Self-Publishing - 3 Tips to Help You Avoid the ‘I Want It Now Syndrome’ (What’s a ‘Wannabe’ Author to Do?)

By Karen Cioffi

Self-publishing is a ship everyone wants to sail on. And, for good reason. This publishing avenue is quick and cheap.

Yes, self-publishing is fast. There’s no more submitting to a publisher or multiple publishers and waiting for (possibly) months for a response. Will they accept your manuscript that you’ve been working on for months, maybe years? Or, will they send you a generic standard rejection letter? Either way, the time waiting for an acceptance or rejection isn’t fun. With self-publishing, as soon as your manuscript is ready to go, it goes.

There are lots and lots of places to publish an ebook. And, you can publish with more than one service. And, you can sell that ebook right from your own site. That’s pretty convenient.

In addition to being a quick process, ebooks are cheap to create and publish. If you do everything yourself (aside from editing), it will cost nothing. In the event you need help, services like Fiverr have people who will help you for a very, very reasonable price.

But . . .

While it’s obvious to see the benefits to self-publishing, these benefits have one drawback in particular: everyone thinks they can write a book and self-publish it, whether or not they have the skills to write a book and whether or not it’s a quality product.

Part of the problem, possibly the main problem, is the 'I want it now' syndrome that self-publishing lends itself to. New authors don't want to take the longer 'proven' road of learning the craft of writing and having their manuscript edited before publishing.

This ‘problem’ does all authors a disservice. It lessens the validity of self-published books as a whole. Readers (buyers) never know if the book they’re buying was done professionally or if it was carelessly slapped together.

So, what’s the solution?

Well, there are three basic strategies to use when thinking of writing a book and self-publishing:

1. Learn the craft of writing.

The first thing a ‘wannabe’ author needs to do is learn the craft of writing. This isn’t to say you must get a MFA, but you should take writing courses and belong to writing groups.

2. Join a critique group.

The second thing is for the author to join a genre appropriate critique group. Having your manuscript critiqued by others helps with grammar, clarity, storyline, characters . . . you get the idea. Critique groups help you write your book. Those extra eyes will catch things in your manuscript that you glaze over.

3. Hire an editor.

The third thing the author should do, after the manuscript is as ‘good’ as she can get it, is to find a reputable editor and have it edited. It’s easy for an author to think she’s found all the errors in her manuscript, but in actuality, this is almost impossible to do. As the author, you’re much too close to the work to see it fresh and with unbiased eyes.

Self-publishing is an amazing opportunity for authors, but it needs to be done responsibly. Authors need to take the readers and the industry into consideration when venturing into it.

4. Bonus Tip: Hire a professional illustrator or graphic designer for the cover.

What’s the first thing a reader will see when looking at your book? Yep, the cover. The cover can be the determining factor as to whether that person will pick the book up to look at the back cover and/or buy it.

There’s almost nothing worse in self-publishing than having an amateurish, cheap looking book cover. If you have to cut corners, do it elsewhere - invest in a quality cover.

Summing it Up

Instead of being one of the “I want it now” authors, be one of the ‘I want it, but am willing to work toward it’ authors.

And, keep in mind that for content marketing this is even more important. While writing your own book or ebook is a savvy marketing strategy, you will need to create a quality product if it's to do its job of building your authority and credibility. Always do it right.


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 Want more followers? Want more subscribers? Want more sales?

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When Writing is NOT a Career

This girl has spent a lifetime chasing rainbows

Hobby? Job? Pastime? What is writing to you? Most writers say when asked that they've been writing FOR-R-EVER. Stories in grade school. Or keeping a diary/journal. In my early childhood, I recorded everything that happened to me in my diaries, perhaps displaying the first hints of a natural-born reporter. Later during my years as an elementary teacher, a fellow teacher once told me she started out as a newspaper reporter. All starry-eyed, wishing I'd done the same, I said, why in the world did you quit and become a teacher? She said, "I like to eat."

Career Hints can Start Early
A woman I once interviewed for an article told me that astute observers can identify a child's interests and talents as early as four years old. At four, asking people questions came naturally to her son. So she went out and bought him a toy microphone. Unleashed was a blossoming reporter, who carried his microphone with him everywhere, asking people, "What do you do?" and, "Do you have a
favorite pet?"

When it came time for college she offered to help pay for it, but she struck out. He wasn't interested. What he did do was put himself through broadcasting school and upon completion, got a job as a disc jockey. Later, he went on to become a popular sportscaster. He told her he loved his career so much that he wanted to be buried with his microphone (a real one this time). She concluded the interview by saying, all this because I recognized his interest early-on, and directed him toward it during his early, most formative years.

