DIS writers - a place for us.

[Cogswel_Cogs]

How could I contact her.

 

[surfergirl602]

How could I contact her.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alex-me-design/190567480986754?sk=app_127087913984159

alexandmedesign@gmail.com

 

[Ginny Favers]

Does anyone know any illustrators. I am hoping to find one who would work with my daughter. I had orriginally planned for the book to be illustrated by three people as there are three stories being told by two brothers and a sister.

You probably already know this... I'm assuming you're not seeking traditional publication for this book and will be self-publishing? Because if you are seeking traditional publication, publishers prefer that children's manuscripts not be illustrated. If they like your manuscript, they will match up an illustrator of their own with the story.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Yes I was thinking about going the self pub route again. I haven't completely convinced myself cause it is a lot of effort. Thats why I was kinda hoping to get the feel if an artist would be interested in such a venture.

 

[Aliceacc]

I'm playing with the idea of writing an ebook on education.

Can anyone give me a dummy's guide for self-publishing? Or anything else I should know?

I wouldn't get to it until summer, but it's an intriguing idea.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

It is pretty easy to put your book online. As for getting it out to the market you are looking for this is the tricky part. Kindle and Nook will load the books right from a word file. As for printed copies there is Createsspace. Again you can do most the work yourself. The cover could be challenging, I think someone at work is going to help me as it needs to be a wraparound type of creation. It also needs to be sized correctly and have these little cover indicators. I think CreateSpace will do for you for 2 to 3 hindered.
Also you might want to buy your own ISBN this would be needed if you want to print the book with anybody aside from Createspace. You can buy ten from Bawker for $250 or 1 from amazon for $90 or use one Amazon will provide. Amazon owns the free one so if he book takes off you are either stuck printing with them or you have to get a new ISBN and whatever work associated with that ISBN is lost.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

OH then there is marketing.
It stinks
like reallly really stinks

 

[Feralpeg]

Just did a reading at my daughters school one of the stories from my first book. It went really well. Both classes that I read to loved it. I had shopped it around origianlly to agents and people I knew. They all asked me who I wrote it for. I put it on th back burner to write the other book which was much more directed to an audiance. It went over so well today that actually a couple of the 5th graders asked me where they could buy it. I think I am taking it off the back burner now.

Does anyone know any illustrators. I am hoping to find one who would work with my daughter. I had orriginally planned for the book to be illustrated by three people as there are three stories being told by two brothers and a sister.

You might look at the SCBWI (Society for Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators). I went to their conference in Miami a couple of years ago. I met a bunch of illustrators there. I will tell you that they charge a lot for their work.

There are some self-publishers that will provide illustrators for your work as part of their publishing package. Again, it isn't cheap. I looked into it and it would have been about $3000 to have one of my books illustrated and published. They do the cover art and obtain an ISBN for your book as part of the fee. They also make sure it is available on Amazon.

I am currently waiting for MeeGenius to assign the illustrator for my book. They assign the illustrator based on the style of the story. I can't wait to see my story illustrated! They will be having another author's challenge this year in case you're interested. Even if you don't win, there is a chance that they will decide to publish your work. That's what happened to me.

Good luck with your stories!

 

[Ginny Favers]

For those interested in self-publishing, keep in mind that it's the new "thing"-- seems like everyone and their mother is doing it, so it's getting harder and harder to stand out and be a success. For every self-publishing success, there are thousands failures. This blog post illustrates the issue with it (Warning: profanity): http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/12/12/the-precarious-portentious-perils-of-self-publishing/

The main problem everyone seems to have with traditional publishing is that it takes so long to get there. In these days of immediate-gratification, nobody wants to wait for something that they believe might never happen for them. But writing takes revision, practice, learning your craft... all things that DO take time and discipline. Whatever choice you make, do not rush. Involve critique partners, go to conferences, hire an outside editor who knows the business, go through as many drafts as it needs. Make your work is the best it can be.

And do not discount traditional publishing just because everyone says it is impossible. They said that to me. I still tried, and learned that it wasn't nearly as impossible as everyone wanted me to believe. The people who say it is impossible are the people who have given up. Like they say, the differerence between a published writer and an unpublished one is not talent... it's perserverance. Believe in yourself and your work, and don't quit.

