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!

"Who would win in a fight? Superman or Thor?"

Ah, the age-old questions, the ones that truly matter, never seem to find an answer, do they?

Superman is copyrighted and TM DC Comics, Inc. Thor is copyrighted and TM Marvel Comics, Inc.  Their combined power terrifies me far less than the lawyers for either company.

Seriously, over the years, I've sharpened my writing skills by working on exercises that I knew might never see public scrutiny.  These included business plans, comic book scripts, television "bibles," anything that struck my fancy at the time.

At one time, I thought monologs were what led off The Tonight Show or actors read them during auditions to get a gig.  But one of my brothers-from-another-mother, Paul Barile, produced a terrific theater event that he called "The Monodogs of War."

The idea was that a writer would be paired up with an actor (although one time, that actor was me).  We would be given a subject, such as a line from President Barack Obama's inauguration speech or the Wikipedia history of the City of Chicago.  Then the actor and the writer would confer for five minutes before the latter is given 25 minutes to hand-write a three or four-minute monologue that incorporated the subject line.

Afterwards, a panel of judges would eliminate half the teams.  The wining writer/actor pairs would go at it again with a different trigger.  The panel then selected an ultimate winner while the audience selected a favorite of their own.  During the entire process, everyone drinks a lot and laughter ensues.

See?  Everyone's happy!

Not too many years ago, I wrote a story for my own amusement concerning Superman.  This tale harkened back to his earliest days when he operated more in the shadows, when everyone was afraid of him.  Thus, he did his good deeds mostly as Clark Kent.  During the course of the story, he realized that perhaps his work as a reporter could do every bit as much good as being the Man of Steel, maybe even more.

The piece had to contain four parameters:

1. No character from the DC Universe could be named.
2. It didn't have to adhere to the Three-Act Play structure (more on this in a future blog), but it did require at least one instance of external conflict.
3. This story would occur in OUR world, not strictly the four-color one of the comics.
4. It could only be around 1,000 words.


It took a few days, but I managed to hammer the story out.  The monolog helped me get into the character's head so if I had to write, say, a novel or a screenplay about Superman, I could do it more easily.  In fact, the character would now be likely to drag me along for the ride as he sculpted the plot with his reactions, not that I minded in the least.

Part of the submission process to submit to my friends at Audio Movies Club (www.audiomoviesclub.com) included writing a sentence or two about each character in the play.  This exercise not only helped the voice actors to understand your characterizations, but this also demonstrated that you had a handle on the different fictional personalities as well.

Recently, Paul put out a call for monologs for a future project and of course, I had to submit something.  So I worked up a tale of Bruce Wayne on the verge of Christmas day.  What kind of Christmas would he have?  Did he even have a normal Christmas since his parents were murdered?  As you and I would anticipate our holidays to be with loved ones and exchange presents, how might pragmatic, logical Bruce Wayne plan his personal holiday?

For a moment, I recall my seventh Christmas with my family.  I never got my eighth in the foster home.  My holidays died with my parents.  Instead of jingle bells, I now hear gunshots, my mother's screams, and the clatter of unstrung pearls striking the cold pavement, their percussion decaying in the chill of the night where my war on crime began.  On that night, at my bedside, I vowed to turn myself into a nocturnal soldier, warring on the superstitious, cowardly lot that preyed on their betters.

That boy would have his holiday.  And dammit, so will every other child in my city.

Art by Neal Adams, Batman & Ra's Al-Ghul are copyrighted and TM DC Comics, Inc.

So why write a monologue?  Aside from mastering another form of writing, which is always useful, it's a good record of a character, a snapshot of the person's mental state and history,   If you must walk away from the story, a quick re-reading will serve to place you back into the psyche of that character.  Consistency is assured.

So who's your favorite character?  Whether you are an actor studying to nail a role, a costumer who want to slide into character more easily, or a writer whose words are to make a fiction seem real, try writing a brief monolog.  Read it aloud.  Does it sound like the person you wish to bring to life?

THIS WEEK'S EXERCISE: Write up to 1,000 words in first person about your favorite fictional or historical character encountering a potentially challenging holiday situation.  For instance, how might Archie Bunker avoid Mike Stivic during National Brotherhood Week?  How would Ebeneezer Scrooge celebrate the following Christmas after meeting the Three Ghosts?  Imagine Cathy deliberating whether or not to send Heathcliff a Valentine's Day letter.

Have fun with this.  Leave comments below and tell me what you did.

He's blurry, but his eyes not only follow you around the room, but they follow you into the next room as well.

Other bits of business:

Thank you all for enduring my irregular blogging as of late as well as your compliments.  One of the reasons I'm otherwise engaged is I'm writing a book entitled Networking Made Way Too Simple that I hope to have out before the end of the year on Kindle and then in paperback form after the first of the year.  It's a painless way to master the job seeker's most potent tool.

Speaking of e-publication, check out my friend Kelly M. Edwards' first novel, Scorcher (Forces of Nature).  It's the first installment of a trilogy that's worth your attention.  So check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009NOIGB4

Kelly will also be writing a guest installment of this blog in the very near future.  Be on the lookout for that!

While I'm plugging my friends, give some love to Billie Jo Ellis, an illustrator and designer that you're going to be hearing a lot about pretty soon.  Check out her work at www.bjellisart.com and let her know Freelance Words sent you.

By the way, Kelly and Billie Jo have Facebook pages for their works.  Give 'em a LIKE and feel your karma points adjust into the positives.

I've just joined Pinterest.  I've dipped my toe in the water, but little more than that.  PLEASE feel free to friend me there, okay?

If you subscribe to this blog, it'll magically appear in your e-mailbox for your reading pleasure.  Cast your gaze towards the upper right-hand corner of this missive and make life a little easier on yourself.

Meanwhile, www.freelancewords.com exists to make your life easier through writing and publishing.  So bookmark it and check out the links.

Feel free to leave a comment below, if you wish.  Until we meet again, be good to yourself and be good to each other.