I'm a Reader too!

I think this is going to be a continuation about my other posts on "Self Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing" I was also going to go off on a tangent about the economy but decided against it.
There are a great many self publishers out there, including myself now, but we need to remember that it's not always  about the money, but about keeping our readers happy and giving them quality books.
I love to read! And even though I'm a devoted Stephen King fan, I decided last year that I would support new authors by buying their books and reading them. But...
If I am going to spend money on a book,
 (which I rarely do,I normally tell everyone, I want this book or that book, for my birthday or Christmas, including the Stephen King ones.)
 I want the book to be worth the money I put out!
Since I am new to all the writing, self publishing thing, I have no right to hand out advice, but as a reader, now that's a different story...
I know you wrote the book, I know you want to get it out there and let others read it, but stop for a moment and read it yourself!
I know I am nit picky, but I don't want to spend money on a book and in the first chapter find 6 mistakes. I don't like to have to read a sentence over and over, trying to figure out what the writer is trying to say, because they have a word in there, that shouldn't even be in there.
I make the mistakes also when I write, hear becomes here, and know sometimes ends up as no, and my biggest mistake is HIS which always seems to be HI, I mean I will read back through mine and it will say "Hi green car was really blue" Huh? Yeah I do that all the time, but I am my biggest critic and will read back through what I wrote at least 10 times to make sure it makes sense and sometimes I will have someone else read through it too and that's all I'm asking. Before you upload it and hit publish, read through it and make sure it makes sense. As self publishers we don't have the luxury of agents and editors and proofreaders, so we need to do that ourselves or have a friend or family member do it.
Take pride in your work, make people want to buy more. Be your worst critic and your biggest fan!


You can find my other rants about self publishing vs. traditional publishing here;
http://karensdifferentcorners.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/now-i-know/#comment-37 
And here;
http://differentcornersinmylife.blogspot.com/2012/02/am-i-cheating.html

How to write a book?

I have read 10,000 help blogs on "How to write a book." Well maybe only 500, but it feels like a heck of a lot more! And every single one of them tell you something different. Not only do help blogs tell you how to write books, but there's also the ones who tell you how to write queries and synopsis'. And then there are the submission processes of agents and publishers.
First you have people telling you, "No purple prose" If you don't know what that is you can find out about it here;
http://www.debstover.com/purple.html and yes, there is one small line in my book that has it, but in my defense, that part of my book took place in the '70's. And I didn't know what "purple prose" was until about 10 minutes ago!
Okay so now you are done writing and it's time to query.
First they tell you how to write a query and you would think it would be a simple process, but no it's not. It can be one of the hardest things you'll ever do and I think I just submitted the shortest query in history! Very short and to the point. Oh well. It was my first submission and let's hope I get better as I go along.
Second they tell you, "Don't query a series." So what if they are asking for series?

So here's the deal;
I've written my book. I wrote it the way the story played out in my head. I proofread it and did the edits and reread it. It's done! It might be only 55,000 words, but it is a tragic love story with closure and I cried through a major part as I was writing it. Hopefully that's because of the story and not my writing. No, it doesn't have a happily ever after. Not yet anyways, because it is the first book in a series of four books and then you get the happily ever after. Which, by the way, has been written also and is apprx. 93,000 words.

So the moral of this story is...
Write your way, in your own words. Take time to double check spelling. Make sure the story flows and comes together nicely and do your best on queries and the synopsis and if they like it.... Read the help blogs either before you begin writing or after finishing the first draft. And once you've submitted that book to the agents and publishers you want, take a deep breath and don't start stressing on what you think you did or did not do. It's been sent and it's up to the the people you queried now.

Queries!

Aak! Eek! Ugh! Okay now that I've got that out of the way...I want to ask a question...At least I think I wanted to ask a question....Wait, let me think about this. I've got all these questions rolling around in my head.  Stop! Okay had to stop the roulette wheel and pick the one I wanted. Okay here's my question... No wait let me give you a little history first then I'll ask.

I am writing a series of 3 books. I am almost finished with the third. I just need to fill in a couple of gaps, tie it together, and make sure it's flows and keeps you reading. But the thing is I haven't written the first 2 books. They are still in my head. When I first started writing the third book I had no plans on writing the first two, because the third book has enough merit to stand on it's own, is a good read, and has the happily ever after, and yet leaves some questions unanswered, that would make the reader wanting more, which then I could write the first two books. I just feel that if any get published, I want it to be the third.

Okay so here's my question for you....

When sending out my query letter, Do I just query the one book as a stand alone? Or do I need to put in the query, that it could be a series?

Is there a difference in tactics when sending to an agent? Or a publisher?

As to that I mean... Do you tell the publisher that you are querying that it could be a series or not?

Do you tell the agent that it could be a series or not?

Agent or Publisher?

Good morning and Happy Friday to everyone!

 My question today is Literary Agent or Publisher?
When you wrote your first book, which did you go through and why?
How did you find them?
Were they referred to you?
And what are the traits you looked for?

  My fear is that I will choose the wrong one and after jumping through all the hoops
I will find myself right back where I started from.

As always would love to hear you views, comments
and any helpful tips that you have learned along your path
to being published!

Have a great day and a beautiful weekend!

Questions, Questions, Questions!

I started writing my first novel a couple of months ago, so the world of writing and publishing is all new to me. I have been doing my research, checking out other blogs for helpful tips and tricks on everything from publishing to writing styles, but I still have questions.

   E-Books or paperbacks? Personally I prefer the old fashioned way of curling up by the fire on a cold winter's night with a Stephen King paperback in my hand! I spend enough time with electronics, computers, TV, cellphones, so give me a good old fashioned paper back book that I can fold down the corner on. But in this day and age of electronics people seem to want to go with the new age gadgets. So do you publish in one or the other or both?

   Publisher or Literary Agent? Everyone has their own preference, but for someone just starting out, what would you suggest to them?