Advice for Aspiring Authors by Deatri King-Bey

• Listen and verify: You’ll want several mentors with a mix and match of strengths such as writing, editing, business, marketing and networking… Realize that the publishing world is ever changing, so take lessons from others to use as a base for your own research. I’m not saying finding mentors is easy, but you must try. Attend conferences, workshops, join local groups, take online courses, network…. There are many affordable options out there. Get to know the publishing community.

• Learn the craft: Great storytellers are not always great authors or even halfway decent authors. Never stop learning the craft and improving. The moment you think you know it all and there is no room for improvement is the moment you start to lose your edge. I’ve seen many seasoned authors fall prey to losing their edge because they didn’t see room for improvement in their writing.

• Don’t abuse your muse: There are those who say you must write every day. I do not believe in that philosophy. Writing fiction is creative. If you force your creative side to write daily, you can cause writer’s block—or what I affectionately call your muse going on strike. I think you should do something related to your writing most days of the week. Besides writing, you may read, take courses, attend workshops, read articles, teach others…

• One genre at a time: Know what genre you write. I’m dumbfounded how many authors say their books don’t fit a genre. That their books have something for everyone. That all readers will love their books. Sorry, but no. Am I saying your books must fit 100% into a single genre? Nope. There are cross-genre hybrids, but you should understand the rules of the genres to know how you are creating a hybrid. Once you lock in your genre (even if it’s a cross-genre hybrid) start mastering it and building your audience. After you have a nice sized audience, then branch out to include other genres in your portfolio if you’d like.

• Get an editor: The other day, a debut author told me she didn’t need an editor because she was confident in her work. Confidence is a good thing. It’s also not the editor’s job to give you confidence. Editors help you make your manuscript the best it can be. Stop making excuses. All authors need editors. Even NYT best selling authors have editors. Is it expensive? Yes. It’s an investment in your writing career and business that you can carry into future works. With each developmental edit, you should learn more about the craft.

• Know the business: Whether you go the self and/or traditional route, you need to understand the business side of things.

• Avoid the promotion trap: Promotion and marketing are important, but the best way to grow your audience is releasing outstanding books. Be smart when promoting and marketing. Know your genre, then promote to large groups of that genre. Cross promote with other authors in the genre. Stop trying to convert romance lovers to horror. Stop wasting time running after readers. You’re an author. Writing should always be your main focus.

Deatri King-Bey

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $8.99 (print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

Let’s Get Down To Business by Deatri King-Bey

This is a repost of a spot I placed on my personal blog. I’m posting it here also, because many of the concepts carry over to the publishing business…

——–Repost——–

I’ve decided to do it. I’m going to make a business out of my new hobby—Soaping! I’ve been making infused natural oils for your body and hair for years and giving them away and recently began making soap. I’d been considering starting a business, and the other day just decided to go for it. The grand opening of my new business is still a ways off, but it’s coming.

Don’t think that I took starting a business lightly. Nope. I started one fifteen years ago that is still going strong and mentored others over the years. I know what I’m getting into. I see people deciding to start businesses and think it’s great. Just know that the majority of businesses fail in the first two years. You must be realistic. I say set yourself up for success. There are no guarantees, but there are things you can do to help you stay on the positive side of the odds. Anywhooo, I thought I should give a little insight into what I do to start a new endeavor in case you’d like to give a swing at it some day.

Research: My first order of business was to do research on the product, market and business. This requires more than an Internet search on whatever it is you want to sell. Read books about your product, take courses, interview others who are already in the business you want to go into to find out the pitfalls and how to avoid them. Do your research on the market—both locally and extended. Know what all goes into setting up a business, including costs. There should be more to it than setting up a website and Paypal account. Did you start an LLC or incorporate? Did you open a business banking account? Do you have Terms of Service on your website? What is your return policy? What are the tax laws in your state? Are you supposed to charge tax in your state for online sales?

I could go on and on about the research. Check to see if there is a local Score chapter in your area. They give free workshops and advice to people who want to start small businesses. The website also has a wealth of information. It’s a great place to start your research about business so you’ll know what you’re getting into: http://www.score.org.

Business Plan: I think of the business plan as the what and how. What goals do I want to achieve and how do I get there. The business plan lays out the vision for the company and the steps needed to get there, which is why it’s important to do your research. I know what my start up cost are. Cost to make the products. Who my suppliers will be. How I’ll ship. What services I’ll need. How I’ll build the brand. Timelines. Taxes and accounting. Events. Goals…. And a whole lot more. I’m going to mention Score a lot because I think it’s a fantastic organization. Lots of useful information and they have mentors and free courses. Guess what else they have, yep templates. Here’s one for a business plan: http://www.score.org/resources/business-plan-template-startup-business Don’t just open the template and become overwhelmed. Once you do your research first, this will be much simpler. And you can probably get a Score mentor to help you.

I’ll be honest, you do not need to have a business plan as detailed at the attachment to start your business, but should have a plan of action that covers at least those first two years.

Networking: You see me online a lot, but I’m an introvert. Networking is a key to success in any business. I haven’t done it yet, but I will be joining a local women in business group. I’m also becoming part of the “soaping network.” Whatever business you go into, there are others who are in that business. Seek them out. Learn from them. What events do they attend? How do they connect with the market? Listen but verify. Always do your own research. Use what others teach you as a starting point. Including me.

Branding: What do you want your company to be known for? It takes a long time to build a recognizable brand. What image do you want your company to portray? What will you sell? What is the name of your company? Do you have your logo? Have you purchased your domain (website address). Please, please, please do not use those free websites for your business. Why would you put someone else’s business name in your web address?

Customer Service: How will you ship your products? When will you ship the products? What about returns? What about complaints? What are your hours of operation? Mailing list? How will customers contact your business and how timely will you answer? Write (or have written) a few standard letters. As new issues arise, write an additional letter for that situation. You will want consistency. Don’t tell one customer one thing and anther something else. Standard letters will maintain consistency. If you have a website (and I hope you do), have a Terms of Service, Privacy Notice and Frequently Asked Questions pages.