No matter what interests young children have, if writing doesn't come naturally as it does for some of us, learning how to write then, becomes an essential tool. During parent-teacher conferences, my advice to parents of eight-to-twelve year olds was to encourage their children to write, draw or take photos for the school newspaper (naturally, encouraging reading was a given). Children who have a keen interest can be directed to publishing stories, articles and artwork in publications like Stone Soup, a magazine that is written by and for kids; and publications listed with The Children's Book Guild, which offers resources on how-to and where-to publish children's work, and includes such publications as Highlights for Children and Cicada, a magazine in the Cricket group. Really keen students can shoot for the top: become editor of their school newspaper, as Stephen King so successfully did.

A note about reading: When my children were in elementary school, I observed a classmate's mother carry around a reading resource, such as The New York Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children, by Eden Ross Lipson; with the books she made available to her children to read checked off, one-by-one. It was an impressive way to supplement what her children were reading in school with her own choices of good literature.

Seeking the "Creative Life"
Elizabeth Gilbert, in her book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, writes that she "happens to believe we are all walking repositories of buried treasure.  . . The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them. The hunt to uncover these jewels--
that's creative living." She speaks broadly of "creative living," not that a person needs to "pursue a life that is professionally or exclusively devoted to the arts." But a "life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than fear." While the paths of a creative life vary wildly from person to person, it is an amplified life. It's a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a  . . . lot more interesting."

As long as the desire to write is present, the ways to incorporate writing into your life are limitless. One way is to compliment your profession by writing about it.

• Google "Doctor/writers" and many photos come up of some of the most famous of these, a hint at how many doctors first seek their profession, and then write about it. Dr. David Hellerstein, in his article, "How to Become a Doctor-Writer," said that William Carlos Williams's autobiogrpahy was an inspiration to him as a doctor-writer, though there were  many others. He quotes Williams:
• "Five minutes, ten minutes, can always be found. I had my typewriter in my office desk. All I needed to do was pull up the leaf to which it was fashioned and I was ready to go. I worked at top speed. If a patient came in at the door while I was in the middle of a sentence, bang would go the machine--I was a physician. When the patient left, up would come the machine. My head developed a technique: something growing inside me demanded reaping. It had to be attended to. Finally, after eleven at night, when the last patient had been put to bed, I could always find the time to bang out ten or twelve pages. In fact, I couldn't rest until I had freed my mind from the obsessions which had been tormenting me all day. Cleansed of that torment, having scribbled, I could rest."
• The astonishing number of books written by Oliver Sacks, a personal favorite, includes Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, (Knopf, 2007), which helped explain, among other things, how musical pieces play over and over in my mind; and many other books describing  patients' struggles with conditions such as autism and Parkinson's disease.
• Teacher-writers: Google also displays authors such as Robert Frost, Frank McCourt, Vladimir Nabokov and Julia Cameron, to name a few, seen in a completely different light--as teachers--than the works they are famous for. Teacher-writer dmatriccino, in the blog post, "Thoughts from a Teacher-Writer," writes, "The only reason I’m able to write is because someone taught me how to. I believe in myself because my teachers, in tandem with my parents, made me feel like I could. Teachers didn’t just teach me how to fulfill my dreams; they taught me how to discover those dreams in the first place." 

Watch out: Writing might Sneak up on you and become a Full-Blown Career
The point is that in NOT making writing a career (of course, the exception being successful career authors), we have indeed made writing a career, if nothing more than to live the "creative life." For me, no matter what else is happening in my life, writing remains my loyal companion, is always there, ready to fulfill my deepest longings and desires, and offer me worlds that wouldn't be available if I didn't make the effort. To take "creating something" a step further, I agree with Elizabeth Gilbert, creating anything is one of the keys to happiness. Have you ever had someone tell you, "I'm not creative?" Hogwash. Everyone is and can be creative. All they have to do is try.

Photo: From the childhood album of Linda Wilson

Linda Wilson, a former elementary teacher and ICL graduate, has published over 100 articles for adults and children, and six short stories for children. Recently, she completed Joyce Sweeney's online fiction courses, picture book course and mystery and suspense course. She is currently working on several projects for children. Follow Linda on Facebook.

3 Tips to Help New Writers Build Confidence

By now you should have your goals and objectives written down for 2016. The difficult part for some of us may be following through on our commitment. 

We all get off track for a variety of reasons. But if you find yourself continually bombarded with reasons that are really excuses, maybe the problem is you need confidence.

