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.

The Blessing of Having a Great Critique Group

I joined ACFW March, 2014. Almost immediately, I signed up for Scribes, their large critique group, and started submitting one of my stories. Going from a “loner” writer to this was quite a wakeup call, and I was quickly caught up on a lot of “rules” that seemed to be expected. My manuscript improved, and I started making friends.

Four months later, I was invited to join two smaller critique groups. The choice was put before me, and I am so grateful for the one the Lord helped me make!

Over the next little while "Love Revealed" was chosen as our name and a critique group was formed by Marion Ueckermann, Heidi McCahan, Janet Ferguson, Laura Hodges Poole and myself. At the time three of us had been published and the rest of us were still "slushing" it for the most part.

Marion had her "Passport to Romance" novella, Helsinki Sunrise:

And Heidi debuted with Unraveled:
And Laura had a short story included in an anthology. 
There were other minor publications, but this gives you an idea of where we were at. 

Introductions were made, and we started officially submitting ~4000 words/week to each other. Month after month we submitted, slowly working through everything from full novels to short stories. Over the past two years we have laughed together, patted each-other’s backs, felt each other’s disappointments and joys, and told some great stories. We each have our strengths and weaknesses (like my ability to leave out articles and other small words--honestly I don't understand how it happens!) and have rounded out and deepened each other’s stories.

When signing a couple of contracts in the fall, it struck me that everything I have sent through my critique group has been published or contracted—something that wouldn’t have happened without the assistance of these writers, their insights and their kind honesty.

In celebration of two years together, I would like to share some of this group's accomplishments:

Contests:

Two ACFW Genesis Semi-finalists

ACFW First Impressions Finelist 

Love Inspired's Blurb to Book- one of us made it to the second round, and one of us made it to the final round (both of us received full manuscript requests!) 

Storming The Short Story Contest hosted by the Texas chapters of ACFW: we dominated the romance category with a win and honorable mention (both stories were published!)

ACFW Virginia Chapter's Short Story Contest- A win!

Winner of the  Idahope Writers Contest 

Also, one of us just hit USA Today Bestselling list with a collaborated box set!

Publications: 

Short stories:

  

That last one holds two of our stories! :) 

Novellas:

Full Novels:

Currently we also have another four novels contracted for publication, and even more in the works! 

One of our books will soon be available in Norwegian, as well!

Not bad for two years.

I look forward to many more years writing with these wonderful ladies as I know my writing would not be what it is without them. Thank you!

What has your experience been with critique groups?

In case you want a closer look at any more of those great titles, here are the Amazon links. :)

Marion Ueckermann
Heidi McCahan
Laura Hodges Poole
Janet Ferguson 
Angela K Couch 

Angela K Couch is an award-winning author for her short stories, and a semi-finalist in ACFW’s 2015 Genesis Contest. As a passionate believer in Christ, her faith permeates the stories she tells. Her martial arts training, experience with horses, and appreciation for good romance sneak in there, as well. Angela lives in Alberta, Canada with her “hero” and three munchkins. Visit her at www.angelakcouch.com, or follow on Twitter or Facebook!

What's the Deal With Book Endorsements? by Kara Isaac

If you've been reading books for any period of time you'll be familiar with book endorsements. Generally splashed on the front cover, back cover, and in the front of the book they ideally say things like:

"This is the BEST book I've ever read. Funny, deep, with characters that will make you cry and laugh and still be thinking about long after the last page has turned. If you only read one book this year this one should be it!" Jo Smith, New York Times Bestselling Author of Floating Fireflies 

Since I signed my first book contract a year ago, a few people have asked me a few questions about endorsements, namely how do you get them, are they worth anything, and do they mean anything?

How do you get them?

There's three main sources of endorsements:

1. An author has his/her own network of established authors they can ask
2. A publisher ask one of their other authors who writes in a similar genre
3. An author's agent's approaches their other clients who write in a similar genre

In my instance because I had been chasing the crazy writing dream for a loooooooong time (ten years, but who's counting?) along the way I had made friends with people who had ended up ahead of me in the publishing journey and were now well established authors. 

It didn't make asking them any less nerve wracking, but at least we had a pre-existing relationship which made me more hopeful some of them might be able to say yes. Those were four of my endorsements. Two others were authors that were acquaintances but I was too nervous to ask them because they were superstars in my debut author world so my agent was kind enough to act as the middleman for me. The final one was a connection by a mutual friend. 

The chances of asking an author who doesn't know you from a block of cheese to endorse your book and them agreeing to are pretty much non-existent. Not because they're snobs who don't want to support new talent but because between meeting their own deadlines and marketing demands, they're probably already having to say no to endorsing books that they really want to read but just don't have the time available. 

Are they worth anything? 

Well, long story short, yes and no. 

Here's where they can be worth a lot:

You're a debut author, don't star in a reality TV show, have a famous parent, and so have no/very limited name recognition.

