Why I Didn't Do A Creative Writing Degree

Hi all!

This week's post is about why I didn't go to university and do creative writing, it's another personal story which goes into a bit more depth about my mental health when I was younger.

I didn't really know what I wanted to do after finishing school so I decided to go on to do my A Levels. I chose Georgraphy, History and Philosophy and Ethics because I really enjoyed learning about them with my GCSEs. Once I was into my second year of that I was puzzled as to what I wanted to do. I was too scared to go straight into work, as I thought no-one would hire me due to my anxiety. But I was also afraid of going to university because I hadn't been treated the best at school and I didn't want another three years of misery.

After scrolling through universities I found a course that I might be able to do near where I lived: Creative Writing. The best part is, it was 100% writing, no English A Level required! (I hated English in school and there's a pretty big reason why I didn't pursue it further - but that's a different story).

They had an open day coming up, so timid seventeen year old me signed up.

Big mistake.

On the day of the open day I went to register, and to my horror, the day before they changed the course. It's now Creative Writing AND English.

Strike one.

Reluctantly I proceed to the talk with my mother in tow (I brought her for emotional support because in was so anxious). Once I got in the room, there were two other people there, both looking to pursue a career in writing.

They were a lot more confident than me, asking questions and talking about their writing throughout the talk. The talk consisted of a PowerPoint with modules of the course. They mostly encouraged writing of crime, thriller, mystery, literary and women's fiction. When asked about fantasy, sci-fi and horror (my favourite genres) we were told that they were dying out so there's not much point learning about them.

Strike two.

At the end, they decided to go round the room to talk about our writing. I can't remember exactly what the other two said just because I was so scared to speak. When it was my turn, I managed to blurt out that I wrote a book: Blood and Water, unnamed at the time. The lecturers were intrigued, asking about how many words I wrote and how long it took me. They were disappointed to learn it was fantasy, but were willing to overlook it because I committed to writing a book.

The other two on the course did not like that.

The other girl, same age as me, brought the attention back to herself by casually throwing out there that she was writing her THIRD book, which she had 'forgotten' to mention before. Everyone was sucked into her little story, but I wasn't buying it. We're all in the same boat, there's no need for authors to compete with each other, especially by lying.

Strike three.

At the end of the talk the lecturer made us hand over our email addresses so she could add us to her mailing list.

Strike four.

She then recommended we do some reading to get a one up on everyone else applying: her books. We were also told to leave reviews (most likely positive).

Strike five.

On the ride home, after having a panic attack, I decided not to apply for university. Especially after the dirty looks the other two had given me upon learning that I had written a book at seventeen. I didn't want to spend another three years being isolated by my peers and frightened of my lecturers. I didn't want to participate in group projects anymore, as they were my worst fear. In school no-one wanted me in their groups so I had to wait until everyone had picked groups to ask the teacher to put me in one. After the inevitable kick off from the group I would be left to work by myself while they ignored me. I knew at university the lecturers would leave me to sort it out on my own, but with the poor state of my mental health I needed more support.

I also didn't want my alopecia to flare up anymore than it already had. It didn't help that the teachers didn't really care what I did, my career advisor ignored my emails after a while and the head of sixth form read everyone else's university applications but mine. I decided that the world was against me and floated through the rest of the year.

Of course, it all worked out in the end! I did a fantastic apprenticeship for a year and I still work there full time now! I don't regret my decision at all.

Next week I'll talk about why I hated the English subject when I was in school, as a sort of part two to this post.

See you next week!

Self-Publishing vs Traditional Publishing

Hi all!

Before we start I just want to give an update on NaNoWriMo, I'm now at 28,043 words at the time of writing this. I hope everyone taking part is doing well too!

Now onto this week's blog post, self-publishing vs traditional publishing.

First, traditional publishing.

This is where authors land an agent and get published through a publisher rather than doing it themselves. This can be a very long and gruelling process however just because of how hard it is to get an agent's interest.

Pros:

- You get support every step of the way.

- You get help from editors and cover designers who will make sure your book is perfect.

- Publishers already have an established fan base to reach out to.

- Marketing will be slightly easier, as the publisher will advertise your book on their site and get it into book stores.

- You don't pay for anything apart from marketing on your end. If you're asked to pay for a book cover or editor out of your own pocket, run. They are mostly likely a vanity publisher.

- Many traditionally published books can be put up for a lot of awards.

Cons:

- You can't keep complete creative control. If the publisher doesn't like a certain part of your book, you will be asked to rewrite it.

- You have little control over the cover design. If you hate the cover, then there's no guarantee that the publisher will change it.

- You get less royalties. Because you're going through an agent and a publisher they will take a chunk of your royalties.

- It can take years for your book to be published.

- Querying is tough, there's no guarantee someone will pick up your book.

- If you're book doesn't do well, the publisher may drop you.

- There are loads of vanity publishers out there who will ask for an outrageous fee to publish your book. Then they will give you no help whatsoever with marketing and you'll be left with a poor quality book. Make sure you research carefully.

Second, self-publishing.

This is where authors decide to publish a book themselves instead of going through traditional publishing. Some authors query then self-publish. Others traditionally publish and self-publish.