Website: I think free websites are the rope many small businesses use to hang themselves. What is the purpose of your business? If it’s not related to your business, then it shouldn’t be on there. Think of your website as your online storefront. Make it easy for users to purchase your product. I like to buy from small businesses and it drives me CRAZY when I can’t find out how much something cost quickly. Some sites make you go through hell just to get to the ordering page. It’s crazy. I’m also into natural products so I need an ingredients list. If you are making something that people eat, drink, or put on their body, you should ALWAYS have the ingredients listed. I go natural because we have bad sensitive skin and a lot of allergies in my family. But I digress.

When you create or have your site created, remember the main focus is your product. Anything that will distract from the product is not good.

Customer Base: You’ll be selling a high quality product, so your customers will want more of what you have to offer. Your customer base will grow as your brand grows. Will you have a newsletter, blog, members…? How will you stay in contact with your customers? How will you make your loyal customers feel special?

I absolutely love loyalty cards. Will you be implementing some sort of loyalty card?

Okay, that’s enough for today. I started writing this thinking it would be a short checklist and got carried away. There’s more that goes into starting your own business, but I think this is a good base. If you are interested in starting a business or already have, I HIGHLY suggest you check out Score. http://www.score.org.

Deatri King-Bey

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The Submission Process by J’son M. Lee

For the last few years, I’ve focused on the careers of other authors. I co-authored a project that went on to garner a few awards, and as president and owner of Sweet Georgia Press, I am an editor with a growing client list. During this time, I wrote a few short stories here and there, but never took the time to focus on another novel. I wrote a few chapters, titled the projects, and even created covers for them for my book vision board. But, there never seemed to be enough time to focus on a full-length project. As I reflected on this reality, I came to the conclusion that I needed to invest more in myself. To this end, I picked up Become A Successful Author by Deatri King-Bey. While there were many takeaways from this book, the one that registered most with me was her belief that “…all authors should pursue traditional and self-publishing.”

Aside from a short story that was published in an anthology (1998) by Painted Leaf Press, I’d never submitted for traditional publishing. I realized there was no time like the present. So, for almost a month, I worked with my gal pal, Michelle “Big Body” Cuttino, on my submission package (query, synopsis, and sample chapters). I also connected with an outside consultant who had a database of agents and publishers who agreed to receive e-query proposals. The desired format was very specific. My package was assembled and sent to me for final review. I had my mentor look it over, and she gave great advice. I made more changes, and my query was finally ready for submission…

The consultant advised that many of the responses would be form emails saying the query was not right for their office. He cautioned me to not to get discouraged by these emails as they likely hadn’t read the query, but said no based simply on the genre or word count. He went on to say that I would not receive responses from all the agents as most did not have the ability to respond to every e-query, not even with a form email. Lastly, he advised I would likely receive the bulk of my responses the first week, with others coming in for up to two months. The goal was to have about half a dozen agents who wanted to learn more about my book.

As he predicted, responses began rolling in immediately:

“Not for me-thanks anyway.”

“Thanks, but I’m not the right agent for this.”

“Thanks for the query. I’m sorry but I’m overwhelmed with submissions and this didn’t pique my interest enough to add to my stack of manuscripts. Good luck to you.”

“Thank you for your query, but I’m afraid this project just isn’t right for my list at this time. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but others will surely feel differently and I certainly wish you every success in finding the right agent and publisher for your work.”

“Thank you for your letter. From your description, I don’t believe I’d be the right agent for this project. I’m sorry to have to pass on the opportunity to read your work, and wish you the best of luck. Sincere apologies for not being able to answer more personally; given the volume of queries, it is simply not possible.”

“Thank you so much for querying me and giving me the opportunity to consider your material. I’m afraid, though, that after reading your letter, I just didn’t feel strongly enough to ask for more, and I firmly believe every writer needs an agent who is passionate about his or her work.

Much of this boils down to personal preference, so please bear in mind that what isn’t right for me might be right for another agent. I encourage you to continue querying and working on your next book. I wish you the best of luck and much success with your writing career.”

“Thank you for thinking of me, but I am not a good fit for this.”

“It’s a pass for all of us here, but we do appreciate being included.”

“Not for our market, sorry.”

“Thank you for your query. Having considered it carefully, we have decided that your project is not the right fit for [us], and so we are going to pass at this time. Tastes and specializations vary widely from agent to agent, and another agency may well feel differently. Thank you for thinking of our agency, and we wish you the best of luck in your search for representation.”

“Thank you for letting me review your query. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that we are the appropriate agents to represent this material. In this very competitive market, we are simply not enthusiastic enough about our ability to sell this work to offer you representation. We wish you the best of luck placing this successfully. Thank you, once again, for letting us consider it.”

“Thank you for thinking of me with your query for JUST TRYIN’ TO BE LOVED. While this sounds like a strong project, I’m afraid it doesn’t strike me as a likely fit with me and my particular editorial contacts. I wish you well in finding the right agent for your work.”

Despite all the rejections, I remained positive. It’s important to have thick skin as an author. Always ask yourself if a criticism came from someone to whom you should listen. Whether you agree or disagree, look for ways to learn from what they said. If there’s nothing to learn, discard it. Move on!

Just as quickly as the rejections came in, there came a glimmer of hope:

“Thank you for your interest in our agency. Per [our] guidelines, please send the first ten pages of your manuscript, along with the original query, to this email address with both embedded in the body of the message. Please note that we do not open attachments.”

“Thanks for your recent query, which Jane passed along to me. I’d be happy to take a look at your manuscript. Kindly send it along for my prompt review. A Word attachment is most preferable if possible.”

“We would be happy to read something if you would like to email it to submissions@…… for my attention. Many thanks.”

I didn’t know how to respond. I wanted to make sure I put my best foot forward and not ruin my chances. The consultant said, “Just respond politely with whatever they ask for. They are regular people, only extremely busy. So try and give them exactly what they ask for, exactly the way they ask for it. Do not respond to the nos, you don’t have to worry about them.” Easy enough, right?

So…I responded…I think I’ll read Characters Make Your Story by Maren Elwood while I wait. I’ll keep you posted!

J’son M. Lee (Editor)

See you at www.sweetgeorgiapress.com

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $8.99(print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

Romance Slam Jam 2014 by J’son M. Lee

This year marked the 19th anniversary of Romance Slam Jam. Emma Rodgers, Ashira Tosihwe, and the late Francis Ray founded Romance Slam Jam in 1995 in Dallas, Texas. Their goal was to bring writers and readers together to celebrate Black love—and that’s what happened!

