Whew, the release date of my second book has come and shortly gone. I’m not such a newbie now when it comes to writing and publishing. I can honestly say, I’m stronger, better and have a totally different view of being an author and one of an Indie or Small Press publishing company. Over a year ago, my husband had the idea of starting Phenomenal One Press. A small press or … [Read more...]
Why Be a Beta Reader?
One of the most important parts of my writing process is to find beta readers. Oh, there’s different types of beta readers and all of which I use for different reasons. They are indispensable in the process of getting your writing in shape. YOUR STORY AND THE READER’S Oh, yeah, there is always more than one side to a story. I’m sure you heard that one before. Well when it … [Read more...]
Three Faces of the ALA Conference
I visited the American Library Conference (ALA) in Washington, DC as an author, with my publisher and as a guest. I wanted to give my perspective from all sides regarding how great of experience this is for an author and a small publisher. This conference had hundreds of vendors, publishers and librarians in attendance and it was extremely fun. SMALL PUBLISHER … [Read more...]
How to Plan a Virtual Party
Planning a Virtual Book Launch, a Virtual Book Birthday or a Virtual Book Tour are great compliments to a book marketing campaign. They are free, effective, and can stick around in the blogsphere forever to immortalize your book and marketing efforts. Anyone can throw a Virtual Party for any reason and the set up is fun and free. CREATE A PARTY WEBSITE Do this at least … [Read more...]
Each Author’s Creation Has Its Own Path
I’ve learned so much about being an author, selling my work and publishing in the last year that my head is spinning. One of the major lessons I’ve learned is that I control what I want to do with the works I produce. Each work has its own potential and it’s my job to create and map out the opportunities for that baby. WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’VE WRITTEN YOUR BOOK After you’ve … [Read more...]
How to Speed Write
Nano (National Novel Writing Month) runs from November 1st-30th. It’s the writing frenzy where you kick out a large number of words to hopefully finish a novel in record time. Many people start the challenge and end up with a sizable number of pages by the end. Some are inspired to start writing for the first time. Others are inspired to finish something for the … [Read more...]
On the Internet Means You Are On the Air
As an engineer who has built large applications and databases, I sometimes laugh at the naïveté of authors on the world ‘wild’ web. It’s not a safe place out there. Every site or ‘street’ you turn down has the ability to haunt you for life. When an author travels on the web, before and after being published, they should realize that everything they’ve posted can and will … [Read more...]
Agents, Editors and Conferences
My experience as a volunteer for a recent MWA Writer's Conference was rewarding and educational. LITERARY AGENTS They are the nicest people. Yeah writers you heard me, they rock. They work extremely hard, put in tons of overtime, and still have to be personable all of the time. Most of them that I’ve met personally during my recruitment process are natural sales people. … [Read more...]
The Challenges of an Indie Publisher
When I decided to become the first author of an independent Publisher, I had no idea what I was getting into. There are benefits to being part of a small independent publisher who’s just starting out, but there are also drawbacks. Since I’m the type of person who prefers to make lemonade out of lemons, I was up for the challenge. After the exhausting process of querying my … [Read more...]