Expect the Unexpected!

The beginning of a New Year is always something to look forward to with a fresh new outlook. It’s a time for resolutions, new behaviors, and/or ridding ourselves of the negative ... And preparation time to expect the unexpected.

I recently returned from the States, and I learned not to expect things. While visiting, I had a calendar of expectations, but the unexpected happened. It was a realization that I should always prepare for the unexpected, not just focus on what I want but what could possibly be.    

If there’s one thing I learned during my visit is that everyone is busy, and even though plans are set, the unexpected sometimes pops up. Time doesn’t wait for anyone. It was a wakeup call, and a lesson that while other people’s lives continue on, I also have a life that I must get on with in order to succeed.

When I lived and worked in the United States, my life was completely different than it is now, living and working as a self-published author in Germany. It’s more relaxed, and my husband and I get to spend a lot of time together due to his job and vacation time. I was blessed to get to write full-time and work on my publications, but I also have to admit that I can easily stray from my job—procrastination is one of my weaknesses.

But I feel that 2014 will bring me lots of wonderful life experiences, and writing successes. Like all New Years, I’ve made a few resolutions as a guide. Here they are:

Writing and Publication

1)  I hope to make 2 blog posts a week.

2)  I hope to keep up and follow more bloggers.

3)  If anything, I hope to connect with more writers.

4)  My women’s fiction novel, Fogged Up Fairy Tale will be published by the summer.

5)  I’ll republish my past books under my new imprint.

6)  I will research and learn different ways to promote and market my book(s).

Personal

1)  I won’t be returning to the States this year, but instead, focus on my success.

2)  I’ll get a new domain for my imprint and recreate my website.

3)  Each day, I’ll thank God for something I’m grateful for in my life.

4)  I’ll lose more weight.

5)  This year will be a year of travel.

6)  I plan on getting to know other people in Germany, so I can build a community of friends here.

Have you made any resolutions?

I wish you all a wonderful New Years. May you achieve your resolutions.

Resolutions and the Unexpected,

Bea

It Makes Cents

This weekend I read a blog post about book advances—about how they could hurt a writer. After reading it, I realized it makes sense, yet I never really thought about it before.

For those outside of the writing community, the publishing world has changed since the ’60s and ‘70s where authors became rich off their talent, and a household name. Traditional publishing houses began tightening their purse strings, and grew hesitant on taking chances with new writers as opposed to committing to high profile names. If you look at the books out there now, you’ll see more than ever, books published by celebrities (90% of them written by ghostwriters). Writers became frustrated with the way they were treated by agents and publishers, so when they saw a market in technology they went for it. Writers took the opportunity to self-publish by utilizing e-books. You can learn more about e-books and self-publishing on Joe Konrath’s blog.

As for the book advances, traditional publishing houses, Simon & Schuster, Random House to name a few, give authors advances with their signing contracts. These advances are given because the publisher believes they will make a large profit on the book. Let’s say Marsha gets a $25,000 advance on her book. She will not make any more money until she sells enough books to hit the $25,000. Nowadays, this is very difficult to do because of all the competition out there. If Marsha’s hard cover costs $25.00, she would need to sell 1000 copies to hit $25,000. If her soft cover costs $14.95, she would need to at least sell 1700 copies. This is very difficult to do for an up and coming author.

Book advances can also hurt a writer’s chance to publish again through traditional methods if they didn’t sell their first book as predicted. Fortunately, publishing houses haven’t requested the money back on advances. Yet.

Today’s times show that people want things at their fingertips. Unlike me, most people don’t enjoy browsing around a bookstore, looking at the covers, reading synopses and leaving with an armful of books. Believe it or not, it’s only a matter of time before e-books outsell print copies everywhere (here’s a link regarding Amazon sales). Unfortunately, this means our brick and mortar bookstores will slowly disappear. Majority of people do not want to waste their money on a hard cover book—they look for cheap and usually online. I’m not saying selling large quantities of print books is impossible, but as a new writer without an audience, you had better have a great book and a fabulous marketing/promotion strategy.

Writing a book is a small part of publishing. There’s so much more involved in getting it together and ultimately promoting it. I could say that most writers dislike the promoting part of publishing. We want to write, not research on how we’re going to get our name out there. But the fact is if we don’t promote and have people spread the word, then the titles of our books will fade away in a warehouse or in the virtual world. Promotion is key in getting your book in as many hands as possible. Those authors who get large advances should use it for promotional purposes, because like self-publishing, writers who go through the traditional methods are basically in charge of marketing their book, too. Some publicity is given, but not much. Writers are up against hundreds of books published each day either electronically or traditionally. It’s funny that most people think authors are rich. Unfortunately, majority of writers are lucky to sell 40 books a year.

