Conversations about self-publishing for the serially challenged

It was a good week last week. I sent off two stories to publishers (with fingers tied in double-bows, sheep’s shanks and half-hitches) and am now in that lovely hiatus that opens up between sending a manuscript, and finding out it is not wanted.

When I started writing this was a period of breathless hope and anticipation for the post.  Now (having received my fair share of rejections), it is more a time of quiet pleasure: at having finished a project (an achievement in itself), and for celebrating the beginning of a story’s journey into the world, which is in fact what the initial submission is.

It’s also a time of excitement, because I get to start something new. While I always have a stew of ideas and story scraps milling around my writing desk, I find I have to focus on one story at a time if I am to get them out the door (and who wants a finished story hanging around? It’s like being hounded by a dog that wants a walk). So when one’s gone, I get to start the next. Wonderful!

Next up for me is The Bold Ship Phenomenal, a story that has been making circuitous journeys off my desk and onto the desks of publishers and back again for some years now, yet refuses to either find a home or lie down and die. It was shortlisted for the Kobo/NZ Society of Authors e-publishing prize last year, but didn’t win, so back, once again, it came.

Now I have decided to self-publish it (it is winking encouragingly up at me as I write). Being rather late off (or on) the bandwagon for most things, I have never self-published anything before, and other than a vague idea, am not even particularly sure how to do it.

So for the next few months, I’m going to record this particular journey in my blog, in the hope that what I find out may help, or at least amuse, some of you. It’s self-publishing for the serially challenged because it’s for people like me whose natural environment to date has been paper, who have large families (or even small ones) to care for, who work, who love to get out into the world and wonder and play (and frequently do), and who on top of that write…and now publish.

Looking at that list, all I can say is thank goodness for publishers who sometimes say yes. But thank goodness also for having options. I can’t wait to get started. I’ll let you know how I get on.  

And the picture? It's gorgeous Ngarunui beach in Whaingaroa Raglan where I live, but it's also where my little ship begins its journey. Not this beach, in particular, but any beach where the waves roll onto the sand, then retreat like beckoning fingers, leaving  behind treasures for sharp-eyed beachcombers to find...                

Catch up with two talented Waikato writers: Doug Wilson and Sharon Holt

Sorry I've been a bit quiet recently. It's because I'm blogging elsewhere, on the Between the Lines exhibition site.

Between the Lines is an exhibition about Waikato Children's writers and illustrators (including me), and is on at Hamilton's Garden Place Library until the end of April 2014. We had a great opening earlier this month, with about 150 people attending. Now we're busy loading teaching resources onto the website, and blogging about the many fabulous exhibitors who are taking part.

This week I've interviewed Taupo author Doug Wilson, mastermind of the gripping Tom Hassler series, and Hamilton author and publisher, Sharon Holt, who recently scooped the Maori Language Award in the print category for her Te Reo Singalong series.


Check out their interviews on the Between the Lines blog.

Take a peek Between the Lines

Something very exciting is happening in Hamilton during April. Garden Place Library is hosting the Between the Lines Exhibition, providing local children and book lovers with a rare opportunity to get inside the heads of some of the Waikato’s best known children’s authors and illustrators.
Between the Lines runs from 1 to 30 April 2014 and will reveal the inspiration and creative process behind a range of contemporary children’s books.

Wharepapa South illustrator and designer Deborah Hinde is coordinating the exhibition, which is supported by the Waikato Children’s Literature Association. Displays on 19 writers and illustrators from across the Waikato will focus on the inspiration, research and process that lies behind one of each of their books.

Deborah says, “We wanted to show that there is as much book-related talent and creativity here in the Waikato as in some of the larger urban areas. The exhibition is also a celebration of all the wonderful books for children that are being generated here.”

I am taking part in the exhibition (with my picture book Wooden Arms, illustrated by Scott Tulloch), as is fellow Raglan writer Andre Ngapo and Raglan illustrator Margery Fern. Other featured writers and illustrators include Deborah, Dawn McMillan, Alison Robertson, Des Hunt, Sharon Holt, Ann Neville, Claire Ashmore, Doug Wilson, Judi Billcliff, Kat Merewether, Michael Oehley, Paul Martin, Scott Pearson, Talia Evered, Tamsyn Rose, Fiona Williams and Yvonne Milroy. Together they represent writers and illustrators from across the children’s literature genres and age groups.

The exhibition’s official opening is at 5:30pm on Tuesday 1 April 2014 in the exhibition space on Level 2 of Garden Place Library, Hamilton. Everyone is welcome so please come along and bring your friends and whanau.

 

A fun night for children's book lovers

The Waikato Children’s Literature Association’s AGM is on this Thursday 13 February.

If you live in the Waikato and you don’t already know about this great organisation, it’s worth checking out their web page, then joining. Its purpose is to “work in the community to generate a love of literature and reading amongst children”. What could be better than that?

The association organises regular seminars and other opportunities to meet children’s writers and illustrators, and hosts the annual Waikato Kids’ Lit Quiz and an annual NZ Post Children’s Book Award review night.

I am giving a talk at the AGM about my work, alongside the talented Yvonne Milroy (Jimothy) and Tamara James (The World is Your Oyster). It should be a fun night, and I am looking forward to hearing more about their work. See you there.

I didn’t win, but…

I found out just before Christmas that my manuscript, The Bold Ship Phenomenal, didn’t win the Kobo Prize.

But…thank you to all you lovely people who voted for me. I appreciate it. I was so pleased even to be shortlisted and am now feeling very excited about what I may do with the manuscript in 2014. 

Big congratulations to Fiona Sussman who did win with her novel Sentenced. I will have to buy an e-reader, so I can enjoy her book when it’s published.

I’m feeling very excited in general about 2014. There are lots of wonderful creative projects on the horizon, including a new children’s novel (I finished the first draft a couple of weeks ago), a novel for adults that I’ve been working for years (about bonsai; they’re little trees), which I have also finally finished the first draft of, and an exciting collaboration with my friend, award-winning illustrator Deborah Hinde (this is her current best-seller, 10 Kooky Kiwis , isn't that cover gorgeous!). I can’t wait to get started.

Here’s wishing you a creative and story-filled 2014.

Sarah      

Podcast for Wooden Arms

I’ve just come across the podcast for Wooden Arms on Radio New Zealand’s website. It’s read (fabulously) by Matu Ngaropo, as part of their Storytime Treasure Chest. You can listen to or download it here.

Enjoy.

The next step

Voting has closed for the Kobo Prize, so thank you to everyone who voted for me (and to those who didn’t, but were nice enough to read my excerpt). I’ll let you know how I get on.

Regardless of the result, I have decided I want The Bold Ship Phenomenal to see the light of day, and that if Kobo don’t do it, I will do it myself. Part of the reason is that I studied publishing at university, and have always wanted to have go at creating a beautiful book for myself. The other part is that I am very fond of the story, and would like to release it into the world. Either way, the book, or books, need to be as good and as gorgeous as they can be.

There’s a lot to think about and learn, and I’ll keep you posted as I go, in case you decide to do the same yourself (or, like me, just find it interesting).

Fortuitously, I attended an excellent workshop at the weekend with The Storybridge crew (Jocelyn Watkin and James George) on self-publishing and marketing your books online. Their tag line is “We help you to tell your own story in your own way. The Story Bridge team offers a supported pathway to new heights for storytelling and publishing”. It’s very apt and I thoroughly recommend their courses (there are more) for anyone keen to hone their skills or get support for their writing practice.

Certainly I came away from the self-publishing weekend all fired up with ideas and expectations, and armed with great tips for how to create a quality book.

Wish me luck!