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| February 2014 sending my first book to printers |
At
least once a month someone asks me, “How did you become an author?”
I stifle
my self-conscious giggles and admit, “it just kinda ... happened.”
In
2008, I thought my husband Lawrie’s idea of retirement in paradise was an
amazingly brilliant plan – but after five years I was bored silly. I needed something to occupy my brain so I taught
myself to write and publish books.
But
that’s not exactly what the person is asking when they say how did you become
an author. What they really want is for me to tell them in a twenty-minute
conversation, what has taken me years to learn.
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| Lynda and Diego Medina (Illustrator) |
With
this vocation the learning curve only goes one way – up, it never flattens
out or descends. There is always something more to figure out. Perhaps it is a change
in Kindle Direct Publishing or different ideas on how to manage your keywords
so that your soon-to-be-world-famous-novel will even show up when readers
search for their particular interests. I am still discovering more information
every single day.
My
first book was an illustrated bilingual book for children, The Adventures of
Thomas the Cat - Las Aventuras de Tomás el Gato. Two island friends Caroline
Beebe and Harriet Lowe, gave me a gentle shove - right between the shoulder
blades. They suggested I write a children’s book.
I
told Lawrie what I planned to do. He said, “Great! Do it.” He was always up for
a new adventure.
So,
I did.
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| How much do they weigh? 38 boxes of books |
I
needed an illustrator – Diego Medina became that person. I needed translators –
Maura Medina and Christy Dix helped with that. I needed to get the books
printed – I searched Mexico, the USA, and Canada for affordable printers, and in
the end, ordered direct from China. The shipment took two months to travel from
China to the western side of Mexico, across the country by truck, and then finally arrived in Cancun.
Then,
Lawrie and I drove into the city, loaded the boxes, drove home, and unloaded
the boxes. The next day we humped them up nineteen stairs to our storage area
on the second floor and later celebrated with a cold cervesa.
As a
self-published author, an Indie (Independent), I am the writer, the marketing
director, the accountant, the warehouse staff, and the delivery person.
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| Sparky - I'm bored with this writing stuff! |
Wearing
my writer’s cap, I find a different way to phrase a sentence, come up with plot
ideas, invent characters, and make stuff happen to my imaginary people. I
also load the manuscript into publishing programs and search for formatting
errors. Each book can take several hours of reviewing, reformatting, and re-posting.
I write the marketing blurbs and sometimes I am the photographer for the
covers. Our friend Tony Garcia’s beautiful photographs grace the covers of my first
three novels; Treasure Isla, Trouble Isla, and Tormenta Isla. I used my photos for
Temptation Isla, Terror Isla, Twisted Isla, and Tangled Isla because the photos just happened to suit the
mood of the titles.
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| I was stuck in banos at fair |
As
the marketing director, I continuously monitor my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, Bookbub, and worldwide Amazon profiles and
pages. Amazon has many different markets that require individual updates
for author profiles. It’s time-consuming, but I do get a few sales from other
countries other than just the USA, Canada, and Mexico. I have learned lots of different
terms like Search Engine Optimization and keywords. With a very small, almost
non-existent marketing budget I frequently ask or beg for reader reviews to be
posted on Amazon, Goodreads, or Bookbub. Reviews make a big difference to the visibility
of a book when a potential buyer is searching for something new to read.
(Did
you catch that? I managed to squeeze in another plea for a review.)
Another part of my marketing responsibilities is to participate in local artist's fairs. Selling books one-on-one is rewarding both financially and personally, but time-consuming and tough on my feet and knees.
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| Copies that need collating for editing |
As
the office manager, I keep track of expenses and revenue hoping that one day
the revenue will be more than the expenses, a lot more. Paperback copies that I
sell on the island are subject to shipping and importation fees. Amazon takes a
big bit out of my revenue for income tax holdback because I am not an American
citizen, and for hosting my listings, printing the paperbacks, electronically
delivering the e-books, and promoting my books. Promoting-ish. The
Amazon machine primarily pushes the successful authors. Perhaps one day that
will be Sparky and I.
The
warehouse manager, yep, that’s me, takes delivery from the Fed-Ex or DHL driver then humps the thirty-five-pound boxes of books up our spiral staircase, sets
up the displays at artist fairs or book signings, and delivers copies to retailers
and or guest houses on the island. The warehouse staff – me again – also
ensures there is sufficient stock on hand to cover island sales.
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| 2016 the Artist Fair on Isla |
As an
Indie author (Independent) I rely heavily on the kindness of friends. I have a gang
of volunteer editors and proofreaders who do a fantastic job of catching my
mistakes. Carmen Amato, a very successful author of the Detective Emilia Cruz
series re-designed my first two covers. My friend Diego Medina has created the
last three book covers. I have a group of local friends who willingly share stories
about growing up on the island. They are the folks who help make my stories
authentic.
Sparky
and I are still working on the rich and famous thing. As it stands, Sparky enjoys
a small steak on Saturdays and I treat myself to a favourite bottle of red
vino. He’s famous, I’m his lesser-known servant, and we’re definitely not rich.
Has
anyone else noticed a recurring theme in this blog post? I do this. I do
that. And Sparky does what? I need to renegotiate his contract.
If you
are truly interested in becoming an author just get in there and do it. It’s
hard work, it’s fun, and for me very satisfying to create something out of thin
air.
I really miss Lawrie’s insightful assistance and our celebration after the
successful launch of yet another book. Tuesday, September 3rd will be
the first anniversary of his passing, and I am pushing hard to have Book #5, Terror
Isla available on Amazon to commemorate him.
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| My assistant 2017 |
Chat
soon, cheers
Lynda
& Sparky
