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What follows are the three main points I took home from the presentation and why I think they’re going to be key for writers’ future success.

1) You can combine traditional and self-publishing in one career.

When it comes to writing, there’s a new kid on the block: the “hybrid” author. This is the author who gets his or her work out into the world both via traditional publishers and through self-publishing and juggle both in one career. Clearly, publishing is not an either-or scenario anymore.

What does the hybrid author look like? Some writers self-publish smaller works to supplement their income and stay in front of their audiences between books. Other authors build an audience through digital self-publishing, then opt to partner with an agent and publisher for the print version. The variations are as unique as the individual writers.

The idea here is that you don’t have to choose. If you want to, you can do both.

2) You can’t ignore social media.

So many writers I talk to feel overwhelmed by everything on their social media to-do lists. It’s tempting to adopt that mindset of “if you build it they will come,” thinking that all you have to do is write a good book and it will sell itself. When faced with that laundry list of different technologies we have to learn and communities where we have to participate it’s tempting to want to bury our heads and hide.

The trouble is, ignoring social media is not going to make it go away. Rather, we need look at social media as one of those things where what you get out of it is directly proportionate to what you put in. Hybrid authors know this. According to the survey results, they are more likely than other writers to be active on social media, with a higher presence on Facebook, Twitter and GoodReads. This increased engagement appears to make a difference. Compared with writers who only self-publish or only publish traditionally, hybrid authors report higher web traffic to their blogs.

What this means is while you don’t want to focus on social at the expense of your writing, but you can’t ignore it either. Find a way to balance the two and you’ll see results. And don’t wait to be published to start building those connections. Start practicing that balance now and once you get that book deal you’ll already be on your way.

3) Traditional publishing isn’t going anywhere.

Much as some of the die-hard fans of self-publishing might love to see the traditional publishers go out of business, it doesn’t look like traditional publishing is not about to die. The end is not nigh and bookpocalypse is not on the horizon.

Is self-publishing going to compete with traditional publishers? Yes. Will traditional publishers have to adapt and adjust? Most definitely. Are these changes going to challenge publishers to bring their A-game? For sure.  Yes, changes are coming but it’s not the end of the publishing world as we know it.

How do we know this? Because even though self-publishing is going strong, most authors are still hoping to publish their next book the traditional way, including authors who have only self-published their books so far. We would expect that authors who have worked with traditional publishers in the past would be inclined to continue pursuing the traditional route, but even 68% of self-published authors (i.e. authors who to this point have not worked with a traditional publisher) report that they would be interested in partnering with a traditional publisher for their next book. That’s more than two-thirds!

So if you were worried that self-publishing was about to put traditional publishers out on the street, fret not. As long as the vast majority of writers are still interested in working with these publishers, the traditional model is not in danger of becoming extinct. Sure, I think the book world will evolve in the coming years but evolution and extinction are not the same thing. And like any evolutionary process, the industry folk who adapt to the changing environment will be the ones who don’t just survive, but succeed in the end.

Information is the key.

Writers need to understand that they’ve got options. There is no one true path to publishing bliss and we can change trajectory along the way. Writers will are more likely to succeed in this changing industry if they learn to “roll with the punches” and turn these challenges into opportunities.

The best part about the current publishing climate is that writers are not “locked in” to one way of doing things. You can change trajectory along the way and if something doesn’t work, you try a new strategy. I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat it here: writers don’t have to be entrepreneurs, but they need to be entrepreneur-ial. Having an entrepreneurial outlook means  being able to switch gears fast. The changing book industry is opening up more opportunities for writers to have this flexibility.

This is why studies like the one conducted by Digital Book World are important. These data inform us so we can make better decisions for our careers. Digital Book World is currently conducting a follow-up survey focused specifically on hybrid authors to better understand the benefits and challenges of this approach to publishing.

Stay tuned.

Next week I’ll be digging into aspect of this survey that was so juicy it needed an article all of its own. Hint.

The post 3 Things To Know Before You Publish appeared first on DIY MFA.

What I thought was especially interesting about Eric’s self-publishing experience is that he has put strong emphasis on creating and promoting the print version of his book. While we often think of self-publishing as eBook-centric, Eric proves that print  can be an important way to reach your audience. “Taffyheads” (as he lovingly calls fans) “like to hold the book,” so it makes sense that DelaBarre would focus so much care and energy to the print version.

That care and craft definitely shows, too. From the charming illustrations to the deckle edge, you can tell that a lot of attention and energy was put into the production of the print book. It didn’t surprise me, then, when Eric mentioned at one of the WDCE talks that for SALTWATER TAFFY, print sales are on par with eBook sales. (And here we were all worrying that print was dead…)

Today it’s my pleasure to introduce Eric DelaBarre as the first self-published author featured in our Self-Publishing Insights Q&A series.

 1) Why did you choose to self-publish SALTWATER TAFFY?

The decision to self-publish was easy. I had just finished a ghost writing job for Random House (Harmony Books) and saw the writing on the wall, as they say. I was excited about future opportunities with the Random because the editor was thrilled with the manuscript I had turned in.  I thought, okay…here’s a great way to pick up some side work, which would enable me to make some money and create much-needed rapport with a NY publisher.

Then it happened.  As I was working on Saltwater Taffy ( which was a movie idea I had years ago while on Law & Order) I watched them literally kill another book I had worked so hard on by changing the title. The book was the follow-up to the NY Times Best Seller, The One Minute Millionaire. For those not familiar with the title, it was a different kind of book in that it was two books in one. The left side pages was a non-fiction “how to” guide that would teach the reader how to make money. On the right side of the book was narrative story about five women who all suffered a financial crisis. By working together and supporting each other, they would use the information contained in the left side of the book to teach themselves to how to make money and become financially independent.

