Sonia Marsh - Gutsy Living

Gutsy Book Buzz: “How Long Will it Take to get My Book Out?”

June 7, 2012 by Sonia Marsh

Have you thought of indie-publishing your book? Or are you perhaps in the process of publishing your book and need a timeline to guide you?

Let me introduce Amy Collins, book publishing professional from the Cadence Group who is here to help us. (Above photo credit Bethany Brown and Amy Collins from The Cadence Group.)

I met Amy Collins on the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) forum. She was always there to answer my questions, and one day I picked up the phone and called her. After an informative conversation, I asked her if she would be willing to write a post regarding the necessary steps to get an indie-book published. She agreed.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?

The biggest mistake new publishers make is thinking that they need to get their book “out there” immediately. Publishing a successful book takes time and attention to detail. Rushing through any step of the process will inevitably harm your end result. You simply cannot rush through the book industry’s set deadlines and prerequisites.

Some of these processes are:

•Getting an ISBN (several weeks if not expedited)

•Registering your book with the Library of Congress (several weeks)

•Adding your book to Amazon.com and other industry databases (two to three weeks)

•Getting signed up for a distributor or wholesale fulfillment partner (two to three months)

•Meeting the presentation deadlines at bookstores for new books (five to six months after you are signed up with the distributor or wholesaler)

•Printing and shipping new books (three to four weeks if no issues or “fixes”)

Setting a realistic timeline will be your first big test as a new publisher. Do this properly and everything else will go more smoothly. This step is where we separate the wheat from the chaff, the mice from the … well, you get the idea.

But what about the other elements? How long does it take to design a cover? Edit a manuscript? Proofread a set of pages? While these things vary, there are some guidelines you can use to start. The following are rules of thumb and only to be used to help you start planning. When you assemble your team, you should discuss your time expectations and include them in the agreements.

•Editing and copy editing (one to two months)

•Getting a good cover designed (four to six weeks)

•Work with designer to layout book (three weeks) •Proofreading (two weeks)

With written commitments from your editors, designers, artists, authors, and proofreaders, you should be able to create a well-published book in eight months from finished manuscript. Some people can do it in less, but if you want good reviews, strong sales possibilities, and an ulcer-free stomach, sit down and map out a schedule starting eight months out from your official pub date.

There are a number of “dates” in this process. Let’s go through them so that there is no confusion. A “print date” is the date that the book comes off the printer’s truck. A “ship date” is the date that the publisher ships the books to its customers to fill waiting orders. This is usually two to three weeks after the print date. A “pub date” is the official date a book is available for ordering or purchasing to the general public. It is usually five to eight weeks after the ship date to give retailers time to order, receive, and shelve the books.

It takes time to get a book from the printer to a warehouse, from a warehouse to a distributor, from a distributor to a wholesaler, from a wholesaler’s receiving dock to its shelves, from a wholesaler’s shelves to a bookstore, and from the back room of a bookstore to the floor.

So what does this mean to your publishing program? It means you need to create a realistic pub date for your book and make sure you can meet it. It means that you need to have a large chunk of the book finished and the publicity and marketing plans created at least six months prior to your pub date. It means that you have to set and adhere to a schedule.

BUILDING YOUR SCHEDULE

As you build your schedule for a book, add a great deal of “cushion” into the schedule. There will be miscommunications, vendor problems, production errors, shipping mishaps—all resulting in delaying your book’s debut to the world. If you build in enough time to deal with the inevitable delays, you will always be “on time.” You will have a lot less stress. And it’s definitely worth it.

Let’s walk through a sample schedule. If you announce that you will be publishing I Was a Teenage Latte Addict in early October, your book should leave the printer no later than early August. Plan accordingly and work up the schedule so you don’t get worked up later.

