#InsecureWritersSupportGroup, #IWSG post -- me? insecure?

Hello everyone!

Wow, November already? The month I volunteered to be an IWSG co-host and help Alex J Cavanaugh with the commenting. I'm #16 on the list so I go way back with IWSG!  Please enjoy reading the posts from far and wide across the globe, and comment in a helpful, supportive, empathetic way. My other co-hosts are: 
Tyrean Martinson , Karen Walker  and Stephen Tremp. 

I hope, unlike me, you're not insecure about anything this month, although most writers I meet have some form of insecurity, particularly about their published works. And IWSG is the forum to chat about what's getting you down, or contrarily, what's gee-ing you up!

I'm going to keep this post blissfully short--in respect of those of you who should be writing their NaNo novels rather than blogging...and well, I should be doing the same. 

So...my insecurity today--well, I finally self-published my paranormal romance in time for Halloween. I did not submit to traditional publishers as I wanted to experience the self-publishing model myself and learned...it's damned hard work. I ended up doing most of the work myself even though I hadn't planned on it! Oh boy, I really did find out what those formatters and cover artists get paid for! So, okay, now it's up...and I may submit traditionally after all.

Amazon publishes 1,000,000 books a year, so how do you get noticed? You can't unless you find a way to shoot to the first few pages. I've got a few creative ideas I'm going to try to do just that. We're all looking for something new, aren't we? 

I've been blogging since 2007. I've hosted bloghops to encourage writers, I've bought blogger books, reviewed blogger books, hosted bloggers on my blog (can you believe I hosted Alex as part of my Publication Party series before he released his first novel, CassaStar?) Whoa, takes me back. But in this cover-reveal-book-launch-guest-post-weary environment, it will become increasingly difficult to find bloggers to host new authors. We need new promo ideas, don't you agree?

My novella is Book One in a series. I'll be using NaNoWriMo to complete the next book...and maybe the third as well. High hopes! No harm in being an optimist!

And I've gone over to the dark side in more ways than one. After deleting 3 Word Press blogs due to the level of difficulty in building them, I've finally persevered due to the large influx of WP bloggers to WEP. So my new WP blog is up and limping along. More to do yet. But if you're a WP blogger and have trouble commenting on my blogspot blog, go to: Denise Covey, Cafe Writer.

Some IWSG notes:

We are still trying to get the IWSG site listed as one of Writers’ Digest’s Top 100 Best Websites for Writers! Please email them atwritersdigest@fwmedia.com, subject line 101 Websites, and suggest the IWSG - http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/

Don’t forget we have a Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/IWSG13/

If you'd like to read my novella for FREE and review it, please leave a comment with your email address or email me and a copy will wing its way to you.

If you'd like to host me on your blog, please tell me in the comments or email me.  

Go HERE to read more IWSG posts.

• Are you a published writer, either traditional or self published?
• Have you been inspired or disappointed with the publishing experience?
• Have you any tips for newbie published writers?
• What, in particular, are you insecure about with your published books? Or are you blissfully secure?

Amazon.com

Amazon.uk

Amazon.au

MINI BLURB (courtesy of Michael di Gesu, that man with a golden pen!)

Within the velvety Tuscan sky, a harvest moon glows like liquid amber. Mysterious shadows seep noxiously through the unsuspecting forest, preying on the vulnerable, whose blinded gaze mocks their senses.

A man.

A woman.

Forever locked in a sensual embrace...

Frustrated with self-publishing? Shocking facts! Things are starting to look up, starting with Mardibooks. And Michael Di Gesu cover reveal news!

I used Grammarly to grammar check this post, because I could end up with egg on my face if you detect any mistakes lol! Go on...find one...

Most of us have done it -- picked up free e-books, bought 99c e-books, bought blogger friends' self-pubbed books -- sometimes a worthwhile read, often not. I don't think self-publishing quite works yet, even though it's been around for a long time. Due to market saturation, there is a quest to find REALLY GOOD SELF-PUBLISHED BOOKS. How do we work through the maze of books riddled with bad grammar, punctuation, plot holes, unsympathetic characters, and get to the good stuff?

I like to read -- I read over 200 books a year. I review books, but only the ones I can say nice things about.

Shocking fact number one! 
I'm not a big fan of e-books ((claps hands over red face))). Would still prefer to prop a print book onto my knees late into the night and read, Luddite that I am. But e-books on the kindle or phone do have a place in my life -- they are great to fill in any downtime throughout my busy day. But...

Shocking fact number two!
To be cruelly honest, most of the e-books I start, I don't get past Chapter 1. If I do keep reading, I often put it down before the finish as I just lose interest in a shaky plot or bad/no editing or characters I couldn't care less about. Even poor formatting puts me off. I know I'm not alone.

