CreateSpacing Books

WARNING: This will be incredibly boring if you aren't interested in self-publishing.

If you're considering self-publishing a book, probably the easiest and cheapest way is CreateSpace. Here are some of the CreateSpace books I own.

Two of the above books are my own novels:

   .

Patches on the Same Quilt was a 2013 reissue of my 2001 novel, and Them That Go was a brand new  2016 Appalachian coming-of-age novel. To create the finished books, I downloaded a pre-formatted template and filled it in with my Microsoft Word text. However, I know other self-pubbers who have used Word without a template or who have used Adobe InDesign.

I will use CreateSpace again. A collection of my short stories will go that route in a few months. I also might do another novel one of these days—or one of these years.

If you're young and picture yourself becoming a well-known author, self-publishing (whether via CreateSpace or another self-pubbing source) isn't the way to go. Self-published books are not legit publishing credits, they won't be in chain bookstores, and you will sell most of your books yourself at readings or appearances. You want to go to conferences, perfect your craft, and find an agent who can  submit your work to commercial publishers.

But—if you're older and/or have unsuccessfully pursued commercial publishing but have a book that you really, really want to get "out there," self-pubbing might work for you. It helps if you already have a readership in place (blog, column for local paper, previously published work, etc.) It helps if you have connections to a lot of readers. It helps if you have a marketing plan in mind. The "If you build it, they will come" does not apply to self-pubbed books. CreateSpace will get your book listed on Amazon, but you'll be the one to let folks know it's there.

Sometimes your friends or pets can help you promote.

Before you jump into self-pubbing, do some research. There are many, many online resources to check. Here are a few:

• "A Guide to Reviewing Your Book Proof"
• "Don't Make These 5 Newbie Book Layout Mistakes"
• "9 Book Design Tips That Authors Need to Know"

A bit of Googling will turn up lots more. Besides online articles, many YouTube videos exist about using CreateSpace. I recommend you watch a bunch, but these will get you started:

• "My CreateSpace Experience" from ShaelinWrites gives a basic explanation of what the process.
• "CreateSpace: Self-publishing Thoughts and Tips" is another good place to start. Author Jennifer Kelly tells about her experience.
• The webinar "Self-Publishing' with CreateSpace" is long and boring (think lecture with an occasional image), but gives you an idea of what's involved. Basically it's a promo for services, but it still has some good info if you're new to self-pubbing.
• How to start with CreateSpace? This video—"CreateSpace Tutorial—Self-publishing Books on Amazon.con in Less than 7 Days!"—briefly (only 10 minutes) explains the process. In fact, you might want to view this video first. 

In other words, know what you're getting into and learn what you need to know about formatting and uploading your book. If you're determined to do everything yourself, I really recommend you use a formatted template—doing so will avoid much anguish and gnashing of teeth. After you've created an account with CreateSpace and uploaded your book and cover, don't use the publish button just yet. Order a proof copy (yes, you have to pay for that), so you can see exactly how your book will look. When your proof arrives, read it several times, marking any errors. Then correct your manuscript and upload the corrected version. 

Doing a CreateSpace book isn't terribly difficult, but it is tedious. 

Did I mention I just happen to have two CreateSpace books for sale? You can find them here and here on Amazon.

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Home-Made And On the Road

When I was a kid in the late 40s–early 50s, Mama made most of my clothes. In fact, she made all my dresses, slips, and nightgowns. I still have a lot of the baby clothes she made. Here's one of my baby dresses.

A closer look. Mama not only made it, she also embroidered it.

 

She made me a lot of sun suits when I was a baby. . . .

 

. . . and when I was a little older.  In the picture below, my cousin Marty and I wear matching sun suits that Mama made us.

I still have Mama's treadle sewing machine, but it hasn't been used for decades. I never learned to sew on it.

I suppose I'm still into homemade stuff. My latest book—Them That Go—an Appalachian coming-of-age novel with paranormal overtones is homemade, if you consider self-publishing (albeit through the services of CreateSpace) as being homemade.

