#IWSG NOVEMBER 2023. TRADITIONAL VS SELF-PUBLISHING

 Hi all!

Seeing comments are often not allowed on my blog, thanks Google, I nearly decided not to post. I've got to choose whether to add a new comment system, or move to my Word Press blog. Neither excites me. I'm on vacation so and have no time to fiddle. 

I'm not answering the question about NaNoWriMo in full. Yep. I've done it 5 times, but I don't write that way. I choose to go slow and edit each day's work most of the time. Sure that wastes time sometimes, but I can't help myself. These days many writers have their project fully planned before Nov 1 which wasn't the original idea, but what the heck? You do what you do.

click HERE to read more - including a list of pros and cons for both which we probably all know. 

My latest book, Fijian Princess, (which I started writing in 2015! Told you I was a slow scribe). When I read it again, I liked it, so I decided to polish it up and have it edited AGAIN recently. I'd shelved it after an edit, pretty discouraged. So, about 3 editors have cast their weary eyes over it at different times and at considerable expense to moi. It looks pretty posh now and so it should. 

So do I self-publish? Or do I shop around for a traditional publisher, small or big? I can't believe I'm actually asking this question - I've been on Team Self-Publish from the outset but it's a ton of work. Not that I expect an easy ride if I actually lasso a trad publisher. Just check out Damyanti's FB posts about her latest book. She puts in the hours. 

My final editor says I have a great story, will attract readers around the world, so, hmmm, I'm insecure about this. I need your help.

I won't be doing anything with this ms or my Paris Cookery School until early 2024. The rest of 2023 is ridiculously busy mainly with travel. I'm down in South Australia momentarily and face a long trip home in 3 days.

The awesome co-hosts for the November 1 posting of the IWSG are PJ Colando, Jean Davis, Lisa Buie Collard, and Diedre Knight!

  Be sure to visit the
Insecure Writer’s Support Group Website!!!

~*~

Anyone want to share their experiences with self-pub or traditional? I'd be grateful.

If you have some advice and can't comment, please flick me an email ...

den.covey@gmail.com

Thanks so much for reading/helping - 

Denise

#IWSG November - Jemi Fraser - Pros and Cons of her publishing schedule

Hello all and welcome to the monthly write-fest that is the IWSG. Here you'll find motivation to overcome your insecurities, learn more about the writing journey, and learn the varied methods of publishing.

Alex's awesome co-hosts for the November 4 posting of the IWSG are Jemi Fraser, Kim Lajevardi, L.G Keltner, Tyrean Martinson, and Rachna Chhabria!

  Be sure to visit them and the 
Insecure Writer’s Support Group Website!!!

Once again, I've invited a guest to take over my blog. Today Jemi Fraser returns. Yes, I'm obsessed just a little with publication stories and have been from when I began blogging in 2007. I see Jemi as a pioneer as she's published the way I intend to - "now you don't see me, now you do" kinda thing! Anyway, to help other sly writers who have a truckload of books they've been writing, editing, rewriting for YEARS, I've asked Jemi to talk about the pros and cons of publishing the rapid-release way!

Over to you, Jemi! 

Thanks for having me on your fabulous blog again, Denise!

 I’m going to twist the IWSG question a bit today…Why do you publish the way you publish?

Phew! 

2020 has been a weird and wacky year in so many ways. Which means it was probably the perfect year for me to enter the publishing world in my own weird and wacky way.

 

In January 2020 I decided this was the year I was going to publish both my nonfiction book and my romance series.

 

I set up pre-order dates for Dancing With Dementia and arranged a blog tour for the end of March. You know, when the pandemic really hit.

 

It was early days in the pandemic and people were thinking we’d be more or less normal by June or July. I picked a date to release my romance series at the end of July.

I decided to release 3 books at once and then another before the end of the year. Bloo Moose has been living in my head for a while. Because I was writing a series, to me there wasn’t much point in releasing one book then waiting for a few months before releasing another. I wanted to have something else for readers to read if they liked Reaching For Normal (it’s free!).

 

I wanted Book 4 (Reaching For Balance) out before the end of the year - preferably within 3 months of the first 3. Apparently this is good for visibility on some retailers.

 

While I was finalizing 4, Book 5 started yelling at me. It was supposed to be book 6 but it changed its mind and decided it wanted to be a Christmas story.

 

Hmm.

