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Publishing

You wrote your novel! Congratulations! Your journey is only beginning

The Ins-and-Outs of Using ACX Audiobook Services

2/5/2019

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Audiobooks are the wave of the future, and with so many companies to choose from, we wanted to chat with authors who have used each of the big audio distribution services. Here C. L. Schneider, fantasy and urban fantasy author, shares her experience with ACX, Amazon's audio branch.

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8 Ways to Combat Season Affective Disorder

1/9/2019

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Season Affective Disorder, or SAD is a problem for most people in the winter months. But when you work from home for yourself, it can be especially difficult to get through it and get your work done. In today's guest post by Emi Sano you'll learn 8 tips to help you cope and get back to what you love. 

You’ve been writing for the whole year. You spent the majority of your mornings or evenings banging on the keyboard or writing in your notebook and you are so close to the end of your story.


Then winter comes and it hits you with that writer’s block. But it’s not just any old writer’s block… it’s writer’s block with depression. The motivation you used to have to write slowly pulls away from you as you open your notebook or turn on your computer, and you just feel terrible. Thoughts about your story turn negative and all you want to do is curl up and binge-watch for days.

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The Pros and Cons of Author Conferences and Conventions

12/17/2018

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​If you follow either of us on social media you’ll know Marissa and I attend a fair amount of conventions and In November we went down to Philly for BookBaby’s Independent Author Conference. Cons and Conferences are a lot of energy and work, so why do we bother?

Well, I’m going to lay out the biggest benefits and downsides to both. To be clear, conventions are geared more toward creators and buyers, like a giant single-focus fair. Conferences, on the other hand mostly involve speakers and seminars where attendees can learn and network. ​

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Publishing Contracts: 3 Tips to Keep in Mind Before You Sign

11/19/2018

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Let me start by saying, I'm not a literary agent and one of the best things you can do to protect yourself and your rights is find a professional who you trust to help you. One of the other nest things, is to know the following information.  
​We have a lot of advice on here for indies, but the fact is, there are a lot of options to authors today and trade authors are not the only ones who need to be weary of contracts.

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The Successful Author Starter Kit

11/5/2018

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I've been thinking about ways to share the unique tools and people I've found in this industry over the last several years. I still have plans for a pretty epic giveaway but I want to provide this information now. There are so many amazing tools and so much information out there, it can be difficult to know who to listen to and what to do. So here are the people I listen to. 

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3 Rules to Snag Readers With Your Description

10/15/2018

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Congrats on those 70K words you just wrote! Now condense them into 200. 

You’d think writing a book is the hardest part of being an author. However, as anyone who has tried will tell you, writing the description is far worse! If you haven’t finished your book, don’t even think about your description. You might find things change or pieces that weren’t important before are now key plot points. I like to wait until I’m finished with my first big revision, just before line edits.

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4 Steps to Self-Publishing Success

9/17/2018

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​There are a lot of misconceptions about self/indie publishing. The one I hear most and possibly the most annoying is how easy it is. How you're not a "real" author if do it yourself. Well, I'm here to tell you, not only are you a "real" author, you're also a badass. And I want to help you in all your badassery.

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3 Red Flags You Shouldn't Ignore When Working with an Editor

8/29/2018

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editor red flags
Up until this year I’ve had good experiences with my editors--and I’ve worked with five professional, paid editors. I’ve always been someone who is pretty good about understanding the difference between a good, tough edit and subjective choices and almost always err on the editor’s side when it comes down to it. I might love my book, but I know when someone is working with me to make it the best it can be!

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Working (and Publishing) From Home with Multiple Children

