Should You Indie Publish Your Novella?

Recently, I came up with an idea best suited for a novella-length story. I started researching my options and was surprised by what I discovered. So if you've ever considered indie publishing, especially a novella, read on!

Years ago, indie publishing carried a stigma--both to readers as well as to traditional publishing houses. Typically, indie books were lower quality. But times have changed. And industry professionals have come to see successful authors who are either hybrid, or who began their careers indie. The stigma has faded, and in its place has come a unique opportunity for writers struggling to break into the industry.

(Now, quick side note while I have my English teacher moment for the day-- bear with me! I am not suggesting you jump to indie publishing because the editors at traditional houses have told you that your first novel/novella is not ready yet for publication. If anything, in many ways, indie publishing is harder, not easier, than traditional publishing, and I have loads of respect for authors who do it well-- looking at you, Melissa Tagg! You need to know, that you know, that you know this material is top notch, because if you go indie, you won't have a gatekeeper as you would at a traditional publishing house. Aside from a freelance editor. But still.)

So here is what surprised me the most about my research. Provided that you 1) pay for a professional cover, and 2) pay for professional editing, traditional publishing houses are not going to look down on your indie sales numbers. They understand that you are giving this a go without the support of a professional marketing team. So in all likelihood, because you are doing this alone-ish (again, with the help of a freelance designer and editor) you shouldn't expect epic sales numbers. But the flip side of that is that editors no longer have these expectations either.

Shannon Marchese, Senior Editor at WaterBrook Multnomah, says this: "Traditional houses are getting accustomed to novelists having some indie career before selling traditionally now. The key is in how one presents the data when pitching, and how what you are writing for a traditional house is similar or different." Be ready, in particular, to explain how your indie audience can be expanded upon when you make a move to a traditional publishing house.

Shannon also has important advice about pricing. High sales numbers that are driven by very cheap pricing will not matter to a pub board. Instead, Shannon suggests pricing a novella between $1.99- $2.49, and making sure you advertise the story is a novella rather than a novel so that readers do not criticize the shorter format in their reviews.

Amanda Luedeke, Vice President at MacGregor Literary agency, puts the price even higher at $2.99 per novella copy. Amanda also suggests that would-be indie writers consider the persuasive role of pre-sales. Typically, a pre-sale reader who is willing to buy the novella at a fair price point is the type of reader who publishing houses like to see. In other words, a reader who will come back to read more of your stories because of you as an author rather than a price that is cheap.

Amanda says that 1,000 pre-sales, or 5,000 copies sold in a year make for strong numbers. But if your sales numbers are but a tiny fraction of those, don't despair!

Shannon suggests framing your novella experience when pitching to an editor so that you highlight the most persuasive information. Maybe you only sold several hundred copies. But five star reviews on Goodreads, or a blurb from a very well-known author, according to Shannon, can go a long way.

So, let me hear from you! Have you ever published an indie novella? What was your experience? If you're considering becoming an indie or hybrid authors, what concerns or questions do you have about the process?

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Ashley Clark writes romance with southern grace. She's dreamed of being a writer ever since the thumbprint-cookie-days of library story hour. Ashley has an M.A. in English and enjoys teaching literature courses at her local university. She's an active member of ACFW and runs their newcomer's loop. When she's not writing, Ashley's usually busy rescuing stray animals and finding charming new towns. You can find Ashley on her personal blog, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. She is represented by Karen Solem.

Why Numbers + Words = Publication

Imagine two men dressed in nice suits standing in the middle of a crowded room, we'll call them Bill and Jerry from Event Planners Inc. Working as a team, Bill and Jerry planned this well attended event and wisely understood each person in attendance could be a potential future client.  

Bill was the shy, silent type. He forced a few smiles and managed to gain eye contact with a few people. He'd known his weakness as a shy person for a long time and really preferred Jerry to handle the hobnobbing. Eventually he constructed the perfect excuse to escape the room and hid in a quiet place, content the big turnout demonstrated good work.

Jerry wouldn't classify himself as a social extrovert. Small talk tripped his speech many times and he forced himself to smile for photos despite an overbite. The numbers for Event Planners proved the importance of making a strong appearance. He prayed before each event, boxed up his introvert and set it on the shelf for later, and walked through the crowd as if he had the best news ever to share. He shook hands, stumbled through conversations, and laughed with those around him.

Bill and Jerry are like many writers. Their favorite moments come when they hide in their office and plow through the work. Jerry has learned, though, it is the meeting with the people who are potential clients that stirs business.

Good business product + meeting with potential clients = increased sales.

