Author’s Spotlight: K.M Jenkins

Hi all! Today, I’ve got a special for you. It’s been a while since we’ve done an author’s spotlight or interview here on the blog, but today, I’ve got Katie Jenkins (K.M. Jenkins) with me for her blog tour on her new release, Tales of Ferrês! It’s on pre-order on Amazon right now, so go head on over and check that out! I’ll be putting up a book spotlight page for the first time. Since I haven’t read the book yet, I can’t really write a review, but I can spotlight the book, so you can see that here. Let’s get started on the interview!

First, tell us a little bit about yourself, Katie.

I am an International Bestselling Speculative Fiction author. My works consist of fantasy and paranormal romance. One day in the future I plan to add horror to my list of genres, but right now these two fit perfectly for me. I am the proud mama of twin boys that are only two-years old. They keep me busy on most days. I work a normal day job part-time and write in my freetime.

Very neat! I also work a normal day job and write in my free time, so I know it gets busy, but doing that on top of parenting? Definitely a challenge! So, tell us… What kind of fantasy do you write, and what got you into it?

I write High Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Everything I write is either for the YA crowd or the New Adult crowd. I got into writing High Fantasy because I started creating a world that revolves around several kingdoms with different species. I love world building and making things from nothing. So, it just fits me. My paranormal romance kind of chose me after I read several werewolf love stories. Mine are more geared towards the younger crowd so they are clean reads that anyone over the age of 15 can read.

That’s great. I’m a huge fan of world-building myself, so I can understand the pull toward high fantasy because of that! Now, what genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

I read just about everything. I have been stuck in a rut where I have been craving dark romance books. I also read fantasy and paranormal romance. Those tend to inspire my own stories. The dark romance books are more for my enjoyment.

I’ll admit I like dark romances myself. I’d never write them myself, but I do enjoy them sometimes. So, what are some of the things you like to do to relax?

My top favorite thing to do on a free day is to curl up with a good book. Sometimes I will watch a show on Netflix, but I really have to be in the mood to watch TV. My other favorite thing to do is to sit in a dark room and listen to music. It is like meditating and helps me calm down from a stressful day.

All good options, for sure! Can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?

I will be starting on my next series of short stories here this coming August. I plan to introduce the next kingdom in my Tarzinëa world. This kingdom is Tarza and I will be doing a lot more romance stories this time around. There will be a few characters making a reappearance in this series while I will be introducing several more.

My other work-in-progress is my Vortex Series. I actually release a new chapter each month from book 1 to my newsletter subscribers. The book is about a young cop named Cassie that finds out she has supernatural powers. Not only that she goes from living a normal life to being thrown into a world of supernatural creatures. She has to find her true place within this bizarre world, all while a war is on the verge of breaking out. 

They sound really exciting. Speaking of things you’re working on, let’s switch gears a bit to talk about the publishing side of things. If you’ve published (self-published or traditionally published), can you tell us a little about the experience?

I’ve self-published pretty much my entire journey so far. It is a trying process and has its ups and downs. I’m making more of a push now to get my name out there and to keep my content flowing through my Facebook and blog accounts. It can get pretty overwhelming when you do mostly everything yourself. I wouldn’t have it any other way though, because I love being able to control everything that is mine.

I’m the same way, to be honest, though I have worked with a publisher and liked that experience too. So, what were your inspirations for writing?

I love writing. The big inspirations for my writing are books, movies and meeting new people. They tend to create characters in my head that eventually create worlds. Then they drive me nuts until I have to write their story.

My characters are the same way! Of course, they don’t shut up even after I write their story, but that just leads to more books, so I’m not complaining. So tell us… Who got you into writing when you first started?

I started writing when I was a kid. I always loved getting creative writing projects in school. I didn’t get a lot of support from my teachers though. They didn’t understand why I enjoyed writing fantasy stories. That is why I didn’t really give it a go until I was in college. I started writing one day and just couldn’t stop. Then after a few years I finally decided to take the leap and publish my own stuff for everyone to see. I am still learning and look at all the reviews I get to help better my craft.

Seeing the reviews, both good and bad are definitely a really helpful tool. There’s always something you can learn, even from harsher feedback. Speaking of learning and feedback, was there anyone who came alongside you at any point when you were struggling in your writing journey and made a real difference? If so, who and why?

I would have to say the biggest person who helped me the most was my editor Allison Reker. She is an Christian Fantasy author that I PA for also. She is like my best friend of all my author buddies. We partnered up several years ago and have been working together ever since. She helps me keep motivated by being my writing partner. She also is the main reason why my stories turn out as good as they do. I wouldn’t be the writer I am today without her.

That’s great! Now that you’ve been doing this for a bit, what advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on the writing journey?

I would say do your research and build your author platform months before you release your first book or story. If you want to find readers you have to put in a lot of leg work in order to find them. I am still struggling with my platform but I have gotten several loyal readers so far and want to keep it growing.

So true! The power a well-built platform like that has can’t be understated. On the same theme of writing advice, what is one thing you wish someone had told you before you started writing?

How to efficiently write content for my blog. I would love to say I succeed at this but alas I don’t. I’m still working on it and trying to get better at it. Your blog is one of your key features to have for building your author platform.

That’s excellent advice. I often tell those asking me for advice the same thing! Next, what’s your favorite book, and who’s your favorite literary character? Why?

My favorite book of all time would be Sword Sworn by Mercedes Lackey. The main character is Kerowyn (Kero) and she is a strong female lead that shows the strength of a woman in a man’s world. I loved this character so much I found my own main character in my Tarzinëa series come to life. I loved the name too.

Alright, everyone! It’s been great having Katie with us today. I hope you all enjoyed and will check out her book. If you don’t use Amazon as your main reading platform, you can access the list of available platforms here.

If you want to connect with K.M. Jenkins, you can do so at any of the following places:

Website

Blog

Facebook

Street Team

Twitter

Dragon Ryder VIP Readers List

Instagram

Amazon

Bookbub

Goodreads

Sunday Stories: Learning Who God Is

New Blog Schedule

Introduction

Recently, my family has begun a study into various aspects of Christianity and learning about the nature of God or theology. This has really gotten me thinking because it’s not a subject often discussed in churches. Certainly not in liberal ones, and sadly, not even in conservative ones. It is avoided, and I believe there is a reason for that. It isn’t a good one either.

Why It Matters

The reason this subject is the starting point and matters so greatly is that no study of how we ourselves should apply Biblical principles can be complete or accurate if we do not know the nature of God. As Tozer says, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. … Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God.

“For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech…”

What We Believe About God Has A Huge Impact On How We Live Our Lives

Truer words might never have been spoken. What we believe about God defines how we come to the Bible, and it defines how we approach every single thing about our lives. If we believe He is a being that will accept us however we are, then we can comfortably live our lives however we please for the knowledge of the holy is insignificant and need not affect anything of the divine.

But if there is a God who has a nature that we can, if there is a God whom we can see anything of in the order of nature and the natural laws, if there is a God revealed through His own revelation to man in the Scriptures? If we know that God, then we know our view of Him must impact every aspect of our lives, leaving no area untouched. Not education, not our beliefs, not any action or part of our lives. 

We must hold all up to the light of who that God is, not our imagination of who God is. For if the Bible is true and if there is anything we can see of God’s nature from the natural world, our imaginations of who God is are invalidated and only the truth of who He has said He is can stand. But if it is not true, if any part of it isn’t true, then it is one person’s imagination of God against another and there is no way to know anything. Simply put, there would be nothing different between Jehovah God and Zeus for we can no more know Him than the ancient Greeks could understand and know Zeus. With no clear indication of who God is from His own revelation of Himself, He remains so high above our imaginations that we have no hope of understanding Him and therefore no hope of understanding His actions, how we might gain His favor, or how we ought to act in order to gain a favorable eternity.

The Results of Not Believing the Bible Is Infallible and God’s Word

We see the results of a belief that Scripture is unreliable in many religions and beliefs. Some have thrown it out entirely, and they believe all manner of things. Their beliefs range from the belief that there is some cosmic energy they’ll become a part of to the belief that there is no heaven, only constant reincarnation until one reaches a state of enlightenment. But sadly Christian groups have also fallen prey to this belief. Many liberal churches and most if not all Catholic churches teach that the Bible is only a group of stories that are meant to give us instruction into how to live a good life.

Of course, if this is true, then what shall we base our morals upon? Our own ideas of morality cannot be trusted. They have produced men like Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini. Our own moral codes vary widely and can become very, very messed up. But if we cannot trust our own and we are, as those who claim the Bible can’t be trusted might say, unable to know God at all, where then can our moral codes come from? They have to come from a higher power. But if you cannot know the higher power whom they come from, then you have a serious issue because you also can’t know what that higher power’s standards are for morality. For all you can determine, the higher power could be happy with Hitler and angry with your own “good” behavior. There is zero basis to say what is moral and what is not if the Bible is not true, then. 

What Does God’s Nature Have to Do With This?

God’s nature comes into play because it is necessary for us to understand anything at all about Him or what He expects. Several very basic things must be true of God’s nature if any of us are going to be able to understand Him in even a limited capacity. After all, if the Bible is true, then God’s goal is to have a relationship with us. As with any relationship, there are boundaries and rules to follow. While the relationship isn’t all about rules, it is governed in some ways by them. But what relationship that is loving and good can function with no communication of expectations or the personality of the individuals involved? Therefore, to have a relationship with us, God must reveal both His nature and His expectations.

And that leads us to the main focus of this Sunday Story and the next. For today, I want to go over what I’ve been learning about the essence of God. God’s essence are those things that make Him God. They are different from attributes, which I’ll discuss next time, in that they are not physical descriptions of Him and are often harder to pin down. But they’re important because without them, many of the attributes that Christianity and the Bible assign to God have no basis to stand on.

God’s Essence

God is a Spirit

First on the list, we have the essence of God being a spirit. Or, a better way to say is that God is spirit. (Luke 24:39 and John 4:24). Sometimes, God uses anthropomorphism in His Word to help us to understand Him. Some examples of this are in 1 Kings 8:29 where the people pray God’s eyes will be on them, but because He is Spirit, He has no real, physical eyes. Or, in Nehemiah 1:6, Nehemiah refers to His ears and eyes as he cries out to God. Again, because God is spirit, He doesn’t have physical eyes or ears, but He uses those to give us an understanding of Him. It’s important, however, to know that He has no literal physical traits because if He did, He would have the physical limitations we do.

