10 Things You Didn’t Know About Becoming a Published Author – Harriet Hodgson @healthmn1

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Becoming a Published Author

By Harriet Hodgson

Being a published author looks exciting from the outside. From the inside, however, it’s a different story. I’ve been a freelance writer for 36+ years and my years in the trenches have taught me a lot about book publishing. I write non-fiction health and wellness books and these points come from this experience.

1. You have to work hard. When I say work, I mean writing every day. While you may not write during the holidays or when you’re on a trip, most days you sit down and write.

2. Writing takes planning. You start with an idea, make an outline, flesh in the details, do your research, and start writing. This process can take weeks, months, or even years. I worked on a book for a dozen years and am still amazed at the time it took.

3. Revisions come with the territory. The copy that sounded good last week may seem a bit sour the next week. When you’re revising copy, think of Pulitzer Prize winner James Michener, who said he wasn’t a good at writing, but was good at revisions.

4. Rejection also comes with the territory. Every publisher isn’t going to like your book. When your first rejections arrive you may cry. (I did.) Instead of focusing on emotion, focus on making your book better.

5. Staying current is essential. When you’re a published author, you need to be aware of trends and update yourself on them continuously. Your book ideas should fit these trends.

6. People will tell you they were going to write the book. This has happened to me several times and I just say something like “Good ideas have their time” or “Guess we both had the same idea.”

7. Marketing is part of being an author. Publishers’ marketing budgets are shrinking and most publishers, whether they’re royalty publishers, indie publishers, or print-on-demand publishers, ask their authors to help with marketing.

8. Support your book with talks and workshops. Your workshops shouldn’t be book commercials, they should be extensions of your book. People should go away with new information and a better understanding of you.

9. Use the power of the Internet. I’m a grandmother and never received any computer training. Anything I learned I learned from experience. You need an Internet presence in order to sell books.

10. Get reviews. Amazon reviews, Internet book club reviews, and print reviews all draw attention to your book. Getting reviews isn’t easy, but they are worth the time and effort you put into them.

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Genre – Non-fiction

Rating – G

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Website http://harriethodgson.com/

Will Love Restore the Natural Balance of Things? – Vanna Smythe @Vanna_Smythe

Will Love Restore the Natural Balance of Things?

The Anniversary of the Veil trilogy is based on two things: twin souls and the energy of love.  The belief in twin souls, that is a soul mate in the form of your one true love, existing somewhere in the world and pulling you towards them relentlessly and ceaselessly is the underlying theme of the entire Anniversary of the Veil series. Only, in this world that I created the energy released when two twin souls find each other is used for purposes that are not altogether enjoyable for the pair.

In my world, for centuries Joinings of such strong love, and the energy they release, have been used to build bridges and tall buildings, stem the flow of rivers, even change the duration and force of seasons. One thousand years ago, energy from one such pair was used to separate the world in half by a barrier only a select few can cross. On one side of this barrier, or Veil as it is called, they have continued with the forced Joinings, while on the other side the practice was eradicated. This was achieved mainly through the means of keeping the people ignorant, and under the complete control of the Priesthood. The priests rule the realm from the shadows. Among other things, they also decide who can marry whom, so as to prevent any natural Joinings of love from occurring.

Protector takes place at a time when the fate of this barrier must be judged. The decision of whether the Veil should continue to stand, or if it is time to let the world be whole again must now be made.

Princess Issiyanna is one of a pair, called to her other half, her twin soul. She is ignorant of her true purpose, steered to go along and find her love, not knowing that a Joining waits at the end of her journey. Unbeknown to her, she is loved from a distance by Protector Kiyarran, a soldier assigned as her bodyguard and the one whose role, whose decision, could decide the fate of all.

How long can a world where something as natural as the energy of love is twisted and used for artificial purposes exist? Will love prevail and restore the natural balance of things? What price must be paid? Answers to all these questions, and more wait at the end of the Anniversary of the Veil series.

