Using Pinterest as an Author Platform - Thursdays with the Author

Pinterest

One word and you're already expecting to get lost pinning hundreds of ideas for hours at a time. 

It's that addicting. 

So why aren't more authors using it?

Maybe because they're getting just as lost as the average pinner?

Pinterest has exploded in the last five years and doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon. Crafters, moms, wedding planners, DIYers, designers, artists, and even authors, are using the site as a mecca for ideas. Even other social media sites are being used for pins. Just check out my Fan Canon folder and see all the Harry Potter fan canons being pinned from Tumblr. Pins can be seen all over Facebook and Twitter. Most websites now give the option to pin what you've just looked at.

There are over 72 million people that use Pinterest. 72 MILLION. That's a lot of people you could be reaching by using Pinterest as an author platform.

So how do you use it as an author platform?

1) Have Your Author Pinterest Account Separate From Your Personal One.
You've seen this before in my How Social Media Can Help You Become A Better Writer post. On ANY social media site, your personal page and author page should be completely separate. Business vs private. Your readers, your customers, do not want to see your personal drama splashed on every corner of the Internet. It works the same for your author Pinterest account. Avoid the personal pinning: recipes to try, DIY ideas, wedding planning. Unless it directly relates to something you're currently working on, don't pin it. If it is related to what you're working on, separate your pins into boards that make it obvious to your readers...

2) Label Your Boards. Your books, your social media links/contacts, writing tips you want to share, motivation, books you read, authors you recommend, story inspiration, etc. When you create each board and the pins to go in them, remember that your readers and followers will be basing who you are as an author on what you are putting on your page. I have boards titled: My Books, Contact the Author, Writer's Ramblings Blog, Guest Blog Posts, Who Would Play My Characters, Writing Blogs and Websites, Marketing Tips, Writing Tips, Motivation, Publishing Tips, and so much more. Each Board has tons of pins on the topic that I, and other authors, can use to become better at our profession.
Side note: Make sure your board cover photo is a good one. You want something easily read and understood as the first thing someone sees on your boards.

3) Organize Your Boards

This is important. There needs to be some type of method to your madness. Your first boards should be about you as an author. The books you have out (pin links to your sales pages), how to contact you, your blog (if you have one, and you should). The next ones should be about writing as a profession: marketing, publishing, writing, motivation, etc. Next: You as a person. What makes you tic? What are your likes and dislikes? Favorite books, quotes, movies, etc. Readers want to know more about you as well as read your books. Next: Story inspirations. Character inspiration, story inspiration, recipes, art, etc. I have boards for Historical Research, Historical Scottish Research, and All Things Irish. IE: Things I write about often.

4) Make The 'About You' section short but memorable. 

Like Twitter, you only get so many words to describe who you are. 'I'm an author' is not enough to hold anybody's attention. Here's mine: I'm an author, wife, mother, blogger, pinning addict, wannabe Betty Crocker, 'zookeeper', and avid reader from Illinois.

5) 'Clean' Your Pins Often
Everybody hates repetition. And broken links. Check your pins often. Make sure you aren't doubling up, using broken links, or using out-dated information.

6) Make Use Of The 'Private Boards'
Most people use these these for dirty jokes they don't want their mom to see. You can use this for story ideas you don't want to give away, dirty jokes ;), things that have nothing to do with writing, etc. Things that make you look unprofessional as an author, but normal as a person, should go in your private boards.

7) Find and Pin Other Authors
In the author's world, the phrase 'You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.' seems to be an unspoken motto. Writing and publishing, especially in the self-published and indie-published world, is NOT a cut-throat business. Authors will go out of their way to help someone out. Use this to your (and their) advantage. Pin other authors, other author's books, other author's writing tips, other author's blogs, etc. Follow their boards, or their page. You'll find that they'll return the favor AND bring in new readers/fans from their own pages.

8) DO NOT SPAM

I cannot stress the importance of this one enough. Authors, writers, publishers, readers, fans: EVERYONE HATES SPAM. Don't use your Pinterest account as a diving board for jumping on top of everyone. Post your blog, post your books, but LEAVE IT AT THAT. Pinterest isn't going to sell your books for you. But Pinterest CAN sell you as an author, writer, and otherwise, pretty cool person. It will lead back to book sales eventually, but that's not the goal in creating an author platform via Pinterest. Gaining interest in YOU is the goal.