A commercial publisher might send its author on a book tour. A home-made author has to set up her own "tour." My first stop was at the Franklin County Library in late March where I sold some books even though I didn't have as big a turnout as I'd have liked. My second stop was at the Westlake Library, and stories in two lake papers, The Laker Weekly and The Smith Mountain Eagle, gave me some good press. A couple dozen folks turned out to hear me read and talk about the book, and I sold a respectable number of books. Last Saturday, I sold books and talked to folks who stopped by my table at the Franklin County Library. At the public presentations of the Lake Writers anthology, Reflections on Smith Mountain Lake, at the Moneta/SML Library and the Westlake, members of Lake Writers were able to sell their books, so—as one of the editors and a contributor to the anthology—I sold some books there.

And my tour continues. In May, I'll be on the road to the Wytheville Library on May 7 (10 AM-2 PM), the Fincastle Library on May 12 (6 PM), and the Vinton Library on May 14 (11 AM) as part of the Vinton Heritage and Storytelling Festival. If you're in the area, come see me.

If you can't make it to one of my stops on my home-made tour, you can buy my novel on Amazon and at a few local places. While home-made books aren't available in bookstores, you can get Them That Go at Virginia Office Supply in Rocky Mount and The General Store and Southern Roots at Westlake.

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Book Cover Cabin Door

Because I'm self-publishing Them That Go, an Appalachian coming-of-age novel, I'm responsible for lots of things besides just writing the book. One is cover design. Luckily, I know a guy who is adept at Photoshop and who can translate my ideas into something workable. But getting the cover just right takes time. I wanted to use a cabin door on the cover—specifically, the door on this cabin:

The above picture of my grandparents' home was taken in 1946. My grandmother is in front. The cabin isn't in such good shape anymore.  Recently, I posted the picture on Facebook for "Throwback Thursday," and several folks thought I should us it as the cover.

But the family cabin doesn't fit the novel. While it's a double-pen cabin with a dogtrot between the pens like the cabin in my book, the similarity ends there. The cabin in my book has a front porch. It has woods in front with a path going to it. A high mountain looms over it. My grandparents' cabin is not in a "holler" like the one in my book, so it's not going to be on the cover—just its door.

Here are some passages from Them That Go in which Annie, the 17-year-old narrator, mentions the cabin: 

  After I change out of my school clothes, I head deeper into the holler to see how Aint Lulie is doing. When the weather is warm, she will either be sitting on her front porch or else standing in her cabin door. But she is always waiting for me. “Come in, Honey, I swear you’re a sight for sore eyes,” she will always say.

  Annie provides some history of the cabin here:

 Aint Lulie’s cabin is a double-pen with an enclosed dogtrot between the two rooms. The part she mostly lives in was built around 1790 when Absalom Byrne, who’d seen the area a decade earlier when he was in the Revolutionary War, came over the mountains with his new wife and settled down. He’d gotten his land patent a year or two before, girded the trees so they’d die and be ready to cut and build with, and he’d picked out his cabin spot near a spring and sheltered by the mountain. He’d dragged big rocks near to where he’d build his cabin so he’d have foundation stones and chimney stones waiting. That fall he went back to Botetourt County, stockpiled some supplies, married his intended, and by early spring they had started for their new home.
 
My grandparents' cabin—at least the pen to the left—was probably built around 1852 by the previous owner, William Bernard. Later my grandfather covered the logs with clapboards from his sawmill. I don't say whether the cabin in the novel is clapboarded or not.

Annie's description of the interior and part of the outside:
 

The cookstove is . . .  on the opposite side of the fireplace from where we sit and the stovepipe connects it to the chimney. Aint Lulie has banked its fire for the night. After I leave, she will bank the fire in the fireplace and go to bed. She will not let the fire go out. “Not letting a fire go out is a sign of always having everything you need,” she says. She is a great believer in signs.

