SPARKS FROM AUTHORS ELECTRIC

SPARKS – A year’s journey through e-publishing

The first anthology from Authors Electric

The Authors Electric blogspot receives over 12,000 hits a month and its worldwide readership is growing. The group of 29 independent and independently publishing writers present a kaleidoscope of books, opinions and ideas aiming to entertain and inform, each posting one blog a month. Now the group is publishing a selection.

SPARKS is an anthology of blogs by a group of bloggers. It includes contributions from 41 professional authors posted between June 2011 and November 2012. Released on Kindle, SPARKS will cost less than £1. A free app will be available for download to allow the anthology to be read on a wide range of devices. A paperback version is planned for the New Year.

The idea came from Julia Jones, a former bookseller as well as a publisher, reader and writer. Fascinated by developments in the book trade, she got into the habit of reading her fellow Authors Electric members’ blogposts on a regular basis. The more she read, the more impressed she became ‘by other people’s knowledge, humour and their willingness to share their experience’. A casual remark on Facebook that she could ‘feel a collection coming on’ was met by an enthusiastic response – and SPARKS was born.

‘Anthologies have always had their place in the newspaper and magazine world – and I'm not aware of another UK blogging group that has produced anything like this,’ says Julia Jones.

With 430 blogposts to choose from, Jones selected one post from each current member, one from every former member who’d posted on five or more occasions, two guest posts and two ‘specials’.

‘SPARKS aims to present “the journey so far”,’ says Jones. ‘We are a group of authors e-publishing our own work for a number of reasons: some are disillusioned with conventional publishing; some have new work that does not fit traditional genres; we all want to keep our backlist titles in print – and for the sheer pleasure in managing our writing lives. SPARKS reflects this, as well as the new excitements and difficulties of self-publishing.’

One of the ‘specials’ selected marks the 100th review on the IEBR (Indie eBook Review), sister website of Authors Electric. An outside perspective on how media attitudes to writer-publishers have changed is provided in an interview with Scott Pack, publisher of Harper Collins imprint, The Friday Project; book trade analyst and a former bookseller.

‘SPARKS offers a perspective on a year that has seen real change in the independent e-publishing market,’ says Julia Jones. ‘The experience of the individual members of Authors Electric is probably representative of many other writer-publishers. Contributing as a group has helped all of us feel clearer about what we’re trying to do, even when we don’t agree with each other. We all feel more confident that choosing to publish our own work isn’t some form of vanity, but is a new way to connect with readers and manage our own books and our own careers without depending on the traditional “gatekeepers”.’

The paper version of SPARKS is a not-for-profit exercise and will be sold at cost, or as near cost as retailers’ (such as Amazon) pricing structures allow. Authors Electric member, Stephanie Zia (an author who also runs her own e-publishing company, Blackbird Digital), is managing this side of things. Any royalties paid to Blackbird will be put towards providing free books to journalists, reviewers, analysts and broadcasters who might be interested in discussing the group’s work.

As with all Authors Electric projects, such as its Great E-Book Giveaway in April 2012, SPARKS is a group effort.

‘Authors Electric started just over a year ago with zero readers,’ says Susan Price, group co-ordinator. ‘It's now getting 12,000 hits a month from a growing worldwide audience – all due to its writing team of highly articulate, sparky bloggers! I'm privileged to be part of it, and can't wait to see how it develops, along with e-publishing, in the future.’

The SPARKS e-anthology is published on 28^th December 2012. The paperback version will be published early in 2013. The e-anthology will be free for the first five days, after which it will retail at US$0.99 (£0.77).

Journalists who would like a copy of SPARKS to review or comment on digital books, please contact:- Stephanie Zia at Blackbird Digital Books  +44 (0)7816 491189  blackbird.digibooks@gmail.com

For further information and comment on the Authors Electric group, please contact:-

Susan Price – susanlprice@hotmail.co.uk   +44 (0) 1384 256190

AUTHORS ELECTRIC – http://authorselectric.blogspot.co.uk

INDIE ‘L’ PLATES: MY YEAR OF TECHNOLOGY & SYSTEMS

This month marks my first year as an Indie (independent) author and publisher. Since technology and business systems have played a greater part of my working life in 2012 than in any other year of my career, I thought I would review the challenges.

