P is for Publishing

I have really enjoyed posting this month on the theme The Making and Selling of Books, because I am so passionate about the topic.

I like writing and publishing books. My own, of course, but it is also incredibly rewarding to have a hand in seeing other writers' dreams of publication come true. I love it love it love it. Having a career in publishing is the best job I could ask for.

I feel honored to be a part of  WiDo Publishing. I am proud of all the authors who have published with us. I've seen the hard work they go through to get their manuscript print-ready. The unveiling of a new release is just the most exciting moment ever. You can't help but feel like a new mama.

Clarissa Draper won a submissions contest on my blog a while back and now her wonderful mystery, The Sholes Key, will be released on May 1. I wasn't her editor but I'm still as proud as can be. I read an ARC and it's an absolutely brilliant book. I can't wait to see this baby launch upon its journey!

All across London, single mothers are vanishing. Margaret Hill, mother of two, walked out of her house two months before, never seen again. A month later, Carrie-Anne Morgans takes her two-year-old son for a walk in the park and disappears, leaving him alone in his stroller. Lorna McCauley leaves her London flat in the early hours of the morning to buy medicine for her sick child and does not return.

Newly promoted Detective Inspector Theophilus Blackwell is assigned the case of Lorna McCauley, which on the outside seems to be a simple case of mid-life crisis and child abandonment. Elsewhere in London, MI5 analyst, Sophia Evans, is working undercover to catch an animal rights group responsible for targeted bombings. As Sophia's case (and her personal life) fall to pieces, she receives a strange envelope in the mail. It contains a picture of Lorna McCauley's lifeless face along with a daunting code.

Now the police and MI5 are forced to work together to stop the murders, and Sophia must find her way into the terrifying mind of a serial killer.

O is for Original Writing (not Original Ideas)

There are no original ideas. It's all been done before in one form or another. Don't let that stop you! What everyone wants is original writing. There's still plenty of need for that. It's hard to explain but we know it when we see it, right?

The turn of a phrase.

The twist of a plot.

The description that makes you stop and reread just because it is heartrendingly perfect.

A character who is so realistic you catch yourself wondering how he's doing long after you finish the book.

Original is the kind of writing that makes people love your story. It's what writers all strive to produce. It's definitely not easy but intensely rewarding--for both the reader and the writer--when it happens.

New Hampshire: A great place to be if you're an author

Some places are so fantastic at supporting their local authors. Others just seem to slam doors in your face. I'm not sure why this is. Why should the culture of one area be welcoming and rewarding to its writers, regardless of where you published, while others turn up their noses and act all high and mighty?

I wish I had a list and could divide states up into Supportive, Not, and It Depends. Not wanting to offend people from any areas or make grand generalities that I can't back up except to say, Well, yeah, anyway...I'll mention a few places that I know are in the Supportive category.

Top on the list is New Hampshire. While WiDo can't schedule a signing in some of the Barnes and Noble stores no matter what hoops they jump through, the stores in New Hampshire will actually work with you and let you in the door for a signing.

New Hampshire author G. M. Browning at the launch event for his high seas adventure novel, Cerulean Isle (WiDo, 2011)

Other of the smaller states on the Eastern seaboard are good to local authors as well, like Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine.When WiDo's sales team has called in these areas about stocking a new release, their first question is always, "Is it a local author?"

Another top state is Minnesota. They are super-supportive. They are proud of their Minnesota authors and will do book signings, newspaper interviews, generally whatever you ask if they can.

Nebraska is the same. I loved working with the local bookstores and newspapers when I planned my Farm Girl tour to Nebraska.

Texas is proud of Texas and Texans. Here's a copy of one of WiDo Publishing's books, written by Houston resident Paul Yarbrough, found in a local Houston bookstore. The guy holding up the book is my son who was visiting Texas recently with his wife and just happened to run across this while book-browsing.

A Happy Find: Mississippi Cotton by Paul H. Yarbrough (WiDo, 2011)

California is pretty good, too. But it's such a huge state that you can get lost there, so the smaller areas might be the best place to start. The economy is especially bad for California right now and many of the independents have closed. Still, if you're a California author, or have ties to the area, you should be able to schedule signings in a number of bookstores, if you can find ones that are still in business.

Colorado is pretty supportive as well but also falls into It Depends. Like where in Colorado are you talking about? Denver tends to be a bit snootier about it than smaller, rural areas.

What experiences have you had locally in working with your independent or chain bookstores?

Marketing Books

The M word. That thing we authors must do if we want to sell any of our books.

