Question about publishing

[vinsight4u]

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[razzelflabben]

I'll leave you one more thought from me. Where your book is being promoted on Amazon, have you looked at how even the first sentence is not punctuated correctly? Keep reading please after
that. There is error after error, and you are a teacher.

thanks for all your help in finding ways to promote my books....I'll have my grammar nazi's look into your critisizms

 

[razzelflabben]

I just had two of my editors look at the first sentence, have a few more to show it to yet, they both agree that your purposed change would not only interrupt the flow of the sentence, but reduce it to first or second grade quality work rather than an adult book. We will see what all my other editors think.

 

[vinsight4u]

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[vinsight4u]

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[vinsight4u]

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[razzelflabben]

The very first sentence should have a question mark at the end.
It is your big lead in to grab your reader's attention as to what the book is about.
I'm not trying to run you or your work down. You are an author.
I've had opportunities to write and be on radio, but turned them down. Like you, I'm an unknown. But some companies, even very big ones are willing to take the risk and get someone started if they are convinced of your abilities. You never know when your big break may come. This is why I have made some suggestions to you. It would also help if some people that have read your book
would write a review on Amazon. Just the right person could read
one of your posts, your summary at Amazon, or something else-and you would have the start you might be looking for. Stay ready for it! That is all I'm saying to you, is to do top quality at all times - even if the task may seem minor to you right then.

Rain had been falling all day, the gentle kind of rain that soaks the earth with life giving water...is not a question...in fact, when you ask for a question you are suggesting that I write an essay or debate not a novel. This is a novel.

As to the rest of what you say, we are waiting for some people who have agreed to post reviews to do so. Everyone has been very busy with graduations and such and so we are patiently waiting for the time in which that happens. And, yes, I think we need to be prepared for whatever God wants to do with it.

 

[razzelflabben]

Not referring to your book. I have not seen any of it yet.
Can you edit the comments where it is being displayed/sold
on Amazon.com?

I'll get my agent on those, thanks

 

[razzelflabben]

Just got word there are a couple of typos in the book, getting that fixed, which is why we aren't ready for an all out publicity campaign yet.

 

[Farine]

Hello! I had to poke through and see this thread. Congratulations on getting through many of the hurdles to get to this point. I wanted to help you some on your way.

I really liked
The writer's forum absolutewrite.com had recorded many new authors being preyed upon. The book mentioned above is a compilation of advice and insight to protect the new author. I liked its explanations and thoroughly recommend it.

One method to get to your goal is a hybrid method of self publishing and large press publishing. The threshold to be considered out of rookie author status is 5,000 units. So, this method has you sell and accurately document at least 5,000 books sold. THEN at that point, either with a literary agent's help or your own approach to a publisher make the argument that on your own your work sold this basic level. Surely with the publisher's excellent distribution channels and publicity they can make money on your book.

I know there are three different kinds of editing that a book goes through in a publisher's house. Grammar is just one of the three. This post will be relatively short, but I hope to correspond with you more as I read your responses. CHeers!

 

[razzelflabben]

Hello! I had to poke through and see this thread. Congratulations on getting through many of the hurdles to get to this point. I wanted to help you some on your way.

I really liked
The writer's forum absolutewrite.com had recorded many new authors being preyed upon. The book mentioned above is a compilation of advice and insight to protect the new author. I liked its explanations and thoroughly recommend it.

One method to get to your goal is a hybrid method of self publishing and large press publishing. The threshold to be considered out of rookie author status is 5,000 units. So, this method has you sell and accurately document at least 5,000 books sold. THEN at that point, either with a literary agent's help or your own approach to a publisher make the argument that on your own your work sold this basic level. Surely with the publisher's excellent distribution channels and publicity they can make money on your book.