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Genre – Fantasy, Paranormal Romance

Rating – PG13

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Website http://vannasmythe.com/

What Inspired Me to Write My Book by T.G. Ayer @TGAyerAuthor

FIRE is a Young Adult novel steeped in a mythology that is arguably a living system of belief. Unlike Greek, Roman, Egyptian and even Norse mythology, the Hindu mythology is alive and well in all parts of the world. Today much of Hindu belief still holds true to its pantheon of gods and goddesses.

I wrote about Maya as a character because she was so certain she knew exactly what she believed. How often have we approached an idea of a philophy already one hundred percent sure we knew how it worked or what it was about. Maya knew the gods weren’t real, she knew it was all just mythology, just a way to makes sense of a religion that she believed not longer matters. Not to her at any rate.

But what if everything you ever believed was mere folklore suddenly turned out to be real? How do you handle everything turning upside down in your world? How do you go from total non-believer, or a skeptic, to a believer. That’s what happens to Maya – she not only has to accept the reality of something she always though was a fantasy but she becomes a key figure within a mythology she never ever believed was real.

How does that challenge a person? How do you accept such a turn of events? When you’re so sure it’s all a lie, what happens when you are suddenly staring truth in the face? How do you accept and deal with change.

Here I hope the reader recognises that change is not necessarily a bad thing, and neither is it a nad thing to have ones preconceived notions challenged.

The other facet of the story that drove its writing was prejudice. I’ve always believed that prejudice is a human function it is part of our nature, and is a protective measure – us against what we do not know or what we do not understand. Maya came to her own conclusions about the Kali believers. He didn’t take the opportinuty to learn about it and understand it. She just took what she’d heard and read and held herself away from belief in the goddess because of her negative preconceptions.

This prejudice can be applied to many walks of life from looks, to race, to gender, to economic differences. With this book I was hoping that readers would stop and think about whether they themselves are doing the very same thing Maya does, in whatever context that is applicable to their own lives.

If you do get the opportunity to read FIRE and wish to discuss any aspect of the novel please feel free to email me at tgayer@xtra.co.nz

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Genre – YA Fantasy/Paranormal

Rating – PG13

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Website http://tgayer.wordpress.com/

It Takes a Spy to Catch a Spy by Tarah Scott @TarahScott

Those books that keep us coming back

I was a reader long before I was a writer and, despite the fact that my writer’s mind now often interferes with my reading experience—it’s hard not to notice flaws, plot devices, foreshadowing and the myriad of other author devices—I still remain a reader first and foremost. I admit, however, that I often despair of experiencing the innocent beauty of a book I enjoyed before I learned a darned thing about writing. (Everything comes with a price.) Then suddenly, I’m lost in a story, the author in me slumbers, and I rediscover the pure joy of reading. I love jarring from the trance to find myself on the edge of my seat in anticipation of what’s about to happen.

The natural reaction of yelling at the characters, or gasping at their audacity and wanting to strangle them for their thick-headedness is priceless. The characters you love to hate and hate to love are those that animate our favorite books, the books that incite in us the most startling and dramatic—not to mention unexpected—reactions. For me, some of those books are A Tale of Two Cities, Wuthering Heights, Gone With the Wind, Interview with a Vampire, Julie Garwood’s The Bride, Zane Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage, Amanda Quick’s Desire, and so many more. I have reread all of these books (and more) many times over. It’s wonderful how each time I read them I glean a little something new.

These books have withstood the test of time and each generation discovers what those of us in the past learned of life, love, sadness, and sometimes even death. I smile to myself when my daughter scoffs at the books I recommend, then sit back and watch as she eventually discovers the book for herself—and loves it! The human condition is ever constant, and we can take comfort that these works of art will continue to unite us throughout time. I love being a writer, but I am forever reminded that being a reader is by far the greatest teacher of how to connect to characters. My one wish as a writer is to never lose the childlike joy of reading, for if I manage to stay a reader first, I might aspire to create a truly memorable story.

