Tips for new authors!
o
Thank you Jackie Lee for inviting me to be guest speaker on 'Your Fairy Godmother' website. I enjoyed your visit to my home in Lanzarote. Thank you for watching if you have already seen it. Jackie is amazing isn't she? And not forgetting Kim from Casa Cabana restaurant who's been my close friend for years. She did a great camerawoman job!
Watch the video here and join Your Fairy Godmother group to make new friends and enhance your lifestyle.
https://jackieleeyourfairygodmother.com/
We spoke about becoming a published author so I have followed up with some tips, ideas and links to helpful websites.
My tips for new authors
My aim is to guide others through this crazy world of writing and publishing.
I've been writing since 2013.
Traditional publishing verses self publishing
There is still a lot of taboo about self publishing. People ask,’ are you a proper author?
I went the route of submitting to every big publisher in the UK . Jumping through hoops, waiting for responses, receiving rejections. I found the whole process totally depressing and frustrating. Agents are really looking for the bright young things who will make a long career with them and make them lots of money. At a certain age they don't want to take the risk and submitting to the publisher direct is usually a big no no.
Eventually, I was Published with an American publisher.
I found it very limiting. They didn’t promote my books. I had no access to advertise the books myself or change pricing, give offers, prizes, etc. I even had to have my British English books converted to US English. It just didn't work for me. I regained my rights to the title and decided to self publish with Amazon Kindle Direct.
Self publishing gave me control of my books and 70 % royalties.
Vanity Publishing.
Beware of vanity publishing.It's not the same as self publishing. It's when a company offers to publish your book and you have to pay a figure up front. No one should part with money on a promise of publishing.
Courses
There are lots of courses out there. Again, beware of paying for courses until you know exactly what you want much further down the line. There are plenty of free courses out there. Save your budget for important things such as professional editing, book cover design, website and your own domain name.
Spend,spend spend!
Virginia Woolf once said, A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.
These days I’d say, you need a laptop and a careful budget.
Realistically, it will take a lot of hard work for your book to gain traction. Money isn’t going to come flooding in. The likelihood of you becoming an overnight success like E. L. James with 50 Shades of Grey is pretty slim. Even J.K. Rowling was rejected time after time before she made it big time.
I don’t claim to be a J. K. R. but after my seven year journey my books are beginning to gain traction in the children’s book market. Most sales are through word of mouth and Amazon Advertising at the moment. I still have to master Facebook advertising.
Most of all, I’m doing what I love!
Ask yourself ‘Why do I want to write?’ For pleasure or profit? If you love to write then go ahead and try. What's to stop you ? If it's purely for profit then you really won't see much of that until you have at least three books out there. A single book won't do it ... although it did for E.L.James. But that naughty ship has now sailed.
Important things once your book is written to perfection
Your Biography
A biography of around 150 words at the ready . This will be needed on almost every platform.
Keep it brief. Nobody’s interested in the names and ages of your kids and grandchildren. Show your interests and what you write about.
Author Platform
Website and landing page with link to your (free)book
Mailing list via Mailchimp or mailerlite
Facebook ( made public to create an author page)
Twitter
Instagram
LinkedIn...more for meeting professionals
Pinterest
You don't have to be on every social media platform. Choose what works for you and communicate with your readers. I don't really use Twitter for instance and only use LinkedIn to look up professional's profiles.
Read lots of information
www.reedsy.com is a fantastic company for information on all author related subjects such as traditional publishing verses self publishing, children’s books, editing. At first I did a course a week. You join a course on your chosen subject and they pop into your inbox each day. There’s just enough content to digest with a little quiz at the end of the week to test your knowledge.
Reedsy is also a great place to find professionals such as editors and designers.
https://kdp.amazon.com
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
This is where you should begin.Amazon claims to have 70% of the book sales market . There’s everything you need to know about self publishing. Once you have opened your account you are ready to publish paperback print and ebooks. Your books are available all around the world. This is also your advertising platform once your book is published.
Going Wide.(author speak for selling books outside the Amazon platform.)
There are other places to publish books too. I use ingramspark.com to distribute my books to wholesale distribution centres where independent book stores such as Waterstones purchase their stock. Ingram Spark publish beautiful hard backed books too. I’m still in the process of making all my books available as hard backed editions. At present I’ve only published ‘Silly Trunk’ in hard back format and I’m really thrilled with it.
ISBN numbers
This is a whole area for further discussion. In a nutshell every version of every book, eg ebook, paperback, hardback has its own ISBN number. It’s the book’s identity and makes it exclusive to you if you own the ISBN. I buy mine in packs of ten from nielsenisbnstore.com ( if you’re based in the UK) The last time I bought the price was £164 for a pack of ten. Believe me I’m on my second pack!
