The Joys of Marketing

Before I started marketing my book, I assumed it was going to be a tedius, frustrating process. After all, I don't know much about marketing. And, as an author—whether you are traditionally or self-published—you are usually responsible for doing all of your own marketing. But now that I've started, I'm enjoying it. Who knew?

I did a few book readings of Sophie and Spot this month to several classes of first and second grade students. I was nervous at first and wasn't sure what to expect, but oh my goodness, those kids knocked my socks off! They were smart, engaged, encouraging. They gasped, they oohed and aahed, and they asked fantastic questions.

For one of my first readings, I chose a part of the story where Emery, one of Sophie’s friends, falls into a frog pond. I thought it was a fun part to write, but I was blown away by how many of the kids specifically related to that part. In one class, there must have been four or five kids who had either fallen into a pond, or their brother or cousin fell into a pond or creek. It was great!

Then, at the end of the section I read, Sophie and her family and friends go to the Louisville pet parade, which is a little parade of children and their pets that goes on right before the big Labor Day parade in Louisville. After my reading, I told the children we were going to do our own pet parade around the room, and they could either choose to be a pet, a kid, or a swamp monster like Emery. They all immediately jumped right in and crawled, mooed, and trotted around the room. It was fantastic! In one class, there were a surprising amount of chickens—like five or six of them! That kind of creativity just blows my mind.

Then, about two weeks ago, a friend from my writers group reached out to ask if I'd like to do an interview about my book on Denver 9News. One of her friends is a producer and interviewer there, so I'll be on a short segment called Colorado and Company on January 3rd! Stay tuned—exciting things coming up in the new year!

Happy New Year to you, my dear blog readers!

Living the Dream

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want to focus this blog post on what I am thankful for. I am at a point in this journey where I feel so grateful for all that I have accomplished and all that is yet to come. As you know, I have wanted to be an author since I was a young child. And now, as you also know, I have published my first book! It's real. My dream has come true.

And it feels so good to be here, to be living my dream. Even just a few years ago, I might have had a hard time believing that something this good could happen. But today, I know it's true.

About a decade ago, when I was in the midst of the stress of waiting for my bar exam results that would determine whether I would be admitted to be an attorney or not, I received an envelope in the mail. It was a one page letter stating simply that I had passed and detailing the next steps to become licensed. I wondered what the chance was of them accidentally sending out the wrong letter. I must have read the letter a dozen times before it started to sink in that I had actually passed. Honestly, it probably wasn't until after I attended the swearing-in ceremony and got my license that I started to let myself believe it. I was just that accustomed to and prepared for the worst-case scenario.

Fast forward ten or eleven years and it's a whole different ball game. When I gave up my legal career, I also gave up that negative mindset. I started focusing on the good in the world. When my worry filled my mind again and again, I thanked it for being there to protect me and then calmly told it that I didn't need to be protected right now. I took deep breaths and focused on my five senses to concentrate on what was actually going on around me right now. I started to believe that I was safe and things were going to work out.

I quit paying attention to the regular news outlets and started reading Sunny Skyz when I wanted to know what was going on in the world. I started writing down simple gratitudes—little things I experienced during the day that I was grateful for. I chose to look for the good in the world around me and to believe that people are mostly good. I chose to look for reasons to trust people.

And now, when all of a sudden my childhood dreams have come true, it feels right. It's not hard to believe at all. Of course this is happening now. It is exciting and fulfilling and just feels so right. I'm so thankful that I changed my mind and changed my life. I'm grateful for the wonderful book I've put out into the world. I'm grateful for the people I've gotten to know along the way and the support I've received. I'm so grateful for the people I've talked to who have loved the book and taken the time to share their favorite parts with me. And I'm so grateful for the opportunity to continue to market my book, share my dreams with the world, and continue to create. I'm thankful for all the fabulous things that are yet to come, because I just know they will be fantastic.

Sophie and Spot: Preorder Now!

Exciting news! It's here! Sophie and Spot is here!

If you just want to find out where to order, skip this next section and jump down to the order info below.