THE KOBO ISSUE

KOBO, bless ‘em. Is this digital e-book platform really geared up for self-publishing authors? Their website is pretty, in a twee kind of way, but their customer care people don’t seem to have a clue what’s happening when you have a problem. In November, I uploaded the first of my Sprite Sister books. On the basis that Vol 1 went through okay, I started on the other five titles. I filled in the information and ticked the boxes: I’ve uploaded and re-loaded my e-title files numerous times on Amazon, so the process is not unfamiliar. Except the other five titles didn’t upload. Somewhere in the great KOBO computer system they got stuck.

You are 75% of the way through, the system told me. But I filled in all the information, I ticked all the boxes, I’ve uploaded the files, I kept telling them. Round and round I went, but my titles remained 75% complete.

The customer care department were of little help. Please would you explain what has happened, they kept saying. I have, I repeated, pulling out more hair. Why can’t you see that? Are you not connected to the system?

I spent three weeks waiting for KOBO’s website department to unravel the mystery, then gave up and deleted my files. There won’t be any Sprite Sister books on KOBO for the time being, until I have mustered sufficient energy to grapple with their systems again.

THE BLOG NIGHTMARE

I want to find a way to write about my big, complicated family, but it would have to be anonymously. My mother has Alzheimer’s and there’s a lot to say, some of it hilariously funny – though probably not to my sisters – and some poignantly sad. ‘I need a voice!’ I kept telling myself. And if I wrote a humorous family blog, maybe it would get picked up for a magazine column, I reasoned.

On a sweltering August afternoon, my daughter tried to set up a new blog account for me, under a new name. She galloped along and I tried hard to keep up, but somewhere, somehow, a button was pressed and suddenly all my blogs and my entire Google identity vanished into cyberspace. I was too shocked to speak. My daughter left the house very quietly.

I tried to tell Google, ‘I am who I say I am!’. But the door would not open: I was locked out of my own account. I no longer existed on Google. After hours of confusion and panic, I managed to create a new blog. I was able to re-load the text and photographs on my Sheridan Winn blogs. However, I lost the photographs on all my Authors Electric blogs.

In terms of sheer panic, this experience felt as if it took years off my life.

PRINT ON DEMAND AND SUPPLYING THE LIBRARIES

Well you can’t. It’s as simple as that. Here’s a business conundrum if ever there was one for a self-published author with print-on-demand titles.

Libraries buy their books from Peters’ Bookselling Services. Lightning Source, my print-on-demand publisher, supply to Bertram’s and Gardner’s distributors, but they do not supply to Peters – nor will they, they tell me.

If you write series fiction for children, as I do, you’re pretty much dependent on library borrowers. I can probably persuade Norfolk libraries to order my books, as it’s home turf – but what about Taunton or Aberdeen? You don’t think of this as you set out to self publish: but you should.

We might be able to order them from Amazon on this occasion, Norfolk & Norwich Millennium Library told me. My local library, this is the one with the highest footfall and borrowing levels in the UK. The librarians wanted the ‘new-look’ Sprite books: it was just a question of how to acquire them. I offered to supply the books, but this method was declined. As a special request, and for this one occasion, they would order them from Amazon.

I think libraries are amazing and Andrew Carnegie a far-sighted human being, but I wish, as a self-published author, that library purchasing systems would be more flexible. No doubt this will change in time as readers ask for the books of self-published authors, but in the meantime this was possibly the biggest single blow, financially, of 2012. The prospect of my ‘new-look’ series not being in libraries is depressing.

SUPPLYING THE BOOKSHOPS AND HOBSON’S CHOICE

Lightning Source, which supplies my print-on-demand paperbacks, allow me to set the bookseller discount, so I thought I would give 25%. But, as print-on-demand books, my titles would also be non-returnable. Would the bookshops stock them? No, I reckoned, but they would order them in for a customer.

Henry Layte, owner of The Book Hive and a long-time Sprite Sister supporter, said he’d happily stock the new-look Sprite Sisters, but the standard discount was 35%.

Ah. Right. So that means I sell the book at £7.99; the bookseller takes £2.80; Lightning Source takes £3.42. And I’m left with . . . £1.77. Hm. Bit less than I’d expected as author and publisher.

