Creating Opportunities

On July fifth I posted on my Facebook page about a promising meeting I had with a Barnes & Noble associate where I live. The chain is huge of course, and the location I visited is vastly popular among those cultured urbanites who wish to buy books, or have great Wi-Fi while they sip their coffee and browse. 

The meeting itself was actually a face to face cold meet where I went into the building to the Customer Service desk. I asked innocuously about the local events they host, such as a local book club, and how space for potential events gets booked. After a few exploratory questions from the Customer Service representative (someone really nice and down to earth), I eventually explained that I am a local author and that I'm looking to potentially do a reading there.

I was met with enthusiasm and a genuine interest in helping me; which, despite my minimal cynicism, was as equally surprising as it was refreshing. I was given the name and business card of the manager in charge of putting together events for that particular branch and was told to phone or email her with the particulars of my questions. 

A small chain of emails followed, but unfortunately, because Amazon sells the only paperback edition of my book and therefore a physical edition can't be ordered through barnesandnoble.com, I was told I couldn't hold an official reading/signing there. 

While disappointing, the manager and even the customer service associate were kind, genuine, and made my questions feel welcomed and encouraged. This is the type of service that you dream of as a customer and potential business client looking to forge new ties. These are the type of people that you want working for your company and I'm absolutely satisfied with everything that happened during our exchanges. 

This does, however, pose a slight problem. 

If you're an independent author who has published through nontraditional avenues, how are you to get your foot in the door with even local branches of a chain, or somewhere that has high visibility and would therefore boost your profile? 

I once tweeted to my followers that you should be your own agent. Regardless of if you already have an agent in the traditional publishing world or not, you have to be ready to advocate for your own work and to seek out opportunities to put it out there to people. Like an agent, you only get paid when you make sales, and you can only make sales if people know about your book. 

Marketing, as an author, has been something of a mountain to slog up thus far. I have a facebook page but it has minimal followers comprised of family and close friends. I have a GoodReads account but not many people have friended or followed me. I have a twitter and that is my most active base, with access to trending tags, and a community of writers I am slowly integrating into.

I am trying some guerrilla marketing techniques on the ground locally but I'm not sure the reach is going to maximize for some time. I think that has been one thing that has consistently come up in my journey through marketing and authorship thus far. It takes time. You cannot escape it.

You can go the traditional route, spend months getting even preliminary responses from potentially interested agents, then months more until you strike a book deal with a publishing house, and then a full year until your book is published into major stores and sent to reviewers (I'm not kidding, this is the process). You can go the independent route but you will spend likely an almost equal amount of time putting the word out and trying to get people to pick this thing up. 

I initially chose independent publishing as the avenue for Vein Bound because of this very factor. I believed in the book, had not/have not seen anything like it on the market, and just wanted to be able to have direct control over the process as I built a base of readers and new friends. While I don't regret this decision because of the sheer amount of knowledge and will-power that I have gained, I still have not escaped the original thing I sought to escape. 

Even as I write blog posts about being your own agent, and, marketing existing through the life of a book versus a defined period, I still must face the reminder that there is one other thing you need to be successful. Patience. 

That is something every author has to have (aside from a healthy tolerance and appreciation for rejection in all its many forms). If they don't have it, they'll have to develop it. It is a lesson I am learning for not the first time. It is one I imagine I will have to relearn again. 

Still. This does not change my message here. 

I never would have known any of this was even possible if I hadn't gone into that store, full of belief in my project and the audacity to act on that belief, and ask about how to do a reading at a major chain. Isn't that what agents do? Sure, they have inside contacts and pre-built networks, but essentially they get things done by making requests and gathering information. When they have the hoops laid out before them, they jump them, and then they get paid. 

The same is true for authors. 

My father once told me, 'All you can do is ask, and the worst they can say is no.' 

That is my philosophy behind writing about 'creating opportunities' and 'being your own agent.' As an indie author trying to get your foot in the rapidly revolving door of commerce and visibility all you can do is ask and the worst anyone can say to you is no. So many people I know out there would struggle to even ask the question and at one time I would have been one of them. 

