SkipJack author Pamela Fagan Hutchins has taken on the role of President of the Houston Writers Guild. We couldn’t be happier about it. Check out the Guild at http://houstonwritersguild.org. Note that all of its programs are available via Adobe Connect, so if you have a webcam, you can participate in top notch critique groups, meetings/learning sessions, workshops, and conferences from the comfort of your own home.
Indie authors, this is the news that could change everything: Oyster is in beta test of its $9.95 per month unlimited ebook lending subscription service. Could this be for ebooks what Netflix is for film? Spotify for music? Audible for audiobooks? Or even better?
It appears that way.The clean and easy iPhone user interface allows you to read downloads on or offline via iBooks or a Kindle app. Oyster plans to expand to iPad in the fall. Non-apple users: you’ll have a slightly longer wait. Readers turn pages with a flick and can share favorites through social reading features. Oyster also “learns” a reader’s tastes over time and recommends books.
Oyster has 100,000+ copyrighted works and growing every day, although at present the only finalized major publisher deal they have is with Harper Collins. Indie authors, take note: they announced an agreement this week with Smashwords that opens up participation for indie writers, which could cause me to rethink my position on Smashwords. Smashwords expects to upload to Oyster in about three weeks and will announce via email to its authors the financial terms before that time, terms they say will leave authors “pleased,” and avoid the exclusivity demands of KDP Select.
OK, I confess: I re-activated my books on Smashwords last night so I could get in on this opportunity to connect with new readers. I’d already ended my latest KDP Select run, and I have to say, it was quite disappointing. I, like many other authors, felt the impact of subtle shifts by Amazon to dilute the benefits of KDP to authors, mainly in decreasing free downloads and their impact on post-free run sales rankings. Read here for more on the shifts/negatives. Those that still feel free runs on KDP Select are viable have to purchase increasingly expensive ads (like on BookBub) to support them, increasing the risk of a loss and decreasing the potential return on investment. Lends usually net the authors about $2 apiece through KDP Select. As I advised in What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?, KDP Select is still great for a fledgling author hoping to generate reviews, keep it simple, and maximize the impacts of their publishing efforts in the one (biggest) sales engine, but, honestly, I feel a broader brush approach will be more beneficial to a multi-title author in the long run, especially with the advent of Oyster.
So SkipJack Publishing–my publisher, and the company I co-own with my husband–contacted Oyster to see if we could contract with them directly with our authors’ books. Oyster’s response was fast and positive, but asked for a month reprieve as they are overwhelmed at present. They said they definitely plan to work directly with quality small presses. That could pull me right back out of Smashwords again, but, we will just have to see how this all shakes out. In the meantime, I cursed the evil Smash last night after spending five hours getting my old books in order and formatting and uploading my two newest.
But I have a feeling Oyster could be worth the hassle.
Pamela
Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling mysterious women’s fiction (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (How to Screw Up Your Kids) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.
Excerpt from What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too? by Pamela Fagan Hutchins from SkipJackPublishing reprinted with permission from the author and publisher
A publicist is a goddess who navigates the world of events and media with ease. She has a contact list that’ll make you weep, and she isn’t afraid to use it. She loves to dial and smile, and will call anyone (repeatedly) on your behalf. She has form letters and lists of bookstores out the wazoo. Obviously, she can help you. But is she worth the expense? Most publicists charge by the hour; expect to pay $35 to $150 an hour.
Caution: only hire one who will read your book and still want to promote you afterwards. They have to believe in you to be convincing.
I hired a wonderful publicist for Saving Grace, and she was invaluable. You are welcome to poach her, if you’d like: Paula Margulies (http://paulamargulies.com). You do not want to know what I’d spent with her by the time I was through the promotion, because even with great lists, forms, and contacts, making calls and writing letters takes time. I would hire her again, but I caution you to be realistic about the cost. If you want to hear it as I told it to her when she interviewed me for an online article, check out the appendix and catch us chatting there.
Paula did three main things for me: wrote and distributed press releases, contacted bookstores about potential book events, and contacted media to ask them for coverage.
With chain bookstores, she was initially hamstrung, because my indie-published books were not on their national buy lists—and this was even after we’d made sure they were fully returnable from Ingram. This is likely to happen to you as well, especially if your books are not returnable or are only available on consignment.
