Decision Made! Work Yet to be Done.

Thanks for bearing with me as I've struggled with publishing Room 1515. Today, I've made that decision. Before I tell you what it is, let me tell you what I've done. First, I've researched. If you go on the net and type in the critical keys words, you can spend days reading about the pros and cons of traditional publishing, self-publishing, and the pay-to-publish houses. I will not say anything bad about any of them. The decision must be yours based on your individual circumstances.

Second, I've tested Room 1515 by submitting it to critique partners and to OWFI's Mystery, Suspense, Thriller Competition where it won 1st. place. The third step was and is the hardest--continuous proofreading and layering. I'm lucky to have a friend who is a great line-by-line editor. I also have a program on my wife's computer called Zoom Text, that is a text to speech reader. I'm using this as my last copy correction, and I'm finding a few errors, even after many revisions. But I will honestly be able to say I've submitted the best work I can.

Fourth, I've built a website using Word Press which I will link to my blog, my Facebook page, and the YouTube trailer I'm in the process of developing. I'm adding pages to website as I go and will open the site to the public a few weeks before Room 1515 comes out. I have many ideas on marketing, but not for this blog entry.

Now, Ta da, I've decided to publish with Book Country, a Division of Penguin Publishing. Room 1515 will come out as an ebook and a paperback approximately seven weeks after I submit the manuscript. The cost to me will be between $500 and $700, depending on what I let them do and what I decide to do myself. I've decide to submit Room 1515 January 9th.

I wish to thank Chuck Sasser, Gloria Teague, Amy Shojai, John Biggs, Lela Davidson, and Carla Stewart for their comments and support. And if I forgot someone. Thank you as well. I'll let you know how things progress.  If you have other suggestions of things I can do before submitting my manuscript, please let me know.

First Things First

I’ve received a volume of input from my blog friends on self-publishing. Some of you cautioned me on the downside of not going the traditional route. Others offered valuable comments on preparing to publish whichever road I choose. They suggest I put everything in place I’ll need to market my book whatever I choose to do.

So I’ve decided to put first things first. I need a website linked with my blog, my Facebook, and the YouTube trailer I intend to create—or have someone create for me. One of the challenges I have is a lack of technical savvy. But I am a natural born marketer, so I’ll be using those skills to develop a marketing plan before my first novel comes out.

Reading all your comments, I realize no one path is right for all people. If I was 25 again, I’d be pulling out all stops (cliché) to find an agent, but I’m not 25. Agents know this as well when they look up during pitch sessions and see my gray hair.

The last agent rejection letter read something like this: “I’ve given serious thought to your work. I admire your creative imagination. But I finally decided to pass. I look at the marketplace today and don’t think I can devote the time it would take to sell it.” This agent had my manuscript five months.

My next steps will be to try a small regional publisher, publish myself, or use a traditional house’s subsidy publisher. Many are buying or creating them, i.e. Writer’s Digest and Penguin. But I have this dilemma. Small regional publishers don’t have the broad scope I’m looking for. Self-publishing has the same problem, plus the time it takes and money. Going the route of a Penguin subsidiary has advantages, except for the back end percentage taken.

If you have personal experience with the above, please share your valuable insights.

To Self-Publish or Not to Self-Publish - The Journey

I've been writing for six years. Why? Because I enjoy writing, but more importantly, I have something worthwhile to say and I want to share my ideas with others. My projects are receiving recognition. I added up my writing statistics. I've won a thriller competition, placed eighth in a Writer's Digest Short Story Contest, published, or am in the process of publishing, five shorts stories where I'm actually being paid. I've finished two novels that are ready for publication and three more in the process of layering. What now?

My writing mentors, all published authors, say, "Bill, you've worked too hard to go the self-publishing route." Well, have I mentioned I've spent--now wait for it--$5,375.00 on workshops, seminars, conferences, and professional editing services. Other writers I know have spent more. I've received fifty-one rejections from agents, most coming in the form of no response. 

The rise of Amazon and Barnes and Nobles' electronic readers have made self-publishing easier. Couple that with the tight economy creating problems for publishing companies, and there is an opportunity for new authors to market their work like never before. But the work has to be exceptional. So here is a question I'd like feedback on for my readers. In your opinion, what are the three major drawbacks to self-publishing?

Join me over the next few months as I share my journey, To Self-Publish or Not to Self-Publish. Please, sign up to follow my blog and receive automatic posts.