Be fearless. As Brene Brown would say, 'Dare greatly.' 

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. 

Grey

Talking Back

One of my mutual twitter followers recently posted about a follower milestone they'd achieved. 9,000. I was blown away. I consistently hover around the 60 follower mark and then inevitably lose a few just as soon as I gain them.  

I, at times, have not understood what I was doing wrong. I was putting out messages true to my heart. I was branding myself in a specific way to showcase my viewpoint and voice. I post at least once a day and make sure to tag the trending tags. These are not fail-safe ways to get followers but I had hoped they would be enough to generate something.

In some ways, they are. These methods have grown a small base of followers where before, I'd had nothing. But to reach 9,000? These are heights that I, even my wildest dreams, couldn't imagine reaching out of nothing. While I'm sure that my mutual follower didn't grow this base out of thin air, I know people who have grown wild bases in little time. What was the secret?

I congratulated Diana Voxerbrant on her accomplishment and then jokingly commented, "Teach me the ways." Her answer came in the form of an article she'd written for The Story Desk, a collection of storytellers brought together by their passion for stories and the mediums of telling them, and this article opened my eyes. 

It is not enough to be active, to tweet a consistent message, to hit popular tags. You must also participate in several conversations, in areas that you find of interest. You must follow, like, and retweet back, even outside of the small universe of people who follow you first. In short...you have to be not a message, brand, or a persona. You have to operate as a person, first. (I'm cringing right now on how obvious this should have been in the first place). 

When you're a writer, or a storyteller of any kind, you tell stories. You want people to have something to say about these stories. But you're still a writer. Your story has the heart you gave it. If others don't find the heart in your message, it reveals no truth, and has no resonance. Aside from that, there are other people out there writing stories too! They want comments! They want attention! You can build a brand but you can't do it in a vacuum. 

Suddenly, my efforts on twitter became focused, not on my efforts as an author, but on the community that all niches of twitter are built around. I have often avoided posting personal things on my author twitter simply because it didn't have anything to do with the art and craft of writing or to do with my personal beliefs about success, motivation, and positivity. In this, I was missing out on the one crucial thing that makes engaging with anything worth it: the human element. 

With this revelation I felt free. 

I could now retweet stuff about Grey's Anatomy, or respond to #SPNFamily posts, or maybe even live tweet the next Harry Potter weekend (happening this weekend, in fact). If I lose certain writer followers because of this, that's part of the process, and I have to accept that my message won't be pleasing to all people all the time. I'll still connect with people who do appreciate the things that interest me, and isn't that better?

Now, when I'm talking, I can also be talking back; and despite what your parents told you? You should too. 

Grey

Keep On

It's now June of 2017. I initially put my debut novel, Vein Bound, out onto public channels in late September of 2016. It's so strange to think that it's been almost one full year since people have been able to view or buy the book. 

By the time late September had rolled around last year I had gone through numerous edits, a second half re-write, and then even more edits. I'd sent it off to an editor friend of mine, Lucy Quin, whom (by the way) is a sweetheart. She gave me feedback but not line edits. She was fair but not in depth. 

The truth of the matter was, the book needed work. Not just basic work, either. I'd played around with structure, prose, and entire scenes. Last September I thought I'd put out the book that I meant to write. 

Fast forward to 2017. It's now been almost a year and sales have not been great. Buzz is minimal. This is not the course you want your debut novel taking. I had (foolish but common) dreams of being the next big thing. The next J.K. Rowling. The next blockbuster hit. 

When time moved on and I realized none of this had happened, I let the book drift out there in hopes that time would make it so. It did not.

Around twenty days ago, as I was beginning final edits for the paperback debut, I had a few writer friends read over the sample chapters given and then provide notes. They were extensive, and not necessarily the kinds of things you want to hear about a novel that you've worked on for years and had spent nearly one year on the market already. 

I was embarrassed. 

