Monday, July 15, 2019

Writing, Publishing and Promotion (plus some irradiated lemurs!)

Books have three phases.

Phase One: Writing.
The writing phase consists of research, outlining (unless you are a panster) and the actual hinnie- in-the-chair, stop procrastinating and write.

Phase Two: Publishing.
If you are going the traditional route or small press route you now need to produce a query letter that shines. For trad, your letter will go to agents. For small press or E pub, your query letter will go directly to the publisher/editor. Once your letter is accepted, you’ll either be asked for sample chapters or the entire manuscript. If your work is a good fit for the publisher, you’ll be offered a contract. After your work has found a home, you will be involved in two to three rounds of edits. If you are an Indie author you will need to edit/proof, get your work beta read, edit/proof again and buy a cover. Then you format your book and publish.
Now you kick back and wait for the royalties to come pouring in. Ha. Ha. Just checking to make sure you are still reading.

Phase Three: Promotion.
This actually starts before publication and continues for at least the first month after publication. Whether you have published trad, small press or indie, the author still needs to market if he/she wants a shot at his/her book being successful. There are several venues: Twitter, Facebook, newsletters, blog tours, contests/giveaways, and preorders.

Once the three phases are finished, give yourself a little break (or a long one) and celebrate.

Now go back to Phase One and write your next book.


Ben Evers is a drifter that never stays in one place too long, always hankering to see what’s over the next horizon. His traveling companion—an eagle. He lives by two rules. Mind his own business and always treat women with respect. The first rule stands him in good stead until he meets former Texas Ranger John T. McAllen and his niece Kate Landon. The two are drawing him into their lives and Ben knows from personal experience no good ever comes from getting involved in other folks’ trouble. John T. and his neighbor are caught up in a feud over land and Clary’s daughter. When danger strikes, swift and hard, Ben has a decision to make. Turn his back and ride away from people he’s grown to care about or break his rule of minding his own business, and stay and fight.

*Warning. Content contains six-guns, hand-tooled boots, strong women and an eagle.
 
Preorder ThunderTree here
 
About Sandra:
Sandra is a vegetarian, animal lover and avid gardener. She lives with her husband, their dog and several cats in sunny North Carolina.
Besides western and western romance, Sandra also writes time-travel, paranormal and regency romance, young adult fantasy and non-fiction. She is a category bestselling Amazon author, Eppie finalist and Golden Ankh Award winner. ThunderTree is her first book written as S. Cox.

She can be found at: Twitter / Amazon / blog


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Must be active member of either the blog hop or Facebook.

If you are interested, please send an email.

Email - admin @ insecurewriterssupportgroup.com



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And the irradiated lemurs are back!


Dancing Lemur Press will be at Raleigh Galaxycon (formerly Supercon) July 25-28 at the Raleigh Convention Center.

We’ll also be at Greenville Comic Con on August 3 at the Greenville Convention Center

Stop by the booth to register to win free print, eBook, and audio books.

In addition to our titles, we are selling original art prints (Black Panther, Firefly, Richard Dean Anderson, and more), anime stickers, and magazines.

We’ll be posting cosplayers on our Instagram, so don’t miss all the fun costumes.

And remember – irradiated lemurs will bite!



Are you familiar with the three phases of books? Will we see you at either con? I’ll be busy for those two weeks, so not around much. But I’ll be one happy camper when I meet Wil Wheaton at Galaxycon. (I won the meet & greet package!)

54 comments:

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

And the phases never end, they just loop again and again!

Have fun at the conventions, Diane!

Sandra Cox said...

Thanks so much for hosting me, Di.
Have fun at the cons.

Jemi Fraser said...

You get to meet Will Wheaton? That's so awesome!
Enjoy the conventions.
Good luck to Sandra with the book - sounds great!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

We are really excited for next week.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

You're welcome.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I couldn't believe it when I got the email!

SpacerGuy said...

Wil Wheaton the main man, a real class act, hey he was even on the Big Bang, took the mick out of W.S. and wore the clown outfit. Theres nothing Wheaton wont do for charity, he's such a good spirit.

Juneta key said...

Whoop, whoop on meeting Wesley Crusher oops I mean Will Wheaton congrats on the nice win. That is awesome. I did not know he was a writer and blogger too.

Congratulations Sandra on the book. I love the cover BTW!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I'm currently on phase one.
Have a great time at the con.

Tyrean Martinson said...

Congratulations, Sandra! I love that warning!
I'm in phase 1 and phase 2 simultaneously and phase 3 never ends ... literally. However, I have simplified phase 3 now. I keep an "ad" pinned to the top of my twitter page, and one on the side of my blog, and I share something about one of my books around once a month on my Instagram account. These three things have meant a steady trickle of sales - nothing big or blockbuster, but steady. That's the key I think to all three phases.

