Top 5 Things I’ve learned about self-publishing

Well, I’ve been self publishing for over a year now and I can tell you this, it’s not as easy as it looks. Here are the top 5 things I learned:

1: It takes dedication. As a self publisher it’s you that does the social media, the advertising, basically everything. You’re the one that’s got to make sure to post your tweet, update your Facebook, make a great blog post and first and foremost get your book everywhere.

2: Self Publishing takes patience. You don’t have that big publisher backing you or putting your work everywhere that as a self publisher you have to struggle to be. You have to remember that you’re starting out from scratch. It’s a waiting game to see if you’ve written the big one.

3: Self Publishing can be self satisfying. To know you did it yourself is an accomplishment to be proud of. When you sell the first book you can sit back and say “at least I sold one, that’s one more than if I’d left it in a drawer collecting dust.”

4: I’ve learned a lot about social media. Wow, I was definitely not a social media butterfly before all of this. In one year I’ve started a couple of blogs, a couple of Twitter pages, I’m on Facebook (Said I’d never do that), and everywhere else that will let this country girl post.

5: To me self publishing is a great way to start out as a writer. You can build a platform and get noticed. Maybe if you’re lucky a big publisher or agent will notice you tenacity and give you a shout. It’s always possible. Look at all the self publishers that have turned into best selling authors. If it’s your dream, then go for it. Try it out and make a name for yourself. Who knows you better than yourself?

As writers we’re always looking at this or that to improve ourselves. Well, let’s work together. I’ve started a monthly Newsletter that will feature a Author Interview and three different book showcase spaces. Also I’ll be adding writing comments and pointers from my friends in the writing world.If you want to subscribe to it, please email me at hurtsbusiness@att.net. Also, to be a featured author just message me that you’re interested. It’s free so what have you got to lose.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

How do you take rejection?

Hmmmm! Let me see about this. Well, I usually take it fairly well according to the situation. As an author you’ve got to learn that a little rejection is coming your way one day. It’s sad but true.

When I started publishing my work, I was afraid of rejection from family and friends. I was more afraid of what they’d think than the world. For a long time most of my family and friends were not aware I’d published any books. One day my mom showed my aunt one of my paperbacks and she had a fit. Now she’s a fan.

If you pitch your work to a large publisher, well, you guessed it, you get get one of those nice little form letters that explains why they can’t publish your work. Some of the better publishers give you advice on what would make it better and would possibly change their mind. I pitched one of mine to a big publisher and well, I never got anything. Not sure, but I’d call that a rejection. I prefer to think maybe they didn’t get it, but a rejection all the same.

You can feel the sting of rejection through self publishing too. This is usually through reviews. Sometimes they hurt, but you just have to remember, it’s not personal. Well, sometimes it feels like it.

Life is feel with rejections, that’s what makes us stronger, I think. You have rejections in your love life, friendships, jobs, promotions, loans, and many areas of your life. The main thing is how you handle that rejection. Do you just dig a hole and put your head in or do you walk proudly and get over it? I try to choose the latter as much as possible, but I have to admit to having dirt in my hair more than once 🙂

So how do you handle it?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Calling all authors!

Good Wednesday Morning. Well it’s back to raining here in Georgia. But this post is not about the weather. This post is about a newsletter that I’ve started.

It’s going to be called “Fresh From The Book” and is sponsored by my publishing service company Horseshoe Publishing. The newsletter will consist of a author interview. With the interview the author can showcase one book and a synopsis. Then we will be showcasing 3 books from different authors. They can be in any genre. Also in the newsletter I will be choosing different writing oriented subjects to weigh in on. May throw in some polls on subjects that you my followers and friends can weigh in on.

I’m hoping to start this in August, but I need your help. I need authors to interview and authors for the book showcase. If you’re interested in participating and/or receiving the email through email, please message me with your email address. Some of you I have the email address, but I want to make sure.

I think it will be an exciting way to spread the word about other authors and also to have a voice in this crazy world of writing. I’m really excited about this project. At the moment the newsletter will be once a month, but if I get a good response I will up it to either every other week or even every week.

But the choice is yours. It’s free advertisement at it’s best. Come on over and join us for some fun.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Casted – By: Sonya Loveday Officially released July 31st

Tomorrow is an exciting day for author Sonya Loveday and for us as readers. Her new book “Casted” will be released. Check out this synopsis and go over to check it out tomorrow.