If you Google my name there's a few Kara Isaacs out there. I'm not famous for any reason. There is nothing about me that would mean that my name alone on the cover of a book is going to get strangers to buy my book. So having someone who does have name recognition writing something nice may help it stick a little more with readers who are willing to try a new author. 

The authors endorsing you write in a similar genre

When I was thinking about my dream team of authors that I hoped would consider endorsing Close To You they all had one thing in common: our reader demographics had a lot of similarities. They were the names that filled in the blank when it came to "If you like ____________ you might also like Kara Isaac." 

My name might not mean anything to a reader but maybe maybe if they're a die hard Becky Wade fan then an endorsement from her might encourage them to give me a chance.

Here's where they are worth very little

The endorsements written are by people who don't have any name recognition either. My sister could write me a long effusive endorsement but it would be irrelevant because the general reading public don't know who she is so her opinion means nothing to them.

The endorsements are written by people who have name recognition but it's completely unrelated to what you're writing about. There are a few romance authors whose endorsement would encourage me to give a new-to-me author a shot. Martha Stewart, OJ Simpson, and Condalezza Rice all have huge name recognition but they would't be my go-to people for romance novel recommendations.

Do they mean anything? 

I recently saw a post on a reader's Facebook group which said (paraphrased) "Endorsements don't mean anything. All the authors are each other's best friends and would write something nice even if the book was awful. Half the time haven't even read the book they're endorsing." 

I can't speak for anyone else except myself and a few other authors that I've talked to about this but I don't know a single author who flippantly writes an endorsement without having read the book. I also don't know anyone who would write a glowing endorsement but secretly think the story is total rubbish. 

When you're an author your name is an integral part of your brand. It carries meaning. When you write an endorsement it's because a publisher hopes that your name saying nice things will help persuade a reader to part with their hard-earned money. So if a reader buys a book because you promise them it's the unmissable thriller of the century and the writing is bad, the plot has major issues, and you know who did it on page 19, you're tainted by that too. 

I'm not saying those authors don't exist but most authors take endorsing a book very seriously. And reading, as always, is a subjective pursuit. Just because you didn't love a book didn't mean that author didn't genuinely believe it was as wonderful as they said.

What about you? Do book endorsements mean anything to you? If you're looking at an author that you haven't read before could they convince you into purchasing their book?

Kara Isaac lives in Wellington, New Zealand. Her debut romantic comedy, Close To 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 release in 49 sleeps from Howard Books (not that she's counting or anything). 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 her website, on Facebook at Kara Isaac - Writer and Twitter @KaraIsaac

TWENTY FIFTEEN

So here we stand at the end of another year. I’m sure a lot of us say the same thing around this time of the year: “Next year can’t be as busy/as bad as this year.” And guess what? We get to the end of the next year and it’s been busier, or it’s been worse than the previous one (or both). I’m certain that 2016 will be no different for most.

My husband and I started this year off in Finland. I remember standing on the edge of a frozen lake at my daughter-in-law’s childhood home and pondering what 2015 would hold in store. At that time, many of my friends were choosing a word for the year, something they felt God had in store for them. The word I felt God give me at that icy spot was “Breakthrough.” And in many ways, this year has been a breakthrough year. But it’s been more than that, and I’m so glad God didn’t give me the words that truly encapsulated this year—Tough; Loss; Heartache; Hospitals; Goodbyes. If I’d known what the year would hold, I probably would have found myself a pair of ice-skates and skated off into the Finnish sunset the day God chose to give me the word “Breakthrough” instead.

My mom fell ill with heart failure mid-2014. We didn’t think she’d make the end of that year. It was so hard to see her grow more frail with each passing month this year. To lose her in July (five months ago today) was heartbreaking, but it was also a relief. She was out of her suffering and in glory with her Savior. But to lose my dad 33 days later on August 19th was devastating and unexpected.

Then came saying goodbye to both my brothers shortly after my father’s funeral—one more permanently than the other. My youngest brother, two years older than me, immigrated to the land of our ancestors—Scotland. My oldest brother left for Iraq to work on a rotation basis. He’s just landed back home in South Africa after being away for over two months and will be here for a few weeks before heading back to the Middle East. I look forward to seeing him again.

Early September, my eighty-year-old mother-in-law took a bad fall due to being ill and was admitted to hospital for one long month. We were concerned about her condition. I could not plan another funeral. But God knew that.

This Tuesday I bade farewell to my boss who has gone on early retirement. After nine years as his PA, I will certainly miss him.

I’m tired of goodbyes…

But 2015 wasn’t a year of only doom and gloom (although if one looks at what has happened in the world this past year, it was once again a year fraught with terrible global tragedies).

