Tag: authors

Is Perfectionism Killing Your Success?

Love the message in this. I actually read this Donkey book! (Believe I blogged about it too. Perhaps I’ll reschedule mine!) I also loved the two fools example! Fav line: “While the wise writer is open to critique, she also needs to know when to stand her ground.”

Author Kristen Lamb's avatarKristen Lamb's Blog

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Last time I wrote about stress and how it can kill creativity. Many “normal” people (code for “non writers”) see our job as play, as fun. They really don’t grasp what goes into creating the stories they all enjoy and that it is a lot of work. Also, because our field is so subjective, writers must endure an onslaught of “enemies” no one else can see because often they are in our head. Sometimes, in our effort to produce the best work we can, we invite in a very dangerous enemy.

Meet….Perfect.

All of us want to do a good job. We want to put our best foot forward. We all say that we want feedback and critique, but deep down, if we are real honest, we want people to love everything we say and do. Unfortunately, this isn’t the reality. We can’t please everyone, and it is easy…

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My 7 Step Writing Process

My 7 Step Writing Process

It really does not take me long to write a book once I’ve settled on an idea I think will work. Below is my 7 step process. If I follow this, it takes me about 6 months to finish writing a first draft.

Caution: What you’re about to read is weird and does not necessarily take place in this order. Sorry.

Step 1: Research, First Draft, Announcement

When a story idea hits me I tend to stare out in space a lot and just do a lot of talking to myself. In the event my husband feels like hearing me ramble, I talk to him about it. He is SO helpful because some of my ideas (OK OK, a lot of my ideas) don’t make sense and he gives it to me straight, no chaser. “EC, what?” OK, maybe not like that but basically, he tells me how it is. Once I’ve discovered a story idea that is worthy, I’m like a drug addict in need of a hit. First, my blood starts to rush, my hands get sweaty, and I start to live off of coffee and books for most of my days (I’ve been known to skip a meal or two to write just one more sentence….paragraph…page…chapter) and I just can’t stop thinking about the story. I need to get my hands on anything that will give me further insight into this idea.

I must clarify that I research and write simultaneously. In a week of writing you can be sure that I have read books, took notes, and added more to the story at the same time. I don’t believe in spending months researching alone. By then I may forget the story. Another weird thing I do is that I often stop in the middle of writing to make sure that awesome idea I wrote made sense, that is, that it is appropriate for the era in which I am writing (since most of my work is Historical Fiction). Of course, I’ll go back over everything later on in  the process but I try not to rely on my memory. If I have to stop while I’m thinking about it, that’s what I’ll do. This means that I can stop writing to read an entire novel or do hours of research. Then, a few weeks later, I’ll return to the manuscript and write some more. Keep in mind that this is just the first draft. I believe that with the first draft its important to just get things down. Just write. Don’t try to worry too much about anything else at this point. It’s just the beginning. Just the first step.

Faith is taking the first step, even when you can’t see the whole staircase. So go ahead, step!

So I read, write, and repeat in this stage. This is also the time where I announce that yes, I am going to publish another book. I do this because I believe it is important to announce my next book as early in the process as possible and I tend to know right away if I’m going through with it or not. If I’ve begun massive writing, I’m pretty much in. If I decide not to publish it later then nothing is lost. However, if I decide to go on with it I have the advantage of everyone already being familiar with it. In short, I announce my next project by talking about it as soon as is possible, aka, word of mouth.

Step 2: Feedback

After I’ve actually finished the first draft I need to go back over it, obviously, but tend to not know where to start! This is where I need feedback from others. Of course, I know the script needs to be edited (though I’ve always loved to write, English not so much), but I think its important to get feedback first, rewrite it, then get it edited. So, I belong to a few writing groups. The first group is my husband. Don’t laugh, I’m serious. Here’s why:

I’m a woman but I do write about male characters occasionally (my last book was the first book where a male was the main character. No, I am not a feminist or anything like  that its just, well, I’m a woman! It’s easier for me to have central women characters because, being a woman, I naturally know women). When I do write in men characters, as deep as my imagination is, I am not a man. I can be as talented as is possible but I am not a man. I recruit the assistance of my man to make my men characters more authentic. I need to know, “Does this sound like something a man would say?” Sure, I have brothers and Uncles and male cousins. I’ve been around men my whole life and I know them to an extent. Research is also good but there’s nothing like getting it from the horses mouth sorta speak. Not that my husband’s a horse, you get the point.

