Tag Archives: Business

The Business of Books: Publish and Don’t be Damned

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Jane Cable’s big lessons from self publishing

At the moment I’m juggling. Even more than ever with a house move and Chindi’s talks at the Festival of Chichester both approaching at a frightening pace. And juggling means making the best use of my time, so when I was thinking about the biggest lessons I’ve learnt for Chindi’s self publishing workshop I thought they would make a good article as well.

Put simply, they fall into two categories.

  1. Your book may be self published but it has to be as good as anything brought out by a major house – if not better. You can’t afford for it to look out of place in a bookshop or on people’s shelves at home. Cover design, shape and size are hugely important.The content has to be perfect too – and I mean perfect. You are asking people to pay for your work and this is a total game-changer. How would you feel if you picked up badly stitched shirt – or a book full of typos where the plot didn’t hang together?The best single piece of advice I can give any would-be author is that if you are tempted to publish your book without anyone else looking at it first, then don’t. Even the super-talented have lapses of concentration and mistakes creep in. At least have some sort of edit or proof read. Follow your gut instinct as to which would be the most important for you.

    Basically there are three main sorts of edit: structural (which evaluates the whole manuscript and how well it works as a novel); copy (studies the manuscript line by line for spelling, grammar and consistency); proof read (works on the print or ebook ready version for formatting and a final check on spelling and grammar).

    It’s always best to pay a professional but if you really can’t afford it and/or have a super-careful relative or friend at least get them to proof it. You’ve spent so long nurturing your manuscript you just won’t see all the mistakes yourself.

  2. You will spend at least as much time marketing as writing and you need to do it. You have no-one else to do it for you, unless you can afford professional help.Before your book comes out, cover the basics: think about who your target audience are, how you are going to reach them and how/where they are going to buy your book. You will be in a very crowded market. How is your book different? How can you make it sound unique and enticing?Although I had some background in PR and promotion, when my first novel, The Cheesemaker’s House, came out I was clueless about book publicity. I had arranged for a former colleague to do some PR for me, but that was it. Pretty soon I had to learn about social media, book bloggers, AI sheets, collateral. Because I had chosen an assisted publishing route with Matador it was easier, but I still needed to invest a huge amount of time.

    There are, however, great resources available: books (such as Chindi’s Before You Press Publish), online (ALLi – The Alliance of Independent Authors), blogs and of course groups like Chindi which exist to help you and provide mutual support. When I joined Chindi my marketing came on in leaps and bounds and as the group becomes more online we welcome authors from around the world.Even if you move into the world of traditional publishing these skills are hugely important and it’s always worth remembering that ultimately you are responsible for your book’s success.Find out more about Chindi’s author resources here: http://www.chindi-authors.co.uk/for-writers/

 

 

How To Have More Than 100 Titles Published

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This week I talk to multi-published and multi-talented author and writing tutor, Karen King.

 

How much of your working life does the business of books take up?

The short answer is all of it! Writing – and teaching writing – is how I earn my living.  So every day I’m either writing, visiting schools to talk about writing, running a writing course, marking writing students’ assignments or doing social media about my books.

 

 

What’s your business model to earn a living from writing? 

 

Keep writing. Be flexible. Be aware of the market. Be dedicated. I’ve often worked to commissions so I’ve had to be adaptable, to work to publishers’ briefs and keep track of current trends. As I earn my living from writing it’s a priority for me. Writing comes first, ironing and cleaning is way behind. I had four young children when I first started writing so worked around them, early in the morning, evening and late at night. Writing for magazines meant I had deadlines to work to and, at first, this was the days before email so I had to write up my story/article or whatever, and get it in the post often within a few hours.

karenking How To Have More Than 100 Titles Published

What do you write and what do you consider to be your major successes?
I’ve been a published writer for over thirty years now and for the first twenty years I wrote solely for children. I started off my writing career writing for teen magazines like Jackie, Patches and Loving then moved on young children’s magazines such as Thomas the Tank Engine, My Little Pony, Barbie and Sindy. I wrote photo stories, comic strips, short stories, articles, puzzles, the lot. I even wrote a horoscope page and a problem page. Alongside this, I wrote children’s books. Now I tend to write mainly YA and chicklit. I was really delighted when Accent Press contracted me for three chicklit novels, and offered to republish my backlist too. They have such a great reputation and are a delight to work for. That’s my major success so far.