This room where we sit snug near the fire has all Aint Lulie needs. Besides the cookstove and fireplace, there’s her bed, a chest, a pie safe, a table with two chairs, a rocking chair, a cupboard, a washstand near the back door, and rows of shelves along one wall where she keeps some of the things she’s canned. Two iron skillets and some pans hang from the wall near the stove.

She keeps her clothes and her flour barrel and things she doesn’t use everyday in the other room, which also has a bed and dresser. As far as I know, no one has ever slept in that bed during my lifetime. But the bed is ready should it be needed. When I once asked her why she never builds a fire in there, she replied, “It’ud be a waste of good wood with nobody in there to keep warm.”

Some things from her garden—potatoes and cabbages and apples and dried herbs—are in the loft where it’s cooler. If it gets too cold, she climbs the steep steps and covers them with an old quilt so they won’t freeze. She keeps her slop jar in the dogtrot, for privacy I reckon. But she mainly uses it only at night or if it’s too cold or rainy for her to go to the outhouse.

The room where she does most of her living has a front door and window that both face the road, which you can’t see because of all the trees. In the old days, a pasture and some cleared cropland was there, but there’s no longer a need for such. Scott would have cleared the woods and pastured his cows there if he’d lived, but that won’t happen now.

     Aint Lulie’s back door faces her garden spot and the mountain, and there’s a narrow path that branches on the right to the outhouse and on the left to the spring. Aint Lulie still uses the spring sometimes even though she has the pump near the house. She’s not one to let go of the old ways.

A main theme of the novel is about staying and going. According to Aint Lulie, "There's always been them that go and them that stay in ever' generation." People use a door to come (and stay a while) or to go. The door is important in a few scenes.

So, what does the front cover look like? Here 'tis:

 
The novel should be available in a few weeks. Stay tuned to this blog for updates.

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More of What Doesn't Work

Warning: Another in a multitude of posts about self-publishing, so you're likely to be bored if you're not an "under-published" writer like I am. But I included pictures of cats.

"Doing more of what doesn't work
 won't make it work any better."

I heard a professor say this in a class I took in the mid-80s for teacher recertification. I can't remember his name, only that he taught at UVA.

No matter how many times George tries, he's not going to fit in that box.

Recently, I was reminded of what doesn't work for self-pubbed writers when I read a HuffPost article, "Dear Self-Published Author: Do NOT Write Four Books a Year." From the article:

Beyond the fact that the marketplace is glutted with an overwhelming number of books already (many of dubious quality), writing good books simply takes time, lots of it. There's no getting around that time. It involves learned skills, unhurried imagination, fastidious drafting, diligent editing, even the time to step away, then step back, to go over it all again. And, unless you're a hack (and we know there are plenty of those out there), isn't the whole point of this exercise to write good books?

I'd recently become aware of some of these articles about cranking out books to keep your name out there. But if you're a self-pubbed author, your name isn't "out there." It's hidden.

I'm also aware that some authors can crank out several books a year, and that some of the books are worth reading. Author John Scalzi, who refuted the above article in "How Many Books You Should Write in a Year"  apparently can do that. His post is worth a read. So is Larry Correia's "Fisking the HuffPo, because writers need to GET PAID." But Scalzi and Correia are pros who earn money writing and their goals are to write books that readers enjoy and will pay for. The more they write and the faster they write them, the more they will earn. They're not self-pubbed writers who have no fan base (outside of family and friends) and who are unknown by most potential readers.

Apparently, lots of self-pubbers are cranking out books. A 2014 Publisher's Weekly article reports that there were over 450,000 books self-pubbed in 2013—and that doesn't include Kindle books. How many were multiple books from the same author is anybody's guess.

The Big Three in 2013 were Amazon’s CreateSpace which registered 186,926 ISBNs last year, followed by Smashwords which registered 85,500 ISBNs and Lulu which had 74,787 ISBNs. The different Author Solutions divisions had 44,574 ISBNs.

Author Solutions is, as many already know, a vanity-publishing conglomerate, not a real self-publisher. Its imprints want big money for their publishing "services." But I'm digressing.

