Kauai Writers Conference - Day 2

Notes from Day 2

As mentioned previously, I am blogging my notes from the Kauai Writers Conference. It has been a meaningful experience, and I appreciate my employer Franklin University for supporting my development as a professional. 

Below are my notes from today. You will note that some of this is pretty wordy - feel free to skim or skip sections. 

The Four Paths to Getting Published

David Henry Sterry and Arielle Eckstut

1 The Big Five

These are larger corporations. There to make money. You most likely need an agent to get published by these ones. They are generalists - looking for a broad audience. They have Ellen on speed dial and can take out ads in the New York Times.

• Pros for going with the big 5: Getting some of the best people with great experience. Incredible resources and distribution. Lots of good things can happen, and you could get  major tour where you go all around the country to talk about the book. You get money up front to write your book. It is typically over $10,000 and could be over $1 million. 
• Cons for going with the big 5: You need an agent. You don't usually get much response. It can take months, years, or can actually never happen. The agent might want some changes in the book, and you might not hear from them for months or ever. The book submission process can take months, and your book might never work out. It is often 1-2 years to get your book out there and published. Your book is "new" for 3 months, and they will promote it for that time period. If you work hard to make it a success, then you will have some level of success. 

2 Independent publishers

Some are large corporations but not necessarily in the "Big 5." All university publishers. WW Norton. There are also "micro-publishers" who are tiny operations. Some of these are a form of fan fiction. E.L. James had many followers of her Twilight fan fiction. If you go with the smaller publishers, you can be a big fish in a little pond instead of a little fish in a big pond.

• Pros for going with independent publishers: specialize in a certain kind of book. They know how to market a book like yours. These publishers can be much more effective at finding your audience. (Examples: publishers who publish reference style books like what to expect when you are expecting. publishers who want to represent underrepresented voices). Sometimes it can be faster, but sometimes it can be slower.
• Cons for going with independent publishers: They do not have Ellen on speed-dial. They do not have the ability to print lots of copies. They might have fewer resources, and the smaller the publisher the poorer the distribution. However, 50% of books are sold via Amazon, so there are some pluses to that. 

3 Hybrid Publishing

At is best is a professional publisher that partners with you to publish your book. You make a financial commitment to the publisher as does the publisher to publish the book together. It is a specific kind of book. You have to pass their editorial guidelines to make sure it fits their list. It is professionally edited, copy-edited, cover is made, distribution into the world, but you are contributing financially to the model. Shewrites Press is an example of this hybrid publishing model. You have more say in how your book gets out into the world. It is much more collaborative than when working with a bigger publisher. Be careful - many places claim to be hybrid publishers but do not actually offer any helpful services. They do not offer the services and they sometimes steal their copyright. The best strategy is to google the company's name and the word scam. International Book Publishers Association (IBPA) has a list of companies that are good to work with.

• Pros for going with hybrid publishers: you can get a book out in just a few months, sometimes. You are getting professionals to help with the process (at good hybrid publishers). The book is yours - you have much more control over each step. 
• Cons for going with hybrid publishing: It costs money up-front. You have to pay a minimum amount - they mentioned $7,500 as an initial amount. Distribution is all over the map with hybrid - some are great and some have no distribution. If no, then you have to be the person to really get out there and sell a lot of books.

4 Self-publishing

Author as entrepreneur. You are writer, editor, copy-editor, proofreader, sales marketing, cover design, etc. This is much more overwhelming. You end up having to do it all or have to hire people to do it. Book Baby is a good group to hire to help you with this work. Authors House is there to rip you off! It is difficult to really sell books when you self-publish. The big hits actually have people who have quit their jobs and work full-time forever.

• Pros for self publishing: You get your voice out there. It can be picked up by a bigger publisher, if it is excellent. 
• Cons for self publishing: It takes so much work to do it right. 

Other Notes

• DO YOUR RESEARCH - Make sure the publishers and agents you are approaching do your kind of book. For publishers, go and look at the books they have on their website and see if they look good and are the kinds of books you want to do your work. Contact the authors who have published with them and see what their experience was like. Speak to the person in charge and ask lots of questions. Research to find an editor or illustrator that is excellent and can help you move forward.
• Audiobooks are the fastest growing element of the publishing world. 
• Support - The speakers indicated they are happy to help us navigate all of these things. I appreciate their expertise and generous offer to be available to new authors.
• On Stolen Ideas - Many people are afraid their book idea will be stolen. But, this rarely happens. However, you can register your idea with the WGA West.
• Know Your Audience - being well-known is helpful. But, who is your audience? If you don't know where they are and what their habits are, then you will never be able to sell books to them. 