I know there are three different kinds of editing that a book goes through in a publisher's house. Grammar is just one of the three. This post will be relatively short, but I hope to correspond with you more as I read your responses. CHeers!

awesome help, thanks...at the current moment we are still waiting for one of our editors to finish a final edit and talking to the publisher about why page numbers are odd...but we are anxious to start really promoting and I really appreciate your wisdom

 

[Farine]

awesome help, thanks...at the current moment we are still waiting for one of our editors to finish a final edit and talking to the publisher about why page numbers are odd...but we are anxious to start really promoting and I really appreciate your wisdom

Ah, you are most welcome! I held back my work until recently because the promotion effort in particular is very possessive and demanding of your time, focus and energy. Since I am still parenting, only recently was I able to devote time to this. Up until that point, I've been working on the art of writing as opposed to the business of publishing.

What I just realized is the advanced stage that you are at. WOW! This is very thrilling. I'm so happy for you! What it sounds like is that you are absorbing what you can of cutting edge marketing. In that, you are very likely ahead of me. My promotional efforts are in another area with a whole other emphasis. I'd still be interested in discussing what you are doing. It's just I don't think I'll be able to add much to what you are focused upon.

 

[razzelflabben]

Ah, you are most welcome! I held back my work until recently because the promotion effort in particular is very possessive and demanding of your time, focus and energy. Since I am still parenting, only recently was I able to devote time to this. Up until that point, I've been working on the art of writing as opposed to the business of publishing.

What I just realized is the advanced stage that you are at. WOW! This is very thrilling. I'm so happy for you! What it sounds like is that you are absorbing what you can of cutting edge marketing. In that, you are very likely ahead of me. My promotional efforts are in another area with a whole other emphasis. I'd still be interested in discussing what you are doing. It's just I don't think I'll be able to add much to what you are focused upon.

personally, from both experience and ideology, I think that everyone wanting to self publish or that has done so, should be willing and interested in working together to help each other promote or better wording maybe, learn how to promote. The hard part of publishing is that so many people think they can write but they can't, which floods the market with substandard work, which makes it difficult to get looked at without already having a name which is why you are trying to brake into the market in the first place, you have no name.

In fact, your post inspired me, not sure how to go about it, but wouldn't it be great if there was some site in which authors that are truly talented could have their works reviewed by other talented people and only the best are recognized. I know there are similar things, but I mean really out there, actively pushing the really good stuff....oh well, until that time comes, again I thank you and am interested in anything you have to offer.

 

[Farine]

I hope to keep this conversation up for awhile also because you never know what aspiring writer reads this and gets something useful out of it. If you need to focus on other things at some point, let me know and this conversation can be paused, etc.

You mentioned qualified review. That is one of the bottlenecks for self publishing. In my case, I have that handled in that I write Bible Studies. My reviewers are Pastors and other Lay Leaders. This step is a little easier for me. Every building with a Cross on the top of it holds a qualified reviewer of the ministry God gave me.

One of the places that I got unexpected support was my daughter's high school English department. My Daughters mentioned to their teachers that I write. They got excited. And when we went to the school for Open House, I got an enthusiastic exchange that yielded real help for my work. Being a teacher of English gave them the 'credentials' to endorse something. I offer that to you as a possible way out of the swamp of mediocrity that our efforts tend to get bogged down into.

If I am allowed to get on a soapbox for a moment, there are two other issues that compete mightily against our success. One is the limited attention span of our potential reader. I would point you to the international market whose readers still have one. The other issue is the vast array of distracting options for someone to do or being involved in. TV? Literally thousands of channels. Youtube? A bazillion videos. Smart Phone? Rather than rail at this-- this may be our future platform for our work. Better not be too opinionated.

There was one book on outstanding writing that I really loved. Too bad it's stuck on a kindle that I can't get powered up. Its premise was that outstanding writing will always rise to the top. (Word of mouth will always be the best and most effective means of becoming established as an author). That was extremely comforting to me. It means that I still have something within me that keeps my career dreams from being completely subject to the whims and arbitrary responses of fellow human beings. Believe in your art, my Dear. Believe in your art. That creative spark you have comes from a PURE SOURCE (God).