I was proud of the work I had done for The One Minute Millionaire for Women, which was the title of the book when I took the job.  I mean, what a great opportunity to be involved with a follow-up to a best selling, right? Wrong. The ‘powers that be’ at Random House suddenly felt the title of The One Minute Millionaire for Women would seem like they were ‘dumbing down’ the information so women could understand it.  Huh?

Someone once told me that if you want to create a successful title in the publishing business, you needed to fill a niche. We weren’t ‘dumbing down’ the story so women could understand it, we were filling a niche with a story ABOUT women FOR women who were looking to create wealth in their lives. When “Cash in a Flash; Real Money in Slow Times” came out, it tanked.

Our initial mission was to create a heart-based book for women about women and they go off and ruin it with a title like Cash in a Flash? Not only did they choose a bad title, in my humble opinion, they committed a cardinal sin in business…they abandoned the established brand of The One Minute Millionaire.

If this wasn’t enough of a sign for me, I read in the trades a week later that Random House was handing out 5000 pink slips because they were down-sizing.  The real story, in my opinion, is they were beginning to see how they were losing control of the publishing world.

The power has now shifted away from corporate publishers and is back in the hands of the writers…IF they can find a way to hold onto their rights. Self-Publishing gives the writer control over their work.

2) Can you give us a snapshot of the self-publishing process? What did the process look like, from idea to actual book-on-the-shelf?

It looked like a roller coaster about to go off the rails. This was back when ‘self publishing’ still had–and to some extent, still has–a black eye in the world of publishing.  Historically, a self-published title meant bad writing, terrible editing and cover art that should never see the light of day.

Hiring a Top-Notch Team

For our editing, we hired Lisa Rojany Buccieri, a freelance editor, the co-author of Writing Children’s Book for Dummies, editor and co-founder of New York Journal of Books, and the author of over 100 children’s book titles. She handled the editing of Saltwater Taffy.

Lisa immediately fell in love with Saltwater Taffy and was a great asset in the beginning of this long journey. For the cover art, we hired R.C. Nason, a veteran Hollywood animator and illustrator. Through a mutual friend, a copy of Saltwater Taffy was given to Jim Carrey and after seeing the artwork Rob did on Saltwater Taffy, he hired Rob to illustrate his new children’s book, How Roland Rolls. Jim plans to self-publish the title, saying “self-publishing is cool.”

Getting the Distributor On Board

Since I have a background in independent film-making I know the most important element for an independent project is to secure quality distribution. Using a list from my friend John Kremer, author of the best seller 1001 Ways to Market Your Book, we submitted Saltwater Taffy to the top indie distributors in the book industry. We were turned down across the board.

Then, I used idea I got from an adaptation job I did for 20^th Century Fox and Samuel Goldwyn Films of the NY Times best selling book, Conversations With God. I sent a treasure box with our galley to the Vice President of Distribution of Perseus Distribution, which is the industry leader for independent book distribution.

While I had been turned down through ‘proper channels’ at Perseus as well as Publisher’s Group West (a division of Perseus) my phone rang a few days later. The Senior Vice President informed me that Perseus doesn’t deal with ‘one book publishers,’ but based on the galley and our extensive marketing plan, we had piqued their interest. I flew to New York a week later and signed a deal with Perseus for worldwide distribution of Saltwater Taffy.

Here’s were the story gets interesting. We had already printed 5000 copies of Saltwater Taffy and were eager to get into the stream of distribution so we could capitalize on the holiday book buying business for children. To give you an idea of the timeline, this was August, 2010, which was four short months from Christmas. During our initial meeting, they informed my wife and I that they wanted Saltwater Taffy, but they wanted it for a January release.

This is where I began to understand how and why a book takes so long to get to market unless it’s a celebrity title that can be ‘dropped’ in a matter of two months. Time is the biggest asset when you are building awareness around the title. Since I wasn’t a celebrity or part of some recent headline grabbing scandal, I would have to wait until January if I wanted Perseus to distribute Saltwater Taffy. Obviously, we agreed to January as our release date and began our extensive brand building process.

A Cover Redo Becomes a Great Opportunity

The finished book was sent to the major accounts of Perseus Distribution and we immediately got feedback from the head buyer at Barnes & Noble.  It was hard to believe, but they didn’t like the cover for Saltwater Taffy. Obviously it wasn’t the artwork, because it is still very much the same artwork as the initial cover art we had.  What they didn’t like was the fact our book of fiction came with a subtitle, which is traditionally reserved for non-fiction titles.

The book was titled Eric DelaBarre’s Saltwater Taffy; A Novel of Adventure & Self Discovery.  They said I wasn’t a well-enough-known author to justify my name above the title, and that fiction titles should never carry a subtitle.  What did we do?  We went back to the drawing board and came up with the cover we now have, which we all love. I guess everything does happen for a reason.

What did we do with the 4000 copies in the Perseus warehouse in Jackson, Tennessee and the 1000 copies I had at our offices in Santa Monica?  We began what is now referred to as the Saltwater Taffy BIG GIVE.

A month later, I flew to Nashville, rented an RV and drove to the Perseus warehouse in Jackson, Tennessee to pick up the books. The folks at the warehouse loved the idea of an RV Giveaway and helped us load the 4000 books into our 6-person RV. Now, if you know anything about RV’s, you know there are weight limits with these types of vehicles. We were about to eclipse the weight limit and after 4000 copies loaded, we were literally riding on rails.