For me, this year was truly a breakthrough year, too, as God had promised. Let me share why:

• I published three novellas—two indie, one traditional.
• I signed another contract with my publisher for my third Passport to Romance which is now in pre-production for publication 2016. Hopefully I get to do a cover reveal soon.
• I dipped my toe in the indie pond, and loved it so much, I decided to stay and play.
• Both my indie books have been released independently and as part of two great box sets.
• I currently have plans for another two novellas in different box sets with international authors, and one of the stories is the first of a new seven book series.
• And finally, I ticked something off my bucket list…I attended the 2015 American Christian Fiction Writers Conference in Dallas, Texas, USA, where I met so many of my precious cyber friends. What a highlight! Below is a pic of me and two of my critique partners, Heidi and Janet.

And so, after such a busy, exciting, and terribly sad year, it is with great anticipation that I look forward to the week between Christmas and New Year as we head for the mountains… me, hubby, my two sons, their wives and my two grandsons. One week to relax and bathe in the majestic splendor of God’s creation.

What will 2016 bring? One thing it will bring for me is at least another three book releases. It will also bring a trip to Scotland in June with my hubby, sister and two nieces to visit my brother and his wife. Beyond that, I’ve no idea, but I do know the One who knows, and that is all that matters. And whether the new year brings more heartache, or tons of joy, God will be there right beside me. He’ll carry me through the valleys, and He’ll rejoice with me on the mountaintops.

How has your year been? Has it been a long twenty-fifteen, or did 2015 flit by without you noticing how you got to December again? What does 2016 hold in store for you?

MARION UECKERMANN's passion for writing was sparked when she moved to Ireland with her family. Her love of travel has influenced her contemporary inspirational romances set in novel places. She now lives in South Africa in an empty nest with her husband and their crazy black Scottie, Wally.

When God Closes a Door...

Writers are very familiar with the concept of closing doors. Maybe because we are always peeking through them while trying to sneak our foot inside. Queries. Proposals. Contests. Blogs. Everything we can to get the attention of reader, agent, or publisher. Some closing doors weren't very wide to begin with so it's not too painful. Query letters are a great example of this. You send out bunches and learn to expect a high rejection rate. Others, like a publisher you've been communicating with for months before they decide to turn down your work, carries a little more sting,  Every time these doors closed in the past, I convinced myself it was one of two things. Or a combination of both.

1. I need to make my writing better.
2. God has a better plan for this story.

But I've never seen His hand as clearly as I did this year:

At the end of March this year I gave birth to my third child. To beat baby blues I decided to enter into a writing contest. Namely, Love Inspired's Blurb-2-Book. (I've never had such an enjoyable recovery!)  I figured I had nothing to lose one way or another. And then I passed on to the second round. I must admit to being a little excited as I started in on a complete rewrite of a first draft I'd pounded out about eight years ago, which has been sitting as a file ever since. It went from being completely from the heroines POV to including the POV of on of the most complex, but easy to love (if I understand my critique partners and beta readers correctly) heroes I've written. The story came to life and I started getting hopeful.

Then the door closed.

I didn't make the third round in the contest. The editor enjoyed the story, but had a couple concerns about my poor, conflicted hero. She did leave the door unlocked for future submission of my work directly to her, but I was out of the contest.

I was disappointed, but that did mean I no longer had a tight deadline to have my story completed. Without the restraints on my time, I decided to enter a couple short story contests. I wrote two stories and entered them, and then went back to my novel, finishing it about the time the Blurb-2-Book judging was complete. At that same time I found out my short stories (which I wouldn't have even written if I'd continued in LI's contest) both won their contests and would be published.

And then the Lord swung yet another door open and shoved me through it.

A week or so after I won the short story contests, an author friend and critique partner said she felt a "God nudge" to mention me to her publisher, who wasn't accepting submissions unless you met them in person at a conference (hard to do with a new baby). They said I could submit my finished manuscript, and within a month offered me a contract!

It was difficult not to look back and not be amazed. Especially recognizing that if that LI editor had passed me on to the third round of the contest, I would have been scrambling to finish my manuscript (and it probably wouldn't have turned out nearly as well as it did), I wouldn't have entered any of the short story contests, and I wouldn't be working with my present editor who, from what I hear, will be excellent for me at this point in my career.

Most times we don't see the next doors open quite as wide or quickly as in this case, but looking back over the past ten years of writing I see how The Lord has prepared me, worked with me and steered me from closed doors to the ones that would bless my life. I am so grateful for such a faithful guide!

(As a side-note, last week I was offered a two book contract by another publisher on a manuscript -  and the premise of its sequel - that has had many a door shut in its face and and many a rewrite. I'm so grateful for the hands the Lord has placed it in!)

How have you seen doors open or close as the Lord guided you?

Angela K Couch is an award-winning author for her short stories, and a semi-finalist in ACFW’s 2015 Genesis Contest. As a passionate believer in Christ, her faith permeates the stories she tells. Her martial arts training, experience with horses, and appreciation for good romance sneak in there, as well. Angela lives in Alberta, Canada with her “hero” and three munchkins. 
Visit her at www.angelakcouch.com 
Follow on Twitter or Facebook!

