Tips & Tricks of the Trade - Author Websites

Saw this great article on what should go on author websites that I wanted to share with the crew. I like this article in particular because she breaks it down between what published writers should have on their websites versus unpublished writers. Check it out! I think you'll find it most helpful.

http://kortizzle.blogspot.com/2011/06/author-web-sites-basics.html

For those of you looking to set up a website on the cheap, my suggestion is www.officelive.com. I like their service versus the freeweb service and others because there is no unwanted, distracting advertisements! And you can incorporate advanced features like a blog, paypal, and video for FREE. And did I forget to say that it's FREE!

So set up your author website today and start building your audience!

Self Publishing...Again!

Hello Everybody,

So, I bet you thought since I got picked up by a publisher that I was through with indie publishing.

Not so much.

I've always said that if I have a book that I really believe in that doesn't sell, I'm gonna put it out myself and, once again, let my audience decide if it's something that they think is a worthy read. I've had this book on submission for several months now. For the most part, all the editors said they loved the story and concept but they didn't think there was a market for another Pride and Prejudice telling. I felt different...and so do many others as I found out by happenstance today!! A teen blogger who I just LOVE put the word out there on Twitter and she got quite a response...from readers...and a couple of agents and editors who requested my information. We'll see if anything comes of it.

As for me, I'm pressing ahead until a deal is in hand. So, I'll be back on the indie boards promoting the new book and hustling with everybody else. Initially, I'm only putting on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and iPAD and we'll see what happens from there.

A few print copies will be printed for author review copies (ARCs) and maybe I'll sell a few at a festival or two.

With that said, here's my new baby.

Basketball phenom Liz Bennett just wants finish high school under the radar...and without constantly defending herself against false rumors about her sexuality. With two trouble magnet kid sisters and a mother obsessed with protecting her virginity, she’s already dealing with more drama than an Emmy-winning daytime soap opera. But when two popular new guys enter her life, she’s forced from the shadows and onto center stage.

Trent Whitman, Liz’s hot new admirer, pursues and woos her with his silver tongue and hazel eyes. When he turns on the charm, Liz turns off all common sense. Darcell Williams, on the other hand, is a star football player who sticks his cleats in his mouth every time they meet. As far as Liz is concerned, Trent is a dream and Darcell is a devil reincarnate.

During the Back-to-School dance, Darcell spews an oh-no-he-didn’t insult that cements Liz's contempt. Oh yes, their feud is on and poppin'!

Driven by spite and embarrassment, Liz instigates a series of misunderstandings that propel her into an inevitable confrontation with Darcell. But when a Bennett family crisis reveals Darcell’s and Trent’s true colors, will Liz’s pride prevent her from accepting each for who he really is?

WORST IMPRESSIONS is a humorous and uplifting coming-of-age tale about a girl who discovers that misjudgments are a two-way street best left untraveled. Loosely based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, this novel brings a timeless story to contemporary multicultural teens.

With that said, I'll keep you posted on the happenings!

Until then...Keep it real...and keep it real cheap!

Marketing Minute- Activity #2

I'm back!

You knew I would be.

So, the last time I posted, I indicated that I was doing research on blogs who review novels in my genre so that I could set up reviews and possibly interviews and blog tour stops. Well, I sent out 10 e-mails yesterday. I got three responses and all were positive for reviewing and hosting interviews. Yep, I've got a long way to go, but it's a start. I'll send out five e-mails every day from this point forward until I've exhausted my list. Then I'll compile some more.

How many should you sign up for? As many as you can. Remember, how blogs work. For example, Becky sets up a blog and has 50 followers. Her information appears on their blogs. Among her 50 followers are ten people who have 1000 followers. So, your information not only appears on their blogs, but also their followers blogs. This is how your book goes viral and you start to build the ever important "buzz." You can never sign up with too many. So, find as many as you can and make it a constant process.