You can check out my Pinterest page here: AuthorAMeredith 


Now that you've got some great tips on using Pinterest as an author platform, get out there and START PINNING! :)

The Publishing Process - Part 2 - Self-Publishing and My Choices - Thursdays with the Author

I was planning on publishing the second part to my Publishing Process post Thursday, but since a majority of the US will be stuck indoors due to heavy snow or severely cold temperatures for the next 5 days, I decided to post early so everyone would have something to help alleviate their 'cabin fever'. So here is Part 2.

The Publishing Process - Part 2 - Self-Publishing and My Choices

My last blog post The Publishing Process - Part 1 focused on the Traditional Route when publishing. I went over all the tips to helping you get your novel picked up by a literary agent and/or publisher. 

But even with those tips, there's no guarantee you will get a YES from anyone. You might not even want to try. And that is perfectly fine. In today's age, self-publishing is exploding onto the scene. Publishing on your own is easier than ever and anyone can do it. 

That is true. But it's also sort of a lie. Yes: anyone can self publish. Should they? Well that's where the lie starts. 

Is self-publishing easy? Sure. But self-publishing and doing a good job of it is not.

Let's start with the first question: Should everyone self-publish? Well they certainly can. But it doesn't mean they should. If you can go the traditional route, if you can get that hard-to-achieve YES from an agent then do it. The marketing, the resources, the money...it's all bigger and probably much better with a traditional publisher. As I stated in Part 1, your book has to be near perfection to even be considered by an agent or publisher and they will STILL change things in it. 

Some authors buck the traditional route because they don't want their hard work being dissected and changed by their publisher. I can understand that. It took me over eight years to write and publish Dark Mountains on my own. It was so wrapped up in my life it would've been like cutting off a limb if they had asked me to change something. 

But another side of that coin is that some authors need their work to be changed. I hope that doesn't sound like I had a perfect work of art and others not so much. Quite the opposite actually. I found quite a few mistakes after I published that I hadn't noticed before. That's another beautiful aspect of self-publishing: you can fix your mistakes and have them updated and live in 24 hours or less. But some self published books that I see available are riddled with mistakes and bad writing. They would've done well to have a publisher edit the life out of it and turn it into a great read.

Some authors buck the traditional route because they get too many NO's. It happens. Even well established, famous authors had rejection after rejection before someone said YES to their work. Instead of trying again and again and hoping the next letter is acceptance instead of rejection, they decided to go their own route and self-publish on their own. 

This was another reason why I chose the self--publishing route with Dark Mountains. I have more rejection letters than I care to count. Some of them were actually personal, with specific reasons why a particular agent said NO, or with advice on how to get a YES out of someone else. But the majority were cookie cutter letters with a polite NO. It could have been my book. It could have been my synopsis (as you read in Part 1, I'm horrible at those). My query letter could have sucked. Maybe I caught all those agents on their bad days. 

So before I completely gave up on the traditional route, I read the letters, took the advice into consideration, worked on my approach, my pitch, my synopsis and resubmitted. Still NO. So I chose to self-publish.

Now I will go into the second question: Is self-publishing easy?
Sure it is. Most self-publishing sites have a meat-grinder submission engine that turns your Word document into an eReading work of art. At least that what they advertise. The reality is, editing, formatting, publishing and marketing your novel isn't as easy as they'd like you to think.

The first problem you'll run into is your novel. 

Your novel? Wait, you mean the masterpiece I have spent months and months perfecting? The manuscript I have poured my entire soul into? 