However, I also belong to a couple other writers groups. In one of them, there’s a day where we uploaded a chapter and the members gave us feedback on what we should change! Another option is to seek the help of Freelance Beta Readers, or people who will read your book and offer their input. This is just a few ways I seek feedback: Family, Writing Groups (I must also mention that I am not deeply involved with critique groups. I can’t focus on finishing the first draft if everyone is telling me what I need to change every step of the way. Yes, it’s annoying. Let me finish the first draft first, then we can talk changes. So, when I say writers groups, I really mean after the first draft. Otherwise, you’ll probably get a good chapter out of me and that’s it), and Chapter Excerpts.

Step 3: Chapter Excerpts

This serves a dual purpose: I like to share chapter excerpts to give me the opportunity to receive even more feedback BEFORE I hire an editor. When I’m at this stage its usually after the first draft finish (which is where I’m at now, also known as The Beta Reader Stage). As I am uploading sample chapters, I am also simultaneously submitting the script to those Beta Readers. In this way, I can compare the feedback (Feedback does not necessarily mean I’m going to change what others say that I should if I’m not feeling it. Yes, I’m a very picky writer. It’s a MUST that the central vision of the story does NOT change). The other purpose this serves is: Promotion! By uploading chapters of my upcoming book, I am giving readers an opportunity to sample it. If they love it, I have already secured potential readers. Its not grandiose, but it is a form of promotion within itself. I did this with book two in The Stella Trilogy and it was a success. People who read the excerpts could not wait to purchase the complete story when it was done and some did follow through on their word and bought the book. Don’t get me wrong, this is not why I do this. I post excerpts because I think its fun. Its just that, as a perk, I am also promoting the story.

What to Sample?

There’s a general understanding that the first five chapters of a book should hook the reader so I pretty much go with this. If the first five chapters of a book can’t hook readers, there are major changes that need to take place! So, I start by uploading excerpts by chapter. If the chapter is too long however, I only use a greater portion of the chapter because I don’t want the post or excerpt to be too long (our attention spans are really not that long people. In fact, I hope you’ve read this far into this post!). When I start to submit excerpts for Nora’s story on this blog, I’ll pretty much start with Chapter 1.

Step 4: Revisions

Like I said, these steps are not necessarily in order. This can take place both before and after the feedback. Lots of frowns are likely to occur here, more stares out in space, and repeated questions that probably will never be answered like, “But why?”

In my re-writing stage, I focus on a few primary points:

  • Hypocrisies and Plot Holes
  • Showed or Told? (“Could I show this more instead of telling? Did I tell or did I show?”)
  • Spelling / Grammatical Errors

I don’t really believe I am capable of truly editing my own work being so close to it, but I do what I can during the revision process before seeking an editor and I am extremely paranoid about this. My manuscript is likely to go through many revisions before it hits the editor’s desk. Are you ready for the weird part? I have to read it out loud! Not the entire script straight through, just the part I’m revising at the moment. I start revising by getting ready for the grand rehearsal. All characters in place? In 5,4,3,2,1…Chapter 1.

Step 5: Edit

After rewriting the script to my satisfaction (and getting feedback) it is time for the big edit. This is where I hire an editor. I have an excellent editor friend I tend to start with and then go on from there (as there are different levels of the edit). This time around, as to make the advanced editing easier, I’ll likely have my editor go over it first so it’s not that many grammatical errors when the in depth editing takes place. Proofreading is also part of this process although the proofread is usually after the edit as a final polish.

