Category Archives: Lizzie’s Scribbles
What A Difference A Year Makes
a rookie writer looks back over 12 months
I’m about to publish my second Romantic Comedy: Boot Camp Bride – romance and intrigue on the Norfolk Marshes. The manuscript has been copyedited, is with a formatter, the cover is ready and I’m raring to go. Rather than sit twiddling my thumbs, I thought I’d clear the decks – I’m aiming for a paper free office! – continue publicising Tall, Dark and Kilted and start getting word about Boot Camp Bride. This entailed a clean sweep of my office, resulting in four bin liners filled with scribbled-on draft manuscripts, numerous self-help sheets and posts downloaded off writers’ blogs. And it suddenly hit home just how much work I’d put into launching myself as an indie writer.
This time last year, I’d just sent off my ITIN to the US Inland Revenue so Amazon.com wouldn’t without 30% of my earnings. They did anyway, but that’s another story. I thought a W8-BEN was something to do with: Been there, seen it, got the T-shirt and worn it out. (sorry) I’d also spent over £100 buying ISBN numbers from Nielsen and registering on PUBWEB. I spent hours searching through royalty free photos to find an image of a man in a kilt that wouldn’t put me off my haggis, neeps and tatties. I finally found one it on Dreamstime. I found the photo for my second cover via Google image and then sourced it back to ‘dreamstime’.
I had to set up a PAYPAL account to buy credits on the website and now use it to pay my website designer, proof reader and formatter. (I may have bought one or two non-writing purchases, but let’s not go there!) I didn’t fully appreciate what was involved in formatting a manuscript for kindle and Create Space but managed it anyway, using crib sheets provided by RNA members Freda Lightfoot and Amanda Grange. This time I’m paying someone to copy edit and format my manuscript – nuff said!
I enjoyed designing my front cover and writing the blurb but had to learn all about categories and tags on Amazon and didn’t realise how important they were. I’m better prepared this time, too, regarding having the shipment of my novels but wish that Create Space would print in the UK and save me postage.
On the run up to publication, I organised a tweetathon/giveaway to publicise my book. I replied to so many tweets in a two hour period that I was put in twitter ‘prison’ and had to continue on my ‘event page’ on Facebook. Since then I have become an avid tweeter and re-tweeter, which I think has really helped to sell my novel outside of the UK. I now sell more downloads on amazon.com than any other site. Re-tweeting can be tedious, but through it I have gained many lovely readers who are waiting patiently for number two. I’m fast becoming expert on #hashtags #favourites, tiny/urls and how to use them to my advantage.
I had a profile on Facebook before I became a writer and established quite a community of friends there. Many Facebook friends have downloaded and my books and supported me this year and I can’t thank them enough. Please ‘friend’ me if we aren’t already friends. I now have a Facebook Author page but most of my readers like to ‘friend’ me on my main page as I talk about non-writerly matters there. I now realise the importance of amazon reviews and how they affect the algorithm that determines my place in the rankings.
I now have a website with a blog and have purchased a domain name. I’m on my second website as I wasn’t happy with the first one; however, I need to spend some time launching it this autumn along with Boot Camp Bride (www.lizzielamb.co.uk) I am in the process of having a quarterly newsletter designed, too. I have appeared on many blogs but now need to start repaying the favour. I have also established a presence on GoodReads, after other writer friends advised me to. Jury’s still out on that one!
Along with three other writers, I formed The New Romantics 4 and held book launches in pubs, clubs and hotels. We’re about to start Round Two and hope to hold a launch in London this year.
Finally, last December I offered my book as a free download and although I had a great sales spike afterwards I don’t think I’d do it again. My reason – well, that’s for another blog post. Instead, I keep altering my price as I find if you leave things to simmer, Amazon doesn’t seem promote my novel as much. I have stayed on KDP select as the latest self-publishing seminar I attended said that amazon has 95% of the market, Apple 5% and the other outlets 5%. But I might consider KOBO when the three month deal ends.
That’s my retrospective. Is it getting any easier? Debatable. It’s certainly not for the faint hearted. It seems that as one climbs one peak, there’s another one to be conquered – and another book to be written. And if anyone tells me indie writers have it easy, I might forget I’m a lady.
Lizzie’s Links
Tall Dark and Kilted: http://t.co/jKpB4WMM4F
Goodreads http://tinyurl.com/cbla48d
All the Little Birdies go: “Tweet, tweet, tweet.”
My social networking regime . . .