SAMPLE SCHEDULE:

Eight months before publication of I Was a Teenage Latte Addict:

•Editors, pre-production team, and cover designer hired

•Book manuscript is finished and given to the editor

•ISBN is assigned

•Title, subtitle, and tag lines are decided upon

•Decisions on which distributor to use made

•Marketing and sales plan created

•Cover design concept meeting held with designer

Seven months before publication of I Was a Teenage Latte Addict:

•Cover design work continues

•Back cover copy written

•One-page book description written

•Page count decided upon

•Hard/soft cover decided upon

•Price decided upon

•Register book with R.R. Bowker and Library of Congress

Six months before publication of I Was a Teenage Latte Addict:

•Developmental edit finished and given to copy editor

•Front cover design close to finished

Five months before publication of I Was a Teenage Latte Addict:

•Copy edit finished and sample pages

Book specs sent to wholesalers, distributors, and bookstores (including Amazon)

•First pass layout of book done

•Indexing of your final pages done, if necessary

•Proofread PDFs of your book layout

•Proofread PDFs of your book cover

Four months before publication of I Was a Teenage Latte Addict:

•Digitally print fifty copies of Advanced Reader’s Copies (ARCs) of your book for marketing purposes and to give your project a “dry run”

•Send copies of the ARCs to reviewers and websites for endorsements and reviews.

Three months before publication of I Was a Teenage Latte Addict:

•“Live with” your ARC for a few weeks

•Do a final proofread and make any final changes and adjustments

•Send final PDFs to the printer

Two months before publication of I Was a Teenage Latte Addict:

•Books ship from printer to warehouse

•Send copies of finished book to your entire team with thank-you notes

•Send copies of your finished book to the bookstores and retailers whom you wish to consider stocking your book.

•Send copies of your finished book to stores and contact them about doing an event during your pub month or the month after.

One month before publication of I Was a Teenage Latte Addict:

•Books shipped to wholesalers and retailers that have placed orders.

•Start sending out weekly ideas to newspapers and magazines with ideas of articles they could write (or let you write) that ties in with your book.

Month of Publication of I Was a Teenage Latte Addict:

•Approach Amazon Top Reviewers for reviews

•Send copies of your finished book to the bookstores and retailers whom you wish to consider stocking your book.

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Thank you Amy for helping us out with the timeline for publishing. You can reach Amy Collins and her business partner Bethany Brown at the Cadence Group, or join on Twitter @thecadencegrp. You can also join Gutsy Indie Publishers, a group I started on Facebook where professionals like Amy Collins helps authors with their questions.

Amy is always willing to help authors and she agreed to be on Jason Matthews’ Indie Author panel on Hangout Networks with AC Cruz.

Below is a video on “How to get book Reviews” which Jason Matthews put together and Amy Collins answered our questions.

Do you have any specific questions for Amy Collins?

Any tips or comments you’d like to share about your own personal publishing journey?

“My Gutsy Story” by Doug Edwards

June 4, 2012 by Sonia Marsh

Travel… Embrace It Enthusiastically At Any Age

Medical professionals tell us that our most impressionable learning years are between the ages of one and three years. It is in that early period of our lives that we absorb experiences and teachings without fear, or of any thought or contradiction. We accept with great enthusiasm things that we have been shown or taught.

The reason we don’t show any fear, or question, is of course, we don’t have any life experience at that early age to compare and question. Our young brain simply cannot “work it out”. It has nothing stored… it has no life experience.

So what goes wrong…where does the enthusiasm go? Nothing goes “wrong”. We just “grow up”. We all have personalities that start developing in our infant years and continue through to the adult stages of our lives.

A slow start. A true story. I was born into a poor working class environment in a town close to London, England. At the age of two, due to my mother becoming ill and unable to care for me, I was put into the care of a “Legal Guardian”, a form of adoption. I can remember the day I was “handed over” as if it were yesterday. At two I had no real idea of what was going on, except to say, a lot of new faces appeared and people paid me attention. It was some years later that I met my mother and father again, but never lived with them.

Things didn’t start falling into place until a few years later when I realized that my situation was different, my background was different. I would hear comments such as “it’s a pity, he’s such a nice boy’” and “what will become of him.”

DougEdwards11yo — Doug Edwards at eleven

At the age of eleven, I decided that I was not going to stay in England. As loving and caring as my new family was, my young gut feeling told me I needed to make a change. Yes, at eleven, I already didn’t like what was becoming my life.

I began looking at world maps and wondered what it would be like to visit Asia, Africa, South America. At school, my favourite class was geography and as luck would have it, an Australian geography teacher from Brisbane took up a post at my school. Little did I know… that a teacher with his black and white home-made movies which he’d brought with him from Oz, showing the fantastic scale and lifestyle of his country, laid the foundation of my dream to live in Australia. Even though I wasn’t happy, my enthusiasm to change my situation and see the world never wavered. At age fifteen I knew I wanted to live in Australia and by age twenty-two, here I was.

