A Micropress, a Vlog Campaign, a Contest
It's been a busy week in Worderella World. I haven't done much writing because I've been busy setting up my micropress, which I finally named Bright Bird Press. I like it; it feels good. I set up the website the other night with WordPress and threw up a fairly nice theme to hold me over until I have time to design one or find something better.
Vlog Campaign
I'm also starting a mini-vlog campaign series a la The Vlog Brothers, Meggin Cabot, and Zoe Winters. It's something I've wanted to do for years, but with grad school taking up so much time, I didn't have the resources. Now I have the resources, and I feel like a total copycat because Zoe released her videos a week ago. She made the great point that we'll have different topics and styles, so I shouldn't feel like a copycat, but I do anyway.
This weekend I'm going to make my first one-minute video, so look forward to that. It should be pretty fun. I'm having one of my friends help me out with the script and stuff because when I try to be funny, I'm so very not funny, and when I say whatever pops into my head, I'm hilarious, apparently.
An experiment
I tried out a free press release website to announce the re-branding/second edition of my first book, Catching the Rose. If you'd like to win a free copy, comment on this entry about who you are and why you're following my blog in particular.
I will pick two winners to receive a coupon code to receive Catching the Rose for free. Everyone else who comments will receive a coupon code to receive the book for a dollar, if you so choose. So make sure you submit a valid email address!
So this weekend will be dedicated to working on the video, as well as writing the next couple of chapters to make up for the lack of writing this week. I'm pretty excited. Things are definitely ramping up.
Worderella Asks How to Name a Micro-Press
This has been an ongoing struggle for me, this naming of my micro-press. My personal brand is Worderella, but do I want to associate that with all the books I might print? For instance, my younger brother also wrote a novel for his high school senior thesis, and has expressed interest in publishing.
Worderella Books wouldn't really speak to his style of writing, unfortunately.
I've begun to read up on how to name a business, and let me tell you, I'm a little frustrated. I don't want to rely on a "naming firm," the whole point of this venture is to become a true entrepreneur and do as much as possible with the resources I have at hand.
A business name needs to be descriptive without being too narrow, vague without being off-putting, recognizable while being new, etc. I need to make sure the name will look good on marketing.
I've looked up naming generators and "Doing Business As," since this will be a sole proprietorship. Once I determine a list of options, I need to make certain someone else hasn't registered the name with the Ohio Business Registrar.
Why bother?
If I want to set up an ISBN, publish books that I didn't write, etc, I need a business name. I need to be legitimate, even if I'm a micro-press. So while I'm working on the current book, releasing a re-branding of my previous book, etc, I'm hoping the wheels in the back of my head are churning out names for me to approve.
I've been asked what sort of books I want to publish, and primarily, they will be fiction. I write historical fiction and romance, my brother writes adventure and fantasy. See my problem? There's a wide range I could potentially publish. So what's a girl to do?
Worderella Becomes Her Own Hero (i.e. Cover Designer)
So I've been meaning to release my first book, Catching the Rose, as in eBook format, but wasn't sure where to begin. As always, I turned to my friend Zoe Winters to see what she's done, because let's face it, she has her hand in every pot when it comes to self-publishing.
Smashwords, it seemed, was my answer. Smashwords is an
ebook publishing and distribution platform for ebook authors, publishers and readers. We offer multi-format, DRM-free ebooks, ready for immediate sampling and purchase, and readable on any e-reading device.
The really cool thing about this is I can upload a Word document and they do all the formatting for me. My book is now, as far as I can tell, available to read in the following formats:
- HTML
- Javascript
- Kindle
- EPub
- RTF
- Sony Reader
- Palm readers
- Plain text
How crazy is that?? I'm pretty excited, I'd like to see what sort of sales I get this way. But again, just because it's out there doesn't mean it will sell. I should market the new format, right? Well, I have been meaning to update the branding of the book, and since this version is owned completely by me I felt funny using the cover provided by Aventine Press, the subsidy that originally printed my work.
Turns out stock art is an amazing thing, if you find exactly what you want. I searched through istockphoto.com, gettyimages.com, and fotolia.com, and decided that Fotolia was giving me the results I wanted. The image below is the one I chose for Catching the Rose.
There is a masquerade ball during the book, so the masks are absolutely perfect. I wanted to step away from the ultra-pink of the original book, so the blue background really pulled me in. Veronica, the main character, has blond hair, and Brad, the interest, has brown hair. I looked for an entire week at stock photography and my jaw dropped when I found photos by Andrey Kiselev. Just perfect!
