Everly Anders's Blog, page 5

Keeping High Morale In The Self-Publishing Trenches

[image error]When I was thirteen, I was convinced I was going to be a famous writer. This was back in the day when anything and everything was possible. I turned to my mother one day and asked her if she had any friends that had a summer home I could use for my writing, maybe on a nice quiet lake somewhere. My mother gave me her "my child is crazy" look and told me I had watched too many movies about Jane Austen. "But how will I become a famous writer if I don't lock myself away in the countryside and write for twelve hours a day?" I asked. She never gave me an answer. Now I am an adult writer and I still wish for that cottage on a lake somewhere. Sadly, no writer I know has a writing cottage down by a lake; well, except for Stephen King, but I don't "know" him so he doesn't count.

Times are different, and not just because I use a keypad instead of an inkwell. It's 2011 and I have rent that needs paying, a dog that needs walking, a husband that needs loving, a mother that needs calling, a house that needs cleaning, friends that need chatting, and on and on. Did I mention that somewhere in there I am also supposed to be a creative artist?

What I'm saying is it's hard to be a writer, and people don't get that. I was so excited to call myself a writer when I sold my first story. This is it, I thought, I'm an actual writer; people will respect me as a writer now, but they didn't. Most of the time, when I tell someone I'm a self-published author, they just kind of turn their nose up at me and tell me about their "real" job. They have no idea what it takes, especially for people who have a full time job as well. Alice Munro and Stephenie Meyer had to write late at night after they worked all day and finally put their kids to bed. People don't understand the dedication it takes.

Then there is the fact that everyone thinks they are a critic. Do they really think that just because they learned their letters in kindergarten, they're automatically experts on writing? We strip ourselves naked every time we write a page, just to have to hear someone say "Mmm, her hips are too wide," or "Her arms are kinda gangly."  Plus there is the fact that we are self-published. That drives their nose further up in the air.

We know that self-publishing is here to stay. We know that pretty soon big publishing houses will be either a thing of the past or at least a small part of the publishing industry as a whole. Unfortunately we are the minority right now, and constantly have to educate people about what we do. I am so sick of convincing people self-publishing is a legitimate way to be an author. I guess that's what we get for being at the forefront of this revolution. We end up having to be the ambassadors.

While I love being a self-published author and truly would not want to be traditionally published, it is very lonely experience. Robert Heinlein said, "Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterward." Being a writer now a days is hard; being a self-published writer is next to impossible.

That's why we need to support each other. I am frustrated with authors not sharing information with one another. If you're a good writer, people will buy your work; if not, they won't. People are not going to stop buying your books because you helped another author learn how to self-promote. If we don't support each other, then how can we expect others to? We are the only ones who know what other authors are going thru.

This is why I love this blog site. It's not trying to sell you anything you don't want, and it will never be about self-promotion. It's about having a place where people in this industry get together and share what they know with everyone else. So go out there and support each other. Take what you have learned from this site and others, and help someone else out. Answer that person's question on Goodreads, retweet someone's tweet about their new book, write a comment on someone's book blog and join an author's Facebook page. We have got to start helping each other out because I don't see Jane Austen coming to help us anytime soon.

How To Use GoodReads for Self-Promotion

[image error]My friends thought I was crazy when I said I was going to write an article about all the things I have learned about self-promoting on Goodreads.com (http://www.goodreads.com/). I tried to tell them these were not my insider secrets, but rather tips and etiquette I have learned from being an active member of this online community. Goodreads can be an extremely useful and free tool to your marketing, but the difference between acquiring a successful following of individuals buying your book, and completely alienating the online community is as simple as etiquette.

Goodreads is an international, online reading group community. You sign up and can immediately chat with people from all over the world about any kind of literature you're interested in. If you have an interest, it's represented there and if not, feel free to start your own group and begin inviting people. Although I believe the group originally started in order to bring readers together, the growing popularity of self-publishing has brought new and established authors there in droves. Goodreads is completely free for the user and therefore an ideal way to get your work in the hands of readers. There are several ways to market yourself and see almost instant results. I have found that if I spend an hour or two on the site, I see the numbers of my stories sold on Amazon go up by the next day. Although that sounds very enticing, I want to stress a very important point before I go any further. If you are only interested in a quick result and not being part of a community, or do not have the time to put in, then Goodreads is not for you.

