Writers in the Storm

Like many NY published authors, I've watched the publishing landscape change over the past years - watched friends opt to self publish. I was curious, even, at times, envious. But there were contracts, and deadlines, and edits (oh my!) so even a trial-balloon-novella was out of the question. 

I've had an idea for a book for years. You know, the one that keeps tapping your consciousness, saying, 'I'm here. I'm waiting.' I finally couldn't resist any longer - see, this was my sister's book. The baby sister I lost to cancer, twenty six years ago. I wrote it in a blizzard of emotion, the story pouring out of me in ways that surprised me. The plot is not autobiographical in the least, but the underlying theme is (don't you love when that happens?). When it was done, I felt it was a fitting tribute to the most important person in my life. I loved this book.

But. I'd written it from the inside out; I hadn't thought a second about the market, or a publisher. I think readers are going to love it, but New York was not going to want this book.

Hello indie!

I'll be releasing this book January 11 - but it's available for preorder HERE.

Here are some of the zillions of lessons I've learned.  I hope they help anyone considering self publishing.

CAVEAT: I’m an experienced author, fairly tech-savvy, and a marketing loving extrovert.

Your results may vary.

The Good:

• It’s not as hard as I thought. There is a ton of software out there to help you. If you're not techie-inclined, there are many experts who you can contract to help you. My best tip? Vellum. Randy Ingermanson recommended it for formatting manuscripts in his November e-zine (If you're not signed up for his ezine, you should be. Great tips for every level of the journey). It only works on a Mac, but you can format a book in two hours (one, if you've done it before) for $30. And it comes out beautifully; it even breaks out chapters, has drop caps, and pretty ornaments for chapter breaks. When I was done, the only errors I found were mine. It then dumps into every format known to man.
• It’s freeing. It's my title. My cover. My blurb. I have control of everything, from placement to pricing. I can't tell you how good that feels.
• It's great for a one-off book. I'm not done with NY (and thankfully, they're not done with me). But it's wonderful to have this option for a book that doesn't fit the narrow confines of what NY wants. 
• It’s MINE. When you sell a book to NY, it's no longer yours. Yes, it's your story, and your name on the cover, but it doesn't belong to you any longer. I don't have to let go of this very important book. I can keep it forever. Ahhhhh.

The Bad:

• Mistakes are costly. Hire the wrong editor? Formatter? Cover designer? It can be costly, not only monetarily, but legally. And that's not even considering the weight of stress. Personal recommendations help, but this is a relationship - just because someone works well with a fellow author, doesn't mean they'll be your style. Don't be afraid to interview them as you would any vendor in your day job. Be sure they're professionals (have a contract, etc). 
• No one else to blame. Mistakes in a NY published book? Not my bad. In this one? All my bad. I've edited it many times, it's been critted, professionally edited, and read by my agent twice. And still, when I read it to check for formatting. there were errors - and they were all mine. And anyone who finds a mistake in the finished book will know it.
• This is a huge time suck. I haven't written on my WIP in weeks. I've been searching for cover photos, playing with fonts, formatting, researching info . . . I start out at daybreak, and realize I'm hungry at two. Don't get me wrong, I love doing this, but nothing else is getting done. Nothing.
• It’s MINE. There's a certain stamp of approval that comes with a NY publisher's name on the copyright page. I don't have that this time. It undermines my self-confidence in ways I hadn't foreseen. Dumb, I know, but it's there.

The Ugly:

• Nail biting. Will readers judge it differently than one of my NY published books? We can talk all day about the line blurring, but has it been wiped out completely? We'll see, I guess. 
• Waiting isn’t over. One of the most frustrating things about NY is the waiting. Every. Step. Along. The. Way. Guess what? Anything you're not doing yourself, you're still waiting! Ugh!
• It’s MINE! A critical review of my other books stung, but it didn't bite deep. After all, I'd sold the book, so it put a distance between myself and the story. It became a product to a certain extent. Not so, this book. This is close to my heart, and if readers doesn't like it, it's going to hurt. 

CONCLUSION:

I've enjoyed every step of the process so far. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

How about you? have you considered self-publishing? If you've tried it, what was your Good/Bad/Ugly?

About Laura

Laura Drake is a city girl who never grew out of her tomboy ways, or a serious cowboy crush. She writes both Women's Fiction and Romance.

She sold her Sweet on a Cowboy series, romances set in the world of professional bull riding, to Grand Central.  The Sweet Spot won the 2014 Romance Writers of America^®   RITA^® award in the Best First Book category.

Her 'biker-chick' novel, Her Road Home, sold to Harlequin's Superomance line (August, 2013) and has expanded to three more stories set in the same small town. The latest, Twice in a Blue Moon , released in July.