Every turn I made in the RV was like being inside of an interactive video game. At one point, I thought we were going to tip over, so I needed to lighten the load immediately.  I pulled over at a rest stop and with the help of my iPhone, I found two elementary schools 5 miles away. Each school got 250 free copies of Saltwater Taffy for their students.Continuing the adventure, I found a fire station in Jackson, Tennessee and gave them 100 copies for their ‘Toys For Tots’ charity. This left me with 3250 books inside the RV and very little time to give them away before my flight home in two days.

Have you ever given away 4000 copies of a book in three days?  It’s not as easy as one might think.  As a past president of the Boys & Girls Club Council of Santa Monica, I contacted area clubs and fired up the RV the next morning.   hit 4 different clubs and gave them each 500 copies for their club members.

It was bitterly cold in Tennessee while all this was going on. The reason why I rented an RV instead of a U-Haul truck is that I wanted to save money on hotel rooms during the giveaway. Now, when I say it was cold, I mean it was 17 degrees cold at night, but I drove on and continued to give away copies of Saltwater Taffy like a Jahova’s Witness handing out pamphlets.

Making my way back into Nashville, I hit the Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee and they were about to have their annual fundraiser dinner. They took 500 copies off my hands and the load was thankfully getting lighter.  After another rough night of very little sleep, I called the United Way of Middle Tennessee the next day.  As luck would have it, I was transferred to the CEO’s office.

And with his assistant out for lunch, the CEO answered the phone himself.

Thirty minutes later, I was unloading the last 750 copies of Saltwater Taffy at the United Way headquarters in Nashville. I dropped off the RV and with the help of Captain Kirk and Priceline, I found a room at the airport Hilton for $50. After two nights in the bitter Tennessee cold, the hotel bed at the Hilton never felt so good.

Flying home the next day, I knew I still had to deal with the remaining 1000 copies at the office. For this, my wife called her friend Gary Sinese of CSI:NY fame because she knew Gary was heavily involved with helping our troops. She thought the troops would love to read a story of adventure that would remind them of being a kid again.

Gary called back and informed us that any books going to the troops through the USO would have to be vetted. The vetting process would take more time than we had, because we were expecting the new books in a few days. But after looking at the whatagreatbook.com website and seeing that the book was endorsed by 12 Teachers of the Year and an Accelerated Reader title, Gary called back the next morning and asked if we would like to give the books to his Snowball Express Foundation.  

The Snowball Express Foundation puts on a gala during the holidays for the children of men and women who were killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  The problem now facing us was that the Snowball Express Gala was to be held the next night in Dallas, Texas.  There wouldn’t be time for us to get the books on a truck and to Dallas by the next day, but Gary called fifteen minutes later and told us he worked out a deal with American Airlines.

Four hours later, a man from the CSI:NY transportation department showed up at the office and together, we loaded 1000 books onto a stakebed truck.   An hour after that, they were loaded onto the cargo docks at LAX.  Two hours after that, they were in the belly of an American Airlines jet and on their way to Dallas.  The next morning, the books were stuffed into 1000 goodie bags for children who lost a parent in the war.  How amazing is that?  The power of love is a…well, powerful thing.

3) Self publishing moments

What was your favorite self-publishing moment?

Getting emails from children across the country telling me how much they loved the book, but more than that, the emails saying, ‘you’ve changed my life.’ You see, I’m not just an author with a book…I am a man on a mission to help children leave behind the fear, doubt and worry of growing up.

Worst moment? 

Watching the bank account drain because truth be told, it takes money to make money in the book business.

Even though we have all this support from teachers, parents and students across the country, getting major media–national media–takes money. How did Gweneth Paltrow become People Magazine’s ‘Prettiest Woman in the World? Do you think it has anything to do with Iron Man 3 hitting theaters the very next week? Do you think there was a deal struck between Paramount Pictures and People Magazine? Those involved only know, but that’s how the business works…relationships and money.

Moment you thought you might quit?
(And tell us why you didn’t.)

Thoughts of quitting or giving up happen all the time because the indie road is very tough. How I get through moments like this is an order from my wife. Whenever I get an email or some amazing endorsement from a teacher, she makes me print them out and post them on the bulletin board in my office. These keep me going when times are tough. This is usually Monday morning, as I have to start the engine of the machine and not simply clock in somewhere. This is what I do… this is all I do… full time… all the time.

Moment that surprised you most?

The appetite our society has for knuckle-headed living. We live in a world where Snookie now calls herself a NY Times best selling author. To further answer this question, allow me to quote Aaron Sorkin, perhaps the most prolific writer I know of: “In this day and age of 24-hour cable crap, devoted to feeding the voyeuristic gluttony of the American public, hooked on a bad soap opera that’s passing itself off as important” it’s time for all hacks to get off the stage.

4) What’s the #1 piece of advice you’d give a writer who’s considering self-publishing?

Writing your book is 10% of the process. Marketing that book is the other 90%.

If you don’t have a marketing plan and think you can wing it along the way, you will fail. Your platform is more important than your book. If you don’t have an angle, some way in, a cause that you are passionate about, then do something else. Successful self-publishing isn’t easy.

My second piece of advice is to speak, speak, speak. If you aren’t speaking, you aren’t selling. A graph of my sales statistics looks like an EKG machine. For every school visit or talk I give, sales of Saltwater Taffy spike. Speaking = sales.

5) Give us a hint of your next creative project because we’re dying to know. What’s next?

The number one reason I wrote Saltwater Taffy is so I could make the movie. In Hollywood, everything needs to be pre-branded and this is the first step in a very long dream of making films that make a difference in the lives of others. What’s the alternative?  Working for someone else ‘s dream? Working simply for a paycheck? That treadmill living is not for me. I’m selfish like that.

