Author Debut Year Dos & Don'ts!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ก.ค. 2018
- Today I am outlining some key DOs and DON'Ts for your debut year! Should you join a debut group? What about ordering swag? What are ARC tours?
This is a long one, but if you're a debut, I'm covering a LOT of good information!
To jump to the DOs start at 00:40
To jump to the DON'Ts start at 10:10
Marketing for Traditional Publishing: • THE TRUTH about Market...
How Authors Get Blurbs: • How Authors Get Blurbs...
Add THE STARS WE STEAL (Jane Austen + The Bachelor, in space) on Goodreads: / the-stars-we-steal
Purchase signed copies of Brightly Burning from The Ripped Bodice! www.therippedbodicela.com/prod...
Buy BRIGHTLY BURNING: www.amazon.com/Brightly-Burni...
Goodreads:
/ brightly-burning
Twitter:
/ alexadonne
Instagram:
/ alexadonne
Newsletter Sign-Up:
alexadonne.com/newsletter/
Website:
alexadonne.com/
Wattpad:
www.wattpad.com/user/alexadonne - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
I saw your book at a bookstore last week and I turned to my boyfriend and squealed, "Hey! I know who writes this!" It was so cool to see Brightly Burning in person, all the way out here in Ohio. So happy I found your channel, it has been such an important resourse for me, so thank a ton for the advice!
"There's always that person- it's usually a person -who is constantly humble bragging..." I'm dead. Idk if that was a mistake, or if it was a joke and you're a master at keeping a straight face, but it was hilarious either way. Great vid. Thanks for the help!
Actually, she said "There's always that person - it's usually people - who is..." and I took it to mean there's more than one person in the group who does it, which makes sense considering basic human nature in a group of up to a hundred people.
Lol Im so much in my bookstore they know my name. They see me so much I think they are a little annoyed lmao
I love these insights, really solid advice. I'm not even close to my debut year, but I hope one day I will be and that I get to experience the wonderful ups and downs of it all :D
What about international writers? We can't have a book launch party or a book signing in a store and we might not ever meet our agent/editor face-to-face. Can you talk about that?
i-want-fries yes! And where I'm from (Africa) we don't have agents. You just submit directly to local publishers. Context is different everywhere. But I guess you could connect online to people from other parts of the world?
That's what i'd like to know. I'm in a small town in Canada (As well as trying to self-publish) so a lot of the Do's don't work, but I've hired an editor for my novel... Her company is in some place in New York - the website doesn't have an address listed. How am I supposed to send her some sort of Thank you Gift?
@@DandisDen I'm not part of the industry but I would say sending a gift to a freelance editor you've hired is unnecessary. With traditional publishing the publisher is taking on all the risk. They pay you an advance and then take on all the cost of producing the book themselves, without a guarantee that they'll make it back. So a thank you gift sounds appropriate. With self publishing you hire an editor and pay them to do that job yourself, once it's done I would assume that's the end of your professional relationship. Just my two cents though.
Thanks so much for making this video! My debut year isn't until 2020, but it's never too early to start prepping, and your tips (and insights into the emotions I should be ready for) were super valuable.
Thank you as always! Really good information.
Your videos are just so great!
Thanks for sharing what you learned this year! :)
Debut year sounds exciting
I love your channel! You have such a positive, practical perspective on the whole publishing scene. It's really insightful and giving me TONS of food for thought. Keep it up and great job!
Really appreciate these tips, Alexa! Your insight definitely helps put things into perspective as I prepare for an upcoming book. 💕
Hi Alexa, I’ve seen Brightly Burning so many times in Australia now, it makes me so happy! This was such a great video and i’m sure I’ll come back to it in my debut year ☺️ keep up the amazing work!
Great advice! I love your channel. Your videos are so helpful, and have made a huge difference in some aspects of my novel. Thank you! I'm going to start my own youtube channel and doing IG live streams.
Thank you for being so frank about your experience and what you have observed in the marketplace. It's wonderful to hear your interested and concerned guidance for your fellow writers. :)
Man, whenever I watch you and other booktubers, I can't help but feel inspired to write as I watch you
:O Thanks for sharing your experiences Alexa!
This is SO helpful!! Thank you! There are so many resources about writing, revising, and querying... but once you get a book deal it's just like diving in the deep end of the pool without swimming lessons. My deal was just announced and it's thrilling... but also terrifying! I really appreciate this video. :)
Love ALL her vids!
