What to Know before Self-Publishing – Part One – The Advantages

There was a time when self-publishing meant writing a book, then paying a subsidy publisher to print it.  The author had to cover the costs of editing, cover design, printing and marketing before the book was available to the public, often paying thousands of dollars to sell just a few books. 

However, while authors can still bypass the traditional agent/editor submission route, now they can also create a direct market online through print-on-demand and eBooks.  So while they still have to put together a quality product, there aren’t any up-front costs to print it.  A book is printed only if someone orders it, and the printing costs are taken out of the royalties the author receives, rather than as an up-front cost.

This article is part one of a series on self-publishing, and will discuss the advantages of doing it on your own. 

So why should you self-publish?

1.      You retain creative control – You decide the length of the book, you write your own cover copy, and you help design the cover.  Since the cover is a reader's first impression, this is an important marketing tool.  It can make or break sales.  What would appeal to you as a reader?

2.      You make your own schedule – You won’t be driven by deadlines you can’t meet.  If a family emergency arises, you can put the book aside and finish later.  And if you decide to write a trilogy or connected books, you can write them all at once and publish them together, or space them as far apart as you wish.

3.      You won’t get rejection letters in the mail – How many submissions have you sent to publishing houses for your manuscripts?  How many rejection letters followed?  Nobody  sends those letters if you publish your own book.

4.      There’s no wait list – You don’t have to wait until a publisher has a slot open for your title.  You can publish it when it’s convenient for you, not someone else.

5.      You earn higher royalties – Self-publishing takes away the middleman.  So there’s more money for you in the end because your agent and editor and publishing house won’t take their cuts.

6.      There’s no genre restrictions – Have you written a book that doesn’t fit into any standard genre?  Maybe it’s a mystery with paranormal elements, or a romance with an unhappy ending.  Traditional publishers tend to shy away from manuscripts that break the rules.  If you self-publish, you can write what you want.

7.      Your book gets produced faster – Publishers have schedules and you’re the victim.  You wait for copyedits, you wait for proofs, you wait for cover designs, you wait for permission to market your book.  Everything takes time.  With self-publishing, a book can be on the shelf within days once you have it edited and formatted.

8.      You retain rights – You wrote it.  You can do what you want with it.  You can use both the text and art work in your marketing materials.  You don’t have to worry about whether or not your cover can be reproduced on your web site or bookmarks.  You own it.  It’s your decision.

9.      You can track sales better – Publishers can tell you how many sales you had, but their stats don’t tell you how many sold in the first few days, who bought them, or in which country.  Selling your own book will allow you to track your sales more closely.

All that said, while it sounds appealing, it’s not an easy process.  You still need to produce a quality product in order to expect it to sell.  And that brings us to part two of self-publishing: the disadvantages.   Join us next week for the next segment in this series.

Click here to read Part Two - The Disadvantages
Click here to read Part Three - Producing a Quality Product

Five Steps to Inspiration

We’ve all had it - the dreaded writer’s block!  Suddenly, our mind goes blank.  We can’t come up with ideas, and even if we do, we can’t get past the idea to the plot or outline.  All good writers know this is only temporary.  Inspiration will strike again.  Some time. 

But rather than wait for that moment, why not make it happen?  There are many different places to look for inspiration to get that story idea or to fill out that plot.  Here are five steps to get you started.

1.      Read the Headlines – Truth is stranger than fiction.  That’s the truth.  People are so unpredictable, I often find myself wondering – what were they thinking?  Capitalize on these stories.  Here are just a few headlines from today’s news: “Unidentified Man Found Dead Under Des Plaines Underpass” “One Man’s Life With 5 Identities” “Teen With Heart Transplant Dies After Broken Promise To Change”  Without even reading these stories, just imagine what you could create around one of these headlines.

2.      Study Your Family – Whether you write historical or contemporary, your family is full of inspiration.  When did your family emigrate to America?  Where did they settle?  What were their occupations?  How about today?  Who has an interesting profession?  An unusual one?  A dangerous one?  Is your family dysfunctional?  Of course, if you use a family member as a central character, make sure to change enough that the person won’t be easily identified, especially if the description isn’t flattering.