With indie bookstores, she was not nearly as successful as my husband at convincing them to carry my books and let me do events—but nothing beats Eric’s passion for projects involving me, and vice versa.
Paula did a great job getting me media coverage, including radio, TV, and print (you can see for yourself at http://pamelahutchins.com/about/media/, if you’d like). She also helped me identify contests.
Hiring Paula impressed Barnes and Noble and Hastings Entertainment. Impressing Barnes and Noble got me regional distribution and opened the door to more than fifty book events in one year in their stores.
What my publicist taught me
There’s nothing Paula did that you and I could not do ourselves—if we have the time, courage, and determination to develop the forms, lists, and relationships. Those are big ifs. As I said, I’d hire her again. Here are a few of the things we learned:
Should you hire one?
If you expect a publicist to land you on the New York Times best-seller list as an indie author, you may need to adjust your expectations. If you want to increase the visibility of your book and yourself, a publicist can be a great resource. Visibility can lead to sales, agents, and distribution, but it’s not a sure thing. Go in with your eyes wide open, and you’ll have a good experience.
Here’s a resource for finding publicists: The Book Publicity Blog (http://yodiwan.com/2009/02/18/list-of-freelance-book-publicists/).
Pamela
Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling mysterious women’s fiction (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (How to Screw Up Your Kids) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 13, 2013
Award –Winning Indie Author Pamela Fagan Hutchins to Present on “What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?”
In association with the debut of her book What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?, Award-winning, Houston author Pamela Fagan Hutchins will be presenting a witty, can-do guide to help writers tackle the overwhelming field of indie-publishing at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Sugarland on August 24th beginning at 10am.
Houston, TX – In association with the debut of her book What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too? (ISBN – 978-1-939889-08-9), Award-winning, Houston author Pamela Fagan Hutchins will be presenting a witty, can-do guide to help writers tackle the overwhelming field of indie-publishing at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Sugarland.
In What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too? Hutchins presents a myriad of resources and experiences that make this overwhelming field manageable. From deciding on the publishing format and pricing to developing and implementing a marketing plan, Hutchins’ guides writers through this publishing maze with tales and tips from a writing journey that has led to national distribution of her books.
Pamela, the new President of the Houston Writers’ Guild, explained that, “Everywhere I went on my 60-city nationwide book tour in 2013, I met wide-eyed writers contemplating indie publishing and overwhelmed with the choices and learning in front of them. It was really a joy to put this book together, and I tried to answer all the questions I got, and then some.”
The event will take place at the Marriott Hotel in Sugarland (16090 City Walk) on August 24th from 10:00am to 4:00pm. This workshop covers everything from “the end” up through sales and distribution strategy, detailed how-to’s, and a marketing an promotion plan that works. Pamela will even share her own marketing plan with the class for her first novel, a plan that hooked several major chain booksellers.
What are people are saying about What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too? Writer and editor Mark Moore wrote, “Sharp, practical, and a pleasure to read, this is an indispensible tool for indie writers. Hutchins maps the shortest distance between you and your readers. You need this book!” Jennifer Meils, journalism teacher, writer and editor noted, “Fabulous! Dozens and dozens of great suggestions and resources. Indie writers are going to LOVE this book, not only for its insights, but for Pamela’s witty personality.”
Hutchins writes award-winning mysterious women’s fiction and relationship humor nonfiction. She has authored eight books, including What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?, Leaving Annalise, Saving Grace, Hot Flashes And Half Ironmans, How To Screw Up Your Kids, How to Screw Up Your Marriage, Puppalicious and Beyond, and The Clark Kent Chronicles. She is also a contributing author to Easy to Love But Hard to Raise and the upcoming Easy to Love But Hard to Teach from DRT Press, Ghosts and OMG – That Woman! from Aakenbaaken & Kent, and Prevent Workplace Harassment from Prentice Hall.
Hutchins is the winner of the Parenting/Divorce category of USA Best Books in 2012 (with award winners in Narrative Nonfiction and Women’s Health too). She won the 2010, 2011, and 2012 Contemporary Fiction awards from the Houston Writers Guild, and their 2012 Nonfiction award. She also won the 2010 Writers League of Texas Romance award, and the 2012 Houston Writers Guild Ghost Story award.
A workplace investigator, employment attorney, and former human resources executive, Hutchins lives with her husband and several of their young adult offspring plus 200 pounds of pets in Houston, but their hearts remain in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.
