversion is easy. Formatting takes more time and effort.

Regardless of whether you choose to do it yourself or have someone else do it for you, if you want to get your book into the hands of more readers, don’t neglect the eBook format on The Road to Writing.

 

This is a reprint from Virginia Ripple‘s The Road To Writing. 

Interactive Novels: Not So Much

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I love books, but I am not a particular lover of paper. For years now, most of my "reading" (where fiction is concerned, at least) has been done via audiobooks. I am also receptive to ebooks, and feel that certain books actually offer much more functionality in electronic form than in hard copy: travel guides, tech books, pretty much anything where the ability to easily jump to a specific topic of interest is desirable. With the advent of the Vook and book apps for the iPad and iPhone, I’ve looked forward to seeing what an "enhanced" novel might have to offer. The answer to that question—at the present time, at least—is disappointment.

For my first foray into the world of book apps, I decided to go with an award-winning, best-of-breed title: Dracula: The Official Stoker Family Edition, produced by Padworx Digital Media, Inc. I’d read many glowing reviews of this book app online, and since I’ve also read the book in the old-fashioned, paper-pulp format, it was an ideal candidate for comparison and evaluation.

First off, let me say the book app is beautiful to look at and the music is both lovely and entirely suitable for the subject matter. There are interactive elements on many pages. In one instance, you must move a virtual lantern around over a darkened page to read it. In another, you can bring a background illustration into better and brighter focus by touching it. In yet another, you must move a crucifix necklace about where it hangs over the page in order to see the text beneath it. Sounds cool, right? Well, these interactive features ARE cool, but they also pulled me right out of the story.

The experience of reading the book very quickly devolved into an exercise of hunting for "easter eggs", the term used for hidden bonus features in computer programs, on DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. You can’t always tell by looking at a given page of the app whether or not it contains interactive elements, so I found myself reading the text and then tapping all around on the screen to check for those elements. On the pages that don’t have them, all the tapping is for naught.

The experience ends up falling somewhere between playing a video game and reading an ebook, but it’s not a very good experience of either one. If the app were a full-fledged video game, I’d want interactivity on every page and I’d want it to be more extensive in terms of controlling my experience of the content. When I play a video game, I want my choices and actions to have consequences beyond causing formerly hidden images to display and being able to move objects around on a screen. Conversely, in an ebook, I want to feel immersed in the story world, to lose my awareness of the device on which the ebook is displayed; if you must tap or click all around on each screen to expose and enjoy the interactive elements, this is impossible.

 I thought this might be a case of this specific book app not being my cup of tea, so I also decided to check out another much-lauded title, the War of the Worlds book app from Smashing Ideas, Inc. Again, as a literary classic I’d read previously, it seemed a terrific pick. And again, I was disappointed.

With the WotW app, the interactive illustrations are not as numerous as in the Dracula app, though they are just as beautiful. However, I still had to tap around on them to find the hidden goodies, which was kind of annoying and again, took me right out of the story.

I’ve pondered how this issue might be overcome, and I’m stumped. Even if some sort of indication were given as to the location of the interactive elements (as is the case for some of the Dracula app content), the moment you’re tapping the screen and thinking, "Cool!" at whatever happens, you’re no longer gripped in the terror of Castle Dracula or an alien invasion, you’re admiring the technology.

The good news is, I think the book app is still very much in its infancy and publishers and developers just don’t know quite what to do with the capabilities of the technology yet. My prediction is that where novels are concerned, the book app will find its full flower in a sort of purposeful hybrid of book and video game. And yes, the words will no longer be the stars of the show in most cases, much as it is with movies. Every year there are those few, standout examples of films that are worth seeing for the sake of the whip-smart and insightful script alone. The Social Network is an example of that type of film. But most often, moviegoers are satisfied to be thrilled by action, wowed by special effects, or cracked up by comedy.

Such entertainments are largely disposable, and while it pains me to say so, I’m afraid this may prove to be the future of literature. Every year there will be a handful of new books that are worth actually reading, simply as words on the page, and for these the experience will be one of good, old-fashioned theater of the mind. But for the rest, consumers will come to expect the play to be delivered not only pre-scripted, but with the cast, costumes, sets, stunts and special effects already in place, with the reader empowered to act as director of the entire production via its interactive elements.

But this raises another, and I think thornier issue: in the case of a completely original interactive book app (as opposed to the re-imaginings of literary classics examined here), assuming a team of people were involved in creation and production of the app, who is actually the Author? I’m not sure that title will be apt for anyone involved in such a project, since the consumer’s eventual experience of the content will not be limited to the written words, but driven just as substantially by the multimedia and interactivity of the app. I suspect it’s more likely that the person we used to think of as the author will be given a "Written By" and/or "Story By" name check in the credits of the app.

If I’m right about that, it’s a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there should be more and better opportunities for writers to see their works produced and brought to an audience; maybe aspiring authors should start querying book app companies like Smashing Ideas and Padworx right alongside agents and publishers. But on the other hand, those writers won’t get quite the same level of recognition and prestige as in the past. Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? As of yet, I’m uncertain.


