The Writing Process Blog Hop: My First Blog Hop Ever!

I was invited by the talented Krista Quintana (Check out her blog, Color Coordinated) to participate in a blog hop. Naturally, I first panicked, because while I’ve seen these words around before, I had no idea what they meant. It’s like “hookeybobbing”; it means something (though definitely not something as dirty as it sounds), but I finally bucked up and asked this year. Trivia question: do you know what that means?

These are the questions I was asked to complete for you all. Hope you enjoy!

1.       What am I working on? Currently, I’m experimenting whether or not it’s possible to successfully self-publish a quality children’s picture book on a budget. I hope to have The Clumsy Princess available in both print and electronic versions by the end of June! I’m also working on a detective novel, yet untitled, that I hope to self-publish next year sometime.

2.       How does my work differ from others of its genre? I’m tired of children’s stories where the princess simply waits to be rescued. Instead, my princesses are adventurous, exciting, and have a life outside of waiting for a prince to show up and sweep them away to something better. These are the stories I want to read to my girls one day.

3.       Why do I write what I do? The Clumsy Princess is intended to encourage, in a fun way, accepting who you are, without being preach-y. I’m hoping that the subtle influences of a fun and courageous character will help girls not aspire to be the Disney-perfect princess, but instead realize that they don’t have to be perfect to be a princess in their own way.

4.       How does my writing process work? I write in fits and spurts. I know some people carve time out to write daily, but my days are utterly unpredictable, due to being on call 24/7 for work. However, when I sit down and write, often 5-10 pages will pour out of me at once. Usually, a story bangs and rattles around inside my head for a while until I absolutely must get it down on paper. The Clumsy Princess had been on my mind ever since my friend’s 18 month old daughter ended up in the Emergency Room again, this time for taking a fearless flying leap off the top bunk while on a family vacation.

Now you know a little about me… I’m interested in you! Tell me something about yourself?

And don’t forget to check out Krista Quintana’s blog, Color Coordinated! 

6 Reasons to Self-Publish: Take the Leap

You might just enjoy the ride!

 I’ve never done things the traditional route. I’m not sure if it’s a strength or a weakness of mine, but bucking tradition is practically my own tradition. There’s just something about making my own way, about doing things a little different than the rest that appeals to me. Because of this, self-publishing, even with all its challenges appeals to me far more than traditional publishing. Here are six reasons that I find self-publishing to be a better fit for me than traditional publishing:

1.       You own what you produce. In traditional publishing, often the publishing company owns the rights. If they decide they no longer wish to produce your book, you have to buy the rights back to change that. However, when you own what you produce, you can keep printing as many copies as you need for as long as you need.

2.       Control. Not only can you control designs and illustrations, you can control the content of your book, the sale price, and where it is marketed. The only thing holding you back is yourself (or possibly, what your mom might say). Typeface, title, and the cover will all be what you want, not what someone else wants. Your book reflects your vision, no one else’s.

3.       Timing. Not only do you get the advantage of working at your own pace, but once you make the move toward self-publishing, the time from submission to published work is far shorter than a traditional publishing company (sometimes as little as one week!).

4.       Profit potential. You have the potential to earn higher royalties. A traditional publisher gives you 5-20%, but because you can set the price yourself, your royalties are up to you. You have the potential of making far higher royalties (into the 70% range is not uncommon), and you’ll get paid faster. And, if your book does “make it big,” you might find yourself receiving calls from traditional publishers anyway.  

5.       Niche. Is your book fairly subject specific? This is more true for non-fiction, but it’s possible that publishers may not be interested in a book on tying dry flies for fishing the Gallatin River. However, if you live near the Gallatin River where fly tying and fly fishing is not only popular but has major economic influence; your tiny little market might be where you make it big.

6.       You are Your Own Boss. You can decide when to write more, what to write about, and what your deadlines are. There’s no one tell you when to jump and how high.

What reasons did I miss? Anything else that inspires you to self-publish rather than traditionally publish?

5 Reasons Not to Self-Publish Your Book

There’s literally over a thousand articles out there on why you should never-ever-in-a-hundred-million-years (probably not an industry-specific term) self-publish a book. I’ve read a fair number of them before launching into the adventure of self-publishing because I like to be informed and love I a good challenge. Here’s the general consensus among the naysayers:

1.       It’s A LOT of work. Lucky you, you’re on the hook for all of it. You have to find an editor, your own cover artist/illustrator, your own proofreader (and it shouldn’t be your mom… Though I still love you, Mom!), and do your own marketing. Remember all that time you used to spend writing? Swallowed up in the immense amount of time spent doing everything else associated with publishing.

2.       The cost. Unless you can find a way to do this on a budget, you will pay for, at a minimum, a quality cover (because a tacky cover does little to attract readers), editing (I tend to be quite “comma happy”), proofreading (editors miss things too), marketing/promotion, and a website (unless you’re also an internet guru. Some of you are. Color me jealous).