A few pointers for crafting your letters:

• First, make sure that you at least TRY to personalize each letter to the extent that you can. Take the time to find out the name of the person who runs the blog. This will go a long way toward building goodwill. On some blogs the information isn't always apparent or easy to find, but most blogs who regularly review books have a book review policy page and provide their contact information there.
  
• Include your book's information: Title, name of publisher (your imprint name or your name), ISBN number, format (tradepaper, hardcover), number of pages, back cover copy, and jpeg of your cover file.
• Be careful of what you post online--anywhere. This not only applies to reaching out to bloggers but your career as an author. Like it or not, people will do research on you as bloggers, potential publishers, readers, etc. are bound to do. Be careful of what you post and what you say. Avoid negative interaction because it may affect whether people want to work with you. I say this because one blogger agreed to host my book and host me on a blog tour partly because I had a positive interaction with a reviewer who gave me a negative review. You never know how that stuff will play into the future, so just avoid the negative stuff altogether if you can.
  

Activity #2

For today's activity, I'm going to try and compile a list of book festivals and fairs that I can or will try attend next year to begin setting up my schedule. Now, of course, festivals and fairs are tricky because you have to pay to participate. That means, you need to know if you're gonna have the budget. Even though I'm with a traditional publisher, I doubt very seriously they're gonna pay because I'm not a money-maker yet. But the point of this exercise is finding what you can and listing them on a schedule so that if your budget does allow you to attend in a particular timeframe, you will already have the information compiled if your schedule and budget should allow.

How am I going to go about compiling my list? By leaning on an author's best friend--Google. I will Google "book fair", "book festival", "author pavilion", "book fest" along with my geographic area and see what I come up with. I'll list out fees, application deadlines, and website addresses so I can go back and find the information later. Some time down the road, I'll list the ones I can potentially attend on my website schedule.

Be selective and don't try to book everything because you need to leave room for bookstore signings on your schedule too. This activity shouldn't take too long--maybe an hour or so. Best thing is, you only need to do it once a year if you do a thorough job the first time. And if you retain the information from year to year, then you only need to update it with new events as they are available. This is a good time of year to compile the list because the festival schedules usually start in February and run through November.

So, what are you waiting for? Let's get to it!

Implementing Your Marketing Plan!

Hey Peops! I've been out of pocket writing the sequel to my novel and a YA novel. Now that I'm wrapping up work on both I can get back to blogging more regularly.

Whether you're an indie author or affiliated with an indie or big six publisher, one thing all we authors will have to do is market our books in some way or another. Even though my book has been picked up by a big six publisher, I don't have intention of reducing the level of marketing I engage in with the re-release of my novel. As a matter of fact, I really need to do equal or better because now my sales really count. The sales figures can impact my ability to get my books sold to publishers in the future. So, it's time to get on the ball.

I haven't done much marketing up to this point because it's very difficult to really market without a book cover, and I didn't get my book cover until yesterday. With THE BUM MAGNET release scheduled for March 29, 2011, time's ticking away and I've got a lot to do--from scheduling book signings, to setting up blog tours, to finding reviewers among bloggers and book clubs.

So, every day starting tomorrow until the release of my book in March 2011, I'll be engaging in one or two marketing activities per day and I'll be sharing them with you to give you ideas about how to go about conducting your own marketing. Now, I'm not going to give you very specific details because the key is for you to take the general idea, conduct your own research, and then do the marketing activity yourself. But hopefully, I can give you some direction and help you get your plan rolling.

Activity #1.

My first goal for tomorrow is to do some research to identify blogs that read and review books like mine. I'll make a list of those blogs and email them to ask if they will review my book, and/or host me on a tour, and/or allow me to post an author interview. As long as they agree to post some information (any information) about me as an author or my book, it will go a long way to getting the viral marketing started.

So where am I going to look for blogs? One of my favorite sources is Technorati.com. You go there, put in some search terms, and then find blogs that deal with subject matter similar to your book. It also allows you to see the blog rankings to identify which ones are considered more of an authority than others.

