Do The Work

by Iola Goulton @iolagoulton

I recently attended a local Christian women's conference, One Heart. We had a variety of speakers and testimonies over two days speaking on an aspect of the conference theme: Faith, Freedom, Fullness.

The first speaker introduced the theme of faith, talking about how we often treat faith as a noun, a thing. But we need to turn faith into a verb—we need to be doing it, not just talking about it. But doing it isn't always easy.

She quoted the chorus of a famous song by Queen: I want it all ... and I want it now.

That's the way many of us live our lives.

But it's not what the Bible says. The Bible talks about pushing on. Pressing in. Staying faithful. Pressing through when God seems to be silent. Carrying on when everything is against us. As the speaker pointed out, remaining faithful to God in difficult circumstances takes faith and courage.

But faith without works is dead. We need faith. But we also have to do the work. Paul talks about this:

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Hebrews 10:36 (NIV)

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV)

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

2 Timothy 4:7 (NIV)

I'm sure you've heard a sermon or speaker making a similar point.

As I listened, it struck me that many of us have the Queen approach to life. We want it all. We want it now. We want the prize without fighting the good fight, without running the race.

We want it all in our professional lives. 

We want to have a successful career without doing the work. Without getting the education, putting in the hours, making the mistakes.

We want it all in our personal lives. 

We want to have lost twenty kilos without doing the work. Without eating less, without exercising more, without watching our family eat ice cream and cake while we eat celery and kale. We want to have run a marathon without doing the work. Without putting in the miles, without training, without blisters, without pain. We want to have climbed that mountain without putting one foot in front of the other, step by painful step.

We want it all. And we want it now.

The same holds true with our writing. We want to be amazing award-winning writers without putting in the hours. We have the same approach to our author platform. We want it all. We want it now.

That's not gonna happen. You're going to have to do the work. It's biblical.

But it is doable. In the same way as losing weight or running a marathon is doable. It's not easy, but it is doable.

We have to have faith that our writing and publishing is part of God's plan for our lives (Jer 29:11). That we're acting in obedience (1 Thess 4:11). That our eyes are on Him, not ourselves. That we're building a platform to share God's truth the way He would have us share it.

That's going to look different for everyone, but I believe the main principle is that we must give, not take. Serve others, not ourselves.

We need to have faith, but we also need to do the work. To press in. Daily. To build a platform that gives without thinking about the reward.

Robert Schuller said:

Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation.

Building your author platform is that unspectacular preparation. As the organiser of the One Heart conference said:

God has given you a gift, but he's not giving it to you on a plate. You still have to do the hard work.

(And anyone who tells you building an author platform is easy is probably trying to sell you 1,000 fake Twitter followers for just $10).

But you don't have to do the hard work alone. 

You have to do the work, but work in a community. Sportspeople join clubs and work with coaches. Dieters can join Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers. Business people have mentors.

Writers have communities as well.

(Like American Christian Fiction Writers and International Christian Fiction Writers.)

Writers can learn writing craft from books, from blogs, from critique partners. We can join writing organisations, enter contests, find critique partners. But there is more to writing than just writing, and that's where many writers come unstuck—with platform building, publishing, promotion, and other marketing tasks.

That's why a lot of my blog posts are about marketing. 

Most writers find it the hardest part of the whole writing business. I suspect that's because marketing "rules" are even more of guidelines than the "rules" of writing.

It's also why I developed the Kick-Start Your Author Platform Marketing Challenge. For those authors who don't have a background in business or marketing, it can be hard to know where to start, and hard to work out what the rules are.

So if you're in the process of building your platform and are finding it hard work, don't worry. That's normal. This is your time of unspectacular preparation. There are communities around to help you.

And if you have no idea how to even start building your author platform, don't worry. Check out my Kick-Start Your Author Platform Marketing Challenge and see if that's an approach that would work for you.

Then do the work.

About Iola Goulton

Iola Goulton is a New Zealand book reviewer, freelance editor, and author, writing contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist. She is a member of the Sisterhood of Unpronounceable Names (Iola is pronounced yo-la, not eye-ola and definitely not Lola).

