Tracey Sinclair's Blog, page 15
August 22, 2014
Dealing with book bloggers
This is an edited version of an old post, but it's an issue I still see as vexing many indie authors in particular, as well as bloggers who get rightfully annoyed when they are spammed through sites like Goodreads and Twitter - so for what it's worth, here are my tips.
One of the key ways to build word of mouth for your book is through the book blogging community: book bloggers not only tend to be enthusiastic about reading but also about spreading word of mouth, and will often post reviews across a number of forums, which can significantly boost the profile of your book. So how best to go about getting this exposure? Here are some handy tips – and some guidelines on what not to do!
Find a list of blogs: there are a number of ever-changing blogging directories out there, so I’d start by simply Googling ‘book blogger directory’ and working your way through the most up to date lists. Once you have found a site you like or think might be suitable, it’s also worth checking out links from that site to directories / other sites (these are usually found through ‘buttons’ on the bottom or side of the blog).
Check the blog is still active: lots of people start a blog but it takes time, determination and stamina to keep it going and to build a following. It’s probably not worth contacting any blog that hasn’t been updated in the last month. Ideally, you want a blog that updates at least once a week, if not more.
Check their review policy: this will tell you if they are accepting review copies, and what sort of books they are interested in. There’s no point in sending an ebook to someone who only reads print, and you just have to accept that some bloggers won’t consider self-published books, or will only accept certain formats. Most bloggers only want to be contacted through specified channels, so stick to those. Respect their choices and move on.
Is your book a match? Look at the kind of books and features they have on the site. If they are big fans of historical fiction and you’ve written a modern horror book set in space, they’re unlikely to want to read it.
Be polite – remember they’re people! Approach politely and courteously, and remember you are dealing with an individual, not an anonymous corporation. If there is personal information on the blog that resonates with you, try to reflect that in your approach. People like dealing with other people – be nice, and you’re more likely to get a response! Treat them like you’re doing them an enormous favour letting them read your book and they aren’t going to be that keen to engage with you.
Remember they generally aren’t professionals: in nearly all cases, these blogs are run by individuals – or small groups – who are doing it for love (with some free books thrown in). They are fitting blogging around their jobs, families and other commitments. Respect that, and don’t be overly demanding: they have plenty of other priorities than responding to your email and reading your book! Also, they aren’t obligated to you in any way: just because you send them a book doesn’t mean they have to read it. Accept that you’ll strike out a few times and let it go.
Be flexible: bearing the above in mind, be as flexible as you can re: deadlines – don’t expect to send a book and have it reviewed within a week. Most bloggers will try to help you out if you’re doing date specific promotion, but they may be booked up well in advance, or they simply may be too busy. If you want to have a book reviewed when it’s published, you need to send advance copies at least a few months before publication date (most will state timeframes in their review policies).
Offer alternatives: the one thing all bloggers constantly need is content, so it’s worth offering an alternative; for instance, when you offer your book for review, suggest that you’re also happy to do an author Q&A or guest post. Many bloggers whose review schedules are packed will still accept guest posts (especially if you throw in a giveaway) and while this is extra work for you, it can be useful publicity (remember, don’t reuse guest posts on different sites: you’ll make both of you look bad if it’s not original content!)
Offer to cross-promote: All bloggers – or at least almost all – will be keen to get more readers or followers, so state in your initial email that any reviews or posts will be cross-promoted on your own blog or website (you have a blog or website, right? Right?) and through your Twitter feed (ditto). Also, if you have a blog yourself, why not offer to host a guest post from them? That way you boost your own content, and are offering them more exposure.
Build relationships: In the time I’ve been dealing with book bloggers, I’ve come across some really interesting and fun people – so don’t just go into this focused on how to plug your book. Think about building long-term relationships – follow them on Twitter and Goodreads, sign up to their blogs, comment on their reviews. You won’t have time to invest in every one of the bloggers you deal with, any more than they will with every author, but be open to connecting with new people and you could be very pleasantly surprised.