What not to do.....ahead of time.... THANKS 😊👍☺️!!!
i love ur makeup!!!
about the foreign market thing !! keep in mind that in a lot of countries, there also is a huge market of authors selling books and publishers with their own traditions and habits. local readers might want to read those books instead because those are the authors they got to meet at festivals, and launch parties etc. Also, no translation, so it probably speaks to them a lot more culturally ! here in france, ya and kidlit is pretty big and we do have a lot of american books in our stores, but mostly, we've got a lot of french speaking writers who've shaped the genre for us in the last 20 years (Pierre Bottero, Erik l'homme, etc.)
I love your videos
i was wondering if you could possibly consider doing a video about launch week? What kind of things happen, information about launch parties, things you should make sure you do before an after launch aside from marketing, just to make sure you're ready. thank you! love your videos
A bit off topic, but: I LOVE your shirt print.
Awesome info, thanks, Alexa! Oh my, I love that top! All the stars! I have a bit of an odd question. Say you sold a book and had two rough drafts sitting to one side at the time you sell, should you tell your agent about those? Or keep quiet to give yourself a bit of breathing space? I've seen this a couple of times in works of fiction where the protagonist is a writer and it made me curious about the etiquette around that kind of stuff. Hope it isn't too random a question, haha.
Thanks for sharing!
Great advice here! I’m curious if you have a recommendation of where to order bookmarks from? I’ve considered getting some for my channel 😊
Advice for Wattpad writers debuting?
(Asking for me, my only friend)
Only six likes? Why doesn't this channel have more attention?
Love your channel! Can you do a video about how to do a book launch? I dont know if I should have an actual book launch event (i.e., at the library, or another public venue) or if I should do it all virtually. My first book with a traditional publisher will be coming out this fall. Thank you!!! :)
P.S- Its a childrens book :) I am a teacher as well.
Good video. When you were writing your first novel, did you have any ploblems with the character names/plot in general? Lets say you had to recreate names or write something in plot all over again until you were happy with the results?
Who should you/should you not give copies to?
Yeah Michael Grant's Gone series was optioned for a TV show in 2013. It never even got a pilot. And that goes for Peter and the Starcatchers too, in 2012 Gary Ross left the Hunger Games to direct that, and the movie was never made. And they spoke about making an animated film of Angie Sage's Septimus Heap series, but were waiting for the final Harry Potter film to be released.. Seven years later, no movie.
This might be an unnecessary question but when you're traditionally published, does your publisher set up your Amazon author page or do you set it up yourself, and at what point do you do that?
I love Your shirt. Where did You buy it? :) Stars O_O
Start my next book asap.
What if.
I have 3 stories in the works? Should I concentrate on one? Or keep grinding all of them out when I need breaks from them?
honestly? you should pick your fave and focus on that...if you even need a break from that specific book you might do a little work on the others but focusing on one will really help your tone and really enrich your storytelling.
i would recommend focusing on one at a time, and if you need a break for one, break from writing or work on the others but primarily focus on one.
Here's the thing- if you work on a piece, the second should be better than the first, and the third better than the second. If you work on all three, yes, your writing will improve, but it'll be more like a huge difference between the ending and beginning of the pieces, which will make editing difficult because your standards will be wonky, the pieces will probably be pretty even in caliber, which isn't great because there won't be notable improvement, and it'll take ages for you to finish them.
If you go one at a time, you can edit that one and see what major thoughts you have and apply those to other pieces instead of essentially writing at the same level for all three and improving but not having gone far enough ahead that reviewing work will give you good insight.
i'm not published tho so don't believe me if my advice seems bad
This is my debut year as well! A Book of Creation: A Fantasy Adventure by Gregory Gardner, available on Amazon :) Thank You for letting us have a shout out on your channel :)
Do you have any insights, Alexa, on how an author can chose the one social media platform for focus on? Does it depend on the market upon which the writer is concentrating -- or should be choice be driven by the personality of the writer? I would love to hear your ideas about what would serve the traditional introvert-shy writer, the showy-loud writer, the quirky-troubled writer, and the types in between. :)
Loved this video and your candor! Does your publisher set up trade shows or do you set them up yourself? Just curious
In my case, my publisher sent me to trade shows. I was very fortunate. They sent me to 3, pre-publication. But they didn't send me to BEA or ALA and it didn't make sense for me to self-fund those trips--I deferred to my publisher, re: where it made sense to send me. (their strategy is trade shows pre-pub, consumer events post-pub)
Is the Stars We Steal set in the same universe as Burning Brightly? I'm currently reading the latter.