Step 6: Book Cover Design

No, I don’t wait.  As the editor is doing his or her thing, I am getting the Book Cover Design done (or at least thinking about it). My vision is to always release the Book Cover Design for the book before it is set to release. Again, this is more promotion as people are highly visual. When my favorite Traditional Published authors announce a book release, its usually backed up by a hot book cover of the coming book. I’ve never heard Terry McMillan say, “Hey look, my editor is editing a book I plan to come out with next year!” No, the hard work is done on the back end and there is usually a grand announcement made by the author, followed by a Book Cover of the pending book for readers.

No? Oh. Well, at least that’s how it happens in my head.

So, for this reason, I consider the official (if I’ve made it this far I’m pretty much coming out with the book. Period.) announcement of the book with the grand book cover release. This gets people (including me!) even more excited and interested. I see the book cover design as the official official stamp of approval. By now I am definitely publishing this book!

Step 7: Marketing / Promo.

This is not the last step.  I am actually marketing and promoting my next book around the same time that I am making the official announcement. Nope, I don’t wait. Like I said, if I decide not to publish the book, nothing is lost. I’m just not doing it at the moment and everyone understands. However, if I do decide to publish it, I like to give myself a head-start.

My first form of marketing and promotion is just sharing the story! This is why I like to talk about it in the beginning instead of waiting until the book is almost finished. If I share the story early on, everyone is involved. I can speak about my writing process, my struggles, my doubts, my successes. It’s like a pregnant woman.  She let’s you feel on her belly and tells you about all the updates. She boasts of the ultrasound and reveals if it’s a girl or boy. In short, you are on this journey with her. By the time the baby comes you are just as excited about it as she is. It’s the same with books I suppose. I like to start the pre-promotion process by helping potential readers to feel as involved as I am comfortable with. In this way, you feel just as connected to the work when it releases. Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. But involve me, and I learn.

I am still learning about the whole promotional thing myself so take this with a grain of salt (lbs), but I think getting into promo mode takes a good year in advance (my novel doesn’t come out until 2017. Will I wait until 2017 to say something about it? No!). I say a year to include before the book releases. You want to push the book before it’s published, and also at least 3-6months afterward. How a book performs in its first 6 months usually helps to determine where it’s at with readers (at least for me). Not that you will ever stop pushing the book.

With Self-Publishing you can always keep pushing your older works and try different promotional techniques (that’s the perk). This is often my biggest challenge: Not to forget about all of my books! As I start a new project I just get so excited that it is easy to forget that I can continue promoting my other works. I also seek Advanced Readers or Advanced Reviews after the book is edited, though I am not sure I’ll do the Advanced Read thing this round (didn’t work out well for me the first time). I will like to garner earlier reviews this time around though. Instead of waiting until the book releases, I hope to secure some reviews at least 3 months prior to launch day and I’ll recommend the same for you. That’s another reason you want to promote the book in advance.

It is also wise, I think, to start to work on new work as you’re promoting your current ones if you have the time. More books tend to drive more sales as readers have variety. It also tends to take more than one book to start to see some action as a Self-Publisher. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know. Sure, many of you are awesome and can churn out those first time hits, but I know that for me it took several books before I started to become noticed outside of my circle in the Indie community. So, as I am coming up on 6 months since the publishing of The Road to Freedom, I am also starting to get more and more into the production of my next book.

***

Enjoyed reading about my process? Be sure to follow this blog for a chance to read Chapter Excerpts from my YA, Historical Fiction 2017 Novel Project: 

Renaissance: The Nora White Story.

Dear Ms. Morrison,

Self-Publishing: The Business of Writing 101 (6 Basics)

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When I published my first book, I didn’t see my writing as a business. It was just me doing what I’ve always wanted to do. However, as I began to learn and as I continue to learn, I quickly discovered why Self-Publishing requires so much work: It’s a business.

That doesn’t take away from the fun of it, but the realization did help me to become more organized. I quickly learned why no one was buying: I wasn’t working! Writing is working, technically, and I was doing plenty of that. However, I was not working on the skill of writing, researching my industry, understanding tips to help me to write better books, promoting, marketing, and everything in-between. I was writing, sure. But the business of writing? I didn’t even know it existed. I was a writer and that was all. When I got into the business of writing however, that’s when I  became an author.