The Writer's Path

Whitney Scharer, Paula McClain, Priya Parmar, Amanda Eyre Ward

"All roads lead to the mountain top"

• Whitney Scharer - She calls herself the only debut novelist on the stage. I've always been a writer. As a kid, I sat and wrote poetry. I chose my college because of the creative writing faculty. Worked for over a decade at  creative writing center, wrote short stories and published them. The whole time I never called myself a writer - it felt like a "side-thing" that I was going. I was scared to own the identity of "writer" because people would be less likely to judge my work more harshly. It took 2 years of research and 5 years of writing for the first book. I was cramming writing into my life, so then I really started focusing all of my efforts on my writing. 
• On publishing: I took 7 years to write the novel. My milestones were to just finish it and polish it up and get feedback from my writing group. My biggest goal was to write something that the writing group would read. There was a point with my draft where it had it's own energy and it was going down a track where I realized it was going to become a good book. I revised it a bunch of times and the writing group told me they thought it was done. I had a dream agent in my mind - Paula McClain was the person who represented authors I loved, and I sent her my query. She read it quickly on a plane to Japan. She loved it and emailed me and was excited to represent me! The first publication experience was wonderful. She had an auction between many publishing houses. It was a surreal, crazy experience. She got to pick the editor she would work with. 
• Amanda Eyre Ward - I never really wrote. Never had a journal. I was a reader - I read all the time and escaped through reading. I took a fiction writing class in college and Jim Shepherd said put your short story in my mailbox and I will let you know if you can take the class. I wrote a story about a long-distance trucker on amphetamines who hit a wall. I called him up and he said I could come. From then on, I just wanted to write. In graduate school I tried to write a novel but put it in a box and let it go. My first novel features a woman on death row and a librarian whose husband was killed by that woman.
• On publishing: a few agents wanted to represent me. One agent told me the book was done, and so I went with her. :) Michelle was the agent and took on Sleep Toward Heaven. One great thing about her is that I can trust her. She didn't give up on the book, so she found a tiny publisher named McAdam Cage. I took a deal that seemed like a bad deal. Sleep Toward Heaven was a big splash in my local bookstore. Sandra Bullock's sister read the book and wanted to option the book! At that point, the paperback hadn't come out, and we felt vindicated and it went to Harper Collins. 
• Priya Parmar - I wasn't really a writer at all or a reader until I was about 9. I learned to memorize instead of reading when I was young. I didn't know what I wanted to do, so I took lots and lots of degrees, including a PhD and realized I didn't want to teach at the university level. I got a heart condition and realized I didn't want to be in an office anymore. I shifted to creative writing, and the first page I wrote was the first page of my first knowledge. She learned to write using critical analysis, and the shift to creative writing was a HUGE joy and relief.
• On publishing: i got an agent very quickly, but part of that was because I didn't know how to get the right agent. There was a very sweet agent, but she didn't have the muscle to protect me. I had 4 different editors because they kept getting fired. I realized I needed to break up with my agent, and it was an awful experience. At that point, everything went wrong because the agent didn't work too well for me. The agent really needs to help you get through your career, and this time the agent broke up with me. Then a team of fairy godmothers stepped in and helped me find the right agent. But it was very painful before then. 
• Paula McLain - I love when we get surprised about how our lives are going. I wanted to be a secretary with a Honda Civic, and I did it! Then, in my 7th year of undergraduate studies, I stumbled into a creative writing class - a poetry class. If you want to write poetry, maybe you should start by reading poetry. So, that is what happened and my mind was totally transformed. I learned about an MFA program possibility and got into Michigan and took out lots of student loans to study poetry as a divorced parent of a 2-year old. I just wanted to be a writer, and what did I have to lose, anyway? The fiction writers are more ambitious - they were passing around a list of New York literary agents. I ended up writing 1 chapter of my memoir. On a Friday, I cold-called the first name on the list of the agents and she called back and I realized I needed to write the book! So, I wrote the book, and if I had the grit to write it, she would actually read it! The magical thing that happened was that I didn't know I needed to throw myself over a cliff. All of those difficult things I dealt with made me an underdog. I got so much traction by believing that I could do it, despite the thought that people didn't believe in me. 
• On publishing: I finished my memoir, and it was sent out and the rejections piled up. the book finally sold and it got one offer. My first book tour was a driving tour of the mid-west. The book didn't sell, it didn't perform, and I lost my agent and publisher. And that is usually how it happens, actually. At some point, I decided to write a novel. It took 5 years to write the first novel and I only had about 1 hour a day to write (lots and lots of stuff going on). My agent said, "This is beautiful writing, but in a novel, something has to happen!" She did readings and signings and there were just a few people that showed up. It is tough, and you have to have the audacity to pick up and write again! I read a Hemingway memoir. She read a biography and realized she needed to biography - she said she is going to write a novel on this person's experiences in France. I told the agent and she told me to write it as fast as I can! It ended up being her famous book "The Paris Wife." She wrote it in 7 months at a Starbucks in Cleveland. People actually read it! (Millions of people, actually... :)