So, hop to it people! Let's find some blogs. If you're successful, please leave a comment and tell us about it.

Guest Post: Debbi Mack's 20 Questions Blog Tour

Please welcome my very first guest author, Debbi Mack. Indie Publishing on the Cheap is today's stop on her blog tour. (If anyone else is interested, please email me. I'd be happy to host you as I finish up my works in progress.)

Debbi Mack's 20 Questions Blog Tour

Question 8: Where do you get your ideas?

Thank you, Karla, for hosting me on your blog, Cheap Indie Author. It's a pleasure to be hosted by someone who's made such a success by taking the indie route.

As to your question, it's a perennial favorite. It's that question that writers so often dread answering. It's one that authors tend to poke fun at. However, I will try to field it as best I can.

The simple answer is, ideas can come from just about anywhere. Ideas seem to crawl out of the woodwork like bugs.

Wow, that was quite the icky analogy. Let's try this instead. Ideas are caused when you see a situation and inspiration jolts your brain like electricity.

So often, an idea is based on a "what if" scenario. I'll be reading the paper (or a magazine or just about anything) and I'll think "what if this happened to someone and it led to murderous impulses?"

As a crime fiction writer, I seem capable of finding the potential for murder in almost any scenario.

If it sounds a bit scary, well, it's just my imagination. It's not real. (Is it? LOL)

Another aspect of getting ideas for stories is being able to spot the potential for conflict in a situation. Because conflict is the essence of good storytelling.

Who wants to read about a perfectly happy person going about an ordinary day in which nothing untoward happens? I'll tell you who. Nobody.

So, coming up with ideas means finding the conflict in situations. Along with being able to string out a plot that will support a whole novel.

This means that simply getting an idea isn't enough. What makes the idea work is not so much the idea as the execution. You see, they say that all the ideas have been "done" at this point. Perhaps it's true. But it's not just ideas that make a good story, it's also execution of the plot. And this is where all the hard work comes in.

Coming up with ideas is no great trick. Following through and creating a great story based upon them is the hard part.

At this point, I have SO many ideas for stories. They're all sitting patiently in my brain, like planes on a runway waiting for takeoff. I don't even know if I can possibly get to them all, given the time I put toward marketing and promoting, in addition to writing books (not to mention short stories, screenplays and whatever else I choose to work on).

So, when people ask me, "Where do you get your ideas?" my impulse is to say, "Where don't I get them?"

* * * * *

Thanks for reading, everyone! Don't forget to leave a comment with your email address if you'd like to enter the drawing for the 10 autographed copies of IDENTITY CRISIS I'm giving away. (One entry per person, but comment as often as you like.)

The drawing will be held on my blog My Life on the Mid-List after the tour is finished. Check my blog for the entire tour schedule.

And please join me at my next stop tomorrow: Weblog of Zoe Winters

* * * * *

Debbi Mack is the author of IDENTITY CRISIS, a hardboiled mystery and the first in a series featuring lawyer Stephanie Ann "Sam" McRae. She's also a short story writer whose ebook anthology, FIVE UNEASY PIECES, includes the Derringer-nominated "The Right to Remain Silent," originally published in The Back Alley Webzine. Debbi's work has also appeared in two of the CHESAPEAKE CRIMES anthologies.

Be on the lookout for her next Sam McRae novel, LEAST WANTED, which will be published soon (in print and ebook versions).

Debbi practiced law for nine years before becoming a freelance writer/researcher and fiction author. She's also worked as a news wire reporter covering the legal beat in Washington, D.C. and as a reference librarian at the Federal Trade Commission. She lives in Maryland with her husband and three cats.

You can find out more about Debbi on her Web site and her blog My Life on the Mid-List. Her books are available on Amazon, BN.com, Lulu.com, Smashwords and other sites around the Web, and by order at stores. You can also buy autographed copies of her novel from her Web site at http://www.debbimack.com/identitycrisis.