I don’t use them for the ebook format, only for print versions. Amazon provides a free ISBN for ebooks.
On my excellent author group the experienced authors say you don’t need them for ebooks.
If you’re based in the US it’s Bowker. bowker.com/products/ISBN
Now that you’ve written your book using Word or another writing tool you need to format to upload to KDP or Ingram Spark. There’s lots of help on their websites so I won't go through the process. I always upload my cover and manuscript separately.
www.reedsy.com has a wonderful free editor to turn your words and pictures into an ebook or print book. This is what I’ve always used. I find it easy to copy and paste each chapter into the editor. It’s a little limited on the style of fonts used but to be honest I’m not sure readers really look at font styles as long as the text is easy reading.
Another company where you can format your book for free is draft2digital.com I haven't used that but people say its great.
I suggest you read this article before you begin.
Designing a book https://www.ingramspark.com/online-courses/book-design/book-formatting?submissionGuid=bd8b48ad-c871-4dbf-8498-6b46c33c2fed I found this really helpful and it will save you a lot of errors right from the start.
Illustrations
Professional illustrators come at a price. I'm talking in the region of £2,500 for a 28 page picture book. I'm lucky because I love to do my own illustrations and have learned how to use Photoshop to size and format them. It's not an easy task. These articles will give you some idea of what's involved.
Formatting pictures http://www.darcypattison.com/publishing/format-picture-books-kindle/
Darcy is a member of some of my Facebook groups and has been publishing children's picture books for a long time. She has a wealth of knowledge.
All about images https://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=282942&p=1885348
Facebook groups
Author groups on Facebook can be a great help to all levels of experience.
My favourite is Self Publishing Formula led by Mark Dawson. Mark is a self published author who sells over a million dollars worth of thriller books each year. I love following his publishing journey and have been inspired by him and a lot of others in the group.
The authors in this group are so helpful and friendly.
I have purchased his Advertising for Authors course and it’s taught me a great deal about book promotion. I waited until I had three books in series before doing so to gain the most benefit.
www.facebook.com/groups/SPFsecretgroup/?ref=share
Advertising and promotion can run away with your money. This is a real skill to be learned but it’s so necessary to sell books.
Good luck! See you in the Your Fairy Godmother group. I'll be there to TRY and answer any questions you may have.
All the very best and keep safe and well!
Heather x
Thank you Jackie Lee for inviting me to be guest speaker on 'Your Fairy Godmother' website. I enjoyed your visit to my home in Lanzarote. Thank you for watching if you have already seen it. Jackie is amazing isn't she? And not forgetting Kim from Casa Cabana restaurant who's been my close friend for years. She did a great camerawoman job!
Watch the video here and join Your Fairy Godmother group to make new friends and enhance your lifestyle.
https://jackieleeyourfairygodmother.com/
We spoke about becoming a published author so I have followed up with some tips, ideas and links to helpful websites.
My tips for new authors
My aim is to guide others through this crazy world of writing and publishing.
I've been writing since 2013.
Traditional publishing verses self publishing
There is still a lot of taboo about self publishing. People ask,’ are you a proper author?
I went the route of submitting to every big publisher in the UK . Jumping through hoops, waiting for responses, receiving rejections. I found the whole process totally depressing and frustrating. Agents are really looking for the bright young things who will make a long career with them and make them lots of money. At a certain age they don't want to take the risk and submitting to the publisher direct is usually a big no no.
Eventually, I was Published with an American publisher.
I found it very limiting. They didn’t promote my books. I had no access to advertise the books myself or change pricing, give offers, prizes, etc. I even had to have my British English books converted to US English. It just didn't work for me. I regained my rights to the title and decided to self publish with Amazon Kindle Direct.
Self publishing gave me control of my books and 70 % royalties.
Vanity Publishing.
Beware of vanity publishing.It's not the same as self publishing. It's when a company offers to publish your book and you have to pay a figure up front. No one should part with money on a promise of publishing.
Courses
There are lots of courses out there. Again, beware of paying for courses until you know exactly what you want much further down the line. There are plenty of free courses out there. Save your budget for important things such as professional editing, book cover design, website and your own domain name.
Spend,spend spend!
Virginia Woolf once said, A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.
These days I’d say, you need a laptop and a careful budget.
Realistically, it will take a lot of hard work for your book to gain traction. Money isn’t going to come flooding in. The likelihood of you becoming an overnight success like E. L. James with 50 Shades of Grey is pretty slim. Even J.K. Rowling was rejected time after time before she made it big time.
I don’t claim to be a J. K. R. but after my seven year journey my books are beginning to gain traction in the children’s book market. Most sales are through word of mouth and Amazon Advertising at the moment. I still have to master Facebook advertising.