Liz A. said...

When you're stuck in phase 1, thinking about phase 3 seems an awfully long way off.

Pat Hatt said...

And then over and over you go, that we know. Congrats, Sandra.

Hope the cons are grand too.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Plus he was on Eureka, too.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Do something every day to promote your books, no matter how small. It does matter.

Elizabeth Seckman said...

I sometimes skip the marketing phase and the sales show it. If only that phase happened by magic...

Sandra said...

OMG Di. You are meeting Will Wheaton???!!! Wow.

Sandra said...

Thanks so much, Juneta.

Sandra said...

Good for you, Alex. That's great. I'm about ready to head back to phase one.

Sandra said...

Thanks, Tyrean:)
Steady sales are a wonderful thing. Kudos.

Sandra said...

Indeed, Liz:)

Sandra said...

Thanks, Pat:)

Sandra said...

Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing?:)

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Diane and Sandra - congratulations on your book ... and that tag line.

Wonderful you and Elizabeth are meet Wil Wheaton - should be fun. Good luck with the two conventions - cheers Hilary

DMS said...

So excited for Sandra and her latest book. Sounds fantastic! It can be hard doing all the phases sometimes- especially the marketing. :) I like Elizabeth's idea of magic.

Enjoy the conventions. I live too far away- but they sound like fun. Can't wait to see the pictures. :)
~Jess

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Yes I am! *grin*

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Be watching Instagram. We'll post one next Wednesday and then there will be dozens the four days after that.

Julie Flanders said...

Great to meet Sandra and congratulations to her on the new book.
I always enjoy your convention posts on Instagram. I hope you have a great time at the events coming up!

Beverly Stowe McClure said...

Congratulations to Sandra. The word Eagle got me. Now I want to read about it. Also, enjoy the Cons. You know, it's really a lot of work to write a book. But also fun.

emaginette said...

The post makes it sound so easy. ;-)

Anna from elements of emaginette

Loni Townsend said...

I seem to be stuck in phase number 1, myself. :) Hope the con goes well!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I'm glad you enjoy the pictures.

Sandra Cox said...

Thanks, Hilary:)

Sandra Cox said...

Thanks, Jess:) Agree on the marketing. Sigh.

Sandra Cox said...

I'm with Jess on wanting to see pics, especially of you and Will:)

Sandra Cox said...

Thanks, Julie. Lovely to meet you too.

Sandra Cox said...

Thanks, Beverly. I appreciate the interest.

Sandra Cox said...

Ha. None of the phases are though, are they?;)

Sandra Cox said...

I can relate with that, Loni:)

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

That book sounds like something I'd really like. I love westerns. I wish I could go to one of those cons. I've never been to one. This summer is out with my knee surgery limiting my travel. Maybe next year.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

You need to go to a big one at least once. The guests, wares, events, and cosplayers - it's just incredible.

Lynn J Simpson said...

I would love to be at a con convention you are participating in! The procrastinating part is what I'm struggling with when it comes to any writing. However, even just a few words a day gets the momentum going again! I have hope!

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Very succinctly put! We try to make it more complicated but this is basically the writing life in a nutshell.

Arlee Bird said...

I tend to get stuck somewhere during that first phase which means I don't think all that much about the other phases.

Have fun at the Comic Con events. I'll be in middle America wending my way back home.

Lee

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

Congratulations to Sandra and Dancing Lemur.
Seems you're busily having fun, as usual.
Enjoy.

Anonymous said...

I think I may be a mix of a pantser and a prepper. I had to do a guideline for the book I'm writing now. I was getting to lost and it was bogging me down.

Congratulations to Sandra! Good luck at Comic Con! What a fun event :)

Elsie

Tara Tyler said...

i like the idea of promoting for a month then moving on to the next one—it feels like a never-ending process!
congrats Sandra!

Tara Tyler Talks

Sandra said...

Thanks, Susan. Hoping your healing is speedy and goes well.

Sandra said...

I think we all struggle with procrastination, Lynn.

Sandra said...

It's a reoccuring cycle, isn't it, Karen?

J Lenni Dorner said...

I feel like editing is separate from publishing. Even when I considered traditional, I spent a year editing and getting five Beta readers before I sent any query letters. Might just be me though.

Good post. Thanks for sharing.

Chrys Fey said...

Phase 2 can take a long time, but Phase 3 never really ends. lol

Sandra Cox said...

Thank you, Karen.

Welcome back, Di:)

Sherry Ellis said...

I'm very familiar with those phases! It's a never-ending cycle.

Congratulations to Sandra!

Denise Covey said...

The six-figure self-pubbed authors I hang with swear by learning how to write successful Amazon ads. A lot of the old ways no longer garner much interest.