Iola holds a degree in marketing, has a background in human resource consulting, works as a freelance editor, and has recently introduced an Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

Lessons from the five things spammers do wrong

I hate spam.

Not the faux-meat shaped like dog food, but the unwanted rubbish that appears in my email inbox every morning. The type of communication that leaves me disappointed that of the 100 emails I’ve got waiting for me, only three are actually real people with something for me.

I’ve noticed how much it’s infiltrating social media as well. The whole “fake news” movement means that we are becoming jaded to social media posts in our own feed, which is reinforced every time we see “Such cute dogs – Number #7 will melt your heart” or “You won’t believe Back to the Future was released 32 years ago.” (I would actually, I was there when it first screened).

I’ve studied spammers as a part of my day job: I write social media strategies and content for clients, and decided to get my head around what spammers do, and what impact it has.   By spammers, I don’t necessarily just mean those people who sit in a sweaty internet café in the Ukraine or Togo looking to steal your bank details, but those companies (legit or not) who end up flooding your inbox with stuff you don’t want.

That’s what defines spam. It’s not the fact that the communication is illegal or dodgy. Spam defines communication that is unwanted and irrelevant.

As I’ve moved into fiction writing, I’ve seen authors make those same mistakes (and I’ve even been tempted by a few myself).

Clearly we don’t want to be spammers, putting people off from engaging with us in the social media space, or when our eNewsletter arrives, so what can we learn from them?  Well, we can learn from the five things they do wrong. And I offer them to you as filters through which you can put your own newsletters, social media content and web sites.

1.    An overfamiliarity with me

We’ve all gotten that spam email. The one that reads like it’s come from a long-lost friend, despite the fact that you’ve got no idea who the sender is.  This type of email sounds like this:

“Hey David! Great to see you doing so well in business!  But I’m sure you’d love to do so much better, so lucky for you that I’ve got the product that will deliver exactly what you need!”

This is how I respond to this as I read it …

“Hey David! (Um, who are you?) Great to see you doing so well in business!  (How would you know?) But I’m sure you’d love to do so much better (I don't actually), so lucky for you (I don’t believe in luck when it comes to business) that I’ve got the product that will deliver exactly what you need (How on earth would you know exactly what I need?)!”

Do you know what that company was offering in that email? I don’t know. I stopped reading, and I enjoyed shunting their email to the Trash folder. Probably a little too much to be honest.

So what’s the lesson for authors? Presume nothing and don’t be too over-personal unless you’ve earned the right first. Learn about your audience first, THEN deliver something for them. Learn what they read, what they like, what they respond to and what puts them off. Then use THAT as a base for your connection with them.

2.    Expecting way too much, way too soon

I get the emails that are heavy on the sales pitch FROM DAY ONE.  It doesn’t work.  This is what that email looks like:

“As an introductory offer, we will give you 20% off, but only if you respond in the next 14 minutes …”

Sorry, but I don’t care about 20% off if it turns out that it will be a 100% waste of money.  I need time to research that. So that manufactured rush to get me to respond actually is counter-productive, because now I want to know why there’s such a hurry to push me into a sale.

As authors, we can’t expect everyone to read our elevator pitch and then buy our book. That process takes time for most people. They want to experience our ability, read some excerpts or be impressed with some recommendations. Then they'll weigh up whether or not we're worth it.

Lesson for authors: a small percentage of your audience will buy after the first interaction. Cater for the majority, who want to know more. Much more. And understand that your communication isn’t supposed to open and close a transaction in one hit. It’s supposed to add another brick to the wall.

3.    Being a salesperson first and foremost

I subscribe to a few eNewsletters, and will pretty much give anything a try in this field, although I am pretty ruthless when it comes to which ones I delete.

The ones I flick have one thing in common – they’re all thinly-disguised sales pitches. When I engage with an organization or an individual, and my expectation is that they’ll be providing me with advice, ideas, challenges or information that I can absorb – and they then do nothing but sell me stuff - I’m outta there.

I know some authors who constantly post that their book is available on Amazon all the time.  In the end I mentally switch off from anything they post, and that costs them the important bridge that social media is supposed to build. That's the case for many customers. They don't just stop reading the sales-related content. They stop reading everything.