He is Invisible

Second under this point is the concept that He is invisible (Deut. 4:15-19; John 1:18; 1 Tim. 6:16). This is why we’re not supposed to make up something or to create something that we call God or serve as God. This means not just creating idols we serve as a god but also setting up anything that we serve as the God of the Bible when it does not match with the God of the Bible. So when we replace God with our own image of who God is instead of how He presents Himself in His word, we create an idol, even if it isn’t the usual golden statues and wooden images we typically imagine in Christianity when told not to create idols. Furthermore, the passage in John adds another layer to this in giving us the distinction between God the Father and God the Son. It does this by making it clear that God is Spirit while the Son, though fully God, is the physical manifestation of God the Father. If you miss this, then it’s easy to land yourself in a lot of Biblically inconsistent beliefs, such as saying that Christ wasn’t God or was only partially God and partially human instead of 100% both at the same time.

Finally under this point, God is alive (Joshua 3:10; 1 Samuel 17:26, 36). What I mean by this is that He has life in Himself. The idea of life in Himself is the idea that He is eternal and never dying. We do not have life in ourselves. We only have life in Him. So His being alive is not the same sense of being alive as we would say we are alive. He literally has life and is the only one who can give it to another. Why is this important? Because if you don’t believe this, you end up with a cosmic force like you see in Hinduism that has no life in and of itself. Interestingly enough, not only is this cosmic force where the idea of karma came from, but this is also the idea that Star Wars and the Force were based upon, at least in terms of the philosophy.

He is a Person

A person must be self-conscious and self-deterministic. This means they can think about who they are and are capable of making choices. So what is the basis for saying God is a person? He is both self-aware and self-deterministic. (Isaiah 45:5; Job 23:13; Acts 15:18; Deuteronomy 1:37) If you miss this, you easily stray into Deism, the belief that God wound up the universe like a clockmaker by one method or another and then let it run with no further intervention or interaction (or, in some individual’s beliefs, He only takes an interest in the really big things and has no concern for anything smaller). I should also note that Theistic evolutionists often are in reality Deists who believe evolution is the method God used to wind everything up. But in either case, not believing God is a person, but is instead just a cosmic force or spirit, leads to easily believe He would abandon His creation as an entity without personality has no sense of caring or concern for anything.

God Is Self-Existent

In Exodus 3:14, God states I AM that I AM. The power of this identification is significant because only God can truly say this. We cannot say I am that I am because it steps us outside of time. That statement, in its truest meaning, means that the individual saying it has always existed and always will. It leads to another aspect of God: His eternal nature. We can say that we are tired or we are ourselves, but we don’t have the capability to sustain ourselves, nor are we eternal. So, therefore, in making this statement, God is saying He is self-existent and outside of time.

God’s Immensity 

This is the concept that God the Father is so immense that He simultaneously fills time and the physical planes of Heaven and Earth. The support for this is found many places, but some of the key supporting passages are 1 Kings 8:27; 2 Chronicles 2:6; Jeremiah 23:24; and Isaiah 66:1. 

God’s Eternity

The concept of how God’s immensity fills time is encompassed in the word eternity. God exists in eternity: in and at all times. He not only exists outside of time as we know it, but He created time and what we use to measure it. Unlike us, however, He is so immense that He is able to fill all of time. 

Now why is this and time important? Because time is full of change. It’s an essential part of our lives, so much so that we know nothing different. Every one of us changes over our lifetimes, and the things around us are always changing. God is the only One who doesn’t change no matter how much time passes. This goes back to the concept of His eternal essence. Because He is outside of time, to Him, it is only, always, the here and now and He never changes.

Because change is everything to us and all we know, this is a hard concept for us to comprehend. But we absolutely must believe this about God because His claims to sovereignty and His very being as God demands it and relies upon His immensity and eternal being.

We find the support for this in Genesis 21:33, Isaiah 57:15, Hebrews 1:2 and 11:3, and John 1:3 among many other places.

His Sovereignty

So why does His sovereignty depend on His immensity and eternal essence? If God couldn’t exist simultaneously in all times, then He could miss something, not know something, or need to learn something new. He would be like us, and things could catch Him by surprise. He wouldn’t be able to have an overarching plan for time that would come to fruition no matter what anyone does. In short, He wouldn’t be sovereign, and He wouldn’t be God because being God means being sovereign, eternal, immense, and spirit.

This leads to further discussion, then, on human free will and choice. But I’ll leave that for another post. It isn’t the point of this post, though it is an interesting discussion and one well worth having. 

Conclusion

These essences of God are key to understanding who God is. These are the foundation for our understanding of God and for all doctrines we hold to. If they are not, then we easily stray off into heresies and misinterpretations of God and His Word. Every false religion or belief leads back to a flawed understanding of God or a complete denial of Him.

So this lesson, this study of God is absolutely essential if we are to know with any certainty why we believe what we do about God. Without the Bible and without these aspects of His nature, we could know nothing of God and could have no assurance of any eternal destination, any purpose in life, or any structure for morality or anything else. Some of these aspects of life relate more specifically to His attributes, which I’ll discuss next week, but in the end, this foundation is necessary if we’re going to understand His attributes, which are more commonly discussed.

Understanding the foundation and laying our doctrines on it is an unavoidable step if we want to build a life that is consistent with what God has said and who He is. Only when we are content with or ignorant of our flawed, inaccurate view of God will we be content to focus on the end result with no concern over understanding why we believe the end result is true.

Author’s Interview: Joanna White – Glimpses of Time and Magic

Alright, everyone! Today I have a video interview with Joanna White, my co-compiler for Glimpses of Time and Magic: A Historical Fantasy Anthology. If you’re interested in some behind the scenes info, join us for the interview. We did our best with video quality, but this was recorded via Skype, and I did have a few issues with internet. But most of it should be fine. 🙂

Thursday Technicalities: Indie Publishing

Publishing Journey

Introduction

Indie publishing is the next topic in the discussion of the final step in publishing. Last time, we discussed publishing with Amazon and focused mainly on self-publishing. Indie publishing is a little bit different. It’s often used to refer to both publishing with a small independent press and publishing yourself with Amazon. But for our purposes, we’re only talking about publishing with a small independent press here. There are some important things to consider if you want to go this route, so let’s go over the key points.

Indie Publishing – The Query

With indie publishing, you now start getting into dealing with gatekeepers. Gatekeepers are the ones who will read through your query package and, usually only if they find that promising, your manuscript to decide if your work is good enough and fits well with what they’re looking for at that company. Both traditional and indie publishers do this, and it makes your query very important.

Generally, queries will include some sort of query letter, which has the hook (why they would want your story specifically as opposed to any of the thousands of others vying for the same place in their catalog) and information regarding the book. I may get into writing a query letter and other querying steps at a later date, but a lot of information is available regarding this process. The key things you need to remember are to research and make sure you submit to the people who would be most likely to want your book, to remain professional while also providing unique content that will make them take notice, and to be genuine.

Agents and publishers have far more query letters and manuscripts than they can possibly go through, so you want to avoid giving them an excuse to chuck yours in the trash. Putting it on flashy stationary or doing similarly unprofessional things will not help your cause. Think of it like you would a resume and a cover letter. You don’t use flashy, ornate paper. You focus on the content and give them a good reason to want to talk to you. This is the exact same idea. The only thing that changes is the content and the precise way you choose to present it in your letter.

Indie Publishing – Precautionary Tales

One major thing you need to understand about indie publishing is how easy it is to accidentally get stuck with the wrong kind of publisher. By this, I mean that it’s easy for newbies and even established authors who are newer to indie publishers to accidentally end up with a vanity press.

At best, a vanity press will publish your work for you, but they charge you hefty up front fees and do very little to help you with the book or sales. My recommendation? If a publishing company is asking you for money up front, you should be running the other way. That said, there are a few reasons why it would be acceptable for a company you’re working with to ask you to pay them for a book that will go into their catalog.

One major reason is that they’re not technically going to publish the book. For example, I’m currently part of a group of authors who are writing for the Children of Chaos series hosted by Indie/pendent Book Services. They aren’t technically a publishing company, but the books, though published by the individual who wrote them, are all in their website’s catalog of books for the CoC series. This means that I as an author get extra exposure from both the company’s promotion of their hosted series on the website and from the marketing efforts of other authors in the series. They required us to pay a $20 upfront fee for each book publishing slot we claimed for paying the cover designer to do the covers for each book. This was reasonable not only because that’s an extremely low price for a well-designed cover but also because they’re not making any money off the royalties on each individual book and have no rights to the book beyond the right to have the author keep it published indefinitely.

Anthologies are another one where I’ve seen small indie presses ask authors to contribute some small amount toward the costs of the book. It all depends on the press. But if they’re asking you for anything more than $100, I would be questioning why, particularly if they’re going to end up with rights or money from the sales the book makes. Essentially, be extremely wary of any publisher that asks you for money.

As I said earlier, best case scenario? They charge you a lot and produce the book but don’t do much to help you get it out there. Worst case scenario? They charge you and never deliver at all. Either way, it’s a scam, and it’s going to cost you a lot for no reason at all. Just don’t do it no matter how excited you are that someone accepted you and your manuscript. Con artists and scammers are more than happy to prey on your desire to be a successful, published author.

Indie Publishing Advantages

The advantages to indie publishing, of course, are fairly obvious. You get an editor, a cover designer, and help with the marketing. Depending on the company, you’ll get more or less of this, but it’s nice to have someone else on your team. Why go it alone if you can get a team to help?

But besides the obvious, another advantage of indie publishing is that you may have more reach than you would alone and you also get practice pitching your work to editors and agents. That will prove invaluable if you want to later take another series or book to a traditional publisher. Learning here is a good place to do it.

The other major advantage is that, if you find the right fit for you, it can come to feel more like a support network than just a publisher. I know authors working with small publishers and indie presses who have said their group feels more like family than just agents, editors, and publishing staff. Your book also may get more focus and attention from your editors and publishing staff than it would at a bigger company. This isn’t guaranteed, and the quality of the editors still has to be factored in, but the likelihood of getting closer attention to detail and polishing is still higher.