 

Christmas stories sell best before Christmas so I decided November 10 looked like a good date. Four weeks after book 4.

 

I did mention weird and wacky, right?

 

What have been the pros and cons of my publishing schedule?

 

Cons:

•   Exhaustion (I’m also providing daily child care for family)

•   Imposter Syndrome is Strong! (who am I to think people want to read my stories?)

•   Marketing and Promo? Who has time for that?

•   Pressure to keep up the pace (spoiler alert: probably not publishing 6 books in 2021!)

 

Pros

•   Not a whole lot of time to do things like checking numbers and rankings and reviews

•   There has been some reader buy-through of the series

•   I’ve had people tell me they are excited about the series and waiting for more! (yay!!!)

•   Readers are preordering

•   Pushing myself to really focus means even more stories and ideas are knocking on my skull

•   I love my Bloo Moose folks and getting to spend time with them is fun

•   I have 2 new series ideas waiting their turn (con = they’re impatient & time is limited)

•   I have 6 books out and about in the world!!!

 

Would I do it all again? Yes! Although I’d wish for less global pandemic and more time!

 

How about you? Anyone else save up their books to publish them together? Anyone else start publishing during the pandemic? Anyone figure out how to create more time yet?

Life is short - go for the HEA! Author of Contemporary Romance (Bloo Moose), Dancing With Dementia (nonfiction), and short/flash fiction. Variety is the spice after all!

Thanks Jemi! Let's give Jemi your reactions to her post. Or...share your own pros and cons of publishing in the comments!

Seeing you're here ... think about joining us at WEP for the Christmas challenge, UNMASKED. 

Thanks!

On behalf of the WEP team -

#IWSG post - It takes a tribe to publish and market a book. Here's 5 Tips to Marketing to try!

Hi friends!

If we feel insecure about our writing and marketing, we need help and that's what this group is all about. Today I've invited someone to guest post who may be able to help you with your marketing. We all know marketing is easy, right? Wrong! And it's complicated. My guest Tania Joyce tells us just how complicated it is!

Before Tania gets underway, I want to thank Alex's awesome co-hosts for the March 4 posting of the IWSG:  Jacqui Murray, Lisa Buie-Collard, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, and Shannon Lawrence! Visit if you can.

Click HERE for the list of participants to read more...

You do it, don't you? Scan the Acknowledgements in traditionally-published books. Read all about those who've helped the author - agents, early readers, publishers, researchers, fact checkers, more readers, editors, book cover artists - I usually count at least 40 people involved in one book.

So why do many self-published authors think they can do it without a tribe of their own?

I've been gathering a tribe around me for years. But the most important members of my tribe are my critique partners - Tania Joyce and Sheila Korner Grice. We formed an alliance after meeting each other at a Margie Lawson Immersion Class 3 years ago and have critiqued each other's work ever since.

My fabulous critters, Tania (left), Sheila (right)

I forgot to give Tania a word limit when I asked her to guest blog, but with the number of times I read bloggers feeling insecure about marketing, rather than try to edit this article down, I'm going to leave it to you to take what you wish from it. Some parts are so technical I shudder and roll my eyes and pray for understanding, LOL. If you, like me, have any questions, ask away in the comments.

Here we go...

Five Things I’ve Learned About Marketing Other Than Putting Half-Naked Men on my Covers

1.     You have to treat being an author like a business. It takes time, effort, a lot of trial, error, research and investment to know where you fit into the author landscape and the marketing strategies you want to undertake. The best thing though is, in this business, you can start with a small budget and work your way up. But you do have to spend money to make money.

When I first started creative writing at the tender age of 36, the first thing I learnt about author marketing is there is so much to learn. With fifteen years’ experience in corporate marketing, I thought I knew how to market, but author marketing was a whole different world. I had to start from scratch. Online marketing, social media and promotions unveiled an entirely different approach to product marketing. It’s exciting and forever changing. I knew nothing about Facebook Advertising and Amazon Advertising. I dabbled at first and have slowly built my brand awareness and product sales by reading, going to conferences and doing online courses. Enrolling in Mark Dawson’s Self Publish Formula course and studying Brian Meek’s Mastering Amazon Ads provided the foundation and turning point in my author career. I have done courses, read books and I’m involved with many online groups like 20Booksto50k. It takes time to sift through the clutter of ads, offerings and advice to find what works for you. I do well with AMS ads, but I’m still trying to master FB ads. Grrr! What works for one person, may not work for another. Being flexible, patient and persistent is key.

FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/20Booksto50k/

Mark Dawson’s SPF Course: https://selfpublishingformula.com/

2.   Finding your tribe and people who can help you is essential. There are numerous best-selling authors and industry experts out there who can help you learn and achieve success, but for me it has been fundamental in finding a group of local authors who are on the same journey. I’m fortunate enough to have joined a romance writing group when we were all newbie authors, unpublished and had no clue on how to do this authoring thing. We met at the Romance Writers of Australia annual conference. Over the years (since 2012), we’ve all been published (some traditional, some self-published, some hybrid). We’ve all done various courses, workshops, attended conferences and continued with online training. We share our findings, what’s worked, what hasn’t, and we constantly help each other. It’s incredible to have this trust and be always willing to help and share our knowledge. 

I was traditionally published. I quickly learnt that traditional publishers do not have outlandish budgets for new authors — there were no book tours, no advertisements, no book launch party, didn’t even get my books into stores. I got a couple of online blogs. That’s it. I learnt that most, if not all, marketing fell onto my shoulders. At launch, I had no idea how the book was doing, because I had no access to sales data. The royalty check at six months was my only indicator. It was dismal.

When the division of my publisher folded, I opted to get my rights back. … I’m now 100% indie. It has been the best thing. I got control. I got access to data. I could now change covers, blurbs, run ads, manage keywords, fix that one annoying typo in my manuscript, see instant sales data and ad performance all within a quick click. While the learning curve has been steep and challenging, it has been totally awesome!

3.       Love your data. You may hate it, but you have to do some maths. The platforms you sell on eg Amazon, provide you with a bucket load of information, but it’s a matter of sifting through it, and analysing your results so you can work out what is and isn’t working, only then can you work on improving and scaling marketing strategies.

Learn what your clickthrough ratio is (Impressions/clicks), your conversion rate (clicks/sales), and if writing a series, your readthrough rates (sales_Book2/Sales_Book1 etc). They are vital statistics for advertising purposes and to see if your books are actually selling.

The unfortunate thing here is places like Amazon do not give you all the information in one nice report. Current AMS ads reports do not include Kindle Unlimited information. You have to download data from different places to work out your ratios and rates, but it’s worth it.  I have this down to a fine art. It takes me 15-20minutes a day to download my data, enter it into my spreadsheet, add in my expenses and sales figures. I can see what ads are performing, the ones that are not, and make any tweaks if necessary.

Out of my six books and 1 x duo bundle, I have 213 AMS ads running. My average ad clickthrough ratio is 1:930 (1 x click per 930 impressions…which is good), my clicks to sales is 1:6 (one sale every 6 clicks…freaking awesome!), my readthrough on KU is 75%. My ROI is 43% (and slowly getting better.) Learn to love your data.

While the information in this book is dated in regards to cost-per-click data and some ad types have changed, this resource has all the formulas in it and is a great place to start for ads. Brian Meeks: Mastering AMS Ads: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072SNXYMY

4.       Be prepared to change. The market is a continual moving set of goal posts and you must be prepared to move with it. Facebook and Amazon continually change and update their algorithms. What works for you one month, may not work the next. 

Know your genre, sub-genre, analyse the top-selling authors in your genre, study their image, their book covers, their blurbs. Use this research to market your books. (Sorry…half-naked men on covers works for my genre!) When I first got published, I didn’t want bare-chested men on my books. I wanted to be professional and classy. My books didn’t sell. I changed the covers and instantly saw a change in sales. Follow market trends in what is working in artwork and graphic design. Your cover needs to sell your book, genre, capture the eye, and be in line with your branding and image.

5.       Be relevant. This is critical for advertising. Learn to target correctly. Use refined keywords, target like-authors, similar book titles and niche genres. Platforms like Facebook and Amazon “learn” through its algorithms where to place your ads and to which customers it should show your ads. Just because you like reading Stephen King novels, don’t use “Stephen King” as a keyword if you write sweet romance. It’s not relevant.

I write rock star romance, which falls into the category of New Adult Romance. But this category includes everything from vampires, shapeshifters and witches, through to bad boys, bikers and billionaires. It is important to zone in on your niche. I make sure I only target ‘rock star romance’ books, authors and keywords. It takes more time but conversation rates will be better and making sales is what it’s all about.

