Alternative Publishing

There's no doubt about it. If you talk to anyone in the publishing industry, nearly everyone would say this is a great time to be an author. With open venues via amazon, apple, kobo and barnes and noble, anyone can publish a book.

But with opportunities come hard choices.

And each author must decide which road is the best one to travel for them.

Traditional publishing houses are now actively seeking authors, opening their hallowed halls to unagented manuscripts. And where just a few years ago, ebooks were looked upon as a fad, they're now being embraced with ebook first options. For the first time in quite a while (if ever), this ebook option is allowing editors and publishing houses to take a chance on books they might not have been able to justify before. But... The advances aren't there for ebooks, neither are the traditional houses offering bigger royalties to the author. However, there is clout behind being published by one of the big six.

Small presses can vary widely. Some will publish only an ebook; others will offer Print On Demand (POD) books via such outlets as Lightning Source and Createspace. Many will offer large ebook royalties (up to 50%) but small presses are popping up like mushrooms after a hard rain. The author must, must, must do their own due diligence very carefully.

Just like self-publishing is the third most popular way to go and like the small presses, companies are appearing faster than small presses. Some charge exorbitant fees, others are not so bad, and lots of folks I know are being their own general contractor as it were and finding experts to help or doing it all them selves. And self-publishing is all about doing it yourself. Succeed or fail, there's no one but the person in the mirror to blame.

So what's an author to do?

Ask yourself some very hard questions and answer truthfully. Here are some to get you started:

What are you willing to do?
What can you do? Are you willing to research what you don't know?
How big is your online presence? What are you willing to do to increase it?
How much time are you willing to spend on the business side of publication?
How good are you at time management, writing vs promotion?
Is having a big six publisher back your writing part of your dream?
Can you write while editing, promoting, and building your brand?

There are a ton more, many of which will be tailor made to your situation and that only you can answer. I know I've found my answer in the hybrid model. I have small presses publishing my works as well as going on my own. To me, having a publisher back my writing gives me legitimacy to readers and helps me to do what I feel compelled to do: write and not focus on the business side so much.

It works for me, and I hope you can find a system that works for you too. Happy writing.

Finding Our Happy Place

The Tia Dani team survived November and has emerged from our turkey coma to find an entire new set of circumstances. It just goes to show you how fast your world can change in the writing industry. We gave our first workshop on ‘Team Writing’ and were pleasantly surprised at how well it went. The turnout for our workshop exceeded our expectations and we spoke with confidence and excitement about how we write together. We left the class with renewed energy and story ideas buzzing in our brains. We couldn’t wait to get together and put our ideas down on paper.

But then we received news that saddened our hearts and briefly took the wind from our sails. The publisher we dearly love and planned to submit our next story to closed their doors. Our time spent with Sapphire Blue Publishing has been wonderful and we wish them all the best. However, now Tia Dani has two books that are homeless and nowhere to send our almost finished story.

This has created a new project for us that we hadn’t planned on at this time. So, as we move into the holiday season, not to mention amid our decorating and shopping, we have to research publishers. We are asking ourselves, do we want to find another small press or do we take a look at self publishing? There are certainly plenty of options out there, but which is best for our needs?

Over the next few weeks we’ll take a good hard look at our options and hopefully make a good decision -- at least one that works well for us. We’ve heard of authors making thousands of dollars on one book that they have self-published and we’ve heard stories of authors that are published with a small press making the same. We certainly have never made much money yet, but sometimes, it’s not all about the money. Oh sure money is good, and you bet we’d be glad to get it, but it’s exciting just to have readers compliment our work and tell us how much they enjoy reading our stories.

Anyway, for now, we’ll enjoy the holidays, the food, the family and good friends. In our spare time we’ll do some more research and keep on writing. Because that’s what we do. We are storytellers. And as far as the rest of it, remember when one door closes another door opens. Maybe behind the next door we will find our pot of gold. Or, at least, a happy place we will love to be.

Enjoy your holidays in whatever way you celebrate. We will see you next year!

Tia Dani

Tia Dani -- Who Are We?

First and foremost we are a dedicated writing team who loves playing with words, creating the "what if's", and are following a shared dream.

When Tia Dani was invited to join the authors here at Much Cheaper Than Therapy blog, we were thrilled. As part of this group we hope to create interesting information that isn't full of self promo, but will give our readers a chance to get to know who we really are. Find out how we work and how we play. Learn how we struggle with balancing our everyday life, how we draw our stories out of our heads, then work together to finish them, and then on to becoming a published book. And we do it without losing our precious friendship.

