Kelly Edwards on the E-Publishing Revolution

There is a revolution happening, dear friends.   

 It's not being fought with guns and hated, but with computers and sheer creativity. 

That revolution is happening in the electronic publishing field. 

One of the people on the frontlines is Kelly Edwards.  She's a Super Friend, a terrific writer, and she's just released a great book for the Kindle called Scorcher that this Freelancer highly recommends and hopes you'll pick up.

Kelly's got some great thoughts about creativity, how to create the best book you can, and the game-changer that is electronic publishing.  So without any further ado, here's Kelly Edwards:

 

When I first started writing, there was a stigma surrounding self-publishing. The belief was that any author worth their salt had to know that self-publishing houses were over-priced vanity presses and that the only customers to be had by going that route would be the author and perhaps the author’s parents.

Times have certainly changed and are continuing to change. The invention of the e-reader has made it so much easier for writers to directly reach their target audience. Unfortunately, this means that the market is even more saturated.

So what does that mean for aspiring authors?

Well, I personally believe it means that your destiny is what you make of it. It is a lot of work to self-publish and do it successfully, (and of course, there is certainly some element of luck involved as well) but it is certainly possible. In fact, as one of my friends said awhile ago-you now have the choice to spend years trying to stand out from the slush piles that clutter the desks of agents and publishing houses, or you can spend that time writing, promoting, and building your audience.

So what steps can you take to stand out from the crowd and help facilitate success?

1. Write a book that you can stand behind. Keep working on that book until you feel you’ve done all you can and you feel it’s ready. Make sure that you’re passionate about the book because after it’s published, you’re going to spend a lot of time talking about it, promoting it, thinking about it. You will be living and breathing that book, so give it all you’ve got. 
2. After you’ve given it all you’ve got, tear the book apart in the editing process and give it all you’ve learned since the first draft. Lather, rinse, repeat. Be sure that you get as much feedback as you possibly can during this stage. Be sure that this feedback comes from people who aren’t afraid to tell you when things aren’t working. Beg for constructive criticism if you don’t have to, or better yet, find people who aren’t emotionally connected to you, if at all possible.
3. Prepare yourself for the idea that not everyone will love your book, and that’s okay. Entertainment is subjective. You will get bad reviews. You might have slow months, years, etc. If you’re in this business for the positive reinforcement, you are in the wrong line of work. Just remember that this isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon.
4. Once you’re sure that the contents of your book are solid, make sure the package is pretty and user-friendly. Cover art is crucial to whether or not readers will even take a second glance at your book, and formatting can very easily turn off a reader if not done well. If you can afford to hire someone for these things, great. If not? Look at as many books as you can. For covers, think about what’s attracted you, and what’s repelled you. For formatting, there is a wealth of information out there about standard formatting (I found mine via createspace.com’s resources) and when it comes to formatting, you really do want to make sure it’s invisible for the most part. The reader shouldn’t be thinking about your cool fonts or interesting visual arrangement. In fact, that sort of thing will distract from the story that you’re trying to tell and will in turn distract from the reading experience as a whole. While the cover is meant to entice and draw readers in, the formatting is simply meant to be easy to read and the best display for your story.
5. So you’re good to go with steps 1-4? Now you will get into an entirely different type of work: promoting. At this point, the best thing you can do is build a web presence. Carve out as many corners of the internet as you can reasonably manage. A website, social networking sites, etc. If potential readers don’t know about your book, there’s no chance for them to read it. Aside from web presence, don’t forget the value of actual face-to-face networking. Tell your friends, tell your family, and tell that person that you just met who happens to have similar interests to you. Get the word out however you can. From there, if you’ve done the first four steps correctly, word of mouth should eventually take over.
6. Go back to step one and write your next book. After all, that’s what got all of us into this in the first place. The more you write, the more you will improve on your craft and the more chances you will have to reach potential readers.

The great news is that there are more chances today than ever for up and coming writers to follow their passion. The market is currently in an exciting state of innovation and readers are being granted a wider variety of stories than ever. Now is the time to write that story you’re passionate about and get it out there to whomever your niche is!

If your book was this good, you'd be proud too.  Kelly Edwards shows off her first novel.

 

Kelly Edwards is the author of Scorcher, a superhero action/romance that’s available on Kindle now and will be released on paperback on November 15^th. You can find her on twitter here: https://twitter.com/dreamsofnever (keep an eye out for giveaways!) and you can find Scorcher here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009NOIGB4

I hope you enjoyed Kelly's first guest blog here because she has a standing invitation to contribute more.

By the way, if you don't own a Kindle reading device, you can still read Kelly's novel on your computer.  Just check out her Amazon page and you can download a FREE e-reader for your computer or tablet.

We'll be having more on e-publishing in the weeks and months to come.  In fact, I'm working on my own, Networking Made Way Too Easy that should be out before the end of the year. 

And if you'd like to contribute to this blog, pitch me an idea at bkmorris56@gmail.com.

To see what we do when we aren't blogging, head over to www.freelancewords.com and see what we might be able to write for you.  Also, check out our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/FreelanceWords and follow us on Twitter, @BrianKMorris, and on LinkedIn at
http://linkedin.com/in/morriskbrian 

Until next time, be good to yourself, be good to each other, and keep on creating!