 

[surfergirl602]

For those interested in self-publishing, keep in mind that it's the new "thing"-- seems like everyone and their mother is doing it, so it's getting harder and harder to stand out and be a success. For every self-publishing success, there are thousands failures. This blog post illustrates the issue with it (Warning: profanity): http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/12/12/the-precarious-portentious-perils-of-self-publishing/

The main problem everyone seems to have with traditional publishing is that it takes so long to get there. In these days of immediate-gratification, nobody wants to wait for something that they believe might never happen for them. But writing takes revision, practice, learning your craft... all things that DO take time and discipline. Whatever choice you make, do not rush. Involve critique partners, go to conferences, hire an outside editor who knows the business, go through as many drafts as it needs. Make your work is the best it can be.

And do not discount traditional publishing just because everyone says it is impossible. They said that to me. I still tried, and learned that it wasn't nearly as impossible as everyone wanted me to believe. The people who say it is impossible are the people who have given up. Like they say, the differerence between a published writer and an unpublished one is not talent... it's perserverance. Believe in yourself and your work, and don't quit.

No way as impossible as people make it out to be. I'm working on my third book right now!!!

 

[Feralpeg]

For those interested in self-publishing, keep in mind that it's the new "thing"-- seems like everyone and their mother is doing it, so it's getting harder and harder to stand out and be a success. For every self-publishing success, there are thousands failures. This blog post illustrates the issue with it (Warning: profanity): http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/12/12/the-precarious-portentious-perils-of-self-publishing/

The main problem everyone seems to have with traditional publishing is that it takes so long to get there. In these days of immediate-gratification, nobody wants to wait for something that they believe might never happen for them. But writing takes revision, practice, learning your craft... all things that DO take time and discipline. Whatever choice you make, do not rush. Involve critique partners, go to conferences, hire an outside editor who knows the business, go through as many drafts as it needs. Make your work is the best it can be.

And do not discount traditional publishing just because everyone says it is impossible. They said that to me. I still tried, and learned that it wasn't nearly as impossible as everyone wanted me to believe. The people who say it is impossible are the people who have given up. Like they say, the differerence between a published writer and an unpublished one is not talent... it's perserverance. Believe in yourself and your work, and don't quit.

Ginny, you are so right. I looked into self-publishing, but decided it wasn't right for me. It bothered me that no brick and mortar book store would be willing to stock my work if I self-published. Like it or not, the publishing world looks down on self-published authors. To some extent, I agree with this. Anyone with enough money can self-publish. That doesn't mean that what they publish is any good. Stores like Barnes & Noble want to keep the quality of the books they stock to a certain level. Their clients expect it. They could not do that with self-published work, because there is nothing to ensure that it has been edited or that it is any good.

The most frustrating part of trying to get published is to get someone to even look at your work. I sent one of my stories out many times and got very quick rejects. This told me that they, probably, didn't bother to even read my work. It took entering my story in a contest to get an editor to read it. I didn't come close to winning the contest, but the company wants to publish it.

I'm hoping that once they know your work, it gets easier to get read. We'll see. I won't be going the self-publish route unless it changes a great deal.

 

[Ginny Favers]

I do think that word-of-mouth is ultimately what makes a writer's career. I've had books with phenomenal reviews, with ads in the major teen magazines and features in Entertainment Weekly, and yet those books haven't done nearly as well as my first book, which had a great show of enthusiasm by readers (even though it got terrible reviews!).

This is true for traditionally published and self-published authors. In my genre, the YA market is so crowded that bookstores don't even stock YA books from MAJOR publishers. They don't have the room! And the books they do stock, it might only be for 30 days! And even the major publishers don't allocate marketing $ to all their books, only their lead titles. So just getting out there so you CAN build word-of-mouth buzz is becoming more and more difficult. I've found that keeping good relationships with book bloggers, librarians, and indie bookstore owners has been helpful, but it takes a lot of work.

So the trick is finding a way to successfuly divide your time between marketing yourself and writing what will (hopefully) be your breakout book.

 

[Ginny Favers]

Just wondering if any writers are alive out there? How are you all doing?

I am in a bit of a funk with my new manuscript. I have a great story idea but can't decide the best way to tell it!