 

[razzelflabben]

I hope to keep this conversation up for awhile also because you never know what aspiring writer reads this and gets something useful out of it. If you need to focus on other things at some point, let me know and this conversation can be paused, etc.

You mentioned qualified review. That is one of the bottlenecks for self publishing. In my case, I have that handled in that I write Bible Studies. My reviewers are Pastors and other Lay Leaders. This step is a little easier for me. Every building with a Cross on the top of it holds a qualified reviewer of the ministry God gave me.

if you don't mind, I would be interested in knowing more about the bible studies you are doing. The actual ministry God has called me into is a guided bible study series on Love. WE have 4 books ready to go but been slow in getting that going as well. While I was working on that, God led me into this series and we thought that maybe that would move faster, maybe we were wrong on that.

The problem with the bible study end of our "projects" is that the church we are attending, gave us an opportunity to teach the first book in a SS class. The class loved it and grew and it was amazing. But, due to some unrepentant (church related) sins, we got blamed for things we had nothing to do with, things turned ugly and now, we can't even get approved to teach SS...we kind of got disheartened trying to show people what God was leading us into. That is our fault...but when this other series came up, we decided to work on both. So, long story short, I would love to know more about that aspect of your wisdom as well. Anything you would like to share would be awesome...publishing or just what God is showing you either one. Thanks

One of the places that I got unexpected support was my daughter's high school English department. My Daughters mentioned to their teachers that I write. They got excited. And when we went to the school for Open House, I got an enthusiastic exchange that yielded real help for my work. Being a teacher of English gave them the 'credentials' to endorse something. I offer that to you as a possible way out of the swamp of mediocrity that our efforts tend to get bogged down into.

that is something I would love to pursue more. OUr son gave a copy of the book to one of his english teachers, who happens to be someone I went to school with. She loved the book, but because of allergy issues (I can't even go to the school) we haven't really connected, maybe I should get more purposeful and email her. I've even thought about asking her to include the book or books (series will be 9 or 10 when done) in one of her classes. Great idea.

If I am allowed to get on a soapbox for a moment, there are two other issues that compete mightily against our success. One is the limited attention span of our potential reader. I would point you to the international market whose readers still have one. The other issue is the vast array of distracting options for someone to do or being involved in. TV? Literally thousands of channels. Youtube? A bazillion videos. Smart Phone? Rather than rail at this-- this may be our future platform for our work. Better not be too opinionated.

smiling...I'm with you

There was one book on outstanding writing that I really loved. Too bad it's stuck on a kindle that I can't get powered up. Its premise was that outstanding writing will always rise to the top. (Word of mouth will always be the best and most effective means of becoming established as an author). That was extremely comforting to me. It means that I still have something within me that keeps my career dreams from being completely subject to the whims and arbitrary responses of fellow human beings. Believe in your art, my Dear. Believe in your art. That creative spark you have comes from a PURE SOURCE (God).

I needed this...when my family convinced me to do this, I was at a very low spot (very long story) I wanted to give up before we even started and it only got worse. In my soul, I felt like God said, "trust me and watch what I will do", the problem was I was in the middle of some huge self doubts and loathing and I was afraid to believe that God was really speaking that to me. The battle isn't over, it hasn't even really begun yet, I know that, but I thank you so for these kind words, you have no idea how encouraging they are right now.

 

[Farine]

if you don't mind, I would be interested in knowing more about the bible studies you are doing. The actual ministry God has called me into is a guided bible study series on Love. WE have 4 books ready to go but been slow in getting that going as well. While I was working on that, God led me into this series and we thought that maybe that would move faster, maybe we were wrong on that.

I see that I was meant to be here and encounter you. That is a great comfort. Seems to me that we should walk and talk together. If you are agreeable, shall we discover how we can bless each other?

