Why I do my author service

I thought I’d post about why I do my author service. It mainly started last year when I did talks about ebook publishing and being an indie author at a local library. Over the course of a year, I was surprised to see that there are still new writers out there who don’t know much about writing and publishing ebooks. I enjoyed giving the talks and sharing my knowledge of what I’d learnt about writing and epublishing over the years. Then this year I finally told a new writer who I’d met at one of my talks that I’d help him with his story. I have found that I like helping others, esp with writing which I love doing myself. I like helping authors get the vision for their stories and improve it. I have been editing two short stories for this client; an adult thriller and now a picture book for children. I see potential in both and want to help my client improve them and get them out there for readers to see. I like giving ideas to people to create characters and series, which I have done so far.

So, if you need help with getting vision for your stories; either children or adult (I don’t mind either as I now like working on picture books and doing the research needed for it), then check out the page on this blog about what I offer and can do for writers.

If you just want tips and tricks to help your writing, and places you can send your story to earn money, then why not sign up to my newsletter at  http://eepurl.com/bwuQav

How I chose my cover designer

I have already posted why you should hire a professional cover designer for your ebook, here is how I chose mine. I did try to create my own cover for my first ebook, ‘The Railway Angel’ (perma-free on most platforms), but got as far as choosing the background photo and that was it. I had no idea about layouts, fonts etc. Smashwords was fairly new then, and I had already printed out their formatting guidelines to use. Back then, on the website, you had to email a blank email to an address to Mark Coker, and he would send you a list of formatters and designers. I got this list, and went through it to find someone who had designed covers for YA fantasy. I found her, and checked out her website. Seeing the covers she had designed, and that they were similar to what I had in mind, I noted her name and email address for when I chose the right photos. Her name is Joleene Naylor and like most of the designers on that list, she lives in the US. She no longer takes new clients.

The list of formatters and designers can now be found at this link http://www.smashwords.com/list

So, if you need to pay for a professional cover designer, choose one that does covers for the same genre that you write. If you like what they do for you, then keep with them. I have stayed with mine, and am happy with what she has done and will do for me. And she charges a reasonable rate.

Why belonging to associations is good…

Another way to get discovered as an author, esp an indie author, is to belong to writing associations. I belong to a few: Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA), Society of British Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and Alliance of Indepdent Authors (ALLi). As an indie author, joining ALLi was one of the best things I’ve done. They have a Facebook group where lots of questions are asked and replied to, full of useful info and help. No matter if you are a newbie or have got a few ebooks under your belt, you are welcome to ask a question or even reply. They offer free ebooks to members. But there is one major thing that helps us indies get discovered – they have a ‘Member Showcase Bulletin’ every week, where us authors can email in to the organiser, details and images of our latest release. That will then go on the bulletin on a Saturday on FB for all to see. Some members do share the post, so it gets seen by more people.

It costs £75 a year to join, but if you are a member and get someone else to become a member through your own affiliate link, you can get a 35% reduction off your membership fee.

So, if you are a new indie author and want to learn more about being an indie from other indies, and converse with like-minded authors, then ALLi is your organisation. If you are interested in joining, you can join through

http://allianceindependentauthors.org/?affid=1406

You will be made welcome.

How to reach more readers with an ebook

I’m back. I’ve been busy editing, then publishing my latest ebook ‘A Friend in Need’.

Now it’s published, I am back to tell you how to reach as many readers you can as an indie author of ebooks – this is the way I do. In my next library talk I will be mentioning ebook platforms, and this is the way to get to as many readers as you can – publish on as many digital platforms you can. I know that some indie authors have had great success with publishing exclusively on Amazon, esp with their Select programme, but for me, I want to reach as many readers as I can, to let them know what I like writing about: mainly hope and second chances. Ever since I became an indie author in 2011, I have published widely. Although, when I published ‘Snakeskin Boots’ I did put it in Select as an experiment to see what results I got – no sales. When the 90 days were up, I published it widely.  I will continue to publish on as many channels as I can. So, when ‘A Friend’ came out last week, I published it on Amazon, Kobo, Smashwords for its own store and the US libraries and subscription services eg Oyster, and Draft2Digital for Apple and their new channel, Tolino. Now that D2D have this new channel, I am going to put the rest of my ebooks that aren’t on there, on there. I started today by putting ‘More Fish in the Sea’ on there.

So, that’s how to reach as many readers you want to – publish your ebook on all platforms you can find. If D2D add more channels, I will add them there, too.

Are you an indie author? If so, do you believe in being exclusive to one etailer or do you publish widely? Let me know.

Name your favourite book/ebook

At the last RNA meeting in Holborn last Saturday we were asked to bring our fave book of last year. Here are mine:

1. How to write and sell short stories by Della Galton. I got this as a Xmas present in 2013. I started reading it but then got other non-fiction stuff to read. Then I went to a Women’s Weekly Fiction Workshop last October where Della was the main speaker and I was inspired. I read the rest of the book, and it made me decide, that yes, I do want to become a womag fiction writer.

2. Having read the above, I wanted more knowledge about writing for womag’s. So I bought and read How to write short stories and How to write ghost stories by Kath McGurl. I now want to write ghost stories too for womag’s.

So, if you want to write short stories for women’s magazines such as Women’s Weekly, then these are the three books to read.
3. As an indie author who wanted to be more business-like this year, I read ‘Write Livelihood – How to create a business plan for authors ‘ by Ryan Petty. This is the book that I have been working the last few posts on about creating your plan. Any professional writer, indie or traditional, should have a business plan about what they plan to write and when.

