Some Lessons to Learn About Self-Publishing 1. You are NOT competing with self-published books. You are competing with ALL books published. 2. Readers do not care who publishes your book. Most of the disdain for self-publishing comes from mainstream published authors and publishers. 3. Self-publishing, if done properly, is a respectable way to publish a quality book but when comparing the cost/benefit of either method, it is simply a matter of ‘pay me now or pay me later’. a. Mainstream publishing –The publisher covers the cost of editing your book, formatting it, and creating an appealing cover, but these costs are passed along to you by virtue of the relatively small royalty you will receive on the back end. b. Self-publishing – While you receive a much higher percentage of your book’s selling price at the front end, you must engage the services of professionals to do the work that a traditional publisher would have done. Think of this as buying a new house that a…
Ingredients In Story-Telling That Impact A Reader’s Imagination
Clare Flynn Award winning author and 3 time B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree, Clare Flynn is sharing here thoughts on creating a great story. Thank you for sharing with us Clare- What are the steps in creating a setting for your story? My start point with a book is usually setting. My imagination is captured by a particular location. There will be something specific that is the source of its appeal to me as a writer and then I think how I can bring that to life on the page. I then imagine a character within this setting and let my imagination go from there. Sometimes I will have visited a location – perhaps on holiday – or in the past on a business trip, and having been inspired by it, I may return to spend more time there. On the return visit I’m gathering detail and texture to bring the setting to life on the page. This may include sounds – what can I hear that makes this place different? smells – everywhere has its special smell – what is this one? touch – how can I pull in sensory imagery that evokes what it is really like to be there?.…
indieBRAG 2017 Cover Contest Prizes!
The Grand Prize will include the following items, with an approximate retail value of over $1000. Sponsor reserves the right to substitute prizes. Cover will be featured on the indieBRAG Homepage Cover will be featured on the indieBRAG Facebook Page Cover will be featured on indieBRAG Twitter Audio Book Radio One Hour interview, book excerpt reading WordsAPlenty - Editing of new book or re-editing (Value over $400) Beta Reading (Value $75) Silverwood Books Publishing - Publishing Package including the following: 12.5% discount on the Silver Service Package (Value $300) 12.5% discount Publishing Service Only Package - for authors with their own ISBN and that prefer to manage their own distribution and sales (Value $240) Providence Book Promotions - 1 free book blast (Value $125) on either: Partners in Crime Tours (for mystery & suspense genres) or Providence Book Promotions (for all genres) Chill With A Book - Free Submission for one book (Value $20) Layered Pages - Interview, review with…
Quality is important!
Self- Publishing Self-published authors are not competing with other self-published authors but ALL authors. Once a book is available for sale, it must be up to the standard that readers expect from all good books. You rarely get a second chance for a good first impression! Once you put out a book that lacks professionalism, readers will be less likely to try your next book. This can be a very difficult hurdle to get over. Traditionally published authors are not your enemy. Most traditionally published authors don’t have any advantages that you can’t achieve. Traditionally Published books are: Edited by the publisher Cover art is done by the publisher Some help with promotion is provided- most is expected from the author unless they have high sales. Lower royalty payments Self- Published books are: Editing is provided by the author Cover provided by the author Promotion done by the author Higher royalty payments. If a SP author pays for professional help, they will probably come out about equal in money made. Doing the work requires time and money but the author maintains complete control- something that is often very important. The self-publishing community is very generous in advice and with a…
HISTORICAL FICTION JOINS THE BONUS MARCH OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
by Glen Craney American soldiers denied their service bonuses. Protesters stage sit-ins to expose the greed of big banks. Homeless veterans huddle in tents. Rising anger against politicians sparks a populist movement. Headlines ripped from this year’s front pages—and from newspapers published eighty-five years ago. History doesn’t repeat itself, Mark Twain warned, but it often rhymes. And during the Great Depression, similar stories of woe and outrage held the nation’s alarmed attention. Long before Occupy Wall Street, there was Occupy Washington. In my historical novel, The Yanks Are Starving, I tell the story of eight Americans who survived the fighting in France during World War I and came together fourteen years later to determine the fate of a nation on the brink of upheaval. Culminating with what became known as the Bonus March of unemployed war veterans, the novel is a sweeping epic of the government betrayal that sparked the only violent clash between two American armies under the same flag. I became interested in the history of the Bonus March while covering Congress as a Washington, D.C. reporter. After moving to Los Angeles to write movie scripts, I turned my research into one of those screenplays that Hollywood executives…
Happy Thanksgiving to the indieBRAG Family!
