Thanks for coming by today. I posted the winners of my contests as my C post (part of the A-Z blogging challenge) yesterday. Today is all about my friend Anita and her story.
(<---) Anita Laydon Miller queried, signed with an agent, and worked with said agent to ready her middle grade book for publishing. Everything went as planned, except the publishing part. This is not one of those stories where Anita got mad and went on a rage. In fact, I read her blog every day (even if she hasn't posted in a week) and she never gave so much as an inkling about her plans - until a few weeks ago.
It all started with a blog post titled I've got an announcement...it's not what you think...unless you read minds. Luckily for me, I do read minds and I quickly discovered that Anita was going to e-publish her book. A subsequent post explained more of the back story - I urge you to visit her blog and participate in the upcoming posts along Anita's tour to learn more about the whole journey (links below).
When I first read the post that Anita was heading for self-publication, I scoffed. Not gonna lie. How can she do that?! I thought. To be honest, I once told Elana Johnson that I thought e-publishing would go nowhere and it was stupid (I said this without doing my homework). After processing Anita's news for about fifteen seconds, I realized this was a good thing. Anita is a smart girl and she knows what she's doing. Well, as it turns out, that was an understatement.
In the last two weeks, Anita has started a MG blog (my first clue as to what was going on), designed a cover (and photographed the gorgeous rock formation on the cover), uploaded her manuscript, and started a marketing effort. Like, whoa. The whole process has been blowing me away. To top it all off, we organized a rocking blog tour in less than a week (more about that below).
Before I discuss the content of the book, I want to point out that Earthling Hero is an inexpensive e-book for kids - Anita has priced it book at $0.99. Yeah, that's 99 cents, folks.
I am in the middle of the book and it does not read like a ninety-nine cent book. Earthling Hero is a bona fide middle grade e-book of quality and integrity, worth $19.99, no doubt.
I am impressed with Anita's humor, which will be familiar to her blog followers. And her main character(s), Mikey Murphy, is a classic boy character with some not so classic problems. I love the way Anita intermittently puts Mikey in action sequences and in thoughtful passages. Earthling Hero is compelling through the middle and I am putting off homework in order to get to the end. Don't yell at me. If I had kids, I would make this a family affair and gather 'round the computer and take turns reading aloud. Instead, I have the pleasure of being a crazy uncle, I so I am going to purchase a copy of the book for a few nieces and nephews.
Some questions and concerns arise when speaking about e-books - Anita will be on-hand today (and any time via email) to answer questions. Please ask anything that comes to mind. Do you remember when you were in fifth grade and the teacher said over and over again, "If you have a question, there's a good chance several other students have the same question"? Well, this is one of those instances. I'll answer a few questions right away: No, you do not need an e-reader in order to read Earthling Hero. I am reading the novel on my computer, but it looks just as nice on my iPod via the Stanza app. Yes, you can read EH on a Mac and a PC. I am using the latter, but I'll ask some of my fancy friends to weigh with their reading experiences using the former (ahem Robert and Tina). Please, please, please ask away!
Here's some linkage:
Earthling Hero is for sale through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords (the venue through which I now own a copy).
Anita's tenacious attitude and willingness to go out on a limb is sure to make this experience successful for her. Join us for the rest of the tour's three weeks to learn more about Anita, e-publishing, and, um, dancing. The next stop on the tour takes place on Wednesday at Matthew Rush's blog, The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment (<---I cannot believe I just typed that whole thing without errors). Friday, we'll be stopping at the blog of Elana Johnson, who has her own experience with e-book publishing. I'll post about the rest of the tour as those days approach. There are some awesome stops along the way!
Thanks again for joining us and please treat the comment section like an ongoing conversation and with respect (AKA don't make assumptions like me).
Great post. Anita's book is going to be my first to read on the computer. Here's a question: How hard was it to decide to part ways with your agent Sara Megibow so that you could venture into e-publishing? Good luck with your book.
ReplyDeletePretty cool! I'm interested in seeing her journey. I do have a question. I'd love to hear more about her decision behind leaving her agent. I feel like it hasn't been long since Anita signed and I know plenty of writers who have been with their agent for several years with no sales. Was it just this one book she had belief in or did the epublishing have appeal? Or both?
ReplyDeleteI wanna be on Anita's book tour!!!! Put me in there somewhere please!!! I just bought her book, too. She is very smart, and I am excited to see where this journey takes her!
ReplyDeleteFellow "A to Z" participant here. This sounds like an interesting book. I look forward to reading more from you.
ReplyDeleteHappy release day, Anita!
ReplyDeleteHers is a really interesting case to me. I haven't heard of many agented authors going the self-published route. I have a question: Did she keep her agent or did she leave to publish the e-book? And does she plan to write more e-books or is traditional publishing the end goal?