Most of all, I’m doing what I love!
Ask yourself ‘Why do I want to write?’ For pleasure or profit? If you love to write then go ahead and try. What's to stop you ? If it's purely for profit then you really won't see much of that until you have at least three books out there. A single book won't do it ... although it did for E.L.James. But that naughty ship has now sailed.
Important things once your book is written to perfection
Your Biography
A biography of around 150 words at the ready . This will be needed on almost every platform.
Keep it brief. Nobody’s interested in the names and ages of your kids and grandchildren. Show your interests and what you write about.
Author Platform
Website and landing page with link to your (free)book
Mailing list via Mailchimp or mailerlite
Facebook ( made public to create an author page)
LinkedIn...more for meeting professionals
You don't have to be on every social media platform. Choose what works for you and communicate with your readers. I don't really use Twitter for instance and only use LinkedIn to look up professional's profiles.
Read lots of information
www.reedsy.com is a fantastic company for information on all author related subjects such as traditional publishing verses self publishing, children’s books, editing. At first I did a course a week. You join a course on your chosen subject and they pop into your inbox each day. There’s just enough content to digest with a little quiz at the end of the week to test your knowledge.
Reedsy is also a great place to find professionals such as editors and designers.
https://kdp.amazon.com
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)
This is where you should begin.Amazon claims to have 70% of the book sales market . There’s everything you need to know about self publishing. Once you have opened your account you are ready to publish paperback print and ebooks. Your books are available all around the world. This is also your advertising platform once your book is published.
Going Wide.(author speak for selling books outside the Amazon platform.)
There are other places to publish books too. I use ingramspark.com to distribute my books to wholesale distribution centres where independent book stores such as Waterstones purchase their stock. Ingram Spark publish beautiful hard backed books too. I’m still in the process of making all my books available as hard backed editions. At present I’ve only published ‘Silly Trunk’ in hard back format and I’m really thrilled with it.
ISBN numbers
This is a whole area for further discussion. In a nutshell every version of every book, eg ebook, paperback, hardback has its own ISBN number. It’s the book’s identity and makes it exclusive to you if you own the ISBN. I buy mine in packs of ten from nielsenisbnstore.com ( if you’re based in the UK) The last time I bought the price was £164 for a pack of ten. Believe me I’m on my second pack!
I don’t use them for the ebook format, only for print versions. Amazon provides a free ISBN for ebooks.
On my excellent author group the experienced authors say you don’t need them for ebooks.
If you’re based in the US it’s Bowker. bowker.com/products/ISBN
Now that you’ve written your book using Word or another writing tool you need to format to upload to KDP or Ingram Spark. There’s lots of help on their websites so I won't go through the process. I always upload my cover and manuscript separately.
www.reedsy.com has a wonderful free editor to turn your words and pictures into an ebook or print book. This is what I’ve always used. I find it easy to copy and paste each chapter into the editor. It’s a little limited on the style of fonts used but to be honest I’m not sure readers really look at font styles as long as the text is easy reading.
Another company where you can format your book for free is draft2digital.com I haven't used that but people say its great.
I suggest you read this article before you begin.
Designing a book https://www.ingramspark.com/online-courses/book-design/book-formatting?submissionGuid=bd8b48ad-c871-4dbf-8498-6b46c33c2fed I found this really helpful and it will save you a lot of errors right from the start.
Illustrations
Professional illustrators come at a price. I'm talking in the region of £2,500 for a 28 page picture book. I'm lucky because I love to do my own illustrations and have learned how to use Photoshop to size and format them. It's not an easy task. These articles will give you some idea of what's involved.
Formatting pictures http://www.darcypattison.com/publishing/format-picture-books-kindle/
Darcy is a member of some of my Facebook groups and has been publishing children's picture books for a long time. She has a wealth of knowledge.
All about images https://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=282942&p=1885348
Facebook groups
Author groups on Facebook can be a great help to all levels of experience.
My favourite is Self Publishing Formula led by Mark Dawson. Mark is a self published author who sells over a million dollars worth of thriller books each year. I love following his publishing journey and have been inspired by him and a lot of others in the group.
The authors in this group are so helpful and friendly.
I have purchased his Advertising for Authors course and it’s taught me a great deal about book promotion. I waited until I had three books in series before doing so to gain the most benefit.
www.facebook.com/groups/SPFsecretgroup/?ref=share
Advertising and promotion can run away with your money. This is a real skill to be learned but it’s so necessary to sell books.
Good luck! See you in the Your Fairy Godmother group. I'll be there to TRY and answer any questions you may have.
All the very best and keep safe and well!
Heather x