Lesson for authors: Build bridges, then apply a toll. Resist the urge to sell, sell, sell ALL THE TIME.  There is nothing wrong with selling, but you need to have people’s trust, respect and interest before they’ll accept your sales pitch.

4.    Firing off a million emails, hoping to make one hit

You might have received those emails that look like they went to a million people, but still have a quasi-personal message about them.

This is what that looks like: “Hey customer, we all want to do better in life, regardless of what we want to achieve. Our product will do everything you need it to do, in a way that will really make your life turn around!”

Okay, so here’s my problem with this: in trying to be vague enough to reach everyone, they end up hitting no-one. When you’re online, you really need to target who you are speaking to (regardless of whether it’s a blog post, social media post or even web page).  And calling me customer instantly devalues all the other faux-personal style of the rest of the email or post. I know it's not for me.

If you’re an author, you need to speak more personally to people. It might be harder work, but it’s worth it. (And if you're wondering how this works with #1, the key to it is finding that happy medium. I'm happy to receive your eNewsletter if it says "Dear David", but not "Hey Dave ol' buddy, ol' pal".

Lesson for authors: if you’ve got a range of different groups following you (writers, readers, Christian friends and contacts and schoolteachers [for example]), then write four posts – one targeted to each group. It’s four times the work, granted, but it’s also the best way to engage with people – at their level.  One post that tries to reach everyone just doesn’t engage with people.

5.    Tell a story as if I’ve got the time to read it

I used to follow a real estate company because I liked what they had to say. In bite-sized chunks of information, they’d talk about what was happening in property and zeroed it on what I was interested in. I could digest it all in minutes, and feel informed enough to move on with my day. For deeper stuff, I could always follow their links to information that was a lot more detailed.

Then someone else took over, and everything changed.  Suddenly their posts and their articles took on a longer feel, and the writer (the new boss) felt that they needed to qualify everything first. That meant they were talking about themselves for paragraphs, before getting to what I was interested in in the last paragraph (sometimes this also went for Facebook posts).

I lasted a week.

You see, I haven’t got a heap of time to invest in reading this material. And I don’t want to waste time on information that doesn’t engage with me. So I don't read.

One thing I’ve found in business is that perfectly sums up the usual social media user. We all want to know what’s in it for us in the first five words. Not invest five minutes reading some waffle until the writer eventually gets to the point.

That’s the last thing authors can learn from: get to the point. You’ve got a handful of words to connect with your audience, so use them.

Lesson for authors: start every post with a statement that connects with your audience. Talk in their language, framing what you’ve got to say in the best way possible so a reader can digest it according to what they want. Don’t give them the history of the genre, give them the reason to read your book. Don’t go on and on about the fact you’ve got a newsletter – tell them why they’d subscribe. Start with a line that grabs their attention because it's got them in mind.

So that’s how my professional expertise informs how I connect with readers (and I’m still learning and tinkering).

What is your biggest frustration with spam, and what can you learn from it?

Building an Author Platform to Connect Readers and Writers

By Iola Goulton | @IolaGoulton

Connecting readers and writers around the world. That's the International Christian Fiction Writers tagline. Our mission, if you prefer.

The contributors to International Christian Fiction Writers are all Christians. We live over the world, so we're definitely international. We're all writers, but we don't all write fiction. Some write non-fiction: book reviews, devotionals, articles, blog posts, books.

More important, we're all readers. I think it's fair to say we're all fiction readers, and we love novels with international settings. For some of us (like me), Hometown, USA is an international setting. For most of you, my home—New Zealand—is an international setting.

Contributing to a blog like this is one way of connecting with current and potential readers. It's part of our author platform. If you're a writer looking to get published, that's probably a term you've heard before. If you're a fiction fan, it might be new to you.

What is an author platform?

An author platform is any means by which authors connect with readers and sell books. An author platform typically includes:

• A website (which may or may not include a blog)
• Social media (especially Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter)

A platform may also include:

• An email list
• Contributing to group blogs (like ICFW or ACW or Inspy Romance or Suspense Sisters)

While an author platform is important for traditionally published authors, it's vital for self-published authors. Self-published authors don't have the marketing power or distribution networks of the big traditional publishers, which means there is no one to help. Self-published authors have to connect with readers and sell their books themselves.