My original plan for selling thousands of copies of Farm Girl was to get Costco to buy a whole bunch from WiDo, and I would do signings at the many local warehouses in Utah. My family knows most of the warehouse managers. One in particular loved my book and said, "I can see it on our tables." So could I. So could I.

There's a self-published author in my area named Mike Ramsdell who wrote a book called Train to Potevka. In 2007, he got it into one of the local Costco warehouses and in less than a year had sold over 100,000 copies while doing signings at Costco stores in the Western states. Now granted, Farm Girl isn't a memoir about a U.S. spy in Russia, but I figured if we did one-tenth of his sales, that would be decent.

Sometimes dreams do NOT come true. That can be a good thing. If it had gone according to plan, I would never have done the Nebraska book tour with my mom. Which turned out to be one of her dreams come true. Look how happy she is. At the age of 94, she went on a book tour across her home state of Nebraska.

 WiDo would not have gotten Farm Girl in independent bookstores from Vermont to California, because who needs little orders from little bookstores when you have Costco? And the WiDo sales guy wouldn't have made friends and developed relationships with booksellers who are still buying WiDo books and not just Farm Girl.

I wouldn't have gone after newspaper reviews because who needs reviews when you have Costco, right? I would never have started blogging or done anything online, because who needs social media when you have Costco? I would never have realized the need for an alternative online bookstore-- something cozy, exclusive, supportive to authors with generous profit margins for them. Who needs Celery Tree when you have Costco?

I don't like failure. It makes me depressed, angry, sometimes bitter, and always craving something with chocolate, butter and sugar, maybe with some peanut butter and/or walnuts thrown in for good measure. But once I get over all that and calm down, I'm thankful for the lessons of failure.

When marketing books, failure is important to show what works and what doesn't. Don't hate failure, don't hate marketing. It's all part of the game of selling books.

(This post was taken from a series I on planning a successful book tour that appeared on the Celery Tree blog.)

Legal Stuff in Making a Book

What about the publishing contract? Most of what's online seems slanted toward the writer's benefit, to help them navigate the legal ramifications of the publishing contract. It can be downright scary to grant someone else the copyright for your work. It's a big step, but necessary if you want to work with a traditional publishing company.

When you write something, you automatically own the copyright on it. In order for a publisher to create your book, you must grant him the copyright. A contract is the first step in making a book. The publisher or editor won't touch your work unless you grant them the rights to do so.

A contract is simply an agreement between two people. It doesn't need to be long and full of legal language that's impossible to decipher. It essentially consists of the publisher saying what they want from you, the writer, and you, the writer, agreeing to it or not.

It will say what the publisher gives the writer as part of this business arrangement. If you don't agree, they might adjust it. It never hurts to ask. If you do agree, then you sign and proceed with  this exciting venture of having a publishing company invest in you as a writer.

Behind every contract is people. Consider the contract carefully but also consider the people. Do you trust them, or not? If not, don't sign the contract. A person without integrity can manipulate any contract for any purpose, which is why lawyers are so busy. If you do trust them, sign and move forward, trying not to second guess everything that happens. It will be okay!

L is for Legal. (This is an A to Z Challenge post, not intended to go into great depth and detail about the topic.)

The Kitten Book that Never Happened

A group of us at WiDo had this great idea for a book. I'm going to share it with you since the book never happened and never will, because of reasons yet to be revealed.

Anyway, the idea was to have these big, glossy pictures of real kittens in costumes and backgrounds from history, a kind of entertaining, learning book for kids.

Napoleon Kitten
George Washington Kitten
Martin Luther King Kitten
Eleanor Roosevelt Kitten

There were all kinds of ideas for historical figure kittens and every one brought suggestions for costumes, for the way we'd pose the kitten, the background settings and the blurbs to go with each page.

It all brought more hilarious laughter as the ideas rolled forth, because what is cuter or funnier than a kitten?

The book never happened for these reasons:

1. We all knew it would be way more fun talking about it than actually doing the work.

2. My daughter who's into fashion design didn't want to make the tiny little costumes and fit them on to tiny little kittens. Plus, she is allergic to cats.

3. Our designer who would have had to put this all together was already behind on his work with real books that had actual authors and release dates.

4. It would have cost a fortune to do right and WiDo is a small press with an even smaller budget.

5. And there are already a zillion cute pictures of kittens out there.

Like this one, my personal favorite-- Charlie, from Old Kitty's Blog-- every day another cute picture of darling Charlie! I have such a cat crush on Charlie.

