Welcome to a new feature on the blog – the Indie Author Low-Down. Some of you may remember my occasional Author of the Week spots, where I featured indie authors who had grabbed my attention in some way. Well, this new series goes one step further – here I’m inviting authors to share with us their indie journey, the ups and downs, the highs and lows - the low-down on the whole process. And first to kick off is none other than the author of Inceptio. Inceptio won our cover comp last month, and I’m really grateful to Alison for taking time out of her busy launch schedule to share her experience with us. Over to you, Alison!
“Thank you so much for welcoming me to your blog today, Joanne.
My debut novel, INCEPTIO, was published at the beginning of this month, the end of three years of slog – researching, writing, and polishing. It’s a thriller, so it’s doubly exciting!
How I started writing INCEPTIO
I’ve played with words most of my life of my life – storyteller, playwright (aged 7), article writer, local magazine editor and translator. But I came to novel writing in reaction to a particularly dire film; the cinematography was good, but the plot dire and narration jerky.
‘I could do better that that,’ I whispered in the darkened cinema.
‘So why don’t you?’ came my other half’s reply.
Ninety days later, I’d completed the first draft of INCEPTIO, the first in the Roma Nova thriller series.
What was I supposed to do with my completed draft?
Of all things, the Guardian newspaper website came to my rescue. Their series called How to Write A Novel – advice from the great and the good, including Robert Harris, author of Fatherland, the famous alternate history story – was a pivotal step. Next, I discovered a critique partner who brought me into her writing group and the Romantic Novelists’ Association which ran a scheme for fostering novice writers. No, the RNA is not all Mills & Boon – it ranges from light-hearted romance to some very gritty mystery and thrillers by way of historical, paranormal and epic novels all with a strong personal relationship in the story. Frankly, even the darkest of books is a tad empty without an emotional relationship of some kind.
I attended conferences, courses, researched, read, asked questions, joined online forums. I set up my blog on World Book Day in 2010 to keep a note of my experiences and discoveries. I networked like mad.
Not a path of roses
Of course, I made the classic mistake of submitting it too soon, and received a stack of rejection letters. What was wrong with my work of genius? I sent it off to a renowned publishing consultant and found out. The classics: overwriting, not nailing my story as either a romance or a thriller, but most of all, muddled voice. Voice is how the book sounds to the reader, as if it’s a person telling the story. The words used must be right for the type of story and the tone consistent. Consequence – restructure, rewrite large chunks and polish, polish, polish.
That done, I started getting replies like ‘If it was a straight thriller, I’d take it on’ and ‘Your writing is excellent, but it wouldn’t fit our list.’ I’d gathered a group of critical beta/test readers who gave me terrific feedback, and acquired a mentor, Adrian Magson, who had a string of mainstream published crime and spy thrillers to his name.
But I was still getting nowhere. It’s no news that the traditional route of finding a literary agent who then secures a deal with a publisher has become very, very hard. Although they are looking out for the next big thing, agents are tending to stick to sure things rather than interesting things with no track record. As a business person, I can’t entirely blame them!
The revolution
Enter the ebook. It started a revolution. It allowed everyone and anyone to make their work available to the world via the Internet – perfect for the independent author. But what about an independently printed book? The old fashioned vanity publishers who took any text from anybody, grabbed the rights, charged a fortune and delivered a few hundred books are becoming alarmed. Thanks to new Print On Demand (POD) technology, individual authors can have their books printed as and when needed. And vanity printers are threatened by another arrival – the publishing services company who takes no rights, but provides modular services – sometimes packaged together – on a paying basis like any other professional service. Authors can now choose. Authors can have power and control.
So how was it for me?
I was (am!) passionate about my alternate history stories so I decided to self-publish with a bought-in publishing services package from SilverWood Books. They have done all the things a traditional publisher would do – editing, registrations, typesetting, design, book jacket, proofing, etc. Their beautiful cover for INCEPTIO recently won a cover design competition on this site. I’ve had hours of support, starter packs of promotional materials, marketing guidance – lots of individual help and fast responses to all my questions.
How and why did I choose SilverWood Books?
I knew I didn’t want to DIY publish as I didn’t have the time or skills to do a thoroughly professional job. I set about finding a publishing partner who could provide these on the terms I wanted. The most important thing when you’re paying for services is to ensure you keep all your rights – further information here.