And that's where having an author platform is important for authors.

A good author platform will achieve three aims:

1. Attract potential customers
2. Engage with potential customers
3. Convert potential customers into actual customers

Platform is not about selling—at least, it shouldn't be. 

It's about connecting and engaging. (The readers among you will be breathing a sigh of relief at that! Who wants to be sold to?)

I hear three common questions from writers about building an author platform:

1. When should I start building my platform?
2. What is considered a "good" platform?
3. How do I build my platform?

Let's look at each question in turn.

1. When should I start building my platform?

It's like planting a tree: the best time was twenty years ago. The second-best time is today. My view is authors should start building their platform as soon as they decide they are serious about writing and want to publish.

This is especially true for Christians, who are often writing as a ministry rather than as a profession. Building an author platform is a low-cost way of spreading the message God has given us. We don't need to publish the next Christian bestseller for our writing to be used by God. It could be enough to start a blog.

2. What is considered a "good" platform?

That depends on who you are asking. Some people look purely at numbers, but having 10,000 people on an email list that no one opens isn't as good as an email list of 1,000 (or even 100) if those people are connected, engaged, and ready to buy.

There is no straight answer. My best answer is that a "good" platform is one that helps you achieve your writing, publishing, and marketing objectives.

3. How do I build my platform?

This is the hardest question. Google "how to build an author platform" and you'll get thousands of answers. Some advice is free, some will cost you hundreds of dollars. A lot of the information assumes you already have a website,social media accounts,and that magic 10,000 people on your email list.

Very little information is aimed at the new writer who has nothing and doesn't know where to start.

That's why I developed my March Marketing Challenge: Kick-Start Your Author Platform.

It's a 40-day email challenge that takes participants through:

• The Marketing Mix
• What is Brand?
• Know Your Genre
• Know Your Target Reader
• Design Your Visual Brand: fonts, colours, author photo, website logo
• Create and Brand Social Media: Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest
• Create a Social Media Plan
• To Blog or Not to Blog?
• Create a Mailing List
• Website setup, configuration, design, and content

The Kick-Start Your Author Platform Challenge could be for you ...

• If you know you need to start building your author platform but have no idea where to start.
• If you have a blog and a couple of social media accounts but don't know what to do next. 
• If you have a website, but aren't sure if you're on the right track.

Each weekday will have an email explaining some aspect of building a platform, and up to three tasks. Some tasks are quick and easy, while others are ... less quick. Saturday will be a catch-up day, and Sunday is a day of rest and contemplation.

There is also a private Facebook group where participants can ask questions, share their successes, and encourage each other.

If you'd like to find out more, visit www.christianediting.co.nz/kick-start and sign up. We're starting on Monday 5 March!

About Iola Goulton

Iola Goulton is a New Zealand book reviewer, freelance editor, and author, writing contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist. She is a member of the Sisterhood of Unpronounceable Names (Iola is pronounced yo-la, not eye-ola and definitely not Lola).

Iola holds a degree in marketing, has a background in human resource consulting, and currently works as a freelance editor. When she’s not working, Iola is usually reading or writing her next book review. Iola lives in the beautiful Bay of Plenty in New Zealand (not far from Hobbiton) with her husband, two teenagers and one cat. She is currently working on her first novel.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

One Year Published!

By Carolyn Miller @CarolynMAuthor 

Today marks one year since the publication of my first Regency novel, The Elusive Miss Ellison. Yay! (Since then I’ve also seen my second and third Regency novels release – double yay!!) For today’s Bookish Tuesday post I hope you’ll indulge me as I reflect on some of what I’ve learned over the past year of being a published author.

1. One story is never enough.

It's such a special feeling to receive feedback from readers, especially when they are wanting to know more about a favourite character. Readers love interconnected stories and finding out what happened next, and writing a series can be a great way to feed the reader’s need. The Elusive Miss Ellison released as the first in the Regency Brides: Legacy of Grace series (with The Captivating Lady Charlotte and The Dishonorable Miss DeLancey releasing in June and October of last year). I’d written TEME back in 2014, and thought it would work as a standalone, then wrote a couple of other Regency stories, all before any publishers had seen anything.