Self Publishing Expo

This is from the peops at mediabistro.com. I actually had planned to attend this last year but my schedule and budget didn't allow. They are featuring a manuscript critique which I think is great for self published authors. The cost is $125 to attend the seminars and panels, and $350 if you want go as an exhibitor and sell your books. It looks like they've got some great sponsors this year, and with shift in attitudes about self-publishing, I'd be surprised if there weren't an editor or agent or two attending to find some new talent. Might be worth a trip!


Self-Publishing Book Expo Will Feature On-Site Manuscript Critique
By Maryann Yin on Sep 16, 2010 08:23 AM

The Self-Publishing Expo will take place on October 2nd in New York City. The Expo will feature a random drawing, awarding one lucky reader a free self-publishing package from CreateSpace worth $1,798.

Scheduled panels include "Do I Need an Agent?", "Working with Your Local Bookstore", and "Design & Illustration, How Your Cover Can Sell Covers." Industry speakers who will participate include Andy Carpenter (Principle ACD & Co.), Jeff Reich (The Writer Magazine) and Liz Perl (Simon & Schuster).

Besides a packed schedule of panels and speakers, attendees can look forward to "a special one-on-one editorial manuscript evaluation. Participants are asked to submit a 1-2 page synopsis and a 5-page sample in advance of the show. Each submission will be evaluated by a member of the Consulting Editors Alliance and each participant will get a one-on-one feedback session at the Expo."

Self Publishing is...IN?

A lot has changed in the year since I self published my debut novel, The Bum Magnet in October 2009. And I do mean a lot. When I first considered putting my book out myself, just after the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards Contest had dashed my hopes for an “easy” road to a publishing contract, self published authors were still the scourge of the publishing world. You could hardly speak the word “self-publish” without watching someone’s face curl in disgust. Why in the world could you possibly want to put your book out there yourself when there’s all these publishing houses and big advances to be had in the traditional route? Or…if you can’t find a traditional house, then your work must really suck, so why would you want to embarrass yourself. Or…self published authors, on average, only sell 50-100 books (a few more if you have a larger social network), so why waste your time?

As a matter of fact, the only segments of the publishing industry who didn’t shun self published authors were the authors themselves or the range author support business who wanted to exploit them for the thousands of dollars many were willing to invest to get their masterpieces in book form.

My, my, my how times change. One year later and now even reputable major news papers like the New York Times are touting self publishing as a viable option. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself here, here, here, and here. It’s amazing to me how quickly perceptions about self publishing are shifting. Amazing. As more authors come into the fray and find success, industry perceptions shift. Self publishing isn’t a dirty word anymore. As a matter of fact, some authors like J.A. Konrath are making a good living from his titles listed on Amazon’s Kindle book store.

In a time not too long ago, literary agents and industry experts would tell authors that if they self-publish their book, they would NEVER be considered by traditional publishers. Such advice was prevalent…all the way up until traditional publishers started plucking authors from the ranks of the self published, like Lisa Genova, Boyd Morrison Zane, Mary B. Morrison, E. Lynn Harris, and the list goes on and on, giving them advances and turning some into instant best sellers. I know of several deals in the last year where self published authors with Kindle e-book best sellers were offered book deals by big six publishers. Now? Publishers, like Louise Burke at my own pocket books, say that they trawl the Internet looking for self published books that are generating great buzz and reviews so they can snap them up. It’s a win-win situation for them so why not? Self published authors are coming to houses big and small with market-tested material, minimizing the financial gamble that publishers have to take, particularly in today’s sluggish economic climate. As time goes on, I believe self publishing could become the new slush pile.

What’s more? Publishers Weekly, which used to fall in stark opposition to self published authors within industry debates, has recently changed its tune. Not only do they say self publishing is “getting respect,” they are launching a service geared toward self published authors, including a supplement to their magazine that features self published works and a slim chance at getting a their book reviewed…for a “small” fee of course. While many argue that their service should be free to authors, the point is that even PW had to face the hard truth—self publishing not only isn’t going away, it is growing and becoming more legitimate in the eyes of the general public everyday.

