Author Archives: Deborah H. Bateman

How to Survive Being Edited as a New Author

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Do you find it hard to accept criticism? I sometimes find it hard to take the criticism of others, but I think it has something to do with the way they do it. If it is done in a loving, caring manner it is much easier to swallow. If it is done in a critical, dog eat dog manner it is much harder to get over the hurt so you can move on to accept the suggestions.

Believe me since I have been online I have had to deal with this from time to time. One of the hardest for me to swallow was a person who totally did not want me sharing Bible Verses. It hurt my feelings, but it was more about the fact they rejected God. It made me realize how He must have felt walking around on this earth and being constantly rejected by people. Maybe this is something He wanted me to feel so I would not feel so rejected myself. Or maybe it was so I wouldn’t feel like I was exempt from rejection.

One of the processes we as author’s have to go through that is hard to get used to is being edited. It is something we all need, but how do we survive it. As a new author this was one of the hardest things for me, because I didn’t know what to expect. When I wrote my first book: The Book of Ruth: A Story of Love and Redemption and got it back from the editor I was devastated.

I felt like someone had torn my baby apart. It took me a day or two to get past the surprise to be able to do the updates. My editor gave me good advice. She said for me to leave it alone for a few days and give myself time to get used to the idea, then go back and make the corrections. It was good advice and it helped. What she did was good, I just didn’t have any idea what to expect.

I have had people edit me who were loving, sweet and kind with their words of critique and suggestions. I have had other people who looked at my work and were critical, mean, had nothing good to say and made me feel like I had just been chewed up by a bull dog. It really hurt my feelings bad. It took me a while to get over it. It ruined my day and I still haven’t went back to look at their comments to see what improvements I can make from them. I did keep them and I hope in the near future I can move past the hurt and see what I can gain from their critiques.

So as we try to help each other and learn from each other my suggestion is that we think about the way we present our critiques to people. Can we also complement something they did right? Can we say it in a way that will not cut them to the core, but make them feel we really care about them and their work? We don’t want people to think everything they did was wrong. Or that we think we have all the answers and they are stupid.

Can we not be jealous of what God is doing in the other person’s life? Not feeling like we have to bring them down a notch or two. Can’t we celebrate one another’s  victories? How can we better support one another and celebrate what God is doing in each of our lives and still help make us all better for His glory?

I am sharing this in hopes of helping someone else who may have experienced the same thing or to help new author’s to know what to expect and not be caught off guard. I am not against editors or being edited or critiqued. I realize we all need to be edited and have our work looked at by other people to make us better and make our work better. But, let’s work together to make each other better and not bitter at the whole process. If we work together as a team, them we can improve the whole process and turn out work we all can be proud of.

Self-Publishing – Not for Sissies!

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“I’m going to write myself to freedom.”

Overworked and stressed, with two babies and a child wobbling badly in school, teaching music by day and doing microscopy for leukaemia cases in the nights between 8h p.m. and 12h a.m., that decision came from the murky depths. It was made on a week’s break, staring at the sea in the romantic light of a full moon. And it was the beginning of a journey that would boldly take me staggering on a road many have walked and more have failed on.

Did I reach my goal? Not by a long mile yet. But the landscape is beginning to look greener, and there are unexpected orchids along the way.

Writing has always been a part of my nature. A word of caution to would-be authors: If it comes easily, you’re on the right road. At least one part of this journey needs to be easy. If you begin with a roll of the eye and a great big sigh, perhaps try your hand at something more lucrative, such as nuclear engineering.

Here are the steps, point-wise, that I have followed. I’ll also outline the results of each step.

    • Submitting to hundreds of agents and publishing houses in a climate of world financial crisis – not clever. Only now, since 2011, do I have a literary agent… unofficially.

 

    • Self-publishing as ebook. Alright, that was seduction. The website was well-worded. It got me a couple of hundred views and some nice readers’ comments; hardly any downloads but as I could see the other authors’ stats too, I saw that I didn’t fare too badly in comparison.

 

    • Self-publishing as paper-book on Lulu.com. Good quality (though the binding could be improved); the books look good. Too pricey to offer to shops or sell directly, after shipping; even in “bulk”. But handy for sending single copies overseas.