Confidence is a state of mind. It is built through positive experiences. I know I can educate children because I've seen the results. I know I can make a great pot of spaghetti sauce for the same reason. These things make me feel confident.

When you get something published, you will naturally feel more confident. But until that time comes, there is work to do! 

Here are 3 tips to begin building your confidence now: 

#1: Self-talk 

How do you talk to yourself? Do you get discouraged easily? Do you have difficulty following through? Do you believe in yourself? 

Action: make a decision to stop all negativity. Choose to think and speak positively: "I will write this book", "I will get assignments". It may feel awkward at first, but it works. Believe you have something to say and no one can tell it quite like you.

Believing in negative thoughts is the single greatest obstruction to success. 
― Charles F. Glassman

#2: Stop Comparing

Any new endeavor will naturally cause us to compare ourselves with those who are experienced and more knowledgeable. Guess what? They started out as a new writer, too. 

Action: if you love to write and know it is what you really want to do, go for it! Soon you will find your niche, get your rhythm, gain momentum, and you will enjoy the writing process.

Comparison is the death of joy.
― Mark Twain

#3: Keeping it Fresh and Fun

Are your writing attempts like walking through mud? Are you bored? Is it drudgery? If you're not enjoying what you are writing, if it's not fun, then you will quit. 

Action: keep writing anyway. It takes time to discover what you really like to write. When you do, it will be easier and enjoyable. If you quit, you'll never find out what your niche is.

There is no greater gift you can give or receive than to honor

your calling. It's why you were born. And how you

become most truly alive.