Never badmouth a blogger: even if you have had a negative experience, there is nothing to be gained by mouthing off or getting annoyed with a blogger. For a start, it’s unprofessional, and it’s also enormously counterproductive: there’s a fairly strong community of bloggers and the last thing you want is a reputation as being difficult – part of the reason so many bloggers won’t review self-published works is because self-published authors have a reputation for poor behaviour. Sure, you might encounter a truly obnoxious blogger – they are individuals, so you’re bound to come across some you’d rather not have, just as you will in any other community – but in all circumstances the best thing is to take the high ground and let it go.
Be realistic – they won’t all like you: One of the hardest things for writers to accept is that lots of people simply won’t like your book. They may think it’s stupid or badly written, they may hate the characters, they may wilfully misread your meaning or sentiment, they may think it looks so God-awful boring that they can’t even bother to read past the synopsis. Tough. Get over it. There isn’t a writer alive who has been universally loved, and you won’t be the first one. Don’t get into a row over bad reviews, don’t vote them as unhelpful on Amazon, don’t try and get them removed from blogs or anywhere else. Take them on the chin and move on.
One of the key ways to build word of mouth for your book is through the book blogging community: book bloggers not only tend to be enthusiastic about reading but also about spreading word of mouth, and will often post reviews across a number of forums, which can significantly boost the profile of your book. So how best to go about getting this exposure? Here are some handy tips – and some guidelines on what not to do!
Find a list of blogs: there are a number of ever-changing blogging directories out there, so I’d start by simply Googling ‘book blogger directory’ and working your way through the most up to date lists. Once you have found a site you like or think might be suitable, it’s also worth checking out links from that site to directories / other sites (these are usually found through ‘buttons’ on the bottom or side of the blog).
Check the blog is still active: lots of people start a blog but it takes time, determination and stamina to keep it going and to build a following. It’s probably not worth contacting any blog that hasn’t been updated in the last month. Ideally, you want a blog that updates at least once a week, if not more.
Check their review policy: this will tell you if they are accepting review copies, and what sort of books they are interested in. There’s no point in sending an ebook to someone who only reads print, and you just have to accept that some bloggers won’t consider self-published books, or will only accept certain formats. Most bloggers only want to be contacted through specified channels, so stick to those. Respect their choices and move on.
Is your book a match? Look at the kind of books and features they have on the site. If they are big fans of historical fiction and you’ve written a modern horror book set in space, they’re unlikely to want to read it.
Be polite – remember they’re people! Approach politely and courteously, and remember you are dealing with an individual, not an anonymous corporation. If there is personal information on the blog that resonates with you, try to reflect that in your approach. People like dealing with other people – be nice, and you’re more likely to get a response! Treat them like you’re doing them an enormous favour letting them read your book and they aren’t going to be that keen to engage with you.
Remember they generally aren’t professionals: in nearly all cases, these blogs are run by individuals – or small groups – who are doing it for love (with some free books thrown in). They are fitting blogging around their jobs, families and other commitments. Respect that, and don’t be overly demanding: they have plenty of other priorities than responding to your email and reading your book! Also, they aren’t obligated to you in any way: just because you send them a book doesn’t mean they have to read it. Accept that you’ll strike out a few times and let it go.
Be flexible: bearing the above in mind, be as flexible as you can re: deadlines – don’t expect to send a book and have it reviewed within a week. Most bloggers will try to help you out if you’re doing date specific promotion, but they may be booked up well in advance, or they simply may be too busy. If you want to have a book reviewed when it’s published, you need to send advance copies at least a few months before publication date (most will state timeframes in their review policies).
Offer alternatives: the one thing all bloggers constantly need is content, so it’s worth offering an alternative; for instance, when you offer your book for review, suggest that you’re also happy to do an author Q&A or guest post. Many bloggers whose review schedules are packed will still accept guest posts (especially if you throw in a giveaway) and while this is extra work for you, it can be useful publicity (remember, don’t reuse guest posts on different sites: you’ll make both of you look bad if it’s not original content!)
