Saturday School for writers on 16 May: self publishing your e-book on Amazon

On Saturday 16 May I'm running a day school in Canterbury from 10am - 4pm called Self Publishing your e-book on Amazon: The Business of Writing.  This is the most popular of my day schools for Canterbury Christ Church University and guides you through the process step by step, dealing with issues such as formatting, pricing, cover design, author pages and book blurb. Whether you want to publish for personal satisfaction or to earn income, this is a chance to find out what is involved so you can do it yourself. 

Cost is just £29.50 and you can book via the link below.
https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/cae/day-schools/spring-2015/the-business-of-writing-2.aspx

What previous students have said about my day schools:

“Jane is very knowledgeable and has a wealth of experience.”

“Fabulously engaging tutor, enthusiastic about her subject, spoke with passion and authority.”

“It was more than I imagined.  Very informative and interesting.”

“Knowledgeable about the topic.  Excellent to listen to. Inspiring.”

“Obvious sound knowledge base and good clear delivery.”

“Useful hand-outs with links that can provide even more information after the course.”

“Inspiring and informative.  Lots of ideas to work with now!”

 “Jane is clearly very experienced.  She has a good relaxed style and is very enthusiastic.”

“Very useful and clearly put across.”

“Excellent content.  Covered more than I expected.”

“Very clear information.  Very generous with the information. Helpful.”

“Very good at answering questions, very clear targets and direction, well prepared.” 
"Jane was honest and enthusiastic. Course was well thought out."
"An energised tutor who inspired me."

 “It was excellent – very informative, well organised, encouraged questions. Engaging.”

Hybrid authors and authorpreneurs

I'm interested in the current discussions around "authorpreneurs" and "hybrid" authors (I love the word "hybrid".  Very science fiction).  Can you really have the best of both worlds if you are/have been traditionally published and are also self (indie) publishing?

I've done both and I haven't decided yet.  There are, like most things, pros and cons to each.  Indie publishing is tremendously hard work and also gives me an insight into trad publishing that I didn't have before.  It gives me a more balanced perspective, I think.

Many writers who have found success with the indie route are now snapping up trad deals, and the advantage of this is that although you will have less control, you will also have more time to actually write. There are only so many hours in the day and so much energy to use up creatively.

But the aspect of indie that I love most is the control over every aspect of the process.  It's absorbing, fascinating and fun.

Read a great post here which explores the topic in detail:
http://janefriedman.com/2013/01/30/self-pub-and-traditional-pub-cj-lyons/

Related post:
http://janeayres.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-business-of-writing-part-1.html

Time to Write

Finding the time to write and how to divide your time between writing and marketing your work is a regular topic for writers, and for good reason.  It can be a constant challenge, and I have tried various strategies but have not yet found a perfect solution.

However, I recently came across two blogs which give great advice.  Both Self-Published Authors and Dean Wesley Smith talk about how to prioritise your time and their take on the 80/20 rule. Check these out:

http://selfpubauthors.com/2012/12/09/blogging-social-networking-answering-emails-hey-when-do-i-get-the-time-to-write/

                                                   

http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=8272