This year’s Slam was held in New Orleans, LA, from May 7 – 11. All conference activities were held at the Hilton New Orleans Airport, located in the suburb of Kenner, LA. With clean, comfortable rooms, a quaint courtyard, several onsite eateries, and ample meeting facilities, the hotel was the perfect venue.

The theme of this year’s Slam was Romancing the Big Easy. Since this was my first Slam, I decided to attend the “First Timers to RSJ” workshop, facilitated by Toni Bonita Robinson. Ms. Robinson described the event as a family reunion of sorts where the focus was love. I immediately felt at home.

Romance Slam Jam offered a series of intimate workshops for both writers and readers. There was something for everyone. Since my focus was continuing education to help hone my craft, I migrated towards the writer workshops facilitated by literary greats like Deatri King-Bey (Point of View), Patricia Sargeant (Plotting), Norwood Holland (Crowdfunding), Seressia Glass (The Art of Writing Novellas), Sheila Goss, and CEO of Smashwords, Mark Coker (Ebook publishing, etc.). If that were not enough, I also had the pleasure of meeting two of the premier storytellers of our time—Beverly Jenkins and Evelyn Palfrey. As were the other facilitators, they were gracious and asked that I reach out to them if I had any questions.

While there was a lot of work (if you want to call learning work), there was also a lot of time allotted for fun. Lunch breaks were leisurely and allowed you to bond with new and old friends. The author panels afforded you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pick the brains of some of your favorite authors. The keynote luncheon speaker, Author Angie Daniels, was funny and inspirational. Lastly, the night out in the Big Easy, was a wet one, but traversing the flooded streets with new friends made it all worthwhile.

The Slam came to a close with the Emma Awards banquet. The Emma Awards is one of the preeminent awards event for readers and authors of Black romance. I was happy for all of the winners, but I cheered the most when my friend and mentor, Deatri King-Bey took home the award for Heroine of the Year (Isis Michaels in The Only Option). The organizers took us out in true New Orleans style. The second line consisted of readers and writers alike. They danced, cheered and twirled their handkerchiefs in the air.

If you are a lover of romance, or just looking to network with people who enjoy a good read, Romance Slam Jam is the event for you. Organized and professional, this event surpassed my expectations. Authors, if you’re seriously interested in honing your craft and truly connecting with readers, please consider attending Romance Slam Jam 2015 in Irving, TX (March 26 – 29). “This isn’t a conference to sell books,” says Deatri King-Bey. This event was about building a lasting network of friends and supporters— this event was truly about love!

J’son M. Lee (Editor)

See you at www.sweetgeorgiapress.com

If you found this post helpful, please use the SHARE buttons to help your fellow authors.

Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $8.99(print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

The Power of Consistency By W. Terry Whalin

W. Terry Whalin

If you want to get your writing published, are you consistently working at that goal? From interviewing more than 150 bestselling author, many authors set a specific word count they want to produce in a day or a week. With this goal firmly in place, they sit in their chair and put their fingers on the keyboard and crank out words toward their goal. There is immense power in working toward a goal on a consistent basis.

If you want to write a novel, then you need to be writing ___ words a day consistently for __ days to achieve this goal.

If you want to be published in magazines, then you need to be writing query letters to editors and pitching your ideas on a regular basis. Then when an editor gives you the assignment, you consistently write excellent material and return it on their deadline.

If you want to write a nonfiction book, then you need to create a riveting proposal which captures the attention of literary agents or editors. A good proposal isn’t created in a single session but takes time and energy to craft one.

If you want to build your social media presence in the marketplace, then you need to consistently work at growing your Facebook friends or increasing your twitter followers. I’ve written about my methods to do this in the past. It is one of the reasons that in the past month I’ve gone over 100,000 twitter followers.I’ve worked at this goal on a regular basis.

Besides working to increase my numbers, I’m also delivering good content to my twitter followers and my Facebook friends and my LinkedIn connections.

At a recent writers conference, I met with a writer who thanked me for the good content that I put on my twitter feed. She had noticed that it was consistently worth reading. I appreciated this feedback. It is true that I do not spend a great deal of time on what I post on twitter—but I am consistent. It’s why I’ve tweeted over 18,000 times since the summer of 2008. There is power in consistency.

If you want to be selling your book to people and having them talk about it, then you need to be consistently working to build a larger audience and get in front of people and the media. Whatever your goal, I encourage you to follow what Jack Canfield calls The Rule of Five. In this short video (less than two minutes), Jack explains the rule and how it will help you tap into the power of consistency to accomplish your goals and dreams.

Consistency doesn’t have to take a lot of time but the results will add up for you. Eventually you will achieve your goals if you take regular and consistent action.

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________________________________________

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Irvine, California. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. To help writers, he has created 12-lesson online course called Write A Book Proposal. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com.

Notes from AwesomeCon DC 2014 by Cerece Rennie Murphy

The Set-Up

– An artist/small press table for AwesomeCon this year was $290. The fee included one skirted table and 2 chairs. The Convention ran from Friday afternoon through Sunday with a reported attendance of 40k people.

– Though the coordinators seemed somewhat disorganized prior to the event, once everything was underway, things ran pretty smoothly and I was impressed with the level of customer service that was offered to vendors.

– The table vs booth distinction was an issue. I thought I paid for a booth, but got a table when I arrived. Fortunately, I had my new retractable banners so set-up was much easier. I highly recommend these if anyone is considering what items to invest in for a show. Unfortunately, I had no room for my RIB rack, so I just bought the books with me and was able to talk about quite a few RIB authors. My list of POC speculative fiction writers came in handy as well.

– The convention was small enough to have just 1 person (me) at my table for both Friday and Sunday, but Saturday, I got help from my mother.

Results

– 94 books sold in 2 ½ days, which I think is pretty good considering that this was the smallest Con I’ve done to-date.

– Had 2 impromptu interviews and made a few connections that I am looking forward to exploring

– I paid $120 for electricity, mostly to power my TV where I play my book trailer as part of my display. But unlike in bigger Cons where you are really fighting for attention, I don’t think I needed it for this event. Next year, I will save the expense.

– The “2 for $20” pitch continues to be a powerful tool. Including some swag also helps to make people feel like they are really getting a great deal for their money. I am still giving away the reusable bags and/or Order of the Seers posters with each book purchase.