Indie Publishing Disadvantages

Besides the possibility of cons, the most prominent disadvantage with indie publishing or traditional publishing is the control you give up. Of course, chances are, if you’re looking for a publisher after going it alone with self-publishing you’re more than happy to give up control of every little detail in order to gain the advantages a publisher can offer. But if you’re new to the process of publishing, know that you will give up a lot of the control you have over it.

The publisher will dictate how you can use the book outside the publishing contract, they can typically make pricing changes without asking first (though some will ask anyway), and your royalties will be negotiated differently than they would if you did things directly through Amazon. What that looks like really depends on the publisher, though. Furthermore, they are the ones who do the cover design, often control marketing efforts (though most will expect you to pitch in on the promotion of the book), and handle many other areas of the publishing process. What your publisher decides to do depends strongly on the contract that the two of you negotiated.

Bottom line? Read your contract very, very carefully. Pay attention to what rights you’re giving them and make an informed decision before signing with any given indie publisher. You don’t want to regret the decision later after all the work you’ll put into the book.

Conclusion

In the end, what you choose to do with your book is your decision. There are advantages and disadvantages regardless of which you choose to go with, and you need to know what those are before you decide. Read the contract, make an informed decision, and go for it. Expect to be rejected as the norm, not the exception, because smaller presses only have a set number of people they can publish within their budget, just as big name publishers do, and their selection is typically smaller. But if indie publishing is the direction you want to head, don’t give up! Keep submitting and use the feedback you get from one publisher (if any) to improve for the next one you choose to query.

Sunday Stories: Submission Vs Subjugation

Ariel Paiement

Introduction

Last time on this section of the blog, I talked about my best friend, L, and the lessons I’ve learned in my time as his friend. That story and what I learned about myself lead into today’s story well. This story and its lessons, however, are far harder to share. In fact, this might be the hardest post I’ve felt God leading me to write, at least to date. But while it’s hard to think about this chapter in my life, even nearly two years after it all happened, I strongly believe the story could help others like me avoid the heartache I went through. So, I will share it as best I can along with the lessons I learned through it.

My Standpoint and Defining Terms

I’ll start by stating a few things very clearly so no one’s unsure or confused about my standpoint or how I define terms. First, I believe every woman should submit to the man God has placed in authority over her and that she should obey so long as the command given doesn’t go against clear Biblical principles. Fighting words with many, many women, even in Christian circles, which is both saddening and disheartening. But, I believe this is because many of us haven’t been taught a right view of submission, nor have our men, which is why the application of this lesson will be directed both to the women in my audience and to the guys (more as a plea based on issues I’ve observed than anything). 

Defining Submission

But onto point two. I believe that submission varies vastly from subjugation. Because of that, we need to define terms here. Submission, as I define it and as I believe the Bible teaches it, is the choice of the individual to obey and place themselves under the care of an authority. It is something that both men and women do every day when they obey the laws, and it is something God commands women to do (Eph. 5:22-23) for their husbands as well as for children to do with their parents in the same chapter (though the word obey is used instead). Like it or not, women, that’s what the Bible says.

But our fundamental churches are teaching an unbalanced message on submission that barely touches on (or entirely ignores) the men’s responsibility in response to the women’s submission. Though no pastor would intend for the results of this unbalanced message to lead to abuse or harm of women, that is very often what occurs. Why? Because the men hearing the message assume that they are not only owed their wives’ submission but also the right to behave however they see fit toward their wives. Why would they assume differently if the focus is entirely on the woman’s responsibility to submit? It seems to the listener that the man has no dictates for how he ought to treat his wife, and this then leads to subjugation. It is an unintentional but very dangerous result of the one-sided, unbalanced teaching on the role of women and the role of men in the home.

Defining Subjugation

So, how do I define subjugation? It is when a woman obeys not by choice but out of fear of retribution and harm if she doesn’t. It is when anyone, really, is no longer making a willing choice to obey (which would be submission) and instead cooperates because the other person is stronger and may inflict emotional, mental, or physical harm if they don’t get their way. Submission ceases to be submission if it is not a willing choice and is instead coerced. At the point that someone must coerce another to obey, they, at the very least, are not on the receiving end of the other individual’s submission.  

It is very important that this definition includes the point that the obedience is won through either open or perceived threats of some sort of harm. A person may feel forced to obey or obey grudgingly (neither of which are submission) without being subjugated. So please understand that there is a point where a woman may not be submitting but is also not being subjugated or trampled down by her husband. That middle ground is still an issue, to my mind, but it isn’t an issue on the part of the man, at least. Subjugation is obvious, at least to others, because it robs an individual of freedom of thought, a voice or say in matters, and their choices on a broad scale.

Because of how I define subjugation, I view subjugation as a perversion of submission and something that should in no way be advocated. It is, even if subtle, abusive in my experience. It results in men treating women as though they are inferiors, not equals. While I believe strongly that there is a hierarchy of authority in the home based on the Bible, the Bible is also very clear about how men (both fathers and husbands) ought to treat the women and children in their care. Subjugation doesn’t follow that model at all, and in the case of marriage, it eliminates the aspect of partnership that the Bible promotes. In no way is abuse of a woman justified, nor is it excusable to try to wear her down mentally so that she will both obey without thought of her own and avoid ever voicing her opinion on matters that affect her. A man who wants to hurt the woman he should be caring for or rob her of the God-given ability to think for herself is a man unworthy of any woman whether she’s submitting to him or not.

Reasons for Submission and the Commands Surrounding It

Finally, before we talk about how I learned the difference between these two and what shaped my view of this important subject, I feel we need to discuss the commands the Bible gives to men and women regarding submission and authority in the home in general.

In Ephesians, where it tells women to submit to their husbands, it also tells husbands to love their wives. Some of us may wonder why that is. Let’s start with the husbands and why they need to be told to love their wives.

Why Different Commandments to Different Genders?

Simply put, because women and men are different. Like it or not, we think differently and have different aspects of our nature. In general, for example, women are more nurturing than men. And men, in general, don’t need to be told to take charge. It’s built in to their nature, and the only reason men today don’t do so is because modern feminism has taught them not to be men.

So why tell men to love? The men do not love their wives naturally. Sure, they might have the emotional type of love, but the sacrificial, agape love that Christ has for the church? That’s not something they naturally display, so they must then be told that’s how they should respond to their wives.

Women, generally, have an easier time with loving and nurturing, but they instead have difficulties with a fight between taking charge and knowing their place in the home. So, God wisely tells them, submit. That command helps us as women to understand the structure of authority in the home.

It isn’t saying we’re lesser beings or worth less than the man. It’s saying that the man is the authority in the house, and he must answer to God someday for all he allows and commands within that home. The woman’s place is not to usurp that God-given authority but to submit to it.

The Results?

If both individuals obey the commands given to them, then the woman submits without fear to a man who loves her, cherishes the gift she has given, and will sacrifice to ensure she has what she needs (even if not always what she wants). That is a marriage that can last! The marriage built on these principles is a happy one. The marriage that does not in some way act on these principles is much more tenuous, and in my experience, a much, much less happy one. I’ve seen both, and I can tell you that I don’t want the type of marriage that upends the order God has given to things. It isn’t pretty, and even if it isn’t absolutely awful, it certainly has more problems.

Learning to Differentiate

That last section was on the longer side, but a careful and clear defining of terms is necessary for any discussion that may be doctrinal or controversial in nature. Otherwise, misunderstandings or twisting of words may easily arise. But, moving on from that, let’s talk about how I learned the difference.

Growing up, the churches I was in talked about submission frequently, but their focus was only on the women. They rarely, if ever, spoke to the guys about their responsibility as the leaders in the home receiving the submission of their wives and children. They only mentioned it in any real way on Father’s Day, and once a year hardly teaches our men and boys that the subject matters in any way. 

The definition they presented for submission and the way they presented it always made me extremely uncomfortable and frustrated. If their idea of submission was all that was possible, or was what God promoted as good, then why should I want it? It didn’t seem good, and what they taught colored my understanding of God in this area to a less than flattering view. I thought for myself enough to recognize I wanted no part of that, but not enough, yet, to understand why or to search for answers on it. Since my views on the topic were cemented by the time my father got around to really teaching about it, I filtered everything he said through what I already thought. I didn’t understand the differences between what he believed and taught and what our church believed and taught. Not until I was in college.

Changes in Perspective

In college, I might have continued to hate the word and idea of submission as the church used it if not for L. After meeting my best friend, I realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought. At that point, I started looking at the idea of submission more closely as the Bible taught it, not as I was told the Bible did by the church. I was learning to apply my mind to this area too, not just other areas where I already held a different opinion from my church and had Scripture to back it up. I was learning to study and act on Scripture instead of simply reacting to what might or might not be false teaching. 

This led to the realization that we actually choose to submit all the time in our lives. We follow laws, and we often abide by unspoken societal rules. We choose to cooperate with government, usually, even when we might not be very happy with what they’ve chosen to do. Children submit when they obey their parents. Wives submit when they let their husband make decisions with a happy and willing spirit, even if the decision is as small as where they’ll go out to eat. In my case, I chose to give my best friend a lot of say in my life on matters big and small. I chose to defer to decisions he made unless doing so violated my moral beliefs. Others protested on occasion that I gave him too much control, but I was happy with the way things were. I didn’t feel as though he took advantage of it at all.

A Much-Needed Relief

In all honesty, L made it easy to leave the decision-making to him on things affecting us both as well as issues affecting only me. I barely even thought about what I was doing until later, most of the time. Granted, we both had lines and standards we felt were important and wouldn’t cross or break. But I don’t remember ever stopping to think, “Well, maybe I don’t want to do what you said to,” when he would tell me to go to bed because I wasn’t making sure I got enough sleep or when he would decide where we were going to eat. Sometimes, I had my own opinion or preference, but it became habit after a while to decide ahead that I’d go with what he wanted unless there was a reason to voice an opposing opinion.

I really appreciated that he took charge, and I found relief in letting someone else make the decisions. For years, I operated under the motto that I could do things myself and didn’t need any guy to do anything for me. I mean, I fussed about my brothers opening doors because I saw it as a commentary on my capability, not as a sign of respect toward me. I finally gave up control, and just as I’d started to feel grounded for once, L had to leave school.