Tell me about your latest project.

I’ve just finished my third chicklit for Accent Press. The second one comes out in July, it’s called The Cornish Hotel by the Sea, and the cover is so lovely I keep looking at it. Accent are also republishing my YA Perfect Summer on 10 May. It’s got a fab new cover and has been completely revised. I’m really excited about it as it deals with two themes close to my heart, the pressure society puts on people to have perfect looks and how people with disabilities are treated. The tagline is ‘In a society obsessed with perfection, being different is a crime’ so that gives you a big clue to the plot.

 

Author Bio

Karen King is a multi-published author of children’s books, YA and romantic fiction. She has had 120 children’s books published, three romantic novels and several short stories for women’s magazines. She is also a writing tutor. Her YA Perfect Summer is released on 10 May and her second chicklit, The Cornish Hotel by the Sea will be released in July.

Contact links

www.karenking.net

Amazon Author Page

Karen King Children’s Books Facebook

Karen King Romance Author Facebook

 

 

The Business of Books: #AMREADING

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the-business-of-books-interviewswithjanecableJane Cable starts working through her ‘to be read’ pile

Two weeks ago I wrote, with some trepidation, about my slightly difficult relationship with reading now that I’m a writer. I have to say I was really pleased by the positive comments I received from other authors feel the same – I certainly don’t feel so much of a freak. But nevertheless I made a decision: this month I’m not going to write – I’m going to read.

I have, however, imposed a basic rule: the books I choose have to be in my genre – contemporary romance. Of course this exercise is for pleasure but it’s also research into how other writers and their publishers achieve excellence. So, what have I been reading? And what have I learnt?

The Girl on the Beach by Morton S Gray (Choclit)

You simply can’t be a romance author and ignore Choclit. They have such a huge presence in the market it felt irresponsible not to have read anything they’ve published. I decided to start putting that right with The Girl on the Beach because it was a mystery as well as a love story so right up my street.

It was completely different to my own books in that much of the intrigue was fairly obvious and initially I wondered how it was going to hold my attention. But it did – largely because of the wonderful characters; I cared about Ellie and as with every great romance, even fell for Harry just a little bit myself. The writing was crisp and unpretentious and I found it hard to put this book down. It re-enforced my belief that well written mainstream romance will never die.

The Business of Books- #AMREADING

Last Dance in Havana by Rosanna Ley (Quercus)

I have been a big fan of Ley’s for some years and was delighted when she provided me with some lovely cover quotes for Another You. Last Dance in Havana flips between Bristol (which I know) and Havana (which I don’t) and tells the story of a step-daughter’s and step-mother’s searches for love. Ley’s descriptions brought both places to life to the point I could feel the Cuban sun on my back but it was her superb characterisation that made the book for me. In particular Rosa, the older woman, will remain in my head and heart for a very long time.

Writing as well as Rosanna Ley takes years of experience but thinking about this book (and her others) they show me that with a good story, great characters and an amazing sense of place you don’t need gimmicks to write a first class commercial romance.

Sealskin by Su Bristow (Orenda Press)

Sealskin is the book everyone is talking about at the moment. It’s a re-telling of a Scottish legend about the selkies, seals which can turn into people, and is a fairly short but thought-provoking read. I was completely transported to a remote Scottish fishing village and one of the really clever things about the book is its timelessness – there isn’t a clue about when the story takes place and it actually doesn’t matter. It’s a multi-layered romance which sits equally well in the realms of literary fiction which is where its publisher’s interests lie.

It’s also been marketed incredibly well by Orenda and I’m delighted that the dynamo behind this amazing independent publishing house, Karen Sullivan, will guest on this column in April. In the meantime I’m trying to work out what I would need to do before I’d even consider sending a manuscript to them. Although I can recognise literary fiction when I see it, how to create it is another matter entirely. Definitely something to aim for, though.

 

 

Business of Books: Claire Dyer

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the-business-of-books-interviewswithjanecableClaire Dyer is a novelist and poet from Reading, Berkshire. Her novels are published by Quercus and her poetry collections are published by Two Rivers Press. She likes love stories and cheese!