Where I'd Rather Be

As many of you are probably aware, this past weekend was the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) annual conference in Dallas, Texas. Some of you were even able to go. And I have to admit to moments of envy. As my Facebook feed filled with photos and updates from the conference, as the wonderful writers of my critique group met in person for the first time, as I heard about contacts being made with my dream publishers and agents... Yep, I wanted to be there.

It didn't help recalling how one of my close friends recently signed her first contract with a publisher right after a writer's conference she attended. Or the fact that some of the agents I would love to target have a "only if we met at conference" policy.

*Sigh* It's probably just what my writing career needs at this point.

And yet I'm glad I couldn't go! Because if I could have gone, it probably would have been because I didn't have a baby at home needing me...and I wouldn't give that up even for a four book contract with Bethany house!

The Lord has a plan for my life, my family and for my writing.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven"

Wonderfully complex seasons ebb and flow as we travel through life. How important it is to trust in the Lord's plan for our lives and seek His guidance, so that as we pass through this mortal existence we will enjoy the treasures that He has prepared for us. A baby's smile, the laughter of children, the conversation of good friends and family, watching His truth touch the lives of others...or seeing our words in print. ;)

So whether it be family, finances, or health that keep you from places you would go, and things you would do "if only"... Remember to find joy in the journey and trust in the Lord's plan for your life.

For me, though a part of me would have loved to go to the ACFW conference and have all the time in the world to write and pursue that career, I am home raising my three precious children and even planning a fourth in a couple years, and there is nowhere I'd rather be!

Of course, next year's conference might be a possibility. ;)

Angela K Couch is a member of ACFW and a semi-finalist in 2015’s Genesis contest. In 2014 she was a finalist of the “Storming the Short Story” contest, and in 2015 her short stories won the romance category of the same, and won the ACFW Virginia Chapter short story contest. The anthology A Kiss is Still a Kiss holds her story “Shackled” now available for preorder. Angela lives in Alberta, Canada with her “hero” and three munchkins. Visit her at www.angelakcouch.com, or follow on Twitter or Facebook!

Going Indie Internationally — Part 2

On June 19, I posted here about Going Indie Internationally. At that time, I'd jumped through a bunch of hoops to legally do business in the USA, where most of the self-publishing opportunities are based. I was about to leave on vacation and my EIN (Employee Identification Number) was still pending with the IRS.

Here's the process since then.

June 19, 2014 I downloaded the template for a 6x9 paperback from Createspace and copy/pasted the Majai's Fury manuscript into it, spending a few hours fiddling with front matter, chapters, and back matter until I liked the look. I uploaded it to Createspace and viewed it in their preview program. Looked good!

Did not try to fill in the tax information for Createspace. One headache at a time is plenty, thank-you-very-much. Thankfully, you can save your progress at various stages before you hit the publish button.

July 8, 2014 Arrived home from vacation to discover an envelop from the IRS.

July 9, 2014 Armed with the paperwork and the EIN for Amazon blog post I'd referred to before, I opened the KDP dashboard and redid the tax information pop-out. This time I was rewarded with a green checkmark instead of a red x. Success! I pushed the button to publish Majai's Fury via Kindle Select. I set the price at 99 cents with the plan to run five free promo days once the story had garnered at least 8 reviews.

July 13, 2014 Finalized the back and spine of the book cover using Photoshop Elements 11 and uploaded the cover to Createspace. I made some changes to my interior file (like adding my ISBN) and reuploaded it. Had a good look at everything…and pressed the button to publish it. I also ordered five copies.

July 14, 2014 Majai's Fury became available as a paperback on Amazon, linked with the Kindle version. It will take 6-8 weeks for it to show up on other e-bookstore shelves, including amazon.ca and The Book Depository.

For the record, Createspace requires a higher minimum retail price on books sold through expanded distribution (required for amazon.ca and TBD, etc) than for books only sold through the Createspace store and amazon.com. So, for the sake of YOU, my friends, family, and fans outside of the USA, I went for expanded distribution ... which makes everyone have to pay a bit more for the paperback. In Amazon's world, this apparently makes perfect sense.

I could have gotten around this by using a different paperback distributor, but that adds cost and complexity, so this seems like the best solution at this time.

July 18, 2014 I created an account with Draft2Digital.com. Those of us outside the USA cannot upload directly to Barnes & Noble's website. Also, if you don't have a Mac you can't upload directly to iBooks. For situations like this, a distributor like D2D or Smashwords comes into play. D2D doesn't have a tax pop-out like KDP does, so I had to download a W8-BEN, fill it out, scan it, and email it to D2D so they wouldn't withhold taxes.