Also I am crazy busy with little annoyances... I have that college speaking engagement coming up, just got copy edits (and the cover comp-- so AWESOME!) for my 5th book, and I agreed to judge and critique 10 novel openings for my local writer's group. All of this should be done with by next week. Then I hope to get back to my writing.

What is new with all of you?

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I am about to release the paperback through Createspace, just doing some final edits. Also, dusted off my origianl work, added a little and I am about to put it on Kndle with the Kindle Select program.
It's a weird piece with two brother and their sister telling campfire stories. The youngest brother is scared of the dark and he is starting to freak out as the campfire gets dimmer. The stories are kinda like Twilight Zone episodes.

Also just finished a play, I jut don't know what to do with it.

How long you been in the funk? I actually am pumped at finishing the play, and am getting excited about writing a sequel to both of the books I have written.

Are you debating 1st third person or just style?
I do not think I could ever write in anything but third person.

 

[Desnik]

Just wondering if any writers are alive out there? How are you all doing?

I am in a bit of a funk with my new manuscript. I have a great story idea but can't decide the best way to tell it!

Also I am crazy busy with little annoyances... I have that college speaking engagement coming up, just got copy edits (and the cover comp-- so AWESOME!) for my 5th book, and I agreed to judge and critique 10 novel openings for my local writer's group. All of this should be done with by next week. Then I hope to get back to my writing.

What is new with all of you?

I'm here!
I have been busy with a rewrite of my MS. This time it's in 1st person past POV & it's working out great! I'm actually really happy with it! There are 25 chapters and I am currently working on chapter 22 so not much longer to go! I'm really excited about this MS! I also have outlines for 2 more books with different characters in the same "world" my current MS is based on.

So any advice on what to do with it when I'm done? I want to try & have it published the traditional way but what do I need to do before sending it out?

 

[Ginny Favers]

Wow talking about making great progress, you two!

I am about to release the paperback through Createspace, just doing some final edits. Also, dusted off my origianl work, added a little and I am about to put it on Kndle with the Kindle Select program.
It's a weird piece with two brother and their sister telling campfire stories. The youngest brother is scared of the dark and he is starting to freak out as the campfire gets dimmer. The stories are kinda like Twilight Zone episodes.

That sounds really good. I love Twilight Zone! Let us know when it is up! I'd love to get it.

How long you been in the funk? Are you debating 1st third person or just style?
I do not think I could ever write in anything but third person.

For awhile now, unfortunately. I started working full-time recently and thought I'd be writing on my lunch break, but nothing is really grabbing me enough to open up the darn document and start writing. Now I've made it halfway, I got the great idea... but yeah...it's kind of epic and I'm trying to figure out how to best tell it. If it were YA, I'd go with first-person because that's pretty much the norm in YA. But if I made it for younger audiences, I could do 3rd person. And I kind of do want to write something younger, since my daughter keeps asking to read things that I wrote!

I'm here!
I have been busy with a rewrite of my MS. This time it's in 1st person past POV & it's working out great! I'm actually really happy with it! There are 25 chapters and I am currently working on chapter 22 so not much longer to go! I'm really excited about this MS! I also have outlines for 2 more books with different characters in the same "world" my current MS is based on.

So any advice on what to do with it when I'm done? I want to try & have it published the traditional way but what do I need to do before sending it out?

Congrats! I am so happy you're moving forward and excited about it!! You don't have much further to go!

My advice is to revise the heck out of it. Do you have crit partners or beta readers? Once you think you've revised enough (ok, who am I kidding, I NEVER feel like I revised enough), start querying agents. I recommend agentquery.com and querytracker.net to find a list of agents. Make a list of the agents you think would be best for the manuscript, and I would send out a query to 10 at a time. Every time you get a rejection in, pay attention to the responses. If you hear the same thing often, you may want to revise... and then keep sending out. You're bound to get lots of rejection, but keep in mind that's a normal part of this business and does not mean there is anything wrong with you or your manuscript. We are writers, we are very sensitive souls, so many of us discourage easily and give up too soon... don't be one of those people!

 

[bevgray]

Another independent writer here. BLACK KNIGHTS OF THE HUDSON takes the fictional MacKendrick family from 1860 through World War II. The first five books in the series (1860 - 1917) are now available at Smashwords.com and most eBook retailers (Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, Apple IBook store, etc.). The series may appeal to those who enjoy historical fiction, family saga, and military fiction.