THE PROOF ISSUE

Beware the print specs! Should you colour correct the jacket or not? Should you leave I the trim marks on the pages? You need to know these things if you are supplying files to a print on demand printer. Lightning Source's media department has very specific requirements and if you don’t meet them, you may flounder. It took weeks of going back and forth with the artist who’d drawn my new jackets and Lightning Source, to get the files for my six titles absolutely spot on.

Also, I urge anyone publishing as print-on-demand to get a physical proof before signing off the print run. Yes, it costs, but you will see things there that you won’t see on the electronic proof. For instance, I didn’t spot that the text for Sprites Vol 1 was grey, not black, on the electronic proof. I’d loaded the wrong file by mistake. However, not realising, I approved the proof and ordered a box of copies at £160. Bad move. Thankfully I was able to reload the text with the correct file for a fee. More cost.

THE DISAPPEARING EMAIL NIGHTMARE

Where did they go? Where are the hundreds of mails that were in my Inbox a minute ago? Argh . . .

In October, with an unerring ability to press the wrong button, it transpired I had somehow switched to another mail identity within Entourage on my iMac. With the help of my trusty Mac man all was restored, but it was, to say the least, a little worrying.

ALL MY E-BOOKS FREE ON AMAZON PRIME!

What? Not just one, but all six? I didn’t say you could do that! Or did I? Was was it I agreed with Amazon . . .

Then I remembered I’d signed up for Kindle Select – and one of the conditions was that Amazon could offer your books thus. Quickly, I unselected that option but it won’t come into effect until January. Until then, you can get all six of my e-books free if you are a member of Amazon Prime.

WITTERING

Twitter has the effect on me similar to flashing lights. I want to turn away.

I know I should do it – all Indie authors do to rpomote their books – but I just cannot summon up the enthusiasm. I realise I am Grumpy Old Woman at last.

FACEBOOK

Non starter (see Twitter).

EIN OR ITIN? UNRAVELLING THE US TAX SYSTEM

In the early summer, I decided to apply for a US tax number. A fellow Indie author advised me to call the US Embassy in London. Apparently that department gives you another number to ring, and, when you get through to that department, they will give you an EIN over the phone. I waited an hour to get through, then hung up.

Leave it, I thought – and did until I tried to register with NOOK last week. This e-book platform, owned by Barnes & Noble, requires you to have a US Tax ID Number to register. But now that I have a company, do I need an EIN or an ITIN? Perhaps my accountant can sort this – for a fee . . .

WRITING

Way behind. I keep receiving mails from my readers asking when the 7^th Sprite title will be finished. Earlier this year I was confident I’d have Magic at Drysdale’s School written, edited and published by Christmas. And when are The Earth Stories coming, other readers asked?

The truth is I’ve so busy with the business and technology side of things that the writing has got pushed back. If I want to get the book out by February, I have 40,000 words to write by the end of the year. Ha.

HOWEVER . . .

Early this year I set out to:-

·      buy back the Sprite Sisters book rights from Piccadilly Press

·      sell my sixth title direct to Fischer Verlag for publication in Germany

·      commission new jackets for the original five Piccadilly titles

·      re-publish the six stories as print-on-demand paperbacks and as e-books

·      start writing a blog for my website

·      write a humorous blog anonymously

·      write and publish the seventh Sprite Sisters book

·      find an agent to sell my books in Japan

It took months to re-edit and re-format the six books, and it cost a bomb. But it’s all done and I now have a terrific set of paperbacks and e-books to send to the US and out to film production companies, as well as sell.

I managed six out of my eight aims, which is not bad going considering the multiple challenges faced this year.

Next year I’ll aim to be more techno-savvy – but that may be a bit of a long-shot.

My best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2013 to one and all!

My thanks to Chris Winn for his wonderful jacket illustrations and to 

Simon Cheshire for all help with the formatting. We got there in the end!

Sheridan Winn is the author of the bestselling Sprite Sisters books.

You can find out more about her at: www.sheridanwinn.com

WRITING A SERIES

I am currently writing my seventh Sprite Sister title. Here are some of the things I’ve learned about writing a series for children.

One chance to make a first impression

Your series stands or falls on the strength of your first book. It’s your starting point and everything comes back to that. It defines the characters and their world, and sets up an expectation of what is to come. You have to get it right. If your readers don’t like it, they won’t bother with the second story. 

