15 Key Publishing Tips

This month was packed with highlights including my time at the Caleb Conference in Queensland. I could write a zillion posts on the joys and advantages of gatherings such as these. I love connecting with others who are passionate about literature – it is contagious!

With a head swimming in revelation and excitement it is challenging to deliver to you briefly. Here are a tiny portion of some key notes:

Session: Things I Wish I’d Known Earlier Andrea Grigg (author) & Iola Gouton (editor)

1. To reduce your costs, keep word count down before you pay an editor.
2. After publication, you need to have a plan to market your book. Your job is not to write (or illustrate) books while the publisher takes care of everything.
3. Break your manuscript into manageable goals, chunks of word count.
4. The highs and lows of publishing can mess with your emotions. It is a challenging occupation – be prepared.
5. It is foolish to avoid editing. An editor works with you to get you in the door.

Session: Publishing today – Publishers: Rochelle Manners (Wombat Books) & (Even Before Publishing) Julie Firmstone (CEP) and George Bryant (Daystar Books)
To save me repeating what Narelle has written on her blog, there is a brief article on this particular session worth reading:  Narelle Atkins blog.

Session: Author Platform and Marketing Tips & Traps: Kayleen West (me) and Rochelle Manners (publisher)

1. Think socially with a heart of servitude. Today, it is not about advertising but valued connections and visibility–not selling but interacting.
2. Always check your motives.
3. Make sure your content is interesting, useful and relevant– not spammy!
4. Note what irritates you and don’t repeat it yourself.
5. Twitter, Facebook and Youtube are the top 3 platforms on social media for an author.
6. Anything you do online– be professional and be searchable by being visible.
7. Authors are the biggest offenders of poor websites. Don’t skimp here, if you are going to have one make sure it looks professional.
8. Meet lots of interesting people and enjoy the interaction.
9. Keep learning new ways to share what you love to create and marketing won’t be such a pain.
10. It is important to plan and have a list to in your time. Choose what is most appropriate and comfortable for you and step out from there.
I also listed 24 avenues to build your author platform on. If there is enough interest I can share more session tips later. Any takers?

There were many other sessions but unfortunately you need to attend these events to get the all the goodies. It would make for a very long post. I’m not sure how you feel about event like these but I find them highly valuable–must insert 3 exclamation marks here !!!!
Sorry Iola.

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