Thinking Through Self-Publishing by Elaine L. Orr

In honor of Sisters in Crime Self Publishing Day, we asked successful self-published author Elaine Orr to guest for us today. Please welcome her back to WWK and read my interview with her here. 

                                                                                                                                                                 E. B. Davis

Like many authors, I took writing courses and wrote for decades – plays, stories, bad novels. Eventually I worked in tandem on the first two books of the Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series.

Sometimes age has advantages. At fifty-nine, I figured by the time I found an agent, s/he found a publisher, and the book was issued – I could be dead. Much more fun to be alive when a book came out.

I got to the publishing point as the price of Kindles went below $300, which meant ebooks were affordable. Amazon changed my financial future. But it took a lot of work on my part.

Since I still had a busy day job, it took a couple of months to figure out ebook formatting and how to load books to the various retailers. Had Mark Coker not written the Smashwords Guide, it would have taken a lot longer. Sometimes other authors comment that they don’t want to spend time formatting. I get that. I spend less than two hours per book and like controlling the process.

Take time to consider whether you want to self-publish or work with an agent to find a publisher. Talk to authors who have done it both ways, read blogs. Self-publishing is a lot of work, and if you go the traditional publisher route (I’ve done both) you want to be sure yours works as hard as you do to reach readers.

I’m certainly not wise, but I’ve learned a few things.

• Join or create a critique group that meets often. Mine (the Write Stuff in Decatur, Illinois) is tough but friendly. You can’t slack off when you are committed to a chapter per week.

• Read books and articles about writing. Ideas may come readily, but structure is important in genre fiction. No need to obey every rule, but if you are going to deviate from reader expectations, do it consciously.

• You only get one chance to make a first impression. If you can’t afford at least a proofreader and cover designer, hold a rummage sale.

• Think of income as a bunch of baskets, sometimes small. I keep a couple of books in Amazon’s KDP Select, but most are with all retailers (including in large print and audio). I’ve heard authors say things like, “Kobo is not worth my time.” Really? You want to sell a bunch of books in the UK and Canada, use Kobo. Sometime in the next year or two, I expect the combined income of the other retailers to equal my Amazon income.

• If you do put books on many platforms, use an aggregator (such as Smashwords, Draft2Digital). They load to all sites except Amazon and Google Play. You make a little less per book, but it saves time and frustration. You also get your ebooks placed with Overdrive, which sells to libraries.

• Set yourself up as a publisher – at least in terms of purchasing ISBNs from Bowker. (You’ll need another rummage sale.)

• If you use on-demand printers, use your own ISBN. You can (as a publisher) apply for a Library of Congress number for your paperback. Libraries beyond your local one may not order your book without one. I’m preparing second editions of my early books solely to include LOC numbers.

• Beyond thinking about your audience, don’t plan marketing until your book is done and revised. At that point, pay for some marketing if you can, and pick two or three avenues to work on regularly. I strongly advise a blog – time-consuming, but you can publicize blog posts. You will put yourself in front of readers without constantly saying “buy my book.” (I could write ten pages on marketing. Don’t get me started.)

Finally, I write for me, I publish to make money. Don’t expect to make a lot quickly, and don’t give up. You’ll meet a lot of fabulous authors along the way.

Elaine L. Orr writes three mystery series, other genres, and plays. She belonged to writers’ groups for decades before she began publishing, and is still sustained by them, especially Sisters in Crime. She also lectures on writing and publishing and has online classes on the Teachable platform. One (Thinking Through Self-Publishing) is free, via a link on her web page.

www.elaineorr.com

http://elaineorr.blogspot.com

elaineorr55@yahoo.com

Beatrix Potter, A Beloved Children's Author

Who hasn’t heard of Peter Rabbit or other small animals Beatrix Potter wrote about and illustrated so beautifully? That’s why when I heard on NPR a few weeks ago that she’d been turned down by publishers numerous times and ended up publishing The Tale of Peter Rabbit herself in 1901, I wanted to learn more about her.