The fact remains that self-pubbed authors face a lot of competition from a glut of books. And most won't be successful. This article, "Only 40 Self-Published Authors are a Success, says Amazon," pertains to Kindle but can probably also be applied to self-pubbed print books. A Publishers Weekly's story from last fall, "New Guild Survey Reveals Majority of Authors Earn Below Poverty Line" doesn't bode well either.

If some authors are cranking out four books a year, how do they have time to promote them? From my own (albeit limited) experience, I know the main way I sell my books is directly to the reader at book-signings or presentations. A lot of the buyers are friends. I couldn't ask my friends to buy four books a year from me. While some could afford it, a lot can't.

I confess that I'm a slow writer. Them That Go—which I began in 2007, finished in January, and is on track to be self-pubbed via CreateSpace at the end of this month—is likely to be my last book. I can't see myself doing more of —well, you know.

If self-pubbing isn't working especially well for most of the 450,000, why are so many doing so much more of what doesn't work?

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Book Promotion—Maybe

Warning: This post is about book promotion. It will be overwhelming uninteresting to those not actively involved in trying to sell their self-published books—and possibly uninteresting to those folks, too. But I'll throw in some kitty pix.

George is so embarrassed about being exploited that he has to cover his face.

Since I will be self-publishing  Them That Go (my seemingly never-ending-Appalachian-novel-in-perpetual-progress-toward-eventual-self-publication) with CreateSpace in a month or two, I try to keep up with CreateSpace news.  Recently CreateSpaceBlogger posted "New Year's Book Marketing Resolution,"which says, "In 2016 I will do (at least) one thing every day to promote my book(s)."

Then she gives a list. Having self-published my first novel, Patches on the Same Quilt, twice—off-set print runs in 2001 and 2003; CreateSpace version in 2014)—I'm already familiar with these suggestions. A lot of writers conferences I attended stressed some or all of these suggestions.

Chloe checks out the old cover of Patches on the Same Quilt and the new.

Let's see how I shape up according to the list:

• Create or update your Amazon author page

Done that after Ferradiddledumday was published by a small press in 2010. If you click the link above, you can see it.

• Craft or update a short, compelling bio

I have a bunch of bios—short, medium, and long—in a folder on my hard drive. Every year I update some of them. Been doing it for over fifteen years. I keep a long bio on my website. If I'm invited to a presentation, I refer the person who invited me to use anything from this bio she needs to introduce me.

• Create or update a snappy description of your book

Snappy? For a serious novel? Uh, no. Concise, maybe? Here's what I have (so far) for Them That Go, but it's subject to change:

A secret revealed, A mystery solved, A life forever changed

In 1972, seventeen-year-old Annie Caldwell, who has the “gift” of animal communication, wants to be normal, but she’ll settle for being unnoticed. Annie’s brother died in Viet Nam, her mother is depressed and her father drinks. Her only friend is elderly Aint Lulie—who lives in the same holler and who understands the gift because she has one, too: “The first daughter in ever’ other generation has always been blest with a gift, though some think it a curse. Been that way for generations in the Caldwells, Byrnes, and once in a while in the Duffs.”

Aint Lulie also shares family history with Annie, including a mysterious death in the family and how their ancestors came to settle in the mountains: “There’s always been them that go and them that stay in ever’ generation.”

     When a popular local girl goes missing after a school dance, how do Aint Lulie and Annie use their gifts to help solve the mystery?

     Them That Go is an Appalachian novel rich in superstition, folklore, family, and secrets.

• Check all of the above for grammatical errors

Done that—several times.

• Update your headshot

Hmmm. Don't have any recent headshots. Does anyone really want to see how old I've gotten lately? How about a picture of a cute kitty instead? 

I have lots of those. But I think a good picture of the book's cover is in order. Because the book is the important thing. (The cover is still be created. Otherwise, I'd post it.)

• Create a website

Did that back in 2010.