So what is the point of my life story; the point is that nothing was ever achieved without enthusiasm and determination. When I said to that wonderful Australian teacher, “I think I would like to live in Australia,” in true Aussie style, he remarked, “Don’t just think about it, sport…just bloody do it.”

That teacher taught me something else (apart from swear words). The three words that control our growth not only in world travel but in life in general are: fear, doubt and worry. As he pointed out, “it’s not easy but if you can control those three emotions with enthusiasm, the world’s your bloody oyster..mate!”

As I have matured, I have come to the realisation; it doesn’t matter where you start in life, it’s where you finish, and along the way adding value to the lives of others without personal gain. In retrospect I can thank a poor start for giving me the strength to move forward, as the founder of AIV Group Travel and the many contacts that I make.

It’s clear we all have a story.

Doug Edwards Bio:

In the 80s and 90s I ran a Singles Adventure Club in Melbourne, taking the members around a variety of interstate and intrastate getaways.

Lots of friends were made over the years. I organised regular cocktail parties, dinner parties, and exciting sailing and hot-air ballooning trips, to name a few. I am a travelling man. I have vacationed as a family unit, as a couple, in a group, and alone. Ending up in a hotel alone is the main reason I no longer wish to go solo. Now I am the Owner and Operator of All Inclusive Vacations, a global travel club arranging functions and group travel for people over the ages of 45 or 50.

You can find Doug Edward’s all inclusive travel vacations here and join his Facebook page.

Sonia Marsh Says:

I cannot imagine what it must have been like for you being a child and hearing adults say, “it’s a pity, he’s such a nice boy” and “what will become of him.” It amazes me how we can be influenced by adults, including our teachers and mentors. I also love what your Australian teacher said to you,

The three words that control our growth not only in world travel but in life in general are: fear, doubt and worry. As he pointed out, “it’s not easy but if you can control those three emotions with enthusiasm, the world’s your bloody oyster..mate!”

Thankfully your Australian teacher had such a positive impact on your life.

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Please remember to VOTE for your favorite May “My Gutsy Story.” The winner will be announced on June 14th. Winner gets to pick their prize from our 14 sponsors.

Good Luck to all of you. Your stories are amazing and inspiring. Please share these stories with friends and fellow writers and bloggers by clicking on the SHARE links below.

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Do you have a “My Gutsy Story” you’d like to share?

To submit your own, “My Gutsy Story” you can find all the information, and our sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here.

Please share the “My Gutsy Story” series with others on Twitter. Thank you for following the series.

Vote for Your Favorite May “My Gutsy Story” + Interview

May 31, 2012 by Sonia Marsh

From May 31st- June 13th midnight, PST, you can vote for your favorite May 2012, “My Gutsy Story.”

To VOTE, please go to the poll on the right side of this post. You will find it on the sidebar listing the names of all 4 “My Gutsy Story,” authors.

Here are the 4 stories. Only ONE vote per person.

1). Teresa Wendel

Teresa proves that with passion, you can accomplish whatever you’ve set your mind to overcome. I enjoyed her story and admire women who can fix things, whether at home, or with their car. As she said herself, “Not bad for a woman who won’t push the buttons on a tv clicker, use a cell phone, or connect to the Internet.”

2). Kathleen Pooler

Kathleen shares her emotional story of the love a mother has for her son, no matter what. There are many parents who can relate to problem teenagers, even though the severity of the situation varies considerably. Kathleen made us realize that “tough love” is often the only approach, and how difficult it is for parents to carry through with this process.

3). Siv Maria Ottem

Siv wrote a beautiful story with a happy ending. What amazes me is how Facebook has connected so many people who may never have found each other. Her personal story offers hope to those searching for relatives or their adoptive parents.

4). Marcia Sargent

Marcia’s story shows how overcoming a difficult childhood brought out the “hero” in her rather than the liar and a procrastinator of her early childhood years. I admire how she chose to overcome her own fears and doubts about teaching, and turned them into a positive way to make children strive to work hard and attain success in life.

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The winner will be announced on June 14th. Winner gets to pick their prize from our 14 sponsors.

Good Luck to all of you. Your stories are amazing and inspiring. Please share these stories with friends and fellow writers and bloggers by clicking on the SHARE links below.

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Do you have a “My Gutsy Story” you’d like to share?