Welcome John Biggs - 2011 Writer's Digest Winner

I’m a huge fan of John Biggs’ writing. We’ve been cheerleaders for each other since we met at a Bill Bernhardt seminar a few years ago. John is shy until you get to know him. He possesses a sense of humor to die for and weaves it through his character portrayals like fine threads in a tapestry. OWFI and Writer’s, Readers, and Critiques are proud to have John as a member. Let’s welcome the winner of Writer’s Digest’s 2011 Short Story Competition, John Biggs. (Your eyes are not deceiving you. The picture of John was taken in a Mexican graveyard! For those of us who love him, that's not surprising.)


I appreciate the fine threads in a tapestry simile, Bill. Your introductions are always eloquent.

How long have you been entering writing contests like Writer’s Digest and The Lorian Hemingway? How close have you come to winning before this year?

I started entering short fiction competitions about a year after I made my first attempt at a novel—about nine years ago. I had some wins from ByLine, which is now defunct, and OWFI, and a lot of honorable mentions from Writers of the Future. I also had a couple of stories in the top 100 in last years Writer’s Digest competition. The reason I started entering contests is so somebody—anybody—would read what I wrote. Many of the literary magazines and most of the professional (5,000 plus circulation) magazines get thousands of submissions and don’t read past the first few lines of work from an unknown writer.

Did you enter your Writer’s Digest winning story in the Lorian Hemingway competition? How did that story fare—and vice versa?

That question shows a lot of incite into how much luck plays a role in winning a literary prize. I entered the same three stories in both contests. Writer’s Digest awarded me the grand prize for “Boy Witch”, and Lorian Hemingway awarded me third place for “Soul Kisses”, but the judges had no overlap at all. No honorable mention or top 100 honors for the winning stories in opposing competitions.

It must help if the judge is in a good mood when your entry comes up.

Writer’s Digest has interviewed you presumably for their next issue. How difficult did you find that experience?

That interview was an e-mailed set of questions with a one week deadline to respond, so it wasn’t all that stressful. I’ve never actually met Melissa Wuske, my Writer’s Digest contact. We’ve traded a couple of voice mail messages, but I’ve never actually talked to her.

This year is a banner year for you, John. You have a story coming out in Storyteller Magazine as well. To what do you attribute your new found success, persistence, a change in attitude, a newly discovered technique that works for you?

Persistence has to be the main thing. I’ve looked over these stories to try and figure out if there is anything about them that makes them different from my other work. If there is, I can’t find it. I’ve submitted more stories this year than I ever did before, and I’ve finally found some editors who like them.

I want to mention a couple of people who are very good contacts for beginning writers. You introduced me to Regina Williams at the last OWFI meeting. She is the editor of Storyteller Magazine, and publishes a large number of first time submissions. I probably would never have submitted anything to her without your introduction, and now, I have a story coming out in the July/August/September edition. Regina is also publishing “Soul Kisses” in the October/November/December edition.

Dusty Richards is another valuable contact. He is a western genre writer and publishes anthologies of short stories and even novels by new writers. I have one story coming out in his Cactus Country I anthology, and another in Cactus Country II. Dusty is very accessible and is a regular at OWFI. He had a call for submissions in Carolyn Leonard’s e-zine, Writers Reminder.

The last time we talked, you indicated you were going to concentrate on writing short stories for awhile. Having two major trophies for your resume, are you planning on dusting off those novels and looking for an agent while the iron is hot? (Cliché) lol.

Part of the Writers Digest grand prize is meeting with agents and editors in New York City, so I am definitely going to dust while the iron is hot. I am working on a new novel currently, which I hope to show somebody. I’ve structured it so far so that chapters stand alone—drawing on my experience with short fiction. That probably won’t be possible to maintain as the plot thickens. (Cliché back at you).

I’ve asked each person I’ve interviewed about the current marketplace for novels. With Kindle, Nook, and social networking, marketing your own material is easier than it was in the past. I’m personally torn between holding out for an agent or jumping in and doing my own marketing. I find some gems in the self-published world. But overall, I believe the quality is woefully lacking, what’s your opinion?

I agree completely. Where my own work is concerned, I’ve looked at old stories and novels I thought were fantastic at the time, but now I find them a little bit embarrassing. It’s also true there are a lot of really good self-published books available, and some really rotten books represented by agents and New York publishers.