So, what’s my point you ask?

My point is simply this…if the so-called stigma of self publishing is one of the reasons (excuses) you’ve used not to put your book out there yourself, scratch that one off the list. If cost is an issue, you’re on the cheap indie author’s blog—use the vast information I’ve provided to help you publish on the cheap. Don’t let your work collect dust in a drawer. Dig it out, polish it up, and publish it.

Finding Your Voice

When I was in that frustrated stage of publishing where I was getting rejections from literary agents and deciding whether to self-publish, one realization hit me which really led me to put my book out myself.

I had a voice.

Now, don’t ask me to define exactly what that is because I can’t tell you. But with every rejection I got, all the agents kept telling me that I had great voice and the word “voice” connected with me because I’d heard it before…about 20 years ago.

For those writers who think you must have formal English training, an MFA or the like, to write novels. Let me tell you that I don’t. I’ve written in journals all my life, was pretty much a straight-A student nerd, and did pretty well in English classes throughout school. But one day changed my perspective on my writing.

My English 101 professor, Francis O’Leary (of Irish descent and knew more about African American literature than anyone I’ve met to date—I’ll never forget him) gave the class an assignment. The details are foggy but we had a list of short stories and we were supposed to select two of the stories and do a contrast and comparison—3 pages long. I looked at the list and was completely lost. On the surface, those stories couldn’t have less in common than a chicken and a yo-yo. I mean nothing. We had two days to get the assignment done and I stewed for two days and couldn’t think of a single angle. Talk about frustrated.

Finally, about 2 hours before class on the day I was supposed to turn the assignment in an idea just hit me. I remember selecting The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe. In each story, the protagonist kind of took a morbid laissez faire attitude about other people’s pain…until the pain became their own. Anyway, so I start writing this 3-page piece of fluff crap, pulling words completely out of my butt, talking about some saying that my grandma said, knowing darn well she’d never said it, and just pulling ideas out of thin air…or so it seemed to me at the time. The words flowed like the River Jordan. I couldn’t stop them until I got to 2 and a half pages (not 3 pages as assigned) and then it ended. When there was nothing left to say, I just couldn’t write anymore. No matter how hard I tried to fill in that last half page.

The whole comparison was entertaining but filled with crap that I’d made up. I didn’t care. It was done and I was going to turn the stupid thing in no matter what the consequences were. For some reason, I was most scared because I didn’t write the entire three pages, just 2 and a half. Hand shaking, I passed the last minute job to Professor O’Leary and I prayed and sweated and hoped that I would just pass the dang assignment. I just didn’t want an “F.”

The next day we were in the middle of an in-class writing assignment and Professor O’Leary calls me to the front of the class. I thought, “Oh hell, he’s gonna let me have it in front of everyone.” My stomach dropped through the floor and I was trembling. Keep in mind that as a nerd, grades were my life…especially A’s. So, I get to the front of the class and he pulls out my paper. At the top of it, an enormous “A” circled in red ink. He hands it to me and whispers, “I’d like to read this in front of the class tomorrow if you don’t mind. This was excellent. You have a great voice! Keep writing!”

Voice?

What the hell’s “voice”?

I didn’t know, but I agreed to let him read it. A shy writer (to this day), I showed up 20 minutes late just so I wouldn’t have to suffer through him reading my work to the whole class. I walked in just in time for the light applause.

When I thought about my process later on, I remembered the place I was in, where the words just flowed. I heard voices speak to me and I transcribed. I was a vessel for some imaginary person in my head that had something to say, and I wrote the words the way they told me to write them.

To this day, that’s where my words and my characters come from. That place where the characters speak and I listen and then write.

There is where I found my voice, that ingredient in writing that makes your characters come alive. And they refused to let me put their words in one of my journals. They wanted a book and they wanted it published. And wouldn’t let me stop until I did.

I self-published…and the rest as they say is history.