I’ll be forever grateful to Narelle Atkins for her talk at the Omega Writer’s Conference in Melbourne 2015 when she talked about the benefit of writing a series. Until Narelle’s workshop, I hadn’t thought about how to link these stories, but then I went home, wrote a NaNo project, and saw how the story world and ideas flowed so naturally from my previously written book that I knew it could be done. 2016 saw the writing of the second and third books of this first series – which would have been a lot easier if I’d written it straight after finishing TEME! – while 2017 saw the writing of the third book in my new series, which begins next month with the release of the first in the new Regency Brides: Promise of Hope series, Winning Miss Winthrop on March 27.

Moral of the story: keep your story world alive and write the next one!

2. Work, Rest and Play

I’ve had to learn to treat my days as work – no more lounging on the
couch for me! As my husband says, I’m a small business operator, so my time at work is important. I have four children, so when they’re at school it’s writing (or editing, or marketing) time; if I didn’t, then I’d stress out (even more!). And while this past year has been a steep learning curve, I’ve also learned that it’s important to balance out the grind of writing and editing with taking time to relax, and to be there for my kids, and to actually focus on my husband (instead of thinking about my next storyline), and occasionally even hang out with my friends!

Moral of the story: work hard, but not at the expense of that which is dear to you.

3. Marketing is Key

I don’t pretend to know much about marketing, so last year’s marketing challenge run by Iola Goulton was an eye-opener. I’m thankful to be an Aussie writer in today’s online world, especially when my target market is half a world away, but the sheer breadth of marketing strategies can seem overwhelming. I've had to limit myself to a few social media avenues, tempting as it is to want to try more. I’m constantly learning, and tweaking, and learning from my mistakes to ensure my hard work in writing my books can be seen by readers who will enjoy it.

Moral of the story: there’s always more to learn with marketing!

So there you have it. Three (of the many) things I’ve learned in this last year since being published. Now, I’m off to celebrate!

Do you have things you wished you could tell your newly (or pre-) published self?

About Carolyn Miller:

Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. Together with her husband she has pastored a church for ten years, and worked part-time as a public high school English and Learning and Support teacher. A longtime lover of romance, especially that of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer’s Regency era, Carolyn holds a BA in English Literature, and loves drawing readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives.

 Connect with her: website | facebook | pinterest  | twitter

The Fine Line Between a Brilliant Idea and ...

By Iola Goulton

I am currently in the midst of executing an idea which could be brilliant—or not.

A little context …

I had a bunch of projects on my 2017 to-do list:

• Edit my short novel and enter the Genesis Award.
• Write the companion novella that’s going to be my opt-in bribe.
• Write the next three books in the series—the ones that come before the novella I’ve already finished (which won the 2016 Genesis Award for novellas).
• Edit and publish the book about deciding on the best path to publishing for your novel.
• Finish, edit, and publish the book on getting reviews for your novel.
• Finish, edit and publish the three (three?) other non-fiction books kicking around in my head.
• Investigate online training courses and write one on a specific writing topic.

All this around the usual business of blogging, freelance editing, and occasional human resource consulting. And speaking at a couple of conferences. And participating a local writing group. And regularly meeting up with a couple of writer friends for accountability. You know. The normal.

And then that still small voice arrived.

You know the voice. I’m sure you’ve heard it yourself. The voice said February was for developing an online email course encouraging pre-published authors to start building their author platform.

There was even some cute alliteration to go with it: March Marketing Challenge (hey, there’s nothing like a deadline!).

No matter that this wasn’t on my list. In my plan. But it was what I needed to do.

So, in what was either a moment of brilliance or a moment of stupidity, I set up a new mailing list, designed a basic graphic, and started telling people I was hosting a March Marketing Challenge: Kick-Start Your Author Platform.

Nothing like a deadline to get me motivated. I do my best work as deadlines stare me in the face (it’s that or watch them go whooshing by. Thanks, Douglas Adams).

And people started signing up. Not many, by Nick Stephenson standards. But a lot, by Iola Goulton standards. Like, more than just my two best friends. Although they did sign up (thanks, Cat and Narelle!).

