Ellen Gable's Blog, page 96

Enter Goodreads Giveaway to Win Print Copy of Angela’s Song!

Only a few more days to enter! Today through November 15, enter to win one of five free print copies of Full Quiver’s newest novel, Angela’s Song by AnnMarie Creedon! Click the link below to enter:

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/35802-angela-s-song

Does Self-Publishing Mean Substandard?

My latest post at the Catholic Writers Guild blog talks about the quality of self-published books as well as how to increase your chances of self-publishing a quality book:

Although I now own and run and a publishing company, all my books were self-published. I don’t like the connection that people often make between self-published books and “bad” or substandard writing. The truth is, the vast majority of self-published books (I’ve read a lot of them) are indeed substandard quality. I download free Kindle books every day and many of them aren’t worth downloading because they are embarrassingly bad. I’ve also read some wonderfully written self-published books, but these are in the minority.

So…is the ease of self-publishing bringing the overall quality of books down?

Well, in a word, I believe it is.

Unfortunately, many self-published authors think they can write a book without extensive editing. Others, who do have editors, don’t employ professionals, and instead use friends and relatives. Another self-published novelist I know used a published author as editor but this particular “published” author had no experience in fiction so this showed in the characters and plot. Still others publish their books with little or no proofreading.

Going with a “Self-Publishing” company like Trafford or iUniverse also doesn’t guarantee high quality. Large companies want your business and while they can be helpful, they are also more expensive than a self-publishing book coach.

In my capacity as a reviewer for CatholicFiction.net as well as a reviewer for other websites, many self-published manuscripts come across my desk (or computer) that are so atrociously written, I won’t even review them.

I’ve come up with a few ways to increase the likelihood that your self-published book will not be included in the “badly written” bunch.

Avoid Thinking “I Can Do It All”

I’ve won awards and have had bestselling books precisely because I realize that I can’t do it all. I hire editors, copy-editors, proofreaders and my husband (a professional artist) designs my covers.

Employ a Professional Editor (for overall plot, characters, setting, writing style) and humbly consider their advice. If you’re writing fiction, find a fiction editor. If you’re writing a non-fiction book, find one who specializes in non-fiction. Authors should want their work to be the best it can be. Sometimes a book has to go through many edits in order to be polished and of good quality. My first novel went through about 30 edits. My second and third novels, ten. Be open to construction criticism. Don’t we all want to produce quality books?

Use a Copy-editor (for grammar, word usage and punctuation)

One author I know used a friend as copy-editor. This person (I’m guessing) had little experience in professional copy-editing. That particular book was a great read, but had many comma, quote and apostrophe errors that made it distracting to read. When a reader gets distracted, they’re pulled from the story.

Proofreaders, Proofreaders, Proofreaders!!!

Ask at least 10 of your friends and relatives if they could read your manuscript and find typos. One novelist I know didn’t use any proofreaders (he said he proofread his book himself, which was a big mistake…authors can be blind to their own mistakes). Unfortunately, it showed. Another author used one proofreader, but one isn’t enough to read through 100,000 words and find all the typos. With my second novel, , ten proofreaders went through the book and missed “Brtish.” I didn’t catch it until I converted my book to Kindle.

Employ a Professional Cover Designer

The book may be good, but if the cover looks like a five year old designed it or the font is too light to read, then people may not even consider buying your book. A good cover must also look eye- catching in thumbnail. Many of the self-published book covers I see on Kindle are not professionally designed. In fact, many look like a child designed them.

Research

If your book takes place 100 years ago, please do the research that is necessary. I once read a self-published novel that takes place in the 1870′s and the author included an automobile (those didn’t appear on the scene until 20 or 30 years later…).

Kindle Conversions

If you don’t know how to convert your manuscript to Kindle (or other ebooks), hire a professional. I can’t tell you how many books I’ve downloaded on Kindle that were virtually unreadable because of the poor conversion.

If You’re Going to Print…

If you’re printing your book, hire a Print on Demand (POD) Company who has extensive experience with printing books. A company that prints brochures, business cards and flyers may not be the best company to print your book. Create Space (Amazon’s POD Company) prints over 100,000 books per week and, for the most part, they know what they’re doing and their customer service team is extremely helpful.

Consider Using a Book Coach For a small fee, book coaches (like myself) walk the self-published author through the maze of self-publishing. As a book coach, I sometimes help with editing (although not always) and assist the self-published author in releasing a quality book. The book coach’s fees are usually much less than an author would pay for self-publishing companies.