Crossing the Finish Line: Behind the Scenes

I passed the initial review by both Ingram Spark and Amazon, proofed the digital versions of my book and e-book, and have been waiting for a physical proof of each book to come in the mail. And on Tuesday, they were delivered and the books look fabulous! At first I thought they looked identical, but eventually I have been able to see very small differences between the book printed by Amazon and the book printed by Ingram Spark.

Have you ever gotten to the end of a book and wondered why there are several blank pages? Apparently, that's a choice that the printer makes. I absolutely love that Amazon doesn't add extra pages, but simply prints its barcode and printing info on the last blank page of my book. Ingram Spark, on the other hand, added two extra pages at the end, which is disappointing and unnecessary.

While the front covers look identical, the back covers are slightly different. Ingram Spark printed the back cover font in darker ink, which I much prefer as I think it makes it easier to read. They also sized the barcode to fit the entire white rectangle, which I also prefer.

For some reason, the Amazon book looks slightly thicker than the one from Ingram Spark, which is interesting considering they didn't add the two extra pages. The title font on the spine of the Amazon book shows more yellow than the Ingram Spark one. So there you have it. Those are all of the differences that I can find. And they're very subtle differences, so rest assured that whichever book you end up with will be excellent. All of that time formatting paid off because the covers look great, the text didn't fall into the gutter (the middle of the book where the pages stick together), and I am so excited to show them to you.

 

(c) Amber Byers

How to Order

You can order the paperback on Amazon right now. Preorders are available through Tuesday, October 23. This simply means that you can order now and your book will be shipped on Tuesday. Preorders benefit authors, because all of the sales during the preorder phase are combined into the first week's sales, which gives them a boost in the rankings.

And, because I also published through Ingram Spark, you can also go to your local bookstore or library anywhere in the country and ask that they order a copy for you. I don't think you can order directly from Ingram Spark as an individual, but let your bookstore know that you want to buy a copy and they should be able to help you out.

If you run into any issues, or if the options above just don't work for some reason, feel free to reach out to me directly—either through the comments below or via Tadpole Press—and I'll be happy to help you out.

Thanks so much and happy reading!

What About an E-Book?

Yes, Sophie and Spot is also available as an e-book! Ask your bookstore or library to order you a copy.

Because Amazon was in the middle of transitioning its publishing platform from CreateSpace to Kindle Direct Publishing when I published, I need to transfer my files over to KDP. Once I do that, you will see an option to buy an e-book on the same page on Amazon that you can find the paperback version.

What About an Audiobook?

My next steps are to promote and market the paperback and e-book versions of Sophie and Spot and then create an audiobook. So stay tuned!

One Final Request

After you read the book, please leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. One of the first things that bookstores and libraries will look at when deciding whether to order a book is how many reviews it has, so this is a fantastic way to help your favorite authors. Please note that Amazon typically deletes any reviews that aren't linked to a verified purchase, so make sure you use the same account you purchased the book with to leave your review on that site.

If you loved the book and are wondering how else you can help support it, then please share it with your friends and family, buy an extra copy to donate to your local school or thrift store, and stock up on early holiday gifts for the young readers in your life.

Thank you a million times over!

Back with a Bang!

 

  (c) Amber Byers

Hello, dear blog readers! I hope you've all had a wonderful summer doing everything you love to do. Good news—I'm back! And not just here, but back with a bang! Summer was reinvigorating and as soon as autumn started, I was bursting with energy, ready to dive back into work again.

Things have been cruising right along too. I wrapped up my revisions over the summer, sent my book to my beta readers near the end of the summer, and began incorporating their comments early this fall. This was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had working on my book. I felt like I was sewing together little patches to make a beautiful quilt. For example, I realized that I had three characters playing different roles at the animal shelter where Sophie volunteers. So to simplify things, I combined them into one character and then went through and gave that character some unique characteristics to help readers recognize her. It was really fun jumping through the book and adding the details like that.