As far as the baker girl in me, that’s who I am when I’m plotting ways to torture my heroes and heroines or reliving the latest work of art I’ve just read.

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Genre – Historical  Romance

Rating – R

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Website http://www.tarahscott.com/

D.A. & M.P. Wearmouth – What to do with an independent completed unedited manuscript @dampwearmouth

Self-publish or small press

by D.A. & M.P. Wearmouth

After completing a novel the first thing anyone will ask is “are you published.”  Their inference that ‘published’ is generally accepted as an industry recognised validation of your work, and that it will be appealing to a market of readers.

The changes and evolution in the publishing world are well documented but fundamentally can be traced back to the ebook.  A reader can now download a book onto a device in seconds from an online store removing layers of cost to the selling price of a book.  Furthermore using KDP, anyone can upload a book for sale on Amazon.  It’s true most books do not make it into ‘brick and mortar’ stores but there is no need when print on demand can deliver a paperback.  The publishing world is opening up, but the doors to the upper publishing realm are firmly closed for the time being on the vast majority of indie authors.

In the vacuum of this change in state, small press publishers have taken advantage and offer many indie authors a form of publishing.  They are not new and most offer a valued service to their clients in steering them through the stages of publishing and marketing a book.  However for the modern media savvy author who can upload and market themselves, what do the small presses offer?

The positive spin on a small press is that they are knowledgeable industry experienced professionals who can reach more readers than the indie author alone.  They can provide guidance on editing and will usually provide book cover and copy edit services.  The authors book will be joining a list of other titles which can advertise each other in their back covers and also online.  More importantly, seemingly to some authors, is that the small presses provide a ‘warm fuzzy feeling’ of being published.

The negative spin is that some small presses have a business plan to contract c.200 books under their banner.  The books can be all uploaded to KDP in the same way an indie author would to Amazon, but the small press will take 35% royalty.  In simple terms if the book is £2, then Amazon take 60p, the small press take 70p and the author will receive 70p per ebook (worse for the author on paperback more like 10% ie 20p).  For this equal share of royalties the small press will advertise on their website and other social media.  The vast majority do not have the time or budget for any paid advertising which would be funded by the author.  Therefore out of your 70p per book, expect to spend all royalties advertising online.  The small press business plan has practically no upfront or on-going costs, they expect to be presented with a finished product.  The author pays for marketing and the small press can then upload multiple titles, all generating royalties of 35%.

Small presses play an integral and important part of the publishing industry; however the indie author should exercise extreme caution before signing up.  KDP has opened the possibility for an author to truly work independently and be as successful as mainstream publishers.  Still have that fuzzy feeling?

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Genre – Horror/Science Fiction

Rating – R

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Website http://dampwearmouth.com/

Christine Locke – The Story Behind Open Door

The Story Behind Open Door

By Christine Locke

Open Door is a traditional, gothic drama set in Eureka Springs, AR.  In genre, it is similar to a few other series, like The Amber House series, The Aurelia LaRue series, and Beautiful Creatures.  I blogged about “the New Southern Gothic,” and I’m looking for other young adult series that fit into this niche.

How did I come to write it?  Well, I’ve seen other writers, most notably Stephen King, say that they can try to explain where ideas come from, but that, in fact, they have no idea.  I wrote Open Door in 2009-2010, but I had a baby in December of 2010 and I was late to the self-publishing party.   It’s fascinating to me that all of us were working on various stages of our series at around the same time, though—and independent of each other, as far as I know.

I can tell you that I had one daughter reading the Twilight series who had loved the Harry Potter series before that.  She didn’t love Twilight, but she read it.  My other daughter would read neither series, but she liked the Twilight movies.  So, these things were on my mind.  They were on everyone’s mind, though, so, you know, so what?

