COLA III Meeting Recap for 01/12/2021
Four of us made it to the meet. Two read for critique:
We started the new year down in numbers. Illness in the family kept Dea and Danielle home. We wish for speedy recovers for them and their family members.
STARTING OUR WORK FOR 2021
So we only had two readings, picking up where we left off last November. Larry continued with his novel, The Letters, reaching chapter 32. I continued with Power of the Ancients, reading from the “journal” entries that lay the background for my story.
Though our attendance number was small, I think everyone was glad to get back together and work again. We had some discussion on self-publishing and promotion, basically wondering if anyone ever made any money doing such. I have wondered that myself and spent much time researching the possibilities for self vs traditional publishing and promotion.
SELF-PUBLISHING
It seems to me that independent authors are a commodity ruthlessly exploited by Print-On-Demand companies, editing services, ebook distribution outlets, review services, Amazon, writer support services, etc, etc, etc. There may be no greater class of workers exploited for profit than independent writers.
That’s not to say there are no good writer services or small publishers/printers. Certainly, there are. I much like and recommend Write By Night, Reedsy, Atmosphere Press, Book Locker. There are others. And there are books: legions of books that tell you how to write, how to self-publish, how to implement self-publishing and marketing strategies, how to leverage Kindle Direct Publishing, how to get tons of review on Amazon, and etc, etc, etc. Again, I have my list of most useful books and there are legitimate strategies that help the independent author. But it is a struggle to separate the wheat from the chaff.
For the independent author, though, it comes down to money: what services can you afford to buy in order to produce and sell your book. This has always been the case (E. A. Poe had to pay to publish at least some of his books). and writers have always been a commodity to publishers. It’s just that today, the situation is on steroids. But at least, writers have options thanks to the Internet. I don’t know how long that will be true, but it is true right now.
At this point, if you have $4000 to $8000 dollars to put into your book, I would say put it into having your book edited (developmental and copy edits). Then find a print-on-demand (POD) company to actually produce your book. You might use Amazon (Kindle Direct Publishing - KDP) to produce the ebook and promote it via Kindle Select.
If, like me, you have zero dollars to put into your book, you can do it all for free (or nearly free) using online tools and Amazon KDP. That’s the process I’m describing in the “Publishing My Novel” section of this newsletter.
PROMOTING
Whatever publishing process you pursue, you will have to decide how you will promote your book, or whether you will. I’ll write more about promotion later. In a nutshell, I think all the marketing tricks and strategies described in writers blogs and eBooks comes down to: you have to let your potential reading audience know your book exists without annoying them. This is best done where they look for books, and at this time, that is mostly on Amazon.
MY RESTART
I need to point out that I am undergoing a restart of my Internet presence.
I cannot afford to maintain my websites with Hostcentric any more, so I am moving my web/blog base to WordPress and scaling it down. This means the COLA3 meeting status page on my Arbordin Park Press site will go away by March 23. Rayfoy.com will be gone by the first week in April. I probably will not recreate the COLA3 and Chapter Three pages on WordPress, but will keep those promotions within this newsletter and the SCWA website and Facebook pages.
You can read about my restart, follow me and sign-up for my Ray-Views newsletter if you wish. Just bear in mind that I get more gritty and radical on this website. It is mostly book and media reviews, but at times I have to vent through blog posts “From Ray’s Journal.” More info is here.
COLA3's next meeting is scheduled for January 26th.
Ray
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ELEMENTS OF THE WRITING CRAFT CHALLENGE
PART I: STORYTELLING
LESSON: 12 STORY INSIDE STORY
PRINTED BOOK PAGES: 18-19
READING EXCERPT: Had I a Hundred Mouths by William Goyen
…It was with these feelings that he heard the uncle’s suddenly solemn voice. What was this voice, this tone? What story?
It was in the dark afternoon on a November day of sleet, told the uncle. We waited and we waited for the Louetta to get home from her trip into town. The darker it got the scareder we got.
MY NOTES ON THE LESSON
This lesson is about telling a story within your story (probably fiction, but not necessarily). The idea is to make a dramatic point with the reader by means of a character telling a story to make a point with other characters. This device is not so unusual in fiction writing and is often accomplished by means of the flashback. This is especially so when the flashback is crafted as a story told by a particular character. There’s tons of examples from literature. Frankenstein comes to mind. That story is presented as a telling by Victor Frankenstein of his tale to the explorer, Walton.
In this lesson’s example, the segue into the internal story is by a character’s noticing a change in the voice of the storytelling character. This tells the reader that the coming story is of dramatic import. This is the path Mr. Olmstead takes the student in the lesson exercises.
MY ANSWERS TO THE WRITING POSSIBILITIES
1. Storytellers inside your stories, in all likelihood, will sound different from the narrator. They will tell their story in a way that is unique within the larger story. Begin with the sound of a voice. Make a list of ten phrases that describe a voice.
