Book Publishing Secrets with Sophia Bar-Lev, Author of THE SILVER LOCKET

Title:  THE SILVER LOCKET

Genre:  Women’s Fiction

Author:  Sophia Bar-Lev

Website:  www.sophiabarlev.com

Purchase on Amazon  

Thank you for your time in answering our questions about getting published.  Let’s begin by having you explain to us why you decided to become an author and pen this book?

Sophia: Since I was nine years old, I’ve wanted to be an author and did, in fact, write stories and poems throughout my life but never published anything.  This particular book has been on my mind for about five years and a year ago, I decided to stop thinking about it and just do it. It is based on a true story which I believed would resonate with many readers who have experienced similar difficult situations.

Is this your first book?

Sophia: No, I have published two other novels in the past two years.

With this particular book, how did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you choose this method?

Sophia:  I published through Create Space, an Amazon company so I guess that makes me an ‘Indie’ author.  The staff at Create Space are wonderful to work with and I found it a very satisfying experience.

Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey?  The pros and cons?

Sophia: Publishing was a dream I thought might never come to pass as a few years ago it was very difficult to land a contract with a publishing house.  The dozens of ‘pink slips’ authors have collected in the past are legendary.  About three years ago, a friend of mine told me about the shift happening in the publishing world.  She liked my writing and encouraged me to look into Create Space.  She knew someone else who’d published with them and was very pleased.  I followed her advice and here we are.

What lessons do you feel you learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing industry as a whole?

Sophia:  The biggest paradigm shift is that nowadays, an emerging author must be first a good writer and second, a good marketer.  Indie authors need to make their presence known on such outlets as Facebook, Twitter, etc., create a website and stay in touch with their readers.  The publishing world has changed dramatically with the development of digital books.

Would you recommend this method of publishing to other authors?

Sophia:  Yes I certainly would, especially for emerging authors.  I read recently that some 40,000 new books come out every month or two.  Authors today who believe they have something worthwhile to share with the world need to take the initiative to get their book out there and not waste months, even years, hoping that some publisher might give them a chance.

What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?

Sophia:  The only way to become an author is to author!  Write. Write. Write.  If you’re serious about being an author, act like it.  Write something every day.  Make it a priority.

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About the Book:   When The Silver Locket opens, it’s July 1941 in Boston, Massachusetts. War is raging in Europe and the Pacific. But for two young women in a small town in New England waging their own personal battles, the struggle is way too close to home.

When extraordinary circumstances bring these two women together, one decision will alter the course of their lives.  And with that one decision, their lives will be forever changed…and forever intertwined.

Were these two women thrust together by happenstance—or fate?   A tragedy. A decision. A pact. Lives irretrievably changed. A baby girl will grow up in the shadow of a secret that must be kept at all costs. But will this secret ever see the light of day?  And what happens when—or if—a promise made must be broken?

Adopting a child is not for the feint of heart—but neither is being adopted…

A sweeping and suspenseful story that unfolds in a different time and a different place, The Silver Locket explores universal themes that ring true even today. Secrets. Unbreakable bonds. The healing power of love.  Deception. Anguish.  Redemption. 

In this touching and tender tale, novelist Sophia Bar-Lev weaves a confident, quietly moving story about adoption, finding hope in the face of hopelessness, and how true love can overcome any obstacle. With its brilliant juxtaposition of the wars fought both on the battlefield and internally, The Silver Locket is a poignant novel, resplendent with drama.  Featuring an exceedingly real and relatable plot, and characters that will stay with readers long after the final page is turned, The Silver Locket is a sterling new read.

Book Publishing Secrets with MD Moore, Author of 'Waiting for the Cool Kind of Crazy'

Name: MD Moore

Book Title: Waiting for the Cool Kind of Crazy

Genre: Fiction/ Family Saga

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

Purchase on Amazon

Thank you for your time in answering our questions about getting published.  Let’s begin by having you explain to us why you decided to become an author and pen this book?