How much of your working life does the business of books take up?

I’d say all of it. Until recently I balanced my writing life with a part-time job in London and bringing up my family. However, now that my kids have grown up and left home and my husband is happily ensconced in a new business venture, I am in the very fortunate position of being able to live a full-time writing life.

It’s interesting that you use the phrase ‘business of books’ in the question though, because I do very much consider what I do as a job. My working week comprises of days when I’m at my desk by 9.00 am and finish around 5.00 pm and then two nights a week I teach Creative Writing for Bracknell & Wokingham College. I also attend a regular poetry class in London and am out most other evenings at writing-related events, including workshops, book launches, poetry readings, etc., etc.

However, if you were to ask what I do during those hours at my desk I’d struggle to give it definition because it’s so varied. There’s a lot of networking to do, of course, and lesson planning and I do try and set aside chunks of time to write, but my commitments as Chair of Reading Writers, Poets’ Café Rep for Reading’s Poets’ Café and the work I do for my Fresh Eyes clients also keep me busy. No two days are ever the same and I never quite know what will come through on email or what poem might insist on being written, and if and when I’m involved in writing, editing or rewriting a novel then that’s a whole different kettle of fish altogether!

So I hope I’ve answered the question OK because, for me, being a novelist and poet is a full-time job even though I don’t write novels or poems all the time!

What’s your business model to earn a living from writing?

I guess that unless you’re a regular best-selling author (preferably with a film deal!) or a poet whose work wins major prizes or secures lectureships at high-ranking academic institutions, it’s hard to make a living from writing as many will testify, and I’m afraid I’m not very hard-nosed when it comes to financial things.

I have been lucky enough to earn some money from my fiction, including advances, royalties and the sale of foreign rights, and poetry competition wins and fees earned from Fresh Eyes clients and running workshops have brought in some other income, but my teaching role is done more for love than money, as are the voluntary roles I have within the local writing community.

So I would say overall that my business model is very ad hoc, not thought-through and definitely would not sustain even the lowliest of writing garrets! However, I live in hope that one day I’ll become a regular best-selling author (with a film deal) AND a poet whose work wins major prizes, secures lectureships, etc. etc.!

Claire Dyer - credit Dale Strickland-Clark

Claire Dyer – credit Dale Strickland-Clark

What do you write and what do you consider to be your major successes?

I write novels which I hope would appeal to quite a wide range of readers and which are probably better defined by what they’re not, than what they are. They aren’t really light commercial women’s fiction, nor are they literary fiction but they do (I hope) tell convincing stories about emotional dilemmas in a prose style which is both succinct yet lyrical!

With regard to my poetry, again I would say I’m more of a lyric poet than anything else. I do, however, believe very strongly in the crossover between poetry and fiction; both tell stories and both need the careful placing of just the right words in the right order!

My major successes must be my published works which include (so far, she says hopefully!) 2 novels and 2 poetry collections and my academic qualifications (I have 3 degrees but alas can’t sing nor do I own a sparkly dress!)

However, success in the writing world is a strange thing to quantify. As I say above it isn’t always (and can’t be) about money; it can be about reputation though and about being supportive to other writers; it can also be about stretching yourself to write more honed and precise poems and novels which could in time prove memorable.

As a novelist and poet I feel I’m always learning and am always challenging myself and I would consider myself successful if I could become a better writer and poet, a better champion for the written word in whatever form this takes and to continue to love what I do.

Tell me about your latest project.

I have a couple of projects ongoing at the moment.

I’ve just finished rewriting a novel in concert with my wonderful agent and have had a huge amount of fun and have learned heaps during the process. I will also be putting together a new collection of poetry over the next few years (the last one took 4 years to complete) and in the meantime am working on a collaborative poetry project with two amazing poets and have started a new novel (with I’m glad to say the approval of my aforementioned wonderful agent)!

I’m not sure what 2017 will bring because the writing life is nothing but unpredictable: good news and/or bad news could be on their way, the only thing for sure is that what any writer needs is a big heart, a huge amount of courage, a thick skin and plenty of chocolate!

