Indie vs Traditional Publishing Video

Here I'm talking about indie-publishing vs. traditional publishing, writing erotica, and about my upcoming Enslaved Trilogy and Pulse Trilogy from Simon & Schuster, with Indie Author Jason Matthews!
 

FREE copy of Successful Self-Publishing book!

Big news! If you're an author or an artist, you might be interested.

My NEW non-fiction book Successful Self-Publishing: How We Do It (And How You Can Too) is available now as a FREE pdf download at SelfPubBookCovers.com - a new venture I've co-founded with my graphic designer, partnering with dozens of artists.

 At SelfPubBookCovers.com, authors can search through almost 1000 premade book covers (and growing!) and instantly customize one with the book title and author name, then immediately download it, ready to use. The book cover is then removed from the site, so each cover is one-of-a-kind.

We're also on Twitter at @SelfPubBkCovers and on Facebook, too! Get your free pdf copy of Successful Self-Publishing!

Here's the intro from the book. Copyright Shoshanna Evers 2012, All Rights Reserved.

Introduction by Shoshanna Evers

Welcome! Successful Self-Publishing: How We Do It (And How You Can Too) is all of the advice and inspiration I’ve wanted to share with authors for a while now. As both an independent and traditionally published author, I can tell you from experience that there are pros and cons to both routes. Ultimately, the best thing about self-publishing is the ability to retain control over all aspects of your own book, and to make more money per sale doing so.

Numerous other successful authors have joined me to contribute their knowledge and tips on how they’ve achieved their goals through self-publishing. We’ve got specific suggestions, Do’s and Don’ts, and so much energy and excitement for this new world of publishing that by the time you finish reading, you’ll be ready to take the steps to put your manuscript out into the world as a published book.

I’m not against traditional publishing. I consider myself a business woman as well as an author. My business is the business of “being Shoshanna Evers.” That involves much more than just writing books. More than half of my work day is spent not writing, but in publishing or promotion-related endeavors. When I heard that I could get 70% royalties based on list price if I published a book myself instead of going through one of my publishers, I made a business decision: It was time to dip my toes in the self-publishing waters. And wow, the water feels great!

We start with USA Today Bestseller Kallypso Masters’s inspiring journey of how she quit her part-time day job making thirty grand a year (including benefits) and went on to net well over six figures as a debut indie author. She’s very pro-indie, to the point that she thinks getting an agent and accepting a traditional book deal that includes her digital rights is like flushing money down the toilet.

I can see where she’s coming from—after running the numbers before accepting a six-book deal with a large traditional publisher, I felt I could make more money on my own, since as JA Konrath says, 70% royalties forever is worth more than 14.9% royalties, and forever is a long time—but I wanted to try something different to see how it went. Point being, I went into it with open eyes. Whatever you do, go into a project with your eyes open and know what you’re gaining and what you’re losing by taking a certain route. Most important to me in any contract is that I am still able to self-publish if I sign it.

Author Gia Blue hit number twenty three on the overall Amazon Kindle Bestsellers list with a short erotic story and continues to self-pub what she calls her “smut” since she feels publishers won’t touch it but…readers love it.

New York Times and USA Today Bestseller H.P. Mallory talks about the importance of great cover art and how to make the most of your cover to sell your books, and build your brand.

Then, author Cara Bristol interviewed me about the business of writing. In the interview I give candid answers about how I went from completely unknown (in fact, Shoshanna Evers did not exist at all, since it’s my pen name) to making a living as a full-time author. It includes my tips on when—or if—to find an agent and go the traditional publishing route, or whether self-publishing is the best choice for you.

Liz Matis’s book spent almost two years in editor limbo before she pulled the plug and decided to go it alone. She also talks about how she put her self-published book out as an ebook, a print book using print-on-demand, and an audio book—all with a zero to low start-up costs.

Having a high quality product that’s well written, well edited, well formatted, and has a great cover are all an important part of respecting our readers, something Katriena Knights (who also writes as Elizabeth Jewell  and KC Myers) discusses in her essay.

Author Heather Thurmeier gives us her top ten list of tips for successful self-publishing, plus a bonus tip. She doesn’t gloss over the hard work involved or the fact that your book-baby might not sell as well as you hoped. Then again, it might…

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Jennifer Probst found a place for her story about a rescue dog by self-publishing it, and now writes a check each month with part of the book proceeds to the animal shelter where she volunteers. She found a wonderful way to contribute to charity with the gift that keeps on giving—royalties!

