A lot of people have told me not to go the self-publishing route.
I remember a decade or so ago being told that we didn't write stories about people who self-published, mainly because the books were bad. If a book was good, it was necessary to go the traditional route of getting an agent and going through a "real" publisher. However, most of the articles I read today suggest the opposite is true. I have even read of authors such as Jackie Collins, who has had multiple book deals through "real" publishers, has decided to publish one of her novels.
In a "real" book publishing deal, the author is paid, and the publisher does the rest. But it's the same as freelancing. I sell the article, and that's the end of it. With this, I would get paid by the number of books that sold. The more I can sell the more I can make. Reminds me of my Girl Scout cookie selling days, I loved to see the numbers go up. And the numbers would totally impact me.
I think I like the idea of having the control of my book from start to finish. I've had to work at marketing myself all my life so what would be the difference now? Facebook, twitter, webpages. I know how to write a press release; I have contacts with local librarians to set up book signings etc. I already have someone interested in having a book-signing party for me at a local business. I can do this.
Calling Bill Babb today.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
So You Think You Want to Be A Novelist
OK. I signed up for a blog. This looks familiar. I hope I can remember my way back to this one. Another email and password.
I started this blog because I've been in the process of writing a book for the past few months. Writing a book was something I never set out to do. I majored in English in college and decided to go into journalism because the follow-up question to "What's your major?" was "So are you going to teach?" Being an English teacher was not something I wanted to do. I decided to rebel against the flow and not go into teaching. I was determined to find another career path to show these narrow-minded people. English and writing seemed to go together except when trying to write a term paper and a magazine feature story in the same week. They are two different beasts so the comments from my professors were quite interesting. The English professor decried my paragraphs were too short and I needed more words while my journalism professor proclaimed me too wordy and told me to tighten up and shorten my paragraphs.
I graduated in spite of them.
As a journalist, I enjoyed writing especially feature stories, but after so many years in the profession, another question kept popping up. "When are you going to write a book?"
My thought was "Why on earth would I want to do that?"
Life changed over the years. I went from full-time staff writer to full-time freelance writer for the same newspaper. There was plenty of money and plenty of space for my stories. The once solid field of newspaper journalism became a plot of shifting sand where budgets were slashed to beyond bare bones. I found myself with a lot of time on my hands as story assignments dwindled.
The process of writing a book was daunting to me, but I determined every day to put words on a page even if it was only a few. I followed a guideline of 50,000 words as being a good length for a novel, and I charted my course. The first 10,000 words were painful as the reporter in me battled the creative writer. A reporter has to explain everything in a short amount of time; a novelist has an entire book and can leave questions open to keep the reader entertained and wanting more. It took about a month to write the first 10,000. From there, it was a breeze. The book was completely written in four months.
Now, I'm trying to figure out the next step. It's been a month. I let the book settle. I gave it to a couple of people and asked for feedback with a set of questions to answer. I've written a revision and added a few things. A retired newspaper editor has offered to edit it for me for the payment of one signed copy.
I thought writing the book was going to be the difficult part. That was a piece of cake.
I started this blog because I've been in the process of writing a book for the past few months. Writing a book was something I never set out to do. I majored in English in college and decided to go into journalism because the follow-up question to "What's your major?" was "So are you going to teach?" Being an English teacher was not something I wanted to do. I decided to rebel against the flow and not go into teaching. I was determined to find another career path to show these narrow-minded people. English and writing seemed to go together except when trying to write a term paper and a magazine feature story in the same week. They are two different beasts so the comments from my professors were quite interesting. The English professor decried my paragraphs were too short and I needed more words while my journalism professor proclaimed me too wordy and told me to tighten up and shorten my paragraphs.
I graduated in spite of them.
As a journalist, I enjoyed writing especially feature stories, but after so many years in the profession, another question kept popping up. "When are you going to write a book?"
My thought was "Why on earth would I want to do that?"
Life changed over the years. I went from full-time staff writer to full-time freelance writer for the same newspaper. There was plenty of money and plenty of space for my stories. The once solid field of newspaper journalism became a plot of shifting sand where budgets were slashed to beyond bare bones. I found myself with a lot of time on my hands as story assignments dwindled.
The process of writing a book was daunting to me, but I determined every day to put words on a page even if it was only a few. I followed a guideline of 50,000 words as being a good length for a novel, and I charted my course. The first 10,000 words were painful as the reporter in me battled the creative writer. A reporter has to explain everything in a short amount of time; a novelist has an entire book and can leave questions open to keep the reader entertained and wanting more. It took about a month to write the first 10,000. From there, it was a breeze. The book was completely written in four months.
Now, I'm trying to figure out the next step. It's been a month. I let the book settle. I gave it to a couple of people and asked for feedback with a set of questions to answer. I've written a revision and added a few things. A retired newspaper editor has offered to edit it for me for the payment of one signed copy.
I thought writing the book was going to be the difficult part. That was a piece of cake.
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