I had now seen the kind of work that needed to be done to the book but it had already been out there. People had already spent money on this thing!! My writing was a little clunky, my phrasing could have been better. I spent too much time elaborating on things that my reader didn't need to know, and not enough time bringing action to scenes. There was a mother-load of an information dump, which I'd somehow thought was okay before. 

The truth was that in September I was tired. I thought I'd worked long enough and hard enough on this book and that if it wasn't up to par by then, it never would be. In some ways I was right. Why had it taken me so long to get structure and line edits down? Why had it taken me so long to compose this manuscript into something coherent and engaging? 

The answer was hard. I thought it was already good enough and I wasn't willing to listen to any inner critiques that may have said the same thing. I thought it was just the nagging doubt that plagues every author. It wasn't. 

Here's something you need to know: if you're not completely satisfied with the book you put out, your reader won't be either. It's not going to be perfect, as I stated in my last blog post, but it can be the best version you can make of something. Trust your gut. I cannot stress this enough. Write for an audience of one -- you -- and then listen to that audience member's feedback. It's crucial. 

Another important thing is to have writer friends. Family members and other friends may be well meaning. They may even put some feedback into terms that other readers would likely express. But comments like, 'I really liked it,' or 'it was interesting' however nice are, at the end of the day, not the kind of commentary you need. 

Having someone in the craft and business who can look over it and talk in writer terms is important. Crucial, even. These don't even have to be anyone that you know in real life or strangers that you go to a workshop with. There are some great writing resources out there that allow writers to connect and critique. Even social media platforms like Tumblr will allow comments on posts, and writers that I know have flocked to the platform. 

It has been a long, arduous road for me. Guess what? It is also not over. 

I wrote not long ago about making small steps. I wrote about how marketing your book is something that happens for the entire life of your book. It does not end because you've put the finishing touches on a manuscript and found a way to distribute it. 

Fortunately for me, I cut my book down by thousands of words (comprising unnecessary scenes or prose) and found better ways to phrase things. I have given an attentive eye to structure. I have written the book that I would love to pick up and revisit over and over. 

Editing, like life, is a process. I recently tweeted the following -- "On editing: Get to the point. Cut everything else." I can think of no greater lesson in editing and few as great in life. Cut through the inner turmoil; cut through the stories you tell yourself about certain things. Transformation happens when we are brutally honest with ourselves. Often, we already know what needs to be done in order to make crucial change. 

I have made so many changes not only to the manuscript, but continued changes to the website, and now I feel ready. Ready to charge forth, embrace the world with what I've written. I feel ready to stand up for my work and say, 'This is worth reading.' And then? Take the actions that echo this feeling. Action is paramount. You cannot be stagnant and expect your writing or your career to advance. 

I am on a journey in my life. From start to finish, while editing this book, I have learned a great many things. About craft and style. About technique. About trust. About the process as a whole. I sit here and think to myself what might've become of this book or my career if I had simply let things languish as they were, running on hope alone. I would've failed. 

My greatest advice is this: keep on. It is hard, it is arduous. You will have many critics, both in and outside yourself. You have to believe in yourself when no one else does. Otherwise you will not be able to go on. That would truly be a shame.

It is the trying that matters. The trying and the not giving up. 

Keep on.

Grey

Changes

I've just spent the past several days editing the first two chapters of my book, both in the doc it's on and the sample chapters here on the website. 

I suspected for some time that they needed a little work but was unable to pinpoint exactly the areas that needed a more critical eye. That changed after talking to a few fellow writer friends of mine. 

I was able to get some feedback on the chapters and it was like a fresh perspective exploded across my field of understanding. I love things like this. 

Community and support are important things in even something so solitary as writing. I've read that somewhere before but never sought the opportunities to put it into practice. If you're one of the writers out there wondering if you truly need a community for writing, my vote wholeheartedly says yes. 

The one thing I'm happiest about is that because I've self-published I can make changes at any time without first consulting a slew of agents, editors, and production managers. When I saw how much needed to be fixed in my first two chapters I delisted my book across the web and went right to work. 

When I'm ready, I can upload the edited copy and go live within hours to a day. That's one of the affordances that self-publishing offers authors across the board and in a field like ours it's important. It equals some modicum of creative freedom in expression. 