This is a reprint from April L. Hamilton‘s Indie Author Blog.

2011: The Rise of a New Breed of Blogger

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This article, by Jean Aw, originally appeared on the American Express Open Forum Idea Hub blog on 12/27/10. While the piece examines the four major types of bloggers now entering the online fray, and does not specifically address writers, authors or publishing, it’s informative in the sense of knowing who you’re up against out there on the ‘net when trying to drive traffic to your own blog.

Let’s face it: blogging is big business. I predict that in 2011, there will be a rise of Lifestyle Bloggers. This new breed of business-savvy blogger not only writes, but also handles business development and prioritizes having a fulfilling life NOW. Cash flow positive with a happy, small and flexible team, this type of blogger has a balanced, sustainable new business model.

As creating content gets easier, we are faced with more noise online than ever before and more data than people are willing or able to parse. Curation was the inevitable trend of 2010 — everyone from huge corporations to small businesses to college kids uses platforms like Tumblr and Twitter to distribute content and create influence. In 2011, we’ll need people to curate the curators to find a more refined signal.

This is where the Lifestyle Blogger comes in. Are you a Lifestyle Blogger? Do you want to be? If not, does your business know how to best work with and benefit from this rising group?

I had a conversation with a growing Lifestyle Blogger who just made the transition from having a day job to blogging full-time and trying to become a sustainable company. He’s brought on two writers, and he’s starting to negotiate contracts for advertising and special projects with a major ad agency. He asked me for help.

Here’s a little snippet from our conversation:

 

Yes, I was horrified at the idea of being compared to a cartoon pocket monster… even a more evolved one. But more importantly, I wondered what it was that he saw that we had in common? And, if he was looking to grow, why did he turn to me instead of the founder of a major blog with teams of writers, venture capital and ad sales teams? As we talked further, it became clear: our goals as site owners, as writers, as bloggers united us… and were very different than those of most other types of blogs. The word blog doesn’t even begin to encompass the spectrum of what’s out there. 

As we see it, here are the main types of blog based businesses today and how we’ve seen some of them evolve:

 

Read the rest of the article on the American Express Open Forum Idea Hub blog.

How You Can Sell Your Ebooks Via Mobile Phones

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This is a reprint from Piotr Kowalczyk‘s ( @namenick on Twitter) Password Incorrect, which is provided here in its entirety with the author’s permission.

There are great services like Ether Books, which are designed to reach mobile readers and populate their minds with high quality reads tailored to mobile conditions. But what to do when you are not lucky enough to be one of Ether’s authors?

If you are a self-publisher actively using social media to find readers and draw their attention to your books (probably published in an electronic form), this post is for you.

I’d like to share a simple way to make your e-book available for instant purchase by mobile phone users. As you’ll see – it’s very easy.

What to do?

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Use Twitter to share links to your books self-published at Kindle Store – with an extra information addressing owners of mobile Kindle applications.

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An example of a tweet is shown in screenshot 1. When you tap on a link you’ll be redirected to a mobile browser, like Safari on an iOS device, or a browser working within a Twitter app.

Screenshot 1 – click to enlarge

As you see, just after one click (screenshot 2) the reader can make a purchase decision. What’s more important, the time of actually reading this book on a Kindle app is delayed only by a couple of seconds more. It’s the essence of an instant purchase.

Experts can say: “Yeah, but it’s so obvious that you can buy goods via Amazon’s mobile site.”

The thing is not what experts know, but what readers don’t know. And most of them still don’t know that:

1. Amazon has a mobilized version of its site (even those users who already have Kindle app on their mobile phones – as they never tried actually buying anything yet)

2. 1-Click purchase works on mobile phones

3. It’s extremely fast and convenient – it takes a couple of clicks and less than 30 seconds from discovering an e-book on Twitter to reading it.

In fact, buying an e-book via Twitter link is faster than doing it via the Kindle application, where you’re just redirected to an Amazon site and have to browse for a book.

Why mobile phones?

 

Screenshot 2 – click to enlarge

1. Mobile web is growing extremely fast, everyone knows it

2. Half of Twitter users are connecting with a service via mobile phones

3. They don’t have to switch devices to complete a purchase – even if they won’t read the e-book on a mobile phone, but on a Kindle device

4. Mobile phone can be a purchase device for owners of Kindles not equipped with 3G

5. Mobile phone users regularly make purchases in the application stores for their respective mobile operating systems; buying Kindle e-books via Twitter is a similar kind of experience.

Why Amazon?

1. Availability of Kindle apps (iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7)

2. Well designed Amazon mobile site – with 1-Click functionality

3. A growing number of Kindle owners and mobile device users with an Amazon account

4. Very important – book syncing. We can assume that this functionality from Amazon will always be a step ahead of the competition

5. Right at the beginning, after landing on an book’s page at Amazon, the reader has a choice: to buy a book or to download a free sample

6. Automatic detection of mobile browsers – if you open a link from a mobile phone, a mobile site appears.

Why Twitter?