For more information on the author or the What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?, please visit www.pamelahutchins.com.
If you are interested in the event and/or book or to learn more about SkipJack Publishing, please contact:
Nicole Hutchins
5215 Queensloch Dr.
Houston, TX 77096
T: 713-721-4773
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 14, 2013
Award –Winning Indie Author Pamela Fagan Hutchins Tackles the Vast Field of Indie Publishing in Her Witty, Inspiring How-To for Indie Authors
Award-winning author Pamela Fagan Hutchins announces the release of What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too? – a witty, can-do guide to help writers tackle the overwhelming field of indie-publishing.
Houston, TX – Award-winning author Pamela Fagan Hutchins announces the release of What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too? (ISBN – 978-1-939889-08-9) – a hilarious how-to packed with practical, tried and true resources to help indie-authors tackle the vast field of indie-publishing.
In What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too? Hutchins presents a myriad of resources and experiences that make this overwhelming field manageable. From deciding on the publishing format and pricing to developing and implementing a marketing plan, Hutchins’ guides writers through this publishing maze with tales and tips from a writing journey that has led to national distribution of her books.
Pamela explained that, “Everywhere I went on my 60-city nationwide book tour in 2013, I met wide-eyed writers contemplating indie publishing and overwhelmed with the choices and learning in front of them. It was really a joy to put this book together, and I tried to answer all the questions I got, and then some.”
What are people are saying about What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too? Writer and editor Mark Moore wrote, “Sharp, practical, and a pleasure to read, this is an indispensible tool for indie writers. Hutchins maps the shortest distance between you and your readers. You need this book!” Jennifer Meils, journalism teacher, writer and editor noted, “Fabulous! Dozens and dozens of great suggestions and resources. Indie writers are going to LOVE this book, not only for its insights, but for Pamela’s witty personality.”
Hutchins writes award-winning mysterious women’s fiction and relationship humor nonfiction. She has authored eight books, including What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?, Leaving Annalise, Saving Grace, Hot Flashes And Half Ironmans, How To Screw Up Your Kids, How to Screw Up Your Marriage, Puppalicious and Beyond, and The Clark Kent Chronicles. She is also a contributing author to Easy to Love But Hard to Raise and the upcoming Easy to Love But Hard to Teach from DRT Press, Ghosts and OMG – That Woman! from Aakenbaaken & Kent, and Prevent Workplace Harassment from Prentice Hall.
Hutchins is the winner of the Parenting/Divorce category of USA Best Books in 2012 (with award winners in Narrative Nonfiction and Women’s Health too). She won the 2010, 2011, and 2012 Contemporary Fiction awards from the Houston Writers Guild, and their 2012 Nonfiction award. She also won the 2010 Writers League of Texas Romance award, and the 2012 Houston Writers Guild Ghost Story award.
A workplace investigator, employment attorney, and former human resources executive, Hutchins lives with her husband and several of their young adult offspring plus 200 pounds of pets in Houston, but their hearts remain in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.
For more information on the author or the What Kind of Loser Indie Publishes, and How Can I Be One, Too?, please visit www.pamelahutchins.com.
If you would like to schedule an event, speech or book club meeting with the author or to learn more about SkipJack Publishing, please contact:
Nicole Hutchins
5215 Queensloch Dr.
Houston, TX 77096
T: 713-721-4773
Here is a preview:
An adapted and unedited chapter from my upcoming SkipJack Publishing book (release date August 15, 2013) What kind of loser indie publishes, and how can I be one too?
Most of us writer types not only dream of seeing our books in print, but also seeing their names in lights. TV lights. Movie lights. Spin-off-product billboard lights. We dream of the actors who will play our main characters, and we can spend hours casting and recasting the parts. Frankly, Jennifer Aniston is getting a little old to play my Katie, but dang, she’s perfect.
In fact, we know that the most successful writers make most of their money in this space. Their numbers are few, but their returns are huge.
From what I hear from my peeps in the trenches, you’ll have as much or more trouble selling your book as a screenplay as you do, well, selling your book. My advice is to focus on book sales and visibility for yourself and your book. Then write another. And another. Make each one better than the last, and more visible. If you do a great job at these things, you’ll have something to approach a film agent about.
