Confessions of a Newbie Indie Author and An Awesome Givaway This Month!!!

Hey did you know Novel Rocket is celebrating it's 10th Birthday. Yep, they've been at this blog gig that long. And to celebrate we are giving away books by all the contributors to this blog. Each week of September commenters have a change to win a package of five different books! Leave a comment below and you can win the books pictured below, which includes my Thyme for Love.

Last month I wrote about my new experience at going indie with my novel,

Thyme for Love.

What has the experience been like during the past month or so the book has been out? Wonderful, disappointing, encouraging, discouraging, awesome…well you get the idea. One thing has been constant. Every day I learn something new about either marketing, or KDP (Amazon's electronic publishing arm) or myself.

The book went live on July 29, and I experienced a surge of sales that day because some had preordered the book. Then the little red line on a graph I can peek at anytime I want, plummeted, as did my spirits. I went crazy checking the sales, sometimes once an hour, every single day for four straight days. Did I mention that there is no waiting for a royalty statement, and I can peek at my current sales any time I want. 

I’d heard the success stories of some authors hitting it “big” right out of the chute with an indie published novel, and I had high hopes this would be my experience. I am facing a huge dental bill and other expenses, which is where my royalties are earmarked to go, and I had visions of paying off the bills quickly. By the fourth day checking, my sales became an obsession and it had to stop. It wasn’t like I wasn’t selling at all. I was—in dribs and drabs.

God taught me a big lesson. Here’s some of what I wrote in my journal that day.

You Lord have every day of my life in your book (see Psalm 139)—today and all that follow. You know I’m becoming discouraged at the sluggish sales. You know I’ve sent out memes with catchy wording to grab people's attention, and yet there are no nibbles. It’s like casting a line and hoping for fish to bite, yet none come even though I have good bait on the hook.

Then later I wrote:

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,“Never will I leave you;never will I forsake you.”So we say with confidence,“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” (Hebrews 13: 5-6 NIV)

Lord, I’ve never thought that extreme focusing on book sales to get cash to pay my bills equates with the love of money, but it is when it becomes an obsession. I’ve lost my way these past several days. You haven’t forsaken me. You are still with me and lack of sales will not change that. You are still God. My God. My Lord. My Savior.

I confess that I’ve made an idol out of my book sales (or lack of). In Your own time you will help me whittle down my debt. I thank you for what I’ve already earned. There will be more eventually—in your time, not mine.

I wrote that on August 2^nd and after I closed my journal that morning, I did lighten up on checking my sales and, what do you know, sales have increased over time. Not exactly breaking the bank, but they are steady.

On August 31 – September 2, I ran a freebie promotion, making the book free. In those three days over 3000 people downloaded the book, and ever since, I’ve been selling more per day than I did before the freebie promotion. 

And I’m told that when I am able to get the sequel to Thyme for Love edited and out there to sell as a package, the sales could increase.

I’m so grateful that God intervened on my spirit early on and set my heart in the right place. It’s so easy to make an idol out of the craziest things if we aren’t careful.

What have you learned about idol making in your life? If you are an indie author have you had a similar experience with checking your sales? Please leave comments. I love to hear how others deal with the same things I’m experiencing.

A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban Chicago with her two rescue cats. Her novels include Thyme for Love, and Love Will Find a Way, contemporary romantic mysteries, and her 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. When she isn’t at her laptop writing her latest novel, she can often be found nosing around Wisconsin and other midwestern spots for new story ideas.

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Going Indie on a Shoestring

Until July 29, 2015, I was a traditionally published author only, but things have changed. On that July day, my first independently published novel went on sale, making me a hybrid author.

About six months ago, I received my rights back from the publisher for Thyme for Love (TFL} and its sequel, Love Will Find a Way. The only choice I had to keep the book in the marketplace was to poke my toe into the waters of independent publishing, bettern known as "going indie."

By going indie and publishing your book yourself, you become not only the author, but also the publisher, editor, cover designer, and publicist. Here is a rough breakdown of the steps I took, all the while striving to keep my expenses down:

1.  A professional edit is normally required, but since TFL was already edited by a professional editor when it was first published, I did not hire an editor. I tweaked the writing in some places and updated the technology, but the content remained the same.

2.  I don't have the ability to produce a professional looking cover (at least not yet).  The average cost of a good cover design runs around $400, but I was fortunate to win a cover design through an online auction and paid substantially less than the norm.

3. The systems for Kindle, print, and other ebook sellers do not accept a Word document. I considered formatting my manuscript myself with the help of written instruction, but in the end, decided to pay a professional formatter. I've never regretted it. When I uploaded the formatted manuscripts, they both passed on the first try. Well worth the nominal expense.

One of my memes.

4. A few days after submitting my manuscript to Amazon's Create Space for print copies, I was able to order author copies at a very reasonable price. Within a week, they arrived at my door, every bit the quality printing I have received from traditional publishing houses. 

5. There are a few different packages you can use to upload to Kindle. I chose Kindle Direct for the first 90 days Thyme for Love is on the market. This program gives Amazon an exclusive, and the agreement can be renewed every 90 days. Several benefits come with this program, including promo packages and advertising. 

You can check out the Amazon page by clicking here!

6. Marketing is the last, and probably the most important, step. Unless you can afford to hire a publicist, you are the publicist. Word of mouth is always the best way to get results, but to get the buzz going you need to get your book title out there. There are services that maintain huge mailing lists that you can use to send Twitter notices about your book. I bought 10 links from Ask David at www.askdavid.com. For $15 you receive a Supporter Pack which includes 10-12 Twitter announcements that you write up yourself.  

