Crowdfund Your Book

Crowdfund Your Book

In the new era of self-publishing, crowdfunding and print-on-demand is sweeping through the publishing industry. Indie Publishers, like myself, are looking for more ways to get books in front of readers. But if you're self-publishing, this is even MORE important.

Check out our IndieGoGo Campaign for an example of an Indie Publishing Crowdfunder.

https://igg.me/at/soonkitty

What is Soon Kitty?

An illustrated picture book adventure of a procrastinating kitty with too much to do and no idea where to start. With illustrations by the talented James Ishizaki and written by YouTuber Grant Uchida, the message of Soon Kitty's plight hits a little close to home for me and my dreams as a writer and publisher. It's the kind of thing you want to tape to your motivation wall.

Where to start?

1. Write a good book. Make sure it's a story that sticks with you. Make sure there's tension or conflict. It can be internal, external, or both. But without conflict, most stories fall short. Also look for the strong message you're trying to send. We don't just write books to hear our words read by someone else. We write because there's something inside us that needs to be said, something that needs to come out. Find that, and you'll have more motivation to persist when you're on your 5th or 6th draft.
2. Research Your Options. I'm not going to get into each here (that's a whole other rabbit hole), but you're looking at 3-4 options.
• Traditional Publishing (writing Query Letters to agents, ect.)
• Self-Publishing (doing it all yourself; hiring an editor before publishing it on somewhere like Amazon's KDP or Barnes and Nobel's Press; learning formatting or hiring for it, cover design, ect. and then marketing like crazy ex. Crowdfunding, Social Media, &/or Advertising) --I strongly recommend checking out the Self Publishing Formula guys if you want to go this route.
• Indie Publishing (looking for micro-publishers like myself)
• Or a Hybrid of these options (just be up front and read paperwork thoroughly before signing with any publisher about your goals and plans)
3. Make a decision and go for broke. Start writing manuscripts like you've never written manuscripts before. A one off hit is about as likely as hitting the lottery--we still hope to hit it, but never count on it. This road is a marathon and will always take longer than you expect, more effort, and more rejection than you think you can handle. But if you're committed to doing this, then NOTHING can stop you.

I'm Back \ What do you believe is impossible for you?

What do you believe is impossible for you?

Let's welcome in the New Year by facing our fears. What is it that you've always wanted to do, but you've never believed that you could do it? Our fear of failure holds us back more than our lack of skills. Belief in yourself is paramount to reaching for the stars.

As children, all of us Millennials were told that we could do and be anything--until we hit a certain age. Then "reality" set in. "You need a real job that pays. Stop living in a fantasy."

But the Wright Brothers did the impossible. There was a great race for the creation of the first functional airplane just like the space race of the 1960's. Humanity has proven that with enough motivation and determination, we can overcome ANY obstacle. It really only comes down to this:

Who's going to win: You or The Wall standing in your way?

Who's Doing NaNoWriMo &/or Writing This Month?

Today marks the beginning of nanowrimo, in which thousands of aspiring authors will attempt to pen or type out an entire novel over the course of 30 days. I have mixed feelings about this.

Having just finished a non-fiction spiritual book, I know that I need to jump into the next book head on to continue my forward momentum. Yet, I don't feel dead set on any particular idea that fits the "nanowrimo" goals of 50,000 words or more. Thus far, I've followed my gut instinct on which stories my soul absolutely needs to tell first.

The first book I completed last year was a children's story. It started out as a Grimm fairy tale, devolved into a picture book, and then took on the full fledged likeness of a short chapter book meant for about age eight. After I finished, I set it aside and searched out the next most meaningful thoughts that needed to emerge. On the other end of the spectrum, it felt like it was time to write about my experiences with the terminally ill as a collection in a non-fiction book.

My taste in writing seems to follow the same path as my reading habits. I read more when I allow my mind to jump back and forth from wildly different genres rather than sticking to one favorite. Now, I sit pondering over forcing my mind into writing that environmental sci-fi novel brewing for the past four years or the dark sci-fi novel set that's been seeping in the rear kettle.

While those ideas are a little tantalizing, the idea burning away at my brain is a half finished picture book meant to be the first in a bilingual book series; screaming to be written, read out loud, and sent to my illustrator.

Halloween night, after watching Supernatural's Monster Movie episode on Netflix with fellow writer, Sammie Ann Fontaine, the laughter drew the truth out of me. I voiced my dislike of feeling restricted. I wanted to exercise that writing muscle back into shape by writing every day, but shoving myself into someone else's specially designed box felt too stifling and left me floundering and indecisive.