Yes. Your novel. It's not perfect. If it was perfect, editors wouldn't be needed in publishing houses. Even major-name authors have their work edited and rewritten after submitting it to a publisher. You need to have your manuscript edited... professionally. More than once, preferably. You'll hate seeing all that red ink but trust me, it must be done. You need to have it Beta-read. In case you aren't sure what that means: You need to give your book (for free) to a bunch of people to read and critique/review. Preferably people that know what they're doing. Avid readers, book reviewers, English teachers, etc. Not your mom. Even though your mom is probably a good option as a starting point but face it, she's your mom and she WILL lie to you. If you really want your novel to be great you need to have people read it that will be completely honest with you. Which usually means that family and friends, especially moms, don't count. Even if they're honest, they'll try to sugar-coat it so they don't hurt your feelings. And don't try to tell me they won't hurt your feelings if they are honest with you. You know that's a lie and so do they. This is you BABY we're talking about here. You don't want anyone telling you it isn't good enough. But it's something you need to hear so you can fix what's actually wrong with it. Try your hardest (and I KNOW it's damn near impossible) to look at their critiques objectively. Change what needs to be changed. You don't follow through with every single opinion... (Remember back in my post on November 8 - Handling Negative Feedback?). You can't please everyone. Every person has a different personality and will read your book differently. 

My general rule: if 2 or more people say the same thing, they're probably right.

You don't want to be one of those authors who's reviews and comments are littered with reports of typos, bad grammar, unresolved story-lines, etc. Trust me, if you write a bad book, the readers will let you know about it. Especially if they spent their hard-earned money on your book only to come away disappointed. You want to do EVERYTHING you can to make sure your book is free of the things that readers hate: mistakes.

The second problem you'll run into is choosing which Self-Publishing company to use.

As I mentioned earlier in this post and in Part 1, self-publishing is EXPLODING onto the scene now-a-days. There are hundreds of sites to self-publish with and more pop up every day. Top companies are CreateSpace (print only), Kindle Direct Publishing (eBook), Smashwords, Kobo, iBooks, Lulu, NOOK Press. 

Keep in mind that some companies are easier to use than others. I've had a pretty great experience with Amazon and CreateSpace and have also heard great things about Smashwords. Some companies require exclusive contracts so be sure you read the fine print before you publish with multiple companies. For example: Kindle Direct has a clause when you sign up for Kindle Select (where Select members can borrow your book and you can run free promotions) stating you can't publish an eBook edition with any other company while enrolled in Kindle Select or 90 days after opting out. You can still publish a print version with another company though. 

All companies have different royalty options as well. Some companies have to pay more of the 'middle-man' so you'll get less out of your royalty payments. Some companies charge extra for expanded distribution (having your book available in bookstores, libraries, etc) and some offer it free. 

Just remember, with self-publishing you should NEVER HAVE to pay for ANYTHING. The products that cost should be OPTIONAL (like formatting assistance, editing, cover design, marketing, etc.) If a company is trying to get you to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to get your book published, you are being scammed. Whatever the cost is for production (mostly applies to print editions), it should come out of your chunk of royalty AFTER the sale, not before. For example: With CreateSpace: the CreateSpace store gives you more of a profit because there is one less 'middle-man' but if someone orders your book through Amazon, Amazon will get a chunk out of your money as well. 

So if your 266 page print book will be on sale for US $6.99 and you chose the worldwide 70% royalty option and expanded distribution (which raises the production cost a bit). It would cost aprox. US $6.74 to produce your book so your royalty would be 15 cents through Amazon or US $1.55 through the CreateSpace store. Prices and royalties are also different depending on what country you live in and what country your book is bought from. (And on a side note: PLEASE don't forget that whatever profit you make off your book you HAVE to pay taxes on.) See how confusing that all is? That's why self-publishing is NOT easy.

The third problem you'll run into is formatting. 

Especially if you are publishing an eReader version and print version. The formatting process is COMPLETELY different. For eBooks you need hyperlinks for chapter headings, internet links that actually work, page breaks, etc. For print you need specific gutters and margins, headers and footers (that don't show up on chapter and blank pages), readable fonts, chapter starts on certain pages, page breaks AND section breaks, etc. The meat-grinders on self-publishing sites will format your book for you but 9 times out of 10, something you did in your manuscript will cause an error on the eBook. Most meat-grinders can sort through these mistakes and fix them automatically but I always say: "If you want something done right, do it yourself.". Well I don't ALWAYS say that but I say it sometimes. ;) 

Most self-publishing sites have community forums where you can find out tons of information and ask questions from other users. Doing some research before hitting the publish button will do you a world of good. The companies I chose were Kindle Direct Publishing for my eBook edition and CreateSpace for my print edition. Both have their own formatting guidelines and community forums to help you navigate. CreateSpace has some great community boards that have general help and Q&A areas. I've used these boards plenty of times. Other users are quick to answer and always very helpful. Kindle also has the same type of community board. I recommend reading through both before you try publishing. Smashwords is also another good option for self-publishing. Mark Coker, the founder of Smashwords, provides a great and free guide to formatting both versions. You can find it here: Smashwords Formatting

The fourth problem you'll run into is cover design. 

