Category Archives: Blogging

What would you like to see in 2019?

Blogging, , ,

For Elephant’s Bookshelf Press, December and January are often about finalizing all the planning we’ve been doing throughout the year. We begin 2019 with several projects under way, including our latest anthology of short stories around the overarching theme of flight. We have received some wonderful stories and are excited about publishing the best.

We have some other items in the pipeline, and also have several ideas. Just as importantly, we’re able to switch things up a little if we need to. Who says elephants can’t be nimble?

But what I’d like to know is what would you like to see this year from Elephant’s Bookshelf Press?

A novel from another emerging author looking to develop his or her audience? Got someone in mind? We’re open to submissions!  Direct queries to submissions@elephantsbookshelfpress.com.

An online course? (And if so, what would is it you have in mind? How to publish anthologies? How to write/self-publish short stories? How to develop your authorial voice? Something else?) Frankly, we have a couple course ideas that are in the hopper, but we are still trying to determine which makes the most sense. I believe the best way to start is with a free course for writers, but there are a lot of them out there already. But maybe you want to hear what the elephants have to say about that!

Another anthology of short stories? By “another” I mean in addition to the one we have in process right now. Anthologies take time to prepare, so if you’re looking for a second anthology in 2019, we need to know that early on!

A collection of nonfiction essays (and if so, on what topic?) We haven’t really tried this before, which could be exciting. But we need to have a focus. It’s one thing for our brain trust to bang ideas around, but we want to know what readers are looking for.

Something else? There is no end to the number of possibilities. And we love learning new things, so perhaps we can learn together! Perhaps you want to see some sort of Facebook group or a series of author interviews. Let’s face it, we’ve had some fantastic authors grace the pages of EBP anthologies before they became best selling and award-winning authors in their own right. Would you like to know what they’re doing now?

We love to hear what our readers are looking for more of, so please let us know!

You can leave a comment here or send an email to matt@elephantsbookshelfpress.com.

Happy New Year!

 

Setting attainable goals: Writing 500 words a day

Blogging, writing, ,

I was shocked. My brother, who isn’t really a writer, sent me an email inviting me to join him in a writing assignment. It was the 500-words-a-day group that Jeff Goins leads through his blog.

To be honest, even though I’m on Goins’ mailing list, I hadn’t noticed that email invitation. So, when it came from my brother, it carried more weight. And when Goins indicated his commitment included blogging, I realized it was just the kick in the pants I needed to start the year right. By writing!

Now, truth be told, I write 500 words a day nearly every day anyway. It’s what I do for a living, after all. But while I could use those words to weasel my way through to the finish line, the personal goal of writing that much was what really mattered most to my ambitions.

So, in addition to a blog and an article for work, on my way home I popped open one of the works-in-progress that I began last year and refreshed myself. I added a scene. Added some tension. Introduced a character. There’s still a lot of flesh to go on this skeleton, but there is more to the spine than there was twenty-four hours ago.

Then, some ideas came to me while I was in the shower this morning. More tension. And the story’s resolution came into view. It’s a children’s story – kind of a late birthday present for my daughters – but it’s also the beginning of a series. The inspiration to write was gelling into a marketable product!

You might say that an unexpected email from a trusted source resurrected the manuscript. But it’s more than that, really. What made it worth pursuing was that the goal was tangible and attainable. Five hundred words is essentially two pages. I know of writers who write thousands of pages a day. I’ve just hit 300 and I’ve only been typing about 20 minutes.

Of course, doing it day after day takes discipline. In my opinion, that’s a crucial ingredient to the recipe of a full-fledged writer and author. Call it discipline, call it consistency. Whatever you call it, it boils down to this: Writers write.

So, my writerly friends, it’s January 3rd. What have you written today? I’m not going to criticize you if you haven’t written anything. I don’t know your schedule. But if you aim to reach your writing goals in 2018, there’s no time like the present to get into gear.

If my brother can do it, you can too.

Happy New Year! Story sharing in 2018

Blogging, , , , , ,

Happy New Year!

I will share with you that, aside from the Eastern chill (another polar vortex?!), I do enjoy January. It brings out that sense of renewal in me and jump-starts my creativity, which can languish in the fall.

When you’re a writer, especially an independent writer, there’s always something that needs to be done. Update the website, post a blog, create a newsletter, test new ways of building your audience. And if you’re lucky (or better yet, disciplined) you work on a book or story.

I resolved in 2017 to write more. It worked. Sort of. I started two completely new books. You’ll notice, however, that neither of them were published. That’s because they’re not finished. And neither of them will be full-length novels.

What was I doing with my time all year? Well, mostly learning more about publishing. The business side of things. And I’ll apply more of what I learned in 2018. Indeed, I already have begun.

One of the things I resolve to do much more of in 2018 is communicate with you. After all, what are we writers if not communicators? From the time our bardic ancestors told tales around the campfire to today, when we offer up something more delectable than photos of our lunch on social media, we storytellers share our thoughts for consumption and pleasure.

Stories are nutritious. They feed our mind and our soul.

Audiences are nourishing. They provide feedback, which enables the storyteller to gain a better understanding of what the listener or reader expects.

And a good storyteller knows when to provide that and when to hold it back. We can be such teases!

So, let’s share a little. My little publishing company is five years old and, frankly, it needs to grow. So, this year I’m aiming to publish in ways we haven’t before. It will start with Which the Days Never Know, which is coming out soon. It’s a verse memoir by Vietnam veteran Don McNamara.