Offer to cross-promote: All bloggers – or at least almost all – will be keen to get more readers or followers, so state in your initial email that any reviews or posts will be cross-promoted on your own blog or website (you have a blog or website, right? Right?) and through your Twitter feed (ditto). Also, if you have a blog yourself, why not offer to host a guest post from them? That way you boost your own content, and are offering them more exposure.
Build relationships: In the time I’ve been dealing with book bloggers, I’ve come across some really interesting and fun people – so don’t just go into this focused on how to plug your book. Think about building long-term relationships – follow them on Twitter and Goodreads, sign up to their blogs, comment on their reviews. You won’t have time to invest in every one of the bloggers you deal with, any more than they will with every author, but be open to connecting with new people and you could be very pleasantly surprised.
Never badmouth a blogger: even if you have had a negative experience, there is nothing to be gained by mouthing off or getting annoyed with a blogger. For a start, it’s unprofessional, and it’s also enormously counterproductive: there’s a fairly strong community of bloggers and the last thing you want is a reputation as being difficult – part of the reason so many bloggers won’t review self-published works is because self-published authors have a reputation for poor behaviour. Sure, you might encounter a truly obnoxious blogger – they are individuals, so you’re bound to come across some you’d rather not have, just as you will in any other community – but in all circumstances the best thing is to take the high ground and let it go.
Be realistic – they won’t all like you: One of the hardest things for writers to accept is that lots of people simply won’t like your book. They may think it’s stupid or badly written, they may hate the characters, they may wilfully misread your meaning or sentiment, they may think it looks so God-awful boring that they can’t even bother to read past the synopsis. Tough. Get over it. There isn’t a writer alive who has been universally loved, and you won’t be the first one. Don’t get into a row over bad reviews, don’t vote them as unhelpful on Amazon, don’t try and get them removed from blogs or anywhere else. Take them on the chin and move on.
August 11, 2014
Writing romance - realism and the taboo of loneliness
When I first started writing fiction, it was with a definite ‘literary’ slant. Although I did get a few short stories published in women’s magazines (a market I would heartily recommend, since they actually pay far better than most literary mags), my first book and collection of short stories fit most comfortably in that most vague of categories, which tends to be a catch all for any fiction that isn’t obviously genre-based or mass market.
However, having mysteriously having failed to win the attention of the Booker judges (I know – outrageous!), when I came to write my next book, I fancied a change. As a big reader of genre fiction, I was frustrated at the direction urban fantasy seemed to be taking post-Twilight (ie, drippy, moping women) and wanted to create the kind of book I, as a fan, wanted to read. The result was Dark Dates, and I was thrilled with the positive reception the book – and its follow ups – got from readers who seemed to feel the same way I did!
So it may seem somewhat perverse to be switching genres again, this time publishing what can only be described as a chick lit book. But in some ways it’s for the same reason. Although I can’t stand those snooty critics who loudly decry romance novels as trash (often with an unpleasant tinge of thinly-veiled sexism – look at all those silly women with their silly books!), I did find I was increasingly annoyed by the genre. There are some really talented women putting out immensely readable novels in this field (and writing something that’s easy to read is actually bloody hard) but I got fed up with the same tropes: of the fact that the action almost exclusively seems to take place in London, Paris or New York and involve women who have (or miraculously obtain) jobs in impossibly glamorous professions being wooed by fantastically rich men. There’s a place for fantasy and wish-fulfillment in fiction, obviously (and I have devoured enough of these books myself to recognise how much fun they can be), but as a pasty Northerner who has never had a remotely glamorous job, I would occasionally like something I can relate to.
There’s also, sometimes, a lack of emotional truth in romance books that disappoints me. It’s fun to envision all single women as floating around like Carrie Bradshaw with a plethora of dates – even if they are ultimately unsuitable – but how many single women really have that experience, especially once you hit your thirties and all your friends are married and staying in at weekends? My favourite writers are the ones who address the reality that being single can, in fact, be extremely lonely and boring and there’s nothing to be ashamed of in that. It’s not anti-feminist to suggest that a lot of single women don’t actually want to be single, and don’t spend their lives in a blissful, giggling frenzy of shopping and cocktails. One of my favourite rom-coms is While You Were Sleeping, because you get a real sense of how properly lonely Sandra Bullock’s character is, which is surprisingly rare: it’s funny that even in a genre that is all about finding love, it’s still taboo to admit that being without it can make you miserable.
