Most Amazing Guide to Self-Publishing: A.P.E. (Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur)

Most writers know at least one self-publishing success story.  A famous one, almost an urban legend by now, is the story of Amanda Hocking, of Minnesota.  She needed a couple hundred dollars one day, so she decided to self-published her paranormal romance.  In twenty months, she sold 1.5 million copies of her e-book and made $2.5 million.  Not only that, but she signed a huge deal with St Martin's Press. 

Self-publishing used to be called "vanity press," because only the vain would consider it.  Now it's earning more and more respect from both authors and publishers.  Agents regularly scout the self-published books on amazon.com to find new authors who are making it big there.

My indie-released songwriter friends never understood why writers are so hung up about self-publishing.  Musicians have long separated from the labels and ventured out on their own, releasing their own CDs and working with indie distributors like cdbaby.

But we writers have been told that unless we get an agent and go the traditional route, we'll never be taken seriously in our writing careers.

Now, everything has changed--and we'll never go back, I believe.

This allows writers much more freedom and many more options.  It's all good news for us.

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Lesson from Argo: Why Storyboards Are Great Tools for Building Great Books-- And How You Can Make Yours Unique

I recently watched the movie Argo, which was just released on DVD.  Movies like these I prefer seeing at home, so I can study their structure.  This one was amazing.  As most people know, it's about a classified mission that took place during the Iran hostage crisis, where six Americans were secreted out of Iran on the pretense that they were part of a film crew scouting locations.

At one point in the movie--and I won't give any more away, in case you haven't seen it--there's a great episode with storyboards.  In Argo, these are half-sheet sized poster board, with drawn-in scenes.  Each shows a different pivotal moment in the movie, what the outer story (action) is, where it takes place, and who is acting in the scene.

Put together, these boards give us the "essence" of the movie's high spots.  Which is exactly what a storyboard is designed to do. 

And these small boards, surprisingly, help win the happy ending for Argo.

 In my classes, I propose they will do the same for any book.

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What Genre Is Your Book? A Look at the New Hybrids in Creative Nonfiction

A January 18 essay in the  New York Times Sunday Book Review, "I Change, You Change," by writer Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, discusses a new genre called the memoir/self-help hybrid.  More than just traditional memoir, this kind of book also addresses the reader directly, offering advice, examples, even exercises to spur change.

I enjoyed the essay very much--and I am glad all sorts of hybrids are being discussed in the New York Times.  But, hey, folks:  this genre isn't new.  There have been writers and readers preferring it for decades--because it solves a conundrum.

A personal example:  When I published my second memoir in 1997, I debated its genre.  The book was a combination of my stories of loss and change, and good advice I'd received over the decade I went through cancer, bankruptcy, divorce, marriage, and other such upheavals.

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How to Fill the Creative Well with a Well-Timed Rest Break

There are some important signs of burn-out that writers need to attend to. 

An overactive Inner Critic. 
A feeling of the blues about one's work. 
A sense of deep depletion, despite enough sleep and exercise.

Any of these sound familiar?

Yesterday I was working on a chapter revision.  After about the fourth draft--making changes, printing out a new version, reading outloud and editing again, then inputting the changes--I noticed I was making it worse.  This is a sticky chapter, an important one, right at the end of the first act.  Everything is supposed to go down. 

It was.  But not in the story--in my own work on it.

I had a deadline.  But I wondered, was it better to take a break now, despite all the urgency of my deadline, and fill the creative well?

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The Five-Day, 17,000 E-Book Download--A Self-Publishing Success Story

July 2010.  I'm sitting next to Therese Pautz, a woman in my Madeline Island book-writing retreat.  It's midsummer and outside the fields are beautiful with grasses and wildflowers.  Beyond the fields is the blue expanse of Lake Superior, where this island is located. 

Therese has been for a six-mile bike ride that morning and looks ready for our first class session.

We share a little about ourselves, and I learn she is a lawyer and marathoner, writing her first mystery.  I'm impressed by her determination to learn a creative skill she has no experience with.  I've read an early draft of her story--it's set in Ireland and has a fiesty young woman as its main character. 

There's loads of local color in the narrative--Therese loves Ireland--but the story isn't really holding together.

Therese makes a lot of progress on her storyboard that week, basically rebuilding her book, using the book-writing skills we study each day in our class.   By the end of the week, the book shows more promise, and I am curious to see where she'll go with it. 

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Why Studying Other Authors Helps You Practice Your Book-Building Skills

This week I am finishing yet another round of edits on my revision of Breathing Room, my next novel.  My wonderful editor, a flight expert, and a screenwriter friend have given me their feedback, and I have a pile of notes to think about, incorporate, and make changes from.

The solution to manuscript problems isn't always easy to see.  That's why I turn to other authors.

For instance, my screenwriter--who has a wonderful eye for the cinematic--recommended I boost the character visuals:  She couldn't always see the characters in each scene.  We writers internalize our characters easily, so we sometimes forget that readers outside our heads can't do this. 

Clues are needed--a quirk, a way of moving, a physical characteristic.  Not too much, but enough to be able to set the person onstage in front of us.

This is especially important, my friend said, in the opening pages.

I agree--but I also hate when the opening scene is loaded with too much description.  It slows things way down.

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Writing a Premise Statement--Why This Tip from Screenwriters Can Help Book Writers of Any Genre

In my online book -structuring classes, we always write a premise statement.  Most new writers have never heard of this focusing tool for books.  It's borrowed from the film world.  Screenwriters use it as their pitch line to sell movies to producers.

How does it help book writers--say, if you're writing a memoir or a novel or a nonfiction book?   

It is the easiest way to see if you have a book at all.  Why?  Because it immediately lets you "test" your book idea in terms of inner and outer story balance (the inner meaning versus the outer event or topic) to see if a reader would be engaged.

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Finding the Key Conflicts in Your Story--How to Sift through all the Problems to Find the Pivot

The main reason books are rejected, according to one of my colleagues who is in the business?  Nothing happens.

The stakes in a story must always be high enough to make us care about the people, the information, the place.   

But some writers downplay conflict, protecting both readers and characters from the mess and chaos.  Ironically, this is quite dangerous!  Unless key conflicts come forward right away, something to drive the story and create tension, there's little chance we'll keep reading.

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Crafting a Credible Narrator--How the Emotional Narrative Arc Works in Memoir

A writer in one of my classes is working on a memoir about a serious event that happened a few years ago.  She's focused in on the months of discovery, treatment, and recovery--and it's a good read.  Very traumatic, written in a tense yet slightly humorous style.   

Anyone who has been through trauma knows that often, during the experience, survival  is the only thing we pay attention to.  Getting through it, as intact as possible.   

This writer did survive, thankfully.   And she wants to share her particular view on what happened.

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The Value of Winter Writing Retreats-- How to Stand Back and Get a Better Look at Your Book

Years ago, I lived near the excitement and chaos of New York City--close enough to train in for an opera or play.  The speed of life was fast there, even though our home was in the suburbs.  A family change brought us all to a remote village in northern New England.  I loved the idea of calming down, working on my next novel, and trying life in the "real" country. 

I thought I'd be bored.  To my surprise, I fell in love with it. 

Winter where I live now is the "holiday postcard" type--deep snow, fierce winds, blue chilly skies, and staying indoors except for snowshoeing and skiing.  Winter is a force to surrender to, not fight.  When the plow doesn't clear your road for hours after a storm, you adjust your plans. 

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