Eric DelaBarre is an award-winning author and filmmaker who began his career with Executive Producer Dick Wolf on NBC’s mega-hit, Law & Order. He is a longtime member of the Writer’s Guild of America and has written for NBC, USA Networks, Lions Gate Films, Samuel Goldwyn Films, and 20^th Century Fox. Before writing SALTWATER TAFFY, Eric was a ghostwriter for Random House/Harmony Books.

Eric lives and works in Santa Monica, California with his wife, Julie and their two-year-old daughter, Emery.  www.whatagreatbook.com

The post Self-Publishing Insights: Q&A with Eric DelaBarre appeared first on DIY MFA.

In fact, self-publishing can be a sound business model for writers with a more entrepreneurial bent. There’s even some fascinating research (a Digital Book World survey) suggesting that “hybrid” authors–who both traditionally publish and self-publish books throughout their career–tend to see more success than authors who choose one route over the other.

I’m working to learn more about this research so I can share it in detail with you. The implications for this research are huge and could mean big changes in how we authors approach our publishing careers. In the meantime, I think it’s clear that self-publishing has become an important component of our industry and it’s time we make it part of the DIY MFA conversation.

This week I’m excited to introduce a new series here at DIY MFA. While at Writer’s Digest Conference East and other events, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many talented self-published writers–including many “hybrid” authors. These talented and successful writers have agreed to participate in a DIY MFA Q&A series share their experiences in self-publishing.

The goal for this Q&A series is to get different perspectives on this same topic, so I’ll be asking similar questions to each writer I interview. The idea here is to bring together some of the top minds in this field and get a really in-depth look at how each writer approached the self-publishing process. We have some amazing writers lined up for this series, including:

• Eric DelaBarre, author of children’s book Saltwater Taffy, and comes to self-publishing with a TV background.
• Viki Noe, who created a specific niche–the Friend Grief community–and uses self-publishing to reach it.
• Guy Kawasaki, author of  A.P.E. Author Publisher Entrepreneur, THE guide to self-publishing out right now.

…and others. I’ll be updating this list as more authors join, so check back here for the latest news. And stay tuned because this series is going to be EPIC!

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Social networking comes down to GIVE: four simple questions you have to ask yourself.

1. Goals: What do you want to achieve with social media?
2. Inspiration: What inspires you? What strengths and talents can you offer to others?
3. Viability: How much time and effort do you want to put in?
4. Enjoyment: Are you going to enjoy doing whatever you decide to do enough to continue doing it indefinitely?

Goals

One of the classic newby mistakes of social networking is that we writers tend to start blogs about writing. Do you see me raising my hand? Yep. I have a writing blog. And a twitter feed for writers. Is that going to help me sell books? Probably not. I didn’t think through my goals before I started blogging. I went to a local Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators meeting with a friend and heard an agent tell us that all aspiring authors had to have a blog. My friend and I decided to begin a blog together. Since we were just starting down the road to publication, what interested us was writing, and ergo, that’s what we blogged about. I don’t regret that at all. I learn by writing, so writing *about* writing was my way to move up the learning curve. Eventually though, I hit the point where I wasn’t learning anything new by creating articles for beginning writers, but I didn’t feel comfortable offering writing advice that went beyond the basics. At the same time, my blog partner had personal issues that took her away from blogging, so for a year and a half, with the exception of the First Five Pages Workshop, I handled the blog on my own. I let myself get overwhelmed. Instead of being able to focus on reading other blogs or craft books or just interacting with other writers via social media, it was all I could do to keep up my “required online presence.”

The solution? I examined my goals. Over the course of my blogging journey, I have met fantastic writing friends and critique partners. I learned a lot, but there is much more I want and need to learn. I want more time to read blogs and craft books, to read everything. I want to encourage and support other writers and connect with readers so I can learn more about what they want to read. Most of all, I want more time to write.

Inspiration

There isn’t any one way to achieve your social networking goals. The most important thing is finding a vehicle that will connect you with a network of people in a way that meets your goals and inspires you as a writer.

Before investing time into any social medium, make sure it will work for you in the longterm. That includes matching the type of medium to your goals and inspiration; they all have different strengths and conventions.

