How do they get agents?
How do they get published?
Is it luck? Talent? Drive?
This segment is an attempt to satisfy my immense curiosity...to answer the one question I'm dying to ask every author out there: How did your book become a book?
Visit the full catalogue of "My Publishing Journey" interviews HERE.
Today's Featured Author
Author of
The Winner's Circle
RELEASING TODAY!
2-1-19
FAITH… FAMILY… FRENZY!
Life has its consequences… and there’s no place like home.
I was a speech-language pathologist for many years. I wrote thousands and thousands of clinical reports – and some of them contained fabulous fiction (wink-wink).
It was a career I adored, but it was time to ease into retirement, which my husband and I had promised we’d achieve by age 55. Writing creatively has freedom, fulfillment, and leisure-pleasure, as well as compassion for characters, a feeling that carries forward from my work with patients and their parents. I adore my encore career of writing as much as my former career as a speech-language pathologist! I call my genre ‘loose-with-the-truth.’ It’s fun to fictionalize!
HYBRID PUBLISHER
RELEASING TODAY!
2-1-19
FAITH… FAMILY… FRENZY!
Life in rural small town can dull the senses. A trio of gal pals—mired in middle age, Middle America, and other people’s problems—long to escape.
When Bonnie wins the Boffo Lotto, her circle of friends urge her to lawyer up, invest, and sequester herself.
But secrets are inconceivable in small towns, so Bonnie and Carl invite close friends to witness their Vegas wedding and honeymoon in Hawaii with endless vagabond beyond. The sky’s the limit!
The allure of travel is fun for a while—hilarious, in fact. But when the husbands are jailed, wanderlust is no longer a romp and things get complicated when you’re halfway round the world, untethered from all you know and love.
Life has its consequences… and there’s no place like home.
Hello PJ! Thanks for agreeing to share your publishing journey. First, please give us a brief summary of how you got where you are and why you chose this path.
It was a career I adored, but it was time to ease into retirement, which my husband and I had promised we’d achieve by age 55. Writing creatively has freedom, fulfillment, and leisure-pleasure, as well as compassion for characters, a feeling that carries forward from my work with patients and their parents. I adore my encore career of writing as much as my former career as a speech-language pathologist! I call my genre ‘loose-with-the-truth.’ It’s fun to fictionalize!
How did you find Acorn Publishing? And what made you decide to go with Acorn?
I consider it a ‘co-find process.’ One of my best decisions ever! (after deciding to marry my husband) I feel blessed. It’s an important relationship. I am more than pleased to be shepherded and guided within the ACORN Publishing team.
I consider it a ‘co-find process.’ One of my best decisions ever! (after deciding to marry my husband) I feel blessed. It’s an important relationship. I am more than pleased to be shepherded and guided within the ACORN Publishing team.
What do you like about hybrid publishing?
My decisions are independent yet fostered within a framework of choices based upon the hybrid publishers’ prior experiences. There’s less scatter of my efforts and attention, less hunt-and-peck. I feel as if ACORN is funneling me into success and I am glad to be on their path.
My decisions are independent yet fostered within a framework of choices based upon the hybrid publishers’ prior experiences. There’s less scatter of my efforts and attention, less hunt-and-peck. I feel as if ACORN is funneling me into success and I am glad to be on their path.
Which formats (hardcover, e-book, paperback, audio) are you putting out and why?
Hardcover – my first time! – because I love my book, The Winner’s Circle, cover and I want my book in libraries. eBook and paperback will also be released because these are more affordable options for my family and friends to buy. You, too, blog reader!
Did you choose to do everything yourself (such as website design, formatting, etc.) or did you hire out?
Because I am Boomer-aged and less technologically savvy than the present generation of writers, I enlisted the services of others with these skill sets. The best service delivery model for me and my age and stage of life.
Hardcover – my first time! – because I love my book, The Winner’s Circle, cover and I want my book in libraries. eBook and paperback will also be released because these are more affordable options for my family and friends to buy. You, too, blog reader!
Did you choose to do everything yourself (such as website design, formatting, etc.) or did you hire out?
Because I am Boomer-aged and less technologically savvy than the present generation of writers, I enlisted the services of others with these skill sets. The best service delivery model for me and my age and stage of life.
MARKETING
What marketing tactics did you focus on and why?
Because I’d been involved with my local – and densely-populated – writing scene for many years, I chose to rely upon personal relationships and interactions to market my book, The Winner’s Circle. I like connections and look forward to Book Club conversations. Bring ‘em on!
Thirty years ago, I’d built a highly-successful private practice in speech-language pathology with steadfast work and initiative, so I had a well-honed paradigm for achievement: provide quality service to meet others’ needs and they reward you with loyalty, blowing your horn for you.
I call myself a plodder, neither a plotter or a pantser when I write, and the term applies to my marketing non-tactics. I believe that’s called ‘organic reach’ nowadays.
Do you have any advice given your experience marketing your past books?
Stay abreast of current best-practices for book publishing-and-marketing by following blogs. As with all aspects of life, the thing that is changing the fastest is change. Conversely, don’t adhere to fads and formulas, but rely on your own instincts and style.
Because I’d been involved with my local – and densely-populated – writing scene for many years, I chose to rely upon personal relationships and interactions to market my book, The Winner’s Circle. I like connections and look forward to Book Club conversations. Bring ‘em on!
Thirty years ago, I’d built a highly-successful private practice in speech-language pathology with steadfast work and initiative, so I had a well-honed paradigm for achievement: provide quality service to meet others’ needs and they reward you with loyalty, blowing your horn for you.
I call myself a plodder, neither a plotter or a pantser when I write, and the term applies to my marketing non-tactics. I believe that’s called ‘organic reach’ nowadays.
Do you have any advice given your experience marketing your past books?
Stay abreast of current best-practices for book publishing-and-marketing by following blogs. As with all aspects of life, the thing that is changing the fastest is change. Conversely, don’t adhere to fads and formulas, but rely on your own instincts and style.
ADVICE
What lessons have you learned? Any advice for those about to go down your path?
While indie publishing worked for me, hybrid publishing is better because you have a team to rely on.
While indie publishing worked for me, hybrid publishing is better because you have a team to rely on.
PJ, you're in a good place with a publisher. Mine is traditional, but they helped with so many things and put me on the right path. Listen to Acorn Press' advice!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Alex - I have, I did, I do listen-and-enact the Acorns' advice. The publishers have heart and wisdom and great merit :)
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