 

    • Blogging. Careful: Blogging is addictive. The most important reason is the friends one makes online. One can easily spend days and weeks blogging, ultimately losing the way and forgetting that blogging is really a tool, not a hobby.

 

    • Online networking. Once again: Careful, addictive. I use Facebook mainly for games now, though I’m thankful that I’ve found so many of my old friends again. Neither of these have anything to do with internet marketing though.

 

    • After the necessary distractions of blogging and online networking, back to reality: Reviews. I got both readers’ comments and professional reviews over time. Reviews are important; you paste them as advertisements wherever you need them.

 

    • Professional editing and finishing: I met my editor on the blogs. This is why online networking and blogging is necessary despite the time factor: You meet important people who help you along your path. I also had the book covers professionally designed. You need that kind of finishing. A cover sells a book.

 

    • Paper publishing. A friend helped me get started (she is a graphic designer, where would publishing be without them?) and I printed a run of the first book in the series. This small local print run brought the cost per copy into the sellable range.

 

    • Launches: We launch each new book; the launch itself brings some much-needed capital as well as a bit of publicity. Book signings and promotions are on a similar level.

 

    • Sales through shops: We were fortunate that our leg-work paid off and a number of our books were accepted in a number of shops. Frustratingly though the cost-per-copy of small digital runs is still too high for the large chain bookstores to look up. Besides, you’ll have to be something special to get them to look at Science Fiction. The genre is… while not dead, badly abused and tattered.

 

    • Direct sales at markets, events etc: A lot of work for very little reward. However it does raise awareness. We had a few sales every time we staged such a sales event.

 

    • Newspaper and magazine publicity: This is a slow process. We have had podcasts, press releases and reviews in newspapers, and a popular magazine reviewed the first of the series; yet, sales figures didn’t seem to reflect. However, the news is filtering through to people and over time, there is indeed a sales impact.

 

    • Revisiting internet marketing: So far, all we explored was free marketing. Now we put up a website to showcase each of our books (by which time we had acquired a couple of more authors, and had added some music books to our stash). A learning curve how to program a website such that it works, across browsers. I doubt that many self-publishers actually design their own; but I’m headstrong and knew exactly which way I wanted it. Possibly this is a mistake; time will tell.

 

    • Adding “freestuff” to our website: This brings eyes, and clicks. Inquisitive clicks who enjoy browsing. These clicks have in all probability browsed for “free books” or something similar. Previews on books are a must, but how much to tell, that is a pickle. The wording is still a learning curve. It’s not a given that if you purportedly know how to write and capture a reader from scalp to toe, you’ll also know how to write a good ad!

 

  • Giving up and the angels intervening: Now this is the part you might hate to hear. So far, all has been hard and consistent work (though you have probably spotted all the holes by now). But it felt as though it were going nowhere; so I sighed pitifully and gave up. For a moment. I needed ten “Violin Tunes” as I use them in my teaching (and the music shop needed stock) so I trudged down to the local copy shop with my professional covers… ordered the insides and CD’s… was referred to a sister branch of the shop for the insides, and met a lady who introduced me to a distribution agent for music books.

After all this Scifi agony, my unassuming “Violin Tunes” was the book that started moving first! We’re still in small runs (South Africa = financial struggles and a battle to get a product finished in time due to all sorts of shortages at all times); but the ball is rolling, and as I promised my friend who set it rolling, I have taken a new breath and am pushing onwards.

I still have a list of things to do to promote the Scifi series, the other music books and by now, the new authors.

Perhaps the most important piece of advice:

  • Follow every lead, promptly. You never know where it will take you. If the angels want to intervene, let them.

I hope these tips will help you along your publishing road. I intend to come back with more when I have progressed further.

(Lyz Russo is a self-published author and violin teacher in South Africa. At the time of writing she is getting ready to launch the third in her series of Science Fiction books, and some other authors’ books.)

P’kaboo Publishers

Author: Lyz Russo
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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20 Economical Book Marketing Techniques

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*The succeeding article is about Marketing Self Published Books, Profitable Book Marketing, Book Marketing Strategies, and many other useful tips about online book marketing.

Whether you are an upstart author or a self published author, an efficient book marketing plan in these times of economic recession need not be expensive if you just know your target market, find the most economical means to inform this market of your works, and establish a lasting, trustworthy relationship with your new-found markets.