Lets apply this to writing.

Bill The Writer loved to hide in his study and write. He was willing to socialize with the family or church friends, but mostly preferred the comforting seclusion of his office. His editor reminded him to promote his book after the last low sales figures came in. Bill had more important tasks to be done. If he spent his time on promotion, who would write his books? Bill ignored his editor's request, assuming the publisher would pick up the slack, and set new records completing his next book. He polished the best proposal he'd ever written and sent the package off to his agent. One year later his agent emailed. 'I'm sorry. There isn't a house willing to take this book. Truly it's your best. Your last editor refused to even look at it. Did you work on the marketing as they asked?"

Jerry The Writer, was as allergic to being an extrovert as the next writer. When his editor raved about his recent release and recommended new ways to market, Jerry took a deep breath--scared to try the new ways. He spent each morning in prayer asking God to give him the strength to follow through with marketing. 

At first, he forced himself to spend one hour a day setting up marketing strategies. Jerry set up a Twitter account and learned how to use hash tags to find his audience. He scheduled one week's worth of tweets, one per day, using Hootsuite. He then used the remaining hour to build his audience with retweets, mentioning others, and sending direct messages. He set a timer to insure he didn't go over the hour. The rest of his work day he spent writing.

Two weeks later his confidence helped him to add a face book personal page and an author page. It took a little longer to set these up since he wanted to maintain the twitter project  and not exceed the one hour. Jerry tweeted his new page to followers on twitter and watched the number of likes grow.

Knowing there were many other avenues of marketing, Jerry devoted some of his marketing time to reading new marketing strategies posted by Amanda Luedeke from Chip McGregor Literary Agency every Thursday and Edie Melson's blog on marketing trends, how to and not to. His market ideas grew. 

Not wanting to tip the balance scale, Jerry made a schedule for the week. Sometimes his work (crit groups) happened at night, sometimes in the day. He set realistic goals for writing each week and forced himself to meet the goal. He budgeted time to spend with his daughter and date nights with his wife. The Superbowl, fishing, and vacations were naturally written in ink as well. Of course, the first block of each day remained reserved for God.

One day Jerry's editor emailed him. His book sales had increased proportionately for a new author. He asked when Jerry would have his next book finished.
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The inspiration for this post came from attending Amanda Luedeke's marketing class at ACFW this last year and from subscribing to Edie Melson's blog and Chip McGregor Literary Agency blog. 

Amanda Luedeke wrote "You can do it" many times in her new book: The Extrovert Writer. Although marketing is a Goliath project, we can turn it into doable steps and succeed like Jerry the Writer. 

Edie Melson's guidance is tailored for every level of experience. I have successfully followed steps given on her site many, many times. It sure feels good. :)

A caring word for you: 
1. You can market your book.
2. Marketing increases sales.
3. BUT your book needs to be well written.
4. Do not rob your family of essential time with them. Do not let them rob you of God's call to write. Balance.
5. Do not let social networking vaporize minutes from your day. Set a timer. Be rigid.
6. Stay healthy. We need professional photos that show we take care of ourselves.

Let's share ideas to help each other-
Do you have a marketing question or idea? Amanda Luedeke and Edie Melson will be stopping by today to answer your questions.
What social media to you prefer for promoting your work?
What source do you learn marketing skills from?


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photo by freedigitalphotos.net

This blog post is by Mary Vee

Mary has moved to Michigan with her husband, closer to her three college kids. She misses the mountains of Montana, but loves seeing family more often. She writes contemporary and romance Christian fiction and loves to pen missionary and Bible adventure stories on her ministry blog, God Loves Kids.

Visit Mary at her website and her ministry blog to families: God Loves Kids. Or chat on Facebook or Twitter

What's Up the Street Next Week - ACFW Edition

I think sometimes God looks down on His kids who are enjoying their gifts and just grins.
Like this weekend in Indianapolis.
Lots of people are celebrating the gift of writing He's given them.
So we're going to post some fun pics of today so you can join in the celebration.

Pushing around our charming hop-along

Amy and Kristin Billerbeck

Look who arrived today!!! Krista!

Ashley is showing off her 'colors' with Lindsay Harrel and Amanda Luedeke

Pepper is having a bit of 'hat envy' with the fabulous Edie Melson

Casey and Pepper

So much fun getting to be together

But just to let you know how very serious we are, Amy has a warming for you (think romantic SUSPENSE....with chocolate ;-)

"Don't scrimp on dessert"

The Heart of the Author and The Heart of the Story

Authors are brave. I mean, very, very brave. You have to have a unique kind of heart to be a writer, or at least, to be a good one. On the one hand, you have to feel deeply. You must be compassionate, sensitive, even empathetic, to craft characters whose stories resonate with readers. You must care deeply enough to stick with a story until page three-hundred and twenty-two, through all the zingers that come along the way. You must have something deep in your core, a calling, that holds you to to task and pushes you toward your goal. You must, in other words, feel in order to be a good artist.

