Showing posts with label publishing. Show all posts

 
As expected, I can't decide on a pen name. I had a good one in mind but now I don't know if I like it anymore. Too androgynous maybe.


 
It's just like me to worry about silly little details like that. I think it's a Virgo thing. Some of us can be nit-picky and a perfectionist about certain things. It's taking me a while to learn things don't have to be perfect all the time, sometimes you just have to get it DONE. I'm trying to use that same logic when it comes to my book. If I waited till it was PERFECT it would never come out. I have to get it done.

 
I'm driving myself bat shit with all this editing. It's that perfectionist-ism (okay, I don't know the word for it) that is going to be the death of me and this project.

 
Alright, each chapter has to be relevant to the story. Each chapter has to be clear and add something to the bigger picture. Each chapter should be as short as possible. What's this characters motivation? What kind of emotional response will people have to this scene? Then I get side tracked by all the little details...change the story this way...change the story again to fit the other changes I made...then it's just me ripping my hair out in front of my laptop. I ain't got no more damn hair left.

 
I do have other books I'd like to write, plenty others. Today, I sat down and wrote the titles or general ideas of the books I'd like to write and launch after American Sorcery School. I had about 20 altogether, including a few series. I figure that's enough work for about 10 years, no? If I put out 2 books a year, which sounds like a comfortable pace, in 10 years my self pubbed books should have built me a pretty sturdy living.

 
In another 10 years I'll be 41. 20 books should be generating enough income for me to live off of and who knows what can happen in 10 years. Maybe I have a few really good years where I can manage more than 2 a year. Maybe one book or a series gets picked up for a movie or television show. You never know.
Either way, if I can keep a steady work pace, I should be able to say that I am making a living as a writer by the time I'm 41. If my books sell poorly, it would be because I'm not marketing myself properly and I would guess within ten years I would have gotten the jist of marketing. Either way it's going to be a wonderful feeling. Having a career that I fashioned and that I am totally in control of.

 
I never had "career plan" before that was so…so....simple? A career plan where I am actually as excited about the PROCESS and the WORK as I am excited about the MONEY and the TITLE. Honestly, I am more excited about the process and the work, because I know financially I am probably going to have it tough for the first few years while I build my career. I'm ready and I have my mind set and I'm going to give this all I've got.

 
There's a little more to the plan though, but I'm astounded by just how basic it is at the core. I mean if I had done this ten years ago…

 

 
If no one's noticed I put a new resources for writers page up.

 
http://allfiredup123.blogspot.com/p/places-to-list-your-blog.html


 
I'm still hard at work. Editing, editing, editing. GRRRRR!!! It's a labor of love. The day I have my book launched I'm going to have to run to the beauty salon and get a weave, or all the bald spots on my head plastered over or something…sigh…

 

Hey, I'm scouring the net to find some help for writers, especially when it comes to advertising our books. Whenever I come across some interesting info, links, ideas, I'll make a page about it and hang it up for all of us to share.

The first page is a list of places where you can post ads for free. Might want to take advantage of these things and see if it makes a difference when it comes to hits for your site!

http://allfiredup123.blogspot.com/p/resources-for-writers-list-of-free-ad.html

In my case, the caption should read "If father Christmas was an agent" because I haven't even got to the publishers yet. Yep, 3 more rejection letters. I know, I know, Everyone gets rejection letters you just have to keep with it. Yes, yes, I know. I still have two more agents out of my list that I haven't heard from yet. Amazingly, it's the two agents I wanted the most, including the one who had asked for sample chapters. So I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

And I've already started looking into self publishing. Honestly, it seems like the thing to do now and it is kind of exciting. The only thing holding me back is A) I'm still editing my book B)I'm trying to decide if it's really worth it. C) I'm still querying agents while I study Self-publishing.

Now there's places like CreateSpace.com which is a great POD site that has a pretty good reputation and a message board where you can learn a lot about marketing and self publishing a book. The only problem I have with createspace is their Expanded Distribution Channel option...which doesn't make a lot of sense to me when I think about it.

There's three distribution options you can get with createspace. 1) Their regular plan (it's called something else but I can't think of it right now) which means they will sell your book only on THEIR stores. While I'm sure createspace gets a lot of traffic I don't think that's enough to make a living off of and I do plan on making a living as a writer.
Option 2) Is their Pro-Plan-- which means you'll be in their stores and amazon dot com. You make about 60% of your royalties, minus the fees for creating the book and all that. Not bad for a book priced at like 10.99, I would make 2-3 dollars royalty. Amazon is pretty big, so that's good. Still not sure if you'd be able to make a living off of that. You almost definitely wouldn't be able to make a living with just one book...but most writers who go through a traditional publisher aren't making a living off of one book either and they are almost definitely not getting 2-3 dollars per book in royalties.  So far the pro-plan is cool...but...

Option 3) Is the Expanded Distribution Channel, which create space claims will widen our books distribution network and even get our book into Barnes and Nobles and Borders book stores. That's cool, and it should definitely put more $$$ in pockets. Except first of all I'm hearing claims from people on the createspace message board that Borders and Barnes and Nobles do NOT carry self published books from createspace. I didn't know who to believe, so the other day I emailed Barnes and Nobles customer service to find out. I'm still waiting on a response, but I will keep you posted as soon as I have more info from them.

*Update: I got a response letter that said they will respond to me with a response letter in a few days. Whomp, whomp, whomp!

Another thing that I'm finding not cool about the EDC. Okay, they take 60% of your earnings right off the bat. That's fine. 40% is still a LOT better then the 8-5% I would probably get through a traditional publisher. But after they take out all these extra FEE'S, i swear you end up with like 2-3%. Depending on how many pages you have (and my book is book length, so we're talking royalties in the 2-3% percent range).

Lulu is another self publishing place but with them it's almost like the opposite. You can choose how much royalties you'll make but they'll price the books ridiculously high... A YA paperback for 17.99 is just ridiculous. My book is great but that is still way too expensive.

So even if I do self publish...and I'm getting swept up into the revolution...I'm still trying to find the best route in which to go about things (P.S. I know about Lightning Source, yes I want to use them TOO, but I like CS and LL's store fronts and communities).

Haha! Kind of a big let down after my last post I know. But I have good reason for hesitating this time...



I took someones wonderful advice and joined a writing group online. HOORAY FOR THE INTERNET!!

Yesterday afternoon I posted the first five pages of my story---which is part of my submission packet BTW---to writingforums.com (my username is Balistic, LOOK ME UP, YO!)

Ahem. Anyway, so for I only got one critique of my work but it was good advice. Also re-reading my own except at like 5 am in the morning (I'm having really horrible sleep patterns lately, I go to sleep anytime, wake up whenever and usually don't end up getting more then 4 hours a sleep a day) I found a ton of mistakes!! Okay, not a ton, but enough to make me glad I didn't send in my submission to agents yet!

The mistakes were little and I know my overall writing is good, but I can't afford any errors. Has to be PERFECT! So for any other writers out their going bitch cakes over their work, I suggest you have it looked at by a critique group, even an online one. Competition is stiff ya'll! Everyone one and their baby mama is trying to be the next "Stephanie Meyer". How good her writing is I'll let the individual decide...but my way of thinking? I can't write a book as good as "Twilight" I have to try to make something better. That's just what it takes to succeed now-a-days because honestly, the publishing hustle has become a dog race. Which is cool with me, I'm ready for battle!




*By the way I didn't draw the picture located on the top. I found it here: http://bloodylilies.livejournal.com/profile




It's gorgeous though, isn't it? People are so talented!