Every author has their journey and mine has been full of lessons. I've gained some valuable knowledge through this long and arduous editing process and I'm so ready to take steps forward into the next part of my venture. 

These edits come in preparation for the release of a print-on-demand paperback edition of my book. When it's ready it will be available through Amazon. I've ordered my proof copy to do editing from and have already marked the changes necessary. 

Change is an exciting thing. Without it we wouldn't be able to evolve and grow or see the mistakes of our past. Nor could we avoid making them again. 

So don't be afraid to look at your writing, look at the choices you're making with it, and say, "This needs work." It will never be perfect but it can be the best version of what it started out as. 

Taking several days on two chapters is the best thing I could've done. 

Now on to the rest.

Grey

On small steps

I once envisioned that embarking on the journey to publish my novel would be the hardest thing I would do as an author.

In many ways, I was right, and in many ways, I was misguided.

As an author I expect things like the agony of pouring over my manuscript and looking for any little line or continuity error. I expect to think, at my must frazzled moments, that the story sucks. I expect to think that this is all a pipe dream. What I didn't anticipate, however, was the difficulty that would come after all the of the agony.

There was, in my mind, supposed to be a sweet period of relief where any time someone asked me what I'd done in the last six months, I could tell them with a smile: I've written a book. It's published. Let me oh so kindly direct you to my website.

However, that was not the case.

I have had those conversations, yes. Some have even visited the website and gone on to (inexplicably) buy the book, too. Though that isn't where the bulk of the work happened to lie.

I once tweeted to my followers on Twitter to, "Be your own agent." Because like an agent, you only get paid when you as the artist make a sale. You have to advocate for your work. You have to find avenues to work your way into so that you can share your art where you can. Sometimes, when you don't immediately have those avenues, you have to create them.

I retweeted, not long ago, an article on common marketing mistakes by authors and while I was in some form of denial that I could never make such amateurish mistakes, I find myself sliding from that superior thinking into the pitfall of any numbered bullet on the list. There is only one thing you need to know about marketing as an author. One thing you need to make stone number one and build on: it never stops.

You don't plop your book into the catalogue of the world, announce it's there, dust off your hands, and get back to work writing.

Marketing is a process. It is a journey that extends through the existence of the life of your book. From day one it's your baby and you have to take care of it. So. My advice? Take small steps.

Yesterday, I tweeted to my followers something that resonated deeply with me. "Make small goals that serve larger ones. You don't eat a whole plate at once; you chew it in bites." Just as you chew a meal in bites and are nourished, you have to market in small steps to sustain the life of your project.

It is never too late and it is never pointless.

You have to believe in yourself in order to make those steps happen but don't be fooled by the disappearing vantage point of the path ahead. It is a long one. If you take the steps as an invitation instead of a challenge, you will be rewarded.

I hope to continue that journey. I stopped and sat down for a while.

Then I got back up.

Grey

On the future of 2017

We are now officially five days into the new year. Some, at the time of this posting, will already be in the sixth day depending on the time zone.

This means that we are inevitably closer to the time Barack Obama will say goodbye to eight years in office and we usher in president elect Donald Trump for four. Social media, news outlets, popular publications. None, no matter which end of the political spectrum they tend toward, have withheld comment on this transition.

I have watched as friendships dissolved and families divided. I have watched as memes launched barbs at those Americans expressing their emotions to the change that was affected on election night 2016. Through all of this I have remained silent. I have felt that my opinions and my voice will not change the millions who are saying the same or different than what I myself would say. There are better things I need to be doing with my time than trying to write argumentative reply novels on Facebook or watch as more and more people refuse yet to see the point.

However. Voices exist for us to use them and as J.K. Rowling once wrote through the voice of a well loved character, "Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic." I will attempt to briefly exhaust some of my magic on a platform I have been blessed to have with this website.