Together we worked out a plan to each spend at least an hour writing every day during the month of November to get ourselves back into the swing of things. She's also the one who suggested heading out to the library, not for the first time either. While it took a incredibly disturbing amount of effort to pull myself out of my own head space to get out of the house and into the library, I'm eternally grateful I did.

At home, we have crafts and birthday presents all over the living room where I normally do most of my writing. My mind immediately gravitated towards creative activities I could be doing or sewing projects that needed to get done. Walking into the kitchen prompted me towards any dishes that need doing. And my computer, well, let's just say Guild Wars 2 is calling every time I look at it. The bed tells me I should be folding laundry... You get the point. Obviously, I won't get any writing done at home today.

So, if you're one of those eager writers plugging away this month, make sure to give yourself a little nook somewhere that your mind can flow freely over your story ideas uninhibited by the drone daily life. Feel free to make your own goals for this month and freestyle it. I suggest picking whatever seems the most pressing and work towards finishing it before jumping onto the next idea. Just remember, writing is more like a lifestyle change rather than a quick dieting fix.

What are you guys working on this month? Anyone taking on the NaNoWriMo challenge or a challenge of their own?

The Service Technician and The Creeper

What do you do when the cable guy shows up?

Every time I've had a service guy come to the house, I'm always left wondering. What am I suppose to do with myself? If I stand around hovering over their shoulder, that's rude, right? But I need to be around for any questions they have, which they usually do.

This morning, I had just made my first cup of coffee for the day, and peaked out the front to see if anyone was out there. With amazing timing, the Comcast van pulls up. (I know, it's like a magical fairy tale.) I stand awkwardly in the hallway while he parks thinkinging, Is it creepy to be standing in the doorway? I decide I don't want to make him nervous, like I'd been staring out the window for two hours wondering where my service tech was--because I swear I wasn't.

Instead, I leave the storm door open and head back upstairs with all the doors open like a trail of breadcrumbs leading him into the den. ('Cause that can't possibly be creepy.)

In an effort to make it look like we don't disrobe in our computer/dining room, I start clearing off the table, putting things back in their places. (This is how you know I wasn't waiting attentively for two hours.) After the tech finishes his paperwork in the van and tentatively makes his way up the stairs to our apartment, I peak around the corner and say, "Come on in," holding my coffee cup hoping to appear nonchalant.

He asks the big question, something like what's going on, but all I can think is: Isn't there a mile long report on this? Where the heck do I start? So I start pointing at things and telling him what my husband did, the fact that he use to be a cable tech, yada yada, all the wiring's run upstairs in the attic, and we've burned out two small cable boxes in three days. Is that it? Nope.

Over the course of an hour, the tech is checking a few things that my husband was hoping he'd check that I forgot to mention. Good thing they sent a competent tech, runs through my head. Meanwhile, I'm on my third cup of coffee, the dishes are all put away, I'm ready to make a gallon of tea, and my paperwork is all layed out for when he leaves. Nervous? I'm not nervous. This is what everyone does when they don't want to just stand around looking stupid, right? Sure.

So, after checking every level and line known to man and giving us an awesome cable box bigger than my face, he tells me everything inside is all set. The line outside is weak, but they'll have a guy out here within the next 24 hours or so to fix the line outside.

I give him a big thank you, but can't shake his hand 'cause they're both full of equipment. Then, proceeded to follow him down the stairs to "lock my neighbors out" as I put it. Yeah, that was probably weird.

Twenty minutes later, I'm sitting here writing, nearly jittering off the kitchen chair, when I hear metal clattering outside. They can't possibly be here already, I think. So I amble to the front porch to peer out through the screen and sure enough, the guy never left. The man's outside up on a later across the street fixing our line. It's a good thing he excused himself already, otherwise I'd probably try to hug him.

Slinking back, hoping he didn't see me, I go back to my last cup of coffee to finish my blog post. Does anyone else have no idea what to do with themselves when the service technicians show up?

Poker Face Writing

There's a time and a place for different types of music. This is especially true for writing.One of the challenges to writing in a coffee shop is the music selection. If this is your writing space, then you learn to deal with it. The most obvious way is plugging in a blaring set of earbuds. But what's a good idea to listen to while writing?

It All Depends on What You're Writing

Some songs to avoid from my list own playlist as I write:

• Poker Face - Lady Gaga
• Raise Your Glass - P!nk
• Just Dance - Lady Gaga

Each time one of these songs came on, all productivity ceased. I love these songs, but they completely derailed my train of thought.