• Google+  is Google’s big push into social connectivity, and it is trying to push participation by factoring your “author rank” from there into engine results. Joining Google + lets you build circles to push content to those who are most interested in that content. The premise is based on the idea that you will create original content that will be “shared”  by your followers and that you will, in turn, pass content created by people you follow to your followers accompanied by value-added commentary or notes. Google+ also lets you “hang out” with people via real-time chats.
• Blogging (Blogger or WordPress) is a format that works best for creating  longer, meatier posts and connecting with other writers about the process of writing and the process of publication, or with readers via book reviews and contests. The main interactivity for blogs comes from the comment mechanism that lets your readers react to what you posted or lets you react to content posted by others. This is a wonderful way to build relationships, learn, and start discussions. There are no built-in sharing mechanisms for propagating the content you create, but various “add-in” technologies or applets let you make it easier for readers to Tweet about it, add it via Google+, or share it via another network.
• Twitter lets you connect with other writers by sharing links, quotes, thoughts, or ideas. It is also great for building an audiences through humor or short, pithy commentary. Compared to other forms of social media, the shelf-life of a Tweet is very short. If your followers follow a lot of other people, it’s easy for your Tweets to get lost in the noise. On the other hand, it’s easy to gain popularity simply by tweeting or retweeting good information that people will enjoy retweeting to their own followers.
• Facebook is a more intimate venue if you like to share opinions or details of your day to day life and create personal connections. Facebook pages, a separate feature, lets you build an area where fans can connect with other fans and find information about your upcoming events. On the flip side, you can support your friends by “liking” or commenting on what they post, even if you prefer to post fairly infrequently yourself.
• Tumblr is somewhat more impersonal than Facebook, but it provides a fast, flexible, and easy interface designed for sharing photographs, links, quotes, or shorter text posts. Its strengths lie in flexibility and in the easy way it lets you share content you find interesting with people who have “followed” you.  There’s a mechanism for commenting and “liking” posts as well, but reblogging is in itself a sign that you enjoyed the content.
• Pinterest is similar to Tumblr in that it is based on the idea that you will “share” visual content that interests you. It’s designed primarily for photographs and illustrations grouped into categories called “boards,” which makes it a fantastic way to collect visual inspirations for your books and characters and share them with your readers. You can can even create private boards if you want to use them exclusively to keep track of things like character wardrobes, setting details, or whatever
• Goodreads is perhaps the most undervalued social network for authors and readers. It provides the cover image, description copy, and publishing information for virtually any book along with the cumulative “rating” provided by all the people who have already read it. You can read or provide reviews for any book and  pass your opinion along to your friends. You can find friends with similar tastes to yours and start building relationships with them. There are even online book clubs. You can enter or provide giveaways or various contests, share snippets from your blogs, and interact with readers in many different ways. Note, however, that Goodreads was just purchased by Amazon, and there’s no telling what will happen with the services they offer or what they plan to do with the information you provide. Both offer free author pages that you can personalize with your photograph, bio, and books.

Like Goodreads, any social medium is subject to change. Use the above list as a starter, not an all-encompassing menu. New social media pop up all the time, and they can fade just as quickly. Remember MySpace? Consider who you want to reach, how you want to reach them, and what kind of content you want to provide to find the vehicle that will help you achieve your goals and keep you inspired to continue.

Viability

As you can guess from the above list, users of different formats of social media have different expectations. Blogging, for example, works best on a set schedule so that your readers know when to stop by to catch their favorite feature. Tweeting too frequently can clog your readers’ feeds and result in them “unfollowing” you, but if you don’t Tweet enough, you can’t build much of a following. Writing long diatribes on Facebook is a great way to get yourself “unfriended.”

Before you jump into a particular social network, take the time to investigate what works for other people on that network, how often you will need to provide original content, and what your “followers” will expect in reciprocity.

With any form of social medium, creating original content takes little time compared to how long it takes to read other people’s blogs. For most authors, it also yields the least success. Social networking is all about being social. Sharing. Giving back. Building up others. If you don’t have the time to do that, then you aren’t creating a network and having an online presence isn’t going to do you much good. If you’re not the kind of person who wants to engage with people, put up a static website and don’t worry about the rest. Really. Chances are, if you don’t like being social–on the Internet or in real life–you aren’t going to be good at it if you force yourself to try. You also have to be careful not to take on so much that your writing time gets sucked away.

A joint blog may be a good solution for writers who may not have a ton of time, or those who are hesitant to jump into social media too deeply. I definitely prefer to have someone to share the responsibilities, the occasional aggravation, and the success. For me, assessing my goals, inspiration, and viability led to inviting a new blog partner to join me, and I am beyond lucky to have Jan Lewis sharing the workload at Adventures in YA Publishing. Clara Kensie, a long-time critique partner, is also back to host a Question of the Week segment on Sundays. And of course, the incomparable Lisa Gail Green is still critiquing the First Five Pages Workshops with me each month.

If you are considering a joint blog, or any kind of shared media, be sure to leave yourself room for branding. I have had to slowly transition my Twitter feed back to my real name, because I made the mistake of setting it up as a blog-related feed. I have also only recently discovered that we can post on the blog under separate names. Branding is critical in building relationships with your readers and potential readers. Investigate the options available for whatever kind of media you are considering, and remind yourself that you can’t build relationships on anonymity.

Enjoyment

In case you missed that last sentence, let me restate: your online presence is all about relationships. You don’t have to do it, but if you choose to be online, make sure you participate in a way that doesn’t become a chore. Have fun and don’t make it all about you. Make it about the people you like and respect. Share information. Pay it forward.

Consider who you want to reach and what *they* want. Then GIVE.

Martina Boone writes primarily for young adults. She’s the founding member of Adventures in YA Publishing, a Writer’s Digest Top 101 Best Website for Writers site, and also has a website , a Twitter feed, and a Tumblr feed. She mainly uses her Pinterest account to help her visualize the worlds and people who populate her stories. Her Facebook and Google accounts are mostly sad and orphaned children, and she uses her Goodreads account to keep track of her TBR pile. Between the various media accounts, she has over 10,000 followers, which still makes her scratch her head in wonder, disbelief, and overwhelming gratitude. She is repped by Kent Wolf at Lippincott, Massie, McQuilkin.

The post Four Questions to Define Your Social Media Presence appeared first on DIY MFA.

Every morning that I wake up before daylight to write, I wonder if I can keep all of the “balls” in the air. How many can I juggle before I drop everything? I know I’m not the only one juggling a full-time job, a family with young children, and a burning desire to write. But as I spend more and more of my life juggling multiple responsibilities, I have a few confessions to make.

Juggling Can Be Fun

Boredom is stifled when juggling is rampant. Not only do I juggle multiple family and career responsibilities, I’m also crazy enough to juggle multiple writing projects at a time. This ensures one thing: I’m never bored. I don’t spend much time staring at a blank computer screen because I have plenty to keep me busy. Whether I’m researching for a nonfiction piece, drafting a novel, revising a poem, or planning my next blog posts, I am the farthest thing from bored. Multiple projects keeps me moving forward.

