Category: Guest Posts

Your PR Personality, by Author Tonya Kappes

Author Tonya Kappes
Author Tonya Kappes

To many authors, marketing and promoting is something very difficult to do. No matter what publication journey you are on, marketing and promoting is primarily up to you, the author.

Where can you start? The first thing about marketing and promoting that you need to figure out is your PR PERSONALITY!

You do have a PR personality. Believe it or not.

Me….I’m very outgoing. I love being with other writers, readers, and just about anyone. This makes me an extrovert personality, which is an outgoing overtly expressive person! Me?!!! OVERTLY EXPRESSIVE???!!!!!

The other side of the personality coin is the introvert, which according to MR. WEBSTER means a shy, reticent, and typically self-centered person.

Your PR Personality is the first thing you should recognize before you can create your marketing and promo plan. After all, you do need a plan. You are your marketing and promoting department. Continue reading “Your PR Personality, by Author Tonya Kappes”

My Journey to Self-Publishing by Cindy Keen Reynders

Author Cindy Keen Reynders

[This is a golden oldie—it ran on Indies Unlimited back in October 2011.]

After I sold my books, “The Saucy Lucy Murders” and “Paws-itively Guilty,” I wrote a third book in the lighthearted murder-mystery series titled, “A Killer Slice.” The publisher decided to pass on it, so I wound up with an unpublished manuscript and plenty of readers asking for more installments. For months I queried traditional publishers and agents to see if I could get anyone interested in working with me, but they all turned me down. Some politely; some not so politely, but that’s the way it goes. This is a time-worn scenario—there are lots of writers in the world who can tell the same story.

Sorry to say, I moped for a while. Friends and family put up with my awful moods. Shame on me for whining, but I couldn’t help myself. After much soul-searching, I decided to self-publish “A Killer Slice.” At some point in time, I think all writers consider self-publishing, and I’m no different. Since I already had an audience, I hoped that would increase my chances for success. I didn’t jump into it overnight, however. I took a couple of years to consider many different options including iUniverse and Lulu. I talked with people who’d done it already, read blogs about indie publishing and absorbed as much as I could. I wanted to make certain that before I plopped down hard-earned dollars, I’d found a legitimate publishing house. I wanted to feel confident they would produce the best book and provide the widest distribution. Continue reading “My Journey to Self-Publishing by Cindy Keen Reynders”

A Father and Two Sons Journey into Publishing by Henry Herz

The Herz Men
The Herz Men

Nimpentoad is the fantasy story of a courageous and resourceful little Nibling who leads his tribe through the perilous Grunwald forest, overcoming obstacles and encountering strange creatures along the way. This post is about the creative journey of Nimpentoad by a father and his two young sons.

When my sons were five and seven years old, I wanted to share my love of fantasy with them. They were too young for watching most of the fantasy and sci-fi movie classics, and there are only so many good fantasy books available for that age range. Struck by inspiration one day, I came up with a way to share the joy of entering the magical realms of fantasy. I would write a fantasy book for them.

What I did not anticipate was that my boys would give me feedback on the story. They devised some of the character (“Nimpentoad”) and creature (“Neebel”) names, and made plot line suggestions. And who better to help make the story appealing to kids than other kids? So, my goal of interesting my sons in fantasy transformed into also encouraging them to write. Very cool. Continue reading “A Father and Two Sons Journey into Publishing by Henry Herz”

Ten Reasons Why I am Self-Publishing (Part 2) by Jordan Dane

Author Jordan Dane

I hope you saved room for a nice juicy steak. Part two of my post will cover the meaty reasons why I am self-publishing and building my virtual shelf. Point #6 deals with publishing industry contractual terms—something I didn’t know before I sold, but am dealing with now years later. Don’t get me started on Rights Reversion language. Oh, wait. That’s exactly where we’ll start. (If you missed Part One, you can read it here.)

6.) Control of Your Book Rights –Subsidiary Rights, Foreign Rights, and Reversion Rights. Retaining control of your digital rights (for e-books) and not have them tied up for years after your book is released is a HUGE benefit. The current contract language for e-books is lumped in with print book definitions. Makes no sense that digital books would have ANYTHING to do with print books, but most publishing contracts have these definitions lumped together in one clause or another (ie. “out of print” definitions and rights reversion language). Some of you may not know this or realize the impact until you try and get your backlist rights back, only to realize your house can keep rolling their rights to your work for years. This can be a nightmare. This is a HUGE reason for an author to self-publish, or at the very least, push to define e-books separately and not link the contractual terms to that of print book definitions. Why can’t e-book rights be limited to 2-3 years and stop? Why must an author ask for permission for rights that should automatically revert back to them and undergo a lengthy process over another 12-18 months where their digital rights are tied to royalty statements and definitions of books in print? Foreign rights can be lucrative too if your agent works this angle and shops them aggressively. Who knows? Maybe you both can shop those foreign rights on your next trip to France. Road trip! Continue reading “Ten Reasons Why I am Self-Publishing (Part 2) by Jordan Dane”