Less than Bright Decision-Making

I’m not proud of what followed next. After L left, I felt lost. I grew accustomed to having someone there who loved me despite my flaws and who used the control I handed over to help me and to support me. I felt freer than I ever had in ages, and naturally, I missed that feeling. Besides that, I still wasn’t good at dealing with my depression alone. While he was there, L helped me tremendously, but I still didn’t fully know how to cope with the bouts I still had yet. So his departure was a huge blow. Going back to being alone and having that constant stress of always taking care of everything and making all the decisions by myself left me tense, lonely, and cut adrift.

So, when C stepped in, more than happy to take control and help, I was all too happy to let him. I met him before L left, and he and L were friends, so we spent a lot of time together. C wasn’t very controlling, at first. He didn’t offer any real structure in my life, but he did listen and encourage me, and he gave gentle nudges toward the right direction. He encouraged me to read my Bible and turn to God for encouragement, and he generally said all the right things.

Taking Things at Face Value

Since I was preoccupied, I took it at face value. I was so desperate to find someone who could help and bring back that sense of completion I’d felt previously that I didn’t notice the earliest warning signs and ignored my gut on the rest. When he pressed for a relationship, I admit I was unsure and scared. Those two words defined everything that was to follow.

Unable to find a logical reason for the bad feeling I had, I chalked it up to silly emotions—as I at the time prized logic over emotion to an unhealthy extreme—and moved ahead. Neither parent liked the relationship, but they wisely realized that I needed to learn my lesson somewhere safe, so my father didn’t stop me. The school rules protected me mostly in the physical arena, so they let the two of us proceed and prayed it wouldn’t end too miserably.

A Cruel Reality

Sadly, things went wrong faster than anyone expected, and it was worse than anticipated. C changed his tune as soon as we talked about dating, but it really changed when we were dating. He didn’t take no for an answer (unless there was just no way I would budge and he couldn’t get away with ignoring my wishes due to school policies), and he made every effort to assure me that being uncertain was no reason not to move forward or to cooperate. He guilt-tripped me from the start of the relationship by accusing me of stringing him along when I expressed doubts about moving forward so quickly. I was with him for a semester, and I saw firsthand what the difference was between submission and subjugation.

What I Expected From Prior Situations

My relationship with C was a nightmare and not at all what I’d hoped for. I guess in some ways, I was expecting him to respect me like L had. I trusted L implicitly. We had our issues, but I usually felt safe, loved, grounded, and sure of where we stood. At our worst, I sometimes felt unloved or unsure, but that was it. He genuinely apologized when he realized he had caused hurt or negative feelings. In turn, I quickly forgave wrongs or hurts because I knew he loved me, even if things in life sometimes caused him to treat me in a less than kind manner. 

Best of all, I knew where I stood with him. If I stepped over a line, L made it clear in no uncertain terms, and he told me what he would do if I did it again. But I always had a choice, and he never tried to push me into one or the other. He never threatened to cut off contact or shut me out if I didn’t do what he preferred with an issue. Instead, he just did what he could to mitigate the issue. He was there not for himself, but because he cared. He gave me his full support if I wanted to work on an issue he gently pointed out, and he made sure the relationship had a balance of give and take. I did my best to offer him the same: unconditional love, respect, and support no matter what.

What I Got With C

But with C, I was never able to fully trust him. I lied to myself and said I did, but looking back, I never did. I was constantly unsure where he and I stood. Consequences for stepping over lines were never clear. In fact, I rarely knew where the lines were until I crossed them, and then C would make me feel awful for even a small offense. I couldn’t ask questions about anything he felt we’d discussed enough, and I never knew when that might be because it changed for every topic. Talking to anyone but him about my doubts was the only consistently punished offense as it earned me accusations of distrust and censure for not believing him.

I gave him my respect, my heart, and what trust I could manage. He returned the gift I gave with disrespect, broken boundaries, and broken trust until it all fell apart. I should’ve left sooner than I did, I know. But even when he pushed me physically, emotionally, and mentally, I held on. 

Making Excuses

I wanted to believe in him, and I wasn’t able to come to terms with the changes in him. Frankly, I didn’t understand how he’d changed so much. I didn’t really think I could change him, mind you, but I kept hoping that if I waited it out, he’d go back to normal. I kept chalking the poor treatment—and the fights that erupted when I tried to say no or give an opinion—up to stress. He was just too tired or too worn out because of school, I told myself. Maybe this. Maybe that.

Finally, I faced the truth. He hadn’t changed. The person he let me see for the time before we started dating had been a lie. A lie that he wholeheartedly believed, I think, due to the very real psychological issues he had, but a lie, nonetheless. 

Consequences of a Bad Choice

He and I split at the end of the spring semester right before finals and just a few days before I turned twenty. My father asked him to leave me be until school ended for the summer. I needed to focus on school and was in no state to explain why I was ending it immediately. Frankly, I was a wreck. I barely managed to study for finals. Since we were both working on campus for the summer, I figured I could talk to him once I was done with finals so we could part ways amicably.

But he refused to leave me alone. He called my friends and brother (who was on campus with us) constantly because I wouldn’t answer, showed up at places he knew I usually went (to the point that I quit going to my usual spots unless I had to), and gave me a week or two tops to come to terms with things. He didn’t allow me to grieve or try to put the pieces back together, and he refused me the relief escaping him brought. 

A Living Nightmare

During the summer, my brother ran interference wherever he could. But that just made C angry and put my brother (and anyone who helped me or cared enough to support me) on the receiving end of his anger. Eventually, he began avoiding me like the plague. However, he still antagonized my brother, and at times, I was terrified he’d hurt the people I cared about. He treated anyone who supported me with accusations of distrust, and even his own brother, who had initially tried to continue including me in breakfasts Sunday, dealt with C’s anger. I lived my entire senior year in fear that I’d somehow set him off again and restart the whole waking nightmare. I was thrilled about graduation because it meant going home, far out of his reach. 

Friends and teachers started to notice that I withdrew from people, and I spent more and more time in my room to avoid any chance of running into him. But even with that, I couldn’t avoid running into C sometimes. Having classes on the same floor as he did made that impossible. We weren’t allowed in the hallways outside classrooms until five minutes before class, and so the open seating arenas on each floor were the only options for students to sit down or congregate. Those days, my teachers would ask if I was okay when I came into class. Even though he never spoke to me and usually avoided eye contact, just seeing him was enough to leave me trembling for the first five to ten minutes of class. 

At the End of the Day…

My situation was far worse than most regular breakups are. However, when you make bad decisions, even just one, and you involve yourself with someone like C, this is the kind of thing it leads to. My story is tame in comparison to what some women have gone through at the hands of guys like this. (I refuse to call them men because a real man knows how to treat a woman with love and respect.)

The Moral of the Story

This has been quite a long post, but I hope you’ll bear with me just a little longer. Let me level with the guys here first. I’m not going to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do because it’s not my place. But I’ll do my best to give a bit of perspective on this while highlighting what the Bible has to say about the issue. What you choose to do with it is your decision.

To the Guys:

Here’s the thing. I’ll be the last woman you will ever hear advocating that the women should be in charge instead of the men. That’s not Biblical, and frankly, we’ve seen just how well that’s worked so far. It hasn’t…  While every marriage is unique in how the couple handles submission, just as the people involved in that marriage are unique, Scripture is clear on one thing. Women should submit to their husbands. Even if you aren’t a good husband or authority figure. That doesn’t mean you can take advantage of it, though.

If you’re lucky enough to have a woman who genuinely wants you to lead and wants to submit to you, cherish that! Especially if she’s under no obligation to submit to you yet. The world is, at best, unable to understand their need or desire to submit to you and leave themselves in your care, and at worst ridicules them for a good desire. So, it takes a lot of strength to be honest with herself, let alone with you, about that need. Please don’t make her regret being transparent with you on this. You have a very special woman. Both she and her willingness to submit and heart to serve are a gift, whether you recognize it or not.

In the end, no fellow human being can tell you what to do with that gift. Only God and His Word can do that. But I can tell you the consequences if you don’t. If you are one of those guys who don’t or won’t treasure it, she will walk away when she’s able. And if she’s not strong enough to do it alone? Others will be happy to help her to do so. When she does leave, some other man will treat her like the treasure she is. He will pick up the broken pieces you created. He will be glad to show her that she is a treasure, even if it takes time because of the damage you’ve done.

To the Girls:

Ladies, if you grew up in a fundamental church, you’ve been hearing all about how women should submit to men. If you didn’t grow up in a fundamental church, you’ve probably been hearing the opposite. “Women shouldn’t have to submit to a man. We’re strong, independent women, so they have no right to tell us what to do.” Sound familiar? Regardless of what you grew up with, you’ve probably heard the world’s idea of a strong, independent woman both extolled and ridiculed.

I’ll be honest. I can’t stand today’s idea of a strong, independent woman as it’s presented. That said, some women buy into this but in practical life are actually very feminine, kind women. Their personalities aren’t the Type-A sort. So while they may agree with the idea, they’re not exactly the poster child for it either. All of us are different, and we all fit in differently. But I still really hate the ideal that’s presented to our girls and young women today.

Why I Can’t Stand It

The strongest of today’s feminists would tell you that being a strong, independent woman means you don’t submit to a man. Doing so is weak and is, in fact, allowing yourself to be subjugated. Instead, you must get a job and support yourself. And you find a man who will be somewhere in the range of total pushover and caring a little. Heaven forbid you marry a man who wants to be in charge of any areas of your life. Okay, I’m being a bit sarcastic. I don’t have any problem with women working or having a degree of independence. However, I have a big problem with what they have to say about submission. I also take issue with the fact that many mistake equality for having no difference at all in roles.

The Desire to Submit is Not a Bad Thing

Girls and young ladies out there, wanting to submit is not a bad thing! It’s actually a good and natural desire. Don’t let the rest of the world tell you otherwise. They’re wrong. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with being independent or strong. But their definition of a woman who is those things? It’s not the only one, and I would propose that it isn’t even the right one. A woman who submits even when she isn’t happy about a decision is much stronger than one who rebels. Trust me. I know. I’ve done things both ways. Submission is a choice that, though sometimes hard, is a lot more fulfilling than rebellion. 