July 20, 2014 I created accounts at Kobo and iBooks. Note that iBooks only allows book uploads from Mac computers. If you have a PC, you can either get a Macster to do it, or you can use Direct2Digital to upload for you. Both sites had complex tax data forms. I recommend having the following information on hand before starting any of these forms:

• Your Bank's transit number
• Your bank's BISAC code (aka Swift code) (I had to call my bank and ask for this, as I couldn't locate it anywhere)
• Your bank account number (I chose to create a USD account at my local RBC branch for more control over exchange rates.)

July 21 I received my paperback copies of Majai's Fury! I'd chosen the matte cover and cream paper, and I'm very happy with the results.

July 29 Having had rights reverted from CNP, I've republished both Raspberries and Vinegar and Wild Mint Tea in paperback and ebook on the afore-mentioned platforms. Yay! All my reviews from the previous edition came along.

I discovered that my MacBook's OS is not up-to-date enough to use the iBook platform, so I added these books to that platform via Draft2Digital.

My fantasy novel, Majai's Fury, will go to Kobo, iBooks, and Nook in October when my 90-day period in KDPS (Kindle Direct Publishing Select) is up. Meanwhile, it's at 99¢ looking for more reviews so that I can run my five free days!



Majai's Fury is a fantasy tale of forbidden romance amid clashing religions and cultures.

A vindictive goddess.
A desperate woman.
A reluctant champion.
A frantic scramble to flee from MAJAI'S FURY.

Taifa hoped the goddess Majai wouldn’t notice she hadn’t provided a firstborn for sacrifice. But when the king demands Taifa’s life in exchange for the child she has not yet conceived, she knows she is out of time. She seizes the king’s proposal—her life spared if she neutralizes Shanh, the foreigner whose doomsday prophecies infuriate the king.

Secure in Azhvah’s protection, Shanh’s mission looks simple enough: deliver his god’s fateful message then return to his homeland. But when Azhvah allows a conniving woman to weaken the shield, many long-held beliefs are shattered. Can Shanh’s god truly desire to rescue this heathen from the fate she deserves?

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 food 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 writes Farm Lit where food meets faith, injecting experience laced with humor into her stories. Her debut novel, Raspberries and Vinegar: A Farm Fresh Romance, was awarded Best Contemporary Romance published in 2013 by The Word Guild.

Going Indie Internationally

I'm going indie, and the whole world is wide open. Literally and figuratively! It's very easy to find information about self-publishing for Americans. I've been following blogs on the topic for a couple of years, debating if this was a direction I might end up taking my career. But information for those who live outside the USA has been harder to come by.

Two years ago Barbour released Rainbow's End, which contained a novella of mine. This got me an agent, but no further book deals, though interest in what became my Farm Fresh Romance series was evident. With its environmental and local food themes, my writing wasn't quite mainstream enough to actually reel in a major publisher. In 2013, after releasing my agent, I signed a contract with a new small publishing house. Raspberries and Vinegar and Wild Mint Tea came out before my publisher made the difficult decision to go nonfiction only.

With rights about to revert and more books in my to-publish chain, I've begun the process of self-publishing through Amazon and elsewhere from outside the United States. It seems to me that watching this process might be of interest to many of our readers here at ICFW.

May 29, 2014: Consulted with a local small business expert in British Columbia, Canada. Conducted a search for an appropriate business name ($39.00). Registered the business name GreenWords Media ($40.00) Both fees are one-time.

June 2, 2014: Registered with CISS: Canadian ISBN Service System. I learned that I don't need an ISBN to publish an e-book with Amazon. They assign an ASIN. I will still need this service when I'm ready for the paperback. I must apply in advance.

June 3, 2014: Bought How to Format Your Novel for Kindle, Nook, the iBookstore, Smashwords, and CreateSpace...in One Afternoon (for Mac) by Ed Ditto. This is THE book to get IF you are on a Mac and use Scrivener. If not, go buy a different book, but I'm not sure which one. I worked through this book with Majai's Fury for 8 hours before getting the compile features set up the way I wanted in Scrivener. Most of that is a one-time set-up. I'll be publishing often enough I shouldn't forget what I need to know. (Fingers crossed!)

June 4, 2014: Got my EIN (Employee Identification Number) from the IRS. It's used to identify a business entity legally doing business in the USA. This can just be you doing business without being a registered business in your own country. This post by Catherine Howard, Non-US Self-Publisher? Tax Issues Don’t Need to be Taxing helped immensely in knowing how to make this phone call to the IRS. It was as easy and painfree as they said. 8 minutes after the call began, I had my number.

This number is vital for anyone who wants to do business within the USA (such as selling Kindle books) and who is a citizen of a country that has a tax treaty with the USA. Find out if your country does here.

June 4, 2014: Consulted with my bank about setting up an account for incoming funds. She advised me not to set up a business account but to use my own name, if possible, and save the flat monthly fee. This may or may not work longterm, and may be different for you.