Once you set up a Goodreads account you can begin joining reading or writing groups. I recommend only joining groups you are really interested in for two reasons. One, you probably won't have enough time to keep up with twenty different groups and two, you will not have anything to contribute to a group you care nothing about. Since I am a self-published writer who writes mostly Sci-Fi and Fantasy, I belong to a lot of the self-publisher groups as well as Sci-Fi and Fantasy groups. I like to belong to these groups not only because that is what I write, but also, because I write in these genres, I also like reading them. I belong to Kindle and Nook groups as well because those readers are my target audience since those are the devices I publish on. Find the groups that work for you.

After you join a few groups, you will find that most of them ask you to write in their introduction folder. This is a great place to tell people that you're a writer and to even tell them a little bit about your work. Self-promoting in this area is acceptable as long as you're also telling them a little bit about who you are as a person as well. So go on, tell them you dream of owning a unicycle one day, or all about your devotion to all things knitting. They just want to know you. There is a little button on the top right of the comment box where, if you are published on any of the major websites like Amazon or B&N, you can put a picture of the cover of your book and a link to where people can buy it. That's very helpful and widely used.

When you have finished that, scroll through some of the folders on that group and write on some of the topics that interest you. This is where people go wrong; they go straight for the folder that allows self-promotion, leave their book info there and never write on the site again. Then they wonder why people don't buy their book. Some people even just "spam" by leaving their book info in a place where it does not belong, like a folder titled "What did you think of the last Lord of The Rings Book?" That is a huge no-no and will anger potential readers as well as get you kicked out of the group. Remember, it's a community and people want you to participate, so feel free to promote your book in folders that the moderator has allowed, but it is important to contribute to the group as a whole. You just might learn something as well; I know I learn something every time I am on. I typically spend about an hour on Goodreads several days a week. You may not have as much time as I, who am a full time writer, but don't underestimate the importance of self-promotion. When I am on, I respond to people's questions, I talk with others about books I have read, and I also sometimes start my own threads and ask questions of others. People get use to me, they feel like they know me, and often they will friend request me or go on my profile and find out I am a writer and buy my book because they feel like they know me. It's that simple, but you need to be genuine and remember its reciprocity. You will only get something out of it if you put something in.

Ok, so if I have one big secret it is this: mention you are a self-published writer without advertising. People can see right thru advertising. All the time I am on groups chatting with people and someone will say, "Oh yes, I deal with what you're talking about in my book Blah Blah Blah," and they add a link. That just makes people mad. Instead try this, "As a self-published writer myself, I, too, love reading books where I feel like I can identify with the character, like Eugenia in 'The Help'. I found her refreshing." That way you have mentioned you're a writer without hitting them over the head or distracting from the conversation. If someone is interested, then they can look up your books on your profile at a later time. I notice I get a lot of people buying my books because they really liked the insightful things I have to say and wonder what I talk about in my books. I have also bought books from self-published authors on Goodreads for the same reason.

So the trick is to go into it with the reader in mind. Remember Goodreads was started for them and most people are there to have a genuine conversation about the books they love.  If they find a new wonderful author like yourself, that is an added bonus, and it should be to you as well. Good luck and welcome to the community!

I published my novel online, now what?

[image error]Your novel started as a great idea; then you spent countless hours in front of your computer turning that idea into the perfect book. You then spent countless more hours editing it and making the best cover possible, or paid someone your hard-earned money to do it. You have read the article on how to put it online. You uploaded your book, and popped the cork on a bottle of champagne. You did it; you're an author now! Your baby is out there in the ethos for the whole world to see. Now all you have to do is wait…..and wait……and wait. What's wrong, did it not upload right? Why am I not selling thousands of copies like Amanda Hocking? If this feels familiar, don't worry, you're not alone; in fact you're the majority, the vast majority.