Good for her! I hope she does well with this project. It's great that her book is so affordable, especially for the kids' sake.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to follow this blog tour. What kind of research did you do before choosing this, Anita? Because I know that you were uber prepared. Was there one thing in particular that you saw or read that made you think, my book can be successful being published this way? Was there a light-bulb-moment?
ReplyDeleteANITA TO NATALIE: The decision to leave Sara was soooo hard. I discussed it first with my husband. He's a very-do-it-yourself sort of guy, so this was the first time anything in the publishing process has made sense to him. He was like, "Let's do this!" I also discussed it with a dear friend of mine who wrote a book (which has sold very well) about how to land an agent. She also thought I should break out on my own! Hah! And, of course, I ran it by a few unagented friends who thought I'd finally gone completely crazy.
ReplyDeleteANITA TO EVERYONE ELSE: I'll be back soon...running kids to school!
This is so great. Congratulations Anita and thank you Jonathon.
ReplyDeleteFYI, I am in the challenge too:)
Thanks so much for making me a part of this, Jon and Anita! FYI you can always just type The QQQE, in the future.
ReplyDeleteLAURA: I'd only been with Sara Megibow of the Nelson Literary Agency about ten months. In that ten months, I found her to be professional, bright and fun. If anyone's looking for an agent, I highly recommend her.
ReplyDeleteLast summer, Sara submitted a middle grade mystery I wrote to about 15-20 editors. We came close to having a book that would sell and we got great feedback, but ultimately the thing ended up in the drawer. (I'll be digging it out to revise and e-publish soon, though).
The interesting thing about that process was how much it surprised me. I thought all the rejections would say the same thing...plot didn't work, your writing sucks, it's too short, the characters aren't fun...something like that, you know? But while there were a few comments that were similar, often the comments were in direct conflict with each other.
As a project for my MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, I started writing EARTHLING HERO. It has a great premise, if I do say so myself--ordinary boy wakes to find his alien clone standing at his bedside. Together they must save the world!
I hammered the book out (with help from Seton Hill critique partners and mentor-yay!) and Sara and I started going back and forth on revisions. We had one sticking point. It doesn't matter what it was. I've been a freelance writer for more than a decade and when an editor tells me to do something, I do it. But on this point, I just couldn't. Sara and I had ways to work through the problem and we talked like mature adults about it, but meanwhile, the e-publishing idea kept nagging at me, as did the subjective nature of the business, which I'd learned about from the earlier submission process.
I told Sara we should parts ways, she offered me an alternative, I offered her a different alternative, we couldn't agree, and so we parted ways. I wish her all the best, though. I think the next five years will show that the Nelson Agency has weathered the publishing storm much better than most agencies.
KELLY: I'll have my people get in touch with your people. Plus, I have to get in touch with you about the ultimate challenge [insert evil laugh]. Thanks for buying the book!!! Tell me what your kiddos think of it.
ReplyDeleteSYLVIA: Thanks for popping in here. Jonathon has such a great blog...and an even greater heart! Can you believe he organized this tour for me?
ReplyDeleteTRACEY: My agent and I parted ways. I can finally type that without an increase in heartrate. I plan on e-publishing another middle grade in June. EARTHLING HERO is a sci-fi, but the other middle grade is a mystery. I'm so excited to get that book out there! And I'm working on a YA that will be done in about one year.
ReplyDeleteWALK2WRITE: I wanted the book to be affordable so that families will start taking more risks with middle grade e-books. There's the perception that the books can't possibly be good if they're self-published, but that perception will soon disappear, I think. My hope is that families will buy the book and read it together. I write a book column for a large newspaper and I regularly highlight books that are great family read-alouds. If I felt comfortable recommending my own book in the column, I'd say this one is a great family book. My family reads together all the time (like the family in the photo, only with our clothes on) and it's those moments I think I'll miss most when the kids are out of the house.
ReplyDeleteHEATHER: I researched sales of Kindles and Nooks and iPads. I saw my kids running off with my husband's e-reader and my i-Pad. I saw the increase of sales in YA e-books and figured middle grade e-books would be right behind those by about a year, maybe two. And I noticed how slow the publishing industry has been to react to the low prices independent authors are offering books for...it's hard to shell out $16.00 for an MG when there are others (just as entertaining) available for $.99. Also, JA Konrath's blog is motivating. Now, I don't think I'll be the middle grade Konrath, but just seeing the freedom he has in the process is inspiring.
