The Advantages of Self-Publishing

   I have self-published 2 books now and I wanted to share some advantages of self-publishing with you guys now that I feel that I have enough experience. Sometime down the line, I will write disadvantages to self-publishing as well so you can decide the best route for yourself.

 You basically have total say in the book cover. This does come out of your own time and pocket. I would not recommend making your own unless you have experience and can make the cover look professional and realistic. It is better to search for a really good cover designer. These can be hard to come by but I have found a few by taking the time to search.

 You basically have total say in the format of your book. This also comes out of your own time. Formatting your book is just as time consuming as revising. It takes a lot of time to decide on what looks best and what matches the theme of your book. Fonts, paper dimensions and headers take up a lot of time and can be frustrating.  

 You get most of the royalties. Usually by self-publishing an author can get anywhere between 60% to 90% of the royalties. Smashwords and Kindle Direct Publishing gives you about 90%. This was a pretty big part of it for me because I wrote the book, revised, revised, and revised it some more, so I wanted to get most of the money because I put in a lot of work. I'm not saying that traditional publishers don't put in a lot of work; I'm only saying that I did not want to be paid in advances for my books. I wanted to try my hand at self-publishing to see how I would like it and to test the waters to see how much I could make on my own.
 It's been an eyeopening experience.

 You are responsible for revisions/editing. Revising is a hassle, I know. It is probably the #1 thing I hate because I struggle to delete unneeded parts. But I have complete control of what I want to delete and change. I am completely open to criticism, so I always send my books to my beta reader to see what she has to say about parts of my book and then I go back to fix them before sharing it with her again. But if I feel like something is too important to delete, I try to find a way to make that part better instead. 

 No deadlines. You can take your time finishing your book to make it as good as it can be. If you're writing a series, then this should be very important to you. Life often gets in the way of our plans to write, so it can take a while to finish writing a book and then revising it several times. All of these things are very time consuming. Having a deadline can pressure us to just write, whether it is good material or not.

 All of these are reasons why I self-published. It doesn't mean it's for everyone. I hope one day I will get a book published traditionally, just to get the experience.

Can you think of any more advantages? Leave a comment down below!
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Writing a Query Letter

   When I'm ready to send my book out to publishers, I write 2 different letters; one for literary agents and one for publishers/editors. However, I keep the synopsis for my book the same in both letters. I only change the opening lines. I try to sound professional while also going straight to the point.

 Below are samples of the queries I wrote.

 Writing a query letter is difficult and it takes time, so don't get discouraged. It takes me forever to write a query letter, and even when I'm done, I don't feel like it's good enough. These are just some samples, you can tweek it however you'd like. Make it your own!


Query for Agents:
_______________________________________________________________

Dear (AGENT'S NAME),

I am seeking representation for (TITLE OF BOOK), a YA contemporary romance (INSERT YOUR OWN GENRE HERE) of approximately (WORD COUNT)-words.

BOOK SYNOPSIS GOES HERE

I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you for your time and consideration

Sincerely,

Ashley Earley

Email: (INSERT EMAIL ADDRESS)

Reliable phone number: (INSERT PHONE NUMBER)

Website: www.ashleyearley.com  (INSERT WEBSITE IF YOU HAVE ONE)

_______________________________________________________________

Query for Publishers:
_______________________________________________________________

Dear Editor (IF YOU ARE SENDING THIS TO A SPECIFIC EDITOR, ADDRESS THEM BY NAME),

(PUBLISHING HOUSE NAME) has a proud history of publishing quality romantic fiction (INSERT THE GENRE YOU ARE INTERESTED IN HERE) and I am submitting my YA contemporary romance novel (AGAIN, INSERT YOUR OWN GENRE HERE), (TITLE OF BOOK) for your consideration.


BOOK SYNOPSIS GOES HERE


I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you for your time and consideration

Sincerely,
Ashley Earley

Email: (INSERT EMAIL ADDRESS)
Reliable phone number: (INSERT PHONE NUMBER)
Website: www.ashleyearley.com (INSERT WEBSITE IF YOU HAVE ONE)

_______________________________________________________________

Query I used for Alone in Paris:
_______________________________________________________________

Dear (AGENT),

I am seeking representation for Alone in Paris, a YA contemporary romance of approximately 60,408-words.

Breathe, Taylor.