Skye Warren did an experiment. She put two novellas up for sale and told no one to see what would happen. Her experiment led to some fascinating insights on self-publishing, including the importance of discoverability and word-of-mouth in the absence of marketing.

Price points are an important facet of self-publishing, since we have the ability to be nimble with our pricing and make adjustments as needed. We can try different things to see how our books sell best and what makes the most money. I’ve found that when I price my books higher, I get less sales (and therefore a lower ranking on lists) but I make more money. My bestselling short story Overheated, however, is only 99 cents simply because it’s too short to make it cost more, in my opinion. It outsells my other books. Jackie Barbarosa discusses the pros and cons of the 99 cent price point and whether that should be part of your marketing strategy.

Donna McDonald kept getting rejections from traditional publishers who said her books were wonderful but there was no market for an older heroine. She proved them all wrong by self-publishing and now makes a living off of her self-pub income.

I interviewed USA Today Bestseller Debra Holland, and she explains how good reviews and making category bestseller lists on Amazon made her sales go through the roof. She sold over 120,000 books in her first fourteen months as a debut author.

Then David Kazzie, Amazon Bestseller and creator of the viral YouTube hit “So You Want to Write a Novel” talks about how putting his book up for free brought life to lagging sales.

I’ve also included Valerie Bowman’s Twitter primer for authors, which includes information on how to use hashtags and Triberr to maximize your follower reach. Being on Twitter is a great way to get connected to the publishing community and connect with readers.

Author K. Rowe gives her tips on marketing using free promo, including the importance of making it easy for readers to discover and get to your books via links.

So what happens if you put out a great book and it’s not selling? When Heather Hiestand, (who also writes as Anh Leod) had lagging sales on one of her indie books, she took it to a review website loop and asked for honest opinions on why it wasn’t selling. She changed her cover, blurb, and sale price to increase sales. One of the biggest benefits of self-publishing a book is that we can change things that don’t work until they do work.

The last article in this book is my essay Getting Published, which breaks down all the publishing terms, what they mean, how to format your manuscript, how to write a query letter, and how to decide if you want to pursue traditional publishing, self-publishing, or as I have done, both.

If you’re reading this introduction as an excerpt or sample pages, please know that you can download the book for free at www.SelfPubBookCovers.com. We want you to be successful. This is how we do it, and how you can too.

Ready?

My New Website Design!

I've got a brand-spanking-new website at www.ShoshannaEvers.com. Come, make yourself at home. :)

There's new navigation, the books are easier to find by category, there are new pages about the upcoming Simon and Schuster Enslaved Trilogy and Pulse Trilogy (with the never-before-seen cover for Enraptured, and the blurbs for all three Enslaved books!)

And, of course, the design is new, edgier, and totally hot. Big thanks to web designer Amber Shah.

Cover Reveal from Pocket Star!

The Enslaved Trilogy will be published by Simon & Schuster's Pocket Star imprint and is available for pre-order now! (Just click the covers). I've got the covers for the first two books in the trilogy, although the cover blurbs haven't been added yet.

These are very kinky, sexy BDSM erotic romances about a tight-knit group of billionaire Doms in New York -- and the women they fall in love with. I'm thrilled with the covers S&S's cover department came up with! :) Still waiting on the cover for the third book, Enraptured... then again, I'm still writing it! ;)

 

Tips for NaNoWriMo!

I originally posted this as a comment on my agent's blog, since she is going to do NaNoWriMo herself for fun this year, and she asked for suggestions. Here's what I said, with some extra tidbits:

Rule number 1 for NaNoWriMo: Give yourself permission to suck! 

Leave the typos and plot holes in place, and just keep going. Don't go back and reread - like another commenter said, write a quick note to yourself at the end of the session so you know where to go, like (Hero and heroine have first kiss and she gets upset when villain interrupts.) I actually do that all the time, not just for Nano.

If you find yourself realizing you need to make a change (like you gave away too much info in first chapter) just keep writing as if you've already made the change, and when it's time to edit you can go back and make the change. You can even write a note to yourself like (pretend they never kissed) and keep going. 

Many writers can write 1000 words in an hour, so if you give yourself two hours a day you can meet your goal. During Nano I try to write 2K a day to account for days when something happens (like Thanksgiving). 