So fellow writers, when you’re wondering why you’re doing what you persist in this writing “thing,” remember those voices and let their stories be heard.

Question From a Follower

Hello Everyone,

I know I've been out of pocket quite a bit lately but I'm busy writing. I've finished a YA novel which I think has some great potential. I also have begun the sequel to The Bum Magnet which is really shaping up to be a lot of fun to write.

Not much has been going on in terms of the book deal. The contract has been signed and I'm waiting...waiting...waiting for the next stage. Based on the contract, I don't think anything will really get in gear until late August, early September. I will share as much about the process as I can.

I have a question from a follower that I'd like to address for all involved. Although I've covered similar material earlier in the blog, I think this is an issue that bears repeating again and again.

Great information. My first book was published in 2001 by a company that's no longer in business. My second will be ready for printing within a couple of weeks. I'm looking at both Lightning and CreateSpace but have also had Balboa Press recommended, an arm of Hay House. Do you have any thoughts on them? Thanks!Judith Horkywww.earthshift.net

I checked out the Balboa Press website and their packages and what I can say is that I would not use them, nor would I encourage anyone who asks for my advice to use their services. The cheapest package is $999 and if you've read anything about my blog, you know that you can use Createspace and Lightning Source to produce your book for a whole lot cheaper if you're willing to do some of the grunt work yourself. Some of the package prices are downright predatory as far as I'm concerned.

What their CHEAPEST package offers, you can do for yourself, through Createspace and Lightning Source for less than $500-- and really it's less than that. It can probably be done for about $300-$350.

Two things they don't mention on the site are "Returnability" (whether they accept returns) and "Wholesale" discount, how much of a discount they offer. If they don't offer returnability or at least a 40% wholesale discount (really needs to be 50-55%), then your book won't likely get into major retailers. Plus, what are your printing costs? They say they offer a discount for author copies but they don't say how much that discount is.

My advice is to just say no! Do it yourself. It will take a little more work on your part on the front end, but you'll save money on the backend AND you'll put your book in a position to get out to retailers. I can almost promise you it will be very difficult though Balboa press and the like. If you look at the past blogs, you will see many of the reasons I state for maintaining maximum control of your book, ensuring returnability, and having the ability to set your own wholesale rate. These are key issues to self publishing profitably and cheaply.

Indie -vs- Traditional Publishing #1

Well, as most of you may know (or perhaps some of you don't know), I accepted a two-book deal with Simon & Schuster recently. So, I'm an indie publisher no more, but I will still maintain my blog and share all of my tips until I have no more tips to share.

Of course, I am very excited about the prospects. But a lot of people have had questions about how it happened and why I accepted the deal. So, I thought I would do an initial post on the issue, but as I get further into the process, since I will have the experience of working both sides of publishing (indie and traditional), I will periodically post about the drawbacks and advantages that I see in both processes.

So, what happened?

To this day, I don't know how she found me, but an editor from Kensington send me an email and said that she was interested in talking about my book. Needless to say I was over the moon. I played it cool and sent her a rather official sounding email indicating that I appreciated her interest and that I'd contact her during business hours. lol What a bonehead (ME not her). (I didn't get the email until late that evening)

So, the next day, I stared at the phone until about 11:00 am. I figured by 11:00 am, she'd be done catching up on her early emails and phone calls and she wouldn't have left for lunch. Turned out to be perfect timing. And she answered on the second or third ring.

We spoke for about 45 minutes or so. The details are foggy now. I just thought it was surreal to be talking to her. She has a number of African-American NY Times Bestsellers on her list (Carl Weber, Mary B. Morrison, Mary Monroe). I knew exactly who she was and I knew the publisher well. As a matter of fact, I had sent a partial to her but never heard from her. (For those of you not aware, you can query Kensington editors directly. You don't need an agent.)