3.       The quality. Its only as good as you can afford up front, and sometimes, it’s not very much. I’ve seen some pretty fantastic stuff and also some pretty poor quality books. There’s not quality control with self-publishing; printing companies will print whatever you send them. Also, traditional publishers know the ins and outs of proper book layout, which increases a book’s appeal.

 

Its perfect, right?

4.       Lower distribution. Unless you are incredibly good, incredibly lucky, and incredibly talented, you won’t get bookstore or library distribution, and you’ll just been that sad person selling your books at an otherwise empty table at the local farmer’s market.

5.       The perception. We all know someone who has self-published something that my British friends refer to as “rubbish” (thank you, British friends, for being worlds more polite than Americans). Many people think all self-published books are the same sub-par, unprofessional drivel. That stigma is fading, but not nearly fast enough. We know it’s not true, but we’re on the inside.

Those are the top 5 reasons, according to the “experts.” What are your thoughts on these? Do these arguments hold any water?

Tomorrow I’ll give you the top reasons to self-publish, so don’t tar and feather me yet!

Inviting All Self-Publishers: Care to Write a Guest Post?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say: a lot of you are friends I haven’t met yet, and I’d sure like to remedy that, even if it can only be through cyberspace! The internet is a big, wide world, full of incredibly talented people, and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface with my Children’ Book Experiment. At least, barely scratched the surface so far.

Please?

Maybe you’re new to this blogging thing (like me!), and would like to have more than just your mom read what you write (like me! Love you, Mom!). Maybe you’re an old hand a blogging and self-publishing and have a kernel of knowledge that you’d love to share with the rest of us. And maybe, you’ve self-published quite a bit, and feel for us at the beginning of our self-publishing journey, and just want to throw out some encouragement. Wherever you may fall, I think we can help each other out!

What does this look like for you? Well, quite simply, email me at amymross2013@gmail.com and let me know you’re interested! Then, write a blog post about either 1) what self-publishing has taught you as a person, 2) the best tips/tricks you’ve learned about self-publishing in your genre, 3) unique ways to market your book, or 4) something even cleverer that I failed to mention. I’ll choose two or three posts and notify you. I’ll upload your post (with links to your blog), and you’ll upload my post (with links to my blog). And together, we’ll RULE THE WORLD!!! MWAHAHAHAHA!

Or, you know, simply meet new people, offer useful advice/information, and expand our following a bit.

Of course, there must be rules (what can I say? I spent a lot of time working with children; establishing ground rules is essential). I think I can cover it in two simple sentences: no adult-only content and only what is helpful for building people up rather than tearing them down.

I know this is dangerous and risky. It’s possible that no one will respond and I’ll look like a doofus. It’s possible that people will respond and their writing will be so bad that I’ll cringe and develop an eyeball twitch. Or, this could be a wonderful experience.

It’s completely up to you.

(Please don’t make me look like a doofus)

Getting the Word Out: Increasing Your Blog Audience in 5 Easy Steps

I’m fairly new to blogging, but I love connecting with people all over the world. It’s amazingly fascinating to read about what other people are doing and how it works for them (when you’re a kid, that’s being nosey. When you’re an adult, it’s “networking.”)

But how to increase my audience? I mean, if I didn’t want people to read what I was writing, I’d write a diary, not a blog. After reading several articles and arduously combing the web for answers, these seem to be the keys to unlocking the door to your intended audience.

 

That's a pretty loyal blog follower right there!

1.       Interact with, read and intelligently comment on other people’s blogs. Other people are writing to be read too, and there is some FANTASTIC stuff out there. But the key is intelligent comments. Tell people why you agree or disagree, what you liked or didn’t like (but be nice! I know you’re pretty anonymous behind a computer, but gently pointing out that the wrong “there” was used is different than lambasting someone for being an idiot because they used the wrong “there,” you know).

2.       Use social media, discover engines, forums, etc to get the word out. Your Facebook page is a good spot for this. But please, dear sweet lord, DO NOT spam your blog address everywhere. For the love of all that is decent and holy, have some restraint.

3.       Use eye-catching great blog titles. I’m far more likely to read “The Top 10 Things a Publisher Looks For: Make Your Manuscript Shine!” than I am “What Publishers Care About.” I know, if feels sensationalist, especially if the same information is contained in your post, but we are a world that’s constantly distracted. You have to grab people’s attention (But don’t lie in your title about the content of your post. That’s tricksy and not very nice).

4.       Keep posting consistently! If you haven’t posted anything other than pictures of your kids (but yes, they’re adorable. And when did they get so big?!) since 2012 on your writing blog, people will lose interest. I know your kids are the most important thing in your life (OMG! Look at their little chunky cheeks! I just want to squeeze them!), but unless your entire audience has baby fever or is a bunch of weirdos, they probably aren’t going to stick around.

5.       Be objective, for just a moment. Does your font really work in yellow on a white background? Does your blog look well put together? Is your spelling atrocious? Does the comic sans font reallymake you look like you know what you’re talking about?

These are the tips that I think are the most helpful. Did I miss anything? How do you increase your blog following?