I've become quite adept at designing memes and posting them in various places like Twitter and reading groups on FaceBook.I use both Photoshop Elements and Swift Publisher, a publishing program for Mac. There's a fine line between posting enough to make your book known, but not so much people stop following you. But once you hit a good balance you should see steady growth in sales. 

One of the best benefits of indie publishing is there's no waiting for a royalty statement from my publisher. The Amazon site not only tells me how many books have sold, but also the total amount of royalties I have coming. For a while I became obsessive in checking my sales, and anxious! More about that in my next post.

Does this mean I'm not planning to have my stories published by traditional publishers in the future. Absolutely not. I'm working on pitches right now for my editor appointments at the ACFW conference next month. The  landscape of publishing has changed and is continuing to change at a rapid rate.  At first, the thought scared me quite a bit, but now that I've gone indie on TFL and will soon do the same for its sequel, I'm embracing the changes and finding the process quite enjoyable.

Have you published indie yet? Are you planning to? Please share your own experiences and tips in how to market your indie books in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!

A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban Chicago with her two rescue cats. Her novels include Thyme for Love, and Love Will Find a Way, contemporary romantic mysteries, and her 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. When she isn’t at her laptop writing her latest novel, she can often be found nosing around Wisconsin and other midwestern spots for new story ideas.

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On the Road to Publication Be Sure to Pack A Lot of Patience!

When I received my first contract last year, it came almost seventeen years after I began my journey toward publication. Was it easy to wait all those years? I wish I could say yes, but it wasn’t. It’s never easy to be told your story isn’t ready yet, or to comethisclose to a contract and have the publisher’s line shut down. Those are just a few of the roadblocks I ran into along the way. It’s enough to lose your patience.

Over the years, as I had to exercise patience in the long wait, I learned that like a muscle becomes stronger when exercised, the ability to be patient becomes strengthened in the waiting.

Using the word patience, below are listed the things that helped me to endure until the wonderful day I got THE call.

P is for persevering.

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going is an old cliché with a lot of truth. From the outset, we have to determine to be in it for the long haul. I’ve met authors who after pursuing publication for a couple years gave up and self published or stopped writing altogether. If writing for publication is your calling, determine you will do what it takes for however long it takes.

A is for abidingness.

I don’t know what I would do without sensing God’s calling to write, and His daily presence to assure me that I’m within the scope of His will. He tells us to abide in Him and He will abide in us, and He gives us all we need for life, the life He’s called us to live. If He’s called you to write, then He will provide all you need for the writing life in His due time.

T is for teachability.

Even many of the most published authors take writing workshops at conferences. When I look at the stories I wrote seventeen, ten, or even four years ago, I see how I’ve grown the craft. We can’t move up the scale to being a publishable writer if we don’t take those writing courses, read craft books, and practice our writing until our fingers bleed all over the keys.

I is for insistence.

Don’t ever settle for mediocre. Insist on doing better next time in a writing contest, or wowing an editor who rejected your idea last year at a conference, or taking a rejected manuscript and making it better.

E is for endurance.

A form of the word patience in the Greek translates to patient endurance. The King James calls it long suffering. I think that’s an apropos description to describe years of waiting for publication. There were times when I asked God if I misunderstood His intent on my life, and every time He would allow something positive to happen, like a request for a full manuscript. So I kept on pursuing.

N is for nuts and bolts.

We need to know more than how to write, we need to learn the nuts and bolts of the publishing industry: What editors are currently looking for, or what they are not so interested in at the moment. What are the market trends? How is digital publishing affecting the industry landscape and how might I adjust to that? We can never know too much about this ever-changing industry.

C is for courage.

We need courage to make ourselves known in the industry, and to develop our platform even before we publish. Where are our spheres of influence and how can we grow them? A budding author must become a known entity on the social media platforms. Make his or her name recognizable. For the more outgoing this isn’t so difficult, but for the shy it can require a lot of courage to do this.

E is for energy.

Hanging in there can take a lot out of us. For those with family responsibilities and a job outside the home, there is often little time for writing unless it is done in the wee hours. Learn what you personally need in the way of sleep and downtime and allow yourself to avail yourself of those times so you will have the needed energy to write. Pacing is important.

Even though I’ve landed some book contracts now, I still need to put these into play each day as I work toward a deadline or acceptance of a new book proposal. And I find that when I begin each day on my knees, God is always there ready to give me everything I need for the life of a writer.

Thanks for guest blogging at Novel Rocket, Pam! Here’s a blurb for her upcoming release THYME FOR LOVE…

April Love has always dreamed of being a chef.

But she didn’t expect her former fiancé

or murder to be part of the recipe for her new job.

When April Love signs on to be an in-house chef at an old lakeshore mansion in Canoga Lake, Wisconsin, she comes face to face with her long-lost love, the drop-dead gorgeous Marc Thorne. It doesn’t take long for their old magnetism to recharge, but how can she trust the guy who left her nearly at the altar eight years earlier? Her gut tells her something happened to Marc in between—something he’s reluctant to reveal.

When April’s boss is murdered, Marc is accused of the crime. Unless April can find out who really killed Ramón Galvez, her chances for love will end up at the county jail. But someone else is just as determined she not solve the mystery…and will go to any length to stop her.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, Pamela S. Meyers currently lives in Arlington Heights, Ill. She served on the Operating Board for ACFW 2005-2009, and is president of her local ACFW chapter. Her debut novel, Thyme for Love, released in 2011, and her historical that is set in her hometown, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, will release in June 2012. She has published articles in Today’s Christian Woman, Christian Computing, Victory in Grace, and Ancestry. She is also a contributor in the compilation book, His Forever.

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