The problem is there are literally millions of books out there and you have done little promotion, if any at all. You may have thought your job was done the minute you put your precious book online. All that came before, that was the easy part. This, putting yourself out there time and time again, countless more hours talking about you and your book and why people should buy it, that's the real work. You're a writer, you say, not an advertising agency. Well now unfortunately you're both, and you have a long battle ahead of you.

Most people start by telling their family and friends about their new book. While that is great and all, it usually does very little more then sell a few copies. It might even turn into hurt feelings when you realize not everyone you know is as keen on promoting and reading your book as you are. By all means start there, but that is just a mass email and a few phone calls. You need to do more, much more.

You have decided to try Goodreads after reading the article here on Editio. This is a great idea. We all like the sound of free advertising. Goodreads can help your book dramatically, but you have to follow the rules and put in a lot of time. You also need to check your attitude. No one wants to buy a book from someone who is desperate and bitter, no matter how desperate and bitter you are. People want to buy a book from an author they like. They want to support an author who is outgoing and positive, someone who gives back just as much as they get.

After you are on Goodreads for a while you will notice everyone has a blog. This is also a good idea if it is something you feel like you can keep up with. If you're not computer savvy, try to rope in a friend, colleague or one of your kid's friends to help. The more you know about blogging and keywords, the better. (Edition will be putting up an article about this subject soon.) You need to stay up with the blog or else it is no use, then there is the issue that you will need to publicize that as well.

The thing people have said works the best (even Amanda Hocking credits her success to it, if you believe her) is getting bloggers to review your work. This will usually mean sending a letter to several bloggers asking them if you can send them a FREE copy of your novel. You need to do some research first to make sure that you go after the right kind of blogger for you. For example you don't want to send your new romance novel set in the eighteen hundreds, to a guy who reviews comic books and sci-fi. You're either wasting your time or you're more likely to get a bad review even if he says yes.

I know what you're thinking after reading all this: What's the point, right? The point is you love what you do; you're passionate about being a writer. Maybe you're going to do a few of these recommendations and your book will take off within the year, you'll quit your job and move to Greece. Maybe you will do everything in this article and more, to no avail. The point is there are no guarantees. Anyone who tells you different is selling you something. But if you have a passion for what you do and you don't give up, there is a good chance you will succeed. You may never be able to quite your day job, but you will definitely reach enough people to get some feedback on how your work has affected the people it has reached, and isn't that why we write in the first place?

The Stigma of Self-Publishing

[image error]When my husband and I go to parties, people always ask the same getting-to-know you question: "What do you do for a living?" I cringe and let my husband, who has a "normal" job, answer first. Then I hope they don't ask me what I do. I hope they just think I'm a housewife. Why? Because I am a self-published author, and I would rather tell someone I conduct audits on struggling mom-and-pop businesses than have to tell them the truth. If you're self-published, you know what I mean. Even if someone doesn't turn their nose up at you and walk away, you still feel the need to justify your work. Every time I tell someone what I do, I want to pull out all of John Locke's stats. I want to quote one of J.A. Konrath's blogs about how self-publishing is here to stay. I find myself swearing to people that it is a legitimate job. No one seems to believe me, and I am sick of seeing friends' placating smiles.

It's not their fault really, that's how we have all been raised, and it all started with vanity presses. As Joy Uyeno brought up in her post Self-Publishing vs. Author Subsidized Publishing,the word "vanity" itself sabotages all credibility. Like we just do it for the glory. It's like saying men just become firefighters so they can be in a calendar. We work hard, and in some ways we have to work harder than writers who are traditionally published. People always say, "If you were any good you would have a publishing deal." Harry Potter was turned down twelve times. It was finally only published because a CEO's twelve-year-old daughter begged him to publish it. (Remind me to send her my next manuscript.) What if Rowling had given up on the eleventh try? Would that have made it a bad book? By the way, she is now self-publishing the entire Potter series. (I am pausing to stick my tongue out at all the naysayers.)