 

 

1. Great discovery&recommendation tool

2. Instant delivery of messages, tweet streams, many users – all of that is a great foundation for instant micro-purchase decisions

3. Amazon link (amzn.to) is a guarantee of a safe purchase. If you use bit.ly shortener it automatically changes to amzn.to when you share a page from Amazon.com.

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Obviously the most important factor is the information contained in a single tweet. The user has to know that the book can be downloaded in a couple of clicks. You have to pick up the owners of customer accounts at Amazon.com – those ones who are reading your tweets on their mobile phones right now.

I’ve tested this method on an iPhone. @narnua came back with the info that it’s also working on Android devices, so probably both BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 users would be also able to buy e-books this way. Please share your experience on this in the comment section.

As you see in an example shown above, this is doable. I sent this tweet yesterday and sold 10 copies of my short stories. Not a bad result for a self-published e-book of a niche genre (I call it “geek fiction”).

There are many ways to address – in a single tweet – mobile users who have access to Kindle e-books:

1. Use “Kindle”, either as a word or a hashtag

2. Use hashtags, not only #kindle, but also #ebook, #ebooks, #mobile

3. Name devices or mobile operating systems: iPhone, iPad, Android, HTC, etc. (also as hashtags).

If you start selling your books this way, I’d love to hear news from you. Please come back and share your thoughts [in the comments area of the original article on my site]. 

 

Publishing Progress ~ the Highs and the Lows…

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Writers, almost all of them, want to be published. Not so many years ago, the only way to be published that let the multitudes receive your work was to find an agent and have them present your work to editors who then might decide to work with you toward publishing.

There are many stories of writers’ works being published in forms that they really didn’t like; yet, they really wanted to be published so they caved…

To be fair, most respectable publishers worked hard to bring the manuscript to a form that was marketable as well as true to the writer’s vision.

Still, this path to publishing depended on people other than the writer making decisions about the most important factor in the whole process. Is the work something people will want to buy?

As I was contemplating writing the book I’ll be publishing, I knew that the traditional processes to decide if it would sell would keep it from being published. It’s just that kind of book 🙂

But I also knew there were many people who would want to read it.

Luckily, the way to publish is rapidly changing and the ways to reach people who want a specific book are easily available.

For the best resource I’ve found to reveal this new publishing reality, visit Publetariat. It “…was founded by April L. Hamilton, and its editorial staff includes experts in writing, journalism, editing, publishing in both hard copy and electronic formats, book marketing and promotion, web design, podcasting, video trailer creation, author services and social media….we trawl the internet daily to bring you the most valuable content in books, publishing, book promotion, authorship and more from all over the web.”

Now, my personal Highs and Lows:

A huge high was the realization that I’d finally tripped over a story idea that could successfully present the themes I wanted to share.

Another high was re-discovering the virtual world, Second Life, where I interacted with folks while I was shaping and testing the story idea.

The first low was realizing how much damned work it was going to take to turn the idea into a book. [ It should be noted that I’m a man on a small military pension that just barely lets me eat, pay rent and utilites, and have Internet connection. I was looking at potential amounts of money that I didn’t have and hours of interaction with people on the Internet, most of whom I knew wouldn’t "get" what I was doing. ]

The process of radically changing my thinking while I was researching intensely and making tons of notes that somehow turned into a rough draft of an outline was a mixed bag of highs and lows…

Actually beginning the writing was the High of highs.

Revision of each chapter as it was finished was a high.

Using FastPencil (my Print and Ebook distributor) as an interactive lab for reviewers and beta-readers as the chapters accumulated was a unique high. Also, discovering that saving $50 a month for four months would let me buy their package that distributes to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iPad, and Ingram was a delirious high 🙂

Printing the manuscript out and reading it as I used a pen to mark changes was a blast from the past.

Finding an editor who I could pay with only a tribute in the book was a high (hint: explore your nearest universities for Grad students in the English department).

Kicking my Social Media Pre-Publication Networking into high gear was mostly a high with many low troughs that had to do with sifting the wheat from the chaff–an ongoing slog through oceans of mundane trivialities to find and connect with sources of creative and progressive relationship.

Waiting… for the editor to finish her work was, as embarrassing as it is to say, a low 🙁

Seeing that she had only found a multitude of small, necessary edits was a Gargantuan High!

That last event just happened yesterday. Now comes the high of final revisions.

I know there will be more lows as I approach the high of release date but my experience with my past publications and the way that the highs of this recent journey have quickly obliterated the toxic effect of the lows makes the ultimate publication of Notes from An Alien the most important event of my life.
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Waystations of a Journeyman Writer

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The life of a writer can be a thankless one, with rejections peppering a career far more often than acceptances. But it’s the rejections that teach a writer their chops. With any luck you get a bit of feedback with a rejection that helps to improve a story. A writer should continually improve through the practice of writing, and through reading other peoples’ stuff. I do believe that a writer also gets better with every passing year of life experience, with every trial and tribulation giving us more to draw from. Hpoefully, in the end, the acceptances start to outnumber the rejections.