Or a production company may approach you with a magic word: OPTION. As in “May I please option your magnificent book for thousands of dollars for a year or two?” An option ties your book up while the production company decides whether to exercise the option, meaning whether they will develop the project. Most optioned books don’t go into development. Some books get optioned, then re-optioned, then re-re-optioned. I haven’t been this lucky (yet). But bear in mind some good advice from Lisa Grace (author of Angel in the Shadows and many others) on J.A. Konrath’s blog: Consider smaller production companies that may be likelier to exercise your option, get an entertainment lawyer to negotiate your contract, and negotiate the best option fee up front that you can, but don’t rule out back-end monies, in case it does get developed. Don’t take it from me, though, go straight to the source (http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-post-by-lisa-grace.html).
Haven’t gotten a call to option your book yet? Well, it’s never a waste to work all your contacts. Stranger things have happened, and it doesn’t hurt to dream.
Pamela
Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling mysterious women’s fiction (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (How to Screw Up Your Kids) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.
An adapted and unedited chapter from my upcoming SkipJack Publishing book (release date August 15, 2013) What kind of loser indie publishes, and how can I be one too?
Guess what? If you’re going to write books, you have to have a website. Period. Readers need a place to land to read about you and your books. It’s your online brochure. It toots your horn. It propels browsers to purchase, and points them to where.
Good news, though: it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, be fancy, or require soul-crushing hours of upkeep. If you want a fancy, expensive, high maintenance website, knock yourself out, of course. In that case, you’ve got this post wired and can give it a brief skim. I’m talking to the rest of you, the ones that fear development of your own website like a plague of locusts. Or a zombie apocalypse. Or a run in your hose right before delivering a pitch to an editor from Random House.
Your website can be static, or you can populate it with updated content. A static website is a page, or a few pages, that stays the same except for periodic, planned updates. Websites with frequently updated content often feature a blog or a news ticker. I’ll speak to each, but first let’s talk about how a website is built.
Easiest way — hire someone to put one up for you! Ask them to do something simple and clean that requires little maintenance. Give them links to author/book websites you like, as examples. Draft the copy for the types of pages you want, and give it to the designer upfront, along with image/photo files for him to use. You should expect an interactive process with the designer that takes several months, and you should anticipate paying a fee for your domain name and for the work done by the designer.
To find a web designer, ask for referrals from your local writing group. Google (you knew I was going to say that, didn’t you?) for book or author website designers. Many author service providers offer website development. When you find someone, ask them for links to sites they have designed and the contact information for a few of their clients, preferably the ones for whom they did the websites they offer as samples. Contact the clients and verify they were satisfied with the quality, pace, price, and communication with the designer.
Expect the fee to range from $35 to $100 an hour. If they quote a flat fee, ask them what they base it on. Get samples, references, and quotes from several designers for comparison. Work with someone you feel will make the process less-than-torturous for you.
You will have a choice of whether to use a free or paid domain name. Free domain names usually have the web company’s name in them, i.e., http://HOTSHOTAUTHOR.blogspot.com, or http://HOTSHOTAUTHOR.wordpress.com. Paid domain names do not. Whichever you pick, try to brand either your name or book with your URL. For instance, my website is http://pamelahutchins.com. I am branding my name. If I had it to do over again, I’d choose pamelafaganhutchins.com, but at the time I worried that lazy browsers wouldn’t want to type all the extra keystrokes involved with “fagan” into my name. I made the same error on Facebook, by the way. But then I’m not claiming to be perfect. It’s like my parents always told me, “Do as I say, not as I do.”
I bought my URL from GoDaddy (http://godaddy.com). While I am not a big fan of their Super Bowl ads, they are a low cost provider, and their customer service is good. You pay an annual fee for your URL, and you should expect it to cost around $100. Sometimes more. If you buy a URL, you’ll have options for buying an email address that matches it. Hence my [email protected]. Again, it captures a brand, and it makes it easy for your readers to send you fan mail. Hey, I do get some now and then, really! GoDaddy’s site led me through instructions for my email, but it isn’t for the faint of technology-hearted. A web designer can help you with this element as well.