Shocking fact number three!
Our best-selling classic authors throughout history used a truckload of editors. Margaret Mitchell, beloved author of Gone With the Wind re-wrote her Chapter 1 sixty times in longhand, gulp. So...what makes us think we can do it all by ourselves, or with the help of our family or friends who won't like to tell us our story sucks? In self-pub forums you learn a lot about attitude. One beauty was from an author who said she writes her first draft and doesn't have time to waste editing. If an editor buys it, it's their job to fix it. Hmm. Wonder if she has editors knocking at her door? At the very least, I'd like to see a bright badge on e-books I buy which proclaims: "EDITED BY..."

I've discussed this problem with other writers/authors, and many of them share my opinion. The self-published amongst my friends use multiple beta readers, CPs, paid professional editors and book cover gurus. Costs them about $1300 to produce an e-book. Then...the promo begins. 

Not-so-- Shocking fact number four!
Authors hate self-promotion. Readers hate self-promotion.

Self promotion is not loved by anyone, I'm sure, well, maybe by a few. However, how can you sell your book when there are thousands of new books up on Amazon et al each year unless you promote, promote, promote? Even if you're a debut author with a publishing house, you won't get much help with promotion and have to find your own way to tell people it's out there. Sadly, many authors think self-promotion means drowning their followers on social media in countless twitter hashtags about their book, countless facebook blasts, fb 'like me' requests...these just annoy, annoy, annoy when our twitter and facebook feeds contain little else other than author promotions, sometimes running one after another. And most of these authors make it clear it's all about them, nothing reciprocal about it.

I read a great post by Anne R Allen this week who calls this self promo Twitter-Fritter and Facebook-Fail.

Shocking fact number five!
Readers now know we can't trust reviews, so there goes that 'Get 10 Reviews and you'll sell tons of books' good old standby. I, along with most other readers, want to have some excellent e-books recommended to me so I can actually finish them. And if I ever go the self-pub route, I want to do it properly.

And hello, happy fact...I feel a ripple of hope.

IS THIS THE WAY FORWARD FOR SELF-PUBLISHED NOVELISTS?

A forward-looking publisher is Mardibooks. Like regular imprints, it only accepts mss with commercial potential. It does the usual editing and pre-press work and puts up the result on Amazon and Kobo without a fee. It covers its overheads by charging for the production of an e-book or paperback on a cost-plus basis. Mardibook authors then market each others’ work collectively on their own social platforms. Whereas familiar services like Lulu and CreateSpace deal with authors one-to-one, Mardibooks claims to create a ‘cross marketing’ platform: one to many.

I like the sound of this. Is this a viable model for a global collective of the future?

Then there's self-publishers' review sites. They review and endorse selected books.

B.R.A.G. Medallion looks good.

Compulsion Reads also has possibilities

Nash Black for mystery and ghost tales has an awesome website

There's always Indie sites out there, polishing their swords, ready for a good fight. Here's one I follow...

Indies Unlimited Direct from their website: 'We are at the beginning of a technological revolution in how books are written, published, marketed, purchased, and read. This site is dedicated to the independent authors, publishers, reviewers and readers who are on the cutting edge of that technological revolution.' At this stage, I am pretty impressed with what I've seen on this well-set up site.

These are just some I have discovered. There must be many more. I am yet to test their reviews, but maybe some of you have already. If so, tell us about it.

I am indebted to Write to Done for the inspiration and some information in this post. Go here to read the full post.

***
We all know what a crucial marketing tool is the cover!!! What a lot of work needs to go into this to create that most important first impression.

And here is the BEST news! Beloved blogger, the gym-honed Michael Di Gesu, has illustrated a cover for Siv Maria Ottem. They will reveal this wonderful work of art on Monday July 29. I'm a town crier ringing the bell - 'Don't miss this!'

I loved Michael's cover reveals during the A-Z. They were INSANE to use one of his favourite words! I'm not going to try to emulate his talent here. 

So, lucky Siv. Her book is due for publication in October. Swing by both Michael's and Siv's blogs on Monday and give them the old ooh aah!

I just hope, selfishly, that this won't result in an explosion of cover requests for Michael. That would mean Michael would have less time to swap biscotti recipes with me, swap manuscripts, swap travel stories, swap positive mantras for future publication...what a hell that would be for me!! But, on second thoughts, go for it, send Michael your requests for a cover and fall into line.

• What is your e-book experience as a reader or an author?
• Would you value a site where you could make a selection of great e-books, well edited?
• Can you add to my list of potential sites to de-clutter the e-book universe?
• Don't forget to visit Michael and Siv on Monday.

GET HEALTHY BLOGHOP

Hello there! Thanks for stopping by. I know you've got a lot of hoppin' to do, so I'll just give you one hint that works for me.

I'm a writer and a teacher. Both sedentary occupations. I have to work at optimizing fitness into my time-poor day.