June 5, 2014: Created an account at Kindle Direct Publishing and filled in their tax information pop-out with the help of a step-by-step screen shot post at EIN for Amazon. Included in this pop-out form is an electronic W-8BEN.

The W-8BEN form is provided by the IRS to allow non-US persons to receive a reduced rate of taxation on any US-sourced income. Without this, the IRS expects Kindle (or other company) to pay them 30% of your income before sending you the remainder. The combination of the EIN and the W-8BEN tell the IRS and the American companies you're dealing with that a) your country has a tax treaty with the USA and b) you will pay income tax on your income at home.

The pop-out form completed, I returned to the main KDP page to fill in my bank account information and then upload my book. However, I got a yellow triangle for my efforts. INVALID: Tax information submitted for your account does not match Internal Revenue Service (IRS) records. Complete your tax information to begin publishing on Amazon.

I went through the pop-out several times, trying to figure out what question I could possibly have answered incorrectly. No amount of tweaking got rid of the message.

June 5, 2014: Sent a message to KDP via the Help Desk, asking for clarification. The response, a few hours later, was that everything within that pop-out is the jurisdiction of the IRS, who either stamps each application as VALID or INVALID without explaining to KDP why.

I uploaded my book and its cover, and set up categories, keywords, pricing, and distribution. Ready to push the "publish" button whenever my account is cleared for action.

June 6, 2014: Phoned the IRS to determine the cause of the invalid message. I provided the nice lady with my EIN number, issued two days prior, and she said that it showed on her computer as pending. When I said the other lady had said it was effective immediately, she concurred, adding that would be for paper submissions. Electronically, it takes a week or two to grind through the system. It would have been nice to have this information earlier!

June 18, 2014 Still waiting for my EIN number to stop pending and start working! Moral of the story? Start the process well in advance!

Here is Going Indie Internationally Part TWO

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 food 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 writes Farm Lit where food meets faith, injecting experience laced with humor into her stories. Her debut novel, Raspberries and Vinegar: A Farm Fresh Romance, was awarded Best Contemporary Romance published in 2013 by The Word Guild Awards. It is currently on sale for Kindle for 99¢

Publishing pitfalls for new writers

by Narelle Atkins

One of the smartest things I did as a new writer was invest in my writing career by joining  professional writing groups and connecting with other writers. I gleaned valuable information from writing organisation newsletters, conferences, email groups, and critique groups that helped me to avoid some of the newbie writer mistakes. There are a couple of things I’ve learned about publishing that I hope will help any new writers reading this post. 

There are writing industry professionals who provide helpful services for aspiring authors.

It is true that a professional writer will invest money in their writing career in a number of different ways. Memberships, conferences, workshops, mentorships, contests, manuscript appraisals are all great things and can provide valuable assistance to aspiring authors. The trick is to know which stage you are at in your writing career and choose resources that will best suit your needs.

Join writing groups that cater for the genre in which you write. Attend conferences where there will be editors and agents attending who acquire books in your target market. Writing craft workshops are valuable for new writers because very few fiction writers are talented enough to produce an excellent first book without a sound understanding of writing craft. 

Mentorships by published authors who write in your chosen genre are helpful when you have a completed manuscript that has potential but needs work to lift it to a publishable standard. Manuscript appraisals by professional editors can be expensive. New writers may be better off finding a critique group, entering writing contests that provide feedback, and learning about writing craft first before paying for a professional edit. 

There are unscrupulous people who make money by ripping off aspiring authors. 

There are vanity publishers who make money from authors paying to publish their books rather than by selling books. Vanity presses don’t reject manuscripts or screen for quality like a traditional publisher. They don’t care how many copies of the book are sold because they’ve already made their money from the author. Authors can buy publishing packages and pay large amounts of money to see their book in print, often with a high cover price. Sometimes the author is contractually obligated to purchase a large number of copies that they will have to try and sell. 

It is rare for fiction authors to make money from a vanity press arrangement. Subsidy publishing arrangements can work well in certain niche non-fiction markets but are usually not recommended for new fiction writers. 

Writing groups can provide an invaluable source of information about publishers. Writers are usually willing to share industry information to help other writers make informed decisions before they sign a publishing contract.

The following sites provide helpful industry information for fiction writers:

Preditors and Editors
http://pred-ed.com/peba.htm 

Writer Beware
http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/ 

Dear Author
http://dearauthor.com/industry-news/ 

Self-publishing your first draft or a manuscript that has not been professionally edited is always a bad idea.

I believe the ease of access to eBook self-publishing is a new pitfall that can snare aspiring fiction authors. There is now a temptation to self-publish your manuscript that has been rejected by all the traditional publishers without assessing whether or not your manuscript is of a publishable standard.

We’ve all heard about the ‘Kindle millionaires’ but the vast majority of self-published fiction books sell very few copies. Savvy self-published ‘indie’ fiction authors work hard to develop marketing plans and leverage social networking opportunities to reach new readers.