Following all these hints will not guarantee that your book will be high quality, but it will certainly lessen the chances of it being “embarrassingly bad” or substandard. In the future, I hope to see more quality self-published books so we can remove the stigma and the frequent connection that self-published books equal substandard quality.

Have you self-published? If so, did you use a company, a book coach or did you do it yourself? Feel free to comment below.

Copyright 2012 Ellen Gable Hrkach

Sunday Snippets – November 11

Image copyright Ellen Gable Hrkach

Please join me and other Catholic bloggers at RAnn’s Place for Sunday Snippets.

Today is Remembrance Day/Veterans Day, so I’d like to remember in a special way my father, father-in-law and stepfather (all now deceased). Each served their country in war: my father-in-law was in the USAF during WW II and was MIA for months, my father and stepfather both served in Korea.

I’d like to share past November 11th posts, as well as posts from the previous week.

Remembering Tony An article about my father-in-law, who was a gunner for the USAF in WW II. He was shot down over Yugoslavia, near his father’s birthplace.

Remembering Dad A post remembering my own father, who served in both the USMC and the United States Army, and who died when I was 18.



Remembrance Day/Veterans Day 2009

Posts from this week:

7 Quick Takes Friday – Cool Catholic Writers

In Name Only Photo Endorsement

7 Quick Takes Friday – Cool Catholic Writers

Please join me and other Catholic bloggers at Conversion Diary for 7 Quick Takes Friday.

A few weeks ago, I attended the SCSS Conference on Long Island. It was a wonderful few days meeting and enjoying fellowship with other Catholic writers (just before Superstorm Sandy hit the area). Today, I’m going to share photos with eight “cool” Catholics (there were too many to limit it to seven!):

1. Lisa Mladinich, author and founder of Amazing Catechists

photo copyright James Hrkach

2. Marc Barnes (Bad Catholic), blogger

Photo copyright James Hrkach

3. Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle, bestselling author and EWTN Host

photo copyright James Hrkach

4. Pat Gohn, author, speaker and podcaster

photo copyright James Hrkach

5. Leticia Velasquez, activist, writer and author of “A Special Mother is Born”

photo copyright James Hrkach

6. Mary Ellen Barrett, blogger, columnist

photo copyright James Hrkach

7. Alice Gunther, author, columnist

photo copyright James Hrkach

8. Claudia Volkman, writer, editor

photo copyright James Hrkach

In Name Only FREE Today & Tomorrow!

My second gold-medal winning novel, , is FREE today and tomorrow on Amazon Kindle. In Name Only is a Catholic historical romance, but certainly not a formulaic or Harlequin type romance.

Synopsis: Caroline Martin’s life has finally taken a turn for the better. After years of hard work, she has met a virtuous and wealthy man whose love seems to promise the kind of life realized only within the comforting novels she keeps on her night table. Tragedy, however, will teach Caroline of the complexity with which God Himself authors the lives of those who turn towards Him. Gold Medal Winner in Religious Fiction, 2010 IPPY Awards, Amazon Kindle #1 Bestseller (February, March 2012).

Reviews:

“If you love romance but hate smut, pick up this beautiful story and let it carry you away. The characters are believable, layered, human and humorous even in the midst of tragedy. The reader never loses hope and is rewarded on every page with little gems of character behavior, dialogue, plot twists and romantic intrigue. I was so very sorry when it ended!”

Lisa Mladinich, author, “Be An Amazing Catechist: Inspire the Faith of Children” http://www.Amazing Catechists.com

“This is the best book I’ve read in a long time. It has all the qualities that make for an outstanding memorable novel – and it’s Catholic as well. I highly recommend it!”

Therese Heckenkamp, author, Past Suspicion, Traditional Catholic Novels.com

“There aren’t too many historical romance novels that appeal equally to men and women, but Ellen Gable pulls it off admirably with In Name Only. It’s great to read a Catholic novel that’s not overly “sanitized,” realistic enough to make you wonder if it’s really fiction, and yet not at all offensive. HIGHLY

RECOMMENDED!” Gerard Webster, author, “In Sight”

“Gable has skillfully crafted this intriguing novel… which conveys the beautiful Catholic teachings on conjugal love, and shares both a pro-life story and a conversion story.”