Tips:

• The people you meet here need to be your connection! If they get what you are doing, then get your tribe together! Find the people who you want to be.
• Advice on finding an agent: 
• Do they ask all the right questions? 
• Does she say things that feel new and right at the same time? 
• She proposed how to structure it and it felt right for me.
• There is a feeling or rightness.
• It is a relationship - you can be who you are and they think it is okay.
• Being brave enough to say this doesn't feel right to me. Trust your instincts and insights. 
• Have a plan. Talk to lots of agents! Talk to people who have agents and get their insights.
• It is not necessarily the biggest name or agency - find the person who has the same ambitions you have.
• Be careful. The first response is "yay!" The second might be "is this a scam?" 
• A hungry person can help you move a book forward. What is my style of person? I am willing to pay the price to promote my book.
• Sometimes you have to make hard decisions. Continue to believe in yourself. Walk away from someone if you need to. Keep writing. Keep searching. Keep moving toward your goals!
• Don't give up! Just keep writing! Just keep searching for the right agent!

9 Tools for Getting Your Butt in Chair

Katie Davis

Here is her handout

Procrastination is the Enemy

Katie did a huge survey: What is the biggest obstacle to writing? What is the top reason for not starting or finishing your book? The answer: Procrastination!!! People who want to write books go through routines of procrastination. It can become a serious habit and can become a huge mind game. If you don't finish it, nobody will give you a bad review! It is a protective measure, sometimes.

Possible causes of procrastination:

• perfectionism
• letting things marinate too long
• you are bored
• it is hard
• You want to avoid being critiqued
• You get distracted by the details or edit yourself when it is just time to write
• You are overwhelmed with life

How do you overcome it? Take a 2-step approach. Identify the cause, and resolve it. Figure out what is getting in the way and resolve it specifically. 

Procrastination is a habit. Get rid of the shame of the procrastination and find a motivator that can help you be excited and create a new habit.

The 9 Tools

1 Know Why

Have a clear reason for why you want to write the book. This really will get you motivated - you are doing it for a purpose! Describe that purpose clearly.

2 Know Your Passion

What is the impact you want to have? What are the topics or the audience that you really want to benefit.

3 Reminders

Create a reminder system that helps remind you to take some action on your writing. For me, I think a phone alarm would work. Scheduling time in the calendar would be helpful, too. Also, just scheduling 15 minutes a day to write. I think I could write 1 page a day (at least a crappy draft) in 15 minutes. Figure out how to write 1 page at a time and get it done! Let the naysayers be your reminder and your motivation. Have an accountability group or a critique group to help keep you accountable and excited to move forward.

4 Create a To-Do List

Create a list of what you need to work on. Follow the list! Create a list with the word "write" on the top of it. Make it a priority. Make it easiest for your body to be able to focus and write by choosing the right time of day. Take away the time wasters and focus on the writing. Make the sacrifice!

5 Treats!

Give yourself little rewards as you go. Celebrate when you finish an outline, complete chapter 5, finish an outline, or contact 5 potential agents. Whatever the hard thing is, reward yourself!

6 Calm Your Brain

Maintain a clean office. Close all the tabs on your computer screen. Make it easy to focus! Remove energy-draining relationships from your life or at least keep people under control. 

7 Unplug

There are apps that will turn off other apps, programs, or websites. Apparently there is an app that will delete everything you wrote if you stop writing... Sounds evil but highly motivating!