Here’s what: I did not want to do wizards.  I did not want to do vampires.  I love the Harry Potter books and I don’t think anyone will ever top them.  I love the vampires of Joss Whedon and Anne Rice, and I don’t think anyone will ever top them, either.  My daughters’ entertainment reading/viewing showed me what I would not be doing, since those genres were already done.  And done.  And…well, you get the picture.

Here’s what I did want to do: traditional gothic.  Rambling mansions, the ingénue in a white dress, an unimaginable challenge and the secret knowledge empowering one to overcome it: these are still story-telling tools that, although they have been done, have not been done to the point that there’s no more to be said.

There’s still room to do something new.  “Southern gothic,” in the past, has been used to expose social injustice in a setting contemporary to the author.  This still holds true for all the series I mention, above.  The difference is that the confrontation of social injustice plays a supporting role to the front action, which has more to do with the agency of the central female character—or male character, or both, as in the case of Beautiful Creatures.  It’s also interesting to note the central gothic ingénue in this sub-genre might be of mixed or ambiguous cultural heritage or she may be in an inter-racial relationship.  The revelation of social injustice is still a part of the New Southern Gothic, it’s just done in a new way.

However, with the literary elements employed to tell the tale, you will find that these Young Adult series utilize traditional gothic elements.  In one form or another, there’s the house: in a traditional gothic tale, the house is a character, not just a setting.  In Open Door, I had fun with this element.  There’s also the ingénue, the older female advisor, the menacing male who either contains the ingénue in the house or threatens her from outside.  There are other elements, but those are enough to get started.

The story behind Open Door is just this: I wanted to write a Southern novel, and I wanted to write a traditional, gothic novel.  What I find amusing and engaging is that, at that very moment in time, I was not the only one!

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Genre – Young Adult

Rating – PG/PG13

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Website http://christinelockebooks.blogspot.com/

My Kick in the Butt – Keira Michelle Telford @mylostanddamned

My Kick in the Butt

by: Keira Michelle Telford

In 2010, my father died. In 2011, I published my first book.

My father died relatively young. He was only 62, and he died alone, surrounded by the only thing that ever made any real sense to him: his artwork. He worked for Royal Worcester, painting still life on porcelain. (Though he did work in other mediums for pleasure, first and foremost, he was always a ceramic artist).

We have a lot in common, my father and I. He never paid for a haircut in all of his adult life, and I started cutting my own hair a few years ago. He had blue eyes, so do I. He was creative, and so am I. He had (undiagnosed) Asperger’s syndrome, and so do I. Will I end up dying alone, surrounded by the only thing that’s ever made any real sense to me (writing)? Probably. And I’m okay with that. My autism makes it difficult to make social bonds, and I often find myself somewhat alienated from the world—just like my father was.

There’s one path I don’t want to follow him down, though. He was a very talented painter, but he never put that talent to any appreciable use. He was made redundant from Royal Worcester in the mid-1980s, and became self-employed. In a way, that should’ve been a great opportunity for him. No longer did he have to paint what other people wanted him to paint, he could paint whatever he liked. The only trouble was he found it too difficult to put his work out there in the world. Something held him back, though I’m not sure if it was a fear of rejection, or just a lack of the social skills necessary to market himself in the way you really need to when you’re working for yourself. (Something I also struggle with).

In any case, the saddest aspect of his passing (outside of my own personal grief, of course) was this sudden realization of all the wasted potential there was in his life. He loved to paint, got irritable when he couldn’t, and lived and breathed through these beautiful pieces of art that never saw the light of day. They just gathered dust in his painting room, like my novels were gathering virtual dust on the hard-drive of my laptop.

I might not mind dying alone, as an eccentric recluse who cuts her own hair and talks to herself, but I made up my mind right there and then that I didn’t want to die with all my thoughts locked up inside my head. Whether I achieve any modicum of success (success being a totally subjective concept anyway) or not, it doesn’t matter. What’s important is the effort, and the attempt to leave a mark on the world in some small way. To create something indelible, as proof that you were ever here at all.