Who are we?

We are wives, moms, and grandmas.

Who are we?

Tia -Virgo: Earth Sign. Ruling planet: Mercury. Symbol: The Virgin. Birthstone: Sapphire.

Life Pursuit: To do the right thing.

Vibration: Compassionate and caring.

Virgo's Secret Desire: To love and be loved in return. When a Virgo shines, there is practically no sign to match their inner light. An in-tune Virgo is a treat to meet. When a Virgo is confident within their heart, they are the most successful, structured and creative of all signs.

This is the perfect sign for a romance writer.

Tia's favorite color- Green

Tia also loves to scrapbook and in her spare time she makes jewlery. These hobbies get her creative juices flowing.

Handcrafted by Tia.

Dani- Aires: Fire sign. Ruling planets: Mars. Symbol: The ram. Birth Stone: Diamond.

Life Pursuit: The thrill of the moment.

Vibration: Enthusiastic.

Aires Secret Desire: To lead the way for others.

Aires gift is that they are always children at heart and the world is always a magical place for them.

What a great sign to be born under if you're a writer.

Dani's favorite color is red. Although you might not know that since she usually wears black.

Other interests of Dani's are cooking and baking up yummy desserts for her family.

This cake is decorated with live flowers.

Now, don't you agree that we are the perfect combination for a joint collaboration of writing a wonderful story?

We hope you've learned a little bit about Tia Dani and will stop by again to find out what's new with us. We'd love for you to have as much fun reading our books as we have writing them.

We are Tia Dani, a team committed to our dreams.

Please leave a comment and we'll put your name in a drawing for our erotic ebook, Seduction To The Altar, plus a pair of earrings made by Tia.

Thanks everyone, and have a great day,

Tia Dani

DEATH UNSEEN, http://www.thewildrosepress.com/

SEDUCTION TO THE ALTAR, http://www.sapphirebluepublishing.com/

Come meet the Much Cheaper Than Therapy Ladies

Meet the Ladies of Much Cheaper Than Therapy at the Glendale Chocolate Affaire February 5-7 at Murphy Park in Glendale Arizona

The weekend before Valentine’s Day, Feb. 5-7, is a delicious delight for the senses as the 15th Annual Glendale Chocolate Affaire takes over downtown Glendale to create a chocolate-lover’s dream!

Chocolate purveyors from Arizona and around the nation gather in Glendale for this award-winning festival, which celebrates not only chocolate, but romance and the arts as well.

In addition, the festival has become the largest gathering of national romance novelists in the Southwest. This symposium of literary romantics offers fans the opportunity to get up close and personal with authors, as well as the chance to attend free writing workshops given by the experts.

AUTHOR NAME	FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY
Carol Webb		10-5:00 PM	12-5:00 PM
Judi McCoy	5-10:00 PM	10-10:00PM	12-5:00 PM
Kathryne Kennedy	7-9:00 PM	7-9:00PM
Kim Watters		10-5:00 PM
Tina LaVon		10-5:00 PM

Hope to see you there.

Confidence and The Writer

Confidence and The Writer

By Jana Richards

Putting the words “writer” and “confidence” together in the same sentence seems like an oxymoron to me. I struggle with issues of confidence in my writing (in other areas of my life too, but let’s not go there). Although I’ve finished and sold four full-length novels and my novella “Burning Love” is being released today by The Wild Rose Press (http://www.thewildrosepress.com/), I always wonder if I can finish another novel. If I do finish it, will it be any good? Will anyone want to read it, or buy it? Or am I just kidding myself about this writing thing?

A writer can drive herself insane with all the negative thinking. It certainly doesn’t help the writing. I can wallow in self-pity or I can try to find ways to work on my issues. So here I go.

Confidence Issue #1 – Rejection. What writer hasn’t faced rejection from an editor or an agent? Or maybe you received a harsh critique, or a less than stellar review. Rejection can cripple a writer if she lets it have that power. I know because it happened to me and I almost quit writing at one point. Knowing I wasn’t the only writer who was ever rejected gave me the confidence to keep on keeping on. Laurie Pawkik-Kienlen says to improve confidence a writer should read other writers memoirs and biographies. http://theadventurouswriter.com/blogwriting/quoted-writers/how-to-improve-your-confidence-as-a-writer/ You will be truly amazed by the number of famous writers who were rejected numerous times before someone finally recognized their talent. If rejection could happen to Stephen King, I must be in good company! Check out this site http://susiesmith13.tripod.com/id12.html for some famous writers’ rejection stories.

