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Ree

In one of the groups I belong to I realized that there are many dreamers of writing out there and there was a time that is all it could be was a dream because big name publishers make it very difficult to get your foot in the door. It would not always because of the books merit as much as it could be the books subject. Meaning they may have already bought 3 simular to yours or that particular editor that get's your book has issues with the race of your characters, or believe the aren't acting their "race". (you know I'm rolling my eyes on this one, don't you?) However, it's true. It happens. Or it could also be that they met you in person at a book convention and couldn't give you a business card to keep in touch or send their book to them because hey guess what, they just don't like you because the night before at the party they threw you were 3 sheets to the wind and danced on their toes. Hey! They are human, and good book or not those "human" emotions can change how the entire reception of said book works out for you. Hey, you could meet an editor who got blitz with you and demands (in a drunken stupor) to send that book to her or him because they are going to make it work! Yeah, right. It has to get through the other desk after their's so still no gurantees. With this said I will cut and paste a recent postings I made to my new online friend Karen in hopes that it will help some of you that may be wondering if your dream is worth the pitfalls.

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Ree,

Thank for for reinforcing what I thought about writing I/R stories. If you self publish is it terribly expensive? I am between
a rock and a hard place whether to try and publish through a publisher or do it myself. I presume doing it yourself means
you have to do all the leg work. I like when you said which includes all your grammer errors etc. I like having
my work critiqued and sometimes I'm satisfied with just that person enjoying it. My biggest fear is being rejected not so
much by the publisher as I am the reader. Unfortuantely, I have a tendency to have grammer errors just at that point where
the story is rolling and that blip frustrates my reader trying to figure out what I'm saying. I've been encouraged to continue
and try to get published and I nod my head, but then, nothing. My feet freeze. I know I'm a decent writer, because when I
write a incident that happened for someone, I get the reaction I'm looking for. I can make the reader laugh, cry and feel
the other emotions of the people I'm talking about, so I know what it takes.

One day . . .

Karen

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Karen,

You're welcome. If you go through Lulu then it's taken out of your sales so you need no out of pocket expense. They have a distribution packet you can buy if you want your work to be obtained through book stores and Amazon. They have staff that you can pay if you want them to edit...ect...I myself can't afford all of that as of yet so I do what I can with what I have. I'm on disability and I have two options to write the best story I can and put it out there on a wing and a prayer or to retire from writing because the reason I dont't work in an office anymore is because the stress flared of my illness.

The Doctor said I either make my new chosen profession work to the best of my abilities meaning the least stressful for me or I can't do it either. My readers are the best readers in the world and very patient and understanding with me while I've learned the writing process, relearned the basics of elementary English, bad formatting, bad publishers...ect. The fact that they ask me to continue putting out my works after all of this because my stories are worth it...it brings tears to my eyes and makes me feel less alone in this world. My books are the children I can't have, my hero's are the lovers I will probably never experience, and the heroines are the part of me I would have been if I could do my life over, or heck maybe they were me in a past life or a life to come. * LOL*

My motto that I will pass on to you is: "If you write it, readers will come". Will you be the next big name on everyone's lips? Well, probably not. But you couldn't feel more satisfaction from hundreds as you do with that one letter that one person takes the time out of their busy or strained life to tell you how much one of your books or all of your books meant to them or how they could relate to the heroine in some way...I swear they don't make an award that could give you that feeling of acceptance as a writer. Not in my book anyway.

So dump all the self doubt and write the best book you can. Blips are frustration not only to readers but to authors too. But I had blips with publishes, I've had blips with pre-readers and proofers so unfortunately it happens and the only time it's unforgivable is when the story isn't that interesting in the first place. Blips and a unfullfilling story makes disgruntal readers.
So if you know grammer is your weak point like I do, then do what I did, I keep a basic Elementary grammer book by my side and when you hit a writers block or need pre-readers turn to your fans, they will help you. My summer free reads that my readers encourage me along the way, have been some of my best books and even though I gave it away first, they sell really well. J-Pop, Eternally I do, Zaza and Sylus, All I Want for Christmas were all free reads first. If your story is good, then even giving it away won't stop it from selling later. I'm a reader too and I found that the books with the stories that touch me the most I want to read again some day or I want to support the writer so they will write more and I buy the book. The same thing applies to you once you become a publish writer. Put your soul into the book and blips or not people can't help but respond to that. Those who can't get past it enough to enjoy it, well you have to let it go unless everyone is complaining, then you know you have a big problem. However, not one that isn't fixable.

Most of this business comes with experience. This year I just learned how to properly format my books at Lulu. Mainly because the more pages your book is the higher it will be to your readers, and I'm not trying to break anyone and the good thing is Lulu gives you the option of ebooks and print. So you aren't forcing anyone to pay the cost of a paperback unless they want to. Just remember you sometime have to take a loss on the paper back to keep them cheap which means giving yourself a $1.50 a copy. The thing is think about your readers at all times. It's worth the little amount it brings in just to know your baby is in the hands of someone that cares to display you on their shelf or donate you to a local bookstore where somone else will discover you. Most of my revenue comes from ebook sells because if the book isn't printed, it isn't expensive to produce it.