6/1/2018

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Working from home with kids
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As a mother of three listening to the Being Boss podcast about how to manage your business with children was… frustrating. It’s not their fault. The transition from no kids to one is a huge change and learning to adjust your time and priorities is challenging. For me it was actually easier after I had my first child. He put me on a schedule and always napped at the same time but that’s not necessarily normal. I had my...
 son when I was twenty and decided to follow my passion for writing fiction about seven months later, after the PPD subsided. The change from one child to two is harder than the change from zero to one. If you have a child and are running a successful creative business, writing or otherwise, there are steps you’ll want to take to ensure your success and help save you from burning out. If I sat down and thought about my business and my life the way I’m about to lay it out for you here earlier in my career, it would have taken off sooner and I’d be in a very different place. Of course without the lovely ladies at Being Boss, I wouldn’t have looked at my life as hard as I had to to find the solutions. I’m not the kind of person to listen to advice and think “Well that’s great but it wont work for me because of X, Y, or Z.” I listened to the podcast and realized a lot of what they were saying would not work for me, but rather than accepting my fate and deciding to give up and trying to find work/life boundaries I started working through the problem. Here’s what I learned through that process and talking to other successful entrepreneurs with multiple children.
  1. You can’t schedule a child to fit into your work day but you can find time to work: One of the big things I always hear as an entrepreneur is “Schedule everything!” and “Then Stick to your schedule!” As a mother and a business women I have never become more frustrated or burned out faster than when I was trying to schedule my work around three kids. When you have one baby, this is totally doable. You know they nap around the same time everyday and when they outgrow naps you can teach them to have quiet time and then they go to school. Totally workable. Even with two kids I was pretty much able to do this. My boys are two years and two months apart in age and life was pure bliss. Than I had my daughter. A four and a half year age gap between her and my youngest son meant life hit the fan big time and there was no such thing as a “schedule”. There were three schedules and the baby’s schedule tends to change because sometimes she likes to sleep in until 9 or 10 and other days she’s up with the sun. This was the most difficult thing for me to work around but I did it. Here’s what I do: I get up at 5 am to write. I need uninterrupted time to be creative and this is the only way I can get it. My middle child gets up before 6 so this was literally the only way I could find time. I should get up at 4 but I can’t make myself do it. I didn’t just start getting up at 5 either. I tried and each time I just turned the alarm off and went back to bed. So instead I paid attention to when I usually woke up and started setting the alarm for thirty minutes earlier. Then when I started waking up naturally at that time I moved the alarm time again. It took me several weeks but I got there. Next I start time blocking my day, Thanks Being Boss for the awesome webinar, I put in everything. When I wake up, making breakfast, my walk with the baby, everything. But when I started actually scheduling time for business stuff I could feel the failure waiting. If I said I was going to write a blog post at 10 am (when my daughter should be taking a nap) but she didn’t cooperate I’d get down on myself and feel like a failure all day. Instead I blocked out time. Between my morning walk and lunch, if I have time because the kids are playing nicely or whatever, I work on business things. My writing was done in the morning so it’s more administrative tasks like working on SEO for Amphibian Authors or researching keywords and phrases for our next release. Then after lunch if I have time, I use it to do work around the house like laundry or dishes. Make it fit your life: If you just had a baby, sleep might be the only thing on your mind and the idea of giving it up might bring a tear to your eye. That’s OK. You might just decide during baby’s first nap you’ll focus on writing and on his second you’ll take a nap on Mondays. Then focus on marketing a different day during nap time. The beauty of this is that you can take the idea and mold it into whatever you need.
  2. Find a nanny or send your kid to daycare: This might be a stretch if you’re just starting out or if you’re a stay at home parent because you want to stay home with your kids but it’s so important for a business owner to have time to dedicate to their business. Even if it’s just a couple half days a week. I’m a stay at home mom because I want to be here with my kids. But starting a business with multiple kids in your hair 24/7 is like hopping on the fast track to Burnoutville with no exit in sight. My husband just had surgery so I’ve been struggling with my responsibilities to the press, this blog, and my readers as well as keeping my house going. I’m lucky in that my husband works second shift and helped me with the kids two days a week. We homeschool our boys so they were all here all the time and I was always stressed out and grumpy which is no way to spend your life. As my husband heals and I launch my new book marketing business I’ve contacted and budgeted for a Nanny. She’s going to come in and watch my daughter for five hours three days a week. And the boys are heading back to school until my coaching business is on its feet at least. (My oldest really likes the social aspects of school but I’d rather homeschool so we’ll see). Hiring a Nanny for just 15 hours a week (even 10 would make a big difference) will make a huge difference in my ability to get shit done. And I really need that in my life (I can’t wait for fall). For many people they have to stay home because they can’t afford child care. Especially if you have multiple children. So I want you to stop looking at child care as a cost and start looking at it as what it is. An investment. You’re investing in yourself. If you’re just starting out and can’t afford it ask a friend or relative to help out. Right now, I can’t afford help and my family works so no one is around to help. I get it. I’ve been there (I’m back there now). You might have to set this as a goal for your business. Make enough to afford child care. That’s why my nanny will be starting in the fall. She’s a reward for all my hard work this summer. ​​

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What I've learned Over the Past Seven Years In the Publishing Industry

5/25/2018

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I started studying marketing and business in 2011. I was a new mother and finally had my little boy on a decent schedule. My friend (and future business partner) Sara was gearing up to find herself an agent and get published. I was just getting back into writing myself and decided I’d help her hunt for agents since she was in school still and surfing the internet is really easy while feeding a baby or trying to stay quiet while he naps.

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