So I thought it worth taking stock of where things stand for me as we start a new year, and how the last year went. I’m very much a journeyman writer – I’m still learning my craft, hopefully improving all the time. I want to sell stories to the best pro markets, I want novels published by the big mainstream publishers. I’d love the recognition of prizes and awards. All these things will help to prove that I’m doing well at my chosen form of artistic expression, that other people are reading my stuff and enjoying it. I want to get better all the time. So, how am I doing?

Well, 2010 saw my novels, RealmShift and MageSign, acquired by Gryphonwood Press in the US, which was a fantastic result for me. I can’t express how pleased I was about that and I hope it’s just the start of my career as a novellist.

As for short fiction, 2010 saw the publication of these short stories:

Trial Not Required in M-Brane SF Issue #13, February 2010;
Strange Death at Flashes In The Dark, March 2010;
Pushed Too Far at House Of Horror, May 2010;
Decennial General Meeting in Best Of Friday Flash Vol. 1 anthology, August 2010;
Jeff Newman’s Headaches in 52 Stitches, August 23, 2010;
The King’s Accord in Flesh & Bone: Rise of The Necromancers anthology from Pill Hill Press, August 2010 (I think this is my best published story last year, I’m really proud of it.);
Idle Chatter at Bosley Gravel’s Cavalcade of Terror, September 2010.

I also scored myself an Honourable Mention in the Writers Of The Future competition in 2010.

So not a bad year for publications. You can read a lot of these via the Dark Shorts page right here on this website – click the link at the top. But I plan to do better. I’ve already started 2011 in much better form. I sold some stories in 2010 that are due for publication this year. Those are:

Stand Off due for publication in Night Mantled: The Best Of Wily Writers Vol. 1 anthology, which should be out any time now. This is a reprint of the story published and podcast by Wily Writers in July 2009.

Mirrorwalk due for publication in Murky Depths #16 – I’m really pleased to have had a story accepted by Murky Depths and I really like Mirrorwalk. It’s a magic story with a twist. Another great thing about Murky Depths is that each story has a piece of artwork commissioned for it, and Mirrorwalk will be accompanied by an illustration by Rick Fairlamb. I’ve never had a story illustrated before and looking at Rick’s site makes me very excited at what might come about, so I’m looking forward to that.

Unexpected Launch in Anywhere But Earth anthology (Coeur De Lion Publishing) – This one is a sci-fi yarn that I won’t say anything else about just now. You’ll have to read the story. But the concept of this anthology is excellent and the list of authors included is really shaping up nicely. I’m honoured to be in this one and really looking forward to it.

My flash fictions Terminal Illness & The Book are going to be reprinted in the Pill Hill Press 365 Flash anthology. These were originally published by Antipodean SF, so it’s good to see those stories get another outing.

I’ve started 2011 with a few sales as well:

Kasma SF will be publishing my urban sci-fi short story Mistaken Identity any time now.

Ticonderoga Publications will be publishing my vampire horror story, Punishment Of The Sun, in their Dead Red Heart anthology – this is another anthology with a stellar cast of writers contributing, so another one I’m very proud to be included in. This is also a great concept antho, with all the stories being specifically Australian vampire yarns, so I can’t wait to see what else comes out in it. I’ve also been a part of a group of about a dozen writers who all contributed a small amount to a story written in news clippings, that will be included in this anthology. So I’ll get my name in it twice!

My story Duty & Sacrifice will be appearing in the Hope anthology from Kayelle Press later this year.

Seven Realms Publishing in the US are putting together an anthology of short stories based on the classic short story The Most Dangerous Game. Each contributing author will present a story inspired by Richard Connell’s classic featuring characters from their published work. My story Running Wild With The Hunt, featuring Isiah, the protagonist from RealmShift and MageSign will be included in that book.

The Red Penny Papers will be publishing my novellette The Darkest Shade Of Grey, but we’ll be waiting a while for that one. It’s due for publication at the start of 2012, but all the contracts and stuff are signed off now. It’ll be worth waiting for as I honestly believe it’s one of the best things I’ve ever written.

On top of all that I have a few other short stories out under consideration in various places, so I’ll hopefully continue to make sales, hopefully to better and better publications all the time. I’ll continue to write short stories, of course, so who knows what else will happen.

And I’m working on my third novel, which is really shaping up nicely. I’ll be on the lookout for a publisher for that one before too long. There’s an open call for submissions by Angry Robot in March, so I might start there.