2. Use questions to move into your story. Choose one of the phrases from exercise one and add three questions to move into your story. For example: her voice was like a reed. What was this sound? Was this her voice? Her story?
A melodic quality entered his voice as it deepened, as if he were on-stage about to deliver plot-twisting soliloquy. From whence this drama? Experience? Manipulating invention?
3. Now begin your interior story, and once inside, understand you have a new storyteller.
A melodic quality entered his voice as it deepened, as if he were on-stage about to deliver plot-twisting soliloquy. From whence this drama? Experience? Manipulative invention?
“I was an orphan, you know,” my father said, sounding like a voice from the wings. “Raised by the state. I think that’s why political persuasions didn’t settle in me until government decrees made a normal life impossible.”
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PUBLISHING MY NOVEL
Creating my eBook for KDP
In the last newsletter (#54), I described how I created a cover image for my novel, Power of the Ancients. It came out as a 300dpi JPG (image) file. Now I had to prepare my manuscript for uploading to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP).
DO YOUR RESEARCH FIRST
KDP is the Amazon’s publishing platform for electronic books (ebook) and print books (Print on Demand: POD) for independent authors. If you’re not familiar with KDP and how it works, there are numerous books describing how to use it. A few I recommend are:
How to Publish a Book on Amazon by Sam Kern.
KDP Guide by Steven Bright
Kindle Unlimited by Barb Asselin
5-Minute Marketing For Authors by Barb Asselin
There’s also a lot of information in the KDP web pages that includes videos and PDF downloads. You will, of course, need a KDP account. You can sign-up for free on the KDP home page here. I had an account from having published a couple of books on Amazon CreateSpace (now a component of KDP) a few years ago.
For Power of the Ancients, I wanted to create both print and ebook versions. And I wanted to use the same Microsoft Word document (.docx) as input to those separate processes, starting with the ebook (Kindle).
I use Scrivener to write. It can “compile” a work into a number of formats and document types. These formats (standard manuscript, advanced reading copy, paperback novel, short story, etc) can be exported as a Word doc for further manipulation. These types include an ebook (.EPUB) which can be converted to a .MOBI and imported to the Kindle application (or device). This is good to get a quick-and-dirty feel for how your book will work in a Kindle. I did this and it was very helpful for editing. The resulting ebook, however, is not adequate for KDP publishing, so I went another route.
STARTING WITH A WORD DOCUMENT
I exported my Scrivener version of the novel to a Word file (.docx) in “paperback novel” format (using a template that comes with Scrivener). Tweaking the Scrivener parameters, I was able to create a document that had the parts I wanted (title page, copyright, acknowledgments, chapter breaks, “about the author,” etc). I then formatted this Word doc to create the print book interior I wanted. To do this, I followed the instructions and guidelines in the KDP booklet: kdp build your book: paperback interior formatting. These instructions are for use with Microsoft Word 2016, which, happily, is the version I have.
These formatting instructions are available on the KDP site in videos and web pages not specific to Word. The initial page is here and contains a button labeled, “Download instructions” which gave me the PDF file I used as a guide.
At this point, I must note that formatting the interior of your book can be an expensive and complicated process. A professional would use some heavy software such as Microsoft Publish (and there are others) and produce a beautiful book. But I know from experience and the testimony of other indie authors that is is possible to produce a perfectly fine book with Microsoft Word. I can’t afford to hire a pro, so I’m doing it myself with Word.
FORMATTING YOUR BOOK’S INTERIOR
I won’t get into details here. I refer you to the sources I mentioned above for that. Here are the highlights of the formatting I did on the Word document version of my manuscript:
1. I set page size and margins according to my desired trim size for the book (6” X 9”). Page count plays into this and I estimated mine to be “301 to 500” pages.
2. I modified several “styles” (a Word concept) to create document parts (body text, chapter headings, sub-headings, etc) with the fonts and spacings I wanted.
3. I inserted page and section breaks throughout the document so that chapters would start on new pages and contain page headings and page numbers as I wanted.
4. I created a Table of Contents using the Word tool for such, keying off the HEADING1 style.
Now I had a document that looked good and was laid out the way I wanted it for the printed book. I would also use this document as input for the ebook, which I would create first.
CREATING THE KINDLE EBOOK
As I said, Scrivener will produce an ebook, but doesn’t provide much in the way of formatting for it. For instance, it puts the Table of Contents at the very start of the book and you can’t change that (other than to put the cover image in front of it, but KDP doesn’t want the cover image as part of the book contents file). My solution was to format the ebook using KDP’s tool: Kindle Create.