Dance music will usually lead to one thing--clubbing scenes. If that's what  you're writing, then have at it. Otherwise, you're making life REALLY hard on yourself. This is only one step up from listening to the radio in Dunkin Donuts.

If you're writing lyrics, listening to anything WITH lyrics is going to mess you up too. Last week I gave lyric writing a try with a general playlist on my iPod. I realized what kind of problem this was when I started trying to rhyme with what I was hearing. It didn't change the subject I was writing, but when you realize you've just written something to rhyme with "astronaut" it's time to switch to instrumental. One really cool instrumental group is Two Steps From Hell. A lot of their pieces sound like epic movie trailer music. (I have the Archangel album from iTunes.)

For those of you working on a long piece of writing such as a novel, I highly recommend putting together a playlist specifically for that book. Songs that speak of the characters and their motivations or the atmosphere of the story or location will help your consistency when writing those characters and atmospheres. My husband has a playlist of songs that would fit in a post apocalyptic movie to help inspire him as he writes his book in a similar genre. I've even talked to other writers who have playlists for each character and scenes.

Whether you're working on a blog or your first novel, pay attention to what you're listening to when you write. Notice how it influences you're writing. Is it helping? Is it grinding you to a hault? Is this something you could see playing in the background during a scene? Make sure to jot it down when you find a song that's significant to your pieces. It'll help you pick up the scene again if you need to go back to it. And it wouldn't hurt to have another layer of media to add to your story.

Bird by Bird

A book I read last year, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, said to keep writing. Write every day. Write every thing. It's all going to be crap in the beginning. But write it anyway. I'm telling myself this today because I can't seem to get any words out. I was excited to sit down and write tonight. It was something I was looking forward to. But now that I'm here I'm reminded, writing is work.

Magical thoughts don't just fly out of your brain because you've decided it's time to do the work. This is the normal life of a writer. Learning how to write when you aren't inspired.

So here we go. The timer is set for one hour.

[Maleficent Review]

Time!

An hour later, I have a nearly complete review. A lot of it started out as bullet points. And I rearranged entire paragraphs and rewrote every sentence three times. What did I learn specifically from writing this review while completely uninspired? Bullet points are a great starting point.

After I got three bullet points down, my opinionated personality kicked in and started supplying the commentary. The more I wrote, the more I wanted to write. When the hour was up I didn't really want to stop. At this point, I still need to pull up a quick search to find out how the movie did in the theaters. I remember it wasn't a great turnout, but it also wasn't terrible, but numbers speak louder than a vague recollection. Once I collect that data, I can read through it again for a final edit and then I'm ready to post.

What are your experiences with writing when you're just not in the right frame of mind? How do you get past “writer's block?”

My First Reading

It's the fourth writer's group meeting and I've finished my first draft of the picture book/short story I've been working on for a month. The last couple of scenes were like slowly yanking out my own teeth with pliers, but I got it done. I'm exceedingly proud of myself for finishing a draft even if it is a child's book.

After we write for an hour, we go around the table talking about how we're doing and what we learned and what we need advice on. Today, I leap in to go first because I can't shut up. I'm in between wanting to rip out of my eyebrows in frustration and gleaming with pride.

The biggest issue I face is whether to turn it into a chapter book or rewrite it as a picture book. The word count is more than double the limit for a picture book. I'm too descriptive and I know it, but I can't help myself. I like living out the story through the eyes of my characters.

They ask if I'd like to read any of it. Since I've already mentioned the "dark moment" to them that poses a dilemma of age appropriate writing, I read that one paragraph aloud. This is the first thing I've read out loud to this group. Ever. I will never forget the apprehensive expressions they all wore after I read the last sentence. This is a children's book? Their verbal response confirms the silent shock on their faces. I have written a grim fairy tale.

I am not ashamed. It feel like I should be, but I'm not. When I get home, I do the dishes. Then sit down to email all three of them the rough draft before the task escapes me (and before I start feeling self-conscious about it). I research Grimm's Fairy Tales. Based on the word count range in those tales, my story does have a category.

Since I still have the images of a picture book in my head, I make a plan of attack to write a "Disney" version that might be easier to sell. Everything I read about writing a picture book tells me that it needs to be 1,000 words or less. The Brothers Grimm did not follow this rule. Cinderella, Snow White, even Hansel and Gretel, all pushed the 3,000 word mark.

Later, I'll edit the first draft and see if it has a place in the world. If not, I'll buy a pretty bound book of Grimm Fairy Tales and slip into it's binding a story untold.