My aim was to emulate the best mainstream publishing products, both paperback and ebook. I researched, asked other self-published writers and consulted publishing gurus. I analysed information provided by the three companies I’d selected as ‘finalists’ and drew up a list of questions. I then interviewed each company for nearly two hours, plus followed up with email exchanges. Yes, this is a lot of work, but you are spending your hard-earned money so owe it to yourself to make sure you’re spending it efficiently.
I chose SilverWood Books (SWB) for their knowledge, openness and for being book-orientated rather than purely services orientated. If there aren’t books on the home page of a services provider’s website, ask yourself why. SWB offer different publishing packages or you can pick and choose from a menu of individual services depending upon what you want. I chose the comprehensive ‘Tailored’ package at £1750 plus copy editing.
SWB have not only delivered the promised services in a collaborative and consultative way but also on-going support, something vital for an inexperienced author. In addition to a well formatted and designed ebook uploaded to a variety of platforms, I have a high quality printed book with a gorgeous cover that is selling so well that I’ve had to order a second print run.”
Blurb
New York, present day. Karen Brown, angry and frightened after surviving a kidnap attempt, has a harsh choice – being eliminated by government enforcer Jeffery Renschman or fleeing to the mysterious Roma Nova, her dead mother’s homeland in Europe.
Founded sixteen centuries ago by Roman exiles and ruled by women, Roma Nova gives Karen safety and a ready-made family. But a shocking discovery about her new lover, the fascinating but arrogant special forces officer Conrad Tellus who rescued her in America, isolates her.
Renschman reaches into her new home and nearly kills her. Recovering, she is desperate to find out why he is hunting her so viciously. Unable to rely on anybody else, she undergoes intensive training, develops fighting skills and becomes an undercover cop. But crazy with bitterness at his past failures, Renschman sets a trap for her, knowing she has no choice but to spring it…
Links
INCEPTIO is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US
www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor
Wow! Well, I don’t know about you guys but I’m pretty inspired after reading all that! The photo of Alison in Waterstones talking to a packed crowd is especially interesting … I’ve a stack of questions, and I know Alison is around today to answer some so over to you: What else would you like to ask Alison?
Links to other indie author guest posts: Estelle Wilkinson; Charlie Plunkett; Samantha March; Linda Gillard; Emily Shaffer
Related articles
- Inceptio – Alison Morton (murderandmayhempromo.wordpress.com)
What a fantastic post. So, so useful. Thank you.
Apologies to Alison and early readers of the blog post – Alison’s surname is Morton, not Moreton! It’s because I live near to Moreton Garden Centre is my excuse. *blushes*
Absolutely not a problem, Joanne.
Thanks for changing it!
Hi Alison
Thanks for your post on getting published with SilverWood (and thanks, Jo, for inviting Alison). Many congratulations on the book’s success!
I self-published my novel Unravelling with Matador and would like to ask a couple of questions, as I am considering self-publishing another novel next year. (Got a second one out later this year but that’s with Cinnamon Press). You mentioned ongoing support from SilverWood – what sort of support does this involve? Also, I’m interested in your wonderful audience at Waterstones. It’s often difficult to get self-published books into Waterstones – can I ask if you had any problems, and also did you generate the audience or did the publisher help with that?
Lindsay
Those were two of my questions too, Lindsay
Many thanks for your congratulations, Lindsay.
‘Hand-holding’ is built into the Tailored package I chose. It included very clear and detailed instructions about proofing, editing; what to include in a bio; voluntariily offer background information, not just minimum info; guidance on how to decide on the next steps, e.g. cover design, print-runs; comprehensive information sheets on dealing with bookshops, interviews, presentations, social media, Goodreads; plus a willingness to answer any question promptly and completely. Attitude is very important and theirs is first-class. They introduce paid-for add-on services without any pressure, plus suggested enhancements where appropriate.
My Waterstones launch: the key is professionalism – a top-quality, sensibly priced book, advance listing on Nielsen (done by SWB), a properly drawn up Bookseller information Sheet (done by SWB) and your presentation to the events manager at your local Waterstones.
The latter is crucial. You must give Waterstones facts, not blather, i.e. a proper business pitch. Waterstones need a guarantee of 30 paid tickets and they want to know how you are going to get the punters in. I ran my own business for 15 years and had done a lot of sales pitching, so that helped, but I knew a lot of people in the town and area. Tickets went slowly, but on the night we had just under 50 there. The author has to use every channel available. Hope that helps!
