Miranda Atchley's Blog, page 52

Why I Self-Publish

When I was writing Stephanie's Story, I thought I thought I wanted to go with the traditional route. I looked into some different publishers, one of which wanted to publish my book for the low, low cost of $8,000 (and I had been told not to pay a dime to a publishing house) and another's contract just didn't sound very good. I had heard of self-publishing from other authors and decided that that would be the best route at the time. So, I started saving my money while I finished writing the book and published it a few months later.
I think the main reason I decided to self-publish was because I didn't feel comfortable signing away the rights to my books. When you sign a contract with a publishing house, it's a very hard process to get the rights back if you come to the conclusion that your current publisher is not a good fit for you. With self-publishing, if I found a better option, it would be no problem at all to make the switch from one publisher to another. In fact, I've already done this with no issues thus far. I also like that it is D.I.Y. I feel like I have more control over the final project.
One part of self-publishing that most look at as a downside is that you don't get all the distribution opportunities traditional publishing offers. It's true that when you self-publish, you won't see your books on the shelves of major retail stores. Yet with some self-publishing companies, you can get your books listed on bigger outlets. The publisher I use, Createspace, is owned by Amazon. That means when I publish my books, they are automatically listed for sale on the Amazon website. The books bought online ship from an Amazon warehouse, and Amazon takes a cut of the royalties made from each sale. Createspace also links you with the publisher Kindle Direct Publishing (also owned by Amazon) which will publish Kindle editions of your book. Createspace strictly publishes physical books, and KDP strictly publishes e-books. You can choose to only publish one or the other, but it really is a good idea to publish both.

I feel that at this time, self-publishing is the best option for me. That's not to say that I think traditional publishing is bad, or that I would never use traditional publishing. If I were to find a publishing house that offered a contract to me that I felt comfortable with and would be better for myself as well as my books, I would sign over. But at this point in time, self-publishing just seems to be a better fit for me. It's working. My books are in print and available for people to read. That's what's most important to me. -Miranda Atchley

What Exactly Is Self-Publishing?

What exactly is self-publishing? I think to answer that question I first need to explain what traditional publishing is.
Traditional publishing is when a publishing house publishes your book. They read over your manuscript and then decide whether or not they want to publish it. They then send you a contract, and you work out what you think to be a fair deal with them and sign it. They then own the rights to your book, will hire an editor to go over your manuscript until it meets certain standers, send it to a printing company, and then distribute it among stores and the like. Often you will have to get an agent to help you get the attention of publishers as a lot of them do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.
When you self-publish, you do all the work yourself. You write the book, edit it and then pay a company to print the book. I use Createspace which is owned by Amazon, so they list my books on Amazon for free and take a percent of all sales.
The biggest differences between traditional and self-publishing are that with self-publishing you don't have to sign a contract and you don't get as many distribution opportunities. To some, the latter statement may seem like a con, but I'll explain in upcoming posts how this doesn't have to be a deciding factor as to whether or not you want to self-publish.

Tune in tomorrow to find out why I personally decided to self-publish and I how feel about the process.
-Miranda Atchley

All About Self-Publishing

In a year-and-a-half, I've published three novels with self-publishing. From time to time I get questions about self- publishing; what it is, how it works, etc... So, I've decided to write a series of blog posts to explain how the self-publishing process works for me in hopes of clearing up any questions others may have as well as to give tips to those who are interested in self-publishing.This will be a four part series that will last Monday, October 5th through Thursday, October 8th. On Monday I'll explain what self-publishing is. Tuesday's post will detail why I self-publish. Wednesday I'll write about some of the technicalities of self-publishing (like editing, cover design, etc...) and then on Thursday, I'll compose a post of tips on how to market your book.

I'm no expert by any means and am still fairly new to the game, but I have learned a lot in the last year and a half and I want to help others who are interested in self-publishing in any way that I can. I also want to give those on the outside looking in some clarity as to what all my job entails. It's going to be a lot of fun and I hope you'll join me! See you tomorrow with a background post on exactly what self-publishing is.

Favorite Word Friday #4- Melancholy

Melancholynoun mel·an·choly \ˈme-lən-ˌkä-lē\a sad mood or feeling
I know to some it may seem strange, but to me, melancholy is a beautiful word. One reason why I love this word may be due to the fact that I love The Smashing Pumpkins album Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness. But really, I just think the word melancholy sounds so nice.  I love it.
Hope you all had a lovely week and are enjoying the lovely October weather. See you later.
-Miranda Atchley(definition taken from the Merriam Webster online dictionary)

Hello October

October is my favorite month of the year. The sixty-something degree days with cool breezes, grey skies and rain are a thrill. The pretty leaves give me "the queer ache" in their entire splendor. I love seeing pumpkins pop up in yards and homes as well as in food and drinks. I have so much fun decorating and preparing for Halloween. I can't wait to curl up on a cool rainy fall day with The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe, a cup of pumpkin spice hot cocoa, and a blanket. And to enjoy my birthday with my family and tradition of watching my favorite movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas.
October is a beloved month. I am ready.

P.S. In case you want to know how to make "pumpkin spice hot cocoa," it's really easy. All I do is add some pumpkin pie spice seasoning to the cocoa as I mix the powder and water. A delicious and comforting autumn treat!

