Self Publishing?

Have you written a book? Are you unsure what the next step is? Well, for me it was a choice to self publish. I really struggled with this decision at first. Then I started to research all the points of self publishing versus traditional publishing. What I found was interesting and scary at the same time.

I’m going to list the good points of self publishing and then some bad points:

Good Points:

1. You the writer are in control. You make the decisions.

2. Royalties. This is a big selling point. You claim a good chunk of the royalties. I researched several sites for both types or publishing and it was a no brainer on the self publishing royalty sides.

3. You decide what’s kept in your book after editing. You get to keep your story as it is. A lot of times in traditional publishing I’ve heard authors talk of having to totally change the vibe of their hard work to suit the agent or publisher. You’ve worked really hard to get your story written, you need to keep that story alive. Of course the editing needs to be done, but the vibe should stay as you see it in your mind.

4. You get to design the cover or put in your two cents on what that cover looks like. As for me I always have a vision of what the cover needs to be like.

5. You get to keep the rights to your work. It’s yours.

Some bad points:

1. You are in charge of getting people to edit your book and review it. Editing is a very important part and sometimes the hardest thing to do. But it is essential to the success of your book. If your book is full of spelling and grammar errors then more than likely the reader will not read your next book.

2. Advertising. This is sometimes the authors nemesis, but guess what, even with traditional publishers you have to do this too.

3. Cover design. You will see this on both sides of the spectrum of good and bad points. Sometimes you’d just like to turn this over to someone else and not deal with it.

4. You can’t get your foot in some book stores as a self publisher.

5. Self publishers can be frowned upon by some. It’s sad but true. Why should we be looked down on? We’ve followed our dreams of being writers and that should be enough for some people, but we have to look at reality. There are some self published books out there that make self publishing look shabby.

These are only a couple of points both ways. Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against traditional publishing. This is just how I weighed the options for myself. You may have a different view and that’s your right.

I’ve been asked before if I was approached by a publisher. Yes, I’ve had the excitement of being approached by two publishers. One was a large, well known publisher and the other was a fairly well known small publisher. The small publisher wanted my to pay them for the honor of publishing. Well of course I laughed and respectfully declined. If they wanted me to write for them it wouldn’t be pay us first and then we’ll publish you. I don’t think so. The large well known publisher didn’t want any money. They wanted me to write for them. The only thing was, when I asked them what they’d do for my book as far as advertising and distribution, well let’s just say it made me frown. I was already doing everything they were going to do and in some areas I took the bar a little higher. Also the royalties were going to be cut over 1/2 from what I already get and I’d still be doing the same thing. So why not stay where I’m at for now.

Yep, I said for now. I’d love to get a traditional publisher to take one of my books or maybe more. But it will have to feel like the right thing to do at the time. As a writer I treat each book like a special child and I don’t want just anybody taking my child to the park. I will have to check out that publisher and weigh the options.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Cleaning out the cobwebs

Well today is the last day of my vacation. It’s been a great one. I’ve written over 12,000 words this week. Yesterday was spent getting all the winter clothes out of the attic and cleaning out the closets. That’s a job. I’ve cleaned out more cobwebs this week. It’s amazing how active the spiders are this year.

But that’s not the cobwebs for which I speak. I’m talking about those that cause that pesky thing call writer’s block. We’ve all had it at one time or another. You don’t even have to be a writer to have cobwebs crowd the brain. I was stuck a couple of times this week in the cobweb, but I worked my way out somehow. Sometimes our words get caught in the web.

Then you have the lovely editing cobweb. You’re reading along and bam there it is. It looms over you like a black widow waiting to pounce. You start to sweat, your heart races and then nothing. You don’t remember why you wrote a certain part, why you added a certain character. You know you had a reason at the time and it could have been a good one or so it seemed. I have that problem. If I don’t write down my characters as they’re added and their purpose, I have an issue either later in the story or when editing.

So, have you cleaned out the cobwebs in your brain. Maybe it’s as simple as stepping back. That’s what I did yesterday. I cleaned house, then shopped, and then had a nice yogurt will all the trimmings at the frozen yogurt shop. That’s enough to inspire you. It was yummy.

So, great writing and May God Bless You…

The Editing Process – What?