As an indie author, marketing is a constant and essential part of my business. New ads, new graphics, new content for social media posts, promotions, learning and data analysis all have to fit around writing the next book and my family. Time management is critical. A great support network is imperative. I’m fortunate to have the best critique partners in the world. Our tight timeframes keep me from spending too much time on Facebook, obsessing over ads and drowning in information overload. Love your data, embrace marketing, make it fun! And hopefully make money along the way!

About Tania Joyce

I'm an author of New Adult and Contemporary Romance novels. My stories thread romance, drama and passion into beautiful locations ranging from the dazzling lights and glitter of New York, to the rural countryside of the Hunter Valley in Australia.

I like to write about strong-minded, career-oriented heroes and heroines that go through drama-filled hell, have steamy encounters and risk everything as they endeavour to find their happily-ever-after.

I call Brisbane, Australia, home.

LATEST RELEASE

RAPT – The Price of Love. Everhide Rockstar Romance Series Book #3

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Today I was supposed to marry the girl of my dreams. She didn’t turn up.

Life in world-famous rock band, Everhide, has pushed Kyle's and Gemma's hearts, careers and friendship to the limits. But they are soulmates. Their love is profound. Intense. Getting married is their dream come true.

But not everyone feels the same way.
Someone obsessed with Kyle wants Gemma dead.

DEAD!

Surely the danger isn't real? It's just some crazed fan pulling a prank.

When the threats escalate, Kyle's over-protectiveness kicks in and Gemma's grip on sanity wears thin. With concerts and festivals to play before their big day, she won't let anyone derail their wedding plans.

But one false move puts her in danger.

When life teeters on its edge and she risks everything she loves, can Gemma find the strength to let Kyle into her guarded heart before it's too late?

If you like sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat romantic suspense, full of intrigue and heart wrenching romance, RAPT – The Price of Love will captivate you. With strong heroines, and intense heroes, this rock star romance will make your heart race right up to the epic emotional ending. Be prepared. Grab your copy today.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0825526VR

• Did you enjoy Tania's article? Any questions? Ask in comments...
• Do you have a marketing tip or two? Do tell...

LOVE IT - TWEET IT! LOVE IT - TWEET IT!

@TaniaJoyceBooks @DeniseCCovey, #author shares #marketindtips  https://dencovey.blogspot.com/2020/03/iwsg-post-it-takes-tribe-to-publish-and.html #amwriting #ammarketing #amazonads

Learn some #marketingtips https://dencovey.blogspot.com/2020/03/iwsg-post-it-takes-tribe-to-publish-and.html @TaniaJoyceBooks @DeniseCCovey,#amwriting #ammarketing #amazonads

#IWSG post for December 2019 - Goals, sort of...for 2020.

Hi all! Welcome to the final IWSG post for 2019. I'm sure we're all shaking our heads, wondering where the year went.

Alex's awesome co-hosts for the December 4 posting of the IWSG are Tonja Drecker, Beverly Stowe McClure, Nicki Elson, Fundy Blue, and Tyrean Martinson!

Visit if you can!

  And be sure to visit the
Insecure Writer’s Support Group Website!!!

ALEX HAS NOTIFIED US THAT DUE TO NEW YEAR'S DAY FALLING ON A WEDNESDAY, WE WILL BE POSTING JANUARY 8 RATHER THAN JANUARY 1!

My topic for this month -

Did you reach your goals for 2019? 

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but nevertheless I would have liked to have begun publishing in 2019 but life got in the way. You know. The traveling life. But I wasn't turning down trips to Italy and France where I got to walk in the footsteps of some of my characters. Wow. Early 2020 works fine for me. 

When I was a rookie blogger, I hosted what I called a Publication Party. Can you believe I hosted Alex when Cassa Star was just getting off the ground? If you'd like to travel back in time, here is the link.

What's all that about? 

When I hosted new authors, all blogger friends at the time, (a pity I've lost contact with most), I think every one was published by a small press. If history repeated itself and I hosted about-to-become-authors today, even though small presses are still popular, many would be planning to self-publish.

Okay, I know some of you just stopped reading because you have a thing against self-publishing, but if you're still here ... 

I'm addicted to reading comparisons between traditional and self-publishing. There are pros and cons for both sides, but most of us accept that traditional publishers take on very few new authors and even if you're one of the chosen, it can take years to actually see your book on the shelves. 

