February 2015 – Publetariat

Teenager’s 10 Steps To Become Successfully Self-Published

January 3, 2016February 26, 2015 by Publetariat

This editorial by Aaron Ozee originally appeared on Publishing Perspectives on 2/19/15.

Aaron Ozee, a prolific 18-year-old self-published poet, offers his sometimes unorthodox methodology for becoming a bestselling author.

When a writer gets the initial idea that their work is valuable enough to see the light of day and deserves public attention, that is when everything gets seriously tricky. Traditional publishing is a very attractive yet competitive method of releasing a book into the marketplace, especially since there are a limited number of manuscripts actually accepted annually by publishing houses. Most manuscripts that are submitted for review are tossed away into the black abyss of a cold file cabinet with no assurance that they will ever crawl to the surface again.

Feeling sad yet? You should be.

Though it is almost impossible to get anywhere by reserving your publication for a high-priced review and potential consideration by a literary agent, it does not mean the end of all things written. Self-publishing, the best alternative to traditional publishing, is the way to go, specifically because it is inexpensive, and in some cases, completely free and can easily be controlled by the author as the process begins to unfold. Now, self-publishing may be a fantasy to aspiring writers, but it can usually be confusing to those who have never had experience in taking that route to the top.

I published my first book when I was only 15 years old and in the following 4 years published another 8, became a bestselling author at the age of 17, translated my works into 6 foreign languages, made my publications available for purchase in 100 different countries and territories worldwide, and became perhaps the youngest bestselling American poet.

Read the full editorial on Publishing Perspectives.

“Sponsored” By My Husband: Why It’s A Problem That Writers Never Talk About Where Their Money Comes From

January 3, 2016February 26, 2015 by Publetariat

This essay by Ann Bauer originally appeared on Salon on 1/25/15.

The truth is, my husband’s hefty salary makes my life as a writer easy. Pretending otherwise doesn’t help anyone.

Here’s my life. My husband and I get up each morning at 7 o’clock and he showers while I make coffee. By the time he’s dressed I’m already sitting at my desk writing. He kisses me goodbye then leaves for the job where he makes good money, draws excellent benefits and gets many perks, such as travel, catered lunches and full reimbursement for the gym where I attend yoga midday. His career has allowed me to work only sporadically, as a consultant, in a field I enjoy.

All that disclosure is crass, I know. I’m sorry. Because in this world where women will sit around discussing the various topiary shapes of their bikini waxes, the conversation about money (or privilege) is the one we never have. Why? I think it’s the Marie Antoinette syndrome: Those with privilege and luck don’t want the riffraff knowing the details. After all, if “those people” understood the differences in our lives, they might revolt. Or, God forbid, not see us as somehow more special, talented and/or deserving than them.

There’s a special version of this masquerade that we writers put on. Two examples:

Read the full essay on Salon.

How Much Does It Cost to Self-Publish a Book? 4 Authors Share Their Numbers

January 3, 2016February 25, 2015 by Publetariat

This post by Dana Sitar originally appeared on The Write Life on 1/21/15.

You want to self-publish your book, but budgeting for the process is more challenging that it looks. The numbers you’re hearing from experts regarding the costs of self-publishing are all over the board.

Are authors really managing to release quality books without paying for professional editing, design, marketing and other services? Or are you going to have to dig into your savings and fork over thousands of dollars to make sure you publish a great book?

To assuage these common concerns, we spoke with several top self-published authors about what they spent to release one of their books. They’ve shared real numbers, as well as why they chose to invest in certain services, to help you decide how best to allocate your investment during every stage of self-publishing.

Ready to learn what it really costs to self-publish a book?

Read the full post on The Write Life.

How a Writer Weighs an Idea. Six Questions.

January 3, 2016February 25, 2015 by Publetariat

This post by Alton Gansky originally appeared on Novel Rocket on 2/24/15.

Benjamin Franklin used a simple technique to judge the value of an idea. When considering a decision, the founding father would draw a single line down the middle of a piece of paper. On the left side he’d mark a +; on the right side he put a – (minus sign). He would then make a list of the good points, and one for the negatives.

If the pluses outweighed the negatives, then he felt the idea was a good one. Too many negatives and he moved on to another idea.