This can be one of the most difficult parts of self-publishing, especially if you aren't artistically inclined or if you lean more towards computer illiterate. I wrote a blog post a few weeks ago on cover design that has some great advice on what NOT to do on a cover. You can find it here: Creating Your Cover - What Not To Do

This is one of those circumstances where spending a little extra money to have someone design a cover for you, might not be such a bad idea. I recommend reading through the above-mentioned blog post, browsing the Coverscroll site I mention there, and seeing for yourself what can happen when you design your own cover. Not saying your cover will turn out like some of the ridiculous ones shown there but you really need to do your research and practice. As you will see browsing that site, some of the covers are really well done. It IS possible to make a beautiful, eye-catching cover on your own, but don't expect to do it without any hard work!

Another good tip with cover design is to go to your local store, find the books and the section with your genre in it. Take a picture of the book selection to take home and compare to your cover. Or if you think that will get you arrested  for that ;) then imagine your book sitting there on the shelves among all the others. Does your cover stand out? Does it look amateurish? Most books in stores are traditionally published and have had professional covers done. If your cover can stand out among them, you're a step ahead of the game! :)

The fifth problem you'll run into is marketing. 

This is one of those must-do's whether you choose traditional publishing or self-publishing. You still have to work on your marketing if you choose the traditional route but with you have a huge, well-established company with the money, time and contacts to get your book on everyone's radar. When you self-publish, you only have you. 

In Part 1, I went into detail about how to create an internet presence and trust me, you need to have a good internet presence. Before you publish. That is the key to marketing your book. Social Media, blogging, review sites, author pages, websites. Use all of those resources to promote your book. Just remember: Don't Spam. No one wants to see every post as 'buy my book'. Be productive, be helpful and only plug your book every so often. You'll have a more faithful following if you actually give them something (like advice, or humor, etc) rather then shoving your book down their throats every day. (with exception to websites dedicated to your book - users know it's specifically FOR your book and won't think they're being spammed) 

Contact your local libraries and book clubs, join local writing groups and organizations. Write your local papers. Hold book signings, release parties, have prize giveaways. Hang posters in your local communities and libraries, make bookmarks for libraries to give out, etc. Make your presence known and don't be afraid to talk to people. With self-publishing, you'll start more local and work your way to regional, national and then world wide. With traditional, you tend to start all of them at once. :)

The sixth problem you'll run into is trying to keep writing. 

With all the things you have to do to self-publish your novel, finding time to keep writing is a difficult task. You really have to try hard to find the balance between marketing your newly published masterpiece and writing the next one. The best way to become a successful author is to keep writing and keep publishing. The more books you have available to readers the better. You should be writing every day. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to be working on a project to write. You could be typing up your newsletter, writing a review for another author's book, writing a blog post, etc. Any writing you do is great practice for writing your novel. 



So there's my tips for choosing self publishing. Whatever choice you make, it won't be an easy one and it will be full of hard work. Do your research, double-check all your options and don't be afraid to take a leap of faith. 

Happy writing and happy publishing!

The Publishing Process - Part 1 - Going The Traditional Route - Thursdays with the Author

The Publishing Process Part 1 - Going The Traditional Route

I can already see that this post is going to be really long so I've decided to split it into 2 posts. The first will be about the publishing process - the traditional route, and I will discuss query letters, synopsis, landing an agent, etc. The second post will be about self-publishing and I will discuss what it takes to publish your novel on your own and how I did just that. 