Readers are smart and they will download a sample of a book before hitting the ‘buy now’ button. If they get burned too often from buying badly written and poorly edited books, they may decide to only buy books from authors and publishers who they know and trust to provide quality books.

A happy customer will tell a couple of people about a great product they’ve purchased, but an unhappy customer will tell everyone they know about a bad product. There are now online book clubs, reading groups and forums, customer book review sites, and numerous other ways for readers from around the world to share book information. A bad first book will damage your reputation and deter readers from buying your next book. 

I’ve only covered a couple of the pitfalls confronting fiction writers, and I know there are many more. Knowledge is power, and by sharing our experiences we can help each other avoid the pitfalls.

NARELLE ATKINS writes contemporary inspirational romance and lives in Canberra, Australia. She sold her debut novel, set in Australia, to Harlequin's Love Inspired Heartsong Presents line in a 6-book contract. Her first book, Falling for the Farmer, will be a February 2014 release, followed by The Nurse's Perfect Match in May 2014 and The Doctors Return in August 2014. 

Narelle blogs regularly with Australasian Christian Writers. http://australasianchristianwriters.blogspot.com/

She is also a co-founder of the Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance (ACRBA). http://acrba.blogspot.com 

Website: http://www.narelleatkins.com
Blog: http://narelleatkins.wordpress.com 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NarelleAtkinsAuthor 
Twitter: @NarelleAtkins https://twitter.com/NarelleAtkins

Day in the Life

One typical day, or maybe not so typical... not like any other anyone has ever had, anywhere.

I wriggle out of my sleeping bag and three fleece blankets and duvet, waking the cat, and stumble into the kitchen to put the water on to boil. As usual, I do breakfast with my email inbox followed by the latest updates from top Facebook friends, blogs I follow, and the local paper.

I dig back into the current proofreading job. I got halfway through 90,000 words last night; today will see the rest finished. As lunchtime nears, a flatmate whispers from the stairway and hands over a brown cardboard envelope. My book! Aquasynthesis, this one, written by 12 authors. Many of them have seen it before me because I live farthest from the printing presses. So that's how the design worked out. I'm happy.

Time to clean up the backyard after the builders left it in a huge mess. I grab a flatmate and a spade and wheelbarrow, and we spend a couple of hours separating yellow clay from concrete rubble, and stashing the clay in a hole that gaped in the front yard since the drain unblockers were there. My hands are muddy and tender when we call it quits for the day, even though the mess doesn't look that much different than when we begun.

After I get the mud off, a sandwich follows - eggplant and spinach - and then it's back to work upstairs. Read, read, read. Caught a few more typos. But by the time I get through, I'm satisfied that we have done our best. I cast my gaze to the distant sea, to the volcano wearing a bluish tinge today. Winter is showing his gentle side.

Voices float up the stairs. It's a prospective flatmate come to look at the room I'm trying to rent. We hit it off pretty well, and I tell her I just have someone else having a look later on and then I'll decide who I want. She loves cats. Good thing around here.

The fellas are giggling over a computer game as she leaves, and then I educate them on how to pronounce a name in another language. The other would-be tenant arrives, and likes the room, but says it's too far from town. So with much well-wishing we bid adieu and I call up the first one to tell her the room is all hers.

An email drops in to say that one of my short stories has made it through preliminary acceptance for an anthology. That's good news! I am fond of that story. It carries much of my soul in it, though only 5,000 words long.

Night has fallen over the city, and the roar of traffic dulls a little from the evening rush. The valley's twinkling lights suddenly remind me of Christmas tinsel before I draw the curtains and fire up the heater. After midnight I finish my work and toy with the idea of waiting up a little more until a faraway friend or three might be getting up in another time zone. But no, tonight I am sleepy. It's been a long day. I boil the kettle for my hot water bottles and climb carefully into all my layers.

Writing was no more than a breath in the wind today, but it is still the essence of my being.

Your Time, My Time

I woke up around 4pm this morning.

Yes, you read that right, and no, it's not a typo. It just so happens that the time I swung out of bed was late afternoon on America's east coast. My widget told me the time there before my sleep-muddled mind figured out that it was about 9am here in New Zealand.

This is an increasingly common occurrence as I work with a literary team that's spread across the globe, and Eastern US time is a point of reference at the start of my day. Much of my idea-mongering is initiated, mulled over and completed in online chat circles where my co-workers are well-versed about what time I am to be found there. We talk design, marketing, editing, task assignment, contracts, and of course writing, along with day-to-day stuff and everyone's news, reviews and plans.

It's the reality of international publishing, and it can be fun trying to liaise with this person and that one at a time when we're all awake. Some things take a little longer to sort out because of it, but we have to learn patience and work on as many things at once as we can so that the whole operation still moves along at a nice pace.