The thing that most discourages me from doing my own marketing is—dare I admit it—laziness. I’m a terrible salesman, don’t meet people well, and am easily discouraged. Some people can market well, but I can’t.

How are your wife and family taking your success? Are you planning another Viking Cruise?

We’ve got a couple of ocean cruises planned—one this year and one next year—but no river cruises are currently in the works. As an aside, I wrote “Boy Witch” on a Holland America cruise. Short fiction fits in well with travel and limited attention spans.

What advice can you give to those who haven’t achieved recognition and the agent rejections are piling up?

Keep on submitting. It always hurts to put your heart and soul into something and receive a rejection—or no response at all—for your trouble. Take Prozac and keep writing.

Put things aside for weeks or even months and then rewrite and revise.

Attend workshops and listen to what other writers have to say about your work. My experience with you, your wife Pam, and others in our critique group has made all the difference in my work.

Remember that luck is key to getting something published. After you have a couple of things to put on the bio portion of your cover letter, editors might actually read past the first paragraph.

You’ve shared some great information. I’m sure our readers will gain confidence from you.

It’s always good to talk to you, Bill. You provide a great forum, especially for writers who are just starting on the journey.

Thanks John, watch for John’s interview in the Writer’s Digest after October.

An Interview with Gisela Sedlmayer

Today I have the unique pleasure of welcoming Gisela Sedlmayer to my blog site. Her Talon series hit home for me on several levels. By way of introduction, Gisela grew up in Germany, married an Australian, has lived in New Zealand, and now resides in Queensland, Australia. She is a cancer survivor and mother to two adopted Indian girls from the island of Fiji. Please welcome, Gisela Sedlmayer.

Thank you, Bill, for giving me the opportunity to express myself here. I appreciate that very much.

In your unique story, Talon, Come Fly with Me, a nine year old girl, who’s only a little taller than a two-year old, befriends a pair of condors and ends up raising their offspring from an egg. The sages say we write what we know. To me this story lifts the human spirit. How did you take your life’s experiences and create this idea?

I am happy to hear that my story lifts the human spirit. But when I started to write the story, it didn’t occur to me that it would. After I survived a deadly disease, I couldn’t go to work anymore. My husband said, “Why not start writing again, you loved it.” Yes, I was writing animal short stories in my early life. Nothing was done with them, but I loved writing them. Why not again?


So I wrote some short stories, this time for competitions. I didn’t win first prize, but I was highly commended. One of those stories was about Matica and Talon. Out of that short story I developed the novel and then a series. I realized that a lot of the things I wrote about Matica came from my life—particularly the rejection. I never thought I could write about rejection. But it fitted so wonderfully.


In my early life, I experienced rejection. Not in the way Matica did, I didn’t have her growth-challenge, but I had other things. I was always shy and didn’t really fit in. I was standing outside looking in when all the other children were playing. My parents loved me, but they never found out, that I had speech dyslexia. I have never learned to carry on a good conversation.


So in a way, Matica is me. She experienced what I went through. She talks and thinks like me.


My father had to move to where his work was. So my life was disrupted. We moved around Germany from one city to the next. I changed schools nine times. When I’d just made a friend, I would lose that friend. So in the end, I stopped trying to make friends anymore.


I wasn’t bullied in school, but I know that many children who are bullied in school commit suicide. My husband and I know that first-hand. We have adopted Indian twin-girls from Fiji. For the most part, they were accepted, particularly in our church. But when I went shopping with the girls, some people always looked at us strangely, with the look on their faces that said: How can you do something like that? Or similar.


I say: Children with special needs, with disabilities, or with handicaps, don't have an illness. So there is no cure and it's not contagious. They want what we all want—to be accepted.


And that is what my book, Talon, Come Fly With Me, is all about, not only the first book, all the books in the series.

I believe every reader can relate to what you’re saying. When a writer connects with the emotions they felt in their past, and then places those emotions into their characters, the writing itself soars. Thanks for sharing.

A question raised by your book, and the others in your series, has to do with the misunderstanding humans have about other living creatures. How do we learn the true purpose of the creatures around us? How do we save the endangered species so valuable to our planet? Was one of your purposes when you developed this story to raise the reader’s awareness of this problem?

I didn’t think about that in the beginning. It came to me in the middle of writing the first book. I wrote mostly about Matica, the rejection she felt, and how she could overcome her loneliness and be the person she wanted to be. She had a lot of love and she couldn’t give it to anyone. Yes, to her parents and her brother Aikon, but she had no friends. She wasn’t even allowed to play with the Indian children in the community where they lived in Peru.