So I started writing.

I used two models in creating my challenge: Natalie Lussier’s free 30-Day List Building Challenge (click here to sign up), and BadRedHead Media’s 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge (click here to win a copy—Amazon.com and Amazon.com.au customers only. Sorry).

Natalie Lussier’s Challenge is delivered through 30 short videos, each about three minutes long. BadRedHead Media’s challenge was delivered through 30 short emails, each about 500 words long (it’s now an ebook).

There was no way I was doing videos. But I could write 500 words a day for 31 days. Yes, I could do this.

Except …

If you’ve read any of my blog posts, you’ll know that keeping to 500 words is impossible (unless it’s a book review. Even then, it’s a challenge).

So after three weeks of writing, I’ve got a scary 25,000 unedited words in Scrivener. And eight days left to write. And eight days until the Challenge officially begins.

Oops.

This is bigger than me.

I’m not the expert (and the idea that anyone might think I am petrifies me). I don’t know it all—but I know where to look (Google), and who to ask (who knows the emoji for a cute up arrow?)

I’m out of my depth. I have no idea where this is going. Whether it’s any good. Where it needs to go.

And, as I write this, I know again that out of my depth is I’m exactly where I need to be. Exactly where He planned for me to be. Because He has authors out there who need this kind of prompt, this kind of kick-start. And apparently, I’m the person chosen to deliver it.

So please pray for me. And if you’re interested in a free one-month challenge to kick-start building your author platform, click here to sign up and join me on the journey.

By Iola Goulton

About Iola Goulton

I am a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction. Visit my website at www.christianediting.co.nz to download a comprehensive list of publishers of Christian fiction. 

I also write contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist—find out more atwww.iolagoulton.com.

You can also find me on:
Facebook (Author)
Facebook (Editing)
Instagram
Pinterest
Twitter

The Various Hats of an Indie Author

We all go through life wearing assorted hats: child, student, employee, spouse, parent, cook, dog-walker… you name it. On. Off. On. Off. Sometimes a hat gets tossed and a new one takes its place, but there are always multiple hats.

1. The Creative Hat
Writers tend to love the “creative” hat. The one that lets our imaginations roam wild and free in whatever genre or style that calls us. If all you want to do is write, I implore you to embrace your creative hat. Follow Alice down the rabbit hole. Soar away with Peter Pan, and enjoy your travels.

At some point, many writers get a niggling little thought. “Hey, this is so much fun, and other people are making some money from their writing. I wonder if I could do that, too?”

Let me introduce you to your new hat collection!

2. The Business Hat
When you decide to become an author – someone who gets paid to write – you don this hat. Yes, you’ll wear it at times whether seeking traditional or independent publication. No writer who wants to be paid can leave this hat on its hook, gathering dust.

Sure, you’re a creative. I get that. But once the creative glory is over, that manuscript becomes a product. Treating writing as a business means making objective decisions about that product’s worth, creating a business plan, and setting goals. It means analyzing how many books you can write in a year, which titles they will be, and how they will fit together. What your author brand is, and how you will establish it.

The business hat requires learning to track income and expenses, even though we creatives tend to be allergic to numbers. It means embracing technology, rolling up our sleeves, and tackling each learning curve, one after the other, with a can-do attitude.

Yes, the lightning bolt of success can strike anywhere, but it favors the prepared.

3. The Publishing Hat
As an indie author with a can-do attitude, you’ll navigate the various publishing choices, analyze the pros and cons, and determine your own path through them. You’ll decide whether to sell e-books only on Amazon (Kindle Direct Publishing Select has some perks for exclusivity) or also on Nook, Kobo, and iBooks. You’ll determine whether creating paperbacks and/or audiobooks is a good use of your time and resources. With each favorable decision, you’ll create an account and learn what is required to upload your precious manuscript – I mean your product – to this platform. You’ll choose pricing, not by instinct or pride, but by careful study of the market you’re entering.

You may choose to outsource parts of this ‘hat.’ Most indie authors outsource cover creation and editing. I do. Some outsource book formatting as well. I don’t, as I prefer the ability to easily update my files.