So here we go: 

Part 1 - The Traditional Route

There is nothing, absolutely nothing, about being an author that comes easily. Perhaps the easiest part of our job is that first spark of an idea that we jot down. But the easiness ends there. Then comes the countless hours of writing, saying dialogue out-loud to be sure it sounds right, scouring the thesaurus for the millionth time, the frustration of hitting a blank wall while working on your story, the endless edits and rewrites, the nail-biting as we wait for our beta-reader's responses, the second-guessing as we work on our 'perfect' query letter, the giddy anticipation when we drop that letter off in the mail or hit send on the email, the crushing disappointment when we receive the polite 'no'. And that isn't even the tip of the iceberg.

If anyone ever says that being an author is easy, they are crazy. Probably from doing the above-mentioned process one too many times and finally taking a dive off edge of the deep-end. 

Writing your story, morphing it from a flutter of an idea to a 120,000+ word masterpiece, creating something completely unique and original from a spark that popped into your head is only HALF the battle.

Now you've written your book. You've gone through edit after edit, rewrite after rewrite. You've listened to your beta-readers and critique groups and made all the necessary adjustments. You've spent your hard-earned and very limited funds on an editor and polished your story to the highest sheen imaginable. Now how to get it published?

This is the REALLY hard part.

Traditionally, authors would go through the process of creating their masterpiece and have to write an amazing query letter, a synopsis and/or outline, a proposal and marketing plan. They'd have to take all those things, which are just as hard to write as the story itself, and send it out to literary agents and publishing companies HOPING that someone would like what they send. 

It's a daunting idea. Here you've spent months, even years, creating a story that you've invested your blood, sweat and tears into and your baby (which is exactly what it has become after such a process) is going to be accepted or thrown in the trash, based on a few paragraphs that you have to use to describe something that you invested thousands of hours into writing. It just doesn't seem fair. 

One person, an agent, editor or publisher. One personality, one style of writing and reading. One person, that you combed through dozens of publisher marketplace books and websites to find. One person who you've narrowed out of thousands that might actually like your book. That ONE person is the ONLY person who will decide the fate of your book. Maybe that one person had a bad morning. Maybe that one person missed breakfast because they were running late and their hunger makes it impossible to be receptive to anyone or anything. Maybe that one person just read someone else's manuscript and decided they like it and to not bother reading any others for the day. Maybe that one person broke a nail opening your envelope and now is so angry that your book has no chance of breaking through. It's possible. It has happened.

But maybe that one person has been waiting months for a good idea to land on their desk. Maybe that one person is itching for a new breakthrough author they can represent. Maybe your book is that ONE idea they have been DYING to read. Maybe that one person you sent your baby to absolutely loved it and a few days or weeks later you receive a response asking for more.

Both situations are possible. Most authors receive more of the first than the latter. Some best-selling authors have hundreds or thousands of NO's before finally getting a YES from that ONE person.

Getting a NO is hard. It breaks your heart. You try to brush it off like every other author you know tells you to. You may even be able to brush it off the first time. Or the second time. But sooner or later, NO NO NO NO will get to you and you'll reach a crossroads. You'll have to decide something. Quit or keep trying. Quitting is easy. It really is. But there is no reward. No happy ending. Nothing that makes it worth it. If you keep trying, you open up yourself and your book to a lot of new roads to take. 

Here's some options to try if you keep getting a NO. 

1) Work on your Query letter

This has got to be one of the hardest. You have to crunch you massive 120,000 word book into one stinking page. You have to cram the pitch for your book, your bio/publishing experience, and contact info into ONE page, all while sounding professional and NOT desperate, while making your book appear like the masterpiece it is.
Piece of cake. 
Except it's not. 
There are plenty of websites/blogs/writing communities out there that can help you perfect your query letter. Most of them are even free! Do some research, write up a few options and have some of your favorite writing groups critique them, just like you had your book critiqued. Once you find the perfect query letter, send it out again. 