Kindle Create is a free download from KDP that you can get here. Once downloaded, you must install it on your computer. I did this and opened my print-formatted novel Word document with it. Kindle Create formatted the Word doc as an ebook and displayed it. I was then able to use the software’s tool-set to further format the ebook. When I was satisfied with the results, I exported the ebook to a .KPF file, which is a format that Kindle Direct Publishing can use.
So at this point, I was ready to start creating the ebook in my KDP account. KDP does a good job at providing an intuitive path through the process on their website. I highly recommend doing your “homework” first, though, reading and viewing the instructional materials on KDP as well as supplemental books (see above).
I launched the ebook process by logging into my account, going to my “Bookshelf” page, and selecting “Create a New Title: Kindle eBook.”
This launches a process that takes you through three main sections (web pages) of creating your Kindle eBook:
Kindle eBook Details
Kindle eBook Content
Kindle eBook Pricing
The process is basically providing the information prompted for in each section. Before you start, you should be aware of the information required and decide what you will provide. You should have figured this out in your research.
Here is a summary of the information required per section:
Kindle eBook Details
Language:
Book Title / Subtitle:
Series: [a separate setup if required—you can create a series out of existing published books.]
Edition Number: (”1” for a first edition)
Author:
Contributors: (if you’re sharing book creation with anyone else)
Description: (max 4K char). You should have spent some time on this in advance.
Publishing Rights:
* I own the copyright and publishing rights
* This is a public domain work
Keywords (7):
Categories (2):
Age and Grade Range (optional):
Pre-order (yes or no):
Kindle eBook Content
DRM (yes/no): This should always be “no” in my opinion.
Upload manuscript file (docx, EPUB, KPF): This is where you upload the KPF file produced by Kindle Create.
Upload cover (JPG / TIFF): Here I uploaded the 300dpi cover image (JPG file) I created with Canva. Re: newsletter #54.
Online Previewer: This will display your eBook as it will appear in a Kindle.
ISBN (optional--not required for an eBook):
Publisher (optional): This can be your "imprint." I specified "Arbordin Park Press."
Kindle eBook Pricing
KDP Select (yes or no): This requires that your ebook distribution be exclusive to Amazon for 90 days.
Publishing territories:
* All territories (worldwide rights)
* Individual territories
Royalty category and price:
* 35% (list: $0.99 to $200.00)
* 75% (list: $2.99 to $9.99)
Enter list price you want (eg: $4.99):
Set options for matchbook and lending:
* Allow lending for this book
(mandatory if 70% royalty)
Publish or save as draft.
I went through all that, uploading my content file (.docx) and my cover image (.jpg). I was pleased that KDP took my cover image with no problems. I have reviewed it all the Online Previewer and it looks good. I saved all this as a draft and DID NOT publish it. So the ebook is not yet available on Amazon.
Note that I can update any of this info in all the sections anytime I want. I can even upload a new contents and/or cover image files if I want. Actually, I can make such changes even after I publish, though there are some restrictions. After a book is published, you can’t change certain parameters, such as the cover image, without creating a new edition (basically, a new book) with a new ISBN (for a print book; ASIN for an eBook). But right now, I can still change anything.
After publishing, there will be KDP Select options I can set, along with creating promotions.
WHAT’S NEXT
Next, I will create the print (POD) book, using the same Word doc file for input. The biggest difference will be creating the cover. I will, of course, use the same image file as for the ebook, but I will need to expand it to include the spine and back cover. This can be done offline, with Canva, using a template from KDP. The result should be a PDF file that is uploaded to KDP. Or you can use an online tool in KDP. I’ll probably use the online tool.
I intend to publish the print and the eBook before the end of January (2021). I will launch a 90-day promotion campaign afterward, based on the plan described in the 5-Minute Marketing For Authors book I noted above. I have some thoughts about independent author marketing that I’ll share with you in a future article.
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ARTICLES AND OTHER WORTHIES
Here are a few articles, podcasts, and videos that might inspire and lift your spirits.
Write On SC shownotes
Episode 129: A Dark and Stormy Night
On January 9th, Kasie and Rex took on the weather in fiction.
Yak Babies
133- Our Best Reading Experiences of 2020
The pals share their most memorable, if not enjoyable, reading experiences of the year that was.
Write By Night
Discussion questions: What are your literary goals for this new year? Whether tangible or intangible, let us know what you’re hoping to accomplish and how. And if you don’t have any–which I considered for myself–I want to hear about that, too.
My Reply.
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CALENDAR
COLA3 Meetings for 2021:
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Web Links
Note: The opinions and themes expressed by COLA III's members are not necessarily the opinions and themes of the Columbia III Chapter of the SCWA or of the SCWA.
List of previous issues of Chapter Three
List of books published by COLA III members
SCWA web page
SCWA Bylaws
Chapter Three FREE newsletter sign-up web-page
Write On SC broadcast
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