Are there many things to learn? Absolutely, but you learn them the same way you eat an elephant: one bite at a time. None of them are difficult when broken down into steps. It just takes time, a positive attitude, and rolled-up sleeves. And possibly caffeine.

4. The Marketing Hat
All authors, indie or traditional, must don this hat, whether it is a comfortable fit or not. I’ve never yet met a plumber who sat quietly in his house without telling anybody what he could do, waiting for phone calls because God knew who needed their pipes fixed. No, Jesus tells us not to ‘hide our light under a basket.’ We shouldn’t pridefully flaunt our work, but realize it is our job to make it possible for those who would be blessed or challenged or entertained by our words to discover them.

I’m not saying God can’t or won't over-rule our meager efforts, but I firmly believe that He has not given us our talents to bury them in the ground out of fear. There is a big difference between being a pushy salesperson and an author who respectfully offers his or her books in response to the needs in peoples’ lives.

So there you have it: the hats of an indie author. Just as each of us has a writing voice all our own, these hats will be personalized, too. Which hats are you wearing? Which fit comfortably, and which have you handed off to someone else? Have I missed a hat we should all wear?

Valerie Comer's life on a small farm in western Canada provides the seed for stories of contemporary inspirational romance. Like many of her characters, Valerie and her family grow much of their own food and are active in the local foods movement as well as their church. She only hopes her creations enjoy their happily-ever-afters as much as she does hers, shared with her husband, adult kids, and adorable granddaughters.

Valerie is a USA Today bestselling author and a two-time Word Award winner. She has been called “a stellar storyteller” as she injects experience laced with humor into her green clean romances. Visit her at ValerieComer.com.

How Ripe are You?

Not in the sense of ever being over-
ripe. Forget that! We writers can go on forever can't we?

When I first began writing a novel - after writing lyrics for songs and scripts for five-minute Christian radio programs- I was bright green.

I had no idea so much help was out there. I just wrote my story. THEN, and only then, I discovered I needed a lot more "how-to's" just to hone the craft. And online courses with ACFW was an eye-opener.

I began to color up to a nice pinkish shade. Then came the advice on how to write a book proposal, plus more guidance on the dreaded marketing side of things. Well, I suppose after I'd worked on these necessary skills I'd ripened to a decent light red.

Now on to cutting scenes not needed and editing unnecessary verbiage.  By now hopefully I'm a nice ripe story-teller of a luscious purple hue. But what's that? I need a big dish called Platform to be acceptable to US publishers? Huh? Doesn't matter how well I sell my books here Down Under, I can't do book signing or take speaking engagements in the US.

Never mind. I gather my ripe berries and cook up a nice pie called INDY PUBLISHING! Sure, it costs at first, but it's working. I choose my covers, my titles, my formatting and my paper.  All my profits go to Christian work in various countries of S.E. Asia to smaller organizations needing help. So I see the Lord's Hand in all this and I am blessed.

These are books I and II of the Victoriana trilogy. As they're identical twins separated at birth from their mother and each other, I needed the same model. Although a stand-alone novel, A Parcel of Promises ties up any loose ends. Roseanna M White designed both covers  and I am delighted with the feedback.

PayPal is a great help and early next year my print books will also be available as e-books.

To find out if they appeal to you, early next year, check   www.ritastellapress.com/read-more

Are there some ripe berries out there wondering how to take the next step toward publishing?

The Fun in the Dream - Book Giveaway

So, I'm living the dream. This time next year my debut novel will be a real thing. Out in the big wide world standing on its own merits (or not). In the last couple of months since it all became public I've been mired in the crazy world of developmental edits and trying to stay in schedule for writing my contracted second book.

Here's the thing about having a contract. You have to show up. Whether you feel inspired or not. Whether you want to or not. Whether the muse is in-house or not. There are some writers who have honed this skill pre-contract. Me, not so much. With two preschoolers, a job and a myriad of other commitments, writing was the nice-to-do hobby. Now it's the other job. 

I'm living the dream. And I absolutely wouldn't have it any other way. But, the truth is, when you've spent three weeks solid wrestling with the same 300+ pages and it feels like you're trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again and failing, it has moments of un-fun.