If you envision more than a static web page, your best and easiest bet is to set up a blog that runs either on your home (landing) page, or one of the other pages on your website. A designer can set this up for you. I believe in blogging, and I talked about some of the benefits of it earlier in Loser. It is a wonderful vehicle to use in building a following. It allows you to test-market your writing almost instantaneously. If you’re disciplined and set yourself up with an editorial calendar, it can multi-task your writing as you create posts that you will later use for books. It helps you build your website’s visibility with search engines, through targeted search engine optimization (SEO), which your web designer can help you with. Or which you can do yourself if you’re a brainiac.
I use a WordPress (http://wordpress.com) blogging platform. I used to use Google’s Blogger (http://blogger.com), but I migrated to WordPress and like it better. Both are fine. There are others. I liked WordPress so much that when it came time to upgrade my blog to a real website with a custom URL, I purchased a WordPress template to use with my GoDaddy site.
WordPress (Blogger too) has tons of widgets and free “plug-ins” which are pre-written apps that, when installed, enable your simple little website to do really cool things. Not all plug-ins are free, but what you decide to spend your coin on (or not), is up to you. I installed plug-ins that do things like insert social media links to my pages, add a news ticker to my website, insert standard copy at the bottom of each of my blog posts, suggest related blog posts, and control spam comments to my posts, to name just a few. If you have a designer, talk to him about the features you’d like on your website, and suggest to him you’d like to utilize free plug-ins to keep your costs down.
Confession: I secretly obtained a computer science-type degree as an undergrad, so I do my own website, albeit not very well since I abandoned geekhood for law school immediately upon college graduation. If you have even a modicum of tech-savvy, you can probably muddle through teaching yourself how to do this, based mostly on articles you search for and find online, and through the prompts and online help that you encounter along your way. But it is no shame to hire someone to do it for you, and in fact might be cost effective if you have a few hundred dollars to spare and other valuable activities competing for your time.
If you decide to blog, write about topics that will interest your desired audience. This is one of the best ways to grow your platform. Did you write a book about Vietnamese refugees? If so, write about Vietnamese food, history, or culture. Is your book a thriller in Nepal? Write about mountain climbing or adventure travel. Write about whatever you want to. You’ll just get the most mileage from it if it interests the audience you want to attract, and if you publish it regularly, say once or twice a week, keeping your posts about 300 to 800 words (that equates to 1-3 pages in length).
You’re angling for the holiest of holies: subscription. You want your readers to hang on your every post and thus to subscribe by email (best) or RSS feed to your blog. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and it is a means by which someone can subscribe online to frequently updated content, which is often then read in an RSS reader/aggregator, such as Digg (http://digg.com), Feedly (http://feedly.com), Bloglines (http://bloglines.com), NewsBlur (http://newsblur.com), and many more. You don’t have to understand how to use one, you just need to know that they help readers receive and read your blog posts, and that they are your friend. Don’t waste any hits on your website. Offer a chance for visitors not only subscribe to your blog but also to join your new release mailing list. I’ll talk about this more soon.
To attract readers, let your contacts know you have started a blog, and invite them to read and comment. Don’t beat them over the head about it repeatedly. One email will do. Those that are interested will bite. Those that aren’t won’t, and they are not (necessarily) evil people. Your next step will be to engage in social media, and post links to your blog that are interesting and non-spammy. Another great way to attract readers is to visit blogs that interest you and comment on posts in interesting and insightful ways, including the web address of your own blog. With luck, your blog readers will become contacts who later read your books, maybe even pay money for your books.
Personally, I’ve found that my subscribers/commenters have turned into friends and supporters, people who do nice things for me and for whom I do nice things as well. Community, in other words. Some of them are my beta readers. Many of them have reviewed my books. All of them I hope dearly to meet in real life (IRL) someday, at a book event, or when their travel brings them to my stomping grounds.
Once you have a website, don’t be shy. Include your web address in your bios, on your business cards, and in your social media contact information. Make it easy for people to stalk you, then spin them into the web of words you have built.
Pamela
Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling mysterious women’s fiction (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (How to Screw Up Your Kids) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.
An adapted and unedited chapter from my upcoming SkipJack Publishing book (release date August 15, 2013) What kind of loser indie publishes, and how can I be one too?
Inevitably, the process of writing and publishing your book takes time. Monetizing that effort is not an overnight event either. Wouldn’t it be nice to establish your writing creds, improve your writing, and possibly make a little cash in the meantime? Bonus: anything you do to get your name out there ultimately helps sell your books, whether pre- or post-publication. Even publication of excerpts or adaptations of your book work. That, my friends, is called multi-purposing. I love multi-purposing my efforts.