I’ve always thought it was a great technique but it failed to weigh the pluses and minuses. For example a minus might be minor taking three or four to have more value than a single plus. Of course the same can be said in reverse. So my Ben Franklin lists included a value with each plus or minus. Maybe I really love the idea. I’m enthusiastic and have been for some time. That plus will out weigh several minuses.

Over the years I developed a different approach to evaluate an idea: a series of 6 questions. Not every idea that comes to mind is worthy of our time, efforts, and money. Some concepts arrive dressed in fancy clothes and blowing party whistles. We court them, chat them up, and then, over time, notice that the idea is hollow and only pretended to have value. I needed a way to apply a little logic to what is often an emotional process.

Read the full post on Novel Rocket.

Writing the Book You Want to Read (Even When You’re Not an Expert in the Field)

January 3, 2016February 24, 2015 by Publetariat

This post by Sally Hepworth originally appeared on Writer’s Digest on 2/14/15.

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” ― Toni Morrison

I’ve always loved Morrison’s saying. The idea that everyone has the potential to write his or her own favorite book is an appealing one, and it’s natural that writers will want to write the kind of books they like to read. But it’s not always as simple as that. What if you enjoy reading about courtroom dramas, and you’re not a lawyer or a judge? What if you love the idea of creating layers to your novel by using architecture, but you’re not an architect?

How do you write the book you want to read if you’re not an expert in the field? Here are a few tricks I learned while writing my debut novel, THE SECRETS OF MIDWIVES:

1) Start by making a list of ALL the elements in the book you want to read

The book you want to read is more than just ‘courtroom drama’ or ‘architecture’ or ‘midwives’. While planning your novel, think about all the things that excite you when you read. Do you like a bit of romance? Some mystery? An unforeseen plot twist? (Remember: It’s okay to have more than one of these in your novel, in fact, it’s a good idea). Look at your favorite books and see what they have in common. Ask yourself: what drives the plot in the books I like to read?

Once you have your answers, make a list.

It will look something like this:
– Mystery
– Menace
– High stakes – death?
– Romance

This list will become your roadmap to writing the book you want to read. And once you have your roadmap…

Read the full post, which includes details of four additional steps, on Writer’s Digest.

5 Digital Media Resources for Every Writer’s Toolbox

January 3, 2016February 24, 2015 by Publetariat

This post by Jane Friedman originally appeared on Writer Unboxed on 2/23/15.

Since 2010, I’ve been actively teaching students of all backgrounds about using digital media for creative endeavors, whether through traditional university courses or through online classes. I also send out a (not quite) monthly newsletter introducing writers to digital media tools.

The following resources have surfaced again and again as the most valuable. If you aren’t yet familiar with them, each is worthy of your consideration.

1. Lynda
This is, hands down, the best place to go to learn any software or digital media skill. It’s an on-demand education platform with more than 3,000+ courses at your fingertips. Their offerings have never let me down, and the curriculum and teaching style is the highest quality I’ve found anywhere. If you need to learn a new online or digital media skill, go to Lynda first. (I swear I don’t get paid for saying that.)

Read the full post, which includes 4 additional tools, on Writer Unboxed.

How to Create Picture Ebooks for Kids

January 3, 2016February 23, 2015 by Publetariat

This post by Laura Backes originally appeared on Jane Friedman’s site on 2/23/15.

Until recently, creating ebook versions of children’s picture books was something publishers reserved for their best-selling authors and illustrators. If you wanted to self-publish a picture ebook, you either needed to be a whiz at writing code, or you paid an ebook creation service to do it for you. (That said, it was possible to find a few services targeted toward publishing books for kids on Apple devices, such as Book Creator.)

Last September, Amazon released KDP Kids’ Book Creator, which allows the average Joe to create illustrated children’s books for the Kindle and upload them directly to Amazon. These books can be designed in the landscape format (to mimic the layout of print picture books) and can include text pop-ups that enlarge the text with a tap or a click, making it easier to read.

Side note: Using the KDP Kids’ Book Creator means you’re publishing through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing program. You can choose from several royalty structures within that program, and also choose whether or not to be included in KDP Select, which gives Amazon exclusive distribution of your ebook for a certain time period in exchange for marketing perks.

While the KDP Kids’ Book Creator still has a few rough spots (which Amazon is presumably ironing out in response to user feedback), it’s a good start. Those of us who have worked in children’s publishing for years recognized this move for what it was: a game changer.

