Re: "From Couchsurfing to Cafes: The Magic of the DIY Book Tour"

“I am, essentially, lazy. Without discipline I'd be just a mass of gummy bears on the sofa instead of on book tour with my eighth novel.” -Louise Penny

When entering any field of work, without proper research, there can be a lot of misconceptions and undermined expectations. This is no different in the field of writing, especially since the industry is so diverse and layered.

One element of a career in writing is the Book Tour. And while author Amanda LeDuc makes it very clear that authors are rarely sent on fancy book tours by their publishers nowadays, touring is still plausible via what she calls the “do-it-yourself,” or “DIY” book tour. She offers five helpful tips regarding how to have a successful DIY tour, which all seem to share one or two common themes: be social, and be disciplined.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/12/dumps-and-death-threats-hecklers-and-vindication-true-tales-from-today-s-diy-book-tour.html

While being social is not necessarily age-related, there are different types of social interaction that may come a bit more naturally to people of certain generations. For example, some of LeDuc’s tips would likely come very naturally to millennials. She suggests couch surfing, networking using social media, and touring cafes whilst cooperating with local authors. It’s safe to say that many young people are already doing these things in some shape or form, which would make these elements of the DIY book tour quite easy for them.

Other elements, however, may not come quite so easily to young people. For instance, LeDuc suggests calling all of the bookstores in each city and asking them whether they are willing to host you, and asking your publisher for help with some of the business aspects of the tour. This is where discipline comes in. Now, for the sake of avoiding generalizations, I will say that depending on the level of ambition or pride that a person has, calling people to ask for things could serve as an obstacle. Of course, there may be some people in this world who like making cold calls. That being said, I can’t say that I know any of those people, nor am I one of them. I usually have to psych myself up a little bit before making calls of that nature.

I suppose that even if some parts of the DIY book tour are difficult, it’s worth it for the memories (and the career advancement!). For those willing to rise to the challenge: good luck with your tour! And for those not willing to rise to the challenge: good luck with your gummy bear consumption!

Leaving Impressions

I've always liked writing. Ever since I was a little girl, I loved to write. Even if I wasn't writing, I was coming up with ideas and telling people about them. Part of it was because I liked (and still like to) be the center of attention, but another reason is because I want to change the world with my ideas. Perhaps not in a huge way, but in a I've-made-your-day-better sort of way.

For class, the article I chose to read was titled The Girl with the Ribboned Pigtails. The title really stuck out to me and was enough of a reason for me to read it. I thought it was going to be more about the impression that this little girl left on our author, Shauna Singh Baldwin, and how this little girl then influenced her to write. Rather, Shauna met this young girl with ribboned pigtails and was left to ponder how easily people now-a-days can become published.

That's what's to gain from this article as a writer in the 'real world.' Now that we have access to the Internet as well as everyone trying to make it big through the world of publications, she hopes that this girl with ribboned pigtails will continue to write, possibly get published, and make a living through the means of writing.

Those who write should write because they like to write. They should try to get published because they want to get published and feel as though their work is good enough. They shouldn't write "Only when [they] son't have anything more important to do." Writing is important. That's what's to be learned from this. Writing is the centre of our world and needs to be taking seriously.

What to Leave Out

“Leave out unnecessary details, unnecessary words, and things that you know nothing about.” This is what I was going to write in this blog post before I decided I didn’t want it to be boring and cliché.

Instead, I believe that there is a loophole in the topic that could take us somewhere interesting. “What to Leave Out” automatically makes us think about what to physically leave out of our writing. But what about the things that we should mentally leave out of our writing? In a lot of ways, the attitudes that we adopt have as much influence on our writing careers as our writing itself.

Everyone has their own personality and their own way of doing things, of course, but we do live in a culture where self-improvement is trendy; so, on that note, let us begin!

1. Leave Out Laziness

Nobody’s going to do your work for you, and nobody’s going to succeed for you. A creative career rarely happens by mistake. It requires strategy, diligence and inspiration. These things are interconnected, and I would say that all three are required if you want to reach your potential, but if you’re lacking in one of these areas (even just temporarily) the other two can likely still make a productive writer out of you. Yes, strive for all three, but don’t be discouraged when you’re not perfect (which brings me to my next point!).

2. Leave Out Pride

Pride is something that a lot of writers struggle with. This is not to say that a certain amount of pride should not be taken in one’s work, but it is important to keep an open mind and remain teachable. Thinking that your word is law is perfectly acceptable until you come across someone who actually knows better than you do. Receiving criticism from a place of humility is a lot less painful than having your pride hurt when you end up being wrong.

3. Leave Out Jealousy

Writing is a competitive business. Some will succeed, some won’t. It’s just like becoming a doctor, except more challenging. However, one thing that some writers (and people in general) do not realize is that jealousy is rather pointless. 

First of all, it does not make you a better writer. Sure, seeing somebody else succeed can be a good source of motivation, but said motivation does not have to come from a place of negativity or jealousy. They should not be blamed for their success any more than you should be blamed for yours.

Secondly, some aspiring writers do not realize that when their comrades succeed, from that point on they know someone in the business. Instead of forming relationships and connections with their peers, they burn all of their bridges (or even neglect building them in the first place), which leaves them stranded alone on an island with no writing career and a whole lot of resentment.

He is not having fun!

Online Self-Publishing for Dummies

So, after toiling over your keyboard for months on end, banging your head on the desk, proofreading, editing, and making your final draft, you’ve finally finished writing your very own manuscript.  Congratulations, take a bow! Now what do you do with it?

If you’d like to go the traditional route and submit your manuscript to publishing houses, print that baby out and mail her off.  If, however, you’d prefer to choose the more modern route, you may submit your manuscript in e-book form online and skip some of the hassle and rejection letters.
Make sure your new e-book has a fabulous, eye-catching cover. Just because you are going to be publishing online doesn’t mean you don’t need to draw the eyes browsing the digital bookshelves to your work. If you are not the artistic type, spend a few bucks and pay someone to make you a professional book cover.

Book and cover ready…check.  Now what? You have several options available.  You can choose to go with several companies which provide online book publishing services.  Each company has their own requirements and each offer different profit margins for the writer. A few companies are Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Smashwords, BookBaby, Barnes & Noble's PubIt, Lulu, and many more.
 I looked in depth at Lulu, as this particular company seemed to be very user-friendly for first timers.  On this site, you have the option of paying to have your document transformed into an ebook, or the free option of doing it yourself.  Lulu will also get you an ISBN number for your book free of charge enabling you to actually sell it.

Lulu provides step-by-step instructions to make sure you have everything you need, and that you have done everything necessary to get your new book published.  Lulu will give you 90% of the proceeds from selling your book online.  You can choose to distribute only through their site, or through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many more.

You may be tempted to price your book on the high side... BUT WAIT! While you might think that this will earn you more money pricing high, online book buyers tend to look for books with a price range of $.99 to $2.99.  Pricing your book competitively with others in the same genre will increase the likelihood of people downloading your book. Consistently pricing your books reasonably will also make sure you get people coming back for more.



Not enough info, you say? Please check out the following links for details:

Lulu http://www.lulu.com/
Smashwords  https://www.smashwords.com/
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing https://kdp.amazon.com/kdp/self-publishing/signin?language=en_US