Eerily, when I was emptying out his house, I found a note tucked in amongst a stack of papers of all things he intended to write or talk to me about and never got the chance. The note said: Alas, it is the fate of most of us to touch the world lightly and leave no prints. See if you can grab it a bit harder.

So that’s what I’m doing.

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Genre – Dystopian Sci-Fi

Rating – 18+

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Website http://www.ellacross.com/

Five things you didn’t know about Voicu Mihnea Simandan @vmsimandan

Five things you didn’t know about Voicu Mihnea Simandan

by: Voicu Mihnea Simandan

Unless you’re a former US president, the Dalai Lama or a world recordbreaking athlete, few people write their autobiographies. But we sometimes realise that the life of the person next to you can be equally interesting. Today we look at five things you (most likely) didn’t know about Voicu Mihnea Simandan, the author of the intertextual study The Matrix and the Alice Books.

1. He’s a Bangkok-based Romanian writer. Voicu Mihnea Simandan was born, raised and educated in a small city in Transylvania, Romania. In 2002, at the ripe age of 24, after working for a year as a teaching assistant at his local university, he packed his bags and moved to Thailand to continue his career as a secondary school teacher. He now lives in Bangkok with his Thai wife and teachers Language Arts and Social Studies at an international school in Bangkok.

2. He is an accomplished archer. In 2009, after a ligament injury, Mihnea took a break from martial arts, his passion since high school, and started practicing archery. Although he has never shot a single arrow in his home country, he now represents Romania at a range of international archery competitions organized on the Asian continent. In 2012, he finished the winter indoor season in 9th place at the Indoor World Cup held in Singapore.

3. He has been a freelance journalist for the last 16 years. Apart from writing fiction and being a school teacher, Mihnea is also a freelance journalist with hundreds of articles published in newspapers, magazines and journals in both Romania and Thailand. On a monthly basis, he publishes two articles in an English-language Bangkok-based magazine, covering diverse topics from art to sport and from literature to tourism.

4. He has an extensive presence on the Internet. Mihnea’s first internet article was published on a Romanian book review blog (bookblog.ro) in 2006 and reflected his interest in Japanese literature. His love for books, especially about the Japanese culture, history and civilization, hasn’t wavered a bit in the years following his internet debut. Since 2009, when he started his own blog (simandan.com), he has published over 600 book reviews, author interviews, and travel articles.

5. He is passionate about Japan and martial arts. Mihnea has been practicing aikido, a Japanese martial arts for many years now. His fascination with all things Japanese is obvious both in the non-fiction articles, studies and books he has published until now as well as in his more recent fiction work, where his characters are ninjas, yakuza or samurai. He goes to Japan on a yearly basis to travel and gather material for his writings.

Voicu Mihnea Simandan is currently on a virtual tour with The Matrix and the Alice Books, an intertextual study that looks at the connection between the sci-fi movie The Matrix and Lewis Carroll’s books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.

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Genre – Non-Fiction/Movie Studies/Literary Criticism

Rating – G

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Website http://www.simandan.com/

Sarah Daltry – Finding Your Voice: Writing in First Person @SarahDaltry

Finding Your Voice: Writing in First Person

By: Sarah Daltry

When I started writing, I never really gave any consideration to the voice of the work. I just wrote it in the voice that came into my head when the story idea popped up. Time went on, I was writing, and voice was still not a factor in my planning. For me, the characters tell the stories, so the voice was whatever voice they were speaking to me in – and that was usually first person.

As a reader, I love first person stories. They feel confessional, like the novel is a big secret that I share with a close friend. When I began writing, I thought of storytelling the same way. I didn’t want to insert myself between the character and the reader. So I continued writing in first person.

Originally, I wrote in first person, past tense. When I started writing erotica, though, it became clear that first person present was a much more “involved” tense choice. Reading erotic stories in first person present really makes you feel like you are experiencing the events in the story and isn’t that the goal of erotica? Crossing over to romance, I had to decide if I wanted to stick with first person present or return to past tense. I had really begun to enjoy present tense because it made the story that much more active to me.