Jade had spent the majority of her life running from the Triad. The Triad, are a powerful group, who would stop at nothing to obtain Jade and the missing spell book for leader, Lorenzo’s, nefarious plans. And now that she has absorbed the highly coveted magic contained inside the missing book, there is nowhere left for her to hide.

With the help of her friends, Jade steps out from the shadows and learns how to fight back. But no one is prepared for Elinor-the woman bound inside of the book that’s trapped in Jade’s mind. Now she not only needs to protect herself from the Triad, but from what’s hiding inside her mind as well.

Jade never expected the answer to it all would revolve around love.

Edge is dark, mysterious, and a sworn member of the Triad. He also hides a secret past that threatens the thin line he walks between good and evil. Lives are at stake when Jade and Edge’s two worlds collide. Can Jade learn to trust him when he says he is her pre-ordained and vows to do everything he can to protect her? But more importantly, can she trust herself and the woman in her mind?

Find out more about this talented author:

About the Author

Sonya Loveday, first and foremost is a reader, an avid one. It is of that love that brought her to the realization that this was the answer to the nagging persistent feeling that ‘there’s got to be something more’.

The dream came alive in 2009 when she purchased her laptop and began the tedious step of becoming a published author.

When she’s not reading, she’s writing. When she’s not writing, she’s reading. And when she’s not doing either of those things she’s sleeping, shuttling her children back and forth to school, letting the dogs and cats in and out of the house for the umpteenth time in the last hour and dreaming of a clean house.

You can find Sonya Loveday on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and WordPress on the links below:

http://www.facebook.com/sonyalovedayauthor?ref=hl

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/11660396-sonya-loveday

https://twitter.com/SonyaLoveday – @SonyaLoveday

www.sonyaloveday@wordpress.com

So go over and check out her and Casted.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

one week til school…Summers OVER

It’s been a crazy summer. My son is practicing football three days a week (yep, all summer). I’ve been writing every free minute I have. My assistant found out she was accepted to University of Georgia. As I said, it’s been a crazy summer.

Oh and I found out I’m not getting any younger. I’m walking 4 1/2 miles three to four days a week to keep healthy, trying to eat better and totally refusing to be over stressed. Of course hormones changing and just life are trying their best to take over, but I’m fighting both with a positive attitude and lot’s of prayer.

It’s hard to believe summer is almost over. I know that technically we still have a month or so left of the season, but when school starts back it’s like summer is over. My son starts high school this year, so he’s getting excited and nervous at the same time.

As for my writing, I have two books hopefully coming out in August. Victoria is the first book in my new Historical Romance Saga “Women of Magnolia Hill” and the 2nd book in the “Lean On Him” Christian romance series “Faith Through the Tears”. Victoria is going to be a longer novel and Faith Through the Tears will be a novella. Both covers are completely done and ready for the books to be completed.

Hope everyone enjoys today. It’s Monday, but be glad you’re alive and hopefully well.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

What does a romance novel do for you?

This post is for all of you, me included, that lose yourself in a romance novel often or as often as you can. Have you ever wondered why it’s one of the largest genres? Well here is my take on this.

A romance novel can take the reader to another place. Maybe it’s another country, some exotic destination or just to another time in history. You may be saying, well so can science fiction, non fiction or any of the other genres out there. For some reason a romance novel just inspires you to want more.

Maybe the reader just needs to lose themselves in someone else’s world for a while. It’s a way to escape and what better way than to lose yourself in a romance novel. Most romance novels end with a happy ending and you’re pretty sure to have a better outlook when you finish.

Most romance novels just leave you wanting to read another one. Maybe you like the sexy characters that are described in the stories that unfold. Maybe it’s the feelings that a good romance brings about in you.

For me a good romance inspires me. I’ve been reading romance novels since I was a young teenager. There’s something about following someone else’s relationship and not having to worry whether you’ve said the right thing or done the right thing. You just leave it up to the character.

If it’s a good descriptive romance, you may even feel like you’re part of the story. Sometimes I’m reading and I get so immersed in the story that I forget everything around me. That’s what I try to achieve in the romance that I write. I want my readers to get lost in the story. I want it to make them feel better about themselves or at least feel better than they did when they started.