-Oprah Winfrey

Place these tips in a spot where you will see them. It will boost your confidence!

~~~

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

After raising and homeschooling her 8 children and teaching art classes for 10 years, Kathy has found time to pursue freelance writing. She enjoys writing magazine articles and more recently had her story, "One of a Kind", published in The Kids' Ark. You can find her passion to bring encouragement and hope to people of all ages at When It Hurts - http://kathleenmoulton.com

When Not to Follow the Blogging Crowd

Blogging fatigue hits most of us at one time or another. Why are we doing it? Just what is the point?

Some of us use blogs to make a living--or at least to try to earn enough to let them pay for themselves. Some of us use  blogs to promote our books and services. Buy me, buy me.

You can find blogging help all over the Internet. Some of it is useful. Some is not. But one idea is constant--the idea that blogging should be making you money. 

How to Publicize Your Blog

This cheerful little instagram showing how to publicize your blog and succeed at blogging is old in Internet terms--2013--but illustrates advice more than ever relevant today.

I, for one, am fed up with self promotion, email sign up lists, and building up websites that are under constant attack by spammers and hackers the more popular they grow. I am so cross with pop up attempts to make me click social media icons that I instantly click the little go-away cross and exit the site.

And I'm not the only one.

Think carefully before applying the next great software aid to help grow your list, add more readers, make more money.

Stay Real

With the proliferation of blogs on the web, how easy is it to find a real review site which is not ruled by PR interests or affiliate earnings?

Readers follow blogs which discuss real life interests, solve problems. It takes a load of trust to click on a blog advertisement.

How easy is it to find a helpful blog which is not overrun with advertisements? Not very.

But if we rely on these for our income, what then?

A Solution

Keep it simple.

Create your own simple advertisement image links with software like PowerPoint. Stop them looking spammy and salesy.

This helpful tutorial from Lynette Chandler shows how. These are created for social media. But you can easily adjust the idea to fit one or two into the margins of your blog. Attach them to an affiliate or book link.

The bonus is that you can play at creating these for a day or two and have a rest from thinking up ideas for your next blog post.

What do you do when faced with blogging fatigue?

painting Schlaraffenland by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1526/1530–1569) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. It was never meant to illustrate blogging fatigue but the exhaustion of life in a land of milk and honey.

Anne Duguid Knol

A local and national journalist in the U.K., Anne Knol is now a fiction editor for award-winning American and Canadian publishers. As a new author, she shares writing tips and insights at Author Support : http://www.authorsupport.net where you can find Yaro Starak's Blog Profits Blueprint 2016 to download for free.

Her Halloween novella, ShriekWeek is published by The Wild Rose Press as e-book and in print  included in the Hauntings in the Garden anthology. (Volume Two)

At last starting to write something else...

Five Ways NOT to Attract an Editor's Attention

Will Rogers wisely said, “You only have one chance to make a good first impression.” As an acquisitions editor, I read proposals and manuscripts from authors every day. It’s no exaggeration to say I’ve read thousands of submissions in my years in publishing. Besides my work at Morgan James Publishing, I’ve acquired for two other publishers.

In minutes, I can scan your submission and see if it is going to move forward or be rejected. This may sound harsh because of the work and energy writers poured into their submission. Here’s the reality, every year our publishing house receives over 5,000 submissions and we’re going to publish about 150 books this year.

In spite of these large rejection numbers, I’m actively looking for quality work and daily interacting with authors and literary agents. Here’s five ways not to stand out:

1. Unprofessional appearance. Are you using a serif font like Ariel that is the default for most writing programs? Change it to Times New Roman or a serif font because it is easier to read and shows you care. This small change makes a huge difference to editors.

2. Untargeted submission. Many cover letters begin “Dear Sir or Madam” yet it is sent to my email address. It is an instant red flag. You want to write a particular editor or agent and address them in your submission.

3. Not specific for my publishing house. Every agent or editor is looking for certain subjects and types of books. Research online (big hint: use Google.com) then follow their guidelines.

4. Incomplete with the basics. An email address is not enough contact information. Many writers forget to include their mailing address and phone number. Without  this information, I can’t get the submission into our system nor can I easily reach you to engage you about your work.

5. Lack a memorable title or opening sentence. We read the opening and if compelling, we continue. If not, it is rejected. It is business and not personal but one way to handle the volume of submissions. Some of my agent friends receive hundreds of pitches every day. Make sure you start with a bang.

Every editor and agent is actively looking for the next bestseller. Your manuscript or proposal will stand out if you are professional with quality work. If you follow the basics and persist, you will be published.

________________________________________
W. Terry Whalin is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. A former magazine editor and literary agent,

Terry has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. To help writers, he has created 12-lesson online course called Write A Book Proposal. Get his free Ebook Book Proposal Basics and teleseminar at www.AskAboutProposals.com. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com. Terry has over 161,000 twitter followers and lives in Colorado. 

Happy New Year!

Last month I reflected on 2015 goals, today it's time to set the goals for 2016. 

For some of you, you wrote goals in January of 2015, they were specific and you reviewed them easily in December and so know where you stand in your writing life. For others the goals and the end results might be less clear. So in 2016, let's clear things up.

First, why do goal setting? Change is difficult and setting goals helps us to keep our eyes on the prize. 

Step one: Determine your 2016 goals.

     Write each writing goal that you would like to achieve down on paper. Be specific, include measurements, make it realistic - ex: finish writing 260 page novel, edit the complete edition for both plot/story and grammar by October 2016.

     Create goals that include time editing, writing, researching, and marketing yourself or your work.

Goals also speak to your space. Perhaps 2016 is the year to get your space figured out. A place that allows you to work creatively without distraction.

Step two: Figure out the Why.

     Recognize that changing habits is hard.Write down at the end of your goals why you are establishing these goals. Understanding why is key to making things happen. ex: I am writing down goals because I am a great writer, but I'm terribly inconsistent about sitting down on a regular basis and working through difficult periods of my life.

Step three: Reward

     Write down how you will reward yourself if you achieve your goals in 2016. Having a reward to look forward to is an important part of goal setting. 

Step four: Hide

     Place your goals in a special container and place in a special place where they will not be disturbed until December. 

Now that you know where you are going and why - it's  time to get started. Good luck!

____________________________________

D. Jean Quarles is a writer of Women's Fiction and a co-author of a Young Adult Science Fiction Series. Her latest book, House of Glass, Book 2 of The Exodus Serieswas written with coauthor, Austine Etcheverry.

D. Jean loves to tell stories of personal growth – where success has nothing to do with money or fame, but of living life to the fullest. She is also the author of the novels: Rocky's Mountains, Fire in the Hole, and Perception.The Mermaid, an award winning short story was published in the anthology, Tales from a Sweltering City.

She is a wife, mother, grandmother and business coach. In her free time . . . ha! ha! ha! Anyway, you can find more about D. Jean Quarles, her writing and her books at her website at www.djeanquarles.com

You can also follower her at www.djeanquarles.blogspot.com or on Facebook.

Can You Speak Yoda? Grammarly Shows You How

Our friends over at Grammarly.com have another infographic for us - this one a take on Star Wars.

We’re talking about modifiers (adjective, adverbs, modifying clauses) and objects, Yodified.

How does Yoda handle the following?

Modifiers and objects should be placed within a sentence?

Flexible subject-verb order?

And, do you think Yoda handles auxiliary in negation and lack of contractions?

This is a fun and interesting look at Yoda-speak and the English language. You’ve got to check it out.



There's even more information on the Grammarly post, so be sure to check it out!

*This infographic is attributed to https://www.grammarly.com/grammar-check

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