I do need to update my website though, and remove/fix some of the broken links. One of the things I heard at the first writers conference I attended many years ago was that an aspiring author should get www.yourname.com as a domain name (with "yourname" being your author name). And start on a website before the books is even finished.

Another thing I heard long ago at conferences was to start a blog. I forget which literary agent said, "A blog is your column. It proves to the world that you can write." But not long after I heard it, I started this blog.

• Create a Goodreads profile

I didn't find Goodreads all that helpful, so I didn't use it much. It seemed like authors promoting to other authors. I have long since forgotten my Goodreads login info. But there's a page of my books here.

However, there's a good post about "Goodreads for Beginners" that's worth a read on Indies Unlimited.

• Insert a hyperlink to your Amazon page or website in your email signature

Uh, no. When I email someone, it's generally a personal message to someone I know or it's a business email. Neither category is interested in my website info. My friends are already aware of it; businesses don't care. The only exception I make is when someone wants me to do a guest appearance. Then I send the links to avoid having to add a lengthy attachment.

I hate getting emails from friends (and others) with all kinds of advertising info in their signature. Odds are good that I already KNOW their website/blog/Facebook/Twitter? etc. If I'm interested, I'll request it.

• Send a signed book to your college alumni magazine

WTH? Why would the VCU magazine be interested in a self-published book by someone who graduated 49 years ago? VCU already has plenty of big-name authors who either teach there or who graduated from there. A self-published author has little, if any, news appeal. ("I self-published a book" ranks right up there with "I attended community college" or "I shop at Kroger" because ANYBODY can do it. Now, if I could boast that "I sold 987,654,321 copies of my self-published book on the day before I won the lottery," that would be newsworthy.)

• Research local alumni chapters of your alma mater and reach out to them--many have monthly newsletters

I'm pretty sure there aren't any chapters in the Greater Lower Penhook area where I live. I don't think there are any in the whole county.

• Research book clubs near you--then offer to attend the meeting if they choose your book

There are lots of book clubs in the Smith Mountain Lake area. Some decide a year in advance what books they'll be reading. In the past, some read and discussed Patches on the Same Quilt and invited me to the meeting where they were discussing it. But "offering myself to attend the meeting" as some kind of prize, or something. Uh, no. I'll wait to be invited.

• Put a few copies of your book in the trunk of your car--you never know when you'll need them

Self-published authors ALWAYS carry more than just "a few copies" in the trunk. Currently I have a plastic wheeled-backpack filled with books—plastic, so books don't get wet if it rains; wheels, so I can move the thing when I do signings. In the truck, I also have a box of books so I can replenish the supply in the backpack.

However, I won't be "doing at least one thing ever day to promote my book." People get sick of that real fast. And I have a life—and cats that demand attention. I'll promote heavily at first—the first six weeks of so after the book is available—and then I'll slack off.

Other things I won't be doing are covered in my previous post, Book Promotion—Not.  And I don't want to do anything that would embarrass the cats so much they'd go into hiding.

I'd ask the cats for creative promotional ideas, but they're not good at thinking outside the box . . . 

. . . or even outside the basket.

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Book Promotion—NOT

Warning: Opinions about book promotion. Boring if you don't self-publish.
Despite the picture of Arlo (below),  this post has nothing to do with cats.

I'm in the home stretch of finishing what I've come to call my never-ending-Appalachian-novel-in-perpetual-progress-toward-self-publication, so I'm starting to think of ways to promote it. If you're a writer who is thinking of self-publishing, you need to also think about how your book will be promoted. "If you build it, they will come" won't work. A lot of other ways won't work either. 

I've learned from past experience with Patches on the Same Quilt that most ways of promoting a self-published book are pretty much exercises in futility. The best way to promote—at least in my case—is having the book with me when I do a speaking engagement. That's mainly what I'll do with the up-coming book, Them That Go.

Here are some promotions that I won't be using:

1. Chain Letter Forwarding

Recently I was forwarded an email chain letter that contained a poem (think doggerel, here) about what to do in winter (read). 