On the other hand, unless you are writing strictly for our own sake, your story must inevitably stand on its however-wobbly little newborn feel and step out into the real world of readers. That world is scary sometimes because it carries rejection, it carries disappointment, it carries doubt, and sometimes it carries straight-out pain.

Today I want to talk about the ever-important, ever-difficult-to-discern line we all must find between these two things, between compassion and the inevitability of writing as a business. I think it's important we take time to flesh out the space in between the two, especially as conference season approaches and we're all bound to face at least some measure of disappointment.

I don't know about you, but I think writing honestly, deeply, with feeling, is a struggle. I can't tell you how many times I have e-mailed my fellow Alley Cat Angie in the last two weeks with updated versions of my pitch or one sheet because I keep panicking over it, wanting my pitch to be the best it possibly can. Do you feel that way too sometimes? I think this kind of anxiety is normal when you've become so invested in a dream or goal. But we have to be so careful that we don't allow our fears of rejection to cloud our heart for a project.

What I mean is that we always, always must write from our hearts if we expect to write anything worthwhile. It's so much easier to detach ourselves from our writing and never experience the sting of rejection, is it not? But whenever we write a story that is close to us, whenever we craft a heroine who's struggles we truly understand, who's pain we actually feel, we take a risk. If she is rejected, does a little part of us not feel rejected also? But what benefit is to to the reader if we refuse to be brave enough to give them stories that we feel? How do we expect the reader to then feel anything, to be moved by the story, if we are not even moved by it ourself? Now, I'm not saying your stories have to be biographical. They don't have to be true or have happened to you. In fact, probably better if they haven't actually happened to you. But they need to live somewhere in you. You need to be able to imagine how your heroine might feel when she faces her greatest fear, and a little part of you, when you think about that playing out, should feel that fear yourself in the same way your heart would hurt over the trials of a good friend. Your characters, your plot arc, your narrative--they should all reflect your deeper heart and calling for the novel. That is how you find your writing voice.

Now let's say you've successfully done this. You've poured your heart and soul into a book and turned off those voices of inner doubt. You've worked with your critique partner and have squeezed every last bit of vulnerability out of your own heart and into the work.

That means it's time to let go. Going back to that wobbly-knees idea, it's time to let your story have a chance, to struggle, in the world. At this point in the process, you have to learn to detach yourself from any criticism, constructive or otherwise, that you might receive. You must turn your back on your own story, difficult as it might seem, so you can instead turn toward improvement. The neat thing about writing is that there is no perfect writer. There is always room for a story, for an author, to improve, and one of the best ways of achieving that is by exposing yourself to feedback from editors, critique partners, and even contests. I'm not saying you should listen to everything everybody tells you. I am saying you should listen sometimes. Surround yourself with people who believe in you as a writer, who "get" your vision for your writing and whose advice you can trust, and then trust them.

I know it may feel like your story is already the way it should be, that you made decisions like where the story starts or why a particular character has certain quirks for a reason. But what if you started at chapter three instead? What if you paired down some of your descriptions to make the dialogue flow faster? Things like this can only be found through keeping an open mind and being willing to let go of your original intentions for the story. Remember that we will never be able to see the larger picture in a story if we won't take our eyes off the first draft.

Here are some things to keep in mind about rejection and difficult feedback.

Rejection is...

• Change
• Challenging
• Subjective
• Inevitable
• Character-building (pun intended!)

Rejection might be...

• Helpful
• Part of a larger picture
• Wrong (plenty of authors are rejected only to find success with that same project--just look what happened with The Shack!)
• Temporary
• A source of self-doubt and fear, if left unchecked
• The single-most reason writers give up

Rejection is not...

• Personal
• A reason to give up
• A reflection of your heart for the book
• Reason to give up writing

To get a different perspective on all of this, I asked my friend Amanda Luedeke of the MacGregor Agency her advice for authors who are struggling to find that distinction between the vulnerability of the writing process itself and taking rejection too seriously.

She said, "People just need to realize that not everyone is going to like your book... just like there are people who love Twilight, and others who hate it. People who love Dickens, Jane Austen, and Tolkein, and others who don't. The industry is subjective. It's nothing personal."

