self publishing - Lacey Louwagie

2014: My Writing Year in Review

It’s easy for me to get discouraged with how long some of my writing projects take. I will be finishing up my second year of revising my Rapunzel retelling in 2015, and I always want to be writing more than I actually am. But when I paused to take

book reviews

Writing Book Review: Publishing E-books for Dummies by Ali Luke

Publishing E-Books for Dummies by Ali Luke My rating: 4 of 5 stars I found this book to be superior to APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur. How to Publish a Book as a handbook for self-publishing, and it was indispensable as I worked on the release of Rumpled, especially in the

blogging

Indie Book Review: Night Sweats by Laura Crossett

Night Sweats: An Unexpected Pregnancy by Laura Crossett My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book started as a blog for friends about a professional single woman’s unplanned pregnancy (REALLY unplanned, as in the IUD failed, which is really rare.) It still reads like a blog, but since I’

Book Reviews

Indie Book Review: Soul Comfort for Cat Lovers by Liz Eastwood

Soul Comfort for Cat Lovers: Coping Wisdom for Heart and Soul After the Loss of a Beloved Feline by Liz Eastwood My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book, although only 125 pages, took me six weeks to read. Not because it wasn’t good, but because it WAS. I

authors

Indie Book Review: Unforgettable by Paulette Bates Alden

Now that I’ve officially entered the realm of indie publishing, I’ve decided to showcase high-quality self-published offerings when I come across them. These are the books that are slowly eroding the stigma attached to self-publishing, so they deserved to be noticed! Below is my review of Unforgettable: Short

fairy tales

Rumpled Giveaways on Goodreads and Booklikes

I’m giving away ten copies of “Rumpled” on Booklikes (ebook) and Goodreads (paperback). You can enter both drawings until April 14! Goodreads Book Giveaway Rumpled by Lacey Louwagie Giveaway ends April 14, 2014. See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter to win

fairy tales

Rumpled - The Paperback

Rumpled is now available in paperback at Amazon.com. Rumpled Paperback by Lacey Louwagie

book reviews

Happy Rumpled Release Day!

Rumpled It’s here! Today is the day I release my first independent work, “Rumpled.” You can buy the ebook exclusively on Amazon.com, and the paperback will be released next week. I’ve set the price point intentionally low at just 99 cents. This is for three reasons. 1.

blogging

Creative Process Blog Tour

I read about a “Creative Process Blog Tour” over at Susan Perry’s blog, wherein different creative types are answering a set of questions about their process in their blogs. (Susan Perry is author of Writing in Flow, although I first discovered her through Loving in Flow, which I read

fairy tales

Rumpled: It's Kind of Like Getting Married

It’s official — I have a release date set for Rumpled, my novella retelling the story of Rumplestiltskin, and most everything is in place for it–except, perhaps, my nerves. Rumpled will be available to the public on March 3 (my birthday — early downloads would be a great present!), and

authors

Some Thoughts After a Writing Retreat

I’m back from a three-day weekend spent at a cabin in the Black Hills on a little “writing retreat.” I got two full days of writing in, and discovered … that two full days wasn’t big enough for my ambitions. I so rarely get the chance to get away

authors

My Marketing Revelation

Last week, I went to a community ed class about how to market your book put on by Sarah J. Pepper, a local author who has achieved success through both traditional and self publishing. I always wonder when I show up at these things whether I’ll learn anything new,

Book Reviews

Writing Book Review: APE by Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch

This book makes its point well: that it is possible to self publish a book that is high enough quality to compete with traditionally published books. The writing here is clean, direct, and clear, and the formatting is impeccable — no small feat in an ebook that is being delivered across

fairy tales

Rumpled ebook Cover - Your Opinions

I’ve been reading a lot about self-publishing ebooks lately as I slog through APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur and Publishing e-Books for Dummies. A few months ago I made a “final” decision about the cover for my retelling of Rumplestiltskin, Rumpled, but I’ve been second-guessing myself and overthinking it.

fiction

To Outline or Not to Outline: A Question Only You Can Answer

A few weeks ago, as I fretted over my Dark Crystal submission (which I still haven’t started), one commenter authoritatively told me I must write an outline for it. I did, and I am, because it’s such unfamiliar territory for me that I just feel a lot safer

ebooks

Rumplestiltskin ebook, beta

I’ve brought Rumpled, my Rumplestiltskin retelling, through what is close to its final revision … for now. That is, I’ve implemented everything I intended to implement based on feedback from my writer’s group, and am ready to send it to someone who has never seen it for a

ebooks

On Giving Away Books for Free

Last week, I read this fascinating article from Curiosity Quills Press about giving away books for free. The author’s strategy is to offer her books for free for the first 12 months of their release. Her reasons for doing so, including much higher reading rates and establishing a fan

fairy tales

Self Publishing ... Without a Clue

Like almost any author in today’s literary landscape, I’ve explored the idea of self-publishing. Although I used to scoff at it, I’ve softened toward the idea over the last several years — not because of one-in-a-million success stories like Eragon and 50 Shades of Gray, but because I,

publication

Blended Bits and Some Thoughts on Self Publishing

Since August, I’ve been working with the Teen Writing Club at my library to self publish an anthology of their poems and stories. We’re all proud to finally have the book in our hands, and we celebrated at a book release party last Thursday. I did a similar

publication

One Self-Publisher Gets Its Comeuppance

Last week, my friend Jim from my writers group shared a story about a group of science fiction and fantasy writers who pulled off a hoax with self-publisher PublishAmerica.* PublishAmerica is one of those self-publishers that claims to only accept “quality” manuscripts, presumably to stroke the egos of hopeful writers

editing

Editors Could Change the Rep of Self Publishers

Last week, the Huffington Post published this article about why indie (i.e.: self-published) authors still aren’t taken seriously, despite runaway successes like Christopher Paolini or J.A. Konrath that we hear so much about. The reality is, many self-published authors end up with a basement full of books

critiques

The Next Big Writer?

I’ve just discovered another website for writers, The Next Big Writer. At first glance, the site seems a lot like WeBook. It’s another online community where members can post any type of writing to get feedback from other writers and readers. It holds frequent contests for (smallish) cash

contracts

Navigating Publishing Contracts

Over the weekend, I received my contract from QueeredFiction for “The Man in the Mirror.” I was glad that I’d worked in publishing prior to getting published myself so that I actually understood the contract. Signing on the dotted line can be scary, especially for new authors. Unfortunately, a

blogging

On Publishing, the Internet, and Self Googling

I recently self-Googled in an attempt to see if any of my Demand Studios articles had been published. I didn’t find any of them yet, but self-Googling proved to be an enlightening experience, as always. Because I have a unique name, and because I’ve had a fairly public

publication

On Self Publishing, part 2: Vanity Presses

So, yesterday I wrote about self publishers and vanity presses without making a distinction between the two. But there is a difference in the types of methods various “self publishers” employ to get you to fork over money to publish your book. Although this is not an official definition, I