Study carefully your expected demographic market’s spending behavior and changing lifestyle habits, given these trying times, and then find effective ways and methods that they may be convinced and persuaded in buying your book. Also, compare the effectiveness of your book marketing plan with the competition of the same genre, and consider relevant marketing factors such as the pricing of the book, the common qualities of the bestselling authors, the present market demand for the genre, and the strengths and weaknesses of the competition.

Try choosing or combining any of these effective book marketing techniques so that you will not only save on your book marketing investment but will become an efficient “author-preneur” as well:

1. Conduct book signing campaigns at local/statewide bookstores, book fairs, and literary conventions, which lets you market for free or for a very minimal registration fee.

2. Strategically schedule the announcement of your new book or continuing publicity with a relevant national news event, a new blockbuster movie, or a trade fair.

3. Write articles on topics of current interest and correlate it with the beneficial features and advice found in your book, then submit at free PR websites.

4. Participate in various online authors’ or genre-specific blog sites. This is one tried-and-tested avenue for the so-called “viral marketing” to flourish because in manifesting your thoughts and perspectives to thousands of online bloggers, you make them appreciate your knowledge and expertise on a particular subject matter of interest, which is related to the book you are writing. In this manner, you are actually and indirectly promoting your book with your interesting ideas shared online.

5. Publish actual portions or excerpts of your book together with a concise feature article that can be distributed in high visitor web portals and article data bases on the Internet.

6. Deal with a reliable print-on-demand publisher that offers complete and extensive distribution services.

7. Consider more promising, diversified literary text formatting options for your works like having a full text version of your book stored in pdf format, having an e-book version of your writing, and having downloadable versions of your book to Internet-capable handheld computer owners.

8. Participate often in writers’ conventions, writing guild conferences and symposia and the like. You could gain crucial, practical inputs from seasoned authors who will give you effective marketing advice that may not be found elsewhere.

9. Have yourself available as a public forum/special events speaker in the field or area of your expertise. You may not actually sell books, but may issue author cards for the program participants who may be your future book buyers.

10. Consider listing your book on online classified ads websites.

11. Send e-mails to your friends and reader fans of scanned excerpts of your book with a matching explanatory note.

12. Place an ad in social networking sites that allow the marketing of your books/latest work for free or for a discounted fee.

13. Be a proactive author like giving complimentary copies of your book to celebrities and well-known resource persons, sending opinion articles for newspapers, and getting actively involved in community projects and charitable events.

14. Contact genre experts, independent book critics, and well known book review companies for favorable endorsement comments,

15. Send PR’s to newspapers in your city or state for the purpose of being featured and getting book reviews.

16. Find local or state area radio stations and television stations that actually feature programs about writers, literature, or books then try to find out if you can send a PR of your book or better still, get a radio or television interview.

17. Make your own creative video presentation of your book and upload it to video-sharing websites.

18. Be your own book broadcaster. Make a podcast-able audio presentation of your book. This marketing option is ideal for authors of language and speech books, business and economics books, and even of the fiction genre.

19. Find author marketing websites that offer free ad listings of your book. This is the Internet version of the conventional bulletin board display.

20. Find book marketing services providers that offer bundled marketing programs at a discounted rate. Compare prices according to your book marketing needs, the kind of services that you prefer, the quality of the services offered, and the limits of your marketing budget.

Learn more about the dynamics of marketing self published books, Press release campaign, book marketing strategies, and many other useful tips about online book marketing. Visit http://www.bookwhirl.com for more info.

Author: Jake Olvido
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
The economics of product pricing

How An Online Writer Can Easily Self-publish Their Way To A Fortune

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Online writing is really self-publishing made easier and potentially much more lucrative with much less cost and investment to be made. But what is self-publishing and what does it have to do with online writing?

Self-publishing is older than America and through the centuries great fortunes have been made by folks who opted to privately produce and market their own writing. Yet all the amazing stories of great success in the past pale when compared to what has happened online already and what is to happen in the days, months and years to come.

The World Wide Web was really made for self-publishing in more ways than one. For example, in the offline days a self-publisher would have to raise hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars to produce their book or special report for sale. Then they would need to look for more money to advertise and market their information aggressively in newspapers and opportunity magazines. Finally they would have to ship their information out, usually using the postal service (snail mail).