Juggling More Doesn’t Always Pay Off

The more items you add to juggle, the more nail-biting it becomes. At some point, if you add too many things, you will drop them all. For me personally, I know that I have sleep requirements. If I don’t sleep enough, I can’t keep everything going. So compromising sleep isn’t an option for me. I’d rather go to bed at 9:00 pm, so I can wake up refreshed at 5:00 am.

You will need to find your own limits. My juggling limitations aren’t the same as someone else’s. Maybe you can get by on six hours of sleep, but you can only juggle one writing project at a time. That’s okay. You have to learn your own limits. Unfortunately, you learn your limits by pushing them. Add one more ball and you drop everything. You pick fewer back up, focus on the things you are most passionate about, and try again. It’s better to juggle your perfect number well than to add too many balls and do none of them well.

It’s Not for Show

Juggling is fun to watch. People are astonished by jugglers who can juggle more and dare to juggle dangerously. But in real life, juggling your life’s responsibilities is not a show. Don’t add more to your plate just for applause. It’s not worth it. Writers often spend years juggling without an audience. No one seems to notice. You need to be in this writing gig because you can’t figure out how NOT to write.

Juggling multiple projects is often necessary and it can be fun, if it’s balanced. But if you are juggling a writing career, a full-time job, plus other responsibilities, don’t do it to satisfy anyone else but yourself. Don’t compare your juggling with anyone else’s. You need to juggle what works for you.

Jugglers make it look easy. But behind a successful demonstration is a lot of hard work—a lot of failed attempts along the way. When you look at other writers who are your role models, remember: they might make it look easy, but they’ve spent a lot of time to get there. We don’t always see the failed attempts. We usually see the masterful juggling.

Are You Juggling the Right Things?

In Seth Godin’s book, Poke the Box, he argues, “Juggling is about throwing not catching.” We have to be willing to try new things. Sometimes we worry so much about catching and keeping it all together, that we neglect to keep it fresh. Throw in new things, and get rid of things that aren’t working.

Are you willing to drop something you are juggling and are less passionate about to throw in what you really love?

Marcie Flinchum Atkins is a crazed juggler of full-time teaching, raising two young kids, and writing for children and young adults. She received her MFA in children’s literature from Hollins University. She blogs at www.marcieatkins.com

The post True Confessions of a Juggler: Time Management Tips for Every Writer appeared first on DIY MFA.

Agents have long filled an important role in our industry. Their job is so much more than vetting manuscripts and connecting writers with the right publishers for their work. Good literary agents help writers throughout the many stages of their careers, navigating the many important hurdles that writers face.

As I learned at Writer’s Digest Conference East, literary agents aren’t going anywhere. the smart ones are shifting their attitudes towards self-publishing and adapting to fit the new publishing climate. These agents recognize the importance of adapting to the new scene as much as the rest of us and believe that their role is much more of a partnership with authors than anything else.

Reasons to consider an Agent-Author Partnership, even if you self-publish:

1) An agent can help you develop a strategy for your whole career.

Good agents know that the key to an author’s success is not just publishing one book. While you might sign a retainer agreement for one particular project, smart agents know that it’s better all around if they guide the writer in terms of his or her overall career.

In a Q&A session at Writer’s Digest Conference East, agent Barbara Poelle emphasized that while authors have to be the CEO of their career, the agent’s job is to advise the author on how to negotiate the publishing process.

Writers often get so hung up on the nitty-gritty details of their books that they forget to look up and take in the big picture. An agent can keep an eye on the horizon, leaving you free to tackle the immediate tasks, like the book that’s right in front of you.

2) An agent can help you avoid publishing traps and pitfalls.

Like a consigliere to the author-godfather, an agent can help the writer avoid big mistakes that can’t be undone later. Writers often think that having a “friend who’s also a lawyer” look over a contract is enough to help them avoid pitfalls but that’s usually not the case. Unless that lawyer is well-versed in copyright law, he or she won’t be much help in looking over a book contract.

More importantly, a lawyer will think in legal terms but probably doesn’t know a lot about the nuances of the publishing industry. As Kristen Nelson (Nelson Literary Agency) said in her talk about agents and self-publishing, agents look at contracts differently than lawyers do and they think in terms of the industry.

This applies when you self-publish as well. Recently Hugh Howey–author of the best-selling eBook Wool, and a client of Kristen Nelson–signed an unusual book deal with Simon & Schuster for print rights only. Howey continues to retain eBook rights to the novella. To read Howey’s account of how he got his movie deal and print-only book deal for Wool, check out these two links.

3) An agent can be your champion in the publishing process.

While agents used to be called “gate-keepers,” the good ones realize that their job is much bigger than that. When it comes to the agent-author relationship there’s no “us against them.” We’re all on the same side and we have the same goal: to get books in the hands of readers.

As the publishing industry continues to evolve, it’s imperative that writers and agents work together, to make sure that these changes end up being good ones. In her talk Nelson stressed that in order to make change in the publishing industry, there needs to be more conversation and one of the key ways that this conversation can happen is by agents and authors working together in partnership.

In the end, the adaptable writer wins.

There’s been a lot of “either-or” in the industry. Either writers sign with an agent and get a traditional book deal, or they self-publish and go it alone. But as has become very clear, there is no “either-or” anymore. Writers can and do both publish their work themselves and via the traditional path. And these writers are finding much more overall success than their counterparts who choose one avenue over another. (More on that topic in a later article.)