A Writer’s Life: Interview with Helen Hollick
I’d like to welcome back award winning author Helen Hollick today. She is here to talk with us about a big part of her writing. I first started this series-A Writer’s Life- over at Layered Pages and decided to bring it to indieBRAG for our authors. This is Helen’s third participation in this series. -Stephanie M. Hopkins Helen Hollick lives with her husband, daughter and son-in-law in North Devon, England, in an eighteenth century farmhouse, surrounded by thirteen acres of fields and woodland. A variety of pets include her daughter’s side-saddle riding horse and a show jumper, two Exmoor ponies which once ran wild on Exmoor, two cats who ignore each other, two wonderful dogs from the Dog’s Trust rescue Centre, some chickens, ducks, and a very grumpy goose called Bernadette (although Boudicca is a more appropriate name!). All of Helen’s books in The Sea Witch Voyages series are B.R.A.G.Medallion Honorees. She also has a number of respected books of historical fiction which are traditionally published. Including the bestseller The Forever Queen the story of Emma of Normandy and The Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy, set in the fifth century, has also been widely acclaimed as a different telling of the Arthurian Myth – no…
The Bitti Chai and The Lost Souls
As we all know themes and getting to know characters so we might connect to them is so important in storytelling. Today Jane Brown is sharing a little about her characters from her stories, The Bitti Chai and The Lost Souls. Share about the themes in your story. The main theme running through The Bitti Chai and the follow up The Lost Souls is the all consuming enduring love between Reigneth and Johnny. The Bitti Chai tells of Reigneth's formative years, her struggle to come to terms with her gift for foreseeing the future; the ancient prophecy surrounding Reigneth's birth and her families need to protect her from the outside world. We discover more about her relationship with her family and the huge changes which take place in their life following Reigneth's father's death. Finally Reigneth meeting and falling in love with Jonathan Wilmott. The Lost Souls continues the young lover's story and the physical changes they both undergo following their marriage. We see their relationship unfold and grow and Johnny's involvement with Reigneth's cousins Aaron and James deepen and solidify. The Man with Two Minds to be released in 2017 will take the story further and delve deeper into…
Fair game or a theme too far?
By G.J. Reilly-B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree As a writer, this week is perhaps one of the most important in my calendar, so, when indieBRAG and Layered Pages announced that they were looking for posts, I jumped at the chance. It’s funny how teen readers get just one week. I love the fact that teens get a week at all, but as a novelist who writes with young adults in mind, part of my job is to encourage teens to read as often as they can. It was teaching that led me to write for that age group. Many of my characters have been influenced by the people I’ve taught over the years. Indeed, some of the themes I’ve tried to explore in the Book of Jerrick series have come from snippets of conversations that I’ve overheard in the corridors, or in the classroom. Before we go on, I’d like to emphasise something that all writers should know – ‘Young Adult’ is NOT a genre, it’s an age bracket which, although popular with older readers, is written with teens in mind. Young adult readers enjoy exactly the same ‘genres’ of books as everyone else (and many of the same themes too). That’s…
The Dirty Secret to Writing your Novel
By Christopher Angel -Award Winning B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree You’ve just completed the manuscript to your novel. You’ve had friends and family proof-read it, maybe even a professional editor takes a pass. You’re ready to share your bouncing new baby with the world. And you know there’s a few final things you have to take care of. The book cover is the obvious one. I spent a lot of time agonizing over the right image and font to represent my novel, The Mona Lisa Speaks (about the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre). I was fortunate, because I had a friend who is an expert at designing art book jacket covers who helped me out (check out her amazing work at here) So, you have your cover art, so now you’re ready to publish right? Well, hold on. Here’s the secret. I’m going to give it away right now. Writing the book is only part one of a two-part job. And unfortunately, the skills of being a great writer only partly translate to the second job. Because these days, in our cluttered media space, being an author means you also have to become a marketing expert. The good news…
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Most Discussed Posts
- Egyptian Jews- a Culinary Community
- What do you know about self-publishing?
- The Plague!
- Trucking Together!
- A conundrum!
- Memories of the Deli-
- Time Travel
- A Trip into Medieval England
- Ahh! Summer Reading & a Lovely Tomato Salad
- Time Travel
- A Memorial Day Special!
- Delicious Savory Onion Pie is paired with this month’s Foodie Lit historical novel, Infants in the Brush.
- “I TRIPLE-dog-dare ya!”
- Handfasting- a commitment by joining hands
- Attention Mainstream & Self-Published Authors!
- Have you ever wondered how snowflakes are made?
- The Earl Of Wessex - Sons of the Wolf
- HOW TO WRITE A BOOK REVIEW IN 4 EASY STEPS
- Benefits of Reading to Children
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