A year after she self-published that little book and it was creating interest, Frederick Warne & Co. published it as a small three-color illustrated book. Over her lifetime, she published over twenty-three books; like Jemima Puddle-Duck, Benjamin Bunny, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse, The Tale of Flopsy Bunnies, The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, and others.

Potter was born into a wealthy family. Along with her younger brother Walter Bertram, she had few friends beyond a large extended family. Her parents were artistic, interested in nature and enjoyed the countryside.  As children, Beatrix and Bertram had numerous small animals as pets which they observed closely and drew endlessly. She was educated by private governesses until she was eighteen, studying languages, literature, science and history. She had private art lessons and illustrated small animals, insects, fossils, archaeological artifacts.

But Beatrix Potter was much more than just a writer and illustrator of children’s books. She was a natural scientist, who was interested in every branch of natural science except astronomy. Botany was a passion of hers. She also collected fossils, archeological artefacts from London excavations and had an interest in entomology. In the 1890’s she did extensive research into the reproduction of fungus spores and illustrated her research. Because she was a female and an amateur, she could not present her paper On the Germination of the Spores of the Agaricineae, to the Linnean Society in 1897. Instead it was introduced by George Massee, a botanist at Kew Gardens who submitted it for her.

In 1905 she became unofficially engaged to her editor Norman Warne, even though her parents disapproved, but suddenly a month later he died of leukemia.

That same year, with the proceeds from the sale of her books and a legacy from an aunt, she bought Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey, a tiny village, then in Lancashire, the English Lake District near Windermere. Over the following decades, she purchased additional farms to preserve the unique hill country landscape. She kept on the tenant farmer John Cannon and his family to manage the farm and the raising of livestock, including pigs, cows, chickens and sheep.

Soon after acquiring Hill Top Farm, she became keenly interested in the breeding and raising of Herdwick sheep, the indigenous fell sheep. She eventually became one of the major Herdwick sheep farmers in the area. She was admired by farm managers and shepherds for her willingness to experiment with the latest remedies for sheep illnesses and for her employment of the best shepherds, sheep breeders and farm managers.

 

Owning and managing these farms, additional farms, and land she bought, required collaboration with the widely respected William Heelis of W.H. Heelis & Son, a local firm of solicitors with nearby offices. In 1912, Heelis proposed marriage and Beatrix accepted, although she did not immediately tell her parents, who again disapproved because he was only a country solicitor. They were married on October 15, 1913 in London and moved immediately to Near Sawrey. She was forty-seven years old and now her own woman. She was a strong disciple of the land conservation and preservation ideals of her long-time friend and mentor, Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, founding member of the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty.  She restored and preserved the farms she bought or managed making sure that each farm house had in it a piece of antique Lakeland furniture.

Although Potter continued to write stories and to draw, mostly for her own pleasure, in the 1920’s she wrote The Fairy Caravan, a semi-autobiographical fanciful tale set in her beloved Troutbeck Fells. It was published only in the U.S. during her lifetime and not until 1952 in the UK.And she wrote Sister Anne, Potter’s version of the story of Bluebeard, written for her American readers, but illustrated by Katharine Sturges. A final folktale Wag by Wall was published posthumously by The Horn Book in 1944

Beatrix Potter and William Heelis enjoyed a happy marriage of thirty years continuing their farming and preservation efforts throughout the hard days of WWII. Although they never had children, she played an important role in his large family, and enjoyed her relationship with several nieces in particular.

Beatrix Potter died of complications from pneumonia and heart disease December 22, 1943 at Castle Cottage. She left nearly all her property to the National Trust. Her husband continued his stewardship of their properties and of her literary and artistic work for the eighteen months he survived her. When he died in August, 1945, he left the remainder to the National Trust.

I’m so glad I heard that little blurb about Beatrix Potter that morning on NPR. Although I’ve always admired her little books, I had no idea what an amazing person she was – much more so than what little I had room to write here.

What is your favorite Beatrix Potter book?