Last Thursday night I was honoured to do the end of year talk at the Hawkesbury River Writers Group. I promised those good folk I'd fling a quick summary up on the blog, and add links to various websites I'd mentioned.
So here it is...
- With the changes in the traditional print industry (ie move to author self promotion), and the explosion of the e-industry the ‘unpublished’ stage of an authors career is now a vital part of their success – it is not a rite of passage, or something to be endured until ‘your ship comes in’. It is a busy, active time where you can establish yourself.
- Am talking about published and unpublished as if there is a line, or a hill, or everest in between the two. These days there is not. If any one of you chose to, you could be published by tomorrow night. I don’t recommend you jump in blind, but its there for the taking.
- Smashwords - has great guide to self-pubbing
- Kindle Direct
- Createspace
- PubIt (Nook)
- E-publishing or self publishing is huge. With the massive popularity of kindle and other e-readers, millions have access to self-published e-books. There is cult-y following, and agents and editors alike are scouring sites like Smashwords to find new talent.
- Fortunes are being made – Joe Konrath (has must-read publishing blog, which has info for any writer, self pubbed or not), Amanda Hocking
- Amazon’s new imprints are going to be massive and industry changing
- The unpublished part of your career is absolutely vital –
- establish yourself,
- make connections,
- get your voice out there, ie have a presence online, so that agents and editors can find you
- learn, about marketing, advertising, self-promotion
Any questions, email me... caitlyn . nicholas @ gmail . com
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Good luck to all :)
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Sounds like a great talk! Lots of good points :) Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Rach - I mentioned you in it :) Cos I think you're such a brilliant example of someone who's done things the 'right' way! I was using my early attempts online as a contrast, or a what not to do guide!!
Every week I seem to hear of someone hitting #1 with a self-published title. It's very tempting, but I hesitate to jump in!
Aw that's so sweet Cait. Although I don't know what bad things you've done!!!
Try telling a senior M&B editor she wouldn't be interested in my book (at my first conference when I was about as clueless as they come) - still makes me want to beat my head on a desk!!!
Yep, know that feeling. Its a big deal. But if you've got a great book and you're confident in what you're doing there's no reason you can't be the next No. 1!!
Oh Caitlyn, So wish I lived in another state to listen to your talk. I'm in the process of working with the newspaper I worked for to put my Mum's the Word columns into an ebook. It's been such a learning curve for me. I have read the two Smashwords ebooks its released on self publishing and marketing, which were really helpful. Also I read Pat Flynn's ebook on the subject too. Although, his was more targetted at info ebooks. Mine is very much pure entertainment! Will check out all the links you have mentioned too. Thanks so much for sharing this. It's extremely helpful. x
Glad it helped a little Kellie :) Its so daunting to begin with! Let me know about the ebook, I'd love to read it when it comes out.
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