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The benefits of networking for authors
Looking back over 2019, one of the key new initiatives in our business was launching our networking events for local indie authors. With the mindset that networking simply involves having conversations, and making connections and building rapport with other like-minded people, we sought to create the environment for this ‘magic’ to occur. During the course of the year, we hosted three author networking events: the first one was held at The Talking Toucan café in New Farm and the other two took place at Paper Moon Functions and Coffee House in Annerley.
Our first networking event
In February, one of our referral partners – Simone Feiler from Brisbane Audiobook Productions – shared her expertise about audiobooks. The air conditioner at The Talking Toucan Café struggled to work properly with the big crowd that showed up for Simone’s presentation but everyone seemed to have a great time and learnt a lot about this increasingly popular publishing format.
Our second networking event
For our second author networking event, we relocated to a larger venue – Paper Moon Functions and Coffee House – a funky space at Annerley where twenty or so indie authors gathered to discuss all things self publishing. (We heard on the grapevine that this cafe was used as a set for the locally produced television series, Harrow.)
Russell Perry from Australian Authors Marketplace was our guest speaker at this event and he presented us with some valuable tips on book marketing. Russell also provided some background information about his centralised website where Australian writers can display and market their books to potential readers. With a background in marketing and an indie author himself, Russell has many ideas to help strike that illusive target that every author aims for – book sales. The lively Q&A session that followed his presentation could have continued on all night.
But we also had to make some time available for Fluffy the Story Dog and his devoted human, Sallyanne, who volunteer their time to the charity, Story Dogs. Sallyanne and Fluffy visit local primary schools to help children who are struggling with reading. Sallyanne has even taught Fluffy how to look like he’s reading a book. Cute factor overload!
Our third networking event
In September, we presented a panel discussion, answering questions relevant to our individual areas of expertise. Jacki Ferro did a wonderful job as MC, using her ‘special hat’ to select questions for the panel that our guests had written on arrival. Once again, all of the attendees were very interested to hear about the information we had to share and we could have talked all night.
What are the advantages of attending networking events?
For people who work from home in a creative (but solitary) occupation, such as writing, editing, graphic design, illustrating etc, there are many benefits to be gained from mixing with other like-minded professionals.
Keeping abreast of new trends
If you are a freelancer or solo business owner, it’s easy to become set in your ways and be oblivious regarding what’s happening in your profession out in the ‘real’ world. Of course, the internet is a fantastic resource to help you keep up to date, but being able to hear first hand about changes and innovations, and discuss issues directly with others is more immediate and energising. Networking provides opportunities for you to ask questions and receive feedback. Discussing other points of view really expands your knowledge base, and allows you to see things from a broader perspective. Learning from other’s ‘best practice’ approaches will save you time, energy and resources in the long run.
Brainstorming ideas
How many times have you felt as though your head would explode because it’s so full of creative ideas? Having someone to discuss your thoughts with can help you prioritise and provide you with the headspace required to act on those ideas. One sure way to get your creative juices flowing is to take the time out from your daily routine and speak with others face-to-face.
Work-life balance
Everyone is aware of the health benefits of socialising with others. We all need balance in our lives between work and play. Making new friends and socialising is an important aspect of our human nature. Developing new relationships leads to higher self-esteem and confidence. By taking the initial steps to connect to other people, your confidence will continue to grow as you become more comfortable networking with others. Confidence draws people to you and opens up the opportunity to find out about new information for yourself and share information with others.
Sharing information relevant to your industry
Hearing first-hand accounts from our colleagues, about how they have overcome problems or achieved success, helps us in our own businesses. As mentioned earlier, selling books needs to be treated as a business. Networking provides a way to learn from the mistakes or achievements of others.
