Category: Business of Writing

Make it Easy for Readers to Contact You

Business of Writing, Uncategorized

Man is talking through a tin can connected to a string and the post title, "Make it Easy for Readers to Contact You" is superimposed on the top.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig 

I’m lucky to have a very good relationship with my readers.  We frequently exchange emails.

I recently received an email from a reader of mine that I’ve corresponded with for years.  She asked me if I could figure out a way to get in contact with another of her favorite authors.  This reader was on email, but not on social media.

As a favor to her, I looked up the author’s books on Amazon to see if I could find her website through  Amazon Author Central.  She was not on Amazon Author Central.

I googled the writer and found a rudimentary website.  There was no contact page or contact information on the website.

I looked up the writer on Twitter and found that she had an account.  I sent her a tweet, letting her know that a reader of hers had a question for her.  Two months later, I’ve received no reply.Continue reading

A Closer Look at Babelcube for Translation

Business of Writing, Uncategorized

Woman holding a globe with the post title, "A Closer Look at Babelcube for Translation" is superimposed on the post.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

My strategy for the last couple of years is increase the income streams for my already-published books by branching into international publishing, libraries, and translation.

 

I’m about to publish my first translated book, A Dyeing Shame, in Spanish.  My translator is the gifted Alfredo Moyano-Barroso.  I was lucky that Freddy not only speaks Spanish and English fluently, but he lives in the US and was easily able to convey Southern US customs and traditions to a new audience.  Right on that book’s heels is an Italian version of A Body in the Backyard, translated by Valeria Poropat, another wonderful translator.

 

Babelcube is a platform that allows indie authors to audition and retain translators for their books.  Here is my experience working with them:

 

The Good: 

  • The royalty-share agreement. For writers, there’s lots that’s good.  There’s very little risk on our side as writers (except, perhaps, the risk of a bad translation).  We pay nothing upfront.  Babelcube handles payments to the translator, distribution of the books, etc.
  • Checkpoints for quality control. We have opportunities to end the translation process.
  • A partnership (for ebooks) with StreetLIb: a company I already do business with and respect a good deal.  That expands the distribution options (although I wish that StreetLib would take over the print distribution–more on that below).

Continue reading

Reviewing a Writing Year in Progress

Business of Writing

A desk with cube walls completely covered with colorful papers and posters is in the background and the foreground has the post title, "Reviewing the Writing Year in Progress" superimposed on it.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

This is about the time when I start wondering where the year has flown off to.

To keep from saying this in December and feeling very off-track, I’ve got a date set in my calendar around now to check in and see how I’m doing so far.

The check-in isn’t only for my writing, but also for my writing business. And summer is a great time to check in with business because we all experience that middle of the summer slowdown. It’s a slowdown of sales and a slowdown online, in general. Blogs are quieter and social media is somewhat more erratic.

You could be as detailed or as broad with this as you want.  Some years I really don’t have time to do more than look and see if I’m on track to put out the number of books that I wanted to publish and to glance over sales and see if I need to run a special.  Some years I have more time to be reflective and to cover a broader area.

Ideally, for me, I’m trying to review the different areas below (and some of them could belong under more than one heading).Continue reading

Thoughts on Getting Rights Back

Business of Writing

A hand signs a document (written in Latin) and the post title, "Thoughts on Getting Rights Back" is superimposed on the top.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Many times in the past five years, I’ve heard from traditionally-published writers who want to get the rights back to their characters and story worlds for their backlist books.

I’ve also heard from writers who’ve had a hard time getting a rights reversion granted by their publishers.

Some writers weren’t exactly sure what they wanted to do with their rights. They only knew that they’d been told that they should try to have them reverted.

Yes.  If you’ve been traditionally published and your series has been dropped by your publisher, you should try to get your rights back.Continue reading

The Relaxed Release

Business of Writing, Uncategorized

Woman in hammock overlooking a wooded, mountainous scene with the post title, "The Relaxed Release" superimposed on the top

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I remember how stressed I was whenever I had a book launch for Penguin Random House.

For one thing, the launches were happening pretty regularly, since I was writing two series for them.

But mostly, I was stressed because their expectations were high.  Any marketing related emails or calls were more centered on what were my plans for the release and less on what they were doing to promote it. (Let this be a heads-up for anyone thinking of pursuing traditional publishing for marketing support.)

Oh, the publisher’s publicity person did usually do one thing: set me up on a book blogger tour.  But who was doing all the work? I was–I was writing the posts, sending them over to the bloggers, and answering comments.Continue reading

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