3.      Read History Books – History is full of colorful figures.  Some changed the world, whether it was through ill deeds, or charitable acts.  There are criminals and heroes.  There are those who broke barriers, and those who dared to think outside the box.  You can use their life story as your core plot, or build your characters around that event in history.

4.      Read Biographies – While these are similar to history books, biographies give a more in-depth look at what life was like during the time period.  They usually offer insights into the emotions of the day, as well as the current events shaping their lives.  What can you glean from their lives that would be appropriate for your characters?

      5.      Meditate – While this won’t actually fill your head with ideas (you’re supposed to rid your mind of thought during meditation), studies have shown that daily meditation (as little as ten minutes a day) will help you concentrate and focus.  Also, the more you meditate, the less anxiety you will have.  And when your mind is clear of stress, it can fill up with inspiration.

These are just a few ways to find inspiration for your writing.  What’s your favorite method of finding ideas?

Organizing Your Research Books

Writers often hear, “Write what you know.”  That sounds plausible.   I’ve lived in the Chicago area my entire life.  I know the seasons, the slang, the popular foods and the stops on the elevated train.  I know my characters can order a deep dish pizza with a locally brewed beer.  I know they wouldn’t be walking on the beach (yes, there is a large body of water along Chicago’s east side) in February unless they were dressed in snow boots and parkas instead of shorts and sandals. 

And yet, when I started writing, I chose London as my setting.  Not modern London, but rather, Victorian London.  What did I know about Victorian London?   Absolutely nothing!  Except what I’d read in history books and other historical romance novels. 

That didn’t deter me, though.  As it wouldn’t any writer who felt passionate about a character or setting.  It just meant that I would have to do some research.  Well, not some.  A lot of research.  That didn’t deter me, either.  And I’m not alone.  Many authors write about places they’ve never visited.  And like me, many authors love the research aspect to writing a novel. 

Research wasn’t as easy when I began writing as it is now.  The internet was in its infancy.  I did most of my research at the library – fingering through catalog card files, thumbing through books, and dropping dimes into the copy machine when I wanted a photo or large amount of text.   I also bought whatever books I could find on the topic, especially on sale through libraries or catalogs. 

With all this research came another problem – how to keep track of this information when I needed to access it again.  Back then, technology meant a spreadsheet.  I didn’t even know how to use one, so I kept track of my books and resources on plain sheets of paper, numbering the sources, and writing notes to myself on what the source was and where I’d found it.  It wasn’t the easiest to use, especially when I was looking for something specific.  It meant scanning all those pages until I came across the entry I wanted. 

Technology has made life so much easier.  I know how to use spreadsheets now.  And the internet and bookmarks have made tracking a breeze.  But I still have my extensive library of research books, as do other authors.  It’s the nature of the business.   If we aren’t collecting research books, we’re collecting novels or inspirational works. 

So what happens when you need one of those books?  Could you find it on your shelf?  Would you remember what you owned if you were at the store and saw it on the shelf?  That’s where today’s software comes in. 

With programs like Collectorz and All My Books, it’s all automated now.  Just scan or type in the bar code, and the book’s information automatically populates the fields.  You’ll even get a photo of the book’s cover.  You can then search files by genre, plot, publisher, etc. 

Some of these programs are free downloads, others have a nominal cost.  And you have to take the time to enter all your books.  But when you consider the convenience, it’s well worth it.  Start by scanning anything new that you bring home, then slowly add the rest of your titles.  Do a shelf a day, or maybe one a week, depending on your available time.  Eventually, your entire library will be catalogued. 

What is your favorite book cataloguing system?    

Six Ways Meditation Can Boost Creativity

Meditation can be beneficial for anyone.  It gives us an opportunity to become more present with ourselves just as we are.  When we are mindful, we show up for our lives.  We don’t miss them in being distracted or in wishing for things to be different. 

Drawing on this sense of mindfulness can boost creativity.  By finding happiness in every moment of your waking life, your mind opens to wonders and possibilities.  Conversely, when you are living in fear, anger, regret and worry, that is all you know.