I thought that was such good advice, and especially helpful to hear when it's coming from a literary agent. So as you're gearing up for the conference, be encouraged. Your calling as a writer is so much bigger than any rejection or hardships you might face. Remember to see the big picture and hold fast to God's plans for you. They are always greater than our own.

It can be so difficult to stay balanced instead of 1) taking criticism too harshly or 2) writing from a place outside of our heart in an attempt to protect our feelings. How do you manage these two things effectively? What thoughts do you have on dealing with constructive criticism, even rejection, in a way that allows you to keep pressing on? (I.e. Hitting up the Godiva store.)

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Ashley Clark writes romantic comedy with southern grace. She's dreamed of being a writer ever since the thumbprint-cookie-days of library story hour. Ashley has an M.A. in English and enjoys teaching literature courses at her local university. She's an active member of ACFW and runs their newcomer's loop. When she's not writing, Ashley's usually busy rescuing stray animals and finding charming new towns. You can find Ashley on her personal blog, Facebook,Pinterest, and Twitter. She is represented by Karen Solem.

ACFW - Post conference tips

Hey guys,
Pepper here - and I just got in from the airport at almost midnight, so I cannot promise my words are gonna make a lot of sense this morning.

Needless to say, ACFW was a blast! Exhausting, overwhelming at times, inspiring almost all the time - but definitely a blast!

As people return home from such a high, I wanted to remind us of five important tips AFTER a conference like this:

1. It is well with your soul - It's often the case that after such a great experience, we come back and 'crash'. When you're around such like-minded and like-spirited people, it's easy to feel a rush of encouragement and support....then we return to our 'normal' lives and things can feel a little less exciting.

Or perhaps the conference didn't fulfill the dreams you'd been hoping for.

Remember, there is a perfect time and season for your talent to bloom. God's call, God's timing - our perseverance.

2. Be faithful - If you received requests, SEND THEM IN. Now, editors and agents don't expect them by tomorrow. Polish, refine...and give yourself a little bit of time - but try to get them in within a month of the conference. 'Showing up' is 3/4 of the success.

3. Rejoice in all things - Giving up your time, energy, and money to go to conference makes quite an impression on the people there. They realize it's no small feat to come. So rejoice in the contacts you made. Meeting people is my FAVORITE part!!!!! Especially getting to meet the Alley Cats and RUTH LOGAN HERNE!!! There are so many things to celebrate! Seekers, Alley friends (waving to them now), and SO MANY MORE!!!  We can rejoice in the encouragement we recieved, in the power behind the Word that we heard, spoke, and sang.

Nothing is too small - and as Jenny B Jones said in her devotional. God says "You got nothin'? I can work with that." - so He takes our small and makes it great for His glory. That's certainly worth celebrating.

4. Be thankful - Don't forget the 'thank you' notes. Whether by snail mail or email, get those out! And not only in material form, but ask God to cultivate a heart of gratitude in you (and me). The more we see every aspect of our lives as handpicked by a loving Father - the easier it is to be thankful. I've GOTTA get mine in the mail. I met marvelous people like Julie Gwin from B & H, Karen Ball, Sandra Bishop, Allen Arnold, Tamela Hancock Murray, Amanda Luedeke, Jeff Gerke AND SO MANY MORE, not to mention my fellow writers - who just encouraged me along the way. It's time to visit Hallmark ;-)

5. Friendships are the spine of any conference - Do not forget that at the bottom of it all, a writer's conference helps us develop lasting friendships. What a blessing to show up somewhere once a year and find kindred spirits - not only those who encourage your for a weekend in September - but friendships that spill over into days, months, and years afterwards. That is the heartbeat of a CHRISTIAN writer's conference because whether those opportunities come from writers, agents, or editors, it's all about cultivating relationships.

And rooming with crazy people like Casey Herringshaw, Mary Vee, and Carol Moncado...well...there are stories that will NEVER be told there ;-)

Not all relationships will end in a 'dream come true' as far as publishing, but God provided the opportunitiy for you to meet each person that you did!
My conference experience was a total SUCCESS because of the relationships I built, deepened, and celebrated at ACFW.

I'll share more about ACFW in my next post - but as you come down from the heights of the conference, remember that God has you  right where He wants you to be and He rejoices over you.

Next time? Maybe I'll write about Post Traumatic Pitch Disorder :-) My friend Karen and I thought we might be suffering from it. (And I'll have MANY MORE Pictures - some you can check out at Words Seasoned With Salt tomorrow)

Any tips you want to share?