Then I sent the book to my proofreaders, finalized my cover, and thought okay, I'm ready to publish. Not quite. I have been dealing with formatting issues for about two weeks now. I won't bore you with details about mirror margins and embedded fonts, but I will say that this was one of the worst parts of my whole experience—my darkest moment (for those of you who don't know, that's a stereotypical plot point near the end of the story where you think the main character isn't going to pull through). But, like the stereotypical resolution, I overcame all odds and finally achieved success submitting both my paperback and e-book versions to Ingram Spark and Amazon last week. I am now awaiting a final review from both companies, so stay tuned for details about how to preorder soon!

You Are Right Where You Need To Be

For the second year in a row, I’m taking the summer off. Minimizing my work and taking a break. Similar to what I experienced last year, I have felt frantic and overwhelmed the past few weeks as I try to wrap everything up ahead of time. I felt like I wasn’t where I needed to be with my editing business, my book (it’s still not published!), and I even started to feel behind in my career as a writer. Yes, this relatively new career. I started thinking about all of the things that I haven’t done yet and started feeling really behind. So it was definitely time to slow down and focus on what is happening right here, right now. For in the end, that’s all we really have, isn’t it?

I woke up early this morning, around 5 a.m., and started thinking about what I needed to do today, how maybe I should write a blog post about being in the moment. Then my cat jumped on my bed and told me to just live in the moment (i.e. snuggle and pet him) instead of write about living in the moment. So I did.

When he jumped down, the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon so I went for a walk by the creek in the quiet calm before the day begins. It has been snowing cottonwood fluff all week, swirling down in lazy currents and collecting in big balls on the ground, but I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to walk along the creek path and watch the fluff come down. Until this morning.

And what I discovered was not what I was expecting. I didn't see any cotton snowing down, but I did discover song birds chorusing their greetings, fields of dandelions blooming, and the first rays of golden sun touching the earth. Dewdrops on blades of grass soaked my toes as I walked. It was beautiful and reminded me that while I may not be where I had hoped to be, I am right where I need to be. Every challenge is an opportunity. It does not delay the path, but is simply part of the path. And no matter where we are, it is right where we are supposed to be. And it will change. It will all change. Goodbye, spring. Hello, summer.

 

 

(c) Amber Byers

Transformations

I had a good friend call me up a few weeks ago and ask me how I did it. Specifically, how did I make the jump from being an attorney to a writer? Was there one moment that I knew I needed to change, or did it build up slowly?

There were many moments, and many ups and downs. The moment during my first semester of law school when I knew with absolute certainty that being a litigator in the adversarial system was not for me. The moments when I chose to ignore that feeling. The months of looking for work and wondering where I would belong. Other moments where I enjoyed aspects of the work I was doing, even as a civil litigator in the adversarial system. The months of dread when I wondered how I would ever move on to something else. But always, always the creeping feeling that this wasn’t entirely me.

Something wasn’t quite right. I didn’t feel right. My health was suffering. My life outside of work was suffering. I think what it came down to was the simple, undeniable fact that I knew things could be better. That I could be better. And the final push was knowing that I needed to be a better person for the people who depended on me the most. It is amazing what I am willing to put myself through, but there is a very firm line of what I am willing to put the people I love through. And once that line had been crossed, there was no going back.

Sometimes an awakening is triggered not by concern for ourselves, but by concern for someone else. For how our actions impact other people, or something that ignites a strong reaction to defend someone else, even if we wouldn’t have defended ourselves.

At first, I focused on paying off my student loans. If I could just pay them off, then things would be alright and I could move on to something else. But I quickly realized that I need an earlier escape. So I started to make plans. Throw out ideas, dream about what I would do if I could. Even when it didn’t seem like it would ever be possible. Yet I still hoped and I still dreamed. And I plodded along.

(c) Amber Byers

Sometimes I talked about my dreams. I talked to people in different areas of the law, people outside of the law. Sometimes I questioned if I even knew what I wanted. Sometimes I cried and agonized over the loss of what I had hoped a legal practice would be for me.