But of course, an image isn't enough to make a book cover. I played around during my break at work today with Pixlr, a great online alternative to Photoshop just to see what I could do with the image (see below). After an hour, I had something I was in love with, and I couldn't wait to get home so I could buy the image and make the cover for real in Photoshop.
You see, I'd like to do a reprint of Catching the Rose, give it an updated look. So I need a decent-sized file that will print well, as well as make a cover design that will scale to a thumbnail nicely. Smashwords requires that you upload an image that is at least 600 pixels in height. I'm not sure why, perhaps to fit all the different eReader formats. So the final version is below.
What do you think? I'd love to get some feedback. To thank you ahead of time, I'd like to give you a discount if you're interested in supporting me in my first self-publishing venture. To receive a discount on Catching the Rose (Smashwords edition), type SWS25 into the promotional field at checkout.
A non-evangelist self-publisher? What?
Why is it that stating I want to self-publish makes me a politically-charged topic for people who couldn't possibly care about publishing in any form, traditional-, subsidy-, self-, or e-? I'm speaking primarily about readers, friends, co-workers, etc. I understand why fellow writers who prefer any format would want to--at the very least--discuss the matter.
I am a published author who wants to self-publish. You all know that, right? If you didn't, you do now, and I welcome you to my blog.
Why would I want to self-publish? What's the difference between self-publishing and subsidy/vanity publishing? Why would I want to bother publishing if I obviously can't write well enough for traditional publishers?
That's the one that I don't understand. I mean, I do understand, because culturally speaking, we seem to assume that by following the big boys with their big editors, we're weeding out the bad books. And that's true, to an extent. But we're also not taking chances on books that don't cater to the masses.
There are pros and cons to the publishing situation, as there are to all situations. But my choosing to self-publish isn't the political statement people assume I'm making. The fact is I'm an entrepreneur, I grew up in an entrepreneurial family, and hey, if I'm going to write, and if I want to publish, why wouldn't I learn as much as I can about this industry that I love so much, and try to do it my own way?
I'm not expecting to make bank with my books, no author does. Do you think JK Rowling knew she would be richer than the queen when she began writing on that train so long ago? Do you think Jane Austen knew she would have a cult following and a movie industry obsessed with adapting her stories when she asked convinced her brother to allow the local printer to take her seriously? The following authors self-published, and I'm happy to be considered one of their crowd.
- Virginia Woolf
- Walt Whitman
- Christopher Paolini
- Edward Tufte
- Edgar Allen Poe
- Mark Twain
- Stephen King
"True self-publishing" according to Wikipedia, means...
Authors undertake the entire cost of publication themselves, and handle all marketing, distribution, storage, etc. All rights remain with the author, the completed books are the writer's property, and the writer gets all the proceeds of sales. Self-publishing can be more cost-effective than vanity or subsidy publishing and can result in a much higher-quality product, because authors can put every aspect of the process out to bid rather than accepting a preset package of services
Or to put it simply, self-publishing is a labor of love. I don't want to send my story through the ringer, have a stock cover slapped upon it, and have some random title that says nothing about the book. I'm not making a political statement, I just want to make a good experience for my reader. It's not that I don't trust editors, I plan on hiring a copy editor et al. to make sure I release a quality product. I want creative freedom. Is that a political statement? I don't mean for it to be, and I hope I will never come off as an author who rails against the evils of traditional publishing.
So I'm a self-publishing author-in-progress who isn't on the warpath, and isn't trying to evangelize readers around the world. I just want to tell my story, and hope to touch some hearts. Does that make me crazy? Or is it simply that I'm playing pacifist in the middle of a war where it's either choose sides or go down burning with the loser?
Self-Publishers Unite!
As a published author determined to self-publish all future works, I always find it fascinating to read about others' adventures in the self-publishing world. More people are doing it these days with the help of digital processing, but that doesn't mean it's a new trend. Many "established" authors self-published, such as Virginia Woolf.
Where do I begin?
Jumping into the self-publishing realm is not for the faint of heart. In fact, I would do a subsidy/vanity publisher first, just to get your feet wet. Something like Lulu would be a nice start as well, because they walk you through the process.
