Tuesday, November 4, 2008, 01:12 PM CST
[Publishing]
Most writers tend to be introverted. No surprise there, since writing is a solitary endeavor.
Because of this need to hide in the shadows, the thought of promoting ourselves and our writing can be downright terrifying.
There's also the constant doubt hovering at the edge of our psyche. What if everything we write sucks. What if I'll offend people? What if . . .
My own list of doubts is long and ever-growing.
That makes the enjoyment of starting my website, publishing my novella, designing and purchasing promotional materials, and running a contest all the more surprising.
I never thought self-promotion could be so much fun.
What has helped is the number of people who have entered the contest. I'm stunned. The number stands at twenty at this moment. After only three days, I consider it a resounding success. I honestly didn't think a dozen would enter after thirty days.
My thanks to all of you for entering. I can't describe well enough how much it means to me.
Another surprise is how little I doubt people will enjoy the book. Ever since I decided to publish "A Reason to Hope", it felt right.
Only two other times did I get that feeling: when I married my husband and when we decided we wanted children after all.
I mentioned this to a friend in an email the other day as well. It's as though the moment I approved the proof, the book no longer belonged to me. I've done my part, the rest is in God's hands. Sure I have more work ahead of me as far as continuing to promote it, but in the end God will decide how it's used.
I believe the book will reach the people it's meant to reach. Whether it's ten people or a thousand, I honestly don't care. I don't even think about whether or not I will earn back the money I spent. I only wanted it available for a lot of people to read and enjoy the story.
Although, the more I think about it, publishing this book helped release a deep fear of mine.
In this day and age of political correctness, talking about and writing publically about controversial issues is not only difficult, but scary. We take the chance of being attacked at least verbally when we take an unpopular view.
I do exactly that with this book.
While the fear niggles at the back of my mind, it doesn't alter my course. It's like learning how to drive. Getting behind the wheel and pulling out into a busy street for the first time can make us break out into a sweat. Yet we go anyway, because we know driving is neccessary.
Publishing this book for me was neccessary.
That I'm having fun at the same time is pretty cool.
Monday, October 27, 2008, 10:58 PM CST
[Publishing]
NOTE: For this entry to make sense, read the comment Kelly Lee Parsons added to my previous entry.
I'd love to answer all those questions here, but that would give away the
entire story. I will say this, though. The two main characters, a man and a
woman are both homosexual.
I wrote this story after they appeared as secondary characters in my second
book. I couldn't figure out for a while why although they loved each other, they
would never get together. Once it hit me, I wanted to discover and tell their
story. I hope I end up with an entertaining story with no sermonizing. That's
what I was shooting for, anyway.
The package I chose from Booksurge has
the quickest turnaround. I created my own cover and put that and the text in the
format they required. All they needed to do, basically, is send it to the
printers. There is quality control involved to make sure it prints well.
Potential problems would be the wrong size of the cover and/or pages (too big or
too small), or text is cut off because the margins aren't wide enough. They
found one problem in that my even page numbers ended up on the inside instead of
the outside of the pages.
I made the modifications and sent them a revised Adobe Acrobat file. That
slowed the process down by maybe a day or two.
Since most people don't design their own covers, but choose a predesigned
template or have the company artists design one, that adds a lot of time
to print the final product.
You can also choose to have it professionally edited.
I didn't, so that also decreased the turnaround time.
The package I chose cost $299. The price would have jumped if I couldn't
assemble the cover and interior text in their required formats myself. The
price includes no copies, no submissions to professional reviewers such as
Krocus, and no press releases. All that costs money I don't have. The upside is
I can add those options later. I can still purchase copies at a substantially
reduced rate, though. The more copies I purchase, the less I spend per copy.
Since I retain all rights, I can sell them myself and not violate my
contract.
It does, however, get listed on Amazon once it's done since Booksurge is a
subsidiary of Amazon.
All told, from submission to final product should take about 40-60 days. From
my end, I spent about two years off and on writing and polishing the manuscript.
The cover took me about a week. Then again, I have a background in graphic
design, so that was easy.