So – that’s what I wrote my book about. I wanted to make it funny, I wanted it to feature hot men (because who can resist a hot man?), but I also wanted to write about life as I knew it could be as a single woman who has almost given up on love, or at least worries sometimes that it has given up on her. A woman dealing with the same daily grind most of us face, and a job she only sort of likes, who won’t wake up one day and find an email inviting her to be a columnist for Vogue. A woman, in short, like you or me. Only with a hotter boyfriend, because there are some tropes I’m not willing to abandon for the sake of realism…
So please do check out Bridesmaid Blues and let me know what you think
However, having mysteriously having failed to win the attention of the Booker judges (I know – outrageous!), when I came to write my next book, I fancied a change. As a big reader of genre fiction, I was frustrated at the direction urban fantasy seemed to be taking post-Twilight (ie, drippy, moping women) and wanted to create the kind of book I, as a fan, wanted to read. The result was Dark Dates, and I was thrilled with the positive reception the book – and its follow ups – got from readers who seemed to feel the same way I did!
So it may seem somewhat perverse to be switching genres again, this time publishing what can only be described as a chick lit book. But in some ways it’s for the same reason. Although I can’t stand those snooty critics who loudly decry romance novels as trash (often with an unpleasant tinge of thinly-veiled sexism – look at all those silly women with their silly books!), I did find I was increasingly annoyed by the genre. There are some really talented women putting out immensely readable novels in this field (and writing something that’s easy to read is actually bloody hard) but I got fed up with the same tropes: of the fact that the action almost exclusively seems to take place in London, Paris or New York and involve women who have (or miraculously obtain) jobs in impossibly glamorous professions being wooed by fantastically rich men. There’s a place for fantasy and wish-fulfillment in fiction, obviously (and I have devoured enough of these books myself to recognise how much fun they can be), but as a pasty Northerner who has never had a remotely glamorous job, I would occasionally like something I can relate to.
There’s also, sometimes, a lack of emotional truth in romance books that disappoints me. It’s fun to envision all single women as floating around like Carrie Bradshaw with a plethora of dates – even if they are ultimately unsuitable – but how many single women really have that experience, especially once you hit your thirties and all your friends are married and staying in at weekends? My favourite writers are the ones who address the reality that being single can, in fact, be extremely lonely and boring and there’s nothing to be ashamed of in that. It’s not anti-feminist to suggest that a lot of single women don’t actually want to be single, and don’t spend their lives in a blissful, giggling frenzy of shopping and cocktails. One of my favourite rom-coms is While You Were Sleeping, because you get a real sense of how properly lonely Sandra Bullock’s character is, which is surprisingly rare: it’s funny that even in a genre that is all about finding love, it’s still taboo to admit that being without it can make you miserable.
So – that’s what I wrote my book about. I wanted to make it funny, I wanted it to feature hot men (because who can resist a hot man?), but I also wanted to write about life as I knew it could be as a single woman who has almost given up on love, or at least worries sometimes that it has given up on her. A woman dealing with the same daily grind most of us face, and a job she only sort of likes, who won’t wake up one day and find an email inviting her to be a columnist for Vogue. A woman, in short, like you or me. Only with a hotter boyfriend, because there are some tropes I’m not willing to abandon for the sake of realism…
So please do check out Bridesmaid Blues and let me know what you think
July 24, 2014
July 15, 2014
On Book Bloggers and Saving the Book Tart
So - one of the best parts of my publishing journey has been connecting with so many great bloggers. I was really anxious about this when I first published Dark Dates: everything I saw online seemed to be about drama between authors and bloggers (especially indie authors) and lots of blogs I first encountered had a policy of not dealing with indie authors at all.