Just how much has Amazon’s new free software changed the game?

Read the full post on Jane Friedman’s site.

Magical Thinking and the End of Publishing

January 3, 2016February 23, 2015 by Publetariat

This post by John Pettigrew originally appeared on Publishing Matters on 2/23/15.

‘Magical thinking’ is allowing our own ignorance of a topic to give us the impression that there’s something special, ‘magical’ about the people who do understand it. It’s a common failing but it’s having an unfortunate effect on the publishing industry’s approach to ‘digital technology’. And some critical shortsighted mistakes are being made as a result.

There are surely fewer more ridiculous terms used in publishing than ‘digital natives’ – apparently, people in their teens and twenties who have grown up with technology and so ‘get it’ in ways that older people don’t. The assumption that all people in their 40s, 50s or older somehow don’t ‘get’ technology (especially odd given that this is the generation that invented most of it!) is just wrong. After all, the fact that I grew up with cars and learned to drive one as soon as I could doesn’t mean that I could make one, or even begin to fix anything but the simplest issues when it breaks down!

Why, then, do we talk as though ‘young people’ somehow have a magical grasp of technology that older people don’t?

Magical thinking

We see magical thinking all over the place, but perhaps especially with subjects that are perceived as difficult – finance, science, technology. Because it looks difficult to us (who don’t understand it), we overestimate the difficulty of the subject.

This can have two opposite unfortunate effects. The first is when we undervalue or even devalue the subject area – because we don’t understand it, it must not be very important, and those people who do think about it are somehow lacking in finer feelings or social niceties or whatever. This approach is often associated with perceptions of Maths, Science and Engineering. We hear, “Oh, well, I don’t understand Maths” used almost as a badge of pride – in a way we’d never hear, “Oh, well, I don’t really understand literature.”

Read the full post on Publishing Matters.

Writing When the Well Runs Dry

January 3, 2016February 22, 2015 by Publetariat

This post by Mary O’Gara, Ph.D., CVACC originally appeared on Savvy Authors on 2/21/15.

Even prolific writers talk about those moments, after the completion of a book or screenplay, when they wonder whether they’ll ever write again, ever have anything more to say. If the writer is lucky, the thought is fleeting and the next new project is already bubbling up in the writer’s mind, begging to be written.

But, honestly, the well does sometimes dry up. And a dry creative well isn’t the same as writer’s block. The dry well is more like a void–nothing to say, no words, no images. It’s a drought, a dark night of the writer’s soul. And it feels, in the moment, as if it will last forever.

It won’t last forever. But every moment it does last feels like an eternity.

Occasionally, a writer has just pushed the muse too hard, and the muse is taking a vacation. Writers who take part in Book in a Month programs know they’ll need time off at the end of the month’s writing push–and they know their jobs, friends and families will reclaim them and give them that much-needed change of pace.

For writers who are undergoing transformations in their personal lives–deaths, divorces, or the birth of a child, even a spiritual awakening–the well may run dry because the water’s being changed. If dams are opened to drain a reservoir, the reservoir looks like a wasteland until it refills with water. If a writer drains herself emotionally or creatively, the wasteland only lasts until the inner reservoir is refilled.

Read the full post, which includes five specific inspiration strategies, on Savvy Authors.

“Story. Dammit, story!”

January 3, 2016February 22, 2015 by Publetariat

This post by James Scott Bell originally appeared on Kill Zone on 2/22/15.

In his introduction to Stephen King’s first collection of short stories, Night Shift, John D. MacDonald explains what it takes to become a successful writer. Diligence, a love of words, and empathy for people are three big factors. But he sums up the primary element this way: “Story. Dammit, story!”

And what is story? It is, says MacDonald, “something happening to somebody you have been led to care about.”

I want to home in on that something happening bit. It is the soil in which plot is planted, watered, and harvested for glorious consumption by the reader. Without it, the reading experience can quickly become a dry biscuit, with no butter or honey in sight.

Mind you, there are readers who like dry biscuits. Just not very many.

MacDonald reminds us that without the “something happening” you do not have story at all. What you have is a collection of words that may at times fly, but end up frustrating more than it entertains.

Read the full post on Kill Zone.

