Hello, my friends! I’m pleased and proud to tell you that I have a NEW book out! A NEW one! I KNOW! I’m as shocked as you are!
Choosing Love is finally out in the wild, and available now wherever fine ebooks are sold! Paperback version coming shortly.
Here’s the information – (more…)
In today’s information age, there is advice every freaking where. Heck, sometimes it seems like you can’t walk across a room without tripping over advice. Bullet points of the “correct” way to do things. Top 10 lists. YouTubers and bloggers and Instagrammers. (more…)
Here’s another post discussing what I’m doing publishing-wise and why I’m doing it, for those who care. Which, granted, aren’t that many of you, but hey. (more…)
As I mentioned in a prior blog post, I’ve had a number of people ask me about independent / self publishing. I decided to write more posts about what I’m doing regarding said publishing, why I’m doing it, and what I’m doing wrong in the hopes it may help others. This is one of those posts.
(more…)
Although I love the holiday season, I’m a HUGE fan of January 1st. That’s when the new year stretches out before us unsullied by our footsteps. What will happen in 2017? What will we accomplish? Anything is possible.
But, as with everything else, possibilities only become realities if we actually do the work to make them happen.
(more…)
One of the first things you hear when you start going the independent author route is that you need to get professional covers for your books. You hear things like: “Don’t try to do it yourself!” and “A bad cover can kill a book!”
So, of course, I tried to do my book covers myself.
And it was a mistake.
(more…)
Hello, dear readers, and welcome to December. Soon it’s going to be 2017! Yeesh.
I always get somewhat introspective at the end of the year, thinking about where I’ve been and where I’m going. Because of who I am, I also beat myself up for not making as much progress as I think I should have made. Then, after weeping softly into my pillow, I pick myself up, look ahead to the new year and determine that the next 12 months will be different and better than the last. They will! *shakes fists at sky*
(more…)
(more…)
Previously on Betsy’s blog…
Betsy has just published her third book, Believing It, and the publishing experience was more than a little stressful. Part of that has to do with the fact she decided to put the book out right when she was scrambling to finish her taxes.
But it was also stressful because Betsy can be something of an idiot.
Harry, the white Gerbil who has the unenviable task of Guiding Betsy on her Quest to become a successful indie author has a few thoughts on the matter. He’s in Betsy’s brain now, looking for her.
Let’s see what happens…
(more…)
My friends, I am pleased and proud to tell you that Believing It, the latest book in my “Welcome to Hardy Falls” series is LIVE! LIVE, I TELL YOU! Maybe I’m not alive at this point, but the book is birthed and out in the world! And it is now available as an e-book wherever fine e-books are sold. This is book 0.5 in the series, so it is the prelude to Handling It (book 1).
Without any further ado, here’s the information!
(more…)
As I come to the end of the editing process for my new book, Believing It, I’m pointing the rudder of my wee little ship towards the rocky shore of publishing. That means getting the manuscript formatted and up for preorder on all of the various book sales sites.
And it means I’m thinking about sales categories.
(more…)
Well, I just looked at the date of my last blog post and good golly Miss Molly, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Sorry about that. I’ve actually been busy working on writerly things. As opposed to just telling you I’m working on writerly things when really I’m eating myself into a sugar-coated coma.
Okay, maybe there have been some sugar-coated coma moments happening because – peanut butter ice cream. And maybe some diabetic moments. And a few mental, emotional, and spiritual breakdown moments. But mostly I’ve been working on writerly things. So I thought I’d write a quick post to tell you-all what’s been going on, writerly-wise.
(more…)
Hello, Blogosphere! It’s good to see you!
Why am I here again?
Welllllll, because you love me. *blink, blink*
Right. That must be it.
No, no. *chuckle* I asked you to come here today because I had a thought.
ERMAHGERD!
Erm…Oh. *chuckle chuckle* You’re so darned trendy, Blogosphere.
You betcha. So, what’s up? Time’s a-wastin’. I’ve got places to go, people to see, rantings to rant.
Well, see, here’s the thing. Some of the blog posts I have planned seem like they’re going to be a little, well, dull.
NO!
Yes! And I thought maybe I would, you know, have you come on and we can discuss them instead. Won’t that be fun?
Oh, absolutely. No. Really. I mean it.
I know! They’ll be like Socratic dialogues! With you! Instead of, you know, Socrates.
Socratic…
Remember how Plato wrote dialogues so he could state his opinions without them just being running monologues? And then he made it sound like Socrates was saying stuff that he, Plato, believed?
I’m the Blogosphere, baby, not a philosopher. Formal logic does not compute.
Just work with me here. Please?
Oh, okay. What the hell. Hit me.
Oh! Oh, goody. Okay. *rustle, rustle* Hmmm…shopping list….to do list….plot list….
Can we hurry this up? I’m turning into another version as we speak.
Shut up! Oh! Here we go. *clears throat* Hello, Blogosphere.
We did that part.
For our first dialogue, I wanted to speak with you about digital first publishing.
Uh huh. Why?
Well, because you’re, you know, digital.
Insightful and yet obvious.
So digital first publishing is publishing, but it’s digital, FIRST.
Get out! Really?
Yes! So like there’s this publisher, and they contract a writer, and then they publish them DIGITALLY. FIRST. Then they might publish them other ways too, but not first. Later.
No way! Let me see if I’ve got this straight. Digital first publishing is publishing digitally first.
Yes! *beams*
You’re talking about self-publishing.
No! See that’s where people get confused. If you’re working with a publisher, digital first isn’t self-publishing. It’s kind of in-between self-publishing and the fully monty traditional I’m-going-to-be-in-every-book-store-and-the-WalMart-and-Target-and-the-grocery-store publishing. And because they publish you digitally, there are less up front costs. That means the publishers are more willing to take a chance on a new author like me.
But the publisher still edits and comes up with the cover and markets and does all that other publisher stuff?
Yes! In self-publishing the author has do all of that. Because they’re publishing the book themSELVES.
Gotcha. And they pay you royalties?
Yes they do!
Good.
*silence*
*crickets chirping*
So, that’s it?
Yup.
That’s a Socratic dialogue?
Nope. But it is a blog post.
Yes it is.
Some people tend to romanticize publishing. I might even have been guilty of it a time or two myself. But publishing is, at its core, a business. And it’s a business in the middle of transition.
I was on vacation last week, so I actually had time to think. Thinking time has been at a premium for the past couple of months, but last week I was able to reflect on some of the things I’ve learned now that my book has been released. (more…)
As you may have guessed from this blog post, release week made me a little manic. There has just been so much to do, so many people to talk to, so many comments to be made and answered. I actually felt my heart palpitating at work one day when the stress of the day job met the stress of the release. So I decided it was time to stop, sit down, and reflect on things a little bit. (more…)