MD: It’s funny, actually.  My first writing forays weren’t even in fiction and weren’t done for me.  At the time, I worked for a guy who had no writing ability whatsoever, but who was responsible for writing professional letters to the medical community.  He asked if I would look over what he wrote and it was terrible.  I gutted it, rewrote it, then gave it back to him.  He was amazed at my writing ability.  I began editing all of his correspondence.  One day, one of my co-workers saw what I was doing, was impressed, and told me I should try my hand at writing.  The idea was intriguing so I took some classes at the local community college on fiction writing, bought some books, and attended local writer’s conferences.  I entered a writing contest and was a top finalist among several hundred entries, giving me validation that I actually could write so I decided to pursue it as a career.  As far as penning this particular book, the subject actually came fairly easily.  I worked in my state’s most acute mental hospital and there were stories all around me; peoples whose lives were so effected by their mental illness that a writer working in that environment couldn’t help but want to tell their stories.  One of my main characters, Cece, is the schizophrenic mother of my protagonist and her character is loosely based on a patient whose family came to visit her nearly every weekend.  As she was the only patient I worked with who was married with children, she intrigued me.  The pain as well as the patience her family showed every week made me want to tell a story about how mental illness touched the life of my protagonist and how it manifested itself in him from his childhood to adulthood.  

Is this your first book?

MD: Yes.  It is the first book I completed though there were a lot of misfires now crammed in drawers.

With this particular book, how did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you choose this method?

MD:  My book was published by a small press, Black Rose Writing.  I went with them because I felt they would be able to nurture my career along better as a first time author than a large, traditional publisher would be able to do with a debut novelist.  I’m not saying that I wouldn’t be willing to work with a large publisher for my next novel when expectations and understanding of the publishing business are better understood, but for my first novel, this was a great way to go and Black Rose has been great to work with. 

Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey?  The pros and cons?

MD:  This has been every bit as difficult as you hear it will be.  You keep hoping that you are going to be the one who is going to find the best New York agent – hell, I half expected that someone would hear through the grapevine and come calling to get a first peek.  In reality, I had to practically beg my family to take a look (an exaggeration, but

not by much).  At first, I did the agent search – nothing.  Then I edited my book again thinking it might not be as ready as I thought it was.  This actually turned out to be a good idea as the book wasn’t as polished as it needed to be.  In all, I wrote and rewrote this book no fewer than five times over nine years.  I then sent it out again to agents and, hanging in the slush pile with no writing credits to my name or great platform, again I heard crickets.  I finally decided that a small press was going to be my best option so searched through them and found Black Rose who ended up being a great fit.

What lessons do you feel you learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing industry as a whole?

MD: There are two lessons I learned well.  First, an author, especially a first time novelist, has to get their manuscript as close to perfect as possible.  This means learning your craft through classes, self-teaching through books, peer review and critique groups to name a few methods.  Then you must write and rewrite and rewrite then rewrite again, then cut out half of what you’ve written and rewrite again.  It’s grueling, but it takes what it takes. I’ve judged writing contests several times and am always amazed at some of the entries where it is clear that the entrant didn’t bother with so much as a spell checker before submission.  This is an extremely competitive business and a first time author has to understand what they are up against to get any one to take notice of their work.  If you don’t work to get your writing in the best condition possible, you’d be better off spending your time on another endeavor because you won’t likely be rewarded in this one. 

The second lesson is perseverance.  If you do work to be the best writer that you can be then you must take that next step and get it out there for others to judge - be it a critic, an agent, an editor, a publisher – someone who can help you take your book to the next level, either personally or professionally.  You won’t likely reach your goal in the first week after completion.  It took me nearly a year of dedicated searching to find the right publisher for my novel, but ultimately it was worth it to finally hold my novel in my hands with a real cover on it, not just a three-ring binder.

Would you recommend this method of publishing to other authors?

MD: It’s hard to recommend a certain way of publishing to aspiring authors.  This way worked well for me, but for someone else a large, traditional publisher might work great.  A lot of people self-publish successfully.  The small publisher worked well for me and I would recommend it strongly as a generalization, but would have to know the author and what they are trying to publish to offer more personalized advise on how they should publish.

What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?

MD: The first piece of advice I would give would be to really soul search to be sure that this is what you want to do.  This is a hard business to break into so make sure that you are in this for the long haul.  This leads to my second piece of advise and that is, if you do have what it takes and you have a story in you that you have to get out, by God, stick with it and get your story told.  Fight to make it the absolute best it can be then work your tail off to get it to that next level.  You work so hard to write the book, finish the journey and let the world read it, however that has to happen.  The last piece of advice is to listen to people who have done this before, especially successfully.  They have so much to teach and most people who I’ve met in this industry are truly the nicest people and they want to help you.  They generally have really good advice, even if it’s not necessarily the advice you want to hear.   Two quotes from Winston Churchill seem to sum up my advice:  “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen” and  “Never, never, never, never give up.”