See You Later September

September kind of flew by, didn't it? We didn't get all the fall temperatures that I was hoping for, though it wasn't scorching like it had been in prior months. Still yet, it seems like September just started, and now it's over. I'm not complaining, though, because it just means that tomorrow is the first day of my favorite month of the year.
This month I got a ton of writing done. I put in so much work on my work in progress. I'm so happy about this. It feels great to work on something you love. I also got a lot of blogging done. This makes me feel good, too, because I've wanted to do more with this blog.
Some of my favorite posts from the month of September were:Librarians, Gilbert Blythe and Gilmore GirlsIt's Beginning To Look A Lot Like FallBook of the Week #17- Emily of New MoonPick Me Ups- Writing When You're Running On EmptyWriting Is Like SewingMy First Book Signing 
I hope the month of September was good for you. Thank you for reading this blog and I hope you'll continue stopping by to talk writing and books with me.
-Miranda Atchley

Favorite Word Friday #4- Dream

Dreamnoun, often attributive \ˈdrēm\
Dream is a beautiful word. It just sounds so lovely. Everyone has dreams. We have dreams when we sleep, yet even better, we have dreams for our futures. Dreams of good things to come, dreams of things that will make our lives better. Dreams are everywhere. They take up a lot of our time and keep us going on bad days. Dreams are a part of who we are. I'm a big fan of dreams.

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all have a lovely weekend. I can't wait for mine. I'll be doing another book signing in a neighboring town and then my family is having a cookout where my uncle will make the best barbeque on the planet. What's on your agenda for this weekend?-Miranda Atchley
(Definition taken from the Merriam Webster Dictionary website)

Taking A Break

Hey guys, just checking in to say I don't have a real post for you. I have a week long series I'll be doing soon answering questions about self-publishing, so if you have any self-publishing questions, send them my way and I'll try my best to incorporate them into one of the posts. I'll be back later this week with some more writing posts. Thanks for reading!
-Miranda Atchley

Librarians, Gilbert Blythe and Gilmore Girls

Happy Tuesday, folks. Hope your week is going well so far. Today I thought I'd blog a little about my work in progress.The novel I'm currently working on is more of an adult novel. Nothing vulgar (I wouldn't think twice about recommending it to a teen) it's just about an adult and has more details than a Y/A novel would. It's about a librarian whose life has gone stale even though she has her dream job. It's full of contemplation, dreams, and love. This book will have more romance in it than my previous novels, though that isn't the only thing going on, obviously. Oh, and the love interest is based on Gilbert Blythe. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
This morning I hit 20,000 words in my work in progress. So far it has 109 pages, and it's not quite half finished, so obviously this will be a longer book, which I hear will be a good thing. ;-) I love seeing that review! Makes me so happy.This book has an air of a classic novel. It's still a modern novel and has fast paced and witty dialogue, but with touches of a classic novel. There are influences of the show Gilmore Girls as well as my favorite book Anne of Green Gables, and Jane Austen's novels. And since the protagonist is a librarian who loves classic literature, there are tons of good references in it. I really feel like a lot of modern day women will be able to see themselves in this novel. Lovers of classics will also enjoy this book too, I feel, because of those touches and references.
I really don't know when this novel will be ready to release. I've gotten so much more work done on it than I ever expected to at this point, but once the second draft comes around, all that could change. Rest assured I will let you all know when it's time. So that's what's going on with my work in progress so far. It's fun and I can't wait to see what happens next!-Miranda Atchley

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Fall

Good Sunday afternoon! It's a wonderful day where I am. Drizzling rain, cool temperatures.... absolutely lovely. The only thing that would make it better in my opinion would be if the leaves were already changing. Fall is definitely, without a doubt, my favorite time of year. I love the weather, the atmosphere, the festivities..... my birthday. ;-)I put out my Halloween decorations over the weekend. I love decorating for the holidays. It's so much fun. I buy most of my decorations at Dollar General and a few at Walmart and make what I can at home. I thought I'd share some photos of the decorations with all. They aren't that great because they were taken on my old (non-smart) cell phone, but you get the gist.
 I love strings lights, there's just something so magical about them to me. The above picture is my "writing corner." 
 And then I could resist throwing in a photo of my bookshelf all decked out. Hey, I am an author; I had to incorporate books into this post somehow. The dolls on top belonged to my grandma, who collected dolls.  Though I didn't feature this in any of my photos, I wanted to share with you all my favorite candle; CashmereWoods from Glade. It is the most terrific candle in the world. It has notes of bergamot tea, lemon, orange flower, lily of the valley, jasmine, sandalwood, patchouli, amber, vanilla bean, oakmoss, and musk. It's like fall in a candle and it makes me so happy when I smell it. You can buy it all year round, but it's so fitting this time of year.Thanks for reading this post. Here's to it almost being fall (only three days away)!

P.S. I have another thing I want to share with you all. I finally downloaded the new Rising Fawn album, "Sifting Through Sadness." It's really good. I love the E.P. "Everlasting Songs" and while this new album is quite different from its predecessor, it's still good. My favorites so far are "Jeremy Enigk" and "Wake Up."