Which is a good reason to embrace the do-it-yourself publishing route or just write for fun with no expectations of being published. 

Even though I do have a novel languishing with a traditional publisher, I'm planning the self-pub route for everything else -- rapid releasing my short novel Renaissance vampire series, my collections of short stories and flash fiction etc. 

Which is why I'm behind all those authors I hosted way back when.

Another reason publishing has taken me so long is that I totally suck at plotting. I'm at heart a pantser, which has left me smashing into metaphorical brick walls in about 5 NaNo novels. It wasn't until I gained two face-to-face critique partners who've nailed plotting, that my stories have been shaken into some semblance of order.

Have you, oh clever much-published authors, mastered plotting? 

This is your opportunity to name drop. Which plotting master/mistress is your go-to for narrative arcs? I admit I read too many and get confused and my brain fuses into a big blob of outline rejection and I need my critters to drag me out of the mire.

Then I had to go and read a post on Writer Unboxed -- the post title -- The Fun of Pantsing. But pantsing which includes a lot of outlining...

Anyway, here's to a successful finish to 2019 and an awesomely successful 2020.

Happy writing!

SOME HOLIDAY SNAPS - FLORENCE - NOVEL LOCATIONS

The breathtaking Medici chapel which I think challenges the Sistine Chapel in Rome

Part of the courtyard entrance that features in Book One of my vampire series - you can imagine my excitement walking in the footsteps of my Renaissance man

The private Medici chapel of the Magi - they say it's much the same as in the time of the Medici - nicely golden with original artwork

And if you'd like to join us, WEP is about to run our final challenge for the year. The prompt is from Tyrean Martinsen from the IWSG. If you haven't closed down your blog for the year, please come by and read some great entries. The prize this month is a 3-chapter critique from author/editor J.L. Campbell. Hmm. Pity I'm not in the running...

#IWSG February post - Wake me when I'm famous - self-publishing.

Welcome to my blog for 2019. Hope your holidays were awesome if you had some and that you're all fired up for the new year. Well, one month gone already!

I couldn't find the question for the month when I sat down to write this, or the co-hosts. Now I'll have to do my own thing. I'm off traveling to Vietnam from next week into February, so I've no time to lose.

Thank you to Alex and his team  for the opportunity to post about my insecurities. I'm sure I'm talking about something every writer feels insecure about at least once. You're probably way ahead of me here.

I've been busy writing, editing, getting critiques, edits, re-writing, putting together a nice little pile of titles so when I start publishing I have a backlist in my paranormal series, my Paris novel, some yet-to-be-collated flash fiction...

I haven't even considered traditional publishing (except for my Paris novel which still languishes with Avon). I've been completely sucked into the self-publishing groups with their positive spin on writing as a business such as Joanna Penn et al. I'm really into research and I'm no longer convinced traditional publishing is the way to go. Or maybe I just can't handle rejection. Feel free to disabuse me if you don't agree. I've read so many pros and cons articles my eyes feel crossed.

But of course, with self-publishing, we sink or swim by our own efforts. Which is where the doubt comes in. What if my story isn't good enough? What if my cover isn't good enough? What if I don't have the puff for constant promotion? What if? What if?

Ah, well, that is the writer's life.

• How about you? Self-publishing or Traditional? Tell me your opinion/story...

The first WEP challenge for 2019 went live on Feb 1st. Go HERE to sign up for posting around Feb 20th. Flash fiction, non-fiction, photo essays, poetry...to 1,000 words.

Thanks for coming by...

#IWSG post - Tripping along the publication path.

Hello all!

Time for the #IWSG again!

August has been an especially busy month for me, what with organizing the merging of WEP with the IWSG for the purpose of joint writing challenges. 

The inaugural August challenge is half over. We've had the sign ups on August 1, the posts on August 15, the winners announcement on August 26. The next post at WEP is the Guest Post. As well as winning an Amazon Gift Card, the winner, Tanya Miranda has been asked and agreed to write a guest post which is always a surprise treat.

If you'd like to keep in touch with what WEP/IWSG Writing Together challenges are up to, you can visit our site and subscribe to our email. If you have problems with that, email me and I'll add you manually.

On October 1, the new Halloween month challenge will go live and it's time to go through the process again.