Side note: every day is NaNoWriMo for me; I write at least 2K words a day, every day, in order to keep up with contractual commitments and you know, write a lot of books :)

The Pulse (the book I snagged my agent with, and which will release as a trilogy from Simon and Schuster after The Enslaved Trilogy releases with them) was written during NaNoWriMo (75k words), so was Snowed in With the Tycoon (a book I self-published and which makes me some nice income every month), and The Tycoon's Convenient Bride...and Baby (a book my agent just got an offer for, but negotiations are still in place so shhhh!) was also written in a Nano-esque month. So good books can come out of it, it's all about December and revisions :)

(2014 Update: The Tycoon's Convenient Bride... and Baby got published by Entangled Indulgence, and hit the B&N Nook Bestseller list! All of the 6 books I contracted after The Pulse (The Enslaved Trilogy and The Pulse Trilogy)  have been written and are out now from Simon & Schuster Pocket Star, as well as in audiobook. I am also thrilled to announce I am now represented by Stacey Glick of Dystel & Goderich).

Most importantly, have fun with writing during NaNoWriMo. When you don't know what to write next, add in a new secret, a new character, or a new obstacle. Instant plot twist! 

Happy writing!

Six Book Deal With Simon & Schuster!

So, I’ve been holding onto this huge secret for the longest time ever, it seems. And I’ve been *dying* to tell you all about it.

Drumroll, please?………………….

I accepted a six book deal with Simon & Schuster’s Pocket/Gallery Books imprint. Two trilogies!

The Enslaved Trilogy is about three very sexy billionaire Doms. The first is Enslaved, which releases in April 2013. Then Enamored, which comes out in May, and finally Entwined, in June 2013.

The Pulse Trilogy is a dystopian post-apocalyptic erotic romance and I’m not quite sure when that releases, but I know they will be published one after another quickly for readers who don’t like to wait around!  If you’ve read the query letter that got me my agent (it’s in the last chapter of How to Write Hot Sex) then you know the pitch for The Pulse.

My editor is the lovely Kate Dresser, who is a joy to work with!

So that’s the big news! Sign up for my mailing list to be kept in the loop!

About Shoshanna Evers:

Critically-acclaimed author Shoshanna Evers has written dozens of sexy stories including erotica bestseller Overheated. Her work  has been featured in Best Bondage Erotica 2012 and Best Bondage Erotica 2013, the anthology Agony/Ecstasy, and numerous erotic BDSM novellas including Chastity Belt and Punishing the Art Thief. The non-fiction anthology Shoshanna Evers edited and contributed to, How To Write Hot Sex: Tips from Multi-Published Erotic Romance Authors, is a #1 Bestseller in the Authorship, Erotica Writing Reference, and Romance Writing categories.

Her favorite thing to do is cuddle up with a good book…and her husband. Shoshanna is a New York native who now lives with her family and two big dogs in Los Angeles, California. She welcomes emails from readers and writers, and loves to interact on Twitter and Facebook.

Writing is Rewriting

I tend to write books, and writing the book for me, at least, is the easy part. The hard part? Rewriting!

Writing is rewriting as the saying goes. So I wrote a novel for a #soopersekritproject that I’m not allowed to tell anyone about yet (but when I can, I’ll shout it from the rooftops!).

 My WIP is entitled Enslaved, which is Book One in The Enslaved Trilogy, which already has an offer on it from a publisher. (Can’t tell you which of the Big 6 it is yet, oh hey I dropped a hint, oops).

Anyhoo… I wrote the book, sent it to an author and a reader to beta-read, got a thumbs up from them both, and sent it to my agent and got back 3 pages of revisions before I can hand it in to my editor.

Shoshanna Evers

Oh, and the book is due in 10 days.

HELP.

My first instinct when I got the revision notes was to freak out, possibly because my agent wrote in all caps DON’T FREAK OUT at the top of the email. Then I read through them and got a bit depressed, because I realized that all of her notes are spot on and are going to make my book better.

So now I have ten days to make some major revisions, which mainly involve adding things that I often leave out since I’m used to writing bare-bones and short. I need to get in the characters’ heads more and give them backgrounds that seep into their present story. Doable. I can do it. Yes I can!

 But rewriting the opening? Changing a major plot point? Oh my goodness. Plus the fact that I need to explain some of the BDSM terms and situations in a way that doesn’t make it feel like I’m explaining them, like what does wearing a lover’s collar mean to a submissive….eh, I can do that.

But changing the opening? HELP! I have ten days. I want to start now. But my agent (the lovely Courtney Miller-Callihan of Sanford J. Greenburger Associates – yes! Dan Brown’s agency!) told me to sleep on it and call her in the morning.

Like I’ll be able to sleep tonight. LOL Wish me luck folks, I’m gonna need it.

xoxo Shoshanna
(This post was originally written for www.FlirtyAuthorBitches.com)