Conclusion

– This was definitely a successful event for me and I will be back next year (unless they schedule the event during Easter weekend again!)

– Even if you don’t know someone you can stay with in the DC/MD/VA area, you can find cheap enough accommodations in DC that might allow you to a least breakeven, while increasing your book exposure. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Deatri King-Bey

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Author Interview Prep by Kisha Green

Let’s start with the basics. If you are interested in being featured on a radio show or on a website and etc., first contact the person who is in charge of that and send them your electronic press kit (EPK). This should include but not limited to;

Book Cover jpeg
Synopsis
Page Count
Genre
Distribution Information
Publisher
Author/ Publisher website
Book Reviews
Author Bio

The same check list applies if you are contacting a bookstore about carrying your book but also include flyers and bookmarks (if possible visit the store and deliver your information personally so the owner can get a face with the name/book).

After sending your press kits, wait about a week and then follow up. Do NOT harass anyone asking them “Did they get it yet?” that is annoying and you do not want to get on anyone’s nerves and you haven’t even got the confirmation that you will be interviewed or featured.

Make sure you are in a quiet place when time to do your radio interview. Pay attention to the host but try to relax because listeners will be able to pick up on you being nervous. You do not want dead air or a lot of pauses so make sure you can answer the basics about yourself and your book. Do not try to sound scripted but you do want to appear you know what you are talking about. If it is a written interview, make sure you answer all of the questions thoroughly.

Just like your book is a direct reflection of you, so is your interview.

Good Luck!

Kisha Green

Kisha Green is a Author/Publisher who has a passion for writing and sharing her witty personality with many through social media. For more info about Kisha, visit her website www.divabooksinconline.com and you can also follow her on Twitter @KishaGreen

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A Look Into BookBub by Bettye Griffin

Secrets and Sins The days of simply uploading a book to the various online retail sites and having people download it are over. Now, with thousands of new titles being released each week, it’s all about discoverability. How to get your book noticed in a sea of literature?

Prolific author Kristin Kathryn Rusch recently wrote a series of articles on her blog about this topic that you might want to check out. They are lengthy, but quite informative.

Advertising is one logical answer to this dilemma, and just about the best way to get the word out about your book is by advertising on BookBub. These people have somehow managed to amass huge numbers of subscribers (the more subscribers, the higher their fees) who receive emails 365 days a year listing bargain books in multiple categories (mystery and contemporary romance being the most popular, but also including thrillers, action, women’s fiction, literary, nonfiction and others).

Advertising on BookBub is not cheap, but there’s no denying its effectiveness. I first heard about this service in April 2013 through an article at author D.D. Scott’s (now inactive) blog. I immediately subscribed and did some monitoring of how advertised contemporary romance books fared. They way they shot up the rankings impressed me, but I had reservations about how my book would do in what I suspected was a majority Caucasian marketplace. Ultimately I decided to go for it (after expressing these doubts and being encouraged by others on the blog), and I submitted a request to feature my romantic comedy Accidentally Yours as a free offering (yes, you pay them handsomely to advertise, but http://thewritersguidetoepublishing.com/do-bookbub-ads-work-to-find-new-readersd they have to accept you, which struck me as downright nutty…but one reason their advertising is so successful is that they strive to offer high-quality books).

I was approved, but due to personal travel plans, did not set my date until early June, to give myself plenty of time to get both the book file and its pricing in order. I was thrilled when Accidentally Yours went to #1 in the entire Free Kindle Store. Better still, sales of my other books experienced a nice bump, obviously from readers who enjoyed reading this freebie (I made sure to upload a new version that included brief excerpts from a few of my other titles).

The same thing happened when I did my second BookBub promotion for A Love of Her Own in September, although the sales of paid titles didn’t get as high as the first time. That was about the time the market was starting to get glutted, but I did well enough to make a profit from my ad, and the title I included an intriguing excerpt from in the freebie shot back onto the Top 100 some eighteen months after its original publication.

Here are some recommendations I’d make in regard to using BookBub:

Don’t even consider doing it unless you have at least three eBooks published, preferably more. You want to have more product to offer people than the one discounted or free title.
I have yet to be turned down for an ad, and I understand that the main reasons for rejection are length (BookBub does not advertise novellas or short stories), quality (I’m not sure just how they make this determination to what’s behind those covers, but it’s listed as a requirement on their site), and a professional presentation (in other words, your cover shouldn’t look like you put it together yourself at your kitchen table unless you’re a design professional or are truly gifted in that area). While there is no minimum number of reviews required, a book with five reviews with three or four of them 3 stars or below will not likely be accepted, whether those reviews are truly deserved or not, i.e., someone giving you a low ranking because of downloading.
Use an older title, particularly if you’re doing a freebie. I personally don’t like slashing the price on an eBook less than two years old; I don’t think it’s fair to readers who paid full price.
The first book of a series works well to spur sales of the remaining titles in the series…just make sure that readers know it’s a series.
Pay close attention to your front and back matter. Two suggestions I like are to include the book’s description in the front, right after the copyright page, to remind the reader of the plot (suggested by J.A. Konrath) and to include a listing of your other books in the front (suggested by Deatri King-Bey right here at Become a Successful author) with purchase links, of course (I used to provide Amazon links in the Kindle file and Barnes & Noble links with the Nook file, but now I simply link to my eStore, which has both, as well as links to purchase directly from my eStore at a cheaper price. I also like to include a brief note to the reader with a link to whatever excerpts I’ve included (which are also in the table of contents). Every piece of front matter should be absolutely necessary; you don’t want the reader to have to thumb through (or the electronic equivalent of) pages and pages before getting to the actual start of the book. All the other stuff can go in the back matter.
As I mentioned above, BookBub’s rates are pretty hefty. It bases its prices (which are increased regularly as their subscriber lists continue to grow) on both the number of subscribers in the desired category and your sale price. A free book is cheaper than a 99-cent book, which in turn is cheaper than a $1.99 book.
I personally feel it’s better to pay more for a 99-cent listing than to do a freebie, and to maximize earnings, consider enrolling in Kindle Select (a must if you plan on offering a free book) and subsequently in the Countdown program running simultaneously with your promotion, which will still net you the 70% royalty rate even for a 99-cent book.
With regard to pricing, BookBub recently introduced an African-American category. This is virtually the same as being segregated from the general book population in bookstores in the African-American section, but the rates are very affordable because of the smaller number of subscribers (50K vs. nearly 700K for contemporary romance and over 500K for women’s fiction), which makes it worth considering. If you like the results, you can always run another ad (but not within six months if it’s for the same book) and put it in a more broader category (BookBub retains the right to make a final determination about your chosen category).
Put your best work forward. You might want to do a complete read-through of your work and upload a new file if necessary. Some avid readers will snap up everything under $1, whether it’s their preferred category or not, read them, and can be very critical. When I advertised A Love of Her Own , some readers complained about a continuity error that hadn’t been caught in the original Kensington print copy (because editors aren’t perfect). I went in and corrected it and uploaded a new version, and reviews after that have mostly been positive. If you seek universal adoration or are in the habit of replying to negative reviews (something I strongly advise against doing, no matter what the circumstances), BookBub probably isn’t for you. It’s reading reviews or emails from people who say they are buying my other books after having read the sale or free book that make it worthwhile, at least for me.