Pros:

- You keep full creative control.

- You get to design the cover however you want.

- More royalties. Because you're not paying anyone else, you keep the majority of the royalties depending on where you publish.

- You can publish at your own pace. No more deadlines! But I would highly recommend that you publish often to keep readers interested.

- Marketing is in your control. If you're an introvert, you don't have to do talks if you don't want to!

- You can target e-books exclusively, you don't need to worry about printing your book if you don't want to.

- It's easier to run price promotions, you can pick how much you want your book to sell for.

- You get perks for exclusively publishing with one site, for example; Amazon.

Cons:

- It's expensive. Editing, cover design and marketing costs will all add up.

- You get no help with marketing, you have to do it all yourself.

- It's hard to get noticed without an established fan base.

- You have to compete with the thousands of other kindle books in your genre by self published authors.

- Unless you're willing to invest more money into your books, you'll have to stick with e-books. Getting books into print is a risky business, you might not sell all your copies and you'll be left with a loss.

- Not many book stores are willing to stock indie books.

- Not many awards accept indie books for entry, so don't self-publish if you want your book to be showered with awards.

The important thing here is that there is no right or wrong way to publish. Do whatever works best for you. You are still an author no matter what route you choose, you just have to think hard and do lots of research before committing to one.

I haven't decided on a post for next week yet, so come back for a surprise next Sunday!

Why Rejection is a Good Thing

Hi all!

Before we dive into this week's blog post I just wanted to say good luck to everyone participating in NaNoWriMo! It's my first time this year, and I hope to hit that 50K! My username is Jessica Turnbull If anyone wants to add me as a writing buddy. If you're unsure what NaNoWriMo is, it's National Novel Writing Month. You have the month of November to write 50K.

Anyway, on with the blog post!

Rejection is a big part of being an author.

Behind every book is a story of rejection.

Some authors decide to self publish after being unable to break into the traditional publishing world, which is what I'm also doing. This doesn't mean we gave up, we just decided to take things into our own hands. Some authors just decide to skip querying entirely to self publish.

Whether you've just started or are in the middle of querying, you aren't alone. Thousands of other people are going through the same thing.

Every single one has received that dreaded email in their inbox.

A rejection.

Rejection is normal, everyone gets rejections from literary agents and publishers, it's just a part of the publishing world. It doesn't mean your work is terrible, it just means that particular agent or publisher didn't like it.

But, rejection can help you improve.

After receiving a few rejections, you can look back over your query and first chapters and ask yourself a few questions.

Is my query strong enough?

Do my opening chapters pull in the reader?

How can I make this better for the next round of queries?

Those are all brilliant questions, as they can help you look at your work in a new light. Yes, your manuscript may not be perfect in your eyes anymore, but a fresh outlook can help you spot errors and plot holes.

Some rejections contain feedback from the person you submitted to. These are called personalized rejections.

A personalized rejection is a golden nugget for an author, as you can then see what needs improving. They may even tell you what they like and how you can fix what they don't.

These rejections are rare, but make sure you take the advice on board. Even if you don't agree with all of it, make revisions on what you agree with. You may change your mind when revising.

Now, onto negative rejections.

These rejections are also rare, but can be soul destroying. Instead of simply saying 'no' or not sending a generic email in reply, they pull you and your writing apart in a horrible way. These type of rejections do not help the author, and instead poke fun at you or the manuscript and can even tell you to stop writing altogether.

Do not listen to these rejections.

They are horrible, yes, but it saved you from working with someone with such a negative attitude towards their clients. If they act so negatively in an email to a potential client, then just imagine what the people who work with them go through.

I have received one of these rejections so I know what it's like. They said they loved the concept, but hated my writing and urged me to pass on the idea to someone with 'talent'.

Of course, I didn't listen. I just added that agency to my 'do not submit list' and moved on. It stung, but don't let these rejections put you off writing. Don't let them bully you out of doing what you love.

After receiving a rejection, do NOT do any of these things:

- Reply telling them what a mistake they're making.

- Post the rejection on social media, and encourage bullying of the agency or publisher.

- If you get a different agent or publisher, do not brag to the ones who rejected you.

- Do not name the publisher or agency on social media.

- Do not submit to another agent at that agency unless the guidelines say you can.

That's it for this week!

Next week I'm going to talk about traditional vs self publishing. Although I am self publishing, I want this blog to help authors who want to either self publish or traditionally publish, so I will make posts about both.

See you next week!

The Pros and Cons of Mailing Lists

Hi all!

As promised, this post will be about the pros and cons of setting up an email list.

Firstly, what is an email list?

An email list is a list of people who have subscribed to you. They can receive emails, promotions, announcements etc. You can send an email daily (though I wouldn't recommend it), weekly or monthly to keep your subscribers interested in what's going on.

Possible subjects to add in your emails to subscribers:

- Book announcements.

- Snippets of any current projects.

- Links to latest blog posts.

- Links to social media.

- Progress updates.

- Cover reveal.

- Short stories.

- Writing tips.

- Pictures of anything related to your writing.

So, let's get started on the pros.