At this point in American politics I consider myself to be somewhat apolitical. The bipartisan system is broken. If anything has been proven in this election then I dare say it is exactly that. Conservatives in power seem largely to be social dinosaurs, stuck in an archaic past, and hellbent on trying to revive a certain binary ideal that has never fit the entirety of the American people. Democrats seem to miss the point of keeping governmental powers in check by putting more of it back into the states instead of creating a large, centralized, federal system (feared most by the founding fathers of this nation's birth). Voters, maybe not for the first time in history but at least most notably in recent times, have changed affiliations in ballot boxes and electors have gone faithless.

The body politic of this nation have felt disaffected and their concerns largely ignored by the system which has stilted us into two distinct groups which do not wholly represent us. In my own opinion this is why Donald Trump can soon call himself President of the United States.

I am not here to argue for one political party or the other, to tell you that you should have voted another way, or to try to convince you that your point of view is right or wrong. I am a writer. I write best what I can see, and through the lens of my understanding, render this vision in written word.

People are frightened. They don't know if their entire lives are about to uprooted by the very governments who are supposed to lead and protect them. They don't know if they will still have their full & equal rights when the day dawns tomorrow. People don't know if the ones they called friend, or passed every day on campus to classes, will suddenly feel empowered to diminish the very safety they did not ever think to question was at risk.

These threats are very real. If you don't believe that this is true then you haven't been paying attention. The President elect has used divisive and vitriolic rhetoric to propel his way to the top and continues to belittle and demean any who disagree with him. Coupled with Mike Pence and the republican controlled House and Senate, there is little that would stop destructive policies from turning fears into headlines and hard learned realities.

In my own memory under the sitting Presidents of the past 26 years there hasn't been one coming into office that has made his own people fear for these things. This is the danger that is being felt. To this, I say what Melissa Etheridge said in one of her powerful songs. "Our power ends exactly where our fear begins."

Now more than ever is the time to keep close your clan; those in your life who are beacons of light. Those who are sources of strength and inspiration. Those who spread positivity instead of fear, bile, or divisive witticisms. Now more than ever is the time to be discerning. Use your skills as critical thinkers and readers. Don't listen to sound bites or clips by major media looking to sway you to their opinion. Be vigilant about your convictions. Put words to actions and never stop putting kindness to use.

We are stewards of our own communities and only we can be held accountable for how others are treated in our daily lives. If you want to help? Make it unacceptable for an act of aggression to go unaddressed. Make giving and safety the norm. Reach out a hand to those suffering in your neighborhood. Maybe then they will feel heard. Maybe then they will feel cared for. Maybe then we can actually start to bridge the divide.

Most importantly, use your skills. I mean whatever skills you have. In V for Vendetta, Evey Hammond quoted her father in saying, "Artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up." If you're a writer, use your voice. Use your platforms. Use your editing and prose skills. If you are a data entry clerk use your skills as a typist. If you are a party planner use your imaginative mind. Use your talents. Use your time. Give of these things not only to your community but to the organizations that are doing work you believe in. If an organization doesn't exist that you see a need for then use your skills as a Type A planner to bring one into being.

My point is this: though the government in power may at any time wish to make you feel powerless you are never without your own inexhaustible source of it. You are a free democratic republic. In history, some forms of government have had habits of trying to bully, alienate, or otherwise terrorize groups of it's own people -- such as with monarchs like Bloody Mary and her persecution of Protestants or rigid tyrants like King George who refused to hear the needs of his people -- and as history has taught us, despotic rulers have had habits of losing heads to their people.

In this context one thing is clear. We will survive. That is one of the fundamental truths of the human existence. Our necessarily myopic view of the times may seem dire but we are a pebble in the bedrock of history. It's only time. 

Let's make the best of it by making the best of ourselves.

As Ellen Degeneres says, "Be kind to one another."

Grey

Giveaway!

Get a free copy of Vein Bound for download today!

In honor of the day Bree receives her magical abilities, I am starting a giveaway promotion, where anyone with a Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook has the ability to get a free copy of Vein Bound!