Happy Sales to You!

Bettye Griffin

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Build OFFLINE Relationships with Readers! by Deatri King-Bey

The other day one of my new mentees asked me why I attend reader events when most readers want eBooks now days and you can promote your books online for free. First off, print books have more sells than electronic, but that’s neither her or there. Secondly, time is money. So the hours of time she spends chasing down readers should be calculated into her marketing cost. What worried me is my she thought there was no need to meet the readers in person anymore. She told me she doesn’t waste time with conferences because she won’t make the money back in sells. Soooo, I decided it’s time to write an article about why you should meet the readers.

In a few weeks, I’m headed to the Romance Slam Jam—the place for readers and authors of Black romance to meet. I’ve been attending this annual even over ten years. I originally attended as a reader of Black romance, then became an aspiring author and finally a published author of Black romance. I attend reader events quite often, because I am a reader, but this is the only conference that I attend regularly as an author. Readers read all year around. So by the time the conference comes around, the regulars already have my books, thus I don’t sell many books at the conferences. So why continue to go?

Because this is my way of saying “Thank you for investing in me over the years and your continued support. The least I can do is spend a few days to hang with you.” You’d be shocked at how much readers appreciate authors not just being in sell mode. How much they appreciate you taking a little time to talk about what they love to read—your genre books. They want to see you as more than the author who just shows up when they have a new release saying, “Buy my book.”
Because this is where a large group of my target audience meets each year with the purpose of talking about what I write. Yes, having people travel across the country or even across town who want what you have to offer is a good thing. They are there for your genre, not to weed through Facebook and other social media to happen upon a post you made.
I choose to attend one conference in my genre regularly because I want to get to know that set of attendees and the new attendees each year. Building relationships with readers and others in the business (offline) is a good thing. If you are a new author (new to the reader) they are more willing to give your work a try if they know you. If they already know and like your work, they are more likely to spread the word about your work if they know you personally.
My opt-in mailing list grows every time I attend a reader event for my genre. The opt-in mailing list is your most powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. Unlike social media where they control when and who gets to see your promos and post, you own your opt-in list. It’s like I say, don’t keep all your eggs in one basket. Especially a basket someone else owns (social media).
Speaking with others in the publishing business in person, learning from each other. Getting leads. Giving pitches. Taking workshops… As an author, you should invest in your business. This means networking, learning the craft and the business. Conferences and reader events are great places to do all of these.

So do I get a good return on investment by attending this yearly conference? Yes I do. I get an outstanding return on investment. Not from the books I sell at the conference, which will be minimal, but from the connections I’ve made. Because of those connections, when I have new releases, I have a pretty sizable base that purchases my books and spreads the word about them. This base took years to cultivate and is ever growing. Many of my readers promote my titles not only because they like the book, but because they’ve gotten to know me as more than that chick on Facebook who starts to pop in a few weeks before she has a new release.

Now get out there and find a conference that focuses on your genre. You want readers who are there for what you have to offer! Can’t afford to travel, use the good ol’ Internet and find something local.

Deatri King-Bey

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $9.99 (print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

My Steps to Being Reborn as a Writer by Stacy-Deanne

I blasted into 2014 with a vengeance and that was my plan. I had some professional shakeups in 2013 but it was all for the better and I looked forward to moving on. I wanted to share what I am doing personally and the changes I’ve made to become reborn as a writer. Some are minor, some major, but all of them are changes I needed to make to become the best writer (and person) I can be.

These are not guidelines or tips anyone has to follow, but I’m simply sharing what I’m doing and how I’ve changed things for myself so that others might find inspiration. Remember, we all have our own paths to take, but it can be so rewarding to take a step back and implement changes. It can bring happiness and fulfillment for not just writers but people in general.

Below are things I am doing now that contribute to my rebirth:

Gearing up Production

I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions but mine for 2014 was production and so far I am living up to my goal. Since late 2013, I’ve completed eight books. All of these are novellas of around 25,000-30,000 words. These books are in two different series. So far, two of these have been released and the rest will come out in upcoming months. At the rate things are going, I will have a new release around every month or every two months depending on the publishers’ scheduling. I’m a writing machine. I always took writing seriously, but I am even more committed to it now than before. One thing that’s helped me is outlining. I used to always write down scenes for my stories but now I outline my work from beginning to end before it’s written. That saves me writing time as well as editing time. The more I outline, the faster I finish books. I love it and I know this will all pay off.

Minimizing Promotion

I used to kill myself promoting my books, but after years of doing that I realize promotion (from authors) is overrated. The trick is not how much promotion but what type of promotion. You can do all the promotion in the world, but you can’t force people to buy your work even when you do all the right things. I’ve learned (and been told by a few NYT bestselling authors) that writing more books is how you capture and keep your audience. It seems like authors forget that writing is the most important thing, not sitting on a social network all day. Times have changed since Facebook and Twitter became popular. There are so many authors trying to promote online that voices get lost. These days I do the most effective but minimal promotion I can do because the best promotion is creating new books!