From The Online EC Dictionary:

Writer – (noun) a. a person who writes b. a person who writes stories, letters, books, manuscripts, manuals, c. a creative person who enjoys writing things down d. an artist who paints pictures with words

Self-Published Author (noun) – a. a person who finances, publishes, markets, and promotes their writing; b. a writer whose job is to publish books, may include attending book signing events, interviews, applying for grants, entering contests, etc., c. entrepreneur d. writer who paints pictures with words and then sends them out into the world.

The Business of Writing 101: The Basics

  • Author Platform – This is by far the most important part of your journey. BEFORE you publish your book, make sure you have either a blog or website that showcases your writing and personality to some extent. This is the most powerful way for people to get to know you. Why should people get to know you? Because you are not just a writer. You are going from Writer to Self-Pub Author my friend. No longer do you just paint pictures with words, but you are about to send them out into the world. But first, you need to introduce yourself to all of your potential readers. (I suppose you don’t need to start a blog but in my experience this blog plays a critical role (more so than a website and FB) in helping me to run my writing business by giving me a platform where I can receive instant feedback and constructive criticism on my work before I publish. I mean, look at all those faces subscribed to The PBS Blog, we can’t let them down now can we?) Below are the 10 Best Blog Websites of 2016:

Top Free Blog Sites

  1. WordPress (Yes, we’re number one baby!)
  2. Tumblr
  3. Blogger
  4. Medium
  5. Svbtle
  6. Live Journal
  7. Weebly
  8. Postach.io
  9. Pen.io
  10. Ghost
  •  Social Media – Set up your social media pages BEFORE publishing your book, not after. Primarily, set up a Facebook Page or Group, Instagram,  and Twitter account. These are the 3 basic social platforms but do not be deceived by the hype: They may not all work for you. Play around with what’s out there and stick to the one that works for you. YouTube is another platform, and Pinterest is another. I’ve found Twitter is my best home base. By Home Base I mean that place where I receive the most interaction. For you that may be Facebook or Instagram. Find the right platform for you, not for others. In fact, you want to be on the platform your readers are on. This means identifying your Target audience and then placing yourself in the places they are. In any event, start your social media craze before your books is born.  This will give you another easy way to share your writing and also connect with others.
  • Newsletter – Place a newsletter sign up form on your blog or website and start to collect emails early on. How to ensure people are actually reading your emails is a separate post. Right now we’re focusing on the basics and basically, get that newsletter up and running early on. Some people say not to worry about the newsletter if you have a blog. I say do worry about it. Look at it this way: Your email list is a permanent tool because if your website goes down or your blog or your social media pages you still have access to the group of readers who love your work. By collecting emails, you can reach people on a most personal level (Tip: Don’t sound all businessy (< Yes, made up word) in your emails. Let your personality shine. People like to connect with other people so be yourself). The link below is a good start for researching the email newsletter service that is right for you:

The 25 Best Email Marketing Newsletters and Apps

  • Investment – Save your money. I know, not a lot of people talk about this when it comes to Self-Pub and it was the furthest thing from my mind when I set out to publish my first book but you can do better than I did. It’s a mistake to think about the financial aspect of book publishing during the publishing process. Everyone remember the 6 ps? Say it with me: “Proper Planning Prevents Pissed Poor Performance.” There’s nothing like a strong foundation and so yes, save your sheckles. Investment doesn’t have to be a scary term. It’s not like you’re buying stocks. Investment just means to put money toward a product, or service for profitable or material gain. I don’t like fancy smanshy words so let’s keep it simple: You’re saving money to go toward your writing to increase the chances of you making a profit because as with any business you have to be willing to invest in your work.  You will need to pay for book cover design, editing, formatting, and the cost of print books, business cards, book marks, and promotional items (all of which increases the books chances of selling and i.e. you making a profit). While there are tons of free ways to produce all of these to some extent, for a truly professional outcome it’s going to cost you some investment. Let’s face it, no one wants their books to look bootleg. Createspace’s available book cover freebies? I don’t think so. There’s just too many Self-Pub books to read to take the easy route. Cover design is the difference between me deciding to read your book and make a sandwich. (The most important investment is time. At the end of the day the books that sell are the books that are well written. At the end of the day it is still about the story so make sure you’re putting time into your writing).