If you look at the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, alas the 4th Blessing is sort of down the list (v 6).
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

And that sums up the problem. You see, one has to wade through the other Blessings in order to get to this one.
First, one has to be poor in spirit.. come to the end of his or her self and surrender to God. To realize one has nothing and needs everything.
Then, a person has to experience the excellence of God. In particular, one encounters God's moral perfection. This creates mourning for which the grace of God assures that the full slate of sins have been paid.
After that? There is a dialogue between God and the person. Bit by bit, the wisdom of God begins to re-make the life as the person allows. What happens is the person quiets down and becomes meek. It is at this precise point that one begins to inherit.
Why does this matter?
You can't skip steps. Note that arrested development is one of life's great tragedies.
Only after meekness becomes an inheritance, then comes the passion for spiritual truth for its own sake. Now is the hunger and thirst for righteousness.

I assure you, you can have a great assembly of Believers at all the steps referenced in the Beatitudes. Someone who hasn't encountered God's moral perfection can't have a long standing enthusiasm for a Bible Study. You can almost see their thoughts.. .o0(It's Dry. It's Boring.)

So what's a writer to do? An ordinary writer casts a wide net to find the reader. We are not ordinary writers. We are messengers who are sent. That sending changes all the odds, transforms the entire process. I'll stop here as this post is getting long-ish. Please write me back.

 

[razzelflabben]

I see that I was meant to be here and encounter you. That is a great comfort. Seems to me that we should walk and talk together. If you are agreeable, shall we discover how we can bless each other?

If you look at the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, alas the 4th Blessing is sort of down the list (v 6).
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

And that sums up the problem. You see, one has to wade through the other Blessings in order to get to this one.
First, one has to be poor in spirit.. come to the end of his or her self and surrender to God. To realize one has nothing and needs everything.
Then, a person has to experience the excellence of God. In particular, one encounters God's moral perfection. This creates mourning for which the grace of God assures that the full slate of sins have been paid.
After that? There is a dialogue between God and the person. Bit by bit, the wisdom of God begins to re-make the life as the person allows. What happens is the person quiets down and becomes meek. It is at this precise point that one begins to inherit.
Why does this matter?
You can't skip steps. Note that arrested development is one of life's great tragedies.
Only after meekness becomes an inheritance, then comes the passion for spiritual truth for its own sake. Now is the hunger and thirst for righteousness.

I assure you, you can have a great assembly of Believers at all the steps referenced in the Beatitudes. Someone who hasn't encountered God's moral perfection can't have a long standing enthusiasm for a Bible Study. You can almost see their thoughts.. .o0(It's Dry. It's Boring.)

So what's a writer to do? An ordinary writer casts a wide net to find the reader. We are not ordinary writers. We are messengers who are sent. That sending changes all the odds, transforms the entire process. I'll stop here as this post is getting long-ish. Please write me back.

how very beautiful...and not long at all In fact, every encouraging and makes me want to dig into the beatitudes again. I think you would like some of the studies God has led me into. Currently I am working on the power of Love, the first one talked about is the power to not be deceived. Today I will be continuing the power of preparation. The analogy that God keeps laying on my heart is that upon salvation we are given our wedding dress, the righteousness of Christ. But no bride takes their wedding dress and stains it on purpose. Nor if something does happen, do they just say, oh well, it's just a stain. Rather, they protect it, guard it, maintain it so to speak until that wedding day arrives. We are in a betrothal to our Lord and King. We have been given our wedding gown and asked to care for it. But too many of us just allow it to become stained with sin without ever trying to protect it. The goal, the preparation is to present the bride without spot of blemish on the wedding day, that means to avoid the stains of sin, it is to protect ourselves by striving to ever be like Christ, to be righteous. It is not to dismiss our sins, or to make excuses like "well, we are just human anyway". or "we all make mistakes". And truly the most beautiful and wonderful thing about all of this is that God's love is so pure and so complete that He has equipped us to succeed, to be without excuse. So that 1. we are striving for righteousness and 2. when we fail to live in the power God has given, we confess and repent in the humility of knowing that without God, we are nothing.

What a great way to start this day...thanks You are a great blessing to be. So can I ask what format your studies are in? Like personal study, SS study, text and questions, etc?