Recently, I attended a Self Publishing Conference at Leicester University where having a social networking presence was stressed. A number of attendees protested that they didn’t want to join Facebook or Twitter, the reply was blunt and to the point: no online presence = fewer book sales. Does tweeting, Facebook etc actually sell books? Is it worth the effort? The smart money says it is, but who knows.
Here’s my social networking regime and how it works for me.
First thing, I go through my iPhone, read and delete hotmail messages. After breakfast I migrate over to Facebook and post a personal status – with a photo if possible as I find that gets the most response. Then I go over to News Feed, check who’s on, leave a few comments and “share” any posts/ blog links I find interesting. Over the course of the day/week I check into the various Facebook groups I belong to: Write On Girls, Writers on the Same Page, Chick Lit Goddesses, Famous Five – join in conversations and leave a comment if possible.
Later it’s over to TWITTER where I follow back new followers, retweet those who’ve retweeted me and go into my ‘hashtag’ groups and retweet there – FFP, ASMSG, BYNR and so on. Next, I put up three posts about my book which other tweeps can find and retweet easily. I usually leave a status about my writing or what I’m doing that day to give it a personal touch, using hashtags such as #romance #amwriting #amreading #debutnovel #fridayreads etc. It’s important to have those posts at the ‘top’ of one’s profile, otherwise tweeps lwill RT the first message they find and that might not be about me, or #Tall,DarkandKilted.
After lunch I return to Facebook where I put a brief message on my author page and reply to anyone who’s commented on my status. Every couple of days I do the same on the New Romantic 4’s author page – again, with a photo if possible. And in the evenings I check on @newromantics4 twitter page on my iPhone or iPad and respond whilst watching TV.
The New Romantics 4 have recently had a blog created for by Nettie Thomson (nettie@meldrummedia.com). It’s the responsibility of each member to keep their author page updated and, once a month, to post a blog about their writing. That makes it manageable. Nettie is also building a website for me which links into the NR4 blog; it includes a personal blog which will enable me to take part in events like THE GREAT BRITISH BLOG / NEXT BIG READ etc.
Last, but not least, I generally go over to Pinterest in the evenings and add photos to my various boards; other pinners follow and re-pin my photos. That means that they see my ‘writing boards’ which contain pictures and other themes relating to Tall, Dark and Kilted and my WIP.
And that’s it. It might not work for you but it works for me. The secret I think is to have a clear routine and ‘bit and bob’ as the day goes round. I usually write in the very early morning, meet friends for lunch or coffee and then back to it in the afternoons. Having a smart phone (and a stock of photos on it) and an iPad makes all this so much easier as I can leave them set up for social networking while my WIP stays on the PC.
How do YOU handle your online presence?
Don’t Look Back
January gets its name from the Roman god Janus, who is traditionally depicted with two faces – one looking forward into the future and one looking back at what has already happened. As a self published author, I have taken Janus as my totem as I work on my second novel and have added my own catch phrase: Don’t Look Back.
As a new writer I took the advice to “polish, polish, polish those first three chapters,” too literally and spent months revising, editing and adapting my novel without finishing it. I harboured the mistaken belief that one could send out those first three immaculate chapters to an agent, or present them to an editor at a writers’ conference and wait to have one’s hand snapped off.
In this crazy stop-start fashion, it took me two years to complete Tall, Dark and Kilted (writing 70k in year one and the final 50k the following year.) I should have had the confidence to plough right on to the end to produce a ‘dirty’ draft or first edit instead of revising and editing as I went along. That would have given me a better idea of the arc of the story and I wouldn’t have spent hours writing scenes which I later jettisoned. I dread to think how many highlighting pens I wore out, the countless pages of the thesaurus I turned searching for the apt phrase, the pithy remark when I should have concentrated on keeping the narrative going.
I have learned my lesson. Honest, Guv, I have!
My current novel now stands at 80, 000 words and I have resisted the temptation to go back and edit. Now, if I can’t think if a word, phrase or an emotion – I simply highlight the gap/omission to fill in later. I should finish my first ‘dirty draft’ by late spring 2013, ready to submit to the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme. After receiving my critique, I will make any necessary revisions and send the polished ms to be formatted for Kindle and Create Space by a professional, and have my cover designed.
If everything goes according to plan, I should have the paperback proof to read through for typos etc by the middle of September at the latest. Do-able? I have a photo of my old pal Janus blue tacked to the window near my desk spurring me on, just in case I slip back into my old ways.
I’d love to know how you approach writing and completing your novel. Do share . . .
Lizzie Lamb - author 