Ditching Facebook

I’ve been pulling away from FB for a while but now I’m done with it for good. I am still on there but I only plan to pop on to share info about new releases. I don’t plan to socialize or hang out there anymore. Facebook used to be a fun place but there are too many negatives in my opinion. I’m a positive person and I always try to be, but lately FB has been the devil to me. I find myself feeling anxious, jealous, or depressed when I get on there. I also don’t like the clique environment that’s rampant in the writing circles, especially in many of the book groups. There is always some hostility or drama on Facebook and that’s not what I like to be around. FB was screwing up my outlook, psyche, and it just wasn’t worth it. The funny thing is that many of my author friends have pulled away and only pop on once-in-a-while too. I see why. When something is causing negative thoughts or not fulfilling you then I feel like it’s time to move on. I want to concentrate on things that benefit me and FB doesn’t do that.

Writing for Digital Presses

I’ve started writing for digital romance presses and I am really enjoying the experience. I’m pleased with the houses I’m working with right now, and going from print houses to e-publishers has been great for my workload. I need a publisher that can keep up with me because I write fast. Another thing I like about digital presses is that you are only contracted to one book or series. They don’t hold you to any rights grabs of any other work so you can sub to as many houses as you want and have multiple books with several places. These days, authors should not have their eggs in one basket.

Stop Worrying About Sales and Rankings

This is about the worst and most unproductive thing a writer can do so I no longer do it. My plan is to check every once in a while, but not all the time. Hanging on to every sale or watching your ranking or trying to see how many reviews you have is COUNTERPRODUCTIVE. It doesn’t matter! Sitting there watching these things will make you depressed and angry then you won’t want to write. My advice to all those obsessive authors (which is most of us) who do this, stop. Don’t even pay it any attention. Focus on writing which is something you can control.

Well, these are some of the steps I’m taking on my rebirth journey. I feel more alive than I have in a while. I feel like I did when I first started writing professionally years ago. I don’t know how things are going in everyone’s world but if any of the things I’ve shared today have brought you some insight, I’m glad.

Happy Writing!

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $9.99 (print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

Look Before You Send, Stop The Multiple Submissions By W. Terry Whalin

In the magazine world, it is common to simultaneously submit your query to a number of different magazines. Each publication is different and sometimes an editor will want a 500 word article while others will request a 1500 word article. As the writer, you can create two distinct articles to meet these needs.

In the world of books, simultaneous or multiple submissions are also common. Literary agents and editors are notoriously slow to respond to submissions because of the high volume. I often tell people that being an acquisitions editor is like trying to drink water from a fire hose. I read a high volume of material every day yet I’m actively looking for great writing to publish. The practice of multiple submissions is accepted throughout the publishing world.

So what multiple submissions do I want you to stop?

An author sent me his manuscript last week and then almost immediately sent another email saying to delete that one and he was sending the right manuscript. A few hours later, this same author sent another email saying that he wasn’t going to get it done today but it was coming tomorrow. Then that day, he wrote saying it would be the next day. Yes the chain went on until he sent and resent his submission several times. I want you to stop these types of multiple submissions. In fact, an author should never send such a submission in the first place. It makes a poor impression on the editor and you have no regard for how that submission comes across to the editor or agent.

Here’s the reality: we receive hundreds of emails in a single day. The back and forth actions—send and withdraw from an author do not help you feel good about the submission in the first place.

Another type of multiple submission that I receive are half-baked ideas from authors. They write asking me to look over their proposal or idea to see if they are on the right track. Maybe these authors have corresponded with me or met me at a writers conference and feel like I’m approachable (something I want and encourage). Yet I do not run a critique service or editing service. I’m actively looking for great manuscripts to publish. I want to get so excited about your material that I promote it to my colleagues and get you a book contract from a New York publishing house. I can’t do this authentically if you have sent your material on multiple occasions.

A third type of multiple submission is what I call the “multiple download.” Rather than send a query, this author put all of his files to submit into PDF, which end up being larger than document files. Then he “zipped” them into three different emails and submitted them 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3. Talk about a time suck to simply download and read them! Guess what type of impression this author made about his submission?

Remember the key saying when it comes to submissions and approaching literary agents or acquisitions editors: you only have one chance to make a good first impression. Yes I underlined one chance in that last sentence.

Many authors presume they will be the exception to the rule (choose whatever rule you want to choose). I’ve learned that most of us will need to carefully follow the different rules before we ever get a chance to be one of the few exceptions.

Instead of assuming your submission will be the exception, I encourage you to polish your proposal with a critique group or a professional editor—before you send it to an agent or editor. You want your submission to have the best possible chance of acceptance. At Morgan James Publishing, we receive over 5,000 submissions a year and only publish about 150 books (less than three percent of the submissions).

I want to encourage you to submit your material. Many authors fail because they do not persist to find the right editor or the right agent or the right publishing house. They get rejected or have self-doubts so they never submit their material.

Opportunity is all around us and as a proactive writer, you have to be on the move to locate the right connection. Just take a slight pause before you fire off that multiple submission to the same editor. It will make a lasting impression—and not the type of impression you want to make on a publishing professional.

________________________________________

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $9.99 (print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

Increase Your Sales Numbers by Deatri King-Bey

I write because the characters in my head will drive me crazy if I don’t. As I like to say, I put my psychosis to work. I enjoy writing and love sharing my stories with readers. That’s the artistic side of me. I sell my titles to make money. I know a lot of authors who say they aren’t in it for the money. Granted, that’s not the only reason I’m in the business, but if making money weren’t part of it, I wouldn’t charge for my titles.

There are no quick fixes, and overnight success is luck that most of us don’t have, so take steps to increase your sells. Below are a few tips to help you along your way.

Plan For Success: No groaning. It takes time, but proper planning will save you time and money while increasing your sells. Set measurable goals and strategies to reach them. Work your plan and make adjustments where needed. Don’t know how to set goals? Here’s a little help: Creating S.M.A.R.T Goals that you can apply to creating your plan. Here’s an article I wrote a while back that shows planning in action: Proper Planning Testimony: A Key To Publishing Success.

Invest In A Successful Outcome: If you are not willing to invest in your product, why should your customers? Learn the craft and strive to make each novel better than the previous. You can not edit your own book and expect it to be the best it can be. Pay for professional editing (developmental, copy and proof reading—a different editor for each type of editing). If you can’t create professional quality covers, then hire someone to do it for you. The same goes for the other steps in the production process.

Use Your Prime Realty: How many of you include a list of your titles in your novels? I know numerous authors who do, but they put that list at the back of the book. Many readers do not continue reading to see what’s included after the novel ends. Move that list to the front matter. I experimented with this, and sells of my backlist drop when I place that list at the back of the book.