To submit your own, “My Gutsy Story” you can find all the information, and our sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here.

Please share the “My Gutsy Story” series with others on Twitter using the #MyGutsyStory. Thank you.

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SONIA’S PODCAST INTERVIEW ON CASTAWAY AUTHOR

Interview on Felicity Lennie’s blog

Felicity Lennie is from the U.K and she has a fascinating project on her blog. She interviews authors and her theme is “Castaway Author.” You can read her questions and my answers on the link. Felicity interviews authors weekly and if you’re interested, I’m sure she’ll be happy to hear from you.

“My Gutsy Story” by Marcia Sargent

May 28, 2012 by Sonia Marsh

For me, living a gutsy life involved not one turning point, but rather a series of choices that led me on a more difficult path. Some people want to be liked, or rich, or powerful or famous. I’ve always wanted to do the right thing.

Life as a child gave me very little power in a house of an ogre of a father and a ghostlike mother. I learned to lie from my mother as a way to survive my father’s anger and watched her avoid consequences as long as possible.

At the same time I read voraciously all fairytales and myths. Heroes in fairytales are brave and kind, intelligent and honest. They go forth in life and find the magic to slay the dragons, trick the evil witch, and find the golden apples to save the ones they love. Love colored the landscape of my internal world. Finding the magic in the world around me brightened the colors. Recognizing the good in people and avoiding evil ones remains essential to this day. A liar and a procrastinator were not who I wanted to be. I knew I was meant to be a hero.

School offered me an escape from the ogre’s world and eventually I escaped to college, not the expected University of California, but rather a private college half a day away from home. There I learned truth was a gift. The sky did not fall when I told my professors the real story behind my late work or told my friends I didn’t have the money to go to a party or told them what I felt about life. The truth gave them an opportunity to make an informed decision about consequences and friendships.

After graduation, University of the Pacific offered two choices for student teaching: five months in Stockton/Lodi schools or the Collegio Americano in Mexico City. I spoke French but chose Mexico.

Marcia Sargent Wedding — Marcia's Wedding

I didn’t believe in marriage, but found my Prince Charming and chose to marry in spite of my fears. He wanted children. I feared becoming an ogre or a ghost. I loved him and chose to believe we could raise kids together who would make the world a better place. We had three children. Children do not understand procrastination. It is counter-productive to say to a baby, “Wait another hour or so and I’ll feed you–or change you–or put you down–or pick you up.”

My mother raised six children, cooked meals regularly for fifteen to twenty people, was President of the National Assistance League and Junior Women’s Club, but did not want to work. Watching my ogre dad work for 37 years for a schizophrenic boss reinforced work as a bad thing. I joked about being a kept woman, not realizing the expectations of my parents kept me in prison.

After thirteen years of marriage, I was offered a job teaching at my children’s private school in Hawaii. Work? Me? I didn’t know how. I couldn’t. I shouldn’t. They’ll discover I don’t know what I’m doing.

I said yes.

That yes changed my life. I loved making my own money. I loved going to school everyday. I loved the kids. I still worried they’d discover I wasn’t smart, capable, competent. I did my best to make each day magic. I read teaching books and tried different techniques on my students. I gathered my cohorts of good and learned how to slay the monsters of ignorance. And somewhere along the way I discovered I had the power to change lives, to show the children how to believe in their own magic and how to slay their own dragons.

We moved back to California. After fifteen years out of college, to continue teaching I needed to pass the California Test of Basic Skills and the National Teacher’s Exam. I knew I’d flunk them and I knew I couldn’t flunk if I wanted to work as a teacher. Girding my loins, I studied the practice exams. I studied what I didn’t know. I passed the CTBS with a perfect score and a 99% on the NTE.

Marcia Sargent First class in California

Did I know how to teach Early Age Kindergarten? No. I learned how from books and other teachers. I can dance my sillies out with the best of them. Did I know how to teach third grade? No. I leapt in and learned. Did I know how to teach sixth grade? Could I handle thirty-five twelve-year-olds? No. But I listened to other teachers and took classes on classroom discipline. I made the students work and be responsible and to challenge themselves.

Being the fun teacher, the nice teacher would have been easy. That would not help the students on their hero’s journey. Parents said to me, “My student is an A student. If you were a good teacher she would get A’s.” I told them I didn’t give A’s. They had to earn them. They’d complain to my principal. I’d defend myself, and my right to expect excellence. My students learned they could earn A’s, they could get their work in on time and they could have fun working hard. We lived history–we ate, drank, sang ancient Greece and China.