What about authors who travel often and so cannot attend Author events, are there any recommended online outlets for this? I'm a military spouse with two kids, we move every few years and currently live overseas so this is something I worry about. I'd hate to be an unknown author (and therefore hard to market) just because I'm unable to travel to events or attend conventions and the like.
I live in a country that doesn't use the same language as the one I write in - any ideas on how I can build a network anyway? Is online enough? Should I rather self-publish because of this? I'm not starting this process until a few years, but I'm not sure I'll move to another country for that...
Great video. Really useful. As a traditionally published author, do you have to approach bookshops or libraries yourself to have them stock your book? I've never heard anyone talk about that topic. Thanks in advance.
My publisher handles all of that for me! Part of the benefit of traditional, and going with a major house, is their in-house sales team are pros at distribution. I've been really pleased/impressed/happy with my distribution--I'm carried nationally at B&N, at Books-A-Million, Half-Price Books, and a ton of indies. I'm in Baker & Taylor, the main catalog/distributor libraries use and my carriage is pretty robust (I've checked).
That's reassuring. Thanks for answering so quickly, Alexa. I'll be looking for an agent for my novel in the autumn so I'm fact gathering as much as I can.
What if you only want to write one book because you hate writing fiction but feel like you have to write it because it's a story you need to tell? I come from the world of poetry, and that's what I love writing. But since I do have a fiction piece I'm writing, but don't plan on writing anything else is there a different set of rules I should be going by?
Do you have another agent for other countries?
Do you have any advice for people who have disabilities or may need to navigate with kids and will be doing this?
Alexa what you said about the NY Times Bestsellers List I kindly disagree. I have to have a goal in mind..a dream..so I chose this dream. I want to leave a legacy. Too much? Maybe. But it's what I want. It's what I desire. Everything else I agree. You're a bundle of knowledge. Thank you!
Do you have thoughts on genre jumping? I have so many ideas and first drafts in thriller, in romance and in fantacy. I just have no idea which one I should go for because I wanna write all the genres. 😂
A romantic fantasy thriller?
How do you find a debut group?
I'm antisocial, I can't see myself doing anything of these. I prefer just dump my books at Amazon and trying some social media. No groups or meeting people in real life.
Uroboros Jose This comment is such a mood.
But if you write books, you do want others to read them. So there comes a point where you make the sacrifice and do the marketing to help get your books to readers.
I dont live in USA so if I publish a book Im not even sure it will get to America
What if you have several books you want to query. Just curious.
Hey Alexa I wanted to ask you that is there a chance for authors who are from another country to publish their work in US , cause I'm from India ...so would really appreciate your advice .
Tarpita Chanpa You can totally do that. It'll be harder than if you lived in the US, but you can do things like that through correspondence.
2019 is my debut year. I'm a self published, or at least i will be in 2019. it's kind of nerve wracking, so this video helped.
How can I be a part of these communities? I live in Michigan, and I feel like I don't know about any of these author groups?
You may not see this, but try the writers' group Pennwriters. Though it's based in Pennsylvania, it has an "Area 7" contingent that includes writers from everywhere else, in America and abroad. You can join at Pennwriters.org, and the Area 7 colleagues you'll meet online may well put you in touch with author groups closer to you. There is a membership fee, but it's worth it.
DO, be circumspect.
Pardon my ignorance, but what does an "arc" mean?
“Advanced Readers Copy”. I just learned more about them when I found authortube😉
@@TheStaceySquad Ah... Ok. Thanks!
What is an ark?
Arc- Advanced Readers Copy
What is the difference between a Cover Letter and a Query Letter?
A cover letter is what you send with a resume, detailing why you are a good fit for a job. A query letter is a specific thing that you send to literary agents, pitching your book.
Alexa Donne Oh ok, Thank You!
Omg...this is all an introvert nightmare!! 😂 Thankfully, there are actually non-social ways of promoting your work: get good at Facebook and/or Amazon ads. Then you can pretty much ignore the rest of it. So long as you keep writing...
This bragging thing also happens in blogger groups. This one person was getting congratulated for gaining their first 20 followers and then THAT PERSON posted a screenshot of them reaching 1000 followers. I thought it was just me but I found it very cringey.
Sounds too much like self-publishing. Shouldn't the publishers and agents have it set up already, if they are good at their job, so you sell at enough bookstores?
So traditionally published authors have to go out and hustle their own books? Well that pretty much puts me off trying to get published at all. I refuse to self publish for moral reasons