If Joe Karbo (the greatest self-publisher of all time) were alive today, he would quickly become a billionaire many times over by going online. Today the self-publisher uses blogs to avail their information at a cost of virtually zero. Then there are numerous effective advertising and marketing tools online, including the very blog itself that can be used to market the self-published information. Self-published special reports can be instantly emailed to clients. Not to mention the fact that the self-publishers market is now enormous covering virtually every corner of the globe.

Who Was This Self-publisher Joe Karbo?

Joe Karbo was on the brink of personal bankruptcy when he self-published his classic, Lazy Man’s Way to Riches in 1973. Using his amazing knowledge of human behavior, he created tiny ads to advertise his self-published book available via mail order. His ads remained the same for years and later he graduated to bigger ads in newspapers and magazines from coast to coast.

By the time Karbo died at the age of 55, he was a millionaire many times over and his place in the self-publishing hall of fame was guaranteed. His techniques are still used by mail order self-publishers the world over, many of whom have successfully moved their operations online.

The arrival of the World Wide Web has not changed human nature and this is the reason why Karbo’s techniques and way of thinking have transferred so well to the Internet.

The Huge Advantages Of Online Self-publishing

While it is true that the rules of the game are a little different for the online self-publisher, the truth is that things have never been better. In the old days, the offline publisher had only one source of revenue that came from selling copies of his self-published information. The online self-publisher can still charge for copies of his special report, newsletter or ebook but he or she now has other amazing sources of revenue. They can post ads like Google Adsense ads, not to mention the dizzying choices of high earning affiliate programs he can sign-up for.

What all this means is that an online writer who understands that they are self-publishers capable of making serious money from the information they provide in their blog, email newsletter or special report, will have a distinct advantage. To take advantage of an opportunity, you need to “see” it first.

Let us take a closer look at the various self-publishing opportunities available online for writers.

Blog Power Works Wonders For The Self-publisher

Blogs or web logs as they were originally called is a self-publishers dream come true. The most profitable way to use a blog is to use it to promote a website or product available online.

Christopher Kyalo earns a living writing online. To read the rest of this article visit his blog at http://100grandonlinewriters.blogspot.com. His free email course on making money from online writing can be obtained by sending a blank email to writertips@freeautobot.com. He can be reached at strongwallafrica at yahoo.com

Author: Christopher Kyalo
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Made to order

Self Publish Online – Publishing Your Novel Online is a Fast Way to Start Earning Money As a Writer

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These days it is becoming easier and easier to be a published writer. Assuming you have completed your book, you may be interested to know you can self publish online and get your novel seen by many people.

In the past, many of these so-called self-publishing companies were really a waste of your money, but not so much anymore. In fact, there are quite a few very reputable companies that will allow you to publish your book online and in fact they invite you to do so. And with eBooks becoming so popular these days because of all the e-book readers like Kindle, you can make a tidy profit on every sale, much more than ever before.

The fact is that online publishers have much less overhead than a print publishing house and it is a much easier and faster process. It is because of this that it has become so much simpler to self publish your novel or work of nonfiction online.

Gone are the days of searching high and low for an agent only to be rejected time and again. Who knows if those agents ever even read your novel. It was often a waiting game and then a bunch of rejection slips. Not fun at all and not very helpful for your confidence either. You could have had an amazing book but it wasn’t getting out there to be read by anyone.

These days, because of the great success of online publishers, more and more are arriving on the scene every day. This is good news for the writer because it allows you to shop around for the best deal.

One thing to remember though is you still need to have a quality piece of work. Don’t think that just because you are going to be publishing online that you can just throw any old thing out there. You’ll also want to be sure to have a great title that will catch people’s attention.

So, if you do not wish to have the major headache of locating a literary agent, killing tons of trees printing out your book to send it hither and yon all over the place, and waiting sometimes years to see your book to its final end (published and on the bookshelves), do consider the idea that it is easier than ever before to self publish online. Now is certainly a great time to look into this further and start earning money right away.

Did you know you can quickly and easily get your first novel written using Book Writing Software?

Need additional information on writing and publishing your first novel? Self Publish Online

Author: Anabelle J Paisley
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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