The other thing I hear a lot is that there are so many bad self-published authors out there. They're right, there are a lot of books and untalented authors. However, when someone says that to me, I challenge them to show me a profession where there are no bad apples. We have all seen bad doctors, lawyers, waiters, teachers — heck I was almost killed in a taxi the other week! That doesn't make their profession as a whole any less legitimate.

I guess this is a good time to make a confession: a family friend of mine has been self-publishing for years. When I heard about it, I, too, talked behind her back about how silly I thought it was. (Remind me to send her a bouquet on flowers.) I also rolled my eyes at my husband years later when he recommended I become a self-published author. It wasn't until I started reading articles about people actually making a living at it that I realized the self-publishing industry had a lot to offer, and that it's something I wanted to do.

I'm an open-minded person and if you're reading this then you probably are too. You see that self-publishing is here to stay. We have gotten into this industry right before it hits big. The good news is that you got in early; we all wish we bought Google stock at $85  a share. The bad news is that few people understand what you're doing yet. Can you imagine living next to Steve Jobs? You would have looked in his garage and thought he was crazy. Home computer, who needs it?

In ten years, you will look back and say, "I was one of the first." All the naysayers will now say they saw the industry boom coming. You will sit back and smile. Until then you have to be brave and just keep on trucking. So here goes, "Hello, my name is Elle LaPraim. I am a self-published author and proud!"

Now it's your turn.

The Stigma of self-publishing

Here is an article I wrote for Editio Self Publishing. It is all about the stigma that still surounds self-publishing.
http://editioselfpublishing.com/the-s...

How to Build Readers With Blog Posts

It seems nowadays that everyone has a blog. My friend just made a blog for her dog, and his blog is getting more hits than her own! (He is a much better writer than she is). The key to having a successful blog is reciprocity. The good old give-and-take. It's not just for friendships anymore! The fact is, with so many blogs out there, you need yours to stand out. Just blogging about your life is not enough, unless you were raised in a little people's circus in Brussels. If you were, then feel free to blog on, and send me the link.

For the rest of us, we need to give the reader something more. I am not saying you need to give out a free copy of your book. We live in the information age, so give your reader some unique and helpful information. No, the release date for your next book does not count. I recently had a great discussion on Goodreads, with a woman who was a romance writer. She said she blogs about her daily life and wonders why people aren't coming to her blog. Then she mentioned she was thinking about reviewing other romance novels. Bingo! People who don't know you don't care about your life. Sad but true. Give them something they want. If you're a romance writer, people who like to read romance novels would love some reviews of books you recommend. Once they see the way you write, and that you are giving them great ideas about what to read, they will trust you. If they trust you, then they will feel like they know you. They may start following your blog just for your reviews, but soon they will start reading the few things you put up about your own life as well. Stay away from your recent camping trip at first, and start with the difficulties you experienced with writing your most recent work. That's interesting to readers.

Once they are checking your blog a few times a week, they will buy your books for two reasons. One: They will be curious about you and what your writing is like. Maybe it's just plane curiosity at the beginning. That's OK. If you're a good writer, one book bought out of curiosity will turn into five bought because they love your writing. The second reason people will buy your book is because they want to support you. They check your site a few times a week, wait patiently for your next review, and suddenly feel like they owe you something in return for all you have given them. Voila, a book sale. Once again, if you're good, they will keep buying.

Now book reviews are great, but that is something every writer can provide. What makes you unique? For me, I put up something I call "Your Daily Dose of Beauty". I basically find a beautiful picture that I hope inspires my readers. It doesn't matter to me if it helps inspire them to write their own novel or tap dance on the kitchen table. I just want them to feel inspired. If they feel inspired by my picture once, they will come back for more inspiration time and time again, and I will provide. I have over 1600 followers, and I know many of them started checking out my page every night for my "Daily Dose of Beauty" but once they got used to that, they branched out and started looking at everything on my page. Mhairi Simpson, who I talked to, said she invents a "Wednesday Word" and then gives the definition for it. That sounds awesome. Wait! Don't run off to find her blog just yet, I have more to tell you.