As you can see, I’m keeping busy. Writing this post is as much for myself as it is for the interest of readers of this blog. It helps me cope with all the rejections when I see a year or two of work laid out like this and see the successes that have come along. My journey as a writer continues. I’ll keep writing, with a bit of perseverance I’ll keep getting better and hopefully people will enjoy reading my work.

Wish me luck! 

This is a reprint from Alan Baxter’s The Word.

Merchants of Culture Revealed

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This post and podcast, about a book which analyzes the major disruptions at work in trade publishing, were produced by the Copyright Clearance Center’s (CCC) Chris Kenneally. They originally appeared on the CCC’s Beyond the Book site on 1/9/11, and are provided here in their entirety with the site’s permission. The CCC has also provided a link to the podcast transcript, just beneath the podcast player widget, after the jump.

“Books are not reading devices” warns John B. Thompson, a Sociology professor at the University of Cambridge and author of “Merchants of Culture” (Polity Press), the first major study of trade book publishing since the digital transformation began a generation ago. Thompson foresees a world of books AND reading devices (not books REPLACED BY reading devices) and advises calm amidst visions of apocalypse.

In its thorough examination of the book business, from manuscript acquisition to marketing and sales, “Merchants of Culture” captures an industry in search of dry land as it wrestles with the perfect storm of the digital revolution.

 BTB #206: Merchants of Culture Revealed [28:42m]: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Bushwhacker Museum, Nevada, Mo.

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With this post, I’m caught up.

I just finished reading The Saber and the Ring by Patrick Brophy (ISBN 1893046168). The proceeds of his books go to the Bushwhacker Museum in Nevada, Missouri to help with expenses. Mr. Brophy had a love for words and a pride in being able to put those words into articles and books about a subject he knew well which was his birthplace, Vernon County, and its history, the Civil War.

My father used to tell his children stories about the Civil War, but I must confess I paid very little attention. He got his interest from his father who heard the stories passed down from Dad’s Union soldier grandfather. My personal connection with Vernon County is I was born in the Nevada hospital and lived my first 14 years on a farm near Schell City.

Where is this leading you ask? What interests me is what I write about whether it be my blog post or writing a book. Now I have to confess I didn’t pay nearly enough attention to my father’s tales. It was later I developed an interest in the Civil War that lead to me write a Civil War book about a lady bushwhacker from Vernon County. Ella Mayfield’s Pawpaw Militia is about a woman who fought valiantly to protect her home along with other members of her family. If you want to get an idea about how hard it was to live in the area, not from a north or south version, but about citizens struggling to stay out of both armies way during the Civil War read my book. It is in paperback on Amazon and my bookstore site www.booksbyfaybookstore.weebly.com and in ebook on Kindle and B&N nook.

The Bushwhacker Museum is a resource center to find out about family histories as well as being filled with exhibits. Some items somewhere in the museum belonged to some of my ancestors. I know, because I donated a few of them. The volunteers are helpful, knowledgeable about their county and friendly tour guides. If you want to learn about the Civil War in the Ozarks and the border war between Missouri and Kansas that started long before the war, take a look in the museum book store. Check out the website www.bushwhacker.org and go visit.

The tour includes the Civil War era jail that sits next door to the museum. Quite an interesting place with double decked cells and rooms for the lawmen and their families to live in. To think, the brick building was considered modern in the mid 1800’s. Just looking around the jail gave me an insight about where one of my great uncles spent some of his time, including extra time for his failed jail break, but that’s another story.

Patrick Brophy passed away last summer. The museum lost a colorful character as well as a talented writer. He dressed the part of a gent born in the 1800’s complete with black suit and string tie and wore the traditional beard. The one time I saw him, he glided from his office across the museum to the book counter, looking for references for his next book no doubt. I choose to think when I go back to visit, I’ll see him wondering around the museum, checking out the exhibits or the bookstore, because it would be hard to imagine the Bushwhacker Museum without him in it.

Students take field trips to the museum to learn about their county’s past. They were born in that area, and the exhibits and stories will undoubtedly contain names they know from their own family tree. What a great way to get them interested in history?

I’ve just about finished my mother-in-law’s story about her life. While doing research on the internet for the family trees, I found a story about a great uncle of hers that had been a Confederate soldier. I found the story interesting enough to include in her book with the hope that this might spark some interest with future generations of this family. What really thrilled me about this man from Summersville, Missouri was the fact that he walked across Missouri to join the Confederate Army and fought along side the men from Vernon County that I wrote about in my book. Goes to show you, it was a small world even back then.

　

　

　

 

Good Reads Challenge

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Jan. 4th post – Historical de Genre Tour on Good Reads sponsored by host site Bitsy Bling Books for the year 2011, and I signed up for the challenge. My reading time consists mostly of evenings during a television show I don’t like or during the commercials of a show I do like. I love to read. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genre so what few books I do get read in this year I will be more than happy to enter at Good Reads.