But despite my initial misgivings, I ended up having almost universally positive experiences with the book blogging community. Sure, not everyone loved my book - but I didn't expect them to (in fact, the reviews were better than I could ever have hoped, but they obviously weren't universally glowing, and sometimes you read a review and wonder if they're even talking about the book you wrote - but I quickly learned that's just part of being out there). But even those sites that weren't massively enthused by the book itself were never anything less than helpful, courteous and polite, and overall I came away from this experience with nothing but great respect for bloggers, most of whom do this for free, in their spare time, working around other commitments.
Even better, I feel like I made some genuine friends in the community. It's a tricky balance, of course - you don't want to compromise someone's ability to be honest about your work - but it's also great to connect with people, even if only online, whom you genuinely like and have lots in common with.
One of these lovely ladies is the wonderful Kat, the Book Tart. We bonded over our love of vintage (she's fabulously stylish), Supernatural and Doctor Who - as well as a taste for silliness. So when some bad luck struck her and her lovely beau, I was happy to help out - and, given my own great experience with the author and blogging community, I'm not surprised so many others leaped to assist, too. So my first post is below, but do enter her competition, and keep popping by during this period of transition for her - I'm sure she'll appreciate the support!
http://thebooktart.com/excerpt/saving...
But despite my initial misgivings, I ended up having almost universally positive experiences with the book blogging community. Sure, not everyone loved my book - but I didn't expect them to (in fact, the reviews were better than I could ever have hoped, but they obviously weren't universally glowing, and sometimes you read a review and wonder if they're even talking about the book you wrote - but I quickly learned that's just part of being out there). But even those sites that weren't massively enthused by the book itself were never anything less than helpful, courteous and polite, and overall I came away from this experience with nothing but great respect for bloggers, most of whom do this for free, in their spare time, working around other commitments.
Even better, I feel like I made some genuine friends in the community. It's a tricky balance, of course - you don't want to compromise someone's ability to be honest about your work - but it's also great to connect with people, even if only online, whom you genuinely like and have lots in common with.
One of these lovely ladies is the wonderful Kat, the Book Tart. We bonded over our love of vintage (she's fabulously stylish), Supernatural and Doctor Who - as well as a taste for silliness. So when some bad luck struck her and her lovely beau, I was happy to help out - and, given my own great experience with the author and blogging community, I'm not surprised so many others leaped to assist, too. So my first post is below, but do enter her competition, and keep popping by during this period of transition for her - I'm sure she'll appreciate the support!
http://thebooktart.com/excerpt/saving...
June 25, 2014
More in the indie publishing journey..
When I started out my self-publishing journey, it was for one reason, and one reason only: I’d been unable to find a mainstream publisher to take on my work, and the rest of my career was so busy that I felt I simply didn’t have time to spend constantly sending a manuscript to agents. Fast forward a couple of years, and I feel very differently. I’m starting to think that being an indie writer is actually a positive thing in itself, not as a stepping stone to something else.
Sure, I’d like the cash, clout and credibility being with a publisher gives you, but there’s something heady about the freedom of indie publishing, especially in the digital sphere. You’re not beholden to anyone else’s schedules, you have the freedom to publish what and when you like – which I’m realising from conversations with other writer friends that sometimes isn’t at all true if you’re with a traditional publisher, as I have seen them frustrated by delays, or disappointed when they are told that, instead of the sequel they planned, they need to deliver something else. (Also, most aspiring writers massively over estimate how much published writers earn – unless you’re one of the industry’s big hitters, you won’t be giving up the day job soon). Perhaps it’s because I had already made the decision to be my own boss in every other area of my life that indie publishing felt like a great fit for me, but it’s turned out to be one of the most satisfying decisions I’ve ever made.
Some of this is because of the flexibility: my career is very cyclical, and when it’s busy, it’s REALLY busy – it’s not uncommon for me to be working 13 hour days, 7 days a week over my peak periods, and I simply don’t have time for anything else. So not having someone else’s deadline hanging over me is liberating. Conversely, it also means that when I want to publish, I can do so almost without delay. I put a couple of short stories out between Dark Dates and Wolf Night virtually on a whim; and when I realised, last summer, that My Traumatic Year had meant there was absolutely no way I would be able to hit my planned deadline of putting the next novel out in spring, I was able to at least fill the gap with a long short story/novella, Vampire In Edinburgh, which turned out to be enormous fun to write and was very well-received at a time when, reeling from my mother’s and a close friend’s death, and still mired down in my own homelessness, I was starting to have major doubts about my writing ability at all. Being able to put something out there straight away at a time when my confidence was at an all-time low, and having people respond to it warmly did, I am sure, stop my temporary crisis from spiralling into something far more permanent and debilitating.