Given the light-hearted tone of the poem, plus the use of the expression "Woo Hoo!" and the overuse of exclamation points and the title of the book (with an exclamation point!) and the fact that the email was in Comic Sans font, I figured the book was humor, so I actually looked it up on Amazon. (I had to look it up because there was no Amazon link in the email.) I used Amazon's "look inside" feature to read a bit. I stopped reading pretty fast—a child discovering the decaying body of a girl obviously isn't humor. I don't want to read graphic scenes like this that involve children. Given that gruesome scene—and the misleading spam email (in Comic Sans, no less!!!!), I doubt I'll ever read anything by this author. 

Emailing folks you don't personally know—and who might not like your genre—is annoying. See literary agent Janet Reid's recent blogpost, "Who Should Be On Your Mailing List."

2. An Author Page on Facebook

I had some FaceBook pages for earlier books, but I took them down. They didn't seem to do much. Besides, Facebook is where I keep in touch with a variety of friends—former students, people I don't see often, people who share the same likes as I do, other cat-lovers, people with a connection to Appalachia, other writers both well-known and unknown, etc.—people I find interesting. Yeah, I'll mention my book from time to time, but I'm more likely to share a picture of one of my cats. 

I did a bit of research about the use of Author Pages and came to this conclusion: they're a waste of time. Here are some of the sites I looked at:

New Study: Investing in Facebook is a Waste of Time 

Promoting Your Book on Facebook and Twitter is a Total Waste of Time

Here's Why We Stopped Wasting Time on Facebook

Why Facebook Cannot Help You Sell Books

.  . . and there are more, but you get the idea.

3. Twitter and Other Social Media

I rarely use my Twitter account anymore. I find a lot of the tweets I get are basically annoying. Except those from Arjun Basu. Those are usually entertaining. I've never even used Pintarest or Instagram.  Janet Reid's posted about how not to use Twitter with suggestions on how to use it. It's worth a read.

A good blog-post that explains why social media doesn't work is Whimsydark's "Please shut Up: Why self-promotion as an author doesn't work."

4. Author Showcases or Samplers

Recently I've seen several online mentions about a "sampler" book that contains the first 2,500 words of fourteen authors who paid $25 (yes, PAID!!!!) to have their work included in a book that likely no one who doesn't know an included author will fork over $5 for the paperback or 99¢ for the Kindle version. However, the guy who published it also made a free download available, so that's how I happened to read some of it. (I assume he could afford to give it away free because advertisers paid $45 to have their ads included in the back.)

One thing I noticed about the "sampler" was that a variety of genres were represented—from horror to inspirational. And I noticed misspelled words and a few other problems that should have been fixed by editing. I doubt many potential readers will buy a sampler when they can just use Amazon's "look inside" feature for a title that might interest them.

I don't think being associated with an apparently unedited collection of assorted genres makes for effective promotion. I also think that if writers are not paid for a contribution to an anthology-type tome, they at least shouldn't be charged for inclusion. Anyhow—while I occasionally contribute to legit anthologies that are actually edited—I won't be paying my way into something like this.

5. Blatant Self-promotion

From Blogcritics' post, "Blatant Self-Promotion Syndrome": 

Nothing makes my day more than opening an email from someone who I thought was a friend only to be faced with a generic greeting (if there is one at all), followed by information about them and their book that I already knew. Now I’m convinced that the last thing I want to do is to buy their book.

What I will be doing: I'll make some personal appearances at area libraries and other places that offer me a place to sign and sell books or that let me give a presentation. Because of my limited mobility, I won't be going very far, and I'll have to consider venues that have easy handicap access. But I'll be going out where I can meet readers face-to-face. I think that's the best way to promote.

I might use some of the suggestions Whimsydark discusses in "Wait, keep talking: Author Self-Promo That Actually Works." 

And I'll exploit my cats. From time to time, I'll post pictures of my cats with the book. Arlo is already practicing.

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