Jean Heimann, Catholic Fire

To download the book for free on Kindle, click here:

In Name Only Photo Endorsement

copyright 2012 James Hrkach

Special thanks to author and founder of Amazing Catechists, Lisa Mladinich, for this photo endorsement of my second novel, , in which she said, “If you love romance but hate smut, pick up this beautiful story and let it carry you away. The characters are believable, layered, human and humorous even in the midst of tragedy. The reader never loses hope and is rewarded on every page with little gems of character behavior, dialogue, plot twists and romantic intrigue. I was so very sorry when it ended!”

Sunday Snippets – November 4

Image copyright Ellen Gable Hrkach

Please join me and other Catholic bloggers at RAnn’s Place for Sunday Snippets where we share posts from the previous week.

Here are my posts:



Emily’s Hope Photo Endorsement (special thanks to Pat Gohn)

A Book of Saints

7 Quick Takes Friday

7 Quick Takes Friday – November 2, 2012

Please join me and other Catholic bloggers at Conversion Diary for 7 Quick Takes Friday.

This past weekend, my husband and I traveled down to Long Island to attend the SCSS Conference at Kellenberg Memorial High School. The speakers were amazing, the food delicious. We left Sunday just ahead of Superstorm Sandy and made it home safely to Ontario.

1. Delaware Water Gap

As we drove down to Long Island, we passed through the beautiful Delaware Water Gap which is near the border of PA and NJ. Pictures don’t capture the beauty of this place.

photo copyright James Hrkach

2. Beautiful Birds

Kellenberg High School (the venue for the conference) is home to many beautiful birds: parrots, peacocks and smaller birds.

photo copyright James Hrkach

3. Holy Family Monument

Kellenberg also has some beautiful statues and sculptures like this one of the Holy Family.

Photo copyright James Hrkach

4. NYC

We were a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see any of the famous landmarks of NYC and we only saw the city from a distance. We had planned on possibly going to Ground Zero and the Statue of Liberty but that was before the storm predictions so we hightailed it out of Long Island early Sunday morning ahead of the storm.

photo copyright James Hrkach

5. Presentation

My presentation wasn’t quite as well-attended as the one at the CWCL in Texas, but the people who were there were very responsive and enthusiastic.

Photo copyright James Hrkach

6. Angela’s Song Giveaway on Goodreads

I’m giving away five free PRINT copies of Full Quiver’s newest novel, Angela’s Song by AnnMarie Creedon. To enter, click here: Goodreads Giveaway of Angela’s Song Angela’s Song has been in the #1 position on Amazon Kindle’s Religious & Liturgical category for the past week!

7. Books on My Review Shelf

I received several books at the conference from authors wanting me to review their books. I’m also in the process of reading a beautiful pro-life book.



A Prayer for the Devil

A Special Mother is Born

The Life I Dreamed

Next week: Cool Catholics I Met!

Photos and Text Copyright 2012 Ellen Gable Hrkach

A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms

A great way to celebrate All Saints Day is to read this beautiful book of saints by an incredibly gifted author and speaker, Lisa Hendey. From the product description it says: Lisa Hendey’s enthusiasm for saints is contagious. Building on the success of her first book, Hendey continues her work as the Catholic mom’s coach to nurturing hearts, minds, bodies, and souls–this time through the rich Catholic communion of saints. With the warmth and candor of My Life with the Saints by James Martin, S.J., Hendey eloquently links personal stories, scripture, prayer, and simple soul-strengthening exercises into this rich spiritual resource for Catholic women.

Hendey offers one saint per week–some famous, some lesser known, some whose cause is in process–to offer companionship and guidance for the challenging, often under-thanked vocation of Catholic motherhood. She introduces Therese of Lisieux, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Patrick, as well as Gianna Beretta Molla and Chiara Badano. Each week offers a thematic prayer intention, biographical and devotional information about the saint, lessons learned, daily scripture meditations, prayers, and practical, spiritually rich action steps that help moms incorporate the wisdom and exemplary faith of each saint.

I loved this book and highly recommend it to all! Read my review here.

A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms by Lisa Hendey is available on Amazon.com.

Emily’s Hope Photo Endorsement

Photo copyright James Hrkach

Special thanks to Pat Gohn, speaker, podcaster, catechist, blogger and author for this “photo endorsement” of my first novel, Emily’s Hope! It was great seeing Pat again!