The Business of Books

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the-business-of-books-interviewswithjanecableThroughout 2017 I’ll be alternating my own blog posts with interviews with other authors and book business insiders. I have a background in business myself, having trained as a chartered accountant and run my own company for the last sixteen years and when I embarked on my career as an author it was comforting to know how the commercial world works.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt in my business life is never to ask anyone to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself. So in that spirit I’m going to kick off the series by answering the questions I’m going to be asking other authors.

How much of your working life does the business of books take up?

Up until now I’ve planned my working life so that a day a week is devoted to writing and the rest to the accountancy business I run with my husband. In practice I rarely take a whole day off so I’d say the split of my week as a whole is more like 25:75.

In 2017 all that will change as we’re going to move to Cornwall so that I can write more or less full time. Enough of our accountancy business can be done online or in distinct jobs which can completed with visits back to Hampshire when we’ll catch up with friends as well. We felt it was a bit of a risk but we have good relationships with our clients and most have been really supportive.

Now we just have to sell our house!

What’s your business model to earn a living from writing?

Unlike most authors, at the moment my only income stream from writing is book sales.

Being an accountant I set up my writing in a separate limited company from the start. The company owns the copyright to all my work and is owned by our accountancy business because I knew I would make losses initially so it was a more tax efficient structure.

2016 will be the first year the company makes a profit and I’m really proud it’s come so soon. This is purely from sales of The Cheesemaker’s House and The Faerie Tree – mainly ebooks and mainly from Amazon, although paperback sales from local outlets and events have also played a part.

At the moment I plan to re-invest any profit I make in marketing in the hope that the accountancy business can continue to generate enough money for us both to live off.

the-business-of-booksjanecable

What do you write and what do you consider to be your major successes?

I write romantic novels with a twist of suspense. Undoubtedly the things which have made the most difference to my writing career were winning prizes. Way back in 2011 an early draft of The Cheesemaker’s House was a finalist when the Alan Titchmarsh Show won a competition sponsored by Harper Collins to find a new novelist. It gave me the confidence to press ahead and publish the book independently when I couldn’t find an agent or a publisher for it and it’s still my biggest commercial success, ending 2016 in the top 100 romantic ghost stories in the Kindle UK chart.

But it was the second competition the book actually won – the Words for the Wounded Independent Novel Award in 2015 – which moved my career on a stage when as a direct result I was signed by my agent, Felicity Trew. Within a year I had my first publishing contract with Endeavour Press.

Tell me about your latest project

My Endeavour ebook, Another You, was published just before Christmas. As Frost readers who regularly follow my blogs will know, the timing was something of a surprise and my latest project is getting together some serious marketing.

But the new writing cannot stand still and I am on the verge of completing an initial draft of what I hope will be my next novel, a romantic mystery set under the endless skies of Lincolnshire.

Jane Cable
www.janecable.com
@JaneCable

 

 

Stop Talking Start Doing Action Book By Sháá Wasmund MBE Book Review

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Stop Talking Start Doing Action Book By Sháá Wasmund MBE Book Review

In 2013 I very briefly met Sháá at a How to Create A Non-Fiction Bestseller seminar at RADA. Sháá was great during the seminar, giving lots of advice and getting good answers out of the publishers who were there. Despite everyone in the room wanting to talk to Sháá she took some time out to acknowledge me. I always remembered her courteousness and generosity. She has charisma and talent in spades. When I got the press release for her new book I jumped at the chance to do a review.

This book works for a number of reasons: it can be read in one sitting (as I did), it has practical tools and exercises to do throughout the book, it has inspiring quotes, and the book is well structured. It allows you to take one step and then another. By the end, who knows what you will have achieved? The book gives you a kick in the pants while removing all of the excuses you make to yourself. It also takes advice from other self help writers and either expands on them or uses them to make a point. All in all this is a great inspirational book which helps you get your butt into gear. I wasn’t disappointed.

Stop Talking, Start Doing Action Book: Practical Tools and Exercises to Give You a Kick in the Pants is available here.

 

Stop Talking, Start Doing Action Book

Practical tools and exercises to give you a kick in the pants

 By Sháá Wasmund MBE

Published by Capstone.