The verdict is still out as to why these hybrid authors seem to find more success in the new publishing climate. Maybe it’s because they have an entrepreneurial streak so they’re constantly thinking of new, innovative ways to get their books in the hands of readers (whether those books are self-published or not). Or maybe it’s because they’ve had to forge their own path so they’ve become more savvy about the business as a whole, rather than just deferring to industry professionals for everything that’s not related to pure writing.

Or maybe, because these writers have had to negotiate their way through a changing industry, they’ve learned to play well with others. It has become clear that in the brave new world of publishing, relationships rule. Publishing is not a machine; it’s a living, breathing organism and the parts depend on each other for the whole body to function.

When the environment changes, what do organisms do? They either die or they adapt. In this case, I’m happy to report that the publishing industry is not dead, but it is most definitely adapting. And the writers who adapt with it will be the ones who find success.

The post Why You Should Consider an Agent, Even If You Self-Publish appeared first on DIY MFA.

That’s why I recommend participating in pitch sessions at conferences even if your manuscript is not complete. Practicing my pitch has helped me find my story. Let me explain:

I’m working on a memoir about the power of hope through faith.  After three years of writing, rewriting, attending writer’s conferences, taking writing courses, I am just finding the heart of my story– a prerequisite for pitching any book.

In 2009, I attended my first national writer’s conference armed with an idea and a passion to write, I stood in long ,winding lines to pitch my story idea to any available agent or publisher, practicing my pitch with anyone who would listen.

I learned from one agent: “Your story may be fascinating in its detail but it will all be in the telling.”

So I set out to learn my craft, signing up for memoir writing courses and workshops and spending the next two years writing vignettes. I also started a memoir writer’s blog in December, 2009.

In 2011, I practice-pitched again at another writer’s conference…and learned from a publisher: “If you aren’t a celebrity, you need a strong author platform to show you have an audience for your book.”

So I signed up for Dan Blank’s Build Your Author Platform Course and continued to work on building my platform.

In 2012, I attended my first Writer’s Digest Conference and participated in “Pitch Slam.”  Standing in more winding lines, practicing my pitch with others in line, I realized something important: I did not know what the heart of my story was yet. I learned by pitching that I wasn’t ready to pitch. I had more writing and rewriting to do.

So I went on a quest to find the heart of my story. I began pulling my vignettes together into a story board. I took a few more writing courses. I blogged about my journey until I was ready to send my first 100 pages to a manuscript consultant.

In 2013, two weeks before the Writer’s Digest Conference and after two rounds of professional edits and feedback from several beta readers, I found the heart of my story. It was not the story I had been working on.

I wasn’t even sure I would be attending Pitch Slam. What story would I be pitching? But on the train ride into New York City, I wrote out my pitch. Even though the process was taking a new direction, I decided I would attend Pitch Slam with no expectations other than to gain clarity and focus for my job ahead.

Here’s what happened:

Agent #1:

“Your story sounds interesting but you have to offer a unique twist to a common topic. What do you have to offer that similar stories don’t offer?”

The answer came to me as I stood in line for the next agent. I’m a nurse and can speak about a cancer diagnosis from the other side. I incorporated that into my next pitch.

Agent #2:

Nodding and engaged, she asked me what my platform was. When I told her about my blog and audience, she advised that I incorporate that into my pitch. And she asked me to submit a proposal. I was getting warmed up. Two new points to incorporate into my next pitch gave me increased confidence.

Agent #3:

“Sounds intriguing. Send me three scenes. I need to see how you write and if it fits in with what I need.”

Two out of three was not bad. I was feeling excited until I sat before the next agent who asked me the most challenging question of all.

Agent#4:

“What is your narrative arc?”

I stumbled through and she politely told me my story did not fit what she was looking for.

I knew I didn’t have the narrative arc down clearly yet. But when I went off to the side to think about it, I ended up jotting it down. It flowed like it had been there all along just waiting for me to notice. By the time I reached my final and most valued agent, I had incorporated all of the above—my story’s uniqueness, platform, narrative arc—into my pitch.

Agent #5:

“Send me a proposal. Do you have a business card?”

I had met this agent at my first writer’s conference in 2009 and had sent her a proposal way before I didn’t even know what I didn’t know. The cumulative feedback from all the previous agents and publishers had led to my best pitch yet.

Practicing my pitch has helped me refine my focus and clarify my story.

You can’t hit a home run unless you get up to bat. Or in the words of Babe Ruth:

Are you ready to pitch your story? If you have already pitched your story, how has it helped you move along in your writing? Share your thoughts in the comments.

•   •   •   •   •

Kathleen Pooler is a writer and a retired Family Nurse Practitioner who is working on a memoir and a sequel about how the power of hope through her faith in God has helped her to transform, heal and transcend life’s obstacles and disappointments:  domestic abuse, divorce, single parenting, loving and letting go of an alcoholic son, cancer and heart failure to live a life of joy and contentment. She believes that hope matters and that we are all strengthened and enlightened when we share our stories.

She blogs weekly at her Memoir Writer’s Journey blog: http://krpooler.com and can be found on Twitter @kathypooler and on LinkedIn, Google+, Goodreads and Facebook: Kathleen Pooler

Read Kathy’s work:

“The Stone on the Shore” is published in the anthology: “The Woman I’ve Become: 37 Women Share Their Journeys From Toxic Relationships to Self-Empowerment” by Pat LaPointe, 2012.

“Choices and Chances” is published in the mini-anthology: “My Gutsy Story” by Sonia Marsh, 2012.