 

[Farine]

Hello! Thank you for the very kind words. Yes, you are a blessing to me too! This kind of blessing urges me to look around and wave (hello) who said that whenever two or more (that's us) gather in His Name then He is here.

You offered me a big bouquet of thought and truth in return. I'm busy appreciating it. I believe for clearness' sake that I will write two posts. One response will be totally dedicated to responding to your theme of the Bible Study you are writing and the 2nd response will be oriented around the project I've been working on.

I do need to clarity one thing about what I wrote you previously just now. You had said earlier that your Sunday School experience was initially positive and then turned sour. My post was written to discuss that encounter. The hidden truth that the Beatitudes have a progression (like a ladder) showing life in the Kingdom of Heaven was presented to me by an expositor in a very old commentary. Most people haven't heard of this book. I don't want to claim it as my original thought. My thoughts when I was writing you about the awkward Sunday School situation were to remind you that the listener also has to have the Holy Spirit to receive truth no matter how well you, the messenger, present truth. Or to put it in a quick fashion, "Revelation requires revelation to receive." It's my humble opinion that this spiritual reality that is described in the Beatitudes explained what happened when your Sunday School situation went south.

So where to begin on the power of preparation that Love provides...

I'm probably going to take that concept somewhere odd. Here are thoughts that occurred to me when you laid down those words before me.

The love we have for God creates a need for intimacy. We need to be near Him. There is an insistence that isn't satisfied with just knowing more Bible Truth. We seek the Presence of our Beloved. The power of love helps us overcome relational anxiety when we consider entering the Light of His Presence aware of our hang-ups and rationalizations.

We feel beautiful in that wedding dress. In the keeping power of the Spirit, we ARE beautiful in that wedding dress. What does the world, the enemy and our flesh do? Tear us down. Attack our identity. Hit us in the face. But all those 'less than', 'not good enough' accusations and insinuations fail. They pop like soap bubbles when we behold the face of our Divine Lover.

 

[razzelflabben]

Hello! Thank you for the very kind words. Yes, you are a blessing to me too! This kind of blessing urges me to look around and wave (hello) who said that whenever two or more (that's us) gather in His Name then He is here.

You offered me a big bouquet of thought and truth in return. I'm busy appreciating it. I believe for clearness' sake that I will write two posts. One response will be totally dedicated to responding to your theme of the Bible Study you are writing and the 2nd response will be oriented around the project I've been working on.

I do need to clarity one thing about what I wrote you previously just now. You had said earlier that your Sunday School experience was initially positive and then turned sour. My post was written to discuss that encounter. The hidden truth that the Beatitudes have a progression (like a ladder) showing life in the Kingdom of Heaven was presented to me by an expositor in a very old commentary. Most people haven't heard of this book. I don't want to claim it as my original thought. My thoughts when I was writing you about the awkward Sunday School situation were to remind you that the listener also has to have the Holy Spirit to receive truth no matter how well you, the messenger, present truth. Or to put it in a quick fashion, "Revelation requires revelation to receive." It's my humble opinion that this spiritual reality that is described in the Beatitudes explained what happened when your Sunday School situation went south.

wow, amen!!!!
Just fyi, nothing more. What happened in a nutshell is that the SS was growing out of the room we were holding it in. Then because of sin on the part of the church there was turmoil. The church is in a small closed community and we are outsiders. So instead of dealing with the sin, the church blamed us. The result is that we allowed ourselves to be under authority and stopped teaching as we were told (later we were told that wasn't what they intended or at least they didn't think they intended that) As a result, the SS is down to between 0 and 4 people, SS as a whole has dropped by about half, even the pastor noted that. Several of the people in that SS left the church even though we encouraged them otherwise. People tell us all the time that they would come back if we were teaching again. So, again, very long story made short, we asked to teach again, we were approved but they won't make a call on the materials we teach which someone on the ministerial committee even told them it was all scripture. The reason given...it is too deep for a church that wants to be an inch wide and a mile deep. So we wait...