Same goes with your website. You should have a product page for each of your titles AND a page that list purchase information on all of your titles. I can’t tell you how many authors’ pages I’ve gone to that don’t have product pages or it’s hard to find the product pages for their older titles. Your website is your personal showroom.

Make It Easy For Readers To Buy Your Books: I make a few thousand in sells on Barnes & Noble a year. Nowhere near as much as I make on Amazon, but I’ll take it. One of the reasons I do okay on Barnes & Noble is I make it just as easy for readers to by my Nook titles as I do my Kindle titles. I’m shocked at how many authors only place their Amazon link or say “Available on Amazon” then forget about the other online sellers. I know numerous users of devices other than Kindle who ignore post that only say Amazon or Kindle because they figure the author must be a part of that KDP Select program where they have given Amazon exclusivity.

Work Smarter Not Harder: Direct your marketing/promo for readers in your target audience. I manage and belong to several genre specific, online readers groups. It amazes me how many authors come into the groups and post promos that do not belong to the groups’ genres. Many groups have begun blocking authors for continual promotion and promoting non-genre titles. You do not want to become a pain in the butt to readers.

Instead of joining every group that allows authors of your genre to promote, pick a few and actually participate in them. You’ll get a much higher return on your investment (more sells) than if you just pop in to promote your titles and it will take less time. That includes participating a few weeks before your book comes out, then promoting your book and disappearing. Yes, many readers pay attention to that type of thing.

Stop Spreading Yourself Too Thin: It seems like every few months there is a new type of social media out there you can use to promote. Do you know which is the best social media site to use? The one you utilize to its full extent. Each one has its own flavor. Pick the one that you like best, then focus your energy on building your fan base through that site. Once you are comfortable, if you have time, then expand to a second. Remember, each of the major social media hubs have millions of readers for you. You don’t have to be everywhere. Get the millions from the hub you find works best for you, then expand.

Cross Promote: Work with authors in your genre to cross promote. I don’t know of any reader who says they only read one author’s work, but I know many who say they only read one genre. Stop competing with each other. Readers read. Even if they don’t purchase your book today, if they want it, they will buy it.

Cross promotion is as simple as posting in social media when an author has a New Release. Have guest bloggers on your website. Do signings with other authors. Create online groups and web sites with other authors in your genre.

I’m all for cross promotion, but ensure the people you are promoting are interested in releasing as high of quality work as you do.

That’s It
There is no secret or magic behind increasing your sells. Just keep releasing quality products and building your audience. With each title, your base will grow, and you won’t have to work as hard promoting.

Deatri King-Bey

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $9.99 (print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

Five Steps to Connecting with Your Niche Market by Barbara Joe Williams

Niche marketing is the process of concentrating all your marketing efforts on a minor but specific and well-defined segment of the population. In other words, your goal is to be a big fish in a small pond instead of being a small fish in a big pond. With new authors and publishers seeming to appear daily, the publishing industry has definitely turned into an ocean where it’s easy to drown if you’re not connecting with readers.

In this blog, I want to help you understand five important steps for connecting with your niche market by defining your genre, defining your audience, finding your audience, practicing effective ways to reach them, and building lasting relationships with them.

1. Define your genre. The first step in determining your niche market is by defining your specific genre. Knowing what category your writing falls into is the key. Are you a mystery writer or romance novelist? Are your books self-help, historical fiction, or erotica? There are a lot of categories in the publishing industry, it’s up you to decide where you want to fit in. I write African American romance and women’s fiction. However, some of my readers have defined my work as Christian fiction and Urban fiction, and I accept that. On Amazon, you can only list two classifications, so you should decide where you can reach the widest range of readers who match your genre and let them determine how they want to classify your work.

2. Define your audience. Every book will certainly not appeal to every reader. Therefore, knowing exactly who your audience is makes it easier to reach them. If you try marketing to everyone just because they’re a reader, you probably won’t get your books into the hands of those most likely to read them. My first novel, Forgive Us This Day, was about a long-term married African American couple having some problems, but they were determined to stay together or get back together in their case. So I knew that my primary audience would be middle aged, African American women, married or divorced, with children, and mainly southerners since my novel was set in Florida. Did some African American men and Caucasians buy the book? Yes, but my target was AA women.

3. Find your audience. If you think all you have to do is publish a good book and people will automatically buy it, then you should think again. Realistically, it’s up to you to find your readers by putting in the time and effort to see where they spend their quality time. What other websites do they visit? What other interests do they have? This information will help you when you’re ready to advertise your work. Think about it, they can’t find you because they don’t know about you, yet. After my first book was published, I made a list of all the women I knew who fit my criteria and made contact with them (co-workers, former co-workers, friends, close family, distant relatives, etc.) via email or telephone. My goal was simple, if they didn’t buy my book, it would be because they didn’t want to read it, not because they didn’t know about it.

4. Practice effective ways to reach your audience. Now that you have defined your audience and know how to find them, the next step is figure out how to reach them. I visited all the local bookstores/libraries and introduced myself to the store managers/librarians and asked them about specific book clubs in the area. I joined online romance book clubs like SORMAG (Shades of Romance Magazine) and advertised with them. Please note this, if you write Science Fiction, you need to advertise in Sci-Fi magazines, not in romance magazines because you want to reach a wider audience.

Social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter has revived many writing careers. It has also helped many new authors reach more readers by consistently maintaining an online presence and connection. Facebook has a variety of genre specific book clubs like mystery, romance, urban, women’s fiction, historical fiction, poetry, paranormal, and more. Blogging is another way of reaching a specific community that might be interested in your genre. Connecting with other bloggers and being guests on their sites will also help increase your visibility. Another key to being successful at blogging is to having a way of directing prospective readers to your website with intriguing topics. Yes, it’s important to have a website as a base where people can always find you. Be sure to include links to your Facebook and Twitter accounts from there.

5. Build a relationship with your readers. Building a relationship with your readers will sustain you as an author, build your credibility, increase reader loyalty, and ultimately boost your profits. Your readers want to see you as a person, so you’ll have to share some of your personal stories with them in order to create a lasting connection. Show them your uniqueness and what you bring to your genre that’s different from what everyone else is selling. What’s your philosophy of writing? Why do you write in a certain genre? Why should they read your novel? Let your readers know who you are, where you’ll be, and how they can find you and your books online or locally. My favorite way of connecting with local readers will always be through book signings. Not only can they meet me in person, they can buy autographed books, and sign up for my mailing list!