You can reach your target audience easily

Once you have their email, they will get updates about latest books and promotions. Since these people signed up to your list, they are more likely to buy your books in the future. Plus, you don't have to track them down, they come to you!

It's an easy marketing strategy

It doesn't take much effort to draft an email and send it out compared to buying ads or getting people to review your book. You choose how often you email, and what is in it.

It's a great way to communicate with subscribers

Some subscribers will email you back and ask questions which you can talk about in your next email, you can easily build a rapport with your subscribers this way and build a connection.

You can easily recruit a launch team

A launch team is a group of people who get an early copy of your book to review before it comes out. They can also help you promote it on social media and blogs. The best part of having an email list is that some of your subscribers would be happy to receive an early copy of your book to review.

You can track how many people open your emails

This is great because you can then see which emails are getting higher open rates and tweak your future emails accordingly.

Now, the cons.

You'll need a P.O. Box if you don't want your personal address on your emails

Due to anti-spam laws in many countries you are required to put your physical address on every email you send. I'm not comfortable with people knowing where I live, so I'm setting up a P.O. Box. Depending on where you live, this can add an extra expense to your budget.

Your emails might land in spam boxes

This can lead to some of your subscribers not seeing your emails, which can be a loss of revenue if you're announcing an upcoming book.

It can get expensive

Depending on the amount of subscribers you have and how many emails you send a month, you might need to sign up for more expensive plans with your list provider. This can get expensive if you don't have the budget for it.

You'll need a reader magnet

To get people to sign up for your list you have to give them something in return. If you don't, a lot of people won't be interested in subscribing so you can potentially lose a lot of revenue. Possible ideas for a reader magnet:

- Free book.

- Free short story.

- Writing resources.

If you email to little or too much, you'll lose subscribers

You need to make sure you hit the sweet spot when it comes to emailing. Email too little and people will get bored and unsubscribe. Email too much and people will get sick of it and unsubscribe. I'd recommend one email a week with extra ones only for book launches.

You may have noticed that I have yet to set up an email list for my website, but I'm working on it. Once I've got my P.O. Box sorted I'll add a pop-up which you can sign up to. I'll send one email weekly with snippets of my current WIP, a link to any new blog posts and a segment which I'm calling 'Mishie Monday' where I'll add a picture of Mishka in every email. 

You may be thinking about what you'll get in return. Don't worry, because once you sign up to my list I'll send you THREE short stories contained in the Elemental Dragons universe! Keep an eye out for that sign up from!

Next week I'm going to talk about rejection. I'm sure many of us have submitted to agents and publishers and received a rejection in return. Although it may seem like the end of the world, it can actually help you make your manuscript better.

See you next week!

Why I Write

Hi all! 

This is my first of (hopefully many!) blog posts that I will post into my site. I will talk about my writing, announcements, tips and tricks etc. so please keep your eyes peeled.

Seeing as this is my first post I will talk about why I chose to write. If you've had a look through my about page you'll see that I mainly write YA Fantasy. I love fantasy, it's so easy to escape from reality for a few hours and read about teenagers having adventures across dangerous lands and battling ferocious beasts.

But that's not the only reason I aim my writing at teenagers.

When I was a teenager, books were my only escape. At school I was isolated and no-one really spoke to me because of my shyness. I'd spend my breaks walking aimlessly in the hallways because I had no one to talk to. Most days I'd just wander around trying to hold back the tears.

But, books made me forget about that.

I wasn't just the lonely quiet girl in a book, I could be anything!

I desperately wished that I would just get sucked into a book and go on adventures and have a stable friendship group.

Although I was always a shy and anxious girl, those years made me depressed. Of course, no one believed me until I was nineteen.

They called me a liar, attention seeking, worthless and told me to kill myself.

Books were my only outlet.

Although I had written a few short stories when I was young I didn't really think I was capable of writing a book. When I hit seventeen, I thought I'd give it a try.

In three months, the first draft of Blood and Water was done.

It had no name, several plot holes and a lot of grammar issues but I was over the moon.

It inspired me because I thought about all the other teenagers that were going through what I went through. Anxiety and depression with no help and no compassion.

So that's why I'm writing, for them.

Books can keep people alive, they make them believe they can be anything. As a teenager, you need that to get through until someone finally believes you.

Three doctors later, I was finally listened to and I am now a lot happier than I was.

A lot of people still think I'm lying and want to bring me down. That's why I waited four years before I even started querying, I was afraid that those people would come back to haunt me. I was terrified that my readers would believe them over me. Now that I'm self publishing, the thoughts became even worse. It would just take one nasty person to start hurling accusations that could ruin my writing career before it even started.

But, I have now reached the point where I'm not going to let them hold me back. This is my dream, the one thing I'm good at. Why should they be the ones to take it away? 

So while currently I'm focusing on YA in the form of Blood and Water and Nirvana, I am open to New Adult and Adult so maybe I'll write a book for them too!

Right now, I'm focusing on the people who I think need it the most. I've written the book that I needed when I was their age. I just hope that my work can help one person, no matter their age, and help them get through the dark times.

Thank you for reading, I hope you'll stick around! Next week I'm going to talk about mailing lists and the pros and cons of setting one up.