April 3, 2014 Roundtable
Sharon Lippincott and Boyd Lemon
4 PM PDT 5 PM MDT 6 PM CDT 7 PM EDT
Some authors aim for wide-spread acclaim and million-copy sales, and they are willing and able to invest thousands of dollars to make that happen. Far more are primarily concerned with producing a high-quality product at an affordable price, primarily for friends and family. Services like CreateSpace, Kindle, Lulu and Smashwords allow you to upload files at no cost and order only as many copies as you want or need. It’s possible to produce a book without spending a single penny, but depending on your skills, dreams, available time, and budget, you may be well-advised to pay for a bit of help.
In this program, indie authors (the current term for self-published) Boyd Lemon and Sharon Lippincott will share their extensive experience in the low-cost self-publishing world. Between them, they have self-published a total of eight titles, and Sharon has helped friends and family with another half dozen. Both are active in indie publishing forums and groups on the Internet. Boyd began on the high cost road, gradually cutting expenses to the bone for his last couple of books. Sharon has found ways to successfully publish at no cost.
What you’ll learn
- What skills you can learn to keep the cost of publishing down. Styles, formatting tools, and more.
- How to know what you can safely do yourself and when to get help–resources to learn about.
- How and where to find help when you need it. Facebook groups, Forums, Joel Friedlander, YouTube, Google, friends, NAMW events. Smashwords Style Guide, Kindle formatting guide. Smashwords conversion list …
- High quality alternatives to professional services. Trading services with friends, both writers and other. Use lots of beta readers…
- How to make the best use of limited funds. Collaboration, low budget cover people, do your own layout, low budget editors— check references!
Boyd Lemon, a retired attorney, is the author of A Long Way To Contentment: A Novel, Retirement: A Memoir and Guide, Eat, Walk, Write: An American Senior’s Year of Adventure in Paris and Tuscany, Digging Deep: A Writer Uncovers His Marriages, Unexpected Love and Other Stories, and Winter: Short Fiction and Personal Essays. After a stellar 40-year career as a nationally recognized attorney, Boyd Lemon discovered his passion was writing, and pursued it in the idyllic coastal town of Ventura, California; the literary, art and music scenes of Boston; a Bohemian year on the Left Bank in Paris; and finally by the bucolic rivers and forests of St. Marys, Georgia, where he currently lives. Boyd’s newest book is Retirement: A Memoir and Guide. He has four adult children and four grandchildren. His second passion is travel, and he has visited six of the seven continents.
Sharon Lippincott, a lifewriting coach and teacher, is the author of Adventures of a Chilehead: A Mini-Memoir with Recipes, The Heart and Craft of Writing Compelling Description, The Albuquerque Years, The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing, and Do’s, Don’ts and Donuts: The Complete Handbook for Successful Meetings. She teaches in Osher Lifelong Learning programs, directs the WE WRITE! Creative Writing University series of events, and serves on the Advisory Board of NAMW. Sharon lives, writes and teaches in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Find her online at http://heartandcraft.blogspot.com