Well, I’ve been busy with the Romancing September Across The World Blog Tour that has been going on since September 1st along with my friend Rosie Amber. It’s been pretty awesome to say the least. The 30 authors in the lineup are great and everyone needs to go over and check them out.

As for my writing, well let’s just say it’s been an interesting couple of weeks. As you may remember I had slated for Victoria to be released on September 15th, well it’s actually going to be September 30th. I had a issue with, dare I say, Editing 🙂

When I’m writing I normally step back every so many pages and reread that section. It’s just a habit I have and it keeps me focused on the work ahead and what was behind me. Well, this one, somewhere around the middle I got so into the writing that I shirked that habit and kept on writing. Not good…

While I was doing my first edit I did my usual spell check to start with. As I meandered down the list of the usual extra spaces and misspelled words, I found almost a whole paragraph of just random letters. I was perplexed for a moment, then as I read the paragraph above and below I remembered that section was from one of my late night writing sessions. Guess I was writing and not actually looking at my work. I’m bad about that when I’m really into it. Not a good habit.

Well, Spellcheck was complete and I began to read the story. I had the usual things to change like wording that when read again did not quite work and scene issues. Then I ran up on a funny little mishap. For some reason my character Victoria had suddenly gotten electricity in her home, keep in mind this book is based during the Civil War, no electricity in this home. But sure enough, she flipped on the light switch. I did a double take on that one. Then I laughed hysterically, it had been a long day, at my goof. She should have lit a lantern, not flipped on the light switch. Really, she was the first to have electricity in her home, no not really.

As I’ve stated in several of my blogs, editing is a must. If I’d have not edited and sent that out, well let’s just say, it might have gathered a few sarcastic reviews. Editing is a tedious process, but if you do it while writing and then as soon as you finish it’s an easier task.

So, learn from my goof ups, edit, edit, edit. Oh, and then edit some more.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You!

Here’s a couple of links to check out:

http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-2t6 Day 5 of our blog tour from Rosie

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/353698

Worst Part of Self Publishing

I’ve talked about the best parts of self publishing, the ins and outs, the how to’s, but I hardly ever talk about the bad side. With everything there is always some part that just plain out drives you crazy.

I’ve learned a lot of hard lessons about writing since I self published my first book. One of the worst parts to me is editing. That’s just not a fun process and sometimes I almost dread typing ‘The End’ because I know that’s the next part of the process.

I have a great assistant that helps me with this process, but I still am a hands on type of person. Also she’s leaving for college out of town, so… Also, I’m my worst critic. I’ll go over a part and tell her let’s change this. Usually she’ll tell me I’m crazy and take the file away from me.

Another thing about self publishing that’s hard is self promotion. Which according to some of my author friends that’s even part of the process when you have a big publisher. So, I guess that could go on the bad side of publishing period!

I could probably list other bad aspects, but I really enjoy publishing my work myself. That way I know what’s changed and what’s not. So many authors say a publisher can tear your hard work apart and it doesn’t even sound like your work to begin with. That would be heartbreaking. Although sometimes I agree that some work does need to be torn apart. I’ve read some books lately that should have been torn up and started over. Did I say that? At least I didn’t say what they were.

So if you’re thinking about self publishing then go for it. Some of the biggest authors right now started out that way. It’s rewarding even through the sweat and tears. If you’re not up to the editing or cover design, then check out my publishing service that I started. The link is http://www.horseshoepublishing.wordpress.com.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Steps to Writing a good story…

Ok, so we’ve all wrote a story at some time or another. Whether it’s a school report or as a writer. But have we ever sat down and thought about the steps it takes to write a story, good or bad?

As a writer I’ve got several things I do. First, I’ve got to be inspired. I have people all the time telling me to write about this or that. Well, for me it doesn’t work that way. It’s got to come to me in one way or the other. Sometimes it’s in a dream or just a daydream. Those are the best. My novel “Ghost Lover” came to me in a dream. Well most of it anyway. It was as though I was possessed by the stories and characters. They ruled my life for a while as I put the thoughts in my laptop.

Second, most of my books have had a general outline. When a story idea comes to me I immediately try to sit down with pen and paper and write down the story in outline form. This way I don’t forget the basics. It would be nice to sit in one sitting and write a finished novel. If you have, please relay the story to me? What’s funny is sometimes as the story evolves so does the outline. Most of the time I make each line in the outline into a whole chapter.