4. I also read the first ebook in the 3-for-1 set ‘Indie Author Power Pack’ which is called ‘Write. Publish. Repeat’ by Johnny B Truant, Dave… and I can’t remember the name of the third author. Buy it, cos it includes the second version of ‘Let’s Get Digital’ by David Gaughran, and the second version of ‘How to market your book’ by Joanna Penn. All a v good.

5. Business books for authors by Joanna Penn. Straight forward talking for authors.

So, what have you read last year and what was your favourite book/ebook? Let me know.

New year, new goals

So, here is the final step to your plan and the most important one I feel – writing down your goals for this year. To motivate you, here are mine:

1. To complete my YA fantasy series ‘The Guardian Angels’
2. To complete my mermaid trilogy
3. To complete my adult romance series ‘Geraldine’s Gems’
4. To write 1 or 2 more of my Singleton village series (working on that now)
5. To maybe write another of my Asperkids series
6. To publish my first Asperkids books about Boring Billy
7. To get at least 5 short stories accepted and published by women’s magazines
8. To earn at least £500 from no 7
9. To break even with my writing expenses this year. I’ve been working at a loss the last few years.#
10. The main one I feel is… to graduate from the RNA’s New Writer’s Scheme, hopefully with a Pocket Novel script. Working on this now. Am rewriting a script that I submitted a few years ago and did nothing with.
11. Update my website more regularly

So there you have my ten goals for this year. I’ve been working on numbers 4, 7, 8 and 10 so far. Will give you an update on how I’m going with these in a few months time. So, what goals have you made for this year? Let me know how you are going with them.

How to create a business plan – Step 3

This is a step you don’t have to do but I think it’s a good idea, esp if you want to do a plan for more than one year, which I think I will be doing. I got this idea from an ebook I’ve just read by Ryan Petty called ‘Write Livelihood – How to create a business plan…’ Want to make your writing into a business? Then read this book. This step is all about writing down an inventory of your works (assets). As I write for both adults and children, and now write short stories for women’s magazines, I am going to just put down my inventory of ideas for children’s books. Here goes:

To complete: 1 x YA fantasy – Guardian Angels series, to conclude the series; 1 x mermaid, again to complete the trilogy. 3 more in my Asperkids magical school series. I want to start publishing the first two this year. School of Knowledge series (to be retitled The Green Goddeses) Rosie, Allie and Georgina.

Ideas for series to write: Crystal Healers (5), Climate Chronicles, another mermaid series called ‘The Water Warriors’. More about children with Asperger’s, those who don’t talk but can when they communicate with nature eg birds, bees and flowers.

Lots of notes with ideas for children’s books and stories, all in a folder.

So, why not have a go at what you have yet to complete, write and ideas you have. You might surprise yourself at how many things you have hidden away. I know I did.

How to create a business plan – Step 2

I have posted about writing what you have achieved this year, so how about writing down what you haven’t achieved. I am going to put down what I haven’t, why I think this is and what I am going to do about it next year. Here we go:

1. Ebooks – I didn’t achieve to write and publish as many ebooks as I wanted. I believe this was because I didn’t make use of all the time I had because I was distracted by other ventures I was trying, which wasted time for me. What I plan to do – I have already started to make more of the time I have in the day to write.

2. Sales – I didn’t achieve as many sales of my ebooks that I wanted to do. Why? I think this is because of the low price. All my ebooks are at 99c, which is a discount price. I now think that this is only suitable for discount buyers and not serious readers. So, next year, or even after Christmas, I am going to up the prices of all of my ebooks. I am going to think like a publisher. Lots of trad publishers have joined the ebook world and indies have to compete with them now, so I am trying to match their prices.

3. I didn’t get my Asperkids series of books out there. Why? The publisher I had emailed the partial to hadn’t got back to me about it. Next year I want to get my characters out there myself. Get the ms professionally edited, get an illustrator to do the cover and drawings in the book I want. Will be researching that next year.

4. I didn’t get a short story in a magazine. I hadn’t done the proper research and find out what sort of stories they publish. I have been to workshops by Woman’s Weekly and know what they like now. I have been reading the magazines to get a feel for the type of stories they publish. I now have a better idea of what stories I will be sending to which magazines.

So, are there things that you haven’t achieved this year? If so, what are you going to do about them? Let me know.

How to get discovered – write

One of the talks and guides I will be doing next year will be about how to get discovered. I have been reading an ebook called ‘Discoverability’ by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, which is very interesting reading. You should only buy this ebook if you have published more than one book, and at least a few. One of the things she had said a few times in the ebook, and I’ve read often before from other authors, is the main way to get discovered is to write. Write, write and write more. So here are my tips for you on what I think:

1. I agree. Write, write and write more. You won’t get discovered by readers if you only write and publish one book. Imagine yourself as a reader. You find this author who has written a great book. You wonder, have they published anything else? Will they publish anything else? When you find out they haven’t got any more books out and won’t, how will you feel? Disappointed, I bet. This is why I have written and published more than one, and will do more.

2. Write a series. Readers love series. Even as an adult, I love series. Don’t you like to read books with the same characters in and follow them through? This is one reason why I have written a few series. My YA fantasy series called ‘The Guardian Angels’, the mermaid trilogy, and for adults ‘Geraldine’s Gems’. Oh yes, there is the series of short stories called ‘Secrets of Singleton’. I write and publish them, in the hope to get readers to like one and buy the rest. Don’t know if it has worked yet, but time will tell.

3. So think what you read as a child. I know I loved reading series when I was a child. From Mr Men, to Noddy, to Famous Five, to Chalet School, and now as an adult I love reading Nora Roberts (esp her trilogies) and Debbie Macomber. How about you?

So, if you are an author, esp an indie author, write, write and write more. If you have an idea for one, write a series. Or even a set of ebooks linked to each other.

Let me know if you have done this and how it has worked for you.