J is for Jones Girl

I have conflicted emotions about my maiden name, Jones. Boys at school sometimes called me "Jonesy" and I hated that.

I think I have a boring author name. Karen Jones Gowen. There's no ring to it. No imagination. It happened when I wrote Farm Girl, the story of my mom as a girl growing up on a 1920's Nebraska farm.

She didn't want her name on the book as co-author. Since it was a sort-of memoir, I needed to use my real name and utilize the Jones as credit to my mom, right? Which is how I got my official author name. Once done is done, and now it's done.

Writers should think very carefully about what to put on that first book. To establish author recognition, you want the same name since life's just easier that way. It will go on your website, your blog, your Facebook page, and all the rest. Some use different pen names for different genres. I can barely keep track of my passport, I know I couldn't manage another identity.

Since Farm Girl needed my real, full name, I am now officially Karen Jones Gowen, Author.  If I had it to do over again, I'd choose something with more flair. I would be Samantha St. James or something like that. My daughter's author name is L.A. DeVaul. How very cool is that? She didn't even have to make it up, it is her real name. Lucky!

How Important is the Internet in Selling Books?

If you're reading this, you're on the Internet. Probably have a blog, a Twitter account, a Facebook page and whatever tools you have chosen to utilize. It's not so much about selling as it is about building your online presence-- using social media to get out there and learn the publishing trends, meet writers, readers, editors, agents-- whatever it is you need to move your writing career forward.

These days, it takes more than just sitting at home with the laptop writing the books. A writer must understand the industry, the market, the options for publishing and distributing your book.

A few years ago, I was seeing this on publisher blogs: "If you don't have a way to get your book into the bookstores, then you won't ever sell more than a few copies to friends and family." I saw that over and over. In today's publishing climate, it's just a stupid thing to say. Anyone who makes that statement now shows their ignorance of the current book market.

It's great to get your book into bookstores but doesn't guarantee sales anymore than publishing your work as an ebook will. There are no easy roads to success. Getting a top agent or fat publishing contract doesn't guarantee success. Setting up a blog or tweeting your head off with links to your new release won't either.

The most successful authors will tell you that it isn't just one path that leads to sales but many.

Try whatever you can. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Diversify. Experiment. Do spend a LOT of time on the Internet. Because when it comes to the selling of books and the making of money, the Internet is where it's all happening, baby. Plus, the best thing about the Internet is that it is free as well as effective.

Sure, it takes time to build a web presence and stay active online but everything has a cost. Don't get discouraged if there aren't instant results. Keep at it. Keep trying stuff. There's a lot to learn and to try, even for those who have been at it for years. New sites, new opportunities, new people keep popping up. Like I said, the Internet is where it's happening for writers and books. Time you spend on the Internet now can mean income later.

House, Home, Happiness

My husband and I have a large family. We planned it that way. And gave not a thought to overpopulating the world, which back in the seventies was a big concern. Is it still? Don't know and don't care. All our children are productive members of society-- doctors, nurses, missionaries, teachers, chemists, writers, publishers-- contributors. 

Because I spent so much time at home raising our family, it seems obvious that my first two novels would be based on these experiences. First came Uncut Diamonds, the semi-autobiographical novel about the beginning years (in the 1970's) of the fictional McGill family.

My second novel is today's H word:

Summary: In this sequel to Gowen’s debut novel, Uncut Diamonds, she follows sisters Cindy and Marcie as they reach a crossroads in their lives. Marcie pursues her dream of becoming a published writer while Cindy faces a terrible tragedy. Through faith, loss and the transcending nature of sacrifice, Marcie and Cindy must learn the incredible power that comes to families when they pull together to overcome challenges. Two women, one facing opportunity, the other tragedy. Can their bond endure?

More about House of Diamonds can be found on my website.

Today's H-word celebrates Home, Family, Happiness and House of Diamonds! 

Gratitude for Today's Literary Opportunities

I can't imagine any writer bemoaning the fact of ebooks, self-publishing, KDP Select, editing services for hire, cover design services for hire, all the small publishers looking for good books to publish....*cough WiDo cough*

There used to be one or two very narrow roads to publication. Get an agent. Know someone in the business. Live in NYC and work for a publisher. Be a man. You thought it was bad ten years ago? Try being a woman writer in the fifties or sixties. Practically impossible to break into the market.

Now the path is wide and the roads are many that lead from word processor to publication. How can anyone who wants to write and publish their work not absolutely love the options out there now?

Today on G-day, I am grateful for the many options and opportunities available for today's writers of books.