Taking away the negatives boosts creativity.  Here’s how:

1. De-stressing – Being mindful of your life forces you to concentrate on something other than your worries.  As writers, we put ourselves out there, risking rejection and criticism on a daily basis.  Meditation soothes these rough edges and creates a safe, stress-free place. 
2. Clarity/Focus – Focusing on your breathing teaches you to focus on your projects.  Once you get rid of the mind clutter, you’ll see everything else more clearly.  This will take time, though.  As time goes on, the more clarity you will realize.
3. Perspective – When you spend time being aware of nothing but your breathing, thoughts and feelings, you’ll begin to see how trivial your daily worries really are.  Life will be put into perspective.  So let go of the small stuff. 
4. Patience – We are bombarded with messages every waking moment of our lives, whether it’s driving to work or watching television in the evening.  Thinking about nothing is difficult.  It takes patience to bbe successful in training your brain to resist thoughts. 
5. Eases Anxiety – With meditation comes a calmness of the mind.  Internal chatter will eventually ease.  And when internal chatter eases, so does anxiety.
6. Improves Concentration -  Meditation strengthens cognitive control.  By quieting other brain functions, your ability to concentrate is enhanced.   

There are many benefits to derive from meditation,  But like anything else, it takes practice.  Be patient.  Be consistent.  Set aside a time every day to meditate.  Don’t break from this time and don’t let anything distract you.

Do you meditate?  What is your favorite time of day?  Where do you meditate? 

 

Book Review - Victorian Fashions for Women and Children: Society's Impact on Dress

I recently had the opportunity to review Victorian Costume for Ladies 1860-1900 by Linda Setnik, a fascinating look at fashion through photographs from the era.  I am pleased to say that the author has followed up with another wonderful resource - Victorian Fashions for Women and Children: Society’s Impact on Dress.  This new book covers the same years, 1860-1900, but looks more closely at children’s fashions, and how society influenced styles for both women and children. 

What I found particularly interesting is the way fashion magazines criticized the contemporary woman of the day for sticking to impractical styles, yet continued to feature them in their pages.  Saying we are slaves to fashion was never more prevalent than in the Victorian Era.  Women wore layers and layers (sometimes as many as ten) no matter what the weather.  Tight lacing and corsets forced organs into places they shouldn’t be.  There are amazing examples of abnormally small waistlines in the photos accompanying the text.

Sadly, women not only followed these fashions, but inflicted the same upon their daughters at a young age.  Children dressed like small adults except for shorter skirts and less ornamentation.  I was surprised to learn that boys dressed identical to girls for longer than I thought.  They normally wore dresses until the age of five or six, and sometimes even until their teenage years.  Their hair, while usually short, was parted on the side, while girls parted their hair in the center, which is sometime the only distinguishable feature in a photo.  The wealthier classes kept boys in dresses longer.  There were no gender distinctions, as a result.  All were simply children whose mothers didn’t want them to grow up. 

In addition to fashion trends, Ms. Setnik covers leisure wear, which would hardly be considered ‘leisurely’ by our standards, since it allowed for little movement.  Also covered are hairstyles and accessories like jewelry, stocking and sashes. 

Each chapter covers several years, explaining the sometimes subtle changes from season to season.  Waistlines dropped or rose, went from straight to pointed, hemlines of overskirts rose and fell, skirt and bustle sizes changed shape and size, sleeves puffed, and silhouettes slimmed.  The photographs can be dated by identifying these changes.

Some additional features are an extensive bibliography to continue your research, and a price guide for valuing the clothing. 

This book shows that Ms. Setnik thoroughly researched the topic, and is an expert in the field.  I enjoyed seeing the photographs of contemporary women, rather than perfect models, and learned many new facts and details from this fascinating era.

Blythe Gifford - Before the Word doc? An Excel spreadsheet!

In my past (pre-writer!) life, I was considered an organized person, but the process of writing a book taps deeply into the right (illogical) brain and that seems to have oozed throughout my whole life.  Still, I cling to some vestiges of organization that help me through the writing process.  My master spreadsheet is one of them.