So, she asked me about how I got into writing, how I went about publishing my book, what kind of marketing plan I did, etc. etc. In one of the funnier moments in the conversation, she asked me if I'd queried any agents or editors. I said, "Well, as a matter of fact I sent my partial to you." She got quiet and I heard her fish around her desk. She had my query sitting in an envelope right in her overhead. Ha! How's that for coincident. Of course, she was mortified. I told her not to feel bad. I truly believe that things happen for a reason. There was a reason that she didn't read it back then. So, she suggested she'd be making me an offer and we let it go. She asked me for a copy of my manuscript and to see my two works in progress. So, I sent them to her.

I asked an editor and an agent who I'd been in touch with at a writer's conference (I was the coordinator that booked them and she was very gracious) advice on what I should do next. They said get an agent. I sent a note to the editor who called me and asked her if she'd have a problem with me getting an agent. She said no. As a matter of fact, she referred an agent to me. At that point, I knew she was serious.

Anyway, so I queried a few agents, including the one she recommended for me. I went on Publisher's lunch and found agents who worked with author in similar genres. I wanted someone with experience in selling African American (AA) fiction. Within a few days I had a few that were very interested. I ended up picking the agent who represented two female AA best-selling authors who write in different genres. He had great credentials (a former editor for big houses) and he knew how to sell AA fiction. I couldn't go wrong.

He asked me to make a few edits to the manuscript. Admittedly, I was reticent only because my book was already out there. But it came down to the fact that, even though I'd sold a couple thousand copies (ebook and paperback), I hadn't sold enough to the point where changes to the manuscript would impact millions of readers. So, I got over myself and my few measly sales and I made the changes he suggested, and he put it on submission. He submitted it just as he would an unpublished manuscript but in the accompanying letter, we let them know that it had been self published, received great reviews, was building word of mouth, yadda yadda yadda.

So, two weeks go by and the rejections start rolling in. After about 4 or 5 I asked if I should get depressed and he said we had a long way to go. Finally, an editor from S&S said she liked it and was passing it around. The original editor who expressed interest from Kensington was still interested and waiting on her boss to return from vacation. Then another editor from Grand Central (Hachette) expressed interest. After all the offers and counteroffers, we finally accepted the one with Pocket.

Of course part of me felt really really bad because if it hadn't been for the original editor reaching out to me, I might not have even had the opportunity. But she indicated she wasn't able to match S&S offer, so she gave me her best wishes for my career. I felt much better.

That's pretty much the story.

To answer some of the questions I received, no one ever asked about my sales numbers until after the offers were made. I did not query anyone after I published the book. I queried before I published but not after. So, I can't really say whether trying to query an agent or publisher after you've self-published will work for you. I didn't have to query. How do I think she found me. Well, my book had been reviewed on several sites where her authors book were also reviewed. Mine was one of the few self published books to get a 5-star rating, "favorite," or "top read" status. My book also stayed in the Top 100 African American fiction list on Amazon. I went through the list at the time, and I was the only book on the list that didn't have a publisher. I'd also been reaching out to book clubs and stuff like that. So, there are a lot of ways she could've found out.

I was also asked why if an author, such as myself, was doing well in distributing my book and getting good reviews, why would I relinquish control and sell my rights to a publisher?

Ummmmm . . . because it was Simon & Schuster and I'm not crazy??? LOL Just kidding. The thing is, without a whole whole whole lot of work, there is no way I could reach the audience that S&S or another major publisher could reach. That was a fact of life. Nobody knows K.L. Brady; a heck of a lot of people know Simon & Schuster. This is a great opportunity to build my own brand using someone else's brand and expand my audience. It was not about the advance for me. It was about the opportunity this deal offered to build my author brand and I plan to take advantage of every perk the brand and affiliation with a house comes with to market and sell more books. As a new/first-time novelist, I also wanted the chance to work with an editor so that I can improve my craft.

This was truly a business decision for me...and I think it was a good one.

So, that's scoop and the poop.

If you've got questions...let it roll.

And NO...I will not be divulging the amount of my advance. I will say it was enough for me. :)