Changing Up...

Before I published my first book I did a lot of investigating. The general comment that I saw from several well known writers was to keep writing. They said that the more you write the better your craft and the better the sales. Well, I wondered how this would pan out for my future career as a writer. Now that I'm coming up on my two year publishing anniversary I can say that this is a fact. It's funny that when I read my first published book I shake my head. I'm in the process of revising a couple of my first books. I've learned so much about the process and writing in the last two years. I changed a lot of how the process goes. Also, I've slowed down a bit. Of course that could be age, but let's get past that point. I've seen a huge difference in sales. The first 6 months after publishing my first book my sales were minimal. Every month after that I've seen a upswing. I've also learned to put a decent price on my work. Even though you might sell less in numbers, the end result if a larger profit. As for my covers I've stepped up the game. Now I put more effort in making each new cover pack a punch. I want them to stand out in the enormous crowd of other newly published books. I study other covers that I see and what the current trends are. I get a lot of response on my covers which makes me smile. One thing I've learned from multiple published books, I've added more descriptions. I've added more insight into the characters and more information on the surroundings. Some of this comes from fans writing to me. They tell me that my earlier books were good, but they wanted more from the characters. I've listened to the readers and now I write further detail into every book. Patience has been a hard thing for me to have in my writing. When you can see the end and your excited, sometimes you press it too quickly and lose the middle structure. My publishing process has become very detailed. I've slowed that process too. Now I do a little more marketing than before. As you've noticed in my blogs I'm working on several manuscripts that have been in the works for a while. I also have a couple of surprises coming up, but that's for another blog down the road. As always, good writing, and May God Bless You...

3 Ways Indie Authors Can Improve Self Publishing

As you know I'm a self published author. When I decided to publish my manuscripts I studied the market. I'm an Accountant and I have a strong analytical background so that pushed me to make a study into this. I looked into both the traditional market and the self publishing market. One thing I realized was that more and more traditionally published authors are going to the self publishing market. But let me tell you this, in order to do it right you've got to keep up the traditional publishing standards strictly enforced. Here are 3 of the ways Authors can improve Self Publishing: 1: Editing: This is a very important part of publishing and this is where several self published authors fail at. It's also part of why some people will not pick up a self published book because they've been burned before. You've got to read your manuscript and read it again. Also you need to either get Beta Readers or someone that will be critical and unbiased to read your work. When you read your manuscript pull yourself away. Read it as though you're a reader and are you inspired to read it again. If it falls flat, then how can you expect anyone else to get into. Have you corrected all the spelling errors, grammatical errors, and just plain out story line disasters? 2: Covers: I can't stress this enough. Covers can sell even a badly written book. This is the first thing that a reader sees. This is the first line of selling rank. If you don't spend money on anything else, please spend a little on this. There are so many talented cover designers out there. I've been so fortunate to have a awesome cover designer. I've seen some really cool covers and then some really horrible attempts. Your cover needs to tell something about what's inside. It need to pull the reader in. I've purchased so many books just from the cover. 3: Book Blurbs: I stress about this with all my books. This is the hardest part of writing to me, no kidding. Make sure you don't give away too much in the blurb. Too many authors tell the story on the back of the book. This is not good. Be very descriptive and use complimentary words that will draw in the reader. I've done a study on this with my very own books. I put out a blurb on a couple of my books that I was somewhat happy with, but I noticed a lag in sales. Then I sat down and poured over the blurbs changing some of the key words and adding some small elements. This helped the sales dramatically. Try it and see if your sales go up. It's hard to be an author, period! When I say I'm an author, people come back with yeah, I could write a book. Well, yeah, anyone can write a book, but can they write a book that will go anywhere? Do they have the drive to publish that book and do all the marketing? Being an author is not as easy as it looks and being self published is brutal at times. But let me tell you the rewards far outweigh the difficulties. The first time a fan comes up to you at the grocery store and says, "Oh my goodness you're that author." The first time this happened to me I was so embarassed and excited at the same time. When you get emails from fans excited about your work it makes you smile all day. I've gained so many new friends from all over the world that some days I'm just amazed. Yes it's a lot of work, but it's so worth it. Have I thought about traditionally publishing? Yes. I sent Ghost Lover to a traditional publisher and never heard a word. Then I decided to self publish it and it was all uphill from there. It was my introduction into the publishing world and the response to that book has been really great. I've had a couple of big publishers call me about coming on board with them, but they couldn't offer my anything different from what I do now, so not now. I do have a work in progress at the moment that it's been in my heart to send to a publisher that I contribute to as a blogger. We'll see how that goes. So, my advice to you is to go for it, but be prepared to do it right. This is your name you're putting out there, so make it shine. If you need any help with it, I'm in partnership with my editor/cover designer in a publishing service, Horseshoe Publishing. We'll help you iron out those wrinkles and make your work shine like a new penny. As always, good writing and May God Bless You...