The post How Practicing My Pitch Helped Me Write a Better Book appeared first on DIY MFA.

Self-publishing is no longer a synonym for vanity publishing. Authors have more options than ever before to get their books in the hands of their ideal readers. And even if a writer gets a book deal with a big publisher, they still have to don that entrepreneurial cap and help sell and market their books. One thing is clear: you can’t be just a writer anymore. There’s a certain business savvy that’s now expected of writers and we have to accept that, whether we like it or not.

But I feel like the pendulum has swung too far. In a world where writers used to work in quiet solitude, they now have marketing responsibilities and social media foisted on them (along with all the noise that comes with it). It used to be that writers’ primary responsibility was honing their craft and writing the best book possible. Now writing the best book possible is a given and writers have a mountain of other jobs as well.

I’m beginning to worry that in the course of this shift, some amazing writing voices are going to get lost in the shuffle.

Entrepreneurial Authors

Fans of self-publishing love this idea of author entrepreneurs putting their books out into and owning their publishing careers. But let’s not forget that we’re no longer working in a one-style-fits-all publishing world. Just as self-published authors didn’t like what they saw in traditional publishing and carved out a model that worked for them, we must also understand that entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone.

Not all authors want to be entrepreneurs but we all have to be entrepreneurial.

There’s a difference.

I recently had a conversation with a writer who expressed apprehensions about this growth in self-publishing. She said that self-publishing could be great for some writers, but that she herself wouldn’t do well in that situation. She confessed that she didn’t want to be her own boss.

This came as a shock to me because–as an entrepreneur practically since birth–it never occurred to me that some people might actually like working in a traditional job with a regular boss and normal schedule. Similarly, for many writers having the structure of working with a traditional publisher is worth all the difficulties (dozens of query rejections, loss of control over many details, etc.) Not all authors are cut out to be their own publishers–or in other words, be author entrepreneurs. This is why traditional publishers will never disappear altogether.

But whether you publish via the traditional model or you choose to break out on your own, every writer needs to be the CEO of his or her career. You need to be entrepreneurial no matter which publishing path you choose. Being entrepreneurial means being constantly on the lookout for:

• Potential partnerships both inside and out of your field,
• Opportunities to get your work in front of new audiences (i.e. marketing and PR opportunities),
• New possible business models (i.e. ways to get your stories into the world),
• Information about new technology and learning how to make it work for you.

It might look like I’m letting writers off the hook, giving them opportunity to complain about the injustices of the changes to the publishing industry. That’s not what I’m doing. I might be saying that not all writers need to be entrepreneurs, but if we must all be entrepreneurial then it means there is no longer room in this industry for writers who are lazy. There’s no room for excuses and no room for complaining. We just have to do the work.

There are two ways we can look at how things are evolving in the world of publishing. On one hand, we can throw our hands in the air and wail “the end is nigh!” until we’re hoarse, but how much good is that really going to do? The other option is to accept that change isn’t just around the corner–it’s already happened–accept it, and start looking for new opportunities. In this new publishing model there’s no more opportunity to get comfortable with the status quo because things are going to continue to change constantly. The industry is going through some growing pains and we’ve got to grow with it.

The post Why You Don’t Need to Be an Author Entrepreneur appeared first on DIY MFA.

Perhaps you’re reading this and thinking you want to start a group blog too. Maybe you already know how to blog. Maybe you’ve never written a single post. Where do you start?  What steps do you take? I’ve listed  steps that helped us make our decision. Hopefully it’ll help you too!

1) Ask Why

Before you dive headlong into creating your blogger account, it’s important to answer this question.  Why are you starting a blog?  Is it to build your presence on the web or seek out fellow writers or potential readers?  How will the blog help you achieve your end goals?

At ThinkingtoInking, we wanted to do something that would help others with similar writing experiences, so we made a conscious decision to focus our blog on providing information that would be beneficial to writers and authors of MG and YA novels.

2) Find the Right People

It may be that you decide to create an individual blog versus a team blog.  For us, the benefits of the team blog far outweighed anything we could have done separately. A blog is a big commitment and we felt that as individuals, churning out one post (let alone more) per week would be too daunting.

I have to give a lot of the credit to Lauren for seeing our potential as a team.  We all met at the spring 2012 Big Sur Writing Workshop and it was Lauren who rallied the troops and pushed us to figure out a way to continue to work together.

It also helped that we had complimentary skill sets.  Lauren was key to bringing the group together while Triona provided much needed web skills and Stacy is a marketing guru (I like to think I brought some Canadiana to the team).

3) Keep the Engine Going

Keep things simple.  As a team, we post twice a week (Mondays and Wednesdays) and set a schedule three months in advance.  We also set specific topics for certain days (i.e. YA Picks and Writer’s Resource) and our posts must always be helpful to our readers and positive (i.e no book bashing).

But more important than rules and schedules is team motivation.  Even though we all live in different cities, we support each other with constant words of encouragement.  We also don’t sweat the small stuff.  If a teammate can’t post on the day she’s scheduled, there’s never a fuss about someone else taking over.  This needs to be useful for others but it also has to be fun for us.

Finally, the key when deciding to start a blog is to remember that this is something you’re doing to compliment your writing.  It should never take away or replace the time that you should be spending on what’s most important – your manuscript.  

Jennifer Pun spent the last two years as a snowbird calling both Toronto and Los Angeles home. When she’s not writing YA fiction, she’s producing television shows including the international tween series HOW TO BE INDIE and CONNOR UNDERCOVER.  As you can tell, she’s a big fan of the young and the young at heart. You can read more of her writing at www.thinkingtoinking.com

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