“I Did It Myyyyy…Wayyyy”

You know it, and I know it. Very few writers, the “lucky” ones, get their work picked up by a major publishing house. But really, it’s okay. I mean, why should author’s sell their manuscripts for a pittance to publishing houses at all, if these publishers are sending out a mass-press-release only and are not more involved in the marketing aspects, then what good are they?

What about setting up your own publishing company? What? You can do that? Sure you can; here are some steps you may want to follow:

1. First, get your pillars in place. Find and get quotes for an editor, a book lay-out company, a cover artist, and a printer.

2. Set up your company. You can actually do it in minutes. A good place to start is by following the steps offered by the US Small Business Administration.

3. Write a solid business plan. This might take a few days, since you’ll want to make sure you have a solid understanding of the multiple facets of the publishing industry.

4. Find a distributor. Most distributors require only three books to be listed as a publishing business. So, either crank out three books (any three will do) OR band together with other authors to reach the minimum. In fact, this latter option is really good because your company will grow its title listings much faster with multiple writers.

5. Learn a few tips to market your book and get publicity. I mean, you’re the boss now, so go be one!

6. Choose a business name. Keep the name neutral and usable in a variety of languages. Before you spend the money to register the name, do a name check and save the headache.

7. Crowd fund your initial efforts. Don’t order any print runs before you have a reasonable amount of orders.

8. Obtain your ISBN and bar codes.

9. Copyright your book(s).

10. Submit a copy (register) with the Library of Congress.

11. Create a publication timeline.

12. Spend the necessary time (and perhaps money) setting up a GREAT publishing website.

Five Book Manuscripts I’m Still Trying to Finish

               If you are anything like me, you probably have a number of unfinished novels simmering on the back burners of your creative efforts.  I have at least a dozen.  All were started with the best of intentions and self-imposed writing deadlines; all goals broken by the time I got to chapter four. 

               So, I’ve re-evaluated my priorities and have decided to back off from writing when I feel inspired; rather, I’ve decided to go through my list of ‘starts’ and choose five that I believe the world is just dying to have—

1)  I’m writing a cookbook.  Why not? Every Gordon, Rachel, and Wolfgang seems to have cookbooks in print; why not me?  But I’ve had to come up with a new angle; a new culinary shtick.  So, I’ve chosen to combine my love of cooking with my love of saving my own rear-end (and that of my family’s, of course) by authoring: ‘How to Eat Well During a Zombie Apocalypse’.   This is a must-have for any self-respecting survivalist.  To make it fun, yet practical, I’ll be covering how to get the most meals from a bucket of brains, how to cook Dutch oven biscuits while running from a zombie horde, and an extra chapter on which essential oils work best on zombie bites.

2)  For a while now, I’ve been kicking around the idea of a series of books (magic – fiction) about a boy who is invited to attend a wizarding school.  He has a bunch of adventures, yadda yadda, and eventually destroys the archetype devil, thereby saving the day.  I haven’t worked out all of the details, but it feels like a sure-fire winner; though, I worry that the story could go on and on for at least six books, maybe seven.

3)  I’m seeing a lot of hyphenated genres popping up everywhere for book categories.  It’s no longer just straight ‘Fantasy’ or ‘Romance’.  I used one myself in #2 above.  One of my books is going to combine numerous genres and sub-genres into one book to really broaden my possible reading base.  What do ya’ll (I live in Texas…I have to use ‘Ya’ll’) think about this:  Mystery-Magic-Dystopian-Self-Help-Graphic Novel?  Yes?  No?  Perhaps?

4)  My admiration for authors that can write a riveting Historical Fiction novel knows no bounds.  These authors have the ability to take a very common person walking down the street and make them come out sounding like a super-hero that lowered themselves like a common naïve to trod the sidewalk path towards their destiny of historical significance.   I’m working on a historical fiction piece about Marshall Gomez, my next door neighbor, and his decision to wash his pick-up truck one Saturday morning.  Hey,  Don’t knock it!  If an author can retell the story of Teddy R. charging up San Juan Hill and make it akin to Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon, then I think I can create something amazing with Marshall and his soapy sponge.

5)  My final book that I am working on is a ‘How to…’ book about writing books.  However, if I get too bogged down with this topic, I’ll probably just turn the whole experience into a blog post.  What?  Wait!