Monday Morning Mashup: 06/18/12

MASH-UP

A creative combination

or mixing of content

from different sources.

Marketing. Writing. Marketing. Writing. It continues to be a balancing act. This week, I’ve been working on marketing The Red Kimono, as well as writing a short story I plan to submit for the upcoming Bigfoot anthology which will be published by High Hill Press. (Click here for more information.)

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Christina Katz discusses the necessity of both promotion and writing in an article  posted on The Bellingham Herald website.  In the article titled “Changes in the Publishing World Means Writers Must Become More Adept at Self-Promotion,” Ms. Katz states:

Hungry writers who hustle can build up a following in a matter of years, but not sooner than that.

That’s a humbling and true statement.

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/06/17/2565012/convulsions-in-publishing-world.html

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In a post on IndieReader.com, author Jessica Park discusses her experience with The Big Six Publishers vs. Indie Publishers, in this case, Amazon. “How Amazon Saved My Life”  tells the story many of us have experienced — rejection:

I spent months thinking that I needed a big publisher in order to be a writer, to legitimately carry that “author” title. To validate me, and to validate Flat-Out Love. I needed a publisher to print my books and stick a silly publishing house emblem on the side of a hard copy. They were the only way to give my books mass distribution, and having them back me would mean that readers would know my book was good.

The best thing about this post was that it clearly explains that there are other options besides that “pie-in-the-sky” dream of getting “accepted” by a New York publishing house.  Besides, as Ms. Parker goes on to say:

I was missing what I really wanted. One of the major reasons that I write is to connect with readers, not publishers. The truth is that I couldn’t care less whether New York editors and publishers like me. I don’t want to write for them. I want to write for you. The other undeniable truth is that readers could care less that my books aren’t put out by a big publisher. They read for the content, not the publishing house emblem.

After a year of attempting to go “the New York Big Six” publishing route and dealing with rejection on The Red Kimono, I am thrilled that my book is going to be published by the University of Arkansas Press.  Also, I’m currently putting together a prequel of sorts to release on Amazon Kindle.
Some of us have to get that “traditional publishing route” out of our systems. I suppose that’s okay, as long as we remember that there are other paths out there.

http://indiereader.com/2012/06/how-amazon-saved-my-life/

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I really liked the different perspective that Writer’s Digest editor, Jessica Strawser had in the post, “How to Find, Rather than Make, Writing Time:”

What I am saying is this: Try to notice time in your day, even if it’s only 15 minutes, when you are not doing something you enjoy or something you have to do. What time do you already have that you can reuse as writing time?
In other words, Ms. Strawser’s suggestions help you to find writing time in ways that avoid the “guilt” associated with giving up something you enjoy.

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/how-to-find-rather-than-make-writing-time

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly,

but rarely admit the changes

it has gone through

to achieve that beauty.”
― Maya Angelou