The power of ‘word of mouth’
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. This old chestnut may not be fair but, unfortunately, it’s true. Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool for any business or creative pursuit. While writing and self-publishing a book is commendable and exciting, it is just the start of a great deal more hard work. You have to make sure people know about it. Take every opportunity to spruik about your book. You never know who will be listening and who they might know. When opportunity ‘knocks’ you want to be in a position to take advantage of it. Establishing a wide network of people who you’re connected with may be the difference in seizing the moment or missing out completely.
Helping writers to connect with others
The team at Brisbane Self Publishing Service have directly experienced how mixing with other like-minded professionals has benefited our own creativity, productivity and personal wellbeing. So we decided to create a hub for other local creatives to share ideas, information and their experiences during their self-publishing journey. As well as holding author networking events, we’ve created a closed Facebook group called Brisbane Authors Networking Group (BANG!). In this group, members can ask questions, post helpful links, share news about their books, and generally connect with each other. If you’re on Facebook, please join us at BANG: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BrisbaneAuthorsNetworking/
And watch this space for more ideas from Brisbane Self Publishing Service in 2020 as we work to help authors achieve their publishing goals.
Tips to help save money before embarking on your self-publishing journey
Authors are all keen to reach the same goal – publishing a book that is the very best it can be so they can attract the widest audience possible. To achieve this outcome their message must be clear and the book design must be appealing so that readers are engaged from beginning to end.
Once you’ve written you manuscript – drafting and redrafted it until you think that can’t make it any better yourself – it’s time to consult a professional. But paying for all the services you need to self publish your book can be an expensive exercise. Editing, proofreading, cover design, page layout/typesetting, printing, ebook conversion and the cost of uploading your book to online retailers such as Amazon, can all add up. But while it’s a wise investment to pay publishing professionals to help you produce your book, there are certain things you can do at the outset to help you save money. If you make sure your manuscript is properly prepared, your editor or designer won’t need to spend time on tasks that you could have completed yourself. The well-known saying ‘Time is money’ is absolutely correct!
So what are some ways in which you can prepare your Word manuscript for self publishing that will help you to save on publishing professionals’ time (and hence be good for your wallet)? Following these tips is a great place to start:
Draft and redraft your manuscript
Never send the first draft of your manuscript to your editor. After you’ve finished working on your manuscript, put it away for a week or two, and then get it out again to reread it. It’s amazing how putting a little distance between you and your writing can give you a different perspective. Keep redrafting until you’re certain that you can’t improve it any further. If you’re brave enough and not overly sensitive to feedback, ask others to read your manuscript and give you their opinion. For fiction writers in particular, there’s a tribe of people called beta readers who will read your work for free and give you their opinion regarding what they think works or doesn’t work in your story. If you can find someone who is well versed in your book’s particular genre, it can be a match made in heaven. However, beware of those who only give you positive feedback. You also need to hear constructive criticism at the macro level – Does the story make sense? Are the characters believable? Do any parts of the story drag? At this stage don’t be too concerned about micro-level problems, such as spelling or punctuation.
Don’t get fancy with page formatting
When you type up your manuscript in MS Word or some other word formatting software program, it is not necessary to go to a lot of effort to make the page layout look ‘pretty’. That’s the book designer’s job. Varying fonts or adding colour just makes more work for the designer as they will need to delete all of that extra formatting in order to apply the font styles that work best for your particular publishing project. It is important to note that a lot of text formatting doesn’t transfer correctly from Microsoft Word to Adobe InDesign (common graphic design software used for formatting/typesetting books). The best approach is to keep it simple – use a standard font such as Times New Roman or Arial in 12 point and single spacing between lines. By all means, use italics and bolding where your writing needs emphasis but steer clear of that underline button.
One space or two?
In the world of publishing today, using two spaces after the concluding punctuation mark in a sentence is a no-go. One space is all that’s required. Consider the designer’s frustration (and the extra work that is involved) when even before importing your Word document into InDesign, they need to spend time fixing this common error. And for your own sake, keep in mind that they unusually charge by the hour.
