In 2012, I resolve to...

1. Self-publish my entire backlist as e-books across all platforms.  Also make them available in print editions.

Reason: I need to wipe the slate (i.e. my hard drive) clean of old titles. Whether people read them is not up to me but at least all of them will be out there and available to be enjoyed.

2. Write the books I want to read.

Reason: I fell in love with reading when I was a teen and I devoured all genres, including fantasy and science fiction.  I have always loved spec fiction too.  When I write for others - for the marketplace - I get stuck because I'm not excited to find out more.  Then I'm trudging through it rather than racing through it.


3. Write the books I've always wanted to write.

Reason: It takes a very long time to write a novel - and to rewrite it and rewrite it until it's ready for others.  I am tired of wasting my precious writing time on books that mean nothing to me, that may have a fun premise but are nothing more.

4. Read more of what I love.

Reason: As a YA writer, I tend to read what I should read, what's popular among my audience. While it's important to know what sells, those books shouldn't be my sole literary consumption.  And now that I have a Kindle, it's easier than ever before to get what I need.

5. Organize my social media more efficiently.

Reason: Again, time is a precious resource.  I need to streamline what I do and when I do it.  Toward that end, I stopped using MySpace altogether and I linked my Facebook and Twitter accounts.  I also have to set specific times of when I'm online - it's eating up my day!

Things I've Learned During Self-publishing (so far!)

1. First of all, the cool kids call it "indie" publishing and as we all know, when you stick the word "indie" in front of anything, its cachet is magnified a thousandfold.

2. Apparently, there was no Chapter 13 in my published novel, ALL ABOUT VEE.  Yes, it's true!  There's a Chapter 12 and a Chapter 14 but no 13.  This was due solely to human error (many humans' errors), not a superstition, although if it had been a superstition, that would have been pretty neat.

As we reformat the book to publish it as FAT GIRLS IN LA, I'm making changes, adding a little material here and there that I always wanted kept in.  So there will be a Chapter 13 in the new edition.

3. I only used one ellipsis in the entire novel of ALL ABOUT VEE.  Weird, huh?  An ellipsis is "..." Which I use all the time in my normal daily writing so it's truly bizarre there's only one in nearly 300 pages of text.

4. LOVE, MEG in Hungarian? Maybe!  When you're getting ready to re-launch, you need to regain control over all the material you own that's out there. Ninja Webmaster and I are always on the lookout for websites that have my ebooks listed so we can get them removed so we are constantly Googling, etc. But according to Goodreads, there was (or might have been) a Hungarian language version of MEG as an ebook and as a paperback.  They have ISBN numbers and everything!

Upcoming books?

10, 9, 8, 7...

We're getting ready to launch.  Re-launch, that is.  My intrepid Ninja Webmaster is designing a brand new website and new book covers for the re-launch of 2 of my books plus several absolutely, never-seen-before new ones, including two sequels in my Fat Girls trilogy. Currently we are tweaking images and such - plus lots of technical stuff I don't know anything about.  We'll go to Amazon and other e-tailers online first but will hopefully have the books available for print as well. 

6, 5, 4...

And why am I doing this?  Well, first of all, I always felt like my novels, LOVE, MEG and ALL ABOUT VEE weren't given the opportunity to reach a wide audience.  Part of that was due to the very small marketing budget those books had- not my fault, not the books' faults, not the editor's or agent's fault. It's just the way traditional publishing works: only a select few books get the money spent on them. They are usually the ones whose authors received large advances so the publishers need to spend even more money on them to recoup that original outlay.  Those books are the ones which are expected to rake in the big bucks. 

Then there are "small" books like mine - "quiet" books that don't have big high-concept hooks - that don't receive big advances, big marketing budgets and are expected to do nothing.  Publishers throw these books into the mix and let them flounder on their own. If they make any money, hurrah!  If not, they go out-of-print.  Well, how many do you think fall into the former category?  Not many is right.  Mine fell into the latter and they went OOP and now, I have the rights back.

Another reason why I'm putting my e-books out online is that the market has changed an awful lot since I first got published.  The books I wrote after MEG and VEE were also "quiet" without high concept hooks and since MEG and VEE did not flourish, no one wanted these.  I disagree - I think readers want them.  I think people are hungry for good stories, regardless of whether they have a hook or not.  As a reader myself, I enjoy good characters and solid stories that entertain me. I have a Kindle and I want to load it up with books.  I think there are a lot of people out there like me.  And my books are for them.

Sure, I'm also writing books that do have "concepts" that I hope traditional publishing will want to put out but if not, I am creating an avenue directly to readers and I'll get them out there one way or another.

3, 2, 1...

The Road to Self-Publication

It's been a long time since I've seen the inside of my Blogger account! LOL! For those of you who have stuck with it, thank you kindly for your patience. You probably saw an update of my blog in your feed and did a double-take: "Leigh is posting something new? Have pigs begun to fly?"

The reason for my neglect of this blog has been twofold:
1. I'm prepping books for self-publication. 2. I'm writing a new book for traditional publication.

Both at the same time!

First, let's start with self-pubbing. This, contrary to a lot of opinions, is not a bad thing necessarily. So long as you follow a series of logical steps:
--Write. --Rewrite. --Take a break. --Rewrite. --Get honest feedback. --Rewrite. --Hire an editor. --Rewrite.

In the meantime, you have to perform all the tasks publishers normally handle for you. Design the cover, plan the marketing, contact readers for blurbs, "typeset" the manuscript, and so on. If you have a particularly skilled person in your life, consider asking for their help in the design of the cover, etc. Take advantage of just about anyone you can. LOL!

I also recommend reading great blogs like Konrath's A Newbie's Guide, where he lays it out as it is. He and Amanda Hocking are the great exceptions to the rule but that doesn't mean you can't glean insight from their process. Plus it's good to read the comments for Konrath's posts because his readers have a lot of practical guidance themselves.

In fact, read everything you can about self-pubbing. You need to know what you're up against, not just the good stuff. It's also a good idea to buy a Kindle or a Nook or whatever format you plan to publish in. I have a Kindle and I love it. I love reading on it, loading new books to it, and perusing what's hot on the Kindle lists. Also good research.

I'm not up to marketing yet but I'm starting to think about how I will do this, how I want to create my brand, the C. Leigh Purtill brand. This is big picture thinking and right now I'm mired in writing and rewriting. I want to have all the books in place before I start pubbing.

I'll report more on this as it progresses.

Oh yeah, I'm also writing a ghost story that I want to publish traditionally. Yup. Ghosts.