The most important investment is time. Make sure you’re putting time into your writing.- Tweet This

  • Streams of Income –  Authors aren’t rich. Well, most of us aren’t (Can’t speak for you six figure Indie Author makers. Y’all better work!) So, for this reason, if you’re deciding to quit your job and write books, first you need to take the time to invest the money you have into your book publishing business. Yes, I said publishing business. No, I won’t explain, we’ve been over this. Writing is a business. So, back to the point, before you throw in the towel you may want to  seek grants or enter contests where the prize is large sums or even small sums, of money. The most wise thing however, is to take the money you’re making from your 9-5 and invest it into your writing. (I think those with jobs who want to write books are in a great position. You have the financial resources to save!) Writing a book doesn’t mean you can’t get a part time job or offer other services that is going to put money in your pocket to dedicate to your books. One of the first things you’ll notice as you begin your journey is that the money you do make from writing books is going to often go back toward your work. Everything made is going to go back in and it’s going to be many years before you start to see some real profits. However, you can avoid the feast of famine with proper planning, investment, and multiple streams of income.

Cover design is the difference between me deciding to read your book and make a sandwich. – Tweet This

  • Less Talk, More Action – I’m a workaholic for a reason. In fact, many entrepreneurs are. There’s a saying I try to always keep in mind as I work. It helps keep me motivated and planting seeds: “Bad boys hit hard, but move silent”. Self-Publishing is the “IT” thing right now. Everyone wants to show that they’ve written a book even though the reality is that not everyone has the skill. While it’s exciting to boast of having written a book, make sure you’re also sharpening your writing skills, and doing the hard labor on the back end that ensures proper presentation and production of the end product. Make sure  that your books are actually reaching people. I’m not saying to quit because no one read your book because that’s not the reason (I’d hope) that you write in the first place. What I am saying however,  is that I love to write, but I refuse to keep pushing out work without also monitoring the growth and development of that work. As part of the Self-Publishing process, I do not just write books and neither should you. I also study the writing field, calculate the financial cost of publishing a book, surround myself with professional men and women who could help me, surround myself with family members and friends who will support me, and write books that will expand conversations and start discussions.

Bad boys hit hard, but move silent. – Tweet This

Before The Week Ends: Book Review Registry

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Before the week ends, I’d like to inform my Authors reading that I have set up an online Book Review Registry to make it easier for you to sign your books up for a review. Book reviews are free. The readers fee doesn’t kick in until October 3rd so if $20 is not something you would like to pay in exchange for an honest review (completely understandable. I’m not trying to get rich or anything) you can always sign up NOW while there are no fees. I have decided to charge a fee only to cover time. I love reading, I love writing, and I love promoting authors. Unfortunately,  my time would not allow me to do it as often as I’d like. The little time I do have require me to be as organized as possible to ensure I’ll get them done. I don’t want to promise anyone anything I can’t deliver on. My last book review showed me just how tight my time is and I barely met the authors deadline. Anywho, go ahead and register your book at the link below and thank you in advance for your support:

“It takes a minimum of 5 Amazon reviews and an average 3.5 rating to really start to see changes in book sales for Indie Authors.” – EC

Lcdo9nAgi BOOK REVIEW REGISTRY

4 Reasons Why a Book is Still of The Utmost Importance in a Digital World

Great posts on hardcopies vs digital. I will always be of the opinion that Authors should have hardcopy versions of their books as well.

keithogorek's avatarThe Indie Book Writers Blog | Self Publishing | Get Published

As digital media has expanded at a dizzying pace and social media outlets have grown, certain pundits have suggested books would diminish in importance.  Mobile devices and shorter attention spans would create an environment where books would not matter as much as the onslaught of information and innumerable choices available at our fingertips every moment.  Certainly reading habits have morphed as digital options have increased, but despite these changes, books are as important as ever because their very form enables them to impact lives in ways no digital media can. Here are four reasons why I believe that is so.