In 2014, Laura realized a lifelong dream of becoming a Texan and is currently working on her accent. She gave up the corporate CFO gig to write full time. She's a wife, grandmother, and motorcycle chick in the remaining waking hours.

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Jamie Raintree

What do you imagine the most productive writing life to look like? The most creative? The most dedicated? Do you imagine it, like I often do, to look like a cabin hidden away in the woods with no wi-fi and food that appears with the snap of your fingers? Do you imagine a life of coffee shops and really good noise-cancelling headphones? I'll be the first to admit, I've often created elaborate fantasies of being imprisoned if that was what it took to shut the rest of the world out so I could focus solely on my novel. In today's world, the expectations on our time and energy have grown exponentially, but I'm finding that solitude isn't actually the best way to be the most healthy, and therefore, the most productive, creative, or dedicated writer.

We've all heard the story--the one about the writer who finally earns enough money with her work (or not, but has other means of financial support) that she quits her day job to focus all her time on her writing. And then she writes nothing. For months. She got everything she thought she always wanted (what we all want) but once she finally got it, things began to unravel.

We're Humans First

Over the last week I've engrossed myself in the book Daring Greatly by Brene Brown (some of you maybe familiar with her viral TEDx Talk of the same subject). Reading this book has confirmed everything I've been suspecting over the last few years since I moved 800 miles away from all the people I loved to find myself with no friends, no family, and no idea how to start to rebuild my tribe. Sure, I didn't have dinner commitments, no one stopped by my house unexpectedly, and my weekends were wide open, but not only did my happiness and mental health suffer greatly, so did my writing.

Studies have equated the health risks of loneliness and social disconnection to level of destruction caused by smoking cigarettes and obesity. For some reason, our culture has placed a high value on being able to do it all on your own, to embrace "independence," and to not need anyone. But what people may often forget is that we hardwired to need connection in order to not only thrive, but to survive. And that's before we even get to the issues of happiness and creativity.

Social Media Isn't Cutting It

But we're more connected than ever, right? Uh, not so much. Don't get me wrong, some of my online connections have blossomed into genuine, heartfelt relationships and even those on a more "in passing" level have brought me immense joy. I've been thrilled to meet some of my online friends "IRL" to discover that our sense of connection was as true in person as it was on Facebook. Our first meetings felt like getting together with a friend I'd known for years because, when people are genuine online (which I find is most of the time), those friendships can be very real.

But the truth is, those online connections simply can't replace eye-to-eye conversations. Studies show that the more real-life friends a person has, the higher their overall life satisfaction, whereas there has been almost no link to an increase in life satisfaction and online friends. Human beings rely on body language and physical touch to deepen emotional connection. And there's simply no replacement for having people in your life that you know will show up on your doorstep when you need them.

The Benefits of Connection

If you've ever been to a writer's conference or retreat, you know what I'm talking about. There is nothing that beats the energy in those rooms and often, the people you meet there will become friends for life. You come off that high with the feeling that you can conquer the world and any plot hole your WIP throws your way! And you also know the feeling that sets in as soon as the day you come home, or maybe a week or two after, when you realize that it's going to be another year before you get to see those people again, before you get to feel that energy again. Suddenly, that plot hole starts to grow from a crevice to a grand canyon. That's not a coincidence.

A few months ago, I started a local writer's group and I can't even begin to tell you how much it has meant to my happiness, my health, and yes, my writing. You see, the more strong connections you make with people, the more you feel valued, increasing your self-esteem and confidence. Being around other people who love and support you also lowers stress hormones. And what does self-esteem, confidence, and lower stress add up to in your writing life? It leads to trust--that what you have to say matters, and that whatever curveballs your art and your career throw at you, you are capable of handling it.

Put on Your Brave Face and Reach Out

Listen, I know it isn't easy. As adults, we simply have less opportunities to make friends. It isn't like in school where you had hundreds of people to try to build a connection with. Some of us have day jobs and may find friends there, but if we work at home alone (or in a cabin in the woods) we are hard pressed to put ourselves around other people. Even if we manage it, the older we get, the more intimidating it is to be vulnerable and just say it: "Will you be my friend?"

But start where you are. Start by building stronger connections with the family members you trust, or by calling that friend you always think about but struggle to make time for. Make the time. Put building connections with people first, and see if your writing life doesn't grow too.

What do you do to connect with other writers? Do you have tips on how to make writing friends?

Jamie Raintree is a writer, a writing business and productivity instructor, and the creator of the Writing & Revision Tracker. She is represented by Regal Literary and is currently working on her second novel. Subscribe to her newsletter for more blogs, workshops, and book news. To find out more, visit her website below.

