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Things That Shouldn’t Surprise You Much About Self-Publishing

March 3, 2020

Starting off in self-publishing can seem like a perilous journey. I know it did for me.

Getting into a new venture is always both exciting and scary, at the same time. Exciting to be doing something new, but scary because you don’t necessarily know what to do first…or even how to sound like you know what you’re doing.

Sometimes it’s good to just kick back, push off any deadlines (real or imagined), turn off the phone, and daydream a little.

After all, if you’re self-employed author, doesn’t that mean you get to goof off once in a while? That you’re the boss, not that pesky little nagging voice in your head?

Like I said…scary. But you pick it up soon enough.

As you move forward you have to keep your bearings. That means you remember what your destination was when you set out from shore, and you keep aiming for that destination until you get there.

Self-Publishing is Not a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme
Believe me, I know. I’ve had several Readers’ Favorite medal winners, so I think I’ve been doing reasonably well. But I’m sure you’ve heard me say I only make enough to take my beautiful bride out to dinner once in a while. I keep writing because I feel I have things to say.

So, it’s a good thing I retired from a good nine-to-five that put bread on the table.

Yet, new self-publishers have that gleam in the eye. They’ve read the success stories. It obviously happened to others. Why not them?

But I’m willing to bet you didn’t start writing to make a killing on the internet. You had something else in mind. Maybe just to have a memento to share, or a family keepsake. Perhaps it was as simple as my plan. Something to do.

Remembering that, it has actually guided me well.

I’ve always been impressed by the collegiality of publishing. Maybe it’s because few books compete directly with each other, but people in publishing…particularly authors in indie publishing…are extraordinarily helpful to newcomers. And a bonus: they’re pretty literate, too!

I mean, just wander around Amazon for a while and take in the richness of interests displayed there. Whatever you’re interested in writing, there are undoubtedly people interested in reading it. You just have to find them.

That’s where things like this blog, a Twitter presence, a Book of Face page, or other social media sites are so important. You will discover the need for a platform. Fortunately, one of the great things about social media is that it’s so social.

The single most important thing is to “Be the Market”

Take the time for book-signings, and promote them yourself, if no one else will. If you are part of the market that’s interested in the subject you’ve written about, particularly in fiction, you’re at an advantage. You know what those people like. The fact you’ve surmounted that reader hurdle, and are able to talk about it or, better yet, write about it, all adds up to a book with value.

None of these things may surprise you, but they bear repeating, and remembering, too. The availability and diversity of self-publishing makes it one of the greatest opportunities of the new media age.

Well, there you have it. Now get busy and write.

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The reading and book-signing scheduled for 7:00pm on March 16, at the Detroit Working Writers Springing to Mind Fantasy Event at the Royal Oak Library has been cancelled due to coronavirus fears.

The book-signing from 11:00am-5:00pm at the Leon & Lulu Books and Authors Event in Clawson on March 22, 2020 is still up in the air, for the same reason. Please check their website for updates.

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Gentle Readers, my books have all garnered some terrific reviews. You can see all of them by using the Amazon link below. Check them out. Better yet, buy one and read it. You just might like it.

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You’re invited to visit my author’s website, BROKEN GLASS to hear the remarkable radio interview about my novel “Blood Lake” on The Authors Show, or see my three local television interviews. You can also like my Book of Face page, find me on Goodreads, or follow my shorter ramblings on The Twitter.

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Comments posted below will be read, greatly appreciated and perhaps even answered.

Tags:award-winning writing, book marketing, indie writers, using social media
Posted in Award-Winning Fiction, Book Promotion, Storytelling | 7 Comments »

How Are You At The Fine Art Of Table Sitting?

June 17, 2019

What Waiting for Customers Can Feel Like (Photo Courtesy of Pexels)

Most indie authors have attended a literary festival, or an organized book-signing. It’s an integral part of the way the book-selling game is played. I’ve gone to a lot of them, and I often think I’ve seen it all.

For instance, I’ve seen writers trying to attract readers with giant bowls of candy (OK…I’m guilty too).

I’ve even seen authors dress in character costumes and props. At one event I attended there was a man dressed as a pirate, right down to the tri-cornered hat, sword, telescope and eye patch. I didn’t find out how many books he sold, but he certainly attracted attention.

However, most authors are not nearly so outgoing. Most of them are introverts, not necessarily all that comfortable connecting with people and selling themselves.

I’m the first to admit it can be tough. You have to be engaging, but not pushy. There’s a fine art to it. An eye-catching display can help, if it’s not too gimmicky (I like to use a plain white table runner, with my name and the prize medallion from one of my books on it).

I also always have bookmarks that display all my current books and where to find them outside of the event. They give the links to my web site, my Facebook page, other social media and this blog.