Publetariat Observes Presidents' Day

January 3, 2016February 19, 2015 by Publetariat

Publetariat staff are off from today, 2/19/15 through Saturday, 2/21/15 in observance of Presidents’ Day. We will resume our normal posting schedule the evening of Sunday, 2/22/15.

The Strategic Use of Book Giveaways and How They Can Increase Earnings Potential

January 3, 2016February 18, 2015 by Publetariat

This post by Jane Friedman originally appeared on her site on 1/30/15.

Over the last few months, I’ve observed a lot of chatter regarding the use of giveaways, especially for indie author book marketing and promotion. A summary of the most recent conversation can be found over at Porter Anderson’s post, ‘Who Decided Our Worth?’ Do Free Books Give Away Authors’ Value?

So, do free books hurt authors (or publishers, for that matter)? The short answer is no. For the long answer, keep reading.

What’s Your Funnel?

This is the key question that every strategic author needs to ask. The funnel is the path that readers take from becoming aware of you to becoming a fan.

Giveaways (or freebies) are popular for good reason; they’re a classic, frictionless way to make people aware of your work. Just about every industry has some way of using “free” to their advantage, particularly game, software, and app developers. If you can get a sufficient number of people in the door, and they like your stuff, you can sell them other things once you have some kind of trust or relationship in place.

If you’ve seen the famous Alec Baldwin speech in Glengarry Glen Ross—it’s a favorite of mine—it’s the same idea being expressed. A-I-D-A. First, get people’s attention—whether through an ad, a freebie, traditional media coverage, whatever. That creates interest. And if all goes well, you have desire and action to make a purchase later.

I don’t find it useful to discuss (or demonize) giveaways in the abstract, because unless we can tie it to a particular strategy for a particular author at a particular time, it’s impossible to evaluate it properly. If the giveaway leads to paying fans down the road, it’s smart. If the giveaway leads to no further action, then it should be reconsidered.

Read the full post on Jane Friedman’s site.

Beating the Blurb Blues – Part One

January 3, 2016February 17, 2015 by Publetariat

This post by Kat Sheridan originally appeared as a guest post on Sia Mckye Over Coffee on 1/14/15.

Last week Sia wrote an article on the trials and hair-tearing frustration of writing blurbs and pitches.

Since I have a business writing blurbs/cover copy, I offered to share some quick tips to make it less frustrating.

Your blurb is your most powerful tool for enticing readers to buy your book. All the good reviews or social media shouting isn’t going to work if a reader doesn’t get excited about the book’s content. You want to lure the reader in, hook them with an intriguing setup, and land the sale by leaving questions open that can only be answered by buying the book.

First, some terminology:

Tagline/Logline: This is the quick summary on the front cover that serves as a hook. It’s usually no more than twelve words, and is best at around six words.

Pitch: Also known as the “elevator pitch” because it needs to be short enough that you can recite it to an agent/editor in the duration of an elevator ride. Aim for no more than about two or three sentences and be able to recite it without blinking. My all time favorite pitch was from Judi Fennell pitching the romance In Over Her Head: “He’s a merman and she’s afraid of the water.” Fewer than ten words. She got the contract.

Read the full post, which includes a simple formula for writing a fiction blurb, on Sia Mckye Over Coffee.

My Kindle Countdown Deal Epic Fail

January 3, 2016February 17, 2015 by Publetariat

This post by Juliet Rich originally appeared on her site.

Over the Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend, I offered The Flaming Geeks Book of Geeky Trivia for .99 on an Amazon Kindle Countdown Deal. I didn’t have tiers, so it was 99 cents the whole time until it went back up to the list price of $2.99.

As I did when I offered it as a Free Book Promotion, I only marketed it by sharing it on my personal Facebook page. I did this a couple of times during the promotion.

The results:

Free Book Promotion – ~150 free downloads (no money for me), followed up with ~5 sales immediately after the promotion ended (yay money). Plus it netted me my first review (yay review!).

Kindle Countdown Deal – no downloads, no sales, no new reviews

Why didn’t it work?

Reason #0 – I need to do more marketing in general. But that was true of both cases.

Reason #1 – Everyone who follows me on Facebook who wanted it already had it.

Read the full post, which includes four more specific reasons plus analysis, on Juliet Rich’s site.

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