A good many of the historical books I read are westerns which might not be what the challenge was all about, but I may be able to add a few other books to the list. Good westerns are hard to find these days. Only one modern writer (Larry McMurty) can create a western like the authors Zane Gray and Louis Louis L’Amour including myself, and I have two western books to my credit – The Dark Wind Howls Over Mary and Small Feet’s Many Moon Journey which are part of my Stringbean Hooper series.

I’ve always liked Civil War books so I wrote one about the area where I was born – Ella Mayfield’s Pawpaw Militia-Civil War Saga in Vernon County, Missouri. I should add the plug that all three books are sold in Amazon paperback and kindle, B&N nook or from my bookstore www.booksbyfaybookstore.weebly.com for the folks who like westerns.

I’ve been a member of Good Read for awhile. At first, I added the books I wrote just to advertise. In the last year, I added books I read. So getting involved in the Historical Tour will help get me into the habit of reading and participating. No matter what genre I read, I always pay attention to the author’s writing style. It’s a good learning experience for me and no matter how much I write I feel I always want to strive to do a better job.

Reading is my winter stay in the house evening project. During the day, I’ve been working on my mother-in-law’s life story for the family since September which is her life story in her words, family pictures and family tree. In the last couple of weeks, I thought I was about done with setting the book up and unfortunately lost the whole project twice. The book set up I tried said temporary on it, and I guess the program meant it. In about 48 hours, I couldn’t find my book. Of course, I always assume I’m at fault where a computer is concerned so I tried again and lost the whole thing again. Thank goodness I held onto the original document to copy and paste in my own book set up. Now I am intent in the next few days on finishing this book and moving on to another.

Learning about my 90 year old mother-in-law has been a fun experience. This will be one family member we don’t have to wonder in the future why we didn’t ask questions. I’m proud of the fact that her legacy will be passed down through the family because of my ability to interview and write her story. How do I know the great grandchildren will be able to own a copy of this book? So far the total is six and each of them is going to receive a copy of Grandma’s book as a gift with my birthday card.

Reader, Writer, Publisher ~ Wearing Three Hats Can Be Dangerous

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This week, Publetariat member Sena Quaren‘s blog post is promoted to the front page.

Do I really mean that being a reader/writer/publisher is dangerous? Well, when I look at the word history of dangerous, I see that it comes from roots that mean the power of a lord…

And, “lord” comes from roots that mean “one who guards the bread”…

So, yes, if you’re contemplating using your experience as a reader to power your writing as you promote your way toward self-publishing, you’re becoming the lord of the process and guarding that bread can become dangerous.

Lest I overlook that word “bread”, let’s hope that this dangerous process leads to a very nourishing food for your readers…

I’ve explored reading in this blog when I wrote about re-writing as we read.

I looked into writing when I posted about the creative responsibilites of the author.

And, publishing got a nod with Self-Publishing Can Be Just As Creative As Writing.

Over the last two years, I came from the bare idea of a book, carried it through initial promotional-feedback activities, experimented with a form for it, wrote it, and sent it to my editor. The last few months have been full of study and practice of pre-publication promotion. The book, Notes from An Alien, should be coming out in April…

The most dangerous thing about being the lord of all these activities has been keeping my head on straight as I switched hats 🙂

Very soon, as I continue the promotion activities (and promotion is a critical part of the publishing process), I’ll be adding the reader and writer hats to my all-to-human head so I can get the final revisions accomplished and preen my baby for her social debut.

Have you experienced this dangerous process?

Are you contemplating braving the perils?

Have you done what I’m attempting and not felt imperiled at all?

Oh, please, share your thoughts and feelings in the comments…
 

10 Resources For Indie Novelists

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This post, by Beth Barany, originally appeared on the Writer’s Fun Zone site on 1/17/11. Note that while the title says this is a list for indie novelists, the resources provided are equally useful for all indie authors.

In no particular order, here are some resources I’ve come across recently that have helped inform my life as in indie novelist and my life as coach and consultant to authors.

Educate yourself. Get to know the lay of the land. Get informed! Being an indie author is a business folks, so let’s get writing and publishing.

  1. Author Virna DePaul offers useful Cheat Sheets, her latest on the pros and cons of self-publishing. Sign up for her newsletter to get it.
     
  2. Author Zoe Winters offer sage and witty advice  in her book, Smart Self-Publishing: Becoming an Indie Author
     
  3. Author and teacher Kristen Lamb writes a good book on social media for indie and traditional publishers alike: We Are Not Alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media
     
  4. The Independent Authors Network is a great way to get some attention and connect with other indie authors. I’m there!
     
  5. A blog by multiple authors: The Self Publishing Revolution

Read the rest of the post, which includes five more resources, on the Writer’s Fun Zone site.

True or False? ~ If You Think You’re A Good Writer, You’re Not…

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I saw a tweet the other day that said something similar to the title of this post and I got a chuckle out of it.

But right on the heels of the chuckle came doubt…

I do feel some of my writing is good. I also feel some of my writing isn’t as good as I sometimes think it is.