Traditional publication does take years, because it goes through so many
edits and cover designs that both the author and the publisher need to approve
of. Then there's the actual printing and distribution to bookstores.
To
whet people's appetites, I'll start with part of the first chapter. I start with
that because it's where the action begins. There is no forward or review as yet.
One disadvantage of being an unknown. If it were nonfiction, I would need those,
but for fiction it's largely unneccessary.
Believe it or not, I'm more anxious than excited. Doubt keeps niggling at me:
What if the book sucks so badly I'll forever tarnish my name and never be able
to publish another book, traditionally or otherwise?
I try not to let the doubts get to me. Time will tell whether or not my
money, and those who decided to purchase the book was well-spent.
The rest of your questions will be answered once it's done and I'm ready to
market it.
This has been a fun chat, and I hope we can continue with
more discussions. Few things motivate me more to write than talking with other
writers. You've definitely inspired and encouraged me.
Is it hard to write science fiction with a Christian
world view? I suppose throwing characters into unknown circumstances would be a
great way to show how their faith helps the characters through situations. Are
there many books with this slant in your genre? Just wondering. Sounds like an
interesting niche to write for.Is it hard to write science fiction with a
Christian world view? I suppose throwing characters into unknown circumstances
would be a great way to show how their faith helps the characters through
situations. Are there many books with this slant in your genre? Just wondering.
Sounds like an interesting niche to write for.
Interesting question, so I decided to answer it here.
The short answer is no -- as far as the characters are concerned. People
haven't changed from Biblical times until now, so there's no reason to assume
people would be different far from the future.
God himself also would be the same. I figured in my story the Bible would
also exist far into the future. It has, after all, lasted thousands of years and
through the rise and fall of countless civilizations. For it to follow us into
space is at least plausible.
One challenge comes in creating a world or future that's believable,
especially when it comes to technological advances. Another is to create one
that doesn't copy others. There has to be some similarities because physics and
biology remain constant, but it has to be unique enough to excite readers
instead of bore them.
Letting my imagination run wild inside new worlds with new technologies,
strange foods and even slang phrases are what allured me to science fiction in
the first place, and inspired me to write my own.
To answer the second part of her question, there are few books in my chosen
genre, but the number is increasing. Fantasy is growing faster than science
fiction in the Christian market, but with so many people readers enjoying
science fiction in the general market, it's foolhardy for Christian publishers
to not publish science fiction as well.
Marcher Lord Press is one such publisher, and though it's brand new (it
opened its virtual doors less than a month ago), it's already showing
success.
Hmm. I really didn't intend for his entry to be a sales pitch.
Friday, October 17, 2008, 02:11 PM CST
[Publishing]
For the past six months I've been finishing up a novella. It focuses on two secondary characters, a man and a woman, who appear in my second novel. I was so intrigued by them and their relationship, I decided to write their story.
I liked it so much I thought it worth publishing.
Here's the rub. It's only 22k words, and no publisher will touch novellas (or at least very few). It's also Christian science fiction, and deals in part with homosexuality.
Yeah, no publisher, secular or otherwise is going to touch it for those three reasons.
I decided to take advantage of Booksurge, a POD publisher and subsidiary of Amazon. I looked through their publishing options, and I found one at a reasonable price. I can not only purchase as many books as I want to sell at a substancial discounted rate, but it will also be listed on Amazon.
The royalties are also decent, but that's not the reason I want to publish it. I simply like the story and believe others will enjoy it as well. If I make money, all the better.
I hope it'll be a nice starting point for marketing my other novels. I'd like to see those published traditionally, so I'm seeking an agent (sort of. I tend to procrastinate). If enough readers enjoy my novella, they'll want to read my novels once they come out.
Sound like I'm dreaming too big?
Perhaps, but I figure if I'm going to dream, may as well dream big.
Yesterday I purchased my publishing package, and a few hours ago received by ISBN number. Now I have no reason not to submit my manuscript to the printers.
I'm scared enough about it, I'm trying really hard to find one.