In addition to social media, there are several ways of connecting with potential readers by joining writing groups, attending book conferences, participating in book festivals, and by joining local and online book clubs or groups. The Internet and Facebook are loaded with special reading groups and genre-related book clubs. However, some of them are much livelier than others. You need to find the ones that are active and then become active in them. Don’t try to use the group as a daily billboard for promoting your work, but try posting about books you’ve read to pull in other readers. (This is why it’s importing for writers to be readers. You have to connect with them on their level first, then let them know that you’re an author). The more you participate in online discussions, the more you connect with readers who are actually interested in buying books. And maybe, just maybe, some of them will buy yours when they are published.

In closing, please remember that more than anything, it takes time to connect with your niche market. If you’re in the publishing business for the long haul, take your time, do it right, and readers will be talking about your classic books for years to come.

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $9.99(print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

Writing Basics by Kisha Green

Writing is fun and if you are really good at it, it can be rather lucrative. We all have those dreams of being a best selling author who has their books made into movies.

How do you get your writing to be that great? Well in order to be a great writer one must be a great reader. You know as a reader what makes you smile and what makes you frown.

As the writer your job is the same. While writing you must feel the emotions through the paper just as your character does. The strong emotions conveyed makes for a phenomenal read.

There doesn’t have to be so much detail meaning the type of plush carpet her perfectly manicured toes stepped on as she watched some expensive brand name large flat screen tv. This is where as a writer we must fully understand show versus telling.

What is show versus telling? Well according to Writer’s Digest, in your writing, “it’s easy to “over-share” the minutiae of your story’s background and your characters’ lives when writing a novel”. To write and not have to worry if you are telling too much there is a balance of showing and telling. These are some basic tips that are very useful.

•Be brief. Make sure that all of your “telling” details are actually necessary to advance the plot, either by developing backstory, establishing the mood/tone, or describing the setting.

•Avoid the dreaded “info dump.” Don’t overwhelm your reader with information in your story’s first few pages. Focus on capturing her attention with a compelling character and an interesting situation, then fold in the details as the plot develops.

•Steer clear of cliches. Never start a story with a character waking up and starting his day—unless you want to put your reader to sleep.

Also when writing dialogue the show versus tell rule applies as well. Below is a sample courtesy of World Literary Cafe.

Showing in dialogue

Bad:“I want you to stay inside!” exclaimed Mom angrily as she walked up to her.
“No! I don’t want to,” argued Jenny sarcastically as she smiled coyly. “You can’t make me,” replied Jen calmly.

First, let’s take a look at the redundant and telling (summarizing) dialogue tags. “Exclaimed” isn’t necessary when there’s an exclamation mark. “Replied” is also redundant because it’s clear that she is replying to her. Use “said” instead. The adverbs angrily, sarcastically, and coyly just summarize instead of describing the action that could show the readers.

So if you adhere to the basic rules of writing and strive for writing perfection, it is something that is obtainable through experience. No one is born a fabulous writer. That comes with time but staying on the ball and wanting to master your craft keeps you in the know.

Happy Writing!

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Don’t have a copy of Become A Successful Author? What are you waiting for?Become A Successful Author is used in the “How To Write That Novel” course at Chicago State because it covers everything from branding to writing to editing to formatting and uploading electronic and print books to marketing and so much more. Your time is money. Look at all the time, thus money, you’ll save by ending your search for answers: Purchase Become A Successful Author for only $4.99 (eBook) or $9.99 (print) from: Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble

A Single Letter Makes A Difference by W. Terry Whalin

Do you ever get stuck on a project where it seems to drag on and never get handled?

Yes it happens to me. As an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. The bulk of my day is involved answering emails and spending time on the phone with authors about their book projects. I’m working with many different types of authors at different stages in the process for their books. It’s a lot of fun and interesting work on a wide variety of types of books for different audiences. If you want to know more detail, I encourage you to hear my recent radio interview where I spoke about the details.

In the middle of my acquisitions work, I have my own book projects and on-going effort to tell people about Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. Originally I released this book several years ago and published it through my small press, WTW Press.

While I have continued to promote my book and teach on the topic, the actual book needed updating in several areas:

—first, I changed companies and moved from Arizona almost two years ago. The Arizona information in the book was outdated.

—several of the resources in the book needed to be changed. Some websites that I wrote about years ago aren’t functioning any longer. Change is a constant part of the publishing world.

—Morgan James offered to publish the book and get it out to a broader audience and in many different formats including all of the various types of Ebooks and an audio version of the book. Morgan James is selling their books into 98% of the bookstores in North America including the brick and mortar bookstores.

About a year ago, I signed a contract with Morgan James for this revision. It was exciting. My challenge was finding the time to make the necessary corrections. This sort of time crunch is what almost every writer faces. I went through one round of changes with the designer last March. Yes, it was almost a year ago. I printed my book and carried it to many different places around the country—but never got it handled—until the final portion of December.

Why did I find time during the holidays? Morgan James shuts their offices the last two weeks of the year. While I did answer some email during that time, my correspondence dwindled so I could focus on some other things—like my own writing.

I carefully read through each page of Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. Imagine my horror when I reached page 237 and this section, “Most people outside of the publishing community assume they will make money writing books, but the publishing numbers present a different story. Less than 90 percent of nonfiction books ever earn back their advance.”

OK, bear with me for a minute because the last sentence of that paragraph did not say what I wanted it to say. What the revised version says is “More than 90 percent of nonfiction books never earn back their advance.” Yes that is the reality that only 10% of nonfiction books earn their advance.

This change was just one of a number of important changes that happened in the revision process. Also the pagination for the book changed so the index for the book was completely overhauled in this updated version.

I’m excited about the information in this book and how it is helping writers. I continue to promote the material and speak on it. Also next month (March 21^st and 22^nd) I will be in Spokane, Washington teaching at the Inland Northwest Christian Writers Conference. I hope to see you at one of these events. I’m working on more speaking events later this year and you can always see my speaking schedule at this location.

And if you can’t get to a writers’ conference where we connect in person, then I encourage you to pick up a copy of Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and begin to study it and apply it to your writing life.

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