Month: December 2016

How to Write a Book – My Way! (Part 3)

December 27, 2016 / / 0 Comments

    I have self published a book. I am an Indie (aka independent) Author and can take my book “Run For Your Life!” and hold it in my hand.  Now it is time to put on my marketing hat and learn how to sell books. Writing it was a breeze compared to marketing it. After a lot more research here is my plan of action. 

Start a web page. Search Author Linda Laughlin to see mine, although if you are reading this you have found my web page or my Facebook page. 

  Speaking of Facebook, set up an author page!

Learn to tweet. (I now have a twitter account.)

Print out business cards and posters! (I made bookmarks instead of business cards.)

If you have a friend that owns a business, get them to let you have a book signing. If there’s an  independent book store in your area, forge a relationship with them. Maybe they will put your book on their shelf and let you do a book signing in their store.

   Get on every web site you can think of to get your name out there in front of the public.

   Bribe, beg, do anything you can think of to get a review for your book.  This has been the hardest  thing for me. I gave away five books and the only thing I asked for was a book review on Amazon, I didn’t get a single one. (Amazon can tell by the IP address where the book review comes from, so don’t try to make up your own reviews!)

  I am still looking for ideas to promote my book. It isn’t easy. I have finished my second book and I am looking into a traditional publisher! I met a lady who spent a big portion of her career in New York and she is now working for a regional publishing house. I gave her a copy of “Run For Your Life!” and the first three chapters of my latest book! I have decided I am not made for marketing so I will feel blessed if she decides to represent me. My fondest wish is for her to ask me to take the first book so she can re-publish it. I still feel that it is a good book and I would like to see it get a chance at a bigger market. 

Happy reading, Linda

 

 

 

How to Write a Book – My Way! (Part 2)

December 15, 2016 / / 0 Comments

  I had my book, “Run For Your Life!” written and ready to go, now all I needed was a publisher! Let me say here that I had read everything I could get my hands on and I just knew that this was a good book. It was fast paced, like I preferred to read, and it started off with a murder, just like Hawaii Five-O. (Why didn’t I write a TV show instead?) 

Suddenly, I was the one doing the research. I found several articles telling me that a publisher would not talk to you without an agent. I found out later that this applied to the larger publishers, the smaller regional publishers will welcome your query letters. I found a list of agents listed in New York and information on what type of books they were interested in as well as how to submit a book to them. Some wanted only a letter and some wanted a letter and the first few chapters; each publish their own rules on how to submit to their web sites. Everything is electronic, no snail mail, so I started to submit letters. At first I checked all the thank you notes and dedications in my favorite books, thinking to query my favorite authors’ agents. ( No news is good news, they don’t know what they are missing.) Next, I started randomly sending out queries. In the end, I had submitted thirty to forty letters. I got some form letters and they all explained that they were not taking clients at this time. (At least they hadn’t told me I sucked at writing.)

Run For Your Life! CoverI could not give up, I just felt all the way to my bones that this book was good, so what next?  I found an article on self publishing. I have already told you in part one that I was poor but I wasn’t stupid. I never considered those publishers who charge you to publish your book. Maybe that works, I don’t know, but since I didn’t have the money to spend I decided to check into Amazon. In the end, I decided to publish through both their ebook and physical copy programs. Now my daughter became my computer guru. She put my manuscript in the correct formats and helped me design my book cover. I was convinced I could take a picture and we could do the graphics. (I thought it turned out pretty good. Someone I have met that works for a real, live publisher has told me it is awful!) Once finished, I was able to go to Amazon and see my book advertised for sale. A local store also offered to let me do a book signing and you can not imagine my pleasure when I unpacked the box containing my book. To be able to pick up MY book and hold it in my hand, it was a dream come true! 

(Watch for part 3 – How to promote yourself.)

Happy reading, Linda

How to Write a Book – My Way! (Part 1)

December 5, 2016 / / 0 Comments

 books-books I retired from banking and decided to write a book. Now this wasn’t as sudden as it seems, because this idea had been floating around in my head for several years. So I sat down and wrote a story line and then started the book. Dialog posed a problem until I figured out that you talk to yourself, then answer yourself, then write it down. Soon, you have a whole conversation flowing across the page. 

I was writing away and about half way through the story when I noticed a course on “Writing a Book” given at the local college. Now I didn’t know this at the time, but the person teaching the course had never written a book. He had a book in progress and was about half way through. (Sound familiar?)  He said he had been working on it for about five years and would be ready to submit in about five more years. It immediately occurred to me that if it took me that long, I could be dead before I finished. The course was in the college’s adult education series and did not cost much, but then, it did not teach me much. 

On finishing the book, I started thinking about an editor. I talked to a friend who taught English on the college level and asked her to read a few chapters then tell me what she thought. (A retired person can not afford to pay an editor!) Needless to say, that didn’t work out at all. She wanted to change all my sentences to proper english, not considering most people don’t speak proper English. (At least I don’t talk to myself in proper english.) It was time for another idea and I found it in my daughter. Here was someone who had inherited my love of books and reading. She made excellent grades, when she bothered to turn in her homework, and would work for free. Perfect! 

Now I don’t consider myself a lucky person, but this time I got lucky. My “New Editor” loved to research and she found out what I needed to do in order to submit my book. In short order she had corrected the manuscript, made sure the sentiences were written in the correct tense and had it formatted for a publisher to read. 

Now all I had to do was find a publisher! (Watch for Part 2 – How to Find a Publisher?)

Happy reading, Linda

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