Thanks for your detailed reply, Alison. It does sound very similar to Matador’s service, although possibly a bit cheaper. What sort of things do the add-on services include?
Can I ask – was Matdor one of your three?
Your business experience and skills have obviously stood you in good stead for dealing with your novel. Interesting that Waterstones needs a guarantee of 30 paid tickets. Does that mean you sold tickets for your launch?
Hope you don’t mind the questions – it certainly helps to hear about other people’s experiences. Presumably, you would use SilverWood again.
That’s fine, Lindsay.You may find it a good idea to have a look at SilverWood Books’ site which gives a run-down of all their services.
Services for writers are here:http://www.silverwoodbooks.co.uk/services and marketing/promotion services here:http://www.silverwoodbooks.co.uk/book-promotion-tools SilverWood are organising a blog tour for me at the beginning of April.
My Waterstones offered only ‘An Evening with xxx’ where the author talks/engages with the audience for about half an hour, then does Q&A. The entrance ticket is £3 which is then deducted from the book price if bought that evening. These days, you have to sing for your supper, i.e. add value for the bookshop. http://alison-morton.com/blog/2013/03/14/look-out-world-here-comes-inceptio/
I should have mentioned that I had the Mayor and Mayoress along and also invited my friend, Sue Cook, the broadcaster to say a few words. If you can invite somebody along like that to boost your profile, then it will definitely help.
And yes, I will be talking to SilverWood to discuss the next book in the series…
Thanks for all the information, Alison.
Definitely helps to have a friend like Sue Cook. Wonder if Helen Mirren needs any more ‘friends’!
Well,the more you network, the more people you meet.
Fabulous post, Alison! Really inspiring for anyone thinking of self-publishing. It’s also very telling of how complex the self-publishing task is that even you, with your many years of business experience, your obvious competence in all manner of useful skills, and your friends in high places, found that buying in SilverWood’s expert services was the best way forward. (I agree, and not only because they published my book!) Your investment must already be paying off. Looking forward to reading Inceptio on my holidays at Easter – it’s already packed on my Kindle!
By the way, interesting that you chose World Book Day to launch your blog – fab idea! I’m just about to write a post on my blog now about how events like this and World Book Night (coming up on 23rd April) can help an indie writer raise their profile, so I’ll now mention what you’ve said and add a link to this post!
Thanks for this great new strand to your blog, Jo – it’s a great idea and I look forward to the next post in the series.
I tweeted a link to this guest post earlier before the comments came in. I just wanted to say how lovely it is to catch up now and read such positive and supportive things about what we do at SilverWood Books. Thank you! I genuinely appreciate it, and I know publishing assistants Jo and Sarah will too. Alison’s a fantastic author to work with, very pro-active, and that always makes our jobs easier. Her hard work is really showing in early sales returns for INCEPTIO, which is exciting.
By coincidence I’m halfway through Lindsay Stanberry-Flynn’s “Unravelling” at the moment. I became interested in it because of Joanne’s excellent cover competition and bought it for my Kindle (which just shows how every little helps when it comes to exposure!).
“Unravelling” has done well with competition wins and excellent reviews. You must be so proud and pleased, Lindsay. If you have any questions or you want to explore things further for your next self-published book I’d be happy to chat. Feel free to drop me a line – the “info@” address on our website goes directly to my inbox. Alternatively, if you’re at the London Book Fair, do come along and see us as we’re there all three days and have a cosy cubicle within the Independent Publishers Guild stand (J205). We’re offering some free 20-minute publishing advice sessions, and Alison Morton is helping out with some “meet the author” sessions, too. The coffee’s on us!
Many thanks, again. Looking forward to see where you take your brilliant blog next, Joanne…
Hi Helen
How lovely to know that you are reading Unravelling – I do hope you enjoy it. Yes, I’m thrilled it’s been so well received.
I will definitely consider SilverWood when the the time comes for my next self-published book. I was happy with Matador, but it pays to investigate! I will email you.
Jo – sorry to highjack your post, but it’s really interesting to hear about other people’s experiences. Thanks again for the opportunity.
Thank you again, Jo, for letting me on to your blog – I’ve had a fantasic time. If I’ve been able to help demystify anything, then that’s a bonus. We live in very ‘interesting times’ in publishing and the more we give and and receive help from each other the better.