A series relies on the strength of its characters

It’s the characters you come back to. What’s going to happen to them next? They are your friends: enjoy them and listen to them. Their voices become familiar. You know what they will say and how they will react, but, like your friends, your characters are not static. They need to grow through the challenges you have set them – and you need to move with them.

Continuity

Between 2007-2009, I wrote five Sprite Sister stories in 30 months for Piccadilly Press. On signature of each contract, I had three months writing time. Each book was written in six weeks, and edited in six months, one after the other. It was quite a pace to keep up, but it provided continuity. I enjoyed working fast and it proved financially worthwhile, as Fischer Verlag bought the German rights, pushed the Sprite series and sold over 200,000 books. I’ve lost some continuity with Book 6, which will not be published until 2103 – so a two-year gap. I realise I need to get the Book 7 written as quickly as I can, to make up for lost time and keep my readers with me.

Have a formula

I write each Sprite title to around 55,000 words, with around 24 chapters. I know the shape of the story, where I want the action to arc (at the end of each third of the story), and where to have a ‘beat’. Apart from helping me, having a formula means the reader knows what to expect. For each Piccadilly title, I wrote a synopsis in which the plot was worked out until the last section. The ending came to me as I was ‘in’ the story, fighting the battle. Without the need to provide synopses for Book 6, The Boy With Hawk-like Eyes, and Book 7, Magic at Drysdale’s School (because I am publishing them myself), I’ve worked out the plots as I go. It’s proved a much slower process.

Pace

Come to the point: your reader does not want to faff about. My editor allowed description, but not at the expense of pace. My books are aimed at girls aged 7-12 years. Young readers like detail, especially if it’s quirky or funny, but they want the story to move along at a lick. Action sustains interest.

Play to your strengths

I love reading thrillers, but I’m not sure I could write them as they require such detailed plotting. My strength, I believe, is writing family drama. I come from a big family and understand the dynamics of a group of people pushing and pulling against one another. I hear the conversations and arguments in my head, as I write them. It feels natural.

Consistency

The idea for the Sprite Sisters come to me in a sentence late one night: ‘Four sisters with magic powers, east, south, north, west – fire, water, earth air’. The stories developed as I wrote them, one by one. I didn’t make copious notes on filing cards, as I didn’t feel I had time to stop. Inevitably, I forgot some of the character and location details I had written in earlier books. By the time I got to Book 4, The Ghost in the Tower, the editor and I were tracking back and forth to find what I’d said about this and that. What colour are Quinn’s eyes? Did the girls open the portal in the East or West Tower? If the map is the secret of Sprite Towers, then what is the Crossed Circle? You need to know: readers spot inconsistencies.

Multiple points of view

How do you manage them? You listen. I believe it’s about balance. In my case, I have a good ear. I seem to know which character needs to speak and what they say. My four Sprite Sisters each need a share of the ‘voice’. Inevitably the eldest girl, Flame gets most of it, but I move the story along through the different voices. Each sister has to be a part of the overall voice of the story.

Style

There’s a marked difference between the writing in Book 1, The Circle of Power, and Book 6, The Boy With Hawk-like Eyes. My style has evolved and, I think, improved. It’s leaner, cleaner. There are bits of writing in the first books that now make me wince. Why did I feel the need to describe Ariel’s fluffy blonde hair so many times?

Rhythm and clarity

Stories need rhythm; words need rhythm. If your sentences have cadence and precision, people will enjoy your writing and stay with your series. Similarly, if your plots are clear, you’ll keep your reader with you.

Heed your editor

Over the course of the series, I came to really value my editor’s skill. She stood back: I couldn’t. She helped to shape the structure of each story, ensured it was logical and clear, kept the pace going and smoothed out any repetition, quite apart from correcting the typos. In the case of Sprites, each book had to work as a standalone novel and as one of a series – and that needed my editor’s eagle eyes. Editing is skill in its own right. If you’re self-publishing a series, don’t stint on professional editing: false economy, especially on the first title.

Clarity

You might know where you characters are and what they are doing but your reader won’t, necessarily. The plot, the location and any jumps in time need to be clear in your mind or your reader will get confused. I got muddled writing Book 4 and so did my editor. Bit of rethink and rewrite there. In a series each story has to tie in with the one you have written before – and the one you wrote before that.