The Desire to Submit Can Be Used Against You

But also know this. Your desire to submit can be used against you just as it was with me. Please, oh please, be careful who you give that kind of power to! Never give it to anyone who wants to take it without permission or right to it. If you get involved with a man like that—especially if you marry him—submission becomes much harder. It’s easy to shift into subjugation before you know what has happened. And once you’re involved, the road back to freedom and yourself is much, much harder. Wait for someone who will give as much as they’re taking. Wait for a man who recognizes your value and honors you for it. Men like that do exist. They’re not all bad. If you don’t wait for that man, you’ll do a lot of damage to yourself before you meet him. And it’ll be damage you can’t undo.

Conclusion

My greatest regret to this point is what happened with C. I lost a piece of me, and I’m never going to be the same. God’s grace brought me, step-by-step, to a place where I don’t look at every guy with suspicion. But unfortunately, what C did to me, what I allowed to happen, is not something I can get rid of. It changed me as a person. I learned a valuable lesson, but I can only look back on my choices with regret. My choice affected how I look at the world. It affected my ability to look at the guys around me the same way. Even if I get to a point where that’s no longer a problem, it’s still going to color my perspective. And so, it’s likely that things will be harder for the right one when he shows up.

Ladies, please don’t fall into that same trap. Learn from my mistakes. Don’t let guys with ill-intent turn your submission into a weapon to be used against you. Your submission is a gift you choose to give, so choose wisely. The choice you make will impact you for the rest of your life.

Glimpses of Time and Magic: A Historical Fantasy Anthology

Finally, we’ve come to the point with this anthology that we have both the pre-order link and the cover to share! Our reveal party for the cover happened yesterday and went very well. Now, myself and the other authors in the anthology are sharing the cover, blurb, and information on our sites so you all can find it easily!

So, to begin with, what is this anthology? It’s a collection of nine stories from nine authors, and the theme Joanna White and I gave everyone was history with a fantastical twist. We definitely got that! With stories ranging from Victorian England to Ancient Rome and Arthur, we’ve got stories with a fantastical twist to share with you all now! The best part? We wrote and organized this anthology as a way to raise money to donate to Feed My Starving Children, a charitable organization that uses donations and the time of their volunteers to pack and ship meals around the world to feed starving children for a year. Isn’t that great?

If you want to know more about the organization, you can check them out here. I’ve been to the location near me twice to help pack the food. It’s a great activity, especially if you want to take the whole family to do something. Be prepared to work hard, but it was a lot of fun and a great team building exercise for the groups I went with while also allowing us to be involved in helping feed these kids who would otherwise go hungry.

And now, the cover! This cover was created by illustrator_aesthetics (Anne Zedwick). You can see her blog and her Fiverr here if you’re interested in having her do cover art for you as well! She also does things like logo design, product branding, and more.

Blurb:

We know the stories from history we’ve heard since childhood, but what if, behind the tales, there were magical secrets desperate to be revealed?

Pompeii was a tragedy the world will never forget, but what really caused the volcanic eruption that ended it all? Why was the great sword Excalibur really destroyed? The rolling hills of Victorian England seem peaceful enough, but what secrets really lurk there?

And would it surprise you that there are darker secrets in Ancient Rome than people ever dreamed? If the Great Fog of London isn’t what it seems? You think you know Harry Houdini, but do you know the man behind all the tricks?

And what if the mystery of Roanoke runs deeper than you could ever imagine? Could Ireland’s potato famine really be caused by a mage gone mad? What if a ghost ship off the coast of England was more than a phantom?

If you like fantasy and history, then you’ll love this collection of nine fantastical stories. Buy Glimpses of Time and Magic now to find out what secrets really lurk behind the stories we’ve all been told.

Besides Buying a Copy, How Can You Help?

We need reviewers who will follow through on their word and review the book between July 14th and July 28th. If you’re a fan of historical fantasy and can promise a review, we’d like to have you in our ARC group! We’re not requiring much. Just your email so we can keep in touch closer to the review date. The author you sign up through (me, if you’re signing up on my blog) will get in touch with a friendly reminder about submitting reviews just before the first day when we’ll have the paperback live for reviews to be submitted. They will also follow up with you a few days after the 28th (to give reviews posted last minute time to process on Amazon) to check in if your review isn’t posted.

If you do sign up, please note that we’re not questioning your integrity if a review isn’t posted by July 28th. I’ve had issues with customers posting reviews on Amazon’s Australian website, say, and I’m not able to see them because I use Amazon.com for the US. Stupid? Yes, yes, it is. But with the issues I’ve had, let’s just put it this way… If I can’t see the review, I’m not assuming you didn’t post it. I’m just looking to see what happened in case there was an issue with posting that I need to hound Amazon about. (I still haven’t sorted out the issues with other books’ reviews not showing on all sites, but it doesn’t hurt to try.) Point is, if you don’t provide us with a link to the review after it’s posted and we’re not seeing it by end of July, we’re going to ask just to make sure everyone’s on the same page.

As such, if you’re interested in helping out with this, please get in touch! I can direct you to the form to fill out to join, give you more info if you like, and verify that I’m sending the book to the most convenient email address. You can contact me at arielpaiement@gmail.com. I’m friendly, and I love talking to new people, so don’t be shy! Get in touch if you want a review copy of Glimpses of Time and Magic. We’ll talk over it and get you signed up! 🙂

Thursday Technicalities: Publishing with Amazon

Publishing with Amazon

Introduction

Moving on from our discussions on marketing, we’re going to start looking at the last step in the publishing process. And that is publishing itself! Today, we’re going to focus on publishing with Amazon, but I’ll also talk about traditional publishing and some of the things I’ve experienced while working with an independent publisher, which is a third option that is slightly different from traditional publishing while still not being quite the same as self-publishing.

Amazon is probably the biggest platform authors use for self-publishing. Other sites like Kobo and paperback distributors like Lulu follow closely in Amazon’s footsteps, but when it comes to publishing both paperbacks and ebooks? Amazon is the best known platform for that. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the pickiest platforms I’ve worked with, and there a many little tips and tricks that most don’t know. Knowing how to get the most out of the system (extort it, if you will) usually makes the difference, at the very least, between making it onto the top 100 in any given category and dying in obscurity.

Lovely, right? Well, no matter how annoying Amazon can be, it has the largest reach out of the online retailers selling and publishing ebooks and paperbacks. So, we can’t ignore it even if we don’t much appreciate how ridiculous things can be. But, not ignoring it means that we have to learn the system if we want to be successful. By the end of this article, I hope to give you the major tools you need to do exactly that.

Publishing with Amazon’s Manuscript Requirements

To start, you’re not going to do very well if you can’t even get your ebook or paperback off the ground and onto the platform. Amazon has some seriously strict requirements for formatting. It’s quite frustrating at times. The time investment to get a nice looking ebook or paperback can be daunting.

If you’re going to do self-publish consistently and have a Mac, I highly recommend getting Vellum. It isn’t available for Windows users, so sadly, we’re all stuck spending a good eight to ten hours trying to get the formatting to look nice on Kindle. (I know because I go through it every time I have a new book to prep.) Vellum takes you twenty minutes once you’re accustomed to using it.

If you’re doing the work on Word, there’s a plugin Amazon created for Kindle that can be downloaded and installed for free. They also have a version for desktop that’s its own program for after you finish working in Word. That’s what I linked to above.

Whichever format you prefer, don’t waste this tool. Use it. It doesn’t make everything better, and you won’t get highly complex formatting. Images still won’t work so well, but if you keep things streamlined and simple, the tool is going to make your life way easier. You’ll have fewer revisions to make to your document before it’ll work right on Amazon’s platform and e-readers. If you need some guidance on handling ebook formatting, I go into that here. I won’t rehash that now since the post would get too long if I did.

A Word on Paperbacks

When it comes to paperback formatting, you can get a lot more fancy, but make sure that when you’re done, you “print” it as a pdf with fonts embedded and the paper manually set to the size your finished paperback will be on Amazon. For most fiction books, I’ve found that using a 5.25″ x 8″ size works very nicely. If you have a program that lets you print pdfs with special settings already, then that should allow you to embed fonts and change to custom paper sizes. But if not, I use Bullzip Pdf Printer for mine. I invested in the fully-featured version, which has been well worth paying a one-time fee to access the settings I needed.

Make sure you get a proof copy to check cover, page numbers, table of contents, and sizing of any images you included before you hit publish on the paperback. Ebook issues are easy to fix. Paperback ones are not! Fixing spelling errors on paperbacks or glaring errors that I somehow missed when formatting has been nothing short of a nightmare in the past. It is worth noting that Amazon allows you to reupload the manuscript and the cover after you publish, something I couldn’t do when I had to make changes to Bane of Ashkarith. So that’s a definite improvement. But some of the information you’ll enter for the book page can’t be altered, so it pays to make sure you’ve double checked everything to save yourself time and headaches later.

Pre-Orders When Publishing with Amazon

For ebooks, you have the option of offering a pre-order period to readers. This gives you time to build hype and to gain reviewers for when the book comes out (something we discussed in the ARC readers post). But it also gives you time to get your categories and other issues ironed out before the book is actually delivered to buyers. I recommend using a three to four month period for your pre-order, so plan your other activities to prepare in accordance with that if you’re going to stick with that pre-order time frame.

Once the book is off pre-order, the manuscript you uploaded is automatically delivered to the reader, though. Because of that, you want to be sure you upload the finalized manuscript before the deadline Amazon gives you in the book’s content section. Don’t miss uploading because it’ll create all kinds of issues! Be sure that what you’re uploading is also the version you want readers to get.

Publishing Paperbacks

Paperbacks don’t have a pre-order period, sadly. I suppose it makes sense as Amazon probably doesn’t want to or may not have a way to keep track of all the orders they’re going to have to print at some random date in the future. This means, however, that you have to plan more for publishing the paperback. You don’t get extra time to get Amazon to iron out the issues with your categories or other things. Once it’s up, you have to hurry to get it all done.

I recommend putting your paperback out around two weeks before the actual release date for your ebook. Rather, announce its release two weeks before the ebook’s. Publish it a few days before your announcement of its release and either email or call Amazon about switching the categories, something we’ll go over in a moment.

It’s important that you have those categories switched before you do a big marketing push using the new book’s purchase link. If you don’t, none of your sales will help your ranking in the new categories because they’ll have gone toward the old, generic categories you chose in the initial setup of the book. Just one more way publishing with Amazon gets tricky. But once they’ve confirmed that they switched the categories over or updated them, then you can start sharing the link and using it in the marketing avenues we discussed in previous posts.