Taylor Clay's family isn't exactly perfect. They may look the part with the nice, big house and her dad's fancy job, but that's what's tearing them apart. That, and her dad's sudden recurring drinking problem.
Though her family is close to falling apart, she never wished for something like this to happen. She never wished for her father to drive off a bridge. Especially not while they were on vacation; especially not when her and her mom were in the car with him at the time.

Breathe.

She's devastated after the fact. And it isn't helping that the papers are gossiping about how the pristine lawyer could have driven off the bridge on purpose. And just when she thinks nothing could possibly make things worse, she realizes she's left alone with no relatives to care for her.
So she's alone. Her parents are dead. And she's stuck in the country her family was visiting for their vacation. She's alone in Paris.

Just breathe.

Then Nathan walks into the picture. Funny, snarky, persistent, and sometimes, just flat out rude, he annoys Taylor to no end. He won't leave her alone, but Taylor doesn't know whether or not she should push him away.

I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you for your time and consideration

Sincerely,

Ashley Earley

Email:

Reliable phone number:

Website: www.ashleyearley.com

_______________________________________________________________

Be sure to pay attention to the guidelines that literary agents and publishers require when you query them. They will give you a specific amount of pages or chapters that they want from your book, they might ask for a bio, and may ask for a few other things. Carefully read over what each agent asks for. Every agent and publisher is different, and therefore, want different things.

Good luck!! <3
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When Will Alone in Paris Be Released?

   Hello fellow booknerds! I have a new update on Alone in Paris. Nothing huge; just giving the general idea of when I think I will release it.
 So, the other day I announced on Instagram (@ashley_earley) that I've been trying to pick the release date for Alone in Paris. As of now, I'm thinking about doing the cover reveal in January or February, and I've been thinking about publishing in April. It will, of course, be available for pre-order on Kindle before then. I'm just not sure when quite yet.

Trying to decide when to publish Alone in Paris. I'm thinking April for the release and January for the cover reveal 😉 Super excited! To stay updated, follow me! Twitter: ashleyc_earley www.ashleyearleybooks.tumblr.com www.ashleyearleywrites.blogspot.com #amwriting #writer #author #writing #writerslife #bookstagram #bookphotography #bibliophile #bookworm #bookish #bookaholic #booknerdigans #write #instabook #booknerd #bookaddict #yalit #writingcommunity #writersofinstagram #authorsofinstagram #ilovewriting #creativewriter #writers #creativewriting #paris #letsdothis #writersofig #authorlife #tumblr #comingsoon

A photo posted by Author Ashley Earley (@ashley_earley) on Nov 17, 2016 at 3:15pm PST

 I've spent the last 2 weeks formatting Alone in Paris so it looks pretty inside and out. I have the cover, it looks fantastic! I feel like it fits the book really well and I'm excited to share it soon!

 Anyway, it shouldn't be much longer before Alone in Paris is available for pre-order either. Anyone that follows me on any of my social media outlets and/or blogs will know immediately!

 I will be releasing the first chapter of Alone in Paris sometime in the next couple of months!
I also have plans to host giveaways for physical copies of Alone in Paris and for bookmarks!

 The title and summary has been released but not the cover! If you want to be one of the first to receive updates on my upcoming young adult contemporary romance, follow me on Twitter @ashleyc_earley  and on Instagram @ashley_earley! I'm always keeping my followers updated on what I'm writing, editing, and reading! Always!

Follow me at the 2 links below and you'll also get updates!
www.ashleyearley.com
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Writing a Plot Twist

   Writing a plot twist can be tricky.

 Plot twists are meant to surprise your readers--to turn them into a completely different plot direction. But, the tricky thing is, the twist has to not only be smart but believable while keeping them interested in the story. You don't want to write a ridiculous plot twist that will make your readers go "That's unrealistic." You want them to take the plot twist seriously and to keep reading your book.

 Your plot twist needs to leave your readers in awe and on-edge to get to the ending! You want your plot twist to. Blow. Their. Minds. But how? How do you write a plot twist that throws off your readers while making it believable and not making it cheesy or way out there?

 Writing a plot twist can, therefore, be challenging because of the above concerns.

You should know the whole plot of your book before this. Outline, play around with a few ideas.

 Plot twists are good because it makes the reader excited and throws them for a loop. Sometimes, a book can be predictable, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, you want to keep things interesting just the same.