Book Publishing Secrets with Marija Bulatovic, author of Fantastical: Tales of Bears, Beer and Hemophilia

Born in Yugoslavia in the 1970s, Marija Bulatovic, along with her parents, immigrated to the U.S. in the 1990s just ahead of the 1990s Yugoslav wars and the breakup of the country.  An accomplished business professional with years of experience driving enterprise business with Fortune 500 companies, Bulatovic graduated from Colgate University. Marija Bulatovic lives in Seattle with her husband and son.

Website/ Facebook / Twitter / Amazon

Thank you for your time in answering our questions about getting published.  Let’s begin by having you explain to us why you decided to become an author and pen this book?

Marija: While I didn’t set out to pursue career as an author, I was moved to do so after the birth of my son.  FANTASTICAL is a legacy to my son, as his birth was the catalyst for the book. 

These stories were born with my son.  Uncertain upon entering a wholly new phase of life, I sought wisdom and enlightenment – and a break from the daily routine of feedings, lack of sleep, and disorientation.  I was in search of something that would lift my spirit, make me laugh, and transport me, if only for a moment, to another, less tangible, place and time. 

While the world in which these stories unfold no longer exists, I still cling to the many lessons it taught me.  Because of my fantastical childhood, I know in my heart that life is much more than a sum of mundane survival activities.  I know that it’s fluid, magical, brimming with love and connection. 

This book was indeed the respite I needed.  It freed my mind to roam the wild landscape of a bygone era and lifted me on the wings of Balkan stardust.  I hope it will do the same for my readers.  My hope is that stories amuse and transport my readers, sustaining them on their journey as they have me on mine. 

Is this your first book?

Marija: Yes, it is.

With this particular book, how did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you choose this method?

Marija: I chose to self-publish.  FANTASTICAL is a work of passion and a very personal and dear project to me.  As such, I was interested to personally and deeply become involved in all aspects of publishing, from identifying the right experts to edit, illustrate, layout, and print the book to working with a tremendously talented publicist to bring it to light. 

At the same time, we are experiencing an explosion in tools and services suited for first time and self-publishing authors. 

I was curious about this process and it gave me an excellent opportunity to be personally engaged throughout the journey and understands all aspects of publishing. It’s been a great learning experience!

Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey?  The pros and cons?

Marija: Self-publishing is tremendously labor and time intensive, but also very rewarding and profitable, assuming one is able to make investments to get the book to the finish line.

The pros are that you, as an author are 100% in control of your book and the every aspect of it.  You are the final decision maker and owner of the outcomes-good and bad. It’s a wonderful opportunity to merge one’s creative talents with flawless execution.  It does require much self-discipline and hard work, but it’s also a rewarding process.  While the world of self-publishing tools and services can feel like a maze, once the author understands them, they are generally easy and efficient to you.

The cons are that you have to invest money, time and energy to personally research and identify everything that shapes the book: editors, publicists, designers, printers, distributors, etc.  This is no easy task and authors can feel discouraged by it and by the long road ahead.  The self-publish path also requires that you make personal investments or raise money to fund your book project-which done right, is not an inexpensive proposition. 

What lessons do you feel you learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing industry as a whole?

Marija: The publishing industry overall is at an inflection point, destabilized by the explosion of self-published books and outlets offering self-publishing services.  Self-publishing houses such as CreateSpace, Lightning Source or Bookbaby offer quality services at an approachable price-point.  However, the learning curve is steep for a single author to learn, discern differences in offerings and advantages among these services, along with their complementary or duplicative nature.

Would you recommend this method of publishing to other authors?

Marija: Yes, most definitely.  If you feel ready and passionate about your book, you will enjoy the leanrings and the process that goes with self-publishing.

What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?

Marija: Just do it! Write your book, engage deeply with your project, commit to your work of passion and see what happens.  Most likely, more good things will happen than if you don’t embark on the journey.  And most importantly, Good Luck!