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Jamie Raintree
Women’s Fiction & Romance Writer
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June Stevens Westerfield

What is an author brand?  Some say it’s the genre you write.  But it’s really not, at least not entirely.  Your brand is what makes you recognizable to readers.  In short, your name is your brand.

If you are a romance reader and someone says “Hey, I’m reading the new Nora book,” you don’t need to hear the last name to know exactly who they are talking about.  That’s a brand.

Since you are probably like me and haven’t been a bestselling author for thirty years and aren’t considered the Queen of Romance, you need to build your brand.  One day you may be a household name, but for now, your brand is not only your name, but everything associated with who you are as an author.

There are many components of branding and marketing, but my particular expertise are the visual aspects of creating an online presence.  That’s what I’m going to talk about today.

In today’s digital world it’s important to have a way for your readers to recognize you immediately, from your website and across all of your social media platforms.

Many authors confuse their current book with their brand.  The pitfall with that is every time you write a new book or venture into a new genre, you have to change everything on your website, social media, and everything.

Think about every company you know.  When you see or hear their name, you know what to expect, even if they sell many different types of products.  The only difference between an author and a company is that instead of sending a message (like “easy to build minimalist furniture”), an author’s brand should invoke a feeling or an idea.

What does that mean?  Essentially you want readers to associate certain feelings, concepts, or ideas with your name.  The first thing you have to do is figure out what best represents you.  It sounds hard, but it doesn’t have to be.

One thing I tell my author clients to do is to think about something all of their books have in common.  Even if they write in different genres, there is usually some sort of uniting factor or theme.  For example, I had a client who has both non-fiction and young adult fiction books.  The uniting factor is that all of her books deal with healing from devastating pasts.

Another client writes various genres of YA and New Adult fiction, but the thing that is true about everything she writes is that she pulls the readers into the lives and worlds of her characters.

Or perhaps you have a tag-line that gives a reader an idea of what to expect, like my own “Damsels Not In Distress”.  Can you guess that I write romance with strong, butt-kicking heroines?

You don’t have to have a tag-line, and really they can be detrimental if they don’t represent all of your work, but if you have one you really like, you can use it as a basis to start building your brand.

So once you know what you want readers to think about when they read or hear your name, how do you convey that feeling?  I like to start with the website header.  Since it is the first thing anyone sees when they go to your website, it becomes the visual basis of your brand.  Your name is your brand, so how your name is written on your website and social media banners becomes a “logo” of sorts.

What is important here?  Font and color.  If you prefer a minimalist look, you can stick with just those elements, but many choose to also have an image.  I like having an image because it helps push through that “feeling” or “idea” of you and your books.  If you find an image that conveys what you want your brand to represent, you can then pull the colors for your fonts, and then your website, from that image.

Going back to the first client, we chose a breathtaking landscape picture with a sunburst that evokes a feeling of peace and hope.  Then, when deciding on colors, I took into account the author’s personality and likes.  She’s sweet, and very minimalist and her favorite color is purple.  I pulled the website colors directly out of the image, using plum and neutral tones.  Sticking with her minimalist personality, we chose a very simple, straight font.

The second client chose a vibrantly colored abstract fantasy village to invoke that feeling of being pulled into a new world.  We pulled purples and blues out for the colors in her website and chose a decorative font for her name and a script for “bestselling author” underneath.

There is so much more to your author brand than font and colors.  It’s every detail in your website, it’s how you utilize social media, it’s what you post, and who you are as an author.  But the essential, recognizable factor is your name.

That’s why I start with the website banner.  Once you have that, you can pull those colors and font (and image if you so choose) through everything you do, from your social media headers, to your business cards and even signage & banners for book signings and speaking events.

Alternatively, if you don’t want an image banner on your website, but you want one on your social media headers and other branded items, you can do that as long as you keep your fonts and color scheme consistent with your website.  The key is to be as cohesive and consistent as possible.

So, with all of that in mind, what state is your author brand in?  How can you improve it?

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About ABE

Author Branding Essentials is dedicated to offering comprehensive author centric branding and design services at competitive prices.  As an Author, your name is your brand. Building your Author Brand is key to success. Many agents encourage authors to begin building that brand long before they are published. At Author Branding Essentials we understand the unique criteria it takes to build an author brand, versus another type of business.  We can help you decide on the best options for your author brand and help you implement them.

About June

June Stevens Westerfield is author of romantic fiction.  She has been in the publishing field one way or another for over decade. She has helped launch several small publishing houses, worked in acquisitions, editing, cover art, web design, as a blogger, radio host, and assisted many authors in their self-publishing journeys.  Her particular expertise is in design and branding.

On a personal note, when not writing or working for Abe, she designs greeting cards.  She has a wonderful husband, a brilliant stepson, 6 fur-children, purple hair, and a chronically filthy house.