And there are some odd but useful side-effects. Like doing business with a Stateside nightshifter in my early evening. Or being told by a morning-fresh compadre to hurry up and go to bed because it's after midnight. Since I'm a night-owl I sometimes work on projects through the "wee small hours" and I can enjoy the instant support of people who haven't had to stay up all night to help me.

On the other hand, most of my friends are gone by 4pm my time (Midnight Eastern) and my evenings here are fairly quiet of online activity except for the night shift and the European contingent - plus a few very early risers. This has led to my online social life occurring during the day and my work mostly after dark. Strange but true.

Depending on how late I stay up on a given day, we can all cross paths again by the time it's midnight downunder. I may keep working (with admonitions to get enough sleep coming from the distant morning) and sooner or later shut down to sleep their day away - just as well, or they'd likely get nothing done!

I'm so grateful for the technology that allows us to work so closely in this way, even though we've (mostly) never met face to face. Having to figure out the time zone calculation is a very small price to pay for this great gift: that we even found each other in the first place.

Meet another Australian author, Paula Vince

A note from Mary Hawkins:

Years ago when browsing the fiction shelves of a Christian bookshop, I was delighted to find another Australian author had an adult novel published. As international authors know only too well, many religious publishers in our own countries are still unwilling to “risk” releasing Christian fiction. Eleven years ago there were far too few novels written by Australians for me to enjoy. I read Picking Up the Pieces and was blown away by this great story and was upset for her that the author of such a great novel had self-published it. It wasn’t until Omega Writers (click here) in Queensland organised a Christian writers conference four years ago that I had the privilege of meeting the delightful Paula Vince. I am thrilled she agreed to be my guest blogger today to tell us something of her journey.

Thank you for this opportunity to share here, Mary.

I have written 7 novels, mostly contemporary romance and inspirational. I believe stories are a powerful medium because of their ability to entertain and encourage in the same package. When something I’ve created to please myself has taken root and borne fruit in the minds of others too, I get very excited. My aim is always to show through the lives of my characters that God’s Word is true and that His promises are always fulfilled for everybody who takes them on face value. Fiction has the power to make its own special kind of impact which stories and instruction books often can’t.

It is a path I probably would have stepped off long ago if not for my conviction that this is my calling. When I completed my first manuscript in the mid 1990s, I was told by a gentleman from one of Australia’s well known publishing houses that writing Christian fiction is a waste of time in our country as there is no market for it. He told me, “You might as well put it in your drawer and get on with your life.”

I persevered anyway because I refused to believe his words were entirely true. As I saw Australian shops keep importing foreign Christian novels, I reasoned there must be some market for these books. If he perceived no market for local authors, it must only be because we were given no opportunity by publishers to create one. I really longed to set my stories in my own beautiful corner of the world, South Australia’s Adelaide Hills. It is an ideal place for stories with its striking seasonal contrasts; icy winters, scorching summers, brilliantly colourful autumns and glorious springs. I made up my mind to do all I could to create a market for Australian Christian fiction in my own country.

As far as I could see, self-publishing seemed to be the only available option so that is what I did for several years, with the help of an encouraging husband. Having my last three books taken on board by a publisher has been an unexpected blessing. Even Before Publishing ( click here ) is a subsidiary of Wombat Books which is run by Rochelle Manners in Brisbane, Queensland. She has a passion to promote writing by Australians and is committed to seeing it spread as far as possible.

Rochelle and I were members of the same email prayer group when she announced her stunning plans to become a traditional publisher of Christian books early in 2009. At that time I’d been wondering how I could possibly publish A Design of Gold on the heels of The Risky Way Home as my financial resources were depleted. It was vital that I should do so as the two books are linked together. I sent my manuscript straight to Even Before Publishing for consideration and it was one of the first books published in 2009.

Since then, I have had an earlier novel, Picking up the Pieces cover re-published by Even Before Publishing in 2010 and my newest novel, Best Forgotten, has just been published. As a bonus, my novels which have been published by Even Before Publishing are now available from Amazon as Kindle e-books for only $9.95, opening a door into the foreign market which would have been impossible just a few short years ago. God really does have awesome surprises along our paths if we do not give up.

Thank you so much, Paula, but you did not mention Picking Up The Pieces was a finalist last year in the CALEB awards - for details see the Omega Writers website! I am VERY much looking forward to reading this new book Best Forgotten. Isn't the cover beautiful?
Do read more about Paula and her books on her website: http://www.appleleafbooks.com/

About Picking Up The Pieces Rochelle Manners says, “Paula Vince has woven a tale that is unlike anything else and needs to be available in the market place.”

I am so glad she agrees with me and I would like to give away a print copy of Picking Up The Pieces, or if you already have this book Paula will send you a copy of Best Forgotten. To enter please leave a comment for a chance to have your name drawn by Paula as the winner! Don't forget your contact details - you just might be the winner!