My 1600 followers are on my Facebook page. Why do I use a Facebook page you might ask? Because my pet project is to help inspire young female writers, and they are more likely to check out a Facebook page than a blog. I write several times a day, all about how to be a writer. I love inspiring young writers so it's not a gimmick, it's a love. That's very important. If your angle is a gimmick, people will see right through it. Find something that you love, and write about that. I also answer their writing questions. This helps to develop a relationship with my readers. That might be a little more difficult on a blog, but you could do a weekly poll. People love to feel included. Plus you learn something new about your target readers. I also have an email sign-up. No, not just to tell them when my book is coming out. That's boring. I let my readers help choose the covers for my books. I ask them for help with naming characters, things like that. Then they want to buy the book to find out what I used. They feel like a part of the story, and I am happy to say they are.

The bottom line is that you're a writer—stop pushing your book and bathtub cleaning schedule, and start giving your readers something they can use and something that makes you unique.

How to use Goodreads to self-promote.

This is an article I wrote for a web site called Editioselfpublishing.com. It has gotten quite the buzz and was even tweeted by Goodreads its self. Let me know what you think!

http://editioselfpublishing.com/self-...

My website

Hello to all my awesome fans!
I have a website where I talk about all things writing and self-publishing. If your interested, check it out.
http://ellelapraim.com/

Elle

Coaching + Writing = Self-Publishing Success?

[image error]At two separate small publishers, I worked within the acquisitions department to respond to incoming manuscripts. Since the companies were small, we spent a lot more time personalizing rejection letters than the larger houses do. More often than not, I would end up writing something like this: "Completing a book is an accomplishment. I believe you would benefit greatly from working on this piece of writing with the guidance of a writing workshop instructor and/or an editor." What I didn't realize at the time was that I was suggesting that these writers needed coaches.

Last week on the NPR show "Talk of the Nation", professor of surgery and New Yorker contributor Atul Gawande pointed out that everyone in every profession could benefit from the guidance of a more experienced individual. Surgeons, he pointed out, are taught throughout their educations but once they finish their residencies, there's no one around to put in correction or to observe their work. After coming to this realization, Gawande asked one of his former professors to become his coach, which involved sitting in on some of Gawande's surgeries. The coach found that Gawande was holding his elbow too high, making it more difficult to maneuver in small spaces, among other small observations that helped improve Gawande's practices.

According to Gawande, coaches are there to be on your side and to help you reach your maximum potential. It's true that writing is a solitary venture, but that doesn't mean that the entire process should be confined to you, the writer, alone. It can be scary to put your work in front of someone for critique, but it's important to realize that you're doing it to improve your skills. When you're open to the possibility that you can learn from other people, it's easier to keep yourself from becoming defensive. Writing coaches might be other, more experienced writers, current or previous instructors, and editors.

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell also makes the observation that people excel when they're supported, challenged, and put in a position in which they feel entitled to success. The word "entitlement" often comes with negative connotations these days, but what Gladwell is referring to is a sort of higher expectation of oneself. He points to studies that show that kids across racial lines were more successful when their parents were actively involved in helping them explore their interests in the context of future success. Kids who had hobbies but no real guidance from parents had lower expectations for themselves and, despite high IQs, didn't challenge themselves as much and were, therefore, less successful.

While it's important to understand the reality of publishing — that not every self-published book is going to be a great success — what's more important is creating solid pieces of writing and constantly looking for ways to improve as a writer. Also valuable is an honest understanding of where you fall short when it comes to self-publishing. Because self-publishing requires you to act as author, publicist, editor, and designer, you may require coaching from several different individuals, or one who understands all the dimensions of self-publishing on a deeper level. Having that support system will bolster your confidence and help you to explore every avenue of success for your writing.

Listen to Atul Gawande's interview on Talk of the Nation. "Athletes Have Coaches. Why Not Everyone Else?"