For every book, I open an Excel workbook and give it some fanciful name.  This inevitably has nothing to do with the actual title of the book, which is generally one of the last things that’s decided.  For the Brunson Clan trilogy, I called it “Reiver Record.”  I’ll also select an interesting typeface and color for headers.  It’s all part of putting myself into the mindset of the story.  This document is opened every single day and offers me a central location to do the following:

Track hours and word count.  I track my hours, word count goal and progress, every day.  (Some people set it up by chapters, but this is what works for me.) I also make little notes on how I feel or what I did.  (Quick notes like “love scene – needs work” or “beginning to catch fire.”)  This is VERY helpful when I’m in the middle of the next book and everything is awful.  I can look back to where I was at the same point in the previous book and remember all looked dark then, too and it had a happy ending!  Here’s a sample of how it looked at the very beginning of a new project.  You can see the manic-depressive fluctuations I go through.

Create and remember the backstory.  On another tab, I list the years since my characters were born, with a column for their ages (hero/heroine), a column for real, historical events that occurred that year, and a column where I can record key life events for my characters.  It was particularly helpful when I had to juggle childhood recollections for three Brunson siblings!  That made it easy to check when Johnnie Brunson went to court or when Bessie Brunson was first kissed.  

This also is invaluable for creating character backstory when I need it.  I simply glance at the chart and I can see that the country was at war/peace/famine or whatever when my character was a certain age.  

Create the remember the timeline.  I do a similar chart for the chronology of the story itself so I have a record of when the various events happened, easy to forget halfway through the story.

Remember character names/appearance.  Another tab keeps track of my character names and titles, along with eye and hair color.  This can be sorted, to make it easy to catch if you have too many characters with names beginning with “J.”

Save tidbits of information.  Whenever I have something I want to capture, for example, the distance between two points and how long it would take the characters to travel there, I just add a tab and make a note.  

Some may prefer to do this in OneNote or another program.  For me, Excel is simple and flexible.  I back up every day by sending this spreadsheet, along with the work-in-progress, to my Yahoo email and stick it in a folder so I will never risk losing it.  I would mourn the loss of this master almost as much as if I lost my manuscript!

Blythe Gifford has been known for medieval romances featuring characters born on the wrong side of the royal blanket. Now, she’s written a trilogy set on the turbulent Scottish Borders of the early Tudor era, starting with RETURN OF THE BORDER WARRIOR, November 2012, Harlequin Historical.  CAPTIVE OF THE BORDER LORD will follow in January 2013, and TAKEN BY THE BORDER REBEL in March 2013.  The Chicago Tribune has called her work "the perfect balance between history and romance."  Visit her at www.blythegifford.com, www.facebook.com/BlytheGifford, or on Twitter @BlytheGifford. 

Author photo by Jennifer Girard.  Cover Art Copyright © 2013 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited.  Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.

The Essentials of a Writer’s Office

Writer Wednesday

In order to be productive, you need the correct tools to perform your job.  This is no different for writers.  An ideal office environment includes the tools authors need to research, write, submit and market their books.  Here are some items every writer should have on hand:

·         Notebooks and pens for writing down ideas, reminders and tasks.  Ideally, you should use a different notebook for each of these.

·         Laptop and/or desktop.  Laptops are convenient for taking with you when you travel or want to work elsewhere in the house.  Desktops are not portable, but the monitors can be much larger.

·         A printer.  Because most of what you print will be manuscript pages, look for a printer whose page output is high, rather than photo quality being good.

·         A desk.  Purchase one large enough for your electronics, but small enough to fit into your space.

·         An ergonomic desk chair to provide support during the hours that you are sitting in it.

·         A file cabinet or drawers for storing research, ideas, finances, organizations, etc.

·         A good internet connection.  While your writing is done offline, your email, research and newsletters all require an internet connection.  Make sure it is fast enough to handle loading graphics and pages to make the best use of your time.

·         Word processing software.  Most common is Microsoft Word, but any software that provides the same functions would be suitable.

·         A notebook or software for tracking submissions and royalties.

·         Bulletin board or whiteboard for posting notes and ideas.

·         A red pen for editing.

·         Notecards, stationery and envelopes for writing thank you notes, cover letters and mailing promo materials.

·         Writer’s Resource books.  Select a variety of books, including characterization, plotting, marketing, etc.  For a list of suggestions, click here.

Contact Management program.  This can be used for setting up business contacts and a fan newsletter