Conversation is Key
But even more important than accessories and links, is conversation. If you’re able to force yourself to be a little more of an extrovert, you’ll often find yourself in fascinating exchanges, first with the other authors around you, then with readers.

There’s a special reason I think it might help to chat with other authors at the surrounding tables before the event gets underway. Networking with those other authors may actually help you to sell your own books!

You may not have the specific genre someone is looking for, but if you could suggest an author who might, you’d be surprised how often that is reciprocated.

Be honest about your own book’s content, and if another author has something you know is closer to what a customer is asking for, direct them to it.

Also, be prepared to tell others if you’ve read an author’s book. A sale can often be helped along by someone saying, “I’ve read that. It’s really good!” It also opens the door for other introverted wordsmiths to recommend you.

A positive, outgoing attitude is necessary to sell books. You don’t want to seem like part of the furniture, because conversation is what converts to cash.

Have your own elevator speeches ready, be friendly, and you may discover a passion that exceeds your anxiety about standing beside a table in the public eye for hours.

You may be a fabulous writer, but who’s going to know it, if you never sell a book? It can make your day seem like a solo afternoon looking down a cliff.

So, make eye contact, be energetic, smile and look happy. You may even sell a few books.

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I’ll be moderating the Rochester Writer’s Group Meeting at Barnes & Noble in Rochester Hills, Michigan on June 18. Then I’ll be joining other authors signing books at Detroit Festival of Books at Eastern Market in Detroit on July 21 and at SterlingFest in Sterling Heights, Michigan on July 27.

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Gentle Readers, my books have all garnered some terrific reviews. You can see all of them by using the Amazon link below. Check them out. Better yet, buy one and read it. You just might like it.

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Comments posted below will be read, greatly appreciated and perhaps even answered. So, please, let me know what you think.

Tags:book marketing, book-signing, self-publishing
Posted in Book Promotion, Independent Publishing, Market Your Book, Storytelling | 4 Comments »

Feeling Productive?

January 5, 2019

If you’re a writer anything like me, you probably have lots of story ideas floating around in the wrinkled old gray matter under your cap. I know I sure do. There’s a lot waiting to bloom.

As I mentioned last month, 2018 was a productive time for me. I’ve completed several chapters of three entirely different books. A couple of them are sequels to my current novels, and I’m pretty comfortable with where they’re going. I expect them to be done by summer.

But the entirely new one has me in something of a quandary.

I’ve always heard it said you have to hook your reader within the first three hundred words, or you’ll never get them to turn the page, let alone finish reading. I’ve repeated that mantra often.

Part of me believes that conventional wisdom to be true … not because “conventional wisdom” says so, but because I often decide on a book purchase myself after scanning the first couple of pages.

So, I must be ahead of the game. I’ve actually got several thousand words down on the new book. It’s just … none of them seem quite right as the start of the story. I’ve changed the beginning several times already.

So, I need some feedback, and I decided, as I’ve done before, to put the (current) beginning of it here:

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Harkau
Electricity came to the village of Harkäu in the year 1937. That doesn’t sound like much to the children of today, because they don’t realize what a blessing it was not to live by candlelight.

Once people got over the big, wooden poles stringing unsightly wire alongside all the roads, many of the old farmers, at least those few who could scrape together enough money, put an electric light bulb in a room or two, usually hanging it bare from the center of the ceiling.

Those lights, all by themselves, were a fabulous invention that changed our lives, but some in the village who could afford them also had an outlet installed and bought a radio to plug into it, and those radios brought the rest of the world into our homes.

My brother-in-law, the baker, ordered one for himself and another for his brother. In no time at all, the neighbors would gather in the evenings at one of those radios. It made us all feel so very worldly to listen to those broadcasts.

A lot of the local broadcasts were performances by some of Germany’s top orchestras and opera singers, which were marvelous, but the messages were also heavily laced with National Socialist German Workers’ Party ideals.

I wasn’t sure I agreed with all the rhetoric contained in the broadcasts we were allowed to hear, but I have to admit Hitler’s fiery speeches were raising German spirits, which had been down since the end of the World War.

Germany’s economic environment, still plagued with enormous war-related reparations, supported the rise of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party Chancellor.

He took advantage of the brewing economic discontent to find himself at the forefront of a political ideology. National pride, patriotism, Aryan pride, and things like that.

“I don’t think some of that is true,” I said one night after listening to one of his more vitriolic speeches.

“Auch der lieber!” my brother-in-law’s neighbor sneered when he heard me, “Oh, my God! What would a woman know about things like that?” If I had expected to receive any support, the idea quickly vanished as I surveyed the open stares of others in the room.

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What Do You Think?
Is this something likely to grab your interest and make you want to know what happens next?