There’s a fairly common cycle of feeling that infects authors’ minds–I’m Great/I Suck/I’m Great/I Suck…

I think the middle portions of the wave, not the peaks and troughs, are where some truth can be garnered.

My dear, departed father instilled in my tender nature a feature of character that I’ve spent many decades trying to root-out–Perfectionism.

To be fair, I also got a large portion of respect for discipline from him.

A perfectionist needs discipline if they want to continue on the road toward the impossible destination–Perfection.

I’m a firm believer that anything I write can be better, even if I reach a decision that it’s near enough to “perfection” to publish.

“A poem is never finished, only abandoned.”
Paul Valery

I’m also a firm believer that discipline can be used to punish yourself when you feel you’re not good enough–pushing your efforts past the point of rest and reflection…

So, if you think you’re a good writer but you don’t think your writing is perfect, you just might be a good writer…

If you think you’re a good writer and also that your writing is perfect, think again………

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I really don’t imagine you feel your writing is perfect but I do suspect you find the I’m Great/I Suck cycle a somewhat familiar visitor. Care to share 🙂
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Follow the “co-author” of Notes from An Alien, Sena Quaren:
On Facebook
On Twitter
AND, Get A Free Copy of Our Book

Words or Deeds ~ Which One Tells You More About A Person?

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Most writers have heard the maxim, “Show Don’t Tell”.  And, even though action in a book can keep most readers turning pages, I find it oh, so ironic that those actions are being conveyed with words 🙂

Language is strange! And strange means “foreign”. And, a blog written by someone who’s first language isn’t English prompted me to write this post.

Before I talk about that, I want to explore this Words/Deeds issue.

I’ll leave the strange situation of writing’s challenge of expressing deeds with words for a possible future post. Here, I’ll ask a number of questions:

Which do you feel more comfortable using to convey your heart-felt principles: words or deeds?

Even though many Holy Texts hold deeds above words, do you find certain situations demanding words more than deeds?

Can deeds “say” things better than words?

What do you do when you find a person’s deeds saying something different than their words?

Which can you trust more: deeds or words?

As I write this post, I’m performing a deed. I have to use words to create the result of the deed (this post). The affect of the result of my deed is different for different people. Some folks will respond to the result with other words in the comments. That’s the result of one of their deeds…

Are you starting to feel a bit of the bedeviling wonder I’m experiencing as I explore the interrelationship of words and deeds?

…

“But, he said he loves me!”

“Right, honey, but look at what he’s doing.”

“I know… But I love him…”

“Just watch yourself, baby.”

…

So, I started writing this post because someone started following me on Twitter and I checked the link they had in their profile and it led to their blog. It became obvious they weren’t very familiar with expressing themselves in English. I noticed they were from Indonesia but much of what they said let me know that, when it came to their daily deeds, they engaged in things nearly identical to people who grow up speaking English.

I have to say that a person “misusing” English is not reason enough for me to ignore what their trying to say. I have a friend from Lithuania. His art says way more than his words but even his words–crafted more from the structuring of his native language than from English–his words are deeply artistic and actually can say more to me than many who write “good” English…

One day, it’s likely our world will have one language that everyone learns, along with their native tongue, from their earliest years. [It won’t necessarily be English.] Everyone will be fluent in two languages–one that can create challenges of understanding for others and one that will unite our entire human family in the never-boring task of exploring the relative worth of Words and Deeds.
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Follow the “co-author” of Notes from An Alien, Sena Quaren:
On Facebook
On Twitter
AND, Get A Free Copy of Our Book

Investing in Your Own E-Book

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This post, by Publetariat Contributor L.J. Sellers, originally appeared on The Writer’s Guide to E-Publishing on 1/18/11 and is reprinted here in its entirety with the author’s permission.

After publishing six e-books in 2010 out of financial desperation, I’ve come to two conclusions:

1) Digital self-publishing is a straightforward process that isn’t particularly difficult or expensive.

2) There is nothing a small publisher can or will do for writers that they can’t do better for themselves. I don’t mean literally do everything yourself, but a writer can contract for production services as well as a publisher can.

Why? Small presses are often run by a few dedicated, but overworked individuals. They typically contract out most services, and they often pay bottom dollar. I know this because I’ve worked as freelance editor and turned down all of the work offered by small presses because they simply don’t pay enough. Small presses are trying to profit and survive like everyone else and they cut costs where they can.

A large publisher can offer distribution and promotional backing, but most small publishers don’t offer either, so what’s left for the author is the label of being traditionally published and the convenience of having someone else contract the production work. Giving up most of the profit for these small advantages is a hard bargain that I don’t recommend. As the author, you have to sell the book no matter who publishes it, so you might as well make the investment, publish it yourself, and reap the rewards.

The three main elements to producing a quality e-book are editing, cover design, and formatting. Many authors are tempted to do all three themselves to save money. But unless you’re incredibility talented and have all the time in the world, it’s probably not a cost-effective decision.