 1. Play God and ruin your character(s) happiness. Throw your readers for a crazy ride with this plot twist. Give them a false sense of comfort. When things get calm, screw everything up! Be a tornado! Destroy everything in your path! Think of the crappiest thing that could happen in that moment, and make it happen. It will totally throw off your readers. It works every time, if done right.

 2. Mislead your readers. For instance, you could have a character seem like "the bad guy." You could make your readers hate this character, but then suddenly make it where they become best friends with your main character. One of my favorite examples to give of this is Zuko and Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender (and no, I don't mean that horrendous movie. I'm talking about the TV show).

 3. Put tiny hints every now and then. This way, it's not just something that's out of the blue but when the big plot twist is revealed, your reader will immediately connect all the dots. Of course, try not to make the bread crumbs too obvious.

 4. The big bang. The "I didn't see that coming!" plot twist. Something believable but totally unexpected should happen. It's what I like to call a BAM AND THIS HAPPENS plot twist. The information provided during a plot twist like this should be brand new. You should not sprinkle little hints throughout your book for this one. This is something that just needs to happen.
This one does hold the most risk. You have to be really careful about how big you go with this plot twist. It can't be too crazy! Do not make it a far-fetched BAM.


 Get opinions from people. Let them read your book and then tell them about the plot twist that you're thinking about using, and ask them if they think it could work. Take notes. Ask them for ideas to make it better. Write this crap down and try to form their suggestions into your original plot twist. 

 Happy writing! <3
www.ashleyearley.com
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How Much Does It Cost to Publish a Book?

   As you write your book, you might be considering to publish it once you're done writing and polishing your masterpiece, but the last thing on your mind is how much it might cost.

 When you start to get serious about self-publishing though, you might start to realize that it takes a lot of time, detail, patience, and more than a few dollars to prepare your book for publication. You have to pay for getting your book copyrighted, you have to hire a book cover artist or purchase a pre-made cover, you also have to pay for proof copies of your book if you're publishing a physical edition, and you have to pay for marketing.

 To start out, finish your book before you worry about the publishing side. Your focus should be on writing and finishing your book, and then you need to concentrate on polishing it. Editing is key. There are always mistakes that you'll need to fix and you can strengthen your story at the same time. (Click here to learn more about the editing process).

 Once your book is written and it has been edited enough times that you feel that it's good enough. Also try to get a few people to read your book when it's done to get some tips on improving your book further.

 Decide when to publish! After your book is polished and ready to be thrown out into the world, you need to decide when to publish. You don't have to pick the exact day just yet, but you should decide what month. Take into account that you have to get the cover, copyright it, and format your book to the standards that the publishing platform requires of you (whether digital or physical). Give yourself a reasonable time-frame to get everything together and ready.

 How much do you want to spend? Think about how much you want to spend on self-publishing your book. Give yourself a budget, start saving, and try to keep to your limit during the process of publishing. I will warn you though, book covers don't come cheap. (I'll leave a few links to book cover artists that I've used down below.)

 To calculate how much this is going to cost, you first have to make decisions about all of the things you want to do and will need (like advertising and book covers) and add up the costs for everything. 

 The last thing you have to do, it save up X amount until you're close to the publishing date and go ahead and purchase everything you need!

Book Cover Artists I've Used:

http://phatpuppyart.com

http://melodyypond.weebly.com

 Good luck! <3
www.ashleyearley.com
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Transferring Word Count to Pages

   Here are some general word-count ranges that you can work by when writing your book. Depending on the genre of your book and age group, the word count will be different, as each genre has a specific word count requirement.

Adult novels are roughly 80,000 - 90,000 words in length.

Young adult novels are roughly 50,000 - 80,000 words in length. Even 80,000 is kind of pushing it so I would keep it a bit lower than that.

Middle Grade is 20,000 - 55,000 words, depending on the subject matter and age range.

Children's picture books are roughly 500 - 600 words. If you get too close to 1,000 words, publishers and agents will shy away.

Nonfiction books are usually 5,000 words.

50

But how does this transfer to paper? Well, it will depend on the format of your book document and the font, but if you have the margins arranged as 1 and the line spacing set for 1.5, then 60,000 words will be roughly 170 pages. So, that's about 353 words per-page.

Good luck with writing this week! <3
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