Third I write a character sketch. As I get older my memory slips some 🙂 I hate to constantly be going back in the story to remember a name or place. As I add to a character or introduce a new place or person I write it down. This helps speed up the process.

Fourth, now this is the important part. If you’re writing and you lose the momentum in a certain spot, just make a note of a key spot to come back to. Then go forward and most of the time that inspires you to go back and finish the lost spot. Most of the time continuing the story helps. I usually know the outcome of the part, but the middle is somewhat fuzzy. Writing the ending helps to give you inspiration for the middle.

Fifth, keep the interest. Don’t give away the ending mid way. That really makes a story dead to me when I’m reading a book and the author gives away the whole story by the middle of the book. Then the ending just goes stale. So keep the momentum building. Maybe even have several momentum building moments that build on each other.

Sixth, the writing process does not end with the words “The End”. I’ve said this in several blogs. It is very important to read your story to yourself, even out loud. If you just finish and hand it to your editor, you’ve left off a big step. Every time I read a story over it brings on extra thoughts. I’ve added whole chapters just in one reread. Do it, don’t leave it to the editor. You’re the writer, take charge.

Seventh, Now that you’ve reread and rechecked details, now you’re ready to hand it to the editor. To me this step is the hardest, you’ve got to write a description. How on earth do you condense a huge novel or even a short novella to a couple of lines? Well, make sure you leave the reader guessing. If you give away the whole plot on the back of the book why would they want to read the book itself?

Eighth, so the writing is over, the editor has it and you’ve got the description. Now if you haven’t already set up the cover, now’s the time. Make sure the cover has something to do with the book. A vampire on the cover isn’t good if the book is about a horse ranch. Make it interesting and eye catching. Yes, you’ve got to pay a little to get the good pictures, but it’s well worth it. My first couple of covers were totally stocked pics from office. Not cool!. After they were published I said “YUCK”. My editor is an awesome cover designer. I tell her what I have in mind and she usually finds the pictures for me based on my idea. What’s funny is the latest book ‘Rekindled Flame’ had a completed cover before I was anywhere near finished.

Ninth, now just sit back and wait for the finished product. Go publish it and enjoy the knowledge that you’re a published author. Don’t worry at this moment if someone likes your work. Just check that off your bucket list. Wait a little while before you worry about if people like your work. Remember you’re going to have those that don’t like your style writing and others who love it. Go with you gut and enjoy yourself. If you get nothing but bad reviews you might want to recheck your work, but if you get good and bad then you’ve probably done alright.

These are just the steps I go through, maybe you do your steps totally different.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You!

Polishing it up!

When you start a new manuscript your mind is on the content. Which it should be, but there comes a time when you have to polish the writing. A time to create a cover that will represent your words.

A big polish is the editing. Is it important? Well, yes. If you just write the book and publish it without going back over it, that would be writers suicide. I’ve found throughout my short writing experience that the first read through after finishing a manuscript usually prompts changes, additional wording and even total chapter eliminations. It can really open your eyes for character changes and minor tweaks.

After the editing is done, are you happy? If you are like a lot of writer you may never be completely happy with your work. I know I’m my worst critic. I over analyse my work. Even after it is published I’m constantly saying “I wish I would have written that part differently.” My editor just shakes her head and laughs at me. I can’t help it, I can be a worrier.

Then you have the almost impossible task of writing a paragraph that will sum up the whole book. How on earth do you describe your book in just a couple of words? This is harder than writing the whole book. If you don’t say just the right thing will people even give it a second look? Will you be able to express the real feeling of the way the book should be perceived? The next time you read the back of a book, remember the author had only so many words to describe their whole piece of work, don’t judge a book by it’s description.

Also, sometimes don’t judge a book by it’s cover. When you select your cover art you have to put into one cover the whole feeling of the book. If you write romance you have to express a feeling pulled from the book into the cover. If you write horror you have to put some of the fear into the cover to pull in the reader. But you have to be careful not to show the end results of the book. You have to leave some mystery.

Well, that’s just a few of my writing ramblings. Maybe some of this helped you, maybe not. It’s just the opinions of one writer.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you!