After that, I’m looking to box up the seasons series that were the inspiration of EBP. I’m in the works on an omnibus edition of short stories, which will be an electronic-only publication. Of course, if you’ve got Spring Fevers, The Fall, Summer’s Edge, Summer’s Double Edge, and Winter’s Regret already, then you’ll have no need for the omnibus edition. But there are some terrific stories in those collections that deserve to find a wider audience.

The next bit of newness on tap for 2018 is about voice. Not simply a writing voice, though that’s in the works, too, but the spoken voice. I’m beginning to record audio books and expect to roll out the first EBP audio book later this year. I’m very excited about it, but it’s a lot of work.

I also expect to publish at least one of those books I started writing in 2017.

Whew! It’s a workout just thinking about 2018, but I feel great. Like ending a morning jog in bracing January air.

So, what do you have in store for yourself? Will you be writing more? Publishing more? Reading more? All of the above, more?

Please share. And let’s keep sharing. Remember, we’re in this together.

And speaking about sharing, I want to share your accomplishments through my channels, too. That means interview opportunities, guest posting opportunities, and cover reveals. I’ll be happy to help you promote your books and help you find other books to read.

And products! Wow, has my publishing business been enhanced lately by certain products and tools!

So, let’s get started. I believe 2018 is going to be exciting, and stressful, and whimsical, and romantic. All the qualities we want in a book and in a year.

Welcome, 2018. Let’s see what we can do together!

 

 

A few minutes with Jean Oram, author of The Wedding Plan

Audience, Author interviews, Blogging, Marketing, , , , , , , , ,

One of the many wonderful writers I have met at AgentQuery Connect is Jean Oram, who is described as the “super moderator” of that writers’ community. In the fiction realm, she tends to write romance, and in the nonfiction area, she focuses on child’s play, with sites like It’s All Kid’s Play.

Jean’s latest new release, The Wedding Plan, is about a secret marriage between ex-lovers. But with their past and being stuck in a cabin out in the small, nosy little town of Blueberry Springs you can be sure their secrets will be difficult to keep! The Wedding Plan is from her new Veils and Vows series and can be found on all major online bookstores.

She also has been an important supporter of Elephant’s Bookshelf Press since its beginning and served as copy editor of our best-selling anthology, The Fall. For this interview, we talked about marketing and her approach to building her audience.

Do you have a mailing list and newsletter?

I sure do!

How often do you send anything to your mailing list?

It depends on a lot of different things, but typically I try to reach out to my subscribers every 4-6 weeks so they don’t forget who I am. 😉 It has to be meaningful though—I never want to annoy my subscribers.

Do you have a blog?

Yes.

How often do you post on your blog?

That, like my newsletter, depends on what’s going on. My blog is a place for my readers to find updated news, items of interest, giveaway entry forms, and the like. Sometimes there will be four posts in a week, sometimes nothing for 6-8 weeks.

What else do you do to market yourself as an author?

I try everything and an answer to this question could fill an entire book.

Basically, you never know what’s going to work for you, so you’ve got to experiment. Some things that haven’t worked for others work for me. Some things that work for others don’t work for me. Things that worked two years ago no longer have the same effect now. For example, doing a basic signed paperback giveaway used to create avid fans—like a 90 percent conversion rate. Now it’s more like 25 percent which makes it less financially feasible to use those kinds of giveaways in that manner. So, now I use few signed paperback giveaways and use them for different purposes. Why has it changed? Who knows, but if you’re going to keep selling your books, you have to stay hungry, stay smart ,and keep rolling with the punches.

Do you offer services like editing, query review, etc.?

I do not.

What do you consider success for your marketing efforts?

It really depends on what the purpose/goal on a particular marketing effort was. Recently, I wanted to increase the number of people in my reader group (on Facebook), and so I gave it a push from several different angles and met my numerical goal for new members. My next goal is to get them active, make friends with those members. After that will be to find rewarding ways for them to help me share the word about my books—that’s going to be a more difficult thing to measure. Because what are my goals? Visibility? Then having a few members share a post can help. If it’s getting sales directly from posts being shared…well, that’s more difficult to measure directly.

Thanks, Jean!

Jean Oram is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author who loves making opposites attract in tear-jerking, laugh-out-loud romances set in small towns. She grew up in a town of 100 (cats and dogs not included) and owns one pair of high heels, which she has worn approximately three times in the past twenty years.

Her life contains an ongoing school theme, having grown up in an old school house, then becoming a ski instructor in the Canadian Rockies, then going on to marry a teacher and becoming a high school librarian. She now runs a fundraising committee for her daughter’s school.

Jean lives in Canada with her husband and two kids. She can often be found outdoors hiking up mountains, playing with kids on the soccer field, racing her dog on her bicycle–sometimes the dog lets her win–or inside writing her next novel.

Subscribe to Jean’s newsletter and get a taste of her small-town comedies that will have you laughing while falling in love. Get your FREE ebook by signing up here: www.JeanOram.com/FREEBOOK.

Revamping the Elephant’s Bookshelf Blogging Experience

Audience, Blogging, Publishing, writing

Hey guys. It’s been a while, I know. Though it’s not obvious from the number of posts on this blog, I have been busy, and I believe the busy-ness will become evident very soon.

In a nutshell, I’ve spent the past several months working on expanding and developing Elephant’s Bookshelf Press, especially from a marketing perspective. What this means in the short term is that two books are being made ready for publication this year, with the possibility of a third also (though that one may run into 2018).

I’ve also been rethinking my blogging. Not just my schedule but also my purpose. Continue reading Revamping the Elephant’s Bookshelf Blogging Experience →