As I always say, this is just my thoughts on the subject. What are yours?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Feeling a little overwhelmed…

If you’ve followed my blog you’ve heard me speak of my editor and assistant quite frequently. Well, it’s with a very proud, but sad heart that I do this post today. She’s also my niece and has worked with me for about 5 years. She’s been my right hand, my cover designer, my editor, my shoulder on many occasions, and my friend.

She’s been accepted to the University of Georgia and will be leaving me. I’m so proud of her. She’s been going to college locally for 2 years. Now she’ll be moving to Athens, Georgia which is a couple of hours away. Her major is Poultry Sciences.

We have three more work days together and I feel like I have to get every cover designed for all the works in process. She’s reassured me that we’ll work via internet and phone. Also we’ve started up a publishing business as partners so we’ll be working long distance together.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very proud of her and this is her dream, but I’m sad to lose her. I know she’ll go really far and one day she’ll be at the top of her career. So this is a shout out to her. She’s amazing.

As always, good writing, and May God Bless You…

Ebook or Print Book?

This is such a hard decision. Do you put your ebook into a print book? I have several of mine in print, but some are not yet there. I started out with Create Space and they are really easy to work with. I signed a contract last month with Lightning Source to let them handle my print books. The reason I made a little leap, well a really big leap, was because Barnes & Noble said I needed a bigger print company to have my books in their brick and mortar stores. This is also the case with other stores.

Of course B & N has them in print on their online store, but not in their stores yet. The problem I’m now having is ISBN’s. I have so many on each book that I’ve had to create a spreadsheet to keep up with them. As per ISBN criteria you have to have a different number for each format of book.

Well, I have one for my print books, but for some reason, Lightning is having problems using them. Now I sit here and look out at the trees outside my office door and wonder, what now? If I have to purchase a new ISBN, which is what it looks like I’m going to have to do, well that’s quite a bit and not to mention the set up fee for each book on Lightning. Is the bigger market availability on Lightning’s distribution going to outweigh the extra cost?

I just don’t know, but it’s something for us as authors to think about. Sometimes we have to sit back and weigh one point against another and see which has the better result.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Handwritten or Typed, what’s your preference?

As long as I can remember I’ve been writing down my thoughts. Sometimes in journal form or just in story form. I’ll see something or someone and it’ll inspire a verse or maybe two, sometimes even a whole novel. But it’s where and when which determines the preference of my writing tools.

When I was younger we didn’t have a computer, obviously, let’s not go there. I’d get composition books and fill them with my thoughts and stories. The funny thing is I still have those notebooks. Some of the books I’ve written came from those pages. Of course I’ve changed them around to fit the times, but they’re still the basics that I wrote so long ago.

As I read over what I hand wrote all those years ago, I laugh at my innocence. I can tell when things were changing in my mind and when I started to think differently. I love reading over some of them. I’ll have to put some of them in my blog sometime.

Today I prefer my laptop as it keeps down the hand cramps and it’s quicker at times. I do keep a small pad with me for when I’m away from my laptop I can still catch the moment. I’ve even been know to take a notebook to the bubble bath to write. Those pages are usually smeared and crinkly from the humidity, but readable.

So what’s your preference?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Romance and Roses

Have you ever noticed the old adage that to make a romantic gesture, you need to include roses? Well, roses are the flower of romance, but do you need them to have a romantic setting.

Take for instance, writing romance, how many times to you read and he gave her a dozen roses? Well, some, but not every time. I’ve noticed it’s more the look and the setting.

When I’m writing my books I try to make it the non traditional romance scene. Give it a little flare. My writing is not heated romance, but rather romance with a slightly elevated temperature. But you get the picture when I write a romance scene.

I love romance and in any form. Sometimes just a look is romantic. Like maybe when a man gives you that look that says, “Hey you look good, let’s hook up.” Sometimes that look can be a danger signal and other times it’s the romantic look of the man you’re with.

What about the surprise note or just kiss in a public place? Now there’s something to be said for a brush of the hand in a very public place or the “I love you” note in your book. That’s always an indication that your significant other has been paying attention.

Well, if you’re a romance writer, bring on a new flare of romance that will inspire others. Maybe you’ll be the cause of a new romance genre. Never know…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…