Paperback original and e-book, £9.99

ISBN: 9780857086860

New book shows how to apply an entrepreneurial spirit to life

The Stop Talking, Start Doing Action Book is a motivational kick in the pants for anyone who has an itch to try something new or feels that there must be more to life. Encouraging people to face their fears, it helps readers identify their personal starting point and develop a plan to reach their goals.

Stop Talking, Start Doing Action Book is written by bestselling author and leading businesswoman, Sháá Wasmund. Awarded an MBE in 2015 for her services to business and enterprise, she helps readers apply an entrepreneurial spirit to achieve more and gain greater fulfilment from life.

Whether readers want to ditch their partner, seek a promotion, renovate their house, write a book, or start travelling, the Action Book demonstrates how to find the inspiration, self-discipline and confidence to move from talking to doing.

“As time roars past our ears we drift, deliberate, doubt and take ourselves too seriously” says Shaa. “But there’s never been a better time to start something. Now more than ever we live in a world of opportunity.”

A follow-up to the bestselling Stop Talking Start Doing (Wiley, 2011), the Action Book includes new tools and exercises to support readers who want to put their ideas into motion.

 

About the author:

Sháá Wasmund is a graduate of The London School of Economics. Her entrepreneurial career had an unusual start. At 22 she won a competition to interview Super Middleweight boxing champ Chris Eubank and ended up helping to promote his next fight to a sell-out 48,000 live crowd and an 18 million TV audience. Sháá remains an ardent boxing fan.

Shortly after she set up her own PR and marketing company and won the then relatively unknown vacuum cleaner company Dyson as one of her first clients. Working alongside Sir James Dyson helping to establish Dyson as a global brand taught Sháá more about business than any MBA. To this day, Sháá credits James as being one her biggest sources of inspiration.

Sháá’s love affair with the Internet began after she became a founding director in Sir Bob Geldof’s online travel company. A year later, Sháá raised substantial funds to launch mykindaplace.com an early social networking site. The company was later sold to BSkyB.

Sháá is an international bestselling author, prolific public speaker, digital native and passionate champion of small businesses. Amongst other accolades, Sháá has been voted by the Institute of Directors as one of the UK’s Most Connected Women.

In 2009 Sháá launched Smarta.com, the UK’s #1 Resource for Small Business. In 2011 Sháá launched ‘Smarta Business Builder’, a groundbreaking cloud-based toolkit for business.

In 2015, Sháá was presented with an MBE from the Queen for her ‘services to business and enterprise’ and published her second #1 bestseller Do Less, Get More: How To Work Smart and Live Life Your Way.

Sháá now runs business bootcamps, workshops and coaching programmes under her own brand, shaa.com. She has helped thousands of people monitize their passions and knowledge to build digital businesses they love.

She’s a regular guest on Sky Sunrise, reviewing the papers with Eamonn Holmes and now speaks on stages across the world, most recently sharing stages with Gary Veynerchuck and E-Myth legend Michael Gerber.

 

Follow Sháá: @Shaawasmund

Facebook: facebook.com/shaawasmund

 

 

Stop Talking, Start Doing

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stoptalkingstartdoingactionbookSupposing you could take the next 2 years off from your normal life? You didn’t have to worry about where you live, earning a living, paying the bills, what family, friends and colleagues would think of what you do in those next 24 months.

What are you going to do in this time?

Do you want to write a book, start a band, study, renovate your house, leave your partner, your job, the town you live in and travel far and wide?

Get a pen and paper and write it down. Now. Write down the things you’d do and the people and places it would involve. Find an image from a magazine (or download one from online and print off), something that depicts what it is you really want to do.

If you’ve got something you want to do, now is a good time to start. Now more than ever we live in a world of opportunity.

Life is shorter than we expect and it races by while we’re working out what’s really important and what actually isn’t. So let’s walk the walk.

Here are 4 good reasons why you should stop talking, start doing:

 

  1. You can

Our connected world makes it possible for people to actualize dreams, ideas and initiative in ways our forebears could not even dream of. Whatever you want to know, it’s all at your fingertips.

Whether you want to start a business, a work of art or a social project, the soaring development of the social web have demolished barriers between you and the expertise you need. It empowers you to ask friends of friends (and friends of friends of friends) if they can offer advice, make introductions, share experiences.