After almost twenty years as a teacher, an errant soccer ball, a broken neck, two surgeries and constant migraines challenged my life. My choice seemed clear: keep on teaching and die early, or quit and find something else to do.

I quit. Since then I have written and published three books, been to nine major writing conferences, learned about the publishing industry, had an agent, decided to leave my agent, kept learning how to revise, learned how to market my books and myself.

My gutsy life has been in little decisions on a hero’s journey. I am brave even when frightened; I am honest even when lies would be easier; I am kind because life is full of witches and demons. I believe in magic–especially the magic of doing the right thing.

Marcia Sargent Bio:

A Marine fighter pilot’s wife from 1975 until 1987, Marcia observed and interacted with military aviators and their spouses when they still had a great time and damned the consequences. When her husband “Snatch” retired back to Southern California, she issued imperatives in her elementary school classrooms and worked as a social studies and language arts mentor for Saddleback Unified School District. A University of California-Irvine Writing Fellow, she wrote the Interact (Social Studies School Service) simulations CHINA and EGYPT, WING WIFE: HOW TO BE MARRIED TO A MARINE FIGHTER PILOT, and two YA fantasy/adventure books: NIGHT MONSTERS and DAY MONSTERS.

Marcia Sargent Night Monsters book cover

She is the mother of three grown girls and Nana to five children all living in Colorado. She never worries when babysitting, only wishes they lived closer.

When not writing, she now walks the sand in Laguna Beach with her husband and a golden retriever named Sir Lancelot. Her cat named Snicklefritz waits at home since he does not like immersion in salt water.
You can view Marcia’s website and her blog. Join her on Twitter
and Facebook or LinkedIn.

Sonia Says: Marcia, your story truly shows how overcoming your difficult childhood brought out the “hero” in you, rather than the liar and a procrastinator of your early childhood days. I admire how you chose to overcome your own fears and doubts about teaching, and turned them into a positive way to make children strive to work hard and attain success in life. Sounds like you were an excellent teacher, and now you’ve written three books. Amazing!

Do you have a “My Gutsy Story” you’d like to share?

To submit your own, “My Gutsy Story” you can find all the information, and our sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here.

Please share the “My Gutsy Story” series with others. Thanks.

Blogging is like online dating: you connect and meet in person.

May 24, 2012 by Sonia Marsh

Muriel and Sonia

Have you ever felt like you know more about your online friends than your neighbors?

Muriel and I arranged to meet at the Paddington station in London, 6000 miles from Orange County,California, where I live.

“I’ll be wearing a red coat,” she said.

“I’ll be wearing a fuschia jacket,” I replied, knowing full well that we’d find one another as we’ve seen photos on our respective blogs. In fact, Muriel, submitted a “My Gutsy Story” and I’ve enjoyed her sense of humor. She loves to analyze the Brits from her own French background and makes fun of herself, her accent, and often mentions what her British-raised daughters say about their French mum.

Even without our colored coats and jackets, we would have found one another when I got off the train. Muriel looked exactly as she did on her blog and off we headed to “Little Venice” for lunch.

Muriel in Little venice, London — Muriel in Little Venice, London

Muriel picked an Italian restaurant overlooking the canals. It was 11:40 a.m., and the restaurant was empty. How nice, I thought, we could get any table we wanted until the waiter said, “Sorry, we don’t open for another twenty minutes.”

100_0229 — Sonia in front of a small houseboat in Little venice, London

I’d forgotten the less flexible hours for lunch and dinner in Paris and London restaurants.

“Let’s have a coffee at Starbucks,” Muriel suggested as it was right next door. Apparently coffees are automatically served in ceramic cups, not paper ones, when you say, it’s for here. The Brits and French prefer the real cup experience, and so do I. Getting cream in your coffee does not appear to be common though. Whenever I asked for it at Starbucks in Paris or London, they offered whipped cream, not half and half. It seems to be hidden in the back kitchen somewhere.

We were both eager to talk about blogging and writing, and Muriel shared her ideas about a book she’d like to write. I thought she should write a memoir about life in the U.K. as seen through the eyes of a French woman. I know she has numerous stories and themes on her blog: FrenchYummyMummy, and these funny stories would make a great memoir.