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! 

Time to Throw in the Towel? Self-Publishing Success Stories

I bet you've heard of every single one of the following people! And I bet you had no idea that they started as self-published authors. 

Warning: Results not typical. Contact your doctor in you experience double vision, as this may be a sign of a more serious condition. Side effects may include obsessive writing, giddiness, frustration, and words not fit for print. 

John Grisham wrote his first novel, "A Time To Kill" in 1989. He received 28 rejection letter before self-publishing a mere 5,000 copies through a small private publisher. He was eventually picked up by Doubleday. After writing three more books ("The Firm," "The Pelican Brief" and "The Client"), Grisham sold Doubleday the rights to "A Time To Kill," and reissued it. Now his books are available in every grocery store, bookstore, and airport in the United States. According to Wikipedia, he has sold more than 275 million books worldwide! Not too shabby!

The innocent childhood favorite, "The Tales of Peter Rabbit," was rejected several times by publisher. But Beatrix Potter knew she had a great idea and wouldn’t give up. She self-published Peter Rabbit’s stories in 1901. Only a year later, one of the publishers who had initially rejected the manuscript published it (want to bet they were humble and apologetic?). They also published 22 more of her stories. Over two million Beatrix Potter books are sold every year. BAM! Pretty fantastic for bunnies and frogs dressed in waistcoats!

E.L. James (Erika Leonard) has sold more than 70 million copies of her "Fifty Shades" trilogy worldwide. She started out writing Twilight fan fiction (literally just felt you shudder. It’s ok. I understand) stories and posting them on her website. When she wrote "Fifty Shades of Grey," she self-published it through a small Australian publishing company. It was released it on eBook and print-on demand. After the world discovered that a bunch of middle aged women enjoy BDSM erotica, the rights were acquired by Vintage Books.

William P. Young’s self-published Christian fiction book, “The Shack,” became a USA Time Bestseller, selling over a million copies. Before it was successful however, it was rejected by both secular and Christian publishing companies. In fact, Young and his friends created their own publishing company for the sole purpose of publishing that book. Marketing, for the first year, was simply word of mouth and a $300 website they paid someone to put together for them. In 2008, the book’s popularity exploded, and spent 70+ weeks on the New York Times Paperback Best Seller’s List.

There are more out there. And, with social media being what it is, there are more success stories coming! Hang in there, friends! You could be next!

Did any of this surprise you? What other self-publishing success stories are out there?

Falling into Place: When Things Start Coming Together

Sorry I’ve been absent for a while, friends… I was sent to a training conference in Seattle for work, and the hotel’s internet was flaky, at best. While I was there, I felt it would be an excellent time to come down with lung-rattling bronchitis. Today is the first day I am both a) at home and b) able to string words into sentences. But, I have an exciting announcement (besides not being dead):

My illustrations are done!

Color me surprised, but my original illustrator got back to me. I was convinced she had headed for the hills (over a week past her extension date without a word, even though I tried repeatedly to contact her) and BAM! Over a dozen preliminary drawings show up in my email.

I’m a deadlines person. Things are always completed on time—usually even early—and God forbid anything ever be late. Artists, it seems, may run on a slightly different time table than that. While I struggle to wrap my mind around that idea, I’ve made my peace with it.

But good news all you struggling children's book writers out there: its entirely possible to have your book illustrated on a budget! Onto the next step in this process... Typesetting! 

What do you think of the illustrations?

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)

The Question: Can an Unknown Author Succeed with Self-Publishing?

I wrote a children’s book. It’s a simple, light, amusing story about an accident-prone princess (because who needs another perfect Disney princess, am I right?), aimed at the 3-8 year old demographic. And if you google “publishing a children’s book”, it’s got a better chance of being the third monkey on Noah’s Ark than it does of ever being read by anyone other than my mom.

So this is my experiment: can I, an unknown, unpublished author, succeed where all signs point to success being impossible? And, what more can I do it without breaking the bank?

I have some obstacles: I work at least 40 hours a week and on my days off, I watch some pretty awesome little princesses, so my time is fairly limited. I work in public service, so my finances are not unlimited. Writing short, fun kids’ stories is my forte, but I’m a dismal artist, so I’d have to hire someone to illustrate for me. And that’s only the biggest issues I can see, from the starting line.  

Never one to let the obvious hurdles get in my way, I’m hopeful this can be done. With this blog, I hope to sketch out a rough map of what to do (or not to do) in this very unscientific experiment!