Who do you know who’s already doing or has done what you want to do? Get in touch with them. Ask to meet them, talk on the phone or email them and find out how they did it. What are their top tips?

 

  1. Unconventional is Conventional

Sixty years ago a gentleman wouldn’t go to work without a hat on; ten years ago they stopped wearing ties. Now you don’t have go into work to go to work… so who knows what people are wearing. But the point is: who cares?!

Society cares less about conformity than it used to. The concept of a job for life is long gone. Self-employment is soaring.

If you want to give up your job and travel round the world, learn to juggle, join a commune – your neighbours might cough and shake their heads but you can cope with that…Or they might just tell you how they always wanted to do the same thing.

 

  1. The Feeling of Emptiness

For an awful lot of people, the fruits of their labour was the ability to maximize their debt and buy the biggest house they could afford in the area they wanted to live. And then the market crashed. Which was when you began to think to yourself: Is that all there is? Where’s my job satisfaction if it isn’t in the mortgage? What would I rather be doing with my free time? With my money? How am I going to change things?

In response to the feeling of emptiness and a search for meaning we are witnessing the emergence of business entities created for reasons other than solely monetary profit.

It’s not that seeking profit is necessarily bad. Far from it. But this trend shows a growing appreciation of how people can be powerfully motivated and compensated by the intrinsic meaning of what they DO and not just by a financial bonus scheme.

Waiting for an urban plot of land to work on before you start waiting to leave the city and grow your own vegetables in your own garden? Don’t confine your dream to waiting. Get your hands dirty. Start.

 

  1. That Ticking Sound

One thing technology hasn’t changed. You won’t live forever.

You might live a bit longer but that’s all the more reason to start pursuing the life you want, not just the one you’ve ended up with.

You don’t want to be an anonymous face in the crowd of your own life story. That’s a life of regret. You gotta face your fears and climb inside the ropes. Let’s get moving.

 

This article is based on Stop Talking, Start Doing Action Book: Practical tools and exercises to give you a kick in the pants by Shaa Wasmund (published by Capstone)

 

 

Using a Copyrighted Picture Cost One Blogger $7,500. Why You Should Never Use Copyrighted Pictures

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Using a Copyrighted Picture Cost One Blogger $7500. Why You Should Never Use Copyrighted PicturesDo you take images from Google without checking the copyright and hope for the best? Then stop. Pictures from Google and other search engines are protected by copyright law. It is rare to be sued over an image, or even to get a cease and desist letter, but it only takes one mistake to lose vast amounts of money. If you want proof then here is one example,

Chrystie from Living for Nap Time blogged about green pepper coupons in 2014, she needed an image so did a Google image search for a photo of green peppers, found one she wanted and then uploaded it, months later she received an email from a lawyer stating that the image cost $750. Chrystie pointed out that it was a picture of a green pepper that you can get a lot cheaper, the lawyer responded that the law was on their side and that their client wanted $7,500 in damages.

Chrystie researched the person in question and found out that they owned lots of domains and seemed to be planting clearly-tagged pictures to boost the SEO of the pictures. Chrystie thinks they did this to optimise the pictures so bloggers like her would use the image and would then sue the blogger in question. Chrystie had to hire her own lawyer. Her lawyer advised her to settle the case even though the chances of it going to court were small because if it did go to court she would be liable for the claim and all of the court costs, which could cost $100,000 or more.

The truth is, if you copy a picture from the internet and it is copyrighted it is protected by law and you are liable for the cost of the image or even damages even if you link back to the original source. So don’t do it, it’s not worth it! This case is American and people in the UK may be less likely to sue but it is not worth the risk.

If you need free images you can search Google for copyright-free images by clicking on the options icon in the top right hand corner then going to advanced search. If you then scroll to the bottom you will get to ‘usage’ and can click on ‘free to use or share – even commercially’. There are a few options, including an option to modify images. It helps to take a screenshot of the copyright-free image to further protect yourself. Don’t get caught out. You can also take your own pictures which is the best option as you can then tag them and get hits via Google Image Search. I will do another post on where you can get free images for your blog soon. In the meantime, stay safe.

 

For more blogging tips like this check out my book The Ultimate Guide To Becoming a Successful Blogger. It tells you everything you will ever need to know about blogging. 

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