The other reason you should release the paperback two weeks before the ebook’s release is because it allows you to give your ARC readers two weeks to post their reviews before the ebook comes out. Having reviews out of the gate on your ebook can make a big difference, particularly if you were able to hit the 50 review threshold that gets Amazon’s algorithms to kick in to help sell the book.

Categories and Publishing with Amazon

And now we get to categories, something I keep mentioning but haven’t yet explained. If you’ve already published a book or two with Amazon, you know what they are. But did you know that you can have Amazon change them to less competitive categories or that the ones Amazon gives you to choose from at the beginning represent only 20% of the possible categories (the most competitive ones, by the way)? Most don’t.

For the newbies in my audience, you’ve come to the right place to learn about this! I’ve gone through three or four books now with this process, so I know the potential pitfalls, the difficulties, and the best methods for getting this ironed out. To begin with, let me explain what the categories are so you’re not lost. If you already know, feel free to skip the explanation.

Categories are the various classifications Amazon gives to their books. That’s the simplest explanation. But to put it in terms that you’d understand as an ebook or paperback reader with Amazon… Categories are all those options in the sidebar that let you narrow down a search. You know. You can choose to look under paranormal romance or teen fiction in the ebook store or under everything. Or, you could go to the nonfiction header and select autobiographies from the list. Those are the categories, and authors choose them. Sometimes, based on keywords chosen, Amazon may place you into certain categories automatically, but they’re not foolproof, and often, this doesn’t happen properly.

Notes on Categories when Publishing with Amazon

You can have up to ten categories on a book you’re publishing with Amazon, and there is no reason to leave it up to chance. As I said, the two categories you’re allowed to choose when first setting up the book are only 20% of the possible categories and are the most competitive 20%, likely because most don’t know they can add more or change their categories. You know your book far better than Amazon does, and so, as long as the categories seem relevant based on the description, they’re not going to fuss about it, usually.

However, when you call or email them under your author central’s help tab/contact us, you should know a few things to make the process smoother. I’ve made these errors both at the beginning and even now when I’m moving too fast and not checking the email before I send. Let’s go over them.

  1. Age group matters! You can’t select Teen and Young Adult categories and also ask Amazon support to apply Children’s categories. They don’t like it, and they will tell you no. I know, I know… Your age range is set for 12 and up. They don’t care. Your choosing children’s as a category doesn’t mean the same thing to them as it does to you. To them, children’s means little kids, juvenile means anyone from about 9 – 12. Teen is 13 – 18, which makes sense. And adult, obviously, is 18+. But in some ways, the method makes sense. Wouldn’t want you to be able to categorize a book for adults as a teen or children’s book just to get better rankings.
  2. Ebook and Book categories are not the same. If you’re asking them to change the ebook categories, make sure it says Kindle Ebooks or something to that effect, not books. And vice versa with books. If it says ebook instead of book, Amazon will reply back telling you they can’t change the categories and to resubmit, which is a pain.
  3. ASIN or ISBN is a must. If you provide the ISBN, just know that you’ll need to only give book categories since the ISBN doesn’t go with ebooks on their platform. ASIN can be provided for both types so long as you specify that you want to change the categories for the ebook, list them, then specify you want to change the categories for the print book, and list those separate categories.

This should go without saying, but make sure the categories are relevant to your book. If they aren’t, readers and other authors tend to get annoyed because you’re taking up space in a category that has nothing to do with your work. It’s a great way to get bad reviews from your audience. Don’t do it even if the category is less competitive than the ones relating to your book. If you absolutely must take advantage of the category, write a new book. But under no circumstances should you apply it to the old one that doesn’t fit it.

Finally, make sure you send Amazon the entire pathway for the category. This means you need to not just tell them Paranormal Romance, for example, but you should instead be telling them you want Kindle ebooks > Teen and Young Adult > Paranormal Romance. This is just an example, and this probably isn’t the actual category path, but the idea is, everything you have to click on to get to that exact category must be provided or they won’t change anything.

Tools for Category Research

Personally, I prefer to use Publisher Rocket to do my category research. It’s going to be the easiest route because it gives you the info on number of books sold to reach both #1 and #10 in a category along with the seller ranking of each book’s publisher (individual or publishing company). It keeps the information in one neat, tidy place and provides you with the exact path, which you have to provide to Amazon if you want categories changed.

However, if you’re not able or inclined to spend the money for it, you can do it manually. Search in Amazon’s search bar for something related to your book, select a category that fits well, and note down the Amazon seller ranking for the top 10 books. Then, take those numbers and plug them into KindlePreneur’s Kindle Best Seller Calculator. This will tell you how many copies a day each book must sell to remain at their current rank. You would need to sell at least one more copy than they are in a day to beat them and take their spot. You can also use BkLnk to see all the categories books similar to yours rank under to get ideas for categories that might fit your book.

Conclusion

We already went over covers, so I won’t go into a huge amount of detail about that. Just make sure that your cover artist has the appropriate dimensions for the paperback cover you want them to create. They should know to create a Kindle cover using Kindle dimensions, but if you have issues with getting it to load, it’s acceptable to politely let them know what the problem is and ask them to address it if you specified that you wanted the cover for Amazon’s Kindle platform.

At the end of the day, publishing with Amazon is more effort than people think, if you want to do it well, at least. It isn’t as simple as throwing up a cover and calling it done. You have to work at it and perfect it if you want to deliver a product that stands out to readers in a good way. And that is what you want to do, particularly since so many others are also publishing on Amazon. You need to differentiate yourself from them in a positive way! Hopefully this proved useful for you. If you have questions or further comments, please feel free to add to the discussion in the comments!

Thursday Technicalities: Marketing and Networking

Publishing Journey

Introduction

Now we come to a part of marketing that, for some reason, a lot of authors I’ve seen in my various Facebook groups seem to neglect. I have to say that authors on Twitter that I’ve dealt with seem to do well with networking as a part of their marketing. Authors on Facebook though? Anytime someone hosts a networking style event for readers and writers, I see the same faces and rarely anyone new. If you’re in the camp that, for whatever reason, avoids networking… Well, networking is essential, and connections are vital, so don’t keep avoiding it if you want to be successful. A lot of you may be avoiding because you don’t know how simple networking can be or where to start. Hopefully, by the end of this article, there won’t be an excuse left or a feeling of not knowing where to start.

Why Networking?

The simple answer? No business owner or business ever succeeded without connections, and networking is where it starts. Know anyone who got a new job because they knew someone who knew so-and-so, who knew the person in charge of hiring? Assuming you aren’t that person yourself, you probably do because it’s not uncommon for connections to give you a foot in the door and start the ball rolling. They might not hire you predominantly because of who you knew, but it sure doesn’t hurt anything.

Word of mouth and connections are powerful things. It starts with those in your network liking you and what you have to offer then telling someone else. And guess what? That’s exactly what your ARC readers are meant to do. But you find them through your network of other writers and readers most often, so if you don’t build that network, you’re at more of a disadvantage than you already were with Amazon’s strict review policies.

Simply put, you cannot operate in a vacuum. No one can. Not if they want to succeed. You need other authors on your team, and you absolutely need readers you’ve connected with to share their unique experience or take on your work. 

Does Networking Work?

Those of you who’ve been reading the blog for a while know I like examples of the things I recommend or discourage. In the case of what I recommend, examples of success are preferable. This one is no different. I found every one of my ARC readers and most of my reviewers via my network. How? First, I let those I’d already connected with via social media or email know I was looking for help with reviews. Then, some offered to help, but many of my author acquaintances or friends just shared it. They didn’t have time to help me with a review, but some of their connections did

Another way I’ve used networking is through groups on Facebook or threads on Twitter. It’s relatively easy to strike up a conversation or join in on one already started, and often, it leads to further connections. It might not yield a sale or a review right away, but my sphere still grows, and if I took the time to connect and then to keep the connection fresh, then it may convert to sales or reviews later–if not from them, then from their audiences if they share your content.

In the end, yes, networking works. But it’s not a get-rich-quick method. You won’t see results if you treat it that way. If you’re in it for the long haul to build your platform, though, then you must network, even if it leaves you a little less writing time.

Connections sell better than cold, hard pitches, especially in a virtual market where people expect you to do more to give them that sense of a real, genuine connection with you before they’ll buy what you want to sell them. They can easily ignore your cold, hard sell or get bored and move on. A connection lasts longer.

Handling Networking

Hopefully now you’re convinced you need to network, if you weren’t before. We don’t work in a void, so people are part of the process, particularly with marketing. 

But now you may wonder… How do I network? It sounds hard. I don’t do well talking to people, and I hate selling people on my work. I don’t know what to say… The objections go on and on.

Let’s address a few of the more usual issues.

First, it’s not hard. Depending on what you do, it’ll take you more time than some thing, but in and of itself, the task isn’t hard. If you’re totally new to networking, start small. Join group on Facebook or participate in ones you’ve already joined. Or go search for different threads on Twitter under various writing hashtags and start interacting on there. Get yourself out there and start building those connections.

Second, if you don’t do well talking to other people… Well… Online does make it a little easier because you can think through what you send prior to sending. But in all honesty, you’re going to have to talk to others at some point. There’s no avoiding it. Just be yourself. If personal conversations make you uncomfortable, not to worry! Networking isn’t about being extremely personal or deep. You just have to be genuine, warm, and professional.

In fact, I generally advise you avoid deeply personal conversations online unless you know the person fairly well already or have good reason to believe they are telling the truth about who they are. It’s just basic online safety. Don’t share things like your address, your phone number, or any details that could give a clue as to where you live. (Obviously, if you’re using some newsletter softwares or other things, your personal information surrounding mailing address and the like may get out. So if you’re uncomfortable with that, I’d advise a PO box.)

Not everyone online is a creep, but there are enough of them out there to warrant being a little bit paranoid. Just be smart and avoid giving personal info unless there’s a very, very good reason to give it. The guy who’s been messaging for a week who just asked for your number? There’s no good reason to give it. Shouldn’t need to clarify this part on networking, but lots of authors and new business owners don’t seem to understand basic online safety or how to handle professional interactions.

We’ve all heard stories, but for some reason, despite hearing the stories, some people still make unwise decisions. Anyway, the point is be professional, stick to business-related topics or harmless conversations that don’t provide any private information, and use common sense. But don’t let talking to people or the chance of a bad egg in the lot ruin your attempts to network. 