Don’t be precious

I began as freelance journalist, learning on the hoof, so I’m used to having my work edited and chopped about. Instead of feeling my babies were being murdered, I stood back and used the newspaper and magazine editing process as a way to learn to write clear prose and shape features. It’s a useful experience to remember when your book editor disagrees with you – though I think the author is entitled to the odd fit.

Stick to your guns – but choose your battle

Mrs Duggery appeared to me in a flash. I saw the tiny old lady standing in front of me in her lilac knitted hat and her big brown boots. I saw her name flash in neon lights – ‘Mrs Duggery’. I knew she was meant to be part of the Sprite Sister books. The publisher disagreed. We didn’t need any more characters, they said. I had a battle to get Mrs Duggery into Book 2. Thankfully I won, and sure enough the magical old Sprite became one of the best characters in the series.

The pressure changes

In a way, writing a series becomes easier as you know your characters and the scope of their world. On the other hand, there’s pressure to find another new adventure.

The incentive to find that adventure is helped when you think it’s likely you still have readers out there waiting to know what comes next.

The value of re-reading

As soon as I finished writing the first five Sprite titles – in six weeks apiece – my mind washed clear of the stories. By the time the editor came back to me on the first (broad) edit, I’d completely forgotten what I’d written. I got back into the story for a few weeks, then forgot it again once the editing was completed. Recently, I re-edited Sprites for my new e-book and print-on-demand editions. It gave me the opportunity to re–connect with Flame, Marina, Ash and Ariel and their adventures, and provided a stepping-stone to the next story. It allowed me to remember the details: when a child asks a tricky question at an author talk now, I’ll be ready.

Be in charge

Don’t give away all your rights. Have a plan. Writing is the way I earn my bread and butter. Thanks to Fischer Verlag’s success with the Sprite Sisters, I can keep going. I kept the e-book, television and film rights, but recently bought back the book rights to titles 1-5.  I was able to sell Sprites 6 to Fischer Verlag, direct. I’ve approached a Japanese agency and a film agent. However, none of this would have happened if Piccadilly Press hadn’t made a leap of faith in the first place. 

The power of the title

Your story titles have to work separately, but also as a whole. Your series title is your brand. Don’t groan in creative dismay, for a brand is what you are selling – and the title will be a big part of its success.

Find a strapline

If only I had found it at the beginning! ‘The Sprite Sisters – four sisters, four elements, four powers.’ It’s the ‘elevator pitch’ that sums up the series in a sentence. It came to me recently – five years after I started Sprites. It’s on the jackets of the new print-on-demand paperbacks and the e-books – I put it everywhere I can.

Sheridan Winn is author of the Sprite Sisters series, which has sold over 200,000 copies in Germany.

http://www.sheridanwinn.com

CHRISTY'S PROJECT AND THE MAGIC OF READERS' LETTERS

 

There's nothing that gladdens this author's heart as much as an enthusiastic letter from one of my readers.

Authors of adult books may keep their readers for years. Genre writers, 

I suspect, keep loyal readers for decades. But as a children’s author, you capture your reader’s attention for a few years, if you’re lucky. There’s a 

small window in which your books may be cherished, then your readers are gone, grown and after new stories. But if a child likes your stories, they really like them and your characters become their world.

Chris Winn's jacket design for the new e-book

My Sprite Sister stories are aimed at girl readers aged 7-11 years. Marketing with social media is difficult with this age group. My readers are too young to tweet or use Facebook, but they write to me on my website (and I ask them to get their parents’ permission). Mostly they write once or twice, often asking for information for their book project. Sometimes they write to me, on and off, over a period of several years. Always I reply, and thank them. A connection is made, a question answered, an autograph sent.

I have received letters in German, French, Italian, and one in Japanese. Among others, there’s Ellie in Northampton, Daisy in Brighton, Sabina in Switzerland, Hi in New Zealand, Afra in India, Chioma in Nigeria, Meera in Saudi Arabia and Sharon in Myanmar.