BLACK KNIGHTS OF THE HUDSON BOOK I: SHADOW OF THE FLAGS is free at all sites. For more information, just check my website on my profile or PM me (I know the DIS prefers us not to post self-promotion links so I'll respect that).

For those interested in self-publishing their books in eBook format, Smashwords.com is an excellent place to start (also a good place to find eBooks to read). There is no charge to publish and they distribute to most of the major eBook retailers (it's a good idea to upload separately to the Amazon Kindle store, however, and there is no charge for that either).

I do caution those who take this step to keep your expectations within reasonable limits. While there have been some spectacular success stories for independent writers recently, it is not the usual result. The greatest benefit is that writers can keep their work available indefinitely instead of fighting for shelf space in a book store. This gives a writer a chance to build up a readership and for the old word of mouth process to help get the work noticed. It also enables readers to find stories that might not otherwise see the light of day due to a lack of general interest or commercial appeal. As an independent, a writer can take a risk on his or her work that a publisher might not be able to afford if the story is in a niche or about a subject that won't garner broad interest.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Wow talking about making great progress, you two!



For awhile now, unfortunately. I started working full-time recently and thought I'd be writing on my lunch break, but nothing is really grabbing me enough to open up the darn document and start writing. Now I've made it halfway, I got the great idea... but yeah...it's kind of epic and I'm trying to figure out how to best tell it. If it were YA, I'd go with first-person because that's pretty much the norm in YA. But if I made it for younger audiences, I could do 3rd person. And I kind of do want to write something younger, since my daughter keeps asking to read things that I wrote!

!

I write at lunch often, you have to change your approach, or at least I did. Going to work and all the morning in free mental time, I would really nail down lines in my head or really get the sceene down and now what I wanted to do. If not you get about two words done and and maybe edit one prior sentance, and just by the time you fiinally are in gear its about time to go back to work.

Do you really feel 1st person is the way to go in YA? everything I do is third person, I just had a book club at work read it and they really liked it, but most of the people I have feedback from are adults. Is third person not liked by YA audiances.

 

[Ginny Favers]

do caution those who take this step to keep your expectations within reasonable limits. While there have been some spectacular success stories for independent writers recently, it is not the usual result.

Congratulations on your publication! You are right about that. It's the unfortunate consequence of there being so many self-published books out there and no real, trusted gatekeeper (as traditional publishing has) to weed out the good books. While I've found some great ones (after much struggle), I've also found more than one self-published book with numerous glowing reviews to be amateurish and full of grammatical errors. At least with traditional publication, you know that the work has been reviewed by many eyes and that the writer has jumped through many hoops to get there. So while self-publishing can be a great alternative to traditional publishing, it does have its pitfalls.

I write at lunch often, you have to change your approach, or at least I did. Going to work and all the morning in free mental time, I would really nail down lines in my head or really get the sceene down and now what I wanted to do. If not you get about two words done and and maybe edit one prior sentance, and just by the time you fiinally are in gear its about time to go back to work.

Do you really feel 1st person is the way to go in YA? everything I do is third person, I just had a book club at work read it and they really liked it, but most of the people I have feedback from are adults. Is third person not liked by YA audiances.

I think you're right! I used to do that when I was home with the kids-- I'd be doing whatever menial task I had going on, all the while nailing down my next scene in my head so I wouldn't sit down during the free time I had and be blank. I need to do that again!!

The reason most YA (probably 85%!) is in first person, so I hear, is that it closes the distance between the narrator and the reader, and makes a reader feel very intimate with the narrator. Teen readers respond to an interesting voice, and you can only show your main character's voice if you choose 1st person (in 3rd you are essentially showing YOUR voice). Additionally the main character usually grows or changes during the course of the novel, so it's easier to show that change if you are inside the character's mind. Teen readers also like a sense of immediacy and living in the moment, which is why a lot of books are in present tense. Of course, there are 3rd person YA books, and it really depends on the story you are telling... 3rd person could work just fine... I recommend experimenting with different ways of telling the story, which is what I am trying to do now!

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Bevgray

I just just set Cenetery Girsl price to $0.99 to try to pump up sales. I thought that was the cheapest I was able to sell it on Amazon without being in Kindle Select. I saw one of your books for free. Is it in Kindle Select or can you have a book for free on Amazon without being in Select program.