ReplyDeleteOCEAN GIRL: Your blog calms me. It's good to see you here. I think you have such a great perspective on life, and that's what I'm trying to obtain. When I was making the decision whether to try e-publishing, my husband asked me an Ocean Girl-esque question. He asked, "What does success look like to you?" What it looks like to me is not my book on a bookshelf, but my book in the hands of families...doesn't matter how much I make off off the thing, as long as people read and enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteMATTHEW: No, thank you! And I think Jonathon should continue to spell it out...good for his brain cells. :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoying all this comment talk! Thanks, Anita, for sharing your story with everyone!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read this! Is it only available as an e-book or will there be bound copies for purchase?
(Ooh, naked family.) I'm enjoying your responses to everyone's questions and learning so much from your e-publishing experiences. Thank you for openly sharing. (Unfortunately, DH is borrowing my iTouch, where I'd downloaded your book, which means I won't get to read Earthling Hero for several days.) You must be excited by the buzz!
ReplyDeleteMARISA: I have no plans on making a bound copy, but if you don't have an e-book, you can still read the book--on your PC or your Mac. You can download the book from Smashwords to your PC or Mac in the following formats: .pdf, .Epub, and .mobi. Those formats can be read, respectively, using Adobe Acrobat Reader, the free Barnes & Noble Nook application and the free Amazon Kindle application. OR you can download the book from Amazon to your PC or Mac and read it using the free Kindle application. If you have any trouble, email me and I'll get back to you within 24 hours. I want people to know how to do this, so they can read any e-book...not just mine.
ReplyDeleteMG: I hope the naked family wasn't too disappointing! I am excited about the buzz...this is a process I can enjoy. After you review the book, pleeeese review it! I'll stop by your place soon.
I think it's fantastic what Anita is doing, and more power to her! This is a great way to kick off the blog tour. I'm excited to read the book. :)
ReplyDeleteCool! I hadn't heard of this book before, so I appreciate the heads up! Congrats Anita!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great dialogue, Jonathan--thank you!
ReplyDeleteIt seems like many are still contemplating getting e-readers for kids. We're leaning that way because with an e-reader, pretty much what they're doing is READING--not playing games, texting incessantly, etc. In the meantime, though, lots of kids in this age group do have iPod Touches. There's a free Kindle app and a free Nook app they can download from the App store. Also the cool thing with Kindle and Nook is that when you use multiple devices to read the same book, it remembers where you left off. For example, a kid downloads EARTHLING HERO to his family’s pc or Mac using the Nook app and gets through page 15. Then he takes his iPod touch to his sister's gymnastics meet (where he'll be sitting around for HOURS), opens the Nook app and VOILA--it opens to page 15!
I've had people say they couldn't read on a screen that small, but the font is adjustable--you just have more frequent page turns the bigger you make it. Heck, for me (a slow reader), more frequent page turns makes me feel like I'm a faster reader! I read Baldacci's "The Collectors" and Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" and several others on my i-Phone on various travels before I got a Nook.
I'm so inspired by what you're doing, Anita. What a great start to your blog tour! I can't wait to meet Mikey!
ReplyDeleteI read every comment. Fascinating story, Anita. Jon, thanks!! :-)
ReplyDeleteMICHELLE: I appreciate your support! I know some of you have been "watching" me for awhile, and we always sort of thought we'd have a big blog party when I had a book hit shelves. It's good to know you're not disappointed in me...I'm not doing this e-publishing thing because I gave up on myself...I think eventually I would've gotten published traditionally (maybe a little over-confident sounding, but the truth as I see it), but this is how I've decided to do things, and I'm so happy to have people like you still give me a cyber pat on the back and buy the book.
ReplyDeleteALI: Thank you! I hope you'll give the book a look. :)
JOEL: Great info in your comment...lots I should memorize. Thanks for sharing!
DARBY: Mikey's looking forward to meeting you, too!
SHANNON: Thanks! Glad I could share...let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you for participating, everyone! What an awesome conversation.
ReplyDeleteJONATHON: Thank you!!! Catch this hug! ()
ReplyDeleteGosh, Anita, so not disappointed. Your reasons are well thought out and explained. I am so grateful that you are sharing this experience with us. So generous of you to be the Guinea pig. You are brilliant and energetic and have a fabulous family around you. If anyone can hustle enough to make it work, you can.
ReplyDeleteGreat conversation here! It took forever to read the comments. I'm so excited to read Anita's book!
I love being the Guinea pig and having the opportunity to explain myself. And thanks for reading my book!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your e-book, Anita. I'll have to go to Amazon to find out what it's about.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, everyone! This dovetails the Eisler/Hocking stories from last week. We are definitely in interesting times.
ReplyDeleteReally looking forward to reading this, Jon! I think it's so great that you're organizing all this. Very cool. What a great cover and story.
ReplyDelete