Third, you don’t know where to go or how to start… Social media. That’s what I’d start with. Like I said before, join some groups related to your business and your books. Talk with other readers and writers, and don’t be shy.

Fourth, you hate feeling like you’re selling something to people. On this one, the blunt truth is…you are. You’re going to have to accept that and move on. But, you can alleviate some of the feelings of being sold to and the frustration that can bring. It’s simple, really.

Unless they’ve asked you to tell them about your book or product and to sell them on it, don’t start off with it. Let it come up in the conversation naturally. Develop the connection so that when they see a post on a product you want reviews, buyers, or whatever else for, they’ll be more inclines to say yes. And, down the road, nothing wrong with selling to them–if you do it in a way similar to how you’d sell to a friend or a good acquaintance. Whatever you do, if you get the sense they wouldn’t like or find your product useful, don’t try to pitch it. That only frustrates everyone involved.

Conclusion

I’m hoping that answers the basic questions and issues regarding marketing. It’s really not as difficult as you may think. It can be as simple as getting on Twitter and replying to or posting a few Tweets. I try to do that regular, and I get a fair amount of interaction from people either in the replies or via a new follower. Building that connection is essential though, so if you’ve been avoiding it, stop now and work out how you can include it in your marketing plan.

Lots of like-minded authors looking to succeed are throwing release parties or author takeovers (where authors get time slots to post about their work) on Facebook or even on Twitter. They’re doing live videos on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. They’re involving each person who comes on board with their audience. You can too. You’ll have to show initiative and do the work for it, but while it might take time, it isn’t rocket science. So give it a chance and don’t discard this important piece of marketing just because it might be new or uncomfortable. And if you’ve been doing it for a while? Keep working at it. Find new ways to interact and engage with others to build your network.

That’s it for this week, everyone! I hope this has proved useful. Feel free to leave questions in the comments below if you have them!

Sunday Stories: A Drastic Change

Ariel Paiement

Introduction

Today’s post will be a bit longer mainly because the time in my life I’m about to share with you was so significant and also stretched over a longer period. But I’ll do my best to keep things condensed as much as possible. Those of you who have been following this section of the blog probably remember that the first post in this newer section was about the lessons I learned from the situation with my Mom. You’ll probably remember that I had fallen into serious depression and addictive behavior patterns that created all kinds of issues.

My First Year in College

By the time I reached my first year in college, I was a mess. I’m sure that, to most, it looked like I had it all together. I doubt anyone would’ve looked at me and thought, that girl has serious trust issues, crippling depression, and addictive behavior patterns that will probably land her in a world of trouble. Of course, no one knew me well enough to see that. They may have known I was unhappy, if I let it show in public, but the closest anyone came to recognizing there was an issue was my mother, and that was only because we fought all the time.

By the time I got to college, my relationship with my mother was starting to mend but still tenuous, and I was harboring a massive load of resentment toward my dad for not being there for me when everything went wrong with my mom, but I didn’t even recognize that I resented him because I’d spent so long punishing myself and my mother, taking that resentment out on us both (but mostly on her) instead of the person I put on a pedestal and believed was too perfect to be blamed for anything.

None of us deserved anything that I’d been dishing out on us in that time. My father had done his best to be there for all of us while also being there for my mom and working. My mother tried her best after the fact to reconnect and give me back what I’d lost. And me? I was lost, drowning in the aftermath I didn’t know how to cope with and making it worse because I had zero self-confidence in facing my emotions.

I brought this with me to school, spending all but the last week or two of school without friends. No one stayed around for long, and in part, I think this was because I was searching for something no one around me at the time knew how to provide, something even I didn’t really know I was looking for or needed. 

The Beginnings of a Change

In the last two weeks of the semester, all of that changed. Not immediately, of course, but it started there and continued on from that point. The only person I’d managed to make any significant connection with (and the only person who cared enough to constantly introduce me to people) was an outgoing, sociable pastoral major. (I’ve chosen letters to represent the individuals I’m going to talk about to protect their privacy and identities.) Let’s call this guy D.

He introduced me to so many people during the few weeks at the beginning of our friendship that I’d begun to lose count. I was also fairly… Well, shy isn’t exactly the word. I was reserved and extremely cautious around guys due to some less than wonderful experiences during community college years. Nothing too bad, but just enough to make me distrusting and ill-inclined to let them get too close to start off. Which makes what happened at the end of that first semester even more startling.

I’ll never forget the night D asked me to meet him at the campus Sports Center to hang out and meet another friend of his (whom he said rarely left the dorms and was a double major in math and engineering). I don’t know what made me do it. Maybe it was that I was lonely and had nothing better to do. Maybe it was that I kind of liked D a bit at the time and thought any opportunity to see more sides of him was too good to pass up. My curiosity always has been what’s gotten me into the most trouble. Well, that and running my mouth too much. But whatever the reason, I agreed.

An Intriguing Individual

His friend was interesting. That’s the best way I can put it. I was more focused on the new guy I’d just met than I was on D, and I was also a lot more open than I usually was. We’d met to play a few games of checkers (it was the only game in the Sports Center that allowed for more than brief snatches of conversation between taking turns at a game or flying around the ice rink), and right away, D’s friend L made a point of letting me know he was just okay at checkers. I didn’t really believe him because, after all, it’s best not to underestimate an opponent, no matter what they say. Turns out that was a smart move. We played two games, each of us winning one, before we decided to head over to the commons area and just hang out to chat. 

By this time, I was really intrigued by L. He wasn’t what I expected (though, honestly, I have no clue what I was expecting…), and he had this way of seeing through people. The most interesting thing was watching as he and D took turns analyzing each other. They took the time to go through everything from how they knew what mood the other person was in to what they’d figured out about the person just based on their observations.

Then they drew me in. I didn’t know either of them well, and I’d only just met L, so an hour or two wasn’t much time to use to analyze. Lucky for me, I was bothering to pay attention because they’d grabbed my attention. So, I got involved in the conversation and offered them what I knew. The rest of the night passed in a bit of a blur, but by the time curfew rolled around, I was more comfortable with L than anyone else I’d met and known for weeks.

An Unexpected Question and an Unexpected Friend

The thing that really did it, though, was the question. He waited for D and another friend who had joined us in the Commons area to go before asking, something I didn’t think much about at the time but very much appreciated later. Then he asked me: Why do you always wear a mask? 

I remember standing there, my heart pounding. I wasn’t expecting the question, and not even friends I’d had for months ever asked that. Whether because they didn’t see it or because they felt it would be rude to ask, I don’t know. But L asked it as if it was the most natural question to ask a person you’d known for just a few hours.

I considered trying to regain the upper hand in the conversation by refusing to answer. It wasn’t long until curfew, so if I’d refused to answer, I could’ve bowed out politely. But I didn’t. I don’t know if he even noticed the pause or the internal struggle, but I calmed down not long after and just answered him. I actually felt relieved. When the first moment of fear and surprise passed, I didn’t feel anything except relief and, for some reason, a sense that I could trust him with the answer.

That night, if I’d refused to answer, I don’t know where our friendship would be. Maybe he would’ve decided it wasn’t worth trying to figure out what was wrong and why I spent my time hiding from everyone. Or, maybe the fact that I wouldn’t say would’ve made it him that much more curious. Either way, that night was the start of more than I ever would’ve imagined.

Gifts I Didn’t Know I wanted

After that, we spent a lot of time together. He was determined to help me face what I didn’t want to look at, and he was determined to engage me intellectually. I enjoyed the talks. Our earlier conversations were difficult because he was still learning how to approach me, how to handle the situation. But he kept trying, and while it took me some time (and some prodding from family and friends when his approach was doing more harm than good) to learn to communicate what I needed and what I didn’t like, we figured it out. The two of us become extremely close, and by God’s grace, I believe, he brought me out of the darkness I was living in and helped me to both find the light and understand myself better.

He gave me some of the greatest gifts I’d received in a very long time: a listening ear, unconditional love and acceptance, and the ability to feel safe not being in control. Those days we spent together at school were some of the brightest moments in my life despite the pain I sometimes had to face. But he was there with me every step of the way, offering his strength when I didn’t have any, giving his insight when I couldn’t understand the things I felt, and then letting go when he saw I was able to walk on my own. When I regained my footing, I was able to also offer him support and acceptance when he struggled, and the relationship became stronger for it. He was the protective older brother I’d never had and hadn’t ever admitted I wanted.

Refining Fire

As beautiful as those days were, what really made our relationship what it is today was the hardship that it went through. We parted ways at the end of spring semester after knowing each other for only a semester and a few weeks, and both us went home. We called and Skyped over the summer, but toward the end, something changed, and we talked less often. When I got back to school, more than a little had changed.

He was distant. When we’d parted, the two of us were so close that we were hardly ever apart. But when I came back, it felt as if some part of him had left. I did everything I could think of to fix it. I’m afraid I made it worse instead of better.

Neither of us did a good job of communicating the issue, and matters were only made worse by the fact that one or two of our close friends had begun to nag about whether or not we were an item. We weren’t, but some of those friends began to tell L that I was lying about how I really felt. Things between us got so bad that, if a mutual friend hadn’t intervened, we might’ve lost our friendship entirely. I didn’t want it, but my attempts to bridge the gap and fix things made him feel suffocated and pushed him away. 

He left that semester, right after we reconciled, and he never came back to school. For a while, we didn’t talk, and during the time that we weren’t really in touch while he was in boot camp and I busy with school, I got involved with a mutual friend. In all honesty, I felt lost after he left. He had helped me to embrace my emotions, my past, and the part of me that felt most content when someone else I trusted took control so I could just be me. With that gone, I didn’t know how to cope. The only person I felt comfortable sharing anything at all with was gone, and in my desperation to find solid ground again, I made some very foolish decisions. But those decisions and what they led to are a conversation for another day.

Reconnecting

We did reconnect the summer after he left right before school began, and it felt as if no time at all had passed. Both of us had things we were dealing with. He had new adjustments in life. I was navigating a messy breakup that had left me feeling more lost and terrified than ever. But God brought both of us through it. He and I got to talk each other through some of the tail end of those changes and difficulties, just as we’d done so often in previous difficulties.