Here's how:

• Go to greychanning.com/giveaway and download the banner. To download the image, right-click from your mouse over the image > click 'Save Image As' > Save.
• Make a social media post of the banner and mention that you're getting a free copy of this book!
• Link the social media post (make sure the post is publicly viewable) for verification purposes in the form on the connect page. There's a link at the top of this website, or you can just click here.
• You will receive an email link with the download page and after selecting what sort of device you're reading on, you will have a download link generated for you. This link is only good for one download and won't work for others if it is shared.
• That's it!

Happy reading!

Grey

P.S. If you'd like to tweet or tumble as you read, the tag for the book is #VeinBound! Use it on Twitter or Tumblr to live tweet while you progress through the book!

Captain's Log

Star date ....  102933839202.88888

After much struggle and plenty of dilithium (in the form of highly potent coffee), the launch of the intrepid Vein Bound has finally commenced.

Starfleet Command reports that there are clear skies and zero downloads ahead.

Our mission?

Explore the outer reaches of indie authordom, encounter strange new readers, and to boldly go in a vague direction that some people have probably been before.

Release ... the final frontier.

( Be sure to keep on the lookout for a link the Amazon product page when it becomes available! It should be no later than Friday, September 30th. )

Update 9/22/2016

As you may have noticed when the site first launched there was a lovely ticking time bomb counting down to the time when Vein Bound would release. The set launch date for the book release was September 22nd, 2016.

However, to ensure that I am delivering the highest quality product for both my brand and your money, I have needed to take some measures which have pushed back the date!

I am also working with my publishing platform to make sure the book will be live in the stores they have formatted the manuscript for (such as Amazon, B&N.com, and more) at the time I publish links for sale.

I apologize for the inconvenience but please know that I am working to make sure that both you and I are satisfied with what you find here!

Keep a watch on my official twitter for news regarding the release, or check back here. I will send out an official newsletter once the book is for sale, and for which outlets. As more outlets publish for sale, I'll be adding those and updating you on my twitter and with notices on the home page!

Thank you so very much for your continued kindness and patience.

Grey

We Are Go.

Hello, and welcome to my website, and my blog.

If you're one of the unfortunate souls who happened to stumble upon this space there are a few things you might have readily recognized. The first being that there's a counter on my home page happily keeping track of the minutes and seconds until the release of my debut novel, Vein Bound.

Let me tell you a little something about the making of this book. It was hard. The road was long. I spent a majority of six years working, editing, and revising it, while also going to school and generally doing the business of life until I could successfully say I'd done my real life's work.

When I sent it to a friend and received feedback about a month ago, I was suddenly struck by exactly how much I hadn't been doing. I had fooled myself into thinking that the draft was as polished as could be. The truth was, I had spent a lot of my editing time trying to avoid rewriting major sections. When I received the feedback and saw the manuscript through my editor's eyes, I realized exactly the ways in which I was holding myself back.

Suddenly, the book I had meant to write popped into my head nearly fully formed and I was able to see, for the first time, the true potential of not only the story I was telling but the way in which I was writing it. This set a frenzy in me that still has not stopped.

Here's something else, if you don't know.

Writing a book is hard. Truly it is a job -- and it's one that comes without a manual, or the security of getting training before heading out onto the work floor, armed with all the tried and true methods constructed to make you successful. No. All you have is yourself, something to write with or on, and the vision of where you want to end up when the page is no longer blank.

If not a single person orders this book or tells their friends about it, I don't mind that. I have already become a success. I have fulfilled one of my life's largest goals and fantasies. It was a long road and it wore on me.

But I am so, so happy.

Take a look around. Leave a comment if you'd like. Stay for the release or don't.

No matter what? Thank you.

Thank you for coming to this page and taking the time to look at it. Thank you for using up a little bit of the precious time we have here in life to see the work I've done. If you have a passion, I urge you to take some of that precious time, away from your job or your obligations, and seriously consider pursuing it.

You are worthy. You can do it. I believe in you.

It may be hard and people may look at you a little funny, but as long as you believe in yourself, that's what matters.

I believed in myself. We have only just begun.

With that I'm happy to say, welcome, and we are a go for launch!

Grey