Number the pages in your manuscript
To keep your editor happy, always number the pages of your book manuscript. If they need to discuss a certain point in your manuscript, it is far quicker for them to direct you to a particular page number and line number. And if for some reason your editor is marking up your manuscript in hard copy and a rogue breeze causes the pages to flutter to the ground, they’ll be more likely to look kindly upon you if you’ve numbered your manuscript’s pages.
Indenting paragraphs
The best way to show your editor where a new paragraph starts in your manuscript is to indent it. If they have to guess … then you know what comes next … time equals money. A much worse transgression is when authors use the space bar in order to move to a new paragraph. This action will also irritate your designer. They may swear just a little bit and will definitely add minutes to their time sheet. Microsoft Word has a variety of ways in which you can set up your page so that you need to do as little extra work as possible when typing in text.
Supply your images in the correct format
If you have written a non-fiction manuscript, you may wish to include photographs, illustrations, diagram, charts or tables in your book. With your designer’s welfare in mind (and your wallet’s!), create a image folder separate from your manuscript where you assemble of the graphics you want to include in your book. A good practise is to use placeholder text to advise the designer where you would like your images to appear in the book (i.e. type in the relevant position in your manuscript: ‘Insert photo 12 here’). Where possible be sure to supply your images in high resolution format to ensure that they will not appear blurry when printed. If your images are too large to send as email attachments, you can use a file sharing platform such as Dropbox or WeTransfer or even copy your images to a USB and post it via snail mail.
Using Track Changes in Microsoft Word
Most editors these days mark up written text in MS Word using the Track Changes function. It’s the easiest and most efficient way for editors to communicate their professional opinion with their clients. If you are not already aware of this feature in Word, it is worthwhile to make the effort to becoming familiar with it. If you are able to accept or reject your editor’s suggested edits yourself, it will save them a lot of time and of course, benefit you financially. Using Track Changes may seem daunting at first but if you can master it, you’ll be glad you did.
To ensure you have a smooth ride on your self-publishing journey, everyone involved needs to work together as a team. Investing time in applying these tips to your manuscript and learning how to use all the technology tools that are available to you is a worthwhile practice. Not only will your publishing partners appreciate your efforts, but your budget will be healthier as a result.
Celebrating our author clients’ publishing successes!
The team at Brisbane Self Publishing Service were delighted to host our inaugural Christmas Party and author networking event on Thursday 29 November 2018 at Site Cafe in Banyo. And what a great night it turned out to be!
Coinciding with our five year anniversary, the evening proved to be a great success with some people travelling from as far away as Maleny on the Sunshine Coast, Toogoolawah in the Brisbane Valley and Lismore in northern NSW to attend our party. Drinks and nibbles flowed, as did engaging conversations between clients and our associated service providers. Everyone was keen to exchange ideas and share personal experiences of their writing and self-publishing journey in a relaxed and informal environment.
‘Meet and Greet’ opportunity
As most of the interaction we have with our clients is by way of email or phone conversations, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet many of our authors face to face for the first time and to finally put a face to an author’s name. It was also good to be able to introduce our ‘behind the scenes’ service providers who have partnered with us to help our author clients achieve their publication goals. In addition to our core service offerings of manuscript appraisals, editing and proofreading, page layout/typesetting and book cover design, we also provide print management, ebook conversion/distribution, audiobook production, website design and book marketing advice. Not everyone has taken advantage of all of these options but it was wonderful to see everyone chatting so openly with one another about their writing and publishing experiences. It was also interesting to find out more about what prompted our clients to take the leap of faith to self-publish their manuscripts; what inspired them to write about their chosen topic; how they got started; and what they’re currently working on.