Once you're certain you want to self-publish, subscribe to Publetariat. This is a blog peopled by a collection of self-publishers who write about everything, from hand selling your work to finding a good copy editor. They discuss the highs and lows, and provide resources to learn more about self publishing.
Then I would hop over to Dan Poynter's website, which is chock full of free online resources for publishers.
Start watching Self-Publishing Review to get an idea of the quality people are looking for in terms of good self-published fare.
Listen to The Creative Pen podcasts on "writing, publishing options, internet sales and promotion – for your book."
Most importantly, keep writing! If you don't have anything to sell, what's the point?
How are your projects going?
Have you decided if you want to self-publish, subsidy publish, or go the traditional route? Now that I've returned to the blogosphere, what would you like to see me write about?
Dangerous Liasons in Social Networking
"Hush, hush. Keep it down now, voices carry!"
Voices Carry sung by Aimee Mann
This is an interesting time for those of us trying to market our work. We have the internet, and all the "free" networking that comes with it. But I would like to extend a word of caution to my fellow authors. As fun as social networks can be, they are a dangerous outlet of frustration and hurt feelings if not taken seriously.
Writer Beware wrote a similar article yesterday about authors who fail to think before hitting the submit button, which is setting a precedence. A precedence that makes us authors look like we're a bit insane, overly sensitive, and a bit whiny, if you ask me.
So what is there to do about this phenomenon? There are a couple of things we can do to make sure we don't fall into the same trap of having our friends spam a blog that gave us a negative review, or using Twitter as our campaign to cold-call a journalist.
If you're upset, write out your feelings, sure. You're an author. It's what you do.
But don't post your upset email, blog comment, tweet, etc, until the next day. This will give you time to calm down to make sure you actually want to put yourself out there as potentially crazy.
Have someone else read the review.
Make sure you're not flying off the handle by having an objective friend read the review and tell you what they think of it. Maybe it isn't as bad as you thought. Maybe it's worse than you thought. But you have to understand that this is the price you pay for having your work published. Do you know how many people would kill just to have their name on the spine of a book? You're lucky someone read you and cared enough to review it!
Do not, under any circumstances, post the phone number and/or address of the reviewer so your loyal friends/family/fans can harass them.
Bad author. Bad.
Realize that reviews are subjective.
It's all about personal taste, and as an author you knew, hopefully, when writing your book that not everyone would like it. You're allowed to be upset about it, but try to be graceful, too.
Treat it as a learning experience.
If you're that concerned about the review, send the reviewer a letter asking what would have improved the work for them. If they give valid suggestions, then great. If not, then leave them behind.
As someone who has been hurt by an errant tweet, I can tell you that it is very difficult to do these things when you're upset. It's difficult to resist the urge to rush to the defense. It hurts when people submit hurtful comments online without thinking. It hurts more when they're obviously submitting hurtful things on purpose. My advice? The best thing to do is to walk away. Do not stoop to "their level," whatever that level may be, as it makes you look petty.
How many of you have had a bad review, and what did you do? Have you ever seen an online author melt-down?
Lightening Source Publishing
Just for the record, I'm switching my posting schedule to once every two weeks. Hopefully I can keep up with this schedule once school starts again.
I'm getting into the self-publishing gig again, and I'm liking it. Last week, Zoe wrote an article about Lightening Source, which is the best-kept secret in the self-publishing industry, methinks. Zoe has written about this before, but in case you know nothing about Lightening Source, read the article linked at the beginning of this paragraph.
The main points are as follows:
- Lightening Source is a print-on-demand printer, not publisher. You maintain all rights, etc, as they only print for you. This is what you think you're doing with Lulu, right?
- Publishing through Lulu is a nice alternative to creating a micro-press, but when it comes down to it, Lulu is using Lightening Source.
- All the major publishers use Lightening Source for their back-end printing, why not you?
- Lightening Source is cheaper than offset printing.
- Lightening Source already has an in with many of the book distributors, so half of your work is done for you!
Has anyone had experience with Lightening Source? My Worderella on Writing book is through Lulu, and while the quality is nice and I was pleased with how easy it was to create, I have to admit I want more control. May stick to using Lulu for small projects, and then use Lightening Source for actual novels.
For those of you not interested in self-publishing, what do you think about this?
Contest Winner
Don't think I'd forgotten! The winner of the autographed Worderella on Writing is Kait Nolan! Use the contact form on my website to send your address and I'll ship it ASAP. Congratulations!
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