Wow- this has been a crazy adventure! I've been at AW for a year, or nearly so. My first days here were filled with stalking every forum and feeling incredibly overwhelmed. I never saw a way to even finish my book. Every step seemed intense and crucial.
AW has been a huge blessing to my book getting published. Nearly everything I've learned about publishing I've learned here.
First, I learned about query letters. This was an important step, because it made me focus on what my story was about, and learn the true weight of the word. I wrote query after query, and received a ton of advice.
The next step was Share Your Work.... finally I would have my peers read my work. There are several places to find this kind of help, but for me, SYW forum was the best. I asked in the title for people to be gentle, and they were. Their help was invaluable. It was in SYW that I learned my first chapter was crap, and I needed to redo it and make it stronger. As a side note, the first and last chapter are the hardest for me to write.
I shared my first three sentences in that forum, and received more critique. Again learning the importance of hooking the reader, and weighing the words I use. The talent on this site is amazing. Lurking behind all the funny and cute avatars are writers and authors who absolutely know their craft and have given me great advice. I would encourage anyone who is new at this to share their work here.
Then I searched for betas, and ended up with 3 amazing people who encouraged and challenged me. Not all writers need a beta, but for me they were invaluable.
I got the addresses to whom to query my MS from a link on this site, and queried my little heart out. I was blessed with a couple requests. Unfortunately, that was when I learned that my genre is very hard to break into in the traditional published world, especially since I didn't already have an established fan base (my book is a memoir.)
I was discouraged for a minute, but AW came to my rescue again, with the self-published forum. I poured over the articles about formatting, and searched through the links of advertisements for cover artists.
Finally, in February, I published my book. Like I said, since then it's been an amazing ride. Lots of ups and downs. The thing I've learned since publishing is that you are never satisfied with how many books you sell. I have to be satisfied by hitting goals instead.
I've hit a lot of goals, including rising up to number 12 in all of the non-fiction in the Amazon store. It was because I ran an ad with a heavy hitter (Book Bub.) They are super expensive to run ads with, but I made my money back plus more.
Some of my goals for writing were simple. Was I able to touch someone who read my story? I have to say, the biggest thrill I've ever gotten is when a reader writes me and tells me how my story impacted them. WOW. For me, that's what it is all about. I love my readers.
Some other goals I had were: sell 10, then 30, then 50, 100, etc. And I celebrate like crazy every time I hit a goal. Who knows if I will hit another, so I embrace them.
In July, Amazon rolled out Kindle Unlimited, which messed up my book. It has a new publication date now. I've changed the cover when I wrote the sequel, to keep them looking like they matched. If you write more than one book, branding your books is important.
Some things that I think worked for me were keeping my book in Select. This doesn't work for everyone, and if another author looked at my stats they might disagree that it's working for me. lol I am a very small but happy fish in the huge pond. I also enrolled my book in Kindle Unlimited, which generates a lot of "borrows." There are definitely some cons to those decisions- the biggest one being you are locked into Amazon for three months. It's a personal decision.
I also get advertising when I do my countdown deals. There are a few places to go- search for "bargain ebooks" and tons will pop up. I tend to go with the cheapest ones, splurging only on Book Bub.
I've never tried the free countdown deal, but I've heard that works amazingly well if you have more than one book in your catalogue, specifically in a series.
I also have a facebook page dedicated to my book, but I don't think that's helped me. Maybe a tiny bit when I announced the 2nd book was published.
I have a mailing list that people sign up for, but again, I'm not sure how much it's helped me. Maybe a little bit with my 2nd book. I've heard good things about doing that though, so I had it ready. If you want a mailing list, one option is to go to Mailchimp dot com and sign up for one. I placed the link in the back of my book with a nice blurb and a thank you note.
I don't know where this writing journey is going to take me, but I know I wouldn't have been able to do it without AbsoluteWrite. The resources here are overwhelming, and valuable.
If there is anything I can do to help "pay it forward," let me know!
AW has been a huge blessing to my book getting published. Nearly everything I've learned about publishing I've learned here.
First, I learned about query letters. This was an important step, because it made me focus on what my story was about, and learn the true weight of the word. I wrote query after query, and received a ton of advice.
The next step was Share Your Work.... finally I would have my peers read my work. There are several places to find this kind of help, but for me, SYW forum was the best. I asked in the title for people to be gentle, and they were. Their help was invaluable. It was in SYW that I learned my first chapter was crap, and I needed to redo it and make it stronger. As a side note, the first and last chapter are the hardest for me to write.
I shared my first three sentences in that forum, and received more critique. Again learning the importance of hooking the reader, and weighing the words I use. The talent on this site is amazing. Lurking behind all the funny and cute avatars are writers and authors who absolutely know their craft and have given me great advice. I would encourage anyone who is new at this to share their work here.
Then I searched for betas, and ended up with 3 amazing people who encouraged and challenged me. Not all writers need a beta, but for me they were invaluable.
I got the addresses to whom to query my MS from a link on this site, and queried my little heart out. I was blessed with a couple requests. Unfortunately, that was when I learned that my genre is very hard to break into in the traditional published world, especially since I didn't already have an established fan base (my book is a memoir.)
I was discouraged for a minute, but AW came to my rescue again, with the self-published forum. I poured over the articles about formatting, and searched through the links of advertisements for cover artists.
Finally, in February, I published my book. Like I said, since then it's been an amazing ride. Lots of ups and downs. The thing I've learned since publishing is that you are never satisfied with how many books you sell. I have to be satisfied by hitting goals instead.
I've hit a lot of goals, including rising up to number 12 in all of the non-fiction in the Amazon store. It was because I ran an ad with a heavy hitter (Book Bub.) They are super expensive to run ads with, but I made my money back plus more.
Some of my goals for writing were simple. Was I able to touch someone who read my story? I have to say, the biggest thrill I've ever gotten is when a reader writes me and tells me how my story impacted them. WOW. For me, that's what it is all about. I love my readers.
Some other goals I had were: sell 10, then 30, then 50, 100, etc. And I celebrate like crazy every time I hit a goal. Who knows if I will hit another, so I embrace them.
In July, Amazon rolled out Kindle Unlimited, which messed up my book. It has a new publication date now. I've changed the cover when I wrote the sequel, to keep them looking like they matched. If you write more than one book, branding your books is important.
Some things that I think worked for me were keeping my book in Select. This doesn't work for everyone, and if another author looked at my stats they might disagree that it's working for me. lol I am a very small but happy fish in the huge pond. I also enrolled my book in Kindle Unlimited, which generates a lot of "borrows." There are definitely some cons to those decisions- the biggest one being you are locked into Amazon for three months. It's a personal decision.
I also get advertising when I do my countdown deals. There are a few places to go- search for "bargain ebooks" and tons will pop up. I tend to go with the cheapest ones, splurging only on Book Bub.
I've never tried the free countdown deal, but I've heard that works amazingly well if you have more than one book in your catalogue, specifically in a series.
I also have a facebook page dedicated to my book, but I don't think that's helped me. Maybe a tiny bit when I announced the 2nd book was published.
I have a mailing list that people sign up for, but again, I'm not sure how much it's helped me. Maybe a little bit with my 2nd book. I've heard good things about doing that though, so I had it ready. If you want a mailing list, one option is to go to Mailchimp dot com and sign up for one. I placed the link in the back of my book with a nice blurb and a thank you note.
I don't know where this writing journey is going to take me, but I know I wouldn't have been able to do it without AbsoluteWrite. The resources here are overwhelming, and valuable.
If there is anything I can do to help "pay it forward," let me know!
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