I've been with publishers and with them you have blips that remain forever blips because they won't pull your book and make those corrections that you find after the fact. With Lulu you can pull your works and re-edit yourself once it's old in your head, or sometimes you have readers that will send you emails of stuff that jumped at them. I love being in control of my destiny and Lulu allows me that. With publishers, I waiting for checks that always seem to get lost in the mail before they reach me on the "second" go around. I rarely don't get progress reports to let me know how my sales are going and that "You have to do all the leg work". Unless you have a helluv of agent doing the leg work, you are still doing all the leg work with publishers. Most don't pay for advertising and if they do it may come out of your revenue so in the end you're paying for it anyway. Advances, just mean it takes longer to get your first paycheck and find out your progress...lol It's all in how you look at things.

The good thing about publishers is some people don't think it's a book worth reading unless it's published by a publisher they know, so you can reach those people. Also, publishers get your work into doors that may not be opened to you unless you can afford to buy a distributer package which you can always do later by using book revenue to do it instead of out of pocket. unless you're like me you need book revenue to make ends meet these days.

Out of all this which I probably will copy and paste to my blog just in case I've said anything that make a difference to anyone struggling to be a writer...lol...is, I want you to let go of all the self-doubt. If you don't, then like some online friends I known for over four years that are writers, four years from now I will still be waiting on the first or the next book from them. Some people make a career out of "becoming" a writer and never get one book published because they are trying to write that runaway bestseller for that big name publisher that will simply adore them from the moment that "irrisisitable bestseller" hit their desk. I say what a waste of talent. Think of what their resume would look like to that big name publisher if they had started publishing something....ANYTHING four years ago. So think of your worst to your best book as building your resume and becoming experienced, and most of all building a readership. Even an agent can't resist someone that is already proving they can do the leg work on their own and just want an agent to take them farther and the fact that you're bringing with you to that publisher a following doesn't hurt.

Remember, for every reader that rejects you which i know hurts the most so you remember it above the six that think you are the best thing since slice bread. In the end it's the one that think you're better then slice bread that matters. They will follow you to the end as long as they know you are being loyal to what you did to draw them in in the first place. The first time you sell out for what you think is the bigger picture they will also be the first to let you know they weren't pleased with the last book. It's true you are only as good as your last book, so you let it go and move on to the next book.

Don't sweat the small stuff or you will get writer's block. Don't try to write a book you think will sell because it will never be good enough. Don't try to impress those that aren't impressed because they may not like anything about you anyway. Don't try to be the next Jude Deverux because Ms. Deverux is still writing her own books. Don't try to write in the voice that belong to editors, readers, publishers, proofers, because editing and voice is two different things. If they start adding their voice to make your voice sound better, it's no longer YOUR voice and the readers will know the difference because the emotional pacing that it took to pen the story is a process. No one can come in at the 11th hour and say they know the character better than you and she would say that I think she would say this...BS. No one knows your character as well as you do, no one never will and sometime you write a character that even surprises the heck out of you, so no way that editor can make that change and you agree to it without a fight or an objection.

Editing me is one thing still the passion of my voice that inflames me is dulling my natural gift for putting words to paper and when it's time to write again I struggle against the voices because of the editors advice and when that happens you procrastinate, you give up and you think you're never good enough therefore you never write another book.
Don't say one day...

Say, Today is the day that I will do whatever it takes to get what I have to say, the way I want to say it out there. Reach out to those that are interested in what you are and don't reach out to those who don't. They don't matter because people read what they are interested in at the time based on whatever they are going through in their daily lives. You can't compete with that. If you do you are setting yourself up to fail at something that is simply a "dream of yours" not someone elses dream for you. Don't let self-doubt steal your dream. Don't assume readers will reject you because they will surprise you everytime on what they do and do not like. Also, most of all don't live for the praise because truly in this business no buzz about your book can be a good thing, because some don't talk about a book unless it's something negative. Not saying everyone is like that it's just easier to knock something down then to build it up.

Be encouraged and not discoraged. Be you when you right and we can't help but like you for it. Most of keep being honest to yourself and your readers about your faults and work on the things within your power to work on. But experience is only something you can gain by writing. God knows I've read some stinkers by some of the most successful writers. Stephen King for one, definately a mood writers. His books are and stories are based on his moods which is a sighn of a creative genuis but sometime genius even get it wrong to some of their readers. He wrote the Green Mile, Carrie...ect would do something to me like write the Tommy Knockers and Thinner. Never could forgive him for Thinner...and that television series which still has me asking what's up with the Ardvark???

So get writing. It is your friend.

Ree
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