With 200,000 Sprite Sister books sold in Germany, a high proportion of my readers’ letters are from there. Here’s a typical one:-

Dear Sheridan,
my english isn't very good, too (So I hope you can understand me). I've got a question: Are you going to film a movie about the Sprite Sisters?
That would be great! I love the sprite sisters!
And I'm waiting longingly for the 7th book.
bye Sophia
PS When you need an actor for the movie, ask me and I'm instantly there!

Recently, Christy Cheung wrote to me from Hong Kong. She was doing a book launch project in her English class at the Discovery College, and had chosen The Circle of Power, the first of the Sprite Sisters books. Christy wrote a polite letter asking a number of questions for the author biography. I replied with the information and said I would be pleased to see photographs of her Sprite Sisters merchandising idea.

I was delighted with Christy's imaginative and ingenious solution and thought that I would share it with you (with her parents' permission).

Christy's Sprite Sister merchandising object

To explain the concept of the books, the Sprite Sisters each have a magic power that relates to one of the four elements and the four directions. Flame, the eldest, has the power of the East and Fire. Marina has the power of the South and Water. Ash’s power is Earth and she stands at the West. Little Ariel has the power of Air and stands at the North. When the sisters work together, their power is balanced and strong. However they are not  always balanced and their enemy is very determined – so many adventures ensure.

Here is Christy’s introduction to her merchandising item:-

‘This is a scene from the first spectacular book of the Sprite Sisters – The Circle of Power. With all the sister's powers balanced, I thought that this scene represents the spirit of the sisters the best, all hearts united to fight for one thing together. All the sisters concentrating on their music along with the united powers, it's the best thing you could do and this leads you on to their first adventure and success in the Sprite Sisters series.’

The complete object

The green knob shows the four elements

Another view of Christy's merchandising object

Terrific, isn't it!

And, as I work through the Sprite Sister titles, another hits the digital shelves: The Magic Unfolds. This is now available as an e-book and print-on-demand paperback, with another of Chris Winn's wonderful jacket designs.

My latest e-book and print on demand paperback

Sheridan Winn is the author of the six Sprite Sister books: 

The Circle of Power, The Magic Unfolds, The Secret of the Towers, 

The Ghost in the Tower, New Magic and The Boy With Hawk-like Eyes.

You can contact her through her website: http://www.sheridanwinn.com

NAVIGATING THE WATERS

It’s an up and down life, this writing business: feast and famine, highs and lows, and the constant pull between nurturing your creativity and producing what pays the bills.

My rights in the Sprite Sister books have been reverted: now there is no Piccadilly Press behind me. I have to navigate my own way. Ahead are the huge, and potentially choppy, waters of digital publishing: few 7-10 year old readers – my market with Sprites – are yet buying e-books. Still, I wouldn’t swap it, this writer’s life, and the freedom of sailing one’s own little boat.

My summer has been spent re-editing the first five Sprite Sister titles for publication as e-books for Kindle, along with a second edition of print-on-demand paperbacks. I have found it a relatively restful experience to focus on stories that are already written, and to further refine them. I have also reconnected with the plots – have been able to pick up the thread once again. That itself is useful with one more title to write. With that I will be done, and bring the Sprite Sister series to a close.

There is a certain satisfaction in this. First, because there is a lot of me in the stories. The experience of writing Sprites has been fun and a way of reconnecting with my childhood adventures. Second, the seven Sprite Sister books will represent a good body of work: over 200,000 hardback books sold in Germany and sales still going strong. The complete series has potential for a children’s film or play. I have my eyes on the Japanese and American markets.

But it is time to move on. Autumn is coming and the air is cool. New stories beckon and I feel the need to write for the adult market. My little boat sits head to wind: I can’t see which way to go yet, but I can feel the pull of a new current. Soon, I will bear away on a new tack and be off once more.

Meanwhile, here are the first two titles of the new Sprite Sisters e-books. By the end of this year, I expect to e-publish all seven books. Just waiting for the illustrator to design the covers! Question: what does one call the image for an e-book – as it isn’t a ‘jacket’?

 Sheridan Winn is a freelance journalist and author of the Sprite Sister books – see www.sheridanwinn.com

The Circle of Power and The Boy With Hawk-like Eyes are available on Amazon Kindle. 

The Magic Unfolds, The Secret of the Towers, The Ghost in the Tower and    New Magic will be available as e-books this Autumn.