But then I thought about the condors. They are an endangered species, so I might be able to help them by writing the story about Matica and Talon, the condor. I wanted to make people aware that there are actually living, wonderful majestic birds. And they are worthy to be saved. Make them aware that poachers are doing so much damage in the animal kingdom.

When I read about the poachers, I thought about the highland gorillas and the elephants whose lands numbers are shrinking to human greed and superstition. Authors have a role to speak for them.

Are the characteristics Matica possesses similar to your own adopted girls?

No, my girls never really had that problem, we made sure about that. Those characteristics are my problems, the rejections I faced in life. As I said earlier, I went through most of them myself. I was rejected. I couldn’t speak properly.

Comments made about Talon on Amazon emphasize the appeal of your story to ages 9 through 99. To what do you attribute such a broad audience?

Being an animal story, I wrote for children at first from the age they could read books. But then, thinking about Matica and her afflictions, her problems, her rejections, I realized the book was for every age. Talon is for people going through similar things Matica did, rejection, or other problems they might have. So they can read the story and can learn to get a “Condor”, as Matica did. Not literally finding a condor, it’s a figure of speech. As my “Condor” is now writing. I am slowly receiving recognition and good reviews about my book. So I hope to find a publisher who will publish my books.


Every person should look for something they can do to express themselves. That may be writing, art, facing physical challenges, but something they can achieve to gain acceptance and be the person they want to be.

Let’s talk about the whole realm of self-publishing. You chose BookPal in Brisbane, Australia as your publisher. Why did you make that decision?

After I finished writing the first novel about Matica and Talon, I wrote query letters and sent my manuscript to several conventional publishers here in Australia. And guess what? I always got that rejection letter back. I tried for many years. I failed.


So I looked up all the self-publishers here in Australia and decided to let my book be published by BookPal. At that time, they were new here in Australia and weren’t as expensive as the rest. They did a very good job with the designing of the cover page. They did the outlaying of the book, everything. They also wrote a press release and did the distribution. My book is now available at all bookstores and all Internet outlets as ebook, and on Kindle at amazon.com.


When my second novel in the Talon series was finish, Talon, On The Wing, I approached them again. What horror, they’d become too expensive. That’s why I am looking for a conventional publisher now. But I am not approaching them. I hope they will find me.

Ah, popularity unfortunately increases price. So BookPal must be doing well. There is always a direct correlation. Until you mentioned the price increase, they seemed to be the answer for many good authors, particularly with their aid in marketing. They still may be for those who can afford them. Some writers may be able to afford price increases as a cost of doing business. Others may not.

You’ve been highly successful in publicizing your work. How many of your interviews did you set-up by yourself, and how many were generated by BookPal?

BookPal booked view book signings for me around the Gold Coast. They also arranged a radio interview with 2 NM in Hunters Valley, New South Wales. I believe the interview went well, but I never heard from anyone on how well it went.


I also booked a lot of book signings around the Gold Coast myself. They always went very well. Then I got into Facebook. Here I advertise my book as well and all the reviews and interviews I am getting now are from Facebook.



On Facebook I approached people who did author interviews and asked if they would interview me about my book. They did. A few asked me if they could do an interview with me as well. I love that.

How much influence has your Christian faith had in the direction and content of your novels?

Actually, not as much as I thought it would. Well, Matica’s parents are missionaries and were sent from their church in Australia to Peru. They followed the call and went. The influence is in what I don’t write. I try to write to show everything in a positive way—never letting the negative overtake me.

What advice can you give an unpublished author on marketing their work for publication?

It is not easy to get into the publishing world, as I have found out firsthand. But I say, never give up. If you give up now, you’ll never know what might be just around the corner. Just write on. It will happen. One day, you will be discovered. As I hope to be discovered. I’ve been writing now for the last 15 years and trying to get into conventional publishing houses. I know it will happen one day. But with this business, you definitely need patience. Stay positive. Be persistence. It will happen.

My book is now available in all the Internet outlets. Also you can buy my book from my website: www.writersportal.org/Gigi

http://www.amazon.com/Talon-come-fly-Gigi-Sedlmayer/dp/1921578726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269991493&sr=1-1

Thank you, Gisela. I wish you continued success.

Thank you, Bill, for giving me the opportunity to express myself.

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