But, not to get off topic, I also wanted to say and hope this is an encouragement to you as well. As I have prayed about these studies, God has laid on my heart that even if I don't see them getting into the hands of people who need them right now, there will come a day in which people will be desperate for any truth from scripture they can find. Any word that points them to truth. So what if they end up "hidden in a cave for another generation" God will not allow His word to return void. Of this, I can trust as I faithfully continue to study and write what God is revealing to me.

So where to begin on the power of preparation that Love provides...

I'm probably going to take that concept somewhere odd. Here are thoughts that occurred to me when you laid down those words before me.

The love we have for God creates a need for intimacy. We need to be near Him. There is an insistence that isn't satisfied with just knowing more Bible Truth. We seek the Presence of our Beloved. The power of love helps us overcome relational anxiety when we consider entering the Light of His Presence aware of our hang-ups and rationalizations.

We feel beautiful in that wedding dress. In the keeping power of the Spirit, we ARE beautiful in that wedding dress. What does the world, the enemy and our flesh do? Tear us down. Attack our identity. Hit us in the face. But all those 'less than', 'not good enough' accusations and insinuations fail. They pop like soap bubbles when we behold the face of our Divine Lover.

absolutely...I am just beginning this study, but after these words, I think that part of the study has to be not only the longing to be with Christ, but the destruction of the accuser. In fact, I was just in a short similar conversation with our pastor who is also discouraged at the moment.

 

[Farine]

I have three writing projects that I am currently working on. One is called "Expectations". The other two are "Broken Heart, Unchained Spirit" and "Tap Out". These three series are all in a SS format with a half page of introduction then questions followed by a half page of 'now or later' prose. I have a manuscript for a book 'Unstilled Storm" about the dialogue between God and us in Crisis. That manuscript seems to be on hold as I wrote it a long time ago. I sense there will be a time when I come back to it and bring it into a fuller expression.

Expectations is about the inheritance of the saints. What was interesting about doing this Bible Study with about a hundred participants in six small groups was that you could put together quick statistics about the whole just by counting noses. How many people understood question five on the top of page 35? One, two... three.. four.. Um, Ok. I need to rework that question. Everyone liked question 6 and there's a huge misunderstanding on question seven. Check.

People liked the study. The pastor and I concluded most of that response was because they hadn't encountered the material before and they enjoyed something new. The number of people who understood the 'change-your-life' elements were few. For those who got it, hey! I was pleased to be given the role to write it. Glory to God! Go out and take much territory for our God!

I'm in the middle of the rewrite of Expectations following the reactions of the church. When I get stuck or need a break I switch to the other projects. Life exposes one to a variety of situations that lends itself to one grand theme or another. It's almost like I live a day and then spend some time sorting what happened and whether it related to something that matters. In addition, there are sermons I hear which strike sparks off my spirit that make me want to run over to the computer and write. Not that I want to copy the original thing, but that other thing which makes so much sense at the time I have it but may fade out before it is written.

Overall, the preference for natural living.. what I call 'the dashboard of human experience" is like maintaining dual citizenship. One foot in the Kingdom. One foot in the World. This creates a sense of entitlement. The freedom from sin seems to not be so important as the freedom TO sin. What I saw in your Bible Study is an accurate depiction of the Bible's insistence to cast away our affiliations with the world. Let me tell you from many long, deep conversations that they don't want to do that.

The themes I keep hearing in my spirit are focus, awareness, identity and trust. Your Bible Study addresses awareness in a beautiful way. What happens after someone becomes spiritual aware? They are in pain. That pain is godly sorrow. (That's a good pain.) The sweetness of Jesus heals that pain. It is possible for a someone to get just aware to be freaked out while not aware enough of the Presence of Jesus to deal with the hurt. It's frustrating. People really are like sheep. What keeps me motivated are the ones who come into fullness of spiritual realities AND that the project management of a person's life is the LORD's. YAY!