I’m not saying self-publishing is easy – even with a trusted team of helpers around me (from my unpaid beta readers to those who supply my paid-for services, such as formatting and design), I still have to do most of the work myself, and that can feel like a slog, especially when I am under pressure to focus on more lucrative things – ie, the things that pay my rent. I’ve realised that I am fairly awful at publicity, so still struggle to get wider exposure for my books, and that’s after trying to overcome a widespread antipathy to self-published writers in the blogging community (many bloggers won’t review or feature self-published titles, wary of poor quality and indie authors’ reputation for being less able to handle negative reviews). Also, without the seal of approval of an editor and publisher, there’s always the fear that my books are really, not to put too fine a point on it, a bit crap. But while life would be easier with a personal assistant and a publicist (though really, whose life wouldn’t be?), overall I’m happy with my path.
But although digital publishing has the thrill of immediacy and access (and, if you publish through Amazon, a fairly generous royalties percentage), I missed having an actual physical book in my hands: something I could put on my shelves, something I could sell at signings or events, something that readers could pass on to friends. My first two books were hard copy only, and some of my happiest experiences were at signings, readings and events – something I haven’t done at all for my latest series.
So this year I decided to expand into print. A friend recommended Amazon’s CreateSpace service, and I decided to give it a go. Although technically free to use, it did end up costing me money, since I paid to have my cover and text reformatted, and it also took a lot of work. I re-edited Dark Dates for print (and, being vaguely horrified at the amount of typos I had let slip – which made me pleased I got a proofer on board for the next books – I then had it reformatted for digital to re-upload to Amazon) and then there’s a lot of proofing involved to make sure the print edition is how you want it. But eventually it was done and this week, my first copy arrived – and I couldn’t be more thrilled. The excitement of holding your own book in your hands is something no writer ever gets over, and I must admit that a physical copy makes it feel more real. My plan is to get the rest of the titles in print by autumn (compiling the short stories into one volume), paving the way for the next book in the series. Admittedly at this stage it’s an experiment that might cost me more than it makes me – the royalties for print copies are far lower, even though the price is naturally much higher – but I don’t care. It feels like the next step on my publishing journey, and for all the pitfalls and perils of self-publishing, it’s an adventure that is all the more exciting because I get to choose my own path.
Sure, I’d like the cash, clout and credibility being with a publisher gives you, but there’s something heady about the freedom of indie publishing, especially in the digital sphere. You’re not beholden to anyone else’s schedules, you have the freedom to publish what and when you like – which I’m realising from conversations with other writer friends that sometimes isn’t at all true if you’re with a traditional publisher, as I have seen them frustrated by delays, or disappointed when they are told that, instead of the sequel they planned, they need to deliver something else. (Also, most aspiring writers massively over estimate how much published writers earn – unless you’re one of the industry’s big hitters, you won’t be giving up the day job soon). Perhaps it’s because I had already made the decision to be my own boss in every other area of my life that indie publishing felt like a great fit for me, but it’s turned out to be one of the most satisfying decisions I’ve ever made.
Some of this is because of the flexibility: my career is very cyclical, and when it’s busy, it’s REALLY busy – it’s not uncommon for me to be working 13 hour days, 7 days a week over my peak periods, and I simply don’t have time for anything else. So not having someone else’s deadline hanging over me is liberating. Conversely, it also means that when I want to publish, I can do so almost without delay. I put a couple of short stories out between Dark Dates and Wolf Night virtually on a whim; and when I realised, last summer, that My Traumatic Year had meant there was absolutely no way I would be able to hit my planned deadline of putting the next novel out in spring, I was able to at least fill the gap with a long short story/novella, Vampire In Edinburgh, which turned out to be enormous fun to write and was very well-received at a time when, reeling from my mother’s and a close friend’s death, and still mired down in my own homelessness, I was starting to have major doubts about my writing ability at all. Being able to put something out there straight away at a time when my confidence was at an all-time low, and having people respond to it warmly did, I am sure, stop my temporary crisis from spiralling into something far more permanent and debilitating.