I love to run, so I run when I can rather than walk. I teach at the State Library of Queensland, now about 1 kilometre from home since I've moved (instead of 5 minutes), so I pack all my books, notes, pens and laptop into my smallest pull-along luggage bag and jog, jog, jog as much as I can with it bouncing along behind me. Helps to keep it nimble between overseas trips too...an added bonus. So my motto for getting/keeping healthy -- run, run, run....

Thanks to Stephen Tremp, Alex J Cavanaugh, L Diane Wolfe and Michael di Gesu for hosting this awesome, life-changing bloghop. A full list of participants is here.

• If you think I'm not blogging anymore, think again. For some reason, my posts are not being updated, so I'm trying to fix the problem. Meanwhile, if you can remember to visit, I'd be mighty grateful!

#AtoZChallenge - BLOGGERS WERE CHILDREN TOO! - D is for di Gesu (Michael)

As it's the first Wednesday of the month, it's time to post for the Insecure Writers Support Group. Just a short one today before we move onto Michael di Gesu.

Today my post is Discretion When Editing.

I'm sharing some of the struggles our golden oldies had:

OSCAR WILDE would spend an entire morning putting a comma into one of his poems, then spend the afternoon removing it.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY rewrote the ending of Farewell to Arms 39 times before he was satisfied. When asked what the hold up was, he said: 'Getting the words right.'

VLADIMIR NABOKOV said his pencils outlived his erasers.

TRUMAN CAPOTE believed in the scissors more than the pencil.

So where does discretion come in? Writers in the past lived in a different era, a less hurried era, and they had the luxury of time to 'get it right'.

TRUMAN CAPOTE would stretch out on his couch, cigarette in one hand and a sherry in the other. His friends became consultants in the publishing process. He would read extracts aloud to his friends. 'I've got to be puffing and sipping.' Ah, those were the days...

But today, deadlines must be met. We might revise in a state of agitation or ecstasy. We can feel dumped, dejected, depressed, despondent...enough Ds?

So discretion might mean knowing when to stop editing. Can we afford a whole day moving a comma?

So now I move onto my regular A - Z posts... 

on the theme - BLOGGERS WERE CHILDREN TOO! 

Yesterday we had Cathy Olliffe-Webster.

Today:

D is for di Gesu (Michael) @ ...in time

Michael explains - since I couldn't get to my earlier pics, I thought I would send you something that meant so much to me as a kid. The first time I went to Disney World in Florida. One particular attraction left me speechless and even though it has been there for over forty years, it still packs a punch. I had revisited there last year, and took some amazing pics of it. 

The ride/attraction is called "It's a small world." AND since we have friends from around the globe, I find this extremely appropriate for the occasion.

I was born in NYC, NY. USA

I grew up in the suburbs only twelve miles from midtown Manhattan. I lived in the smallest house amongst the mansions... My parents worked non-stop to be able to afford the neighborhood and my brothers' and my private school.

It was an amazing yet frustrating experience. As you could imagine growing up with kids who had everything was hard when my parents could only afford the basics. I began working at eleven with a paper route and baby sat for income until I was discovered by a photographer to model... That's when my life changed ...

My favorite home is a toss up between two places, so completely different. My lakefront condo that was located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the current condo I live in now, a chic condo located across from Lincoln Park and Lake Michigan in Chicago, IL. The two residences are very different from each other, both beautiful in their own ways ... one beach and nature oriented and one urban. Both an exciting place to live.

My best childhood memory was in the summer at the New Jersey shore when I was three. We were at the arcade and my dad won a game and he let me pick the prize ... Not either of my brothers. I was so thrilled and excited. It was the first time ever. I picked a two-foot stuffed mouse. I will never forget it. I loved stuffed animals as a little boy and I had that mouse for years.

My worst childhood memory was when my black lab got sick and died ... he was my best friend.

Michael's living/work room, where he's penning those bestsellers!

I currently live in a vintage 1920's condo, located in Chicago,IL. The classic nine-foot plaster-molded ceilings and hardwood floors speak to the designer in me. The moment I walked through the marble entry with crystal chandeliers and plastered dome with etched Greek figures, I knew I was home.

Latte in Quebec City

More about Michael: After fifteen years of modeling in New York, I spent the past eight years as an interior designer in Chicago. I decided to take my creative talents and write/illustrate my first m/g novel, Amber and the Whispering Willows. A year later, I wrote The Blinded Gardener, an edgy y/a contemporary. I've been editing for the past six months and I am in the process of querying. I never knew how wonderful it could be to write novels ... I'm addicted. 


Visit Michael's blog, ...in time here...

Fascinating to learn more about Michael today. Visit tomorrow to find out about Sarah Pearson and maybe find out how those Empty Pages are going.