Seeerah @sarahvhines@writing.exchange

@blindscribe Congratulations!!! That's amazing!

Excellent list of BIPOC dystopian authors. I would also include Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone and Marie Lu's Legend, as well.

https://mywritinghero.com/dystopian-novels-by-bipoc/

I was picked up for publishing in December of last year and felt like the publishing date, December of this year, was going to take forever! And here we are, just three months away. Time truly means nothing anymore.

"Speechless" from the new Aladdin movie is at the top of my writing playlist and is a sorely underrated newer Disney song.

Trying to generate ideas for fiction novels? Take something you're passionate about. Take another thing you're passionate about. How can these two things compliment each other?

I used international relations and comparative mythology to write my story. This is after about 30 years after feeling 'meh' about other story ideas. I stuck with it because I loved the topics. Being passions of mine also helped make the words flow.

What I'm saying is if you see me awkwardly pitching my book as it gets closer to launch, just bear with me. 😂 It's so much easier for me to spend time passing along helpful tips than it is talking about my product and I will be very weird about it at first, I'm sure. "Be your own biggest fan" is something im still working on.

Marketing, I'm discovering, is really involved. I did find multiple sources that gave an interesting take: social media is nothing more than a tool to get your readers to your email list. Apparently, newsletters are where it's all at, hence me having to make one. Which is turning out to be very fun. I love helping people with writing and love passing along marketing tips I'm learning. What I'm NOT as good at is selling, which seems to be a big part of marketing. [1/2]

@pimoore Oooh, that's a really interesting topic that I want to do, but have to think about. 😅

@naldela_teleyal I'm definitely going to include it!

@Lizahadiz This is the best idea, actually! I'm going with this!

I have followed advice: I now have a monthly writing newsletter. It will have an advice section, a marketing tidbit, a writing prompt and a spotlight on cool artists I find along the way!

https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/RG2I9UE

In which I am actually asking for writing tips. I'm trying to put together a newsletter, but I'm not sure what topic to address. Here are some of my ideas:

* A letter that looks at the history of different mythologies

* Writing advice

* A letter showcasing new creators of every medium

* A letter on marketing

Any of these striking? Do you have suggestions of your own? I need all the help I can get! #marketing #newsletter

If you want to know more about what a small-press publisher is and what it can offer, one of the CEOs of Balance of Seven (who I am signed with!) is doing a webinar with Writespace on just that. Ynes is informative and lively, and she has great information for anybody who doesn't want to self-publish but also doesn't want to trust their book in the hands of traditional publishers.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/small-press-big-dreams-what-an-indie-press-wants-writers-to-know-tickets-161904924989?fbclid=IwAR0iqHI4tK_rFnVoLWN_N6yZfi0MFIBi3L795v3z6EewN9chxJ2AeR6G_HM

#Publishing #Publishers #AmWriting

@blindscribe I go through Balance of Seven Publishing. They've been incredible so far!

@blindscribe Yes! That's actually the thing I love about this small press I work with--they only take on a handful of books a year so that they can dedicate a lot more time to marketing, and they continue to market the old books even after the new ones come out (albeit, less attention goes to the old books, but that's because launch days for new books are genuinely high maintenance). The reason I self-published for so long is I hated the idea of traditional publishing

@lapis It is very valid. Selling a book takes so much work, working on ANY of it is a step in the right direction.

@blindscribe Same here. My publishers are actually super involved in my writing process and help me when I have no idea what I'm doing.

It's important to remember that, even if you're getting published by a publisher, an author wears many hats and has to have a lot of pieces fit together to release and sell their work. There will be days when you can't write your next scene, but you can always visit some of these ideas and work through them so that they're ready to go by the time your story is.