After writing my stories this way for a while, I stumbled upon an article about agents’ pet peeves in publishing. At the top of the list was first person present tense. That was a surprise. I love reading books in this voice, so why would it be a bad thing? I don’t really know the answer, but I worried about this a great deal. Could I never succeed as a writer because I chose the wrong voice? Would readers really not pick up a book because of the narration?

It turns out that yes, there is a group of readers who will not read a book based on the voice in which it’s written. I needed to decide what that meant for me. Should I change what worked for me as a writer – in order to reach more people? Would I feel the same connection to the characters if I changed the point of view?

My final decision was that voice matters, but it matters more to a writer than to a reader. I have never put a book down because of the voice the author chose. I don’t care. A story is a story. My preference remains first person, but I’m not going to ignore a book that appeals to me because it’s in third. I hope most readers feel the same way. On the other hand, the characters need to be free to tell the story. I’m the instrument they use to become real to readers. If they want to talk, and leave me out of it, who am I to argue?

Right now, I am working on a novel that will probably be in alternating third person. I didn’t make the choice because I had heard too many complaints about first person. I made it because it works for the novel. I think when it comes to finding your voice as an author, you need to go with what you feel works. The rest will just have to fall into place.

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Genre – New Adult Erotic Romance

Rating – X

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Website http://sarahdaltry.tumblr.com/

Karolyn James – How to Write by the Seat of Your Pants: Outline or No? @karolynwrites

How to Write by the Seat of Your Pants: Outline or No?

by: Karolyn James

I love the term ‘write by the seat of your pants.’ I think as writers we all ‘write by the seat of our pants.’ That means we go into a manuscript tell a story. We may have characters, names, descriptions, setting, and a good plot, but when we sit down to write we are opening ourselves to the story and the story is opening itself to us. That means the story can move the way it wants to.

I always try to write with an outline of some sorts. For some books it can be a piece of notebook paper with some notes on. For other projects, it can be a full outline that consists of multiple pages. I have a Post-it note app on my iPad where I will take notes and posting on my screen, and sometimes I just work from that. There are times, when in fact, I will just sit down and write with nothing more than a concept. When I started the Brothers of Rock series I did so with just the band name and an idea of a beautiful woman meeting a rock star and the woman not knowing the guy was a rockstar. To go from there with the series I needed a good outline. Each book in the Brothers of Rock series can be read as a standalone but there are pieces that move throughout the five books that feature Chasing Cross. That’s where my outline came in handy.

Some authors like to write with a very detailed outline that clearly indicates each chapter, the word count, and a brief sentence about that chapter. There is no right or wrong answer in this, it’s the writer’s personal preference. I don’t like outlines that go too much into detail, because I feel it may take away from allowing the story to flow organically. When we write I think it’s important to give the story chance to grow its own set of legs and kind of do what it wants. Our job is to keep it on course and keep the plot flowing, but there are plenty of times when a story will present itself with more opportunities.

When I sit down to map out a new project I like to go basic. I start with a notebook and a pencil. Yes, I have to have a pencil… It’s just a quirk of mine. I usually begin with writing the characters names and something about them to try and bring them to life. Sometimes I’ll take two or three pages of notes and have something to run with, other times I’ll have a scene and just build from the scene. There have been times where I will envision say the first quarter of the book and just attack it from there and when I’m done with that then I’m able to look at where the book is headed and where it needs to go.

There is no right or wrong way to outline the book, if the author chooses to outline a book at all. The most important thing to remember is that we are creating the story but the story also needs an opportunity to create itself.

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Genre – Romance

Rating – PG13

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Website http://karolynjames.wordpress.com/

 

Quality Reads UK Book Club Disclosure: Author interview / guest post has been submitted by the author and previously used on other sites.