2) Send your Query letter to the right person: (This ties into #1) 

When searching for an agent/publisher, this is THE MOST important part. If you don't do your homework on this, your book is going to end up in the garbage can. Every agent/publishing website has a tab called submission guidelines on their site. This tab is your friend. Click on it. Read it. If the agent matches your work, query them. If not, and it doesn't matter how much you want them to represent you, don't query them. Agents get thousands upon thousands of query letters, on a weekly basis. Your best chance of getting them to pay attention to yours is to do your homework. Writer's Market and Literary Agent Marketplace release new editions every year with updated info on all the literary agents/publishers and their submission guidelines. These books aren't cheap but can be checked out at your local library at no cost. This website is also good at helping you zero in on the right agent: Agent Query Form 

Here's some tips for #1 & #2:

A) Make sure they actually represent your genre

B) Make sure they are open for submissions

C) Make sure you SPELL THEIR NAME RIGHT

D) Make sure you are sending the correct material. If they ask for a synopsis they mean a synopsis. If they ask for the first 5 pages, don't send them 10. 

E) Make sure you are sending it correctly. If they ask for email with no attachments, you better send it exactly like that. If they ask for a self-addressed and stamped envelope to return their letter to you, you better send it.

F) DO NOT email, write, or call them to see if they got your work or if they've read it yet. If they say they will respond on their info page then they will. You need to be patient.

G) DO NOT send them anything with mistakes, grammatical errors, typos. Seriously. They aren't going to want to read your book if you can't even write a letter without screwing something up.

3) Work on your Synopsis/Outline

I don't even want to go here because this is the part that I personally hate the most. I am a 'backwards writer'. Meaning, I don't start with an outline or synopsis and then create my novel around those well organized ideas. I'm more of a 'chaotic writer'. I get an idea and I write it down. I could write half a novel on one idea that pops into my head. I also work on multiple books at one time. If I get an idea for another book I start working on that. Sometimes I write the beginning and end without knowing what the middle is going to be. Sometimes I have the end all figured out but have no idea what to do at the beginning. I really don't recommend this process as an author but it's what works for me. It makes writing a synopsis, however, the most difficult task ever. 

A synopsis is basically a chapter by chapter outline of your book. All the main plots are covered, the crisis, the climax, the resolutions. The key characters and dialogues, etc. You aren't leaving any important details out. You aren't leaving the ending out either. Don't think that skipping the ending in your synopsis will catch an agent like a bait will a fish. The agent WANTS TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS. They have to like the ending to decide whether they want to represent you so DON'T LEAVE IT OUT!

4) Work on Your Bio

Here's a dreaded section of the query letter, especially for new authors. Agents want to know what kind of publishing experience you've had. What makes you qualified to be an author? What makes you know enough to write the next best selling book? Honestly, the answer is nothing because even best-selling authors can write a crap book. Even authors that have sold millions of copies can have absolutely no experience. But the agent still wants to know. So what do you say if you haven't published anything? If you have no education specifically for writing? If you have no experience what-so-ever? The first thing you can do is try to get some. Most community colleges (here in the US) offer adult education classes or non-degree classes for a descent price. 

A)Take some creative writing classes, some English classes and get some education under your belt. 

B) Publish in newspapers, magazines, blogs and websites. 

C) Enter your book and other works in contests. There are THOUSANDS of contests to choose from. 

D) Join writing groups/organizations. The Romance Writers Association is a big one if you write romance. There's a yearly membership fee, classes, and workshops, critique groups, contests, and a huge yearly conference (also a GREAT place to meet agents). There are quite a few local RWA chapters in every state that offer the same as the National group but with lower fees and closer to home. Meetup is also a good website for finding writing groups close to you.

5) Create an Online Presence

This is becoming HUGE in today's publishing business. The internet is a make-or-break machine. If you are wanting to get published, try running your name through a Google search. Did you find anything? Did it actually have something to do with you? If it did, was it some random Facebook post that would be more embarrassing than anything else? 
Here's what you want to see when you Google search your name:

1) you're an author 

2) what you're working on a book (or project) or what you have that's already published

3) what genre you write in 

4) a link to a blog/website/etc where you strictly work as a writer. 

Don't think agents aren't going to Google search your name because they will. And if all they find is a link to a Facebook rant about your ex you can bet they won't be interested in representing you.