Confidence Issue #2 – Sure, I finished writing a novel once, but can I do it again? I’m pretty sure I’m not the only writer who questions their ability to do it again. There are a few things to try here. If a full-length novel seems too daunting, or you’ve started and then abandoned more than one novel, start and finish a smaller project. Dan Goodwin writes in “Five Powerful Ways to Kick Start Your Confidence as a Creative Writer” http://ezinearticles.com/?Creative-Writing-Confidence--5-Powerful-Ways-To-Kick-Start-Your-Confidence-As-A-Creative-Writer&id=626660 that tackling a project you can finish in a couple of hours (like a short story or a blog) will boost your confidence. Nothing drains a writer’s confidence more than beginning an ambitious project that she is unable to finish.

Another way to boost your confidence and to remind yourself that you can finish a project is to keep a list of your accomplishments. This list would record every novel, every short story and every blog post you’ve ever completed. Or perhaps you would like to keep your finished novels lined up near your computer where you can see them every day, just to remind yourself you are a writer who can finish what she starts. Writer Sarah Hilary http://sarah-crawl-space.blogspot.com/2009/09/confidence-and-writer.html celebrates her successes, and uses the confidence that small successes give her to aim at bigger markets and bigger projects.

Alan Rinzler http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2009/02/08/how-successful-writers-keep-up-their-confidence/ recommends reading a good book by an author you admire. It’s like holding up a beacon of hope that says “Yes, this can be done!”

Confidence Issue #3 – But is it any good? It takes me forever to finish a book, not because I’m so horribly slow, but because often, I don’t trust my own vision for the book. I go back endlessly and revise, changing plot and characters. Sometimes revision is necessary (okay, my work often needs revisions). But on occasion I’ve let an unfavorable critique totally derail a story, spinning it in directions I never wanted it to go. How do I develop the confidence to trust my own vision?

Writing something every day helps. Dana Mitchells http://www.writing-world.com/life/everyday.shtml says “Writing something every day, no matter how little, will help you overcome these fears [fears of rejection, perfectionism, and poor writing]. It will cause your confidence to escalate, because each day that you actually write something is a day when you have faced your fears.”

Another thing I’m doing to combat this issue to continue learning the writing craft. I’ve taken several on-line classes dealing with plot, characters, sexual tension and many other areas of writing. Currently, I’m reading Donald Maass’ (http://www.maassagency.com/) book “Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook”. I’m working through the exercises and studying other writers’ work so that I can learn to plot and characterize my own novels with confidence.

Do you have confidence issues? Do you find that lack of confidence is affecting your writing? What have you done to try to boost your confidence?

Jana Richards’ novella “Burning Love” will be released today at The Wild Rose Press (http://www.thewildrosepress.com) . Jana would love to hear from you. You can reach her through her website at http://www.janarichards.com/ or join her at http://prairiechickswriteromance.blogspot.com/ where she blogs every other Monday.

Promotion Tips

PROMOTION TIPS

Yesterday, Kim Watters, Carol Webb, and I spoke about using social networks to promote your writing. I want to thank all of you who attended and added to our discussion. It’s amazing how each time we speak we worry we won’t have enough to say, but always run out of time because there really is so much to talk about on this topic.

Here are a few of the tips discussed at the Scottsdale Civic Center Library yesterday.


Do NOT let your promotion efforts take over your writing time. You can schedule promo for those moments you don’t usually write. You also don’t have to do everything in one day. Spread your efforts out over the week.

The four essential elements to promotion are having:
-a website
-a blog
-a Facebook profile
-a Twitter profile

If you read Kathryne Kennedy’s post on Tuesday Sept. 29th she tells you how to set your Facebook and Twitter to feed automatically from one to the other when you post. It also tells you how to feed your blogs into one another.

3. Blogging – Creating a group blog like Much Cheaper Than Therapy saves time. If
you only have a personal blog you should post at least once a week, two or three times will help generate traffic to your site. Offering a service like editor/agent interviews is a great way to encourage readers to come to your blog. I currently cross post from this one to my personal Blogger and my Myspace. If I set the feed correctly it will automatically go to my Twitter.

4. Blog tours are an effective form of promotion. If you read Kathryne’s post on
October 17th you can read where Kathryne went on her blog tour and what she discussed at each one.


To hear more tips, you can listen to our next speech on promotion at the Glendale, AZ Chocolate Affair on February 6th at 3:00. Hope to see you there!

Until next week,
Happy Writing!

Tina LaVon