One last thing I’d like to share is an article regarding Penny Marshall’s Memoir. “Amazon Publishing won the rights to the book and will issue both a traditional print and a digital edition.”

Promote and prosper (as best you can),

Bea

I Need You!

How is everyone doing? Are you sick of this rain…if you live in Chicago? I can’t wait to see the sun. 

First things first, I’m selling my condo. In the side bar, you’ll find a link with a description and pictures for my “Condo for Sale”. If you know of anyone looking for a condo on the south side of Chicago, please forward the link. It’s within walking distance to the train, which is appealing as we watch the price of gas rise.

Secondly, I’m planning on self-publishing a book of poems but I’ve run into a brick wall. I’m having trouble coming up with a book title. My poems aren’t about one specific subject; death, writing, seasons, dreams, religion, life, and more. I’d like a title embracing many topics. Please let me know if something comes to mind.

Thanks for any help you can give me with the above.

Guest Blogger - Tess Hardwick - The Path From the Drawer to Booktrope.com

My first novel, Riversong, is being published by Booktrope.com next month.  I’m excited, of course.  And terrified, like any new author would be.  I was asked recently why I went with an independent publisher like Booktrope as opposed to a bigger house.  The easy answer is that they said yes.  The more complicated answer is that their business model is pretty cool and also friendly to first time novelists.  They are willing to take risks on new writers, as they are a young company looking to invest long term in talented writers.  They also believe that Riversong will be a hit.  I certainly hope they’re correct.

So much has been said in the writer community about the changes in the publishing world that I hardly think I have anything to add to the conversation.  But I thought it might be worthwhile to simply tell my story.

Riversong had been in the proverbial drawer for over a year since it’s last revision.  I’d decided that I didn’t want to go the self-publishing route and after getting no traction finding an agent (the feedback was that the beginning didn’t grab them right away) I decided it was best to put it in the drawer and start another.  I know many authors say the drawer is where their first novel remains. However, in the months it was in the drawer gathering dust, I thought of a way to fix it.  But I was happily working on my new manuscript and didn’t plan on going back to it until I was finished with it.

Then last November I got the call from a good friend.  She’d not only accepted a job at Booktrope but had also pitched my book in the interview.  They wanted to look at it.  I scrambled to rewrite the first 50 pages.  It worked apparently, because Booktrope said, “yes”.

They have a team publishing approach that puts together an editor, a book manager, a cover artist and a writer.  We all have skin in the game so to speak, meaning that when the book sells, we all make money.  I think the most interesting part of all that is the book manager piece.  Basically, the book manager’s assignment is to market your work. 

Another interesting aspect to Booktrope is that they are great believers in literature and that everyone should have access to it.  Therefore, all of their published books are available on their website for free.  They also believe that giving away the book ultimately adds to further sales. 

That said they also plan selling Riversong in all the traditional ways too.  It will be available in paperback via Amazon and on Kindle and Nook.

I’m at tesshardwick.com if you want to learn more about me.  Until then, happy reading and productive writing.

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I'm a guest blogger on Tess Hardwick's site, so stop on by if you get a chance.

A Quickie and a Query!

Yesterday I completed my second revision of my novel AND I also wrote an alternative ending—then sent it off to my editor. I will be sending it to some beta readers to get some more eyes and feedback.

The next step is querying agents. I’ve gone back and forth about whether or not I want to go through traditional publishing or self-publish. I decided I will ‘try’ the traditional route first and if that doesn’t work out then I’ll self-publish. If I self-publish, all control is in my hands, which includes finding someone to do the cover art, binding the book, distribution (won’t be in stores), sales, and marketing and publicity. If I go the traditional route, I need to get an agent (receives 15%), the agent finds a publisher and they do the cover art, distribution to stores, but I’ll mainly be responsible for marketing and publicity. The publishing world that existed when John Irving and Stephen King started their writing careers is long gone.

Since I am going to attempt traditional publishing I need to get an agent first, which means I need to write a great query letter. A query letter is a letter that pitches your book idea. Agents receive hundreds of queries a day, so they don’t have time to shuffle through words to find out what my book is about. I’ve been doing some research about querying, such as  writers with similar books, who their agents are and how to write one. Hopefully, I can start practicing now and get some drafts done.

That’s it for now folks! What’s going on in your part of the world? I hope my family and friends dug themselves out from the Chicago snowstorm.