But the distance and the struggles both were helpful. They prepared me to handle the breakup, at least in avoiding becoming bitter over how I was treated. I’d already learned how to deal with emotional pain inflicted, albeit by accident, by someone I loved. So when my ex inflicted it because he only cared about what he wanted, I navigated that without becoming angry or bitter. (It wasn’t much help when it came to watching my ex hurt mutual friends too, but something’s better than nothing!)

I learned so many things from this relationship, and I continue to learn things. I learned how to love someone with no regard for myself, how to communicate, that it was safe not to be in control so long as the person who had it was trustworthy, and so much more. L taught me so much about myself, about the world around me, about people, and about helping others.

The Most Important Things I’ve Learned

At one point, L told me that he felt I no longer needed him during that time of difficulty. He couldn’t understand why I would want him to stay back then. I don’t know if he understands it now. But however illogical it might have seemed, he at least accepts that I wanted him to stay. Sometimes, we have to remember that not everything in life makes logical sense. It would be nice if it did, but it doesn’t.

Our friendship has lasted four years so far, longer than any friendship I’ve had since I was a child. I don’t know where God will take us both next, but I do know this. We’ve learned a lot from each other and will continue to learn if the friendship continues on.

But the most important lesson I learned? God never brings anyone into our lives by mistake. Every relationship has its share of problems and struggles, but when God brings a person into your life, it’s always for a reason, and there’s always something you can learn. Never take for granted the people who love you or what they have to teach you. Conversely, never take lightly those who bring difficulty into life. They’re also there for a reason, and sometimes, even though they may bring pain, that pain is exactly what you need to grow and to heal. 

Thursday Technicalities: Marketing #2

Marketing on Social Media

Introduction

On to the next topic in this set of marketing discussions. Social media. Most of us have it, though I know there are some who really can’t stand it and would rather avoid it. But, if you’re a business, you can’t afford to ignore social media since that’s where most of your potential customers and clients congregate. However, figuring out how to appropriately utilize social media for your business as an author can get confusing. We see how all the bloggers with other types of businesses utilize it for marketing their business, and we think: I can’t do that because it doesn’t fit my business.

And, you’d probably be right. As an author and a freelance editor, I’ve used multiple social media platforms and gone to a lot of different master classes via webinars or in person to learn more about marketing and social media. Problem is, a lot of the action steps given are hard to apply to authors. So, I’m going to share with you my perspective on it and what I’ve found seems to work for me.

What Types of Social Media Work Best?

If you’re like me, you’d rather not worry about every social media platform on the planet. Instead, you’d prefer to figure out what works and scrap whatever doesn’t. After all, unless you’re paying someone to do it for you, how much time do you realistically have to manage this? If you don’t do anything besides writing for your day job and you don’t have kids, maybe you have the time to learn and figure it out on your own while managing five different social media accounts. It takes time away from writing, but if you have time to spare, fine.

But most of us don’t have that kind of time. I work a 8-5 job, and while I may have lapses where I have nothing to do and can, therefore, check my social media or work on handwriting my next blog post, I don’t have a bunch of free time during the day. So, I come home, already tired, and I only have so much time to write and manage my social media pages before I need to make sure I go to bed so I’m not too tired to do it all over again the next day. Sound familiar? Throw in needing some time to go read a book for a review or just get away from work, and I don’t have the time to manage things that don’t work.

So, what does work? For me, I’ve found that I have the most success with Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. I rarely touch Instagram, though other authors have told me it works well, and I’ve not gone anywhere near SnapChat because I don’t have time for more platforms.

What Kind of Marketing Works Best with Each?

I find that Twitter works best for letting friends, fans, and prospective readers know what I’m up to throughout the day or for posting content I think will be helpful. I’ve had more success, on the whole, with finding ARC readers on Twitter and getting people to engage with me than I have on Facebook. People generally seem more engaged on Facebook, and I don’t have to go to random groups that will allow me to post my book link in order to hopefully gain some new readers. Lots of Twitter users will actually post things like #ShamelessSelfPromotionSaturday or #SupportIndieAuthors to ask for book links and new reads.

While you might not get any new readers from it, if you share it with your following and others are doing the same, there’s a better chance of your work being seen by someone than there is posting it in a group on Facebook where it’s going to be buried under thirty other similar posts within the next twenty-four hours (more if you’re unlucky).

What Facebook has on Twitter is the room to have a group to engage with your fans through playing games, doing author takeovers where other authors and yourself have scheduled time slots to post about your books and yourself as an author, sharing what you’re up to, and taking questions for Q&A type stuff. They make it far easier to do events where authors team up to bring readers new books, content, and even giveaways. Twitter isn’t set up for that because they impose a strict character limit on the tweets sent out and don’t have any way to easily organize everyone.

The Odd One In The Bunch

As for Pinterest? Well, Pinterest is the unique one out of the bunch. It isn’t technically social media, though you can use it similarly. Instead, Pinterest is a search engine. I like it most out of the three I use because it requires the least amount of activity. I can Pin one or two blog posts or writing prompts of my own and drive traffic to my blog, generate interest in my services, or guide people toward my books or others’ books that they might enjoy reading. But I don’t have to constantly post, try to run ads, or bother people asking them to share the content around.

It’s also nice that once you start to gain traction, Pinterest works with you. If your Pin is doing well in the related categories for search results, then they’ll put it higher up in the search so more people will see it. They don’t bury it, and those following the board or you will be notified of the newest Pin you created. Unlike Facebook, they’re not going to pick and choose whether or not to show it to the people who already said they were interested, and that alone makes it better.

If you’re looking for an easy platform to help drive traffic to your blog and to your products by extension, Pinterest is the way to go. Facebook and Twitter are far more time-costly than Pinterest to manage, and I’ve seen way less traffic to my blog from either as opposed to Pinterest. It’s worth learning the new platform. If you haven’t used it before, I’ve got some tips and will walk you through it in this post.

What Kinds of Marketing Content Work?

Obviously, this will be a little different for everyone depending on what sort of book you have and who you’re trying to reach. The starting point for everyone, however, is to know your audience. There are few directions you can go with social media to really build your brand: informative/expert in industry, humorous/light-hearted, a combination.

For Example… My Approach:

I’m not generally a very funny or light-hearted person. Unless sarcasm counts as funny… But most people would argue that poking fun at others isn’t the best way to build your brand unless satire is your brand. It’s not mine, so I went with informative/expert in industry. You can tell I have pretty easily because my blog and a lot of what I post on social media that isn’t related to my own books has to do with writing and editing. The content is geared toward educating and establishing the fact that I do know a thing or two about editing, writing, and publishing.

This was a choice I made before I even began the blog because I knew I wanted to appeal to both writers and readers of speculative fiction and, specifically, fantasy. As a freelance editor and an author, it can be hard to find an approach that will gain me new clients as well as new readers. This was my approach. It lets people know up front that if they come to me for editing or for advice of any sort on writing, I’m going to have an answer or I’ll find one that’s based on research and fact. Having this approach also has the added bonus of gaining me opportunities to guest post for things unrelated to my published books specifically. My article on Burning Embers Publications regarding editing and the other one regarding Pinterest are two good examples of that.

What Difference Does That Make?

To put it succinctly, a huge difference. My choice of approach affects the kind of marketing content I use. Granted, if I’m marketing my books, I’m probably going to market them about the same way anyone does (or wants to): with strong copy and information on how to get the book. But if I’m trying to market myself as an author, which is really what you’re doing whether you’re actively trying to sell a book or not, then my choice of direction changes what I’ll post about.

Sure, I post stuff that I just find amusing or interesting. But usually, those are shares or retweets of other people’s stuff, not my own marketing content. I strive to make my content reflect my goal: providing expertise on the industry and helping others to learn from what I know. Your content should do the same.

But Really… What Types of Marketing Content do I post?

For authors, it’s all about readers liking your writing and, ideally, liking you. It’s not just about them buying the book. It’s about whether or not they want to support the message you’re sharing. If they don’t buy into the message you’re trying to share, they’re not going to be very eager to share the work with others. But if they really like the book or series and your style and message, they’re going to be much more happy to tell all of their friends about you.

We all want to support businesses and brands that align with what we care about and the values we feel are important. If the content we’re reading, whether it’s on social media or in the book itself, doesn’t align with what we believe in and the core values we hold to, we’re not going to pass it along to others. Why would we? As a business, it’s our job to know what our message is and how the audience we’re targeting will perceive it. Then, we have to take that information and find a way to package it so that it’s interesting, palatable, and engaging for our target audience.

It’s like I said at the beginning. I can’t tell you exactly what kind of content will work for you because every individual brand and author will be different. But I can tell you that if you know your goals and the approach you want to take, you’ll be able to discern what content will fit that and post only what does. It’s not easy, but it is pretty simple.

Final Notes

Navigating social media is difficult. It poses all kinds of nuances, potential trip ups, and points of stress. Some people find it easier than others, but at the end of the day, none of us can avoid it if we want to utilize all the marketing tools available to us. If you know the angle you want to take and have goals to accomplish, it’ll make your journey easier.

In the end, my best advice regarding social media and marketing is this: be professional. That’s the number one thing you can do for your brand, no matter what direction you take. No matter what you’re posting, be professional. Act in a manner that is courteous, treat people with respect even if they’re not giving you that same courtesy, and make it about your reader and your audience, not you. It’s fine to talk about yourself and let them know you need help, but make sure that more of your content is focused on what they’re wanting and needing than it is on what you want and need from them.

This will go further than just about anything else in any area of your life. Treating others in a manner that’s kind and professional puts out a lot of fires. I’ve watched what happens when someone’s upset and the business or individual treated them with disrespect, condescension, and lack of compassion. It’s not pretty, and it doesn’t achieve anything except giving your business a bad reputation. It isn’t worth it. If you need to, scream about it away from the computer, phone, or person. But don’t let your frustration or anger out on them. Be polite and kind to a fault even if they’re not.

Conclusion

Professionalism and courtesy should be obvious parts of your marketing and branding strategy, but I’ve seen so, so many people screw this up, and it can make the difference between failure and success. Don’t let it be the reason you fail in your marketing and business goals! Use the tips I gave for platforms and content, and then add professionalism to it. You’re going to get much better responses from people that way, I guarantee. Best of luck to you in your marketing endeavors! Next week, we’ll talk some about your blurb, Amazon sales pages, and attracting readers.