But then there are the incredible surreal days like March 27. The day that I spent two hours with an amazing photographer, Jenny Siaosi, to take photos for my website and my publisher's promotional material. The day that I sat in a salon and got to tell my hairdresser and make-up artist that I was having photos taken because I was having a book published. And practice my story pitching techniques on my captive audience. The day it started becoming all a bit crazy exciting real.

So, since I'm in marketing research mode, let's talk about author websites. Do you care about them at all? If you do, what do you like? What do you not like? What would you expect to see? I'm about to start designing one from a blank page and am looking for all the suggestions and advice I can get :) All comments with a contact email address go in the draw to win a copy of Then There Was You. (Winner announced in the Sunday Edition)

Kara Isaac lives in Wellington, New Zealand. Her debut romantic comedy, Then There Was You, is about a disillusioned academic-turned-tour-guide and an entrepreneur who knows nothing about Tolkien who fall in love on a Tolkien themed tour of New Zealand. It will be an early 2016 release from Howard Books. When she's not working her day job as a public servant, chasing around a ninja preschooler and his feisty toddler sister, she spends her time writing horribly bad first drafts and wishing you could get Double Stuf Oreos in New Zealand. She loves to connnect on Facebook at Kara Isaac - Writer and Twitter @KaraIsaac

DELIVERING My BABY

I'm a bit past that now, but that's what my

agent said she'd do for me. And believe me, I'm

the one who has experienced all those labor

pains.

I have had a few miscarriages with my manuscripts. I

have come close, but failed at the committee level.

Unlike a baby coming whether ready or not, our little

novel babies require a great deal of perseverance and hard work to actually bring the delivery to pass.

 

The following is not really for published authors, but for those who feel their precious manuscripts are ready to be sent out into the world of traditional publishers.
 

 First that well written query, then if accepted comes the BOOK PROPOSAL which causes most authors to shudder. It's very demanding. In it you must persuade an agent, then a publisher why they should read a

chapter or two of your book.

Here's what I wrote for my novel and maybe you can use it as a guide:
Title:              The Testing of Taylor Jones   Historical Romance with Quest subplot 

Hook:             A venture into the unknown. A step of faith or an incalculable blunder?

Late 1890s: As members of a covert expedition in search of a creature thought extinct, Dr. Garrett Steele, veterinary professor of the New England Museum of Natural History and reporter, Miss Taylor Jones, are thrust to the limits of their courage and endurance in the rugged outback of Australia. He wants to make the find of the century and she wants to write an account that will make her a household name. When betrayed by a rogue team member, danger escalates their passionate clash of personalities into a relationship neither had bargained for. Will each find what they crave, or will they fail the final gut-wrenching challenge?

Then follows a one or two page SYNOPSIS, PROMOTION,  MARKETING and COMPETITION

 

Uniqueness:

v  The fascinating subject of cryptozoology: the study and search for animals thought to be extinct. Many naturalists were involved in this well over a century ago.

v  The huge but elusive Burrunjor has been depicted in cave paintings, rock carvings, and in reports by early Australian colonists. And bones of large carnivores have been located in remote Outback caves. Also the fascinating, mysterious Aboriginal culture.

v  Along with her speleologist brother, Rita has been on a few caving jaunts and these experiences gave her real insight into the feeling of aloneness in the cave depths. 

This is followed by ENDORSEMENTS, CHRISTIAN THEME, INTENDED READERS, and the MANUSCRIPT STATUS - length and whether completed. 

A full AUTHOR BIO, PUBLISHING CREDITS and FUTURE PROJECTS.

I was also urged to get a TWITTER a/c. Would you also like to follow me? @RitaSGalieh

Even at this stage where my agent has given it to her editor contacts, I can only continue praying my novel will eventually find the right publishing home. 

 

    So, as soon as you can, begin working on your Hook and Synopsis for your Book Proposal. It helps by planning ahead.   

 

  *Rita Stella Galieh is a scriptwriter and co-presenter on Vantage Point, a 5 minute program broadcast throughout Australia. She has contributed to several US Anthologies by Adams Media and has two Historical Romances published by Ark House Press. Each year she and her husband minister in Buddhist Government schools, prisons, hospitals & churches in Thailand