A Centralised Hub for Local Indie Authors
At Brisbane Self Publishing Service we continually strive to create a personalised and supportive experience for all our clients. So naturally it was gratifying for us to see a large group of published and yet-to-be published authors coming together and enjoying themselves at our first networking event. In addition, the positive feedback we’ve received since the party, affirms we’re on track with our objective of providing a Brisbane-based hub for indie authors with friendly, professional advice and support on offer. We love what we do and feel privileged that our clients are willing to put their trust in us to help them realise their publishing dreams.
We are looking forward to seeing many self-publishing writers at our next author networking event. Remember to keep an eye on our website ‘Events’ page for more details.
Memoir or Autobiography: Which writing genre suits your story?
These days, there is a lot confusion surrounding the genres of memoir and autobiography, with many authors unsure of the actual purpose of these writing styles. People will often say that they are writing their autobiography when they really mean they are writing a memoir. Despite sharing some similar features, there are fundamental differences between a publication that is defined as a memoir and one that is considered to be an autobiography.
According to well-known American author Gore Vidal: ‘Memoir is how one remembers one’s own life while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates, facts double-checked’. So before you decide to embark on writing your life story, it is important to have an understanding of the key similarities and differences between memoirs and autobiographies.
Similarities between Memoirs and Autobiographies
Both memoirs and autobiographies are written in the first person and they are true accounts of the author’s life. The author shares personal information with readers, in this way giving their audience genuine insight into the author’s thoughts, motivations and feelings.
Differences between Memoirs and Autobiographies
Memoirs usually focus on one or two central themes and explore one particular area or timeframe of the author’s life in depth. This might include sharing their experiences of overcoming an illness, a near-death experience or some other life-altering event. Memoirs usually cover a brief period of the author’s life, focusing on stories that relate to the main theme. The author may hop back and forth between different timeframes or they may start their memoir at a random point in time, objectively revisiting an extraordinary life event.
Autobiographies, on the other hand, are usually structured chronologically; they are the story of the author’s life from birth until the time of writing. They cover a much broader time span and no one incident is considered to be more important than any other.
Memoirs are more personal than autobiographies. Memoir authors reflect on what they have learned from their experiences and share their innermost thoughts with their readers. The author may offer opinions and question their own beliefs throughout the memoir without ever reaching a definitive answer. The story in a memoir relies on the author’s memories and may not be entirely true – for example, it is not possible to recount conversations exactly as they were spoken at the time.
In contrast, autobiographies include factual material that can be verified by readers. They are often written by celebrities whose fans are interested in the details of their lives and how they became famous. In contrast, anyone who has an interesting message they wish to share with others can write a memoir.
Memoir Writing Tips
Regardless of which genre you decide on, it is important to remember that your writer’s voice must engage the reader from the very first sentence. Your personality should be conveyed through your unique author voice. In memoir writing, using a conversational style helps readers to feel you are speaking to them personally – almost as though you are confiding in them.
On the whole, memoirs have an overarching theme such as triumph over adversity where the author has experienced terrible hardship but through courage and persistence has been able to overcome their problems. When writing a memoir it is important to convey your character flaws as well as those strengths that helped you through your ordeal. This will demonstrate to readers that you are a well-rounded human being who people can relate to.
Memoirs give readers the impression that what they are reading is true as opposed to imaginary (which is the case for fiction). Therefore, your writing must be candid or readers will disengage from your story. Readers can usually detect when a writer is being dishonest. This is usually because there is something uneasy about the writing style which makes them wonder why they don’t believe what they are reading.
Memoir readers want to be simultaneously entertained and enlightened by the subject matter. Always keep your audience in mind and avoid meaningless details or wallowing in self-pity. Long-winded, self-indulgent narrative will cause your readers to lose interest and feel unsympathetic towards you.
There are many reasons why people want to record their personal history. Maybe it’s because they learned an important life lesson that they want to share with others. Or perhaps they want to publish a record of their life for future generations of family to enjoy. Many authors decide to write down their memories as a form of therapy. Whatever the reason, by honing your understanding of the different styles associated with memoirs and autobiographies, you will be well prepared to tell your story.