I’m not saying self-publishing is easy – even with a trusted team of helpers around me (from my unpaid beta readers to those who supply my paid-for services, such as formatting and design), I still have to do most of the work myself, and that can feel like a slog, especially when I am under pressure to focus on more lucrative things – ie, the things that pay my rent. I’ve realised that I am fairly awful at publicity, so still struggle to get wider exposure for my books, and that’s after trying to overcome a widespread antipathy to self-published writers in the blogging community (many bloggers won’t review or feature self-published titles, wary of poor quality and indie authors’ reputation for being less able to handle negative reviews). Also, without the seal of approval of an editor and publisher, there’s always the fear that my books are really, not to put too fine a point on it, a bit crap. But while life would be easier with a personal assistant and a publicist (though really, whose life wouldn’t be?), overall I’m happy with my path.
But although digital publishing has the thrill of immediacy and access (and, if you publish through Amazon, a fairly generous royalties percentage), I missed having an actual physical book in my hands: something I could put on my shelves, something I could sell at signings or events, something that readers could pass on to friends. My first two books were hard copy only, and some of my happiest experiences were at signings, readings and events – something I haven’t done at all for my latest series.
So this year I decided to expand into print. A friend recommended Amazon’s CreateSpace service, and I decided to give it a go. Although technically free to use, it did end up costing me money, since I paid to have my cover and text reformatted, and it also took a lot of work. I re-edited Dark Dates for print (and, being vaguely horrified at the amount of typos I had let slip – which made me pleased I got a proofer on board for the next books – I then had it reformatted for digital to re-upload to Amazon) and then there’s a lot of proofing involved to make sure the print edition is how you want it. But eventually it was done and this week, my first copy arrived – and I couldn’t be more thrilled. The excitement of holding your own book in your hands is something no writer ever gets over, and I must admit that a physical copy makes it feel more real. My plan is to get the rest of the titles in print by autumn (compiling the short stories into one volume), paving the way for the next book in the series. Admittedly at this stage it’s an experiment that might cost me more than it makes me – the royalties for print copies are far lower, even though the price is naturally much higher – but I don’t care. It feels like the next step on my publishing journey, and for all the pitfalls and perils of self-publishing, it’s an adventure that is all the more exciting because I get to choose my own path.
Top 5 lessons indie publishing taught me
I did a guest post over at writer's site Autharium...
Top 5 lessons of #indiepublishing over @Autharium - http://autharium.wordpress.com/2014/0...
Top 5 lessons of #indiepublishing over @Autharium - http://autharium.wordpress.com/2014/0...
June 23, 2014
Dealing with downtime
While there are many upsides to being a freelancer – I am writing this in my living room, with the sunshine pouring through open balcony doors, so I don’t expect anyone to be crying salty tears on my behalf – the downside is that, when you’re not busy, it’s easy to give into The Fear that you will never be busy again, that this lull in your schedule is only the first in many, and you will soon find yourself struggling to pay bills. It’s particularly pernicious at this time of year, when you know that you could, if you wanted, treat any downtime as a holiday – after all, it’s summer! Everyone deserves a holiday! But then the Fear reminds you that when you are being bombarded with images of your friends gallivanting off to glamorous locations, they are still getting paid while they do so.
My own business – tied as it is to the deadlines of the legal directories – is particularly susceptible to the summer lull. Last year I barely noticed, since I was full in the throes of my Year From Hell, and my attention was tied up with sorting out my mother’s estate and the endless red tape that involved, and finding somewhere to stay from one week to the next while I was house hunting. Since the one upside of having nowhere to live is you don’t pay any rent, I was able to survive on whatever work I could squeeze in around these two exhausting responsibilities, and even managed to use my time creatively, resulting in my last book, the novella / long short story A Vampire in Edinburgh.