A book is permanent

With so many media forms today, like Snap Chat or Instagram, the information or images conveyed are instantaneous, but soon forgotten after the next tidbit fills the feed. Not so with a book. The very form of a book means it can be preserved and revisited…

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Just Write the Damn Book Already #MayChallengeDay23-24

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I really debated on whether to publish this or not. I definitely wanted to, but I was not sure I wanted to hear anything else about book publishing, let alone you. Of course, this is what I do so that boat has sailed for me. I opened my email this morning and there was confirmation that I needed to indeed hit this publish button on this. In that email was this quote:

“Book writing tip: For every 1 hour you spend marketing your book, spend 100 hours writing something worthy of being marketed.” —Jon Acuff

The secret is this: Good books market themselves.

I didn’t have a plan for The Stella Trilogy. I’m not saying you shouldn’t, you definitely should. But to be honest, I didn’t! And yet, these books have turned out to sell more and to be my greatest work to date (far as reader interest is concerned). Sure, I could use more  reviews, but the big picture is that I did it and in my humble opinion, it has been successful so far. Not by way of numbers. I didn’t make Amazon’s #1 spot (I made #17 though!) let alone NYT. What I did however is make an impact on peoples lives. Don’t get it twisted, I’ve worked very hard (your not getting off that easy!), but almost everyday there’s a testimony from a reader about how the books changed them. One European woman messaged me to say that before reading Stella she didn’t know what the NAACP was (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). The young woman doesn’t live in the United States by the way so before you judge understand that whats prevalent over here isn’t in other places. The point is that the books have touched people and that’s what has made it succeed. Though I didn’t have much of a plan, the books are genuinely good stories so they market themselves.

Everyone has an opinion on what you should be doing. Funny thing is that most of what you read about Self-Publishing is not entirely the case, no longer accurate, or just completely untrue. Advice itself is subjective. Personal. It “could” be true or maybe its not. Maybe the moon is really made of cheese.

The Industry is changing faster than you can finish writing one book, let alone several. By the time you finish that book, chances are the research you did will have a different face to it. What works for one author may never work for another. Interestingly enough, this means we really only have our experiences and expert opinions which is a fancy word for “I tried this and it worked. Maybe it will work or you too”. Like I said, there’s LOTS of advice out there, and while some of it is awesome, at the end of the day you have to write a good book. What I love about Self-Publishing is that with each new project I learn something new. This year, I am learning the value of writing a great book. Whether marketing, promotion, or whether or not there are green men on mars, at the end of it all I need a story that will keep readers reading AND keep them talking about it. (Maybe the men aren’t green. Maybe they’re grey. Or maybe they have skin suits).

Authors across the board, Indie or Traditional, simply must produce engaging content. When I review a book I read, for instance, its as if I’m a reader because I am. Meaning I’m not a grammatical geek with glasses on the tip of my nose saying a series of “Ah ha”, “Hmmms” and “Isn’t that Interesting?” I’m just a reader looking for a good story. I’ll leave the editing (OK so maybe you do have one too many sentence fragments) to the editor. For me? I just want to enjoy what I read and you know what? This is the mind of the reader as well. The sob story for Self-Publishing is not Self-Publishing. The sob story is that people are not writing good stories. It (SP) got its stigmas because with the increase in technology, people became so fascinated with the idea of book publishing than producing a good book. Everyone wanted to know what it felt like to hold a book in their hands that they wrote. Everyone forgot that writing is still a skill and we had people to enter this industry who never knew how to write but saw On Demand Publishing as an opportunity to publish a book. This can’t happen in other fields. You can’t walk into a doctors office and start to diagnose people. You don’t have the skill.

Indie Publishing is the IT thing right now. All of the cool kids are doing it but writers are driving themselves crazy with all the information out there. “What should I do?” “What should I not do?” “What’s fact?” “What’s fiction?” “Should I outline?” “Should I not?” “Should I promote this way or that way?” “Should I pay?” “Should I not pay?” “Am I doing it wrong?” Just write the damn book already!