Insecure Writer's Support Group...
Or, as we all know it, IWSG! This is THE hop for lots of us bloggers, because lots of us are writers and we're all insecure. Even though we put up a very good front. Alex J. Cavanaugh is the person responsible for this. I think it's the best thing out there! And we all post on the first Wednesday of every month. Here is a link to the list, if you'd like to join, there's no time like the present.
So this is the first post of not only a new month, but a brand, spanking New Year! Hope you have all recuperated from your party hangovers. If not, allow me to turn up the volume...
Aww, would I do that?
Well, okay. Yes. I would. But you didn't have to agree.
I suppose this time around I am going to bypass the whining and go straight for the panicking, wailing, beating the walls...
No, not really. I am going to go the direction of some advice. There are lots of authors/writers out there who have chosen to take the path of the Self Published/Indie Author route. For a myriad of reasons, of which there are far too many to list, I'm sure, this decision was made. Some were determined from the moment they typed out that first sentence to go down this path, others felt forced down it and even more had been burned far too many times.
No matter what made you move down this trepidatious (yes, I know I used a big word...I even had to look the damn thing up on the dictionary website because it's saying I spelled it wrong. Pah!) path there are still lots of things to remember.
1) HIRE AN EDITOR!!!!! Or at the very least, let others look it over for you and try to help you out. Polish that sucker up, people.
2) Which brings me to this: Make it look professional. From the inside, out, the outside, in... do the freakin' hokey pokey if you have to. Make it shine! (I've put down lots of books for these two reasons alone.)
3) Move on.
I want to focus on numero tres. Simply because it was the hardest thing for me to do after going the route of The-Publisher-Who-Will-No-Longer-Be-Named. I've posted about that nightmare before and don't want to keep hashing over it. The biggest thing I had to do was move on. I didn't even consider myself a published author because of them. But now that my book is finally out with Hellfire Publishing and I have sold 3 times as many books already (not that big a thing, trust me...) I can finally do something I've waited almost 7 years to do.
Write. Book. Two.
I can finally freakin' breathe! I can move on to the rest of the story that people have been waiting for right along with me. But even if your first book has typos or issues, the beauty of being self published is that you can go back and fix some of those issues. However, once the MAJOR bits are fixed.
Leave. It. Alone. Don't go back to it. This isn't your ex we're talking about here, you know the one you used to keep going back to only to get dumped on all over again. Make a clean break and move on. This is a book, not a friend with benefits...
Ahem.
There are some books where I wish the author would go back and fix the problems that made me chuck the book aside and never look back. But then there are some who might get hung up on fixing every little issue. Well, just make some major corrections and be done with it. Once the rest of your books are out there, people may go back to the others. But give them a reason to. Even if you offer up the first one for free all over again if they buy the next. Once all three of my books are out, I am going to work on a compilation of all three in a set. Maybe add in a few extra scenes to make it fresh and new. Who knows.
Right now, I just need to focus on selling this first one and that, my dear friends, will be the next IWSG post. If I make it 'til then!
What's made you put down a book? Does it matter if they are an indie author or traditionally published? Got any helpful advice?
So this is the first post of not only a new month, but a brand, spanking New Year! Hope you have all recuperated from your party hangovers. If not, allow me to turn up the volume...
Aww, would I do that?
Well, okay. Yes. I would. But you didn't have to agree.
I suppose this time around I am going to bypass the whining and go straight for the panicking, wailing, beating the walls...
No, not really. I am going to go the direction of some advice. There are lots of authors/writers out there who have chosen to take the path of the Self Published/Indie Author route. For a myriad of reasons, of which there are far too many to list, I'm sure, this decision was made. Some were determined from the moment they typed out that first sentence to go down this path, others felt forced down it and even more had been burned far too many times.
No matter what made you move down this trepidatious (yes, I know I used a big word...I even had to look the damn thing up on the dictionary website because it's saying I spelled it wrong. Pah!) path there are still lots of things to remember.
1) HIRE AN EDITOR!!!!! Or at the very least, let others look it over for you and try to help you out. Polish that sucker up, people.
2) Which brings me to this: Make it look professional. From the inside, out, the outside, in... do the freakin' hokey pokey if you have to. Make it shine! (I've put down lots of books for these two reasons alone.)
3) Move on.
I want to focus on numero tres. Simply because it was the hardest thing for me to do after going the route of The-Publisher-Who-Will-No-Longer-Be-Named. I've posted about that nightmare before and don't want to keep hashing over it. The biggest thing I had to do was move on. I didn't even consider myself a published author because of them. But now that my book is finally out with Hellfire Publishing and I have sold 3 times as many books already (not that big a thing, trust me...) I can finally do something I've waited almost 7 years to do.
Write. Book. Two.
I can finally freakin' breathe! I can move on to the rest of the story that people have been waiting for right along with me. But even if your first book has typos or issues, the beauty of being self published is that you can go back and fix some of those issues. However, once the MAJOR bits are fixed.
Leave. It. Alone. Don't go back to it. This isn't your ex we're talking about here, you know the one you used to keep going back to only to get dumped on all over again. Make a clean break and move on. This is a book, not a friend with benefits...
Ahem.
There are some books where I wish the author would go back and fix the problems that made me chuck the book aside and never look back. But then there are some who might get hung up on fixing every little issue. Well, just make some major corrections and be done with it. Once the rest of your books are out there, people may go back to the others. But give them a reason to. Even if you offer up the first one for free all over again if they buy the next. Once all three of my books are out, I am going to work on a compilation of all three in a set. Maybe add in a few extra scenes to make it fresh and new. Who knows.
Right now, I just need to focus on selling this first one and that, my dear friends, will be the next IWSG post. If I make it 'til then!
What's made you put down a book? Does it matter if they are an indie author or traditionally published? Got any helpful advice?
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