Here are some ideas for that downtime you’ll face:
Greeting cards: Want to write one-liners, poems, and narrative for greeting cards? It’s surprisingly lucrative. Take just one greeting card company, for example: Blue Mountain Arts (http://www.sps.com/help/writers_guidelines.html) pays $300 per accepted submission. I have a successful writer friend who made thousands writing greeting cards before she published her novels. Just type in a web search of “greeting card writer submissions” and watch the opportunities gush forth.
Freelance articles: You can submit for consideration your short works of fiction and nonfiction to online and print periodicals. Most publications post their writers submission guidelines online. For instance, I published a short piece for parents of ADHD kids in ADDitude Magazine (http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/writers-guidelines.html). While they don’t announce their payment policy for freelancers on their site, I will share that they paid me a rate I was happy with for my piece, and they allowed me to simply repurpose content from my indie published book The Clark Kent Chronicles, with attribution to our publishing company name, SkipJack Publishing. Ah, the magical word of shimmery awesomeness, by the way: REPURPOSE. I highly recommend as much of that as possible.
Anthologies: Here’s a space where I’ve gotten very lucky. My local writers group, the Houston Writers Guild, put out a call for submissions for an anthology a few years ago. I landed a REPURPOSED piece excerpted from one of my upcoming novels in their Ghosts. That worked so well I answered another and placed REPURPOSED pieces from another novel and two nonfiction books in OMG – That Woman! A website I wrote for hooked me into two other anthology opportunities. None of these anthologies paid me, but I did get free copies of the books, and, better yet, I got my name and work out there. What’s to stop you from putting together an anthology project yourself, if you can’t find one? I’ll share more on searching out submission calls, below.
Local periodicals: You know how Jan Karon got her start on her beloved Mitford novels? Writing a column for a local newspaper called The Blowing Rocket in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Why not contact local periodicals in your area and try your hand at building a local readership?
Short stories: Here’s a fun one for writers 50 and older: HuffPost50 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/huffpost50-fiction-seeking-short-stories_n_3141218.html). Or, if you want to aim higher, try Glimmer Train (http://www.glimmertrain.com/writguid1.html). If you type in a search for “fiction short story submissions” — or nonfiction — you’ll unearth some gems.
Answer other calls for submissions: In general, calls for submissions go out every day. The question is how to find them. Two great places to start are Poets & Writers (http://www.pw.org/classifieds) and Writers Relief (http://client.writersrelief.com/writers-classifieds/anthology-calls-for-submissions.aspx). Or just get to Googling.
Pamela
Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling mysterious women’s fiction (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (How to Screw Up Your Kids) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
||
An adapted and unedited chapter from my upcoming SkipJack Publishing book (release date August 15, 2013) What kind of loser indie publishes, and how can I be one too?
Video killed the radio star, or so sang the Buggles in 1979. But we still listen to radio, and we still read books. Not only do we read books, we listen to books. Audiobooks. And they’re growing in popularity.
No discussion of strategy is complete without a word on the role of audiobooks, which have become so simple and cheap to produce that they join the ranks of ebooks as no-brainers, in my opinion.
Author, let me introduce you to Audible’s Audio Creation Exchange (ACX, at http://acx.com). ACX, meet my indie author friends. On ACX, an author can search for narrators for their books, many of whom will narrate books for a 50/50 split of the author’s potential royalties on sales of the future audiobook. I was very pleased with the wide variety of narrators and their talent, and I am thrilled with the final products of my audiobooks. My only cost was for my digital artist to adapt my ebook cover to the audiobook parameters.
If you sell exclusively through Audible and its partners, your royalties look like the blue bar, and If you retain rights to sell your audiobook elsewhere, your royalties look like the red bar, below:
In addition, if a new customer signs up for Audible and chooses one of your books in her first three purchases, Audible pays a $25 bonus.
That’s music to my ears, no matter the format.
Pamela
Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an employment attorney and workplace investigator by day who writes award-winning and bestselling mysterious women’s fiction (Saving Grace) and humorous nonfiction (How to Screw Up Your Kids) by night. She is passionate about great writing and smart author-preneurship. She also leaps medium-tall buildings in a single bound, if she gets a good running start.