Editing can be expensive, especially if you contract for content evaluation, but you can keep the cost down by sending your manuscript to beta readers or working with a critique group to fine tune the plot and structure. You should, of course, print and read the manuscript out loud before paying anyone else to proof it. After carefully reading it yourself, send it to a professional editor for line editing and proofreading. Many editors charge $1500 and up, but you don’t have to pay that much. You can find someone to proofread your manuscript for $300–$800, depending on the length of the novel. If you pay less, your editor will be in a rush and probably won’t do a good job. If you pay more, it may take a long time to earn back your investment.

A good cover is also essential. Most cover artists charge a flat fee, and you can expect to pay between $150 and $500. Some charge a lot more than that, but why spend that much if you don’t have to? One way to save money is to find the right image yourself, so you’re not paying the artist for that time. One of the great things about self-publishing an e-book is that you can revise it as often as you want, including creating a new cover down the road when the book is making money. The best way to find a cover designer is to network with other writers, including joining listservs that focusing on marketing.

Formatting: I originally thought I would learn to format my own e-books to save money. Other authors make it sound easy. But I quickly decided that the time and frustration spent on the learning curve was not cost-effective. Time is money. For me, it made more sense to send my Word files and cover jpgs to a professional for formatting. The e-book I got back was gorgeous. In fact, I received two files: a mobi file to upload to Amazon and an epub to upload everywhere else. I strongly recommend working with a formatter who produces these two types of files.

Readers’ biggest complaint about e-books is the formatting. Getting it right is essential. Rates may vary, but if you’re starting with a Word document, it shouldn’t cost more than around $150. For authors who have a backlist and novels that are in book form instead of Word documents, those books will need to be scanned, and the cost of e-book production will be more expensive. The number of errors from the optical character recognition is also much higher. It might be cost-effective to pay a very fast typist to transcribe your published book into a Word document before sending it to a formatter. You’ll end up with fewer errors too.

Taking the lowest rates I’ve mentioned ($300, $150, and $150), you can conclude that it will cost at least $600 to produce a quality e-book. I raided my very small retirement account to publish my six books, and I considered it a small business loan to myself. I now treat my novel-writing career as a business instead of a hobby and it has paid off for me.

How long does it take to earn back a $600–$1000 investment? That depends on many things, including how many novels you have on the market. The more books you have, the more credibility you have, which is why I decided to do all mine back to back. Assuming you’ve written a terrific story and produced a quality product, the biggest factor is how much time you’re willing to spend promoting. I spent at least two hours a day for six months, plus one exclusive two-week period during which I promoted eight hours a day (blogs, press releases, reader forums, etc.). I continue to spend at least an hour every day on promotional activities. For the record, I made my money back by the end of the year, and going forward is all profit.

It’s your book and you’ve invested your money, you might as well invest your time too and make it pay off.

 

L.J. Sellers is an award-winning journalist and the author of the bestselling Detective Jackson mystery/suspense series: The Sex Club, Secrets to Die For, Thrilled to Death, and Passions of the Dead. Her novels have been highly praised by Mystery Scene and Spinetingler magazines, and all four are on Amazon Kindle’s bestselling police procedural list. L.J. also has two standalone thrillers: The Baby Thief and The Suicide Effect. When not plotting murders, she enjoys performing standup comedy, cycling, social networking, and attending mystery conferences. She’s also been known to jump out of airplanes.

 

Q of the Week: How Do You Keep Your Plot From Feeling Contrived?

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This post, by Susan Dennard, Mandy Hubbard and Julie Eshbaugh, originally appeared on Let the Words Flow on 1/14/11.

This week’s QOTW comes from H. Holdsworth, who asks: How do you keep your plot from becoming contrived?

This is a tricky question since almost no plot can be completely “new”. Because of that, you can end up with that “contrived, ripped-off” feeling. I think the best way to avoid this is to give the story a unique aspect — maybe an ironic twist or a crazy-but-lovable character.

For example: wizarding schools? Done a thousand times. Boys who are the Only Ones to stop Evil Bad Guy? Also been done a thousand times. What makes Harry Potter special? The setting — Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, muggles, quidditch. It’s the world that made J.K. Rowling’s series really stand out and attract millions of readers.

Another example: vampire who loves a non-vampire? Done. An immortal who has waited forever to find his True Love? Done. What makes Twilight unique? That a vampire finds his true love, but he doesn’t just love her — he really wants to suck her blood and he’s not sure he can keep himself from doing it! That’s some situational irony. (Plus, it’s a great way to build tension! Whether or not this was intentional, it was a very clever plot device on Meyer’s part!)

One more example: noir detective stories? Definitely been done. Quest to solve best friend’s murder? Also been done. What makes Veronica Mars unique? The MC, Veronica — she’s a tough-as-nails teenager with sarcasm, sleuthing skills, and a softer side to boot. Viewers fell in love with her, and that kept us coming back each episode.

 

Read the rest of the post on Let the Words Flow.