Yet at the same time that I was being pushed out of my legal career, I was also being pulled into my new life as an artist. This one idea kept coming up, the same idea that’s been coming up for my entire life. Writing. It’s what I always go back to. Whenever I’m at a standstill, it’s this little idea that keeps popping up inside my head. And I start thinking, wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could just write? Because I am an artist at my core and there is a certain peace that comes from being who you really are.

There are untold stories waiting inside of me to be written, found, discovered. And I start thinking about the authors who have inspired me over the years. Sometimes I feel frantic for all of the time that I’ve wasted not writing. There are so many books to write, things to learn, awards to win! And then I remember that I’m right where I need to be. All of that time spent in uncertainty, feeling stuck – it was just getting me ready for this right now.

Sometimes I still plod along and question what I want. But I am a force in motion now. I don’t have to know all of the answers. I just have to keep moving.

Happy Easter, Happy Spring, Happy Happy Everything!

(c) Amber Byers

Business is Booming

Well, hello there! How's it going, my dear blog readers? It's time for another update. I can feel winter moving into spring already. January was a slow, sleepy month that settled on me like a fog. I would have wished for more energy and warmer weather, but I do believe that this kind of low level energy that makes me want to go slow and sleep a lot is an important part of the year and my life. So I embraced it and didn't rush anything, and eventually the cocoon melted away.

Then, just as quickly, February pounced upon me with a fierce intensity. My editing business picked up and my days - and even my weekends - took on a focus like I haven't seen since my time as an attorney. But it was fun. Even the nine-hour day I put in one Saturday. Because I'm reading fun fiction books, which is such a delightful way to make a living. And it didn't hurt that I was in charge and knew that if I needed to slow down, I could. But I didn't need to.

And in the midst of both of these very different months, I've found time to continue writing. One of my critique groups passed the point of already-written material back in January, which meant that I needed to write the end of my book so it could be critiqued. The writing process was as slow as molasses in January, but by the time February kicked in, it was picking up speed. And I realized that there is more to my story than I thought there would be. I won't give any spoilers, except to say that I always hate it when books and movies end with someone getting married. Because just when you're finally getting to the interesting part, they wrap it all up with a tidy little bow like there's nothing else worth mentioning. So I shouldn't be entirely surprised that the end I thought I'd decided for my book wasn't really the end. And it still feels so good to be writing again.

Overall, the biggest benefit from my critique process has been giving me confidence in my book. Confidence that it is a good story that I've written well. I know that it won't be the best story I've ever written (hey, I'm just getting started here!), but I'm gaining the confidence to be excited to put it out there in the world. I also went to a writing class recently where I got to read a portion of my book out loud, which would normally be pretty terrifying for me. But for some reason, I had a lot of fun with it. I read slowly and calmly and gained useful tips for speaking events that I'll certainly put into use as a published author.

It's been a wonderful, wild ride these past two months and I'm looking forward to what March brings next. No matter what kind of month you're having, I hope you're able to follow your dreams, enjoy what you're creating, and grab onto the confidence to share your creations with the world.

Goals for 2018

At the start of the new year, my writers' group devoted its weekly meeting to setting and sharing our goals for the year.  I missed that meeting, but I have been thinking about what goal I would set if I had been there.  And while I'm not big on setting new year's resolutions for the sake of them, I do think that they can be helpful in terms of focusing on specific goals and staying accountable to them.

So, after some thought, I've decided that my goal for 2018 is to publish Sophie and Spot.  I recognize that creativity tends to set its own time frame, but considering that I've already written about 90-95% of it and have critiqued nearly all of that, I think it's reasonable to assume that I will be able to finish the last bit of writing and critiquing, and then work through the revision process so I can publish it this year.

Also, on a broader scale, my overall goal this year is to be devoted to creativity and find joy in creating things.  I have had a lot of new ideas recently for stories I want to write in the future, and am excited to see them develop page by page.  I am looking forward to immersing myself in reading, writing, exploring new adventures, and creating.

What about you?  What are you looking forward to creating this year?