8 Evaluate

Every night when you get in bed, ask yourself "Did I get what I wanted to get from the last 24 hours?" Every day you aren't writing the thing you say you want to write is a scary thing.

9 Visualize

Think: "I am 97 years old, and I am looking back on my life. And I remember the time when I was going through difficult things, and I am so glad that I worked through those difficult times." Visualize you in 30 years looking back and feeling so grateful for your hard work, perseverance, and success.

You can't wait for the muse to hit you. There is hard work is it. 

"Just type something if you have a deadline. Just write! It doesn't even matter if it's bad. Just get it down!" - Katie Davis

What Harper Collins looks for in fiction and nonfiction

Carrie Feron and Lisa Sharkey

These ladies work for William Morrow and Harper Collins Publishers. 

How They Came to Work In Publishing

Lisa Sharkey - I came to publishing after years as a news producer. I asked myself, what made my heart thump as a child? It wasn't produce TV news, it was reading books. She works with adult and children books. She and Carrie are working on a project together. :)

Carrie Feron - I did the boring way of going into publishing right after college. If you want to see who will be an editor look for the quiet nerdy kid reading in math class. I love books and reading and authors. I really admire people that finish manuscripts. Most of my authors can write a book a year. I've worked at Crown, Bantam, Avon, Berkley Putnam. She has worked in lots of places. Avon was bought by Harper Collins and she has been there for 25 years. She's had some of the authors she has worked with for the whole time.

Finding and growing an author

Carrie - I often look to buy a book from an author who is a "small plant that could become a forest." Look at the best selling list. I find the books that sell and see how that author was writing in the very beginning. What is their voice? I try to look for that plant in the submissions I receive.

I am very careful about the people I take on because I don't want to let go of any of my other authors. I've worked with some for a long time. She only takes on 2-3 new authors per year. 

Lisa - What I want to do is find people who I think could be amazing authors for non-fiction publishing. Example: "The Other Side of the Coin." This is the lady who has worked for the queen for many years - endorsed by the queen. Example: "Russ" - he is a rapper. Nonfiction publishing is all about trends. 

If you are writing non-fiction, think of your self as a brand entrepreneur. Be a student of the universe of non-fiction. Really get into your genre of books. Talk to book sellers. Spend time in the bookstores. It is great to work backward from the consumer, backward from the reader. Really get into peoples' minds. Find that nugget, that thing that people are looking for. Get outside your family and circle, though - find the group that you want to learn from.

Answer the basic questions:

1. who is my audience?
2. what is my 2 sentence keynote about my book?
3. what metadata must I include in my book's description?
4. what like-minded people should I engage with?

The biggest thing is trust. Just realize that everyone wants your book to be a success, and we ant to make it a success. I just want it to be the best book for them as possible. 

Advice

• Know your craft! Write excellently. Don't let the agent or publisher get stuck on something as simple as a misused word. Be true to your own voice. 
• Target sharply the kind of publisher that will really like your kind of book. Find where people you want to be like publish. Who are your favorite authors? Where do they publish? Learn and reach out to them. Where do you spend your dollars? That might be where to go. Go to the bookstore and look at the acknowledgements in the book to find out who their agents and publishers are. "Publishers Marketplace" is a publication that helps guide these matters.
• Make it as easy as possible for the publisher to say yes. "This is the genre. Be sure that you know exactly who you audience This is the audience. Here is how I see myself. Here is the territory I see myself publishing in." The easiest way is to find what you love to write within the parameters of what people are looking for. And then figure out how to continue to satisfy that group again with something in those parameters. 
• I haven't seen a lot of query letters that are well-done and targeted to attract the right audience. You don't want lots of options, you want the BEST option. You have to surprise me. What is the story I haven't read before? What is the plot line that is slightly twisted and is going to intrigue me? It needs to be unique. I am hard to satisfy, but I am your advocate when you do 
• If an agent writes me a really interesting letter, then I will consider it. If the story is unique, I will consider it strongly. 
• Key pieces to include in a nonfiction proposal. 
• extremely selling cover letter
• book outline
• first 3 chapters
• description of remaining chapters
• what are you (the author) going to do to promote the book (website, YouTube, blog, university affiliations, quotes of support from people, etc.). Put a strong headline about yourself - who you are and how you will support selling it. 
• Do the work! Get out there and get peoples' feedback. Have notes of praise from people. 
• Just because you have self-published a book doesn't mean you cannot publish the book later on.