It was great to see so many new writers join us in August. We hope even more of you will see the beauty of writing flash fiction, nonfiction and poetry to a prompt. Or taking the opportunity to get eyes on an extract of your WIP. Or just meeting a lovely, supportive bunch of writers to form new networks.

Alex's awesome co-hosts for the September 5 posting of the IWSG are Toi Thomas, T. Powell Coltrin, M.J. Fifield, and Tara Tyler!

  Be sure to visit the
Insecure Writer’s Support Group Website!!!

Now, to the month's question - 

September 5 question for the IWSG- What publishing path are you considering/did you take, and why?

I went through the process of doing all the work myself and self-publishing with Amazon years ago just to see how it worked. It wasn't that hard, but it's not what I have planned for the future.

I'm no expert, but I'm following experts and have shared in previous  posts how I plan to publish when I'm ready...under a pen name which will be no secret. I don't want to bore you by talking about myself - my least favorite topic - but for the interests of adhering to the IWSG question, here's my pre-planned publication process. You'll note it is self-publishing. I have a contemporary novel with Avon books, but may end up self-pubbing that too. I am going to:

1. Write several books for what is called 'fast launch'. Having 1 book out there doesn't do you any favors. You need to grow a backlist quick smart (which is hard for a slow, perfectionist writer) which is why I'm writing several before I hit PUBLISH, probably using my friends at Draft2Digital.

2. Buy the best covers I can afford. As I'm writing a paranormal romance series, (I'm up to Book Three) I need to arrange for all the covers to be  made by the same artist so they look same-ish and stunning, of course. I have sketched them out...woo hoo.

3. Even though I'm a savvy editor myself, I work with 2 close critique partners mainly for plotting and structure which I suck at and have a great beta reader who's more like an editor but a fraction of the price. I'm the Grammar Police, Punctuation Police, Spelling Police, Sentence-structure Police  and the Thought Police (sorry, doing 1984 with my students) in one package, but still believe in hiring good editors. 

So, all these things cost money. Hopefully, down the track I'll see some return for the years of lackadaisical laptop joy - gosh I love alliteration don't I?

How about you, best-selling authors? I'd be interested in hearing your comments. Maybe you think I have rocks in my head. Maybe...who knows? We all make our own path in the end.

Have a great month, everyone!

If you like the challenge of a juicy horror, ghost, edgy, paranormal whatever story, or can find a way to write a 'normal' story or poem for this prompt, join WEP/IWSG Writing Together for the October challenge:

You're most welcome!

Denise 

When this goes live, I'm up in Northern Queensland visiting family. I will return the visit when I can. 

August 1 #IWSG, including the question - What pitfalls would you warn other writers to avoid on their publication journey?

Hello all!

Another month, another IWSG. Thanks to Alex J Cavanaugh for this group and for a great place to turn up each month and read awesome posts!

Alex's awesome co-hosts for the August 1 posting of the IWSG are Erika Beebe, Sandra Hoover, Susan Gourley, and Lee Lowery! Please visit if you can.

  And be sure to visit the
Insecure Writer’s Support Group Website!!!

Most of you will have heard/will soon hear that from today, the IWSG has partnered with WEP (Write...Edit...Publish) for the bi-monthly writing challenges. I will be guest posting on the IWSG website on August 6 to tell you more about WEP and how you might like to join the writing challenge. We hope you do.

The WEP team is guest posting on the IWSG website on August 6 where we explain more about WEP. I invite you to swing by and say hello.

Here is the permalink which will go live on August 6:

 http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/2018/08/writing-together-with-wep-and-iswg.html

Sign ups begin today for the challenge, CHANGE OF HEART. I'm neither insecure nor secure about how this partnership will work out, but many in the IWSG are friends, so I see it's got the potential to make both WEP and the IWSG stronger. 

Follow this link to learn more about it, and/or to SIGN UP for the August challenge.

THE IWSG QUESTION OF THE MONTH:

By writing together we can help each other avoid the pitfalls that are waiting to entrap the unwary emerging writer. Here's just a couple I've learned/am still learning...

• Sending a work to a publisher without having it beta read/edited/edited/edited/re-written/re-written...etc

• Self-publishing without sourcing the best cover you can afford, the best blurb you can create, flawless formatting, clever launching of bulk titles - there's Farcebook groups to help with all of these...

That's enough for now. I must race over to Write...Edit...Publish and see how many of you have signed up for the challenge!

Here's some chocolate for you while you rearrange the words in your manuscript!