Here's some tips for creating an online presence:

A) Have a Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. that is SEPARATE from your personal pages. These are your AUTHOR pages and should only contain things pertinent to you being a writer. Set these pages to PUBLIC and keep your private stuff on your PRIVATE pages. Also remember that all of these sites are MEMBER ONLY. Some can be seen when set to public but some cannot unless the viewer is also a member. Use these sites to provide updates on your current projects, answer questions from readers (or soon to be readers), give writing advice, connect with other writers, etc. Google+ has some great writing communities to connect with as well. I have learned SO much from those groups.

B) Start a blog. I didn't know anything about blogging but I started one anyway and have really enjoyed it. Your blog is a public site and can be viewed by anyone. All the social media sites can be linked to it. Use your blog for the same reasons as the social media sites but go more in depth. Today's post is part of my Thursdays with the Author posts that I write every week. I answer reader questions and write advice posts for authors. I also use my blog to give sneak peeks of upcoming works, announce promotions for already published works, and even random thoughts. But I try to keep the personal stuff off my blog.

C) If you're already published, make sure you have your author pages set up. If you published with Amazon (either CreateSpace or Kindle) you need to have an Author Central Page. Your Bio, blog, social media links, available books and current reviews are all listed on one site. Amazon offers this page for multiple countries so make sure you have one set up for all of them.

D) Create profiles on Goodreads and Shelfari (an Amazon company). These are great sites for readers and writers to connect. Also a great place for getting reviews. Even if you aren't published yet, start using these sites to write reviews for books you have read. The authors might do the same for you once you're published. You can also get an early start with fans by posting snippets of your projects here.

E) If you have the money, start your own website. There are some cheap options out there, especially if you know a little about setting it up but this option can get costly. Some authors wait for this option until they find a publisher since most publishers provide you with one anyway. Use the same techniques as the above-mentioned sites. Keep the personal stuff, unless it's relevant, off. For example, don't go on a political rant unless your next book is about politics. You can talk about your family and/or kids but don't bash your sister-in-law for pissing you off at Christmas. Got it?

F) Get started on a newsletter. You will use this in your writing career. You might not get a big mailing list until after you publish but it's good to have one already set up. Use your newsletter the same as the above sites but provide unique content only available to newsletter subscribers. You can get a bit more personal with your newsletter (still no bashing the in-laws and exes) but talking (in a good way) about your family is fine. Give sneak peeks and excerpts of your next novels. Have contest sign-ups for free books and/or prizes, etc. Having an already established newsletter will make things a lot easier once you're published. Newsletters can be released as often as you'd like just don't be guilty of spamming your readers. I release mine every 3 months or if I have a new release between newsletters. I use MailChimp since it's free until you get a huge mailing list but there are many options out there.



So those are some of my tips and tricks for going the traditional publishing route. Here's some websites I like to use that help with all of the tips listed above. There are MANY more sites out there with great information.

Kathy Carmichael
Gail Eastwood's Tips
Charlotte Dillon
First Novels Club Blog
Lisa Gardner
Writers Relief


Keep in mind, if you go with the traditional publishing route, your baby, that you've spent so much time creating, will no longer be your baby. You now have a literary agent, editor, publisher, etc. all investing their time, energy and personality into your creation. You won't have a publisher look at your book and say it's perfect the way it is and put it to print. It's not going to happen. Something will change. Even if it's just minor formatting or grammar. Sometimes it's huge. Like plot, or character development. If an agent or publisher has signed your book, you no longer have the say in what gets changed. That's not necessarily a bad thing either. Some books do need a lot of work to get them perfectly ready for sale but not all of them. 

I went with the self-publishing route after more than a few NO's and more than a few horror stories about what a writer's book is morphed into after a big publishing company gets their corporate claws on it. That's not the route I really wanted to take. But if you choose self-publishing, remember, you have to be just as picky about quality as a traditional publisher. It must be edited rigorously, critiqued and beta-read, and polished as perfectly as a corporate publisher would do themselves. The only difference is, YOU are in control of what you change. Not a team of strangers. At the same time, this can also be a bad thing. I've seen so many self-published books that look like they were written by high school students or worse. But I'll get into all of this in my next post: Part 2 - Self-Publishing and My Choices. I will discuss what you need to do to prepare for self-publishing and go into my choice of using CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing. 

I hope these tips help you out! Don't give up! Happy writing!