This year, when I actually do have to pay rent and can’t just rely on the other people’s larders for my food, the summer slump seems a far more terrifying prospect, but it’s also one I am determined to utilise properly. I’ve built up my repertoire over the past year, and expanded my client base, so am planning to use the summer to see if I can build on both my range of products and expand my international client base, so that I can balance my schedule more throughout the year. I am continuing my project of getting my books into print (A Vampire in Edinburgh and Other Stories is now available in paperback), I have another novel coming out over the summer and I have a Dark Dates sequel in the works. But I’m also trying to accept that my chosen career will always have fallow seasons, and I need to work with that, not rail against it. I’ve always been terrible at taking holidays – even when I worked in an office, I found it impossible to switch off my BlackBerry. Now, though, I have realised that while that most elusive of things, ‘work-life balance’ is impossible to achieve on a day-to-day basis in my life (when I am busy, I am 10-12 hours a day, 7 days a week busy), I can balance out that hectic period with a calmer, more restful season, when instead of fretting about what isn’t happening, I should be taking advantage of the slower pace to tend to all those things that necessarily get pushed aside when work is at full tilt.
Last year, I spent months trying to get my home by the sea – and now I have one, maybe this is the summer I learn to enjoy it.
My own business – tied as it is to the deadlines of the legal directories – is particularly susceptible to the summer lull. Last year I barely noticed, since I was full in the throes of my Year From Hell, and my attention was tied up with sorting out my mother’s estate and the endless red tape that involved, and finding somewhere to stay from one week to the next while I was house hunting. Since the one upside of having nowhere to live is you don’t pay any rent, I was able to survive on whatever work I could squeeze in around these two exhausting responsibilities, and even managed to use my time creatively, resulting in my last book, the novella / long short story A Vampire in Edinburgh.
This year, when I actually do have to pay rent and can’t just rely on the other people’s larders for my food, the summer slump seems a far more terrifying prospect, but it’s also one I am determined to utilise properly. I’ve built up my repertoire over the past year, and expanded my client base, so am planning to use the summer to see if I can build on both my range of products and expand my international client base, so that I can balance my schedule more throughout the year. I am continuing my project of getting my books into print (A Vampire in Edinburgh and Other Stories is now available in paperback), I have another novel coming out over the summer and I have a Dark Dates sequel in the works. But I’m also trying to accept that my chosen career will always have fallow seasons, and I need to work with that, not rail against it. I’ve always been terrible at taking holidays – even when I worked in an office, I found it impossible to switch off my BlackBerry. Now, though, I have realised that while that most elusive of things, ‘work-life balance’ is impossible to achieve on a day-to-day basis in my life (when I am busy, I am 10-12 hours a day, 7 days a week busy), I can balance out that hectic period with a calmer, more restful season, when instead of fretting about what isn’t happening, I should be taking advantage of the slower pace to tend to all those things that necessarily get pushed aside when work is at full tilt.
Last year, I spent months trying to get my home by the sea – and now I have one, maybe this is the summer I learn to enjoy it.
June 22, 2014
Vampire in Edinburgh now in print!
Yup, you can now buy the short stories in print! http://darkdates.org/2014/06/22/vampi...
May 20, 2014
Why being an indie author suits my style
So now I have managed to get Dark Dates into print I decided to blog about the whole indie author experience...
http://darkdates.org/2014/05/20/why-b...
http://darkdates.org/2014/05/20/why-b...
May 19, 2014
Dark Dates now in paperback
It's been a hectic year so far, but I am delighted that the first of my projects for the year has come to fruition: I have edited and released Dark Dates in paperback! I'm incredibly excited - much as I love the freedom and immediacy of digital there is something thrilling about having a paperback of your own book in your hands - and plan to release the rest of the series (with the short stories combined into one volume) throughout the year.
Watch this space!
http://amzn.to/1qOTGez
Watch this space!
http://amzn.to/1qOTGez
